THE SPIRIT OF THE NAZARITE

Numbers 6: 1–12, 22–27; 2 Corinthians 7: 11; 13: 11–14; 2 Timothy 3: 10, 11

GCMcK One had in mind the spirit of the Nazarite, this special vow that was open to a man or a woman in Israel. It was a special committal, not prescribed in the law but something that was open to an Israelite to do, to consecrate themselves in a special way to Jehovah. I think this spirit is really essential among us. In the early days of the recovery there was a wonderful access of light that the brethren committed themselves to, exploring the truth of Scripture. But that time was also marked by a spirit of Nazariteship, and I believe that that spirit has been among the brethren, and it is for that reason that prosperity is maintained among us. We read the last few verses of Numbers 6 where the priests, Aaron and his sons, bless the children of Israel. There is liberty, you might say, for the priestly blessing in the fullest way, but what paves the way for that is this committal of the Nazarite, giving up what would be legitimate naturally, anything to do with the vine, anything to do with earthly things and natural joys, and keeping himself pure and fulfilling the days of his consecration. Now it helps in looking at the types to find how the matter is fulfilled in our day, and of course as in everything the Lord Jesus Himself is the great and supreme example, the One of whom it says that He did not please Himself. Not for a moment in His life was there any suggestion that He was pleasing Himself. Then in others that committal has been seen; it comes down to us from those who have served in the recovery of the truth, and it is seen, I think, specially in Paul in 2 Timothy, and also in others in the New Testament. The epistles to the Corinthians connect with the section in Numbers. The first epistle is really like Numbers 5, it is the trial of jealousy, the Lord using what arises amongst us to test our hearts in the deepest possible way as to our love for Him, the genuineness of our love for Him. That, I think, was arrived at

in Corinth generally, if not in all, and they proved themselves to be “pure in the matter”. Then there are many allusions in Corinthians and elsewhere that would show the kind of spirit that marked Paul, the complete committal that marked him, cost what it might. And I wondered if the result of that is seen at the end of the second epistle; I wondered if there was some similarity between what is really a kind of blessing at the end of the epistle, and what we get at the end of Numbers 6. It is something that we hardly find in the other epistles, a very rich ending, a rich blessing from divine Persons brought in. The second epistle to Timothy equates to this matter very much, as in it you get the principle of separation set out. I read the two verses just to bring out this point that what is committed to us is not only the truth, precious as that is. Paul not only committed the things that Timothy had heard of him that they might be transmitted, but he communicated to Timothy his own spirit. I think the spirit of the Nazarite comes in. The question is then as to ourselves—How general is this spirit amongst us and is it being communicated? Is it coming down and affecting us all? Are our young people being stirred to make vows? And those of us who have made a vow, are we being stirred, perhaps if we have lapsed, to take it up again and fulfil the days of our consecration? These were the exercises that one had in mind in suggesting these scriptures.

DTP I think it is a very challenging line you have brought before us, but one very needful for the present moment. We need to really set ourselves apart in relation to what God is doing, do we not? And taking matters up that way really requires a complete dedication with us. We know it has been in the testimony before us. Some of the Lord’s servants particularly set themselves apart that way, but the challenge would be in our time, in view of things being maintained, that something is seen. Paul was a model, was he not? And that character needs to be seen among God’s people.

GCMcK Yes, well that is a summary of the exercise. The question would arise as to what would stir a man or a woman to make this vow. The previous chapter is typical of the Lord Jesus searching the assembly. I suppose Israel were tested as to the faithfulness of their love for God, it is a trial of jealousy. The fact is that Israel proved unfaithful, and in the assembly too, publicly failure has come in. But there is a faithful woman that appears at the end of Numbers 5, and I think if we have some sense of the intensity of the love of the Lord Jesus for the assembly, what He is looking for and desiring, it might stir something in our hearts to commit ourselves to answer to that love in the fullest of committals.

DTP There really should be in the last days a certain brightness with us in our committals, should there not, because we are conscious that that is the time we are in?

GCMcK Yes. The days of the consecration of the Nazarite seem to be fulfilled. There is a lapse, of course, in the section we read, and he has to renew his vows and the first days are forfeited, but the chapter does not anticipate that the consecration days will be completely gone. The suggestion is that they will be fulfilled. We did not read the section from verse 13, but it suggests that right through the dispensation there is going to be this element and it is going to be fulfilled, and the blessing of God’s people is assured through this.

RG There are some in Scripture that made rash vows. There would be nothing rash about this, would there? It would be calculated in relation to what the person is to be for God in His holiness, do you think?

GCMcK I think that is right. There is the thought, of course, of spontaneous outgoing of affection, and it is a wonderful thing in the hearts of the saints. In the young people it comes to light, and in all the saints, an outgoing of affection for Christ. But then a vow is more than that, it is a calculated thing, and you count the cost, it is deliberate. The calculation and the committal of love enters into it.

