NOTES OF READINGS AND ADDRESSES, LONDON, MAY, 1922 - READING (2)
NOTES OF READINGS AND ADDRESSES, LONDON, MAY, [p. 15] 1922 - READING (2)
JT These verses seem to give the result of chapters 5 - 7, so I thought they would suffice.
WL Would you give us in a word or two what was before us this morning, and link it up with what is before your mind this afternoon?
JT We dwelt on the connection between 1 Chronicles and Luke’s account of the priesthood, showing how the thread of the testimony was maintained, and that in the priesthood sympathy in the manner of the divine intervention was indicated, and how all that marked the scene of the Lord’s birth showed the richness of heaven brought down and expressed in the participants. We dwelt at length on Simeon as representative of the new priestly company or family that was to be introduced, having in view also the Lord Himself as anointed by the Spirit as in chapter 3. There is one point that might be noted, namely, that in drawing near to man, as God did in Christ, according to Luke, everything is avoided that would arouse prejudice or resentment. What was of God, however little or obscure outwardly, is noticed. The Lord Himself was connected with man, not simply with Israel, so that the genealogy is traced back to Adam, and to God through Adam.
TW Were we not referring to chapter 4 as we closed this morning?
JT We left off with the Lord praying; it says, all the people had been baptised; that is, John’s work was completed and he was in prison. Then when Jesus had been baptised, He was praying.
JS Why do you refer to that? What is the thought in John being in prison and all the people having been baptised?
JT John’s work was done before he was cast into prison. Figuratively the scene is clear for Christ and the new order of things which He would bring in.
ENH Although John was not yet in prison actually, yet Luke takes it up as if he were.
TW You were making some reference to chapter 4.
JT We are coming on to it. We should take special notice of the Lord as praying, and the Holy Spirit coming upon Him while in that attitude.
Rem John’s ministry was to make a prepared people.
JT Yes. Before we can see how the apostles and others here were brought into accord with the Lord, we have to take full note of His own ministry, after the Holy Spirit came upon Him.
ENH It is in the grace of the One who had been anointed by the Spirit and owned by the Father as His beloved Son, that the Lord begins His ministry and says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”. As He was anointed, we need to be anointed, in order to be in correspondence with Him.
HD'AC Why did God anoint Him? Was it not as the One who had been specially before His eye, giving Him infinite pleasure? This came before the anointing.
JT The moral precedes the official. Luke brings that out — the loveliness of Christ as man, the Lord growing up before Him as a tender plant. It is Luke that brings in the “green”. “If they do these things in the green tree”, referring to what man was under God’s eye in Christ. The growing up is intensely interesting.
PL “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God”. Is that it?
JT Yes, quite. He grew in favour with God and man.
DLH I think we are rather anxious to get a [p. 17] clear connection between what we had before us this morning and what you have in your mind this afternoon.
JT I thought that if the Lord gives us some apprehension of chapter 4 in connection with His baptism and anointing, we might see how those who were to be associated with Him were affected. They are not taken up as in Matthew and Mark. In Matthew, Andrew and Peter are taken up as fishers — casting a net into the sea, and James and John are called when they were with their father Zebedee in the ship mending their nets, but here we have the Lord reaching Simon and entering into his boat, so that Simon discovers himself. He discovers that he is a sinful man. One has to learn grace; one has to be the subject of grace before one can preach it. Our state being exposed, we learn grace in the way our need is met. The Lord’s own example is first outlined; stress is laid on His manner, how He served as the Holy Spirit came upon Him, and was wholly subject as man to God. It is said that He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days — not simply led into it, but led in it.
PRM Why do you think the Holy Spirit took this unique bodily form — I suppose for the moment?
JT I think the dove would carry the mind back to Noah, and the “bodily form” would be the Holy Spirit as it were in totality; the Holy Spirit was there personally. On a divine Person only could He thus come.
FHB Does it not indicate, too, that it was in a form that men could take account of — something they could see?
