THE LIBERTY OF SONSHIP (6)
THE LIBERTY OF SONSHIP (6)
JT The outstanding features leading upward in this chapter are, the allusion to “ye who are spiritual”, the thought of “eternal life”, the rule of “new creation”, and the “Israel of God”. The Lord, I believe, would direct our thoughts to these features of the truth, in our closing reading. First of all, it would seem that note should be taken of the responsibility of christians who are ministered to, set out in the hortatory part beginning with chapter 5; that the formation of Christ in us is in connection with the acceptance of obligation, that being put upon us, so that the truth is worked out in a moral way, through a moral process in the soul, in the acceptance of responsibility. Hence, chapter 5 begins with the injunction, “stand fast therefore”, Christ having “set us free in freedom”, as it reads in this translation; and among other injunctions, we are told to “walk in the Spirit”. There is standing fast in the freedom in which we are set, and living in the Spirit, and walking in the Spirit, and by the Spirit awaiting the hope of righteousness, the Spirit viewed as available in the most touching way in a believer’s progress; and, finally, there is the fruit of the Spirit as over against the works of the flesh; and then, the service to one another by love. These are the elements of progress put upon us as obligations; hence, the ministers, while setting out the truth in all its parts objectively, are to exhort, which is something perhaps not so much practised, but essential to the formation of the saints and their growth; reproving, rebuking, and exhorting, as it is said elsewhere “with all longsuffering and doctrine”, 2 Timothy 4:2. It takes more moral power to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, than it does to set out the truth itself.
PL Do you get the idea in Malachi? “Remember the law of Moses my servant” (Malachi 4:4) — is that the truth set out? And then, “Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet ... And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (verses 5, 6) — is that the exhortation?
JT That is a good setting out of the thing. “The law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him ... for all Israel, the statutes and ordinances”. Elijah’s ministry was one of rebuke and reproof; he was one who had moral authority, coming out without any announcement or word as to his training, but he stands up and says, “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word” 1 Kings 17:1. He was a man surely possessed of authority, but then, he was a man that prayed. The power to rebuke is very much needed; and one is not speaking of it because one has much ability in it, but one sees the need of moral power in the ministers, so that they may be able to do it. The saints are viewed in this chapter as set up in Christ, and furnished with the power to move in that liberty.
The works of the flesh are given at length; and there is that maturity of service, not in any specific way, but “by love serve one another” Galatians 5:13. Then the fruit of the Spirit is mentioned, so that the crop for God should be seen, if it be there. If it be present, in those circumstances, the crop for God may easily be discerned. For that is indeed the end of all ministry, what is for God. But the chapter, in the main, has in mind the working out of things in the believer’s soul.
AFM Would you tell us why the Holy Spirit is brought in so much in this epistle? Was it because there was a lack of recognising Him amongst the saints in Galatia?
JT Manifestly so; they are owned as having received Him, but in turning aside from the truth of the gospel, they necessarily shut out the Spirit, and in recovery, what is shut out or rendered null, has to be asserted. If the means that God has supplied for a [p. 386] holy walk here and fruit-bearing is shut out, there is no hope unless room can be made for it; so that it is practically worked out in the two great salient thoughts of the cross and the Spirit — the acceptance of crucifixion, and making room for the Spirit.
ASL How would you define the liberty that is spoken of? “Christ has set us free in freedom”. Galatians 5:1 The liberty is something already existent before you are brought into it, so you are set free in it.
ASL The liberty belonging to the children of the free woman.
JT One set free is set free in that.
RF Would the liberty be seen in the disciples moving in the corn-field? It says that they went on before, as if they had perfect liberty to move.
JT Yes. The Lord gives the lead. He was never otherwise than in liberty, and He has inaugurated liberty for us, and we come into it. It is seen in that circumstance in that He moved into the corn-field, and the disciples walked on and did more; they took the corn and ate it. They were set free in freedom; the freedom was there in His movements. The liberty is inaugurated by Christ, and opened up for us, so that we are to stand in that. Those who objected to what the disciples were doing, would put them back under bondage, but the Lord shows from the scriptures that that thought of liberty had already been taken on by David and others. He was taking it now, and the disciples were taking advantage of it and enjoying it. This epistle is very like that, because it is the defence of the liberties we have.
