READINGS ON HEBREWS (12)
[p. 181] READINGS ON HEBREWS (12)
FL Perhaps you would indicate the connection between the line of chapter 11 and that which is taken up in chapter 12.
JT The line indicates, I suppose, that all else will pass away; the opening of chapter 12 shows that the Lord did not come in at the end of this course, He was morally at the beginning of it.
DMR Does chapter 11 show the race that comes into full view at the beginning of chapter 12?
JT Yes; it is well to see that the work of God one whole. Morally Christ is at the outset, not at the end. It says, He is the Leader and Completer of faith: One who sets the thing on and finishes it; so that He does not come in at the end, He is morally at the beginning.
AFM Was it exemplified in Him personally?
JT I think there was the reflection backwards of what would come out in Christ.
ANW Would you say that it is “Jesus” in that connection? It does not say anything about “Christ”.
JT The line of faith really began and ended with Christ; so that those who preceded Him historically were illuminated by the light being reflected backwards.
AFM “The Spirit of Christ which was in them”.
JT Yes.
FL Peter helps us in connection with that: “in them”; it is a positive thing that was in them: the Spirit of Christ. I suppose in that way, He is presented as preaching to the spirits now in prison. There was the actual touch of Christ in that golden line all [p. 182] through.
JT Quite. It is not so easy, perhaps, at the outset, to lay hold of the idea of leadership appearing at the end; when you consider that this life of faith had been in existence for thousands of years, and now One coming in at the end is recognised and distinguished as the Leader of it. It raises the question as to how divine things should be understood.
FL Do you not think that God gave very positive light? The Lord says, “your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8: 56); so, that evidently, they were supplied with remarkable light, I take it, more than we would imagine from the bare letter of Scripture; and this was an immense support to them in the testimony.
AFM I was going to ask where you would look for the completion of this course of faith; it began in these saints of old; where is the end seen?
JT Historically it works out now in those who apprehend Christ; so that the reading of the gospels furnish the food for our faith. We are on a beaten and well trodden path.
CAM Would it be right to say that every moral trait of faith came out in the life of Jesus?
JT That is the thought.
CAM So that this matter of leadership coming out at the end, is not like that which we find in books of history.
JT Think that One at the end should be the Leader of what was in existence for centuries before! The thing is to see that the power of the life of faith was reflected backwards. I do not think we can understand Hebrews 10 otherwise. How God made it known in souls, or whether they could define it themselves, is another matter, but that which actuated them was light, which should be seen later in its fulness and perfection in a Man here.
WLP Would you explain how it was that [p. 183] Jesus could be the Leader of the faith of Old Testament saints?
JT The light of sacrifice, for instance, came out: “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain” Hebrews 11:4; no doubt God had given him an inkling in the clothing of Adam and Eve, his parents, with the skins of beasts. Whether he could have given an intelligent account of why he acted thus is another matter; but there it was, and the Holy Spirit puts a name on it now, and says, “By faith” he did it.
JEH What is really the thought of Leader?
JT One who introduces and sets a matter on. A man might make a machine, for example, but he has to show how it is worked by setting it in motion.
AFM The word ‘originator’ conveys the idea.
JT You see, God knew all this, and in clothing Adam, He was setting before those who would come after him, something that should come out in fulness in a Man here on earth.
DMR Would that connect with the beginning of the epistle where God is spoken of as bringing many sons to glory? Is that the end in view in leadership?
JT Quite; I do not think the work is the same in character, however, but the idea of leading is there, and the same word is employed.
FL He originates the faith in Abel and in those that follow. It culminates in Himself, and this was set out in His manner of life here as Jesus upon earth; and it becomes the light and guidance of those who follow, right up to the world to come, He is the originator of it.
JT God had that in mind when He slew the beasts. We cannot say how they were slain or skinned; we know that He clothed Adam and Eve with the skins. There was something in all that which could be taken account of, which would be a reflection backwards of what was coming; God knew perfectly [p. 184] well who was coming, for even Adam was the figure of Him that was to come.
AFM With regard to the present moment, the eye is to be steadfastly fixed on Jesus. I suppose the line of chapter 11 is cumulative and has its climax in Christ; so that whilst encouraged by all that preceded, we look to Jesus, and see the fulness of it in Him.
