"One New Man"

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 4 - Life in Christ

"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4).

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1:12).

The matter that is before us is that of Life in Christ. I do not know how far we shall get, but this gospel by John is an unfolding of that great truth and reality of Life in Christ, an unfolding of its nature and its stages chapter by chapter, or part by part in the gospel, being a progressive unfolding of this Life as it is in Christ.

Son of God and Son of Man

There is one thing which is behind this and basic to it which we should note, and by which we shall be helped in noting. It is the fact that the Lord Jesus is presented in this gospel throughout in a wonderfully balanced way in His two titles. Pre-eminently, of course, this is the gospel of the Son of God. John opens with that Divine side: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And he closes his gospel with that note - "These (things) are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (John 20:31). And throughout pre-eminently John, or the Holy Spirit through John, was seeking to keep that Divine side of Christ's Person in view with that title - the Son of God.

But it is significant and full of meaning that, even in such a gospel with such an intention and purpose, the other title of the Lord Jesus occurs so frequently; that in John's gospel, the gospel of the Son of God, He is so frequently mentioned as the Son of Man. And so often He uses that title of Himself. And the significance seems to be this - the Lord Jesus claiming His Divine Sonship, His union with the Father, His Deity and His Divinity, in effect says, "While I am that, I, as the Son of God, am Son of Man. In Me, in My Person, I have brought God and man together. In My one Person man and God have been united!" He Himself represents that union. On the one side, His relationship to God; on the other side His relationship to man. On the one side, His Deity and Divinity, on the other side His racial relationship; and it is in that significance, the significance of His Person in that way, that we find the meaning of this whole gospel, indeed the meaning of the full revelation of God to us. For what issues is that in Christ, not in ourselves, but in Christ, we are brought into union with God and God is brought into union with us. We are not brought into the Deity of Christ; but I am not going to stay to discuss or explain that. I simply point out that here, throughout this gospel, these two titles run together alongside of each other, and that is a matter of basic value to all that is here, and we shall see as we go on what that means.

Now, we get this presentation of John 1. The first chapter, or the first section of the gospel as mainly in what is chapter 1 in the arrangement, is comprehensive. It presents the Son, firstly as to His eternity, and secondly as to His incarnation. "The Word was God" (John 1:1). "The Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us" (John 1:14). And after that comprehensive presentation of the Son, the Divine statement of John 1:4,12: "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men"; "But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God." The breaking up and presenting of this statement in its parts follows after that Divine statement.

An interesting fact by the way, is that there is a Jewish background to the whole. Everything here is taking place in Judea. In John the Lord Jesus only goes out of Judea when He is compelled to, and this Jewish setting of everything in John carries its own meaning and implications.

Life in Christ

In the first place, the contrast and the clash which is found between Him and Judah and Jewry clearly says that all now is in a living Person and no longer in a religious system. That is the meaning of the clash, that is the meaning of His coming into Judea, that is the meaning of all this taking place in Judea. It is the conflict between Christ and the religious system as there encamped and established.

And it says this further: the very best that is known among men in a religious way, of a religious kind (for undoubtedly Judaism was the best among men or religious orders) falls far short of the very least of what is heavenly.

Here is, on the one hand, Judaism in its citadel, at its very heart, in its capital; its highest and fullest development. And here is the Son of God in the midst of it and they are poles asunder. There is such a gap between them that there is no going to and fro. You find that right at the outset, as we shall see in a moment, with one of the representatives, a true representative of Judaism - Nicodemus, a ripe fruit of Judaism, a full development of Judaism, a son of Israel.

The Lord Jesus finds no bridge across which Nicodemus can pass to Him or across which He can pass to Nicodemus. He immediately states: "We belong to two different realms and there is no passing between". The highest and best known among men religiously is far from the very beginnings of what is heavenly. That provides the setting for this whole matter of Life in Christ. The highest and best, but no Life, not this Life. Christ is outside of that, far removed from that. Everything that follows just bears that out. Seeing that that is so, let us go on with this analysis which is given us of the matter of Life in Christ.

A New Beginning

We come at once to the first part which is contained in John 3. That chapter sums up the whole matter of Life in Christ in one way. It says this quite simply and emphatically, although it covers a lot of ground, that Life in Christ is entirely a matter of a new beginning.

