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The Stewardship of the Mystery

by T. Austin-Sparks

Published in A Witness and A Testimony magazines, 1962-1964 with this note:

"EDITOR'S NOTE. The two volumes of THE STEWARDSHIP OF THE MYSTERY have been out of print for some years. We have been - and still are being - continuously asked for these. We are unable to reprint the whole in volume form at present, but have decided - as the Lord enables - to run some rewritten chapters through the WITNESS AND TESTIMONY."

The reprinted Volume 1 and Volume 2 differ from these rewritten chapters published in the magazine.

Contents

Introductory

Chapter 1 - The Eternal Purpose

Chapter 2 - The Chosen Vessel

Chapter 3 - The Mystery

Chapter 4 - The Place of Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ

Chapter 5 - "The Mystery" in the Letter to the Romans

Chapter 6 - "The Mystery" in the Letters to the Corinthians

Chapter 7 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Galatians

Chapter 8 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Ephesians

Chapter 9 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Philippians

Chapter 10 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Colossians

Introductory

"To make all men see (marg. 'to bring to light') what is the stewardship of the mystery which from all ages has been hid in God" (Ephesians 3:9).

There are some pertinent and serious questions which lie behind this consideration. It has always been cheaply easy to criticize Christianity and the Christian Church. We are well aware of that, and its peril of treachery and disloyalty. We could be deterred from anything that looks like a criticism by the fear of real or alleged spiritual pride, superiority, and arrogance. But - as in the case of Nehemiah, Daniel, and others such - we cannot take an objective position. Rather, as they, so we are involved, and have to speak of 'the state that we are in'. It is a matter of 'we', 'our' and 'us'. That sense of involvement and identity, however, did not make them silent and inactive. They had to cry out, to pray, to speak, and to act.

The doubt about things being all well with the Church has become a very big one, a very far-reaching one, and one which is born of a recognition of much weakness, ineffectiveness, and loss of authority. A state of confusion, frustration, and impotence is bringing great discredit upon the Church and much dishonour to the Lord. While, not so long ago, Christian leaders boasted of the great traditions of their particular form of denominational heritage and attributed these to the sovereignty of God, in our time the most common phrase in Christian circles is 'Our unhappy divisions' or 'Our man-made divisions', etc.

Then again, for years - many years - there has been a tremendous prayer-outreach for 'Revival'. Nights, days, and weeks have been set apart to seek God for this. Everything has been resorted to with a view to finding the ground for revival. All the techniques and supposed bases have been drawn from historic occasions in order to get a repetition. But there is no response in the way and to the dimensions expected or sought for. Does it mean that God is so reluctant as to need all this exhausting pressure to do something for His own glory? Or are we to look deeper and further for an explanation. This is an enquiry, not a suggestion that 'we have the answer'. It is something to be taken account of that this absence of life, of power, of impact, of vital testimony is not universal. There are places where it is otherwise, but mainly in the East and not in the West. Does this carry a significance which may go to the very heart of the situation? Let us consider it at once, in its wider and closer context.

The Example of Israel

God, in old times, gave to Israel a revelation of His great and specific purpose for which He had sovereignly chosen them to be the vessel and the vehicle.

While they were true to the 'vision' the Lord let the world know of His presence and power in their midst, and, although every form of opposition surrounded them, they were invincible.

It was the Divine purpose which determined everything, and their faithfulness thereto removed the onerous burden from their shoulders on to God's.

When the vision was lost or dimmed, departed from, violated, or held lightly, cheaply, and allowed to sink into disrepute, the whole situation changed. They lost their place and influence in the nations. Confusion, division, and disintegration became characteristic, and God would not answer their prayers.

"Where there is no vision the people fall apart" was a prophetic dictum. Vision there relates to the revelation of purpose given. We put it in the form of a question so as not to dictate but to draw our reader into the enquiry. Is not the history of the Christian Church (the historical Church) and its present state very largely a repetition of that of Israel?

God gave to the Church at the beginning a far greater revelation of His purpose than was ever given to Israel. By mighty signs and works He confirmed it. By many Prophets and Apostles He interpreted it. In one unique and outstanding act from Heaven He apprehended a vessel for its fullest unfolding - "To make all men see". And in those pristine days when the vision governed and an utter committal to it was characteristic of the Church, enemies there certainly were, a world of adverse forces, and a hell stirred up to its depth. Yet the Church was invincible and "mightily grew the word", and "much people was added". But - oh, tragic 'but' - the Church left its heavenly position and came down to the earth level. It departed from and lost "the heavenly vision", the sense of its 'on-high calling'. It divided, disintegrated, became full of confusion, and - well, we know the rest.

No, it did not repudiate Christianity or Christ, in the main. It did not cease to do its 'works', to have its meetings, to maintain a technique, and to have more or less blessing. But loss there was and is, and no smug complacency can withstand the growing pressure and increasing stress. Having said that, and volumes could be filled (and are being filled) with that sort of thing, it is all very negative, although so real. We have not set out to enlarge upon tragedy, we must take up the constructive side.

The conclusion to which we have come, rightly or wrongly, God knows, is that where God has taken pains to give the revelation of His Purpose in fulness and that revelation has been let go, lost, or departed from, it is a law established in the very constitution of things that the presence and power of God recedes - maybe slowly, but inevitably - and a time comes when He is not inside but outside, "the glory is departed".

As in the days of the prophets, and as in later apostolic times, the ear was turned away, and the warning refused, so it can be in the most needy times.

This brings us to the main purpose of these messages, and to consider the vision once given, the pattern once shown.

Chapter 1 - The Eternal Purpose

"According to the eternal purpose" (Ephes. 1:9-11).

Into two phrases the Apostle gathers all the immense significance of this present dispensation. Those phrases are "The stewardship of the mystery", and "According to the eternal purpose". We must define the terms. The statement (Eph. 3:2-5, etc.) is that this present dispensation is that in which something momentous, which had been hid in God from all other ages and generations, has been disclosed. The immensely significant thing is called "The Mystery". What does 'mystery' mean? It certainly is not a myth. It is not something which just has a mysterious element about it. It is not an illusion, something illusive, intangible, unreal. God has not been playing a game of 'hide and seek' through the ages. What He has kept as His secret, hidden, undisclosed, and unannounced, has been the greatest, the most real and vastly important thing ever conceived in His mind.

So, "mystery" in this connection, means God's undisclosed secret. Something lay hidden behind all His ways and means through the ages; hinted at, symbolized, embodied in type and parable, but never stripped of its covering and wrapping. It was something suspected by Prophets, and something which they sometimes seemed to be very near to touching; but it was never fully revealed to them. The full and real meaning of things which the Spirit of God made them say was never clearly apprehended by them.

Now, says Paul, two things have happened. The dispensation or age has come in which that "mystery", that secret has been disclosed, brought out into the light, stripped of its wrappings, and made available for all men to know. Then, while this revelation has been entrusted to all God's "apostles and prophets" (Eph. 3:5), he, Paul, was in a particular and fuller way chosen as a vessel for its revelation. Paul claimed for himself a special revelation of and entrustment with this special ministry - "If ye have heard of the stewardship... which was given to me... how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery... ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery... whereof I was made a minister" etc. (Eph. 3:1-13).

It would not be difficult to trace - in the light of Paul's later writings - when and how this 'revelation' came to him, and how all his spiritual history conformed to it. Something of that is certain to come out as we proceed, but at present we have to take account of these facts.

1. This age is a special age in the history of this world. It is marked off by and for a particular purpose, and that purpose is greater than anything in past "ages and generations".

2. While not exclusively, yet in a particular way, by a unique intervention from Heaven, a certain "vessel" was "apprehended" to be the recipient and "minister" of that particular age-revelation.

3. It is that revelation which is the criterion - the measuring standard - by which all things are, and will be, judged, and determined as to God's satisfaction.

4. That revelation is the occasion of the most persistent, violent, malignant and many-sided fury and assault of the satanic kingdom, using everything that offers any ground for its purpose.

Before we can come to look at the nature of the "revelation", or at what the "purpose" is, we must enlarge upon some of those points mentioned, because it is vital to this whole consideration that we are sufficiently impressed with the greatness and seriousness of this whole matter. Remember, we are seeking to get behind the tragedy and breakdown of the Church's testimony and authority in this universe. We are reaching out to find the secret of God's committal of Himself and His release from limitation in His Church. These are not small things. So we have first to go a very long way back to what we may call -

The Eternal Counsels.

Here we can only use the language of men and in so doing mentally visualize things which cannot really be understood except in the Spirit. There are quite a number of statements and inferences which indicate a kind of session of the Godhead in which certain superlative and ultimate decisions were reached.

It is a very wonderful thing that we should be given glimpses of these counsels and communings of the Godhead - so to speak. There is the timeless time when they took place - "before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1: 4), "before times eternal" (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). Then there is the deliberation - "who worketh all things after the counsel of his will"; "according to his good pleasure which he purposed"; "the mystery of his will", "according to the purpose"; "foreordained"; "chose"; "he purposed"; "works... afore prepared" (Eph. 1:4-11; 2:10; Rom. 8:28,30, etc.).

These and many other references show that behind this age there lie definite Divine devisings, plannings, purposings, and determinings. Nothing is haphazard or left to chance, and even the contingencies of man's sin, error, rebellion, and failure are provided against.

The Bible is comprehended by these counsels in three major and inclusive features of Divine sovereignty.

1. The Purpose of God. Fixed and unchanging.

2. The Ways of God. Varying, numerous, and passing.

3. The Rule of God. Unquestionable. Infallible.

That is the background against which the dispensation in which we live is placed, and if that is so, we are prisoners of the Divine counsels. Whether we (the Church or individuals) are fugitive, delinquent, negligent, or careless, the possession of a Bible - especially a New Testament - puts us into a place of very great privilege or responsibility. We have the disclosure of eternal counsels in our possession and by that disclosure the Spirit of God helps the committed or judges the careless or rebellious. It was in this knowledge that Paul called himself "the prisoner of Jesus Christ", and both as to himself and all believers set the standard of utterness of committal. All his urgings and warnings, his appeals and concern, by example and precept, sprang from this knowledge of the immense significance of this dispensation, and of his own calling in that relationship.

That brings us to an enlargement upon

Paul's Place in the Dispensation

This is not to make Paul the centre or to give him an importance which is unbalanced and out of proportion. If Paul were of small significance, then all that has come through him can be derated. All his enemies and critics would be justified. But - the Lord Jesus apart - Paul has been a greater factor to be reckoned with than has any other man since Christianity began. And he still holds that position. We leave the realm of theological-philosophical debate to those who like it, and come close to Paul spiritually. It has sometimes been said that when the Apostles proceeded, as they did, to fill the vacancy caused by the departure of Judas, they made a mistake and should have waited the five or more years to the time when Paul was ready for apostleship. It is said to have been a mistake because God had His man in view, and Paul should have taken the place vacated by Judas. We shall not enter at length into that controversy, but it does seem that such a view involves those who hold it in some dubious situations. To say one thing which is not the least, the Holy Spirit was a party to the choice of Matthias, as He fell upon them all, imparting the fiery tongues to each, and they were referred to as "the twelve". If the 'eleven' acted after prayer and fasting, a mistake at that so-critical juncture would have been a very serious flaw in the Church's constitution at its very birth, and any countenancing of it by the Holy Spirit - to say nothing of endorsing it - would leave a serious question.

Paul said later that a peculiar feature of his apostleship was that he "received it not of man", and that those who were apostles before him gave him nothing. That would be sheer arrogance if Paul's apostleship ought to have been by the laying on of hands of the former apostles at Jerusalem. There are plenty of other factors against that view or contention, but we leave them for what is positive. No! Paul stands alone, and for the best of reasons, as we shall see. We are strengthened in this conviction by considering the peculiar nature and measure of the revelation given to Paul.

In his letter to the 'Ephesians' (so called), he says that "by revelation was made known unto me the mystery... my understanding of the mystery". If it is not a precise statement it is a very clear implication that, while Paul is not saying that he is the only one who has come to this knowledge, he is undoubtedly saying that he has a special revelation of it; he has come by that knowledge in a special way, by a direct act of God.

The revelation was special in his case, but it was also a manifestation of grace in a special way - "...whereof I was made a minister, according to... that grace which was given to me". (3:7).

The question naturally arises here as to

The Difference Between Paul and 'The Twelve'.

The fact of a difference is difficult to deny. In the majority of things he and 'the twelve' were in perfect agreement; e.g., Christ, His Person and work; the teaching, life, death, and resurrection; His exaltation, and coming again. These, and many other things, would find them all on common ground. There would be no difference as to sin, repentance, justification, sanctification, baptism, the Lord's Table. The same would be true regarding evangelism, Christian fellowship, assemblies of believers, the Gentiles being admitted to the Church,  - although in this last matter the attitude of the Jerusalem elders was: Be careful; establish certain safeguards and go carefully.

When all that is granted, it is just there that some feature shows itself which is the cause of some ununderstanding not entirely misunderstanding; certainly not affecting love, fellowship, and mutual appreciation. Peter will later on refer to "our beloved Paul", but in the same breath will say of his teaching: "...wherein are some things hard to be understood". There will be those at Corinth who will form a 'not of Paul' group and complex, who prefer Peter probably because Paul goes too far. The time will come when Paul will, with a pang, say: "All they which are in Asia turned away from me". How far are we to allow that statement to take us? 'All in Asia' - Ephesus, Laodicea, Smyrna, Sardis, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Pergamum, Troas? We know that at least two of his letters had a space left for filling in the name of their destination, and so were 'circular letters' - ('Ephesians' and 'Colossians'). Did they go round this wider circle? Laodicea is definitely mentioned in 'Colossians'. Incidentally, may it not be very significant that, not so very many years after Paul had 'finished his course', the risen Lord appeared, mainly with reproach and solemn judgment, among the churches in Asia? Was it in jealousy for that full light and revelation which had constituted them 'lampstands', and because of repudiation, threatened the 'lampstand' with removal and the light with extinction? It is a solemn thought, and if it is true, it brings us very close to the purpose of these meditations.

Thus far we have come only to indicate that Paul, being "a chosen vessel", had deposited in him a revelation of special significance to this dispensation and of which he was - certainly in measure, and largely in kind - different. This takes nothing from the importance and value of other apostles. Not for one moment does it discredit them. They are "the twelve apostles of the Lamb", ever in great honour and glory, but, in the final summing up, even they may owe an inestimable value to this lone one to whom the glorified Lord broke through on the Damascus Road to 'apprehend' him in relation to "the eternal purpose".

It is not - definitely not - a detracting from John, wonderful and beloved John, with all that we so much cherish through him; neither is it overlooking the great values of the letters bearing Peter's name. Rather is it the peculiar and specific significance of the vocation of Paul that we are concerned with here.

We cannot overload the chapters of this paper, so we must wait till later to continue with the particular revelation entrusted to Paul - what it was.

