THE SAINTS AS MATERIAL FOR THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 99] THE SAINTS AS MATERIAL FOR THE ASSEMBLY
1 Peter 1:17 - 25; 1 Peter 2:1 - 8
JT The idea of assembly material, as most of us know, is precisely stated by the Lord, and is much in view in Matthew 16, He Himself taking His part in it as the foundation and Peter representing the material for building up, from the divine side. This section of Scripture which is written by Peter has in mind how we reach experimentally the thought in ourselves, each becoming practically material or living stones. We begin with the Father whom we are said to invoke here. I think we shall reach step by step leading to the thought of material. The thoughts to be considered in the section are features we take on, that is, He who is invoked as Father is to be feared by us here, as in the place of sojourn, that is the world viewed in that way. Then redemption, the way by which it is effected, and what it is as seen in this section, that is, from the vain conversation handed down. Then the purification of our souls as we have it: “Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently”. Then we are born again by the living and abiding word of God, then the injunction to lay aside certain things of the flesh and by the mental milk growing up to salvation so that we reach the thought of a living stone, “To whom coming”, and that we as coming are living stones and being built up. These several items of truth I think we can profitably consider in themselves all leading up to the idea of assembly material.
AN Do we get an ascending thought, illustrated in the case of the queen of Sheba — she went to Solomon and saw the steps by which he went up to the [p. 100] house of Jehovah? It is really the house of God here that is in view, is it not?
JT Quite so, it is as an ascending thought the idea is reached, as also in the book of Psalms, the Songs of degrees, ascending to the house. It is an elevated thought; the idea of the house in Scripture is suggestive of it: it is elevated; it is said to be on the top of the mountain, that is, it is above the level of ordinary religion, which, as it is spoken of, I think is seen in the “vain conversation”, not only what has to be laid aside, but what we have to be redeemed from. It is so important, because it disputes the rights of God regarding His people and is manifestly the ordinary worldly religion, an urgent matter, for they have to be redeemed from it, namely, from the “vain conversation handed down from your fathers”.
AMH Is the object of this ascent to the house in this way that there might be nothing corruptible there, but that all might be fitted in to the house?
JT Well, it would seem so, to reach tier after tier, as it were, on the journey up. We see what is really left behind, and there is a clearer view the higher morally we go.
WT Does the “vain conversation” refer to the Jewish system?
JT Yes, I think so, there is nothing more beclouding than current religion that is handed down; there is the idea of tradition handed down; it is not come down but is deliberately handed down. It is not simply what is handed down casually, but handed down to one generation after another, who pass it on, adding to it perhaps and darkening it, so that the people of God need to be redeemed from it, not only delivered; it so disputes the rights of God in His people.
GS Would the fathers in that way be in contrast to the One we invoke as Father? The tradition of [p. 101] the fathers is in contrast to all that has come to us by revelation.
JT Just so, it is what is handed down from the fathers; it seems that is why it is not only a question of their fathers, but on the traditional lines such as we get now in current religion, what is handed down from the fathers; not that they would perhaps recognise what is accredited to them in many ways, but it is being added to. The handing down is a cumulative thought, that is what the generation of the Lord has to do with. It calls for deliverance as Peter said in Acts 2:40, “Be saved from this perverse generation”.
WT How would that thought apply to us today?
JT Well, it applies to us as we are saying, in what is handed down. What is to be received and enjoyed is not handed down; but that which comes down is by the Spirit, it is carried down, it is not handed from one to another, it is carried down; the thing that we have is by the Spirit and we know that there is continuity. The cumulative teaching is not in the form of handing down; Peter thanks God there is that, but it is not in the form of tradition; it is brought down by the Spirit. The Lord says of the Spirit, “the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you” (John 14:26). “He shall teach you all things”, so there is the idea of the things being brought down by the Spirit.
AN Invoking God as Father is the first step you speak of. Do you think it indicates that the Holy Spirit promotes happy relations with God so that we go to Him as Father?
JT Yes, I think Father represents the dispensation in the sense of grace; although judgment is alluded to here, He who is Father judges, as Peter says, “If ye invoke as Father him who, without [p. 102] regard of persons, judges according to the work of each”. I think the Father is the thought which represents the dispensation characteristically; that is, it refers to grace, what it is set up in, “so also grace might reign through righteousness” (Romans 5:21); judgment would have that in mind. There it is the question of the discipline of God largely; but the Father represents grace.
AN The principle as to that would be set forth in Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2). The nearer you come to God the more you come to know what He is.
