A life of happiness is one that finds its place in the outrageous & spacious love and excitement of God.

Listen to this…
All the tax collectors and sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes accused him, saying: “This Man receives sinners and eats with [...]]]> (by Dawie Blake)

A life of happiness is one that finds its place in the outrageous & spacious love and excitement of God.

Listen to this…
All the tax collectors and sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes accused him, saying: “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Jesus immediately responds with no less than 3 parables to emphasize God’s view of the so-called “sinners”… these parables are key to understanding what motivates God.

He says: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”

The term “hundred sheep” refers to the world with all its “sinners”, and the term “one” is an individual. This Man may have more than 6 billion sheep, but if one goes astray He will not count the 6 billion enough but immediately leave to go after the one! He will seek until he finds. Not give up after a week or 2 months or a year, but until He finds him. And when He finds him he is overjoyed and not angry with the sheep. He lovingly picks him up and carries him all the way home. He then calls all his friends and neighbours and celebrates his joy with them…

Now throughout all my observation and experience I have never seen or heard of a man motivated in this manner. Its, well, nearly ridiculous… placing so much value on the individual (and in this case the one who was the worst of the lot) to seek him, not giving up until he finds, not being angry at all, and then calling everyone he knows together in a huge celebration.

This, my friend, is what righteousness in God’s heart is about. Its not about doing right, but about placing the right value. “Sadok”, the Hebrew for righteousness, is the beam in a scale of balances. If God places you and your life on one side of the scale, what did He put on the other side to balance it out… no less than Himself!

You see, there was never another you. And there will never be another you. He only has one of you, if he loses you… he has lost you. For Him, you have equal value than Himself. He cannot be without you.

Jesus asks, “What man…” I don’t know of one with this outrageous love for us…
The last part of this parable was aimed specifically at the Pharisees’ twisted mindsets, “I say unto you, that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents (Gr. metanoeo – to change your mind) than over ninety nine (so called) just persons that need (Gr. echo – the correct translation is to hold, posses or conceive…) no repentance (Gr. metanoia – change of mind)”.

Someone once said something that left a deep impression on me: “When Jesus hung on that cross, He didn’t die for a faceless multitude, but He died for you by name”.

Once I went out into the night alone and sought God. I became distinctly aware of Him saying to me, “David if you were the only one on earth, I would still die for you.”

For months though, I wasn’t satisfied with this impression alone, and there was a yearning within me to read it in the bible. I prayed and searched specifically about this. Then one day I was sitting on my bed and opened my bible where it says: “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” I read this, and then opened the bible directly at the above portion, loosely translated: “I am the Good Shepherd that will leave the ninety nine and go after the one”. If you put these two scriptures together we have this word confirmed.

(When next you have some study time, I recommend looking up the word “shepherd” in the New Testament…)

In order to clearly emphasize the principle Jesus tells the 2nd parable in Luk 15.

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.’”

The Pharisee may think that a coin (a simple man) is worth nothing, but this special woman searches carefully until she finds it; and once again an outrageous celebration follows in the joy of the find. Likewise God rejoices in your intrinsic value.

Jesus felt so strongly about establishing God’s viewpoint against the Pharisees’ viewpoint of man that He told another radical parable.

Luk 15 from verse 11. This parable I found so rich with meaning … let it linger in your mind…
“There was a man who had two sons; And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he wasted all his possessions with prodigal living.”

Young and without insight and knowledge this son may have lived in the home, but in his heart he was lost and living somewhere else. So the Father, seeking to find him, let him go…

“And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger!’”

So when the temporary dried up and his once confident, independence and control over circumstances could not satisfy or sustain him, the truth started dawning on him. He realised his foolishness and that his Father is the only continually sustaining source of life. He realised that this is where he belongs.

“I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.”‘

Notice that although he sincerely repented, he still had a “sinner” and a slave mentality. He viewed himself as the Pharisees would have. They must have reeled with disgust at the thought of prodigal living and thereafter living with pigs!

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Now it is very uncommon for Hebrew fathers to run. Woman and children ran, but not “respectable” fathers. What is more, is that the father was constantly on the lookout, scanning the horizon. He was the first to see him from a distance. There was only one thought on his mind, this all-surpassing treasure of His was found. Overcome by emotion he ran to embrace and kiss his son, not giving any popular opinions any thought.

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

The son had his little speech prepared and delivered it. He valued himself according to his deeds, and therefore only expected the very least.

The father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’

Paul asks, “if He has given us Jesus, how much more won’t He give us all things?” Rom 8:

These parables all point to a single principle – how does God value and see you? If I can put the answer in words it would be that the definition of you is Himself and His love, not where you come from or what you have done.

Why does God feel so strongly about this one principle? Imagine building an intimate relationship with someone based not on value, but on guilt and a poor self-image! It will never work. Why do we fool ourselves thinking God who did everything to reconcile us to Him in blameless innocence (Col 1:22) takes pleasure when we feel sinful & unworthy? How can I build a relationship with Him feeling this way? It is nothing less than a false religious humility based on the original sin of “I am not, I must become”. And it disregards His accomplishments on the cross. True humility is to know my works or my past cannot help me, but He did it all, a perfect and complete work! Now I see as He sees, I know as He knows – I am enveloped in His love, His thoughts, His works, His joy – I rejoice and rest in all I am and have in Him, and that’s all that matters to Him.

—

Although the sheep or the coin or the son were lost, and may have been battered along the way, they never lost their value. Nothing can change it, not even you, and so nothing can separate us from His love. Nothing can change the cross – it happened and the result was final. Do you really understand what happened there? It is the single most important truth you will ever consider… make sure you do!

The Bible points to a reality greater than itself. Jesus said: You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, John 5:39,40.  There [...]]]> by Dawie Blake

The Bible points to a reality greater than itself. Jesus said: You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, John 5:39,40.  There is value to be discovered in the scriptures far beyond ‘right’ information. The pages within the Bible are like a mine… as you delve into it, you find the gold. Many people unfortunately read the Bible as a mere instruction book, and what should bring life, instead brings confusion, condemnation and even things like disunity, pride etc… in short spiritual death. More people have been confused and side-tracked by the Bible than any other book. Dearly beloved, it is not an instruction book!

The message of the Bible stands between the lines. Its message is very simple and Paul warns that you should not be deceived from it’s simplicity. As you ponder the history and people and events within, your eyes open to the message that runs throughout – God’s original thought for man restored successfully in Christ. This is the gold the human spirit is nourished by; the rest gives it context. This thought of God could never perfectly be communicated or understood, except through the manifestation of His Son, Jesus Christ. “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me, to do Your will”. In the last days God spoke to us in His Son…

Everyone just loves the story in which He came to earth; not with flashing lightning and trumpets and power that would bring all men to their knees, but he came as a baby born in a stable so that the very least of us (from a human point of view) could identify with Him. He wasn’t after awe and fear because that alone doesn’t nurture fellowship, but distance. He was after our identification with Him, His original thought of likeness restored in man’s own mind. “I came to do Your will, O God” (Heb 10:7).

