THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST (3)
[p. 212] THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST (3)
Philippians 1:21 - 30; Philippians 2:1 - 18
JT It seems that we should linger together on the facts and the circumstances recorded of the apostle in chapter 1, as he says, “the circumstances in which I am”. That the Spirit should have seen fit to include such details in the letter is worthy of special note, and particularly Paul’s view of dissolution in verses 21 - 25. “For for me to live is Christ, and to die gain; but if to live in flesh is my lot, this is for me worth the while: and what I shall choose I cannot tell. But I am pressed by both, having the desire for departure and being with Christ, for it is very much better, but remaining in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes; and having confidence of this, I know that I shall remain and abide along with you all, for your progress and joy in faith”.
The exercises that the spiritual man has — particularly in Paul’s case — in view of dissolution are of particular importance to those in advancing years, and of course the possibility of dissolution attaches to every one of us, so that we are enjoined to “number our days, that we may acquire a wise heart”, Psalm 90:12. It makes this passage of particular importance, that as considering it, we might become in some measure superior in our outlook and feelings to the thoughts that arise in view of death.
The servant is seen here as in the presence of it, not from what we might call natural causes, but as the outcome of his faithfulness. He was about to be martyred, and all his comment here is marked by the spirit of superiority to the circumstances. He is buoyant, and whilst it is not our portion to be martyrs in this sense in these days, it is well to bear in mind that the duration of our service is a matter of purpose, of divine ordination, and of the will of God. The leading servant [p. 213] of the Old Testament died by the will of God; he went up to die, not one day before nor one day after the date on the divine calendar, perfectly clear in his mind, understanding what was happening.
Moses did not die as Paul died, as a martyr; nevertheless he died by the will of God. It was not merely an ebbing out of natural power; he died in strength, and, so in advancing years, and indeed from the outset, I believe the Lord would lay it upon us that we should be clear in our minds, so that death might be faced as a matter of the will of God, and as understanding that the servant dies in some degree as Christ died. It is a question of the will of God. Christ did not die from natural weakness, but in power.
HES Is the gain and profit of the assembly the deciding factor in that case?
JT Quite so, that is what comes out. The apostle says, “but remaining in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes; and having confidence of this, I know that I shall remain and abide along with you all, for your progress and joy in faith”. The decision was, as it were, in his own hands.
Ques What precedes this is, “now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether by life or by death”. Paul was looking forward to martyrdom, but might we apply this somewhat to the burial of a saint?
JT Normally, God is glorified in the burial of His saints: this refers, however, to those who bury them. But as to the one buried, it is life and death. That is, it is how one lives and how one dies. It is in the manner of a saint’s death that Christ is magnified.
Ques Would Psalm 16 be suggestive of these exercises?
JT That is the Lord’s own outlook. At our burials the brethren may magnify us in the way they speak, very often in eulogies which go beyond the life of the person; but it is a question of how one lives and how [p. 214] one dies.
WJH It was a mark of great trustworthiness in Paul that the Lord should give him his choice, as to whether he should live or die.
JT It suggests also nearness to the Lord in the apostle’s own case. He puts it in this way, “I am pressed by both” — that is, the wish to go and the necessity of staying — “... but remaining in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes; and having confidence of this, I know that I shall remain and abide along with you all”. It is really a spiritual assurance; he was governed by unselfishness, by love for the saints.
MWB Do you think it has any connection with the nature of the conclusion of which we read in Acts 16? When he saw the man of Macedonia there was a conclusion reached in his mind.
JT I think it is of a piece with that. The spiritual assurance which he had governed him, as he was consciously controlled by utterly unselfish motives.
EJMcB The natural man necessarily has an end, but the spiritual man should be in vigour at the end.
JT That the mind should be clear by taking care of itself, as it were. Many talk about going to be with the Lord, and there is a great deal of sentiment, but it is not calculated feeling. We should go to be with the Lord with a mind clear as to what is happening.
