Answers to Correspondents

Q.-What is the difference between sin and sins?
A.-Sin is the nature we inherit from Adam. It is the root out of which the fruits come. "By one man sin entered into the world "-not sins. Adam brought in sin, -not sins. From him we have received the principle of sin, the sap that supplies the branches, that is his work, and we are not responsible for that, but sins are our work, and these we are responsible for. I can't help having a bad nature, but I can help letting it act. The distinction is well and uniformly maintained in scripture, and the distinction is most important not only for our own souls' profit, but for the true understanding of the cross of Christ. Christ is said to have borne away " the sin of the world," but never the sins of the world. He has borne the sins of those only who believe in Him, and He "has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Sin as sin, no longer stands in the way of the sinner's approach to God, the blood is on the mercy-seat and all may freely draw nigh; those who do draw nigh find out not only that they can draw nigh, but that all their sins are forgiven by Him to whom they come. The double value of the work of Christ putting away sin and sins becomes known to the soul, and it learns. that the evil nature as well as the evil fruits are all gone through the blood of Christ from the sight of God.
Some teach that sin is only what we do; scripture teach& us that sin is what we are, and that sins are what we do. It is a far harder thing to say as a sinner, I am sin, than to allow that I have sinned. All will admit the one, but many will by no means allow the other. One text much used in support of this view, is that in 1st John 3:4, where in the received version it says, " sin is the transgression of the law," and they infer from this that unless there is a breach of a known command, there is nothing for the conscience before God to be troubled about. All know, who have any acquaintance with the original, that this is a false translation, and that the true rendering is " sin is lawlessness," in other words, having my own will. Hence Gentiles who never had the law are said to be lawless, or without law, the word in the Greek being the same, ('αυομια). Whereas Jews, who are under law, are said to be law-breakers, or transgressors of the law, (παραβασις) being the word used for this, hence "where there is no law there is no transgression," the same word.
Sin does not give a bad conscience. I know it is in me; but the blood of Christ meets it before God. Sins dos" I''' need forgiveness for them, and the conscience knows no rests till through confession forgiveness is known. s'
Q,-How can I say " I am crucified with Christ'," when I feel sin still working in me?
ANS.-The mistake here, is in confounding the work of Christ for us on the cross, with the work of the Holy Ghost in us. It is as participating in the value of the cross that I can say, " I am crucified with Christ." It I have not been crucified with Christ I am no Christian all, but only a living sinner before God. All believers in the Lord Jesus were crucified with Him when He was crucified, just as all their sins were put away when He bore them in His own body on the tree. It is the work of the Holy Ghost to show me my sins, and then to show me that Christ has put them away on the cross. In the same way it is the work of the Holy Ghost to show me I have an evil nature, and then to show me that it, too, has been put away by Christ on the cross. The Holy Ghost does not tell me the evil is gone out of my heart, which would not be true, but that I have been crucified with Christ on the cross when He was crucified.
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-The Holy Ghost being the power in the believer for holiness, etc., do believers fail because God does not work in them? or because they fail to walk in the spirit?
ANS.-The Holy Ghost ever abiding in the believer in virtue of the "blood of sprinkling," God never ceases to work in the believer, though it may be only in making the person unhappy and restless, a groan being the only witness of the Spirit's presence, it may be. In the end this leads to restoration through confession. The Spirit's working is the answer to the advocacy of Christ with the Father. The occasion of advocacy is sin,—" if any man sin we have an advocate," etc., (1 John 3:2,) and Christ's advocacy for the failing saint never ceases. Believers fail because they grieve the Spirit inwardly, and then comes walking in the flesh instead of in the Spirit. The promise is "walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh; " but "grieve not that Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption," goes deeper, and touches the spring in the heart that leads to walk.
Q.—Is a quickened soul born again? and has that soul eternal life, though perhaps no peace?
