THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST (6)
[p. 274] THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST (6)
HH Could you say a little more on the thought of righteousness that we touched on this morning?
CG You spoke of it as being foundational if we are to pursue the course the apostle sets out here.
JT Yes. It reads: “and that I may be found in him, not having my righteousness, which would be on the principle of law, but that which is by faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God through faith”. He is calling attention to what is properly christian as in himself, including righteousness, that it should be of this kind — “the righteousness which is of God”, and it is “through faith”; “that which is by faith of Christ”. It is what comes through the glad tidings, and of course works out in practical righteousness, which is one of the prime needs of the time.
Ques Would it answer to Romans: “righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all, and upon all those who believe”?
JT Yes; it is worked out in Romans. It is foundational in the christian position. Of course, we could not be in it without it. Having a desire “to know Him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if any way I arrive at the resurrection from among the dead”.
WCG Is it figuratively expressed in the man having on the wedding garment in Matthew?
JT It is included in that. The wedding garment would be a little further, and the best robe further still. All the things mentioned come into the christian’s exercises in this great matter, reaching on to the goal.
Rem He speaks of his own righteousness in verse 6: “as to righteousness which is in the law, found blameless”, but he pours contempt on that because of Christ,
that he might have God’s righteousness in contrast to his own righteousness which he could boast in.
JT It is the kind of righteousness that is stressed: “the righteousness which is of God”, and it is acquired through faith. It is in the sense of what is of God. Christianity is what is of God. Then there are other thoughts that we did not notice this morning for want of time, the idea of the commonwealth and the transformation of our bodies. We spoke of the “calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”, which is called “the prize”, a word to be well noted. The calling is the greatest thought in the passage — the full purpose of God, to which the saints are called. I believe it corresponds with the sanctification of the Lord, as He calls it, in John 17:19: “I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified by truth”, that is, the truth of the present position of Christ as Man in heaven. We are to be in accord with that.
HH Do you connect the “calling on high” with sonship?
JT Yes; sonship is involved in it; it is the exalted place Man has in the divine counsels as portrayed in Christ’s present position, and unfolded in what is called “the truth” in John 17:17 - 19, and by which we are sanctified. Sanctification implies that we are in accord with that great position, not only the relation of sons with God, but the position on high. The relation of sons, in some sense, will be shared on earth also, but here it is the calling “on high”.
Ques Would “I go to prepare a place for you” fit in?
JT It may. It is a question of the divine counsels. John treats more of the family side, no doubt running parallel. “My Father’s house”, He says, but here it is the “calling on high of God”. The old corn of the land is somewhat in keeping with it; it is Christ as indigenous to the place; that is, He is in His own place, the place proper to Him, both personally and as Man,
[p. 276] but as also describing our place. How that should affect us!
MWB So this chapter is distinctive to christianity, that is, it is a glorified Christ; Christ as Man according to the purpose of God, and beyond the mere fact of resurrection.
JT Involving, as was remarked, what the Lord had in mind in His sanctification. It is the present position He has taken up, pending the working out of other things which the Lord touches in the first part of John 17. He does not sanctify Himself in view of millennial things, but in view of our position involving “the truth”, as He calls it. The truth involves that position, and is unfolded by the Spirit as come from that position, so that the saints should understand the magnitude of christianity, what the assembly’s place is as compared with other circles of blessing, with other families, a thought we do not dwell much upon. From necessity the ministry coming to us is very largely general. This is the top stone of Paul’s ministry, what he aimed at for himself and what he was unfolding to the saints.
Rem He says, “our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens”.
JT That is another word, and relates not exactly to our calling, but to what is involved in a sort of national or political sense, delivering us from what we may be in; “our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens”. It is in keeping indeed with the calling on high, but another thought which has to be understood, and the effect of it is to deliver us from any political links or hankerings that we may have, or may be innate in us. We are not generally free of national feeling and the like.
JJ Would it be illustrated in Psalm 87 — “This man was born there”?
JT It is something like that — the greatness of the place, that you are born there.
HES Is the “calling on high” in any way connected with the thought in the previous chapter that God has highly exalted Jesus?
