The Pleroma (9) - Charles H. Welch

No.9. The more excellent name (Heb. i. 4). 

It is a part of the argument of the epistle to the Hebrews, that the Apostle shall establish a series of ‘better’ things, for he is exhorting his readers ‘to go on unto perfection’, and having been a Pharisee by conviction and a Hebrew by birth, he knew how strong was the hold upon the Jewish believer of the things that belonged to the past.

In the above outline, the thirteen occurrences of the word ‘better’ are grouped together, and their study is of course a theme in itself. We are concerned at the moment with the opening ‘better’ thing, but it will be impossible for us to forget that such a word is a key thought of the epistle, and that this must have a bearing upon its interpretation. 

The first ‘better’ thing of the epistle is the exaltation of Christ (“having become by so much better than angels, by how much having inherited a more excellent name than they”). This sentence has an un-English sound, and yet it brings out the comparison that is intended. The becoming better than the angels is not by virtue of the Lord’s deity. Looked at from the divine standpoint, He Who is addressed as God (verse 8), must of necessity be better than angels; but looked at from the human standpoint, He was made for a little while lower than the angels, and in that capacity as Son He could be and has been highly exalted. The measure of His excellence above angels is His inherited name: by how much He has inherited, by so much He is greater. 

The question then has to do with the inherited name. But first, we might pause to ask: Why should such an argument be necessary, and in what way does it contribute to the theme of the epistle?

Writing as he was to Hebrews, the Apostle had in mind their veneration of angels. Stephen alludes to the place that angels hold in Israel, in Acts vii. 53, “who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it”. The epistle to the Galatians says of the law, “it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator” (Gal. iii. 19). Some of the Jews went so far as to contend that Malachi, the last of the prophets was an angel, his name meaning ‘My messenger’ or ‘My angel’. It is part of the purpose of this epistle to place the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son, far above every other name and dignity. To have commenced with Moses as the law-giver would not have gone back far enough; Moses the mediator received the law by the disposition of angels. It must therefore be shown that Christ is much better than they, to establish His complete superiority. The exaltation of the Lord to the right hand of the Majesty on high marks the time when the Son was given the name that is above every name. It was at the resurrection that He was declared ‘Son of God with power’; it was as the risen One that He claimed ‘all power’ in heaven and in earth; the superiority of the Son above angels is one of degree, ‘by so much’, and is to be understood in the light of His inherited name. The Lord Jesus by His birth at Bethlehem became ‘the Son of God’, for said the angel to Mary, “the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke i. 35). When the Word became flesh, then was seen the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. All through the spotless years of His life up to that dread crisis of the cross, the Father’s testimony remained true and unchanged, ‘This is My beloved Son’. He vindicated His claim to the name He bore, and the name becomes His by inheritance. 

In order to appreciate the emphasis that should be placed upon the ‘inherited’ name, we take this study a little further in the epistle, and not that in Heb. i. 14 the believer is spoken of as an ‘heir of salvation’. All who believe are saved, saved by grace through faith, but some (and this is one of the great themes of Hebrews), will receive salvation as an inheritance also. Christ died for the ungodly, He also learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and though from His birth, ‘Holy, harmless and undefiled’, He nevertheless was perfected through these sufferings, and became the Author of aionian salvation, not simply to those who believe, but to those who ‘obey’ Him (Heb. v. 7-9). Not only did He become the ‘Author’ but He became the ‘Finisher’ or ‘Perfecter’ of faith. “Who for the joy set before Him endured a cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God” (Heb. xii. 2). There is a ‘race’ to be run, not only a gospel to be believed. 

Those who thus inherit salvation, not only believe, but suffer, endure, run the race set before them, and ‘have respect unto the recompense of the reward’. It is useless to speak of glory where there is not life. It is equally useless to speak of an inheritance unless one is already a child “If children, then heirs” is the order of Scripture, and the epistle to the Hebrews does not teach the way of salvation for the ungodly sinner, but deals rather with the pilgrim journey of the saint, with the evil heart of unbelief that can possess a believer at times, of things that accompany salvation, of a salvation that may be inherited. 

