THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRISTIANITY (3)

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRISTIANITY (3)

Acts 6:1-4; Acts 6:8-10; Acts 10:9-20; Acts 10:44-48; Acts 11:1-4; Acts 11:15-18

AJG What we might have before us in these passages is that the truth is opposed all along the line in one way and another, but on the other hand that it is carried forward by the operations of the Spirit who, while recognising distinct gift and leadership as in the apostles, also makes room at times for others whom He may bring forward and set in the testimony. That is specially seen in Stephen, and also in Philip, that while what is authoritative as in the apostles is not set aside, the sovereignty of the Spirit to use whom He will is guarded, and in that way any tendency to officialism is guarded against. And then also, if there is any special development of the truth as there was in chapter 10, Peter’s attitude in the matter is one that we might all take as a guide, in that he moves patiently and obediently, and the truth gradually opens up to him and becomes confirmed to him by the Spirit as he thus moves. That is, we shall see as we come to chapter 10, that the truth is not understood by Peter in its fulness all at once, but as moving patiently and in a subject spirit he is led into it. And then in chapter 11, when the matter is contested by those of the circumcision, that Peter is patient and sets forth the matter in order, in such a way as to carry all with him. But through it all the working of the Spirit Himself is prominent. So that what is here is that the Spirit is in charge of the whole position, and establishing the truth all along the line, notwithstanding the opposition that arises from time to time. I think that is what will come out, among other things, in these chapters we have read. Stephen especially, and Philip, are examples of doing with one’s might whatever the hand finds to do, and becoming, as it were, promoted as the result. Stephen especially being taken on by the Spirit for a distinctive service which he carried out well, and for the honour of being the first Christian martyr. Chapter 6 introduces another movement of the enemy in opposition. We had Ananias and Sapphira in chapter 5, and then the leaders shutting up the apostles in prison and the way this was met, but now there is another movement introduced by the enemy in a spirit of murmuring, finding its basis in a certain carelessness and apparent partisanship in the administration to the widows. But that is met by the Spirit taking up vessels who will addict themselves in a godly way to the service of caring for the temporal needs of the saints.

HLH Is the selection of men like Stephen and Philip and others in line with the Lord’s appointment of seventy others also, after having appointed the disciples?

AJG I would think so, except that these were appointed to deal with material matters primarily, but dealing with them faithfully in the Spirit, two of them become developed in spiritual power, that is to say in the ministry of what is spiritual.

HLH Yes, I was thinking of the seventy in Luke where it says that the workmen are few but the harvest is great. Would that not be a suggestion of the development of the work of God and the spread of the testimony, calling for more workmen?

AJG It would, and I think that helps, because whatever our hand finds to do, we are to do it with our might, but looking to the Spirit to help in relation to it, and those who do so are likely to develop further, as it says in Timothy that those who minister well, that is, perform deacon service well, “obtain for themselves a good degree, and much boldness in faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

RAE Would this principle of sovereign selection be seen in Amos, in his prophecy he says, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: and Jehovah took me as I followed the flock, and Jehovah said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people.” Would that be in line with what you were saying, the following of the flock suggesting that care for the saints which the Lord makes a sovereign selection from?

AJG Yes, I think so, he was doing that. That is, he was doing what Paul said later of Timothy, that he was caring with genuine feeling how the saints were getting on. He was following the flock, that is, seeing how they were moving, and Jehovah seeing such an one took him up and said, “Go prophesy unto my people Israel.” I think that is always to be borne in mind, that while there is what is sovereign and authoritative in the giving of gift, there is always room for devotedness, apart from gift. And devotedness under the Lord’s hand will develop into spiritual ability.

AAT The point brought out here is what we would say today national feeling?

AJG Yes, I think so. I think that it is clear that that was what was at the bottom of the matter. It may not have been very serious in a sense, but it was there. So that the Hellenists were neglected, their widows were overlooked in the daily ministration.

SP Is there not a possibility of such a state of things coming in, that the enemy could use in the present day?

AJG Yes, there is always a possibility. That is why it is important for us to note these things. They were allowed to come in at the beginning so that we might see how they were met.

HN We should be guarded then in relation to what is official?