ANS.-Every quickened soul is born again, and to be born again, is eternal lire. "You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses,"(Eph. 2:1.) and "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." (1st John 5:1,) and "this is life eternal to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." (John 16:3.) Life comes from believing in the person of the Son of God, and the first effect of life is trouble in the conscience about sins; then peace comes through seeing the finished work of Christ on the cross; " He has made peace by the blood of His cross." A dead soul wants a living Christ to quicken him; an anxious soul wants a dead Christ in order to peace.
Q.—Is it not always through the word of God souls are quickened?
ANS.-The word of God in the power of the Spirit is the agent that quickens in all cases. Souls are " born of water, (i,e. the word, see Eph. 5:26,) and of the spirit."
(John 3:5.) Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth," (James 1:18,) " being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God."(Pet, 1:23.)
Q.—The preaching of the Gospel, is it preaching peace? or is it preaching forgiveness and righteousness?
ANS.-There is no such things in scripture as preaching life. Christ is preached, and this produces life, where Ile is believed on. Salvation and forgiveness of sins are the prominent things set before the soul in the preaching of the Gospel. In Mark, it it salvation, "he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. In Luke, it is forgiveness of sins, this latter being connected with repentance, as part of that which is to be preached,-" that repentance and remissions should be preached in His name among all nations." In the Acts, where the practical work of the Holy Spirit in dealing with souls by the Gospel, comes before us, it begins with repentance and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 2. 3.) Then we have salvation,-" none other name given among men whereby they must be saved." (Acts 4:12.) Jesus " exalted to be a Prince and Savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins " is Peter's theme in Acts 5:31. To the Gentiles, in Acts 10, he speaks of God "preaching peace by Jesus Christ," and "that to Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive the forgiveness of sins." Paul presents the Gospel very simply and fully to the Jews in Acts 13:38,40, putting before them forgiveness of sins and justification as the immediate effect of believing on the man Christ Jesus, whom God had raised from the dead to be His "Salvation to the ends of the earth." From these scriptures, and others might be adduced, it seems clear, that to preach forgiveness of sins and justification, with salvation, in the name of Jesus, is specially the Evangelist's work.
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-Do Christians appear before the judgment of Christ, to have their sentence given, and receive a reward according to the deeds done in the body, or do they enter into glory, having already in this life appeared before the judgment seat of Christ and received pardon, sins having gone before hand to judgment, so that they know what their sentence is before death?
ANS.-The judgment seat of Christ, for the believer, raises no question of a judicial sentence. He is manifested at the judgment seat, not to be judged, but to he rewarded according to what he has done in the body, whether good or bad. What has been the fruit of the Spirit in him will get rewarded; what has been the work of the flesh, his conscience will then recognize according to Christ's estimate, as good for nothing, and he will suffer loss, as a question of reward. He will then, too, see, as to all that has been of evil in the body, how fully Christ, by His work on the cross, has settled the whole matter according to the judgment of God against sin. The believer appears at the judgment seat as a justified person. He knows his sentence judicially now, as having received from the lips of Christ, who is the judge, the forgiveness of sins, and with this, the promise that he shall not come into judgment. John 5:24. The word translated in our version condemnation should be judgment; it is the same word in the original as in verse 30. " Being justified by faith we have peace with God," says the apostle in Rom. 5 There could not be peace with God now, if there were uncertainty as to our judicial sentence.
Q.-Has Satan the same power over the bodies of men now that he had in Christ's day? As he has' the power of death, it is claimed that he is the originator of all our sickness and weakness of body. Do you think people are now " possessed with the devil," as they were in Christ's day? For instance, is epilepsy one of his forms of possession?
ANS.-There is nothing in scripture to lead us to think that there is any limitation in the power of Satan over the bodies of men, different to what he had in Job's case, or in the time of our Lord's earthly ministry. He holds this power entirely subject to Christ, who uses him instrumentally for chastisement in love to His own, or in judgment upon the unconverted. We believe persons are still often " possessed with the devil " as they were in Christ's day, though the outward evidence may be different, taking more a mental form in religious and spiritual delusions. Many spiritualists are undoubtedly so possessed.
Epilepsy is a disease of the nervous system, and not a spiritual possession. A demoniacal possession might accompany such a disease, but this would be distinct from the disease itself.