JSp In Timothy there is a charge. Would that be the thought? David says, “Was it not laid upon me” (1 Samuel 17: 29), a sense of obligation; an obligation of love, would it be?

GCMcK Well I think it is an obligation of love. It is a question of who is going to take it up. It says, “If a man or a woman have vowed the special vow”, it is a special thing, and therefore I wondered whether in a meeting like this, there might just be some sense of the appeal of the love of Christ to us that lays it on us. I do not think there is any greater obligation than the obligation love lays on you. It is not the law but the appeal of it is powerful to our hearts.

TDB Does it affect the way we live when we make a vow? I was thinking of what we have read about Timothy.

GCMcK That is just exactly what it is going to do. It is going to affect the things that we do not do, or certain things we are not going to give ourselves over to completely. God affords us all things richly for our enjoyment. He is a God who is a giving God, but the question is, How do we take up even divine mercies? Does it become the dominant thing in our lives that we enjoy them, or is there something in our lives that shows that there is another motive acting in us, a selfless motive, a motive of being for Jehovah, wholly for Jehovah?

RT According to the footnote the word ‘separation’ is linked with ‘Nazarite’. Had you some thought about that?

GCMcK Yes, it is such an important principle. Certain things are not only dispensed with but you keep separate from them; the question arises of not touching the dead body too. The suggestion is therefore that as we go through the section there might be something that might cause us to lapse in our consecration; there might be something unholy, something connected with death, not with life towards God. But you could help us please.

RT It is connected with separation to the Lord in His absence. The continuance of the testimony requires that we are separate from what is against Him, to be for Him, does it?

GCMcK Exactly. We often speak of separation in 2 Timothy, and it is a deep exercise, it is not just a positional exercise. No doubt 2 Timothy led the brethren out from the established churches, and so on, but it was not simply positional. It is a painful and exhaustive exercise to purge yourself from vessels to dishonour, and it says to flee youthful lusts in the same section, then it speaks of those that “call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”, 2 Timothy 2: 22. You can see that this is the Nazarite feature that comes to light in separation.

RT So we are to pursue righteousness, these principles. It is the maintaining of the rights of an absent Lord, is it?

GCMcK Yes, that is right. I think the spring of it all is really in our affection for Christ, and how far we are prepared to be faithful to Him. In the time of His absence and His rejection how fully am I prepared to commit myself to His interests and to what pleases Him?

RFW The Lord refers in Mark’s gospel to a person losing their life “for my sake and for the sake of the gospel”, Mark 10: 29. Would it be on that line?

GCMcK I think it would be very much on that line, taking up your cross and following the Lord Jesus. So it would involve reproach outwardly. That comes in with the Nazarite too, not only the painfulness of giving up our lives, what we would love to enjoy as men in the flesh, but being prepared for outward reproach in doing it.

JDG Do you think for us there would be an intimate link with the Holy Spirit as counting the cost to go forward to take up the exercise?

GCMcK I think it is in the power of the Spirit that it is done, the Holy Spirit known in the affections. In the trial of jealousy the woman had to drink the holy water mixed with the dust from the floor of the tabernacle, and I think it is typical of the deep inward searchings of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit in doing that helps us to judge unfaithfulness, surely He would help to arouse in our hearts affection for Christ. One of the great activities of the Holy Spirit is in connection with love. The first thing He is said to do is to bring the love of God into our hearts. The scripture speaks about “the love of the Spirit” (Romans 15: 30), so I think what you say is right, I think the activities of the Spirit would produce this and give us power for it.

CKR Is it more than putting your body on the altar? The truth of the gospel in Romans leads you by the compassions of God to place your body on the altar. Is this something perhaps a little more than that even?

GCMcK Well, I think the setting generally of this is that there is a background of failure.

You might say in Romans it could be taken up freshly by believers before any failure comes in, church failure or personal failure, but here I think the point is that there has been unfaithfulness, so therefore it is against the background of that that there is a special appeal, do you think?

CKR It is really a secret link between the soul and the Lord Jesus, but the evidence of it comes out in the walk of life, does it?

GCMcK Exactly, it comes out, and he lets the locks of the hair of his head grow, which would be an extraordinary thing in Israel. Persons would look and say, ‘Well it is a strange person, an unmanly thing’. It is an outward sign, the fact that he was neglecting that side of things and losing a certain honour and respectability.

RFW It would show that he is considering for God first and not for self. I wondered if this is really a high calling. Consecration means ‘hands full’ does it not, and service to God? Mr Hammond used to tell us that consecration depended on sanctification which depended on separation.

