By
G. H. LANG
Mr.
Hudson Taylor and Mr. R. C. Chapman held the view that sharing in the first
resurrection and the millennial glories of the Lamb to which that resurrection
introduces, is a privilege possible of forfeiture by the believer.
As it seems not to be generally known that these great servants of God so
taught, it may be well for the proofs to be given.
In
the Appendix to his small work on the Song of Songs entitled Union and Communion
(ed. 5, p. 83), Mr. Hudson Taylor wrote of such as "if saved, are only half-saved: who are for the present more
concerned about the things of this world than the things of God. To
advance their own interests, to secure their own comfort, concerns them more
than to be in all things pleasing to the Lord. They may
form part of that great company spoken of in Rev. 7: 9-17, who come out of the
great tribulation, but they will not form part of the 144,000, ‘the firstfruits unto God, and to
the Lamb’ (Rev. 14: 1-5). They have forgotten the warning of our Lord in Luke 21:
34-36; and hence they are not accounted worthy to escape all these things that
shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. They have not, with Paul, counted ‘all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
the Lord’, and hence they do not ‘attain unto’ that resurrection from among the
dead, which Paul felt he might miss, but aimed to attain unto.
"We wish to place on record our solemn conviction that not
all who are Christians, or think themselves to be such, will attain to that
resurrection of which St. Paul speaks in Phil.
3: 11, or will thus meet the Lord in the air. Unto those who by lives of consecration manifest that
they are not of the world, but are looking for Him, ‘He will appear without sin unto salvation.’" This specially emphasized testimony
leaves no doubt as to Mr. Hudson Taylor’s belief as to the teaching of
Scripture.
As
regards Mr. Robert Chapman, about the year 1896 he sent out to leading teachers
in his own spheres, the assemblies of Open Brethren, as series of Suggestive
Questions. Number 10 includes the following: "Are not the redeemed in Revelation
4. and 5. the same with those in chapter 20:
4, ‘Thrones and they that sat upon them’?
(verse 5.) ‘This is the
first resurrection.’ Is it not a
resurrection of firstfruits"?
Now in the essential nature of the case firstfruits
are but a portion of the whole harvest, and so the question proceeds: "And the rest of the dead (in the same verse) do they not include all the family
of God? Not the wicked dead only. Hence, in verse 12, ‘Another book is opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their
works’ (verse 15). ‘And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire.’"
As
regards this last passage, the exact rendering in the Revised Version, "if any was not
found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire,"
by its negative form, strongly supports the view Mr. Chapman took of this
passage. If it should be said of the crowd at a platform barrier that, If
any was found not to have a ticket he was refused admittance, who
would dream of suggesting the meaning that no one of all who were
there had a ticket, or was allowed to pass?
The
questions were written out for Mr. Chapman by one who lived with him in his
early years, and so was well acquainted with his views, and in reply to an
inquiry upon question 10, he wrote to me as follows, kindly giving permission
for his statement to be used. He said: - "It was Mr. Chapman’s desire that, by so walking with God and by obedience
to His Word in all things, he might not shut
himself out from the honour of reigning with Christ. He saw no
authority from the Scripture for saying that all the children of God would.
Rev. 20: 4, ‘and they sat upon them’
Mr, Chapman considered were distinguished persons,
not all saints." Now from verses 4 and 6 of
Rev. 20., "they
lived and reigned" and "Blessed and
holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection ... they shall reign," it is clear that all who rise
in the first resurrection do reign, from which it certainly follows that
such as are not accounted worthy to reign do not rise at that time.
Who would say to what large degree this conscience-quickening belief
contributed to the blamelessness of Mr. Chapman’s beautiful life? That
such notable saints and God-used workers held this view should at least command
for it toleration and patient investigation. If it is the real meaning of
Scripture it must be perilous to neglect it, and deeply injurious to assert the
opposite.
The
Holy Spirit through Paul strongly emphasizes the thought that the first
Resurrection must be won, by the words "if by any
means I may attain unto (or arrive at) the resurrection," etc. On this "if by any means" Ellicott says: - "The idea of an attempt is conveyed, which
may or may not be successful." Lightfoot remarks: "The
Apostle states not a positive assurance but a modest hope."
Alford says of the expression: "It is used when
an end is proposed, but failure is presumed to be possible."
The New Testament itself puts the force of Paul’s words beyond doubt by
using the exact expression in a historical narrative where the sense is
unmistakable (Acts 27: 12): "The more part advised to put to sea thence, if by any
means they could reach Phoenix", which we know they
did not reach.
The
attempt to make these words mean that Paul, now nearing the end of his long and
wonderful career, was still only endeavouring to teach that moral union with
Christ of which long before he had written to the Romans (ch. 6)
is unworthy of his sanctified life, for without having already known that
union, he could not possibly have lived as he had done. Moreover, it is
not sound practical theology. Freedom
from enslavement to sin is to be gained only by an act of faith,
by which the believer accepts once for all that which God says
took place in the past at the Cross: "your old man
was crucified"; whereas Paul is speaking of a goal to be reached
in the future by a course of practical fellowship with Christ in His
sufferings, by which means the believer becomes more and more outwardly
conformed to the death of his Lord. The present participle (becoming
conformed) carries clearly this progressive sense. Moreover, only one
already by faith in the moral power of Christ’s resurrection is able to endure
a perpetual sharing of His sufferings. Romans 6. Must be
first the experience before Philippians 3.
can begin to be known experimentally. "Any reference here to a merely ethical resurrection is
wholly out of the question," says Ellicott, when referring the
passage to the First Resurrection. The application of this passage to the
resurrection of the body has ample support. It was the view of Alford,
Lightfoot, Bengel, Wordsworth, Bloomfield,
Thus
the goal, to reach which Paul was straining every fibre was the "out-resurrection". Hence for the
Thessalonians he prayed that "our God would count
you worthy of your calling": that is, not to salvation from hell,
but "ye should walk worthily of God who calleth you into
His own kingdom and glory" (2
Thess. 1: 11, 12; 1 Thess.
2: 12). If this calling is assured to everyone justified in
Christ, solely on the ground of His righteousness imputed to the believer, why
should Paul need to pray that God would count them worthy, for in that case
they were already worthy? Our prayers add nothing to the justification of
fellow-believers, but they do help them to walk godly and worthily and so to
attain to the recompense of thus living.
It
has been generally taught that, whereas eternal life is a "free gift" (Rom. 6:
23), that is, free of conditions, as well as of purchase-price, rewards
in the [millennial]
Kingdom may be lost and must be won. It is no more than an extension of
this undeniable principle that the millennial kingdom is itself a reward and
that attaining it is subject to the same rule. And by as much as the
reward is made more magnificent the incentive to attain to it by grace becomes
the more regnant, and the pursuit of holiness the more urgent. The
Christian athlete will cry: "Not that I have
already obtained (the prize) or am already made
perfect; but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold of that for which I was
laid hold of by Christ Jesus" (Phil.
3; 12).
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