Froehlich Writings, Complete Set, 7 MB

Transcription

Writings of S.H. Froehlich
Portions of this document are Copyright © 1978 by the Apostolic Christian Churches of
America. The Old Testament Mediations are Copyright © 1992 by Apostolic Christian
Publications, Inc., 802 West Cruger, Eureka, IL 61530.
This digital version is produced with permission by The Heritage Center Foundation.
Version 29
Published by The Heritage Center Foundation
c/o Fairview Haven
605 N. Fourth St.
Fairbury, IL 61739
Page 2 of 1977
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
There are two table of contents included below. The first includes only major sections
(books) so that you can easily visualize major sections, and the second is a detailed table
of contents with all sections.
Table of Contents - Major sections only
Table of Contents..............................................................................3
Editor's Notes..................................................................................20
Preface.............................................................................................21
Introduction and Condensed Outline of the life of S.H. Froehlich
..........................................................................................................25
BAPTISMAL TRUTH ...................................................................49
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL, THE APOSTLE, TO THE
EPHESIANS..................................................................................192
Evidence ........................................................................................416
Meditations on the Epistles of John............................................661
MEDITATIONS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. .1402
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL, THE APOSTLE TO THE
PHILIPPIANS.............................................................................1566
Observations on the Entire Revelation of St. John the Divine
......................................................................................................1608
The Mystery of Godliness and the Mystery of Ungodliness. . .1651
MATRIMONY According to the Word of God .......................1725
OLD TESTAMENT MEDITATIONS ......................................1757
Other Collected Writings...........................................................1974
Table of Contents - Complete
Table of Contents..............................................................................3
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Table of Contents
Editor's Notes..................................................................................20
Preface.............................................................................................21
Preface to Old Testament Meditations.........................................................................21
REVISED DRAFT OF PREFACE TO FROEHLICH WRITINGS................................22
..........................................................................................................25
INTRODUCTION AND A CONDENSED OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF S. H.
FROEHLICH...............................................................................................................26
Early Life and Conversion...........................................................................................27
1820 - 1823...............................................................................................................28
April 6, 1824............................................................................................................30
April, 1825...............................................................................................................31
October 1825............................................................................................................32
1826..........................................................................................................................33
Chronology (Beginning in 1827).................................................................................34
Removal from Ministry of Protestant State Church.....................................................35
New Beginning.............................................................................................................36
Continental Society in London.....................................................................................37
Evangelization..............................................................................................................37
FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN AARGAU...................................................37
SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN THE CANTON BERNE........................38
THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN EMMENTAL.............................................39
FOURTH MISSIONARY JOURNEY TO ZUERICH AND EAST
SWITZERLAND.....................................................................................................39
London.........................................................................................................................40
Return...........................................................................................................................41
Storms..........................................................................................................................41
Extension......................................................................................................................42
Expulsions and Departure...........................................................................................42
Determination..............................................................................................................43
Zuerich, September 3-6, 1856, To the Church in Berne...........................................44
Zuerich (Thursday), September 4, 1856: Letter to Baptist Preachers' Conference..45
Samuel Froehlich's last words.....................................................................................47
BAPTISMAL TRUTH ...................................................................49
Title Page.....................................................................................................................49
CHAPTER I. EVIL THROUGH HUMAN ORDINANCE............................................49
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CHAPTER II. EXCERPT FROM LUTHER’S CONFESSION....................................53
CHAPTER III. EXCERPTS FROM OTHER SOURCES.............................................58
CHAPTER IV. PROSELYTISM AND SECTARIANISM..............................................60
PART I. FOR WHOM IS THE BAPTISM?..................................................................64
CHAPTER V. THE BAPTISM OF JOHN....................................................................64
CHAPTER VI. WHO SHALL BE BAPTIZED OF CHRIST?......................................66
CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST GENTILE CONVERSION.............................................70
PART II. WHAT IS BAPTISM? CHAPTER VIII. SCRIPTURE CITATIONS ON
BAPTISM.....................................................................................................................73
COMMENTS ON THE BAPTISM OF JOHN..............................................................90
CHAPTER IX. WHO IS ENTITLED TO BAPTISM?..................................................90
CHAPTER X. THE FIRST FAITH...............................................................................97
CHAPTER XI. BAPTISM; A SPIRITUAL SAVING FROM SIN...............................100
CHAPTER XII. WHAT IS BAPTISM?.......................................................................103
CHAPTER XIII. BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE........................107
CHAPTER XIV. IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF BAPTISM............................................110
CHAPTER XV. THE SECOND FAITH......................................................................114
CHAPTER XVI. THE NEW CREATURE OUT OF BAPTISM.................................121
CHAPTER XVII. A CLAIM ON GOD.......................................................................127
CHAPTER XVIII. FREE PERSUASION AND FREE WILL.....................................129
CHAPTER XIX. "BORN AGAIN."............................................................................131
CHAPTER XX. BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.............................135
CHAPTER XXI. NECESSITY OF FAITH PRIOR TO BAPTISM...............................137
CHAPTER XXII. THE POWER OF BAPTISM IN CHRIST......................................138
CHAPTER XXIII. "OVERTAKEN IN A FAULT.”.....................................................144
CHAPTER XXIV. THE SYMBOLS OF CLOUD AND SEA......................................150
CHAPTER XXV. ONE FLOCK.................................................................................153
CHAPTER XXVI. NECESSITY OF CHRIST AS SON OF MAN...............................156
CHAPTER XXVII. THE SOLE BAPTISM.................................................................161
CHAPTER XXVIII. WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD...................................171
CHAPTER XXIX. THE RENEWAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.....................................176
CHAPTER XXX. IMPLANTING THE TRUE FAITH................................................178
CHAPTER XXXI. THE BETTER PROMISES...........................................................180
CHAPTER XXXII. “DYING OFF TO TRADITION."...............................................184
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE THREE UNITED WITNESSES.........................................187
SUPPLEMENT..........................................................................................................189
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EPHESIANS..................................................................................192
CHAPTER I. THE TRUE FAITH...............................................................................192
CHAPTER II. THE SPIRITUAL BLESSING..............................................................200
CHAPTER III. PREDESTINATION UNTO ADOPTION..........................................205
CHAPTER IV. GOD Is OUR PEACE.........................................................................213
CHAPTER V. BAPTISM - THE NEW ENCLOSURE.................................................218
CHAPTER VI. THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD...........................................................223
CHAPTER VII. THE ENTIRE BUILDING IN CHRIST............................................228
CHAPTER VIII. THE BELIEVER'S SUFFERING...................................................231
CHAPTER IX. THE MYSTERY OF JESUS CHRIST................................................235
CHAPTER X. RICH THROUGH THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES.........................239
CHAPTER. XI. THE HEAVENLY CALLING............................................................242
CHAPTER XII. THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS OF DARKNESS...............246
CHAPTER XIII. WHAT IS THE CHURCH?.............................................................252
CHAPTER XIV. PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS IN HEAVENLY PLACES.........254
CHAPTER XV. THE GLORY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD.................................259
CHAPTER XVI. POWERS IN THE INNER MAN.....................................................268
CHAPTER XVII. THE MYSTERY OF GOD, HIDDEN IN CHRIST, AND ITS FOUR,
DIMENSIONS............................................................................................................270
CHAPTER XVIII. LENGTH AND BREADTH..........................................................273
CHAPTER XX. INFANT BAPTISM - A DECEPTION..............................................279
CHAPTER XXI. WALK WORTHY OF THE VOCATION.........................................281
CHAPTER XXII. KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT............................................286
CHAPTER XXIII. ONENESS OF SPIRIT.................................................................288
CHAPTER. XXIV. THE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING..............................................294
CHAPTER XXV. CHRIST, THE HUSBAND OF THE CHURCH.............................298
CHAPTER XXVI. ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.................................301
CHAPTER XXVII. THE TRUE BAPTISM................................................................304
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT...................................................307
CHAPTER XXIX. GIFTS OF CHRIST - ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF
GRACE.......................................................................................................................311
CHAPTER XXX. LASTING CLEANSING AND SANCTIFICATION.......................315
CHAPTER XXXI. THE DIVERSITIES OF GIFTS....................................................318
CHAPTER XXXII. GOVERNED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.....................................322
CHAPTER XXXIII. SPEAKING THE TRUTH..........................................................325
CHAPTER XXXIV. DARKNESS AND LIGHT...........................................................328
CHAPTER XXXV. THE FATHER'S PURPOSE, IN SENDING THE SON................333
CHAPTER XXXVI. PUTTING OFF THE OLD MAN AND PUTTING ON CHRIST.
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....................................................................................................................................337
CHAPTER XXXVII. WATCH AND PRAY IN HUMILITY.........................................340
CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD - THE SEAL. ..........................345
CHAPTER XXXIX. "WALK IN LOVE.".....................................................................351
CHAPTER XL. SIGNS UNTO MEN.........................................................................354
CHAPTER XLI. WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT.................................................359
CHAPTER XLII. "BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT."...............................................362
CHAPTER XLIII. PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING..................................................364
CHAPTER XLIV. SUBMISSION...............................................................................367
CHAPTER XLV. CHRIST'S GLORY IS THE CHURCH...........................................377
CHAPTER XLVI. CHRIST'S UNION WITH THE CHURCH...................................379
CHAPTER XLVII. THE BATTLE AGAINST THE FOES..........................................384
CHAPTER XLVIII. THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD..............................................392
CHAPTER XLIX. THE SHIELD OF FAITH.............................................................396
CHAPTER L. THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT..........................................................400
CHAPTER LI. PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION.......................................................403
CHAPTER LII. LOVE NOT THE WORLD...............................................................407
Evidence ........................................................................................416
FOREWORD..............................................................................................................416
LIFE, CONVERSION, AND SECESSION OF S, H. FROEHLICH FROM THE
CHURCH OF THE STATE........................................................................................417
A Short Statement Wherein I Make Clear My Religious Convictions to the New
English Continental Society In Answer to Six Questions Propounded by Them.......429
A WORD concerning the attitude of converted believers toward state religion and of
state religion toward the Gospel of Jesus Christ.......................................................440
A letter from Governor Plinius concerning the Christians, to the Roman Emperor
Trajan, of the year 107 A.D........................................................................................462
Thoughts on the Prayer which Jesus taught His Disciples........................................465
SOUL AND SPIRIT....................................................................................................474
MIRROR OF THE SOUL...........................................................................................475
Ebenat November 28, 1832.......................................................................................475
Mark 12:28:34...........................................................................................................477
Purleyh (England) April 8, 1833 Luke 14:34..........................................................478
Hackney (England) April 29, 1833............................................................................478
Brugg February 16, 1833 A letter to a brother........................................................479
FAITH AND BAPTISM...............................................................................................480
Brugg February 19, 1835 From a letter sent to Langnau......................................481
Brugg February Z1, 1835 From a letter to the members in Leutwyl.....................484
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Lausanne February 27, 1835 Something from an evening meeting in Lausanne on
John 8:21...................................................................................................................485
Neuchatel December 16, 1835 A portion of a letter................................................486
Brugg January 4, 1836 To the United Brothers and Sisters in the Lord..................486
Hauptwyl April — 1836 From a letter to a brother in Ebenat.................................491
Hauptwyl July 3, 1836 From a letter to the Members in Leutwyl*.........................493
Yverdon November 22, 1836.....................................................................................494
Yverdon November 23, 1836 From a letter to J. W____ in Bern.............................495
Hauptwyl March 25, 1837 A letter to the Members in Schafisheim (Canton Aargau)
....................................................................................................................................496
Essay on James 2:20..................................................................................................500
Essay on John 10.......................................................................................................501
Essay (From a letter).................................................................................................502
From a letter of April 9, 1838....................................................................................505
Hauptwyl April 23, 1838 A Letter to the Members..................................................506
November l, 1838 From a Letter to the Church in Hirzel.........................................511
Hauptwyl December 8, 1838 A Letter to the Members of the Churches in Aargau.514
Extracts from the Diary..............................................................................................520
Brugg January 10, 1833...........................................................................................523
London May 23, 1833 From his diary......................................................................524
Zurich March l, 1834 To Mr. G__ in London..........................................................526
Brugg April 10, 1834................................................................................................527
Yverdon November 4, 1835.......................................................................................528
Hauptwyl November 30, 1837..................................................................................530
Zurich December 16, 1841 To Parson G_ of Bischoffszell....................................531
Zurich December 18, 1841 To Town Bailiff T__ in Brugg....................................531
Hauptwyl April 14, 1839 I John 5:16....................................................................533
Stuttgart September 7, 1839 To the Brothers in Zurich.........................................534
Zurich, in Riesbach December 27, 1839 Galatians 5:13. From the evening meeting
on Christmas..............................................................................................................536
Zurich January 4, 1840 To my dear Wife Sussette in Hauptwyl.............................538
December 27, 1840 I John 3:2,3 From a meeting in Zurich.................................541
Zurich July 27, 1841 The anti-Christ.....................................................................543
Zurich January 25, 1842 Circular Letter to All Churches concerning the W__
Schism........................................................................................................................544
Zurich January 13, 1843 I Corinthians 15:12........................................................553
January 5, 1845 From a Meeting in Illkirch, near Strassburg................................555
Illkirch 1844 From a letter to Elisabeth Roth........................................................556
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Strassburg July 16, 1844 To the Members in Zurich.............................................560
Strassburg November 18, 1844 To Brother Jacob Egli, a Gardener in Munich....563
March 21, 1845 From a Meeting in Strassburg.......................................................566
Strassburg December 9, 1845 To Sister Senn in Basel..........................................566
Strassburg February 20, l846..................................................................................568
Strassburg March 19, 1846 To the Members in Aargau (Written to Sister Elise
Roth)...........................................................................................................................569
November 1, 1846 From a Meeting in Strassburg...................................................574
Zurich July 7, 1847 To the Sisters in Lensburg.......................................................576
Strassburg August 24, 1847.....................................................................................579
Strassburg October I2, 1847 To Elisabeth Roth in Erlinsbach..............................580
Strassburg May Z, 1848 To Brother Andrew Braun in Schweinfurt......................582
Strassburg February 28, 1848 To Elisabeth Roth in Erlinsbach...........................584
Strassburg June 3, 1848...........................................................................................585
Strassburg June 4, 1848 To the Members in Aargau.............................................589
Ittlingen October 12, 1848 To Mr. Pastor H____ in W_........................................592
Strassburg January 20, 1849 To a Sister in Aargau..............................................594
Strassburg January 31, 1849 To Brother Leim in Berange...................................596
April 3, 1849 To Brother J.G. Graf in Karlsruhe Dear Brother!...........................598
April 18, 1849 Extract from a second letter to Brother J.G. Graf, Karlsruhe.........601
January 18, l848 To Brother Hodel in Ehrstaedten (Baden)...................................602
Strassburg September 7, 1849 To Elisabeth Roth in Erlinsbach and to All Members
in Aargau....................................................................................................................603
Strassburg November 16, 1849................................................................................606
Strassburg November 19, 1849 To Verena Haechler in Moos...............................607
Hauptwyl June 19, 1850 To the Church in Strassburg...........................................611
Strassburg February 23, 1850 To Brother H_____ in Adersbach.........................612
Bern June 8, 1850 To the Church in Strassburg....................................................614
Strassburg July 6, 1850 To Brother Friedrich Luescher in Aargau.......................616
Strassburg July 30, 1850 To the Members in Aargau............................................618
Strassburg January 15, 1851 To the Members in Aargau......................................619
Strassburg February ll, 1851 From the Brother-Meeting in Strassburg to the
Churches....................................................................................................................622
Zurich August 12, 1851 To the Brothers in Aargau...............................................624
Strassburg December 12, 1851 To the Members in Pest (Hungary).....................625
Strassburg February 3, 1852 To Elisabeth Roth in Erlinsbach and to All Members
in Aargau....................................................................................................................627
Eglisau July 31, 1852 To Verena Haechler in Moos, near Duerrenaesch.............631
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Zurich August 6, 1852 To a Sister in the Album....................................................633
Strassburg November 23, 1852 To Melchior Walte in Duerrenaesch....................634
Basel April 5, 1853...................................................................................................636
Strassburg May l8, 1853..........................................................................................637
Strasshurg June 10, 1853 To Elisabeth Roth in Erlinsbach...................................638
Strassburg November 2, 1853 To Elisabeth Roth in Erlinsbach............................640
Strassburg January 16, 1854 To Brother R____ in Dierge....................................643
Strassburg January 12, 1855 To the Brothers in ____?.........................................644
Strassburg January 12, 1856...................................................................................647
Strassburg January 18, 1856...................................................................................651
Strassburg January 18, l856....................................................................................652
Muterhausen May 30, l856......................................................................................653
NOTE referred to on the first page of the Register of Contents at the beginning of this
book, EVIDENCE, Item #5........................................................................................655
From a sermon of no date..........................................................................................655
The Night Watchman..................................................................................................656
Meditations on the Epistles of John............................................661
CHAPTER I. THE WORK OF ENLIGHTENMENT..................................................661
CHAPTER II. THE PERFECT REVELATION..........................................................663
CHAPTER III. THE POWER OF THE LIVING GOD.............................................667
CHAPTER IV. THE CONNECTING LINK...............................................................668
CHAPTER V. “COME AND SEE”..........................................................................671
CHAPTER VI. THE ETERNAL WAY.......................................................................674
CHAPTER VII. FELLOWSHIP IN THE SPIRIT.....................................................677
CHAPTER VIII. SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS...............................................................680
CHAPTER IX. THE JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST....................................................684
CHAPTER X. FAITH, THE ONLY BRIDGE TO GOD.............................................687
CHAPTER XI. SEEING EYES..................................................................................691
CHAPTER XII. THE GOAL OR SALVATION...........................................................694
CHAPTER XIII. THE DANGER OF SELF—DECEPTION.....................................697
CIIAPTER XIV. SIN AND RIGHTEOUSNESS ........................................................700
CHAPTER XV. CARNAL BOASTING AND FALSE CLAIMS...................................705
CHAPTER XVI. CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHILD OF GOD...............................707
CHAPTER XVII. ZEALOUS CHILDREN OF GOD.................................................711
CHAPTER XVIII. GOD'S POSITIVE WILL.............................................................716
CHAPTER XIX. KNOWING GOD ARIGHT.............................................................720
CHAPTER XX. THE AMAZING AND ADORABLE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL.724
CHAPTER XXI. THE PAINTED DELUSION OF THE DEVIL................................727
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CHAPTER XXII. THE POWER OF HIS LIFE.........................................................730
CHAPTER XXIII. THE HIDDEN INVISIBLE LOVE TO GOD................................733
CHAPTER XXIV. BROTHERLY LOVE.....................................................................737
CHAPTER XXV. THE DIVINE SIMPLICITY...........................................................740
CHAPTER XXVI. HATRED IS DARKNESS.............................................................743
CHAPTER XXVII. THE SEED OF LIFE..................................................................745
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE THREE STAGES IN THE BELIEVER’S LIFE.................747
CHAPTER XXIX. INSTRUCTION IN SELF—EXAMINATION...............................751
CHAPTER XXX. “LOVE NOT THE WORLD”........................................................757
CHAPTER XXXI. THE ALLURING FRUITS...........................................................760
CHAPTER XXXII. ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST...................................762
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE MIRROR OF THE WORD OF GOD................................766
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE ANTI—CHRIST.................................................................769
CHAPTER XXXV. RIGHTEOUS FELLOWSHIP......................................................779
CHAPTER XXXVI. THE HOLY UNCTION..............................................................785
CHAPTER XXXVII. DISCERNMENT......................................................................786
CHAPTER XXXVIII. DENIAL OF CHRIST.............................................................791
CHAPTER XXXIX. A WILLING PEOPLE................................................................795
CHAPTER XL. LOVE, THE TREE OF FAITH.........................................................799
CHAPTER XLI. SPIRITUAL WEAPONS OF LIGHT...............................................801
CHAPTER XLII. GUIDANCE INTO ALL TRUTH...................................................803
CHAPTER XLIII. “ABIDE IN HIM"........................................................................808
CHAPTER XLIV. THE PRUDENCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS...................................814
CHAPTER XLV. THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IN US....................................................817
CHAPTER XLVI. LOVE, THE GIFT OF GOD........................................................822
CHAPTER XLVII. THE PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION..........................................825
Start Book 2................................................................................................................826
CHAPTER XLVIII. THE RIGHT BAPTISM..............................................................827
CHAPTER XLIX. THE PROOF OF THE LOVE OF GOD......................................831
CHAPTER L. "FOR WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING”..............................835
CHAPTER LII. UNION WITH GOD........................................................................842
CHAPTER LIII. THE GOAL AND DESIGNATION.................................................848
CHAPTER LIV. THE NEW YEAR OF GRACE........................................................855
CHAPTER LV. THE GLORY WITHIN......................................................................856
CHAPTER LVI. THE LIVELY HOPE OF FUTURE GLORY...................................860
CHAPTER LVII. THE PURPOSE OF PREPARING OURSELVES..........................863
CHAPTER LVIII. INNER AND PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT..............................866
CHAPTER LIX. THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD...................871
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CHAPTER LX. CONTENTMENT IN THE SPIRIT...................................................875
CHAPTER LXI. THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIFE.....................................................877
CHAPTER LXII. THE STANDARD or TRUTH........................................................883
CHAPTER LXIII. THE TWO WAYS.........................................................................888
CHAPTER LXIV. "KEEP THY HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE”..........................896
CHAPTER LXV. THE HIDDEN REASON FOR THE BELIEVERS' ENDURANCE 901
CHAPTER LXVI. HOLY BROTHERLY LOVE, THE TREASURE OF THE
CHILDREN OF GOD ..............................................................................................908
CHAPTER LXVII. THE FINAL AIM OF THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST......909
CHAPTER LXVIII. THE THREE STAGES...............................................................911
CHAPTER LXIX. WHAT LOVE IS............................................................................913
CHAPTER LXX. BROTHERLY LOVE; NOT PARTIAL...........................................917
CHAPTER LXXI. RECIPROCAL LOVE, A CHARACTERISTIC OF GOD'S
CHILDREN................................................................................................................921
CHAPTER LXXII. THE TWOFOLD DESIGNATION..............................................924
CHAPTER LXXIII. BROTHERLY LOVE, THE FRUIT OF THE TREE...................926
CHAPTER LXXIV. HARMONY IN WORD AND WORKS........................................933
CHAPTER LXXV. THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE...................................................937
CHAPTER LXXVI. FAITH IN THE PROMISE.........................................................938
CHAPTER LXXVII. BOTH DIVIDED AND MIXED................................................940
CHAPTER LXXVIII. THE VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE.............................................942
CHAPTER LXXIX. THE MIRACLE OF Love...........................................................946
CHAPTER LXXX. GOLD OR STRAW......................................................................950
CHAPTER LXXXI. ACTIVE LOVE IN THE CHILDREN OF GOD.........................956
CHAPTER LXXXII. TRUE TEACHERS AND PREACHERS...................................960
CHAPTER LXXXIII. THE FIRM FOUNDATION....................................................963
CHAPTER LXXXIV. FAITHFULNESS IN DAILY LIFE..........................................967
CHAPTER LXXXV. "IN DEED AND IN TRUTH"....................................................967
CHAPTER LXXXVI. THE DOUBLE DISTINGUISHING MARK............................972
CHAPTER LXXXVII. THE ACCURATE BAROMETER OF A SPIRITUAL LIFE. . .977
CHAPTER LXXXVIII. SINGLENESS OF HEART...................................................981
CHAPTER LXXXIX. “EVIL COMMUNICATIONS”...............................................985
CHAPTER XC. OUR DESIGNATION OF GOD......................................................988
CHAPTER XCI. ASKING AND RECEIVING...........................................................990
CHAPTER XCII. “FROM FAITH TO FAITH”.........................................................997
CHAPTER XCIII. PRAY AND WORK.....................................................................999
CHAPTER XCIV. FAITH IS THE ENTRANCE DOOR TO CHRIST.....................1003
CHAPTER XCV. STEDFAST FAITH ......................................................................1007
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CHAPTER XCVI. THE PILGRIM STATE..............................................................1009
Start Book 3..............................................................................................................1015
CHAPTER XCVII. MANY KINDS OF SPIRITS......................................................1015
CHAPTER XCVIII. FALSE RAIMENT OF LIGHT..................................................1024
CHAPTER XCIX. CHRIST’S SPIRIT, MUTUALLY IN TEACHERS AND HEABERS
..................................................................................................................................1027
CHAPTER C. "TRY THE SPIRITS”........................................................................1029
CHAPTER CI. FALSE PROPHETS.........................................................................1034
CHAPTER CII. THE HIDDEN GOSPEL; WISDOM AND MYSTERY...................1037
CHAPTER CIII. THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST.....................................................1043
CHAPTER CIV. CHRIST IN US..............................................................................1047
CHAPTER CV. THE NARROW AND DIFFICULT WAY.........................................1053
CHAPTER CVI. THE SECRET VICTORY..............................................................1054
CHAPTER CVII. WHEN AND WHERE WE MAY JUDGE....................................1058
CHAPTER CVIII. THE LINE OF CONNECTION..................................................1062
CHAPTER CIX. “LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER”..............................................1068
CHAPTER CX. UNCONDITIONAL OBEDIENCE.................................................1073
CHAPTER CXI. GROWING AND BECOMING EDIFIED UNTO PERFECTION 1078
CHAPTER CXII. UNIFICATION THROUGH LOVE.............................................1083
CHAPTER CXIII. NEW LIFE, THE SEAL OF RECONCILIATION.......................1087
CHAPTER CXIV. BIRTH AND SUBSEQUENT GROWTH TO CONFORMITY OF
CHRIST ...................................................................................................................1088
CHAPTER CXV. LOVE; THE MINIMUM AND THE MAXIMUM.........................1092
CHAPTER CXVI. ONE HEART AND ONE SOUL FOR TRUE BELIEVERS.........1094
CHAPTER CXVII. RECIPROCAL LOVE; INTENTION AND GOAL OF THE
GOSPEL...................................................................................................................1098
CHAPTER CXVIII. DOUBLE GUARDING OURSELVES......................................1103
CHAPTER CXIX. THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT.......................................................1106
CHAPTER CXX. “DELIGHT THYSELF IN THE LORD”......................................1110
CHAPTER CXXI. GOD'S OMNIPOTENCE............................................................1119
CHAPTER CXXII. THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.........................................................1128
CHAPTER CXXIII. OUR ABIDING IN GOD AND HIS ABIDING IN US..............1133
CHAPTER CXXIV. CONFESSING JESUS AS A PERSON .....................................1140
CHAPTER CXXV. THE CONCERN OF THE CALLED..........................................1147
CHAPTER CXXVI. GOD'S NATURE AND HIS MANIFESTATION.......................1150
CHAPTER CXXVII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS.................................1154
CHAPTER CXXVIII. BOLDNESS IN THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT.......................1158
CHAPTER CXXIX. THE TWO JUDGEMENTS......................................................1170
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CHAPTER CXXX. GODLY SIMPLICITY................................................................1176
CHAPTER CXXXI. THE TWO STATES OF FEARLESSNESS................................1181
CHAPTER CXXXII. GOD'S ANTICIPATORY LOVE ..............................................1188
CHAPTERC CXXXIII. OUR OUTWARD LIFE: COUNTERPART OF THE INWARD
LIFE ........................................................................................................................1192
Start Book 4..............................................................................................................1197
Meditations of the Epistle of John Book 4 forward by the Translator.....................1197
CHAPTER CXXXIV. TRUE LOVE TOWARD GOD ................................................1197
CHAPTER CXXXV. TRUE LOVE OF THE BROTHER .........................................1203
CHAPTER CXXXVI. THE LIGHT OF LIFE INDEED............................................1207
CHAPTER CXXXVII. THE TWO PROGENITORS OF HUMANITY......................1211
CHAPTER OXXXVIII. THE FATHER AND THE CHILD ......................................1214
CHAPTER CXXXIX. TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST .....................................................1222
CHAPTER CXL. VARIOUS KINDS OF IDOLS......................................................1226
CHAPTER CXLI. THE SIMMPLE LIFE ON EARTH.............................................1228
CHAPTER CXLII. THE GODLY LIFE OF THE SPIRT..........................................1230
CHAPTER CXLIII. THE HIDDEN FOUNDATION OF THE HEART ...................1234
CHAPTER CXLIV. LOVING GOD FOR HIS OWN SAKE......................................1236
CHAPTER CXLV. A NEW LINK IN THE CHAIN: VICTORY OVER THE WORLD
..................................................................................................................................1238
CHAPTER CXLVI. TRIUMPHING WITH CHRIST ...............................................1241
CHAPTER CXLVII. THE GREAT CONFLICT .......................................................1244
CHAPTER CXLVIII. THE CROWN OF GLORY.....................................................1246
CHAPTER CXLIX. AN ASSIGNMENT OF ALL BELIEVERS ................................1249
CHAPTER CL . THE EXTERNAL CONFLICT.......................................................1251
CHAPTER CLI. THE TWO HOUSES OF SATAN...................................................1253
CHAPTER CLII. OUR SALVATION AND THE GLORY OF GOD.........................1254
CHAPTER CLIII. WHATSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD...........................................1257
CHAPTER CLIV. TRUE BLESSEDNESS ...............................................................1259
CHAPTER CLV. RECOGNIZING THE BELIEVER ...............................................1265
CHAPTER CLVI. THE “HOW AND WHY” OF OVERCOMING FAITH ..............1266
CHAPTER CLVII. THE TOKENS OF THE BREAD AND WINE ...........................1272
CHAPTER CLVIII. TWO ARE NEEDED FOR RECONCILIATION......................1273
CHAPTER CLIX. THE KEY TO THE MYSTERY ...................................................1275
CHAPTER CLX. THE SPIRIT: THE WITNESS AND THE TRUTH .......................1279
CHAPTER CLXI. FAITH IN THE WORD...............................................................1283
CHAPTER CLXII. THE MYSTERY or FAITH ........................................................1286
CHAPTER CLXIII. WHAT “WITHOUT WORKS” MEANS ...................................1290
Page 14 of 1977
Table of Contents
CHAPTER CLXIV. THE LIGHT OF LIFE; THE SPIRIT OF GOD .......................1293
CHAPTER CLXV. KNOWLEGE OF GOD AND THE DIVINE MANIFESTATION
..................................................................................................................................1297
CHAPTER CLXVI. THE THREEFOLD RECORD .................................................1300
CHAPTER CLXVII. PROOF OF GOD'S TRUTHFULNESS..................................1309
CHAPTER CLXVIII. OF BELIEVING THE TRUTH...............................................1311
CHAPTER CLXIX. BELIEVING WHAT GOD HAS SAID .....................................1315
CHAPTER CLXX. THE TWO DIVINE TESTIMONIES .........................................1317
CHAPTER CLXXI. THE REFLECTED SPLENDOR .............................................1318
CHAPTER CLXXII. WHAT LIFE IS .......................................................................1320
CHAPTER CLXXIII. WHAT BARS SEPARATION ..................................................1323
CHAPTER CLXXIV. THE BLOOD OF SPRINKLING ...........................................1328
CHAPTER CLXXV. OUR OWN PROOF OF GOD'S VERITY AND HIS WORD . .1329
CHAPTER CLXXVI. ALL THIS IS GOD'S WORD .................................................1333
CHAPTER CLXXVII. THE INDUCEMENT OF THE FORBIDDEN TREE ..........1336
CHAPTER CLXXVIII. FIRSTFRUITS OF THE SPIRIT ........................................1337
CHAPTER CLXXIX. OF CELEBRATING PENTECOST .......................................1339
CHAPTER CLXXX. A GREAT ADVANTAGE OF FAITH .......................................1341
CHAPTER CLXXXI. FOR WHOM TO PRAY AND WHOM NOT ..........................1344
CHAPTER CLXXXII. OF COMING TO ONE ANOTHER'S ASSISTANCE ...........1346
CHAPTER CLXXXIII. SIN COMPREHENSIVELY DEFINED ..............................1348
CHAPTER CLXXXIV. “HE THAT IS BEGOTTEN OF GOD KEEPETH HIMSELF”
..................................................................................................................................1349
CHAPTER CLXXXV. THE GREATEST PERIL OF BELIEVERS ...........................1352
CHAPTER CLXXXVI. THE DERANGEMENT OF NATURAL MAN .....................1354
CHAPTER CLXXXVII. THE WICKED ONE AND THE OUTER MAN OF GOD. .1355
CHAPTER CLXXXVIII. WHEN SIN IS IMPOSSIBLE AND WHEN NOT .............1356
CHAPTER CLXXXIX. “KEEP YOURSELF FROM IDOLS” .................................1360
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN .......................................................................1364
THE THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN ...........................................................................1385
MEDITATIONS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. .1402
CHAPTER I. CHRIST, THE ONLY WAY.................................................................1402
CHAPTER II. CHRIST, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN...................................................1403
CHAPTER III. THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS.........................................................1405
CHAPTER IV. THE SCEPTRE OF HIS KINGDOM...............................................1408
CHAPTER V. THE SPIRIT OF POWER.................................................................1410
CHAPTER VI. CHRIST, THE UNCHANGEABLE ONE.........................................1411
CHAPTER VII. HEARING AND HOLDING FAST.................................................1413
Page 15 of 1977
Table of Contents
CHAPTER VIII. HEIRS OF GOD...........................................................................1418
CHAPTER IX. TWO DEGREES OF THE FALL OF MAN.....................................1421
CHAPTER X. CHRIST, THE EXAMPLE................................................................1423
CHAPTER XI. CHRIST, AUTHOR AND ORIGIN OF SALVATION. .....................1425
CHAPTER XII. BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF CHRIST JESUS..........................1428
CHAPTER XIII. THE DIVINE CONCILIATOR AND CENTER OF THE
CONGREGATION...................................................................................................1429
CHAPTER XIV. CHRIST, OUR SUBSTITUTE........................................................1432
CHAPTER XV. JESUS CHRIST, THE PATTERN...................................................1436
CHAPTER XVI. JESUS As MEDIATOR OF AN OBEDIENT HOUSE..................1439
CHAPTER XVII. THE NEW HOUSE OF LIVELY STONES..................................1442
CHAPTER XVIII. DWELLERS OF THE HOUSE OF GOD..................................1448
CHAPTER XIX. THE ACCEPTED TIME OF GOD...............................................1450
CHAPTER XX. WORTHY OF GOD'S GRACE......................................................1453
CHAPTER XXI. STEADFASTNESS UNTO THE END...........................................1455
CHAPTER XXII. THE FIRST TRUE REST..............................................................1458
CHAPTER XXIII. THE TIME OF GRACE.............................................................1463
CHAPTER XXIV. THE WORD, A TWO-EDGED SWORD.....................................1465
CHAPTER XXV. CHRIST, THE HIGH PRIEST IN HEAVEN.................................1469
CHAPTER XXVI. THE DAILY MERCY OF GOD..................................................1472
CHAPTER XXVII. THE NEW LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST........................1473
CHAPTER XXVIII. FELLOWSHIP IN THE RECONCILIATION AND REDEMPTION
IN CHRIST...............................................................................................................1476
CHAPTER XXIX. THE CALLED OF GOD............................................................1478
CHAPTER XXX. HOLY EARNESTNESS AND ZEAL............................................1479
CHAPTER XXXI. LEARNING OBEDIENCE THROUGH SUFFERING..............1481
CHAPTER XXXII. SEDUCTION -OF THE SPIRIT THROUGH FALSE TEACHING.
..................................................................................................................................1483
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE FULL STATURE OF CHRIST.........................................1485
CHAPTER XXXI V. "ENDURING SOUND DOCTRINE.".....................................1486
CHAPTER XXXV. JOYFUL SACRIFICES FOR CHRIST.......................................1488
CHAPTER XXXVI. ADVANCING TO PERFECTION............................................1489
CHAPTER XXXVII. TASTING OF THE HEAVENLY GIFT...................................1491
CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE APOSTASY OF BELIEVERS........................................1493
CHAPTER XXXIX. THE QUICKENING SPIRIT...................................................1495
CHAPTER XL . THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH..............................................................1495
CHAPTER XLI. THE HOLY SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND REVELATION..............1499
CHAPTER XLII. THE TWO CONDITIONS OF SALVATION................................1501
Page 16 of 1977
Table of Contents
CHAPTER XLIII. HIS KINGDOM: A KINGDOM OF PEACE.............................1503
CHAPTER XLIV. THE WAY OF WELL-DOING....................................................1506
CHAPTER XLV. THE SPIRIT OF THE LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS.........................1508
CHAPTER XLVI. THE BETTER PROMISES.........................................................1512
CHAPTER XLVII. CHRIST, THE ONLY ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST......................1514
CHAPTER XLVIII. JESUS, OUR SAVIOUR AND SUBSTITUTE..........................1516
CHAPTER XLIX. CHRIST, MINISTER OF THE SANCTUARY.............................1520
CHAPTER L. THE KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS..................................................1524
CHAPTER LI. A NEW PEOPLE IN A NEW COVENANT......................................1527
CHAPTER LII. THE SPIRIT OF KNOWLEDGE...................................................1529
CHAPTER LIII. PREPARATION FOR THE SERVICE AND GLORY OF GOD....1534
CHAPTER LIV. THE MERCY SEAT.......................................................................1535
CHAPTER LV. A GOOD CONSCIENCE TOWARD GOD.....................................1538
CHAPTER LVI. FUTURE SPIRITUAL GIFTS.......................................................1540
CHAPTER LVII. THE ETERNAL INHERITANCE.................................................1544
CHAPTER LVIII. THE ETERNAL DISINHERITANCE..........................................1546
CHAPTER LIX. THE INSUFFICIENT SACRIFICES............................................1548
CHAPTER LX. TRUE WILLING SELF-SACRIFICE.............................................1550
CHAPTER LXI. THE HIGH PRIESTLY OFFICE OF CHRIST.............................1552
CHAPTER LXII. PREPARATION FOR SERVICE AS PRIESTS OF GOD............1554
CHAPTER LXIII. WILLFUL SINNING...................................................................1556
CHAPTER L XIV. "WHAT THINK YE ?"................................................................1560
CHAPTER LXV. THE THREATS OF GOD............................................................1562
CHAPTER LXVI. THE FIGHT OF AFFLICTIONS...............................................1564
THE EPISTLE OF PAUL, THE APOSTLE TO THE
PHILIPPIANS.............................................................................1566
CHAPTER I. THE DIVINE NATURE.....................................................................1566
CHAPTER II. THE SEED OF IMPURE TEACHING............................................1571
CHAPTER III. THE BELIEVER’S CITIZENSHIP..................................................1575
CHAPTER IV. THE NAME OF JESUS...................................................................1578
CHAPTER V. THE CHILDREN OF GOD..............................................................1582
CHAPTER VI. REJOICE IN THE LORD...............................................................1588
CHAPTER VII. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD BY FAITH..............................1593
CHAPTER VIII. THE ENSAMPLE.........................................................................1599
CHAPTER IX. THE LORD IS AT HAND................................................................1604
Observations on the Entire Revelation of St. John the Divine
......................................................................................................1608
Page 17 of 1977
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. SPIRITUAL SIGHT. .........................................................................1608
CHAPTER II. THE GLORIFIED SON OF GOD...................................................1610
CHAPTER III. REMOVAL OF HIS CANDLESTICK. ............................................1611
CHAPTER IV. FEAR NOT SUFFERINGS..............................................................1612
CHAPTER V. TRUE AND FALSE MESSENGERS DIFFERENTIATED. ..............1613
CHAPTER VI. THE WHITE STONE OF TESTIMONY. ........................................1614
CHAPTER VII. HOLDING FAST............................................................................1616
CHAPTER VIII. THE GENERAL HYPOCRISY OF THE NOMINAL CHRISTIANS.
..................................................................................................................................1617
CHAPTER IX. SPIRITUAL SLEEPINESS. ............................................................1618
CHAPTER X. OUR GOAL: TO ATTAIN THE LIKENESS TO CHRIST. ...............1619
CHAPTER XI. THE SECRET OF PRESERVATION. ............................................1620
CHAPTER XII. THE WORD OF THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST............................1621
CHAPTER XIII. THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD. ....................................1622
CHAPTER XIV. CHRIST, OUR TRUE WEALTH. .................................................1623
CHAPTER XV. INSTRUCTION IN THE MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM. .......1624
CHAPTER XVI. OPENING OF THE SEALS. .......................................................1627
CHAPTER XVII. PUNITIVE JUDGMENTS UPON THE FALSE CHURCH. .......1630
CHAPTER XVIII. THE OUTER AND INNER COURT OF THE TEMPLE. .........1633
CHAPTER XIX. THE FORERUNNER TO CHRIST’S SECOND ADVENT ..........1634
CHAPTER XX. THE WORK THAT SHALL NOT PASS AWAY. ..............................1636
CHAPTER XXI. THE DRAGON’S VENGEANCE ON THE SEED. ......................1636
CHAPTER XXII. "BE YE SEPARATE.” .................................................................1638
CHAPTER XXIII. THE CONGREGATION OF THE FIRST-BORN. ....................1639
CHAPTER XXIV. LIVING ANEW THROUGH THE RESURRECTION. ...............1639
CHAPTER XXV. THE SPECIAL JUDGMENT UPON THE WORSHIPERS OF THE
BEAST. ....................................................................................................................1641
CHAPTER XXVI. THE CHURCH, A PURE VIRGIN. ...........................................1642
CHAPTER XXVII. FAITH'S REWARD. ..................................................................1643
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE REMOVAL OF FALSE CHRISTIANITY. .......................1644
CHAPTER XXIX. FAITH, AS SEED AND AS TREE. .............................................1646
CHAPTER XXX. THE NEW JERUSALEM. ...........................................................1647
CHAPTER XXXI. THE PATIENCE AND COMFORT OF THE SCRIPTURES. ...1648
CHAPTER XXXII. CHRIST; THE MORNING STAR. ............................................1649
The Mystery of Godliness and the Mystery of Ungodliness. . .1651
CHAPTER I. THE PILLAR AND GROUND OF THE TRUTH..............................1652
CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERY OF UNGODLINESS..............................................1660
CHAPTER III. TWO POWERS OF DARKNESS....................................................1673
Page 18 of 1977
Table of Contents
CHAPTER IV. THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE.......................................................1677
CHAPTER V. CHRIST'S PRESENT WORK ON EARTH........................................1684
CHAPTER VI. THE MEANING OF CLERGY AND LAITY....................................1688
CHAPTER VII. THE MARK AND REQUISITE OF TRUE CONVERSION...........1695
CHAPTER VIII. FALSE CHRISTIANITY................................................................1697
CHAPTER IX. SEEKING AND SAVING THAT WHICH IS LOST.........................1703
CHAPTER X. PREACHING-RECEIVED AS GIFT FROM GOD..........................1706
CHAPTER XI. THE TRUE KINGDOM OF GOD...................................................1709
CHAPTER XII. EMPLOYING THE GIFTS............................................................1712
CHAPTER XIII. THE THREE CLASSES OF PEOPLE...........................................1715
CHAPTER XIV. THE SECOND ADVENT..............................................................1720
MATRIMONY According to the Word of God .......................1725
OLD TESTAMENT MEDITATIONS ......................................1757
GENESIS .................................................................................................................1757
EXODUS .................................................................................................................1826
NUMBERS ..............................................................................................................1830
DEUTERONOMY ...................................................................................................1831
THE BOOK OF JUDGES .......................................................................................1832
THE BOOK OF RUTH ...........................................................................................1832
THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL ...........................................................................1833
THE FIRST BOOK OF THE KINGS ......................................................................1833
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS .................................................................1834
THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES ..........................................................1834
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES II .................................................1835
THE BOOK OF JOB ...............................................................................................1835
THE PROVERBS ....................................................................................................1836
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH ..............................................................1837
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH .......................................................1965
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL ...........................................................1968
HOSEA ....................................................................................................................1968
NAHUM ..................................................................................................................1969
ZECHARIAH ...........................................................................................................1970
Other Collected Writings...........................................................1974
To Bro. K. Schwarz in Frohnhausen (Froehlich's Baptism)....................................1974
Page 19 of 1977
Editor's Notes
Editor's Notes
This work is a digital version of the eleven books of Froehlich's writings available from
Apostolic Christian Publications. Each book page was scanned, processed by optical
character recognition software, and then manually formatted using a word processor.
This process is not perfect and there are still minor errors remaining in this document.
There has been no intentional effort to correct the spelling differences between the time
these books were written and today. Assistance in proofing this work is welcome; please
coordinate any efforts with the publisher.
Revision History:
Version
Date
Notes
V25
2009-01-01
First publication.
V26
2009-01-23
Added 2nd table of contents with just major sections. Added
letter about Froehlich's baptism translated by Ernest Graf Sr.
V29
2009-03-11
Several corrections, add intro to Med John from “blue”
version.
Page 20 of 1977
Preface
Preface
Preface to Old Testament Meditations
Samuel H. Froehlich, born in Brugg, Switzerland, in 1803, was educated to be a
preacher in the Swiss Protestant State Church at a time of political instability and
religious intolerance.
God redirected his life through sincere conversion to the true knowledge of regeneration
and way of salvation. As a result, he began preaching fundamental, born-again Christian
doctrine, which soon conflicted with the Protestant directives of infant baptism and other
requirements of their hierarchy.
Froehlich had a strong following of believers, who united into their numerous separate
congregations after he left the State Church. These assemblies flourished despite
attempted suppression by church and civil authorities; however, Froehlich was forced to
leave Switzerland for the more tolerant Strasbourg, France, where the Napoleonic Code
of Law provided hospitable conditions for his work.
He spent the last seven years of his life in Strasbourg, where he gathered a small
congregation of believers and also supported and nurtured the brethren in Switzerland
and Germany through an extensive correspondence.
He used the Greek texts for the studies and meditations recorded in this publication,
primarily at Friday evening meetings, for the edification and enlightenment of the small
Strasbourg congregation. Subsequent to these meetings, he made abstracts of his
sermons and entries in his diaries, which preserved them for posterity.
After a fruitful life in the service of the Lord, he died in Strasbourg on January 15, 1857,
where his grave is still maintained by the present congregation.
It is our sincere hope that these pages will be to the praise of God, enhancement of the
true Gospel faith and preservation of our heritage.
Whoso readeth, let him understand. (Mat. 24:15)
The Publishers
Eureka, IL January 15, 1992
Page 21 of 1977
Preface
REVISED DRAFT OF PREFACE TO FROEHLICH WRITINGS
January 25, 1978
From the year 1832, the beginning of the early activity of Brother Samuel Heinrich
Froehlich, through the end of this activity at the time of his death in 1857, a very great
amount of his writings have been preserved in various forms: letters received from him
were treasured family mementoes; discourses on subjects written by him to various
churches were highly valued by whomever had them in safekeeping.
These individual writings were, to a large extent, assembled by Elder Brother Fritz
Diebold, who was the son of a co-elder with Brother Froehlich in Strasbourg. Brother
Fritz Diebold was visited by Elder Brother S.J. Braun from America in 1920, and, since
both brethren were very deeply interested in the writings of Froehlich, they spent some
time together in Strasbourg, where Brother Diebold himself also lived. Brother Diebold
spent a great deal of his time copying these many hundreds of individual writings on the
typewriter.
Concurrently, another source came into being. This was a four hundred eleven-page
book (8'/2"x11") which was produced by the church in the Zofingen-Zurich area of
Switzerland. This book was a gathering together into a typed volume of the treasured
heritage of S.H. Froehlich's writings which were in the possession of the various
members. It was a selection by which a discernment of the doctrine was maintained at
that time. Possession of this book came into the hands of Brother P. N. Braun in 1923. It
was given to him by Brother Theophil Hinnen, elder in Zurich, who was a brother to
Theodore Hinnen, elder of the church in the Zofingen-Zurich area, from whom Brother
Theophil also received his copy.
When this book arrived in Syracuse (New York), it was received with great joy by
Brother S.J. Braun, who had it indexed and transcribed, producing four copies by
typewriter. From this there have since been made over the years upwards of two hundred
copies. These copies were all German. In the course of time, however, the German book
was translated into the English language, and is now available in the volume entitled
Evidence and Demonstration of the Truth of the Word of God.
In 1926, Brother G. A. Braun made a trip to Europe, by way of London, where he visited
the Baptist headquarters. They very kindly provided him with all they had in their
records concerning Brother S.H. Froehlich. This consisted of letters between the English
Continental Society and Froehlich, among which was his answer to their "six questions".
This particular correspondence has been printed and reprinted often since the late part of
the 1830's, and is also included in the above-mentioned book assembled in the ZofingenZurich area, Evidence, etc.
Page 22 of 1977
Preface
Principally, however, the writings of Froehlich, from the years of his activity were kept
intact by his descendants in the form of his many diaries spanning a period of some
twenty-five years.
In his travels on the continent in 1926, Brother G.A. Braun made further search for any
part of the legacy of Froehlich's writings which might be available beyond that which
had already been published at that time. At G. A. Braun's request, Brother Henry Michel
took him to the home in Switzerland of the deceased grandson of Brother Froehlich,
where the grandson's widow was yet living. She had been an English governess in the
home of the grandson's first marriage. After the death of his first wife, the grandson later
married her. Brother G.A. Braun asked Mrs. Froehlich if she had any information about
the things which Brother Froehlich had left behind. In reply she pointed to a long row of
diaries covering a period of about twenty-five years. Each diary was a little larger than
the old German Zion's Harp hymnal. In these diaries Brother Froehlich had written
down his sermons and copied letters he had sent, as well as discourses on various
subjects. Through the kindness of Mrs. Froehlich, one of these diaries was loaned to the
church, and two very dedicated and loving maiden sisters in faith, the Schoeffter sisters,
spent most of their remaining years deciphering the old German script and transcribing
these diaries. The diaries came one by one for a while, and the copied diary was
returned. Finally, Mrs. Froehlich agreed to allow the church to have these diaries as its
own possession, and they are presently stored in the church in Zurich.
These writings have always existed in what is known as German script, by hand of
Brother S.H. Froehlich. German script is no longer taught. The old script has been
replaced by Roman characters. The German script was very beautiful since the slanted
vertical lines were parallel. That is perhaps the reason why the different characters often
appear to be alike. It required those who were taught in the old school German to do the
work of transcribing, and the Schoeffter sisters were the ones who performed this
valuable task.
After these had been copied by hand in Roman letters, they were stenographically typed,
one copy being sent to the church in Zurich and the other to the church in Syracuse.
There were a couple of diaries which were transcribed at a later date: the 1848 diary by
an author in Berlin, and the 1849 diary by a German woman in Syracuse who was
versed in the old German script.
Brother Froehlich's fine, somewhat faded handwriting had often to be read with great
pains. Many of his notations were abbreviated. It was also necessary to use a very strong
magnifying glass in order to read them. It took many years to decipher most of the
diaries and to rewrite them by hand in the present German alphabet.
Page 23 of 1977
Preface
In his addresses, Brother S.H. Froehlich chose, for the most part, continuous Bible texts;
and thus, he spoke about complete portions of the Bible verse by verse. After a sermon,
he would write a short notation about it in his diary.
A new start of translation work was made during the period of 1926 to 1945, at which
time the publication of the translated work was begun, and has been continued to the
present by the Apostolic Christian Publishing Company in Chicago, now located in
Syracuse.
The earliest printed work was in the German language: The Mystery of Godliness and
the Mystery of Ungodliness (The Two Mysteries) in 1838; also, at the same time, what
was known in German as Die Erretung des Menschen durch das Bad der Wiedergeburt
und die Erneuerung des heiligen Geistes-Eine schriftgemaesse Eroerterung ueber die
Taufe in Christurn, and in English as Baptismal Truth or The Salvation of Man Through
the Baptism of Regeneration and Receiving of the Holy Spirit - A Scriptural Discourse
Concerning the Baptism in Christ. (This book was also condensed to tract form and
published in French.) These two books were table talk in the German language in the
families of the believers from 1838 to the end of the century, and they have remained as
sound spiritual nourishment for the believers to this very day, well worth being read and
taken to heart. They were translated and published in Syracuse in 1904.
No one will ever be able to form a true concept of the sum total of love, diligence, and
patience that was expended, first by Brother Froehlich himself, then by all the nameless
fellow-servants, so that this precious treasure might be preserved for us even to this
time, ripe with temptation. If one were to survey all of these efforts, he could only
respond in wonderment: "Surely God is present in it!"
It should be clearly understood that the King James version of the Holy Bible is the
source of spiritual truth and light. The writings and meditations contained in this book
are meant to be a help and support and are a most welcome revelation by Almighty God
to man in the person of Samuel Heinrich Froehlich during a very dark moment in
religious history for true believers. It would behoove us to be continually thankful to
God for this.
Page 24 of 1977
Introduction and Condensed Outline of the life of
S.H. Froehlich
(Editor's Note: This following writings was taken from a “blue” book that contains
Froehlich's writings (not the black books currently published). The following sections
are found on pages i through xxii, and located right before Meditations on the Epistles of
John, Chapter 1.) Below is the Title and heading information from the book.
MEDITATIONS on THE EPISTLES OF JOHN
Meditations of
S. H. FROEHLICH
Delivered in Zuerich in the Years
1840-1842
(Translated from the German)
VOLUME ONE
APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
1327 West Colvin Street
Syracuse, New York
1958
N. B.
The King James Authorized Version (Oxford University Press) of the Holy Bible was
used for the Bible citations quoted herein.
The comparatively few undecipherable parts of the original manuscript are indicated as
an omission in this work by a series of ellipsis periods.
It is to be borne in mind in the reading of this work that it is composed of extracts only
of the sermons, as they were written in the diaries.
The term "state (established) church" as used herein refers to the State Protestant and
Catholic Churches, in which baptism of infants was substituted for the baptism of faith.
The deceit since that time is much more subtle where the State no longer subsidizes the
Church.
Page 25 of 1977
It will be noted that following some of the Bible citations, the abbreviation "ff." appears,
the same as in the manuscript (in German, "Fahre fort"-in English, "Fare ye forth"),
where more than the verse cited applies, and its meaning is to continue with the citation
(beyond the given verse) as far as may be applicable.
APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
1327 West Colvin Street
Syracuse, New York
INTRODUCTION AND A CONDENSED OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF S. H.
FROEHLICH
This book is the first of four volumes of extracts of sermons by Samuel Heinrich
Froehlich* (1803-1857) on the three Epistles of John, taken from his diary, word for
word. The sermons were preached regularly over a period of two years and five months
(May 12, 1840- October 11, 1842) to the church at Zuerich, Switzerland.
In the early 1840's when the sermons on the Epistles of John were preached, the young
congregations were assailed by dissension from within, in addition to the persecutions
which they had been suffering from without. One leader gathered to himself those who
fell away from sound teaching and wished to associate with such that had not a clear
grasp of the baptismal truth, who were not even convinced of the necessity for baptism,
and so they reverted to a laxity in church discipline. Another faction held that the
promises of the covenant in baptism were wholly one-sided, that God gave promises but
that no vow of obedience was necessary on man's part.
These false teachings attacked the very root. It was therefore necessary that strong and
incisive teaching out of the Word of God be brought to overcome such fatal opposition
and these sermons used the sword of the Word in this struggle to a successful end so that
the truth was maintained, and of the apostate many came hack upon their painful
disenchantment, while others remained excommunicated.
Brother Froehlich's activities fell in that time when freedom of faith and conscience
dawned upon the nations of nominal Christendom (Revelations 3 :8) :
"I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not
denied my name."
which he believed was the "Then" in the Savior's parable, "Then shall the kingdom of
Page 26 of 1977
heaven be likened unto ten virgins which . . . went forth to meet the bridegroom
(Matthew 25:1 ff.)." The candlestick was re* The title "Brother" is generally omitted for the sake of brevity.
i
established upon its place on the continent of Europe where the light had flickered out
for the descendants of those who in previous centuries were true witnesses.
Froehlich knew whereof he spoke concerning the established state church for he had
been an integral part of it in every sense of the word, and then by the grace of God saw
the light of the truth. He appeared in the time of the beginning of freedom of religion
and conscience, when so-called Christendom had fallen into degeneracy and the State
Protestant and Catholic Churches dominated the governments of Europe, to teach anew
the true Gospel of Jesus Christ as it was taught by the apostles. He had been planted, so
to speak, in the very soil of the Protestant state church and although his conversion in it
was not brought about by it, yet thereafter he was still in, though not of, it and thus it
became the field of his missionary effort. In this encounter, the mission of bringing the
Gospel into the field of the great false churches of false Christianity, which had already
been elevated to the position of the state religion in the beginning of the fourth century,
he was a pioneer of his time.
Early Life and Conversion
Samuel Heinrich Froehlich, the son of a sexton, descended from a Hugenot (French
Protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries) family, by the name of DeJoyeau, a French
word meaning "the joyful," who lived in France. When Louis XIV revoked the Edict of
Nantes under which the Hugenots were allowed to live in France, and after St.
Bartholomews Night (August 24, 1572) when many thousands of Protestants were
massacred, the remaining families fled in all directions. The DeJoyeau family sought
refuge in Switzerland where the name was later translated into "Froehlich" ("joyful").
In a letter to the English Continental Society of London, England, written in November
1831 (after his expulsion from the state church), making application for an assignment
as an itinerant preacher in the Rhine Country, S. H. Froehlich gave a detailed account of
his awakening and conversion (below). It is felt that since what Froehlich received from
the Lord was by revelation, this account, besides being helpful to souls seeking God
among us who heavily feel the burden of their sins and their separation from God, may
enable souls outside the activities of our congregations, who are entirely unfamiliar with
Page 27 of 1977
their teachings and to whom this would be a new message, to understand to the full
extent what conversion by reconciliation and regeneration
ii
means (for whom the publication of these writings is as well intended). Further, it is
hoped that this account may set aright those who confess having gone through
conversion, as to any benefit to be expected from a so-called theological education, to
better prepare them to work for the Lord. Also that it may clearly show that one must be
accepted by Christ as well as to accept Him himself, and that there is no such acceptance
without conversion and baptism. In the letter above- mentioned, he wrote, in part:
"As to my outward circumstances, I was born July 4, 1803, in Brugg, a small municipal
city of the Swiss Canton of Aargau. From my youth, the idea of devoting myself to the
ministry was made so much a matter of course by my parents that I never considered
anything else, although I did not in the slightest degree feel the great importance and
responsibility of the vocation and still less did I realize what was required to fulfill the
duties of the office which preaches reconciliation. Much rather was I to learn it in the
way of a trade instead of a profession.
1820 - 1823
Accordingly I was instructed in the necessary rudiments for this purpose in the school in
my native city, up to my 17th year and was advanced to the extent that upon my removal
at Zuerich on New Years Day 1820, I was not only at once taken into the Collegium
Humanitatis, but also, contrary to custom, after a year's course, promoted to the
Gymnasium Carolinum.
According to the practice there, in the following years I progressed class by class and
pursued my studies mechanically, without spirit or life, indeed without any real interest,
however not without absorbing the principles of theology and rationalism from the
teachings of Dr. Schulthess and others, although quite unnoticed and unconscious
thereof. When I came home on vacation with my head full of fancies, I caused my godfearing mother, who is now dead, many tears and even paraded with bare-faced fluency
the glories of the new teaching, "That there was no devil, no hell," etc.
In the four years of my stay at Zuerich I advanced thus far that I should enter the actual
class of theology, but I preferred to go to Basel to study theology in the newly organized
university under the still famous name of Dewette, and others. That was in the latter part
of the year 1823.
In the meantime the might of SIN and the power of DEATH had grown up hand in hand
Page 28 of 1977
with UNBELIF , since it cannot fail that where the head of the old serpent rises, its
members also rise and, of necessity,
iii
stir. I became enwrapped and entangled in such a horror of sin that I shudder now when I
think of it, and the saddest of all was that in accordance with my very principles I could
pass over it so lightly and so easily quiet and deceive myself, that I could even formally
say to myself, "That which I am doing is not sin."
O woe unto me, if God had been a man or had dealt with me as a man ! He would have
shattered me as a potter's vessel. Nevertheless, at one time during this period, I preached
on Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God . . . ," from which I now
comprehend what all the so-called beautiful sermons of the Rationalists amount to!
Fortunately, this was my first and last sermon in this state of ignorance.
Soon after I went to Basel. However the hour of my enlightenment and release from the
dominion of darkness had not yet come. Even deeper was I destined to fall into the
depths of Satan. For fully another year and a half I lived without God and without the
knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ and of myself. What Schulthess begun in Zuerich
was completed by DeWette in Basel. I became utterly carried away by the idealism with
which he treated the scriptures. I thought that this was the true way and was sorry only
that I did not have the wings to follow him in his flight. I honored him almost as a god. I
felt no need of the LIVING God and had no thought of conversion from my sins.
During my stay in Zuerich I also entirely neglected prayer, even the mechanical prayer
learned from childhood seemed ridiculous. In Basel, "Witschels Morning and Evening
Sacrifice" appealed to my taste, not so much for the sake of prayer, but because it
appealed to my idealism and-with all my sins-I wished to be pious. For that purpose
those were the right "sacrifices" that cost nothing. My benighted spirit had by way of
Basel the opportunity to cultivate and develop itself more. There were among the
students some who belonged to the Community of Brethren. These were distatestful to
me from their very name, without knowing any other cause. It was a blind zeal like that
of Saul. I became a scoffer, a slanderer and a blasphemer.
On my transfer to Basel I was commended by the State Rector of my native city to the
courtesy of one of his friends in Basel, Pastor P. He received me in a very friendly
manner and introduced me into a society of long standing composed of young students
who met every Thursday evening to read and discuss the Greek New Testament. Of
these students the most were inclined toward the Community of Brethren. For this very
reason I felt uncomfortable among them and in everything became an opponent. When
they finally decided to begin
Page 29 of 1977
iv
and close the hour with song and prayer, I became angry and stayed away and also made
others desert them, so that gradually the class almost disbanded, until after my
conversion when it was again brought to renewed life and blessing.
Nevertheless, the true God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ was not alone in His
exceeding patience and longsuffering in bearing with me in this time of my blindness,
for this beloved Pastor P. was tireless in his endurance with me. As often as I visited
with him (which was not very frequently) he greeted me with the question, "Well, how
are things going in the most important matter of all?" What he meant by this and what
the most important matter of all was, I could not imagine. Each time I became
embarrassed and still did not wish to let him notice it.
April 6, 1824
Once however when he asked me again as to the most important matter of all, I could
not help but ask him the counter-question, what he meant by this. The dear pastor almost
laughed at this question, but he composed himself, grasped the opportunity and began to
preach to me of repentance to God, knowledge of one's self, faith in Christ, etc. But he
preached to deaf ears. I understood not a word of all he said. His sermon seemed in part
foolish to me, in part vexatious.
Yet I was honest enough to write down at home in my diary the main thought which had
stayed with me and as it still stands there under date of April 6, 1824, namely: "Through
the knowledge of God, man comes to the knowledge of self ; that is the truth which
Christ taught us and to which we arrive only through repentance." But that was all and
besides I do not know whether I wrote it correctly or not, for the sinner does not attain to
self-knowledge through knowledge of God, but much more the reverse : "Through the
knowledge of self, one comes to the knowledge of God ( John 16 :8)."
"And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment:"
From that day on however, a whole year passed before I felt the slightest trace of this
knowledge of self, and from the above it is clear that if the grace of God wished to make
something of me to His glory, it certainly had in me the greatest of all sinners, a fit
object in whom to manifest, even in me, the greatest riches of the patience and pity of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that I in turn should have pity towards my brethren in the flesh
Page 30 of 1977
who still wander in error along the course of this
v
world and after the prince of darkness. Finally, it pleased God well to awaken me from
the sleep of death. He passed by me and saw me lying in my blood. He said to me as I
thus lay in my blood, "Thou shalt live (Ezekiel 16 :6) !"
April, 1825
It was in the month of April 1825 when I was spending my Easter vacation in Brugg. All
the circumstances are as fresh in my mind today as if it had happened yesterday. I cannot
however recall that there were many previous preparations or any special circumstances
to work towards it. A very soft voice, which was neither terrifying nor depressing but
nevertheless very convincing and penetrating, spoke in the depth of my soul, "It cannot
remain thus with thee. Thou must change!" And at the same time it drew me irresistibly
onward. I knelt for the first time before the hidden God and with uplifted hands
solemnly gave the vow of fidelity, that from now on it must be different with me.
True, I did not as yet grasp and understand correctly what I said. Indeed I also did not as
yet know the Lord Jesus Christ and the necessity for His atonement and redemption, for
it was not yet the burden of my load of sin which had driven me to the Savior of Sinners,
but merely the conviction, "Thou must change; otherwise thou canst not become a
minister."
From now on, with all earnestness and might I wished to shun sin, which I now
recognized as sin, and knew not that it did not lie within my power to overcome a
mastery which had for so long bound me with chains of darkness. But it was as if the
Lord, to Whom I had made my vow, had taken me at my word, although it was really He
Who had taken me by my hand and with all His goodness drawn me to Him.
Beginning with this day the whole scene changed. He never left me. I found rest and
peace nowhere. My whole body, indeed the whole world, became too narrow for me. I
sought for something which should fill the endless emptiness which had now arisen in
my soul and I did not find it. I went out into mountain and forest, knelt and prayed and
cried out in lonesome places. My whole being was longing, sorrowfulness and anxiety. I
sought the Lord Jesus Christ with ardent fervor and many tears. That was the first period
of my awakening.
Page 31 of 1977
The first piece of literature that fell into my hands was Fenelon's Religious Works,
translated by Claudius. In it I found for the first time a name for my spiritual condition,
for up to this time I had been an inexplicable riddle to myself and I did not know what
was to become of me. Therefore it was, in a measure, a consolation to see that others had
vi
experienced similar things. Especially did I believe to recognize myself in the 14th
chapter of the first part, which bears the superscription, "Concerning the inner workings
of God, to bring man back to the true end for which He created us." As yet I was far
from seeking to be represented therein; it was Another Who did lead me and He led me
into an extraordinarily difficult and dark path.
Now for the first time my suffering began. What I had to go through from now on, in a
literal sense, is inexpressible. Everything that fire and water, hammer or sword may
bring about, is as nothing compared with the unfathomable sea of trouble and misery
wherein I thought I must sink. I wept night and day and writhed like a worm in the dust
when it is trodden upon. Had I had authority over myself, I would often have taken my
life through anguish and despair. But the Lord held me in His hand in such a way that I
could not move. The price that I paid was a higher one than this earthly life. Like Job I
lay in the dust. In no human being, in no friend could I confide, nor could I reveal
myself to anyone. All theological or rationalistic lectures became an abomination to me
for I was now in another school.
All my letters of that time bear the stamp of my inner condition. My sisters feared that I
was losing my mind because the tone of my letters was radically different from what it
had previously been. They consisted for the most part of scriptural passages. For a long
time I remained in this fiery furnace until at length faith in Jesus Christ the Crucified
brought me rest, peace and light, and made place within me for a new creation.
From then on Jesus Christ was the center of my whole life and sphere of activity.
However I was kept constantly under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, for not until now
did the struggle against my old nature and against the law of sin, which dwelt in my very
members, become serious. But even with all my new transgressions, the faithfulness of
the Lord did not forsake me. Both of these things, my sins and His grace, humbled me
greatly.
October 1825
That was my last half year in Basel and the second period of my conversion from
Page 32 of 1977
darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. And so after a stay of two years in
Basel, I was obliged to return to my home principally for economic reasons, in October
1825. Here in my father's house a new school or period of my life began, in which I was
to be further trained, developed, strengthened, invigorated and grounded so that I should
not enter as a novice into the important office which preaches atonement.
vii
1826
Here I applied for the examination as a candidate for the Ministry, which was postponed
to the following Spring 1826. At the request of my parents I preached for the first time in
my native Brugg, the Sunday before Christmas, and met with such general approval that
I should have become anxious and afraid if the honor of the Lord had not counted for
more with me than all personal vainglory among men. I did not again preach here until
Good Friday 1826, and that proved to be a veritable Good Friday for me. Instead of
expressions of praise, I reaped only ridicule and reproach. It produced an entirely
different effect from the praises I had received; it was necessary and wholesome for me.
Now for two entire years there came over me fiery tribulations that are beyond
description. Only He Who knows the heart, knows what I suffered through it. I preached
Christ here, there and everywhere in the country. But in every minister who allowed me
to preach I gained a new opponent. With such preparation and forebodings I approached
my examination.
The principles which I brought to light in the compositions made such an unfavorable
impression upon the members of the church council that I failed in the examination and
was put back a year. The Lord had resolved upon this also for my further testing and
purification.
In the course of this year, oppression and misery often rose to the extreme, both from
within and from without. After a sermon which I was compelled to preach in September
1826, in a church of a member of the church council, among other things he wrote to my
parents, who were already troubled and dissatisfied because of my set-back : "It is bad
and dangerous (and this impressed the whole church council at the trial sermon) that
your son is not on the right road with regard to his doctrine and teaching, and in all
sincerity he should be advised to enter upon a better course, if he wishes to be accepted
into the Ministry and is to make the proper success of his future calling. On this point I
gave him my opinion in a friendly and earnest way. Now it depends upon whether he
will give ear to good counsel. In any case he will do well if he will soon present new
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sermons composed in a different spirit." That was the occasion that also in my case the
saying should be fulfilled : "A man's enemies will be the members of his own
household."
From this quarter, too, they now began to vehemently urge upon me that I should preach
in a different manner and indeed like others so that I be not excluded from the Ministry
entirely. I however could not say a word in answer to this. In the midst of these blows
and storms,
viii
I had to keep still like a lamb that is led to slaughter, like a sheep which is dumb before
its shearer. The Lord however, amidst all these attacks of the foe, still gave me patience
and courage to endure everything. Yes, even death rather than abandon the recognized
and experienced truth.
With all this my body was not spared. In that very month of September 1826, I had a
sudden attack of sharp pain in the chest, so violent that I could hardly draw a breath and
for many days seemed near death. That was followed, for an entire year, by cramps in
the chest and most difficult respiration. But never did I experience more vividly in my
heart the unspeakable friendliness of the Lord Jesus than just at this time, toward the end
of the year 1826. Without doubt it was to strengthen and prepare me for the ensuing
darkness and the storms of opposition." (End of quotations from Froehlich's letter
aforementioned, November 1831.)
Chronology (Beginning in 1827)
The first period in the conversion of S. H. Froehlich was one of an awakening (in April
1825), the second, one of being brought from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan to God (in October of the same year). There was an interim of seven years from
the time of his conversion to his baptism in 1832.
On May 27, 1827, Froehlich was confirmed for the Ministry in the Protestant state
church after repeated examinations. Of this acceptance he wrote that it was brought
about through no fault of his. After waiting for some time he became parish
administrator of the congregation Leutwil (Aargau). There was still no thought of a
position and his suffering continued for another year, inwardly and outwardly, until
Easter 1828, when he received an assignment as tutor in a private family near
Schaffhausen.
It was not until his transfer to the vicariate of the Probstei Wagenhausen (Thurgau) in
Page 34 of 1977
August 1828, that an essential change in him took place. There his spirit became a thing
of life and he felt in his element.
In December 1828, he accepted a call as vicar to the congregation at Leutwil. The hand
of the Lord was with him and gave his word such power that the testimony of the
Crucified Savior pierced the hearts of the hearers like a two-edged sword and called
forth a great awakening in the congregation of 1,800 souls and the once poorly attended
church was now crowded. The evil one could no longer look on passively. He was
ix
accused of attracting members from neighboring parishes, but he remained for two years
without taking fright at the threatenings. The adversaries of the Gospel however sought
after reasons to put away this new preacher who was in their path.
At Easter 1830, the church council introduced, in place of the old Heidelberg Catechism,
a new rationalistic one for the instruction of children. After examination of the book,
Froehlich could not persuade himself to use it because, instead of a positive faith in
Christ, it laid a foundation for nature- or reason-religion. Because of this and other
trumped up charges of arbitrariness he was haled before the church council on
September 27, 1830. He defended himself and held his ground on the basis of his
conviction and was, for the time being, being dismissed without a decision from the
hearing.
Removal from Ministry of Protestant State Church
As two Basel divines, who had been sent privately to investigate and persuade him,
could achieve nothing, the church council recognized the futility of its efforts. With
reference to his removal, Froehlich wrote (to his beloved congregation in Leutwil) : "My
deposal was revealed to me by the church council without further ado on October 22,
1830, and, in fact, so quickly that I had no opportunity to preach a real farewell sermon.
Accompanied by many thousand tears and good wishes I went my way on October
25th." A teaching which demanded regeneration through repentance, faith and baptism,
was bound to call forth opposition from the consistory, which suffered from dead
formalism.
On June 4, 1831, Froehlich was called before the district magistrate of Brugg, who gave
him the following decisions of the Aargau government:
1. He is removed from the list of the Aargau clergy;
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2. All churchly functions, i.e., teaching, baptism, holy communion, are strictly
forbidden him;
3. All officers of the Canton, Protestant and Catholic, have received strict orders, if
he enters their jurisdiction, to have him arrested and reprimanded and sent back to
his home (state-church) congregation.
The breach with the state church was thus made final. What shall he do now? Submit or
assert himself against the whole power of darkness ? His inner conviction no longer
permitted him to practise infant baptism, at which, according to the old liturgy, the
baptismal candidate is adx
dressed by name and asked five questions. These questions the sponsors answered in the
name and in the stead of the child. First question: Do you renounce the devil and all his
works and all his ways. Answer: Yes, I renounce. Second question: Do you believe in
God the Father, etc.? Answer : Yes, I believe. Third question: Do you believe in Jesus
Christ ? Answer: Yes, I believe. Fourth question : Do you believe in the Holy Ghost?
Answer: Yes, I believe. Fifth question: Will you be baptized in this Christian faith ?
Answer: Yes, I will.
Froehlich wrote: "This play with holy things I could no longer carry on in my
conviction." For this reason it was no longer possible for him to be a clergyman in the
state church. He strives after clarity and unceasingly brings his need and desire to God in
prayer.
New Beginning
Froehlich returned to his paternal home in Brugg, where he, for a year, quietly prepared
himself for the work God had appointed for him. It seemed to him that he was being
sifted like wheat and, like Joseph in prison, was waiting for the Lord's deliverance. But
he could not remain inactive for one cannot stop a living spring.
An invitation to Wilhelmsdorf in Wuerttemberg, Germany, seemed a sign from heaven
for him and he preached there for a congregation that had separated from the state
church (1831). However this church was not receptive to his doctrine for it clung to
infant baptism and had gone out from the state church only on account of the liturgical
baptismal formula.
In this new beginning, Froehlich served several families at various places as private
Page 36 of 1977
tutor. In addition, he associated with the old Baptists (Mennonites) and preached in their
circles in 1831, and kept in contact with his former congregation at Leutwil.
Continental Society in London
Through a preacher in Frankfort on Main, Froehlich learned to know the Continental
Society of London which supported ministers and teachers. One of these who had been
expelled from the state church, Pastor Bost, was active in Geneva. Through his
mediation Froehlich offered himself for a diaspora-preaching place in the Rhineland in
1831.
In February 1832, Froehlich was baptized at the hands of Bost in Geneva and thereupon,
at private meetings, proclaimed the true Gospel
xi
here and there. He pointed men to Christ for repentance, faith and baptism according to
the words of Christ, as the first Christians had done.
On January 9, 1836, Froehlich wrote: "It never entered my mind that I should found a
sect here on earth, rather it was and is my purpose to gather children to God. If I could
not place my confidence in the Lord my God, that He has called me to His Gospel, I
would indeed repent to have begun something on which the Lord could not place His
blessing or with which He could not be pleased. Now, however, I placed myself wholly
into His hands that He might lead me according to His good pleasure."
Evangelization
FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN AARGAU
Froehlich began his missionary work in Leutwil, his former congregation. Hardly had
the news spread that he was there when from 200 to 300 persons gathered every evening
that he might preach the Word of Christ to them. Some also came to spy on him ; the
majority however from desire. Within a week many hearers, whom he had instructed
before and in whom God had prepared the way, requested baptism. Froehlich examined
them carefully to be convinced of the uprightness of their faith and of their knowledge,
and admonished them to count the cost of following Christ. Then he baptized them
according to the instruction of the Lord and on Palm Sunday he could celebrate the
Lord's Supper with 38 members for the first time.
Meanwhile the foe was not idle. When many were gathered together, a gendarme
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appeared and ordered that all who had sheltered Froehlich must appear before the
district magistrate. As Froehlich did not permit himself to be intimidated and continued
to preach the good tidings, a summons followed and he was told to leave the village at
once and to return to his native Brugg. In vain did he refer to the highest Aargau court
and traveled to Aargau to the magistrate. He was dismissed with a warning.
Later on, a gendarme dragged Froehlich out of a meeting and brought him to the
magistrate at Lenzburg. In answer to the question, "Who had commanded you to
preach ?" his reply was, calmly: "Christ." The angry official raised his hand to strike him
but withdrew it under a stream of profanity. Finally he tore his clothes and emptied his
pockets in order to find his books; then he ordered the gendarme to put him in prison.
When Froehlich appealed to the fact that the magisxii
trate at Aargau had not arrested him, he was finally allowed to go free, and began his
wearisome journey to Brugg.
SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN THE CANTON BERNE
As it seemed impossible to be active further in Aargau, Froehlich once more turned to
Pastor Bost at Geneva: "I have been declared scot- free. In Aargau I was arrested and
banned. Where shall I go?" In the mission field he felt himself a beginner and a novice.
He would like to go with Paul to learn of him "how with simplicity and shrewdness the
Gospel might best be spread."
The new constitution gave religious freedom and freedom of conscience. When
Froehlich appealed to it before the officials, he was told that he may believe what he
chooses but that he cannot convey it to
others.
In July 1832, Froehlich journeyed to Berne to meet with Bost. But he had departed
because those who would prevent the interview had informed him that Froehlich was
behind bars in Aargau. That the wearisome and costly journey might not have been
undertaken in vain, Froehlich resolved to go on a missionary journey from Berne.
Page 38 of 1977
THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY IN EMMENTAL
On August 11, 1832, Froehlich made contact by letter with Christian Gerber, Langnau in
Emmental, elder of the Baptist Church there, whom he had never seen, but of whom he
had been told. The agreement of their views on baptism attracted him thither.
Ten days later he himself traveled to Langnau and visited Christian Gerber, who then
was nearly seventy years old. At a meeting of all the deacons, Froehlich laid before them
by way of introduction, a copy of the letter to the English Continental Society in which
he, on May 14th of that year, had answered six questions. (For questions and answers
see "Individual Letters and Meditations," S. H. Froehlich. Copy obtainable upon request
to Apostolic Christian Publishing Company, 1327 West Colvin Street, Syracuse, New
York.) The gathering seemed to be agreed with these explanations.
Froehlich held daily meetings in the area, mostly accompanied by the elder of the
church. The attendance grew larger and larger and on Sunday, September 2nd, the
number of hearers at Langnau was between four and five hundred. According to the
custom of the time he preached for three hours. The word is not without fruit but the foe
senses the danger. On the following morning the state church pastor raised his
xiii
voice in warning in a meeting of the citizens. Despite the fact that a deacon who was
present, defended the accused fearlessly, Froehlich was haled before the magistrate, who
decided after a brief hearing that Froehlich was to leave the territory within 24 hours.
Back at Brugg, Froehlich could not, in spite of the prohibition, keep from visiting the
persecuted churches in Aargau. In Leutwil where there were 45 baptized souls, a penalty
had been placed upon anyone who would permit the meeting in their homes. "We have a
great cloud of witnesses before us, who, for the sake of freedom in Christ, were ready to
sacrifice goods and blood, whose imitators we should be in patience and faith," he wrote
on September 24, 1832.
FOURTH MISSIONARY JOURNEY TO ZUERICH AND EAST SWITZERLAND
In October 1832, Froehlich began his activity in Zuerich, where two of his sisters lived.
They were, as yet, undecided to go his way, but they were no longer offended by him.
He found no hearing however with his former acquaintances.
Great was the joy of seeing one another again when he, in Canton Thurgau, visited the
congregation Wagenhausen at Stein on the Rhine where he had served as vicar four
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years before. Although the teaching of the baptism of believers met with opposition, he
parted from them in the good hope that they would finally find the way.
In St. Gall also he met with opposition on account of baptism, while he found many
receptive hearts in Herisau. On November 21, 1832, he reached Wattwil, where a year
before a simple laborer, Adolf, of Zuerich, who was active for the kingdom of God, had
worked, and after his expulsion by the authorities, had left many awakened ones behind.
Here Froehlich remained several weeks, in which he held meetings and strengthened the
knowledge of the baptism of faith, and deepened it. In Hauptwil (Thurgau), where he
had never been, he learned to know the Brunschwiler family, who sought after divine
truth and who was deeply touched by his word and teaching about the baptism of faith.
A daughter of this family, Susette, he chose, in 1836, as his life's Partner.
London
In Hauptwil, Froehlich received an invitation from the Continental Society of London
for a visit of three months. First he concluded his visits and then returned to his home.
At the end of January 1833, Froehlich went to London where he stayed almost five
months. The
xiv
journey led him, instead of as he had at first anticipated, down the Rhine over Antwerp,
via Paris. In the archives of the "Strict Baptist Church," which upheld the baptism of
faith, there are records of his stay. Froehlich felt himself very lonely in the world
metropolis London, like Elias on Mt. Horeb, and wrote: "Behold, what doest thou here
in England? I do not rightly know why I have come here, and yet I was called thither,
and by the will and guidance of the Lord. I have been zealous for the Lord, and I am
here now, and wait as to what I am to do."
As much as Froehlich treasured it to have support ($100.00 per year), he saw that this
was bound up with difficulties. The Continental Society was now suffering from
financial cares, so that it was not in position to support him nor to pay I3ost's salary in
Geneva. On its advice he returned to the continent to work, "where the Gospel is not
known or preached and where one may find tolerance and entry." The recommendation
that the zealous missionary might work in Strassburg, as only in France was the freedom
of preaching the Gospel allowed, cannot be followed as settling there (likely for political
reasons) was not possible. Froehlich returned to Brugg.
Page 40 of 1977
Return
Boldly Froehlich once more took up his work in his native city after his London visit, in
midyear 1833. During his absence two brethren from Wuerttemberg, Germany, had
directed the congregations in Aargau. One of these had been arrested at a meeting, the
other during a visitation of the sick, and had been held for weeks in the Lenzburg prison.
In September 1833, both were brought to the border; their personal property was sold at
public auction to defray the costs.
A Berne brother was banned from the Canton Aargau and moved to Toggenburg, from
where he sent an urgent call to Froehlich as several souls longed for baptism. "Bitter
experiences have taught me not to be too hasty in this matter," he wrote in September
1833 in his diary, "for some whom we have baptized, have apostatized when Satan
started to rage. Everyone who permits himself to be baptized must be ready, not alone to
receive the blessings of the Cross of Christ, but also to take up the Cross of Christ."
Storms
In the beginning of October of the same year, 1833, a message came from the English
Continental Society that for lack of funds it
xv
had to be dissolved. Froehlich did not allow himself to become discouraged on this
account. Bravely he started out on a journey through Aargau, to Suhr, Rupperswil,
Hunzenschwil, Schafisheim, Aesch and Teufental. He held meetings everywhere, despite
the persecutions that followed him at every step. "As long as I kept silent I was left
alone, as soon as I began to testify of Christ persecution came." For the first time three
elders were ordained to serve the churches in Aargau.
In Hauptwil (Thurgau) also, where Froehlich continued the work which had been begun,
the Word found response. The meetings were attended by 200 persons and by the
beginning of the year 1834, the number of baptisms had risen to 60. This development
was bound to bring the opponents to the fore. There were public warnings from the
pulpits, also threats, and the newspapers descried the enthusiasts and sectarians. The
participants at the meetings were manhandled to the shedding of blood with stones and
sticks. Twelve state church pastors demanded the removal of Froehlich out of Hauptwil.
At the end of February, a mob of several hundred people destroyed a house, the
inhabitants of which barely saved their lives.
Now the storm broke loose generally. All newspapers brought reports so that Froehlich
Page 41 of 1977
became known and was reviled throughout Switzerland. He had to flee from Thurgau
and on his passport it was noted that he had been expelled as a sectarian. Now the police
watched him wherever he went.
The persecutions which Brother Froehlich encountered and endured continually were
intensive and appalling, and are only briefly touched upon in this Introduction. They are
given quite extensively in his diaries.
Extension
The persecutions brought Froehlich in October 1832 to Zuerich to his sisters where he
could remain a week. In Zuerich the truth began to find a way. The movement spread
farther and farther through Froehlich's tireless activity and reached over into other areas.
Even the newspapers could not stop this, though they agitated: "The sect of the Rebaptizers is growing in the Cantons of St. Gall, Appenzell, Thurgau, and Zuerich," and
publicly called upon the government of the Canton Aargau to prevent the "dangerous
sectarian" S. H. Froehlich from moving about. In Appenzell believers were beaten till
blood flowed and fined up to 100 gold pieces, a large amount at that time.
In his addresses and talks, Froehlich used an earnest, clear and
xvi
positive speech, which awakened the lukewarm and chastened the opponents of the
truth. This led to a decision of the spirits; the one to repentance, the other to enmity.
Expulsions and Departure
Early in 1837, Froehlich was forced to the realization that he could not remain long in
his native city as his marriage took place without state-church copulation, being blessed
however by the united prayer of the congregation at Hauptwil. As this was not according
to state-church order, its validity was not recognized by the civil authorities. The home
(state-church) congregation at Brugg denied the young woman the right to be received
into citizenship, although the publication of the banns had taken place, and the marriage
sanction, the marriage certificate and the immigration sanction had been granted. All
petitions to the authorities of Cantons Aargau and Thurgau, as well as an interview with
the federal president at Berne, to obtain recognition of the marriage were without result.
On March 20,1843, Froehlich was expelled from the city of Zuerich as a sectarian, five
months after the completion of the series of sermons on the Epistles of John. He
appealed, but this was denied on April 10th, after an interim of five days. He traveled to
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Wil, Hauptwil and later to St. Gall, where his family visited him by day. It was
impossible for him to stay in Hauptwil as a reward had been offered for his capture. On
June 27th he was also expelled from St. Gall. He fled by night to Rapperswil and sought
refuge at Hirzel, a small village on Zuerich See.
In June 1844, Froehlich made one more attempt in Brugg to bring his marriage papers in
order. He was told that the marriage could be recognized only if he would allow the
baptism and confirmation of his children. As his conscience forbade this, there was
nothing else to do than leave his fatherland altogether and settle in Strassburg, where, at
last, he had in prospect to find a homestead. For the time being he could not take his
family along; that was not possible until June 1846, when he finally succeeded in
obtaining legal recognition of his civil marriage and then after seven years of enforced
separation he was united with his family in a home in Strassburg. Although Froehlich
could achieve nothing for himself in Switzerland for legal recognition of his marriage,
yet he was a pioneer with respect to it for others in a matter which weighed down so
heavily upon the believers.
xvii
Determination
The brotherhood met in the Rohr July 10, 1843, to make petition or the recognition of
their society. They resolved that the congregations should hold fast to their principles
according to the Word of God, and to carry them out whatever the cost might be.
Opposition was asserting itself everywhere. Yet it was not possible to repel the light that
had appeared. The good seed had been sown and had brought forth its fruits.
As he had been expelled from the Canton Zuerich in September 1843, he could not abide
in one place very long in order not to expose himself to arrest and punishment. In his
distress, Froehlich remembered the advice given him ten years before in London to settle
in Strassburg where there was freedom of speech. This course he now took.
Froehlich's departure was a severe temptation for the congregations in Switzerland. In
the storms of those years his experience was invaluable. An active correspondence
shortened the distance that separated then, whereby the messenger service of traveling or
visiting brethren was utilized. Of one of these trips, it is reported that he carried a
package of 70 letters. By means of mutual visits the bond was kept dose and especially
were the various extended journeys which Froehlich made from his new home into
Switzerland a blessing and joy to the churches.
Typical of the depth of his letters, we give here excerpts from letters written In
September 1856, a few months before his death:
Page 43 of 1977
Zuerich, September 3-6, 1856, To the Church in Berne.
I have received an invitation to a conference of Baptist preachers from Germany, France
and Switzerland which will be held here from the 4th to the 8th of this month. It
concerns the union of all the various and separated parties among the Baptists. However,
as this union could be only an outward one, without the inner one of the Spirit of Christ
and the truth, I cannot take part in the conference and have therefore written them a
detailed reply outlining my reasons for declining.
Such a formal union would have the result that we would have to allow all such who
differ with us in doctrine to teach in our meetings for thus they expressly write: “That
the various bodies, regardless of the differences of their views, ought to work together
for the one great purpose of the kingdom of God.” Thus the matter has a good
appearance and a fine title, but in itself a destructive character and poison.
