2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

What is there in secular culture to compare with the faith of Christ in its power to produce the pure exultation we mean by this? Joy results from the action of the superior faculties-veneration, benevolence, faith, hope, conscientiousness, acting with the collateral vibrations of gratified approbativeness, acquisitiveness, and all the other faculties which are good in their right relation, though so evil as ruling powers.

Human wisdom, shutting out God and His promises is cut off from the power and possibility of bringing these higher powers into full action. Veneration has no adequate leverage without God presented for worship; faith has no object apart from revelation believed; hope has nothing to stir it if confined to anticipations limited by mortal life and frailty.

In Christ, all these powers have their fullest scope; and the result is joy - a joy not only not dependent upon favourable human conditions, but that can act in the face of the worst conditions, because of the confidence of God working in all things and using the most calamitous circumstances sometimes to further His highest ends with us. Thus it is that Paul says:

"We glory in tribulation also."

James exhorts the brethren to-

"Count it all joy when they fall into divers trials, knowing that the trial of your faith worketh patience."

Human wisdom can show nothing like this. It has no cause to be joyful in tribulation, and, as a fact, is extremely the reverse.

Seasons 2.73

Count it all joy

Trial is the order of the house of God; and in our day, when the sword is taken out of the hand of the magistrate, it is necessary, if we are to belong to this house, that we be put on a par with our brethren of past ages, by having trials in a form adapted to our time of freedom and privilege.

A right view of the case will make us welcome these when they come. Paul said, in view of the meaning of his sufferings:

"I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake."

A spiritual view of our affairs will lead us to entertain a similar sentiment with regard to those things we may be called on to endure through our identification with and our service of the one faith. They are far from agreeable: if they were agreeable, they would not answer their purpose, which is, that by the mental exercise induced, we may become partakers of the Father's holiness. Pleasure would not exercise us in this direction, but contrariwise.

There is another pleasant side to "the sufferings of this present time;" they prepare a sweet future in a special sense. The joy of our deliverance will be in the ratio of our present sense of trouble. And this deliverance is not far off. "Though it tarry, wait for it." This is the Spirit's counsel. Suddenly, in the midst of our commonplace life, our ears will be made to tingle with the announcement that our waiting is past—that our warfare is accomplished—that the Lord is in the earth.

For this, we are being prepared by evil and delay.

Meanwhile, it is ours to be steadfast. The Lord has not yet come; and we are to continue at this "till he come," unmoved by the instabilities everywhere manifesting themselves around us. The times are perilous for such as "have no root in themselves;" and even for those whose feet are on the track, there is danger.

Let us be on our guard.

Sunday morning 52 - The Christadelphian, Mar 1874

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Our eye had not seen

We were engrossed with the cares of the riches and the pleasures of this life. But now we have turned from these vanities to know the greatness of sonship to God, brotherhood to Christ, and heirship of the glory to be revealed. We strive to harmonise the life we live in the flesh with this faith of the Son of God. We seek to be followers of God, walking in love and purity as becometh saints, and in sobriety as those that have learnt the solemn judgments of God, which are far above, out of the sight of the foolish.

...Our privileges are greater than we at all times remember. Our position is more blessed than weak nature will suffer us to realise. We see through a glass darkly. We yearn for the day of seeing him face to face. We know that when he shall appear, we shall see him as he is.

...We have long pined in this gloomy wilderness, where the wolves howl and tempests roar with might—a dry and parched land, wherein there is no water. Our flesh longs; our soul panteth after thee, O God. When shall we come unto the courts of our God? We have no rest. We have no continuing city. We seek one to come—the city of our God, of which the Lord God and the Lamb are the light thereof. We are strangers and pilgrims as all the fathers were.

The Christadelphian, Jan 1873

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

SINGLENESS of heart

is the foundation of acceptable prayer. A man's actions must accord with the spirit of his petitions if his petitions are to be heard. God abominates all forms of double-mindedness.

It is double-mindedness to pray "Hallowed be thy name" whilst pursuing courses which bring reproach and dishonour upon it—for protection from besetting sins whilst running in the ways of temptation—for faith whilst keeping and courting the company of the unfaithful—for wisdom whilst wilfully neglecting the reading of the word of wisdom—for the well-being of the poor whilst refusing to make a single sacrifice on their behalf—for the spread of the truth whilst carelessly allowing opportunities to pass whereby the alleged desire might be satisfied—for peace whilst passively or actively opposing the things which make for peace.