AJG Well, I was only thinking that for the moment the twelve apostles are out of sight, not that the Lord is setting them aside by any means, or anything of that sort, because it is quite clear that in chapter 9, Peter is passing through all quarters and being used of the Lord, and in chapter 10 he is given the commission of admitting the Gentiles. So the apostles are not in any sense being set aside, or displaced, but at the same time the Spirit has the right to take up whom He will, so for the moment the apostles, who were, if one might use the expression, officially the leaders, were out of sight, and Stephen is brought forward and then Philip. We might have thought that for a ministry such fell to Stephen, the Lord would have taken up Peter, but He did not. He took up Stephen.

S.P. Why is that?

AJG Just to emphasise, I think, the sovereignty of the Spirit to use whom He will.

WH It shows the liberty of the apostles, it says they called the multitude of the disciples together and told them to look out men from amongst them.

AJG Quite so. And the apostles themselves recognised that it was not for them to do everything. So that they were developing, in the hands of the Spirit, in the features proper to the body, that it was not for them to have everything in their hands.

MC Is devotedness not seen in Stephen too?

AJG Exactly. I think that is an important matter, because any one of us can be devoted without gift. It is a question of “Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might,” as it says in Ecclesiastes (chapter 9: 10). And anything the Lord puts in our way we should take up, however small it may seem to be, and do it with our might as to the Lord, and in the grace and power of the Spirit. And those who are devoted may be taken up for something further.

CBl So therefore there is no apostolic succession?

AJG No, quite so. The whole matter is in the hands of the Spirit.

CB I was about to ask, if every attack of the enemy in connection with the movements of the testimony brings out greater resources in the Spirit for the carrying forward of the testimony?

AJG That is exactly what comes out.

HN It is the Spirit’s day, so that what is official should have no place in our minds?

AJG Quite so. And so it has no place in the minds of the apostles. I am not suggesting that they were official in spirit at all, only they had been officially set in that position to inaugurate Christianity. But notwithstanding that they are happily subject to what was there in the Spirit.

HOE It is convenient sometimes for us to excuse ourselves by saying we have no gift, but everybody can be devoted, is that not so?

AJG Exactly. It says, “But to each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ.”

LAC The choice here is restricted to “men from among yourselves.” Is it not in mind that we should move in that way as amongst the saints, humble and simple, if we are to be in line with the Spirit’s choice?

AJG Yes, indeed. So the apostles say, “Look out, therefore, brethren, from among yourselves,” addressing them in that way as brethren.

CM Would you say, in localities that are small, and where there is no gift, that if there is devotedness the Lord will regard it, and bring forward that which is needed for the moment?

AJG Yes. I think it is open to anyone who sees that there is a need to pray for gift, as long as he is marked by love. It says, “Follow after love, and be emulous of spiritual manifestations,” but especially that of prophecy. The great thing is to be marked by following after love. That is that you are not seeking something for yourself, you are desiring genuinely the good of the saints. If that is the case then, and in your locality you feel the need of prophecy, or the need of a measure of power in teaching, or what not, well ask the Lord to give gift, why not? It is a question of meeting the need in power.

CM It is open to the sisters to pray for that too?

AJG Exactly. And then the sisters have a great part that they can play in caring for the souls of the saints. Older sisters especially should take up the responsibility as older sisters, to care for the younger ones, and to be an example to them.

FHP Would you say that all those features were seen in Stephen right up to the very end? He was spent in love. I was thinking of the way he dealt with need.

AJG Quite so, he was a spiritual man. It says, “Stephen, full of grace and power, wrought wonders and great signs among the people,” which is very remarkable, for he was not an apostle, and yet he wrought wonders and great signs. And it says in verse 10, “They were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit”, (capital S), “with which he spoke.” So that the Spirit enters into his testimony in an irresistible way, and yet he was not an apostle. And so far as we know had not been specially gifted, but had just taken up deacon service and performed it well.

WH Would you call that a man who was devoted to the testimony?

AJG Yes, and that he, as it says in Timothy, acquired for himself a good degree, he was promoted, you might say.

TG Would you say that the apostles, in this matter of the attack of the enemy, show how they felt the matter, so they call the disciples together so that all could take part in relation to the truth being held?

AJG Yes, quite so.

