(Inside front cover)

1. HIS FACE.

"Then did they spit in His Face, and buffeted Him; and others smote Him

with the palms of their hands." Matt 26:67.

The Face of our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us of God's favor. This act of

spitting in His Face was expressive of man's supreme contempt. Over against the astounding, incredible act of man was the marvelous,

indescribable submission of Christ.

The creature spitting in the Face of The Creator.

The sinner spitting in the Face of The Redeemer.

Note the following texts: Psa, 30:7, 67:1; 2 Cor. 4:6.

2. HIS HEAD.

"And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His Head

... took the reed and smote Him on the Head. Matt. 27:29, 30.

As the Face of Christ is indicative of Favor, so the Head of Christ is indic-

ative of Authority. He spake with Authority.

Man manifested contempt for His Favor by spitting in His Face:

man rejected His Authority by smiting Him on the Head. Thorns were the answer of man to the Authority of God. (Cp. 1 Pet 2:7; Rev. 19:12; Eph. 1:22.)

3. HIS HANDS.

"And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, — " Matt 27:2.

What do His Hands represent? — Blessed ministration.

Just follow the Hands of Christ in His earth ministry. Note the following

occasions:

The Leper. "Jesus put forth His Hand and touched him." Peter. "Jesus stretched forth His Hand and caught him."

The Children. "Jesus put His Hands upon them and blessed them."

The Woman. "And He laid His Hands on her ... she was made straight"

Creation is the work of His Hands. All things are upheld by His Hands. All things are given into His Hands.

His Hands were nailed to the cross. This was man’ s answer to the blessed ministry of The Christ They bound the Hands of creative power; they spiked the Hands of blessed ministration.

Scripture Research

Volume 2 Number 8

Scripture Research, Inc., P.O. Box 51716 Riverside, CA 92517

Ewalt Memorial Bible School, Atascadero, California

The Baptism That Excelleth …………………217

by Russell H. Schaefer

"Believing" In The Gospel Of John ………… 239

by Dr. A. J. Roddy

A RANSOM

1. MATT. 20:28

"To give His life a ransom for many."

2. 1 TIM. 2:6

"Who gave Himself a ransom for all."

(Note the following comparison and contrast)

MATT. 20:28 I TIM. 2:6

______________________ ______________________

THE ACT — "To give." THE ACT--- "Who Gave"

***** *****

THE GIFT --- "His Life" THE GIFT --- "Himself"

***** *****

THE DESIGNATION --- THE DESIGNATION ---

"a ransom" "a ransom"

***** *****

THE SCOPE "For many" THE SCOPE "For all"

________________________________________________

The Greek word translated "RANSOM" in Matt. 20:28 --"LUTRON."

The Greek word translated "RANSOM" IN 1 Tim. 2:6 --"ANTILUTRON."

The Greek word translated "FOR" in Matt 20:28 ---"ANTI."

The Greek word translated "FOR" in 1 Tim. 2:6 --- "HUPER."

In Matt. 20:28 the Greek word translated "MANY" is "POLLON."

In 1 Tim. 2:6 the Greek word translated "ALL" is "PANTON."

THE BAPTISM

....THAT EXCELLETH

by Russell H. Schaefer

As we consider this concluding study on baptism. we might ask ourselves several questions.

1. What Scriptural Baptism is fully consistent with God's present Dispensational Program for today as addressed to Gentiles?

2. What Baptism is fully operative without distinction of place (desert. arctic, etc.) race, sex, position, seeking or striving?

True of every believer?

3. WHO is the BAPTIZER? Is it MAN? CHRIST? GOD?

4. What is the BAPTISM?

Is it WATER?

Is it FIRE?

Is it In-SPIRIT, POWER PROM ON HIGH? With signs following?

Is it into THE NAME of Matt. 28:19?

Is it a CO-MINGLING, a CO-JOINING TO CHRIST as He is pressed into His BAPTISM INTO DEATH?

5. WHO ARE THE BAPTIZED?

Are they Jews?

Are they NATIONS?

Are they just a favored FEW?

Is it CHRIST ? ALONE?

Is it CHRIST and US, (believers), JOINTLY?

The above may help to clarify the subject as we proceed. In looking over material on the above, some by outstanding authors, one is immediately struck by the utter disregard of nearly all writers to distinguish between the points just made. Let us observe:

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There is a Baptism in which MAN is the Baptizer.

There is a Baptism in which CHRIST is The BAPTIZER.

There is a Baptism in which GOD is The Baptizer.

There is a Baptism in which WATER is the element.

There is a Baptism in which FIRE (fig.) is the element.

There is a Baptism in which POWER FROM ON HIGH

(in-Spirit sign-gifts) is the element.

There is a Baptism in which THE NAME, etc., is the element.

There is a Baptism in which CHRIST HIMSELF IN HIS DEATH, BURIAL & RESURRECTION is the element.

Have YOU made these distinctions?

There are Baptisms in which Israel alone is involved.

There are Baptisms in which the Nations alone are involved.

There are Baptisms in which certain individuals are involved, to the exclusion of others.

There is a Baptism in which all believers have a part.

Have you made these distinctions? WHY NOT?

In an earlier issue of Scripture Research (Vol.1, No. 17, pages 363-372) the Greek classical usage of Baptize, Baptized, and Baptism was given. In reviewing these illustrations one is immediately struck by the vivid concept attached to these words by ancient writers. The Jewish writers in the O.T. would tend to leave us with the thought of WASHING or CEREMONIAL CLEANSING in connection with their purifying rites, whereas on the other hand the Greek classical writers would leave us with the thought of DEATH as their primary concept.

Where water is spoken of, ritually, the Jewish concept would prevail. Where no ritual is involved, and the context

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does not imply or supply the element, the supposition would be in favor of the classical Greek meaning of DEATH. For instance:

If an army was BAPTIZED, it was DESTROYED.

If a ship was BAPTIZED it was SUNK

If a swimmer was BAPTIZED he was DROWNED.

If a city was BAPTIZED it was put to the SWORD.

If a sword was BAPTIZED it was plunged in a body so as to cause death.

Because of this violent association with the word BAPTISM, these writers used the word as a substitute for DEATH, killing or drowning. Out of this harsh usage came the added meaning of DIRE INFLUENCE, that is, being overtaken and over-whelmed by death, suffering, destruction, debts, fear, corruption or destroying influences. In all of these illustrations there is the close identity of the BAPTISM with the BAPTIZED.

In this study we will concern ourselves with this classical Greek concept of BAPTISM.

1. DEATH

2. The ABSOLUTE IDENTITY OF THE BAPTISM WITH THE BAPTIZED.

In the New Testament THERE IS JUST SUCH A BAPTISM. Christ makes this prediction. It is a BAPTISM HE IS TO UNDER-GO.

