CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 15
The subject of ministry is brought forward in this chapter in a remarkable way. The ministry of the Lord to the circumcision is first noticed, and then that of the apostle to the gentiles, while in the latter part we have his temporal ministry to the poor saints at Jerusalem; to the gentiles it was in spiritual things, to the Jews in temporal. The Lord was a minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made of God to the fathers, but with another purpose in view — that the gentiles should glorify God for His mercy. The apostle takes up two ideas with regard to himself; he speaks of himself as an offering priest, offering up the gentiles, and as a minister (deacon) towards the Jews. The object of the epistle was the practical knitting [p. 133] together of Jew and gentile; and the light of the kingdom of God is brought in, because the more each one is subject to the Lord, the better able all are to walk in fellowship down here; we cannot walk in christian fellowship on the ground of common agreement, it can only be done as we are all near to the Lord.
Verse 8. The truth of God rendered it imperative that Christ should come to confirm the promises made to the fathers. There was no making the truth of God good in any other way, for the simple reason that all God’s ways were in anticipation of the coming of Christ. For instance, such a thought as in Genesis 22: 18, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”, could only be fulfilled in Him. Whatever light God saw fit to give came in through the circumcision, they had the oracles of God. God took up the seed of Abraham and made them the depositaries of the truth. All the communications from God came to them — the prophets, the psalms, and Christ Himself came on that line. So Paul, when raised up, puts Jews before gentiles, and when preaching in any city went to the Jews first, and took up that ground with them; they had the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants. Then to that is added in Scripture the idea of mercy going out to the gentiles, which brings in the thought of divine sovereignty, as seen in the case of the Syrophenician woman. The Lord says, “it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs”, but she answers, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table”. She gets the mercy of God. The promises are confirmed in Christ risen from the dead. As many as are the promises of God, in Him is the yea and in Him the Amen. How could the universe of bliss be held together, and men be blessed, if there were not a centre, if Christ had not the priestly place? All will be dependent on Him in the eternal state, not in the [p. 134] sense of succour, as if there were need, but as Minister of the sanctuary. Men will not be self-supporting then any more than now. The mediatorial kingdom is given up, but that is only looking at Christ on the kingdom side. “Unto him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end”, gives the idea of eternal order. When God is all in all, there does not seem to be any longer the idea of the kingdom, but every family will have the support of Christ, and He will be the connecting link between every family; each derives from Him, and all acknowledge Him as Head. He will never cease to be Head, though He will cease to be Lord, that is, in connection with the kingdom; but He must always have the place of pre-eminence, and will stand in relation to every family in the universe of bliss. Everything would lose its proper character if we gave up the thought of Christ on our side, that is as Head. The church is formed in the knowledge of His love. He has thus the pre-eminence, that of love, and that cannot be set aside or lost; but when God has His own place in the universe there is hardly need for administration. Nothing can ever really be independent of God: God gives life, and He sustains life. Adam had life, yet there was the tree of life. There never could be life apart from Christ both as source and sustainment.
Evidently the object here is the binding together of Jew and gentile, the passage (verses 8, 9) connects the gentile with Christ in a remarkable way, “That the gentiles should glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the gentiles”, that is, Christ will confess among the nations. “Praise the Lord, all ye nations”, “Praise him, all ye people”. It is universal praise. Again, Esaias saith, “There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the gentiles, in him shall the gentiles hope”. Christ is hope to the gentiles. Evidently the passages are taken with the view of [p. 135] binding together Jew and gentile, they were not to allow anything to come in to cause divergence. There were questions of conscience, and the apostle does not override conscience, nor does he allow others to do it, but difficulties of conscience are solved as people get near the Lord, and so into the light; reasoning and persuasion will not do this. The only chance of getting near to one another is to get near the Lord. Paul was greatly distressed about the Galatians, yet he says, “I have confidence in you through the Lord”. If they were not near the Lord he was.
The apostle speaks about himself as “ministering the gospel of God”. This is remarkable, he takes up the gospel here as priestly service, rather than levitical. It is a similar idea to that of Aaron offering up the Levites. Anything offered sacrificially was devoted and could not be recalled, and this is the way in which the apostle looks upon the gentiles here. Preaching, looked at generally, is levitical service, not priestly; but here Paul is looking at his own apostolic work, and takes up the totality of the ministry of the gospel of God, regarding it as priestly service; he was Jesus Christ’s minister. While the ministry of Jesus Christ in its full public blessing both for Jew and gentile is still deferred owing to His rejection, the apostle Paul is raised up to carry on a special work among the gentiles, and the results of this are looked at as a first-fruit, and perhaps representative; as the Levites were taken out from Israel. It is not the salvation of the gentiles, as such, that is here in view, but the taking out a people from the gentiles. It is not exactly the preaching of the gospel which is before the mind of the apostle, but the offering up of the whole of the company taken out from the gentiles, looked at as one offering, and all the fruit of the apostle’s work; he was minister of Jesus Christ to the uncircumcision, as Jesus Christ had Himself been minister to the circumcision.
[p. 136] When the apostle speaks of his proposed service to the Jews at Jerusalem he does not use the same word as in verse 16, there he was more of an administrator. The offering up of the gentiles is looked at as one whole; the ministry has all come out, but the effect is not yet all realised. The result of his gospel upon those who receive it is that they are acceptable to God. “Sanctified by the Holy Spirit” is possibly in contrast to national sanctification, it is a setting apart for God entirely in the power of the Holy Spirit; it presents what God has in mind, the setting apart for Himself.
