"Barabbas, Part III"
Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 11:48 pm
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“Barabbas, Part III:” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqV6i98SkA
Tonight, we are continuing our examination of Barabbas, or, more accurately, all that Barabbas was not. Tonight we will approach this examination from a slightly different perspective. I am going to share with you a Rabbit Trail that I followed, myself, and was glad I did. For those of you who are familiar with some of my past Discussions, I will take a word or phrase, find it in the verses where it appears in Scripture, and see what lights it turns on. I have, without exception, always been richly rewarded in that approach.
It is actually no different than being blindfolded, and reaching down into a Treasure Chest full of fine gold pieces and precious jewels. No matter what you pick up, you're enriched by it! I did this with a particular phrase that I had used with another Small Group recently. It is found in Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Let's not just read over this verse wthout letting it sink in. I am going to read it, again, more slowly this time: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Matthew Henry has this to say about our first verse, tonight: “The precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are such as should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to ourselves that we are justified, and then to take the comfort it renders to us, and to do the duty it calls for from us. The fruits of this tree of life are exceedingly precious.
I. We have peace with God. It is sin that breeds the quarrel between us and God, creates not only a strangeness, but an enmity; the holy righteous God cannot in honour be at peace with a sinner while he continues under the guilt of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. And such are the benignity and good-will of God to man that, immediately upon the removing of that obstacle, the peace is made. By faith we lay hold of God's arm and of his strength, and so are at peace. There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is friendship and loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or the best friend. Abraham, being justified by faith, was called the friend of God, which was his honour, but not his peculiar honour: Christ has called his disciples friends, (in John 15:13-15).
And surely a man needs no more to make him happy than to have God his friend! But this is through our Lord Jesus Christ - through him as the great peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man, that blessed Day's-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in innocency, had peace with God immediately; there needed no such mediator. But to guilty sinful man it is a very dreadful thing to think of God out of Christ; for he is our peace, (see Ephesians 2:14), not only the maker, but the matter and maintainer, of our peace (see Colossians 1:20).
We read in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Well, that's in the future, but I wanted to know what we have now in the present. That phrase, “we have peace,” (present tense) kept playing in my head. On a whim, not really sure what I would find, I performed an “exact phrase” search in e-sword software for the phrase: “we have.” I wanted to see what Scripture taught us that we have, as believers in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ.
I remembered what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians when he reminded them of their life before coming to Christ. He wrote in Ephesians 2:12-14: “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;” ” Jesus is (present tense) our peace, Who has made both one...
I will allow Albert Barnes to explain what is being said, here: “The “peace” here referred to is that by which a “union” in worship and in feeling has been produced between the Jews and the Gentiles Formerly they were alienated and separate. They had different objects of worship; different religious rites; different views and feelings. The Jews regarded the Gentiles with hatred, and the Gentiles the Jews with scorn. Now, says the apostle, they are at peace. They worship the same God. They have the same Saviour. They depend on the same atonement. They have the same hope...
They belong to the same redeemed family. Reconciliation has not only taken place with God, but with each other. “The best way to produce peace between alienated minds is to bring them to the same Saviour.” That will do more to silence contentions, and to heal alienations, than any or all other means. Bring people around the same cross; fill them with love to the same Redeemer, and give them the same hope of heaven, and you put a period to alienation and strife. The love at Christ is so absorbing, and the dependence in his blood so entire, that they will lay aside these alienations, and cease their contentions.
The work of the atonement is thus designed not only to produce peace with God, but peace between alienated and contending minds. The feeling that we are redeemed by the same blood, and that we have the same Saviour, will unite the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the high and the low, in the ties of brotherhood, and make them feel that they are one.
This great work of the atonement is thus designed to produce peace in alienated minds every where, and to diffuse abroad the feeling of universal brotherhood.
Who hath made both one - Both Gentiles and Jews. He has united them in one society.
And hath broken down the middle wall - There is an allusion here undoubtedly to the wall of partition in the temple by which the court of the Gentiles was separated from that of the Jews.
The idea here is, that that was now broken down, and that the Gentiles had the same access to the temple as the Jews. The sense is, that in virtue of the sacrifice of the Redeemer they were admitted to the same privileges and hopes.”
Gentiles had, along with Jews, access to formerly inaccessible areas of the Temple. We all, believing Jews and Gentiles alike, now have (present tense) access to areas formerly inaccessible areas even to Jews, namely the Holy of Holies, formerly separated by the Veil of the Temple. It was ripped from top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross. But we don't just have access to the physical type of the True in Heaven, we have actual access to the Throne of Grace, to which we can approach – even boldly – and are welcomed when we do, for help in time of need as we read in Hebrews 4:16.
