AN EXPOSITION OF John 20: 13-23.
By
ROBERT
GOVETT, M.A.
It
is a second point remarkable, that the account of the honour given to
Mary
Magdalene was written for us by John;
to whom, as a son,
Mary had been handed over by our Lord. He
was not deficient in affection for her. But
for the Church’s sake, he, as inspired by
the Holy Spirit, testifies of the honour rendered to Mary Magdalene by
the
risen Jesus. A new
principle of honour,
greatly above that of nature, or the flesh, has come in. This is formally testified
by Paul (2 Cor.
5: 16). It was Mary’s supreme love
to Christ which
seems to have opened to her this honour. Affection
to Christ is the great link: the
flesh is a broken link now, ‘Tis
the Spirit!, That no
flesh should glory in His Presence.’
The
two disciples had gone away back - ‘No more was to be seen! It was of no use to tarry!’ So with ourselves and God’s
written word! ‘All
that can be got from it is got at a
glance we are apt to think: while those who pray and ponder over it
obtain
great and deep accessions of truth and grace. Mary
lingered there in love, as did the
sisters at Lazarus’s tomb. ‘But
her
tears were unbelief and ignorance!’ Nevertheless,
the Lord does not refuse the good because of the evil.
She
looks within. Apparently
it was for the
first time. For she
had merely guessed
before, that the open door betokened the body carried off. She had arrived at the tomb
later than Peter
and John; out of breath, with her precious running. Did
they tell her that the body was not there?
At all events, it
was not the glance of
strong curiosity.
The
same word in the Greek, that has been
noticed before,
describes her look also. There
is a
difference between what she sees, and what was seen by the previous two
disciples. She
beholds two angels,
while they saw only the linen clothes. How
was that? They have
the power of appearing or
disappearing as they please. Their
dress
was white. This has
been often noticed. That
colour is the favourite colour of the
saved in the world to come: not the rainbow-hues of present life. When the soul is perfect
within, small will be
the care of the colour of the vestments without. They
were not dressed in black,
as mourners with us. For they knew their Lord risen, and rejoiced.
‘Two Angels!’ A wonderful
difference now appears between Christ's
humiliation and His commencing exaltation. At
the cross, His executioners divided the
spoil of His clothes. And
two
robbers are crucified with Him;
one on the right hand, and one
on the left. Now
these two angels
are like the cherubs, one at each end of the mercy-seat;
looking down on
the proofs of the great atonement completed. ‘These things the
angels desire to look into.’ Do
you think, reader, that
these angels quarrelled which
was to sit at the head, and which at the feet? I
think that as blessed spirits, they would be
ready in honour to prefer one another. Shall
we not imitate these ministers of
Christ? The little
child in these things
is made our model by the Lord.
How
could it be known, which was the place of our Lord’s head, and which of
His
feet, if the dead-clothes were folded up in one heap? This
proves that the clothes had not been
stirred. The napkin
which had covered
His head lay there still, where the head had rested. The
other end of the linen rollers showed
where the feet had lain. And,
it is
evident, that the ledge where the body had been laid was just fronting
the
door.
The
angels speak to her. They
know her language;
though she knows not theirs. Their
question is a natural one, bespeaking their interest in her. Ours is a world of sorrow,
though few openly
manifest their tears; and though in most cases of woe we are powerless
to
comfort or help.
Her
reply is still as before. She
was
seeking her Lord, for some unknown parties had borne Him away. Here again love and unbelief
mingle. But how
strangely devoid of curiosity she is! Was
it not strange that at that early hour two
men should be in the tomb? Was
it not
strange that they should be apparelled in white, and not in sackcloth
and
ashes? Was it not
strange that they
should be seated in
the tomb, when the body was
there no longer; and they were seemingly only guardians of
grave-clothes? All
this has no effect on her. She
is so overmastered by the feeling of
sadness, that her soul is not free to the play of the lighter
sentiments of our
nature. She is so
absorbed by the dead, that
she cares not for the living.
14-19. " ‘And when she had said this,
she
turned back, and seeth
Jesus standing, and knew not
that it was Jesus. Jesus saith to her, "Woman, why weepest
thou? Whom seekest
thou?" She, supposing it to
be the gardener, saith unto Him - "Sir, if Thou have carried Him away,
tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus
saith
to her, "Mary!" She turned, and saith to Him, "Rabboni"
(that is, "Teacher!"). Jesus saith
to her, "Touch Me not; for I have not yet ascended to My
Father;* but go
to My brethren. and say unto
them, ‘I ascend to My Father, and to your Father; and to My God, and to
your
God.’ "
[* How
strange and contrary to the teaching of the Scriptures, when Christians
believe
the time of death is the same also for resurrection and ascension.]