But I have a BAPTISM to be BAPTIZED with, and how am I pressed till it may be accomplished (*Young's Literal Translation, hereafter re-ferred to as YLT in the text) Lk. 12:50.

__________

*Used largely in this article under the initials, YLT.

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Christ here predicts a future baptism in which He is to be the BAPTIZED. He is not the BAPTIZER, but the OBJECT of the BAPTISM. God is the BAPTIZER. Later other texts will bear this out more fully.

Looking again at the text just quoted (Lk. 12:50) we note that in addition to, but an intriguing part of His prediction of a coming BAPTISM, He tells of being "pressed", under pressure, until this baptism was fully accomplished. The following verses come to mind:

And it came to pass, in the completing of the days of His being taken up, that He fixed His face to go on to Jerusalem ... Lk. 12:51(YLT). Put the sword into the sheath; the cup that The Father hath given to Me, may I not drink it ? John 18:11 b (YLT)

Matt. 20:18, 19; 20:22, 23 bring out the content of this Baptism.

Lo, we go up to Jerusalem, and The Son of Man shall be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Nations to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify, and the third day He will rise again.

At this moment of Christ's narration, the mother of the Sons of Zebedee, broke in with her request that her two sons be granted the highest positions in His Kingdom -- Christ resumes speaking but in such a manner as to answer the mother and yet point out His forth-coming Baptism. Notice how He does this:

Ye have not known what ye ask for yourselves; are (pl.) ye able to drink of the cup that I am about to drink? and with the baptism that I am

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to be baptized with, to be baptized? They say to Him, "we are able". And He saith to them, "Of My Cup indeed ye (all) shall drink, and with the Baptism that I am Baptized with, ye shall baptized ..." (YLT).

The context here (Cp. Mk, 10:38, 39) is about His soon coming trial, mocking, scourging, crucifixion, and death. This, HIS DEATH BAPTISM. This, the CUP given by The Father. This cup He would take and drain to its last bitter dregs. This was the Baptism. He was to be baptized with. Death by crucifixion was to claim its greatest victim, for He alone was unique in His conception, sinless life and not needing to die.

Christ was to be Baptized by a BAPTISM INTO DEATH. Others were to share in this baptism. Asked by Him if they were able to drink His cup and be baptized with His Baptism, His followers thoughtlessly answered, "We are able." Like ourselves, they failed to grasp the import of what He was really telling; them, since other texts (Lk. 18:31-34; 9:45, etc,) in recounting these events state the inability of His followers to understand anything relating to death and resurrection. Do we grasp the meaning of Paul's words in Gal. 2:20 (YLT)?

With Christ have I been crucified.

If so, then we will say with Paul:

... and live no more do I,

and Christ doth live in me,

and that which I now live in the flesh-

in the faith I live of the Son Of God,

Who did love me, and did give Himself

FOR ME.

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The SHARING BY OTHERS of this BAPTISM INTO

DEATH is the foundation upon which Paul premises his argu-ments in Rom. 6:3, and 4a (YLT).

... we who died to the sin-

how shall we still live in it?

are ye ignorant that we, as many

as were BAPTIZED to Christ Jesus,

to HIS DEATH were Baptized?

we were buried together, then,

WITH HIM THROUGH THE BAPTISM TO

THE DEATH ...

While for the moment delaying the doctrinal teaching involved with the above verses, we would draw attention to several interesting truths inherent in these texts.

. 1. In God's purpose for the believer the death of Christ exists as a permanent and inseparable element.

2. The issue of SIN is bound up with the death of Christ.

3. All believers share equally in the DEATH BAPTISM of Christ.

4. All believers were jointly-buried WITH HIM in His burial.

5. All believers were WITH HIM THROUGH THE BAPTISM TO THE DEATH.

6. This BAPTISM took place on Golgotha nigh unto 20 centuries ago. The same chapter of Romans states that Christ died unto sin once (6:10) and this was not to be repeated, therefore we must conclude that God is dealing retroactively with the believer as __________

*Gr. EIS. To, unto, until, into. Diagramed as a line drawn to meet another line at a certain point. Hence, denoting motion to or unto an object with the purpose of reaching or touching it. It governs only one case, the accusative. It is the opposite of EK, out from, away from.

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God relates him to the DEATH BAPTISM of Christ.

7. Only God can make such as association and address it to our faith.

8. This historical death baptism of Christ settles the issue of sin, and its relationship to the believer.

9. This Baptism is outside the realm of man's ritual water baptism.

10. This Baptism was WITH. CHRIST, in DEATH, not with water.

11. Only God can impute the DEATH of His Son to us. Only He can implant the life of Christ IN us.

In regards to the passages in Rom. 6, Kenneth S. Wuest in his book entitled: Studies In The Vocabulary Of The Greek New Testaments, writes:

No ceremony of water baptism ever did that. The entire context is supernatural in its character. The Greek word here should not be transliterated but translated, and the translation should read: "As many as were introduced (placed) into Christ Jesus, into His death were introduced. Therefore we were buried with Him through the aforementioned introduction into His death (Vol. 8, page 73).

Note: Most authors writing on these passages insist on the reality of the Death Baptism of Christ but then dress it with symbolism in its application to the believer.

Lewis Sperry Chafer, (Systematic Theology, Vol. 6, page 41) states:

By The Spirit's baptism into Christ the believer is joined permanently unto The Lord; he has put on Christ, and therefore, being in Christ par-takes of all that Christ is. This vital union is the

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ground of every position and possession into which the child of God has entered. It is obvi-ously a grave error to confuse the baptism which The Spirit accomplishes when He joins the believer to Christ with any other experience, or to confound it with the filling of The Spirit, by which ministry Christian experience and power for life and service are secured. Since all that is vital in the Christian's relation to God depends upon this union with Christ, it is ever a point of satanic attack so as to hinder any right apprehension of it. Apart from this union which secures the imputation of the merit of Christ, there could be no standing before God and no entrance into heaven.

In the same book, page 145 he writes:

The Christian's union with Christ, achieved by The Spirit's baptism into Him, is the ground of the perfect identification with Christ in all that His death unto sin accomplished. Coming thus into the value and under the power of Christ's crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection is a baptism in the *secondary meaning of that word. Those baptized into Christ are baptized into His death, are buried with Christ by their baptism into The Savior’s death. No ordinance is intimated by these expressions, nor is there any obligation being imposed that justifies an attempt to enact what is here set forth. This passage, with that which follows in the context, presents the central statement respecting the basis of the Christian's victory in daily life over the sin nature. This is its objective and its

__________

* Secondary meaning, that is, to the Judaic-Christian ritualistic system but primary to the Classic-Greek concept.

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meaning. To discover in it only the outward form of a ritual ordinance, as many have done, is to surrender one of the most priceless assets in the whole field of Christian doctrine and by so much (for many) to abandon the hope of any life well-pleasing to God; for if this context means the one thing it cannot mean the other.

