But when God,
who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to
reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not
consult any man, Galatians 1:15-16
In all our study
and worship of Christ we find our thoughts ever gathering round these five
points: The Incarnate Christ, the Crucified Christ, the Enthroned Christ, the
Indwelling Christ, and Christ coming in glory. If the first be the seed, the second
is the seed cast into the ground, and the third the seed growing up to the very
heaven. Then follows the fruit through the Holy Spirit, Christ dwelling in the
heart; and then the gathering of the fruit into the garner when Christ appears.
Paul tells us that it pleased God to reveal His Son in Him. And he gives his testimony to the result of that revelation: "Christ lives in me"
Paul tells us that it pleased God to reveal His Son in Him. And he gives his testimony to the result of that revelation: "Christ lives in me"
I have
been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and
gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Of that life he says that its chief mark is that he is crucified
with Christ. It is this that enables him to say, "I live no longer";
in Christ he had found the death of self. Just as the Cross is the chief
characteristic of Christ Himself "A lamb as it had been slain in the midst
of the throne" so the life of Christ in Paul made him inseparably one with
his crucified Lord. So completely was this the case that he could say:
"Far be it from me to glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which I am crucified to the world."
If you had asked Paul, if Christ so actually lived in him that he no longer lived, what became of his responsibility? the answer was ready and clear: "I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." His life was every moment a life of faith in Him who had loved him and given Himself so completely that He had undertaken at all times to be the life of His willing disciple.
This was the sum and substance of all Paul's teaching. He asks for intercession that he might speak "the mystery of Christ"; "even the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 2: 2; 1:27). The indwelling Christ was the secret of his life of faith, the one power, the one aim of all his life and work, the hope of glory. Let us believe in the abiding presence of Christ as the sure gift to each one who trusts Him fully.
If you had asked Paul, if Christ so actually lived in him that he no longer lived, what became of his responsibility? the answer was ready and clear: "I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me." His life was every moment a life of faith in Him who had loved him and given Himself so completely that He had undertaken at all times to be the life of His willing disciple.
This was the sum and substance of all Paul's teaching. He asks for intercession that he might speak "the mystery of Christ"; "even the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 2: 2; 1:27). The indwelling Christ was the secret of his life of faith, the one power, the one aim of all his life and work, the hope of glory. Let us believe in the abiding presence of Christ as the sure gift to each one who trusts Him fully.
No comments:
Post a Comment