THE ASSEMBLY AS SET UP UNDER PAUL'S MINISTRY
[p. 143] THE ASSEMBLY AS SET UP UNDER PAUL’S MINISTRY
Acts 17: 1 - 4; Acts 18: 1 - 11; Acts 20: 17 - 38
JT I would suggest that it may be helpful to consider the assembly as seen at Thessalonica, at Corinth, and at Ephesus. From these scriptures, taken rightly in connection with the epistles that refer to them — Thessalonians, Corinthians and Ephesians — we may see what the assembly is as set up under Paul’s ministry.
The epistle to the Thessalonians teaches us what the assembly was in its beginnings as marked by youthful freshness and vigour; the assembly at Corinth serves to indicate what it is in connection with the testimony here in this world, and the assembly seen at Ephesus indicates what it is in connection with the future; “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”. It was in my mind to consider the assembly in these connections, so that we might have an increased apprehension of what we are called to. I observe in moving about among the Lord’s people many who are possessed of the idea of a congregation only, and with little conception of what it is to assemble. The Lord, in speaking of the assembly, said that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, and that is another feature of it.
AEF Is the thought of the building one aspect of the assembly?
JT The Lord said, “On this rock I will build my assembly”.
AEF You were saying that a great many of the Lord’s people had the thought of a congregation and not of the assembly; does that result from not [p. 144] realising that the Lord is building up His people in what is spiritual?
JT Yes, and that those who form it are not only living, but intelligent. Paul says, “I speak as to intelligent persons”, 1 Corinthians 10: 15.
AEF The Thessalonians were a wonderful company. They “turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God”.
JT Yes. The apostle in his short visit among them had not only opened up what we have in Acts 17, but he must have opened up the full revelation of God and His Son. The Thessalonians were awaiting His Son — God’s Son — from the heavens, showing that they were set up in relation to divine Persons. It is with that in view that one suggested these scriptures. Most of the Lord’s people, in regard of what is collective, have very little thought beyond a congregation, so that we are but little removed in this respect from what is around us. A congregation is not what the Acts presents to us; it presents an assembly.
JMcM What is the difference between being assembled and gathered together?
JT Being gathered together is very near to the thought of the assembly; it is a mutual thought; still the word ‘assemble’ implies that we are together intelligently as in relation to each other. In Acts 1 you have the statement made of the Lord, “being assembled with them” (verse 4); in verse 6, “they therefore, being come together”, He spoke to them about the coming of the Spirit. When they were gathered together they asked Him about certain things; this might correspond to a meeting for prayer. One’s thought was that we might see briefly what the assembly was as seen in these three localities, so that we might learn in what is presented how to assemble, and hence how to be in the assembly and of the assembly, and what we are as of it.
[p. 145] First you have in Thessalonica the work of God developing in a few weeks. The apostle, it says, “went in among them”. In going in among them he acted somewhat in accord with the Lord during the forty days; He assembled with them. He moved about among them, and in doing so He would convey to them what it was to assemble. That is a point of great importance to note in regard of this subject, and it is well for young Christians especially to take account of how experienced ones act, because in the epistle to the Thessalonians the apostle says, “Ye became followers of us”, and in their turn they themselves became models, “ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia”. Then further it says, “Ye, brethren, have become imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus”. In that way the principle of example in spiritual things is set up in the Acts, and the principle, too, of following an example. Christianity is based more on that than on precept. The Lord brought in divine thoughts from heaven and exemplified them in the midst of His people, and the disciples thus became children of wisdom. In those who followed after the Lord — the apostles — the same thing was carried on, so that in a place like Thessalonica the disciples took note of what Paul did as well as of what he said.
EBG There is not much record of what the Lord did during the forty days?
JT There is considerable if you take the four gospels. Take Matthew; in that gospel He maintains a certain distance; He takes the attitude of royalty; He sends a message to His disciples to tell them that He would see them in a certain mountain in Galilee. He does not go into the midst of them, but “coming up spoke to them, saying, All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. He is setting before them the principle of administration, and so maintains [p. 146] what you might call a certain dignified reserve. In Luke He comes among them — “he himself stood in their midst” — and impresses upon them that He is a real Man: “a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have”, and so He shows them His hands and His feet, and eats before them. And then, having already expounded the Scriptures to two of them, He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. All these things happened after He rose, and were for spiritual education.
