THE WITNESS OF PAUL AND THE CONTINUANCE OF THE TESTIMONY
[p. 10] THE WITNESS OF PAUL AND THE CONTINUANCE OF THE TESTIMONY
JT I would like to suggest before we proceed with this chapter that it would help us if we could see more clearly what the position of the apostle Paul was. A right understanding of the epistle requires a right understanding of the apostle in relation to the testimony. The Lord’s sovereign authority is involved in Paul’s position. Paul as a vessel was His choice, and to him the complete testimony was entrusted; hence you will find a great deal is made in the epistle of Paul’s witness of his sovereign place on the one hand, and of his character on the other — what he was as a man. I think you will find that these two things are emphasised in this epistle — especially what he was; and, in keeping with that, that Timothy was his child; I mean what he was as formed by the truth, and thus the product of his testimony, that is to say, what kind of children he would beget. I thought I would mention that more particularly so that we might realise the importance of it.
HD'AC It is most important.
Ques What is the deposit?
JT Well, I think it is what we endeavour to get to know of the testimony.
HD'AC What was the other deposit that Paul had entrusted to Him, against that day?
JT You tell us, Mr. C.
HD'AC I thought Paul had put everything he had into the concern. He had entrusted everything he had into the concern. He had put every penny he had into the business. There was nothing for him on earth but the testimony. Now, what do you say to that?
JT I go with [p. 11] that.
SB Does that mean he was completely under the authority of Christ?
HD'AC Yes, he knew Him whom he had believed. He knew what he was doing.
Rem Those in Asia had turned away from him, but he looks to Timothy as the one whom he could trust.
JT Yes, Timothy was his own child. It is well worth considering the relation in which Timothy stood to the apostle.
JSA I suppose there was no one with whom the testimony was so closely linked, save Paul himself.
JT Yes, I think that. You get that fully confirmed in his letter to the Corinthians. They had ten thousand instructors, but only one father. He says, “As my beloved children I admonish you”. He gives them the place of being beloved children, but they require to be warned, and the conditions existing at Corinth hindered his coming to them. He stayed away lest he should have to execute judgment; so instead of coming himself he sends Timothy. He says, “I have sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ”, as if the apostle intended to prepare the Corinthians for his own visit by sending his child who knew him so perfectly.
JAM It is all to show the character of the vessel in whom the testimony is carried on.
JT The Lord takes care that the testimony comes out in a suitable vessel.
TMG “The same commit thou to faithful men”.
JT That is how the apostle intended it to be transmitted. I am sure the Lord would bring the light very near to us as to what the testimony is, but then the question is as to the character of those who have got the light, whether they are really formed by the light. The apostle’s wish was to have children begotten by the testimony in a way after his own character.
TMG “Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose”.
HD'AC Even in the very charge he gives to Timothy, he himself was a witness of it. He did not charge Timothy to do anything he had not done himself. He was the expression of it.
RL Is that why he says in Philippians, “I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state”?
HD'AC It is a very serious thing to give a charge to another unless you are yourself the exponent of it. Paul exemplified all that he charged upon others in his own life.
JT It was the Lord’s intention that there should be no lowering of the character of the vessel. Paul was especially taken up as one who should be near to Christ. He brings himself forward as one who followed Christ. Follow me as I have followed Christ, he says in effect. He asks Timothy to remember his ways.
Ques Did the testimony come out in an individual way?
JT It came out first in the Lord. The assembly is the pillar and ground of it. The assembly upholds the testimony. The communication of the mind of God is to an individual, and I believe that Paul is especially taken up and fitted by the Lord as an adequate vessel connected with the testimony. He was not only capable of expounding it, but, as Mr. C, says, he was himself an exemplification of it.
TMG The assembly does not teach.
JT No, but it supports what is taught.
Ques Would that be implied in what the apostle says to the Corinthians, “Ye are our letter ... known and read of all men”?
JT Yes, it was great grace on the part of the apostle to give them such a place, and his thought was that he would send his beloved child in the Lord to them, that they should be put in remembrance of his ways in Christ. He wants to speak well of them. They were in his heart. I have often thought that a brother who cannot speak well of the saints is not commendable. The apostle says, ‘Do we need letters of commendation from you? why, ye are in our hearts’.
Ques As to the testimony, did you say the testimony was not in the assembly?
JT I said the testimony was unfolded by an individual or individuals specially called by the Lord for His purpose; that is, one fitted in regard to the administration of the truth. Paul was supported by his Master here. He says, “By the grace of God I am what I am”. By his own account, every bit of him was by the grace of God. He was specially fitted to unfold the testimony, but the assembly supported what he taught. The assembly at Ephesus, I think, was specially fitted by the Lord to support what the apostle taught. It is due to the Lord that we should consider all that he said in the unfolding of the testimony.