JT God presents One in whom He could wholly rest. There is a reference to Genesis 8 here.
PRM And as following on baptism and your connection with Noah and the flood, would it be as indicating Christ as the new Head for man, just as [p. 18] Noah typically was? I think you have pointed out that Noah put out his hand and took her in unto him into the ark; there was such intimacy between Noah and the dove in type.
JT Yes; and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is, I think, symbolised in the olive leaf. It was plucked off.
PRM Vitality was there. It was not subject to judgment.
WGB Might it not also be that the dove is one of the most timid of creatures? But there was nothing in Him that would perturb it.
JT Yes; that is suggestive. It is a sensitive creature, but there was nothing in Christ to cause the least disturbance; God was infinitely complacent in that One.
FHB Would it indicate, too, the character of His ministry, as a ministry of peace — “preaching peace by Jesus Christ”?
JT I suppose so. It was a wonderful moment reached. The manhood of Christ is before us here. John presents a different view, because he is presenting a divine Person.
HD'AC In regard to the saints receiving the Holy Spirit, it is remarkable how many cases there are of prayer preceding that. They were praying at Pentecost, and Saul was praying when Ananias came to him. The Lord takes notice of praying men.
Rem And the Gentile Cornelius was praying.
ENH The Lord says later to His disciples, “Be ye ... harmless as doves”. Would that be an indication that we, as having the Spirit, should be like Himself?
JT Yes. In the opening of chapter 4 we have that He was full of the Holy Spirit, and returned from Jordan thus.
HD'AC Is that what is proper to man, or is He simply viewed as a servant [p. 19] there?
JT It should mark us all, but I think it is in view of service here — the service of grace.
WGB It is characteristic too; the article is left out: “full of Holy Spirit”.
JT Being full of Holy Spirit implies that the Spirit is accorded His full place. This is pattern for us.
JBC-l Do you think that what you are speaking of, taken in its line through Luke, brings about the “substance” that is spoken of in chapter 8?
JT Yes; it is, I think, the result of grace known. The chapters that intervene are wonderful examples of grace — what came out in the Lord as thus full of the Holy Spirit.
JMcM Ephesians 5: 18 says, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit”.
JT We have another touch — that He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.
JS What is the force of that?
JT His movements in the wilderness were the result of the Spirit’s leading.
PW Does it not throw great light on Luke’s gospel, to think of the fine flour mingled with oil, and then anointed with oil — every single thing associated with the Holy Spirit?
HD'AC The flour did not become finer by the anointing. Nothing was added to Christ morally by the anointing. He was absolutely delightful to God, perfectly blessed, but the Holy Spirit brought out how blessed He was in a public way.
JT The anointing was for testimony, but the exigencies of the service involved brought into evidence the perfection of the Lord’s humanity — the fine flour. In chapter 3: 22 we have the three Persons: the Man is praying, the Holy Spirit in a bodily form like a dove descends upon Him, and the Father’s voice is heard.
LM Would the Father’s voice express sonship?
JT It does: “Thou art my beloved Son”.
HD'AC Now in regard of us, the Holy Spirit is not given before there is some real and true work in the soul on the one hand; and on the other, there is a great deal comes after with us which did not with Christ — formative work, and a displacing of man.
JT Quite; there is nothing of that here. He is full of the Holy Spirit at the outset, and He is led in the power of the Spirit in the wilderness. It also brings in the suggestion that He did not go into it of Himself: He was led there.
Ques Does that prove to us the greatness of His Person?
JT He recoils from the temptation. The statement is that He was led there. In Mark He is said to have been driven of the Spirit out into the wilderness.
DLH Should we be led in any sense at all into temptation?
JT There are very few who can take up evil and deal with it.
DLH I was thinking of “Lead us not into temptation”. That seems to apply to us and to the disciples.
JT Quite. Evil has to be dealt with, but there are very few who are qualified to touch it.