Soteria “salvation” occurs in Hebrews seven times, and the occurrences are as follows: 

Heirs salvation (i. 14). 
Neglecting so great salvation (ii. 3). 
The Captain of salvation (ii. 10). 
The Author of aionian salvation (v. 9). 
Things that accompany salvation (vi. 9). 
Without sin unto salvation (ix. 28). 

Unto the salvation of his house (xi. 7). 

Salvation in its primary aspect is so removed from anything that the sinner can do, and is so infinitely beyond the touch of any failure on his part, that to speak of ‘neglecting’ is to misapply the word. Timothy could be urged not to neglect a gift which he already possessed (I Tim. iv. 14), and these Hebrews could be warned by the example of their fathers in the wilderness of the possibility of failing to reach salvation in its fullest meaning, and that is in view in Heb. ii. 3. 

No sinner is saved from the guilt of sin by Christ as a ‘Captain’. The figure that sets forth initial salvation is the Passover. Joshua is the type of the Captain of salvation, but he leads a redeemed people on to the promised possession, so the Captain of salvation in Heb. ii. 10 is seen ‘bringing many sons (not to life), but to glory’. So with the rest of the occurrences of ‘salvation’ in Hebrews. This is true even with the last which deals with Noah and the Flood. The ungodly were not saved in the Ark. Noah was a saved and justified believer, only eight souls were saved, and the rest of the world destroyed. One can no more use the Ark as a type of initial salvation than one can use the type of the ‘Captain’ of the salvation that will be manifested at His Second Coming (Heb. ix. 28). 

While salvation is found 7 times in Hebrews, the title “Saviour” does not occur. Acts v. 31 speaks of Him as ‘A Prince and a Saviour’. Hebrews retains the word ‘Prince’ (ii. 10; xii. 2, same Greek word) but omits the title ‘Saviour’. In the epistle He is Captain, Leader, High Priest and Perfecter, titles that deal with the land of promise rather than with the exodus from Egypt. 

Let us now turn our attention to Heb. i. 4: 

“Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” 

Let us first of all note the terms of comparison ‘by so much’, ‘by how much’, represented in the A.V. of Heb. i. 4 by the words ‘so much’ and ‘as’. 

The Apostle employs ‘by so much’ again in Heb. vii. 22 where we read in connection with the Melchisedec priesthood ‘By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament’. The two words tosoutos and hosos came together in Heb. x. 25 “Exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching”. We do not need an inspired revelation to assure us that He Who is set forth as ‘Son’ and ‘Brightness of His glory’, ‘Express image of His person’, ‘Upholder of all things’, heir of all things and maker of the worlds, must of necessity be ‘better than angels’, and the epistle does not say any such unnecessary thing. What Hebrews is concerned to enforce is that he Who was so high, stooped so low, and as Man He became ‘lower than the angels’, but by virtue of His triumph over sin and death, that is by ‘inheritance’ and not by absolute inherent right, this same Redeemer has now been raised so much above angels as the inherited Name excels every name that is named in this world and that which is to come. For at the Name of Jesus every knee shall one day bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord. 

The Saviour as the Heir of all things, the One Who by reason of His finished work has obtained by inheritance the Name which is above every name, will not enjoy this inheritance alone. He was made one with those who shall share His glory that they may be made one with Him. They too become heirs of salvation, they too, by the exercise of faith and patience ‘inherit the promises’ (Heb. vi. 12) and find in both Noah and Abraham (Heb. xi. 7, 8) examples of that faith which is the substance of things hoped for. 

While the bulk of the references to angels occur in Heb. i. and ii., there are two other occurrences that must be included to complete the tale, namely Heb. xii. 22 and xiii. 2. Heb. xii. 5-24 is occupied with a twofold theme: “sons” 5-14, “firstborn sons” 15-24. The first section speaks of that in which all partake if they be true children; the second speaks of that which relates only to the firstborn. 