AFM Was the apostle a model of liberty? It is going back a little, but in verse 12 of chapter 4, he says, “Be as I am, for I also am as ye, brethren”.
JT Exactly; he was free from law, and so are we. That is a very good word to use, in seeking to help our brethren who are in bondage in the human organisations around. Abstractly they are free as we are, that is,
[p. 387] the liberty established belongs to them, so that the word is, “Be as I am”. I am in the enjoyment of this, and why not you? Because you are as I am; you have the right to liberty as I have; but I am enjoying it, and you are not.
EuR If they are in the system that genders to bondage, we should seek to set before them the liberty of the divine system which is above.
JT It is our business to lead them into the liberty that belongs to them; it is their heritage. They are on the same footing in that sense, but not practically. “Be as I am” means, be in the liberty I am in: “I also am as ye” as regards right.
EuR This is what is proper to the children of the free woman. Chapter 4 ends with the “children of the free woman”, and chapter 5 maintains us in that liberty.
WCG The liberty belongs to all, but it is entered upon by those who yield to the Spirit.
JT They value this great freedom that is inaugurated in Christ, but they can only stand fast in it by the Spirit.
WCG In that way they become spiritual.
JT The next chapter, you may say, is based on that: “ye who are spiritual”. It is a comfort that there are some. He does not say, If there are any; evidently there were, and that would be the nucleus of the recovery, that there were some.
JTS Is the law seen in another setting in this chapter, not as slaying me now, but as fulfilled, as in the liberty of the Spirit and the power of life?
JT That is right. “The whole law is fulfilled in one word” Galatians 5:14. If the Galatians wanted the law, this is the thing. The spirit of the law is this, fulfilled in this one word — love. It is a great triumph that christianity, whilst immune from the law in the letter of it, maintains it in the spirit of it. So that Romans 8 says, “that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit”, Romans 8:4. That is, there is nothing lost, not a jot or a tittle of the law is abrogated, but is carried forward and maintained in christianity.
SP Would the thought of “the law of the Christ” suggest the fixed principles you spoke of?
JT That is carrying burdens. What marked the Lord all the way through was that He carried the burdens of others; He carried our sorrows, and He carries the lambs in His bosom. The Lord never shirked anything in this respect. “I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”, Luke 22:27. That was the law that governed Him.
LM Why is verse 22 in the singular, although a number of things are enumerated? It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is ...” Does that fit in with the uniform development you spoke of in connection with formation?
JT There are nine items, but it is one idea. When the flesh is mentioned, the works are manifest, each one of them exposed; but “the fruit of the Spirit” rather suggests a unified thought. There is regularity in it, and the items appear in relation to one another.
Rem Under the old economy, if a man had a defect he had to remain with it, he could not offer the bread of his God, but in the power of the Spirit he was not forbidden to receive ministry, he could receive bread. I wondered whether in connection with Leviticus 21, the Galatians were those who had a defect in their feet, so to say.
JT Yes, they were defective in this way: the christian characteristically walks in the Spirit; but what you find in the Lord’s service in the gospels is that healings were never partial, but always perfect; and so now, the recovery is to what is perfect.
WCG The father had received him safe and sound, it says.
JT That is right.
PL So have we the thought of the feet in relation [p. 389] to Habakkuk? You have referred to the higher levels is the principle of that seen in “he maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places”, Habakkuk 3:19?
JT It would be well if we could walk out in those high places! It would enable us to take up our ordinary duties and walk in them according to God.
MWB Would you distinguish between walking in the Spirit and the other expression, “led by the Spirit”, in Romans 8:14? Sonship is connected with the latter expression.
JT Walking is emphasised in Scripture. God is the first to whom walking is attributed in the Scriptures. He walked in the garden. That, I believe, is to inaugurate what is in mind. Again, Enoch walked with God, and Noah walked with God. Then he requires of Abraham to “walk before my face, and be perfect” Genesis 17:1. I believe that walking in the Spirit is like the foot dipped in oil; the movements are gracious and comely; suited to such as are with God. This was perfectly seen in Jesus, of whom it is said on several occasions that He walked. John the baptist saw Him walking. I believe God attaches much to this thought: there is a certain grace in walking that God takes pleasure in.
MWB What about the other expression, “led by the Spirit”?
