WASHING
[p. 250] WASHING
1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 7: 40; 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 13
JT I have in mind that the Holy Spirit presents Himself in connection with certain features. So that we have, as we might expect after having considered the temple in chapter 3 and after the record of chapter 5, an allusion to washing. If we do not wash every day, it is most important that there should be, at least, a wash-day for the removal of defilement, which is cumulative unless it is dealt with at once. If we leave it to a wash-day, it is difficult to get it out without, to use a figure, several chemicals having to be employed. If, however, we deal with things immediately an ordinary washing suffices. So I think the reference in chapter 6 morally follows the record of evil in Corinth in chapter 5. The evil condition that existed, although centred in one person, affected all, more or less.
Rem So the one that was affected needed the washing as much as the others.
JT That is what I thought. The idea of a washday is very common, but each day should be a wash-day.
LES The principle of Numbers 19 enters into it. It says there that “the man that is unclean, and doth not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the congregation”, Numbers 19: 20.
JT Yes; it is very important to see that the penalty is not because of the defilement but because of the neglect of washing. Moreover if you do apply the washing, there is a certain penalty that you cannot evade; you are to go through with the thing.
LES It says there that he has defiled both the tabernacle (verse 13) and the sanctuary (verse 20) of Jehovah.
JT Very good. It shows how defilement in me [p. 251] may affect all. And then the subject is dealt with in Revelation 22: 14 in the last reference to washing “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life”. Blessed are they that do that. It is not ‘that will do it’ or ‘that have done it’, but ‘that do it’. It is characteristic of them. They have a right to the tree of life and to enter by the gates into the city. They are people that have rights, people that wash characteristically.
HG There is a painful list before this verse. It is something like the ten lepers in a way, but it says, “Ye have been washed”. The thought is to maintain that.
JT I thought that the connection of the Spirit here shows that the apostle is obliged to be abstract in dealing with the Corinthians. Characteristically, of course, they were carnal. So that if he has to say anything different from that, it is abstract and alludes to what had come about in them by God’s work as seen in chapter 1 in principle but not in a characteristic way.
JB The abstract would be what was right normally.
JT In chapter 5 you have, “purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened”. How can you understand that except in the abstract as dealing with positive sin among them?
Ques Was it necessary that the whole body should be washed?
JT Yes. It would fall in with Mr. G’s reference. There was a need of constant washing. “Blessed are they that wash”, Revelation 22: 14.
HG So in Revelation you have the two thoughts “Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins” (chapter 1: 5), that is the worth of Christ; and those that “have washed their robes, and have made [p. 252] them white in the blood of the Lamb”, Revelation 7: 14.
The right to enjoy citizenship involves washing.
JT A right attaches to it. You do not like to see a right despised. Chapter 22: 14 accords a right to a person. Therefore we can never patronise the saints or assume that we are conferring any advantage upon them, even by receiving a person into fellowship. You have to be careful in according him any patronage. It is a question of his right.
God said that. Now in chapter 1 of Revelation glory is ascribed to the Lord because He has washed us in His blood. Then in chapter 7 a great crowd, that no one can number, have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. These people themselves have done it, but in both instances it is a question of the blood. In chapter 22 it is obviously the water that is in mind; there is no constant application of the blood but there must be of the water. Those who wash do it all the time; they are never other than clean.
Ques Would the water be connected with the death of Christ?
JT Just as much as the blood is. The Lord Jesus came by water and by blood. It is useless to come in unless with these means. What could the Lord do save with these elements? He came in by the water in connection with truth. Thirty-three years elapsed between His birth and crucifixion; His crucifixion was always in view.
HG The cleansing is brought in before the expiation there.
JT Yes; as characteristic of John’s epistle.
The water must be first.
HG The most important side is easily seen and therefore put first.
JT The Spirit bears witness and He is here. Here in Corinthians it is by the Spirit of our God,
[p. 253] showing the part He has in this transaction, in this process.