Chapter 2 - The Chosen Vessel

Thus far we have taken account of two major matters. One, that this present dispensation - between the first and second advents of Christ - is marked out as of a particular and superlative character and significance in the eternal counsels of God, and that particular nature is the 'making known' of "the mystery which has been hid in God from all (other) ages and generations". The other thing is that the Apostle Paul was "an elect vessel" with a particular, though not exclusive, relationship to "the stewardship of the (disclosed) mystery". We have noted that he claimed this with regard to himself; that the specific Divine intervention for his 'apprehending' pointed to this; and we have hinted that his spiritual history was all in line with this.

We have now to take further and fuller account of this 'vessel' himself. In this consideration we shall find a considerable amount of instruction and enlightenment which will help us, even if it is only as a sidelight.

The Chosen Vessel

When we approach any consideration of God's choice of vessels for His purpose, we are immediately confronted with three factors:

1. Divine sovereignty in the choice.

2. The humanity of such vessels.

3. Divine grace at work in the humanity and with the sovereignty.

So we begin with the:

(1). Divine Sovereignty in the Choice

While sovereignty means God's freedom and right to choose whom He will, so that neither the vessel nor others are allowed to raise any question as to why He so chose, God does not just choose willy-nilly, at random or casually. God is the Creator and Former. He knows what He has created and how He has formed. According to this knowledge He chooses, and all history bears this out, as we shall see. God is able to say, "I know thee": 'I know what I have made': 'I know exactly what I have chosen'. In this connection God's thoughts are usually above man's. A Moses and a Jeremiah may have a controversy with God on this question of His choosing, but God quickly answers and silences their questions. All the world may wonder why God chose the Hebrews as 'an elect vessel', but spiritual understanding both justifies God and finds comfort in His principle. Worldly wisdom and standards would have looked elsewhere than in the direction of Christ's chosen Apostles, but He said, "I know whom I have chosen", and "Ye did not choose me but I chose you". History has done nothing but support the Divine sovereignty in all these and other cases, and history is a handmaid of the Lord. The most unlikely man on earth to break away from Judaism and become - more than any other - the Apostle of universality (not 'universalism') was Saul of Tarsus. But Divine sovereignty was rightly guided, and while God's choice of him was ever a mystery to Paul, it was never a mystery to God.

We come closer to this when we consider the next aspect:

(2). The Humanity of the Vessel

In this connection it is possible to make too much or too little of the human factor. We can give too much room to it and make too many allowances and excuses for it, giving it too much liberty and free play; or we can be so 'spiritual' as to condemn all that is human, and live in an artificial realm of 'saintliness' which only reacts in repressions or a false conscience.

How very important it is for us to settle this matter that God has not chosen angels but men, and not perfected men at that!

But our present point is that for particular kinds of work God chooses particular kinds of human beings, and He has made peculiar kinds of humanity. The fact of variety in human nature is recognized and accepted by all. The same is true of the fact that in a more or less definite way human nature is divided into categories: not always clear-cut, but often overlapping, yet with a preponderating bias which justifies classification. We refer to the categories of human temperament. How impressive it is, and factual, that for different kinds of work God has chosen His instruments from different but specific categories of temperament. This is not going to be a treatise on human temperaments, but in taking the case of the Apostle Paul we are going to indicate what we believe will be helpful, instructive, and vital truth, by which we can be encouraged or warned.

We therefore proceed to define that class of human nature into which God dips for the particular work for which such men as Paul - more or less - have been divinely chosen.

But first a word of warning and re-emphasis. It is so easy and dangerous to weaken or dismiss the ministry and message of a servant of God with such a remark or dictum as - "Well, you know, that is just the man; he is made like that; it is his temperament". By such reactions people choose their ministries and either accept or reject God's messengers. This is the basis of many a disastrous partisanship: "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas..." Thus, what is God's sovereign means for reaching a particular value is stripped of that sovereign wisdom and power, and reduced to the merely human element and made to be just man only.

How great an enlargement upon this could be made with profit, but having struck the note of warning, let us just make the note of re-emphasis. God has created man. He has made men to differ in temperament. Every class or order has in it the potentiality or suitability for a particular function, and God chooses men for that. We must recognize this principle and fact. We must accept it. When that instrument has fulfilled its purpose He will change it if it is to be changed for another, and it is only interfering with God's sovereign prerogative to despise or set aside the vessel of His choice. This can never fail to result in irreparable loss. Make no mistake about this. The Bible is loaded with proof of it.

So we come to our particular case in point and see God choosing and working with this kind of clay. It is not difficult to recognize this material before identifying it with names and functions.

The most obvious feature or characteristic of this category, which leads to so much more, is its dislike, even intolerance of the superficial. Here we meet a basic seriousness which always gravitates to the deeper aspects of life, and seeks out the fundamentally spiritual realities. This is a restless disposition which, if it finds rest at all, will only do so in the deeps and not in the shallows. The profound, the unobvious, the serious draw this kind like a magnet. Their magnetic North is the serious, the solemn, the truth of primary import.

Here we are in touch with acute sensitiveness, capacity for suffering, deep affection, poignant sympathy. Such people are concerned with the significance of things more than with the things themselves. They look for meanings behind and below things said or done. To say that they are serious-minded is to sum them up too easily.

Their perils are always in the direction of too much introspection, anxiety and worry. Tragedy as an element is a part of their makeup or constitution. The people of this class are capable of ranging great heights and plunging into great depths. Theirs is not the even temper and steady undulation of the valley or plain. They are not naturally sociable, but lean toward reserve and aloneness. Indeed, they shrink from company and publicity. But at the same time it is here that we may encounter great strength of purpose and forcefulness of personality. Such can be overbearing, aggressive, and terribly strong. Because of the deep and terrible strengths of this temperament, the dealings of God with it are more drastic than - perhaps - with any other.

Of course, every temperament finds it difficult to be patient with the others. Each feels that everybody should be as he or she is. This is very true of the class of which we are speaking. Their peril is to put - or try to put - everyone into their own disposition and make them feel the same. Grace will adjust this, as we shall see. Mary of Bethany is a clear case of this type; seeking always the 'spiritual' and 'deeper'; marked by the sad, even by melancholy. Martha, the so-clear case of an entirely different temperamental category, finds it so difficult to bear with her sister, and is much irritated by her 'spirituality'. Experience, through grace, will lead to a harmonizing of these discords, and the variety - conflicting difference - in the same natural family will come - through discipline - to co-ordination and co-operation, as we see in the last picture of that Bethany home.

To return to our basis. Whether we like the idea or not, the story of God's sovereign ways down the ages shows unmistakably that He has related a particular piece of work to a particular human constitution, and it is in the direction of the category of which we are now thinking that God has usually looked for leaders.

Leadership is a large subject in itself and cannot be taken up here. But the 'stuff' of leadership is that which peculiarly belongs to this kind of humanity. Features of this function are evident: vision, insight, capacity for loneliness - although with deep sensitiveness; the alternations between abounding hopefulness and depression and despair; hatred of policy, compromise, prevarication, pretension, falsehood and hypocrisy, and such like; and fiery jealousy for principle. These are some - only some - of the characteristics which identify this particular class.

We are - for the moment - looking at all this on natural grounds. We have yet to open the door wide to grace and its action. What we have said is enough to introduce that school of men who, with all the weaknesses, faults, defects, perils of their capacities, have so frequently been the choice of God for pioneering and leading the way to His fuller purposes.

In the light of this imperfect delineation it is not difficult to recognize Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, and many of the Prophets - Nehemiah, John the Baptist, Stephen - and in later times, Cromwell, Bunyan, Luther, and - if of lesser calibre - a host of 'pioneers of the heavenly way'.

So we come to Paul. He fits so perfectly into the picture. As 'Saul of Tarsus' we see a perfect natural example of the type. As Paul the Apostle we see the type - not destroyed - but under grace. The purpose and the chosen vessel fit like a hand and glove. To Jeremiah the Lord said, "Before I formed thee... I knew thee, and before thou camest forth... I sanctified thee". Paul was able to say, "It pleased God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb..." (i.e., 'set me apart'). Here, the point indicated is that, even before there was any operation of grace in the life, there was the operation of Divine selectiveness for a particular purpose. Jeremiah may demur on grounds of his own sense of unfitness, and Paul may be increasingly overwhelmed with the wonder of such as he being chosen, but, whatever the human reaction, the fact has to be bowed down to, as Meyers expresses it in his poem as from the lips of Paul:

'This is His will: He takes and He refuses,

Finds Him ambassadors whom men deny,

Wise ones nor mighty for His saints He chooses,

No, such as John, or Gideon, or I.'

It may be that some who read this will react to it either with the feeling that it is not helpful to them because they do not belong to the category being considered and therefore no such usefulness falls to their lot or is possible to them; or - in any case - this is at best a study of the man Paul. We therefore pause to try to help such with a word on both of these points. As to the first: it would be just as easy to take up any of the - say six main - categories or classes of human constitution (to say nothing of the over-lapping or combination of greater number) and show how - in just as definite and distinct a way - they provide God with ground for Divine purpose. It takes all to make a family. It requires every function to make a body. Paul himself has recognized this with his illustration of spiritual functions as 'Foot, hand, eye, nose, ear' (1 Cor. 12:12-31). It is true that we cannot all be Pauls. We were not meant to be, but we may be - if in lesser degree - in the category of Peter, James, John, Barnabas, etc., each of whom is in a different temperamental class, but very surely related through grace to Divine purpose. But here we are concerned with a particular aspect of the purpose and the kind of vessel needed for it. Paul was the pioneer of this for the dispensation. That is his special place. Apostolic Succession is not official, ecclesiastical, or hereditary. It is vocational and spiritual. There has been, ever since Paul, a line of those who have especially been related to that aspect of the Divine purpose, as there have been to other aspects, but the purpose is not manifold. It is one purpose with manifold aspects.

In Paul the functions of the pioneer, the foundation-layer, the master-builder, the leader, are most characteristic. Paul was peculiarly a sign of the dispensation. He called himself a 'first one'. The great dispensational purpose for which he was chosen is discernible in his spiritual history under the hand of the Lord. This is a richly-rewarding and helpful sphere of study and observation. At a later point we shall dwell upon it again and more fully. We must, for the time being, come to our third matter.

(3). Divine Grace and the Human Vessel

Although the sovereignty of God so evidently chooses a certain kind of human clay for a certain kind of purpose, and though sovereignty has to take responsibility for the contingencies, sovereignty operates through grace, and grace is the handmaid of sovereignty. But what is grace? The old and favourite definition of grace as 'unmerited favour' is comprehensive and basic, but in our present connection it is not exact enough. The human clay with all its potentialities is by no means perfectly suitable to Divine and heavenly purpose. It may have the particular dispositional properties, but in the natural man everything is mixed, complicated, distorted, and tainted. The clay has been marred and the vessel spoiled. Another must be made. Paul is the most outspoken as to the incapacitation of the natural man with regard to spiritual things. The temperament of Saul of Tarsus, vehemently religious as it was, led him all astray.

So grace had to get to work to break down the natural strengths and to reconstitute according to Christ. This meant that grace had to work in terms of spiritual illumination and understanding; to inculcate Christly patience and forbearance, over against intolerance; to establish balance over against the natural tendency to extremes; to break down the walls of prejudice and enlarge the spirit beyond the limits of national, social, and religious exclusiveness. In a word, to redeem the true values and potentialities of the human nature, and undercut and cripple - like Jacob's thigh - the strength of selfhood. So grace is not only acceptance, it is strength under discipline, submission under chastening, meekness in adversity, and understanding when painful precautionary measures are taken, as in the case of the "thorn in the flesh" to circumvent spiritual pride. Grace is a working power unto the 'gaining of the soul', not its destruction or annihilation.

Upon the clay, divinely selected, grace gets to work, not to change the essential personality, for we shall always be ourselves, but to effect an inward circumcision, a cutting around or between the self-strength and a dependence wholly upon God. This is the life-long operation of the Spirit of God and the work of grace.

Grace is the source, the river, the ocean. Paul is the greatest exponent of grace (see that word in his writings) because of the greatness of the purpose to which he was chosen, and because of the tremendous forces within the particular nature and temperament which was his. While Paul might be greatly affected by the honour attached to his calling and never cease to wonder that it should be to such as he; Paul was never far from the consciousness of the terrific thing that had to be done in him, and of how costly to his own soul that work was. Grace, to him, related to both of these aspects. In the hands of the Potter the clay may often come very near to arguing that the Potter had made a mistake in His choice of material, or that the pressure of His hands implies His adverse judgment amounting to condemnation.

Here enters the demand for faith, and faith is the yoke-fellow of grace. To glance back at our beginning; it is disastrous in every way, and wholly wrong, to allow human temperament - our own or that of others - to govern our judgments and attitudes without giving a higher place to grace.

This is what Paul meant by 'knowing after the flesh', that is, knowing apart from God. In the world this has to be done as a matter of 'common-sense', and you ignore it at your peril. But in the realm of grace other factors enter in and have to be given their due place. Men and women so often shout at us for what they are naturally; that is Christian men and women, and it is an issue of grace to wait patiently for the Spirit in them to gain ascendency over that strong natural life. This is just the meaning of 'growing in grace'.

What we have been saying would just resolve itself into human psychology if we did not keep that door of grace wide open. Psychology, like philosophy, can be a most deadly thing, with no way through, if Divine grace does not have its due and triumphant place.

We suspend this aspect of our consideration of "the stewardship of the mystery" by pointing to a very instructive fact.

The question has been asked - 'Seeing that Jesus entered into our humanity, which category of all the human categories did He enter?' In other words, what was the particular temperamental class to which Jesus belonged? The answer is: To none and to all. It is impossible to fit Him exclusively into any one of the - say six - categories of human nature. If we tried to do so, we should find contradictions in every case. It just cannot be done. The fact is that He is the embodiment of the best in every category and none of the worst or faults. This is why He is able to help every type of humanity. Conformity to Christ means that the flaws, defects, and preponderances of our natural constitution will be made subservient to the Spirit of Jesus at work within us. There we must pause, for we have touched the latch of the window through which all the meaning of "the mystery" is to be seen, and it still lies before us as 'a land of far distances'.

This consideration should lead us to see at least one thing of considerable importance. It is that God never separates between the work and the worker. Because men like the great ones of the Bible have been raised up sovereignly for a Divine purpose, and have been inspired to give some eternal values to history, they have none the less, but all the more, been very drastically dealt with by God, and the natural features of their makeup have been deeply disciplined. We can never escape or be excused because we are God's servants and He has used and blessed us. It is always possible that "after having preached to others we should be cast away" (as instruments). Against such a possibility the Lord sets deep and serious disciplines; sometimes to the extent of "a messenger of Satan to buffet".

Chapter 3 - The Mystery

NOTE. In a number of issues of this paper we have been occupied with two aspects of the Divine Horizon, viz: -

1. All things horizoned by Christ.

2. All things horizoned by Purpose.

There are other aspects of Horizon yet to be considered, but when we come to "The Stewardship of the Mystery", we find the above two major aspects converging or coming together. And so, we move on from those aspects as two, and take them up in their oneness in the "Mystery".

