Biblical Essays
“THE MAN OF GOD”
“That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:17).
The above sentence occurs in Paul’s second Epistle to his beloved son Timothy – an epistle marked by intense individuality. Thoughtful students of Scripture notice the striking contrast between the two Epistles of Paul to Timothy. In the first, the church is presented in its order, and Timothy is instructed regarding how he is to behave himself therein. In the second, on the contrary, the church is presented in its ruin. The house of God has become the great house in which there are vessels to dishonor as well as vessels to honor; and where errors and evils abound – heretical teachers and false professors of faith.
In this epistle of individuality the expression, “The man of God” is used with obvious force and meaning. It is in times of general ruin, failure, declension, and confusion that the faithfulness, devotedness, and decision of the individual man of God are specially called for. And it is a signal mercy for such a one to know that as a responsible witness for Christ on this earth, it is the privilege of the individual to tread as lofty a path, to taste as deep communion, and to enjoy as rich blessings, as ever were or could be known in the church's brightest and palmiest days.
This is a most encouraging and consolatory fact – one established by many infallible proofs, and set forth in the passage of singular weight and power from which our heading is taken; and which we shall now quote at length. “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:17; The word rendered ‘perfect,’ here occurs only this once in the entire New Testament. It is artios, signifying ready, complete, well fitted as an instrument with all its strings, a machine with all its parts, a body with all its limbs, joints, muscles, and sinews. The usual word for ‘perfect’ is telios, signifying the reaching of the moral end in any particular thing).
Here, in the midst of ruin, confusion, heresies and moral pravities of the last days, we have “the man of God” standing forth in his own distinct individuality, “perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works.” What more could be said in the church’s brightest days? With all its display of power and glory, is there anything higher or better, or more solid on the Day of Pentecost than that which is set forth in the words “perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works”?
Is it not a signal mercy in a dark and evil day for anyone who desires to stand for God, to be told that in spite of darkness, evil, error and confusion, he possesses that which can make a child wise unto salvation; that which can make a man perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works? Assuredly it is; and with full and overflowing hearts we praise our God for it. In days like these, having access to the eternal fountain of inspiration where the child and the man can meet and drink and be satisfied – that fountain so clear that we cannot see its depth; so deep that we cannot reach the bottom – that peerless, priceless Volume that meets the child at his mother’s knee and makes him wise unto salvation; and meets the man in the most advanced stage of his life and makes him perfect and fully furnished for exigency of every hour. However, before closing this essay we shall have occasion to look more particularly at “the man of God,” and to briefly consider the special force and meaning of the term. We are fully persuaded that there is much more involved in it than is ordinarily understood.
There are three aspects in which man is presented in Scripture; man in nature; a man in Christ; and the man of God. One might think that the second and third are synonymous; but we find a material difference between them. True, we must be a man in Christ before we can be a man of God; but by no means are they interchangeable terms.
Part 1 – Man In Nature
This is a very comprehensive phrase. Under this title we find every possible shade of character – temperament and disposition. On the platform of nature, man graduates between two extremes. We may view him at the very highest point of cultivation, or at the very lowest point of degradation. We may see him surrounded with all the advantages, refinements and so-called dignities of civilized life; or we may find him sunk in all the shameless and barbarous customs of savage existence. We may view him in the almost numberless grades, ranks, classes, and castes into which the human family has distributed itself.
Then again, in the same class or caste we find the most vivid contrasts in the way of character, temper, and disposition. For example, there is a man of such an atrocious temper that he is the horror of everyone who knows him. He is the plague of his family circle and a nuisance to society. He can only be compared to a porcupine with all his quills perpetually up; and if we meet him once we will never wish to meet him again. On the other hand, there is a man of the sweetest disposition and most amiable temper. He is just as attractive as the other is repulsive. He is a tender, loving, faithful husband; a kind, affectionate, considerate father; a kindly, genial neighbor; a generous friend, beloved by all, and justly so. The more we know him the more we like him, and if we meet him once we wish to meet him again.
Further, on the platform of nature we may meet a man who is false and deceitful to the core. He delights in lying, cheating, and deception. Even where there is no object to be gained or interest to be served, he would rather tell a lie than the truth. He is mean and contemptible in his thoughts, words, and ways; a man to whom all who know him give him a wide berth. On the other hand, we may meet a man of high principle, frank, honorable, generous, and upright; one who would scorn to tell a lie, or do a mean action, whose reputation is unblemished – his character unexceptionable. His word would be taken for any amount; he is one with whom all who know him would be glad to have dealings; a wholesome natural character.