Is it according to the apostolic rule and evangelical truth that men of the most varied
opinions and views should unite themselves for one purpose in the kingdom of God? Is
not that Satan in the form of an angel of light? I believe that here applies our Savior's
warning that in the last days the seduction would be so subtle that if it were possible
even the elect would be drawn into error.
--------------------------We can insist upon nothing so much as that all brethren in the Lord be of one mind,
endowed with one doctrine, and here it is declared that this difference has nothing to do
with the working together in the kingdom of God.
I am therefore writing you this, that if anyone should trouble you about it, you may
know the true state of affairs. For, for example, the Brothers L....... received the
invitation before I did and were willing to accept it and to attend the conference, until I
came here.
To me, my life in itself is not precious. However, I rejoice if the Lord, through me, does
things for the comfort and well-being of the brethren; for the church is everything to me
and for her I will present what I am able to do and I also would be presented as a
sacrifice if it is the will of our Father in Heaven.
All is grace and Christ does everything for His Father's sake, to the glory of His name,
when He bestows gifts and powers to His servants and messengers. For it concerns the
destruction of Satan's kingdom and rule on this earth and the restoration of God's
kingdom and glory. To this end the Son came and paved the way to victory by His
victory. It may be gradual, slow, as long as the Gospel is preached, and much is done in
a false guise that should have prestige as if it were for God's kingdom and the hurt of
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Adam were healed (in the easiest way), as if nothing else were necessary than to just
believe, but if the whole world remains in enmity against God in the disposition of the
flesh, that amounts to nothing.
Zuerich (Thursday), September 4, 1856: Letter to Baptist Preachers'
Conference.
To the honorable Baptist Preachers' Conference, esteemed Friends:
You have honored me with a written invitation to your conference. But as I am not in
position to accept this invitation, I at least feel myself obligated to reply to your letter,
giving a few reasons. First and in general, I have a poor opinion of the benefit and
results of such conferences, especially as they concern the truth and the kingdom of
God. They remind me too much of the erstwhile church synods and councils where men
desired to replace the missing truth by means of human inventions and wisdom, to great
harm of the truth and the church of God. For just as there is only one truth, so also is the
true church in itself just one, and this oneness (unity) has not to first be discovered or
established by means of conferences.
Here the words of the prayer of the Lord (John 17:21) do no at all apply, for Jesus did
not pray the Father that many existing organizations, each resting on its own foundation,
might be merged into one, for under none of these organizations could another
foundation be laid than that on which it already rests. Rather this was the prayer of the
Son, that all who are converted to Him and, through the word of the apostles, become
believers on Him, be completely one, even as He and the Father are truly one. This unity
is accordingly given and exists in the true faith (by virtue of this intercession of Jesus)
and should not first be achieved later on, between various separately-established
organizations by means of conferences and all sorts of human endeavor.
On the basis of the divine truth therefore, such an intended union is impossible because
the divine truth is not the foundation of these individual organizations, otherwise one
would not primarily have to bring it into existence artificially. If a church rests on the
foundation of the truth it will not afterwards confer with other organizations, otherwise it
would mix the truth with strange additions and errors, and what is worse, no
organization resting on a foundation of error is inclined to relinquish its false principles.
How is it possible then to have a union based on the truth? Where the foundation is one
there the hearts are already one, and where the foundation is false, the individual hearts
must make a new beginning. Now many have already passed judgment on me, that my
foundation upon which I build the church, namely, my doctrine and my baptism are
wrong, in that I ascribe too much to baptism and do not permit baptism to be an opus
Page 45 of 1977
opera tum or a formal confession of the believer and that as a result I, for 25 years, teach
that he who by baptism is born again is no longer a sinner, but has become a child of
God in order to walk in a new life as a righteous and holy person, otherwise God would
be a father of sinners like the devil.
I maintain therefore, that every organization which teaches and believes that the man in
Christ is a sinner also, like the man in Adam (I John 3), stands on a false foundation.
And if they, under the circumstances, constitute a church ordained according to the Word
and will of the Lord, then I must deny this. No apostle of the Lord would acknowledge
them as such, inasmuch as they say that the various organizations, regardless of the
difference of their views, should work together for the kingdom of God.
In a true church of God one permits no difference of views to arise or to obtain. Unity
and agreement must exist even on points of minor importance, for just in this free choice
of views Satan has his sport and his playground and thereby the door is opened to error
(Phil. 3:15-18; I Cor. 14:35-38; I John 2:22-27; II John 10 and Titus 3 :10).*
Phil 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in
any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,
let us mind the same thing. 17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark
them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For many walk, of
whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the
enemies of the cross of Christ:
I Cor 14:35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at
home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. 36 What? came the
word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 37 If any man think
himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I
write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if any man be
ignorant, let him be ignorant.
I John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is
antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son,
the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the
Father also. 24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the
beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you,
ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise
that he hath promised us, even eternal life. 26 These things have I written unto
you concerning them that seduce you. 27 But the anointing which ye have
received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but
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as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie,
and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
II John 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive
him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
Titus 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition
reject;
Division is better than the union of unlike elements. In our last times the kingdom of
heaven is like unto ten virgins who cannot be united (made one) because of their inner
differences, even though there is apparently a formal unity in their endeavors. Each must
look out for herself; the end will reveal who was right and who was wrong.
By a formal union, all those who teach otherwise would have the right to teach in our
church, without the inner unity of the doctrine of Christ, and that shall not be.
I do not love strife and commit every strange servant unto the Lord. I however have
been judged of all and therefore say with Isaac (Genesis 26:27), “Wherefore come ye to
me, seeing ye hate me and have sent me away from you?”
-------------------------Finally, we would have to unite with such organizations that have accepted those who
departed from us or who were expelled, whereby they prove sufficiently that we do not
belong to one church, for the one church of Jesus Christ has not many entrances but only
one.
In general, different churches cannot become one in Christ, although the many local
churches in the time of the apostles were really only one church of Christ. This is my
answer and I now leave it to you as to what you may think of it. It is a matter of
indifference to me whether I am judged by you or in a human way. It is the Lord
however who judges me aright. To Him I commit the matter until He comes; then each
will receive the praise of God that is due him. This I know, that the true brotherly love
rests only on the truth as it is in Christ Jesus and I would not deceive myself with such
brotherly love. Where the truth is and conquers, there the community of saints is of itself
and without conferences.
*All these passages should he carefully read.
Samuel Froehlich's last words.
Samuel Heinrich Froehlich died January 15, 1857, aged 53 ½ years.
Page 47 of 1977
His last words:
“I shall die, Lord my God. Mayest Thou keep Thy holy ones from temptation
that is in the world, that they may not perish but abide in Thee, and give them
eternal life. For the prince of this world is prepared with his whole power of
darkness, and preachers of unrighteousness who seek to destroy Thy work, to
mislead Thy elect. Thou knowest that I have not sought glory before men but
only to further Thy glory and have declared Thy name before all, and have not
been ashamed of Thee and have fought until this hour.”
Then after speaking with Brother Weiler, who had watched at his bedside, about
experiences of faith and his fears, and about the congregations and his family, he
committed himself to the Lord, saying:
“. . . I do not regret our going out; we would and should let nothing frighten
us, and if all unite to honor God, then there is no enmity and no foreign spirit
can work among us. My soul is saved and I am comforted in the Lord.”
The special endowment which God gave to this faithful servant is still today our good!
An idea of Brother Froehlich's diligence is formed when one considers that in one year
he held up to 450 meetings, generally consecutively, chapter for chapter, verse for verse,
of various books of the Bible. Besides this he held many children's instruction meetings,
undertook visitations and tiring journeys, and annually wrote from 200 to 300 letters (in
duplicate) annually, and his diary. His diaries from 1827 to 1856 are extant with the
exception of that for 1839, and were put at our disposal by his family, for which we are
very grateful.
The mortal remains of Samuel Heinrich Froehlich were buried in Strassburg, where he
had taken refuge during the period of persecution. A simple grave-stone in the St. Helena
Cemetery, which stands to this day, marks the end of his earthly pilgrimage.
Page 48 of 1977
BAPTISMAL TRUTH
BAPTISMAL TRUTH
Title Page
The Salvation of Man through
the Baptism of Regeneration and
the Receiving of the Holy Spirit
A Scriptural Discourse
Concerning the Baptism in Christ
BY
S. H. FROEHLICH
V.D.M.
"Whoso readeth, let him understand"
Matt. 24:15
Apostolic Christian Publications
610 West Cruger
Eureka, Illinois
Copyright @1978 by Apostolic Christian Churches of America
CHAPTER I. EVIL THROUGH HUMAN ORDINANCE
Is IT not a highly peculiar and striking manifestation to observe that over and against the
old Catholic church three hundred years ago a new Protestant church was formed and
established. with the purpose, or with the pretext, to restore the Word of God, purified of
all human ordinances, to its original power and clearness; and yet it was not done then
nor since? The Protestants have protested against a few burdensome and superstitious
customs and doctrines, and the form experienced a re-form; but human beings did not
become new, were not converted from the internal darkness to the inner light, and from
the power of Satan to God. Thus the reformers have realized, that the evil came by
means of human ordinances, and that likewise salvation must come again by means of
the Word of God, by adherence and obedience to the commandments of Christ.
Page 49 of 1977
BAPTISMAL TRUTH
Whoever, e.g., has occasion to read Luther’s work on Confession, with reference to Ps.
119 (1521 A.D.), can convince himself thereby as to the correctness of the principle
which he there sets up.
We read among others, in Luther’s work: “Why has the prophet David done this, that in
so long a psalm, so often—namely 176 times—again and
7
again, though in different words, the same thing is discussed?" He himself answers,
namely that he might give a diligent warning, one that we might have before our eyes
daily, to be on our guard and to flee from human ordinance and commandments, as from
the greatest evil on this earth; for nothing glitters more prettily nor ruins more horribly,
as Christ also has said (Matt. 7: 15 and 15:7 ff; 16:5-12).
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves.
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying.
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with
their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men.
And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take
bread.
Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no
bread.
Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith. why
reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five
thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took
up?
How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning
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BAPTISMAL TRUTH
bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the
Sadducees?
Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of
bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
But this evil has made such deep and broad inroads and has brought all the world to the
erroneous
8
opinion, that everyone thinks the passages of this psalm, and others, militate only against
gross and public transgressions, and not against the Pope and the laws of the
ecclesiastics. And they have thereby dulled the sword, so that it can no longer cut; so
that now, not the scriptures, but the Papal law rules the world. Therefore, it is necessary
to try, by means of strong and incisive passages of Scriptures to drive such an ingrained
custom and deeply rooted error from the field, and to demonstrate their groundless
purpose and unjust tyranny; in order that we may once more teach and acknowledge,
that what God has not commanded is to be shunned, as Satan’s poison, even though
Pope or bishop, angel or devil, have established it. In Jeremiah 23:16, God says:
"Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you
vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of God." Behold,
all prophets that do not speak out of the mouth of God deceive, and God commands that
no one, at the risk of bringing on oneself the divine disfavor, shall hear them. How can
this truth be evaded? If you heard your Lo-rd say to you: "Who has commanded you to
do this? I did not command it,"—I believe that you would at least draw the conclusion
that you should not have done it, that you should have avoided it as though forbidden.
What then shall we do if the Divine Majesty declares: “Hear it not, it is not My
9
Word?"—Therefore, all human ordinances will surely be lying, deceiving, and
destroying. Further, "But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused My people to
hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil
of their doings." Hear therefore that God’s Word shall be given to the people to hear, and
that otherwise no one may be converted from the evil life to the good; His Word, not
man’s word, must do it. Why would God’s Word be necessary, if men’s teachings might
help us? What kind of God would that be, if His Word would not be sufficient and
required contribution or addition by men? Would it be fitting to divide the honor and the
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BAPTISMAL TRUTH
thanks and give it not to God alone, but also to the contributors? Now God’s Word is so
delicate that it can tolerate no contribution; it would be all or nothing. Had God simply
said, they should not instruct such; and had He not added, that it is not His command,
nor His Word; then someone might find an opening and say, thereby not everything is
rejected that is not God’s Word, but only that which is not evil and contrary to God’s
Word; and could thereby invent (as some have done) a mean between God’s Word and
false prophets. However the mean is hereby abolished and it is fully settled, that God’s
Word alone, and not human teaching shall rule among the people; for what He has not
commanded, advised or ordered, no one shall order or demand.
l0
Now these human ordinances were not evil, e.g.. the washing of hands, etc., why then
does Christ. with Isaiah, cast them from Him? What might be advanced to save the
human ordinances? I hold that Christ has here shown sufficiently how He desires to have
the commandment of men prohibited (Matt. 16). He Himself acted contrary to them and
taught and preached against them. Therefore, His example is to be followed in all things.
also in the contempt for human ordinances, if we would be true Christians.
Likewise, St. Paul (Rom. 16:16 ff) and St. Peter (II Peter 2) also speak of byways and
sects. which are nothing else than man’s teaching, contrary to God’s doctrine and ways;
and the more prettily they glitter, the worse they are. Solomon has given two parables
about this (Prov. 7 and 8) when he so diligently warns against the adulteress, who makes
her words sweet, and forsakes the master of her youth, forgetting the covenant with her
God; all of which is spoken of the last times. when Satan's church by means of man’s
ordinances misleads the true church of God. It is a parable and may not be said of a
physical adulteress, but it is rightly understood to mean human doctrine. He has rightly
seen that in the evening of the wor1d’s end, when the light of faith has gone down, and
nothing but ignorant and foolish people will be wandering astray on earth in outward
customs and appearance of holiness, that just
11
these people would be the right ones for this hussy, whose name is human doctrine and
wisdom, who praises herself, adorns herself, and promises much, and makes the way of
salvation easy.
Furthermore: St. Paul says twice (Gal. 1): "And if we or an angel from heaven preach
something else than that which you have received, let him be accursed!” Now human
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BAPTISMAL TRUTH
doctrine is something else than the Gospel, therefore it must be accursed. But see how
they have put a hole in this passage with a gloss, namely: the little phrase "something
else" does not mean that one should not teach or hold something along side of, but that
one shall not contradict or deny the Gospel. However, the gloss is easily overcome. It is
clear that St. Paul does not speak against those who contradict or deny the Gospel, but
against those who would along side of the Gospel bring in the Law. Now behold, if St.
Paul could not tolerate that the Law of Moses which God had given to the time of Christ
should be preached along side of the Gospel, but highly condemns himself and all'
angels of heaven, if they would teach something in addition: what would he say to the
Pope’s and other men’s law, which God had never commanded?*
Therefore this passage of Paul's is a veritable thunderbolt. No one can stand before this
passage. He uses the little phrase "something else" also in
___________
*What that means we see in the death of Aaron’s sons, Lev. 10.
12
this way (I Tim, 1:3 and 6:3) . And here we see again that the apostle is not concerned
about the denial of the Gospel, but about other teaching and preaching beside the Gospel
which turn the people secretly away from the Gospel, before they are aware of it. It is
here that the proverb fits: "Where God builds. His Church, there the devil erects a chapel
next door."
13
CHAPTER II. EXCERPT FROM LUTHER’S CONFESSION.
WITH reference to Confession, Luther wrote: "But do you say: Should private
confession depart, then many people would become angry, who now are offended at
confession, and it is thought that confession is an annual reformation of Christendom. O
Lord, what a reformation! But dear man, do you think that this is what it means to
become pious, when unwilling people are forced to God’s Sacrament? Surely, he, who
does not willingly and gladly do this, cannot be helped by command or force. In fact that
only makes matters worse. Therefore, confession should be free for everyone: he who
will, can come; he who will not, can remain outside. Likewise, I would advise and praise
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BAPTISMAL TRUTH
virginity; but I would keep it free and force no one away from marriage. Likewise, I
would preach faith and baptism, but force no one to them, rather would I receive those
who come willingly. That is what the apostles and the ancient fathers did. Believe this
firmly: those whom you do not draw thereby, you will not draw by means of command
or need draw salutarily. Let me show you the reason rather crudely. In the first place. the
misfortune occurs, if any one unwillingly and under compulsion goes to confession (or
is bap15
tized), that God’s Word and promise are poured out in vain; for the divine grace seeks
and demands free, hungry, eager, thirsting, and longing hearts, as Mary sings: 'He hath
filled the hungry with good things.' Therefore, may he not without harm confess (or be
baptized) who draws near purely (or is even carried) because of command or need, and
as they say, out of obedience to the churches, not out of desire or yearning after grace.
God is pleased when man yields himself to Him; but He also is displeased and punishes
horribly. Pleased is He, if one heartily desires help and grace; displeased, if the help
must come because of need, command, and without desire. In the second place, the
misfortune occurs, that follows upon other human ordinances, of which there are three
kinds: the first is a false evil conscience; the second a false good conscience; the third,
idolatry. You ask, how can that be? I sh-all tell you. If you heed human commandments
as though you must keep them, then is your conscience weakly caught, because you
believe it is sinful, and God then judges accordingly to such a conscience. Moreover, if
you believe it is righteousness before God to keep human ordinances, then you have a
false good conscience. That is the work of the evil spirit, who by means of such
destructive trickery in serious matters purposely satisfies his accumulated hate against
miserable Christendom. From this follows idolatry, that one worships the
16
devil as God and heeds his commandments as though they were God’s." Now Brother
Froehlich says:
What more can be said against the sickness and disease of human ordinances than what
Luther here declares. But it happened to him and his followers, as is said in the proverb:
"Big thieves go free, the little rogues are hanged." Or as Christ says to the Pharisees:
"They strain after gnats and swallow camels." `None of the whole group of human
ordinances has done more harm than infant baptism; for they did not see that the baptism
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of children is also a human ordinance, and that the curse of God also and not His
blessing lies on it. (Mal. 2:2).
If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my
name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will
curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it
to heart.
If one desires to begin to improve, one must start at the top, with the large things, and
not at the bottom with the small: then there will follow not merely an outward reform
but an inner renewal of the Holy Spirit. Without that the old cover, namely prejudice,
will not be lifted from the heart.
For further confirmation of the principle that men may not arbitrarily change God's
Word, we shall bring a few passages from the English Commentary of Henry and Scott.
Ex. 25:40, we read: "Here an express caution is given to Moses. Nothing was left to his
own invention or the
17
fancy of the workmen; but the will of God must be religiously observed in every
particular. Likewise all His ordinances must be administered according to His
institutions. Christ’s instruction to His disciples (Matt. 28:20) is like this,‘Observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you.’ "—From Henry and Scott Lev. 10:1, we
read: "It is a dangerous thing in the service of God to decline from His own institutions.
We have to do with a God who is wise to prescribe His own worship, just to require
what He has prescribed, and powerful to revenge what He has not prescribed. When
they, who would perform divine worship, bring the invention of a self-chosen worship,
they then fall into the sin for which Nadab and Abihu died." Furthermore to Lev. 18: "It
is the grace of God only that will secure us, and that grace is to be expected only in the
use of the means of grace. Nor does God ever leave any to their own hearts' lusts, till
they have first left Him and His institutions." Furthermore, to Lev. 26: "I will set my
tabernacle among you, God promises, if they would be obedient, otherwise not. Note:
the way to have God’s ordinances fixed among us as a divine tabernacle and proof of
His presence is to cleave closely to them as they were instituted in the beginning." —
Num. 4, we read: “Although we are no longer under the strict shadow-service of the
Mosaic economy, we should nevertheless remember that we must deal with heavenly
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things in holy awe and reverence. It is extremely dangerous to be wiser than as it is
written. We cannot approach the Lord with certainty, comfort, and confidence in any
other way than in the way which He has opened, in the means which He has instituted
and according to the prescriptions He has made."—Num. 16, we read: “Moses had
prayed for the congregation that God would not destroy all. As a result of this he had to
warn the people to separate themselves from the ungodly. Note: We can have no benefit
from the prayer of our friends for our salvation, if we are not ourselves busy and faithful
in the use of the means of salvation; for God has not promised to save by miracles those
who will not save themselves by using the means which He has instituted." — Num. 19.
we read: "All those who promise themselves the benefit of the righteousness of Christ,
and do not submit themselves to the gracious guidance of the ‘ Holy Spirit, deceive only
themselves; for we cannot separate what God has joined together, nor be purified by the
ashes of the red heifer, otherwise than in running water. In allusion to this the blood of
Christ is said to be the blood of sprinkling and with it we are said to be sprinkled from
an evil conscience. (Hebr. 10:22; 12:24). Though the pollution contracted was only
ceremonial (by touching of a dead body) yet the neglect of the purification prescribed
would turn into moral guilt. He that shall be unclean and shall
19
not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from Israel! Note: It is a dangerous thing to
contemn divine institutions (means of grace). Our uncleanness (original sin) is, so long
as we are ignorant, without liability (innocent), and will not be imputed to us, but it does
separate us from God. If we therefore, knowingly, do not allow ourselves to be forgiven
through Christ, the guilt of this disobedience will cling to us forever, and forever
separate us from God." —Deut. 13, we read: "Moses deals further with the danger of
idolatry. At the close of Chapter 12, he warns. against such contamination from the old
inhabitants; now he refers to the danger that would arise from their own midst. It is of
great importance for us to be well-versed in the revealed truths and prescriptions; and to
be firmly grounded in them; for we must expect to be tried with very palpable
temptations of evil under the guise of good, and with error in the perversion of truth; and
nothing can be effectively set up against such temptations, except the clear and express
testimony of the Word of God to the contrary. We must bear in mind that the Lord God is
our Master, and we must call no man master (doctor) on earth. If anyone contradicts the
Lord, we must not believe him, even if he gives signs and works wonders; for we must
conclude that there is deception, and that God never sends a person, or equips him with
signs and wonders, in order to persuade men to believe
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20
or act contrary to an earlier declaration of His mind and will. Whatever, therefore is
contrary to any revealed law or to any doctrine established in the divine Scriptures,
wherever it may have originated, we must not accept it, even if it is claimed to have
been confirmed by a miracle. (See Gal. 1:8, 9)
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
For if they should allow themselves to be moved by such a prophet to obey him and to
accept his doctrine, it would be evident that they did not heartily love the Lord. On the
other hand it would be a proof of their upright love of God, that they in spite of apparent
claims, were not moved to leave God and to follow and serve other gods. (I Cor. 11:19)"
For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may
be made manifest among you.
To Joshua 5: “This second circumcision under Joshua was typical of the spiritual
circumcision performed on the spiritual Israel in the New Testament through Jesus
Christ, called the circumcision of the heart (Rom. 2:29), and the circumcision of Christ
(Col. 2:11). The name of the place where this was done was Gilgal (turning, turning
away), as God said to Joshua: This day
21
have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt. Their circumcision rolls away the reproach of
Egypt, the reproach of their servitude there, and their pollution with the idolatry of
Egypt. Even so must the spiritual warrior begin his spiritual knighthood. Without the
true circumcision of the heart, as the inner seal of the righteousness of faith, and the
confirmation of the new covenant with God, can he meet no foe. As long as he holds in
contempt one of the means of grace or one of the commandments of God, or lies under
the reproach of Egypt, or serves any sin, or lives in conformity with the world, or in
anything that is not compatible with his holy calling,—he cannot hope to succeed!"—
Joshua 23. Further from Henry and Scott: "Take heed of running into either a profane
neglect of any of God’s institutions, or into a superstitious addition of any of your own
inventions. They must especially take heed of all approaches toward idolatry, the sin to
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which they were first inclined, and would be most tempted. They must not acquaint
themselves with idolaters, nor come among them to visit them, or be present at any of
their feasts or entertainments, for they could not contract any intimacy, or keep up any
conversation with them, without danger of infection." Further from Henry and Scott
Joshua 24: "The Lord has a right to the service and obedience of all His rational
creatures, which cannot be withdrawn from Him, without burdening oneself with
22
the greatest guilt and without becoming a prey to His most severe wrath. But this is
essential that this service be given with a willing spirit. For love is its true essence and
the only disposition out of which all God-pleasing service can spring. An unwilling and
reluctant honoring and obeying can rise no higher than to hypocrisy. The Father seeks
many such worshippers as worship Him in spirit and in truth. But the carnal mind of
man is enmity toward God, and therefore unfit for such spiritual adoration, therefore the
necessity to be born again. When this necessity and the nature of this change is revealed
to our heart, then we are willing to seek it by the use of the established means; we shall,
with consciousness and experience, take part in it and will be counted among those who
serve God. in uprightness and love. But a great many abide in a mere form, as in an
assigned task, which has been given to them, in the hope thereby to avoid worse results."
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CHAPTER III. EXCERPTS FROM OTHER SOURCES.
THUS some speak, insisting upon a faithful observance of that which has been
prescribed, and rejecting all human changes as dangerous and accursed. Others,
however, speak otherwise with reference to the human ordinance of infant baptism, for it
pleases them, and for their justification they say in great numbers, as at one time, Kullen
in Kornthal: "We no longer live in the days of the apostles, it has since become
otherwise/' Or as Prof. Hagenbach of Basel in the Swiss ministerial association said in
1843: "Thus we see infant baptism grounded in the spirit of the Church, even though, as
a baptismal act, it is not proved by a word of Christ or the apostles." Or as Dressler
writes: “Baptism does not appear in the books of the New Testament as it became
customary among Christians during the following centuries, and still is, but as it had to
shape itself under prevailing circumstances. Whoever requires or demands what was
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necessary for baptism in the time of Christ, under all circumstances now so different, at
the consecration to Christianity, will become entangled in insoluble difficulties and will
learn to doubt the worth and necessity of baptism (therefore infant baptism) ."—Or as
Prof. Hahn
25
says: "Neither in the Holy Scriptures, nor in the first 150 years of the Christian Church,
can one certain example of infant baptism be found; and we must admit that its many
opponents cannot be refuted from the evangelical standpoint; but we acknowledge, that
the custom, to baptize unknowing children, has not only furthered the growth of the
external church, but is also excused by the act of confirmation which should confirm the
baptism, in reality however has taken the place of real baptism." To which Dressler
remarks: "Should the evangelical standpoint be the historical one? Would not
confirmation itself then require an excuse, so that for infant baptism also this prop would
fall?"—(This reminds one of Isa. 41 :6,7; Jer. 10:3, 4.)
They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother: Be of
good courage.
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the
hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he
fastened it with nails. that it should not be moved.
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with
hammers, that it move not.
Or as Augustinus writes: "The entire Church accepts this tradition, that the little children
are baptized, which certainly cannot yet believe with
26
the heart to righteousness, and cannot with the mouth confess unto salvation (Rom. 10) ;
and yet no Christian would say that they have been baptized in vain."
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CHAPTER IV. PROSELYTISM AND SECTARIANISM.
THUS out of the spirit of the church infant baptism has come forth and not out of the
Word of God. But what kind of a spirit of the church is this? Clearly a different one than
the Spirit of Christ, who is a Spirit of truth. The State-Church which makes such laws
has also a different spirit as its patron, than the one who in the beginning founded the
congregation of God, namely the spirit of lies whom John calls the spirit of Anti-Christ
(I John 2 and 4). And also his disciple Polycarp wrote to the Philippians: "Whoever
perverts the words of the Lord according to his own lusts, he is. the firstborn of
Satan."—Therefore as it is another spirit, so it has also become another church, than it
was in the beginning; a mother whose children have all been born to slavery, both the
slavery of sin and the slavery of the law, namely of human ordinances; where one can be
called a Christian and yet not be a believer. No wonder that they must prop up their idols
and fasten them with nails so that they will not fall down. An Anti-Christian first of all
means a Substitute-Christian, i.e., a man who stands in the place of a Christian, although
according to the spirit he is none; thus a false
29
Christian. But that is not all: for as the Substitute-Christians think they are the true
Christians, although they are the children of the bond-maid and not children of the free
woman, so they cannot acknowledge the true, re-born, Spirit-Christians as true; but are
angry with them, persecute and ridicule them with hate and jealously (Gal. 4) . The
Substitute-Christians call the true Christians all sorts of hateful names, and because they
are not born of the flesh, but re-born out of the seed of the preached Word of God, as
adults, when they have heard and believed, so they are accused especially of
proselytizing, whereby a few are drawn over from the State-Church to a sect. However,
if the activity of Christ and His Spirit of truth has not ceased altogether on earth, and in
so far as we can become the children of God, neither by birth, nor by the works of the
law of infant baptism and confirmation, but alone through faith in the Gospel and in
baptism thereafter, there is nothing else possible than that proselytes will be made, if
some shall enter into the kingdom of God through regeneration, out of error into truth.
The Greek word "proselyte" really means nothing else than one who comes to anyone,
namely one who comes to the congregation of Jesus Christ which is His body. How can
men come to the congregation of Christ in any other way than that they are added
thereto by God Himself through the call. So it was from the be30
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ginning, as the congregation was gathered out of Jews and heathen, namely all who were
converted by the preaching of the Gospel. Therefore the apostles were generally held to
be the recruiting officers for a new sect, which had all prejudices against it, and to be
disturbers of the peace. Either must the Word of God be silent and its saving power must
cease, or there must necessarily be proselytes, as St. Paul says: "I am made all things to
all men, that I might by all means save some." (I Cor. 9). And so Luke says: "And the
Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. And of the rest (unconverted)
durst no man join himself to them (outwardly and according to the flesh) ; but the people
magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men
and women (but no children) (Acts 2:47; 5:13 ff.; 11:24)." At the present time naturally
there can be no thought of such adding unto by the Lord within the State-Church, where
the little children are baptized. For this reason this supposed proselytizing and
sectarianism is so offensive to the children-baptizers, because they believe that they are
the true Christians and thus they prevent true conversion. But the State-Church is not the
congregation of Jesus Christ, to which no one can come unknowingly and unwillingly,
but only by conviction and faith through the call of God.
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A chief support of this error are many falsely translated and misunderstood passages of
the divine Scriptures, in which they persist, as if it were so written. Special mention in
this respect deserves the expression "to save" or "to be saved." Usually no thought is
given to the meaning of the Greek word, but one immediately thinks of eternal salvation;
and when, for example, we read: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," the
false Christians derive a false comfort therefrom and make salvation easy for
themselves. However, if it say: “He that believeth (the Gospel preached by you) and lets
himself be baptized, will be rescued"; that puts an altogether different construction on
the matter and there the fruit of faith and baptism is first spiritual rescue and freedom
from sin, that one no longer needs: to serve sin as before, and is no more debtor to the
flesh, to live after the flesh. But of this true concept of rescue through Christ they have
no understanding, when they, according to custom, speak the words: "He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved." If one will always put into the place of "saving" the
expression “rescuing" then one has the right concept, and the meaning will show if the
reference is to bodily, or spiritual, or eternal rescuing. Therefore Matt. 1:21: “He will
save His people from their sin." (John 3:17; 5:34; 12:47; Acts 2:21; Rom. 8:24; 10:9, 13;
11:14; I Cor. 1:18,
32
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21; 7:16; 9:22; 10:33; Eph. 2:5, 8; I Tim. 1:15; 2:4; Tit. 3:5; IPeter3:21.)
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the
world through him might be saved.
But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be
saved.
And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came
not to judge the world, but to save the world.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man
seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and
might save some of them.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us
which are saved it is the power of God.
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.
For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how
knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all
things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
33
Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the
profit of many, that they may be saved.
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by
grace ye are saved;)
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For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God:
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the
truth.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost.
The like figure whereunto even. baptism doth also now save us (not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh. but the answer of a good conscience toward
God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
For the proof and maintenance of errors reference is frequently made to passages of
Scripture that are not contained in the Word of God, but only in the translations or at
least in false application and explanation of Scripture. It requires a wise builder to erect
a house (I Cor. 3). Likewise one can be certain, that it flows out of an impure spring,
Whenever Scripture passages are brought forward for the purpose of attacking the truth.
If the devil comes in this form with an "it is written," then we must, like Christ, oppose
him with an "it is also written"; otherwise it might be thought that it is not the devil, if he
is clothed as an angel of light; or as though the devil has
34
the truth on his side, because he quotes a word of Scripture.
A man who was taken in with the usual prejudices in favor of infant baptism and against
the baptism of the believers, and was urged from within and without to read the New
Testament in this respect, declared this to be the result of his research: "that of all
revealed truths not a single one is revealed more clearly than just that of baptism; and
that this truth has been darkened only by men, because they were not willing to let the
Scriptures decide on this point."
Excellently writes also J. F. v. Meyer (B1. f. hohere Wahrh. V., 236) : "A1l errors in the
doctrine, all mistakes in dealing, and all abuses in church government and worship
spring forth out of the. removal from God and His revealed Word. It is therefore
necessary for every church, instead of itself, and every church member, instead of his
church, to seek God and His Word in spirit, and from errors, mistakes, and abuses free to
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become the pure bride of Christ." (Eph. 5:27.)
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
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PART I. FOR WHOM IS THE BAPTISM?
CHAPTER V. THE BAPTISM OF JOHN.
Matt. 3:1-2
IN THOSE days came John, the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and
saying. Repent ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken
of by the prophet Esaias, saying; The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all
Judea, and all the region round about Jordan; and were baptized of him in Jordan,
confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his
baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance; and think not to say
unto yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of
these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid in-to the
root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire.
37
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but He that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost,
and with fire. Matt. 3:13-17
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John
would have hindered Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou
tome? And Jesus answering, said unto him, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh
us to fufil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when He was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him; And lo, a voice
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from heaven saying, This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased."
Mark 1:1-4
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the
prophets, Behold, I send a messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way
before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.” John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins.
Luke 3:7
Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him “O generation of
vipers,
38
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" V. 10-12 And the people asked
him saying, I “What shall we do then?” He answereth and saith unto them, “He that hath
two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do
likewise." Then came also publicans to be baptized and said unto him, "Master what
shall we do?" And he said unto them, “Exact no more than that which is appointed you."
And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, "And what shall we do?" And he
said unto them, "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with
your wages." And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of
John; whether he were Christ or not; John answered, saying unto them, "I indeed baptize
you with water; but one mightier than I cometh . . V. 18 And many other things in his
exhortation preached he unto the people.
Luke 2:21-22
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized
and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape
like a dove upon Him, and a voice from heaven, which said, "This is my Son, the
Beloved, in Whom I am delighted (or well pleased) ."
Luke 7:24
Jesus began to speak unto the people concerning John, "`What went ye out into the
wilderness
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to see? A reed? . . . Or a man in soft raiment? . . . Or a prophet? Yea, I say unto you,
among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John, the Baptist; but he
that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." And all the people that heard him
and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the
Pharisees and lawgivers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not
baptized of him. And the Lord said, "Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this
generation? And to what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the
marketplace and calling one to another, 'We have piped unto you, and ye have not
danced; we have mo-urned to you and ye have not wept.’ " For John the Baptist, came
neither eating bread nor drinking wine and ye say, "He hath a devil." The Son of man is
come eating and drinking,” and ye say, "Behold a gluttonious man, and a winebibber, a
friend of publicans and sinners!" But wisdom is justified of all her children.
Acts 1:21
Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus
went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that
he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his
resurrection.
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CHAPTER VI. WHO SHALL BE BAPTIZED OF CHRIST?
Matt. 28:18
JESUS spake unto his disciples saying, "All I power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth. Go ye therefore and teach (convert to discipleship) all nations (lead them to
believe in me) baptizing them (not all people but the believers in Christ) in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of
the world. Amen."
Matt. 16:15-16
And he said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned.”
John 3:22
Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them and
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baptized, and John also was baptizing in Aenon. And some came unto John and said,
"Master, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the
same baptizeth and all
41
men come to Him." John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing, except it be
given him from heaven. Ye yourself bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not Christ but
that I am sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom . . . He must increase,
but I must decrease. He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is
true . . . that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God, abideth on
him.' ”
John 4:1-3
When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and
baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples)
He left Judea (Is it not significant, that the apostles made and baptized) ?
Acts: 2:36
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this they were
pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, "What shall we
do, men and brethren?" Then Peter said unto them, "Repent, and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost, For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all who are
afar of even as many as the Lord, our God
42
shall call." And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, "Save yourself
from this untoward generation? Then they that gladly received His Word were baptized;
and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Acts 3:17 to 4 ff
And now brethren, I realize that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers ....
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord . . . For Moses truly said unto the
fathers, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto
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me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall come
to pass that, every soul which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among
the people, yea, all prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have
spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of
the covenant which God made with our fathers saying unto Abraham, ‘And in thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.’ Unto you first God, having raised up his
Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning every one of you from his iniquities.
Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men came
to be five thousand."
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Acts 8:4
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. Then
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. And the people
with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake . . . And there was great
joy in that city. But there was a certain man named Simon, who previously in the same
city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria; giving out that himself was some
great man; to whom all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, because that he had for
a long time bewitched them with his sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching
the things o-f the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also and was baptized. Now when
the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent
unto them Peter and John, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they
might receive the Holy Ghost. (For as yet He was fallen upon none of them; for they
were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then they laid their hands on them
and they received the Holy Ghost . . . But Peter said unto Simon, "Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. (etc.) ."
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Acts 8:26
A man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority who had come to Jerusalem to worship,
was returning and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. When Philip heard this
he said, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" And he said, "How can I, except some
man should guide me?" And the eunuch answered Philip, "I pray thee, of whom speakest
the prophet thus? Of himself? Or of some other man?" Then Philip opened his mouth
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and began at the same scripture to preach unto him Jesus. (Isa. 53:7-8) And as they went
on their way, they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water,
what doth hinder me to be baptized?" And Philip said, "If thou believeth with all thy
heart, thou mayest." He answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And
he commanded the chariot to stand still, both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him.
Acts 9:1
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord
went unto the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues that
if he found any that were of this Way (Christ) whether men or women, that he might
bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and
suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven and a voice spoke
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unto him, "Arise and go into the city and it shall be told then what thou must do." And
there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a
vision, "Arise and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus; for behold
he prayeth," Ananias answered "Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil
he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority to bind all who call
upon thy name.” But the Lord said unto him, "Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto
my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him
how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." And Ananias went his way and
entered into the house and putting his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord, even
Jesus, that appeared unto thee, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be
filled with the Holy Ghost" and he received his sight forthwith and arose and was
baptized.
Acts 10:1
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius . . . A devout man and one who
feared God with his whole house and in a vision he saw an angel of God coming unto
him and saying unto him., "Cornelius . . . thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a
memorial before God. And now send men unto Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose
surname is Peter, he will tell thee what thou oughtest to do." When Peter came in
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he found many that had come together and he said unto them, "Ye know how that it is an
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unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew, to keep company or come unto one of another
nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean" . . .
Then Peter said . . . "Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in
every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.
(Ends favor with Him) The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching
peace by Jesus Christ, (who is Lord of all): That word, I say, Ye know which was
published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John
preached., how Jesus of Nazareth, went about doing good and healing all that were
oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him . . . And he commanded us to preach unto
the people and to testify that it is He who was ordained of God to be the Judge of the
quick and the dead. To Him give all the prophets witness that through His name,
whosoever believeth in Him, shall receive remission of sins . . . " While Peter yet spake
these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them who heard the Word. Then answered Peter,
"Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the
Holy Ghost as well as we?" And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the
Lord.
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CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST GENTILE CONVERSION.
Acts 11:1 ff:
AND the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also
received the Word of God. And when Peter had come up to Jerusalem, they that were of
the circumcision contended with him. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning
and expounded it by order unto them . . . how Cornelius had seen the angel, which had
said unto him . . . “Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who
shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved." And as I began to
speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us in the beginning. Then I remembered the
words of the Lord, how that He said, "Johr1 indeed baptized with water so ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost." Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did
us; who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was I, that I could withstand God? When
they heard these things, they held their peace and praised God, saying, "'Then hath God
also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life!"
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Acts 16:13
Then we spake to the women, assembled there and one devout woman named Lydia,
heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were
spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us saying,
"If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there."
And she urged us.
Acts 16:16
A certain damsel met us and followed Paul and cried, saying, "These men are the
servants of God, the Most High, which showed unto us the way of salvation." Her
masters caught Paul and Silas and drew them to magistrates saying, "These men, do
trouble our city . . . and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive" . . . and
they cast them into prison . . . At midnight suddenly there was a great earthquake and all
the doors were opened. And the keeper of the prison trembled and fell down before Paul
and Silas saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." And they spake unto him the
Word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of
the night and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And he
brought them all to his house and prepared the table for them and rejoiced, believing in
God with all his house.
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Acts 18:4
And Paul reasoned in the synagogue and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when
Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed by the word (or in the
spirit) and testified to the Jews, that Jesus was Christ and when they opposed themselves
and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, "Your blood be upon your
own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles!" And he departed
thence and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshiped God.
And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.
And many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized (I Cor. 1:14 ff).
Acts 22:3Paul saith: I am verily a Jew, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and
taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers; and was zealous toward
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God; as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and
delivering into prison both men and women. When I was come nigh unto Damascus, I
heard a voice saying unto me, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, Whom thou persecuted." And I
said, "What shall I do, Lord?" And the Lord said unto me, "Arise, and go into Damascus,
and there it shall be told you of all things which are appointed for thee to do." And one
Ananias came
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to me and said, "Brother Saul, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou
shouldest know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His
mouth. For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hath seen and heard. And
now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the
name of the Lord." (N. B. Here is the key to all the places where it speaks of ablution
from sins; and of water baptism.)
Rom. 10:1
The desire of my heart and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I
bear them record that they have zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they,
being ignorant of God's righteousness are going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For when thy mouth
shall confess the Lord Jesus, (that He is the Lord) and shalt believe in thine heart that
God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness and with the mouth is confession made unto salvation. For the
Scripture saith, "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed." For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that
call upon Him. And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
52
shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? And
how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach if they are not sent (from God)? As it is
written, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things" But they have not all obeyed the Gospel, for Esaias saith,
"Lord, who hath believed our report?" So then faith cometh by preaching (hearing) and
hearing (or preaching) by the word of God (by divine sending).
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I Corinthians 7:l4—
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified (for the purpose of marriage) by his wife and
the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband else were your children unclean, but
now they are holy. (for God)
1 Tim. 1:13—
I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy, because I did it
ignorantly in unbelief. This is a true saying and worthy of all acceptance that Jesus
Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I
obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all longsuffering, for a
pattern to them which should
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hereafter believe on Him to everlasting life. Now unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen
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PART II. WHAT IS BAPTISM? CHAPTER VIII. SCRIPTURE CITATIONS ON
BAPTISM.
Matt. 3:7 ff:
BUT when He saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said
unto them: "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance .... I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance."
Matt. 21:25:
The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with
themselves, saying, If we say, "from heaven": He will say unto us, "why did ye not then
believe?"— But if we shall say, "of men"; we fear the people; for all hold John as a
prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, "We cannot tell," "Jesus saith unto them,
Verily I say unto you that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before
you" . . . For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not.
but the publicans and harlots believed him and ye,
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when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that ye might believe him."
Mark 1:2 ff:
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His
paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of
Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins ....
And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose
shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
Luke 3:2 ff:
The word of God came unto John in the wilderness. And he came into all the country
about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
John 1:6 ff:
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to
bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light,
but was sent to bear witness of that Light .... And this is the record of John, when the
Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he
confessed and denied not; but con56
fessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, "What then? Art thou Elias?" And he
saith, "I am not." "Art thou that prophet?" And he answered, “No." Then they said unto
him, '“Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou
of thyself? He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the
way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they asked him and said unto him,
"why baptizeth thou then if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?" John
answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you, whom
you know not" . . . The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, "Behold
the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said,
‘After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for He was before me." And I
knew Him not: but that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore I am come
baptizing with water .... And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water,
the same said unto me, 'Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining
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on Him, the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” And I saw and bare record
that this is the Son of God." John 3:22 if:
Jesus baptized in the land of Judea; And John was baptizing in Aenon because there was
much water there: and they came and were baptized.
57
Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about
purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, “Rabbi. he that was with thee
beyond Jordan, to whom thou gavest witness, behold the same baptizeth and all men
come to Him." John answered and said. "A man can receive nothing except it be given
him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but
that I am sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the
bridegroom which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the
bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease."
Acts 1:4 ff:
When Jesus and His disciples were assembled together, He commanded them that they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith
He, ye have heard of me: For John truly baptized with water: but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.
Acts 13:23 ff:
Of David’s seed, God hath according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus;
when John had Erst preached before His coming the baptism of repentance to all the
people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, "Whom think ye that I am? I
am not He, But, behold, there
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cometh one after me, the latchet of whose shoes of His feet I am not worthy to loose."
Acts 18:24 ff:
And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in
the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord: and
being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing
only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue; whom when
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Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the
way of God more perfectly.
Acts 19:1 ff:
And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was I at Corinth, Paul came to Ephesus and
finding certain disciples, he said unto them, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye
believed ?" And they said unto him, "We have not so much as heard whether there be
any Holy Ghost." And he said unto them, "unto what then were ye baptized ?" And they
said, "unto John’s baptism." Then said Paul, "John verily baptized with the baptism of
repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come
after him, that is, Christ Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on
them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve.
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2. What is the baptism in Christ?
Matt. 3:11 ff:
He that cometh after me is mightier than I. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and
fire: Whose fan is in His hand and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His
wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Matt. 3:13 ff:
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John
forbad him, saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest Thou to me?" And
Jesus answering said unto him, “Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness." Then he suffered Him. And Jesus when He was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water and lo, the heavens were opened up unto Him and He saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him. And lo, a voice from
heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
Verse 4:1 ff:
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And
when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He afterward an hungered. And when
the tempter came to Him, he said, "If thou be the Son of God command .... "
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Matt. 28:19 ff:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son. and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them whatsoever I have commanded you.”
Mark 16:15 ff:
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.
John 1:11 ff:
He came unto His own and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to
them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Truly when the birth is from believing parents, it is still true that what is born of the
flesh is flesh and these must first be drawn through the Word of truth and the Holy Spirit
and also be born again of water and of the Spirit as follows from what Jesus told
Nicodemus (See John 3:1-7), saying "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." Nicodemus saith
to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his
mother’s
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womb and be born?" Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I
said unto thee, 'Ye must be born again.’ The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, so is
every one that is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered, "How can these things be?"
Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do
know, and testify that we have seen: and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you
earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"
John 13:1 ff:
(At the meal before the last passover, Jesus began to wash the feet of the disciples.)
Then cometh He to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my
feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt
know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered
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him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not
my feet only, but also my: hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed
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needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
John 15:3:
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Acts 2:38 ff:
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call, And with many other words did he testify and
exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about
three thousand souls .... And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Acts 13:26, 32 ff:
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth
God, to you is the word of this salvation sent .... And we declare unto you glad tidings,
how that the promise which was made unto the fathers. God hath fulfilled the same unto
us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; . . . Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the for63
giveness of sins: And by him, all that believe are justified from all things from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you,
which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I
work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man
declare it unto you.
Rom. 2:25 ff:
For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the
law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the
righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And
shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the
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letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit. and not in the
letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Rom. 4:9 ff :
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision
also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then
reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but
in uncircumcision. And he re64
ceived the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet
being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be
not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
Rom. 6:1-23:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.
How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have
been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed
from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:
Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more
dominion over him. For in that He died, He died. unto sin once; but in that he liveth, He
liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin
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therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under
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the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but
under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made
free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men,
because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to
uncleanness and to iniquity, unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness, unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from
righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for
the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants
to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of
sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Rom. 7:1 ff :
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath
dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is
bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth; but if the husband is dead, she is
loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married
to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free
from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also 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 God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins. which
were b-y the law, did work in our members. to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we
are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held: that we should serve
in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom. (8:1) ff:
There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
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I Cor. 1:10 ff:
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Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the
same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind, and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me
of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions
among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos;
and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were
ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and
Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also
the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel (preceding baptism).
I Cor. 6:9 ff:
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are
washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of our God .... What! know ye not that
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your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and
ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: there fore glorify God in your
body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
I Cor. 10:1 ff:
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same
spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock
was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown
in the wilderness. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let
him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
I Cor. 12:11 ff:
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as
he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one
body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized
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into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and we
have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
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I Cor. 15:12 ff:
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that
there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is
Christ not risen. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished .... Else what shall they do
which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized
for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing
which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have
fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat
and drink, for tomorrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good
manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not: for some have not the knowledge of God:
I speak this to your shame.
Gal. 2:17 ff:
But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is
therefore Christ the minister (a helper) of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed (the law), I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead
to the law, that I might live unto God. 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
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by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate
the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Gal. 3:21-4:11:
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law
given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But
the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut
up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring as unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that
faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God
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by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put
on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye
Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Gal. 4:1 ff:
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant,
though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors
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until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in
bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son- into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which
by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of
God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to
be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you,
lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Eph. 4:1 ff:
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all,
and through all, and in you all. But unto every one
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of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith,
When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men .... And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors
and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
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knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into
him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined
together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as
other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their heart: . . . But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have
heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off,
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concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind: And that ye put on the new
man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Eph. 5:23 ff:
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church
(believers) ; and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands. love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to
himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it
should be holy and without blemish .... For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and
of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak
concerning Christ and the church.
Col. 2:8-3:11:
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy (human wisdom) —Jas. 3:15, and
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
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And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power; In Whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the
body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; Buried with Him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God. Who hath
raised Him from the dead. And you. being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and
powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man
therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new
moon, or of the sabbath days. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of
Christ .... Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as
though living in the world. are ye subject to ordinances .... If ye then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your
life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with Him in glory. Mortify therefore your mem75
bers which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry; For which things' sake the wrath of
God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time,
when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that
ye have put off the old man with his deeds: And have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but
Christ is all, and in all.
Titus 2:11-3:11:
(Believing servants are to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.) For the
grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us, that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works ....
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers
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lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But
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after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us
abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we
should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God
might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto
men. But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about
the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretic (a stranger to sound
doctrine), after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is
subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
Hebr. 6:1 ff:
Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead,
and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the
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good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to
renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame .... But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of
you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward His
name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every
one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That
ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the
promises.
Hebr. 8:6 ff:
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the
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mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that
first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
For finding fault with them. he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my
covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant
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that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and
they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and
every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to
the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more.
Hebr. 10:18 ff:
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; And
having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled (through redemption) from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of
our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised:) And let us consider one
another, to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the
more as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
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sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall
devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or
three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,
who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the
covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace? . . , But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were
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illuminated, ye endured a great light of afflictions.
I Peter 1:3 ff:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. . . . As obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to
the former lusts in your ignorance: But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye
holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And
if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s
work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot: See80
ing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord
endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and evil
speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby.
I Peter 3:18-4:3:
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us
to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He
went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometimes were disobedient, when
once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure, whereunto, even
baptism, doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is
gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities
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and powers being made subject unto Him. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us
in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the
flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh
to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to
have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess
of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries.
II Peter 1:3 ff:
According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye
might be partakers of the divine nature. having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness
charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these
things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his
old sins. Wherefore the
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rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
I John 5:1 ff:
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God: and every one that loveth
Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love
the children of God. when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that
believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He that came by water and blood, even
Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father. the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that
bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in
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one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the
witness of God, which he hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God
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hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And
this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that
hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.
Conclusion: Rev. 1:5 ff:
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
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COMMENTS ON THE BAPTISM OF JOHN.
CHAPTER IX. WHO IS ENTITLED TO BAPTISM?
WE SUMMARIZE the New Testament doctrine of Baptism from two viewpoints: 1.
Who is entitled to baptism? Or who should be baptized according to God’s will and
ordinance? Is baptism bestowed conditionally or unconditionally? 2. What is baptism?—
But because in the New Testament two baptisms are presented, we first apply this to the
baptism of John, which took place in such form and appointment only in the beginning
in order to prepare for Christ and afterwards gave place to the baptism of Christ or
coincided with it. However, John did not baptize all without distinction, but, first, each
individual had to desire it; and, secondly, John had to acknowledge such an one as truly
penitent and upright in the confession of his sins. The desire to be baptized of John was
a fruit of his preaching unto repentance, in order to give the Jews an understanding of
their lost condition which made them unfit for communion with God, and in order to
awaken in them the need of reconciliation with God and of a redemption from sin. For
this reason
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John rejected the proud Pharisees and Sadducees and did not baptize them, but rather
chastised them on account of their hypocrisy, that they as sinners thought they were just,
could do justice, and relied on their descent from Abraham according to the flesh. Such
vain confidence John had to cast down and make everything smooth and even before
Christ, that the pious, self righteous Pharisee and the conceited, enlightened Sadducee
who put on fine airs, were no better than the worst publican and sinner, namely a
generation of vipers instead of the seed of Abraham; children of the old Serpent instead
of children of the living God. Matthew says that John attacked principally the Pharisees
and Sadducees; Luke, however, applies this to all the people who came to John in order
to let him baptize them,
For if the most prominent and most distinguished are so evil, how can the others be
better? John, as a servant and messenger of God, had to deal justly with each one,
without respect of person, in order that no one might esteem his flesh better than th-at of
another; the remaining, imaginary difference, however, is only pride, and therefore again
flesh, even though clothed in a line appearance. All glory of the flesh, though it be in its
natural deformity, or in artistic perversion, is destroyed; and there is only this difference,
that it is more difficult for the over-refined sinner to convert himself as a result of John’s
preaching unto
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repentance, than for the natural sinner, who stands there in all his nakedness and
bareness as a child of Adam. Now as John turned back the proud Pharisees and
Sadducees from his baptism of repentance to the wrath of God prepared for them, until
they had experienced a change for the better. so he directed the penitent sinners forward
toward the Greater One who would come after him, for the purpose of completing the
good work which had been begun; in this twofold manner, that Christ by His death, as
the Lamb of God, should take on Himself and reconcile the sins of the world, and then
pour out on the believers His Spirit (at baptism) in order to communicate unto them His
own eternal life. John’s baptism presupposed sinners, who would acknowledge and
confess themselves as such, and therefore renounced all of the flesh. It was for this
reason also that he would not baptize the One who knew no sin, as that seemed to
contradict the purpose of his baptism.—As moreover by the baptism of John He was
revealed for whom it was intended, so also was the baptism in Jesus Christ the pattern
and type of our baptism in Christ: He prayed; the Holy Ghost came upon Him, and the
Father declared Him as His beloved So-n (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Gall 4:6; Rom. 10:11)
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
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name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost.
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And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins,
calling on the name of the Lord.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
The spiritual element in and the absolute condition of the baptism of John was
repentance: and in this form it mediated the transition from the dulled unbelief to faith;
from sin to grace: from Moses to Christ; from the Law to the Gospel.
The importance of this divine preparation for Christ becomes apparent especially from
this that Jesus says, the Pharisees and Scribes had rejected the counsel of God regarding
them, by not letting themselves be baptized of John. Jesus also does not hold that
"people of this sort," with whom nothing can be done. were his contemporaries in
general, but the Scribes and Pharisees (in contrast to the whole nation, and to the sinners
who followed God’s will and were baptized.) They were the real foes of Christ and
adversaries of the divine truth, they, the conceited and alleged true believers and leaders
of the blind; and they are that to this day. In order to support and protect the lawfulness
of infant baptism, they say that children already in their mother’s womb can receive the
Holy Ghost, as did John the Baptist. But they do not consider that John himself said
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to Jesus: "I have need to be baptized of thee." Wherewith? No doubt with the Holy
Ghost and with fire, grounded on the previous forgiveness of sins through the blood of
Christ. If John had not possessed that spirit necessary to regeneration and renewal, and
which is a result of the death of Christ, he would not have desired to be baptized of
Christ; and Jesus would not have said: "The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he," i.e., out of the second birth, which John did not have, because Christ had not
yet died and was not yet glorified, in order to send the Spirit. For by water and Spirit is
he reborn who believes in Christ. Now there is in baptism Christ’s blood for the washing
away of sin; and where Christ’s blood is, there His Spirit is the third witness (I John 5).
John was still a sinner (of the first birth); but a person reborn of God is no longer a
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sinner, but an holy, just child of God and therefore greater than John. John by his
baptism of repentance could bring men only to the border of the promised land, and
must transfer the believers to Jesus Christ.
If the baptism of John was not performed unconditionally, namely not without sincere
repentance and confession of sins, in order to be a preparation for Christ, how can the
baptism of Christ, which is vastly more important and which so much more demands
and requires spiritual self-activity, be received unconditionally? Herein the
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natural contradictory character and the absurdity of infant baptism show themselves in
their harshest light as opposed to divine truth: for infant baptism is not only administered
unconditionally and without exception, but every condition is made impossible by the
ignorance of the child. What are the props and the ground for such unauthorized and
contradictory dealing with the baptism of Christ? To this end its divine ordinance must
bestow the apparent reason and excuse, when Jesus said to His disciples: "Go ye and
teach (or make disciples of) all nations, and baptize them!" The making of disciples
therefore would no longer be done by teaching, through the preaching of the Gospel, as
St. Paul declared (I Cor. 7:17),
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none efect.
that everyone choose between life and death, and decide if he would abide in Adam or
pass over into Christ; but it should now take place through the unwilling, legalistically
enforced work (opus operatum) of the ignorant infant baptism, whereby these little
creatures cannot protect themselves from becoming Christians, in order that they might
be such in their adult years without any effort on their part (Matt. 11:12). For if it should
take place at a mature age through free choice and from conviction, that they should
enter into the disci90
pleship of Jesus Christ, they would not make the decision, if they knew what it would
mean and cost to become a disciple of Jesus Christ (Luke 14:26 ff.) .
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren. and sisters, yea. and his own life also, he cannot be my
disciple.
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And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me. cannot be my
disciple.
For which of you. intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and
counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Lest haply. after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all
that behold it begin to mock him.
Now the kind of Christians and disciples of Jesus which are produced, who become such
without their knowledge and will, is evident in all the examples of those who were made
such after this fashion. But they have a different pattern than those first Christians, who
are described in the New Testament, when the kingdom of God s-till had to be taken by
force, and each one after mature deliberation had to make the decision in danger of his
life (I Cor. 15:29 ff.)
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead. if the dead rise not at
all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I
have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
The State-Church is the total opposite of the congregation of Christ. In order to enter the
latter, man must use force on himself and deny himself.
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Into the former the ignorant and unwilling people are brought by means of cunning and
force.
If one has seen the earnest efforts of John the Baptist, one would think that it must be
something great and important for which he made such preparations, to obtain the
kingdom of God, whose King, Jesus Christ, came into the world primarily to establish in
the hearts of men a kingdom of righteousness and peace. But if we consider the so-called
Christendom in the world, behold, it is not like that, for men remain sinners after as
before, and the last deceit is worse than the first. Does anyone come into discipleship
with Christ in this manner? Certainly not! The Word of God calls this a method of
leading astray, which is of the devil and not of Christ (Col. 2:8 ff.; Eph. 4:14)
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For in him, dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are
complete in him., which is the head of all principality and power:
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In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,
in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about
with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
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It is thought that the people are Christians, before they actually have become such, and
discipleship is connected with the flesh, for a spiritual regeneration has not occurred,
without which no one can enter into the kingdom of God; but the old man in his carnal
disposition is entitled to the kingdom of God and discipleship with Christ lies in the
mere name, which one borrows from. Him. Conditions in the State-Church are always,
as once in Samaria: before a Philip comes to preach the Gospel of Christ, that men might
believe and be saved, the great magician Simon has charmed and deluded everything
with his deception and legerdemain, that small and great cry: "This man is the great
power of God!" (II Tim. 2:8-13; Rev. 13:11 ff.) .
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead
according to my gospel:
Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of
God is not bound.
Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth: and he had two horns
like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the
earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly
wound was healed.
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And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven
on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles
which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell
on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the
wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast. that the image of
the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the
image of the beast should be killed.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to
receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And that no man might buy or sell. save he that had the mark, or the name of
the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man: and his number is six hundred threescore
and six.
The Jews were required to do much more in order to be baptized of John with the
baptism of repentance, than thereafter would be required of us to become believers. But
in truth it is just the opposite: To the repentance required by John, with the laying aside
of the gross sins, the condition of faith in Christ Crucified also enters here, in order that
not only the former sins are forgiven and washed away (Isa. 1:16-18),
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine
eyes; cease to do evil;
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless
plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool.
but also the indwelling sin destroyed and separated from man through the following
baptism into
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Christ’s death. Repentance, as human labor and exertion, will never become master of
the indwelling sin, otherwise Christ would have died in vain (Gal. 2:19 ff.),
For I through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
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 by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me. and gave himself for me.
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then
Christ is dead in vain.
Whereby we are first justified by faith and then sanctified by baptism. Where is,
however, in the baptism of unknowing children the fulfillment of the condition of faith,
if faith comes by preaching (hearing)? (Rom. 10). But if it is no more of faith, then it is
by the deeds of the law—a way, forbidden of God and accursed. (Gal. 3)
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CHAPTER X. THE FIRST FAITH
THE very first condition of the Gospel falls away in the baptism of infants, namely faith;
and faith of the heart, without previous repentance (self-knowledge) is impossible; for
how shall he believe in Christ the Crucified, who does not know why Christ died on the
cross, and who, when he is told afterwards, is offended by it or scoffs at it as
foolishness? According to the doctrine of infant baptism faith is necessary for all and
before all, save where it is most necessary, namely in baptism, because faith alone can
grasp God’s Word and promise, and must give to baptism its power, in order to be the
washing of regeneration. Therefore, there can be no making of disciples through baptism
without faith, for Christ says: “Teach all nations, or preach the Gospel to every creature:
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not, shall be damned."
The New Testament institution and economy embrace all nations-(the acre on which
Christ sowed His seed is the whole world) ; (Matt. 13:38)
The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the
tares are the children of the wicked 0ne;
—even as the Old Testament institution included
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only the Jews, as Abraham’s seed according to the flesh. Nor are all nations, en masse,
included but only the believing ones among them, who are now Abraham's seed
according to the spirit of promise, the spiritual Israel. For if it were according to the
flesh, then the Israelites would have the first and better right before the nominal
Christians; now, however, all glory is taken away from the flesh through the Gospel
(Rom. 9; Gal. 3).—Therefore it is again a special, separate, peculiar people of God as in
the Old Testament, and the more strictly separated, because it is through faith that one
becomes a child of Abraham and thus it requires spiritual self-activity and susceptibility,
and not mere descent according to the flesh, which is always paired with the deeds of the
Law. Preaching applies to all men; however, baptism applies to those only, in whom the
word has created faith or has been mixed with faith (Hebr. 4:2).
Therefore Christ is also a Saviour of all men, but especially of the believers, since these
only make use of it. (I Tim. 4:10; Titus 2:11)
When the disciples of John asked jealously why Jesus baptized, John answered very
simply: "Because He hath the bride." i.e., the holy congregation, which Jesus had won
for Himself and cleansed by the washing of the water in the Word. Therefore, Peter also
replied to the questions: "Repent and be baptized every one of you." And
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when he added, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off,"-he did not mean to give a privilege to infant baptism, for the condition is there:
"Even as many as the Lord our God shall call." And still more plainly in the words:
"Save yourself from this untoward generation." Not alone God’s grace and call are
necessary here, in order to be baptized with the water and the Spirit, but also the spiritual
activity of each individual in order to hear and obey God’s call. For if the untoward
generation were good and a church of God, one would not need to be converted and
saved from it; nor would there be any need of preaching repentance, if men no longer
were perverse and godless. Therefore Luke also says: "Then they that gladly received
His word, were baptized." That Peter did not mean newborn minors with the term
“children," but descendants in general, is clear from this that he afterwards said to the
Jews: "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with
our fathers/’ The result was that many of them (but not all), which heard the Word,
believed and were baptized.—In the city of Samaria the baptism of men and women
followed upon the preaching of Philip. But Simon, although baptized, was excluded
from the blessings of the new covenant, because his heart was not clean and upright;
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which is also a proof that it is difficult for one, who himself has professionally, through
99
false doctrine and wisdom, bewitched and misled others ever to attain to true conversion
and sobriety. That Philip at once proclaimed to the Eunuch upon the faith in Christ also
the necessity and the object of baptism is evident from the unexpected desire of the latter
for baptism; and likewise that faith must be there (present) before baptism, in order that
there may be a united planting with Christ to the same death and an implanting into the
body of Christ (in the congregation).
Through infant baptism without personal faith, without confession of the mouth and
without calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, one may be received into that church
which is not the body of Christ, but the body of the Anti-Christ; and in this respect infant
baptism is of great importance, namely, that thereby all men systematically and legally
are initiated into the mystery of godliness under the false pretext that they are become
Christ’s.
At the conversion of Paul, baptism was the last thing. Before that went the appearance of
the Lord who sent him to Damascus where it would be told him what he had to do. In
the meantime he prepared himself through fasting and prayer, until Ananias came and
baptized him. His previous piety, according to the Law, did him as little good as his
studied wisdom. At the feet of Gamaliel he learned the letter, which worked in him a
blind zeal and hatred against Christ; but at the feet of Jesus Christ he learned to know
the Spirit
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of the Scripture and to value his glorying in the flesh as dung and harm. (Phil. 3)
Cornelius and his people had the same experience. He tried to quiet his conscience first
through the deeds of the Law and piety, sought rest and peace of heart and found it not.
Then God had mercy on this weary and heavy laden soul, first sent a messenger from
heaven who should direct him to the right spring where he could find the water of life
for his thirst. Then Peter had to come from afar (also wondrously prepared for it) in
order to preach Jesus Christ to him, that in Him alone there is salvation through
forgiveness of sins by faith in Him. As soon as Cornelius heard these good tidings and
believed, God bore witness through the Holy Spirit, that the salvation of Christ is also
for the believers among the Gentiles, who before had not been God’s people, but who
now together with the called among the Jews are one new people of God and in one
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spirit of Christ should attain access to the Father. There the Jew with his circumcision no
longer mattered, nor the heathen with his foreskin, but both only in the new creature, out
of which the keeping of the commandments of God followed. (Eph. 2; Gal. 5 and 6; I
Cor. 7:19). This union of both in one body in Christ and to one Spirit occurred through
baptism in Christ (I Cor. 12:12 ff.; Eph. 4:4) ;
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all
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the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling:
therefore the Jews no less than the heathen must be baptized in order that the old might
be discarded and everything be made new; as the Covenant, so also the Spirit and the
mind, the heart and the life.
A special note in necessary on the expression: "Whereby thou and all thy house shalt be
saved." This is used as a proof for infant baptism. The same expression is used of
Cornelius (Acts 10:2; 11:14).
A devout man; and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much
alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
Further: (Acts 16:15, 31, 32,34; 18:8; I Cor. 1:16; John 4:53; II Tim. 1:16; 4:19; Titus
1:11).
These and other passages do not speak favorably for the baptism of minor children,
because in most all of them the spiritual self-activity of all members of the household is
expressly emphasized. It simply testifies to the instability of the paedobaptists, that they
must resort to such wooden weapons instead of the spiritual ones. A rebuttal is
unnecessary, for it is certain that the apostles baptized men and women, but no chi1dren
—in obedience to their divine instruction.
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CHAPTER XI. BAPTISM; A SPIRITUAL SAVING FROM SIN.
IN THE passage I Cor. 7:14 baptism is not spoken of, but yet it belongs here, because it
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is frequently quoted as a ground for infant baptism. However, it is the strongest
argument against the baptism of children; for Paul does not refer to their baptism as a
proof of their holiness, but to their descent from a godly (holy) father or mother, whereas
the unbelieving part would not have permitted that the children be baptized into the
hated name of Jesus. Were it said, that just on this account the children of believing
parents should receive baptism, because they are holy, then they would have had a better
right to it in the days of the apostles, than now, for the contemporary Christians are
certainly not holy. On the whole (generally) the holiness of the children of believing
parents refers to their birth and is altogether different from their inner holiness resulting
from the new birth.*
_______________
* "Note by the Editor—"Holy" in the meaning of I Cor. 7:14 means "consecrated to
God," there the Apostle describes the preference which the unbelieving husband or wife,
(as of the children) has because the believing part implores God’s grace and mercy for
them, that they might be led to repentance and true conversion. This intercession,
comparable to the prayer of Moses for his people, can effect just as little in the
unconverted soul, without their obedience, as Moses could convert his people from their
carnal mind.
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Also in the wording of Romans 10 we find nothing about baptism, but actually it is a
most complete description of baptism, as a spiritual saving from sin, where faith and the
prayer to Christ is present. In like manner Paul says I Tim. 1, that he, with his salvation
and conversion, is made an example and type for all future believers. How was Paul
saved? Before his call (vocation) a blind Pharisee and zealot for the fatherly Law, a rabid
persecutor of Christ and His Church, was by God’s grace and mercy torn out of his
depraved way, in order to behold the hated Nazarene, the beloved of God, and at once
became a zealous follower through baptism in His name. But in this conversion and
salvation, as the type of all who would thereafter be saved unto eternal life nothing is
said of the ignorance and unwillingness of little children; but the transition from Judaism
to Jesus Christ, from the world to God, occurred through the power of the divine call, so
knowingly and willingly, that he could also have been disobedient (Acts 26:14-19).
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a. voice speaking unto me.
and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
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And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus Whom thou
persecutest.
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this
purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which
thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
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Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles. unto whom now I send
thee.
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Now herein the conversion of Paul was the type of all future conversions. The time of
ignorance —(of childhood in which the heathen were considered as children); (Acts
17:30)
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men
every where to repent:
must be allowed to pass over, which God also by grace overlooks, so that by the
preaching of repentance the knowledge of sin and the faith in Christ may follow (Rom.
3:25)
For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker
of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
And it is no different today than it was then (for God has never changed His way and
His Gospel. but men have) ; and therefore the baptism of ignorant children, in as far as
one means to smuggle them into the kingdom of God by such trickery. and then
afterwards, as adults, in a false confidence in it, imagine they are Christians, children
and heirs of God,—a false invention of the devil. whereby men are cheated of their
salvation: for on this rests confirmation as a so-called renewal of the baptismal covenant.
—The means to conversion is preaching, in which the Lord appears
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to the sinner, steps up to him, and calls him (like Saul): and now he must either accept or
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kick against the pricks: Whoever would be saved by baptism must believe in Christ who
was crucified for him and call upon His name.
The Scriptural answer to the question: For whom is baptism? is: To him who has
repented and who believes the Gospel.
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CHAPTER XII. WHAT IS BAPTISM?
THE second question is: What is baptism?-— according to its inner essence and its
divine determination and efficacy, meaning and character. And first, as regards John’s
baptism,—that John baptized by divine commission, i.e., that his baptism came from
God, and that he did not in his own human audacity start something new, to which he
had no call, that the Lord says expressly, and even the Pharisees did not dare to deny it,
although they did not accept it in order to flee the future wrath of God, to which the
baptism of repentance paved the way to the entrance into the kingdom of Messiah (i.e.,
of God). Both Mark and Luke determine the purpose of John’s baptism of repentance
and water as ordained to attain forgiveness of former sins: therefore the previous
external cleansing, not of the body (like the legalistic washings of the Old Testament;
Hebr. 9:10),
Which stood only in meats and drinks. and divers washings, and carnal
ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
but of the soul, in as far as it had become spotted (soiled) by the sins of commission; and
of the conscience, in as far as it accuses and condemns the sinner. But not yet did the
baptism of repentance
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have the character of the internal cleansing of the Spirit from the indwelling or original
sin, which lies deeper and cannot be washed away with water, but must be rooted and
burned out by fire, which was reserved for the baptism of Christ. Later, however, the
baptism of believers contained both, the forgiveness of the old sins (Acts 2:37)
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
and the destruction of sin itself, in order to cleanse man thoroughly. The fundamental
idea in baptism is cleansing; (Luke 11:38; Mark 7:4 ff.; Hebr. 9:10).
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This cleansing is done in part with water, in conjunction with Christ’s blood, where faith
is present, for the forgiveness of sins previously committed; and this first cleansing is
external (even though it is done to the soul) in comparison with the subsequent internal
cleansing of the Spirit from the indwelling sin through the Spirit of Christ. The first is
the justification of the ungodly; the second, the sanctification of the justified. If in
baptism the concept of immersion were the chief thing (although this original form of
baptism is not denied), it would follow that already, through the baptism of John the old
man would have been drowned; which is not so; but the sins were forgiven and washed
away. Where the internal knowledge and the external confession of sins were
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present, there the baptism of John was not merely an image of cleansing, but the
cleansing and forgiving as such, and with the express pointing to the imminent sacrifice
for sin, in the bringing of the pure manhood of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, which
took upon itself and carried the sins of the world; even as through the same sacrifice also
the sins of previous generations were taken away, inasmuch as they descended from
Adam.
To be sure, in the baptism of Christ there is in addition to the concept of cleansing which
is by fire, the special concept of saturation with the Holy Ghost (I Cor. 12:13)
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free: and have been all made to drink into
one Spirit.
and of the unction (I John 2:20, 27; II Cor. 1:21).
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption.
Accordingly, they err greatly and deceive themselves with empty words, who say, in the
alleged antithesis to the baptism of the believing, that they .have sufficient in the
baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire; a baptism with water is not necessary any
longer. They do not know what they say: for they surely have not the spirit of Christ,
otherwise they would not so shamelessly oppose the Word of God; nor have they been
baptized with fire since they so thoughtlessly continue in sin in order that the grace of
God might
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abound the more toward them. Where has the indwelling sin then been burned away
with the fire of heaven and been devoured like Aaron’s sacrifice? Indeed, where is the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Such hypocrites have not even received the baptism of John
(for as adults they are ashamed and refused to let themselves be baptized in Christ, even
as the Pharisees were ashamed to receive the baptism of John; and, as little children,
they have not repented, nor confessed their former sins) to say nothing of the baptism of
Christ, since not John, but Jesus Christ baptizes with the Holy Ghost and seals those in
whom, according to the faith of the Gospel, the old man has been crucified with Christ
through baptism in His death. For as Christ has called His suffering and death a baptism
(Luke 12:50; Mark 10:38),
But I have a baptism to be baptized with: and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished!
But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup
that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
so is the believer’s baptism a fulfillment of this substitutionary suffering and dying of
Jesus Christ, with reference to the putting off of the old man, or of the body and flesh
(Col. 2:11; Rom. 6:6).
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,
in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
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The people, as repentant, who allowed themselves to be baptized of John, for the
forgiveness of sins, had more than those, now called believers, who rely on their infant
baptism, which occurred neither for the forgiveness of sins nor for regeneration; and
accordingly baptism as a mere usage could have been dispensed with altogether even as
it has in reality been brought to naught through infant baptism;—certainly contrary to
the divine appointment of Him who ordained it to be for the believers an implanting
unto the likeness of His death and of His resurrection. What can be your interest in it,
that you strive against the scriptural baptism of the believers, in favor of the vain,
idolatrous human ordinance of infant baptism? This false sorcerer, Elymas, full of all
deceit and cunning, as a son of the devil and a foe of all righteousness, will not cease to
pervert the straight ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10). Therefore will he be stricken with
blindness, that he no longer will see the sun of truth until Christ comes.
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That baptism has the concept of cleansing, we see from the strife that has been spun over
the two baptisms of John and Jesus between the disciples of John and one or more Jews:
clearly on the question, which of the two is the preferred. Now if the baptism of John,
for the penitent, had the characteristic of preparation for the kingdom of the Messiah
Who had appeared, then the baptism
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of Christ, or into Christ, was afterwards the dedication and the entrance into the
kingdom of the Messiah itself, where mere forgiveness of sins did not suffice. But a
complete, inner cleansing from the original sin of Adam, for which Christ died, is
necessary. This altogether different concept of Christ's baptism and John's we find
everywhere emphasized, so that neither Aquila nor Priscilla for the learned Apollos, nor
Paul for the twelve disciples in Ephesus, allowed their mere baptism by John to have any
value, as by far insufficient for that which the baptism of Christ is and must be to the
believers. We read that Aquila and Priscilla expounded unto Apollos the way of God
more perfectly. As a mere preacher of John he was unto them not yet a brother in Christ,
no member of Christ’s body. These are but two instances of many which Luke mentions.
How shall we then regard the idolatrous, human ordinance of infant baptism, which
without knowledge and will is forced on one, if the apostle did not even permit the
baptism of John for acceptance into the congregation of Christ, because it was not a
baptism into Christ, not an implanting with Him into the likeness of His death and His
resurrection; an effect for which there is no substitute and which cannot be attained
through infant baptism? There is no passage in the whole New Testament which more
clearly demonstrates the vanity and invalidity of a baptism before faith or without faith
112
(therefore also of infant baptism), than the words of Paul to the twelve disciples in
Ephesus: "John told the people that they should believe in Him who should come after
him." Where this positive faith in Jesus Christ as a fruit of preaching, is not present,
therein is an impossible thing to be baptized in or on Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ baptism was both the climax and the crisis of John’s baptism. Jesus, the Lord,
who should baptize with the Spirit, was now revealed in Israel. At the same time Jesus’
baptism with water and Spirit was the ensample of that baptism which He had ordained
for those who believe in Him. His baptism had altogether the same character as ours: He
was thereby anointed with the Holy Ghost, proclaimed to be God’s Son and immediately
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thereafter followed the temptations of the devil which He, as the sealed Son of God, had
to overcome, in order to conquer the devil first for His own person as untouchable by
sin. Thereafter He could take up the conflict for us, to redeem us from the devil’s power,
which is done through faith and baptism.
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CHAPTER XIII. BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND FIRE.
JOHN declared Him who would come after him as the greater and stronger, because He
would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. This baptism, however, does not
exclude the baptism with water, but is connected with it; and the irremissible condition
for both is faith, that no man may imagine, that the blessing of baptism or the partaking
of Abraham’s blessing (Acts 3:25 if.)
Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with
our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the
earth be blessed.
Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in
turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
is dependent on the performed work, or on the water, and that righteousness is of the
Law or out of the power of the old nature; on the contrary, faith in Christ Crucified must
form the foundation on which through baptism the work of building can continue. As
little as Naaman could have been healed without the water of Jordan, because it was
ordained for him by God, so little could the water of baptism without the believing
obedience to God’s command perform it. Therefore, is the baptism in Christ the right fan
in His hand with which He will purge the unbelieving and heretical
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nominal Christians as chaff and weeds from the eternal kingdom of God--(in whose
preparation they had here been in vain, Matt. 8:12)—into the eternal fire; and Will
gather the wheat into His garner. Through the baptism into Christ the true believers
receive the quality to become a good fruit of God, because they thereby receive the
divine nature of Christ, which proves itself also in the subsequent temptations and fiery
trials, so that it cannot be overcome but conquers everything. For in the heat of
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temptation the fruit ripens unto the harvest. The false believers laugh about this, that
baptism must first make true believers of us, equipped with the power of godliness, and
not with the empty form thereof. But why then do they baptize their ignorant children
(as they say) to make Christians of them? So they will be your judges, that you through
baptism would make believers of them and yet you make them false Christians without
the power of godliness, since nothing counts in Christ except a new creature, and we
durst know no one after the flesh, if he should be called Christian (II Cor. 5). Where
have you the Spirit and the baptism of fire to separate you from the old man which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts? For he who has received these must also in
addition be tempted by the devil and baptized with suffering; but the false believers the
devil leaves in their false faith altogether untempted, for it is His planting; and so
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they imagine that it is not possible today to be persecuted on account of faith, as
everywhere is full of Christians, and it is only a sign of enthusiasm and sectarianism. If
there are still such as are persecuted because they bring something new, namely a new
faith, a new baptism, and a new creation (creature)! You with your infant baptism on the
one hand and without the baptism of the believers on the other hand bring forth a new
creature as little as the Egyptian sorcerers, by their incantations, could imitate the signs
and wonders of God.
You say: the little children must be baptized, otherwise they cannot be saved! That is
practically what those babblers out of circumcision said to the heathen (Acts 15:1):
And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said,
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
As erroneous as that claim of Augustine’s is, so true is it said according to Scripture:
"Whoever is not baptized as a believer cannot be saved!" (John 3:3-5)
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
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You are startled at this? Do you not know that the silly statement of Augustine's, about
the necessity of infant baptism for the salvation of the children, is grounded on the
misunderstood doctrine of Scripture that baptism in Christ is necessary for salvation?
What if we prove to you from Scripture that a baptism without faith is no baptism in the
sight of God? How? For the ignorant, children? baptism should be necessary for
salvation, but for adult believers it should be unnecessary, yea, an error. Then we would
have no baptism any more, for infant baptism is no baptism. Your Luther says: "We
baptize no one that he might become a prince, but that he might be saved. To be saved,
we well know, means nothing else than to be redeemed from sin, death, and the devil, to
come into Christ’s kingdom and to live with Him." Did this happen to you in your infant
baptism? Did you become free from the sin and death in Adam, from the power of
Satan? (Matt. 1:21; Col. 1:12 H.)
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he
shall save his people from their sins.
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light:
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into
the kingdom of his dear Son:
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Therefore you are not baptized in Christ, for you are not saved from sin, from the first
death in
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Adam. And inasmuch as you yourselves say that this salvation is not possible in this life,
my claim remains true, that, whoever is not baptized in faith cannot be blessed, i.e.,
saved from sin: for the baptism of the believer alone is a baptism into Christ’s death, an
implanting with Him into the same death which He died and to the same resurrection in
which He arose. But Christ, as He died, died unto sin; and we now, as we through
baptism die with Him, must also die unto sin. What sort of an effect the future life of
man will have when they here have remained in their sin. and they here are cast into
prison as evildoers, and if they in spite of this can be saved eternally, that is left for each
one’s consideration when Christ says: "If I have not made you free from sin, ye shall die
in your sins, and whither I go ye cannot come" (John 8.) If the sinner in spite of this
would go where Christ has gone, let them see to it!
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CHAPTER XIV. IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF BAPTISM.
BUT we speak here first of all of the immediate effect of baptism which refers to the
present life, in as far as it performs a saving power in the believer; and not of the
mediate effect on future life, in as far as the just and holy in Christ will inherit eternal
life. Christ says: "Whoever believes your Gospel and lets himself be baptized on it will
be saved (namely from sin)”; and that means in Luther’s translation: "Will be saved"
("selig werden"). We dare also say the opposite: "Whoever does not believe your Gospel
—(and so naturally does not permit himself to be baptized: for how should he permit
himself to be baptized into Christ who does not believe in Him)—he will be damned"
(he will not be saved). In the preaching of the Gospel and in the faith in it, Christ had
only men in mind who can hear, prove, and choose, and not ignorant children. However,
in order to bring in the future salvation (and that is the chief thing) for themselves and
their kind, these scribes say: “Christ, when He said 'shall be damned’ did not say: 'Who
believes not and is not baptized but only ‘who believes not.’ " Now we are not
unbelieving, and we are also baptized, therefore we shall be saved! Shall sinners by
means
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of such a fallacy receive eternal life? When Paul, in contrast to simple faith wished to
speak of the power, meaning, and appointment of baptism, he interposed the earnest
question: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may more
abound?"—His reply is: "God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?" And how had they died unto sin? Through baptism into Christ’s death !—The
question naturally follows: “Who can lead a holy, just, godly, sinless life, as Jesus Christ
lived it?" The scribes’ reply is: "God forbid! No one can do that!” And yet they wish to
be saved and immediately refer to eternity instead of making a beginning here in this
time. They desire the fruit, but they lack the tree on which it must grow. However, the
Word of God says: "Everyone who believes in Christ and is baptized puts on Christ and
can live as He." Therefore these scribes have a different doctrine than the Word of God;
no wonder that it is of no value except for man’s destruction, as God says (Jer. 23:16,
17).
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that
prophesy unto you; they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own
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heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have
peace: and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his
own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
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In addition they also are damned who bring another doctrine than the Word of
God (I Tim. 1:3; 6:3; II John 9 ff.; Gal. 1:6 ff.)
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that
thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness:
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not
God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and
the Son.
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into
your house, neither bid him God speed:
For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink:
but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert
the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
And this divine curse is already so effective in them, that they, with all their might, strive
against Christ and His truth, make the Word of God a lie in order to make truth out of
their own lies.
Now since they who have not been baptized in faith cannot lead an holy life, as they
have not put
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123
on Christ, they also cannot be saved. For no one can be saved who is not in Christ; but if
any be in Christ he is a new creature; Old things are passed away: behold, all things are
new. Should anyone be saved without Christ, then would the inheritance be by the Law
and its works, and no more by grace and its effect in him who believes and is baptized.
But now a part of these scribes fall into another error. They say. “God forbid, that we
would be saved by the Law and its works; we desire to be saved by pure grace; yes, so
much by pure grace, that we hope to be saved as poor sinners without works!"—
Strange! Grace is for them not a contrast to sin, but to righteousness. It agrees well with
personal sin, but not with personal righteousness! According to their school system they
know no other grace than that which is a contrast to the merit of the works of the Law,
and so, in the gross misunderstanding of the doctrine of justification, they imagine that
all works are excluded and do away with the merit of Christ or with grace. But that the
true grace of God devours not the works, but sin alone, and moreover brings forth a new,
just, holy life full of good works, they do not know, and make of Christ one who is their
sin-servant (Gal. 2: 17 if.; I Peter 5:12: Eph. 2:10; James 3:17).
But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we our selves also are found
sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
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For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
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 by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then
Christ is dead in vain.
By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly,
exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and
easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and
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without hypocrisy.
Yea, they themselves are the ones who ignorantly in their blind zeal for their orthodoxy
or church doctrine and the traditions of the fathers, derive righteousness not from faith,
but from the works of the Law, namely first from ceremonial works of the Law; infant
baptism; confirmation; holding communion outwardly, etc.; and finally from the moral
works of the Law, which they wish to do, not by virtue of the power of the new nature in
Christ (which they do not have) but by virtue of their old sinful nature. If they are asked:
"Where is your righteousness, which must by far surpass that of the Pharisees and
Scribes in order to enter the kingdom of God? Where is the sancti125
fication without which no man can see God?" They answer. “Oh, that is not important
before God; we are weak men and poor sinners, and would be saved by pure grace
alone! " But if they are told: "You are godless and sinners, who must first be converted
and believe in Christ and be baptized!" they reply: "Oh, no, we are pious Christians, and
righteous, and not godless sinners." Just they, who for appearance’s sake cry the loudest
that they would be saved by pure grace (without works), establish the Law with its dead
works and make Christ, with His grace (which is not a fruitless tree) unnecessary.
The difference between the old Law and the Gospel is not in this, that the former
demands works but the latter insists on faith alone: for the Gospel insists just as much
and much more on works for salvation, as the Law ever did for righteousness. But the
difference between the two is that the Law demanded the works of obedience, without
giving the power of accomplishment; grace on the other hand grants also the power for
the fulfillment, and the pardoned one in Christ does that which the legalist in Adam does
not and cannot do. For if in the Old Testament this Law already had been given (or could
have been given without the redemptive death of Christ), which makes alive, and which
in the New Testament is written in the hearts of the baptized believers, that they may do
the will of God, their Father: then, already
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there, righteousness would verily have come by the Law. But because man is by nature a
sinner, he must first of all believe in Christ the Crucified, in order to be reconciled with
God, and by this faith be justified, because Christ has taken upon Himself the
punishment of the guilty sinner; but then the new law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
is placed into his heart, which frees him from the law of sin in his members and thereby
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also from the law of death in the stone tables; and now he can do the will of God; and
the righteousness of the New Testament comes not by faith alone, but only in contrast to
him, who would derive his righteousness from the works of the Law and by virtue of his
fallen nature, does the Gospel teach, that righteousness comes by faith only; however,
afterwards it comes no more by faith alone in the crucified Christ, but by the life of the
risen Christ in us (Rom.. 8:2; Gal. 3:21; Hebr. 8:10).
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death.
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been
a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Only the works of the Law are rejected (with which the false Christians pride
themselves): and only at first is the sinner justified by faith in Christ
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alone; but after he has come forth out of baptism as one who is newborn, then for him
matters no longer the righteousness of faith alone, which forms the foundation of the
new structure, but the structure itself, which must be built on this foundation, is the
righteousness of life, for which Christ is made to us through baptism just as much as He
is made to us the righteousness of faith to faith. This is the true meaning of Rom. 1:17:
"For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The
just (out of faith) shall live by faith."
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CHAPTER XV. THE SECOND FAITH.
