Scripture Reading: Gal. 5:16, 25; 6:16, 18
In God’s New Testament economy He first makes us His sons and then the new creation and the Israel of God. Toward the end of Galatians, Paul speaks both of a new creation (6:15) and of the Israel of God (v. 16). The fact that he refers to these matters in the conclusion of the book is an indication of their importance. Hence, it is crucial that we have a proper understanding of the new creation and also of the Israel of God.
In 6:16 Paul says, “And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God.” Here Paul does not mention peace in a general way, but in a particular way. Furthermore, he does not say “peace be unto you,” but says “peace be upon the Israel of God.” For peace to be upon us is different from it being unto us. Peace upon us is more subjective than peace unto us. According to 6:16, this peace is not upon the believers generally; rather, it is upon those who walk by this rule, the elementary rule of the new creation. Peace will be upon those who walk by the rule of the new creation. This indicates that here in the conclusion of Galatians peace is conditional. In order for peace to be upon us, we need to be those who walk by the rule of the new creation to be the true Israel of God.
Before Paul speaks of grace in verse 18, he inserts verse 17 and says, “For the rest let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the brands of Jesus.” The insertion of this verse is a further indication that at the end of Galatians both peace and grace are mentioned with certain conditions. If peace is to come upon us, we must fulfill the conditions. Because peace here comes upon us in a very particular way, we need to meet a certain requirement, the requirement that we walk by the rule of the new creation to be the Israel of God.
We have pointed out that in Galatians Paul speaks of two kinds of walk by the Spirit. The walk in 5:16 is a more general walk, whereas the walk in 5:25 and 6:16 is a particular walk, a walk according to a certain rule or principle. Having the second kind of walk is a condition for peace to come upon the Israel of God. This is not the peace which comes upon God’s people in a general way; it is a specific peace which comes upon a particular people, those who have the second kind of walk by the Spirit.
In 3:26 Paul says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” As sons of God, we are His folks, members of His household. But God’s New Testament economy is not only to make us His sons, but also to make us the Israel of God.
Perhaps we can understand the difference between the sons of God and the Israel of God if we consider as an illustration how a son in a royal family is trained to be king. On the one hand, such a son grows up as a member of the royal family, the son of the king and queen. On the other hand, he must be trained in order to become king in the future. Thus, he must have two kinds of living: the first, as a son in the royal family; the second, as a king-to-be. If he has the first kind of living without the second, he will not become equipped or qualified to be king. A boy is not trained to be a king overnight. Nor does he become qualified to be a king simply by developing certain virtues. If he is joyful, loving, meek, faithful, and self-controlled, he will be a very good boy. But these virtues in themselves do not qualify him to be a king. As a king-to-be, he must be trained to live and act in a kingly way. The way he sits in a chair or converses with others must be kingly. As one with a dual status — that of a son in the royal family and that of a king-to-be — he must have two kinds of living.
We who believe in Christ Jesus also have a dual status. On the one hand, we are sons of God, members of the divine family. On the other hand, we are kings-to-be, those destined to be kings. Kingship is related to the Israel of God. We should be not only sons of God, but also the Israel of God. To be proper sons of God it is sufficient to have the fruit of the Spirit, such as those virtues listed in 5:22 and 23. But to be kings, the Israel of God, we need another kind of living, a particular kind of walk by the Spirit. We need both the living of sons of God and that of the Israel of God.
Many Christians do not have the first kind of walk by the Spirit, much less the second. We thank the Lord that, by His mercy, many in the church life today do have the first kind of walk by the Spirit to live Christ. But now the Lord is calling us to go on to have the second walk by the Spirit, the second kind of living. This is the living not merely of sons in the divine family, but of those who will be kings in God’s kingdom. May our eyes be opened to see that we are kings in the royal family! Our destiny is not only to be sons of God; it is to be kings reigning in the kingdom of God.
Do you live in a kingly way? If you live in this way, you will be kingly even when you laugh. If we see that Paul’s word about the Israel of God implies that we need a kingly walk, the aspiration to live in a kingly way will be stirred up within us. We may even want to pray, “Lord, cause me to live and walk in a kingly way so that I may be qualified to be part of today’s Israel of God.”
In a sense, the nation of Israel is the Israel of God and a testimony of God, even though many Israelites are rebellious and very sinful. However, the real Israel, the spiritual Israel, is the church. But because both the nation of Israel and the church are in a low condition, there is the need for the Lord to recover the real Israel of God. For such a recovery, we need two kinds of living, two kinds of walk. In the first walk we shall have such virtues as love, joy, peace, meekness, and longsuffering, all of which are the expression of the Christ who lives in us. We also need the second kind of walk so that we may be the Israel of God bearing God’s kingship, representing Him with His authority, and executing His governmental administration.
These two kinds of walks are illustrated by our life as citizens of the United States. On the one hand, we are persons living in an ordinary way; on the other hand, we are citizens of this nation. As persons, we need to be loving, peaceful, joyful, faithful, and meek. However, in order for the United States to remain a strong nation, we also need to live as good citizens, fulfilling all the requirements of the government. As citizens, we need to pay taxes, serve in the army, and fulfill other obligations. Spiritually speaking, we are both the sons of God and the Israel of God. As sons of God, we need to be loving, joyful, peaceful, faithful, and meek. As the Israel of God, we must walk according to the elementary rules of God’s New Testament economy.