HD'AC Satan does not seem to have attacked Christ personally before His baptism, at least we are not told so; but he acted outwardly against Him as in Herod’s attempt to destroy Him; but the personal temptation seems to come after the reception of the Spirit.
JT I think He is kept under divine protection until now; but before entering on His service this occurs; it brought out His perfection as Man.
HD'AC Is not that true in a way of many with whom God has wrought, but who are not sealed?
[p. 21] Satan may make some outward attack upon them, if he knows who they are at all, yet the temptations of this class are more after they have declared themselves.
JT When the Philistines heard that David was anointed, then they sought him out. It is “against the Lord, and against his anointed” that the opposition is.
HD'AC Although the saint does not come up to the stature of Christ at the time of the anointing, it involves that. God has committed Himself to that saint. The saint may be weakness itself at the beginning, very small indeed, but the anointing means that he is for all eternity connected with God, and God with him.
JBC-l Do you suggest that these are permanent features of the position — that they abide? I was thinking of what the apostle, writing to Timothy, said about the Spirit in connection with the Lord — He was “justified in the Spirit”. Is not that the line Luke is pursuing?
JT Yes, I think so. What He was as Man came out in the power of the Spirit. Before that He was not in the region of Satanic activity; He is led into that. Satan’s sphere of activity is not unlimited. The book of Job helps as to this.
AMH Do you think that before taking up any exercises in relation to the anointed vessel, there has to be something like this experienced in individuals — though since the Lord has met the power of evil we never meet it in its full force, but the soul has to pass through exercises in connection with it?
JT I think we have to encounter evil; we have to learn what it is, and the power that we have to deal with it. What is set before us is that He was led in the wilderness in that power. The temptations are given so that we may know how to overcome. The young men are said to be strong, and [p. 22] that they have overcome the wicked one. That has to be learned.
AMH I was wondering whether anyone could stand in relation to the testimony unless these three ways of assailing the heart have first been faced.
JT That is just the thing to get at, whether we can quietly rest in the word of God and refuse to be moved away from it.
AMH The first would be a question of piety in regard to ordinary circumstances; then in regard to political principles, and lastly in regard to religious principles.
JT If we do not know what it is to trust God in our daily circumstances, we shall be mercenary in our service and exposed to patronage. Not that the Lord would not have those who have ability for His service free, for he who preaches the gospel should live of it; the Lord ordained that. But the question is whether one could take up such a position as that unless he knows how to trust God in regard to it, because one may have to hunger as the apostle did; 2 Corinthians 11: 27.
AMH You mean the temptation is not only one in relation to need, perhaps, but you may be brought under the influence of those who have means. The enemy might use such things to divert a servant?
JT Those who preach the gospel should live of it, but before entering on that path you must know what it is to trust God. Then you will not be affected by these influences.
HFN Why are all the quotations from Deuteronomy?
JT Because it is the wilderness after the Spirit, typically, has been received that is in view.
HFN Yes, corresponding to the latter part of Numbers.
JT Quite. Moses wrote Deuteronomy when one hundred and nineteen years old; it would be the [p. 23] experience of the saints after they recognised the Holy Spirit. They have entered on that part of the wilderness.
HFN Your thought is that here it is the divine pattern, is it not?
JT Yes; the dispensation of God, which is in faith. It is marked by dependence on God and the power of the Spirit.
PRM So He can bring in — and this is distinctly affecting — “Man shall not live by bread alone”.
JT Then He returns in the power of the Spirit. His heart was free in returning; now it was not to be tempted of the devil, but to deliver men from his power; and, as His custom was, He entered into the synagogue at Nazareth. What the Holy Spirit presents to us is the Lord as anointed, and the manner in which He ministered. He enters into the synagogue and receives the roll of the scriptures from the attendant. He receives it. It is delivered to Him, and He finds the scripture which fitted in with the moment. It shows how the scriptures are to be employed.
