1 CORINTHIANS (5)
1 CORINTHIANS (5)
JT The proposal in what has been read is that, there being so many young people here, it would be especially profitable that the subject of the Lord’s supper should come before us at this time. We feel that when we are together in this way that in principle it is the general idea of the revelation of God that is before us, the truth, the whole truth as to Christianity is before us. To this end, it is necessary that the Lord’s supper should have a great place in all these gatherings, the three-day gatherings. So much enters into this chapter that will help us, parents especially as to their young ones. As, for instance, when should a young person take part in the Lord’s supper? This is a matter that very often comes up, and it is most important that young people should take up the sense of responsibility as to the Lord’s supper because the Lord has Himself instituted the thought. It is not as if it were from the Old Testament, it is what the Lord Himself has proposed.
AEM A wholly new thing in that sense.
JT Just so. A wholly new idea. What is around us is very largely a question of what is current in Christendom without the special idea of what the Lord desires - the Lord Himself, and what refers to Himself, namely His body, the Lord’s body in the assembly. The assembly is [p. 114] down here and is to be usable from the Lord’s side for His purposes, for what refers to Him.
That should be the great thought of everyone of us, what refers to Christ.
AAT Why in Acts is it not the Lord’s supper that is emphasized, but the breaking of bread?
JT Are you distinguishing between the Lord’s supper and the breaking of bread?
AAT No. The breaking of bread, that expression, “the breaking of bread” is used a great deal in the Acts. Is it not the Lord’s supper?
JT The breaking of bread is something that we can partake of, something that we all can have a part in, in the exercise of our love for one another. The Lord Himself says, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13:35. And, of course, the Lord’s supper must enter into that, and that is why we proposed this chapter at this time.
PA Do you mean that the breaking of bread would substantially prove that we love one another, being one loaf, is that it?
JT Just so. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” 1 Corinthians 10:16. There is the idea of blessing entering into the Lord’s supper.
AEM In partaking of the Lord’s supper, do we not confess His authority? The [p. 115] dominical idea is in that expression?
JT Very good. I am glad you use the word ‘dominical’ because it may not have entered into many minds, but it is very important to have that because the idea is that dominion that belongs to Christ.
GHMacP Does that take us out of our local setting and give us to understand what is universal in principle in the assembly?
JT Quite so. The Lord’s authority must be universal; and therefore we should be subject to Him, but also we are enjoined to be subject one to another.
PA Is the Lord’s love authoritative love? You could not separate the one from the other, could you? “Lord Jesus”, for instance.
JT Yes, “Lord Jesus”. It is a beautiful expression, conveying to us our innate respect for the Lord Himself, and His love enters into His response to us in that sense. He loves us, He loved the assembly and gave Himself for the assembly. So that we have the greatest and fullest thought as to the love that exists between the Lord and His people, the assembly. He says, “This is my body, which is for you”. Each of us will just have to look into that as to what it means, that the Lord’s body is for us; that is, for the assembly. His body is said to be the assembly; in fact it is formally stated so, Ephesians 1:22 - 23. And therefore every young man and young woman ought to be concerned about it, that they should have part [p. 116] in it.
AEM Was it your thought to say anything as to the verses dealing with the matter of headship as leading up to the Supper?
JT I thought we should; in fact, it is involved there. So that we might resume and repeat what is said in chapter 11, verse 1, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you ...” That leads now to the thought of praise, the Lord praising us. It is very remarkable how the apostle takes up the thought of praising the saints, that we are to be praised. If we are to be praised! The Lord makes it clear that He values us. He attaches great value to our remembrance of Him. This do for a calling of me to mind. It is a mental matter to begin with, not exactly a heart matter, but a mental matter, the mind.
AEM That is a very important statement, I think, calling attention to the mind as entering into the act of remembrance.
JT Very good. One has often thought of it in that way. The mind is brought into it. The mind is so stressed, for a calling of me to mind.
Ques Did you have in mind that every young believer should be thoroughly acquainted with this chapter as a matter of instruction to be orderly in participating in the Supper?