These benefits and blessing are just the appetizers for what God has already begun to pour out on us as believers in Him and in His Son. None of these things, even on a physical level, much less on a spiritual level, were bestowed upon Barabbas once he left Pilate's judgment platform. I am quite sure he was exhilarated to have been chosen to be released without punishment, but our being chosen by Jesus, from the Foundation of the World, to be released from punishment, was just the beginning of the good things that we receive here and now on the earth!
We will now go through the best and most fitting of the “we have” statements as they occur in the New Testament. And, as is usually the case when I do this, I am quite energized to see all of these “we have” statements, occurring in rapid-fire succession, building on each other, and, for me, increasing my desire to praise God more and more with each additional verse.
Let's start at Romans 5:2, referring to Jesus: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Adam Clarke writes, “By whom also - We are not only indebted to our Lord Jesus Christ for the free and full pardon which we have received, but our continuance in a justified state depends upon his gracious influence in our hearts, and his intercession before the throne of God.
We have access - We have received this access. It was only through Christ that we could at first approach God; and it is only through him that the privilege is continued to us. And this access to God, or introduction to the Divine presence, is to be considered as a lasting privilege. We are not brought to God for the purpose of an interview, but to remain with him; to be his household; and, by faith, to behold his face, and walk in the light of his countenance.
Into this grace - This state of favor and acceptance.
Wherein we stand - Having firm footing, and a just title through the blood of the Lamb to the full salvation of God. And rejoice - Have solid happiness, from the evidence we have of our acceptance with Him. In hope of the glory of God - Having our sins remitted, and our souls adopted into the heavenly family, we are become heirs; for if children, then heirs; and that glory of God is now become our endless inheritance. While the Jews boast of their external privileges - that they have the temple of God among them;
that their priests have an entrance to God as their representatives, carrying before the mercy-seat the blood of their offered victims; we exult in being introduced by Jesus Christ to the Divine presence; his blood having been shed and sprinkled for this purpose; and thus we have, spiritually and essentially, all that these Jewish rites, etc., signified. We are in the peace of God, and we are happy in the enjoyment of that peace, and have a blessed foretaste of eternal glory. Thus we have heaven upon earth, and the ineffable {or, inexpressible} glories of God in prospect.”
Romans 5:11: “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
John Gill writes, “And not only so, but we also joy in God,.... Something seems here to be understood, and which is to be supplied thus; not only we are saved by his life, and from wrath through him; not only are we reconciled to God by his Son, and Spirit; not only Christ has died for us while sinners and ungodly; not only do we glory in tribulations, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God: "but we also joy in God" himself, as our covenant God and Father in Christ, as the God of all grace, peace, and salvation;
in his perfections, as engaged on our side, and as glorified in our salvation; in the purposes of God, and his covenant transactions with his Son, as they are made known in the everlasting Gospel; in all his providential dispensations, which are mercy and truth; and in our being of him in Christ, and Christ's being made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; in all the blessings of grace we receive from him, the glory of which is his due; and in his sight and presence, and in the enjoyment of him. The means by which saints come at this joying and glorying in God, is
through our Lord Jesus Christ; not the light of nature, nor the law of Moses, nor any works of righteousness done by men, nor through angels or saints, but Christ, and him only; for it is only in and through him that God is their covenant God and Father; by him only have they the agreeable view of his glorious perfections; in him only all his purposes and promises have their fulfilment; it is by his hands, and through his blood, that all the blessings of grace are conveyed to them; their access to God is only by him; and by him they give the praise and glory of every mercy to him. And the ground of this joy is the expiation of sin by Christ,
by whom we have now received the atonement; atonement is not made, but received by us; which denotes the application of the atoning blood and sacrifice of Christ to the conscience, the Spirit's witness of interest in it, and the office of faith, as a recipient of it: it is not faith, nor anything else of the creature's, that makes the atonement, only Christ; but faith receives it from him, and by him; which, as it is the ground of present joying in God, so it is the foundation of hope of future glory:
the word "now" refers to the Gospel dispensation. The poor Jews are at the utmost loss about atonement: sometimes they tell (c) us it is by confession, repentance, and good works; sometimes by beneficence and hospitality (d); sometimes they say their captivity is their atonement (e); and, at other times, that death expiates all their sins (f). Blessed be God for the atoning sacrifice of Christ!
(c) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 85. 2. & 86. 1. Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 2. Zohar in Gen. fol. 107. 1. (d) T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 27. 1. & Roshhashana, fol. 18. 1, & Yebamot, fol. 105. 1. (e) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 16. 1. & Sanhedrin, fol. 37. 2. Maimon. Hilch. Teshuba, c. 2. sect. 4. (f) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 60. 1. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 38. 2. T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 1. & Yoma, fol. 42. 1. Gloss in ib.”
