(«) It is clear that in the case of every believer the barrier raised between himself and God by his sin has been broken down. In other words, he has been restored to a state of communion with God. The means by Avliich this state is brought .ib(i\it h,^^■c l«)th a Divine and a human signili- I aiir. . It i> in considering their Divine aspect that wi; 11,11 h the point of closest connexion between the rniiiiiniiiion of believers with God and the com- miini.iii ot ( 'liiM with His Father. For these in a true >. ii-i' -tin I to one another in the relation of
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Lords perfect fellowship with God that through His life and death we too can gain unrestricted admission to the Divine Presence. This truth is all-important. It needs no detailed proof. The whole story of the Incarnation and of the Cross is one long exposition of it. Perhaps it is .symbolically represented in Mk 15^. The conditions required on the human side for restoration to the state of (•ommunion with God appear plainly in our Lord's teaching. This state is descril>ed in varied language and under dirterent metaphors. Sometimes it is presented as citizenship in God's kingdom (Mk 10"" ", Jn 3") ; sometimes as discipleship (Lk 14-'', Jn 8"). friendship (Jn 15"), and even kinship (Mk 3J2-3S) ^vith Christ Himself. In other places it is spoken of as a personal knowledge of Him (1 Jn 2') ; in others, again, as a following in His footsteps (ilk S«, Jn 8'=) ; and in yet others as the possession of a new type of life (Jn 3'*: for the definition of eternal life as ' knowing God ' see Jn 17', 1 Jn 5-"). As one condition of finding this experience, which, in whatever terms it be described, places men in a , that for purpc
new relationship with God, Christ mentions child- likeness of disposition (Mk 10'^). As other condi- tions He emphasizes poverty of spirit (Mt 5^ Lk 18'-"'-), and the performance of the Divine wU in a life of righteousness and love (Mk 3^, Lk 6^-* 8=', Jn 8-" 14'-", cf. 1 Jn l" 2^"^ 3*). In one vei-y im- portant passage, addressed both to the multitude and to His own band of disciples. He may perhaps be said to include all individual conditions. 'If any man willeth to come after me, let him re- nounce himself ' (Mk 8" and ||). This saying has a meaning far more profound than that suggested by our English versions. Taken with the explana- tion contained in the verse that follows, it really leads us to the basis of communion. All com- munion between two persons, whether human and human or human and Divine, is possible only in virtue of some element common to the natures of both (see Jn 4-'' 8" ; cf. the same principle difi'er- ently applied in 5^). Man's sole possibility of communion with God lies in his possession, poten- tial or actual, of the Divine life (cf. Jn 1'). But joined to the 'self (the second ^vxn of Mk 8^) which is capable of union with God, he is conscious also of another 'self (the first ypvxv of Mk 8^) which is incongruous with that close relationship to Deity. The condition of realizing the one ' self,' and with it, in natural sequence, communion with God, is the renunciation of the other and lower 'self.'
So both vv.3-1 and 35 : the !«!jto. of Mk &* is thus equivalent to the first ^ux'' of 8^ The ' Ukinj; up his cross'— i.e for his own crucifixion thereon— defines the ' renouncing himself ' more closely. The teaching of the whole passajje is the Evangelic representation of the Pauline doctrine of self-crucifixion, cf. Gal 220 624.
To change the figure somewhat, the unity of life involved in the idea of communion between man and God can be attained only through man's rising to God's life. This, it is true, would have been outside his power had not God first stooped to his level. But in the Incarnation this step of infinite condescension has been taken, and by it the po bility of mankind's rising to the life of God-
other words, the state of communiiin \vith c all secured. In onli'i td n munion his own, Clin^t te man must now leave his lo
t^ entering into a .1(1 has been once for ike this state of com- ches, each individual vei life, with all that
pertains to it, behind ; must be content to ' re- nounce himself; must be willing to 'lose' that ' life ' which cannot consist with the Divine life. So complete, indeed, is to be the severance from the past, that the experience in which it is brought about is called a ' new birth ' ( Jn 3^), as real as, though of a type esseiitiiilly ilitltncnt from, the physical birth (v.^). When \\ itli this self -renounce- luent is combined that faith m ('liii>t which leads to union with Him and reliance upon Him {Triareveiv eis—Jn S'"- * &-■' 11-'^), we have the experience which sums up into one great whole the various indi- vidual conditions required on the human side for entering into the state of communion with God.
(6) Quite distinct in thoui^ht fnuii tlie state oi communion into which all IhIh \.>i- jie liniught, is the life of communion whuh ii i- then privilege to enjoy. The one is ah\;iy> a fact, the other is also a consciously realized experience. Like so many of the blessings revealed in NT, such a life of communion is too rich an e.xperience to be described in any one phrase or under a single meta- phor. In ditterent contexts it is presented in dif- ferent ways. Sometimes, for example, it is set forth as an abiding in Clirist who also abides in the believer (Jn IS*"-). In other places it is repre- sented as an indwelling uf the Spirit (Jn U'^-^" Hi' '■ '•, I Jn -J-"-" 3-" 4'^), whose presence, to be- lievers (.-IS in a deeper .sense to their Lord) the sign and expression of union with God, is to be with