JT Quite so. Especially the young people, that it might be understood that they are taught, that it is not a mere creed we are going on with, not a mere man’s way of doing things, but what has been taught. We are taught of God to love [p. 117] one another, and other things like that, so that this chapter is peculiarly a matter of teaching as regards the Lord’s supper.
Ques Would you say then that desiring to break bread is not just to be a matter of the emotions, but a result of light coming into the soul?
JT Just so, and so the word is, “We have the mind of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 2:16. We have it, that is Christians have the mind of Christ, that is the thinking faculty, and the Lord is calling upon us to use it now. He would call upon all of us here, but especially young people who are not breaking bread, to begin to break bread as acknowledging the Lord’s rights over them, because the Lord is saying that these matters are His, that He is the Lord, that He is our Lord, “Worship thou Him”, Psalm 45:11. There is no other authority really that we are to bow down to than the Lord Jesus. Of course, we bow down to God’s authority and that, of course, brings up the thought of the three divine Persons, that They are One, that the Three comprise what is owned as to the Lord. The three divine Persons are brought into the whole matter that there is one God, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
GHMacP Does the Lord Jesus have a unique place at the Supper as being the divine Person who gave Himself for the assembly?
JT Well, clearly, that is what is in mind, that is what is implied in proposing this wonderful chapter that deals with the whole subject of the Lord’s supper. And there is responsibility attached to it, and hence we find that what they were doing in Corinth was not it, showing that we may be going on with something professedly for the Lord and yet it is not it, we are deceived and deceiving others.
JAP Are we to be encouraged to instruct our children in our houses about these things?
JT Just so, if we have been baptized; I suppose every brother and sister ought to have their children baptized, and on the household principle. Then the next thing is, are they ready for the Lord’s supper? Baptism is a question of death, but the Lord’s supper is also a question of death, for the Lord Jesus died for us. He died for our sins according to the scriptures. He loved the assembly and gave Himself for the assembly.
JAP In Deuteronomy 6, “When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, what are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?” verse 29. Would the Lord’s supper be that for us now, that the Lord has commanded that for us?
JT Exactly, showing how the Old Testament is carried down into the New and how they coalesce. There is one idea throughout the scriptures on these points.
RRT In the remembrance of the Lord, we are calling Him to mind. In the instructions given we would observe what the apostle had in mind from the Lord Himself. It says, “ye are [p. 119] mindful of me; and that as I have directed you, ye keep the directions”.
JT Therefore, that would pass on to those who minister, those who minister as sent of the Lord, because the ministry must be based on the Lord’s authority. The Lord has authority to send, to send anyone. So the chapter here indicates that it is the Lord’s supper and we should do it for a remembrance of Him. It is a universal idea. What we have done today in Knoxville, for instance, is a universal idea. It spreads everywhere, while only a few do it, of course, but nevertheless the idea is there that Christ is set over all things. As He said Himself, the Father had given all things to be in His hand. He is with us to the end of the age, the whole dispensation is before us and the Supper must be observed to answer to His mind.
JWF I was wondering if it would not be necessary for us who do break bread to be consistently governed by the light and truth regarding the Supper so that the young might learn what is right and proper.
JT Just so. Then another thing that in a peculiar way enters into our subject is the second chapter of the book of Genesis. I want to point out the difference between the composition of the man and the woman, that the man is made of clay and the woman is made out of a rib of the man. If we look at the second chapter of Genesis, we see how this is worked out. How the thought of the Lord’s supper implies all these [p. 120] matters that we are speaking of. Chapter 2 of Genesis beginning at the twenty first verse, “And Jehovah Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Man; and he slept. And he took one of his ribs and closed up flesh in its stead. And Jehovah Elohim built the rib that he had taken from Man into a woman; and brought her to Man. And Man said, This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, Man and his wife, and were not ashamed”, verses 21 - 23.
Well, I thought to suggest this passage because it enters so directly into our subject this afternoon; that is to say, the idea of the Lord’s supper, the idea of man first and then the idea of the woman and how the man is formed out of the clay as we see in the first chapter, and how the woman is made out of a rib that is taken out of his side. There is perfect unity, perfect oneness in the thought of the Lord’s supper, perfect oneness leading up to the full thought of Christ and the assembly in a spiritual sense. When we go to heaven, there will be individuality, of course, each one will go; at the same time, the Lord’s supper involves the body, the body which is a great matter divinely, and we will have to understand that the body of Christ will be seen in heaven, and we being part of it.
