The Philosophy of Perfection - Chambers, Oswald
Chapter I
But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 1 corinthians 13:10 (rv)
That which is perfectis a being, who hath comprehended and included all things in himself and his own substance, and without whom, and besides whom, there is no true substance, and in whom all things have their substance.
That which is perfect
The bible reveals that that which is perfect is a being. God is the only perfect being; no human being is perfect apart from god. We make the blunder of applying to human beings terms which the bible applies to god only. Our lord in replying to the rich young ruler, who used the term good master, said, none is good save one, even god (rv ). There is only one being to whom the term good can be applied, and that is the perfect being, the term cannot be applied to good men. In the sermon on the mount our lord places god as the model for christian character; he does not say, be good as a man is good, but ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect (rv ). We are to be perfect as our father in heaven is perfect, not by struggle and effort, but by the impartation of that which is perfect. We are accustomed to the use of the word perfect in connection with our relationship to god (e. G. Philippians 3:1215), but here the word is used in a bigger sense, viz. , perfect as god is perfect. Love is another term we are apt to apply wrongly. We emphasise perfect love towards our fellow-men; the bible emphasises perfect love to god. Love is an indefinable word, and in the bible it is always used as directly characteristic of god god is love. Romans 5:5, Paul says that the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts, not the power to love god, but the love of god. Or take truth. The truth is our lord himself, consequently any part of the truth may be a lie unless it leads to a relation to the truth. Salvation, sanctification, the second coming are all parts of the truth, but none is the truth; and they are only parts of the truth as they are absorbed by the truth, our lord himself. We are not told to expound the way of sal- vation, or to teach sanctification, but to lift up jesus, i. E. To proclaim the truth.
That which is in part
If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth not yet as he ought to know. (1 Corinthians 8:2 rv)
God wants us to lose our definitions and become rightly related to himself, the perfect one. If we try and state before god where we are in experience, we find we can- not do it, though we know with a knowledge which passeth knowledge. The purpose of god is to get the part into the whole; if we remain in the part by sticking to our convictions, to that which we know, we shall fizzle off. An experience that is true and vivid cannot be stated in words, the lines of definition are gone. Our experience is only part of the perfect. Jesus christ is much more than we have experienced him to be.
But that which is in part, or the imperfect, is that which hath its source in, or springeth from the perfect, just as a brightness or a visible appearance floweth out from the sun or a candle, and appeareth to be somewhat, this or that. And it is called a creature, and of all these things which are in part, none is the perfect.
Are we resting in our experience of the truth, or in the truth? The part has its source in the perfect. The experiences of salvation and sanctification spring from the perfect source, and it is this that gives the devil his chance to come as an angel of light and make us seek experiences instead of christ. Do we lift up Jesus, or are we busy carefully defining our religious experiences, having this measuring-rod for the almighty and that measuring-rod for the saints, which if they do not come up to we say they are wrong? There is always a danger of doing this so long as we walk by convictions. If our experiences come from the true source and are untouched, they will lead to one place only to the fulness of the life of god; but if they are tampered with they will lead away from god. Satan does not tempt saints to tell lies or to steal or drink, he does not come to them in that way; he comes along the line of their experiences, he seeks to separate christian experience from the lord jesus and make us want to hug a certain type of experience for ourselves. When we have part of the perfect nature in us and are walking in the light of the holy spirit, he will take us surely and certainly to the source from which the experience sprang, viz. , god unless we prefer to stay in our experience. Are we living in the light of our convictions, prescribed and confined, or are we living the life hid with Christ in god? To those who have had no spiritual experience it sounds absurd to talk about being one with god in christ, absurd to talk about being guided by the spirit, they are impatient with it; of course they are, they must be made part of the perfect (i. E. , be born from above, rv mg) before they can understand the language of the perfect in experience. Jesus christ must always be much more than any christian experience. This throws a flood of light on experiences. That which is perfect is god, that which is part is the creature experience. The creature experience has its source in god, but if looked at in itself it is apart altogether from god; when looked at in god it takes us straight to god himself. When god ceases a way of guiding, when he removes the symbols of his presence, when answers to prayer do not come, it is because he is bringing us to the place where the part is merged in the perfect, and we in our degree are becoming what Jesus wants us to be. There is only one way to understand the perfect and the part in relation to it, and that is by receiving the holy spirit; god will give us the holy spirit if we ask him (luke 11:13). We need to receive the holy spirit, not only for christian experience but to bring us into perfect union with god.
