THE SPIRIT IN THE CORINTHIAN EPISTLES (1)
THE SPIRIT IN THE CORINTHIAN EPISTLES (1)
JT What I am free to suggest for consideration is the Spirit as seen in the two Corinthian epistles. The subject of the Spirit in these epistles is extensive, running throughout, and ending in the second letter with the fellowship of the Spirit. We may be helped at this time to consider the subject in relation to revelation, not exactly the revelation of God, but the things He has prepared for these that love Him, and it may be well to dwell on the relation of this subject to the ministry. That is how it is introduced, as will be observed: the apostle alludes to his own use of the Spirit, as a minister. These meetings are composed of brothers, and whilst all are called to serve, including sisters, yet there are those who are fitted to serve in a special way, and it will be perhaps wise to confine our remarks at this time as much as possible to the ministerial side of our position as seen in them.
Lately some of us have been considering the numeral three as in a large measure governing God’s testimony. There is much throughout Scripture alluding to adequate or full testimony which God is pleased to give in any given relation. So that we noted the three men who came to Abraham, three patriarchs mentioned in the book of Genesis, and then the three leaders, Moses and Aaron and Miriam (Micah 6: 4); these are formally stated in the prophet to have been sent before Israel. It is significant that the great minister, Moses, is seen as having to flee from Egypt, that is, he is persecuted, but he sat by the well in Midian, a very suggestive thought, implying that ministry is dependent upon the Spirit, not on any mere natural ability, and that is what the apostle [p. 347] stresses in the opening of these epistles. It is also significant that he associates Silvanus and Timotheus with himself in this ministry at Corinth, and he states that the Son of God was preached by them among the Corinthians. So that we can understand the place the Spirit has in such a ministry, how he would exalt Christ, the Son of God, as Paul says, “the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he who has been preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus), did not become yea and nay, but yea is in him”, 2 Corinthians 1: 19. This shows that the ministry was to be marked by transparency, and single-mindedness. So he says, “our word to you is not yea and nay ... in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us. Now he that establishes us with you in Christ ... is God”, 2 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 1:20,21. He was in accord with all that. I thought these remarks would help us in looking into this chapter, because the apostle calls attention to the character of his preaching. He says, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith might not stand in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power”.
Ques Does the demonstration of the Spirit lay the foundation for what follows?
JT Well, I think the use of the word demonstration is very noticeable here; it shows that divine things are not merely theoretical. A demonstration is something manifest, and it attaches to the Spirit peculiarly, for the trend of our minds would be to make Him merely theoretical; in John’s gospel the Spirit is presented in a substantial way. Substantiality is a great feature with John in regard to the Spirit; first bringing in the whole idea in the thought of the dove, and then the wind and the water. The Comforter is the personal thought — One who would be active in looking after affairs in detail. So the Lord says of Him, “he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment”, John 16: 8. The Spirit in convicting makes the position clear. The demonstration is in power.
EWC Would the demonstration be seen in the effectiveness of the Spirit’s working rather than in Paul’s word?
JT It accompanies the ministry: “my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”. There is something that affects people not only in the word but in the power in which it is spoken — the manifest presence of the Spirit.
PL To continue the ministerial idea in Moses, would the signs and plagues (particularly the third, where the magicians allude to it as the finger of God) have the thought of demonstration in them?
JT Yes, the plague of lice. Life is there, life that can be felt too. This points to the irrefutable character of the testimony in those who are living.
WJH You suggest that the well that Moses sat by would represent living resources in contrast to the wisdom of Egypt which he abandoned.
JT Yes. He sat by the well (Exodus 2: 15); he sat by it, as identifying himself with it. ‘Sitting’ would mean a deliberate committal to the well, and the idea runs through his ministry. It is the well — the full thought of it, and a known resource.
EBMcC We see the apostle here also sitting by the well, not using what was natural to him; though he had the ability in excellency of speech and words. He acknowledged this to be of no profit at Corinth.
JT The analogy is very strong, the apostle is identifying himself with the Spirit in his ministry.
JCS Do you think the Corinthians had rather followed on the Egyptian line that Moses had forsaken, and had neglected the well in their midst, and were really slipping away from [p. 349] the Spirit?
