TWICE-BORN MEN by Allen Walker

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U.S.A. · Nov 25, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 46.

TWICE-BORN MEN

By Allen Walker

A Godly Life a Spiritual Indwelling ALLEN WALKER

“Why callest thou Me good?” said Jesus to the young man. He then added, “There is none good but one, that is, God.” Matthew 19:17. By this statement Jesus was teaching the great lesson that many are so slow to learn,—that a godly life is not a matter of human effort or attainment; it is God dwelling in the soul temple, and the life that is lived is not to be credited to the human being, but is to be credited to God. Jesus said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” In explanation of this He said, “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” John 14:10. This is what He meant when He said, “Why callest thou Me good?” As a man He was taking no credit to Himself for the goodness that was seen in His life.

GOD’S PROVISION FOR VICTORY

“The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” Here is the secret of the life that wins. Here is unfolded God’s only provision for the victorious life. Jesus came to this world on our human plane. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.” Hebrews 2:14. When man was made, he was made a little lower than the angels. (Hebrews 2:7.) So as Christ came to this earth, He too “was made a little lower than the angels.” Verse 9. On His human side Jesus was our equal. Not only in this respect but “in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.” Hebrews 2:17. It was in this sharing of our limitations that Jesus said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” John 5:30.

In His human nature Jesus stands on our ground. He stood before, and met life’s issues a helpless Man. God came into His life and met its issue for Him. The Scriptures state that God was in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:19.) God was revealing Himself to a lost world in Christ. In the human body of Christ “God was manifest in the flesh.” 1 Timothy 3:16. So completely was God directing in the life of Jesus that He could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” John 14:9. On this same occasion Jesus said, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.” Verse 10. This is why He could say, “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.”

One of the greatest mistakes we can make is to undertake to live the Christ life through human effort. We, in our human nature, cannot successfully meet temptation to sin or in any sense cope with the powers of darkness. Try as hard as we may, we cannot represent God to the world. Jesus declares to us, “Ye can do nothing.” John 15:5. We cannot reveal God to the world; we cannot compete successfully with the powers of sin. Just as God was manifest to the world in Christ and through Christ, so He wishes to reveal Himself to-day in us and through us.

CHRIST IN US CONQUERS SIN

In Galatians 1:15, 16 Paul says, “It pleased God, . . . to reveal His Son in me.” All about us we see the devil revealed in humanity. If the devil can and does reveal himself and his workings through those who are committed to him, cannot God reveal Himself through Christ? When the temple of our body is committed to God as His habitation, it is then that the life of Jesus is made manifest in our body. (1 Corinthians 4:10.) Just as God was manifest in the flesh as He lived in Christ, so the life also of Jesus is to be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (Verse 11.) As Jesus could say, “The Father . . . dwelleth in Me” (John 14:10), so Paul could say, “Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

God knows that we cannot cope with sin. He knows we cannot reproduce the Christ life. So He has made provisions to do all this for us through the indwelling Christ. Hence, instead of trying, we are trusting. To try as hard as we can means only weak human effort and total failure. To trust implicitly in faith means the complete committal of our human temples over to the indwelling of Christ and permitting Him to manifest Himself to the world and to conquer the powers of sin for us.