1. An Additional Word About the Vessel

We have, in our last chapter, given some particular consideration to Paul as the specially chosen 'vessel' for this stewardship, and while we do not want to allow him to eclipse other chosen vessels, we feel how necessary it is to recognize that we cannot really understand the peculiar nature of the dispensation in which we live unless we recognize the peculiar and special, nature of this vessel and its deposit.

We dare therefore to add this brief word in that connection in order to link up with what has already been said, and to lead on to the message.

Perhaps the most impressive and forceful way in which we can do this is to quote some words in a book just published by Dr. F. F. Bruce (whose spiritual scholarship will not find much dispute).

Under the heading "Paul's World Significance" Dr. Bruce writes: -

'Paul is one of the most significant figures in the history of civilization. To him, far more than to any other man, Christianity owes the direction which it took in the first generation after the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is interesting at times to speculate on the might-have-beens of history. What might have been the course of Christianity had Paul never become a Christian? Would it have remained one among 5 several movements within the frontiers of Judaism? Would it have remained a predominantly Asian religion, like other movements which originated in the same continent? So we might go on, asking questions whose only value is to emphasize the significance of the life and work of Paul... if it is asked how a faith which arose in Asia should have come to be so universally associated with European civilization (for this purpose 'European' includes 'American'), the answer to the question must be sought in the life and activity of Paul... Since Christianity began as a movement within the commonwealth of Israel, how is it that, less than a century after its inception, it presented the appearance of a mainly Gentile faith? The answer to this question too lies in the effectiveness of the ministry of Paul...' and so on.

If all this, and much more, as to Paul's significance is right, then an inclusive question arises; to what does this particular significance relate? The answer that Paul would give, and his writings provide, is found in the phrase in which he embodied the purpose of his calling - "the stewardship of the mystery". We must therefore proceed at once to the consideration of what is meant by

"The Mystery".

It is not sufficient to say that 'mystery' means 'secret', something hidden, and later disclosed. We must explain what that mystery was, and is.

There are two main aspects of this Divine mystery.

One, and the first, relates to the Eternal Purpose; i.e., that which lay at the heart of the counsels of the Godhead before time and before creation.

The other relates to the fore-knowledge which took in all the contingencies of time and human history, and stored up in secret how that history and those contingencies would be met, and their problems resolved.

We have dealt with the former of these two aspects in 'Horizoned by Christ' and in Vol. 1 of the original Stewardship of the Mystery. It is with the latter that we are mainly concerned now, although it will embrace the former.

Within the compass of the contingencies of history we are confronted with the great disruptive movement revealed in the Bible and so apparent in experience. This is shown to have had two phases; one before creation (of this present world), the other after.

The First Disruption

There is enough in the Bible to inform us that things were not always as they are now. Scripture indicates that there was an undefined period in which a state of perfect accord and harmony existed in the universe. Heaven and earth were in holy happy and joyous symphony. Job speaks of a time "when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). This is said to have followed the "fastening of the foundations and the laying of the cornerstone of the earth".

In the Book of Proverbs - the book so largely the fruit of a special Divine gift of wisdom and knowledge - Wisdom is personified, as of a He eternally existent, and that He is spoken of as "rejoicing in his habitable earth", and saying, "my delights were with the sons of men" (Prov. 8:31).

There is a little - but immensely significant - prefix to the great activities of God in the reverting to the blessed and holy state;- it is the prefix Re. Its meaning is 'again'. It has numerous compounds, as any dictionary will show, but the greatest words in God's reactions have this prefix:- Re-demption; re-conciliation; re-storation; re-cover; re-generation; re-new; re-plenish; re-turn, etc. All this means a re-turn to a state which has been lost.

We ask then: How did this disruption take place and what were - and are - the factors accounting for it?

It is fairly generally agreed by Bible students, and it is borne out by the geological strata of the earth's crust, that this world existed long before the recreation account in Genesis. It is also believed that the darkness, chaos, barrenness, and death to which that book introduces itself was the result of some terrible and devastating event. There are not lacking indications that this was a judgment of God upon a regime which had - by its iniquity and rebellion - passed beyond recovery. Not only are there pointers to this as to that dateless past; there are two other things which bear upon it. One is God's attitude toward and commandment concerning such people as the Canaanites. Utter extermination without a remnant or residue was God's edict because of the extremity of their 'abominations'. The other thing is that a time is declared to be coming (probably when the redeemed have been lifted away) when, to quote the actual words, "the day of the Lord will come... in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved... But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:10-13). (We in this atomic age can understand this language better than our fathers, and what a testimony to inspiration it is that the manner of "the end of all things" is so described many hundreds of years before the atomic age.)

In the three connections there is a reflection upon the inclusive cause of the cosmic judgment; it is in Peter's words - "wherein dwelleth righteousness". Unrighteousness carried to its limit means devastation and ruin. Unrighteousness in its essence is, not ceding and giving to God His rights; this is frequently called "iniquity", and the root of that work is rebellion. That last word - rebellion - brings us immediately to the answer to our question above.

Whence This Universal Discord?

For answer we turn to Ezekiel's prophecy (28:1-10). First the prophet speaks of the Lord's judgment upon the King of Tyre. Then he is carried back into a realm and a position which call for language and description which could never be limited to that king. Through the King of Tyre, and through certain characteristics of his there looms into view the greater one who rules and inspires him.

This greater one is spoken of as "the anointed cherub that covereth"; "full of wisdom and perfect in beauty"; dwelling in the garden of God, bedecked and adorned with beautiful and costly gems. As the "anointed cherub which covereth", he seems to have had some position of special privilege, honour, and responsibility in relation to the throne. He "walked up and down amidst the stones of fire". No man ever held such a position. He was Lucifer, the light-bearer.

But he was created and entrusted. He was neither the Creator nor the source, but he held everything by trust and by dependence.

Then the scene changes and a dark shadow enters the realm of glory. "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness". Conceit is always followed by self-assertion. Sooner or later, it will come out and show itself in conduct. It will rebel against authority; it will resent equality; it will move - perhaps sullenly at first, gathering strength - toward an open revolt and rebellion. It will seek followers and supporters, until the "I will" becomes a set course. "I will ascend"; "I will exalt my throne"; "I will sit upon the mount"; "I will be". This then is the source and spring of iniquity, and its essence is pride of heart. "Thy heart was lifted up". Out of this came independent action.

In the meantime many have been defiled and have formed an alliance with this erstwhile beautiful and trusted one. "The angels which kept not their first estate" (Jude 6; 2 Peter 2:4).

Thus we see this rift as having taken place - according to Luke 10:17,18 - in Heaven, and the first great schism having taken place there. There is no place too sacred and holy for the spirit of pride and self-will to invade, corrupt, and hurt. If this could happen there, can we expect that anything here will escape the attack? No, nothing ever has escaped it!

But there is the reaction of God. His answer to "I will ascend" is "thou shalt be brought down to hell". Hell is banishment from the presence of God and loss of all Divine privilege.

The next phase and stage of this course is well known. It may be that in some way Lucifer had a special relationship to this earth, and with his rebellion he infected the previous creation, and was "cast out". This may largely be deducted from certain Scriptures. A judgment follows a rebellion, and out of the death, the God of Resurrection moved to "make all things new". There we have the account in Genesis.

But the Adversary has not given up. The renewed earth has been placed under the 'dominion' of the 'First Adam'. Into this domain Satan intrudes and - was it to regain his own lost dominion - he makes a bid for it and succeeds. He has found his accomplice and has captured the power of human reproduction with the constituent of rebellion introduced into it. Even Jesus, the rightful Lord will - before His Cross - call Satan, "the prince of this world" and will not - at the time - dispute the Devil's statement that "the kingdoms of the world... and the glory of them... hath been delivered unto me". The Cross will settle that, but that comes later.

So, we have the repercussion of the heavenly discord in this world.

All division, confusion, disruption, conflicting elements, derive from this twofold primal disruption and disorder. There is now only one legitimate antagonism; it is between light and darkness, truth and falsehood, life and death, righteousness and unrighteousness. It is impressive that at the beginning of the Bible we have this unlawful bid for pre-eminence resulting in division and discord, and so near the end - in John's third letter - the man who has more to say about love than anyone else, turns with vehement wrath and fiery threatening against "Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence", and thereby is causing divisions.

Here is the point at which, for the moment, we must break off, for it is here that God's 'secret', His 'mystery', is kept in reserve, firstly, to be revealed; secondly, to call for alliance; and finally, to settle the whole issue.

The Particular Mystery

The word 'mystery' is found twenty-seven times in the received text of the New Testament and is related to several matters. The Lord Jesus said to the twelve disciples that it was given to them to know the mysteries of the Kingdom. Paul, as we have seen, claimed to have a special revelation of the mystery; not the mysteries, but the particular mystery. This revelation constituted his particular stewardship, and we have tried to show how very vital and important that stewardship is for this dispensation. So it becomes us to define that particular "mystery". The farthest that most teachers have gone is to make it to mean the uniting of Jew and Gentile in the Church. "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs" (Eph. 3:6). This view or conclusion seems to have a great deal of support especially when chapters 9 to 15 of Romans are read. The imperfection of this conclusion or deduction is not in the simple statement that Jews and Gentiles are united in Christ, but in retention of the names in Christ. The fact is that in Christ there are no Jews and there are no Gentiles. As such they disappear in the grave of Christ, i.e., baptism as a testimony to union with Christ in death and burial. There is no such thing as a baptized Jew or a baptized Gentile. The 'mystery' is that "of the twain (he makes) one new man" (Eph. 2:15), and the point is "in himself".

So, the 'mystery' is that Christ in resurrection is the firstborn of a new humanity in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, etc. Every dividing distinction of nationality, culture, language, colour, country, etc., etc., is removed in the Cross of Christ because these things are the entail of a curse and the evil brood of the disruption to which we have referred earlier.

In the realm of Christ; in the realm of the Holy Spirit; in the realm of the One Body and the One Life they have no standing. They are great realities in the natural realm and may constitute difficulties, but the Spirit of Christ forbids that they govern attitudes and prejudices.

In Christ there is a common basis which makes fellowship a real and blessed thing even where in the natural all these things exist - even in one place. This is one of the most powerful testimonies to the reality of Christ and the work of His Cross. It is indeed "the mystery of Christ". Paul refers to this when he says that "Christ in you (is) the hope of glory". It is literally "Christ in the midst of you". It is in this connection that he says, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh". The "henceforth" refers back to "Christ-died for (in the place of) all, therefore all died (in Him)" "Wherefore, if any man be in Christ there is a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:16,17).

It is just here that the great need is to recognize

The Significance of Christ.

In the natural world all the effects of the great schism in the universe to which we have referred will govern relationships and attitudes. Indeed, they are the very nature and constitution of things, postulating a control, a strangle-hold by forces inimical, hostile, and viciously antagonistic to harmony, concord, and peace. Racial discriminations and prejudices; 'colour bars'; class distinctions; race superiorities; and everything else of its kind and spirit emanate from a curse upon creation due to Satanic interference. It is all the disruption that is in the very nature of man and things. To change this, man has to be changed in constitution. Christ is different; He is of another order of humanity. In Christ there is "neither... nor", but only one new man. In Christ there is a new creation, where there cannot be this and that of inimical differences and conflicting natures. There is no way through this situation, the only way is above it, ascendency over it. The Church is viewed as "seated with Christ in the heavenlies", and the sooner we realise that this is no abstract, idealistic, unreal, and theoretical position - to say nothing of it being a geographical position - the sooner will our Christianity regain its power and impact. That position is a spiritual one. That is, it is a position of the spirit in the power and energy of the Holy Spirit. Where Heaven is we do not know, but the "heavenlies" are right here around us, pressing upon us and seeking to elevate us in our inward life as "in Christ".

The heart of the whole matter is in Ephesians 1:9,10 - "having made known... the mystery of his will... which he purposed in him, unto a dispensation (stewardship, or outworking) of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ..." To 'sum up' means literally 'to reunite'; to reunite all things in Christ.

Three phases are indicated: The eternal, purpose that "all things" were the Son's heritage, to be in Him: the universal rift by reason of a bid for the Son's place and heritage: the secret hid in God as to how to realise the purpose and destroy the rift, through the Cross to 'reunite all things in Christ'. This represents the essential sphere of unity - "In Christ"; and a power working through the Cross to a resurrection position - "the exceeding greatness of his power" (Ephes. 1:19).

In the first edition of The Stewardship of the Mystery Vol. 2 (now out of print), we said some things which were taken up in two ways and given a meaning different from and beyond what was intended. The construction put upon them was - in both cases - that of our seeking to be divisive among the Lord's people.

The extremists of 'come-out'ism used what we said to support their position and they gave occasion to others for opposing us on the ground of being divisive in our teaching and influence. The fact is that both were wrong. Ours was a wholly constructive object, positive and not negative.

The following is what we wrote then and we can only ask that it will now be viewed as an attempt to show how great and how different Christ is as the all-uniting person and nature.

Seeing that "the mystery" which was revealed to the Apostle Paul in a particular and fuller way is shown to be Christ personal and Christ corporate, it is necessary for us to look more earnestly into

The Peculiar Significance of the Definition "The Body".

We have to get nearer to the special definition of the Church as the Body of Christ. It has been said by some that the term is only a metaphor. But when we look at all that is said about it in Paul's letters we have to say that if any man's body is only a metaphor, then this is. Can we regard our own bodies as of merely metaphorical significance, or are they of literal and practical meaning or reality? There surely cannot be any doubt as to the practical reality of the Church as Christ's Body! However, we shall see. To understand the significance of this definition it is first of all necessary to recognize the significance of Christ Himself. There is first the personal and then the related significance.

In Himself Christ took up all the eternal interests of God as bound up with the Elect. God had an inheritance or "heritage" in that corporate company. God's heritage was "alienated" from Him. God's heritage was marred. God's heritage was turned to serve purposes which were contrary to Him and His intention. God's heritage was taken possession of by powers inimical to His interests. In relation to this, God's Son undertook a full recovery and restoration to God of His rights, His purposes, and His instrument.

The point is that this Son of God as Son of Man did not undertake this work in an independent and detached way, but Himself became the representative and embodiment of all this. Because moral factors were involved requiring judgment and death a position had to be accepted. This could be nothing merely official, it had to be moral and spiritual. So, in order to effect a full recovery to a position in keeping with God's holiness for holy purposes, the Son of God was "made sin" (in the hour of His atoning work), entered into the alienation because of that accepted position ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"); became marred ("marred more than any man"); fought out the battle of God's rights, and destroyed the inimical powers and works; redeemed the heritage "unto God"; secured the Elect in "the blood of the everlasting covenant"; and ratified the eternal purpose.

(We must ever keep the broad line between that which Christ was inherently as sinless, and that which He took upon Himself representatively. A guiltless One took the place and judgment of the guilty.)

We repeat, this was all done in no merely official capacity, but He and the heritage and the Elect became one in experience. Finality rested with Christ. God had no other in reserve if He failed. He was not the Second Adam, but the Last Adam. God has "at the end... spoken in his Son". Well, then; Christ as risen and exalted is the personal embodiment of everything which relates in God's eternal thought to the Church.