Finally, as we pass to and fro on nature’s platform, we may meet the atheist who denies the existence of God; the infidel who denies God’s revelation; the skeptic and – the rationalist who disbelieves everything. On the other hand, we will meet the superstitious devotee who spends his time in prayers, fasting, ordinances, and ceremonies; and who feels sure he is earning a place in heaven by a wearisome round of religious observances that actually unfit him for the proper functions and responsibilities of domestic and social life. We may meet men of every imaginable shade of religious opinion, high church, low church, broad church, and no church; men who, without a spark of divine life in their souls, are contending for the powerless forms of a traditionally accepted religion.
Now, there is one grand and awfully solemn fact common to all these various classes, castes, grades, shades, and conditions of men who occupy the platform of nature – there is not as much as a single link between them and heaven; there is no link with the Man who sits at the right hand of God; no link with the new creation. They are without Christ and without hope. They are unconverted. They do not have eternal life. However they may differ, morally, socially, and religiously, regarding God, Christ, eternal life, and heaven, they all stand on one common ground; they are far from God; they are out of Christ; they are in their sins; they are in the flesh; they are of the world; they are on their way to hell.
This being the case, it follows as a necessary and terrible consequence, that, underneath the platform of nature, and in front of all who stand thereon, there are the flames of an everlasting hell. If we are to listen to the voice of Holy Scripture there is no getting over this. False teachers may deny it. Infidels may pretend to smile contemptuously at the idea; but Scripture is as plain as plainness itself. In manifold places it speaks of a fire that never shall be quenched, and of a worm that shall never die.
It is the height of folly for anyone to seek to set aside the plain testimony of the Word of God on this most solemn and weighty subject. Far better, with all its weight and authority, to let that testimony fall on the heart and conscience – infinitely better to flee from the wrath to come than to attempt to deny that it is coming, because when it does come it will abide forever, forever, forever, and forever. Tremendous thought; overwhelming consideration. May it speak with living power to the soul of the unconverted, leading to cry, “What is to be done?”
Yes, here is the question, “What must I do to be saved?” The divine answer is wrapped up in the following words that dropped from the lips of two of Christ's highest and most gifted ambassadors. “Repent and be converted,” said Peter to the Jew. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house,” said Paul to the Gentile. And again, in summing up his own ministry the latter of these two blessed messengers defines the whole matter: “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
How simple and real. How deep and practical. It is not a nominal, national belief. It is not flippantly saying, “I believe.” No; it is something far deeper and more serious than this. It is to be feared that in this day a large amount of those who profess faith do so superficial. There are large numbers of those who throng Bible teaching rooms and preaching assemblies who are wayside and stony ground hearers. The plough has never passed over them. The fallow ground has never been broken up. The arrow of conviction has never pierced them through and through. They have never been smashed to pieces, turned inside out, thoroughly revolutionized. The preaching of the Gospel to such is like scattering precious seed on the hard asphalt, the pavement, or the beaten highway. It never penetrates. It does not enter into the depths of the soul; the conscience is not reached; the heart is not affected. The seed lies on the surface and is carried away by the first passing breeze.
This is not all. It is also to be feared that many preachers in this age, in their efforts to make the Gospel simple, lose sight of the eternal necessity of repentance, i.e., the contrite heart, and the essential necessity of the action of the Holy Spirit, without which so-called faith is a mere human exercise and passes away like the vapors of the morning, leaving the soul still in the region of nature, satisfied with self, daubed with the untempered mortar of a merely human Gospel that cries peace, peace, where there is no peace, but the most imminent danger.
All this is serious and should lead the soul into profound exercise. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath eternal life.” This is a grand reality, without which have we have nothing. We are still on that platform of nature of which we have spoken so much. Yes, we are still there, no matter if we are the fairest specimen to be found there – amiable, polished, affable, frank, generous, truthful, upright, honorable, attractive, beloved, learned, cultivated, and even pious after a merely human fashion. We may be all this, and yet not have a single pulsation of eternal life in our soul.