OUT of the first faith to the justification of the godless sinner comes the second faith in
which the new man must live after Christ and overcome the world. Without this second
faith, with Christ's righteousness of life, the first faith to the justification of the godless
sinner, is an empty, vain thing (James 2:14 ff:); and hardly in any other part has the
evangelical doctrine of salvation been more grossly misunderstood and corrupted, than
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in this doctrine of justification by faith alone, to the exclusion not only of the previous
works of the Law, but also of the subsequent righteousness of life or sanctification. The
godless sinner is indeed justified only by his faith in the substitutionary sacrificial death
of Christ with reference to his previous life; but the regenerated children of God must be
justified by their new life of obedience, and by the keeping of the new law righteousness
comes truly, and without it no man can enter into God's kingdom (II Peter 1). But as the
righteousness of faith comes out of faith, so the righteousness of life, or the power to
fulfill the new law (which is more comprehensive than the old), flows out of the baptism
into Christ; of this the babblers out of the circum129
cision know nothing, because it does not originate in the legalistic work of infant
baptism. Their doctrine of the righteousness of faith is altogether suited to infant
baptism. As they did not come forth out of their baptism as new born with the power of
the new life, they cannot afterwards, even if they come to faith (which seldom happens),
keep the new law of the Spirit (which is nothing else than the new life of the Spirit), and
they let the matter rest with the imputed righteousness of Christ and comfort themselves
falsely with the hope of eternal life. Christ’s death is important to us, but His
resurrection is more important; for if He be not risen, He was not Christ the Son of God,
and then we dare not believe on Him, or faith in Him is idolatry, deification of a mere
man. Even so it is with faith and baptism. Faith in Christ’s death is important to us for
the justification of the sinner; it is the foundation of salvation; but baptism into Christ is
more important for the awakening with Christ unto a new life, to the establishment of
the righteousness of life. For if we are not risen with Christ in baptism (Col. 2:12)
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
we are not Christians or children of the living God, and faith is vain, empty, and futile;
for in baptism the faith in the effective power of God must be present, which He has
worked in Christ; as He
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has wakened Him from the dead, the resurrection power passes over from Christ to the
baptized, who in baptism has been buried with Christ (Gal. 2:19 ff; Eph. 1:19 ff).
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
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And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power,
Now the little children are also supposed to be baptized on a faith: but what kind of a
faith? On the faith of the church, which has no heart to believe, but her faith is in her
symbolical books and standard writings, upon which all would be saved; even as the
servant of the Church, at the baptism of children, reads from the liturgy; “Let us now
also hear the articles of our undoubted Christian faith, on which this child is to be
baptized, and thereafter also instructed: I believe in God." etc. Who believes thus? The
Church in the name and for the benefit of all her children! The Church believes, but the
individuals have no faith! Is not that the speaking image of Revelation? As though it
were all the same, if a priest who is just as dead as the God he serves and represents,
reads a heartless formula of faith, or if the candidate for baptism himself believes with
his whole heart! Therefore infant baptism is nothing less than indifferent or unimportant,
although in itself it is vain; but what Paul (Cor. 10: 19 if)
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What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice
to idols is any thing?
says of the idol also refers to infant baptism as an idol of the State-Church: In itself it is
a powerless nuisance, but because in the false church it is supposed to be a substitute for
Christ’s baptism and a reception into church fellowship, it is in like manner an initiation
into the mystery of ungodliness, even as the believer’s baptism is into the mystery of
godliness; and afterwards it is difficult, and for the majority it is impossible, to renounce
the communion of idols, the table of demons (II Cor. 6:16),
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple
of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
because it is considered the correct service of God (Jer. 7:3 ff.; 8:5 ff.).
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your
doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?
they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
For as little as infant baptism is Christ's baptism, so little is the subsequent communion
the Lord’s Supper, which He has left to His believers as a memorial. By communion, as
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observed in the State-Church, Christ is each time crucified anew; therefore also these
false Christians each time seek a new forgiveness of sins in it, as it occurred in the Old
Testament, typically, in the daily and
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yearly sacrifices, but which were only a remembrance of sin, and no removal of it
(which occurred in Christ at once and only once) ; (John 13:10: I Cor. 6:11),
Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is
clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. and by the Spirit of our God.
otherwise there would have been an end of sacrificing (Hebr. 10:1 ff.) .
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of th: things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the
worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins.
Logically, and in agreement with herself, the Roman religious party teaches an each time
repeated offering of the body and blood of Christ in the mass. In truth, however, no one
can observe the Lord's Supper, who has not previously through baptism been planted
together with Christ into the likeness of His death and resurrection; for otherwise
communion is no remembrance of this, that we through Christ’s death have died unto
sin, if we are yet in our sins (I Cor. 15:17).
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain: ye are yet in your sins.
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For this reason the true communion stands in the most intimate connection with baptism
and each time it is a renewed remembrance of our covenant with God in baptism, that
we would live unto God, after we through Christ’s death have died unto sin (Rom. 6:11Page 117 of 1977
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13; I Peter 2:24).
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but
yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that ye, being dead
to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
As Christ died only once for sin, so the believer in baptism dies only once unto sin; and
therefore baptism in Christ can be received only once in a lifetime, and a renewed
baptism is as impossible as a renewed death of Christ (Hebr. 9:20 ff.) .
Saying. 'This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Now if you through your infant baptism have died unto sin, or unto the old man, you
will no longer live in the sin unto which you have died. But as this has not occurred
through infant baptism, nor could occur, it is no baptism into Christ; and the baptism of
the called believers is no new or repeated baptism, but it is the only and true baptism
which Christ has commanded to all who
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have come to the faith of the Gospel. Far be it. that we would be Anabaptists, for we
alone are baptized as Christ has commanded and you are not baptized at all. For this
reason also the human invention of confirmation (instead of baptism) is falsely called a
renewal of the batismal covenant. For either was a covenant really made with God in
infant baptism, and this covenant was later not A kept by man or broken, or no covenant
was established in the ignorant and unwilling infant baptism, and then it was also not
broken (and cannot therefore be renewed by confirmation which, ( besides, is no
baptism) ; but man lives as a natural man and sinner in the world (like a Jew or heathen)
until the call of God into the communion of His Son, Jesus Christ, and then first must
the covenant with God be established in baptism. But suppose the covenant with God
had been established in infant baptism and had later been broken: what would follow?
That it would be impossible to renew the broken baptismal covenant: for the breaking of
a covenant is a sovereign crime against God and deserves the punishment of damnation;
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and for the forgiveness of this sin Christ would have to die again, which will not happen:
for that one time He died only for the sins previously committed under the long
suffering of God (Rom. 3:25 ff; II Peter 1:19).
135
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God;
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath
forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
But God be praised that we are not in this dreadful situation with reference to infant
baptism, for it is no baptism otherwise there would be no help for man against the
second death, after he had been saved from the first death of Adam through baptism
(Hebr. 6 and 10). But because infant baptism is no baptism, the baptism after faith is not
a new baptism, but only one which man must receive, if he would enter into Christ, be
saved from Satan’s power, and be blessed forever (Eph. 4:5).
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
He, however, will also be made responsible for his infant baptism, as though he had
received the true baptism of Christ, who insists that it is the correct baptism of Christ.
Even though he has not the power of God’s covenant, yet he has either despised or
broken God's covenant:—despised, in that he has not entered into it through the baptism
of faith in order to receive the lacking power of godliness; or broken, in that he did not
keep the covenant to which he claimed to be a party, but lived in sin, in the old leaven
which must be purged out by
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Christ, if it is to be of any use. For if he who has been baptized as Child cannot walk in
the newness of life why does he claim to be in God's new covenant? Since this is the
new covenant that God gives a new law in our hearts and minds, and makes such people
out of us as walk in His ways and keep His commandments and do according to them.
To the new covenant belongs a new life, founded on the forgiveness of the old sins
(Hebr. 8). For if the old covenant of the shadow would have been good and sufficient,
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why would a new covenant have been needed, and if it had achieved its goal, to what
end would a new covenant have been instituted? But through infant baptism and all
other human ordinances the new covenant and its essence have again been crowded out
and the covenant of the shadow restored.
They say, namely: "Even as in the old covenant the little children were circumcised, thus
the little children must also be baptised, be received into God’s covenant of grace." But
what was V circumcision. in the Old Testament? Is was a proof that Abraham’s children,
by their mere birth, did not yet belong to God’s people, as yet had no claim on the
covenant and were not obligated by it, but first through circumcision. Circumcision,
however, which was for Father Abraham the seal of righteousness of faith, was for his
children only the sign of the covenant, in view of the new covenant, where the shadow
passes into essence, and
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where each one must experience what Father Abraham did, in order that we might be
Abraham’s children, who according to the flesh are no longer Abraham's children. We
must by another method become such: after the Spirit. In the New Testament then we
become Abraham’s children if we believe as he believed. But with this faith we are not
yet in covenant with God, we are merely justified as godless ones. Therefore these born
children must also be circumcised in order to enter the new covenant of God,
circumcised with the circumcision of Christ, in that they are buried with Him through
baptism, in which they at once are also awakened with Him unto a new life, because
they believe in the efficient power of God which He effected through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead (Col. 2). Whoever therefore has not yet believed in Christ, he
is not yet born for God’s kingdom.; how then shall he be baptized, i.e., be circumcised at
heart from the foreskin of the sinful flesh? For conception precedes every birth; and
before faith there must be preaching (hearing) of the divine Word (the proclamation and
promise) ; he who hears the Gospel and does not believe, in him Christ cannot be
generated; and even so, if he hears another word than the Word of God. Everyone
therefore who starts with infant baptism, corrupts the Gospel, and cannot preach the
converting, faith-working Word of God, otherwise he would have to contradict himself.
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CHAPTER XVI. THE NEW CREATURE OUT OF BAPTISM.
ONLY they who are regenerated by faith are Abraham's children, or as Paul says: "Not
the children of the flesh, are children of God, but the children of the promise are
numbered among Abraham's seed and are blessed with the believing Abraham" (Rom.
9:8; Gal. 3:9; John 1:11 K.),
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.) full of grace and truth.
Far be it, that the ignorant children can enter into the covenant with God, if not even the
believing adults are in this covenant, but first enter it through baptism. For the new
covenant is mutual (as was the old) and not one-sided. As God gives and
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fulfils the promise, so the regenerated person takes over his responsibilities and must
fulfil them. Therefore we cannot obligate those baptized as children to the keeping of the
covenant: because, first, they have not received the power thereto, and, secondly, they
have taken over nothing. True, they say, that they accept this through confirmation; but
that is simply a deception: because, first, there also the children know not what they do;
and, secondly, they do not receive the power of the new creature, for they are not reborn;
and the human ordinance of confirmation can never be a substitute for the divinely
ordained baptism, even if all children believed; and they would have to do that
themselves which God would bestow and work through baptism. That little children
have not developed the self-activity of faith, that, therefore, the covenant would not be
mutual but would only be a one~sided establishment and acceptance on God’s part, is
clear; and yet the salvation of old and young should be grounded thereon! How could
the truthfulness of God stand thereby, if He in infant baptism had promised and pledged
the salvation of all, and then would not keep it afterwards? Either God would have to
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save all, without reference to faith and life, by virtue of His covenant and promise; or He
connects the promise of eternal life with the condition of faith in Christ, and the new life
from Christ. That God saves man without faith in Christ militates against
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the Gospel; is, however, salvation conditioned on faith, then one must await the decision
of faith, in order to baptize the believer, so that the almighty God may not seem to be a
liar (John 3:32 if.: I John 5:8-11).
And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his
testimony.
He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not
the Spirit by measure unto him.
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water. and
the blood: and these three agree in one.
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the
witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness `in himself: he that
believeth not God hath made him a liar: because he believeth not the record
that God gave of his Son.
And this is the record. that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son.
For even faith alone does not do it, but the new creature, who comes out of baptism, is
the chief thing; for we are not merely concerned with the forgiveness of sins, but with
the laying aside and purging of sin. For as man is not justified without faith in Christ, so
he will not be blessed and glorified without the life of Christ (Rom. 5:10; 8:29).
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For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his
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Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
For whom he did foreknow. he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
He who is converted to faith stands in the same relation to the new covenant as the lad of
eight days to the old covenant: He must, under penalty of death, receive the sign of
circumcision (Ex. 4:24 ff.) :
And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to
kill him.
likewise must the former be baptized in Christ, or be buried with Christ, as a witness that
he may be considered justified in his faith, truly as one who has died in Christ (II Cor.
5:15; Rom. 6: 7-1 1) .
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with· him:
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: death hath no
more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Now as we usually bury no one who has not died; so we do not tarry long in burying the
dead, lest
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the odor of corruption make the atmosphere impure. But immediately with the burial in
baptism is also united the spiritual awakening to a new life, as it was in the case of
Christ. Therefore an unbaptized believer is only a dead person who will soon become
corrupt because he is not buried with Christ in baptism. It is clear that in this point infant
baptism fails altogether; for if it were a baptism then thereby all those would be buried
who had not previously died through faith in Christ the Crucified. And if to be buried
alive is a terrible death, even more terrible than death itself, then the invention of infant
baptism is a terrible death, yea, much more terrible than the death in Adam itself; for
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thereby the poor people are deceived, thinking they are Christians and children of God
and that they will be saved; not being converted, and not believing that they as dead
sinners are neither Christians nor God’s children.
In order to be baptized, a person must not only be dead in Adam (otherwise surely all
children could be baptized), but they must also through faith have died with Christ, and
acknowledge themselves as such, otherwise there cannot follow the resurrection from
the first death in Adam for the purpose of walking in the newness of life. Now, however,
infant baptism is no baptism: for baptism in Christ has its reference to sin and to
righteousness: To sin; namely, first, to the forgiveness and washing away of previously
committed
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sins (of which there can be no thought in children); and on this is based, secondly, the
destruction of the indwelling, original sin, in order that sinning henceforth may not
continue. Now the infant has no other sin as yet than the inborn original sin, in an
undeveloped state, and therefore cannot be imputed and consequently cannot` be
forgiven; even as in general, original sin, as undeserved, cannot be forgiven, but must
die, that man need not die (but live) eternally: and on this account Christ died, even as
He shed His blood for the many sins against the Law. Therefore infant baptism has no
relation whatever to sin: for if original sin (the old man) were put off, then it would not
afterwards still be found in all men; and one could not in the so-called confirmation
speak of a renewal of the baptismal covenant.—But infant baptism also has no relation
to righteousness, i.e., to a new. just, and godly life in Christ, as the baptism into Christ
has, and must have, if it should be useful for salvation: For where sin is dead, there
righteousness abounds. The baptism in Christ is for the justified believer exactly what
the death of Christ was. For as little as Christ, after He had died for our sins, could not
be held by death longer than to the third day, because He was the just One, who had
done no sin, even so little can the sinner who has been justified by faith remain longer in
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the first death (the sin of Adam), after he has been buried with Christ through baptism.
Faith, without subsequent baptism, is really a lie. In a similar manner, as Jacob wrapped
and lied himself into the person of his firstborn brother in order to be blessed by his
father, must also the divinely called person who is likewise by nature a godless sinner,
like all others, but has been led by the Law to the fear of God, be clothed by faith in the
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person of the first-born, Jesus Christ. that he might then by baptism receive the blessing
of sonship. Otherwise than in Christ God will not look on man; even as Christ was to
this end first damned in the person of a sinner and was crucified and bore the
punishment of the godless. The godless sinner must, as it were, lie himself into the
person of the Son of God by faith in order that God will no longer look upon his person
and frame, but see him in Christ in whom he has been declared righteous. “The voice is
Jacob’s; but the hands are the hands of Esau." (Gen. 27:22).
And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The
voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
For he is declared righteous through a strange righteousness, through simple imputation,
although in himself he is not righteousness at all. This lie must by the subsequent
baptism be changed into truth, for there man puts on Christ Himself with His holy, and
just life of the Spirit, and the strange, imputed righteousness is made
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his own, his implanted righteousness, that he might walk therein and do the will of God,
like Jesus. (I John 3:7). In this lies the blessing of baptism—that the old man is dead and
the new man lives. Thus man first really pleases the Father in heaven, if the Son lives in
him; otherwise man is a twofold liar, not only in Adam, but also in Christ, if he would
only believe that Christ died for the ungodly, and will not be baptized in order to put off
the old man and put on the new.
When the defenders of infant baptism can no longer maintain their position on the basis
of Scripture, they at last take refuge in the lame excuse: "But infant baptism is not
forbidden!" However, just that condemns them with their human ordinance, that it is not
commanded. For to a positive divine ordinance more is necessary than that it is not
forbidden, and thus is left to man’s free choice. Whatever is not expressly commanded,
and men do it as a service to God, that is a service of idols according to human
ordinance. Of infant baptism and all similar abuses of the false church it is true what is
written: "They have forsaken Me, and have estranged this place, and have burned therein
unto other gods: They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire
for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I have commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it
into my mind." (Jer. 19; 7:31). There is no stronger proof of the falsity of infant baptism
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than that it is not forbidden in the Word of God (and so naturally much less
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commanded), because such nonsense never came into the mind of God.
There is no other Spirit of truth beside that which came upon the Apostles for the
purpose of proclaiming to men the way of salvation (Acts 16:17).
The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying. These men are the servants
of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
This Spirit has revealed to the Apostles the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
But infant baptism has no place therein: it is neither the way nor the means of salvation
from sin, which is of the utmost consequence to God, in order that His Son Jesus Christ
would not have died for us in vain (I Cor. 15:1 ff.) .
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved. if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures:
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
After that, he was seen of above live hundred brethren at once; of whom the
greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
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For whoever abides in sin, for him Christ died in vain, and he must himself die (Rom.
6:23), Of whom one therefore would say: “He shall never see death" (John 8:51),
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see
death.
of him one must also be able to say: "He doth not commit sin" (I John 3). And this man
cannot do of himself, but only through Christ who died for this purpose and rose again.
In Him he must first be through faith, for the forgiveness of previously committed sins
(which cannot be made undone) ; and then Christ must be in him through baptism into
His death, implanted in Him, in order that sin be purged from man (cease) (Rom. 6:6)
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Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed. that henceforth we should not serve sin.
and righteousness be established (I Peter 2:24).
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being
dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
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CHAPTER XVII. A CLAIM ON GOD.
THROUGH the Law man becomes one flesh with the sin that dwells in him, as man and
wife in marriage (Rom. 7). Before the Law they were two, each for himself, as if they
had nothing to do with each other, like unmarried people: for by the Law is the
knowledge and imputation of sin. But through faith they are again divorced, by virtue of
Christ's death, so that man stands there as a childless widow. Christ redeems the soul out
of this widowhood, because He is for the believing soul the next of kin, who cannot
refuse to marry, which occurs in baptism, which Peter calls a claim on God (I Peter
3:21),
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward
God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
because the believing soul asks for Christ in marriage as her Redeemer (Goel), like Ruth
and Boas (Ruth 3). But how is such a marriage contract with Christ possible in infant
baptism, as the child is neither united with sin by the Law, nor by faith is it free from
this first union through the death of the first man, who in the person of Christ died on the
cross? Only he, who by faith in Christ, has been transferred into widowhood from the
first
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man can with the risen Christ enter into a new marriage through baptism, in order to
bring fruit unto God. As little as a newborn child is lit for bodily marriage, because its
nature. has not yet developed: just so little, and even less, can it enter with Christ the
Resurrected into spiritual marriage, because sin has not yet developed in it, in order to
bring fruit unto death. For marriage with Christ is never the first union, but always the
second (like the Levirate-marriage) (Matt 22:24; Deut. 25:5).
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Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall
marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of
the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall
go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an
husband's brother unto her.
The first is with sin through the Law; the second with Christ (the righteousness) through
baptism. after the widow- or sorrow-year (Matt. 5:4)
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
through faith is past; thus baptism takes the place of the Law for him who has believed.
Therefore infant baptism is another baptism.
For reconciliation with God, man the sinner must believe in Christ the Crucified; but for
spiritual union with God the justified must be baptized in order to receive the Spirit of
adoption. Likewise is the union with God to one Spirit, and with Christ into one body,
the seal of the accomplished
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reconciliation, for the putting aside of the enmity. Whoever then battles for the necessity
of indwelling sin, and consequently for continued sinning and for the impossibility of
redemption therefrom, to him I put the question: "Are you circumcised in the heart?" If
he says, "Yes," I answer: "That is not true, for the indwelling sin is the foreskin of the
heart." If he says, "No," I answer: "Then cease, thou uncircumcised Philistine, to strive
against the drawing of living God with the weapons of darkness and of
unrighteousness!"— Where the heart is circumcised, there necessarily sinning ceases.
But whoever combats against the possibility of redemption from sin, and against the
truthfulness of spiritual circumcision in Christ (through baptism) he preaches just as
zealously the circumcision of the Old Testament, and is a defender of human ordinances
and works of the Law; and of such Paul says: “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers,
beware of concision! For we are the circumcision (the true Israel of God, Gal. 6:15 if.),
who serve Him in the Spirit and glory in Christ Jesus, and not trust in our flesh" (Phil.
3:2 if.; Titus 1:10; Gal: 5:11).
After these general comments on the Baptism of Christ now follow special ones on the
individual passages, cited above from the New Testament.
* * *
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CHAPTER XVIII. FREE PERSUASION AND FREE WILL.
JOHN 1:11 ff: Literally, this does not refer to baptism, but actually it does according to
the sense and spirit. No man is a child of God who is not born of God. No one can,
however, be born of God, who has not put on Christ by faith (in the word). Thereby as
least infant baptism is unconditionally excluded, as a means to becoming a child of God
and being saved: for children are only of the flower and by will of the flesh, but are not
born of God and have not believed on the name of Jesus Christ, in order to accept Him,
and not to reject Him, as His own people did (the Jews and nominal Christians). This
acceptance of Christ is a matter of free persuasion and free will! Yea, the application of
these to the false Christians is even more apparent in that they do not accept Christ in the
Spirit when He preaches to them, as the Jews did not receive Him, when He appeared in
the flesh among them: for in the flesh He cannot now be rejected, since He is in glory;
but just those who call Jesus Lord and outwardly confess Him, are the ones who reject
the true, living Spirit of Christ and blaspheme
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Him and call Him an anathema, a rejected one, refuse, and rubbish (I Cor. 12:3; 4:13),
Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God
calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by
the Holy Ghost.
Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the
offscouring of all things unto this day.
when He is brought to them, and thereby their hyprocrisy is revealed, that they name
Him with their lips, confess Him with their tongue as Lord, and yet have not forsaken,
nor desire to forsake unrighteousness (II Tim. 2:19) ;
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord
knoweth them that are his. And, Let every. one that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity.
but on the contrary are full of hate, envy, anger, strife, pride, malice, greed, ambition,
impurity and falsehood. From this it is evident, that they do not call Jesus Lord by the
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Spirit of God, in order to worship and call upon Him, as God; as the Father, and to cling
to Him in faith, love, and hope, and to be subject to Him, as His spouse, the communion
of saints, as her husband. In Christ the two poles of faith and unbelief separate. The
unbelievers, in whom is the devil, call the true Christ a curse; the believers, in whom is
the Spirit of God, call Jesus, in deepest reverence and highest joy, their Lord. The socalled believers in the State-Church, it is true, also call Jesus Lord, but in another sense,
as a mere title, by force of habit
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(so in the expression: "Lord Jesus!") and not by the Holy Ghost, in order to honor Him
through unconditional faith and obedience. With the mouth they call Him Lord, but with
the heart they are far from Him, and serve another Lord, and do the will of the flesh and
the devil. If to these very people who always have the name "Lord" in their mouth, the
life-giving Lord of the Spirit is proclaimed, they do not care to know or hear anything
about Him, and curse him who proclaims it as a deceiver and sectarian, to the clear
proof, that they do not have the Spirit of God, and that they mean another Lord than
Jesus, whom they do not know, and by whom they also are not known (Matt. 7:21 ff.);
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
for if anyone by the Holy Ghost calls Jesus Lord, he also, by the same Spirit, does the
will of the heavenly Father and keeps the commandments of Christ, which are becoming
to the new man just as a garment, in which he must daily walk as a saint. For this is
fundamentally false, that a man must be saved by faith alone, without the works of faith
and love. For the Law, which died and is buried with Christ, rises again with Christ in a
new form, in order to be suited to the new man who is risen with Christ, as a Law of the
Spirit of
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life in Christ Jesus; for man cannot be without a law, at least not a man of God (I Cor.
9:21; Rom. 8:2).
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God,
but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
of sin and death.
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One law stands at the left of Christ, another at His right. The former kills Him as your
sin; the latter makes you alive as His righteousness (II Cor. 5:21).
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
The first Law stepped in between the promise, given to the children, and the fulfilment
of the same in the believers, who again become children; but no one comes to faith
without the Law, to the knowledge of sin (Gal. 3:19; Rom. 5:20 ff.).
Wherefore then serveth the law)? It was added because of transgressions, till
the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by
angels in the hand of a mediator.
Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound. But where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound:
The Law, it is true, cannot justify the sinner and make the dead alive, but it must
condemn him, before he can believe in Christ in order to be justified and made alive.
Whoever would preach Christ, without the preceding Law—(for natural man
understands the Law as little as the Gospel; John 5:46 ff.)156
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for be wrote of me.
he directs men to a false appropriation of the Gospel; and he will later insist just as little
on the keeping of the commandments of God, or the new Law. (I Cor. 7:19).
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the
commandments of God.
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CHAPTER XIX. "BORN AGAIN."
JOHN 3:1 ff : What Jesus here first has expressed generally, "to be born again," He
repeats later with the explanatory words “of water and of the Spirit." The water refers to
the body, the Spirit, however, to the spirit of man. Between body and spirit (in the
middle) is the soul, and to this the blood of Christ refers, which is shed for many for the
forgiveness of sins. John therefore also says, Christ has co-me (and comes) through
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three witnesses: Spirit, water, and blood; and these three agree in one, and are one for
the saving of man., namely, to his regeneration or his reconstruction from Adam’s fall.
(The three witnesses refer to the three parts of man: body, soul, and spirit.) If man did
not have a body, or if sin had not soiled the body and permeated it, then the water would
be an unessential part of baptism. But because man acts through his body and carries out
the thoughts of his spirit and the desires of his heart, and because of the body of man
also is to rise again from the grave and from corruption, that it might be a companion of
the spirit, either in blessedness or in damnation, therefore it is certain that the water of
baptism is an essential condition for the achievement of the divine purpose,
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and it has a great effect on the renewal of man, that he might through the body do new
works, serve the living God, and be a temple of the Holy Spirit, even as he previously
gave his members to the service of unrighteousness and abused them (Hebr. 10:23).
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful
that promised;)
Of this new use of the body and its members Paul speaks especially in Rom. 6 where he
describes the saving power of baptism. Namely, as the body of man is the visible thing
and the spirit the invisible, the soul having an intermediate position and mediating
between the two, so also in baptism the water is the visible element, the spirit of Christ
the invisible, and the blood of Christ is bound together with the water, where faith is
present and the spirit of Christ is bound together with the blood, that it might testify that
the blood of Christ truly has cleansed the soul of man and freed it from sin in baptism,
so that man goes forth as a new creature in order to walk in the newness of life. He who
would comprehend the union existing between the body and spirit of man, could also
understand the union between water and the spirit in baptism, in order to make a
complete baptism according to the mind of Christ. For where there is water alone, as in
infant baptism, or in the baptism of John, there follows no new life in the spirit; but were
the spirit alone, without the water
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and blood, there the communion of saints would not be established. For baptism with
water has its special meaning and appointment also to the formation of the congregation
of Christ as Paul says: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we
be Jews or Gentiles., whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into
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one Spirit." It is noteworthy that where one has departed from the rule of truth, we find
as great an over estimation of baptism with water in infant baptism as there is under
estimation and contempt of its true application to the believer.
John 13:1 ff: As the Lord prepared to wash the feet of His disciples He referred to the
great washing and cleansing which they had already received from Him of which Judas
was excepted on account of his unworthy spirit. This complete absolution and cleansing
Christ bestows at once through baptism, but it is conditioned by the mind of him who is
baptized, and not by the outward work or means as such. He who seeks a good or
blessing in infant baptism, which occurs without faith, commits idolatry with the
outward work and idolatry with the outward means: in order that a means may effect
that which it should, it must be expressly commanded and ordained of God, and the faith
of man must receive it and use it thus, even though it may appear foolish and offensive
or contradictory to reason that a means
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should have such an effect. For example, the water of Jordan did not itself have the
power to cleanse leprosy; but in the case where the prophet Elisha spoke to Naaman as a
Word of the Lord: "Wash yourself seven times in Jordan," there it had the effect, and by
the result it was established as a Word of the Lord. The means as such effect nothing, but
the Word of God does; however, God does not do it without means, in order that He
might try the faith of man, which of itself falls away in infant baptism, for faith in it is
superstition. If it had God’s command and were connected with God’s Word, then it
would by means of faith effect that in man whereunto the Lord has ordained baptism,
namely, to separate original sin from man and to make it powerless in him. Therefore we
can ascribe to infant baptism no other effect, than that it is a magical contrivance
(amulet), which also agrees fully with the spirit of the State-Church. However, the result
is lacking. Original sin remains and continues to work unhindered until death, yea, unto
eternal death where no repentance and conversion, no faith and regeneration, follow in
the years of maturity. Now if the adults must first begin with repentance and faith, like
the Jews and Gentiles, what shall be done with infant baptism? Shall we ascribe any
good to it? How can it become that one baptism. by which all believers are one body and
one spirit in Christ? Can one first baptize and afterwards
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preach repentance and faith? However, it is more convenient thus. For the teachers are
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saved the effort to preach to adults repentance to God and faith in Jesus Christ, because
of the simple reason that they are already Christians; and the latter are spared the effort
to go in at the strait gate and to be converted from their evil ways in order to become
followers of Jesus. Ah, yes, if they could but enter into the kingdom of God by means of
this deceit! Surely no one would begrudge it to them! That baptism after faith has a
promise of God and a wondrous effect, seems laughable to these wiseacres! But that the
baptism of ignorant children should have such an effect, does not seem ridiculous to
them. Where the forgiveness of the old sins has first occurred by faith, there the rooting
out of the internal sin follows as a fruit of baptism. And altogether in harmony with
Scriptures. the apostolic fathers knew and confessed that the forgiveness of sin wrought
by Christ is operative only for the sins committed before baptism, because sinning after
the spring has been stopped up can continue as little as the flow of blood in the woman
who had been healed by Jesus.
But is there no more sinning in the baptized believers? And if there are sins, what shall
be done with them?—If they are sins unto death, nothing more can be done because for
these Christ did not die another time; against these the pardoned and regenerated should
guard himself by
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obeying grace. However, if they are not sins unto death— (for everything which is not
right is sin and should not occur)—then one should pray and he shall be forgiven. It was
even for this that Jesus showed his disciples through the foot-washing what they owed
each other after having received the great absolution, namely, to do that which for pride
and self love is more difficult than the external work of foot-washing: mutual confession
of sins, the forgiveness of them where it depends upon us, and intercession where the
Lord has been offended and the Holy Spirit grieved.—Also in this the apostolic fathers
taught according to the truth when they contended that regeneration by faith and baptism
was a divine work completed at one time (and not something about which one would
have to worry throughout life and which would never be completed if it depended upon
one’s own effort); and that no one, without the inner reception of the mind could receive
the higher operation: although Neander takes exception to both in favor of infant
baptism. There stands this vexing image which arouses the Lord’s zeal, which He
showed the prophet Ezekiel in a divine vision, before the portal of the altar immediately
at the entrance of the temple. (Ezek. 8:3, 5, 6)
And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and
the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in
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the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh
toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which
provoketh to jealousy.
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Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the
north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold
northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the
great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go
far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater
abominations.
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CHAPTER XX. BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
ACTS 2:38 ff. This passage not only answers the question: "What is baptism" but also
What is "the baptism of Christ"? If the apostle has given a correct report then every
believer must be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. and the result thereof is the
receiving of the Holy Ghost as a gift of the promise of God and a seal of the received
forgiveness of sins. For as Christ first died and then rose through the glory of the Father:
so also must the believer first receive the forgiveness of sins in baptism and then also as
seal the promised spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Thus baptism in Christ is a saving from
sin; and, as it is the Lord who adds the saved to the congregation, so man who hears it
must, on his part, gladly accept the salvation. The first teaching is for the purpose of
establishing the obedience of faith and precedes baptism; the second teaching follows on
baptism, what the believers should hold and do, as the commandments of Christ. to the
establishment of the obedience of the new life, in order that they who have become
believers in God may be found active in good works (Matt. 28:19; Titus 3:8).
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
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the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good
works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Acts 13:26 ff. Here Abraham’s children according to the flesh and the God-fearing
heathen stand as equals before the bar of the Gospel of Christ. Unto both, God has sent
the same word of salvation—unto their saving, if they accept it; unto damnation, if they
hold it in contempt. Jews and heathen must enter into baptism by the same door of faith
in order to become partakers of the salvation in Christ in like manner, through the
forgiveness of their sins and the fulfilment of the promises of God. Who does. not
recognize in this proclamation the faithful, consistent execution of the divine
commission at the sending out of the disciples: "Go ye." etc. (Matt. 28; Mark 16). This
commission has never been changed. It is as important for the nominal Christian as for
Jews and heathen.
Rom. 2:25 if. What Paul here says of circumcision and the active fulfilling of the law is
altogether applicable to baptism and the keeping of the commandments of Christ in the
New Testament: If you say that you are baptized in Christ and do not keep the
commandments in order to lead a just, holy, and righteous life in this world, then
baptism will not only be of no profit for your salvation, but it will condemn you and
aggravate
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your judgment, because it is a means of grace by which God would bestow on us the
grace of life. If in the Old Testament the rule applied: the external (the sign) is not
important, but the internal (the seal) : how much more is this true in the New Testament
that the external action and doing is of no avail without the inner fulfilling, which is
God's concern and work where He finds faith. For him, who believes the Gospel,
baptism also is not merely an outward work that could just as well be placed at the
entrance of life or be omitted altogether; but it is the divinely ordained means for the
bestowing of the heavenly gift, in order that the divine wisdom may be justified in all
her obedient children.
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CHAPTER XXI. NECESSITY OF FAITH PRIOR TO BAPTISM.
ROM. 4:9 ff. A chief passage on the necessity of faith prior to baptism. Abraham’s
justification by faith occurred while he was still in the foreskin; circumcision, however,
was a seal of this. The circumcision of the New Testament which takes place in the heart
and not in the flesh is the baptism in Christ. Man must believe, and this faith will be
imputed to him for righteousness whilst he is still an heathen. The confirming and
sealing of this justification by faith is baptism. If justification does not precede baptism
then will the whole Gospel be cancelled. Until faith comes man is a heathen. Therefore
if infant baptism were the circumcision of Christ, man would be at the same time
circumcised in the heart and yet abide in the old heathen nature as an unbeliever. But if
infant baptism is not a circumcision of the heart, it is also not the baptism of Christ.
Faith in Christ crucified must therefore be imputed to the ungodly for righteousness by
God, before it can be sealed to him in baptism through the Holy Ghost unto a new
creature and for the destruction of original sin. God cannot through baptism seal to the
ignorant child that he justifies it for the sake of its
17l
faith or that He has previously imputed its faith for righteousness!
Rom. 6:1-7. Here the apostle summarizes the doctrine of baptism. Previously he had
developed the doctrine of faith to the point where the grace of Christ does not only
completely take the place of Adam’s sin, (even as Seth was not only a substitute for the
murdered, righteous Abel, but also for the unrighteous murderer, Cain), but also by far
outweighs and devours it, that as Adam by his disobedience made sinners of us and cast
us into spiritual death without our assistance, so also has Christ, without our aid, by His
obedience brought us the righteousness of life. However, grace is not only an imputation
of the righteousness of Christ, but also a powerful working of it in us, a conquering of
sin. Therefore we dare not remain stationary in the mere faith, but we must be baptized
in Christ. There the grace of God first reveals clearly its victorious power over sin.
Where faith unto justification has paved the way, there baptism fully does away with sin.
The baptized has died unto sin. There can be no mention of an abiding in sin, and grace
is not merely as covering of sin. Baptism has such an effect because of the fact that it is
a baptism into Christ’s death, that is, a planting together with Him into the likeness of
His death and consequently also of His resurrection. For even as Christ did not remain in
death and the grave because He was the Son of God, the
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baptized believer also cannot remain in the death of sin but must arise with Christ unto
the newness of life with the Spirit, because he has by faith become God's child in Christ
(Gal. 3:26, 27). He therefore who has received this effective working of God through
infant baptism ought to stand up and testify with Paul that he is dead unto sin. If he
cannot do this he ought also not say that he has received the baptism of Christ: because
baptism in Christ is one alone in its effect in all believers, in order that all may become
one and no more be two. Thus there will be no more Jew or heathen, Catholic or
Protestant. Accordingly, baptism with the believer steps into the place of the old law.
The law is bound together with sin and as long as man is under the law and would serve
God so long he is bound to sin and must serve sin. The service of sin and the service of
God, however, cannot agree because man cannot be dead and alive at the same time. If
man first dies unto the law through faith in the crucified Christ, in order that he no
longer seeks righteousness in the dead works of the law, he also through baptism dies
unto sin itself, in order to perform truly the righteousness of God whose root and stem is
the faith in Christ. However, because men are not baptized as believers, they cannot
throughout life become masters of sin, as they would have to do it themselves; and that
is impossible that we ourselves can do
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that for which Christ died. Through baptism, however, into His death the power and the
merit of His death and His resurrection pass over into us, because we have previously
believed and have died unto the law.
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CHAPTER XXII. THE POWER OF BAPTISM IN CHRIST.
THIS is exactly the wonderful power of baptism in Christ because it is a baptism into his
death. This we ourselves need not effect and force because Christ does it in us according
to His promise. However, as men cannot get rid of sin through their own (legalistic)
effort, and do not give Christ the glory by letting themselves be baptized into His death,
(because they do not believe), they say that it is altogther impossible to be rid of sin,
even though Christ died for this purpose, and the Word of God clearly reveals this truth:
“Shall we continue in sin? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer
therein?"—Were the apostles foolish that they did not know what they said? Or were
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they liars that they wrote untruth? Or what are the present theologians who maintain the
opposite of what is written? Woe unto him who preaches another Gospel than that which
the apostles have preached! Paul cites the experience of all believers of his time, that
they, through baptism in Christ's death, have died to sin. That this divine miracle
whereby the vicarious killing which was performed in Christ and His reviving which is
repeated and fulfilled in us, cannot take place through infant bap175
tism is certain: for it not only knows nothing of this killing of sin in us but it also
militates against the mere possibility of the transferring of the death and life of Christ in
us. When one, who has died, is brought to the dissecting table and is cut up, he does not
feel it; he does not resist it. When a believer has died with Christ he is brought into the
dissecting theater of this world and through shame and contempt, lies and blasphemies,
scourging and persecution, bonds and imprisonment, is tried, sawed up, chopped up,
pierced through, and yet does not resist these things (Hebr. 11:30 ff.; I Cor. 4:9 ff.; Matt.
5:38 ff.; 23:34; James 5:6). On the other hand if a false nominal Christian who still lives
in the flesh, must suffer an injustice or an insult, he rises up against it and exercises
vengeance either with his own fist or before human courts. "An eye for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth!"
What most confuses those, who have not been baptized as believers, 'is that they do not
know how to distinguish between the old man and the external man, that is, between the
flesh and the body; and just as little between the inner man and the new man. Paul on the
other hand distinguishes very definitely between the mortal body and the body of sin, or
the body of this death, or the body of the flesh, or the old man. Of the latter he says that
he must be crucified together with Christ and the old man be put off in baptism, so that
the
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baptized believers are no more debtors of the flesh, to live unto the flesh, otherwise
Christ is of no help to them (Rom. 6:6; 7:24; 8:12; Col. 2:11); on the other hand of the
mortal body he says that we must sanctify it and its individual members into God as
instruments of righteousnes, and that sin can no longer rule in it, as under the law. Now
as the unbaptized believers have not died unto sin, they confuse the mortal body with the
sinful flesh, or with the old man, that is, the human with the devilish, and imagine that it
is impossible to be rid of and free of sin in this body or life. However, the body of man
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is not in itself evil, for Christ also bore it; but the flesh (original sin), is evil and must be
separated from man. We retain this body as before but the very members which we
formerly put to the service of uncleanness and sin, we must give after baptism, into the
service of righteousness and God, in order that we might become holy even as the inner
man, out of the new birth, is already holy. The body of man is only the servant of the
spirit which dwells in him, be it unto sin under the law or unto righteousness under
grace. Has the spirit of man attained unto freedom, then is the body the obedient servant
of the free spirit; but the spirit which has become free serves God; even as the enslaved
spirit obeys the devil where man does that after which the flesh lusts. And though the
spirit in the bound and captive condition may have a desire toward the law of God and
may make at177
tempts to be free, yet it has no power; it falls together for the sin dwelling in the flesh
overpowers him and casts him down. If anyone in the world has actually accomplished
this, he would consider himself a regenerated man and believer; but to Paul he is still a
legalist who battles against sin with his own power and effort. Yes, so great is the
ignorance of these scribes, that they imagine man under the law (and by nature) has no
inner man, and no desire for good, and they confuse these movements of the law with
the new creature in Christ, and think that when anyone desires to do good (even though
he does not accomplish it), that he is already reborn. The reason for this is that they must
do everything in a legal manner which Christ effects in an evangelical manner in the
believer through baptism. This human effort toward self-improvement is exactly the
same thing as if a bird with clipped wings, or a bird in a cage would try to fly when after
all the best it can do is flutter; and such fickle spirits are hated of God and man (Ps.
119:113; 3 l :7).
I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble;
thou hast known my soul in adversities:
What an altogether different thing it is, however, when God has given us the wings of
the Spirit that we may fly into His holy heights freely and without hindrance as if we no
longer lived
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in the world and in the body (John 17:13 ff.; Col. 2:20; Phil. 3:20).
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Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth;
for he shall not speak of himself: but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak: and he will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall I shew it unto you.
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I. that he shall take of
mine, and shall shew it unto you.
A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall
see me, because I go to the Father.
Therefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as
though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
For our conversation is in heaven: from whence also we look for the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ:
One may call to the carnal and earthly minded people at their so-called holy and solemn
occasions (for example, communion and the like): "Lift up your hearts!"—yet they
flutter around in their earthly domain and cage and their effort to momentary uplift is in
vain; for they are not holy ones, and without this their own effort in the spiritual domain
is only fantasy. The less men themselves have become holy by God’s grace in Christ, the
more superstitiously they consider and deal with the so-called sacred objects. There the
external sign and work must take the place of what they themselves lack of holiness and
righteousness of truth. Every unholy person is an idolater when he wishes to do God’s
service, for only the inner
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holiness can perform a correct service of God. However, the inner holiness or the
kingdom of God comes where the inner sin, or the kingdom of Satan has been abolished
(I John 3:4 ff).
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth· not his commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby
know we that we are in him.
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he
walked.
Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment
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which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye
have heard from the beginning.
Therefore Paul says: Even as the risen Christ no more dies, no more is in the power of
death, but He died once for our sins and now lives forever to the Father: even so we also
if we through baptism have died with Christ and risen with Him, so we are no more
under sin, must no longer sin, but we live to God as our Father, for the simple reason
that Christ’s death occurred for sin (sin died in Him) , and the power of the death of
Christ through baptism in His death has passed to us, as a killing power for sin;
otherwise the sin of Adam (the first death) cannot be eternally separated from us. For
that occurs not through the death of the body (as the false Christians think; and that is
only a new error, otherwise all men could be saved) , but through the death of the flesh,
while we yet live; and there is no other entrance into the kingdom of God than through
faith and
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the baptism in Christ: for where the first death (sin) has not been put away there it
necessarily ends in the second death (damnation). Therefore baptism in Christ is
extraordinarily important, and it is a great mystery that Christ placed the power of His
death into it. However, faith in Christ’s death must precede it unto the justification of the
godless sinner, of which the new creature out of baptism is a seal. First the old vessel of
sin must be emptied of that of which it was full (Rom. 1:29 ff.) .
And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great
reasoning among themselves.
And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house. and received all that
came in unto him,
Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
This emptying happens through faith combined with repentance; then, the vessel must
be washed and cleansed unto a new use; and finally, it must be filled newly with the
Holy Spirit. The latter two take place through baptism: the cleansing in the soul; the
filling with the Spirit.
If therefore original sin no longer dwells in him who has been baptized out of faith: then
he can no longer sin. Truly the apostle John says that he, who is born of God, no longer
sins nor can sin; however, on account of the abuse and misunderstanding of this passage,
it requires further elucidation. Paul says, like John, that sin has nothing to command to
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the regenerated, that he is free from
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sin; but both witnesses make a two-fold concession: 1—That the possibility to sin again.
is present if man does not safeguard his freedom in the Spirit but willingly enters into
the temptation which the devil has prepared for him as much as for Adam and Christ
himself ; but he who has truly put on Christ in baptism has power to protect himself. If
he does not do so it must be because of a lack of the will on his part (I John 5:18; Hebr.
10:26),
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
that is, he must sin again as Adam sinned; and if Adam’s sin had as its consequence the
first death (for all men) then the sinning again of the regenerated has the second death as
its consequence. As Adam’s child we do not sin as Adam had sinned, that is, not of our
free will, but necessarily (forced, because of our fallen nature, Rom, 5:14) ; but as the
children of God we either do not s-in at all, or of our free will and on our account. Here
the spiritual man is in an altogether different state than the legal man. The latter has the
will to do good but not the ability to do so. The former, however, has received with the
will also the power to do, so that if he does not do it, it is because of the lack of will (the
lack of the love to God), and that is a greater sin than if there is merely a lack
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to do. Therefore also the law must go before in order to spur on the will to do good and
against the indwelling sin, in order that when b-y grace the power to do is added, man
may use his will, which has become free, for his doing of the will of God. True, the
spiritual man has also to battle with weakness of his flesh; but the weakness is not sin,
and must, through the power of the Spirit, find a complete counterweight, so that he may
not sin on this account. Therefore Peter with his denial of the Lord cannot be used as an
example of what the new man is because Peter had then a good intention and an inclined
will but he was not yet clothed with the power of the Spirit (Luke 24:49).
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city
of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
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183
CHAPTER XXIII. "OVERTAKEN IN A FAULT.”
THE second concession the apostles make is this: that a spiritual man through
inattention and carelessness can also be overtaken or caught in a fault (Gal. 6:1; I John
2:1 if.)
Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such· an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world.
And hereby We do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and
the truth is not in him.
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby
know we that we are in him.
walked.
even though he otherwise strictly performs righteousness as a child of God and neither
secretly nor publicly lives in sin. However, the relation of these single slips is the same
as the individual so called good works of natural man who is a sinner in his inner state
and according to his constant activity, and who sins habitually; his supposed good works
have no merit before God and are not
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imputed unto him for righteousness. In like manner the momentary stumblings (with
which he harms himself most) are not imputed to him who is born of God and who does
the will of God; nor must these be redeemed with the blood of Christ (for they are not
sins unto death), but he must pray that they might be forgiven. For sins unto death,
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Christ would have to die again but He dies no more and therefore they cannot be
forgiven (Hebr. 10:18, 26).
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth;
No man can judge of all these things who has not been baptized in the true faith; and the
judgment of such unbaptized, who have not experienced God’s power in themselves, can
and dare not mean anything to us, for they speak of the matter as a blind man speaks o-f
that which he has not seen. When they say that a man must drag himself through this life
with his inborn sin, and can neither become its master nor free himself from the old man,
it is something founded in their experience, but we must not believe them for they say
the opposite of that which is said in the Word of God. Where do we ever hear one of
these scribes speak the language of the apostles? However, if they had the same spirit of
faith, then they would also speak the same language and they would
186
not subject the Word of the Spirit of God, which they do not understand, to their own
miserable, exhausting, and false interpretations, in order to adapt it to their own fleshly
mind. If their experience tells them that they are still in the flesh and under sin, they turn
that into a general rule, contrary to the Word of God and the mind of the Spirit and say
that the Christian must, throughout his life, be carnal and a sold slave of sin. He would
do that which is good but he cannot and instead he must do the evil which he would not!
Thus they at least confess where they stand and what they are; and as the mouse enters
the trap in order to eat the meat in it so God also catches these wise men in their falsely
so-called knowledge (I Tim. 6:20, 21; I Cor. 3:19-23),
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and
vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee.
Amen.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He
taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours:
Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things
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present. or things to come: all are yours:
And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
for which they can, however, produce no divine but only a human guarantee. True, they
do seek in the passage before us (Rom. 7:7-25)
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What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin,
but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt
not covet.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin
revived, and I died.
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew
me.
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, that do I,
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will
is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me.
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
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For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin.
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the divine guarantee of their false opinion and doctrine; but because they have fallen into
the trap " they do not notice that the apostle Paul here describes partly the legal status in
general, partly his special status under the law, while he was yet away from Christ, a
pious Pharisee, who through the power of his old man would fulfil the righteousness of
the law—(for he speaks of the law to which he had died in Christ)—and yet he
accomplished nothing in it until he cried out: "O wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?" In answer to this earnest question Christ then
revealed Himself to him as his Redeemer; after that it was no longer necessary to ask
who would deliver him out of his misery: on the contrary thereafter he thanked God for
his redemption and commended it to all men, however, as vainly to the so-called
Christians of the present time as to most of the Jews of his time. The most honest among
them also come to this point, to say "O wretched man that I am, who shall redeem
me?"—and Jesus Christ will also reveal Himself to them in spirit as risen from the dead,
that they thereafter might eat and drink with Him. But the rest remain fast in the
sandbank of their false comfort and faith in a dead Christ on which their leaky bark has
run aground; of which dead Christ, however, Paul teaches that He lives (Acts 25 :19).
But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one
Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
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Thus all of so-called Christendom has and knows no other Christ than a dead one; but of
the living Christ (Who would live in us through His promised Spirit of sanctification it
knows nothing), who is the Head of the body, the Church. Paul, as apostle, was so
joyously conscious of his liberty and his blessed state of grace in the new creature, that
he wished that all men were even as he in Jesus Christ save these bonds (Acts 26:29) ,
And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me
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this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
although the scribes now would make him a sold slave of sin, yet he himself in Rom. 6
and 8 testifies to the contrary. Whoever finds in Rom. 7:7 ff. a description of the state of
grace proves that he himself is not under grace but under the law.
I Cor. 1:10 ff. When Paul received the news of the first traces of a party spirit creeping
into the congregation, whereby respected teachers were to be put into the place of the
Lord Jesus Christ, he showed them the folly of this beginning by referring them simply
to their own baptism in Christ: "Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the
name of Pau1?"—It was one and the same to him: Christ is crucified for us, or we have
been baptized in the name of Christ. He who died for our sins on the cross, in His death
and name we should be baptized, to His communion, following, and obedience, that He
be our Lord, and the cause of
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our salvation from the first and second death, in as far as we truly cling to him and
follow him. And that is what it means to be baptized in and on the name of Christ, as
Paul (ch. 10:2) says of the Israelites: "and were all baptized unto Moses." namely that
they should be the disciples of Moses and keep the law. Had the Corinthians
remembered this purpose of baptism, it would not have occurred to them to call
themselves after this or that teacher and thus to establish parties, for which reason Paul
calls them carnal. From all this it naturally follows that he with the succeeding words:
"For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel"—does not in any wise
minimize the worth and necessity of baptism—(that would hardly agree with the
preceding: "Is Christ divided? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?")—but that he
would not give his name for the heading of any party, and therefore was very cautious to
baptize very few himself, leaving the performance of baptism to his assistants while he
fulfilled his call in the preaching of the Gospel. The paedobaptists do the opposite. They
concern themselves only with baptism and not with the proclamation of the Gospel; for
by baptizing they make Christians of all before they have proclaimed a single word of
Christ to them, and a1s·o without faith in Christ; just as if Christ had sent them to
baptize, and not to proclaim the Gospel first in order to implant faith. In this manner
they make
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them all, from the outset, members of human sects, instead of members of the body of
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Christ. For it is impossible that in infant baptism the justification by faith in Christ is
sealed, for they have not believed. However, the seal of this righteousness of faith is not
the righteousness of life in Christ which flows therefrom. (Rom. 1:17.)
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, The just shall live by faith.
This evangelical way is altogether cancelled by infant baptism. For even, though
afterwards, a man would come to the faith in the Gospel, yet he is therefore not baptized,
does not come into power, has not put on Christ in order to walk in Him; his faith lacks
the sealing, is a letter without a seal.
I Cor. 6:9 ff. Paul declares in the name of God, that all the unrighteous who do evil and
who do not intend to cease, are excluded from the eternal kingdom of Christ and God.
The unrighteous are all carnal men by nature, for he has shown, that there is not one who
doeth good (Rom. 3:10 ff.). But he has also shown how the unrighteous. may be made
righteous, if they are converted, believe in Christ Crucified, and are baptized in His
name. In this divine righteousness, of which they have become partakers through the
name of the Lord Jesus and through the spirit of God, they must then also abide and
walk, with renunciation of all godlessness, otherwise their one time justification
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and washing would be of no avail to them (Ezek. 3 and 33), if it is not followed by a
constant, all penetrating sanctification, that Christ lives in them. But Christ does no sin,
only righteousness. However, these wiseacres now say: that is true that Christ does no
sin; but we sin. But John says: "The devil sins." and Paul says: “If ye sin after ye have
been washed through Christ, sanctified and justified, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.” and Peter says the same: "He who once pardoned does not the righteousness of
God, he is blind and walketh in darkness, and has forgotten the cleansing from his
former sins." Even as the old proverb says: "The washed sow wallows again in the
mire." For that very reason we must, through Christ, be redeemed from sin in order that
we may enter into the kingdom of God. However, the present Christians have never been
washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and through the spirit of
God. How then should they live as just and holy ones or have the ability to do so?
Where the Holy Spirit is indwelling in man, there the body is no more a cloak of sin but
a temple of the Holy Spirit, a dwelling and working-place of the living God (John 7:3739.)
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CHAPTER XXIV. THE SYMBOLS OF CLOUD AND SEA.
I COR. 10:1 ff. Of this passage it is necessary for our purpose to note: l. the people of
Israel after the exodus from Egypt was symbolically and typically baptized. The
symbols of this baptism are the cloud and the sea. The passage through the sea occurred
only once, and was soon over; they were saved, and brought into safety from their foes,
who were drowned in the sea. Their wandering under the cloud lasted longer; it was the
sign of the divine presence during the entire journey through the wilderness, for their
guidance and protection. If this should be typical of baptism (a type of our baptism) then
the figures of the sea and the cloud refer to the water and the spirit of the New Testament
(John 3:5),
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
whereby a man is born again. But where the faith in Christ the Crucified is, there water
is no longer simple water, but water and blood (I John 5), and there the Spirit is the third
witness (for water cannot cleanse the soul, but only the body of its pollution; Christ’s
blood, however, cleanses the soul). Baptism as such is soon completed; it is the passage
through the sea, and a spiritual saving,
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whereby the old man is put away, so that the saved need no more serve sin. From this
point the Spirit of the Lord, who at the same time is bound together with the baptism of
the believer, takes over the guiding of him for the rest of his life unto sanctification in
obedience and to his induction in the promised rest (I Pet. 1:2),
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace. be multiplied.
in order that he may no more walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit;
otherwise he may yet fail (Hebr. 2:1-4; 3:12),
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and
disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
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How shall we escape. if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began
to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers
miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in
departing from the living God.
as Paul would show the believers of the New Testament by the example of the Israelites,
that they should beware of idolatry. 2. The figurative baptism of the Israelites was
performed in Moses, an obligation to obey the law (John 7:19; 9:28). Therefore when
they murmured against Moses, as if he had led them into a false way, the Lord
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Himself came to punish whom they thereby blasphemed, denied, and tried. (The
believers of the New Testament are in like manner baptized in Jesus Christ, obligated to
the obedience of the Gospel, because He died for them and has purchased them as His
own.) But before they pass through the Red Sea of baptism, in which the old man is
drowned, and the new man comes forth, they must have passed out of Egypt, out of the
service of sin under the law, through faith in Christ Crucified, unto the forgiveness of
sins previously done under the long suffering of God (Rom. 3:25; Gal. 3:22, 23).
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God:
But the scripture hath· concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith
which· should afterwards be revealed.
There is another great difference, to serve sin willingly and with joy, as does natural
man, or with annoyance and unwillingly as is the case with him who is bound under the
law. Only the latter, not the former, desires to be free and is in the house of service as a
sold slave, as Paul says (Rom. 7) : he rejoices over the good tidings of Christ the
Redeemer. For him Christ is the true vicarious Passover Lamb. The mere natural man
does sin gladly; but the legal man serves sin unwillingly, as Israel had to serve in Egypt
although it would
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rather have been free. In the first unbound condition, one does not acknowledge sin as a
misfortune, however, in the latter bound condition one does. The former is likened unto
the age of unmarried youth; but the latter with marriage. However, what has all this to
do with infant baptism? The children have not yet done any sin; they have much less
been under the law to the knowledge of sin; and least of all believed on the vicarious
Lamb of God for the forgiveness of sin (which they have no-t yet done): how then can
baptism be a passage through the Red Sea when there has been no exodus out of the
house of service through faith? And how shall it finally be a covenant with God and an
obligation to the obedience of the Gospel? The Jews at the time of Christ gloried in this,
that they were disciples of Moses, But Jesus told them that none of them had kept the
law. Thus the nominal Christians also say that they are the disciples of Christ but none of
them keeps the Gospel of Christ. But this is the meaning of keeping the Gospel of Christ
that one lives in all its precepts, or walks according to the rule of the new creature. For
in Christ there is neither circumcision nor foreskin (neither infant baptism nor the lack of
it), but the keeping of the commandments of God and faith which worketh by love.
According to this rule all so-called Christians fall away as unworthy of the kingdom of
God (II Cor. 13:5).
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Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith: prove your own selves. Know
ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you. except ye be
reprobates?
I Cor. 12:11-13. According to the doctrine of the apostles the body of Christ and the
Spirit of Christ are always united. But His spiritual body is the congregation or members
and in it is and operates Christ’s Spirit through the individual members. For if our body
without the spirit of life is dead so also were Christ's body without the Spirit of life dead,
and according to this description the State-Church could not be the body of Christ for in
it the Spirit of Christ is not but the Spirit of the world operates in all its members. In
all?-According to certain people the spirit of Christ does operate in some. But why then
do they remain in the communion of the harlot? Why are they unequally yoked together
with the unbelievers contrary to the commandment of God? (Ps. 50:18; II Cor. 6:14, I
Cor. 6:16).
When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been
partaker with adulterers.
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Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness?
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two,
saith he, shall be one flesh.
Or should the State-Church perhaps have two sorts of members? No, for it is one body.
As little
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as Christ's body is dead so little is the State-Church actuated by a two—fold spirit. If
there are such in it who think they have the Spirit of Christ: they go out from it, separate
themselves, and touch not the unclean thing, in order that the Lord might receive them!
As for a supposed vieled congregation in the State-Church, which no one knows; that is
a human fiction. On the other hand, the true church of Christ is one that none cares to
know on account of shame and contempt, which, however, is not in the State—Church,
but outside of it, for it consists of all those who have not bowed their knees to Baal, the
idol of the State-Church (Hebr. 13:13; Rev. 18:4).
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her. my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
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CHAPTER XXV. ONE FLOCK.
TRUE in the natural condition the children of God cannot yet be distinguished from the
other sinners; they wander about as sheep without a shepherd, or rather as sheep who
have been scattered by their own shepherd, (Ezek. 34) . But it is on that account that
God has the Gospel of Christ preached so these scattered sheep might be gathered and
made manifest. Then they are no longer unknown. and hidden, but gathered into one
flock (I Peter 2:25):
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd
and Bishop of your souls.
for Christ has everywhere only one flock, and whoever is converted is added to this one
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Shepherd, not to a sect or party, but to the congregation of the living God which is the
body of Christ. Into the communion of this body is received, as the apostle here says,
through baptism; but not through infant baptism, otherwise the State- Church would
without doubt be the true spiritual body of Christ; for even those persons who through
the one Spirit have drunk of the one Spirit, are also in this Spirit baptized unto one body,
that is, they who have first believed. For
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only by means of faith does the redemption in Christ receive the character of willingness
on the part of man, in order that it might not seem as if man were taken away from the
devil by means of force and injustice, as would be the case if Christ were to make those
eternally blessed who all their life had remained in sin and served the devil without
being converted. Then through the one baptism all believers are united into one body in
order that thereby the previous carnal differences between men might be dissolved and
fall away. In the congregation of God there is neither Protestant nor Catholic, neither
Lord nor servant, but Christ alone is all in all and they are all become one in Him (Gal.
3:27, 28; Col. 3:10, 11.)
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the
promise.
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him:
I Cor. 15: 12 ff. Here Paul shows how dangerous it is to be baptized into Christ, because
one is designated and consecrated through baptism to be a sheep of Christ for the
slaughter against which the wolves are very vicious; and how foolish it would be
therefore to let oneself be baptized into Christ and consecrated unto death and to enter
into the
202
order of the cross, if one had no compensation for that which one must forfeit and
sacrifice for the sake of Christ and could expect no hope for eternity through the
resurrection of the body. In this respect Paul places the peril of all baptized on the same
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level with the danger of life in which he himself, as apostle, was daily. Without a
definite hope for a future requital and glorification it would, in fact, be highly foolish to
place oneself in such an unfortunate situation in the world for the sake of absolutely
nothing. (And it may be said in passing) "Who are more severely mocked and reviled,
belied and blasphemed, in our day than they who permit themselves to be baptized into
Christ"? Is it not the general opinion that they are foolish, apostates, misled, sectarians.
heretics, covenant breakers? If it were still fashionable to burn people at the stake that
would be their fate. The hatred and the prejudice against them are great enough?—With
reference to Luther's translation "Over the dead" this means nothing else than for the
sake of the dead (as in Deut. 14: 1) :
Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor
make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
"Ye shall not cut yourselves for the dead"; that is; for their sake who as blood witnesses
of Jesus have lost their lives, without denying the truth.
203
as men would compel them to do, in order to apprehend the lie again. This requires
either temporal death or eternal death! To confess Christ or to deny Him! Immediately
others stepped into the ranks of the soldiers of Jesus Christ, took the place of those who
had died in order to follow their faith, as Paul writes (Hebr. 13:7) :
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the
word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
The leaders of the believers became, as alleged misleaders of the people. (II Cor. 6:8)
By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and
yet true;
always first the sacrifices of their work of faith and labor of love. True, if one
accommodates oneself to the world, and preaches circumcision, instead of faith, that is,
where one begins with the baptism of ignorant children, instead of with the preaching of
repentance and faith, there one will not so readily be persecuted with the cross of Christ
(Gal. 6), but one will remain in honor and. will be respected as an orthodox teacher. Paul
was also considered an orthodox teacher by the whole of Judaism as long as he
persecuted the so-called sect of the Nazarenes; but as soon as he himself preached faith,
then he became the chief of the heretics and his life was no longer safe. If the doctrine of
infant baptism is right and true, then
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204
let us eat and drink, and live according to the old man, as much as we please, in the end
we will be saved, basing our confidence on infant baptism! And where is the man of
whose eternal salvation one would dare to doubt? Therefore it is said of those who
would permit only the baptism of the believers: they condemn all men, yea, even their
own deceased parents, with their new doctrine.
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CHAPTER XXVI. NECESSITY OF CHRIST AS SON OF MAN.
GAL. 2:17 ff. This is one of the chief passages for the baptism of believers, although the
expression itself does not occur; and that baptism cannot be applied in any other manner
than to the believers. Christ’s death on the cross occurred vicariously for the sinner. But
how did that happen, that our sins could pass over to Christ, the Lamb of God in order to
be punished in Him? To that end it was necessary Erst, that He become flesh and blood
as every other man receives it through the birth of a woman (Gal. 4.:4; Hebr. 2:14) ;
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law.
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
however, because Jesus was not generated like every other man, but was conceived by
the Holy Ghost and no sin dwelt in Him, and he never committed a sin (II Cor. 5:21;
Hebr. 4:15):
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
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therefore He could not die, least of all a cursed death, as a public malefactor. Death
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would have had no claim whatever on Him the innocent, holy, and righteous, if He had
not taken the place of the guilty, the godless, and the sinners, in order to bear their sin
and punishment. To this end it was necessary, secondly, that He be placed under the law
in order that He could die for us, not for Himself. Thus the law was the means (namely
through circumcision) whereby our sin and guilt could be transferred to Christ. He died
through the law for the law in order to make satisfaction to it or to the justice of God
which demanded the death of the sinner (Rom. 3:26). For in Paradise, after the fall, the
curse was expressly placed; not upon man, but upon the seducer; moreover, the prospect
of reestablishment was revealed to man. On the other hand through the added law the
curse was also spoken upon the sin of man (Gal. 3: 19)
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till
the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by
angels in the hand of a mediator.
and in as far as sin is not separated from man in the time of grace, the curse strikes the
sinner himself to his damnation; namely, him, who through unbelief toward Christ by his
own choice and guilt is a sinner when the Gospel of Christ has been proclaimed to him
(John 16:8).
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment:
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In order that thus the sin of the adult man may pass over to Christ, it is not sufficient that
he be born as a sinner of Adam, but he must be shut up under the law to the knowledge
of sin until faith come; even as Christ was not alone born, but also placed under the law
(through circumcision), in order that He might redeem those who are under the law. The
law? thus, first, binds man together with his sin, and, secondly, his sin with Christ the
Crucified. For sin is of two kinds: the one which we receive by inheritance from Adam
through birth without our guilt and cooperation (for which reason also God would not
condemn the children of Adam as such; as little as Jesus Christ as a mere born man
could die) ; the other sin of man is that which he himself has committed against the law,
which has its origin in original sin. Thus it is that first through the law a union is
established between sinful man and the sinless Christ; and whoever has not been first
under the law, also cannot believe in Christ the Crucified, that He, as substitute, died
through the law; for by faith man must first of all die unto the law. or be rid of his union
with the law, in order that he might be justified by faith through the forgiveness of his
former sins in the blood of Christ, and not seek their forgiveness by the works of the law.
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But this righteousness of faith is an imputed and foreign one and man is still, in himself,
a sinner and not a just one in his inner, to say noth209
ing of his outward, life. However, in order that he may not be deceived by a mere
opinion of righteousness, but that he may really be righteous, or that the righteousness of
Christ become his own implanted righteousness, a means is necessary whereby the holy
and righteous life of Jesus Christ can be transferred to man, and this means is baptism
into Christ’s death, which as such completely takes the place of the law and performs
that which was impossible for the law to perform (Rom. 8:1-4).
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
of sin and death.
For what the law could not do. in that it was weak through the flesh, God
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 walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.
As it was not sufficient, for the transfer of our sin to Christ, that He be born into the
world as man. but He must also be placed under the law through the circumcision on the
eighth day, in order that he could through the law die for our sin: so also is it not
sufficient that a man believe only on Christ the Crucified in order to be justified but he
must. after faith, also be baptized into Christ in order to put on the life of Christ. The
born Christ could not die for our sins without the law, because he was no sinner; in like
manner, the believer cannot live unto God without baptism because he is in
210
himself not righteous. The birth only made the way (possible), that Christ by means of
the law could die; likewise faith only makes the way that man by means of baptism can
live. He who first by faith has died unto the law can also through baptism die unto sin in
order to live unto God through Christ. Paul expresses it thus: “For I through the law am
dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This no man can understand who has not the
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Scriptural conception of baptism.; and much less can this mystery be fulfilled in anyone
who is not baptized by faith. For this reason one hears so many false opinions
concerning the state of grace.
Gal. 3:23 ff. Here Paul compares the state of the law with childhood, but he compares
the succeeding state of grace with adulthood, the beginning of which is conditioned
through faith. As little as one gives to minor children the property of the father, so little
does God give to them, who are still under the law and shut up under sin, the inheritance
of grace which is intended for them, until faith comes. From this one can conclude what
the value of the highly praised baptismal grace of little children is. As little as the
Israelites had the body (essence) in the law of the shadow (shadow-law) which first
appeared in Christ; but the noblest among them looked forward hopefully to the time in
which Christ, and with Him the promised re211
demption from sin and the new substance, should come (Luke 10:24; Hebr. 7:19):
For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things
which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear,
and have not heard them.
For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by
the which we draw nigh unto God.
so little have the little children received the grace which is necessary for the new life and
is given only to the believers who are baptized. Paul decides this sufficiently when he
says: "The heir, as long as he is a child differeth nothing from a servant." And even if
God foreknows those among the born children, who afterwards will believe when the
Gospel is preached to them, yet He waits with His grace and gift and does not entrust it
to them, until the time which He Himself has appointed, namely, until faith comes, and
He sends into their hearts the Spirit of His Son. We, however, do not know those among
the born children, who will afterwards believe unto eternal life, and therefore it is not for
us to baptize them in the name of God: because, in the first place, such an involuntary
act is nothing and, in the second place, God would be found to be a liar in His promises,
if one who has promised the children in their baptism that He would receive them and
save them; and then in their adulthood would not keep his promise. However, if the
participation in the blessing of Abraham is dependent upon faith in Christ, it is better
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to wait for the time appointed by God. For as He sent His Son when the time of the law
was fulfilled in order to save the sinner with one offering, thus He also sends His Spirit
into the hearts of those who believe it (after the time of the law is passed) and are
baptized in order to sanctify them, even as He is the Holy One. They are all but one in
Christ and one with Him; they are the true seed of Abraham and heirs according to the
promise. Their religion is not red and black on the calendar, in order that they might
know when Easter and Pentecost are, as then when they knew not God, but they serve
God in the new substance of His Spirit. It does not harmonize well to serve God without
knowing Him (Acts 17:23).
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this
inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, him declare I unto you.
The sinners, however, do not know God, otherwise they would not sin (I John 3:5-10).
And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no
sin.
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him,
neither known him.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is
righteous even as he is righteous.
He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the
works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother.
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Sin endures only as long as the law (Rom. 6:14).
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but
under grace.
Nor is there any connection between law and grace. He who has the law must keep it
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and do it. He who does the law must by the works of the law be justified. He who would
be justified by the deeds of the law denies Christ and is under the curse, for he calls
Christ a curse (I Cor. 12:3).
Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God
calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by
the Holy Ghost.
Why are the people so zealous for the law, that it still concerns the believers, when they
do not keep it? Strange! First they do away with the law in order to be justified by faith;
then they reestablished it in order to live according to it.
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CHAPTER XXVII. THE SOLE BAPTISM.
EPHES. 4:1 ff. One and the same baptism unites all called believers in Christ, even as
one and the same faith. The sole baptism, however,is the only one known at that time
namely the baptism of the believers. If Paul would see infant baptism, he would say: this
is not the same baptism which we have received and taught, but another. Therefore it
does not bind together to the same body of which the apostles and the saints of the first
time were members, but to another body, which is not the body of Christ, but of AntiChrist. But as it is not the same baptism which the apostles h-ad, it is also not the same
‘“one faith" which they taught. At that time they had a faith powerfully active in their
hearts, unto a union in brotherly love and in peace; now, however, they have their faith
in their confessional writings and sym.bolica1 books, and every party has its own faith.
At that time all believers were at the same time saints: now, however, they are godless
and sinners. Even Hilary (died 368) complained in his day:
"Now the faith is written and always new confessions of faith are made,
instead of guarding the faith received from the apostles and faith must
accommodate itself more to the times than to the
215
Gospel. While it is written according to the years, it is not kept (remembered)
after the confession of baptism; and while the faith should be only one, even
as God is one, we have departed from this faith. We all are conscious of the
fact that since the Nicene Synod (A.D. 325) nothing else but the faith has been
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written about. While there is war in words soon there will be no one in Christ,
for we are driven about by the uncertain wind of doctrines. The faith must
exist on paper, even as if it were no more in hearts. We are regenerated
through faith, and then afterwards they would teach us the catechism, as if
that regeneration could have been established without faith. First after
baptism we are supposed to learn to know Christ, as if baptism without the
knowledge of Christ could be anything"
In order to assure oneself that infant baptism is an altogether different baptism than that
of the apostles, one need to hear only its advocates.- Dressler in his work on baptism
says among others:
“From all expressions of Holy Scripture concerning the first application of
baptism we have this clear result: that in it and through it in the baptized, who
previously lived in Jewish imperfection or heathen vice, a complete change of
the inner man occurred, and according to the purpose of baptism had to
occur. But we would greatly err if we would bestow upon baptism, as an
external act, any sort of special worth, any exceptional activity,
216
or a peculiar essence. We would fail to recognize the spirit of Christianity,
which demands no expression of piety, no sacred act, which does not stand in
the most careful connection with our spirit, and which really has been
performed by it.
If Jesus and His. apostles had believed in the effectiveness of baptism without
the participation of the human spirit, they would, above all, have sought the
baptism of their contemporaries and with this miracle-washing would not only
have astonished the whole world, but would have changed them into pious
Christians. But of all this there is no trace in our sacred books. Moreover,
there is everywhere required a definite disposition of the spirit to-ward this
consecration. Among these requirements there is, first of all to be noted, the
faith in Jesus as the Christ; thereafter the earnest will to live an holy life; and
the apostles baptized no one and could baptize no one if these requirements
were not present. Who»ever therefore was not conscious of himself and who
was not able to use his own reason, and who had not previously become
acquainted with the message of Christ’s salvation, could not be baptized. Of
these requirements to baptism only one is always indispensably necessary,
namely this: the one to be baptized must be so constituted that a Christian life
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can be established and begun in him. Therefore baptism without the
cooperation of the human spirit is a fully useless act. If we would
217
accept the contrary, that it as opus operatum (external work) operates on the
Spirit of man. then we would have to ascribe to the water a sanctifying
supernatural power and to the words of the baptizer a magical activity. Of
course, we would be justified to do this if Christ had also commanded to
baptize those whose spirit was not able to perform any cooperation. But as
this is not the case, we here also seek ever more and more to become rich in
knowledge, and do not conceal it from us, that the blessing of baptism
depends for most part on the baptized. Baptism is therefore according to the
scripture a very important act one that furthers the inner life. The apostle says
(I Peter 3 :21) "we go forth saved out of the water, as that pious family saved
itself out of the water of the flood"; saved from the sensuous, sinful, striving of
the age, to a new life like unto the glorious life of Jesus. We flee from the
corruption of the age and unite ourselves with the children of God. It is the
beginning of the Christian life, the acknowledgment of our destiny, the clear
and living acceptance of our original obligation and of our true relation to the
invisible world. The original purpose of baptism is to introduce the
proclaimed Gospel according to the mind of Jesus into the hearts and into the
life of men. It requires of us primarily to be dead unto sin and alive unto
righteousness. Immersed in the water we are buried with Christ and dead, our
sinful life is at an end:
218
we come forth out of the water, even as Jesus came forth out of the grave in
order to begin with Him a new glorious, that is, holy life. The entrance into
the Christian life Christ compares with the entrance into the earthly life.
When He desires to designate baptism as the founder of the Christian life, He
says (John 3:5, 6), that thereby man is born, goes forth out of baptism with a
new life, and at the same time enters into the kingdom of God (cf. Titus 3:5).
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost:
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Paul therefore calls it a washing of regeneration and a renewing of the Holy
Ghost, because it is a new, altogether changed, life, in contrast to the earlier
sinful one. The one to be baptized had put on the new man who was renewed
in knowledge according to the image of his Creator. Therefore it is altogether
wrong to imagine baptism as being only a picture of regeneration, for Jesus
says: "If one is not born of the water and of the Spirit, if a regeneration does
not actually follow, if a complete change does not come in baptism, if he does
not go forth as an altogether different man in respect to morals, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God, he cannot become what he must be as My
disciple." The baptized at once step out of their earlier relationships and into
a new order of things according to which their moral life takes on an
altogether different form. They reveal
219
themselves externally as the true people of God. And so baptism appears not
only since the earliest times as a means of forming a Christian association,
but also as the bond which connects mankind, unceasingly rejuvenating itself,
with it. As upon a day of salvation the Christian looks back upon the day of
his consecration to a new life, thanks God (Col. 1:12 ff.),
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins:
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
and rejoices that in this sacred washing, his sinful life came to an end, that he
as Christ from the grave went forth into a better existence. As one
consecreated to God (Nazarite) he now seeks to remain pure from the
corruption of his age and Worthy of the grace and love of God which has been
imparted to him."
Thus far Dressler treats of baptism in the first time; but then the tables are turned when
he comes to speak of infant baptism-, so that one can hardly imagine that it is the same
man writing, as if Christ were both yes and no. He says:
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"Of course, ‘ the requirements of baptism are different according to the
circumstances and the character of the baptismal candidate so that what was
a requirement of the times of Jesus is not everywhere neces220
sary today, because the condition of many baptismal candidates is different. However, in
order to set aside every misunderstanding at once, we mention, that here we discuss only
the requirements of baptism for those who as adults, in the days of Jesus and the
apostles, accepted Christianity. Who ever requires what was necessary for baptism in the
time of Jesus, under all of those altogether different circumstances, at baptism involves
himself in insoluble difficulties, and thus learns to doubt the worth and the necessity of
baptism.* If one omits the original circumstances at baptism, and yet would fathom the
essence of baptism, it cannot fail but that one will fall into the gloomy land of confused
feelings or into arbitrary conjectures. This was the case of Gerhard, Hollaz, Quenstedt,
and others. For when they considered what remarkable, almost wondrous effects were
ascribed to baptism in the New Testament, but forgot the baptismal candidate and his
peculiar circumstances, as one knew practically only
___________
*He means infant baptism; and if this doubt concerns infant baptism then it is correct
according to his own previous description 0f the primitive baptism; and if the doubter is
led to the search of and faith in the Scriptures, then it will soon convince him of the right
baptism of the believers. But if the doubt concerns baptism itself, then it has failed and
the guilt of such an offense falls on infant baptism. For which person would ever have
doubted the worth and necessity of baptism if there were no infant baptism, and if the
necessity of faith were preached first before baptism were performed? For baptism
should not be the first thing otherwise it is about as useful as the fifth wheel on a wagon
and is a pure superstition and confidence in nothing. No wonder that those who make the
greatest claim to reason and enlightenment cast off such a yoke and fifth wheel, and
because they are too proud to become subject and obedient to the faith of the truth, they
become total unbelievers. Thus the Pharisees and Sadducees oppose each other; and
both oppose Christ and His believers.
22l
infant baptism, and judged this even as the baptism of adults out of Jews and
Gentiles, they believed it to be necessary, for the explanation of this effect, to
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accept something extraordinary in the essence of baptism, an inner or
heavenly thing; and so their view (of infant baptism) had to appear as gross
mysticism (by attributing to it the power of a future regeneration).
Regeneration in the wider sense is no where presented in the New Testament
as effect of baptism. Regeneration, however, in the narrower sense, that is the
origin of the Christian life, which always begins with the true consecration
(baptism) we would call not so much an effect of it, as rather the inner side of
baptism, by which it first becomes effective, so that without regeneration one
cannot speak at all of the effects of a baptism, as the external act by itself
remains without result. Undoubtedly infant baptism gave the impulse for the
presentation of regeneration in the wider sense as the effect of baptism.—The
incorrect ideas concerning baptism appear to have largely originated in this,
that one confused the first form of baptism with that which the nature of it
afterwards required.—The circumstances in which Jesus lived naturally
determined the manner of his activity. His regulations were so constituted as
the present need demanded; they were in harmony with the circumstances of
the Jews at that time. For future changes that arose after the time of His
friends Jesus did not expressly ordain any222
thing, because He assumed that His admirers would know how to bring into
harmony with changing conditions that which had received under certain
circumstances a definite form. These remarks also concern especially baptism.
Baptism does not appear in the books of the New Testament as it became
constantly in the succeeding centuries among the Christians and still is, as it
had to form itself under the circumstances of that time and could not do
otherwise. It should not surprise us that Jesus did not leave behind definite
ordinances for all succeeding ages. He preferred to leave it to the inner power
of implanted Christianity to develop itself."*
True, in reference to the application of baptism to Jews and Gentiles also in our time,
Dressler said:
"The time and our circumstances and culture cannot excuse the omission of
baptism, for the requirements have on the whole remained the same since the
days of Jesus. Whoever comes to faith in Jesus Christ, must also according to
His ordinance be consecrated to the new life through baptism. If we would
maintain that Jesus has ordained baptism only for His time, that would
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___________
*What is this inner power of implanted Christianity?—The author says: “The power of
the spirit given to us." But that is not the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive,
and who teaches nothing contrary to the revealed Scripture truth and contrary to the
commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ which were given once for all time and are ever
valid. This spirit of contradiction which dares to speak lies in hypocrisy that Christ for
the following times ordained nothing definite, is the spirit of AntiChrist, whose horns
already broke forth in the days of the apostles. Under this pretext everything is left to
man’s abitrary choice.
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be the same as saying: Jesus has considered this means only serviceable for
the sick of His time, but not for those who live in later times; as if the nature
of the present men, who do not yet know Christ were another, perhaps a better
one! Of course, baptism must remain entirely without blessing, if it is
performed without any consideration of the spiritual condition and the
condition of the heart of man, which is required in the very nature of things
and according to the example of the apostolic Church."
All of this, however, according to Dressler the author is to be understood only of the
Jews and Gentiles of our time, and not at all of the so-called Christians or their children.
But are the Christians no longer sick and their children already believing so that in them
the requirements of the baptism of apostolic times fall away? On this Dressler answers
with his whole contemporary age: "The circumstances under which the Christian
baptism was ordained and to which it fully corresponded, could not however, remain
always the same in the same place. If a Christian congregation had been established, a
new generation came forth out of it, which already in its origin stood in an altogether
different relation to Christianity. The children of Christians were not, like their parents at
one time, inclined to a different manner of worship, were not filled with similar
prejudices and superstitious opinions, and had not led an immoral life. What
224
their parents had been at baptism, they could not become, in order that baptism would in
like manner be a washing of regeneration for them, as it had been for their parents. With
the children of Christian parents there would not come in later life first a period when
they would die unto sin and walk in the newness of life; they would not require a
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cleansing from the sins of a vicious life; but yet they were also called unto
sanctification; they also, as they at their entrance upon life were already among
Christians, must busy themselves the more to lead a true Christian life."
If we ask: what then should under such different circumstances the baptism of children
be?—Dressler answers:
"On the other hand their condition and circumstance was in general similar to
that of their parents. For, in the first place, they were not Christians, because
they had been generated of Christian parents. In his origin man is mere man,
nothing more, and the Formula of Concord therefore rightly calls the opinion
an error that the children of Christians are the children of God without and
before baptism. Here incontrovertibly the principle applies: Christians do not
come, as such, into the world, but must become Christians afterwards!
Therefore the descendants of Christians could not be looked upon as members
of the Christian congregation, because they could not be Christians by birth
on account of their inner condition. The bond which had united their
225
parents with Jesus and His confessors must also bind them with the church, if
they would appear as Christians. Jesus had definitely declared that no one
could enter into the kingdom of God with-out a new holy life, but also
expressly stated that the generation of this life occurs through the water and
the Spirit: if they now held this Christianity in man unto a true participation
in the new order as necessary, how could they neglect or reject the means of
its generation because of the one reason that they were not so dead and
corrupt as the Jews in the time of Jesus? According to the testimony of history
actually occurred, what according to the views of Jesus, had to occur:
baptism remained for those who descended from Christians, the consecration
into Christianity. However, in the early centuries there was no unanimity as to
the time of life when this consecration should take place. The first occasion to
bestow baptism in the tender age of childhood, it cannot be denied, were
excessive conceptions of its necessity to salvation. (Augustine taught that
children who died without baptism were damned.)—However, because infant
baptism was introduced as a result of false views and opinions cannot deprive
it of its worth and appropriateness?
All of this would be sufficient to convince us that infant baptism is a different baptism
than that taught in the New Testament, and that therefore the judgment of the apostle
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rests on it, (I Tim. 6:3 ff.).
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If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness:
He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words,
whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
But we would mark one more passage from Dressler which reads:
"Yet it is necessary to add something concerning the general assumption, that
baptism obligates to faith in Jesus. If we understand thereby the conviction of
the truth of the Gospel. then that assumption is not permissible because this
faith always precedes baptism, and as a condition and natural requirement in
adults always must precede it. Such an obligation to faith in Jesus has
undoubtedly been ascribed to baptism on account of its application to
children (because they cannot believe beforehand) , However, regardless of
the fact that this is foreign to the original essence and purpose of baptism, and
in itself could only effect a blind collier’s faith, it is easy to see, that the
historic faith can arise out of careful indoctrination, and the conviction of the
truth and divinity of the Gospel must support itself on internal grounds
(evidences). Baptism does not obligate to this, that the Gospel must first be
known, for then it would be altogether unintelligible; but to live according to
that which has become known. Clearly the purpose and condition
227
are here exchanged with one another."
(Also Schleiermacher regards baptism only as an act of the will of the church, by means
of which is receives the individual into its communion, and thus makes a Christian of
him!)
In striking contradiction to this Dressler then says for the justification of infant baptism:
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“The children of Christians can only then be baptized as adults, if one has
very incorrect conceptions concerning baptism. He who demands this betrays
that he has accepted his opinion from others as the truth without such
consideration. He forgets that primitive Christianity according to its essence
should and must be restored, where it is not found as such, but according to its
appearance it neither can nor dare be restored. Among the descendants of
Christians baptism with reference to its application can no longer appear as
in the times of Jesus. At that time it appeared as regeneration, renewal, and
improvement of man who was morally corrupt; the descendants of Christians,
however, should not first be corrupted to a second Judaism or heathenism,
and then baptized. Among them it should not appear as a new birth. They
should from youth up be of pure heart. In one word—baptism among the
descendants of Christians cannot at all be applied to adults, unless one would
view the earlier life as altogether useless, or by nature as unclean and sinful.
If baptism is intended to lay its foundation and bring the Chris228
tian life, then it must be presupposed in this connection that this life is not
present in man as man, or that man by birth is not a Christian. But that
baptism necessarily presupposes the fall into sin cannot be understood, if one
does not make confession the necessary part of baptism, which rests on the
assumption that it was for the adult baptismal candidates at the time of Jesus
and the apostles. In the person, who should become a Christian, only this is
presupposed that he is not yet a Christian, but in no wise the opposite of that,
a person corrupted by sin, although he can be that. In baptism, as
Martheineke says, lies the truth, that man by nature is only a member of this
world, that he does not satisfy God, and requires the redemption through
Christ. Now, however, if baptism on account of the different moral state of
those who receive it seems itself to be different in its application, nevertheless,
its nature and purpose remain at all times and under all circumstances the
same and unchangeable. What baptism was for Jews and Gentiles who
believed in Jesus,—a means for the founding of a holy life, that is also what it
is for the descendants of Christians and will be at all times. A means for the
founding of an holy life must be used at that point where this holy life can
begin. For this reason the apostles baptized everyone as soon as they came to
the faith in Jesus and it thus became possible that an holy life be founded as
soon as they, through their obligation
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229
to the Father, Son, and Spirit, could be brought to their true destiny. Now if
there is a solemn religious act, which designates what man should become,
and which should move man to moral purity: when could this be more
necessary and more important than in childhood, in order that man from the
beginning would look upon himself as, and become conscious of the fact that
he is, a child of God, that he is consecrated and obligated to Christ?”
At the objection: “But how do we know that children want to be baptized? Is not infant
baptism an objectionable, forced baptism?" — He answers: "In infant baptism the child
of man is forced to nothing more than to what it has already been forced by God.”—
Thus men act as God’s judges!
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CHAPTER XXVIII. WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD.
EPH. 5:23 ff. Here the apostle places baptism in the closest connection with the great
mystery of the union of Christ and His Church to one body, as man and woman are in
marriage. Baptism serves as a means to this union both in as far as it purifies man and
brings him into communion with the body of Christ; for in order to be a part of the body
of Christ one must belong to His Church, which alone is one. Without a doubt the StateChurch, with its infant baptism, also strives toward this unity and union: however, while
the little ones appear to be received through baptism into the communion of the Church
in order, first, to become Christians in general, later this is dissolved through
confirmation: There enters that which makes the difference, with sharp distinction,
between the various sects and parties, when the one becomes a Catholic, the other a
Protestant, etc. Thus it is far removed. that they neither through baptism nor through
confirmation enter into the communion of the body of Christ. The defenders themselves
must despair and become red with shame over against the truth. Thus Schleiermacher
acknowledges:
"Baptism is then only complete and correct, when
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it has been performed under the same conditions, the same spiritual
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occurrences, and the same operations, that took place in the first candidates
for baptism among Jews and Gentiles; that, since newborn children, in whom
conscience has not yet awakened, can have no consciousness of sin which is
necessary for regeneration, that also their baptism is in every respect
incomplete and one can say that the exercise of it contributes much to the fact
that very many look upon baptism as a mere external custom, and likewise, to
the contrary, that the abolition of infant baptism could be desired by the very
ones who wish most to retain baptism in its original dignity."
In this despair he seeks to help himself with this:
“That infant baptism has its completion in confirmation, as the last moment of
baptism and as the full reception of the Christian Church, which then follows
when baptism had been completed, namely, when the church and the one to be
baptized agree that in the latter faith had been effected, and that he is now
inwardly a true disciple; that only under this condition of its completion infant
baptism can be justified, because only under the same assumption can the
baptism of adults be performed; that one dare not in view of all this speak of
the necessity of infant baptism; and if the vicarious faith of the Church is
uncertain one ought to await the signs of faith; for as in children, before they
could have been prepared through instruction, baptism does
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not work faith, and therefore also salvation, which is conditioned by faith,
cannot be communicated to them, then no difference can be shown between
the children, who die after baptism and before the renewal of the baptismal
covenant, and those who unbaptized depart this life."
