The word “transformation” occurs twice in Scripture with reference to Christians (Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18).  Every believer tries to be reformed, but very few apprehend the great moral difference between reformation and transformation.  As a rule believers rejoice that they are saved, and aim to be up to the language of Micah 6:8, “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”

There are increasing numbers who have accepted the truth that by the grace of God they have been transferred from Adam to Christ, and that they are clear of the old man in God’s sight; yet they have no true understanding of what it is to be “transformed.”  Reformation is improvement, and refers to what already exists; but transformation means a change of being.  This, it is feared, is little known.

In Romans 12:2, we are exhorted not to be “conformed to this world,” but to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  This means a new mind, something altogether new; so that you are not to walk before men according to this world, but according to the mind of Christ, your life (1 Cor 2:16; Col 3:4).  Hence, at the end of this exhortation, the Apostle says, “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Rom 13:14).

It is not a question as to whether the order of the world is good or not, but you are not to be conformed to it any more: you are to be “transformed” according to and new mind, and thus be able to “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”  Everyone who knows anything of his own heart must know that he has tastes and desires connected with this earthly scene, and the more they are gratified the stronger they become.  But as he walks in the Spirit he finds that what he likes most in the natural order of things is the very thing he must avoid; “No man . . . having drunk old wine straightway desireth new; for he saith, the old is better.”  Very slowly do we learn to be altogether non-conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind.

As to the transforming of 2 Corinthians 3:18, the blessedness of it is that it is by beholding the Lord Jesus’ glory with unveiled face that we are transformed into the same image; that is, we are brought into moral correspondence with Himself.  It is not merely a new course outside and apart from the world as in Romans, but here we are in conscious union with the risen Lord Jesus Christ in glory.

It is true that every convert does not enjoy the light of His glory, because many are dwelling more upon the work than upon the Person who did the work.  The fact is, the nearer you are to Him in glory the more assured you are of being in the righteousness of God, and that you are there without a cloud; and it is as you behold the Lord Jesus there, you are gradually transformed into moral correspondence to Himself.  Many have been misled by thinking that just by reading the Bible you become like Christ—transformed; but you will find diligent students of the Word, who my never say anything incorrect in doctrine, yet who never seem to grow in grace and walk in spiritual reality.

When we learn that we are united to Him who is in glory, we can come forth in the new man to manifest His beauty and grace here on earth.  This transformation is of the highest order.  The Lord lead our hearts to apprehend the great contrast between the old man, however reformed by law, and the new man growing by grace into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

-JB Stoney

The termini of the present dispensation are the premillennial coming of Christ—the Rapture, the premillennial resurrection of martyred saints and of OT saints, the premillennial judgment of Israel, and the premillennial binding of Satan.  There are also the postmillennial resurrection of the wicked, the postmillennial loosing of Satan and his final doom, and the postmillennial judgment of all the wicked dead.  Between these termini, well-defined and clear, is the thousand-year reign of the King with His Bride and His subjects.

Satan, the great deceiver and adversary, will be cast into the bottomless pit for the entire period of the kingdom.  In that dispensation God will be testing man to show that, even with Satan out of the way to tempt and harass him no longer, he will still not be acceptable before Him.  The uprising at the end of the age will reveal the failure of man once again.

With Satan consigned to the pit, the nations everywhere will be out his power.  There will be no more rival kingdoms.  The stone that becomes the mountain will break all others to pieces (Dan 2:44, 45).  Christ’s reign will be undisputed and unhindered from opposition from any other government or reign on earth.  There will be no cause for a divided allegiance to God’s King, the Man of His choice.

The false religious cults and systems that are springing up now everywhere on such a colossal scale will be done away with, and the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas (Isa 11:9).  No man will need to instruct his fellow man in the things of God, for they will all know Him from the least to the greatest (Jer 31-34).  Israel will be restored to Jehovah, purged from her sin (Eze 36:24-27).  The days of her wondering will have come to a close.

The prophecy of Daniel 9 will be operative in the life history of Israel: transgression finished, sins ended, iniquity atoned for, and everlasting righteousness and holiness effected.  War will exist not more; all nations will be at peace under the rule and righteous reign of the Prince of Peace (Isa 2:2-4; Zech 9:9, 10).  There cannot and will not be peace until He comes to govern in peace.  Vain are the peace plans of men without the presence of the King to rule in peace.

Nature will be rejuvenated, and harmony will once more reign (Isa 35:1; Rom 8:19-22).  The curse will be removed from the ground, and the desert and wilderness will be abundantly fruitful and productive (Zech 14:11).  Animal creation also will experience a change in which animals of rapacious nature and appetites will become meek and tame.  The age of man will be lengthened, for a man of one hundred years will be esteemed but a child (Isa 65:20).  No longer will there be a division in the midst of Israel, but Israel and Judah will be united and will dwell together in their own land of blessing (Eze 37:15-22).