Romans 12:4: “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:”
In commenting on this single verse, The Preacher's Homiletical provides us with a beautiful lesson of how much we miss when we think, with just one pass, we have grasped all that a verse has for us. They write, “Love cements unity.—The organisation of the human body should be an example to the believer to make him perceive the necessity of limiting himself to the function assigned him. Not only, indeed, is there a plurality of members in one body, but these members also possess special functions.
So in the Church there is not only a multiplicity of members, but also a diversity of functions, every believer having a particular gift whereby he ought to become the auxiliary of all the rest, their member. Hence it follows that every one should remain in his function: on the one hand, that he may be able to render to the rest the help which he owes them; on the other, that he may not disturb those in the exercise of their gifts (Godet).
I. Love makes unity.—Life unites together the several members of the human body. There may be contact, but not true unity, where there is no life. There must be love sincere in the Church if there is to be unity. Some Churches seem to have outward coherence and no inward unity. Love does not unite the whole body. We cannot be one body in Christ without love. Faith and love make us members of the mystical body.
II. Discriminating love recognises diversity in unity.—The human body is one; its members are many. Nature is one; its parts are various. The Bible is one; its records stretch over the centuries: there are manifest proofs of different writers. The ocean is one; its separate waves constitute its unity. The Church is divided, and yet united: diversities of gifts and of modes of operation. Love may overlook seeming discrepancies and recognise the Church as a glorious unity.
III. Sincere love cements unity.—1. It removes envy. The minister does not envy the prophet; the intellectual preacher does not spurn the emotional; while the emotional preacher does not envy the high gifts of the intellectual. He that is ruled does not treat with contempt the authority of the ruler. 2. It makes each man seek to fit into his place. Every man a place from God, and every man seeking to fill his place. 3. It imparts diligence and cheerfulness. Our teachers should be both diligent and cheerful. A cheerful voice is a blessed tonic.
Amid the sad voices of a weary humanity we need the joyful voices of messengers from the land of blessedness. Songs of hope should be sung in a despairing world. Diligence and cheerfulness are specially needed in these days, when scepticism is so diligent, when the press is so diligent, when a pessimistic tone is pervading society. If one man cannot be both diligent and cheerful, let two men unite their forces. “He that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.” Pompous and hard-hearted beadles are not sent by St. Paul on errands of mercy.
They are to be cheerful messengers, taking good cheer to sad hearts and homes. Giving is to be done with simplicity. Love, and not the stately banquet, not the eloquent speech, not the prospect of an advertisement, must elicit and give the subscription. The prophet and the humblest teacher, the ruler and the ruled, the giver of alms and the receiver, meet on the one blessed plane of brotherhood.
IV. Love beautifies unity.—
1. Love to the Church prompts to the gracious spirit of detesting that which is evil and cleaving to that which is good. What a beautiful aspect the Church would present if each member were glued to that which is good! Modern glue is poor stuff; it fastens to the good, but the fastening is weak. The prospect of gain or fame makes the glue wither and lose its hold. Is there any modern glue to stand the heat of persecution? Ah! there may be faithful ones in modern as in ancient times.
2. Love to the Church generates kind affections. “Be kindly affectioned one to another.” Sweetly smooth words for rough times. There may be a need for a modern enforcement. Be kindly affectioned. How about the modern cynic? How about the morose ecclesiastic? How about the dignified official? How about the purse-proud man who condescends to say, ’Ow do? These all need the lesson taught by St. Paul of being kindly affectioned one to another.
3. Love to the Church provokes holy emulation. “In honour preferring one another.” The emulation of love is to show the brightest example of kindness; the ambition of loving Christians is to excel each other in all acts of mutual kindness and respect. What a beautiful society! Will earth ever witness such a social paradise? Is this ecclesiastical ideal the utopia of a vain dreamer? Will earth ever thus taste the bliss of heaven? Let us not despair. Diligence and cheerfulness will accomplish much. Let each seek to do his or her duty in the allotted sphere; let us live in the love of Christ; let us love, and the grace will grow by gracious and consistent exercise.”
1 Corinthians 2:12: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
Matthew Henry writes, “The Spirit of God knows the things of God because he is one with God. And as no man can come at the knowledge of what is in another man's mind till he communicates and reveals it, so neither can we know the secret counsels and purposes of God till they are made known to us by his Holy Spirit. We cannot know them at all till he had proposed them objectively (as it is called) in the external revelation; we cannot know or believe them to salvation till he enlightens the faculty, opens the eye of the mind, and gives us such a knowledge and faith of them.
And it was by this Spirit that the apostles had received the wisdom of God in a mystery, which they spoke. “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things freely given to us of God; not the spirit which is in the wise men of the world, nor in the rulers of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, or proceedeth from God.