JT There the allusion is to the type in Numbers 21. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”, Romans 8:14. Hitherto they had been led by the cloud and the tent, but that was on a different plane. When we begin to walk by the Spirit, we are as Christ is. His movements in the wilderness were by the Spirit; He was on Deuteronomy ground; and so, after the brazen serpent in the types, the saints are viewed as led by the Spirit. It is a leading that has Canaan in mind.
MWB I was wondering if it had that in view,
[p. 390] leading on to what you have suggested as to the higher line of thought developed here.
JT I think so.
AFM They go on to higher ground from the brazen serpent; it seems to be an upward way.
JT They move on from one point to another till they reach Pisgah, the high level from which Canaan is in view. Moses saw Canaan from that level.
FSM Would the three Hebrew children serve to illustrate this high level of liberty. They were in the fire loose. Nebuchadnezzar observed they were loose, and said, “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of God”, Daniel 3:25. Is not that the position in which we are found — in the midst of the fire, but liberated to be in the company of the Son of God, walking?
JT That is a fine suggestion. I suppose the fourth gave character to the company.
Now, having touched thus on chapter 5, we have the basis for the allusion to “ye who are spiritual”, chapter 6:1. The word is not to the assembly, but implies that the spiritual are in view. The Galatians were scarcely people to whom to give instructions for local assemblies, although they are addressed as assemblies. The instructions are such as would, in the main, work out in the individual believer, indeed, assembly order and privilege are scarcely touched. So that it is “ye who are spiritual”, persons of that class are addressed.
ASL There is nothing between spiritual and carnal, so it was great reproach. As christians we should be spiritual. The Corinthians were carnal, walking as men, but the normal state of the christian would be spiritual.
JT It would be, and the fact that he singles out certain ones shows that all were not spiritual in Galatia; but there were some. What is stated is: “the spiritual discerns all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15); that is, he is a priest. The priests are addressed really.
HES Is a spiritual man one who moves in the Spirit in the region of freedom in Christ?
JT Yes. It is comforting that in Galatia there were such, notwithstanding the low state of things.
ASL The spiritual would also take to heart the danger of being caught himself: “considering thyself”.
JT That is each one considering himself.
JJ Would not this suggestion test them as to whether they had grasped the positive side of what he had ministered in the previous part of the epistle?
JT It would. In the mind of the Spirit they would be like Aaron and his sons at the door of the tabernacle under a charge. They are there; and each should know that he belongs to that class. A spiritual man is one who makes full room for the Spirit in himself.
Ques Is there a distinction between a wilful course and one taken in a fault, and if so, does that affect the question of restoration?
JT There would be a very great distinction between them. It is one “taken in some fault” here, not that the fault has overcome him, but he is taken in it, and certain persons might be unusually hard on him because of it. So that the spiritual are called in. It is not a course; it is an isolated fault, but he is taken in it. It does not even say he has come himself and confessed it; he is taken in it.
PL Would you get the idea in the two sons of Noah covering their father?
JT Quite so; they put the covering on their shoulders, meaning that it was no light matter to deal with; they brought their strength into it, and moved backwards, which requires instinct. That is, your eyes are elsewhere. All that needs a person of faithfulness; a spiritual man is a faithful man, who looks all round and considers what is right. The woman in John 8, for instance, was taken in a fault.
HD'AC The word “restore” here is a special one. It supposes the man was out of joint, and he is put in action again, like the setting of a broken bone, putting it in its place. It is like Ephesians 4:12 “for the perfecting of the saints”, each one set in his place in the spiritual system. The man was no use whilst out of joint. A spiritual man is not out of joint.
JT The woman spoken of in John 8 was actually taken in the fault; they made a point of that, but they were illogical. Where is the other person in the fault? They left him out. If they were right, they should have brought him too. But the Lord shows how such things are dealt with. He stoops down and writes with His finger on the ground, which is a spiritual movement in such a case. “Considering thyself”; not that the Lord needed that, but He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
ASL That would remove any hardness, the thought that one might be caught at any time oneself.
