Without this completion of the Gospel, Christ's saviorhood does not
reach inward to our need. For lacking it, we stand before the Master
with the same admiration that a man who is no painter feels when he
sees a Raphael. He knows the work is sublime, but he is not proposing
to reproduce it. He is conquered by its beauty, but he knows no
possibility of its imitation. If, however, there were a spirit of
Raphael that could lay hold upon a man's life and transform him to the
master's skill and power, then his admiration would become inwardly
effective. _It takes the spirit of Raphael to do Raphael's work._ If
this gospel of an indwelling dynamic is not coupled with our
admiration for Jesus, we are like a student practicing the fingering
of the Hallelujah Chorus on an organ from which the power has been
shut off. With what accuracy his fingers travel the keys, who can
tell? Once Handel's soul, on fire with the passion of harmony, burned
itself into that composition. He wrote it upon his knees. But with
whatever agility the student's fingers follow the notes, no Hallelujah
Chorus comes from his organ to praise God and move men. So the record
of this matchless character handed to us in the gospels, like notes of
music meant to be played again, is but our despair, if we must attempt
its reproduction on a powerless organ. Our admiration for it is
external and ineffectual. We fall thereby into a static religion of
creed; we have no dynamic religion of progress and hope. This then is
the glorious message, where the Christian Gospel reaches its climax,
and which alone puts fullest meaning into Jesus' perfect life: _the
Spirit of God in Jesus made his quality; that same Spirit is
underground in our lives, striving to well up in characters like his,
until we live, yet not we, but Christ lives in us_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account