THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST (1)
[p. 172] THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST (1)
JT The setting of the work at Philippi as given in Acts 16 helps in the understanding of what God effected there. First we see the care exercised by the Lord and by the Spirit, so that Paul should reach Philippi and begin his work in Europe in that city. Chapter 15 shows the pernicious influence of the spirit of judaism, and the detachment of Barnabas and others from the apostle Paul. A taint of judaism — in John Mark, at least — accompanied him in the earlier service recorded in chapters 13 and 14, and he is now free from this. The spirit of judaism became manifest and was dealt with at Jerusalem and Antioch. If a given form of evil as affecting the saints is exposed, it must be taken account of and avoided. Barnabas became detached from Paul; he had been a co-labourer and had served well, but the sequel showed that he came somewhat under the influence of Jerusalem and natural relationship; so Paul chose Silas, and finding Timotheus, took him also, so that he has now congenial companionship — an important matter in the service of God. Indeed, it is stated in chapter 18 that he waited in Corinth until Timotheus and Silas came down. It says, “And when both Silas and Timotheus came down from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in respect of the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ” (verse 5). That is, their presence affected him; he was pressed because they were present, as if he waited for the companionship that would help in the great undertaking at Corinth; he has these two here. We have the general statement of his ministry in verses 1 to 5, and how the assemblies increased every [p. 173] day, showing that the testimony is now under favourable circumstances; there is great care on the part of the Spirit, and the Lord, too, to see that Paul should arrive at Philippi.
Philippi seems to have been singled out as the centre of this fresh service; it was peculiarly Roman, peculiarly European; it is said to have been a Roman colony. These colonies were so constituted that they were an integral part of the capital, the citizens having the same rights as those at Rome. They say, “... being Romans”. Then it would appear that there was no synagogue in the city, nor are there any Jews mentioned in the place. There were certain women who met for prayer outside the city by the river, but they were not properly representative of judaism; they rather represented the kind of material available, that there might be a pure state of things, that the testimony in Europe should be pure and free from Jewish admixture. There is no evidence of the presence of a synagogue, and hence no hereditary religious influence to be contended with. All that has a bearing on our own times in which hereditary religious influence has such a place, as in this country especially. Most of us have known it, and a considerable amount of it has been carried into the present work of God, and has a place in our meetings. It is for us all to take note of whatever has been exposed, and avoid it. With what has been said in mind, we can see that Philippi as a field was carefully selected by the Spirit. The facts given relative to Philippi indicate that God intended that the work there should be free from the character of the flesh seen in judaism. The epistle shows that it was pure; the state of things there enabled the apostle to write such a unique letter; we might call it a characteristic love-letter from the apostle to those who were the result of his work in this particular city.
WJH Would not the presence of Luke also with Paul — included in the “we” of the chapter — confirm that he was free of Jewish [p. 174] influences?
JT That helps. The general mention of these brethren shows that they were congenial companions — a very important thing in the service of the Lord, as remarked.
EuR Would the “Spirit of Jesus” stand in contrast to the Jewish spirit you spoke of, and was Paul now free, as possessing it? It says, “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them”.
JT Yes; the Spirit of Jesus is what we get in the gospels; by it he encountered this terrible judaising influence. John especially mentions the Jews, in view of the last days, and the danger there is in that element. The Spirit of Jesus had in mind that the work in Europe should be free of it. We know there has been a development of this terrible thing in Europe as nowhere else, but still, the Spirit of God had taken precaution against it.
Ques Would Silas be one who had turned his back upon it, and was a fit companion for Paul?
JT Quite so; he was free of it, and if any feature of evil has been at work and exposed, it is incumbent upon us to use all possible means to avoid it. God helps us by exposing any feature of evil, and chapter 15 shows how the character of judaism was exposed and judged.
Rem The spirit of Python, another character of evil, is put in contrast to the Spirit of Jesus.
JT Taking on a religious character: “These men are bondmen of the Most High God”. Judaism is a link with the past, having the glamour of antiquity. The Spirit of Jesus would be used against that. The book of Acts throughout shows how specious the influence of judaism is, and how we should use every means to avoid it.