JT Indeed, and you are not carrying a high hand; not saying, I am holier than thou; you are stooping down. That is a sort of indication of a lead by the Lord. Of course, there is much more in what He did; but anyway it is a movement that is spiritual, under such circumstances. In this case the Lord stooped down and wrote on the ground, with the result that the accusers went out. The light forced them out. If I am right with God in my own soul, and I have to accuse a brother or sister, I do not need to go out; but if I have a personal motive in it, then I shall have to go out; the light exposes me. They all went out, and the woman was left alone with the Lord — she and the Lord — a remarkable instance in John; the other like it being in chapter 4. So that the Lord says, “Neither do I condemn thee” John 8:11. That might be regarded as antinomianism, or looseness, but the Lord does not leave it at that. He says, “go, and sin no more”.
LDM Then what follows, “Every one that practises sin is the bondman of sin”, John 8:34. So that what follows going out, is the practice of sin?
JT Just so, and the Lord saying solemnly, “unless ye shall believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” John 8:24; that is the situation. In Peter’s case, the Lord looked on Him, as was said; He turned and looked on him. Luke is the only one that tells us that: “And the Lord, turning round, looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he said to him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice”. “While he was yet speaking, the cock crew” Luke 22:60,61; that is, at the right time. All that was spiritual. The spiritual know what to do in those cases; the priest knew what to do when he looked on the leper.
JHL “For each shall bear his own burden” — what is that?
J.T., It is what everyone should do, he should not expect others to bear his burdens in the work. The apostle says earlier, “Bear one another’s burdens”, referring to the working out of love one to another; it is on the principle of love; not that I put it on others to do it; if I do I am apt to hinder the activity of their love.
HFN Might we have a little in regard to the thought of eternal life, and new creation, and the “Israel of God”?
JT They are remarkable thoughts, but they are not expanded at all, not even mentioned to be expanded or opened up. It is as if the Spirit of God thought it well in dealing with such circumstances amongst the saints as are contemplated here, to maintain the truth, in these high levels. In going to Ephesus, Paul came by the upper road, and, when going to Jerusalem, he and Barnabas and Titus moved in spiritual buoyancy, occupying the saints en route with the work of God. I believe that is a principle, in dealing with evil, to maintain the high spiritual level; so that sowing to the Spirit is the next thought here. “He that sows to the [p. 394] Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life”. It is a suggestion that directs you to other scriptures for the thing that you reap. God has His crop in the fruit of the Spirit in chapter 5, but the believer has his crop in sowing to the Spirit.
JOS Does Isaac sowing in the land and reaping a hundredfold have any suggestion in relation to this?
JT Sowing to the Spirit is a wilderness suggestion, and the result would be entrance into the land. The Holy Spirit given to the believer is the means of entrance into eternal life, but it is a crop, a harvest that you reap.
EuR What form would sowing to the Spirit take?
JT It is just that in all your calculations and motives this is in mind. Sowing to the flesh is gratifying the flesh, allowing the propensities and desires which gratify the flesh; sowing to the Spirit is that you consider for the Spirit.
GAvS Is the reaping a question of God’s government?
JT Well, I think so, very much like “glory and honour and peace to every one that works good” (Romans 2: 10); eternal life is among the things secured there.
EJMcB Was the great woman sowing to the Spirit in making room for the prophet?
JT Indeed. The Shunammite woman follows on the widow, who had the vessels filled with the oil, and she makes provision for Elisha.
MWB Does sowing suggest the idea of spiritual expenditure, parallel with John 4 in some respects? That gives the idea of drinking or receiving, but here it is rather spending. Is that a point to be noted? The sowing implies that you expend, following on what was said, that the woman laid out in order to serve the prophet.
JT At the set time she was to reap. She had been barren, but now she is to have a son which is a suggestion of life. Then, the son dies, but he is given back [p. 395] to her alive, and, in a sense, she has eternal life in the son back from the dead. The mother of the child took up her son living, made alive by the prophet; he is handed back to her, and she went out — she had her fruit.
PL And she is still in possession of her crop after seven years of famine; this son is with her in a living way.
JT And Gehazi who had “fallen from grace”, is able to tell the king about her.
PL Would you say why you regard this as a wilderness exercise?
JT Sowing to the Spirit undoubtedly refers to wilderness circumstances, the alternative being sowing to the flesh. The Spirit comes in in the wilderness, but the fruit contemplated is in the land.
WC There is a period between the sowing and the reaping in which it is possible to lose heart.
