 |  |
the risen Christ may not make any great show of power, but just as the children of
disobedience are unconsciously energized by the evil spirit to fulfil the will of the flesh,
so the believer is unconsciously energized to do the will of God. The hymn expresses the
thought perhaps as well as any words we could say:--
"And every virtue we possess,
And every victory won.
And every thought of holiness,
Are His alone."
The whole spiritual life and service of the believer is the outworking of the risen life
of Christ. In the case of the apostle the ministry of the one body was carried out by the
same glorious power. The smallest and most insignificant member of the body likewise
cannot minister to his fellow-member apart from this same power. If we keep to the
figure of the body, we can say of this energy, "the blood is the life". Without this "power
of His resurrection" the body would be dead, and all activity would cease.
The reader may be stimulated to review the teaching of the Scriptures with regard to
this word energeia by the complete list of occurrences which are as follows: Eph. 1: 19,
3: 7, 4: 16; Phil. 3: 21; Col. 1: 29, 2: 12; II Thess. 2: 9-11.
This apostle, in no degree behind the chiefest apostles, this apostle, who "glorified"
his office, could nevertheless write in the very next verse, "Unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints is this grace given". Fearless proclamation, unflinching courage,
immovable convictions, are not necessarily separated from lowliness of mind. Moses,
the master mind of Israel, was the meekest man on earth. Paul, who would not yield in
subjection for an hour at Jerusalem (Gal. 2: 5), could nevertheless call himself the chief
of sinners and one utterly unworthy of the sacred trust given to him. Let us notice the
humble mind of this great apostle, and seek to emulate it also:--
"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints" (Eph. 3: 8).
"I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am" (I Cor. 15: 9, 10).
"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and
injurious; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief . . . . . sinners, of
whom I am chief" (I Tim. 1: 12-15).
The conscience of the apostle was still tender when he wrote to Timothy. Years of
faithful service, of unparalleled suffering, of heroic conflicts, of glorious testimony, never
hid from the great apostle's eyes, his own personal unworthiness. It was the grace of God
that made him what he was. It was His mercy that placed him in the ministry.
It is one of the trials of Christian service to feel constrained to be emphatic with regard
to truth, uncompromising with regard to stewardship, and ever conscious of a sacred
trust, and yet to be ever reminded of those things that one did "ignorantly in unbelief",
and of the many personal fallings and shortcomings so palpable to the senses of those
who do not believe one's testimony. It is however a cause for great thankfulness that in