This may sound harsh, stern, and severe. But it is true; and sooner or later we will find out its truth. Hopefully, all of us will find it out now. In the fullest sense of that word, we are a thorough bankrupt. A deed of bankruptcy has been filed against us in the high court of heaven. Here are its terms, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Have you ever pondered these words? Have you ever seen their application to yourself? As long as you are unrepentant, unconverted, unbelieving, you cannot do a single thing to please God – not one. “In the flesh” and “on the platform of nature” mean the same thing; and as long as we are there we cannot please God. “You must be born again” – renewed in the deepest springs of our being, unrenewed nature is wholly unable to see and unfit to enter the kingdom of God. You must be born of water and of the Spirit. There is no other way by which to enter the kingdom. We do not reach the blessed kingdom of God by self-improvement, but by new birth. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh;” and “the flesh profiteth nothing,” for “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
How distinct; how pointed; how full; how personal is all this. It will not do to generalize – to rest satisfied with saying, “We are all sinners.” No; it is an intensely individual matter. “You must be born again.” If you again ask, “How?” hear the divine response from the lips of the Master Himself, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Here is the sovereign remedy and God’s own blessed promise for every broken-hearted, conscience-smitten, hopelessly ruined, hell deserving sinner; for everyone who knows he is lost; who confesses his sins, and judges himself; for every weary, heavy laden, sin-burdened soul – Jesus died, that we might live. He was condemned, that we might be justified. He drank the cup of wrath, that we might drink the cup of salvation. Behold Him hanging on yonder cross for us. See what He did for us. Believe that He satisfied, on our behalf, all the claims – the infinite and everlasting claims of the throne of God. See all our sins laid on Him – our guilt imputed to Him – our entire condition represented and disposed of by Him. See His atoning death perfectly answering for all that was or ever could be brought against us. See Him rising from the dead, having accomplished all. See Him ascending into the heavens, bearing in His divine Person the marks of His finished atonement. See Him seated on the throne of God, in the very highest place of power. See Him crowned with glory and honor. Truly believe in Him there, and we will receive the gift of eternal life – the seal of the Holy Spirit – the earnest of the inheritance. You will pass off the platform of nature – you will be “A man in Christ.”
Part 2 – A Man In Christ
To all whose eyes have been opened to see their true condition by nature – who have been brought under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit; who know something of the real meaning of a broken heart and contrite spirit – to all such it must be of the deepest possible interest to know the divine secret of rest and peace. If it be true (and it is true, because God says it) that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” – then how is anyone to get out of the flesh? How can we pass off the platform of nature? How can we reach the blessed position of those to whom the Holy Spirit declares, “Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit?”
These are momentous questions. Because, regarding our standing before God, no improvement of our old nature is of any value whatsoever. As far as this life is concerned, it may be well for a man to improve himself by all means within his reach – to cultivate his mind, furnish his memory, elevate his moral tone, and advance his social position.
But, admitting in the fullest manner the truth of all this leaves untouched the solemn and sweeping statement of the inspired apostle that “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.” There must be a completely new standing, and this new standing cannot be reached by any change in the old nature – by any doings, sayings, feelings, prayers, alms, sacraments and ordinances of religion. Do what we will with nature, and it is still nature. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh;” and do what we will with flesh, we cannot make it spirit. There must be a new life – a life flowing from the new man, the last Adam, who, in resurrection, has become the Head of a new race.
How is this most precious life to be had? Hear the memorable answer – hear it, and live. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
Here we have a total change of standing; a passing from death to life; from a position in which there is not as much as a single link with heaven; with the new creation; with the risen Man in glory, into a position in which there is not a single link with the first man; not a single link with the old creation, and this present evil world. All this is through believing on the Son of God – not just saying we believe, but really, truly, heartily, believing on the Son of God – not by a head belief, a nominal, notional, intellectual faith – but by truly believing with the heart.
Every true, obedient believer is a man in Christ. Whether it is the convert of yesterday or the hoary-headed saint of fifty or sixty years’ standing as a Christian, each stands in precisely the same blessed position – he is in Christ. There can be – there is no difference here. The practical state may differ immensely; but the positive standing is one and the same. As on the platform of nature, one may meet with every imaginable shade, grade, class, and condition, but all have one common standing. The same is true regarding the new, divine, heavenly platform; one may meet with every possible variety of practical condition: the greatest possible difference in intelligence, experience, and spiritual power, but all possess the same standing before God – all are in Christ. There can be no degrees regarding standing, whatever there may be regarding state. The convert of yesterday and the hoary headed father in Christ are both alike as to standing. Each is a man in Christ, and there can be no advance on this. We sometimes hear of “The higher Christian life;” but, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a higher or lower Christian life, because Christ is the life of every true believer. It may be that those who use the term mean a right thing. They probably refer to the higher stages of the Christian life; greater nearness to God; greater likeness to Christ; greater power in the Spirit – more devotedness; more separation from the world; more consecration of heart to Christ. But all these things belong to the question of our state, not to our standing. This latter is absolute, settled, and unchangeable. It is in Christ – nothing less, nothing more, nothing different. If we are not in Christ, we are in our sins; but if we are in Christ, we cannot possibly be higher regarding standing.
If we turn to 1 Corinthians 15:45-48 we find some powerful teaching on this foundation truth. The apostle speaks of two men, “the first and the second.” And let it be carefully noted that the second Man is, by no means, federally connected with the first, but stands in contrast with him – in Himself a new, independent, divine, heavenly source of life. The first man has been entirely set aside as a ruined, guilty, outcast creature. We speak of Adam federally – as the head of a race. Personally, Adam was saved by grace; but if we look at him from a federal standpoint, we see him a hopeless wreck.