GHMacP [p. 121] Would you suggest that in the rib we have something concrete in our minds at the Supper, as the assembly is out of Christ?
JT That is right, something concrete in that sense. What we are touching on implies that the man and the woman are one. They shall be one flesh, they are one flesh. The oneness is a great matter in Christianity and that is what we have in mind this afternoon, and the brother and the sister, as it were, the man and the woman, are one flesh.
PA By what you say it would seem that you hold that the body of Christ is not a provisional idea; you say that the body will be seen in heaven, the oneness of Christ and the assembly.
JT Surely, because He comes in relation to that, and we come with Him. The word here we read just now - and Jehovah “took one of his ribs and closed up flesh in its stead”, one of the ribs and closed the flesh in its stead. “And Jehovah Elohim built”, built, this is the first time we have the word “built”, but it is the built in this sense. The building is like the assembly, the assembly is built, it is a structure, it is a formation in the sense of a structure. Jehovah Elohim, it says, “Jehovah Elohim built the rib that he had taken from Man into a woman”. Notice the word Man is written with a capital, showing that it is a distinguished person and the woman is not distinguished in the same sense that man is. He is the most distinguished person in the order of God in the universe, and [p. 122] we see here that one of his ribs is taken and built into a woman. It is a remarkable thing. And then it says, Jehovah, “brought her to Man”. Again the word Man is with a capital, “And Man said, This time”, referring to the fact that he had also named the lower creation, but “This time it is bone of my bones” not simply bone, but “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this shall be called Woman”. There again, as I should have said before, the Woman is also with a capital. “And Man said, This time it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this shall be called Woman”, meaning that the Man has perfect intelligence in what he is doing in naming Eve as his wife. Therefore, it says, “Because this was taken out of a man”. The man is intelligent in what he is doing, which ought to reflect upon ourselves as having to do with these great divine things. “Because”, the reason is given, “Because this was taken out of a man”. And it says, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall become”, notice it is a question of becoming something, “They shall become one flesh”, not two, but one flesh. “And they were both naked, Man and his wife, and were not ashamed”. I thought I would read this passage and link it on with chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians so that we might see the full thought of the assembly as seen in the saints, the body of Christ. “This is my body”, He says, “Which is for you”. That is to say the body of Christ is for [p. 123] us and we have to understand what that word “for” implies. That the body of Christ is for us. It is for many other things, but it is for us too, peculiarly for us. I hope I am not saying too much at once. If the brethren think so, I will be glad for them to say so because we ought to be concise and say just what is to be said and understand what is meant.
PA Would you tell us about this matter of Jehovah Elohim bringing the woman to the man, bringing her to him and presenting her?
JT Because the word “Man” covered both of them. The word “Man” covered both Adam and Eve, but then that would imply what you have just asked, that Jehovah brings the woman to the man, and then the man says, “This time”, Adam said, “This time”, Adam showing that he knows what he is saying, too, that is the idea, which ought to be reflected in our brethren, all of us.
ACSP Is the pleasure of God involved in the woman for the man? I was wondering whether we think enough about the pleasure that God has in Christ and the assembly, whether it linked at all with the expression in the 11th of 1 Corinthians, “All things of God”. You have the thought of “neither is woman without man, nor man without woman”, and it finishes up “but all things of God”. Whether when we have these great thoughts in our minds, we turn instinctively to God as the Author and Originator of them [p. 124] all?
JT Quite so. One has often felt in thinking of this that Man is a recent creation. One of the most recent creations in the creation, and that God must have pleasure in him in that sense. It is not simply that he is formed; he is formed, but the great moral parts that he has, the affections involved in these, how God was pleased with them, and they are reflected in Christ, that He loved the assembly. That word “love” is remarkable because it is applied to the assembly. It is the kind of love that Christ has for the assembly. There are many other things that we can see or speak of as to Christ’s body, but this matter is a question of Christ’s love for the assembly. I think that is wonderful, and we are part of it, we who are here today, our very selves are part of it, of this wonderful formation called the assembly.