JT It runs with that, although, of course, that is personal. The “calling on high” is the idea of elevation — a thought prominently running through Scripture.
WJH What would you say as to Paul saying at Philippi that they had been beaten uncondemned, being Romans?
JT I would speak with due respect, but I think he dropped from the high level of his ministry there.
WJH I wondered if it was a sort of adjustment here to any wrong impression he may have given.
JT When he left the prison, he went to Lydia, and if she had made any remarks about the heavenly calling it would have brought the discrepancy home to him. She would not fail to notice any remarks that he might make about it, and it would be difficult for him to make things square with what he had said to the magistrates. But one does not like to say anything about the apostle, only as to its bearing on ourselves and our occupation with any political feeling. When Paul and Silas were brought before the magistrates, the men of the city had said they were Romans, and now he says he is a Roman. Well, he is in their company, and one can understand how he would feel that. What he said was literally true, of course, that he was a Roman, but his claiming it certainly does not tally with “our commonwealth has its existence in the heavens”.
AAE Is it not really necessary for us to come to a moral conclusion about that, so that if we were in similar circumstances we should know what to do?
JT It is written for that very purpose; it is for our learning.
WCG The hour of success was the hour of danger.
JT Quite so; it was a great triumph, and the enemy would gain a point in such circumstances.
Paul’s attitude towards the magistrates would not have helped them spiritually.
LDM It was not in accord with the “righteousness which is of God through faith”. He was standing for his own rights.
MWB I was thinking that the elevation of this chapter generally is much needed amongst us as giving the true colour of christianity. One recalls a reading last year, when the present glorious position and the condition of Christ in it, was before us, and is not an understanding and maintenance of what accords with that necessary, if we are rightly to set forth what christianity is?
JT That is evident. It is the heavenly colour that is needed, and which the enemy attacks, and this chapter is particularly intended to press upon us the height and the greatness of the calling. The apostle himself was stretching forward to it.
EuR It is similar to “I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven” (Luke 10:18), and then, “rejoice that your names are written in the heavens” (verse 20).
JT Yes; the Lord referred there to the status of the saints in heaven. If Paul wrote the Ephesian epistle first, this chapter is all the more forceful. At any rate it synchronises with Ephesians, and this shows how the minister may in writing or speaking go beyond his own realisation of the truth. Of course, he wrote by the Spirit, the Spirit filling his mind; and yet in this epistle he himself is striving might and main to reach the things set out in Ephesians.
Ques Would not this enable us to centre our interests in heavenly things?
JT That is the intent, that you should see where your calling is, where your commonwealth is. There are things on the way — righteousness, and the resurrection from among the dead — but this is the great end, “the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”, and then correspondingly, the commonwealth.
[p. 279] That delivers us from national feeling which is ingrained in every one of us naturally. Earthly feelings too, of course, but national feeling is a very peculiar thing, and it is the first thing touched in the call of Abraham: “Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house”, Genesis 12:1.
MWB Hebrews 12 refers to “the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”, and also to the “city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”. In a general way, would you link the calling on high with the firstborn ones enregistered in heaven, and the commonwealth with the city of the living God?
JT Yes; the order is “mount Zion”, which is what you might call the constitution of the country; “the city of the living God” — the capital; “the universal gathering” would be the Congress or Parliament; but the “assembly of the firstborn” refers to ‘society’, if I may use the figure. That is, any country has all those things; you have the constitution, and the capital, and the Congress or Parliament, and then the social side; and I believe that is what is in mind. The firstborn ones are all on an equality — they are all firstborn, so that the setting is most exalted — they are enregistered in heaven; their status is assured. That is the society that we are brought into. Besides and above all that, we have come to God and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, also to the spirits of just men made perfect, alluding to the humanity that is there. I would say the commonwealth has reference more to the earlier things, mount Zion, the city of the living God, and the universal gathering. These are more political thoughts, but then, there is the society you must have. What is a country like this without society? For us in heaven it will be ‘the saints in glory met’. That is what is opened up to us, and what, in principle, we have already come to.
MWB So it would not do for two sisters of such [p. 280] society to have the slightest disagreement between them, as in the beginning of the next chapter.