He referred to Himself as the “son of man” – he was saying hereby “I am like you”. In another instance the glory of the son of God/man is manifested on the mountain and God the Father refers to Him as: “… my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him”. Peter writes saying that in this we have the message of God to mankind confirmed, namely the son of man is the son of God! He writes “you will do well to heed this word as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your own heart!”

In the next verse he continues saying “knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation”… Jesus didn’t come to display his unique glory, but to reveal man’s – the revelation of the glory of the Son of God was the revelation of the glory (doxa) of the son of man!

Just think about it for a moment. This amazing God with infinite ability and love – we can only expect the most wonderful things pertaining to Life in great capital letters from Him! Eph 1:3, Eph 3:19. Rom 8:32. Mat 7:11, Mark 1:40-41. Joyful fellowship with Him, His great desire, is restored when we see and know ourselves as He sees and knows and enjoys us – we are after all the product of the success of the cross. Paul’s prayer is that we may see as He does Eph 1:17-18.

Jesus quotes Ps 82 to the Pharisees who were offended by a “common” man (Jesus) identifying himself with God. Ps 82 is a fascinating portion of scripture!

In a beautiful and sinless world of absolute completeness and perfection created by God and restored through the cross, righteousness is not there to point out the wrongs and condemn the doers, but to restore order by making the blind see the truth about their identity. It is a simple but powerful gospel for it restores the source of life. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”.

Ps 82:2 – “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” … in other words, how long will you continue to live twisted lives, void of righteousness?

Ps 82:3-4 “Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked.” … these are the things God desires… but why does man not walk this way?…

Ps 82:5 – “They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are unstable.”

Ps 82:6 – “I said, ‘You are gods (elohim – the same word used in Gen 1:26: ‘And Elohim said let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’) and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like mere men, and fall like one of the princes.”

While man does not know and understand who they are and where they come from, they are in darkness and as rulers they cause chaos in this world – its very foundations are threatened by the fruit of the lies they live. They were made vessels of the very glory, image and likeness of God, but without knowing this, they die like mere men and fall like those who strive in the strength of the flesh. So what is God’s message to these: “I said, ‘You are gods and all of you are children of the Most High.’”

The gospel is a call to sanity, to share God’s insight, to walk with our eyes open to the truth. There is only hurt, confusion, pride etc. etc. in darkness but as David says (Ps 17), “I will be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness!”

When God made this beautiful world and everything in it, He used His boundless creativity and intellect. But when He made you, He looked at Himself and made a copy… We can also say He didn’t make you, you were born from Him to be as He is. Therefore He is the blueprint of you, the mirror-image.

It is the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but now has been made known…. “Christ in you the hope of glory!”
He came as the light of the world that all may see… there is so much in this statement!
I am the Way the Truth and the Life – once again, we can write books about this statement!

In the spirit of man there is a yearning that no earthly thing will ever satisfy – except the knowledge of their inner identity – the knowledge of Christ. This knowledge bursts over into sweet fellowship with God and man, which is His original thought in action.

If you read the Bible in any other way, you will miss the point. Paul says what gain he had from his religious instruction, he counts it all dung! Why? For the all surpassing excellence of the knowledge of Christ! The Gold is God’s original thought, fully expressed in His Son, found in your spirit identity. Read the Bible as a mine for this Gold.

1Jo 1:2-4 For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us; That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph as trophies of Christ’s victory and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere, For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are [...]]]> Trophies of Christ’s victory

But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph as trophies of Christ’s victory and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere, For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: To the latter it is an aroma from death to death; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?]
For we are not, like so many, [like hucksters making a trade of] peddling God’s Word [shortchanging and adulterating the divine message]; but like [men] of sincerity and the purest motive, as [commissioned and sent] by God, we speak [His message] in Christ (the Messiah), in the sight and presence of God. (2 Cor 2:14-17)

A trophy is a perpetual reminder of a victory that was won, the proof of the success and achievement of the victor. Sometimes it is necessary to state the obvious: The trophy did not win any battle or achieve any victory. The trophy simple celebrates an event to which it contributed nothing, yet is intimately linked to. Life is not meant to be a series of battles in which we win some and loose some. Rather, as trophies of Christ’s victory, we are the proof and continual reminder of the once-and-for-all success of His achievement. We reign in life based on the accomplishment of this one man – His gift of righteousness.

There is only one standard of victory, one standard of life that God intends for us to enjoy and that is the victory and newness of life that He achieved in His death and resurrection. There is only one standard of fellowship: we’ve been invited into the same quality of fellowship that Jesus enjoys with the Father (1Cor 1:9)

After Paul spoke about Christ’s victory and our position as trophies of His achievement, he expands this thought by saying that we can never reduce this message to a sales pitch. Understanding the unprecedented significance of this event, we can never reduce it to a product that needs to be peddled. We are not salesmen promoting a product, but newsmen declaring an event in which:

He was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous; He planned for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, things in heaven and things on the earth. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy. Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him.
Rom 4:25, Eph 1:10, Col 1:15,18-20, Heb 10:14, Rom 11:36

But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself – received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself – and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him. It was God personally present in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against men their trespasses , and committing to us the message of reconciliation of the restoration to favor. So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We, as Christ’s personal representatives, beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor now offered you and be reconciled to God. 2 Cor 5:18-20

Introduction

The free eagle
Francois du Toit has produced an exceptionally thought provoking translation of the book of Romans. Below is the introduction. The book can be downloaded from the book section. Details of how to order hard-copies can be found in the book itself … hopefully I will make it available on Lulu soon.

Introduction

The free eagle
While we were on honeymoon at Blydepoort, Mpumalanga (Jan 1979) Lydia and I met an official from Nature Conservation who told us of a fascinating incident; she witnessed the dramatic release of a Black Eagle a few weeks prior to our visit. This eagle had been captive in the Pretoria zoo for ten years.
She told us how thrilled they were with excitement and anticipation when the eagle finally arrived in its cage and the gate was opened. But only with difficulty did they eventually succeed to nudge the bird out of its cage.
It was one thing to get the bird out of the cage, but how do you get the cage out of the bird? In the mind of this eagle, it was still captive in the Pretoria zoo!
Every one was holding their breath, but this once mighty bird remained the pathetic prisoner of an inferior mindset.
Nothing changed until much later when another eagle began to call in the area. The eyes of the zoo-eagle immediately lit up, and the next moment she took off in majestic flight to soar in unrestricted space. It needed no further flying instructions!

This dramatic story left a deep impression on my mind. I knew that in the light of Paul’s revelation of the good news, we are left with one urgent priority, which is to announce to the nations with bold confidence the truth about their original identity and mirror-reflect the integrity of their innocence.

Paul’s Gospel
In His letter to the Romans, Paul gives radical and immediate relevance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a most distinguished fashion.