FM Had He done that before?
JT It says, “As his custom was”. Apparently He had done it before. But this particular incident is brought before our attention because it is where He was brought up, how He acted there.
SH He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”.
JT Yes, quite so.
RB What is the force of the expression “upon me” as compared with the other you have alluded to?
JT I think it is the anointing — “because he has anointed me”. It refers to what marked Him publicly in His ministry. It is what God would have; it is the effect it is to produce. Some of us were noticing lately in regard to this passage that our attention is called to His sitting down, and that the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him;
[p. 24] that is, He was attractive; there was evident beauty there. But then He spoke: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears”. We were noting that here it is “the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”.
ER Would it be right to connect that with Psalm 45, “Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips”? “Therefore God hath made thee blessings for ever”. Here it is the gracious words proceeding out of His mouth; there it is the grace being poured into His lips, and I thought that rather substantiated the thought that the Lord is the dependent Man.
JT The words themselves are viewed and taken account of as coming out of His mouth. In John 6 Peter says, “Thou hast the words of eternal life”. Luke occupies us with what comes out of His mouth, the graciousness of the words. John connects the words with the Person. It is not what He spoke so much as the words He had: “Thou hast the words of eternal life”.
EJMcB I suppose that up to this time they had never come out of anything but the roll. Now the roll is closed up and they come out of a Person. It must have been intensely attractive to them all.
JT And the words are now, so to say, available — words of grace. But for the words of eternal life you have to go to the Person. It is not a question of what He said; John is presenting the Person, and how essential the Person is.
Ques What is the additional thought in John 6: “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life”?
JT That is, they are testing. They could not be received by the natural man. The Lord had said to the twelve, “Will ye also go away?” (The twelve would refer to those connected with the testimony.) Peter replies, speaking for the twelve,
“[p. 25] Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life”.
AMH Would not the words out of His mouth in Luke be more the thought of His public presentation of God in grace, and does not that suggest that the presentation of God in grace should at all times be in such attractive power as to at least arrest men?
JT The words of Christ in John tested men; many went back from that time and walked no more with Him. So that the question is, what hold the Person has on me. Peter’s answer shows that he had an intelligent apprehension of the words that the Lord had — not exactly words on record that He had spoken, but the words that He had.
ENH I suppose Peter had the apprehension in his soul that the Lord was the only Person who had such words; He had them, and nobody else. If they did not go to Him, they could not get them.
JT We were contrasting the two passages. The words of grace came out of His mouth, and were attractive. All bore witness of them. The passage suggests that our manner in service should be attractive.
DLH I had thought that the words here that the Lord Jesus read from Isaiah were a kind of epitome of His ministry as given Him, and embraced very much the new covenant idea, and the ministry of reconciliation as the completion of it. I thought the “acceptable year of the Lord” brought in reconciliation, whereas the preaching of the gospel to the poor would be the setting forth of what God is, so that the people might know Him.
JT The text covers the dispensation from that standpoint — what is presented to men in a public way; but the point is that the Vessel through whom the announcement of grace had come was attractive. The truth was adorned; Isaiah was never read that way before, nor were there ever such comments made,
[p. 26] or speaking of this kind. Never could it have been said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears”. He began to say this — the great subject was not finished on that occasion.
DLH Might we connect that with Luke’s speaking of the Word in the opening chapter?
JT I suppose so, only you have words here.
Rem Words convey details, do they not?
EB And the comments were exactly on the line of the scripture.
JS Is your thought how they were said? You said at the beginning there was nothing to repel man, but everything to disarm him.
JT The words were fulfilled in their ears that day. The public effect was such that even those not affected by grace recognised the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth.
AMH Would that be the arresting power of the anointing?
JT The truth has also to be announced. He immediately goes on to call attention to the truth, but He was full of grace and truth, not truth and grace; grace is prominent, and His manner adorned what He said.
Ques Why did He do this where He was brought up?
