The Normal Christian Life (21 page)

Could we say that Adam was put to sleep because Eve had committed a serious sin? Is that what we have here? Certainly not, for Eve was not yet even created. There were as yet no moral issues involved and no problems at all. No, Adam was put to sleep for the express purpose that something might be taken out of him to be formed into someone else. His sleep was not for her sin, but for her existence. That is what is taught in these verses. This experience of Adam had as its object the creation of Eve as something determined in the divine counsels. God wanted a woman. He put the man to sleep, took a rib from his side and made it into a woman, and brought her to the man. That is the picture which God is giving us. It foreshadows an aspect of the death of the Lord Jesus that is not primarily for atonement, but answerable to the sleep of Adam in this chapter.

God forbid that I should suggest that the Lord Jesus did not die for purposes of atonement. Praise God, He did. We must remember that today we are in fact in Ephesians 5 and not in Genesis 2. Ephesians was written after the Fall, to men who had suffered from its effects, and in it we have not only the purpose in creation but also the stars of the Fall—or there would need to be no mention of “spot or wrinkle.” Because we are still on the earth and the Fall is a historic fact, redemption is needed (Eph. 1:7).

But we must always view redemption as an interruption, an “emergency” measure, made necessary by a catastrophic break in the straight line of the purpose of God. Redemption is big enough, wonderful enough, to occupy a very
large place in our vision. But God is saying that we should not make redemption to be everything, as though man were created to be redeemed. The Fall is indeed a tragic dip downwards in that line of purpose, and the atonement a blessed recovery whereby our sins are blotted out and we are restored; but when it is accomplished, there yet remains a work to be done to bring us into possession of that which Adam never possessed, and to give God what His heart most desires.

For God has never forsaken the purpose which is represented by the straight line. Adam was never in possession of the life of God as presented in the tree of life. But because of the one work of the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection (and we must emphasize again that it is all one work), His life was released to become ours by faith, and we have received more than Adam ever possessed. The very purpose of God is brought within reach of fulfillment in us by our receiving Christ as our life.

Adam was put to sleep. We remember that it is said of believers that they fall asleep, rather than that they die. Why? Because whenever death is mentioned, sin is there in the background. In Genesis 3 sin entered into the world and death through sin, but Adam’s sleep preceded that. So the type of the Lord Jesus here is not like other types in the Old Testament. In relation to sin and atonement, there is a lamb or a bullock slain; but here Adam was not slain, but only put to sleep to awake again. Thus he prefigures a death that is not on account of sin, but that has in view increase in resurrection.

Then too we must note that Eve was not created as a separate entity by a separate creation, parallel to that of Adam. Adam slept, and Eve was created out of Adam. That
is God’s method with the church. God’s “second Man” has awakened from His “sleep” and His church is created in Him and of Him, to draw her life from Him and to display that resurrection life.

God has a Son, His only begotten, and He seeks that the Son should have brethren. From the position of only begotten, He will become the first begotten; and instead of the Son alone, God will have many sons. One grain of wheat has died, and many grains will spring up. The first grain was once the only grain; now it has become the first of many. The Lord Jesus laid down His life, and that life emerged in many lives. These are the biblical figures we have used hitherto in our study to express this truth. Now, in the figure of Eve, the singular takes the place of the plural.

The outcome of the cross is shown to be a single person: a Bride for the Son. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for it.

We have said that there is an aspect of the death of Christ presented to us in Ephesians 5 which differs in some degree from that which we have been studying in Romans. Yet in fact this aspect is the very end to which our study of Romans has been moving, and it is into this that the letter is leading us as we shall now see; for redemption leads us back into God’s original line of purpose.

In chapter 8 Paul speaks to us of Christ as the firstborn Son among many Spirit-led “sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). “For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29–30).

Here justification is seen to lead on to glory, a glory that is expressed not in one or more individuals, but in a plurality: in many who manifest the image of One. And this object of our redemption is further set forth, as we have seen, in “the love of Christ” for His own, which is the subject of the last verses of the chapter (8:35–39). But what is implicit here in chapter 8 becomes explicit as we move over into chapter 12, the subject of which is the body of Christ.

After the first eight chapters of Romans, which we have been studying, there follows a parenthesis in which God’s sovereign dealings with Israel are taken up and dealt with before the theme of the first chapters is resumed. Thus, for our present purpose, the argument of chapter 12 follows that of chapter 8, and not of chapter 11. We might very simply summarize these chapters thus: Our sins are forgiven (Rom. 5), we are dead with Christ (Rom. 6), we are by nature utterly helpless (Rom. 7), therefore we rely upon the indwelling Spirit (Rom. 8). After this, and as a consequence of it, “We . . . are one body in Christ” (Rom. 12). It is as though this were the logical outcome of all that has gone before, and the thing to which it has all been leading.

Romans 12 and the following chapters contain some very practical instructions for our life and walk. These are introduced with an emphasis once again on consecration. In chapter 6:13 Paul has said: “Present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of right-eousness unto God.” But now in chapter 12:1 the emphasis is a little different: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” This new appeal for consecration is made to us as “brethren,” linking us in thought to the “many brethren” of chapter 8:29. It is a call to us for a united step of faith, expressed in terms of the presenting of our bodies as one “living sacrifice” unto God.