Not
everyone who turns back from angels,
beholds the Lord
Himself! Her tears
wove a veil, which
prevented her from seeing clearly. The
enquiry the Lord makes of Mary is still the same question of kindly
interest. We need
to learn, what of the many causes of
tears in this vale of tears is affecting any whom we see weeping. And Jesus now speaks as a
man. The thought
strikes her,
that as this is a garden, he is the man who has charge of
it; and that
now, at length, she shall learn who has carried off the corpse. No suspicion of resurrection
has entered her
mind. Jesus has
died, like all others;
His body must
then be passive, like those of all the dead.
But, indeed, great
was the real but
unexpected difference. Adam
was the
first gardener. God planted a garden eastward in
Observe
how her intense love and grief make her insensible to the usual style
of
address. Three times -
to a man whom she never saw before, as she supposed - she asks
respecting Him,
without giving any hint as to the person she meant.
‘If thou have borne Him,
tell me where thou hast laid Him,
and I will bear Him
hence.' To
her there is but
one ‘Him’,
who fills her
soul; and she thinks that all the
world must be as
full of Jesus as she is herself. Is
not
that nature? Her
love is greater than
her strength. Could
she bear away the
body alone? But that
troubles her not!
‘Mary!’
This Shepherd knows His own sheep, and calls them by their names.
Jesus’
reply is but one word, but it recalls her to faith. It
savours slightly of reproach. Did
she not know her Saviour? Did
she not credit His words,
that He would bear Himself away from the tomb in life? Had she not heard, ‘I
am Resurrection and Life’?
No doubt ‘twas the same old
tone with which she was familiar. Her
face was partly averted from Him, but this word makes her start, and
gaze at
the Risen One. Her
reply is but one word
also! When the
heart is full of intense
feeling its words are few, but laden with meaning. Her
former instructor, then, from whom she had
drunk in the truth of salvation, stood before her! The
tomb could not hold Him!
‘But go!
She was not now to abide in the
Saviour’s presence, and converse with Him, but to carry good tidings to
the
cast down. Even so
the Christian is not
always to be in prayer and over the Scripture for himself, but to carry
to
others the message of life. This
is
the day of work. The
hour of rest is
coming, when we shall be evermore with the Lord.
Jesus'
reply is a difficult one to interpret, and many are the meanings
suggested. Why was
she not to touch? Specially,
why not, when very speedily
thereafter the two women companions, 'held Him by
the feet and worshipped Him'.
And
that evening He calls on the
eleven to handle Him, in proof that He was no ghost. From
the word, ‘Touch
Me not’, it seems that on her part there was a movement
forward to
embrace His feet, as in the case of her companions; which our Lord
checked by
these words of His. It
would seem from
what follows, as if our Lord meant that His intercourse with her was
not to be
upon the same footing as before. Else
she would naturally have gathered, as He addressed her by her usual
name, and
she Him by the customary title, that all was henceforward to move on
the same
level as before. Behold
us, then,
restored to each other, never more, to be severed! Now
shall come the
kingdom and the glory! Nay,
there is
that which must precede.
The Father calls for
His Son’s return.
Jesus
was to ascend to His Father, as He had said. That
must first take place ere His dwelling
with us, and ours with
Him.
‘For I am not yet ascended
to My Father!' Why should
Mary not touch Him because of this
non-ascent! It
would seem to imply that
the full intercourse between the Saviour and His saved ones should only
take
place after His ascent thither. Perhaps
this was Mary’s thought, that
every barrier was now
past, and nought but the kingdom was at hand! But
let us notice the point here stated. Jesus,
up to that hour, had not
ascended to His Father. This
is
important, as testifying against the mistake made by many. Many suppose that our Lord
mounted up to His
Father as an unclothed spirit,
between the time of His
death on the cross, and His resurrection. The
Word of God, however, is very distinct
respecting the general truth, that none may present themselves to God
in the
glory, while unclothed of their bodies. God
refuses to accept the naked (Ex. 20: 26; 28:
42; 32: 25).
And this general truth
is here specially authenticated to us by the testimony of our Lord
touching His
own case. If He
did not ascend to
God till after resurrection,
much less has any of the spirits [souls]* of the departed done
so. ‘David is not
ascended to the heavens.’ Not
till all traces of death and the curse are swept away is man fit for
the
presence of God. If
Jesus did not
mount up to God’s heaven as soon as He died, neither do we.
