1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

To walk being dead in trespasses and sins, is to live according to the course of this world. So says the apostle (Eph. 2:1-2). The course of the world is according to the thinking of sinful flesh, in whatever way it may be manifested, or expressed. If a man embrace one of the religions of Satan's kingdom, he is still "dead in trespasses and sins," and walks according to the course of the world. In brief, any thing short of faith in the gospel of the kingdom, and obedience to the Iaw of faith, is walking according to the course of the world.

To walk in sin is to walk in this course.

Elpis Israel Ch 3

2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

The "power of the air," or aerial power, is the political power of the world, which is animated and pervaded by the spirit of disobedience, which is in the flesh; and styled above, the prince of the power ot the air. This is that prince of whom Jesus spoke, saying,

"'Now is the condemnation (krisiv) of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31),

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die."

Elpis Israel 1.3.

There was also here and there a tendency to cater for the public in the matter of worship.‭ ‬Knowledge for the Scriptures will cure this. It may be very "unneighbourly,‭" ‬and to ourselves very unpleasant to forbear to invite the public to worship God, but we must be governed by the statutes of the sanctuary or else drop the service altogether.

The public are unwashed,‭ ‬unjustified, disobedient, unthankful,‭ ‬and unholy. They are unacceptable as worshippers. This is the testimony‭; ‬that "they that are in the flesh, (that is,‭ ‬who have not submitted to the Gospel) cannot please God":‭ ‬that "the whole world lieth in wickedness":‭ ‬that "their sacrifices (that is,‭ ‬their religious performances) are an abomination to Him":‭ ‬that only those who do His will are heard or accepted: that no man cometh to the Father but by the Son, and that no man is in the Son,‭ ‬except the man who has believed the testimony concerning him and taken his name in the way appointed.

Consequently,‭ ‬it is a mockery to invite the public to the exercises of worship. It is not according to enlightment to buy cheap hymn books, or print leaflets and scatter them about on benches as an invitation to the godless public to‭ "‬sing to the praise and the glory of God." What man cares for the benediction of a sinister beggar? How can we expect God to find pleasure in the hollow compliments of the slaves of sin‭?

We must walk as children of the light,‭ ‬however embarrassing. The embarrassment is only temporary. The time will be when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.‭ ‬We shall be permitted to guide the chastened and obedient multitude in their approaches to God in that glad day if we are meanwhile "faithful in the very little" that belongs to our present position.

The Christadelphian, July 1896. p259-266

The Political Aerial or "Air"

The sun, moon, and stars of the aerial, or political expanse, are aggregately styled by Paul "ὁι επουρανιοι," the Heavenlies, whose orbitular revolutions constitute what he also terms, ὁ αιων του κοσμου τουτου, ho Aion tou kosmou toutou, in the English version rendered "the Course of this World;" and as the motive power in these heavenlies is Sin, "the spirit working in the children of disobedience," it is styled ὁ αρχων της εξουσιας του αερος, ho Archon tes exousias tou Aëros, "the Prince of the Dominion of the Air."

Against this Prince or Sin's flesh invested with political authority, the apostle contended in the manner exhibited in Luke's account of his warfare in the Acts. The dealings of the magistrates and rulers before whom he appeared, he styles "the wiles of the Devil;" that is, of this Prince of the Aërial, which reigns in the hearts of all the rebellious.

When Paul pleaded before the Chief Priests and their Council; before the Governors Felix and Porcius Festus; King Agrippa, and the Emperor Cæsar, "he wrestled," as he tells us, "against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this Aion (or course of things) against the Spirituals of the wickedness in the heavenlies."

The words "principalities," "authorities," "world-rulers," and "spirituals," are all in apposition, and are expressive of the different orders of men, which constituted then, as they do now, the "things in the heavens."

It was to these that the apostles and the One Body of Christ, composed of obedient believers of the gospel of the Kingdom, were divinely appointed

"to make known the manifold wisdom of God." "Unto me," says Paul, "who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given that I should evangelize among the nations the unsearchable riches of the Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which [mystery] has been hid from the Aions [ages of the law] in God, who created all things on account of Jesus Christ; that now might be made known to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies through the Ecclesia [commonly termed "Church"] the manifold wisdom of God, according to a prearrangement of the Aions, which he made with reference to our Lord Jesus Christ."

