The Will of God. (3) - by C. J. Holdway

No.3. This is the Will 
of God. 

In our last study we distinguished between the desire, or wish of God, and His Purpose or Intention. For most believers the problem is to know what is the wish of God for them, in their particular circumstances. This is no easy matter, and in the last resort is a matter entirely for the individual to decide in the light of prayer and study. There are however, certain clear guidelines in the N.T., which may be helpful in coming to a decision. Twice we read “For this is the will (or desire) of God” (I Thess. iv. 3; v 18), and once “For so is the will of God” (I Pet. ii. 15). The first concerns sanctification, the second giving of thanks, and the third submission to lawful authority. 

We have briefly considered sanctification in an earlier study, and we saw that sanctification is a matter of separation, and that not so much from anything, as to God. 

As we are separated to God, so we shall thereby be separated from all that displeases Him. Yet sanctification is one of the subjects on which a very great deal of confusion reigns. There are those who believe sanctification is a matter of a ‘second blessing’ and should result in ‘sinless perfection’; others expresses the opinion that they are already sanctified, and therefore can now do as they like; yet others make this an experience which is entirely the work of the believer. While there is some truth in each of these positions, not one of them is wholly true, and each one of them has its own particular perils. 

It is true that the believer is already sanctified, such Scriptures as I Cor. i. 29-31 bear this out: 

“That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us . . . . . sanctification . . . . .: that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” 

In the same epistle Paul is writing (verse 2) “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints . . . . .”. The original shows a very close relationship between the words for ‘sanctified’ and ‘saints’, so much so that it could be rendered “to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called ‘sanctified ones’.” Yet these sanctified ones are, we find as we read on in the letter, guilty of immorality “as is not so much as named among the Gentiles” (v. 1). Nonetheless they are called of God and sanctified. It is significant that of all his letters, only in this one, to a church which is particularly unsanctified and carnal (iii. 1, 3) does Paul lay such stress upon the fact that they ‘are sanctified’. It seems clear that his purpose is to encourage them to reckon on the fact of their sanctification in Christ Jesus, and so to live according to the fact, to be in practice what they are in Christ in the sight of God. Having dealt with their divisions, their immorality, their litigiousness and their general unrighteousness in chapter v. and the first part of vi., he continues (vi. 11) “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God”. Of such people the Apostle could say “ye are sanctified!” But obviously he is not satisfied with their behaviour, for he continues: “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any”. While it may be true that because they are sanctified and justified “all things are lawful”, nevertheless “all things are not expedient”, and they should not be ‘under the power of any’ of those things which once exercised authority over them. The reason for this is “ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price.” Paul reminds them that the supreme compulsion for their behaviour should be ‘the mercies of God’ (Rom. xii. 1), ‘therefore’ he says, ‘glorify God in you body’. The motivation for Christian living is the glory of God.

The word for glory, doxa, has to do with opinion, judgment, reputation; from the same root comes doxoo ‘to give one the character of being so and so’. Hence, whatever else may be involved in the meaning of glory, it has very much to do with the character of God. The believer’s life should accord with the character of God. No longer is it what I wish to do, but a life which will reveal, increasingly, the true character and reputation of God. There is no sphere of life which is exempt from this high standard. Some one has written: “Thus there are those (a) who do not accept Christ and are subject to the desires of their own mind and body and (b) who have accepted the sovereignty of God and have settled for a life of unity with and obedience to God through the operation of His Spirit working with the believer’s spirit”. 

“What constitutes the outward difference between (a) and (b)? Think about this yourself. Mainly it will be a choice of friends, pastimes, reading material and viewing. Convince yourself that these are pleasing to the Lord, especially your thoughts. Your thoughts are an open book to Him. The allocation of your time and money; the choice of a marriage partner are all subjects that should be placed before the Lord in prayer. If we have trusted Him to give us an answer in His own time, and moreover we have followed this lead, then we may be sure that our lives will be transformed. If we chose the things of the Spirit, life’s empty pleasures will lose their hold and will be replaced by the lasting joy of the knowledge of God and a conscious participation in His will.” 

