Disciple is learner, follower: the Lord Jesus is both Savior and Master, Lord and Master of all men, of those whom He bought with His blood. Only believers are true disciples. To be a disciple of Christ while He was here below involved the loss of all that men value (Luke 14:2626If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26) &c). Not by being deprived of all as by force, for then the affections Aught still be engrossed with them; but a deliberate and willing separation from all that would interfere with following Him. Faith is the first step in the path, the only true beginning. A false start, that is, a pretended following, when all else is not forsaken, frequently if not invariably leads to greater hardness of heart, and to infidelity. The sure natural result is hatred of the truth. The Lord warns the multitude of what is needed to be a true disciple, “if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Had they ears to hear? Anyone attempting to be a disciple in his own strength, by the working of his own will, would be like a man beginning to build a tower without counting the cost, or like a king going to war with ten thousand against another king with twenty thousand. The cost of being a disciple is beyond the resources of man.
Some have given up father and mother for the sake of worldly advantage; others to gain the applause of quasi-religions men, which is but another phase of the same world. There is only one case in which the Lord shows the necessity of forsaking father and mother, and that is when the child is commanded to forsake Christ; in every other it is sin against Him who said of old, “Honor thy father and thy mother,” and also by the apostle, “Children, obey your parents.” When father or mother, yea, or wife or life, comes in competition with Christ, then all must be “hated” the disciple must bear the cross and follow Him. If any of these stand in the way of confessing Christ as Savior, it is better to be driven from home and disowned by parents, than to be Christless.
When Christ was here, the world was against Him. A few were gathered to Him in true-hearted love. Great multitudes were attracted by His gracious words; they would be disciples, but had not counted the cost; they had not reckoned on the opposing forces of nature and the world. It was only natural feeling which moved them: how could they oppose nature? What a proof this necessity of denying nature affords of the havoc sin has made with the affections implanted by the Creator, and therefore excellent as given by God, that when it is a question of following Christ, the affections are all found perverted and become hindrances, insomuch that the Lord says the dearest objects must be hated. “Hate” in this scripture is not to be understood in its common acceptation of intense dislike; the true disciple does not at all dislike his unconverted relatives, but he seeks their blessing. He may be intensely disliked by them, for he cannot join in their worldly pleasures, and his joys are beyond their apprehension. They are outside and opposed to all that he loves and follows. Hence to the world he has the appearance of hating them. This is a trial to the disciple who longs to see them brought to God, but he will not cease to follow Christ. The separation on the disciples' part and the hatred on the world's part had a very acute form when the Lord was here. To break away from everything, to be in open separation from all that had hitherto been accounted of God and highly esteemed, and as a consequence to be scorned by the religious of that day, was what the disciples of Christ had then to endure.
Nor has the world changed from its hatred of true and faithful disciples. Our Lord and Master, the first who trod the path of utter rejection and world's hatred, is now on the Father's throne; but the path remains the same. The world has tried to take away the offense of the cross, to make a pleasant way for nature. It has made a bye-path, and very easy walking it is to nature; but the real old path of true discipleship is as rough as ever; the truth has not changed. In the world's religious path no need to count any cost; there is nothing to endure, or give up, or hate, for His name's sake. Those who walk therein know not the meaning of “disciple.”
The world will accept any counterfeit, but hates the real. Though it knows not the true, its instincts at once recognize the counterfeit as part of itself, and its antagonism to Christ is not less seen in its welcome to the false, than in its hatred of the true. Therefore to bear the name of “disciple” and not to separate from the world, is like salt that has lost its savor, which is such a useless thing that it is unfit for land, unfit even for the dunghill. The man who bears the name of professor, and follows the world, dishonors Christ, and is despised by men.
