Concluding Remarks on "The Higher Christian Life"

 Holiness, the False and the True - by H. A. Ironside

HAVING now reviewed the various expressions largely misused by second-blessing advocates, I desire, in concluding this series of papers, to add a few practical reflections on what has been called "the higher Christian life." It is greatly to be regretted that so many children of God, whose conversion one cannot question, seem to have settled down in apparent contentment with so low a standard of Christian living.

Undoubtedly there is a life of power and spiritual refreshment to which these are almost total strangers. But how are they to enter into it?

Certainly not by the unscriptural and empty system we have been discussing. All efforts to attain sinless perfection in this world can only end in failure and leave the seeker disappointed and heart-sick.

Is there not then a "higher life" than that which many believers enjoy?

The true answer is that there is but one life for all God's children.

Christ Himself is our life. The only difference is that in some that blessed life is more fully manifested than in others, because all do not give Him the same place in their heart's affections. It is a sad and unsatisfactory thing when He has only the first place in our hearts. He asks for the whole heart, not a part—though it be the most important part. If He be thus enthroned, and reign alone in the seat of our affections, we shall surely manifest that divine life much more fully than if the world and self are allowed to intrude in what should be His sole abode.

The apostle John is the New Testament writer whose special province it was to unfold for our learning the truth about divine life. In his Gospel he portrays the life as told out in the only begotten Son of God, who became flesh and tabernacled for a time among men; showing forth in all His ways "that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us." In his epistles John sets forth that life as exhibited in the children of God, who by faith have received Him who is the life, and in whom eternal life now dwells. As these precious portions of the divinely-inspired Word are meditated upon, they must produce in the soul of every devout reader a longing desire to walk more fully in the power of that life.

No human theories or earth-born principles can help us here.

"This does not come with houses or with gold, With place, with honor, and a flattering crew; 'Tis not in the world's market bought and sold."

Only as one learns to refuse everything that is of the flesh, and finds everything in Christ the Second Man, will this priceless boon be enjoyed of a life lived in fellowship with God.

He, the eternal Son, was ever the fountain of life—the source whence divine life was communicated all down through the ages to all who received the word of God in faith. But that life was manifested on earth during His sojourn here, "and the life was the light of men." It cast light on every man, bringing out in vivid contrast what was in them.

But it is not in incarnation He communicates His own life to us. He said expressly, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Accordingly He, the Prince of life, "tasted death for every man," and in resurrection showed that He was indeed "that eternal life which was with the Father" from all past ages, and had for a time been displayed on earth.

Having burst the bands of death, He appeared to His disciples as the ever-living One, forever beyond death, judgment, and condemnation of any kind. It was as such He breathed on them, saying, "Receive ye [the] Holy Spirit." He was speaking as the last Adam, a quickening Spirit. Henceforth they are to understand that, while they have not received a different kind of a life from what was theirs from the moment they received Him and were born of God, they now have that life, with all that is connected with it, on the resurrection side of the cross. It is life with which judgment can never be connected. They are linked up with Christ risen, and they are called to manifest this on earth, in the scene where He has been rejected.

So true Christian life is nothing more nor less than the manifestation of Christ. "For me to live is Christ" is the statement of the apostle Paul, "and to die is gain;" for death would mean to "depart and be with Christ, which is far better."

The only secret of living Christ is occupation with Christ. And it is for this God has given us such abundant fulness in His Word. Another has well said that if the Bible were merely a guidebook to show the way to heaven, a very much smaller volume would have sufficed. Often the gospel has been clearly told out in a few-paged tract or booklet. But here is a book of over one thousand ordinary pages, and all of it "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works;" and the one great subject of all its sixty-six parts is Christ.

He who feeds upon its sacred pages is feeding on Christ, for the Word written but declares the Word eternal. To "read, mark, learn and inwardly digest" this divinely-inspired unfolding of the person and work of Christ is the paramount requisite for the believer, if he would glorify God in his practical ways.

It is related that John Bunyan had written on the fly-leaf of his Bible, "This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book." It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. Not for power, nor for the gift of the Spirit, nor for some special blessing, do we need to pray; but we may well join with the Psalmist in the earnest petitions, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. ...Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. ...Order my steps in Thy Word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me" (Ps. 119:18,34,133). By "Thy `law" is meant not merely what men commonly call the moral law of God, but His entire word, so blessedly celebrated in "the psalm of the laver" (119).

To read the Word in a mere intellectual manner will not minister Christ to the soul. Earnest, devout study of the Scriptures must never be divorced from believing prayer. It is by this means that the soul is maintained in communion with God. Prayerless Bible-reading becomes dry and unprofitable, leaving the student heady and cold-hearted. But prayerful meditation on the inspired pages will nourish the soul in divine affections.

The Word reveals Christ to us for food and example. It makes known to us the mind of the Spirit; and it is the appointed medium for the cleansing of our ways.

Not by trying to imagine what Jesus would do in my circumstances do I learn how a Christian should conduct himself in this world; but by searching the Scriptures, and tracing there the lowly path of heaven's anointed One, I discern the way in which He would have me to walk.

It is forgetfulness, or ignorance, of this that causes so many shipwrecks, not only in connection with "the higher-life movement," but among believers generally. Human judgment takes the place of the revealed will of God, and grievous disaster is often the result.

The second point is of equal importance. Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, as we have already seen. He has the power required for holy living therefore, and need not plead and wrestle, as is the fashion with some, for "more power," and "more of the Spirit." What is required is subjection to the Word, that one may walk in the Spirit.