[* The
animating spirit of man ascends to God at the time of death. Better to have said: ‘If He did not
ascend to God till after resurrection,
much less has any disembodied soul
of the departed done so.’
The soul is the person, not the spirit, or the body.]
Mary
is entrusted with a commission to apostles. They
take a new and closer title now. Not
‘My apostles’ but 'brethren'.
Thus the Saviour showed His
grace. Else we might have thought - ‘He is now so greatly exalted, He
will show
us the increased distance between us and Him.’ 'Tis
the first time of His employing the title towards them. Jesus is, as the Risen One,
on a new footing
with regard to them. They
were before ‘disciples’
or even ‘friends’.
But ‘brethren’
is a nearer
title. Jesus gives
them the name by
which He can embrace every [regenerate] believer. While
alive,
The
results of Jesus’ death begin to appear in resurrection. Now is God the Father
of
those who, believe, the Father in Christ, the Son, and the Risen Man of
Righteousness.
God is our God
too. He
will prove His Godhead to us, and to
Abraham, as He did to His Son, by raising us from the dead. For
He is not visibly the
God of Abraham while he is in the tomb.
It is only when Abraham
shall be risen, while Esau and Absalom and the array of sinners remain
in the
tombs, that Jehovah shall be seen to
be the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
Jesus’
resurrection then was beheld by Mary. But
He moves onward in thought and word. Resurrection
is a step towards
ascension. He
was to leave the world of sin and death
that had rejected Him. ‘I ascend.’ By His own power
and activity He was to
ascend. Not as
Elijah - ‘The Lord
will take your Master from your
head to-day,’
Christ's
work was not for himself, but for us. Now
He, having met and paid our debts in righteousness, God is free in
grace to
give us out of all the fulness of Christ. ‘My
Father and your Father.'
Then love
and kindness, then eternal
inheritance are ours. ‘My
God and your God.’
Then Omnipotence,
all-creative, is
engaged on our behalf. Is
God my Father
if I believe in Christ? Then
all is
mine. Not of my
desert, for I am
bankrupt; but according to His gift! And
Christ the True Witness bears record of all my blessing!
‘I am ascending.’ This
was to prepare the disciples for His
approaching severance from them. He
was
going to His Father on high, and the way to it was the
supernatural one of
ascension. The
twelve, then, might
know that was the way in which He
was to take His leave, and thus
they were to understand whither He was gone.
The
Saviour has given to us who believe a standing before God like His own.
He does not say, as
would be natural, ‘I
ascend to our God
and Father.’ No! Even in this His most
gracious testimony to our nearness to Him, and His value for this, we
are yet
to learn that He occupies a nearness to God which we have not. He is with God from
eternity: we, only through
Him, and in time.
19,
20. ‘Now that same day at
evening being the first of the week, when the doors were locked where
the
disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood
in the
midst, and saith unto them, "Peace be unto you." And
when He had said this He showed unto them
His hands and His side. The
disciples,
therefore, rejoiced, when they saw the Lord.’
It
was not all at once that the Saviour manifested Himself to His
assembled
disciples. It was
arranged by the Lord
in His wisdom that the light should break in upon them by degrees, each
discovery preparing the way for the other and fuller ones. This seems
to be the
occasion of which we read in Luke after the return of the two from
Emmaus. Peter was
the only one of the apostles who had
then beheld Him (Luke 24: 33). But
it was
the same day - the first of the week, which we are accustomed to keep
as, the
memorial of the resurrection of our Lord, the foundation of our faith.
Jesus would not
allow a day to go by, before
the proof of that great event should be submitted to the believers in Himself. For
on this
all turned. We do
not keep then the seventh,
day, or ‘the Sabbath’
of the Law; nor do we
rest for the reason assigned in the Law - because God the Creator on
that day
rested from His creation-work. We
do not
rest in fallen creation; but in redemption,
or the new
creation. We rest,
because Christ
rested; and the Father rests in Him, as having completed atonement. Our rest, then, is with God,
on another
day, and for another reason than that
under Law.
‘The same day at evening.’ According to the Law, that
would have been the
beginning of another day. Now a new
computation of time is
come in, which we use.
Jesus,
as we learn from the Acts, was engaged after His resurrection in two
things:
(1) in establishing the proof of His resurrection; and (2) in
instructing them
about the present and future
The
doors were ‘locked’
- not merely ‘shut’. But
though able to keep out foes, they could
not keep out the Son of God. Observe the difference, and contrast
between ‘the disciples’
of Christ, and ‘the Jews’.