GCMcK I am sure there would be a very great deal in that, and it enters into the section that we have read, and what it leads to I think is an increase in the soul. There must be something in the soul of a man or a woman to consecrate himself or herself in this way. Then failure comes in and offerings are brought. Where we did not read from verse 13 onwards he comes again and there is a great wealth of offerings. It is clear that there is enrichment involved in this, a greater knowledge of Christ and what His death means. There is something that is going to contribute, you might say, to wealth among the brethren, and joy, but it is as a result of this deep exercise.

DTP Would you say something about this offering, if there is a dead person, something that comes in, you might almost say, unawares? The offering is a small one, is it not, two turtle-doves or two small pigeons? What would you say about that related to what had come in? It seems to be easy to clear the ground again in one respect.

GCMcK As you say, it is a small offering. When he fulfils the days of his consecration he brings so much else, a yearling he-lamb for a burnt-offering, a ewe-lamb for a sin-offering, a ram for a peace-offering, and all these other offerings, there is a great wealth; but at this time I think he has to adopt a humble approach and say, Well I took up this vow and I failed in it, and so he approaches humbly, but still with this estimation of the death of Christ as meeting that, the two turtle-doves. The sin-offering is there, and the burnt-offering, and so there is grace there for him to take up his vow again.

RG I was just going to ask about grace. In the first section with these turtle-doves, God is gracious, is he not? He is taking account of the subdued feelings of the person, but He is very gracious; then as you move on in history maturity comes in so that you get a yearling lamb, and so on. Do you think there should be a maturity with us in our Nazariteship?

GCMcK I think that is right. I think it leads to spiritual wealth in the soul, it leads to experience. It might lead to the experience of failure, but then that would lead us to understand how failure can be met, and how we can take it up again. How blessed that is, how we can actually fulfil the days of our consecration and come with all these wealthy offerings, our souls enriched by the experience we have gone through and the committal we have made, and the re-committal we have made.

NJH Every day would be important to a consecrated person, whether it is during the consecration in holiness to Jehovah or in the time that is the eight days. Every day would be important to such a person, is that right?

GCMcK Yes I think that is right. It speaks of that, “the days of his consecration”, Numbers 6: 13. Then there are the days when he has to be cleansed too, and what that would involve for him. It is sad that the first days are forfeited, they do not count now towards the completion of his consecration, he has to leave them aside, but he takes up the matter again and he fulfils the days. It makes it very testing as to our days, how do we spend our days?

NJH We cannot lose time in this matter. Consecration is a vital important matter to start now, is that right?

GCMcK I think that is right because it is for a period of time, the days of his separation.

He actually would consecrate himself for a certain time. Now I understand for us it would involve that we complete our course here. Paul did, he was consecrated to the last moment of his life, I am sure.

GAB Would Mark be a New Testament example of one who perhaps failed in his consecration but was able to fulfil it? Paul eventually says, “bring him ... he is serviceable”, 2 Timothy 4: 1 1.

GCMcK Yes, so he is given to write a gospel. What wealth must have been in his soul after that recovery, what liberty there must have been. What devotion there must have been in the writing of that powerful urgent gospel of his where he brings in so much as to the Lord Jesus and His committal in service. What wealth was in his soul as to Christ, and I am sure it was not there until after his failure.

RT In bringing it into our time, do you connect it in any way with the Lord’s supper?

GCMcK Yes. Committing ourselves to the breaking of bread, and we are glad when the young people do that, it is a kind of vow, is it not?

RT Is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ, and the communion of the body of the Christ? I thought, to bring it into practical expression, in committing ourselves to the breaking of bread, as we speak, a vow would be normal, would it not? The Nazarite would be a normal way of life for a Christian.

GCMcK Yes, really it would be. It is referred to as a special thing, the vow of the Nazarite, but really it would be what would be suitable surely for every one that loves the Lord Jesus. Peter speaks about being sanctified, “sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”, 1 Peter 1: 2. That would enter into our hearts at the time of the Supper, the obedience and the committal that was seen with Christ, and the thought is then that the Supper actually forms our affections and affects our committals.

EOPM In that way it is interesting that the opportunity for us to commit ourselves is linked with the very greatest demonstration of divine love at the Supper. You cannot do this without affection for Christ, can you?

GCMcK Quite so. It brings before the mind the importance of the gospel and how it is received. Really that is where love for Christ begins, in appreciating what He has done for us, like the woman in Luke 7. That is where love begins, but then it develops in our affections as we develop knowledge of Him in the experiences of Romans and in our lives here, love grows and leads us to a certain point when we would make this committal, would you say?

EOPM Well, it is just the challenge to me, because we may be on this line of committal, but in the flesh we can be that way, but we must, if we are to be in this Nazarite pathway, begin and remain in very deep affection for the One to whom we are committed, and if we are not, it just becomes a ritual outward observance, does it not?

