Third Bible Reading at Oakland, Calif., Sept. 1920

(The 10th chapter of Romans was read.)

C. C.-If God has a purpose, as we have seen, He is carrying it out in spite of everything antagonistic to it; but He does so consistently with His own nature and character-not arbitrarily, as we say. He Acts sovereignly, but not capriciously. In this chapter we have God's way of carrying out His purpose towards us, and how He brings us into it. It is on the principle of faith.

A BROTHER:-That principle was determined by God in His eternal purpose, was it not ?

C. C.-Israel was ignorant of God's righteousness, that is, ignorant of how righteous He is, and they went about to establish their own righteousness.

H. A. I.-This question of righteousness is what the apostle had in view in the closing verses of the 9th chapter (30-32). It links up with what you were saying.

C. C.-Seeking a righteousness by works of law, they were not subject to the righteousness of, or from, God.

A BROTHER:-What is the righteousness of God ?

C. C.-Well, we must first insist that God is absolutely consistent with Himself in everything that He does; yet through the Cross, this attribute of His character is on our side though we have no righteousness of our own; "all our righteousness" being, as the prophet says, as '' filthy rags " in God's sight. But He provides a righteousness for us. To this way of righteousness the Jews did not submit themselves. They sought a righteousness by works according to the law. They misinterpreted God's purpose in giving the law, which was to convict man of his sinfulness-for "by the law is the knowledge of sin;" but Israel used the law as a means of working out a righteousness of their own. The sacrificial system illustrates this way of approach to God. Bringing sacrifices was confessing that they were sinners, with nothing in themselves for which God could accept them. Their sacrifice, like Abel's, pointed to the provision which God would make for them. Where there was genuine faith, in bringing their sacrifice they did not claim any merit in themselves, but rather confessed, " We have no righteousness of our own; our resource is in what God has indicated by putting these sacrifices in our hands."The mass may have satisfied themselves with a duty performed, but those taught of God apprehended, in a greater or less degree, the real purpose of the law, and of the sacrificial system connected with it.

Men today are still seeking acceptance with God on the ground of their own merit, not on the principle of faith. They are not submitting to the righteousness which, in pure grace, God Himself has provided. In the end of the 4th verse the apostle says:'' Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Faith is the principle on which God makes us partakers in it.

QUESTION:-But has not the believer an intrinsic righteousness of his own through Christ ?

C. C.-No. It is not intrinsically his own. It is his by grace.

QUESTION:-Is there not an individual righteousness which we get by Christ ?

C. C.-I do not quite like the expression. The point is this-Christ is given to us for righteousness. That is not my righteousness, except in the sense that I have it as a gift.

REMARK:-That is what I mean-it is a gift to each individual that believes.

QUESTION:-The question arises, whether that individual gift can be developed by any faculty of our own, with the assistance of the Almighty.

C. C.-By no means.

QUESTION:-In that sense it becomes more our individual righteousness by the power of God; does it not ?

C. C.-You have not a bit more righteousness than I have. I may have a great deal more righteousness than you have, but you have no more righteousness than I have. It is Christ, God's gift to faith.

QUESTION:-Are we not to develop along that line?

C. C.-Can Christ develop ? Some years ago, in preaching to a company, I was quoting the passage in Colossians, "Made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." I felt that the truth I was seeking to emphasize was not being taken in, and said, "Assuming that you are believers, you are as fit for heaven now as you will be after you have been there millions of years-because Christ is our fitness."

A. P.-Would you please, for us who are younger, enlarge on that a little-the extent to which Christ is our fitness before God ? In what sense is Christ our fitness for heaven ?-is it Christ alone, or with the development of anything in us ?

C. C.-It is Christ alone; Christ only. It is a fitness to which we cannot add anything. We cannot make Christ any more fit than He is, or less than He is. Of course, Christ should become increasingly precious to us; but the point is this:God has accepted Christ, the Man Christ. I think that is important also to consider:He has accepted the Man Christ. The risen Christ is a new Head; the Head of a new humanity, the Head of a new race. God has accepted man in Christ, and His purpose is to conform this race of which the risen Christ is the Head. Already we are in Him, connected with Him, and as such we have, not in us, not in ourselves, but upon us, all the value of Christ with God, and the|infinite value of His precious sacrifice. God has appropriated Him to us.

H. A. I.-This links with the word in i John- "As He is so are we in this world."

C. C.-Yes.

H. A. I.-What a monstrous thing that would be if a man were to say, " I claim by faith that I am all that Christ was experimentally." It is our perfect standing-"the best robe" of Luke 15.

C. C.-By righteousness I understand the entire absence of defect, in perfect accord with the throne of God, This we have in Christ, not in ourselves.

A brother:-But then, in addition to that, is there not something of a progressive nature of righteousness, which leads to fruition or increase in the hereafter-something that demands co-operation by the power of God ?

C. C.-I would say there is growth in the knowledge of it, in the enjoyment of it. We grow in Him who is unchangeably the same.

H. A. I.-We are not speaking now of the believer's walk, but of what a believer is made before God in Christ. The question of righteousness has to do with the throne of God, the demands of His throne.

C. C.-We are in Christ now, and for ever in Christ; and He is "the same, yesterday, today, and forever."

A. W. P.-In the sense of what we are, would you say that at the close of his ministry for Christ, Paul had no more title, or fitness for heaven, than the thief when he believed ?

C. C.-No more title than he had the moment he believed. No work of ours as saints-no matter how devoted we may be, or what fruits we may bear, or what work may be wrought in us by the power of the Holy Spirit-can add anything to what Christ is.

V. S.-What is the significance of Paul's statement to Timothy, at the closing of his life when he says, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness ?" What was the crown of righteousness which God would give him in that day ?

C. C.-Righteousness gives a crown. But that is not the righteousness in which we stand before God.

V. S.-If it is true that Paul, with his devoted-ness, had no better place in God's presence than the dying thief, then where does the reward come in ? I understand certain rewards are to be meted out for faithfulness-now where does that come in ?

C. C.-Many years ago, in England, as Mr. Darby was failing and his decease was expected, I heard a sister make this remark, " He will be so near to Christ that I never expect to see him." That was a total mistake. One will be as near to Christ as another.

(Concluded in next number.)