Someone tweeted this quote from J. N. Darby:
A distracted heart is the bane of a Christian. When my heart is filled with Christ I have no heart or eye for the trash of the world. If Christ is dwelling in your heart by faith it will not be the question, What harm is there in this, or that? Rather, Am I doing this for Christ?
Now, I have read a LOT of Darby's writings. I'm a huge fan. Still, I found my initial reaction was to reach out to the person and say something like, "Please be careful with this sort of thing!" Since I claim to be a big fan of J. N. Darby, I should probably talk about that.
William R. Newell wrote
We know what debt under God all those who have the truth today owe to Darby, through whom God recovered more truth belonging to the Church of God, than through any other man since Paul, and whose writings are today the greatest treasure of truth and safeguard against error known to instructed believers. Such men had more than an evangelist’s or teacher’s gift. There was spiritual authority they themselves did not seek, attending their ministry. This fact discerning believers,—those free from tradition’s bias, readily see and gladly admit. (Romans Verse-by-Verse, p. 464)
So why would I advise caution?
Galatians 5:16–21 catalogs the works of the flesh, and it contains the sorts of things we expect: licentiousness, idolatry, hatred, and so on. But those aren't all the works of the flesh: disputes and schools of opinion are included in that list. The flesh doesn't always manifest itself in gross immorality, but also in very religious ways too. In fact, I've read through Galatians many, many times, and I can't find any evidence that there was any sort of immorality going on in Galatia.
The problem in Galatia wasn't rampant immorality, but rampant moralism.
There lurks a little Galatian in many – probably all – of us. That little Galatian loves to get a hold on something like this quote by Darby and drive us into a spiral of introspective despair. I have known more than one person crippled by introspection, examining every thought and every action and every motive to determine whether it's "of Christ." Oddly, that introspection tends to lead into legalism more than it leads into Christ-likeness.
And really, when we're introspective, our eyes are full of ourselves, not Christ. So I'm not saying anything other than what the original quote said: a heart full of Christ doesn't have time for worldliness, but a heart fixated on whether it's full of Christ isn't actually a heart full of Christ. It's a heart full of self.
Reading Darby changed my life. I grew up in a Christian home, going to church every week, even attending a Christian school. I had heard and believed the Gospel at an early age. I have no doubt I was born again when I was very young. But my concept of Christianity was something like, "God has forgiven me, now I have to live for Him." And that led me, of course, to attempt to walk in godliness and holiness in the power and energy of the flesh. See, I understood that Christ has died for me, but I had no real concept that I had died with Him.
So that's one possible error: the error of skipping from Romans 5:1 to Romans 12:1, ignoring the essential teaching in Romans 6–8. And frankly, that seems to be typical of evangelicalism. The majority of evangelicals I have met seem to be trying to do something like that. "Christ has died for you, now you have to live for Him."
And yes, that seems to be the majority view among so-called brethren too. That little inner Galatian really thrives on this sort of "Christianity," which isn't really Christianity at all. It's just Judaism on this side of the cross.
But there is another error we might fall into. This is the error of diving into Romans 6–8 and staying there. Romans doesn't end in chapter 8, but so many who find deliverance in Romans 6–8 act like it does. Is it any less wrong to neglect Romans 9–16 than it is to neglect Romans 6–8? I don't think it is.
And I admit with chagrin that I spent many years stuck in this latter error.
This seems to be a trap particularly dangerous for people who read Darby. Darby's ministry calls us to a life that's led and empowered by the Spirit of God. It's not that, "Christ has died for me and now I live for Him," rather it's "the life of Jesus manifested in my mortal body" (2 Corinthians 4:10). This is nothing less than Paul calls us to. This is precisely the teaching of Colossians 3:1–4. Christ has been raised, and we have been raised with Him.
But when we've glimpsed that life – perhaps even experienced it – then there is a tendency for the flesh to manifest itself in a sort of mysticism. This isn't actually any better than legalism, but it's not quite the same thing, at least in the beginning. And so we might find in ourselves a tendency to sit in Colossians 3:1–4, never quite getting around to all those practical verses in the second half of that chapter.
And something really strange starts to happen after a while: we start to find that our little inner mystic bears a strong resemblance to that little inner Galatian. And we find ourselves being very legalistic about not being legalistic. And we find ourselves taking those very verses about being freed by our death with Christ and turning them into yet another law to put ourselves (and everyone else) under.