In studying this pivotal book of the Bible one begins to understand why Paul would so emphatically speak of his gospel.
He erases any illusion that one could possibly add or subtract from this revelation. It concerns the total wellbeing of universal mankind; how the Creator succeeded in redeeming and restoring His image and likeness in human form.
Paul is convinced that whatever happened to the human race because of Adam’s fall, is far superseded in every possible proportion by the revelation of mankind’s inclusion in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He places the fall of Adam and every act of unrighteousness that followed against the one act of righteousness that God performed in Christ as the final acquittal of humanity.
Any instruction that still places the emphasis on man’s contribution according to the prescribed rules of the law to improve himself and his conduct, limits man again to personal discipline and effort under the futile system of the law of guilt and condemnation; and ignores the completed work of God in Christ.
“Even a little leaven leavens the whole lump” he says in his letter to the Galatians. (5:9)

The revelation of righteousness by faith unveils how God in Christ succeeded in restoring man’s lost sense of identity and innocence. The etymological essence of the word, ‘righteousness’ in its root form, ‘dike’, implies the idea of two parties finding likeness in each other; with no interference of any sense of blame, guilt or inferiority.

In his Epistles Paul declares in no uncertain terms that he did not make any effort to learn or borrow his revelation of the gospel from the original eleven disciples of Jesus.
“For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that I preach is not man’s gospel.
For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
But God separated me from my mother’s womb and identified me through the revelation of His grace.
It pleased Him to reveal His Son in me, in order that I might preach Him in the Gentiles, I deliberately did not consult with anyone.” (Gal.1:11,12,15-17)
One would think that Paul missed out on a golden opportunity immediately after his conversion in that he did not study at first hand the detailed eye-witness information which the apostles had to offer him about Jesus of Nazareth.
But the impact of his encounter had distanced him even from the value he had previously placed on his own noble birth.
Whatever gain he felt that he might have had as descendant of the prominent lineage of Benjamin is discounted against the revelation of the greater spiritual identity of man. “From now on therefore I no longer know any man from a human point of view…” (2Cor.5:16.) “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, nor slave nor freeman, nor African nor Chinese, nor European nor American, neither male nor female…” (Gal.3:28)
Nothing distinguishes the individual more than the revelation of his original identity as preserved, restored and revealed again in Christ.
In Christ the image and likeness of the invisible Creator is accurately displayed again in human form. “It is in Him that God gives a full and complete expression of Himself. Moreover, your own completeness is realised only in Him.” (Col.1:15, and Col.2:9,10. Phillips Translation)

“He is not far from each one of us” Paul reminds the philosophers of Athens, “In Him we live and move and have our being; we are indeed His offspring…” (Acts 17:27,28.) The inner mirror of Christ says it all! Our likeness to Christ revealed within us brings real transformation; this realisation is so much more effective than wishful thinking, mere ‘window shopping’ or the exercise of our willpower! (2Cor.3:18)

Not once in Paul’s Epistles does he make mention of any miracles performed by Jesus, neither does he refer to any parable told by Him.

His mission and message was not to proclaim Christ revealed in history, but Christ revealed in us! (Rom.8:10)
He celebrates the harvest revealed in the single grain of wheat that would have remained alone, had it not been sown into the earth and died. (John 12:23,24)

The mystery that was hidden from generations of people was not understood by any of the rulers of this world. God documented this mystery in Christ’s incarnation for man’s glorification. Had they understood this they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. (1Cor.2:6-9) But they did not understand the mystery of God’s plan, how mankind was to be fully represented and included in Christ; how one would die for all, and how simultaneously all indeed died in His death. (2Cor.5:14) They did not know that all of humanity would be represented in the single act of one man and thus disarm the claim of darkness and ignorance over all people. “God has overlooked the times of ignorance.” (Acts 17:30)
History recorded the death and resurrection of one individual, eternity recorded the death of mankind and the new birth of the human species.

We have in our ignorance given far too much credit to the devil. He is defeated and disarmed! In the revelation of the gospel he is brought to nought and rendered completely powerless! (1Cor.2:6-8, Col.2: 14,15) His sole aim has always been to keep mankind as ignorant as he himself was concerning their inclusion in Christ. It was our ignorance and unbelief that empowered him to do so.

The only reference in the Old Testament to the resurrection on the 3rd day includes us! “On the third day He will raise us up!” (Hos.6:1,2) This is the scripture which ignited Paul’s understanding that we are all co-included in His death and triumphant resurrection. On whose terms were we qualified for inclusion?
“All this is from God,” says Paul in 2Cor.5:18; “Of God are we in Christ” (1Cor.1:30) “The ends of the earth in their future generations will know that the Lord has wrought it!” (Ps.22:31) This was accomplished on our behalf while we were still dead in our sins; while we were hostile and indifferent towards God. (Eph.2:5,6) Because we were raised together with Christ; let us now engage and occupy our thoughts with Throne Room realities and not with the futile contradictions and distractions of a lesser life. (Col.3:1-3)
After 3 years spent in isolation in Arabia Paul visits Jerusalem for two weeks and deliberately sees only two of the Apostles, Cephas and James, the Lord’s brother. What was it that distinguished Peter and James, the younger brother of Jesus, from the rest of the disciples? Why was Paul attracted specifically to them? Both these men shared a rare revelation with Paul: they no longer knew Jesus from a human point of view; they had discovered their own true identity in Christ.

Paul refers to Peter as Cephas in order to to emphasise the meaning rather than the familiar sound of his name! In Greek, the written language of his day, the word for rock was “Petros”, but in the spoken language, the Aramaic the word was “Cephas”.
In Mathew 16 Jesus asks the most important question in the Bible, “Who does man say the son of man is?” By revelation Simon asserts in response that Jesus is not the son of Joseph, but the Messiah. He is the promise of man’s redemption, the image and likeness of God restored to and fully displayed in human form; the son of the living God.
Notice how Jesus responds to him, “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father. If I am the son of God then so are you! Your surname is no longer derived from your natural father in the flesh but from the Rock that begot you! (Deut.32:18, “Look to the Rock from which you were hewn.” Isaiah 51:1) Upon this Rock I will build My church. Greek, ecclesia.
The church is God’s answer to man’s lost identity. The word ‘ecclesia’ which Jesus introduces here does not refer to a building or an organisation, but to the original divine identity of mankind restored and revealed anew in Christ as in a mirror. The Greek preposition, ek, always refers to origin or source, (1Cor.1:30, Heb.2:11) and klesia, from kaleo means to surname or identify by name. The essential meaning and purpose of the church then is to extend the ministry of Jesus Christ which is to unveil the true Christlike identity of every man. “We were born anew into a living hope when Jesus was raised from the dead.” (1Pet.1:3)

Why, in addition to Peter, did Paul also visit James? (Gal.1:19) What had happened to James since the time when he had been standing distanced and indifferent to his brother Jesus’ ministry? (“Even His brothers did not believe in Him” John 7:5) What had brought him to write that our birth is of the Father of lights who brought us forth by the word of truth? Our true beginning is in God; we are God’s invention. And “if any man hears this word he sees the face of his birth as in a mirror.” He also states that it is possible to forget what manner of man you are, if you are being distracted from a faith-informed focus in the mirror of likeness, and revert again to to the double-minded opinion of the flesh. (Jam.1:17,18,24)
In 1Cor.15:7 Paul specifically mentions that Jesus had also appeared to James after the resurrection. I believe that the meaning of the ministry of Jesus dawned on him there. He now knew that his brother was indeed the Messiah. He suddenly understood that just like Jesus, his own genesis began in God; as indeed every man’s true birth, now represented and revealed in the resurrection. Joseph and Mary could not parent their original spirit origin.