We have what we deliver in the name of God by inspiration from him; and it is by his gracious illumination and influence that we know the things freely given to us of God unto salvation” - that is, “the great privileges of the gospel, which are the free gift of God, distributions of mere and rich grace.” Though these things are given to us, and the revelation of this gift is made to us, we cannot know them to any saving purpose till we have the Spirit. The apostles had the revelation of these things from the Spirit of God, and the saving impression of them from the same Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 2:16: “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Matthew Henry writes, “Who can enter so far into the mind of God as to instruct him who has the Spirit of God, and is under his inspiration? He only is the person to whom God immediately communicates the knowledge of his will. And who can inform or instruct him in the mind of God who is so immediately under the conduct of his own Spirit? Very few have known any thing of the mind of God by a natural power.
But, adds the apostle, we have the mind of Christ; and the mind of Christ is the mind of God. He is God, and the principal messenger and prophet of God. And the apostles were empowered by his Spirit to make known his mind to us. And in the holy scriptures the mind of Christ, and the mind of God in Christ, are fully revealed to us. Observe, It is the great privilege of Christians that they have the mind of Christ revealed to them by his Spirit.”
The Sermon Bible tells us, “What is the mind of Christ? Is it some high intellectual attainment? Or is it some great moral victory over the affections? The expression is evidently a very full one; for you may take the words of a man and you may take the actions of a man, and still fall short of the mind of that man. For the mind of a man is the spirit of a man. It is the motive which actuates him; it is the feeling which is unconsciously moulding his conduct every moment; it is the inner life which is continually giving the tone and the character to his outer being.
II. The believer is always striving after the mind of Christ. Nothing less will satisfy him, because nothing less will satisfy God. The soul of Jesus, infinitely stored with the Holy Spirit, becomes a fountain from whence again that Spirit is always pouring out into His own people; so that if ever we receive any grace of the Spirit, we are actually receiving a portion, however small, of the mind of Jesus Christ.
III. See, then, the way by which you are to obtain the mind of Christ. Every way you can, live close to Him, think of Him, meditate upon Him, hold communion with Him, lie at His feet, do constantly acts for His sake, suffer for Him, laud Him; talk of Him, lean upon Him, realise communion with Him, and invariably as you do this you are catching His mind.
IV. Note some of the advantages which belong to those who really have the mind of Christ.
(1) No man can really understand the Bible who does not bring to the study of it the mind of Christ.
(2) The possession of the mind of Christ is a wonderful clue to bear with us in the intricate windings of the daily labyrinth of life.
(3) They have the benefit of the mind of Christ who wish to pray rightly. Those who bring Christ in them to their knees, having the mind of Christian asking, know what is the mind of Christ in giving.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 144.
References: 1 Corinthians 2:16.—Homilist, vol. ii., p. 274. 1Cor 2—W. Simpson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 28. 1Cor 2—F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 197.”
1 Corinthians 15:49: “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
Matthew Henry writes, “1. How are the dead raised up? that is, by what means? How can they be raised?
2. As to the bodies which shall rise. Will it be with the like shape, and form, and stature, and members, and qualities? The former objection is that of those who opposed the doctrine, the latter of curious doubters. To the first the answer is, This was to be brought about by Divine power; that power which all may see does somewhat like it, year after year, in the death and revival of the corn. It is foolish to question the Almighty power of God to raise the dead, when we see it every day quickening and reviving things that are dead.
To the second inquiry; The grain undergoes a great change; and so will the dead, when they rise and live again. The seed dies, though a part of it springs into new life, though how it is we cannot fully understand. The works of creation and providence daily teach us to be humble, as well as to admire the Creator's wisdom and goodness. There is a great variety among other bodies, as there is among plants. There is a variety of glory among heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly bodies.
The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly state; and there will be a variety of glories among them. Burying the dead, is like committing seed to the earth, that it may spring out of it again. Nothing is more loathsome than a dead body. But believers shall at the resurrection have bodies, made fit to be for ever united with spirits made perfect. To God all things are possible. He is the Author and Source of spiritual life and holiness, unto all his people, by the supply of his Holy Spirit to the soul; and he will also quicken and change the body by his Spirit.
The dead in Christ shall not only rise, but shall rise thus gloriously changed. The bodies of the saints, when they rise again, will be changed. They will be then glorious and spiritual bodies, fitted to the heavenly world and state, where they are ever afterwards to dwell. The human body in its present form, and with its wants and weaknesses, cannot enter or enjoy the kingdom of God. Then let us not sow to the flesh, of which we can only reap corruption. And the body follows the state of the soul. He, therefore, who neglects the life of the soul, casts away his present good; he who refuses to live to God, squanders all he has.”
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Barabbas, Part 3.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on May 1st, 2019.
