1. Death, powerless to the Lord because it was revealed in scripture as His appointed passage into conferred blessing. (Acts 2: 23.)
2. His death and rejection the measure of Israel's sin. (Acts 3: 14, 15.)
3. Victory through the Lord, in resurrection over death, the preaching of the apostles, and that which offended the religionists of that day. (Acts 4: 2.)
4. His death and rejection laid home as the sin of the ecclesiastical rulers. (Acts 4: 10, 11.)
5. And so, to the apostles, that, which neutralised the commandments of the priests and rulers. (Acts 5: 29.)
6. Testified of by Stephen as the expression and climax of the nation Israel's ways before God. (Acts 7: 52.)
7. The special way of blessing to any beyond Israel. (Acts 8: 32.)
8. As connected with remission of sins to them that believe, and the office of Judge of quick and dead, the testimony which let. in the Gentiles by Peter. (Acts 10: 38.)
9. His death and resurrection to Israelites out of the land, and to Gentiles, the basis of fuller and more gracious testimony than to Jews in Jerusalem, compare Acts 17: 3. (Acts 13: 28, 34, 38.)
10. The resurrection of the Lord out of death, the proof of His being Judge of the world, and, therefore, the subject of derision to those wise in their own conceits. Acts 17: 31, 32.
11. The death of the Lord reckoned among men as His end, and the assertion of the resurrection by the apostles attributed to madness, and the whole considered a question subject to intellect. (Acts 25: 19.)
12. Testimony thereunto the sure place for the presence and power of the Spirit and of boldness. (Acts 26: 23.)
13. Victory over death the proof of Jesus being the Son of God, upon which all the church's blessing hangs. (Rom. 1: 4.)
14. And the pattern to which in principle every saint is conformed. (Rom. 4: 23.)
15. The death of Christ God's mode of commending His love toward us. In all our weakness, ungodliness, hostile character and sinfulness, God gave His Son to die for us, and thus are we reconciled. (Rom. 5: 6, 8.)
16. The Lord's death, that through which the saint is free from sin, grace counting us one with Him in it by the Spirit. (Rom. 6: 2-13.)
17. The Lord's death, in like manner, our exemption from the power and claim of the law. (Rom. 7: 4.)
18. The Lord's triumph through God over death, the pledge of the perfection of quickening power to them that have the Spirit. (Rom. 8: 11.)
19. His death the clearing from all condemnation, as the resurrection is the proof thereof. (Rom. 8: 34.)
20. Therein as the expression of God's grace is the contrast of the law, which was God's search into what was in man. (Rom. 10: 6-9.)
21. Christ's object herein the basis of the disciples' general conduct. (Rom. 14: 8.)
22. And His constraint in brotherly love. (Rom. 14: 15.)
1. "Him . . . . ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For DAVID speaketh concerning him," etc. (Acts 2: 23-25.) To the sin of Israel's cruel rejection of the Lord is here contrasted God's action toward Him so rejected. They slew Him, God raised Him: and then the cause of this, in the Lord's high personal glory. He loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that He should be holden of it. For David speaketh, etc. The hindrance to death's power, as here assigned, is not the innate power of the Lord, as we have it in Romans 1, declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, but the personal glory and dignity ascribed to Him by the counsel of God as the one witnessed of by the Spirit in David; and not in David only, but in all the scriptures. There is no truth more manifest to the spiritual mind, or more important to the student of scripture than this, that Jesus is the sum and substance of the Spirit's testimony in scripture. His name the clue and thread to what (if this is not seen) are to our poor foolish minds the mazes and obscurities of scripture. Reader, when you study scripture what do you look for in it? Testimony to Jesus, or something about yourself? If the latter, the book will be a dark book to you, for the saint's portion all flows through Jesus; no scripture touches the saint save immediately through Jesus, and if you will thrust self forward to see how much can be forced to apply to it, so losing sight of Jesus as the centre of it all, you will find a poor -- poor portion.
What I learn here is, death powerless to the Lord, because represented in scripture as His appointed passage into conferred blessing. May we adore the grace which in God counselled, and which in Christ undertook, and which in the Spirit revealed, such a path for Him to obtain a glory He could share with us.
2. "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses." (Acts 3: 14, 15.) The sin of the nation Israel seems strikingly measured in this context. Israel's God, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of their fathers, had sent His Son Jesus Christ among them; they had betrayed Him, and denied Him, and prevented Pilate's desire to free Him. This one, whom they had denied, was the Holy One and the Just, though they had preferred a murderer to Him; and He was also the Prince of life, though they had killed Him. Everything which ought to have bound Israel broken and despised, and everything which could magnify their rejection of Him found in the act. And yet, as we see in the whole context, this very sin of theirs, this very slaying of the Prince of life, was but the occasion of fresh grace. As the rock, when smitten, poured forth its needed and refreshing streams in the wilderness, so here this murdered Prince of life is presented as the One through whom there were not only gifts of healing, but the present proffer to Israel of all those things of which God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Who can see the lingering of the heart of this Prince of life, who, though rejected by Israel, still sent the first testimony of His most highly honoured servants to it with such proffers, and not be bowed down with the fulness of His grace and goodness? without seeing, indeed, that He was and is full of grace and truth?