Then the next phase is that - while He remains a living person and a distinct member of Godhead - He is given "to be head over all things to the church which is his body, the fulness of him..." All this fulness is now - in the first instance - not embodied in a separate person as one by Himself, but in a Head as one with the Body. The Head holds all in relation to the Body. The Body gets all in relation to the Head. The full statement of this is in Ephesians 1, leading up to verses 18-22. No individual or number of individuals as such can obtain the inheritance; it requires the Body. Two things, amongst others, postulate this fact.

Firstly, the use of the article in the Greek in this connection. A classic instance is in 1 Cor. 12:12:

"...As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ" (Greek, "the Christ").

This is not an isolated case. It is a form used when Christ and His members as one Body are in view. Its force is that the members and the Head -  for all purposes of God here - are "the Christ". The whole subject or truth of identification with Christ is bound up with this. Let us be most explicit and emphatic that we are not touching the personal existence of the Son, as a member of the Godhead. This term "the Christ" is His official, not His personal designation.

Then there is that other fact to which reference has been - and yet will be - made. That which springs out of or issues from Christ's resurrection as in God's eye and Heaven's mind is a "one new man". If you carefully read the various passages dealing with this One New Man you will find that you cannot discriminate between Christ and His members. Take, for instance, the following:

"...the building up of the body of Christ; till we all attain unto... a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ... may grow up in all things into him, which is the head even Christ [Gk., "the Christ"]; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together... maketh the increase of the body..." (Ephesians 4:12,13,15,16).

"...holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth... and have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there cannot be Greek and Jew, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all" (Colossians 2:19; 3:10).

This brings us to see that what our members are to our heads, the Body of Christ is to Him. It is for the expression of what He is and has done in Himself.

But there is another aspect of this which need only be mentioned, for all know it. As Christ personally was the shrine of God on earth, so the Body is the shrine of the Trinity.

"Ye are the temple of God", "A habitation of God through the Spirit", "Christ in you the hope of glory", etc.

As to the practical values and outworkings of this corporate nature of the Church we have much to say yet, but let it be seen that, not in an institution, an organization, but as a personal living presence in a spiritual organism Christ is present in the whole spiritual cosmic realm.

We must take account of some of the implications of this definition - the Body.

Some Implications of "The Body"

Firstly these implications are corrective.

There are many either false or imperfectly considered ideas about the Church, and a real revelation to the heart by the Holy Spirit of the truth will result in considerable adjustment.

If there is any real Divine mind behind the definition of the Church as the Body of Christ, and the One New Man, then the Church cannot be five things which obtain in 'Church History', or 'Ecclesiastical Polity'. It cannot be national. It cannot be international. It cannot be denominational. It cannot be interdenominational. It cannot be undenominational.

What sort of a man is this One New Man? What kind of a body is this Body of Christ? Is he a National man? Then there cannot be "one Body"! Is he an international man? Then he must be a composite man, embodying the features and characteristics of all nations. We will not carry the question further. All these designations which we have mentioned represent something, as apart from something else, to the Church. They distinguish Christians; they put some here and some there; some in this and others not in this. Even the last-named - undenominational - as a good-intentioned measure to get over sectarian barriers or distinguishing marks, but sets up another boundary, and misses the positive truth of the Body of Christ; it is at least negative.

Before we proceed let us pause a moment. We are anxious to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding. We are not saying that because many believers are in the various denominations they are not in the Body of Christ. Rather would we say that the Body of Christ comprises those who are truly joined to Himself wherever they may be found. So that no one must imagine that we suggest that in order to be in some thing called "the Body of Christ" they must leave their denomination. We should say that denominations are not an expression - in themselves - of the Body, and can be either a definite limitation or a real hindrance to the full thought of God. We recognize that there may be a fine difference between denominations and denominationalism; the one being more or less passive, the other positive. The latter would certainly be a menace to the truth of the Body of Christ. What we mean by denominationalism is the definite pursuance of denominational interests. There are many people of God in denominations who are not denominational in any positive and aggressive way, but who are rather where they are because that is where they have met the Lord. They love the Lord and desire to go on with Him.

What we are saying is not meant to be a judgment of such, nor in the spirit of criticism, but out of real love for every fellow-member of Christ. If a thing has to be judged as being less or other than the Lord's full or true thought; and if it is seen - in the light of fuller revelation and corresponding experience - to be only good as far as it goes, but not good in relation to a fuller thought of God, then those who are in it will only come under that judgment if and when they fail to have light which God has made available, or disobey light given. This, of course, will touch upon the question of whether the Cross has dealt with the natural life, and whether there is a walk in the Spirit. Let no one think therefore that we are out against Christians because they are in this or that department of the whole company of believers, nor yet that it is our aim to destroy those departments.

We are concerned with positive spiritual reality, and we say with Paul "admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ; whereunto I labour, striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily" (Colossians 1:28, 29).

But we recognize and know that "perfect in Christ" is related to the Body, as the context shows - "I... fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ... for his body's sake, which is the church" etc. (verse 24).

We would never say anything which would raise an issue which is fraught with so much suffering and misunderstanding were it merely a technical question, and were we not convinced that the gain to the Lord and His people far outweighs that cost, and justifies the "afflictions". Our objective is constructive, not destructive; positive, not negative; love, not judgment or criticism.

But to resume where we paused. Have you seen the Son of Man? Of what nation or nationality is He? Into what section of mankind do you fit Him as the Son of Man? What is His category in that capacity? To what people does He belong, or to what temperament, clime, or time? You answer, to all! Yes, and more! He reaches over all time limits, over all earth distinctions, outside of this present order of creation. He is a Man whose like has never been in this earth. He answers to the full and final thought of God as before man was created. He is eternal in conception, heavenly, universal. Yet He is Man.

Now come back to Paul. In this New Man to which he calls attention all the points which distinguish between people here are ruled out. Jews and Gentiles, and all others, as such, cease to be. They have disappeared when the Body of Christ comes into view - 'there can be neither'; not 'there are both'. That principle extended means that in the Church which is His Body there are not British, French, German, Indian, Chinese, etc., all making up the one Church. No! (Here is the fundamental weakness.) If Christ really gets into a man or woman by new birth; that is, if the Holy Spirit really and truly takes up residence as Lord within, the one preeminent reality and fact there is Christ! Let the persons concerned recognize and realise that; let all other responsible workers recognize that and certain things will follow. A new and altogether other Factor will be there to govern that life. That Factor can be trusted to check up. The seeds of another nature are there. We need not all the time be taking account of national disposition, temperament, accountability. It is a shame to see how many Christians despise other Christian 'nationals', especially if those others have come from a 'heathen' nation. It all amounts to whether the fundamental reality is there implanted, and then as to whether we trust the Holy Spirit in one another; or whether we are all the time trying to do the Holy Spirit's work. It is wonderful how the Apostles cast their converts and their churches upon the Lord.

Now it is this other, heavenly, Divine, Factor - "Christ in you" - one indivisible Person - who constitutes the Body. "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh". Why? Because "one died for all, therefore all died in him". We know quite well that the universality of Christ is a reality in every true child of God, for we instantly have something in common with such whatever their nationality, even if we have never met before. It is only when we get on to man's side of things and leave the Lord that dividedness comes in.

In all love, yet in all faithfulness we venture to say that no one who has really had a revelation of the Body of Christ could remain officially or spiritually on positive national, international, racial, denominational, or other ground, if that ground represents a division amongst the people of God. The only possible position for such is that of openness, fellowship, and ministry to "all saints". There are two things here to mention. One is that every matter such as this one should be a living issue in the hearts of those concerned. We realise that what we have said could be taken up legally, and action could be precipitate, and impulsive. Unless a thing is done by the Holy Spirit in the heart it can never be a Holy Spirit matter outwardly. It is therefore unwise and dangerous to tell people to leave this or that, do this thing and do that thing, unless already the Holy Spirit has done something. There are plenty of independent and unrelated movements which are neither fruitful nor living.

Chapter 4 - The Place of Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ

Toward the close of our last chapter we used some words which have been the focal point of much controversy and misunderstanding. The words were: 'no one who has really had a revelation of the Body of Christ,' etc.

The misunderstanding has been as to our meaning; the controversy as to the word 'Revelation'.

The contention is that all the revelation that God has wished to give to man is exclusively and conclusively contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and that, therefore, there is no more revelation to be given or had. The misunderstanding is that, in our use of the word 'Revelation', we mean something extra to the Scriptures. Let us say emphatically that we mean no such thing. Categorically we affirm that the Bible seals the sum of Divine revelation, and anything that is extra to that is dangerous and contrary to the Scriptures themselves.

When, however, we have said that with full emphasis, we still hold to both the fact and the implications of the old Puritan Father, John Robinson, when he said: "The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His word".

That is what we mean, and all that we mean. We believe that this is the teaching of the Word itself, as we shall show.

It is not 'Revelation' as extra to the Scriptures, but revelation as to what is in the Scriptures. The content is unfathomable and inexhaustible. The 'riches are unsearchable'. Who can know the full content of the mind of infinite God? It may very well be that, although God has given in the Scriptures all that we need to know for all present purposes, and eternal well-being, there is infinitely more of God to be known than is contained in the Bible. But, the Bible, although read a thousand times, and even were it entirely committed to memory, contains for present value and importance more, much more than the most spiritually knowledgeable servant or saint of God has ever been able to fathom. The man to whom was committed the revelation of the mystery in a fuller way than any other, was, right at the end of his life, still crying: "That I may know him".

The Scriptures make two things very clear. One is that the knowledge of the things of God is right outside of human attainment by any natural ability of mind or brain. They show that, although they - the Scriptures - may be quite familiar to, and in the hands of quite devout men, such men may be utterly blind as to their meaning. Among many instances we have the classic case of the two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24). This failure to 'know the voices of the prophets which were read every sabbath' was one of the major charges laid against the Jewish rulers (Acts 13:27).

The second thing is that the very presence of the Holy Spirit within the believer is as the "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know..." (Eph. 1:17,18). This was the prayer of the Apostle for believers who had already received very much instruction and light. And can it be said that all that is contained in that prayer has been fully known by the Church, even to this day? The things which are detailed in the prayer are truly in the Scriptures, but the Church still needs to know them by revelation of the Holy Spirit. To believers, who already had a rich inheritance of Divine illumination, John the Apostle wrote: 'You have an anointing; the anointing abideth in you and teacheth you all things' (1 John 2:27). The "all things" would already be in the Scriptures, but needing to be brought to light in believers. Let it be noted that this 'Revelation' referred to is not intended to be the exclusive or peculiar property of a selected few, but it is for all believers, and for the Church as a whole. Whether it is enjoyed or experienced by all is another matter, to which we have to come presently.

What does this mean fundamentally and in the first place? It just means that

Every Believer Should Have a First-hand Knowledge of the Lord and His Things.

This means that every believer should, and may, be able to say: 'I really do know the Lord. The Lord has really revealed Himself to me.' Through and by His Word, yes; but it has become a very personal, living, and real thing. Believers, by their very new birth and in its very nature are able to say: 'The Lord has opened my eyes.' But this is not all, as we have pointed out. This work of the Holy Spirit is a continuous and progressive thing, and the 'more light and truth' should be ever growing.

We would say that everything in the Christian life should rest upon and grow out of this revelation or illumination. Life, growth, character, service, etc., should all spring from a basic and continuously growing inward unveiling of Jesus Christ. The Christian should not have his or her life resting upon only outward supports, such as meetings, 'church-attendance', preaching, and the many other things which compose Christianity in an outward way. These may be helps, but the vital necessity and blessed privilege is to have a personal, inward, revealing walk with the Lord. Apart from this, in a day of crisis and shaking, all the other things - however good in themselves - may break down and fail to save.

The Apostle Paul was a master of the Scriptures as they existed. There was very little, if anything, that he could be taught as to their content in word and doctrine. But as to the Christ of which they were full, he was totally and lamentably blind. "I did it in ignorance", he said. The "mystery" was there ail the time, waiting for the manifestation and the revelation of the Christ by the Holy Spirit. To this revelation Paul acknowledged that he owed everything, and all that he became, all that he did, and all that the Church has received through him took its rise from "It pleased God to reveal his Son in me"; and from that spring the river ever deepened and widened.

Although the specific dispensational purpose may be peculiar in the sovereignty of God in certain vessels, the principle is of general application: it is that, what we are, what we may fulfil of Divine purpose, and the ultimate value of our lives will depend solely upon what we have seen of Christ by revelation by the Holy Spirit. But, having said that, there is more to say. We have to come to

The Basis of Revelation.

Although this is the birthright of all children of God, many are not in the good of it, and a vast number know all too little of it. We should be right in saying that a large measure of the spiritual defectiveness, a large number of the spiritual maladies, and a great deal of the discredit brought upon the Church can be traced to this lack of really knowing the Lord in an inward way. If this is the secret of fulness of life and effectiveness of service, what is its basis? For truly there is a basis and a very serious one! It embraces the Lord Jesus Himself, with all His disciples and apostles.

Jesus received His open Heaven for His mission - in symbol - at the Jordan when He was baptized. John was baptizing unto repentance and remission of sins. Jesus joined the multitude and insisted upon being baptized with them. But Jesus had no sin or sins of which to repent or which needed to be remitted. He was already "the Lamb of God", "without spot or blemish". His baptism was therefore a symbolic forecast of His Cross - death, burial, resurrection, and in both - symbol and reality - He was representatively "numbered with the transgressors" (Isa. 53:12). On this ground the Heaven was opened to Him and thereafter everything for Him was in virtue of that, until that actual terrible moment when - symbolism apart - "He was made sin for us, he who knew no sin"; when we were - in the mind of God - included in Him, and Heaven was closed and sealed against sinful mankind and He cried "Forsaken" (Matt. 27:46); when He was "smitten of God and afflicted" (Isa. 53:4).

After this actual representative death and resurrection, Heaven was opened to Him in all its eternal fulness. The 'gates were lifted up and the King of glory entered in' (Ps. 24:7,9). "He was received up" (Acts 1:2,10,11).

Leaving the atoning and vicarious aspect apart as uniquely His work, the New Testament overwhelmingly shows that there is an aspect of that experience into which believers have to be baptized. We say 'experience', for it is more than the doctrine. The first Apostles had a devastating experience of the meaning and power of the Cross. It wrecked them and blasted all their natural self-confidence, self-assurance, and ambitions in this world as it is. Broken, shattered, emptied, and confounded by that Cross, they were thereby in the way of the opened Heaven, which actually became their door of spiritual fulness on the Day of Pentecost.

It is the Apostle Paul who puts all this into writing and exposition. Not because he alone went that way, but because of the sovereign significance of his "stewardship".

We do not know where - the then - Saul of Tarsus was when Jesus was crucified, nor whether he was actively connected with the event, but we do know what he felt about it. He was wholly sympathetic with the crucifying of Jesus, and demonstrated that sympathy by vehemently pursuing, persecuting, and arraigning for death the least and last sponsor of 'Jesus of Nazareth'.