In speaking of Rom. 6: George Williams writes (Student's Commentary, page 859):

... To believe in Christ implies association with Him in His death and resurrection. His death is styled in verse 3, His baptism. He was baptized into death, and all His members were associated with Him in that baptism; and His death and resurrection being inseparable in their purpose and efficacy, union with Him in the one carries with it participation in the other (see vs: 5).

Sacerdotal theology believes the baptism of vs. 3-5 to be the immersion of the physical body in material water, but this destroys the meaning of the passage. If it means baptism with water then all persons so baptized will be most certainly saved because united with Christ in His life beyond death and judgment. But what proves too much proves nothing, and, consequently, the baptism of the passage must be Christ's death symbolized under the word baptism.

William R. Newell (in an early book on Romans) wrote the following outstanding words (6:3):

In a later book on Romans, Mr. William Newell took a different stance on these same verses, stating that to be Baptized into Christ was to be BAPTIZED in WATER, that this chapter was in effect mere symbolism. We will let each reader draw their own conclusions with the thought arising in our minds, the Jews did not bury in water but washed in water, and that to read symbolism into these passages is to retreat from the cardinal reality implicit in this divine act of God on our behalf.

The Doctrine of Rom. 6:3, 4 Expanded.

The questions of Rom. 6:1 & 2:

Shall we continue in sin that the grace may abound? We who died to the sin -- how shall we still live in it?

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are the basis for the statements regarding being baptized into Christ, into His death in verses 3 and 4. First, Paul wants to state that grace is completely misunderstood if it is thought that grace is a license to sin. Paul protests this very thought of sin exciting more grace from God, as though good by evil comes. It is a moral and spiritual indictment of the very character of God and of grace to suppose that sin is compatible with God's character or with grace. Paul again and again emphasizes that sin has cost God the life of His dear Son, that the great drama of Calvary was not mere play-acting but a place where grace and love met sin head-on in order to REDEEM man from sin, not to confirm him in it.

… we who died to sin-how shall we still live in it?

It is not said that sin died in us, nor are we told to die more and more to sin. Nor is it said that we died to the prompting of our old natures, nor does it state that we are either sinless or beyond temptation.

How did we die to SIN? The Apostle answers:

… as many as were baptized to Christ Jesus, to His death were baptized? We were buried together, then, WITH HIM through the baptism to the death.

It was through this BAPTISM OF CHRIST (not our own) into DEATH to which we were joined that secured us a new standing and state before God. This BAPTISM is not something to SEEK but that which has been given to us because we have been placed IN THE SON by The FATHER. We are IN CHRIST JESUS because The Father placed us there.

This baptism points to CHRIST'S death. Christ's BAPTISM in DEATH, not our experiences, our struggles, our faith, our old natures; but this BAPTISM of Christ on our

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behalf. This BAPTISM for us is PASSIVE, we are acted upon by God and joined to Christ in His death Baptism. There is no question as to union with Christ in His death and how it is effected by God. Faith is the means of our being declared righteous before God but this holy divine baptism of The Father places us in The Son in His death. We are placed in Christ Jesus in order to be in a sphere that we can now share His life. We were so wrought into Christ by The Father that we are to share in His living unto God. SIN HAS NO LONG-ER A CLAIM on us, for we have died IN CHRIST'S BAPTISM TO DEATH, the guilt of our former state before God has been taken by Christ, all that would hold us away from the "walking in newness of life" has been thrust from us IN HIS DEATH BAPTISM for us.

In Rom. 6:7 Paul writes:

He that has died is free from sin.

The term "is freed" (dedikaiotai) is the perfect tense of the verb dikaioo, "to justify." The person has died, death's penalty for sin has been enacted, the wages have been paid, the law discharges the victim, it can do no more. The iden-tification is complete:

Baptized into Christ Jesus.

Baptized into HIS death.

Into Christ Jesus … how blessed that it is not death alone, but both. Surely both are in view in Gal. 3:27:

As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

God did not leave us as merely "dead ones" in a dead Christ but so joined us to Christ that henceforth this Christ was to be our LIFE, Col. 3:3, 4 (YLT).

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for ye did die, and your life.

hath been hid with Christ in God;

when The Christ-our-life-....

Rom. 6:4 expresses it:

we were buried together, then,

with Him through the baptism to the death,

that even as Christ was raised up out of

the dead through the glory of the Father,

so also we in newness of life might walk.

The following two lists from the 6th chapter of Romans should give us an indication of the instruction intended in this chapter. First, death followed by Life, life with Christ, in Christ and His life in us (Verses 2-13, YLT).

DEATH

we who died to the sin

to His death were baptized

we were buried together

with Him through the baptism to the death

Christ was raised up out of the dead

planted together to the likeness of His death

he who hath died hath been set free from the sin

if we died with Christ

Christ having been raised up out of the dead

doth no more die, death over Him hath no more lordship

for in that He died, to the sin He died once

reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to the sin

present yourselves to God as living out of the dead

as Christ was raised up out of the dead

so also we in newness* of life might walk

__________

*Newness, Gr. kainoteti, a newness -- not just life but everything new before us. This is seen somewhat in from 6:4

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also we shall be in the rising again

we believe also that we shall live with Him

Christ being raised up out of the dead, doth no more

die

In that He liveth, He liveth to God

reckon yourselves … living to God

present yourselves to God as living out of the dead

What a wonderful work this work is on our behalf. He has forever joined our lives with that of His Son. He has set aside the past and all that could separate us from His immediate presence. In His Son He has given us *newness of life in fellowship with Himself. He shall continue to work out His perfect will and purpose in us for the time present and conform all to The Son in the future.

In following the trail of this wonderful BAPTISM in Scripture, we would enlarge somewhat on Gal. 3:27:

For as many as to Christ were BAPTIZED did PUT ON CHRIST. (YLT)

… there is not here Jew or Greek, there is not here male and female, for ye are one in Christ Jesus (YLT).

"Baptized into Christ." The Baptismal Element is named, there should be no questioning of the record. It is such a BAPTISM in the sight of God that the party joined to it is said to have:

______________________________________________________

but more so in Col. 3:10, a NEW MAN (neos) being RENEWED (anakainoo). Behind us shall more dimly grow the fading memories of having once lived without grace and without God, before us lay the limitless life cojoined to Christ forever and ever. The dividing line betwixt the two shall ever be that terrible strange redemptive death of Christ died for each of us.