JT It is a question of confidence in God, really, like a farmer who sows his seed; he puts it in the ground, but then it is a question of what God will do for him. God gives the seed a body as it pleases Him. But then I have to wait for that. Certain crops take a short time to come up, others take a longer time, and it is in patience we wait for the crop, but it comes. If I sow to the flesh, I shall reap corruption, a terrible thing. Think of the hideousness of that! But sowing to the Spirit, one reaps life everlasting, even although the crop may take a good time to come. You are dependent on God, and I believe that is where a farmer has a big advantage, for he is dependent upon God directly. But think of God working for you day and night when you have put your seed in the ground! And that is the principle of sowing to the Spirit. It is the Spirit of God; and God works in that way, and you will get your crop in due course.
HMS Did you say that we sow in the wilderness [p. 396] and reap in the land, or do we reap in the same field in which we sow?
JT The wilderness is not the soil; you are the soil yourself. When Jacob came to Isaac he smelt him, and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed”, Genesis 27:27. It is all potential as yet; there is no crop in the field yet. The soil is the person, but I am speaking of the outward environment, that you are in the wilderness; that is, in the testing place. The flesh is there too in you; it is the mixed condition in which one is. If I sow to the Spirit, well, the field is there. The simile is that I have the Spirit and the crop will come. Our chapter touches new creation, but eternal life is what I get for my sowing to the Spirit. Romans shows that it is the end: “But now, having got your freedom from sin, and having become bondmen to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life”, Romans 6:22. But then, there is new creation, and we have to go elsewhere for that. It stands in relation to Ephesian truth, but it is touched on in Corinthians in a very instructive way: “For the love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died; and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised”, 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15. Then the apostle says, We do not know anyone after the flesh henceforth: “So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation” 2 Corinthians 5:17. I think that is where John 9 comes in. The water of purification is usually to remove what is impure, but Siloam is to remove something that Christ put on the person. He spat on the ground and made mud of the spittle, and, put it on the man’s eyes, and he has to go to Siloam and wash. That is, he removes what the Lord put on him. We cannot say that that is impure; it is simply that the believer is relieved of any thought of a world with Christ after the flesh in it. That is not God’s mind at all! He did enter into this world;
[p. 397] He came born of woman, actually in the world, but not to stay in it. The believer has to come to that; that Christ died, that the flesh and blood condition has come to an end; and that the world that God has in mind involves Christ in another condition.
GAvS Is the question of new creation, as we have it in Galatians, more connected with the removal of the world’s system? It comes in here immediately after “the world is crucified to me, and I to the world”.
JT He says, “For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision; but new creation”. It is persons that are in mind. He is referring to circumcision again, his mind being full of what they were suffering from. But circumcision is nothing; they needed to come to new creation. In Corinthians it says, “So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new”. Even Christ as He was here, no longer exists in that condition; there is no such Christ as existed in this world, and any one assuming that God had any such thought as the continuation of Christ as in flesh and blood here, is misled. It is Christ in another condition, and that involves for us new creation — new creation does not of course refer to Him. It is God’s work. God is the Creator, but I am the subject of it.
HES In these great subjects being just suggested and not developed, is there the thought that we should be encouraged to pursue them?
JT Yes; as for instance, in the Old Testament; in treating of certain subjects we are sometimes referred to other books; see 1 Chronicles 29:29.
WL Is the reaping now, or does it look on to the future?
JT It is now, I should say. Eternal life as come to us in Christ is not a question of sowing on my part; it is a question of the purpose of God. “For the wages of sin is death; but the act of favour of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”, Romans 6:23. That is,
[p. 398] God has placed it there; but then the present crop, the present entrance into it, is made to depend on sowing, on my exercises, whether I make room for the Spirit in my calculations. If I am thinking of lands, or being wealthy, or a man of the world in any sense, I will reap corruption; but if I am calculating for God’s world, I sow to the Spirit, because He is the only Medium for carrying me over.
WL So you would say the government of God enters into it, and that is now?
JT That is right, whether a man is living in God’s world, or in this world.
WAW Did the man in John 9 reap in that day?
JT He did; as soon as he met the Son of God and believed on Him and worshipped Him. That is the principle. He did not have long to wait.
HFN Would you say a word on our two privileges here, as forming part of the “household of faith” and the “Israel of God”?
