And He, Indeed it is Who gives the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,
the pastors and teachers for the readjusting of the saints, with a view to the
work of dispensing for the upbuilding of the body Christ, until we should all attain to
the unity of faith, and the realization of a son of God, to mature manhood,
to the adult stature of Christ's complement, that we should by no means still be minors
(Eph.4:11-14).
WITH the Readjustment of the Eons (Chapter VI) and the revelation of the
"secret designated before the eons for our glory" (1 Cor. 2:7,8; Eph.3:9-12),
there was created a necessity for "the readjusting of the saints" that they
might attain to the unity of faith and the realization of their sonship, maturity, and the
transcendent spiritual blessings and grace glorious with which they have been graced in
the Beloved in the Secret Administration which now obtains. That we may better appreciate
the realities of the spiritual blessings which are ours in Christ Jesus, it will be
helpful to go back and consider the elementary course of instruction, termed the
"first principles" of the oracles of God (Heb.5:12) by which God schooled the
sons of Israel, leading them to Christ, the great Antitype.
First, it is to be noted that, God dealt with His earthly
people as with a child. All from Moses to Christ were in the primary grade, so to speak,
their text book being composed of types and shadows, outward forms, and ordinances of a
divine service carried on in connection with a divine dwelling place. Through this
arrangement of material forms, God addressed Himself to their senses, and by means of the
object lessons or "first principles", instituted a parallel between the material
and the spiritual. The removal of bodily defilement by water, served to illustrate the
cleansing of spiritual uncleanness by means of His Word. A tabernacle, or a temple, made
of gold and silver and brass, of linen, of wood, and various other materials, typified His
glorious dwelling place, while the order of divine service carried on through a
priesthood, constituted the way of approach for blessing (Exodus, chapters 25,26, and 27).
In due time, Christ came (Gal.4:4), the great Antitype of
it all, and at the cross revealed the heart of God fully and perfectly. Since then God has
"filled up", or completed His Word, and now offers a complete course.
Christ Himself is our Text Book. In Him there is maturity (Col.1:25-28).
Wherefore, leaving the rudiments of the word of
Christ, we should be brought on to maturity, not disrupting again a foundation of
repentance from dead works, and faith on God, of the teaching of baptizings, besides the
imposition of hands as well as the resurrection of the dead, and eonian judgment. And
this will we be doing if God should be permitting (Heb.6:1-3).
This Scripture reveals that it is not God's purpose that
His people should always remain on the way and never reach the goal (Heb.5:11-14).
However, instead of the Hebrews leaving the rudiments of the Word of Christ for maturity,
they forsook them for apostasy. instead, by going back to Judaism, they crucified for
themselves the Son of God again, holding Him up to infamy. Yet while thinking upon
Israel's sad plight here in the sixth of Hebrews, there rings a solemn warning in our
ears:
Beware, that no one shall be despoiling You through
philosophy and empty seduction, in accord with human tradition, in accord with the
elements of the world, and not in accord with CHRIST (Col.2:8).
Beloved reader, this solemn admonition was not written
simply to fill up space in God's Word! It is a mighty appeal from the great loving heart
of God to His saints in behalf of their perfection, or completeness, in
Christ. Yet in spite of its warning, think of the multiplied multitudes who have gone
blindly into the snares and toils of men. True, exultant joy and heart satisfaction are
found only by those who know their completeness in Christ, and
that can only be found by heeding this divine "Beware"!
PHILOSOPHY AND HUMAN TRADITION
From the very first of these studies, I
have warned against philosophy and empty seduction in accord with human tradition. I have
been scrupulously tedious that it find no place in the work. The Scriptures in their
purity have been continually emphasized as sufficient to make us wise unto salvation,
through faith in Christ Jesus, and to fit us out for every good work. I realize the mighty
power of tradition, having observed very sorrowfully, through years of evangelism, its
effect among the saints of various faiths and orders. Over and over again, I have seen
them brought face to face with some blessed truth in God's Word, recognize and acknowledge
it, but turn their back upon it for their traditions. O how I would that God might be
pleased to use this feeble effort to sound forth His "Beware"! that everyone who
reads it may be blessed with the full heart-satisfying realization of their completeness
in Christ.