Infant baptism would therefore, if the children through it could be brought into
communion with the true Church, effect not only a forced but also an unnatural union
with Christ: for as it is contrary to nature to speak of the physical marriage of new born
children, it is much more unnatural to spin yarns about their spiritual marriage with
Christ,__into which one enters by means of baptism, where faith is present: for through
faith man not alone enters into the age in which the Lord can court him (Ezek. 16:8, 9),
but he also himself falls in love with Christ with all his heart in order to be united with
him forever in baptism. The words of Ezekiel: "Then washed I thee with water," clearly
have the same meaning as the words of Paul: “That he might cleanse it with the washing
of water by the Word ;" as also both passages otherwise agree. For, as there, Israel began
to commit adultery after the Lord had made her glorious, so the Church of Christ also
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soon lost her first beauty and fell into adultery with the world, as we find in the
Revelation of St. John, with false makeup, wherefore just this passage must make its
contribution as one would force this out of the words
233
of the apostle, that marriage is a great sacrament: when he speaks of Christ and His
Church, as Christ for the sake of His Church left father and mother in order to cling to
His wife and become one with her after He had cleansed her with the washing of water
by the Word. This cleansing did not occur in infant baptism, but of the State-Church in
its entirety, it is true what Solomon says: "There is a generation that are pure in their
own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness." And just as little has it God’s
Word and commandment for itself; for to as important an ordinance as baptism more is
necessary for its exercise and justification than the mere subterfuge: "It is not forbidden
to baptize children."
Cor. 2:8 ff. Paul warns the believers against deceivers through philosophy or through
mere rational speaking such as all natural men have to say about the Word of God,
because they do not understand it. God is a better teacher than the devil. They who have
been taught of God need to learn nothing from them who have been taught of the devil.
God’s wisdom is in Christ and whoever believes in Christ learns it from God (John
6:45).
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard. and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
But God’s wisdom is hidden in a mystery (I Cor. 2:7)
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
234
hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
and will be revealed to those only who are humble enough to begin again and become
children again. Everyone who deems himself wise, and Christ has not become his
wisdom of God, is received in false wisdom, and on that account is also a deceiver and
seducer for others, according to the traditions of men, according to the gross concepts of
the world (which they have concerning God), and not according to Christ.
Here the apostle calls the monster, the beast (which John saw in its fulfilment) the
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tradition of men after the rudiments of the world. There men who have not been taught
of God and who are not born of God, would comprehend the teachings of the Gospel
with human reasoning and force them into a human system, and then proclaim this as
equal to the Word of God. This monster has first killed the true faith and then devoured
all men under the false opinion that they are Christians without Christ! In this manner
also infant baptism originated in the place of the baptism of believers; and after it had
once taken root in the degenerated church and acquired prestige, it was propagated by
tradition, as if it were of divine origin, and supported by all sorts of philosophical
reasons and deceitful human wisdom, as if it were altogether the same as the baptism of
believers. Of the latter Paul says that baptism is a circumcision
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of Christ which was not performed with hands (as that of the Old Testament), a putting
off of the body of this flesh, or of the foreskin of the heart, which is born in us of Adam.
These Christ circumcises through baptism in order that man may no longer be an
uncircumcised sinner, but be an holy man. In the Old Testament the uncircumcised and
the heathen who did not belong to the people of God were considered to be on the same
level. In the New Testament it is the same: there every uncircumcised, that is, every
sinner, does not belong to the people of God, for circumcision occurs in the heart and
not on the body of the male. Whoever is in Christ is no longer in Adam-dead in sins, but
alive unto righteousness—a new creature. Would this occur in infant baptism? Is the
foreskin of the flesh of sin circumcised?— Accordingly baptism is truly a circumcision
and took the place of the figurative circumcision; but as there circumcision was a
testimony that a child that was circumcised was the Child of Abraham, in order to enter
into the covenant of God, so baptism likewise must be a testimony that he is a child of
Abraham's. However, in the New Testament it is well-known that the children of
Abraham are not born according to the flesh, but according to promise: (Gal. 3:7 ff.),
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham.
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
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heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In
thee shall all nations be blessed.
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
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For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is
written. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them.
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for,
The just shall live by faith.
Accordingly only the believer is a born child of Abraham in the New Testament and
should, through baptism, enter into the covenant of God, in order that he might be
blessed with the believing Abraham. How terribly the deceit of infant baptism has
perverted the entire order of the New Testament and again bound up the promise of God
with the flesh, without faith, and therefore also without the Spirit (Gal. 3:1 ff.) .
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the
truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath. been evidently set forth, crucified
among you?
This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith?
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the
flesh?
Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among
you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
But God forbid! God will not permit His ordinance to be perverted by liars; the
unbelievers are not circumcised in baptism, and cannot steal the Spirit of God; and the
spirit by which they speak is truly not the Spirit of God, otherwise it would
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not be so shameless as to contradict the truth of the Word and to introduce a different
order than that which God has established. And that concerns all who have ever
defended the baptism of ignorant children, in order to transfer the example of the
circumcision of the Old Testament in a fleshly manner to the New Testament. It is
another spirit that speaks lies in them, however great they may be. Paul says of the
baptism of the believers: “Buried with Him in baptism wherein ye are also risen with
Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead."
That is no figure of speech but a true expression of that which occurs inwardly in the
believer when he is baptized, that he may no longer live, but Christ in him,. Oh, let not
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men spoil you through philosophy, ye believers! Ye are filled with Christ and therefore
are also perfect in Him. You need no addition from the philosophers. They can give you
nothing, only take away. They speak from the viewpoint of nature: you stand on the
ground of grace, their divine service is legal and self~made; your worship is in the Spirit
and in the truth, and your walk is in the new creature. They lie against each other; but
you have put off the old man, the liar and the windbag with his activity, and put on the
new man, therefore you speak the truth among yourselves as members of the body of
Christ, who do not lie.
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CHAPTER XXIX. THE RENEWAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
TITUS 2:11 ff. When Paul compares the actual life of the believers with their former
conversation according to the old man, the result is a great and wonderful change that
has taken place in them and that none can produce himself. Formerly they were unwise,
disobedient, unfaithful. immoral, unjust, unpeaceable, unfriendly; now they are wise,
moderate, obedient, faithful, chaste, charitable, tender, patient, meek, just, godly. And
whence this change? From the grace of God that bringeth salvation which hath appeared
unto all men in Christ, but mark it well, this grace which bringeth salvation, which is a
redemption from all unrighteousness is bestowed by God through baptism upon those
who have become believers in God. Therefore Paul says: "God hath saved us through
the washing of regeneration by which Jesus Christ hath purified unto Himself a peculiar
people zealous of good works." With the true baptism. however, the renewal of the Holy
Ghost is combined in order that it might work such wonders. because God has placed
His Word upon it. However, God has not given His Word to infant baptism, otherwise its
defenders would not have to resort to the subterfuge, that it is nowhere rejected
239
in the New Testament. On the other hand that it is rejected by God is thereby sufficiently
proven that it does not work in man what the Word of God says of baptism. And then in
addition Paul says to Titus: "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all
authority," without departing therefrom. But just from this so seriously spoken divine
Word, men have departed lightheartedly, as if God's Word had no significance, whether
one remains true to it or whether one changes it arbitrarily. And just on this account the
apostle added the warning and direction (Titus 3:9 ff.):
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But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings
about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of
himself.
When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me
to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing
be wanting unto them.
And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they
be not unfruitful.
All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be
with you all. Amen.
"A man that is a heretick after the first and second admonition reject."’ The grace of God
which bringeth salvation truly appeared unto all men; but if one falsifies the Gospel,
then it can no longer show its saving power in men, but they remain sinners and do
unrighteousness. Baptism can be the washing of regeneration in no one who is not first,
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through faith, born to be a child of Abraham. Without faith baptism is a mere external
legalistic work, a superstition and idolatry, a human ordinance, much more worthless
and useless than the circumcision of the Old Testament, which God commanded and
which was a type of baptism. Now if baptism itself should be no more than a type, of
what use would it be? The man who after baptism does not have a circumcised heart, in
order to walk in the newness of life, cannot even show as much of a covenant with God
as an uncircumcised Jew. And that is what the new covenant was intended to be which
took the place of the old useless covenant, because God was no longer satisfied with it,
as it brought no fruit and was only imposed until the time of reformation! (Hebr. 9:10).
Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal
ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
But where is now the reformation? It is rather a deformation.
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CHAPTER XXX. IMPLANTING THE TRUE FAITH.
HEBR. 6: 10 ff. The word of the beginning of Christ is the doctrine by which in the nrst
time the foundation was laid for the purpose of implanting the true faith, and thereby
Christ Himself, as the Word of life from God, into the heart of men. Before this
beginning there is nothing of Christ in man, and this foundation is laid through teaching.
But for a house one does not always lay a foundation, except when one begins to build:
nor can one ever and again lay a foundation for a house. This beginning of Christ, or
foundation-laying, consists, in its individual parts, in this sequence, first: in the
repentance from dead works, as John the Baptist had to begin. For before one builds a
new house where an old one stood, one must first do away with the old debris and dig
deeply. This is what repentance does, which is not possible in little children as such (for
they have not yet done any works, neither dead nor living, Rom. 9:11) and thus the very
first beginning of Christ is not possible. For the question is not at all whether children in
general are in grace with God, nor if the kingdom of God belongs to them, in as far as
they are children, for which reason it is supposed that they are entitled
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to baptism; but the question in baptism is this whether man, before all else, has
acknowledged his corruption in Adam so that he, as a child of Adam, cannot enter into
the kingdom of God, except he be born again. Baptism thus necessarily presupposes
self-consciousness, together with the removal of the former evil life. Ignorance cannot
harm the children with reference to their salvation; however, just their ignorance makes
them altogether unfit for baptism. What would the defenders of infant baptism say, if we,
with such miserable reasons, would support the baptism of believers. as they do in
defense of infant baptism? If we, with the baptism of the believers, would bring forth
something new, they would say to us: "Where is this written in the Word of God? Prove
it from the Scriptures!" Now, after the foundation has been dug deeply through the
repentance from the dead works, then the true cornerstone is laid. Faith in God, the
Sender, and faith in Jesus Christ, the Son whom He sent, Who for our justification from
the former sins died and rose again, in order that we might renounce all such thoughts,
as if we could be justified through the works of nature and the law, which have been
done before repentance and before faith. In the third place stands baptism, which, in the
doctrine, required a clarification in order carefully to distinguish between the various
baptisms of repentance and of faith.— With baptism was connected the laying on of
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hands, an act of blessing in the name of the Lord. Such wishes of blessing performed by
the laying on of hands Paul also called prophecies, e.g., (I Tim. 1:18).
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies
which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
All of this and more forms the foundation and belongs to the beginning of Christ. If we
would learn to understand this beginning of Christ according to its inner workings, fruit,
and results, Paul describes it as an enlightenment, as being made partakers of the Holy
Ghost, as a tasting of the heavenly gift, of the good Word of God, and of the powers of
the world to come. Therefore he also claims that this beginning cannot be made more
than once in the whole life of man and that, if one loses it, one cannot for the second
time begin with repentance, as little as Christ dies again for those sins which have been
committed after enlightenment and unction. After this apostolic presentation no further
proof is required to show how far removed infant baptism is from the bringing of such a
new nature and life, and how useless and deceitful it also is. For baptism does not take
the first place in the divine order of salvation, but the third; and as baptism presupposes
faith, so faith presupposes repentance; that is, in order to be baptized truly and with
result in Christ, man must bring with him the combined fruits of repentance and faith.
Repentance, however, presup245
poses works, namely dead works, that is, sins over which one must be sorrowful and
from which nothing can cleanse our conscience, save the blood of Christ, accepted by
faith and completed in baptism (Heb. 9:14, 10:22 ff.).
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God?
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful
that promised;)
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;
but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching.
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For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries.
And whoever has been thus cleansed now serves the living God and no longer dead
idols.
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CHAPTER XXXI. THE BETTER PROMISES.
HEBR. 8:6 ff. After the union, in which baptism stands in relation to the new covenant,
this passage also will essentially serve for its enlightenment: for just on this account the
righteousness and necessity of infant baptism is maintained, in order that the children be
also accepted into the new covenant and receive part in its blessings and promises. It is
only on this account that we refer to this passage because here the new covenant in its
essence and in its difference from the old, is most clearly described. Because the old
covenant did not live up to its expectations, in order to make of men true men of God, it
was necessary to turn to the erection of a new one, which would certainly achieve this
result, otherwise it would be as useless as the old one was. That which makes the
difference in the new covenant are the better promises. Now if infant baptism should aid
in their participation, we ask, does this actually occur? Are children or adults in the new
covenant, which consists in this that God puts His laws into our mind and writes them in
our hearts that no one need any longer teach his neighbor, saying "Know the Lord." Now
do they all know the Lord? Do they no longer walk according to the flesh, but
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according to the Spirit, so that they no longer serve sin, but righteousness? (I John 3:6
ff.).
walked.
Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment
which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye
have heard from the beginning.
Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and
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in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until
now.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of
stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and
knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his
name’s sake.
"And they shall be to me a people." If this is not true, then there is nowhere a new
covenant. Now it is more than certain that the so called Christians are neither
constituted, nor live, according to this definition of the new covenant. It is worse than
under the Old Testament. In comparison with the old, the new covenant should be
blameless; not as if the failure would lie in the covenant but rather in men who had
broken it by their sin; likewise certainly the friends of the new covenant should also be
blameless, and thus they are also described (I Cor. l :8; Eph. 1 :4; 5:27; Phil. 2:15; Col.
1:22, etc.)
Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. without rebuke, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in
the world;
In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable
and unreproveable in his sight:
If we belong to the new covenant, we must live as holy, just, and godly in this present
world as is due God in order that His purpose in us, through Jesus Christ, might be
achieved. If in the Old Testament the covenant was not kept, it must be kept in the New
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Testament: because a new covenant was made to this end; and we know that the
conditions of the new covenant are higher than those of the old, because the promises of
God are greater.
Heb. 10: 19 ff. Here Paul summarizes the blessings and obligations of the New
Testament, beginning with baptism. Through Christ the necessary sinning is cancelled,
and upon the willing sinning of the pardoned, the regenerated, the second death is laid.
For this it is necessary that one spurns the Son of God, and holds in contempt, as
common, the blood of the covenant, by which he has been sanctified, and scorns the
Spirit of grace. Would one say of the nominal Christians that they had not committed
this sin, then it is
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true, in as far as they have never put on the Son of God in order to walk in the newness
of life, and have never been sanctified, and also have never received the Spirit of grace;
but thereby they are not freed from the punishment of the second death: for the fact that
they have not received the blessings of the New Testament, is due to their unbelief, and
that is proof that they still lie in the first death, in unbroken rule of sin and the enmity of
God. And he who does not believe the Gospel and who is not blessed with the believing
Abraham is condemned just as much as he who does not guard the grace of life which he
has received, but willingly sins again, as Adam sinned. For the children of Adam do not
sin of their free will but are compelled (although they do it gladly because they have
become altogether carnal, and consider it as their right mode of life); but he who is
pardoned and regenerated in Christ, whom Christ has freed from his sin, in order to live
unto God, he sins of his free will, because he is no longer a servant of sin, but a freeborn child of God through faith and baptism in Christ. What the apostle here says can
not therefore be applied to the so-called Christians who have no-t been baptized out of
faith; and it is a pure assumption on their part, if they, from their standpoint, would
judge the state of grace, what is possible for the regenerated or what is not; or moreover
if they consider themselves reborn, although they justify
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and defend the sin of Adam which dwells and rules in them, as if it must be exactly so
throughout their whole life, and as if man could never become free from sin: for they
place the fruit of the death of Christ only in the forgiveness of sins but not in the putting
away of sin itself; and they are willing to remain leisurely on the seat of sin (mourners'
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bench) under the cross of Christ, and to let themselves be renewed by His grace daily (as
they say, although they never become new), and there to be justified by free grace. In the
same connection, for appearance’s sake, they also speak of a daily killing of the old man
but because they ought to do that themselves, they neglect it and their old man lives on
day to day, alive and hearty. For if we could kill the old man, then Christ would have
died in vain and we would not dare to be baptized into His death for this purpose. On the
other hand, if Christ must do it, why must they make so much of their own beating of the
air? The old man does not die throughout life (as little as the new man labors in birth
throughout life), but at once by the power of the death of Christ. If he has once been put
off, then the taming of our body (for our body is by far not the old man as they think)
lies in our power, that we force him, with all his lust and desires, under obedience to the
Spirit, without a lot of empty strokes in the air (Rom. 6:12: I Cor. 9:26 ff.) .
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
lusts thereof.
251
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the
air:
Whoever still has to deal with the old man can expect to gain just as little as a bird
which must pick off a mountain with his bill and carry it away. In this situation there can
also be no thought of the great conflict of suffering of which Paul glories to the Hebrews
and of the first period of their conversion, that they have become a spectacle as a result
of their abuses and persecutions. This is the same conflict of suffering of which Paul
speaks with reference to himself (I Cor. 15:30 ff.) ;
And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what
advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we
die.
(truly not of a spiritual dying of the old man, as the false believers would apply it, but of
bodily suffering, persecution, and mortal dangers, in which Paul found himself daily for
Jesus’ sake).
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CHAPTER XXXII. “DYING OFF TO TRADITION."
I PET. 1:3 ff. God who is primarily alone the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, becomes
in a subordinate relation, namely through Christ and in Christ, also our Father, if we
have been reborn to a lively hope, so that we become the children of God as Christ was
the only begotten of the Father from eternity. To this relation, however, leads the dying
off of the previous vain conversation according to the tradition of the fathers; in part
from the first birth of the flesh, in part from the false religion of the world closely united
with it, whether called heathenism, Judaism, or Christianity. And as a river in its spring
is very small but becomes larger the farther along it flows: so also the stream of sin has
grown more and more from the beginning until now; and every sinner adds to it. This
stream leads man into eternal destruction; and. there is no other halting or fleeing from it
than by the redemption of every individual person from the general destruction:—
formerly in ignorance, now in the knowledge of God; formerly disobedient, now
children of obedience; formerly godless, now holy; otherwise without hope, now.
however; with a lively hope of glory; formerly carnal, now spiritual; formerly either in
open
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hatred toward each other, or in simulated love, now burning with unsimulated brotherly
love.-Now as Christ has brought about this redemption from the former vain
conversation through His sacrifice as the Lamb of God, everyone who first believes in
Him must be baptized in Him afterwards in order to become a partaker of this
redemption through regeneration. Peter shows this still more clearly in the following
passage.
I Pet. 3: 18 ff. In order to lead us to God Christ was put to death in the flesh but
quickened by the Spirit. This was not necessary for Himself because He was the Just
One; but He suffered for us unjust ones; and as a result the same processes must occur in
us also: the flesh must be killed and the Spirit must be made alive: sin must die in order
that man might live. For Christ on the cross was our Sin and died as such, in order that
sin might be killed in us.—The incidental destruction of the old world which had been
destroyed by water led the apostle on to the further thought: through the same water
Noah was saved with his house; and herein. he found a striking example of that which
baptism is and works: for by it the old world of sin in man is destroyed and rooted out;
on the other hand the man justified by faith is saved by it for the inheritance of the new
world. However, only in this case, is baptism a means of salvation, if man finds himself
in the same situation as Noah. Noah was the only one whom God acknowledged
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254
as just in His time; to him God revealed the mystery of the impending destruction of the
human race. Noah believed and built the ark in the obedience of faith for the saving of
his house, and thereby he condemned the world. Should baptism be a saving for man he
must first have been acknowledged as justified by faith of God, through faith in Christ
the Crucified Who died as our Sin. If a man finds himself outside of this ark of
salvation, then the water of baptism is for him as one unjust and unbelieving at the same
time, not unto salvation but unto destruction, like the godless people of the first world,
who despised the time of repentance given to them and who ridiculed the building of the
ark. Now the Hood came and c carried them all away in their sins. That is the fate of
those who are baptized without repentance and faith: for they remain in their sins, in
their old nature, and become blasphemers and despisers. Now all men find themselves in
this situation. through their infant baptism they are exposed to eternal destruction; not as
children but as adults. who through the imagination of a false regeneration, are cheated
out of their salvation because they pay no further attention to the true regeneration (John
3).
In as far as Peter ascribes to baptism with water a saving power, he says of it, that it is
not the putting away of the filth of the flesh (like the Levitical washings of the Old
Testament), but
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the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Whoever, before baptism, had a bad conscience on account of his sins, now after
baptism has a good conscience toward God; he is cleansed of the consciousness of sin
through the reconciliation of the death of Jesus Christ. This good conscience now has
and makes an address to God through the power of the divine efficacy through Christ,
who again brings man to honor with the Father, if he has believed in Him. Now as there
can be no thought of an evil conscience in a child that has just come into the world, so
little can it be baptized in order to acquire a good conscience or to direct an address unto
God. Here enters the peculiar relation of the Levirate-marriage (Deut. 25:5-10),
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of
the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall
go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an
husband’s brother unto her.
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And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name
of his brother which is dead. that his name be not put out of Israel.
And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go
up to the gate unto the elders. and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise
up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my
husband's brother.
Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand
to it, and say, I like not to take her;
Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and
loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face. and shall answer and say,
So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
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And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath. his shoe
loosed.
which took place in the case of Ruth. For in the ordinary marriage the man asks the
virgin, but in the Levirate-marriage the widow had the right to ask in marriage the
brother or the next of kin of her childless, dead husband. Into this relation Jesus Christ
entered with man through his incarnation, that He could redeem us; man, however, on
his part must through faith enter into this relation with Jesus Christ, that he may
approach Him as his next of kin. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, comes first after the
law, and the law is the first man to whom man is united in order to bring fruit unto death
and not unto God. Unto this first union man must die through faith in Jesus Christ, and
thereby he receives a good conscience toward God through the forgiveness of sins. Thus
believing man is like a widow; but through baptism he is united in a new marriage with
the risen Christ, which shall never be dissolved (broken) through unfaithfulness. By the
law, man is united with the Crucified Christ; through baptism, however, with the risen
Christ in order to bring fruit unto God. Therefore baptism before faith or without faith is
nothing.
II Pet. 1:3 ff. The cleansing of the former sins lies in the baptism of him who has
believed, and in this baptism lies also the first reason for all the blessings, and all the
promises, and all the obligations, which Peter here sums up, in order to
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admonish the believers. that they should not make of the knowledge of Jesus Christ an
idle, unfruitful science, or an empty babbling, but an execution of the divine lightpowers unto the perfection of Christ. To be without this divine life, and to have forgotten
the cleansing from the former sins, is the same thing to the apostle. This they should
mark, who wish to be baptized and yet do not have that which Peter requires of every
regenerated one, and without which he declares everyone to be blind and unfit to
distinguish between light and truth, light and darkness. The cleansing from the former
sins and the bestowal of all divine power unto life and unto godliness belong together;
he who has not the one, does not have the other either.
258
CHAPTER XXXIII. THE THREE UNITED WITNESSES.
I JOHN 5:1 ff. How faith and baptism everywhere appear united, and make up one
whole, —faith on the part of man, baptism on the part of God, for the formation of the
new man-so also here faith shows its effectiveness in three ways: through regeneration,
through love, and through the victory over the world. Baptism consists of the three
united witnesses: Spirit, water, and blood. In what respect does John call the three A
component parts of baptism witnesses? In so far as they, united, offer a divine testimony
in the baptized person of the grace and love and truth of God, for the renewal of man
according to the image of his Creator. These alone are the correct and true baptismal
witnesses. Now if men, in their superstition, accept the human witness of the so called
sponsors, that the child has been baptized, without having been able to do anything for
the child toward regeneration and renewal, although they have the fictitious name of
sponsors, or spiritual parents and procreators, (German "Gevattern," English "God-father
and God-mother"): yet the divine testimony is greater, for it is not an empty formulary of
an external act, but it is the attestation of an inner effect. In the baptism of him
259
who believes there is not water alone, but water and blood. It is faith that puts on the
blood of Christ which cleanses from all sin; in the baptism of children, however, there is
nothing else than water, and because there is no faith, Christ’s blood cannot be in it; and
the child has not yet committed sins which must be washed away through the blood of
Christ. Original sin, however, is not washed away, neither with water nor with blood, but
this must be destroyed with fire in adulthood, when faith has come and baptism follows.
Where faith is present at baptism there is also Christ’s blood, and where Christ's blood
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is, there the third witness, the Spirit, is also present; and that is the main thing for the
renewal of the inner man and the outward life; and where these are not present, baptism
has not been the washing of regeneration and the alleged state of grace is only fraud,
where the Spirit and life of Christ dwell not. The Spirit is ever the seal of the blood, for
all of the three witnesses agree in one and form one testimony. The Spirit it is that gives
life (John 6:63; Rom. 8:2; Gal. 3:21):
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
of sin and death.
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been
a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law.
260
and only by the Spirit has man this witness in himself; but he who seeks his state of
grace, only in reliance upon the blood of Christ which was shed, is deceived. He
separates that which God has joined together. Seek and search only for the proof which
John demands. The examination must show if the calculation is correct. John said: It is
true that "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God"; and many people
gladly say this after him in order to consider themselves reborn; but John adds the proof:
"for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world"; and that is the true faith which
can overcome the world, which gives the power to withstand the lust of the world and all
its crafty proposals, and to overcome all suffering and tribulation for Christ’s sake.
These lazy believers, however, do not care to hear anything about this proof of faith.
And that is not all, but the other proof is the love of the Father and of His children; the
love that is one with the keeping of the commandments of God; an easy yoke and a light
burden. If one listens to those believers who consider them-selves regenerated, it is
impossible according to them to keep the commandments of God, clearly because they
do not love God and who make of this love an idle prattle. The keeping of the
commandments of God and the overcoming of the world are the proof, which show if
one believes in Jesus Christ and is born of God. If anyone believes this word he must
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make his computation again, and he will find his error, that he does not believe and is
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BAPTISMAL TRUTH
not born of God. And he may perhaps persuade himself with reference to his infant
baptism that he has received the water; but the two other witnesses that constitute the
baptism in Christ, the blood and the Spirit of Christ, he has not received. And so it seems
very peculiar how importantly, derisively, and irritably they express themselves
concerning the baptism of the believers where all three divine witnesses agree in one, as
though it were a mere water that is useless, and of which they no longer have need, after
they have long ago, yes from birth, been born again, and have received the Holy Ghost,
of which the apostles testify that the preaching of faith must precede (Gal. 3). Now if the
preaching of faith must precede; if, however, faith, then also baptism for just there the
three witnesses, water, blood and Spirit are together, indivisibly, on earth, even as the
three witnesses are in heaven on whose name the believer is baptized in order to be a
child of God, a brother or sister of Jesus Christ the Son, a pupil of the Holy Spirit and at
the end of faith, an heir of eternal life.
262
SUPPLEMENT
Note on Acts 10: 15-28. The Lord showed Peter by means of a vision from heaven, that
he with reference to the earlier distinction between the (clean) Jews and the (unclean)
Gentiles. should call no man either common or unclean; namely, not thus, that if an
unclean one is converted to God he would not dare to receive him: even as afterwards
the apostles and brethren in Judea bitterly reproached Peter: "Thou wentest into men
uncircumcised." But despite this the distinction still pertains between (divine—clean),
and unclean with reference to the different human beings, that we to begin with should
have no contaminating fellowship with the unbelievers, (II Cor. 6:14 ff.).
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple
of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
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BAPTISMAL TRUTH
And will be a Father unto you. and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty.
Of course, in that respect we should consider a man unclean, as Peter would have
considered Cornelius
263
unclean because he was a Jew, if God had not taught him otherwise: for there Peter
should no longer look upon himself as a Jew but as a Christian for whom the legal
distinction between man and man (Jew and Gentile) was cancelled, namely in as far as
he was converted to God, or was previously acknowledged of God as such; and in as far
as Jesus Christ died for all men, for one as well as for the others, for the forgiveness of
sins, and they in this respect must also be considered clean, although in themselves they
are not clean, but unclean until they believe in Christ (Acts 15:9).
And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
But in as far as association with the unclean becomes for our new man a temptation and
contamination, and he does not wish to be converted, we dare not have fellowship with
him.
Note on Judges l7:7-13; out of the English commentary of Henry and Scott. "The office
of the ministry is the best calling if it come from God, but the worst business in the
world. Micah thought that it was a sign of God’s favor toward him and his image that he
so opportunely sent a Levite to his doors, and especially so prominent a man as
Jonathan, the son of Gerson, the son of Moses (see Meyer’s Commentary). Thus they,
who please themselves with their own fruits, when providence unexpectedly brings to
their hands that which furthers them in their evil
264
way, are too inclined to draw the conclusion, that God has pleasure in them. Micah now
became well-established in his idolatry. Note: Many deceive themselves in a good
intention concerning their situation, through a partial reformation. They think they are as
good as they should be because they have perhaps changed in some special point; as if
the improvement of one mistake would reconcile the continuing in all others. He thought
that the acceptance of the Levite to the priesthood was a meritorious work whereas in
fact it was a bold presumption and challenge against God. The Levite had no right to
serve as priest and Micah had no power to consecrate him. Pride and ignorance and selfPage 190 of 1977
BAPTISMAL TRUTH
satisfaction of men not only dare to justify itself but also to praise, as highly important
and holy, the most audacious impieties and interferences in the divine prerogatives?
Note on Deut. 1:41 ff.; from the English commentary of Henry and Scott. "Moses
reminds them of the foolish and vain attempt to nullify the judgment of God when it was
too late. They had refused to go up against the Canaanites but afterwards they wanted to
go up (without God), and prepared themselves to that end. This then which appeared to
be a reformation (conversion), only proved to be a further rebellion."
This document is intended to reveal with reference to baptism what the Word of God in
its
265
original truth and clarity teaches; and that it does this is best proven by the opposition of
the lovers of darkness.
266
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THE EPISTLE OF PAUL, THE APOSTLE, TO THE EPHESIANS
EPHESIANS
CHAPTER I. THE TRUE FAITH.
Sunday, November 22, 1846—Chapter 1:1-4
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus :
Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ :
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that
WHEN we read this passage, the beginning of this epistle, we will indeed appreciate and
admit that if we merely read it we will not understand much of it — it is too deep, too
exalted, too difficult. There is nothing herein if we merely read it—it does not penetrate
—it has no power. The Word of God is so profound — it is not like human wisdom. It is
an abyss of the perfection of God. One must search it out, and by means of the Holy
Ghost it can give us strength and power. We do not comprehend this at first glance. It is
therefore so necessary for us to search the Scriptures as much as possible with the help
of the Holy Ghost
7
so that what is written may be our strength and life. So for this reason the Apostle Paul,
when in bonds for Jesus Christ at Rome, sent a letter of exhortation to the church in
Ephesus, to strengthen them in their faith in Him.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
He announces himself to the church of Ephesus, who knew him personally, where he
labored a long time with the Gospel. He calls himself an apostle of Jesus Christ, an
ambassador and messenger from Him unto such; one who goes forth in the name of
another, and he was confident in the Lord who came forward with His Word with him,
proclaiming and communicating it unto others who were entrusted to him through Jesus
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Christ. That is why that which is written is so very important — that it become powerful
and active and effective in us. Paul was completely constrained by the grace of God. It
was God's commission to him that he should write to various places to establish these in
Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that we should accept that which he wrote to that
church. It should be taken to heart and serve unto strength and truth through the same
spirit which was powerful in Paul.
Paul, an apostle, did not come to the truth by his own pleasure, for he previously was a
reviler and persecutor of Jesus Christ and His church. He
8
was a chosen one of Jesus Christ—he should preach His Word and not the word of men.
Every person has a disinclination for the Word of Christ, so that once he has received
this, it cannot be said that it was predetermined by the will of man. This is not the case
with the Word of God. No one without being chosen by God can come to the true church
of God (to the new sect) for the church of God is considered a sect everywhere in the
world, and each one, who, overcome unto faith and attains unto the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, is here considered as one who has changed over to a sect.
In so doing, so that we are not misled in our text, it speaks in the Old Testament
(fifteenth chapter of Deuteronomy) of the true faith and of the false prophets. If any shall
turn the people away from the true and living God (they shall be able to recognize him
by the fact that he teaches differently from that which they have received of God) he
shall be stoned and put to death so as to put an end to his seducing of others.
Now, if one should want to turn us away from the true God and Father, it is a matter of
whether we fall away from the Gospel and become unfaithful, or whether we become
converted when the erroneous idea of conversion is prior to conversion. The church of
the world has fallen away from the true God. We must, therefore, retrace to that from
which they fell away and not be cringing if, from the standpoint of the world, it appears
that
9
we have fallen away. On the contrary we must hold ourselves to the Word of God and
we dare not substitute anything else.
He who deserts the Word of God is a false prophet and draws damnation unto himself. If
we are converted unto faith, however, it is not a falling away from God, but the truth
which makes us free from sin, (St. John 8:32)
And we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
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for previously we were sinners and on the erroneous way. Thus by our falling away
(from the established church) He makes us children of God because that which we
accept makes us free. If men accept a doctrine that does not make them free, then they
have been deceived. That which we accept, however, makes us free, for we serve the
living and true God through faith in Jesus Christ.
In this respect, it is now necessary to become converted. Paul says that he came to the
faith by the will of God—not by his own will. Had it depended on himself he would
never have come to the truth, nor have been an apostle of Jesus Christ. By reason of this
being spoken of as a misjudgment and a disadvantage in the world, the inner drawback
must be overcome, for the truth of Christ is something that has to be conquered.
To believe the lie requires no overcoming, but it is required to come to the truth. We
must let ourselves be taken captive completely by the Holy
10
Ghost. Finally, we must say, "I have been taken captive by the will of God and His Spirit
for by myself I would not have come to it." "It was God's persuasion that brought me to
it for it does not happen in a human way."
All men have in them a direct opposition of the truth and more readily believe the lie
than the truth. It is for this reason that they have to be persuaded by the truth. We need to
do this by prayer. God must be beseeched to reveal to us knowledge of the truth and we
shall come to know it. By moral persuasion it is impossible to bring men to the truth.
God must act jointly in the heart of a person—for it is significant to overcome and to be
persuaded by a divine power and to come to the church of Christ (or we would be a sect)
for there is only one church in Jesus Christ. We must come to the church which is
comprised of the faithful and the saints, and we must be converted thereto and be called
those of God. By self-determination one cannot attain this. The persuasion of God is
required, for we all know what was required until we came from error to the truth.
An unbelieving person cannot be converted—it is as though one were talking to a stone.
There is a contradiction in him. It is not as is the case in the world where Christians are
mechanically made. The law exists, and all those, when they have reached a certain age,
must become Christians. Whether they understand and know, or whether
11
they do not understand and know, when the time for confirmation arrives, they all
become Christians. It is indeed difficult to convince an unbeliever. With him it is as
formerly with the Jews when Christ came and was not known of them even though He
came to His own people. They called Him an heretic, a teacher of a new doctrine and
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they abandoned Him. No one comes to faith of his own choice; it is an act of
predetermining of God.
Believers are saints! All the churches consisted of saints and it needs to be the same
now. Each one has to become sanctified by the Spirit through conversion from sin, (II
Thessalonians 2;13)
. . . God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.
where the truth of Christ begins to take root, it breaks the power of sin and the new man
becomes obedient. In the saints it is a life of the Spirit. It is by this that we know them—
if they are faithful; if Christ is as One transfigured in them so that He lives in them. For
all men are liars and sinners. God's Word alone is the truth and it alone we must believe.
Nor is it altogether a matter of preaching, but of the assistance of God. God has called us
to His holy church—we were through this persuaded of Him and came to the perception
of the truth, and in this faith and in this truth we must abide unto the end.
12
Paul primarily wishes for the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus,
Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ.
For considerable time now, we have not said any thing about the apostolic greeting—
what its significance is. It is at the beginning as well as at the end of the epistle. It is a
benediction from God sent by one who has the salvation of others at heart. Salvation
consists first of the grace and secondly of the peace of God. Peace and the grace of God,
the Father, and of Jesus Christ, the Lord, are desired for those who already have grace
and peace, so that they may be filled, for to him that bath shall be given so that he may
have fulness.
We must, therefore, be watchful concerning our greeting, inasmuch as it is intended for a
benediction to God to those whom we greet in the Holy Spirit. It is, for example, entirely
improper and improperly applied if we shall say to a person ignorant of the grace and
peace of God, "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ." In the first place, such a person would not accept it and would deride it
with contempt, for even such a person, if one were to write a similar greeting to him,
would think it came from a fool and would rebuke it harshly. It is not something which
one can impart without discrimination. The grace and peace of God must first be there
before a greeting of this kind can be
13
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rightly employed or it is in vain, for God is the One to fulfill that which we wish.
The grace and peace of God do not come spontaneously, as it were; the will of God is
required for it. One cannot just desire this to so happen to another. People do not accept
it and one can feel it is in vain. It does not penetrate. One must, therefore, first be
prepared to acquire and receive the grace of God and the peace of Christ. It is a repose
of grace and peace. Jesus Christ must be established in one. Instead of faith there is the
lie and instead of peace there are war, discord, rebellion and disturbance. In such a
situation a person ever tries to find rest, but like the evil spirits, he cannot. Thus it is
with one who has gone out from his original habitation.
Our peace, however, is in God. " . . . My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,"
as John says (John 14:7) ;
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from
henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
This is the inner-living kingdom of God, where we, in God, find rest and peace instead
of a dark and restless life. The ungodly have no peace, but they are as a raging sea. In
them is not peace but damnation from God; strife, contention, hatred, jealousy,
dissension and enmity among them. To such, lacking in the grace and peace of God, one
cannot offer grace and peace. It is all in vain. God's grace must have in advance first
found room
14
in a person's heart and then instead of a dark, barren and ungodly state, the peace of God
must enter. Where peace has gained entrance and found room, one can then proffer such
well-wishings of peace and grace.
"Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ,"
shows sufficiently who may enjoy such peace and grace if God is our Father. The people
of this world have the devil for their father (John 8:44) ;
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was
a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it.
Paul says here, " . . . To the saints who are at Ephesus, . . . Grace and peace from God
our Father." When one is a believer and has peace with God, such greeting and wishes
may be used. We live in the world by pure and simple grace—God's grace—and through
this grace it is within us, in the peace of God. Where peace is within, we on our part are
also at peace with men. If they do not desire to keep peace, the fault lies with them. As
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far as we are concerned, we shall maintain peace with God. Where the peace of God is
in us, then we also have peace with Him. So where there is no peace in men, there is also
no peace with God. There are those who think that there must ever be wrath and discord.
Therefore, we should wish one another grace and peace through our God and
15
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ—so that it might be established in us.
The ungodly can have no peace, for the kingdom of God is not within them. He who has
no peace cannot give peace, and it is for this reason that men of the world continually
have contention and strife among themselves (St. Matthew 10:11-13) .
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your
Master with publicans and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick.
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice;
for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Where Christ has entered in by means of His grace, there He also desires to be seen by
His Spirit; seen as He Himself was seen when on earth, and seen in His disciples and
apostles. Again, he who bath unto him shall more be given in order that he may have
fulness. So to him who does not have God and His peace, nor has ever been converted to
Him, one cannot wish the things to happen which Paul here desires in his epistle. In such
an instance, one must start to preach repentance that such an one may learn to know of
his separation with God, for through Adam men continually sin. (Ephesians 1:3)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Of that of which Paul was filled he spoke. He was filled with joy and so the faithful
shared his
16
joy. He was glad to be at Rome in prison, fettered to a soldier, and was filled with
thankfulness and praise and joy. A glimpse at the church of Christ was a great pleasure
to Paul. He could indeed rejoice over a small band of the faithful, prisoners and
redeemed ones even when he had to be in absolute confinement. To Paul it was a fulness
to overflowing. We see that this was the mind of all the apostles. In the case of Peter and
with them all—to, in their spirit, take a glimpse at the church of Christ; to see how, out
of the uncharitable, benevolent; how out of children of the devil, children of God were
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made. Yea, at this one can well rejoice and be glad. (Colossians 2:5)
For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and
beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
***
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Thus by grace He has also become our Father and we may call Him that, but no sinful
person may do so, or he would be blaspheming the name of God. "He that committeth
sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning . . . " (I John 3:8).
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the
works of the devil.
God only is the Father of His only begotten Son, Who is by nature one with Him, and
Who bore
17
our sins on the cross. Whoever receives Jesus Christ, the Son, unto him power is given
to become His child. If men make a custom and habit of the Lord's and His disciples'
prayer, they speak lies of the Almighty. These words and prayers are only for the
children of God (I Corinthians 5; 4-5). For Jesus Christ is a Son of God by nature. God
has only one Son, Whom He sent into the world, and called Him His Son and gave Him
power to sit at His right hand. Once we have received the power to be called children of
God (I John 3 :1) ,
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him not.
then we can understand what it means to become a child of God—if from children of
wrath we have become children of God. Then we will shine as lights in the darkness, for
we fell deeply when (in the beginning) as children of God we became children of Satan.
Adam was not a child of God; he was only created in His image and likeness. He was a
likeness of the Son of God, but not a begotten son of the Father. Adam conceived the sin
of the devil and took on his likeness. For this reason it was necessary for Jesus to sweep
out the old habitation so that everything that had previously lived therein might be
driven out and have no further power in us.
18
We become higher still than Adam was; we become children of God by birth; we are
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born anew in Christ, naturally, after His likeness.
But if Christ had not died, we would all be lost. He died on the cross so that He might
save us from our damnation. In the flesh He bore our sins so that in the Spirit we could
become His children, for there is peace in Him. "Glory be to God in the highest and on
earth peace, good will to men," is what the angels sang when Jesus was born. God, on
earth, prepared peace and a goodwill to men through His Son, by which all that is old
passes away and in Christ is created and born anew.
Christ is our life, peace, joy, power, glory and blessedness. It must be thus in Christ, all
in all. For He is our Father and we are His children by reason of our second birth out of
water and the Spirit, and by faith and baptism we become that which we aforetime were
not, so that through Him we likewise suffer as humbly, tenderly, gently as He did. He
must thus be represented in us by grace, peace, joy, righteousness, holiness, gentleness,
humility. Christ would so have it that we might be one with Him.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings." If it is true that we are the blessed of the Father, then the blessing of
God must rest on us: one must recognize His blessing on us (for it
19
is the spiritual blessing which comes upon all His children, in righteousness and truth,
peace, joy, and love in Christ Jesus) who are baptized in faith and no longer live as
sinners in the world. In Christ are salvation and life. This life shall be in us in order that
we live in the spirit as righteous and sanctified ones in Christ Jesus. That is, if God has
given us His only begotten Son, has He not given us everything? He died for us when
we were His enemies. We have been atoned for through Him and live in Christ, for the
nature of the Father is in the Son, in righteousness, peace, truth, love and consolation.
These all are fruits of the Son. He must live and dwell in us. We are forever blessed in
Christ Jesus.
When we see this spiritual blessing which flows from the Father to the Son, then out of
our hearts must also flow peace and joy.
Consider what it cost Him to bless us. He died on the cross. "Thy seed shall be blessed
as the sand of the sea." All is "Yea and Amen" in Christ. If we are not in Christ, then we
are carnally-minded and commit sin. If we are in Him, then we are holy and live in Him
and do His will wherefore we shall reasonably thank Him and praise Him for the grace
which has appeared unto us and the blessing of the Spirit which God the Father has
poured out on us by sharing His life with us and giving us of His own Spirit.
20
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CHAPTER II. THE SPIRITUAL BLESSING.
Sunday, November 29, 1846
PAUL says of himself--of them to whom he writes, the church of Ephesus—that God
has blessed them with all spiritual blessings and for this reason he thanks and praises the
Spirit of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom this blessing (not a material but a
spiritual one) through Christ, has fallen to our lot. It concerns our spirit, which through
Christ, has become our portion. When one speaks of one's own blessings, it is
understood to mean all manner of earthly goods, riches and what is associated therewith.
So, as God blesses in a spiritual way, we receive in the spirit, riches, luxury, in that our
spirit lives and in addition thereto we have a sufficiency and a fulness as Jesus had (John
10:10) . "I am come that they (my sheep) might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly."
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come
that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
This is the spiritual blessing in contrast with a blessing in the flesh. After the natural
man, we had become void of blessing with respect to our
21
spirit, destitute and unhappy. And we also remained so until Jesus Christ blessed us with
His spiritual blessing and we had an abundance. For this reason, all men are invited to
the Gospel of Christ, for whom much more has been prepared, namely righteousness.
"Come, ye blessed of the Lord—I will give you the good pleasure of the Father, the
Spirit, the pledge of the promise." He who does not now receive the spirit of the promise
cannot attain unto eternal life for he does not have the pledge therefore. In Adam we
became dead men. It is for this reason that Christ must help with His spiritual blessing
and make us citizens of heaven, for our part is not to be sought for here, where we are
not citizens: our part is in heaven. Those who are in Christ serve God, and as such they
are citizens of heaven. They are strangers on earth and aliens in order that they might
become citizens of heaven. If we are blessed of the Father, then the world will no longer
know us for we are no longer at home here, being only guests and strangers. In heaven,
however, we are fellow-citizens of the household of God in His mansions.
Mankind does not have God: they have the devil. There is a wall of separation between
us and the world, for Christ had to set up a wall of division. But where Christ dwells not,
there is no such wall. Everyone is accursed in Adam. Therefore Christ must dwell in us
—that the curse might
22
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be lifted—for Christ is the Head of all believers, so that all in Him become one spirit and
one body. We must strive diligently after this spiritual blessing.
Whoever is in Christ will be classed with the residents of heaven, for a person who is
blessed does not have his mind, his walk, his treasure, his civic rights, on earth. All our
goods and chattels must be removed there so that no one can take them from us. In
heaven, however, there is security. In Christ there is an assurance of body, and soul,
spirit and life, and of all things. If we have our all here, it will be taken from us—we
would be losers. The devil could take it from us and we would lose our heavenly
portion, for he would captivate and rob us so that we would accept the earthly. We must
pass out naked, leave our garments behind so that we may break away from this
adulterous generation. Naked we came from the womb and we will also desire to go into
the beyond thus if we but have Christ, and no one can then take our treasure in heaven.
We are no longer of the world, but have put on Christ through the spiritual blessing
(Colossians 2:3).
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So we must no longer stay in the primary class as do the great of the world, who really
learn little. We are no longer here in the spirit, for as soon as we are blessed of God and
Christ we are
23
no longer known on earth. It is singular indeed! We have become unknown to father and
mother, sisters and brothers, in that we have crossed over, for our garments must be left
behind, for in Christ we have a beautiful garment, an immortal one—apparel which
cannot be cast off by man though we are still here in the flesh. The Lord has put us in the
world, but after the spirit we are fellow-citizens of God and as such must work on earth
and openly declare and make profession of this, for the spirit of the Father must dwell in
us and we are no longer of the world nor in the world, for we are mortified to all this,
and in Him are nothing of ourselves. Jesus says, " . . . Ye are from beneath; I am from
above; ye are of this world." John 8:23. (John 8:20; 16:28)
Whither I go, ye cannot come. I . . . go to the Father.
The spirit of the Father must be in us. We must be born of the Spirit and become like
Him in mind and walk and discard that which is not in heaven for we are no longer
earthly, but citizens of heaven. Our treasures, goods, and property and all we have and
are, must be in heaven for we cannot abide here—"For here we have no continuing city,
but we seek one to come." We may not abide on earth nor can we here gather treasures
in this transitory and evil world, for tomorrow we are gone. We must become rich only
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in God, so that when we come to Him we have a treasure
24
and not do as the world, which gathers riches on earth and yet can take nothing along.
They must leave it behind and when they pass away they are poor indeed. Each would
have the whole world and one always wants more than the other. It is indeed worse than
clock-work, so that the children of the world are ever gathering together and piling up,
yet in the end they can take nothing along.
It is a sad life indeed in this world, for our body has need of the eternal life and not of
the temporal. We shall not weary and harass ourselves so as to have something in this
world. But when we have put on Christ, the world does not want to love us any longer,
which is right for we no longer have anything here, we are simply heaven-minded and
have our treasures gathered together there. 'We look upon the invisible and not upon the
visible, that of which we are in possession of eternally. Our possession in heaven ever
becomes greater for we would have nothing here, choosing rather the heavenly, for we
have part in a better resurrection. We have the life that is in God. In that, we desire to be
rich and must realize what we have for we are no longer at home on earth.
If Christ has manifested His life in us, then we must likewise make it manifest. Streams
of living water must flow forth from us. That is, we must thus work in the world so that
it is not an individual possession, but work so that we scatter blessings, this so that
others also are converted
25
thereunto and must confess that Christ dwells within us. We must tell mankind that they
are lost. Should they not accept it, the responsibility is theirs. In this the love of Christ
must constrain us, so that others also partake of the spiritual blessing, for he, who is not
blessed of Christ's spirit, is accursed.
Paul says here that the Father, through the Son, hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and made us citizens of heaven, which is based on the eternal decision of God,
which was made through Christ before the foundation of the world was
laid.
The election is deeply grounded with God. When a person is called to the true church of
Christ, so that he is converted from darkness to light, it is a predestination which was
made before the foundation of the world. This is certain—that if a person who is called,
was predestinated by Christ before the foundation of the world, he will accept the call.
The predestination is an election, through which it becomes manifest whom God bath
chosen, and the elect come forth so that they may be blessed with all spiritual blessings
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in Christ, and are raised to the rank of citizens of heaven. Already in the world, they are
transplanted through the spirit for they cast aside the image of the earthly and have put
on that of the heavenly, as Christ also put on the image of the
26
earthly. Yet, therefore, we have the spirit in us—the image of the heavenly.
There is much indeed in us. Whoever is from above will also come again thereto;
whoever is not from above, will come into the pool of the devil: for a kingdom is already
prepared for us. Our destination has been fixed for us by God before the foundation of
the world. We must needs rejoice in that our futurity has been established by God—
before the foundation of the world! Let us rejoice in that our succession is an election, so
that we stand firmly therein and do not serve another spirit, for it is now an inward,
hidden kingdom of grace in us—that it may become manifest at His appearance, when
the people will be separated from one another and it shall be said, " . . . Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world." Matthew 25:34.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world:
He hath chosen us to be holy and without blame in the world—and the chosen in the
world are easily recognized because of their holiness and blamelessness. In God,
everything that occurs was fore-known. He knows what takes place. He knew
beforehand of Adam's fall. For that reason the harm that we sustained through Adam was
healed again in His Son. Before our redemption
27
takes place, there is this definite resolution of God. We have tasted, seen and
experienced what sin in the world is. Therefore if we are chosen, we cannot turn back
and take it on again. Adam took from us what we had and Christ restored it again and
gave us an earnest in heaven, namely, the Spirit. We cannot then throw it away.
The Lord then tries us to see if we can relinquish all things in this dying in order to cling
alone to Him, for the devil, the prince of this world, would long ago have robbed us
through his wiles. We are first-fruits of His Spirit, and must make use of this entrusted
gift and keep house better than Adam did. Against all opposition and tribulations we
must keep our treasure so that we may obtain the crown, which he has promised us if we
endure unto the end. So the chosen of God must endure: they will then truly know when
they have attained the goal, the end of faith. In order that we may accomplish the end,
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namely obtain salvation of the soul, we must bear in mind that we cannot become
bewitched by the old serpent and the devil's artfulness and be deprived of salvation.
Paul admonished another church, the church of Corinth, that he feared the devil would
blind their minds (II Corinthians 3:14) .
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil
untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in
Christ.
28
For the world believes that it must acquire salvation and is not so much as called or
blameless before God. For no one can obtain salvation who is not called or makes room
in his heart for the grace of God and is without blame before Him.
We must not deceive ourselves about who can be saved, whether it be ourselves or
others in the world. We must appear irreproachable before Christ (Revelations 14:1-5) .
And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an
hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their
foreheads.
And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the
voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their
harps:
And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four
beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These
are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed
from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the
throne of God.
This is our calling if we can believe we are called and chosen and free from the blame
before Him, for men, who are not called and chosen of God, are not blameless before
Him, but walk in darkness and believe that if they have the name of Christ, it is
sufficient. And it is just this very thing that shall condemn them, for without Christ they
shall be rejected.
It is thus with being chosen. One who is called may believe and may follow and must
battle
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29
against evil. We must make our election sure in Christ. We dare not become participant
in evil things and fall as Israel; which is a good lesson to us. Adam fell and Israel also
fell. We, however, cannot fall when we stand and are blessed and called through the
Gospel, for in love toward us He has predestinated us unto sonship—we shall be His
children. We shall believe and let Him reign in us. Then it is manifest that we were, in
times past, called and chosen to become His sons. The Father beforehand appointed this
in His Son that we should be children of God; reborn of the spirit. So let us bestow care
upon our being acceptable to Him, for our calling follows our being chosen. There are
many called in the world, but they do not make the choice secure, and endure (II
Corinthians 7) . When we have such promises, we shall cleanse and sanctify ourselves
so that we may have the hope of being his chosen ones—so that we keep ourselves clean
and holy and irreproachable.
Our precept is Jesus Christ—that we should be His true followers and (life) pictures of
Him. It is either being children of God or children of the devil: there is no in-between or
third class—we add nothing to it nor take anything from it (I John 3) . Whoever is not a
child of God, is not clean, holy and without blame but is a child of the devil, lost and
rejected. God will not be mocked. "Whatsoever one sows that he shall
30
reap." The worldly believe that they will be saved, and nothing more need be done about
it, and they mock and slander those who are holy, that they should be more full of
goodness than the rest of the people! Yes, we must be more full of goodness and put on
the Lord (Romans 13:14) , or we are not the children of God. "He that committeth sin is
of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning" (I John 3: 8) .
So each one should prove himself as to what he is and make comparisons to see if he
comes under the standard of Christ.
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CHAPTER III. PREDESTINATION UNTO ADOPTION.
Sunday, December 6, 1846—Ephesians 1:4-6
According as he bath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
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himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he bath made us accepted in
the beloved.
OUT OF LOVE, God hath predestinated us unto adoption to Himself by Jesus Christ.
Upon such ground our salvation rests if we are the called of God to the fellowship of his
Son, Jesus Christ —that we may know that our predestination is of God the Father.
When we rightly think of it our heart must be filled with praise and leap with joy in that
God, the Father, had the good pleasure of His will in our calling unto the fellowship of
His Son. Out of love, He predestinated us so that we should be His children; His sons
and daughters.
But we must never forget who those are, whom God hath thus appointed so that we do
not become confused concerning this. They are simply those, whom Paul has
specifically designated in the fourth verse, those whom God had chosen before the
foundation of the world, that they should be
33
clean, holy and without blame before God--they whom He had predestinated unto the
adoption of children to Himself by Jesus Christ, His Son—that we enter into the same
relation as it was then with the Father before the foundation of the world was laid.
And our predestination is also simultaneously old for He had, in time past, appointed us
unto adoption to Himself. The disclosure of adoption is already made known here when
God enlightens us, so that the light in us shall shine forth out of the darkness. If we were
thus called, so that we are now with Christ, when this calling has come to light, we then
know that is as old as the calling of the Son was from the Father, that is, from
everlasting. For nothing has happened and nothing can happen which He did not know
and assign from eternity. So whoever was (or is) called may know thereby that he was
predestinated before the foundation of the world was lain.
We are accordingly brought by the Gospel, or by our calling from the Father in heaven,
unto fellowship of the Son, Jesus Christ, so that we are one with the Son. He is the Head,
and in Him and under Him, the only Head, all shall, according to the purpose and good
pleasure of God, be brought together to be a family of believers and the church, which
was assembled on earth and of the earth by the calling of God, is the body of the Son.
34
This spiritual body of the Son which has appeared so that He might be the Head of as
many as became obedient and were brought to the church of the Son, Christ, and
accordingly are children of God and are presented before the Father and in Him (Paul
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says in the fourth verse) , brought before the presence of God, holy and without blame,
but this is because they are members in Christ, Who is perfect. For in Him is perfection
instead of the imperfect law, which was here, in which God had no pleasure. However,
in Christ there appeared perfection of the proper kind, so that we need not be presented
as under the law in Adam, but through Christ, the Resurrected, the Firstborn, and the
Son of God. In Him, it has become possible for us to be placed in a condition of
perfection, as holy and without blame before God (Hebrews 7) . For the law was a
precedent, a better hope, which is now fulfilled in Christ. We to whom it appeared in the
Son no longer wait, as the fathers in the old covenant waited.
It is now a matter of our belonging to Christ, that we be placed in the right perfection of
the Son, for it is no longer the half-way matter of the law, where a person wills to do but
can not, like a bird that cannot fly when its wings have been clipped. For this reason,
such people have no other refuge. They are not perfect even though they desire to be, for
they are not able. They do not have the power. In Christ this power bath
35
appeared which makes us free so that our spirit (as on the wings of an eagle) , can swing
itself over the law of the world. The better hope, which the fathers in the old covenant
had, has come about through the appearing of the Son, Jesus Christ. Their spiritual
wings were broken. They could not do as we are able in Christ, Who has made us
perfect.
There are those who would be shocked if they heard that in Christ the hope hath
appeared—the perfection of the law. In Christ the wall of separation of the law is taken
away so that we can go over through Him, as He, after the Spirit, makes us citizens of
Heaven—for we have gone over through Him for we are one in Christ. For that reason
He left His father and mother and made Himself (to) the church of Christ, which is holy,
clean and without blame, for in Christ we have not become more disabled, but perfect.
In Christ we are sanctified through grace (Ephesians 4, Galatians 3) . Under the law we
were only little children. For that reason Christ had to die, to end this and to set up a new
church of perfection.
On earth it is impossible to attain to the liberty of the children of God; that is, the
perfection of the law is so reviled on earth that it is said to be impossible, but it is the
will of God to advance us to the perfection of the law. Under grace we are powerful in
the Son of God for in Him are
36
all things of which we have need, and in Him we are perfect and we must attain this
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liberty of perfection so that we are children of God to Him through Christ and are now
already, in the Spirit, transplanted in Heaven. All seed of the serpent is accursed and
must crawl on its belly and eat dust. All men, who eat dust, are thus from nature; they
are condemned and accursed so that they must crawl around on the ground like serpents.
Out of love, God hath aforetime predestinated us unto adoption to Himself. This took
place by the love of God toward us, in order that we should be children of God through
the love of His Son, as we are also planted in Him, so that after the Spirit of holiness we
are made free and we have a free perfection in Christ. We are saved in hope but, after the
Spirit, we are perfect; by the coming of Jesus Christ we have already reached after and
obtained. We must be free in the world through Christ or we will not be free in death, or
else there must be people in the world who have not heard the Gospel. If we have had
opportunity to hear and have not made use thereof, then we will not become free. For we
must be transplanted to the kingdom of Christ, so that we do not eat dust on earth. Our
body will be awakened when Christ comes but in the Spirit we must become free now so
that our spirit may have entered in, in order that we have power and peace in Him. In the
Spirit we must now be transplanted in
37
heaven so that nothing will further fetter us in the world.
We shall no longer live in the world as unbelievers, but as holy, clean, and without
blame from the world, for the true perfection is in Him. We cannot be in Him and out of
Him—we must become transplanted. If one is in Christ, then he is a new creature. Under
the law we are bound and maimed, but through grace we are free. Christ opens up the
cage so that we can swing over in the Spirit. Then we wait for our second redemption,
for our body must also become free because Christ bath afore predestinated us. The
spirit of sonship is imparted to us. There is liberty in the Spirit for one cannot change the
nature of the Spirit. It is peace, joy, love, goodness, comfort and rest. It is the nature of
God which, in the Spirit, changes us. We cannot have the Spirit and not His nature.
. . . If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."—Romans 8:9. In Christ
we must be a new creature and have His nature if we also want to have His Spirit—we
have to swing over to the liberty of the children of God. It must not continue to be as
pitiable with those as it was when we were in the established church, for they believe
that they are joined to Christ. We, however, must long for the spiritual elements, and if
we are with God, we are free and are on our homeland. For after the Spirit, we dare no
longer yearn
38
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for what is on earth but yearn after that which is above.
One who is not in Christ cannot understand what was given to us so that we are new
creatures. The adoption of God is in us. One who does not possess, can also not perceive
it. It must be preserved in us through the Spirit which the Father, through the Son, has
bestowed upon us. We must not have our portion here on earth for in hope and not in the
perishable dusts of the world are we saved. And this all has taken place according to the
good pleasure of His will (Matthew 11, I Corinthians 1).
Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and
Sosthenes our brother,
... He thatglorieth, let him glory in the Lord." —I Corinthians 1:31.
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
The great in the world are too great; they are above God (they think) not under Him.
They put themselves on the same plane with Him and believe that they have salvation
but how greatly mistaken they are, for what is high in the world is an abomination
before God. They can neither be as insignificant nor as humble as the children of God.
The children of God must have His Spirit and His mind and His walk, for if the flesh
serves, then the spirit is free; if the flesh is free, then the spirit
39
must serve. And when the flesh is free, then the devil is at large—then a person is lost.
We dare not, if we have the freedom of the spirit, long for the freedom of the flesh, as
Adam allowed himself to become covetous. As soon as the flesh is free, then the spirit is
bound and is dead. For we dare not allow ourselves to yearn after things that are carnal,
so that we do not use our liberty of the flesh as a cloak of malice. Let us allow the world
to have its glory and let us abide in the glory and liberty of the Spirit! NO one is aware
of this, so to speak, for it is in Christ. When we have once entered thereinto, then we are
free and love one another so that we abide in Christ, into which the grace of God in Him
has transplanted us.
Every word that the apostle has here written in these verses, is important and ponderous.
So if we can search into the extent and meaning of the individual words so as to taste of
their power—nothing is gathered from a superficial reading—it is as though one stood
on high ground and beheld a wide circuit of a beautiful vista. One would not be able to
tell how much there is therein until he reached its limits. Thus it is also with the word 'of
God. When one pauses at each word, one observes that of which he never even took note
before. Then it is all weighed on a gold-balance, each word, for they are not idle words.
It is spiritual nourishment when one is able to penetrate into the truth of these words.
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40
God bath adopted us unto sonship through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of
His will. This morning we perceived something in this word, and now Paul continues in
the praise
of His grace, in that the Father hath wrought this in us—that he in time past
predestinated us unto sonship so as to set us along side of those with whom the Son was
in the beginning, and only therein does the Son of God, the only Begotten, abide even
though many are led through Him to glory. We must note and discern that we appear
before God only in His Son. So in His Son, there is one body and one spirit. Thus again
it is a unity of His eternal God-head and with the Father. First it was one with the Father,
but at His appearance which He took on, it was many, by reason of His becoming man,
yet all represent only One, for Abraham conceived His seed upon many, yet only on One
and that is Christ. By this seed we are Abraham's children, the blessed ones of God. Yet
each one cannot inherit as the Son did. Only as subordinate or unseparated in the Son,
can be co-inherit, insofar as we have become one with Him in this life. Accepted in the
relationship with the Son, many; but accepted in the relationship with the Father we are
but one.
For this reason Christ had to come, for only one inherits. With Christ we are only one,
not many, for we are planted together and born anew with the Son. If we consider
ourselves separate
41
we cannot inherit, as separate members of our body cannot inherit, for instance, a finger
of itself. We are members with Christ. We cannot inherit alone insofar as each one of us
is not one in Christ. One body, one Spirit, for in Christ we shall all (together) to be only
one (Galatians 3) . Christ is all (things) in all in us. We can inherit in Christ insofar as we
constitute only one in the presence of the Father. Then it is possible. The Father has thus
through His Son, or in Christ, in time past predestinated them that are His unto adoption
to Himself, that they receive the spirit of adoption in order to be His children and in
Christ stand in the sight of God.
Each, individually, must ascertain for himself whether he is an heir. Examine and
investigate yourselves to determine if Christ is within you. If you find that He is not,
then you are unworthy. In Christ we are children of God: Christ in us is the Heir of God.
What God has united cannot be put asunder. The world says, "We are in Christ." But
Christ is not in them. Not one of them would have it so. God has only one Son. In Christ
we are comprised as one. It is a true saying among believers when they say, "We are in
Christ." But Christ is not in the world. These wish to inherit for their own selves.
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Otherwise they would have to become identified with the congregation. But they would
feel themselves
42
abominable if they were to join the church of God.
What is the church of God? It is the called and chosen of God, the outcast of the world,
and rejected by it, which does not believe and wants to go another way. Christ is the
Way. We must, therefore, not deceive ourselves, individuals cannot inherit of
themselves.
Is it Christ? Then we too are of the body of Christ, which is the congregation of Christ,
and, therefore, are also in Him.
Is the established church the church of God? Then each individual would not go to
communion for himself. That is no Christendom. We must be one with the body in the
spirit. God bath put these two together, "We in Christ and Christ in us." Then we are coheirs, for not a single person can say, "Christ in me," unless he joins the living church of
God. It is one and the same thing.
Those of the established church would be ashamed to join the church of God with us;
this is true with those wo would inherit of themselves. They say, "We are in Christ." "We
believe that Christ died for us.- But Christ is not in them. They are not members of the
body of Christ. An amputated member can do nothing of itself; is not a part of the body
and, therefore, cannot inherit with it. It is not among its members. That is the way it is
with those who say that they are in Christ, and yet are ashamed to join the mem43
bers of Christ. They would like to satisfy God and the world, with one foot in God and
the other in the world. They would like to please God and the world also.
We will no longer be acceptable to the world if we are acceptable to the Father. What
God hath joined together shall not again be separated for we are one and, therefore, also
heirs in Christ (I Corinthians 12) . Christ is like our body, which has many members.
With respect to Christ we are many; with respect to the Father we are one. We must bear
reproach and disgrace with Him. We are not as members of the world who are not
permitted to suffer in Christ. They are not called sectarians, seducers and heretics as are
the believers. We have no continuing city, but seek one to come and just through such
afflictions can we enter into the congregation of God.
Did Christ's spirit or body suffer while He was on earth? In Him dwelled His spirit; out
of Him was His soul. His soul was troubled unto death. His spirit, however, was
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steadfast and did not fear death. So which then suffered? His spirit did not. This was
firm, and He said, " . . . The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?"—
John 1 8 : 1 1 .
Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
He wanted to redeem us, but His human self came
44
into fear and trembling and suffered. Thus the spiritual body also suffers on earth,
namely the church of Christ. The other Christians do not suffer affliction in the world.
They believe they are in Christ and also want to inherit, but they are deceived.
He, who is in the church of Christ, will also come to the church of glory. No matter how
we analyze it, we must either suffer affliction and belong to Christ or not suffer this and
belong to the world. The believers of the world would lead a double life like amphibians
(serpents) —sometimes they are in the water and sometimes on land. So are the worldly
pious. At times they are pious and again worldly. They cannot suffer reproach.
( Hebrews 1 3 : 1 2- 1 5 ) .
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is,
the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Thus must the glory of His grace be praised, ex toled and honored so that we be saved
and redeemed from darkness and now walk in the light; and that we be the fruit of His
body, for if we profess His name in the world then there are offense, disgrace and
persecution. There are certain believers who would not for anything join
45
the church of God—suffer as the soul of Christ also suffered on earth. But His spirit did
not suffer. He wanted to save us, and sought nothing else. He wanted to die for us. But in
His offense also rests His glory, the praise and honor of those who have been joined to
Him. One spirit, one body with Christ, as we are also called to one hope.
In inheritance all is reserved for us. After this body and after this spirit must our
yearning be. The believers who have joined the church of God, He will confess before
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His Father as His followers, for Christ has a spiritual body and this body we must join
through faith and baptism. For if the world is the church of the saints, then we will stay
therein. If the established church is the body of Christ, then there would be a church of
Christ on earth. For we wish to be in the church of Christ. It is for this reason that we
labor, that the called become embodied in the church of Christ, for Christ has only one
body.
To the praise of the glory of His grace! Therefore we must be converted to Christ, and
not only be one spirit with Christ, but also constitute a body. We must seek this on earth.
If it is not on earth then it is in Heaven. So the church of God is not to be found on earth.
We have to seek it in Heaven and join it. That is the Upper Jerusalem, the mother, who
bore them all and from her they come on earth and must praise, honor and glorify the
grace of God as much as lies within
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them. One spirit, one body, in hope of the grace of God in His glory, that we profess His
name on earth and not be ashamed if we have to suffer disgrace and offense here, for
Christ has gone on before. If we were in the church of the body and spirit here, then we
will also there see the grace of His glory. If we have faithfully confessed His name on
earth, we shall also partake of His spiritual blessing.
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CHAPTER IV. GOD Is OUR PEACE.
Sunday, February 14, 1847—Ephesians 2:14-22
For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and bath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us;
Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so
making peace;
And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having
slain the enmity thereby:
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that
were nigh.
For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with
the saints, and of the household of God;
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And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone;
In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord:
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the
Spirit.
HE is our peace. These words have reference to the foregoing thirteenth verse (the blood
of Christ) :
Ye . . . are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace . . .
That is, peace originates in the blood of Christ. Peace has been made. Peace is contrasted
with the enmity of which Paul speaks here, and through this peace has the reconciliation
of God and man
49
been made with one another (see verse sixteen) —by the propitiation of the cross in that
He slew enmity on it. So we shall know now that peace was made on the part of God,
through Jesus Christ, and that before anyone on his own part conceived of it: God made
peace independently of man, yet on his behalf. Then if we accept peace we are
reconciled in the blood of Christ, and through the blood of Christ an approach of man
unto God has been made—not altogether an alliance, but a drawing nigh thereunto—and
among one another as well as to God. An alliance is brought about by the spirit of
Christ.
By the blood of Christ, He took down the middle wall of separation, the fence of the law
of enmity. It was done away with by Christ's blood shed on the cross and the possibility
of a drawing nigh unto and an alliance with God was brought about.
Prior to this, the Jew and the Gentile were separated from one another by the law and
were enemies (Matthew 21 : 3 3 ff. ) . That is the fence. This fence is the law contained
in ordinances, which Christ will take away by His blood, independently of anyone. No
one thought that enmity would be taken away. God had determined this by the death of
Christ, and a contingency was brought about in that the wall or partition was removed
through Christ's blood and death, and
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as soon as it was taken away, man could then come to Him.
God, in the old covenant, chose the people of Israel for Abraham's sake and revealed
Himself to him so that they could preserve the knowledge of the only true God in their
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bosom, in their midst. They were to be the bearers of the knowledge of God, the ray, so
that the knowledge of Him had a place from which God could disseminate this, namely,
the focal point, the redemption He was creating was in Israel—for salvation is of the
Jews. The knowledge of the only true God was in Israel. All of the rest of the people of
the world were unconverted—in the devil's power. In Israel alone was the only true God.
They continued with the living God, but were ever beset to battle with idolatry. They did
not hold fast to God: their heart was not yet circumcised. As soon as Christ appeared, the
time was come when, from out of Israel, the light should be spread abroad to all nations.
Thus was it brought about that the blessing of Abraham had gone forth to all nations.
Although the fence of the Old Testamentary law was withdrawn, there is nevertheless a
chosen people in the New Testament, enclosed by the fence; set apart in the world until
the return of Christ. The church of God shall not stand in league with the world.
Whoever does not believe must needs stay out. A fence or partition is again set up in the
New Testament. The partition of
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the new law has been set up between the holy and the unholy so that there will be no
alliance of one who belongs to Christ with those who do not believe Him. No churchly
union can take place with the latter. The former are the people of God who are separated
and have been united with God. The reconciliation has come to men individually
through Christ's blood (verse 13) . Those who are nigh were the Jews and those afar off
were the Gentiles. The Jews were nigh but not yet united, even though the Gentiles
through the blood of Christ also became nigh. But for that matter there has as yet no
coalition of Jews and Gentiles come about, nor will any on the part of either so long as
they do not believe. However, as soon as they do believe there will be a union through
the spirit of Christ. One cannot discriminate between the Jews and the Gentiles in the
established church as to those who believe and those who do not. It is not a church of
God. They have stepped over the fence and the fence is the law of God, which should
separate the sanctified from the unsanctified. Whoever does not belong to Christ and in
whom the new law has not been enacted, stays without. But whoever has the law of the
spirit within him stands firmly in the church of Christ. The world and the established
church are outside; they are one. There is no distinction made in it between the holy and
unholy; between believers and unbelievers. They have become united, but not
52
through Christ—through unbelief. The love of the world, the love of money and selflove dwell in them. There is no union through the blood of Christ. It is only an approach.
The blood of Christ does not bring us into a spiritual participation. Only a propitiation
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has been thus made. The association with God and with one another is not brought about
by the blood of Christ, but by His Spirit. It is a great error in the world that they think
that Christ's blood will make everything good. It is the watchword of all unbelievers.
Christ's blood has nothing of an alliance in it. It is only an approach. It is then a question
of who makes use thereof; who allows himself to become reconciled with God and goes
into the separation of Christ where twain become one.
Were we brothers and sisters (in the established church) in Christ? Did we love one
another? Did we become one, in Christ, with another? Did we not hate one another and
stand in enmity one against the other—in hatred, jealousy and anger? There are no
brotherhoods in the world other than the drinking kind, that is the world that is the
established church. So then in such a case there is no alliance. Christ's blood is here. In it
they all wish to wash themselves, but Christ's spirit is not here. By the blood of Christ,
an opportunity has come about whereby it is possible to enter into the fellowship and be
united with God and Christ. Then nothing can further sep53
arate us. Then are we also united among ourselves. We must thus tell all unbelievers
who deceive themselves—that if it were dependent upon Christ's blood then would they
all be united. However, we are in no churchly communion with them by the spirit of
Christ, but as the chosen people, detached from the world (as those who through
Abraham's seed) are united in Christ (Galatians 6) .
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such
an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted.
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself.
But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in
himself alone, and not in another.
For every man shall bear his own burden.
Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall
he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that
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soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
If we are in Christ then we are Abraham's seed. Christ is only the promise to Abraham's
seed. All promises are given to him; he is the seed in whom all generations on earth shall
be blessed. Thus in the New Testament a church has also been founded, which is set
apart in the world as the Jews were set apart from the heathen (from the
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rest of the world) in the Old Testament, in Abraham by the law which God gave to him
and from there the light was shed forth into the world through Israel.
Whoever receives the spirit of Christ and belongs to the true church, is separated from
the world. This is precisely the rock of offense in the New Testament because a false
perception has gained the upperhand but when, on that account, there was no distinction
made between the church of God and the world in the established church and the church
is the world, it is no longer a fellowship of God.
If it were simply a matter of Christ's blood, then one could have communion with all
men, for Christ died for all. And by reason of this possibility we shall also accomplish
the actuality. Mark it well for that is the mystery of the New Testament. Christ is merely
the possibility of or approach to the point but His Spirit is the efficacy. The new law of
the spirit is laid in the heart, not inscribed on stone tablets. As He put the old law in the
ark of the covenant, thus God lays the one of the New Testament in our hearts. It is
written in our hearts. The ark is the mind of man, in which God still lays His law as into
an ark, and both shall be regarded as a sanctuary.
What have we to do with those who are without, whom God will judge. "Be not
unequally
55
yoked with unbelievers"—to the yoke of idolatry. They love the world and all that is in it
and what is in it they have idolized and they love silver and gold, which are their gods.
When Christ came into the world, He sent before His presence John the Baptist who had
to proclaim, "Be ye converted and repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." God
opened an approach so that men could be saved by the blood of Christ. So the actuality
should take place, for our lot and our hope should be founded on nothing other than
Christ, in Whom we are reborn. Whoever is not born again is outside. If we are one with
God, then we are one also with another through our rebirth and of twain God bath made
one. Thus must they, who previously were separated from one another, become united
through faith on Jesus Christ.
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Again in the New Testament there is a fence between the unbelievers and believers. Here
through the spirit of Christ all who previously were Romish, Catholic or Lutheran are
united. The Jew is no longer a Jew and the Gentile is no longer a Gentile, in Christ all
are united by rebirth through the spirit of Christ. A union between Christ and the world
is an anti-Christendom, with all its ordinances. Where state and church have become
one, we must beware lest we become comprised in it. If we are in Christ and belong to
Him, we
56
appear as a sect in the world—detached, hated and persecuted. Nevertheless, we belong
to the heavenly Jerusalem; she is our mother and we serve her and together with her we
shall inherit. But the so-called Christians will be cast out when they see Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob sitting on the throne. They cannot inherit until they are included within the
enclosure by rebirth. Jews and Gentiles are taken inside of it daily—those who are
saved.
Who goes over into the church of God? Truly, not by infant baptism because the
virulence of sin is not eradicated by it, for in the world they have broken down the
partition. But whoever wants to convert himself must believe and let himself be baptized
and be born anew and then enter into the church of God and live as a new person and be
hated by all in the world, because we belong to Christ. But whoever endures unto the
end shall be saved.
The blood of Christ is the sufficient power, the approach of all men to God. Whoever
believes and is baptized belongs to the fellowship so that he is a church of God, one
body in Christ, which has its being here, and if one should not have that, he stays
without. The union with God does not lie in the blood of Christ, but only in His spirit.
Christ's spirit is the seal. By being like-minded we become one. This is not to be
marveled at, it is very simple! Who is one body of Christ
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in the spirit? Would to God that all men could enter into the kingdom of Christ under the
dominion of the spirit. As a person is baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, so is
he also baptised in the name of the Holy Ghost, so that in Him we become one body and
one spirit.
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CHAPTER V. BAPTISM - THE NEW ENCLOSURE.
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PAUL continues with what he said of the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles
under the old law, up to the point where both kinds of men are created anew in Christ, a
new people of God is fashioned, a new church, for he says in the eighteenth verse:
For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Thus in the place of Old Israel, Christ has founded a new Israel in His spirit and new,
real Israel of God is set apart from the world and serves the living God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, for that is the access of which Paul says, "We both in one spirit have
access to our Father." What before was twain (asunder) in Christ became one, but was
created anew. The old cannot come nigh to God, neither the old Jew nor the Gentile, but
each like the other must appear in Christ as a new creature of God. We have seen that the
blood of Jesus Christ has to serve thereunto, to bring about the approach of the afar-off
and ungodly, but that the Spirit must bring about the actuality. In one Spirit we both
have, through
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Christ access to the Father so we should therefore know if we are in this new church of
God, which is the body of Christ, namely, "The fulness of Him that filleth all in all."
If we have access to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and serve Him in the same spirit
of the Son by reason of the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for the remission of
sin, we have access to the Son in faith, but through the spirit of the Son we have access
to the Father and become children of God in the Son, Who died for us. And these holy
ones in Jesus Christ are set apart just as much as the unholy, as the Jew or the Israelites
were from the heathen in the Old Testament.
Should we ask by what method the Lord Jesus Christ, in the New Testament, sets apart
from the world for Himself such an holy church and comprises it into one body to one
spirit? What means did the Lord employ to have a new church or Israel of God which
might serve Him in holiness and truth? The means in the New Testament for assembling
a communion of the sanctified is none other than baptism. It is the only means of which
the Lord availed Himself to present a saint as mentioned in Ephesians V.
In the New Testament, baptism shall be the enclosure or wall of separation around the
church of God. No unholy person shall come within it; no unbelievers. Later the devil
contrived the cun60
ning to make the world and the church one. Then all the people, just as in the world,
started to baptize the children, and by reason of that the church and the world became
one. Then all were privileged to baptism without being born again.
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Christ broke down the old enclosure by His death on the cross, but in the New Testament
He has a new enclosure, which is baptism. Everyone who has come unto faith shall en
ter into this enclosure, into the sheepfold of Christ. Each one who believes, may, can and
shall be taken into the church of the saints by baptism into Christ, which is a baptism in
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and which shall be an holy
assembly because the Father is our father, the Son our brother, and the Holy Ghost our
teacher and our pledge with respect to the promises of Christ. Had they remained in the
holy baptism, no state church would have ever been started. The world then could never
have become united with the church, nor could sinners and believers take communion
together. For by reason of unbelief they live as heathen even though they have the name
of Christians. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are in them, until
they are called and chosen by Christ.
As the Son went out from the Father, thus the Spirit goes out from the Son to all who
believe nd are baptized, in order that all members of hrist, who have become a part of
His body, shall
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become believers. He fills them. all; they are filled of the Holy Ghost, by which they
have received access unto the Father, in all power and confidence (Chapter 1, Verses 21,
22 and 23) .
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
And bath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all
things to the church,
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
In this church and in those who are brought together as fellow-citizens of the sanctified,
Jesus wants to dwell in His spirit of truth. They are holy persons, who comprise the body
of Christ or the church of the New Testament and new fellow-citizens must ever be
accepted in the church of the saints. As we were favored first through the purchase of the
blood of Christ which is faith, and secondly by inheritance which is the spirit, namely
baptism by which we became co-heirs and members of the household of God and which
is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets whose foundation and cornerstone
are Jesus Christ, thus are they first strangers and foreigners before they have received
the same spirit of Jesus Christ and access in the name of the Father, and by the spirit of
Christ belong to the people of God. So whoever is bought thereby, has believed and is
baptized with the spirit of adoption, has access to the Father (John III) .
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The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
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Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health,
even as thy soul prospereth.
For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is
in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to
strangers;
Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou
bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:
Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the
Gentiles.
We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the
truth.
I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence
among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds
which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content
therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them
that would, and casteth them out of the church.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth
good is of God: but he that doeth evil bath not seen God.
Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth Itself: yea, and we
also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.
I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:
But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to
thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.
The Son was in heaven, notwithstanding that He was here on earth, it is also thus with
all children of God, even though they are in the body, they nevertheless are in heaven—
all those who serve the Father and worship Him in spirit and truth. It is not the Father's
good pleasure to have hypocrites who only call on Him with their
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lips and whose hearts are far from Him and who babble like heathen. Only the sanctified
are citizens. No unclean person is eligible. Whoever is unable to say, "I am holy," also is
unable to say, "I am a citizen." As Augustus Caesar said, "anyone of us shall say that he
is holy if he has been pardoned, and if that one is not holy would disgrace his name.
Everyone who is in Christ should be holy. Through the blood of Christ and through the
spirit of Christ, we have an approach to the Father. Through the blood of Christ which is
the faith and through the spirit of Christ, which is the baptism we can honor the Father
but the Lord says: (Matthew 15:8)
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with
their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Under the spirit of the law it is impossible to serve the Father. The church of Christ
when on earth, is holy; no sinner or hypocrite can be in His church. No one can serve the
Lord from his heart if he is still in sin. Outwardly he appears to be pious, but his heart is
far from Him. Such an one is a hypocrite. The Lord wants to occupy our hearts and reign
within us.
There is no fellowship without the blood of Christ. The fellowship of Christ exists only
through the spirit of Christ so that we may draw nigh to the Father by one spirit. There is
therefore a great difference between being reconciled and having fellowship with Him.
We must not merely
64
be reconciled, but also in the spirit in the name of Jesus Christ dwell in Him, as newly
created persons. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ," in reality (John 1 : 1 7) .
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
This verily is the spirit of Christ which must enter into us and manifest evidence to the
Father in the spirit of prayer so that we lay our hearts open and He can dwell in us. Then
we are fellow-citizens and so holy that we say, "I give thee, God, my heart, my whole
heart and no longer want to serve the world. Instead dwell Thou in me, sanctify me and
reign in me." The entire heart is an holy temple in which Jesus lives, insofar as we
regard each individual in the spirit, that is, the spirit of Jesus Christ desires to dwell in
each distinct person so that in deed and in the truth of Christ the Holy Spirit may work
and dwell in us. For this reason He came to us as the Son of Man. He was first the Son
of God and became the Son of Man. We, it is true, were children of men and later
became children of God, sealed with the earnest of the spirit, otherwise we do not have
access to the Father. It is because we do have access to the Father of our Lord Jesus
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Christ in His spirit and in truth that we can call upon and worship Him in the same spirit.
As holy ones we are fellow-citizens of heaven and we shall acknowl65
edge and treasure that highly and in ourselves be certain whether we can say before God
that we are sanctified. It is not pride, but presumption to be a believer and not be
blessed, we are only blessed and holy insofar as we are truly blessed and holy, when we
have His spirit in us.
In the last times there will be many false Christians who lie about their Christianity and
have an appearance of godliness. Our praise must be in that we are better than other
people and are that, not of ourselves, but by the grace of God which has created us anew.
That, verily, is a divine order. It is the new world which Christ creates in us. We are the
true divine beauteousness and dare not be conformed to the world. We must examine
ourselves to see if we know the perfect will of God. "I am holy, be ye therefore also
holy," if we call on Him Who judgeth, we shall therefore fulfill the time of alienage for
previously we were resident here. Through His calling and election we are however now
residents there. Before, we were strangers in the house of God and at home here in this
evil world. But if we are holy in mind and walk, we will to be sure, experience what this
is otherwise we would not have converted ourselves from the world and from darkness
to rebirth and the light. The saints are looked upon very unfavorably in the world as
strangers and aliens, but that we are God's citizens and members of His household is the
principal thing.
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CHAPTER VI. THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.
THIS has reference to verse thirteen wherein the apostle said that we were no longer
strangers and noncitizens. We must heed well the little words, "no more." "Ye are no
more," were once but are no more. This "no more" must disclose each individual heart
unto itself—if such is the case—or if it is yet out of Christ, an alien from the
commonwealth of Israel; a stranger from the covenants of promise (since we all are thus
of ourselves) strangers of God and estranged from the covenants of spiritual Israel. So
each one, who is a fellow-citizen with the saints, instead of being a foreigner and is
called a member of the household of God, shall know that he is no longer a stranger of
God; he is no longer without but within. God has a temple and we are this building
inasmuch as we have participted in Christ, as Paul says in Hebrews, chapters 3 and 6.
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But the house of God was, in the old covenant, carnal, disobedient, and God was
displeased with it, so much so that He put it from before His presence and built another
house in Christ. That is the church, which we are—this temple which
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Christ has built, that is insofar as we hold fast the confidence and the rest of the hope
unto the end. So how much different the church of the New Testament has to be from the
church in the Old Testament which was disobedient and in whose stead Jesus built a new
one! Moses could not change the heart for it was all carnal. But Jesus the Son of God
can change it. When Christ has changed the heart, renewed the mind, given it His Spirit,
then man is no longer a stranger and a foreigner, but a fellow-citizen in the house of God
and they have in common all the good things that God has in it for His children. We
must come into the church if we are to have part and share in all. the good things which
the Son has made participable (chapters 3 and 6) .
He has promised his prophets that in the New Testament it shall be so that the heathen
shall be incorporated in the body of Christ, for the church in the house of God. What
kind of a conception shall we form of the house of God if we are to be of its household?
Paul says that we must be fellow-citizens with the saints, and those who belong to the
house of God are holy ; not unholy and sinners. He who does not want to be holy, does
not come into it. He must be holy if he would be of the household of God.
The head is Christ and the apostles are the fundament, of which Jesus Christ is the
cornerstone. From that, this house shall be of God,
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selected and built by the Saviour in order to constitute the foundation of the new law.
Jesus Christ took the apostles and prophets into His service and instated them so that
they should constitute the new law. He is Himself the Cornerstone and the Groundwork
of the house. On this foundation, the entire house is built. Of Him it is said, "As it is
written, Behold I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whomsover
believeth on him shall not be ashamed" Romans 9:33) , and "Whomsoever shall fall on
hat stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it hall fall, it will grind him to powder."
This rejected stone, which God has laid in Zion s a chosen and precious stone, by whom
was it ejected? By you, the builders—"The stone which he builders refused is become
the head stone of the corner" (Psalm 118:22) . The Holy Spirit announced in advance
that the Stone of the New Testament would be rejected by the builders. He who builds
on another foundation than Jesus Christ, builds a house for the devil, not on the
foundation of which Jesus Christ is laid. He who builds not on this foundation builds a
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house for the devil, for it is impossible for a house to be built in the New Testament
except it be built on the stone which is laid in Christ. Why was it rejected by the
builders? Because He appeared in lowliness and as the Son of man died on the cross.
They refused Him, they condemned and sentenced
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Him unto death on the cross. Until now, all stumble against and take offense at Christ,
therefore, they cannot build on Him. There are very many builders. The churchmen do
much building, but not on the house of God. How can they build on something they have
cast away?
The devil, in the New Testament, has put up a house beside the house of God. It is the
false church. It is not the body of Christ, for Christ is refused by them. We hear enough
from the scorners of how they reject Him. So that we might be saints, fellow-citizens
and members of the household of God, His spirit must make us fit thereunto. Whoever
does not want to become a saint cannot enter into the house; without the spirit of Christ
it is impossible to become a saint (Hebrews 2;14) .