What Paul terms "the darkness of this Aion," was the effete Judaism of the Synagogue, and the paganism of the idol temples. There was no light in them, though both forms recognized Immortal Soulism, and Elysian Skyanity! Cæsar and his Proconsuls, Procurators, Governors, Prefects, and such like, were the κοσμοκρατορες, kosmokratores, or world-rulers of the darkness, peculiar to the course of things then existing in the Greco-Roman, or Fourth-Beast, Habitable, styled by the apostle "this Aion."

Mankind living under that dominion, were regarded by God as having their eyes closed, and consequently in darkness; and as darkness or ignorance of God's truth is the power of Satan, or the adversary, by which the Prince of the Air, the spirit inherent and peculiar to human nature, reigns in the hearts of the disobedient, men are regarded in Scripture as under the power of Satan and the Devil.

Opposed to all this is the light, the Gospel of the Kingdom, and styled by Paul the power of God for salvation, or deliverance from the darkness, or power, of the adversary. If this be understood, the beautiful significancy of the saying of the Lord Jesus will be appreciated, when he said to Paul,

"I now send thee unto the nations to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness into light, and from the dominion of the Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins, and inheritance among them that have been sanctified by faith which [leads] into me."

This mission was truly militant. Paul might well call it "the fight of faith," for it brought him into life or death conflict with the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the Jewish and pagan kosmoi, or constitutions of things, commonly termed worlds. But the most dangerous and perverse of the incarnate wickedness in the Heavenlies, were what he styles τα πνευματικα. ta pneumatika, the Spirituals.

He says, he "wrestled against the Spirituals of the wickedness in the Heavenlies." These were the Jewish priests, rabbinical clergy, and idolatrous sacerdotals of the temples. His divine mission was to emancipate the minds of men from what the spirituals, or ecclesiastics, called "wisdom;" but which Paul termed "foolishness" and "fables"; and James "earthly, soulish [psuchike] and demoniacal" [daimoniodes.]

He sought to turn the people from the clergy; to destroy the influence of these blind guides; to get the people to forsake the synagogues and temples; and to become the illuminati of God, the faithful and obedient believers of his promises in Christ.

As the Spirituals could not maintain their positions by force of argument, and they perceived their congregations sensibly diminishing, and the offerings of the people diverted from their treasuries, they stirred up the world-rulers, the Emperor and his satellites, to persecute him, and all such, to bonds, imprisonment, and death.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Nov 1860

The Political Aerial or "Air" [2 of 3]

The fact that the making known of the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and authorities in the Heavenlies was committed to the One Body of Christ, is demonstration that those Heavenlies were political, and pertaining to the earth. If they had been things among the stars, or beyond them, how could the ecclesia have made known God's manifold wisdom to them?

Indeed, the wisdom is itself "from above" to the ecclesia, which had the honor assigned it of communicating all that was knowable to the nations, and their ungodly and ignorant "spiritual and temporal" rulers. These civil and ecclesiastical orders, then, were "the things in the heavens," which were then "visible," and which have, in their representatives co-eval with the end, to be reconciled to God.

But "the things in the heavens, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities," which were "visible" in Paul's day, have been superseded by similar institutions, which were "invisible" then. The visible

"heaven departed as a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."—Rev. 6:14.

New mountain and island thrones and principalities, however, appeared; nevertheless, these heavenly things continued to be manifested as sin's flesh invested with civil and ecclesiastical authority.

The power of the Chief Priests and their Council had been broken by the Greco-Roman army sent against Jerusalem, and in its turn this pagan imperiality had been abolished by the Catholics of the fourth century, who now, by the patronage of the State, became

"the Spirituals of the wickedness in the Heavenlies,"

instead of the image-worshipping sacerdotals, who had preceded them. Since this notable revolution in the Greco-Roman Habitable, still newer "things in the heavens" have appeared; nevertheless, rigidly adherent to the wickedness of their predecessors.

By the close of the seventh century, the ten horns, and the little horn of the West, constituting the Imperio-Regal and Papal Body Politic of Western Europe, were fully developed, and with varied fortune have continued to the present time. These powers, with their emperors, kings, princes, nobles, ecclesiastics, and so forth, forming the orders and degrees of men in spiritual and civil authority, are "the things in the heavens," invisible to Paul, but "visible" to us.

These are the all things in the heavens, which he says, Jesus is to reconcile to God. Col. 1:20. He will reconcile them to God, by hurling the mighty from their thrones, emptying the rich of all their good things, and, having subdued the nations, giving them laws and institutions in harmony with his will.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Nov 1860

3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Bible deliverance from Adamic inheritance is future.‭ ‬Thus Paul exclaimed,‭ "‬Who‭ ‬shall deliver me‭"? ‬when speaking of the state into which he was born.