‘The Jews’
were no longer God’s disciples. They refused the Son, and they were
left to
their sins, and to their natural hatred against the sons of God, who
had put
the Son of God to death. John
no longer,
though by birth a Jew, reckons himself one of them. The
disciples were still in the world; and
power, both political and natural, was with their foes. But the day is coming
that will alter all that; when disciples will have judgment given to
them, and
reign.
‘Jesus came and stood in the midst.’
John goes on in
giving his proofs that Jesus
Christ is, not two persons, but one. He
comes who is Jesus ‘the
Man’ risen.
But He is also
‘the Lord’.
He is the same
person after resurrection that
He was before it; He carries on the same plan and carries out the same
promises
which He had announced before His death. Men
in general, though friends, must knock at
the locked door, and wait for admittance at the pleasure of those
within. But this is
no longer the case with our Lord. He
enters by a new way because the
properties of His resurrection-body are altered. His was no longer an animal
body, but a
spiritual one. He
was not dependent upon
food and air, and the circulation of the blood. The blood had been
entirely
withdrawn from Him. We
and He, at first,
are composed of ‘flesh and blood,’
But Christ
says after His resurrection, while asserting the reality of His body, ‘A spirit bath not flesh
and bones as ye see Me
have’ (Luke 24: 36). He could come out of the
tomb before the angel rolled
the stone. He could
pass through walls.
He can make Himself
visible or
invisible, like the angels. All
this is the property, we may suppose, of the resurrection-body;
a body
whose life is no longer dependant on blood; and whose vitality cannot,
therefore, be taken away by the shedding of blood. Thus it tells us of
privilege to be enjoyed by ourselves also at the
rising, from the dead. We
are to be ‘equal
unto angels, and to be sons of God, because children of the resurrection.’
He
says ‘Peace’. (1)
Though they had forsaken Him
and fled, He would bear them no ill-will because of it: the offence
should be
forgiven. (2) He brings peace, as supposed to their trouble and sorrow
at the
thought that they had for forever lost Him in death. He
brings peace as the result of pardon. He
tells of peace with God, which could
console them, and take away the fear of the Jews. Who
speaks this? ‘The
Prince of Peace!’
This
peace, is founded on
Jesus' death and resurrection. Hence
he shows the signs of death together
with the proofs of life. He
eats
before them. His
body was not yet
glorified, and that was wise. For
how
could they test clearly a body that shone like the sun? They touched the body as
Jesus bids them to do
in Luke, and as John, in the next paragraph, tells us that Thomas did. To this also John in his
Epistle bears witness,
that they gazed on, and felt with their hands the Word of Life, Who was
from
eternity with the Father (1
John 1.).
As,
then, at Jesus’ death the disciples mourned, so at His resurrection
they
rejoiced. It was
the first fulfilment of
that word, ‘I will see you
again, and your heart shall
rejoice and your joy no man taketh
from you.’
Thus
they are first, by evidences presented to
them, grounded in the truth
of the resurrection, who
are to proclaim it to others.
‘He saith. unto
them,
Peace unto you!' This
was, and is, a common
salutation among Easterns.
It referred to their
standing among men, and
in relation to each other. 'Is
it peace,
Jehu?’ is the
question sent when that captain was
riding furiously towards the palace. And
the answer - 'What hast
thou to do with peace?'
refused the appeal. It
was war; as the
speeding arrow that quivered in the King's heart showed. But now that which was only
before a word of
ceremony, a testimony of one man’s standing towards another, becomes a
reality.
It is peace
towards God,
brought in by the blood of the new covenant, and by the
Priest of God. He
who bore our sins in death
has brought our peace
in resurrection.
We are no
longer at war with God. God
is at peace with us. This
is the first fruit of faith. ‘Being justified by
faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.’
Hence,
He points out to them the wounds whereby our Peace was made. He is the Lamb of the Great
Sacrifice - the ‘Lamb as it had
been slain.’ He
stands before them as the recovered from
the death of crucifixion, the mark of the nails in hands and feet being
still
apparent. But He is
distinguished from
others who were crucified, by that spear-thrust in the side, which John
alone
has recorded. His
body was flesh
still. It
had not been put off
altogether; as Swedenborgians
vainly assert. The
body is an eternal part of the man.