Discipleship and salvation do not run in parallel lines. The Lord in Luke does not say, Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be saved; though only the true disciple knows the full joy of salvation. There may be those who are just under the cross but who can hardly be called followers and hearers of the Lord Jesus; on the other hand John 6 shows that there were disciples who were not saved: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him” (ver. 66). They for a time followed Him and had apparently forsaken all; what was it that tested these pretended disciples, who being unreal turned again to the world which in truth they had never left? They had seen miracles, had eaten the bread miraculously provided, were willing to be fed by the Lord as regards mere bread, but would not receive Him as the true bread from heaven; Christ the life-giving bread in contrast with the manna once given to the fathers. To many of His disciples this was a hard saying. They murmured. But if they doubted Christ as having come down from heaven, what If they should see Him, the Son of man, go up there again where He was before? In this the Lord asserts His God-manhood, but they could not receive it. They had no life, and flesh profits nothing. It is the Spirit that quickens; and so the Lord says, No one can come to me except the Father who has sent Me draw him. The two truths which here test discipleship are Christ's Person and man's profitlessness. A man may seem to give up all for Christ, but the receiving of these fundamental truths is out of the region of the flesh altogether. There must be the quickening power of the Spirit.
Christ as God-man became the source of life to man; hence He is “that bread which came down from heaven.” But in bread simply, there is no idea of blood. Therefore the true bread must be in that form which meets the need of the guilty. Far a creature unstained with sin there is no need of blood, and after a soul is cleansed no need for further application of the blood. The redeemed feed upon the bread as such. So Israel after their redemption from Egypt (type of ours) were fed with manna. God rained down manna upon them to eat. He gave them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels' food (Psa. 78:24, 2524And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. 25Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full. (Psalm 78:24‑25)). But the point in John 6 is not the sustaining of life so much as the giving life to a sinner. “The bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.” Christ by death became the bread of life. The striving of the Jews brings out a more explicit statement, “except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood ye have no life in you.” —Christ bearing the judgment of sin, and the sinner owning the judgment as due to himself. But there is more than substitution: “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him.” It is identification with the death of Christ in all its moral force (in its atoning character He is necessarily alone)—a truth developed in Rom. 6 and 7. Christ could only be bread for man by dying; and in and by His death He has become the source of life. But His death is proof that man was condemned. Man is naturally offended when he hears that he could only live by Another's death. “Many disciples went back and walked no more with Him.” It was a test which only those who were given to Him could bear. The true disciple who knows his own ruin and death through sin receives with joy life through the Savior's death, and cleaves the more to Him. “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” The pretended disciple turns his back upon the Lord; the true disciple acknowledges these very words which offended others to be the words of eternal life. But more is added, not only the words but the Person of Christ, which is life. “And we believe and are sure that Thou art the Holy One of God (for so it should be).” The truth that offends the false soul brings out praise from the real.
In John 8:3131Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; (John 8:31) we have another trait of true discipleship, “if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed:” In the former chapter the disciple is marked as one given to Christ by the Father, and receiving life from Him; in this (8) he is known by continuing in the word. This is the disciples' responsibility, through the pure and unsolicited grace of the Father; the word in which the disciples are to continue is in connection with Christ being “lifted up” —an expression which had no doubtful meaning to the Jew. It meant a shameful death, the cross, the death of a malefactor. They should know who He was when they lifted Him up; but would those who then believed on Him continue in His word, as the One who only spoke and did in obedience to the Father? Would they so continue when He would be condemned and crucified between two thieves? His discipleship involved this. When that hour came even the true-hearted failed, the sheep were scattered but the risen Lord gathered them again. Abiding in the word is more than knowing the truth intellectually: the essential point is obedience to the truth, a life conformed by the truth and marked by the holiness which grace demands. For knowledge of the truth may be separated from obedience to it. A man may be orthodox in doctrine and lax in practice, or outwardly unimpeachable in life but unsound in fundamental truth. In neither case is there a true disciple.
“And He that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things which please Him.” This is the truth that by grace wins the heart, it is the Person of the Lord, but Son and Servant in wondrous union. As Son, He is conqueror of sin, as Servant victim for sin. “As He spake these words, many believed on Him” This is the word, the foundation truth, continuance in which marks the disciple indeed.