Paul is convinced that something happened to mankind in the death and resurrection of Christ. The resurrection mirrors everyone’s new birth. This happened even before we knew about it. “He made us alive together with Him while we were still dead in our sins and raised us up together with Him.” (Eph.2:5) When Paul preaches the resurrection in Acts 13, he uses Psalm 2 as his text, “Today I have begotten you!” (Acts 13:30-33)
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1Cor.15:22) Jesus was not the second but the last Adam. The old things, (the old Adamic race) have passed away. ”The first Adam became a living soul, the last Adam was a life giving Spirit.” (1Cor.15:45)
“I am persuaded that because one died for all, therefore all have indeed died. From now on therefore I no longer regard any man from a human point of view; in Christ man has become a new creation, the old things have passed away, behold, everything has become new.” (2Cr.5:14,16,17)
When did all of mankind die? In Paul’s logic this happened when Jesus died. Jesus in His person represented all of God in human form and at the same time the whole of mankind.

Jesus did not come to start the Christian religion; He came to reveal every man’s true origin, identity and innocence. When the gospel was first preached to he Greeks, Barnabas was sent by the church in Jerusalem to investigate the reports. He saw the grace of God evident in them and instead of reporting back to the leadership of Jerusalem he immediately fetched Paul and gave him his first public pulpit. He knew and understood Paul’s revelation of Christ in man. It is no surprise to learn then that it was here in Antioch where for the first time believers were called Christians. (Acts 11)
“Ask of me the nations and I will give you the ends of the earth as your inheritance!” (Psalm 2:7,8) The conclusion of the cross is that the ends of the earth shall remember (their forgotten identity, Deut.32:18) and turn to the Lord. (Ps.22:27)

“I proclaim Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was concealed in silence in the sequence of timeless ages, but now is made publicly known, mirrored in prophetic scripture.” (“Surely He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him and by His stripes we were healed.” Isa.53:4,5) And now the God of the ages has issued His mandate to make the mystery known in such a way that all the nations of the earth will discover the lifestyle (obedience) that the hearing of faith ignites.” (Rom.16:25,26) “The conclusion is clear: it took just one offence to condemn mankind; one act of righteousness declares the same mankind innocent! The disobedience of the one man exhibits humanity as sinners, the obedience of another man exhibits humanity as righteous! (Rom.5:18,19)

The principle of faith then is to see what God sees. God calls things which seem not to be as though they were. (Rom.4:17) “While we look not at the things that the senses observe but we look at the revelation of the unseen as it is unveiled in the mirror reflection of Christ in every man. (2Cor3:18, 2Cor.4:18)

Heb 2:8 “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to man.
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Heb 2:10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Heb 2:11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.” (English Standard Version)

By Hannah Whitall Smith

From the Author’s Book
“My Spiritual Auto-Biography” The Unselfishness of God

HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

(Hannah Whitall Smith was a popular evangelist and Bible teacher at [...]]]> The Unselfishness of God
And How I Discovered It 

By Hannah Whitall Smith

From the Author’s Book
“My Spiritual Auto-Biography” The Unselfishness of God

HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

(Hannah Whitall Smith was a popular evangelist and Bible teacher at the turn of the nineteenth century. Due to the popularity of Mrs. Smith’s writings, her books are still being reprinted today by leading Christian publishers. However, the following three chapters have been purposely edited out! Apparently modern Christian publishers do not want people to discover The Unselfishness of God. These three chapters are the heart of Mrs. Smith’s story. For these publishers to remove these three essential chapters from her book is like cutting out her heart. )

Chapter 21
Questionings

During all the years of which I speak the Plymouth Brethren were, as I have said, among my principal teachers. But I began gradually to find some things in their teachings that I could not accept; and this was especially the case with their extreme Calvanism.

There have always been, I believe, differences of opinion among them in regard to this view; but those with whom I was thrown held very rigidly the belief that some people were “elected” to salvation, and some were elected to “reprobation,” and that nothing the individual could do could change these eternal decrees. We of course were among those elected to salvation, and for this we were taught to be profoundly thankful. I tried hard to fall in with this. It seemed difficult to believe that those who had taught me so much could possibly be mistaken on such a vital point. But my soul revolted from it more and more. How could I be content in knowing that I myself was sure of Heaven, when other poor souls equally deserving, but who had not had my chances, were “elected,” for no fault of their own, but in the eternal decrees of God, to “Reprobation?” Such a doctrine seemed to me utterly inconsistent with the proclamation that had so entranced me. I could not find any limitations in this proclamation, and I could not believe there were any secret limitations in the mind of the God who had made it. Neither could I see how a Creator could be just, even if He were not loving, in consigning some of the creatures He Himself, and no other, had created, to the eternal torment of hell, let them be as great sinners as they might be. I felt that if this doctrine were true, I should be woefully disappointed in the God -whom I had, with so much rapture, discovered.

I could not fail to see, moreover, that, after all, each one of us was largely a creature of circumstance-that what we were, and what we did, was more or less the result of our temperaments, of our inherited characteristics, of our social surroundings and of our education; and that, as these were all providentially arranged for us, with often no power on our part to alter them, it would not be just in the God who had placed us in their midst, to let them determine our eternal destiny.

As an escape from the doctrine of eternal torment, I at first embraced the doctrine of annihilation for the wicked, and for a little while tried to comfort myself with the belief that this life ended all for them. But the more I thought of it, the more it seemed to me that it would be a confession of serious failure on the part of the Creator, if He could find no way out of the problem of His creation, but to annihilate the creatures whom He had created.

Unconsciously, one of my children gave me an illustration of this. She waked me up one morning to tell me that she had been lying in bed having great fun in pretending that she had made a man. She described the color of his hair and his eyes, his figure, his height, his power, his wisdom and all the grand things he was going to do, and was very enthusiastic in her evident delight in the joy of creation. When she had finished enumerating all the magnificent qualities of her man, I said to her, “But, darling, suppose he should turn out badly; suppose he should do mischief and hurt people, and make things go wrong, what would thee do then?” “Oh,” she said, “I would not have any trouble; I’d just make him lie down and chop his head off.”

I saw at once what a splendid illustration this was of the responsibility of a Creator, and it brought to my mind Mrs. Shelley’s weird story of the artist Frankenstein, who made the monstrous image of a man; which, when it was finished, suddenly to his horror, became alive and went out into the world working havoc wherever it went. The horrified maker felt obliged to follow his handiwork everywhere, in order to try to undo a little of the mischief that had been done, and to remedy as far as possible the evils it had caused. The awful sense of the responsibility that rested upon him, because of the things done by the creature he had created, opened my eyes to see the responsibility God must necessarily feel, if the creatures He had created were to turn out badly. I could not believe He would torment them forever; and neither could I rest in the thought of annihilation as His best remedy for sin. I felt hopeless of reconciling the love and the justice of the Creator with the fate of His creatures, and I knew not which way to turn. But deliverance was at hand, and the third epoch in my Christian experience was about to dawn.