We shall never be fully able to appraise the devastating effect of his discovery that Jesus of Nazareth was - not only the Messiah but - the Son of God crucified by Israel, himself, and the world. But it is clear from his writings that this crucifixion was seen to be more than for him and his sins, or for the world and its sins; it was as him as a part of a judged and set-aside race and world. Positive statements to this effect are such as Romans 6:3-6; Colossians 2:11,12; Galatians 2:20; and so on. We repeat, this was not just doctrine or interpretation with Paul, it was born out of an initial prostrating and devastating encounter and revelation, and, quite evidently, from increasing and deepening revelation and experience of the Cross as to the natural man. Paul's open Heaven began in this way, and all that followed in knowledge, life, and ministry was upon this basis.

Paul, the natural man, with all his endowments, abilities, zeal, and acquirements, knew that he was at a discount in the things of God apart from this opened Heaven and the Spirit's anointing. The Cross had effected this. He was a crucified man, and he knew it. He was crucified to self; crucified to the world, its spirit, its ambitions, its policies, its ways. But he was risen and alive to all that Heaven means, and to Christ - Heaven's fulness.

From the natural standpoint this may be a costly way. It involves suffering and ostracism. It involves in the hatred of hell. It involves in the unrelenting attempts to discredit by the legalists, the traditionalists, and by the earthbound.

From some outstanding examples of what we are seeking to show we select one which we are sure will not be called into question by anyone. It is the case of Mr. Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission.

Few people, if any, who know of Mr. Hudson Taylor's life with God would question his knowledge of the Scriptures and his real spiritual understanding of them. If he knew the Word of God at all we can be sure that the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel by John was very well known by him, but it was upon that very chapter that, well on in life and service, he was saved from despair and brought into something altogether new of joy and victory. His disclosure of his despair in a letter astounded those who knew him best. His biographers lead up to the letter by saying: -

"Were it not recorded in his own words it would be difficult to believe, certainly impossible to imagine, such conflict, suffering, almost despair in spiritual things in one who had long and truly known the Lord."

We give a part of the letter in which the disclosure is made, with our italics to indicate the particular principle which is our object in this chapter. The whole chapter entitled The Exchanged Life should be read to get the fuller message; we are only concerned at the moment with the fact of 'Revelation'. (The chapter is in Hudson Taylor. The Growth of a Work of God.)

"Six weeks after these experiences, when Mr. Taylor was rejoicing in the abiding fulness of this new life, a letter reached him from England that specially touched his heart. It was from his sister, Mrs. Broomhall, the intimate friend and correspondent of his early years, who now with a growing family round her was sore pressed, as he had been himself, by outward responsibilities and inward conflict rather than rest in Spiritual things. With a great longing to help one so dear to him, Mr. Taylor took up his pen to reply. As he wrote, the whole story of his own extremity and deliverance was poured out in a letter so precious that it is given in full, despite the risk of some repetition:

"October 17, 1869: So many thanks for your long, dear letter... I do not think you have written me such a letter since we have been in China. I know it is with you as with me - you cannot, not you will not. Mind and body will not bear more than a certain amount of strain, or do more than a certain amount of work. As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. The last month or more has been perhaps, the happiest of my life; and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul. I do not know how far I may be able to make myself intelligible about it, for there is nothing new or strange or wonderful - and yet, all is new! In a word, "Whereas once I was blind, now I see."

"Perhaps I shall make myself more clear if I go back a little. Well, dearie, my mind has been greatly exercised for six or eight months past, feeling the need personally, and for our Mission, of more holiness, life, power in our souls. But personal need stood first and was the greatest. I felt the ingratitude, the danger, the sin of not living nearer to God. I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for retirement and meditation, but all was without effect. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me. I knew that if I could only abide in Christ all would be well, but I could not. I began the day with prayer, determined not to take my eye from Him for a moment; but pressure of duties, sometimes very trying, constant interruptions apt to be so wearing, often caused me to forget Him. Then one's nerves get so fretted in this climate that temptations to irritability, hard thoughts, and sometimes unkind words are all the more difficult to control. Each day brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power. To will was indeed present with me, but how to perform I found not.

"Then came the question, 'Is there no rescue? Must it be thus to the end - constant conflict and, instead of victory, too often defeat?' How, too, could I preach with sincerity that to those who receive Jesus, 'to them gave He power to become the sons of God' (i.e., God-like) when it was not so in my own experience? Instead of growing stronger, I seemed to be getting weaker and to have less power against sin; and no wonder, for faith and even hope were getting very low. I hated myself; I hated my sin; and yet I gained no strength against it. I felt I was a child of God: His Spirit in my heart would cry, in spite of all, 'Abba, Father': but to rise to my privileges as a child, I was utterly powerless. I thought that holiness, practical holiness, was to be gradually attained by a diligent use of the means of grace. I felt that there was nothing I so much desired in this world, nothing I so much needed. But so far from in any measure attaining it, the more I pursued and strove after it, the more it eluded my grasp; till hope itself almost died out, and I began to think that, perhaps to make heaven the sweeter, God would not give it down here. I do not think I was striving to attain it in my own strength. I knew I was powerless. I told the Lord so, and asked Him to give me help and strength; and sometimes I almost believed He would keep and uphold me. But on looking back in the evening, alas! there was but sin and failure to confess and mourn before God.

"I would not give you the impression that this was the daily experience of all those long, weary months. It was a too frequent state of soul; that toward which I was tending, and which almost ended in despair. And yet never did Christ seem more precious - a Saviour who could and would save such a sinner! ...And sometimes there were seasons not only of peace but of joy in the Lord. But they were transitory, and at best there was a sad lack of power. Oh, how good the Lord was in bringing this conflict to an end!

"All the time I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was how to get it out. He was rich, truly, but I was poor; He strong, but I weak. I knew full well that there was in the root, the stem, abundant fatness; but how to get it into my puny little branch was the question. As gradually the light was dawning on me, I saw that faith was the only pre-requisite, was the hand to lay hold on His fulness and make it my own. But I had not this faith. I strove for it, but it would not come; tried to exercise it, but in vain. Seeing more and more the wondrous supply of grace laid up in Jesus, the fulness of our precious Saviour - my helplessness and guilt seemed to increase. Sins committed appeared but as trifles compared with the sin of unbelief which was their cause, which could not or would not take God at His word, but rather made Him a liar! Unbelief was, I felt, the damning sin of the world - yet I indulged in it. I prayed for faith, but it came not. What was I to do?

"When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before. (TAS: Italics ours). McCarthy, who had been much exercised by the same sense of failure, but saw the light before I did, wrote (I quote from memory): 'But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.'

"As I read I saw it all! 'If we believe not, He abideth faithful.' I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said, 'I will never leave you.' 'Ah, there is rest!' I thought. 'I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me - never to leave me, never to fail me?' And dearie, He never will!

"But this was not all He showed me, nor one half. As I thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured direct into my soul! (TAS: Italics ours) How great seemed my mistake in having wished to get the sap, the fulness out of Him. I saw not only that Jesus would never leave me, but that I was a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine now I see, is not the root merely, but all - root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit: and Jesus is not only that. He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for, or needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth! I do pray that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, (TAS: Italics ours) that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ."

We continue in our contention that - while the sum of Divine revelation is sealed in the Scriptures and there is no adding to or taking from that revelation, there are vast depths of meaning therein yet to be revealed to the Lord's people by the "Spirit of revelation".

We have illustrated this, as what we mean, in the classic case of Dr. Hudson Taylor and his "Exchanged Life". We now proceed to instance one more of the many who could be mentioned.

Our second example is that of Dr. A. T. Pierson. To any who know him Dr. Pierson will not be lightly set aside as of small significance. He was indeed one of the spiritual and Bible giants of his time. A brilliant academic career laid a sound foundation for the exercise of his great gifts and endowments. A long and deep experience in ministry in some of America's most important cities led up to the great Bethany Church in Philadelphia. A close and devoted walk with God produced saintliness and meticulous integrity. Added to these was his phenomenal knowledge of the Scriptures; he was a master of the Bible. The writer once heard Dr. Campbell Morgan - himself no mean Bible teacher - speak in amazement of Dr. Pierson's grasp of the Bible. Dr. Campbell Morgan said that he was sitting on the platform close by Dr. Pierson at a Bible conference (I think it was at Mr. Moody's Centre at Northfield) while Dr. Pierson was giving the Bible reading. He said that for over an hour Dr. Pierson quoted passages of Scripture giving references in chapters and verses and exact reading while he rapidly turned the pages of his Bible as it rested on his hand. But, said Dr. Campbell Morgan, he was not reading the Bible at all, his Bible was upside-down. The whole thing was in his head. This, briefly, is the kind of man we have before us.

We reach on to an advanced point in his life and ministry and we come on this: -

"In the year God gave me an experience of sudden illumination, which brought into my soul a flood of light, and made the Word of God a new book. Much that I had been taught, and had assumed as true, then seemed of doubtful Scriptural authority..." etc.

His biographer (his son) gives many pages to the exercise and adjustments which this 'illumination' resulted in, but two things in particular have to be mentioned. One was the focal-point upon which all this exercise converged, and the other the great enlargement - immense enlargement - and deepening of his ministry when once he had got through the big crisis precipitated, and paid the great price of this new open Heaven.

Dr. Pierson, by upbringing, education, and training was a Presbyterian. He was firmly gripped by the Presbyterian tradition; he held strongly to its doctrines, form and teaching. It was not just something inherited or drifted into, but something to the verification of which he had bent all his considerable intellectual powers. It was a matter of honest and devout conviction, and for it he was a doughty champion. This was all particularly true of the one focal-point of his crisis - namely, infant baptism. Indeed, we can rightly say that it was upon this one question that his whole future life with God in utter committedness hung. Being, as it was, bound up with that new illumination which had come to him it involved him in no less an issue than an opened Heaven.

So serious did the matter become with him that the battle raged for several years. He said that serious misgivings entered his soul which he tried to silence by "quoting to myself the sanction of long custom, and by the logical argument which goes back to the Abrahamic covenant". Now, were we here engaging in an argument for baptism of believers by immersion as over against baptism of infants, we should give pages from this record of Dr. Pierson's crisis and transition. But that is not our present subject. What we are seeking to show is that he was one of the most outstanding men of God of the century - at least - who with very rich endowment and ability; with a knowledge of the Word of God second to none; with a real life of devotion and saintliness, believed deeply and firmly that a certain interpretation of Scripture was assuredly the right one, and used all his gifts and knowledge to prove it to be so, but - by reason of a God-given 'illumination' - he came, first to have serious misgivings as to that position, and eventually to repudiate and abandon it, and act completely to the contrary. He attributed his change of position to a deepening of spiritual life following that illumination. He said, "I observe that, as my spiritual life deepens, these misgivings come more and more to the surface and will not be silenced; and whatever is linked to one's own best spiritual state must for him be a way of duty."

By following that illumination, Dr. Pierson met immense consequences. On the one hand, it cost him everything of the former denominational position. It cost him terrible onslaughts in the press, secular and religious; it cost him many old friends; it cost him the confidence of many who owed him a great spiritual debt. On the other hand, his ministry, life, and work grew in range and depth to the extent that he has come down in evangelical history as one of God's greatest servants of an era. How many owe a great debt to his ministry in conferences and in writing! The stewardship of the mystery rests upon revelation in this way which revolutionizes and releases even men of deep and wide experience and much knowledge. No one is too advanced and experienced to have such an entirely new and revolutionary illumination.

Dr. Pierson used a diagram at one of the North-field Bible conferences when he was speaking on the tripartite nature of man - spirit, soul, and body. The diagram was in the form of a house with three floors: the ground floor - the body; the middle floor - the soul; the upper floor - the spirit. Each was described as to its own features. Over the upper or top floor, which was open to Heaven, he placed the words 'Direct light from above'. This he had learned from experience.

Dr. Pierson, we are sure, would heartily agree with a suggestion that in that upper floor of his 'house' - the spirit of man (that is, in the diagram)  - an open Bible should be placed with the 'direct light from above' streaming on it.

Lest anyone should be inclined to think that we are placing too much importance upon one aspect of the truth, and that a somewhat remote and abstract aspect, we want to try to show that really we are dealing with a matter that is fundamental and vital to the whole Christian life.

There is a way of putting this which will not find any doubt or negative answer in any true Christian. We will put in in the form of a question.

WAS PENTECOST INTENDED TO BE FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN?

That is, was the blessing of the gift of the Holy Spirit meant for every true believer, every 'born-anew' child of God? No one who knows the New Testament will dispute this. The coming of the Holy Spirit was to be the very characteristic of the new dispensation which then began. Well then -

What was the Meaning of Pentecost?

To answer this question we have to go a long way back, but we pick up the clue in that Gospel which has more to say about the Holy Spirit than any other - the Gospel by John. In chapter 1:45-51, we have the unique incident of the introduction of Nathaniel into the band of associates of Jesus. The last part of what took place then is the words of Jesus to Nathaniel - "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man". Tempting as it is to open up more fully on the allusion to Jacob at Bethel - the House of God - etc., for our present purpose we must resist that temptation and take hold of the fragment

The Heaven Opened.

By that fragment we are transported away back to the beginning of the Bible. We know that the word 'Paradise' is used in several places in Scripture as a name for Heaven, or at least, a part of Heaven. The question as to symbolism with spiritual principles embodied or literal interpretation need not make us digress to discuss; the truth in either case is the same.

There was a time when man had immediate access to, and fellowship with, God. Everything was of God and to God's pleasure. By sin through man's unbelief and disobedience that was lost to him; he was expelled, and the door was shut. Heaven was closed to man in sin. This is the state which obtained throughout the Old Testament times and continues through all time and eternity for man as still in his sin. But into that long history of the closed Heaven there comes a "Second Man", a "Last Adam", "the Lord from Heaven". In Him was no sin, and as to Himself Heaven was open. John's Gospel is just full of this open Heaven to Him.

But there was His purpose and vocation which was to recover an open Heaven for all men through faith in Him. Here, then, enters His representative work. The next time that we come on the opened Heaven is at His baptism. "Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended... upon him" (Luke 3:21,22). Jesus at this point officially and publicly assumed His mission as Redeemer.

In type He made His death, burial, resurrection, and Pentecost the basis of His redeeming activity. The Baptism was a foreshadowing of His Cross and its afterward. Having no sin in Himself, "He was made sin for us". Bearing the sin of the world, the dark waters of judgment went over His soul and He - in that moment - knew the full meaning of utter exclusion from God and Heaven; He who had lived in Heaven and on earth in the very presence of and fellowship with God was now 'forsaken'.

Having 'borne the sin of many' and 'carried it away', as Man for man, Heaven was opened again. What was symbolized in His Baptism was actual at Calvary and at Pentecost.

It was to this that He pointed in His words to Nathaniel: "Ye shall see the heaven opened". Nathaniel was at Pentecost and he then knew what was meant. Christ personal and Christ corporate were the true Bethel under the opened Heaven.

So we come back to our point. The opened Heaven is linked with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and this is the birthright of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is little more than a statement of fact. What this means is to be gathered from a careful reading of the after Pentecost writings of the New Testament. This we shall consider later.