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him". Jesus said unto him, "It is very interesting, Nicodemus, I am glad that you are getting some light; let us sit down and discuss it and let us try and get further in this matter...". No, He said nothing like that. He cut right across Nicodemus and said, "You must be born again, born anew, born from above. Truly, truly, I say unto you; verily, verily, most certainly I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God".

Life in Christ is not a carry-over, is not a development, is not a religious evolution, or any other kind of evolution. Life in Christ is a new beginning, and in order to emphasise that, the Lord Jesus takes Nicodemus back into his national history a long way and reminds him of a certain incident which took place when the life of the whole nation was at the point of destruction, when death was rampant, multitudes being stricken down and the whole nation's life was threatened. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up" (v. 14). The Son of Man lifted up like the serpent. That makes things very utter.

May I pause here for a parenthesis to say this. You and I may not personally need this word for ourselves; perhaps in reality we are in the good of this. We may not need a word here on the new birth. We may not need a word on Life in Christ for ourselves, but we are living in times when it is very necessary for us to have our understanding made very sure and clear on these matters.

May I say this to our young people in particular who will meet afresh in the world that which is the most positive contradiction of what we are saying, to what is here. It is everywhere. It is what has come to be called or known as humanism, that is, that it is in man to be his own saviour, his own sanctifier. It is in him if only he will apply himself, if only he will give himself up and go deep down enough into his own nature and put himself to the rigorous application of developing what is there. It is all there. Good is in him, he is a wonderful being full of great possibilities, such possibilities as even eventually to make a very god of him!

Not many of you here, perhaps, are deceived by that, but it is very subtle, and do you know that some of the most anti-Christian cults produce the nicest type of people that you can meet? They are most definitely anti-Christian. They call themselves Christian but they are anti-Christian and they produce a delightful type of person, seemingly more Christian than the out-and-out evangelicals, very nice people indeed. They believe this doctrine, they hold this doctrine that it is all in man. He is a wonderfully created being with tremendous potentialities and hidden resources; if only you can get at them and develop them and bring them out, you soon make man a very god.

You are going to meet that, and when you meet it in practical life, while you would not accept the doctrine if you have been rightly grounded in the Word of God, it is very difficult to meet that in a practical way - the nice people who put to shame many devoted Christians by their kindness and generosity and so on. Do not think that antichrist is necessarily something which is obviously satanic, with horns and pitchfork, fire and flames and smoke. No; he is an angel of light, something very beautiful, very attractive.

The Lord Jesus goes right to the root of this whole matter when He says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up."

He must be put in the place of the serpent, in the capacity of the serpent, lifted up and on that Cross like the serpent. That is horrible, unthinkable, awful. You say that sounds blasphemous, but here He said it.

Paul, in whom the history of Israel was so deeply and fully rooted, seeking to counter the subtle and persistent pursuit of Judaism on the heels of every convert to Christ, explains exactly what the Lord Jesus meant in John by the serpent, He being in the place and likeness of the serpent on the Cross, when he said, "He was made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13) or, "in our place". We know the serpent was cursed at the beginning, we know the serpent lies under the eternal curse of God, but how does he come in here with the Son of Man? What does this mean, this Son of Man?

We have said it is His coming into racial union with man, His coming into flesh and blood, His allying Himself with us in incarnation. For what purpose? That in His Cross, embracing, encompassing us, including us, He might as us pass into that curse of God and suffer that curse. He turned to face the veiled face of God in an eternal moment of darkness and horror. That is turning away from the serpent, that is turning away from us. He is as we on that cross. Satan and the human race had become one in principle, one in life. The serpent had, so to speak, bitten his venom into the very bloodstream of the race in Adam. In the very constitution of man deep down there is enmity to God. In fact, he is enmity to God - that is how the Word puts it (Rom. 8:7). It does not say there is enmity; he is enmity.

These very nice people have only got to be put to the test and you will find it is there. And we know it more or less, that in ourselves under stress, under pressure, under strain, under trial, in fiery ordeal, it is there always ready to express itself - enmity towards God, questioning, doubting God. Every child of God knows that.