The coming of the King to the Mount of Olives will bring about physical changes in the land that will alter its contour (Zech 14:9, 10).  The city of Jerusalem will be built again, adorned, and be fruitful as never before (Zech 1:16, 17; 2:4, 5).  The nations in the kingdom will recognize the favored condition of Israel when God wipes away forever their reproach and uses them in the conversion of the Gentiles (Zech 8:20-23).  The land will be redistributed among the twelve tribes, and the Temple will be rebuilt with the sacrifices, as memorials, reinstituted (Eze 40-48).

Yearly the nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord in the Feast of Tabernacles (Zec 14:16, 19). The Bride of Christ will reign with Him, and Israel will also rule over the nations under the direct command of the King.  All nations will dwell in obedience and submission to the righteous King.  Surely that partial picture—for it is only that—of the millennial age and its characteristic features should suffice to show that not only is that age not in progress now on the earth, but it never has been.  It is definitely and conclusively a future dispensation.

The millennial dispensation will be God’s final test of man.  He has been tested in innocency, under conscience, under human government, under promise, under law; he is being tested not under distinctive grace.  Then he will be tested in an age of righteousness.  The test will show whether man under the most favorable of circumstances—with Satan bound and rendered harmless, with a renovated earth, with a harmony present throughout nature, and with a righteous King ruling and governing in righteousness, judgment and justice—can be found to be well-pleasing in the sight of God.  Man will fail, for he will still have the sin nature present with him.

Another purpose of the dispensation will be to fulfill God’s oath and promise to David.  God declared time and time again that He would not lie to David.  The millennial reign will prove that He did not lie to him.  A third purpose, perhaps included in the one just mentioned, will be to fulfill all the numberless prophecies of the OT to Israel for her blessing.

If the kingdom age is never to be realized, as many claim, what do we make of the immutability of the counsels of His will?  If the kingdom age is being realized now, as others insist, how is the Bible to be understood in any of its statements of fact?  If God promises Israel a literal kingdom and then give the world a spiritualized kingdom in the present dispensation, what becomes of the promises of God?

We prefer to rest the case here with the concluding word that the Millennium is followed by the uprising of Satan and his hosts, the judgment of the wicked, and the new heaven and the new earth.  The premillennial view of interpretation consistently adds link upon link to a long chain of evidence, reaching directly from Genesis to Revelation.  It proves that the Word of God teaches a literal, actual, and world-wide Millennium, or kingdom age, under the personal reign of the King, the matchless and peerless Son of David. –CL Feinberg

I believe the reason for law, any kind of law, is for revelatory purposes, whether it be “the law of sin and death” incurred by Adam and Eve, the “law of Moses” as instructed by God for the Jew, or “the law of the Spirit,” of which the believer is partaker.  Regardless of which law, or principle, it is part of what reveals God’s will to the individual (all Scripture being the entirety of His will).

The first law (command) for man was that which God allowed; “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat” (Gen 2:16).  The first law against man was that which God forbid; “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (v 17).  Therefore, disobedience to God incurred “the law of sin and death,” which defined is “the soul that sins shall die” (Eze 18:4, 20), per verse 17.

The Jew and Gentile are still both under the law of sin and death, but in Christ all are under “the law of the Spirit” (Rom 8:2), which “against such there is no law“ (Gal 5:23).  The saved Jew is freed from this law and the Law of Moses; the saved Gentile, never being under the Law of Moses is freed from the law of sin (its guilt and dominion) and death (the “second death” for the physical body still dies now).  What adds to the accountability of the sin-guilt (guilt is already incurred from the sin nature per Rom 5:19) is the knowledge of God’s will, for “the strength of sin is the law” (1 Cor 15:56) because, “I had not known sin, but by the law” (Rom 7:7). 

The fact that the Lord Jesus revealed God’s will to man also incurred guilt, for “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin . . .  If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin” (John 15:22, 24).  The knowledge of God’s will not only reveals sin but enhances the guilt; “sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful” (Rom 7:13).  The difference revealed between sin and holiness is for judgment to the unsaved and instruction to the saved.

We are also aware that it is written that, “It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them” (2 Pet 2:21).  “Better”, meaning not as troublesome, such as, “beaten with few stripes” (Luke 12:48), which shows there will be a variation in punishment for the unsaved, as “It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Mark 6:11).
-NC

Self-Improvement, Or Growth

Everyone according his moral sense, if he is true to his conscience, refuses the evil and seeks the good; and as the conscience becomes enlightened, this is more definitely insisted on.  This is the principle of law; obedience was enjoined by the law however contrary to the natural man.  Now when grace comes in, the believer rejoices in the assurance of his forgiveness and, as he knows atonement, his conscience constrains him to live to please God; but this is often taken up on the principle of law, so that self-improvement becomes his great aim and the law his standard of walk.

Now it should be plain to anyone who understands the Gospel, that in the fullness of the grace of God, the man who offended against God was judicially terminated in the Cross, and the one who believes in the Second Man is justified.  He should know that he is not now in the flesh, in Adam before God but in Christ; and that any attempt which he may make to improve his old man in conduct is in reality a flagrant, though unintentional, denial of the greatness of the grace of God.