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Christ is not ashamed to call those brothers who are holy. But no one who is a sinner is
called brother—only those who, through the gifts of Christ and His spirit, have become
sanctified and believe on Him. Nor does anyone who believes come to shame. One who
does not believe, cannot be holy. A sinner cannot come into the house as in the Old
Testament, where the household were unbelievers and sinners. It was for this reason that
a new house was built in Christ so that none
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but the holy would be therein. For that reason also John came to prepare men for
repentance and faith, that they might become holy. Each one must be thus wrought upon
so that he can have fellowship with God, Who is holy, for He says, "Ye shall be holy for
I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2) .
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and say unto them, Ye
shall be holy; for I the Lord, your God, am holy.
Christ makes us holy, then we are children of the Father of Whom He is the only
begotten Son. Through John, repentance was preached and the longing and desire came
to be holy and of the household of God. God could lay no greater cornerstone than
Christ, the only begotten Son, Who died and arose and is raised up to heaven. And
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whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed.
What do we await from Christ? Certainly nothing other than that He give us a new heart
through the Holy Spirit, on which you believe and by which you shall not come to
shame. He is not a liar. Would He promise and not do it? No one who believes on Him
shall be ashamed. Just as He is the cause of life unto them who believe on Him, thus is
He also the cause of damnation unto those who do not believe on Him. Only be who
believes on Him is built upon Him and is • fellow-citizen of the saints and of the
household of God, erected on the foundation of
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the New Testament of which Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone. He shares His Holy Spirit
with all who believe on Him. He perceives it well as soon as one turns to Him in faith
and a virtue goes out from Him, and He knows, in advance, those who believe on Him.
It is for this reason that we have to be erected on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets.
First the Cornerstone is the Son, and secondly the apostles and prophets are the
foundation (chapters 3 and 5) , because God revealed the mystery which had been
hidden to them aforetime (through them it was made known to us) . It shall thus be
proclaimed to all men so that they go into the new house and be saved; become members
and fellow-citizens of the household of God. The apostles and prophets are the
foundation because God revealed it to them. There is much preaching done in the world
but it is not the true Gospel. If it were preached to them they should be holy, they would
be fellow-citizens and of the household of God. But even if they could still hear, they
would not so wish and would shake their heads. To hear the Gospel of the apostles and
prophets is something strange to them, and they do not wish or long to hear. When they
should be fellow-citizens and be saved they do not want to be which is obvious proof
that they love the lie more than the truth. Now measure if the church in the world is the
church of God, if you
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have the scale. That is, as Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood bath not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father Who is in Heaven."
This confession is the cornerstone upon which Jesus has built His house, "Who eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood, bath eternal life . .. " " . . . He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." That is the grounding, the basis
of the new house (I Corinthians 3) . If we believe otherwise then we cannot build on
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Christ. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ." It is not
yet determined if what is built thereon shall also stand as gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, stubble. This will all pass away and when the trials of the fire and the
proving come, then it will be seen what will stand; what is grounded. Most people do not
even want to hear the Gospel and straightway take offense at Him, but it shall then be
seen who, those are who are firmly built on Him, when it shall be established as true by
fire—whether they have believed and not endured and fallen away from the foundation.
lf one has not been sanctified in Christ it is impossible for him to remain steadfast. There
are many things to be had in the world without giving one's le therefore, but for Christ's
sake we must deny everything: leave and surrender all things. If it
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depended upon giving one's own life, there would be much that could be left and which
would yet be restored an hundred-fold to us again. So each one shall examine himself to
see that he is not only a believer, but also sanctified in Christ Jesus, or he will not stand
in the proving to determine whether he is in truth grounded and built in Christ as an holy
one and is of the household of God.
Apostles and prophets are the foundation of the New Testament. There are two kinds of
first principles, those of the Old Testament and those of the New. Those of the Old
Testament pointed beforehand toward Christ; those of the New Testament preached and
proclaimed Him (chapter 5 :11) . Paul says which prophets he meant; they are chiefly
those of the. New Testament, who preached the word to the building of His house. The
apostles were the next to Christ—they could dispense the Holy Ghost by the laying on
of hands, they could forgive sins, work wonders. Apollos was a prophet like Barnabas
but with the exception of the thirteen (with Paul) , there were no other apostles and also
will be no others.
If we accept another teaching than that of the apostles and prophets, then we cannot
believe aright. If I teach you anything else than the word which the apostles and
prophets taught, then we cannot believe. Just as we believed on something when we
were of the world and would likely have sworn to the Augsburg confession. Then we be74
lieved something which we knew was not right, neither the word of the apostles nor of
the prophets but mere human institutions. The house of God continues and is still not
finished, so we must believe and be builded on the word of the. apostles and prophets or
we cannot be built on Christ, the Cornerstone. There is still another church built other
than the foundation which Christ has laid; it is the Antichristendom. But we must be
erected upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, of which Christ is the
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Cornerstone.
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CHAPTER VII. THE ENTIRE BUILDING IN CHRIST.
Ephesians 3:1 if.
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
IN CHRIST the entire building is joined together, that is, upon Him Who is the
Cornerstone. The whole structure rests upon Him and is fitly joined together. The apostle
speaks of the church and refers to it as a building—the word he uses to name it, as in I
Corinthians 3—a building constructed by God, on which God Himself will work so that
it shall abide perpetually in eternity, for the temple of God is holy and it is the church of
God, the Living One, and he who "defiles the temple of God, him shall God destroy.- In
Christ Jesus this building is assembled, fitly joined together, constructed like a building
on earth and "groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord," of which He Himself is the
Masterbuilder of the church of Christ and on Him the saints, who have believed on Him,
are edified. In the spiritual sense, the word edification is misused, yet it is only
applicable where one is upbuilded, that is, with reference to the house of God. There is
no building if one is not built with it and grows. Where
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the building of God in Jesus Christ is fitly joined together and grows unto an holy
temple in the Lord, a true building is erected. What does fitly joined together mean? It
shall be built firmly, for storms and trials will come, and it must withstand them. To lay
one stone upon another means to erect a living church of God and, if the church of God
grows, there is always work to be done. As long as the time of grace lasts the people,
namely the saints, shall be edified.
The holy cannot embrace the opinions of the unholy. The spirit of Christ must lay up all
the stones together so that a building of the house of God may be accomplished and then
it grows into an holy temple in the Lord. This is the building of the house of God, that
those, who formerly were unbelieving and unholy, are brought to faith on Jesus Christ,
where the unholy are sanctified. Those who hard-heartedly, without faith, godlessly
oppressed and persecuted one another, must be put together, fit one to another and be
built into a house in the Lord. By nature no one belongs in the church of God, for they
are altogether offending and unsuitable elements. When people come into a true, holy
church who have not crossed over, been born again, nor have thoroughly been renewed
by the Spirit of God, then such stumbling stones are therein, and annoy the others. There
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is friction, not a holding closely together in love, meekness, patience; in the spirit
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of truth. There is offense. One becomes discouraged and is not upbuilded and gladdened.
With such a person there is no peace, no holding together in the spirit. It is altogether
impossible that the church of the world could be the right one. It is in truth a Babel—
over disturbance and divisions. They who call one another Christians are embittered at
one another, for there is no love, no holding together in the Spirit. Each one tries to
please himself instead of co-operating unto good works and edification and that each
one seek to please the other (Romans 15;2) .
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.
The building is a conformation which must progress unifiedly unto an holy temple in the
Lord. Because of this there is much dissolution in the world. The carnal man is not dead
and each one brings his natural sinner-state into the church. Each individual must be
born again for the true church, which is the temple of the Lord grows as long as the time
of grace lasts. We, as the called, must also be added to it because for this reason the
temple of God must grow until it is completed on the day on which Jesus Christ shall
come again. The fulness of the heathen must have entered in in Christ, before He comes.
So the temple of the Lord progresses. These are only the sanctified. The unholy, as in the
church of the world, would decompose and disintegrate and the
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unhewn stones, which show up here, are the loosening elements: therefore a sinner may
not enter in.
The community is a community of the saints. An unholy person is not suitable for this
edifice. Thus are we fitly joined together and grow unto a temple of the Lord, into which
you also are built together unto an habitation of God in the spirit. Thus we see what
takes place in the erection of the temple. One can count and name these, which are fitly
joined together so that there will be no fracture in the body of the Lord, but instead a
joining-together in the spirit. The Lord daily adds unto this church those who believe,
unto which you have also come, and grow as a building built in God and together
comprise one body of which Christ is the Head, but of the building He is the
Cornerstone.
Christ is the chief consideration of the church. Erected by Him and resting on Him and
growing together and growing verily, by charity and by prayer. So we visualize the
church of Jesus Christ as one of the called, the set apart by Him Himself by divine
election, so that no carnal person comes into it, but only those who become reborn and
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edified unto one body of Christ, into which you are also edified unto a dwelling of God
in the spirit. This is the purpose of this church, grown unto the present time. The entire
building when
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it is completed will be a tabernacle in which Christ dwells (Revelation 21:3) .
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Here God will dwell in those who all comprise one house, and we shall also be holy if
we are to belong to the house of God and if, in this time, we become cleansed and
created anew in Christ to be an habitation of God in the spirit. Each one who is added
thereunto, must be sanctified for in the whole house there can be no unholy nor unclean
one. In this we are not in agreement with the church of the world, in which it is believed
that they are already blessed and withal are unholy and unclean.
We must not think that one who is incorporated in Christ may be unholy or unclean. We
shall be zealous that the Lord prepare us to combat all sin and unrighteousness, for we
dare not tolerate what is displeasing to the Lord, for God bath called us unto
sanctification. We shall for that reason be set apart so that we become holy as Christ
Himself was, for we have been favored with His spirit, namely with sanctification
(chapter 1:15, 16) . Of those in the world, who are all yet of their old nature—as natural
sinners bear the name of Christ, it cannot be said that one bows his knees in order that he
may be saved as
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Paul, a prisoner in Rome did and was mindful of them in his prayers, for we are too holy
in Christ to do as the ungodly do. We shall consider how hard it is for one single person
to be saved and remain in the covenant in which Jesus Christ has entered us. We shall
regard that as the highest good we have, like Moses who was to be king of Egypt
because Pharaoh had no son and had accepted him in his court. He, however, fled from
this royalty and forsook this honor in order to seek the honor of the people of God, the
least of whom is more than a king of the earth. We will count the suffering for Christ
more than the highest honor in the world, if we belong to the saints and are scorn and
hatred before men. It is Satan's desire to bring all to destruction and he, therefore, storms
and rages, when a few are converted.
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CHAPTER VIII. THE BELIEVER'S SUFFERING.
Sunday, February 28, 1847—Ephesians 3 :1-1 3
For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to
you-ward:
How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore
in few words,
Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now
revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers
of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given
unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ:
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your
glory.
FOR this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ
for you Gentiles." Paul, a prisoner for the
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Gentiles, that is, for the sake of the Gentiles, whose apostle he was (for the sake of those
Gentiles who through his preaching are converted by Jesus Christ) , was at that time in
bonds at Rome. In this position as bond and held, the tribulations which Paul as apostle
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of the Gentiles bore on their account were their honor and a glory to them as he says in
verse 13. That he should suffer for them and be such an offscouring and spectacle before
men, is a glory! Therefore, Paul bore it all joyfully (II Timothy 2:8-10) .
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead
according to my gospel:
Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of
God is not bound.
Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
For their cause he endured all, that they also might obtain the salvation which is in
Christ. His suffering for them is their glory: it is their praise. The tribulation of them
who must suffer for the elect's sake is an honor for them that they might obtain salvation
in eternity. But at once the devil brings the servants of Jesus Christ even unto bonds as if
they were evil-doers.
When one labors for salvation and conversion, he is looked upon as if he did the worst
and most atrocious works. For this reason, so many weak souls take offense because the
disciples of Jesus Christ have to suffer and are for that reason dis84
suaded from the truth instead of persuaded to it. For this cause Paul says that he prays
for them, that they likewise might not take offense at his tribulations, but become so
much the more strong in the word for which he suffers.
Not everyone can comprehend, in this passion for Jesus Christ, the difference between
Christ and Belial; not all can understand that the servants of Jesus Christ must be treated
as evil-doers and that all are terrified at one who labors to save some. But the occasion
for this suffering of the servants of God is Satan, who will not suffer that some be
rescued from his hands, so he raves and the heathen assemble themselves in high
council. It has ever been thus. When the kingdom of God has started, that is the ground
for the devil's storming and raging with all his might. He will not have it that a few are
saved. The kingdom does not come except by the Gospel and no one understands it other
than by revelation (not by studying) . It did not come to Paul by learning either, nor can
anyone declare it to another except by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The offense of Christ falls upon each one who has been converted and believes on Him.
It is for this reason that Satan hurls such disgrace and tribulations at the messengers of
the Gospel. Only babes become converted, not the proud, the high-minded or the puffedup (who are the worst) Who decorate themselves as though they did not
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85
unrighteousness and will not themselves become converted nor concede that any others
shall be saved. The Gospel is a mystery, not a matter of learning: it is disclosed unto men
by divine revelation. In this manner one can first learn to understand it. A person cannot
penetrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ by his own power of comprehension (verse 18) .
The might of Satan is never so manifested as when the offense and disgrace of Christ
come upon some of the believers. It is therefore needful that every person become
converted, for by nature everyone is on the devil's side and not on the side of Christ.
Accordingly, it is evident why the messengers of Jesus Christ have to suffer tribulation
and insult even unto bonds and imprisonment as though they were evildoers.
There is only One who can save from darkness. Only Jesus Christ can redeem us from
the devil's power, and every person who has not been saved and knows that he has not
come from darkness unto light, is yet in Satan's power. All this suffering is of the devil,
the prince of this world. It is for this reason that so few come unto the true knowledge,
for he would prefer that no one should become converted. Each one of the suffering
messengers of Jesus Christ must see and be convinced where the truth lies, for the world
lies in wickedness. It is the devil and that is why such sorrow comes over the true
messengers of Jesus
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Christ. The hatred they encounter is not hatred because their works are evil, but because
they do the good works of Jesus Christ. It is the stewardship of the grace of God, the last
stewardship which God began in His Son. The old came to an end in the death of Jesus
Christ. Therefore, every person shall be saved and belong to the stewardship of Jesus
Christ Who desires that all shall be saved and come unto life. There is only one God and
one Mediator between God and us—He had died for sinners so as to reconcile us to
Him. Each sinner belongs to the devil, in which condition of sin he remains dead. Jesus
came to open a door to the stewardship of the grace of God. The Father sent His Son that
we might be ransomed and saved, be born again and share in the glory of God.
All the apostles worked to one end—that of the Jews and Gentiles there would be one
people, as one body and one spirit, of which Jesus Christ as become the Head. Thus it
will ever go until Christ comes—the Gospel shall be preached unto
sinners, for the sick, not the righteous, need a physician. Christ died for each sinner. He
by the grace of God tasted death for each one. That is the grace of God which must be
preached to all men. The Christians of the world are not yet saved ; have not been born
again; have not become members of the body of Jesus Christ for they love that which is
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of the world; whatever is of arro87
gance and pride. Therefore they are enemies of God —because they do not allow
themselves to be saved. Christ is so loyal, so loving that He calls unto all, "Convert
yourselves and be saved for now is the time of grace, now is the day of salvation."
Why did the apostles have to suffer so much? Only because they preached the Gospel
that men shall be saved and live. For each one who does not serve God serves idols and
the devil and his heart clings to the world instead of its being converted to God. In these
two chapters, as also in the first one, is summed up the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ,
which He has written for each person. To understand the mystery of Jesus Christ and the
grace of God is not a human thing, but the revelation of Jesus Christ, and by that it can
be seen whether a person is susceptible or if he is one who is lost. The whole Gospel is
that men by nature belong to the devil and not to God. For that reason a person must be
saved. Whoever believes that, who loves the good and yet cannot do it because the devil
hinders him, shall be helped.
The law of sin resists the law of God, so man must do the evil which he does not want to
do. From whence this coercion? Because the devil is master of him. If a person
acknowledges this then he will be saved through Jesus Christ, as Paul says, "0 wretched
man that I am! Who shall deliver
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me?" Jesus Christ wants to deliver us. He died for this. He who will not submit himself
unto the law, how shall he be submissive to God? If one would but is unable to do good,
then it is none other than the devil who accomplishes this in him. He does not want to do
evil and yet he does it because the power of the devil is so powerful in such an one. How
much more powerful is he in them who only want to do the evil and not the good! So let
us ask, "Who shall deliver me?" None other than Jesus Christ Who is sent for us. That is
a mystery of Jesus Christ, known however only to a few. That is the Gospel in two
words: (1) Every person by nature is a prisoner of the devil; (2) Jesus wants to make the
prisoners free.
Jesus wants to redeem all men who are conquered in the devil's power. But most people
do the evil with pleasure. That is why a stronger One must come who frees us from this
mastery and overcomes him who has forced us to do the evil. If one here cries, "O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?" then Christ, the Redeemer, is here.
Come and let yourself be saved, for what He has promised that will He most certainly
do. That is indeed the stewardship of the grace of God, and whoever does not believe it
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is more than a rogue. That is why it is preached in the world, that men should let
themselves be saved and that was also revealed to Paul by the grace of God.
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CHAPTER IX. THE MYSTERY OF JESUS CHRIST.
Ephesians 3:5-15
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now
revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit ;
That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers
of his promise in Christ by the gospel :
beginning of the world bath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ:
glory.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
PAUL speaks in the fifth verse of the mystery of Jesus Christ—that in other ages it was
not made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed unto the apostles and prophets
through His Holy Spirit, namely that the Gentiles were pur91
posed of God since the beginning of the world to be fellow-heirs and of the same body
and partakers of the same promise of God with Christ by the Gospel. That is the
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stewardship of God which was preserved in the New Testament and which was to make
known the decision of the grace of God—that the Gentiles should be given repentance
unto life from God, that they should and could be converted like the Jews, that the
purpose of God should extend itself in the New Testament to all men so that the chosen
out of all peoples should become partakers of His grace, fellow-heirs, of the same body
and co-partners of the promises of God in Christ Jesus by the Gospel.
If in the purpose of God, the Gentiles were also appointed to partake of the grace of
Christ, to be of the same body with Him, what then is the promise of God of which Paul
speaks, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs of and united with? It is the promise of
eternal life. Eternal life, which bath appeared in Christ, will now be shared unto all who
believe on Christ and become obedient to the Gospel. Eternal life is the promise of God,
which bath descended by Christ. The Father sent in His stead His Holy Spirit as was
promised, namely the Spirit of Truth, which should thus come to impart life. All those
who have believed have received this. Those who with Him have died unto sin in their
bodily life, so that they live with Him in the power of the Holy Ghost, and
92
that has been fulfilled, for God is not a liar. What He has promised, has been fulfilled.
But on whom? (Isaiah 53.)
The first thing is faith in the preaching. So faith is the stipulation that the arm of the
Lord shall be revealed. The Lord, as He sent His witnesses out, based His promise upon
faith. He who believes and is baptized is saved; but whoever does not believe will be
damned. For this reason the people have to believe the good tidings (verse 5) . Here we
can clearly see who those are who preach. They are the holy apostles, those to whom it
was made known, shall preach (St. John, chapter 5). Who are the preachers of the good
tidings? The holy apostles. He has now revealed it to His own apostles (verse 8) .
Paul calls himself the least, but still an holy apostle. The Lord chose him for this office
and work and Jesus, therefore, revealed Himself through His Holy Spirit. From the
beginning it was the apostles and until the end of the time of the world it is the prophets.
That is, no one can preach the Gospel unless it is preached through the Holy Ghost and
the Holy Gost lives in an holy vessel. To His holy prophets God made it known through
His Holy Spirit. It is impossible for any other to preach the Gospel without the Holy
Ghost ; one cannot even be in Christ if he does not have Him. How shall he preach if he
is not assured and convinced that the Holy Ghost, which
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he has received from God Himself Who speaks by him dwells in him so that one does
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not believe the person, but the Witness, that the name of the Lord and the Father may be
glorified.
If another or I shall preach the Gospel without the Holy Ghost, then am I or the other a
liar and a seducer and I destroy myself and others and my own soul. The Gospel is a
mystery. Paul did not learn it by studying. It is a revelation, a matter of the heart, a
matter of life. One must first have entered therein before he can lead another thereinto.
Everyone who would preach the Gospel and is not an holy person, is a liar, a murderer,
and a seducer. Each one who preaches must preach through the Holy Spirit, and if one
would preach through the Holy Spirit, then he must be holy or he cannot preach.
What kind of preachers are they who themselves are still carnal, earthly, sinful, proud,
high-minded, arrogant, avaricious, lustful or honor lords in the world? Jesus Christ
cannot use lords, only servants. The apostles call themselves servants whatever their
position. It is not a law, but the Gospel. When the Lord says that the Pharisees and
Scribes sit in Moses' seat, "All therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe
and do; but do not yet after their works; for they say and do not." Therefore, observe
what they bid you observe, but' mark their words and not their works. One must first
pull the beam out of his
94
own eye, before he can say, "Hold, brother, I want to pull out the mote in your eye." The
first thing is to preach the truth, for everyone by nature serves the evil one. That is why I
must declare unto each person that he is a child of the devil so that he shall convert
himself, for Christ died on the cross to save all who are in sin.
What a deceitful thing it is to baptize children and have them already come into the
world as Christians without being converted! "That is an hard saying; who can hear it?"
That is why Christ died and was crucified for us, for each sinner belongs to the devil.
Everyone who says, "I am a sinner and abide in sin," says in other words, "I belong to
the devil and abide in him." That is the reason the Christians of the world are
condemned. They say in one breath, "I believe in Christ and am a sinner." Under no
circumstances do they want to be saints, because they have not been sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise. They are not reborn, they have not received eternal life in this
bodily life, they are not redeemed from death and are not converted, and the arm of the
Lord is not revealed to them.
To whom is He revealed? To him who believes. But if one must first believe, that is why
he must have discernment so that he might examine
this. What is the arm of the Lord? It is the fulfillment of the promise which Jesus left
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behind with His disciples when He went to the Father95
the Holy Ghost and eternal life, and this we have, so we no longer wait therefor. If a
person is saved and redeemed, then he has eternal life and the pledge of the spirit of
Christ. He who has Christ's spirit is minded also as He was. That is no presumption; but
the truth for little children have not put on Christ nor have they put off the old man who
is the devil, and when he believes the glad tidings, he shall be set free and the unbeliever
shall become a believer.
If one should tell a person that the devil dwells in him, he would not believe it. That
rings wholly paradoxical (unbelievable) in his ears. Natural man thinks he is absolutely
good enough, if not altogether good, yet enough so that he can be saved. Everyone
believes that but that the devil dwells in him and that he is condemned with him, no one
believes. But if Christ dwells in a person then that one must be holy. If Christ shall enter
into a heart, then the devil must leave it. By faith and the Holy Ghost each one must be
sealed. When the promise of the Father has been imparted to one, then he is holy, for
Christ dwells with His Holy Spirit in him. He has been mortified to the world and sin by
the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and has been reconciled to Him by being planted
in the death of Jesus Christ.
For this infant baptism avails nothing. Such believe they are Christians and are not. In
this delusion they go on without being sanctified, are
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still carnally-minded and counting on the mercy of God which is so great and say that
they will be saved. But as certainly as Christ died for us that He might destroy the works
of Satan, so certainly will He condemn those who do not believe. He will not then
appear as a merciful God, but as a stern Judge to judge the wicked and unbelieving.
The apostles are the first with Christ. They are the branches of the vine. There have been
no apostles except the thirteen, but there have been prophets and they have, in disgrace,
mockery, yes, by death itself, confirmed their faith. If I speak the truth, they (all men)
hate me, and it must be so if I speak through the Holy Spirit. If I speak the truth I am
convinced that the world will hate me and say that I am a seducer and a liar. Therefore,
my beloved, be careful that no one mislead you. Woe unto him who is not hated for
Christ's sake. I cannot say to a sinner that he is an angel of God, else I would mislead
him and myself. One cannot obtain with infant baptism. He who wants to be a Christian
must be holy, which is not arrogance, nor presumption.
These wish to continue sitting on the benches of sin under the cross of Christ, but they
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do not want to take up the cross. They do not want to be crucified with Christ, but they
also do not have eternal life. He who does not believe what the Gospel says, cannot be
saved. Everyone who
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preaches the Gospel shall be a prophet of the Highest, otherwise he shall refrain from
preaching, is what I say to you. Thus it is written, II Peter 2. There are enough prophets
in the world who preach but they do not come from Christ. Where the right faith is, there
also are true holiness and charity. Charity is greater than faith and hope. Where do you
find brotherly love, holy love, the seal of faith, in the world? It is the bond of perfection,
the seal of truth. In this brotherly love, as the Lord has loved us, we must be and abide.
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CHAPTER X. RICH THROUGH THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES.
Sunday, March 7, 1847—Ephesians 3:7-12
beginning of the world bath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus
Christ:
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.
THE apostle testifies that he was made a minister of the Gospel according to the grace of
God which was given him by the working of His power. To minister in the Gospel,
therefore, it is necessary that it be given to one from God, so that he presume not upon
himself, and it requires, besides the effectual working of God, not alone the calling of
God, in order that the Gospel of Christ have its real power and demonstrate to men, so
that they come to God on the one way which the Father opened through the Son.
Respecting it, Paul further, in verse 8, depicts wherein the min99
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istering of the Gospel consists and why one cannot, of his own power and after his own
understanding, accomplish it. He says, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ."
This is the Gospel, the proclaiming of the unsearchable riches of Christ, of which all
mankind should become partakers and through Him also be made rich. We, who of and
in ourselves, are poor and have nothing of that which is spiritual and divine, shall be
blessed and made rich through Christ by His unsearchable riches. What the Gospel
should bring to us then is the true knowledge of Christ, what He is for us, for mankind;
what we have and shall find in Him so that we become rich in our very poverty.
What does the apostle really mean by the unsearchable riches of Christ which should be
imparted by faith in the Gospel of Christ? The Son has everything that the Father has, as
is written, "All things that the Father bath are mine: therefore saith I, that he shall take of
mine, and shall shew it unto you." The riches are, therefore, unsearchable. The more we
search unto the riches we find how unfathomable they are, how all things that are the
Father's belong to the Son, and whatsoever is the Son's belong to us. In I Corinthians 3,
Paul says that it is indeed very trifling to glory in men when Christ and the Father are
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with us, if we have become obedient to the Gospel. Through the Gospel we receive one
Father, Who is the one and only God. He has at our disposal all that which in His might,
in keeping, wisdom, knowledge and salvation was hidden. It is all here for us, and to put
this before the eyes of men is the lesson of the Gospel, that is, one shall proclaim it in
the power and calling of God so that their eyes may see (verse 9) .
The enlightening must be by the Gospel, by preaching, in order that the unsearchable
riches of Christ may be comprehended, that their eyes may survey and have insight into
what God has bestowed and prepared for us in Him so we may not be robbed by the
deceitfulness of sin. As the devil wanted to tear man away from, God and thus rob him
of what he already had as he stood before Him in His first goodness, so has the prince of
this world set the timely, the earthly and sinful and all that serves unto death before man
so as to dazzle his eyes. For the love of this world is alienation from God, and this
blinding is of the spirit, which for a moment shines and accordingly vanishes and
afterwards makes him devoid of blessedness. He remains in this madness eternally.
That his heart has been set on what is earthly, is the fall of man, and that is why we have
become poor and fallen away from God. That which is in the world is miserable
compensation for that which is in God. It must be reassigned to us by
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the Son, Who came into the world for that purpose, which is the mystery of Christ,
which was hidden from the beginning of time until it was revealed and our eyes were
enlightened by Christ and the prophets, even though the devil said to men, " . . . Your
eyes shall be opened." Yes, they were opened so that they knew they had sinned, were
naked and had to be ashamed. Hence it happened that the guilt passed over upon all
men. The prince of this world thus had captured them so that they do not know what
they should have in God. We must be led away from that and seek that which is reserved
in God. The mission of the Gospel is that men become enlightened to know wherein
they shall be saved and made rich in the unsearchable riches of His grace. This must be
fulfilled on us and we whose eyes are blinded have to be lost in eternity.
Love not the world, nor what is in it for the love of the Father is not therein. The world
with its lust will pass away, but he who does the will of God will abide in eternity. The
eyes are blinded of him whose heart still clings to the earthly, to the world. Where his
treasure is there his heart also is. If one's heart is with Christ in heaven, then his treasure,
which is the riches of Christ, is also there, Who should become our lot here by faith on
Him. We are, thereby, enlightened in order to see what is in Christ. In Him are all things
which we do not have in this time. In
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Him are blessedness, life, peace, righteousness, holiness, truth. In Him is redemption,
which now and eternally makes us blessed, and we have to partake of all these things, if
we are converted, in order to know the unsearchable riches of Christ and what is hidden
in the treasures of His glory. By them we are drawn to and won by Him. The more we
search, the stronger and richer we become. All this comprises our blessedness, that we
become participant of what is prepared for us in the Son of God and preached in the
Gospel so that we become loosed from the love of the perishable and bound to the
eternal. The prince of this world seeks with all his might to mislead men so that it shall
not be imparted to them. What should be preached to him innerly is considered
seduction in the world.
What is it then that is in a person of the world? He seeks rest and peace and does not
find them. The richest are the most unhappy. Nothing can comfort or protect them. They
have to guard their riches with great pains and care so that they will not be taken from
them. Our rest is with God. Christ is the Way which has appeared to make the
impossible possible, and we who are redeemed from the devil's kingdom have become
rich in grace, peace, joy of the Holy Ghost, power, hope, in the knowledge of God and in
that which is in Him. In all respects Christ makes us rich. We do not abide in that which
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was in Adam. In Christ we are blessed, made participant of what is
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in Him. All things that are in Him are ours. He does not want to keep it for Himself or
He would have remained with the Father. He wants, however, to divide it with those
who have nothing (I Corinthians 10;33) , so that we all become rich in Him. The Father
is ours, the Son is ours, the spirit of prayer, truth, power and wisdom, all are ours. We
need only to call upon Him. Then it will be made manifest if we call upon an idol or
Christ. Christ is God. Whoever calls upon His name, him will He bless and hear. An idol
is nothing.
One cannot impart these things to another. It is as when one is poor in the world and sees
the great pomp and glory of the rich. He is enticed by all of it and would also like to
possess it. So when we see the glory of God, His unsearchable riches, we must also lust
after them, as Eve lusted after food. Thus we must make men lustful of the riches of God
by preaching. We do all we can to accomplish this and people say that we are fools. "It is
too hard." But this is not true. The love of Christ constrains us, for we maintain that One
has died for all, by reason of which we have access to the Father, that many may yet
become lustful of the riches of God. It requires a battle for the crown which is promised
to them. That which one partakes of in Christ is all innerly. When we can declare the
word of truth to a person, it is only out of love to Christ, but it is more
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than if we should gain the whole world. Therefore, the Gospel should be preached that
all men may be saved. When they see it, they have to lust after it, and if they are enticed
by it, then they will ask for it, and in the end they will attain it. Come ye blessed of the
Lord and inherit what is promised to you!
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CHAPTER. XI. THE HEAVENLY CALLING.
Ephesians 3:8-13
Christ:
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might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.
glory.
PAUL calls himself the least of all saints and presents himself to all other saints. He
places whoever is a saint and worthy of the name above himself. He puts himself
beneath them all, and we may well believe that he was in earnest—that it was not
hypocrisy on his part when he says, "Who am less than the least of all saints." He does
not only say this as a testimony of his sincere humility, but also as a comfort to all who
become sanctified. We should not take it as being boastful of him—it is true that as an
apostle he ranks very highly and very mighty because he received this
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office from the Lord—but as a brother among the holy brethren he represents himself as
humbly as the very least and the lowliest of all. This shows us also that all who should
and would be in the church of Jesus Christ, must at least have this praise, that they, are
saints (Hebrews 3) .
If we are participants of and share the heavenly calling, then we must be holy, sanctified
in Christ Jesus, and in this characteristic none shall be lacking—be nothing less than a
saint—and each shall think himself less than he is. That he esteems another higher than
himself, is embodied in being a saint, if we are minded as Paul who has put himself
down absolutely as being a saint. It cannot be otherwise. He who would be the greatest
in the kingdom of God, will become the least. Love serves; pride would be lord. Christ
loved the church and gave Himself for it; saved and redeemed it. By this we may know
of a truth whom God accounted as saints, and also who is still of an unclean and
unsanctified heart, for the unclean and the unsanctified are proud and exalt themselves.
There is also a false humility, namely when a person says or thinks, that it is boastful to
say that one is a saint. If we are not holy, then we are not in Christ and are not children
of God. These think it is humility to say, "I am a poor sinner." Whoever is in the
fellowship of Christ, will humble himself and be lowly as was Christ.
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They put humility in the place of pride. God would have us to be found among the saints
so we must, above all, receive sanctification from God. And he who has not this, has no
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part in Christ.
A person does not sanctify himself. It is Christ Who sets us into the fellowship of the
holy brethren. We must entreat the Father for this when Jesus Christ is preached—for in
Him are unsearchable riches for us, and are already imparted to us according to the
hope. Through His grace we must become righteous, substantially and efficaciously—
from within and without. We must draw from His riches which are impenetrably deep.
First, sanctification comes to us. True humility is necessary for us in such a calling so
that one can humble himself before all men and serve.
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ;
beginning of the world hash been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus
Christ.—Verses 8 and 9.
Just why did God choose Paul, who was an enemy of the Truth, to be an example for us?
(1) That the greatest sinner or slanderer, scorner and persecutor can be saved; (2) That he
may be the better able to speak of the Truth, of darkness and the light. Paul previously
had served and believed darkness—he served God and the devil; in his selfrighteousness he persecuted the saints
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unto blood (even in the most distant cities) . That is why the Lord redeemed him from
darkness, and He exposed the depths of Satan to no one more than to Paul. People no
longer believe that that which they serve, is darkness. Paul well experienced, to an
exceeding degree, how he was in the kingdom of Satan. Only afterward did he perceive
and also make it known to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. To the Jews that they might
know that their eyes were blinded and darkened so that they did not see the bright light
of the Gospel, that their outward glory is darkness (Acts 26) .
Here we see the reason why Paul was chosen by Him, the Lord—so that He could
disclose the depths of Satan to the Jews and the Gentiles, for as certainly as Christ's
blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins, so certainly is Christ's Spirit imparted to
the saints and believers. That is the cause for their being hated unto death. He was
enlightened so that we could enlighten others, for darkness is in them. One must uncover
the depths of Satan to them so that they do not think they are already saved—so that
Jews and Gentiles and nominal Christians convert themselves. To the nominal Christians
one must also uncover such depths so that they may be aware of their false faith and
unrighteousness, for they are in the power of Satan.
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Paul says that those things that erstwhile were gain to him he counts as loss for Christ's
sake.
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"I wanted to be much myself as if I were righteous, God-fearing and holy, and believed
that it was necessary for me to do much to the glory of our God, and exterminate the
Nazarene sect." Such can give testimony of having passed through darkness unto light.
Before this experience one cannot understand and calls that light which is darkness.
Where there is sin there is also darkness. There not God but the devil reigns. Since they
are subject to the devil, they are in darkness. In no case is it as difficult as with the Jews
for they think they have possessions and are important, but those who have been
enlightened are the ones who can say what is darkness and what is light. Then the
boundless riches of His grace avail us much. They who thus preach Christ are rejected
by the world and must suffer mockery, offense and disgrace for His sake.
Even though we were once the chiefest sinners, all our sins are forgiven in the
unsearchable riches of God, unto the enlightenment of others. Concerning this
dispensation of grace, we are to speak to men in order that they can be cleansed by His
preaching and His Holy Ghost. This dispensation is the institution by which God, the
Father, sent Jesus so that men might be saved and enlightened and not lost. This
dispensation is a mystery which was hid in God until now, when Christ came and began
a new household so that all men might be
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enlightened (Hebrews 10:32) . "But call to remembrance the former days, in which after
ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions." That is the time of
enlightenment. First, the Gospel brings light. Up to that time, all was darkness. Paul
says, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord...”
Darkness is called light, but out of Christ, there is no light. That is the dispensation, the
mystery of Christ—that men should be saved and escape from the power of the devil
and the kingdom of darkness so that they see the bright light and all which is in God.
But how shall they become enlightened when they have not heard? If one has not
experienced this, he cannot preach. Preaching of that nature serves unto corruption. God
has thus established it that men become converted from darkness to light. Then all the
sanctified will be hated in the world because they walk in the light. He who is not hated
and persecuted and reviled in the world, is not in Christ but in darkness. And if we have
not experienced this, we cannot say that we are enlightened.
As long as one loves what is in the world, he cannot be enlightened and pardoned by
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Christ. One must, therefore, become free from that for which they care in the world.
That is why there is such sorrow once we have received enlightenment
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(if we are to be saved) which means going from darkness to light. As long as we cling to
that which is earthly we cannot be raised up to God, becoming as children of God, and
be made free and delivered from darkness. This is enlightenment. May all men
experience and know that! Whoever will not hear, remains outside!
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CHAPTER XII. THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS OF DARKNESS.
Sunday, March 14, 1847 —Ephesians 3 :9 - 1 3
Christ:
glory.
ACCORDING to the will of God, all men are to be illuminated—receive light. Just that
is
the mystery which was hid in them from time eternal, that should be made known to
them so that they become enlightened. This mystery is the redemption from the powers
of darkness, by which it pleased God to again take the prey, namely the children of men,
from the strong one. Satan is the prince of darkness who has brought all men under his
power so that they no longer know God and live without Him in the world and pass out
of it without hope. Nor could anyone ever become free from this power of Satan of
himself, and no spirit could find the way of redemption for man115
kind. But God had determined a way in His counsel unto salvation for fallen humanity
through Jesus Christ Whom He had sent in the world so that He might die for our sins
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and redeem us from unrighteousness. For where sin prevails the devil reigns, and where
sin is renounced there his reign ceases and God's kingdom begins.
By Christ's death, the possibility of a redemption can be had by all who believe the
preaching of this mystery of the dispensation which is hid in God from time eternal.
That is why it is a mystery—because no person or spirit could devise or search out such
a thing as God from eternity has ordained to redeem us from the dominion and power of
Satan so that now might be known unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places,
by the church, the manifold wisdom of God. Those are the powers of darkness,
principalities and sovereignities which, already before man, had fallen from God and
were made darkness. Unto these principalities and powers, God would that His manifold
wisdom be proclaimed.
Paul says that there are princes and powers in high places: evil spirits. "For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12.)
So he understood the evil spirits and he speaks of them as also being in high places,
differentiating between them and the
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ones that are on earth. It is true that Satan was in heaven before he was hurled down to
earth. It says, "in heavenly places," not where we live and are, but in heavenly places
(regions) and according to the Scriptures there is also more than one heaven. Paul was
caught up to the third heaven, where he "heard unspeakable words, which it is unlawful
for a man to utter." The principalities and powers of this world are in heavenly places
and regions and we find that it is also clearly pointed out in the Scriptures that Satan was
first in heaven or Jesus would not have said to His disciples who rejoiced because, in
His name, even demons were subject to them, that He "beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven." Nor would it also say in the Revelations of Saint John (Revelations
12;12) ;
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God
night and day.—Revelations 12 : 1 0
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them...
If a spirit accuse the servants day and night, he must have been in heaven. (Revelations
12:12)
. . . Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, and of the sea, for the devil is come
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down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a
short time.
We must follow up the footprints of the apostles and know that the evil spirits, Satan and
his angels, are principalities and powers and forces.
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Unto the evil spirits in heaven, God would show and prove by His church, His manifest
wisdom; that is, God had counselled unto Himself from eternity to heal in a wonderful
way again the breach which Satan made in the creation. God created all things, also the
mystery by way of which lost men should be brought to right again. That was hidden
until God made it manifest and preached it to all men. They should be enlightened and
learn to understand what God purposed to Himself from the beginning—that the lost
should be sanctified and redeemed and saved. This, how He makes saints of men and
sinners, has proclaimed His wonderful wisdom.
But this mystery has until now been hid even though the apostles brought it to us. Now
the key to the kingdom of heaven is put in the wrong place so that no one can longer
find it. If we want nothing but the Word of God, the key will, to be sure, come to our
hand again. We must believe that it was the counsel and will of God to free again, from,
Satan's power, a remnant of the lost, so that he can have no part in us and shall lose the
might which he received by Adam's fall. From this power of Satan no one will be saved
unless he believes on Jesus Christ. Then redemption is at hand.
Redemption of man now takes place if we believe and know that the captive becomes
free again those who wrongfully have come into the power
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of Satan, for we really belong to God and not to the devil. Whom shall we serve—he
who deceived Adam or He Who came into the world and by obedience unto death on the
cross won the power to save us? To whom would you belong--the devil, Satan, the
serpent, or the just Saviour? Then take your refuge in Him. It will then be seen if Jesus
Christ is the Lord. When one calls on His name it will be manifested whether or not He
is the Lord. Is one or is he not redeemed from the might of Satan? If not, then the Lord is
not (his) God.
This was preached and many were saved by the ministry of the apostles. So have we
also rejoiced and triumphed and thanked the Lord for His redemption. Therefore, against
the people of this time a judgment will rise and condemn them, all together. They were
saved, so we can also be saved through the glad tidings. Jesus, the Saviour, is the
Saviour yesterday and today and forever.
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There is a lack of faith because the pure Gospel is not preached. For they who preach in
the world are more likely to be of the devil than of God. How can one be saved when he
hears preaching that is of the lie? There is either failure on the
part of the preachers or the hearers. One can hear the truth and still not be saved. Then
the fault lies with the hearers. But if it is the fault of the preacher, then he is guilty of the
blood of men. The devil must loose us and let us go free as
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soon as we call on Christ. He must let all go free, as many as believe, those who call on
the name of Jesus Christ. This right the Lord won by His obedience on the cross—that
they, who believe, shall be saved. That which the apostles preached must establish itself
as true on all who hear and believe. He who hears must become free. He who hears but
does not believe, himself becomes a devil and remains in condemnation. It is decisive in
either case. They who do not believe, remain not only to be Adam's children, but
themselves become demons, adversaries of Jesus Christ and His saints, so that they rise
up against the saints of God and would suppress them. By this faith there is
manifestation. The ones who believe are saved and the others become possessed by the
evil spirit and are blinded so that they can do no different than the devil himself, and to
all those God would reveal His mystery and make known His manifold wisdom!
What is the Gospel? All things should be made known to men so that they come and
take freely of the water of life. It is without price, in order that all may be saved. They
may either fall on the side of Satan or on the side of God and inherit with Christ. The
preparatory school is here. They may either abide in the old man or convert themselves
to the rightful Lord, Jesus Christ, and through Him become children of God. Thus, by
the church, is made known the manifold wisdom
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of God. Herein is the most important thing. Here the wisdom of God unfolds itself in
such a wondrous way that one is astonished how it is revealed to man in the Gospel, by
which way lost sinners can be saved and become participants in the salvation of God and
are brought from a state of wretchedness into the church. We must thus be saved again
from Satan's power by the first man, Jesus Christ.
What is the church? It is those who believe and are sanctified and have been saved. By
the church, it is made known that the devil is not strong enough to hold one who
believes on Jesus Christ. The devil can no longer hold those who want to be saved. The
dispensation, the mystery that is in God, has been proclaimed. This must be made
known to man, also to the nominal Christians of the world. They are called Christians,
yet none has been converted. They are blinded so that the people merely by their name
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would be saved and still are not ransomed and redeemed. Every sinner should be saved
now in this life. In such, the manifold wisdom is made known. When we consider all
these wondrous ways, we must say that it is wonderful wisdom. Let each one take
himself as an example of what God has done for him, and He does this all in spite of the
powers of the devil. What He does for those who are saved by Him, was the Father's
way of finding a redemption for they shall be
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saved by hope (there) , and this hope was disclosed in Paradise. . . I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
In this promise is the hope of redemption. These promises of God were striven after in
the old covenant, until Jesus was come (Luke 2:28-32) . This is the salvation which was
hid in God, justified in the spirit, believed on by men, so that they, with Christ, the
Sovereign Prince, are brought unto salvation. This is the mystery which should be
preached to all men. In all nominal Christendom, there is no salvation. The devil has
introduced other preaching, for men are altogether in the devil's power, and if one is
converted it is said abroad that he is perverted.
Here the devil resists all his children. Nevertheless, notwithstanding, the Lord proves
His manifold wisdom. There is no better means to lead men into deception than that of
the devil, perverting and putting a false construction on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and
letting a gospel be preached by which men are not redeemed and saved. When they
begin to baptize children, none are any longer converted to Christ.
How shall men come to salvation when the key to the Gospel has been put in the wrong
place? It is indeed a vain deception, with all its mountains and hills, to which they wish
to remove the bur122
den of their salvation and not be converted in this time.
Ephesians 3 : 1 0- 1 7
We see by this passage of the apostle what a connection exists between us and the spirit
of this world, when Paul says that now must be made known unto the principalities and
powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God, by the church. God would,
through His Son, bring forth something new, namely, His church, so that through this
church might be made known unto principalities and powers in heavenly places the
manifold wisdom of God. Now these realities which we do not see with our eyes, also
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take part for and against events in our lives. All things that happen do so under one God
and Lord, and we on earth are but a part of what God has created and indeed such a part
in which the remaining parts of the creation of God also participate because all things
are but one, and the whole world and what it comprises are created by One, as Paul
points out in the ninth verse. "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the
mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all
things by Jesus Christ."
We must not think that those whom we do not see have no part therein. All are linked in
one chain. There are also creatures which acknowledge
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the Lord and God and without a doubt, none of them were made in vain. It is probable
that He has other habitations besides the earth. The invisible spirits also have part in our
destiny, as to how things are with us. All about us there are invisible witnesses, good as
well as bad. The evil ones work to our harm and the good ones serve to our good. The
evil ones were sent out to strive against us; the good, set apart for our sake, inherit
eternal life.
As soon as a person is converted, the devils take offense at him and a battle is begun
between such evil spirits and the believers. As soon as the Gospel is preached the devils
rise up—they cannot tolerate the word of Jesus Christ being preached. This is from
whence all the hatred, persecution, derision and slandering come. That is why the devil
is also in the nominal Christians, for they are the ones who persecute us, and that is why
these so-called Christians themselves miss the salvation of Christ.
We are not so isolated here. Spirits are round about us. All evil spirits are against us:
they wish to destroy us. All good spirits are for us. One does not see them but perceives
them. It is said of that ground where Jesus sows the good seed. Then the devil comes
and sows tares. One did not see him but the tares are here. They must be rooted up.
There are many who take part in our lot. Strife is everywhere. The devil is here, but God
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with His good spirits is also here, till Christ has won the victory. For this we must suffer.
If we are not afflicted, for a short while now, then we are eternally. If we suffer now we
are redeemed and saved in eternity. Of the prophet Elisha it is said a servant came and
announced that a host compassed the city and Elisha prayed and answered, "Fear not ;
for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." (The chief thing is the
spirit that is in us.) And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that
he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold,
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the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."
When the spirits leave the body, where do they go? They also are active. They are still
here; the good and evil spirits are ever present. The apostles are not asleep. They live for
God. They are with us and they look upon us. When just one sinner is converted, all
heaven rejoices. These are the feasts the Saviour celebrates. May they celebrate many
such feasts! He, who will not accept salvation, is lost. We are never without witnesses.
Everywhere round about us there are good and evil spirits. Creatures, which
acknowledge the same God, abound everywhere. When Jesus was come in the flesh, the
evil spirits also praised Him and called out to Him, "Thou son of David, art thou here!"
The good spirits, however, proclaimed glory, joy and good will all around and the angels
in heaven
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rejoiced. We are entirely surrounded by a world of spirits, which have participated in us
for they serve the same Lord. The evil ones are against Christ; the good ones serve Him,
the Lord, and help us unto salvation.
It is not a mere human incident when persecutions come over His believers. Here the
devil, with his evil spirits, is at work. That is why we must heed upon which side we
stand, whether we belong to Christ and are children of God or whether we are still in the
condition of sin for without conversion it is impossible for one to be saved. Then it will
be seen if they are in Abraham's bosom or in torment and pain. We must attend to it that
we do not come where those came, who did not want to be obedient to the Lord. To
these principalities would God make known. His manifold wisdom. When we think we
are nothing (I Corinthians 4) , we are everywhere surrounded by such unseen spirits and
there are more of these than of those which we see, which are the very least. There are
countless numbers of dominions, sovereignties, principalities and powers unto whom the
manifold wisdom is now, in this time, made known by the church.
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CHAPTER XIII. WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
WHAT is the church? It is an assemblage of saints who have been redeemed and saved.
It is a spectacle in which the angels take part. We must bear this in mind for human
beings are as nothing. We must, however, convert ourselves to the Lord for the sake of
the many countless multitudes of spirits which have a part in us. I must also be
accountable on the day of the Lord as to whether I have spoken the truth or the lie. For
the sake of the spirits we must become converted for they seek us. They have been
everywhere. When Jesus was born and when He died—they were everywhere.
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Nathanael said;
I believe Thou art the Son of God . . .
Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou
shalt see greater things than these.
. . . Verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
So we have to behold the Lord Who surrounds us. Whence then the evil? Whence the
evil men? Whence the enmity of the Gospel? These are not mere matters of chance. It is
the spirit world which completely encircles us. We are among a countless multitude of
spirits, by which there is always communication between heaven and earth
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(Matthew 18) . There is a constant connection between us and the spirit world. There are
also such terms which we must indeed fundamentally understand.
Men, if they wish to be saved, must be saved now. Christ came down to us and died on
the cross, for now is the time, now is the day of salvation. "Today, if ye will hear his
voice, harden not your hearts . . . The Lord will require it of those who heard and did not
believe it. God the Father in Christ, conceived a plan whereby men who were lost
through Adam should be helped. By this standard we shall judge ourselves. It is the good
remedy over us by which we shall find again what we have lost. God lost His ownership
in men and He seeks to recover it. If a shepherd has an hundred sheep and he loses one,
he leaves the ninety-nine in a safe place and seeks the one that is lost. Thus does also
Christ, Who is the Shepherd of countless sheep, and He has lost one. That is why He
came—to find what was lost.
It is demanded of each person to believe and be converted to the Lord. His heart should
be melted, for "Neither is there any salvation in any other name given among men,
whereby we must be saved." And if they should take our life, we would not lose it but
would find it again twofold. We must risk our life to save some souls from the devil's
kingdom. We dare not become frightened. Whether it be disgrace, affront, mockery,
hatred,
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persecution, it all comes from the devil. He would not have it that one should be saved.
When we follow Christ, the devil is against us and we dare not be afraid of losing our
Bread. There is still a little Bread left for us in the world. We must suffer and be looked
upon as deceivers: evil and dangerous people. The love of Christ constrains us here.
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There is contradiction everywhere when one is to be converted and he is told that he is
in the kingdom of Satan. Here they say, "We already believe and have been baptized and
confirmed." There is nothing to be alarmed about." But if I am to preach the truth as it is
in Christ, I must say that it is just thus. Otherwise there is no conversion possible for
men.
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CHAPTER XIV. PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS IN HEAVENLY PLACES.
glory.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length,
and depth, and height;
THAT which the apostle says in the tenth verse, that "now," is this time, might be known
unto principalities and powers in heavenly places, by the church, the manifold wisdom,
of God, God carried out according to an eternal plan which He had established from
time everlasting. Paul accordingly places the little word, "now" in the tenth verse
alongside "according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord," in
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the eleventh verse. Paul says the same thing in other places (II Timothy 1 :9-10) .
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Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began,
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who
hath abolished death, and bath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel :
It has pleased God now, at this time, by the church unto principalities and powers in
heavenly places to make known the manifold wisdom of God. Now was already
determined from the beginning of the world.
All that takes place in the course of time is an eternal purpose of God and indeed God, in
Christ Jesus, from the beginning had purposed this. Our redemption from sin is an
eternal resolution of God. As God had determined our redemption through Christ Jesus,
thus had He also determined that Adam would not endure. Thus are all the works of God
already known to Him from eternity. Unto us, however, they are only made known in the
course of time.
So now, by the wisdom of God which He would now show unto the principalities and
powers in heavenly places, must we also be made ready so that we are wise unto
salvation. The wisdom of God applies first of all to us for whom God determined a
resolution from eternity, and we must make use of it and humble ourselves there132
under. Whoever can humble himself in his false wisdom will be redeemed and saved,
but he who will high-handedly surmount the wisdom of God with his own, remains in
death. By the Gospel alone and by believing it, will one be saved. This wisdom of God
which, by the church should be made known unto principalities and powers in heavenly
places must therefore, be made manifest to us in connection with our having passed
from death unto life, for Christ from death brought life to light by the church. That is the
wisdom of God made manifest in us. By the church alone, would God be glorified and
prove an eternal purpose which He purposed. We must be certain as to whether or not
we belong to the church. Of two things, only one is possible here. Either a person is out
of Christ and not in His church in which case he belongs to the devil or he, in Christ, has
come unto the church. Then God manifests
His manifold wisdom by the church and unto all the members of the church of Christ.
Unless what Paul says in the twelfth verse is fulfilled in us, we do not otherwise belong
to this church. "In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of
him." That is the decoration of those who belong to the church of God, those who,
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according to the eternal purpose of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, have been saved from
the dominion of darkness. They have received and have boldness and access with all
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fidence unto the Father by the faith of Jesus Christ in Whom the Father carried out in
this time that which He purposed or endowed. By faith we have access to the Father for
we are in the right church of Christ, "Which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth
all things in all."
Paul uses several words here in the twelfth verse in order to describe the inner condition
of sanctification of those who belong to the church, "In whom we have boldness." That
means free and open conversation with one face to face; that is the meaning of the Greek
word "paresia," confidentially speaking with one—as freely and easily as when one
speaks with his close friend—one with whom one can speak very kindly.
In the world one cannot speak so freely with a very distinguished personage. He would
have to condescend to the one who is beneath him. It is not thus with the children in
Christ. We can speak very familiarly and confidentially. We can tell Him everything. He
grants us the right and authority to speak in an unembarrassed way with Him. It is proof
that one belongs to the church of Christ when one may speak with God with such openheartedness and confidence and can tell him everything. What one could not tell and
entrust to a person, that he can comfortedly and singleheartedly tell His Heavenly
Father. The reason for the boldness which we have in Christ Jesus unto God is the fact
that we are no longer only
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His friends but closely bound to Him. He will hear us if we speak to Him in Jesus Christ,
our Lord, when His spirit intercedes for us. This is not an assumption or arrogance; it is
the portion of inheritance due to children by which we know of our sonship of the Holy
Ghost, Who opens our heart unto the Father so that we are entirely free—because we
know what is in us. We understand it better when we say as in I John 3:20 and 21:
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all
things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God.
We have to correctly understand the word "paresia." If the Holy Ghost of the Lord Jesus
Christ is in us and redeems us, then He opens our hearts and lips unto God so that we
can tell Him all things. (I John 4;18)
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There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
This is the highest rank unto which a child of God may attain a joyful drawing nigh unto
God the Father in the spirit to speak openly with Him. It is no assumption at all if one
acquire such an intimacy, such a trust toward God even though He. be the Most High.
He has thus condescended in His Son that we in Him, if we accept it, have such boldness
in opening our mouths to God. We may speak to Him as to a friend. We need not fear
that He will not hear us even though we ourselves be the insignificant creatures that we
are.
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However, through Jesus Christ we are acceptable, He loves us and that is our boldness.
If we love Him, we receive from Him the same spirit in which we cry, "Abba, Father."
By this we know whether or not we are children of God, for by nature no one has this
confidence nor can he assume this boldness to God.
First our hearts must be cleansed, then will He hear and grant a favorable hearing for we
are not they who speak ; it is the Father's Spirit which speaks in us. This is the
distinguishing mark of those who belong to the church. In Christ Jesus we have such
boldness. These may come direct to the Father and speak with Him, Himself. This
opening of our mouths is constantly done in the Spirit. Hypocrites do their religious
exercises at specific times or at certain places. It is, however, not in God. "God is a
Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.''
The sanctified, whose hearts are purified from the ways of sin and uncleanness, can do
this as the Holy Spirit dwells in them and they draw nigh with all boldness and the
opening of their mouths unto God, their Father. That is access as mentioned in the
second verse of Romans V.
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
We have access to God so that we do not merely believe in a God but know Him as a
Father. That
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is the crown of faith, that we may draw nigh unto Him in the name of Jesus Christ, our
Lord. For all things are known to Him, but when something steals into our heart which
should not be there, then God will make the heart uneasy so that it will seek rest again,
within and without, in the spirit and truth. Our life in the body also is the truth and it is
sanctified by the spirit so that we are in the fellowship of God by the Son and we are not
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without and strangers. Jesus Christ must be planted in the heart by the Gospel so that He
lives and prays in us. As He was in the world, so also are we—it is the same association
with prayer, the same drawing nigh in the spirit. As He was with the Son, thus must He
also be with His children. By faith we come into this fellowship with God, in which we
are in the sanctuary of God which is in heaven and not on earth.
Beloved ones, the religious service of the world is nothing since Christ has come. It is
stereotyped, formal prayers and empty words. It makes no difference whether it is at this
place or that, nor does it matter if it is now or another time. Everywhere and always we
should worship God in spirit and in truth and draw nigh this trustingly and cheerfully,
and single-heartedly, unto God, the All-Bountiful Father. That is why God dwells in
hidden places, so that we know that a sinner cannot press his way thereinto for there is
an impenetrable veil between God and sin. Only in
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Christ do we have boldness to open our mouth to God so that we are unembarrassed in
His presence. (Titus 3:4.)
But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.
It is not as when we speak with some great person of the world, which is the friendliness
of men and their love. When one ranking high in a worldly way and by it all is
condescendingly sociable and pleasant, it is considered a great thing. Thus has God
condescended that we have, in the Son, such boldness and such a drawing nigh unto the
Father as though there were nothing more between us, once we by faith and baptism,
rebirth, sanctification and purification of heart, have been converted. Anyone else cannot
accomplish this, as in the Old Testament when an attempt to burn incense was made by
other than the high priest and by it they perished. God has shown us otherwise. They
came to naught by it and that is the case with a natural man, a sinner, who remains
unconverted and unsanctified and is not brought to Christ as are the children of God. He
has, therefore, been deceived and perishes like the company of Korah. That is the
condition of the present-day believers. If Christ and His spirit has entered into us so that
in deed we are children of God, then we are reconciled with Him, the devil is driven out,
and the spirit of truth comes to
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dwell in us. Then we have boldness, the drawing nigh unto God, our Father.
Forward, shameless, and unconverted, the most defiant men would perforce speak with
God as their Father. This is the greatest sin that one can commit when a sinner, outside
of Christ, would call upon God the Heavenly Father as his Father. That is the situation of
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the men of today, as though God were a Father of sinners. The devil is the father of
sinners. That is the sin that is predominant at this time. They would call God the Father,
their Father when they are still sinners, unconverted, uncircumcised, unsanctified, not
born again, and not the purified children of God. The greatest of all deception lies in
infant baptism. These say that they are already children of God and by reason of this
work of the law they seek to bring upon themselves the sonship of God. Therefore, one
can accomplish nothing with them, it is in vain because they do not believe it.
We must, accordingly, know who is in the church. We must have received the right of
the Son to the Father; must stand in grace. That is the condition of the right to draw nigh
unto Him. There is a wall of separation between God and the sinner. The old Adam must
have died and the new man, Jesus Christ, must be born in us so that we may have in His
name a bold and open access unto the Father in all confidence. This is
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the boldness—the testimony. This is the state of grace.
This is not an assumption on the part of bold sinners: it is the indwelling representation
of Christ in us. This is what is meant by boldness unto God, a free and easy speaking
with Him (Titus 3) . Here we first have admittance to the Father and then a joyful access
to Him. He knows what we need better than we ourselves can express. It is such a
mutual communication with God and His children through His Holy Ghost that nothing
less than this is on a par with it—unless we have come unto this and then we must guard
it for one can lose it again by sin, unrighteousness. God knows what we have done that
is unrighteous. He knows very well how we feel, but if our heart does not condemn us
then we have such confidence in God the Father.
That is the binding power of the heart and the Spirit's gift to God the Father and to talk
with Him and bring to Him all things great and small, that we have in our hearts, is
evidence that one belongs to the church of God. Those who think that they have come
unto the sonship by reason of infant baptism are to be pitied because they have been
deceived. They think they have this right and are mistaken. One does not at first know
this, but later he does.
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CHAPTER XV. THE GLORY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD.
Ephesians 3 : 1 3- 18
glory.
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THE apostle connects this with what was said before by the word, "wherefore," for the
reason that our state of grace is just as glorious and lifts us in faith and hope far above
everything that is visible and perishable so that we may know that the believers who
have already been saved were not (properly speaking) confused, fainthearted and
discouraged at the tribulations which Paul had to suffer unto bonds as a prisoner at
Rome, unto whom he says that his tribulations for them were an honor (or to their
glory).
He who would look at the tribulation of the ambassadors of Christ with the eyes of men
and understands nothing of the purpose of God, nor of the way of life, takes offense at
this messenger of Christ and thinks it is something false and perverted or these men
would not fare thus; they would not be so slandered and censured with every offense and
shame. He who does not understand the mystery of following after Christ will take
offense at His messengers being slandered as evil141
doers. But he who has looked into the mystery of Christ (for He, Christ, the Son of God,
through suffering entered into glory) , will not be offended at this way because His
followers do not let themselves be misled in the truth. The tribulations of them, who
preach Christ, is a mystery of humanity. The fact that they preach Him is a double
challenge.
From their preaching, one may know that the devil does not persecute or reject with
scorn what is not of God, for he knows it is for the salvation of man, but men must not
let themselves be misled by visible image of Christ, by His ambassadors, by the
acceptance of the Gospel which by them is brought about in the world.
By this word, "Wherefore," Paul now again connects the first verse of the third chapter.
Because the glory of the children of God is so great, it is also hidden for they have the
boldness to talk with God in secret. The whole world knows nothing of this and has no
perception of what a glory now already dwells in the children of God. Where the Lord
dwells within and where a human being has such a joyous access unto God, there is an
unending gloriousness which every person should desire.
The first objective since the creation by God is that mankind may be certain of what is in
God. The devil has, however, seduced men in the kingdom of this world and thereby
they have lost their
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connection with God. The glory of the children of God is hidden from the men of this
world. The children of God have an intimacy to their God and Father, and when men see
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this it is much more repulsive and obscure than if they accepted it. But now the glory of
the children of God is still hidden from them because they have no mind for it.
The kingdom of God must be within and not outside us. It must come into us; the
salvation of God, the fellowship of the living God must be presented to and enter into us
by Jesus Christ. That is why we must first believe what the Lord has done for us, that He
condemned sin in the flesh and that we can again have fellowship with God. As Adam
was before the fall, that would Christ restore in us. This glory of the children of God is
hidden within. He who has nothing of this, of course, cannot see anything of it. Should
he hear about it, there is more often contradiction than acceptation and reception.
Paul, as one in bonds, gave thanks and bows his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, namely for the fellowship of all those who through the Gospel have come unto
this knowledge and fellowship, in whom the purpose of God was attained. For all of
those, of whom the whole of the Father's house is joined together, Paul would bow his
knees. God is the Father of one family. The old man came to an end in Christ, in Whom
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God builded an house composed of His children in the New Testament. This house is the
house to which God gave His grace and name and by such who has been saved by Him.
He is called upon as Father. Henceforth all those who have boldness and access unto the
Father comprise the house.
We must be in Christ if we are to belong to Christ: for this reason we have God for our
Father. There is no child of God except in the Son. The Father gave into the keeping of
the Son all things —power, authority, dominion, principalities, all things have been
given over to Him. There is no child of God outside of Christ, for he is instead a child of
this world and in the disposition of the devil. Everyone by nature is a child of the devil.
(This one must believe.) In Adam, we are not children of God, but strangers, enemies; in
Christ, however, we are children. As soon as we are in Christ and by faith and being
born again, we are new creatures; become manifest constituents of Him. We will openly
express ourselves to one another if we follow after and have confessed Him.
All the reconciled will be made one with Him (verses 17 and 18) . That is whereunto we
are called, to become intrinsically bound to Him, that the Holy Ghost dwell in us (or
Christ in our hearts) . By the hearing of the Word it must needs come to this, so that we
do not determine things for ourselves but become united with Him Who
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has purchased us. If Christ is in us then the world hates us. The devil and the world will
hate Christ and we cannot escape that once we have received the nature of Christ so that
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we are closer to Him Who came as a servant than we are to Adam. Not all men will
come closely unto Him for they do not believe this and count it as a lie, deception,
fanaticism and extravagance.
We are no longer created in His likeness, so the earthly disposition of the flesh must be
done away with by Christ. Until one is crucified with Christ so that the old man is
superseded, righteousness cannot be served, and if for that reason we are persecuted and
hated we shall rejoice for it is the world that hates and persecutes us. Satan would rob
us, as he did Adam, of what we received in Christ. Thus he seeks to also re-rob the few
redeemed ones and exerts all his power to torment them. About whom is he storming so
furiously? Not against his own children, but against God's. If they did not have such a
glory, the devil would not seek to rob them. Let each one preserve what he has received
lest Satan rob him of it. The inner retirement of the children of God should be a comfort.
A child of God can suffer all things for the fellowship of his inner man with Christ,
without going backwards one step.
Because the Lord loves His children so dearly, He permits them to suffer in this world
for the sake of the future glory (Romans 5) . One must
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also set himself right with respect to affliction. Not only is it the hope of glory, but
sorrows and tribulations lead the way to glory. We must take part in and battle with them
unto blood to be a follower of Jesus Christ so that we do not let ourselves be robbed of
our crown. Previously, the devil in sin was within; now he comes to us from without.
One who now already enjoys the inner blessedness will endure all things for the sake of
the hope of glory. We must, therefore, be proved by fire, as gold. Later the hope of
blessedness comes, but unto the soul out of Christ it is hidden (I Corinthians 2) . Let no
one be alarmed by the tribulations which come upon him for Christ's sake. In following
Christ, we must go the way of sorrows or we do not become worthy of the future glory
(Luke 2 :4) . We as a race shall become a people of God, in the Son. He is the Heir and
with Him we shall inherit from the same body (the church) of which we must be
manifest members. He who belongs to the church of God is a member of the body of
Christ. By baptism he is incorporated with Him. The entire assembly is filled of Christ,
filled with His glory. People do not know this and they will call us fools. We must,
therefore, be on our guard that we do not cast our confidence away before swine and
dogs.
Repentance and faith must be preached to those who are without, for might and power
are here.
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Christ's Spirit, who teaches the children of God, for His sake, to surrender all—father,
mother, brother, sister, house and home and one's whole life. He can leave it all to attain
this inner glory which is the family house of God.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth., and length,
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God.
That about which Paul concerned himself, in His incessant prayer and supplication to the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Whom he bowed his knees, he sums up in the
words of the sixteenth verse and also in the following verses which now come to our
closer observation. Paul was very much concerned about all who became believers of
Jesus Christ, that they may be strengthened with might in the inner man. First we have
here the expression, "the inner man." Paul distinguishes between the outer and the inner
man. One can behold the outer man but not the inner one, yet he is present and he is the
more essential. The outer man is for a time only the mask of the inner
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one. In this outercovering the inner man must be sustained and through it the inner man
is productive, not merely as an animal which will also labor with its physical body if
driven thereto. On the contrary, man's physical body in this world is actuated from
within, for to that degree we have been preferred above the animals. In the beginning
God imparted this unto man so that he could live in divine understanding and rectitude
on the earth.
When God first created man, He made him after the outer and inner man (as he still is) ,
visible and invisible and from the beginning he was appointed to be occupied in the
body. But, alas, the inner man is the essential one, the spirit and the soul of man. So
according to the spirit of man, which dwells in him, are also his works. either good or
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evil. We need only know the inner man whom one does not see, but who indeed
manifests himself through performance by the outer man. The inner man is originally
created after God, in righteousness, sanctity and truth, in the knowledge of his Creator.
This was his superiority over all other creatures. Man alone could know his Creator, for
an animal does not know Him Who made it nor does the animal have a development or
activity of its own volition so as to elevate itself to the knowledge of its Creator. But to
man God gave to know Him Who made him and he is able to give his Creator the honor,
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which is due Him, in a spirit of truth and righteousness suitable to God.
This inner man has become perverted by the devil, by the sin which the enemy
introduced in the physical, the visible. That is why man was diverted from his delight in
God so that the inner man, so to speak, can no longer develop life. The life, of the inner
man, is his joy and pleasure in God and, in this respect, everyone by nature is dead and
in this joy and pleasure of the world the soul is reconciled. However, the soul of man
borders on the physical, as the spirit does on God. If the spirit were a clear mirror we
would be associated with God and have our joy and pleasure in Him. If the spirit lives in
God then it is efficacious because the soul has no delight in the world but in God. By
this meditation the spirit, in a divine way, is active for God. Thus was man, from the
beginning ; thus God created him, in order that he, in the spirit, have fellowship with his
Creator and a familiar acquaintance with Him. Having no need of fear toward Him, he
could rejoice in Him. Only after sin came was it necessary for man to fear God and hide
himself and be ashamed for he was no longer as he was before that time. Then, fallen
man knew of his fall. He lost his inner access to God. The devil brought this about by
false representation and man had to seek and restore that which he had lost so that he
would not be eternally lost.
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God allows to be preached through the Gospel that man is fallen, that he has no delight,
'no pleasure in Him, for all passed over to the earthly —the lust of the eyes, lust of the
flesh, and the pride of life.
These are the idols of men and they offer themselves up to them. It would be impossible
for man to remain in this condition if he were not so blinded by the devil.
When man again has the good, then he knows how far he had fallen. Adam, but not his
children, realized this. There is no longing for God in man, he is satisfied with that
which is in the world. This, namely, is the kingdom of the devil because they love what
is in the world. After the inner man, man is dead. This love of the world is really the
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death and fall of man and in this condition he is lost and unhappy. When he dies, he is
dead in God. Satan is the god whom all men worship in this world. The adversary of
God is the devil, whom they worship in many forms. Everyone, without exception, is
lost in this condition if he has not been converted to God and must seek what he lost.
For the sake of this first estate, Christ has to appear so that God can set us right again, so
that we shall not abide in this wretched estate of death, but come to the estate of the
spirit, life in Christ. The Gospel serves to the end that man must again associate with
God and this inner man must be
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redisclosed because we, by nature, have no access to God. Just as the Israelites on
Mount Sinai fled one and all when they heard His voice, so far is natural man removed
that when God speaks they all hasten away (Exodus 19;18) . When God appears in
another form as He did in Jesus Christ, then He is too lowly for them. When He speaks
in His glory they disappear; when He speaks to them in love, He is too lowly for them.
Thus they slight Him. When he invites them to salvation, they decline the invitation.
They cannot and do not wish to accept this.
Jesus likens it to a feast (Matt. 22:1-10)
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for
his son.
And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and
they would not come.
Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden,
Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and
all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his
merchandise:
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew
them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies,
and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were
bidden were not worthy.
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Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the
marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as
many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with
guests.
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a glorious banquet held by a man of great wealth, which according to the way of the
worldly opinion is the greatest kind of a celebration. Jesus invites everyone, but they do
not care to come. They have no understanding for that which is of God. Their inner man
is dead and has become extinct. That is why the invitation is but closed doors. They all
make excuses and seek their own matters in the world which are much dearer and much
more important to them.
We shall, however, not only anticipate this in the natural man, but in those who have not
yet come unto their divine calling who, when one questions them, are even less apt to
respond than the heathen. It is repulsive to them. They turn their ears away from the
truth, hither to rumors, lies and fables (as Paul said more than 1800 years ago) . If he
who is lost will be converted to God again, he discards these and will not hear much less
accept them.
Does God want to put an eternal curse on us? No indeed, He would but bring us into His
likeness again. In each case, it is failure of the inner man, he is dead, not merely sick.
But there is no exigency here. From this condition one must again be restored by Jesus
Christ and God, according to His hidden wisdom even before Christ was come, had a
remedy to put that one, who by nature is altogether ungodly, blind and dead, into a state
of susceptibility, a state of desire. This desire is
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brought about by living a life unto God. All that hunger and thirst after righteousness
shall be filled. Man must be placed in the middle place of crying and service unto the
living God. Under the law there is no satisfaction, but Christ will bring us to this
perfection. He is the object and the end of the law. That is why He would restore that
which we lack. He alone can cause the necessity and the longing. "Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness . . . " (Matt. 5:6) . In this situation there is
a remedy—one is no longer altogether insensibly dead. By the law he was placed into
this condition, and into this condition he must come if Christ is to accept him. (Romans
7:18) :
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) , dwelleth no good thing : for to
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will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
The false theology and christology of our time assert that man does not have an inner
man; that one would do the good but the law opposes the law of the mind and takes him
captive and he cannot do that which he would; that the mind of man would do the good,
but he cannot—the power is not here. For this reason the theology of our time is
fundamentally erroneous because it teaches that man would not do the good. A heathen
can even do what the law demands by nature. Because they have no law, they are a law
unto themselves (Romans 2:14) . Even a
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heathen, by reason of the inner law, can refrain from that which is forbidden in the old
law; namely, "Thou shalt not steal, not kill, not commit adultery," etc. He can observe
this. Paul maintains that the natural man has the law of the inner man within him. Fallen
man also has an inner man, who gives promises of doing the good. If he but had the
power to do this, he would be on the way to God (Romans 8) .
What was impossible under the law, God fulfilled and made good by the sending of His
Son. For this, the law needed only to break away and accomplish a longing and
susceptibility for salvation. The natural man has no power, under the law, unto good and
none against evil, until he has been baptized into Christ's death and has, thereby, been
placed in a condition of perfection. The old man must die and become renewed by the
inner man for as long as one lives according to the law, he is completely dead and
extinct. But when he comes under the law he is susceptible for God; as soon as he
recognizes that he cannot be a child of God in the condition of sin. The law cannot place
us in a state of accomplishment, it can merely bring about a desire and longing. Jesus
Christ places those who formerly were unhappy into a condition of perfection; all who
have believed and were baptized, in which condition they can resist every temptation.
They are strong and powerful to resist all temptations. This is a battle, not
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against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers which have dominion
in the air. The inner man should be strengthened so that he can resist every attack against
all that could take us out of perfection. It is necessary for us to get into such a sound,
strong condition after the inner man. We must not only want to do, but actually do the
good.
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CHAPTER XVI. POWERS IN THE INNER MAN.
Ephesians 3:16-21
GOD gives the strength to become strong according to the riches of His glory, by His
spirit to become strong after the inner man. The apostle refers to the fulfillment of his
prayers and his sincere wish for the perfection of his brethren in Christ by the riches of
the glory of God. From the riches of His glory, the Father in heaven also effects within
us such strength and might. By this we learn from whence, when we feel weak, we must
get strength. We must pray God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that, according to the
riches of His glory, we may draw the strength of the spirit unto us. The apostle uses the
expression, "riches of the glory of God," so that we may trustingly pray unto Him for
power to become strong after the inner man (John 17:22, 23) .
And the glory which thou gayest me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me.
It comes forth from His glory, an emanation of that which the Father gave His Son: it is
riches of His glory in God. He can give as much as He
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will and he to whom He gives becomes strong with power in the inner man.
But if we should ask why it is necessary to receive such strength of God by His spirit for
the inner man, the reason is two-fold, why we must be mightily strengthened after the
inner man by God so that we can do His will. We cannot fulfill the will of God if He
does not strengthen us with might by His spirit. Doing the will of God includes all things
that are good and well-pleasing before Him. We have to do such in this world so that He
is praised, honored, and glorified by us in Christ Jesus. If we desire to honor and glorify
God, then we have to receive power from Him—it comes from Him and reverts to Him.
It is the spirit of power that bestows this might, this soundness in the spirit so that we
grow strong in Christ unto manhood and after the inner man do not murmur like feeble,
helpless little children. When by nature we were under the law, above all things we had
the desire but we could not bring it unto accomplishment because we lacked the power.
This power the Holy Ghost must impart unto us so that it is possible for us to do the will
of God. For the inner law of God, which appeared to us by Christ, applied to the
commission, the doing of the good will of God, not merely for the omission. (1) The will
of God in us is of itself sanctification. (2) With respect to our fellowmen, if we would
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and should do the will of God, it is
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our life. With respect to ourselves so that we become sanctified, the Holy Ghost must
give us the power thereunto; soundness and strength to the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ, for us to be wholly sanctified on earth according to the will of the
Father in heaven. If the same spirit is efficacious in us, we have the power to love others
sincerely and without guile; the love of the brethren toward those who are in Christ and
the love of our neighbor to those who are not in Him so as to be mindful of their
salvation which is to come. For this we must have power in the inner man to be
strengthened to overcome the temptations of the evil one to whom we are exposed in the
world so that we are not re-taken captive and become ensnared into this confused
condition.
Precisely this Christ, Who died for us through weakness (II Corinthians 13:4)
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of
God. For we also are weak in him but we shall live with him by the power of
God toward you.
would live in us by power of faith on Him. He died on the cross to make us strong after
the inner man so that one would no longer be subjected to the evil, but have Christ
dwelling within him. It is not enough, according to the Gospel, to believe only when it is
good for our sins: Christ must live in us as our life, as eternal life that shall not pass
away. That is the crown of our work of salvation which Christ has revealed to us on
earth.
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Without that, no one can hope to come to the future glory. He can, however, when sin
has been abolished in one and Christ dwells within him and he is filled with fruits of
righteousness by the will of God as He would live in every person. If Christ is in us, then
it is the power of Christ which fills us. We do not have to complain of our weakness, but
Christ must dwell in us. Where Christ does not live, there the devil resides and is in
control. If it is not Christ Who dwells within, then it is the devil who uses us for his
work. Naturally, when Christ lives in us with His Holy Spirit, then it is certain that we
are strong in the inner man. That is easy enough: it is a matter of the Nature without
which we cannot attain.
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CHAPTER XVII. THE MYSTERY OF GOD, HIDDEN IN CHRIST, AND ITS
FOUR, DIMENSIONS.
Holy Thursday, April 2, 1847—Ephesians 3:17-22
THE ultimate purpose for which God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the flesh
and which should be attained in all the faithful who believe on Him, is this, that Christ
by faith dwells in our hearts. Faith in Christ must lead to this if it be of the right kind—
that Christ lives in our hearts as He lives with the Father in heaven—so that we, thus
rooted and grounded in His love, are in a position to comprehend what is the breadth and
length and depth and height, and indeed, to comprehend with all the saints. For it is a
concern of the saints to comprehend the mystery of God which is hidden in Christ in all
its survey and extent in breadth, length, height and depth. The apostle was so very much
concerned that all believers attain thereunto that he made it the chief purpose of his
intercession, that He grant you power and strength according to the riches of His glory to
become strong by His spirit in the inner man (verses 17 and 18) .
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No one is able to comprehend this except the saints in whose hearts Christ dwells. To the
rest, this mystery of what the breadth, length, depth and height is, remains hidden. What
did Paul understand and denote by these four dimensions? What shall we, with all saints,
learn to comprehend of His expanse? It is nothing other than Christ Himself, the
mystery, which God revealed in the New Testament by the Gospel (made known by the
apostles) and just for that reason it is important for us that we receive the power of
Christ in us so that we do not have a human conception of the work of salvation but,
instead, are able and do have a mind to divinely comprehend it. It is not a human
conception, for that standard is too meager to grasp the things of God. No unredeemed,
no unreconciled, worldly, sensual, unholy person can comprehend. He thinks it.
perverted, and foolishness and speaks accordingly of it (II Corinthians 2) .
Another scale must be given us to understand these things. Our thoughts and mind and
measure are much too weak to grasp such things. That is why it is that men who have
heard of it in a human, perceptive, mechanical way only ruin and pervert it. What they
utter is only empty talk without power, for the within-dwelling Christ effects the power
to glorify the will of God through us so that we become wholly sanctified in order to
follow after Him in spirit, soul and body unto the
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coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, as He has gone before us. For Christ did not so act as
our substitute in His resignation unto death on the cross, so that we would have nothing
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more to do. It is Christ in us Who prepares us so that we can enter into the glory which
He has possessed. What Christ did for us on the cross was, namely, to bring out the
indwelling devil so as to first overcome his kingdom and then set up God's kingdom in
man. As Christ lives in us, if we have become believers, thus has the devil heretofore
dwelt in us and beguiled us so that we were enemies of God and are condemned. The
love of God is that Christ (in place of the devil) lives in our hearts and fills us with His
power. He blazed the trail and we must follow after Him.
But there is no one who can follow Him unless the work of Satan has been overthrown.
Then He lives in us and indeed in the power of the Spirit. Herein is the breadth, length,
depth and height, as in any structure on earth (for instance, a house) . As Moses,
according to length, breadth, depth and height, was to make a house of God on earth as it
was shown to him from heaven. Thus it came about that the Spirit of God set up an
house, in which Christ would live in His entire fulness, not a fallow, empty shadow; not
a flowing, idle, barren matter of words but Christ, in all His fulness, shall dwell in us
and for that reason we should comprehend what is the length, breadth,
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depth and height of His' tabernacle just as the one which Moses had to prepare after the
pattern which was shown to him. Thus, in its full extent, must this mystery of Christ be
fulfilled in us by the spirit of God so that God may live in us as in His temple (chapter
2:22) .
When we become sanctified by the indwelling of Christ, are builded up again like an
house and God lives in us, then a power is in us. It is not Christ only in length and
breadth as He would be made known to man by the Gospel. We dare not so comprehend
Him, only according to length and breadth, or He would merely have a base, a footing
and no embrace: no depth and height. He also has depth and height which He includes,
and if Paul understood what Christ had done for our reconciliation, he understood that
revelation of Christ in us whereby He would also fill us and inhabit us with His spirit.
Christ is not merely preached as One Who died for our sins, but He is also the One Who
arose and/sits at the right hand of God, so that God lives in their hearts. He occupies
much room. If He would dwell in us, He would occupy it all and the devil must be
overthrown in us. God would dwell in us in His power. For Christ does not dwell within,
where men only want to make excuses, but He lives there, where He Himself does the
will of God in us for we are not qualified of ourselves.
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The great love which God has revealed unto us is in which one can live in its entire
cubical contents. We preach a Christ Who lives in us and sanctifies us by His spirit
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according to His depths and heights. It is a filling full; His dwelling in us in all power
and love, rooted and grounded in depth and height so that a house will be erected for
Him. It descends to depths and rises to heights if we would comprehend the whole
mystery in the spirit and life. We understand that it was not only the intention that Christ
die for us, but that He live in us by sanctification. That is the real aim: He would glorify
sanctification in us so that we do not love sin but so that Christ dwell within us with the
mind of His life in His depth and height, as He descended and ascended, in order that we
are filled with all the fulness of God, to know the all-overflowing love of Christ. Paul
simply mentions the four dimensions, but he does not say what he meant. We must
understand and comprehend it as the mystery of Christ, towit: (1) After the flesh He died
for us: after the spirit that He live in us: in length and breadth; (2) in depth and height
(Luke 14) , that the house not merely have a foundation, footing or a base, but be a
detailed, appointed and complete house.
One kind of believers of the world know to only speak of their weakness; that Christ
died for us. They hear of Him only concerning length and breadth. They have only the
appearance, the
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form, and not the power of godliness. They have accepted and apprehended nothing of
Christ. The most important thing for us is that He dwell in us, have also depth and
height. No one can build an house without the foundation of Christ; without Christ's
blood. By repentance, faith and baptism, the apostles lay the foundation. By repentance
the depths are digged, by faith the foundation is laid in the excavation, and by baptism
will Christ dwell therein. What is a faith where one speaks only of Christ's blood and
says nothing of His spirit, a spirit that actuates power in us? (II Timothy 2) All who
desire a godly life must suffer hardship.
Man would accept Christ as One Who has died for them and shed His blood unto the
forgiveness of their sins. They do not accept Christ so as to have Him dwell in them in
all the power of the spirit. Not only did He die. He also arose and lives in us (II Timothy
3) . These deny the power of godliness; have merely the length and breadth; the depth
and height they do not have. They laugh at that. They do not know Him according to His
depth and height, that He lives in them, but will accept Him as having died for them, for
their sins, according to length and breadth.
Who can understand and comprehend what Paul understood according to his spirit and
mind. Here human opinions and comprehensions avail nothing, instead the standard
must be given us and learned
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by the Holy Ghost to know what the length and breadth and depth and height are, else
we do not comprehend it and only become confused in false opinions and conceptions.
The intention of the apostle in this is that we might comprehend what it really is to have
God dwell in us in all the power of the spirit; what a capacity God would fill in us. No
unsanctified or natural man knows this, but the sanctified do, for they experience it
every day so that they become filled—filled with the love of God and with power.
Luther translated verse 19 as it is, but he did not seize the meaning of the words. He
expressed his own opinion: he did not translate what he thought it meant and the way he
understood it. Now what does "To know the love of Christ" mean? The love of Christ is
partly active and partly passive. We read what this love is (in I John, chapters 3 and 5) ,
that we keep His commandments and they are not grievous. It does not here speak of the
love of God to us, but of our love to God, that we keep His commandments. We should
know the all-surpassing love of Christ: it is not alone the love which God has to us-ward
(Romans 8:39) , but our love to Him as well. Paul here also means our love to God, that
nothing is able to separate us from the love which is in Christ Jesus.
The love of God toward us is incomprehensibly and unspeakably great: it passes
knowledge. Our
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love to God means to love Christ to a degree which exceeds all bounds. Paul said that
the love of God passes all knowledge, the love with which God loved us; the love which
He shed abroad in our hearts by His Holy Ghost. It is superabundant, that we, being
rooted and grounded in it, shall comprehend with all the saints the breadth, length, depth
and height that we may know the love of God which passes all knowledge.
It is already true that, from the love which Christ had to us and the love which we have
to Him if He dwells with us, nothing is able to separate us, not even death. It is indeed a
love which He manifests in us. The love of God has appeared in that He sent His Son.
The love to God on our part is that we love Him above all things and consider Him our
Highest Good, higher than life itself. He gives this to us so that we love Him. He sets
His kingdom up in us so that we love Him and keep His commandments and that He
might (again) have the glory in us which He lost in Adam.
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CHAPTER XVIII. LENGTH AND BREADTH.
Ephesians 3;19-22
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grounded in love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length,
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen.
HERE Paul comes to the climax of how he would construct the entire edifice. In these
five verses he describes the gloriousness and blessedness of those who are in Christ,
gloriousness and blessedness with which nothing in the whole world can compare,
namely, that the saints and believers in Christ shall now be filled with all the fulness of
God ; or it may also be said, filled to all the fulness of God, as the apostle said in the
twenty-third verse of the first chapter. The church is the fulness of the Lord, " . . . of him
that filleth all in all." To this intent, Paul says here in the nineteenth verse (third
chapter) , "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be
filled with all the fulness of God."
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Thus the fulness of God is also according to that which is contained in the twenty-third
verse of the first chapter. The church, the body of Christ, is to fill all in all, and God
would thus fill the church as Christ's body, that all who belong thereto are filled with
Christ to all the fulness of God.
The church on earth, being Christ's body in which His spirit dwells, aims at this highest
goal and purpose, and that Paul also meant this here is shown by the two last verses. To
God the Father, Who effects all such things in Christ Jesus, His Son, and leads a church
out of the world, all the glory is due, for what He does for us to bring us to Christ and to
unite us eternally with His church. The church is the goal—not here, but in eternity. She
is in the state of being betrothed. The church has only been started. The brideship is still
to come. So we must know whether we belong to it and not deceive ourselves or let
ourselves be deceived like the people of the world who like to be misled—just so Christ
does not dwell in them in this time is the way most nominal Christians feel about it.
It is a very difficult matter for one to be healed from his falsity, until his emptiness (his
nothingness) in Christ is known to him. For one cannot be filled with the fulness of God
unless he acknowledges his emptiness or is no longer associated with the world, is no
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longer one with it as the so-called church and the world are one. If we
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belong to the church which is Christ's body, then we are still in a state of being
betrothed; the marriage of the Lamb has not yet taken place and all the saints wait until
now. And we, if we have all become saints and have been filled with the fulness of God,
also wait for the appearance of Jesus Christ for to them is the crown of righteousness
promised, and meanwhile they prepare themselves in that the whole fulness of God is
contained in them so that they who are in the world know what Christ has done for us.
The apostle gives God the glory in what he has previously portrayed —for what God has
manifested to man and here already gives, for what God does for His church in that they
are filled with all power if we are in Christ and God's spirit dwells in us, for all things
are from Him and also what happens.
We shall not take those for an example who do not do His will. In that we shall be strong
people, and shall not be ashamed of it. On the contrary if we are saints, we are also
permitted to suffer offense and persecution. If we do not run along with them and do the
scandalous things they do, then we are slandered and caluminated by those who also call
themselves Christians. But are they filled with all the fulness of God with which we
should be filled to the glory of God?