JT Hence the great importance of the gospels; they are presented from God’s point of view, that is, they give us the life of Jesus. What was that life? It was the life of faith here in perfection.
ANW I was thinking in connection with what was actually experienced by such men as Abel, that the experience might be one thing, but the divine interpretation of it another. “Abraham rejoiced to see my day”, (John 8:56) the Lord said; may we not think of that as the divine interpretation of what Abraham saw? So with Moses, is it not the Spirit’s interpretation of what he went through?
JT I think that is good.
FL It says, “he saw it and was glad”, John 8:56. He did see something revealed that connected itself with Christ. It was more than doing something which afterwards would be like Christ, or be in the character of His Spirit; the Lord says, “he saw it and was glad”, John 8:56. He saw something that was connected with Jesus.
ARS Is the thought in connection with clothing Adam and Eve, that they had a need, and God supplied it?
JT There was light in what was done, which was developed fully in the life of Jesus here.
BTF Would you say that the Spirit of God takes a great delight in drawing attention to Jesus, so that you have at the beginning of the chapter the words, “looking unto Jesus”?
JT Quite. I think that in looking steadfastly [p. 185] on Jesus the vision is cleared, and God clears the vision of the believer through discipline.
FL Looking steadfastly on Jesus would prepare for the ways of God in discipline; so that it leads up to what you say, to being with Him in holiness, “partaking of his holiness”.
JT I think it enables you to see the whole system of faith at the end of the chapter. It is a system of things set up in Christ. The discipline of God clears the vision of the believer so that he sees it rightly.
AFM Do we not also advance in our spirits as coming to this system in the faith of our souls? Is it not a matter of progress of soul?
JT Yes, I think so. We come to it intelligently, and with our vision clear as to what the thing is. Discipline is, therefore, of great value in clarifying our vision.
FL The passage shows definitely that no one could see the system to which we come unless they had passed through discipline and exercise. Is not that a principle in the ways of God, that sooner or later, in some way or another, we must go through discipline if we are to see that system?
JT That is what God is striving after with us. The book of Job fits in here. There is no doubt that he was contemporary with the great idea of faith. I suppose that faith, although it began with Abel, shone at its brightest in Abraham; it was an era of faith. When a man becomes the father of all believers, it is when faith has its brightest day; and there can be little doubt that Job was somewhat contemporary, spiritually, with Abraham; so that the book of Job shows how the believer is enabled to arrive at what God has in mind. The more one possesses in this world, the more apt he is to be cloudy, so that the vision is blurred. Both Abraham and Job had much; Isaac and Jacob had much also; they all possessed much of this world’s goods; hence the book of Job [p. 186] would be a collateral dealing, on the part of God, to help those who have faith to have a clear vision. Lot was another contemporary with Abraham, but got diverted, because his vision was defective. Of Job it says, “Jehovah turned the captivity of Job, when he had prayed for his friends”, Job 42:10. I refer to all this because it helps in regard to the new system of things which comes in at the end of our chapter. It says of Job that “All his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house, and they condoled with him and comforted him concerning all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him; and everyone gave him a piece of money, and everyone a golden ring”, Job 42:11. They set him up in links of affection. That, I think, helps us in the appreciation of the new system of things to which we have come: “Ye 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”. Now the basis for that is in the links of affection that follow the discipline of God. As that discipline is appreciatedthe saints come to you, you have not to go to them.
FL Very good. The teaching is, that if you are let alone and do not have pressure and exercise, “then are ye bastards”. I suppose it is very much like the Samaritans who occupied territory in the land, but who were bastards, or at least, they were a mongrel set, they were not to be reckoned with the Jews, although they occupied a religious position; but chastening comes along the line of proving sonship.
JT When the Lord calls upon Job in chapter 38 to gird up his loins like a man and answer Him, He goes back to the very beginning of what He was doing; the question was of what God was doing,
[p. 187] and of what He was going to bring about. Amongst other things, He says, “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” Job 38:7. There was happiness then. Earlier in the book we find there was a day when the sons of God came up, it was an auspicious day — they came to present themselves before Jehovah — that was a happy season; why was not Job happy? God had sons, and they were free before him. That is mentioned at the beginning; and now at the end Job is brought into this joy, for the Lord turned his captivity when he prayed for his friends; then his brethren, sisters and acquaintances all came to him, he did not have to go to them.
