"What things soever the law saith, it saith _to them who are under
the law_; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God."--Rom. 3:19.
"Ye are not under the law."--Rom. 6:14.
"The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith, but _after that faith is come we are
no longer under a schoolmaster_. For ye are all the children of God
by faith in Jesus Christ."--Gal. 3:24-26.
"When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son born of
a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law, _that we might receive the adoption of sons_. And because ye
are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant,
but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."--Gal.
4:4-7.
"Having in love predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus
Christ to himself."--Eph. 1:5.
"The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if
one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who
died for them and rose again."--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.
"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed
five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing
to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of
them will love him most?"--Luke 7:41, 42.
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not
love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And
though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries,
and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."--1 Cor.
13:1-3.
_In God's plan with men_, His purpose in giving the law has been sadly
misunderstood. To the Jews the law was given on tablets of stone and
copied in their sacred writings; to the Gentiles the law was written
in their hearts. The one class had more light than the other, and
therefore will be judged differently.
"As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and
as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the
law."--Rom. 2:12. "For when the Gentiles, who have no law, do by
nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto
themselves; who show the works of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing witness, and their reasonings mutually
accusing or even excusing them."--Rom. 2:14. Whether Jew or Gentile,
God had one purpose in giving the law, "Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to those who are under the law, that
_every_ mouth may be stopped and _all the world_ be under judgement to
God." God's plan with the law includes "every mouth," "all the world,"
whether the law was written in their hearts or in sacred writings; and
His purpose is, not that they should be saved by keeping the law, for
then no one would be saved, for "all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God,"--Rom. 3:23; but that they might be brought under
judgment to God, every mouth stopped, guilty, and thus be brought to
realize their need of a Redeemer. On this point God's word makes His
purpose very plain: "The Scripture hath shut up all under sin, that
the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that
believe. But before faith, we were confined under law, shut up unto
the faith about to be revealed. Wherefore the law was our tutor [or
schoolmaster] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But
after that faith is come we are no longer under a tutor [or
schoolmaster]."--Gal. 3:23-25.
God's word is plain, that God put men under the law, not that they
should be saved by keeping it, but that they might be led to see their
need of a Saviour, one to redeem them from the curse of the law:
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us,"--Gal 3:13; and then, having redeemed them from the curse of
the law, and from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), to adopt them as His own
children, "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."--Rom. 8:17. So
wonderful is the plan that it is hard for a human being to grasp it.
_God's plan with men_ is not simply to save them, but to put them
above all other created beings. "Unto which of the angels said he at
any time, Thou art my Son?"--Heb. 1:5. Yet, "having in love
predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to
himself,"--Eph. 1:5 (1911 Bible), "heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ,"--Rom. 8:17, He puts us far above angels; "for ye are all sons
of God through faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal. 3:26. But men can only
come into this higher relation to God as sons by being redeemed from
under the lower relation, under the law. Hear God's word: "When the
fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, _that we
might receive the adoption of sons_."--Gal. 4:4, 5. This higher
relation as sons of God can be attained only by men coming out from
under the law; and men can come out from under the law only by being
redeemed from under the law.
God's word teaches clearly, then, that when one is redeemed, he is no
longer under the law. "Ye are not under the law,"--Rom. 6:14; "What
things soever the law saith, it saith to _those who are under the
law_."--Rom. 3:19. Then some are under the law and some are not under
the law; "Wherefore the law was our tutor unto Christ that we might be
justified by faith. But after the faith is come, _we are no longer
under a tutor_."--Gal. 3:24, 25. Pause, reader, and try to grasp the
meaning of this. If the believer is redeemed from all iniquity (Titus
2:14), and is not under the law, (Rom. 6:14), then he is sure of
Heaven; for "sin is not reckoned when there is no law."--Rom. 5:13. It
is not reckoned or imputed because it has all been reckoned or imputed
to Christ (Is. 53:6, Titus 2:14). Why, then, serve God? Not from fear
of the law; not from fear of Hell; but from love to Him who redeemed
us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us (Gal.
3:13).
Just as clearly God's word teaches that those who are redeemed from
the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (Titus 2:14),
become the sons of God; for that purpose "God sent forth his Son, born
of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law
that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying,
Abba, Father."--Gal. 4:4-6. "For ye are all the sons of God through
faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal. 3:26.