JT Exactly. They were in the very centre of the world’s resources, commercially, and particularly its wisdom, for Athens was near. The Greeks sought after wisdom. The apostle says in chapter 1, “and Greeks seek wisdom”, they would work things out from their own resources. The Jews ask for signs, ready for any intervention of God, intervention such as at the pool of Bethesda, knowing that an angel came down to disturb the waters. They were ready to recognise that. They asked for signs, but the Greeks did not look for that — they looked to their own resources, and shut God out. That is what man’s resources do — and that is what modernism is — shutting God out.
JRF Thus in the well you have God’s power in contrast to man’s wisdom.
JT First of all in ministry, God intends to overwhelm the resources of the world by the power of the Spirit — that is what He intends in ministry. Paul speaks of “the overthrow of strongholds, overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God”, 2 Corinthians 10: 4, 5.
FS “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”, is introduced here to negative what is natural to us, would you say?
JT Quite so. That is what the apostle said; “I did not judge it well to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. They would no doubt prove him as to what he knew, but he carefully kept within bounds. He ministered what was needed. A point in ministry is that we do not need to say everything we know, but to restrain ourselves to what is needed.
JCS Do you think that as sitting by the well one would acquire the feelings that are needed?
JT The nearer you get to the Spirit the more sensitive are the feelings you get, but particularly here the intelligence as to what is needed.
PL Moses rose and helped them and watered their flocks; is that what was [p. 350] needed?
JT Exactly. The women were necessarily weak, but had come to water their flocks. “The priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs, to water their father’s flock”, Exodus 2: 16. There is no attempt to damage the shepherds, to inflict any physical retribution as he would have done had he been on Egyptian lines — as he had done indeed. Here it is the use of the water, what he is able to do. He did not attack the shepherds, but he helped the women.
Ques When the apostle says, “we speak wisdom among the perfect”, does he refer to the fact that the Corinthians had the Spirit and were competent to receive what he ministered?
JT I do not think he refers to the Corinthians, rather the contrary. He says in the next chapter, “I ... have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly; as to babes in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 3: 1. That remark in verse 6 shows that wherever the spiritual conditions warranted it, he would speak wisdom, and wisdom that would eclipse this world. The allusion is to Hebron, to what was before the world; it was built seven years before Zoan, where the wisdom of the world was (Numbers 13: 22). Greece was really that at this time, it was the place of the wisdom of this world. The apostle doubtless had knowledge of the classics; he would not bring that kind of thing forward, but the wisdom that God had prepared before the world for our glory — a remarkable fact. It was not the wisdom of this world, which the Corinthians were reverting to, but the wisdom that God had prepared for the glory of the saints.
AMH Would sitting at the well be necessary for the service, so that the servants would not be agitated in mind?
JT That is right. The sabbath-keeping is a suggestion that comes into the subject. Sabbath-keeping is a great feature for us — restfulness of mind, in contemplation of everything divine. The Spirit is [p. 351] essential to this. The Spirit is a divine Person here in relation to the believer and to the ministry.
PL The great model Servant Himself going up and sitting at the right hand of God and then working with them here.
JT The Lord working with them, as in the very centre of power.
FW We find the Lord sitting just as He was at the fountain.
JT Yes. Genesis is full of the thought of the well from the time of Hagar. It is seen in Joseph, who is a fruitful bought by a well, whose branches run over the wall. That comes into Exodus, and undoubtedly enters into Moses’ position. Joseph is the nearest approach to a minister in the book of Genesis. He is a minister, but not as Moses was. He is presented to us a fruitful bough by a well. Thus it is not a question of great effort mentally or otherwise in the service of God, but restfulness and drawing on the resources that exist in the Spirit.
WJH The disciples went away to buy meat, but the Lord says, “I have food”.
JT Just so: there was resource. That He had “food” is a remarkable fact. “I have food to eat which ye do not know ... My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me”, John 4: 32 - 34. That enters into service: the very service itself feeds us, the very difficulties feed us, the opposition is food for us: everything around us ministers to us as we are subject in our service.
Rem “Who serve Thee with a quiet mind,
Find in Thy service rest”.
JT Quite so. “In Thy service”.
JCS Sometimes a feverishness enters into service and produces bad results amongst the saints.
JT It should be before us to convey that what is being presented is the outcome of dependence on the divine source. “A fruitful bough by a well” means that the bough is drawing on something, the nourishment is [p. 352] there, the refreshment is coming into it and it is fruitful and the branches run over the wall. I believe that Moses, whether he was intelligent or not, is instinctively in keeping with the close of Jacob’s blessing of the tribes; with his blessing of Joseph.
