THE ASSEMBLY (12)
[p. 731] THE ASSEMBLY (12)
Ephesians 1: 15 - 23; Ephesians 3: 14 - 21; Hebrews 2: 11, 12
JT It will be observed that the passages read in Ephesians are in the form of prayers, both in chapter 1 and in chapter 3; they are prayers of the apostle Paul. They have been read on that account, but what is in mind, of course, is the assembly, and Ephesians presents the highest phase of the truth as to it. Much is said, as to it in the book of Revelation too, but the highest phase of assembly truth is seen in Ephesians. The assembly in Ephesians is seen as usable in the divine service. In the first chapter it is spoken of as the body of Christ. It says, “... which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all”. It may be thought that “him who fills all in all” would refer to God, but it is clear from the allusion here that it is to the Lord Jesus Himself; it is a question of His body, and that it is His fulness. Chapter 3 flows into a sort of doxology at the end of the chapter and points out that there is to be glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. The age of ages would point to eternity. Then it is thought that the passage read in Hebrews is plainly an allusion to the assembly as the sphere of the divine service, and in this connection a quotation from the Old Testament is used, quoting from Psalm 22: “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”.
JTJr The types we have been considering are feminine, mostly from the Old Testament; and now these references to the assembly which are before us appear to be feminine also. But the actual working out of this in our souls may not be understood by many of us.
JT The allusion in the epistle to the Corinthians to the saints at Corinth would point to the feminine. The apostle says, “I have espoused you unto one man [p. 732] to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”, 2 Corinthians 11: 2.
ANW In Ephesians 5 the word is, “Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”. The reference to husbands and wives there is based upon the love of Christ for the assembly and I wondered if that would not confirm the feminine feature. Then, later on, in verse 31, it says, “Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly”.
JT I trust that the brethren will be led on to think of the assembly as it functions in the divine service on the first day of the week in the breaking of bread and all that flows out of it; it is a function of the assembly.
SW You made mention of the fact that both passages we have read in Ephesians are prayers. Firstly it was that they might be enlightened in the eyes of their heart so that they should know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Would that lead on to the next passage which speaks of the breadth and length and depth and height?
JT And finally to glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus. That is the service of God in the assembly.
SW And would this be a crowning point, so to speak, to our meetings? Should we reach the service of the assembly toward God?
JT We have been considering the types of the assembly each month since last October and there should be some result in our intelligence as to the assembly. So that we finish this series of meetings tonight with the hope that we shall understand the assembly better and function in it more intelligently.
CEJ Would you say a little as to the assembly [p. 733] being the fulness of Him who fills all in all? I am thinking of the word fulness.
JT The thought here is that the assembly is the fulness of Christ, she fills out what is needed in the divine thought as to Him in the universe; the assembly is needed for Him, and there is no family like it. The assembly is the greatest family in the universe, greater than angels.
CEJ Have you in mind that she is needed for divine service?
JT Quite so; it is the filling out of the service; the references that we find in these passages would show that; as for instance, Ephesians 3: 21, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”. It is “in the assembly in Christ Jesus”. It is positional, but it is unto all generations of the age of ages. This is an eternal position.
EEH Would that correspond with Genesis 2? “And Jehovah Elohim said, It is not good that Man should be alone; I will make him a help-mate, his like”.
JT She is needed; Adam needed a counterpart, which refers to a wife. There was a shortage until she was formed. She was formed for Man, and we are told that Jehovah Elohim built her. He built the woman.
AR In Genesis 1: 28 it says, “And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it”. The woman shares in headship there, does she not?
JT Quite so, the word Man there covers man and woman. “God said to them”; it is plural.
JHE Of the woman of worth in Proverbs 31 it says, “The heart of her husband confideth in her, and he shall have no lack of spoil. She doeth him good, and not evil, all the days of her life”.
JT We could hardly get a better verse than that to deal with our subject; it is what the woman is to [p. 734] the man. It is Christ and the assembly, showing how essential she is to Him. And it is to be hoped that it will be so with us, that we may get a better view of the assembly in her greatness in the divine service.
