Christian Standards - Conclusion

by T.M. Hyland, Birkenhead | Category: Christian Standards | Dec 1973

In the introductory article to this series in January last, attention was drawn to the very great importance of Christian behaviour in what has become known as 'the permissive society'. The writer stressed that for those who would follow Christ the standards laid down by our Lord and His apostles, embodied in the Faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, are unalterable. They may not be adjusted to current trends or modified by human legislation. The application of these standards to conditions of living in this late-twentieth century is the constant concern of the Christian disciple.

Contributors during the present year have given helpful scriptural guidance on selected areas of conduct in their present day setting. There are other facets of this important subject which require continuous attention. Editors of this magazine are mindful of their responsibility to give adequate cover to these, and to avoid undue emphasis on certain regions of life to the exclusion of others. With standards tumbling around us there is need for increased vigilance so that our manner of life may be the more worthy of the gospel of Christ.

In the closing article to this series we direct attention to some of the contrasts between the Christian way of life and the standards and ideals of mankind in general. Standards of behaviour are essential for the orderly conduct of human society. When they break down there is anarchy and violence. For this reason humanitarians, many of whom do not adopt the Christian ethic, are apprehensive at the present permissive trend. It has brought in its wake some grave social problems. Such problems, although acute in our time, are not new. They have occurred in many forms in the past, and there have been numerous attempts to solve them. Moralists and sociologists, searching for meaning and purpose in man's life, have advocated various principles by which human behaviour should be regulated to achieve fulfilment and happiness. The search is as old as history and continues unabated.

Men, in general, view human behaviour as a social problem:

how the baser instincts of human nature can be controlled or restrained so that men can live together amicably in an ordered society. This, of course, is indispensable in community life, but it leaves out of reckoning the vital element in man's constitution which is the very heart of his problem. There is in all men a corrupt centre which cannot be eradicated by human expedients. Our Lord referred to this under the similitude of a tree and its fruit:

"By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit... Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt. 7:16-20).

Scripture, history and human experience confirm that man's malady lies at the centre of his being. Unless there is a radical change there, any attempt to channel human conduct to noble ends will prove futile.

When our Lord began His public ministry those who listened to Him recognized at once the contrast between His teaching and that of the scribes: "They were astonished at His teaching: for He taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22). He appeared in the midst of a people with a unique religious tradition. Their moral code was the basis of their national life, and their rabbis were able expounders of it. This people were entrusted with the oracles of God. Now had appeared a Teacher who expounded these Sacred Writings as never before. Who better than He could teach their true import? Who but the Lord of life could point men the way to fulfilment and happiness? Yet His teaching incurred the hostility and hatred of His own people, until at last they hounded Him to the cross.

This shows that the teaching of our Lord was the very antithesis of man's assessment of the meaning and purpose of life. Take, for example, the principles enunciated by Him in the Beatitudes (Man. 5:1-12). Here the divine Teacher defines the elements of true blessedness. They can be realized only where there is a complete denial of self. But self-interest is the predominant force in human nature, no matter how we try to disguise it. Thus our Lord's teaching goes to the very heart of the trouble and probes the evil at its centre. Here is the corrupt root to which we referred earlier in this article. The Jews rejected their Messiah because the way of life He advocated was odious to all their human aspirations.

Secular moralists frequently pay lip service to the excellency of Christ's moral teaching. What a wonderful place this world would be, they say, if we all conformed to the precepts laid down in the Sermon on the Mount! Indeed, there are those who argue that here lies the only hope for mankind. But they miss the crucial fact that this standard of behaviour is unattainable without a radical change of heart. Let any person make an honest attempt to bring his life into line with our Lord's moral teaching, and the corruption of his heart will be so exposed that he will cry in desperation, as did Peter, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord" (Luke 5:8). This is the paradox: our Lord's teaching exposed man's moral corruption, and yet made total demands upon His followers.

