THE THINGS ABOVE AND THE NEW MAN
[p. 173] THE THINGS ABOVE AND THE NEW MAN
JT You would have had some thought from the Lord in your previous enquiry into this chapter?
FI We thought this followed what is in the previous chapter, the things of which men would approve in regard to the flesh, but taken up here in another view as to what is on the gross side, of which men do not approve. In both cases it depended on what view we had in relation to Christ, and the position we had as provided for us, risen with Christ. We thought, in that way, there must be the objective side, the incentive, before we could act in accord with what is in the second chapter or this chapter.
JT The ‘if’ is not the ‘if’ of doubt, but alludes to the doctrine stated in chapter 2. There is the burial with Him in baptism (chapter 2: 12) “in which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”. There is no ‘if’ there, so that the ‘if’ alludes to the hypothesis — the thing being so, consequences should follow. Evidently the apostle, by the Spirit, is aiming at leading the saints further on than resurrection. Resurrection is perhaps a little beyond most of us as to attainment, as the apostle says, “If any way I arrive at the resurrection from among the dead” (Philippians 3: 11). That is, no doubt, beyond most of us from that point of view; but, even so, the Spirit is not content, for He constantly goes on to the heavenly position, the things above. I suppose the word ‘above’ is moral as well as spiritual. “Seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth; for ye have died, and [p. 174] your life is hid with the Christ in God” (Colossians 3: 1 - 3). “Above”, of course, is above, but it very often has moral elevation in mind. Here it would evidently elevate the brethren at Colosse from the earth to the heavenly position of the truth. First, seeking the things and then, having your mind on them, on the things.
FI In relation to the present position of Christ, how do you understand the thought of the “things”? Would it be the things connected with Christ that are brought to light in regard to the thoughts of God as you take account of them?
JT Apparently so; they have this character that they are above. You will not find any allusion to them in the newspapers or in the current magazines, or in conversation with men of the world; there is no such thought at all of anything above. It is not only above, but “where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God”. It is another system of things altogether apart from the things below, and the effect is to draw you away from the earth. But there is a certain logic in it in that the ‘if’ is the basis; “if therefore ye have been raised” is a logical thing, that that is the bearing of the resurrection, to direct you beyond, for, even as risen, the Lord was generally seen standing. He assembled with the saints and He sat at table in Emmaus, but generally the position is that He was standing; meaning that there is always something beyond the resurrection position, for that position is not enough; His position on high is what characterises christianity.
Ques You spoke of the things above being moral instead of actual, would those enumerated in verses 12 and 13 have that application as being morally above the earth?
JT Quite so. “Put on therefore, as the elect of God” these things mentioned. These are qualities here in the saints, they came out in Christ, but they are things above, as we might say, in that world.
[p. 175] There are things in this world that form the range in which man lives; there are things in that world. So that, for the person who accepts nominally that he is risen with Christ, not simply that Christ is raised for his justification, it is a normality that he should go further, for Christ has gone further. He says, “I ascend to my Father and your Father”. He has not gone into vacancy, but into a wide range of things, and they are things above, not merely things in heaven, but above. It is a range of things above which will come out in display presently, but the things are there already.
Ques Would it have any reference to the “all things” over which He is head to the assembly in Ephesians 1: 22?
JT I suppose it would, “Head over all things to the assembly”. Some have alluded to Hebrews 12: 22, 23 as giving a list of things, to make the thing concrete. We have not come to the mount that could be touched, but we have come to “mount Zion; and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels, the universal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”. It seems to give a great range of thought; you have come to these things. We are told to set our minds on the things above, whatever they are. The things mentioned in that chapter would certainly be included in them. I suppose the heart is involved in the seeking, seeking the things; then the mind: have your mind set, which is a fixed sort of thing, never to be otherwise.
Ques Would this compare with Galatians when it refers to Jerusalem above being free?
JT A similar thought, I think. That helps as to what we are saying, for it is not there literally yet, but it is one of the thoughts up there.
Ques You have referred to Philippians, to the resurrection of the dead. The apostle there also goes on to speak of “forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before” (Philippians 3: 13). Does that in any way allude to what we have here?
JT I think so; it is referring to “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”.