ARS You were speaking about Abraham being the father of the faithful, and that faith led him to do things that had never been done before. For instance, it is said of him that he left his father’s house; as far as we know nobody had ever done that before. Then you said his vision was clear. I was wondering how you would explain the point that “he went out, not knowing whither he went”.
JT What I wanted to convey was that the ministry of the book of Job is a collateral testimony with that of Abraham. And another great feature of that position is that there was a king of righteousness in those days, Melchisedec. It was a wonderful thing that God had a man like that, who was also priest of the Most High God. He was not only a righteous man, like Abraham, but was king of righteousness.
FL Is it not very suggestive that the elements Melchisedec brought forth were bread and wine? His priesthood and kingdom are suggestive of the world to come; and Abraham apprehended God’s resources in Christ in such a one. He apprehended that God had resources that connected themselves with another country, another Man and another city, and he exulted. On the one hand there is the collateral of [p. 188] Job, and on the other there are divine power and wisdom in Christ; these are antitypical of the things set forth in Melchisedec.
JT He was not only a righteous man, but he was king of righteousness. Then we have nothing said about where he came from. It is a great thing to be sustained in soul through the discipline of God, knowing that there is a King of righteousness. He is not asking anything from me, although I may give to Him. Melchisedec brought out bread and wine to sustain Abraham.
AFM I thought that Job’s discipline was somewhat in parallel with the discipline here; it was not necessarily for some specific wrong done, he was “perfect and upright”, Job 1:1. Nor is the discipline here for wrongdoing. In Job’s case it resulted in his vision being clarified, as in ours also.
JT And further, all the saints are happy with Job. There is no more reserve. They gave him a piece of money and a golden ring. The golden ring would mean that everlasting bonds were established.
FL Do you not think that chastening is presented here really as an abstract principle upon which God deals, not necessarily for what we might call overt departures, wrongdoings and the like, but as an essential principle? Perhaps the better the man walks the more he would have of it.
JT “Of which all have been made partakers”.
FL We all are partakers of divine nature, and we cannot be partakers of His holiness unless we pass through discipline.
JS Is discipline necessary because of what we are in flesh?
JT I think so. Paul’s thorn was: “that I might not be exalted”, 2 Corinthians 12.
ANW Showing the possibility of the flesh even in a man like Paul.
JS I suppose that with Abraham you could not [p. 189] say that he went out into a beaten track, as we do.
JT He did not.
Rem Do you not think that Job is an example of a man who got the “peaceable fruit” as the result of his exercises?
JT If you have to exact anything from the brethren it is not “peaceable fruit”. Fruit of this kind comes in voluntarily; they came voluntarily in Job’s case, everyone gave him a piece of money and a golden ring.
FL So Job, like Paul, could say, “we glory in tribulations”, Romans 5:3. The exercise reaches a definite end, enabling one to draw upon the love of God.
DMR In speaking of one’s vision being cleared, was not that the basis of Job’s restoration? He said, “now mine eye seeth thee”, Job 42:5.
JT Just so; he saw the Lord.
CAM What you said about God telling Job that the sons of God shouted for joy at the outset, would seem to explain what is really brought before us here — sons in view of glory.
JT God does not work out the things He speaks of at the beginning of His ways; they are there; then He shows how they are reached.
WLP Did not God take the same method of making Himself known in those days as in these, showing that He wanted His creature man with Him?
JT God was richer than we sometimes suppose. Even before Christ became Man there were those who stood to Him for sons; showing how wealthy He was in those relationships.
FL Could we not go on to what we have come to?
JT “Ye have come unto 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; and to God, Judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus, Mediator of [p. 190] a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel”. There are eight things named here.
AMcN Is that why it is called a race because the things mentioned are progressive?
JT Mount Zion, I suppose, is the first idea that we are to apprehend, though all of these are presented as one whole.
AFM It is what you find as being in the race.
JT Yes; it is what you have come to. Mount Zion is, so to speak, the constitution of the country, the underlying constitution.
AFM All heavenly, or “the things which are above”, (Colossians 3:1) would you say?