‭"‬By nature children of wrath.‭"‬ True‭! ‬But what does Paul mean‭? ‬Does he mean that God is angry with us as soon as we are born‭? ‬The very text in which the phrase occurs excludes such an unreasonable doctrine‭ (Eph. ii. 3)‬.‭

He speaks of‭ "‬Lusts of the flesh,‭" "‬desires of the flesh,‭" "‬desires of the mind,‭" "‬conversation in times past,‭" "‬wherein we walked,‭" "‬the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,‭" ‬all of which have to do with‭ ‬nature,‭ ‬but which require action superadded.‭ ‬Of all sin it may truly be said,‭ "‬it is our nature so to do.‭" ‬We are truly‭ "‬by nature children of wrath,‭" ‬but it is wrath against evil-doing‭; ‬any other wrath is inconceivable.‭"

‭Bro Roberts

Was Jesus born under condemnation?

Answer.—In the scriptural sense of hereditary condemnation, the answer is, yes; but this requires to be fenced against the misunderstanding natural to the terms employed. Condemnation, in its individual application, implies displeasure, which cannot be affirmed of Jesus, who was the beloved of the Father.

But no one is born under condemnation in its individual application. That is, no one is condemned as an individual till his actions as an individual call for it. But hereditary condemnation is not a matter of displeasure, but of misfortune. The displeasure or "wrath" arises afterwards, when the men so born, work unrighteousness.

This unrighteousness they, doubtless, work "by nature," and are, therefore, by nature, children of wrath—that is, by nature, they are such as evoke wrath by unrighteousness. It was here that Jesus differed from all men. Though born under the hereditary law of mortality, as his mission required, his relation to the Father, as the Son of God, exempted him from the uncontrolled subjection to unrighteousness.

The Christadelphian, Nov 1874

The emphasis of Paul's description of the Ephesians as at one time‭ "‬children of wrath" lies—not in the relations that governed their natural birth, but in the principles bearing on them in the lives they lived since that time. A glance at his words will show this.‭

Ye "were dead in trespasses and sins (this is not affirmable of babes, who have not yet transgressed): wherein (that is, in trespasses and sins), ye walked according to the course of this world (this is a line of conduct, and babes are not capable of any line of conduct), according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all (Paul also, whom some doctrines of circumcision would exclude) had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were, by nature, the children of wrath, even as others, " that is, were in conduct and behaviour, the children of wrath, being of this behaviour by reason of what our nature is; for human nature, left to itself, is dark and disobedient—"enmity against God, not subject to the law of God," as Paul says in Rom. viii. 7.

The wrath is against the unrighteousness of men and not against the helplessness of babes,‭ ‬who are born into a state of evil by reason of the law established in Adam's person, and transmitted to them.

As to the second point,‭ ‬no discerning person would say, without qualification, that "all who continue by nature children of wrath are resurrected."

The quotation of the passage is for the purpose of showing that it is against the unrighteous actions of grown men that God's anger exists,‭ ‬and not against a helpless relation into which they are born. The question of the form this wrath will take, or how far He holds them responsible is governed by other information which limits resurrectional recompense of evil to those who know His will and do it not.

This is according to reason and justice,‭ ‬and conformable with the revealed character of God, "all whose ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity—just and right is He" (Deut. xxxii. 4.)

The Christadelphian, July 1894

5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

The New Man - the moral Quickening

The consummation of the judgment of Christ's house indicates the epoch of the third and last stage of the raising process. This crisis is the quickening, by which resurrection is perfected.

The analogy is found in nature, from which its divine Creator selects many processes and principles, which He employs as figures to illustrate His teaching in the word. Thus, in regard to corporeal regeneration, in the process of developing an immortal being from the dust of sheol, the terms expressive of the stages of what may be styled the spiritual gestation are conformed to the phenomena pertaining to the natural.

The same fact obtains in relation to moral regeneration, which must precede in probation, the corporeal in the resurrection state. In the moral process " the New Man " is " begotten," or conceived, when the sinner perceives " the truth as it is in Jesus " ; and he is "quickened "

unto a new and independent life, when the truth works in him to will and to do the good pleasure of Deity.