The truth of the Word of God is that we can't divorce the opening verses of Colossians 3 from the rest. We can't live out Colossians 3:17ff without Colossians 3:1–4. But if we just camp out in Colossians 3:1–4 and ignore the rest of the chapter, we end up in something that's just as foreign to the Word of God as that powerless and fleshly legalism the Galatians invented.
And that's why I advise caution with Darby's ministry. There is very little that has affected my life like Darby's ministry. At the same time, I have seen in myself and in others a tendency to camp out in the bits of that ministry that seem different and refreshing, to the detriment of our own spiritual health.
God has called us to the life of Jesus manifested in our mortal flesh. We can't do that on our own, but knowing about it without experiencing it is not Christianity. It's some sort of twisted mysticism that contains just enough truth to get us into real trouble. There's nothing good down that path.
One red flag I have learned to recognize is what we might call "the advanced class" mindset. I have noticed this sort of thing tends to accompany trouble. It's hard to put a finger on exactly where the threshold is for this sort of thing, but in my 45+ years walking with the Lord, I've seen this many times. It could be membership in a specific church, or adherence to some doctrine or practice that differentiates the "enlightened" from other Christians. Basically, any sort of Shibboleth that divides the "spiritually mature" from the others is an indicator some serious problems.
The best remedy against this sort of thing is to be content with Christ.
I was once told that the story of the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:1–11) teaches that "not everyone is assembly material," so "we" shouldn't intermarry with other Christians. If that doesn't scream "CULT" I'm not sure what does.
There is a remedy to this sort of thing, and Colossians models it for us. Before we do anything else, we need to worship the Father and adore the Son. Notice Colossians spends a lot of time in adoring the Son before it turns to our place in Him. Skipping Colossians 3:1–4 to get to Colossians 3:17ff is a recipe for disaster. Skipping Colossians 1:12–20 to get to Colossians 3:1–4 is exactly the same thing. Our first and highest calling is to worship God, and nothing good comes of neglecting that.
So we start by being worshipers of God and His Christ. And we recognize that nothing good comes of camping out in Colossians 3:1–4 and not going on to obey the rest of the chapter.
I suppose I should say: I am all for slowly and deliberately digesting the Word of God. So no, I don't think it's wrong to memorize those amazing verses in Romans 6–8 or Colossians 3. I certainly am not saying we shouldn't ruminate on them, or meditate on them, or dwell on them. I am saying when our mindset is something like, "I'll obey those other verses some other time," then we're in trouble. Colossians 3:1–4 isn't the end of the chapter: we're to go on from there and see the truth of our identity in Christ work itself out in how we behave in the real world.
And I highly recommend reading Darby. Honestly, nothing I'm saying here isn't in his ministry. It's just easy to miss it sometimes.
14 comments:
Lesson 1 - don’t bring spiritual things to Twitter! A pearls before swine situation if ever there was one.
Darby is not responsible for Darbyism any more than Calvin is for Calvinism. All power and light is found by going to Him “that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars”.
There are two categories of men who walked in separation from their fellow men - the Pharisee and the Nazarite. Why would anyone choose to be a Pharisee? I suggest because it is the simpler pathway. It is much easier to tick boxes before men than to live out an inward life with God.
Legalism is easy because it gives us set rules and boundaries. It brings us into the fold of those who are ‘correct’. Even Peter was attracted to it until he was rebuked by Paul.
In my part of the world, performance Christianity is rife. We have men who were commended and are financially supported to go out and preach the gospel. They decided at some point to become Bible teachers and most are neither one thing nor the other. So their ‘ministry’ is a gospel message with appeals to believers to do better, be more energetic, have more enthusiasm, and recognise above all else that our love for Him is measured by what we do to serve Him in the world. And many a believer has listened to these stirring messages on a Saturday and Sunday, firmly determined to do better in the week ahead, only to fall flat on their face before lunch time on Monday!
Darby understood the gist of Paul’s teaching: ‘not I but Christ’.
Understanding "not I but Christ" for the Christian Believer involves much time and much study of The Word. Growing in wisdom, knowledge, understanding and discernment is a very slow process...
"The by-works principle of the law, and the by-faith principle of grace, cannot co-operate, or co-exist, either in the salvation of the sinner, or in the rule of life for the believer.