Chapter 5 - "The Mystery" in the Letter to the Romans

NOTE. The object of these messages is to show:-

1. That, in the eternal counsels of the Godhead, there has been from eternity past, a design, or what is called "The Eternal Purpose". This is what the Apostle Paul in particular calls "The Mystery"; that is - God's secret.

2. That this "Purpose" or "Mystery" was deliberately hidden by God during past ages, although implicit in Old Testament history and writings. These things Prophets sensed, desired to know, but did not understand (as see 1 Peter 1:10-12).

3. That we are now living in the dispensation in which this "Mystery" has been disclosed, revealed, and proclaimed; and it is this which gives to this dispensation its supreme meaning and importance.

4. That, while all Holy Spirit ministry bears definitely upon and is related to this "Eternal Purpose", a special "Stewardship" of the "Mystery" was entrusted to the Apostle Paul both in nature and measure, and that it is this "Stewardship" which explains him in the sovereign choice of God, in his peculiar apprehending, and his deep spiritual history.

5. That around and against the knowledge of and entering into the meaning of this "Mystery" or "Purpose" the full force of the evil powers are most positively and relentlessly set.

6. That the Church as the Body of Christ was - in those eternal counsels - chosen and foreordained to be the vessel in which and through which the "Purpose" should be displayed; this "PURPOSE" being the explanation of "Foreknowledge", "Predestination", "Fore-ordination".

7. That "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" prayed for for believers particularly connects with and relates to the knowledge of this "Eternal Purpose" or the understanding of the "Mystery" - God's disclosed secret. This is the supreme ministry of the Holy Spirit.

8. That the knowledge, apprehension, and understanding of this "Revelation" will determine the measure of significance, power, and effectiveness of believers, and give vital meaning to the corporate life of the Lord's people. But, as we have been trying to show, it is not a mental apprehension of the great truth, but the illumination of the heart; "the eyes of your heart being enlightened". It is too tragically and pathetically true, both in the New Testament and up to date that many who have received a wealth of teaching and have declared themselves as having believed it, can subsequently lay it aside and part with it quite cheaply. "All they in Asia be turned from me", said the Apostle, after having given Asia his fullest and his best.

As we proceed to the next step in our consideration we would say that the synopsis given above must be the essential content of all that has preceded and all that follows, and that nothing should be taken out of that context.

We are going to look at the "Mystery" or Divine Purpose as embodied in some of the New Testament books.

Firstly, a general word. It is the custom now to take a book of the Bible and break it up into its parts with a view to obtaining its particular lines of teaching. We owe a great debt to the Bible teachers who have provided us with the 'content' of the books by analysis, synthesis, outline, and design: by telescopic and microscopic delineation and commentary. By this means the particular doctrinal emphasis and characteristic of each book is underlined.

For instance, 'Romans' is the treatise on 'Justification by Faith'; or 'Galatians' - 'Our Liberty in Christ', and so on. This is undoubtedly profitable and good and we would not detract from it. But we beg to say that these methods and results may miss the most vital point.

Unless we recognize an inclusive and all-governing object we shall go no further than seeing these books as things in themselves; books apart, with their own separate content. Each will be different in itself and will just be this or that as to teaching.

The important thing in reading the New Testament books is to see that they are all tied together by one single object and that their diversity is only the diversity of the aspects or facets of one purpose. To see this it is both helpful and essential to ask a question as to each part or book. What does all that amount to? It will be what we can call the resultant reading. Sometimes we shall find that the writer does this very thing for us. Take for instance John chapter 20. In verses 30, 31, John summarizes all that he has put into the book. "Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in his name." Thank you, John! Now we know exactly what it is all about. Not just so many incidents, however wonderful, but all the fragments are bound together by a single cord of purpose. In the same way we must read each book and then do more; we must see that all the books are tied together in the same way with a single object, with everything in them somehow bearing upon that object. That all-inclusive and single bond is undoubtedly "The Eternal Purpose" or what Paul calls "The Mystery", and each book is in some way a part of that. Keeping to Paul who, as we have said, is the supreme interpreter of "The Mystery", let us begin with

"The Mystery" in the Letter to the Romans.

It is of primary importance in taking up this letter that we turn immediately to the end to see if the writer does anything by way of summing up what he has written. We should expect him to do this after gathering so much into his document; and we are not wrong. Here it is: "Now to him that is able to stablish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by (through) the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever" (Rom. 16:25-27). (Every clause of this statement should be quietly considered.)

The point is that the Apostle gathers all that he has written in this letter into what he calls "the revelation of the mystery".

So then 'Romans' is more than a doctrinal treatise on "Justification by faith"; it is that, but in a larger context - the context of the "mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal".

In order to see how that is and what the connection really means we must here take space for an important parenthesis. We evangelicals believe that the Bible is God's book in a particular and unique way. We believe that He instigated it, that He is in it; that He is over it. We believe that He has governed it, protected, and preserved it. We believe many other things about it in its relation to God. One of these things is that it is not just an haphazard, chance, random, casual collection of writings, thrown together by the whim or notion of men without the sovereign overseeing of the Spirit of God. If we are right, and the evidences favour this belief, then the order in which we have the books - especially the New Testament books - is no accident or chance, but comes under that Divine government. We know how differently they would be arranged if chronology - the date factor - had decided. No one fails to see that the substance and purpose of 'Matthew' gives it the right to take first and foundational place in the collection, although not chronologically first. In the same way, no one questions the right position of the 'Revelation' as the last and summation of all. And so it is with the whole received arrangement. A glance at the diagram of Paul's letters will show this 'natural' spiritual sequence.

Having put in that parenthesis, we can proceed to consider 'Romans' in the light of its immense context.

Our procedure will have to be to push aside a mass of the content of this letter, for the time being, bringing it back presently in relation to the supreme purpose. The historical and the doctrinal, can stand there just now and wait while we take note of the matter which governs all else. What is that? It is the place of God's Son. That is the key to every book, but it has a particular significance in each.

The Place of God's Son in 'Romans'

The Apostle begins this letter with the phrase "...the gospel of God concerning his Son". Here are two things; the subject and the object. The subject is "the gospel of God". The object is "concerning his Son".

When the word "Gospel" is used nowadays, such as in the phrases: 'preaching the Gospel'; 'Gospel preaching'; 'taking the Gospel'; etc., the idea is almost invariably that of the evangel in its elementary form of the salvation of the unsaved. It is, in the mind of those so speaking, synonymous with 'Evangelism'; it is related to the basic and simple grounds upon which men are to be saved and enter the Kingdom of God.

A very cursory glance at the way in which it is used in the letters of the New Testament (for instance the ten occurrences in 'Romans'), will show how completely inadequate such a conception is. All the vast, profound and rich teaching, the fullest and the most 'advanced', is termed "The Gospel", as well as the simplest. Take 1 Corinthians 15, for instance. The question that forces itself upon one reading that part of the letter is, 'How did Paul ever get to know that?' But note; Paul calls that, "The gospel which I preached unto you."

The "Gospel of God" is an immense thing, comprehending all revelation related to eternal counsels; to man in the eternal intention of God; to his creation, destiny, deflection, redemption, perfection, glory, and eternal vocation; and much more. This is all called "the gospel of God". Then note; it is said to be all "concerning his Son". The Son of God, Jesus Christ, is installed as the sum, the centre, and the object of all this "Gospel". How great He is! and how great a thing is the "Gospel"! In these eternal counsels, God's Son was designated, determined, and instated as the object and sphere of all the majestic, glorious, beneficent, and profound intentions of the Father. All this, because of its favourable intention is called, "the good news of God concerning his Son"; "the everlasting good news (gospel)".

The Bible is full of the greatest questions and most difficult problems that have ever confronted men, and the philosophers of all ages have spent all their energies in trying to answer them. Man is the centre of them all. There is that inborn and ever-assertive sense that he was made for something more than just to be an animate creature to exist for a fleeting moment and then be extinguished for ever. It is what is called 'an inborn sense of destiny'. The question arising in that connection is, 'What was he intended for? What is the meaning of that strong sense? How shall man realise his destiny, and what is it that he is intended to be?'

Then there is the problem of man's sense of sin; a sense to kill which - if that can really be done - calls for his most positive, vehement, and persistent effort. This sense that he is not now what he ought to be, that there is a deep and troublesome wrong, is in his very being. Every conceivable expedient has been resorted to in order to get this constitutional moral disorder put right, and all the religions of the world; all the psychological sublimations or deceptions; all the excesses of abandon to diversions; all this, we say, and much more, is in order to subjugate this - recognized or unrecognized - cry of conscience for adjustment. How shall man find inward peace, rest, and inward articulation? These are but the beginnings of the deep questions and problems which are a part of the very being of the sentient self-conscious, and - if he only knew it - God-conscious being called "Man".

To the above we may add three other problems in this universe. There is the problem of the groaning creation: "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain... waiting". But so it has been for thousands of years, and the cries become louder and more anguished as time goes on. It cannot "bring forth"; there is a deep frustration, and as to its hopes and longings, its efforts are abortive and cursed with "vanity". 'Oh, for full and final release from this bondage of corruption and death!' is its cry. But its heart is sick with disappointed hope.

Then, all too evident and persistent, there is schism in this universe. Division follows division; conflict follows conflict. With every effort to secure unity and oneness there is more disruption. In every realm this warfare of factions grows, intensifies, and multiplies. Nothing escapes this invasion of suspicions, mistrust, fear, slander, and misrepresentation.

Finally, there is that deepest of all problems, the problem of the sinister, hostile, evil, and all-good-opposing power of an intelligent hierarchy of wickedness operating behind all these conditions; the "Evil One" and his minions maintaining this spiritual and temporal disorder and chaos.

God knew from eternity that all these problems would arise and these questions hang over His creation demanding a solution and an answer. He had the Answer, but, for reasons best known to Himself, He hid that Answer and kept that Secret, appointing a time when He would bring it out and make it known, and in so doing provide the way to rest and realisation.

Those who know this Letter to the Romans recognize that the things that we have tabulated are the things with which it deals, and that the answer of God, His Secret, His Mystery, is His Son, in whom and by whom all the problems are resolved and initially and ultimately settled.

The "Mystery" or "Secret" is not a treatise, a doctrine, a philosophy; not even 'Justification by faith', but a Person - that Person in Himself, in His work, in His death, resurrection, and exaltation is God's eternal Secret.

This is comprehensive because 'Romans' as foundational is comprehensive. It touches all these aspects, lays its hand most firmly - as we would expect - upon the first things: Sin and Righteousness; but comprehends all in "his Son" - "the gospel of God concerning his Son".

Other aspects are dealt with more specifically in following letters, i.e., so far as the arrangement is concerned.

Chapter 6 - "The Mystery" in the Letters to the Corinthians

"...I came to you... proclaiming the mystery of God" (1 Cor. 2:1).

"We speak God's wisdom in a mystery... that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory, which none of the rulers of this world knoweth" (1 Cor. 2:7).

When it is remembered how full this letter is of very practical and earthly things, many of them so sordid and unpleasant (so much so that we might be tempted to wonder whether many of the people concerned were really born again and regenerated), it is all the more impressive that in such a setting the Apostle should keep to his high and profound ground of "The Mystery". But, with all his knowledge of what he had to deal with and what he had got to say, he deliberately referred to that ultimate matter twice in the very early part of his letter. It is evident that the deliberateness of his decision as to the ground that he would take (2:2) did not mean a complete descent to the mundane, but a determination to have the mundane dealt with from the heavenly position. That is exactly the point in bringing his particular "stewardship" into such a situation, and it should be noted as a principle for all time. We have heard it argued that it is a mistake to bring the high and ultimate truth into situations which are so contradictory: that we must leave them until things are put right and people are ready for such things.

True, people cannot enter into the greater fulness until they are in a right position, but the principle of the Bible is always to make the ultimate vision the motive and dynamic for leaving the low and unsatisfactory levels. The argument of 'coming down to where people are' has resulted in a stultified and subnormal Christianity.

If the second letter to Corinth indicates a real improvement in the situation there, it is because the Apostle, while repudiating their low level, and drastically dealing with its features, kept the high and ultimate implicit in his ministry to them. Look at such passages as chapter 2, verse 9 to 16, and the whole of chapter 15. Some of the most profound things in all Scripture are in these sections.

We must, then, recognize that it was not artificial on the part of the Apostle to take this line, but the very essence of his ministry. Setting the two things alongside of each other, that is, the record and exposure of the bad conditions at Corinth, and the high, exalted, and profound revelation of "The Mystery", what is the inclusive and supreme implication and conclusion? Surely it lies right on the face of things if we have eyes to see more than the immediate details. It is just this. Christ is God's "Mystery" or Secret.

Christ is God's Eternal Answer to Man's Breakdown

In this letter man's breakdown is both evidently shown and in detail described and demonstrated. If 'Romans' has declared and shown the universality of human sinfulness, giving some evidences and aspects of it, the first letter to the Corinthians makes the universal very concrete and explicit. The essential way of reading and applying what is in this letter is twofold.

First by contrast. These things mentioned and dealt with by the Apostle are contrary to the New Creation Man - Christ. Take them as they are referred to - divisions, law-suits, idolatry, fornication, etc. - and the answer is: That is just not Christ! Christ is not like that! That is one thing, in one realm. Christ is another, and in another realm. These things have no accord with Christ, and if Christ prevails, these things will just disappear. "Christ... crucified" means that He is dead to such things, and the Christian is supposed to be in the same position. Paul raises the fundamental and universal question in a typical connection. "What concord?" "What in common?" "What fellowship?" asks he as to these contrasts (2 Cor. 6:14-15).

Then, following the contrast, is the measure of Christ. The contrast indicates the difference in nature; the difference in nature determines the measure of the apprehension of Christ. The Apostle is very emphatic in his statement that the presence of the things mentioned is evidence of spiritual infancy; that is, smallness in stature, limitation in spiritual capacity, undeveloped spiritual intelligence, and childishness in disposition.

Arrested or even retarded spiritual growth is signified by divisions, envies, jealousies, factions, malice, etc. What an indictment! What an exposure! It all speaks of a small measure of Christ. Christ is greater than this.

The cure for such a condition is not better organization; more particular technique; a social reconstruction; discussions; conferences; but a breaking open and breaking down so that the place of that obstructive "I" (1 Cor. 1:12,13) is occupied by more of Christ. Remember that, as at Corinth, so anywhere, the "I" is usually the very right 'I' with those concerned. The strength and menace of all egoism, selfhood, is its certainty that it is right, and its inability to even imagine that it may be wrong. Pride is the blindest, and the most blinding thing in the spiritual and moral universe. Hence it is most limiting in true spirituality. Show us the man who is most Christlike, who really has Christly measure, and you show us the least stubborn, obdurate, and certain that he is right; but is most open to "judge himself", as Paul puts it to these Corinthians.

This other, says Paul, is "the natural man" and he labours under handicaps and limitations which keep Christ in the strictest limitation. This man is incorrigible, he cannot be cured. He cannot be taught. He cannot be persuaded. He must die; or rather, he must apprehend that "Christ crucified" really did mean his - the natural man's - death.