3. "Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." (Acts 4: 2.) This chapter records the first movement of the ecclesiastical rulers against the truth after the resurrection. It says they were Sadducees: this, in measure, accounts for their hatred to the resurrection, but not entirely; for the doctrine here taught as the resurrection from the dead was not merely the general resurrection which their antagonist party the Pharisees held -- which would have been rather the resurrection of the dead. This latter was simply that there would be a resurrection of the dead, that is, of all men, but the former was a much more specific and blessed thing, even that there was through Jesus a resurrection from among the dead -- that is, the first resurrection. So that I conceive it was not the mere bruit ['report'] of the resurrection which these Sadducees feared might strengthen and be upheld by the faction to which they were opposed, but in addition thereto, the presenting so alluring and winning a hope before the people, one too so full of grace and blessedness as that God would grant to those that followed the banner of Christ here below to arise first, (1 Thess.) of which the resurrection of the Lord Himself was a sort of pledge and type. And this surely it is which is of such power to the saint when known, and which is so little known in our own day among the saints. How few comparatively even know or are established in the truth of the first resurrection. Reader, art thou? If not, surely thou hast overlooked one of the richest fruits of Jesus' resurrection and of God's grace, and hast one thick fold of the veil of nature's darkness still over thy mind.* And if this were more clearly preached, would not both the manifest tendency of it and the practical results in them that believe lead to more persecution? Nothing but this hope will give victory over the world, because nothing but it enables the Christian to see the worthlessness of the world.
*There are two little tracts connected with this subject -- "Resurrection, not Death, the Hope of the Believer," and "The First Resurrection."
4. "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him doth this man stand here before you whole." (Acts 4: 10.) In Acts 2 we had Peter's testimony to the death and resurrection of Jesus as the only way of salvation for the remnant. In Acts 3 the same is again brought forward, as the only way by which the covenanted blessings of the nation can reach them; and in this fourth chapter, when brought up before the ecclesiastical rulers, their testimony is the same, presenting the miracle of the healed body of him that was lame, as the testimony of the grace of Him whom these builders in their folly had rejected. "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
How different was testimony in the apostles' day from what men count preaching now-a-days! They were content to make the simple statement of the few facts connected with the Lord, and to reiterate them in all simplicity of speech, leaving the matter then in the hand of the Spirit. The power was His, and if He gave witness with the word it was enough to quicken any soul, and in itself enough to draw forth the enmity of the heart of man where not bowed down by grace. Now the stores of intellect must be searched to deck and dress the truth, to commend it, if possible, to the flesh, and at all events to present something with it which the flesh can value and appreciate, so as to pardon in some measure the feeble covered statement of truth. It is singular that when the apostles, in the full power of the Spirit, should have thought the naked truth, pure and by itself, the best, men, at the close of the dispensation, should have discovered that there is danger in administering it without some medium of fleshly talent or wisdom.
5. "We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." (Acts 5: 29-32.)
How simple and yet how beautiful is the spirit and conduct of the disciple as here exhibited in the apostles! They exhibit no self-will, they plead no liberty of their own to do as they like, they murmur not against the injustice exercised upon them; but they simply take their stand as in their known recognised responsibility to God. God was in all their thoughts; and the single eye toward Him could see no intricacy, no difficulty as to their conduct or course here below. In the first place, it could see this truth, and to the creature it is a universal truth -- "We ought to obey God rather than men." And how does this simplicity of subjection to God always clear the path for him that walks in it! See it here. The eye which has just, in grateful dependence, looked up to God as its only guide and centre, next turns on these ecclesiastical rulers, and, gazing upon them in the light of God, and notwithstanding all the paraphernalia of priestly array, and the manifestation of power and rule, what does it read? -- "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree." Thus it detects, first their opposition to God in His works and ways -- to the God of the fathers of the nation and to Jesus the Lord; then the character of the opposition, murderers and manslayers; and then the continued contrariety of their present conduct to the grace presented. "Him hath God exalted . . . . to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness." These things alone would have sufficed to have shown to the eagle eye of faith, that the rulers' command, however apparently accredited, was powerless: but much more so, when this same single eye passes onward to measure and estimate the position and standing of themselves, the apostles. "And we are his witnesses . . . . and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." Such passages surely are very precious, as showing the quick scent and keen eye of the fear of the Lord, and so presenting one of the great provisions God, has made for the protection of those that are His. A provision, however, powerless, save when we really walk near to Him.