Chapter 6 equally declared the truth that life to a sinner could only be communicated through the death of Christ; but there is displayed the natural heart which cannot receive this truth—many are offended. Chapter 8 shows the grace of God in connection with the same truth; and more, for here we have the shame of the cross. The Son of man would be lifted up—the shame of a public execution between two thieves. But here grace works and MANY BELIEVE.
Continuance in the word of Christ is a sure sign of true discipleship. The followers of Christ were then assailed, slandered, and evilly spoken of. At this present day disciples have to bear the same. Perhaps no former time gave greater opportunities for the true disciple to show faithfulness to Christ. The fagot and scaffold do not require more power of faith than constant misrepresentation and untruthful accusation need its sustaining energy. Patient abiding in the word, amid the contentions of party and the breaking up of old and cherished ties, is the mark of a meek and quiet spirit. The truth makes is free from strife and selfwill.
And this leads on to a further mark of true discipleship, John 13:3535By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35), “By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Men were unable to appreciate the previous marks given. A disciple giving up all to follow Christ would be esteemed a fool. To confess that flesh is profitless, that it is only by the operation of the Spirit of God that a soul receives life, without whose power all man's strength is vain, seems fanaticism. To part company with the respectable religious world, to be numbered with the despised, seems bigotry, or at least as having strange notions unsuited to this enlightened age! But if we have Christ to fill the eye and the heart, all these things are proofs of being disciples, of discipleship before God. In chap. 13 the Lord gives a mark which the natural man can recognize; it might create wonder, but there would be an evident testimony of a power superior to the selfishness of nature. The Lord gave the pattern of this love, “As I have loved you, that ye love one another.”
The Lord loved the young man who would not forsake his possessions and follow Christ. The youth had an amiable nature; at least it was interesting to see him running to the Lord, and kneeling to ask the very important question, what he must do to inherit eternal life. But this is not the love of the Lord to His disciples. Nor is it the love of God in giving His only begotten Son as in John 3 The Lord's love to His disciples is a love that found in its objects something above nature and lovable in itself. If above nature, it must be something that grace had imparted. And so we have two things; that this love is heavenly both in its source and in its objects; of divine origin but having its seat in a human heart, displayed by human words and in ways suited to grace and the holiness of God. And its object is that which grace had produced. The Lord loved His disciples with such a love as this, but His was a perfect human heart, and perfectly pleasing to the Father in its special manifestations, as when John leaned upon His breast at supper, and in His love for the family at Bethany.
But the Lord loved them all. “As I have loved you.” Their love to each other was to be of the same character, and to grow in intensity; though it can never reach the purity and strength of His love to them. Not even their love to Him is a measure large enough for the love which they are commanded to have for each other. Surely they all did love Him, but not perfectly. When James and John sought the highest pines in the kingdom, they raised the indignation of the others, thereby proving that all had self as an object, not the Lord alone. It was their glory that occupied their minds. Peter loved the Master, came behind none in fervor, but fear made him deny his Master. The Lord's love to them was pure, patient, untiring, persevering; it never flagged. Nothing on their part could turn. it aside. Nothing less than this is the pattern of their mutual love. The Lord does not say, Love me as I have loved you, it is, Love each other as I have loved you. Such power of love in them could only be the result of grace, of the power of the Spirit in their heart, showing its reality in acts of human kindness, as well as in caring for each other's spiritual welfare. It is heavenly love in a human heart and manifested through a human medium! How greatly the Lord desired the mutual happiness of His disciples! What a divine preventive of strife and of the workings of a selfish nature! Had the church given heed to the loving Lord's injunction, disciples would have been one body in visible manifestation before men. In no mark of discipleship has the church failed more than in this. The varied and numerous names under which true believers range themselves afford sad proof. All the parties and divisions which now deface the church owe their origin for the most part, not to zeal for the truth, but to lack of love. Love does not seek occasion for separation, nor will it separate save upon scriptural ground; and when compelled by obedience to the word, always in sorrow and hoping for reunion. It is such a solemn thing, that the. Lord has not left it to His disciples to decide when a man that is called a brother ought to be put away, or when an assembly is to be left. 1 Cor. 5 is plain for all immoral cases, and the Second Epistle of John decides with equal precision for the doctrinal. The touchstone is the doctrine of Christ, the truth of His Person, His essential Deity and His manhood. Any one not bringing this doctrine was not to be received even into one's own house, much less at the Lord's table. The word being so explicit forbids us by implication to separate from any other cause. Upon any other ground separation is sin. False doctrine may arise in the church from which, according to the word, separation is imperative. But separation upon unscriptural ground is the place where evil doctrine finds a genial soil and a rapid growth. Divisions are not only the effect of false doctrine but the cause and occasion too. So we get a sorrowful sequence. Want of love works divisions, and divisions work departure from the truth, which in its turn opens the door to every kind of evil doctrine. Obedience to the word, “love one another,” would have prevented the shame of such a scene; the Lord would not have been so dishonored as we see.