JT Quite so; “Knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver or gold ... but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ”. The preciousness of the redemption price is stressed here in view of what christians had to be delivered from. There is a certain analogy today in the ways of God: the saints have to be delivered from accredited religion because it disputes the rights of God. That is a point I think of importance even if the thing is handed down. Anything that is handed down beclouds us and disputes the rights of God.
GS Would “Foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world” be in contrast to the tradition of the fathers?
JT Well, quite so, it carries us beyond it; they are not considered in the matter.
WTE Job’s answer to Bildad who had said, “Inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and attend to the researches of their fathers”, seems to be on this line. Job replied, “Of a truth I know it is so; but how can man be just with God?” (Job 8:8; Job 9:2).
JT The thought of this man is what they have. He was not concerned with the side where God was working; he would say ‘We are not concerned as to that’; the practical lesson is to be cleared of all that, in order to be suited material. The point is to be cleared of all that is handed down. If it is handed down from past history, however distant, it beclouds us. The Spirit is the power that brings things to our remembrance; the Lord says, He “will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you” (John 14:26). He will clear our minds of all that is handed down. It is by the Spirit really that we come into the assembly and have part in it.
GCG Would that make way in our hearts for taking in all that the thought of the “preciousness” is applied to?
JT Yes. It must be by the Spirit; we have much in good books, and of course, vast ministry that must be considered, but whatever is to affect us must be in the Spirit; the Spirit is the power. He “will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you”. The Lord, of course, referred to what He had taught the disciples, but then all ministry is what He says and it is the Spirit who brings it to us. A right understanding of past ministry is by the Spirit and not by what is handed down, not by tradition, but what the Spirit brings. We want the pure thing, and in John 14 the Lord speaks about the Spirit; He begins at verse 15 to speak about the Spirit viewed in His personality, having in mind as He proceeds, in what He says after verse 21, that there would be a change from pristine conditions; that is, the time would come when love to Him would be attested by keeping His commandments and keeping His word; those who did not love Him would not keep His word; and then He goes on to say the Father would send the Spirit in His name, a very remarkable thing. He Himself sends the Spirit (chapter 15:26), “whom I will send to you from the Father”, but in chapter 14 {104} it is the Father who sends “the Comforter, the Holy Spirit”, in His name, and as come He would exercise the function of bringing to remembrance all the things the Lord had said, and “shall teach you all things”. That really is the position, and it is on these lines that we reach the idea of assembly material. What is merely “handed down” whether it be immediate or distant, whatever it be, if on the principle of tradition, is not trustworthy and we immediately reject it.
Ques Is that why it is important to “hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”?
JT That is the idea exactly. We have authority in what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He speaks to each of the assemblies, and keeps on saying things, that is the thought.
JHT The idea is in Acts 11, Peter tells those of the circumcision who contended with him as to what had been handed down “I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptised with water”; Peter called attention to how the Lord said it.
JT Yes, quite so; you are speaking about what the Lord said, and Peter remembered it. I think he would be trying to direct those of the circumcision from what had been handed down, in that he now says “I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said”. Another beautiful word of confirmation is what Paul said in Acts 20 to the elders of Ephesus, “and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”. We do not find it actually stated anywhere else, but it is carried down by the Spirit.
AN Would what the Lord says in Matthew 5:20,21, referring to what is handed down, “Ye have heard that it was said to the ancients”, contrast with “But I say unto you”? That is, the Lord had something fresh to give.
[p. 105] JT Well, I think that is on the lines on which the Lord is delivering His people now from vain conversation handed down. I am sure it is a thing that beclouds, and most of our brethren in the systems are held by it; it is not simply that it is wrong, but it disputes the rights of God over His people and the great thought of redemption is applied to it. “Ye have been redeemed ... from your vain conversation handed down”. We are redeemed from it; the rights of God are in question, so the thought of redemption is brought in; that is what it cost. There are those who profess to know the Lord Jesus but they stay in this most darkened condition of things; we have to be redeemed from it. Peter says we are redeemed from it. It is not only that redemption delivers us from wrath to come; it does, but it also delivers us from “vain conversation handed down”.
PGT That teaching is prevalent now in christendom with its traditions.
JT It is really what characterises, you might say, the whole of christendom; public christianity, and it disputes the rights of God in His people, so much so, that redemption is applied to it here; that is what is meant: “Knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation handed down from your fathers, but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ”. If our brethren in the various traditional systems affected by this darkening teaching were to see this, would take this in, it would deliver them from it because it is disputing the rights of God.
