MATTHEW 4 AND 5
MATTHEW [p. 36] 4 AND 5
Rem It might be right to view the setting of Galilee and the working out of the Lord’s operations in His walking by the sea. He teaches in all the synagogues, and in chapter five it widens out to the whole earth and the whole world, having all nations in view for blessing. “Ye are the salt of the earth ... the light of the world”. Following that principle shows the character of those entering the blessing.
Rem “Teaching” is put before “preaching”.
Rem Teaching in their synagogues is a great thought in Matthew as though there was something available for Him.
CAC There was something in Him available for them! But there was very little recognition of what He was prepared to supply.
Rem It is a gradual widening out of His appeal to men after His rejection.
Ques Would the gospel of the kingdom be what we preach today?
CAC Yes. Mr. Raven used to tell us years ago that we ought to preach the kingdom very much more than we do.
Rem In Acts they were teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
CAC Yes, because men are absolutely ignorant of the way in which God has asserted Himself. You see, God was asserting His right to bless His poor ruined creatures; that is the point at the end of this chapter. A state of things had come about so that God’s government acted adversely, bringing all sorts of diseases on men, but God asserts His right to do what His heart dictates for His poor ruined creatures. That should be made clear in the gospel, so it [p. 37] was connected with the glad tidings of the kingdom. It is a most blessed thing to think that God has exercised His rights in pure grace manward and that He is ready and willing to meet every condition there is on the part of men. I suppose repentance shows there is no difficulty on God’s side; the difficulty is on man’s side and in repenting he knows the difficulty is on his side and leaves God open-handed to bless. It is really Jehovah, the One who forgives all their iniquities and heals all their diseases.
Rem “Jehovah who healeth thee”, Exodus 15: 26.
CAC I was thinking of that; it is very striking.
Rem Chapter 5 is the thought of teaching.
CAC The element of teaching is very important and should enter into the preaching of the gospel. That is, men are very ignorant and need to be taught, so that the preaching nowadays would hardly be right without including instruction in the knowledge of God and His ways in grace. I think we see in the Acts of the Apostles what a wide range of truth was covered by the preaching whether by Peter or Paul; they went over the full ground of God’s ways with His people. God is pleased to deal with men as intelligent beings, is He not? And He is pleased so to speak to justify Himself in the eyes of men. It is not arbitrary; there is a basis of righteous wisdom so that God could call upon His people to reason together with Him.
Rem The heart is reached through the mind and conscience.
CAC Yes.
Rem Teaching is in the synagogue, preaching in the open air.
CAC Teaching would be more for those in professed relations with God, did you think?
Ques Yes, and enquirers; preaching is more for those that go on their way. Wisdom cries like that, does she not?
CAC Yes.
Rem “They shall be all taught of God”, John 6: 45.
CAC And we are preaching now in christendom; it is different from the heathen world. Teaching and preaching would call attention to what there was there in the Lord for those who listened. God would give them liberty in all these things that would hamper them in relation to God. No person in this condition can enjoy the inheritance, those inflicted with diseases cannot enjoy the land. God’s thought is that everyone should have liberty to enjoy their God-given portion. So if there is anything in me that would hinder that, God would deal with me. It was so that they might have what the Lord came to bless them in. Those thousands the Lord healed could give a very definite account of what the Lord has done for them. They would not simply present what is in the Bible. They would say, I was under the power of such and such a thing and the Lord has set me free. There is something in a personal testimony; we are sometimes too impersonal.
Rem Like the woman in John 4.
CAC She was so taken up with the Man that all sense of shame that would have kept her silent vanished from her heart. It was obliterated by the Man who filled her heart. Is that not very beautiful? We are often afraid of letting ourselves down and cling to some kind of reputation. If it exalts the Man it ought to be a privilege to let ourselves down. On the other hand we have to be careful not to be talking about ourselves, centering in ourselves; the true testimony would all centre in Him. An intense personal link must have been formed between the Lord and each individual; it was not a matter of generalities. A man would say, ‘I was a leper and He healed me’, and no doubt the result was meant to be that everyone so healed should be distinctly married to Him. So this gospel gives us assembly formation, how the material is found, a company of persons with such a consciousness of the Lord that there [p. 39] was not anyone in heaven or on earth that could rival Him. The next chapters would be characteristic of them as those married to Him, as having proved His personal intervention on their behalf by way of deliverance.