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“Barabbas, Part III:” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqV6i98SkA
Tonight, we are continuing our examination of Barabbas, or, more accurately, all that Barabbas was not. Tonight we will approach this examination from a slightly different perspective. I am going to share with you a Rabbit Trail that I followed, myself, and was glad I did. For those of you who are familiar with some of my past Discussions, I will take a word or phrase, find it in the verses where it appears in Scripture, and see what lights it turns on. I have, without exception, always been richly rewarded in that approach.
It is actually no different than being blindfolded, and reaching down into a Treasure Chest full of fine gold pieces and precious jewels. No matter what you pick up, you're enriched by it! I did this with a particular phrase that I had used with another Small Group recently. It is found in Romans 5:1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Let's not just read over this verse wthout letting it sink in. I am going to read it, again, more slowly this time: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Matthew Henry has this to say about our first verse, tonight: “The precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are such as should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to ourselves that we are justified, and then to take the comfort it renders to us, and to do the duty it calls for from us. The fruits of this tree of life are exceedingly precious.
I. We have peace with God. It is sin that breeds the quarrel between us and God, creates not only a strangeness, but an enmity; the holy righteous God cannot in honour be at peace with a sinner while he continues under the guilt of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. And such are the benignity and good-will of God to man that, immediately upon the removing of that obstacle, the peace is made. By faith we lay hold of God's arm and of his strength, and so are at peace. There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is friendship and loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or the best friend. Abraham, being justified by faith, was called the friend of God, which was his honour, but not his peculiar honour: Christ has called his disciples friends, (in John 15:13-15).
And surely a man needs no more to make him happy than to have God his friend! But this is through our Lord Jesus Christ - through him as the great peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man, that blessed Day's-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in innocency, had peace with God immediately; there needed no such mediator. But to guilty sinful man it is a very dreadful thing to think of God out of Christ; for he is our peace, (see Ephesians 2:14), not only the maker, but the matter and maintainer, of our peace (see Colossians 1:20).
We read in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” Well, that's in the future, but I wanted to know what we have now in the present. That phrase, “we have peace,” (present tense) kept playing in my head. On a whim, not really sure what I would find, I performed an “exact phrase” search in e-sword software for the phrase: “we have.” I wanted to see what Scripture taught us that we have, as believers in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ.
I remembered what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians when he reminded them of their life before coming to Christ. He wrote in Ephesians 2:12-14: “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;” ” Jesus is (present tense) our peace, Who has made both one...
I will allow Albert Barnes to explain what is being said, here: “The “peace” here referred to is that by which a “union” in worship and in feeling has been produced between the Jews and the Gentiles Formerly they were alienated and separate. They had different objects of worship; different religious rites; different views and feelings. The Jews regarded the Gentiles with hatred, and the Gentiles the Jews with scorn. Now, says the apostle, they are at peace. They worship the same God. They have the same Saviour. They depend on the same atonement. They have the same hope...
They belong to the same redeemed family. Reconciliation has not only taken place with God, but with each other. “The best way to produce peace between alienated minds is to bring them to the same Saviour.” That will do more to silence contentions, and to heal alienations, than any or all other means. Bring people around the same cross; fill them with love to the same Redeemer, and give them the same hope of heaven, and you put a period to alienation and strife. The love at Christ is so absorbing, and the dependence in his blood so entire, that they will lay aside these alienations, and cease their contentions.
The work of the atonement is thus designed not only to produce peace with God, but peace between alienated and contending minds. The feeling that we are redeemed by the same blood, and that we have the same Saviour, will unite the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the high and the low, in the ties of brotherhood, and make them feel that they are one.
This great work of the atonement is thus designed to produce peace in alienated minds every where, and to diffuse abroad the feeling of universal brotherhood.
Who hath made both one - Both Gentiles and Jews. He has united them in one society.
And hath broken down the middle wall - There is an allusion here undoubtedly to the wall of partition in the temple by which the court of the Gentiles was separated from that of the Jews.
The idea here is, that that was now broken down, and that the Gentiles had the same access to the temple as the Jews. The sense is, that in virtue of the sacrifice of the Redeemer they were admitted to the same privileges and hopes.”
Gentiles had, along with Jews, access to formerly inaccessible areas of the Temple. We all, believing Jews and Gentiles alike, now have (present tense) access to areas formerly inaccessible areas even to Jews, namely the Holy of Holies, formerly separated by the Veil of the Temple. It was ripped from top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross. But we don't just have access to the physical type of the True in Heaven, we have actual access to the Throne of Grace, to which we can approach – even boldly – and are welcomed when we do, for help in time of need as we read in Hebrews 4:16.