Even when fidelity to the Lord demands separation from others, zeal for the truth has often degenerated into zeal for victory. Thus while truth has been assailed by the one, grace, love, and meekness have been forgotten by the other, and the tree witness of discipleship seen in neither. A little more patient love might have nipped the bud of evil. Alas! the pride of seeming right when others are wrong is a great hindrance to brotherly love. So sweeping are the consequences of having forgotten the Lord's word that, if loving one another were the only mark of disciples they would be nearly if not altogether undistinguishable from the world. The trees of the world are bound up in many bundles, the saints of God should be manifested as one bundle of life. There are nearly as many divisions among disciples as bundles of trees in the world.
What a sad aspect the whole church at this present time bears to the eye of Him who prayed “that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also might be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.” How responsible the whole church is for the unbelief of the world! What a proof of sovereign grace to know that though the visible unity is a lost thing here, yet will the church be manifested in glory to the world as one, and then the world will know what now perhaps they would believe had the church been diligent to present this trait to them. At all events the world would have had this additional testimony: it was the Lord's mind that they should have it. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. if ye have love one for another.”
If we love Him that begat, we shall also love them that are begotten of Him. Impossible to love the Father and hate the brethren. I do not say impossible to be saved; but he who loves not his brother gives no proof that he believes the Father, no proof to the world that he is a disciple of Christ. Where this true love of the brethren is not found, there is frequently Pharisaic pride, more hateful than the common pride of the world. Indulging the thought of one's own greater spirituality and faithfulness leads to the despising of others, and is of the same spirit that made some of old say, “Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou” (Isa. 65). It is but one step more to say—the temple of the Lord are we, and heathen all beside. These high-minded ones, miscalling their spiritual pride by the name of faithfulness, disown all but those who follow them, and, like Jehu of old whose heart was not right with God, say, “Come and see my zeal for Jehovah.” Zeal without obedience is Jehu-like (2 Kings 10:3131But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. (2 Kings 10:31)). Insubjection to the word soon takes the form of sneering at those who seek in scripture a reason for what they do; then of denying the all-sufficiency of the word, saying, that scripture does not provide for every case. Nothing can more show where men are fallen. Whatever their pretension, they are off the ground of true testimony, and fail in that test of discipleship which has peculiar reference to the world. They are a false witness as regards what the church of God ought to be.
