What I Have Learned from the Bible - Part 2

By: J.N. Darby

God's Love and the Atonement

I learn that

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life (John 3:16),

but that to this end

God being a righteous and holy God, the Son of man had to be lifted up upon the cross (John 3:14-15); that there He bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24), and was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Christ and His Church

I learn that

He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Divine Election and the Holy Spirit

I learn that

the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4).

I learn that

those that believe are sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the earnest of our inheritance till the redemption of the purchased possession (Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 1:22); that by Him the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5); that we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6; John 14:20); that they who have received this Spirit not only cry, Abba Father, but know that they are in Christ, and Christ in them; that thus not only He appears in the presence of God for them, but they are in Him who is sitting at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool (Ephesians 2:6; Hebrews 9:24; 10:12-13); that they are dead to sin in God’s sight, and to reckon themselves so; having put off the old man, and put on the new; alive to God through Jesus Christ (Christ is their new life); crucified to the world, and dead to the law (Colossians 3:3-4, 9-10; Romans 6:6-11; Galatians 2:20; 6:14).

The Believer's Life in Christ

I learn thus

that if they are in Christ, Christ is in them and they are called upon the manifest the life of Jesus in their mortal flesh (John 14:20; Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 4:10), and to walk as He walked (1 John 2:6), God having set them in the world as the epistles of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:3), whose grace is sufficient for them, and whose strength is made perfect in their weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Hope of Christ's Return and Perseverance

I learn

that they are converted to wait for God’s Son from heaven (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Titus 2:12-13; Luke 12:35-37), and taught to do so; and that they have the promise that they shall never perish, nor shall any man pluck them out of Christ’s hand (John 10:29), but that God will confirm them to the end, that they man be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:7-9).

Justification by Faith and Imputed Righteousness

I learn

that they have part in these privileges through faith in Christ Jesus, in virtue of which righteousness is imputed to them (Romans 5:1-2; Galatians 3:24-26; 3:11, 14; Romans 4:16; Ephesians 2:8; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 11:4; Acts 13:39; Galatians 3:9-16; Romans 4:24-25; and many others); that Christ, who has obeyed even unto death, and wrought a perfect work upon the cross for them (Philippians 2:8; John 17:4; Hebrews 7:27; 9:25-28; 10:12-18), is now their righteousness, made such of God to them (1 Corinthians 1:30), and that we are made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21); that as His precious blood cleanses us from all sin, so we are personally accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), that as by one man’s disobedience many were constituted sinners, so by the obedience of One many shall be constituted righteous (Romans 5:19).

Sanctification and Growth in Holiness

I learn

that we are sanctified, or set apart to God, by God the Father through the offering of Jesus Christ once for all, and by the operation and power of the Holy Ghost through the truth, so that all Christians are saints (Jude 1; Hebrews 10:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 6:11; John 17:17-19; 1 Peter 1:22; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians1:2; Ephesians 1:1),

and

that in our practical state we have to follow after holiness (Hebrews 12:14; 2 Peter 3:14), and grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, being changed into His image, to whom we are to be perfectly conformed in glory (Ephesians 4:13-15; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 2:2-3; Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 5:23).

The Ordinances of the Church

I learn

that the Lord has left two rites, or ordinances, both significative of His death; one initiatory, the other of continual observance in the church of God-baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 8:12, 16, 36; 9:18; Ephesians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Peter 3:21; Romans 6:3; Colossians 2:12; Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-23; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 10:3-4).

Spiritual Gifts and Edification

I learn that,

when Christ ascended up on high, He received gifts for men, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; and that from Christ the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, maketh increase of the body, to the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:6-13; Acts 2:33; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Romans 12:6; 1 Peter 4:10-11; Matthew 25:14; Luke 19:13).

Dependence on Grace and Following Christ's Example

I learn that,

as the grace and sovereign love of God is the source and origin of all the blessing (John 3:16-27; 1 Corinthians 2:12-4:7; Ephesians 2:7-10; Titus 2:11), so continual and diligent dependence on that grace is that by which we can walk after Him and to His glory, who has left us an example that we should follow His steps (John 15:5; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Romans 12:12; Luke 18:1; 2 Peter 1:5-10; and many others. John 8:12, 10:4, 12:26, 17:10; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 14:7-8; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17; 1 John 2:6; 1 Peter 2:2).

The Authority and Discernment of Scripture

I learn

from that example and authority of the Lord and His apostles that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are inspired of God, and are to be received as the word of God, having His authority attached to it, and which works effectually in those that believe (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10: Luke 24:25-27, 44-46; John 5:39; 10:35; Matthew 5:17-18; John 20:9; Matthew 1:23; and a multitude of passages. Matthew 26:54; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Galatians 3:8; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 15:2-3; 2:13; 14:36-37; Romans 16:26, where it is not "the scriptures of the prophets," that is, at any rate scriptures, but New Testament, not Old; 2 Peter 3:16);

and that

the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart, being understood, not by the wisdom of man, but by the teaching of God, being spiritually discerned, they are revealed, communicated, and discerned by the Spirit (Psalms 19:7; Hebrews 4:12-13; Luke 24:45; 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 John 2:20-27; John 6:45; 1 Corinthians 2:12-14).

Immortality, Death, and Resurrection

I learn that,

while God alone is immortal in and by Himself (1 Timothy 6:16), the angels are not subject to death (Luke 20:36),

and that

the death of a man does not affect the life of his soul, be he wicked or renewed, but that all live still as to God, though dead (Luke 12:4-5; Matthew 10:28; Luke 16:23; 20:38),

and that

the wicked will be raised again as well as the just (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).

Church Discipline

I learn

that every assembly of God is bound by the exercise of discipline, according to the word, to keep itself pure in doctrine and godly walk (Hebrews 12:15-17; 1 Timothy 3:15; Titus 3:10-11; 1 Corinthians 5:7-13).