>From verse 24 of chapter 18 to verse 7 of chapter 19 we have a kind of
summary of the progress made by the doctrine of Christ, and of the power
that accompanied it. Apollos knew only of the teaching of John; but,
upright in heart, he publicly confessed and preached that which he knew. It
was the faith of a regenerate soul. Aquila and Priscilla enlighten him
fully with regard to the facts of the gospel, and the doctrine of a dead
and glorified Christ. At Corinth he becomes a powerful teacher of the
gospel, of the Lord among the Jews, thus confirming the faith of the
disciples. The energy of the Holy Ghost manifests itself in him without any
intervention of the apostle or of the twelve. He acts independently; that
is, the Spirit acts independently in him. People could say, "I am of
Apollos." It is interesting to see these different manifestations of the
power and liberty of the Spirit, and to remember that the Lord is above
all, and that, if He acts greatly by a Paul, He acts also in whom He will.
In that which follows we find, on another side, the progress of the divine
revelation in union with Paul's apostolic power made very prominent by the
capability of communicating the Holy Ghost. Twelve persons had believed,
but with no other instruction than that of John: their baptism had been in
reference to it. It was a Christ to come, and a Holy Ghost whom He would
communicate, that they looked for. Now John's baptism required repentance,
but in no way came out of the Jewish pale; although it opened a perspective
of something different, according to the sovereignty of God, and as the
effect of Christ's coming. But it was a baptism unto repentance for man on
the earth, and not Christ's death and resurrection. Grace acted in a
remnant, but of whom Jesus was a companion on earth. Now Christianity (for
man's sin has been fully manifested) is founded on death and resurrection;
first, that of Christ, thus accomplishing redemption, and then on our death
and resurrection with Him so as to place us in Him and as Him before God in
sinless life, life of His life, and washed in His blood from all our sins.
But John's baptism, in fact, only taught repentance here below in order to
receive Christ; Christianity taught the efficacy of the death and
resurrection of a rejected Christ, in virtue of which the Holy Ghost, the
Paraclete come down from heaven, should be received.
These twelve men (although John had announced that the baptism of the Holy
Ghost should be the result of Christ's intervention) did not know whether
there was yet any Holy Ghost [see note #25]
a plain proof that they had not come into the house of God in which He
dwelt. Paul explains this to them, and they are baptised in the name of
Jesus. Paul, in his apostolic capacity, lays his hands on them; and they
receive the Holy Ghost. They speak with tongues, and they prophesy.
This power, and he who was its instrument, were now to be brought out into
distinct relief. The capital city of Asia (that is, of the Roman province
so named) is the theatre in which this was to be effected. We shall see a
power displayed in this locality, which acts independently of all
traditional forms, and which governs all that surrounds it, whether man,
conscience, or the enemy-an organising power, which forms of itself and for
itself the institutions and the body that suit it, and which governs the
whole position. The power of active grace has been displayed in the work of
Paul, beginning with Antioch; and had shewn itself in different ways. Here
we have some details of its formal establishment in a great centre.
During three months of patience he preaches Christ in the synagogue, and
reasons with the Jews, conscious of divine strength and of the truth. He
grants precedence, as the sphere of testimony, to that which had been the
instrument and the people of God: "To the Jews first." It is no longer
said, "Salvation is of the Jews," but it is preached to them first.
But this work having had its development, and many taking the place of
adversaries, Paul acts as the founder of that which was according to God
and on the part of God. He separates the disciples, and discourses upon
Christianity in the hall of a Greek who had a public class. This went on
for two years: so that the doctrine was spread through all the country
among both the Jews and the Greeks. God did not fail to bear testimony to
the word of His grace, and His power was displayed in a remarkable manner
in connection with the person of the apostle who bore the testimony. The
manifestations of the enemy's power disappear before the action of this
liberative power of the Lord, and the name of Jesus was glorified. Now the
reality of this action was demonstrated in a striking way, that is, its
source in the personal, positive, and real action of the Lord on the one
side, and on the other, the mission of Paul, and faith as the instrument by
which this supernatural power wrought. Certain Jews desired to avail
themselves of it for their own self-interest; and devoid of faith, they use
the name of "Jesus whom Paul preached" as though it had been a kind of
charm. But the evil spirit, whose power was as true and real in its way as
that of the Lord which he was forced to acknowledge when it was in
exercise, knew very well that here it was not so, that there was neither
faith nor power. "Jesus I know," said he, "and who Paul is I know; but who
are ye?" And the man who was possessed attacked and wounded them. Striking
testimony to the action of the enemy, but at the same time to that superior
force. to the reality of that intervention of God. which was carried into
effect by means of Paul. Now, when God shews Himself, conscience always
shews itself; and the power of the enemy over it is manifested and ceases.
The Jews and Greeks are filled with fear, and many who became Christians
brought the proofs of their sorceries.
The mighty action of the Spirit shewed itself by the decision it produced,
by the immediate and unhesitating acting out of the thoughts and
resolutions produced in the heart. There were no long inward arguments; the
presence and the power of God produced their natural effects.
The enemy's resources were, however, not exhausted. The work of God was
done, in the sense of the establishment of the testimony through apostolic
labour; and God was sending His servant elsewhere. The enemy, as usual,
excites a tumult, stirring up the passions of men against the instruments
of the testimony of God. Paul had already intended to go away, but a little
later; he had therefore sent Timothy and Erastus before him into Macedonia,
purposing to visit Macedonia, Achaia, and Jerusalem, and afterwards to go
to Rome; and he still remains some time in Asia. But after the departure of
these two brethren, Demetrius excites the people against the Christians.