FSM Is there a peculiar dignity in the apostle’s suggestion, putting life before death here? Ittai said, “whether in death or life” (2 Samuel 15:21); but the apostle having the assembly in view, feels it was worth while to remain for the sake of the saints, and he therefore puts life before death.
JT Quite so. Of course in a servant’s path it is a question that his life here and his movements in his body here for the will of God should all magnify Christ, and then if death comes, his mind is clear; it is not incidental, it is just the will of God. It is how we die. The manner of the dying of spiritual men as recorded in Scripture, is a very interesting study, culminating in [p. 215] the death of Christ, and then worked out in representative men of this dispensation, such as Paul and Stephen. Stephen is an excellent example of a man who knew how to die.
EuR Jacob died when he had “made an end of commanding his sons”, Genesis 49:33. He was concerned how he left things in the present. Then Joseph in dying “called to mind the going forth of the sons of Israel” (Hebrews 11:22); he died in full vigour as to the thoughts of God being carried through to fruition.
JT Jacob specially is an example of what we are saying. Having commanded his sons, having said all he had to say in wonderful intelligence, saying, “I know, my son, I know” (Genesis 48:19); he would not be turned aside even by the voice of the lord of Egypt. Having done all that was needed, he gathered up his feet into the bed and died. It was really an act of power; he is, as already remarked, an excellent example of what we are saying. Caleb, too, speaking at the age of eighty-five years and saying that he was as strong then as he was forty years before, illustrates what we are saying; there was the continuance of vitality, of strength to go out and to come in. It is the retention of strength that is in mind; that we die, as it were, in power.
WSS Would the Lord’s remark to Peter help in this connection: “he said this signifying by what death he should glorify God”, John 21:19?
JT That is very good. What greater thing can you conceive of as to one’s death, than that God should be glorified in it! Here it is the same thing with Paul — to magnify Christ in death.
JJ How would you speak of the reference he makes in the end of chapter 3 as to not dying at all — “our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens, from which also we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to his body of glory”?
JT That is a general statement as to the coming [p. 216] of the Lord, which is our normal outlook and expectation; but then the spiritual man understands what may transpire before that happens. Paul understood what had to occur in his case, and he accepted the fact that death was imminent; it is a question of how he faces it.
WJH Would not Hezekiah afford us a warning on the other side, that we should be ready to accept it if it is the will of God, and not weep?
JT His case may well be compared with the apostle’s. Paul would seem to be entirely superior to what was imminent; it was not affecting him as it affected Hezekiah. Paul says, to be with Christ is “very much better”, and we may take it that he said what he knew. I apprehend he had some experience of life out of death. He speaks of it in chapter 3: “if any way I arrive at the resurrection from among the dead” Philippians 3:11. He had some experience of passing over into the realm of life with Christ. I suppose his experience was beyond anything known today; “whether in the body or out of the body I know not” (2 Corinthians 12:3), he says. Think of a man having an experience like that!
WL Allusion has been made to the dissolution of prominent persons in Scripture: what thoughts would you suggest should be in our hearts in relation to the approach of that great event?
JT Well, I would advise the study of the early chapters of the book of Joshua, and corresponding with that, the privileges of the assembly, in order to understand what it is to be beyond death, to have the experience of the land. Canaan is the realm beyond death, and the more we understand the assembly and what it involves, the less we shall fear death. Those who do fear death hardly understand the assembly at all; it is a question of being consciously over. Paul understood that. Colossians 2 helps greatly, for there we are said to be risen with Christ through the faith of the working of God, and also to be quickened with Him.
[p. 217] EuR Does all that depend on our appreciation of the Son of God as the ark in the midst of Jordan?
JT Yes; it is the power experienced. All the people are represented in the twelve men. Much is made of the twelve men representing the tribes, and each one carried a stone out of the bed of Jordan, which means they went up in strength, and they placed the stones in Gilgal.
