Moreover, in human culture people discovered that man is corrupted. Although man’s corruption is not always manifested, there is, nevertheless, the seed of corruption within him. However, people discovered that within man there is also good. Therefore, the Chinese philosophers argued as to whether man’s nature is good or evil. Both theories are correct. When God created man, his human nature was good, but after man fell, his nature became evil. Thus, ethics were produced and added to human culture. The ancient Chinese sages all spoke about ethics.
Every nation has its own traditions. The Chinese have their traditions that were handed down from their ancestors through the generations. These traditions are in the blood of the Chinese people. In the same way, the Japanese, the Arabs, the Indians, and the Jews all have their own traditions.
We all know that when someone is born, he is right away under the four great, permeating influences of culture, religion, ethics, and tradition. Today the entire human society is influenced by these four items, even to the extent that man has become a composition of these four items. Simply put, man is an entity of culture, religion, ethics, and tradition combined. I have spoken about these four matters, but these are not my burden; my burden is Christ. These four items are not Christ; they are all replacements of Christ.
Stanza 3 of Hymns, #541 says,
Not philosophy nor Any element Can to Christ conform us As His complement; But ’tis Christ Himself who All our nature takes And in resurrection Us His members makes.
No philosophy or ethical element can produce the members of Christ, nor can they produce the Body of Christ-an organic church. Stanza 4 says,
Not religion, even Christianity, Can fulfill God’s purpose Or economy; But ’tis Christ within us As our all in all Satisfies God’s wishes, And His plan withal.
All our problems are due to our lack of Christ. If we lack Christ, we are like a human body lacking nutrition, and this allows all kinds of sickness to come in. Once the nutrients are balanced and complete, then the sickness goes away. This is similar to what stanza 5 says,
All the gifts we’re given By the Lord in grace, All the different functions Cannot Christ replace. Only Christ Himself must Be our all in all! Only Christ Himself in All things, great or small!
This surpassing Christ, this transcendent Christ, is different from religion. Most people confuse Christ and religion, thinking that Christ is the founder of the Christian religion. Strictly speaking, this is not accurate. In Philippians 3:6 Paul said, “As to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, become blameless.” These two clauses tell us that Paul had been one hundred percent a Jewish religionist. The Jewish religion is a religion which is formed according to God’s holy Word in the Old Testament. It keeps God’s holy Word and teaches people to worship the unique, true God and to act and behave according to His commandments that they may please Him. However, those who have read the four Gospels in the New Testament all know that the true God whom the Jews had worshipped from antiquity was one day incarnated to be a man. God Himself became flesh, was born in a manger, grew up in a poor family, and came out of a despised, remote region. He was Jesus, who is God, the Creator. He is the God of the universe, the Lord of all. The name Jesus means Jehovah the Savior or the salvation of Jehovah. Therefore, Jesus in the New Testament refers to Jehovah in the Old Testament.
Recently I read a tenet of faith, which was put out by a very large, respected denomination. It said that the One who visited Abraham in Genesis 18, the Jehovah whose feet Abraham washed, for whom he killed a calf and spread a feast, and with whom Abraham ate, was the Jesus in the New Testament. This is definitely right. However, the Jews wanted their traditional religion and rejected the Savior Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus came to the temple, the Jews considered Him a Samaritan and one who had a demon (John 8:48); they did not want the Lord Jesus. Please tell me, who crucified the Lord Jesus? It was not merely Pilate the Roman governor, because he was in favor of releasing Jesus; three times he declared that he found no fault in Jesus. The Jews, however, demanded that Pilate release Barabbas the robber and crucify Jesus. Therefore, it was the Jewish religion, the high priest, the Pharisees, and the elders who crucified the Lord through the hands of the Romans soldiers. The religionists care for religion; they do not care for Christ.
Home | First | Prev | Next