JT One has often sought to simplify the great subject by the figure of a country: I think every country has something to correspond with each of these eight things. Take the constitution of this country: anyone coming from a foreign country to this country, eligible for citizenship, and becoming a citizen, comes to everything that is in the country, he has come to it all. He might have to work the things out, and so understand them, but he has come to them; his citizenship sets him up in relation to all; the constitution of the country and the capital of it, are his. The heavenly Jerusalem would correspond with the capital, this is ours; the general assembly and myriads of angels would be like the Congress; the assembly of the firstborn is the church, but as specially distinguished, like a group of persons might be in a nation. God is supreme, He is Judge of all, which would suggest supreme rule. Is that right?
FL I think so; I quite go with that.
JT The next question is, the kind of men who live in the country — the spirits of just men made perfect; and then we come to Jesus; you cannot find anyone to correspond with Him; someone who [p. 191] gives the lead to the whole community personally would be the idea of it, and that one making everything effective in the spirit of it.
CAM Joseph was to teach his senators wisdom in that connection.
JT Yes; Joseph would convey what was becoming in spirit. “The blood of sprinkling” would correspond with some testimony rendered involving the testifier’s death. It can be worked out in that way; whatever there is in the country, the citizen comes to the gain of it all.
FL Would you say that the eight features suggest we have come to a sphere of God which encompasses all things in heaven and earth? I thought the idea of eight was in connection with a new order of things. That is, seven would encompass the heavenly side, but the eight would also take in the world to come.
JT The whole thing.
FL In John 20 He came again on the eighth day.
JT That is very good. I think eight is the symbol employed in the working out of the thing from the heavenly side. The city represents all that is spiritually perfect. It should have a great effect upon the simple. Take a young believer that puts his hand out and commits himself to these things; you can tell him, all these are his.
FL Following up your figure, the magistrate who hands the citizenship papers to the newcomer opens up everything to him; the whole of the country is his, and he enters into it. So the evangelist, in a way, might well say to the new believer in the Lord Jesus that everything there is in the Lord Jesus and His sphere is open for him to enter.
AMcN Would you say, in speaking of the new citizen, that in becoming such he is a part of the country, and is now to be in harmony with the country, so we are to be in accord with the “spirits of just men made perfect”? Then, “Jesus, Mediator of a new covenant”, would the new covenant be like the constitution of the country?
JT I think it brings in the spirit that pervades everything. The constitution is, I judge, that everything is on the principle of sovereign mercy.
ANW The Spirit gives the moral element of mount Zion, and names the mount, does not that test us?
JT It would test the Jews, too. I think we Gentiles should particularly rejoice in mount Zion being placed at the beginning; we owe our position absolute to the sovereign mercy of God. Think of God knowing one from the outset! Why did He select me? There is nothing, in a way, that touches one more than that God thought of me, had me in His mind, and selected me. This should touch every cord in one’s heart. “His mercy endureth forever”, (Psalm 136:1) is the refrain of Psalm 136, and the note that David struck when the ark was brought back; 1 Chronicles 16: 34. This corresponds with Psalm 78:59 - 72; mount Zion and David are both selected in mercy.
JS It enhances mercy.
FL The naming of the mount here would suggest that there is only one mount Zion, but one suspects there is more than one mount in the character of mount Sinai. John Bunyan would show that we are ready enough to clothe other mountains with the same elements of locality, bondage, fear and dread. Mount Sinai is passed, but we are come to other mountains that have the same characteristics; in other words, to material things that bring us into spiritual bondage. The writer says, you have not come to such a mount.
AFM The Spirit is not mentioned here; we have God and Jesus. Underlying this system, of which we are speaking, the Holy Spirit is necessarily active in view of our being brought into the good and spirit of it all.
[p. 193] Ques Do you not think that the remnant that will be here in testimony after the church is taken away will come actually into that which we apprehend now morally?
JT Yes, they will in a literal way; we come to it in a much higher way, according to what it is spiritually. That is, we come to David, and even to Moses — “I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy”, Exodus 33:19. God will do that. He selects us, that is how mercy comes to us, and it lays the basis of a song, which rises from our hearts ever afterwards. “His mercy endureth forever”, Psalm 136:1.
ANW A Gentile finds his mount Zion in Romans. What I am wondering is, how do we discover what mount Zion is?