ACSP It would appear that God would listen to Adam as he said, “This time it is bone of my bones”. God would have His own pleasure in Man’s appreciation of the woman, would He?
JT And hence what feelings Jehovah must have had when He lost man and when He lost the woman. Then through her loss having lost man as well, for they both fell together. It is a very solemn matter, and we all ought to take it to heart, for we deal with men and nations and wars, etcetera. We must also have in mind that it is a question of what God’s mind was before the world was, to have His creature, and to have His beloved Son united to the saints [p. 125] viewed as a corporate being.
ACSP So that every time we break bread, do we really enjoy the thought that God has recovered in Christ all that He ever had in His mind?
JT Very good, all that He ever had, we might say. We talk about the world to come, we talk about the millennium, etcetera, but then we have to go back in our minds in affection and think of what God has, and what He lost in man, but now it has all been recovered in the Lord Jesus. The Lord had to die to bring about recovery, and we ought all to feel the fact that the Lord had to die for us in this sense, not simply for each one of us but collectively, that He had this wonderful thing called the assembly.
JWD “This is my body, which is for you”. In the Lord’s supper, do we link that exclusively with His death, and how it came about?
JT No, not exclusively, because He died for other things, that He might bring together what God had in mind before the world was. He has accomplished everything. The Father has put everything in the hands of the Son.
JWD What I meant was, does the assembly get its existence in His death?
JT Very good. That is just what I would say, but then there is a great deal more to be said as to the formation, the work of the Spirit. Not only the death of Christ, but the actual work of the Spirit, and that is really effectively the same [p. 126] thing; that we not only need the death of Christ, but we also need the Spirit down here to bring about the formation. “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body”. 1 Corinthians 12:13. This is a spiritual thought and it has to be understood that it is the real formation involving affection.
AEM Would that be the expansion of the word “builded?”
JT Very good, because it is used first here.
We want to notice that. I hope everyone here today will notice it and gain by it because that is our point in this reading, that we might all understand the assembly viewed as the body of Christ, and that that body is for us. It is “for you”, it says.
Ques Would you encourage all young to break bread as soon as possible as their great opportunity in testimony in love to Christ to show what fidelity means where He is despised?
JT We are here in this city at this time with a purpose, we have a purpose in coming. It is not a holiday matter. If we are really Christians in the true sense of the word, we have a purpose and we are doing something that the Holy Spirit has a part in. And that is the assembly. It is the greatest being or formation in the whole universe, outside of divine Persons. It is very near to divine Persons, the thought of the, assembly. I am not sure I am making myself clear, but then we have all come to carry out what is in the divine mind, and was in the divine [p. 127] mind eternally, that is before the world. And now we are here, and we are here to carry it out by the power the Spirit of God gives us, in our conversation one with another. We belong to this wonderful structure that we are speaking of, namely the assembly. There is nothing else like it in the whole universe, nothing else at all like it in the whole universe.
JAP Do we understand from the ministry on Wednesday night in New York that the assembly is for Christ? It is of Him and for Him; it is not for the Father or for the Spirit in that sense.
JT That is exactly right.
JAP I gather from the second chapter of Genesis that the assembly is of Christ as a Man.
The Lord Jesus came into manhood and the assembly came into being through Him, and it is for Him, femininely for the Lord Jesus. And that it is not in a feminine relationship to the Father. Is that right?
JT Well, that is what I would say, that is what I understand fully. That the Father could have done other things for Himself as in the Deity. The eternal existence of divine Persons means things could be all done from the divine side, because God can do everything. As job said, “I know that thou canst do everything”, Job 42:2. Well, then, He did not do it thus. How has He done what we are talking about now? For that, Christ had to die, Christ had to die, and [p. 128] He is the only One that has died. The Father has not and the Spirit has not, but Christ has. The Son had to die, and all the effect for the pleasure of God is through the death of Christ, through the incarnation, and that explains the meaning of the creation. There could not be for God what He had sought out except for the death of Christ. There must be death, the death of Christ that it should come to pass. I would like just to hear what you might say in answer to what has been said here now.