That which is perception (1 Corinthians 2:1116; 1 john 2:27)
Perception means the power of discernment. To whom hath the arm of the lord been revealed? (rv). We all see the common occurrences of daily life, but who amongst us can perceive the arm of the lord behind them? Who can perceive behind the thunder the voice of god? The characteristic of the man without the spirit of god is that he has no power of perception, he cannot perceive gods working behind ordinary occurrences. The events of ordinary days and nights present facts we cannot explain, the only way to explain them is by receiving the spirit of god who will impart to us an interpretation that will keep the heart strong and confident in god, because it gives us an understanding of god who is behind all things; but to the one who is not there, the explanations seem absurd.
Perception in the natural world is called intuitioni know i know, although i do not know how i know. In the spiritual world this knowledge is the anointing the apostle john alludes to. When the holy spirit is in us he will never let us stop at the part experience. He will cause our part experience to keep us always one with the perfect and will reveal god to us. If ever we imagine that the spirit of god gives us an illumination apart from the written word, Satan is twisting the truth, and it is this kind of pas- sage that he distorts most.
The things which are in part cannot be apprehended, known and expressed; but the perfect can- not be apprehended, known and expressed by any creature as creature.
Peter tells us to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in us. He did not say give reasonings, but a reason. We can give a reason for that we know, but we cannot reason it out with the man who has not the same spirit. We can state that we are right with god because we have received his spirit on the word
Of jesus, but our reasonings are nonsense to the man who has not accepted the holy spirit.
The coming of the perfect ( john 17:22; psalm 86:11)
Now when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. But when doth it come? I say, when as much as may be, it is known, felt and tasted of the soul. . . . So also god who is the highest good, willeth not to hide himself from any, wheresoever he findeth a devout soul, that is thoroughly purified from all creatures. For in what mea- sure we put off the creature, in the same measure are we able to put on the creator, neither more nor less.
That they may be onein experience? No, that they may be one, even as we are one. That is infinitely beyond experience, it is a perfect oneness not only in adjustment but in realisation. In our spiritual experience it means knowing that in all the world there is none but thee, my god, there is none but thee. Other people have become shadows, the creature we used to rely upon has proved a broken reed, the spiritual experience we built upon has deserted us, the methods of guidance that used to bless our souls starve us now. This is illustrated in the purifying of grahams faith, the purification went on until Abraham was lost in god. He did not lose his identity, he reached his identity in god. The hymns that are full of absorption in god are true of deepest spiritual experience, but only true in the fundamental sense, in the surface sense they are in error.
The psalmist prayed, unite my heart to fear thy name the whole spirit, soul and body so united with god that the soul does not think separately of body, soul or spirit, but only of god. There are false unities possible in a mans experience whereby mans spirit, soul and body are brought into harmony. Paul calls these things idolatry, because idolatry is the uniting of body, soul and spirit to the wrong god.