JTS Would the exposure of Babylon in Revelation 18 have its place similarly, as preceding the word, “Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins”?
JT Yes. The whole book of Revelation is for us; each assembly in Asia received it. The exposure of [p. 175] Babylon has a great place in it and is an immense advantage to us. Indeed it is said, “God has judged your judgment upon her”. The book is intended for the saints in our time, so that they may come out of her and be clear of her: “Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins”; much is said of Babylon in the book. It is said that she had fallen and had become something else (Revelation 18:2) — that is the present moment.
WSS With regard to the thought of the Spirit of Jesus, is it subjection to the Spirit of that Man that would give prosperity to the service?
JT It comes out in the epistle: “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, Philippians 1:19. That is what is needed, and what we shall see is important in the epistle. It appears here as bearing on judaism: “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them”, as if there was deep feeling there, and that the work should be carried on in suitable soil, free from Jewish influences.
Rem The persons mentioned here — the “we” — would all be expressive of the Spirit of Jesus.
JT If you had met those men on the road you would have been affected by their manner and by their conversation with one another. How lovely it would be to have part with Paul and Silas and Timotheus and Luke in a conversation! What an influence they would exert on our spirits, and that was to permeate the converts at Philippi. The “Spirit of Jesus” was most severely tested in Paul and Silas in the prison. The first man converted in Philippi was brought into the presence of it: “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here”. That brother would never forget the grace conveyed in that; it would affect him in having part in care meetings and administrative matters among the saints.
HES Does the work of evil always connect either with what is past or what is future, to exclude what is particularly for the present?
JT Quite so, for the present is the test, and the [p. 176] present was embodied in these men, Paul and Silas and Timotheus, and the others with them, in the “we”.
WJH Have you any thought why this opposition is expressed in a female slave?
JT Lydia is mentioned before her. It is remarkable that the work of God is first seen here in a female and a business woman. Then the enemy makes this attack through a person employed for gain in the capacity of a slave; but in contrast to her, as I said, is Lydia, who was a business woman, a woman of affairs, called “a seller of purple”, and who as we are told, attended “to the things spoken by Paul”, meaning that she discerned Paul as the man whom the Lord was specially using. No doubt she listened to the others, but she attended to what Paul said, and I think she represents the character of the material in view in this work. The devil, in the slave, sought to occupy men with the future, a remarkable kind of attempt to set aside what God was doing in the present.
JS-t Have you in mind that, being a business woman, she would listen to what Paul was saying with attentiveness and exactness?
JT That is right. God selects His soil. If He works in a great industrial centre, He has the background in mind; what people are. All that comes under His government; nothing happens without it, and if a sparrow does not fall to the ground without Him, a young man’s employment and his ancestry are important to Him; all that is under God, and nothing is without Him. People in business as a rule have to be careful and attentive. It is well to carry that forward; it is a right principle.
EuR Is this attitude towards Paul’s ministry similar to the attitude of Mary in Luke 10?
JT Very similar. Mary, you will remember, assumes that attitude after the voice from heaven which said, “hear him”. It is not, of course, that she heard that said on the mount, but she was in keeping with it,
[p. 177] and here Lydia discerned that Paul was the vessel to be listened to, and she attended to the things spoken by him.
JJ Are the women here like the women in 2 Timothy, representing the unofficial side?
JT Yes; one of them, Timothy’s mother, is mentioned in our chapter. Women give body to what is being done — and they have special absorbing power.
WSS Does the word “concluding” in verse 10 refer to the intelligence that marked these servants?
JT Yes. The word to go there was not specific; it was not that the Lord appeared to them, for it says, “There was a certain Macedonian man, standing and beseeching him, and saying, Pass over into Macedonia and help us. And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go forth to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to announce to them the glad tidings”. “We ... concluding” would show that they took counsel. The apostle was not above that, though it must not be assumed that a servant should consult his brethren as to his movements. He may do it, as seen here, but he moves as the Lord directs him. Of course, those consulted here were travelling with Paul, and I am sure he greatly valued the presence of these men so that the conclusion is in the plural, but the vision was to him alone. It was not the Lord saying, Go; it was someone saying, Come. It was the expression of need, but the conclusion was that the Lord “had called us”, showing that we have to notice certain occurrences, and the spiritual discern whether the Lord is in them.
