Now we will look straightway at the second experience of life, namely, the clearance of the past.
Strictly speaking, the clearance of the past cannot be regarded as an experience of life in itself. It can only be considered as an appendix to the experience of regeneration, since a man who has been truly regenerated and saved will naturally bring all his past to an end. The normal experience, therefore, of regeneration certainly includes the element of the ending of the past. But because there are some who do not seem to be well regenerated and saved in a thoroughgoing way, although they have indeed been regenerated and saved, their past has not been immediately cleared. Not until they are once more revived by the Lord do they make up this lesson of clearing the past. It is proper, therefore, that we separate the regeneration and the clearance of the past and consider them as two distinct experiences of life.
There is no clear teaching in the Scripture concerning the clearance of the past, but there are two very good examples: one is found in Luke 19:1-10-the story of Zacchaeus’s dealing with the past after his salvation; the other is in Acts 19:18-19-the account of the Ephesians’ clearance of the past after their being saved.
In Luke 19 we are told that as soon as Zacchaeus was saved, he immediately felt that he had extorted others in the past and was thus unrighteous; he also felt that he was a money lover with a stingy manner of living. He said therefore to the Lord that if he had taken anything from any man by false accusation, he would willingly restore him fourfold. Furthermore, he was willing to give half his goods to the poor. This was his clearance of the past. In Acts 19 we are told that many of the Ephesian saints, having been saved through Paul’s leading, came to confess their deeds, many of them willingly bringing their books of charms and burning them before the people. This was their clearance of the past.
What are the things of the past that need to be cleared away after we are saved? What are the objects which must be ended and cleared up? Altogether there are four categories: 1) unrighteous matters, 2) improper matters, 3) evil and unclean matters, 4) old ways of living. After we have been saved, there needs to be a clearing up and conclusion of these matters.
1)Unrighteous matters. Unrighteous means unjust, illegal. All we have obtained in the past by unjust, illegal means, such as stealing, swindling, taking by force, encroaching upon others’ properties, keeping things that have been lost by others, not returning things that were borrowed long ago, and all illegitimate relations with others and unjust dealings toward others-all these unrighteous matters-are things we should clear up.
2)Improper matters. Improper and unrighteous are close in meaning, and yet they are different. Unrighteous means that the method by which a certain thing is obtained, or the relationship of a certain matter, is unjust or illegal. Improper means that the very nature of a certain thing or matter is improper or indecent. For instance, things used in gambling and drinking can be bought and obtained by legal means; but these things are used for gambling and drinking. Since both gambling and drinking are improper and indecent, the very nature of these things is also improper and indecent. Furthermore, neither smoking nor reading obscene novels can be said to be unrighteous, but surely they are immoral and improper. All these improper matters are also things we should put to an end.
3)Evil and unclean matters. Evil and unclean matters are things related to idols, such as graven or portrait idols, candlesticks and censers used in idol worship; ornaments, furniture, and clothing with the image of the dragon; writings of worldly religions; unclean things related to curious arts, such as books on horoscope, physiognomy, charms, etc.; also evil and unclean things, such as worshiping idols, worshiping ancestors, divining, fortune-telling, etc. These are hated by God even more than the things in the first two categories, and they are certainly intolerable to the life within us, which is holy and clean. Therefore, even more so must these things be thoroughly put to an end.
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