JT Just so. Chapter 4 will help us on this line. Then there is finally in chapter 3 the change of our bodies of humiliation, and in this connection Christ is looked for as Saviour; we are waiting for Christ as Saviour from the heavens. That would mean that He is coming to change our bodies — the full thought of salvation — and that they are to be made like His own body of glory, corresponding with what we are saying — His place, and now conformity to His body. Elsewhere it is conformity to the image of God’s Son, but here it is to His body, but His body of glory. What a body! Here the Lord suffered in His body in which He did the will of God, but it is His body of glory that we are conformed to. It involves the greatest thought, that we shall be like Him. “What we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”, 1 John 3:2. It is complete correspondence with Him in the place He is in — His body of glory.
WJH It is something more than was seen in the forty days.
JT The forty days would be preliminary. What is stressed in the forty days is spirituality — a spiritual body; and what is presented during that period is for spiritual formation and instruction. It is preliminary. It is simply how the Lord moved about, appearing to different ones, as Paul says. It was to impress them with what He is spiritually as raised from the dead; “then that which is spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:46) — that has to be learnt. Following on this, there is “the heavenly one”, also to be understood. The former is Christ during the forty days, the latter what He is now.
HES Is the thought of descending continued in this chapter? In the previous chapter the Lord descended in love; does He here descend in power, and is [p. 281] the thought continued in regard of the assembly, that it will descend in glory?
JT Yes; that thought runs through; He is now coming out. Our chapter says, “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”. He comes out. Elsewhere we are told that He descends: “the Lord himself ... shall descend from heaven”, 1 Thessalonians 4:16. There it is to raise the dead and change the living, but here it is just the living — to change our bodies of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory.
DLH I have wondered whether the Lord’s body in resurrection, that which we read of in the Acts, is exactly what is meant by the body of glory. The Lord Jesus took particular care to eat and drink with His disciples after His resurrection, but one could hardly connect that idea with the body of glory.
JT I think what has been said helps us: the forty days are really educational, and it was the Lord’s consideration to come down to them as they were. They needed this education, which they could not have during the days of our Lord’s flesh and blood condition, and they were low down. They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and He ate it before them. That was to come down to their thoughts, that it was Himself; what was before them was not imaginary or merely spiritual. “A spirit”, He says, “has not flesh and bones as ye see me having”, Luke 24:39. That was educational. It is not a question of His body of glory yet; not that I am attempting to make much difference, only that the presentation here of the body of glory involves that as a heavenly people we are to be capable of taking in the thoughts conveyed in it.
Ques Why do you connect it only with the living saints?
JT Because it is a question of change here, as in Romans 8:11: “shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of his Spirit which dwells in you”. Here it is, “shall transform our body of humiliation”; it is not our dead body, but our body of humiliation, that is, what we are here actually is in mind. Of course He will raise the dead, too, and they will come forth with glorious bodies, but here it is the living that are in mind. There will be no difference; those who sleep in Christ will be at no disadvantage whatever.
Ques Would what was seen on the mount of transfiguration answer to this?
JT Yes. Of course, that was in the days of His flesh, but it shows that the Lord was capable of change for a purpose, which is educational. In truth, what we are speaking of is all one with the whole matter of revelation, the declaration of God, God graciously coming into our way of thinking to make Himself known and to educate us. While we are educated and formed, we are also made to feel that we are constantly in the presence of the inscrutable.
COB Is it different from “it is raised a spiritual body”?
JT It goes further. That is really the constitution of the body, but there are other things in the list given in 1 Corinthians 15 that refer to the dead raised. “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptibility. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body”. All that refers to the dead, to bring out the greatness of the resurrection, but here it is the one thought, that we are brought into conformity to His body of glory, in keeping with the chapter, that He is going to make us equal with the “calling on high”.
Rem To see Him as He is we must have a body suitable to that condition.
JT “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”; that is, we shall completely correspond with Him.
ASL [p. 283] There was an interval of forty days between His resurrection and His going up, but there will be no such interval for us.
JT There is no indication as to time, but resurrection will bring the dead back to earth, with “the living, who remain”; they shall be changed. This will happen on the earth clearly. Our ascension is not stated here; it is a question of our bodies being brought into accord with all that is spoken of in the chapter.