This kind of life will be very much ‘other’ than the life lived by the majority of folk today. It is a life of complete honesty before God: how easy it is to convince oneself that a particular activity is pleasing to the Lord, and will bring glory to Him, when in fact we are simply rationalizing our own desires. It is a life which, in the eyes of the world, is narrow and we must be prepared to be known as ‘narrow-minded’; but it is a life which is increasingly filled with the joy of the Lord. It is a life which in every detail submits to the approval of God. This is the desire of God, even your sanctification. 

In I Thess. v. 18 we read ‘in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you’. Here is an aspect of God’s desire for His people which is often overlooked. He desires that in everything we should give thanks: not merely in those things which we enjoy, nor in those matters in which we are successful and prosperous, nor in those times when all goes smoothly; but in the things we do not enjoy, in those matters where failure and loss attend us, in those times when all seems to go wrong for us. Do we give thanks in everything? 

Among the answers the Psalmist gives to his own question: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” (Psa. cxvi. 12) is this: “I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord” (17). It becomes the more pointed when we realize that it signifies “I will sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving”. Thanksgiving can be costly. In O.T. times this was recognized in the offering of an animal without blemish, as a peace offering for thanksgiving. All thanksgiving thus is marked with a cost. It may be that there are times when we do not ‘feel’ like thanking God for the various experiences we are undergoing, nonetheless there is every cause for so doing. “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. viii. 28). This is not an easy lesson to learn; it is one which can take a lifetime. Yet we have cause to ‘in every thing give thanks’. We are inclined to think that thanksgiving must always spring from a ‘feeling’, but the believer’s thanksgiving should spring from the fact of his knowledge that even in this circumstance, God is working for his good. In everything give thanks: for this is the desire of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 

The third reference before us (I Pet. ii. 15) has particular reference to submission to every human creature for the Lord’s sake; whether it be to the king . . . . . or unto governors. Peter also brings in the same thought we found to be Paul’s in considering sanctification: 

“For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God” (I Pet. ii. 15, 16). 

Perhaps ‘a covering of badness’ might be a little simpler to understand than ‘a cloak of maliciousness’. The thought is that, because of the liberty which is the believer’s in Christ, some may say they are no longer under obligation to obey human authorities, and in so doing they would take their stand beside the lawless and appear as bad as they. But the believer is now lawless, though he may be free from every human ordinance. As the servant of God, however, he puts himself under every human ordinance for the Lord’s sake. The thought is similar to that of Paul in Rom. xiii., where (verse 1) we read: 

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” 

Paul continues in the next verse “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God”. In submitting therefore to the ‘powers that be’, the believer is submitting to God, and we have come very close to the thought that he should in all he does bring glory to God. Both Paul and Peter, in what they say on this matter are quite uinequivocal, so much so, that there are those who express the opinion that ‘every ordinance of man’ should be obeyed unquestioningly, even if it should be against the ordinance of God. Yet if we look more closely into Rom. xiii. 1-7, it becomes apparent that Paul assumes, for sake of argument, that the ‘power’ will not misuse the authority given him by God. In verse 4 we read: 

“For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” 

Again verse 7: 

“Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.” 

Peter concludes his exhortation to submit to every ordinance of man, I Pet. ii. 17: “Honour all. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king”. Respect all: love fellow-believers: fear, even dead, God: respect the king. In this context surely only one conclusion can be arrived at: the believer’s submission to God overrides his submission to all others. If the higher power so abuses his God-given authority that he orders his subjects to undertake some course which conflicts with the known will of God, then the servant of God must fear Him. The statement of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself would seem conclusive: 

“Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. x. 28). 

Where there is a conflict of submission, then the submission must be to the Greater, God Himself. Submit . . . . . for so is the desire of God. 

God’s desire is that each one of us should live moment by moment “as unto the Lord, and not unto men”: He desires that in everything we should give thanks, knowing that everything works together for our good: He desires that we should submit to earthly authorities who hold their position from Him, only withholding submission to them, when their ordinance conflicts with His. 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 47, page 164).

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The Goal of God. (I Cor. xv. 28).- (10)

by Charles H.Welch

No.10. The Teaching of the N.T. 
regarding the “Image”. 

There are many references to ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ in the O.T. that await examination, but some of them will come under the head of practical application of the truth involved, and therefore we pass from the O.T. usage to that of the N.T., where we shall find the interpretation and fulfillment of what is intended by the Lord in these two significant words. The words employed by the Septuagint Version for ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ are eikon and homoiosis. Eikon is derived from an almost obsolete root eiko ‘to be like’ which occurs in James i. 6 and 23:

“He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea.” 