JT In Titus 3 it says, “According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour”, Titus 3:5. Anyone who has received that into his soul will sing. I was thinking of how little one sings. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord” (Exodus 15:1), and, “David delivered first this psalm ... Give thanks unto the Lord ... sing unto him ... his mercy endureth forever”, 1 Chronicles 16:34.
FL They did it at the laying of the foundation in Ezra 3.
CAM If the sons shouted for joy at the outset, it is not going to cease.
JT Just so.
Rem In speaking of mercy in that light, would that preserve us from being inflated by any little gift we might have? The Corinthians were inflated.
JT Quite.
AFM We get the extreme of things in Ephesians, “dead in your offences and sins”, (Ephesians 2:1) and then, “God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love”, Ephesians 2:4. We could not be in a worse plight than we were.
JT “Rich in mercy” and “great love” are found together there.
FL What about “outside the camp” and the “altar”?
AMcN Would you say that every Christian had a right to eat at this altar?
JT We have it. There are two short expressions which give character to this epistle, one is ‘We have’, and the other is ‘Let us’. In the former we are fully supplied with every requisite for a heavenly people. The latter suggests mutuality. “We have an altar of which they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle”; that would embrace all Christians.
CAM So while you have the thing, you come to it morally.
JT You must make use of the things to which you have come.
Ques Who are those people who have no right to eat?
JT Those that are all around us, who are connected with a material system. Christendom has gone back to material things; many in it shut themselves out from the spiritual altar that we have. Of course, there are real believers, but I speak of those who are characteristically of the systems.
FL They have no right, such are bastards and not sons.
AFM Would you say that chapter 13 is the great result of all that has gone before in the epistle, carried out practically in our lives here?
JT It is the public position of the saints.
ANW Would you think that 1 Corinthians 10 is the counterpart of this on the gentiles’ side, the writer refers to idolatry there?
JT It is the exposure of all those who serve the tabernacle; it is very solemn that there are so many involved. No doubt the writer referred to those who [p. 195] were identified with the temple system at Jerusalem, but now the thing has become very extended, the systems around have all gone back, more or less, to material things.
FL Is not that why he uses the figure of the tabernacle rather than the temple? They have reconstructed things, in a way, provisionally in Christendom, and the figure of the tabernacle is used. I suppose there is a reference here to Exodus 33, to the position that Moses took up outside the camp.
ANW Would you make the altar to go further than the Supper?
JT It is an allusion to the brazen altar in the court of the tabernacle, which was the centre of all the sacrifices in Israel. All the sacrifices would be offered there. Now we have an altar and it is an exclusive one.
CB And it is the only altar which gives pleasure to God.
CAM Would you say that this refers to the altar to which Jesus went?
JT Yes, it was outside.
AFM The eating of the altar here referred no doubt to the peace offering.
FL Historically Christ did suffer outside, did He not?
JT So the altar was there, He set it up.
CAM So that in going outside He puts a stamp of disapproval upon the religious system that was holding them.
JT He set up a new system.
WLP We have to come out of the camp to partake of the altar.
BTF What was on my mind was that the speaker in chapter 1 is connected with the speaker in chapter 12. God spoke in Son in chapter 1.
JT He is speaking from heaven in chapter 12. This thought of the outside position, and the altar [p. 196] set there in Christ, would present to us the idea of suffering; so that the word is, “therefore, let us go forth to him”.
AFM To take the outside place is the only thing for us to do.
JS That is, you expect suffering here.
JT Yes.
ANW It is striking how it is put here, He “suffered without the gate”.
JT The idea of sacrifice would have no meaning without suffering.
CAM All suffering was condensed, so to say, in His suffering, but the thing is expanded when it comes to the saints.
JT The sufferings of Christ afforded God the most wonderful theme. It says: “for of those beasts whose blood is carried as sacrifices for sin into the holy of holies by the high priest, of these the bodies are burned outside the camp. Wherefore also Jesus that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate”. How great those sufferings were!
FL The burning comes in, I suppose it has reference to the holy judgment of God that rested upon Him there. You cannot think lightly about it; there is an appeal in it to our affections. How can we go outside the camp unless our affections are moved?
CB Do you not think it would help us if we saw something of what it cost the Lord to sanctify us?
JT I am sure it would. How much is it accepted that our position is a suffering one?