WC It says in Ephesians 5:23: “He is Saviour of the body”. Does that refer to this?
JT This includes that. This is the greatest thought. The Lord’s care of our bodies is involved in that statement in Ephesians 5; He has constant care of our bodies, and I always refer to the Lord in regard of the body, because it is a kind of peculiar treasure — the bodies of the saints are the peculiar property of the Lord. I think this is the fullest expression of the thought that He is the Saviour of the body.
LDM It is in the singular, “our body”.
JT You find the use of the singular in this sense often in Scripture. It means the idea; here it includes all the bodies of the saints. You get the expression: “Let not your heart be troubled”, which means the hearts of all present.
HD'AC In the case of the dead the identity is preserved in resurrection. I have known that denied, but there is the result of the sowing, is there not?
JT That is manifestly so. God gives it a body as it pleases Him, but the person comes out. That is what you mean, that all the saints that are dead will come out of their graves. It says, “many bodies of the saints fallen asleep arose, ... and appeared unto many”, Matthew 27:52,53. They were recognised undoubtedly.
Rem The Lord said, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43), calling him by name.
JT That helps. Now chapter 4 is before us in the light of all these things, and one can understand how [p. 284] the saints acquired increasing beauty in the mind of the apostle as he thus wrote, and if Epaphroditus were the writer, you can understand how he would enhance that thought. So that chapter 4 again begins with the apostle’s affections: “So that, my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown”. It looks as if they were becoming increasingly delightful to him as he wrote, and one can understand, as filled with the Spirit of God, abstracted as he was, and seeing the saints in their glory and calling, how his affections would be drawn out in such language as this. In a sense, nothing enhances the saints more in our eyes than the understanding of the calling: “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him”, Luke 15:22. It is a question of how you clothe them in your mind.
Ques When the apostle says “my joy and crown”, is it what you have been bringing before us, that it was an assembly set up free of judaism and in the fulness of Paul’s service and ministry?
JT That helps as to what we have been saying. From the very outset in this epistle, and in the account in Acts, it is clear that judaism had no hand in this, for as sure as it is allowed you will get malformation. Chapter 3 is to keep that out, and, as the apostle proceeds, it seems to me his affections are more and more brought into play in regard of these saints. Of course, he would love all the saints, even such as the Corinthians, as he said: “if even in abundantly loving you I should be less loved”, 2 Corinthians 12:15. He would love them in spite of their unloveliness, but it is much easier to love because of loveliness, and the apostle’s thoughts expand as he sees the saints in their loveliness. The effect of the first letter to the Corinthians was to enlarge his heart and to open his mouth towards them.
ASL Learning to clothe the saints and to look upon them as the work of God, is more needed by us when unloveliness is in evidence. There is no difficulty on some [p. 285] occasions.
JT It is well to keep that in mind. In Nehemiah’s time much was made of the priests’ clothes. You would clothe a brother as a priest, but you wish to see the priestly state in him. The priest must be there, or the garment will not fit. The prophet Malachi shows what God thought of the priests of his day.
FSM Does this chapter carry us a little further in regard of the spiritual mind? In chapter 2 we considered the descending mind, and then the energised mind in chapter 3, but here it seems to be the refined mind that can appreciate beauty, and the more we apprehend the beauty of Christ personally the more we shall appreciate Christ-like features displayed in the saints.
JT I am sure it is a very important matter in our relations with one another, to be able to clothe the saints rightly. How different a person improperly clothed naturally appears! Clothes make a great difference, and as soon as suitable clothes are on, how different the person is! So it is spiritually. There is the idea of the wardrobe, and the keeper of the wardrobe, and when the father said, “Bring forth the best robe”, the idea is included that the bondmen knew where it was, and I believe Luke 15 is intended to help us to clothe the saints with divine thoughts.
Rem Does the Lord do that Himself in Luke’s gospel? When the disciples were striving at the end of the gospel, the Lord clothes them with the beautiful thought, “ye are they who have persevered with me in my temptations”, Luke 22:28.
JT The Scriptures are full of the thought — the Old Testament and the New — as to God taking account of us abstractly according to His own thoughts.