The standards He set were in advance of anything advocated in the past. It is evident that the way of life enunciated by our Lord was not a generally accepted pattern of behaviour with some higher standards superimposed it was a new mode of life altogether. He was its Author. And He differed from all great teachers before Him in that He was the very embodiment of His teaching. There is truth in the saying, "Christianity is Christ". His teaching is inseparable from His Person. While other great teachers pointed to abstract principles of truth as they conceived them, our Lord presented Himself to His followers not merely as a Teacher of truth but as its personification: "I am ... the truth", He declared. This gives the clue to the paradox we mentioned earlier in this article. No-one can begin the Christian way of life without personal encounter with the living Christ. To be a Christian is not merely to subscribe to a creed or to assent to a code of ethics. When Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, desired to hear more of our Lord's teaching, he was told, "Ye must be born anew" (John 3:7). Christ challenged the minds and 'hearts of His hearers not by asking their opinion of His teaching. The crucial question was, "What think ye of the Christ" (Matt. 22:42). This was ever His method, as the Gospel narratives abundantly show. His great pronouncement at Caesarea Philippi, "I will build My Church", was preceded by the question, "Who say ye that I am?" (Matt. 16:15).

"What think ye of Christ is the test,

To try both your state and your scheme;

You cannot be right in the rest

Unless you think rightly of Him."

The lesson is clear; we do not become Christians by aspiring to a certain mode of life. We cannot begin to conform to Christian standards of behaviour without personal commitment to Christ. Although this is fundamental, and it may seem superfluous to stress it here, we suggest that its importance may not be minimized. It has this corollary: our new life in Christ not only ensures our eternal union with Him but is also an endowment for life and service while we are in mortal body.

The development of Christian character and conduct is given a prominent place in the teaching of the apostles. They taught that there is in the believer a secret power which, if unimpeded, would develop Christian virtues in his day by day life. But there is also an opposing principle which could hinder this spiritual development. How can this hidden power be liberated to do its work of transformation? How can the tendencies which restrict it be counteracted?

In dealing with this matter the apostles followed the method of their Master. First, they portrayed the Christian way of life with all its high demands upon the believer. Those demands were total, and they spelt them out in considerable detail, tracing back conduct to motive, action to thought and intent. Then, they presented the living Christ - the embodiment of Christian character - as the impelling power to speed the feet of the disciple along the way of His commandments. There are many examples of this method of teaching in the Epistles. We give one: space precludes more.

The high spiritual tone of the church of God in Philippi is evident from the letter Paul sent to them. There is no indication of any declension in doctrine or in their love for the Lord. There was, however, one feature of their corporate life which gave the apostle some concern. He had learned, no doubt from Epaphroditus, of an estrangement between two sisters, and of a tendency to separate into parties or cliques. Hence the emphasis in the epistle on the necessity for oneness of mind, and the exhortation to strive together for the faith of the gospel. At the beginning of chapter 2 he dra9s into the light two deadly enemies of harmony and unity - 'faction' and 'vain glory'. These powerful human impulses can only be eliminated if they are replaced by the beautiful Christian virtue, 'lowliness of mind'. But this is a plant of heavenly growth, lightly esteemed among men. Where does he turn for an example of it? He follows the method of presenting the living Christ, the embodiment of every Christian virtue. So from the prison the apostle sends this exquisite portrait of the Christ of the lowly mind:

"Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8).

If this rare and precious quality, lowliness of mind, was to be manifested in the Philippian church it would be developed in the saints only as they assimilated the supreme example of it in Christ. That is the reason the divine Spirit, in His glorifying work, imparted through Paul this magnificent oracle on the humility of the Son of God: "an argument to the heart" (Moule).

Thus the vision of Christ, as revealed in the word, plays a vital part in the development of Christian character. As I look upon Him there, a gradual transformation is effected. The process is described by Paul:

"But we all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18).

It has been our aim in this short study to emphasize the contrasts between the Christian way of life and all other concepts of human behaviour, and to stress the divine method of character transformation. Paul said of the early Christians,

"...Ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered" (Rom. 6:17).

Without this heart exercise there can be mere formal conformity to a nominally Christian code of conduct without the Christlikeness of character which is the hallmark of the Spirit's work in the believer. Where the latter is evident there is no trace of pride. Every advance is a divine enablement - no credit to self, no reason for self-congratulation. While the loyal disciple struggles to conform to Christian teaching, he is also aware that he can only do so as enabled by divine grace.

"I laboured" wrote Paul, "... yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Cor. 15:10).

"I labour ... according to His working, which worketh in me mightily" (Col. 1:29);

"I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20).

Every Christian grace, and all Christian conduct, is Christcentred; "Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11).

T.M. Hyland, Birkenhead | Dec 1973
Christian Standards