WSS Do not the subsequent events, and the whole history of the testimony in Europe, show how right the judgment was?
JT Exactly. It brings out the need in our service to be much before the Lord, and sensitive as to occurrences, whether the Lord has anything in them.
FCH Have you any thought why Lydia [p. 178] is from Thyatira? Is it that she is separate from the religious influence that afterwards comes out?
JT There is one thing to be said as to that, as well as the slave, that Paul was greatly tested, which is an important thing in our service. If we are to be used we shall be tested as to our conclusions, whether they are really right. It is a wholesome thing to be tested. He had concluded that the Lord had called him there, and now he is there, and there is not a man in sight. Did we make a mistake? That is a wholesome inquiry. The female slave “having followed Paul and us, cried saying, These men are bondmen of the Most High God, who announce to you the way of salvation. And this she did many days”. Every levitical instinct in the apostle would be challenged. Did I discern rightly? Should I have come here? There is no such result as might be expected. Well, there is this dear sister Lydia, but she is of Thyatira. He might have had that kind of material without crossing over into Europe. That is to say, the external facts seemed to contradict the conclusion arrived at, and that was important. Every one is tested in that way, for it is not the Lord’s way to make the way so plain that you do not have to be exercised at all. You must be exercised about things, and so whilst she is an excellent result of his labours and service, she is not a Philippian, she is not a Roman; she belongs to Asia.
Ques Do you think the purple being connected with Thyatira in any way supposes the great ecclesiastical purple to be overthrown, as well as the imperial purple in the end of the chapter?
JT That may be. It was a city marked by this industry. There may be a hidden allusion to the glory of the world which developed in the assembly at Thyatira. She is not marked by that; she is, as it were, a remnant out of that, a bright testimony to the work of God, material suitable for the work that is in mind here.
EJMcB Do you think perhaps the question might [p. 179] be raised with us whether we have the spiritual energy to go on till men are secured?
JT You cannot have the assembly without men. I think that is an axiom we may accept. We value the sisters, of course, but Luke’s way is the man first, then the woman, and then the girl (Luke 8). His material is a man released from satanic power, clothed and sitting at the feet of Jesus, and we must look for that in all assembly formation. Then we have the woman, and lastly the girl; these represent suitable component elements in an assembly. It must have been a great test to the apostle who so discerned everything, that after all this care there was no man — one notable woman, but no man. This young woman following them was like the devil jeering at them; he knew enough of what was going on in Paul’s mind, and was saying, as it were, This is what you are getting, which is not your objective.
EBG Would what the female slave said be in the nature of a corrupting challenge to the purity of the work of God there? The challenge is taken up by God and answered by the establishment of an assembly at Philippi bearing the features of salvation of which the slave had spoken.
JT That is a very instructive suggestion. “These men are bondmen of the Most High God”: think of that being said by a girl possessed by the spirit of Python! How corrupting that spirit was, and how Paul felt it! But the exercise had to be gone through, and he went through it. It was not until “many days” that the apostle turns round and rebukes the demon, and then there is this great result. There was, perhaps, no assembly like it in purity and the continuance of what was according to God, as seen in the epistle. Its foundation was laid in suffering, the Spirit of Jesus tested out in these men was victorious, so that the man is found, and he shines in what [p. 180] he does.
HH The vision would have sustained Paul until he found the man.
JT Yes, and Lydia would be a constant cheer, but Satan’s bitter cold wind would affect him, coming day after day, and felt by the apostle as no one else could feel it; he knew the enemy was aiming at him. The vision must have sustained Paul in the ordeal, but then the Lord had not told him to go to Macedonia; it was his own conclusion based on the vision, and he must have been greatly exercised as to the correctness of this. The Lord allowed the devil to challenge him every day in this way so that he should be affected by it.