THE ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD
We are also warned to beware of philosophy
and empty seduction in accord with "the elements of the world". This brings us
face to face with the study of that which has despoiled Christendom today to such an
extent that if Paul were permitted to return he would find his worst fears realized. He
takes up the subject with the Galatian saints, by relating his former condition and that
of his Jewish brethren, when they were enslaved under the bondage of the elements of the
world, saying:
"Thus we, also, when we were minors, were enslaved
under the elements of the world. Now when the full time came, God delegates His
Son, Come of a woman, come under law, that He should be reclaiming those
under law, that we may be getting the place of a son" (Gal.4:3-5).
Here we find that the sons of Israel, during the period of
adolescence, were in bondage under "the elements of the world". These
"rudiments," or elementary religious observances, are "infirm and
poor" (verse 9), and are set in contrast with Christ and our completeness in Him
(Col.2:10). They were necessary in the education of Israel, and served an essential
purpose in the progress of revelation, but no one, knowing the liberty of sonship, would
tolerate their shackles for an instant. Some of the nations, coming to know God, and
obtaining the "spirit by hearing of faith," were despoiled through their
endeavoring to be "made perfect by the flesh" (Gal.3:2,3).
"But then, indeed, having no perception of God, you
are slaves of those who, by nature, are not gods. Yet now, knowing God, yet rather being
known by God, how are you turning back again to the infirm and poor elements for
which you want to slave again anew," (Gal.4:8,9)
In this Scripture we find Paul putting the Mosaic
ceremonial on a par with heathen rites! The gentiles, whom Paul addresses here, were not
turning back to their previous idolatry, but to observances under the law which they had
not practiced before, yet, in God's sight, it is all the same as if they had returned to
their old rites of heathenism! But what are these "infirm and poor elements" for
which they want to slave anew? Let us read it seriously:
"You are scrutinizing days and months
and seasons and years" (Gal.4:10).
There we have it as clear as language can make it. Dear
reader, do you observe any of these things? If you do, you are under bondage and
being despoiled in the sight of God. Think of poor despoiled Christendom! What
would Paul say if he could look upon their ritualistic observance of days, months,
seasons, and years? Would he not be afraid of them indeed, and lament in
bitterness of heart that his "labor had been bestowed in vain" (Gal.4:11)?
Remember, dear reader, that only by heeding God's "Beware"! can we have freedom
from all this bondage from which Christ frees us and rest complete in Him. Yet today, on
all sides, we find the saints enslaved to the elements of the world, being
taught, through the directions and teachings of men, to observe days, months, seasons, and
years as a means of being pleasing to God, when, in reality, it ignores His warning
against all such and denies the completeness He has made for them in Christ! It
is serious beyond expression. Yet the warning against it all is so unmistakably clear,
that no one who will give ear to God's holy Word need go astray in the matter:
“Let no one, then, be judging you in food or in drink
or in a particular festival, or new moon, or sabbaths, which are a shadow of those things
which are future--but the body is of the Christ" (Col.2:16,17).
In spite of this charge, think how God's saints are being
"judged" on every side, and being told to observe days and abstain from foods
and drinks as a part of their religion! Through the edicts of men and false
translation, the saints have been seduced into believing that Sunday is the "first
day of the week" or "the Lord's Day" of the Bible, and that it should be
religiously observed. It comes as a tremendous shock to know that the Scriptures,
correctly translated, say nothing concerning the "first day of the week."
Sunday, a, heathen holiday, in accord with the directions and teachings of men, has become
a spurious sabbath, the observance of which has become the badge of apostate Christendom!
For the benefit of those who do not know and may Question the truth of this statement, let
us give ear to the voice of historians:
"Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical
or civil by which the sabbatical observance of that day [Sunday] is known to have been
ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A. D." (Chambers Encyclopedia, article
"Sabbath").