6. "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers." (Acts 7: 52.)
The death of Jesus, though the climax of Israel's sin, was not in character a new sin with them. The report of His coming had been enough, in times that were passed, to make that nation abhor and murder all the prophets sent to them. What an enmity this bespeaks! not only that when He appeared they should murder Him, but such inveterate rancour, that even, ere they saw Him, any one that prophesied of His coming was put to death! This their blood-thirsty subjection to him who had been a murderer from the beginning, is here charged home by Stephen upon the council as having been exhibited against the Lord, and as the nation's crowning sin. And him they murdered -- the first martyr in the church. It may be well for us to remember that in Israel God was making trial of human nature as such -- and therefore in their conduct we see what Gentiles would have done, had opportunity been given to them: for the trial in Israel was, as we have said, of human nature [our nature], as such.
7. "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter: and like a lamb dumb before her shearer, so opened be not his mouth." (Acts 8: 32.)
At every turn, under all circumstances of testimony, how does the humiliation of the Lord unto death stand prominently forward. In the case before us, the eunuch was reading Esaias when Philip was bidden to go and join himself to the chariot. In considering the last quotation we saw how the murderous spirit, which issued in the betrayal and murder of the Lord was the permanent trait in Israel's character, and if so of human nature. Here, on the contrary, the universal applicability of that death as a cure begins to open upon us. In itself the ground of Israel's rejection in nature, it was yet, through grace, the open door for the Lord to deal in grace with Israel. But grace was beyond promise, higher up, as it were, nearer the fountain-head, and as open to Gentiles in itself as to the Jews. The promises and covenants, they were Israel's; but grace, which alone secured them through the death of Jesus, knew no such restraints; and in this very context we get it, as it were, travelling in the gladdened heart of the eunuch into the far country of the Ethiopians, so bringing before us the first thoughts of that wider range, apart from Jerusalem, which grace was about to take. In the record of the preaching to the Samaritans, the fact of the preaching is merely stated, none of the particulars of it; but both here and in the next citation, where the circle of testimony is widening, the humiliation of the Lord unto death is distinctly mentioned. I think this observable: for the mercy to the Samaritans was in their being noticed at all by the Spirit; and as we see, from our Lord's conduct with the woman of Samaria, they were not reckoned as being altogether and entirely upon different ground to that on which Israel in His day stood: but to the Gentiles, as such, He had nothing to say until rejected unto death by Israel, whereby He gained in resurrection the place of blessing. whom He would.
8. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him . . . . whom they [the Jews] slew and hanged on a tree: him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly: not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." (Acts 10: 38-43.)
Such was, in part, the testimony of Peter to Cornelius and the Gentiles when first, through the grace of God, he went to open their way into the kingdom. It is remarkable, that the office of the Lord, consequent upon death and resurrection, of being the appointed Judge of all men, is mentioned first by Peter here, and secondly by Paul at Athens -- that is, in both cases when bearing testimony to the Gentiles. I think it important as showing how God's Spirit in testimony would ever act, upon the recognisable responsibility of those to whom He speaks. With the Jew there were other and greater, and nearer glories in the Messiah, the responsibilities of which they had neglected and despised, which therefore were taken up. With the Gentiles, no such deposit as the law or the oracles of God rested, and therefore we find, in the first chapter of Romans, creation and its testimony: here the office of Judge of quick and dead, together with the power of pardon in the Lord's name when received, and in Acts 17 creation, God's display of providence, combined with this same office of judge, pressed upon the attention of the Gentiles. it is of interest, as showing how God, while never leaving His own principles of judgment, does not arraign man upon them abstractedly, but brings them all to bear upon man's own mind and conscience, arguing each case as it were in the arena of man's own mind, so as to leave all, upon their own principles, without excuse. From the context before us it appears that Peter knew that Cornelius and they that were with him had heard of the life of Jesus, through whom God sent preaching peace. His death is presented as Israel's sin, and the contrast of God's estimate of Him raising Him from the dead and setting Him as Judge of all, yet as now speaking peace and forgiveness to them that received Him. It is a solemn thought, reader! that there is a judgment to come, and oh! how blessed a one, that He that is the ordained Judge is He through whose name is now preached remission of sins to all that believe, while surely the same is a most solemn and fearful thought to them. that believe not, that they will meet in the person of the Judge the very one whose grace and truth they have despised and rejected.
9. "They that dwelt in Jerusalem . . . . though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain." (Acts 18: 28.) "But God raised him from the dead." (Ver. 30.) "And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David." (Ver. 34.) "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness 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." (Vers. 38, 39.)