Let us at this point look again and more intently at the Cross. Let us note that

Crucifixion is Transfixion.

The dictionary says that transfixion means to pierce through. If crucifixion means fastening to a cross, or cross-wise, transfixion means the piercing through by which the fastening is made. When Paul spoke so much about himself and all believers having been "crucified with Christ" he made it abundantly clear that this was more than a doctrine. It was a position and an experience: a position once taken or accepted, and an experience continually known and applied. Indeed, although he did not use the actual word, he makes it clear that crucifixion was, and is, transfixion.

There is a sense in which the crucifixion of Christ was but consummated at Calvary. There and then He became the sin-bearer. But the crucifixion - or the Cross - reached forward into His whole life from the time of leaving the glory and becoming incarnate. It commenced in the spiritual realm. There was a spiritual hostility against Him from birth which pointed to the climax of Calvary. All through His life He was taking up His cross, and denying - saying, No! - to Himself. The nails were constantly, so to speak, being driven through His soul. His mind, His will, His feelings, were nailed to the Cross in principle. Again and again - in this sense - He was pierced through. The literal cross of wood had to be, but a literal cross of wood was a symbol of something deeper and greater.

He was transfixed to the Cross when He refused to ask for the legion of angels available for His rescue.

It meant acceptance of helpless weakness and non-deliverance.

It meant: "As a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers" - dumb.

It meant that the very man whom He created was allowed to overpower Him.

It meant that His hands - the symbols of His work and service - were transfixed.

It meant that His feet - the symbols of all His goings - were transfixed.

It meant that His head - the symbol of the government of Himself and all His ways of thought and action - was pierced with thorns.

It meant that His very heart was pierced by the spear; the spring of His life; the integrating and unifying seat of the whole man - pierced through.

While the Christian has no part in the atoning vicariousness of all this, other than to inherit its values, our being "crucified with Christ" does mean transfixion. The mind, the will, the desires; the works, the ways, and the self-determination of our lives, have to be pierced through and brought "into captivity" to Christ.

All this is - if you will look again - an exposition of the First Letter to the Corinthians, and it all flows out of Paul's resolve and its meaning - "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified".

This is God's Secret, God's hidden wisdom, God's Mystery for the solving of the age-long problem of human disruption and depravity - it is "Christ crucified".

In the first of these two letters we have seen the 'Mystery' in relation to manhood in Christ. As "the last Adam" and "the second man" He connects specifically to the race, and is God's secret ("mystery") for securing the kind of man that God conceived when He said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness". The first man was corrupted, deformed, and, like the potter's vessel of Jeremiah, rejected as the acceptable vessel, unto the making of "another vessel" pleasing to the Potter. Into the original concept God's Son stepped in man-form (Phil. 2:7,8) and is the "image" and "likeness" to which a new creation is to be "conformed" (Romans 8:29).

In the light of this our last chapter should be read (or rather, the first part of this chapter). It requires a book to itself, and, if the Lord enables, such will be written.

In the deeper theme of 'God's Secret' the two Corinthian Letters are one in their particular aspect of this matter. The second takes up and carries "the mystery" on into larger connections. The first letter is largely personal and subjective. In the second letter we find 'God's Secret' as the interpretation of a wider range of symbolic activities. There are so many symbolic and typological allusions in these two letters which so evidently express the background of the Apostle's new understanding, lying behind the things actually mentioned. Let us tabulate some of these: -

We do not refer to the much larger number of Old Testament passages, but only to incidents and things.

"The Cloud". "The Sea". "The Manna". "The Rock". The Fall in the Wilderness 1 Cor. 10:1-5. The created universe - "Bodies celestial", "Bodies terrestrial"; "Sun, moon, stars". 1 Cor. 15:40, 41.

"First man Adam". 1 Cor. 15:45, 47-49. The tables of the (old) Covenant. 2 Cor. 3:3-11. Moses and the face-veil. 2 Cor. 3:12-16. The fiat of light at creation. 2 Cor. 4:6. Gideon's earthen vessels with the lamps within. 2 Cor. 4:7.

Perhaps the sign of Gideon's fleece 2 Cor. 4:10-12.

The old creation. 2 Cor. 5:17. The Tabernacle in the Wilderness. 2 Cor. 6:16. The Manna in the Wilderness. 2 Cor. 8:15. The temptation in the garden. 2 Cor. 11:3.

What we are indicating by all this is that God - in His acts and ways - from creation onward, has had an underlying and hidden thought. Everything that has come from God in a temporal or material way has some spiritual thought or thoughts behind it, or concealed in it. It is intended to represent something that is in God's mind, which is deeper and more real than the means of representation. The means or method may be temporal, but the thought and meaning are eternal. How vast a range of Divine revelation this touches! But, for our purpose here, we must refuse to be drawn out into this marvellous realm and concentrate on the focal point.

The Focal-Point of All Revelation

Let us say at once, and, in the light of a vast amount of Scripture, that the sum of all the thoughts and interests of God the Father is His Son, now known to us as Jesus Christ. To have spiritual insight into all the allusions - mentioned or not mentioned above - is to see God moving with thoughts concerning His Son, and this is the insight which had come to Paul when he saw Jesus Christ - "It pleased God to reveal his Son in me" (Gal. 1:15).

Out from behind his great knowledge of the Old Testament, Paul was bringing the hidden and concealed Divine meaning concerning Jesus Christ. He had never seen all this - or any or it - before. Now, with his spiritual eyes opened, and "a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (Eph. 1:17,18), he sees God's hidden secret, the 'Mystery' hidden from the ages, and the universe of Heaven and earth is opened to him. So great, breath-taking, and overwhelming is this that he can only ejaculate at times: "O, the depth of the riches...!" "the unsearchable riches of Christ". For him, the Bible lives; the universe lives; and all things have a meaning. That meaning is Christ!

This is what Paul called his "stewardship"; his trust. Paul never had to sit down and think up or work up sermons. If he did reading, as he did, or in drawing upon his earlier reading, it was with this open Heaven over him (John 1:51) and this new faculty - his born-anew spirit anointed by the Holy Spirit - seeing through and in, and beyond all things to God's thoughts concerning His Son. Oh, that we knew in large measure what there is to be known of history, astronomy, physiology, and so on, so that, given this spiritual faculty, we might read the thoughts of God in all His works and ways; His means and His methods; and see that Christ fills all things! How vast a Christ we should see Him to be!

This is "the Mystery" - 'God's Secret', as in the Corinthian Letters, concerning which, Paul said that he was made a minister. We have only hinted at it, but we trust that the 'hint' draws aside the blinds and that we begin to see something of the profound and far-reaching meaning of a phrase which, without the opened eye, would be mysterious rather than a disclosed universe of Divine intention.

Chapter 7 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Galatians

Although neither the word "mystery" nor the word "stewardship" occurs in the Letter to the Galatians, that which they represent is undoubtedly there. Wherever Paul was, and to whoever he wrote, his ministry was the same fulfilling of his particular 'stewardship'. Indeed, the Galatian letter is rich and deep with this Divine secret, as we shall see. Was not this really the very battleground of the full and ultimate "eternal purpose"? The words most in evidence in the letter are well known - they are: "liberty", "Spirit", "sons", and "grace".

Usually the letter has been regarded as wholly a matter of Christian doctrine - justification by faith and not by works. This may be true, but it is not the whole truth. Whatever the doctrines of Christianity are, they always relate to one ultimate purpose, and that purpose is the significance and place of God's Son in the eternal counsels of the Father.

The letter before us is to be viewed from two standpoints: one, what may be called the negative; the other the positive.

The Apostle has much to say as to what does not now obtain in the economy of God.

The whole Jewish economy and system as in the former dispensation no longer obtains. Its sign and token of true Judaism - circumcision - is not valid in Christ: "Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision" (5:6, 6:15).

The constitutional government of Judaism - the Law - no longer rules and determines relationship with God. The negative aspect; setting aside and over-riding, runs through the whole letter.

As to the positive side, we have mentioned the governing words - 'grace', 'liberty', 'Spirit', 'sons' - but we need to note the spiritual sequence of these terms.

'Grace' is the all-comprehending character of the new dispensation. This is set over against the legality of the former regime of "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not" as imposed from the outside upon the very nature of man.

'Liberty' is release from the 'bondage' and tyranny of that humanly impossible demand.

'Spirit' is the new nature, dynamic, and principle of a "new creation" (6:15).

'Sons', or 'sonship', is the sum and goal of all. This is the greatest and most sublime thing that God has ever revealed to man. There is nothing higher and nothing beyond this. Grace will have its full manifestation in sonship. Liberty is the 'liberty of sons' as over against slaves. The Spirit is the Spirit of God's Son - producing sonship in believers.

Sonship is the secret - "mystery" - of God, intimated in types, but hidden in reality during past ages. Sonship is reserved into Jesus Christ. It is not possible apart from Him. Through faith in Him the Spirit of sonship is given in new birth and constitutes an inward relationship with Him. It is in - and only in - the renewed spirit of the believer that the Spirit of God's Son dwells. That is the meaning of the so-well-known Galatians 2:20: "...I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me". That 'secret' of Christ - the Anointed - as a personally actual and active reality within is the mark of this "new creation" era which was not the hall-mark of former ages, and was never "made known" to former generations. This is the fact which 'Galatians' sets forth. This letter is the enunciation of and the battle for this immense fact. Around the factual 'secret' all the other things are gathered. And battle it was, and is! To the Jewish leaders and teachers Christ Himself had said: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do" (John 8:44). This terrible indictment had its meaning and force in their antagonism to Him as "Son of God". Sonship has ever been the occasion of Satanic hostility. That was the occasion of Satan's jealousy and envy, leading to his bid for supremacy and resulting in his being cast out from high Heaven. He well knew the implications of sonship; that dominion is supremely vested therein. He has ever coveted that dominion. Hence his hatred for the person of the Son and the principle of sonship.

Those Judaisers - doing the Devil's work - dogged the steps of Paul wherever he went in order to subvert his converts from his particular 'stewardship'. The Apostle's anger reaches white heat in this letter because of this Satanic attempt to nullify this supreme destiny of 'sons'.

He says that his early 'travail' for them unto birth is being repeated in relation to Christ being fully formed in them (4:19). And he does not stop short of calling the curse of God upon subverters of the great and ultimate calling of sonship.

So we must read the letter, not only in the interest of a part of the Christian faith - 'justification', but in the light of the transcendent secret of God - sonship. Not - let it be understood - as sharing Deity, but as "joint-heirs with Christ".

Chapter 8 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Ephesians

When we come to the Letter to the Ephesians (so called), we come to what we may call the fountain-head of this matter. It is from here that we derive the fulness of the revelation given in this particular. With all the many things contained in this letter - and there is fulness here as nowhere else - the spring of everything is the once hidden, but now revealed, secret of God. Everything must be regarded and looked at from this standpoint.

It should be realised that when we hold this Letter in our hand, we are holding one of the greatest, most momentous, and weightiest documents ever committed to man. This Letter embodies and presents the greatest religious crisis in the history of this world; for, out from eternity, and out from all past ages came a secret which God had ever kept within His own counsels unto a chosen time for its disclosure. By the disclosure of this secret a dispensation greater in significance than all others was introduced.

The significance of this dispensation is the occasion for the cosmic powers to move into a conflict born of the deepest consternation and fear. That part of the Letter which - in our chapter and verse arrangement - is chapter 6 from verse 10 to verse 20 (leading on to "Mystery" in verse 19) can only be rightly understood in the light of this essential dispensation-significance. Many have been - and are - the discourses and expositions on 'The Armour of God', and this warfare and provision are usually and generally taken out of the context and made something in themselves. But the kind of warfare referred to and the provision made for it are only really understood and appreciated by those who have actively entered into the light and meaning of this immense significance. There is, of course, conflict in various connections in every Christian life, and it is true to experience that this life is to be regarded as a warfare, with 'soldiers', 'swords', 'trumpets', 'marching as to war', 'forts', 'banners', a 'Captain', 'commands', and so on. All this is of general acceptance and relates to many particulars in moral, social and doctrinal questions. But the issue of 'Ephesians' is something infinitely more critical and significant than this.

When the Apostle Paul wrote this Letter he was not discussing a subject; he was not presenting a proposed idea for Christian life and the Church; nor was he setting down some beautiful or profound thoughts upon which his mind had been at work either in prison or during years before. He was making a proclamation of a revelation which had been specifically given to him from Heaven. Maybe he had had the force and immensity of this matter growing in him for long, but, either he had been unable to commit it to writing before because of circumstances, or the Lord had held him back because - in His foreknowledge - He knew that prolonged imprisonment would be the best occasion for this particular purpose, both by seclusion, and by transcendently saving His servant from the corrosion of inaction. This may be but a guess, but it is more than evident that, when the Apostle got to writing this Letter, his spirit was bursting all its banks. He exhausts language and employs every superlative. He rides rough-shod over grammar. He goes off at a tangent before completing a statement and returns long afterward to join up with the break. He has the longest sentence without a 'period' in all of his writings. Yes, the thing defies and defeats the command of language that even this "Mercury" (Acts 14:12) possesses. It is so vast; it is so imperative; it is so important!

It is not something that can be regarded as optional in the matter of acceptance or non-acceptance, so that the Christian life will not be seriously affected by heed or heedlessness thereto. In this Letter we have the concentrated essence of the Gospel revelation. It will be a determining factor as to the value of each Christian's life, and that of each Christian church. Thirty years after this Letter went out the seven churches in Asia (including that of Ephesus) were challenged and brought to judgment on the ground of this particular deposit, and their destiny was determined by it. (See Rev. 1-3.)

The two Letters - twin Letters - 'Ephesians' and 'Colossians' are undoubtedly the crown of Paul's ministry, especially his written ministry. The former is very contemporary because never was there such an active concern as to the corporate life of the Church as there is today.

If the Apostle had any awareness that his time before execution might be short it would be natural that he should want to put into writing that which, to him, was the greatest and most vital concern of his heart. So that we can rightly regard this Letter as that.

In the foreknowledge of God, Paul just had to be! The two main features of this Divine determination are just part and counterpart. The second was the complement or correlative of the first. The first was Stephen. It is impossible to read Stephen's address to the Jewish rulers without recognizing that he had gone far beyond the entire position which they - as representing the sum of Jewish acceptance - held. He was devastating their fixed boundaries and mightily assailing the citadel of their exclusive traditions. He exposed the falsehood of their 'Biblical' interpretations and declared that the very Scriptures upon which they based their position contradicted their exclusiveness. Not only did those rulers refuse him a full hearing, but "stopped their ears and rushed upon him". But only slowly did the first Christian leaders - Peter, James, John, and the others - come to Stephen's position. Stephen was "pleading a cause already condemned". The authority who used that last clause goes on to say - "We may fairly doubt whether the Church as a whole would have been prepared to sanction Stephen's line of teaching. Had they been called to pronounce upon it, they might perhaps have censured it as rash and premature, if not essentially unsound."