Though it
corrupts and moulders away
whilst it is exposed to the penalty of death, yet as soon as
the power of
life from Christ enters it, it shall be again to the spirit [and soul] no more to be severed.
The
disciples present - as from Luke we learn that more than the ten
apostles were
there - recognized by these marks, that it was Jesus who was before
them; and
they rejoiced. His
words were true. The
grief they had felt at His sad departure
was gone. Man had
done his worst against
Him who is ‘Resurrection and Life’
and lo! He had
survived it. This,
then, presents Him as not Jesus only, or
the mere man, but as ‘the
Lord’,
possessor of all power in Himself, and now by gift of the Father.
21
- 23.
'He said, therefore, to them
again, 'Peace be to you;
as MY Father sent Me, I also send you. And
when He said this, He breathed on them,
and said to them, "Receive ye a holy spirit! Whatsoever sins ye forgive
they are forgiven to them. Whosesoever sins ye retain, they are
retained."’
By
the fall, God’s image was lost. By
the
redemption in Christ and through the Holy Ghost, that is more than
restored,
and a new dominion is here given. It
looks onward to the great day of the [millennial] kingdom to come.
Jesus
again puts on them His ‘Peace’
- a double
portion, designed apparently to belong to disciples as bearers to
others of the
Peace of God. The
twelve, as originally
sent forth by Christ, were to offer peace to any house they entered. If it refused it, their
peace was to return to
them (Matt. 10.),
Shoes
of preparation of the Gospel of peace
are
part of our armour,
provided to enable us to fight the good fight. None
can properly go forth to fight the devil,
but he who has peace with God. None
can
speak of pardon rightly to others, but he who has first found peace
himself.
The
Holy Trinity are all engaged in the great work. The
Father sends the Son; the Son sends the [Holy] Spirit; the
Son and the Holy Spirit send and furnish the disciples for their great
embassy.
This mission of the
disciples was fully
according to the Father’s mind.
Jesus
now sends these His ministers and messengers with the same commission
as His
own. They were to
bear witness to the
Son of God, taking his place of testimony on earth, and possessed of
His power.
We should naturally
have limited this
position to the twelve apostles. But
Scripture does not. Jesus
was not
addressing apostles as such. They
are
called ‘disciples’
only eleven times in
this chapter, which was originally the closing chapter of this Gospel. They are never called in
John’s Gospel by the
official title of ‘apostles’.
Moreover, these
words were spoken to those
present, while Thomas was away. If
these
were words addressed to those officially apostles, and to those only,
then
Thomas had no part in them, and so was not a commissioned apostle.
Jesus
now sends the disciples as His witnesses into the world, even as He
Himself had
been sent by the Father. They
were by
the [Holy] Spirit
to bear witness to the Son of God, as the Son had borne witness to the
Father. He had
previously by Mary Madgalene
given them His standing before God. God
was to them their God and Father, and they were now to testify to the
work of
Christ as giving them this place. And
by
their witness they were to lead others, God’s elect, into the same
blessed
standing.
Jesus
breathes on the assembly. He
was the
second Adam, the risen from the dead, taking the place of the old Adam
before
God. But He was
also the Son of God -
Life and Resurrection. ‘The first Adam was made a living soul,
the last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.’
When the
body of the first Adam had been
moulded by Jehovah out of the dust, He breathed into His nostrils the
breath of
life. But the
disciples are possessed of
a better life, for He Who
inspires now bestows a
spiritual gift.
I
understand those words, ‘Receive
ye a holy spirit’
(the article is not there), to be parallel with the words in Luke
relating to
this scene. ‘Then opened He
their understandings that
they might understand the Scriptures’ (Luke24: 4, 5). It
was a gift of inspiration in relation to
Old Testament Scriptures; and it was by virtue of this inspired
intelligence that Peter acted in the first of Acts, according as the
Psalm
directs - that another apostle should be chosen in the place of Judas. It did not make needless the
descent of the
Holy Ghost at Pentecost, of which our Lord in this Gospel had
abundantly,
testified, as the near hope of the disciples.
There
is first (1) the
sign, and then (2) its significance.
Breath
is the sign of life. Here
it is not
needed for Christ, but imparted to others. As
the breath comes forth from the breast, so
this spirit from Christ. Jesus
is
possessed of the Spirit after, as well as before, His resurrection.
But
this inbreathing of the Spirit was to be followed by peculiar power and
privilege. The words which follow are full of difficulty.
How,
then, are we to understand the difficult speech of our Lord concerning
the
disciples’ forgiving or not forgiving sin?
There
are two main views
about them.