In this context, we get the testimony, in part, of Paul; when sent forth with Barnabas, by the Holy Ghost, from Antioch for the preaching of the gospel, he was testifying, before the Jews of the dispersion, in Antioch in Pisidia. What heart-felt pity and unbounding grace, does this looking after Israel on the part of our God bespeak! Jerusalem had killed all the prophets; yet the Son would come to them if haply they might repent. Him they crucified, yet His pity and love they could not quench. Risen from the grave He sought no revenge upon His enemies, but in grace caused the word of the value of faith in His name to flow abroad "beginning at Jerusalem." Three times rejected in His witnesses, and so driven as it were out of the city, His eye is still in pity upon His kindred according to the flesh; and His grace allows not even the servant, whom He had formed as the Apostle of the Gentiles, to get his full range or proper sphere of service till Israel will have none of his testimony. The deep, the unwearied character of His love, while any door of hope remains untried is very precious!
It is remarkable, if we compare this scene and the auditory, presenting Jews, out of the land, and Gentiles, to see how much more full the testimony is to the blessedness of the results of the Lord's death and resurrection than where the testimony was given in Jerusalem. The reason is obvious. The evidence and facts of the case are stated, and the sin laid home upon Jerusalem, its inhabitants, and their rulers; but no charge of sin against those present (though all alike before God guilty of the fact) is pressed, but the glad tidings of the fulfilment of the promise made to the fathers announced, even of Jesus risen from the grave. Gladsome news to Israelites, for it was on this wise God said, "I will give you the sure mercies of David" -- though they knew it not, the blood of the covenant opening grace to them and securing every blessing of dominion, righteousness, and power to them -- that blood, I say, flowed in the veins of Jesus while on earth. Gladsome news therefore to them that it had been poured forth and yet Himself risen in the power of an endless life because the Son of God, ready and able to dispense all the blessings which were His own as Son of David! and gladsome news to the poor Gentiles, in whatever way looked at, for when David's Son stands in glory, the distributor of these sure mercies, then shall be brought to pass the saying -- "Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people." And even ere that, to Israelites and Gentiles alike, there is this blessed word: "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness 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."
How completely, how perfectly does this, poor sinner, whoever thou art, meet thy case! the only door of hope, a door into immediate present rest! What words could be stronger than these -- "and by him all that believe ARE justified from all things?" May God grant thee, reader, to know this as true of thyself. If thou believest in Him, "thou art justified from all things." What blessed grace! And if one who has believed in Him, but yet will not admit the value of belief in Him to be so great as this, even complete present justification from all things, if one such reads this, let such attend to the word which follows -- the sure result of unbelief and the tendency of all those doubts which so many, in so ungracious a way, cherish, and God's sentence against them.
"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."
Compare also with this, Acts 17: 3: "Paul . . . . reasoned . . . . opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead."
10. "God . . . . now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter." (Acts 17: 31.)
Such was part of the testimony of Paul, the apostle of the uncircumcision, to the Gentiles at Athens. The reference to the Lord in the character of "the judge" is of interest, as was noticed in connection with Acts 10: 38. There Peter, speaking to the Gentiles in measure acquainted with Jewish worship, presents Him as ordained Judge of quick and dead; here as a "Judge of the world in righteousness." The testimony begins with the declaration of God as Creator of the world and all things in it, and as witnessed thus by all His works as well in the originating of them as in the sustaining of them daily and hourly, and then passes on to the assertion before us.
The character of the Lord's resurrection (as is seen in Rom. 1) declared Him to be the Son of God with power: and to this Son, as we read in John, all judgment was committed. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:* that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." (John 5: 22.) In this way, the resurrection of the Lord becomes a pledge of the coming judgment to all: for His victory over death proved and showed who and what He was, even the eternal Son of the Father, and to Him belongs the judgment to come. How humbling the contrast between the thoughts of God and man! The victory of Jesus over the grave and death, and this victory, the way of all blessing to poor lost man, was God's high wisdom and glory. A full expression of divine wisdom, and power, and grace was in it. The joy of God was in it, even of the Father; and He who was the Son rejoices in it, as meeting His Father's mind, fulfilling His own glory; the happy subject of testimony to the Spirit, the theme, triumph to His saints, and of praise to every power that loved Him. The blessed Spirit found rest and satisfaction there at last in connection with man and with mankind; the church also led by Him was tasting of its sweetness, and the proud persecuting Pharisee had left his all in the sense of the joy of it to go and tell the wondrous tale. But when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. Alas, poor nature! in self-sufficiency ready to laugh at that which God glories in; and even in its better and more decent mood postponing to some more convenient season the troublous matter where alone its peace with God, for time or eternity, could be found. And but for grace so should we have been; but that same distinguishing grace which reaches unto us was present then also, and we read "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed." Blessed God of all grace, how is thine hand ever ready to save!