EBG I was thinking rather of what you said, that it was more by example than by precept that we are taught. Did you speak of that in connection with the Lord during the forty days?
JT Yes, I did. They were in the habit of assembling, according to the Acts. Peter says, in regard to the apostle who was to be appointed in the place of Judas, that he should be one of those who “have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us”, so that the principle of assembling had already been brought forward; but in the forty days, I apprehend, the greatest impressions were given, because He was forming them inwardly for the assembly. We have not any definite word as to His assembling with them during the period of His public ministry, but we do have it in Acts 1. He, “being assembled with them, commanded them”, etc.
JMcM In what way were the Thessalonians imitators?
JT I think it suggests how young believers are led on by example — following those through whom the light has come to them. It is quite of God that we should take note of those through whom the light comes to us, and see what they do. But then the apostle goes on to say “and of the Lord”, “Ye became our imitators and of the Lord”. If we followed the Lord first and then another, it would be [p. 147] to tend to apostasy; but to follow another and then to follow the Lord is another thing.
Ques Would it be diverting if you were to give us the education in Mark’s account of the forty days and of John’s account?
JT Mark has in view that we should know how to be Levites. He tells them to preach the gospel to all the creation, and it says that He gave them power to cast out demons in His name; then He sat at the right hand of God, and it says that the apostles went forth preaching everywhere, the Lord working with them. This is to fit us for levitical work. John’s account would establish us here as worthy of His confidence. We are not much, even if we have the instructions of Matthew, Mark and Luke, if we are not trustworthy — if He cannot confide in us. The Lord says to them in John, “As the Father sent me forth, I also send you. And having said this, he breathed into them”, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”; then is added, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them”, that is, He gives them, as it were, a signed cheque to be drawn to any amount. One of the greatest and most important features of our position is that we are to be trustworthy — that the Lord confides in us.
WJ Is that why you get “friends” in John?
JT I think so. You get the expression in Luke too, but particularly in John.
SB At the commencement of the same gospel we read that the Lord did not commit Himself to man.
JT That is it; He did not trust Himself to man, but in chapter 20 you have those to whom He can commit things.
E Is that what you find in Thessalonians?
JT I think that what was developing amongst them was the “work of faith and labour of love, and enduring constancy of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father”. Wonderful result of a few weeks’ growth! Thessalonians sets before us a company of young Christians laying hold of divine ideas at the outset. They are addressed as the “assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father”. No other assembly is addressed in that way, for the reason, I think, that God would signalise them on account of the rapidity of their growth. He saw that the working of the divine nature in them had developed rapidly.
WJ Is that applicable to every assembly — “in God the Father”?
JT I think it means that they were peculiarly lovable — “beloved of God”. I connect it with the statement in Hosea, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him”. It was what the young assembly was to God as developed normally in love and intelligence.
Ques Would they be conscious of their position?
JT You will remember what is said about the company in Cornelius’s house: “the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word”. It was an energetic action of the Spirit corresponding with the action of the father on the prodigal; it says he “fell on his neck and kissed him”. God has His own way of making His love known to you — falling on your neck and letting you know that you are a special object of His affections.
Ques You were saying that this assembly followed Paul and followed the Lord. Would you say that the Lord commits Himself to those who became models for young believers to imitate?
JT I think He does. It is important for young believers to take account of those through whom the light comes. We have to take account not only of what a brother says, but of what he is; the apostle says, “Knowing of whom thou hast learned”. In this letter (1 Thessalonians) Paul draws attention to the type of man that he was among them. He wanted to set a right example before them, and the sequel shows [p. 149] that they took note of that, because he says, “Ye became our imitators, and of the Lord”. These verses in Acts 17 tell us that he went in among them. The Lord had set that example: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”.
