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RIGHTEOUSNESS (4)

JT The part of our subject now before us is righteousness by faith. Noah became heir of the righteousness which is by faith, but that righteousness came in through Abraham. It is worked out in Romans and it covers the present time of the gospel period. The position of Abraham, who was heir of the world, stands related to it as being the father of all who believe, whether they are of the circumcision or whether they are not. So the matter opens up a wide sphere including ourselves as Abraham’s children who are justified by faith without the deeds of the law. It is very remarkable that in Genesis 15 we get introduced for the first time in Scripture the formal idea of the word of God. It points to the position of Christ as the Word as John presents Him, that is, it is the title He has taken on as unfolding the mind of God. It is through Him in this character that the mind of God is unfolded. And the idea as coming in here in Genesis points to this present dispensation. The gospel is announced on the principle of righteousness by faith; it is a question of the word, or the mind of God.

AEH What is the difference between the two thoughts: “Jehovah had said to Abram” (Genesis 12:1), and “the word of Jehovah came to Abram” (Genesis 15:1)?

JT The first reference is a formal communication, but in chapter 15 it is, “After these things the word of Jehovah came to Abram”. This is not simply formal, it is more, it is the word of Jehovah. It marks the position in this chapter. Again in verse 4, “And behold, the word of Jehovah came to him”. There is more in the word than is ^[p. 441] formally stated.

AEH It involves the difference between the Scriptures and what Christ is.

JT Well, that is a good suggestion. Scripture is sometimes designated the Word of God, but it is that only in a limited way. It is what is written. You cannot say that all the mind of God is formally written; there is the idea of the word of God as received currently in the power of the Spirit. The ministry of the apostles is spoken of as the word of God in Acts 6:2. The unfolding of it by the Spirit may take place at any time. In Hebrews it is called “living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is not a creature unapparent before him; but all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:12,13), showing that the idea of the ‘word’ involves God Himself.

LES Luke 1:2 speaks of “eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word”.

JT Yes the title ‘Word’ is in Luke and in John. Luke speaks of Christ under that name as well-known, it is a designation evidently known when He was here in the flesh. It was a title current amongst the saints then, for Luke makes no formal explanation of it, he simply mentions the Lord as such in his narrative to Theophilus: “Forasmuch as many have undertaken to draw up a relation concerning the matters fully believed among us, as those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word have delivered them to us” (Luke 1:1,2). Luke would no doubt have explained the use of this designation to Theophilus had it not been well known. John uses the same term to designate the Lord personally: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

AEH ^[p. 442] That is very important. I may read the Scriptures but unless the word of God comes into my soul there will be no light. The word of God is God morally set out in Christ, would you say?

JT Not only what is expressed, but what may be there though not expressed.

AEJA There is a distinction then between Jehovah speaking to Abram of certain happenings and the word coming to him?

JT Yes. It says, “After these things the word of Jehovah came to Abram”. Now it is conveying His mind to Abram; it comes directly to the person in a vision. Hebrews 1:1,2 says, “God having spoken in many parts and in many ways formerly to the fathers in the prophets, at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son”. The Word is implied, God is addressing Himself to His people in a certain Person, namely the Son. It is the Word in John’s and Luke’s gospel; and here the word of Jehovah comes to Abram. It would imply more than simply what is stated to him verbally. Many details enter into it which would be the enlargement of the general thought of the word.

JC Would it be right to say that in chapter 15 Jehovah is telling Abram what He is going to be to him, whereas in chapter 12 He is telling him what He is going to do?

JT Yes; chapter 15 is a great advance on chapter 12. There is nothing said about the word coming to Abram in chapter 12; it merely says, “Jehovah had said to Abram”, which is a verbal communication when he was in the land of Mesopotamia. Chapter 15 expresses God’s mind; there are details, of course, but Abram is being brought into touch with the divine mind: “the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision”. It is extensive in its bearing, because Abram is the heir of the world and he is the father of many nations, and it is clear that God’s mind must enter into that. A great and wide thought comes in here. In this chapter we have the first mention of “the word of Jehovah” and of a vision.