Inveterate against the gospel, which shook the whole system in connection wi
th which he made his fortune, and which was linked with all that gave him
importance, this agent of the enemy knew how to act on the passions of the
workmen who had the same occupation as himself; for he made little portable
shrines to Diana, in silver. His employment was connected with that which
all the world admired, with that which had possession of men's minds-a
great comfort to man who feels the need of something sure-with that which
had long given its hue to their religious habits. A great part of the
influence exercised was, not "Great is Diana!" but "Great is Diana of the
Ephesians!" It was, in short, the power of the enemy among the Gentiles.
The Jews apparently sought to avail themselves of this by putting one
Alexander forward-the same possibly who had withstood Paul, and who they
supposed would therefore be listened to by the people. But it was the evil
spirit of idolatry that agitated them; and the Jews were foiled in their
hope. Paul was prevented, both by the brethren and by some of the
Asiarchs,(26)
from shewing himself in the theatre. The assembly was dissolved by the town
authorities; and Paul, when he had seen the disciples, went away in peace.
[see note #27]
His work there was finished, and the gospel planted in the capital of the
province of Asia, and even in the whole province: Greece and Macedonia had
already received it.
There was yet Rome. In what manner should he go thither? This is now the
remaining question. His free and active life ended with the events which
now occupy us, as far as it is given us by the Holy Ghost. A life blessed
with an almost unequalled faith, with an energy that surpassed anything
that has been seen in men, and which, through the divine power that wrought
in it, produced its effects in spite of obstacles apparently
insurmountable, in spite of every kind of opposition, in contempt and
destitution, and which stamped its character on the assembly by giving it,
instrumentally, its existence; and that, not only in spite of two hostile
religions which divided the civilised world between them, but in spite of a
religious system which possessed the truth, but which ever sought to
confine it within the boundary of traditions that granted some place to the
flesh-a system that had the plea of priority, and was sanctioned by the
habits of those apostles who were nominated by the Lord Himself.
<61442F:130>The assembly indeed, as Paul foresaw, soon returned to its
Judaic ways, when the energy of the apostle was absent. It requires the
power of the Holy Ghost to rise above the religiousness of the flesh. Piety
does not necessarily do this; and power is never a tradition-it is itself,
and thereby independent of men and of their traditions, even when bearing
with them in love. The flesh therefore always returns to the path of
traditions and forms; because it is never power in the things of God,
although it can recognise duty. It does not therefore rise to heaven; it
does not understand grace; it can see what man ought to be for God (without
however perceiving the consequences of this, if God is revealed), but it
cannot see what God in His sovereign grace is for man. It will perhaps
retain it as orthodoxy, where the Spirit has wrought; but it will never
bring the soul into it. This it was, more than the violence of the pagans
or the hatred of the Jews, which wrung the heart and caused the anguish of
the faithful and blessed apostle, who by grace had a character, or rather a
position, more like that of Christ than any other on earth.
These conflicts will be unfolded to us in the Epistles, as well as that
ardent heart which-while embracing in its thoughts all the revealed
counsels of God, and putting each part in its place, and embracing in its
affections the whole of the work and of the assembly of God-could equally
concentrate its whole energy of thought on a single important point, and of
affection on a poor slave whom grace had given to him in his chains. The
vessel of the Spirit, Paul shines with a heavenly light throughout the
whole work of the gospel. He condescends at Jerusalem, thunders in Galatia
when souls were being perverted, leads the apostles to decide for the
liberty of the Gentiles, and uses all liberty himself to be as a Jew to the
Jews, and as without law to those that had no law, as not under law, but
always subject to Christ. Yet how difficult to maintain the height of life
and of spiritual revelation, in the midst of so many opposing tendencies!
He was also "void of offence." Nothing within hindered his communion with
God, whence he drew his strength to be faithful among men. He could say,
and none but he, "Be ye imitators of me, as I am of Christ." Thus also he
could say, "I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory," words which
would not be improper in the Lord's mouth-in a more exalted sense
doubtless, because He endured for Paul himself the wrath that would have
been his eternal condemnation-yet words which bring out the remarkable
position of this man of God, as the vessel of the Holy Ghost by whom he was
used. "I fill up," said he, "that which is lacking [see note #28]
of the sufferings of Christ for his body's sake, which is the assembly;
whereof I am made a minister to complete the word of God.
John (through his intimate knowledge of the Person of Christ, born on earth
and Son of God) was able to maintain this essential and individually vital
truth, in the same field in which Paul laboured; but it was Paul's part to
be the active instrument for propagating the truth which saves the soul,
and brings ruined man into connection with God by faith, by communicating
all His counsels of grace.
Still Paul was a man, although a man wonderfully blest. The intrinsic power
of Judaism in connection with its relationship to the flesh is marvellous.
As to the result indeed, if man takes his place below grace, that is, below
God, it is better in a certain sense that he should be man under law than
man without law. He will be the one or the other; but in taking up the
exclusive idea of duty he forgets God as He is-for He is love; and too
often forgets also man as he is-for he is sin. If he unites the idea of
duty and of sin, it is continual bondage, and this is what Christianity in
general is reduced to; with the addition of ordinances to ease the burdened
conscience, of forms to create piety where communion is absent; clothing it
all with the name of Christ, and with the authority of the church, so
named, the very existence of which in its reality is identified with the
principle of sovereign grace, and characterised by subjection. [see note #29]