AFM So that while it is a suffering position, there is the sacrifice of praise ascending to God. The Lord is supreme in praising as He was supreme in suffering.
JS All this involves moral movement outside the camp; it is “Let us go forth”.
Rem You accept the suffering in that way.
[p. 197] Ques What was the thought of sacrifice in connection with praise?
JT It is just a turn in the use of the word, I think. I was just remarking that if there be no acceptance of the sufferings there can be no praise, the one is the outcome of the other.
ANW Perhaps we might say that the measure of the one is the measure of the other.
FL It is a different thought from joy or exuberance. I was thinking of Paul and Silas when they were scourged; they prayed and sang praises. They were there in sacrifice and praise.
JT They were suffering, for their feet were fast in the stocks.
CAM So the thief on the cross as near to Jesus, was touched by His sufferings, and it caused him to say, “this man has done nothing amiss”, Luke 23:41. Possibly that would be a kind of praise, do not you think so?
JT Just so; what he said was more than a remark; his heart was touched; he said, “we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this Man hath done nothing amiss”, Luke 23:41. I am sure it was unspeakably refreshing to the Lord at that moment.
DMR Do you not think that if we were in the good of our position in the heavenly constitution, it would give us the ability to go forth to Him without the camp, and in doing so we should have spiritual power to praise Him?
JT Quite. I was struck in reading Mark of late, that in chapter 9 the Lord taught His disciples that He must suffer. It is one thing to be told a thing, another to be taught it.
FL The reference to the thief reduces things to the simplest elements. The chastening produced a condition of spirit in which he sees the Lord, and owns Him as such; and the Lord acknowledges it, takes it up and gives him a place with Him in Paradise.
[p. 198] How simple — a dying thief, at the moment of his death (under affliction and chastening, even though it be the result of his own deeds) sees the Lord!
JS His vision was wonderfully clarified at that moment.
ANW Will you say a little more about teaching?
JT Teaching is a gift; it is not everyone that can teach. You may inform a person, anyone, about a thing, but to teach it is another matter. The Lord taught and no doubt there are those who are qualified to do it today.
ANW You mean the Lord can control the soul?
JT The one gifted conveys the thing in such wise that it enters the mind.
ANW We need to get at what He teaches subjectively.
JT The Lord would bring into our minds what His suffering really meant. We know that being nailed to a gibbet meant terrible physical suffering; but “the sufferings of Christ” (1 Peter 1:11) have to be taught us; they are spiritual in character.
JS So that as taught them, they would be fixed in our minds.
JT What is worthy of note is that He taught them in Mark 9 that He must suffer; and He details the sufferings in the next chapter; see verses 32 - 34.
CAM Do you infer that man can teach those sufferings now?
JT I was only referring to the word ‘teaching’; it is not simply information. Mark tells us that He taught the disciples that He must suffer; and here, I suppose, we get part of that teaching He suffered without the gate.
JS Does it involve that those who are taught would take the same way?
JT I think if you value the teaching you will do so.
AFM I was thinking of Luke 24: 45: “he [p. 199] opened their understanding to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Christ to suffer”, (Luke 24:45) that is on the same line of teaching.
JT Yes. The Spirit of Christ in the prophets of old “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should follow”, 1 Peter 1:11. What those prophets wrote the disciples now understood.
Ques Would you say something about confessing His name?
JT It is connected with the sacrifice of praise; then we have, “of doing good and communicating of your substance”, and so on. All these points at the end of the chapter require close attention. There is one very interesting thing at the end: “know that our brother Timotheus is set at liberty”.
JS What is the moral significance of its coming at the end?
DMR It would rightly come in at the end, would it not?
JT Yes — he is a liberated brother. One was thinking of how many of our brethren have been in bondage, and it is a source of refreshment to know that the Lord has come in and released them.
JEH You are speaking in the past tense, is not the releasing going on still?
JT I think that what marks the present time is the liberation of the brethren.
ANW We get, “with whom also I will see you”.
FL I think we find the liberated brethren in England, Australia and in every place.
JT It is very nice that the writer could so speak, that he would come with a liberated brother.
CB Is that for general encouragement?
JT It is.
[p. 200] Pages 200 - 292 — Readings and Addresses at Indianapolis, 1924 (Volume 62).