But there is, in _God's plan with men_, beyond this a still more
blessed, wonderful teaching: "Wherefore, thou art no more a servant,
but a son."--Gal. 4:7. The one who is redeemed from under the law
(Gal. 3:13) never gets back under the law again,--"Wherefore thou art
no more a servant, but a son." That means, then, certainty of going to
Heaven, certainty of being a son of God forever. And this new
relation, and this certainty of Heaven are settled for men, not when
they die, nor when they have united with some church, or have been
baptised, but the moment men repent from their sins and accept the
Saviour as their Redeemer from all iniquity; for God's word says, "He
that believeth on the son _hath_ everlasting life."--John 3:36; and
"Ye _are_ all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal.
3:26.
This new relation with God gives men a new motive. Under the law,
guilty, condemned by it, the motive was fear. But when men have been
redeemed from under the law and adopted as sons of God, the motive of
fear is no more the motive of life. "Ye have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
The motive of the son towards the father is not fear, but love. And
this love is produced by the fact that God, in love, provided this
great, wonderful plan for men, "having in love predestinated us for
adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself,"--Eph. 1:5, and the
fact that the Saviour loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20).
Hence, Paul tells us, "The love of Christ [not the fear of the law,
nor the fear of Hell] constrains us; because we thus judge, that if
one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who
live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died
for them, and rose again." Our Saviour, the night before His
crucifixion, made clear that this was to be the motive in the life of
God's children. In instituting the Lord's supper He said, "This is my
blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of
sins."--Matt. 26:28; then, following this, before leaving the supper
room, He said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments,"--John 14:15,
not, "if ye are afraid of the law, keep my commandments"; not, "if ye
are afraid of going to Hell, keep my commandments"; not, "if ye wish
to make sure of going to Heaven, keep my commandments"; but, "if ye
love me." But why love Him? Because "this is my blood of the new
covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins." That this
love, and that _this kind of love_ is clearly the motive power of the
real Christian life, notice the teaching of the Saviour in Luke 7:41,
43, "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed
five hundred pence and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to
pay he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them
will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom
he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou has rightly judged." This
is no mere theory, that love _ought_ to be the controlling motive, but
it _is_ the controlling motive. And it is not a mere theory that love
_ought_ to constrain the real Christian, the real believer, but the
love of Christ _does_ constrain us (2 Cor. 5:14).
One may be moral, of deep piety, and yet if the motive power of his
life is not this love, he is lost, not a real Christian. God's word
makes this plain, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a
clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am
nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though
I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me
nothing."--1 Cor. 13:1-3. Two of the mightiest preachers of all times,
men whose tongues were those nearest to angels in preaching, Chalmers
and Wesley, after years of most powerful preaching, came out and
stated that during all those years they were lost, not Christians.
Why? They had not been really redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14);
they had not been forgiven most; the motive had not been the motive of
him who is forgiven most,--"Though I speak with the tongues of men and
of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a
clanging cymbal." Why? Because eloquent, powerful preaching cannot
redeem from iniquity, and God has said plainly, "Apart from shedding
of blood there is no remission."--Heb. 9:22. Men may write great books
explaining the mysteries of God's word, commentaries, Sunday-school
lesson helps, instructions to Christians; yet if the motive power of
their lives is not love based on the fact that they are forgiven most
(Luke 7:43), redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), they are lost,
not real Christians,--"though I have the gift of prophecy, and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am
nothing." Why? Because there is nothing in understanding all
mysteries, and all knowledge, in writing commentaries and other
helpful books, to redeem from all iniquity. And God has said plainly,
"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission." The great
capitalist, the multi-millionaire, may turn philanthropist, and spend
all his wealth in building schools, or libraries, or houses for the
poor, or in feeding hundreds of thousands in times of widespread
drouth; the Catholic nun or Protestant or Baptist nurse may give her
life in the epidemic in nursing the sick; and the heroic fireman give
his life in rescuing others from the flames; yet they are all lost,
unless the motive power of life is love, produced by the fact that
they are forgiven most, redeemed from all iniquity,--"Though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." Why? Because there is
nothing in giving away money to care for the poor, nor in giving up
life for others, to redeem from iniquity. And God has said plainly,
"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission."--Heb. 9:22.
When God, "That he might be just and the justifier of him that hath
faith in Jesus,"--Rom. 3:26, "so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life,"--John 3:16, men must not, they _must not_,
from intellectual pride, religious prejudice, family or race ties, nor
from any other motive, trifle with God and presume to dictate terms to
the Most High. Were it one poor, obscure man who presumed to do this,
men would say that he deserved to be left to answer for his own sins
before God at last. But vast numbers, whole religious denominations
and university titles cannot change the Most High. God does not go by
majorities. Earth's respectability does not pass current in Heaven.