Q.-Please explain the meaning of the passage in 1st Tim. 5th Chapter 11 and 12 verses. What does "having cast off their first faith," mean?
ANS.-The apostle is here giving directions as to those widows who were not to be supported by the church, or " put upon the free list." The young widows, in whom the pulse of life still ran strong, would be apt to tire of being thus set apart for Christ, and desiring to marry again, while being under prohibition to do so, because supported by the church as widows, they would dislike the restraint of Christ's will in the matter, and feeling rebellious at it, be guilty, as those who had gone back in faith from the ground (" their first faith,") of devotion to Christ, in virtue of which they had been put upon the list to remain as widows. Their hearts unkept by Christ, the activities of an unsubdued nature would find vent in going about gossiping from house to house, thus causing sorrow and shame in the church. The younger widows were therefore to marry, and in the healthful and rightful cares of domestic life, find that path and that occupation which would give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Q.-What is the meaning of the 44th verse of the xxi. chapter of Matthew?
ANS.-The Lord is here addressing the Pharisees, who as representing the nation of Israel, were glen rejecting Him; they were falling on Him,-stumbling over Him, as the head-stone of the corner, they would be broken by it, -it would be their ruin, as it then was nationally. In a future day, when restored to their land, still in rebellion and unbelief, many of them, as to Christ being the Messiah, this stone would fall upon them, and would grind those upon whom it fell to powder. A judgment complete and final for those of the nation still rebellious in "the last day," when Christ comes again.
Answers to Correspondents
Q -When does the Lord Jesus take the place of intercessor for His people, and when the place of Advocate, and what is the difference between intercession and advocacy?
A.-As to time, the Lord Jesus took the place of intercessor for His people, immediately upon His ascension to the right hand of God, and His first act as Intercessor, in this new place, was to ask for the Spirit for His people, in fulfillment of the promise in John 14:16. Intercession raises no question of sin or failure, but looks to the wants and weaknesses of saints in their passage through the wilderness as opposed by the power of Satan. It is as beyond condemnation, and made free from the law of sin and death by the law of the stunt of life in Christ Jesus, according to the sovereign election of God, that Christ as Intercessor is set before us in the 8th of Romans. God being for us according to the counsels of His own will; "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Intercession connects itself with what God is for us aside from any question of responsibility in us. It is sovereign grace, and hence no question of government.
Christ became the Advocate of His people as soon as their sinning made His grace needful in that character. Supposing the church had, by faith walked in the power of the 8th of Romans, and as maintained there through Christ's intercession, had never sinned, an advocate would never have been required. " If any man sin," says John, " we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Sinning is looked at as an exceptional position for a saint to be in. A saint always requires Christ intercession, he should never require His advocacy. If he does sin, blessed be God, he has one, but this precious grace surely affords no ground for going on sinning,. "for these things," says the same apostle, "I write unto you that ye sin not." Advocacy connects itself with our responsibility, and thus with God's government as a Father; involves discipline, and not communion. In short, intercession looks to our being maintained above failure, in the enjoyment of divine grace; while advocacy looks to our restoration to that enjoyment, when, through failure, we have lost it. It is a blessed thought to carry in the heart, not only that as sinners Christ has died upon the cross for us, and thus set us beyond the possibility of condemnation, but that directly as saints, or more scripturally as men, we sin, Christ advocates for us, and thus restoration is as surely secured by advocacy, as salvation is already accomplished by the cross.
Q.-What is the meaning of Rom. 7:9, " For I was alive without law once; but when the commandment. came sin revived, and I died?"
A.-We must remember that the apostle is speaking-here of sin, not sins. The conscience of an unconverted person recognizes sins, but as alive in Adam, is unawakened as to sin. The law comes in power spiritually and forbids lust, and the quickened soul at once recognizes sin, as a living thing, and the condemnation that the law pronounces on it comes upon the conscience, and in conscience the person dies. It is when the law thus deals with the nature, calling it into conscious activity in the heart, and then condemns it in the conscience, that the true power of what it is to be under law is felt.
