READINGS ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (5)
[p. 83] READINGS ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (5)
WM Do these chapters begin a new section of the gospel?
FER I think so. They are all connected with Christ leaving the world and the Comforter coming. We are brought in chapter 10 to the thought of the company. At all events a flock, which is near akin to a company. Down to chapter 10 everything is individual, for the subject is life. Now in these chapters we get a point further, and that is how the flock would be here in testimony for Christ. The Lord brings out the conditions under which they would be here. The thoughts of God are intimately bound up with testimony. If God took up Israel, the point was that Israel should be a testimony. It was not simply for their sakes that He took them up. All the world should have got the benefit of Israel. The world should have seen the blessedness of the people whose God is Jehovah. The gentiles should have been in a position to bless God on account of Israel.
AHE But the name of God was blasphemed among the gentiles through the inconsistency of Israel.
FER Exactly, they were a false testimony and so the Lord speaks of Himself in contrast in the Revelation, I am “the faithful and true witness”. Now in John’s gospel Christ was about to leave, so the flock was to be here in testimony. Hence in chapter 13 they are put under obligation to one another. Then in chapter 14 we have the advent of the Comforter, for the disciples were not capable of supporting themselves. Then the conditions of testimony are seen in chapters 15 and 16. Chapter 15 gives abiding in Him and fruit-bearing, and in chapter 16 there is intelligence in Christ’s things by the Spirit. These were the conditions. The same apply to us and qualify us to be here in testimony for Christ. We bring forth fruit [p. 84] that our fruit might abide, and have intelligence by the Spirit in the things of Christ. As the apostle prays in Ephesians 3, That ye “May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”. The thought in that prayer undoubtedly is testimony, the saints being fitted to be here in testimony to God.
WM Chapter 13 presents our obligations one to another, that we might be able to refresh one another.
FER One thing connected with that is that the traitor becomes manifest. I have no doubt if we were more really true to our obligations one to another, that the unfaithful would be more manifest. They would resent feet washing.
RSS I am sure that is very important. It is a thing in which we fail greatly.
FER A great many things pass current among us because there is not enough recognition of our obligation to one another. If we were more faithful to one another a good deal would be exposed which now passes.
RSS On the other hand, a good deal never would be allowed to be there. It would be judged at once.
WM People are afraid of one another instead of loving one another.
FER It is a point of the last moment to accept the obligation under which Christ has placed us to one another and to carry it out, too.
GWH Faithfulness to one another is really a mark of love, is it not?
FER I think so. The Lord says, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”.
RSS And then in the end of the chapter He gives them a new commandment.
FER That is in the light of Jesus glorified. The darkest night leads to the brightest day. In the Revelation the harlot rides the beast, and then there is the marriage of the Lamb’s wife. So here, the darkest night was the betrayal of the Lord, but it gives way to the brightest day, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him”. And it is in the light of that day we are to love one another. The traitor was a burden. His absence was a relief. The washing of one another’s feet is a matter of great importance.
WM You do not mean removing defilement exactly.
FER It has that effect. The point is the way you set to work to do it. It is not exactly your object to remove defilement. We wash one another’s feet because we are under obligation to serve one another. It is service. One of the qualifications for a widow to be taken into the number was that she had washed the saints’ feet. She did not set herself to work to correct the saints, but to refresh them.
WM And in the act of refreshment the defilement goes.
FER You get revived and you throw defilement off.
JSA I suppose if the desire of the Spirit were present in the heart, the actual service might be almost unconscious.
GWH The way you would wash one’s feet would be to minister Christ.
FER I think so. It would be better that Christ should be the subject when we are together instead of the weather and the crops and business and other details. It is much easier to talk about the things of the world than to talk about Christ, but we do not wash one another’s feet by it.
AHE I suppose that depends on what occupies the heart, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”.
GR What would be the force of that expression, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me”?
FER It is essential that Christ should wash us, but He may carry out the service mediately. He puts us under obligation to one another. It is His service, but it is done mediately. We do as He has done to us. What we carry out to one another is the service [p. 86] of Christ.
GR I was thinking more of the words, “with me”.
FER People will not have part with Him unless they come under the service. They will drop down into a kind of worldly christianity instead of having part with Christ.
GWH Do you mean in the enjoyment of the Father’s love?
FER I think outside of the course of things down here — we often live in them, but Christ does not.
GWH In chapter 12 He has been speaking of leaving the world.
FER He has gone to the Father and there He lives. We get the thought in Colossians, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God”. That life is where Christ is.
WM And by the washing of the feet we are kept in the practical enjoyment of that life. Christ is our life.
FER I think you are maintained in freshness.
JK Feet-washing should be then a continual thing.