We, if we are converted, shall not seek our own honor, but God's so that He becomes
glorified in us when we are reviled and slandered for His
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name's sake. Are we His glory if we do as the nominal Christians, or would His name
not be blasphemed instead? Were we filled before with all the fulness of God? It is
easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one to be able of himself,
of his own satiety and sufficiency to come to Christ.
One must first acknowledge his emptiness—that he has nothing—is poor and vain and
an enemy of God. "Blessed are the poor in spirit . . . so that we may be the image of
God. But instead of that the devil is in men with all his fulness. That is why the unclean,
evil, devilish matter of being one's own self must be poured out. Then God can be
glorified by us, not with idle words but with our entire life. Then He offers us His entire
fulness so that all, who were added to the church, become filled with the Holy Ghost.
For in sinners God is dishonored; in the saints He is glorified. If we know Christ in His
entire capacity, as He has revealed Himself to us, then we can do His will in all power so
that God will be honored and glorified by us in all the offenses, mockery, lies and
hardships which come upon us. God is never better glorified by us than when we are
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greatly slandered, for by that it is manifest that His power worketh with might in us and
conquers the whole world.
We must rightly know and understand what Paul says, that God's power worketh in us
strong
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and mightily, and he speaks thus of himself and of all the saints. We shall all be filled
that way, that all become filled with the power of God. The more we are filled with it,
the more Christ is glorified in us. All believers and saints shall be endowed with the
fulness of God and shall be glorified. The devil is honored in sinners, for they belong to
him. Everyone who hears the good tidings and does not believe, gives the devil glory
twofold—already in Adam and because he does not become converted and grows in his
old evil way on account of not having accepted the grace of God. That is why the saints
and believers have to be provided with all the fulness of God. As soon as we belong to
Christ we are slandered and persecuted by those who are the nominal Christians in the
world. That is why the state church is not the body of Christ, for the fulness of God is
not in it. Each one who wishes to become converted, must be purged of his devilish
ways. All children of God give glory unto the Father and live according to Him, as
Christ did. That is why they are His children, blessed and sanctified. All children of sin,
the children of the devil, give their father glory and live according to him.
God would do more than we ask and understand to ask. He who receives nothing does
not pray; he who asks, receives. We, after the evil has been removed from us, have to
pray to God for His spiritual gifts. The time of this evacuation
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is in repentance, when one, with tears, must acknowledge and be sorry for his lot; seek
what is in God and receive the spirit of redemption, so that we no longer live and love
ourselves as we previously did, but rather we have the mind of God so that we seek that
which is our Saviour's, Jesus Christ's, in order that His name be glorified in us. He, who
does not have this, should not say, "I am also a Christian."
We shall not draw back but open wide our mouths fraught with words and ask that He
fill us and that we glorify Him. He will give unto those who are empty so that there is no
mixture of the good with the bad. The old, the devil, must vacate; the new, which is
Christ, must come in. It, therefore, depends on whether one so lives that the life of Christ
is honored and glorified, or whether he belongs to the state-church. If one seeks the
glory of God, then it will be made manifest by the seal, for he on that account is
slandered and rejected with scorn.
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The devil will, of course, put up with an affected piety as long as he has his abode and
dominion within one's heart, but when he is dispossessed, destroyed, and extirpated and
one becomes reconciled with Christ and lives a godly life—that is too much for him
(Romans 1) . All sinners blaspheme God until they are converted; afterwards, it is
otherwise. Then a new life begins and then God is glorified by us. When we are
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rightly slandered, then we belong to the church. God is a Saviour to all men; a Saviour
to the believers. Here the church is where Christ is glorified; where He dwells in each
heart and God is given glory; not where each one seeks his own honor in the world.
Jesus knows very well when one, who calls upon Him, is filled with the power of the
spirit. Here one shall see what happens when each one asks and receives. Here the devil
is driven out and one receives the good.
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CHAPTER XIX.
THE DEPTH AND HEIGHT.
Easter Sunday, April 4, 1847—Ephesians 4:1 ff.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called.
WE HAVE seen at the close of the third chapter how the apostle sets the church forth in
his letter, up to her perfection and consummation in the spirit as having been filled with
the fulness of God, according to length, breadth, depth and height. We have with that
considered how that which Paul calls breadth and length is the knowledge of Christ
inasmuch as the same are only revealed as the pattern by the spirit of truth, but by depth
and height he means the life of Christ which is manifested in the church as a
representation of His hidden glory and blessedness.
Now as soon as he has come to this climax and has given God, the Father, the glory for
what He does for His church, he comes to the exhortatory part by precisely which the
church should be properly edified in depth and height. The knowledge of Christ, how He
would dwell and become glorified in His church are the length and breadth. Thus the
depth and height are the love which Christ by His spirit pours out in us, and in that
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Christ lives in power and that is just what Paul has explained in the nineteenth verse of
the third chapter. He combines in four words, knowledge and love which he previously
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had comprehended. Knowledge as length and breadth, but love as depth and height, so
that we do not only know Him but love Him and that He lives in us and we keep His
commandments. Thus Paul continues on and admonishes the church to fulfill what is
imposed as a duty upon those in whom Christ dwells so that He may have a church
which is glorious and perfect.
We must also do something for the church. Paul continues and makes the believers and
saints responsible so that Christ is not manifested in us merely in knowledge (length and
breadth) but also in His life (depth and height) (I Corinthians 13) . "Knowledge puffeth
up, but charity edifieth." Knowledge is the fundament, but to have Christ dwelling in
one's heart and to be filled by Him., that is edification; that is charity. Breadth and length
is a plane surface. In this we know Christ, but depth and height are a sphere in which
God would live; length and breadth and depth and height are Christ in other dimensions.
Length and breadth are how Christ is proclaimed and preached; depth and height are
where Christ will live and be glorified.
Now Paul comes and exhorts so that the believers know what they have to do. It is not a
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mere knowing. He would live in us that we now already are redeemed by love, for love
blesses one and is blessed. Mere knowledge is only a superficiality and we have nothing
in that, but we do in depth and height, in the dimensions in which the ediffice exists.
Now Paul, here in these three chapters, shows in what the house of God consists. Here
we are also helpers and we must put our hand to it and work so that we endure, not as in
the world where all is full of knowledge and no heart is filled with love.
They have Christ only according to length and breadth and not according to the other
dimensions and still they call themselves Christians, without having Him dwelling
within them, but only after knowledge. Knowledge and love are, therefore, two parts;
knowledge is length and breadth; love is depth and height. Thus the church stands erect.
Here all shall be spiritual. Not merely the preachers who say that they are spiritual, but
all are to be in Christ and Christ in them. But we ourselves must be awakened so that we
are co-helpers on the edifice because no one, out of Christ, has Him dwelling within. So
to this complete work Paul is advancing in the fourth chapter.
In the first three chapters he sets forth knowl edge, the fundament. Now he comes and
exhorts as one who is called. With each letter—first we have the part of instruction and
then the exhortatory part as we also found in the Epistle to the
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Romans. From the first to the twelfth chapter inclusive, is the instruction part and from
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the twelfth chapter on is the part of admonition. The intent and contents are the same as
here; the first part is what we should be and the second, the application of the power so
that we are co-helpers for edification in Christ and work as laborers putting our hand to
the house of God. First is the setting forth of the calling—he writes to such who have
been called. The calling is of God—God calls men by the Gospel. When He calls they
should be obedient, not only be hearers but hear with their hearts and be obedient. The
calling of God by the Gospel is in and by itself something general. It concerns all men;
all should be called and come to His knowledge and be saved. God would that many be
helped. He is a Saviour for all men and especially for those who believe—on whom the
call was established. What does God want when He calls men? He wants them to be
converted and saved from sin and death, unto life.
Are men still being called? Does God still have criers in our time who call the people
that they hear as John was a crier in the wilderness—"Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight'? There are criers enough in the world (I Corinthians 14) , but do
they really preach repentance so that people are converted and understand what the
purpose of such a crier means? One who summons to repentance should come from
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God and be appointed of Him. Of himself, no one can call and know that men are
ruined. People are considered altogether much better than they really are. That is why all
should be called and converted or they will be lost. If they accept this they become
converted; if they do not, then they are lost and they themselves are responsible
CHAPTER XX. INFANT BAPTISM - A DECEPTION.
A CRIER must proclaim to men that they are all outright of the devil, for Satan has his
kingdom in all men through Adam. There are preachers enough in the world, but none
calls to repentance. Why . . . ? Because they think people are Christians to begin with, so
wherefore the need to call them to repentance? John says, " . . . The axe is laid unto the
root of the trees . . . " The tree that is trimmed at the top looks very well indeed, and
beautiful, more so than if it had a wild appearance. We must penetrate through to the
roots, not at the branches. This avails nothing, for when one cuts them off there they
only become still more lovely and burst forth the more. But when the roots are struck
one has to convert himself from the ground up or he remains as he is and becomes still
worse. Men must despair altogether so that they have to believe. Then things will be
better. When the roots are hewn at with an axe so the old trees are felled and new ones
grow up, the real repentance-preachers start. But how is that possible when eight-day old
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children are baptized as Christians and afterwards one comes with
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penitence and penitence-preaching? John says, "0 generation of vipers, who bath warned
you . . . ?"
The flesh can only moralize, cut off the top of the old tree and mend it. The old nature,
however, is still there. Paul says, "I beseech you as called ones of the vocation." One
cannot exhort those who are not called and reborn. When God calls it is decisive
preaching. The preachers of penitence whom God awakens and sends must tell men that
they all belong to Satan. "You must be converted or you will be lost." When one speaks
thus to men, they are frightened. No other greater calamity than infant baptism has the
devil brought forth since the creation of the world, and with that he ruined the whole
church of Christ. Now one can no longer say, "You have the devil for a father," for they
say that they are already all Christians by reason of infant baptism. Are all men really of
God or are they all of Adam? The form with them is Christian-like, but their life and
conduct are heathenish. Are you called-ones of God, awakened and converted, reborn, or
are you here as children of the devil from Adam?
Infant baptism is deception. No change has taken place in men and no foundation at all
has been laid in them, which is, that one should believe on Jesus Christ Who has died.
That is according to the Gospel and then one is baptized into Christ's death and becomes
born again to the same knowledge. There is no one among us who
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has not perceived the call of God (Acts 2;17 and 1 8 ) .
For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.
Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling
headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
God will have no worship of idols. He wants the heart as an offering. Then we are
acceptable to Him. This time Christ has created that, in it, men shall be mortified unto
sin and become righteous by the righteousness of God and healed from the wounds
which Satan has inflicted. Christ would occupy our heart with the delight and love of
Him, to make of it our holy temple, as God dwelt in the tabernacle, which is the church
and it has its habitation in the ark of the covenant. (Ephesians 4; 1 - 6 )
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called.
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another
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in love;
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
"I, therefore . . . , beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are
called." The apostle's exhorting the called of God to walk worthy of their vocation,
embraces much. We
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must know from whence God has called us, and we spoke of that this morning, that the
call of God comes upon men to draw them out of the power of Satan; out of the service
of sin. But the call of God has also an objective. We are called to something, namely, to
the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, to the fellowship of the Gospel unto
sanctification of the Spirit. God places His called ones in such new situations, in such a
dignity that we must walk conformably to this vocation and propriety, so that one can
see what it means to be called of God to the fellowship of Jesus Christ. The fellowship
of Jesus Christ namely, is the church, His body, of which Paul, up to here, has already
set forth enough about what the church of God, the body of Jesus Christ, is for us to
know how holy it is as an entirety and in its individual parts. No sinners come to the
church of the Son of God. Should one come to Him, he will be changed into a saint and
righteous person. As sinners we are not suitable for fellowship with Him. But Christ has
died so as to make saints and righteous men out of sinners and to place us into the power
of perfection, that no longer the spirit of the world dwell in us and have in us his work of
darkness, but the good, the Holy Spirit instead make us efficient in all good things.
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CHAPTER XXI. WALK WORTHY OF THE VOCATION
“. . . Walk worthy of the vocation.”
WE MUST rightly understand that, to walk as is befitting the called ones of God. Just
this is the point in question which Paul deals with in the three following chapters—what
becomes us as saints. Whereon we stand in an holy place, holy ground, like on the holy
mount, on which Moses had to take off his shoes. What is said here we must faithfully
keep. It is not something that we should do, but something that we as well want joyfully
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and willingly to do. That is why we have to search into what the apostle says, if a
Christian in his walk would be worthy of the vocation of God. In such a walk we are to
avoid all offense as concerns ourselves and others, wherein we also live to the glory of
God so that it becomes edification for all who are qualified for upbuilding in Christ. We
must be witnesses of the truth of all kinds of people so as to make of the children of the
devil children to Him so that things become new by reason of us. It is a question here,
however, concerning only those who are called, that they walk worthy of the vocation of
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God, without annoyance and offense, Paul says, "in all lowliness."
The first trait the apostle makes mention of as befitting the walk of the membership, is
called lowliness. In a child of God one should see true, sincere lowliness (which
alienates itself from all high-mindedness and the world-spirit) , as we see in Jesus Christ
Himself, Who descended from His glory and died on the tree of the cross. Every day and
at all times they beheld in Him a disposition of lowliness as one who would be as
nothing in this world. That is the distinguishing mark of one who is called and a saint—
he is lowly in heart (Philippians 2:1-8) . We are children of God in Christ, raised above
all things, above principalities, powers; raised to sovereign authority in Christ, the Son.
This does not puff us up in the flesh, on earth, for this exaltation brings us to His sincere
meekness and lowliness of mind, so that we are nothing in the world and seek not our
own things here but the salvation of others.
To be lowly does not mean to hang one's head, but to serve. To serve Christ requires a
disposition to withdraw from all that is considered great and be content even to be
slandered and have our name repudiated as dangerous people. For the children of this
world do not understand the love of the children of God which impels them to serve in
all lowliness. We dare not look upon the respect of men, but of Christ and rejoice when
the kingdom
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of God prospers. For this, lowliness is necessary—for pride is the devil's venom, which
is harmful to men and among the believers also, so that they do not become puffed up.
Thus, for example, pride is the hindrance for many who do not want to be judged by
men (John 12:47 and 48) , but as to their being judged at some future time by God, they
are not concerned.
Lowliness is truly the worthy vocation of a believer and saint. It is our vocation, that
God shall be our Father and we shall all be His sons and daughters. So we must walk in
all lowliness in order that we give ourselves completely over to the Lord to serve men,
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for they gave us nothing nor are they grateful to us. As soon as one forgets that he is in
the church of Christ he becomes high-minded. We shall not regard the opinion of men
but of God. If we are in. His grace and in His fellowship, then we are lowly in heart for
God would have it that we are also put to the test of men. In case a person, in whom
Satan has a disposition of high-mindedness, should be in the church, then he is a child of
bitterness to the whole membership. The apostle here speaks of our walk, "that ye walk
worthy," that we go forward in our walk before God in all lowliness and meekness—that
we are lowly and also meek. "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart," the
Saviour says. True lowliness and meekness in heart are of God, just as Christ in this was
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pleasing to the Father and was raised up to the right hand of God. Thus may we, as
partners and co-heirs, be certain of becoming participants in the future glory.
"Meekness." The manifest unkind, rude ways of the flesh must be put off and meekness
put on. The unlovely, headstrong, quarrelsome, avaricious, brutal, back-biting ways must
be put off. Our inner disposition is meekness. We should be free from high-mindedness
and also from anger and revenge, in order that we walk in all lowliness and meekness as
a testimony to men. Christ demonstrated such a lowly and meek character under all
circumstances. It must also be thus with our walk, so that our life may be an illustration
of what we preach, that we walk in the truth, not according to the flesh but according to
the spirit; meek in heart also toward those who are hard and rough with us. We must be
in the lowliness and meekness of Christ, as it were, protected in an armor so that the
enemy (high-mindedness and pride) cannot enter into our heart. Our heart must be
cleansed so that arrogance, anger, and self-righteousness may not be found in us who are
called of God. This is what serves unto edification of the house of God, that we are not
reborn in Adam but in Christ, and our hearts are renewed and we walk in Christ with all
longsuffering.
Longsuffering is such a characteristic quality of the person who is called of God that we
also, in
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this, manifest the mind of God. God in all instances is longsuffering. Slowness to anger
is an attribute which He Himself has proven to have, in that He does not permit us to be
provoked to anger at the malice of the children of the world, so that we do not allow
ourselves to become weary in our labor of the spirit and our work of love toward those
who offend us. For longsuffering is the root of charity (I Corinthians 13 :4) . This is the
long-suffering that is in God and the goodness which He renders to sinners. That shall
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also be manifest in us, so that we may be victorious by love and not be severity, or God
would not have sent His Son. Christ also showed to the highest degree, only
longsuffering toward all that men did to his sorrows. He did not do as He liked when
they abused Him. We should be indefatigable in our charity, for love is proved by deeds
even though we have to bear hardship, scorn, disgrace, persecution and maltreatment.
With love we shall even then proclaim what Christ has done for us. The called, in the
hand of God, can also be instruments in calling others.
(By way of example, a miller's man. A miller, a God-fearing man, wanted to win his
servant by love, and in longsuffering exhorted him to refrain from profanity. In the hope
of finding peace from the great annoyance of the longsuffering of this devout man, who
came to him a number of times about his cursing, the servant emptied a sack of
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meal over him. The miller, drenched white, walked away. The incident, however, moved
the servant and he recognized that he did wrong in that his employer admonished him
only in love, and the miller also won him. He became the fruit of his longsuffering. The
miller in spite of it all was not frightened away from him and the ungracious
servant was so moved and astonished at this that he was saved from his sins.)
If the devil were not in men, what need to preach the Gospel? But once one is awakened
to the fact that he is in the devil's power, he becomes converted. We must ever wait upon
hope, in patience and longsuffering. We dare not become weary. In patience, we must
complete our work and manifest patience and longsuffering unto men for they are
impenitent and perverted so that they continually contradict the Gospel of Christ.
Easter Monday, April 5, 1847—Ephesians 4:1-6
More than we considered yesterday pertains to that which the apostle meant when he
said, "Walk worthy" of the vocation wherewith you have been called" ; namely, what he
further says here, " .. . Forbearing one another in love." Paul says this to the saints as a
precept as to how they should be minded among one another. The precept is love.
Notwithstanding Paul adds a special statement to it. "Forbear one another in love." The
children of God should be forbearing with one another and
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forbearing toward animosity or impatience. This stipulation, which Paul has especially
noted, has reference moreover to our going the way of our pilgrimage in love, for one
might think it were something too humble for those who love one another in Christ to
have to be indulgent with one another, to whom love were in and of itself much higher
than for it to still be necessary for them to have to have forbearance among themselves
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—as if it were something too lowly for one to still have to mention to those who should
love one another in Christ.
But Paul knew well whereof he wrote, and that is just the point, because we are still in
the body and on our pilgrimage and we here, as men, have many kinds of human
weaknesses on us. They are not sins but such things which one must bear of one another
and at which not become impatient. It cannot be classed as sin but as human
shortcomings which are still inherent in us. If we do not watch and pray we can be more
offensive to others than edifying to them. We must be forbearing in whatsoever it is and
not become impatient, for it is love that suffers such things and one could, by reason of
such lesser failings, pass by the inner kingdom of God.
The spirit should, of course, exercise such mastery in us that we should as much as
possible be unoffending. But there are the every-day shortcomings and we must rightly
know ourselves with
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respect to our manifest walk. It is often found that one makes momentous things of
human weaknesses, which can harm the kingdom of God in us. Paul gives a real precept
here for the saints so that we, in all things, thus walk according to the spirit and even so,
some little things can cling to us so that those who are around us daily suffer loss of
happiness and love by reason of them. This should not be so. We should instead have
forbearance with one another and each one bear the other's weaknesses so that we do not
cease to love one another, for we are still in the flesh and in this respect have many
shortcomings ourselves. We must forbear with and love one another so that we do not
give or easily create offense and then we will also not so readily be offended or become
impatient or annoyed at what is really not sin but only human weakness. One should not
think that as long as we are still men each one can still have something about him. that
has to be borne and we should not become disgusted with this.
One often gets off the track because he so easily becomes weary at what he has to bear.
That is why Paul adds that we shall keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
Then we will fulfill all that is in the word, "Forbear one another in love." This is
necessary for it has reference to our daily life. In that, what and how we are, we are
manifest as we live every day. In the world it is often the case that one appears to be
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like, but in his daily life is hard, spiteful, eccentric, peevish and hasty in his ways. This
should not be (as one sees it in people so much) that which is hateful in their every-day
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life and yet they have an outward appearance of being very pious. We should be in the
sight of men as we are manifest before God. We shall not be of bad habit, covetous,
lusty of power, avaricious, revengeful. That is sin. Human weaknesses, however, we
shall not regard in our outward appearance, but daily habitual offensiveness forthcoming
from the old man is sin. That belongs to men of the world so one has to put it off from
his walk as one does a garment or an article that is spotted and uncleanly of appearance.
One readily sees what is spotted and soiled on a clean garment, whereas one would not
notice it on an apron, for instance, where there is other soilure.
In his human presentation one should have nothing about himself without being aware
that he is afflicted therewith so that he knows that others observe it in him and in this
one must permit others to tell him of this. Here one must polish and cleanse the other
that we walk worthy as is pleasing to God. We must not say it is sin and forthwith take
offense as such minor things are not sinful. One should here rightly polish and shine one
another so that we do not lose our inner peace and love. With respect to this, the natural
man does not even take notice of it: what is not
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a gross sin, one cannot as much as call to their attention. We must be indulgent with one
another in friendliness and love, bear and exhort one another and in love tell each other
of our faults. Then it will be accepted, not in an unfriendly, sullen, despicable or
disparaging tone of voice, but in love and one will have to admit that the brother who
told him meant it well with him. One must say and the other must accept it in love. Then
we can grow in edification unto God.
We should be intent upon walking worthily of the vocation of God. Paul says that we
should walk worthily because the vocation of God makes us worthy of walking as is
befitting the fellowship of God. We shall never forget that. What is unbearable we shall
put off from us so that we are zealous of the glory of God and do not allow anything to
be inherent in us that would disturb our profession; that one fall not from peace or love
among us.
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CHAPTER XXII. KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.
"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." First, Paul says we
should endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit. In this word, "keep" is naturally a
concept 'that one is in the unity of the spirit. He who is not in this one spirit with Christ,
cannot keep this oneness. If we have entered into it by rebirth, we are charged with what
Adam was charged, that we should hold the garden of Eden and guard it from the
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intrusion of the enemy so that the good condition into which the Lord placed men shall
not degenerate into an evil one. That is the way we shall keep the fellowship of the spirit
which we have, because one and the same spirit dwells in us. Only Christ's spirit permits
of fellowship because it is one and the same spirit.
That is our station of grace. Only the children of God have it in common among
themselves. This spirit brings about peace and in this bond of peace we shall keep the
unity of the spirit so that we give not Satan place and contaminate ourselves. But in this
vocation which devolves from us we shall with all diligence follow after only that and
keep our peace in Christ among us so that we are
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zealous in this respect of our calling and that we defile not the fellowship which is in
Christ. Satan strives with us for the purpose of displacing us from it. For that reason we
are warned to preserve the fellowship as Adam was to keep the garden of Eden.
Where there is an enemy, who seeks with all power to destroy and disturb what we have
received in Christ, we must guard the sacred place which we have in Him, for the devil
seeks nothing other (and that more arduously) than to bring inharmony into the
fellowship, by which he would embitter one against the other. We shall, therefore, follow
peace and holiness (Hebrews 1 2 : 1 5 )
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled,
so that not a single one becomes a root of bitterness. One person alone whom Satan
could employ can ruin, disorganize and destroy a whole community. The devil seeks to
plant a root in the saints and believers so that discord and bitterness arise. " . . . A little
leaven leaventh the whole lump."
April 11, 1847—Ephesians 4:3 ff.
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
They are exhortations to a godly life which we have for consideration so that they are
represented
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in us in such a manner as we read of concerning
the testimony of the apostle in the first chapter of this epistle—if we belong to the same
church which Jesus Christ has won for Himself. The general and all-embracing
exhortation is that we should walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we have been
called of God, in that, first, we avoid all that is offensive to the abode of God, and,
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secondly, that we be found in all those things of which this abode of the fellowship of
God is deserving. In this respect we considered several special exhortations in the
second verse; lowliness, meekness and longsuffering so that we are obliged to forbear
one another in love and agreeableness.
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CHAPTER XXIII. ONENESS OF SPIRIT.
FURTHER the apostle exhorts all saints that they shall be zealously intent upon holding
fast to the oneness of the spirit in the bond of peace. The word means oneness as well as
unity. (Unity is mentioned again in the thirteenth verse.) With respect to unity Paul in the
fourth verse further says, "one body, one spirit." As there is only one body in Christ, thus
is there also only one spirit in Him. We shall, therefore, hold fast to this oneness because
of there being but this one spirit in Christ. Out of Him there are many; in the world there
are many. They are all against one another, but in Christ there is only one, the Holy
Spirit, which has come from the Father.
Outside of the Son's spirit, we shall not suffer any other in the church. Every other one
engenders in harmony, strife, dissension and jealousy. When we observe such a spirit in
ourselves or in others who are members of the body, that another one which rouses
discord and strife moves them, we shall resist them because it is no longer the spirit of
the Lord. That is why we have the exhortation, therefore; be zealously intent upon,
diligent in, exert all effort therein (II Peter 1;10) . On the
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part of all and of each one, who is called a member of the body, diligence is required to
comply with the exhortations so as to keep the oneness of the spirit for the very reason
that the other spirit is the evil one of the world. It has the upper hand and freely tries to
force itself into the church of the saints and in any heart it can, seeks that it flourishes
and many are destroyed in the dissension it causes. We must be very faithful so that we
are not ruined.
If Satan can but gain access in one of us he becomes destruction and pollution for many.
As soon as he stirs up one, he spoils others and becomes a pollution and ruination for the
other member. By the pollution and defilement, we contaminate others. When we sin,
we sin for the others as well. A union of the spirit exists; when one member suffers, all
the members suffer therewith. It is a fellowship; it is perversion. Nothing which exists
by itself alone, for fellowship, is made by the Spirit.
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In the world, there is no fellowship. They are not one body and one spirit, but are
scattered by their own interests. In Christ, no one stands alone for in a fellowship each
one seeks what is the others and not his own, because such a oneness always exists in
Christ. It is first contaminated by one who is defiled in it; when an individual is unclean,
he is unclean for all. That is why already in the Old Testament the whole church was
taken
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when one sinned (as in the case of Jericho) . All were at fault until he was apprehended
and put away. Accordingly, in the church of the New Testament, we find right in the
beginning there was only one who gave Satan place in himself, namely, Ananias, who
was a defilement for all of them until this was made known and he was put away. The
spirit revealed to Peter that the devil had found a root of bitterness in him. As in a strong,
healthy person, if there is an internal infection, it either shows up in illness within the
body or it breaks out on the skin so that it is made known. It is the same in the church.
He who is evil must be put out and this made manifest. Of the world are the evil ones.
When one is found in the church, then he is a disease and pollution for the whole church
because we are in and under Christ. He sees who is unclean and He reveals it. It is not as
in the established church; he does not make it known to her but lets it stand until the
judgment, but in His church it is otherwise. He punishes and disciplines until it is made
known. When, however, one's body is altogether diseased it does not break out, but it
does in a sound body until it has disappeared.
We belong to the Lord. We shall walk thus deserving and befitting of such a glorious
Head, Who is Christ, the Lord of Heaven. As we walk before God, thus is our manifest
walk. If we have been planted in Christ by faith and baptism then
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we are clean. Should one be unclean, as concerns himself, then he sins against Christ.
He is the Head; we are the members of His flesh and of His bones. Christ left His Father
and His mother for our sake and has gone to His wife which is the church. He has given
Himself to her. We ourselves must be zealous; we should walk worthy of such a Lord
and not let ourselves become unclean or we are a stain for Christ.
If one is not re-born from above, then he does not belong to the church which is Christ's
body and His spirit; that is the church He acquired for Himself by the spirit. If one
wishes to join the church, then we shall see to it that he has been called by God and is
qualified to come therein, for he must first be made efficient thereto by Christ, Who died
and gave His spirit unto the church so that He lives in our hearts. If one is in the church
he must also be holy. He who will not be obedient Christ lets go his own way. That was
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the case with the Jews in the Old Testament and is also with the nominal Christians in
the New Testament.
He wants to assemble a church which is holy and He will not have a spot in it. We can
only come to the church and that not of ourselves. There is a righteousness of body and
spirit in Christ. The body is the church and He Himself is the Head thereof. Here on
earth we are to be planted and become ripened. Then Christ in His
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body will become revealed; for this we must be gathered together unto the spirit and one
body, we must be intent upon preserving this oneness. A plurality will not be tolerated
with reference to the spirit. In Christ there is one spirit. In the church which is the body,
there may be only one spirit. Every other one is false—a spirit of the devil.
Let us beware, for the devil soon has a hole when there is only one in the church of the
saints who is not fit to be there; one, in whom Satan has his work, becomes a destruction
for the whole church. It can be compared to a ship at sea, which has sprung a leak that is
not immediately stopped up and goes to the bottom. The evil spirits are especially bound
by obligation to the believers. They wish to force their way into them and return again to
the place from whence they were driven out. We must, therefore, be watchful! For a
certainty it requires diligence and zeal so that we do not again give room to the evil
spirit, in which we aforetime lived in sin and uncleanness. We have been redeemed from
that, so we must keep ourselves in the purity and freedom which we have received so
that the devil may not again force himself into us to destroy us or we are very quickly
ruined and defiled. The more a person has acknowledged this, the more he cleaves to
Christ.
Christ is a clean and holy spirit which suffers no other as the word says, "My spirit shall
not
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always strive with man, for that he also is flesh." Before the flood there were also
children of God, but the majority of them became identical to sinners and they were all
destroyed. Here God said that His spirit would no longer strive with men, for it is vain.
At the end of all the chastening and exhortations man would still give us the world-spirit
place. So we must take care that we do not ruin ourselves, but instead cling to Jesus
Christ, the Holy Spirit. Then we shall be preserved.
If we are true then we are bound with one another; then the fellowship of the saints is
already represented by us. One perceives if another spirit has found access in a believer.
Another strange spirit cannot have fellowship with the Holy Spirit; it is soon made
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known. Therefore, let us consider well, how at all times, we should walk worthy of the
vocation of God, each one in his part and measure. Then we are members and one spirit
is in and through all by the bond of peace. As many as are added to the church are by
this bond united with Christ. So we must be watchful that we do not become a burden
and a root of bitterness to the other members. Unity is the result of oneness of spirit. So
if the Holy Ghost worketh in us all then there is nothing undesirable between us and
there is perfection in us in that the consummate peace of God and the spirit of Christ are
in us and are manifest by us. In this way the church is edified and then all is glorious.
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As in the case of Paul in Antioch after the death of Stephen, the members turned to the
Greeks and when Barnabas joined them he rejoiced at the oneness among them and yet
they are mostly from the heathen, who were as united as was the church at Jerusalem. It
was the same spirit of unity (Deuteronomy 13) . When we find another spirit in the
church (one of Belial) , we should probe to the bottom of it to ascertain if it be so, and
then he shall be put out into the world where the evil ones are. Even in the apostles' time
it was thus, the evil spirit brought about factions and schisms. The devil had no rest until
he had smuggled such divisions in by false apostles and disciples. The apostles not only
noticed this, but saw in their life (at their departure) that the devil would bring about
denominations and sects. Therefore, we must preserve the oneness so that we are kept in
the bond of peace. For the devil is in the world and there offenses will come. When the
evil spirit gets into the church and gains access by a false spirit, he brings separation and
dissension. It is not noticed at the time but later on he will readily be admitted. I warn
you of this! May God protect us! But it can also happen to us now as it has in times past,
that the devil can force himself in amongst us as in all other places.
The exhortations which the apostle gave the saints are that they should be intent upon,
diligent to keep the oneness of the spirit in the bond of
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peace. Paul carries this exhortation on to a further development—what the church of
Christ is, why we must endeavor, be diligent to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of
peace. That is to say, the church is a body and a spirit. With Christ it is one complete
thing; the church is incorporated in Him. It is His body. On this subject, Paul, in the third
chapter, verse six, has already made use of these words with respect to how, in this time,
the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, participant and incorporated in the promise of God. The
Gentiles with the Jews, both comprise a church. Such as they have become transformed
in Christ. No Jew or Gentile with his old Judaism or heathenism can enter into Christ;
they must be created anew.
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This is what the church of God is. In Christ it is a body. Of itself it is nothing. The body
cannot exist without a head; without Christ, it is not a church. But there is a so-called
church which, however, does not have Christ as Head for He is our Head and He has
only one church. The established church is not this. It is no church of Christ. The true
church with Christ comprises a body which is gathered together by the Gospel. Each one
who hears and believes the Gospel without prejudice, belongs to the church. (He who
hears but does not believe, is damned.) By this the members of His body are made
manifest. The way to this evolution is Christ, faith and baptism. That is why one must
first, if he has judgment,
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hear and prove it to ascertain if he will accept or reject it as the Word of God. The
Gospel, as such, is the direct Word of God which by Jesus Christ was heard of the
apostles and they again have brought the unfalsified Word of God to us, and all who
accept and are baptized are added unto the church.
The requirement is faith; the method of this incorporaion is baptism. All who hear it are
planted in Him in that they die the same death with Christ and are quickened and
resurrected with Him (John 12) . He, Christ, is vicarious for all who have thus died. He
who believes the Gospel is implanted and incorporated in Him, Who has taken
possession of one body, one corporality, which is the church. All who hear, believe and
are baptized, belong to the church.
In times past the church has always been gathered together (isolated and not respected) .
It consists of individual members. No one has ever come into the church, by infant
baptism but those who have accepted and believed the word from the cross are added
unto it. The church of Jesus Christ is entered into one by one. People have died in the
faith, yet when Christ shall come it will be made known who is one body with Him.
Inasmuch as individuals are gathered by the Word, they are very little known and are
everywhere considered as a sect. We must bear this offense of Christ in the world. In the
body of Christ is also His spirit.
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Another spirit than the one which was first in us, has come into all of us for previously it
was the spirit of this world which lived and was operative in us so that it is hardly
possible to live here on earth on account of the many devils. As soon as we have put on
the spirit of Christ, the world is able no longer to know us.
The spirit of Christ gives us the mind of Christ. He makes us so single-hearted, so
humble, so meek, so lovable among one another that the world cannot understand what
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impels the children, of God that they, not only belong to one body or one spirit, but also
to the same vocation of God so that all have one inheritance, namely, Christ, Who is
their Head. A church without Christ is nothing. The church must, with Christ, comprise
unity. He who is not in the fellowship of Christ on the day of His appearance cannot
inherit. As we have been baptized according to faith, then we become one body with
Christ. The church is the whole body of Christ; it will be seen whether we are the real or
the so-called church. Christ's spirit is the characteristic whether we are in the church (II
Corinthians 13;5) .
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves. Know
ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be
reprobates?
We must be one spirit with Christ and one spirit among ourselves. We must have
experienced it in ourselves else it is sheer fancy and deception. All
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believers comprise but one spirit. By faith and baptism we are incorporated with Christ
and drink the same spirit. There is only one spirit and one mind in all believers. It is the
spirit of Christ which is in all those who have entered in at the right door; one hope open
to all, inasmuch as we inherit with Him. Christ is the Heir and out of Him there is no
inheritance. The Father made the Son heir of all things. No one beside Him can inherit—
neither angel nor man.
There are many in the world who are of the opinion they can inherit, but as to those who
shall depends upon whether Christ says to them, "I know you." All men would like to be
blessed and pretend they are going to heaven. No one has doubts that he will not enter
there (Luke 19) . The Lord makes short work of it—everyone may do as he likes, but
later he will be judged according to whether he mocked or accepted the Word of God.
The Father appointed the Son to be the Judge just as He appointed Him the Heir. Then it
will indeed seem strange that the many people should be lost: they who said, "We also
want to be blessed." "We also want to go to heaven." "You are not the only ones who
want to get there." If we have an inheritance in heaven, how can we have hatred among
us or quarrel over something that is on earth? No, that is too trifling. We should love one
another and pray for the good of one another
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(I Corinthians 6). There is no strife with respect to the inheritance of the saints—on the
contrary, nothing but joy and rapture. That is our goal! That is our glory! For if we were
once among the jealous and the quarrelsome, we have been washed, sanctified and
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justified by faith in Jesus Christ.
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CHAPTER. XXIV. THE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING.
Sunday, April 18, 1847—Ephesians 4:4
calling;
THE apostle here exhorts the church to whom he writes to hold fast the unity of the
spirit among one another and corroborates thereby what he says, that "in Christ all is
one." There is a universal oneness in Christ, that is, in the church and for the same,
which is one body, the head of which is Christ. Now when the apostle said in the first
verse, "I, therefore, . . . beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye
are called," and basing thereon he accordingly says in the fourth verse, "Ye are called in
one hope of your calling." A hope is comprised in the calling of God (like a kernel is in a
nut shell) and when, with respect to the calling we have seen that no one is in the church
of God who is not called of Him, then it is manifest that no one has an hope except him
who is called to the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord, for the hope is attached to the
calling. Should one, who is not called, creep into the church of God he will be cast out
into darkness "where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth."
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Namely, the hope, which Paul says that all the called have is of the time when the
children of God will be revealed in glory; the hope of the future glory which is prepared
of God for us. He who is called has hope; he who is not called lacks it and we have to
first rightly comprehend this. No sinner can inherit; in this respect, sinners in general are
deceived by a false hope. Christ came and died on the cross for this and provided a
means of grace for these to be saved. The saints, however, have a hope.
Up to here, in the course of consideration of this epistle we have seen that Paul regards
only the saints (and not sinners) as members of the called of the church. He, who has
obeyed the call of God, does not remain a sinner but becomes a sanctified person and
only as saints do we constitute a fellowship of and in Christ.
The customarily professed apostolic creed declares a fellowship of saints, but he who is
not called to the fellowship of the Son of God is not an holy person, but a sinner and has
no hope of the future glory. First we have to be constituent in the body of Christ for if
Christ is our life, death is gain, when things will be better, for when things are worse
afterward then there is no hope. Hope comprises in itself that after this life another one
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follows. If that is not a better one, and not life, there is no need for a hope. That were a
miserable one indeed. We all have a hope of some214
thing that is much better for we are only guests and strangers here, but yonder life is
better. That is why it is called hope.
Whoever is a saint in Christ and belongs to the church, has hope. "Kirche" is called
"Kirjacae." I prefer to say "assembly" (church) . "Gemeine," the assembly of the saints.
It is the Lord's body: it belongs to the Lord. An assemblage of sinners is not a church.
The established church cannot, in its entirety, be sanctified when each individual is a
sinner. The one Holy Ghost makes us holy. If that spirit is in us, then we are all saints;
then we all have one mind. In one spirit and in one mind we pray for one another. Where
oneness of the spirit is, there the saints, are to be found. "Many heads, many minds" is
not a community of the saints, rather is many ungodly sinners.
The one Spirit makes us holy so that His glory, righteousness and truth in us are revealed
when He comes but in the calling of God hope is included. He who is called of God the
Father unto fellowship of the Son Jesus Christ has a hope of glory and when he, who has
had this hope passes away, then he is fully blessed for the first time. Here our hope is
hindered very greatly and we must daily sigh, for the perfect has not yet appeared. It is
not the unleavened, but this will come later. Then there will be no sorrow, no wailing, no
tears. All will have ended and passed away; then our blessedness will be perfect.
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In this tabernacle we are participant in all the sorrows spread abroad; a means of
discipline in the body to restrain men. Thus are men in the flesh bound by suffering, but
notwithstanding they do not want to come to God (Psalm 32) . If it were not thus it
would be more horrible on earth. That is a manifest means of discipline and all such
sorrows are purposed to bind and hold men in control; for example, when God allows a
famine to come all and each have to suffer. He uses such means of discipline so that we
do not have good days in this world (Romans 8) . On the contrary we sigh and long for
our redemption according to the revelation of the children, of God; those also who
already now have a lively hope. Each one called of God; each one who belongs to the
fellowship of Christ by faith and baptism, has a hope—a living, sealed one. He knows
that when he passes out of this body he is also saved eternally. If we may not hope for
that, then we have no hope of the beyond, but a sad and miserable looking forward to
what is to come. Natural men do not reflect on death for they know they have no hope in
heaven. If they pondered on this, they would have to correct themselves.
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If the Holy Ghost does not give us witness, then we are deceived and have no great joy,
no longing for that which is to come. If we do not have the Holy Spirit, we have no
hope. If one lives in sin, he gives sufficient evidence that the
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Holy Ghost is not in him. Paul says, "One body and one spirit." It is a fellowship of the
saints whether they lived 1800 years ago or now, whether it was in Africa, America or is
here now with us, whether in heaven or on earth, there is only one church which is the
body of Christ for He has but one body.
All saints prefer death to life in this world. Why should they prefer to be in a strange
place rather than in their homeland? All the sinners or children of the devil prefer to
remain here and that would please them for they so greatly fear death. They dare not
think of it! They put all their trust in visible physicians to keep them alive and on earth.
They also have nothing good to expect in the world to come. All they who are called to
the fellowship of Jesus Christ have hope for something exceedingly better than now. We
now have a fellowship with Christ in the spirit, but as long as we are here in the body we
are troubled on all sides. That is why they who are now sealed by the spirit of promise
have hope and are released as soon as they become ripened. We are not quickly ripened.
We must go through many a combat before this stage. Should we fall, however, then we
are not participant of the good to come. In the calling of God there is hope—a definite,
undeceiving hope. If we are called from darkness to light, we are transposed from
Satan's
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power into the fellowship of God. Then the old has passed away and all things have
become new.
All in all, the called have but one hope. We are called to one hope. In the calling of God
the hope lies for us all. There one finds no envy, strife or jealousy for we all have the
same hope; in this is the bond of peace. We are not guilty of envy, strife or jealousy for
we all have one hope (in the future world) which shall be fulfilled in us. It is the
inheritance of Christ, the oneness of the Son. For the passing over to the fellowship of
the hope we must strive for it is a crown. We have to endure, strive, suffer and battle like
David, who is an ensample for all believers of the New Testament. David had a series of
years when he had naught but sorrow, affliction, anxiety and persecution to bear.
For to receive the crown requires patience and being a fugitive refugee. If we have a
hope, we will be militant therefor. The devil is the adversary in the New Testament as
Saul was one to David and sought his life. It is a matter of holding fast to the crown, to
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preserve that which one has. When we have nothing, there is nothing to be taken from,
us. Once we have received the pledge of the spirit from God, then the devil wills to rob
us of this acquired spiritual pledge. He would have us love the perishable again, become
carnal minded. But if we are spiritually minded, then we hold fast to that which we have
and
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relinquish the earthly. One who has been called and relinquishes the hope-worthy
heavenly things and lays hold of the perishable in this world again, also cannot receive a
crown and has no hope for what is to come. A crown is only laid up for those who have
rightly fought. Eternal life is the crown, so we must overcome Satan in all the forms in
which he might come.
Natural men have no hope (chapter 2:11) . In the world to come they have neither God
nor hope; they are ungodly and without hope and have not received the spirit. He who
has received but not preserved this, he, too, has no hope. We must let all earthly things
pass and seize the heavenly. If we would have peace with the world, we cannot serve
God; if we would serve God then we are not at peace with the world. We cannot have
both. If everyone could be saved as he is in his natural estate, then Christ would have
died in vain (I Corinthians 15) then we would have no hope and nothing to look forward
to; nothing to suffer. Not as all men suffer, but for the sake of the truth and righteousness
innocently, or we would be the greatest fools. Nominal Christians are not in the
fellowship of the spirit; are not reborn; are not renewed. We must walk and strive aright
and if we do not this then there is no difference between us and the world.
We must prove that we do not seek our portion in the world. It is a matter of whether we
seek
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the earthly and relinquish the heavenly. David had to endure much sorrow and affliction
until he received the crown at Hebron. It does not harm us if we have much sorrow in
this world. Let us be content to let our body suffer, then meanwhile be tranquil, humble
and obedient. Then after a short time we will all similarly participate in one kind of a
hope. Then it will not be a matter of "you" and "me." The Lord is in all and all is in the
Lord. Now there is ever strife and dissension over the earthly because one would have
more than the other, but with respect to that, which is to come, all is perfect and unified
by reason of the hope which is in Christ Jesus.
For us who believe, there is only one Lord, even though there are many on earth who are
called lords. But as for us there is but one God, namely, the Father from Whom all things
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come, also only one Lord, namely, the Son, by Whom we are all things. (I Corinthians
8:6)
But to us, there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in
Him : and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him.
For us there is only one Lord, He through Whom we are as we are. This oneness of the
Lord, as it is known and appreciated by the purchased and believing, is contrasted
against the plurality of lords and gods (or idols) , which are in the world. The apostle
says that for us there is but one Lord. With that he infers that this Lord is our Lord,
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Who has bought us. We serve Him to Whom we belong.
In this connection Paul uses the word "Lord" as a Lord of possession. (Here it has
another meaning than the one which is otherwise generally presented in the Scriptures
and also in the Old Testament.) Jesus Christ, Who was first revealed to Moses by the
name of Jehovah, as He Who is that which He is and eternally will be. He is and was
and will eternally be. He is the Eternal One forever, and the word "Jehovah" Luther also
translated "Lord." When translated into the German, it is "The Supreme Being." It is the
Being, the Eternal To-Be, Who created all things by His Word. By His will all are here.
By this "To Be" God revealed Himself to men through Moses when He appeared to him
in the burning bush. The Supreme Being, Who is the Lord of possession, the Creator of
all things, even He who made the worlds, Moses saw. In the flesh He Himself appeared
as the Son of Man, the Lord, the true, living God. He appeared in the form of "Jesus of
Nazareth," and when He assembled His own, He is called the Lord in a meaning of full
possession not as He is Lord over all but as the Lord of His church, His possession (I
Peter 3:6) .
Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as
long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
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CHAPTER XXV. CHRIST, THE HUSBAND OF THE CHURCH.
HE Is the Husband of His church. There is only one Lord in the church (I Corinthians
12:3) . In this meaning no unbeliever can call Him his Lord and unless one is bound with
Him. He, who believes and is incorporated in Him, unto him Jesus Christ is the Lord as
the Lord of possession of the church which He bought. So the believers and unbelievers
constitute a separation. One can only call Him his Lord through the Holy Ghost. In this
highest meaning of the word no soul can call Him Lord. (This word is much misused by
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the pious of the world.) (Ephesians 5:31.)
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
This condition exists only in the church which has the Holy Spirit and he who does not
have Him cannot call the Lord his Lord in the highest sense of the word. He who is not
in the church of Jesus Christ cannot even grasp this mystery, much less counterfeit it. It
is something entirely different, and those who are added unto Him by faith and baptism
can call Him their Lord.
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What is the fellowship which knows and calls upon Him as their rightful Lord? No one
can form his own conception of what Christ is for His church. He who does not belong
entirely to Him cannot have the Lord as his Lord. We, His members, who are in His
church, can call Him our Lord for He acquired us when we were dead in transgression
and sin. As Christ is foolishness and an offense to the Jews, thus is He also to the socalled Christians, who do not have the Spirit.
Christendom is an idol (I Corinthians 8) in the world. They themselves do not have
Christ—their Christendom is based on something in place of Him. They hang it on a nail
and on Sunday, in different clothes, go to church, so no one knows what it is. They call it
Christendom. We, however, who have put on Christ, await all His fulness and long and
inquire after Him.
The established church also calls Jesus Christ their Lord. But because the people do not
have the Holy Ghost, they cannot call Jesus Christ the Lord, their Lord, as Paul says,
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts
crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 4;6) . But is the Holy Ghost in them? Should one ask
them where their Christ is, they in any case say, "In Heaven," but they cannot grasp His
being among us and in us.
There is much contention in the world about Christ's being called "God" in the New
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ment. Why should that be? If they understood the mystery of Jesus Christ every
controversy would end, for we all collectively have access in one spirit. If we in truth
have Jesus as our Lord and if we call Him, Who has purchased us by His blood, "Lord"
then Jesus Christ is our Lord and we, accordingly, keep His commandments and thus we
fulfill His will. But if we do as we please and what the devil wants us to do, then we do
not have Christ as our Lord. If Christ is our Lord, then He has an unconditional right and
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power in us. As soon as we are in His church, the Lord does with us what He will; He is
our Lord. He has redeemed and purchased us from the power of the devil so that we are
His possession. For us there is but one Lord. He is the only One, Who is in Heaven.
In the body, we also have other lords. We must acknowledge these as our lords. By
submission and obedience, we serve the Lord Himself. But in the church one may not
call another lord. In the world there are many clergymen and such lords. "I am your Lord
and Master," Christ says. He is the Head and the Lord and is acknowledged as such. In
the church we have no need for lords of any kind, only for holy brethren, each one as the
other. One shall not elevate himself above the other. Each one willingly serves the other
called ones because we belong to one Lord. There must be no others but such who serve.
That is why
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few come into the church, for in the world they would all be called and be lords and
masters. For us, for the church, for the believers, there is only one Lord and more than
that we cannot acknowledge. The authorities are also lords for us for the sake of
obedience, but in the spirit we have only one Lord.
For the church there is only one faith as there is only one Lord. There are not numerous
kinds of faiths as in the world, where each faith has set up its own Lord. All saints have
received only one faith, by which Christ, Who has redeemed and saved us from
darkness, is known. There are no divisions and schisms in the church.
What is called a church of the world is really nothing. It is a matter of sects. Each party
sets up its faith and attests to its own creed. For instance, once one is converted to the
Lord, then the people of the Protestant Church who have fallen away from the faith are
not what they appear to be. They are lost and that is a great disaster. In the case of
conversion to the Lord, one can be forbidden his own home. If the state church had but a
single faith, there would not be so many denominations and divisions and such false
churches, for each believes it has the only blessed-making faith, and when one leaves
one's church they consider that one lost.
All the saints share the same faith.
In the apostolic creed they are all agreed and
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they can recite very well from memory. But Paul does not mean that. He speaks of faith
which is within the heart. In the church there are not the many faiths to recognize. As
soon as another faith makes its appearance, one knows it is from the devil (Romans
12;7) . We shall have superintendence over the factions which cause offenses. We must
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watch if we have received the right faith and if Christ dwells in us so that no one
presents something different, for the devil only comes to those who have received the
true faith and wants to seduce and divert them therefrom. Just this is the error! Each
faction believes it has the true faith and excludes, as lost, all others. The righteous must
live his faith. Whoever is not blessed in his life and walk, is also not a believer for he
does not live in godliness. Christ won life for us. (That is why all who are of the world
have a false faith.) If we believe on Christ it must be revealed in us that He is our life.
We must be known as such who are called unto the fellowship of the Son, Christ, and be
a mockery and a contempt of the other people.
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CHAPTER XXVI. ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM.
Sunday, April 25, 1847—Ephesians 4:5 ff.
ONE LORD, , one faith, one baptism." The church has one Lord. The point of
discussion is not particularly of the oneness of God, but of the relationship of Christ in
His church. It has but one Lord in Christ. For that reason we must at once associate the
words, "One Lord" with the church, by Whom it becomes only one in that there is one
Lord, so that in multiplicity, or dissolution or alliance, we already perceive a falseness so
that with reference to the churches of the world, it cannot be said, "There is one Lord,"
that is, that they all have one Lord for they are not unified but separated. This is the
significance of the expression, "One Lord."
I recall something by way of example. Some years ago a book of sermons came out in
Germany in which men of the various denominations submitted discourses under the
title, "One Lord, One Faith." By this work they wished to bring about a unity (as if by
this contribution of Catholic, Protestant, Reformed and other doctrines, a union of the
churches could be accomplished.)
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In many churches and factions, it is not a case of one Lord and one faith. Each one
believes what he will—even the preachers who should be teachers, examples and leaders
of the people. Each one believes as he pleases. The true faith they certainly will not
tolerate; on the contrary, if one believes as he likes to believe, then he is acceptable
everywhere. But if one comes to the faith of God, then he dare not impart it to others. In
this respect there is a judgment of faith in the world so that the true faith is suppressed.
The real faith of Jesus Christ may not even be voiced without being persecuted. That is
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the distinguishing mark of the true faith of Jesus Christ—that He is reviled, slandered
and persecuted in His messengers. That is the faith of which Paul speaks. From the spirit
of the world nothing but discord is forthcoming because it is a spirit of pride and of
offense. In the world one can believe and teach what he will; this will not be opposed.
Oneness is in Christ and we must come to God by faith in Jesus Christ, Who is one Lord
and one faith. If we believe the truth and not the lie, then we are in perfect unity of
oneness of heart. In the world it would appear that each denomination is unified, but
their heart does not appear to be as single as that for there is deceit among them. If we
have the one true faith, then we have no other one than the apostles and prophets here
taught. If
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the denominations had the true faith, how could confusion be possible, as unfortunately
is the case? In the Catholic church there is superstition and in the Protestant, unbelief. In
the church which is in Christ, one faith was delivered. In the third verse of the book of
Jude it says that we should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the
saints. The true faith is efficacious unto sanctification and Christ is in this faith and this
Christ we must purely preserve.
In the faith of the truth lies the life of Christ and for the holy, entrusted faith we must
contend, so that it will not be snatched from us by the cunning of the devil. We have to
hear and believe the truth and then also guard it. Here we must strengthen one another so
that we will not be severed but steadfastly endure unto the end. What the apostles said is
sufficiently known "that the time will come when the people will fall away from the true
faith," for the devil will not in any case tolerate that people come to the right faith. He
will not have it that the truth be held fast. There is separation, disunity in the will and
artfulness and might of Satan. He is an archenemy of the true church. The truth, which
comes from God, the devil will not suffer for the whole world lies in his power—in the
lie, which is from him. By the lie they have fallen away. Paul did not only see and hear
that, he also stated it. If in the
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denominations of the world we see the true church, we are spiritually stone-blind for all
they who were formerly only one, are all in disagreement in their lives, walk and daily
associations so that, as for unity, nothing good can be said.
There is love in the church among the brethren and unity of the spirit. The lying spirit
can never unify the hearts, but the true faith and the love of God unites them in the bond
of peace. Here Christ is their Head. That is why we should labor that many may be
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saved. Then we have the devil for our adversary, from without and within. Then he seeks
to undermine us by persecution, temptation and the cares of life.
Where there is one Lord and one faith there is also one baptism, namely not alone the
baptism of the spirit, but the understanding of baptism as Christ commanded it unto all
men: "he who believes and is baptized is saved" ; he who does not believe shall also not
be baptized and is damned, for if one does not believe he also cannot be baptized.
We must become converted by the preaching of the truth for conversion is not possible,
without preaching. Those who have been baptized as children have not been baptized
with the right baptism. This is no baptism of water, nor it is one of the spirit (Ephesians
5 :26 ; Titus 3 :5) . No apostle
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came and preached otherwise (Galatians 1) than Jesus commanded. Everywhere the lie
is believed. However, should one believe the truth then he has to be bowed down for
men cannot walk in the truth and at the same time live in the lust of the flesh. Christ did
not teach infant baptism or it would be effective. Infant baptism is an expedient of
idolatry: it must bring about in the unbelievers what the baptism of the washed does on
him who believes, for if it had the blessing of God then men, of a truth, would be born
again. How can a child be baptized without being begotten by the Word? Only after one
has received the seed may he be baptized. Faith comes by preaching. When a little child
dies it is not lost for it has not yet heard the preaching of faith. The sons of Aaron and
those with them perished because they did otherwise than the Lord commanded them.
Infant-baptisers do that which God has not bidden. For such an holy thing as baptism,
there must be a positive command. It does not merely need to be "forbidden," but
"bidden."
Paul says that where there is one Lord and one faith, there is for the church also one
baptism, by which we are bound. If I did not have that baptism then I would not be in
the faith which I am in. We dare not have familiar acquaintance with unbelievers and
also may not take communion with them for they are not- members of the body
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of Jesus Christ. Faith is not enough on which to take communion. But we shall see on
that day where the Lord will set all those who have not been baptised. He who dies
without knowing this will be forgiven, but he who sins wilfully it will not be forgiven
him. The unbelievers sin against their own souls.
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CHAPTER XXVII. THE TRUE BAPTISM.
THE baptism of water without the baptism of the spirit is not baptism. Did Christ not
enact a baptism of water? He did indeed. For they who were baptized with the Holy
Ghost, had to be also baptized with water, Peter says. "Can any man forbid water, that
these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" If the
baptizers of infants had the Holy Ghost they would not contradict what Paul taught for
the spirit of truth does not suffer any other perception than the one which was
prescribed. We must be submissive to what the apostle taught and preached for the Word
and the Spirit are in perfect accord, so the written and the preached word must also be.
Those who were baptized as children have received a different baptism. Where the
baptism of water takes place there also is the baptism of the spirit, and they admit that
they have not received the Holy Spirit in their baptism in infancy. Every person who
takes a position of contradicting the Word of God has another spirit and not the right,
veritable one of Christ, for the Holy Ghost is not
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at variance with the Word of God or with what the apostles taught and preached.
Finally, the apostle says for the purpose of exhorting the members of the body of Christ
to unity, that as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism for the church, there is also one
God and Father for them. All who are in. Christ and incorporated in His church (where
here is one body) have one God and Father. The only true living God is their God and
Father. Outside of Christ however, God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is God and
Father to no one so that a person out of Christ could say to God, "Thou art my God or
my Father." There is of course such empty talk that outside of Christ one says, "My
God," but not so that that person can comprehend the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for before a person has become a new creature in Christ, he does not know the Father at
all and only knows of a God. However this God is not the Father, but the Son Who has
revealed Himself so that without being a spiritual person in Christ, one can say, "My
God" to Him. One can, it is true, after a manner learn to say (this according to the words
but there is no truth in it as a child learns to say the alphabet as it is written) —that there
is God and Father and Son, but man does not comprehend it. It is merely repeated for he
has not received the spirit of truth.
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When Paul here says that there is a God and Father of all, he, to be sure, means the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who in Christ is a Father of all who are in the Son. God
the Father is operative in us if we are a new creature in Christ. Then God is also our God
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and our Father. Who in truth can say, "Thou art my God" can likewise in truth say,
"Thou art my Father." He who can say it only out of his own reasoning, does not have
the truth for he is still unenlightened, unsanctified and unconverted. So according to this,
the world knows nothing of God, the Father. Like in the Old Testament, God, Who
called Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, became their God, so that the
utterance of Job, "Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another . . . also has its veracity ; thus can he who is converted and enlightened say that
he is a new creature in Christ ; can call God the Father—his Father. For as the living,
only God has one only Son, thus in Him, the Son also becomes our Father. Out of Christ,
God is not our Father for He is not a Father to all men. For God as the Father of the Son,
Who is the image of Him, is a continuation of the revelation. By the redemption, God
must reveal His Son before we can comprehend Him as God and Father.
No one as a sinner can again gain access nor know or talk with Him before God
becomes his God and his Father. If Christ is not in us, we
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have no right and power to consider ourselves as children of God. If we are in Him and
believe on Him, then we are cleansed and sanctified. These are those who have a God
and Father—they who are in Christ and Christ is in them; otherwise it is not true that
God is their God and Father.
Here on earth, it is true, there is another kind of children, adopted ones, taken in their
infancy, but who are not begotten of their parents as the children of God are begotten of
Him. Those who accept Him have His seed in them and thus are born the children of
God, but they are first accepted by faith. When we as believers, as acceptable children
come to Him we, then by baptism become veritable children of God. It is not a case of
just taking them, but by the baptism of believers they are truly born of God so that one
can differentiate between children of God and the children of nature. We first become
adopted of God; after that if we have believed and the Word of God has entered into us,
we are born of God so that we do not merely have a domestic right as an abandoned
child, but as a begotten one by the bath of rebirth, when we become real children of God
so that we belong to Christ (Galatians 4) . They are here in the person of Christ, they are
no longer here out of Him so that they are afar off from God, but instead are true natural
children of God so that they may say to Him, "Thou art my God and my Father." No
natural man may
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say this. God is a consuming fire and he who comes near unto Him is consumed, as in
the Old Testament, instances occurred where God slew such persons instantly. Inasmuch
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as such a one is a sinner he dare not draw nigh unto the Father, but a child of His may.
He is a Father of them who have been begotten of the Word, in whom Christ, the Son of
God, has been born. The Word of God stresses the fact that the children of God must be
begotten and born by preaching. They must hear, believe and accept the Word of God.
They must not run away for it is necessary for Him to help them.
In generation, the seed, the Word of God, must be bred in the heart of man with faith so
that faith conceives and preserves it and takes form when the time of rebirth comes. One
must hear the Word of God and accept it in order for Christ to be begotten in him by
faith, so that a new creature comes forth thereof. Here one must come under the law.
Here a warfare, a battle, exists. The new man would become mature for birth and the
old, other man would resist him until the time when he becomes ripened to sonship. One
would accept it, but the old man resists and hinders him, until faith comes and he is
baptized and has naturally become a child of God and can say, "Now is the seed of God
begotten," as John says:
Behold, what manner of love the Father bath bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God . . .
. . . And it doth not yet appear what we shall be . . .
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The sons of God are not accounted as such by the world. One does not see their
gloriousness so very greatly, but when Christ comes it will be revealed.
How is it then possible for a person who was baptized as a child to be a real child of
God? That is the case of the present-day believers of the world. Besides they believe that
as such adopted children they will inherit with God, but that is not the faith of the
Gospel which teaches that by faith and baptism they become the true, natural children,
born of God. (I was also baptized as an infant.) In this way, no one, will inherit. First we
must be adopted by faith, but after that, after we have been adopted, we must be
baptized and become true, natural children of God. Then the Holy Ghost will come upon
us, and it is thus with every single child of God. God's spirit or the power of God comes
to faith in a wondrous way. The seed is the Word, the sower the Son and the heart the
ground. If one accepts this, he shall be saved. I say, where the present-day people stand
is the first step. First we must believe on Christ and by baptism become real, true
children of God, as Paul speaks of in Galatians 2;
. . . Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. . .
These are the legitimate children of God—if the Word which we have heard in the
beginning is in us and the life and the power of God pervade us with that same life so
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that we become such
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children of God and He becomes our Father, He, Who is among and in us all. Then He
rests upon us all with His power and with His keeping. He is the same God and Father in
all such in the world, and by them we know the mind of God after the spirit of
sanctification and thus is God the Father in us all with His love, with His truth. He
pervades all with one mind (but a person of the.world does not believe that) . One cannot
say that God is in all men or conditions would be altogether different. They would live
as true, righteous, redeemed people and could call on Him as a Father in them.
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CHAPTER XXVIII. THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT.
May 2, 1847—Ephesians 4:7
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ.
THE apostle in the first verses of this chapter bids the called believers and saints in
Christ to hold fast the unity of the spirit, or rather the oneness of the spirit, and that
oneness, coming from Christ (which is and must be in the church) , signifies that one
body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, is for
all, with all and in all who are in Christ Jesus. But in this oneness is a diversity of gifts
for God makes all things one by the spirit of Christ by which the gifts are imparted. The
apostle often uses this simile in his epistles when he speaks of the church, as when he
says that He is one body but the one body has many members. But all do not have the
same gifts or abilities, yet according thereto each has his own gift and usefulness, and
that in order that all are in agreement to one purpose. We have for our work the
cooperation of many powers, many members. Many personalities are necessary. It is a
working together to one end of all members of the body. In
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that way it is in Christ, one spirit in Him, and the same spirit brings about one kind of a
mind in all but a diversity of development of gifts and powers. Each one of us was
"given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." We shall therefore take care
of that which was entrusted to each one of us.
There is no unnecessary member except that which has no part in the spirit of Christ.
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What is useless on the body is hindersome and harmful. That is why Christ does not take
on any members who do not have His spirit, for all who do not have the spirit of Christ
have another one. Instead of being useful they are hindersome, fall short and work
destructively, not constructively. It is wonderful that there is only one spirit in all, yet a
diversity of developments of its talents and powers. That all work to one purpose cannot
be ingeniously brought about. Therefore if we are in Christ and have the same spirit and
mind unto edification, then each member has his own gifts, as Paul says, "If the whole
body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the
smelling." God has thus appointed that we all work to one purpose.
In order that one does not misunderstand what Paul teaches here is very important. We
are not to be occupied with divers spirits so that there is contradiction among us. We
shall beware of that so that we, one as much as the other, have Him
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in the real meaning of the word, not like when dissension and strife and divisions arise.
In all the members of the body of Christ there is one mind, such a oneness that is
conducive to edification (chapter 4;11) . Each has individually received a measure of
Christ, for more than one spirit cannot be operative in a person or discord, bitterness,
strife and hatred arise. That is as it was in Babel. Then there is no longer a unified but
discordant working. Then there is disorder and confusion on both sides. In our body,
sickness does not come from the spirit of life. We must be watchful against having
divers faiths for our body, for in Christ there are not various faiths but only one, which is
the Spirit.
We must be cleansed and sanctified by the spirit of Christ and in that way keep ourselves
free to that which is of this Spirit, so that there arise no schisms or anything that is
unclean of another spirit. There readily is discord if a strange spirit gets into the church:
it makes for disorder. We are in an evil time when the devil offers so many kinds of
beliefs and teachings but they do not last. In all, it must be one and the same spirit which
promotes one mind, for the Holy Ghost is efficacious to unity and to the edification of
one body. But where confusion is there also is the spirit of death, as it is today. Soon one
will no longer know what faith is. Christ Himself said that before His coming the elect
themselves will scarcely know
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what the truth is and we can now see how much men have presumed and have not
abided by the Word of God and consequently it is not consistent with the spirit, and that
is why we should not have or seek fellowship with such who do not have this same spirit
of Christ. We must be careful that we abide in such single-mindedness and not become
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double-minded along with other spirits. We must beware of strange spirits which would
steal into the church (the apostle calls them false brethren, false apostles) so that we do
not become leavened with such false teachings which can leaven the whole church. For
this we must know the salient points of the spirit so that we can discern the many kinds
of spirits which are at work in the last times and these spirits hold that they regard the
Word of God (Romans 14: 5) . For instance, one observes eating but in the New
Testament observance of eating or of days does not belong to the kingdom of God.
Just as there is one faith, one baptism in Christ, thus is there only one mind to hold fast
unto in Christ. That is why factions, sects and parties cannot exist in this so-called
narrow-mindedness. It is the exclusion of all that is false and a strange god. For Christ's
sake we must bear being called narrow-minded by such, who would like to have us
become leavened, for it is only for the purpose of misleading us; of whom Jesus said that
in the last times such false spirits will come and will want
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to deceive the believers. That is why the last times are the most difficult and we must not
have fellowship with such, who do not have the spirit of Christ. One must discern the
spirit in those who have this, and where there is one in whom we do not find and see
this, we must prove and know and preserve the truth.
In the unity of the spirit of Christ is one spirit. It all rings in one tone. But in Christ there
is also diversity: it must however be in such agreement that one does not forget the
oneness of the spirit. There are complete unity and perfection in the diversity of Christ.
In this oneness one finds a diversity of the spirit. But where the unity of the spirit is not
to be found, there we should be skeptical for the devil and not Christ is there. Just as in
our bodies there are leading members which are the most necessary, for example, eyes,
ears, nose and tongue, that is also the case with the church. They are all united in the
head. The other members are united by the chief members of the body. Here are
apostles, shepherds and teachers. They are members in particular, but we should not
forget the body because of them (I Corinthians 2:27) .
If Christ's spirit is not in a person then he does not understand the written Word of God,
for the Holy Ghost is the Teacher and the Guide of the Word of God and the truth. It is
remarkable how we previously understood the Word of God entirely different than since
the time the spirit
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of Christ is in us. That is a point to which we must hold. Without the Holy Ghost no one
can rightly understand the Word of God. That is the most important thing, for without it
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we are deceived and come to error. If we, however, have the Holy Ghost then the good
Word of God must hold forth in all we do. Each faction, of every sort, makes an appeal
to the Word of God but as for the real truth, none of them has it. With the Word of God it
is a case of a sealed book. Without the Holy Ghost it is the. same as though one cannot
read it and should he read the Bible without it, then he does not understand anything
concerning it. The one cannot see it, the other cannot read it, but the Holy Ghost leads us
into all truth so that we can understand rightly and take heed.
Every single one of us was given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ and
the apostle also verifies this with a passage of the Word of God, Psalm 68. Each one of
us was given grace. What the apostle means by the grace which each one was
individually given of Him, we find in the sixty-eighth Psalm. Those are the gifts which
Christ won for and shares with men, namely, the grace which Paul mentions, which each
one has received according to the will of God. When Christ ascended on high from the
earth, He received gifts of the spirit to give to the children of men. Before He ascended
no grace came down from Him, that is, of the kind and of the character
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which His ascension brought about (John 7:39) . ("But this spake he of the Spirit, which
they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because
that Jesus was not yet glorified.") The Holy Ghost was not yet shed abroad before He
could give His spirit in His life. That is why a great preparation had to be made, namely,
His descension and His death as man. He came to die and to revivify a spiritual body for
Himself. This spiritual body is the church of Christ. There can be no church of Christ
without the spirit of Christ, for the church shall be holy from without and within. The
church of that time was clean from without, namely, the one of the Old Covenant, but
He would have a church which was clean from within. For this, faith is the first
requisite. If we believe that He descended, then we must understand this as His having
died for our sins. We are not added unto Him in the flesh, but in the spirit. All these
believe on Jesus Christ, that He died, that He came not merely for the sake of our life in
the body, but to make men participant in the gifts. He died so that we might be freed
from the power of the devil, that He possess us altogether so that we believe and let
ourselves be baptized. Each one of us was given grace according to the measure of the
gift of Christ, or the Holy Ghost could not come from the Father—not without the Son,
Christ. What is distinctive about it is the spirit
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of God. It is not required of us that we be prophets, but we shall be saints for the gift of
the Holy Ghost is sanctification, so that we be cleansed from unrighteousness. That is
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why Paul proves what it is by the words of the 68th Psalm in, "When he ascended upon
high, he led captivity captive." What does that mean? That is the lowness of our soul,
sin. Men were all in captivity. The devil is the keeper of the prison; the captivity is sin.
God determined all things under this rubric. The devil holds men in his imprisonment.
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CHAPTER XXIX. GIFTS OF CHRIST - ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF
GRACE.
IT SAYS of Christ, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me . . . ; he bath sent me to preach
deliverance to the captives . . . and from this imprisonment of the devil all should
become free by faith on Jesus Christ. We must become sacredly bound with the Saviour
Who died and must let ourselves be purified so that we become quickened by the spirit
of Christ, for everyone was given gifts of Christ according to the measure of grace.
Christ led the captivity of the devil captive and gave gifts unto men, namely, unto those
who believe in the Gospel, gift of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us was given this grace.
(Romans
5 :1 5 )
But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one,
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift of grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
This is the gift of Christ which He received for the children of God, namely, the Holy
Ghost. This is the water, which He gives all who thirst, to drink.
This gift of God and of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, is imparted to all believers. He has
given
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the spirit in all its fulness for He knows well the unbelievers and believers. He knows
those who can be filled. We shall rejoice in the hope of the children of God also in all
sorrows for the devil dwells in this world and we must be enclosed in this mortal shell
until we are ripe. Then we will be a new creature and our spirit passes over to God. We
wish that the body of this life might be broken and that we had an house built of God.
Because He sits on the throne of glory we may also expect a new body if we, by faith
and rebirth, have been freed from captivity—the first time by faith and baptism and the
second time when He comes, so that we might be glorified with Christ in eternity.
Sunday, May 9, 1847
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Everyone of us was given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. What
kind of a gift of Christ did Paul mean that is imparted individually to each member of
the church by Him, the Head? It is the gift of the Holy Spirit of which Peter already
spoke in his sermon on the first penetecostal Day when many of those assembled,
troubled and on the verge of despair, asked what they should do if they, in ignorance,
crucified and rejected their Christ. Peter and the other apostles answered them, "Repent,
and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,
and ye shall re252
ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost." That is the gift of God by Jesus Christ. The gift of the
Holy Spirit which by reason of sonship must dwell in each member so that we become
children of God. The gift of the Holy Ghost makes us to become children of God. That is
what is so wonderful in the whole work of redemption—that the Father gave His Son as
an offering for our sins so that we can become children of God by the Holy Ghost,
Whose power of sanctification must present us as Jesus Christ also was when He
appeared in the flesh.
That is why the apostle said, "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive,
and gave gifts unto men"—after He ascended and after He opened the prison of Satan
and led captive that which was under his power. But when the Word says that He
ascended, it is understood that He had before descended. He is the Same that ascended
into all heaven so as to fill all things. He Himself said, " . . . No man hath ascended up to
heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man." The ascension of
Jesus Christ into heaven, above all the heavens, is a consequence of His descension, so
that we become one in the flesh, so that He as Son of man might bring to pass a
redemption from the power of the prince of this world for all who believe on Him so we
are no longer captives of the devil but the befriended of God and the blessed of the
Father, endowed with
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the gift of Christ, with the firstfruits of His spirit, by which we shall be able to know if
we are heirs with Him in the revelation of His glory.
The spirit of Christ, which came down in His stead, must prepare us as saints. He has
received all things to impart to them who are now or become obedient to Him, not only
the firstfruits of His spirit, but also the gift to become children of God by faith and by
following in His footsteps. They, however, who do not believe and become obedient are
guilty in the judgment of condemnation. Because of Adam, the word says that we shall
be freed and saved and accept the salvation He has won. Therefore "submit your
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members to the service of righteousness that they may be holy."
The rebellious are they who have turned away from the covenant of the Lord. All men
from Adam are rebellious to all His teachings. They have deviated from the law and
become rebellious. But for these sinners, Christ received gifts so that He can and would
again call them forth from the power of Satan in which they are captured to serve sin. If,
however, we have been redeemed from the service of sin and Christ has given us gifts of
grace, we shall preserve them unto the end. But if we should lose them again, then there
is no other sacrifice left for such than the first cause of death. We are bought with a great
price by Christ. That is why we should preserve the calling and
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be obedient unto the end as Christ was to the Father.
He has given us gifts to that end, His Holy Spirit, and He will dwell where the devil
formerly was, namely, in the vessels which the devil used for dishonor, in those who
have committed sin and bore the image of the devil. Yet thereafter would the Lord dwell
in them so that they bear His image, are obedient to Him and live according to His will.
The people are ever of the opinion that continual sinning can not harm us and that Christ
wanted to establish an ever recurring redemption in man, but He came only once to die
for sin. The New Testament knows of no second redemption for a sinner. All witnesses
of the New Testament state that there is only one redemption for man. A soul can only be
redeemed once. When one believes on Christ, Who for our sins, brought His priesthood
to the cross to save us from the servitude of sin that one will be redeemed, for under the
law man is blameless in the battle of sin and from this servitude Christ redeems us by
His blood and His spirit so that we no longer serve sin, but do the will of God in the
power of God through the Son and receive the gifts of Christ as an endowment from
God (as is written in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians) . He who is a
child of God must do righteousness, and he who does unrighteousness and sin is a
servant of the devil, as Paul says. What is Christ
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for us? A Redeemer, a Liberator, a Saviour, Who redeems us from sin so that we become
children of God and this work of redemption happens only once; not twice or many
times.
Man would like to do good under the law. As long as one is out of Christ, so long is he a
guiltless servant of sin. He does not want to sin and from this coercion of sin Christ,
Who sits at the right hand of God, redeems us so that we can do what we before could
only desire to do. By His spirit we again receive the liberty to make ourselves free from
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the spirit of the law. The law does not make our spirit free. The spirit within us must
needs sigh to become participant in His gifts of grace and know that it is the Lord Who
sent them to us. As much as Christ shared of His gifts with each one, that much one has.
When one would but cannot do good, then he is not free. But when we are made free by
Christ then we willingly become servants of God. But this liberty is only imparted once
in one's entire lifetime. He, who has received, must preserve this so that he will not
again fall back, for the devil will not suffer any to be torn away from his power.
Paul says, "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things." We must see in Him Who descended the same one Who
ascended. But for the believers, there is still more said than that He descended or that He
ascended. That is the object
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of our faith in the Gospel for it is at least an example like Elijah who ascended but it is
not written that he descended. We first of all have to fix our faith on the One, of Whom
witness is given that He descended; He Who brought about our redemption and our
sonship by and from God so that we might rejoice over what we have.
The Son of God appearing in the flesh had only one aim—to free the captives from
captivity. Prior to that all were still in captivity and Christ had to die for these men that
they might enter through the door which was broken down by Him. All the fathers of the
Old Testament looked forward to this promise. They had the prediction of the future
redemption and this redemption came in Christ. But if we do not believe, we remain
captive. Satan keeps, in sin and darkness, the captivity of this time. We are born as
captives into the world and are sold in sin (John 8) . For that reason Christ arose, that
"He might fill all things," as in the world there is annually a holiday celebrated which is
called "Resurrection Day." He has ascended up above all the heavens so that as He has
occupied them, He also will fill our hearts. Consider what that means!
We must not only know what it is according to the letter—that "He ascended into
heaven"—we must experience it so that the kingdom of God can come into one's heart—
righteousness, the fruit of the spirit. The King and His kingdom must
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come into one's heart and would dwell in man for the purpose of giving him gifts! We,
by faith, become partakers of all that which is in Christ; the object of all that the Father
brought about by the Son; the fruit of the resurrection and of the descension so that we
all become filled with the Holy Ghost. Where there is a barren and benumbed condition
in the people, they are not filled with the Holy Ghost nor is there any power there.
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But where one is filled with the Holy Ghost it is as when it is rumored that one were full
of sweet wine, as was also said by the mockers when the Holy Ghost was poured out on
the apostles on the first pentecostal day—like when it is said of us that we are "fools,
eccentric, carry it too far, are better than everybody else." To be sure, if the Holy Ghost
is in us He must manifest Himself. He must be made known. All have to profess that
Jesus is the One Who is to be called the Lord, to Whom one must give glory.
We ourselves are to blame if we have not much of the Holy Ghost for this Spirit would
fill all things. We need but to expand our hearts (Acts 3 ;24) . " . . . If any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8:9) . We are to thank the Lord therefor
and praise and glorify God. To be to His honor shall be our calling. We dare not be so
silent and have nothing to say of what Jesus did for us—how he rescued us from the
captivity of Satan. In the world it
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is an empty matter. No one knows anything of what the Saviour did for him and none
can give proof of how he was saved, redeemed and freed. That is why their mouth is
stilled and their tongue is lame (Ephesians 4;10) .
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things.)
CHAPTER XXX. LASTING CLEANSING AND SANCTIFICATION.
IF IT IS a question of Him Who came down, then no other came down than the only
Begotten Son, Who is in the Father's bosom and was from everlasting. If, however, it is
a question of Him Who ascended above all the heavens, we well know that the only
Begotten of the Father ascended as a Son of man. As He had, by reason of His
ascension, become and put on our flesh and blood so that the only Begotten of God was
at the same time a Son of man (one as we are) ; He sanctified and filled by divinity
unified the Godhead with humanity by His becoming man and cleansed our hearts, our
human nature, from the sinfulness which had cleaved it to from. Adam.
As many souls as enter into Christ (Who came down for us, appeared in our flesh)
receive through Him a cleansed human nature in conjunction with this divine nature of
Christ, the Son of God. Our human nature in conjunction with the divine nature is the
vessel in which Christ would dwell. If, however, there wherein He would dwell is holy
and clean, then the vessel cannot be unclean and sinful, from which state we must be
kept. This preservation depends on Christ. The divine nature is in us by reason of the
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Son Who dwells in us.
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With the help of His spirit we receive the divine nature.
We must preserve our vessel in sanctity and honor so that God can dwell in us. Should
we use the vessel of our body for sin and transgression then this will become the fall
unto death. God's keeping is not in men as long as they are sinners, but only after the
sinners become holy, and this abode we must keep by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost
which would sanctify, penetrate and fill our human nature. Just as Jesus Christ ascended
to occupy the heavens and to fill all things, thus would He also fill our human nature and
our vessels so that we are sanctified thereby. We are namely, through Christ, His equable
image so that as human nature has unified itself with the Son of God, the only Begotten
of the Father, thus also is the divine nature unified with the human nature in us. Because
He was first the Son of God before He was the Son of man He descended before He
ascended. We were sinners before we were saints by His spirit. The relationship,
however, between us and Him is by sanctification. The unification of the divine and
human natures is not possible until our sinful nature is changed to the divine nature.
Christ had to first overcome the devil and after that He could vicariously step into the
place of combat so as to die for us in order that we could become cleansed from our
inborn sin and the devil would no longer reign in us, but God,
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the living God, through Christ Who in our stead, in the form of man, gave up His life to
blot out and cleanse from our sins.
First our human nature must be cleansed by the divine nature before God can dwell in
us. That is why those who hear the counsel of God unto their salvation also have to enter
in by faith so that they through Christ become cleansed and saved from sin and
accordingly are prepared as vessels to the honor of God.
If we have thus endured in our proving trial on earth, we will also enter into the joy of
our Lord for only the overcomers will be crowned. Christ came to us so that all the
sanctified should become co-heirs. He who would be thus needs to keep himself from
unrighteousness so that the Holy Ghost may not abandon him. We battle for a crown.
May we not become weary in the strife which is set for us (II Corinthians 7; I John 3) .
We have two kinds of challenges to guard against in our situation; (1) the cleansing of
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit so that the tempter may not succeed in
defiling us again with that with which he tried us; (2) that we abide in sanctification, to
contend for the faith which was delivered to the saints that they might inherit the crown
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for which they are fighting.
It is a matter of the indwelling power of God and His demands that we do not overstep
His commandments. Then we will remain cleansed
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and keep ourselves from every defilement of the body and the spirit until we are
redeemed on the day of the Lord. We are cleansed once by Christ and a lasting cleansing
is a preservation of ourselves that we stay true, for by the indwelling of God and His
Holy Ghost we can remain rightly preserved. The apostles and prophets continually
exact of the saints and believers that they preserve the way and sanctification. There is
no unification between believers and unbelievers or we would ourselves become unclean
and that is why we must be tried in this world, as Adam and Christ were tried by the
devil to ascertain whether they would stand or fall away. If we are true, we will be
crowned with glory and honor.
Christ as the Son of man and Son of God at the same time is the firstfruit on Whom was
fulfilled, as it is written in the eighth Psalm. The overcoming consists in that we conquer
by the indwelling power of God for it is imposible to overcome by one's human nature.
When is a person purified? When he believes and is washed in baptism for the water is
the bath of rebirth and the purification is brought about by reason of faith by baptism
into the death of Christ. Where there is no faith there is no baptism or redemption. Those
who say that it is impossible that Christ died are manifest sinners for as long as one does
not understand he says that it is impossible and ascribes it all to men instead of the
working of
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the Lord. We could not be preserved if Christ did not dwell in us. He had to become the
Son of man in flesh and blood so that we as a new man can put on. All children are
added unto Him by the Father. They are entirely cleansed in their human nature by the
nature of Christ. We are by nature Adam's children and afterward if God would dwell in
us (if we have become sanctified and cleansed by Christ Who died on the cross in
Whose death we are baptized) then we become children of God. The soul who believes
can perceive this mystery as Naaman believed it, so that his leprosy had to be cleansed
after he dipped himself seven times in the waters of Jordan. He did not believe before. It
was not the water that accomplished it; it lay in the promise of the prophet, "Go and
wash in Jordan seven times .. . and thou shalt be clean." The promise does not consist
alone in the deed or in the method. That is why little children cannot be cleansed—
because they cannot believe the promise of God, "Cleanse yourselves, I would dwell in
you." So if we become sanctified and cleansed by Christ, by His dwelling within us, and
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have overcome in a good fight of the faith, only then will we be glorified with Him. The
glorification of the children of God follows after their having silently endured in the
battle.
The susceptibility, the fitness for assurance, as it also was in Christ is only in the
believers. He
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could be tempted but He had to guard Himself for sin may not dwell in the holy. A saint
can, it is true, fall away again, betray Christ and sin again, but he, by the divine nature,
has the power to withstand; and because he can he shall withstand by the divine nature
of Christ and overcome all sinfulness by His nature which dwells in him. "Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (Romans
6:12) .
Adam was tempted and Christ was tempted. Adam fell but Christ did not. We must
follow Christ and be worthy of Him. The true believer must earn his share in the glory of
God in the battle against sin. He must strive unto blood and overcome and overpower,
for it can be done if Christ's spirit dwells in him. If we thus stand in our work we will be
crowned with the crown of righteousness. It was thus with Christ and is with all true
believers who are His followers. We must follow Him: He is the Lord and we are His
servants. He who has not been cleansed cannot overcome. And when a believer does not
overcome, he cannot pass over to the church of God even though he is now already in a
congregation. We must earn our portion in Christ by a daily battle and by overcoming
sin by His power. That is the stipulation, requiring a great loyalty. The gift and the grace
of God are entrusted to us. We should make use of them so that we become sanctified by
the grace of God.
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CHAPTER XXXI. THE DIVERSITIES OF GIFTS.
Sunday, May 16, 1 8 4 7—Ephesians 4 : 1 1
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers;
IN THE seventh verse the apostle began showing how the church, as the body of Christ,
is appointed and prepared from above by means of salvation and resources of the Holy
Ghost. He, Christ, "gave some apostles, other prophets, other evangelists and others still
pastors and teachers." These now are the various offices of the self-same Spirit in the
church, in the body of Christ. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers —
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these are the diversities of gifts and offices of the powers, of which the apostle also
spoke in I Corinthians 12:4. Likewise as the human body is formed, so also is Christ's
body. In these various orders in the church, the Holy Spirit of Christ demonstrated
Himself in various gifts and powers.
Paul is first to mention apostles. An apostle is charged with the office from the Lord. No
one can become an apostle except him whom the Lord places in this appointment. It is
an office which no one can take. The Lord gave this commission only to His apostles
whom He had determined from
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the beginning should establish His church. Only the apostles had power by their prayer
to impart the gift of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of their hands. Such miraculous
gifts, however, are not essential to salvation. He who has this has an additional gift. The
apostles are mentioned everywhere as the chiefest; they constitute the foundation. The
church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. They are the pillars, the
stewards of the whole house. Besides them there have been no other apostles. It is an
office to which the Lord entrusted them in particular—they should keep the house of
God—they should ground and build a church by their word, by their doctrine, as such
who are the very closest to Christ. They are the branches on the Vine. He sent these
branches forth. Outside of them there will never more be any other apostles.
But among the apostles the Lord "gave some prophets." These constitute the second part
of the structure of His church. They shall labor as representatives of the apostles (as
subordinates) . If any spirit teaches otherwise than the one of the apostles, then it is a
prophet who is sent only for a temptation. Not all prophets are endowed with the Holy
Spirit so that they might serve mankind unto salvation and redemption. There are other
kinds of prophets, but they are not true ones. They do not teach in a manner for the
continuity
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of the house of God, but build on another house. There is a greater audience for the false
spirit than for the true spirit of Christ. Even he, who is born again, is inclined to listen
more to a false spirit. The prophets are representatives of the apostles, however, not with
all the powers they had. That is why the most extraordinary wondrous gifts have
discontinued since the apostles are asleep.
Under Emperor Constantine the external pomp and splendor of the church as it now is,
took the place of the inner life. Jesus Christ at all times awakens men who carry on the
spiritual word of the apostles. The word of the letter is an outward form, as the present
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church teachings so systematically put the words together. It makes only hollow heads
and empty hearts. The people are only Christians in name—the power of godliness is not
in them—and when they see it in some people they say that they are misled and in error.
The prophets are next to the apostles. Their fruit is that they proclaim the apostles' word,
seek to convert and save them, and if they are rejected and mocked by the world men
rejoice (I Corinthians 2). Men like so much to hear that they will be saved without
converting themselves and being mortified to sin. But if one should come and say, "You
are lost, all of you," he finds closed doors everywhere. However, if some are con269
verted and become believers, that is his fruit. Yet, it is better if they are few rather than
many, for it is a good sign because only few walk on the way of life. Not many come to
the truth of Christ, especially in the last times when the conversion of men is most
difficult. It is a wonder if many are truly converted. Read the prophets. What i
it that they preach? It is not preaching that i particularly pleasing to hear, but consists o
admonitions and censure and prophecies. " prophet is a man who speaks the truth throug
the Holy Ghost" (Titus 1;12) .
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always
liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
The truth is from God and therefore everyon is a prophet who preaches the truth in the
nam of God. Truth is light. Truth tells the people what they are and whence they are
going. Tha they will all be lost, is the truth. Those wh believe this are born again. The lot
of these believers and reborn ones is that they have believe the truth and the lot of him
who preached it i that he is branded as a seducer in the world. Chri says (Matthew 5 :10
and 11) , "Blessed are the which are persecuted for righteousness' sake . . . " "Blessed are
ye, when men shall revile you, an persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake." A prophet always speaks decisive truths. However he receiv
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the message from God, which he shall preach and teach.