Ques After “concluding” that the Lord had called them to announce the glad tidings, it goes on to say, “we went in a straight course to Samothracia, and on the morrow to Neapolis, and thence to Philippi”. Is that a spiritual suggestion?
JT It was very defined. It is an important thing in service that we go straight forward according to the light we have, that our course is not zig-zag.
Ques Does the fact of their going to prayer imply that the spirit of prayer was fundamental with the apostle and those with him, and that it was contributory in a marked way to what was developed subsequently at Philippi?
JT It is a positive feature of the position, the spirit of prayer and the place of prayer by the river outside the city. It was like a tree planted by the river, taking root downwards in prayer and so watered, but in the process there was this terrible attack of the devil, and that is what I think we should notice because we find it in our service more or less, and we are tested. The devil was aiming at Paul; he knew what Paul would be thinking in regard of the vision, and hence this harrowing action by this female slave every day.
DLH Is it not noticeable that in the epistle to the Philippians Paul and Timotheus are referred to as “bondmen of Jesus Christ”? If the enemy had a [p. 181] bond-servant to do his work, the Lord Jesus had His bondmen to do His.
JT How perfectly that is demonstrated in what follows! They were the bondmen of Jesus Christ; the present is the time of bondmanship — indeed, the book of Revelation is on that ground — and they were set for the present work of God. It is a question of the “present truth”, as Peter says, they were set for that. Satan would connect their mission with the future. Judaism would connect you with the past, and this attack of the devil through this girl pointed to the future, but the apostle and those with him kept to the present.
EuR Do you think the jailor at Philippi would correspond with the man possessed of the demon in Luke 8, when sitting at the feet of Jesus? This triumph at Philippi is very similar to the Lord’s triumph in that man.
JT It is said that they came out to see Jesus, and found the man. That was the point, they saw the man, and the apostle in all he was doing would be thinking of the man. Where is the man? “They went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demon had gone out, sitting, clothed and sensible, at the feet of Jesus”.
Ques Why does Paul, when rebuking, address himself to the spirit in the female slave?
JT It is Satan’s work; the thing is of the devil; the slave was but an instrument. The apostle carried on his warfare not with flesh and blood; it was a spiritual matter. It is a question of what is behind; the matter is of the devil.
JJ Does not the passage in 1 Samuel 28 show that the enemy is completely under control? The woman there with the spirit of Python was actually used to bring up Samuel.
JT Quite so, and God can even take up Balaam, an agent of the devil, and use him. But that does not [p. 182] appear here; the apostle deals directly with the demon. In the case of Barjesus, chapter 13, he spoke to the man; he was a type of the Jews, and so the judgment was “for a season”. Paul is not aiming at rescuing this poor thing from the power of the demon, but defeating the devil. There is no evidence of any moral effect in the girl.
HMS Would you say a little more fully why the devil makes so much of the way of salvation — a most desirable thing, but what we might have thought he would do his best to hinder?
JT He sought to corrupt the word of God, to connect the idea of salvation with the Most High God, with the future. The truth of the gospel was darkened by it. The jailor says, “What must I do that I may be saved?” and the answer is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. That is the gospel, but what this person was saying was darkening and confusing. There is much of this abroad in christendom today.
Ques Was not salvation seen in these men in the path of suffering?
JT When the time of the Most High God arrives, salvation will take on a different character; the world will be literally overthrown and Satan bound; there will be no suffering there. The enemy was endeavouring to divert from the character of the ministry of the gospel and of what salvation means, now. The world externally is not altered at all, yet here are persons entirely free of it, even though their feet are fast in the stocks, their spirits are in the liberty of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. That is the character of the moment. The Philippian colonists here are Romans exercising the power of Rome, and they use it remorselessly against those men without any good reason at all, and the salvation Paul and Silas are presenting is exemplified in themselves in those circumstances.
HD'AC In these days, the sacred words and [p. 183] thoughts that God has given us are being worked into systems which divert altogether from the truth. They take up our words and seek to work them into their own systems in order to draw people into what is false.