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To be so absolutely identified, to be so fashioned into Christ, to be as allied to Him so that God views us as ONE, not even distinguished by cultural or religious distinctions, not distinguished by sex but only by being in Christ, and as having thusly "PUT ON CHRIST," that is, to be clothed with Christ, to be ENVELOPED by Christ. Can such results be wrought by a watery tank? Can one man put another into Christ? Can one man clothe another with the sinless life and righteousness of Christ by any watery baptism? The most ardent advocates of water baptism makes no such claim as this, at most they say "it symbolizes this." But even allowing symbolism, may we say that behind (or before) symbolism must stand some reality, a symbol must be a SYMBOL of SOMETHING. Is water baptism a symbolism of this GREAT BAPTISM of GOD'S? BAPTISM INTO CHRIST, INTO HIS DEATH? If so, the REALITY STILL STANDS, THE DIVINE BAPTISM STILL REMAINS TRUE with or without the SYMBOLISM. It stands on its own merit, true and majestic as the day when Christ first told that first group:

Of my cup indeed ye shall drink and with the BAPTISM that I am BAPTIZED with ye shall be baptized.

In Peter's account of the Ark, the flood and a BAPTISM that saves (I Pet. 3:20, 21) we have a true use of type or symbolism in the case of the Ark with Noah and the flood waters.

The A.V. of 1 Pet. 3:20 reads:

... saved by water.

This is indeed a very poor and misleading translation of the Greek text. The Nestle-Marshall Text reads:

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…were quite saved THROUGH water.

The word translated THROUGH is the preposition DIA, where we use the word DIAmeter, we hear this word, as of something passing THROUGH the center of some thing. In this context Peter is not speaking of those in the Ark as being saved by the instrumentality of the water, as some are prone to think. No water touched Noah or those with him, they were kept safe and dry INSIDE the Ark. Those OUTSIDE the Ark, who were indeed WATER BAPTIZED -- perished. Noah was saved FROM the sea, not BY it. It is only a foolish person who has never sailed a stormy sea that would even dare to think that he was saved by the water of a storm. Recently I was at sea in a 24 ft. sloop under the worst possible sea conditions in a 65 knot gale. Because the ship was seaworthy, I was saved THROUGH that gale, not by the sea, but by the ship that sailed faithfully through the sea, the storm, the waters, this flood of waters that sought to sink this small craft. I sailed with God, albeit, not as dry as Noah. It was FROM the destructive sea that Noah escaped, he rode through its raging waters like a remnant of Israel will go through a future flood of tribulation poured upon her by the Antichrist. She is to be kept safe through God sheltering her in His-hiding place. All those going through that experience with Noah were inside of an Ark or ship into which God had shut them. Judgment rolled o'er the main, but they were secure. So, too, for those in the anti-type Christ, on Him Almighty judgment fell. His BAPTISM was still future as far as Noah was concerned, but it was there prophetically -- for He was The Lamb without blemish and without spot in whose precious blood we were all redeemed …

Peter states: (1 Pet. 1:20) Nestle-Marshall text:

… having been foreknown on the one hand from the foundation of the world.

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So Peter in his epistle looks from the Ark to the antitype: 1 Pet. 3:21 (YLT).

Also to which an Anti-type doth now save us-BAPTISM, not a putting away of the filth of the flesh (Jewish washings in water), but the question of a good conscience in regard to God, through the RISING AGAIN of Jesus Christ.

Only in the ANTI-TYPE of Noah's baptism, Christ in His death and resurrection, only in this BAPTISM dare we have a good conscience in regard to God, for as Rom. 4:25 (YLT) clearly states:

Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous.

No, it was not the flood that saved Noah, but a "HIDING PLACE" till the storm of wrath was past. It was altogether a question of whether God's provision was sufficient to save him and it is altogether a question as to whether God's appointed Savior is sufficient to save us.

Other texts bearing upon this BAPTISM that EXCELLETH are Col. 2:10-12.

... and ye are in Him having been filled. Who is the Head of all rule and authority, in Whom also ye were circumcised with a circumcision not handwrought by the putting off of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision (cutting off, in His crucifixion) of Christ, co-buried with Him in the baptism, in Whom ye were co-raised through the faith of the operation of God raising Him from the dead. Nestle-Marshall Text,

Based upon these texts, a few observations may not be remiss.

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1. The believer is COMPLETED in Christ, not in any man-made or man-performed act or association.

2. The believer has been given IN CHRIST the substance of all types, the reality of all symbols, the essence of all ordinances, the body of all shadows.

3. The believer has been placed IN CHRIST, in Christ's death BAPTISM he died, in Christ's cutting off (circumcision) at Calvary, he was CUT OFF from all that would separate from God. Christ was the Gentile believer's circumcision, the believer^’s BAPTISM. How foolish to submerge a person in water that has been sentenced to death, that has been joined to a risen Christ, and in HIM ascended and seated above all heavens and authorities.

4. The believer in Christ has been: Joined to Christ in His death, His CUTTING OFF (Col. 2:11).

Joined to Christ in His BAPTISM, Col. 2:12.

Joined to Christ in His quickening, Eph. 2:5.

Joined to Christ in His rising, Col. 3:1, 2:12.

Joined to Christ in His seating, Eph. 2:6.

Joined to Christ in His glory. Col. 3:4.

The submission to a mere rite in the flesh did not accomplish such a glorious position, nor could it accomplish such a glorious result. The words of George Williams, page 938, Student's Commentary,is worthy of note:

In Him the believer is complete, Christ is his circumcision, Christ is his baptism, Christ is resurrection. The baptism of verse 12 is Christ's baptism at Calvary, just as the circumcision of verse 11 is also that of Calvary. That circumcision cut off the whole body of the "old man" and put an end to it judicially before God. To suppose the baptism of verse 12 to be the immersion of the flesh of man in water, is to

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oppose the argument of the entire passage, and to degrade its meaning from spiritual realities to carnal shadows. The faith that grasps these realities originates from God, He produces it and bestows it.

What an OPERATION OF GOD this baptism is. It is His doing from first to last. It is the same operating power that raised Christ from the dead (verse 12). Lewis Sperry Chafer sums this up so well. Vol. 6 Page 146, Systematic Theology:

Securing the results which they do, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are in their most absolute sense a baptism. The transformations which are here indicated, as they were also in Rom. 6:1-10, could never be produced by any ritual baptism and to read ritual baptism into this passage is again to ignore the limitless realities for which Christ died, was buried, and rose again. It is to substitute a human effort for one of God's most glorious achievements. Doubtless, it is easier for those who comprehend but little of these great realities to substitute a tangible, physical undertaking such as ritual baptism for the deeper, unseen, and spiritual values of the real baptism. However, regardless of human limitations, the significance of this passage does not descend to the level of an impotent ritual.