Scripture does provide for every case of evil demanding separation. To deny this is to deceive God's saints, and what is of far greater moment, it dishonors the Lord in denying the completeness of His truth. It may be said that there are evils so insidious that only the spiritual can discern them. Granted that the more spiritual may be first and best detect them; but I deny that any evil for which the word authorizes separation, when brought before the conscience of the youngest believer in any assembly of God, will not be judged by him in the light and power of the word of God. If the conscience be darkened by human influence, the judgment will so far be false, And what can influence more than threats of cutting off, loss of friends &c.? But does not he who thus influences the conscience of weaker brethren fall under the judgment pronounced against those who offend the little ones of Christ? (Luke 17:22It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. (Luke 17:2).) To pervert the weak, to turn away the eyes of the little ones from the word of God, is the blind leading the blind; the leader blinded by pride, the led (and by far the less guilty) by looking to man and not to God. But even the “led” are responsible, for they have the capacity for knowing. “Ye have an unction from the Holy One and know all things” (1 John 2:2020But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. (1 John 2:20)). This is said to babes, not merely to fathers. If babes have a capacity for knowing “all things,” remaining in ignorance is to grieve the Spirit of God, who is come to lead us into all truth. As to the leaders, to talk of evil, to fail in proof, and then to separate, is scattering the sheep of Christ it is undoing as far as it can what God in grace is doing, building the church together for His habitation by the Spirit. Loving one another after the divine pattern, “As I have loved you” would have prevented the divisions which grieve the hearts of tree disciples.
Another mark of discipleship is given in John 15:88Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (John 15:8). “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my disciples.” The emphasis is not the bearing much fruit, but the glorifying of the Father. Much fruit bearing is the means, the Father's glory is the end. It was what we see the Lord Himself always doing, and it is the highest mark of discipleship. It contains in itself every other mark. “Hating” all for Christ's sake without a lingering look of regret towards the Sodom we have been delivered from, or a looking back if only to bid farewell to those at home (Luke 9:6262And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)), this is the blossom which in maturity is much fruit, as it ripens, manifesting every other trait of discipleship until in full fruition the Father is glorified. Abiding in the word, obedience, loving one another as Christ has loved us, is the much fruit that glorifies the Father. Mark the place the glory of the Father has in the heart of the Lord Jesus. As it was His meat (He says) to do the Father's will, and thus glorify Him, so any who glorified the Father should be His disciples. It is the latest mark given, the one the Lord most prized.
As branches in the vine—for thus we are looked at, and the good works of faith by the Spirit in us are the fruit—much purging is needed. The Father Himself is the Husbandman; it is His untiring watchfulness that makes the fruit-bearing branch to produce more fruit. In His care what patient perseverance of love, what wisdom or skill of husbandry is seen! He has grafted us in Christ, the only true Vine, where we as branches could bear fruit. There was no other life but His which could be communicated to us; but abiding in Him and He in us, we bring forth much fruit. His word abiding in us is the evidence of our abiding in Him. Abiding in Him is faith characterized by dependence and confidence, and this is only where love draws out the heart, in communion with Him, and so dependence upon Him becomes the confirmed habit of the soul. His word abiding in us is the obedience of the heart, manifested so that our life becomes a testimony to all. This is to be a living branch in the vine. Such the Husbandman purges and produces more fruit. “Abiding in Him” does not refer to our “standing” as Rom. 8:11There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1). There is no “if” in Romans. Here in John it is “If ye abide in me,” and if not, cast forth as a branch. That is, the Lord speaks of responsibility. It is the glory of the Father that is in question.
God is glorified when a soul is saved; it is His sovereign grace which quickens, forgives, and puts the pardoned soul in a new position, with a new life and the relationship of children. When it is a question of the child's behavior, or as in John 15 of fruit-bearing branches, then it is the Father's glory. It is grace all through meeting the need of the soul, but in conversion it is grace meeting a dead soul and giving life; in our life it is grace meeting a living soul and giving power to meet his responsibilities. It is the glory of the Father. See also Matt. 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16).
Only those born of God can abide in Christ, but the responsibility of bearing fruit rests upon every one professing to be a branch. “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch,” and is cast into the fire. A solemn word, which makes the real diligent and watchful, as it tests and demonstrates the false. The Father as Husbandman in purging strengthens and confirms the fruit-bearing branch, and He is glorified.