HG It is interesting that the washing is put before the purification here: “But ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified”. These are put after washing.
JT That is my thought in bringing it in in connection with the Spirit. It is the prominent thought in view of the filthy things to be dealt with. When they came together to do what the apostle told them to do, washing would be the first thing to be done.
HG As you were saying yesterday, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God?” I expect the uncleanness present was the result of their failure to recognise that.
JT Yes, exactly. So that they are not taken up as if they were unconverted people. If a man is converted this can be said of him in some way.
HG Peter says, he “has forgotten the purging of his former sins”, 2 Peter 1: 9.
JT Quite. You are impressed with how humbling it must have been to have had to say such things to christians. You can hardly conceive of saying them today to a company of christians. To have to speak to them, as he does, about their bodies and to refer to the state of things there, must have been extremely humbling to the apostle. Then in chapter 11 he has to speak about them coming to the Lord’s supper drunk. How extremely humbling it must have been to the apostle to descend to such a level to talk to an assembly of God!
HG He found many such situations.
JT He had a right to come into these matters as a man comes into his house. There were terrible things there. He must have talked to his children as if they were going somewhere such as, as you might say, going to a picture show; it was most distressing.
[p. 254] It had to be done away with, and the great apostle Paul did it. He took the towel and water and the rod with him, and he scrubbed each one. It shows the depths to which he would go: “For I think that God has set us the apostles for the last”. He stopped at nothing to help the people of God.
Ques Would he show forth the Spirit of the Lord, “For I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also”, John 13: 15?
JT That is right. The Lord took the towel and water and went around to wash the disciples’ feet. That is what Paul was doing here. Only the whole body was affected here. The condition of the body is what this chapter brings out.
HG And that was in more than “reigning as kings”. One is struck with the supreme spiritual skill of the apostle in touching the most delicate matters in a suggestive sort of way, “As my beloved children I admonish you”, 1 Corinthians 4: 14.
JT There was marvellous moral power in his being able to call it the assembly of God, and yet know of all this terrible situation and the filth that existed. It is the question of his power and ability to deal with it.
WB Say a little about “by the Spirit of our God”.
JT I think he links himself on with the Corinthians as much as ever he can, so he says, “Our God”.
Ques What do you think about Nehemiah? He cast forth Tobijah’s household stuff out of the chamber of the house of God (Nehemiah 13:8).
JT He was making room. The removal, at the inauguration of Hezekiah’s reign, of the filth that had accumulated previously is the most striking illustration of this. He opened the doors of the house of God and then started to cleanse. The object of the [p. 255] cleansing in Corinth was to bring them to what they were, and not to make them something.
HG There was a loss of position there, but there was a possibility of a recovery in state. He addresses them as to what is there. The apostle takes account of what is there and works from that.
JT Does that not give a great leverage in the service?
HG A man might buy a farm that was full of weeds but he knows the fertility of the soil underneath. He works and spends a lot of time on it, but he gets wonderful results in the end. In the second epistle Paul is recompensed.
JT Quite so.
Rem On farms some weeds grow best on good land. You always find the most abundant growth there. The enemy brings in things to spoil where the best state is.
JT That was what was going on at Corinth. The good soil was there: “I have much people in this city”, Acts 18: 10.
JB He would be sanctified and he would be justified. He will bring them back to their sanctification and their justification. And that would be “in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God”.
JT I think he appeals to them in the terms used “The name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God”. He even appeals to their affections. He knew the Lord was there. He was aiming at their affections in using the name of the Lord Jesus. Any heart that had been affected by it in earlier days would be touched by the reference to it and to the Spirit of our God.
JB That would bring in the blessed character set for it in that name and authority.
JT We shall see in chapter 12 how one can say “Lord Jesus”. No one can say”Lord Jesus”except by [p. 256] the Spirit.
JB Is it not true reverence?