PL He is qualified to become the custodian of Joseph’s bones. He carried them out, linking up with Genesis.
JT Yes; ministry is cumulative — what is of the Spirit is carried through. These bones would take on body form in time; without the Spirit these figures would have no meaning. Joseph, by faith, had given commandment concerning his bones.
WS The Corinthians would be familiar with ministry. They came behind in no gift, but they lacked spirituality.
JT They did not gauge their measure or the need of the saints. What the Corinthians needed was Jesus Christ and Him crucified, but they determined to know all they could so as to make themselves big. Chapter 12 shows how gift — ministry — is regulated so that we may have spiritual results.
WHW It is helpful to see that these men, Joseph and Moses, were both refused before the well is mentioned, and here we have “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. He was refused, preparing the way for the Spirit to come in.
JT The power of the Spirit really stands related to the cross. As the word of the cross is maintained there is room for the Spirit — the power that takes the place of man’s will and intellect. Where Christ was crucified was the place of a skull — an empty thing. The Spirit in those who accept the cross takes the place of all that.
EBMcC So we see the servant here qualified to meet the situation found in Corinth.
JT Exactly, it is wonderful how he does face the evil there though away from Corinth; he deliberately stays away evidently to let God work. Were he there the [p. 353] manifest evil would be dealt with, but roots that needed to be exposed might remain hidden.
CCC Would there be a special exercise connected with this ministerial service in the power of the Spirit, to secure results quickly? The father says, “Why are ye come so soon today?” Exodus 2: 18, as though the results were unexpected.
JT That is a good suggestion. We must seek to get immediate results. As a matter of fact, things are very weak amongst us; it is a day of small things, yet immediate results should be looked for — spiritual results. The gospel of Mark, as we all know, is marked by the idea of what is immediate.
JCS The measure of demonstration accompanying the servant in his service would be commensurate with the measure in which he has accepted the cross in power in his own soul, would you say?
JT Yes, the cross makes room for the Spirit, but the word of the cross, not merely the fact. The word of it opens up the significance of it and displaces from one’s mind what is contrary. Referring again to the allusion that has been made to the sabbath, Exodus opens up the sabbath — the word is found there for the first time. We have before noticed that the actual sabbath keeping in Israel, if the commandments were followed, would require in a period of fifty years, something like twenty-eight per cent of one’s time; a very significant matter, especially for servants. It does not mean mere physical rest and the like, but that one lays oneself open for the incoming of divine impressions — what the Spirit will do. We need physical strength, of course, but the point is that one’s faculties are available to the Spirit.
Ques What is meant by, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling”?
JT It occasioned this principle of the cross to be worked out. The apostle was made conscious of his weakness. He could enter the lists with anyone at Corinth as regards human wisdom, as we learn elsewhere,
[p. 354] but he is showing that he is not trusting in that sort of thing at all. It is the very opposite of self-reliance here: “weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”.
PL Would the fruit of these principles with Moses be seen in the name given to his son Gershom — “a sojourner in a foreign land”? Exodus 2: 22. Is that suggestive of what later would be the assembly of God in the wilderness, corresponding with the assembly of God at Corinth? The cross secures us wilderness-wise in assembly features for God.
JT Quite so. So Zipporah, with their two sons, comes to him at Horeb. They fitted in there. No doubt the wife and children would help him in the wilderness circumstances; and he admits the need of allowing others to do things. One does not keep everything in one’s own hands, but is great enough to let others have their full part in the work.
WHW Following the previous remark, as to quick results, do you think that typically Jethro noticed that the full result of the ministry of the Spirit was not in his daughters? He raises the question of not bringing the man with them.
JT Yes, many profit by Christ and His work, but do not think of Him and His needs. The apostle says, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 11: 1. As apprehending Christ in His great service for us, which Paul represented at Corinth, we are to make provision for Him.
PL They were not eating bread in the divine sense at Corinth. They did not have the Lord’s supper there. They had left the man behind. They had traduced the one who had begotten them in the power of his own ministry, but in the second epistle they judged the evil. Is there a point of affinity now with Paul — do they bring the man [p. 355] in?
JT I think he would be welcomed after the first letter was effective, but it is very sorrowful that they could go on without him and even exclude him.
WS Would the reference to Timothy at the end of chapter 4 cover this — where he says, “For this reason I have sent to you Timotheus ... who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 4: 17. I wondered if that would set before them livingly the result of the ministry and bring the minister, so to speak, in with it.