RGH And He went about doing good.
AEF These young Christians got the divine thought of the assembly from the very outset. They did not drop into congregationalism. They were preserved from that by the example of one who took character from the Lord.
JT Quite so. If the apostle had assumed a clerical attitude he would have formed them into a congregation.
AEF The thought of the assembly in that way is that there should be reciprocity one toward another — mutual responsibility and response.
JT So that in chapter 20 (to carry forward the thought) we are told that quite a few visiting brothers were present at Troas: Sopater, Aristarchus, Timotheus, etc., and the localities to which they belonged are given. Besides these brothers of note, the great apostle himself was there, and then it says, “And the first day of the week, we being assembled to break bread”; not Paul and these visiting brethren and we, but we; that is, every one who was there. Every one cost the Lord Jesus exactly the same (see Exodus 30); they were all alike in that sense. The “we” that Luke uses shakes the whole foundation upon which the fabric of congregational Christendom is built. What lies at the foundation of the assembly is the “we” of mutuality. Now I think that Paul, in entering in among the Thessalonians, would convey that to them; although he was an apostle, yet, as a Christian, he was one of them.
AEF And then they became followers of the churches of God in Judaea.
JT Yes; and they themselves became models [p. 150] to all those that were in Macedonia and in Achaia; that is district influence. There is not only the local influence, but we get here a local company exercising district influence; then in the next chapter he enlarges on what he was as having gone in among them: “For ye know yourselves, brethren, our entering in which we had to you, that it has not been in vain ... but even as we have been approved of God to have the glad tidings entrusted to us, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, who proves our hearts ... have been gentle in the midst of you, as a nurse would cherish her own children”. That is the kind of man that the apostle was as having gone in among them. It is of great importance to notice this, because the young are coming on, and the older ones — as the Lord continues the testimony — necessarily pass away. Now, what example is being set to the young? As life develops, it has to be guided and moulded, and hence the great importance of models.
OG You would say that the apostle is anxious to develop in the assembly features seen in himself; he is calling attention to spiritual features.
JT Quite. And then you will notice how the apostle would call attention not only to what he was as a nurse, but as a father also. “Ye know how, as a father his own children, we used to exhort each one of you”. He goes on to remark then on the fact that they had received the word, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, and works up to the thought of God, and then he says, “Ye, brethren, have become imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judaea in Christ Jesus”. They took note of what God was doing far beyond the limits of their own country. We have to disallow sectional and national feelings. The assemblies in Judaea were far away from Greece; there were no natural links at all between them. Paul says to the Thessalonians, “For ye also have suffered the same things of your [p. 151] own countrymen, as also they of the Jews, who have both slain the Lord Jesus and the prophets”, etc. The Greeks and Jews were alike opposed to the testimony, and hence the futility of recognising national sentiment, because however favoured a nation may be, when the testimony of the Lord is brought to the front it will always be opposed.
Rem It is only in the assembly that that is taught.
JT It is not taught in the world. One would be looked upon as a traitor in certain circumstances to disregard national feelings, but when it comes to the things of God, this epistle shows how valueless national feeling is. We see here that which would have prevented the division between the Eastern and Western branches of the church, that is, mutual regard. The assembly of the Thessalonians had become imitators of the assemblies of God in Judaea.
ETS The need which sprang up in Jerusalem was used to cement the brotherly feeling.
JT Yes, but that came in earlier. At any rate, it was there.
JMcM Would the apprehension of the truth of “My assembly” deliver us from national feeling?
JT It ought to. It is very striking that these young Christians got hold of the idea of the assembly so quickly.
WJ Is it because it does not belong to the world?
JT Yes. There are “the Jews, the Gentiles, and the assembly of God”.
AAT Is it in the assembly that gift has a place?
JT Yes, that is what we get in Corinth. God has set certain in the assembly; in Ephesians they are not said to be in the assembly. In Corinthians the assembly is taken up to set before us the order becoming the house of God, so that the gifts are said to be set [p. 152] in it.
AAT You are emphasising the gain of assembling together, and oftentimes gift has such a prominent place that perhaps we lose the gain of being assembled.