The structure of this second section is as follows: 

The section opens with a warning: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God”. It does not say ‘fall from the grace of God’, but ‘fail of the grace of God’. Hustereo ‘to come short’ occurs in Heb. iv. 1, and that passage partially explains what we are considering here: “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” The context speaks of Israel’s forty years’ wandering in the wilderness, and their failure, though redeemed, to ‘go on unto perfection’. We are not dealing with sonship, but with birthright; not salvation, but possession, not deliverance from Egypt, but entry into Canaan. The warning is for the Hebrews who, like their fathers and like Esau, were in danger of drawing back, turning aside, losing the heavenly for the sake of the earthly. Heb. viii. 7 continues, ‘Then should no place have been sought for the second’, showing that the two covenants are here in view. The Apostle now brings before the mind the two mountains, Sinai and Sion, which are explained in Gal. iv. as representing the two covenants, Sinai standing for ‘Jerusalem that now is, and is in bond age with her children’, and Sion for ‘Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother’ (Gal. iv. 21-23 R.V.). 

We have in Heb. xii. 18-21 Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, and in Heb. xii. 22-24 Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and it is under the new covenant, and not under the old, that the birthright can be enjoyed. 

The figure called Polysyndeton (or ‘many ands’), is employed in the description of both covenants. Let us notice it: 

“For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, AND that burned with fire, AND unto blackness, AND darkness, AND tempest, AND the sound of a trumpet, AND the voice of words.” 

“But ye are come unto Mount Sion, AND unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, AND to myriads of angels, a full assembly, AND to a church of firstborn ones having been enrolled in heaven, AND to God the Judge of all, AND to the spirits of righteous ones having been perfected, AND to the Mediator of the new covenant—Jesus, AND to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” 

It will be seen that a due observation of these ‘ands’ will help us to keep each feature in its place. 

The A.V. leads one to read “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn”, as tough it were one company. Paneguris, the word translated ‘general assembly’, means an assembly met together for some festal or joyful occasion, and the construction of the passage necessitates the translation: “And to myriads, a festal assembly of angels.”

We learn that myriads of angels were associated with Sinai and the giving of the law: “The chariots of the Lord are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place” (Psa. lxviii. 17; see also Deut. xxxiii. 2). If these angels were at mount Sinai, they will also be at mount Sion, and there they will be a ‘festal assembly’, for ‘the marriage of the Lamb’ will have come. 

This church is the church of the firstborn, a special company, those who did not despise their birthright, nor barter it away for a morsel of meat. This same company is referred to as ‘The spirits of just men made perfect’, each expression having been used in the context of chapters xi. or xii. In xii. 9 we read of “The Father of spirits”; in x. and xi. ‘the righteous’ are in view (x. 38; xi. 4, 7, 8), and in xi. 40 it is their perfecting: “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should be perfected.” 

The close association of the ‘better thing’, the ‘better country’, and the ‘better resurrection’, with this perfecting shows that here in Heb. xii. we are taken to that time when the church of the firstborn shall be completed and enter into its inheritance. Here Abraham will set foot in that city for which he looked; Moses will receive that reward unto which he had respect; all who believed, yet died, not having received the promise, will enter into their birthright. The Mediator is not Moses, neither is the blood the blood of bulls and goats; Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant, and this blood of sprinkling speaks better things than that of Abel. 

The heavenly Sion is before the Apostle right through the epistle. The ‘so great salvation’ of ii. 3 is connected with the ‘world to come’ of which the Apostle spoke in ii. 5, and the ‘glory’ unto which the Captain of salvation was leading (ii. 10). The words: “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (ii. 11), the thought of the Captain being ‘perfected’ through sufferings (ii. 10), find their echo in the words: “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city”, and the ‘perfecting’ of the spirits of just men in xi. 16; xii. 23. 

It was toward this goal that the Apostle urged the Hebrew believers to ‘go on unto perfection’. The ‘weight’ which they were counseled to ‘lay aside’ would include those things mentioned in vi. 2, a passage we have already seen in close connection with Esau and his vain seeking for repentance (vi. 4-6; xii.16, 17). 