HG I suppose the use of the title “Lord Jesus” would indicate that you are prepared to go all the way and become like that Man. The apostle could say, “Who art thou, Lord?” He then puts the Lord on the throne of his heart. The Lord would capture his affections by the magnificence of His love.
JT Quite so. “If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ”; Paul had such a sense of the Person.
JB The priests were to bless in the name of the Lord and they were to call His name upon the people in the blessing. It is a wonderful truth in regard to God’s people of wanting the name of Jehovah upon them.
JT You are impressed here at the skill in getting at the affections of the brethren. He never fails to bring out what gets to their hearts, and then as regards their bodies. He is speaking about what the body of the believer is; “Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?” How appealing all that is! And yet he is dealing with these terrible things. He had already dealt with that sin to which he alluded in chapter 5, so he does not go back to it here. He is now appealing to their hearts: “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God?” (chapter 3: 16). There is an appeal in it; it is like a mother going down to her children to discipline them, and saying, ‘Do you not know who you are and who your parents are?’ Is it the thought here that one’s individual body was the temple of the Holy Spirit?
JT Yes; it is to bring that side out. It is the character of the thing. It gives the person a great place, and shows what is of worth in the person to God. He is bought with a price.
HG Why does he regard them collectively? He says, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple ... ?”
JT [p. 257] If you use the article you have the whole thought.
HG The people of the temple.
JT But if you leave the article out, it just is a character that applies there. Inasmuch as he has brought that out to them, that they are temple of God, it is now a question of their bodies. He does not have to refer to that again. The Holy Spirit being in one raises a question as to one’s state and holiness, as to whether I am in keeping with that. It is not that I should become that but that I am that and in keeping with it.
JB It would be the Holy Spirit bodywise with regard to our bodies.
JT Well, it is possible that the actual body of the believer is brought in to the present economy of God. It is a wonderful economy of the actual body and the believer is brought into that. When I pass out of this body, when I die, I cease to be part of the economy, because the economy has reference to what is down here.
JB In John 7 what would be the difference, if any, between this and that?
JT There is none. That is John’s line, the individual, especially in the first part of his gospel. It is the question of the Spirit in the individual. How great a believer is! “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. It must include the believer’s body. If I pass out of my body, I become dissolved for a moment. The economy has to do with the saints down here, and shows how great the conception of the body is.
HG It is most important that for the time being you do not have the economy with you when you have left your body.
JT The spirit, soul, and body of a believer are to be sanctified and purified. We will pass on to chapter 7 which deals with a matter which is very [p. 258] complicated. The marriage question is one of the most complicated among christians. Chapter 7 is the marriage chapter. It is the word of God governing marriage, and it should be read by every young believer, especially, because God is very mindful and pitiful and tender in consideration for us and He warns and instructs us in this chapter in regard to the marriage habit. What comes out is that the apostle discriminates between what the Spirit says and his own particular judgment. The believer has to learn in dealing with these particular matters to have his own formed judgment, as God says to him, ‘Now you have your spirit and your soul and your body, and I have given you My Spirit to help you. Now see what you can do yourself, whether you are a man able to form a judgment’. Very few of us are able to form a judgment.
Rem That does not excuse us at all.
JT The point is that we should be what God puts there. He has endowed us with faculties, and, besides that He has given us the Spirit. Now what can you make of it?
HG It puts things on the highest possible spiritual level on which Paul stood as a man. How intensely spiritual he, an unmarried man, must have been to have written a chapter like this!
JT It is a marvellous suggestion as to how the believer can regard himself as distinct from the Spirit in him. It arises from our inward analysis according to Romans 7. We need to go back to the beginning to see if we have made an analysis as to our inward state. The psalmist called on all that was within him to praise God. You want to be sure that what you are calling upon is all right, and that you can call upon all that is within you, because, as you said, the ten lepers would refer to these ten things in chapter 6. There are thirteen in Mark 7, thirteen things that go out. Not only are they dormant inside [p. 259] but they go out of a man and they go out through this epistle. They proceed out of the heart of a man. You cannot call on them to praise God; they must be dealt with.
