i. The consequent meaning of worldliness. —
The accurate recognition of Christ's attitude to the temporal Avorld at once yields the accurate con- ception of worldliness. Worldliness will clearly consist in devotion to ' the world,' not in any sense of that ambiguous term, but in the particular sense in which Christ revealed it to be evil. In- asmuch, therefore, as ' the world,' in the only sig- nihcation in which He condemned it, is the spirit of antagonism (whether expressed as a principle or personified in individuals) to His spiritual king- dom, worldliness must be the possession of this spirit, and the practice of worldliness must be its manifestation. In view of persistent misconcep- tion of the teaching of Christianity on this sub- ject, clearness at this point, even at the risk of repetition, is of the utmost importance. Worldli- ness does not consist in a love of the temporal world and its concerns, for between the Kingdom and ' the world ' in this sense Christ acknowledges no nece.ssary opposition, and a man may so use both realms as to fulfil the rightful claims of each without setting them in any inevitable antithesis. Nor does worldliness lie in the performance or non- performance of any particular actions (Mk 2^'^-^ 34 75. 8. 15. 21^ Lk lp9-«, Jn 51" 723- -^ et passim) ; for, since it is the possession of a certain spirit, the most scrupulous punctiliousness in outward conduct may coexist with the deepest unspirituality (Mt 27«, Jn 125- 6 1828 1931 . cf. the significant pronounce- ment in Mt 2128-31), and the truest unworldliness with apparent indifference to its formal expression (lp8. i9j It is quite true that a love of the tem- poral world and indulgence in particular actions closely associated with it, may constitute mani- festations of worldliness. A realm not evil in itself may easily become the medium of evil, and so, owing to an undue emphasis, man's fellowship with the temporal world may, both by its positive and by its negative influence, prove injurious to his fellowship with the spiritual. Such a misuse of the two realms inevitably turns the contrast of distinction between them into one of opposition. This result, hoAvever, is reached not because of any anti-spiritual quality intrinsic in the material realm itself, but through the employment of that realm as a vehicle of the anti - spiritual. The essence of worldliness lies deeper than any par- ticular form in which it may be expressed, and, according to the Christian teaching, its essence is found in the mind — in whatever form embodied— which leads a man to identify himself Avith that ' world ' which is anti-spiritual in its nature and influence.
5. The manifestation of worldliness.— Such a self - identification is revealed in practice by the point at which a man lays the chief em])hasis of his life. As our review of Christ's teaching has shown, man has communion with two worlds — the temporal and the spiritual. Right and lawful, however, as the first communion may be, there come frequent crises in which its interests are found to be in rivalry to those of the higher fellow- ship. To cling in such crises to the loAver com- munion, in other woixls, to sacrifice the spiritual to the temporal, this is to be worldly, for this is to make the temporal world, innocent and good in itself, a vehicle of the anti-spiritual. It is un- necessary, and, in the strict sense, even impossible, to identify particular actions as in themselves in- volving the anti-spiritual ; for, as we have seen, worldliness in practice is the possession of a certain sj)irit, and there is no action which must necessarily embody that spirit nor any which cannot be made a medium for it. The wliole question of worldliness in action is ultimately one of arrangement and preceden(^e. The tilings of the temporal world are right in their right place, but that is the second
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WRITING
place in a man's life. What Christ teaches is that they must never be allowed the first place, for that belongs to God (see Mt 6^^, where both elements are recognized and the true order is laid down ; and for a striking illustration in OT, 1 K S^-^^). The practice of worldliness, therefore, consists in such an arrangement of these two elements in life as, from the standpoint of God, is false. It is the laying of a disproportionate emphasis upon the temporal, to the impoverishment of the spiritual, elements in life. In some cases this may be recog- nized by the entire exclusion of the spiritual (Lk 2215-21) . in others by its subjection to the temporal (Mt 821 iQsi. 38^ ]vi;k 5", Lk W^-^*, Jn 31"). The error, however, always lies not in the cultivation of communion with the temporal world, but in the untrue emphasis laid upon it ; in the failure to see that, while many things appear desirable, only one thing is needful (Lk 10«- "^ cf. Mt IS^-"*) ; in the self-identiftcation with that ' world ' which is the direct antithesis of the Kingdom of heaven.
6. The Christian's true relation to the temporal world. — Our Lord's example and teaching, thus briefly reviewed, enable us to infer the Christian's true relation to the temporal world, (a) Like his Master, he will be fully cognizant of its charms and fully responsive to its lawful claims. Chris- tianity is a religion calculated to make true lovers of Nature, and to produce good fathers, good hus- bands, good rulers, good servants, good men of business and men of public spirit. Those who have truly learnt the mind of Christ will never shrink from their obligations to the full-orbed life of the world in which He has set them. On the contrary, it is their simple duty to see that every sphere of human life, public and private, individual and social, shall be permeated by His spirit (Mt 51^-" 13^^). (b) Yet, while the claims of the temporal world will receive their due acknowledgment, the main stress of the Christian's life will lie elsewhere. He is in the world ; but, like his Master ( Jn 8^*), he is not of it (17""'*). He will mix freely even in its darker scenes, but without sharing their spirit (Mk 2^^). For he is no longer a slave to that spirit : he has acquired the independence of real freedom ( Jn 8^1-^). Indeed, his whole attitude to the tem- poral world has been changed. He no longer regards himself as a permanent holder, but as a temporary steward, ever awaiting the return of an unseen Lord (Mk 13^"^''). He thus maintains his fellowship with the two realms to which he belongs, but there is no division in his mind {/j.7] fierewpi^effde in Lk 12^^ according to interpretation of AV and RV : cf. the supreme submission of Mk 14^) as to their comparative claims. His real world is the spiritual world. Whether he is giving alms, pray- ing, fasting, or whatever he is doing, his true life is a life lived ' in secret ' away from the gaze of men (Mt Q^-'^^). (c) And it is the claim of this un- seen life that dictates his policy in all his earthly concerns. If it require that he sacrifice his own temporal fame (cf. Jn S'"*- *") or temporal possessions (Mt 9^), he does so with joy. If, on the contrary, it require that he retain these and employ them for the advancement of the Kingdom, he is equally, but no more, ready to obey While some men make a temporal use of eternal conditions (21'^"^- and II), he makes an eternal use of temporal con- ditions (Mt 25^^ Lk 16^-"). While some interpret spiritual facts by the material (Mt 16■■^^ Jn 6^^. 52)_ he seeks the key to material facts in the spiritual. Like his Lord, he never condemns as inherently evil the things which are temporal and material, but throughout his life he subjects them to Avhat is spiritual and eternal (cf. 2 Co 41^). And herein he has found life's true interpretation (cf. Jn 6^^).