JHE Would it be right to say that Paul was specially in the good of this in adding this parenthesis in Ephesians 3?
JT It is a long parenthesis, including the whole chapter but for one verse.
AR The apostle Paul, in chapter 1, speaks of the Ephesians having love towards all the saints, and then in the last chapter he speaks of loving our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption. Would that be the feminine side operating in the assembly at Ephesus?
JT Quite so; the assembly, as we are speaking of it, is a feminine word; although some of us are masculine, the assembly in general is feminine; hence “the Christ loved the assembly”. He gave Himself for the assembly, because He loved her. And so it is that we all should love the saints, the assembly, because of what she is to Christ.
JTJr Would there be a fulness in Psalm 22 in that it has a feminine title? I was wondering if the assembly would be implied in that. The heading of the Psalm relates to “the hind of the morning”.
JT Quite so, hind is a feminine word.
JTJr Do you think there might be an allusion to the fulness in the assembly as rising to the Lord’s own thoughts?
JT I think so; it is great enough to be His companion, to be His fulness, showing how great it is. Of all the families in the heavens and the earth there is none as great as the assembly.
VCL Are we to be like the sons of Korah, who in Psalm 45 arrive at the greatness of Christ, and with that the idea of the greatness of His companion? It reads, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever”, as [p. 735] though they were filled with the supremacy of Jesus. And the queen is said to be in clothing of gold, and the king’s daughter all glorious within; as though the assembly, within and without, is suitable for Christ.
JT It says, “Hearken, daughter”, as though there is an appeal, too, and it goes on, “... he is thy Lord, and worship thou him”, Psalm 45: 10.
AAT Does the assembly have both the masculine and the feminine aspects?
JT Well, it is a question of how we view it; but properly the assembly is feminine, as we have been saying. But then we have to make a difference when we come to individuals. Brethren is a masculine thought. God is leading many sons to glory; many sons would be used in a masculine sense. It is a question of the way that Scripture deals with these great matters.
EAL Would the masculine side give a lead? “Go to my brethren”, for instance, and the closed doors would suggest that the brethren had taken a stand to shut out what was religious or Jewish so that the Lord could come in happily amongst them and bring in His peace amongst them.
JT Well, brethren would be masculine, but it is a question of how the term is used in Scripture.
EAL What I meant is that she who took the message would not be excluded from those whom the Lord terms, “my brethren”.
JT She was a sister and she spoke to the Lord as Rabboni, which means my Teacher. She was being taught; she was great enough to take a message to the brethren. But the gospel of John does not speak of the assembly in a corporate sense.
JTJr The assembly is a corporate idea. The sons of God are individuals. We should be able to distinguish in that way, between what the assembly is and what we are as sons of God, or brethren.
JT The assembly is clearly a corporate idea in [p. 736] 2 Corinthians 11 to which we have alluded: “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”, 2 Corinthians 11: 2.That includes all the brothers and sisters in Corinth.
CEJ Would the corporate thought be seen in the assembly as His body?
JT Clearly; that is just what we get in our passage, and it is the main thought that was in mind for this reading. The passage says that God “has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all”, Ephesians 1: 22.
FS Do those verses from which you have quoted give us the completion of God’s primary thought in regard to man and woman as indicated in Genesis, and thus form a suited setting for the service of God in the completed position?
JT Clearly so, and it seems as if it was God’s intention that the assembly should be formed of brothers and sisters. That is the idea generally throughout the Scriptures; brothers and sisters.
FS Is this a position that we should understand in the service of God, that we are conscious of being in these relations with Christ?
JT Exactly, and that sisters — for we call them sisters — as on the higher levels of the truth are sons of God as much as the brothers.
JAP In what aspect do we view the assembly in that part of the service of God when we reach the Father? Is that feminine or are we to regard it as masculine?
JT Sons of God, viewed as to many persons, would be masculine, but the corporate idea is to be viewed as feminine, as we have already said. The term bride must be feminine. This is seen in Revelation 21 and 22. The bride includes all the saints who form [p. 737] the assembly.