JT Gifts have their place, and in 1 Corinthians the subject is that of gift from the beginning of chapter 12 to the end of chapter 14; but what underlies the exercise of gift is that the saints come together in assembly. All that enters into the position at Corinth. What is emphasised in connection with the apostle going to Corinth is that he lodged with a man and his wife who were tentmakers, because they were of the same craft, so that we are obviously in the presence of something different from what we get at Thessalonica.
IR Before passing to the Corinthian side, should not the freshness and vigour of the Thessalonians be characteristic of the assembly today?
JT What you get in the book of Joshua, among many other things, is the idea of springs. Achsah says, “Give me springs of water”. “And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs”. The Spirit of God records that fact again in the book of Judges, and one has often wondered why it is so, why there is a second record of that simple occurrence. I think I see now the thought of it — that the spirit of the assembly is set forth in Achsah; she had in view that there should be continual freshness, that, in spite of the decline, there should be the vigour of the spring. If you have that, you will have freshness and vigour among the saints. I have no doubt that John’s ministry is intended to bring that about today. God reverted to that in Hosea when He said, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him”; at the time He spoke Ephraim had grown old; “Gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not”, Hosea 7: [p. 153] 9.
AAT The congregational idea would contribute to that.
JT It would indeed. “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren”. Where there is love there is freshness.
Ques Does Judges present the parallel to these days?
JT Yes. At the beginning you find a mutual state of things. Judah says to Simeon, “Come up with me ... and I likewise will go with thee ... So Simeon went with him”. There you have a brotherly state of things; they are acting together. The Lord had indicated who should lead, and the one who leads says to his brother, “Come up with me”. That is what you begin with, but it does not continue very long, because Ephraim asserted his pre-eminence among his brethren. Judges records sorrowful decline, but the spirit that should govern the saints is seen in Achsah; she provided for freshness.
Rem So that the vigour and freshness should be continued to the end.
JT Exactly. We get the same thought in the end of the book of Revelation: “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”.
AAT The freshness at Thessalonica should have continued throughout their history.
JT Quite. Springs retain constant freshness, so that the assembly as “in God the Father” would suggest that they loved God and so were beloved by Him. God loves us, but He looks for our love for Him.
ETS Would you say something more about Paul dwelling with the tentmakers?
JT It is interesting to note the difference in the divine narrative; when Paul went to Thessalonica it is said, as we have already remarked, “he went in among them”, but at Corinth it is “finding ... Aquila ... and Priscilla ... came to them, and because [p. 154] they were of the same trade abode with them, and wrought”. He lodges with them because they were tentmakers. We have, in that way, a suggestion that there should be the absence of all that ministers to man and man’s pride; he would bring down high thoughts, and to bring down high thoughts Paul lodges in a house at Corinth as a tentmaker. What room is there for human greatness in any of us in the light of that? We know the city of Corinth was famed for its architecture; it has come down to our own time. Paul, although the great architect of the assembly, is dwelling in a lodging-house as a tentmaker. Thus we learn, as we approach Corinthians, that we must not value that which ministers to the pride of man, and anything that gives him a status in the eyes of man must be rigidly refused, otherwise we do not know how to assemble.
AEF If they were in line with the architecture of their city they would not appreciate the tentmaker.
JT That is what the apostle had in mind. The Lord had much people in that city, and probably some of them were engaged in architectural occupations; some of them were nobles, we know. At Thessalonica “of the chief women not a few believed”, and they were enjoined to work with their own hands; that is remarkable; they perhaps had servants to wait upon them, but now they are to work with their hands. At Corinth he says, “not many noble”, but there were some noble, and they were presently to know that the one through whom the light came to them was a tentmaker, and they had to come down to that; hence it says, “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ”. That refers to the order of man presented by Paul.
Ques Had he got beyond the “citizen of no mean city”?
JT I think he had, and we have to get beyond anything of that kind that attaches to us, whatever it is. If we come together in assembly, as he says here, we have to disallow all these things; they were eating in groups, maintaining social distinctions; so he says, “It is not to eat the Lord’s supper”.