Rem The man in John 9 had found the Person.
CAC The Person had found him! I suppose in the beatitudes the Lord shows the true character of healed persons. He brings it out in an abstract way in this gospel but it is really to bring out the character of those healed wonderfully by His power. This is the kind of person He would make me.
Ques In verse 22 the sons of Zebedee followed Him and in verse 25 it speaks of the great crowds that followed Him. Then He goes up to the mountain. Is there a difference, I wondered, in following in a crowd or personally?
CAC That is interesting.
Rem Going up to the mountain is in contradistinction to the plain in order to draw to Himself.
CAC Yes, He becomes the centre of attraction and the centre of a new system of things that took its character from Himself. That is, His disciples would be healed persons, who had had personal contact with Him and had got the benefit of what is in Him. So there is an elevated position in view; He is the centre there and He unfolds the character of this order of things which is far above the level of the world.
Ques There are two features here, the saints are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Much is involved in it. Would salt as a preservative principle come in in the character of the features we have been considering?
CAC God has been pleased to bring in what would restrain every working of corruption, has He not? And it is new here, not only as present in Christ but as present in the saints. I do not know that He ever says, ‘I am the salt of the earth’.
Rem “Let your word be always with grace, seasoned with salt”, Colossians 4: 6.
CAC The Lord had introduced the great motive in the three words, “For my sake” (verse l I). Is not that a great motive?
Rem It should be a great motive for what you gave expression to in your prayer, to be true to the character of the testimony in a difficult day. By and by it will be easy for saints.
CAC Well, that is a very beautiful way of being made overcomers; we never can overcome except by being under the influence of those three little words, “For my sake”. If we were thinking of all the presentations in the following chapters it might take the subtle character of self-righteousness, but when it is “for my sake” it is put on a different footing; that is the spring of all. Hence there may be many things we would not do simply on the line of what proceeds from ourselves but if we are governed by the thought that all is for His sake it brings in a different and all-powerful motive, for there will never be a greater motive in heaven than that! The danger is that the power of this becomes enfeebled in our souls, and then the salt becomes insipid, having no longer any virtue and the saints begin to live more or less on the same principles as other people.
Rem Every offering was to be seasoned with salt.
CAC I think the salt of the covenant is not to be lacking in any sacrifice, particularly in the oblation. The meat offering means it is not of much value for me to speak of the meekness or gentleness of Christ or to give thanks for it unless there is a real purpose of heart to move on that line. I may fail, but it is the real purpose of heart of every true saint not to be content to see things objectively in Christ, but that we are really set to move on the line of “for my sake”. It was a new character of testimony [p. 41] brought into the world. There was not anything like it before. It is really that Christ has the place that self once had. Self was the motive with us all; we cannot deny it. We have turned every one to his own way. But if Christ comes in there is a new orbit, a new principle on which to live.
Rem The city is linked with light. The holy city has a light.
CAC Yes, so that what comes in in connection with light and the city is “your Father”. “That they may ... glorify your Father who is in the heavens”. Does it not bring in just the two sides of what governs the saints, that is, it is “for my sake” — the Lord Himself comes in as a motive — and then there is “your Father who is in the heavens”. All christian testimony is covered by these two things.
Rem In Revelation the city is shown to John “on a great and high mountain” — a great height of elevation. We cannot enter into it without coming apart from what is below.
CAC It is rather in contrast to the wilderness where John saw the harlot. We see around the false thing in the wilderness.
Rem Galatians 2: 20 was referred to.
CAC I think that is the reason, so the Lord’s words pull us up and help us as to christian doctrine in the epistles. These chapters would exercise us practically as to whether we are crucified with Christ and whether Christ lives in me. “No longer live, I, but Christ lives in me”. All this teaching is a question as to whether Christ lives in me. If He lives in me, you would expect Him to come out of me. It is presented doctrinally in Romans 7. All we get here is really in contrast to law. The law says certain things and He says, “I say” certain things. It would help if we understood that we were dead to the law and married to Christ that we might bear fruit to God. So I often say [p. 42] that what comes out on the mount is the result of being married to Christ.