In drawing this study to a close we would point out just one more important text, Eph. 4:5: "ONE BAPTISM" This is found midst The Spirit's UNITY, a unity we are urged to observe, not make. It can only be observed where there is a spirit of lowliness, meekness, long-suffering and forbearing. The place of the ONE BAPTISM in this list of great spiritual truths that together comprise The Spirit's Unity, is to be noted. It would be out of keeping with the spiritual nature of this list

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if a watery ritual were suddenly introduced into it. If one were to brush aside the other great and sublime doctrines taught within this context, we would still be confronted with the fact that this Baptism is listed as a unifying factor in this great list that together makes up the UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. It is listed as His operation, not man's. This cannot be said of water baptism. More than any one thing water baptism has separated believers. Various modes and different formulas have formed different denominations.

Shall we rest our faith in that which the Scriptures state? ONE BAPTISM. But you may well ask, "how are we to understand the term, one baptism?" May we suggest the following:

"ONE" A one of superiority, the chief one of a series, greater but includ- ing others

"ONE" A one of exclusiveness, one ex- cluding all others.

"ONE" A one of unity, a oneness implied because of its very nature, its time, its importance and lasting effect.

That this baptism is listed as among the elements of The Spirit's Unity should give us a clue. The BODY of Christ whereby Jew and Gentile are made ONE is mentioned, The Spirit in His sealing work is mentioned, mention is made of our great HOPE, mention is made of The LORD in His headship over the Body, the FAITH or the great secrets of these prison epistles find mention in this list as well as our God and Father-whose heritage we are. This ONE BAPTISM must embrace the joining of the believer to Christ by The Father, a joining to Him in His death, burial, and resurrection. Then, as the Ephesian and Colossian Epistles lead us into the truths specifically for this present dispensation, we are co-joined to

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Christ in His ASCENSION and SEATING, Eph. 2:5 & 6; Col. 3:1-4. If all these spiritual verities are not implied in this ONE BAPTISM, then a great portion has been left out of the Spirit's UNITY. These truths are the very foundation and groundwork of our entering into all that has been wrought for us in Christ. Without this ONE BAPTISM we would be disenfranchised from all the fruits of Christ's redemption in our behalf. Without this ONENESS, the union forged of God in the agony of Calvary, we would be orphans from the household of The Father. It is essential to the argument that Paul advances in Eph. 4:4-6 that this be a BAPTISM that UNITES. First of all, TO THE SAVIOUR and then because we are IN HIM, TO THE FATHER.

I cannot feel, in view of the context of this passage, that water baptism was in Paul's mind as he wrote this. Water baptism seeks a fleshly unity amongst most groups. At the best, the flesh is baptized-and it is perishing. Christ's words in John 6:63 remind us that:

"The flesh profiteth nothing".

For a moment we must bear with this old man of the flesh until we are fully conformed in all things to the Christ of Glory. The most we can do with water is to baptize the outward perishing man, this cannot crucify us with Christ, this cannot entomb us together, this cannot raise us beyond the grave and carry us into the supra-heavenlies and seat us there with Christ. Christ's DEATH BAPTISM can do this and does. Because He died, we died with Him. In The Son Of His Love, The Father engraces us forever and ever.

O , Sons Of Zebedee, you never dreamed of that secret company , the Body Of Christ , that was to occupy with Christ The Father's Throne far above all!!

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What CUP?

What BAPTISM?

We say, " We are able."

What CUP?

What BAPTISM?

He says, "YE SHALL."

With Christ have I been crucified. ..

--------------------

Drink, O Lord, that bitter portion,

Let enveloping death Thy Baptism be.

Share with me. Thy Great Salvation,

Let me quaff by faith that Cup with Thee.

I taste the CUP Thou doth proffer,

Senses reel, time and space dissolve.

I feel … my hands, my feet?

I cannot move!!

Thy flesh? What common tie doth bind me?

Swaying TIMBER?

Forgiveness praying,

from lips blood congealed?

Always WITH THEE ?

"A L W A Y S"....

*******************

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"BELIEVING" IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

(N.T. Greek Idiom used in translation and sentence structures.)

by Dr. A. J. Roddy

The care with which John has used the verb pistevein (to be believing) in connection with verbs of perception and knowledge cannot be accidental. He surely is saying something significant through the various episodes he has chosen to record. Our faith assures us that God has something very definite which He is saying in the episodes and discourses which He, by His Spirit, has inspired John to record. We shall seek, in this study, to determine what that thing is.

Without defining his word and without stating that for which he was heading, John stated that the purpose of the ministry of the Baptizer was "that all might believe through Him (John l:7*)." There is no stated object for this verb. Later (1:12) he was more specific: "As many as took Him, to them He gave authority to become God's off spring, that is to say, to those believing in His Name." In Hebrew thought, the person's name represents the per-son himself. To pray "in Christ's Name^" is to pray in His Spirit, to pray as He would pray. To believe in His Name surely means to believe in His essential Being -- What He is, Who He is. At any rate, in 1:12 the believing has as its object person. Simply observe this for the moment.

Two little words of great weight appear at 1:46 where Philip said to Nathaniel, "Come, and see." Here is an

__________

*References are to the Gospel of John unless otherwise indicated.

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invitation to come to the person whom Philip would introduce, and a "seeing" is promised as a result.

Observe the sequence: COME - - - - - - SEE.

Notice that John has given two ideas thus far: we are told of believing in a person, and we are given a response which results in a seeing-the action of believing followed by the evidence of seeing. Again, these words are not thrust out casually, but with a. great purpose. This being exactly what Philip said (not mere words to fit the situation), The Holy Spirit recorded it in this way by the pen of John only because of God's purpose in this Gospel.

Further, in the Nathaniel episode, Christ said of him: "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit (i.e., no Jacob)." It was because of The Lord Jesus knowing him and having seen him beneath the fig tree earlier that Nathaniel gave the statement of faith: "YOU are the Son Of God! YOU are the King of Israel!" To which Jesus replied: "Because I told you that I saw you beneath the fig tree, you believe. Greater things than these you will see." The order of the words is striking: "BELIEVING. ........ SEEING." Here was an Israelite indeed, in whom was no deceitful Jacob! It may well be that Nathaniel stands unique among the people of his nation, as recorded in this Gospel, as one whose believing was not inspired by the signs which Jesus performed, but simply by believing the WORDS of our Lord.

After the sign at Cana (2:1-11) John made a statement regarding the faith of the disciples in general: "This beginning (epitome ?) of signs Jesus did in Cana. Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed on Him." We are not told that the disciples understood the sign, or that the manifestation of Jesus' glory was something perceived by them; rather, in the context of the Gospel record we are left to assume that at this point of time, the believing of the disciples was still imperfectly developed and was based indeed upon the sign.

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This is borne out as we consider the following event.