Effectual prayer can spring only from the righteous and consistent—those who are prepared to co-labour with God in the attainment of the thing asked for. "Ye ask," said James,

"and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures."

Here, again, let us be on our guard. God will have nought to do with pleasure-seeking, worldly men.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1889

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

The King having passed through a probation of great suffering to the joy that yet awaits him, it is not to be supposed that those who are to rule with him shall enter into that joy without probation also. The co-rulers with Christ must be proved as well as he; for none can reign with him who do not suffer with him in some way or other.

A tried and approved nation, and tried and approved rulers, will constitute the Kingdom of the Age to Come. The probation of these, that is, of the nation and of the rulers at different periods is represented by the things that happened to the nation and rulers under the law; the one constitution of things being typical of the other. Hence the twofold signification of the types.

The law of Moses constituted things which are remarkably representative of the realities of the age to come. These realities are styled the substance or body, of which the institutions of Moses are "the shadow;" and because of this intimate relation between them he was strictly enjoined by Yahweh to see that he made all things precisely according to the pattern he had showed him in the mount.

Hence they are styled "the pattern of things in the heavens," which things in the heavens will be manifested when the kingdom and throne of David are established by Jesus under the new constitution. The patterns are the representative things of the law, which constitute "the form of the knowledge and of the truth."

Among the representative things pertaining to Israel under the law are certain men who are styled in the English version "men wondered at," or as it reads in the margin, "men of sign," that is, typical, or representative men—men representing some other person than themselves.

Joshua the son of Josedeck and his companions are expressly set forth as typical men. So are Isaiah and his children. He said to Ahaz

"Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion."

Paul quotes this in Hebrews and applies it to Jesus and his brethren, the children of God. Hence the prophet and his children. Shear-jashub and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, were signs or types of Jesus and the saints who are appointed to perform wonders in Israel when the Lord returns to build up Zion.

Thus much, then, at present upon this subject. We shall return to it hereafter and make further use of what is herein adduced for the illustration of the things of the kingdom of God.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Feb 1851

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

The teaching of the Spirit, in its manifold utterances, through the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles, are in harmony, and if, at any time, they appear to be in conflict, the cause must be sought for in our own misapprehension or oversight.

Now the teaching of the Spirit on the subject of sin is very plain. James is very precise in his definition:

"Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."—(James 1:14.)

If we ask what is meant by sin, we are met by the direct answer:

"Sin is the transgression of the law."—(1 John 3:4.)

Hence, sin and disobedience being the same, they are used interchangeably.—(Rom. 5:12–19.) Desire is not in itself sin, if controlled by the enlightened judgment. For example: it is lawful to desire food when one is hungry, but it is unlawful to steal a loaf; or, if a hungry man went out with the purpose to steal, and was only prevented by lack of opportunity from carrying out his intention, he would be equally a sinner.

This meets the case cited by our correspondent:

"He that looketh on a woman to lust after her"

is a man who harbours and cultivates illegitimate desire, and is, therefore, a sinner merely minus opportunity. There is a great difference between him and the man who "keeps his body under."—(1 Cor. 9:27.) All men are subject to the warfare expressed in the words:

"The spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit."—(Gal. 5:17.)

The best, like Paul, "find a law in their members," which requires to be kept vigilantly subject to "the bounds prescribed by law," that is, to the commands of the Spirit. The man who, by the power of faith, "crucifying the affections and lusts," succeeds in obtaining the victory, is the man who "will obtain the incorruptible crown."—(1 Cor. 9:25; James 1:12; John 14; Rev. 2:26.)

Sowing to the spirit, he will reap life everlasting.—(Gal. 6:8.) The mere impulse to sin is not sin. Sin consists in giving way to impulse in thought or deed. The prophets were men of like passions with ourselves.—(James 5:10, 17.) Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are.—(Heb. 4:15.) There could be no victory if there were no impulse inclining in a forbidden direction.

The Christadelphian, Jan 1870.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

God, then, did not tempt Jesus; though His Spirit conducted Him thither to be tempted, and that, too, "by the devil," or the enemy...

Elpis Israel 1.3.

When Adam's weak nature began to think and act, independently of the divine law, its weakness, before an undefiled weakness, became evil in its workings, and deteriorating in its effects; and acquired the name of Sin from its having brought forth sin, or transgression of law.

The undefiled weakness of the flesh, enticed and deceived by sophistry from without, is, in few words, the definition of the original temptation. The law of God was weak through the flesh, not through the strength of the Serpent.