The first man is an irremediable ruin. This is proved by the fact of a second Man, for truly we may say of the men of the covenants, “If the first had been found faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” But the fact of a second Man being introduced, demonstrates the hopeless ruin of the first. Why a second, if anything could be made of the first? If our old Adam nature was capable of being improved, there was no need of something new. But “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Rom. 8; Gal. 6).
There is immense moral power in this line of teaching. It sets forth Christianity in vivid and striking contrast with every form of religiousness under the sun. Take Judaism or any other that ever was known or that now exists in this world, and what do we find it to be? Is it not invariably something designed for the testing, trying, improvement, or advancement of the first man?
But what is Christianity? It is something entirely new; it is heavenly, spiritual, and divine. It is based on the cross of Christ, in which the first man came to his end – where sin was put away; judgment borne; the old man crucified and put out of God’s sight forever, as far as all believers are concerned. For faith, the cross closes the history of the first man. “I am crucified with Christ,” says the apostle. And again, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.”
Are these mere figures of speech, or, in the mighty words of the Holy Spirit, do they set forth the grand fact of the entire setting aside of our old nature, as a thing utterly worthless and condemned? The latter most assuredly. From the open grave of the second Man, Christianity starts to pursue its bright career onward to eternal glory. Emphatically, it is a new creation in which there is not so much as a single shred of the old thing – for “all things are of God.” And if “all things” are of God, there can be nothing of man.
What rest, comfort, strength, and moral elevation. What sweet relief for the burdened soul that has, for perhaps years, sought to find peace through self-improvement. What deliverance from the wretched thralldom of legality in all its phases to find out the precious secret that our guilty, ruined, bankrupt self – the very thing that we have been trying to improve by every means in our power, has been completely and forever set aside – that God is not looking for any amendment in it – that He has condemned it and put it to death in the cross of His Son. What an answer for the monk, the ascetic, and the ritualist. Oh that it were understood in all its emancipating powers – this heavenly, divine, spiritual Christianity. We believe that if it were known in all its living power and reality, it would deliver the soul from the thousand and one forms of corrupt religion whereby the arch-enemy and deceiver is ruining the souls of untold millions. We may truly say that Satan’s masterpiece – his most successful effort against the truth of the Gospel, against the Christianity of the New Testament – is seen in the fact that he is leading unconverted people to take and apply to themselves ordinances of the Christian religion; to profess many of its doctrines. In this way he blinds us to our true condition, i.e., utterly ruined, guilty, and undone; and strikes a deadly blow at the pure Gospel of Christ. The best piece that was ever put on the “old garment” of man’s ruined nature is the profession of Christianity; and, the better the piece, the worse the rent (see Mark 2:21).
Let us bend an attentive ear to the following words of the greatest teacher and best exponent of true Christianity the world ever saw. “For I through law am dead to law, that I might live to God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Mark this, “I – not I – but Christ.” The old “I” – “crucified.” The new “I” – Christ. “And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:19, 20; one will distinguish between ‘in the flesh’ as used in Gal. 2:20, and in Rom. 8:8, 9. In the former, it simply refers to our condition as in the body. In the latter, it sets forth the principle or ground of our standing. The true believer is in the body as to the fact of his condition; but is not in the flesh as to the principle of his standing.).
This, and nothing else, is Christianity. It is not “the old man” – the first Adam – nature, becoming religious, even though the religion is profession of the doctrines, and adopting of the ordinances of Christianity. No; it is the death, crucifixion, burial of the old man – the old “I” – the old nature, and becoming a new man in Christ. Every true believer is a new man in Christ. He has passed out of the old creation – standing – the old estate of sin and death, guilt and condemnation; and has passed into a new creation-standing – into a new estate of life and righteousness in a risen and glorified Christ – the Head of the new creation – the last Adam.
Such is the position and unalterable standing of the feeblest true believer in Christ. There is absolutely no other standing for any Christian. We must either be in the first man or the second. There is no third man, for the second Man is the last Adam. There is no middle ground. We are either in Christ, or we are in our sins. But if we are in Christ, we are as He is before God. “As he is so are we, in this world.” He does not say, “As he was” but “as he is.” In other words, the Christian is viewed by God as one with Christ, in every respect – His Deity, of course, excepted, as being incommunicable. That blessed One stood in the believer's stead – bore his sins, died his death, paid his penalty, represented him, in every respect; took all his guilt, all his liabilities, all that pertained to him as a man in nature, stood as his substitute in all the verity and reality of that word, and having divinely met his case and borne his judgment, He rose from the dead and is now the Head, the Representative – the only true definition of the believer before God.