The cleansing of the temple (2:13) is regarded by many as a sign. In that setting, at 2:18, the Jews enquired: "What sign are you showing us in doing these things?" Here, then, were Jewish people asking Him regarding a sign, which He was doing, and by means of which He must be showing something to them of significance. Later (6:30) they were asking, "What sign are you doing, that we may SEE and BELIEVE." The sequence? 1. Sign. 2. Seeing and 3. Believing! The Jews require a sign (I Cor. 1:22)! Lit. Jews ask for signs. It is not surprising therefore that they should come, asking, "What sign are you showing?" After giving our Lord's reply to that question, John concluded meaningfully: "That One (Christ) was speaking about the temple, His body. When, then, He was raised out from the dead, His disciples remembered that He used to say this, and they believed The Scripture and the Word which Jesus spoke"(2:21, 22). But that was not now, at this place in their state of spiritual growth, but AFTER HE WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. Then they remembered that He said this sort of thing ever and anon, and they THEN believed The Scripture, and the Word which Jesus spoke. Compare the following texts to answer the question, "When did the disciples truly believe?" John 2:11, 22; 6:69; 20:22 with Acts 11:15 and Eph. 1:33.

Between the believing at the changing of the water to wine and this mature faith, there was a great chasm. This difference may be the very thing God's Spirit would teach us in this study.

At 2:23 John has recorded how many at the Passover believed in Him. These were surely Jews. They believed in His Name! Oh, that the meaning we saw earlier could be imposed upon those words, a true faith in His Person-with the full knowledge of WHO and WHAT that Person is-would that we could be left with that meaning! But John wrote: "Many believed in His Name (in Him), seeing the signs which He was

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doing." It might be argued that here was a faith which began with signs and concluded in The Person of Christ, had not John gone on to state that Jesus did not trust these people. Using one verb to translate the one Greek verb, rather than the two as in the A.V. (believe--commit), the translation is: "Many trusted in His Name, seeing the signs which He was doing; but as for Jesus, He did not trust Himself to them." Jesus did not trust Himself to the people who "believed" in Him merely because they were struck with wonder at signs which He did.

We know, of course, that not every kind of "believing" brings salvation, some is mere credulity prompted by the inexplicable, we see this in the Book of Acts. John will show us that this is true (see ahead on chapter 8). This faith, this trusting, which is the result of awe in the face of a wonderment or miracle which one does not comprehend, may lead to another, higher or more mature type of faith based on a more solid footing; and I am sure this is God's desire and design, although it does not always turn out so. Jesus did not trust them because "He knew what was inside a man and did not need for anyone to tell Him anything about a man." John, to illustrate this, writes: "And there was such a man of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus (3:1)."

The reader will have observed already the basis for the knowledge of Nicodemus: "We know that you are a teacher come from God, because no one can be (or keep) doing the signs which you are doing unless God be with Him." This was not the kind of faith Jesus trusted. John has just stated that (The chapter divisions, are a late invention, certainly, not John's!), this was a faith based upon signs which Jesus did not trust, accordingly. as He knew what was in (Gr. "en^", within, the motives?) a man, and an illustration of that kind could be seen in Nicodemus. Christ addressed Nicodemus, but He spoke regarding the whole nation, for the pronouns are frequently in the second person plural (ye... you-all).

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Not to Nicodemus alone, but to all the nation, He said, "it is necessary for you to be born again (from, above) ... (3:7)." The reader should observe closely the discourse after verse 10:

"Amen, amen I tell you: that which we know, we are speaking; and that which we stand having seen, we are testifying; and the testimony which is ours, you (plural) are not receiving. If these earthly things I told you, and you are not believing, how -- if I tell you those heavenly things — will you believe? Moreover, no-body ever went to heaven except the One who came out of heaven, The Son of Man. And just as Moses raised the snake in the desert, likewise is it necessary for the Son of Man to be raised up, in order that every-one believing in Him may be having eonian life (3:11-15). We have underscored what we believe are significant words (they all are, of course; but we mean this with reference to the purpose we feel John had). Christ spoke; His testimony was not being believed even by those who "believed in Him^" because of the signs which Jesus was doing. From verse 15, given above, through the end of the chapter, the believing was in Him or in the Son, as well as in the testimony. Logically, 3:11-21 seems to go immediately with 3:31-36:

"The One who comes from above is over all (people? things?): the one out of the earth, out of the earth is he, and out of the earth he speaks. He who comes out of heaven is over all; that which He has seen and heard, this He is testifying, but this testimony of His no one is receiving. The one receiving this testimony of His certifies that God is true (sets his seal to God's trustworthiness; Christ is the "yes" that affirms all the prom-ises of God, II Cor. 1:20). For The One whom God sent, it is the words of God that He is speaking. "... The one trusting in The Son has eonian life."

How can one miss the evident emphasis upon The Word and The Person as objects of the believing which gives life? How can one miss the emphasis upon the inadequacy of the believing which does not look beyond the sign to The Word and The Person?

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In the episode dealing with the trip through Samaria, there is a different sort of believing. The woman, after her conversation with Christ, said to the people of her village, "Come^". See a man who told me everything I ever did. This can't be The Christ, can it?" Her question (meti houtos estin ho Christos?) implied that she still had her reservations about this. Can one call this true faith? John did not. Nevertheless, she obtained Christ an audience, as is seen from 4:39 on:

"So from that city many believed in Him (many of the Samaritans!) because of the word of the woman who kept testifying, "He told me everything I ever did!^" Then, when the Samaritans came to Him, they kept begging Him to stop over with them. So He stopped over there for two days. By far many more believed because of His Word; and to the woman they kept saying. "No longer because of your talk are we believing; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly The Savior of the world." Whatever be the true condition of the woman after her conversation with Christ, the Samaritans who heard Him for themselves, like the nobleman whose story follows, believed Him because of His word. The sequence: Christ spoke -- they heard — they believed — they knew.

At 4:46-54 John has given the case of the vasilikos, the nobleman with the sick child. Let us assume (may we not?) that this nobleman was a Gentile, the one mentioned in Matt. 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. Having heard the man's request, Jesus delayed, addressing the crowd: "Unless you (plural — not the nobleman!) see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." The nobleman insisted: "Sir, come down, before my child dies! "Moved by the nobleman's faith and by the crowd's dullness. Jesus told the man to go his way: "Your son lives." Do not read lightly John's next statement: "The man believed the word which Jesus spoke to him." Small wonder that Luke recorded (7:9) Christ's exclamation: "I have not found faith like that anywhere in Israel!" Aye! The man believed the Word; he went home; he saw the miracle. The sequence:

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Christ spoke — the man believed — he saw. This was Christ's second sign (thus John indicated that he did not himself count the temple cleansing as a proper sign), a sign possibly echoing the "life" mentioned in the prolog.