JT I think it would make the way for it. They needed to be reminded of the apostle’s ways — it would make a way for him to come in, in the way he should be amongst them. Jethro says to his daughters, “Where is he? why then have ye left the man behind? Call him, that he may eat bread”, Exodus 2: 20.
PL Would that be a priestly feature — he was priest of Midian? There is a suggestion in the second epistle, when priestly features began to take character in the Corinthians, that “the man” has no rest in his spirit till Titus comes. Does it suggest that such a minister is at hand when wanted? He is not present to “come in”, but he is ready to be called. Is that Paul’s appealing spirit for the Corinthians in the second epistle, “your servants for Jesus’ sake”, 2 Corinthians 4: 5?
JT Just so. Moses is called “the man”. The second letter to the Corinthians, as you say, would bring in the feelings of the apostle, what he had been amongst them. To think of the minister in this sense is important. The minister must be cared for, as our brother has suggested. If we regard these women as typical of saints at the present time, the flock needing to be watered, the shepherds would be official men that really would not allow such watering as this — they drove them away. The true ministerial service is seen in Moses. He represents the kind of ministry that has no official status nor seeks it. He does not work for wages. There is not the slightest suggestion that he asked for anything, he is left [p. 356] out; but the father provides so that the servant is brought in.
SF The Corinthians were disregarding the matter of the Lord’s supper in its true character and it is spoken of as their own in that way. Moses was overlooked. They were overlooking the apostle and even the Lord, and what was due to Him.
JT You may be sure that where this state of things is, God is not truly represented. Moses represented in type the spirit of the minister — he is sitting by the well, and his readiness to serve is in keeping with that. He might have said much about his origin and what he knew. How he could have entertained these women about Egypt! But there is not the slightest suggestion of this. He was one who helped them in their need, but the picture is filled out in Jethro — “the man” is brought in. The spirit of Moses runs right through Paul’s ministry. He had rights — “they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9: 14) — but he did not assert them. Moses is cared for, but in circumstances such as he might not have chosen for himself. We cannot always hope to enter on the Lord’s service in conditions such as we have been used to. If we are successful business men, receiving a good income, and have left our business, we cannot hope for a continuation of what that affords. Moses is simply one who helps others and is brought in to eat bread. He is content to dwell with the man. The suggestion is that the circumstances were very different from what he was accustomed to. He had been in Pharaoh’s court. He stays in Midian for forty years looking after sheep. The history is to bring out the ministerial side, and the antitype is in first Corinthians, which we are considering.
PL At the end of forty years he has not one sheep that is called his own — they are still his father-in-law’s flock.
JT Paul says, “I do not seek yours, but you”. He had espoused them to one Man, that was his aim, to get [p. 357] the saints for Christ, and that they should provide for Him, as in chapter 11.
CHH Do we see the wisdom of God appearing, in that Moses sees the need of the sheep and supplies it from the well?
JT He waters the flock, without treating the shepherds violently; and now he is cared for by Jethro, but in humble circumstances, and he is content to stay with the man for forty years, and feed his flock. Now God takes him on — he has qualified himself, showing the spirit of the servant. The same thing is seen with Paul and indeed with every true servant. It was a question of the will of God that Moses should go through this humble employment for forty years. We are told he tended the flock of Jethro: “And he led the flock behind the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God — to Horeb”, Exodus 3: 1. That is all in beautiful order and now God takes him on for the great service He had for him.
PL Would the first epistle to the Corinthians be leading the flock behind the wilderness and the second the new covenant, coming to the mountain of God in Horeb?
JT There is correspondence. One idea is that he gathered up the earlier ministry: “On the mount of Jehovah will be provided” is the principle. He recognised that and comes to it here — whether by instinct or otherwise, he comes to the mountain of God.
Ques Would you say a little more about “Why then have ye left the man behind?”
JT It shows how people may be served and accept the service, yet forget the servant; even Christ is forgotten in this way.
Rem Those served by Him are reminiscent of Christ. The Galatians had received the apostle as the servant of Christ.
JT I think they received him somewhat extravagantly (see chapter 4: 14, 15). The epistle to the Galatians [p. 358] is to modify us because if you receive a person in undue honour, you are all the more ready to take it away from him as quickly as you give it to him, and transfer it to another. This evidently happened in Paul’s experience with the Galatians. What is seemly is sobriety in those served, in recognising what God gives and those through whom He gives it.