This is something that goes beyond the merely individual, for it implies contribution to a whole. The “presenting” is personal, but the sacrifice is corporate; it is one sacrifice. Intelligent service to God is one service. We need never feel our contribution is not needed, for if it contributes to the service, God is satisfied. And it is through this kind of service that we prove “what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (12:2), or in other words, realize our part in God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. So Paul’s appeal “to every man that is among you” (12:3) is in the light of this new divine fact, that “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another” (12:5), and it is on this basis that the practical instructions follow.

The vessel through which the Lord Jesus can reveal Himself in this generation is not the individual, but the body of Christ. True, “God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith” (12:3), but alone in isolation man can never fulfill God’s purpose. It requires a complete body of Christ to attain to the stature of Christ and to display His glory. Oh, that we might really see this!

So Romans 12:3–6 draws from the figure of the human body the lesson of our interdependence. Individual Christians are not the body of Christ. They are its members, and in a human body “all the members have not the same office.” The ear must not imagine itself to be an eye. No amount of
prayer will give sight to the ear—but the whole body can see through the eye. So (speaking figuratively) I may have only the gift of hearing, but I can see through others who have the gift of sight; or perhaps I can walk but cannot work, so I receive help from the hands. An all-too-common attitude to the things of the Lord is, “What I know, I know; and what I don’t know, I don’t know, and can do quite well without.” But in Christ, the things we do not know others do, and we may know them and enter into the enjoyment of them through others.

Let me stress that this is not just a comfortable thought. It is a vital factor in the life of God’s people. We cannot get along without one another. That is why fellowship in prayer is so important. Prayer together brings in the help of the body of Christ, as must be clear from Matthew 18:19–20. Trusting the Lord by myself may not be enough. I must trust Him with others. I must learn to pray “Our Father . . .” on the basis of oneness with the body of Christ, for without the help of the body of Christ, I cannot get through.

In the sphere of service this is even more apparent. Alone I cannot serve the Lord effectively, and He will spare no pains to teach me this. He will bring things to an end, allowing doors to close and leaving me ineffectively knocking my head against a blank wall until I realize that I need the help of the body of Christ as well as of the Lord. For the life of Christ is the life of the body of Christ, and His gifts are given to us for work that builds up the body of Christ.

The body of Christ is not an illustration, but a fact. The Bible does not just say that the church is like a body of Christ, but that it is the body of Christ. “We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another.” All the members together are one body of Christ,
for all share His life—as though He were Himself distributed among his members.

I was once with a group of Chinese believers who found it very hard to understand how the body of Christ could be one when they were all separate individuals who made it up. One Sunday I was about to break the bread at the Lord’s table, and I asked them to look very carefully at the loaf before I broke it. Then, after it had been distributed and eaten, I pointed out that though it was inside all of them it was still one loaf—not many. The loaf was divided, but Christ is not divided even in the sense in which that loaf was. He is still one Spirit in us, and we are all one in Him.

This is the very opposite of man’s condition by nature. In Adam I have the life of Adam, but that is essentially individual. There is no union, no fellowship in sin, but only self-interest and distrust of others. As I go on with the Lord, I soon discover, not only that the problem of sin and of my natural strength has to be dealt with, but that there is also a further problem created by my “individual” life, the life that is sufficient in itself and does not recognize its need for and union in the body of Christ. I may have got over the problems of sin and the flesh, and yet still be a confirmed individualist. I want holiness and victory and fruitfulness for myself personally and apart, albeit from the purest motives. But such an attitude ignores the body of Christ, and so cannot provide God with satisfaction. He must deal with me therefore in this matter also, or I shall remain in conflict with His ends. God does not blame me for being an individual, but for my individualism. His greatest problem is not the outward divisions and denominations that divide His church, but our own individualistic hearts.

Yes, the cross must do its work here, reminding me that in Christ I have died to that old life of independence which I inherited from Adam, and that in resurrection I have become not just an individual believer in Christ, but a member of His body. There is a vast difference between the two. When I see this, I shall at once have done with independence and shall seek fellowship. The life of Christ in me will gravitate to the life of Christ in others. I can no longer take an individual line. Jealousy will go. Competition will go. Private work will go. My interests, my ambitions, my preferences—all will go. It will no longer matter which of us does the work. All that will matter will be that the body of Christ grows.

I said, “When I see this . . .” That is the great need: to see the body of Christ as another great divine fact; to have it break in upon our spirits by heavenly revelation that “we, who are many, are one body in Christ.” Only the Holy Spirit can bring this home to us in all its meaning, but when He does, it will revolutionize our life and work.

We only see history back to the Fall. God sees it from the beginning. There was something in God’s mind before the Fall, and in the ages to come that thing is to be fully realized. God knew all about sin and redemption; yet in His great purpose for the church set forth in Genesis 2, there is no view of sin. It is as though (to speak in finite terms) He leaps in thought right over the whole story of redemption and sees the church in future eternity, having a ministry and a (future) history which is altogether apart from sin and wholly of God. It is the body of Christ in glory, expressing
nothing of fallen man, but only that which is the image of the glorified Son of man. This is the church that has satisfied God’s heart and has attained dominion.

In Ephesians 5 we stand within the history of redemption, and yet through grace we still have this eternal purpose of God in view as expressed in the statement that He will “present unto himself a glorious church.” But now we note that the water of life and the cleansing Word are needed to prepare the church (now marred by the Fall) for presentation to Christ in glory. For now there are defects to be remedied and wounds to be healed. And yet how precious is the promise and how gracious are the words used of her: “not having spot”—the scars of sin, whose very history is now forgotten; “or wrinkle”—the marks of age and of time lost, for all is now made up and all is new; and “without blemish”—so that Satan or demons or men can find no ground for blame in her.