Ques Do we see the opposite in Barzillai the Gileadite, who, instead of going over with David, preferred to die in his own city and be buried in the grave of his father and mother?
JT Yes; he little understood what was over Jordan, the voice of singing men and singing women. He knew it objectively, had heard of it, but had not the experience of being there. It is understanding the thing itself now, the realm beyond death, that will fortify me when the actual article of death has to be faced.
EuR So Colossians, which gives us entrance into the land, makes a great deal of inward strength in the saints.
JT There we are said to be quickened. The position to be taken is indicated by the words, “in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”, Colossians 2:12. It is a faith matter, but faith that apprehends that the power of God, which has operated in the raising of Christ, exists here in the Spirit. It is a matter of appropriating it. In the quickening there is the sense of the power of God actually in the believer’s soul. Thus I come to resurrection, indeed, to heavenly ground, for that is what Canaan involves, and if literal death has to be faced, I am prepared for it.
Rem So there is no water in Jordan.
JT There is water in Jordan; it came back and overflowed all its banks. That is to say, death is death still; death remains death; the graveyards are as well [p. 218] filled as ever, and we may as well face it. The Jordan returned and overflowed its banks as before, but there is testimony to its overthrow for faith in the resurrection of Christ, so that the believer regards himself as risen with Him; there is power in the believer by which he may maintain the fact, and so death does not dominate him. Death does not dominate anyone who understands the assembly.
Rem The apostle knew what to do in the “swelling of the Jordan”, Jeremiah 12:5.
JT That is the idea, “how wilt thou then do in the swelling of the Jordan?” I am to learn how to do in the swelling of Jordan. So in David’s time you get men who went over. It is a question first of faith in the operation of God in raising Christ, and then of that power being here, that is the Spirit in the believer.
Ques Did Thomas face this in John 11:16, when he said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him”?
JT It was attachment to Christ, but he accepted death: “that we may die with him”. He knew that going into Judaea meant that the Lord would suffer death.
Rem In 1 Chronicles 12:15 it says, “These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it overflows all its banks, and they put to flight all them of the valleys, toward the east and toward the west”.
JT That passage shows that Jordan still overflows its banks. That is the public position, but faith understands that there is a power that has really abolished death, and that power has come in and taken Christ out of death. He is the only one really out of it, but faith enables the saints to reckon that they also are risen with Him, and it is realised in the assembly in the power of the Spirit.
Ques Would Elisha going over Jordan with Elijah make that clear?
JT Elijah wrapped his mantle together and smote the waters. It is a question of the authority and power [p. 219] of God, involving the life of Jesus here; the authority of God was asserted — that life must not be held in death: “it was not possible that he should be held by its power”, Acts 2:24. Elijah wrapped his mantle together; typifying I believe, Jesus according to what He was as Man here overcoming death; Elisha did not do that, but called for the God of Elijah. The Jordan was thus also overthrown by Elisha. Elisha is the spiritual side, the saints taking the thing up spiritually.
Rem Epaphroditus in chapter 2, who “was also sick close to death” (Philippians 2:27), but in the mercy of God he was spared to the apostle.
JT He was glorifying God through his sickness. He was not concerned about himself, but about the Philippians. It is in unselfish love that Christ is magnified. Christ entered into death in that way.
AR Have you in mind that I do not have to wait until I die to pass over Jordan, but I can do it in the assembly?
JT Yes. Colossians speaks of this matter, and the word that governs it is “entering”, entering the land. The point is not when we die, but entering it now, and the ground taken is that we are raised “through the faith of the operation of God” (Colossians 2:12), that is, not actually, but by faith. The Spirit maintains me in that, the power that wrought in Christ is working in me. Presently it will change my body if I am alive when the Lord comes; He will change it by His Spirit that dwells in us.
EuR Chapter 3 makes it clear that it is a question of the knowledge of a Person: “to know him, and the power of his resurrection”; and then, subordinate to that, “and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death”.