AEM I fully go with what has been said, that the marital relationship is between Christ and the assembly.
JT That is the point, I hope everybody will understand that.
AEM Union is with Christ and the assembly.
JT Not with God.
AEM Not with God. It could not be so, it requires the manhood of Christ, does it not?
JT Just so.
PA Does the sleep to which Adam was put suggest the death of Christ typically?
JT Oh, I think so, clearly. Do you not think so?
PA Yes, I think it does. Does it not illustrate also the present period in which the Lord Jesus is not taking on the affairs of this world publicly but is occupied only with the assembly?
JT Just so, and the question now is what does everybody here understand by what we are saying, every brother. We will not ask the sisters [p. 129] to say anything on these matters, the sisters are to learn in silence, but every brother here today that has exercise in these matters, does he understand what has been said about the assembly?
RRT In regard to Genesis 2, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become ...” -you emphasized that word “become”. Is that a process or has it merely in mind something that is future?
JT Well, it is a process, only it is a self matter in the persons involved, the thing works out in the persons involved.
RRT Well, I mean is that going on now as a formative process in us?
JT It is a self idea, it enters into the person who is involved, meaning everyone of us, that each one of us has to enter into this matter of the body of Christ, and that there is a response from Christ for God in that. But union is not with God, union is with Christ, Christ and the assembly. The thing has to be worked out therefore in us collectively, not so much in each individual, although that may be true too, but collectively we have to come to that. What God is to receive is from the assembly, it is not directly to Himself; God, as it were, is not part of the union, Christ is. The union is with Christ and the assembly.
JWF Is there not a point in the service of God where the worshipping company takes [p. 130] on the feature of what is masculine?
JT Yes, that is right. We are sons. The word is clearly this - “For ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”, Galatians 3:20, by faith. It is a question of faith.
JWF I understood that it was said a few moments ago that, “In the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Hebrews 2:12, viewed the assembly in a feminine way. Is that right?
JT Yes, but you cannot say it is always so, because Christ is God Himself, He is the Former of the universe, He made everything. We cannot limit everything to what we are talking about now. Is that clear to you?
JWF Well, I was wondering if the masculine side does not come in.
JT Well, it does come in. The sisters are sons in that sense, they will not remain women in eternity. In the sense of what we are talking about, they are sons, sons of God, they are all sons of God by faith. It is a question of faith now. It will become literal presently when we are changed, when we are changed by the Lord.
“For the Lord himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel’s voice and with trump of God, shall descend from heaven”, 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
We are all sons of God, and that will come about fully when the change comes in when the Lord comes for us and takes us. We shall all be like Christ, like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
AEM We shall have glorified bodies like His. That will be the full [p. 131] thought of sonship.
JT Just so.
AAT Is sonship a higher thought than the assembly?
JT Of course Christ is not part of the assembly, you know. Sonship belongs to Christ. What do you mean?
AAT Well, you were saying how that we come before the Father as sons, and that involves sonship.
JT But you do not exclude Christ. Christ is Son, too, you know. Being conformed to His image; it is Christ’s image.
AAT We would be associated with Him as Son.
JT Exactly, associated with Him. That is a precious word, the word association.
AAT I do not know if the thought of the assembly and sonship is the same, I was just wondering whether sonship is a different thought and a higher thought?
JT Well, it is a different thought and we have to take account of what differs, because there are differences and we have to distinguish between things that differ. So that sonship is sonship and it includes everyone that has the Spirit; and when the Lord comes for us, brothers and sisters together will be changed like to the glorious body of Christ, like the glorious body of Christ.
JWD And when we are actually breaking bread, are we governed at that time by the light [p. 132] of Genesis 2?
JT Well, we should be.
JWD I thought you had helped us that that was an Ephesian level; and the Corinthian level took account of our practical relations in the wilderness. I always thought that Genesis 2, as one has followed the ministry, refers to our links in the work of God on the Ephesian level and you are bringing it into the Corinthian level now, are you not?