These benefits and blessing are just the appetizers for what God has already begun to pour out on us as believers in Him and in His Son. None of these things, even on a physical level, much less on a spiritual level, were bestowed upon Barabbas once he left Pilate's judgment platform. I am quite sure he was exhilarated to have been chosen to be released without punishment, but our being chosen by Jesus, from the Foundation of the World, to be released from punishment, was just the beginning of the good things that we receive here and now on the earth!
We will now go through the best and most fitting of the “we have” statements as they occur in the New Testament. And, as is usually the case when I do this, I am quite energized to see all of these “we have” statements, occurring in rapid-fire succession, building on each other, and, for me, increasing my desire to praise God more and more with each additional verse.
Let's start at Romans 5:2, referring to Jesus: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Adam Clarke writes, “By whom also - We are not only indebted to our Lord Jesus Christ for the free and full pardon which we have received, but our continuance in a justified state depends upon his gracious influence in our hearts, and his intercession before the throne of God.
We have access - We have received this access. It was only through Christ that we could at first approach God; and it is only through him that the privilege is continued to us. And this access to God, or introduction to the Divine presence, is to be considered as a lasting privilege. We are not brought to God for the purpose of an interview, but to remain with him; to be his household; and, by faith, to behold his face, and walk in the light of his countenance.
Into this grace - This state of favor and acceptance.
Wherein we stand - Having firm footing, and a just title through the blood of the Lamb to the full salvation of God. And rejoice - Have solid happiness, from the evidence we have of our acceptance with Him. In hope of the glory of God - Having our sins remitted, and our souls adopted into the heavenly family, we are become heirs; for if children, then heirs; and that glory of God is now become our endless inheritance. While the Jews boast of their external privileges - that they have the temple of God among them;
that their priests have an entrance to God as their representatives, carrying before the mercy-seat the blood of their offered victims; we exult in being introduced by Jesus Christ to the Divine presence; his blood having been shed and sprinkled for this purpose; and thus we have, spiritually and essentially, all that these Jewish rites, etc., signified. We are in the peace of God, and we are happy in the enjoyment of that peace, and have a blessed foretaste of eternal glory. Thus we have heaven upon earth, and the ineffable {or, inexpressible} glories of God in prospect.”
Romans 5:11: “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”
John Gill writes, “And not only so, but we also joy in God,.... Something seems here to be understood, and which is to be supplied thus; not only we are saved by his life, and from wrath through him; not only are we reconciled to God by his Son, and Spirit; not only Christ has died for us while sinners and ungodly; not only do we glory in tribulations, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God: "but we also joy in God" himself, as our covenant God and Father in Christ, as the God of all grace, peace, and salvation;
in his perfections, as engaged on our side, and as glorified in our salvation; in the purposes of God, and his covenant transactions with his Son, as they are made known in the everlasting Gospel; in all his providential dispensations, which are mercy and truth; and in our being of him in Christ, and Christ's being made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; in all the blessings of grace we receive from him, the glory of which is his due; and in his sight and presence, and in the enjoyment of him. The means by which saints come at this joying and glorying in God, is
through our Lord Jesus Christ; not the light of nature, nor the law of Moses, nor any works of righteousness done by men, nor through angels or saints, but Christ, and him only; for it is only in and through him that God is their covenant God and Father; by him only have they the agreeable view of his glorious perfections; in him only all his purposes and promises have their fulfilment; it is by his hands, and through his blood, that all the blessings of grace are conveyed to them; their access to God is only by him; and by him they give the praise and glory of every mercy to him. And the ground of this joy is the expiation of sin by Christ,
by whom we have now received the atonement; atonement is not made, but received by us; which denotes the application of the atoning blood and sacrifice of Christ to the conscience, the Spirit's witness of interest in it, and the office of faith, as a recipient of it: it is not faith, nor anything else of the creature's, that makes the atonement, only Christ; but faith receives it from him, and by him; which, as it is the ground of present joying in God, so it is the foundation of hope of future glory:
the word "now" refers to the Gospel dispensation. The poor Jews are at the utmost loss about atonement: sometimes they tell (c) us it is by confession, repentance, and good works; sometimes by beneficence and hospitality (d); sometimes they say their captivity is their atonement (e); and, at other times, that death expiates all their sins (f). Blessed be God for the atoning sacrifice of Christ!
(c) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 85. 2. & 86. 1. Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 2. Zohar in Gen. fol. 107. 1. (d) T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 27. 1. & Roshhashana, fol. 18. 1, & Yebamot, fol. 105. 1. (e) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 16. 1. & Sanhedrin, fol. 37. 2. Maimon. Hilch. Teshuba, c. 2. sect. 4. (f) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 60. 1. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 38. 2. T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 1. & Yoma, fol. 42. 1. Gloss in ib.”