VB The way this attack was met resulted in the word of God increasing, and now the disciples in Jerusalem multiply and a great crowd of the priests obeyed the faith. Would the priests represent the religious element?

AJG Well, they are the religious element, but then of course, they became genuine believers, they were priests but they obeyed the faith.

MSS Is it not worth noticing that after opposition and each attack of the enemy, there is increase? In chapter 4, after the apostles were put in ward, it says, “many of those who had heard the word believed.” Then after the attack through Ananias and Sapphira, believers were more than ever added to the Lord, and after this third attack there is this feature of increase again?

AJG Exactly, and that shows that if we go on with the Spirit dependently, we shall see how all along the line He will turn opposition to account, to bring out some fresh feature of the truth, and not only in an objective way but as forming it in the saints.

EB I suppose the Lord would give us to see that in all of these attacks the testimony is going through in triumph?

AJG Yes, and the secret of that is that it is in the hands of the Spirit, that God Himself is here in charge of the position.

TG The apostles say, “we will give ourselves up to prayer and the ministry of the word,” would that be that they would allow nothing to come in and hinder them from the truth being carried on, and their giving place to the Spirit?

AJG Yes, and that they recognised that that was peculiarly their responsibility to minister the word, and therefore they would addict themselves to it. But we first get prayer, showing that the most gifted person has to resort particularly to prayer if he is to minister in any power. And the apostles say, “We will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.” That was what was particularly their responsibility. Other things could be taken up by others; so really they were paving the way for the truth of the body to be developed.

TG As was said a little while ago, that while all do not have gift, yet any can take part in carrying exercise in relation to things that come in amongst us.

AJG Yes.

AT Referring to all not having gift, all may not have specific gift but all believers should have gift, would you not say?

AJG Well, it says, “To each one of us has been given grace,” that is the Lord has given each one some impression of Himself and of the grace of God, and we should use what we have. There is a parable that one gave each of his servants one pound, but the question is what each did with it. One gained ten pounds and one gained five, and one wrapped his pound up in a napkin.

SC Would you say that the apostles were under the control of the Holy Spirit in nipping this thing in the bud according to verse 2?

AJG Yes, quite so.

JW Can an ungifted brother be given a gift?

AJG It lies in the sovereignty of the Spirit. It lies in the sovereignty of the Lord too, but it is viewed in Corinthians particularly as in the sovereignty of the Spirit, but then Corinthians also shows that it is quite legitimate to desire gift. That would take the form of prayer, providing that our motives are pure, and that we are following after love and not wanting to gratify or exalt ourselves.

ELE What is the difference between that and the gift in Ephesians?

AJG Well, the gift in Ephesians is viewed as given by Christ who has gone up far above all heavens; I think Mr. Taylor has said that the point of view in Ephesians is that the Lord is far above all the conditions and operations of evil, and is operating purely from the standpoint of divine purpose and the thoughts of divine love, and so with irresistible power He gives gifts for the effectuation of those thoughts. In Corinthians, the point of view is that the assembly is down here in the presence of evil and hostility, but the Spirit in charge of the position, and gives gifts as He pleases.

ELE And they are subject to desire?

AJG Yes.

AAT There is a word used here several times in connection with the Spirit, it says, in the third verse, look out men “full of the Holy Spirit,” then in the fifth verse, that Stephen was a man “full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” And you remember the same word was used about Peter, he was filled with the Spirit. Are there degrees, or measures, in which the Spirit can obtain room in us?

AJG Yes, I suppose so, these references to being full of the Holy Spirit, I suppose, are just a reminder to us that it is a question of getting rid of things from our minds that would displace the Spirit, and allowing Him to take possession of them and of our spirits.

ELE What do you understand by “God giveth not the Spirit by measure”? Should the words “unto him” be there or not?

AJG Apparently not. I thought that would be descriptive of this present dispensation, that in contrast to past dispensations when the Spirit was given by measure, coming upon persons and so on. God is now giving the Spirit in an unmeasured way, that is, the Spirit has come in personally to dwell with us for ever.

MSS In Genesis 24 the servant raises the question, “Is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge,” would that lead on to one being filled with the Spirit?

AJG Yes, I think so, so that in Ephesians it says, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit,” showing that it is our side of the matter.

