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‘Jerusalem which is above is free.’
Gal_4:26
It may seem a paradox to designate the Church below by the name ‘Jerusalem above.’ But every writer can choose his own terms and define them; and that the Apostle refers to the Church on earth is clear from the context. The argument is with the Jewish nationalist, who strove to force his law upon the Church then existing, and consisting of Jews and Gentiles; the Body, which the Apostle defends from aggression, is not the Church in heaven, but this Church; and this same Body he calls ‘Jerusalem above.’ We understand, therefore, that the Apostle thus designates the Christian Church, as she now is, militant here on earth.
I. Style and title.—Why ‘Jerusalem above’?
(a) Her Supreme Head is above.
(b) The Head of the Church not only rules the Church from above, but represents her above.
(c) Again, the laws of the Church are from above; her laws of righteousness and her dogmas of faith.
(d) Her inheritance is above. Her dower is not earthly honour, earthly riches, earthly endowments and establishments. If she happen to be possessed of such temporalities, they are merely accidents to her spiritual position.
(e) The Church is Divine in her origin and has come to us from above.
II. Independence.—This being the position of the Church of God in herself and in relation to the world, the second point in the text follows as a certain consequence—the Declaration of her Independence, Jerusalem above is free! The Church was constituted by Christ as a complete society, and no society can be complete without power to legislate for itself in all things which belong to the essentials of the society. Consequently, legislative power belongs inherently to the Church. Moreover, as this society is alone supernatural, and there is no other society on earth which can claim to be so, her legislative power must be complete and supreme within herself; and therefore she is independent of all other and free. Inasmuch also as Christ has promised His Presence to His Church to the end of the world, her supreme deliberative power is guided by the Divine assistance. The Church is free because she is a Divine society. In the case before us, St. Paul vindicates her freedom on the ground of her Divine position. At this time it was the Jewish nationalist who sought to bind her with old Hagar’s chain. The Apostle, defending her charter, says, ‘Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free!’ At another time it was the imperial magistrate and secular judge who claimed the right and used the might to bind her; the same champion of her freedom, even when he lay a condemned felon in prison, lifts his chained hands and cries, ‘A prisoner in bonds!—but the Word of God is not bound.’
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Rev. Dr. A. Nicholson.
Illustration‘Everything which is not free is from beneath. Every machination of Satan against God’s people—every dark heresy that comes to confine the Church—every spiritual temptation which ensnares a man’s conscience—every distress which cramps a believer’s mind, is from beneath; therefore, because it is from beneath, it is bondage. Bondage is from below. As sure as ever you are living in fear—in tied prayer—in bound affections—in mechanism of works under human merit—so surely you are in an atmosphere low, too low for spiritual life. “Jerusalem above”—that which your citizenship is—“is free.” ’