FER The mind of the Lord was to put the disciples under obligation to one another.
WM So that He washes our feet indirectly, not directly.
WLP Of course that would take in more than defilement.
FER People get affected and defiled by the influences here. The influences of the world have a depressing effect spiritually.
JSA That makes feet-washing a present necessity.
FER Yes, and I think we might do much more for one another than we carry out.
JSA And that is why I referred to the importance of being in the spirit of it.
RSS Would Timothy be a sample of this when Paul says, “I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state”?
FER If we all cared for one another’s state we would wash one another’s feet.
WM And Philemon again, “the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother”. He washed the saints’ feet.
RSS I think we have had the thought that this only comes in when a person gets into a bad state, and it manifests itself.
FER I doubt if that is exactly the idea. The point of the chapter is to put us under obligation to one another. He goes on to say, “he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me”.
WM How do you connect the exposure of Judas with feet-washing.
FER It came out immediately afterwards. What you will certainly find is that people who are unfaithful would not bear feet-washing. It is undoubtedly a test.
JK You would not say that feet-washing was going around finding fault with saints.
FER That is not the idea. Feet-washing is service. It was much better understood in eastern countries. For instance, the woman in Simon’s house in Luke 7 washed the Lord’s feet. She did not find fault with the Lord. It was attention and service.
JSA It would be in the opposite direction to finding fault.
AHE It was affection to her blessed Lord that prompted the woman.
JSA She loved much.
Ques Would you say it is removing the faults without saying anything about them?
FER I know as well as possible that if you get revived in soul you get free from the contaminations of the world. People get more or less in mind under the influence of the world, but if revived they throw off the defilement.
WM Even in natural things if a man is tired and gets his feet washed he walks better.
JK How about Psalm 23, “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness”?
FER That is very near akin to it. In John 14 we get the Comforter coming, that is a very important point, for the Lord knew that the disciples were not fit to be left here alone without support. Therefore the Comforter was to abide with them for ever, the Spirit of truth.
WM I suppose the word ‘Comforter’ is more in the sense of advocate who would take up the care of the saints.
FER Christ had been a Comforter to them for He speaks of “another” Comforter. All the time He was here He maintained them, but now He would ask for another Comforter, who was the Spirit of truth; so that we have a security for the maintenance of the truth. It would be a sorry thing if the truth were dependent upon saints.
WM The truth was maintained when Christ was here. Now the Spirit is the truth.
FER I do not think the Scripture would be security for the maintenance of the truth. People would contravene the letter and twist it as they like. The real security is the Spirit. The Scriptures in themselves would not have served the purpose, because the Scriptures never can be more than the letter, and therefore they would not maintain the truth. The Spirit becomes the teacher.
WM And when it speaks of the saints knowing all things, it is by the unction. “Ye have an unction from the Holy One”.
FER The truth is maintained by those who are spiritual. He that is spiritual discerns all things, “we have the mind of Christ”. There is security for the maintenance of the truth by the Spirit in the spiritual.
WM And the spiritual is discerned by no man, yet he discerns all things. So it is really outside man.
FER The cleverest theologian is no security for the truth.
WM One sees the deep necessity for the Spirit.
FER In theology everything is cast into a mould, but then different systems of theology have different moulds according to the mind [p. 89] of man.
JSA Is not that the great lack in christendom now? People try to master Scripture by their own intelligence.
FER And they make havoc of Scripture.
WM We can never understand the Spirit by the letter, but the letter by the Spirit.
FER Exactly. We left system because there was no place for the Spirit. In the different systems man rules.
RSS That is why I left system.
FER I think I can say it and a great many more can too, and we have a great deal more sense of the stability of the truth than we ever had in system.
WM Just as we have a much greater sense of safety than when we were in a fold.
FER The Spirit in a way puts us on our legs and we are not buffeted about by what this man thinks and the other man thinks. You have a sense of what is right and wrong in divine things.
GR You often find a very unlettered man with much more discernment of the truth than a lettered man.
FER He knows more than the ancients.
WM In Stephen’s case, they could not gainsay the wisdom by which he spoke.
FER He was full of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit fulfils a great office in regard of us. We get every part of the truth in its own proper place. We never see a thing in its true measure until we get it in its proper place. Until then a truth is exaggerated beyond its proper importance. It is a great thing to see things in their proportion.
AHE It is said that they knew the Spirit.
FER Yes, if they knew Christ they knew the Spirit.
WM Do you think when Christ was here that everything came out in Him in principle?
FER The Spirit brought no further revelation; all was complete in Christ.
WM The coming of the Spirit was to lead the disciples into it.
GR What is the force of that verse in chapter 16, “I [p. 90] have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now”?