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-" Did Christ die to save all mankind, and predicate their salvation individually on their repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ?"
A.-The testimony of Scripture is very plain on this point. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." The love of God, and the cross which is the proof of this love, looks towards the whole world, and all being sinners, excludes none- from the benefits it offers. This is God's side, so to speak. Man's side comes in on the ground of his responsibility to acknowledge his need and believe in what the love of God sets before him as the means of his salvation. Nothing can be simpler than the way in which these two points are put together in the commission to preach the gospel, in Mark. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." This is God's side, and then we have man's side put thus, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." But perhaps the most direct statement as to these points is in 1st Tim. II. The desire of God for the salvation of all men, and the aspect of the cross of Christ with reference to all men, could riot in words be more directly stated, " who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for ail, to be testified in due time." Then salvation comes individually through faith in the testimony rendered. " We are saved by faith." A great many other scriptures might be brought forward in support of these two truths, but these will suffice for any mind willing to be subject to the word of God.
Q.-" Is the heart of men so good that he can of himself exercise that repentance which is unto life, and that faith which brings the pardon of sins and a standing before God in holiness and righteousness?"
A.-God's word says that the heart of man " is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." This does not mean the heart of some men, but of all men, as speaking of the race. The Lord says, " There is none good but God," and that " it is the Spirit that quickened'; the flesh profiteth nothing." The nature of man in the flesh has nothing in it for God. This is what the Lord means to teach, and that it is alone by the direct action of the Spirit, as using His word, that the slightest movement of the soul towards God is produced. Faith, too, is the gift of God to a quickened soul, and repentance is the fruit of faith. A dead sinner has no faith, and cannot of himself repent, and though " repentance and remission of sins" is to be preached in Christ's name, still we read in Acts 5 that He is exalted as a Prince and a Savior, " to give repentance" as much as to give "forgiveness of sins." Grace alone produces anything in the heart of man for God. Without the grace that quickens, and bestows faith, man is simply "dead in trespasses and sins."
Q.-"Can any be saved by a conditional salvation? We are taught generally that if one works hard enough he will get salvation, and when he has attained it, he has to work hard to keep it, is this so?"
A.-Salvation is the pure grace of God to man, and has no condition attached save faith. It is "to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness." Man's salvation in no way depends upon himself; whether before or after conversion. As a question of man, and what he can see, who can't see faith, James asks the question, "Can faith save him?" But this plainly is no question of anything God-ward. " Show me," he says, "thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works." For men to see we are saved we must show them our works, with God all is faith, as simply resting on His word for everything. The Lord says, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." All here depends on what Christ does. He has given His sheep eternal life, and wrought the work that saves them. He says " they shall never perish." If Christ were to let go His sheep all were over, but He says, "none shall pluck them out of My hand." Hence we no more keep ourselves afterward, than we save ourselves at the beginning.
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-What is the meaning of that verse in the 12. of Matthew, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory?"
A.-This verse is often used as expressive of God's tenderness and consideration to a weak believer. No doubt God is tender and considerate towards His feeble children, beyond expression, but this verse conveys no such teaching. It is quoted as marking Christ's character, and mode of dealing, with that which opposes Him, during the present day of grace. The weakest things, which a broken reed and smoking flax symbolize, He will not deal with in destructive energy till the time of judgment. Then, coming in power and glory, He will sweep everything before Him in victorious and righteous power. It is a prophecy therefore concerning Christ, and can't be properly used to express God's tenderness to weak faith, for, blessed be God, that never ceases, whereas the teaching in the passage is, that this present mode of dealing with weak, but evil things, will cease, and end in their complete judgment.
Q.-What is the meaning of reckoning ourselves "dead indeed unto to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord?"
A.-The Apostle in the 6th of Romans, from which this verse is quoted, is showing how the believer is set free from the evil nature he has from Adam, and lives to God in a new nature that he has from Christ. In figure, in baptism, the believer participates in the death and resurrection of Christ, and this being his actual and abiding standing before God, he has, by faith, to practically reckon himself dead to sin in the death of Christ, and alive to God in the life of Christ., Q.-In what way is faith looked upon as a gift in 1 Cor. 12:9?