"The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."--1 Cor. 3:19.
Who is this being to whom puny men in their pride and prejudice
presume to dictate terms as to how they may escape the just penalty
for their sins, as to how their sins should be taken away? "Who hath
measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven
with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who
hath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath
taught him? With whom took he counsel? And who instructed him, and
taught him in the path of judgement, and taught him knowledge, and
showed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance;
behold, he taketh up the hills as a little thing." "All nations before
him are as nothing, and they are counted by him less than nothing, and
vanity." "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the
heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;
that bringeth the princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the
earth as vanity."--Is. 40:12-15, 17, 22, 23.
A professor in a great university has recently said that to the
"modern mind," untrained, as the Jews, to daily sacrifices, unused, as
those of ancient times, to blood-atonement,--remission of sins by
blood,--substitution does not commend itself. If he and those who
think like him do not care enough as to their eternal destiny to
strive to become acquainted with blood-atonement, to realize their
need of it, and to see that God, in love, has provided it, complete
and eternal, then there is nothing left but for them to go out into
eternity to meet the just penalty of their sins; for even then God
will be just to them. No one, barbarian or civilized, will ever be
treated unjustly by the Most High.
But it is objected that, if men are taught and believe that they have
been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), that they are not
after that under the law (Rom. 6:14), that they have been adopted as
God's sons (Gal. 4:4, 5), and that they are no more servants, but sons
(Gal. 4:7), they will not serve God from love of Christ for dying for
them (2 Cor. 5:14, 15), but that they will become careless and not try
to live Christian lives. That is true with hypocrites; they will
profess to believe that they are thus redeemed, saved, and will live
careless, worldly lives. But really redeemed men _will_ love most
(Luke 7:43), and live better lives from love. The Saviour said, "If a
man love me he _will_ keep my words,"--John 14:23; "If God were your
father ye _would_ love me."--John 8:42. And John, writing to believers
only (1 John 5:13), says: "Behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such
we are. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. And _every one_ that hath
this hope on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."--1 John
3:1-3.
The one who is thus redeemed and adopted as a son of God not only
purifies himself because prompted by love to the Saviour for redeeming
him from all iniquity, but because he is born again, and this new
nature leads him to hate sin and to love holiness. "Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."--1 John 5:1.
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God which liveth and abideth forever."--1 Peter 1:23. This
is no mere theory, no mere theological dogma. Cases innumerable
throughout the Christian era could be cited, where the most wicked men
and women in a moment have been completely changed by simply being led
to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, as their Redeemer from all
iniquity.
In the author's work as an evangelist he has seen the most debased,
hopeless men and women revolutionized morally, not by gradual
processes, but in a moment, by leading them to repentance and faith in
the Saviour as their complete Redeemer from all iniquity. And the
moral revolution was not temporary, but permanent. Science cannot
account for these moral revolutions brought about in a moment.
Infidelity cannot account for them. God's word does account for them,
that they have been born again, born of God, and have been taken from
under the law and have been given a new relation to God and placed
under a new motive power. In a city a great mass-meeting for infidels
was widely advertised; a large audience assembled. The leader asked
all the men in the audience who had once been down in the depths of
sin, everything gone, hopeless, and had been led to accept the Saviour
as their Redeemer from sin, please to arise. Between three hundred and
four hundred well-dressed business men and workingmen arose. The
leader then asked all who had been down in the depths of sin,
everything gone, hopeless, and they had then been led to believe in
infidelity and it had made better men of them, please to arise. One
lone man staggered to his feet and he was drunk! Science and
infidelity cannot explain this difference. God's word does explain it.
There is no other explanation.
It may be objected that many who profess to be thus redeemed from all
iniquities, to be born again, do not continue to live better lives.
God's word explains every one of these cases: "They went out from us,
but they were _not of us_; for if they had been of us, they would have
continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest;
because not all are of us."--1 John 2:19.
In closing this chapter, reader, pause and consider:--are you yet
under the law? Have you been redeemed from the curse of the law? Have
you been adopted as a child of God? It is one thing to _say_ "Our
Father"; it is quite a different thing to be really a child of God,
and heir of God and joint heir with Christ.