Ques Would it help to connect this question of the rights of God with Isaiah 43:7, “Every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory: I have formed him, yea, I have made him”?
JT Quite so.
Ques Would you say what the Spirit presents is in His living word, but what is handed down is of death?
JT Well, I think that is how it is looked upon; it is of death and it disputes God’s rights with His people, so much so, that the actual thought of redemption is applied; so we are to be redeemed from it; it has cost the death of Christ to deliver from it.
Ques Is redemption to be a constant thing with us?
JT Well, we need to be delivered from things handed down. If we are held by anything that is handed down, any past events, any historical matters amongst brethren even, that are handed down, we have to look into them and see whether they are not darkening the mind, because if they are affecting me, I am, to that extent, disqualified as assembly material. So much has happened and we are affected by historical things; they may not be historical really if they are tested, but there is the danger of things handed down darkening our minds and interfering with us as assembly material. What the apostle handed down was by the Spirit.
Ques 1 John 1:3 says, “That which we have seen and heard we report to you”. Is it in teaching that the Spirit of God takes up that report and passes it on to us now?
JT Well, what they had has been brought down to us by the Spirit through His servants, and by the Spirit we get the gain of it today. The Spirit here as the Paraclete, as the Comforter, has charge of these matters, so that Peter goes on to say “Who by him do believe on God”, having said that He is “foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but who has been manifested at the end of times for your sakes, who by him do believe on God”. That is by Christ we believe [p. 107] on God.
PGT Does it lead up to what we get in the second epistle, “for he with whom these things are not present is blind, short-sighted” (chapter 1:9)?
JT Well, as to those things that are mentioned in the second epistle, the aim, I believe, is to show that what we come into in christianity is by substantial means. The things are substantial, so that we have a list of substantial things; for instance, we begin to get things, as it says, who “have received like precious faith with us through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ”; that is, we receive faith through righteousness, one thing by another thing, and then he goes on, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God”, another thing; and again, “As his divine power”, another thing; “His divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us by glory and virtue”, two things; and then we have, as you see, further things that we come down to in addition, where we add one thing to another ourselves, and having added these things, they exist and abound in us. It is those who fail to add these things in a substantial way that are blind. I mention that just to help here. How substantial the things are that we are dealing with! How Peter brings them in here! He says that the faith, your faith is by Christ, “Who by him do believe on God”; that He is the instrument. It is not faith in Him, but by Him, “Who by him do believe on God, who has raised him from among the dead and given him glory, that your faith and hope should be in God”. That is the Lord is viewed here entirely from the mediatorial side and even as regards our faith, we get it by Him and by Him we believe on God. The next idea in mind is the purifying of our souls, “Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently”. That is what we have done, if we are real christians, we have purified our souls.
Ques Would these instructions in Peter’s epistle fit in with the chapters in Matthew leading up to chapter 16, the traditions of the scribes and Pharisees, and learning the resources in Christ as the One who can meet them?
JT I have no doubt you could work them out; you certainly get tradition in that section; it would be an interesting enquiry to look into it.
Rem I was thinking perhaps the writer had in mind the occasion of the Lord maintaining him on the water in going to Him outside the boat.
JT Verse 21 suggests first the mediatorial service of Christ, and verse 22 that we do something; that is the growth of our souls is involved and we have our part, “Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently”. Then we have a further thought that we cannot apply to our doing, “Being born again”, note that, “by the living and abiding word of God”.
Ques What is the suggestion of purifying our souls, would you help a little upon it in relation to the thought of being fit material for the assembly?
JT Well, we have the word ‘soul’ several times in the epistle; it is a sort of key word and deals with what we are really, as you might say. It is to make us practical men and women with affections; what we are inwardly, the thought of one another receiving “the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls” referred to in verse 9. That is what is in mind in this great epistle dealing with the government of God. Believers are viewed in this way. The word is several times used and I think it is to make us practical in our affections. The word ‘soul’, I think, covers the affections, not simply the upper ones but the lower affections. We have spirit, soul and body;
[p. 109] well, evidently the soul is the middle thought, between the spirit and the body. The spirit connects me directly with God, and the soul is the intermediate thought that is inclusive of all those affections that work out manward. We have to be purified because we are so often governed by personal feelings. Our souls need to be revived, or purified, “to unfeigned brotherly love”, and hence the exhortation is, “Love one another out of a pure heart fervently”, not a pure soul, but a pure heart, because the heart is the more dignified organ, as involving intelligence, so that I think the idea is that we are brought in practically in relation to one another, leading up to the idea of assembly material. I can never think of being in the assembly unless I respect the brethren and love them. If I cannot respect them then I cannot love them and thus I am not assembly material.