But this is a wile by which many are captured and detained.  Almost every believer is more or less caught in this snare and many, alas, continue in it to the end of their course.  Very few learn early in their history what it is to be in Christ and thus meet to enjoy fellowship with the Father.  Until this is known he is necessarily occupied with himself.  As a result he sometimes subjects himself to much self-mortification in the effort to repress or improve the tendencies of the flesh, and this goes on until the cry is not, who will improve me?  But “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

It is generally a long time before one arrives at this point; months and years are often spent in trying to improve, until one feels that all is hopelessly in vain.  Then, and not until them, comes the agonizing cry, “O wretched man that I am!”  When the believer has thus come to a true sense as to himself, that “in me (that is, my flesh) dwelleth no good thing,” he finally turns to God; and now after this exercise, he learns to say, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now, deliverance is really sought; but here we must note what is typical and very sad, and that is that one of the wiles of the enemy is to divert that anxious soul from learning deliverance in the life of Christ, through the teaching that God sees the believer without sin by the work of Christ on the Cross, so the believer, by the reckoning of faith, is practically holy.  This is a delusion and has done much harm to souls; and from this has sprung the teaching called “holiness by faith,” i.e., that as God sees you in Christ without spot, you can reckon yourself to be holy.

The reckoning is valid, but the actual deliverance and growth come progressively by waking in the Spirit, who in turn centers the dependent believer in Christ who is his Life, his Deliverer.  Thus the question is, not as to whether you are governed by a new Person, but as you behold His glory, you are transformed into His image and you are the expression of Him here.

The Lord lead our hearts to see the contrast between self-improvement and growing in the Lord Jesus in His beauty and grace, nourished and cherished in Him.  Thus instead of being elated at your own improvement, or cast down because you cannot effect it, you are occupied with the grace and beauty of the Lord Jesus, in which you are thus made to share.
– J B Stone

The Epistle to the Hebrews is primarily addressed to believers in the Lord Jesus from among the Jews.  Its contents clearly show that it was written to establish these believers in the truth of Christianity with all its privileges and blessings and thus to deliver them from the Jewish religion with which they had been connected by natural birth.

To properly understand the significance of the teaching in the Epistle, we must remember the character of this religious system with which the Jewish remnant had been related.  It was a national religion given to those who, by birth, were descended from Abraham.  It raised no question of new birth.  It was entirely for earth; it was silent as to heaven.  It regulated man’s conduct in relation to God and his neighbor and promised earthly life, with earthly blessings, to those who walked according to its precepts.

This religion had for its rallying point a visible center—the most sumptuous building ever erected by man—with material altars, on which material sacrifices were offered by a special class of officiating priests who conducted an outward worship of God, accompanied by elaborate ceremonies, according to a prescribed ritual.  It was purposely designed to appeal to the natural man to prove whether there is anything in man in the flesh that can answer to the goodness of God, when a religion is given with which regulates every detail of man’s life, from birth to old age, in order to secure his earthly prosperity, ease and happiness.

In result, this appeal to the natural man only served to show there is nothing in unregenerate man that can answer to God.  Thus it came to pass that this Jewish system which in its inception was established by God, in its history became corrupted by man.  The culmination of wickedness, under this system, was the rejection and murder of the Messiah.  The Jews having thus filled up the cup of their iniquity became ripe for judgment.  For the Holy God to bear longer with a system that, in the hands of men, had been degraded to murder the Son of God would be to tarnish His righteousness and excuse man’s sin.  Hence judgment is allowed to take its course and in due time the city is destroyed and the nation scattered (Matt 12:30; Luke 11:23).

There is, however, another purpose in the law.  It not only regulated man’s life by showing him his duty to God and his neighbor, but, the whole system was the shadow of good things to come.  Its tabernacle was a pattern of things in the heavens; its priesthood spoke of the priestly work of the Lord Jesus; its sacrifices looked on to the great Sacrifice of the Savior.  Christ being come—the glorious substance of all the shadows—the Jewish system has fulfilled its purpose as the pattern of things to come.  It is therefore set aside, first, because man has corrupted it; secondly, because the Lord Jesus is its fulfillment.

We have further to remember that, while this system appealed to man in the flesh and left the great mass only in an outward and formal relationship with God, yet there were those in this system who clearly were in true relationship with God by faith and when Christ came they acknowledged Him as the Messiah.  They formed a remnant of the nation and in this Epistle are recognized and addressed as already in relationship with God before Christianity was established.  To this godly remnant the Epistle is addressed in order to bring them into the new and heavenly relationship of Christianity by detaching them from the earthly religion of Judaism.

While setting aside the old system God secures a believing remnant from the Jews, bringing them into the Christian circle.  This Jewish remnant would naturally have strong links with the religion of their fathers.  The ties of nature, the love of country, the prospects of earth and the prejudices of training, would all tend to bind them to the system that God has set aside.  It would therefore be especially difficult for them to enter into the heavenly character of Christianity.  Moreover, while the temple was yet standing and the Aaronic priest were still offering up visible sacrifices, there was the constant danger of those who had made the profession of Christianity turning back to Judaism.