FI The thought of Christ Himself is brought out prominently here. He is brought before us personally, would you say?
JT Yes, it is characteristic of the epistle that it is Christ.
FI I suppose the thought of being risen to enter into that subjectively is that you find yourself in touch with Him as such in His present position.
JT That has a hiding effect on us. This is really a hiding epistle, an epistle characterised by entering the land; not actually in it, but entering — it is a process; and, as going into heaven, you are not concerned to make a show or have a place here. If a man has means or title, ancestry or anything that will give him distinction here, Colossians would help him. If he has his mind set on things above, he wants to get free of things here, and Colossians helps him and gives him a certain moral force in the sense that his life is hid with Christ in God. Christ is the governing thought in the epistle, “Your life is hid with the Christ in God”, so that one is not living in what he has or in what he is, there is a getting out of sight, there is the principle of hiding.
Ques It is ‘the Christ’ in several places in this connection. What is the difference between that and the title ‘Christ’?
JT Not much; it is just in the original, the Messiah, the anointed One; only sometimes Christ is named, and so used. The article may be there sometimes and not translated in the English when it is simply ‘Christ’ as a name, but when it is ‘the Christ’ it is usually Christ used as anointed and employed of God for the effectuating of His thoughts.
“[p. 177] I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who shall do all my will” (Acts 13: 22), and He anointed him. Christ is that Person through whom God effects things. It is an important thought in this epistle, for it shuts out all other actors; those who are not acting under Him are to be excluded and everything must come under the authority of Christ, whatever you or I are doing. Philip went to Samaria to preach the Christ; he was ready to do things for the Samaritans. The woman in John 4 had come to that conclusion already and said “Is not this the Christ?” because He told her all she had done; to her He was the Man who would do things.
Ques So that the full thought is presented in the Christ sitting at the right hand of God. Is that the full end in resurrection? It is there you get the thought of the hiding. That is where things are hidden, in Christ sitting there.
JT The One anointed of God to effect all His will, and our life is hid with Him. He would say to us, ‘Well, you want to make a little show here; you have some little thing that distinguishes you’. The Lord might not rebuke you severely, for it is in us all to capitalise what we have and to make ourselves something. But the Lord would say, ‘This is not the time for it — your life is hid with Me’. But Christ will look after it He will make the most of it. In truth, He is Himself our life. And then we shall be manifested with Him in glory and that sets you at rest — you say, ‘I am content to be out of sight until He is manifested’. You do not want to be manifested without Him, as the Corinthians were.
Rem Things on the earth tend to engross us sometimes; it needs a great leverage, to enable us to set them aside as far as engrossment is concerned.
JT This epistle will set us free, I believe. Surely the things connected with the Lord are better than [p. 178] anything here. I know well enough in myself how I capitalise things. You grow up from a young man to a married man and you make yourself a centre if you are talking or whatever you are doing. These things are informal but they are brought in and they give me a little position here. The Lord may be very kind to you, but He will say, ‘It is not the time for that: the time for show for you is by and by. When I am shown you will be shown, when I am manifested you will be manifested’. “When the Christ is manifested who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory”. Then our capital, as it were, will be all seen at its best.
Rem So the word, “Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4: 23) seems to come in in connection with the seeking.
JT Colossians 2: 3 tells us that things are hidden in the mystery, “In which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge”. The principle of this book is to take you out of this world in your mind and spirit and affection. It is not the theory simply here, but the thing acting on your mind. You have a mind, and you have control of it, as Romans teaches, “I myself with the mind serve God’s law” (Romans 7: 25), it is your own power, you are able to do that. That is carried through here, “Have your mind on the things that are above”, it is a constant thing.
Ques This would be the practical enjoyment of eternal life, would it not?
JT Quite so, only it is making it a hidden thing. Christ in truth is your life. You might say, ‘Well, these things are my life;’ but the spiritual man says, ‘Christ is my life’. “When the Christ is manifested who is our life ...” James and John and their mother had in their minds that they should have two distinctive places in heaven, not having in [p. 179] mind that we are all raised up together and made to sit down together. Love has that thought in its mind; love never wants to be distinct above the brethren. Zebedee’s wife and James and John thought they would have something specially, and the Lord was very gentle with them. He said, “It is not mine to give”. He is very gentle with us. But in this chapter it is no question of having a distinctive place for myself here, but Christ is my life, Christ is everything.