EWC Every bit of spiritual help received brings increased responsibility, does it not?
JT There ought to be an acknowledgment; I think the Lord looks for that, not that the servant is looking for wages, except in the sense that John says, “He that reaps receives wages”, John 4: 36. Paul says, “I do not seek yours, but you”. A t the same time there should be a spirit of thanksgiving for what you receive.
Ques “Wisdom among the perfect”. Would the apostle be referring to his experience amongst the Ephesians burning their books of wisdom?
JT It would correspond. Undoubtedly he wrote from Ephesus and the effect of the truth there was very fresh in his mind. He was speaking wisdom there amongst the perfect.
PL Would it be right to say that a true servant would find his reward in being brought in on mutual lines to “eat bread” with his brethren, to share the bounty of God in a mutual way? Would he not look on that as a happy recompense in any service rendered. I was thinking of the last verse of the second epistle, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”, 2 Corinthians 13:14.
JT Yes. So the servant merges with his brethren. You get that in the example given in the Acts. Peter and John had great distinction, but being let go they went to their own and merged with them. They are not mentioned in any distinctive way in what follows in Acts 4; and then in chapter 20 we are told that on the first day of the [p. 359] week they came together to break bread, not “Paul and we”, but “we” — it is a mutual thought and a true servant enjoys that. To merge with the brethren and partake of our common heritage is in keeping with our eternal portion.
JCS If the servant is not great enough to merge with his brethren he is not morally great enough to serve them.
JT As merging with the brethren he would acquire their confidence, and this would not detract from the respect due to him. “Less than the least of all saints” is a remarkable statement. We cannot think of the apostle not telling the truth. Of course, it is the truth, and he says “the least”. How would that come out, but as one who served among the saints? It came out, for instance, at Malta in gathering sticks, a little service in ordinary affairs. If one is standing on the platform ministering Christ, he has distinction, but in ordinary affairs he moves in and out amongst the brethren doing what anyone else could do. Doing it as “less than the least of all saints” would come out there. On the other hand, humility in the saints would not abuse this, but would render due honour to one used of God. What has been called attention to leads us on to the ground of wisdom, which is the point now before us — the ground on which wisdom comes to us, the wisdom that God has prepared for our glory before the world. Surely it is most attractive to see how that comes to us.
AMH What do you understand by “our glory”?
JT It would be a rebuke, I suppose, to the leaders as to what they would consider to be glory.
AMH You get the “Lord of glory” also mentioned.
JT It is a touch in the chapter that should affect us, our glory and the Lord of glory. I apprehend the Lord of glory would allude to the Lord as capable of diffusing it, administering it, as it were, knowing where to set it. It is a question of where glory fits, of placing it as a [p. 360] diamond is placed. The Lord alone knows where to put it. He has it in all its variety under His hand; we have “the Lord of glory”, “the Father of glory”, “the Spirit of glory”. The Lord of glory implies the dispensing of it, I think.
EB The apostle had hidden himself, as it were, determining to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and as hidden he draws attention to the hidden wisdom.
JT Yes, and the Lord would confer glory on Paul in this connection. Time and again Jehovah came out and honoured Moses. One of the most interesting and comforting things in the Old Testament is the glory appearing in favour of the servant. The Lord dispenses glory. If the Lord glorifies a man in this sense, that settles the matter whatever others may think of him. There were those who would discredit Paul — things were not going very well: why should he be in prison? Yet he said, “The Lord stood with me, and gave me power, that through me the proclamation might be fully made”. “Through me” — the Lord determined that His servant should not be deprived of the glory of fully preaching the truth.
JCS Do you think that if the saints refuse a man upon whom the glory rests; it is an expression of their spiritual state?
JT They are exposed. Naturally we like changes. It is the spirit of the world. If the Lord qualifies and honours a man in His service and the saints refuse him, they are refusing the Lord in that measure. Brethren make their own terms sometimes instead of recognising what the Lord of glory does amongst us. He puts the glory where it should be, where it is enhanced.
PL It was said, “Has Jehovah indeed spoken only to Moses? has he not spoken also to us? And Jehovah heard it”, Numbers 12: 2.
JT Quite so, and the glory appeared very quickly. That is just [p. 361] the point.
WJH Would the fact that the apostle was in weakness and fear and much trembling underlie honour conferred?