Had the flesh been strong, the Serpent would have been powerless with all his sagacity. But the weakness thrown into a ferment by serpent-subtility became beguiling; and the beguiling subtility, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived them, and by it slew them.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1852

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

—"Every man is tempted" (or overcome of sin) says James, "when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed."

The lusts or desires of the flesh are, therefore (taken altogether) the devil that tempts men to sin: sin in that case is the offspring of "the lusts of the flesh," alias the devil.

Bro. F. R. Shuttleworth

The Christadelphian, Sept 1889

The commandment of God, which is "holy, just and good," being so restrictive of the propensities, which in purely animal men display themselves with uncontrolled violence, makes them appear in their true colours. These turbulent propensities the apostle styles "sin in the flesh," of which it is full; hence, he also terms it "sinful flesh."

This is human nature; and the evil in it, made so apparent by the law of God, he personifies as "pre-eminently A SINNER," (Rom. 7:12, 13, 17, 18). This is the accuser, adversary, and calumniator of God, whose strong hold is the flesh. It is the devil and Satan within the human nature; so that "when a man is tempted, he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

If a man examine himself, he will perceive within him something at work, craving after things which the law of God forbids. The best of men are conscious of this enemy within them. It troubled the apostle so much that he exclaimed, "O, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death," (ver. 24) or this mortal body? He thanked God that the Lord Jesus Christ would do it; that is, as He had Himself been delivered from it, by God raising Him from the dead by His Spirit (Rom. 8:11).

Human nature, or "sinful flesh," has three principal channels through which it displays its waywardness against the law of God. These are expressed by "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." All that is in the world stands related to these points of our nature; and there is no temptation that can be devised, but what assails it in one, or more, of these three particulars.

The world without is the seducer, which finds in all animal men, unsubdued by the law and testimony of God, a sympathizing and friendly principle, ready at all times to eat of its forbidden fruit. This sinful nature we inherit. It is our misfortune, not our crime, that we possess it. We are only blameworthy when, being supplied with the power of subduing it, we permit it to reign over us.

This power resides in "the testimony of God" believed; so that we "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Peter 1-5). This testimony ought to dwell in us as it dwelt in the Lord Jesus; so that, as with the shield of faith, the fiery assaults of the world may be quenched (Ephes. 6:16) by a "thus it is written," and a "thus saith the Lord."

Elpis Israel 1.3.

Human nature

is styled‭ '‬sinful flesh‭' (‬Rom.‭ ‬8:3‭)‬,‭ ‬and Paul speaking of himself as sharing therein,‭ ‬says,

‭ '‬In me,‭ ‬that is in my flesh,‭ ‬dwelleth no good thing.‭'—(‬Rom.‭ ‬7:18.‭)

‭ ‬Sin in the flesh,‭ ‬then,‭ ‬is a very evil thing.‭ ‬It is that principle which works within us what is not good in thought and feeling‭; ‬and these workings,‭ ‬the apostle styles‭ '‬the motions of sins‭'—‬ta patheemeta toon hamartioon—the physical and mental emotions which,‭ ‬when yielded to,‭ ‬work transgressions of the law of God.

‭ ‬So that when a man is tempted,‭ ‬he is not tempted of God,‭ ‬nor of such a monster as the Gentile Devil‭; ‬but as the apostle says,

‭ '‬Every man is tempted,‭ ‬when he is drawn away of his own lust,‭ ‬and enticed.‭ ‬Then when lust hath conceived,‭ ‬it will bring forth sin‭; ‬and sin,‭ ‬when it is perfected,‭ ‬bringeth forth death.‭'—(‬James‭ ‬1:14,‭ ‬15.‭)

This is the philosophy of temptation,‭ ‬so to speak.‭ ‬Man is made up of certain desires.‭ ‬He desires what he sees,‭ ‬hears,‭ ‬feels,‭ ‬tastes,‭ ‬and smells‭; ‬in other words,‭ ‬he desires the gratification of his senses.‭ ‬There is nothing‭ ‬essentially evil in this.‭ ‬The evil lies in their‭ ‬inordinate gratification.‭

Now,‭ ‬between the ordinate or regular and inordinate or excessive,‭ ‬God has placed His law.‭ ‬He has said you may desire,‭ ‬but you may not inordinately desire‭; ‬or if you do,‭ ‬you may not gratify that desire contrary to My law,‭ ‬under penalty of death.‭

Abstractly,‭ ‬there was no harm in picking up sticks on Saturday‭; ‬but when God said‭ '‬Thou shalt do no manner of work on the seventh day,‭' ‬this abstractly harmless thing became a high crime against heaven,‭ ‬and brought forth death to him who perfected the desire to gather on that day.‭ ‬Thus the divine law defines what is irregular,‭ ‬and therefore not to be done by those who would enjoy the favour of God.

