Man can never be suited to the eye and approval of God by loving goodness in himself, because there is no power to subdue self in this way. Those trying to be what they would like do not succeed, but if we contemplate the goodness in Christ, He says of all such, to the Father, “I have given them Thy words, and they have received them.” His given words put us in the place of those that are dependent, and in obedience to those words, derivative goodness is found.
The Dependent Man
This is the opposite to mysticism: It is the truth — the very contrast to the mystic vanities, which, alas, are often active in a saint, but which God exposes by the contrast in Christ’s lowliness, who became so dependent as to be able to use the following language, suited to express His feelings in His manhood: “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.” “My goodness extendeth not to Thee.” “Why callest thou Me good; there is none good but one, that is God.” “Not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” “I will put My trust in Him.” “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” “He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory; but He that seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.” “I seek not Mine own glory.” “As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.”
Oh, how such language marks the infinitely wonderful grace of “the Word become flesh” and who thus introduced into Manhood as perfect a holiness as was His before He became a Man. This He did in order, as Man, to always look to God instead of Himself, as the foregoing Scriptures declare, “leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps.” What a wonderful privilege it is for us, now that His grace has set us in the same place as Himself, to take Him for our example in all things, except, of course, the awful sin-atoning agony and its connections.
Dead With Christ
Only, in our case, we have to take Christ instead of ourselves practically, by bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, by which means Christ then comes out, instead of self.
We thus display goodness which is unceasingly derivative, while we live at Gilgal, which is a picture of the place where everything in self was put away. It is the place where the Lord Jesus stood in our stead in death under the judgment of God, putting man away once for all.
It is the communication of risen life in Christ which enables us to treat the old man as dead. We are told by some that, when we treat the old man as dead, we are entitled to have life, which really supposes that there is good and power in fallen men to do it. But it is the consciousness of being dead and risen with Christ that enables a saint to keep in the place of death anything in him which is not Christ. It enables him, according to 2 Corinthians 4:10, to keep in the place of death all that God has put there.
Self Superseded With Christ
It is thus that self is removed as an object, being superseded with Christ, so that all our goodness might be a risen Christ in a derivative way and we replenished by being occupied with “the glory that excelleth.” This gives us the sense of the value to God of Christ’s death and keeps our faith unfeigned and our consciences pure, so as to be always rejoicing in Him for “the health of His countenance,” which thus becomes “the health of ours,” always remembering never to make the health of our countenance the object, but the health of His.
H. H. McCarthy, adapted