FER I would call that revelation.
RSS When you speak of the revelation, it is the revelation of God.
FER I think so.
RSS Would you say a little as to the three aspects in which the Spirit is referred to in chapters 14, 15 and 16.
FER Chapters 13 and 14 are preparatory. Chapter 13 shows the obligation under which the Lord puts us to one another, and chapter 14 the great stay in His absence; but chapters 15 and 16 show the conditions under which the disciples were to be here in testimony to Christ, and hence chapter 15 begins something entirely new, “I am the true vine”. It is the point of departure. Christ was the true vine, just as in chapter 10 He is the good Shepherd. Moses was not the good shepherd, though figurative of Christ. Christ is the Shepherd of the sheep. In this chapter we see that Israel was not the true vine, but Christ. The chapter opens up with this; that the beginning of everything is Christ. Israel had been in a sort of place provisionally as the vine, but they had lost their place. The true vine comes in and the disciples were the branches. The point for them was to prove that they were connected with Christ, just as ourselves. In christianity everything true is vital, and vitality comes out in fruit-bearing.
RSS So the Spirit is spoken of in chapter 16 as the Witness, and that they also should bear witness.
FER The Spirit would be in them and they, too, would bear witness. Then in the next chapter there is intelligence in the whole system of things of which Christ is the centre. We are not now looking at the world. It has passed out of our sight like a dissolving view, because the Spirit has brought in the things of Christ, “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you”. We can apprehend the breadth and length and [p. 91] depth and height, but then all that would be nothing if we had not fruit-bearing. That is the evidence of healthy vitality.
WM And the fruit is borne on the branches.
FER The true vine did not come in on account of the failure of Israel. God saw fit to put forth a sort of provisional vine; but Christ is the true vine. Israel never was the true vine. Now Christ says, “I am the true vine”. I am the real point of departure. It is so important to apprehend that Christ is the beginning, not Adam nor Israel.
WM So Adam’s place was that of a figure of Him that was to come.
FER Christ has come in as the Head, and the Shepherd, and the true vine. Israel will come into the place of the vine hereafter, but we are vitally connected with Christ by the Spirit, and healthy vitality will work out in fruit-bearing.
JK In that way you would have no fruit-bearing until Christ came in.
FER Not properly. Hence in Hosea you get, “From me is thy fruit found”.
WM So God was never really looking for anything from man in the flesh.
FER He had looked in Israel for grapes, but they brought forth wild grapes. Now the true vine has come in, and Israel for the time being is set aside as in chapter 10 they are set aside as the flock. The flock now takes character from the Shepherd, and the true vine has come in and the branches abode in Christ and bore fruit.
WM Do you look upon abiding in the sense of attachment?
FER That is the sense of it.
JSA There could not be fruit-bearing apart from Christ.
FC Is that verse in Romans 7, “married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God”, [p. 92] in that connection?
FER Exactly. The wife abides in her husband and brings forth fruit.
WM So that abiding in Christ is not a christian going on in communion one moment and not at another.
FER It is continuous; it is that you travel in your proper orbit.
JK The exhortation to the saints, “keep yourselves in the love of God”, is that the thought?
FC And holding the Head?
FER That is the same in principle.
GR Not to abide would be really to apostatise.
FER Exactly, that is the force of it, as if the moon could get out of its attachment to the earth, it would get out of the shining of the sun. We want to abide in Christ in order that we may be in the sunshine, because all fertility is dependent on the shining of the sun. The earth wants two things, sunshine and rain. It abides in the sun, and on account of that it gets the rain, and the earth becomes fertile and brings forth fruit. It is the same in the christian; he abides in the light of the sun and the consequence is he gets rain and so becomes fruitful.
WM So the peaceable fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.
JSA Is walking in the truth the same thing?
FER Exactly, walking in the truth is walking in Christ. The Lord speaks of two particular things in the chapter, love and joy. They are fruits. They are spoken of in Galatians as the fruit of the Spirit. I am sure people want to be in sunshine. I am speaking so of myself. It is true in natural things, but there you may get too much sunshine because the sun has no intelligence; but when you come to wisdom, the true Sun, there is intelligence, and He can adapt Himself in that way to the people that have come to Him, so that you never need be afraid of being scorched by Christ.
JK Abiding in the sunshine would produce fruit.
FER But you must get the rain to soften the earth. Everything is adjusted by Christ. You do not get too [p. 93] much sunshine and not enough rain. People run after rain and do not get enough sunshine.
AHE How do you define rain?
FER It is ministry.
WM And then if people get very happy under these influences they can express it by singing hymns, spiritual songs etc.,
RSS Keep yourselves in the love of God; that is abiding in the sunshine.