Chapter 22
The Third Epoch In My Religious Life

As I stated in the last chapter, after a few years of exuberant enjoyment in the good news of salvation through Christ for myself and for those who thought as I did, my heart began to reach out after those who thought differently, and especially after those who, by reason of the providential circumstances of their birth and their surroundings, had had no fair chance in life. I could not but see that ignorance of God and as a result, lives of sin, seemed the almost inevitable fate of a vast number of my fellow human beings, and I could not reconcile it with the justice of God that these unfortunate mortals should be doomed to eternal torment because of those providential circumstances, for which they were not responsible, and from which, in a charge majority of cases, they could not escape. The fact that I, who no more deserved it than they, should have been brought to the knowledge of the truth, while they were left out in the cold, became so burdensome to me, that I often felt as if I would gladly give up my own salvation, if by this means I could bestow it upon those who had been placed in less fortunate circumstances than myself.

I began to feel that the salvation in which I had been rejoicing was, after all a very limited and a very selfish salvation, and, as such, unworthy of the Creator who had declared so emphatically that His “tender mercies are over all His works,” and above all unworthy of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world for the sole and single purpose of saving the world. I could not believe that His life and death for us could be meant to fall so far short of remedying the evil that He came on purpose to remedy, and I felt that it must be impossible that there could be any short-coming in the salvation He had provided. I began to be convinced that my difficulties had simply arisen from a misunderstanding of the plans of God, and I set myself to discover the mistakes.

As I have said, my first refuge had been in the annihilation of the wicked. But this had soon seemed unworthy of a wise and good Creator, and a very sad confession of failure on His part; and I could not reconcile it with either His omnipotence or His omniscience. I began to be afraid I was going to be disappointed in God. But one day a revelation came to me that vindicated Him, and that settled the whole question forever.

We very often had revivalist preachers staying with us, as we sought every opportunity of helping forward whit we called “gospel work.” Among the rest there came one who was very full of the idea that it was the privilege and duty of the Christian to share, in a very especial manner, the sufferings of Christ, as well as in His joys. He seemed to think our doing so would in some way help those who knew nothing of the salvation of Christ; and he had adopted the plan of making strong appeals on the subject in his meetings, and of asking Christians who were willing for the sake of others, to take a share of these sufferings upon themselves, to “come forward” to a front bench in the meeting to pray that it might be granted them. Somehow it all sounded very grand and heroic, and it fitted in so exactly with my longings to help my less fortunate fellow human beings, that although I did not go “forward” for prayer at any of his meetings, I did begin to pray privately in a blind sort of way that I might come into the experience, whatever it was. The result was very different from what I had expected, but it was far from tremendous.

I had expected to enter into a feeling of Christ’s own personal sufferings in the life and death He bore for our sakes, but instead I seemed to have a revelation, not of His sufferings because of sin, but of ours. I seemed to get a sight of the misery and anguish caused to humanity by the entrance of sin into the world, and of Christ’s sorrow, not for His own sufferings because of it, but for the sufferings of the poor human beings who had been cursed by it. I seemed to understand something of what must necessarily be His anguish at the sight of the awful fate which had been permitted to befall the human race, and of His joy that He could do something to alleviate it. I saw that ours was the suffering, and that His was the joy of sacrificing Himself to save us. I felt that if I had been a Divine Creator, and had allowed such an awful fate to befall the creatures I had made, I would have been filled with anguish, and would have realized that simple justice, even if not love, required that I should find some remedy for it. And I knew I could not be more just than God. I echoed in my heart over and over again the lines found by one of George Macdonald’s characters engraved on a tombstone.

“Oh Thou, who didst the serpent make,
Our pardon give and pardon take.“

I had been used to hearing a great deal about the awfulness of our sins against God, but now I asked myself, what about the awfulness of our fate in having been made sinners? Would I not infinitely rather that a sin should be committed against myself, than that I should commit a sin against any one else? Was it not a far more dreadful thing to be made a sinner than to be merely sinned against? And I began to see that, since God had permitted sin to enter into the world, it must necessarily be that He would be compelled, in common fairness, to provide a remedy that would be equal to the disease. I remembered some mothers I had known with children suffering from inherited diseases, who were only too thankful to lay down their lives in self-sacrifice for their children, if so be they might, in any way, be able to undo the harm they had done in bringing them into the world under such disastrous conditions; and I asked myself, Could God do less? I saw that, when weighed in a balance of wrong done, we, who had been created sinners, had infinitely more to forgive than any one against whom we might have sinned.

The vividness with which all this came to me can never be expressed. I did not think it, or imagine it, or suppose it. I saw it. It was a revelation of the real nature of things–not according to the surface conventional ideas, but according to the actual bottom facts–and it could not be gainsaid.

In every human face I saw, there seemed to be unveiled before me the story of the misery and anguish caused by the entrance of sin into the world. I knew that God must see this with far clearer eyes than mine, and therefore I felt sure that the sufferings of this sight to Him must be infinitely beyond what it was to me, almost unbearable as that seemed. And I began to understand how it was that the least He could do would be to embrace with untold gladness anything that would help to deliver the being He had created for such awful misery.

It was a never-to-be-forgotten insight into the world’s anguish because of sin. How long it lasted I cannot remember, but, while it lasted, it almost crushed me. And as it always came afresh at the sight of a strange face, I found myself obliged to wear a thick veil whenever I went into the streets, in order that I might spare myself the awful realization.

One day I was riding on a tram-car along Market Street, Philadelphia, when I saw two men come in and seat themselves opposite to me. I saw them dimly through in veil, but congratulated myself that it was only dimly, as I was thus spared the wave of anguish that had so often swept over me at the full sight of a strange face. The conductor came for his fare, and I was obliged to raise my veil in order to count it out. As I raised it I got a sight of the faces of those two men, and with an overwhelming flood of anguish, I seemed to catch a fresh and clearer revelation of the depth of the misery that had been caused to human beings by sin. It was more than I could bear. I clenched my hands and cried out in my soul, “O, God, how canst thou bear it? Thou mightest have prevented it, but didst not. Thou mightest even now change it, but Thou dost not. I do not see how Thou canst go on living, and endure it.” I upbraided God. And I felt I was justified in doing so. Then suddenly God seemed to answer me. An inward voice said, in tones of infinite love and tenderness, “He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.” “Satisfied!” I cried in my heart, “Christ is to be satisfied! He will be able to look at the world’s misery, and then at the travail through which He has passed because of it, and will be satisfied with the result; If I were Christ, nothing could satisfy me but that every human being should in the end be saved, and therefore I am sure that nothing less will satisfy Him.” And with this a veil seemed to be withdrawn from before the plans of the universe, and I saw that it was true, as the Bible says, that “as in Adam all die-even so in Christ should all be made alive.” As was the first, even so was the second. The “all” in one case could not in fairness mean less than the “all” in the other. I saw therefore that the remedy must necessarily be equal to the disease, the salvation must be as universal as the fall.