By assembling the different passages together in the epistle to the Hebrews where an inheritance is in view, we realize something of the purport of chapter i. 4. He, the Lord, is the great Inheritor, and all who follow in His steps, who run with patience the race set before them, will not only be saved by grace, but ‘inherit’ salvation, ‘inherit’ promises, and ‘reign’ as well as live with Him in glory. 

What the glory of the world was over which the angels had authority we can only guess; we know however, that as surely as Christ has by His finished Work obtained a more excellent name than they, so surely will the inheritance that is His excel in glory. This is once again the outworking of that principle which we have seen all along, the principle of the Pleroma. 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 42, page 222).

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The Pleroma (8) - Charles H. Welch

 

No.8. Angels, their relation with the 

Divine Purpose as indicated in Heb. i. and ii. 

In our last study together we did little more than to sort out the usage of the word ‘angel’, observing the different words that are so translated both in the A.V. and the LXX. With the information thus gathered, we can now devote our time to those passages which treat of the place that the angels have had in the past and may yet have in the working out of the Divine purpose in the future, and how far man is intended under grace to take the place, or ‘fill the gap’ that the default of the angels occasioned in the beginning. No book of the N.T. treats with this matter so thoroughly as does the epistle to the Hebrews, and therefore to that epistle we now turn. 

It is impossible to read Heb. i. and ii. with any attention, and fail to be impressed by the fact that the argument of these chapters is most intimately linked together by the references to angels which abound in this part of the epistle. A brief analysis of this section is as follows: 

The epistle in these two chapters compares and contrasts the ministry of the prophets and of angels with the ministry of the Son, and uses the word ‘angel’ ten times in this brief compass. Not only so, the argument of chapter i. is enforced by the quotation of seven Psalms, which quotation is distributed in such a way as to compel the reader to admit the presence of a plan and design.

The argument of this chapter is further enforced by two questions: 

“For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son?” (5). 

“But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand?” (13), 

and to remember of the passage quoted and the whole purpose of the chapter is to provide the answer. We must now return to the beginning of this epistle and see how and with what terms these comparisons with angels are introduced. Over against the revelation given in times past through the instrumentality of the prophets, the Apostle places the immeasureable superiority of the ministry of the Son. In chapter iii. Christ as the Son is set over against Moses the servant (iii. 6) and Jesus the Son of God is set forth as the great High Priest Who has ‘passed through the heavens’ (iv. 14), and as the Son, He is consecrated for evermore (vii. 28). 

We have already learned that angels are called ‘sons of God’, and consequently it may appear at first reading that the language of the Apostle is a little forced, but we are dealing with the inspired Scriptures and know before we go any further that no such conclusion is possible. The contrast between angels and the Saviour is not so much between One who is a Son and those who are not, but a contrast between those who are sons by creation, and the One Who is called “The only-begotten Son”, for Heb. i. 5 not only says “Unto which of the angles said He at any time, ‘Thou art My Son’, but ‘Thou art My Son; this day have I BEGOTTEN Thee’.” 

We must therefore pursue this subject further. Christ is called ‘The only-begotten Son’ four times in John’s Gospel (John i. 14, 18; iii. 16, 18), and once in the first epistle (I John iv. 9). When reading these passages we are not conscious of any problem as we read of the Saviour as the only begotten Son—but the moment we add the final reference to this term, a problem presents itself. 

“By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son” (Heb. xi. 17). Now it is a matter of common knowledge that Abraham was the father, not only of Isaac, but of Ishmael (Gen. xvi. 15) and of other children by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 1). Unless therefore some factor is implied though unexpressed, Heb. xi. 17 presents a difficulty. As we discovered, so we find words employed in the context of Heb. xi. 17 that enable us to perceive something yet more wonderful in the title of the Lord. Abraham is spoken of as ‘he that had received the promise’, and of the son whom he offered it had been said ‘That in Isaac shall thy seed be called’ (Heb. xi. 17, 18). Ishmael was as truly begotten by Abraham as was Isaac, but Ishmael is called ‘the son of a bondwoman’ but Sarah herself as well as Abraham was given a promise by the Lord: 

“Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged Him faithful Who had promised” (Heb. xi. 11). 

