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rallying battle-cry, "Stand fast to the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free" (5: 1);
this one was the branded slave of Christ.
There is a quietening influence in the contemplation of this relationship to the Lord. If
we are His, if the freedom He has given us is ours to lay at His feet in loving service, if
we no longer seek our own but His, if we cease from picking and choosing what
"service" we shall render, if all service public or private, is rendered unto Him, we shall
understand the sanctifying paradox of the new life. His service is perfect freedom, and
truest liberty is expressed in the most devoted bond-service. The more free we are from
the old bondage of sin, world and flesh, the more completely can we become the Lord's
bondmen.
Would we know the brand-marks of Paul the bondslave of the Lord? Did they consist
only of the scars of the lictors' rods, or the Jewish stripes? No. They are indicated for us
the threefold crucifixion of Gal. 2: 20; 5: 24; and 6: 14. Crucifixion to sin and to law;
crucifixion to the flesh with its affections and desires; crucifixion to the world; these are
the brand-marks of the slave of Christ. The liberty which knows not these marks is a
delusion.
"For while speaking high-flown words of vanity, they allure with the lusts of the flesh
by dissoluteness those who have just fled, those who walk in error, promising them
liberty, while they themselves are slaves of corruption: for by whom a man is subdued,
by him is he also brought into slavery" (II Pet. 2: 18, 19).
Christ is All.
#2. The Gospel.
pp. 42 45
We pass from the wider testimony of Scripture to the consideration of the gospel, and
in doing so we shall find it to be gloriously true that there, CHRIST IS ALL. Writing to
the Corinthians the apostle explains or makes known (gnorizo) the gospel which he
preached to them. That gospel was "glad tidings", and centred in Christ: it presented
Christ under three aspects of His work, followed by a sixfold witness to His
resurrection:--
A | Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures;
B | He was buried;
A | He was raised again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
The sixfold witness.