"Constantine the Great made a law for the whole empire
[321 A. D.] that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest in all cities and towns; but he
allowed the country people to follow their work" (Encyclopedia Americana, article
"Sabbath").
"The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday
as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A. D., enacting that all courts of
justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday venerabili
die Solis, with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor" Encyclopedia
Britannica, ninth edition, article "Sunday").
Now let us hear Constantine's edict, which may be
considered the original Sunday law, and the model after which all Sunday laws since have
been patterned:
"Let all the judges and town people, and the
occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are
situated in the country, freely and at full liberty, attend to the business of
agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and
planting vines; lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities
granted by heaven" (Edict of March 7, 321 A. D., Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3,
tit. 12:3).
Here is unquestionable testimony that the observance of
Sunday was only a commandment of man. Not so much as a single line of Scripture
authorizing its observance by the saints can be found from Genesis to Revelation.
Beginning with Constantine's edict in 321 A. D., followed by the combined efforts of
church and state, together with apostasy from the truth, there resulted an almost
universal observance of the day by the time the King James Version of 1611 was made. Then,
apparently, to give scriptural support for the observance, the translators actually
corrupted the original text in a most unbelievable manner. Let the reader examine any
Greek text of the Scriptures, and study Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1, 2; Luke 23:56-24:1; John
20:1,19; Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 and see what support he finds for the phrase the
"first day of the week" as is found in our common Bible. The phrase in the Greek
is mia ton sabbatoon, and reads literally "one of the sabbaths". But it
was glossed over in the following manner: They altered "one" to read
"first," inserted the word "day," and worse yet, changed the plural
"sabbaths" to the singular "week"! Can we think of a more perfidious
and deceptive act of man? And the corruption has been received and is now defended by
Christendom as an oracle of God! Some, through the seduction, think they are in strict
accord with truth by observing the Lord's supper on each "Sunday", believing it
to be the "first day of the week" of the Bible, the day on which Christ arose
from the dead, and that the early disciples met to break bread on this day. But when we
give scrupulous consideration to what has been revealed in the original text,
apart from the interpolated corruptions of men, we will find that Christ was roused from
the dread on Saturday, the Jewish sabbath, and that every recorded meeting of the
disciples in the Scriptures (during the Pentecostal administration of the book of Acts)
was on "one of the sabbaths" and not on Sunday. Not until the apostles
had all died and God's Word had been buried under three hundred years of human tradition
and, Constantine's edict had been enacted, does Sunday find any place in the worship of
the saints above any other day. Further more, to call it "the Lord's Day" is
simply overlaying one error with another! The Lord's day, of which John speaks, is the,
future day of Jehovah, into which John was transported in spirit and permitted to
view and record the terrible judgments by which the kingdom of God will be inaugurated
upon the earth. How absurd to insist that John saw and wrote the book of Revelation on
Sunday!
When we recognize God's "Beware!" and allow no
one to judge us concerning festivals, new moons, or sabbaths, which are a shadow
of those things which are future, but hold to the Head -- Christ -- in Whom we
have our completeness, then, and then only, will we be pleasing to our heavenly Father in
this Secret Administration, and have no reason for marring His holy Word to uphold
unscriptural practices. To religiously observe days, months, seasons, and years is turning
back from the Substance to the shadow. Paul states the attitude for the saints in the
matter in Romans fourteen, five and six:
"One, indeed, is deciding for one day against another
day, yet one is deciding for everyday. Let each one be fully assured in his own mind. He
who is disposed to a day is disposed to it to the Lord; and he who is eating is, eating to
the Lord, for he is thanking God."
There is nothing wrong in setting aside a day to the Lord.
Custom has now made Sunday the most convenient for this purpose, but we are not
to look upon it as a day sanctioned by God for divine worship above any other day. The
observance of a day as a matter of law-keeping, or as a means of salvation, whether it be
Sunday or the seventh day sabbath, is condemned in the Scriptures in this administration
of grace wherein God made us complete in Christ.
YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM
"...in Him the entire complement of
the Deity is dwelling bodily. And you are complete in Him" (Col.2:9,10).
It seems difficult for the saints to
discern that the divine religion given to Israel in the flesh, of another administration,
may become the greatest hindrance toward an appreciation of the grace and spiritual
blessings which are ours in Christ Jesus in the present secret administration. As our
Complement, He is the end of all religion, and any return to ritualism despoils
us and we lose the enjoyment of our possessions through Legality levying an attachment on
us. Christ Himself is the Substance of which all ritual was but the shadow. The blood
of Christ alone, unaided by any accessory or adjunct of any kind, apart from the
observance of any fleshly rites or ordinances--the blood of Christ alone in the fresh
unsupported vigor and power of its solitary majesty, clears the way to the very presence
of God, perfect and complete. Being then complete in Christ, anything we
may do with a view to effecting our salvation before God only sullies and tarnishes the
perfect work He has wrought in Him for us. It means even more, for any attempt to observe
the "first principles" today, makes Christ of no effect, we fall out of
grace, and become debtors to do the whole law. It is an offense far worse than Adam
committed in Eden. Dear reader, heed God's "Beware!" and rest in the peace which
comes through the blessed realization of your completeness in His Anointed.
CIRCUMCISION
"...in Whom you were circumcised also
with a circumcision not made with hands in the stripping off of the body of flesh in the
circumcision of Christ" (Col.2:11).
Circumcision was but a shadow. The
substance is Christ. It figured death. He fulfilled it. This is circumcision indeed;
though "not made with hands", it was accomplished on the cross apart from us
altogether, yet is the only real, the only true circumcision. The sons
of Israel were not circumcised they only shadowed it in their naimcision.
Now, we in Christ, are circumcision in reality. Paul admonishes us to
"...beware of the maimcision, for we
are the circumcision who are offering divine service to God in spirit, and are glorying in
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in flesh" (Phil.3:3).
Here we find that circumcision is not obsolete, but a
present, powerful, potent truth. Christ, the believer's Fullness, or Complement, descended
into death itself, in the stripping off of the body of flesh in His death on the cross. In
Him we are circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands. This is
circumcision perfect and complete. Anything we might add in this respect would only be an
offence toward God. But how glorious to think of the wonderful, the marvelous grace of
God, to make such a full deliverance for us, complete and apart from any ordinance we
perform on the flesh ourselves. Yet our circumcision is only a part of the truth of our
completeness in Christ. It leaves Him on the cross, lifeless. There must be a burial and
resurrection. This brings us to the consideration of baptism.
BAPTISM
"Being entombed together with Him in
baptism (in Whom you were roused together also, through faith in the operation of God, Who
rouses Him from among the dead,..." (Col.2:12).
Here is baptism such as the sons of Israel
never knew. Their ceremonial cleansing in water was only a weak type of the real baptismal
cleansing through Christ's burial and resurrection by the powerful operation of God. We
have died together with Him, and have been buried together with Him and raised from the
grave also not "a watery grave by the strong arm of the baptizer", but in
Him, by an Almighty arm" -- through faith in the operation of God, Who
rouses Him from among the dead". Just as we are not circumcised in flesh, but in
spirit, so also with baptism. His baptism, just as His circumcision, we reckon as
our own. He was buried; so were we. He arose; we also are risen. He ascended and was
seated at the right hand of God among the celestials; so are we. By the power of His
spirit we enter into the blessed potent truth and have access, complete and perfect, to
the very presence of our heavenly Father. How preciously satisfying is the thought to the
weary heart!
Now let us consider the progression from adolescence to
maturity, from the flesh to the spirit. The ministry of John the baptist and our Lord was
characterized by one baptism -- that in water. Yet John bore record
concerning Christ:
“I, indeed, am baptizing you in water for
repentance, yet He Who is coming after me is stronger than I, Whose sandals I am not
competent to bear. He will be baptizing you in holy spirit and fire"
(Matt.3:11).