HG You feel the more spiritual you are the more you appreciate the judgment of a spiritual man. You do not need exactly the word of Scripture. Paul speaks of his own judgment and that from God, too. You feel the value of the judgment of a spiritual man that has been in the presence of God. He has made an analysis of himself, and can speak in that sense especially, since he is not governed by what he is naturally.
JT You can understand how a man, by analysing himself and by the washing process inwardly, is purified.
HG But do you not feel that a great many of the Lord’s people have never been in the presence of God? People raise their hands in horror if it is suggested that they could have done the same things themselves.
JT Well, you are getting at it. There never has been an analysis of what has been inside.
Rem Analysing oneself is a continual process.
JT It is. Romans 7 is the beginning of it. It is constant repentance. Luke 15 says, “There shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner”. I do not believe that the word ever ceases to be active in that man. You always discover something that you never saw before.
HG I heard S.J.B.C. say, “O wretched man that I am!”
JT You would feel the wretchedness that is in yourself. Then heaven is pleased with repenting sinners all the time. One would like to hear the apostle communicating things by the Spirit. When he says anything by the Spirit it is authoritative; but now he says, ‘Here is a point on which I have to give you my own judgment’. It seems to me that it is very fine to hear a man speak that way; it is not divinely authoritative but it has weight. It is the man, the quality of the man, that you are dealing with now. He leaves it with you. I would say to Paul that this has as much weight in my soul as anything that he said. You may depend that he did not have the slightest tremor from the Spirit to check it. He let Paul say it without saying anything.
Rem He says it emphatically.
JT Quite. The Holy Spirit would not let that pass if He had anything against it. The vow of the woman in Numbers was to stand if neither father or husband disallowed it when it was made, and here you have the Spirit saying nothing and it stands.
Rem Did not Moses have to form judgments himself sometimes? I was thinking about his father-in-law.
JT There was not much credit to Moses in that because the ark was there to help the leader. Moses no doubt thought the ark should be the centre of the camp and carried there, and his father-in-law was to lead him in the wilderness. Well, the ark was to be the leader. As much as to say, I will meet the opposition first. Then the word was applied there when the ark set forward, “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered”, Numbers 10: 35.
JB The people moved first.
JT Yes; but when they were to set forward the ark went before. It took the place of danger. Now we will go on to chapter 12, where we come to the thought of true association with the Spirit in this epistle. Here it alludes to ministry in the assembly. It is necessarily preparatory. It is now a question of ministry in the assembly and the exercise of gift. That is to say, we now come to the public service, where the anointing comes in. As we were remarking, it appears strikingly that demons had apparently got [p. 261] into the assembly. A dreadful consideration, a terrible consideration, that this matter happened among the people of God. What conditions must have existed there when a demon got in. He tells them how they can tell whether a man is speaking under the power of and by the Spirit. Think of it!
HG Many of those who profess to speak with tongues speak under the influence of demons. It shows how the enemy is in that form.
JT Satan would get as near as possible to where God is. It is a warning to us that we should not open the doors to it. When the sons of God came up of old, Satan also came. When God opened the doors of His house in Corinth, the enemy succeeded in getting in in one way or another.
HG “I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches”. I was thinking of that and how “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation”, Matthew 12: 25.
JT Neither Satan nor a demon ever recognises the lordship of Christ. Well, that brings out the importance of these suggestions. If we are not subject, we open the door to the devil. That is an opportunity and an advantage for the devil, and gives him a bit of territory that he can put his foot on. Satan never fails to take advantage of any attitude that is insubject, or anyone that is not subject to Christ as Lord. The world to come is said to be subjected to Christ. That is the mind of God about it. I have to see that I am not different from that.
HG We can be thankful for the protection of the Lord. A righteous man is thankful for the strong tower. He knows that his own safety is there.
JT Well now, how beautiful it is to say ‘Lord Jesus’!
Ques I suppose that is the Christian’s key-note, is [p. 262] it not?