Is the motive of your life love of Christ because He has redeemed you
from all iniquities? Do not be deceived by calling the motive love
when really it is not love. If you have been trying to serve God,
thinking that if you continued to serve Him, continued to try to do
your Christian duty, you would go to Heaven after this life, but that
if you failed to serve Him and do your Christian duty, you would not
be saved, then your motive has not been love, and you are lost. If you
have been trying to serve God and do your Christian duty, fearing
that if you failed you would be lost, then your motive has not been
love, and you have never been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14),
and adopted as the child of God (Gal. 4:4, 5). Let not pride nor
prejudice prevent your coming out from under the law and becoming
really a child of God. "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have
a _zeal of God_, but not _according to knowledge_. For being
_ignorant of God's righteousness_, and _going about to establish
their own righteousness_, they have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is _the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth._"--Rom. 10:1-4. "As many as
_received him_, to them gave he power to become the children of God,
even to them that believe on his name."--John 1:12.
_FOR FURTHER STUDY_: Men are prone to mix the law and redemption
through Christ. They are separate and distinct. They are two separate
roads to Heaven. If a man keeps the law from birth to death he will go
to Heaven without any redemption; he needs no redemption. "Moses
describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man that
doeth those things shall live _by them_,"--Rom. 10:5; not by Christ as
the Redeemer; he needs no redemption. "And the law is not of faith;
but the man that doeth them shall live in them."--Gal. 3:12. There is
no Christ in this; there is no need of Christ if a man "doeth them,"
the law. Such a man cannot trust Christ to save him; for if he has
never broken the law, there is nothing from which he needs to be
redeemed. "The soul that sinneth, _it_ shall die"; but if one has kept
the law, there is no penalty, no redemption is needed. "The doers of
the law _shall be justified_."--Rom. 2:13. But "all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God,"--Rom. 3:23; hence, there is need of
redemption; for "apart from shedding of blood there is no
remission."--Heb. 9:22. The other road to Heaven, therefore, is that
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us."--Gal. 3:13. The Saviour, as well as the Apostle Paul, taught
clearly the two roads; the first, when "One came and said unto him,
Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but
one, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments."--Matt. 19:16, 17. The question was what good thing the
enquirer should do in order to have eternal life as the result of what
he did. The answer was exactly what Paul taught afterwards,--"The man
that doeth them, shall live in them."--Gal. 3:12. On the other hand,
to the penitent woman in Simon's house the Saviour said, "Thy faith
hath saved thee; go in peace."--Luke 7:50. The trouble is that many
men try to make a third road to Heaven, partly by obeying the law and
partly by redemption through Christ; or rather, they try to combine
the two separate and distinct ways and make them one. But this is
fatal. "If by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is
no more grace. But if it is of works, then it is no more grace;
otherwise work is no more work."--Rom. 11:6. Jesus said, "Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest."--Matt. 11:28. And God's word declares plainly, "He that hath
entered into his rest himself also hath rested from his own works, as
God did from his."--Heb. 4:10. No one has rested, ceased, from his own
works who thinks that keeping the law or trying to keep the law is a
part of the salvation through Christ as Redeemer. One _must_ cease
from his own works, from looking to obeying the law to help in
salvation, before he _can_ be saved through Christ as Redeemer. "To
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that _justifieth_ the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."--Rom. 4:5. Hence,
all who are trying to get to Heaven by obedience, are under the law,
are yet unredeemed, unsaved, not real Christians. "As many as are of
the works of the law [obeying the law to be saved] are under the
curse,"--Gal. 3:10; they have not been really redeemed.
Of this class are all those who believe and teach "Salvation by
character,"--they are yet under the law; they are yet under the
curse.--Gal. 3:10. Further, they fly in the face of the Lord Jesus,
who said to men who had character, "The publicans and the harlots go
into the kingdom of God before you."--Matt. 21:31. They fail to see
that the Saviour takes men without character, justifies them from all
things (Acts 13:39), redeems them from the curse of the law (Gal.
3:13), redeems them from all iniquities (Titus 2:14), and then
develops in them a character that will stand the test of the ages;
that He takes a Jerry McAuley, an S. H. Hadley, a Harry Monroe, and a
Melville Trotter and makes of them four of the most useful men of
modern times. They fail to see that character is formed by deeds; that
the character of the deed can be determined _only_ by the motive
prompting the deed; that the controlling motive for the deed must, in
the sight of God, be love (1 Cor. 13:1-3); that the motive of love is
produced by being forgiven most (Luke 7:42, 43); that the forgiveness
comes from the Saviour having given Himself for our sins (Gal. 1:4),
to redeem us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14).