Romans 12:4: “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:”
In commenting on this single verse, The Preacher's Homiletical provides us with a beautiful lesson of how much we miss when we think, with just one pass, we have grasped all that a verse has for us. They write, “Love cements unity.—The organisation of the human body should be an example to the believer to make him perceive the necessity of limiting himself to the function assigned him. Not only, indeed, is there a plurality of members in one body, but these members also possess special functions.
So in the Church there is not only a multiplicity of members, but also a diversity of functions, every believer having a particular gift whereby he ought to become the auxiliary of all the rest, their member. Hence it follows that every one should remain in his function: on the one hand, that he may be able to render to the rest the help which he owes them; on the other, that he may not disturb those in the exercise of their gifts (Godet).
I. Love makes unity.—Life unites together the several members of the human body. There may be contact, but not true unity, where there is no life. There must be love sincere in the Church if there is to be unity. Some Churches seem to have outward coherence and no inward unity. Love does not unite the whole body. We cannot be one body in Christ without love. Faith and love make us members of the mystical body.
II. Discriminating love recognises diversity in unity.—The human body is one; its members are many. Nature is one; its parts are various. The Bible is one; its records stretch over the centuries: there are manifest proofs of different writers. The ocean is one; its separate waves constitute its unity. The Church is divided, and yet united: diversities of gifts and of modes of operation. Love may overlook seeming discrepancies and recognise the Church as a glorious unity.
III. Sincere love cements unity.—1. It removes envy. The minister does not envy the prophet; the intellectual preacher does not spurn the emotional; while the emotional preacher does not envy the high gifts of the intellectual. He that is ruled does not treat with contempt the authority of the ruler. 2. It makes each man seek to fit into his place. Every man a place from God, and every man seeking to fill his place. 3. It imparts diligence and cheerfulness. Our teachers should be both diligent and cheerful. A cheerful voice is a blessed tonic.
Amid the sad voices of a weary humanity we need the joyful voices of messengers from the land of blessedness. Songs of hope should be sung in a despairing world. Diligence and cheerfulness are specially needed in these days, when scepticism is so diligent, when the press is so diligent, when a pessimistic tone is pervading society. If one man cannot be both diligent and cheerful, let two men unite their forces. “He that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.” Pompous and hard-hearted beadles are not sent by St. Paul on errands of mercy.
They are to be cheerful messengers, taking good cheer to sad hearts and homes. Giving is to be done with simplicity. Love, and not the stately banquet, not the eloquent speech, not the prospect of an advertisement, must elicit and give the subscription. The prophet and the humblest teacher, the ruler and the ruled, the giver of alms and the receiver, meet on the one blessed plane of brotherhood.
IV. Love beautifies unity.—
1. Love to the Church prompts to the gracious spirit of detesting that which is evil and cleaving to that which is good. What a beautiful aspect the Church would present if each member were glued to that which is good! Modern glue is poor stuff; it fastens to the good, but the fastening is weak. The prospect of gain or fame makes the glue wither and lose its hold. Is there any modern glue to stand the heat of persecution? Ah! there may be faithful ones in modern as in ancient times.
2. Love to the Church generates kind affections. “Be kindly affectioned one to another.” Sweetly smooth words for rough times. There may be a need for a modern enforcement. Be kindly affectioned. How about the modern cynic? How about the morose ecclesiastic? How about the dignified official? How about the purse-proud man who condescends to say, ’Ow do? These all need the lesson taught by St. Paul of being kindly affectioned one to another.
3. Love to the Church provokes holy emulation. “In honour preferring one another.” The emulation of love is to show the brightest example of kindness; the ambition of loving Christians is to excel each other in all acts of mutual kindness and respect. What a beautiful society! Will earth ever witness such a social paradise? Is this ecclesiastical ideal the utopia of a vain dreamer? Will earth ever thus taste the bliss of heaven? Let us not despair. Diligence and cheerfulness will accomplish much. Let each seek to do his or her duty in the allotted sphere; let us live in the love of Christ; let us love, and the grace will grow by gracious and consistent exercise.”
1 Corinthians 2:12: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
Matthew Henry writes, “The Spirit of God knows the things of God because he is one with God. And as no man can come at the knowledge of what is in another man's mind till he communicates and reveals it, so neither can we know the secret counsels and purposes of God till they are made known to us by his Holy Spirit. We cannot know them at all till he had proposed them objectively (as it is called) in the external revelation; we cannot know or believe them to salvation till he enlightens the faculty, opens the eye of the mind, and gives us such a knowledge and faith of them.
And it was by this Spirit that the apostles had received the wisdom of God in a mystery, which they spoke. “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things freely given to us of God; not the spirit which is in the wise men of the world, nor in the rulers of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, or proceedeth from God.