FHL Have you not said that in the service of God the full thought of manhood is seen in Christ and the assembly?
JT That is what I think. In finality the masculine is in Christ, and the assembly is the collective feminine side.
AR Is that seen in Ephesians 3: 21, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”. Is that the idea of the assembly serving God femininely?
JT I think so; from another point of view the collective idea is needed to make up the thought of the Christ, “... so also is the Christ”, which would include brothers and sisters.
FS Would you say that it is important that consciously we should touch this point in the service of God before moving on to the Father?
JT Well, I think that is right, and I think also that when brethren are visiting a locality we should proceed in the service and all join as one, not hold back because there are visitors. The idea of visitation ceases when we rise to the full thought of the service of God in the assembly.
CAM I would like to ask about the words that David uses in 1 Chronicles 29, where he blesses Jehovah in the sight of all the congregation and says: “Thine, Jehovah, is the greatness”, and then goes on to say, “thou art exalted as Head above all”. The headship of Christ to the assembly comes into our chapter in Ephesians, but is that reference of David a greater thought?
JT Well, it would be equivalent, I would think, to Christ’s headship. That God is Head is obvious; it is quite right; it must be right; God is Head of all; it says that God must be all in all in 1 Corinthians 15; God must have that place. But in the meantime we are engaged with Christ and the assembly, not God and the [p. 738] assembly, exactly, but Christ and the assembly. It is a peculiar thing that enters into the thoughts of God that Christ is to have a companion, a counterpart, as it says in Genesis 2.
CAM I think you have referred to that allusion to headship in 1 Chronicles 29 as the highest point in the Old Testament and I wondered if the reference in Ephesians to “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” might not allude to what is typified in David’s day.
JT Well, if we are thinking of God, then we must make way for Him, that He must be Head. Christ was not seen formally in the Old Testament, in that sense, as He is seen in the New. It is Christ and the assembly in the New Testament. It is God’s assembly, too. We have to make allowance for what Scripture says, that it is God’s assembly, but when we put the phrase into one, it is a question of Christ and the assembly, and it ought to be left that way. “I speak”, the apostle says, “as to Christ, and as to the assembly”.
RWS Would the statement, “To him be glory in the assembly”, involve that the assembly serves God femininely as well as God being served by sons, so that there is the corporate feminine thought of the assembly serving God, as well as the masculine thought in our service in sonship?
JT I think that the assembly, as serving God, would be feminine to God as it is to Christ. Israel was viewed as wife to Jehovah in the Old Testament. Isaiah speaks of this. So that Jehovah is seen as having a wife, in that sense, in Israel. But in our dispensation the wifely feature develops in the assembly, Christ being the Bridegroom. This works out in the service of God; but it is Christ and the assembly.
RWS I had thought of the service of God as implying sonship, and had never thought of God being served in a feminine way by [p. 739] the assembly.
JT Well, as I said, it is in Christ and the assembly. Hence in Matthew God is seen, in parable, making a wedding feast for His Son. This is equivalent to the marriage of the Lamb and so “He that has the bride is the bridegroom”. In the service of God the Father has joy in the bride.
EAL In Hebrews 2 there are three thoughts: the sons led to glory in verse 10, and then the brethren, and then the assembly. Would the “many sons” and “the brethren” carry the idea of what is masculine, though including the sisters, and “the assembly” suggest the feminine?
JT Well, just so. And the Father has part in all that. “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises” would involve the assembly in the corporate sense.
ANW In Revelation 21: 10, 11, the heavenly city is seen coming down out of heaven from God having the glory of God, and the word is, “Her shining was like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone”. That would suggest femininity, would it not?
JT Very good. Then in verse 2 the assembly comes down from God out of the heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. John says, “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. Well, that is the feminine thought, it is collective.
ANW In verse 10 it is “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her shining ...”
JT What we are saying is all very clear that the collective side is feminine, and ultimately the feminine will be the assembly and the masculine will be Christ: Christ and the assembly. But this is but a feature, and does not exclude the masculine side in the sons, as in Hebrews 2: 10.