EB Is there any difference between having the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit?

AJG Yes, a very great difference, because a person who has the Spirit may grieve the Spirit, and if he grieves the Spirit he will not be filled with the Spirit.

SW Would you say that the features seen in Stephen in verse 5 are the basis on which the Spirit will operate?

AJG I think that is important, because the Holy Spirit operates in us in relation to our faith. If we are not characterised by faith, that is, if outlook is not in the direction of unseen things, I think the Spirit is greatly hampered. The Lord when He was here was greatly hampered on one occasion because of the unbelief of the persons among whom He was. He could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief, showing that the Lord was, in that sense, dependent on conditions of faith. And so Paul with the man at Lystra, seeing that he had faith to be healed.

EMe Would you say that Ananias and Sapphira were lacking in these features of which you spoke, and therefore Satan had the opportunity of filling their hearts?

AJG Yes, that is right, and it is important too, because from time to time most sorrowful things happen amongst us and how is it that they happen? How is it that Satan gets such a place? It is because an opening has been afforded him.

RS Full of faith and the Holy Spirit would also come in in connection with any particular movement in the service, taking part, standing up to pray; numbers are shy of moving because of not having experienced the power of the Holy Spirit, but would not faith enter into the matter?

AJG I think so. If they would just get up in faith dependently, they would find the Spirit support their faith.

MSS You referred to the service for which Stephen was taken up. Had you in mind to refer to his address to the Jews?

AJG Yes, it may be it was in divine wisdom, that one of the twelve was not permitted to perform that service, because it was not exactly a service that was in keeping with the new dispensation. It was a condemnation of the leaders in Jerusalem in that they had always resisted the Holy Spirit. It was really sealing their doom. So that there was no real grace in Stephen’s address, it was in the power of the Spirit but it was an indictment, not an offer of pardon, but an indictment. The position had gone too far, there was no hope for the religious leaders and their system in Jerusalem. But while his ministry is an indictment of the old system, his spirit is a commendation of the new, for in his spirit he represents Christianity.

ELE In the way he died and what he said?

AJG Yes, quite so.

HLH It says that he was full of grace and power; grace was a leading feature there?

AJG Quite so.

AAT Which must have affected Saul.

AJG Yes, quite so.

CB The two together, the grace that marked him and the indictment, would have to do with matters connected with administration among God’s people? That the grace that marked Stephen should also mark us?

AJG Well, particularly in caring for the material needs of the saints, a good deal of grace and wisdom and spirituality are needed to do it suitably; they are often delicate matters, but they afford opportunity for the grace of Christ to come into expression.

ELE If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.

AJG Exactly.

CBl Was it grace that marked Stephen when he said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”?

AJG Yes, that was really the Spirit of Christ, the spirit of this dispensation. I think it is well to see that Stephen’s ministry was an indictment of the old order, but his spirit was a commendation of the new.

HOE The word then was a final word to the Jews before the Gentiles were brought in?

AJG Yes. Particularly I suppose in Jerusalem, because wherever Paul went after that he preached to the Jews first. So that God had not finally cast off the Jews at this point, but He was rejecting the responsible leaders in Jerusalem.

ELE It culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem, I suppose, about Anno Domini 70?

AJG Yes, quite so.

MSS You referred yesterday to the Lord saying that when the disciples were brought before authorities, the Spirit would teach them in the hour itself what they should say, would that be seen particularly in Stephen’s address?

AJG Quite so, because he had no idea that he was going to be called upon to give this address.

He had no time to prepare it, and yet it is a most masterly address going over the history of the people with this one point in view that they had always resisted the Holy Spirit; “As your fathers, ye also,” he says.

CM Is it not remarkable how well he knew the scriptures?

AJG We should all know the Scriptures. The Spirit cannot help us much if we do not know the Scriptures, and therefore it is of the utmost importance that we should read the Scriptures, all of them. Whether we understand them or not, get them in our minds, so that we know what is there. And then when we have got them in our minds - there is a store in our minds that the Spirit can direct our attention to as occasion requires.

RS I was going to ask if although this indictment was made, there is still blessing for individual Jews who believe on the Lord Jesus?