Sarah too was peculiarly distinguished by the changing of her name, even as was Abraham (Gen. xvii. 5, 14, 16). It is moreover written that the Lord ‘visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoke’ (Gen. xxi. 1). Sarah was in the blessed line of the true seed, and so carried the promise of Eden forward towards its goal. 

Gennao the verb translated ‘to beget’ is used of the mother also, and is then translated ‘to conceive’, ‘be delivered of’, ‘bear’, ‘be born’, ‘be made’ and ‘to bring forth’. For example: 

“Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus Who is called Christ” (Matt. i. 16). 

The word translated ‘only-begotten’ is monogenes, and refers to the birth of the Saviour in the fullness of time ‘made of a woman’ (Gal. iv. 4). Another comfortable title is found in Heb. i. 6 ‘First-begotten’ which in the original is prototokos. 

“And again, when He bringeth in the First-begotten into the world He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him.” 

Translators are divided regarding the intention of the Apostle here. The A.V. ‘and again’ makes verse 6 another link in the chain of references quoted by the Apostle. The R.V. “And when He again” makes the word ‘again’ refer to the future. 

We observe that the word translated ‘world’ in this verse is the Greek oikoumene ‘the habitable world’, and that this word occurs once more in Hebrews, namely in chapter ii., where we read: 

“For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak” (Heb. ii. 5). 

By reading these two references together, it appears that the world to come will be subjected to Christ as the Firstborn, and not to the angels, and that moreover, the angels will at that great investiture ‘worship Him’. He is ‘the Firstborn of all creation’, ‘the Firstborn from the dead’, ‘the Firstborn among many brethren’. Pre-eminence as the ‘first’ is uppermost in the word prototokos. 

Further comparisons are made in Heb. i. between Christ as the Son and angels. Angels are spirits who minister, but the Son is addressed by the title “God”, and has a ‘throne’ and ‘sceptre’. Not only so He occupies a unique position at the right hand of God, a position never occupied by an angel ‘at any time’. In our next article we shall pursue this theme further. 

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(From The Berean Exxpositor, vol. 42, page 219).

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Greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt (1)

by Charles H. Welch

No.1. All things ours, in Christ 

(I Cor. i. 30; iii. 21 - 23). 

In another series of articles, the typical history of Israel from the Exodus to the Jordan came before us as we considered the application to ourselves of the text: 

“The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions” (Obad. 17). 

In the present series we carry these typical lessons with us in heart and mind and survey those blessings which are ours in Christ, and ask ourselves as we do so, how far can we truthfully say that we “possess our possessions”? We are sure that God will abide faithfully by all His promises, but there is such a thing as apprehending that for which we have been apprehended of Christ Jesus (Phil. iii. 12). 

The blessings that are ours through Christ can be considered under three headings: 

(1) Blessings of Salvation. Such would include: Justification, Sanctification, Forgiveness, Life and Peace. 

(2) Blessings of our Calling. Such blessings would be “dispensational” in character, and look to the sphere of blessing, the character of our calling,“Heavenly places” and “One Body” for example. 

(3) Blessings in Service. True service is rendered in newness of life, and accomplished by the power of the Risen Christ. 

Two related passages in I Corinthians will open this series of studies by their very comprehensiveness, sweeping aside all human merit, and revealing unlimited blessing to be the believer’s portion in Christ Jesus. 

The reader knows that the Corinthian Church was splitup into coteries, one claiming Paul, another Apollos, another Cephas, and yet another Christ Himself as a party leader. The Corinthians moreover, being Greeks, placed a high value on human wisdom, and this the Apostle brings to the touchstone of the Cross. Although Paul uses strong language as he denounces the folly of these believers, he concludes his double attack upon “man’s wisdom”, not with invective or censure, but by revealing that all the time, if any man is in Christ, he already possesses all things including “wisdom” at its highest. Here are the two passages.

“Ye see your calling . . . . . that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Cor. i. 26-31). 

“Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (I Cor. iii. 21-23). 