JT “If any way I arrive at the resurrection from among the dead” (Philippians 3:10 - 12); and he did; he attained to it in his experience.
MWB Do you regard that verse as a moral reaching [p. 220] of it in his soul, and not as desiring that he might actually pass through the article of death?
JT It is the realisation of it now that is in mind, that I may attain to the resurrection from among the dead. He goes on to say, “Not that I have already obtained the prize, or am already perfected”, but there can be no question that he had the experience of resurrection from among the dead in some measure.
Ques Is there something more intelligent, more positive, and something more for God in Samson’s death than we have been inclined to consider?
JT Quite so, it was an unselfish death, as you might say, in keeping with his mission. One’s death ought to be in keeping with one’s mission. He prayed for the judgment of God upon the Philistines and it came to pass, but he glorified God in his death.
WB-w It is said of Israel going through the Jordan that they placed twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, and also took up twelve stones and placed them in Gilgal; would that indicate the process of going through?
JT The twelve stones taken out of it was by direct command. A man from each tribe was to take out a stone and place it in Gilgal, but the placing of the stones in the midst of Jordan was Joshua’s own act. There was to be a testimony that Christ had been into death; so there is a correspondence between the two sets of stones. Those in the bed of Jordan are a testimony that Christ and we, too, have been into it, and the others are a testimony that we have come out of it with Him.
WCG Does it not need a certain building up of soul to take this ground? It says in Colossians 2:7, “rooted and built up in him”.
JT It does. Quickening is the basis of it, but first there must be faith in the operation of God, the power already in me to take me out of death. I appropriate [p. 221] that power, it having a present and also a future bearing. By it I am quickened with Christ now.
HH Does not this provide for the Ephesian thought? Philippians and Ephesians run parallel, do they not?
JT I apprehend that Philippians is the counterpart of Ephesians, which is the formal doctrine of the assembly’s heavenly position as the outcome of counsel. Philippians corresponding with that is normal christianity worked out down here in the saints.
HH In that way one’s spiritual outlook is connected with crossing the Jordan, you would say?
JT It is; one would like to see that outlook definite with all of us.
EJMcB Is not Paul personally giving the brethren the advantages of his spiritual enjoyment, and pointing out the possibilities of it in us?
JT That is right. There is much doubtless in his experience he could hardly put into words; he says elsewhere that his visit to the third heaven involved hearing unutterable things. There was much therefore he could hardly unfold, but still he gave the brethren the benefit of his experience as far as he could, and especially in what we so often quote, “having the desire for departure and being with Christ, for it is very much better”.
JJ Would what is said about death in chapter 1 be related in any way to these steps involved in chapter 2, as to the death of Christ?
JT One can understand how the apostle, having in mind to touch on the incarnation, unfolds his own experience as far as he does in this letter, and so he begins chapter 2 with an “if” — not an “if” of doubt, but as a basis for what he has to say. If, he says, there are these four things: “If then there be any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and compassions, fulfil my joy”. And then he goes on to four other things: “that [p. 222] ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing”. He certainly laid the basis for what he is going to say in the chapter, in unfolding the incarnation of Christ and touching the secret features of the Deity. He is concerned to lay a right basis, that there should be those four things at Philippi, and as a consequence there should be the four other things, namely, “that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing”. Such persons are morally capable of taking in the great thoughts of the incarnation.
EuR Is this at all like going after the ark, with a measured distance of two thousand cubits between us and it?
JT It is. The apostle is going to open up now the wonderful down-stooping of Christ, His place before God as here in manhood, and His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. The Lord would surely remind us that we are on peculiarly holy ground in this chapter. There is scarcely a composition elsewhere in Scripture to be compared with these verses, from 5 to 11. There is a parallel in the closing verse of 1 Timothy 3, a composition very similar but more marked by literary care, but the inwardness and depths of this passage are unique as furnishing us with the Lord’s mind and thoughts in the stupendous matter presented.
