THE FORM

SOUND WORDS

OF

us that God, as such, is better than the angels. No process of thought could enable us to understand how God, as

such, could obtain by inheritance a more excellent name than angels. These are all His by sovereign right. But

when we learn that God was manifest in the flesh, and that by stooping to the sinner's place, He could and did obtain

a glory in which the saved sinner can share, these apparent contradictions become most blessedly true. As the Son,

He must necessarily be subject to the Father, but, as God, He owns no superior.

While more necessarily remains to be examined and collated, we trust that sufficient has been assembled to

enable the reader to proceed with the blessed labour of attaining to a form of sound words concerning the Lord Jesus

Christ as `God manifest in the flesh'.

CHAPTER 6

In viewing the Bible as a whole, we are impressed by two related features. First, that there is unfolded in it `the

purpose of the ages', the revelation going back to its inception - to a period `before the foundation of the world' -

and reaching forward to its completion at `the end of the ages' and secondly, that the bulk of the Bible is taken up

with one aspect of this great unfolding, namely, the entrance of sin and death, and the plan of deliverance from sin

and death by the provision of an acceptable Sacrifice. Measured by time, the period which deals with sin and its

redemption is brief - some six thousand years - but, measured by its evident importance, it is vast for it monopolizes

the whole canon of Scripture.

We have therefore before us a twofold quest: the discovery of a form of sound words as to Sin and Salvation,

and the discovery of the purpose of the ages, so far as it is revealed, together with the various subdivisions into

which it has been cast. The greatness of the subject almost intimidates. Had we unlimited space and exceptional

knowledge the task would be in the nature of the superhuman, but the contemplation both of the limits of our space

and the exceeding limitations of our ability, makes the task an impossible one, apart from all-sufficient grace.

Our first subject therefore will be an examination of the apostle's teaching concerning `Sin'. After that a further

examination of the divine method of putting away sin, and then an examination of the purpose of the ages and the

dispensations into which it is divided, with particular reference to the dispensation of the grace of God which was

entrusted to the apostle Paul.

What is Sin?- In the New Testament the basic word for `sin' is the Greek word hamartia, which means `To miss

the mark'. This word is the New Testament equivalent of the Hebrew chattath, as in `every one could sling stones at

an hair-breadth, and not miss' (chata), (Judg. 20:16). From this initial failure spring all the subsequent phases of

A number of words used in the New Testament commence with the prefix para, meaning `beside'. They are

`transgression', parabasis; `transgressor', parabates; `disobedience', parakoe; `fall away', parapipto; and `trespass',

paraptoma. As a result of this `overstepping the mark' come enmity, error, evil, fault, guile, guilt, iniquity,

lawlessness, offence, unrighteousness and wickedness, all of which present some particular development of the

initial failure of man to conform to the divine standard.

The apostle states this most emphatically when he declares that `All have sinned, and come short of the glory of

God' (Rom. 3:23). An analysis of this pregnant sentence will practically provide a form of sound words on this

important doctrine. Three aspects of sin are indicated:

(1) Its universality.- `All have sinned'.

(2) Its essential character.- `Come short'.

(3) The standard of judgment.- `The glory of God'.

The sentence comes at the conclusion of a long argument. Romans 1:17 makes clear that the saving power of the

gospel lies in the fact that it supplies man's greatest need - a righteousness before God; `For therein is the

righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith', but, instead of developing this great theme along the lines of

Romans 3:22 (`even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ'), the apostle turns aside to

demonstrate man's utter need of such a provision. First he indicts the Gentile world, and concludes that they are