Ques Why is, “your Father who is in the heavens” added? Is it the two scenes contrasted?
CAC Did you think it was rather in line with what you were saying of elevation? There is a suggestion brought in of what is heavenly in character, the thought of the Father who is in the heavens. It is far above the level of man. It is good if people see the saints carrying themselves so that they say, ‘No human being could do that; it must have its source outside nature’, and they attribute it to your Father.
Rem “A city situated on the top of a mountain” (not a hill) is a very elevated thought here.
CAC Yes, and it would be an impregnable position for the city, especially a city that has all its supplies within itself. When you think of it in a spiritual way, the supplies will never fail.
Rem The higher it is, the nearer are its supplies.
CAC Yes.
Rem Saying ‘your light’ shows that they have it.
Ques In Philippians 2:15 we get the thought of shining. It is the same thought as the light in the holy city — luminous, having come into the heart. What would the bushel be?
CAC Anything that would hinder the shining. We all know what it is to keep the light hidden when it might shine out for the benefit of others. All sorts of things come in.
Rem Sometimes it is legitimate occupation.
CAC There is one bushel that I think is very effectual; when the saints feel how poorly they can express what is in their hearts and they are so obsessed with the thought of their own incompetence that they do not say anything! Well, that is a very thick bushel; it does not let much [p. 43] through. What does it matter, if I do blunder and make a fool of myself, if I get out a little word about God or about Christ? It does me good sometimes to make a fool of myself? I know it does me!
Ques Did you say, ‘it did‘ or ‘does’?
CAC Well, it does so. I find myself calculating as to whether I can say something suitable to persons and while I am calculating the opportunity passes. One poor little timid word, that makes you shake while uttering it, may be used of God to let divine light into a heart that never heard it. You always feel thankful when you break through and get a word out, do you not?
Rem It is a word to us all; it is to me!
CAC If we thought more of the worthiness of Christ, more of the “for my sake”, we should not be quite so slow about it. And it is not only words but “that they may see your upright works”. That is something seen. But it is no good speaking if my works do not correspond. We shall have to pray that Christ may be more the filling and satisfying portion of our hearts and then one’s works and ways will commend Him, and what we say will explain them.
Rem It is not to commend us, but “your Father who is in the heavens” is glorified.
CAC That is very important. They discern the source is outside nature. Then the Lord is careful to show that though He has come in, giving everything a most wonderful and glorious character as connected with Him, yet the Old Testament is not to be overlooked; the law and the prophets are all to be regarded.
Rem He magnifies the law.
CAC I think we have proved that in recent years. The Old Testament has been wonderfully brought out in its spiritual import; it gives us a great deal of detail we should not otherwise have. So He speaks of the “iota” or “tittle”. We have to learn to pay attention to the little [p. 44] bits in the Old Testament that we overlooked before.
Ques “Being dead to the law”. Would you open that up a bit. It is not setting aside the law?
CAC No, but setting aside the man that was found in relation to the law. “Ye are become dead to the law by the body of the Christ”. It is the man who was under the law and utterly failed at every point. That man is dead. That is really the root of the whole thing. Having got a new husband, everything takes on a new character. The law demands but gives no support. The new husband gives His company and support and the sense of His love and so is the more endeared to us as we lean upon Him. If people are under law they never carry it out but if dead to law and married to a risen Christ they do not break the law, they do not steal or murder, or even covet what their neighbour has.
Rem In verses 18 and 19 there are those who are called “least” and “greatest”, as though there were stages in the kingdom of the heavens.
CAC Yes, and all the commandments are not of equal importance, which might sound like a wrong thing to say. “One of the least commandments”, it says. Indeed they asked the Lord which was the greatest commandment and He told them at once certain things were the greatest commandment. One mark of a perverted mind is when we attach great importance to small things and perhaps overlook something much more important, such as the Pharisees who paid tithes of mint and anise and cummin and omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith.
Rem The “tittle” would have to do with the construction of the letters.
CAC Yes, much like our stops. It is important we should not overlook them. 2:2 verse 2 is spoiled by the full stop at the end of the fourth line which should be [p. 45] a comma. What has struck many of us in dear Mr. Taylor’s ministry is what attention he pays to details. Sometimes the most striking thing he says turns on one detail, perhaps a word or letter; “And to thy seed” — not seeds (Galatians 3: 16); the Spirit of God reasons on one letter. Some will not believe the Bible is inspired verbally but it is!