JT It would. The Lord honours dependence on Him. Paul sensed the position at Corinth. You will recall the facts leading up to the work in Corinth. The apostle had a peculiar kind of anxiety as seen in Acts 17 and 18. One is impressed with the peculiar kind of anxieties he had in approaching this great service — he had waited at Athens till Silvanus and Timotheus came, and as soon as those two brothers arrived at Corinth he “was pressed in respect of the word”, and the work goes on. The Lord says, “no one shall set upon thee to injure thee; because I have much people in this city”; Paul stayed there eighteen months. A remarkable set of facts is presented in that chapter in regard to the service at Corinth. He sensed how things were, and that he had to get the people there, which was no small matter.
Ques In saying “none of the princes of this world knew” about this wisdom, does the apostle strike a death blow at theology, which assumes to bring the things of God within the compass of the human mind, perhaps thereby crucifying the Lord of glory?
JT I think that is how the history of the church stands — the public body’s introduction of Greek philosophy in the second century has developed into a most elaborate system of doctrine, under the term theology. This is not a spiritual word — it is a scientific word. This chapter is over against all that: “that your faith might not stand in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power”.
CCC Would you open up a little more how this wisdom comes to us? It is a point of great importance.
JT Paul said, “we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery”, (verse 7). We have to make up our minds for divine mystery, because we are apt to be like ordinary persons regarding christianity as within our natural range. “The mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested [p. 362] in flesh, has been justified in the Spirit, has appeared to angels”, 1 Timothy 3: 16. We have to be on these lines to be impressed and formed by the holy things of God. In Colossians it is enlarged on — the mystery of God is said to contain all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
FS It speaks of the things being prepared of God for those who love Him. Does that suggest the affections entering into it?
JT It reads, “we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, that hidden wisdom which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory: which none of the princes of this age knew, (for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); but according as it is written, Things which eye has not seen ... God has prepared for them that love him”. That is a great matter, to be amongst those who love God. That is the principle on which the apostle ministered; it was according to the capacity of the saints, because, after all, it is a question of what people are capable of receiving. The two things run together — what is presented and what is received. He says in chapter 15, “which also ye have received”. They had received the gospel. If he is to go further than that, there must be love for God — those that love God. There are those that love Him and of course I want to be amongst them, and if I am, this wisdom is for me.
JCS Is this found in an assembly setting?
JT It is very general here. We are taken back here to what God prepared before the world. He prepared things for our glory. It is a most affecting thought that He has prepared for “our” glory — the idea of God preparing things, I suppose, antedates even what we have in Proverbs 8, that God was thinking of us before that time and had devised a certain wisdom — not merely the wisdom seen in creation, but a certain wisdom for our glory. The apostle quotes from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 64 verse 4, “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him”, 1 Corinthians 2: 9.
First prepared “for our glory”, and then “for them that love him”. So it brings in the work of the Spirit in the saints. As we come to love God, we see that God has been thinking of us and preparing for us from before the foundation of the world.
Rem What is the import of the word “things”? — it is even referred to as the depths of God.
JT We must see that the Spirit alone can unfold these things to us. The revelation of God of course is by Christ, the declaration of God is by Christ, but the Spirit is here in the most marvellous subjection and humility, attending upon us and ready to make known to us the things of God as we are ready for them. Waiting upon Him things come to us, whether individually or more particularly together; things come out, they come out more clearly when saints are together. “God has revealed [them] to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”. He lets us in to the depths — they are for us, the things that are there.
JCS “The depths of God” would refer to what is within the confines of revelation, would they not?
JT Yes, in the sense of things — God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. Things such as He prepared according to the purposes of His love are made known to us.
CHH In Luke 24 the Lord opens up “the things concerning himself”. Does that come in here?
JT “And having begun from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself”, Luke 24: 27. That would be what is in the Scriptures, but here there is more than that, what the Spirit of God unfolds. The Lord says in John 15 He proceedeth “forth from with the Father”, (verse 26), and He says, “I will send him”. He is sent by Christ, from being “with the Father” — a remarkable sort of expression! Why should that be said? Of course He was with the Father, but why should that [p. 364] be said except to come down to our way of thinking, and to indicate that He has first-hand knowledge of God, particularly what is opened up in Paul’s ministry? The Lord says, speaking of the Spirit, “he shall testify of me”. The Spirit is giving testimony — and undoubtedly Paul’s ministry in the main is in view, his wonderful unfolding of heavenly things. Then the Lord says, “ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning” (verse 27), but the Spirit brought out the depths of God.