FER Where is the love of God presented to you?
RSS In Christ.
FER It would be a very wonderful thing if we had christians fruit-bearing, walking here in love to one another, and full of joy, and intelligent in the things of Christ, apprehending the breadth and length and depth and height, knowing the whole extent of the moral universe.
JK Would you confine fruit-bearing to service?
FER That is not the idea of fruit-bearing. It is the produce of healthy vitality. I have seen a tree all leaves; there is vitality, but not healthy vitality. In healthy vitality there are leaves and fruit.
WM Chapters 15 and 16 would be overpowering testimony to Christ.
FER I ask anybody if it would not be so. We should be filled unto all the fulness of God.
RSS I suppose there is a tendency with us all to get somewhat depressed.
FER That is the influence of the world in having to do with present things, and therefore the necessity of feet-washing comes in, to help one another. I wish one had more courage to approach people. I have had it said to me, ‘I have often wished that some one would speak to me about divine things’. There is a certain sense of need in people to which we might minister.
RSS You mean people we come in contact with every day?
FER Fellow-christians, [p. 94] I mean.
RSS In connection with ourselves what is the antidote for depression?
FER To get into the sunshine, and that will raise the question as to how we will get into the sunshine.
WM That is by awakening.
FER “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light”. The sun is there and there are no clouds over our Sun. But fogs arise sometimes. A fog is as bad as a cloud, and we get fogs and exhalations though no clouds.
WM If we awake we soon get out of these fogs!
FER Jude puts it very beautifully, “building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God”. These are very good exhortations. Prayer is a great thing. I do not think people get enough alone with God in prayer and meditation.
WM It requires courage to do that.
FER That is the way people thrive.
AHE The trouble in this country is we have not enough meetings.
FER I think perhaps you want a little more rain sometimes.
RSS One notices in Scripture that joy is connected somewhat with the ascension of Christ. Would that come in in a way in connection with what was before us?
FER It is the fruit of the Spirit; we have the admonition, “Rejoice in the Lord”. It is a great thing to get a sense by the Spirit of all things being in the hand of Christ. Then you will rejoice in the Lord. It looks some times as if the world had all its own way; look at the terrific pace at which the world is going. It looks as if the world would dominate the universe by modern invention and armaments, and defy the power of God, but really after all if you look at things morally, the world is a scene of confusion. Politics are expediency. A politician takes advantage of things as they arise. Is there nothing better than that? The comfort is that the Lord is above it all, “Rejoice in the Lord”. All authority is given to Him; you want to get to Him.
WM And He can reduce everything to order in a moment.
GWH And He is going to do it.
FER I have no doubt the time will come when forces will be let loose which will smash up the world. We get that in the Revelation.
RSS You mean anarchy.
FER Yes, and socialism; it will break up the whole framework of society.
AHE An English doctor said to me that a patient of his died through fear because of the reverses of the British armies in South Africa. He thought the British nation was going to pieces.
FER I would be very sorry to have my hopes bound up with the British nation.
WM Men’s hearts will fail them for fear.
FER The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. What a terrible day for the world.
GWH It is a great thing for a christian in the midst of it all to have the eye fixed upon Christ.
FER “Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked”. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”.
JSA It is a healthful thing to have the intelligence of chapter 16.
FER That is the point; one world is judged to bring another world into view, “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you”.
Ques I want to ask a question, “I will pray the Father”, what is the sense of that?
FER The real word is, “I will beg (demand) the Father”. It is a word peculiar to John. Elsewhere it is, “having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit”. He received the Spirit. It is the fulfilment of Psalm 68, “Thou hast ascended on high, ... received gifts in Man”.
[p. 96] He was first anointed personally, and then having accomplished redemption He goes to the right hand of God in order that He might shed the Spirit abroad in others. It is put in a different way here, but really it is the receiving of the Spirit in Man in order that He might send forth the Spirit to others. So Peter takes it up, “having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear”. It is a wonderful thing that Christ should accomplish redemption in order to shed forth the Spirit. If we have the Spirit there is fruit-bearing, and we know the things of Christ. All real christianity lies within the region of the Spirit. Outside of the region of the Spirit you get out of christianity in its true power. All that we see around us, churches, and all that sort of thing are outside of the region of the Spirit.
RSS It is an immensely important thing to grow in spiritual intelligence. I expect that is our great lack. I mean with good intentions we do the wrong thing.
FER Yes, the apostle prays for the Ephesians, “To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”. Then it is, “that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”. That prayer stands good for us.
WM And I suppose chapters 14 to 16 are the opening out of that prayer. There is faith in chapter 14, love in chapter 15 and intelligence in chapter 16.