If he stop short of the quickening in moral or in corporeal gestation, he is a mere abortion; but, if in the moral, the process is matured in a " faith that works by love and

purifies the heart," the immersed believer is addressed in these words, to wit : "And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins . . . He hath quickened you together with Christ " (Ephes. ii. 1, 5).

It will be perceived by the thoughtful, that there is necessarily a marked interval between the moral conception and the quickening of the dead in sin. An unquickened intelligent sinner is a theorist—a speculator in divine thoughts, which have no moral influence over him ; while a quickened sinner has become circumcised of heart and ears, "the workmanship of Deity," "created byknowledge after His own image " (Eph. ii. 10 ; Col. iii. 10).

The moral gestatory order of development, I have said, is in strict conformity with the law of nature. According to this, quickening usually occurs about eighteen weeks after conception. During this interval, the bearer has no direct consciousness of the embryo forming within ; but when quickening occurs, the attention is strongly excited.

Now, the English law recognises the cause of the phenomena of quickening to be, the acquisition of a life by which the foetus might live independent of its bearer. This idea is probably correct; and certainly exact enough to illustrate the phenomena of the moral and corporeal generation of " the new man which, after Deity, is created in righteousness and holiness of the truth " (Eph.iv. 24).

The matrix of this new being is " the heart " of the sinner. " The word of the kingdom " is the incorruptible seed sown into his heart. For some time, he has no direct consciousness that a new creature is forming within him. In process of time, however, his attention is strongly excited, and he perceives that he carries within him new ideas, aspirations, and feelings, to which, before he began to read and study the Word, he was an entire stranger.

These are a new creation ; and, if they do not prove abortive, will ultimate in the development of the incorruptible and immortal man : for this new corporeal being is originally quickened by the truth, or spirit and-life Word, in the heart of the Old Man (John vi. 63).

" It is the spirit that quickeneth, and the words which I speak unto you, spirit is and life is. This is true, whether the quickening be moral or corporeal; in the former case, the quickening

power is in divine ideas, of which " the words " are the signs ; while in the latter, the quickening power is what philosophers would term electrical.

Anastasis

7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

Glad Tidings of Great Joy to all People

The Bible reveals a coming age (Eph. 2:7, ) in which the government of mankind will be solely vested in Jesus Christ (Ps. 2:8; Zech. 14:9; Acts 17:31; Rev. 11:15): who will be personally present on the earth to administer the functions of his high position (Job 19:25; Zech. 14:4; Acts 1:11); and it sets forth that everything wrong will then be put right (Ezek. 21:27; Ps. 45:6; 72.; Jer. 23:5; Acts 17:31; Rev. 19:2).

Men will universally be brought to submit, with bended knee and confessing tongue to the sovereign supremacy of God, and to do His will even as it is done in heaven, (Ps. 72:9; 99:1; 102:15; Jer. 16:19; Isa. 60:12; 2:11; 1 Cor. 15:24, 25).

They will be influenced to abandon hatred and selfishness, and to show mutual goodwill, which will become the order of the day (Isa. 11:13; 26:9–12; Zech. 8:16 to end; Luke 2:14).

The oppressor will be destroyed and the downtrodden set free (Ps. 72:9–12; 37; Isa. 14:4; 16:5; Luke 1:5–53). The arrogant and the proud will be driven from the high places of the earth, and replaced by the meek and the needy, who will have undergone previous preparation for the position (Isa. 2:17; Ps. 2:9; 94:2; 76:9, 12; Rev. 2:26, 27; 17:14; Jas. 2:5; Matt. 21:43; 2 Tim. 2:12).

Ignorance and debasement will give way before the spreading glory of the Lord, which will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 33:3; 4:5; Ps. 113:3; Jer. 31:34; Isa. 2:2–3; 59:19; Mal. 1:11). The people shall learn Yahweh's ways, and no more walk in the imagination of their evil hearts (Isa. 60:21; Ps. 2:1; Ezek. 37:24: Luke 1:51).

Truth and righteousness, abounding like a mighty stream, shall sweep away the subterfuges and hypocrisies of the present time (Am. 5:24; Hab. 2:14; Zech. 13:3–4; Isa. 61:11: 11:9: 1:29).

In a word the effulgent rising of the son of righteousness will dissipate the shades of night which have so long brooded over the world, and restore the day for ever (Mal. 4:2; Isa. 60:1–2 3–20; 2 Peter 1:19; Rev. 21:22–25; 22:5–16).