Here are “possessions” indeed, which as from a Pisgah of faith, spread themselves out before our wondering gaze. It will be observed that both passages open with a warning “That no flesh should glory in His presence”. “Let no man glory in men”, and this warning we must obey if we are to possess our possessions. 

The English word “glory” is used in the N.T. to represent two very different concepts. It translates doxa “do all to the glory of God” (I Cor. x. 31), but it also translates kauchaomai “God forbid that I should glory” (Gal. vi. 14). It is the word kauchaomai that occurs in I Cor. i. 29, 31 and iii. 21. This word is allied with aucheo “to boast, please oneself”, which some lexicographers believe is connected with, if not derived from, the Greek word auchen “the neck”. The Psalmist says “speak not with a stiff neck” (Psa. lxxv. 5) and Isaiah speaks of those who were haughty, and “walk with stretched forth necks” (Isa. iii. 16). Kauchaomai is used by the LXX for the “triumph” of the wicked (Psa. xciv. 3) and for the “joyful” praise of the saints (Psa. cxlix. 5). So also in the N.T. the word can speak of “glorying” in men and in appearance or of “glorying” in the Lord. Salvation is by grace “lest any one should boast”, that is, boast in themselves. Yet the true circumcision “rejoices (or boasts) in Christ Jesus, and has no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. iii. 3). The Apostle was so sure that the whole testimony of the Word was against this boasting in self, that he combines the teaching of more than one O.T. passage under the saying: 

“According as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”, 

a summary that not only appears in I Cor. i. 31, but which is repeated in II Cor. x. 17. 

Putting aside therefore all foolish boasting, let us come close to the enumeration of blessings which the Apostle has said are all ours in Christ. 

Before we can do justice to I Cor. i. 30, we are obliged to make a digression, because one small but important particle has not been translated in the A.V. of this passage. Kai is correctly rendered “and”, but the combination te kai demands something more. 

In a number of passages, the translation “both . . . . . and” is called for, and if these references are quoted, the reader may be the more willing to agree that something is missing in the A.V. translation of I Cor. i. 30. 

“These servants . . . . . gathered together . . . . . both bad and good” (Matt. xxii. 10). 

“All that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts i. 1). 

“Both Herod and Pontius Pilate” (Acts iv. 27). 

“Both gifts and sacrifices” (Heb. ix. 9). 

The omission of the word “both” from any of these passages would be detrimental. There is a logical and internal relation between those things which are annexed by te kai ‘both . . . . . and’, not only in the passages cited above, but in I Cor. i. 30. Translators may have found it difficult to use the word ‘both’ when translating I Cor. i. 30 but that does not justify ignoring the presence of te kai. There are other equivalents. “David also and Samuel” (Heb. xi. 32). “Whether they were men or women” (Acts ix. 2). 

The word ‘besides’ can be employed in the passage before us and the truth maintained. 

“But of Him, are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us, wisdom, besides righteousness, sanctification and redemption” (I Cor. i. 30). 

It appears that the Corinthians were already possessed of the fact that righteousness, sanctification and redemption were theirs, what the Apostle would have them recognize was that in the self same way ‘wisdom’ too was theirs in Christ. This was a truth that would be somewhat humbling to a Greek, for the Greeks sought after wisdom, even as the Jews sought after righteousness, and alas, both sought it in the power of the flesh. 

Paul has been at great pains to show that “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” is the Wisdom of God, despite even as the preaching of the cross is the Wisdom of God, despite the fact that in the eyes of the “wise” such a message is “foolishness”. This question of wisdom and the natural man is pursued in the second chapter of I Corinthians, and in chapter iii. the carnality of those who said “I am of Paul”, “I am of Apollos”, is exposed. This leads at length to the close of the chapter which reintroduces the fact that all the spiritual possessions of the believer are found in Christ. 

“For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (I Cor. iii. 21-23). 

Here are some of our ‘possessions’. They are all ours. It is evident upon reading the two epistles, that the Corinthians were far from entering experimentally into this treasure, and it will be salutary to go over the ground now surveyed so that we too may learn what to avoid, and how these things may become our own, not only as they are ours already “in Christ Jesus”, but in apprehension and life. 