Bro Thomas

The Christadelphian, Nov 1873

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

But man transgressed. He listened to the sophistry of flesh reasoning under the inspiration of its own instincts. He gave heed to this "the thinking of the flesh," or carnal mind, which "is enmity against God, is not subject to His law, neither indeed can be." The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, which pertain essentially to all living human, or ground, souls, were stirred up by what he saw and heard; and "he was drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

His lust having conceived, it brought forth sin in intention; and this being perfected in action, caused death to ensue. Every man, says the apostle, is tempted in this way. It is not God, nor the clerical devil that tempts man, but "his own lust," excited by what from without addresses itself to his five senses, which always respond approvingly to what is agreeable to them.

EUREKA - 'THE DIABOLOS'

'Some think the devil in the case was Christ's own inclinations; but this is untenable in view of the statement that "When the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season"Luke 4:13. It is also untenable in view of the harmony that existed between the mind of Christ and the will of the Father', John 8:29.

- --Christendom Astray

Sin is pleasant to the flesh; because the deeds forbidden are natural to it. It is that "good" fruit which the animal man delights to eat. The flesh, the eyes, and life, have all their desires, or lusts, which, when gratified constitute the chiefest good that men under their dominion seek after. But, God has forbidden indulgence in these lusts. He says, "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world " (1 John 2:15-16).

And again, "the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4): and, "if ye live after the flesh ye shall die" (Rom. 8:13).

This language is unmistakeable. To indulge then in the lawless pleasures which "sinful flesh" terms "good," is to "bring forth sin" (James 1:15), or to bear fruit unto death; because "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:21-23). "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption" (Gal.6:7-8). All "the ills that flesh is heir to" make up the "evil," which has come upon man as the result of transgressing the law of God, which said to Adam, "thou shalt not eat thereof." The fruit of his eating was the gratification of his flesh in the lusts thereof, and the subjection of himself and posterity to the "evil" of eating of the cursed ground in sorrow all the days of their lives (Gen. 3:17-19).

All the posterity of Adam, when they attain the age of puberty, and their eyes are in the opening crisis, begin to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. Previous to that natural change, they are in their innocency. But, thenceforth, the world, as a serpent-entwined fruit tree, stands before the mind, enticing it to take and eat, and enjoy the good things it affords.

To speculate upon the lawfulness of compliance is partly to give consent.

There must be no reasoning upon the harmlessness of conforming to the world.

Its enticements without, and the sympathizing instincts of the flesh within, must be instantly suppressed; for, to hold a parley with its lusts, is dangerous. When one is seduced by "the deceitfulness of sin," "he is drawn away of his own lusts, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:14,15); in other words, he plucks the forbidden fruit, and dies, if not forgiven.

Elpis Israel 1.2.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens - AMP], with whom is no variableness [no rising or setting - AMP], neither shadow of turning.

We cannot pretend to measure God or even adequately compare Him to any mere human standard. The glory of the incorruptible so far transcends the glory of the corruptible that it is impossible to institute anything beyond the very faintest comparison (Rom. 1:23, Isa. 40:18). Still there are some comparisons that are directly expressed in the Scriptures, and some others that are involved.

First, with regard to the numberless variety of creatures that God made, it is said of man alone that he was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-7; 5:1; 9-6). This is confirmed by what is again recorded in the New Testament (1 Cor. 11:7; Acts 17:28-9).

Made like the angels at first with respect to form and faculty (but for the present 'a little lower' than they with regard to nature and function), we are destined at the last—subject to Christ's approval—to become their equals in nature, life, function, power and glory. Like the 'third heaven,' it is the stage in the process of ascension from the earthy to the heavenly, and from the natural to the spiritual (1 Cor. 15:46-9).

First, being 'born of flesh' (John 3:6), we are descendants of him of whom it is recorded that he 'was the Son of God' (Luke 3:38), and for which reason, as Paul says, 'We are also His offspring.' In this we have the raw material of God's purpose—God's image in living clay.