1. That
they are spoken concerning bishops
and persons of authority in the church, possessed
by virtue of their office,
of this special power. Against
this we may set the decisive Scripture
plea that the word is addressed, not
to disciples of a
special and peculiar class, but to ‘disciples’
in general. We may
add, that bishops and
‘presbyters’ (commonly called ‘priests’
) are not the
same as apostles. So
that if this word belongs to apostles
alone, then, as they have now no successors, the privilege
has ceased.
2. But
there is another view which empties the words of their meaning, as the
other
restricts them beyond God’s sense. According to this, the forgiving of
sins is
only the testimony of the preacher,
proclaiming under the Gospel the general terms according to which sins
can be
forgiven or not. It is the
Evangelist testifying to the world,
that the sins of all who repent and accept the Gospel are forgiven;
while ‘he that believeth not
shall be damned’.
3.
That certainly is
not the sense. There are two kinds of forgiveness;
or, at any rate, two divisions of pardon
differently administered. There
is the preaching of the Gospel of God’s
grace: the testimony that whoever believes receives the pardon of sin. Some accept this testimony
of God, and are
forgiven by Him. Then the power here granted begins to come
into play. The
disciples admit believers to their
fellowship, as being the communion of those pardoned by God. Their sins forgiven by God
are owned by
disciples also to be forgiven. The
testimony of God is confirmed by the testimony of the sons of God. The
admitted
have a second reason for believing their forgiveness by God.
But offences
arise among those so admitted to the Church. Some
offend against those words of the Lord
Jesus, which require a putting out of offenders from the assembly of
the
pardoned. The disciples agree
to put out the
offender, because of the offence proved. Then
that his sin is retained. The
general previous forgiveness of God is not
done away. That
rested on God’s
forgiveness, and the elect one is still a son of God. But until he is restored by
the disciples,
that sin is imputed to him. He
is put
out of the church; put back into the world.
The
history of the Acts gives us examples. (1) Ananias
and his wife offend against the omniscience of the Spirit of God. They were numbered among the
disciples; but this
special offence brings them under the power and judgment of Peter, who
retains
the offences; and they are cut off.
(2)
Among those admitted to fellowship at
(3)
Of retaining sins we have a third example, in Paul’s delivering over to
Satan, Hymenaeus and
Alexander, because of their leaving the faith
of Christ, and then blaspheming it. So,
in regard of the world’s sins, we have the smiting of Barjesus,
and the shaking off the dust of the feet against refusers.
The ‘forgiving’
here answers to the ‘loosing’ in Matt.
16. and 18., and the ‘binding’ there answers
to the ‘retaining’
here. In Matthew we
have two views of
the same power; in Matt.
16. as related to Peter, and the
other apostles, virtually. In Matt.
18. it
is a power made over to the assembly of believers.
While,
then, it is not said - ‘None are forgiven but those
whom you forgive’ - so on the other hand, it is
not merely the general
statement of forgiveness as applicable to certain descriptions of
persons; but
it has a particular application to particular individuals. And so great is the
authority and the efficacy that is made over to disciples hereby, that
it is
called not ‘power to forgive’, but forgiveness.
Under the
Old Testament there was a year
of remission of debts. Now
its reality
is come.
The
Corinthian offender acknowledges his offence; thereupon the
apostle and the disciples forgive his sin ‘in the person of Christ’ (2
Cor. 2). The
offence pardoned
below is pardoned above; and the offender is restored to his place
among the
disciples.
"But do you not open a wide door to
mischief thus? There
are assemblies of
believers where some are put out wrongly - as suppose, for being
immersed
according to Christ’s command. Is the
One so put out
guilty of sin? and is
his sin unforgiven
by Christ? so that it
will stand against his partaking
of reward in the day to come?”
By no means! Such exclusion
would not be according to, the spirit breathed into the disciples, but
according to the flesh. Such rejection, as being
against Christ’s written words also would tell, not against him who was
acting
in obedience to Christ, but against themselves, who
were disobeying
Him. It
would tell against their own
acceptance and reward by Christ
at His coming.
This is a
point of the utmost moment, which
I would urge on all ‘Exclusives’. Jesus says, ‘With the same measure you measure, it
shall be measured unto
you again.’
If so, then Jesus must at last
speak to such offenders some such word as this: 'You unjustly
shut out from
their Lord's table those whom you owned
to be sons of God; on Me
then it devolves, to shut you out from sitting down with Abraham,
Isaac, and
Jacob in the kingdom of God.'
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