JT Yes, surely, although it goes beyond that really. It goes on to the Ephesian level. The Ephesian level must be involved in what we are taking on today. I therefore go with you in what you say. I hope the matter is universal amongst us here today, because that is what we have come for.
AEM Does it workout that in the service of God, we have all the great thoughts in our minds, but we take them as they come to us in a certain spiritual order, and enjoy them, and serve God in relation to the different features of the truth?
JT There is such a thing as real enjoyment in these matters. I hope everybody takes that in because that is what we have come for to these meetings, not for a holiday, but to get these wonderful thoughts that are being unfolded from the scriptures. Otherwise we may just have come for a holiday. We are glad to be with the brethren, of course, but then we want to get all that is gettable spiritually, and not lose it.
JAP It says in the 24th of Exodus [p. 133] that Moses sent the youths up. And is your point that the Lord is wanting to send the young people up to the service of God?
JT Exactly. Not only the brothers, but the sisters too.
JAP At what part of the service would it be wise for young people to take part?
JT I know of some that broke bread at ten. Are there any that you know of?
JAP Yes. There is a young person here ten years old breaking bread.
JT Well, that is quite all right.
JAP At the Lord’s supper when would it be good for young brothers to take part?
JT Well, it is a question of what they are, what may be in them, what spiritual power they may have.
AEM Is it a normal thing for each brother, old and young, to take part in the service?
JT Just so, each brother, not each sister, but each brother. It is a normal thing that every brother should take part. Of course, if there are a large number of persons present, perhaps we would not have it. But I believe the Lord has helped us in the way things should be done among us. Brothers should be criticized if necessary so that they should be kept in order in what they are doing, that things are done properly and right and at the right time.
RM If there is a lack of substance in our souls would it raise the question as to whether the authority that is stressed in this first epistle to the Corinthians, the Lord’s supper, is disregarded? I am thinking of the Lord’s supper, the Lord’s day, the death of the Lord. All that should have a bearing on the young in regard to the authority of the Lord.
JT Quite so, that is what I would think.
And this morning there were five meetings. If you were at one of them, you were responsible to take part in the sense that you are listening and in hearty accord with the whole matter so that you are actually in the assembly practically.
GHMacP What point in the service of God would we look for the Lord Jesus to come in among us at the Supper?
JT Well, it is for the Lord Himself to know.
We cannot dictate to Him what He should do in that sense, but He comes, “Jesus himself”. It says, of Jesus “He himself stood in their midst”
Luke 24:36, - “stood in the midst”, John 20:19.
You cannot say definitely when He should have come, just this minute or that minute, but He did come, and you are conscious of it.
GHMacP He comes Himself, not only in the presence of the Spirit, but Himself.
JT That is right. Of course, it may be through the effect of the Spirit, the Spirit might be the medium, but the Lord comes Himself; and I believe that is true. It is a very real thing to be conscious when it happens.
LHB There is a very remarkable verse in Ephesians 5, which says, “The assembly is subjected to the Christ”, verse 24. Is that an [p. 135] essential feature in view of Christ getting a response from the assembly?
JT Oh, quite so. We are constantly concerned about that. Young people taking part in the assembly should be feelingly subject, be conscious of being subject, and therefore enjoy the thing consciously, having real enjoyment of it. It is a real matter, not merely formal, and then discern when the Lord is there. When He comes there, He shall make Himself felt. When He comes in, you will know He is there.
GHMacP So that the apostle speaks to the saints on a very high level, does he not, as being intelligent persons?
JT Just so, “I speak as to intelligent persons;” Paul says, “Do ye judge what I say”, 1 Corinthians 10:15. That means everyone who is there should judge as to what is said, that he knows what is said and goes with it. Because some might say things that were not right, you know.
GHMacP If we take part and the part is not right, we should be criticized because it does obstruct the service of God if we speak of Christ at the right hand of God when He would be in the midst.