In chapter five, in the context of another sign, Christ stated that the one hearing His word and believing The One who sent Him has eonian life. In the face of the refusal to come to Him, the Person, Christ stated the problem of The nation. "You do not wish to come to Me (5:40)." This was said, despite the fact that many did "believe^" the signs, or because of the Signs; they were still unwilling to come to Him. In 5:36-47 Christ rehearsed their unwillingness to receive the testimony which The Father gave through Him, their unwillingness to receive Him, and the falsity of their claim to have really believed Moses. Three significant statements: "You are un-willing to come to Me, so as to have life (5:40);" "How can you believe (5:44)?"; "How will you believe my words (5:47)?" There is, then, an unwillingness to come to Him which makes it impossible for them to believe Him or His words. Their basic problem lies in no blindness on their part (9:40, 41) but in their indisposition to come to Him.

After the feeding of the five thousand, there is a statement which anticipates 12:37 ("Though He did so many signs among them, yet they did not believe in Him"), which is: "You are looking for Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the loaves, and were stuffed." He directed them to another kind of food. They, ever seeking for something to be doing, enquired: "What are we supposed to do so as to be working God's works?" To which Jesus replied, "This is God's work, that you believe in Him whom He sent (6:28, 29)." God's work — the activity He requires — is faith in His son! This they must have understood. The "little rabbi from Nazareth" called upon them to accept Him, The Son of God. This they were unwilling to do, or incapable of doing, without His giving some external authenticating evidence, some sign, and so they asked: "What, then, are you doing as a sign,

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so that we may see and believe you. What are you working (6:28-30)?" (Jesus had said, "Work not the food which perishes." They had asked, "What are we supposed to be doing so that we may be working God's works?" Now they said, "What are you working?" (The verb is the same —ergazesthai—, and is related to the noun work — ergon.). Moses, they said, had given signs, of which manna was one, not as Christ had given bread on an occasion — but as long as their need continued. Jesus reminded them that it was not Moses, but God, who had given the manna. If it was bread they wanted, He was The living bread come from heaven. "I am the Bread Of Life (not, I give bread) and the one coming to Me (please observe that) will never hunger. The one believing in Me shall not thirst." You can believe manna: you pick it up; you eat it; you are filled. Do you, reader, sometimes feel helpless inviting an individual to a person he cannot see? Do you sometimes feel the need of manna? So the wonder-worker of our day may get quite a following as compared to you, who invite the world purely and simply to The Person of Christ, and His Word.

But Jesus said here, "The one coming to Me ... "

"You have both seen Me, and do not believe!" That is the tragic thing! They ask for a sign; they see; but they do not even believe that (again anticipating (12:37). There is a seeing which may lead to faith: "This is my Father's wish, that every one who sees the Son (not the miracle) and believes in Him would be having eonian life" (6:40). These have seen Him, but they do not believe (both ... and both things are true!).

The rest of the sixth chapter elaborates the concept of the Bread of Life (the living bread) which came down out of heaven, in contrast to the manna of the wilderness. Clearly, it is a claim that He was in Himself the bread with which they now had to do. Their ancestors, after eating manna, had died. This would not be true of the one who ate Him. He spoke of eating his flesh and drinking his blood! How else could He say

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more clearly that it was He they were to take by faith or believing? Or perhaps more exactly. His Words (6:63). Their question, since they could not follow His thought, was natural: "How in the world can we eat this man's flesh?" His explanation was simple:

It is The Spirit which makes alive; the flesh is no good for anything. It is the words which I have spoken to you that are_spirit_and_are life… But there are some among you some who do not believe (6:63, 64).

Now John gives a comment which augments the assertion of 2:25, when he states that Jesus knew from the beginning which ones there were who were not believing, as well as who was the one betraying Him. His personal comfort lies in the fact that those will come whom, The Father has given Him.

Apparently disappointed regarding the nature of this "bread," and seeing that no more bread and fish were forth-coming (6:26, 27), many "went back (lit -- went into the things behind) and did not walk around with Him any more (6:66)." When Jesus asked the twelve whether or not they were wishing to go also, Simon Peter spoke.

The confession of faith on the part of Simon Peter, speaking for the group at (6:69), seems quite in accord with the kind of faith Jesus was seeking. But we take it in the context of other Scriptures on this subject, cited above. Note, however, what is said:

Lord, thou hast words of Life ... we stand having believed and recognized (known) that thou art The Holy One of God.

These men seem to have progressed in their own faith away from miracles to this awareness of the uniqueness of Christ and His Words.

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His brothers were among those who had seen but not believed. This is more than implicit in the witness given in 7:3-9:

Inasmuch as you are doing these things, make yourself visible to the world! For his brothers did not believe in Him either.

Observe in the seventh chapter, after the progress of the thought. Jesus replied to the astonishment of the Jews at his teaching by explaining that the teaching they heard was not of Him, but One having sent Him. The prerequisite for recognizing this truth as being of God or not was a willingness to be doing God's will.

At 7:30 John said that many of the crowd believed on Him. The ground of their faith is evident, because he quoted them: "When Messiah comes. He will not do more signs than this fellow is doing, will He? How one hopes to find someone among the Jews, besides Nathaniel, who simply believed Him, or His Word! What sympathy we feel for those, like ourselves, who are so prone to the spectacular!

A tragic sequence begins with 8:30. It should answer firmly the question, "Can one believe otherwise than unto salvation? Can there be a type of response which seems real, and yet is false?" "While He was saying these things ..." The heart cries out: Oh! at last we have found a place! Here, at length, is a situation where the Jews believed because of the things Jesus was saying! "While He was saying these things, many believed in Him." While He was simply talking! How ideal! Jesus, however, who knew what was in these men, as in all us men, said to those Jews just believing on Him, "... if you remain in My Word, you are truly My disciples." In His Word! ... and you shall come to know the truth, and the truth shall liberate YOU (8:30-33). The true disciple, then, has a very clearly defined relationship with the Word of Christ.

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Lacking this, the discipleship is invalidated. These words indicate that these who had just believed were merely on the threshold of true faith. Christ had said, "The truth shall make YOU free!" "FREE? they cried, "... when were WE ever slaves to any man?" (We shall not pause to count the captivities of Israel). In repartee, Jesus reminded them that if they were free children of Abraham, as they claimed, they would not be seeking to kill Him. They denied this intention. Jesus concluded at 8:44, "You are of your father-the devil, and the desires of your father you are wishing ever to be doing. These were the people who were not willing to come to Him, who had just "believed^", and who were wishing ever to be doing the works of the devil. To a certain type of believer this was said!! At 8:48 the Jews remarked, "Didn't we tell the truth when we said that you were crazy? You are a Samaritan!" Now note: This type of believer was now ready to kill Him, taking up stones for the purpose. Behold the end of such faith! So too, millions believe on Him, some as a good man. others as a great moralist, still others as an ethical leader but not as "Savior, Son of God."

The blind man, on the basis of restored sight, believed after Christ identified Himself (9:35, 36). A further indication of how the sign was to lead ultimately to Him is seen at 10:25:

The works which I am doing in my Father's Name, these testify concerning Me. but you are not believing.