This coming age is heralded on almost every page of the Bible. Moses (Deut. 32:36–43), the prophets (Dan. 2:44; 7:18–27; Joel 3:16; Obad. 21; Zeph. 3:8; Hag. 2:6–7; Hos. 3:5, and the apostles (Acts 3:19–24; 10:42–3; 17:31; 28:23:) all unite in sounding its prophetic fame, and their report reaches down to this late generation, yet its approach is almost unknown.

A shapeless tradition, that a good time is coming, is all the trace that can be discovered in Christendom of the glorious and the definitely worded proclamation of heaven's messengers. How lamentable that God's promises should be so little understood and appreciated!

The change is near, even at the door, "The times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24) have nearly run their course. The gathering storms of the political atmosphere, co-incident with the expiry of the prophetic periods (Ps. 102:13; Hab. 2:3; Dan. 8:19; 7:25; 8:13 14; 12:11; Rev. 9:2; 12:14), are a sure omen that the close of this dispensation is at hand; and that the present generation may witness the unparalleled judgments by which the kingdoms of this world are to be wrested from the powers that be, and transferred to "that man whom God hath appointed."

The Christadelphian, June 1871

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Paul tells them who are being saved, that it is "by the favour of God they are saved through the faith;" and that the saving through the faith was not their own work; but "the gift of God."

The favour, or grace, of God got at them through that system styled "the faith." They were not being saved by favour without the "one faith;" as though God were partial to them above all other people, and would save them irrespective of what they might believe or do.

No; his favour was communicable to them, as to all others, through a system of means called "the faith;" but then they were not to suppose that in believing in "the faith," and subjecting themselves to its divine influence, they were saving themselves by a righteousness of their own:—ουκ εξ ῾υμων, not of yourselves, but of God; or, in the words of David,

"Not unto us, O Yahweh, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake."

This was a very necessary intimation, as there were many in those days as well as in these who seemed to think that because they did what was granted them to do, they were performing very meritorious acts, whereby they were entitled to salvation as a divine obligation due to them. This was falling into the old error of the Jews, who went about to establish a righteousness of their own. But says the apostle in Tit. 3:5,

"It is not on account of works the which we have done for righteousness, but according to his mercy he saved us."

There is no room, then, for boasting; for it is excluded by the law of faith which justifies a man without recognizing expiation [atonement] for his sins in any of his deeds.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Mar 1857

The sentiment that Christ's righteousness alone is to be the basis of our acceptance., is one of the countless and pernicious corruptions of clerical theology. It doubtless originated in the misapplication of a certain element of apostolic truth, namely, that which informs us that all are under sin, and that our salvation is not of works, but through the righteousness of faith that is in Christ.

Men have long ceased to perceive that this principle applies only to unjustified sinners, and not to those who have been placed in a justified or forgiven position, through the obedience of faith. Christ is righteousness for sinners in this sense, that God offers to forgive them for Christ's sake, and to grant them a co-heirship with Christ, of what Christ as a manifestation of God, has achieved for himself.

But when sinners become saints, they come into relation to a new principle. They are responsible to him as servants to a master, and he will judge them according to their works (Rev. 2:23; Matt. 16:27; 2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:8). If they bring forth fruits to the Spirit -- that is, do and be what the Spirit in the word requires, they will receive everlasting life; and if they bring forth fruits to the flesh -- that is, be and do what the mere natural mind prompts a man to do, they will inherit corruption.

So says the last testimony referred to. Hence it is that the apostles dwell so incessantly and so emphatically on the necessity for brethren to walk as saints, and to be on their guard against conformity to the world, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13).

Seasons 1: 35

"Only believe" is one of the demoralising doctrines of the apostacy.

True, we are "saved through faith" (Ephes. 2:8), but not without works. Faith unaccompanied by works will save no one. We have first to believe in God, as he speaks through Christ, the prophets and apostles, and then follow up the belief by an observance of certain clearly revealed commands.

Upon this basis and this basis alone, is the righteousness of Christ imputed and maintained (Rom. 4:24; Jno. 15:10). Works meet for repentance must characterise every stage in a believer's career. We are not asked to render an equivalent (in form of personal holiness) for the blessing offered, but we are asked, nay, imperatively called upon, to give evidence of our faith by works (James 2:14, 20).

Faith logically involves works. What man can claim to believe in Christ and at the same time ignore his will? Imperfect indeed and valueless would be such a faith! The free and easy-going religious world may conscientiously scorn the divine requirement, and ridicule those who contend for it, but infallible are the words:

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

Bro AT Jannaway

The Christadelphian, 1888