If we are despising the chastening of the lord and fainting when rebuked of him, it is because we do not understand what god is doing; he is wean- ing us from creatures to himself, from the things we have been united to instead of being united to him only. When god is weaning a soul from creatures, from christian experience, from teachers and friends, then is the time that the devil begins the advocacy of self-pity. Satan tried to make jesus realise himself apart from god (see matthew 16:23), but he would not for i am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me (rv ). When we are filled with the holy spirit he unites us body, soul and spirit with god until we are one with god even as jesus was. This is the meaning of the atonementat-one-ment with god. The one perfect personality is our lord. When we separate ourselves from jesus we are in part, we are not perfect but when the life of jesus comes into us we no more think of the separating of spirit, soul and body, we think of jesus only. Remember, we are not sanctified for our sakes, but for gods sake. How many of us are trying to exploit god with the diplomacy which the world uses? We try to exploit god when we pray o lord, give me this gift, this experience. That is the spirit which springs from the devil, we are trying to ape being devout souls, trying to be like Christians, but wanting a relation to god on our own lines. We can only get rightly related to god through Jesus christ. The coming of the per- fect means that we are made one with god by jesus. Immediately we are rightly related to god, perfectly adjusted to him, the perfect life comes to us and through us.
The conversion of the part . . .
It is impossible to the creature in virtue of its creature-nature and qualities, that of which it saith i and myself to be perfect. For in whatsoever creature the perfect shall be known, therein the creature-nature and qualities, i, the self and the like, must all be lost and done away.
Our lord told the rich young ruler to fling away all he had, to think of himself as possessing nothing be a mere conscious man and give that manhood to me. Lose altogether the sense of yourself as one who wants to be blessed and be related to god in me (see matthew 19:21).
So long as we think much of these things, cleave to them with love, joy, pleasure or desire, so long remaineth the perfect unknown to us.
If we seek the baptism of the holy ghost in order that god may make us great servants of his, we shall never receive anything. God baptises us with the holy ghost that he may be all in all.
Numbers of people say, i have asked god to sanctify me and he has not done it. Of course he has not! Do we find one word in the bible which tells us to pray, lord, sanctify me? What we do read is that god sanctifies what we give. An unconditional give up is the condition of sanctification, not claiming some- thing for ourselves. This is where unscriptural holiness teaching has played so much havoc with spiritual experience. We receive from god on one condition only, viz. , that we yield ourselves to him and are willing to receive nothing. Immediately we state conditions and say, i want to be filled with the holy spirit, i want to be delivered from sin, i want to be the means of saving souls we may pray to further orders,7 but 572 if thou wilt be perfect . . .
An answer will never come that way. That is all the energy of the flesh, it has no thought of the claims of jesus on the life. Are we willing to be baptised into his death? How much struggle is there in a dead man? How much assertion of i and me and mine i have had such a wonderful experience? The spirit of god will never witness to testimonies along that line, they are not true to the genius of the holy ghost, not true to the nature of jesus. Whosoever shall confess me before men, said jesus. If there is a tightness and a dryness in our experience it is because we have begun to take the advice of someone other than god, have begun to try and make our experience like someone else said it should be. But they, . . . Measuring them- selves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding (rv).
The concentration of perception ( john 15:5; Philippians 4:13)
That which hath flowed forth from it, is no true sub- stance, and hath no substance except in the perfect, but is an accident, or a brightness, or a visible appearance, which is no substance, and hath no substance except in the fire whence the brightness flowed forth, such as the sun or a candle.
Without me ye can do nothing. If we are not spiritual we will say that is not true, but if we are spiritual we know it is true. Our lord said many things that are only true in the domain in which he spoke them. For instance, he said, ye have not life in yourselves ( john 6:53 rv). We have life, but not in the domain Jesus means. We are alive physically, alive morally and intellectually without Jesus, but we are not alive spiritually. Ye have not this life in yourselves. If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of god, or whether i speak from myself (rv). What is gods will? That we should receive his spirit, and god will give us the holy spirit if we ask. If we put ourselves in the condition of paupers and waive all right to the gift and are willing to receive, then jesus said, god will put into us the spirit that is in him. When we have received the holy spirit we begin to realise that what Jesus said is true, without me ye can do nothing in the spiritual life. If some of us are asked to give our testimony, to speak in the open air, to take a meeting, we faint because we have not learned the lesson of drawing on the perfect life, of drawing on jesus. Without menothing; but i can do all things through christ which strengtheneth me.