Whereas those Christians who truly desire to go on with the Lord usually care only for the first kind of walk and desire to be spiritual, holy, and victorious, we need to care also for the second kind of walk. In particular, we need to care for the church life. However, many Christians who are “spiritual” or “holy” do not care in the least for the church life. These Christians are interested in prayer, Bible study, gospel preaching, or improving their behavior. According to their concept, this is all that is necessary. But because they do not walk according to the principle of the new creation, it is not possible for them to become the Israel of God.
The new creation is synonymous with the church. The term the Israel of God is also a synonym for the church. Why, then, did Paul not use the word church in Galatians 6? The answer is that Paul’s intention was to point out that the church is a new creation, a new constitution. It is especially needful for us today to realize that the church is a new constitution. When we use the word church, many think of a building with a steeple or of a certain religious organization. But according to the Bible, the church is a new creation. Because our inner being has been constituted of the divine nature, we have become a new creation.
Both the old creation and the new creation are corporate entities. There were not two old creations, and there are not two new creations. Both the old creation and the new creation are uniquely corporate. We who believe in Christ are all one new creation, just as we are all one church.
The expression “the new creation” denotes the nature, the inward and intrinsic organic constituent, of the church. The church is an organism with an intrinsic constitution. This constitution is the new creation. Paul says that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither being religious nor unreligious, avails anything, but only a new creation. By this he means that in the universe the only thing that avails or matters is the intrinsic and organic constitution, involving the mingling of God with man. We need to walk not only with certain virtues that express Christ; we also need to walk according to the principle, the rule, of such a new creation.
To walk according to the basic principle of the new creation is to walk in a regulated way like soldiers marching in cadence. It is this kind of walk which causes the churches to have impact. The reason the so-called church is weak is that the believers do not have the second kind of walk by the Spirit. They have no real concern for the practice of the church life. But if in a locality there are even a small number of saints who have the second walk and march together in cadence, the church there will have impact. Those saints will not simply be sons of God; they will truly become the Israel of God.
Do you know who defeated the Canaanite tribes, took possession of the good land for the building up of the temple, and brought God’s kingdom to earth? It was the Israel of God. Israel in the Old Testament is a type of the church in the New Testament. Thus, the church today must be the Israel of God in reality. Praise the Lord that in God’s New Testament economy we have been made both the sons of God and the Israel of God!
At the very end of Galatians Paul says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (6:18). The grace of Christ is with our spirit. However, many Christians know only of the Holy Spirit; they do not know anything of the human spirit. For this reason, whenever they see the word spirit in the New Testament, they assume that it refers to the Holy Spirit. They are ignorant of the fact that besides the Spirit of God, the Bible speaks of the human spirit. Three verses in the New Testament mention these two spirits. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”; John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit”; Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.”
The Spirit of God and our spirit are both crucial for God’s economy today. The Spirit is the very Triune God who has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This life-giving Spirit now dwells in our spirit and witnesses with our spirit that we are sons of God. First Corinthians 6:17 tells us that he who is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. This is a clear indication that the two spirits have become one.
According to Paul’s word in 6:18, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit. Grace here is Christ Himself as our enjoyment. Today Christ as the Spirit is in our spirit for our experience and enjoyment. This enjoyment of Christ is the very grace that is with our spirit. In this enjoyment and by this enjoyment we may walk by the Spirit to live Christ and to live the new creation and the Israel of God. Both kinds of walk by the Spirit are in the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ in our spirit.
We may enjoy the Lord in our spirit simply by calling on His name. Do you know why we enjoy the Lord when we call on Him? We enjoy Him in this way because by calling on the Lord we automatically exercise our spirit. For example, even though I may not have the intention to exercise my legs and feet, I spontaneously exercise them whenever I walk. In like manner, whenever we call on the Lord from deep within, we automatically exercise our spirit. Anywhere and at any time we may enjoy the riches of Christ by calling on the Lord’s name. By calling on the Lord in this way we walk by the Spirit. Calling on the Lord also defeats the negative things within us.
Suppose a young married sister has a problem with her temper. She earnestly desires to be a good wife and mother, and she loathes her temper. However, she has no way to overcome it. Years ago, I did not know how to advise someone plagued by the problem of temper. Now I know that the best cure for this plague is to call on the name of the Lord with the exercise of the spirit. By calling on the Lord in this way we breathe in a spiritual element which subdues our temper. After more than fifty years of experience and after having contacted many different aspects of organized Christianity, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to enjoy the Lord is to call on Him.
As Christians we should be known by the fact that we call on the name of the Lord Jesus. We know that this was a mark of believers in the first century by the fact that Saul of Tarsus was given authority by the chief priests to bind all those who called on the Lord’s name. Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus should also be a mark of believers today. The church people especially should be known as those who call on the Lord.
Like breathing, calling on the name of the Lord is a simple matter. But just as we cannot stay alive if we “graduate” from breathing, so we cannot live spiritually if we stop calling on the name of the Lord. Often the most needful things in life are the most simple. What is more necessary to maintain life than breathing? Yet, breathing is so simple. In contrast to cooking, it does not require a great deal of labor. Likewise, how simple it is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus! However, many learned ones do not care for such a simple practice, preferring instead to do things that are much more complicated. Some even criticize us and defame us for calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. For them, this practice is a form of chanting. Calling on the Lord has nothing to do with chanting, for calling is a practice altogether according to the Bible. Oh, how we need to call on the Lord Jesus that we may enjoy Him as our grace and have the two kinds of walk by the Spirit! I encourage you to breathe spiritually by calling on the Lord Jesus. By calling on the Lord we enjoy Him. Let us, then, walk by the Spirit in the enjoyment of Christ in our spirit.