WB-w Is that why the word “beloved” is used twice in the first verse, because of the beauty he sees in them?
JT I think so. How lovely they were! That word “beloved” is “David”. David sets out the thought at [p. 286] the outset. His beauty is described and then we are told that the Spirit came upon David — the first mention of the name meaning “beloved”; it is not that his name was David, but the Spirit of Jehovah came upon David. Of course you get his name mentioned in the book of Ruth, but 1 Samuel 16 would be written earlier. The idea is that the Spirit came on the beloved. The application to the Philippians of this word twice in the opening verse is striking.
Ques What is the thought in the expression, “thus stand fast in the Lord, beloved”?
JT First, it is, “beloved and longed for”. That means that the love is active in Paul’s experience; it is active love. The second mention is, “stand fast in the Lord, beloved”; that is, you are such a people. It would be to maintain them in that: “stand fast in the Lord”. Of course, loveliness may become attractive to others, but you may become corrupted, and the Lord’s rights may be interfered with; the apostle’s exhortation here is to preserve us.
JTS Is it that kind of active love that is going to affect Euodia and Syntyche here, that must secure an answer?
JT Exactly. The service is to be in love. “By love serve one another”. It makes the service so acceptable.
WB-w Why do you think he calls the Philippians his crown?
JT It is as the fruit of his labours. It is a very distinguished word to be applied to an assembly. Your crown is what you cherish, and this assembly was beautiful in his mind. He speaks similarly to the Thessalonians. The assembly down here is really the reproduction of Christ, in His graces, and Paul took account of the Philippians in this way. They were his joy and crown. What was there produced joy, and it is on that account they are his crown, because they were the fruit of [p. 287] his labours.
HMS Crowns are usually worn with beautiful garments, not by themselves.
JT Then the apostle speaks to a yokefellow, and asks him to “assist them, who have contended along with me in the glad tidings, with Clement also, and my other fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life”. This yokefellow would have an excellent service opened up in this, in view of the love of the apostle expressed in the letter, to assist others. He is a labourer himself, but now he is to assist other labourers.
FCH Is it specifically that he was to assist those two sisters, and then the beautiful way he clothes them, “who have contended along with me in the glad tidings”?
JT I do not know that the “them” is just those two sisters.
MWB It has been pointed out that the gender of the “them” and the “who” is feminine.
JT It is a question whether it could be confined to the two — whether they are included at all in the word to the yokefellow. “Them” and “who” refer to other women. The Authorised Version gives the true sense of the passage, I believe.
Rem J.N.D. gives a note to the effect that it is women who are such as “have contended along with me”.
JT The assistance that a fellow-labourer should yield to others is important. The saints, of course, support the labourers, but labourers should support labourers.
WW In chapter 2 Paul speaks of Epaphroditus as being his “brother and fellow-workman and fellow-soldier”.
JT It is a point to be noticed that labourers — those actually engaged, as we say, in the field — should have in mind to assist each other, sisters as well. If Epaphroditus is in mind, the thing becomes more forceful; great servant as he was and distinguished in love, yet he is enjoined here to assist those who laboured with Paul: “them, who have contended along with me in the glad tidings”. There were women and others, beside Clement, and their names are in the book of life; not one of them would be omitted; they all were taken account of.
Ques Why does he make reference to their names being in the book of life?
JT Just to cover the fact that he could not mention them severally. They are well cared for, for they are in the book of life, and the yokefellow would know who they were.
WJH Paul himself seems to have been on this line of helping others: “Yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my wants, and to those who were with me”, Acts 20:34.
Rem The book of life is greater than any service.
JT Quite so; it secures the distinction of the persons in a living and abiding sense, and alludes to what one is as living, the outcome of the purpose of God, over against those who are dead morally and have part in the second death. I believe it would mean that the footing of each one and his distinction in life is secured. But our names are also written in heaven, which is status up there, and hence, greater. A yokefellow is one that works happily with another. Paul must have had great comfort in this yokefellow, who was a true one, possibly Epaphroditus. One is struck with the reference to those who had ability to work with others, for we are apt to be too isolated in our labours.
EG Would it be similar to the congenial companionship referred to earlier?