Because of this failure to consider the motive back of the deed, many
books on morals and ethics are absolutely pernicious. In comparing the
morals and ethics of Christianity with the morals and ethics of
heathen religions, they fail to take into consideration the _motive
back of the deed_. Two young men are trying to win a young woman in
marriage; their deeds, outwardly, are the same; the one is prompted by
pure, manly love for the young woman; the other has his eye on her
father's bank account. You drop your handkerchief as you are passing
along the street; a man from pure kindness picks it up and hands it to
you. Again you drop it, and another picks it up and hands it to you,
but his motive is that he may win your confidence and pick your
pocket. Four sons are equally dutiful, in outward deed, toward their
fathers; one, that he may get all the money he wishes from his
father; the second, from a cold sense of duty; the third, from fear
that his father might kill him or disinherit him if he were not
dutiful; the fourth, from tender love for the father. In these four,
many authors see no difference, or make no distinction, and yet they
profess to be teachers of morals and ethics! Four men, outwardly, are
living the same moral lives; one, hoping to get to Heaven by it; the
second, from a cold sense of duty; the third, from fear of Hell; the
fourth, from love because One died for him (2 Cor. 5:14, 15), and
redeemed him from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity
(Titus 2:14). Only the last one will ever enter Heaven; only the last
one is really a Christian, redeemed (Heb. 9:12), saved (Eph. 2:8).
As men are prone to mix law and redemption through Christ, so they are
prone to mix law and sonship. They fail to see that redemption from
the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redemption from all iniquity (Titus
2:14), redemption from under the law (Rom. 6:14), means to be placed
in a higher, more sacred relationship to God. Even in nature God has
two grades of existence, a lower and a higher, for some insects, even;
the mosquito, first in the water; then by a simple process it rises
into the higher kingdom; the caterpillar, a creeping worm, then the
butterfly. But were there no analogies in nature, God has clearly
revealed a higher relation for those who are redeemed from the curse
of the law (Gal. 3:13), "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons,"--Gal. 4:4, 5; "Having in love
predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to
himself."--Eph. 1:5. Where is man in the scale of being? "Thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels."--Ps. 8:5. But even the
angels, who are above man in the scale of being, are not the sons of
God. "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my
son?"--Heb. 1:5. But to _every man_ who has been redeemed from the
curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from under the law (Gal. 4:5), God says,
"Ye are _all_ the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal.
3:26. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his
Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father."--Gal. 4:6. "Ye have
received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."--Rom.
8:15.
Much of the confusion concerning the higher relationship of the
redeemed with God has been caused by teaching the redeemed and the
unredeemed to pray what is called the Lord's Prayer. The Saviour did
not teach the unredeemed to pray in this manner. They cannot pray it
truthfully, honestly, for they are not the children of God. "They that
are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God."--Rom. 9:5. If they are not, then they cannot truthfully say "Our
Father," "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as
with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if
ye be without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye
bastards, and not sons."--Heb. 12:6-8. The language, "bastards and not
sons," has some meaning, but it can have no meaning if God is the
Father of all human beings, and all have a right to say "Our Father."
It is true, that in the Old Testament God is referred to as a Father,
but it is only as Father of Israel, the redeemed. "Have we not all
one father? Hath not one God created us?"--Mal. 2:10. But who are
the "we"? "The burden of the word of the Lord to _Israel_ by
Malachi,"--Mal. 1:1;--Israel, God's redeemed people.
God's word makes it plain that what is called the Lord's Prayer was
not taught by the Saviour to the unsaved. "As he was praying in a
certain place, when he ceased, _one of his disciples_ said unto him,
Lord, teach _us_ to pray as John also taught his disciples, and he
said unto _them_ [His disciples], When ye [His disciples] pray, say,
'Our Father.'" How did they become disciples? "As many as received
him, to them gave he power _to become_ the children of God, even to
them that believe on his name."--John 1:12. "Ye are all the sons of
God by faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal. 3:26. Concerning this prayer the
_Southern Baptist Sunday School Teacher_ says, "It is a special gift
to believers only." "We cannot too earnestly insist that the Lord's
Prayer is beyond the use of mere worldlings. They have no heart for
it. It is the possession and badge of the disciples of Christ. It
belongs to those who can offer it in humble and hearty faith." The
_Sunday School Teacher_, published by the American Baptist Publication
Society, says: "This is a prayer that befits only Christian lips and
was given to the disciples only, and so it is addressed to 'Our
Father.'" D. L. Moody, in "The Way Home," "But who may use this
prayer, 'Our Father which art in Heaven'? Examine the context. The
disciples when alone with Jesus said, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' and
this was the answer they got; they were taught this precious prayer:
'In this manner pray ye: Our Father, which art in Heaven.' It was
taught by Jesus to His chosen disciples; then it is only for
Christians. No man who is unconverted can or has a right to pray thus.