DR If the word is God’s mind, what did Paul mean when he said it was given to him to complete the word of God?

JT Well, that would be in the sense of the scope of it: it was filled out or completed by the truth of the mystery. The assembly was the completion of the word of God; what was hidden throughout the ages is now disclosed. Many phases of it had already been dealt with, and this matter here is really the beginning of them. Abraham is heir of the world; this is not said of Noah but of Abram; Noah was heir of righteousness, Abram the heir of the world itself. That requires a great deal of unfolding of the mind of God, and His word covers it. It is completed in the truth of the assembly — unfolded by Paul. Here God has a person entirely under His control in what He has to say; there is no disturbance, Abram is taken aside by God in a vision. The primary writing of Scripture must have had that character, God taking persons aside, drawing them aside from disturbing elements so that there might be divine accuracy.

SP “The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, And his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me” (2 Samuel 23:2,3).

JT That alludes to an oracular communication. Noah had one of those, apparently. The oracular communication tells of things about to be done but covers only that particular matter. What was said to Balaam was oracular, and there are things that take that character with us, covering just local matters. But here the word of God characteristically is in mind. In Hebrews it runs on to God Himself, “And there is not a creature unapparent before him; but all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes,

with whom we have to do”. It runs into what God is; nothing is hidden from Him with whom we have to do. That is God. It gives the idea of the word of God a great place: “penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. You cannot limit that to a mere communication covering one item. It is the great general thought as to what God is, and it all enables us to understand John 1, that the Lord Jesus Christ is designated in that way. It is what is in the mind of God and what is expressed; not only what is expressed, but what is in it. The Lord Jesus brings all that out.

AEJA When the word of the Lord comes in a vision it is much more important than when He just speaks.

JT I think that it is. God has a vessel that He is about to speak to, and which He intends to use wholly for Himself without any possibility of intrusion or distraction. I believe that is in mind here. So Peter went to the house-top and there an ecstasy came upon him and he saw the vessel descending.

AD Would the revelation of the word here to Abram be the result of what he says to the king of Sodom in verse 22 of the previous chapter? “And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, the Most High God, possessor of heavens and earth”. Would that give a moral basis for the word coming to him?

JT Quite so. It is worked out in that way so that we have the phrase here, “After these things”. It is as though Abram has now reached the time for Jehovah to thus approach him. “After these things” points to chapter 14.

LES Psalm 105:19 says, “Until the time when what he said came about: the word of Jehovah tried him”.

JT That helps in what we are saying. ^[p. 445] The allusion is to the mind of God being disclosed in some way during Joseph’s affliction. It was “until the time when what he said came about”, showing how servants are tested in order to be fitted for what God intends them to do.

HH Would the Hymn, ‘Thou art the blest incarnate Word’, have the thought of what is current as referring to Christ where He is now?

JT It is taken from John 1, the writer believing that He was the Word, and necessarily incarnate. That hymn was written by one who had been a Unitarian and was converted, and as it stresses John 1 it shows how thoroughly he was converted. “Thou art the blest incarnate Word, The Father’s only Son”. (11:1)

HH Would you say that the Lord Jesus can be regarded in glory as the Word now?

JT Certainly. All that comes out now by the Spirit must be attributed to Him. All the ministry must have that character, for the apostle says to the Corinthians, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). What proceeded from the temple would be on the same principle as what came out in Christ personally. What comes out now from the temple, which is the saints, has the same character as what came out in Him as Man here, for He was the temple of God; (John 2:19 - 21).

LES Would Revelation 19:11 - 13 confirm what you have said? “And I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and one sitting on it, called Faithful and True, and he judges and makes war in righteousness. And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head many diadems, having a name written which no one knows but himself; and he is clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God”.

JT That helps. He has a name written that no ^[p. 446] one knows but Himself. But this designation is known, His name is called The Word of God. It covers Christianity and all the ministry that comes out; all depends on the position of Christ as the Word. The Holy Spirit is the medium down here.

