“SO ALSO IS THE CHRIST”
J. A. Petersen
Genesis 5: 1–5; 1 Corinthians 12: 12, 13
I felt it right to add a word to what has already been said by our brother as to the name of Jesus. It is right to ‘add’, as David said to Solomon, “and thou shalt add to it”, 1 Chronicles 22: 14. Solomon in that way would give a certain fulness to what David had given to the house. Again, in the Acts, “the Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved”, Acts 2: 47. This would refer to the personnel and it would be the exercise here and in other localities that the Lord might add—add persons to be with us in the truth. We should look for this. In early Acts it was not a question of anything being added to the assembly in an essential way, for all was there in that the Holy Spirit had come. In this sense nothing was added; but what is referred to is persons being added.
What is in mind in the passages read is to add something to what our brother has said as to the name of Jesus. In John 9 the blind man speaks of “a man called Jesus”, showing that he was coming into accord with heaven as to that Man. Genesis 5 would help us to see something further involving mystery, that is, the Spirit speaks of Adam and Eve as “them” and God “called their name Adam”. That is, the woman is included in the name given to Adam. “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created”. What is current in christendom generally is something of the Man (and we thank God for all that is rightly said of Him), but little or nothing is understood of the assembly. What is next Christ’s heart is the assembly, and as we are near Him we shall soon discover what His interests are, as Exodus shows—“I love my master, my wife, and my children”, Exodus 21: 5. If we go into a brother’s home we find what is next to his heart, that is, his wife, and his children. So, as to Christ and the assembly, the hymn says, ‘Upon His throne, in glory bright, the bride of Christ shall be’. In the recent three-day meetings here we were helped by our brother Mr. Hammond to see that the assembly has, and ever will have, the nearest place of all the families to divine Persons.
We should ponder the meaning of the Spirit of God in the way He speaks in Genesis 5, including the woman with the man in the name given, “and called their name Adam”.
Brethren will recall that the prophet Isaiah speaks of seven women who say to one man, “only let us be called by thy name” (Isaiah 4: 1). They say, “Take away our reproach”, meaning, I take it, that the believer is in reproach before his enemies and before God unless he has the name of that Man on him. “And, by faith in his name, his name has made this man strong” (Acts 3: 16): thus Peter silenced the enemies as to what had transpired with the lame man. He adds later, “And salvation is in none other, for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4: 12). What protection, what salvation and what deliverance!—“The name of the God of Jacob protect thee”, Psalm 20: 1. The reference in Genesis 5, however, involves mystery and the secret side as to the name, and we have to understand it through Paul’s ministry as to Christ and the assembly.
The passage in 1 Corinthians 12 involves the mysterious side in our links with Christ as in the body, involving the operations of the Holy Spirit. We have been helped in ministry to understand this expression, “so also is the Christ”. It is the anointed position, involving ourselves as included in the body. As we have been taught, it is His body—that is, Christ over again as seen in the saints. Think of being included in this thought, “so also is the Christ”. It is not just Christ by Himself but also Christ as in, and seen in, His saints in the body. “But all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ”. I think we should ponder how the thought of the name, in this way, extends to the saints. Thus we see, as in the Acts, that publicly that name gives us protection, salvation, power, and deliverance, and then in this mysterious and secret way we also have our link with Christ, “so also is the Christ”.
May the Lord bless the word.
Word at a meeting for ministry, Plainfield, N.J.
8 April 1975