HES Do these various suggestions here bring before us the thought that it is not only a question of how we think, but of how we feel?
JT Yes; each set of four things in verses 1 and 2: “If then there be any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and compassions”. The “if” is a challenge, for to proceed to what follows without these thoughts would be unthinkable. The apostle is concerned about the state of the Philippians being perfect, “thinking one thing”. It is true spiritual unity he has in mind;
[p. 223] that is his object, but in view of bringing out the mind of Christ as exemplifying all this, Christ in His great down-stooping.
NKM How would you distinguish between thinking “the same thing” and “thinking one thing”?
JT “One thing” is the top stone of what he has in mind. It is perfect unity of thought, but he has “the same thing” in mind as preceding that. If difficulties have arisen, and you merely say that you are sorry, there would still be a difference; but I want to think as you think as to the matter, and if both of us are right and sincere, that will culminate in “one thing”, the perfect expression of a united mind.
EuR Would all this tend to promote what might be called a priestly way of thinking and considering for God?
JT It is a highly refined spiritual state that is in mind, and so I should be so near you in my spirit as to have the same thoughts as you. If what you think may not be just right, and what I think may not be just right — well, let us look into the matter and see if we cannot think the same thing. “The same thing” is not a party thing, it is what is right, and hence according to the mind of God.
Ques What is suggested in “joined in soul”?
JT You may be sure the order here is right: “that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing”. The mind and affections are active. The first is the mind exercised to think as the brethren do, to think right, of course; the second is to love as they do, in incorruption, of course; the third is union in the deep personal feelings which lie in the soul; all culminating, fourthly, in perfect unity of thought. Our motives are searched out in all this. “Joined in soul” goes down to the depths of the being.
Ques Does what we have here constitute a “son of consolation”, Acts 4:36?
JT Quite so, and a “son of peace” (Luke 10:6), too, without which we cannot have “sons of oil”, Zechariah 4:14. Sons of peace are essential to the formation of assemblies.
DLH Has not the precious ointment upon the head in Psalm 133 something to do with this? How brethren dwell together in unity is connected with the down-flow of the precious ointment from the head; that is, the Spirit of Christ as influencing each individual so that unity is thus brought about.
JT That helps, because the psalm contemplates a compact state of things, a finished state of things in a gathering, or the saints as a whole. It is not properly the skirts of the garments, but the hem: “Like the precious oil upon the head, that ran down upon the beard”, alluding to the personal attractiveness of Christ — “that ran down to the hem of his garments”. The allusion is to a perfect state of things, for love is “the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14); there are no loose ends among us. Why should it not be so? Why should things be left outstanding or unsettled? What is before us here is to reach a state marked by “thinking one thing”.
JJ Have we the highest presentation of the christian circle here?
JT Yes. Ephesians runs parallel with it: “with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”, Ephesians 4:2,3. That is the same sort of thing, but the use of words here is remarkable. You might say that several words could be eliminated, and the same thoughts conveyed, but you are struck by the apostle’s use of words in order to intensify what is in his mind to bring about — a real unity, the depths of our souls brought into it.
Ques Is this unity to be in time?
JT Quite so. Why not? Are we to spend a good part of our time in occupation with things that are not [p. 225] settled? A thing that could be settled in a day often drags on, but if we sincerely get down to the facts of difficulties they do not stand, but become settled at once. So Psalm 133 is a completed idea, the hem of the garment being a complete thought, just as Jerusalem is “a city that is compact together”, Psalm 122:3. I think the precious presentation of Christ in Philippians 2 as received into our souls, would result in the settlement of every difficulty amongst the saints.
WhL It says of Israel in a coming day that they shall “flow together”, Isaiah 60:5. Is that the idea?
JT Yes, and they become one stick in the hand of Jehovah (Ezekiel 37).