JT Just so. How beautifully Stephen said it! “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, Acts 7: 59.
Rem In regard to what you said about demons coming in, the spiritual man would discern that demons were there.
JT Quite. The apostle had in mind that the saints in Corinth were to see the spiritual power in these matters. It was an evil spiritual power in some cases. One might be carried away with the thing. The apostle gives you means by which you may tell whether it is the Spirit of God or an evil spirit. Another thing that is of great importance comes out, the economy of the Spirit; he places the Spirit first, then the Lord, then God. We might have reversed that order, but he is stressing one thing, the place of the Spirit, and His deity, and therefore he puts the Spirit first.
HG The end of the chapter reverts to God again. God has set certain ones in the assembly. It is the operation of the Spirit in a way..
JT He is the immediate distributor of the gifts. God was doing it. It reminds us of the importance of thinking in scriptural terms. The believer is awakened in a realm of light in which certain facts are brought to you. They are there even though your attention was not called to them. As soon as I am born in this world the sun and stars are in the heavens. All these things speak of what I may call my physical environment. I have to become instructed as to all these matters; I have to think in the terms of nature. I cannot go past them; I have to understand something about them. And so in the divine realm, I am awakened into wonderful light. There are great facts in it and this is one of the illustrations. The Holy Spirit is brought into that too; that must be God; He is acting sovereignly here. This is a fuller way of learning the truth than learning theory.
I am impressed with the fact; He is God. The thing [p. 263] is there. He is God. He is distributing sovereignly according to His will. I am to see the effects, and that He is God.
Rem I was wondering why the gift of evangelising was left out from this chapter.
JT I think the low state of things in Corinth made it unseemly to take it in. On the other hand, the idea of signs or miracles is not suggested in Ephesians. But it is very prominent here. I think that because of the low state you do not get any word about elders in the epistles to the Corinthians. A gift is never regarded as local. The sphere here is just as large as it is in Ephesians regarding the assembly.
LES I suppose that the oracle is in its place in Ephesians. I was thinking of the contrast between the ten tribes and the two tribes. The miracles and the signs were not done so much in relation to the ten tribes.
JT That is very helpful. Everything was in Judah there.
HG The nearer you are to God, the less you need the efforts of the natural things that natural man can take account of.
JT The signs and the miracles are like the outside. You have to listen to what God says to you in positive ministry.
JB There seems to have been ability to imitate the gifts involving signs, but not the others.
JT Much might be spoken of the effect of the divine presence because it involves the Spirit of the Lord. But the apostle goes on to speak about the Spirit, and he gives a list of those gifts which the Spirit gives, and says, “But to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit”. So that is what is being pressed as to the office of the Spirit in connection with ministry; and then it develops to the idea of the Christ; the saints are viewed collectively and anointed just as the Lord was when He was here [p. 264] personally, so here now in the assembly. He reaches the anointed vessel, Christ. The anointing is the dignity and the means by which the light is diffused.
HG The “word of wisdom” is put first. Is it in order of its prominence?
JT I suppose that it was needed among them. Wisdom would have a great place; it would shut out the human element.
HG Would the word of wisdom simply be in regard to Christ or generally to meet a general condition?
JT I think it would be used in both. The Holy Spirit gives the gift of wisdom. It is recognised: that brother has that gift. You have it in David’s day, counsel. Ahithophel was David’s and Absalom’s counsellor. His word was like an oracle but he was not reliable. He acquired a reputation. Hushai was David’s friend. Ahithophel was his counsellor and he failed him. God defeated that man’s counsel. This is a case when a friend is better than a counsellor. So that you have Zadok and Abiathar who go back to the city with the ark. Then there was the sudden overthrow of the system of Absalom. Hushai is called David’s friend two or three times in the chapter. One friend of Christ can overthrow the whole system.