Have we ever come to the place of saying, lord, do in me all thou dost want to do? We ask god to do much less than this and think we are asking for tremendous things; we have to come to the place of saying, lord, i ask that thy will may be done in me. The will of god is the gladdest, brightest, most bountiful thing possible to conceive, and yet some of us talk of the will of god with a terrific sighoh well, i suppose it is the will of god, as if his will were the most calamitous thing that could befall us.
Are we learning to think and perceive and inter- pret christian experience along this line? When people come to us, are we so relying on the holy spirit that he can easily lead them to Jesus, or are we trying to make their square lives fit into our round experience, trying to fit their broad experience into our poor narrow waistcoat-pocket experience? We are off our territory on those lines; we are here for one purpose only, to be taken up with Jesus.
The principle of sin (1 john 5:812)
The scripture and the faith and the truth say, sin is nought else, but that the creature turneth away from the unchangeable good and betaketh itself to the changeable; that is to say, that it turneth away from the perfect to that which is in part and imperfect, and most often to itself.
This is the principle of sin. Anything in spiritual life or in sensual life that makes us draw our life from any- thing less than god is of the essence of sin. God made man to have dominion over the life of the sea and air and earth, but god was to have dominion over man. Adam sinned by taking his claim to his right to him- self. This claim to my right to myself works in those who are born again, and it is called the carnal mind. It expresses itself like thisi want the baptism of the holy ghost; i want to be sanctified; i want to be filled with the spirit; i want to be used of god. All that springs from the wrong source, it is not drawing its life from the right place. When we receive and recognise and rely on the holy spirit, all that stops for ever. We have to walk in the light, as he is in the light, the light that jesus walked in (see john 6:38; 14:10).
The presence of sin ( john 5:3032; romans 1:25)
When the creature claimeth for its own anything good, such as substance, life, knowledge, power, and in short whatever we should call good, as if it were that, or possessed that, or that were itself or that proceeded from it as often as this cometh to pass, the creature goeth astray.
The one characteristic of love is that it thinks of noth- ing for itself, it is absorbed in god. Love suffereth
Long, and is kind; love envieth not . . . Love taketh not account of the evil. We cannot live as jesus lived by trying to imitate him. Jesus called a little child to him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, except ye . . . Become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Our lord was not setting up a child as an ideal, but as a fact. A child does not work from a conscious ambition, it obeys the law of the life that is in him without think- ing. When we are born again and rightly related to god we will live the right kind of life without thinking. Immediately we begin to think about it, we fix our eyes on our own whiteness and go wrong. Much of the holiness teaching of to-day makes people fix their eyes on their own whiteness, not on Jesus christi give up this and that, i fast here, i do this and the other, i will give up anything and everything to possess a perfect life. We will never get it in that way, but only by the passion of an absolute devotion to Jesus and that is only possible by receiving the holy spirit and obeying him.
The propagation of sin (1 john 3:48; Isaiah 14:1213; 2 thessalonians 2:4; colossians 2:2023)
What did the devil do else, or what was his going astray and his fall else, but that he claimed for himself to be also somewhat, and would have it that somewhat was his, and something was due to him? This setting up of a claim and his i and me and mine, these were his going astray, and his fall. And thus it is to this day.
Johns argument is not to do with an act of sin, but with the disposition of sin. It is this that the devil propagates in human beings. Why dont we realise what gods book says? We talk about chopping off this, and doing that, and having times of consecration to god. The only test of holiness is that the life of Jesus is being manifested in our mortal flesh, and that we are not appealed to on the lines he was not appealed to on; nothing springs up in us and says, now that is mine. The perfect love is given to us freely by the grace of god, and we can hinder it when we like, no matter what our experience has been, if we cease drawing on the life of god. Any- thing we possess as our own, as a possession of our own personality, is the very essence and principle of sin at work. If any man will come after me, said jesus, let him deny himself ; literally, let him give up his right to himself to me, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Our lord said this over and over again, but we have come to the conclusion that he did not mean what he said and we piously and reverently pass it over.