GCMcK I think that is right. It is not to be simply outward. This vow is a deep inward exercise. It seems to me, from the way the section goes, the trial of jealousy, and the husband looking for faithful love in his wife, that we ought to be affected by the love of Christ for the assembly. How powerful it is, how much He is looking for a real assembly answer to His own affections! I think that would appeal to our hearts. We would say, If there has been unfaithfulness, and we have had part in the unfaithfulness; if there has been unfaithfulness in the church, and we have had part in it, what is to happen now? We know that the woman that has not been defiled and is clean in the previous chapter conceives seed, which is really the Nazarite. The product of the exercise is that true love for Christ comes to light and the Nazarite committal follows.

MC His love led him to suffer. Would the contemplation of the sufferings of Christ be a great lever in the soul to this kind of committal?

GCMcK Yes, I think it is something we should never be far from, the sufferings of Christ, something that we should deepen in. We have ministry from Mr Darby, a whole article on the sufferings of Christ. There is much to feed on there and to become intelligent in too, to understand just how much He did suffer, how much He endured. I think that would prepare us to be committed even at the cost of suffering. That is what comes out in the last scripture read, in Paul, what sufferings happened to him, and Timothy knew that, he knew that Paul’s committal brought him into the greatest suffering.

RJC If we fail it is not intended that we give up. It would be a challenge to us to rededicate ourselves in the line of the Nazarite, do you think? We should not just give up, but we should go on, do you think, to greater things even?

GCMcK I think that is exactly right. I think that would be a kind of challenge to us here. I suppose most of us have made a vow. As we were saying, we would expect every one breaking bread really had made a vow. Many of us would have to say we have gone back from our vow, but then the thought is that we should take it up again. When you are young especially, but even when you are older, if you fail you tend to feel you just have to give up, but that is not the divine thought. The divine thought is, if I fail I discover that Christ has met that failure in His death, and I can take up my vow again and I can complete the days of my consecration. I can finish what I set out to do, and if I do that I will come with all these offerings later in the chapter, the burnt-offering, the sin-offering, unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour, and then also a peace-offering, a ram, a sacrifice of peace-offering. And there is an oblation and a drink-offering. We can come in wealth, and I think the thought is that not only is the Nazarite enriched but the saints are enriched, because there is quite a deal said as the passage goes on about the peace-offering. The peace-offering not only was for God, it was also shared in by all in Israel, and so there is an enrichment of fellowship. The peace-offering is like fellowship, that we enjoy things together, and that is enriched; but if there is not the spirit of Nazariteship I do not think there will be the same quality of fellowship.

JTB(Ed) In Ecclesiastes it says, “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it”, Ecclesiastes 5: 4. It implies a cost on the part of each of us, do you think?

GCMcK Well it does, you have to pay it. There is quite a deal of instruction as to vows, as you will well know. The thought of a voluntary offering is a very beautiful thing, bringing an offering in connection with a vow, showing the wealth that accrues to the soul. I suppose paying it would mean then that we complete the days of our consecration. What would you say?

JTB(Ed) I think that is right. In relation to Samson, it is interesting that the conditions prior to his birth were for his mother, but virtually the same as for him in his Nazariteship, do you think? Is there a kind of subjective state created in the soul which facilitates this giving of the vow, do you think?

GCMcK I think that is right. He is a great example of a Nazarite and yet an example of failure, but still an example of Nazariteship. So the angel that appears to his mother indicates that she is not to partake of anything of the vine. She tells her husband the same thing, and when his parents together see the angel he tells them the same thing. It is gone over three times. I think Samson sets out the thought of Nazariteship in a dispensational way as an element that has existed in the church despite all the failure and despite breakdown. Samson failed dreadfully but the hair of his head began to grow.

JTB(Ed) That is encouraging. He failed miserably, but his strength returned as his hair grew. Was it a kind of renewal of his consecration?

GCMcK I think it was rather like that, and therefore he was given special strength at the end as a recovered person. The thought of a recovered person is that he is stronger than he was before he failed. How encouraging!

NJH What is “the head of his consecration”?

GCMcK I would be glad of your help, please.

NJH You referred to ‘The Sufferings of Christ’, Mr Darby’s contribution on that, how Christ suffered for righteousness and suffered for sin, and then he said there were other sufferings. As a true Nazarite himself, Mr Darby was able to bring out the range and extent of Christ’s sufferings despite opposition.

GCMcK I think Mr Darby was like a Nazarite, fully enriched by all these offerings, the detail of them. You might wonder why we get so much detail in the Old Testament about the various offerings, not only the offerings, but the law of the offering, how it was to be offered, and so on. Why is there so much detail? I think it is just for the purpose that you are indicating, that we should dwell more on the death of Christ and the sufferings of Christ and come into greater intelligence as to it; and then the fellowship is enriched. This is one of the striking things, “the head of his consecration” is alluded to in verse 18 (Numbers 6: 18).