To counteract this tendency then and now and in order to establish our souls in Christianity, the Spirit of God in this Epistle passes before us: First, the glories of the Person of the Lord Jesus and His place in heaven (ch 1, 2); Secondly, the Priesthood of Christ maintaining His people on earth, on their way to heaven (3, 4); Thirdly, the sacrifice of Christ, opening heaven to the believer and fitting him for heaven (9, 10); Fourthly, the present access to heaven where Christ is (10); Fifthly, the path of faith that leads to Christ in heaven (11); Sixthly, the different ways the Father takes to keep our feet in the path that leads to the glorified Christ (12); and Seventhly, the blessedness of the outside place of reproach with Christ, on earth (13).

It thus becomes clear how constantly and blessedly heaven is kept before us in the Epistle.  It is indeed the Epistle of the opened heavens.  This presentation of the heavenly character of Christianity makes the Epistle of special value in a day when Christendom has lost the true character of Christianity by reducing it to a worldly system for the improvement of man.

Moreover, as the Spirit of God passes these great and heavenly truths before our souls we are given to see how they exceed and set aside, all that went before.  The glories of the Lord Jesus eclipse every created being whether prophets or angels.  The Priesthood of Christ sets aside the many sacrifices under the law.  The immediate access to the Father sets aside the temple and its veil.  The path of faith sets aside the whole system of seen and felt things.  The outside place sets aside “The Camp” with its earthly and fleshly religion.

It is the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christianity, in contrast to Judaism, which is presented to us.  We are made to see how everything in Christianity lies in the region of faith, outside the things of sight and sense.  Christ in the glory, His priesthood, His sacrifice, approach to the Father, the path of faith, the heavenly race and the things to which we have come, can only be seen and known by faith.

The effects of Christianity may indeed be manifest in life and character and may even produce results in the lives of unconverted men; but all that properly pertains to life in Christ Jesus, that produces the effect in lives, is unseen, in contrast to Judaism with its appeal to sight and sense.  Moreover, in coming to heavenly things, the things of faith, we have come to things which are before our Father and things which are eternally stable.

We are surrounded by things which are passing, things which are changing, things that are shaking.  In Christianity we are brought to that which never passes, never changes and never will be shaken.  The Lord Jesus remains, He is ever the same and all that is founded upon Him and His eternal redemption, is stable and will never be moved.

The practical effect of the teaching of Hebrews must be to detach us form every form of earthly religion, whether it be Judaism or corrupt Christendom formed after the pattern of Judaism.  Further, if the truth puts us in the outside place on earth, it gives us a position beyond where the veil was, in heaven itself and makes us strangers and pilgrims in the world through which we are passing.

 –Hamilton Smith

I believe born again includes sanctification unto justification (1 Cor 6:11).  Many have the idea that sanctification is an ongoing process, but it involves a single act which never needs to be repeated.  Same as salvation, which is eternal, or it isn’t salvation (Heb 5:9).

The believer is maturing or being conformed continually but it's not through sanctification, which has already taken place, "For both He that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one" (Heb 2:11). 

Everything from Christ (sanctification, justification, righteousness, holiness, etc.) is fully supplied to the believer (2 Pet 1:3) and it's now a matter of the maturation from these things.  They are all-inclusive in our salvation which now has become a matter of "working out your own salvation" (Phil 2:12); again, not to produce these things (already supplied) but to mature in them.  The idea of "working out" has to do with figuring out, as in understanding by learning an equation which has been solved.

Once the believer has been "set apart" (sanctification), it becomes solely a matter of conformation (Rom 8:29) and transformation (Rom 12:2)--which are ongoing processes by the Spirit of God.
-NC

Regeneration is not a change of the old Adamic life, but the introduction of a new; it is the implantation of the life of the Last Adam.  This is by the operation of the Holy Spirit, founded upon the accomplished redemption of Christ and in full keeping with the sovereign will or counsel of the Father.  The moment a sinner receives the Savior by faith, he becomes the possessor of a new life, a totally new creation—and the source of that life is the Lord Jesus; he is born of God and His child for all eternity.

Nor does the introduction of this new life alter, in the slightest degree, the true, essential character of the old.  This latter continues what it is and is made in no respect better; yes, rather, there is the full display of its evil character in opposition to the new creation.  “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another so that ye cannot do the things ye would” (Gal 5:17).  There they are in all their distinctness and the one is only thrown into relief by the other.

I believe this doctrine of the two natures in the believer is not generally understood; and yet, so long as there is ignorance of it, the mind must be utterly at sea in reference to the true standing and privileges of the child of God.  Some there are who think that regeneration is a certain change which the old Adamic life undergoes; and moreover, that this change is gradual in its operation, until, at length, the whole man becomes transformed.  Wesleyan, Arminianism is the general source of this teaching today.

That this idea is unsound can be proved by various quotations from the New Testament.  For example, “The carnal mind is enmity against God.”  How can that which is thus spoken of ever undergo any improvement?  The Apostle goes on to say, “It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”  If it cannot be subject to the law of God, how can it be improved, how can it undergo any change?  Again, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”  Do what you will with flesh and it is flesh all the while.