I saw all this that day on the tram-car on Market street, Philadelphia –not only thought it, or hoped it, or even believed it–but knew it. It was a Divine fact. And from that moment I have never had one questioning thought as to the final destiny of the human race. God is the Creator of every human being, therefore He is the Father of each one, and they are all His children; and Christ died for every one, and is declared to be “the propitiation not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). However great the ignorance therefore, or however grievous the sin, the promise of salvation is positive and without limitations. If it is true that “by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,” it is equally true that “by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” To limit the last “all men” is also to limit the first. The salvation is absolutely equal to the fall. There is to be a final “restitution of all things,” when “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Every knee, every tongue-words could not be more embracing. The how and the when I could not see; but the one essential fact was all I needed-somewhere and somehow God was going to make every thing right for all the creatures He had created. My heart was at rest about it forever.

I hurried home to get hold of my Bible, to see if the magnificent fact I had discovered could possibly have been all this time in the Bible, and I had not have seen it; and the moment I entered the house, I did not wait to take off my bonnet, but rushed at once to the table where I always kept my Bible and Concordance ready for use, and began my search. Immediately the whole Book seemed to be illuminated. On every page the truth concerning the “times of restitution of all things” of which the Apostle Peter says “God Hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began,” shone forth, and no room was left for questioning. I turned greedily from page to page of my Bible, fairly laughing aloud for joy at the blaze of light that illuminated it all. It became a new book. Another skin seemed to have been peeled off every text, and my Bible fairly shone with a new meaning. I do not say with a different meaning, for in no sense did the new meaning contradict the old, but a deeper meaning, the true meaning, hidden behind the outward form of words. The words did not need to be changed, they only needed to be understood; and now at last I began to understand them.

I remember just about this time, in the course of my daily reading in the Bible, coming to the Psalms, and I was amazed at the new light thrown upon their apparently most severe and blood-thirsty denunciations. I saw that, when rightly interpreted, not by the letter, but by the spirit, they were full of the assured and final triumph of good over evil, and were a magnificent vindication of the goodness and justice of God, who will not, and ought not, and cannot, rest until all His enemies and ours are put under His feet. I saw that the kingdom must be interior before it can be exterior, that it is a kingdom of ideas, and not one of brute force; that His rule is over hearts, not over places; that His victories must be inward before they can be outward; that He seeks to control spirits rather than bodies; that no triumph could satisfy Him but a triumph that gains the heart; that in short, where God really reigns, the surrender must be the interior surrender of the convicted free men, and not merely the outward surrender of the conquered slave. Milton says, “Who overcomes by force hath overcome but half his foe,” and I saw that this was true.

Read in the light of these views, my whole soul thrilled with praise over the very words that had before caused me to thrill with horror. “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let them also that hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melted before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.” God’s wrath is against the sin–not against the sinner, and when His enemies are scattered, ours are also. His sword is the righteousness that puts to death sin in order to save the sinner. The fire of His anger is the “refiner’s fire”, and He sits, not as the destroyer of the human soul, but as its purifier, to purge it as gold and silver are purged.

“Implacable is love
Foes may be bought or teased
From their malign intent;
But He goes unappeased
Who is on kindness bent.”

The Psalmist says, “Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou takest vengeance of their inventions;” and with this key to interpret it, all the denunciations of God’s wrath, which had once seemed so cruel and so unjust, were transformed into declarations of His loving determination to make us good enough to live in Heaven with Himself forever.

I might multiply endlessly similar instances of the new illumination that shone in entrancing beauty on every page of the Bible, but these will suffice. I began at last to understand what the Apostle Paul meant when he said that he had been made the minister of the new testament, not of the letter but of the spirit , for “the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.” Things I had read in the letter, and had shuddered at, now read in the spirit and filled me with joy.

Chapter 23
The Unselfishness of God

I have always felt that this time my real discovery of the unselfishness of God began. Up to then, while I had rejoiced in the salvation for myself that I had discovered, I had been secretly beset from time to time with a torturing feeling that, after all, it was rather a selfish salvation, both for Him and for me. How could a good God enjoy Himself in Heaven, knowing all the while that a large proportion of the beings He had Himself created were doomed to eternal misery, unless He were a selfish God? I had known that the Bible said that He was a God of love, and I had supposed that it must be true, but always there had been at the bottom of my mind this secret feeling that His love could not stand the test of comparison with the ideal of love in my own heart. I knew that, poor and imperfect as my love must be, I could never have enjoyed myself in Heaven while one of my children, no matter how naughty, was shut out; and that He could and did enjoy Himself, while countless thousands of His children were shut out, seemed to me a failure in the most essential element of love. So that, grateful as I had felt for the blessings of forgiveness and of a sure and certain hope of Heaven for myself, I still had often felt as if after all the God I worshiped was a selfish God, who cared more for His own comfort and His own glory than He did for the poor suffering beings He had made. But now I began to see that the wideness of God’s love was far beyond any wideness that I could even conceive of; and that if I took all the unselfish love of every mother’s heart the whole world over, and piled it all together, and multiplied it by millions, I would still only get a faint idea of the unselfishness of God.I had always thought of Him as loving, but now I found out that He was far more than loving: He was love, love embodied and ingrained. I saw that He was, as it were, made out of love, so that in the very nature of things He could not do anything contrary to love. Not that He would not do it, but actually could not, because love was the very essence of His being. I saw that the law of love, like he law of gravitation, is inevitable in its working, and that God is, if I may say so, under this law, and cannot help obeying it. I saw that, because He is love, He simply, in the very nature of things, must be loving. It is not a matter of choice with Him, but a matter of necessity. And I saw that, once this fact was known, to trust in this God of love would be as natural as to breathe. Every doubting question was answered, and I was filled with an illimitable delight in the thought of having been created by such an unselfish God. I saw that as a matter of course the fact of His being our creator was an absolute guarantee that He would care for us, and would make all things work together for our good. The duties of ownership blazed with tremendous illumination. Not its rights, of which I had hitherto chiefly thought, but its duties, the things ownership necessarily demands of its owner. I saw that just as in a civilized community people are compelled by public opinion, or if necessary by the law, to take proper care of things that belong to them, so our Creator, by the laws of common morality, is compelled to take proper care of the creatures He has created, and must be held responsible for their well being.

It was all so glorious that it often seemed too good to be true, that we actually did belong to such an unselfish God; that many a time, when a fresh insight into His goodness would come over me, I would be obliged to get my Bible and open it at the texts that declared we really were His property, and put my fingers on them, and read them aloud, just to reassure myself that they did actually say, without any limitations, that He was my owner.