When the Nazarite’s vow is complete, he shaves the head of his consecration at the entrance to the tent of meeting, it is public, and is to “take the hair of the head of his consecration”, that would be the whole symbol of his consecration, “and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace-offering”; and so underneath in the fire beneath the peace-offering there is the hair of his consecration, meaning, I think, that this devotion enriches the spiritual meaning of the fellowship we have together, that it is not a superficial thing, it is a deep and blessed thing. That was partly why I was suggesting that at the end of Corinthians where we get the thought of the fellowship of the Spirit, something is arrived at that is very rich, through deep exercise.

DTP Is that why we get the wave-offering after that? It speaks of it in verses 19 and 20. I was just thinking the exercise has been gone through and there is some enrichment taking place, and as a result of that then the hands are full of Christ, presenting it to God. Something of that came in in Mr Darby’s hymns, did it not?

GCMcK I think it did, there was what was for God. Then the priests get something, the breast of the wave-offering and the shoulder of the heave-offering, the priest is enriched; and then Aaron and his sons, the priestly family, are able to bless at the end of the chapter. There is a description of their blessing, one of the most beautiful sections in Scripture, as to God’s attitude to His people. It is God blessing His people, but it comes after this exercise of consecration has been gone through.

RFW I was thinking that it adds in verse 21 after he has paid his vow, “beside what his hand is able to get”, as if there is room for something fresh to come in, do you think?

GCMcK Yes, very good. There is something more, something richer. Well we would like to feel that we could do that. The thought of “what his hand is able to get” might in some references in Scripture suggest that a poor man’s offering would be accepted, but I think what the Nazarite’s hand was able to get would suggest a rich sense of the love of Christ and the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. And so God is going to bless and keep. He is going to make His face shine and lift up His countenance. The blessing is flowing from Aaron and his sons towards the people of God. Then in verse 27, “they shall put my name upon the children of Israel”. God is committing Himself to His people; “I will bless them”, He says. It is going to be a public thing that God has committed Himself to His people, putting His name on them, but it is through this inward exercise that is brought about in the people.

DCB In Lamentations there is a beautiful description of the Nazarites, and it goes on to the fact that there had been failure. It says of them, “Her Nazarites were purer than snow, whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their figure was as sapphire”, Lamentations 4: 7. It really shows what should have been maintained, of course, but what there was for God in persons whose constitution really had been changed.

GCMcK Yes, so that in the departure and failure there is developed a more intense sense of what Nazariteship is to God. Failure had come in but what had been is described, “Her Nazarites were purer than snow”. It is a very affecting scripture. It would raise the exercise with us as to, where are we now? There has been Nazariteship. We not only have the ministry of Mr Darby, Mr Stoney, Mr Raven and Mr Taylor, but we have their letters. Now in the ministry you can drink into their spirit, but I think in their letters you can specially, as you read them, be affected by the spirit of these men and their intense devotion. We want to drink into that spirit. We want to treasure their ministry, but we want to drink into their spirit, because I think it is the spirit of Nazariteship. At the end of one quite long letter Mr Darby says, While I have been writing this I have been much afflicted by sleep, but he kept writing, he did not just put the pen away and to go sleep (see Collected Writings Vol. 10, p.187).

There are many such instances in Mr Darby’s letters, and in the letters of others. Now we would want to counsel the young people to try to absorb the spirit of the recovery as well as the letter or the teaching.

RG That is a very fine thought because it is a very fine thing for all ages, but younger brethren specially, to read the letters of these men that have gone before us, because it is in their letters you get the depth of feeling that was behind all the ministry that the Lord gave through them, do you think?

GCMcK Yes, quite so. You get something of the spirit of the man. If you read books of worldly authors (men have said this themselves), you actually drink in something of their spirit. You might not know you are doing it, but you actually do; you actually start to drink in the spirit of a worldly man. If you read a worldly book, there is nothing of Christ in it, it is a dead body really, with nothing of life towards God in it; really there is something that is defiling. But if you read what a saint writes, what these men wrote, you drink into a different spirit, and there is what is pure and what will help you in your soul.

HJ Lot would write quite a different book than Abraham, is that right? Lot is a worldly Christian, and he would tell you about deliverance, but only from Sodom and Gomorrah and the plain; but you get a man like Abraham, with his intercessory spirit, and he is different. What marks Abraham would come out in his writing, would it?

GCMcK I think it would. Abraham was a heavenly man, he had a heavenly view of things, he waited for a city that has foundations. Lot went along pretty much on Abraham’s faith, I think, rather than his own faith; he went out with Abraham and, as we know, he failed.