JT Quite so. Paul stresses companionship in service. It seemed to afford him more liberty that he had such congenial companionship, because he was freighted with the greatest possible things, things that were hard to bring out. The more spiritual a thing is,
[p. 289] the more difficult it is to bring out in ministry, and spiritual companionship helps you in it.
Ques Did he have congenial companionship with Silas in the prison?
JT You have an excellent example of it there. They were evidently companionable to each other, and as such, what always develops is the recognition of superior spirituality. That keeps each of us in his place, that one is to know his measure, and if working with others to know and recognise their measure.
Ques Do you get a suggestion of that with Peter and John in Acts 3:4: “Look on us”?
JT That is the idea exactly. Peter and John were heaven’s best at that time.
WSS In thinking of fellow-labourers, I wondered whether it would come out in relation to these meetings, that the ministry would be taken up and worked out jointly by fellow-labourers.
JT The Lord would encourage those who serve prominently to move together. The divine economy requires this. It makes provision for what a man is, so that measure is a great matter. God is a God of measure, and if He causes a brother to develop in it, He will not give him what is not according to that measure. Things are accurately measured by God, and hence, if we are subject in our ministry, there will be no friction, because we shall discern what is, and not regard a brother more nor less than he is. So Peter and John represent the idea, that is to say, Peter is leading, and John is always ready to take the second place. That is a principle, that I can never get on with a brother if I do not learn to take a second place.
AN Do you think this thought arose on the occasion when the apostle refused to take Mark with him?
JT Yes, the true spirit of the yokefellow was not in Mark; he failed, he went back from the work.
Ques Was not Acts 9 the [p. 290] divine determination that Paul should be first? You were speaking about selection.
JT Yes; he is said by the Lord to be “an elect vessel to me”, and what the Lord says about him shows that he was to be a superior vessel, a leading workman. So you get “Paul and his company”; he is the only one spoken of thus.
Ques Do we see an example of how servants should support each other in the service in the beginning of Ezra: “the chief fathers of Judah ... strengthened their hands” (Ezra 1:5,6)?
JT A very good one.
EuR The Philippians were characteristically of Paul’s company. He says, “What ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me”.
JT They would be like him in that way. That is one of the points made in regard of Gideon, that his brethren were like him: “As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king”, Judges 8:18. It is remarkable in Gideon’s case, that he connected the likeness mentioned with his mother. “They were my brethren”, he said, “the sons of my mother”. Normally the influence and nurture that the young come under in the assembly promote likeness to Christ. The epistle is stamped with the idea of rejoicing, and we may note that as we close. Verse 4 begins, “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice”. It is a feature that runs through the epistle. The apostle had presented much to cause them joy and they had afforded him joy, so that a buoyant state of things obtains. This whole chapter is one of spiritual buoyancy. “It was right”, said the father, in Luke 15, “to make merry and rejoice”, and this epistle corresponds with the merriment that comes out in that section of the gospel; the saints filled and clothed with divine thoughts, because each saint really, as thus filled, is contributory to the joy of all. When a brother comes into the room, does he cause joy? It says that the disciples rejoiced [p. 291] when the Lord came in, and so the reflection of Christ in brothers and sisters promotes joy. That is what is intended.
HES Moral weight would be added to these statements by the fact that they come from the apostle while in prison.
JT Yes, that he could write with such authority and power, and yet with such affection, in such circumstances, is certainly very striking. Would that they could see him come in at the door! — that is what he holds out as a prospect. His very appearance would cause them joy. It was not so at Corinth: “his presence in the body weak, and his speech naught” was said there (2 Corinthians 10:10). How different!
WSS In chapter 1 he said, “that your boasting may abound in Christ Jesus through me by my presence again with you”.
JT Just so; how they would love to see him come in! I think in measure that is the idea, that every spiritual brother and sister should be a joy to the saints. The Lord comes in, too, in a spiritual way, and adds thoughts of freshness and loveliness and of buoyancy.
Ques Referring to “what is”: would verses 8 and 9 be a summing up of what is, the wealth of it?
JT That is the idea.
Ques “The Lord is near”; does that refer to His coming or to His present nearness?