FI That would exercise us as to making capital of things. We often want a place here, we are often the centre of the picture, whereas that which is ours, that which belongs to us, as you say, is hid with Christ; our life is there, not here.
Rem So it says that “Christ is everything, and in all”.
FI Yes, but we often bring in some sort of incident and tell it to people and really have ourselves in view, but that should not be our life — it is hid with Christ.
JT A man may hold material things here but not be living in them at all; in fact, the more you have, the more responsible you are.
FI Do you think this refers not so much to occupation with the material but to our spiritual relations? The material things might often be held lightly, but yet we may be living in that into which we have been brought as a result of our spiritual life.
JT Yes. It is Christ who is our life; my life is hid with Him; He will look after it.
OG Do you think this has a collective thought in it too? As setting our mind on the things above, the Spirit of God would enlarge our minds to take in what God has before Him, so that we are, in a way, living together in it. As people in the world live in the things of the world, so the saints have a range of things which occupies them and of which they [p. 180] speak.
JT I think that is right; Colossians is really the saints viewed collectively. The type, of course, is Joshua 3. They left Shittim, it says, and they came to the Jordan. You come up against the power of death. And they lodged there three days, and the ark is at a distance of two thousand cubits. That is the position; they are all looking at it; it is there so that every Israelite can see it. It is the great objective thought.
Rem Lodging there would be great gain to us.
JT That is the idea. Three would always be an exercise. You go from one to two, and from two to three; that finishes the exercise. You are treading on new ground, you have not gone this way before. You have been through Romans. You have been hearing the gospel about Christ risen, and justification. Now it is a question of your being risen too, and without the Holy Spirit that would be only theory: it is a question of being raised by the faith of the working of God. The thing is real, it is by faith, and it is the working of God. What wrought in Christ is working in you.
Ques You were suggesting this is an entering in; does that mark my exercises all the week?
JT Just so. The word ‘lodged’ would mean you are not to stay there any longer; it is an exercise, but you are going on. A lodging is just a stopping place. You do not get that word in Romans; I do not think you have that thought anywhere else but in Joshua.
Ques Do you mean the “faith of the working of God” is the working now, not simply what took place in Christ, but working now on the principle of faith?
JT Just so; if christianity is not that, it is merely theory. So it is the power that works in you, the same power that wrought in Christ, so it is the faith of that. I have no doubt about my resurrection; I am raised on that principle of what God is doing.
[p. 181] It is as good as done; and the power by which He does it is because of His Spirit which dwells in us, as it says in Romans. The ark is two thousand cubits before you; it was not very big, but that distance would make it visible to everybody who had good sight; otherwise you might not see it at all, hence the importance of the exercise. You see they are moving on. As soon as the priests’ feet touched the waters, the waters went back; that is the working of God.
Ques To speak of a practical point, do you understand they came near to it as they crossed, or was it at a distance when they crossed as well as when they began to cross?
JT The principle of distance is always there; it remained there till they went over. Then another thing is that a man of each tribe takes a stone and carries it over; that means he has power. We are not told how large the stones were, but the suggestion is there is weight there; each man carries one over, and there is perfect unity: they put them down in Gilgal. Faith sees the whole nation in those stones, but power is needed to carry them over. There is power in the saints, that is the suggestion, because it says we are quickened with Him as well as raised with Him, and that is not by faith, for in chapter 2 we are quickened by the Spirit, a positive thing.
OG Does that bring in the features suitable to the new position so that my feelings and thoughts are all suitable to the new sphere?
JT So that there is love there and great consideration in the type. There are forty thousand men (Joshua 4: 13) and the whole twelve tribes are there. You might have said to the two and a half tribes, ‘You do not belong here’, but love says, ‘You do belong here and we are glad you are coming so far with us’. Faith and love combined will never leave [p. 182] out any of the saints. If we are here tonight, all Israel is present, the whole nation is somewhere.
Rem It seems to stress the lodging places also in connection with the twelve stones; they carried them over with them to the lodging place and laid them down there.