Even when he was rescued from one city he wanted to get another one, a small one, he wanted a lesser form of what he had already committed himself to. Well, we are thankful for the contrast in Scripture, that where you get someone like Lot, you get an Abraham. It is very often you find that in Scripture, where you get persons that set out something that is not ideal, you will find the answer there. I sometimes thought about that in Corinthians where they were reigning like kings, Paul brings in the simple Christian, “he who fills the place of the simple Christian” (1 Corinthians 14: 16), as if to say, there is something real there. He is not reigning like a king, he is saying “Amen”, he is trying to follow the truth. I think Scripture always brings in what is positive over against the negative.

DTP Would you say something about the shining from the divine side in these verses, “Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee; Jehovah make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace”.

GCMcK I suppose it is a full sense of divine favour, God’s face shining, so that there is no cloud, no sense of disapproval, He is lifting up His countenance upon us. He is not ashamed of us, He is putting His name upon us, He is committing Himself because He finds in us something that is pleasing to Him.

I read one or two sections in 2 Corinthians, and I trust we might manage to gather up something from it as to this exercise. The first epistle was written with much trembling and with tears, and the Corinthians were clearly grieved by the letter. Paul almost regretted he had written the letter when he thought of what grief it was going to cause them; he almost did that, but he had to do it, he did it in love. But then he says in 2 Corinthians 7 that he is rejoicing now. If they had been grieved they had been grieved according to God. And then in verse 11, it appears that something was appearing in the Corinthian assembly that was according to what Christ was looking for, “how much diligence it wrought in you, but what excusing of yourselves, but what indignation, but what fear, but what ardent desire, but what zeal, but what vengeance—in every way ye have proved yourselves to be pure in the matter”.

There was a deep inward work effectuated in the souls of the brethren in Corinth. Some did not have part in it, but I think generally in the assembly that was so, and I think Paul was looking for the Nazarite to appear in Corinth as a result of this trial of jealousy. Do you think that would be fair to say? And he himself was setting it out, of course, in his own life and selfless service, not considering for himself at all; and in the case of the Corinthians, as we read in chapter 11, he would not take anything from them in the way of support. He would from other assemblies but he would not take it from them, he would show them that he would not look for anything for himself so that no one could accuse him of doing that.

JS He makes a reference later in this epistle to, “have we not walked in the same spirit? have we not in the same steps?” (2 Corinthians 12: 18), bringing Titus in along with himself.

GCMcK Yes, I think others like Titus would partake of the same spirit. Timothy was Paul’s true child, and Titus was Paul’s child too; and so the spirit of things matters, and the steps we walk in matter. Of course, I am not in any way trying to reduce the importance of the ministry, the truth of God as established amongst us, but the spirit and the walk are so important and have an affect on the young people. Even if they do not always understand the ministry fully in what is brought out, they will surely be affected by our walk and our spirit; and if our walk and our spirit are not according to God they will be affected by that too.

JS Do you think in regard to the matter of writings, for example, that we need to follow the main line of ministry, and not be deflected to the writings of persons who have turned aside from the way of fellowship?

GCMcK Well I think that is right. If persons have turned aside and there has not been a renewal of Nazariteship then you just need to be careful. But where someone has turned aside and there has been full recovery, as Mark was recovered, then you can have confidence in him. The failure and the turning aside affects the spirit of the person, the whole person. It is not just they make a mistake, but they have gone on a wrong path and it does have an affect. We often say that if we fail as to the truth, it affects our spirits. The spirit of men is important, and we can make a list of some named in Paul’s epistles who were really Nazarites.

RG Do you think Paul himself demonstrated his Nazariteship and his consecration when he was able to say to the Philippians, “What ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, these things do”, Philippians 4: 9? Then he says, “and the God of peace shall be with you”, that is the last part of Numbers 6 that you read, and that peace comes into the soul and into the whole locality, do you think, as consecration and Nazariteship is taken on?

GCMcK I think that is right. The whole meeting is affected by what is taken up in the way of exercise in that regard; and so there were others round Paul that were affected by him.

I think they were taking up Nazariteship too, and he was looking for this, you might say, in Corinth, in that place where there had been so much disorder and wickedness even among the saints of God; I think he was looking for true affection for Christ. Jealousy comes into the first epistle, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?”, 1 Corinthians 10: 22. Paul’s jealousy comes into the second epistle, and it is reflecting divine jealousy (2 Corinthians 11: 2). We must understand that. The Lord’s love involves that He is jealous. He loves the assembly too much to be careless as to whether we love Him or not, and whether we are responding or not.

GBG So the Corinthians were Paul’s beloved children, but Timothy was beloved and faithful, was he not? He was sent there, and he would be an example of one, do you think, in this setting?