*I would suggest to those competent to judge, whether the truth I am endeavouring to trace is not built upon other passages rather than upon a literal translation of this text. I am inclined to render instead of "whereof he hath given assurance unto all men," thus, "having afforded proof to all men," in which case the passage would show not the Lord's resurrection to be a proof of His being the judge, which is sure truth however, but another equally sure truth, that the resurrection put Him in a place not peculiar to the Jews exclusively, but, as we shall see shortly, in a position quite above them, though through His grace never forgetful of them; a place moreover whence alone He could reach beyond Israel's coast, or give blessing deeper and more blessed than Israel's portion. It matters not much which way we read it, for both are true. How blessed it is to feel that no truth hangs upon criticism; but that all its parts to a humble Spirit-led saint are broadly stamped upon the very surface of scripture.
11. "But bad certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive." (Acts 25: 19)
In this context Festus is explaining to Agrippa Paul's case; and we get in this, their intercourse, no unfair specimen of the world's estimate of the death and resurrection of the Lord: for what Festus in simplicity felt, they do practically likewise, so many as have not known the quickening power of the Spirit. Festus looked upon the death of the "one Jesus" as the close and end of the matter as to Him; and upon the assertion of Paul about resurrection as something peculiar to himself, and upon the whole matter as involving nice questions, connected with superstition, of which it was very hard to make anything definite, though from circumstances, it might be needful to twist and turn the subject about till something reason could lay hold of could be made of it. I fear greatly that professing Christendom knows the death and resurrection of the Lord much in the same way. Circumstances place the subject before nominal Christians, and their reason runs upon them and converses -- yet always, like Festus, considering their connection with these subjects to be of an official character; they ate born Christians, Christians by country, nationally believers, and so it is unreasonable quite to overlook these subjects -- though they, alas, have conscience enough not to make them, as did Festus, so familiar as to be the topic of interest to any coming visitor. The poor worldling, and the poor (so called) evangelical, seem to me sadly represented by Festus and Agrippa. May our souls humbly adore the grace that has saved us from such hardness and such folly; and has placed us, through grace, with the third party in the scene -- in fellowship with Paul, suffering for Jesus' sake.
12. "I continue . . . . witnessing . . . . that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first to rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles." (Acts 26: 23.)
Called upon by Festus and Agrippa, Paul is here giving his testimony; in doing which he relates his heavenly vision and call to the apostleship, and the result -- that he, having obtained help of God, continued witnessing of that which was the burden of the prophets, and Moses, even "that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles." How clear, how strong, how distinct the disciple's assurance when in testimony; how blessedly contrasted with the worldling in his estimate of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Surely, when we see the power of the Spirit in the apostle, in such positions, we may take courage, for the same Spirit who witnessed in him is ours, and is by very nature above all that can be found in circumstances to oppose him. And it is this which most especially strikes me in this context -- the invincible boldness of Paul, though alone, when testifying to the death and resurrection of the Lord; though Festus might say with a loud voice, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad," . . . or Agrippa but add, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian;" and though there was none to stand by him, on earth, still, the Lord stood by him in power and might, because he stood near the Lord in witnessing to His death and resurrection.
13. "His [God's] Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom. 1: 3, 4.)
The connection of this verse with the substance of the Epistle is very close. The Epistle might be entitled, to distinguish it from the other Epistle, as "a vindication of Christianity," for it not only presents a most comprehensive summary of all the doctrine connected with the dispensation, but also meets and answers all the difficulties which might arise upon the first observation of the entirely new ground taken by the dispensation. The epistle naturally divides itself into parts. The first, contained in Romans 1, 2, 3 to verse 10, shows, the entire fall, bankruptcy, and condemnation of nature. The second (containing Romans 3: 19 to end, and Romans 4, 5) argues the grace of God, through faith, as the mode God had chosen in which to show out His love. Part third (comprised in Romans 6, 7) argues the question of law as bearing upon one so found by faith of grace. Part fourth, Romans 8, the blessing, in all its fulness, into which such an one is brought. Part fifth (that is, Romans 9, 10, and 11), the bearing of this upon dispensation, in which it is shown that the Jewish dispensation passed, though the remnant according to the election in it, stood, and that so this dispensation likewise shall pass, making way for another, though God will not forget His own in it, thus establishing the difference, all important as it is, between God's objects in revealing grace upon earth, for time, and for eternity. He reveals it among men, and in time it proves how irreparable man is -- no dispensation which grace has formed in man's hand has stood or will stand; but though such be in time the issue, in eternity it will be found that they that were in Christ have stood, and are there presented as fruits of its blessing. And then the epistle closes with part fifth, a beautiful outline of the duties of the saved.* To many a high-minded self-sufficient. Gentile, it never may have occurred that there was a difficulty, and that a very great one, likely to occur to any mind, as to God's dealing to all with the Gentiles upon an equal footing with the Jews. Alas, so high-minded are many that they would monopolise the whole interest of the Spirit in scripture to self, and entirely forget, not only God's ancient people, whose are the covenants, but the Lord Himself also, and hardly look at or care for any of His work, save that which bears upon self. Yet to one who knows how the Old Testament prophets are full of the testimony of the earthly glory of Messiah, in connection with the house of Israel and the land, surely the heavenly blessing now thrown open to both Jew and Gentile alike, must be a strange, and a new, and a wondrous thing. The case is argued at length as to dispensation in Romans 9, 10, and 11, but the whole principle of the answer as to God, and Israel, and us, is presented in these short words, "Jesus Christ . . . . made of the seed of David according to the flesh -- and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."