AJG Oh yes, indeed, a Jew can be saved provided he is prepared to come in as a man, and not as a Jew. He must renounce his Jewish position, because the promises to the fathers are now in abeyance, and wrath has come upon the Jews nationally to the uttermost, but he can come in as a man. But we should now pass on to chapter 10.

ELE There was a certain man in Caesarea named Cornelius, he is a man.

AJG Exactly. Now the testimony was going to take on an entirely new aspect, that is the Gentiles were going to be brought in, and unless we take time to think about it we can easily not realise what a critical moment this was in the testimony. Hitherto the work of God had been practically confined to the Jews. We do get the incident of the Ethiopian eunuch, but it had been practically confined to the Jews. And now the Gentiles were to be admitted, and we can easily understand what a difficulty it would be likely to create in the minds of the Jewish believers, because their position, till now, as apart from the Gentiles, had been of God, and God was altering His ways and was going to bring the Gentiles into the greatest thoughts of blessing that His love had devised.

HAL Until this matter was settled about the Gentiles, the truth of the body could not go forward, would you say that?

AJG Well, it was there in the beginning of its workings, I suppose, but it really needed the Gentiles to bring it in fully.

CM Is it not normal - Simeon says, “A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.”

AJG Well, that is a striking example of the way the Spirit can help us. The Spirit had full place with Simeon and although he was a Jew he says, “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel,” putting the Gentiles first, which shows how the Spirit can lead us into the truth even before it has been publicly opened up.

HEB I wanted to ask a similar question, in connection with Simeon’s intimation. It was the Lord coming in, and when the Lord came in he spoke of “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” Here you would say it is connected with the Spirit, the Spirit being in charge in His operations. How do you put those two things together?

AJG It was the Lord coming in, and He was the light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel. He is still that, of course, but now it is the Spirit in charge of operations. In chapter 9 it seems to be the Lord in heaven directing operations, converting Saul of Tarsus and directing Ananias and so on, but here the Spirit seems to be in charge of what is proceeding.

A.A.T. And using Peter?

AJG Quite so.

SC I was wondering if Isaiah’s prophecy would be understood by the Jews?

AJG I do not suppose it was, and there is much that we do not understand in the Scriptures, until suddenly the Spirit throws light upon it.

MSS Would you say that there had been certain indications which should have made Peter more prepared than he was? The Lord told them at the end of Luke’s gospel, to preach to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Peter himself says in Acts 2, that the promise was to all who were afar off (verse 39), involving, would you say, the Gentiles?

AJG Well, it may be, but I do not know that we should allow in our minds any thought of Peter being at fault. It is rather, as you say, that there were these indications, and that is often the way, that when the Lord brings forward some further feature of the truth, we notice in the Scriptures that which is confirmatory of it.

SP Would you say that this distinct movement to the Gentiles is consequent on the position the Lord fills as at the right hand of God now?

AJG Quite so.

SP Because Stephen says he saw the heavens opened and the Son of man standing, and then in the next chapter it speaks of His speaking to Saul of Tarsus, and now in this chapter the Gentiles, as though there was a distinct change and movement from that position.

AJG But when Stephen said he saw the Son of man standing at the right hand of God, it was an indication really that God would go out to the Gentiles. He does not say, I see the Messiah, he says, I see the Son of man, which is the title the Lord takes in relation to all men.

AY The keys had been given to Peter. The Lord said, “I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom.” Would you say that it was being operated now and put into effect by the blessed Holy Spirit in opening the door to the Gentiles?

AJG Well, He was preparing Peter to do that. It was Peter who was to do it, but He is preparing him for it, and so Peter is given this vision. The vision is important, he beholds the heavens opened and a certain vessel descending as a great sheet, bound by the four corners and let down to the earth. And then at the end it was straightway taken up into heaven. So it is a vessel that comes out of heaven and goes back to heaven. It is to give us a right view of the assembly, that it is heavenly in character. It is a vessel that is heavenly in its constitution, a vessel of divine workmanship, formed after Christ, and the vessel of the Spirit of the heavenly Man, and yet those who compose it are according to nature of the character of quadrupeds, creeping things of the earth and fowls of the heaven.