GCMcK Yes, I think that is right, “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4: 17), and “true” (1 Timothy 1: 2), and so Paul’s ways could be demonstrated in him; and again it is his ways, not only his teaching, but his ways, and his spirit that would affect the Corinthians and bring down any pride that was with them, I suppose.

RT “In every way ye have proved yourselves to be pure in the matter”. Would you say something about the proving ourselves?

GCMcK I just thought it related to Numbers 5, the deep inward exercise that would come to light to prove purity and real love for Christ, what was real appearing in the Corinthians. I suppose they would prove themselves in doing what he said and removing the man from amongst themselves.

RT It is not only what is received, but it is worked out in our bodies, is it not? It is not only light, but proving ourselves, it is in our bodies. We all have that and it is how we conduct ourselves and use our bodies, “glorify now then God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6: 20), is that connected with the proving of ourselves?

GCMcK Well that brings it very close, not only our walk, but our actual bodies and how they are utilised, you might say, for the divine pleasure. So these bodies do not belong to us, they belong to the Lord. When He purchased us He purchased our bodies, that is who they belong to. We may take our bodies and use them for self-gratification, there is no spiritual life in that and nothing for the Lord, but if we take these bodies, as Romans 12 alludes to, and dedicate them, then there is an area there for the Lord’s pleasure, and vessels for the Lord’s pleasure, so that there might be something for God in the locality. The thought of zeal comes in here too, I wondered about that. It might relate to the Nazarite feature. There is no book in the Bible, certainly no book in the New Testament, that refers to ‘zeal’ so much as 2 Corinthians. I think there are eight references to ‘zeal’ in 2 Corinthians, and two of them are attributed to the Corinthians. This is one of them, and I wondered if that might be a pointer to the Nazarite spirit, that there is zeal for what is right certainly, but zeal, not half-heartedness but zeal.

RT The idea of power would be connected with zeal as well, would it not? Would it not bring up what has been referred to already, our links with the Spirit? It would give us this sense of zeal which would express itself in powerful forward movements.

GCMcK I think that is right. The thing is, of course, there can be zeal but yet it can be taken up in the power of the flesh, and that is always dangerous and something I suppose we might tend to do; but I think the zeal that is referred to here is the result of deep inward exercise and searching, it would involve making way for the Spirit, something of the Spirit of Christ might come into it. The disciples remembered the word, “The zeal of thy house devours me”, John 2: 17. That was Christ, the true Nazarite, the zeal of God’s house devoured Him.

DTP Would the appreciation of what we have in chapter 8, verse 9, help us, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”, because He became poor on our account and we have been enriched by it? That really carries you into this sphere where true zeal is operating.

GCMcK I think that is right, coming out very practically, of course, in the section you allude to, the gifts that were for the saints. Zeal comes into that too, zeal in giving. In the same chapter, verse 22, we have some brother that is not named who has often been proved “to be of diligent zeal in many things”. The quality of the personnel is remarkable, I think, as demonstrated in the epistle. Then at the end of the epistle there is going to be a blessing as a result of this. They are most searching epistles, the Corinthian ones, but they end in a most choice section. Paul is free in the second epistle, and free at the end of it, to bring in a spirit of blessing

on the saints. It is like Aaron and his sons blessing the children of Israel, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”. That is after all this exercise has been gone through, and after the Nazarite spirit has begun to appear in the Corinthians.

MC Could you help us about perfecting, “be perfected”?

GCMcK ‘Perfectly united’ is a similar expression in 1 Corinthians 1. We were alluding to those that walked in the same steps, those that had the same spirit. Do you think, if we all took up this exercise we are speaking about in real sincerity, it would lead to more unity among us? The same motivation would be in us, the same love, the same activity, and that would lead to perfecting, do you think? “Rejoice”, it says, “be encouraged”. 2 Corinthians is a book of encouragement, to encourage even the man who had sinned and had been put out, and here the saints are to be encouraged. It is a rather like the peace-offering, “be at peace”; the God of love and peace being with us, and we are saluting one another with a holy kiss. It is the quality of the fellowship that is in mind here.

RG Have you something more in mind about the quality of it?

GCMcK Well, as to the outward side of the fellowship we enjoy much, and it is right; companionship with one another and support of one another in so many ways, including the most practical ways. We are so thankful for the fellowship, thankful for the protection of it, and so on. But there is more than that, and I think the communion, or fellowship, of the Holy Spirit is the deep inward spiritual side of the fellowship, and that is what I thought was the quality that was in mind in this exercise. What would you say?

RG Somebody referred in a fellowship meeting a week or two ago about what is superficial, that any association of men can break down because it is superficial, but when it comes to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, it is divine love that is at its base, is it not? And it is the stabilising and powerful influence that carries the assembly through for the satisfaction of Christ, do you think?