WT Is that made possible by being born again “by the living and abiding word of God”?
JT Yes, the basis of it is we are “born again”. Now we come to nature, what we are as “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the living and abiding word of God”; abiding brings in what we are, not simply born again as in John 3, but the intelligent side of our position; it is by the word of God which lives and abides. I know that I belong to the family of God, not only that I have got acceptance, but I have intelligence about my position; I know where I am by the word of God; it lives and abides, it is a continuous thing, it is not something that we can look back to but it is a continuous thought.
PGT Does that make a clean cut between us and the world, the systems that we have been accustomed to associate ourselves with?
JT Well, being born again by the word of God is what you might call a radical thought. I love; I know what I am doing; I am born again by the word of God, “by the living and abiding word of God”; it is the key really. I know where I am. I know what I am doing. I know why I love the brethren. I have many reasons for loving the brethren, and it is because of the intelligence that the word imparts to my inner being.
FH Is that seen in the woman in John 4, she was redeemed from the vain tradition of the fathers? The first step was, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain”; the second, by whom she believed on God; the third is the purifying of her soul, she went to the men of the city; and the fourth, “Is not he the Christ?”.
JT That is good, that helps. She said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain”. The Lord says as regards that, “The hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth”. This matter of love is to be noted particularly, it is the purifying of the soul, that is, I am free of mere natural affections. I love the brethren fervently, as it says, with a pure heart, and as obedient to the truth: “By obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently”. The purification of the soul, I think, tends to clear us from personal feelings and preferences and brings the heart into the matter, which is a suggestion of intelligence as to love. We have “the eyes of your heart” mentioned in Ephesians; it is a suggestion of intelligence as to love. I love as being born by the word of God; the word of God confirms that; it sets me up in it. I know why I love the brethren, they are worth loving and I know they are.
Ques Would “obedience to the truth” suggest an essential foundation or basis for this broadening out?
JT You see that obedience to the truth must enter into this matter. The truth is a great regulating [p. 111] thought always. You see how this is all leading up to the matter of my wanting to be in fellowship with the brethren; this is the road to it.
Ques I was wondering in John 8, when the Lord says, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”, if that is what is in view, what the Lord was going to disclose?
JT Quite so, that is a great regulating thought, and so Peter in chapter 2 deals in a deliberate way with things that we may be allowing in our souls whilst accepting the thought of purification of soul. Anything such as “all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings”, so that we come to the thought, “As newborn babes desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word”. That is, I now see my position, and my mind is to be governed, to be fed by pure mental milk as this is: what would support the mind. We are so liable and so ready to give way to this or that influence.
Rem The laying aside of things seems to suggest a definite act.
JT Yes it does; laying it aside is better than handing it down. Then tasting “that the Lord is good”, so that the Lord has His place now in goodness, and the thought of material comes up, “To whom coming”.
WT Are these contributive to the salvation we grow up to?
JT Well, quite so, I have to be delivered from all these elements, and as delivered one is free, that “ye may grow up to salvation”; you see it is growth, it is progressive, so that one is free.
AS Are these things to be worked out in localities?
JT I think so, Peter is really working after Paul’s line of things and this second chapter would apply to any local company, what they were in themselves. They are “living stones”, they are “a holy priesthood”. This really marks the first epistle to the Corinthians; it is what the local assembly is as self-contained, so to speak; it belongs to the universal fellowship but it is each local assembly that is to understand what it has and what it is. We were speaking recently of the furnishings of the local company, what they were, “The temple of God”, and then “Christ’s body”. Now Peter is dealing with Jewish christians, but he has really reached the same idea, that they are rendered independent of judaism by this teaching; they are set up in this. They were dispersed abroad and were suffering under the government of God as Jews. They were really coming into the truth of christianity and they are to be delivered from these traditional things.
Rem The Corinthians were set up in this by the truth of christianity. That is what he is aiming at.
JT That is the idea, we really cannot be in the assembly otherwise, we can see the force of it. The Jewish believers come into the truth of christianity and are to be delivered from what is handed down, from what is traditional.
GS Peter is the exemplification of his own ministry. Paul withstood him to the face and then, in “obedience to the truth”, Peter speaks of him as “our beloved brother Paul” (2 Peter 3:15).