JT It was where there would be least appreciation of Him, so that the test to them was the grace there present; yet they had to recognise that they were gracious words.
JHM Is it your thought that God is vindicated in the way it is presented, as well as in the thing that is presented? The very manner of it is God-like.
JT The blessed Vessel adorned the thing He presented. You have the idea of beauty connected with Jerusalem in the Old Testament; we are called upon to “Walk about Zion ... mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces”. I think you have [p. 27] the beginning of that here. God is setting out to approach man, and all these accompaniments are seen so that there should be nothing in man’s way, nothing to arouse his suspicion or prejudice, in so far as it could be.
Rem We have not, perhaps, been affected by Paul’s manner. He would not use words of man’s wisdom; but that is another thing, is it not?
JT You do not want to use words that are employed in evil associations. A great deal of our language — all slang — comes from filthy associations. The Holy Spirit would not employ it. There are “acceptable words”, “words of truth”, Ecclesiastes 12: 10. The apostle enjoins “an outline of sound words”, 2 Timothy 1: 13.
PRM They would have a preservative and soothing character, like the oil and the wine.
HD'AC If the Lord’s words had not been such there would not have been the opposition seen here. If He had taken a legal pharisaical line, they would not have tried to destroy Him. His discourse had shown the over-abundance of grace; how a Syrian leper, a leader in the nation that had overrun Jehovah’s land, was healed when none of the lepers in Israel were, and a widow belonging to the heathen race of Canaan, which had ruined Israel, was maintained when none of Israel’s widows were. It was this presentation of grace that was more than they could stand.
JT That involved the truth as well, which was not yet opened up, God was approaching man in One in whom grace and truth subsist.
ENH The company assembled appreciated the grace in so far as they could. When the Lord spoke the truth, then the hostility was aroused; but He adorned His words, so that, as far as possible, there should be [p. 28] no breach.
FHB We are to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
JT Even a slave can do that.
MWB I was going to ask if both the ministry and the minister are to be attractive. In what way would you speak of that? I was only thinking of the practical effect among us. Our meeting rooms in gospel preachings are very empty sometimes. While there is the truth side, should there not be also the gracious side? You might explain a little more fully what you mean.
JT One has to be near God to apprehend rightly where man is in his need, so that one may get near to him, get by him. You have in the service of Paul customs corresponding with this. He went into the synagogue at Antioch, in Pisidia, and sat down. He did not go in and assume that he had light that they did not have. So in Thessalonica; when he arrived there, he went in “among them”, and then he preached; that is, he first placed himself alongside the Jews as one of them. As I said, he sat down in the synagogue at Antioch; the law and the prophets were read, as was customary, but he waited to be asked to speak before he spoke. These are indications of a man who is considerate of men; he knows what he has got to present to them, but he does not want to arouse prejudice or resentment; he would gain their confidence.
WCG The little maid in 2 Kings 5 was rather a good example of an attractive evangelist; her words were repeated.
DLH Is it not the case that even natural men can form some conception of what grace is, and delight in it so far; but as soon as it is tested by truth, they revolt against it.
JT You want to get their ear, then present the truth [p. 29] to them.
JHL I was going to ask about Acts 14. They went into the synagogue, and so spake that a multitude believed.
JT That is another example. Luke in his gospel presents Wisdom; in the Acts we get the children of Wisdom.
PL Does not the apostle remind the Thessalonians of the manner of his coming among them with the brethren, as if they should have that thought with them? He went in among them, then he spoke to them about Christ, but then in writing to them he says, “Ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes”. What it is to be among people! Even of the Lord, John says, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”.
JT We might just refer to chapters 5, 6 and 7 in a brief way. Chapter 5 shows how grace is made effective in our souls, so that the selection of the apostles is possible in chapter 6. Peter may be taken as an example, but the Lord’s call here is not what Matthew and Mark present. Luke would show how grace became effective in them. In Matthew and Mark they are called upon to follow the Lord at the outset; but before you get the thought here, the Lord comes near to Peter; He got into his boat. That is in keeping with what we were saying, that Paul went in among the Jews. You must get down to where people are in order to understand their need, and convey to them that you are sympathetic with them.