HD'AC I think it is due to the apostle, because where would the truth be without him? They might support the truth firmly, but it did not exist till he came. It is a wonderful thing to be set to support the truth.
JSA If we want to get a right thought of the testimony or of expressing it, we must come back to Paul.
HD'AC That is just what I think, to recognise that all the activity would be in keeping with the vessel. To whom do we owe all that? We owe it to the apostle Paul.
[p. 14] With regard to his being the vessel, I suppose it was hinted at in his conversion, “This man is an elect vessel to me, to bear my name”.
JT Quite so.
WK The word ‘support’, Mr. T., is a little ambiguous. What do you mean by that?
JT I mean they should be in sympathy with the minister through whom the light comes; that should characterise saints. It did not characterise the saints at Corinth. The defect at Corinth was that they did not value the vessel through whom the light came to them. He had begotten them. Now, if you stand up to minister, you know what it is to have the support of the saints. How sweet it is! Paul was very much concerned about the church being the pillar and ground of the truth. The ways and walk of the saints go with it. It would be manifested in them. They would support what the apostle taught. You take the church at Philippi. The apostle’s letter shows that the saints there were in sympathy with him, in sympathy with the gospel. Is not that so, Mr. C.?
HD'AC Yes. He enlarges on that in his first chapter, “From the first day”. They appreciated the testimony. The result of that was they were interested in the gospel because it was through him it came to them.
TMG “Your fellowship with the gospel, from the first day until now”.
JT Yes. Onesiphorus in Rome sought him out diligently and was not ashamed of his chain. There is a man singled out specially by the apostle because of his sympathy and interest in the vessel of the testimony.
Ques What are the things Timothy [p. 15] had heard from the apostle?
JT He had heard these from Paul, not from the twelve, so one can understand the verse only by what Paul has written.
Ques In presence of many witnesses. What does that mean?
JT Well, what he did was brought out into the light. If it was communicated to Timothy personally, it was not communicated to him alone.
Rem It was not communicated to Timothy or Paul apart from the truth that was ministered to the assembly.
HD'AC It is found in the assembly, though you cannot look at the assembly today as having that character; so this epistle hinges on the individual position. It is entrusted to Timothy, not to the assembly; that is, to one of Paul’s children.
JSA Then the position of the testimony has reference to the broken state of things.
JT He was more than Paul’s child. There were a great many children of Paul who did not answer to Paul. He says, “Thou hast fully known ...”; thou hast closely followed in my line.
I think the second chapter sets us on an important line which must have been a great stay to the apostle’s heart. He had no one like-minded with Timothy who naturally cared with genuine feeling for the saints how they got on. I think you have here first of all the character of the apostle, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. That is the descending line that goes down. It is a very great study, I think, what the Lord was as a Man; and then what Paul was, and then what Timothy was, and then what Epaphroditus was. They were all on the same line; they were all after Christ.
RL In the epistle we are sometimes spoken of as in Christ [p. 16] Jesus.
JT I think that what you suggest is right; alas! man has broken down in the church, but there never is a breakdown in Christ.
RL Everyone else fails, but there is no failure in Christ.
JT Now we have been endeavouring to get to our relation to the testimony at the present time. And at this juncture we have to look for a moment at the testimony as presented in Ephesians, because it is the mind of God that it should be maintained in the saints.
RL Will you open out a little what the testimony is?
JT I think the testimony is comprised in the epistles to the Romans and to the Ephesians. That is, Romans deals with men on earth: Romans gives the relation between God and men on earth. Now, that, to my mind, is the first problem to be solved. Then Ephesians presents to us the counsels of God in regard to Christ and the assembly.
Ques Should these two aspects be preached in the glad tidings?
JT I think so. Romans is the gospel of God to men; Ephesians, Christ and the assembly.
Ques Where do you place Colossians?
JT Colossians is corrective. Romans and Ephesians are the setting forth of the truth.
HD'AC Do you think the postscript at the end of Romans connects that epistle with the Ephesians?
JT It may. I think the epistle to the Romans is not to meet the need at Rome. It was really a letter intended for all the saints. He wrote it to the gentiles to unfold his gospel.
WK Between God and man it was a question of life and death.
HM It has been very often said that the epistle to the Ephesians was only written to [p. 17] the Ephesians.
JT I think the saints of Ephesus were in a state to receive such a letter, but the letter is the unfolding of God’s testimony.
JSA The Corinthians were not in a state to receive that letter.
JT No, nor were the Galatians. There is good reason to believe that it was of a circular character.
WK It has been said that it was a circular letter, and that ‘the Ephesians’ was added after.