The Lord could say at the end of His life here, “Father, I have glorified Thee.” He had made God known in a way never known before, and He would have His disciples bear testimony to the truth that God was now become Father to all who believe. In this way the Son had glorified the Father. He glorified God when His soul was made an offering for sin. But here in John 15 as in the former scriptures, we are looked at as disciples, not as children. The Lord says, “Herein is my (not, “your") Father glorified.” And He would have His disciples to be very fruitful, that His Father might be glorified. What more than this could show the Lord's supreme desire to glorify the Father? If He delighted in those who “hated” all for His sake, who believed in Him as the true bread from heaven, who loved each other with the same kind of love, if not with the same measure, as He loved them, who abiding in Him and His words in them were bringing forth much fruit, it was because His Father was glorified. And they who did so were His disciples. It is the crowning mark of discipleship, and implies every other, and the Lord puts His seal upon it, “So shall ye be my disciples.” There is an emphasis on these words, not found connected with any previous mark of discipleship. “So” in that manner, and “my,” truly My own disciple. It was His work while here, and He honors every follower in the same path. But that path was impossible to man before the cross. An ignorant man might say, “I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest,” not knowing what was involved. To be worse off than foxes and birds was more than that man could bear. Yet this was not the great test. The disciples followed the Lord in His path up to the moment when death appeared. Then they all fled. It was only after the Lord had gone through that path, that any disciple could follow. I speak not of atonement, but of condemnation and death from man. Now, many have followed, and the Lord Jesus has gathered to Himself a noble army of martyrs.
Bearing much fruit is glorifying to the Father. But no fruit is borne save as we abide in Christ, as branches in the vine. That is, Christ is the Center around whom we gather, the Source of our life, the One Object to fill the eye of every believer. This is the present purpose of God. No other name is given by which men are saved. No other name is to be the gathering point for all saints. Any other name, however honored, is an offense to God. Nor can a doctrine, still less a discipline, be God's center of unity. The unity of the body, though a truth of capital importance in doctrine and for practical life clearly asserted in the word, is not what God gathers His saints to. It is a blessed fact which we learn when gathered to His name. To make it His object, to say we are gathered to the unity of the body, is making the church—blessed as it is—of equal moment with Christ, the body equal to the Head! It dishonors our divine Master, the Head, even Christ; it is defrauding Him of His due, putting something in His place. And what is this but idolatry? Whether it be the Virgin, or saints (so called), or the church—changed by some for the phrase “unity of the body,” it is the same in superstitious essence as in the mind of a papist. Whatever it be that is put in the place of Christ is idolatry. It was said of old “Thou shalt have no other gods but me.” And now there is no other point of gathering, any more than Savior, save the name of JESUS. It is equally displeasing to God and dishonoring to the Lord to join anything to His name as a center; to say we are gathered to Christ AND to the unity of the body is making the church of co-equal importance, which ere long makes the grace and authority of the Lord a secondary thing. It is making another tabernacle to the “unity of the body” in disobedience to the voice from the cloud of excellent glory, “This is my beloved Son: hear Him.”
Gathered to the unity of the body is the first step to Romanism; gathered to the Table is a great step beyond. The error begins with making the body equal, to Christ, and then puts it above Him. It is what the church of Rome has done dogmatically and practically. No marvel if we see incipient tendencies here, and full blown Romish practices there. Is it not true that this unholy doctrine underlies old and recent papers in a periodical known to many? At first whispered among the initiated, it is now openly taught; and the simple are beguiled. It is in effect the fresh test of membership, the Shibboleth of a new but unscriptural lump, not wanting the Laodicean boast of being rich and increased in goods.
Those who teach this doctrine are not faithful disciples of Christ, but propagandists of a doctrine which in the minds of the poor and simple soon becomes a vague abstraction, or a gross superstition. The Person of Christ being in the background, love grows cold: they do not abide in Him, and His words do not abide in them. Much fruit cannot be borne, nor is the Father glorified by those who teach or receive to Christ's dishonor such clouds of error. The Lord does not say of such “So shall ye be my disciples.”
R. B.