Paul does not say, Ye have improved, or are seeking to improve, “the old man,” but rather, “Ye have put off the old man” (Col 3:9).  Passages might easily be multiplied to prove the unsoundness of the theory with respect to the gradual improvement of the old mam—to prove that the old man is dead in sins and utterly un-renewable; and moreover, that the only thing we can do with it is to keep it under our feet by reckoning upon the death and new life that we have in union with our risen Head in the heavens.

If present or future blessedness were made to depend upon even a divine change wrought in nature, flesh would glory.  But when I am introduced into a new creation, I find it is all of God—designed, matured and developed by the Father Himself—He is the Giver and I am the receiver.

This is what makes Christianity what it is; and moreover, distinguishes it from every system of human religion under the sun, whether it be Romanism, or Protestantism, or any other ism whatsoever.  Human religion gives the creature a place, more or less; it keeps the bondwoman and her son in the house; it gives man something to glory in.  On the contrary, Christianity excludes the creature from all interference in the work of salvation, casts out the bondwomen and her son and gives all the glory to Him in Whom alone it is due. –C H Mackintosh

Chiefly in the Pauline Epistles, we open upon those pages of the Word of God which give us the yearnings of the child of God in some of their highest forms.  We find that the most intense desires are after the Son of God in heaven, in and by whom God has now revealed Himself and to whose image in glory His people shall be conformed (Rom 8:29).

The channels made by the Father in His children are of a heavenly character.  Our Lord, a Man in heaven, the Lord Jesus in glory, object for the affections, rest for the heart, known and delighted in through the Spirit, forms in the heart these channels for the flowing of Christian longings.  True Christian desire may be summed up in these few words: “That I may know Him” (Phil 3:10).  David longed for Jehovah in the sanctuary; Paul longer after the Lord Jesus in the glory.

Paul’s Epistles major in the truths which free the spirit from legalism and self-effort and establish the believer in the Lord Jesus at the Father’s right hand.  These delivering truths may be termed mainly positional, relating as they do to what the believer is in the Lord Jesus; which position is not affected by the practical condition of the soul.

But if freed by the truth, the need is great that the soul be stirred up to the things which relate to the believer’s condition day by day on earth.  With this in view, we place the desires of the heart first, for the head follows the heart and the whole being goes where the heart leads.  The actual condition of each soul is brought to the test by the Lord’s own question, “What think ye of Christ?” (Matt 22:42).  Personal fellowship with Him makes each believer what he really is; we do not say what he may seem to be.

Paul, in the treasury of Christian longings referred to, gives the only true principle in this one phrase, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21).  In proportion as the Lord Jesus in glory is the object of our faith, He is the principle of our Christian living.  If the many things of sight are filling our hearts, the world is the object we have in view; and when such is the case, the believer, at best, speaking practically, is like a heavily burdened man trying to run a race.  The Lord Jesus Christ Himself and not even truth about Him must be filling our hearts, if we wish to thrive and grow.

This is no unnecessary caution in a day when knowledge of the most sacred truths may be intellectually attained by so small an effort.  It is a happy thing to understand that Word of God, but, with that Word treasured, the aim of the believer’s affections should ever be, “That I may know Him.”  Desires after the Lord Jesus, desires to manifest Him on earth and to live with Him in heaven, make the believer separate from the world and separate him to the Lord in glory.  Practice flows from affection.

The Lord Jesus died for us and rose again; it is for us, not to live to ourselves but to Him.  “For the love of Christ constraineth us (bears us along); because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not live unto themselves, but unto Him” (2 Cor 5:14, 15).  Truly, to reckon oneself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ (Rom 6:11); to set the affection on things above, as risen with
Christ (Col 3:1, 2); and to manifest Him on earth (Phil 1:21), who is in us the hope of glory (Col 1:27), should be the life-mark of the child of God (Phil 3:14).  Let other things flow out from this freedom—let service, walk and motives be produced by the Lord Jesus Christ, “Who is our life” (Col 3:4). – H F Witherby

“Grace wherein we stand” (Rom 5:2; 1 Pet 5:12) is not attempting to completely disassociate our words and actions from sin, as if this were expected or even possible (1 john 1:; nor is it to empowers us to overcome sin (not the same as “overcome evil”, the product of sin), something which only the Lord could do and has effected for us.  Grace is to realize our forgiveness from its guilt and our deliverance from its rule and I believe to expect anything beyond this is to be “unskillful in the word of righteousness,” because it is unscriptural.

Romans-Eight is a comparison between those who are not in Christ and those who are.  Verse 13 is not an admonishment to the believer to avoid walking “in the flesh,” it is a description of one who is not in Christ because those who, “are in Christ Jesus” are those, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (v 1).                               