Holy Scripture bears ample testimony to this glorious and enfranchising truth. The passage just quoted from Galatians is a vivid, powerful, and condensed statement of it. Turning to Romans 6, we find further evidence. We shall quote some of the weighty sentences. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Far be the thought. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also of resurrection. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:1-11).
Especially notice these words in the foregoing quotation: “We that are dead” – “We are buried with him” – “Like as Christ was raised...even so we also” – “Our old man is crucified with him” – “Dead with Christ” – “Dead indeed unto sin.” Do we really understand such utterances? Have we entered into their real force and meaning? Do we perceive their application to ourselves? These are searching questions for the heart; but they are needful. The real doctrine of Romans 6 is rarely apprehended. There are thousands who profess to believe in the atoning virtue of the death of Christ, but who do not see anything therein beyond the forgiveness of their sins. They do not see the crucifixion, death, and burial of the old man – the destruction of the body of sin – the condemnation of sin – the entire setting aside of the old system of things belonging to their first Adam condition – in a word their perfect identification with a dead and risen Christ. We press this grand and all-important line of truth on the attention of our readers, because it lies at the very base of all true Christianity, forming an integral part of the truth of the Gospel.
Let us hearken to further evidence on the point. Hear what the apostle says to the Colossians: “Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, after the commandments and doctrines of men, [such as] touch not, taste not, handle not [thus it is that human ordinances speak to us, telling us not to touch this, not to taste that, not to handle the other, as if there could possibly be any divine principle involved in such things] which all are to perish with the using; [and which] have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (emphasis added).
Here, again, let us inquire how far we enter into the true force, meaning, and application of such words as these – “Why as though living in the world,” etc.? Are we living in the world or living in heaven – which? The true Christian is one who has died out of this present evil world. He has no more to do with it than Christ. “Like as Christ...even so we.” He is dead to the law – dead to sin: alive in Christ – alive to God – alive in the new creation. He belongs to heaven. He is enrolled as a citizen of heaven. His religion, politics, and morals are all heavenly. He is a heavenly man walking on the earth, and fulfilling all the duties that belong to the varied relationships in which the hand of God has placed him, and in which the Word of God most fully recognizes him, and amply guides him, such as husband, father, child, employee, employer, and such like. The Christian is not a monk, an ascetic, or a hermit. He is, we repeat, a heavenly, spiritual man – in the world, but not of it. He is like a foreigner as far as his residence here is concerned. He is in the body, pertaining to the fact of his condition; but not in the flesh pertaining to the principle of his standing. He is a man in Christ.
Before closing this part of the essay, we would like to call attention to 2 Corinthians 12. In it we find the standing and state of the true believer. The standing is fixed and unalterable as set forth in that one comprehensive sentence – “A man in Christ.” The state may graduate between the two extremes presented in the opening and closing verses of this chapter. A Christian may be in the third heaven, amid the seraphic visions of that blessed and holy place; or he may, if not watchful, sink down into the gross and evil things named in verses 20, 21.
It may be asked, “Is it possible that a true child of God could ever be found in such a low moral condition?” Yes, it is indeed possible. There is no depth of sin and folly into which a Christian is not capable of plunging, if not kept by the grace of God. Even the blessed apostle himself, when he came down from the third heaven, needed “a thorn in the flesh” to keep him from being “exalted above measure.” We might suppose that a man who had been up in that bright and blessed region could never again feel the stirrings of pride. But the plain fact is that even the third heavens cannot cure the flesh. It is utterly incorrigible, and must be judged and kept under, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment; else it will cut out plenty of sorrowful work for us.
Still, nothing can touch the true believer’s standing. He is in Christ, forever – justified, accepted, perfect in Him, and never can be anything else. And, moreover, he must always judge his state by his standing, never his standing by his state. To attempt to reach the standing by our state is legalism, to refuse to judge our state by the standing is antinomianism. Both – though diverse one from the other – are alike false – alike opposed to the truth of God – alike offensive to the Holy Spirit – alike removed from the divine idea of “A Man In Christ.”
Part 3 – The Man Of God
Having considered the deeply interesting questions of “a man in nature” and “a man in Christ,” it remains for us, now, to briefly dwell on the third and last place, the thoroughly practical subject suggested by the title of this essay – The man of God.
It would be a mistake to suppose that every Christian is a man of God. Even in Paul’s day – in the days of Timothy, there were those who bore the Christian name who were far from acquitting themselves as men of God, that is, as those who were really God’s men, in the midst of the failure and error which, even then, had begun to creep in.
It is the perception of this fact that renders the Second Epistle to Timothy so profoundly interesting. In it we have what we may call ample provision for the man of God, in the day in which he is called to live – a dark, evil, and perilous day, most surely, in which all who will live godly must keep the eye steadily fixed on Christ Himself – His Name – His Person – His Word, if they would make any headway against the tide.