Evangelists are those next in order to the prophets who preach the word of deliverance
and redemption so that men shall be freed by faith in the Gospel. An evangelist is a
messenger of God who testifies of Christ, Who as the second Adam, appeared as the
Saviour of the world in Whose name only there are salvation and peace; Who seeks
again the lost and would bring them to Him. He is the fulfillment of the law. That is why
the Gospel should be preached unto men so that they may come to repentance and
salvation' and believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour Who was born and came into the
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world to save those who believe from the captivity of Satan.
Pastors and teachers. A shepherd has a flock and it is also thus in a spiritual sense, one
who already has a flock. The apostle and prophet found the church and the shepherd
labors where a church already exists so that the flock is furthered in the knowledge of
the truth. Besides shepherds he also mentions teachers who are yet different than
evangelists, prophets and apostles. Teachers are separate witnesses, those who feed and
sustain the church with the Word of God. Shepherds are those who have oversight
(elders) and they must watch over the flock. Teachers specifically are they who instruct
the church unto edification.
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To what purpose did the Lord impart all these gifts in this power of the Holy Ghost?
What does the Lord desire that His prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers
accomplish on earth? Paul gives the answer in the twelfth verse. Saints are they who
have become believers of the Word and constitute the church, who are the body of
Christ, and when the apostle says that the Lord has imparted His gifts and powers for the
preparation of the saints, He says by that that all these commissions of God are made for
the purpose of making ready a church for the Lord, that all may be such who are added
to the church of Christ. These saints altogether shall be prepared (that is as they shall be)
so as to profess Christ, their Head, and to rule with Him in eternity. "Do ye not know
that the saints shall judge the world?" That they are all things among themselves, might
rightly know what is righteous and decide finally upon them so that there will be no
need for going before unbelieving judges of the world.
In the coming world, the saints will take over the judgment of the world. Then why
should they not so much the more be able in this time to pass judgment on lesser
matters? So the saints who are thus prepared, shall be perfect to enter into glory. It is not
enough to assemble a church out of the world for the Lord, but the called saints shall be
thus prepared in all perfection (II Corinthians 13;9) .
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For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish,
even your perfection.
To this end, the Lord has directed that there be apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds
and teachers, that they might ever become more perfect. It is a perfection that leaves
nothing more to be desired, like the tabernacle which had to be built exactly in
accordance with the pattern which the Lord showed Moses on the mount. It is thus also
in the New Testament; apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers must all
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work together on the building of God (II Corinthians 1 3 : 5 ) .
All shall work on one another so that the church fully glows in splendor, mighty and
perfect, altogether without spot, or the Lord has no use for it. It is not enough that the
church is furthered; it must ever become perfect. He who belongs to the church must be
fully prepared (Colossians 1:28)
Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom;
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
On Jesus Christ's church there dare not be anything wrinkled or spotted—all must serve
to cleanliness, sanctification, and edification, "That ye he not slothful, but followers of
them, who through faith and patience, inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:12) .
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CHAPTER XXXII. GOVERNED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
Sunday, May 23, 1847-7Ephesians 4:11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers;
THE Lord Jesus Christ gave His servants, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and
teachers for the preparation of the saints as offices of service, unto edification of the
body of Christ. What the apostle calls the body of Christ is the church. The Head, Christ,
is in heaven and His body is at all times formed by the approach of new members who
are converted out of the world unto God; out of darkness unto light. It is an inner and
outer organization of the body of Christ and both come about by the same Spirit, Who
calls and assembles the lost and furnishes those gathered together from within and fully
prepares them as they have to be unto the glory of the Head and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
We must therefore consider the body of Christ from without and within, in regard to
body, soul and spirit.
True, in the foreknowledge of God, the church was a complete whole already from
eternity, before an entirety of it was revealed as Christ Himself says in the seventeenth
chapter of John—that
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His church, His called ones and saints, were destined thereunto from everlasting, before
the foundation of the world, to be participant of Him, now inwardly and later outwardly,
for the world at least does not see their glory. What the children of God are is hidden,
but in the eyes of God it is manifest. With respect to the calling, however, the
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conditional stipulations of the body of Christ, by all means, come first.
The calling is from His first to His second coming which people did not aforetime know
as they lived in succession. They do not know before they are set apart by the calling of
God. So the church in the world does not exist in its entire completion which will first be
hereafter or God's patience would no longer be worthwhile. The building is the work of
all those who become believers, their walking in the truth, and enduring in all
temptations which go over them in this evil and wicked world. We are disciplined and
strengthened by bodily and spiritual practice and practice makes the master. If we are in
Christ long, our spirit ever becomes stronger until the end when we are here almost as
clean and pure as Christ ; as when a person is born he is still weak and lacks experience
and we attain it by degrees through supplication and prayer. One cannot see in a little
child what he will become as a man. So the crisis in a spiritual respect is also not known
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until it is brought about by growth and exercise (II Timothy 2:19-22) .
We shall not be and remain little children, but grow strong as a perfect man (as the
apostles were) , strong in the spirit. Thus all attain unto unity of the faith and knowledge
of God. The knowledge of the Son of God is not a knowledge of the mind but of the
spirit. This has to do with and goes before the capacity to grow. The weak and young
ones must look upon those who are older and stronger in spirit. When a person is born
there is already in him the origin of the type that he will grow up to—maturity. Nor is it
otherwise in Christ. The longer we are in Him the richer and more perfect we become.
Christ died when He was thirty-three years of age and was transplaced to the right of
God where He still lives until eternity and reigns over heaven and earth. We all must
also attain to that to be brought to the full achievement. The development will be seen in
our fidelity. At our rebirth we are not yet as we should be, but he who uses the means of
grace will grow and he, who does not, will perish ( Romans, chapter 8) . They who
allow themselves to be governed by the spirit of God are children of Him. From within
the new creatures must develop, that one by one becomes strengthened. Every trial, if
we are true, is a strengthening of us, so if we are not true then we continually become
weaker and lose ground until we die. We must
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grow and become strong after the inner man. In the spirit we have to be responsible for
ourselves so that we do not depend on the wind and weather as we do in the body. It is
required of him, who is born again, that he remains faithful.
We must make ourselves secure and grow strong by discipline, trials and lessons so that
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we as qualified, adult men do what we should. We must arouse one another by comfort
and support so that we serve unto edification! We must be vessels of honor! We are
receptacles of God. 'We must use and take advantage of the short span of our life so that
we are made ready and all come to the achievement. The plant of God must develop in
us. We must grow in all grace and wisdom with God and man. It is all destined to our
salvation. We must be made rich by all kinds of dangers of this life or we will not
become participants in the future glory. We must take an example from those who are
stronger, not from the weaker. We must have those for a pattern who have already, for a
long time, been tried and have grown strong, as Paul says to Timothy " .. . Be thou an
example of believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."
We must take heed that there are no weaklings in the church, but that they are all clean
instead so that they become ripe to old age in Christ. We must, here in earth, be
presented in a like state as was Jesus Christ. Christ became the example
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of all saints and believers so we become like Him. With the exception of Christ, there
are no stronger ones than those whom the Scriptures declare, so we must look upon such
as examples and patterns who have gone on before us in the church. As men saw the
Father in Christ in word and deed, thus must they see Christ in us in all things. 'We who
are one in Jesus have to grow strong in Him every day in the school of temptation and
persecution. It is an exceedingly precious training. It depends upon the fidelity or
infidelity of the reborn one. If he is ever true, then he has to grow and if he is not true
then he will go backwards and fall away. We must grow and thrive in the spirit of truth
for Christ must grow in us or the devil will retake his kingdom in us (Hebrews 6) .
The apostle makes it clear that those who have once come to Christ shall not always
remain little children for this has evil consequences. If believers continue to be little
children after the spirit and do not grow strong and sound in the truth because in this
state of childhood they, in weakness and without character, let themselves be "tossed to
and fro by every wind of doctrine." When another wind blows they turn like a
weathervane. This is the case of those who only stay small and do not grow to manhood.
The more we grow in Christ, the deeper also the character of Christ must be impressed
in us. We have to grow strong in the spirit of grace if we have grown up. When
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we have come to manhood we have to go to battle and have power to overcome the
world and certainly little children will not do for that, but young men and men. In the
beginning when the children are still small, the Lord takes care of them, but temptations
also come which go beyond our power and if we are true we will not fall (I Corinthians
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14:20) .
Brethren, be not children in understanding : howbeit in malice be ye children,
but in understanding be men.
With respect to this, we must become strong men, for little children require milk because
they are not able to bear strong meat (Hebrews 13:9) .
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing
that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein.
CHAPTER XXXIII. SPEAKING THE TRUTH.
Monday, May 24, 1847—Ephesians 4:14
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about
with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
PAUL makes a contrast between the fourteenth and fifteenth verses. In the fourteenth
verse he tells what we shall refrain from doing; what we shall guard ourselves against,
and in the fifteenth verse what we are to do—not be as little children, but grow in Christ.
That is brought about in the way it is stated in the fifteenth verse, that we speak the truth
in love. We shall not continue to be little children for such a one is unstable and movable
by the wiles of Satan according to his mood and the temptation. When one has a matter
to say to another he shall say it so that love shines through. We shall speak the truth to
one another in all things. Just this speaking of the truth is the main thing which must be
done in the spirit of love.
We shall be a mirror to one another, an object which shows us when we fall short, so that
we improve ourselves and come unto perfection as Paul would have us do. When one
does not rightly
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know oneself, then he should be told of this so that he does better; for self-love is a veil
drawn over the mirror. If one, however, does not have any self-love, then he has the
Holy Ghost for the clearest, brightest and cleanest mirror. One shall tell the other of the
faults he still has, so that he accepts it and becomes perfect and he shall receive it and
thank the one for doing this so that love is expressed in all instances. The speaking of the
truth must be done in love that it might mature us in edification, in growth. We shall not
be so reserved that we do not tell him or this will not be remedied. If we tell him he can
put it aside and improve himself. Paul could well feel what was necessary for growth,
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namely, to speak the truth. When we see blemishes on ourselves we have to vigorously
lay them off so that we are found without wrinkle or spot. We have to do whatever we
can to help the matter.
The Lord is our Father. That is why we must speak the truth out of pure love amongst
each other, so that the other person sees that you mean it well with him. But he shall not
cast it aside nor shall it be said with sharp words or it is not out of love. It would then be
done merely for censure and hatred and he would not have mean it well. Truth and love
must accompany one another. The truth must be begotten of pure brotherly love. Jesus
never lied. He always spoke the truth and no falsehood or guile was ever in
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His mouth. That was very well known and for that reason they wanted to tempt and
ensnare Him, as when the Pharisees asked Him, "Master, we know that thou art true, and
teachest the way of God in truth . . . "Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful
to give tribute unto Caesar or not?" Had He answered them, "No," they would have had
Him in a snare and (would have) accused Him as a rebel.
The mirror is the Word of God (verse 21) . This mirror we cannot know of ourselves. We
shall always speak the truth amongst one another if we are brothers and sisters or else
we deny the divine nature in us and we are obligated to admonish and edify one another
so that we become perfect. Oh, how small the way is! To speak the truth and besides do
it in love, not in a harsh, mean tone and way which do not edify but only harm, so that
we do not fall right and left and hurt and miss the truth and love would suffer if we
speak the truth but not out of love. The lying spirit is an haughty one. One does not like
to tell the truth when he is proud and conceited. He can scarcely listen to preaching. He
cannot bear it, but if we are children of God we must speak the truth in love.
This morning we observed how duty-bound the saints are, that the speaking of the truth
come from their heart and that they do not withhold it when, at heart, they have
something against one
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another, the disclosure of which would serve for one's good if it happened in love, not in
a rash, bitter, spiteful spirit, not in a tone of voice which would ruin rather than improve
the person who should be corrected. We shall keep this rule every day as a standard of
our life. We shall do it in such a way that it does not repulse but attain the aim. Therefore
let us grow in all ways on Him so the spiritual growth in love will be replete, that all will
be open-hearted, that we seek and instruct one another in this way so that when one
beholds the other in his walk, if love impels and constrains us, we are not hindered in the
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growth of the spirit.
Just as in the case of trees or plants, what hinders us from bearing fruit must be
removed. It is the same in the spiritual body. We must in all things grow in Him Who is
the Head. We should become like Christ. Thereunto shall our meditation and aspiration
be and our sanctified life go, that we become like Christ. This, however, does not leave
anything out. Whatever the Son of God showed and portrayed in His divine walk, that
shall adorn and set us off. In all things we shall become like the image in which we are
created and because it is all accomplished, we shall fulfill it all and follow after Him in
all things. That which is unlike Him shall be cut off. When there are shoots on the
saplings they have to be cut off or when grubs appear on them they have to be
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cleansed. It is the same with us. What hinders and is not in conformity with Christ in our
mind and life has to be cut off. If that then is our aim and goal, we are to assist and not
hinder one another to that end. We shall see to it that we reach the same growth so that
we become as Christ was.
The body of Christ, which was founded by the apostles, shall be fastened and joined
together. That has to do with its nature. In the church, as in our own body, one member
of it is joined to the other and all communicate one to the other. Each individual in his
measure and part must help so that we are, in truth, lively members and even the body of
Christ must do what it can. The growth comes forth of Christ so we should hold together
in order that the members do not fall away again. When the seed of Christ is in us, then
His nature is too. As He was the Pattern on earth, that is the way we shall also be, so we
come up to it and grow. That shall be our striving, the longer the more similar, so that we
do not hinder one another in a spiritual growth and guard ourselves so we allow
ourselves to be admonished as such who also accept it. A zeal that is bitter does not
profit, but we shall with consideration go to our task, and speak the truth in love. It is
indeed an important duty imposed by God that we admonish the brothers and sisters on
whom we know something that is not right so that we
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always serve to the uplifting of the house of God. All members shall reciprocally
communicate to one another. If Christ is not in us then we cannot serve unto edification
but as to hindrance. When the children speak slanderously, then it is not done as a
ministration. We dare not speak thus for it is an eating canker in the church and the body
of Christ does not attain to its organization and growth and tends also to keep us from
coming up to Him and it incapacitates.
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CHAPTER XXXIV. DARKNESS AND LIGHT.
Sunday, May 30, 1847—Ephesians 4:17
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as
other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.
PAUL testified previously to the saints and believers as to how they should serve one
another unto edification and help by word and deed so that the body of Christ be
established. Where the Head of the Church is a precedence in the organization of the
body of Christ, there the opposite, what serves the church unto destruction, can also be
avoided for one cannot build up with one hand and tear down with the other. When we,
in obedience to the Holy Ghost, devote ourselves to the truth in word and deed then we
help to build. When we speak the truth to one another in love, then we on the other hand
must shun altogether a walk according to the way and nature of the world. All men who
are not in Christ are heathen (Gentiles) of the world and walk according to the prince
who rules in it. We shall take a lesson and not do that which the world does. When one
observes how the people of the world live, it can be seen that it is the exact opposite of
what we
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should do according to the Word of God. We, in truth, are to live holy, righteous and
godly and in all instances the Word of God shows us what we should and must do.
The right way to "life" is by the truth, not by sin. Of the heathen or unconverted men,
the apostle says that they walk in the vanity of their mind. It is that mind in which one,
by nature, lives. It is vanity as Paul says (Romans 1:21) .
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither
were thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart
was darkened.
The nature, in their imaginations and strivings, is brought to vanity, which always comes
first. The people seek and love and strive to attain it. All that is in the world is vain,
transient and perishable and because men put their confidence in it, is is an idol. The
vanity of the mind actuates men from as far back as Adam. In this vanity of our mind we
shall not remain. We should have the veritable, the invisible and the eternal in our mind.
To the vanity of the mind which dwells in the heart of man, belongs also the rebellion of
man, ungodliness—like people going about as if there were no God.
In all that the children of God do and undertake they should take counsel with the Lord
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and ask Him in prayer and entreat Him that He do according to His will, and if it is
amiss He will defeat it. God does not lead us astray if we ask
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His advice, but when we do what is to our own purpose and goal then we will come to
the vanity of our mind—unto destruction. God says, " .. . My thoughts are not your
thoughts . . . When one does not leave his matters to God and accordingly give himself
over to Him, he will be led on erroneous ways. Paul charges us not to regard ourselves,
but that we commit all things to God. We shall not be dependent on ourselves or we go
toward destruction. Our worst enemy is the vanity of our mind. When one follows after
that mind he is following a lying spirit. The truth is the mind of Christ, so that we take
not counsel with ourselves but deny ourselves and do the will of God (verses 14, 2125) .
If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in
Jesus:
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your
mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for
we are members one of another.
Each one who is self-willed and goes his own ways is, indeed, being counselled by a
strange spirit.
Our standard is to speak the truth so that we do not walk in the vanity of our hearts as
the heathen of this time, who walk without light in darkness. God is the Light. If one in
his mind, thoughts and heart is turned away from God, he
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is in darkness; if however he is converted to God, he is in the light. When one is
completely turned away from God then it will become utter darkness and night in him.
All mankind is in the darkness, with the exception of those who have been converted
and saved and walk in the light. Everything becomes light, their whole heart. In Him, all
is in the light. Christ is the Light and He does nothing without the Father. In this, He has
become an Example for us, how we should walk as children of God. Then we are
children of God and our innocence is manifested in that we walk in the light and not in
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darkness as natural men walk.
. . . Darkness shall cover the earth, the gross darkness the people . . . " One who is still in
the old darkness is unenlightened. That is the way of the natural man ; the devil rules
him. God being the Light, they have no association with Him. If a soul is converted, he
becomes light (II Corinthians 6) . The children of God are light; the children of the
world, darkness. The children of God have become illuminated by Jesus Christ, Who is
the Sun of Righteousness. He, who believes on Him, will be illuminated and the old
darkness will pass away. That is why everyone should convert himself so that he walks
in the light. To most people Jesus Christ does not seem at all to be the "True Light." At
most, their light is only a moonlight, but they have not been
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illuminated nor warmed. All is cold and veiled in pretense. The believers among the
unbelievers are as lights in the darkness, like stars in the sky. The devil has blinded men
so that they do not follow after the Word of God but after the lying spirits and by that the
world has been completely darkened.
The conversion of all men is necessary. There are none enlightened by nature. Instead
they all have to be converted to Christ Who is the Light. We well experience that—we
who have been enlightened. We know God and know what we aforetime were.
Therefore, we must walk in the light and deliberate with God, that we have Him in our
eyes and heart; that we see Him, the Father, that we bring our affairs by prayer and
supplication to Him. Then our heart will remain secure in Christ.
What the apostle here testified to his brethren, who lived at that time and were the called
ones, he testified as a standard of all who were to be called. Are we called ones—saints?
If we are, then it concerns us also, but if we are heathen like the other people, then we
can do as we like. That is why the apostle admonishes us that we walk not as the heathen
walk, like the others who love darkness more than God. We have already spoken today
of that which relates to darkness. It is the darkness in men by nature so that he always
wants everything that is offensive to God. One has, of
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course, major tendencies, first of the understanding and secondly of the inclination of
the will which expresses itself in eager desire. Man can judge things according to
understanding and, according to his will, he can demand them. The understanding is the
spirit of man; the will is the heart which has its affections and impetus, which either turn
to God or the world. Where the heart is, the Spirit usually follows.
Men, all of them, by nature, have their understanding darkened and according to their
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will are estranged from the life of God. The divine life of Jesus Christ must also be in us.
It is a life which gives us a fixed course to God so that nothing can separate us
therefrom. God is the element of man. When one is not in Him he cannot have His life in
Him. We should not be as natural man. The signs of rebirth are the life of God in us, so
that we have fellowship with Him through the Son. The natural man proclaims what is in
him. With respect to God, he is altogether without knowledge, in darkness (I Timothy
1:1 ; Romans 10) .
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God, our Saviour,
and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope:
What else is a divine life than the life of Christ, that we walk as though we have Jesus
for an example? Ignorance is a natural sin and God will not punish anyone on that
account. It is as in Romans, chapter 1. There are three powers, the
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understanding, the heart and the conscience (Romans 2:15) :
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also
bearing witness, and their thought the mean while accusing, or else excusing,
one another.
(For when the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves.)—
Verse 14.
That is conscience to fallen man. By that they should prevent unnatural sins.
We in Christ have received a very far-reaching law—to have an holy, righteous, Godfearing conscience. He who is in Christ has the very highest law, the Holy Ghost, which
dwelt in Christ in boundless measure. He shall also live in us so that we refrain from all
lusts of the flesh and also from sinning, to which the Jews are subjected. The Jew must
ever restrain himself from sin to which the heathen are still subject, and the believer
shall not at all commit those sins against which the Jews have to guard themselves. A
few (of Deuteronomy, chapter 15) commit such sins which are not trespasses of the law
and which on the great day of atonement are remitted by the adequate sacrifice of the
scapegoat's blood (Luke 1.6):
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
One who is re-born has received a greater and higher life than a consummate Jew who
only lives a righteous life from a human but not from a
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divine standpoint. The Jew must deny himself and acknowledge that he is a sinner and
go through the same door at which a heathen has to enter. The human righteousness of a
Jew goes, thus far that he has to be subject to the law—yet it was still the old man. If a
Jew does not believ on Christ he commits sin, for all the seed of Israe has to enter in and
be saved in Him. If Christ i not in us and we do not wish to be re-born the we are
excluded from the kingdom of heaven, bu if He is, then we are like Him and have the
life God in us which Christ brought to light by t Gospel. Human or moral righteousness,
the doin and the state of the law, do not serve unto godliness. That is why the old man
must die.
Sunday, July 18, 1847—Ephesians 4:20
But ye have not so learned Christ.
One must therefore learn Christ, learn to kn not only Who He is, but also how He is, a
because one should know how He is, He must learned rightly. He should be so preached
to m as He is so that they have no other idea of H' than He really and truly is; so that
they may kn what is or is not befitting of them. What is u reconcilable with Christ when
one has righ learned to know how He is. Who Christ is, simultaneously know well—that
He is the Son God—but how He is as our Saviour insofar He would be allied with us, all
do not know this.
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What is befitting of those who are united with Him in one body and spirit ; how they
must live and walk on earth, not all know that, for there are such who say that they
believe on Christ and their life and walk is the opposite of Him. Such do not know Him.
The apostle in the foregoing words showed how wickedly those who do not know Christ
live in the world, walk in darkness and do its works. They prostitute their bodies for the
purpose of gain (verses 17-20) . "But ye have not so learned Christ," the apostle says to
those who, in Him, have been converted from darkness to light, not only by the character
peculiar to them as individuals, but also by His revelation in them that Christ Himself
discloses as the life of God. Because the heathen are alienated from the life of God, in
the way that they should now rightly know Christ as He is, they have to learn aright as
Paul says in the twenty-first verse, "If so be that he have heard him . . . " He who has
heard nothing of Christ, how He is, that one also can not learn Him by experience and
know, for one of himself knows nothing except what the first Adam is, what he knows
and does, and anything higher than that one does not have in his mind.
When we, however, learn Him correctly, then we get a different idea of the life of God—
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how He has to be represented in those who belong to Christ, that the darkness disappears
and the light
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has to shine in them. The truth has to be taught to man, then they can know Him. The
truth is in Jesus and the lie in Satan and Adam (within as well as without) . The lying
spirit is in the children of Adam. This is what Satan is and a system of lies issues forth
from him. In Jesus, the light is within one as a spirit of truth; outwardly as a life and
walk in the truth. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth,"
John says. In the truth there is an inner life and an outer walking therein.
CHAPTER XXXV. THE FATHER'S PURPOSE, IN SENDING THE SON.
FOR WHAT purpose did the Father send the Son into the world? The Son of God
appeared here in the world so that whosoever accepts the Gospel shall be saved. He shall
be transplanted from the lie to the truth. Then we learn to know Christ rightly. He would
destroy in us the kingdom of the devil and his work. To make us children of God was
His object so that we do not live like the heathen of the world (as we before were in
darkness when we walked in the lie as all men) , but instead that we walk in the light,
that we know Christ in the truth. This aim has not been attained in sinners.
Jesus wanted to save men from sin (I John, chapter 3) . He appeared in the flesh so as to
destroy the work of the devil and set up His work in them. That is the truth as it is in
Jesus. The people of the world know nothing of Christ, that He makes an end of the
kingdom of the evil one; that He does away with sin in man; that He reveals the light or
the truth in a life of God. That is why the people must still be taught now that which
Jesus Christ would be for us, in which redemption consists. The people do not know
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Christ at all, what He would establish for them or they could not walk so wickedly,
ungodly and wretchedly as they do. Anyone who walks in Christ cannot live in that
manner. Christ effectuates an altogether different life, but the spirit of the world is
provocative and productive in the people of the world. If Christ is in us, it must be seen.
The people can believe that He died and sits at the right hand of God and have no part in
it. But if they knew that Christ would live in them, they would live entirely otherwise.
When the people do not want to be brought from darkness to light from the lie to the
truth, then it is their responsibility. If they do not hear they are not guiltly. But who does
not hear the Word of God? Almost everyone can read the New Testament if he desires,
but the scribes pervert the Word—for instance the passage of the seventh chapter of the
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Romans where Paul writes of such who are under the law, "O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then these say that this is the rebirth
—that men cannot become free from sin, but have to continue in sinning.
Christ would bring the light forth in us. Everyone should become light and walk in the
truth Paul says it in a word, "As the truth is in Jesus.” When the truth is really in one,
then we have to have the truth (which Jesus is) also in us for in
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Him life hath appeared. The apostles preached Jesus. They had fellowship with the Son
and the Father. He is the Truth and the Light. One who does not have Christ, is here
without Him as though he were past feeling. Nothing reproaches them any longer and
they remain wicked in the world without being saved. In Christ there is no sinful life, but
a sanctified, obedient and righteous life. That is the way He has been preached as Paul
says, "You know how Christ is and what He is and how you are united with Him, how
He took away the wall of separation between God and us." Then we know Christ, how
He is, that the truth is in Him and a life blessed of God. We have renounced all that
which could separate us from Christ (verses 22-24) .
Paul speaks here of a former walk, how we lived during that time, not as children of
God. To have the voice of Jesus in us was something that we did not understand, but a
lying spirit was in us. What Christ would be we have to apprehend. If we teach "Christ"
then we also have to understand what the truth is, what Christ effects in us. Those who
have put Him on, have to know what He would do in them. That is the truth—when we
have put off those things concerning our past walk. "For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ."—Galatians 3:27.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
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We observed this morning that the truth as it is in Jesus and as it is imparted to us by
Him is the new man as opposed to the old who formerly lived in us, but that these two
cannot live in one body at the same time; that by the putting off of the old man the new
one is established and presented in His divine mind and life. The old man belongs to the
former state and walk in which we also grew up as children of Adam. But he does not
continue to grow in the new estate of the sonship of God. He, instead, as a ruined,
incompetent man, is entirely done away with through Jesus Christ Who died for this. His
mastery put to an end. The old man is Satan's image and dominion in us by nature. It is
the nature-spirit who misleads man to all evil and on vain ways until the time that Christ
opens the door and makes us free.
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Man is by nature, by reason of Adam's fall, a sinner. Sin is of Satan. That must be taken
away from man by the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Whom the Father sent to save sinners.
The redemption however, is a separation of the old man from the new one. The opposite
of the old man is the new man who is created after God in righteousness an. true
holiness. The new man is in man just as th old one was in him. He is an ingredient of th
new man who comes by Christ. The divine life through Jesus Christ comes by the new
man.
300A righteous and holy life is in Christ. There is a complete reversion, when He comes
as a spirit to dwell in us. He has given those, who have put Him on, who are born of
Him, power to be called children of God. We must learn to correctly know what both of
these are. The old man is that which comes from the devil, an evil spirit who has unified
himself with the spirit of man and as long as this evil spirit lives or dwells in him, he
cannot accomplish the good. Christ is the only Redeemer of all men for He has died for
this, to free us from the slavery of Satan. The new man is Christ in us. Christ is called
the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace (Hebrews, chap. 7) . As King of
Righteousness He must dwell in us. In the old condition the devil rules, for everyone by
nature is in unrighteousness. By Jesus Christ we must be transplanted into righteousness
and then we have to suffer on this account. The devil (or the world) will not tolerate any
righteous ones on earth. He would destroy them all. But the righteous live in God and
Jesus Christ, the King of Righteousness, reigns in them and they walk in righteousness
and not in unrighteousness (Hebrews, chapter 1) :
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he bath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made t he worlds;
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word
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of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high;
Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath b inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Tho art my son, this day
have I begotten thee? And again, will be to him a Father, and he shall be to
me a Son?
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And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into th world, he saith, And
let all the angels of God worship hi
And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a
flame of fire.
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0 God is for eve and ever: a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy king dom.
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows:
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning lust laid the foundation of the earth; and
the heavens are the works of thin hands:
They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a
garment;
And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they sha be changed: but thou
are the same, and thy years shall not fail.
But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit o my right hand, until I
make thine enemies thy footstool?
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall
be heirs of salvation?
The sceptre of His kingdom is one of righteousness. Jesus Christ has fellowship in the
righteous He is anointed above them all; He is the origin anointed one of God. We do
not fear the suffering of this time and the undiverted do righteousness (not stand
between the world and Christ for in the kingdom of this King righteousness rules and
nothing unrighteous will be tolerated.
When we are in Christ then we have to battle for Him. That we are persecuted, slandered
and
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hated for His sake, comes from the evil one who, at all times, would make us turn away.
As we serve the living King, we firmly believe that our soul is saved unto eternal life,
for there is now no righteousness for us other than that of the believers. It is like in the
Old Testament under David, that was first strife and quarreling and later, under Solomon
in his 40 years of reign, were joy and peace, to the extent that since then no king has
ruled like him. That is a true prefigure of the present time.
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CHAPTER XXXVI. PUTTING OFF THE OLD MAN AND PUTTING ON
CHRIST.
Sunday, July 25, 1847—Ephesians 4:20
THE truth consists therein that we have put off the old man according to the former walk
in which we were and that we have put on the new one who is created after the image of
God in true righteousness and holiness. That is the way we learned Christ, as we were
taught from Him, and in this truth the spirit of our mind must be renewed. Our ways of
thinking must come forth as new ones if the spirit of truth lives in us by Christ so as to
sanctify us and to effect a righteous life in us. What Christ performs in those who are
His here on earth, is righteousness, holiness of the truth as a witness to those who do not
have or know Him. If we have put on the new man of Christ who is created after God
(and which happens once) , then our mind must also make revelation of this created
person in us. What is revealed by us is the disclosure of the new man created by Jesus
Christ in us. It is the truth which appeared in Christ to sanctify us, as He Himself
expressed it, "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is the truth." In this truth
Christ would dwell
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in us by His spirit of truth so that our life will be fashioned accordingly.
In this respect Paul, in the thirteenth chapter of Romans, gave us exhortations. That is
how the sanctified, who are in Christ and Christ in them, shall put on the Lord Jesus
Christ; His whole mind, in their daily walk on earth—as He is and as He was minded on
earth. That is how we shall put Him on and reveal ourselves in His ways so that we walk
in the world as children of the Father and please God. That is the way we have learned
Christ, Who is the truth, so that we have joyousness on the day of judgment, for as He,
Jesus Christ, was in the world so also are we. This truth shows itself in us in two ways,
in righteousness and in holiness. Both are an emanation of the truth in contrast with what
was in Adam in the old man.
In the first chapter of Romans, the word says, " . . . For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness." Thus they hold back the truth which is of God so that men cannot be
saved from their destruction. They not only retard but they do not accept righteousness.
Over such the wrath of God will come because they are not obedient to the truth which
God sent to our redemption. Every person who will be saved must acknowledge and
disavow sin and the lie indwelling in him. Thus must our
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spirit be pervaded by the spirit of truth so that a righteous life be revealed in him. A holy
life is of God and something hidden within us.
Whoever is sanctified unto God from within is light from without. He avoids all
unrighteousness in way and deed and is zealous of good works. It is a life-righteousness
which is represented in us in a living way. We as new men, put on Jesus Christ and this
character demonstrates itself by the exuberance of our heart. From an evil store in the
heart, wickedness is forthcoming. Likewise also from a heart in which Christ dwells
comes forth His righteousness in one's entire life so that we do not do what we aforetime
did and deny Christ and His spirit. We must learn Christ as the apostles taught Him to
us, as He proved Himself to be to the believers of the early times, like those Christians
who are those not according to name or appearance only, but we must learn Christ as
was taught by the apostles or we have a false Christ, as the people imagine Him to be,
for the truth is of God and he who belies it will be punished.
We should avoid all unrighteousness and lead a righteous life before men and what is not
right we shall shun so that we do not sin against the truth. In Christ it is not a matter of
one's faith or of his imaginations, but a righteousness of life. For this a way is given in
the twenty-fifth verse, an exhortation, "Wherefore putting away lying,
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speak every man truth with his neighbor . . . ," for untruth comes from the evil one, but
in the children of God the truth dwells, by which we speak it, each one with his
neighbor. We have already had the admonition in the fifteenth verse. Not everyone can
understand the commandment, "lie not to one another." But if we understand and do not
keep it, we commit sin. Solomon told Shimei to build himself an house in Jerusalem and
abide there. Solomon asked him if he understood that. He answered, "Yes, I understand
it," and because he understood it and did it not, it cost him his life. We must rightly
understand the commandments of the Lord. We shall speak the truth to one another for
we are members.
If we do what the other people also do (when we should be better) then we have made
ourselves two-fold children of hell. Because we have put on the new man, we must
speak the truth to one another. We must not be distrustful. If one, however, has been
detected in a lie, confidence in him is gone. If we are guilty of a lie then brotherly
reliance is no longer among us. Backbiting also borders on telling an untruth (Hebrews
12 : 15 ) :
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of
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bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled ;
God's Word is the truth. If we have become true men, then we also have to speak the
truth among
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us. That is why all men have to be converted, for a real child of God cannot sin. Then
the commandment, "Speak the truth and not the untruth," applies. One must not disown
the truth for lies destroy men and become a root of bitterness. Thus the devil tries to
force himself into our hearts, but we dare not give him room. This is his artifice to seek
to bring about discord, for many are ruined thereby. The command that we should speak
the truth applies to us and we shall strictly adhere to it. If one has Christ's spirit in him,
then he cannot speak untruth. If we cannot do that, then we fall back.
"Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath." That is a second
command or another reminder which the apostle brings to his brethren. To be angry is
granted. It is allowed, but we may not sin. God becomes angry. Is He, in a way, in
darkness on that account? No, He is the pure Light. There is nothing unclean or
contaminated in Him. He punished and crucified His Own Son and redeemed us from
sin. If God did not have that intention, He would not have sent Him. God's wrath is
foretold, declared and revealed from heaven as His righteousness is revealed from
heaven. That shall be preached to all men. That is why men should convert themselves
and be saved. Each one shall fear God in His wrath. What else was the passover but a
reconciliation of His anger? Thus must
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Christ be an atonement for us. God will kindle a fire that will burn eternally for all the
ungodly; for all the unrighteous. When one hears this he should understand and do
accordingly. As soon as one believes and is baptized, so that he accepts Christ and His
spirit enters into him, the devil leaves. But we dare not be indifferent but severe against
all that is sin. We shall thank and admonish one another in a kindly way. Should this not
be accepted then it should be brought before the church and then if one is still indifferent
he is put out of the membership. What is evil and unclean we must flee and be wroth
with, and must not sin personally, carnally or privately so that man always thinks of it
again. That is not right before God. Charity covers a multitude of such sins. We shall and
are allowed to be angry at our sins, but we are not permitted to be carnally wrathful or
let the sun go down on our wrath.
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CHAPTER XXXVII. WATCH AND PRAY IN HUMILITY.
Sunday, August 1, 1847—Ephesians 4:27
Neither give place to the devil.
THE apostle admonishes the children of God not to give room to the devil, who causes
anger, dissension, discord and strife and all the evil things in the world for it is always
his pleasure if he can harm some by creating discord among them. We must be on our
guard so that he cannot force himself in because in this way we are destroyed, for Satan
is ever against God. Satan ever anew seeks to force himself in and tries to put everything
that is evil before us. As a seducer this spirit at all times tries to force himself in, on the
one hand between God and man and on the other between man and man. He slanders
those before God who belong to Him, as in the case of Job whom he so falsely accused
as though his faith and steadfastness were not of the right kind, so God was compelled to
torment and plague the miserable man. Every external circumstance was tried and
instigated to confuse him in his faith and to destroy him. God accordingly has to give us
up so that our faith may be found precious in the revelation of Christ. We dare not give
the
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devil room for he makes use of every opportunity to enter into the hearts of the children
of God. Thus God justly ever tortures and troubles His children so that their faith may
continue to be preserved, so that no water of affliction can separate them from the spirit
of God. Let us give no room to the slanderer or the devil so that we shall not be
displaced from the spirit of Christ.
Satan no longer has any place in the saints. He is forced out. Therefore, through wiles,
he seeks to force himself in again, in that place where he formerly was, for he is our
adversary as long as we are in the body. He is an enemy even of those who serve him.
He cannot do otherwise than destroy. Satan accosted man and accused him before God.
He compelled God to give His saints over to anxiety and tribulation. He sought to
account our faith unreliable and as spurious before God. Thus he makes man
contemptible and seeks to slander the commandments and what is forbidden, that we
should have strange thoughts of God. That is why we should see to it that we do not give
Satan any place in our hearts. He seeks it here in our hearts. For such purposes he also
requires men, so as to hinder and remove us from the way of life. He thus made use of
Peter when he would have prevented the Lord, our Saviour, from drinking the cup of 'the
Father, but He said, "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offense unto me . . .
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We should be on guard over our own spirit also so that he does not by it try to unsettle us
from the way of obedience. We shall not follow our own thoughts, but ask and take
counsel with God. He will lead us so that we do not give room to Satan, who is ever
ready to destroy us. He is such an active spirit that he employs all his powers for nothing
else but malice, and his lords, the evil spirits and evil men, are all in his service. These
he uses as his instruments so that we shall follow human thoughts, as even Peter would
have restrained the Saviour from remaining obedient unto God. "Be sober, be vigilant ;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour."
We therefore have to watch and pray in all humility and single-heartedness so that we
are not moved from the simplicity of the Lord. So we must ever be calm and collected
within ourselves, then we can hear the voice of the Lord and can discriminate and
discern the action of the evil one. The devil lies in wait in particular for such children
who are constantly watchful of themselves, whom we read of in the sixth chapter of
Galatians. When one no longer watches over himself he will be imposed upon. If he
does not watch properly over his own heart and is in the fellowship of God, the devil
seeks to wound him. That is why we have to watch over ourselves so that we are not
ruined by men, for the devil seeks this. We
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must always know what God's spirit brings about in us and what the devil's spirit brings
about and how he wants to force himself in. We must distinguish between what God
does and what the devil does. We must be still in our spirit with God so that we do not
give ourselves over to our own thoughts, we must remain collected, then we can
differentiate what is of God and what is of the evil one.
Verse 28. "Let him that stole steal no more."
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his
hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
The glory of God is praised by the conversion of a thief, one who formerly stole and is
now a believer in Christ and besides has something to give to others instead of stealing
for himself (I Corinthians 6:8-9) :
Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Let not yourself be tempted for a thief has no part in the kingdom of God. What one did
previous to his conversion he shall now no longer do, but must do the opposite of that
which he formerly did. That is the grace of Christ which changes men from within and
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in their outer walk.
He who labors in the Gospel must also be sustained by it. Our hands should ever be
ready to offer what we require for the necessities of life so
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that we do not suffer need and have something besides to offer to others who are in need
and not able to work for what they must have. If one has stolen and he cannot again
replace it, he shall, regardless, in his converted life repay it and be industrious so that he
has something left over to give to the poor and accomplishes some good by the labor of
his hands. If after we have received grace we yet do what we did before, we will be
doubly accountable. Paul, by such admonitions, takes the old law into consideration so
that we do not make ourselves responsible for any sins or trespasses or we would be
guilty of eternal death (Titus 2:9 and 10) :
Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them
well in all things; not answering again;
Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the
doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
Now the apostle gives us an exhortation on how we should walk. We shall not lie but
speak the truth, nor let a corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth. What is foul
also gives off a bad odor. It is moreover something in which the characteristic quality
has Become worthless. What goes into one's mouth does not defile a man, but what
comes out of it. Everything that is evil comes out of the heart of man; from the inner
foundations of him. So when that which is innermost in him comes forth it must be evil
for the root of all evil is in him. A fundamental, com315
plete change must take place in us if no corrupt communication shall proceed out of our
mouth. When our conversation is not good we have to be ashamed of this. This standard
which the apostle mentions is so far-reaching that we shall not say anything that is not
profitable (Matthew, chapter 12) . So we must speak what serves unto edification.
Before we speak we must weigh it inwardly, if it be good or evil. Then we will be on our
guard to say nothing that offends. Where there is no taskmaster within, then one releases
from his heart what is unsound and from the abundance of his heart proceeds nothing
but corruption.
If our conversation would be clean we have to elicit wisdom and purity for it. A wise
person's words are few, for fools are known for their many words. If we have been
enlightened by the spirit of Christ, then we must be controlled by it and speak what
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serves for edification, so that he who hears us receives grace. It is necessary that we be
so minded and one thus strengthens the other, as Paul says. Our words shall be of grace.
Such words embrace all that serves for furtherance and edification. We are not to burst
out in hatred, jealousy or malice, but shall speak good things from the abundance of our
hearts. It is better to hold one's peace than to talk idly or to say something that does not
serve for edification. What is in the heart has to come forth by word.
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If the truth is in us, then grace is also. It is one and the same spirit which performs all
things. There is nothing more necessary in the world than to speak only edifying words
and not unnecessary, foolish words. When we do speak it shall be words of grace. It
shall always be upbuilding; something necessary. This rule applies to the saints, not to
the people of the world. The evil, like the good, comes from the heart and goes to the
heart. If it is a matter of the heart, then it goes to the heart. It strengthens; it helps toward
edification. We shall speak from the depth of our hearts and when we can do that, then
we are perfect (James, chapter 3) .
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater
condemnation.
For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a
perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn
about their whole body.
Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce
winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the
governor listeth.
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how
great a matter a little fire kindleth!
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our
members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of
nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the
sea, is tamed, and bath been tamed of mankind:
But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which
are made after the similitude of God.
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Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet Water and bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no
fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out
of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not
against the truth.
This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and
easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and
without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
All that is in the world is prepared unto destruction among men. There are so few
undertakings that assist man in the world. If we prove within us what is said and what
we should say, as Mary pondered the words which the Lord spoke to her, we would
evermore abide in the truth. But we must hold our peace so that we do not distress the
spirit of Christ by incessant talking in order that the Holy Ghost might give others grace.
It is very necessary that we are considered fools in the world. Then the Holy Ghost can
develop in us. By being still the Holy Ghost can prepare a bed in us so that we have a
source in us and that out of us a living stream and living water flow forth for the world
cannot hold back one such
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quiet person. The world would ever submerge us with its speech so that nothing might
grow in us. By the conversation of a person, one may know whose spirit he has in him.
It is better to be considered a fool by learned of the world than to give utterance before
them and grieve our spirit. We must learn to hold our peace.
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CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD - THE SEAL.
August 8, 1847—Ephesians 4:30, 32
IN CONNECTION with what the apostle just said about speaking—that "no corrupt
communication shall proceed out of our mouth"—he continues, "Grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Previously (in the first
chapter, thirteenth verse) , the apostle wrote of the saints being sealed "with that Holy
Spirit of promise," and he now bases their being sealed on the "Holy Spirit of God." It is
just this, the very Spirit of God which is imparted by Him, the Father, to all who become
His children and shall be His heirs. That is why Paul in one passage also calls it, "the
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession," and here
he says that we are sealed unto the day of our redemption with this same Spirit.
This Holy Spirit of God constitutes the seal between God and us as long as we are on
earth. By it, we understand the mind and will of God and by it we pray to the Father
Who is in secret, as the Son did, in the intervention of His death unto the forgiveness of
our sins. That is the Spirit
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unto reconciliation of our new life of and in God and by His Spirit God Himself talks to
us in secret. That is the oracle of which the temple of the Old Testament was a pattern,
the most holy place which was there called an oracle, where no one except the high
priest was allowed to enter. Thus Christ also entered into the holiest of holies that is in
heaven and thereby He also established in all who are obedient to Him such an oracle of
God so that we can commune with Him when our heart is still. We already alluded in
our last meeting to this keeping silent; how important it is that we speak no evil, and
now we have to use even more discretion because Paul here says that we should guard
against grieving the Holy Spirit with Whom we are sealed unto the day of redemption.
He who has been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God can grieve Him by disobedience in
his guidance, which He takes over to lead us aright through the world in the name of the
Father. In the New Testament this is the Spirit of promise just as it was also at the time
of passing through the wilderness; the angel of His presence as He was called in the Old
Testament, which went ahead of Israel to lead them and which they especially grieved
(and provoked besides) so that He did not wish to struggle any longer with the
waywardness of such a generation. With us this shall be the Holy Ghost who leads and
guides us so that we
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do not turn from the right way. We shall therefore obey the voice of the Spirit of God.
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We have to hear and understand Him and do this, it is necessary that we are tranquil
within, for in a disquieted and grieved heart the Holy Spirit cannot make His voice
heard. Paul says with complete assurance, "Ye are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God."
Let us then be careful that such is also the case with us. By what do we recognize the
Holy Spirit of God? To answer this question we have to say the natural man neither
knows or has this Holy Spirit of God, nor can he hear or obey His voice. By the spirit of
the law we do not yet have the Holy Spirit of the promise. That is to say, there are people
who do not walk according to the broad ways of the world, who are more moral than
that, yet they do not have the Holy Ghost.
We have to distinguish the spirit of the world and the spirit of the law from the Holy
Ghost, who is the seal of those who will inherit the promises. In those who should serve
God, the Spirit of power, of love, of sonship and of freedom is efficacious, the Spirit
which directly comes of God, by which we are sealed unto the day of redemption. There
is also a spirit of the law which is productive of fear. Such people would also serve God
out of fear, but this is not the Spirit of God. This often is a mistake, in that those, who
have this spirit, think it is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of adoption, of freedom; the
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Spirit with which the Father seals His children unto the day of redemption. This is the
error of the believers of the world. We must make the distinction so that we do not
deceive ourselves in that the spirit in which we serve God is the spirit of the law and
servitude, for it is the Spirit of sonship in us that cries "Abba Father." It is not we who
cry that, but this Spirit of sonship which dwells in us. There are also people of this
opinion that because they have learned this mechanically therefore they think too that
they can thus call upon the Father.
We hear another voice in us which cries this. It is a sighing, and inner crying of the
Spirit. By this we shall know whether we serve God; if our belief is anything. With our
earthly mind we cannot serve God; that is all a formality. Only the Spirit of Christ can
represent us so that we, like Jesus, are in an intimate bond with the Father. It is not we
who serve God. No natural man is able to do that, and if one has the best intentions he
still cannot do it, for it is instead, something unreal and forced. It was thus as long as the
old tabernacle stood, but that is not existent any longer in the New Testament.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there we find freedom. He thus comes down from
heaven to all who worship Him. The Son was and is the Spirit even though He took
human nature and form upon Himself. That is the Holy Spirit of God,
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for God and the Son are one and the same. The Son of God, Who imparts Himself as a
Spirit, is a gift of the Father. It is none other than the Son Who is called the Holy Ghost,
Who is a true being, so that we are sealed with Him and are children of God.
Christ in us is the hope of glory. First it is the Spirit of Christ, then it is Christ in us
(Romans 8;9) :
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
This Spirit comes into everyone who would have Him. If a person comes to the Father it
must come about by the Son Who is a Spirit and this is imparted to him as a gift, as He
said to the woman of Samaria (John 4:21-23) :
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall
neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of
the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Adam lost life by the fall. He fell and died and lost the likeness of Christ, and this
likeness does not come into us otherwise than in spirit and life —in no other way than
by Christ, Who died on the cross as a curse-offering. We know that the whole world lies
in the power of Satan, but we also know that we have the truth of God and
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eternal life. We only become sanctified in that Christ in us, by His Holy Spirit, brings the
Father a living sacrifice as an high priest. That is how He sanctifies us. He would rear
His children as an aspect of eternity so that we are no longer as we were before, but
walk in the light. By the impartation of the Spirit, we must know what we are, and if we
are children of God. Christ as a Spirit must dwell in us and perform all things; our
conversation and walk.
What would God have with a worship of flesh by man? In the Old Testament they thus
served God and brought Him meat offerings as a pattern of Christ. Now that He has
come we shall not have a formal religion like the nominal Christians. Christ the Son,
Himself must bring it about in us. We of ourselves cannot serve God. That is indeed a
gift of God which is imparted to us. We must have the living water that comes from
heaven. Thus Christ gives us of this water in that He as a Sacrificed One in Whom there
is no sin, comes in us and not as Adam came. In Christ all is life, obedience and peace of
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the Holy Ghost. That in us, which came from Adam, is no longer in those who are born
again. We can still be assailed and tempted like Adam and Christ. The first, however,
fell, but the Second overcame and withstood in temptation. Thus Christ became like
unto His brethren in all things and that' is why He has compassion with us and the Spirit
of Christ in us cries
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"Abba Father." A sinner cannot so cry. By the Spirit of the Son we can bring offering. So
we must serve Him in the Spirit and bring the Father sacrifices through the Son in us.
If one accepts the Spirit of Christ, then He performs all these things. In this way we have
to be a sweet-smelling savor of Christ among men and they have to see and know how
He lives in us. Christ lives altogether differently than other people, not after the flesh,
but a life which is pleasing to the Father. He instructs, He trains, He disciplines, He
chastises in all things that are of the Father and such a person can, in truth, live for God.
That is not a capability of our own. It is Christ in us! It is one's nature. Man does evil in
Adam because he has the Adam nature. The evil spirit works this in him. Thus also the
Spirit of Christ does the good in those in whom He lives. The blood of Christ does not
do it ; but His Spirit which is imparted to each one who serves Him. Where the blood of
Christ is there His Spirit is also. He, who does not have His Spirit, is not His. If one has
been sealed with the blood of Christ then he also receives Christ's Spirit.
Without baptism into the death of Christ no one receives the Spirit of Christ. When the
world-believers say that this spirit of the law is their life and their religion, they err, for it
is not the living, free, original life and working of the Spirit of Christ, but a benumbed,
proud, forced thing. Let
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us not be deceived, there is but one Spirit of Christ. His Spirit is no persecutor, nor does
He say anything that is contradictory to the Word of God.
We must enter into our hearts when we would pray and listen to the Holy Spirit of God.
We cannot please Him with words, but if we would pray and serve Him, then Christ, the
Holy Spirit, must do all in us—if we are innerly quieted and collected. As soon as the
Son is in us we are children of God. As long as He speaks, walks and lives in us, we are
heirs of glory. If things are thus with us, that we perceive this vicarious crying unto the
Father, then we are sealed with the Spirit of Christ. The Word admonishes us so that we
do not grieve this Spirit of His dwelling within us. Good children are a joy to their
parents. Thus shall we also please our Father so that He does not have to discipline us
with the rod; with all kinds of suffering in the flesh; with tribulation and anxiety. We
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dare not thus grieve Him but should much more delight Him. That is not possible to the
natural man; the Holy Ghost of God will accomplish this in us. We must also pray this of
the Father so as to be not hearers only but doers. Thus would Christ accomplish the will
of the Father in us. When our heart does not condemn us then we have boldness unto the
Lord and receive that for which we long. That is the right child-like mind, for the Holy
Ghost is not far off, but is very near.
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We shall not take our refuge in this or that, but turn directly to the Spirit of Christ and
listen to what He says. Christ's Spirit is "yea" in us. He is near unto us! He will give us a
favorable hearing when we are quieted. He is as near as it is possible to be. We dare not
be so wavering, so undecided, so sorrowful, as if there were no God but instead, we
should look within us so that we hear His voice. We have a living God and that is why
He is so near, and we are very confident He can and will help us. We need only to go
direct to Him and hold ourselves to Him. We are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Thereunto, we await our final redemption, if we have the Holy Ghost in us, the earnest
of the Spirit. God's people, on the one hand are redeemed from sin ; on the other, not as
yet from the body and the world. However he, who has the first redemption, does not
wait in vain for the second. But if we have not received redemption in the Spirit, we can
in no wise be saved.
Christ brought all the saints as a sacrifice to the Father, as Aaron had to offer the entire
tribe of Levi to the Lord, so that we ever serve the Spirit of the Lord and accomplish His
will. For Saul when he had received another wicked spirit which no longer did what was
right in the Lord, the Holy Ghost departed from him. We shall be tranquil, meek children
of God. It is the Father and the Son's voice which dwells and commands
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and rules in us. The apostle mentions the things that are general with the world—
bitterness, wrath and anger. From these characteristic qualities of the natural man, the
spiritual man should be freed and these evil habits and unrighteousness should be far
from us; that is, we shall not have them as before. We are claiming to put away such
qualities: bitterness, malice, rage, clamor, evil speaking and wrath. Now the apostle says
that all these shall be put away from us.
First bitterness is within one, a bitter heart of gall and wormwood. The children of God
are divine sweetness, love, friendliness, gentleness. The tender manner of Jesus Christ is
also given to the children of God when that which is Satanic is separated from them. The
more harm that bitterness accomplishes, the more we have to learn how we should be,
for the children of the devil are filled within and without with bitterness. They at once
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let themselves become excited to anger and thereby they are fiery and vicious and in this
angry person is the Serpent-mind unto perdition. One has to acknowledge the sins of
Adam; whatever kind of fruit comes forth from sin. Thus they have to eat their own
fruit. They are never filled. It starts anew and is never satisfied with bitterness and hate,
nor do they ever get sufficient. The devil does all this. This is not the work of the divine
nature. Man is then carrying out his own untamed nature. In this one can take
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a warning and guard himself against such men so that he is not overtaken by them.
In a child of God this must all have been done away with. Here the divine nature shall,
in all instances, manifest itself as meekness, calmness, humility and goodness as we see
it in Jesus, Who is the Example of all the children of God. Wrathfulness is a disposition
that at once becomes furious. It is something that has become inveterate, which one has
had in him of long standing when it comes to raging. While each one has a natural
temperament, we dare not allow ourselves to be possessed by wrath, violence, bitterness,
but shall contrast such vices by the nature of Christ in friendliness, meekness, patience,
love. This is the difference, if we are no longer in the devil's regiment but in Christ's.
It is a most wonderful thing when the devilish mind changes itself and takes on the mind
of Christ. The grace of God does away with evil for all the creatures of malice are
cleared away. What was previously in us must be put away from us and we must have
the virtues of the' Lord in us. That is why we should be gentle, merciful and friendly to
one another. That is what God brings about in us as new creatures. Where the spirit is
reconciled there one especially finds compassion towards brethren in Christ —
meekness, pity, friendliness and the patient forgiving of one another and thinking of
what God did for them.
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In the rest of the people one does not see a divine life that shines forth.
We shall not return the equivalent for bitterness and slander for the divine nature (the
lightened nature) is mightier than the devilish nature of darkness. Therefore we have to
oppose it with an array of weapons of light. We must therefore watch that no demon
wounds us as he does the people of the world for though one dies after the body, he
takes his evil nature over into hell with him. That is the reason we have to be freed from
our evil nature and the devilish man and his ways have to be turned away from us. As
children of God we are not permitted to sin again because the Lord has pardoned us and
disclosed our sins and transplanted us into a nature of friendliness, meekness, goodness
and gentleness so that we shall emulate God. The children of the Father shall follow
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after God for He loved us while we were still His enemies and we know that we are
children of God because He in Christ has forgiven our sins. Because one formerly had to
severely feel his sins, we must forgive one another. We also have to forgive men for their
malice as the Father revealed our sins to us and forgave us. Thus must we preserve
kindness and friendliness. As Christ followed after God in great things, we must be
imitators of God in a minor way. As the children of Satan are followers of their father,
thus must we also be followers of our Father in heaven.
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This must manifest itself not by our tongue but by our heart. If the serpent stings our
heel, it does not matter—his venom has been taken from him. Then with insult, ignomy,
persecution he may well come, but we may not succumb to it. He dare not sting our
heart. No poison shall infect that. He shall not ruin us by sin, which we could commit
and be destroyed and poisoned thereby. Where there is the forgiveness of one's sins,
offense is arrested. That is why we should emulate Christ. As He loved us and gave us to
God as an offering of a sweet savor, thus as God does and what He is in a great measure,
we shall be in a lesser one.
Walk in charity. That is in a word, the law. Charity teaches us as children of God what
we shall do in all things. She instructs us for we would that all men were children of
God and withstood Satan. When Satan senses a heart on which he can do nothing, as in
the case of true believers, he withdraws himself. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, must
dwell in us. He has to equip us so that we can withstand in temptation. Christ dwells in
us. When we think of this, the devil has respect for it and flees. Christ in us does not
give him room but resists him, but we, in truth, have to be sealed with Him or we cannot
resist. As Christ loved us when He gave Himself up as an offering for our sins, we shall
also love Him. He did it for His friends, for those whom He loved. Thus must we also let
our love sway us
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and give ourselves up for those who hate us so that we make our love manifest and
become strong, as beloved children (as Christ offered Himself for us—and in this
sacrifice we have received the forgiveness of our sins). That is the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ.
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CHAPTER XXXIX. "WALK IN LOVE."
August 1 5 , 1 8 4 7—E phesians 5 : 1 - 5
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Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
And walk in love, as Christ also bath loved us, and bath given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once
named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking,
nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man, who is an idolator, bath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of
God.
THE commandment which is here given to the children of God is contained in the words
"Walk in love" and herein the children must follow their Father in order to be worthy of
their walk. The Father is God and whoever is of God as a beloved child, in him lies the
nature of the Father, the driving force, the emulation, and therefore this commandment
for the beloved children of God is such as to be self-evident, that they emulate the mind
of their heavenly Father; because it is in their new nature and because one must
recognize the children of God by this emulation-urge, in distinction from the children of
the devil, for the natures that may dwell in man are primarily of two kinds. Therefore be
followers
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of God and walk in love, i.e., to pattern after the Father and to let His nature be at work
(which one cannot require of a man who does not have the Spirit of God in him) for the
driving-force to this patterning lies in God's Spirit, Who drives those who are of God
that they are mindful of how the Father has manifested Himself towards them in love, in
that He gave His only-begotten Son as an offering. The Son has accepted this
commandment from the Father, and that is the love that is gone forth from God, for we
have not believed God, but He has loved us and has given His Son for reconciliation.
The commandment "Walk in love" is a law of the heart, for God is Love and he that
abides in love abides in God and God in him. Thereby we know that we are the children
of God and we know that the law is written in our hearts and we do His will, not as the
children of the devil from whom knavery and wickedness go forth, whereby we know
what their nature is. For this reason the apostle John lets nothing else obtain between
them, that there are only children of God and children of the devil. There is no third
class. One is either a child of God or a child of the devil, either God's nature is in us or
the nature of the devil. Man can have no other nature. Therefore every man must be born
again. We must prove of whose nature we are. God has loved us and given His Son for
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us. Therefore we must also
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love Him and all who are in Christ. This shall be sufficient compensation for us that we
are loved of God and no longer of those who are in the world. When the sun rises,
darkness must flee. Thus also when Christ, Who is the Light, enters into us, then must
the devil's nature flee out of our hearts, for Christ is the true Light, which overcomes the
evil. When we are redeemed from sin, from unrighteousness, from evil, and from
knavery, then will the nature of God be evident in us, and when we are beloved children
so that we are better than the children of the devil, and that it is a blessed life in that we
no longer do all unrighteousness.
The children of darkness must see what the Light has worked in us (for we too were
once the enemies of God) , but Christ has brought for us a perfect offering. By means of
this offering the Father was reconciled to us, so that the enmity is gone and the Gospel
can come nigh unto us. God has not given His Son for the just and innocent but for the
guilty and unrighteous, i.e., that every man must be converted, that we all may become
vessels unto the glory of God—who were afore-time vessels of dishonor—thus
followers of God as dear children. If we are strong in the love of God and prove that we
are His children, then in the end will also the wickedness be overcome, which shows
itself in the children of the devil. For this reason God has placed His children in this
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world, that they may show His nature, that we, over against knavery and wickedness,
may demonstrate meekness and humility and practice that which is good.
"Walk in love," the love of God shall go in and out, in us, so we may never forget and
always be reminded of what is being given us in Christ, Who has given us another Spirit,
so that we can walk in love. With respect to God the Father, we must walk in
sanctification. The godly nature reveals itself among men from above and from below.
Upward toward God, that we may find out if we are from above or from below, that is,
from Christ or from the devil. Christ's love toward us, the self-sacrificing, unselfish love
—whereby Christ has purchased us through the offering in which He gave Himself, and
the Father has received us as a savor of the offering and He accepted the sweet-smelling
savor. By this offering we are pleasing to God. Then God so loved us that He redeemed
us and saved us from sin. Where the love of God pierces through, there we are cleansed
from every strange nature (II Cor. 3:1-5) .
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others,
epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
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Ye are our epistle writen in our hearts, known and read of all men :
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered
by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not in tables
of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
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And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient
of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
We with our preaching, are a sweet-smelling savor of Christ in this world. We are to
some a savor of death unto death, to others a savor of life unto eternal life.
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CHAPTER XL. SIGNS UNTO MEN.
IF WE are to be signs unto men, we must so walk that they may see the love of God that
is in us, that the people of this world may recognize it, not as empty words, but in the
power of God. Now where the love of God has broken through in a man and has created
a new life in him, there the Father must be honored through His children and their walk
must be a proof thereof, that they can overcome all, that they are not frightened by the
wicked treatment of the people of this world. This we must suffer for the Son also
suffered for us, in order that we may be facsimilies of the Son in love. We must prove
that we are unconquerable, for if we look at the love of Jesus, what hatred, what
wickedness He overcame! The people of Israel persecuted Him and yet wanted to make
Him king; the devil tempted Him and just as though he would prevent Him from
suffering for us. In like manner we must be unconquerable, for all men who serve the
devil will be lost. Faith is not something for every man.
If the love of God is proclaimed to them—that love which He showed toward us—they
do not care to hear about it. Could Christ do more for
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us than He did and could God do more for us than He has manifested by having given
His only-begotten Son, through Whom we may again have fellowship with the Father?
Every man who loves the world and the things in it is an enemy of God for the love of
God, which is in the children of God, conquers all evil and wickedness. That is the
victory whereby we overcome the world. Therefore let us be content in fears and shame
and disgrace and persecution. This the love of God urges us to do; this is the offering
with which God is well pleased. It is a sweet savor to Him. Where the love of God
works so mightily, there is love. No one can be so zealous for a lie.
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The Father is not revealed in hatred and persecution, but in love. The zeal in the world is
carnal. It is anger, strife and bitterness, not to redeem and save men, but to destroy them
so that they serve idolatry and not the living God. May we therefore, labor to save men,
for it is pitiful to see men in the pains of hell. For they desire to see a man who would
bring them something to save them from hell and its torment, as was the case of the rich
man. They who are risen from the dead should preach of Christ to the people of the
world, and proclaim conversion that thus they might be saved. We should carry out that
which that man in torment wished for—that the rest of his brothers might not also go to
that place (Heb. 1 2 ) and we should stand fast against all contra342
diction so that we may not forget this comfort of the Lord. For whom the Lord loves He
chastens.
Let us rather suffer all than to return with empty hands to the Father. We must win some
one, we must use the "pound" and endure all t save a man. If they will not hear then we
are free, but we must show and prove what God has done in us so that they do not go
into damnation ignorantly, but rather that they know that Jesus Christ came to save the
lost. Here we see, beloved, with whom the apostle had to deal, whom he had in mind as
he wrote, namely, saints and not sinners, for sinners are not saints, but the saints are dear
children of God, in whom God the Father has revealed His Son as the Redeemer from
sin.
Now what is fitting and proper for such saints the Holy Ghost teaches us and as we this
morning received a commandment from the apostle that we should love one another, he
adds that fornication and covetousness should not once be named among us. Nothing of
the sort should be found among the saints. Fornication stands first. What is that? It is the
desecration of our temple and our soul, it is that one abuses and in disgraceful and
unpermitted ways corrupts the body. No uncleanness should be named among them
which are consecrated to God. Their body also should be a temple of the indwelling
Spirit, and in this temple belongs no gluttony and drunkenness. Now, however, our body
is a temple of God, if we are saints,
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and so our body is the temple of the indwelling Spirit.
Now if the world guards her temples against abuses, how much more must the saints do,
in order that nothing is done in them which is improper. Paul expressly mentions
fornication and uncleanness. What is unclean does not belong in the temple of God, for
God would dwell in us and wander about on earth in us and therefore we must consider
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our bodies holy because the Spirit dwells in them as in a temple. Otherwise the Holy
Ghost must flee if we do what is contrary to His admonition as does not become saints.
Now if a man does not have the Spirit of God and is not sealed by Him, so that he is not
inwardly reminded of what is becoming or not, he does as pleases him and regards
neither God's commandment nor his body as holy in order to serve God in it.
Jesus has said, when the Pharisees and rulers of the Jews asked Him what kind of a sign
He would give them to prove that He had made the temple of God, which the Jews had
turned into a den of thieves and Jesus had cleansed. He replied: "Destroy this temple and
in three days I will raise it up." Thus He called His own body a temple, because the
Spirit of God dwelt in His body. Likewise the Spirit of God would operate and dwell in
our body. Should our body, however, be a temple of the Holy Spirit then we dare not
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desecrate this sanctuary, but we must keep it for the use to which God has determined it.
Fornication, excesses, sins, defilements, and all uncleanness are not becoming to the
saints; should not even be named among them who are sanctified. But what follows if a
saint does such things: if he commits fornication? That shall ye know, as St. Paul says,
"no whoremonger bath any inheritance in the kingdom of God."
Whoever is not willing to submit to the rule of the saints excludes himself from the
inheritance. If we destroy the temple exclusion from the inheritance follows. Either we
are saints and keep the commandments of God inviolate or we are worldlings and do as
we please. We know what a worldling is for we have also been such. We know that
almost all men commit fornication and uncleanness, and what we have done secretly and
publicly, and the Lord knows and sees all the scandalous things done in the world. We
must be dead to these works of the devil. These are works which the devil produces in
all his slaves. We make much of these things, but in the world they are considered
trifling. Let no man deceive you with vain words, says Paul, for men always say: "It
doesn't matter, you will go to heaven anyway." Should that which is done by the saints
be less punishable than that done by the worldling?
Because of fornication and unrighteousness the wrath of God comes upon men. We dare
not
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make the standard of the unholy our own. We must obey God our Father and use our
body in the service of God and not in the service of the devil. Let us keep our body as a
temple of the Holy Spirit that God may dwell in us. We should not so dishonor our body,
the temple of God, by doing that which is against the Holy Spirit, whereby we would at
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length lose the inheritance of the saints; in those who once were sanctified and then fell
away, so that they placed their body in the service of fornication. In those saints it would
be as in the nineties of the previous century, when all sorts of lusts and pleasures were
made out of the churches. When the temple is used for all manner of sinful things, those
are revolutionary times. This must also happen in the body of a heart which should be
used as an instrument of God, and if it is polluted (and the concept of holiness is
something altogether different) and that which previously was holy is now used in the
service of uncleanness, there the devil has gained the upper hand; a revolution occurs, an
upheaval, the kingdom of the devil is again set up.
Now where the inner kingdom of God is overthrown, there the outward kingdom cannot
be inherited. No whoremonger or unclean person has any part in the kingdom of God;
such persons belong in the world. Now if a man would serve God he must consecrate his
body to the Lord. He must not consider himself too good, that is, unable
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to do what might make him unclean. Since the Holy Spirit dwells in us we notice what is
becoming, and we know what the Holy Ghost tells us, and what the law written in us
says; we know what is right. There must be a difference as great as the distance from
heaven to earth between the holy and the unholy. If we do not the will of the Father, the
Spirit of God flees from us. In addition to uncleanness and fornication the apostle
mentions covetousness, love of money, miserliness. He who should know God and have
fellowship with Him cannot seek after that which is in the world, nor desire it, nor set
his heart thereon, for that is idolatry and no idolator can have a part in the inheritance of
God. Paul says, that ye know and that ye should know, the kingdom of God and Christ is
that which is to be expected in the last times, as He on earth in obedience of the Holy
Spirit shall be glorified. For the future glory only those are fit who now already have
been sealed. It is the kingdom of God in us where Christ shall have in the new earth a
kingdom of a thousand years, so that the saints and conquerors shall be united with God
for the space of a thousand years. After these thousand years comes the kingdom of God.
Then there will be no separation and God will be all in all and the dead will appear.
Therefore the preparation for the kingdom of God is obedience to God. For this reason
he calls the worldlings the children of unbelief and
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destruction. They do not wish to be reconciled and yet God let them be petitioned daily,
that they should reconcile themselves with Christ through His death, that they should be
redeemed from the power of the devil, and these will the Lord destroy on the day of His
appearing. That is the will of the Father that we be holy and do His will. He who sins is
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of the devil. Therefore the Son of God appeared that He might destro the works of the
devil and that we use our bod as a temple of the Lord.
We are commissioned by God that we should lay down our lives to God as an offering.
The apostle Paul declares: "The wrath of God cometh upon the children of
disobedience." We must be pure and holy, otherwise we are unclean and lost for God's
kingdom. There are only two ways—not only a narrow way of tribulation, but of
sanctification which is still more difficult than mere tribulation, as the apostle says, and
we must preserve our whole spirit and soul and body blameless unto the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
August 22, 1847—Ephesians 5:3
Not only are fornication and covetousness unbecoming to the saints, but also things that
seem insignificant—filthiness, foolish talking and jesting. Accordingly, there are three
things that should not be found among us, in addition to what is mentioned in the 29th
verse of the
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previous chapter and in the third verse of chapter five. The apostle becomes more
specific in his admonitions in order that the saints may be prepared and become ever
striving to be more holy and that the Holy Spirit may not be grieved. Impurity arises out
of an impure heart, but when God has cleansed our hearts nothing evil shall come forth.
Two kinds of water cannot come from the same well. Jesting means to speak words in
which there is no holy earnestness; words that are spoken to make others laugh. The
children of God shall not permit themselves to take such liberties. What is loved and
honored in the world they should shun. If anyone must be in the company of such people
and does not feel an inner repugnance, he will only too soon be carried away by their
spirit. The word "jest" in Greek means a speech that may easily be turned, to which one
may give a twist as one pleases. Such as were at first devout may also easily be drawn
thereby. The character of a child of God is not that of a gloomy dark nature of demeanor.
It is rather a holy earnestness and is not frivolous, and if any one ever has such an inner
tickling, the Spirit of God soon punishes him and says, "that does not serve for
edification and is unnecessary." Such small sins do not become us, the Spirit of God
does not prompt us to do them and this should be our rule that we do nothing that the
world does. Our obedience must ever be to obey the Spirit of God.
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(The word "chastise" means to "pull.") The ungodly in the world are our chasteners. If
things do not go properly among the people of the world it means that they do not have
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the Spirit of God. Departures from the sacred rule are sins, even if they are only in
words. It can also occur that a child of God who was formerly easily aroused and
became angry quickly may be prompted by his old nature, but the Holy Spirit will not
suffer this, for we will be reproved and chastened by the Spirit immediately. We feel true
contrition and sorrow over it and we are careful that nothing of this sort will again occur.
On the other hand when men chasten us outwardly, we can be happy. That is not true of
the inner chastening, for they make us very heavy-hearted. Therefore be not the
companions of those who do not obey the Gospel. Be not like the children of unbelief,
for you too were darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. The apostle reminds the
saints of this fact and the same is true of you. The apostle gives the condition of men in
one word. They are darkness. All men are so by nature. We are light in the Lord if we
have gone out from them and light has come out of the darkness. "Ye were sometimes
darkness" is true also of the saints. Mankind, the unconverted, is the darkness. We must
go out from men and enter into Christ. They are empty words, when the nominal
Christians say that they are better than the heathen. He who is converted
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knows that he also was darkness. So great is the darkness, that when the light is
proclaimed men hate it and receive it not.
No other proof is necessary that the people of the world are darkness than when we have
become light, for they who are the children of darkness hate us. When an individual has
become light, he can judge all men. To walk in the light includes everything, even more
than to walk in love. Natural men deny that they are darkness, but if they would
acknowledge this, these could be converted. The love of light must go forth out of the
knowledge of darkness. The light must first be proclaimed and they who believe also
become light and they testify that this is the true light.
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CHAPTER XLI. WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT.
August 29, 1847—Ephesians 5:8
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord : walk as
children of light:
PAUL says to the church: "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the
Lord." Then he adds the application: "Walk as children of light." The light which has
been given us by our heavenly Father should be revealed in us, not as in other men, but
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that we walk in light and not in darkness. A child of God shall shine in the world, like a
star in a dark night. This light must be manifest in our walk. "Walk as children of light,"
i.e., walk in goodness, righteousness and truth. That is the fruit which Jesus Christ
expects in us. Have we the light then we also have the fruit and by its fruit a tree is
known. In one place it is said: "No one is good," and in another: "Is thine eye evil
because I am good?" God also has shown through our redemption in Christ that He is
good. No one forced God. He did it purely out of divine goodness. God reveals Himself
in the Gospel as a good God, and He also wants to make us good. If we are of God then
we must be doing good towards others. To be kindly disposed
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means to be in need, as we are in need of the goodness of God, in order that we may be
the children of God through Christ. If we would walk as children of God and have an
evil heart we would deny the sonship with God and forget the way on which we had
come to grace. How miserable is the destruction of one who holds the goodness of God
in contempt! When God is good and would grant them their salvation and grace they
despise it and will not accept it. He who in the time of grace despises God's goodness
will in the time of judgment experience God's sternness. If we experience His
righteousness then we also, if we are children of light, will be righteous, for it is said:
"He that doeth not righteousness, is not of God, but of the devil." By means of God's
goodness our life must be changed into a righteous one.
"Prove what is acceptable to the Lord, if the light is in you." We must prove, make the
application to life, in order to do thereby what is godly. We cannot please God if we
walk after the flesh. We must have a conversation with the Holy Ghost who is in us in
order to experience what is pleasing to the Father. We cannot glory in the good will of
God if there is still a part of darkness in us. The light in us must enlighten us and show
us what to do and what not to do. No one can harm us, no devil, no man, if we do what
is pleasing to God. We should stop and
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look into our mirror. There we shall see what is pleasing to God. What is abominable to
God is also abominable to the children of God. The flesh can lust, but the spirit holds it
in check so that it cannot do what it desires. All children of God, or the light, have a
great preference before the children of darkness. For the light in us illumines us and the
child of God is no hypocrite, for it is light within and without. If the Spirit of God is in
us, whether we sojourn here below or whether we are above with God, we seek that
which is acceptable to God.
There are temptations a-plenty in the world, but we dare not assume that we are so good
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that we may not fall prey to them. If a man shall pass out of this world holy, he must
please His Father in heaven. The apostle continues with admonitions to the saints and it
is also written for us that we shall permit ourselves to be admonished and to admonish
one another. There is, in verse 11, a command and a prohibition. The latter reads; "Have
no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." Have nothing in common with
such for they are unfruitful to eternal life. As the apostle previously spoke of the fruit of
light, that it is goodness, etc., so he now speaks of the works of darkness which the
children of darkness do and are unfruitful.
The children of darkness do not think of the fact that their works shall be made manifest.
Then
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however they cannot escape for the ground of their hearts must be revealed. Now not
everything will be revealed, but all cannot remain hidden. We should place everything
before the countenance of God that it may be done before the Lord. God will reward
everyone according to his works. If we are light we will not desire to remain hidden. If
we were light in the Lord and were concealed, it would not benefit us. We must be
mindful that the works of darkness are reproved by us. That is what the apostle wants.
We should by our walk reprove the children of darkness and that must be the reason for
our reproving because we know that such will be lost.
This calling, to shine as light, we dare not unlearn. Otherwise we deny the light. There
are people who do not even know that they are in darkness, therefore we must tell them.
Otherwise we become guilty also for not warning them that they shall be lost. Thus must
the children of God, by their walk, shine for them who still sit in the darkness of this
world. Even as the truth must come forth out of our life, so the truth must issue from our
lips. If we reprove the works of darkness then we are a testimony of the Lord. The Lord
Jesus Himself reproves and the children of God witness of Christ. All that reproves
darkness is truly light. Our life is not our own and therefore we dare not remain silent,
even though there are people who seek something better in the
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world. Yet they will not find Christ, except through such testimony. We should withal
love the people as unselfishly as Christ loves us. He loves us and we should love nothing
else than souls. In the name of the Lord we should call out to them: "Awake, thou that
sleepest." The purpose of preaching is not merely the awakening, but to be lighted
through Christ.
September 5, 1847—Ephesians 5:15
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See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
In this verse the apostle has admonished the children of God that they are to be a light to
the children of darkness by reproving the children of darkness, that they too might
become light if they accept the admonition. The children of God should be a light for the
children of darkness, and in this respect the apostle says, verse 15; "See that ye walk
circumspectly." We should be a light and not merely pretend that we are, as the Pharisees
do. They are leaders of the blind. To be a light for those who walk in darkness one must
truly be a light, otherwise one cannot lead others to the light. Therefore, see to it that you
walk circumspectly, that you do not offend those who are still sinners. He who is
enlightened is enlightened for the sake of those who walk in darkness and for this care is
necessary.
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There are so many offenses in the world and if we do not walk circumspectly we shall
both offend ourselves and others. This should be the mark of the children of God that
they walk as those who are wise. The wisdom of God is known from preaching. The
wisdom which is of God must teach us so that we can be a light to those who are unwise
and are darkness. We must walk wisely both for our own sakes and for the sake of
others.
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CHAPTER XLII. "BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT."
GOD has given us no more time than necessary to ripen for salvation. Even though the
days are evil, we must redeem the time. This is the time of sowing. "Whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap." The sufferings that we must bear in this world are like
rain and sunshine to ripen the seed. Our labor in the Lord abides, but what men do in the
way of labor is in vain. To that end we must work that we may derive an eternal blessing
from everything we do. A man who does not labor and live for the glory of God has
nothing that will follow him into eternity.
He who is wise works for God, and he who labors for God works also for himself.
Whoever is truly unselfish and always works for God, that man saves everything for
himself. We can not say that everything men do in the world is evil, but it is their
occupation, and such works as they have performed are in vain and do not follow them
in eternity. Although the days are so evil we should not grow weary in well-doing. God
has meted out our time so that we cannot waste a day; we must rather apply all efforts
toward our
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salvation and that of others. If we live unto the Lord we are His servants and handmaidens. Our labor is first for our own sanctification and secondly for that of other men.
We should treasure our days and use them for our own salvation and also the salvation
of others. Therefore do not become unwise, in this respect that the world lies in evil. Is a
man free? Then he must guard himself against being ensnared again and that requires
wisdom, in order that we may prove what is the will of God or of the Lord as to what we
should or should not do.
Natural man cannot know this, for he does only that which angers God. This anger will
be revealed in the day of wrath and of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Holy
Spirit bestowed on us in the name of the Son, is God Himself revealed inwardly in us.
Since evil is in man he ever does evil. He is too ignorant to do good. All men need an
inner voice. He who is born again receives not only an inward law through Christ by
which it is revealed to him that which he should do; he receives not only an inner
revelation of the will of God, but there arises in him an inner urge to do good. To this
new creature we should point when we are born again. To know and to do the will of the
Father is the new creature.
Among the people of the world the opinion exists that he is prudent who knows well
how to
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arrange his seeking after earthly things. But such a man is also defrauded and must give
account for having good sense and not using it for God. This is the true human wisdom
which the apostle would teach the saints, namely, to do nothing against the will of God.
It is really ignorance when a child of God allows himself to be imposed upon by the
devil. Men are more ignorant than the beasts, for the animals flee from that which will
harm them, but men do not, probably because they do not know the end of their way.
The will of God is that we do good in order that we may be blest, for God indeed does
not benefit when man does good, but man does. If we do evil we deserve the wrath of
God; if we do good God is pleased with us. We are on earth in order that we may again
become the children of God.
If any man loves wine and often becomes drunken he will in the end become brutal, i.e.,
like a brute. In contrast thereto, the apostle says, be filled with the Spirit, not only have a
little, but be full of the Spirit. The man who has the Holy Spirit can be entirely full yet
entirely empty. In order to be filled with wine one must drink. So it is with the Spirit
also, we must drink—we must go to the fount of salvation and drink freely.
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CHAPTER XLIII. PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING.
Ephesians 5 : 18
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit;
IN OUR LAST consideration we have observed the contrast that Paul makes between
being drunken with wine and being filled with the Spirit of the Lord. As a special proof
of the Holy Spirit in those who are filled with it, the apostle mentions praise and
thanksgiving to our Lord and to God the Father from whom the Spirit comes. To that end
is His motive. This is the Spirit Who comes from the Father and draws to Him our hearts
and minds for His praise for we cannot recompense God for what He has done in us,
except with praise and thanksgiving. Therefore we should not be slow nor grow weary
of thanking and praising God; also with congregational singing express what is in our
hearts. It is said of God that He dwells in the praise of Israel, i.e., the Lord desires to live
where honor and praise, glory and thanksgiving burst forth to His name, where our
congregational singing is not an empty sound, but an expression of inner joy, for we
should honor God always.
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He who understands what he has received of the Lord, not only of earthly benefits, but
also heavenly gifts of eternal life; the peace of God, the joy in the Holy Spirit—that
must ever be shown forth in order to thank and praise God, so that our heart is full of the
Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit should sing and play in our hearts unto the Lord, even as
David on the harp played and sang unto the Lord, thereby is distinguished a spiritual
singing from a false and worldly kind. But by our song unto the Lord God shall be praise
in our hearts and He shall be pleased therewith. Where His people gather to sing unto
the Lord, there the Lord would dwell. He is in the midst of us where we are assembled in
His name, where He is there, He also divides the blessings of His Spirit, gifts and
powers of the Holy Ghost, so that we can never leave our meetings without new
strengthening; furthered in the inner man, able to continue the way unto which He has
called us.
Our singing should not be like that of the worldling. It should flow from the heart, as out
of a living fountain. In a word, our singing to the Lord is a breaking forth of the Holy
Spirit; spiritual joy proceeds out of our hearts. Where we sing songs of praise unto the
Lord, there He would dwell. There we feel His nearness. We sing not unto ourselves, but
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unto the Lord. It shall be to His honor and praise, to His glory and
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for His name's sake. He who knows the Lord must rejoice in His God, "my soul
magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in Him." The devil would gladly like to take
this joy from us.
A heart that does not rejoice in the Lord is like a flower that withers. It has no fragrance,
no flavor, and does not please God. This joy in the Holy Ghost we can never lose, except
when we are unfaithful, as David says, when he repented of his sin (Ps. 32;1-7) .
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose
spirit there is no guile.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into
the drought of summer. Selah.
I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my
sin. Selah.
For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou
mayest be found : surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh
unto him.
Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt
compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
He had no peace with God, so he prayed that God might again give him this peace. If the
worldlings sing to their father, the devil, when they are happy, then a child of God that
stands rightly in God's grace should be the more glad and this joy no one can rob him of
or take away. Our hearts should be harps on which the Holy Spirit plays when our heart
is filled with God's love and we
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rejoice over that which He has done for us. A joyful spirit lies in singing in the Lord,
when our heart is truly glad in the Lord. We should not quench the spirit that is in us, for
the praise of God is precious and the joy in the Lord is our strength. We should not
permit this joy in the Holy Spirit to be taken from us, for we can disturb this joy through
disobedience.
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The Lord hears our joy in our heart, therefore be filled with the Holy Ghost; sing and
play unto the Lord in your hearts! This the apostle has said (I Cor. 14;26; Rom. 14;17).
How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a
psalm, bath a doctrine, bath a tongue, bath a revelation, bath an
interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The apostle states there what the kingdom of God is. He says; "It is righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." It is always the Spirit of God Who works in us.
Thereby we know that we are the children of God, if we have the Holy Ghost in us. A
heart that is truly thankful is always happy over the grace that God performs in us. He
that quenches the Spirit has no joy in the Lord but is comfortless in all tribulation. This
sacrifice of joy should always burn within us. We have need of this. The apostle has
especially emphasized that we should always rejoice in the Holy Spirit; we must at all
times thank God the
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Father. Our joy is thanksgiving to God for all things. He who can do this, always has joy.
We must also give thanks for our tribulations that come to us in this world. He to whom
the Lord sends much joy is well-rooted and fruitful. God would be with Him and
increase his joy (Ps. 50) . If we had no suffering, no chastening, we would exalt
ourselves. Joy without suffering cannot be found on earth. Joy with suffering cannot be
found in heaven.
Our heavenly Father has only the purpose to give us joy when He sends suffering upon
us. We understand this for the first time after time has elapsed. When the sufferings are
upon us we do not think of them as joy, but as sadness. The mother of all joy is
suffering. Therefore we thank God also for tribulation and suffering. Our spirit shall not
rejoice, but the Spirit of Christ shall rejoice in us. Therefore we must not grieve the Holy
Spirit. And let us comfort ourselves with that which the children of this world would
account as suffering and tribulation for us. In all fear and sorrow we can thank God, for
then He opens up a fountain of joy for us that never fails. Thus is the Holy Ghost Who is
a Spirit of Joy, namely, as the Holy Spirit teaches in all joy as in Romans 13, "Rejoice
with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep." We can always rejoice
inwardly. The sorrow of this time is pass367
ing and endures but a little time, but we rejoice withal and thank the Lord.
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Everything we do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our rule,
for it is no longer in our own person but in the person of Jesus Christ. That which a
servant does for His master he does to his glory. If one dishonors an ambassador, that
one dishonors the king who sent him. Whatsoever one does to him who comes in the
name of another, one does to him who sent him. As the Emmaus disciples recognized the
Lord as He thanked the Father, so the children of God are also recognized in their
thanksgiving. The world does not thank Him. When we thank the Lord, the Lord can
bless us and sanctify us and grant us that of which we need. If a man does not thank God
He will withdraw His blessing. If we forget to thank, the curse will follow, as befell
Israel. Every seven years there should be a year of thanksgiving; but Israel did not trust
the Lord and so everything was taken away. Of that which we have we should impart
unto others, then will the blessing come in showers and the Lord will recompense us
twofold for all that we do for our brethren on earth.
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CHAPTER XLIV. SUBMISSION.
IN Verse 21 follows a further admonition given by the apostle to the believers, in the
words: "Submit yourselves." He applies it in two respects: 1. In general, submit
yourselves one to another in the fear of God ; 2. Especially to those members of the
church who are in the state of matrimony, namely, the wives unto their husbands. Submit
yourselves one to another in the fear of God. The apostle's meaning is that all members
of the church should be subject one to another, therefore to have a mind that is
submissive, and not a mind that exalts itself. The mind of submissiveness, the mind of
humility must inspire all the members of the body of Christ. This also is a fruit of the
Spirit of Christ. We behold the opposite in the world, it works naught but war. But it is
according to the mind of Christ where everyone is subject to the other and seeks to
submit himself. There is then a striving for peace and not for war as in the world. The
spirit of domination arouses contention in all houses.
The Spirit of Christ gives us a mind so that we do not wish to be exalted. What is the
duty of the magistrates in the world? To keep order.
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Where order should be, there must also be submissiveness and obedience. If we have the
mind of Christ, to submit ourselves, we shall gladly accept admonition and we do not
rebel. Again peace and not war results. If each one would be the lowliest this is again a
furthering of peace in the church of Christ. because the spirit of submission is in the
heart. It is necessary that we be humble, and in ourselves far from all conceit, otherwise
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only discord, envy, and strife shall arise. By the principle of humility and self-denial the
church of God is built, and that, by Christ. Humility, the spirit of self-humbling and selfdenial is a work of the Spirit in us. The exalted spirits only instigate discord; they desire
to rule. Such have no place in the church of God. In the church there should be no rank,
no craving for power, he who would be the greatest should be the servant of all. The
spirit of ambition has wrought much harm in the church, there the minister is higher than
the other people, the bishop higher than the minister, the archbishop higher than the
bishop, and the pope is still higher. This is not true in the New Testament. What formerly
was an overseer became a rank of honor.
In the church there can be nothing else than that he would be greatest, must be the
servant of all. In this spirit the church is built. We should have no other thoughts ,of this
kind, as though the elder in the church were higher. The elder,
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the deacon, is not higher; but they are brethren and stand, if possible, lower for they are
servants, and so they must serve, and the servant is not higher than the church itself or
than the master. If the elder of the church must seek after humility, how much more all
the rest. All rank ceases if the elders of the church are lowly and meek. Then the others
should think they are still lower. Thus Christ has, like all other men, in His body
members that are different, otherwise they all serve one purpose in the church. Each one
has received gifts for the common good, that the church of God may be built.