FS In the addresses to the assemblies in Revelation 2 and 3 the Lord says, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”. Would that be particularly a word to the minister?
JT It is a word to the saints, that is, to every assembly. The suggestion is that the Spirit is always speaking, and what He says would be what is needed at any juncture in the assembly’s history; the Spirit would bring in what is needed. Here it is, “the Spirit searches ... the depths of God”. It is the full divine thought. The Spirit has access to the depths of God. It says, He “searches”, as if to say that there would be nothing omitted, but that everything would be brought out. Note, it is He searches, not has searched.
WJH The apostle says He has revealed them to us. How does it affect us in the sense of revelation?
JT We have part in them now by the Spirit. It is not that things are coming out that were not there before. Paul is referring to his own experience; while he is leaving you with the thought that the Spirit is the fount of everything in service, yet he is referring to his own experience. God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. He knew what he was saying, but he leaves you with the Spirit searching the depths of God.
Ques With reference to the second epistle, “we look not at the things that are seen”, would that help in this [p. 365] connection?
JT I suppose so, the things unfolded, unseen to the natural eye. You are left with the idea that while christianity is a finished matter in a similar sense to the six days of creation, yet it is not a finished matter in the sense of the shining out, or fulness of it. We must look for the fulness of things. So that the Spirit is here constantly and you cannot limit Him. There is the development of a living state of things. Genesis 2 helps us; we see there that God takes a new title. After the finished product, so to speak, of the six days’ work God takes a new title, as if to work out glory, and that enters into what is before us. We are here in the realm of glory, the Spirit of glory is working out glory under the Lord. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the glory of kings is to search out a thing”, Proverbs 25: 2. That is what is going on — the Lord of glory and the Spirit of glory. They will bring out what there is, so that any thing that the divine counsel has determined for us will be worked out and made effulgent in the saints.
JCS There is thus a fluid condition and the Spirit gives us the fulness of things?
JT Quite so. Look at the crust of the earth. It is one element acting on another. The earth’s surface affords what is referred to as fulness: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”. And so there is the fulness now of what God revealed. Everything is worked out to the fulness of it.
PL Would you connect that with the Spirit garnishing the heavens?
JT Yes. I suppose David is the vessel whom God used to bring out the heavenly side in the Old Testament. Solomon brings out the earthly side. He spoke of all the living things in the earth: not geology, but living things. Is there nothing living now? What is current, that is of God, is as interesting to God as in apostolic times. He looks to the working out of things in glory: there are new phases of life worked out by the Spirit. The Spirit is the [p. 366] Spirit of life. Things are being worked out. It is a most interesting time for heaven in this sense.
PL Deuteronomy is on this line: there you get the tenor of the law.
JT It is much more open, elastic, than Exodus is; it is what Moses said. It is the minister himself, as it were, in his love to God and to the saints, opening up the glory of the things presented in the earlier books.
AMH Ephesians 2: 10 says, “we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”: is that a kind of spiritual world being brought to light for God’s pleasure?
JT Just so. “We should walk in them”; there are not only the works, but the living feet, the living hands, the living eyes — all involving the shining out of glory. God is delighted in the normal christian. Every christian makes history in heaven, that is, God delights in His people, as they develop before Him according to His purpose in man, as seen in Christ.
JM Is that why the apostle writes to the Corinthians as to his heart being enlarged and his mouth opened — because of what he has heard of them?
JT Quite so. He has become freer because of what he heard from Titus, whose spirit had been refreshed by the Corinthians.
EESL Are there not practical stages of progression in the terms used in our chapter — demonstration, revelation, searching, teaching, and finally reception?
JT Yes. The thought of reception is worthy of special note: there is the power to present things to us, but too the power of reception, so that we have them and know them. It says, “we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God: which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means. But the [p. 367] natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned; but the spiritual discerns all things, and he is discerned of no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, who shall instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ”. We have the power to think as the Lord does; and we have in us the power to receive things. The power of reception is a great matter in this subject.
Ques Would it be exemplified in Apollos, a man mighty in the Scriptures and eloquent; but he needed adjustment in the truth and he received it from Aquila and Priscilla; then he became a waterer?
JT Yes. It is only in virtue of what we receive from God that we can be of service to Him.