JT That is right. Spiritual ministry is sometimes sought after and read and used in connection with human systems, which really means corrupting the word of God. Not that we grudge any of our brethren or anyone else reading anything we have that is of God, but how is it used? It really is largely corrupted, because used in relation to human systems. The Lord speaks of the word of God being made void by traditional teaching.
WL Do you see the same corrupting influences at work in the Corinthians and Galatians? The Galatians were going back to a previous dispensation, and the Corinthians were looking on to a coming one, reigning as kings, and both were losing the gain of the present moment.
JT Paul in that very setting calls attention to what the apostles were: “God has set us the apostles for the last, as appointed to death”, 1 Corinthians 4:9. Persecuted they were, as the offscouring of the world. That is the present position; the truth and those who faithfully hold and maintain it are in that setting; it is exemplified here in these servants, the salvation of God shines in the very prison.
Rem So the evil spirit drew attention to the servants in a falsifying way, but Lydia attended to what Paul said.
JT There is a good deal said about ministry at the present time, but in many cases it is not attended to; indeed it is refused in practice, and yet the ministers are well spoken of. There is a good deal of that and the effect is to discredit and to neutralise the truth.
Rem The apostle takes up the challenge in the name of Jesus Christ; he says nothing of the term “Most High God”.
JT Quite so; he brings in the present truth. The jailor was not calling attention to the servants, but to himself and his need. He needed the gospel, and he got it: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”. There is no thought at all of changing things externally, but changing him and his house, and that is what happened. The Spirit of God does not finish until He shows you the man and his house, changed and in salvation. He says of him: “And they spoke to him the word of the Lord, with all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed them from their stripes; and was baptised, he and all his straightway. And having brought them into his house he laid the table for them, and rejoiced with all his house, having believed in God”. That is to say, the servants are seeing and participating in the result of their testimony, in this man and in his house.
FGW Would you connect religious sentiment with judaism, and human sentiment with the female slave, but christianity in Philippians giving us spiritual sentiment?
JT Yes. The Spirit would direct our view to Paul and Silas in the prison, and what a testimony they were to the salvation they spoke of; we have a man and his house, and he washes them from their stripes; that is, he has tender sensibilities now — the Spirit of Jesus — and he lays the table for them. Besides the salvation enjoyed, we have the further important thought established that the household of the christian is to be marked by hospitality.
FI Why is it that having secured the man in the jailor, when they are set free, they go back to the house of Lydia?
JT That would be to call attention to her. They go to Lydia — “having gone out of the prison, they came to Lydia”, calling attention to the great result in her. What sympathy she would have for them!
— [p. 185] and what enjoyment and restfulness they would have in her house! It was not just to help her, but that they had certain compensation in a person of this kind such a result of the testimony, for surely the servants of God should have such. The epistle shows how the apostle found this at Philippi.
HH There were good foundations in the believer’s house. The foundations of the prison had been shaken, but there were good foundations laid in the house of the jailor.
JT That is what you see. You have the man, and he is shining, not yet in the assembly, but in his house; he laid the table for them. You have the man and his house which, we may say, is the point in the chapter. It is the complete result of the gospel as presented to the jailor.
CWD In the combination of the two, the man and the woman — the jailor and Lydia — have you the two essential elements for the assembly there?
JT Yes; and the household is clearly in mind from this chapter onwards, and I believe the Lord intended it, particularly in Europe; I have no doubt it prepared for the development of the assembly in full result. That is, in the continuance of it, God intended Europe as a field for it. In contrast to polygamy, that was so general in Asia, monogamy tended to make the West a suitable part for the testimony. God takes account of the conditions in any field where He may be pleased to work. So you see in this case the man rejoiced householdwise; the salvation was complete in regard of himself and his house.
Ques What is involved in the jailor “having believed in God”?
JT The apostle did not speak to him at first about God; he spoke to him about the Lord Jesus, but it is a beautiful tribute to the work of God in the man’s soul that he understands that God was included in the testimony presented to him. “They spoke to him the word of the Lord”, but he understands, he arrives at this thought, that although the gospel was presented in Jesus, God was presented to him. That is the point. In Luke 8, Jesus said to the man out of whom the demons were cast, “Return to thine house and relate how great things God has done for thee”, but he spoke of Jesus, “how great things Jesus had done for him”. I do not think there is the least suggestion of disobedience in what he did, but the instinct that goes with the work of God, that though it is through Jesus, yet God Himself is working.