*It has often struck me with admiration, that this epistle should have been addressed to Rome, containing as it does, so full and complete a refutation of all the many errors peculiar to the apostasy of that church. A more striking guard against Romanism, or refutation of it, could hardly have been penned -- so far as concerns the soul of an individual.
Messiah, a Jew of the royal family of David, dead. And how so? Rejected by Israel -- and in His death that glory bursting forth, which plainly told that He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. For in death His glory shone forth as one that had life in Himself; and that He was the very Son of God was declared by the resurrection from the dead. Of none, save Him, could it ever be said, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again Of no one could this ever be said save of Him, who being indeed Son of man, was at the same time very and indeed Son of God. Jesus rose not in the power of that life which is in the blood, but in the power of that which was and is His own as Son of God -- as the life-giving Spirit. And this is what is referred to here; for though as man He was called "the Son of the Most High," as having been conceived by the virgin Mary, by the overshadowing of the power of the Holy Ghost -- it is not that which is here referred to in this passage, but that deeper, and fuller, and more wondrous glory which was His, as the eternal Son -- one in the Trinity; one with the Father and the Holy Ghost; God over all blessed for evermore: and His resurrection distinctly marked Him off from all others as the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness -- His in Sonship. His being dead who was the heir of David's throne, showed the ground of Israel's rejection, while His resurrection set Him in a position to deal in grace with all whom He would; in that there was no kindred tie with earth, and though, indeed, the sure mercies of David were thus, and thus alone, secured; this was simply because Israel lay in the purpose of God to bless them; for the position obtained by resurrection was one binding Him by ties alone to God, and His purposes. I would notice, also, that the effulgence of the divine glory here brought out in Him, according to the spirit of holiness, was inseparable from the church's true standing. His death closed the door, for a time at least, on Israel; His resurrection set Him in a new place, where he could deal with things, not according to earthly order, but in prerogative grace, and that to Gentile equally with Jew; while that Sonship, according to the spirit of holiness, herein manifest, was the basis and formative principle of the church's hope, standing and blessing, as is most largely seen in Romans 8, and in the whole of the Ephesians.
Thus it was death which became the Lord's path into the position in which we know Him, and, in His victory over it, the means of manifesting that divine power and glory in Him, without which the church has no place, or portion, or even being.
14. "Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." (Rom. 4: 23.)
In this passage and chapter we may see the saints conforming to the principle exhibited in the Lord. He got into His position of blessing and of exercising the power of life-giving Spirit, through death by resurrection -- in this it was that the power and glory that were in Him shined out. Now in this fourth chapter, we find the father of the faithful, as the representative of the whole family, assimilated in measure to the principle fully carried out in the Lord. And so is it with every believer. The promise is given to us in all the barrenness and unfruitfulness of surrounding circumstances, and the sentence of death passes over every means in us, or around: yea, but we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in Him that raised the dead. But Abraham's faith was in God, and nothing could touch or remove that; the deadness of Sarah's womb, the suggestion of nature about his own great age; none of these things even came near to touch his faith. They might, indeed, have distracted him from faith, and led him to give up hope, if rested upon, but the ground of hope they could never touch; that was in God: God had promised, and He was faithful, and able, and true: but they did not prevent his faith, for it also was of God, and had, therefore, in it that resiliency of life, which being of God, gave it. Oh that the saints remembered this more surely, there would be less fear and trembling than there is in many, as the aspect darkens around them. Perhaps, with all its self-complacency about religion, there never was an age in which there was so little trust in God as the present! And how does Abraham's faith shame us: he had, as it were, only a promise to rest on, though it were the promise of the faithful and true God -- the way how God could be just while dealing with a sinner and imputing righteousness to him, was not then fully opened -- to us it is, and that as a thing once done and accomplished for ever. He was delivered on account of our offences, and has been raised on account of our justification, and, as it were, in the very presence of this past work, God says, Trust yourselves in all your wretchedness to Me, and I will clear you. Shame, shame, shame, on the unbelieving believers, who still doubt. Surely, to do so is not only to make God a liar, but to give a judgment, as it were, against the worth and value of that death and resurrection so presented, and to grieve the Spirit.
15. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled we shall be saved by his life." (Rom. 5: 6-10.)
Is there any who, in false humility, would doubt the love of God and Christ, because of what he is in himself? Let such an one read this passage, and see how, as it were, the Lord, the Spirit, gathers the group of them that are without strength, the ungodly, the enemies, sinners, as those to whom He would tell how, in the death of Jesus, God sought to commend His love to us. Wondrous, surely, the love as discovered in God towards us; but more wondrous still, how amid all the discouragements to it in us, it should yet not only not be able to shut itself up, but seek to commend itself to us. To how many an object does a man feel pity, aye and love too, to whom he will never attempt to communicate it, for to do so he would prove a desire of fellowship, and the recognition of power of response in the object loved; and surely our God's seeking to commend His love to us does tell His desire of fellowship, while, where it is made known, it gives the power, through grace, of response, and we, reconciled by the death of His Son, love Him because He first loved us.
16. "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised 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 therefore reins 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." (Rom. 6: 2-13.)
The argument of Paul seems here to be towards the proving by God's estimate of the death of Christ for the church, and the church's fellowship by the Spirit in that estimate, that the church is free from sin, and so free as to have no pretext for continuing to live in it. If God's object, says he, was, that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord, no one can say, We will continue in sin that grace may abound, And then the context quoted follows -- the grand truth of which seems to be that our exemption from the charge and guilt of sin comes by God reckoning us dead with Christ by the Spirit: being planted in the likeness of His death, we were baptised thereinto and buried with Christ by baptism into death. That is, God, having given to us the Spirit of Christ Jesus, looks upon us as one with Him, and so imputes to us all that was true of Christ. Now He died under the charge and the power of sin imputed -- but when He had died it had done its all, and being raised from the dead He dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over Him -- for He liveth unto God. And now, if all this has been done by God to His Son for the church, let every member of it reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, so as neither to allow it to reign in the mortal body by obedience to its lusts, nor to yield the members of the body as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. The whole weight of the argument seems to me to turn upon the mode in which the church got her freedom from sin, in the power and guilt of it, even by being identified of God, through grace in the Spirit, with that which was the all that the charge and power of sin imputed could effect upon Christ Jesus.
This passage has often been taken as if it applied to the death of Christ as presented to the world. That such a view involves a complete violation of the characteristic marks of the whole context, as well as very unsound doctrine, is plain. Perhaps the saints do not look enough at the inseparable union of their blessing and the life of the Son of God. If we know Him we must have His Spirit, and this Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, and identifies us fully in all things with Him, so that God looks upon us by virtue of it, as having that true of us which personally was only true of Him whose Spirit we have received, and thus retrospectively we are said to have been crucified together with, died together with, and been buried together with, Him, as well as quickened together with Him: for though the life that was in the Lord was not fully manifested to man till the resurrection, when He became manifest the second Adam; yet I need not say that He was not intrinsically and personally, after the resurrection, other than what He was from the beginning, the only begotten Son of the Father, the Lord of all glory. The death of the Lord in this place seems presented as the place of the saints' and church's clearance from all the charge and power of sin.
17. "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," etc. (Rom. 7: 4.)
In the last citation the death of the Lord was shown as the means of clearing the church in principle, from under sin; here it is presented as having the same effect as to law, and on this simple ground, that the claim of the law having been met by Christ fully, they who are looked upon as one with Him are free from it. This to the individual believer is of immense importance in connection with obedience; for as long as the mind of the Christian turns to law, as though it still rested upon him, he will be under that which stirs up the evil of the flesh, and, God knows, we need not either that, or the sorrow consequent upon it, in addition to the difficulties of our walk. I would only further notice that the expression, "that ye should be married to another," should rather be "that you should be for another," for it refers to the saints' present connection with the Lord, and that is one of espousal, not yet marriage. And again. in verse 6, "that being dead wherein we were held should rather be "that we being dead to that wherein we were held," as a closer and more literal rendering, as well as one more consistent with the sense of the context.
18. "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Rom. 8: 10, 11.)
What blessed consolation and comfort is here! Having in the seventh chapter traced the practical effect upon the mind, and its thought of regeneration as in a Jew, so regenerated, considering the question of law, and then shown how sorrow and depression were the result, here we find the apostle presenting. as it were, the same individual, with the question of law disposed of, in the blissful meditation upon the work of redemption wrought for us by Christ. The question of regeneration had turned his thought inward, and then the question of the spiritual character of the law had scared him: redemption lifts up his mind from self to Christ, to all accomplished by Him, and no condemnation established -- and more than this, it meets the very thoughts awakened about the body of sin, and death in us proves that our bodies are so, or Christ need not have died; and throws the mind therefore not upon anything in self, but upon the faithfulness of God, who, having delivered Christ for our sins raised Him again. and will quicken into newness of life all those who make that death the ground of their acceptance before God. And thus, believer, as thou well knowest, is described both thine experience and thy hope as to thy body -- it is dead because of sin; but it shall be quickened because the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwells in thee.
