Three Essentials and Their Sign
IN writing “unto the churches of Galatia” of the utter insufficiency of a merely ceremonial religion, the apostle Paul said: “As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” According to this form of statement, neither the careful performance of a ceremonial nor the studied avoidance of a ceremonial is of any value in the way of salvation. There must be “a new creation.” This led David to pray, “Create in me a clean heart.” That same creative power which brought the world into existence in the beginning is the power of the gospel, and through the working of this power alone can man be restored. In the same letter to the same churches the same apostle gave expression4to the same principle in another place in these words: “We through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love.” It is here affirmed again that neither performing nor avoiding a ceremony is a means of salvation, but the essential experience demanded is “faith working through love.” This is in harmony with the teaching that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” “For by grace have ye been saved through faith.” “It is of faith, that it may be according to grace.” In his first letter to the church at Corinth the apostle Paul again inculcates the same lesson about ceremonialism: “Was any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Hath any been called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God.” Rotherham renders the last verse as follows: “The circumcision is nothing, and the uncircumcision is nothing; on the contrary, a keeping of God’s commandments is everything.” Thus for the third time is the statement made that it is not by doing or refraining from doing some outward act that we obtain salvation, but it is expressly declared that keeping God’s commandments is the essential thing. “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” If we bring these three principal statements together, we find that they all agree in saying that there is no power unto salvation in ceremonialism; whether performed or omitted, but each emphasizes a different experience as essential. According to the first it is “a new creation.” According to the second it is “faith working through love.” According to the third it is “the keeping of the commandments of God.” A little consideration of the subject, however, will make it clear that these three statements are not in any sense contrary to one another, neither are they descriptive of different and disconnected experiences, but they present simply different and closely related phases of the same experience. The gospel is “the power of God unto salvation.” This power is creative power. Without this creative power we have no gospel, even though we have abundance of form and ceremony. “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation.” This is the essential and fundamental truth of Christianity. This distinguishes a genuine Christianity from all false religions and from all mere formalism in professed Christianity. But this creative process touches each individual only through the exercise of personal faith. Creative power has been introduced into sinful flesh by the gift of the Son of God to share our nature. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” The benefit of this gift is enjoyed by each individual only as he accepts it through a personal faith in Christ. It follows therefore that while there must be “a new creation,” yet “faith working through love” is an essential factor in the problem. Both are essential, and they are the complement of each other. There can be no salvation when either is lacking. It is also worthy of note that the only channel through which this creative power can reach the sinner is the Word made flesh. We may behold and admire the working of this creative power in the grass, the flowers, and the trees; we may study its marvelous manifestation in the animal kingdom, from the mote in the sunbeam to the leviathan of the deep; we may lift up our eyes on high and “see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number;” but through none of these channels can there come to us the application of this same creative power to save us from sin. There is great danger lest we fall into a fatal error here. Some are today substituting nature study for a personal faith in Christ. Such will meet with disappointment and eternal loss. It is true that it is the power of God which is seen working all about us, but we may thus behold it on every side, and still remain in the bondage of sin. Only through Christ is the power which builds the flower and the tree brought near enough to us so that it can build a character in us which is after the similitude of the divine. In him humanity is brought into saving touch with divinity. He is “able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him,” but through no other avenue can we find our way unto God and salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way.” When through personal faith in Christ the creative power of God works in the life, the fruit is seen in “the keeping of the commandments of God.” This is the evidence of a genuine Christian experience. The law of God is the transcript of his character. This character was revealed in Christ. Through personal faith in Christ this character is both imputed and imparted to the believer. The proof of this is seen in the fact that the life of the believer is found to be in harmony with the law of God. He is a commandment-keeper. Thus we find that there are three essential experiences for the Christian,— “a new creation,” “faith working by love,” and “the keeping of the commandments of God.” It is also clear that these three experiences are, after all, only three phases of the same experience. There must be a new creation, but this is brought about only through the faith of the individual, and the result of such a faith is seen in keeping the commandments. Herein we see the true relation between the law and the gospel. In the gospel is found the creative power which when applied to individual experience through faith brings one into harmony with the law. The Lord gave the Sabbath as the memorial of the original creation. “In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” The Lord gave this same Sabbath to his children as a sign of the new creation—his sanctifying work. “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah that sanctifieth them.” Thus the Sabbath becomes the sign of all that is connected with the new creation. It is the sign of righteousness by faith, and the mark of true commandment-keepers. In this closing message it is necessary to emphasize these three essentials in their relation to one another, and the Sabbath as the sign of them all as parts of one complete experience. This will “make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”