A simple illustration has been helpful to many: The believer may be likened to a locomotive engine, every part in working order and filled with the propelling steam—a fit symbol of the Holy Spirit. But an engine thus equipped becomes a source of terrible destruction if off the rails. The rails are the word of God. Alas, how many Spirit-indwelt people have created havoc by wild, uncontrolled emotionalism, not in accordance with the Holy Scriptures! To have the Spirit does not guarantee that one will be guided aright unless he search the Scriptures and allow them to mark out his course, any more than to be well-equipped and full of steam guarantees that an engine will proceed in safety to its destination unless it be upon the rails.

The third statement has already been before us in the paper on Sanctification by the Word; but I would press it again upon the reader's attention that the Scriptures are the water given for our practical cleansing from defilement as we go on in our appointed way through this scene. Let there be unhesitating self-judgment the moment I find my behavior or my thoughts and the word of God in conflict, and I shall undoubtedly grow in grace as well as in knowledge.

There are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one" (1 John 5:7,8, R.V.).

The blood is the witness of propitiation, and tells of Him who, having died for our sins, is Himself the Mercy-seat, to whom we come boldly, as unto a throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The water is the word of God, as Eph. 5:26 and Ps. 119:9 make plain.

That word testifies to the advocacy of Christ, as a result of which the Holy Spirit applies the word to the heart and conscience of the child of God, thus cleansing his ways and sanctifying him daily.

But the three must never be separated. "A threefold cord is not quickly broken." Christ Jesus has borne my sins, and lives in glory to be my heart's loved Object. The Spirit dwells in my body, to be the power of the new life and to guide me into all truth. The word is the medium through which I am enlightened, directed, and cleansed.

In Eph. 5:18-21 it is written: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." Here is the life that is life indeed, lived out in the redeemed on earth. But how am I to be "filled with the Spirit?" Is not this, after all, that very "second blessing" which I have been concerned about? Let Col. 3:16,17 give the answer: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." The one passage is the complement of the other.

To be filled with the Spirit, I must let the word of Christ dwell in me richly. Then will the blessed results spoken of in both epistles be manifest in me.

Nowhere in Scripture is it taught that there is a sudden leap to be taken from carnality to spirituality, or from a life of comparative unconcern as to godliness to one of intense devotion to Christ. On the contrary, increase in piety is ever presented as a growth, which should be as normal and natural as the orderly progression in human life from infancy to full stature and power. In Peter's first epistle he writes:

"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby [unto salvation, R.V.]: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious" (1 Peter 2:1-3). And he again emphasizes the place and importance of that word with a view to growth in spiritual strength when he says, "According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to [or, have in] your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:3-11).

Here is depicted no sudden growth of spirituality acquired in a moment, as a result of some great renunciation, but a steady, sober walk with God, and uninterrupted growth in grace and knowledge through feeding upon the Word, and giving it its proper place in the life.

It is vain to reason that "there can be no true growth until holiness be first obtained by faith." Nowhere does the Bible so teach; and it is self-evident that he who is called upon to lay aside all malice, guile, and similar evil things, has not been delivered from the presence of a corrupt nature. All the New Testament exhortations to godliness are addressed to men of like passions with ourselves, who need to watch and pray lest they enter into temptation, because of the fact that sin still dwells in them, ever ready to assert itself if there be not continued self-judgment.

As another striking example of this, I would have the reader notice the teaching of the apostle Paul in regard to the old and new man, in the epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians. Beginning with Eph. 4:21, he writes: "If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation [or, behavior] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another" (Eph4:21-25). And he follows this up with exhortations against stealing, corrupt communications, grieving the Holy Spirit, and bitterness, wrath, anger, and similar unholy things. How out of place such instruction if he is supposed to be telling the wholly sanctified how to behave! Fancy exhorting a sinless man not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed until the day of redemption!

But there is neither confusion nor incongruity if I see that "the old man" stands for all that I was in my Christless days. That man is now put off. In his place I put on the new man; that is, I am called to manifest the man in Christ.

The companion-passage in Colossians is even more explicit: "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew,...but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:8-11). And upon this he now bases a positive exhortation to put on (as one would put on his garments) "tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering," and a spirit of forgiveness toward all men; while, as a girdle to bind all in place, he counsels "the putting on of love, the uniting bond of peace."

To practice what these several scriptures inculcate will be indeed a higher manifestation of Christian living than we generally see, and this is the only real, practical sanctification.

In closing this series of papers on a subject so generally misapprehended, and concerning which controversy has been common in many quarters for years, I commend all to Him whose approbation alone is of lasting value, and whose grace it is that gives the soul to enjoy in some little measure the preciousness of Him in whom holiness and righteousness have been fully told out for all His own. May He deign to use these faulty pages for the blessing of His people and the glory of His matchless name!

I have written, I trust, with malice toward none and charity toward all, however mistaken some may be as to the line of teaching they endorse. And I gladly bear record to the pious, God-fearing lives of many who profess the "second blessing"; but I have no manner of doubt that their devotedness and godliness spring from a totally different source than that to which they mistakenly ascribe it, namely, to the very thing I have been here inculcating—meditation on the word of God, coupled with a prayerful spirit, thus leading out the heart to Christ Himself. Of this may we all know more until we see Him face to face and be forever wholly sanctified!