ESPOUSAL TO CHRIST
[p. 274] ESPOUSAL TO CHRIST
1 Corinthians 11:1 - 25; 2 Corinthians 11:1 - 3
JT I have particularly in mind the remark in the last scripture, “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”. This, which was in the apostle’s mind in his service to the Corinthians as amongst them and now in writing to them, helps us to understand both letters. If we take the remark up in relation to Abraham’s servant, we see how the ministry of Paul had in mind the presentation of the assembly to Christ. That is seen here, not as in Ephesians exactly. And what runs with that is the treatment of the feminine side of the truth in these epistles, particularly the first; all that there is in us in the way of attractiveness spiritually is to be for Christ, not paraded, not used to enhance ourselves in this world in any way, but to be concealed, kept for Christ. The use of the word ‘veil’ in the first scripture, (the proper rendering) serves to bring out the thought. What is being effected in us in the way of attractiveness, beautification, is for Christ, as indeed the same apostle told the Romans that they were “to be to another, who has been raised up from among the dead” (Romans 7:4). There is to be the comely concealment from the rude human gaze, from the defiled gaze of man, of what the Spirit is effecting in us so that we may be wholly for Christ.
PL “The servant said, That is my master! Then she took the veil, and covered herself” (Genesis 24:65).
JT That is what I was thinking, the remarkable designation of Isaac by the servant — not ‘my master’s son’ now, but “my master”, and then there was Rebecca’s instinctive movement: she alighted off her camel as if to indicate that she was to be for Isaac.
[p. 275] Ques Has this special reference to the assembly of God in a city, that is, the public position of the assembly?
JT Yes, I think so, the assembly of God which is in Corinth.
FFn You are speaking of what is going on in secret in the way of the work of God in the souls of the saints coming out publicly?
JT Coming out so as to be for Christ. There are, of course, moral traits that come out through the body for public testimony, but there is that which is figuratively feminine which is to be for Christ. There is that which is for Him where He is, but there is that which is to Him where He is. I suggested the early part of chapter 11 simply to bring out the thought of the veil or covering in a woman, as suggestive of that feature in the assembly. There are three words used in this respect — the word for covering, the word for authority and the word for veil in the passage, but I do not speak of it in detail, but only to indicate that the feminine side in the assembly is to be for Christ. There are moral traits, of course, that are public, as we can see elsewhere, but the covering or veil alludes to what is reserved for Christ, what cannot be shared in by others. The opposite of that, of course, is the public church of christendom, which has neglected this, and hence we have the gross conditions spoken of in the book of Revelation.
Ques Would this refer to the subjective work of the Spirit in all the saints?
JT Yes, it is just the feminine thought used for that purpose. There is more than that in the passage, but I speak of it as leading up to what is peculiarly attractive in the assembly, which is for Christ and to be concealed from others.
The assembly at Corinth was a very young one, not as young as that at Thessalonica, but not [p. 276] more than two years old. It is well to bear that in mind when we see the gross conditions allowed there. They had emerged from paganism, some of them less than two years before. What is also to be noted is that Paul, being the minister of the church, regards this assembly with more concern than we find elsewhere, with profound anxiety as to the result of having left them for a while, as to what Satan would do in his absence. Paul is concerned about the quality of what is to be actually presented to Christ, what indeed he had already done. He had espoused the saints there as a chaste virgin to Christ, to one Man, and in his mind that meant much.
FFn Do you think we carry many things that cannot enter into that presentation?
JT That is what comes out in the history and in the types. It is the assembly in the wilderness. The feminine figure prominent in Numbers in that respect is the Ethiopian wife that Moses had married. The suggestion is that she was not attractive but Moses selected her, asserting (in type) the Lord’s right to take up an assembly like that of Corinth, however much there might have been unsuitable to him or that others might think unsuitable. That a large number of persons should be converted and formed into an assembly in a very short time and presented to Christ may well be considered: they were drawn out of paganism and judaism and set up in an assembly and presented to Christ.
WJW Verse 8, “Of the man”; verse 9, “For the man”; does that enter into what you have before you?
