After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea. And He continued there with them and baptized. And John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, for many waters were there. And they came and were being baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into the prison. Then a question from John’s disciples arose with the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Teacher, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have witnessed, behold, this One baptizes, and all are coming to Him. John answered and said, A man is able to receive nothing unless it has been given to him from Heaven. You yourselves witness to me that I said, I am not the Christ, but that having been sent, I am going before that One. The one having the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, standing and hearing him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. Then this my joy has been fulfilled. That One must increase, but I must decrease. The One having come from above is above all. The one being of the earth is earthy, and speaks of the earth. The One coming out of Heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, this He testifies, and no one receives His testimony. The one receiving His testimony has sealed that God is true. For the One whom God sent speaks the Words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. The one believing into the Son has everlasting life; but the one disobeying the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:22-36)
But it shall now be told briefly how the internal man is reformed, and the external by means of it. The internal man is not reformed merely by knowing, understanding, and being wise, consequently not by thought alone; but by willing that which knowledge, understanding, and wisdom teach. When a man from his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom sees that there is a heaven and a hell, and that all evil is from hell, and all good is from heaven, if he ceases to will evil because it is from hell, and wills good because it is from heaven, he is in the first stage of reformation, and is at the threshold from hell into heaven. When he goes further and wills to refrain from evils he is in the second stage of reformation, and is outside of hell, but not yet in heaven; he sees heaven above him. Man must have such an internal in order to be reformed; and yet he is not reformed unless the external is reformed as well as the internal. The external is reformed by means of the internal when the external refrains from the evils that the internal does not will because they are infernal, and still more when the external for this reason shuns evils and fights against them. Thus willing is the internal and doing is the external; for unless one does that which he wills there is within a failure to will, and finally the willing ceases. (Divine Providence 151)
Following on from the teaching given to Nicodemus regarding the new birth and our regeneration, we come to a question raised by John’s disciples from their discussions with the Jews concerning purification or more specifically, who holds the authority to offer baptism. But before we look at this question and its meaning regarding the spiritual life, there is a general principle revealed here in the Word in the transition from a passage of instruction in spiritual matters to the activity of baptism. All spiritual instruction in truth is only truly received into our life when that instruction leads to living a life in accordance with it. Truths from the Word are the means by which our affections are purified from the loves of self and the world. It is therefore fitting that what follows the teaching given by Jesus to Nicodemus is the activity of baptism.
Spiritually, the act of baptism corresponds to what’s involved in living the spiritual life. It is a recognition of the ongoing need of having our inner life purified by means of spiritual water, that is, by means of truths from the Word. For it is truths that cleanse and purify the mind from the false ideas and selfish desires that cling to our thought and affectional life. In this sense, we can see that outer sacrament of baptism is a sign of our commitment to use the Word to cleanse the inner world of our minds through the ongoing practice of self examination and repentance. This need to move from instruction to practise is captured in the words from our reading;
After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea.
The phrase after these things refers to the instruction concerning spiritual life that is received from the Word into the state of ignorance represented by Nicodemus. As we’ve seen previously, Nicodemus is our own ignorance, the ignorance of the natural man regarding the inner things of the Word and their application to the life of our spirit. But even in our ignorance the Word is on the move for Jesus, the Lord’s desire for our salvation, comes with His disciples who represent those spiritual principles that we have acquired from the Word through seeking to live from it – and they are moving into the land of Judea.
The land generally represents the ground for spiritual life and so refers to the church or a mind that seeks to live from an affection for truth. Judea is found in the southern part of Israel and in more ancient times was called Judah. The name Judah means praise and from this meaning we can see that it corresponds to the affectional part of the mind which is the will. So, Jesus and His disciples moving into Judea spiritually describes a state of willingness in spiritual matters. A state that involves taking the truths which we are offered from the Word and compelling ourselves to actions in an affirmative response to live from them.
Truth, in and of itself, cannot save us from evils and falsities. Truth corresponds to light and as such can reveal what we need to do through making us conscious of what is in us that is opposed the life of heaven. Once we see what it is we must do we are then responsible to act in accordance with that insight. This is the application of heat, for actions in response to truths is what spiritual heat or love is. Without the application of this kind of heat no transformation can take place. We are told in the doctrines for Spiritual Christianity that even those in hell can understand and so affirm that a thing is true. But their state of life is such that they have no desire or affection to live from it, so they reject good, and as good is what heaven is, they reject heaven and so the Lord, for He is Goodness Itself. So we receive the Lord and are saved from evils and falsities, when we make truths from the Word a matter of life. This is because our responses to truths opens the way to becoming more and more aware of the deeper states of life that are opposed to what is spiritual. Hence we become more aware of those states of life or states of mind that ‘those in hell’, as described above, illustrate.
The process initially begins in externals, that is, it begins with the literal sense of the Word and its application in the external realms of our life. And as we start to respond in our outer daily life then the Lord draws our attention into the more internal aspects. This is what is meant by;
And He continued there with them and baptised.
If you recall, in Chapter 2 John the Baptist said that while he baptised in water, Jesus, the one coming after him, would baptise with the Holy Spirit. In Matthew and Luke’s Gospel a baptism by fire is also added to this.
John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16)
John’s is an outer baptism in natural truths from the Word, whereas the baptism of Jesus is an inner baptism of spiritual truths from the Word. To be baptised in the Holy Spirit is to receive spiritual truths from the Word. To be baptised in fire is to practise them for fire is a symbol of purification, and the inner man is only purified from evils and falsities by the heat or the affection for truths that lead to their application to the inner life of the mind.