JT The presence of the “household of faith” in this epistle is very noticeable. The allusion would primarily be to Abraham’s household, and you would expect that here. Even Hagar and Ishmael belonged to it outwardly, but it is a household marked by faith. “So then, as we have occasion, let us do good towards all, and specially towards those of the household of faith”. The “Israel of God”, I suppose, would be the saints looked at as marked by the Spirit, but the “household of faith” is that I am in it on that principle, that I belong to that household beginning with Abraham. The “Israel of God” alludes to Jacob, that is, his flesh being crippled he came into the good of the Spirit.
MWB Is that new creation?
JT It is concurrent with it. “And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God”: this is the rule of new creation in contrast with the law of Moses.
JJ Do you connect eternal life with [p. 399] new creation?
JT It is another line. You do not get new creation in Romans properly, but you get eternal life there. Eternal life is God’s answer to death, meeting it here; but new creation is wholly new. “The old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
HFN The “brands of the Lord Jesus” are a most touching ending to the epistle; would you say a word on them?
JT I suppose they mark the highest spirituality. The allusion, no doubt, would be to the marks they would put upon people’s flesh, the “brands of the Lord Jesus” corresponding with His sufferings.
EJMcB Is that in contrast to the marks of circumcision?
JT It is an allusion to that. Circumcision was a sort of mutilation of the flesh, but here you have the “brands of the Lord Jesus” corresponding with Christ in His sufferings.
JJ Are eternal life and new creation both looked at individually here?
JT No. “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation” 2 Corinthians 5:17. It has been pointed out that eternal life properly belongs to the earth, but new creation goes further. New creation is heaven and earth made new. The principle is already applied to the christian, that there is new creation. It is not that he is a new creature, but there is such a thing as new creation; if any man be in Christ, there is such a thing as that. Presently it will apply to heaven and earth, but the christian is in it.
GAvS Is the “Israel of God” new creation?
JT The reference is to those who are marked by the Spirit. The “household of faith” is Abraham; the “Israel of God” is Jacob; but new creation is that everything old is set aside — old things are passed away, all things have become new. That is the state of things in eternity which we enter into now by the Spirit; and the christian is already the subject of new creation: “created anew in Christ Jesus”.
JTS We are to walk according to this rule worked out.
JT It is a very exalted walk. Walking according to this rule is the very highest thought of walking you can get. In Ephesians, for instance, it is said that God “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:6 because of His great love wherewith He loved us, and then it goes on to speak of “good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them”, Ephesians 2:10. God has ordained them. I suppose they would be the high places, what came out in Christ, what He ordained that we should walk in. We are to find out what is ordained for us, on this exalted level as “created in Christ Jesus for good works”.
CET Would the close of Isaiah 40 fit in with what you are saying? It says, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see! Who hath created these things, bringing out their host by number? ... Dost thou not know, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not nor tireth? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and shall tire, and the young men shall stumble and fall; but they that wait upon Jehovah shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not tire; they shall walk, and not faint” Isaiah 40:26 - 31.
JT That is very good. We should all discern the applicability of that scripture to this thought of walking after the rule of new creation.
Ques Would new creation bring us on to the ground of divine counsel, and the “Israel of God” show the complete triumph of God in relation to our path here?
JT Quite so; the “household of faith” and the “Israel of God” run together.
HES Why is “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” in this epistle connected with the spirit, and not with the individual? Is there significance in that?
JT “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren”. They really had lost touch with God. The spirit is the highest part of a man, that in which he is in relation with God, as over against the soul. They certainly needed that, as we all do, because the point is to keep our spirits right. As we have it in Malachi 2: “Take heed then to your spirit, and let none deal unfaithfully against the wife of his youth, (for I hate putting away, saith Jehovah the God of Israel;)” (Malachi 2:15), and then again, in the end of verse 16: “take heed then to your spirit, that ye deal not unfaithfully”. I believe that was the difficulty with the Galatians. The chapter in Malachi has in mind that “He sought a seed of God”; and I believe that is why the paternal and maternal thoughts are brought in in Galatians. There was want in that setting; the seed that God sought was not there, and it had to do with the spirits of the brethren.
Ques Is there an analogy between the “brands of the Lord Jesus” here, and the Lord showing His hands and feet to the disciples?
JT There is; it is in correspondence with the Lord.
Ques Does Psalm 128 suggest the climax in the assembly?