The Trinity
“I
enjoin thee before God who preserves all things in life, and Christ
Jesus who witnessed before Pontius Pilate the good confession, that
thou keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in its own time the
blessed and only Ruler shall shew, the King of those that reign, and
Lord of those that exercise lordship; who only has immortality,
dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able
to see; to whom [be] honour and eternal might. Amen” (1 Tim. 6:
13-16). Commentators have discussed at length the question as to
which of the ‘Persons’ of the Trinity these words refer to. Those
who apply the whole passage to the Son can urge that “the blessed
and only Ruler” is equivalent to “our only Master and Lord Jesus
Christ” in Jude v4, and that in the Revelation, the title “King of
kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19: 16) is definitely given to Him
whose “name is called The Word of God” (v13). However, I would
suggest that we have raised a question that may have had no
place whatever in the mind of the apostle.
Not only in
reading the epistles, but even in their own prayers, Christians
often feel embarrassed by the ‘Persons’ of the Trinity, but no trace
of similar embarrassment can be found in Scripture. Indeed,
paradoxical though it may seem, the difficulty we find in
interpreting this sublime doxology (and similar Scriptures) is proof
that no difficulty of the kind presented itself to the mind of the
apostle. For with him, “Jesus Christ” was “our great God and
Saviour” (Titus 2: 13), and there was no turning away from the Son
to the Father, but by a natural transition his thoughts about “our
Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 6: 14) became merged in the thought of
God.
Christ’s Return Viewed Morally
World events have stimulated renewed interest in
the subject of the Lord’s return, but to be of any spiritual benefit
that interest must be accompanied by a moral effect.
Things to come are not just events but are bound up
with Christ personally (see 1 Thess. 1: 3; 1 Tim. 1: 1
etc.) and must, therefore, to have a profound moral and spiritual
effect on the enquirer into them. When John the Baptist announced
the coming kingdom, implicit in his message was the fact that
Messiah was coming: “prepare ye the way of [the] Lord,
make straight his paths” (Matt. 3: 3, my emphasis). This necessary
preparation was moral, and so in Luke 3, John warned
those who heard him preach to “Produce therefore fruits worthy of
repentance” (v8), and “the crowds asked him saying, What should we
do then?” (v10).
Such was the
requirement demanded by God in relation to “the hope of Israel”
(Acts 28: 20)—what then of “the blessed hope and appearing of the
glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify to
himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2: 13,
14)? Where the heavenly hope is in the heart, then “every one that
has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure” (1
John 3: 3). The one is the outcome of the other: if I have that hope
in a real sense, then it must have a moral effect on
me. And in proportion to how much I really hope, so will the moral
change be present in me. Will an interest in prophecy by itself
accomplish this? Never. Why? Because hope in Scripture is not about
events but about a Person (although the events involve that Person).
When John wrote, “every one that has this hope in him” (1 John 3:
3), to what hope was he referring? The hope of glory: “Beloved, now
are we children of God, and what we shall be has not yet been
manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is” (v2, my
emphasis). Now, we are children of God—that is what we are already.
What we shall be is not yet clear to us, but we know that we shall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as
He is. Not as He was when here, but as He
is—crowned with glory and honour. Beloved, that is our
hope—to be like Him! Hence Paul can write of “Christ in you the hope
of glory” (Col. 1: 27). Let us, therefore, live in a way now
that takes account of what we shall be then!
Halls & Homes
When the Assembly came into being, the Christians
were “every day, being constantly in the temple with one accord, and
breaking bread in [the] house” (Acts 2: 46; see also Acts 5: 12).