ELE Is that not Ephesians? In Ephesians we are reminded that we once who were Gentiles, called the uncircumcision, were without God and without hope in the world. Heavenly light was brought in.

AJG Exactly.

VB Why do you think this was done thrice?

AJG Well, in order to confirm it abundantly. Twice is adequate witness, but thrice is abundant witness. So that where there is something very important, we usually get three times. The Lord prayed three times in Gethsemane, and Paul besought the Lord thrice that the thorn might be removed from him.

EB Would you say that we have all to admit that we are very slow learners, but where our minds are not made up there is ability to take on the things of God?

AJG I think the chapter will support that; we get first of all the vision, and then in verse 17 it says, “As Peter doubted in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean,” for he was not at all clear what it meant, and then in verse 19, “as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him,” As he ponders the Spirit speaks to him. But even then the Spirit does not make everything clear, the Spirit simply tells him that there are three men seeking him, and he is to rise up and go down and go with them, nothing doubting, “because I have sent them”; but so far that is all that Peter knows. And then he goes to Cornelius and he says to Cornelius, verse 29, “I inquire therefore for what reason ye have sent for me.” He is still feeling his way. He is still enquiring. And then he shows that he had got the good of the vision to some extent, at any rate, for in verse 34 he says, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.” He is beginning to come to that, that he is not to despise anyone, not even Gentiles; God had said to him, “What God has cleansed do not thou make common,” and now he sees that God is beginning to work in the Gentiles. And then as he preaches the Holy Spirit fell on all those who were hearing the word, and that made the matter perfectly clear to Peter. He had no further doubts whatever, but it was the Spirit’s own movements that settled the matter. But what is so important about it is to see that he did not see it all at once, but because he did not see it all at once he did not resist it, but he went on pondering, and in patience, and then the thing became clear.

CBl Does that not show clearly that when God gives light to His people and we have exercise as to it and desire for it that He will bring us to it gradually?

AJG That is it. We are not to resist, we are to weigh things over, and the Spirit will show us things provided we are willing to learn and have not got our minds made up against it.

ELE The same thing is seen in Philip and the eunuch. He is not told everything at once, he goes a step at a time.

AJG That is it.

LBr Would you say that what is to be observed in the vision here is that we should not be occupied with what is in the sheet but where it is from?

AJG Well, yes, except of course, he had to look at what was there or else he would not have been prepared to admit Cornelius. But he saw that this heavenly vessel included quadrupeds, and when he speaks about it in chapter 11, he says, wild beasts of the earth too, which are not mentioned in chapter 10, so that he received a definite impression that it was such as you would not have expected to be included in the heavenly vessel who were being included.

LBr So he speaks to Peter in connection with the contents?

AJG Quite so.

CB It would show therefore, that the way the Spirit dealt with Peter would present to us His tender care and patience with us if we desire to learn. We might be slow but the Spirit will wait on us?

AJG Well, quite so. The Spirit spoke to him. The Spirit is here indwelling each one of us, and if we are only ready to be more subject and more dependent we shall find that the Spirit will teach us more than perhaps we expect.

EB I suppose the mere fact that it was repeated more than once would show how patiently the Spirit is waiting on us?

AJG Well, exactly.

AAT The point is not to refuse the truth but to ponder over it.

AJG Quite so.

MC The Lord in speaking to Peter says, “On this rock will I build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it,” as though he was to go on step by step as he entered on that line.

AJG Peter’s history is education to us all in that way, because although he was the leading apostle yet he moved in this dependent way, not assuming to know everything but ready to be taught by the Spirit.

SC In verse 36 would you say because the apostle is subject there is an advance and he can speak of the Lord being “Lord of all”?

AJG Yes, exactly.

TG Anyone seeking to serve the saints should see that he puts them on the same footing as himself, as Peter says, “I myself also am a man.”

AJG That is very important as showing that he was preserved in a spirit of lowliness. It is striking that this incident should occur, because in the Romish system, which makes so much of Peter, the head of the system requires homage, and even some of his subordinates do. But here Peter would not accept it at all. He says, “Rise up, I myself also am a man,” and went in, talking with him. So the Spirit of God has foreseen all that would develop and has made provision against it.

HOE You were emphasising that everything that was done with Peter at this time was the action of the Holy Spirit. Is not that in keeping with the Lord saying, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high”?