AEH What is the force of the word to the Philadelphian assembly, “and hast kept my word” (Revelation 3:8)?

JT It is the character of Christ’s word there. Whatever it was, they worked it out there. The keeping of the word is the application of the thing. It is workable.

Rem John was on Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

JT Just so. He was there on that ground. So that in a sense there are always new or fresh thoughts; not new principles, for Paul completed the word of God in that sense — there are no new principles, but there is the opening up of the truth and the application of it to meet current needs, and that divine things should become intelligible to us. We read, “accept with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). It is to be received into our souls.

SP Does that constitute righteousness in the case of Abram?

JT Yes. He believed Jehovah and that was counted unto him for righteousness.

AEJA The Lord brought Abram out to view the heavens — to count the stars, and assured him that his seed should be like that. Would that be the ‘vision’ that he saw?

JT Verse 6 is the great thought of the chapter, that “he believed Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness”. God is bringing a great thing into the world, and Abram as being affected by it has the word of it; the purpose of God in Abram is to be effected. It is established by a sure covenant. The ^[p. 447] mind of God, as we have seen, enters into this chapter. In the second half of the chapter Abram raises the question, “Lord Jehovah, how shall I know that I shall possess it?” That is, the mind or purpose of God is coming into his soul, but how is he to know that he shall possess the promised land? In what follows Jehovah shows him.

SP There is no doubt in Abram’s mind.

JT No, for God answers him showing him how he should know.

AEJA Faith will get abundant assurance of what is coming to pass.

JT Yes, it is knowledge by faith; Abram asked for it and Jehovah instructed him. Peter says, “in your faith have also virtue” (2 Peter 1:5). Faith is the great starting point — that I believe God, and believing is reckoned to Abram for righteousness.

DR Why is it that in this chapter the reception of the word is reckoned as righteousness? In chapter 13 God shows Abram the north, south, east and west and promises to make his seed as the dust of the earth and he immediately moves on to Hebron; but this great thought of righteousness does not come out till chapter 15. In chapter 13 it is the dust of the earth, but in chapter 15 it is the stars of the heaven.

JT This shows the higher ground here. God is referring to great matters in the vision; it is “After these things” — the time has come for the communication of God to Abram in this way.

HH Does the thought of the heir involve sonship?

JT Righteousness is stressed here. Romans 4:13 says, “For it was not by law that the promise was to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world, but by righteousness of faith”. Faith enters into all these things. The word coming to Abram here is on the line of faith, righteousness by ^[p. 448] faith. So that the position is impregnable; Abram’s heirship is assured on the principle of faith. A world is here set up in faith, righteousness by faith. There is the evidence of life in it. Life is through faith; realisation and confirmation are by the Spirit.

HH The heir implies sonship in some way. It concerns God’s promise to Abram.

JT Heirship in one coming from himself is included in what he is to believe. “And Abram said, Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me? seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Lo, to me thou hast given no seed, and behold, a son of my house will be mine heir”. Then “the word” comes to him: “And behold, the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that will come forth out of thy body shall be thine heir”. All that enters into the heirship of the world, but really Christ is in mind. It is in the one that is to be born — Isaac — that heirship lies. “And he believed Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness”.

SP Is it suggestive that Abram afterwards speaks of a “child” whereas Jehovah speaks of a “son”? Genesis 17:17 says, “Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old?” But in verse 19 God says, “Sarah thy wife shall indeed bear thee a son”, suggesting that son is a greater thought than child in that way.

JT Yes; it is the seed — it is Isaac — really Christ. The stars refer to a great number. Galatians 3:16 confines the truth at first to Isaac, but then it is Christ “And to thy seed; which is Christ”. The heirship of Abram comes out to us through Christ. So that the blessing of Abraham arrives on the nations and we receive the promise of the Spirit on the principle of faith; because Christ is the real seed that is in mind in this chapter. It is the ground Galatians takes, so that the blessing reaches us ^[p. 449] through the seed. The large number is worked out there, for Jerusalem has now more children than when she had a husband. So this great principle of righteousness is extended out to the nations and Abraham becomes our father through it; and a great number of persons are accredited to Jerusalem who now has no husband. Galatians works that out. We all belong to Jerusalem in that sense, God accredits us to her. It is worked out from Abraham; Abraham is the father of all the faithful.

