THE CHRISTIAN HOPE AND THE PRESENT POSSESSION
A type of religious effort has become prevalent to-day which is directed chiefly to the present life; the improvement of worldly conditions is often regarded as the chief end of man. All such tendencies are strikingly at variance with apostolic Christianity. The apostolic Church was intensely other-worldly. The chief gift that the apostles offered was not a better and more comfortable life in this world, but an entrance into heaven.
1. THE END OF THE WORLD
Only the great outlines of the events connected with the end of the world are revealed in the New Testament. Minute details cannot be discovered except by an excessively literal method of interpretation, which is not really in accord with the meaning of the apostolic writers. Some have supposed, for example, that there are to be two resurrections, first a resurrection of the Christian dead and long afterwards a resurrection of other men; expectation of a thousand-year reign of Christ upon earth has been widely prevalent. Such beliefs are not to be lightly rejected, since they are based upon an interpretation of certain New Testament passages which is not altogether devoid of plausibility; but on the whole they are at least doubtful in view of other passages, and especially in view of the true nature of prophecy. God has revealed, not details to satisfy our curiosity, but certain basal facts which should determine our lives.
Those basal facts, connected with the end of the world, are a second coming of Christ, a resurrection of the dead, a final judgment, an eternity of punishment for the wicked and of blessing for those who have trusted in Christ. It is not maintained that these facts stand absolutely alone; certainly they are fully explained, at least in their spiritual significance; but the devout Bible-reader should be cautious about his interpretation of details.
2. FEAR AND JOY
The practical effect of the apostolic teaching about the end of the world should be a combination of earnestness with joy. A man who lives under the expectation of meeting Christ as Judge will desert the worldly standard of values for a higher standard. He will rate happiness and worldly splendor lower, in order to place the supreme emphasis upon goodness. The difference between evil and good, between sin and holiness, is not a trifle, not a thing of merely relative importance, as many men regard it; it enters deep into the constitution of the universe, it is the question of really eternal moment. Again and again, in the New Testament, the thought of Christ's coming and of the judgment which he will hold is made the supreme motive to a pure and holy life. The apostolic example may well be borne in mind. When we are tempted to commit a mean or dishonest or unclean act, when unholy thoughts crowd in upon us like a noisome flood, we cannot do better than think of the day when we shall stand in the presence of the pure and holy Judge.
On the other hand, the thought of Christ's coming is to the believer the source of inexpressible joy. Christ has saved us from a terrible abyss. Our joy in salvation is in proportion to our dread of the destruction from which we have been saved. To the truly penitent man, the thought of the righteous God is full of terror. God is holy; we would sometimes endeavor vainly to shrink from his presence. Yet such a God has stretched out his hand to save—there is the wonder of the gospel—and if we trust in the Saviour the last great day need cause no fear. We are lost in sin, but God looks not upon us but upon him who died to save us. "Salvation" to the apostolic Church meant "rescue," rescue from the just and awful judgment of God.
3. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE
The time of that judgment has not been revealed, but so far as any offer of repentance is concerned the time comes to every man at death. One question of detail cannot altogether be ignored. What did the apostles teach about the condition of the believer between death and the final resurrection? Upon this subject, the New Testament says very little, but it becomes clear at least that the believer, even when absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord, II Cor. 5:8, and that to die is to be with Christ. Phil. 1:23. On the whole, no better statement of the apostolic teaching about the "intermediate state" can be formulated than that which is contained in the Shorter Catechism: "The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection." The hope of an immediate entrance into bliss at the time of death should not be allowed, however, to obscure the importance of the resurrection. The resurrection of the body will be necessary to "the full enjoying of God to all eternity."
4. THE FINAL BLESSEDNESS
That enjoying of God is no mere selfish pleasure; it means first of all a triumph of holiness. Every last vestige of evil will be removed. No taint of sin will separate the redeemed creature from his God. Service will be free and joyous. The consummation, moreover, will concern not merely individuals, but the race; no mere expectation of the personal immortality of individuals begins to do justice to the apostolic teaching. The ultimate end, indeed, is not our own enjoyment, but the glory of God. Some carnal, materialistic conceptions of the future age would really remove God from his own heaven, but such is not the teaching of the New Testament. God will be all and in all; only in his glory is to be found the true glory of a redeemed race. The power of loving God is the highest joy that heaven contains.
5. THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT
The present age, according to the New Testament, is a time of waiting and striving; it is related to the future glory as a battle is related to the subsequent victory. Satisfaction with the present life, even as it is led by the best of Christians, would to the apostles have been abhorrent; the Christian is still far from perfect. A prime condition of progress is a divine discontent. Jesus pronounced a blessing upon them that "hunger and thirst after righteousness." Eternal things to us are unseen; they can be discovered only by the eye of faith; we long for a time when hope will be supplanted by sight. Nevertheless, there is no room for despondency; the blessed time is surely coming.
Its coming is rendered certain by the presence, here and now, of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit may be relied upon to prepare us, both in soul and in body, for the glory of heaven.
(1) The Spirit in the Old Testament and in the Life of Jesus.—The Spirit of God was mentioned even in the Old Testament. At the beginning he "moved upon the face of the waters," Gen. 1:2; he was the source of the mighty deeds of heroes and of the prophets' inspired words. In the life and teaching of Jesus, however, the Spirit was far more fully revealed than he had ever been revealed before. He was the source of Jesus' human nature, Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35; he descended upon the newly proclaimed Messiah, Matt. 3:16, and was operative in all the earthly ministry of the Lord.
(2) The Spirit in the Church.—For the disciples, however, the full glory of the Spirit's presence was manifested only after Jesus himself had been taken up into heaven; the present age, from Pentecost to the second coming of the Lord, is peculiarly the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Discontent with the Church's imperfections and dismay at her many adversaries should never cause us to lose confidence in the work that is being done by the Spirit of God. It was expedient that Jesus should go away; through the other "Comforter" whom he has sent, he manifests himself even more gloriously than he did to the disciples in Galilee.
(3) The Nature of the Spirit.—The apostles never discuss the nature of the Holy Spirit in any thoroughly systematic way. But two great facts are really presupposed in the whole New Testament. In the first place, the Holy Spirit is God, and in the second place he is a person distinct from the Father and from the Son. The divinity of the Spirit appears, for example, in I Cor. 2:11. The point of that verse is that the Spirit is as closely related to God as the human spirit is to a man. "For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God." The distinct personality of the Spirit appears with special clearness in Rom. 8:26, 27. There the Spirit is represented as making intercession with him "that searcheth the hearts"; the one who intercedes is personally distinct from him before whom he makes intercession. Even more convincing, perhaps, is the great promise of Christ in John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15, where the other "Comforter" is spoken of in clearly personal terms and is distinguished both from the Father and from the Son. Personal distinctness, however, is not inconsistent with a perfect unity of nature. What the Spirit does the Son and the Father do; when the other Comforter comes to the Church, Christ himself comes. The doctrine of the "Trinity" is a profound mystery, but its mysteriousness is no obstacle to the acceptance of its truth. Mystery in the depths of God's nature is surely to be expected. This mystery, taught by the pen of inspired writers, has brought salvation and peace into the lives of men. Distinctly Trinitarian passages, such as Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14, are merely the summation of the New Testament teaching about God, and that teaching has worked itself out in unspeakable blessing in the life of the Church.
(4) The Work of the Spirit.—A complete summary of the belief of the apostolic Church about the work of the Holy Spirit would be impossible in one brief lesson. The Christian life is begun by the Spirit, and continued by his beneficent power. Conversion, according to Jesus and his apostles, is only the manward aspect of a profound change in the depths of the soul. That change is "regeneration," a new birth. Christian experience is no mere improvement of existing conditions, but the entrance of something entirely new. Man is not merely sick in trespasses and sins, but "dead"; only a new birth will bring life. That new birth is a mysterious, creative act of the Spirit of God. John 3:3-8.
But the Spirit does not leave those whom he has regenerated to walk alone; he dwells in them and enables them to overcome sin. The motive of his work is love. He is no blind force, but a loving Person; the Christian can enjoy a real communion with him as with the Father and the Son. In the presence of the Spirit we have communion with God; the Persons of the Godhead are united in a manner far beyond all human analogies. There is no imperfect medium separating us from the divine presence; by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit we come into vital contact with the living God.
The Spirit is the ground and cause of Christian freedom. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." II Cor. 3:17. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Rom. 8:14, 15. This liberty that the Spirit brings is, however, not a liberty to sin; it is liberation from sin. The body of the Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit; in that temple only purity is in place. The inward power of the Holy Spirit in the heart is more powerful than the law; if a man yields to that power he will overcome the flesh; the law of God is fulfilled by those "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
In the Library.—Vos, "The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church." Crane, "The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Holy Spirit." Swete, "The Holy Spirit in the New Testament." Thomas, "The Holy Spirit of God."