JT That is another exercise. Now we are on new ground. Colossians contemplates you are on resurrection ground, but that is not the stopping place. That is what I have been thinking about lately in regard to what is here, the lodging place in Canaan means it is not the full thought. It is resurrection right enough, because they are coming out of death, but it is not the full thought. It is a question of the ground, what is christian ground; is it resurrection or is it heavenly ground? It is manifestly heavenly. The lodging place on the Canaan side means that, that it is not the full position. Gilgal, which is identified with the lodging place (Joshua 4: 20) is the place to judge yourself in, and this epistle is for that purpose really.
OG It says, “Where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God:” does that bring in more the official side? I was thinking in contrast to the family thought. There is the political side in heaven as well as the family thought.
JT Yes, I think that is right, and the power attaching to it, the right hand; all is there. At this stage we need to be imbued with the thought of power, the working of God and the right hand of God, and that the Lord is the Christ, the One who does everything.
Rem So that power would be with your heart and mind in this matter, seeking, and setting your mind.
JT I think that is the way. If you dwell on all this, it sets you in movement, so that you are not a mere theoretical christian; there is power going on in your mind and heart and [p. 183] thoughts.
Ques Is that why the next section is practical?
JT Well, he brings in now, from verse 5 to the end of verse 11, the state of things out of which we have been brought, and it is all on a logical principle, not mere arbitrary exhortation. You now have a mind; you have come out of the wilderness and have moved away from Shittim, the last stage in the wilderness, and have had to do with God, and it is now a question of your mind. You are supposed to recognise the Spirit, for He is only once mentioned in this epistle, and that means He is putting forward His work in your soul. That is why, I think, in the book of Joshua you have one chapter devoted to Rahab, a woman who was never in the wilderness, who never saw Moses and Aaron, but who knew God; she knew something of what He was doing and of what Israel was doing. “What ye did ... to Sihon and Og”. How did that happen? It is by the Spirit, and only thus. I have got rid of my big self-importance, for that is what it means, and I am in that way viewed in Colossians as a person of experience; and the Spirit is only mentioned once, meaning He has effected something in the saints, and Rahab gets a whole chapter. Well, that means obviously that she is the work of God, that God works Himself in souls.
Rem So that it is peculiar in Hebrews 11 that she comes into view directly the Red Sea is crossed: she would be the next step in the believer in relation to the divine work.
JT That is it. She “did not perish along with the unbelieving, having received the spies in peace” (Hebrews 11: 31); she had faith. James 2: 25 says she “put them forth by another way”, which means she has a spiritual mind, another way. Colossians is all on that line; the work of God in the saints involves these kinds of instincts that you get in Rahab. She had flax on the roof, that is something, and she hid the spies under the flax; and she has a cord in the house [p. 184] that is strong enough to let them down. All that refers to the work of God in the person’s soul.
Ques Are you thinking of that as distinct from our position in the wilderness?
JT Yes, it is the work of God viewed by itself. So the Spirit is not mentioned; you are supposed to be a person whose mind is under the control of the Spirit. The whole thing is presented to you logically, it ought to be so, “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ”.
Ques The thought of the manifestation in glory would involve the light as to the greatness of Christ that we have in chapter 1.
JT Quite so; His greatness is presented at the outset, which is in keeping with what we said about the ark.
Rem So the manifestation in glory would hold the saints in relation to what God has secured in that system.
JT Then it goes on to what we have been delivered from, “Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth”. In verse 8 it is “put off”. You will have noticed we are to put off “wrath, anger, malice, blasphemy, vile language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new;” that is, the ‘having’ there is logical.
Rem You have accepted the truth of it.
JT Yes. You have accepted it, and therefore the truth is put logically.
Rem So Romans 12 brings us back to that. This opens up an entirely new scene.
JT It does. You see how logical it is, that in the attitude of your mind now you put off these things. It is a great idea that in the attitude of your mind you do this, but then the details are presented here, the exhortation is on a logical basis; you take on that attitude now and put off these things.
[p. 185] Rem The thought of putting to death seems to be a more intense application of what has to be done; it seems to be a very severe thing.