19. "Who is he that condemneth? 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." (Rom. 8: 34.)
Oh, that the saints more simply understood the death of Jesus in this light! For then, instead of the uncertainty of guilt being removed, as we find in so many, there would be a clear, and steady, and abiding joy in their exemption from all death. No saint reads the death of Christ aright, but he who reads in it "no condemnation for me;" and this not simply as a surmise, or a hope, but with that certainty, as here expressed, as to enable him to challenge a condemner, while himself standing in the midst of those whom he knows not only seek to condemn but proffer those charges with indefatigable perseverance. Let Satan, let the world, let conscience condemn as they may and will, if their sentence is contrary to that of God, well may the believer say, "Who is he that condemneth?" And the more so, because the power of his heart in this challenge is not in the thought of innocence from sinfulness, but in the fact of the very fullest expression God could give, of having seen all his sin, yet met it and put it away, in and by the death of Christ. And He having died under sin once, now lives in resurrection, and His very life is the pledge and proof that there is no condemnation, and no one that believes in Him can say, "I am guilty still," without disparaging and denying the value of His sacrifice, and arraigning the truth and grace of God's testimony about it.
20. "The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart,. . . . Who shall descend into the deep? that is to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? . . . . 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." (Rom. 10: 6-9.)
The substance of what was said upon the last quotation (namely, that the death of Jesus is, under God's estimate, the clearing of the believer from all condemnation), is here argued in a comparison of the principles of righteousness as proposed by the by-gone and by the present dispensation. The former, which was the law, was God searching man, and its word was, "Do this and live;" the latter, which is grace, is God showing the exceeding riches of His own grace in the person of Christ, risen from the grave; teaching us sin not indirectly, that is, by giving a commandment, which sin in us has disabled us from keeping; but directly, that is, presenting His Son, in resurrection, as the One that has borne sin in His own body on the tree, and now is at His right hand, the pledge of acceptance. And so plainly and distinctly is He presented, that there can be no "Lo, here," or, "Lo, there," to them that know Him; neither a descending into the deep to see what has become of Him, nor an ascending into the height to bring Him down -- for, risen and ascended there where He is, has He presented Himself to God for us, and our consciences, and to learn peace from seeing how God has made peace, and not to suppose that till we feel peace, God has not made peace. May God grant unto us all to walk in the light of this finished work, therein knowing our peace perfected for ever with God, and so becoming His servants.
21. "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: . . . . for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." (Rom. 14: 8, 9.)
There is a passage somewhat similar to this in Corinthians; yet with this characteristic difference between the two. This presents the conduct of the Christian with the basis of Christ's object in His death; that presents rather the motive in the Christian's mind resulting from the apprehension of Christ's object in His death. And this distinction is both worthy of observation, and of importance. For blessed as it is to have right motives for conduct, and a right understanding of what conduct becomes us, much more blessed is it to have fulfilled practically that which we see becomes us as disciples. And of this, as true in Himself, and them that are Christ's, the apostle here speaks, "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord." And does not this present a certainty of conduct, a stedfastness of purpose, and an accomplishment of desire, very unlike the Christianity current in our own day? Alas! how few servants of the Lord there are, compared with the number of saints; how few who can truly say as to their daily walk, "In all things more than conqueror through him that loved us." I would we might all think more of this, that practical obedience is that which the Lord looks for, and that rightness of motive and rightness of understanding as to what should be done, are of no value, save as means to an end -- that is, as stimulating and guiding into outer obedience. I say, again, I would this might rest upon our minds; for it is a sad fact that many are satisfying themselves in having right motives, and clear understanding of what they should be instead of evidencing that they have these motives and this light by their actions.
22. "If thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died." (Rom. 14: 15.)
The preceding citation looked at the death of the Lord as the basis of the disciples' general conduct as before God; this presents it as the light in which the brotherhood is seen, and thereby presents both the constraint and the measure of our love to a brother in Christ. And how much need is there to pray that the memory of this may be revived among the saints; for in these many thoughts of doing this and doing that, alas! how sadly is the Lord's new commandment forgotten and neglected. Dear reader, if a saint let this be thine especial care before man -- to show that indeed, thine eye can read in every, even the weakest saint, one for whom Christ Jesus died, and for whom thou also oughtest to be ready to lay down thy life also.
