April 1930
189
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
< that life in the believer begins in the purpose of God. Unless God began it, it would have no beginning. It is a creation of God and the beginning of it is found in God’s desire to save man, not in man’s desire to be saved. Not only the commencement but the continuation of it depends upon God alone. It is His work which sustains and main tains the life of the new creation. The old was ruined by man’s sin, the new is preserved by God’s power. It is “kept by the power of God” (1 Pet. 1:5), and “pre served in Jesus Christ” (Jude 1). The completion of the new creation also depends upon God, and that He will complete it we are assured by the Holy Spirit, who de clares that “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ’ (Phil. 1 :6). Thus it is the purpose of God which begins the new cre ation, his power continues it, and his promise to complete it has been given. This surely is a threefold cord not to be broken. , C ommun ity of R ela t ion sh ip - The new creation.bears the same relationship to God as the risen Christ, that is, the relationship of a child to a father. The idea of the believer being born of God is met with again and again in the New Testament. For example, “As tnany as received him [Christ] to them gave he power to become the sons of God . . . which were born . . . of God” (John 1:12, 13). “Of his [God’s] own will begat he us” (Jas. 1 :18). “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3 :26). “Behold, what man ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (“and such we are,” the R. V. adds) (1 John 3:1). The relationship is estab lished by birth, and by as.ieal a birth as any received by natural generation. This birth introduces the believer into the family of the new creation, and gives him a place among all the brethren who are in that family by the same birth. There may be elder children, but the youngest member is as much in the family as the oldest. Hence the youngest and the feeblest, the one who was born but yesterday, is as much in the family as the Apostle Paul. Paul has been in the family for a longer period, has been of much more value to the family, is a far finer specimen of what the children should be; but, as far as the relationship is con cerned, he is no more truly a son than is the new-born babe of yesterday. The entrance into the family is the same for both—by birth. Christ, risen from the dead, the beginning of the new creation, we say it with all reverence, was the first child in this family, the first to bear this relationship. He is, the Holy Spirit says, the “first-born among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). Again, under a different figure, the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ is the “first-fruits” of the har vest (1 Cor. 15). It'is true that as the “only begotten” he could have no brethren, but as the “first-born” He does have brethren, and they are sinners who have believed in Him, of whom it is written, “I f any man be in Christ, there is a new creation.” The creature is under the legal requirements of God the Judge, but the child is under the discipline of God the Father. Hence the question of sin in the believer imme diately becomes a matter for discipline within the family, As a sinner, the believer met God the Judge in the per son of the sinner’s Substitute, in whom and by whom every question was answered and every- penalty paid. As a saint the believer now dwells with God the Father and
is under the Father’s discipline. The necessary discipline under which the child is governed does not and cannot disannul the relationship. C ommun ity of P ossessions The glorious possessions of this new creation might .well be the envy of the highest angel. For the want of space only two of these possessions are here mentioned. First, the new creation has a righteousness which can not be lost. It is of the same kind as that of its head, i.e., Christ. It is not therefore a righteousness which one might secure by wholly keeping the perfect law of God (that would be one’s own righteousness), but it is “the righteousness of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9). “For he hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). It is for this reason it is said, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). This “therefore” carries us back over the former portion of the book of Romans in which is re vealed the fact that every possible avenue over which condemnation might come against the believer has been forever closed by the all-sufficient substitutionary work of Christ upon the Cross, and the indissoluble union of the believer with Him as risen from the dead. By this work and this union the believer is said to be “in Christ” and as such possesses the righteousness which pertains to Christ. Hence our Lord could say, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me . . . shall not come into condemnation” (John 5 :24). And for the same reason the Holy Spirit can tri umphantly ask, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? I t is God that justifieth. Who is he that con- demneth? I t is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again” (Rom. 8:33, 34). Second, the new creation has an inheritance which can not be impaired or marred. All that is possessed by the new creation is “in Christ.” It is of Him, we are told, “in whom also we have obtained an inheritance” (Eph. 1:11). All who possess the Salvation of' Scripture are “in Christ.” Only as being in Him is there the new Cre ation, which is begotten of God. In writing to these “be gotten” ones the Holy' Spirit says, “Blessed ' be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us . . . to an inheri tance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away” (1 Pet. 1:3, 4). This inheritance is that which pertains to Christ, the Head of the new creation. Not long ago there gathered to hear the reading of a will a number of persons who were heirs according-to the provisions of that will. One of these persons received $200, and another received $20,000. Both wére heirs but not joint heirs. In the case of the new creation, however, the Holy Spirit Himself beareth witness that “we are the children of God: and i f children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16, 17). What accrues to Christ, ac crues to each one who has the Salvation of Scripture, i.e., to each of whom it is said, “I f any mam be in Christ, there is a new creation.” Much more might be said concerning the extent of the Salvation of Scripture, and, the Lord willing, may come before us in a future paper.
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