And it is at this point of turning to what is more internal, that an inner objection arises from the natural man. In our reading today this inner objection is framed around a question concerning purification and it is raised by the Jews with the disciples of John. John represents the Word in its literal sense and so his baptism represents the reformation of our external life in accordance with a natural understanding which is tied to the letter of the Word. This is the preparer of the way of the Lord. Until the external life is brought into some form of order and discipline from a love of obeying the Word as to its natural truths, the inner life of our thoughts and emotions will continue to run rampant taking every opportunity to fulfil the desires belonging to the loves of self and the world. The literal sense of the Word is for the natural man, and by it the chaos of the external mind can be addressed somewhat and brought into order. But it would be a mistake to think that an externally ordered life is where the spiritual life ends. On the contrary, bringing our external life into order is merely the beginning. It is the foundation for entering into the spiritual realm of our thought and affectional life so that the Word might operate to cleanse and purify things on this deeper level.
But there is an inherent resistance in the natural man to making this shift from externals to internals in regard to the focus and practise of religious and spiritual life.
And John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, for many waters were there. And they came and were being baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into the prison. Then a question from John’s disciples arose with the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Teacher, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have witnessed, behold, this One baptizes, and all are coming to Him.
This resistance centres on a question of the legitimacy or authority that a more inner practice of spiritual disciplines has in the scheme of a religious life. The natural man’s focus is on external things, this being what is deemed most important. It is likely to respond to any prompt to move towards a more internal application of truths with statements that challenge this kind of focus. Such statements might be along the lines of ‘This type of inner work is of little value. People should just get on with living their lives as best as they can and not worry so much about digging too deeply into examining their motives or the nature of their thoughts’. What this line of reasoning fails to see is that the purity or orderliness of the external life is only acceptable if it is a true reflection of the inner life of the mind. The reformation of the outer life is made possible precisely because it allows a person to begin to work on the inner life of their thoughts and affections so that the two, the internal and external man, can become aligned. If this inner work isn’t done, then the outer and the inner remain at odds with each other.
The external is reformed by means of the internal when the external refrains from the evils that the internal does not will because they are infernal, and still more when the external for this reason shuns evils and fights against them. Thus willing is the internal and doing is the external; for unless one does that which he wills there is within a failure to will, and finally the willing ceases. (Divine Providence 151)
The question that arises from the Jews obviously had an unsettling effect on the disciples of John. The Jews in the context of this Gospel represent those elements within the natural man that are opposed to the Lord and what He is seeking to accomplish in our life. And the disciples of John are truths from the Word understood naturally, or according to its literal sense. When we are being challenged to begin to work on a deeper level within ourselves objections arise from the natural man which calls into question the need to do this inner work. ‘Look’, it says, ‘the Word is to be understood in terms of just what it says, why look for other meanings, it just confuses things and makes it all too difficult. You’re a good person, you don’t harm anyone, you do your best to live a good life, surely this is all that matters?’ To the natural man this all sounds plausible and fits well with the literal sense of the Word when understood externally.
But we know that there is more to the Word than just its literal sense – that it has a spiritual sense that addresses the inner things of the mind. And what we see in John’s response to his disciples’ question concerning the baptism of Jesus is that there is in fact a deeper work.
John answered and said, A man is able to receive nothing unless it has been given to him from Heaven. You yourselves witness to me that I said, I am not the Christ, but that having been sent, I am going before that One. The one having the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, standing and hearing him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. Then this my joy has been fulfilled. That One must increase, but I must decrease.
John testifies concerning himself, that he is not the Christ. That his role or use is that of one who calls us to prepare the way of the Lord. In declaring that he is not the Christ he is saying that the literal sense of the Word, that is, truths naturally understood, can’t save us – they can only create the conditions into which deeper spiritual truths can be revealed. These truths, when seen then, are a witness of the Lord coming in power.
John’s words to his disciples corresponds to the message found in the literal sense of the Word and is discerned by those who seek to explore it and its application to their inner life. For those who have access to the doctrines for Spiritual Christianity it is very clear that there is a level of the Word that speaks to the inner life of the mind. For when the Word is read with a view to applying it inwardly, we find that it reveals its power to bring changes into this level of life by shining light on our motivations and providing us with insights as to how we are to move forward. We find that old selfish ways of thinking and being in certain circumstances and situations are transformed and no long affect us the way they once did. We find that those who once troubled us emotionally no longer do so in the face of new attitudes and ways of viewing others, which arise from living from spiritual principles. All this is good, it is the product of truths being worked into the life. And those who work at this level know that what they have received – they have received from heaven as is said in the statement;
A man is able to receive nothing unless it has been given to him from Heaven. You yourselves witness to me that I said, I am not the Christ, but that having been sent, I am going before that One.
To stay in the literal sense of the Word, to remain in a purely external relationship to it and not allowing it to penetrate our inner life leaves us at the mercy of external life events. We remain ever vulnerable to feeling like a victim of circumstances, of rising anxiety, of a sense of powerlessness in the face of strong emotions over which we seem to have no control. An external approach to spiritual things leaves us inwardly trapped in fears and worries about the future and immersed in unresolved regrets from the past. It’s only as we move to work where it counts, into a deeper understanding of the Word and its application to our inner life, that real lasting changes can even begin to take place. This requires us to come to the Word in a different way, to read it in relation to those things within that trouble us. When this happens then the meaning of John’s words become clear.
He must increase but I must decrease.
These words refer to the spiritual life within the Word coming to the fore as a more literal understanding of the Text gives way to the Lord … to the Spirit coming forth in Its power.
The One having come from above is above all. The one being of the earth is earthy, and speaks of the earth. The One coming out of Heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, this He testifies, and no one receives His testimony. The one receiving His testimony has sealed that God is true. For the One whom God sent speaks the Words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. The one believing into the Son has everlasting life; but the one disobeying the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.