JJ Would you say that the jailor is in the spirit of the women in the beginning of Luke 8? It is said that they “ministered to him of their substance”, and is he not doing that here?
JT Quite so; what the women did was cumulative of what had preceded in the gospel. Chapter 7 is the end of a series of instruction, and it is not without result. Hence the Lord has the twelve and the women, and they “ministered to him of their substance”. So the testimony in Luke 8 is founded on that. The assembly in its external formation is in view in that chapter.
EG Paul says, “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here”, and then the jailor says, “Sirs, what must I do that I may be saved?” The jailor received the benefit of that beautiful spirit and the congenial companionship seen in those men. Paul does not say, I am here, but “we are all here”.
JT The jailor would prove what that “we” meant, what those men were, and he would have pleasure in their company and presence in his house.
FGM You have spoken of the importance of the man in relation to the position of the assembly — how is it the woman is brought to light first here?
JT As we were saying, Paul was tested as to the non-appearance of a man. Lydia was connected with what was in Philippi before he came — the women who [p. 187] met for prayer — and could not be regarded as wholly the result of Paul’s work. The jailor was, and properly answers to the vision. Could the apostle have conceived he would find him in this way? He was the most unexpected man. It is a remarkable testimony of the power of the gospel that the man who had caused him so much suffering was the one really in mind; and now he is possessed of the Spirit of Jesus. Although Lydia comes first, she and her house and the jailor and his house form the nucleus needed for the assembly at Philippi.
MWB You have referred to the importance of the household: in what relation does the christian household stand to the assembly?
JT It is the sphere of the hospitality of love, as we have seen. This feature is seen in both Lydia’s house and the jailor’s. Another important thing is that children brought up in it develop and graduate into the assembly. The parents have no other thought or ambition for them than the assembly. What can I desire better for them than that, and all the early training would have that in mind. I believe that is what is in mind here.
AAE In the last verse, we read that Paul “having seen the brethren”. Who are those brethren?
JT It is a term of relationship in keeping with the whole position. Lydia is in the relation mentioned. The result of the testimony would be wanting without the thought of brethren, and of course there were those so regarded. Luke, and perhaps others of Paul’s company, might be included.
FI Does not Lydia afford conditions for such, in receiving into her house the great apostle of the assembly and those with him? She says, “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord”. Has not the household to be in accord with the Lord before it can be a support to the assembly?
JT Yes. And what is stated of her shows how [p. 188] deeply the divine thought had entered into her soul, and brings out what her household was. We must keep her in mind, but you cannot have the assembly without the man. Sisters alone would not be sufficient for the assembly; you must have the man, and now we have him, and his house. Lydia, as attending to the things spoken by Paul, represents the subjective side that shone so beautifully in this assembly, as seen in the epistle. The apostle and Silas went to her: “they came to Lydia”. That is a tribute to her, what she was in their minds.
HES Do we get normal christianity in Philippians, and are all these exercises and conditions at Philippi necessary before we can have it?
JT That is what I had in mind at the outset in proposing this chapter first, that we might see the soil in which God worked in order to bring this about.
Ques Paul, speaking to the jailor, says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus”; he uses the name by which He is cherished in the assembly. Is not that reflected in the epistle, in chapter 2 particularly?
JT Yes. It is worked out in the epistle. “The Lord Jesus” is an affectionate, respectful appellation by which we should speak of Him. “No one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 12:3. That name is so cherished, that it ought to be said in the power of the Holy Spirit.
EuR Is baptism foundational in that way, involving the recognition of the rights of the Lord? This was seen in Lydia and the jailor, and put them together in fellowship.
JT You can see that is how the truth presented worked out. What is set before us here does not go beyond the kingdom and the brethren, and, of course, there is thus the basis of the assembly. During the apostle’s later visit or visits, the truth relative to the assembly would, no doubt, be developed at [p. 189] Philippi.