AEH Would there be any relation between the two thoughts of eternal life and sonship?

JT I think eternal life is involved in the blessing of Abraham. Preceding, there is the reduction of the span of human life. Abraham himself lived only one hundred and seventy-five years, which was far less than the antediluvian men, and even much less than Shem and his immediate descendants. Isaac lives one hundred and eighty years, Jacob one hundred and forty-seven years, Joseph one hundred and ten years, and Moses one hundred and twenty years. All this makes way for and accentuates the blessing of Abraham which involves eternal life. Everlasting life is an immense thought as over against the smallness of human life, for Moses says in Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if, by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet their pride is labour and vanity, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away”. We may as well form a true estimate of that life and make room for the full thought of eternal life: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal” (John 3:16). Faith is addressed throughout — it is believing in God. Abraham is the great example of it, righteousness was reckoned to him on that principle.

L.E.S. What is faith?

JT Well, it comes by hearing. It is “by a report,

but the report by God’s word”. There is a strong link between faith in man and the mind of God. The mind of God is expressed in His word. There is instruction in comparing and linking the word of God with faith in Abram as seen in Genesis 15; the word of God came to him and he believed. The report comes to me — do I believe?

HH Faith and righteousness are not one and the same thing.

JT No, faith is on man’s side, but reckoned by God as righteousness to him who has it. Look at Romans 4: it is not only that I say that I believe a statement of Scripture, but what is the state of my soul? God is dealing with my state. What is said of Abraham here? “(According as it is written, I have made thee father of many nations,) before the God whom he believed, who quickens the dead, and calls the things which be not as being; who against hope believed in hope to his becoming father of many nations”. Believing in hope is faith. The point is, the state of the soul was hope; hope was in his soul as believing. God is dealing with man as the subject of His work. “Against hope” he “believed in hope”, that was the state of soul. And so he becomes the father of many nations.

LES I think that is helpful. So many have a hazy idea of faith.

JT The apostle goes on to link faith with the mind of God: the reckoning is in the mind of God. The word of God comes to Abram — faith cometh by hearing and hearing by report — but the report is by God’s word, that is, it is linked with the mind of God.

AEH It would not be possible for us to go through the experience of Romans 7 unless this transaction between Himself and our souls came first. Would that link with Abram’s experience in chapter 15?

JT It is a question of how. Christianity is ^[p. 451] the great how. How are things worked out in our souls? The report is to you and how are you affected by it? Where you come in is on the line of hope. With reference to this matter of the heirship of the world, Abram says, How? “Lord Jehovah, how shall I know that I shall possess it?” And God says to him, “Take me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon”. Notice the sex — it is a heifer of three years; then the second is the same sex, a she-goat; and the third a ram of three years. These are matters involving knowledge and Abraham is accredited with having some knowledge. It requires knowledge to know rams and heifers. God reckons on what the believer knows. He was to take these three creatures and besides them a turtle dove and a pigeon. It was a test as to his knowledge. Abram is to secure these animals, how long did it take him? He has to go to the flock and to tax the knowledge he has to aid him in securing them. Then there is the second part — he divides them. He is not told to do this, but it was needed. “And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the half of each opposite its fellow; but the birds he did not divide”. God does not say anything more after He lets His mind be known as to the creatures, Abram does the rest; and he makes no mistake or omission, he does what the occasion required. He is a man of knowledge and God counts on this. He does the needed things, he divides the animals in the midst and rightly places the pieces; he had knowledge enough for all that. But what he does brings out the opposition of the devil. This will surely come, the devil will always seek to resist what is done for God, especially as done according to His mind. But he must be kept out. In the assembly we are fortified with knowledge to deal with him; Paul says, “we are not ignorant of his devices”. There is also power for this protection. There may not be instruction in detail, but divinely-given intelligence knows what to do. Christians are addressed as “intelligent persons”. Verse 12 says, “and Abram scared them away. And as the sun was just going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, a horror, a great darkness, fell upon him”. This is an experience, God is putting him through this experience corresponding with Romans 7; note, it is a horror. This experience is preceded by the exercise of power against the enemy. The birds of prey are scared away; we must not give place to the devil.