WAT Revelation 21: 15 speaks of the city and [p. 740] its gates. Would that suggest that the public side would be masculine, but the thought of her shining stresses the feminine side?
JT “Its” is the neuter, and it is right under certain conditions. It is a question of language; and we are safe in going by what Scripture uses. But the effect on the mind is feminine in accordance with verse 11.
VCL The ‘bride’ joins with the Spirit in saying, ‘Come’, and there is glory to God in the assembly. Would the feminine idea therefore link on with each of the divine Persons?
JT Well, the Spirit is never regarded as having the bride, it is only Christ who has the bride. She is the Lamb’s wife. Only in the Old Testament Jehovah is regarded as having Israel as wife. But the Spirit is a divine Person. He is God and He is said to love and we cannot exclude Him from the joys attributable to other divine Persons.
WAT You have been stressing Christ and the assembly. I notice that, in these passages which we have read in Ephesians, the expression the Christ is frequently used. Does that expression refer to Christ and the assembly?
JT Are you enquiring if the expression the Christ includes the assembly?
WAT Yes.
JT Well, “so also is the Christ” in 1 Corinthians 12: 12 might include the assembly, but the Christ as generally used is not feminine, it is always masculine.
WAT Does it include the assembly here when it speaks of “the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”, Ephesians 3: 19?
JT No. “The love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge” is a question of Christ Himself, it is a question of His love; it is not a combination of Christ and the assembly. That love is Christ’s love.
CEJ In relation to the service. Godward, in verse 20, we have the expression: “But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, ... to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”. Would you say as to whom “to him” refers? Is it the Father or is it God?
JT That is God, I would say.
CEJ Would that be God in the sense in which the Lord refers to Him when He says, “my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God”?
JT Well, it would have the same force.
DP The footnote to the word assembly in Exodus 12: 3 says, ‘a corporate person before God’. Is that feminine?
JT That is a collective word. It is a question of how the Old Testament treats of these cases, and I would think it is a masculine idea. The sense is that it is responsible characteristically and would therefore be masculine.
JTJr Israel was viewed as a son. The corporate idea was there: “Let my son go”. But sonship applies to us individually.
JHE In Ephesians 3 the apostle’s prayer is: “... in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ”. The Spirit is brought in there that we may be able to have right feelings and intelligence. Is that not important?
JT Quite so, it is the power of the Spirit.
RWS There seems to be an element of mystery in the way that this word assembly has been taken out of the Greek. It is used in Acts 19: 32 in relation to the regular assembly of the people. Is there not mystery [p. 742] in the way that the Spirit of God has elevated this word, having taken it out of the ordinary affairs of men and surrounded it with these holy thoughts which we are now exploring in Ephesians?
JT Just so. So that we are dealing with it from a spiritual standpoint, and we have said much about the assembly on the feminine side. But if we refer to Hebrews 12: 23, for instance, “... the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”, the assembly spoken of in that sense is masculine: That refers to a group of persons gathered out and used in a governmental way.
RWS That is very illuminating, for it makes it all the more marvellous that when we bring in the spiritual side the assembly is the fulness of Christ.
JT Yes, it is the way that the Spirit of God uses the word assembly in Ephesians 5, that makes it a feminine thought. But if it is used in relation to an assembly to govern a country such as Greece, for instance, then it would be a masculine thought.
GH Would “the assembly of God which is in Corinth” be masculine or feminine.
JT Well, in such expressions it is a question of what the meaning is. “The assembly of God which is in Corinth”, I would say, is a masculine thought.
RWS While Paul speaks of “every family” in his prayer, saying, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on the earth is named”, he really only enlarges upon one family. He leaves the others and enlarges on the assembly.
JT Yes. In the first chapter we have just one family in mind; that is, the assembly. We belong to it. It is “blessed ... with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”.
TNW In the last verse of chapter 3 reference is made to “all generations of the age of ages”. Is one corporate thought in mind [p. 743] there?
JT It is there a matter of glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus. That is the thought we are dealing with this evening.
TNW And the assembly is competent to fill out the position given to it?
JT Yes, and it will be eternally so: “unto all generations of the age of ages”. But, as we have seen, there are also the features of sonship and the brethren of Christ.