JT It does. In the full result the assembly is seen in that way. She is of Christ and for Him and He is not without her. She is essential to Him. That came out in the types: “It is not good that Man should be alone”. And though the character she bore is seen in the Ethiopian wife yet she comes [p. 277] up out of the wilderness leaning on her Beloved, beautified. That is what the servant has in mind: to present the church, not exactly as taken out of the side of Christ but with a long wilderness history, exposed to the vicissitudes of the wilderness, that she should come out of it entirely suitable to Christ. If we see that we shall see more clearly the meaning of the epistles. The apostle was jealous about them because of Satan’s activities, and these activities are current now as never before.
P Is not the apostle putting it on a high level when he says that the woman is the glory of the man, so that Christ is seen morally in the assembly?
JT Yes, that is the thought. She is Christ’s glory. These early verses in chapter 11 are to prepare us for concealment that what is intended for Christ should not be desecrated, exposed to the rude gaze of this world. All this enters into dress and deportment, what we are in public.
Ques Is it your thought that what we are for Christ will depend upon what we are to Him?
JT I think so. The one is the counterpart of the other.
Ques Would you mind distinguishing a little between the two sides?
JT What is to be to Him is first, and I think chapter 11 shows how the saints’ affections are to be reached. We are reminded that we are not to expose ourselves in those features that belong to Christ through our loose ways or dress, but to hold ourselves as belonging sacredly to Him, His property. “Be to another”.
Ques Does that involve the Spirit’s work in secret in our souls?
JT It does. The apostle would convey in all his ministry what he has in mind. Abraham’s servant had one thing in mind governing him in his journey. I believe Paul would have in his mind, as to every one [p. 278] converted, what that one was to be for Christ. So that what is for Christ is concealed. It is not exposed loosely to the gaze of this world — the sacredness of the assembly as the sacred possession of Christ. Paul is moved by jealousy for Christ. “I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”.
Ques Would you say this is addressed to every individual that forms part of the assembly?
JT That is what I understand. It is addressed to the assembly, and thus to the members of it.
PL Have you the thought in Psalm 128:3: “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine in the inner part of thy house”?
JT That is the idea. Privacy belongs to the inside.
PL “All glorious ... within” (Psalm 45:13).
JT That is the thought: the King’s apartments.
HMcM Would Ruth be an illustration of the concealment in connection with the covering?
JT Well, that is pretty much the thought. I think the covering there was her measure. She had to hold up the cloak for Boaz to pour the barley into it. That was her measure spiritually. That is one thing. The other is to hold oneself femininely for Christ. What is for Him comes first.
I believe it will be seen by careful enquiry that Luke takes up the feminine side and shows in five persons who received blessing from Christ that in each ease the result would be for Him in some sense.
Ques You were saying just now that in Corinthians it was the work of the servant in contrast to Ephesians where it is the work of Christ. Could you give us a little help as to that?
JT What the apostle had in mind helps us to understand his ministry in this assembly. He uses great care as to what he presented to them. He says [p. 279] to them indeed that we know in part. Well, the more unspiritual we are the more that is true, that we have to learn in part. It is remarkable how he keeps to that. “Let the prophets speak two or three”. That is, the saints can only take in a little at a time. He illustrates this in chapter 2 by saying, “I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. He confined himself to that, so that the truth in question might be known as a great fundamental. The garments of the high priest were in parts, each to be taken by itself, and so the truth is to be known in part, the minister carefully gauging what he presents so that some one thing is laid hold of.
Ques Is the idea seen in the five women in Luke that you mentioned? Would you say a word as to each?
JT The first is Peter’s wife’s mother. The Lord stood over her and rebuked the fever. It left her and she arose and served them. She was not partisan in her outlook. The situation in the house would probably provoke personal feeling, but she served them without any preference.
The woman in chapter 7 is the next. She is a lover of Christ. She loved much. A lover of Christ is for Christ. So He turned towards her. He did not stand over her, but turned towards her. That is deference, respect, as much as to say, ‘There is something there to occupy and attract Me’. He turned towards her and spoke to Simon. Simon was a secondary matter; she was everything.
Then in chapter 8 we have the woman with the issue of blood. She is transparent. She falls down before Him and declares before all the people. In her case virtue had gone out of Christ. He was conscious that something had gone out of Him. I believe the idea is the formation of the body. The body is of Christ.