A.-The faith spoken of here is not the faith which, through grace, all believers' hive equally, and in virtue of which they are saved and justified, but is a distinct, and superadded thing that distinguishes the one that has it from other believers. It is faith in power for overcoming difficulties, and for special service.
Q.-Why does the Lord draw the distinction between life, and life " more abundantly " in John 10:10?
A.-All the saints before the coming of Christ had divine life, but by His coming, in virtue of His death and resurrection for His sheep, they would have life more abundantly, as having it in resurrection with Himself.
Q.-What is the meaning of Christ being a propitiation for " the sins of the whole world" 2 John 2:2?
A.-The translators by putting in " the sins," words not in the original, and as their being in italics indicates, have given room for a very false application of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus. If Christ had been a propitiation for " the sins of the whole world," all the world would necessarily be saved. Christ has only been a propitiation for the sins of those that believe on Him. He has met substitutionally all their personal responsibilities in respect of sins. The teaching of the passage is, that the work of Christ, as a propitiation, did not limit itself to Israel, as the nation that God acknowledged in a special way, but looked towards the whole world, and was available for all that looked to God through that sacrifice, without any question of their being either Jews or Gentiles.
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-What does our Lord mean in John 17:19: " And for their sakes I sanctify myself." Surely He was holy?
A.-Sanctify here has, of course, no reference to our blessed Lord becoming personally more holy, or more acceptable to God, but to the position which, for us, Re would occupy in glory. It is not here His work for us on the cross by which, according to Heb. 10:10, we are already sanctified, but His position in glory, as taken for us, the revelation of which to our souls by the word sanctifies us, and sets us apart from earthly things for God's glory, according to the heavenly place that Christ now occupies.
Many persons rejoice in the work of Christ on the cross for them, and know that by that work they are fitted for God's presence, but not having apprehended the place in glory that Christ occupies for them, they, though having peace with God, are earthly minded, and do not see separation from " this present evil world." Occupation of heart with Christ in glory at God's right hand takes the heart off; the earth, and outside the world, and we thus become "sanctified by the truth." It is this blessed effect of the glory of Christ that we have set before us in 2 Cor. 3:18, " We all with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Q.-In Gen. 17:8, we read that Abraham's seed should have the land of Canaan -for an everlasting possession, and in Rev. 21:1, we read of a new heaven and a new earth for the first' heaven and the first earth were passed away. How can these two statements be reconciled?
A.-The force of the word everlasting is always supplied to the mind by the connection in which it is used. In itself the word signifies continuance and uninterruptedness, but its force is modified according as it is used abstractedly, or in connection with some definite idea by which its particular import is supplied to the mind. Thus in the case of the promise to Abraham in the place referred to, " the everlasting possession " would involve the uninterrupted possession of the land of Canaan by his seed as long as the earth continued in the condition to which such a promise would apply, and thus the force of this word everlasting in this instance would fall within the scope of another promise of God made to Noah in the end of Gen. 8, " While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Then in the next chapter we read, " And the bow shall be in the cloud: and I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." As long then as the earth, as it now is, continues " every living creature of all flesh" will be under this " everlasting covenant " of God, and the seed of Abraham will have " the everlasting possession "
of the land promised to them. In the new heavens and new earth it will be no question of " all flesh," or of a special nation enjoying special blessings, but all such conditions and distinctions will have disappeared, and a totally new order of creation have come in, which will be the eternal state abstractedly, a condition of uninterrupted blessedness totally independent of the previous dealings of God with men, and with nothing in the future to bound the thought supplied by the word " everlasting."
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-What is the teaching of John 1:11,12, "He came unto His own, &c."