Christ taught _His disciples_, not all men, not the multitude, to pray
like this. A man must be born again before he has any right to breathe
this prayer. What right has any man living in sin and in open enmity
with God, to lift up his voice and say, Our or My Father? It is a lie
and nothing else for him to say this."
The Saviour was very explicit on this point: "Ye do the deeds of your
father. Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication; we have
one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father,
ye would love me; for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither
came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech?
Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the
devil."--John 8:41-44. Here are the unredeemed calling God their
Father. If He is their Father, here was the time for the Great Teacher
to make it plain. If He is their Father, _in any sense_, here was the
opportunity to make it plain. The Saviour does not reply, "Yes, He is
your Father in one sense, but I am speaking of another and a higher
sense." His answer is plain and unequivocal.
There are those who fly in the face of the Saviour's plain teaching.
Hear two of them:--Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, in "Science and Health,"
"God is the Father of All." "Man is the offspring of Spirit." "Spirit
is his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father and
Life is the law of his being." "He recognized Spirit, God, as the only
creator, and therefore as the Father of all"; "demonstrating God as
the Father of men." Another makes his meaning just as plain: "He
[Jesus] was the son of God in like manner that every other person is;
for _the Creator is the father of all_."--_Thomas Paine, in "The Age
of Reason."_
The issue is joined between these two on the one side and the Lord
Jesus and Paul on the other, and men are lining up on one side or the
other, and many of them will spend eternity with the ones whose
teaching they are following _now_, with whom they are lining up; and
the reader may as well face the fact that many of them will not spend
eternity in the same place with the Saviour and Paul. With many the
question as to whether the Saviour, when He said, "Ye are of your
father the devil," told the truth, or was a wilful liar and deceiver,
or a deluded fanatic and ignoramus, is merely a matter of taste, or
preference, or opinion. It may be claimed by some that "Ye are of your
father the devil," grates on refined ears and finer sensibilities. But
it is more than a question whether it is pride, or religious
prejudice, or refined sensibilities, when the sensibilities and
feelings are so coarse and hardened that without indignation, often
with complacency, they see Him who "spake as never man spake," God's
"only begotten Son," branded as a liar and deceiver. Such scholarship
and finer sensibilities and such refinement will fill their
possessors with horror and remorse in that day when the sun shall
become black as sackcloth of hair, and the full moon shall become as
blood, and the heavens shall depart as a scroll when it is rolled
together; and every mountain and island shall be moved out of their
places, and the kings of the earth, and the great men and the rich men
and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every
freeman shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains and say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us
from the face of him who sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be
able to stand?"--Rev. 6:12-17; "for the Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgement unto the Son, that all men should honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father who sent him."--John 5:22, 23. "And he
commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he
who hath been ordained of God to be the judge of living and
dead."--Acts 10:42.
If all men who are unredeemed would just stop and realize their real
position in the scale of being, and that they really have no Heavenly
Father, and that "as many as received him to them gave he power to
become the children of God, even to them that believe on his
name,"--John 1:12, there would fall upon this world such a feeling of
orphanage as it has never known since the Saviour hung on the cross.
But in their pride or religious prejudice, or love of the world, or
secret sin, blinded by "Our Father," they go on through life
repeating it, and die, never having been redeemed from the curse of
the law (Gal. 3:13), and adopted as God's sons (Gal. 4:4-7).
Teaching the unredeemed that God is their Father, and to say "Our
Father" is the incubator of religious error and the hot-bed of
infidelity. Many religious denominations that are fundamentally in
error, that really have no Redeemer, and therefore no Saviour, have as
their foundation teaching that God is the Father of the human race;
and there is scarcely an infidel but that was taught "Our Father."