It is hardly possible to read Second Timothy without being struck with its intensely individual character. The opening address is strikingly characteristic. “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.”
What glowing words – how affecting to hearken thus to one man of God pouring the deep and tender feelings of his great, large, loving heart into the heart of another man of God. The dear apostle was beginning to feel the chilling influence that was fast creeping over the church. He was tasting the bitterness of disappointed hopes. He found himself deserted by many who had once professed to be his friends and associates in that glorious work to which he had consecrated all the energies of his great soul. Many were becoming “ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, and of his prisoner.” It was not that they altogether ceased to be Christians, or abandoned the Christian profession; but they turned their backs on Paul, and left him alone in the day of trial.
It is under such circumstances that the heart turns with peculiar tenderness to individual faithfulness and affection. If one is surrounded by true hearted confessors – by a great cloud of witnesses – a large army of good soldiers of Jesus Christ – if the tide of devotedness flows around one, bearing him on its bosom, he is not so dependent on individual sympathy and fellowship.
On the other hand, when the general condition of things is low – when the majority proves faithless – when old associates are dropping off, it is then that personal grace and true affection are specially valued. The dark background of general declension throws individual devotedness into beauteous relief.
Thus it is in this exquisite Epistle now before us. It does the heart good to hearken to the breathings of the aged prisoner of Jesus Christ who can speak of serving God from his forefathers with a pure conscience, and of unceasing remembrance of his beloved son and true yoke fellow.
It is especially interesting to notice that, both in reference to his own history and that of his beloved friend, Paul goes back to facts of very early date in their own individual path – facts prior to their meeting one another, and prior to what we may call their church associations – important and interesting as these things most surely are in their place. From his forefathers, Paul had served God with pure conscience, before he had known a fellow Christian. This he could continue to do though deserted by his Christian companions. So also, in the case of his faithful friend, he says, “I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice: and I am persuaded that in thee also.”
This is touching and beautiful. We are struck with such references to the previous history of those beloved men of God. The “pure conscience” of one and “the unfeigned faith” of the other indicate two grand moral qualities which all must possess if they would prove true men of God in a dark and evil day. In all things the former has its immediate reference to the one living and true God; the latter draws all its springs from Him. That leads us to walk before God; this enables us to walk with Him. Both together are indispensable in forming the character of the true man of God.
It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of keeping a pure conscience before God in all our ways. It is positively invaluable. It leads us to refer everything to God. It keeps us from being tossed here and there by every wave and current of human opinion. It imparts stability and consistency to the entire course and character. We are all in imminent danger of falling under human influence – of shaping our way according to the thoughts of others, adopting their cue and mounting their hobby.
All this is destructive of the character of the man of God. If we take our tone from others; if we allow ourselves to be formed in a merely human mold; if our faith stands in the wisdom of man; if our object is to please men, then instead of being a man of God, we will become a member of a party or clique. We will lose that lovely freshness and originality so essential to the individual servant of Christ, and become marked by the peculiar and dominant features of a sect.
Let us carefully guard against this. It has ruined many a valuable servant. Many, who might have proved useful workmen in the vineyard, have failed completely through not maintaining the integrity of their individual character and path. They began with God. They started on their course in the exercise of a pure conscience, and in the pursuit of that path marked out for them by a divine hand. There was a bloom, a freshness, and a verdure about them, most refreshing to all who came in contact with them. They were taught of God. They drew near to the eternal fountain of Holy Scripture and drank for themselves. Perhaps they did not know much; but what they did know was real because they received it from God, and it turned to good account for “there is much food in the tillage of the poor.”
But, instead of going on with God, they allowed themselves to get under human influence; they got truth second-hand, and became the vendors of other men’s thoughts; instead of drinking at the fountain head, they drank at the streams of human opinion; they lost originality, simplicity, freshness, and power, and became mere copyists, if not miserable caricatures. Instead of giving forth those “rivers of living water” that flow from the true believer in Jesus, they dropped into the barren technicalities and cut and dry common-places of mere systematized religion.
All this must be sedulously guarded against. We must watch against it, pray against it, believe against it, and live against it. Let us seek to serve God with a pure conscience. Let us live in His immediate presence, in the light of His blessed countenance, in the holy intimacy of personal communion with Him, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We may rest assured this is the true secret of power for the man of God at all times and under all circumstances. We must walk with God in the deep and cherished sense of our personal responsibility to Him. This is what we understand by “a pure conscience.”
But will this tend to lessen our sense of the value of true fellowship – of Holy Communion with all those who are true to Christ? By no means; indeed it is the very thing that will impart power, energy, and depth of tone to the fellowship. What blessed fellowship there would be if every “man in Christ” were only acquitting himself thoroughly as “a man of God.” What heart work; what glow, what unmistakable power. How different from the dull formalism of a merely nominal assent to certain accredited dogmas of a party on one hand, and from the mere esprit de corps of cliquism, on the other.