HFN This section is introduced by the Lord preaching the word of God. Is that the definitely formative element of the vessels in correspondence with the anointing?
JT What He says is the word of God, and crowds pressed upon Him to hear it.
HFN Would that form the vessels in moral correspondence with [p. 30] the anointing?
JT One always thinks, in regard to our meetings, whether the saints come to hear a preacher, or the word of God. Now He would secure Peter, and if Peter is to preach the word of God, he must learn grace, and he must learn it in One who has come nigh to him into his own boat.
HD'AC The word of Cornelius was, “Now therefore are we all here present, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God”.
FWP Do you think grace had been operative in the crowd?
JT I think so, and the fact that there was a crowd (chapter 5: 1) made it necessary in the Lord’s mind that He should have others with Him. Now the Lord has got one: Peter has to be reached in this way — reached in his own boat — if he is to be in the service.
HH What does that convey — “a sinful man”?
JT It conveys what the words say, that he was not only a sinner but “sinful”.
P.R.M. Leprous?
JT Well, the leper comes in immediately after. He has got to learn grace as meeting him in a most loathsome condition. One has to start there if one is to be employed in the service of Christ.
HD'AC “This man receiveth sinners”.
JBC-l Is that how the apostle Paul commenced? He brings before Timothy in the opening of his first epistle the fact that he himself had been reached in that way. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief”. Then he goes on to speak of the mercy that accounted him faithful, putting him into the ministry. Is that what we see effected in Peter here?
JT The apostle Paul could say it as nobody else could. See the depth of the grace he learned! There is something of a parallel in the woman of [p. 31] chapter 7. The greatest lover of Christ is the one who has judged himself most.
Ques Then is your thought that the spirit seen in Christ in chapter 4 is arrived at by us through chapters 5, 6 and 7?
JT Yes; the result of the teaching in chapters 5 to 7 is expressed in the first three verses of chapter 8, where you have the apostles and the women who have substance. Chapter 7 presents the woman of the city who was a sinner; she is a special example of those who learn grace. It takes all the pride out of us to learn that we are lepers — most loathsome. There is first Peter — sinful — the leper next, then the paralytic. He is raised up, and sent to his house; then we get Levi. He has learned things, so that the kind of guests he invites are the sort that would meet the Lord’s desires. It was a great entertainment for the Lord.
NL Does the thought of power now come in here? In Acts 10 Peter says that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power”.
JT It comes in in Acts 10: 38, He “went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him”.
ER It says in verse 17 the power of the Lord was present to heal them, and that follows immediately after the Lord had withdrawn into the wilderness and prayed.
JT Then we have Levi’s entertainment, showing the effect of the teaching; he would have such as the Lord would have to be with Him — “publicans and sinners”.
FHB He was sympathetic with the ministry of grace.
Rem He had a great appreciation of the Lord.
ENH He puts himself and his house at the Lord’s [p. 32] disposal.
JT Then we have the new wine and the new bottles.
FWP What is the force of the incident as to the disciples plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath recorded in chapter 6?
JT I think it suggests that the disciples were learning to take account of the Lord. He was the corn, and they were taking what was available, disregarding the outward religious order of things.
AW Is there any importance in the expression “the second-first sabbath”? It seems a unique expression (chapter 6: 1).
JT I suppose it would refer to the early recognition by the disciples of a new order of things that was coming in.
AW I was wondering if it was connected with the new wine.
HD'AC The first sabbath broke down because the man broke down. Now we have a second-first sabbath, where you have the Man who does not break down.
Ques Were they gathering substance by plucking corn?
JT The shewbread was available to David, but the truth comes out, that the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath. We are coming on now to a higher level of truth.