Rem “Bone of my bones” in Genesis 2: 23 is often quoted, ‘Bone of my bone’.
CAC That fits in with what we are reading in Matthew. It supposes that the saints have been formed out of the substance of Christ or they could never be such a vessel for the testimony. They have derived really from Himself.
Rem These are features of the kingdom.
CAC Does it not show (verse 2) that God is the God of measure.
Rem We would take account of that principle on the kingdom side.
CAC Yes, each one of us has his measure. The apostle speaks of the God of measure (2 Corinthians 10: 13) and He apportioned a certain service to Paul; on the divine side the thought of measure is introduced, because it speaks of God having “dealt to each a measure of faith”, Romans 12: 3.
Rem “To each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ”, Ephesians 4: 7.
CAC Well, that is a great matter. It is on the responsible side here; it is the one who does away with one of the least commandments who shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens, showing that it is a serious matter to set aside anything that is in the will of God; it is simply disqualifying ourselves for any enlargement in the kingdom.
Rem The place in the kingdom is according to the path here.
CAC Yes, the whole time in a general way. It is also true that our places in the kingdom are assigned sovereignly. There was a sister once who wanted a good place for [p. 46] her sons and she was told it was reserved. The principle of divine sovereignty enters into everything and it is good to bear that in mind. We might think we had been a little more faithful than the rest of our brethren, separated from what is dishonouring and in a path of obedience, but it was a matter of sovereignty and it was the sovereign leading of the good Shepherd. Everything that is blameworthy we set down to our own account, anything creditable we put down to sovereign mercy, so Paul said he “obtained mercy”.
Rem To do away with one of the least features of the whole law would suggest a flaw in the law.
CAC The Lord magnified the law and made it honourable. He made it greater than it was. And I suppose after all the only righteousness that will count in the kingdom is Christ. They will have to learn that Jehovah is their righteousness. Well, if we have the Lord as our righteousness we have a righteousness that far surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
Rem “That we might become God’s righteousness in Him”, it says (2 Corinthians 5:21), and “she shall be called: Jehovah our Righteousness”, Jeremiah 33: 16.
CAC Yes, and that is all the fruit of atonement, the result of the One being made sin for us who knew not sin that we might become God’s righteousness in Him, that is we are in Him for righteousness.
Ques How does verse 18 apply today?
CAC I suppose every thought of God in regard of men must be substantiated and we know how it has been substantiated by the complete setting aside in the death of Christ of the man who came short, and the establishment of everything in Christ that is according to God’s good pleasure. After all, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was a cloak of hypocrisy.
Rem “That the righteous requirement of [p. 47] the law should be fulfilled in us”, Romans 8: 4.
CAC And that after and on the ground that righteousness has been imputed to them without works. The beauty is we begin with a perfect, divine righteousness in Christ; we have not to work up or down to it. Everything works out in detail from that point. Understanding this would help us in the working out of things practically. It is a much higher standard here. I suppose we would not like to kill a brother but we might possibly call him a fool! The value of a brother is understood because he is set up in divine righteousness. Well, I ought to be careful what I say about him.
Rem It shows how the whole thing is carried out in affection for the One who is the centre of all, so it is that Person who says, “I say unto you”.
CAC All these chapters really turn on two things, that is, He says, “for my sake”, and then He speaks of the Father. They are the most wonderful motives introduced. As we keep these divine Persons in view every detail comes into adjustment. And it leads to the brother being valued; one would be careful not to be lightly angry with him, much less say anything that is contemptuous. These things are very practical.