And Christ, just as He was about to ascend, confirmed
John's declaration, saying:
"John, indeed, baptizes in water, yet you
shall be baptized in holy spirit after not many of these days" (Acts 1:5).
Then from Pentecost until the close of the Peters
administration two baptisms obtained--water and spirit. However, in the
dispensation of the evangel of God among the nations by Paul, during the Transitional
Administration (Acts 13 to 28), water is no longer necessary, while the baptism of the
spirit becomes the portion of all.
With Paul's imprisonment, for us the nations (Eph.3:1), It
is revealing the presence Secret Administration (Eph.3:9), they were to continue the
"one baptism" (Eph.4:5). The question arises: Is it water or spirit?
The Ephesian epistle gives the answer, "when believing, also, you are sealed with the
holy spirit of promise" (Eph.1:13). This alone entitles all to the spiritual
blessings among the celestials in Christ Jesus. It is now that 1 Corinthians 12:13 finds
full recognition:
“For in one spirit we all are baptized into one
body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all are made to imbibe one
spirit."
Without this baptism in the one spirit, there
could never be the one body. It is by the one spirit that we are united
one to another and have access into God's presence. Thus we see that by an abrupt change
at Acts 13 has been away from the outward expression by means of water, toward the
end--the inward reality, by means of the spirit. This may be graphically
illustrated as follows:
INCARNATION PENTECOSTAL SECRET
| | | |
| JESUS | PETER | PAUL | PAUL |
| | Transitional | The Prisoner |
| | | Acts 13:2- | Eph.3 |
| | 28:28 | A.D. 64 |
| | | | |
| | Spirit Mercy | |
| Grace & Truth | | | Grace |
------------------|------------------------|--------------|
WATER SPIRIT
-----------------------------------------------------------
ONE BAPTISM TWO BAPTISMS ONE BAPTISM
|
All cleansing and
sanctification (which water only figured) was really done by spirit. Water came first to
instruct the lower classes in God's school. But now, in spirit, maturity,
perfection, completeness, fullness, entirety, satisfaction -- call it what you may --
has come (Col.2:9,10), and it is our glorious privilege to enter into the joy of the
solid, satisfying fullness of God's finished work. Whatever joys and glories the future
may have in store, even though our bodies be transfigured like unto His body glorious at
His coming, nothing can add to our completeness in Christ, which is already our portion
now in spirit. No ordinance upon the flesh, no prayer, no devotion, no wilful
ritual, no asceticism -- nothing can make us more acceptable, for the spirit of God has
cleansed us to His perfect satisfaction and we are fully equipped for His presence,
blessed with every spiritual blessing among the celestials, holy and flawless in His
sight. Nothing can bring us nearer, nothing can make us dearer. "The consummations of
the eons have attained" to us. How can we hope for more?
Being, then, complete in Him, no fleshly rite can add to
our completeness. If we do add it, we are denying that His work in our behalf has fully
met God's claims. We dishonor that work by subtracting from its potency, and spoil it by
adding something of our own dead, putrefying flesh.
By recognizing God's "Beware!" and realizing our
completeness in Christ, through faith in the operation of God, may His grace keep
us from being despoiled by philosophy and empty seduction, in accord with human tradition,
in accord with the elements of the world, and constrain us to refuse these ordinances upon
the flesh -- both circumcision and baptism -- and rest alone in Him in Whom there is no
lack.
Complete in Christ my Saviour,
How precious is the thought!
God finds in me the pleasure,
For which He longed and sought.
Complete in Christ my Saviour,
On love alone I lean,
In self I seek no solace,
In Him alone I'm seen.
Complete in Christ my Saviour,
How can I hope for more?
His grace has brought each blessing
His love has kept in store.
Complete in Christ my Saviour,
My heart is satisfied,
For He is all sufficient,
What need for aught beside?