We shall have to give fuller heed to the repeated warning against ‘boasting’ or ‘glorying’ in men or the flesh. We shall have to ponder what is implied in the words ‘Who of God is made unto us’. We shall have to deal separately with the great gifts, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. We shall need to consider what is implied in the words “All things are yours”, and to examine carefully the list given in I Cor. iii. 22; a list that includes life and death, things present and things to come, and finally we shall have to give the most earnest consideration to the climax and the seal of all this teaching. 

“And ye are Christ’s: and Christ is God’s.” 

To devote most precious and important aspects of truth, therefore, we must devote ourselves in subsequent studies. 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 41, page 110).
http://charleswelch.net/BE%20Vol%2041%20Final.pdf

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“The House of Jacob shall Possess their Possessions” (8)

by Charles H. Welch

No.8. Peace as a result of Righteousness, 

and its realization. 

We have considered the meaning of the word ‘possess’ and seen the symbolism intended in the ‘treading with the sole of the foot’. Let us now take a survey of our blessings, and see how far we have ‘possessed’ them. Before leaving the picturesque background of O.T. story and of the Hebrew language for the more precise doctrinal language of the N.T. and the Greek, we may profit by pondering one or two passages which illustrate or demand the application of the principle we are examining. 

In Isa. xxxii. we read: 

“And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” (Isa. xxxii. 18). 

What a delightful prospect these words bring before the mind, especially today when we see the awful results of unrest all around us. The dwelling here contemplated is not the temporary and transitory life in tent or caravan that is indicated by shaken, it is rather that dwelling, which is indicated by the Hebrew yashab, which means primarily ‘to sit’. 

“They shall not build, and another inhabit (yashab) . . . . . Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands” (Isa. lxv. 22).

In one form of the verb, yashab is translated ‘inhabitant’ 25 times in Isaiah alone. 

These ‘habitations’ are not only peaceable, they are ‘sure’. The word thus translated comes from batach which means ‘to confide’, ‘to have confidence’. Batach is translated ‘trust’ more frequently than by any other word, and we give the following references in Isaiah as examples (Isa. xxvi. 4-7; xxvi. 3, 4; xii. 2; l. 10). Betach the substantive occurs in three passages in Isaiah:

“The needy shall lie down in safety” (xiv. 30). 

“Quietness and assurance for ever” (xxxii. 17). 

“Thou that . . . . . dwellest carelessly” (xlvii. 8). 

In the third place, these peaceable dwellings are called “Quiet resting places”. The word here translated ‘resting place’ is menuchah, and is a word full of meaning. 

It is the word used in Numb. x. 33 where we read how the Ark of the covenant went before Israel in the ‘three days’ journey (suggestive of resurrection) “to search out a resting place for them”. It was the word used by Naomi in her advice to Ruth to return to Moab, marry and find a home (Ruth i. 9). It provides us with the “still” waters of Psa. xxiii. (margin waters of quietness). Such are some of the blessed attributes of this ‘peaceable dwelling’. The reader may, however, be moved to ask how all this, good as it may be, finds a place in a series confessedly devoted to the idea of ‘possessing our possessions’. A glance at Isa. xxxii. 17 will show that what we have been considering in verse 18 is the ‘possessing’ of possessions which are there described. 

“And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever” (Isa. xxxii. 17). 

Peace, and all its association, is the outcome of righteousness. Without a righteous basis there can be no true peace; there will be a compromise at the best which will break at the smallest strain. This is universally true; as true for the nations today as for Israel of old, and true for the Church for all time. The N.T. speaks of “The peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. xii. 11). 

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. v. 1). 

With Isa. xxxii. 17, 18 before us, we might well ask ourselves how far we have ‘taken possession’ of this gift of grace. Peace, assurance, sure dwelling places, quiet resting places, all are ours, for Christ is our righteousness, and “the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever”. Do we, in particular, possess our possessions? Is our abiding place characterized by quietness and assurance? Has the work and the effect of righteousness been realized in our own experiences? 

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 44, page 122).

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