[p. 280] Then Mary in chapter 10 is in keeping with the light of the moment. The particular light of the moment was a voice from heaven: “This is my beloved Son: hear him”. She was hearing Him, sitting at His feet, listening to what He was saying. The full result with her is seen in John 12. She was for Christ. The house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then the woman in chapter 13 who had been bent over by the devil for eighteen years. The Lord called her, and said, “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity”, and laid His hands on her and she was straightened and glorified God. The full result was reached for God.
WJW Had you in mind that the thought of being for Christ enters into the Supper?
JT Yes. The Supper coming in after the thought of headship. In the early part of the epistle we are approaching what is calculated to draw out our affections for Christ, so that He should have His full place. “This do in remembrance of me”. So the apostle takes pains to bring it forward, not merely historically, but to speak of the Lord as giving it to him: “This is my body, which is for you”; he omits the word ‘given’ as in Luke’s account lest it might be thought that the original institution was primarily for the Jewish disciples. It is “for you”, for us; it is not something passed on second-hand to us by the Jewish disciples. It comes to us direct from heaven and it is “for you”, not a secondary matter. I think the apostle had in mind to impress the Corinthians with the great place they had with Christ. The Lord had told him about them before they were converted: “I have much people in this city”. The Supper was received from the Lord by him for them.
PL So that the calling of the Lord to mind would relate peculiarly to this inward side [p. 281] of things.
JT I think it would.
PL In the calling of Him to mind, it is what we are to Him, and in the announcement of His death, more what we are for Him.
JT That is it. The first thought is calling Him to mind. It is an inner matter.
Rem There are doors to be shut.
JT Well, that is John’s side. It is properly in Jerusalem, that is, where the Lord is not. That is where it is celebrated as testimony, but alongside of the testimony there is this precious thought, the calling of Him to mind. That is the inner spiritual side of it. Luke does not say that they went to the mount of Olives, but calling to mind is enough. It is the spiritual side. Eating and drinking, as in Matthew and Mark, can be noticed by anyone, but calling to mind can only be noticed by the spiritual. It is like the mount of Olives in Matthew and Mark. There is no eating in Luke. It is a memorial, and that is the spiritual side.
PC Would you connect that with “the simplicity that is in Christ” as in the second epistle (2 Corinthians 11:3)?
JT That is right. How very simple it is!
WEB Does this tend to produce local unity more than anything, having this great objective before us — what we are to Him?
JT I think it has that end in view. Chapter 10 shows that the idea of unity is in the bread and chapter 12 shows that we have all been brought to drink into one Spirit, alluding undoubtedly to the cup, so that the Lord’s supper is intended to promote the unity which it symbolises.
Ques ‘To Him’ involves correspondence?
JT Yes. The idea is that the church in the full result is given to Him. The apostle has the full result in mind but he does not go so far as in Ephesians. I was lately at a reading on Romans 5 where the brothers were bringing everything into the chapter.
[p. 282] They missed the teaching: they were not learning in part.
Ques Is that why the Spirit is careful to bring in only Rebecca in Genesis?
JT I think that is right. She stands out, perhaps more than any of the types of the church, as a personality in the grace of the way in which she met the servant. What would she not do for Isaac if she did that much for the servant and the camels! It is readiness to serve people. It says in Luke 4 that she arose and served them. What would she not do for Christ personally! The Corinthians were not like her. They were partisan.
Ques Were they not recovered when the thought of unity was introduced in the ministry?
JT I think the use of the word ‘repentance’ shows how much the first epistle effected.
P So that to understand the Supper rightly, must we understand the meaning of the word you emphasised, ‘for you’? Should we understand the place the assembly had in the heart of Christ?
JT That is right. That is where they needed Him most, when He entered into death. Now the point is we are to be for Christ.
Ques Speaking of knowing in part, would you say that the particular point to be learnt in the first portion of chapter 11 is subjection?