JSA Do you not think that as a principle it would be addressed to those that were in a condition to receive it?
JT There can be no doubt in reading it that it gives the unfolding of the counsel of God in regard to Christ, and that was not unfolded in the epistle to the Romans. All the truth that relates to the earth is dealt with and adjusted in the Romans. Every question of man is solved in the epistle to the Romans. God has solved the problems — righteousness and life.
JAM Would you say a little about the testimony in Romans?
JT What a wonderful thing it is to be able to look up into the face of God and be accounted righteous! God has brought that to pass, “I am not ashamed”, Paul says, “of the glad tidings; for it is God’s power to salvation ... for righteousness of God is revealed therein, on the principle of faith, to faith”. God has brought that about; but then the next thing is you are made to live to God.
Ques Is that all unfolded in 2 Timothy 2: 8, “Remember Jesus Christ raised from among the dead”?
JT Yes, that involves the testimony of Romans; it is in connection with Jesus Christ of the seed of David.
Ques Then would that expression, “That they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” belong to Ephesians?
JT I think that is very good. What do you say to that, Mr. C.?
HD'AC Yes, there is the righteousness and power of God.
JT Love is behind the righteousness.
JSA We need only to walk with God consciously in His presence and also with confidence in the love of God.
HD'AC Yes, and you feel you love God.
JT Romans gives us the spirit of sonship, but in Ephesians it is the state of sonship. God has solved the question of righteousness and life. The earthly side of the truth is first stated, and then the heavenly, which is the special position of the church. Ephesians gives the position of Christ and the assembly, completing all God’s counsels. You must have the earthly side first. There must be conciliation of the two trees. God set them there, and there they are as a testimony to the truth of the idea of good and evil. You must have the question of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil settled before you can touch the tree of life.
Ques How is the first settled?
JT It is settled in the death of Christ. The question of responsibility devolves upon man. Man was placed in the garden in responsibility. That is the first commandment. That conveys the will of God. Man was placed there at the will of God, and God’s commandments were subsequently involved in the expression of His will for the moment. Man had transgressed the commandments, and God’s will is contravened, and so all was lost for man; and that brings into evidence what Christ was.
Ques What is the promise [p. 19] of life?
JT The kind of life God had in His mind primarily was the life God intended to continue in Christ. Romans shows how that kind of life is brought in. The saints are not viewed as risen in Romans, but Christ is. The point is that eternal life is available in a Man. It is in another Man. It is brought to pass in one Man, and in Him is eternal life. It was testimony. It involved the kind of life God had before Him.
Ques Would it prefigure the place Christ has entered into?
JT Yes.
Rem The One who settled the question of responsibility is now to us as the tree of life.
JSA God sent His only-begotten Son that we should have everlasting life. There is now only the one tree.
JT Yes, and that brings in the thought that Christ is eternal life.
LW Is man not now responsible under the Lord Jesus Christ? You made a remark that the Lord Jesus had met his responsibility.
JT Romans regards us as here in the wilderness. Romans sets man up where he was before. It sets him up in relation with God. God has secured His place in that man, and that man is made to live. It is the sphere of God’s will. Now you are called upon to prove whether you are in the kingdom or not. Walking in the will of God is the test.
JSA Then, I take it, children have a responsibility, “As obedient children”.
JT The point of view in Romans is that you are taken up where you are. Now what are you going to do? You are not taken to heaven. You are living here. Chapter 12 contemplates your walking up to that.
[p. 20] SB And we are set up in responsibility because we are in the new position, but there is power given to maintain it.
JT You have support. Enough to pay your debts, and to live on the rest. There is not a single obligation which has not been made good.
TMG The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit.
LW Is it the responsibility involved in love to Christ? Love is the fulfilling of the law. You are able to fulfil every responsibility because you have got the Spirit.
JT Righteousness has been brought to light, and the ultimate end of lawlessness is made known.
RL If man as a creature does not submit to Christ as Head he is not free of responsibility. It is those who have submitted to Christ as Head that are free of responsibility.
HM What is the difference between life and eternal life?
JT The individual has to be made to live; but Christ is eternal life. Life is not intelligence, it is power. Life is required for the wilderness. Romans contemplates that man is taken up as he is here — man is made to live in his affections as Christ lives. Eternal life is an objective thought, whilst life is a subjective thought. That is said of the Spirit. The Spirit is life. With God eternal life is in Christ.
JSA I think Mr. T’s remark goes to the root of the distinction — life looked at as subjective. Eternal life is objective in a sphere of its own.
Ques Is eternal life presented in contrast to death?
JT Yes. The gift of God is eternal life.
RL “This is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”.
JT We live in relation to an unseen scene.