`seen, looked upon and handled'. Not `life', but `life manifested'; not what we are in Christ, but the condition of

`fellowship' with Him; not our standing in grace, but our `walk in the light'.

` If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ

His Son cleanseth (is cleansing) us from all sin' (1 John 1:7).

Then, in verses 8 and 9, in contrast to mere profession (`if we say') the Apostle puts genuine confession (`if we

confess'). It would be easy to dwell on this condition of confession, and to contrast it with the standing of the

believer in Ephesians and Colossians. The true comparison, however, is rather with 1 John 2:1 and 2, where the

Apostle, after explaining that he is writing in order that the believer shall not sin, adds :

` If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for

our sins' (1 John 2:2).

He supplements this by saying later on in the epistle that `as He is, so are we in this world', a passage that is

comparable with those that speak of the standing of the believer in Ephesians and Colossians.

The cleansing and the forgiving of 1 John 1 are experimental. They deal with the conditions visualized in John

13:10 in connection with the washing of the disciples' feet.

The ceremonial cleansing of the Israelite was accomplished by `the water of separation', a cleansing medium

composed of the ashes of an unblemished red heifer. together with running water. So, in Ephesians 5:26, `the

cleansing' is followed by a reference to `washing by water' (loutron). This word only occurs twice in the New

Testament, here in Ephesians 5:26 and in Titus 3:5, where the Apostle speaks of `the washing of regeneration'. In

the LXX the word only occurs in the Song of Songs (4:2 and 6:6), where it is translated `washing'. Josephus speaks

of the hot and cold springs near the castle of Macherus, which, being mixed together, made a most pleasant bath

(loutron). Aquilla also in his translation of the Old Testament, uses the word on the two occasions when David

speaks of Moab as his `washpot'. In spite of the fact that most nouns ending in tron in the Greek denote Greek

instruments, the LXX translators chose louter, instead of loutron, to translate the Hebrew word for `laver'

(Exod. 30:18 &c.). Presumably therefore, the Apostle's use of loutron was intended to remove the idea a little from

the laver itself to the washing associated with it. There is certainly no reference here in Ephesians 5:26 to baptism.

The word used in the phrase `by the word' is not logos but rhema, `the spoken word', `the saying'. Rhema is also

used in Ephesians 6:17, where the Apostle speaks of the `word of God' as the `sword of the Spirit'. Logos refers to

the expressed `thought', whereas rhema indicates the expressed `will'.

The `washing of water by the word' is referred to several times in John's Gospel. In John 15:3 the Lord says :

` Now are ye clean through the word (logos) which I have spoken'.

Then in John 17 we read :

` I have given unto them the words (rhema) which Thou hast given Me' (8).

` I have given them Thy word (logos)' (14).

` Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word (logos) is truth' (17).

En rhemati `by the word' (Eph. 5:26), indicates the instrument whereby the washing is accomplished, that is, by

the `word' that lays hold of and applies the sacrificial work of Christ. Had baptism been in the Apostle's mind, he

could easily have used the word en hudati, `in water' as in Mark 1:8.

We cannot read the Scriptures prayerfully without their sanctifying and cleansing effect taking place. They are

given not only for doctrine, but for `reproof' and `correction', so that the man of God, already blessedly saved, shall

be made `perfect' (2 Tim. 3:16,17). We shall have to return to this figure of `washing' later, but our better plan at the

moment is to complete the examination of Ephesians 5:26,27. We trust that the reader is already experiencing

something of the deep joy that comes with the realization that we are indeed `accepted in the Beloved'.