JT I think the latter. “The Lord stood with me, and gave me power”, 2 Timothy 4:17. We might picture this eighth verse as a beautiful garden. There may be weeds, but the thought is to look for what is beautiful: “if there be any virtue and if any praise, think on these things”; however little, look for that. The things presented here are intended to keep us in buoyancy and to provide the atmosphere, as you might say, and the eye that values beauty would look for it. Virtue would be that you refuse the evil and choose the good; and praise — if there be any, however little, think on it.
[p. 292] It is well to notice the different things mentioned: “whatsoever things are true” — a very well-known word, but it involves that one is true oneself in every way, that in whatever way you test a person, he answers to the test.
DLH Does not love always look out for what is like Christ rather than what is contrary?
JT Quite so; but alas! your experience will confirm that we are very prone to look at the unlovely things.
JOS In John’s second epistle he says, “I rejoiced greatly that I have found of thy children walking in truth”, and then at the end he says, “I ... hope to come to you, and to speak mouth to mouth, that our joy may be full”, 2 John 4,12.
JT His presence and speaking mouth to mouth would occasion mutual joy. Then the apostle here goes on to say, “What ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, these things do; and the God of peace shall be with you”. That is another mark of buoyancy, “the God of peace”. “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now however at length ye have revived your thinking of me, though surely ye did also think of me, but lacked opportunity. Not that I speak as regards privation, for as to me I have learnt in those circumstances in which I am, to be satisfied in myself”. He is now approaching the subject of giving to the servants, and he is showing that whether he is ministered to or not, he is not going to be altered or depressed. “I have learnt”, he says, “... to be satisfied in myself”. That is the constitution of a spiritual man; he is self-sustaining in that sense. He is not independent of God or of the brethren, but at the same time his constitution is such that he can go on under all circumstances. “I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. In everything and in all things I am initiated both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer privation. I have strength for all things in him that gives me power”. So that he brings himself forward here as a model for servants. Those who are serving are more or less dependent on the Lord’s people for sustenance in material things, but he is intimating that, even if the Lord’s people are neglectful, he is not depressed, but he goes on. He may know what it is to be deprived of necessary things, but he goes on. The apostle proceeds further and says, “But ye have done well in taking part in my affliction. And know also ye, O Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I came out of Macedonia, no assembly communicated anything to me in the way of giving and receiving save ye alone”. That the apostle Paul should carry in his mind from the time at Thessalonica, some years before, the material things that the Philippians sent him, is a very touching matter, and shows that, if the brethren communicate with the servants, their gifts should not be forgotten; they should be carried in our thoughts as occasions of joy, as the expressions of love from the saints.
JOS Does it not show, too, that he did not take these gifts as a matter of course?
JT Yes. The Philippians had been diligent at the beginning, but evidently this had lapsed. We cannot expect that the same brethren must minister to those who are serving all the time; the apostle sets out all this to help us in service not to forget the love of the brethren, but not always to be expecting.
Ques Why is the thought of receiving coupled with giving?
JT “Giving and receiving” is the radiation of love. There is circulation, and there is radiation, and radiation is glory, I think; giving and receiving is glory. The messengers of assemblies are Christ’s glory. It is a beautiful thing, and God looks down from heaven to see the working out of love in the giver and also in the receiver, for properly it takes grace to receive as well as to give. Paul says, “for also in Thessalonica once and [p. 294] even twice ye sent to me for my need”. As far as we can see, he was about three weeks in Thessalonica after he left Philippi, and so the Philippian saints ministered to him twice in three weeks. That is a fine example for the brethren.
LM Would Paul give us the impression in closing that there are adequate supplies to maintain us in the buoyancy and on the high level of the epistle?
JT That is what comes out. “Not that I seek gift”, but he loved to say that they sent to him once and even twice in three weeks. “Not that I seek gift, but I seek fruit abounding to your account. But I have all things in full supply and abound; I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things sent from you, an odour of sweet savour, an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God”. That is one of the finest statements you can get in regard of gifts that the brethren sent to those who serve them. “An odour”, he calls it. It came through a beautiful vessel, Epaphroditus, whose loving consideration of the saints is already spoken of.
