AQUILA AND PRISCILLA
These scriptures bring before us a husband and wife, mentioned by name, and I wish to say just a word or two as to marriage “in the Lord”. The apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians refers to what is open to sisters under certain circumstances, as to marriage, and he says, “only in the Lord”, as though he would emphasise that as the great essential for Christians. If they contemplate marriage and enter into it, the essential is that it should be in the Lord. I understand that to involve that, in taking up the marriage tie, those concerned are moving practically in the recognition of the Lord Jesus, as subject to Him in their movements, and also that they recognise that there is a sphere here in this world where the Lord’s rights are acknowledged and where His interests are, and they have in view that their marriage should stand related to that sphere. This idea of marriage in the Lord is well exemplified in this husband and wife referred to in these and other scriptures.
In the detail of married life we may, with the greatest confidence, face everything that comes upon us, as trusting in God and proving continually the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, if our married life is taken up in relation to God, it affords happiness and blessing which are but little known otherwise. At the same time it is well to bear in mind that—Christ having died, having indeed been cast out of this world, and having gone on high, and the Holy Spirit having come—God is occupied now with what Scripture speaks of as “the spiritual”, rather than the natural. “First ... that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual”, 1 Cor 15: 46.
The happiness of our brother and sister will be purest as they hold their married life in relation to the spiritual order of interests, which belongs to them with all God’s people here on earth. So on the only occasion on which we read of the Lord Jesus being present at a marriage, it was allowed that the wine should run out. The Lord was there as gracing the occasion with His presence and approving of it; at the same time He would have them understand from the very outset that, however blessed the marriage link and the joy connected with it as taken up with God, it is not of an abiding character. There is that which is greater and abiding, which is to be known in connection with the saints of God and the interests of God that are cherished in that circle.
So we find with Aquila and Priscilla that all that is recorded of them in the divine record is connected with their path as identified with what God was doing on the earth at the time. They had come to Corinth, as all Jews had been commanded by the emperor to depart from Rome. No doubt that would cause a good deal of difficulty and concern to both husband and wife, this arbitrary change under such circumstances. It would perhaps involve that they were threatened with the loss of their livelihood; it would involve all the upset of changing their home, and a journey of considerable distance. But whilst the Lord is in no way indifferent to these matters that arise in the practical life of His people, the Spirit of God does not dwell on such details. He would not have such to be uppermost in our minds, but rather the testimony of our Lord, in our homes and in our paths, in our prayers and exercises, in all our movements. As it is so, we shall find that the grace of Christ and the mercy and faithfulness of God will be more than equal to all temporary difficulties or upsets that may arise in the detail of our lives.
“Paul ... came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila ... with his wife Priscilla ... and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought; for by their occupation they were tentmakers”, Acts 18: 1-3. They had their occupation, but in it they were privileged to have no less a person than the apostle Paul living with them, showing that their house was, in the Lord’s sight, worthy to be connected with His name and His interests in this world.
Lower down we find that they move on to Ephesus, and there they are a great help in their house to Apollos, for we read that “they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly”, Acts 18: 26. It shows what is open to a brother and sister who in singleness of heart cherish the interests of Christ, for they are used to help one that was going to be prominent in the Lord’s work.
In Corinthians, written apparently from Ephesus, they were in their second home since being expelled from Rome, and the apostle says, “Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord”. They have that idea of “in the Lord” and they are carrying it right through. They had been at Corinth in their earlier days and knew the brethren there, and in view of the conditions existing there they saluted them “in the Lord”, not on merely natural lines, but retaining that idea of “in the Lord” and bringing it to bear upon the Corinthians, if so be it might be used to help them in the conditions in which they were. In this connection we read of “the assembly in their house”—a privileged house, indeed, to be so connected with divine interests!
“Salute Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus, ... and the assembly at their house”, Rom 16: 3-5. A commendation that is worth coveting! They had been marked by a whole-hearted devotion to the interests of the Lord Jesus on earth, showing itself in attachment to the apostle Paul and the following up of his teaching, and then “who for my life staked their own neck”. At Rome again they are found in this privileged position, that the assembly is in their house. These are great possibilities, that are open to a Christian husband and wife as moving together in the Lord, the possibilities that their house may afford.
On the other hand, we have to watch our houses, as to what emanates from them; for they may become, if we are not preserved in continual selfjudgment and dependence upon the Lord, a means of assailing the testimony. In Acts we have another husband and wife—Ananias and Sapphira. This household, alas! had not been conducted in the light. The husband conceived a deception, his wife being privy to it—a solemn warning as to houses being corrupted by the husband and wife not being maintained in communion with the Lord. Where, however, the husband and wife conduct their house as truly of one mind in the Lord there is no limit to the privilege and blessing that is open to it.