A.-We have here the rejection of Christ by the Jews, who in a special sense were His own. The world was made by Him, but men, held in moral darkness by the power of Satan, did not know God when present in their midst in love. With the Jews it was snore than this, they would not have their own Jehovah come as their Messiah. Still there were some that did receive Him, and to those who did receive Him, He gave authority to become sons of God. There was no moral capability in the Jews to receive Christ any more than in the Gentiles. The v, ill of man, whether in men generally, or in the Jews specially, would not have God" come in the flesh." By any on the footing of nature Christ is simply rejected, and if any do receive Him, and thus become children of God, it is because a work of grace has already gone on in their souls. This is what is stated in the succeeding verse, very clearly, " They were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," and therefore they received Him. It is so still. Christ being believed on by any proves the existence of a sovereign work of God already in the soul. Receiving Christ, persons consciously enter upon the knowledge of their relation to God as children. They have the authority from Christ to take and enjoy that place.
Q.-Under what form did Satan present himself when tempting Christ? Some say it was only conscience in Christ Himself?
A.-We are told nothing as to the form under which Satan presented himself when tempting the Lord. Satan is a spirit, and Christ felt and recognized his personal presence as a spirit. Distinctly recognized him as a person outside himself. He heard what he had to say, and answered him by word of mouth with scripture, "It is written," thrice over. We are not called upon to say how Satan, as a spirit, could communicate with Christ as man. All we know is, that he did. To make it conscience in Christ is blasphemy, and gives Christ a bad nature, making the temptation to be from within, from Himself through lust. We are tempted in this way, according to James 1:14, because we have a bad nature. Christ never was tempted " in this way. His temptations were always from Satan as a person outside Himself. Of course Christians are tempted in this way too, and in this kind of temptation they have the sympathy of Christ as taught us in Heb. 4:15.
Q.-" How do you reconcile Deut. 21:10- 15, with 7:3 and 4. They seem to be in direct opposition to each other?"
A.-The prohibition as to marriage between Israelites and other nations in Deut. 7, confines itself to the seven nations occupying the land of Canaan proper. The permission to marry a captive woman from a conquered nation given in Deut. 21, refers to nations other than those specially named in Deut. 7 The former were "far off" from the land, and did not occupy the country given to Israel for an inheritance. The different way in which the inhabitants of the one were to be treated, in contrast with those of the other, is clearly stated in Dent. 20:10-18. A little attention to the context of seemingly opposed passages in God's word, would save much misunderstanding.
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-What is the meaning of led " captivity-captive" in Eph. 1:8, and where did Jesus go while this body was in the grave, and for what," purpose did He go to these lower parts of the earth?
Ans.—Christ by his work upon the Cross has completely annulled Satan's power over man, and taken him captive who held man in captivity, and thus, as to those who are His, He has set them free from Satan's dominion and received gifts for them, thus delivered, by which they become the means of delivering others- In dying, Jesus commended His soul to His Father and went to Paradise, or the third heaven, of which Paul speaks in 2 Cor. 2, and thither he was shortly followed by the thief. Christ is now,in the Paradise, of God in His glorified body, and the souls of saints are with Him there. The lower parts of the earth simply means the grave. Before ascending on high Christ descended into the darkness of the grave and death, and His purpose hi going there was to deliver man from that state, of which till then Satan had the power.
Q.-Do you think the passage in James 5, as to the healing of sick, is still in force?
Ans.—As far as " the prayer of faith " is concerned we believe fully, and doubt not that God does still answer such prayer in healing without means the sick. We have known very marked instances ourselves of this. The directions given the 14th verse are not now practicable, for the simplest of all reasons; " elders of the church" can't be found. The Church here signifies the one assembly of all believers in any given locality, and the divinely appointed elders in such church or assembly. The man-made eiders of some particular religious body, called a church, in any place are not this. The Church is in ruins, through man's unfaithfulness, and elders, in the true, Scriptural sense, are not to be found! We stand in doubt of much that has gone on in Germany under the name of healing the sick by anointing with oil and prayer over them, nut that we doubt, as we have said, the efficacy of prayer in the case of the sick. "The prayer of faith" God always hears and answers.
Q.-What is the meaning of Rom. 3:30?