When we try to oppose sin with our own strength and will, we abrogate the supply of atonement which has already sufficed the Father and thus, are attempting to walk in our own provision and will lack “having always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men” (Acts 24:15).  Appropriating Christ’s deliverance in place of attempting our own is not to advocate passivity to sin, but allows the Spirit to “mortify” it, rendering its control powerless.  The manifestation that the Spirit is “mortifying the deeds (actions) of the body” in a believer will be evident in his words and deeds (Matt 12:33; Luke 6:44) —the greatest deed being that in John 15:12, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

J Gill-- “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” ... “Such persons are dead, whilst they live and shall die a second or an eternal death, if grace prevent not. It may be asked whether one that has received the grace of God in truth, can live after the flesh.  Flesh, or corrupt nature, though still in such a person, has not the dominion over him, to live in sin, or in a continued course of sinning, which is contrary to the grace of God.  But flesh may prevail and greatly influence the life and conversation, for a while, how long this may be the case of a true believer, under backsliding, through the power of corruptions and temptations, cannot be known, but certain it is that it shall not be always thus with him.  It may be further inquired, whether such a one may be so left to live after the flesh, as to die and perish eternally.  Christ expressly says, such shall not die that live and believe in him, for grace, which is implanted in their souls, is an incorruptible and never dying seed and grace and glory are inseparably connected together.”
-NC

Before the Cross, it was all about man in establishing salvation, but after the Cross it’s all about glorifying God and His Grace, which is all entailing because is includes atonement for all the sin of the believer.

His Grace is most depicted in knowing and remembering that the believer is always fully holy, for holiness is a state of being in our union with Him, but it's in our fellowship with Him that we "work out your own salvation" (Phil 2:12) or develop it to the point of it being visually evident, not “hidden under a bushel”; "Be ye holy." To me this means 'ye be holy or ye are holy' and this is because we couldn't be anything else in His Grace and thus, it's now a matter of "working it out," like solving a math equation which is already completed.

We aren't holy by anything we can do (other than receiving Christ) and Christ's holiness does not admit in degrees--we're holy and saved as one can be and the Spirit is working it out through us to be seen; not to obtain anything but to show what we have (union), as everything is already accomplished ("it is finished"). I believe we are passive in being holy, because it is vicariously imputed, not imparted; but active in living it out, so we're not holy because of what we do, but what we do is because we're holy.

"But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom 8:13). This is one passage I believe describes activity on our part in our words and deeds, as we yield or present our "new nature" (man) to God (Spirit); "but yield (present) yourselves (new self not old self) unto God" (Rom 6:13). The phrase "ye shall live" has the appearance of conditional legalism but to me it's depicting a forgoing situation, meaning that since you, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds, you will live. This is a place in which only a Christian can be, as we increasingly learn to "put off" the excessive carnality.

As we continue to present, He continues to move or direct us (actively-passive) in our doing, which on our part is what we think, but I believe more so as to what we say and do.  As you probably know, the believer doesn't produce the fruit--but "bears it" (John 15:, as only the Vine produces and the "branch" bears (shows) it.

The believer’s standing (position) is the way the Father sees him in His Son, as perfect in Him.  But his state (condition) is the way the Father sees him in his daily walk, which is sinful and erring and needs to be developed and improved.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand” (Rom 5:1, 2).  “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand” (1 Cor 15:1).  “That I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.  For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state” (Phil 2:19, 20).

Nearly all the false doctrines that teach some form of human works or merit for salvation are based upon Scriptures that deal with the believer’s state and have nothing to do with salvation at all.  God’s Word would not be complete if it did not teach both the sinner how to be saved and the believer how to conduct himself after he is saved.  Many of the difficulties in understanding the Scriptures would disappear if we would always ask: is this verse about our standing or our state?

One notable instance of this principle of Bible understanding is found in the first epistle to the Corinthians.  In the first chapter, Paul refers to them as saints who “are sanctified.”  But in the third chapter he says they are “carnal”, or fleshly.  As to their standing, they are sanctified in Christ Jesus—perfect in Him.  But in their actual earthly walk, or state, they were carnal.  In their standing they are safe, as secure and perfect as the work of the Cross can make them.  But in their state they need exhortation and growth.

Again, in Colossians 2:10, “And ye are complete in Him.”  This refers to the perfect standing which the believer has in Christ.  It cannot be improved upon; it is already “complete” in Christ.  Yet in our walk we cannot say that we are sinless, for “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:.

The Father looks upon every believer as if he were already in heaven, as far as his standing in concerned.  This blessed truth is brought out in Ephesians 2:6, “And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”   But as far as his earthly state is concerned while he is waiting the home-call, the believer is admonished thus: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Col 3:5).  So we see that the believer is said to be both in heaven and on earth.  “Standing and State” is the only explanation of this.  Much more of the Word is given to instructions for the believer’s state than to his standing.  His standing is heavenly, eternal and perfect.  His state is earthly, temporary and imperfect.  - Unknown

I believe the "law of God" (Rom 7:22) to which Paul refereed was the will of God or the fulfilling of the OT law which, "was our schoolmaster" (for the Jew) to bring them "unto Christ"; also which they "are no longer under" (Gal 3:24, 25). The "law" which the old testament saints "delighted in" (i.e. Psa 119:47) was that part which pointed to God's ultimate will and is summed up in, "he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Rom 13:.