JT It does, in that it is our “members”. I suppose it is circumcision. Gilgal is alluded to, sharp knives; the putting to death is a drastic thing.
FI It is what you enter into in your exercises definitely.
JT It is to be done. There is no thought of concision; it is circumcision, a thorough thing. Then the putting off is really the other side, that you are able to put the things aside; they are outside your life here, they are not your members.
Rem “Your members” are presented in a very bad light here.
JT Yes, the list is given, and it says, “On account of which things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. In which ye also once walked when ye lived in these things”, so that the allusion is, I suppose, to the gentile world.
Rem So that now there is a known power in our souls which will enable us to put these members to death because of the great objective one has in relation to the new life.
JT “And having put on the new”, that again is a logical basis of having put on positive things. It is only consistent that you should put on these things, because of the ground you have taken that you have put on the new man. The old man in Romans is said to be crucified, but we do not get the new man mentioned.
Rem We have newness of life; here we have the new man.
JT Yes, the beautiful traits of Christ in one another, and you say, ‘I want to put those on’.
Rem The new position demands new clothing.
JT Quite so. It really refers to the saints; when you are together you begin to admire the traits of [p. 186] Christ as they work out in one another, and you say, ‘That is what I want to appear in’ — that is the idea, I think. It is new in the sense of freshness, a new man in the sense of a young, fresh man, delightful and fruitful. Then the word for “renewed into full knowledge” is that there is none like it, that is “according to the image of him that has created him”, so that we have a perfect standard in Him who created us.
Rem It says, “Renewed into full knowledge” — what is the force of that?
JT I think it belongs to this part of the instruction in christianity. You get it in Philippians 1: 9; it is the idea of completeness, you do not want anything else.
Ques New creation is always presented as complete, a man, is it not?
JT I think so.
Ques Is this thought of renewing a continual thing, or is it a thing judged in the soul?
JT It is what marks the new man, I think. “Having put on the new” — “Renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him;” that is, the thing is there, it was there before ever we came into it. The mind is a faculty, but knowledge is more an acquirement.
Ques Do you reach full growth here?
JT The new man is presented as complete. It was there in purpose before any of us were born, we come into it; the thing is presented as a complete thought. The new man is “renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him;” that is the full complete idea. Everything is clear in the light. That we do not see much of it now does not prove it is not there. It does not say what ought to be here, it is what is. “Renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him; wherein there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
[p. 187] bondman, freeman; but Christ is everything and in all” — it is what is.
FI So that would be the habit of your soul as being brought that way: you do not take account of things seen in the barbarian or the Scythian; is that the idea?
JT Yes, you are occupied with the new man.
There would be no christianity without the new man; the new man is not presented as in heaven, it is on earth; it is what is being effected here.
Rem I can quite see now the setting of the twelve stones — they have all reached it.
JT Yes, so what is presented in the apostle’s ministry is not only what is in heaven but what is being effected on earth.
Ques Has the renewing in mind our maintenance in relation to it?
JT Well, we come into that, I think. It is “renewed into full knowledge”, it is the complete thought here. Not that ye may be renewed, but the thing is renewed.
Rem You mean that refers to the new.
JT To the new man, yes. The new man is as real a thing on earth as Christ is in heaven, and that is what is presented as a testimony, it can be entered into.
Ques How does this fit in with the thought of being conformed to the image of His Son in Romans 8? That is not a fully complete thought yet, is it?
JT No, that is future, “that he might be the firstborn among many brethren”.
Ques ‘Image’ is referred to here; can you say a word as to the distinction?
JT I think it is a strong word that is in mind here — representation. There is that which can be regarded as presenting the creation of the new man. It is what Christ is, but worked out as a creation in [p. 188] us. If you saw a company of saints like those at Ephesus when Paul had finished his work there, you would see wonderful graces and affections. I suppose Acts 20 is to bring out that work, the great work of God; you would see this beautiful thing he is speaking of here; God had effected it among the gentiles. To the Ephesians he says it “is created in truthful righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4: 24), but it is truth as it is in Jesus, not as it was, but as it is in Jesus; that is, it is what Christ is now worked out here.
Rem Now in glory.