Have you never for one moment had a doubt or a question about God in your heart? Have you never for an instant had a shadow across your horizon where God is concerned as to His love, kindness, and goodness, wisdom, faithfulness, as to whether He is right? Well, I covet your faith if that is so. But I would venture to say there is no one here who has never had the slightest suggestion of a shadow between them and the Lord, as to the Lord, when they have been put to it. It is there, and that is the poison of the serpent in our very veins and you cannot divide between the two. You cannot take the poison out. You have to get rid of man and bring another Man in.

So He becomes a curse for us who, in our union with Satan, are under the curse that Satan is under. Yes, man lies under that curse. The whole creation has been subjected to vanity and vanity is the mark of the curse. "Vanity" simply means that nothing can come through to the realisation of its original purpose. It is rendered incapable of realising its primary destiny. The curse lies upon it, a ban lies upon it. Thank God, Satan is cursed. It is an awful thing to think that man has come into that by his complicity with Satan.

But here is the glory, that another Man has come who has entered right into that fully and utterly and not only taken the curse, but been made a curse and swept out of God's sight for us. The Lord says, "Nicodemus, you are a very good man as the world counts goodness, a very religious man, a very intellectual man, but that is where you are; Israel is as much there as anyone. That is where you are - under the curse. It has to go out to die. It is an altogether new thing; not putting new wine into old wineskins, not patching up the old. Life in Christ is something completely new. It is different, it is fresh, it is another thing. You must be born anew, born from above."

I feel it is very necessary for us, and especially for our young people going out into the world in these times, to be very clear on this matter of what the Word of God says here and what it is to be a Christian. There is no carry-over, there is no continuity. It is an end, a finish, a going out, a death, and then a new beginning. That is where we begin in the matter of Life in Christ. It is a new beginning. It is all new. Again Paul explains, "Our old man is crucified with Him." We "were baptized into His death... that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:6,3,4,).

Inward Union with God

We pass on to the next step in John 4. It is another phase, another stage in this matter. You know what is taking place in John 4. It is the interview, the talk, between Christ and the woman in Samaria. The matter of Life in Christ is carried this step further, in that it is shown to be not only a new thing, but the nature of that new thing: it is inward union with God. You notice the emphasis that the Lord placed upon this matter of Life represented by the water is: "It shall be in you." "It shall be in him." It is an inward union with God.

Now, that is intimated by the way in which the discussion develops. Of course, in the first place, there on the outward circle of things is the matter of life, that is, as to the world. The woman is a woman of the world in the first place and very much so as Christ drags her situation out into the light. And she is seeking life at the springs of this world, at the wells, the cisterns, of this world. She is a woman who is out for life. She has sought life in this world's things. It is soon made clear that she has not found it, she is a disappointed woman, as far as she has gone and deeply as she had gone; she has not found Life.

Then at that point she seems suddenly to recognise that this is a religious man that is talking to her, and she seems to jump to the conclusion that He is not just talking about natural life, natural water. He is talking about something else and He is a Jew, quite evidently, and a religious man, and so she swings over at once with one bound. She comes over from the natural to the religious. It is interesting how that happens. It happens very often.

The other day I was talking to an officer in charge of a Corvette. We were talking about things, the war, the world situation, and of course he could talk about that, and then the state of things and the cause for it all, and all he had to say was just what a man of the world had to say and nothing beyond. But then I put in something that was not of the world about this thing. I said, "But don't you think that it will always go on like this, however men are wanting a new order and world, until something has happened in man himself? Don't you think it is man's heart that is the root of the trouble?" And immediately he was the most religious man, he could talk about religion as much as anybody, talk about the churches. It is like that, and that is what this woman did.

She recognised a religious man and she could talk about religion as well. So she said, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." She could talk about religion, temples, worship, Jerusalem, Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan temple. "The temple is the place where men meet God." Then the Lord Jesus broke in again - "Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father... But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth" (v. 21,23).

And that worshipping in spirit is all of a piece with this - "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water". It is something inside now, not outside. Union with God is not external in a temple here or there. It has nothing to do with an outward order and system of things. Life is a matter of union with God in an inward way and the hour is now come for that.

And how has it come? "I am here," He says in effect, "and when I give Life within, and the Life is in Me, 'in Him was life' and I am the Life - when I become resident as the Life within, in Me, in My very Person, in what I am, Son of God and Son of Man, you will find your union with God, your fellowship with God. You will not find it in the world, you will not find it in religion, you will find it in Me." Life is an inward union with God in Christ.