GCMcK I am sure that is right. “The fellowship of God’s Son”, is the great dignity of it, God’s own Son is associated with it; the fellowship of the Holy Spirit involves that the whole of the fellowship and our links together are permeated by the Holy Spirit’s presence. There is the fellowship of Christ’s death too, which cuts out everything that is not in keeping with it. So there is such a thought as quality of fellowship and saluting one another, not in a superficial way, but with a holy kiss.

Well we have perhaps time just to allude to Timothy; the second epistle is clearly a Nazarite epistle. We have the instruction, as already mentioned, as to departing from evil and going on with those that are calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. But I especially thought of the verses read in connection with the passing on of the spirit of things. In chapter 2 Paul speaks of “the things thou hast heard of me” (2 Timothy 2: 2), that was the teaching. Timothy had to take it up and follow it up, but in the context of all the failure that was coming in, including these men in chapter 3, verse 8, “corrupted in mind, found worthless as regards the faith”, all the terrible impiety and false teaching that was pouring in, even in Paul’s day. Paul says, You have known something different—“thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching”, that is basic, but also “conduct, purpose”. I think purpose would bring in the vow, would it not? What would Paul’s purpose be? Would he ever deviate from it? And then all that would follow in persecution and sufferings.

TDB Peter sometimes uses the word ‘conversation’, bearing on the manner of our lives. Do you think this is what affected Timothy’s life, what he saw in someone else? I was thinking of what we see in the brethren.

GCMcK Yes, quite so, the manner of life of the brethren. Well these are most testing things as we try to speak about them according to the full standard of the truth. We do not have any licence to apply some lesser standard, because I do not think that Scripture gives us authority to reduce the truth. We have to maintain it all at its level. Then we are searched by that, and we say, Well what are our lives? What do I spend my time doing? What kind of life do I have? What is my main interest? It comes down to the most practical things. What do I put first? After all, our Christianity is real surely, our love for Christ is real, so it must show itself.

ARH When you speak of purpose, is it seen in the Lord? He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. It would have been seen in Him that that was how He was proceeding.

GCMcK Yes, quite so, “he stedfastly set his face” (Luke 9: 51), “like a flint” it says in the Old Testament (Isaiah 50: 7), it would be seen there. He came in with a purpose. He came in to do God’s will, “coming into the world he says ... Lo, I come ... to do, O God, thy will”, Hebrews 10: 5–7. Then we see it right through His life, and especially at that point, I think, suffering being in view. Then suffering was in view for Paul, his conduct, his purpose, his faith led to sufferings, and Timothy knew that it was a suffering path. Paul did not hide that from him, he knew it, he had seen it, and the thought is that he might be prepared to take up a path like that, cost what it might.

RFW He refers to the things that “happened to me”. We can all go over things that have happened to us, I suppose, but it did not change Paul’s purpose.

GCMcK No, he continued. You find he returns to some of the places where he suffered.

He may have had to flee persecution but he would return. He does not give up the ground. In one place he was taken out of the city and stoned and the disciples encircled him, and he rose up and went back into the city (Acts 14: 19, 20). Paul’s purpose did not change, his pathway never deviated, and the question is with ourselves then, What is the strength of our purpose? What is our committal?

RT It speaks of those “who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 3: 12), would that be the practical stimulation of this reading, that desire promoted in us?

GCMcK I think that is right, and it will show itself.

RT There are all these other things that test us but they will all come to nothing, but living piously in Christ Jesus is something that is going through to eternal conditions, is it?

GCMcK I think that is right, it is in Christ Jesus. Nothing is going to be lost, no act of faithfulness is ever going to be lost, it is all valued, it will all have its reward.

RG The reward is seen in the next chapter, “Henceforth the crown of righteousness is laid up for me ... but not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing”, 2 Timothy 4: 8. Is that the great objective of the consecrated person, the Lord’s appearing, and that we might be suitable as we love His appearing so that we might appear with Him?

GCMcK I think that is right. The previous verses show what you are saying. “I am already being poured out”, he is finishing his consecration, “I have combated the good combat”. He had finished the race, he had kept the faith, henceforth now it is a question of the crown of righteousness. Paul was completing his days of consecration here, and he was bringing his completion of these days to bear on Timothy.

Reading at Kirkcaldy
21 June 2008

KEY TO INITIALS

T. D. Beveridge

R. Gardiner

D. T. Pye

D. C. Brown

J. D. Gray

C. K. Robinson

J. T. Brown (Ed.)

A. R. Henry

J. Spinks

G. A. Brown

N. J. Henry

J. Strachan

R. J. Campbell

H. Jensen

R. Taylor

M. Cowan

G. C. McKay

R. F. White

R. W. Flowerdew

E. O. P. Mutton

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