JT Yes, He is up there — that is the full thought in christianity. The millennium is not the full thought, the resurrection is not the full thought; it is what He is up there answering to the counsels of God.
Ques So, as appreciating that, you would put on these features.
JT Yes, as it goes on, “Put on therefore”, there again you have the logical thought, “as the elect of God”. You are brought up to the thought of counsel, that this is what suits you, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God”. See who you are, this is what suits you. These are great thoughts, they are not theories, and they are possible to us as we have the Holy Spirit. If we could only see the new man, see a company of christians formed after the heavenly pattern, you would say, ‘I want to be like them’.
Rem And even made fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light; we want to be in the good of it now.
JT Quite so. The new man, I think, really covers what we are, a heavenly people down here for the Lord. There will be no thought of newness there, for the old is not there and never was there.
Rem And “bowels of compassion” will not be needed there. These things are needed down here;
[p. 189] there is a reflection of heaven down here in a scene of need.
Ques As there is no sense of need there, is that why you brought in the thought of born of God, the Source, as underlying the thought of new creation? Is the thought of new creation that of generation?
JT I think generation is a higher thought as it is worked out in Genesis. It is in Abraham that God begins to work on the line counsel, and with him it is a question of parentage, a seed, a wholly right seed. That all looks on to the gospel of John which brings out the birth of the saints and gives them dignity, giving them vital relations with God so that they love Him.
Rem “If children, heirs also: heirs of God, and Christ’s joint heirs” (Romans 8: 17) goes right back; then you get the inheritance coming in. Is what we have here in view of the inheritance?
JT Well, we are said to be share “the portion of the saints in light” in chapter 1. Ephesians regards the saints as God’s inheritance. You can see how delightful the new man is under the eye of God here in this setting; wherever these traits shine in our relations to one another, they are beautiful in our eyes, but God says they are beautiful in His eyes.
Rem This would fill us with desire to reach the thought of the inheritance.
JT Yes, you want to possess it.
Ques Could you say a word about these traits?
JT First, we are “the elect of God, holy and beloved” — that is what we are. But now we are to put on, as it says, “bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye. And to all these add [p. 190] love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. And everything, whatever ye may do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him”. That is the christian company, and these are the graces that are to be put on, which in effect is the new man.
Rem The thought of teaching and admonishing in psalms and hymns is beautiful.
JT Is it not? — you mean it shows the value of the hymns we have in our social relations with each other?
Rem That is the way it is presented here.
JT It is. It is the effect of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; it seems that is the way of admonition. A very gracious and inoffensive way if I can admonish a brother or a sister in singing a hymn to them; that would not stir up feelings much.
Rem To maintain the spiritual tone of the company, I suppose, keeping the atmosphere at the proper level — “singing with grace in your hearts”.
JT Yes, not merely a good tune, but with grace in your hearts. The intent in Colossians is that this beautiful new man should appear with these graces.
Rem Our intercourse at home should have the savour of this hymn and psalm.
FS It is “singing with grace in your hearts to God”, not for admonition, is it?
JT The hymn seems to be the means of it — they seem to be linked up. Maybe the singing should be entirely for God, but I think it is so linked here that the effect is to help one [p. 191] another.
FI Unless the singing of the hymn had in view what is for God, it would not have the effect of admonishing.
JT It is very like a peace, or prosperity, offering; God has His part as well as ourselves.
Ques Would this be a good answer in result to ministry received that the word of the Christ dwells in us richly?
JT Yes.
Ques Does this singing also suggest the music that springs from the affections as we have in Habakkuk?
JT The stringed instruments, you mean?
Rem Yes. It must be my own, you would say — something I have learnt myself with God.
JT Just so. They are supposed to have them here, psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
Ques Are these things the outcome of the bowels of compassion and the kindness it speaks of?
JT They all go together. If you compare this with Corinthians, a man coming into the assembly there would be affected by the prophetic ministry that he would hear. But here, while it is the new man that is stressed, you would be affected by the spiritual heavenly graces that mark the saints in their relations to one another. The word of the Christ dwelling in you richly is not simply that you hear a little word in the meeting and enjoy it, but you take it home and connect it with the whole scope of truth — it is dwelling in you richly.