AN Do you think that principle is set forth in Zechariah, in the two staves, Beauty and Bands? It became ineffective because of Israel’s heartless attitude towards Christ. The first staff is broken, and then “they weighed for my hire thirty silver-pieces”, Zechariah 11:12. What follows on that is the breaking of the second staff, that is, Bands, and the breaking of that staff follows on the lack of appreciation of Christ.
JT Yes. So that everything centres in Christ and our appreciation of Him. You can see how the apostle had this in mind in telling us in chapter 1 what Christ was to him. He says, “For for me to live is Christ”. Now he is going to bring in Christ in the wonderful down-stooping of His love as the great Exemplar of lowliness and humiliation. The true way of the settlement of every difficulty is that one may die to reach the solution of it.
PC Did Paul reach that at Troas when, descending he brought the boy alive?
JT Well, quite so; he brought the boy alive, which would mean that potentialities for God were now there, and the saints were comforted.
WB-w “The same love” would not mean two kinds of love.
JT There is brotherly love, Peter says, and love:
“...brotherly love, love”. I refer to that to show that there are two kinds of love. You cannot connect brotherly love with God, but you can with Christ and with the saints. It may be modified in us by personal preferences, but love as in God would correct that. “The same love” here would be love as it should be in all circumstances. It is that you want to love as I love, and I want to love as you love. So one may rightly ask, How do you define your love? The Lord was the first to say, I love: “I love my master” (Exodus 21:5), which is the highest kind of love; love Godward. So it is right to challenge a brother to define his love.
WB-w If I have prejudices as to my brother, then I have not the right kind of love.
JMcG David said of Jonathan: “Thy love to me was wonderful” (2 Samuel 1:26), but they did not think the same thing. Jonathan had a different thought in regard of Saul.
JT If you had challenged David as to his love, you would get a different account of love from him from what you would from Jonathan. Jonathan’s love was biased; although he loved David, it was not pure, there was something to modify it.
HD'AC Would it not be rather difficult to define one’s love? I am afraid I cannot say much about it.
JT I must confess that I cannot say much either, but if we are to have the same love, if your love is to be as mine, I must find out what your love is.
HES Is the character of the work of God seen as complete in Ecclesiastes, where it says, “there is nothing to be added to it, nor anything to be taken from it” (chapter 3:14)?
JT Quite so, and that is what we shall be eternally as the fruit of the work of God, but this “same love” is a very good thing to think of, because I am challenged before God as to the kind of love I have and by what I am dominated. I may call it christian love, but is it affected by something else, as Jonathan’s was?
[p. 227] Ques Elsewhere the glad tidings are made a standard, and I was wondering if what you are saying had this in mind. In chapter 1 the standard seems to be the “glad tidings of the Christ” (verse 27).
JT The place the glad tidings has in chapter 1 is very remarkable, and the idea seems to be in the apostle’s mind right through that chapter. When we come to chapter 2, he is concerned about the perfecting of the saints in Philippi, and he deals with these two sets of four things, and then proceeds to speak of Christ as exemplifying what he has in mind. He concludes these things with “thinking one thing”; he is aiming at unity of that kind; there is no thought of agreeing to differ, but that the saints should arrive at thinking one thing.
Ques Have we an example of the same love in the three who broke through the ranks of the Philistines to fetch David “water out of the well of Bethlehem” (2 Samuel 23:16), and David pouring it out before the Lord?
JT There is no question that these three mighties had the same love. They had pure love for David which led them to break through. I believe it is illustrative of the last days. The mighties are mentioned in Chronicles at the beginning of David’s reign, and in Samuel at the end; it is a beautiful thought that the same love for Christ is contemplated at the end, and the fruit of it is taken as an offering for God and poured out. The highest thought of the same love is in John 17, where the Lord says at the end of His prayer, “I have made known to them thy name, and will make it known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them” (verse 26). That is to say, the same kind of love that the Father has for the Son is in the saints. That is the highest expression of what we have here, of “the same love”.
MWB Would you explain the link there is in the declaration, or the making known, of the name, with the love being in them? It is not to them, but “in them”.