Ques Would not this be greatly enhanced in the light of the verse, “in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their free-hearted liberality”, 2 Corinthians 8:2?
JT That is right. Those two chapters in 2 Corinthians open up what we have here, but this is the most magnificent statement of a gift to a servant: “an odour of sweet savour, an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God”.
HD'AC Did they lose by it?
JT I should think not. See what it was; it was agreeable to God — “an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God”. Epaphroditus must have been a most unselfish sort of brother. He was grieved because the Philippians heard that he was sick; that the news cost them suffering.
WH Is there anything in the fact that he refers to the assembly? It was not simply that it was decided by [p. 295] a few brothers, but all the saints were brought into it.
JT Quite so: “messengers of assemblies, Christ’s glory”. The gift of the assembly is a very exalted thought, and it is more than a gift from the brothers; it is the expression of the glory of Christ. It is an assembly matter. Is your thought that in giving to labourers the saints should all be brought into it?
WH We let all the saints know for whom the gift is to be made, so that both brothers and sisters are brought into it in their affections intelligently. The names of the brothers are mentioned, so that they would be before all the saints.
JT In this chapter, and also in 2 Corinthians, assembly giving is in view. It is the principle of giving by the assembly, and is related to the anointing, the matter being public.
WB-w You would announce it along with the notices to the assembly on Lord’s day morning?
JT Yes, that is right. It belongs to the public anointed vessel; the giving comes under the anointing.
JOS Do I understand that you announce on Lord’s day morning at the breaking of bread, before the collection is made, to whom the gifts are to be made?
JT Yes. In N — — Y — — we advise the saints to whom the gifts are to be made, so that both brothers and sisters are brought into the giving intelligently.
DLH Do you do that with all present, including those not breaking bread?
JT Yes. All these matters stand in relation to the anointing. As the tabernacle was set up and anointed so the giving to the Levites proceeded. The gifts stood in that setting: “on the day that it was anointed”, Numbers 7:10.
HD'AC Say a word on “But my God”.
JT It is a fine finish, “my God shall abundantly supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”. That is the standard, and what a thought to be brought into material things!
HD'AC “My God” meant so much to Paul. [p. 296] He had so experienced what God was to him that he knew they would not suffer, and he does not say “out of” but “according to his riches in glory”. It is a very attractive thought; with us, giving should be according to our riches.
Rem It speaks of the assembly as having communicated this gift. Is not that the importance of the chapter, that the assembly does it?
JT That is what we were saying. The messengers of assemblies are referred to as Christ’s glory. Epaphroditus, for instance, carried the assembly’s bounty to Paul, and every step he took, so to speak, would reflect glory. That is how the thing stands. All that enters into the public position of the assembly is in the power and dignity of the anointing.
MWB There is nothing to be ashamed of in the assembly.
JT The anointing means that things are done in the power of the Spirit. The tabernacle was anointed, that is the public side of the assembly; gifts to labourers as announced in the power and dignity of the anointing afford a testimony; it ought to affect any one present. The assembly represents God.
Rem In 2 Corinthians 9, the apostle seems to boast in what they had done, and he speaks of stimulating “the mass of the brethren” in connection with the contributions and the gifts of the saints on the level of which you are speaking.
JT The public position of the assembly includes the court of the tabernacle; the outward position, but it was all anointed, and everything is in the dignity of the anointing, and it ought to affect any one who sees it. It is intended to be a testimony; the brazen altar was in the court.
Ques With regard to the expression, “messengers of assemblies, Christ’s glory”, do you lay emphasis on the assemblies or the messengers?
JT On both, but the radiation of glory is [p. 297] in the messengers. They are not like a cheque sent in an envelope. The idea is that the affections and feelings of the messengers enter into the gifts they carry.
JJ Perhaps we do not take in the fact of the great distance Epaphroditus had to travel, carrying the gift to Paul from Philippi to Rome.
JT That is a thing to be noted, and what is said of him would indicate that he travelled in dignity and radiated glory. He was the bearer of the bounty of the saints. The apostle closes with: “Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me salute you. All the saints salute you, and specially those of the household of Caesar”. These latter, although connected with the government, are brought into the salutations, showing that the saints, whatever their vocations, are all in the dignity of the anointing.