The by works principle of the law is not limited to the fleshly effort to do the particular things found in the law of Moses, and the law of the kingdom. It the fleshly effort to do anything by which one seeks to become acceptable to God. Therefore, when the teachings of grace are attempted with a view to being accepted of God, they become purely legal in their character. In like manner, when the elements which are contained in the law and restated under grace are attempted in the power of the Spirit and on the basis that acceptance with God is already gained through Christ, these precepts become purely gracious in their character. This principle may be extended to the larger sphere of any and all self-imposed law, regardless of Bible injunctions." -LSC
"Here you have the reply to the question: What does the Spirit expect of me? Your body is His temple. The temple of God is holy, devoted to His service. You are not your own, you have no right to please yourself. You have been dearly bought with the blood of Christ. The Spirit has absolute right to your whole life. Therefore you must glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God's holiness, He comes to make me holy. He expects me to obey Him fully.
Let me dwell upon these words that I may comprehend clearly what the relationship must be between the Spirit and me, and what it is He has a right to expect of me. He asks that I, as one dearly bought with the blood of Christ, and no longer my own, shall seek in all things to please Him and to follow His leading. All that I owe to God, and to the Lord Jesus, must be shown in my conduct towards the Holy Spirit. I must in all things be guided by Him, for as God He has absolute right to me. He expects me to say each morning, "Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth, I yield myself to obey the prompting of Thy voice within me." He expects absolute obedience.
Furthermore He expects that I shall keep in close touch with Him by taking time each day to renew the bond between Him and me. My whole life must be yielded to Him, that He may bring to perfection in me all His glorious fruits." -AM
Darby's ministry is of tremendous value. I could probably re-word my caution something like, "Don't let self-judgment become introspection: faith looks at Christ, not at self."
And of course that's just quoting JND too, "Faith never looks at itself or at its effect in us, but at Christ in Himself," https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/DOCTRINE/23010E.html
That's fine I just like quoting Chafer to clear up places where Darby was a little vague at times.
"Several important revelations are given in Romans 7:1-6. The relation of one who had been under the law (which was true of the Apostle Paul) to the teachings of grace was that of a wife to her second husband. The law, or obligation, of the wife to her husband ceases with his death. Should she be married to a second husband, she is then under an entirely new obligation. The sacrificial death of Christ was the ending of the reign of the law, which law is likened to the first husband. "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead." Nothing could be clearer than this. The Christian is now under obligation to Christ. He is inlawed to Christ. He has only to fulfill "the law of Christ." Certainly it is most unreasonable to propose that a woman should try to be obligated to two husbands at the same time; yet this is the divine illustration of the error of commingling the teachings of law and the teachings of grace. Spiritual polyandry is offensive to God. In the new union which is formed with Christ, there is to be the bringing forth of fruit unto God. This is a reference to the fact that the Christian's life and service is to be enabled by the power of God and therefore is superhuman. The Christian, it is clearly stated, is not only "dead to the law." but is "delivered from the law," and every aspect of the law, that he should serve in "newness of the Spirit"; for the teachings of grace are particularly characterized by the fact that they are to be wrought by the enabling power of the Spirit. The Christian is not to live and serve in "the oldness of the letter," which is the law. It is by vital union in the Body of Christ as a living member that the believer is both absolved from every other relationship, and is made to be centered only in that which belongs to the living Head. Thus positively is it indicated that the opposing principles of law and grace cannot coexist as rules of conduct."
ST vol. IV p241
@NicW - my comment wasn't aimed at you, but at my original post. After reading the comments and giving it some more thought, I realized that I could have summed up the entire thing with the caution about introspection.
I'm enjoying your input.
As someone who spent a few years devoted to Darby, I can say that a number of his statements stretch into dangerous forms of exaggeration. For instance, some place he says that if you are preaching and you mess up a word you are saying, then you aren’t in the Spirit. From a certain, abstruse perspective, I can see what he is saying; but I also know how paralyzing that can be, in the back of your mind, while preaching. It is the lack of substantial, scriptural context (or that it is assumed in the listeners), that Mark is thankfully pointing out, that makes such statements so loaded with danger.
I can also vouch for the mystical, self-appointed membership to “the advanced class” that occurs when a person becomes infatuated with JND. There is a sort of aura and awe that surrounds the name of JN Darby, and if you aren’t careful, you can end up in a place where something he said always ends sounding like a scripture reference, “CW, Vol. ( ), pg. ( ).” And for anyone who isn’t already in there (and my how few of us there are! 😱), you are just hoping they eventually rise to the top floor of truth!