Teach a person that God is his Father, that his Heavenly Father is far
better than his earthly father, and then teach him that his Heavenly
Father is going to send him to an eternal Hell, and, if he thinks, he
is far on the road to infidelity, or he is ready for some modern
church that denies that there is any Hell.
It is said that a missionary to one of the heathen lands, after
laboring for some time among the people, employed a learned heathen to
help him translate the New Testament into the heathen language. The
missionary would read and the heathen would translate and write it
down. They finally came to the first epistle of John. One morning as
they began their work, having finished the second chapter, the
missionary read, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us." The heathen translated and wrote it down. The missionary
read, "that we should be called the children of God." The heathen
bowed his head upon the table and began weeping. Gaining control of
his feelings, he said, "Teacher, don't make me put it that way; I know
our people; that is too good for us; we don't deserve it. Put it this
way, 'That we may be allowed to kiss his feet,' That is good enough
for our people." He had listened to the story of God giving His Son
for us; of His life, of His teachings, of His death for our sins; and
the thought that, beyond this, God makes the redeemed His children,
was too much for him. But in enlightened, so-called Christian lands,
many who have never even claimed to have been born of God ridicule the
teaching that God is the Father of the redeemed only, and they
blatantly proclaim God to be the Father of all human beings, of the
drunkard, of the thief, the murderer, whereas, even the angels do not
call Him Father. "Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou
art my son?" But when men are redeemed (Heb. 9:12), and born again of
the Spirit (John 3:8; 1 John 5:1), they are really God's children
(Gal. 3:26). Then they are above angels in the scale of being, "heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17),--the highest, most
exalted of all beings in the universe. Oh, that men would put their
heels upon their pride, be redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal.
3:13), and become God's real children (Gal. 4:4-7).
But just as many mix and confuse the teachings as to two roads to
Heaven, and as to law and sonship, so they mix and confuse the old
motive of fear under the law (Rom. 8:15), and of love as sons. _The
new motive of love could be produced in no other way than by real
Redemption._ Let the reader give close study to the following
principles laid down in Walker's "Philosophy of the Plan of
Salvation":
"1, The affections of the soul move in view of certain objects or in
view of certain qualities believed to exist in those objects. The
affections never move, in familiar words, the heart never loves,
unless love be produced by seeing, or by believing that we see, some
lovely and excellent qualities in the object. When the soul believes
those good qualities to be possessed by another, and especially when
they are exercised towards us, the affections, like a magnetized
needle, tremble with life, and turn towards their object.
"2, The affections are not subject to the will; neither our own will
nor any other will can directly control them.... An effect could as
easily exist without a cause as affection in the bosom of any human
being which was not produced by goodness or excellence seen, or
believed to exist, in some other being.
"3, The affections, although not governed by the will, do themselves
greatly influence the will. All acts of will produced entirely by pure
affection for another are disinterested.... So soon as the affections
move towards an object, the will is proportionally influenced to
please and benefit that object, or, if a superior being, to obey his
will.
"4, All happy obedience must arise from affection. Affectionate
obedience blesses the spirit which yields it, if the conscience
approve the object loved and obeyed.
"5. When the affections of two beings are reciprocally fixed upon each
other they constitute a band of union and sympathy peculiarly strong
and tender,--those things that affect the one affecting the other in
proportion to the strength of affection existing between them. One
conforms to the will of the other, not from a sense of obligation
merely, but from choice; and the constitution of the soul is such that
the sweetest enjoyment of which it is capable rises from the exercise
of reciprocal affections.
"6. When the circumstances of an individual are such that he is
exposed to constant suffering and great danger, the more afflictive
his situation the more grateful love will he feel for affection and
benefits received under such circumstances. If his circumstances were
such that he could not relieve himself, and such that he must suffer
greatly or perish, and while in this condition, if another, moved by
benevolent regard for him, should come to aid and save him, his
affection for his deliverer would be increased by a sense of the
danger from which he was rescued.
"The greater the kindness and self-denial of a benefactor manifested
in our behalf, the warmer and the stronger will be the affection which
his goodness will produce in the human heart."
And this further statement by Walker will be at once accepted by all
honest seekers after truth:--
"Here, then, are two facts growing out of the constitution of human
nature. First, the soul must feel its evil and lost state, as the
prerequisite condition upon which alone it can love a deliverer;
secondly, the degree of kindness and self-denial in a benefactor,
temporal or spiritual, graduates the degree of affection and gratitude
that will be awakened for him."--_Walker, in "The Philosophy of the
Plan of Salvation."_
V