JT I think so. That is what the woman learnt in Luke 4. The Lord stood over her. He would convey to her the majesty of His Person. Doubtless she had failed in subjection to Peter, for Peter should have been the head although her son-in-law, and probably that was the secret of the fever. Now the Lord would impress her with what man is. You get the thought of manhood in Christ. He stood over her and rebuked the fever. Peter could not have done that. Perhaps the idea of manhood was not yet in Peter, but it was in Christ. So that the thought [p. 283] of subjection is what is in mind in the early part of the chapter, in the covering. In that subjection there is affection: the woman is for the man. The man is by the woman, but the woman is for the man. The church is for Christ. He has been for her where she needed Him most. Now we are to be for Him where He needs us.
Ques Would you say a word on verse 10 — “because of the angels”? What does that mean?
JT I think it is a testimony to what God has effected through the gospel that the woman is subject. The word is ‘authority’ and means, I think, that she is under it — power in the sense of authority, not in herself but in another to whom she is to be subject. It is on her.
FFn How would this subjection to authority come out practically in any locality? You said just now that Peter had not the thought of the man at that time.
JT I do not think Peter was equal to the divine thought in manhood. Christ alone was. This epistle is aiming at manhood — “Quit you like men”.
FFn The more that is known locally the more the spirit of subjection would be evident.
JT That is the thought, leading on to what is to be for Christ.
FFn And that is the first part of the truth?
JT Exactly.
WmC Would the spikenard in the first chapter of the Song of Songs be the spirit of the song?
JT I think so — the recognition of the King.
WmC That spirit helps at the Supper to form an atmosphere.
JT It does, and that is what the Lord is aiming at at the present time in the ministry of the Lord’s supper — what is His normally in the saints coming together in subjection and then speaking to Him by the Spirit, ‘Lord Jesus’. What that is for Him!
[p. 284] How pleasing to Him! The love of Christ enters into that side. The love of Christ constrains us. That is the kind of love it is. “Because we thus judge”. It is all in that setting we judge of things.
EB We live to Him who died for us.
Ques Would Paul be marked by the spirit of subjection in his ministry?
JT It is well to compare what is said in Acts 18 in this connection. He was ready to move in his spirit and the Lord said, “I have much people in this city”. The Lord’s property was there, what is to be for Him, and the apostle would never lose sight of that. A skilled workman will know as he proceeds what to do and Paul represents the skilled workman.
SR Would you say a word as to verse 10?
JT The word is ‘authority’. It evidently means the sign of the authority in another that she is subject to. The authority is in the man, her head. She has a sign to show that, and the angels see it, showing how wide the thought is in the mind of God.
SR Does it refer to a covering on her head when she has communion with God?
JT No doubt it is formal or public prayer that is in mind. The bearing of the whole matter is the assembly.
P Was this the primary thought of God, that she was created as a helpmeet for Him?
JT That is what the epistle brings out.
Ques Would you say another word as to manhood as formed in the saints?
JT That is a most important matter. The epistle aims at that. We are to be full-grown men in our minds, fully developed whether men or women. Then we are enjoined to quit ourselves like men.
Rem That element of authority amongst the saints would ensure the element of subjection.
JT If we expect it from the sisters we ought to be men. There ought to be [p. 285] that quality.
Rem Paul himself was an example of a true man.
JT Now at the close we want to get on to the idea of a chaste virgin. The second epistle affords conditions for the apostle to bring that word in. It shows the anxiety he had as to Satan’s work: how Satan is active to deprive the Lord of what He intends in the assembly.
Ques What is the idea of chaste?
JT It is a well-known word. The idea is to prevent any lightness or looseness in manner or word.
Ques Does it carry the thought of beauty?
JT It is more virtue. It is holding yourself for him.
Ques Purity from the influence of the world?
JT Quite so.
Ques Are you connecting that with the servant presenting Rebecca to Isaac, and Isaac taking her into Sarah’s tent?
JT Yes, though I do not think Corinthians rises fully to that. You hardly get her behaviour suggested in Corinth, but it is quite legitimate to bring the reference in — how she served him and the camels, and her decision to go with the man, and how Isaac was seen coming from the well at eventide. He stands related to the well. That is the setting — the Spirit’s refreshing satisfying service is in mind. Rebecca enquires as to Isaac and the servant says: It is my master. How the apostle stresses that all the way through! What Christ was to him! How the apostle regards Christ! “Legitimately subject to Christ”, he says. That was his attitude. How he would convey that in his ministry amongst them! Rebecca springs off the camel and takes the veil. That is the connection, I think, in the veil, intimating that all she wishes is to be for Isaac. The church is to be for Christ.