“In Christ” versus “of the world,” has often become a contorted line of truth, all from
(probably well-intentioned, probably) an overzealousness about the one aspect of our position as Christians. As Mark helpfully pointed out, Colossians continues after 3:1-4. One brother once said to me, “how do you set your affection on things above? How do you live that out? Wives submit, husbands love, children obey, fathers provoke not, servants obey, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men.” It’s your daily life, on earth.
The one thing that JND impressed on me, more than anything else, was the worth, depth, wisdom of the word of God. He loved to compare scripture with scripture, and to draw out doctrines as fully as he could. It would be good if we all learned to do the same, even if it means that sometimes we have to disagree with JND.
Thank you, Rodger. So thankful for JND, Newell, etc. but only God's Word is without error!
Mark, a very good quote you make from Newell...
Here's another quote from Newell's Romans: Verse by Verse, page 112
"Mr. Darby himself says that neither the Reformers nor any other human teachers, are an authority for him, so we, agreeing, say that Mr. Darby is in no sense an authority for any Christian."
"Prove all things," said the Apostle.
Once again I repeat - I greatly appreciate Darby!!!
Very good quote, Susan! I’ll have to go check out the context.
Newell was very good at deeply appreciating the “brethren,” while still giving criticism. See his comments in Hebrews 10.
RECKONING IN COLOSSIANS THREE
"The first valid faith we exercised toward God was by means of reckoning. We counted upon the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior, and were thereby saved. The principle of reckoning is to have faith in a finished work. Nowhere is this principle more explicitly revealed than in Colossians Three.
"If [since] then ye were raised together with Christ." Here, as always, Paul sets forth the doctrine before he presents the exhortation. He does likewise in Ephesians, revealing the wonderful fact that God "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). This is the truth we need in order to reckon, so that we may abide in Him above and He may be manifested in us here below.
"Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God." Reckoning ourselves alive unto God in Christ amounts to our taking our position in Him. Since the heavenly sphere is now our true position, it follows that we are to seek there the things of Christ-spiritual realities. Everything in heaven is centered in Christ, "For in him dwelleth all the fulnes of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him" (Col. 2:9. 10).
Our Father yearns for fellowship with His own. How can His heart-longing be satisfied apart from our feeding on the things of Christ, so that we may enter into oneness of mind and purpose with Him? To this end we have been made partakers of the divine nature.
Although we seek, and learn, from our risen position, yet the revelation comes through the Word. All, all depends upon our knowledge of the scriptural facts. Through our Spirit-taught study of God's Word, we are given both the revelation of the truth, and its practical reality in our lives."
"Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth." As we "eat of the old corn of the land" (Josh. 5:11), feeding upon the Lord Jesus in heaven by means of the Word, we learn of Him and grow in Him. Our mind is set upon the One in whom we live, not upon self and this world unto which we have died. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Luke 12:34).
"The Holy Spirit ministers life exclusively from the true, heavenly Source, Christ. He is the Spirit of Christ, and He gives us the things of the glorified Lord. Even so, if we fail to reckon upon our having died unto sin at Calvary, the old earthy source within will continue to produce its stream of carnality. As our mind is set on things that are upon the earth, we become increasingly earth-bound and self-centered. When we set our minds upon Christ and abide in Him as our risen life, we become increasingly conformed to His image.
"For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God." In this one brief statement Paul compresses the entire finished work of Ro- mans Six, the whole truth of our identification with Christ. Upon these twelve one-syllable words our reckoning for growth is founded!
In this concise statement, Paul is dealing mainly with our relationship to the world and things earthly. Our having died on Calvary not only separated us from the reign of sin and self, but also from the deadly influence of this present world. By means of the cross "the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14).
There is a continuity of reckoning that must be followed; no step can be by-passed. Until we know and reckon upon the truth of our having died out of the Adamic creation, we cannot exercise intelligent faith in counting that: (1) we are a new creation in Christ Jesus; (2) we are alive unto God in Him; (3) our life is hid with Christ in God. Established positionally, we will become established experientially.
When we learn to fix our mind upon Christ and rest in Him in the heavenlies, we will not be oppressed by self, circumstances, and situations here on earth. Our spiritual position is not down here, praying and pleading for help from Him up there. Just the opposite! We do not go to Him for help, but we rest in Him as the All-sufficient One. We do not bring Him down to our level for our use; we abide in Him at His level, for His use."
Miles Stanford,
The Reckoning that Counts p73-76
NicW - This is a great teaching on spiritual growth and reckoning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=OaFcWvS9HnM
Thanks Susan looks pretty good
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