The expression “Remember thy Creator” assumed a totally different aspect to me. I had always thought of it as a kind of threat held over us into good behaviour; but now it seemed full of the most delightful warrant and assurance that all was well for the creatures this unselfish Creator had created. I saw that God was good, not religiously good only, but really and actually good in the truest sense of the word, and that a good Creator was of course bound to make every thing go right with the creatures He had created. And the fact that nothing was hid from His eyes, which had once been so alarming, now began to seem the most delightful fact in the whole universe, because it made it certain that He knew all about us, and would therefore be able to do His best for us.

My own feelings as a mother, which had heretofore seemed to war with what I had believed of God, now came into perfect harmony.

My children have been the joy of my life. I cannot imagine more exquisite bliss than comes to one sometimes in the possession and companionship of a child. To me there have been moments, when my arms have been around my children, that have seemed more like what the bliss of Heaven must be than any other thing I can conceive of; and I think this feeling has taught me more of what are God’s feelings towards His children than anything else in the universe. If I, a human being with limited capacity, can find such joy in my children, what must God, with His infinite heart of love, feel towards His; In fact most of my ideas of the love and goodness of God have come from my own experience as a mother, because I could not conceive that God would create me with a greater capacity for unselfishness and self-sacrifice than He possessed Himself; and since this discovery of the mother heart of God I have always been able to answer every doubt that may have arisen in my mind, as to the extent and quality of the love of God, by simply looking at my own feelings as a mother. I cannot understand the possibility of any selfishness on the mother’s part coming into her relation to her children. It seems to me a mother, who can be selfish and think of her own comfort and her own welfare before that of her children, is an abnormal mother, who fails in the very highest duty of motherhood.

If one looks at what we call the lower creation, one will see that every animal teaches us this supreme duty of self-sacrifice on the part of the mother.

The tiger mother will suffer herself to be killed rather than that that harm should come to her offspring. She will starve that they may have food. Could our God do less? I speak of self-sacrifice, but I cannot truthfully call it sacrifice. Any true mother, who knows the reality of motherhood, would scorn the idea that the care of her children involved a sacrifice, in the ordinary sense of sacrifice, on her part. It may involve trouble or weariness but not what I could call sacrifice. The sacrifice would be if she were not allowed to care for them, not if she were. I know no more fallacious line of argument than that which is founded upon the idea that children ought to be grateful for the self-sacrifice on the mother’s part. Her claim to love and consideration on the part of her children depends altogether to my mind upon how true a mother she has been in the sense I describe; and I believe that thousands of disappointed mothers, who have not received the gratitude and consideration they would like, have only themselves to thank, because they have demanded it, instead of having won it. All this has taught me to understand God’s feelings towards us that what we call self-sacrifice on the part of Christ was simply the absolutely necessary expression of His love for us; and that the amazing thing would have been, not that He did it, but if He had not done it.

Since I had this insight of the mother-heart of God, I have never been able to feel the slightest anxiety for any of His children; and by His children I do not mean only the good ones, but I mean the bad ones just as much. Are we not, distinctly told that the Good Shepherd leaves the ninety and nine good sheep in order to find the one naughty sheep that is lost, and that He looks for it until He finds it? And, viewed in the light of motherhood, has not that word “lost” a most comforting meaning, since nothing can be a lost thing that is not owned by somebody, and to be lost means only, not yet found. The lost gold piece is still gold, with the image of the King upon it; the lost sheep is a sheep still, not a wolf; the lost son has still the blood of his father in his veins. And if a person is a lost sinner, it only means that he is owned by the Good Shepherd, and that the Good Shepherd is bound, by the very duties of His ownership, to go after that which is lost, and to go until He finds it. The word “lost” therefore, to my mind, contains in itself the strongest proof of ownership that one could desire. Who can imagine a mother with a lost child ever having a ray of comfort until the child is found, and who can imagine a God being more indifferent than a mother? In fact I believe that all the problems of the spiritual life, which are often so distressing to conscientious souls, would vanish like mist before the rising sun, if the full blaze of the mother-heart of God should be turned upon them.

Moreover I saw that, since it was declared we were created in the image of God, we were bound to believe that the best in us, and not the worst was the reflection of that image, and .that therefore things which to us in our best moments looked selfish, or unkind, or unjust, or self-seeking, must never, no matter what the “seeming”, be attributed to God. If He is unselfish, He must be at least as unselfish as the highest human ideal; and of course we know He must be infinitely more.

All the texts in the Bible revealing God’s goodness shone with a new meaning, and I saw that His goodness was not merely a patronizing benevolence, but was a genuine bona fide goodness that included unselfishness and consideration, and above all justice, which last has always seemed to me one of the very first elements of goodness. No unjust person could ever, in my opinion, lay the slightest claim to being good, let their outward seemings of goodness be as deceiving as they may. I had in short such an overwhelming revelation of the intrinsic and inherent goodness and unselfishness of God that nothing since has been able to shake it. A great many things in His dealings have been and still are mysteries to me; but I am sure they could all be explained on the basis of love and justice, if only I could look deep enough; and that some day I shall see, what now I firmly believe, that His loving kindness is really and truly over all His works.

I do not mean to say that all this acquaintance with God came to me at once; but I do mean to say that when I had that revelation on the tram-car in Philadelphia that day, a light on the character of God began to shine, that has never since waned in the slightest, and has only grown brighter and brighter with every year of my life. It is enough for me to say “God is” and I have the answer to every possible difficulty.

The amazing thing is that I, in company with so many other Christians, had failed, with the open Bible before me, to see this; and that all sorts of travesties on the character of God, and of libels upon His goodness, can find apparently a welcome entrance into Christian hearts. To me such things became at this time well-nigh intolerable. I could listen patiently, and even with interest, to any sort of strange or heretical ideas that did not touch the character of God, but the one thing I could not endure, and could not sit still to listen to, was anything that contained, even under a show of great piety, the least hint of a libel on His love or His selfishness.

I shall never forget a memorable occasion in our own house, when a celebrated Preacher from Boston , was visiting us. The conversation at the breakfast table turned on the subject of God’s love, and this Preacher declared that you must not count on it too much, as there were limits as to what His love could endure, just as there were limits to a mother’s love; and he went on to declare that there were certain sins a daughter could commit which the mother never could forgive, and which would forever close her heart and her home against her child, and he asserted that it was just so with God, and that he considered it was a grandmotherly religion that taught anything different.

I have no doubt his object was to combat my views on Restitution, although we were not talking on that subject; but he evidently wanted to convince me that God was not quite so foolishly loving as I thought. It was more than I could endure to hear both mothers, and the God who made mothers so maligned, and although the speaker was my guest, I broke forth into a perfect passion of indignation, and declaring that I would not sit at the table with any one who held such libelous ideas of God, I burst into tears and left the room, and entirely declined to see my guest again. I do not say this was right or courteous, or at all Christlike, but it only illustrates how overwhelmingly I felt on the subject. The honor of God seemed to me of more importance than any ordinary rules of politeness. But I see now that I might have vindicated that honor in an equally effectual but more Christlike way.

Still to this day, the one thing which I find it very hard to tolerate, is any thing which libels the character of God. Nothing else matters like this, for all our salvation depends wholly and entirely upon what God is; and unless He can be proved to be absolutely good, and absolutely unselfish, and absolutely just, our case is absolutely hopeless. God is our salvation, and, if He fails us, in even the slightest degree, we have nowhere else to turn.