Some of their evangelical activity also took place in that location
(see Acts 3: 1-26; 4: 1-4; 5: 20-21) such that “every day, in the
temple and in the houses, they ceased not teaching and announcing
the glad tidings that Jesus [was] the Christ” (v42). This is
unsurprising, as the final cleavage with Judaism had not taken
place. Evangelical activity also took place “in the synagogues”
(Acts 9: 20; see also Acts 13: 14; 14: 1; 17: 1, 2, 10, 17; 18: 4,
19; 19: 8) in houses (see Acts 10: 33; 11: 12), and “in the school
of Tyrannus” (Acts 19: 9). In Acts 4 we read of Peter and John
coming “to their own [company]” (v23) and “the place in which they
were assembled” (v31) shaking. We also read of an “upper chamber”
(Acts 1: 13) in which the saints met to pray, of them being “all
together in one place” (Acts 2: 1), and of how in “the house of
Mary, the mother of John who was surnamed Mark” many “were gathered
together and praying” (Acts 12: 12). Much later, in Troas, the
saints were “assembled to break bread” (Acts 20: 7) in another
“upper room” (v8).
Turning to today’s
situation, a great deal of emphasis is now placed on halls
built or hired for use by Christians (such that ‘church’ is now
associated more with the building than the people). Whatever may be
read into various Scriptures, there is no clear evidence of such
things in the NT. Saints often met in houses (see Rom. 16: 5; 1 Cor.
16: 19; Col. 4: 15; Philemon v2) and evangelical activity either
took place in the open-air or in the meeting-places and houses of
unbelievers. Testimony, for example, is not connected to a building
but to people—“known and read of all men, being manifested to be
Christ’s epistle” (2 Cor. 3: 2, 3). Certainly, practical arguments
can be made for having a hall, but at the same time they often exert
a significant drain on the resources of the saints. What is clear is
that the common belief that a hall is a necessity, is
not supported by the testimony of Scripture.
Our Rule of Life
Many believers are under the impression that the
law is to be their rule of life, but this is contradicted by Paul’s
teaching in which we are said to be “dead to the law” (Rom. 7: 4)
having “died with Christ” (Rom. 6: 8), for clearly “law” only “rules
over a man as long as he lives” (Rom. 7: 1, my
emphasis). It is as being “to another, who has been raised up from
among [the] dead” (v4)—that is, “clear from the law” (v6)—that can
we “bear fruit to God” (v4).
The law had a
function as “our tutor up to Christ” (Gal. 3: 25, my
emphasis)—for “I had not known sin, unless by law” (Rom. 7: 7). Now,
however, “faith having come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Gal.
3: 25) and as “led by the Spirit, ye are not under law” (Gal. 5: 18)
and “shall no way fulfil flesh’s lust” (v16). The law only proved
our incapacity to keep it, and having brought in Christ, God would
have us now “follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2: 21) and “even as he
walked, himself also [so]to walk” (1 John 2: 6).
The measure by
which we are to walk here is not the law, “holy, and just, and good”
(Rom. 7: 12) as it is, but a higher standard: Christ.
The fruit (and the word is singular) of the Spirit
cannot be produced by law-keeping. Where do we see “love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness,
self-control” (Gal. 5: 22, 23) perfectly displayed? Christ!
Of course, the Lord, as come under law, was perfectly obedient to
it, but as the Son of the Father, He was the perfect expression of
the Father’s heart. It is only as feeding upon this blessed One as
the “bread of life” (John 6: 35) that we will become like Him.
Take another
example: we read that “the whole law is fulfilled in
one word, in Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”
(Gal. 5: 14, my emphasis). Is that the ultimate standard then for
the Christian? Many would say it is, but the Lord instructed His
disciples “that ye love one another, as I have loved you”
(John 15: 12, my emphasis). Thus the standard is raised beyond where
the law can take us, for the measure of Christ’s love is “That one
should lay down his life for his friends” (v13). Now
see the practical outcome: “we ought for the brethren to lay
down [our] lives” (1 John 3: 16). Is this a demand of the law? No,
but “because he has laid down his life for us” (v16). It is
occupation with Christ and not law-keeping that enables us to so
love our brethren that we are willing to die for them.