SP Is that why James says of Abraham, “Ye see that a man is justified on the principle of works, and not on the principle of faith only” (James 2:24)?

JT Yes. That refers to what Abram is doing corresponding with the righteousness which he had by faith. He knew how to keep the enemy out. The how as to all this is in Romans. In chapter 7 the person sees what is in himself — deep down in himself — the horror of the working of sin in the flesh, and he cries, “O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me?” So God brings us through this experience to make real men and women out of us; to make us realise in ourselves what it is to deal with evil.

LES We are told to resist the devil and he will flee from us.

JT Paul says, “We are not ignorant of his devices”. Abram was not ignorant here, he knew what to do, whereas Pharaoh’s baker allowed the birds to come down and eat what he had prepared for the king. What is prepared for God by Christians will, unless guarded, be taken by the devil or his emissaries.

AEJA Is it as we become righteous that we are constituted believers such as God can use? We should do things according to divine instructions.

^[p. 453] JT We are obligated to know what to do. As we are divinely taught, God leaves things with us; sonship implies this. He would tell us to use the knowledge we have. In Romans circumcision is introduced into the matter of justification by faith: “Does this blessedness then rest on the circumcision, or also on the uncircumcision? For we say that faith has been reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then has it been reckoned?” Notice the word ‘how’. Then the Spirit of God brings in Genesis 17. But Abram is righteous in chapter 15, before circumcision is introduced; why does circumcision come in then? It says that “he received the sign of circumcision as seal of the righteous of faith which he had being in uncircumcision”. Circumcision as the seal of righteousness involved Romans 7; it is the negation of the flesh. But the truth of circumcision belongs more to Colossians than to Romans. Those who are justified are not going to allow sin. James says that he would prove faith by works: “What is the profit, my brethren, if any one say he have faith, but have not works? can faith save him? Now if a brother or a sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one from amongst you say to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled; but give not to them the needful things for the body, what is the profit? So also faith, if it have not works, is dead by itself” (James 2:14 - 17). Circumcision as a spiritual thought involves the Spirit, as Philippians 3:3 shows. So James goes on to say, “But some one will say, Thou hast faith and I have works. Shew me thy faith without works, and I from my works will shew thee my faith” (verse 18). That is the great point: faith is attested by works. James is as much part of the word of God as Romans is. James is showing how circumcision comes in, it implies the Spirit; it is through Him, as received by the believer, that the gospel is accredited. James is opening that out. “Thou believest that God is ^[p. 454] one. Thou doest well. The demons even believe, and tremble” (verse 19). How remarkable that is! But it corresponds with the power Christians have in the Spirit. We can link it on with Genesis 15, the birds of prey are kept away by Abram. He “scared them away”; there is power in the believer to scare the devil away. So the mind of God goes through.

AEH What you were saying about the need of circumcision and the complete acceptance of the cutting off of the flesh, involves power in me.

JT That is Romans 8:4, “The righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”. Romans 8 is the idea of the seal of righteousness; a man sets to his seal that God is true — circumcision implies that.

HH “Circumcision, of the heart, in spirit, not in letter”, (Romans 2:29). That is the proper Jew.

JT Quite so. The epistle works it out. Chapter 7, as to our state, is the ‘how’ — a crucial matter for us.

HH Abram is reckoned righteous before circumcision, but then the righteousness is sealed afterwards.

JT The seal of righteousness is circumcision.

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