3:1 Having said all that, you might ask whether there is still any advantage in being Jewish? Is there any significance in circumcision?

3:2 Everything only finds its relevance and value in the original intention of God realised by faith.

3:3 The question is, how does someone’s failure [...]]]> Chapter 3 (translation by Francois du Toit)

3:1 Having said all that, you might ask whether there is still any advantage in being Jewish? Is there any significance in circumcision?

3:2 Everything only finds its relevance and value in the original intention of God realised by faith.

3:3 The question is, how does someone’s failure to believe God affect the integrity of God? Would their unbelief reduce God’s faith to zero? 

3:4 God’s Word is not under threat! In fact if all of humanity fails, truth remains intact. Truth is rooted in God; it is neither challenged nor vindicated by man’s experience. (Truth doesn’t become true only if someone believes it.) Contradiction does not intimidate or diminish the faith of God. (What God believes about man, does not change through man’s unfaithfulness. God remains convinced about us.)

Scripture records that God stands justified in His own Word; it confirms that God’s promise and purpose are not compromised through man’s failure; neither is God’s reputation threatened by man’s behaviour.

3:5 We could argue then that God doesn’t have a right to judge us, if our unrighteousness only emphasises His?

3:6 That would make God an unfair judge of the world.

3:7 This almost sounds like I am saying that it is not really wrong to sin, if our cheating only serves to further contrast the truth of God.

3:8 Because of my emphasis on God’s grace, some people slanderously make the assumption and accuse me that my teaching would give people a licence to sin. “Let us do evil that good may come!”

I strongly condemn such foolish talk!

3:9 It has been proved again and again that sin holds the sway over both Jew and Greek alike.

3:10 Scripture records that within the context of the law, no-one succeeds to live a blameless life.

3:11 Because there seems to be no sincere craving and desire to know God there is no spiritual insight. (While man remains casual and indifferent about God, his heart remains calloused)

3:12 Their distraction has bankrupted their lives; that goes for the mass of mankind, without any exception.

3:13 “When they open their mouth to speak they bury one another with destructive words. They snake each other with lies and corruption.

3:14 With sharp tongues they cut one another to pieces, cursing and cheating; their every word is inspired by the wearisome effort to survive in a dog-eat-dog world.

3:15 Murder has become a regular ritual; without any regard for another’s life.

3:16 Their path is littered with broken lives.

3:17 They have lost the art of friendship.

3:18 They have completely lost sight of God.”

3:19 The fact that all these quotations are from Jewish writings, confirms that their law of moral conduct did not free them from the very same sins the rest of the world was trapped in. Universal mankind stands condemned before God.

3:20 The law therefore reveals how sinful man is, but has no power to present man blameless before God.

3:21 (This brings me back to the theme of my ministry, chapter 1:1, 2, 5,16,17.) Right now the righteousness of God (the fact that God succeeded to vindicate sinful mankind in Christ) is boldly declared in vivid contrast to the ability of man to do it himself (to be righteous by keeping the law.) This restored standing of man is what both the law and all the prophetic writings confirm and anticipate. (God’s dealing with man is based on the fact that man’s conscience continues to bear witness to his original design.)

3:22 Jesus is the embodiment of God’s faith in man. The righteousness of God is now on display in such a way that all may believe, regardless 

of who they are, there is no distinction!

3:23 The same mass of mankind that was once reduced to an inferior identity through their sin,

3:24 is now gifted with acquittal on the basis of the ransom paid by Jesus Christ for their liberation.

3:25 Jesus is the public exhibition of God’s mercy. His blood persuades mankind that God has dealt with the historic record of their sin.

He has done it in such a way that His own justice is satisfied. All along God refused to let go of man.

3:26 At this very moment His act of righteousness is pointing mankind to the evidence of their innocence, with Jesus as the source of their

faith.

3:27 The law of faith cancels the law of works; which means there is suddenly nothing left for man to boast in! No one is superior to another!

(Bragging only makes sense if there is someone to compete with or impress.)

3:28 This leaves us with only one logical conclusion, mankind is justified by faith and not by their ability to keep the law.

3:29 Which means that God is not the private property of the Jews but belongs equally to all the nations. (While the law excludes the non-

Jewish nations, faith includes us all on level terms.)

3:30 There is only one God, He deals with everyone, circumcised or uncircumcised exclusively on the basis of faith.

3:31 No, faith does not re-write the rules; instead it confirms that the original life-quality meant for mankind as documented in the law, is again

realised.

Notes

3:3 God does not stand indifferent to our failure, His love is larger than the sum total of human failure. He remains faithful to us! His faith knows our perfection because of His perfect act, amidst the greatest contradiction. Eph.3:18,19, Eph.2:10, Deut.32:4, James1:17,18.

3:4 See 2Cor.13:5 and 8, “…we can do nothing against the truth!”

David’s sin did not cancel God’s promise Psa_51:4 : “I acknowledge my sin, and condemn myself. I pray that the truth of thy promise (2Sa_7:15, 2Sa_7:16) to establish my house and throne for ever, may be vindicated when thou shalt execute that dreadful threatening, (2Sa_12:10), that the sword shall never depart from my house, which I own I have brought upon myself by my own iniquity. 

Ps 51:4 that thou might be justified in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art judged

2Sa 7:15  But my mercy I will not take from him,

2Sa 7:16 and his house shall be made sure, and his kingdom for ever before me, and his throne shall be set up for ever.”

3:5-8 Philips translation But if our wickedness advertises the goodness of God, do we feel that God is being unfair to punish us in return? (I’m using a human tit-for-tat argument.) Not a bit of it! What sort of a person would God be then to judge the world? It is like saying that if my lying throws into sharp relief the truth of God and, so to speak, enhances his reputation, then why should he repay me by judging me a sinner? Similarly, why not do evil that good may be, by contrast all the the more conspicuous and valuable? (As a matter of fact, I am reported as urging this very thing, by some slanderously and others quite seriously! But, of course, such an argument is quite properly condemned.) 

3:9 Like any disease would show exactly the same symptom regardless of the person’s nationality

3:10 Psalm 14: 1To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good.

2The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.

3They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.

This argument is building up to the triumphant conclusion of the fact that there is indeed no distinction, the same people who all fell short of the glory of God are now justified through God’s work of grace in Christ. :21-24.

3:11 suniemi, a joint-seeing, spiritual insight.

3:13 v13-18 are quotations from Ps 10 and Ps 14.

3:14 Taken direct from the Hebrew text in Ps.10:7 Heb. tok tok from tavek, to cut to pieces. Heb. amal and aven to exert oneself in wearisome effort.

3:25,26 In both these verses Paul uses the word, endeixis, where we get the word indicate from. It is also part of the root for the word translated as righteousness, dikaiosune. To point out to show to convince with proof.

3:27 See 2Pet.1:1 “Through the righteousness of God we have received a faith of equal standing.”