Free Grace

DOES this title seem contradictory to the former positive statements in which the antagonism between Law and Grace was shown? The subject before us is entirely different. The fact is there is no sphere of life or activity in time or in eternity that is not dominated by certain laws peculiar to its own conditions.
In the natural world, for instance, the beaver, with almost human intelligence, always builds his house or dam according to the same identical architectural plan. The eagle flying above him seems to belong to an altogether different world, and knows nothing of producing such ingenious and interesting results by systematic and continuous plodding. He is not building dams nor houses, but notwithstanding that, the laws that control him are none the less definite. His life may seem entirely free from restrictions and limitations, but it is only a seeming, for in his wild flights such things as air-currents and atmospheric conditions will not ignore consideration; and in every detail of his existence, from the moulting of his feathers to the securing of food, the preparation of his nest, the care of his young, certain laws regulate and control.
In like manner the Christian, who escaping from the bondage of legality, dead works and formality to the liberty of the sons of God, finds that the higher spiritual life upon which he enters also makes demands upon him.
He has not by any means passed from law to license, nor yet to chance, chaos or anarchy, but to a new environment in entering which he has merely exchanged one set of laws for another.
The laws that operate in the realm of Grace are presented in the New Testament Epistles with great frequency in one relationship or another, but nowhere perhaps do we have them in such close connection and regular sequence as in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, ninth chapter, and from the 19th to the 27th verses. Here we find first—
The Law of Liberty, with the Apostle Paul himself as an illustration, “For though I be free from all men, I make myself servant unto all.” The Christian is elsewhere admonished to call no man master, which is only another way of stating that God alone is to order the principles of his life, and to rule his conscience. Within this sphere of control he may be, as to temporal condition, a slave in Nero’s household, and yet possess a spirit that knows no bonds and that has no master. Ah, the Will of God is a boundless universe to the soul that knows and acknowledges Him!
They who taunt the Christian with having narrow conceptions that bar him from the so-called pleasures and excitements of this world’s life, show that they have no knowledge of things divine and spiritual, and that they are sadly deficient in appreciation of the delights of the true soul-liberty of the sons of God. The child of God has his conversation (citizenship, i. e., the whole economy of his life) in heaven and there all his needs are fully met. He is too free from carnal desires to take any pleasure, for instance, in the vanity, lightness, extravagance and sin of the world’s play-houses, and its other popular amusements; too much filled with the Spirit to have any longing for the wine in which is excess, and realizes so clearly that he is a member of the body of Christ and of the great multitude that will bye and bye give acclaim of praise to the Lamb whose blood has washed them white, that he is not influenced by the excitement of great popular movements, whether of a political nature, or those celebrating the proud achievements of men or nations. Imagine an eagle descending to the earth to take on him the life and habits of a duck, a toad or a serpent!
In his proper sphere the Christian may truly say in expression of his liberty, “I can do or be whatever I please,” the emphasis being upon the last two words,—for there is much in this world that does not please him at all, and all that is not in harmony with the Father’s will has for him no attraction.Next comes—
The Law of Service, also in verse 19, “I have made myself the servant unto all, that I might gain the more,”—nor is there any incongruity between Liberty and Service. Indeed, it is his liberty that causes the believer to make free and willing choice of service. In fact, in the spiritual realm, it is only the free man who can become a servant of any real usefulness. The tramp lying idly under the haystack is not concerned with thoughts of aiding others; service of any kind is to him a curse, and he felicitates himself upon his liberty until hunger asserts its claim, or disease attacks him, then does the real nature of his chain of bondage become apparent. To save himself he must stoop to beg a crust at the back door, and plead for charity at the hospital, not to mention the galling sway that filth, cold, vicious companions, loneliness and shame assert over him. Compare such an existence with that of a servant of Christ who freely elects a life of holy ministry. He may be one among the many Christian business men who in church and community life is unselfishly living for others. His days may be crowded with duties and the demands upon his time, money and energy may threaten to consume them, but oh, the joy of such a life—spending and being spent for his Lord.
The Law of Self-denial, (verses 20 to 23) presents another delightful aspect of the life in Christ Jesus. When the believer conforms to this law he gives proof that he has entered into an advanced class in Christian progress. See how the Apostle gave this evidence by becoming all things to all men: race-prejudice, intellectual pride, conscious superiority in morals, are all dismissed as altogether at variance with the principles of his new life. But let us not mistake what he meant by becoming “all things to all men” in his eager desire to win them.
Surely there was no weakening from the maintenance of truth. Ah no, he was too closely allied to his divine Lord to be guilty of such an error. In order to save men our Lord Jesus Christ, prompted by love, would and did shed His last drop of blood and yet would not yield a hairsbreadth of truth, or make the slightest compromise or concession of principle in order to win their following.
Witness His method with the rich young ruler, and with the multitude who followed Him around the lake after He had compassionately fed them in the wilderness. In both cases He seems to have expressed severe conditions, which He knew would impel them from Him rather than draw them to His Service.
Ah, if they or any are to be secured it must be with a full knowledge of His requirements, otherwise their allegiance could not be genuine or enduring. While Love gave its life, Truth would not yield an atom!