GF They were not in the good of his preaching; he preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
AG Would the idea of the tentmaker emphasise the pilgrim character of the assembly?
JT I think it does; it emphasises the unimposing character of the structure outwardly. We are a poor and afflicted people, only we have the knowledge of divine wisdom. One has to accept being in the world in a very ignominious way. Paul says, “God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world ... we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things”, 1 Corinthians 4: 9, 13. He tells the Corinthians that they had reigned as kings without them. It is not the time for anything imposing; the present condition of things around us is a direct denial of what the apostle brought in. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit in what is written here had the whole history of Christendom in view. Architecture finds its greatest place in religious buildings.
EBG I suppose that the more we see the dignity of the assembly on its spiritual side, the more we shall be prepared to take up its pilgrim character.
JT Quite so. Let us now look for a moment at Ephesus. It shows what the assembly is to be for God for all ages. The assembly is not mentioned in the Acts after chapter 20, showing that that chapter presents the assembly in its highest aspect. It is the “top stone”, as you might say; so that the chapter begins with an embrace and it ends with the saints falling on Paul’s neck and kissing him ardently. Therefore it is a love-chapter.
Ques Had you in mind that Christ loved the assembly?
JT There is a very remarkable expression in verse 28: “Shepherd the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own”; the assembly is brought forward there in its true intrinsic value to God, “purchased with the blood of his own”; hence it is not only what it is to Christ, but what it is for God in this chapter, and it is what it is for God for eternity. If we take up the epistle and compare it with this, we find that “in the assembly in Christ Jesus” there is to be glory to God “unto all generations of the age of ages”. That is, it is the vessel of the glory of God for ever.
Ques Do you connect the glory of God with His love?
JT Yes, I do. You see what He gave for it; He has purchased it “with the blood of his own” expressing in the strongest way what it has cost Him.
AEF I suppose the counsel spoken of in chapter 20 is the outcome of His love?
JT Counsel discloses what a place the saints have — that they should be “holy and without blame before him in love”; the assembly is composed of such. The epistle to the Thessalonians teaches us what they were before our God and Father here in this world; Ephesians teaches us what we are in the counsels of God, that we shall be “holy and without blame before him in love”.
AEF What is the point of the prayer in Ephesians? Is it that there should be a present apprehension?
JT Yes; the point in chapter 3 is that you might be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, that you might be fully able to apprehend (it is not comprehend, no one could comprehend;
it is apprehend) “what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge; that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”. It is all a question of the competency of the work of the Spirit in us.
JMcM Is there any other way in which the glory of God could be displayed except through the assembly?
JT I think not; not fully.
JMcM In what way is it seen now?
JT I think it is effected down here by the ministry of the new covenant. The love of God in our hearts is reflected in our walk and ways and works. God is thus glorified in us.
JRG As formed in love, does the assembly present a trustworthy vessel? “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God”.
JT Yes. The vessel was great enough to receive it. Note, it is “all the counsel of God”.
TT Is the thought here that the assembly should be characterised by giving? “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”.
JT Quite. So the messengers of the assemblies who carried the bounty of the saints were said to be Christ’s glory. That is a remarkable expression.
Rem “Whom he has justified, these also he has glorified”.
JT Yes; so that already we are possessed of the glory. In the future the assembly is seen coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and then she is glory to Him.
RGH I suppose that is where John’s ministry and Paul’s meet?
JT Just so. John brings God down here; Paul presents man to Him there.
WJ Do you learn sonship in [p. 158] the assembly?
JT Yes. The assembly is formed of sons; that is the secret of the fact that she comes down. The assembly is formed in sonship — what is for Him, so she comes down; that means that she has liberty; she comes down out of heaven. I think it is well to note that the saints are His inheritance; “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”. Think of what we are! What I would say to every Christian is, Learn how to assemble; do not come in and sit down merely as an irresponsible person, but come in as one of the company acting responsibly and intelligently. “I speak as to intelligent persons do ye judge what I say”.