JT These things have taken on great change amongst the brethren during recent years, not away back at the time of the Reformation or at the time of the revival even, but in recent years. Therefore, all young people should begin to look into these matters and [p. 136] listen to what is being said so that they should not do what is wrong, out of order, at the time of the assembly meeting, because things in the assembly at the assembly meeting happen that never happen elsewhere. There is nothing like the service of God in that sense anywhere. There is nothing like it in the whole universe, the matter of the assembly. It is a place of great spiritual intelligence, intelligence derived from Christ because He teaches us. The whole of Paul’s ministry is to teach the saints as to the assembly and the order of it. The order that belongs to it and the enjoyment that belongs to it, because we should be happy and free and joyous at the time of the Lord’s supper. We have not got the same feelings, say at noon, as we have when we sit down together and begin to feel that the Lord is there. There is nothing like that at all except when it happens.
RRT Would this matter of becoming one flesh, as that is morally worked out with us in spiritual power, give us liberty as we are with the Lord on Lord’s day morning?
JT I would say so. That is the real thing. We have what is real, because all around is professedly what we are doing. They can say they take the Lord’s supper, they take of the emblems, etcetera, but you will not find that anywhere except where the Spirit of God has liberty among the saints collectively.
PA There is sometimes a lack of understanding with young brothers who are taking part [p. 137] and saying that the Lord is at the right hand of God. It is always true that He is there until the translation, but still we may not mention this if we are in the intelligence of the oneness of Christ and the assembly, and the wonderful occasion of the Supper and what it leads to.
AEM You helped us very much last year in England that it is a lawful matter in the service of God to take account of what will be finally, as well as what we are now entering into in spiritual power. We had the subject of moral elevation and physical elevation, and it was stressed that it was all a part of the service of God so that we need not be distressed if a brother refers to what will be actually soon, as well as what we are now enjoying by the Spirit. It was a most liberating thought.
JT Just so, very good.
ACSP I would thoroughly confirm that. It helped the brethren generally to make them less critical of brethren speaking appreciatively of what we are one day coming into, which is blessedly true and does not detract from what we enjoy by the Spirit now.
JT Very good, I remember that.
EIE There has already been allusion to this matter of a young brother actually breaking the bread. I remember a beloved servant of Christ saying years ago in answer to a question as to whether a young brother could actually break the bread that it would be a service for the young even in their teens. The breaking of bread would [p. 138] be a simple thing involving addressing the Lord Jesus in affection.
JT Yes, quite so.
JWD Is the thought of the Lord’s supper a governing light in which we do everything?
JT In general, it would govern what you are engaged with.
JWD I am going to break bread next Lord’s day if the Lord has not come, I want all my affairs to be governed in relation to it.
JT Very good. That is a very general thought, you know, whereas in truth, we have to be particular in what we say, so that all will understand us and have the enjoyment that belongs to it.
JWD Well, I was thinking that our young people would more easily come in if we were more consistent and more dominated with the thought of the Lord’s supper and the service of God.
JT I see what you mean now, that the young people should be thoroughly in the thing and here for that purpose. They have come for a purpose, and they are here in that purpose.
JWF You intimated that we should be governed during the week in administrative matters by the announcements that are made at the Supper.
JT Well, just so. You mean the announcements made in the assembly?
JWF The point was if a care meeting is [p. 139] announced, we ought to be governed by that until other announcements are made, and not try to have an assembly meeting.
JT Well, very good, I would say that, and I am glad you mentioned that, too, to make things specific.
ACSP While you have made everything very attractive and open to the young people, would you look for a certain comeliness and seemliness with young people in view of their age with these holy things?
JT Just so.
PA The terms used in the 10th chapter of 1 Corinthians referring to the fellowship are all given in the present tense: the cup which we bless and the bread which we break. The fellowship is in the present tense. We should be taken up with that and the blessedness of it all the day long, all the way through.
JT Quite so, that is to say it is a general idea, it is constantly in your mind. And yet on the other hand, we must admit there are many things that must exclude it literally, and then we return to it, of course, as the main thing before us.
TC Would you say a little more on the 33rd verse? “So that, my brethren, when we come together to eat, wait for one another”.
JT Well, I think it is subjection and consideration for one another, that we are not taking things into our own hands, we are not doing things arbitrarily, we are waiting on the [p. 140] brethren, carrying them with us, if possible. Because we ought to do so. If we love them, we shall do so.