JT [p. 228] It is effected in us as a consequence of the name of the Father being declared to us, that we apprehend the kind of love that the Father has for the Son. He said to Him at the Jordan, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight” (Mark 1:11), and then again, “The Father loves the Son”, John 3:35. How great is the thought of the peculiar love that the Father has for the Son! — and the Lord shows that His declaration of the Father’s name involved that kind of love, and that is to be in us. So that there is in this sense correspondence between the Father and ourselves, Christ being the Centre for the Father and also for the saints.
MWB And if we knew more really the import of the name of Father in regard of the Son, we should have operative in us that same kind of love. Is that the idea?
JT Yes. There are three kinds of love. There is the love of Christ which is in the Lord’s supper, there is the covenant-love of God, also in the Supper, and then there is the Father’s love for the Son. That is not the covenant-love, but the Father’s love for the Son, and that love is to be in our hearts.
AJG Does Peter show that he has come to that when he refers to the scene on the holy mount and says: “For he received from God the Father honour and glory, such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight; and this voice we heard uttered from heaven, being with him on the holy mountain”, 2 Peter 1:17,18. Does that show he had been impressed by the way the Father spoke of the Son?
JT That is a good reference. “Such a voice”, he says, “we heard uttered from heaven, being with him on the holy mountain”, meaning that the voice was intelligible; at least Peter is now speaking of it with full understanding and appreciation. The Father’s voice and words found correspondence in Peter’s heart. When Peter was about to die he was greatly enlarged [p. 229] and refined in his feelings, so he refers to the mount of transfiguration in language that he could not possibly have used when he was actually there, showing how we come to things. Things presented may at the time be beyond our understanding, but God brings us to them.
JJ In referring to Paul as “our beloved brother” (2 Peter 3:15), he would be as one who would esteem “the other as more excellent” than himself.
HD'AC Does it involve the two thoughts; the knowledge of the Father’s love to the Son, and then our answer to that love as we know it? The Lord says “that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them”, John 17:26.
JT He loves us with that same love, with the love with which He loves the Son. God loves us as His sons. It is the same kind of love, but then it is conveyed that we have that kind of love too; we can love the Son too — “I in them” — it is the Son having a place in our affections.
HD'AC That would come in in the Lord’s word, “and I in them”. That is a very great thought.
JT Quite so. The Son has room in us now, and that is really the basis of His ministry in the sanctuary.
GEG Would the next two verses afford a good indication of what our love is? “Let nothing be in the spirit of strife or vain glory, but, in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves; regarding not each his own qualities, but each those of others also”.
JT These are additional things, and what is to be observed particularly is what is “more excellent”. Certainly I must learn to keep this in mind if I am to regard others as more excellent than myself. As the apostle says, “less than the least of all saints”, Ephesians 3:8. One of the most difficult things is to think less of myself. It is a good habit to acquire; and then, how do I clothe the saints? “Bring forth the best robe” (Luke 15:22) is said to the [p. 230] bondmen, the father of the prodigal has the bondmen in his confidence; he has no need to tell them where the best robe is, but tells them to bring it forth and put it on him. We have the suggestion of clothing the brethren with the best, and that is how we get on to the idea of a brother being more excellent.
MWB These exhortations, I expect, make most of us feel rather rebuked, but is it for that reason that the most exalted action and the most amazing stoop are then brought before us, to affect us by contemplation?
JT That is the thought. Christ is brought in in this way. Then it runs on in verse 4: “regarding not each his own qualities” — whatever they are — “but each those of others also”. I acquire that habit of thinking of a brother’s qualities and giving them preference to my own. Well now, the apostle moves on to infinite perfection. Am I capable of taking that in, of thinking of such qualities, of the personal qualities of Christ? The first four verses prepare us for what the apostle now puts before us. He has been speaking about qualities, and regarding the qualities of others more than my own, but now he brings in infinite perfection in a Man, and that is what we have in verses 5 to 11.