Rem The first test after the fall was, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
CAC We are tested in that way; we soon get away from the thought of what the saints are in the estimation of divine Persons. ‘Raca’ means stupid or worthless — a term of contempt. It is a serious matter if a brother has something against me (verse 23). The whole point of it is that brother is an important personage to us. It is incumbent upon us to be reconciled before we bring our gift to the altar. It comes on your own conscience — “There ... remember”. It rather suggests that the altar is the place where things come to your mind. It is not that it comes [p. 48] to his mind but to the mind of the offerer. Sometimes a brother thought he had a wrong when he had not. It is not when your brother remembers but when you remember. The altar is approach to God and offering service, and the Lord suggests that at such a time it will come to your mind. This beautiful sacrifice of praise I intended to offer cannot be offered till I have put this right — put myself right with my brother. The gift waits there; it is not that it is not acceptable but something keeps it in suspense. It is the working out of exercises of soul; there is nothing legal about it. We go to pray and it comes upon us that we have said something we ought not and we had better put it right. I suppose these are great assembly principles. You find sometimes the grievances go on for months and years; that is not the Lord’s mind. It should begin with the person that has done wrong and thus it is very happy. He had not to be admonished and warned and so on but his memory acts — his brother has something against him. Here it is the working of the person’s own memory, and the Lord expects that of those who profess to be spiritual. It is something like the priest that has been anointed (Leviticus 4); of all others it is said the offering should be brought when it should come to their knowledge. It suggests that one in priestly nearness will recognise that he has done something wrong. It does not take a long time to act.
Rem It suggests we should have an altar in our house.
CAC Yes, it suggests that when you draw near to God you become very sensitive and remember something. It is a happy thing to watch in operation.
Rem Do sisters come into that?
CAC Well, a sister is a brother from this point of view. I suppose the privilege of approach was never vouchsafed in such a large measure as it is to the saints of the assembly. Of old, as to the gift and the altar it applied literally, but the principle [p. 49] applies today.
Ques The kingdom enlarges into the assembly, would you say?
CAC Yes. Anything unsettled interferes with the service. If a brother has done something to me I do not exactly enjoy his thanksgiving and praise.
Rem It is how it affects the whole service of God.
CAC The offerer is hindered by remembering his own wrong-doing, not by what the brother has done. It will not take very long to be reconciled if a man has forgotten all about it! If he is a spiritual man he has applied his blind eye to it and his deaf ear. It establishes his confidence; I know quite well by experience. If one confessed to me I should think, ‘This is a genuine brother, I think much better of him than I did before’. The offering service is affected by these grievances, and the Lord says if they are not adjusted the consequences may be very serious. No doubt this refers to God’s people. They had the chance of being reconciled and the consequences to the Jews who had refused have been terrible. They have been cast into prison and will not come out till they have paid the uttermost farthing. God is giving men the opportunity to be reconciled; that is why so few people are killed in these air raids and God is concerned that men should be reconciled. There are terrible raids and very few killed — well, who does that? God would have men reconciled; He does not want men killed.
Rem “Be ... wise ... Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way”.
CAC That is the character of the present time, that man is really in the way with God. It is an acceptable time, a time of salvation. God has righteously many things against man and in that sense is the adverse party, but He is not using it but sending out His servants to beseech men. He might put it to their account but He does not do it. So we warn men about the wrath to come, but it is an opportunity to be reconciled to God. It is beautiful — as if God comes and walks beside men, ‘Here I am close beside you, if you want things put right, here I am’. Oh, God is wonderful! The more you think about God and His ways with men the more you are impelled to worship Him. Many revile Him and say all sorts of hard things about Him and yet this is His true character. If I compel God to act according to His righteous government woe betide me; it will be terrible. So when Paul preaches at Antioch he speaks of the forgiveness of sins, but then he adds, “beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish”. We must remember that God is God, not to be trifled with; if men despise His goodness that leads to repentance there is nothing but His severity left. We see the holiness of divine judgment; nothing could be passed over. Any sin that I am doing, even a word against my brother — do I believe that that would consign me to the lake of fire but for the death of Christ? But that is the truth. If people do not get right with God there is no escape. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” There is no way out of prison if we neglect the opportunity of grace.
Rem There is healing in the plain but formation on the mount; there must be a removal to where He is.
CAC Yes, it is evidently very selective.
Rem It is a restful attitude of the Lord; it is not a matter of teaching and healing but of repose.
CAC It is satisfactory to Him; it is a position of reconciliation really.
Rem Here the twelve are getting instruction.
Rem There were a large number of believers but not much formation with them because they were not prepared to leave the plain and go up; the pathway was too testing for them. He would draw every one up from that position to where He can teach them and form them. It is testing to [p. 51] ascend and to come to the position of another level where these traits are produced.