So that the two men gave counsel; all favoured Hushai; his counsel was the best. It was the best for the plans of David. Ahithophel then goes and hangs himself. He had himself before him. It is like a gift to have wisdom in your meeting. Wisdom is a general thought; a gift is a general thing; it is for the profit of the assembly. But I want to be sure that the man is a friend of David’s, because he may give counsel that may go against David. Here you have the thought that the Spirit distributes wisdom. It is the ‘word of wisdom’.
HG It is not a sign of weakness to ask for wisdom. It is wisdom to ask for wisdom.
[p. 265] JT The point here is that it is a provision for the whole assembly. The accuracy of Scripture is remarkable. Nothing is said about eldership here. An elder is for the local assembly, not for the whole assembly. A man that has a gift is for the whole assembly.
HG We have felt that when a man comes to Vancouver we would like to have his wisdom at our care meeting.
JT He has no local authority but you can use his wisdom. A man that has a gift has a voice everywhere. He is a provision for the assembly. I think that it is quite right that a visiting brother should attend our care meetings. Why should he not? He is a member of the assembly.
WB But he has no local authority.
JT No, no local authority.
WB Would you say a little on the other gifts too?
JT The word of knowledge — after wisdom you get knowledge. The book of Proverbs would greatly help us in this connection. It shows the place which these features have in the economy of God. The effect of this gift is seen in a man who is endowed by the Spirit of God with the knowledge of God. Wisdom is the application of a thing; knowledge is the gift whereby a man would tell you what the thing is. They go very closely together. You are struck in reading Proverbs by the use of the words, “I wisdom dwell with prudence”, Proverbs 8: 12. A man that has knowledge is a man that has favour in the world; he is a scientific man. If you are looking for gold you want a man who can tell you where it is likely to be; he may not put his hand on it, but he can tell you where it is likely to be. Knowledge is powerful, but the apostle says, “If I ... have not love, I am nothing”, 1 Corinthians 13: 2.
WB Wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the assembly of God.
[p. 266] JT As we have the mind of Christ and enter into the divine realm the range of thinking is infinite. But here the saints have to do with things of administration. How important it is that a brother can name things! All that enters into the gift of knowledge. Then we have faith and gifts of signs, that is healing, the working of miracles; then we have prophecy, and the discerning of spirits; then kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
WB Say a word about faith. Is it universal and personal?
JT Well, it is a gift. It would show, I think, that we look for a proof. Faith brings God in. The list of faith in Hebrews 11 helps us all as to how things are done on that principle. Here you have the special gift of faith as given to certain persons. It is not simply faith as I am justified before God, but as an increased measure of it whereby I bring God in under certain circumstances.
HG Take a man like Samson; what such a one can do. In doing it he makes way for others. See what Jonathan did. Saul had six hundred men but he was not in faith. Jonathan was in faith.
JB Faith would bring God in in a crisis.
JT Jonathan won a wonderful victory.
JB Gideon showed faith in regard to the fleece and that showed that God would be with him.
JT If you have a man that can go forward in faith, it will make a way for the brethren. It might be found in a sister. The word of wisdom is not necessarily given them here, although in Ephesians He gave gifts to men, to mankind. Here that is not stressed; anyone gets it.
Rem The wise woman of Abel, for instance; she determined things by the word of wisdom. This chapter would save one from self-dependency; it says, “If the foot say, Because I am not a hand I am [p. 267] not of the body, is it ... not indeed of the body?” We are interdependent.
JT Quite so. It is very beautiful how it works out in that beautiful vessel that God has in mind as the setting out of His thought; all these details enter into it. “For ... we have all been baptised”. We live up to the thought of it by drinking into the Spirit. We are content; we are satisfied because we are all made to drink into one Spirit; the satisfaction is in the drinking. I think that is the climax of the subject of the Spirit as bringing the saints together in baptism and having made us to drink. We are not to be a complaining people. One of the characteristic things is to be satisfied. The people of God are not lean or dissatisfied. You do not want to pull away from the brethren. You want to be with them as much as possible. “So also is the Christ”.