CHRIST THE BELIEVER'S LIFE
by Archibald Alexander
Jesus is the believer's life, because he has redeemed
him from death. The sentence of death, eternal death, has gone forth
against every sinner. "The wages of sin is death." "Cursed is everyone that
continues not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." From
this curse all believers are delivered by Christ, who endured the curse for
them. To such "there is no condemnation;" and they are adapted into the
family of God, and made heirs of eternal life. They stand completely
justified on account of the perfect righteousness of their Surety. This
exemption from death, and title to life, could in no other way be obtained
than by Christ's making a sacrifice of his own precious life.
Christ is held forth as a Redeemer, and his great work as
a redemption. The people redeemed are condemned criminals, who can be
released in no other way than by the payment of a ransom. This Christ has
paid, satisfying, by his "obedience unto death," both law and justice. Thus
the believer has life, not by virtue of his own obedience, but only through
Christ. His union with Christ gives him a title to the life which he has
procured.
Again, Christ is the source of spiritual life to
the believer. By nature all men are dead in trespasses and sins. Spiritual
life was lost to the whole human race by the transgression of Adam. If there
were only a spark of life left in the human soul, it might be nourished, and
by assiduous culture, might grow to maturity. But in man's corrupt nature
there dwells no good thing. All the thoughts and imaginations of his heart
are "only evil continually." To introduce life into the depraved soul, as
much requires the exertion of omnipotence as to create man at first. God,
who caused light to shine out of darkness, must shine into the heart. By the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sends forth, the soul is united
to Christ, and from him derives life. Just as the branch derives nutriment
from the vine, so the believer receives from Christ, his spiritual head,
vital influences, by which he lives. This communication of life is called
regeneration, or the new birth. People who experience this change are
"born of the Spirit," "born from above."
And as Christ is the author of this life in its
commencement, so he is the cause of its preservation and growth.
Every kind of life requires nourishment; and this spiritual principle,
called by the apostle "the new man," must be fed. Christians are compared to
"new-born babes," who naturally thirst for the pure milk of the word, that
they may grow thereby. Their growth depends very much on their increase in
knowledge; the word of God, therefore, is the means of the believer's
advancement in the divine life. By the Spirit of Christ the word is made
effectual; and Christ himself is the sum and substance of the word. The word
testifies of him. The word exhibits Christ as "the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." As the body is supported and made to grow
by bread, which is called "the staff of life," so Christ is "the bread that
came down from heaven." The believer eats his flesh and drinks his blood,
"not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by faith." "The flesh profits
nothing." Christ guards against any gross interpretation of his words by
saying, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life." Spiritual life cannot be nourished by flesh.
Another respect in which Christ is the life of the
believer, is the resurrection of the body. "I am," says he, "the
resurrection and the life." "He that believes in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die."
"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The bodies
of believers are united to Christ as well as their souls. The saints do
therefore wait and hope for "the redemption of the body," and they shall not
be disappointed. For we "look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself."
Finally, Christ will be the source of the believer's life
through eternity. The union between Christ and his members shall
never be dissolved. He will forever be the fountain from which their
happiness flows. "He that has the Son, has life." "The gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." "And this is the record, that
God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." How
emphatically may it then be said, that Christ is the believer's life. He is
indeed "all in all." And they who have received the Lord Jesus, possess
everything which they can really need. They are complete in him; for "of
God, he is made unto them wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption." "All things are theirs, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are theirs: and
they are Christ's, and Christ is God's."