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Chosen no: R-704 b, from: 1884 Year. |
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Our Judgment - From The Divine And Human Standpoints.
For the time past...may suffice us to have
wrought the will of the Gentiles...wherein they think it strange that ye run
not with them ...speaking evil of you....For this cause the gospel was preached
also, to them that are dead, that they might be judged, according to men--in
the flesh, but according to God in the Spirit.--1
Pet. 4:3-6.
Our explanation of the above Scripture is asked.
We understand verse 5 to be a parenthesis, and hence in arriving
at the direct chain of the Apostle's argument, it should be for the time
ignored. To bring the important points of the argument closer together, we have
arranged the quotation as above.
The consecrated child of God has not only
realized justification from sin through Jesus' imputed righteousness, but in
his consecration he has given up --sacrificed--his justified human nature, and
henceforth, according to God's instruction, he reckons himself no longer
of the human nature, but a "new creature in Christ Jesus," a
partaker "of the divine nature." And God so reckons him.
Hence God judges of such, not according to the
flesh, but according to their spirit or mind, and as new creatures, spiritual;
while by men this class is misunderstood, for they think of you as of other
men--in the flesh--and hence think strange that you are not controlled
by the same desires and ambition as themselves.
It was to produce this very distinction in you
that the gospel was preached to you, who are dead to the world, that you
might have Christ formed within you--his mind and principles, and that thus you
might be so different from the world, that they, not appreciating the real
cause of the change, but still regarding you as "of the fleshy
nature," may think strange of you and misconstrue your motives, and hate
you, and buffet you, and thus try you and make you meet for the inheritance of
the saints in light. Nevertheless, remember that God recognizes you as a new
creature, and will judge of all your course accordingly. You may know then,
that your faith and patience he will appreciate, and that "your labor is
not in vain in the Lord."
W.T. R-704b : page 7 - 1884r