EuR Paul speaks in the epistle of their “fellowship with the gospel, from the first day”, Philippians 1:5.
JT Quite so, and they were in the kingdom. John says that Jesus Christ has “made us a kingdom”, Revelation 1:6. The magistrates at Philippi expressed what they were; they represented Rome, but a kingdom was seen in Paul and those with him, which Lydia and her house and the jailor and his came into; all the power of God was behind them. The believer’s household belongs to the kingdom and there is power there.
HH There was “purple” in the true sense in Lydia’s house.
JT Yes, in the sense of moral dignity and suffering. There would be practical righteousness, too. She would give true measure in delivering her sales, and she would fulfil her obligations. A specially important matter at the present time is the truth of the kingdom, and that I operate as in it, in all my affairs.
JJ Would Paul going to Lydia be like Jesus going to the house of Martha and Mary?
JT Just so. Lydia represents intelligent spiritual affection, and there were, as you might say, tabernacle conditions in her house, because she attended to the things spoken by Paul.
Ques Is this the good ground that brings forth an hundredfold, spoken of in Luke 8?
JT Yes, it is the full result.
HMS Would you say a little about the final word of the jailor, “depart in peace”? A man converted from heathenism could speak of peace; he would understand “peace with God” and something of “the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding”, Philippians 4:7.
JT Yes. He was now a son of peace; that is another feature in christianity.
EBG It is said of the jailor that he “rejoiced with all his house”. That early and bright beginning is continued in the epistle, the thought of joy being prominent there, just as in relation to the early movements at [p. 190] Ephesus, the thought of the Spirit is prominent and continued throughout the epistle to the Ephesians.
JT Yes. You can see how the Philippian epistle is characterised by joy — a fine prospect for our readings. There is a certain buoyancy under all circumstances, and in no way better exemplified than in Paul and Silas in the prison. There are two great results from the testimony presented — the jailor and his house are secured and the servants of Christ are released. Through the latter the work of God goes on. Paul and Silas see the brethren and go away — to carry on the work elsewhere. Thus God made a way for His servants, leading them in triumph.
FSM In the work at Philippi persons were laid hold of and liberated by the gospel, in contrast to Babylon trading in the bodies and souls of men. The work of God goes on to secure the persons, body and soul; from the persons, households are developed, and from the households, the assembly is formed. Is that the normal way?
JT Yes. Matthew’s gospel unfolds the truth as to children in the sense you refer to. When the Lord arrived at the temple immediately before His death, the children in the temple were saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David”. How did they come to that knowledge? The inference is that the children are brought up in these things, so that they are available for the praise and the service of God. In answer to the question of His enemies, “Hearest thou what these say?” the Lord said, “Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” Matthew 21:15,16. It is what God does, and it is largely through household influence and instruction. The labours of parents should be with that end in view; and thus out of believers’ households issue children grounded in the truth, not merely as having been segregated to learn the initial thoughts, but as accustomed to the greatest and most spiritual thoughts in christianity.
[p. 191] They may not understand them, but they grow in them, and in that way they gradually come into fellowship, and when they come into fellowship, they are of value in the assembly and have part in the praise.
Rem When Paul saw the brethren, their children if any, would be there (see Acts 21:5). Jairus’ daughter in Luke 8 is raised into spiritual conditions and the Lord commanded that something be given her to eat.
JT That is important, and it certainly bears on what is before us. You will notice that the Lord says as to the woman in Luke 8 that “power has gone out from me”, and He calls her “daughter”. The idea is the body: “the body is of Christ”, Colossians 2:17. The Lord is on the way to the child when He deals with the woman, showing how important the child is in His mind, and He says to Jairus, “Fear not: only believe”. He had not forgotten the child in this great work that had been done in the woman, and when He came to the house He put out all who were deriding Him. The child died in that environment, at least her spirit had left her, and He puts them all out, and takes in Peter and John and James with the parents and He raises her up into such an atmosphere. The most spiritual suggestions are seen in His dealings with that girl. We have often spoken of it, but it is most important at the present time, for it reminds us that children are to be brought up in the most spiritual environment.