We should stimulate each other to meekness, for the flesh, the domination of the devil,
must be rooted out. Judas was such a devil. He came in but he had to depart, for there
can be only such members as humble themselves. If any one would come into the
church, it must be determined whether he has learned humility of Christ. If a man has
become humble, if he has come down from pride and superiority, then one can extend
him all things, then he is fit for the church of Christ. The subordination lies in the word
"brethren," i.e., that we as God's children be brothers among ourselves. If this
subordination had remained the rule in the state church, then there would have been no
bishop, archbishop, cardinal, priest, president, or pope. There no
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spirit of subordination of humility toward others is evident.
In ministering or in subordination we do not lose our dignity, we give up nothing of the
power and respect which the Lord has given us. Rather, all the spirits of domination and
pride are thereby put to shame. If we would put a foe to shame, we do good unto him, in
order that we may recognize how humble one must be. I must proceed from this
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principle, that they who have been born again of God are all equal; they are all brethren,
except the elders who are servants and therefore still of the rank. The church as such is
higher than its servants. They must all subordinate themselves and thus serve each other
among themselves. All who would be higher—we cannot admit, for the devil still has his
own nest in such hearts.
The second application of the rule is made by the apostle with reference to the married.
"Wives, etc." This is a special sort of subordination, already introduced by God at the
creation. God made man first and then made for him as helpmeet, the wife, that he might
be the head of the wife. What the head is to the body, that the man should be to the wife.
If Adam had remained in his position as head of his wife, she would not have misled
him, but he would have withstood her. The wife drew him away and so both fell. For this
reason there is a possibility that he may
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be restored. Had the devil first sought to tempt Adam he would have withstood him. So
man was misled through the weaker vessel, the woman.
If a man does not have in him the susceptibility of the woman he cannot believe or be
saved. That is the mystery. Through the woman came the fall, destruction, and death.
Therefore Christ came for the sake of the woman, and therefore man can be saved, i.e.,
man must accept the Word, which is the seed of God. The masculine principle, the desire
to be great, this domination must be rooted out of every man who would believe and be
saved. The people of the world are too exalted and conceited, therefore they cannot
believe.
That is the masculine nature (a spirit) , which he must deny and he must become
submissive in the fear of God. He must accept this subordination. All who would believe
must lay aside this masculine nature, otherwise they cannot accept the seed of the Word
of God. We must have put on the womanly susceptibility. If a man has not laid aside the
conceited and exalted nature, namely, pride, haughtiness, and the craving to rule, he
cannot be accepted into the communion of Christ. Thus it came about that men who
were not born again accepted positions of government in the state church.
Ephesians 5:22
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
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In his admonitions the apostle referred particularly to the marriage circumstances,
because there were such in the church of Christ who were married. In some instances
both were converted to the Lord and believed, in others, only one, while the other
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remained estranged from God, and thus there was a disparity in a marriage, that one part
was first converted to God after it had already been married. So the apostle says that the
believing part should awake no scruples to remain united with an unbeliever, if that part
would be satisfied, which dare not occur at one's own choice. That a believer marries an
unbeliever is not permitted before God; is not according to God's order and will, for two
should not be unequally harnessed to the same yoke, and thereby the unbeliever would
corrupt the believer, and not that the unbeliever would be saved through the believer.
In the relationship between Christ and the church, the apostle shows believing spouses
how they are to agree. (1) Submit yourselves. (2) Love, both the man and the woman.
The man is given to the woman as head. In the fall, however, the man was corrupted
through the woman. Everything was changed from a happy state unto an unfortunate
one, fallen into Satan's power, and now God saves some by His grace. All will not be
saved; but some at all times, as many as the Son brings to the Father. The Son brings
back to the Father those who are cleansed, sanc374
tified, born again. In this new relation is Jesus Christ as Son of man.
Ye wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands. A woman is bound by law to the
man. Marriage is a life-long bond. Only one thing dissolves a marriage, adultery or
fornication. Then the other part may be divorced. Otherwise neither part may divorce,
whether man or woman. There is a future world where the resurrected person is another
creature than now. Also his body will be spiritual. And there will be no eating and
drinking and giving in marriage. All this will fall away (Luke 20) . All this is only for
this earthly time.
For this reason we should follow the rule of God's Word. The woman shall submit
herself unto her own husband as unto the Lord. She shall, for the Lord's sake, see the
Lord in her husband. If the wife becomes a believer the husband cannot forbid her to
walk this way if the man is satisfied to remain with the woman, and the woman also
shall, for the sake of faith, be satisfied to remain with him. If the unbelieving part is not
satisfied, the believing part is not at fault, but free. If the unbelieving man prefers to
divorce the wife who is a believer, she shall be content therewith; but afterwards she
must remain unmarried. Thus the purpose of redemption is higher than the purpose of
creation. According to this purpose the man dare not forbid the wife the way of life to
Christ, or vice versa. But the
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believing part is free if the unbeliever divorces. How do you know, O man or woman,
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says Paul, whether or not, in time, you will win your husband or wife through faith?
The unbeliever does not know the mystery of faith. The believing part and the suffering
one in the marriage must learn patience and must humble itself, until God will hear the
prayer of faith and convert the heart of the unbeliever. For disobedience to God is only
blindness of the heart. Therefore the believing part must be a light. If the unbelieving
part will not tolerate the light, let him separate himself, but if the unbelieving part is
content to remain with the believing (light) , his heart can eventually be illuminated by
the light.
In marriage the unbeliever is sanctified by the believer. For this reason the believer must
demonstrate that he or she suffers all for the sake of faith, and should not withdraw itself
with reference to marital or household obligations. If the woman rules the man, it is
wrong even according to the purpose of creation, unless it be that the man is weak or
wasteful. Then the wife should be the more careful; but still she shall not rule, because
the man was created before the woman and the woman was created for the sake of the
man. A believing wife is subject to her husband for the Lord's sake. If the man is an
unbeliever and would command her to acts that are not fitting
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for a believer, she must not do this, for the purpose of faith is higher than the purpose of
creation.
The man in marriage stands toward his wife in the relation of the head to the body in the
purpose of creation. Accordingly he should rule in wisdom and understanding, not
arbitrarily and tyrannically in order that no disparity arise. Both are sanctified in the
Lord. There is no longer an upper hand. All this has melted and passed away in the Lord.
Only in the purpose of creation is that permitted. In the Lord the purpose of creation was
dissolved in the purpose of redemption. In it there is no longer force but love.
Everything is different than in the mere marriage of nature. In the latter the main
purpose is not that which is in the Lord. Therefore the entire relation is more glorious
and more lively. There is no annoyance, no lack of love, no enmity, hatred, and envy. If
they have transgressed their sensuous desire, then loveliness is no longer present. There
the Spirit is not, which one rules over the flesh for thereby the marriage is altogether
shattered. When it is not sanctified in the Lord, disharmony will always arise and the
relation will be completely destroyed. Spouses who are not bound together by love, who
are not sanctified by the Lord, will always live in strife and discord, as is evident.
Christ's Spirit works in both, namely, love and subjection, so that no domination is
needed and every furious and murmuring nature will be put away in the Lord. It
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is true for both: "Be subject to and love one another," Christ is the Saviour of the body.
The church is the body, Christ is the Saviour of His church. Christ has a spiritual body. If
we are believers, Christ is our Head. He is our Husband. He provides for us. He is the
Saviour of the body. (The Greek word is "Saver," e.g., as the judges in the Old
Testament were savers of the children of Israel in captivity.) Christ is the Saviour of the
body. He became Saviour before there was a church. He would have been no liberator, if
He had not been there before the church existed.
There is no church on earth if Christ does not gather it. He is Saviour and Liberator
because He gathers and calls the church out of all peoples on earth and the believers
were as sheep without a shepherd. All have not recognized the way of life. They became
a church first through Christ. If Christ had not been Saviour beforehand, there would be
no church, for He loved her by giving Himself before she existed. Thus the man must be
a saviour for his unbelieving wife, a saver. This is accomplished by love and not by
force, even as Jesus loved us, or vice versa. 0 wife, how do you know but that you will
in time save your unbelieving husband! It is possible that the believing wife can save her
unbelieving husband. Therefore she must so adjust herself, bow patiently and not easily
despair. If in the beginning there is un378
pleasantness, it may be that God permits this for the sake of the prayer of the believer.
When man, in a womanly spirit, meekly and tenderly, sits at the feet of Jesus, he can be
saved, for the devil has brought man to such a height that he imagines he is above God;
but he must become subordinate. However, if a man has an haughty spirit, when he has
self-importance and thinks himself wise and learned, then he cannot be saved. Christ is
the Saviour of the body, before the church is gathered. Thus He is everlastingly. He is
Saviour perpetually; He bears her; He protects her, for the spirits of evil are uncounted.
He who sits on the right hand of the Father is our Saviour. We are in good hands! He lets
none be plucked out of His hands; only we must not pluck ourselves out. If He is our
Saviour, we must be subject to Him, even as the wife is subject to her husband. That is
the right relationship.
The apostle adds a word incidentally that needs our special attention, when he says,
verse 24: "The church is subject to Christ." Paul has only once made the comparison
between the union of a husband and wife and the union of Christ and the church, and has
said, even as the man is the head of the wife, so Christ is the Head of the church and is
the Saviour, Redeemer, and Saver of the body. Then He expands the picture, namely, as
the church is subject to Christ so shall the wives be subject to their husbands in all
things. Thus
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Paul presents the church in her subjection, because Christ is the Head, has won her and
sanctified her, as an example, an holy wife her subjection to her husband. Now if Paul
says that the church is subject to Christ, so this subjection is not something forced, but
voluntary.
It is not a yoke which He lays on the church, which she does not bear gladly; but it is an
easy yoke, which the church bears with all joy and willingness, and therefore feels
herself blessed. Without Christ each one is a forsaken man. Every one who becomes a
believer, from the depth of the heart, and out of deepest conviction comes to Christ, and
becomes subject to Him, thus occurs the first union of the soul with God. Thus also the
constant union with Christ abides. We must be subject in order that we may not be
miserable, helpless, and forsaken in this world if we do not stand under such a Man. If
we do not stand under such a Man as Christ, we are lost, as new born children, who are
exposed, are lost if no one takes pity on them. For this reason we commit ourselves to
the protection of such a Man as Christ, Who takes care that no one withstands Him. The
church is the gathering of all those who voluntarily join Christ and promise to be subject
to Him as their husband. In a true marriage the man is the head of the wife. Thus we
should be daughters of Sarah, subject in the love of the Spirit.
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In a false union the man cannot say that he is the lord, for they are not mutually united.
The nominal Christians are in a false, untrue marriage. The state church bears His name
but she is not subject to Him. She has her own ways and her own laws. The true church
conserves the gift of the Lord, walks in His, ways, and does everything that is well
pleasing to the Lord. Here we must distinguish between the congregation of believers
and saints and another similar union with Christ. Where no inner union takes place (only
an external one) there such a woman cannot call Christ her Lord. As the Samaritan
woman said: "I have no husband." But Jesus said to her: "Thou hast had five husbands;
and he whom thou now bast is not thy husband." Therefore she had answered correctly.
The union into which Christ entered with the church is inexpressible. The Lord is with
us and for us, in order that we may entrust ourselves to Him on all our ways. The
believers and saints rejoice greatly to be subject unto the Lord and to follow Him. That
is their life.
Jacob and Laban labored hard in order to win a wife. Christ came down from heaven
itself, left the Father, in order to win the church, which is His spouse. Now it is not yet
manifest, but we shall one day see it and wonder that Christ is the Husband of His
church and that she is His spouse, The church here in time lives in hope, the wedding
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day of the Lamb is not yet come. When this day does come heaven will be glad, when
the Bridegroom comes with His bride which is the church, gathered out of all manner of
people on earth, consisting of all sorts of members.
Christ has such love for the church that He became Surety with the Father for us. We
shall never be put to shame if we trust in Him. Now in this evil time it is the betrothal,
the church shares its sufferings with Him, they think of the day when Christ will confess
Himself to her before the Father, even as we now confess His name in the world. Oh, it
is a disgrace in this world if one clings to the Lord, and is of the same mind as Christ
also was. The individual believers who now belong to the church live in hope. Here they
love Him and there they will be glorified with Him. Everyone who has this hope,
purifies himself as he is clean. If one has no heart to love the Lord one cannot be united
with Him, for this reason men are invited to come to the church of Christ.
The city of God is the church which comes down from heaven as a bride adorned for her
bridegroom. It is the city of Jerusalem, the church, that is subject to Christ. "At whatever
cost it may be I will be subject to Him. He can give or take life. Therefore I am subject
to Him." This everyone should be able to say. Christ does not leave the church alone in
this world. He provides
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for her, keeps her, does not let her suffer hunger, for He clings to her, as the wife to her
husband. The time of gathering for the church is not yet at an end. All who have been
chosen by the Father to come one after the other, they all come!
September 26, 1847—Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave
himself for it;
The apostle here combines two things: the relation between spouses and that between
Christ and the church and considers both mutually. He demands that the wife in
marriage be subject to her own husband as unto the Lord, as the church is subject to
Christ her Lord. He demands that the man love his wife even as Christ loved the church
and gave Himself for her, and the apostle considers these two as carefully combined,
that they make but one thing, thus, that if it is well or ill for one it is the same for the
other. We are told that Christ gave Himself into death for the church, He chose death for
Himself for her sake, in order to redeem her from death. But death is twofold: there is a
spiritual and an eternal death. From this two-fold death Christ redeemed the church and
still would redeem her. All who go 'to Him now will be redeemed from the death of sin
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and he who is now redeemed from the death of sin is also saved from the second death,
damnation. The second death depends upon the first. He who is
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subject to the first death will also fall prey to the second, eternal death. Such love Christ
bore for His church while she was still in the first death, in enmity, in ignorance.
All who are brought forth out of the world were previously in corruption, they are
sinners at all times and are justified by His grace, according to the redemption through
Christ and that He forgives the previously committed sins. That is the grace of God
toward man. Now the church is the congregation of all those who have been redeemed
of the first death by faith through Christ, and now comes the love of Christ in us, that we
can love Him, for to a true marriage belongs love, the bond of perfectness, and without
love marriage is no marriage.
This is a union in which two make one, one person. Two persons are made one by
marriage, as one person, that they should supplement each other, with that which the
other wants or lacks. That is a marriage as God has ordained it, as long as the present
world order stands. Without the mutual love of the man and the woman it is a failure for
those who are united therein and are inwardly not bound in one spirit. For such marriage
becomes a burden, a plague, and a pain. But in a right and true marriage love is mutual
in both. Thus it is with Christ and the church, the church loves her husband, her Lord.
This life must permeate us, that where there is an ability it
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forces itself through, for the world is subject to the devil, who is its Lord.
The false church is also subject to the devil. The false church is his harlot. The believing
church, however, should cling to Christ and seek to please Him forever. Man must either
seek after that which is on earth, or he must seek after that which is above, where Christ
is. If we are His body, His church, then our mind, our imagination, our desire, must be
directed toward Him. We are content with what is there, with what He offers. We desire
to please Him, even though we lose all that is visible and transitory. Remember Lot's
wife. As was the death of Lot's wife, whose heart, as she looked back, clung to that
which had been left behind, so we must leave all, cling to God to serve Christ and to live
to Him. Christ must be all-sufficient for us, He can save us in time and eternity. He
would take the faithful into His eternal glory and rest.
If we are converted to Christ, to mutual love we must cling to Him and we shall not rue
it if something is taken away from us in this world. We should strive after that which is
in heaven, which cannot be taken from us. The sorrow of a believer works death,
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therefore we must direct our gaze toward Him. We should be content with the love of
Christ, so that neither suffering, nor persecution, nor deprivation, not even death, shall
separate us from the love of Christ. That is the
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bond of love, a marriage. Thus between God and His church exists a mutual marriage.
He sued for her when all yet served the devil. For they would all have died in their sins
and come to the place where he is forever.
Christ came at the order of the Father to redeem us from death. When a woman is
married she belongs to her husband and not to herself. A person who turns to Christ, who
converts himself from the power of Satan to Christ, no longer has authority over himself.
He who will not enter into the church with Christ should desist, for he will fall away
again. Such a person will not stand in trial and temptation, he will fall away again. We
should not give our "Yes" to the Lord lightly, and be sorry for it afterwards. Christ has
forsaken more than we, the Father in heaven, glory, and became a human being, and
then again forsook his human life, He left father and mother, yes, to the uttermost. What
must we forsake? Very little. It is not even our own, it has only been entrusted to us.
If we would abide in the church we must be subject unto the Lord. It is very little that we
have to offer the Lord. If we give our body as an offering, then it is His. That we may be
sober and not entangled in the things of this world, we must be chastened through
sickness and suffering. All who belong to Christ abide in the church, which exists also
without us. If we do not belong to
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her, the church continues because she is the Lord's. If we would belong to the church we
must leave all behind, all that we have and are, and he who will not do that cannot be a
disciple. We have given ourselves unconditionally to the Lord, that He might sanctify us,
so that we might be saints. The Lord Jesus Christ has persuaded the church, even as a
man persuades a virgin in order to marry her and she gives her assent and they become
one. Even so Jesus woos His church. He sends suitors, as Abraham sent Eliezer to
Mesopotamia, as Jacob went to Rebekah.
Would you cling to the Lord and serve Him? Thus the Lord asks: Would you go with
Me; you shall not lack anything. He who surrenders himself to Him will let himself be
baptized unto conformity of His life. The person who has been persuaded gives the
promise to Jesus Christ that he will remain faithful and that he surrender himself to Him
unconditionally and forever. No hand shall dissolve this bond of marriage. There shall
be no adultery among us, that we should be faithless to the Lord, for through Him we are
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united with God. Everyone should give it due consideration, whether or not, through
baptism, he can enter into the covenant with the Lord.
It is the transition from the kingdom of the devil into the kingdom of the Lord. Infant
baptism is not able to do this and no man knows what confirmation means in reference
to joining Christ
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in marriage, to enter into the covenant, for such are unfit to enter into marriage, they are
too young. First when we are grown can we enter into marriage with the Lord, that we
may generate children, i.e., the church on earth. This cannot be without pain, even as
natural children cannot be born without pain. Since Christ has gathered a church out of
the world He generates children of God, and since Adam fell everything is done
painfully. The confirmed children serve the devil as before. It is an abortion. It is nothing
else than breezes. We must pray, battle, strive, that through the union of the church with
Christ children are born.
All must suffer with Christ, each for his part and in his measure should be a helper. Thus
Christ generates children with the church as long as she is on earth. We must, if we
belong to Christ, work to that end that ever more spiritual children are born and that the
Father receive ever more children. That is the purpose that more and more children are
born. The church must be holy in all her parts and members, for Christ has hallowed her.
That is the right conception of the church. If one would apply this concept to the state
church, then it is well, if she works to that end that children of God are born; but she is
not holy.
A sinner is not holy, and a saint is not a sinner. They would be holy and sinful in this
world, but
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the church is holy in all her parts through and through. As soon as one voluntarily
surrenders to Christ he leaves all behind that is earthly. The church is altogether holy in
the forecourt. As long as she is on earth there can be unholy ones, but they will be cast
out.
CHAPTER XLV. CHRIST'S GLORY IS THE CHURCH.
WE PAUSED where the apostle says that Christ gave Himself for the church to the end
that He might sanctify her. Paul adds another point when he says that Christ has cleansed
the church with the washing of water by the Word. The washing of water is the Baptism
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in Christ and is a purifying of unclean ones through the power of the Word which the
Lord has placed on it. Jesus Christ has not only given Himself as a Substitute for His
church unto death, in that He took on Himself her punishment, but He would also that
His substitutionary death should have the effect in us to cleanse us of our sins, inasmuch
as all those who are converted to Christ were before unclean. Otherwise Christ would
not have died for them. But He must cleanse the unclean, as it is written (Isa. 64) , and
when things are at their best, yet is every one unclean. Each individual must be cleansed
by Christ through His blood (I John 1) . The cleansing that we need lies in the blood of
Christ, as the blood of a sacrificed, innocent Lamb, when the fulness of time was come,
appointed by God for the sending of His Son, that He might take away our sin, and in
such there is no more
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sin. He cleanseth us from all sin. To this end He became a sacrifice for the sins of the
whole world, not only for those who could have sinned, but also for the sins of the
whole world.
God has forgiven the sins of all men through His Son. Mankind, as such, however, is not
cleansed of sin, only the believer becomes clean. This cleansing is an inner matter, the
forgiveness is an outward one. The cleansing is done through the blood of Christ. If
anyone is converted from the bespotting of sins he must be washed. Cleansing from sins
which are forgiven to man occurs through faith and baptism. It is the true planting
together of the sinner to a like death, not only a cleansing but a killing of sins. When
Christ gives His word to any thing it cannot fail to become factual. The washing of
water can cleanse no man inwardly. Sin does not cling outwardly to the body. The
washing of water is foolishness to the eyes of the unbeliever, since it is divine wisdom.
When the Lord gives His word to it, when we should believe in that the baptism in
Christ the cleansing of our sins takes place, then we must believe through the Word.
He who believes and is baptized in him will the cleansing of the water by the Word be
revealed. Christ has sanctified the church, after He had cleansed it with the washing with
water by the Word, that He might present unto Himself a glorious church. That is the
final end of all that
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Christ has done. All must be fulfilled in her, the glory of the only-begotten Son of God.
Are we called as one body, one spirit? If we are called thereunto then we have partaken
of the glory of the Son of God, hidden before the eyes of men. Even as the impurity is
not outward, but inward, so the glory is not outward but invisible inwardly. There all
members are one, after the one pattern. There is one God, one Father, one Spirit among
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them all. It is the glory that makes them acceptable. The glory comes as a reflection
upon those who have cleansed themselves in His blood. This glory will be manifested in
them—full of grace and truth. He has dwelt in us. He has His glory in us. The grace and
truth make men manifest. The whole church is glorious. Thus the Father has sanctified
the church through Jesus Christ. The church has no spot that can make her impure. That
is excluded from the body of Christ. If on earth we belong to such a church that does not
decide whether we shall be in His church eternally.
Christ left the Father for the sake of the church. The church is of His flesh and bone.
Thus we are one flesh and one bone with the Son of God. Since Christ is with the Father
His flesh also is risen, which alone is with the Father on the throne of glory, and there it
is said, that the Lamb that was slain is exalted in human form, but not in mortal nature.
From Him goes forth the incorruptible power, that is the church of Christ. Who
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now is not pure and holy, he will also in glory not belong to the church. She shall have
neither spot nor wrinkle, but shall be holy and without blemish. A wrinkle is something
spotty, unclean, leprous. It is mentioned in Job, the Hebrew word meaning leprosy.
Under the guidance of the holy God it is not proper that we should yet be leprous, even
as there is no leprosy in His Son. And so all who are in Christ in His church, will be
without blemish or wrinkle, for it is the bond of perfectness, the love which unites us in
Christ.
He who is impure or unjust, let him be still more unclean and unjust; but he who is holy
shall be still more holy, for behold I come soon and my reward is with me. John says:
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but
then we shall be like Him and we shall be clean, even as Jesus Christ is clean." Thus we
must constantly work at cleansing, that we may complete our cleansing and
sanctification in the fear of God and that we be to other men a reason for conversion and
salvation, that they may praise the Father in the day of the revelation of God.
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CHAPTER XLVI. CHRIST'S UNION WITH THE CHURCH.
October 3, 1847—Ephesians 5:28
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife
loveth himself.
SO THEN ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife
loveth himself. In this comparison which the apostle makes between man and wife in
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marriage and between Christ and His church, the point of comparison is this, that as
Christ loves His church and cares for her, feeds and provides for her, so ought also a
man love his wife, for marriage is a picture of the union between Christ and us.
Christ is the Head of the church, as the man is the head of his wife, and as the wife in
marriage is as the body of the man, so the church is the true body of Christ, we are
members of His body, of the same flesh and bone. And in this union of Christ with the
church, because He is in a spiritual marriage with her, we must apply to ourselves what
the apostle has said of the church. The love of Christ for the church surpasses all human
understanding, all that ever appears on earth in this respect. Even as a man loves his own
wife as himself, so Christ loves the church as Himself. He has
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given Himself for her that He might cleanse and sanctify her for Himself, that He might
present her holy and without blemish or wrinkle. Now, however, the church is the
congregation of those people who are converted to Christ, who are called by God to the
fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ. If, however, anything refers to the whole body it is
also true of every individual member. Thus also in the body of Christ. Every believer is a
member of His body, of His flesh and bone (vv. 31:32) .
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Christ has left the Father, that He might win a wife for Himself out of us, fallen man,
and this word which the Lord spoke over the first human pair in Paradise, when Adam
was alone and He gave him an help-meet, wherefore the twain will be one in the flesh,
so is contained therein the manly fulfillment with Christ and His church. It is true of a
right marriage that a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, not in an
adulterous manner, but after God's ordinance and will. Christ has gathered for Himself a
church on earth, that under the entire heaven all creatures might be converted and be
gathered into one, that for the church the word of faith might always be preached (Rom.
10) . There are no members of His body unknowingly and without faith. They
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who are called Christians in the world because they are baptized after birth, and
afterwards follow other customs, like confirmation, cannot thereby believe and be saved,
for there has not yet gone out to them a divine call.
A small child cannot enter upon a marriage, and so a man cannot enter into the church,
unknowingly and unwillingly—he cannot enter into the marriage with Christ. The
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circumcision of the heart is necessary, if we would belong to Christ, if we are to be
members of His flesh and of His bone. An uncircumcised person cannot belong to
Christ. One who is not enlightened by the Spirit of the Lord does not know what that is
(vv. 31, 32) . If anyone does not belong to this, how can he know what it means. If we
would belong to this brotherhood, we must give the Lord our "Yes." If we would enter
into Him, as a man and a woman enter into the state of matrimony, each one has his
duties to perform. No one should undertake it if he is not minded to keep it, even as no
one should go into a marriage without keeping the duties that are laid upon him. We
must entrust ourselves to Christ. He is the Man who can take care of us. He is a rich
Man. We dare not be afraid to belong to Him. To win us He gave His life.
Little children cannot hear and accept the glad tidings, but adults must hear and accept
them, otherwise they cannot convert themselves and
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much less suffer for His name's sake. Christ also was humbled for a little time and then
exalted to the Father. Christ has created the world. It is all of Him, who is our Friend and
Bridegroom. He can well provide for us.
If any one has converted himself to Christ by conviction, knowingly and willingly, if any
one has given Him his "Yes," to be subject to Him and to belong to Him, then comes the
devil for the purpose of making him unfaithful, arouse all members to destroy him and
annihilate them. Then the cry is heard in the world: these are the fools, the swarmers
(enthusiasts) the sectarians." If we are tempted by the devil it is a sign that things are
well with us. Let us not fear men who have power only to kill the body and who cannot
kill the soul, but let us rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. If we
are scolded and hated by the world on account of our faith, it is a sign of our spiritual
well-being. Why are men so ungodly, so wicked? Because Christ does not rule them.
Everyone who is governed by the Spirit of Christ does not his own will but the will of
the Lord. It is a marriage that cannot be dissolved here in time and in eternity.
As the devil appeared in the form of a serpent and entered into Paradise in order to tempt
and mislead men, so Christ appeared in human form so that we should let ourselves be
persuaded by Him and converted, for conversion of men is
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necessary since the devil is in all men's hearts and because he has so blinded them that
they believe they already are believers, though they are not converted and have not
become His body, His church, His bride.
Man must feel that he is a sinner and then, when he has recognized this, he knows what
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he must do. Christ's members know what it is when they must suffer for His sake. We
dare not fear. Christ has given His flesh and blood into death that He might win and
redeem us. So we, for His sake, also must not love our life, for our flesh and blood will
not enter the kingdom of Christ, but only the new man. The love of Christ, which He the
almighty God, Who appeared in the flesh, Who made heaven and earth, Who died on the
cross, if this mystery may awaken the heart, there is conversion to Christ (John 3). As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and all who were bitten were saved by
looking at the brazen serpent, so this is the other serpent. He who looks at this serpent
may convert himself and become obedient to the Lord and no longer live as those who
are in the world. Men would like to be sinners and also enter into glory, but that cannot
be. The devil is in the world. This we experience, because we have converted ourselves
to Christ; Satan must tempt us; but he who dies a second time is a twice dead tree.
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God's love is so great toward us, what are we doing for Him? Therefore we must love
Him and live and walk and follow after Christ until we come into glory. His church must
also be exalted in glory. What is that which we have in this world or forsake in the
world? The Lord, if He sees fit, can restore us this little, but He will give us eternal life,
if we do not deny Him. His love is for this, that we also love Him, and we must also
always think, O Lord, how great is Thy love for us. Thus we must love Him and forsake
all for His name's sake and not do as Judas, who sold the Lord for a few pieces of silver.
The apostle calls the union between Christ and His church a mystery. It is and remains a
mystery so profound, that we, too, when we are members of His church, cannot now
fathom it because the revelation of this mystery has been preserved by God for another
time than this. As far as our knowledge is concerned, the apostle says, he knows in part,
but then I shall see face to face, when that which is completed shall appear, of which the
beginning, the seeing in part only is here conveyed. Yet in this beginning and partial
seeing of the Spirit, we are, as far as we can here grasp it, blessed, as we know by faith
that the Lord Jesus has bought us and that the church is His body, fed by the Spirit of
truth, in order to obey and follow Him, thus He will also in us reveal His eternal glory.
Then the mystery between Christ
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and His church will be altogether fulfilled, but now it is still a mystery. Whoever has
part in this mystery of God marvels and rejoices in it. That is our life in this time of
grace. He is our comfort, our peace of heart, in order that we know that we belong to
Christ, that we do not become unbelieving in all occurrences that come to us on earth.
The approach which we have on Him through the prayer of faith is a great privilege,
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which we should appreciate rightly before all men. The church considers it her joy that
she is subject to Christ. All who are in Christ always ponder how they may love Him in
spirit and in truth. The love of the congregation consists in this that she is filled with the
love of the Lord in order to cling to Him in all things and to serve Him here in time. And
in this respect the mystery of which the apostle here speaks is a picture of the marriage
between man and wife, even as the apostle adds the words in conclusion: "But I speak
concerning Christ and the church." Christ loves the church so that He makes her blessed
and holy. He loves not the flesh but the spirit dwelling in man.
The Lord has truly promised that He would preserve our life of this body, but that is the
least He does for us. He provides for our earthly life also. For as the wife is the man's
own flesh, and a faithful man loves his wife as himself, as does Christ the Church. He
looks upon the church as
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she is here on earth. Her Lord, Who invisibly looks on her, will not leave her nor forsake
her either in earthly nor in spiritual matters and He nourishes her and cherishes her, even
as a man who loves his wife loves not the flesh but the heart. Christ always shows us
that He is present and well sees how it is with our heart. We cannot sufficiently place
ourselves into this blessedness in the church, so that we may be prepared for every good
work, that He may do in us what He will. Our heart must be swallowed up by the love of
the Lord.
We are saved in hope. That is the beginning of what must occur. He whom the Lord
loves is saved from falling away, saved from earthly cares and lusts. He who has not a
deep insight to look into this mystery may not know how man and wife love each other
not only after the flesh but also after the Spirit. We must love the Spirit in us, He will
keep us from such expressions, so that we do not submit to the daily temptations to
disharmony and strife. One will not be against the other.
People who are not united in the Spirit will soon be at odds with one another and tire of
each other, but the union of the Spirit abides forever. However, it is necessary that we
pierce deeply into this union of the Spirit, that we do not deny Him nor grieve Him. Will
a man have rest, let him enter into the church. The Lord Jesus is Bread. He would be our
Life, so that if we are forsaken
402in this world, so that we are under this Man. Jesus Christ is mighty to help us and to
sustain us. Jesus Christ is with us and for us. Therefore we should be glad. The love of
Christ ceases not. We shall then see what we are and what we have recognized. Many
things occur to us that we do not wish, but we have a Comforter, Who is above all that is
timely and transitory.
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CHAPTER XLVII. THE BATTLE AGAINST THE FOES.
AFTER we have thus considered this mystery in the relation between man and wife, as
the apostle says: "Let the man love his wife and the wife be subject to her husband,"
then follows the relation between parents and children. "Children, obey your parents in
the Lord: for this is right." The apostle admonished the children to obedience. Parents
are placed over the children in God's stead. Children should fear their parents, therefore
we should be faithful to the Lord. Children should be thus trained that their parents
direct them, to the Lord. If children are directed to the Lord they should obey. For this is
right, that children obey their parents. That is the first commandment that children honor
father and mother that they may live long on the earth. These words which are added to
the Fifth Commandment, refer to the children of Israel. They had gone out of Egypt and
were on the journey and should come to Canaan.
Adornment and fashion are not needed by our children but that their hearts be pointed to
the Lord. When we are properly obedient to the Lord so that the Lord works within us,
as to what we
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should do on this earth in His name. No other command holds a blessing but those
which plainly set forth what man should not do.
However, these commands and these promises are positive that it shall be well to those
who are obedient to the Lord, then we do right when we walk on dark ways. In this one
promise everything is comprehended in the New Testament. Against such children as are
disobedient all punishments are directed. It cannot be well with any person, either in
temporal or in spiritual matters, who is not obedient toward his Father in heaven. If we
are obedient then all things must work together for our good. Then we shall live long in
the land of promise. That is the promise given to the faithful children of God—the
kingdom of a thousand years. Then will each one rest under his fig-tree and his vine—
that is the kingdom when the Lord shall come. It is such an age, for the old patriarchs
before the deluge did not even attain to a thousand years. That is the promise given to
the people of God that they shall come to the rest of the Lord.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ ;
Of the so-called table of duties we have considered two relations of this earthly life,
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namely, the marriage relation between husband and wife, and the relation between
parents and children, and
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what each owes the other. The apostle Paul was concerned that among those who belong
to Christ everything should be right and godly, that the believers should stand out among
men by a godly life before God and men, so that they do the will of God always in all
things.
We notice among these matters that the apostle always refers to the Lord. As to the
marriage relation he said: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto
the Lord." Again, of parents and children: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord."
Now he says for the servant and the master: "Servants, be obedient to them that are your
masters... as unto Christ." He refers all the believers' circumstances to the Lord.
Everything should be done for the Lord's sake, so that we walk according to no other
rule, than the rule of His servants and maids, whom He has chosen as His own. The third
relation is that between the servants and masters, those who command in this world.
Now is this relation among men, who do not know the Lord, particularly one in which
one group is sharply separated from the other, that of servant and lord, so that at that
time there were no other servants than bondservants. Now servants have independence.
Then they had to remain with their lord who had bought them with gold.
For the relationship the apostle gives godly instruction how it should be granted to the
believers —not unto those who are of the world.
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To obey our Lord, after the flesh, is the entire commandment. Requisites of law have
become necessary and this has caused divisions among men in the world. This affects
rich and poor, high and low, powerful and powerless, and so forth as long as the world
shall stand.
One must serve the other with that which he has; everyone must help the other to that
which the other does not have; must supplement him and make use of this relationship.
God sees to it that they must first help one another (co-operatively) as each one requires.
In. the world there is respect of persons but in God there is not. Paul says "that God is no
respecter of persons."
Only in this world is there a difference. In hell as in heaven there is full equality, as we
read in Job. In order that we may always serve with a meek mind, and not imagine how
great we are, all should be converted to Christ, then everything will be evened out. In
Christ everything is rounded off, everything that is sharp and high ceases. Even in
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earthly things the Lord gives His blessing. Though faith may be decried as foolishness
and enthusiasm, yet it makes faithful people, therefore we should humble ourselves. In
Greek and Latin the word for "Demut" sometimes means faithful, sometimes believing.
It is the same word in both languages. If one has a happy heart, the earthly
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service will be much easier and faithful, but we must have a happy spirit in it.
The apostle gives one more admonition for all. It is: "Be strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might." As the called and followers of Jesus Christ, we should not be weak
with reference to the combat prepared for us here, of which the apostle speaks and to
which he directs all believers as to how they should provide themselves with the armor
of God in order that they may stand and conquer. Be strong in the Lord! Our strength is
in the Lord and in the power of His might we needs be strong. Paul has previously in the
first chapter of this letter, writing to the selfsame brethren whom he has now
admonished and instructed, told them that they have in Christ received an overwhelming
greatness of power. He exhorts them now: Be strong! Use the power you have in Christ!
In Him is strength!
We must believe in Christ and seek in Him a Saviour who can lift us up from the fall of
Adam, and trust a Saviour who has power as Peter says: "According as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge
of Him that bath called us to glory and virtue" (II Tim. 1:3-4; 2:1) . Now then be strong
in the Lord. We cannot become weak, for no one is able in himself. If anyone enters into
Christ and abides in Him, there will
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be no lack in strength. The might that is at our disposal must be rightly used. We should
always go to this spring of strength in prayer, that we may not become dry and withered,
but be strong and mighty. If anyone is weak, let him see if the fault does not lie in
himself, if he is persisting in prayer. We have need always that the hand of the Lord is
over us with power, that we may not become weak. The Lord lives and we shall also
live. He knows all things and provides for us. He who does not rely on himself will
always receive power from the supply that is in Christ. We should not be slothful in
prayer, otherwise we shall always be weak in battle. The persistent prayer in the Spirit is
not something annoying. In prayer we must ever be found at the spring. The lords of the
world are the ones who are always battling against us, but the Lord is our strength.
Therefore we should always pray that we may be able to stand in the evil days when
there is more of battle than on other days. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and
in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand
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against the wiles of the devil. The existence or being of the prince of this world is the
devil or Satan. He is called the old serpent; the great serpent. He is the highest of all the
spiritual forces who ever operate viciously against man. This spirit of iniquity whom we
cannot see
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with our eyes, but whose work, whose kingdom of darkness, is everywhere in all men.
There are rulers of the world, as Paul says, there are invisible spirits who can live in man
and work through them, and it is really so. For us a battle is ordained, not against man,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places. The devil also uses men as his instruments.
Men do not persecute us, but the devil who operates in them. We must pity such men,
for they must do the will of their lord. To fall is easier for us than it was for Adam. He
had been warned and we too. He did not obey the truth, and if we do not watch, we shall
be outwitted, as Adam and Eve were. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able
to stand against the wiles of the devil. The devil too has a method; the way of
temptation, with cunning and force, that he uses against the children of God. We must
therefore be clothed with all the weapons of righteousness. The devil no longer has
power over us, cunning he has, but not power, because we are in Christ. His method is to
overpower the believers. It is a studied method which we must learn to recognize,
otherwise we cannot stand. The prince of this world cometh but has nothing in me. This
power he had over Christ. The same power he also has over us. He may kill us, but we
shall be more than conquerors
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through Him that loved us, as Paul says (Rom. 8 : 37) .
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us.
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter in this world, but we fear not. We have
entrusted our life to the Lord in baptism. The devil dare not boast that he has power over
the believers, unless they do not watch and pray and themselves give the devil power,
and thus fall through their own fault. One only is lord and master. Either Christ or the
devil. Either righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit is in us, or the devil.
Therefore a man must examine himself well, whether he belongs to Christ or to the
devil. If we obey flesh and blood, then we are deceived, then his old work is again in us.
We are warned as was Adam. For the believer, however, the power is removed, but the
fiery darts, the arts and iniquity with which he operates, are innumerable. The devil is a
versatile artist, he is inexhaustible in cunning and evil, in that he seeks to make the
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believer unbelieving, sleepy, slothful. There have been many such who were not able to
stand in the truth (John 8:44) . The devil comes either through false doctrine and
undermines the foundation and blasts it into the air, or if he cannot accomplish anything
in this way, he seeks to win men through love of the world. We should be entirely
equipped with the power and might of Christ. The devil has no
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power, no claim, no might over the believers, except that he can kill the body. We should
not love life, then everything is ours. If we do not love life, then we can stand against the
method of the devil. If we watch and pray and do not leave off praying we cannot be
conquered. They who have Christ and preach the Gospel stand in the way against the
devil. Then we are called seducers. Therefore we know that we did not become believers
by infant baptism, but first after we had come to faith. Then we heard the voice of the
Lord and became new men. Put on the whole armor of God, etc., from head to foot,
namely, the whole equipment of God, that we are fully prepared, as Paul says in the
following verse.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil.
After Paul had spoken generally in verse 11, that the saints should put on the whole
armor of God in order to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, he explains
himself more fully in the following verses as to how we are to understand what the devil
is and his cunning ways to frighten the saints. For us the battle is not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. What he says in verse 11 in general,
he now
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specifies what sort of powers and forces he means against which our battle in this world
is ordained. It is not a battle against flesh and blood.
What does this mean? It is commonly understood that here Paul would say: "We have
not only to battle with flesh and blood," i.e., our own flesh and blood. But that Paul did
not mean. We must not err, as commonly happens. He says: "We wrestle not against
flesh and blood," i.e., against people who have flesh and blood and who are flesh and
blood. We are not to battle against men; that would be wrong altogether. God has called
us that we may be at peace with men. There is enough strife among the men of the
world, but they who are called should not be in strife, neither about the earthly nor the
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heavenly; neither does that concern them. As long as they are unbowed, what will strife
help? Men always begin to battle against the saints. Why? Because the devil is in them,
it is men and the devil who is in them, who leads them to discord and strife against the
true. They cannot do without warfare against the saints who are in Christ, and they seek
to draw one out, to strike and to put to shame him who is in the truth. Discord and strife
with words do not help. A stronger one must come and humble them. But if to one of us
it is given to speak a word we must do so. Upon those who are lovers of strife God's
wrath and disfavor will fall. We will not battle
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about earthly matters; about heavenly things we cannot battle with empty words.
In such battles we always return with pains for we cannot sufficiently protect ourselves
because the devil is so cunning in his children, and the devil ever seeks to draw them out
that they might be defeated. From this we should learn that our battle is not against men.
And why does Paul not mean with flesh and blood that which we bear? He, who has to
battle so in this respect, will even much less stand in the battle against outward foes.
There is no outward battle as long as the devil rages inwardly in flesh and blood, for the
devil has his kingdom outside of us and in men. As long as the devil is in us we need not
suffer; there is no persecution of the faith! There is no battle of suffering. But when the
devil has been cast out of our hearts, then he begins strife and discord. Now He Who is
in us is greater than he who is in the world. We must never look on men but on the devil.
These are spirits of enmity, rulers of the darkness, principalities, powers, spiritual
wickedness in high places, who all stand under the devil, as Paul describes at length.
These powers are at the beck and call of the devil. They are not visible. Against them is
our battle, toward the outside. As far as men are concerned we must seek to be at peace
with them, not in strife. We must speak the truth but not in strife. If they are receptive
they must be won with the sword of the
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Spirit, which is the Word of God. If they are not receptive, then it does no good, only
harm, if we dispute with them with empty words. Thus we are always harmed; for the
devil understands this better than we do. His servants are so well versed in disputation
that it is remarkable. Thus he sets up the saints, like butter in the sun. God's Word has
power, therefore we should use it ; and that no man can do, no matter how much he
studies and prophesies.
But the devil comes in so cunning a manner that one sometimes could fear. Sometimes
they are called believers and brethren, and yet it is the devil. Therefore he who is not
with Me is against Me, says Christ. If anyone comes and will not be in harmony with us
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we can know when he battles against the truth that is in us; what spirit is in him. The
devil comes in order to mislead and blind us, like that prophet who came to Bethel and
called out against the altar, and another prophet came and invited him to eat with him,
but he was a liar. We must preserve the truth as it is in Christ, that we may not be
deceived by another spirit.
There are few believers in the world, but there are many false believers, and it is mostly
these whom the devil knows how to use in his service. They speak otherwise than that
which is in Christ. In strife one receives such wounds and stripes that one feels it for
days and weeks. Our duty it is to
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speak the truth as it is in God's Word. The devil can dispute much better than we can. He
is a crooked spirit. Such arts we cannot imitate. We must simply abide by the Word of
God, but if we do not refer to this they can harm us, for they seek to catch us with
captivating and misleading speech. We should abide by that which Paul here teaches,
that we should be at peace with all men, keep away from strife, for, for us, the battle is
prepared against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. This battle we cannot evade, it is
present.
If we do not wish to depart from the truth, against which the enemies strive, then we
must share the suffering of Christ. That is our portion, our battle-ground. We must suffer
shame, persecution, contempt, and derision. As is the battle, so is the armor. (vs. 12, 13.)
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
We must put on the whole armor, from head to foot we must be protected with the whole
armor, which is unpierceable, from the devil who comes in manifold ways in his spirits
of evil against the believers to overcome them if possible. Therefore
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the believers must be armed from head to foot, that they may be untouchable, that they
may be able to stand in the evil day and accomplish everything well.
Because the battle is prepared we must put on the whole armor of God that we may be
able to withstand in the evil day, if it is necessary. The 'apostle calls those evil days
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(which are the days of our following Christ) when we must always pray: "Lead us not
into temptation, etc." There is in us the Spirit that testifies that we are the children of
God. Our greatest foes, however, are the false believers who also think that they are the
children of God. Therefore they cannot tolerate us, for they strive and battle powerfully,
but they are not the ones who have the Spirit of God, in order that they can be
harmonious in the Spirit. They are not with us, therefore they are against us. These are
the evil days when we more than otherwise must withstand temptations; when we are
more oppressed.
"Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
man, which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended and the floods came, and
the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened
unto a foolish man, which built his house upon sand: and the rain descended
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and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great
was the fall thereof" (Matt. 7) . In a short time such trials will come, but we must grow
in the spirit so that we may not be overpowered. The men of the world and the evil
spirits of darkness will powerfully assail us, but we must not depart from the truth.
The devil strives against the truth, not against us. As long as the truth is not in us so long
will we have no strife in the world. If there is a battle when they tear and destroy one
another, that is not the battle of which Paul speaks. We must stand and hold the field,
when there is outward striving and raging. Those are the evil days and it will be manifest
whether the house is built on sand or rock. We are forewarned that we may be
forearmed; that we may not yield when such trials and such tribulation and persecution
arise to overwhelm us; that we suffer all for Christ's sake and forsake all that surrounds
us in this world. Whether we can forsake this earthly thing, when the evil days come—
this we must carefully consider and contemplate. If we cannot forsake our life and all
that we have then we cannot stand. The devil would tempt us all. That such days do not
always befall us is due to our Lord Jesus Christ. He attends to it that we stand.
We must be able to forsake all—father, mother, wife, child, brother, sister, house, fields,
yea, our
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entire life, we dare love nothing above the Lord. We must always be prepared in order
that when such storms come we shall not yield. For Christ's sake we must risk all. The
proud also do not come to the truth. They all serve the devil. They will not convert
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themselves. They fear for their life, their goods, their honor, yea, they hate the truth. The
truth is for the poor in spirit, for the hungry, sorrowful, and despairing; for such as these
is the truth. If we have fought the whole great battle, we shall stand. According to the
Spirit we shall remain victors. The last is the crown of righteousness. All else must fall.
Christ must remain victor in the field. He who stands will receive the crown of life from
Christ. But that the battle is not imaginary, that it did not take place only in the days of
Christ, is also clear to us.
If there were no battle against the devil, I would never have arrived at this place. I have
forsaken all, I can assure you, otherwise I would not have come to Strassburg. Therefore
I must also go ahead, that you may see what the end is. Christ is our life and death is
gain. It is of no consequence whether Christ takes our life or what we have. We must
have such faith as the three men in the fiery furnace. That also was an evil day for these
three companions of Daniel when they were ordered to go into the fiery furnace. When
such evil days come we must be prepared.
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The Lord can restore everything to us again of that which we have forsaken for His
name's sake, if He will. If a man lose his soul, what can he give to get it back? We can
lose our soul only once and that is the end. The devil always seeks to rob us of Christ.
Therefore we must stand in the evil day. We must stand in the spirit and conquer! The
Spirit must be mighty! Through the Spirit of Christ we can overcome and stand and do
all things well.
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CHAPTER XLVIII. THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD.
WE HAVE seen how our battle is against the foe. Our battle is invisible and against such
a spirit the inner man must be prepared, and as Paul describes the weapons they are not
carnal weapons, for with such we could accomplish nothing in this conflict. Our spirit,
the inner man, must be whole and healthy and unhurt as he goes forth. Paul says,
"Stand!" Namely in the inner man, so armed that we have our loins girt about. As we
have loins in our body which a man may girt about so as to be firm and strong, so writes
the apostle, there are also loins in the inner man. Therefore we must not think of the
loins of our body nor of a girdle made of earthly material, but of that which corresponds
to the bodily loins. The loins are the softest part of the body, where, for erect posture of
the body, there is nothing but the backbone to keep man from falling together. In order
that this weakest part of the body might be strengthened, men made girdles for
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themselves when they had to run or work hard.
That which corresponds to the loins of the body, of which Peter also writes (I Peter 1:13)
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the
grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
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are the loins of the mind or the inner mind, which must be girded that the inner man will
not rupture when he must bear a heavy burden or run. We must understand What the
apostle means when he speaks of being girded with the truth. That is the girdle with
which we must strengthen ourselves and be made firm so that we may not succumb in
sufferings prepared for the believers. The girdle of our loins is the truth.
Natural man also has a girdle about his inner loins. It is not the girdle of truth but of
falsehood. With this he strengthens himself. What would happen to him if he did not
have the lie to fall back on. He could not live and have his being; he could not exist
without the lie. One wins nothing in the world if one cannot bravely lie. That is the
world's girdle. If the unconverted man had not the lie he would simply break down.
Therefore the prophet Isaiah writes of those who have made lies their refuge: "They
have made an agreement with hell and they have made lies their refuge." But it shall one
day be made manifest, for if man did not have the lie what would become of him? But
that on which they support themselves will one day be made manifest to their great
unrighteousness. If man did not do unrighteousness they would not need the lie. Only
they who move and have their being in unrighteousness need to make the lie their
refuge. The opposite is true of the righteous who
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does not need the lie for his support and strengthening. He must gird himself with truth.
Without the truth no child of God can stand,' even as the children of the devil cannot
stand without the lie. For standing, bearing, battling, suffering we need the truth. But
Christ is the truth; with His living, powerful Word dwelling in us, that He might sanctify
our entire life. We need no oath or affirmation. Our word is enough. When it is yea it is
yea, and nay when it is nay. We need no affirmation for the truth. Men may` take us at
our word. Thereby we know the children of God in that they speak the truth. But when
one of whom we expect the truth lies he must be ashamed and sink. Therefore our word
must be truth and this our life must teach and show until we reach our goal. From this
we also note what the inner man is whose loins must be girt with the girdle of truth.
The inner man is the indwelling Spirit in us. In this Spirit truth must come. Our Spirit
must be girt with the truth that we remain immovable and blameless. Why must we be
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girt with the truth? Because the girdle supports the loins that they may not rupture. So
our Spirit must be girded with truth that we Are not injured, that we may endure while
running and be strong in our labors. When the evil man oppresses one or when one is not
girded with the truth, he cannot bear it. The devil's children are very severe. They, in
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their malice, sorely oppress the children of God. They would soon succumb if they were
not girded with the truth. That is the means which supports us against all unfairness,
injustice, and malice, to make us firm and strong to bear the heavy burden without tiring,
for one cannot give a child a heavy load to bear, because it has not the strength for this.
Even so one not exercised in the ways of unrighteousness, cannot bear the burdens laid
on him by the children of malice. Even so when we run our race (I Car. 9 : 24)
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?
So run, that ye may obtain.
(Paul takes a simile from the games and races held in Corinth) , when one runs a race to
obtain the prize, he dare not carry a load, otherwise he will remain behind.
We must unload the temporal and run after the heavenly through patience and endurance
in the battle-field, which is prescribed for us. For this the truth is necessary, if we would
complete our race and reach the goal. A second weapon in the battle of the spiritual man
Paul describes in the words: "Having on the breastplate of righteousness." The
breastplate in the old-style warfare was that part which was placed around the breast to
protect the warrior against the spear-thrusts and arrows. With such breastplates made of
iron the ancients guarded their breasts. This weapon for the inner man is righteousness.
Righteousness and
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truth must always go together. Righteousness is the sort of life in which we do the will
of God. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as Jesus Christ is righteous. We
must be protected with this righteousness and our heart as with a breastplate, that we
may not be put to shame before men. If we do not righteousness we shall be put to
shame before God. So we must stand in the truth before men and in righteousness before
God.
When God has transplanted our spirit out of the lie into the truth He has also transferred
us out of sin into righteousness. Christ does both. When we do the righteousness of God
in this world we are untouchable, we can stand before the children of the world and will
not be disturbed of our inner firmness through the corruption of the inner man. For thus
man brings damnation to himself by not having sought after the righteousness of God.
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To the sinner, who believes that Christ died in our stead for our sins, his faith will be
accounted as righteousness, that no longer the devil and sin and unrighteousness rule us;
but that Jesus Christ dwells in us in the truth and in righteousness. We are protected as
was Joseph in Egypt. We say: "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against
God?" Even this inner righteousness of God must preserve us against external
unrighteousness and against that which is sin in God's sight, that God as our justifier will
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stand up in the judgment. He will declare them righteousness in the judgment. For one
may say that it is a lie that men do and therefore we must not be in evil and malice, but
rather the old leaven must be purged out that not a single sinner be tolerated among us
lest the whole mass be leavened. A single evil person spoils all. Purge out the old leaven,
in order that we may live in the days of unleavened bread, in the Easter days, and not be
leavened with evil, malice, and lies.
When we are baptized we put on the new man who is created in righteousness and
holiness of truth. Christ Jesus, Who is truth, can do all. He makes sinners righteous that
the Spirit of the Lord may dwell in us and sinners may be ashamed when we speak the
truth, so that they speak evil of the children of God according to their own lying
imagination. For he who is not ashamed before God will be ashamed before men.
We must be armed with the breast-plate, as Jesus says (Matt. 5 ) . Thus they did to the
prophets of truth in the Old Testament and it is a good sign if the devil speaks lies
against us and is angry with us, but we should not become weary on the battle-field.
Christ is our armor and our dress, righteousness is our armor. To walk in a brazen coat of
mail (that is to walk in righteousness) is the dress with which Christ has robed us that we
need no longer be ashamed in our nakedness, as the sinners. If we are conscious of
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the fact that we do not unrighteousness, but walk in righteousness, then we can well
stand before our God and there is no need. And we need not be ashamed before God or
men. This is the coat of mail so that we are untouchable when the inner man is attacked
by fiery darts, even in all those who walk in righteousness, who are assailed from all
sides by men who hate the truth.
The third word of the apostle is: "And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel
of peace." (Thus in the Greek original.) In the readiness of the Gospel of peace. It may
be either active or passive. Either so that we are prepared to be peaceable, that we
always are at peace with men so as to walk in these shoes; that we present the Gospel to
them; to invite them to the Gospel of peace, that they might be converted from death,
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that we who are passed from death to life proclaim the Gospel. The believers bring
peace through the Gospel, in order that others also may come forth out of the power of
Satan into the communion of peace. The wicked one has no peace. He is not at peace
with God and is without peace toward all other men. In all his enjoyments and
possessions he is unhappy and void inwardly, until he finds the God of peace. God gave
His Son that we might have peace: "The Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make
His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee and give thee peace." We
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must have this peace of God so that it may be well with us in time and in eternity.
There is something unfortunate and unblest about man in his unconverted state, but men
do not believe that their portion is provided for them in hell. But God has sent a message
through His Son Jesus Christ, Who proclaimed peace. We should be messengers of
peace among peaceless men. But not all can accept the peace nor can know the peace of
God for they are peaceless men and do not know the things which belong to their peace.
We must wear such shoes that we may stand in a world filled with thorns and thistles
through which we must travel, that we be followers of Jesus Christ and overcome the
world. Everyone who may know the things that belong to his peace shall be saved.
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CHAPTER XLIX. THE SHIELD OF FAITH.
WE HAVE considered in our last meditation a few of the things which, according to the
direction of the apostle, we require for our battle on earth against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places; that we may be able to stand in the evil day, namely, what the truth is which
he compares with the girdle about the loins and what the righteousness is which he calls
the breast-plate and what the shoes are in which we should go in the preparation of the
Gospel of peace. We may know from this what sort of a conflict it is that is ordained for
us, how the apostle presents the truth, righteousness and peaceableness as weapons in
this conflict, that we may not be wounded when attacked by our adversary, whose
weapons of darkness correspond to the weapons of light which we must have and use,
namely, against lying, unrighteousness and the false doctrine with which he always goes
about in this world in order to turn men away from Christ or their own salvation. Now
the apostle mentions other weapons of light which we must
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have and use. "Above all the shield of faith." We shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked which he hurls against the believers to ignite in them his fire, as one
sends fiery bullets into a besieged city in order to set it afire.
If we do not know what kind of fiery darts these are then we shall not be able to defend
ourselves against them with the shield of faith. The spirit of malice in this manner uses
many things which the apostle calls fiery darts and we cannot understand this unless we
ourselves have been in temptation, in which the enemy tried to set us afire with another
fire than the fire of the Holy Spirit. In order that we understand the meaning of the
apostle better, for any eventual temptations, I shall mention such fiery, burning darts of
the devil as insinuations and false motives which are applied to the children of God to
turn them from faith. I shall mention in this connection a book which you can read; it is
printed here and bears the title The Waldenses in Strassburg. There you will read toward
the end of the book how at that time the believers of this city were persecuted and were
urged by their relatives and friends to turn against their foolish faith, for which they not
only had to give up their possessions but were also persecuted by their relatives with
shame and disgrace and contempt and derision; how a father with tears implored his
children to deny their faith. That the children on account of such human senti432
ment should deny their faith: that is a hard battle, when nature and feeling are against the
faith. He who has not experienced this does not know how hard this battle is. Then it is
hard to remain faithful, when the believers are put to such a severe test whereby they
might be overcome.
In South Africa there also was a great persecution, in which a young woman of thirty
years (with her suckling child) was cast into prison on account of her faith. Her relatives
came to her. Her father, who was a heathen, tore his hair before her eyes and pleaded
with her to lapse. Such are the arts applied to soften the feeling. That the heart may not
break under such circumstances, higher feelings must be present from above. The
woman later was executed, torn to pieces by wild beasts in the theater (arena) . One must
be well armed in order to stand up under such attacks.
Nature at all times desires to demand its rights from us. Where grace must battle with
nature there the struggle is the most difficult. He who is not firmly grounded in grace
will not be able to withstand. There are many who were on the way of salvation but fell
away because they obeyed the wishes of relatives and parents more than the directions
and the demands of God. The harder it is to overcome such temptations the greater is the
victory. We must clearly recognize such cunning attacks and temptations so that we may
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be armed when they come, for their purpose is to rob
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us of our faith. Father and mother, sister and brother, should not move us. Even if our
life is endangered, we should yet stand fast, that we may not love our life more, but
submit and commend it to the Lord.
As the soldier under Frederick II, king of Prussia, who in place of a watch carried a leaf
bullet through which a cord had been drawn. One day the king asked him the time of
day. He replied: "My lord king, my watch tells me neither one-thirty nor two-thirty, but
it is a reminder that I owe the king my life even unto death.–
We should not love that which passes away, but that which abides. We should love the
Lord Jesus even unto death. He also died, suffered death by crucifixion. His enemies
also put Him out of the way. Therefore we must be armed with the whole armor of God,
that we may be able to stand in the evil day, to see if we shall be faithful to the Lord who
has called and bought us. He will try us, as Paul says (Hebrews 12) , where he shows
how men overcame all by faith. Think of Him who endured the opposition of sinners,
that we do not yield for weariness. There the shield of faith is necessary. Our faith is at
stake; the enemy would take this shield away from us. We must grasp the shield to
quench the fiery darts with which the enemy attacks us; we must battle that the natural
fires in us are not lighted and quench the fire of grace in us. He must not light the nat434
ural fire in us which Christ has quenched, for they are natural feelings, otherwise our
portion with the saints will be lost.
Thus some eighty persons were burned to death in this city of Strassburg, and in the
booklet referred to above we are told of a young man who was persuaded by his friends
and relatives to leave the faith, but afterwards when the storm was past he regretted his
action and he confessed his faith and was burned to death. He himself declared that he
had no inner rest any longer because he had denied his Lord. Thus we must be clothed in
armor that all the fiery darts will recoil, so that the shield will catch all fiery darts and
quench them.
People do not understand this position because they think it is nothing to abide by such
things and not to yield. They say one can conform to the world without troubling the
faith, but such people do not know what faith is. The faith is our life. What good is it to
enjoy a few years of this life, if thereby we lose our eternal life and deny Christ. The
Lord Himself died for us, not in bed, like a lord, but on the cross. It must be so with us,
if we would inherit the kingdom of God. To conquer nature is a hard fight; we dare not
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give up any part otherwise we shall be robbed of our truth. If we yield in small things we
shall not be able to stand in great things and one's senses are dulled, one has less and less
feeling for that
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which is God's grace. If we thus recognize what the fiery darts are, which the devil
shoots at us, we shall also understand what the shield of faith is with which such darts
are quenched. The shield of faith is our most precious treasure.
It is the faith in the truth, the faith that lives in us and overcomes the world, whose fruit
is love and brings forth all fruits of the Spirit. The devil seeks to take this faith from us
by means of love, but where the love of the world is, there is not true faith for where true
faith is everything else must recede. Trial shows where faith is (Hebrews 6) . Therefore
we must watch and be strong, that he who is in the faith, walks in it and is strong.
Outfaith is the victory that overcomes the world. Where is he who overcomes the world,
except he who has faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. As Christ was tempted so we
must be tempted.
Take the helmet of salvation, the apostle says further. The helmet of the soldier protects
his head against the blows of the enemy's sword. Thus the salvation which we have in
Christ should serve as a helmet for our head. The apostle uses the same simile in his
letters (I Thess. 5) . There he calls hope the helmet of salvation. If we have the
' hope
of the future, the resurrection of the body, the resurrection of the just to eternal life, if we
have the hope in Christ, that He who has begun the good work in us will complete it in
eternity. This hope must strengthen and protect us. It is
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an important weapon for us. Faith is the shield, hope is the helmet. Faith is not alone. It
must have hope at its side, otherwise we shall be injured in the chief place, in the head.
Christ for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.
In every case Christ is an example for us in that He, for the glory of this time, did not
count shame and disgrace. He overcame and is set at the right hand on the throne of the
Father, and will give to him that overcomes the crown.
Therefore we must not let ourselves be robbed of this treasure, but the spirit of faith
which we now have must also be guarded by the patience of hope, that we may not
suffer for naught and run vainly. The unbelievers and the disobedient have no part in the
hope which is eternal. We either win or lose it. Whether we will despise our life and cast
it away or whether we would save it and love the earthly, that is our battle. If the devil
cannot move our senses and feelings, we have won. We must be armed from head to
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foot, that our heart may not be set afire through such natural feelings. Learn to know the
weapons rightly which the devil uses. There will be pains and deep wounds but we can
stand. The crown is only for those who overcome. It is promised to them and kept for
them, that they may inherit the kingdom of God and eternity.
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CHAPTER L. THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
ACCORDING to the instruction of the apostle, we have thus far learned to know with
what weapons we must be armed in the spiritual battle in order to defend ourselves and
to keep ourselves from being overcome. The apostle mentions one more weapon,
namely, the sword, which he calls the sword of the Spirit and which is further described
as the Word of God.
The sword is not only a weapon for protection or defense against the enemy, but it is
also a weapon of attack against the adversary for conquering him. All previously
mentioned weapons, shield, helmet, breast-plate, girdle and shoes, are only coverings
used by the soldier for protection, to keep him from being wounded. The sword,
however, is the weapon with which one wounds and overcomes the foe so that,
conquered, he must leave the field. How we are to use in this battle the sword of the
Spirit which is the Word of God, our Lord of salvation, Jesus Christ, Himself has best
demonstrated. For He was tempted by the enemy even as we are; but He did not
succumb to the foe. He conquered him through the sword of the Spirit.
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In Matt. 4, we read the account of the most important battle in this respect, where the
devil made his attacks upon Jesus Christ, the Son of man, even as he attacks us to
mislead us. We see from this account how Jesus always resorted to the weapon of the
sword of the Spirit. It is the Word of God, as it is written. This we must believe and to
this we must hold fast, even as the apostle directs the Corinthians to do (I Cor. 15 ) . We
must hold fast to the Word of God. The apostles and the children of the truth of Christ
have always referred to the Word, and thereby they have overcome the spirit of lying, so
that they adhered steadfastly to the Word. Not like Eve, who also answered the
adversary, the Lord has said: "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it." But she did
not remain steadfast in this. She yielded and thus was overcome. That is ever the devil's
greatest cunning that he would take the Word away from those who believe on Jesus,
that they no longer have a sword to drive him from the field. Without the Word of God,
we cannot stand. The Word of God is the truth and against this weapon the devil fights
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with lies. That is his sword with which to overcome the saints. He who believes a lie is
conquered. Death lies in the lie, but life in the truth.
Christ is the Life and the Truth itself in the Word which we have received. Against this
Word
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of God the devil ever strives and when he robs them of it they can no longer fight. The
wisdom of the mind is his weapon. If we apply this wisdom against the wisdom of God
then we are the enemies of the truth. What we need, therefore, in order to stand and to
save our souls in our battle, is Christ. He is the Word of God. That is His name. He is the
Way and the Truth. He is also the Life in us. If we have Him not, neither do we have life,
for there is not truth in us other than Christ Who is in us (I Tim. 3 : 1 6) .
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.
The Spirit has revealed to the apostles that in later years many would fall away from the
faith, those who speak lies and are branded in their own conscience. A servant of God
must be equipped with the sword, with the Word of God, that man might be brought to
the truth and saved from the lie, otherwise he is not useful for the kingdom of God. The
spirit of lying rises up in opposition in man when the truth of God comes to him. It is not
possible to save men except through the Word of God in the heart and spoken with the
mouth.
This Word of God does not cut in the heart or in the sheath, but when it is drawn forth,
then it cuts and divides soul and spirit, marrow and
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bone and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (I Cor. 14 and Heb. 4:12)
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
and must reveal everything that is hidden in the hearts of the unbelievers, as to what
kind of darkness and depth of the God-head they are. Then they must fall on their faces
and all hearts will be revealed. When the sword is drawn forth from the sheath, when the
Word of God, that sharp, two-edged sword, is drawn it always divides what is in man.
But who can use it so that other men, still godless, may be overcome? The field is the
world where the Lord strews His seed. Out of this world some will always be saved.
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They who are converted will be separated from the world. Not only to overcome the
world, not for our own persons, but that some may be converted, that we may overcome
the devil, that his kingdom may be diminished, for this purpose the Son of God
appeared, that the kingdom of the devil might be destroyed and God's kingdom might be
revealed. All this is not possible, save through the Word. It is a discerner of the intents
and thoughts. It has eyes like flames of fire. It opens the eyes that man may learn to
know himself. Jesus used the sword in a friendly manner toward Nathanael, who was not
yet a disciple. He said: "Can there
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any good thing come out of Nazareth?" But Jesus said to Philip: "Behold an Israelite
indeed in whom there is no guile." Thus with one word Jesus conquered him. So we
must call on the Lord that He may heal us when we have been struck, that the Word of
God may be a balm for us to heal our wounds. Therefore the Word of God is a power,
which punishes the lie.
When we need strength to battle against men, we must draw forth the Word of God. It
will hurt no one in the sheath. We must not only have it in the heart, we must use it in
the power of the Spirit that it may strike as a two-edged sword (Jer. 32) . If we use the
Word of God in its power, truth, and purity, it will reveal all that is hidden in man. It is a
terrible sword, a fearful weapon. This the devil knows right well. If we do not ourselves
use this sword faithfully we will receive wounds in our hearts. In order that we may
possess and use the Word of God in the power of the Spirit it must live in our hearts and
it must not be a mere matter of memory, otherwise it has no power on our lips to
persuade and overcome others. The Word of God has its own power, if one will but draw
it forth. If one draws it forth only according to the letter then it has no power; no one is
thus overcome; no one is thus struck to the ground-by those who preach the Gospel (the
Word of God) according to the letter. If the sword of God is thus used in its sharpness, it
has
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no power. Everyone who is thus struck by the Word knows that the Word of God and
God are true. Then first, does the Word of God become comforting and becomes for him
the power of God unto salvation.
There is therefore a great difference as to how the Word of God can be used; either in the
sheath of the letter; in this the Word of God is hidden; it has the form, but it cannot
strike. One sees that it is a sword when one looks at the sheath. Thus it is used and called
in the world. But where it is drawn uncovered from its scabbard there one experiences
that it cuts and strikes and everyone who has experienced this knows how he has been
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overcome and that he has not been able to stand against the Lord and His two-edged
sword. Against it no one can stand. With human reason and through disputation one can
achieve nothing. If we would bring any one to the truth we must know how to use the
Word against misleading arts and methods of the Pharisees. As soon as Christ has
become Spirit and Life in us the Word of God also becomes alive in us. If we use it with
our lips then it has power and strength that the liars are thereby revealed. It will strike
the liars that they can do nothing else than speak against it. He who would obey the truth
rejoices when he hears the Word. Then it becomes apparent who are receptive and who
accepts the Word (Jer. 23: 22, 23) .
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But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my
words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the
evil of their doing.
Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
Now because the Ward of God is the divine truth, and the apostle admonished all
believers to speak boldly, as they have it in their heart, so all believers (all children of
God) should reveal the Word. Thus they should deal with all men, that we speak the
truth in love. That is the power of the Word that we help men to die to sin so that we
honestly speak the Word of God, not hypocritically, but in the truth, for only the truth
can bring men to the salvation of their souls; that we do not strike the air but hit the
mark; that the devil may see in man that he has been hit and struck. All children of God
serve the truth, so that the truth of Christ must be revealed. For all who are in sin are
also in the lie, so that they cannot go into the other world except as they are saved and
redeemed from the power of Satan; that it may be apparent that we speak the truth with
our neighbor.
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CHAPTER LI. PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION.
AFTER Paul has named the weapons of spiritual knighthood, with which we must battle
against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and against
spiritual wickedness in high places, so that we may be able to stand and overcome them
in the evil days and that we may not be wounded but rather conquer for Christ and His
kingdom, the apostle adds one more item, namely, that we should always pray with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit in order that we may be able to stand in this present
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evil world. That is, we should not imagine that the power to stand in this present evil
world lies in us.
He to Whom we should pray and plead always gives us the knowledge that this power is
from God, the sole Ruler, Who knows us well and Who is near and sees us and how we
fare and what we do, Who knows that for which we should pray to God. Whatever we
may lack or need, we should in all our needs appear before God in prayer and
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supplication and let our petitions be known, that He may hear. He does hear the voice of
the heart without the sound of our lips. We should always pray in the Spirit, in secret,
where God Who is a Spirit gives us His Spirit. God knows well what His Spirit prays in
us, for it is His Spirit. However we must always follow His Spirit and be subject to it so
that He may carry out His constant prayer and supplication. For He, the High-Priest of
the sanctuary, Who comes from the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, dwells with and
sanctifies us to be a dwelling of God in the Spirit, that we may ever pray in the Spirit.
He is the Priest who offers to the Father spiritual offerings, that are well-pleasing to
Him.
What Paul here places before the saints is, that they should pray with supplications and
pleadings in the Spirit, for that is the new life, which the heavenly Father communicates
to His children from Christ. For he who lives in the Spirit prays without ceasing. It is
like breathing. As breathing is necessary to life, so with prayer, it is a constant breathing
in the Spirit, a constant praying and pleading to the Father in the name of His Son,
whose Spirit He is and Who is Priest in the sanctuary of God. The Son offers our
longings, the Holy Spirit offers our prayers, so that we let no voice be heard outwardly;
but if we pray in the Spirit, we shall be able to notice in another
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that he is praying in the Spirit. That is our proper position in this world.
We should always ask of our God and Father what we need, not only for ourselves, but
also for all others. We should ever pray in the Spirit without ceasing (I Thess. 5 :17) .
"Pray without ceasing." As God is a Spirit, He searches out everything, and because His
Spirit is given us in Christ, He fulfills that which is in God. He gives us the key to
penetrate into God by prayer and supplication, that we obtain from Him that which we
need. He who leaves off praying falls into self-confidence. He who prays does not easily
fall into sin; he who prays watches and does not sleep, therefore watch in all
perseverance.
Thus we must be equipped if we would stand in this world and overcome the spirit of
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this world in his temptations. We must watch and pray always as Jesus prescribed it for
His disciples, so that they might not enter into temptations. Whoever does not have the
Spirit of prayer and watchfulness, for him the admonition was not given. We must have
the presence of the Spirit in us, lest we be tempted by the trials that surround us in this
world. This Spirit of grace and prayer which Jesus promised to send upon His disciples,
is the Lord Himself. He is the Spirit. Christ through His Spirit would dwell in us and do
the will of the Father. We must therefore be on constant guard that we do not oppose the
hidden working
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of the Holy Spirit when He would lead us into all truth, in order that He might dwell in
us. By Him we can do all things; without Him we can do nothing. It is grace that the
Father gives us His Son's Spirit.
We of ourselves are not only all weakness but nothing but foolishness. We would all
immediately fall into sin, if we were left to ourselves, but the Spirit of power of the Son,
Jesus Christ, strengthens our weakness. We do not know how we should pray, but the
Spirit Himself intercedes for us with inexpressible sighs. He who searches the hearts
knows what is in us; He intercedes for the saints; He works in them such unceasing
prayer and supplication as is necessary before God the Father. We must know ourselves
whether we are of God, whether His Son's Spirit prays in us: He is a Priest in God's
sanctuary. The Spirit of God is the Priest, Who brings gifts and offerings. The power to
live and to godliness, to stand and to conquer the world all come from the Spirit and that
we may have this it is necessary to continue in watching and praying. Watching is
required of us, if we are born again of the Spirit.
If we sleep we are not faithful and this is the devil's wish that he establish an evil in us in
a hidden manner and that his evil become apparent in the church. When one falls into sin
and becomes manifest as a tare, do you know whence that is? That a man has not
watched in the
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Spirit. The Holy Spirit is only High-Priest where there is constant watchfulness, that He
may give us power and victory and ability to stand in battle. It is as though Christ
Himself were there when His Spirit rests on a child of God. Every re-born is a child of
God and on each one of them rests the Holy Spirit as on the Son. If we would be as
strong as we should be then we must watch. Watch! This applies to the regenerate.
Nothing is more necessary than to wake and not to sleep. There must always be a
watchful eye to observe what surrounds us. He who does not watch falls into the
temptation of the devil who is ever ready to destroy us. When the people slept the devil
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came and sowed tares among the wheat. He always desires to destroy the few believers.
Watchfulness is our responsibility. If any one allows himself to be lulled to sleep, it is
his fault, because he has not watched in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not wish to
work our salvation without us, as Paul has said. It is God who works the willing and the
doing with fear and trembling, with constant watchfulness and continuing instant in
prayer, that one may not fall asleep. Where there is constant fear there is watchfulness.
When the head of the house is awake the thief can do no harm. Through idleness and
sleepiness the devil can overcome us. It is his cunning to give to the believer a draught
of sleepiness and when they have become drunk with sleep he can over451
power them. Therefore we must be sure that we love Jesus Christ and are dependent on
God our Father. That is the rule and then we are watchful. In Rev. 2, John complains:
"Thou hast left thy first love," this Jesus requires of us, namely, that we love Him.
He who is born of God loves the Father and the Son, who is the Creator and the Power
of our life. Not the Law, but Christ renews the heart. The old heart can only fear Christ,
but not love in a holy sense, for Christ gives us everything. Everything aims that we love
Him and if we do love Him we also do His commandments. That is what Christ asks of
us, the love of the whole heart, that we cling to Him always and that we are dependent
on the Father and that we do not put our trust in ourselves. God will keep us and stand
by us. He is nigh unto all who call on Him, who call on Him earnestly. He does what the
godly ask and hears their crying and helps them. To love Jesus Christ with all the heart
means to watch in the Spirit and there the Holy Spirit pleads in us to the Father and then
our weakness will be strengthened. We must depend on the Father in our whole life and
in the condition that Christ is always with us. That is the condition that Paul here
requires of all saints and believers. "Pray." Not for ourselves alone should we pray, but
for all saints. The heavenly Father hears whether or not we put it into words. It
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is well that we do both, the constant, unceasing prayer in the Spirit, in secret, where the
Lord sees, and also to take the time to put our prayer to the Father in words, not only for
ourselves but for all the saints, that we help those who are afar off, that they too may
stand in the battle and overcome. It is not idle to mention them by name, especially
when we know their needs. Thus we should be the more busy in prayer that they who are
in the world may stand.
Paul wanted all the brethren to pray for him even though he was strong in the Spirit and
watchful. He valued highly the prayers of the brethren and asked for the prayers of the
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brethren in all the churches. There he feels most his dependence on grace in the words
which he had to speak that he might say the right thing, for that is not a matter of human
wisdom; that cannot be studied; that is no piece of artistry. Paul wished to preach so that
he might open his mouth boldly, that he might find joy in it and so he asked the
brethren's prayers for the power to say the right thing, the responsible word, which
would be given him by Christ directly, that which he should say and in that hour when it
was necessary. It is a revelation from God Himself. Each time it must be revealed to one,
that it may be manifest to men that they might become vessels to His honor—that
through Christ children might be born to the Father in this world.
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The intercession of the saints is especially necessary, so that they remember those who
must speak the Word of God that they might open their mouth boldly to speak the Word.
That was a need which Paul felt greatly, although he stood higher than the Church, in
order that he might make known the mystery of the Gospel. I, too, ask you, brothers and
sisters, that you shall do the same for me, for it is to your benefit and blessing, for we
can do nothing of ourselves. If you would grow and be strong you must help by your
prayers.
Milk only is not necessary. If the children would grow strong then other food is required.
That does not depend on me but on God. Therefore if you would have food for strength
and growth and edification your prayer is needed. That is the chief purpose of our
meetings. We do not come for that which will please the ear, but if we want something
for the Spirit we must help by our prayers. Little children cannot be used in warfare. If
we would be big and strong we must have such food as will enable us to always
overcome the devil.
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CHAPTER LII. LOVE NOT THE WORLD.
LOVE NOT THE WORLD, nor the things that are in the world, namely, the lust of the
eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, which are not of the Father, but of the
world. If we should remain unspotted by the world, we must, as at a meal, receive food
from God, that which we need in the Spirit. It must be offered to us, so that when we
have had a meal, we shall have received new strength for the way and for advancement
in the battle, when we need the power of Christ. For that we must grow. If we did not eat
we would soon cease to live. Yes, if one would withdraw from our meetings he would
not live long. He would fall into sectarianism or die altogether. This never fails.
Therefore the Lord has ordained these communal meetings, that we may all grow strong
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and for that reason we must help with our prayers. I can speak nothing of myself. What
we need the Lord must provide. Therefore you must pray for me, even as I pray for you
that you might overcome the devil's temptations.
Paul wrote this letter as a prisoner, as one bound for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, whose messenger he was in chains or bonds, as he says
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in verse 20. Though he was in bonds and a captive, chained to a soldier, yet his activity
did not cease as messenger for Christ. For his Lord in heaven, also in prison, gave him
the Spirit to be active for the Kingdom and for this purpose he asked the intercession of
the brethren that he might have the boldness to open his mouth and to proclaim the
mystery of the Gospel. But as he could go no farther, he sent Tychicus, a beloved brother
and faithful minister in the Lord with the letter to the church that he might make known
to them all things and the details of Paul's affairs. In this we see the government of Jesus
Christ over all things on earth, that Paul as a prisoner in Rome might yet have a blessed
field of activity. For it is wonderful to be a prisoner and in bonds and still a messenger
for Christ, to build God's Kingdom where Satan's is, as Paul states in another place. But
God's Word is not bound but has free course.
The messengers of the glad tidings may be prisoners on earth and in bonds, yet the Word
they preach shall have free course. Therein the Gospel is revealed and manifested in its
full, divine power. The contrast is striking. The messengers of the Gospel lie in chains
and bonds. One cannot understand why they, who proclaim peace and goodness and who
have done no wrong, should be abused as evil-doers. But this speaks louder than all
words for it proclaims the divine power
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and clearness of the Gospel. We see presented the battle between two princes: Christ and
Belial.
Christ would save men from the power of the devil. The devil binds the messengers of
Christ and puts them in prison that they might no longer be active, showing that it is a
spiritual battle. The power of darkness which is against Christ and operates in the world
takes care that they, who have done no wrong but have preached goodness, are thus
mistreated like Paul, as an evil-doer, bound in chains and cast into prison;
notwithstanding the Gospel with its inner power is spread, even though it is not an
inviting but repulsive thing; for so it is in the world that the Gospel is repulsive, so that
they might not believe that it is the truth. Paul puts those who can understand in the
position to see that there is something better for us than personal freedom, namely, inner
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satisfaction. Therefore it is a mystery of the Gospel which should be proclaimed, and for
which we should pray, that God may give His messengers ability and wisdom to speak,
for it is not easy to speak the truth before men. This requires divine courage. The Lord
shows that He has power. The message must be proclaimed to men therefore even
though the messengers must suffer for it. When one has done good and then must suffer
as an evil-doer, this suffering is attractive to all who have an open mind for the truth.
Such hate and envy the devil generates. Everyone who
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has wisdom knows this. To him who has not in himself experienced the power of the
Gospel of Christ as a saving power of God, it must be made known as a divine message.
Jesus Christ appeared in the world to save captive men. Paul bound by outward chains is
more blessed than all men in inward bonds. He, the bound, is free, while all others, who
do as they choose, are bound to the devil, both Caesar in all his glory and the nobility as
well as others in Rome. Such messengers of peace must suffer, be treated as evil-doers,
as Paul said to Festus and Agrippa and testified in the great auditorium: "I would to God,
that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether
such as I am, except these bonds." Thus it is today also that the messengers of God,
when they proclaim peace to fallen men, are treated as evil-doers. Thereby men are
brought nigh unto that which serves their everlasting peace.
"Tychicus, whom I have sent unto you." Paul had a twofold purpose in sending this
brother. Tychicus had served Paul faithfully, especially was he while Paul was in bonds a
"faithful brother and minister," that Paul through him might be active. And that is correct
that the Gospel of Jesus Christ might be proclaimed through faithful ministers and be
established in man, when one cannot be active with the freedom of his person that others
aid and assist him.
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The other purpose that Paul had in view was that he should comfort the hearts of the
believers. This comfort is a chief purpose for those who have become subject and
obedient to Christ, that they remain with Christ and the truth, and not let themselves be
persuaded by the prince of this world to become soft and weary in battle. This is the
purpose so that they do not weaken, but stand fast and remain faithful. What one has
once received he must hold fast. This power of salvation is healing and the comfort is
this that they abide by the Word which they have received, that they become saints (for
all believers are saints) as many as believe in Christ Jesus are holy in Him, hallowed for
God in His church, and this sanctification must grow and stand for us as long as we are
on earth, in order that we have the same mind which was in Christ Jesus. The daily
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admonition serves this end. We dare not leave the believers to themselves therefore; but
Jesus Himelf, the Lord, has ordained this admonition, that all may be furthered in the
inner power of sanctification, that they who have once become partakers of Christ may
abide in Him to the end, as Paul writes in the third chapter.
We should rejoice even in suffering. For it is that which puts the Light into prominence,
and therefore admonition is the more necessary, that we may be able to stand in the evil
day and remain steadfast in all danger, so that we flee neither to
459
the right hand nor the left or that we do not permit ourselves to depart from the true
faith. Thus Tychicus was to serve all the brethren. He writes: "This letter has been sent
to the church at Laodicea by Tychicus that he might admonish their hearts, and that they
might remain true to the good work which has been begun in them." This word is also
meant for you, brothers and sisters, who have become obedient to the Lord, that I should
admonish you to remain in this new creature, as Paul has taught us. We have a battle
prepared for us by the Lord, a battle with men in which rules the devil, who would win
back the believers with enticements and allurements of the world. That is our battle!
Thereto admonition is needed, that no one may be turned aside by temptation.
Admonition in Christ is needed by the believers. When one falls away, it were better that
he had never believed; that he does not turn from the holy commandment which was
given him. It is an holy commandment which we should keep in love. An holy
commandment is given to the believers, as is fitting for saints—that those who convert
themselves to Christ and allow themselves to be baptized and follow Christ, to them is
given an holy commandment written on tables of flesh in the heart; and if we wipe out
this commandment, this Word, then the devil has again misled us and made us foolish
and we have again given
460
room to the lusts of the world. If he succeeds in doing all this and to take us away from
the simplicity of Christ, then the commandment can be wiped out which is written in the
heart, for as children of God we must live differently than before.
We do not conform to the world, but we are renewed by the renewing of our mind. That
is an holy law written in our hearts by the pen of the Holy Spirit. The Law is not made
for the righteous man but for dead sinners (I Tim. 1:9) . We must lay aside all evil, it
does not belong to our rule. We should conform to Christ. It is not written on tables of
stone, but we should read it in our fleshly hearts, that the devil may not spoil us. We
should keep the good Word of God given to us. Tomorrow is the day called "All Saints,"
Page 410 of 1977
but that is not for the saints of this time, but for those who lived several centuries, ago.
This is not necessary for they no longer need it, but we do, that we may stand. Men do
not want to do that which is good, they have their joy in unrighteousness. If anyone
would be free, Christ must redeem him, because he is by nature the prisoner of the devil.
Immediately he will sing to Christ a hymn of praise, for his salvation is from all
unrighteousness. Then we are inwardly free, as Paul in Rome. In this respect he was
much freer than all the great ones in Rome. He was a saint and so he writes to all saints
and would that there
461
be prayers for all saints. This we should do and we should admonish one another to be
faithful and not entangled again in the cunning of Satan. Against all this we must
safeguard our hearts with the shield and armor.
A hardness of heart has come on all men through sin and therefore God gave a law in
stone, but in the New Testament Christ gave a soft law written in our hearts which
should no longer be hardened through the deceit of sin. When a heart becomes wood and
stone the Word of God cannot penetrate, nor cannot do anything. A hammer is required
for that, for the natural heart is inwardly hard. Therefore it must be turned into a soft and
pliable heart in order to receive the law of the Spirit. Therefore we should be like Christ.
That is the end of all admonitions of Christ that the saints are not again deceived, and I
pray you, guard this softness of heart so that you always experience and feel the
impressions worked by God. God can work in us through sympathy and mercy, so that
we serve one another with comfort and strength—those are impressions which God
makes, for which the natural man is unfit. A stony heart has no feeling for the suffering
of other men, therefore we must not let them run into hell; through sympathy and pity
we must admonish, for he who is not born again is lost forever. That is why we labor—
that all men may come to the one Saviour.
462
Whoever is not converted and born again through Christ will come into the power of
Satan. But when one is born again he becomes one heart and soul in Christ with all
brethren, for we always have sympathy and admonish them, and plead with them: "Be
ye reconciled to God, otherwise you will go to hell." We must testify to this, as Paul,
who gladly suffered with joy for the sake of the elect. If we live with Christ, we shall
also reign with Him. Therefore it is necessary, that, after Christ has softened our hearts,
we tell men whither they are bound. If they believe this, they become our brethren; if
they believe it not, we are free. God's Word tells us this and we have experienced it, and
we are lost if we remain godless as we were by nature. Therefore it is necessary that men
Page 411 of 1977
be born again. For this reason Paul suffered even unto bonds. But God's Word was not
bound. Oh, that men might know the things that belong to their peace!
Peace be to the brethren (that is his last wish) and love with faith, from God, the Father
and Jesus Christ. Paul knows nothing but brothers and saints. If one is in the church he is
a saint. Until one reaches that point he needs some help, as men say: "But who can live
like a saint?" Christ has said: "It is impossible with men, but nothing is impossible to
God." But a man must
463
pray. He must give himself so that he may be sanctified (Heb. 3)
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the
Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all
his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he
who bath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of
those things which were to be spoken after;
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the
wilderness:
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in
their heart; and they have not known my ways.
So I sware in my wrath. They shall not enter into my rest.)
Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in
departing from the living God.
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our
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confidence stedfast unto the end;
While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in
the provocation.
For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of
Egypt by Moses.
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had
sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
464
And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that
believed not?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
There are none others in the church except holy brothers; no natural men; no godless; no
sinners. He who is within is a saint and a brother, because they do the will of God. The
Saviour said: "What the Father does that do I." They receive a heart so soft it can be
squeezed and bent, therefore we are so near God that we need not cry long till He comes
to help. He makes His impressions in us so that we know His will.
A godless man knows at once what impressions he has from the devil. They are one with
each other to do various things. But those are godly impressions that through which are
proclaimed the inexpressible riches of His goodness (Gal. 6) .
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such
an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted.
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself.
But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in
himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.
Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall
he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Page 413 of 1977
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we
faint not.
465
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto
them who are of the household of faith.
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
As many as desire to make a fair chew in the flesh, they constrain you to be
circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law ; but desire to
have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh

Froehlich Writings, Complete Set, 7 MB

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