AJG Yes. I think it is most striking how in this chapter the Spirit is in charge, and the servant whom He is going to use has got to be dependent and patient, and to come into the truth on those lines.

CM Is not Peter viewed as available on the housetop praying and then getting the ecstasy, seeing the vision and so on?

AJG Quite so. He was not frittering his time away, he was waiting for the meal that they were preparing, but he was using his time praying.

RA Will you tell us why the heavens were opened before Peter’s eyes?

AJG I think he was being impressed now with the thought that heavenly things were now coming into view. Hitherto, of course, God’s ways had been with Israel, and had been connected with the earth, but now God was going to open up heavenly things, and they are the greatest things. The assembly is a heavenly vessel, it is heavenly in origin as of Christ, and it is heavenly in destiny, but just for the moment it is down here on earth in testimony, but it is well held, so to speak, the sheet was held by the four corners.

GM Is there anything we can learn by the different way that the gospel was presented to the Jew at Pentecost and how Peter presents it here to Cornelius?

AJG Peter preaches intelligently according to his congregation, so to speak. To the Jews at Pentecost, of course, he would bring home to them that they had crucified Jesus, their Messiah really, but God had exalted Him and that there was blessing for them in His name on repentance. But here he was saying He is Lord of all things.

GM And he says nothing about repentance as he speaks to Cornelius.

AJG No. He says, “He that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”

LAC Referring to the sheet again, is it stressing here that the Lord Jesus is introducing the sheet from heaven and the Holy Spirit is bringing Peter into the understanding of the divine mind concerning those who are in it? Would it be the Lord’s voice in verse 13, from heaven?

AJG Well, I am not sure that we can state so definitely as that. It might well be the Spirit’s voice all through.

RAE Would you say that what we have been saying as to the truth being in the Spirit’s charge and carried forward in His hand, is a view of His activities which we have not paid much attention to as we should have, over the years past?

AJG I think so. We have accepted the truth, but I think the import of it is only just now beginning to be borne in upon us.

RAE Does the recognition of that really provide the underlying basis of liberty in addressing Him publicly?

AJG I think it does. But it all has to be regulated by the liberty which the Spirit Himself affords. I think that is the thing to be borne in mind, that in that sense apart from scriptures like Numbers 21, and what might be gathered from other scriptures of a typical nature, we have, so far as I know, no prescription as to addressing the Spirit, but it is there in the Scriptures in a typical way and therefore, in the measure in which the Spirit Himself affords liberty for it, it may be done.

ELE Yes. Do you not think the apostles addressed the Spirit?

AAT Peter speaks to the Spirit in this chapter?

AJG Yes, he does.

E.L.E. He says, “Lord!”

AJG Yes.

RS Would you say that the speaking of the Spirit is commensurate with His authority?

AJG I would. I have thought a little lately, that we are inclined to speak, and rightly so, about the lowly service of the Holy Spirit, and perhaps not sufficiently recognise that He is authoritative, being God Himself dwelling among us. While He is indeed serving in a wonderfully lowly way, yet it is one of the Godhead who is thus serving.

AAT In the economy He has a different place from what He has in the Godhead?

AJG Well, quite so, the Son and the Spirit have taken a mediatorial position in the economy, but then on the other hand Jesus has been made Lord and Christ, so that He has publicly an authoritative position, which in that sense the Holy Spirit has not. Nevertheless the Spirit says, “I have sent them” (chapter 10: 20), and “the work to which I have called them” (chapter 13: 2).

HEB I wanted to ask if the process and exercises through which Peter passed on this occasion were not in keeping with the state of transition you referred to a little while ago? This would help us as to why we have to be patient in regard to taking on things, that we maintain open minds as to what may be opened up to us from time to time. It was a transitional period, as you say.

AJG Quite so. Almost the whole of the truth which the apostles had in their day was lost by the assembly, but during the past 120 years the Lord has been steadily recovering it, but it is being recovered step by step, involving the recovery of that which had not been recovered previously, and therefore it is in the nature of what is transitional to us, that is, it is something new to us that is being brought out, but it is not new to Christianity. There is nothing being recovered to us that was not known by the apostles.