STREATHAM
4th September 1937
From Words of Grace and Comfort
PAUL’S CONVERSION AND COMMISSION
I desire to refer to these two accounts by the apostle Paul of his conversion. The first more particularly gives us light for our guidance individually, and the second is perhaps of even greater importance in view of the ministry which was committed to the apostle, into the good of which were to be brought as saints.
It is well to bear in mind that Paul was taken up by the Lord as a pattern. He was a representative sinner—indeed, the chief of them; but in the grace of God he was taken up, not only as a pattern of the longsuffering of Christ to a sinner, but to be a pattern saint. Speaking by the Spirit of God, he could say to the Corinthians, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ”, and again, to the Philippians, “Be imitators all together of me, brethren, and fix your eyes on those walking thus as you have us for a model”. We have of course to learn from Christ pre-eminently, but at the same time God was pleased in His grace to take up Saul of Tarsus, Paul, in order that we might see in a man who had the same propensities as the rest of us how grace works and secures an answer to the thoughts of God.
The circumstances connected with Paul’s conversion are intended to set out certain features that should mark every one brought to the Lord. The first thing is that the Lord established a personal link between Himself and Saul. He addressed him by name twice, saying, “Saul, Saul”, and Saul says, “But they that were with me beheld the light ... but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me”, confirming that the voice at that moment was entirely for himself. The Lord took account of him as distinct from all others.
Then Saul says, “Who art thou, Lord?” and the answer is, “I am Jesus”. The Lord wishes to establish personal links between Himself and us; and He looks that we, on our part, should cultivate this. So when Saul says, “Who art thou, Lord?” He does not say, I am the Lord, or the Son of God, but “I am Jesus”, One who had come down here in lowly grace. He desires to be known by us personally. He knows His sheep by name, every one of them. He calls forth the hosts of heaven by name, and not one of them fails. Think of the greatness of Christ! We would, of course, address Him as Lord, but as knowing Him by name—“Lord Jesus”—thus coupling the reverence due to Him with the affection that is begotten in those who know Him.
The Lord says, “I am Jesus of Nazareth”—the name by which He was known and despised, under which He was crucified—“Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews”. We have been called to be committed to One who is cast out by this world. He stands in relation to the world as the despised One, rejected of men, and the saints must expect to be in the same position if they are faithful.
Saul says, “What shall I do, Lord?” That is a most important point, that a young believer is to understand that he has now come under the direction of the Lord. Saul had never before been marked by that attitude of mind and spirit. He had before been breathing out threatenings and slaughter, moving in his own energies and power, but now he says, “What shall I do, Lord?” It would be well for everyone who belongs to Christ to take it up definitely. The Lord has the paramount claim over him, and henceforth his life is to be regulated by what is pleasing to the Lord. The authority of Christ is always exercised for the good and blessing of His people; and moreover it has in view that we should not only be preserved individually, but that we should be secured in this world where Christ has been cast out, for the service and pleasure of God.
Saul having asked what he is to do, the Lord says he is to arise and go to Damascus. He is to learn that the Lord already has a sphere of interest in this world, and, indeed, in the city to which he was close at that time, and he is to connect himself with that sphere where the Lord’s rights are already acknowledged. He is not to be on independent lines. The Lord has but one centre of operations, the assembly; and the local assembly is where His name is cherished. Everyone must identify himself with those who are spoken of as keeping His commandments and acknowledging His will.
He comes into Damascus and his first sight is a man who addresses him as “Brother Saul”; his eyes are open to that man, whom he had never seen before. Ananias says to him, “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth”. I have no doubt this was in a way special to Saul, but in another way, it is true of everyone brought to Christ; and hence it is well for us to take account of it. God has chosen each one of us. It would impress us with the privilege of our position as amongst the saints of God—chosen beforehand. In Ephesians it is set out in all its greatness. God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. How it would tend completely to cut us off from this world and give us to understand that all our life and interests are to be bound up with Christ and His people! The light should dawn upon us that when we were brought to Christ it was in fulfilment of God’s purpose, “before the foundation of the world”.
“The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will”. It is an immense thing to know God’s will! There are hosts of people in this world who have no conception of God’s will, and no regard for it. We are to understand at the start, I believe, the way we have been redeemed; and that our intelligent answer to it is to present our bodies “a living sacrifice ... holy, acceptable to God”, proving ‘‘what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. The believer understands that the principle that is to govern him now is the will of God and not his own will. The Lord will support him on earth as he moves on that line, and he will prove peace, joy, and prosperity in knowing God’s will.