Ques Why is the house of God brought in here?
JT It refers to David. The Lord vindicates the action of the disciples by referring to what David did, which they could not deny, and then He brings out the truth of His being the Lord of the sabbath.
ENH Just after David and his companions took the shewbread, David goes out to the cave of Adullam and gathers a company of mighty men around himself. So the Lord here gathers the apostles.
Rem The Lord connected the action of the [p. 33] disciples with what David did; he went into the house of God. Were they morally in the house of God, and eating as David did?
JT I should not say the house of God was yet set up, but He brings that incident forward as a vindication of the action of the disciples.
Ques Is the vindication bound up in “and gave to those also who were with him” — the fact that they were with David, and that the disciples were with the Lord? Does their vindication hang upon their being with Him?
JT The new order of things is based on prayer (see chapter 6: 12); it brings God in, God acting in a Man, so that when the question is put later to Peter as to who the Lord was, he says, “the Christ of God”. Hence the Lord is acting for God, and so He prays all night and then appoints the twelve, and descends from the mount into the plain with them. All this carries back to the beginning of chapter 5, where He is pressed with the crowd. The greatness of the need is seen, and the necessity that the ministry should be extended. Now He has got the twelve, and chapter 7 brings in another course of instruction in regard to grace. Perhaps we have the greatest evidence of it — the greatest evidence of its being appreciated — in the woman of the city, for she anoints the Lord’s feet. She recognises that He has brought the grace of God to her.
FHB She had a sense of “how beautiful ... are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings”.
JT Yes. I think the entering into what is set forth in chapter 7 enables us to bring out what we get in verses 1 - 3 in chapter 8. The twelve are there, and many others, and certain women who are ministering to Him of their substance.
Ques Would you connect that with Proverbs 8, “may cause those that love me to inherit substance”?
JT Yes; the woman in chapter 7 is one of Wisdom’s children. As loving much, she had true substance. (Compare Song of Songs 8.)
ER It comes out very plainly. Christ became the absorbing object of her heart, therefore she is willing for this service.
JT The Lord directs attention to her, “Seest thou this woman?” She represents grace as learned from Christ who brought it. He brought it, carried it to her, so she anoints His feet.
ER What the Lord says about her is very remarkable: “since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet”. She was un-detachable.
JS This instruction had evidently become effective in the apostles in the opening of the Acts. The twelve were there, and also that subjective element suggested by the “certain women” who ministered to Him of their substance.
P Would you say that Simon represents the world, but the woman who anointed His feet, those in whom He found His delight?
JT I think she is Luke’s model of grace. The Lord contrasts her actions with those of Simon.
HFN Is she the typical woman of this section, as Simon Peter is the typical man of the first section?
JT I think so. This section abounds with the evidence of the grace of God in Christ; indeed, the depths of divine compassion are discovered here. See the widow of Nain.
HFN Would it be right to say that the instincts of a priest were here? The ark was in the house of a Philistine, but all the reverent instincts that take account of Him intelligently were with her.
JT She acted in a priestly way; it was an intelligent action. I think she is a model for us as to the effect of grace.
JBC-l Do you not think that our acquaintance with the truth is calculated to cause us somewhat to [p. 35] lose the sense of grace? Most of us have been brought up with the truth; we have had the advantages of it from the outset, and my own feeling has been that one has somewhat lost the sense of grace at times. Our knowledge of grace is the measure of our knowledge of God. In the presence of God we learn what the true grace of God is, because we learn it in Christ.
JT It is in the measure in which one learns to judge oneself, learns what one is before God, that one learns to appreciate grace. “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
JBC-l The apostle Paul, speaking of himself, said four things — that he was a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an insolent and overbearing man, and one has the impression that in Luke 7 we see the insolence and overbearingness in Simon. One of the deepest lessons the heart learns is that even in the handling of the things of God, it may still be in the spirit that makes little of Christ.