“He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.” 

Homoiosis is derived from homoioo ‘to be, or to make like’. This word occurs in James iii. 9 where we read: 

“Men, which are made after the similitude of God.” 

The distribution of the word ‘image’ in the N.T. issignificant. The first group is that of the Gospels (Matt. xxii. 20; Mark xii. 16; Luke xx. 24). The second group the Epistles of Paul, and the third group- that of the Revelation (Rev. xiii.-xvi., xix. and xx.). 

1st Group. The image of Caesar. Gentile dominion recognized by the Lord.   “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” 

2nd Group. The doctrinal steps that lead to the goal of the ages. 

3rd Group. The image of the “Beast”. Worship demanded and denied. Gentile dominion comes to a terrible end. Caesar at length set aside, for “theKingdoms of this world” must become “the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ”. 

Every one of these passages contribute their quota to the general impression and teaching of the Scriptures regarding the ‘image’, but those references which must occupy our attention before all others are those that occur in the epistles of Paul. These references are distributed as follows: 

1. One occurrence in the epistle to the Hebrews. 

2. Seven occurrences in the pre-Mystery epistles. 

3. Two occurrences in the Mystery epistles. 

We have already suggested, that, just as Adam was only a ‘shadow’ of the intended ‘image’, so all the sacrifices like typical law were ‘shadows’ and not the ‘very image’. Both Adam and the types find their realization in Christ. 

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect” (Heb. x. 1). 

The import of the word “image” here is decided by the antithesis “shadow”. In Heb. viii. 5, the Aaronic priesthood: 

“Serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” 

The ‘shadow’ of Heb. x. 1 is to the ‘image’ as the ‘example’ of Heb. viii. 5 is to the ‘pattern’. These heavenly patterns, not the earthly copies, are “the very image” of unseen realities. When the Apostle wished to teach much of the same truth to those not so familiar with O.T. typology, he uses the contrasting words ‘shadow’ and ‘body’ instead of ‘shadow’ and ‘image’. This is found in Colossians, where he sets aside meats, drinks and holy days, and says:

“Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Col. ii. 17). 

To use the word ‘body’ here as though it referred to “the church which is His body”, is just the same error as it would be to use the word ‘image’ in Heb. x. 1 as one of a series of references to the doctrine of the “Image of God”. 

The way is therefore clear to consider the remaining references, all of which are found in Paul’s epistles. These references form a doctrinal chain, having seven links, which carry the doctrine of the Divine Image from Creation to Restoration, as will be seen by the following analysis: 

1. The distinctive position of man by creation (I Cor. xi. 7). 

2. The degradation of that position by idolatry (Rom. i. 23). 

3. The earthly and heavenly image, the first Adam and the Last (I Cor. xv. 49). 

4. The transfiguring character of grace (II Cor. iii. 18; iv. 4). 

5. The Divine determination (Rom. viii. 29). 

6. The pre-eminent position of Christ (Col. i. 15). 

7. The present anticipation of the restoration of the Divine Image (Col. iii. 10). 

Reverting for a moment to an earlier observation, we remember that in the Gospels the Image of Caesar was tolerated, but that in the Revelation it had assumed such blasphemous pretensions that it had to be entirely abolished. The degradation that is manifested among kings and rulers, has taken place in individual man, and while at the moment “the powers that be” are permitted by God, the ideal toward which all history moves, will be that day when “all rule and all authority and power” shall be subjected beneath the feet of Christ, and when the Son Himself voluntarily submits, that “God may be all in all”. The fact that this will be a moral realm, necessitates a long process of time for its attainment. Creation with its innocence gives place to conscience. The Patriarchal rule is followed by the reign of law. The Kingdom of David faintly foreshadows the reign of Christ. In this process the original purpose of man’s creation is kept in mind. The new world that came into being after the Flood was not allowed to forget that man was made in the image of God: 

“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man” (Gen. ix. 6). 