"Next to this, in being 'born of water' we become sons of God upon the still higher principle of being born again of the incorruptible seed, or the word of the kingdom of God sown in the heart (1 Pet. 2:23, Matt. 13:19). It is of this result that John says,

'Now are we the sons of God.'

This in due time (in the case of the faithful) will be followed by what Christ calls being 'born of the Spirit' (John 3:5-7) ... a man thence forward 'is Spirit' ... he has entered upon the last degree of qualification that introduces a man to eternal incorporation into the perfected immortal family of God (Rev. 21:7; Luke 20:36) ... Christ is both the example and the guarantee of its final attainment ... This accomplished, the likeness of the 'children of light' to the 'Father of Lights' may be accounted complete.

"When the pure in heart see God (Matt. 5-8; Heb. 12:14), they will not look upon a mere shapeless concretion of power or aggregation of nature's forces, but upon the glorious, personal Archtype of the universe, of whose person Christ is already the 'express image,' the very impress of His substance, and the effulgence of His glory (Heb. 1:3, Revised Version)."

The Christadelphian 1889, p. 104

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

The law of life and immortality

a sinner having studied "the word of the kingdom," and come to the understanding of it, has a power within him, which did not exist there in his times of ignorance. Paul styles this power,

"the law of the spirit of the life in Christ Jesus;"

and says that

"it sets free from the law of sin and death."

If then, it sets free, it is "the law of liberty," as James expresses it. In another place, Paul styles this law, or power, "the gospel of Christ." His words are,

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to every one believing."

This is, then, the saving power, and there is no other. If a sinner would be saved by God, and no one else can save him, he must be saved by the gospel, by the truth, by the law of liberty, which are the same, for his power is there.

But this power can only save the believing. It has no power over the faithless. But before dismissing the subject, the Apostle tells us what gives the gospel of the Christ its saving efficacy. He says,

"it is the power of God for salvation to the believing, because God's state of being perfect on account of faith is revealed in it for faith: as it is written, The justified man shall live on account of faith."

Here then, is a state of being revealed in the gospel in which the believing are perfect. It is God's state of in-being perfection, as opposed to all states beyond its limits. In the English version, the state is styled "God's righteousness," "his righteousness," or "the righteousness of God." It is his system, styled by Paul, "the Faith of God," according to which he constitutes a sinner of understanding heart and divine disposition, a righteous person, or saint.

In order to do this, he places his absolutely holy and just image, his Son Jesus Christ, at the door of entrance into the state, or sheepfold; who proclaims,

"I am the door of the sheep; if any man enter in by me, he shall be saved."

But, he is not only the door of entrance, he is also in a certain sense,

"a great and perfect tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man." "Destroy this temple," said the Spirit, "and I will in three days raise it up;" but says John, "He spake of the temple of his body."

Here then, is "a building of God," a tent, tabernacle, or temple, "a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens." There is but one entrance into that house, and that is by the door. The area within that building is holy ground; and the jasper wall is holy. It is the true holy place, or place of holiness, perfectness, or righteousness. It is God's place of righteousness, "a heavenly in Christ Jesus," into which they who have "purified their hearts by faith" are invited to enter. But there is

"No admittance here for the unwashed."

Before this Holy Place is an altar to which faith approaches; and which was cleansed by atonement being made for it, before it was placed there. It is most holy; and whatsoever toucheth it becomes holy. Paul styles this altar, Jesus. It was cleansed, when the blood of its consecration was poured out from his side. All the worshippers who would enter the Holy Place must first come to this altar, that touching it they may be holy.

But, between the place of God'srighteousness and this altar, is a Laver or bath of water, styled by Paul το λουτρον παλιγγενεσιας the New-Birth Laver; and in another place, το λουτρον του ῾υδατος the Laver of the Water. The law of this arrangement is, that

"when they go into the holy place, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, that they die not."

Neither the altar nor the holy place could be approached without washing under penalty of death. The gospel of the arrangement is not less rigid than the law. Who are they that shall enter in by the door, and be saved? Hear the voice of the Great Shepherd's words:—

"He having believed the gospel and been baptized, shall be saved."

But, may we not strike out the words "and been baptized," as an interpolation? If you do, you must also remove the "New-Birth Laver" away from between the Holy Place and the Altar; and if you do that, you approach them both under penalty of death, without the possibility of touching either.

"He that believes not shall be condemned."

The unbelieving have nothing to do with altar, laver, or holy place; for these are institutions only for the enlightened of the word.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Mar 1857