Paul's (as Saul) presence at the trial and death of Stephen was no coincidence; it was a definite and distinct incident in God's "working all things after the counsel of his own will". For exactly the same position as that enunciated by Stephen, the man standing there and giving his consent to the bloody deed was himself going to be stoned, beaten, imprisoned; and persecuted in almost every one of the numerous places to which he would go, and, at last, through Jewish intrigue, have his life taken from him. The arrest on the road to Damascus was but the ironical counterpart of the hearing of Stephen's statement of God's truth and Paul's violent reaction thereto. Paul just had to be, because of that extra deposit which Heaven had given to Stephen and which Heaven was determined should be the full meaning of this dispensation.

The writing of this Letter entitled 'Ephesians' was the completion of that which Heaven determined and would not be robbed of a second time. If Paul had been born after Stephen's death it might well have been (superstitiously) said, as Herod said of Jesus with regard to John the Baptist, 'This is Stephen come to life again'. God's time had come for His long kept 'secret' to be out, and hell was not to be allowed to keep it in, or quench it!

Paul had encountered some formidable giants in his (approximately) thirty year's ministry. The giants of Judaistic legalism and its bondage were laid low by his Letters to the Romans and Galatians. The giant of Christian carnality received some heavy blows in 'Corinthians'. In the Letters to the Ephesians and Colossians he reaches through the merely earthly aspects of the conflict to the heavenly, the supra-earthly; through the temporal to the spiritual; through the local to the universal; through the temporary to the eternal. In the 'Ephesian' Letter the term "heavenly" is used five times, and we can only really understand the meaning and message of the Letter as we understand that term. It is upon that very term that the great difference in the dispensation turns.

From the natural point of view we can well understand the difficulty of the Jewish leaders and their great concourse of followers. They had a long and God-honoured history of temporal and earthly blessings. Had they not the Land given them by God? Did they not receive from Him the Covenant, the Oracles, the Holy City, the Temple, the Priesthood, and the Promises? What a tremendous case they seemed to have for their tradition! Theirs were the Fathers, the Patriarchs, the Kings, the Prophets. Everything of all this massive heritage was in the body; visible, tangible, present, right down to earth. And now these other people, and Paul as their chief exponent, were saying that all that was past and belonged to a dispensation which had been concluded. With Jesus Christ there has come in a new dispensation, the entire nature and economy of which is spiritual and heavenly. "Every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies" (Ephesians 1:3.) To analyse the term according to the fivefold context of this Letter, the "heavenlies" are:-

1. A spiritual sphere; not a material, geographical locality.

2. It is above - or around - the earth, beyond the region of sense.

3. It is a realm of spiritual activities.

4. It is a realm of intelligent spiritual forces; with an order or system; a spiritual organization.

5. For a great part this system of spiritual intelligences and activities is evil and hostile to all that is of God, and to all that represent Him.

6. It is also - in its higher realm (what Paul calls "the third heaven" - 2 Cor. 12:2) - the realm of celestial intelligences; where Christ is enthroned "far above all rule and authority..." (Eph. 1:21). And it is the realm in which we are said to have a spiritual union with Christ (Eph. 2:6).

7. Finally, it is the realm of a great spiritual warfare in which the Church is involved; "not with flesh and blood", that is, not literal warfare with earthly people, but with "...hosts of wicked spirits".

All this realm and what is there, is said to be "unseen". The seen is temporal and transient, but the unseen - the higher heavenly - is spiritual and eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).

No one who has any real spiritual experience will ever question the reality of these unseen forces and the fact of this spiritual conflict.

But when we have said all this we have not touched or indicated the vital and essential occasion of it all. True it is that the real nature of this present dispensation was never revealed in former ages, but was "kept secret". Its introduction with Christ and its proclamation through Apostles was like dropping an atomic bomb into the centre of that ancient and deeply-rooted system. It started up something which disintegrated that system, and to this day it is broken to pieces. We have said that it is difficult to appreciate the shock and the implications of this disclosure of the Secret - "the mystery". We could only approximate to such understanding if we were to visualize the effects and results of a movement which by its chief representatives, to say nothing of its Originator, stood by the great St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome or the great St. Paul's Cathedral in London and proclaimed that this thing no longer stood in God's acceptance or recognition. That it belongs to an age which is past and gone. That the whole system represented by it has been supplanted by another which is not of tangible stones (John 4:21-23), and not of earthly Orders, patronages, vestments, and ritual. That the day of the doom of it all is fixed (Matt. 24:2; Heb. 12:26,27). That this is no longer - if ever it was - the true intention of God. The reactions to such pronouncements would be no less violent today than they were in Stephen's time.

All hell - "principalities and powers", etc. - are ever enraged to most vicious spite when the true implications of the significance of Christ in this dispensation are revealed and declared. Let us get nearer still to this matter. To the old Israel, with all its earthly order and claims, the Stewardship of the Mystery announced that that Israel was dismissed and displaced, and that a new, heavenly and spiritual Israel had been begun which was destined to become the one eternal and universal "Israel of God". That what the former Israel was intended to be in character and purpose within the limits of earth and time - but had failed to be and had forfeited its calling - this new Israel is to universal and eternal dimensions. Very few hints of that being in the counsels of God were given to Israel. Solemn and powerful warnings were given in plenty. They were not left without the knowledge of what God wanted of them. But this thing - the supplanting of that Israel and all its earthly system by another Israel "not of this world" - was hidden from their eyes. Jesus said to them: "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matt. 21:43), and Peter later said that the Church of Christ is that holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).

If Israel of old was chosen to represent God among the nations; to rule for God among the nations; to be a light to the nations; to include the Gentiles in its blessing; and in all this failed utterly, in spite of all God's unbounded mercy, patience, entreaty and warnings, the new Israel, with its 'Jerusalem above' (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22), and its entire order a spiritual and heavenly one, takes its place, vocation, and purpose which God has from eternity determined to have. All this is included in such phrases as "according to his eternal purpose" (Eph. 3:11), "the heavenly calling" (Heb. 3:1), "so great salvation" (Heb. 2:3), "the hope of his calling" (Eph. 1:18), "his inheritance in the saints" (Eph. 1:18), and many others. The eternal implications of all this as to the Church's destiny - the deposing of every other system, heavenly and earthly, which is opposed to God's Christ and God's Church - are the explanation of why anything or anyone relating to that eternal purpose becomes the object of the relentless antagonism of the evil powers. The less 'of this world', and the more 'of Heaven', so the more this spiritual hostility is met.

Now let us sum up.

Paul, the erstwhile embodiment of the whole Jewish or Israelitish system and tradition in more than an ordinary way, has - by a visitation from Heaven, a "heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19) and "revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:12) - come to see and to accept that that whole realm and nature of things has changed with the advent of the Christ: that the new and present "Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16) is the Church founded and built upon Christ as 'the Foundation' and 'Chief Corner Stone' (Eph. 2:20): that the "seed of Abraham" is not his natural seed, but Christ and those who are of faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16): that the Land of Promise is now not an earthly country, but a heavenly (Heb. 11:14): that the journey is not now an earthly walk, but a spiritual, though on the earth: that the City is "the Jerusalem which is above" (Gal. 4:26): that the "Captain of the hosts of the Lord" (Joshua 5:14) and the King is "at the right hand of God" (Acts 6:56) in the heavens. So also is the High Priest, who has completed all the sacrifices, and, in virtue of His own blood, makes intercession for the Saints. Further, he sees that "the middle wall of partition" between Jew and Gentile has been broken down, and "of the twain" God has created "one new man" (Eph. 2:14,15): that the synagogues have given place to the local churches: that the Elders of Israel are now displaced by the Elders of the churches: that the exclusiveness of Judaism has been destroyed to give place to the universality of Christ, His Gospel, and the Church. And finally, that the enemies which seek to obstruct the Church and 'withstand' its ultimate dominion in their realm are "principalities and powers, the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies" (Eph. 6:12), and so on, and on. The whole realm, scene, nature and goal is changed.

It was no small revolution that came in with Christ, and was preached by Paul; which was, indeed, entrusted and committed to him in a special way and made his "Stewardship". The implications are immensely and intensely challenging. Christendom has almost entirely failed to apprehend this change and its devastating implications. Hence, there is all the phraseology and terminology without the consistent nature and expression, and therefore without the impact and power or authority.

The "Mystery" - the eternal Divine secret - is still veiled in many hearts, even though they have the New Testament in their hands. It was because of this that the Apostle felt the need to pray for those who had received in word "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27) that they might be given "a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the (full) knowledge of him, the eyes of (their) hearts being enlightened" (Eph. 1:17,18). If that were necessary then, is it less so now?

Chapter 9 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Philippians

There are, surely, very few people for whom this Letter does not have a very warm place. Its general nature of warm love, pure joy, and transparent purity endears it to all hearts, while some of its particular parts have fastened it to heart and mind. It is only necessary to say 'Philippians 2:10' or '4:9' for instance, and everybody knows!

It is, however, to add to the value of this Letter, rather than to take from it, to see it in relation to the whole 'stewardship' of its writer. It is a point of immense value and importance to see all parts of the Bible in their greater setting rather than just in the occasion of their immediate object. Being God's Word - God who is eternal, universal and infinite breathes that super-temporal character into all that emanates from Him - no smallest portion can ever be exhausted as to its content; preach on it howsoever many times you may; it is still beyond you.

Although the word 'mystery' does not occur in the Letter to the Philippians, it is as implicitly there as anywhere. Although each of the three letters written in prison was given a particular complexion relative to its destination, it is clear that beneath and behind them all the Apostle's mind was working on the same major line or theme, and that was what he called the 'mystery'. This is quite apparent when we compare Philippians 2:9 with Ephesians 1:21, Philippians 2:10 and Ephesians 1:10 and Colossians 1:16-20.

With this evidence of the deeper and vaster mental background we are brought to the immense implication of that classic section of the Letter to the Philippians marked in the arrangement chapter 2 verses 5 to 11. While this is a matchless unveiling of the cycle of redemption, from the glory which Christ had with the Father before times eternal down stage by stage to the deepest depths of shame and ignominy, then up, up, up to the 'highest place that Heaven affords'; there is a clear implication in the clause - "counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on equality with God" - that the letting go, the 'emptying', the 'humbling', etc., was - in the light of the context - to offset and undo terrible havoc wrought through an unlawful 'grasping' at that position somewhere, at some time, by someone. There is plenty in the Scriptures - borne out by human history, with immense emphasis in these later times - to show that there is in this universe a power which has ever striven, to be - at least - "equal with the Most High" indeed, to usurp His place.

At some time a rift took place in this universe, first outside of this world, and then pressed into it with the object of establishing independence of God and robbing Him of His rights. The evidence of this is massive, and it is the central and focal ground of all spiritual conflict which rages in the whole creation, and in man in particular. Seeing, that it was - and is - a moral issue of rights and righteousness, it had to be dealt with and answered on that ground. And seeing that man is the object and vehicle involved in this issue, the whole thing had to be taken up and fought through in man-form. So, the "mystery" in Philippians is "the mystery of iniquity"; the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God; the mystery of the Cross; and the mystery of the ineffable Name. The iniquity of an unrightful grasping at equality with God had to be answered by a relinquishing of the rightful equality, and descent to the lowest depths where that iniquity reached.

'He plunged in His imperial strength

To gulfs of darkness down:

He brought His trophy up at length;

The foiled usurper's crown.'

Humility must answer pride. Emptiness must counter false fulness. Weakness must be the way of true power. The Cross of shame must be the pathway to the eternal glory.

God must be vindicated and His rights in creation be established. Righteousness - which just means 'God vindicated' - must be "fulfilled". The baptism of the passion is the only way. You agree - this is all a 'mystery'. Yes, and Paul says that this was the 'stewardship' entrusted to him.

Read the whole of the Letter to the Philippians in the light of the above, and it lives with infinite meaning.

It is very impressive that the Apostle should take up this immense revelation and presentation of Christ in the grand cycle from glory to glory in relation to a local situation. There is his heartfelt appeal in chapter 2, verses 1 to 4; then there is his appeal to Euodia and Syntyche in 4:2, as well as other hints, showing that things were not all well at Philippi. There was division; a lack of 'like-mindedness'; a strain in relationships. If the implication of the great appeal of Christ's condescension means anything, surely it is that the cause of the division was a 'grasping', a holding, a not letting go; in a word - pride! Somewhere there was an inability or unwillingness to use the most difficult words in any human language - 'I have been wrong'!

In effect, the Apostle says: It was anything but easy for the Son of God to trail that long and painful journey which led to being "obedient unto death, yea, the death of the Cross"; but He did it for us. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus"! This is the only way to heal the divisions and come to be of "the same mind". Not discussions, arguments, or sentiment; but "a broken and contrite, spirit", an 'obedience even unto death.'

Chapter 10 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Colossians

In this Letter the term occurs four times (1:26, 27; 2:2; 4:3). To read carefully each of these occurrences is to be made aware of the tremendous thing that this "Mystery" was.

To realise the occasion of the Letter is to add to its vital importance. Without taking time to explain that context and to go into all its technicalities, let us simply say that those to whom the letter was written were becoming involved in a colossal system of mystical ideas. These had to do with ranks and grades of spiritual or angelic intelligences, from the lowest order of such, up and up to the pre-eminent angelic intelligence. Even the highest and greatest was but an angel. This philosophy (wisdom of man) was prepared to give Jesus Christ a very high ranking in this mystical system, perhaps the highest, but only as an angel, short of very God.

Right straight, flat, direct, and devastating was the Apostle as he levelled this Letter against this limitation and distortion of Christ. Hence the well-nigh matchless paragraphs which declare Him to be "the Son of God's love"; "the image of the invisible God"; "the firstborn of all creation"; in whom "were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist (hold together). And he is the head of the body, the church... that in all things he might have the pre-eminence", and so on. He ranges back to eternity past and on to eternity to be. He ranges all realms and comprehends all things. What potentialities are His! What glory is vested by the Father in Him! What a 'spoiling' this 'philosophy and vain deceit' of men carries with it! What a robbing of the Son of that 'indwelling of the fulness of the Godhead'! (2:8-10). This is just mysticism, it is not the Divine "Mystery".

Now, the infinite wonder and amazing blessing of all this concerning this Son is focused down to "this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (1:27). "And you..." (2:13).

The whole Letter has to be read in the light of this transcendence of Christ brought into the vessel of His Body - the Church, and the Church's "hope of glory" thereby and therefore. As this is not an exposition of the Letter, we only mean to keep to the great 'Stewardship' which the Apostle Paul conceived as his trust, and how that stewardship is embodied in the true spiritual Church which is His Body. All the Church's hope of glory is centred in and bound up with this absolute transcendence of "the Son of his love".

Table of Contents

Author's Rights

Contents

Introductory

Chapter 1 - The Eternal Purpose

Chapter 2 - The Chosen Vessel

Chapter 3 - The Mystery

Chapter 4 - The Place of Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ

Chapter 5 - "The Mystery" in the Letter to the Romans

Chapter 6 - "The Mystery" in the Letters to the Corinthians

Chapter 7 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Galatians

Chapter 8 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Ephesians

Chapter 9 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Philippians

Chapter 10 - The "Mystery" or Divine Secret in the Letter to the Colossians