We must however leave these outlying phases of the subject, and turn our attention to the doctrinal features that are characteristic of the references to ‘image’ in Paul’s epistles. The first reference to Paul’s epistles which must be studied, appears on the surface to contradict the testimony of Gen. i. 26, 27. It reads: 

“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (I Cor. xi. 3). 

In Gen. i. 27 we read: 

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He . . . . THEM” (Gen. i. 27), 

and in the book of the generations of Adam we have the additional statement:

“Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called THEIR name Adam, in the day when they were created” (Gen. v. 2). 

Now whatever interpretation we may have accepted regarding Gen. i. 26, 27, we have proof positive that the Adam of Gen. v. is the Adam of Gen. ii., who was the husband of Eve and the father of Seth (Gen. v. 3). We also know that Adam was created first and alone (Gen. ii. 7, 18) and that his wife was ‘built’ from a ‘rib’, or preferably a cell taken from Adam while he slept, which occasioned the exclamation of the man upon the presentation of the woman: 

“This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man” (Gen. ii. 23). 

In the creative purpose, Adam and all his posterity, whether male or female were given dominion over the works of God’s hands. All were blessed, and all received the command to be fruitful and multiply. Does I Cor. xi. 3 ignore this patent fact? No, it looks at the matter from another angle. It grants all that may be said as to the oneness of the race in Adam, irrespective of age and sex, and does not question the full application of Gen. i. 26, 27 or Gen. v. 2 to woman equally with man. 

But the home or the Church is a unit, and in both there must be some sort of order and rule. Now, says Paul, it is evident that, while both Adam and Eve were linked together in the purpose of creation as expressed in Gen. i., it is equally true that “Adam was first formed, then Eve” (I Tim. ii. 13), and this fact is made the basis of the Apostle’s argument in I Cor. xi. 8, 9, to show that within the human circle, whether in the home (Eph. v. 23), or in the Church viewed as an assembled company on earth (I Cor. xi.), the ‘image’ of God as expressed in headship is vested in the man, and that, just as the head of Christ is God, and the head of man is Christ, so the head of woman, within this circle of humanity, is man. 

“For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man” (I Cor. xi. 7). 

It may appear on first consideration that this passage need not have been included in the references, seeing that we are concerned with the goal of the ages, and the ultimate realization of the Divine image in man, but no examination of Gen. i. 26, 27 would be complete without the light received from I Cor. xi., and further, one features emerges which is important, namely, the fact that the divine Image, finds one of its expressions in headship. Now all rule, authority and power are to be subjected beneath the feet of the Lord in that day, and that leads us to see, at least two things: 

(1) The headship of man, foreshadows the universal headship of Christ, continuing in the frail successors of Adam what he himself only very dimly represented. 

(2) This headship of man is temporary. When the goal of the ages is reached ALL rule and authority will have gone; and this indicates that man’s headship now does not foreshadows the END, but foreshadows the Mediatorial office of Christ that leads up to the end, when God shall be all in all. 

A great deal of heartburning on the part of Christian women, and a great deal of foolish self-assertion on the part of Christian men, would never have been had BOTH men and women realized that they were but playing an appointed part. Neither men nor women in themselves are either superior or inferior to one another, and before Paul enjoins the wife to be ‘subject’ or to ‘submit’ to her own husband he exhorts BOTH to ‘submit’ or be ‘subject’ to one another. It is just as foolish for a man to assume that he is intrinsically superior to a woman because he has been cast for the role of ‘head’, or for a woman to think that she has been degraded because she has been cast for a lower part, as it would be for an actor to assume royal airs and insignia simply because for a brief hour he played the part of a king in a Shakespearean tragedy. Neither the man nor the woman are anything else in this matter than ‘shadows’, and it would not do any harm to us all, sometimes to remind ourselves of the fact. The ‘submission’ enjoined in this relationship is but an anticipation of the greater ‘submission’ of I Cor. xv. 27, 28; for the same word hupotasso is used by the same writer in each epistle. 

The remaining references to the ‘image’ that we have listed must now be considered. Meanwhile let us gladly yet humbly accept the role that Divine wisdom has appointed, remembering that it is an unspeakable honour to have ANY part in the outworking or the foreshadowing of our heavenly Father, and to be allowed, both in our homes and in our church order, to anticipate however faintly, the relation of Christ to His believing people. 

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(From The Berean Expoxsitor, vol. 44, page 80).

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