SO last time I refrained from making opening comments, but I need to note a few of things now.
FIRST, let me attempt to head off a reaction I think some of my readers may have to the name that is going to appear at the beginning of today’s reading, Dr. C.I. Scofield. Some may react negatively to seeing that name referenced, and my exhortation is “please don’t.” Remember when this book was written and that the writer comes from a particular background. At one time I shared that theological background and I am quite grateful for it. Though I differ with it in many aspects now, the men in that camp taught me a deep appreciation and love for the Word of God, and a passion for the study of the Word. This is the place where I like to bring in Augustine’s axiom:
“In the essentials unity; in the non-essentials liberty; and in all things charity.”
THOUGH our author could have chosen any number of individuals to quote in making his point, the fact that he selected who he did does not render the valid quote and point being made any less valid. Humility and teachability here is a good thing to remember and exercise.
NEXT, the opening paragraphs demonstrate how the Principle of Reckoning in interwoven in our faith encounter with the Word. This points us again to the Principle of Assimilation defined in 2Cor. 3:18, discussed previously in Chapter 50. So it is again, we are reminded that this is a heart issue, reading again the last preceding paragraph referencing Colossians 3:
“Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.” As we “eat of the old corn of the land” (Josh. 5:11), feeding upon the Lord Jesus in heaven by means of the Word, we learn of Him and grow in Him. Our mind is set upon the One in whom we live, not upon self and this world unto which we have died. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).
OUR mind is set upon the One in whom we live, not upon self and this world unto which we have died. There is an interesting instruction set forth for us in Psa. 115:8, repeated in Psa. 135:18, regarding the folly of idolatry and the making of idols, and those who make them saying:
“They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.” (Psa. 115:7-8)
NOTICE verse 8; Psa. 138: 18 saying in essence that “Ultimately we become what we worship.” Here we see the Principle of Assimilation repeated in reverse, toward ungodliness as opposed to Christlikeness, our Father’s ultimate intention – 2Cor 3:18; Rom. 8:29; 2Pet 1:2-4.
I HAVE a saying that I often repeat in the hearing of the students at school that goes, “Every day you are becoming the person you are going to be forever.” Given our understanding of the Principle of Assimilation, that axiom might be better rendered: “Every day you are becoming the person that your desires are making you to be forever.”
SO, we’ll see now as we read on how it is that, “When we set our minds on Christ and abide in Him as our risen life, we become increasingly conformed to His image.” The Christian Life in the simplest of terms is “becoming” what we were meant be in Christ.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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Chapter 51—Reckoning in Colossians Three – Part 2
Dr. C. I. Scofield comments on Joshua 5:11 as follows: “The manna is a type of Christ in humiliation, known ‘after the flesh,’ giving His flesh that the believer might have life (John 6:49–51); while the ‘old corn of the land’ is Christ apprehended as risen, glorified, and seated in the heavenlies. Occupation with Christ on earth, ‘crucified through weakness,’ tends to a wilderness experience. An experience befitting the believer’s place in the heavenlies demands an apprehension of the power of His resurrection (2 Cor. 5:16; 13:4; Phil. 3:10; Eph. 1:15–23). It is the contrast between ‘milk’ and ‘meat’ in Paul’s writings (1 Cor. 3:1, 2; Heb. 5:12–14; 6:1–3).”
The Holy Spirit ministers life exclusively from the true, heavenly Source, Christ. He is the Spirit of Christ, and He gives us the things of the glorified Lord. Even so, if we fail to reckon upon our having died unto sin at Calvary, the old earthy source within will continue to produce its stream of carnality. As our mind is set on things that are upon the earth, we become increasingly earth-bound and self-centered. When we set our minds upon Christ and abide in Him as our risen life, we become increasingly conformed to His image.
“For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” In this one brief statement Paul compresses the entire finished work of Romans Six, the whole truth of our identification with Christ. Upon these twelve one-syllable words our reckoning for growth is founded!
In this concise statement, Paul is dealing mainly with our relationship to the world and things earthly. Our having died on Calvary not only separated us from the reign of sin and self, but also from the deadly influence of this present world. By means of the cross “the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14).
“For ye died.” The only way we can escape the influence of the earthly sphere, the very element in which the self-life thrives, is to count upon our having died unto it. The death through which we passed now stands between us and the world.
“And your life is hid with Christ in God.” Our Father not only has cut us off from the world system, but He has hidden us from its deadly power. We are in it, but not of it. Our life is anchored in, and maintained by, our risen Lord Jesus. The reason so many Christians are not living from their heavenly position in the Liberator is that they are not yet established in the truth of their freedom from the influence of the world.
There is a continuity of reckoning that must be followed; no step can be by-passed. Until we know and reckon upon the truth of our having died out of the Adamic creation, we cannot exercise intelligent faith in counting that: (1) we are a new creation in Christ Jesus; (2) we are alive unto God in Him; (3) our life is hid with Christ in God. Established positionally, we will become established experientially.
