p. 5 | Primitive Christianity by L. A. Phippeny

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Aug 21, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 34.

Primitive Christianity

By L. A. Phippeny

THE Gospel of Jesus Christ is "good news." This means something new and good. The definition is very simple, but wholly true.

It is elsewhere defined as "the power of God unto salvation," which is also wholly true, and when rightly apprehended, equally simple. The key-word of this definition is "salvation." This is the thing for which the "power of God" is exercised, and which, in its operation, is effectual.

Salvation is saving, healing. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus [Saviour], for He shall save His people from their sins." And the reason why people should be saved from their sins is because the end of sin is death. So He also said, "I am come that they might have life." Not only is the finality of sin death, but sinners while yet in sin are already accounted dead, as one speaks of a culprit condemned to die—"He is a dead man." This is the summing up—the judgment. Viewing the spiritual man, the word speaks of sinners as actually "dead in trespasses and sins." Hence this salvation, this saving, this healing, is first of all from spiritual death to spiritual life.

A New Creation.

This great salvation is resurrection—a new creation. The saved man becomes "a new creation" in Christ Jesus. He is translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. This kind of transformation requires more than human power for its accomplishment, tho some people imagine otherwise. It requires divine power—creative power. Hence the words, "The power of God unto salvation." So, as life is better than death, as light is better than darkness, is this salvation "good news."

This is what it is intended to be, and this is what it is, for the man without hope and without God in the world, for the man alienated from the life of God—good news! GOOD NEWS! It is intended to make him dissatisfied with that which he has been accustomed to in the past, and has at present. The man who preaches the Gospel of Christ is an agitator, making people discontented with present conditions. He tells them of something better, to be had also without money and without price. This good news begets hope, and "by hope we are saved." A consistent, constant hope is somehow wonderfully linked with creative power Look out! ye ministers of Christ. Your agitation will bring upon you the wrath of the ruler of the darkness of this world. He does not care to have the condition of his subjects bettered.

Contrasts and Conflicts.

What a variety of contrasts appears the moment the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached! What conflicts are precipitated! What profound interests are brought to light! The great search-light of truth with its illimitable candle-power is turned on, and something is made manifest—to the man in darkness. The shams and follies of earthly works and ambitions are disclosed; the futility of worldly hopes is clearly revealed. Then the unmentionable things pertaining to the realm of the prince of darkness become manifest. Then is the god of this world himself unmasked, and his great pretensions are made manifest.

Then the preacher calls out: "Slaves! this way to freedom! You have been held in bondage long enough—break away! Your master is a tyrant. Renounce your false god. Fear God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all things therein. He is your Creator; He only is God. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. He is Life and the Author of it. He will give you eternal life for the asking. Serve Him, for His service is sweet and has recompenses of peace passing all worldly understanding. Revere and honor Him, and glorify Him in your bodies and in your spirits, which are His. This way! Keep to the straight and narrow path. In it you will find righteousness and peace, true joys, purity, and rewards that endure forever. Its end is the earth made new and everlasting life. Come!"

The Call thruout the Ages.

This, in effect, has been the heavenly call and divine invitation in all ages. It seems to make little difference whether mankind has had much or little light, the call is virtually the same. True, it is varied, and certain features and outgrowths of the one call are presented for varied circumstances. The principle, however, is the same, for whenever men sin they forget God. It is an inclusive truth that sin is forgetting God; and any escape from sin must be a remembering of God. To the individual who has been overcome by Satan, who has lost sight and grasp of divine power for the moment, the actual preacher may not be necessary for his remembering. The word is brought to his mind frequently by the impress of God's Spirit, he repents, is forgiven, and rises again. He says, "Rejoice not over me, mine enemy; for tho I fall, I will rise again."

Special Epochs.

But there have been, and are, epochs of special need of the sending forth of the call, "Fear God, and give glory to Him," with the reminder of what God is meant—for there are false gods. Such had to be the simple message to Adam and Eve after the fall; such was the message of Enoch and Noah to the former world; such was the message to Pharaoh and the children of Israel in Egypt; such was the call of God thru the prophets to His people captive in Assyria and Babylon of old. In its fulness, in all manifestations of the principle, it was

the call of the Gospel of our Saviour and His early messengers; witness Paul's message to the men of Athens. And again, when the Lord sets His hand the second time to gather His people from greater Babylon, from "the four wings of the earth," in a time of great light and deep shadows, the warning call, the blessed invitation, sounds from nation to nation, to all the world of those who forget God: "Fear God, and give glory to Him, . . . and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

And the power to fear and to worship Him goes with the call. It is the power of God unto salvation. It is good news to sin-afflicted souls; for if the message is accepted, it means eternal bliss.