MSS It does not seem that Peter was actually slow in coming to this matter.

AJG No, I do not think he was. I think he is an example for us of patience in following up what the Spirit is saying and indicating, and then he suddenly comes into the full light of it when the Spirit fell on those who were hearing the word.

ELE When he comes to the explanation in chapter 11, he says, “Who indeed was I to be able to forbid God?”

AJG Exactly. He sees at once that it is what God is doing.

WT Would you say it is very exercising for us to see a Gentile here, Cornelius, not alone but he has his house with him. It was not himself alone who was a devout man, it says, one that feared God, but he had his house with him. The house is very essential as a support to what is of God here.

AJG It is. Christianity really requires the houses of the saints.

WT Cornelius’s exercise was to have his house with him.

AJG Evidently it was, and he had certain instincts that perhaps were in advance of his day, so that he was in that sense, spiritually, a true child of Abraham. God said of Abraham that He knew him that he would command his children and his household after him, that they would keep the way of the Lord and so on. And Cornelius was in keeping with that although a Gentile.

RAE In referring to this matter in chapter 15, the great point in Peter’s address is that the Spirit was given. As you say, the matter became clear to him at once when the Spirit fell on these persons. Then James follows and he says, “With this agree the words of the prophets.” Would that show us that we learn things intuitively by virtue of the presence of the Spirit with us. And then we see how there are scriptures that we never thought of before that would confirm the truth to us?

AJG Yes, I think that is right.

MSS In verse 20, the Spirit says, “I have sent them.” “I” there is emphatic. Would that be to call attention to His authority?

AJG Exactly. “I have sent them.”

LAC Would it not also mean to us in this day that it is important to watch the Spirit’s support in any matter that is introduced? And if the Spirit is giving His support we may well go with it?

AJG Yes, quite so. Now when we come to chapter 11, we see the same thing as before, for they of the circumcision contended with Peter, that is, the truth is not going forward without being contested. But God uses the opposition of the enemy to establish the truth. So they of the circumcision contend with Peter and what is to be noticed is the way that Peter meets it, “Peter began and set forth the matter to them in order,” that is there is no suggestion of his taking umbrage at their calling in question what he had done, seeing that he was the leading apostle. On the contrary he just sets the matter forth in order, his thought being to carry all the brethren with him if possible. If they are capable of being carried we want them to be carried.

VB I suppose the way he learnt himself would supply him with grace to be patient with others?

AJG Yes. Quite so.

CM Is it not remarkable that the Holy Spirit came upon them before they were baptised?

AJG It is very remarkable. It just shows, I think, the sovereignty of the Spirit. But I suppose that with the Jews at Pentecost it was necessary that they should be baptised first; I do not think the Spirit would seal a Jew until he was baptised because he must dissociate himself formally from his identification with the nation that had crucified their Messiah.

CB That is what is meant by what was said to Paul, “Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name”?

AJG I suppose so. It would apply to all that had marked Saul in his responsible history. So now Peter in meeting the objections in Jerusalem says, in verse 15, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them even as upon us also at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptised with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit. If then God has given them the same gift as also to us when we had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who indeed was I to be able to forbid God?” It was a simple and effective way of meeting the difficulty. He brings home to them that God was acting. And so it says, “When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying, Then indeed God has to the nations also granted repentance to life.” It is a remarkable example of the way the truth has been contested all along the line, but if the opposition is met patiently in the Spirit God will triumph by means of it, so that the testimony goes forward all the more.

RS So that although it is the Spirit speaking through Peter, his very way and manner amongst men would show that it was of God.

ELE The orderly presentation of the truth is greatly needed amongst us.

AJG Exactly, I agree.

LBr The assembly is the pillar and base of the truth.

AJG That is important. The assembly stands out in that way prominently in relation to the truth. It is important that the truth should be confirmed in us substantially, so that it is not only what we say but what we are.

SW Is it not important to take into account the sovereignty of God in bringing in the Gentiles on no lower level than that of the Jews?

AJG Exactly. No lower level at all, and God brings in both Jew and Gentile on a level entirely above anything that they would ever have had as Jews.

EM So that it is a repentance to life. Is it in line with the beginning, The words of this life?

AJG Yes, repentance unto life.