Ananias says to Saul, “that thou shouldest ... see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth”. We read in 1 Peter 3: 18, “Christ ... suffered ... the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. As we take account of the Just One in the presence of God, we get established in the great sense that we are accounted righteous before God in His grace. The old covenant brought in condemnation, making demands upon man which he could not fulfil. The new covenant has come in order that the love of God might be shed abroad in our hearts; every question is settled for the glory of God, and we are set up before God in righteous grace in Christ. Keep your eye on that Just One in the presence of God, and you will be more established in the favour of God, and the sense of His grace and sanctification. “For if the ministry of condemnation be glory, much rather the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory”. There is positive righteousness ministered to us from Christ in glory. All these things were set before Saul.
Ananias says also, “thou shalt be his witness unto all men, of what thou hast seen and heard”. There is no reason why, in measure, this should not apply to every one of us. The gospel of His grace is the public testimony of God. Surely we have some impression of His grace, and can testify of these things! These things were set before Saul. Up to that moment he had been a sinner, but these things were opened up to him. Now Ananias says, “why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptised, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord”. He called upon Saul to take up the position publicly that the grace of God had given to him. There are those who have been baptised in the faith of their parents, but the time comes when the Lord says to them, It is time for you to take up that to which you have been committed among the people of God. Why do you tarry? As Saul accepted baptism and so committed himself to the circle of the saints, his sins were washed away; he publicly dissociated himself from his former company. As he committed himself to the people of God, he understood it was a complete break from the company that marked him in his course of sins. The Lord on high has a personal interest in us and in the testimony; He is prepared on His part to support us in relation to it.
In chapter 26 Paul adds a further detail which he did not mention in his first account. He says that the Lord said to him in the Hebrew tongue, “why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”. The Lord was taking account of what was going on, Paul being pricked in his conscience and rebelling against it. He saw features of Christ livingly reproduced in Stephen, to whose death he was consenting, and in the other saints he was persecuting. They were presenting the same feature as was seen in Jesus: “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth”. Christ was livingly exemplified in His people here, and the Lord acknowledged it as Himself. “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks”. The testimony he had in those he was persecuting was undeniable; it was Christ Himself.
The Lord was conveying to Saul the great truth that the body of Christ is here. The assembly is the body of Christ; it is united to Him, derived from Him, and is His fulness. It was the assembly he persecuted, not only individual saints. In chapter 8 “Saul ravaged the assembly”; he entered into houses, but was ravaging the assembly. We, as forming part of the assembly, are members of this greatest conception of divine wisdom and love—the body of Christ. That had been in the mind of God from before the foundation of the world, but the mystery was not disclosed in prophetic ages, but was reserved to be brought out by the apostle Paul. The greatest and choicest thought has come to light, that we, who belong to Christ and have received the Spirit, are of the body of Christ. That involves the greatest possible privilege. We are inseparably bound up with Christ; just as close as is the link between man and wife, so Christ and the assembly are one. Christ and the assembly were in the mind of God when He introduced marriage. The relationship of husband and wife is to be taken account of in the light of the wonderful position that subsists now between Christ and the assembly. He has been into death for us, so that all that we are by nature has been judged and set aside; we have been given the Holy Spirit, that we may take on His precious features. The position of favour in which He stands with God is our position, so that there should be continued under the eye of God those features seen here in Christ, His beloved Son. The Lord says, “rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose”, and then He says, “Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I now send thee”—a most important principle for any who, in the slightest degree, seek to preach or serve the Lord publicly. We must first be set free from the world before we can be sent back into it. As a delivered and sanctified people we can be trusted to be sent back into the world as a testimony. “To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light ... that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me”—it is a question of receiving in pure grace. The apostle in writing to the Colossians says, “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”. We have it as a present known enjoyment, and it works out in our freely drawing near to God. If we are enjoying forgiveness of sins, we are happy in drawing near to God; there is not a shade between us. He gives not only forgiveness, but an inheritance; an entirely different range of interests from that found in the world, an inheritance among the sanctified; not in any way to be held along with the world, but enjoyed in its own proper setting with those set apart, the sanctified.
May the Lord use the word for our help and encouragement!
STREATHAM
4th September 1937
From Words of Grace and Comfort
These last two pieces illustrate how wedding meetings were conducted formerly—there would be a ministry meeting, followed—after a tea—by an address; sometimes (as here) the brother who had been invited to give the address also spoke in the first meeting.
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