The grace Christ brought allows us to have unconditional forgiveness (through the Spirit) in loving others "as I have loved you" (John 15:12). This is what requires regeneration because it is, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34).  This was similar but unlike the old commandment which involved conditional love, which was to love others the way you loved yourself or as yourself (Lev 19:18).

Another reason I believe Paul was referring to "the will of God" when he referenced "the law of God" is because at this time of writing, the OT law was "taken away" to "establish the second" (Heb 10:; which is the NT or "the everlasting covenant" that is "through" His "blood" (Heb 13:20) or "in" His "blood" (Matt 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20).

Greetings to Admin/Mod teams--God's blessings to your Families and much gratitude for your continued labors!


Paul’s great endeavor, in his entire Romans Seven struggle, was to make “the flesh,” his old man, consent to do that holy law of which his new man approved.  He had not yet despaired of himself.  When he understood this conflict, he thought he had in his own will the power to do the things, that since his conversion he delighted in.  The fact is he had not yet realized the absolute distinction between the old and the new creations.  And it was through this heart-rending experience that he found the new or “inward” man to be distinct from the old man; that the realm of “the spirit” was absolutely separate from that of “the flesh”; that old man, with all its life and energy, was to be despaired of, not sanctified.

The discovery that was new to Paul was: “I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see a different law in my members” (vs 22, 23).  When he realized the real situation, he no longer sought how to make the flesh serve God, but how to get clear away from the old man.  He cried out not, “Who shall help me subdue this body of death?” but, “Who shall deliver me out of this body of death?”  When he said, “Who shall deliver me out?” he showed that at last he recognized himself as the new creature and all else as condemned and corrupt.  And when he said, “Who shall deliver me out?” he confessed at last his utter weakness, even in his new life, to war against sin.  Then God could deliver him.

Every effort toward growth that proceeds from “the flesh,” or the “old man,” is regarded as man’s endeavor to keep the law or requirements of God.  And the whole object of the Apostle in this passage is to draw us off from all self-effort, to rely (as seen in Romans Eight), upon the Holy Spirit instead of our own strength the sin we hate. 

A most interesting line of study as to the office of the law is seen in the following verses: In Romans 3:19, that law meets the offender and arrests him, stops his mouth from his vain excuses and carries him for a “hearing” before God, where he is adjudged guilty.  In Galatians 3:22 (RV), the law “shuts up” the condemned soul in the jail of conviction of sin; and in verse 23, is seen keeping the prisoner “in ward” (RV), “shutting up” the offender securely.  There is no buying off this stern jailer, either by paying for past offences, or by promises of a future “reformed-I”.

In Galatians 2:19, 20, the law is seen taking out his prisoner for execution and becoming himself the executioner: “I through the law died . . . I have been crucified.”  The law, thus, cannot have mercy.  It can only condemn and execute.  But thus it (the law) becomes our servant to bring us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith, apart altogether from its works (Gal 3:23, 24).  The law drives us, as high offenders, out of its realm, by putting us to death.  Then we find life in Christ.  And no one, in his experience, finds Christ, till spiritually he has died to the law.  Christ is not to be found in the realm of the law (which is the old creation), but in that of grace (which is the new creation).  So that all they that are of legal works are abiding under the curse of the very law they dream they are satisfying (Gal 3:10).

The same principles which accompany the moral deadness of the unbeliever, are found in the believer, weakening and hindering his resting in the Lord Jesus above and his resultant walk here below.  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”  It is true, the believer is not in the flesh (Rom 8: and through grace he can please the Father; yet the flesh is in him and so far as it is unjudged, it will prove a sure and sad obstacle in the path of faith.

Hence there is not an evil in the unregenerate heart of man which the regenerate can afford to despise.  The tendency, nay, the root of all, is in his own bosom, although, as a believer baptized into Christ’s death, he is entitled to rely upon his crucifixion with Christ—the flesh crucified with its affections and lusts.  This is his weapon.  He has died and he that thus died has been freed from the power and reign of sin.  And having died, how shall we live any longer therein?  But then, although in God’s estimate this a fact, for He has identified the believer which faith alone realizes and reckons upon.

The experience of the believer is the constant, painful witness that the flesh is within, ever seeking to display its enmity to God; for is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  Practically he finds that the old man is alive within and actively energetic toward evil and that struggling with it is not the way to gain the victory, because it is not God’s remedy for it and therefore not the resource of faith.  Such is not the way in which the Spirit, by the apostle Paul, instructs us to deal with sin.  For, after having said, “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” he also adds, “let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”

The faith that, would reckon us dead to sin in our death with Christ, wherein the sentence of God was executed upon it, is the weapon which gives us practical freedom from its power in day-by-day experience.  But if the believer is ignorant of this sword of Goliath which the divine armory supplies him, attempts to face the enemy with some puny instrument of his own, is it no wonder that he fails in the encounter?  If, after being justified by faith, he puts himself under law as regards the daily path of Christian walk, is it strange that the offence again abounds, that the perverseness of the flesh is afresh stirred into activity, that the law is once more proved to be a ministry of condemnation?

