73
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
February 1926
Anthropology-: Or the D o ctrine o f M an A Stupendous Fact, A Necessary Act, and a Conforming Contact ' Dr. F. E. Marsh, London, England The Second of a series of articles by Dr. Marsh on this vitally Important theme. Many o f our readers have asked that the series by Dr. Marsh on “ The Bible” which appeared in “ The King’s Business” last year, be reprinted in pamphlet form. You will regret it If you do not read every one o f these messages.
only to misuse the grammar of language, but to be illogical in statement (John 3:36). A Necessary Act Man’s spirit in its condition through sin is dead Godward. Man is said to be "alienated from the life of God,” and “ dead in trespasses and sins.” The man is alive to himself as the prodigal was. Man is alive to the world of pleasure, aS- "she Who Mveth'in pleasure is dead while she lived,”— and man is alive to a godless religion, like the church at Sardis, which while it had a name to live was dead. Death, spiritual death, which means separation from God, came by sin, and always comes by it— so “ death has passed upon all men,” or, literally, death has passed through all men, that is, touched every part of their nature. Hence, the necessary act, is the importation of spiritual life from God. This is variously described in the Word— being “ born from above,” "receiving eternal life," “ being saved,” “ begotten of God.” How can this life be obtained? Not by the effort of mtfn’s work, not by the determination of man’s will, not by the pledge of man’s resolution, not by the observation of out ward ceremonies, not by the imposition of priestly hands, not by the endeavor of man’s purpose, not by the ladder of man’s attainment, nor by the doings of man’s morality. These are all well in their place, but they will never place man in the realm of God’s grace. The way to obtain life is happily illustrated and simplified in the following. The late Charles Berry of Wolverhampton, once related this incident. He said: “ One night there came to me a Lancashire girl, with her shawl over her head and with clogs on her feet. “ ’Are you a minister?’ she asked. “ *Yes.’ “ ‘Then I want you to come and get my mother in.’ “ Thinking it was some drunken brawl, I said, ‘You must get a policeman.’ “ ‘Oh, no,’ said the girl, ‘my mother’s dying and I want you to get her into salvation.’ " ‘Where do you live?’ . “ ‘I live at so and so, a mile and a half from here.’ " ‘Well,’ said I, ‘Is there no minister nearer than I?’ " ‘Oh, yes, but I want you, and you have got to come.’ "I was in my slippers and I soliloquized and wondered what the people of the church would think it they saw their pastor walking late at night with a girl with a shawl over her head. I did all I could to get out of it, but it was of no use. That girl was determined and I had to dress and go. I found the place was a house of ill fame. I sat and talked to the dying woman about Jesus as a beautiful example, etc. ‘But,’ said the woman, ‘Mister, that’s no good for the likes of me. I don’t want an example. I’m a sinner.’ “ I was face to face with a poor dying soul, and had nothing to tell her. I had no Gospel, but I thought of what
“The Father o f spirits” (Heb. 12:9) “This mortal must put on imm ortality" (1 Cor. 16:63) "A lienated from the life o f God” (Eph. 4:18) “ And have put on the new man, which a fter" (according to )’ 'God is created In righteousness and true holiness" (Bph. 4:24) OLLOWING up what has been previously stated, and in the light o f the above Scriptures, there are three things to ponder. First, a stupendous fact, namely, man ¿is allied to God in his nature; second, a necessary act; namely, sin having separated man from GocU he needs to be born from above to see and enter the spiritual realm of grace; and third, a conforming con tact, namely, contact or faith in Christ causes the believer to correspond to the new life begotten by the Spirit. A Stupendous Fact The stupendous fact is, that man, like God, is an indes tructible being, for man like his Maker, is not capable of being destroyed. To admit the possibility is to admit the possibility of God Himself ceasing to be. The materialist and annihilationist say “ Death ends all” , but no one can make that statement in the light of the Word of God, for if there is one thing it teaches, it is that, while death sep arates the spirit from the body, death does not extinguish the spirit. To speak of man as “ an Immortal soul” is to say more than is written, for no where is soul said to be immortal,—- for “ soul” in the primary sense means the animal life, and that goes out at death, for we are told “ the life” ( “ soul,” the Hebrew, .“ nephesh,” for soul, and life as the animating principle of the bodyfti “ of the flesh is in the blood.” But while the “ soul” ceases to be, the “ man” still exists, for he being a spirit is independent of the body in which he lived.' The word “ mortal” is the opposite of “ immortal,” and is only applied to the body (see Romans 6:12; 8:2; 1 Cor. 15:63, 64; 2 Cor. 4:11; 5 :4 ), and means “ death- doomed,” or “ capable of death.” “ Immortality” means “ that which is incapable of fleath,” so to speak of man losing his immortality by sin is to make a statement which 1 b not correct, for if man were incapable of death, how could sin make him die? But, being mortal, he was cap able of death. The word for incorruption and immortality is never applied to man’s soul nor his present body, but it is used of God as the “ incorruptible God,” and of Christ as the glorified man, who is said to be “ the King eternal, immortal;” and “ immortal” and “ incorruption” are also applied to the glorified body of the believer, (see 1 Cor. 15:42, 50, 53, 54). Therefore, immortality is a state of incorruptibility, bliss, and holiness, in a glorified body, from which it is impossible to fall. While the above is true of the believer, we must not lose sight of the tremendous fact that man, as man, is an inde structible being and therefore has an endless existence. This is implied by Christ’s own words, when he speaks of the. undying worm, the unquenchable fire, and the unmoved wrath. To say “ the wrath of God abideth” on man when there was no man upon which it could abide, would be not
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