Ames.--That which the Apostle means to teach here is that God is not limited in His dealings in grace to Jews, and that justification being solely on the principle of faith, whether it was a Jew or a Gentile that was in question, they were equally justified on this principle of faith. There is a shade of difference supplied in the " by " and the " through." One being the principle, and the other the ground. The Jew was to be justified on the principle of faith, and the Gentile, looked as having faith in the case supposed, was justified because of his faith, justification being on that principle.
Q.-What is the meaning of "Now the Lord is that Spirit," in 2 Cor. 3
Ans.—At present the vail is on the heart of the Jews, but in a future day they will turn to the Lord, and the vail being taken away, they will see that Jesus Christ is the Lord, this will be when Christ is manifested in the millennium; but now Christ is not manifested, He is known Spirit, as revealed by the Holy Ghost to faith. The vail is done away in Christ now, for faith, so that those who see Him see the Lord, i. e., Jehovah, and have His glory. revealed to them by the Spirit. Jehovah is the Spirit, and the Spirit is Jehovah. Christ is Jehovah, or the Lord, and thus in the divine unity " the Lord is that Spirit." You can't separate Christ from the Spirit. In seeing one you see the other. It is the mystery of the God-head, and is similar to the truth of the presence of the Father in the Son when on earth. " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," Christ says. Here it is the oneness of Christ with the Spirit, there it was of Christ with the Father.
Q.-Does the first resurrection include those saints that will be slain after the Church has gone to be with Christ? Is there any interval between the first resurrection and the judgment of the world at the coming of Christ; and is Satan cast down from heaven directly the Church is taken up?
Ans.—The first resurrection certainly includes those slain after the Church has gone. " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection," though of course true of all saints, is spoken with special reference to those who have been thus slain. The first resurrection concludes, so to speak, with these; -see Rev. 20;4:5, G. It is the character of the resurrection that is here in question.. There would seem to be an interval of time between the conclusion of the first resurrection and the judgment of the world. An interval during which the marriage of the Lamb takes place, at which such saints, though not in the Bride, will be present as sharing in their Lord's joys, as subsequently they will do in His royal power. I gather from Rev. 12, that it is consequent upon the Church's rapture, as included in that of the man child, that the casting down of Satan takes place, and it would seem to be at once.
Answers to Correspondents
Q.-What is the distinction, in application, between "mortify," Col. 3:5, and " put off," vs. 8.? Does the former apply to the inherent character of the flesh, and the later to its work?
A.-The christian being dead as to the life of the first Adam he has to " mortify," i. e. pract cally to put to death, the members of the old man, so that according to that life they do not act. This refers to gross and positive sins, as flowing from the lust of the flesh it's works we may say, " Put off," has more reference to the lust itself,-the inside workings of an unbroken will and evil heart, every movement of which is to be disallowed inwardly.
Q.-What is the old corn of the land?
A.-The old corn of the land is the glorified Christ, upon which the soul feeds in heavenly places, and by which it is nourished for conflict with Satan, and for running the christian race. It is the old corn of the land in Phil. 3., just as it is the manna,, or humbled Christ, the food for the wilderness journey, in Phil. 2.
Q.-What is the meaning of John's Baptism; and why was our Lord baptized by him?
A.-,-John's baptism was the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as looking to the coming of Christ as the Messiah. See Acts 19:3 and 4. It had its exclusive application to the Jews, who were baptized in the acknowledgment of a broken law, and hope in the coming of their promised Messiah. It is totally different from christian baptism, and therefore went for nothing, and those who had been so baptized, were baptized again, as taking them off Jewish ground to Christian Our Lord was baptized as fulfilling righteousness. As a godly Jew He did what was right according to Jehovah's will for the ' nation at that time. By this act too He associated Himself with the first right step of the godly Remnant, and took His place before God in connection with them according to Psa. 16
Q.-Was our Lord a priest when on earth?
A -When on earth the Lord Jesus was "That prophet" spoken of in Deut. 18:18. His priesthood began upon His ascension to the right hand of God. Compare Psa. 100 and Heb. 6 and VII., and see Heb. 8:4.