JT He came to the truth of “unfeigned brotherly love”; he loved Paul. If he had been governed by tradition he would not have loved Paul. There were those who did not love Paul.
GM Does “the pure mental milk of the word” stand in contrast to the “vain conversation” which had to be laid aside?
JT I think so. The pure mental milk of the word supports your mind in regard of all these things, because christianity in one’s soul is hardly ever historic, it is what is present, and one has to be sustained. We are to be sustained in what we begin [p. 113] with. Some of us were speaking about God being historical, which is right; or God viewed as in Deity; a historical God is right to a point, but “Him who is” is not historical: God is present; He is a present God, and it is God known now in my soul and referring backward and forward. It is a present God that is the idea of christianity, and if my mind is to be maintained in what I have come into by faith I must have the pure mental milk of the word to help me so as to be maintained in the mind in relation to God.
GM This is not milk in the sense that Paul speaks about it to the Corinthians, is it?
JT Well, I think it is akin to that, but the words ‘mental’ and ‘milk’ are striking here; it is the taste he is speaking of. It is the keen taste of a babe, not simply that they were that, but the keen taste and feelings of what belongs to a babe are to be maintained.
Ques Would that stand in contrast to what he says is to be laid aside; there could not be the desire for this mental word if these are not laid aside?
JT These things are laid aside; it is putting them down, that is an act of the hand. It is not handing them down, because we may hand things down that happened years back, carry them down here now with real darkness to the soul. It is the present thing; that is the point; it is now the pure mental milk of the word that sustains me, so it is a present God; it is God as He is Himself. A historical God is the One who has done things, but we have to do with Him who said “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
PGT He sends Moses saying “I AM THAT I AM”, not ‘I was the God of Abraham’, but “I AM”.
JT Well now, we come as grown up to salvation. I do not question the brethren, I do not complain about the brethren, I am saved, I am free, I have come to Christ, “To whom coming”. I do not come [p. 114] to the brethren, I love them, I come to Christ; now this is a question of where He is, He must be somewhere and I come to Him.
Ques Are you giving it a local bearing now?
JT Well, it is a practical thing; I am free now and the order is, “To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious, yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house”. The position is that He is rejected, current religion has rejected Him.
Rem You come to Him as a living stone and you find other living stones.
JT Yes, and then we “are being built up”; it is continuous.
Ques Do we have here stones perfectly prepared to be set down in their place in relation to others?
JT That is the idea; it is free from all incongruous things; it is on this line that we are really in the assembly. Thus I am free from all incongruous things, free from all that would interfere with the working of love, “being built up a spiritual house”.
Ques Do you link this up with Matthew 16 at this point, material being suitable for building in?
JT Quite so, it leads up to it. The treatment that the Lord received from the builders, that is, those who went on with traditional things, the treatment He received is the test now, so that it says “Cast away indeed as worthless by men”.
JHT Does 1 Kings 6:7 help in what you are speaking of? “And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone entirely made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was being built”. The stone squaring and the quarry work had been going on; there was no noise heard; they were all prepared before.
JT I had been thinking of [p. 115] that passage.
JHT Do you think reference to the stones in 1 Kings 5:17 would help, “They brought great stones, costly stones, hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the house”?
JT Great stones, that is wonderful, costly stones. I suppose great stones would apply to ourselves and would connect us with the thought of God about us. One belongs to the structure, and if so I will fit. Costly stones refers to redemption, it is what they cost.
Ques Do you think the stone in its place would correspond to a person really coming into fellowship?
JT That is the idea; that one is clear, one does not make demands, one belongs to the structure; he is in line with what is there and if he is he will fit. Attention is called to great stones. That does not include any historical thing in me at all, what I am after the flesh. We may refer back to things, it does not refer to that at all; it refers to me in God’s mind, that is to say, I am clothed with that. Costly stones is what I cost, that is what redemption is, and then hewn stones, that is the work expended upon us, apostolic labour for instance, skilled labour expended upon us; the work of the Spirit of God is in mind in all that precedes what we are speaking of so that I fit in; hewn would mean that I am made to fit.
Rem I wondered if we have a further idea in Paul. It is said of him, “God, who set me apart even from my mother’s womb”, and as costly, “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me” (Galatians 1:15; Galatians 2:20), and then going into Antioch and coming into discipline, would that be the hewn stone fitting in at Antioch with the brethren, would that be the building in?
JT Quite so.
Ques Are the living stones here apart from any exercise on our part? Or is it a result of that?