We have what we deliver in the name of God by inspiration from him; and it is by his gracious illumination and influence that we know the things freely given to us of God unto salvation” - that is, “the great privileges of the gospel, which are the free gift of God, distributions of mere and rich grace.” Though these things are given to us, and the revelation of this gift is made to us, we cannot know them to any saving purpose till we have the Spirit. The apostles had the revelation of these things from the Spirit of God, and the saving impression of them from the same Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 2:16: “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Matthew Henry writes, “Who can enter so far into the mind of God as to instruct him who has the Spirit of God, and is under his inspiration? He only is the person to whom God immediately communicates the knowledge of his will. And who can inform or instruct him in the mind of God who is so immediately under the conduct of his own Spirit? Very few have known any thing of the mind of God by a natural power.
But, adds the apostle, we have the mind of Christ; and the mind of Christ is the mind of God. He is God, and the principal messenger and prophet of God. And the apostles were empowered by his Spirit to make known his mind to us. And in the holy scriptures the mind of Christ, and the mind of God in Christ, are fully revealed to us. Observe, It is the great privilege of Christians that they have the mind of Christ revealed to them by his Spirit.”
The Sermon Bible tells us, “What is the mind of Christ? Is it some high intellectual attainment? Or is it some great moral victory over the affections? The expression is evidently a very full one; for you may take the words of a man and you may take the actions of a man, and still fall short of the mind of that man. For the mind of a man is the spirit of a man. It is the motive which actuates him; it is the feeling which is unconsciously moulding his conduct every moment; it is the inner life which is continually giving the tone and the character to his outer being.
II. The believer is always striving after the mind of Christ. Nothing less will satisfy him, because nothing less will satisfy God. The soul of Jesus, infinitely stored with the Holy Spirit, becomes a fountain from whence again that Spirit is always pouring out into His own people; so that if ever we receive any grace of the Spirit, we are actually receiving a portion, however small, of the mind of Jesus Christ.
III. See, then, the way by which you are to obtain the mind of Christ. Every way you can, live close to Him, think of Him, meditate upon Him, hold communion with Him, lie at His feet, do constantly acts for His sake, suffer for Him, laud Him; talk of Him, lean upon Him, realise communion with Him, and invariably as you do this you are catching His mind.
IV. Note some of the advantages which belong to those who really have the mind of Christ.
(1) No man can really understand the Bible who does not bring to the study of it the mind of Christ.
(2) The possession of the mind of Christ is a wonderful clue to bear with us in the intricate windings of the daily labyrinth of life.
(3) They have the benefit of the mind of Christ who wish to pray rightly. Those who bring Christ in them to their knees, having the mind of Christian asking, know what is the mind of Christ in giving.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 1874, p. 144.
References: 1 Corinthians 2:16.—Homilist, vol. ii., p. 274. 1Cor 2—W. Simpson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 28. 1Cor 2—F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 197.”
1 Corinthians 15:49: “And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
Matthew Henry writes, “1. How are the dead raised up? that is, by what means? How can they be raised?
2. As to the bodies which shall rise. Will it be with the like shape, and form, and stature, and members, and qualities? The former objection is that of those who opposed the doctrine, the latter of curious doubters. To the first the answer is, This was to be brought about by Divine power; that power which all may see does somewhat like it, year after year, in the death and revival of the corn. It is foolish to question the Almighty power of God to raise the dead, when we see it every day quickening and reviving things that are dead.
To the second inquiry; The grain undergoes a great change; and so will the dead, when they rise and live again. The seed dies, though a part of it springs into new life, though how it is we cannot fully understand. The works of creation and providence daily teach us to be humble, as well as to admire the Creator's wisdom and goodness. There is a great variety among other bodies, as there is among plants. There is a variety of glory among heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly bodies.
The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly state; and there will be a variety of glories among them. Burying the dead, is like committing seed to the earth, that it may spring out of it again. Nothing is more loathsome than a dead body. But believers shall at the resurrection have bodies, made fit to be for ever united with spirits made perfect. To God all things are possible. He is the Author and Source of spiritual life and holiness, unto all his people, by the supply of his Holy Spirit to the soul; and he will also quicken and change the body by his Spirit.
The dead in Christ shall not only rise, but shall rise thus gloriously changed. The bodies of the saints, when they rise again, will be changed. They will be then glorious and spiritual bodies, fitted to the heavenly world and state, where they are ever afterwards to dwell. The human body in its present form, and with its wants and weaknesses, cannot enter or enjoy the kingdom of God. Then let us not sow to the flesh, of which we can only reap corruption. And the body follows the state of the soul. He, therefore, who neglects the life of the soul, casts away his present good; he who refuses to live to God, squanders all he has.”
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Barabbas, Part 3.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on May 1st, 2019.