Then, almost as in desperation, in 10:37 and 38, Jesus cried out: "if you cannot believe Me, believe for the sake of the works!" (See also 14:11 ). Up until this time they had been believing only the works, standing in awe before the miracles, while He sought to draw them to Himself and to the Word of God, which He spoke. This improper faith, this inadequate faith based upon awe, might, however, lead to a higher faith. Thus He said, "if you cannot believe me" — if this kind of faith is too high for you now — "believe the works" —which

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do seem to move you, which belief may in time lead to Me --"so that you may get to know and continue to know that it is in Me that The Father is, and I in The Father." God in flesh, speaking words which He knows are words of Life, was rejected again, for "they began to look for a means to grab Him (10:39)." (And are we surprised when our relaying of this Word is not readily received?) .

In the case of the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus said to Martha: "Did I not say to you that if you should believe, you would see the glory of God (11:40)?" Notice the order. There is no miracle yet. Lazarus is not yet raised. The order is: believe, and you will see the glory of God. Hear the Christ pleading with this sister. His friend: "Believe Me ..." She could say at 11:22, "... And even now I know that whatever you ask God for, God will give you." When He asked, after promising that the one who believed in Him would not die forever. "Do you believe this?" — He asked about something He had said! -- she replied: "l have believed that you are The Christ, The Son of God who comes into the world." But, if we press the words, we must admit that she did not openly say, "l know that what you have said is true."

Many of the Jews who had seen what He did, in raising Lazarus, believed on Him 11:45). Some of them betrayed the basis of this belief in their report to the Pharisees, who concluded: "This man is doing many signs. If we leave him the way he is, everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and carry off both our place and our nation! (11:48)." It ought to be evident at this point that, despite our Lord's efforts to draw the "believer" to faith in Him and the Word, the nation persisted in expecting a sign, in refusing to believe even when it was given; while individuals, and at times "many out of the crowd" did have a kind of belief based upon the miracles they saw. Yet, the conclusive statement just prior to the arrest and crucifixion is:

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So many signs though He had done before them, still they did not believe in Him (11:37).

This lesser faith, then, was not leading to the higher! The signs they could believe but not Him. And some, let us repeat, were not even believing because of the signs.

The disciples needed a word which they could not doubt, in order to believe it. So in chapter 13, our Lord gave them a word, the fulfillment of which they would experience. This fulfillment should so convince them of the validity of that word, they would believe (13:19).

At 14:1 He begged them to have in Him that deep-heart belief they were to have in God. At 17:8 He thanked The Father that the disciples had come to believe that God had sent Him.

Thomas, not having been present when Christ made His post-resurrection appearance to the group (20:19-23), declared: "Unless I see in His hands the place of the nails, and thrust my finger into the place of the nails, and thrust this my own hand into His side, I shall by no means believe (20:25)." In the larger context of this Gospel, these words are frought with meaning; even their order is significant. Thomas wished with his finger and his hand to touch the living flesh of His Lord. He said most emphatically, "I shall by no means believe!" A week later, in the presence of his Lord, he was invited to make this very examination and urged to be believing. Seeing his Lord was enough apparently since we are not told that he went through with the terms of his earlier oath.

It would not occur to you, do you say, to desire to touch His flesh. Or-does it? "Ah, we know Him no more after the flesh" states Paul. Indeed, we never did. But do you ever that ...?

The declaration of faith on the part of Thomas seems to

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be the climax of the book. Chapter 21 is looked upon as an epilog. To this point John has been leading us since the first mention of the Baptizer, which was to enjoin faith in the Testimony, and in the Person of Christ. Here is the goal of the book, here is the climax:

Thomas answered and said to Him:

"JEHOVAH GOD".

Jesus said to him: Because you have seem Me, you have believed! Happy are the ones who HAVING NOT SEEN, YET BELIEVE (20:28, 29).

The last words of our Lord in this Gospel (excluding the epilog), may be literally rendered: "Happy (are) the not-having-seen-and-believing-ones!" His approval, His blessing, then, is upon those who may believe without seeing. This is where we come in!

Do you not feel compassion for people who are trying to restore the signs of the days of our Lord's earthly ministry, of the days of the apostles, seeking to imitate them in our dispen-sation? Here, in this glorious context where God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, indwelt as we are by The living Christ Himself, with all of these joint relationships (dying-with, quickened-with, raised-with, seated-with) we do not need or have anything to see with these eyes of flesh, or feel with these hands of flesh. But we have The Word of Truth! We have The Person of The risen Lord! Oh!, the glory of being able to present The Word of God, even the printed page, or the spoken word as you relay it aloud, and to see that there are individuals still who, like the nobleman, will take Him for Who He is, for what He says, without seeking any external evidence in the flesh!

We are directed to The Person and The Word. That is all we need. The sign is not needed. The sign was not ever truly needed, except as the Jews asked for it. We have seen

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from John that Christ, by means of the sign, hoped to lead to a profounder faith ... in Him, in His Word. "Many other signs Jesus did before His disciples which have not been recorded in this book; but these (signs) have been written down so that you may believe that Jesus is The Christ, The Son of God, and that believing you may be having life in His name (20:21)."

Thus John has led us from faith to faith; thus we have seen the order seeing -- believing advance from that to believing — seeing. We have been led from faith based upon the sign to the faith grounded in the Word and The Person Of Christ. Philip’s word to Nathaniel is validated: "Come, and you will see." We who rest upon The Word of God and His grace lavished upon us in The Person of The Son of His love, having come to Him, are beginning to see (beginning to see) the inexhaustible riches of our high station in Him.

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THE DEATH OF CHRIST

1. ACTUAL. Cp. Eph. 1:20; Col. 1:22; 1 Cor. 16:3.

It was a fact—not a fancy.

It was a reality—not a falsity.

2. VOLUNTARY. Cp. Eph. 5:2; John 10:18,

Otherwise He would never have died. He gave Himself up.

He purposely, willingly yielded to the claims of death.

3. MANDATORY. Cp. Phil. 2:8; Gen. 3:16.

For Him to obey was to die. The cross could not be avoided;

It was God's will.

4. VICARIOUS. Cp. Eph. 5:2; 2 Cor. 5:21.

"In our stead." He who knew no sin was made sin for us.

Thus is the grace of God manifested toward us.

5. REDEMPTIVE. Cp. Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14.

His precious blood—the redemptive price.

The greatest and most perfect price ever to be paid.

6. PACIFIC. Cp. Eph. 1:13, 14, 16; Col. 1:20-22, 2:14.

The value of this is hardly appreciated because it is realized by faith. Folk are

slow to believe.

7. TRIUMPHANT. Cp. John 18:30; Phil. 2:9; Eph. 1:20-23.

"It Is finished." The crucifixion was not a tragedy but a triumph. His triumph will

ultimately end in dominion.

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