Well, I trust all of us know that in experience, but let us remember and always keep it in view, because there are multitudes today who think that acceptance, salvation, standing, and their eternal wellbeing is a matter of their going to church, observing the religious ordinances; being very faithful in acknowledging God in these ways. Oh, it is not that or anything like that. It is something very much deeper than that. It is all a matter now, not of this church or that, this ordinance or that, this place or that, it is nothing of that at all. It is inward union with God by Christ indwelling.

Subjection to, and Dependence on, the Father

The next is in John 5:17-20: "But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only brake the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God". This section up to verse 30 is an important section, and it is but a development and analysing of this one thing - Life in Christ, for here Life in Christ is shown to be a matter of complete subjection to God as Father, and there is a very big history lying behind that.

You notice how in this section the question of Life comes up. "The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself: and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is a son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. I can of Myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge" (v. 25-30).

Life and death. The whole history that lies behind this part is that when Adam decided to take the direction of his life into his own hands, to proceed by a self-directing principle, a self-realisation law, and no longer to be subject to God, then Adam died and death came in on the whole race. Adam was first of all placed on the basis of complete subjection and obedience to God. If he had stayed there he would have lived and he would have come through to that life which he did not possess, but, in his probation, in the time of his test, he decided to take his life into his own hands, to direct his own course, to choose his own way, to draw upon his own resources, to realise his destiny out from himself. Instead of having his sufficiency and seat in God, he was going to have it in himself. That was what Satan suggested and what Adam accepted: "You yourself can be as God. Why be in the place of dependence, why not be in the place where you have it in yourself?" And we know quite well that that is the history of the race.

And here the Lord Jesus in this chapter, the Son of God and Son of Man, the two brought together, this One says in repetition, "The Son can do nothing of Himself - I can of Myself do nothing and that is a matter of Life and death. Because of that, and because I do not revolt against that, I do not object to that, but I gladly, willingly, whole-heartedly embrace that, I accept a life of dependence upon My Father and I am glad to receive everything from Him and not have it in Myself. I am glad that every movement of Mine is dictated by Him, to be in this place of subjection and dependence is My delight. Because of that, 'The Father loves the Son... and gave Him authority to execute judgment'... As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He will". It is Life in Christ on the basis of subjection to the Father, having everything out from God, and that is something which works out in our experience.

We know quite well that every bit and every instance of self-will brings spiritual arrest; every bit of self-strength interferes with the Life of the Spirit; every failure to seek the Lord's mind about things means trouble. We know it. In a thousand different ways it works out. But we know that it is Life to walk in fellowship with God and to receive our direction from Him, to have our well-spring in Him. It is not easy to the flesh to be subject and obedient, but it is a living way for the Spirit. This is a law of spiritual life.

Well, you know it is true in experience. Any kind, any measure, any form of self-sufficiency, self-direction, self-will, self-assertion, self-interest, self-realisation, self-assurance, means spiritual death and spiritual limitation. But, on the other hand, a life of resorting to the Lord, keeping in close touch with the Lord, having everything checked up by the Lord, asking for the Lord's way, the Lord's mind, keeping in that position where we draw upon the Lord for our way, for everything - that is the way of Life.

When the Lord comes out to us in our emptiness, weakness, foolishness, helplessness and out from Himself shows us the way, makes the way plain, how living it is, how wonderful it is! The Lord Jesus lived on that principle, on that basis and was governed by that law. The last Adam was different from the first. The first let in death; the Last destroyed death, but He destroyed death by dealing with the principles of death, and one of the principles of death is self-sufficiency, having it in ourselves. "Conceit" simply means having it in yourself, or thinking you have it in yourself, being sure that you know, you can do - that is conceit: the seat in yourself. That is the way of death.

We may not be able at this time to go on further with this, but it may indicate the way of Life. Each chapter, each part of the book of John is the unveiling of some fresh expression of Life in Christ and it is all very wonderful. And while it may be interesting and informing, let us not just stay with the instruction that the Word gives. Let us remember these are things which lie right at the very foundation of our relationship with the Lord. Here it is: "to them gave He the right to be children of God". Now, what are children of God? These are children of God who have the new start of a new life, a new union of an inward kind, who are in complete subjection to God as Father. These are children of God and this is the Way of that Life which is ours in Christ.