An apostle inaugurated; so Paul speaks of his gospel, none but an apostle could talk about the gospel in the same way. The moral effect of it is to make the gentiles acceptable. This is an immense contrast to the gentiles as depicted in chapter 1.
It is remarkable that the apostle should speak of his deacon work after this, the two things not being on the same level; the offering up of the gentiles is a very different service from ministering to the Jews in temporal things; and though the apostle in carrying out the latter may have fallen below his proper apostolic work, yet the Spirit recognises his service. The apostle speaks in a tremulous way of his visit to Jerusalem, and asks their prayers as to it, but still we have the fact that the Spirit of God refers to it in connection with his affection for the saints. He was a bond between Jew and gentile, he had ministered the gospel of God to the gentiles, and then on behalf of gentiles he ministered in carnal things to the Jews. It is evident from the Acts that Paul went up to Jerusalem against the Spirit’s warning, but he was a devoted man, and not serving himself in going up, and we may hesitate in judging of the conduct of a man so much greater than ourselves. The thought in his mind was apparently that of reciprocity. The gentiles could not minister to the Jews in spiritual things, and therefore it was important that they should minister in carnal [p. 137] things. It is beautiful to see the wakening of the Jew and gentile to this principle. In Acts 11, when Barnabas heard of the conversion of the gentiles at Antioch, he went to them, sent by the church at Jerusalem; then he found Saul and brought him to Antioch, and they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people; and then when the prophecy of the famine came the gentiles sent relief to their brethren in Judaea. In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of their contribution, as not only supplying the wants of the saints, but as being abundant through thanksgiving, so that the Jews glorified God on account of the professed subjection of the gentiles to the gospel of Christ.
Verse 20 marks out lines difficult to work on in the present day. But they were the lines on which the apostle went, and show his anxiety to be clear of other men’s work; but it would be very difficult strictly to carry out the same now. In principle it may be done, but in christendom you must to a certain extent go over other men’s work. The apostle must be looked at alone here, in connection with the special subject which he has before him; he is explaining the reason he had not gone to Rome before. In a certain sense he justifies himself, he would not speak of things except what God has wrought by him to make the gentiles obedient by word and deed. It is a vindication of his own work; he would not talk of other men’s work, but would only boast of his own work. This passage and 1 Corinthians 2 are sometimes put together: “I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling”, refers to the same period as that in which these mighty signs and wonders were performed. Weakness, fear, and trembling were on his side, and on the other there was the Spirit’s power manifested.
Miracles come in to vouch the testimony; one can very well understand that if God presents a new testimony He gives proof that there is a power here [p. 138] superior to all the power of evil: it was thus with the Lord Himself. The Lord gave signs, when exalted, to confirm the testimony of the twelve. “The apostles went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following”. The Lord attached no importance to a faith founded on miracles, but at the same time miracles were a testimony to men that there was a power here which was superior to the power of evil.
The way in which God attaches His name to certain principles in this chapter is beautiful. He is the God of patience and consolation or encouragement; and again the God of hope; so He is called the God of peace (chapter 16: 20), and we see these qualities here in this world. We want endurance, hope and peace, and God has put His name to these things. Satan is the first cause of all the confusion here, and as the God of peace, He will bruise Satan. The saints were to mark those that caused divisions and offences, such work was of Satan. Peace is the thought of God. When Christ was upon earth there was a ministry of peace, but that did not make peace; this was made by the blood of His cross, by the setting aside of the old man. The man who offended God has been removed, both Jew and gentile are gone to leave room for another Man. The blood is the witness that death has come in, and that the man after the flesh is gone. There is only one Man left, and that is Christ and He is our peace. As long as the old man is in presence, Jew or gentile, Satan will act on that man; if the man is gone, there is no man on whom Satan can act, therefore Christ is our peace, for all others are excluded by Him. It is true each retains his individuality, but in Christ there is morally a new creation, and as that is effectual in each there is nothing for Satan to act upon by which he can make discord. There are two great foundation truths: God has been revealed, and man removed; if that be so, Satan’s power is gone.
[p. 139] Our individuality is not gone, but the order of man after the flesh is gone, to make room for another order of man. The Spirit of God connects us with another Man, and just so far as that is made good in the soul, peace is known. It often takes us a long time to get clear of the old man, though for God both Jew and gentile are gone in the cross. The apostle speaks of creating one new man in Christ, so making peace.
In the end of chapter 16 we have the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery; it was the great secret of the times of the ages, but is now made known in prophetic writings. It is to the One who is able to establish saints according to the revelation of the mystery, that the apostle ascribes glory. We can look at Jesus Christ in two lights, as the revelation of God on the one hand, and as the light of God’s purpose on the other. This was brought to light by Paul. Here it is not the question of the revelation of God, but of the light of purpose, “the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery”. God establishes the saints on the line of His counsel. It is remarkable how the moral line, and the line of God’s purpose coincide in Christ. Christ has reached His present place as that which in Him was morally fitting. He became Man, and in the body prepared for Him glorified God in the work of the cross, the moral consequence of which is that He is glorified in God. He has reached His present place in glory as Man along this moral line, although it properly belongs to Him, and there the purpose of God is fully set forth in Him, and we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. God establishes us on the line of His purpose in Christ, but after all Christ has but reached the place which belongs to Him, but He has reached it as Man.