CAC Because they are really features that come out personally in Christ, and we must all own that is the only thing that will stand because the Lord says if a man hears His word and does not do it he is like a foolish man building his house on the sand which will come to nothing.
Rem It says He shall sit on His throne. It gives great prominence to Him, does it not? If any is competent to teach it is He. It is very beautiful in that way.
CAC It all refers to conditions that are present on earth while things are in disorder, not what will mark saints in the millennium or in heaven, for some of these features will not be there. No one will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake in the millennium, still less in heaven. It is hardly necessary to mourn or be meek or to hunger in the millennium; it all refers to conditions here. There will not be much required in millennial conditions. The word for “meekness” in Hebrew is the same as ‘affliction’ which suggests meekness is only a quality to be developed under affliction. So it is a practical question as to whether we have been so married to Christ, whether there is a personal link so affectionate between Him and us, that we are able to exhibit these features of Christ, features of those that are married to Him. It is really learning what is pleasing to God in man in these present conditions of suffering and man’s pride exalting him on all hands. It is like the considerations of love in 1 Corinthians 13. It is humbling to us to contemplate them. The sooner we entertain the thought the better for us. We do not expect it is going to be easy and comfortable, do we?
Rem Verse 30 does not mean cutting off the hand actually.
CAC The act of cutting off the hand would not help matters!
[p. 52] Rem It is helpful to notice that the eye is often linked with the heart.
CAC Nothing is to be suffered to move us out of the path of discipleship, however important and desirous it might be naturally. If we do allow anything, it is a most serious matter, for to go out of the path of discipleship is really to be on the way to hell. It is sometimes well to view things in their issues, is it not?
Ques Why should it be the right eye and the right hand?
CAC Well, it is what you would set the greater value upon naturally, if it interferes with the path of discipleship, is to be cut off. The Lord does not say to us that it is going to be an easy matter to be a disciple.
Ques Have these verses an assembly setting?
CAC It shows that the relationships set up by God are not to be violated. No doubt Jehovah’s relationship with Israel was the marriage relationship, just as the relationship of Christ to the assembly is the marriage relationship, and anything that would interfere with faithfulness to the divinely instituted relationship is a most serious matter.
Rem We ought to know what might be a snare to us.
Rem The eye has a great place in reading and is a snare often.
CAC We all find it out for ourselves. We each know what may draw us out of the path of discipleship and it leads to hell. Many of us have learnt to pluck out that eye and cast it away, otherwise we should be going on the path to hell. The literature of the world is a snare for the young but there comes a time when you cannot go on with it. It is an impossibility. You must pluck the eye out. I know I came to that point myself. You find that it is not a mere trifle but on the way to hell. The Lord puts it in a most serious light. We have no licence to tone down the Lord’s words and empty them of meaning. Each one must find out for himself what it is; I cannot judge for you. It is a [p. 53] matter of individual exercise and liberty; if it works against discipleship then it must be cut off. It is wonderful that at the outset the Lord should say this at once, to show that the path He proposes is a very difficult one. Many reading the sermon on the mount think it is impossible. The Lord would have us know that the path of discipleship is impossible to nature, and can only be entered upon as coming under the power of His name and Person and as supported by Him at every step. The Lord supposes that something has come in to operate in the hearts of men to cause them to take a course against everything that nature and the flesh would desire, but it is worth it!
Ques Would Peter walking on the water illustrate it?
CAC That illustrates the point. If we would accept that the christian life is an impossibility to human nature it would help us, but by divine grace and attraction and the support of the Lord Jesus it becomes possible.
Rem The very first diversion from that path is to be dealt with. There is committal to a certain course and nothing is allowed to divert one from that; there is no release from it.
CAC Yes, and the Lord has called us after Him so that we might take on His character. What is the use of a christian profession that leaves us without the taking on of the character of Christ? What is the worth of it? A mere profession is not worth much if it does not lead to the desire to take on His character. We may fail in it and break down over and over again, but when we do so it is a matter to grieve over. How the Lord would show that that would enter even into the use of words — swearing is a matter of the use of words. Man naturally likes to strengthen what he says but the true disciple must be content to speak simply and to say what he means.
