The Normal Christian Life

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Contents

Preface..................................................................vii1. The Blood of Christ...................................................12. The Cross of Christ...................................................233. The Path of Progress: Knowing.........................................414. The Path of Progress: Reckoning.......................................555. The Divide of the Cross...............................................816. The Path of Progress: Presenting Ourselves to God.....................957. The Eternal Purpose...................................................1058. The Holy Spirit.......................................................1219. The Meaning and Value of Romans Seven.................................15110. The Path of Progress: Walking in the Spirit..........................17711. One Body in Christ...................................................20512. The Cross and the Soul Life..........................................22713. The Path of Progress: Bearing the Cross..............................25114. The Goal of the Gospel...............................................275

Chapter One

What is the normal Christian life? We do well at the outset to ponder this question. The object of these studies is to show that it is something very different from the life of the average Christian. Indeed a consideration of the written Word of God-of the Sermon on the Mount for example-should lead us to ask whether such a life has ever in fact been lived upon the earth, save only by the Son of God himself. But in that last saving clause lies immediately the answer to our question.

The apostle Paul gives us his own definition of the Christian life in Galatians 2:20. It is "no longer I, but Christ." Here he is not stating something special or peculiar-a high level of Christianity. He is, we believe, presenting God's normal for a Christian, which can be summarized in the words: I live no longer, but Christ lives his life in me.

God makes it quite clear in his Word that he has only one answer to every human need-his Son, Jesus Christ. In all his dealings with us he works by taking us out of the way and substituting Christ in our place. The Son of God died instead of us for our forgiveness: he lives instead of us for our deliverance. So we can speak of two substitutions-a Substitute on the Cross who secures our forgiveness and a Substitute within who secures our victory. It will help us greatly, and save us from much confusion, if we keep constantly before us this fact, that God will answer all our questions in one way and one way only, namely, by showing us more of his Son.

OUR DUAL PROBLEMS: SINS AND SIN

We shall take now as a starting-point for our study of the normal Christian life that great exposition of it which we find in the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, and we shall approach our subject from a practical and experimental point of view. It will be helpful first of all to point out a natural division of this section of Romans into two, and to note certain striking differences in the subject matter of its two parts.

The first eight chapters of Romans form a self-contained unit. The four-and-a-half chapters from 1:1 to 5:11 form the first half of this unit and the three-and-a-half chapters from 5:12 to 8:39 the second half. A careful reading will show us that the subject matter of the two halves is not the same. For example, in the argument of the first section we find the plural word "sins" given prominence. In the second section, however, this is changed, for while the word "sins" hardly occurs once, the singular word "sin" is used again and again and is the subject mainly dealt with. Why is this?

It is because in the first section it is a question of the sins I have committed before God, which are many and can be enumerated, whereas in the second it is a question of sin as a principle working in me. No matter how many sins I commit, it is always the one sin-principle that leads to them. I need forgiveness for my sins, but I need also deliverance from the power of sin. The former touches my conscience, the latter my life. I may receive forgiveness for all my sins, but because of my sin I have, even then, no abiding peace of mind.

When God's light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before him; but when once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within. I discover that I have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin, a power within that draws to sin. When that power breaks out I commit sins. I may seek and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more. So life goes on in a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again. I appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance. I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am.

GOD'S DUAL REMEDY: THE BLOOD AND THE CROSS

Thus in the first eight chapters of Romans two aspects of salvation are presented to us: firstly, the forgiveness of our sins, and secondly, our deliverance from sin. But now, in keeping with this fact, we must notice a further difference.

In the first part of Romans 1 to 8, we twice have reference to the Blood of the Lord Jesus, in chapter 3:25 and in chapter 5:9. In the second, a new idea is introduced in chapter 6:6, where we are said to have been "crucified" with Christ. The argument of the first part gathers around that aspect of the work of the Lord Jesus which is represented by "the Blood" shed for our justification through "the remission of sins." This terminology is, however, not carried on into the second section, where the argument centers now in the aspect of his work represented by "the Cross," that is to say, by our union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. This distinction is a valuable one. We shall see that the Blood deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin. The latter aspect will be the subject of our consideration in later chapters.

THE PROBLEM OF OUR SINS

We begin, then, with the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and its value to us in dealing with our sins and justifying us in the sight of God. This is set forth for us in the following passages:

"All have sinned" (Romans 3:23).

"God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him" (Romans 5:8-9).

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:24-26).

We shall have reason at a later stage in our study to look closely at the real nature of the Fall and the way of recovery. At this...