How completely has the Saviour’s method been reversed in our dealings with the unsaved. Are we making sacrifices in their behalf, enduring real heart agony on their account, shedding (not to speak of blood) tears of grief over their loss, like our Lord, showing tender compassion and love that counts no price of ease or self-surrender, or strenuous effort too great if haply we may thereby save them?
Rather, alas, is it not true that to win men we make every concession, beginning by toning down the sharp edge of the truth, and ending by making every allowance which the natural heart demands, so that this age witnesses the world admitted, yea, welcomed into the church, and actually dominating it with a bold and careless freedom.
With a cheap sentimentality we sell the truth at any paltry price offered, in order that we may be spared from giving up any treasure that our criminally selfish hearts may value.
The Lord died to save, but would not yield an atom of the truth. We will yield the truth without demur, but will not endure any inconvenience, much less suffer a real sacrifice that others may be saved.
Not so with Paul. He followed his Lord so thoroughly that any sacrifice of ease, comfort or convenience was gladly made, but no compromise of the truth to the slightest degree. Prison cell, a bruised body, hunger, cold, desertions were not considered by his heavenly spirit of self-denial, but to ask him to surrender truth would be met with instant refusal, though such refusal meant a challenge to death itself.
Nor must we ever imagine that his zeal ever led to the use of craft or guile. It is much to be regretted that careless students of the Word have ever misused the passage in II Cor. 12:16-17 to sustain any such contention, and especially as the quotation is usually made in justification of some questionable method or practise. The whole context is against it, as is also the entire course of the Apostle’s life, not to speak of every principle of Christian ethics. Allow it for a moment and Jesuitism is justified. Let craft and guile (which is hypocrisy) be condoned in Christian practice and the gates are open to all kinds of pious frauds. In Weymouth’s Modern Speech New Testament the passage is given as follows: “Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But, being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say! Have I gained any selfish advantage over you through any one of the messengers I have sent unto you?” And in another free translation we read, “You will admit that I was not a burden to you, but you say that I was ‘crafty’ and caught you ‘by a trick’! Do you assert that I took advantage of through any of those whom I have sent unto you?”
He who on a river bank would rescue his drowning fellow may stoop low and reach far, but must above all things maintain his own foothold to make his effort effective. And this is an illustration of the attitude of one who would deny self in order to save his fellows.
The Law of Aspiration is named in verses 24 and 25. An ambitious life truly is that of him who is filled with Grace. His eye is ever on the prize, and impelled by an estimate of real values he seeks strenuously to attain to genuine honor, lasting glory and an unfading crown. Weighing all things on the scales of the sanctuary he easily detects counterfeits. His eyes having been anointed, he is not led aside by false lights whatever their color.
No human plaudits charm his ears, nor temporal rewards fill his vision as he presses on toward the attainment of the best gifts. And lastly is—
The Law of Self-discipline (verses 26, 27). Here the Apostle likens himself to a boxer whose antagonist is none other than himself. “I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air, but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery,” or, “I bruise my body and make it my slave.” And this is what is demanded in the realm of Grace. He who does it may seem a fool to the world, even as an athlete would be considered one who beats his own body black and blue. There was, however, a method in the Apostle’s madness and he states it in the next sentence, the oft-controverted expression, “lest when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway.” There are some who conclude that the Apostle feared perdition,—the loss of his soul,—but such an unwarranted assumption is disproven by a study of the meaning of the words; they imply simply this: the fear that having been a herald to others he himself might be rejected as a contestant in the race or the match. The word “rejected” being the very word used in connection with the testing of coins. A coin weighed and examined, being found exact, was designated “dokimos” (approved), while one of short weight or with some defect was called “adokimos” (not approved, wanting, rejected). This did not imply that the coin was a counterfeit to be destroyed, but rather because of its being under weight or with some defect it must again be cast into the mould and be recoined.
It was doubtless this thought that filled the Apostle’s mind. He wished to be not only a redeemed sinner, but one whose conformity to the Laws of Grace would win that—to him, and to every believer,—highest conceivable reward, even the smile of his Lord, and His words of gracious approval. He strove to build on the foundation—than which none other can be laid— not a house of wood, hay and stubble, which being consumed by the testing flames would leave him saved, yet so as by fire; but rather a house of gold, silver and precious stones that would abide in beauty even though tried by fire.
What glory could possibly be conceived as being greater than that suggested,—the approval of Christ!—and surely it must have been this which the Apostle held ever before himself, and especially when giving expression to his desire in that eloquent outburst addressed to the Philippians (3:13, 14), “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
And the rapturous attainment of this will be the sequel to the effort of all who conform to the requirements of the Laws of Grace.

by R. P. D. BENNETT

Under the “Law” with its tenfold lash,

Learning, alas, how true—

That the more I tried

The sooner I died,

While the “Law” cried—

“You,” “You,” “You.”

Hopelessly still did the battle rage.

“Oh, wretched man,” my cry—

And deliverance sought

By some penance bought

While my soul cried—“I,” “I,” “I.”

Then came a day when my struggles ceased,

And trembling in every limb,

At the foot of a tree

Where One died for me,

I sobbed out—“Him,’’ “Him,” “Him.”