Ques Does it touch the matter of taking an oath here?
CAC If I was called upon in a court of justice to take [p. 54] an oath, I should have no difficulty about it, because that is not a question at all of my own rashness in committing myself to something but of submitting to what the government has ordered to secure that a man should speak the truth. The christian does not object to their bringing in God’s name to strengthen things. For the christian the taking of an oath in a court of justice does not make an atom of difference to his statement; he would be just as particular about his word as he would be about his oath. I would not object to the recognition of God. It recognises the supreme claim of God. I am glad they do. I do it in subjection. The Lord refers to people taking an oath in their own rashness and adding unnecessary words to what they say. It should not be necessary for a disciple to do any such thing. It applies, in the principle of it, to careless talking and saying things without regard to what they really mean.
Rem “Be not rash with thy mouth”, Ecclesiastes 5: 2.
CAC A very wholesome word. We should take care that we do not take God’s name in vain even in His service, that we think seriously of what we say.
Rem Matthew 26: 63, 64; The Lord answered when adjured (cf. Leviticus 5: 1).
CAC Showing the Lord accepted the voice of adjuration. If you hear the voice of adjuration and do not tell what you know, you are guilty according to Leviticus 5: 1.
Ques Would you tell us what the swearing does apply to? Is this to make us more careful in our speech?
CAC The positive word is that our ‘yea’ is to be ‘yea’ and your ‘nay’, ‘nay’, and that is an end to it.
Ques What about the case of the one who cannot back up what he has strengthened by an oath?
Rem There was Peter’s oath to the Lord that he would never forsake Him, and he did.
CAC Yes, he swore just the opposite before very long.
[p. 55] Rem It is well not to go beyond your power, just saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
CAC So that man is accepted who swears to his own hurt and changes not. That is, you stand by what you swear even if it is to your own hurt.
Rem Swearing by heaven because it is the throne of God or by the earth because it is the footstool of His feet shows that God will never give up these things.
CAC The Lord had in mind that we should not use divine things or divine names without considering what they mean. It is possible to use spiritual things in a way that is really profane and the Lord would deliver us from that. It is possible to use the Lord’s name in a religious way repeatedly without real reference of heart to Him.
Rem As to the city of the great King.
CAC What God is as King as well as what He is as Father is set forth in the Lord Jesus. Divine things are to be spoken of with sobriety and care; they are not to be carelessly spoken of. It is possible to lower divine things by speaking of them in a light way so that we degrade them; that is to be avoided.
Rem How much the city of the great King would mean to the Lord Himself — more than to anyone. He wept over Jerusalem.
Rem He would not have it lightly sworn by.
Ques How would you explain, “Resist not evil”?
CAC That is how He maintains His rights. If smitten on the one cheek then you turn the other also. Later He rode into the city, not to resist evil but to submit to it. He did not turn the other cheek when they smote Him upon the cheek, showing even this is not to be taken literally.
Rem Isaiah says He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to those that plucked out the hair.
Rem “They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek”, in Micah 5.
Ques Why does it mention here, “Resist not evil”? It is a question that is being asked on all hands today.
CAC Well, it just shows christian principles cannot be applied to the government of this world.
Rem That is important for it is where many come aground.
CAC It is the very province of government to resist evil and if possible to subdue it. That is why we have prisons, policemen and so on. “He beareth not the sword in vain”, it says. So the government that God has set up in the world is to resist evil; but then the disciples of Jesus are told not to resist evil.
Rem We should be sympathetic with the government, it is said, and assist it according to our power.
CAC We have to recognise government is going on in the world altogether different from the spirit of christianity. If a man does wrong he must be punished, but then grace says he must be forgiven! A judge would be wrong if he forgave a criminal. When Queen Victoria refused to sign a death warrant at the commencement of her reign she caused a change in the whole law of England. From that time the duty of signing a death warrant was taken out of the hands of the sovereign and given to the Secretary of State. It was a womanly act on her part but not a queenly act. The christian is to move on the line of not resisting evil and is not to retaliate. If I retaliate and am angry and bitter I am no disciple, am I?
Rem It is really the easy way, as it saves me the sense of chafing and bitterness.
CAC And you have the sense of the Lord’s approval; that is what governs it. You have moved in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.