No!  It is the sense of grace, it is the sense of what the Father’s grace has done in uniting us to One who is raised from the dead, far above the claims of the law and the effects of sin, into His own holy and blessed acceptance in the presence of the Father, it is this, kept bright and fresh before and in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which enables us to bring forth fruit into God.  “For sin,” says Paul, “shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.”

The unconverted, if he thinks at all about God and his soul, naturally and necessarily puts himself under law and proves it to be a ministry of death.  The tendency of the converted man is to do the same as regards his walk, if not as concerning his salvation; and so far as he slips aside into legalism, he is powerless for God and certain to be immersed in worldliness.  Granted that the old man would say, Let us continue in sin that grace may abound; still, the answer is not to throw away grace, which is the only spring of growth as well as justification.  The grace of God not only brings us salvation, but teaches us that, “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12). – Wm. Kelly

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” 

“He shall live!”  Of everything that concerns a “resurrection,” the eternality which it establishes is the prominent significance, thus, focusing on the term “live” should not be deemed less urgent than any other aspect concerning it.  After all, isn’t eternity with God the primary issue?

Concerning resurrection, the term live is the key aspect.  Once a spiritual body is unified with a physical body in the womb (“There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body”—1 Cor 15:44) the term “live” is established, because living involves an existing spiritual body (eternal after created) in conjunction with a physical body.

There is a temporal resurrection and an eternal resurrection, both of which Scripture provides disclosure.  Since Christ has “in all things” the “preeminence” (Col 1:18), it is obviously understood why there are no examples of an eternal resurrection until He was raised.  This answers to “the first begotten of the dead” (Rev 1:5) and “the firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18), which means Christ was the first to be raised to an immortal life and not a mortal one.

Some of the temporal examples are a widow’s son in the city of Nain (Luke 7:12-15), Jairus's daughter (Luke 8:41, 42, 49, 54, 55), Tabitha (Acts 9:40) and Lazarus, but my favorite is when “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt 27:52, 52).  This is said to occur “after His resurrection,” but I want to bring attention to a prior occurrence, in which “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (v 51). 

The point of interest here is the fact the veil “was torn in two from top to bottom,” which confirms an act only God could perform by the phrase “from top to bottom.” This indicates the veil was not entirely severed, ceasing near the bottom.  If it were torn completely into two halves, it would not be possible to determine it was “from top to bottom” and given it was twenty-two yards high and four inches think there was no other option concerning how it occurred.

I would also like to bring attention to the first resurrection, which is that of the saints in Revelation-Twenty: “and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years; but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished; Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection” (vs 4, 5, 6). 

The word “lived,” designs the intention of not just being in their spiritual bodies but also in their incorruptible bodies (Rom 8:23), which those of the last resurrection will also receive, indicated by “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished,” which occurs in verses 12, 13.

Jesus said, “the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25), which includes everyone because, “all who are in the graves will hear His voice” (v 28), just at different times.  So if someone ever asks you if you think Elvis is really alive, you can truthfully answer, “Not yet.”

A Joyous Easter to all your Families and blessed be God!
-NC (Bob)   

There are usually at least two schools of thought concerning every issue and it has been said that any doctrine can seem to be established on part of Scripture, but the truth is established on the whole.  Romans Seven is what I like to consider as the pinnacle-doctrine in spiritual-growth teaching concerning the condition of the believer. 

The two schools of thought concerning Paul’s discloser are in the concept that he is either referencing his condition as a regenerate or as he was unregenerate.  I believe the most significant exegetical practice when considering his discloser is to determine if what he was instructing would even be possible to know and divulge by an unregenerate man, e.g. would a natural (unregenerate) man even desire to “delight” himself in “God” (v 22)?

Unless you’re an “Eradicatonist” who believes “crucified” means dead and gone concerning the “old man” (Rom. 6:6), you would realize Scripture teaches the believer is not void of sinning (1 John 1:, which is reasonably so when considering the existential (continued) existence of the “old man” (sin nature), which conversely so, one could not sin in the absence of the sin nature.

I believe the crux-issue concerning sinning is that one who is born again does not sin willingly, which means it is against his desire; unlike the natural man who desires to sin willingly.  This is the central-teaching concerning the meaning of “captivity” (Rom 7:22).  He who willingly sins is not a captive to it because he does so agreeably within his desire and he who sins unwillingly is captive to it because he does so disagreeably outside his desire. 

This could describe the believer as a “free-captive”; free from the guilt and rule of sin—while captive to the wrongs done by the indwelling of his sin nature.  To be ruled by the sin nature is to make it the desire you are after, which is not the situation of the believer, who is caused by the Spirit to be after the things of God (Gal. 5:17). 

Romans Eight is a description of the condition of two different types of people; those who are “after” the sinful nature (flesh) and those who are after the Spirit of God.   Here also is another central-teaching to understanding that “no man can serve two masters,” nor “can a stream bring forth both bitter and sweet water.”  You’re either “carnally minded” or “spiritually minded”.  One who is not born again cannot become spiritually minded, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (v 7).  Likewise, one who is born again cannot become carnally minded, because he is “not in the flesh (after the sinful nature) but in the Spirit” (v 9).