[p. 116] JT Well, I think the exercise goes with it; it rests with each. We notice, “Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth”, and we noticed laying aside things — not handing things down but laying them aside; and then the taste that you have, the taste for divine things as a new-born babe. What is your taste? The mental thing; that puts out all bad reading; it is mental milk and supports my mind, so that unless that is with us practically, we cannot, so to speak, be included in the priesthood, nor are we. “To whom coming, a living stone”, ye are “being built up”, that is, I fit in. I do not call to the brethren to take me in, nor do I say to them that I have a right; you see that does not fit: I am to fit in and be built in.
Ques Does Colossians help on these lines? Onesimus, “who is one of you” (chapter 4:9).
JT Quite so, “One of you”; or again in 1 Corinthians 1:30 we have, “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus”, that is, of God. We fit in, we are of a kind, and fit; there are no incongruous elements built in or attaching to us; that would only be continuing the confusion. For the material, we want to fit in.
AMH “To whom coming”. It is what is precious to God here. I was thinking of the salvation of which you have been speaking, and even what we have been taught, and may have been practised by us, but now as free through the mental milk of the word, we have entirely different tastes, and power to appreciate Christ and appreciate God so that we fit in in affection.
JT Coming to Him as rejected, the position is clear: I am rejected. The position is now that there are no incongruous elements attaching to me, I am done with them, I fit in, I am built up; and then we have the “spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. We have part in the service of God.
[p. 117] PGT Is it the same as going “forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach” (Hebrews 13:13).
JT Well, it is to that extent going forth to Him; that is also in Exodus, and we have sacrifices there too, but here we are led up, I think, to Paul’s doctrine. Jewish christians are brought in and they fit in to any of Paul’s assemblies on these lines.
Rem The traditional builders could not find a place for Christ, but you suggest that God has begun now; the corner stone is there, and everything is going to be built up in connection with that new system.
JT It is very fine, I think, as connecting that with Matthew 16, for God has laid in Zion a corner stone. “Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious”. God has done that.
AMH Do you think the way the Lord waits for Peter is at all suggestive of how He waits upon us? “Thou art Peter”. Is there not something similar amongst ourselves if we lend ourselves more to His handling?
JT I was thinking how much there is to be done. Conversion is only a starting point, and as each one knows, there is practical searching and laying aside of things that would hinder the flow of affections; they have to be untrammelled; He loves to have our affections now, and, these being there, He can fit in the affections of one with another. If our affections are restricted we are on that account isolated. That word ‘handling’ is very beautiful; handling one another. How the Lord handled Peter! How before He died He looked at him! He turned and looked at him as having denied Him, “And Peter, going forth without, wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62). How perfect was His handling of Peter! So that the stone is fitted; he is a great stone, a costly stone, a hewn stone; he is [p. 118] fitted.
FI I suppose in what you say in regard to Peter, who said here, “If indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good”, that he therefore comes in with us in the Lord’s handling.
JT This is a great matter, much more than perhaps we think; it underlies all our meetings and our movements together; it is the kind of taste we have.
WT Would this bring us into the spiritual region and regulate the movements of the brethren?
JT We have a spiritual house, living stones, and spiritual sacrifices.
AN What you have been speaking of would work out in Moab’s taste (Jeremiah 48:11). It “remained in him”, but Ephraim’s taste becomes so different that he says (Hosea 14:8), “What have I to do any more with idols?”. His taste is changed completely.
GF Is it on account of the fact that Moab was not “emptied from vessel to vessel” that his taste remained in him?
JT Discipline changes our taste until we come to what is spiritual, and it underlies all our meetings. How do we come? We have the right taste for divine things; mental milk is important, it feeds the mind, it saves us from ordinary light reading and things that damage us; the mental milk of the word sustains the mind.
AMH We would not allow anything to hinder; we have tasted that the Lord is good, the senses are exercised and we know good, and anything outside of this is liable to draw us away.
JT How good the Lord was in His service to Peter! I suppose he could take it up and pursue it, the man who could write this epistle, the apostle Peter, whose sincere ministry serves to illustrate how the truth had affected him; some of it exposed him, his own book exposed him! So here we have a man whom the Lord has taken up and fitted so that he [p. 119] can furnish us with these instructions; he is a great stone, a costly stone, a hewn stone, and he would bring us all to that.
WTE Is that the end of Peter in chapter 1:24, in that “all flesh is as grass”?
JT Well, exactly, that is the end of flesh.