EEH How does the idea of sonship fit into the assembly?
JT Well, it does fit in, it is a question of how Scripture uses that great thought; so the Father is bringing many sons to glory; that is masculine.
EEH When we consider ourselves in relation to the Father the thought of sonship is prominent, and when we consider ourselves in relation to Christ as His bride or wife the relation is feminine, is that the idea?
JT That is the idea exactly. It is just a question of scriptural usage, which, of course, we are safe in following. We want to be with God and He is using certain words, and certain ways of speaking and we should follow them.
CAM Is that not seen in Revelation 21, which has been alluded to in connection with the feminine side? Just a little further on in the chapter it says, “He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son”, verse 7.
JT That latter reference is masculine, clearly.
CAM Yes, I thought it emphasised what you were saying, inasmuch as both the feminine and the masculine come into the text but each in its own setting.
JT Quite so, “I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son”, is masculine.
JAP You have said that sonship is individual. On the Lord’s day morning when we are speaking to the [p. 744] Father in the light of sonship, are we viewed as so many individuals?
JT That is right, as sons of God. That is what Hebrews says; He is “bringing many sons to glory”; it is not one son, but many sons.
RJD What will our status be when we reach the eternal condition as set out in 1 Corinthians 15? Is it viewed femininely, or as masculine?
JT The assembly will be the bride of Christ for ever, she is given to Him; it is so regarded in the epistle to the Ephesians. But as we remarked already, there are also the brethren of Christ and our relation in sonship.
TEH Matthew 16: 18 says, “on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. How do we view the assembly there?
JT There is a variation there, for evidently the thought is that it would be used in the effectuation of His thoughts and purposes. Psalm 45 may be linked with it.
SW As we progress in the morning meeting in the service of God, and approach the Father, that is in our relation as sons, but we also understand that we are raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ. I am not quite clear as to entering into this service individually as sons, if we are together in the corporate sense.
JT As sons, we are so many persons.
AR It says in Ephesians 2: 5, “... has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace,) and has raised us up together”. Is the quickening there equivalent to the building of the woman in Genesis 2?
JT Yes, it is; the collective thought is there all the way through.
SW That is the reason I asked the question as to sonship.
JT But sons are never spoken of collectively, [p. 745] or corporately.
WAT The fact that sonship is not collective is seen in Galatians 4: 6, “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts”. That is not a collective thought; the sense is ‘in each heart’.
JT It is individual, as we have said. We cry “Abba, Father” as sons.
FNW Does sonship provide God with a certain pleasure in variety of personalities, whereas what He has in the assembly, in a corporate sense, is one idea.
JT Just so, if we speak of the assembly as such, but individuals composing it are sons. We have the sons of God, for instance, in the book of Job. It says that they shouted for joy; and similarly, when we are spoken of as sons it is in the masculine sense; even though the sisters are included, the idea is masculine.
AR In Hebrews 2, it says, “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. Does that involve all the saints?
JT I think so, that is the collective thought of the saints: “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. The word is hymn really; the saints join in the hymning, but the Lord Jesus is said to do it.
AR That is more extensive than the local gathering?
JT Quite so; it is the universal thought, “in the midst of the assembly” is universal.
WWM Does it help in understanding the feminine thought that it is one woman? It is Christ and the assembly. But when the Lord leads the assembly into the presence of the Father, she is there in the family relationship and has the status of sonship.
JT Yes. If we are dealing with sons it is so many persons and it is masculine.
RHS What is meant by the “assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”?
JT It is characteristic; it is in a list of about eight things that are mentioned in Hebrews 12. Amongst these [p. 746] is the assembly of the firstborn registered in heaven; it is a distinction that belongs to the assembly. And in this case as well as in others it is a matter of finding out what the word means in its original use. It is a question of language or grammar as to the word used.
FS How does the thought of sonship stand in relation to Christ?
JT We are never said to be sons of Christ; we are sons of God. But then, when we get down to facts. Christ is said to be God in the Scriptures, and the Father is said to be God, too.