The Christian

The Christian is man in his completeness. He is not something more than man, neither is he something less, but man in his perfect manhood. “Ye are complete in him.”* (Colossians 2:10) The Christian is not an addition to man’s manhood, but he is the true type of manhood. To not be a Christian is to be something less than man. Such are below the standard. They are rejected. When man measures to the stature of the fullness of Christ, he also measures to the fullness of himself. He who does not measure to the fullness of Christ has not risen to the fullness of manhood. When we say, “Be a man,” it means in the full sense, “Be a Christian.” There is no difference between the laws of Christ written in the Gospel and those written in the heart and mind of man. The one answers to the other. Do you ever check up? When the Christian transgresses the law of the Gospel, he transgresses the law of his being. The life of a Christian is not the outflowing of the laws of the Gospel, but the outflowing of the laws of his own being, and since these are identically the same, the Christian life is an outward expression of Gospel law. Holy living is Gospel living.