There are few terms in common use as little understood as “fellowship.” In numberless cases, it merely indicates the fact of a nominal membership in some religious denomination – a fact that furnishes no guarantee whatsoever of living communion with Christ, or personal devotedness to His cause. If all who are nominally “in fellowship” were acquitting themselves thoroughly as men of God, what a different condition of things we would be privileged to witness.
But what is fellowship? In its highest expression, it is having one common object with God and taking part in the same portion; and that object – that portion is Christ – Christ known and enjoyed through the Holy Spirit. This is fellowship with God. It is a privilege, dignity, and unspeakable blessedness to have a common object and common portion with God – to delight in the One in whom He delights. There can be nothing higher, nothing better and nothing more precious than this. Not even in heaven itself shall we know anything beyond this. Our own condition will, thank God, be vastly different. We shall be done with a body of sin and death, and be clothed with a body of glory. We shall be done with a sinful, sorrowful, distracting world, where all is directly opposed to God and to us, and we shall breathe the atmosphere – the pure and exhilarating atmosphere of that bright and blessed world above. But, as far as our fellowship with God is concerned, it is now as it shall be then, “with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” – “In the light,” and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And regarding our fellowship one with another, it is simply as we walk in the light, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). We can have fellowship one with another only as we walk in the immediate presence of God. There may be a vast amount of mere togetherness without one single particle of divine fellowship. A great deal of what passes for Christian fellowship is nothing more than mere religious gossip – nothing can be more miserably unprofitable than the vapid, worthless, soul-withering chit-chat of the religious world. True Christian fellowship can only be enjoyed in the light. It is when we are individually walking with God in the power of personal communion that we really have fellowship one with another, and this fellowship consists in real heart enjoyment of Christ as our one object – our common portion. It is not heartless traffic in certain favorite doctrines which we receive and hold in common. It is not morbid sympathy with those who think, see, and feel with us in some favorite theory or dogma. It is something different from all this. It is delighting in Christ, in common with all those who are walking in the light. It is attachment to Him; to His Person; to His Name; to His Word; to His cause; to His people. It is joint consecration of heart and soul to that blessed One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and brought us into the light of God’s presence, there to walk with Him and with one another. This and nothing less is Christian fellowship; and where this is really understood it will lead us to pause and consider what we say when we declare in any given case, “such an one is in fellowship.”
But we must proceed with our Epistle, and there see what full provision there is for the man of God, however dark the day may be in which his lot is cast.
We have seen something of the importance – the indispensable necessity of “a pure conscience,” and “unfeigned faith,” in the moral equipment of God’s man. These qualities lie at the base of the entire edifice of practical godliness that must always characterize the genuine man of God.
But there is more. The edifice must be erected as well as the foundation laid. The man of God has to work on amid all sorts of difficulties, trials, sorrows, disappointments, obstacles, questions, and controversies. He has his niche to fill, his path to lead, his work to do. Come what may, he must serve. The enemy may oppose; the world may frown; the church may be in ruins around him; false brethren may thwart, hinder, and desert; strife, controversy, and division may arise and darken the atmosphere; still the man of God must move on, regardless of all these things – working, serving, testifying, according to the sphere in which the hand of God has placed him, and according to the gift bestowed on him. How is this to be done? Not only by keeping a pure conscience and the exercise of an unfeigned faith (priceless, indispensable qualities), but further, he has to hearken to the following word of exhortation – “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.”
The gift must be stirred up; else it may become useless if allowed to lie dormant. There is great danger of letting the gift drop into disuse through the discouraging influence of surrounding circumstances. A gift unused will soon become useless; whereas, a gift stirred up and diligently used grows and expands. It is not enough to possess a gift; we must wait on the gift, cultivate it, and exercise it. This is the way to improve it.
And observe the special force of the expression, “Gift of God.” In Ephesians 4 we read of “the gift of Christ,” and there, too, from the highest to the lowest range, we find all the gifts flowing down from Christ the risen and glorified Head of His body the church. But in 2 Timothy, we have it defined as “the gift of God.” Our Lord Christ is God over all, so that the gift of Christ is the gift of God. But we may rest assured that in Scripture there is never any distinction without a difference; and hence there is some good reason for the expression “gift of God.” We doubt not it is in full harmony with the nature and object of the Epistle in which it occurs. It is “the gift of God” communicated to “the man of God” to be used by him notwithstanding the hopeless ruin of the religious of man, and in spite of all the difficulty, darkness, and discouragement of the day in which his lot is cast.