FFn Is that her glory? The hair is her glory.
JT I thought so.
[p. 286] Ques Would it be right to link the thought of espousal with following the servant? Do you think that it introduces the idea of our responsiveness to the ministry that the Lord is giving us?
JT Very good. The aim of the minister is espousal.
Rem All the utterances of the servant seem to be where he came in touch with Rebecca. The ministry in the Corinthian letters is to us in the circumstances where we are.
JT That is right, and in order that there might be movement to where He is.
HMcM Would the inside place at the Supper answer to being taken into Isaac’s tent?
JT She is not taken into Isaac’s, but into Sarah’s tent. What is alluded to is Israel’s place in the testimony. No doubt the Supper would have relation to Isaac’s tent, so to speak, but Sarah’s tent is the position in testimony. The word is that he led her there. There is the idea of leadership, really headship. The standing of the saints is that they occupy Israel’s place, and they are great enough to do so. They are greater than Israel was but the testimony that Israel bore is to be carried on. He led her there, not to his own place. The type in Genesis does not carry us through, but the position of the church as Isaac’s spouse, or bride, or wife is as in testimony there.
WJW Is there any other way of being for Christ except at the Supper?
JT Well, we should always be for Him: we should never lose that thought, in the street or in business or elsewhere.
WJW How far does it follow after the Supper as to response to the Father?
JT That is another matter. That comes in after the Lord’s supper if the covenant is understood — liberty to draw near. But what is in mind is what the saints may be in the way of attractiveness, being [p. 287] covered, that is to say, kept jealously for the heart of Christ.
PL Is it the hidden treasure, that character of things, the “pearl” going on more to Ephesians?
JT That is so. “The hidden man of the heart” comes in there.
Ques Would you say that the secret of all Rebecca’s movements was that Isaac wanted her?
JT There is evidence that he did. Then there were the ornaments which the servant had to put on her. I think the Lord is bringing about the assembly conditions with a view to the end, so that it is for us to see that and to be in accord with it. If we get help on what is a current feature of the truth the next thing is to be in accord with it. That is seen in Mary of Bethany in a very beautiful way. She was in accord with the voice from heaven. He defends what He loves and what loves Him.
WEB Could we have one more word with regard to the peculiar opposition of Satan to this truth — how it might be met?
JT You can see that is what the apostle was oppressed about. As he says, “As the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. It is not simply that what they had should be attacked directly, but corrupted. What the Lord would give us is apt to be corrupted, vitiated by something else, by the craft of the devil.
PL Laban’s proposal to stay ten days?
JT Quite. You may be sure she would be damaged if she stayed ten days. Decision is what is needed.
Ques Why is the reference to Eve and not to Rebecca in this scripture?
JT It does not say Satan attacked Rebecca. He attacked Eve. It was quite consistent to bring that in here.
[p. 288] Ques Was the attack against headship, and did Satan succeed in drawing Eve away from her head?
JT That is what happened.
Ques Practically, would you say it is impossible to corrupt the saints if we are really following what is suggested in the man?
JT I think so. You do not get it fully in Corinthians, but Colossians shows how the enemy attacks. The apostle says, “not holding fast the head”. That is the point — to hold the Head.
C Were they missing those great things mentioned in the second chapter of the first epistle on account of being carnal?
JT They were indeed. He brings it in early. This attack of the devil is what we should all pay attention to. We may be professedly taking in the truth but vitiated by something the devil brings in.
Ques In principle, did Satan bring in philosophy and vain deceit to Eve?
JT Very good. Eve’s mind was corrupted.
Ques Is the Babylonish system that has been brought in the result of this attack of the enemy?
JT I am sure it is.
Ques Is that in contrast with the simplicity of the Christ?
JT Yes. You mean, that system is so ramified and complicated. In the Vatican, as set against the upper room, you have the full development of this corruption.