The man of God must not allow himself to be hindered in the diligent cultivation and exercise of his gift, though everything seems to look dark and forbidding, for “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.” Here we have “God” introduced again to our thoughts in a gracious manner, furnishing His man with the very thing he needs to meet the special exigence of his day – “The Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
What a marvelous combination – truly, an exquisite compound after the art of the apothecary. Power, love and wisdom; how perfect. Not a single ingredient too much. Not one too little. If it were merely a spirit of power, it might lead one to carry things with a high hand. Were it merely a spirit of love, it might lead one to sacrifice truth for the sake of peace; or indolently tolerating error and evil, rather than giving offence. But the power is softened by the love; and the love is strengthened by the power; and the spirit of wisdom comes in to adjust both the power and the love. In other words, it is a divinely perfect and beautiful provision for the man of God – the very thing he needs for “the last days” so perilous, so difficult, so full of all sorts of perplexing questions and apparent contradictions. If one were to be asked what he would consider most necessary for such days as these? Surely he would say, “power, love, and soundness of mind.” Well, blessed be God, these are the very things that He has graciously given to form the character, shape the way, and govern the conduct of the man of God, right on to the end.
But there is further provision and further exhortation for the man of God. “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” In Pentecostal days, when the rich and mighty tide of divine grace was flowing in, and bearing thousands of ransomed souls on its bosom; when all were of one heart and one mind; when those outside were overawed by the extraordinary manifestations of divine power, it was a question of partaking of the triumphs of the Gospel, rather than its afflictions. But in the days contemplated in 2 Timothy, all is changed. The beloved apostle is a lonely prisoner at Rome; all in Asia had forsaken him; Hymeneus and Philetus are denying the resurrection; all sorts of heresies, errors, and evils are creeping in; the landmarks are in danger of being swept away by the tide of apostasy and corruption.
In the face of all this, the man of God has to brace himself up for the occasion. He has to endure hardness; to hold fast the form of sound words; he has to keep the good thing committed to him; to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; to keep himself disentangled – however he may be engaged; he must keep himself free as a soldier; he must cling to God’s sure foundation; He must purge himself from the dishonorable vessels in the great house; he must flee youthful lusts, and follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. He must avoid foolish and unlearned questions. He must turn away from formal and heartless professors of Christianity. He must be thoroughly furnished for all good works, perfectly equipped through knowledge of the Holy Scripture. He must preach the Word; be instant in season and out of season. He must watch in all things; endure afflictions; and do the work of an evangelist.
What a category for the man of God. Who is sufficient for these things? Where is the spiritual power to be had for such works? It is to be had at the mercy-seat. It is to be found in earnest, patient, believing, waiting on the living God, and in no other way. All our springs are in Him. We have only to draw on Him. He is sufficient for the darkest day. Difficulties are nothing to Him – they are bread for faith. Yes, difficulties of the most formidable nature are simply bread for faith, and the man of faith feeds on them and grows strong thereby. Unbelief says, “There is a lion in the way;” but faith can slay the strongest lion that ever roared along the path of the Nazarite of God. It is the true believer’s privilege to rise far above all the hostile influences surrounding him – no matter what they are, or from where they spring – and to enjoy as high communion in the calmness, quietness, and brightness of the divine presence.
Every man of God needs to remember it. There is no comfort, peace, strength, moral power, and no true elevation to be derived from looking at the ruins. We must look up out of the ruins to the place where our Lord Christ has taken His seat, at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. Or rather, speaking more to our true position, we should look down from our place in the heavens on all the ruins of earth. To realize our place in Christ, and to be occupied in heart and soul with Him, is the true secret of power to carry ourselves as men of God. To have Christ always before us – His work for the conscience, His Person for the heart, His Word for the path, is the one grand, sovereign, divine remedy for a ruined self; a ruined world; a ruined church.
But we must close. We would gladly linger over the contents of this most precious 2 Timothy. Truly refreshing would it be to dwell on all its touching allusions, earnest appeals, and weighty exhortations. But this would demand a volume, and so we leave the reader to study the epistle for himself, praying that the eternal Spirit who indicted it may unfold and apply it in living power to his soul, so that he may be enabled to acquit himself as an earnest, faithful, whole-hearted man of God and servant of Christ, in the midst of a scene of hollow Christian profession, and heartless worldly religiousness.
May the good Lord stir us all up to a more thorough consecration of ourselves, in spirit, soul, and body, i.e., all we are and all we have to His service. We long for this in the deep sense of our lack of it – long for it more intensely, as we grow increasingly sick of the unreal condition of things within and around us.
Let us earnestly, believingly, and perseveringly cry to our ever gracious God to make us more real; more whole-hearted; more thoroughly devoted in all things to our Lord Jesus Christ.
