THE WORD OF THE CROSS
THE WORD OF THE CROSS
1 Corinthians 1:18; Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6; Ephesians 2:16; Revelation 11:8
JT Many other passages may come under review but the scriptures read cover the subject. The teaching of the word of the cross in 1 Corinthians 1 is to them that perish foolishness, not the cross in a literal sense which is used in certain religious circles, but the word of it, meaning that which God has furnished to open up the truth or bearing of it to us, what it means — what it discloses, namely, that our old man has been crucified with Christ; the Lord may help us to understand what that is. Romans helps us as to the word of righteousness, also it has to do with the word of the cross, it unfolds the significance of the crucifixion of our old man. The Galatians were furnished with part of the teaching of the word of the cross, in that the one who brought it to them — Paul — speaks there of his own view of the matter, how it affected him. It is important in service to see how the truth affects the one who presents it. Ephesians furnishes the word of the cross in an extensive sense, and shows how both Jew and gentile are reconciled in one body — it is collective. Revelation gives us a further word in regard to the two witnesses; it is a matter of witness, we are made a spectacle and may expect it where our Lord was crucified. However small a town or city may be, it takes on that character; it is where we are, where we break bread and carry out the truth collectively; it is where our Lord was crucified, the kind of place, the external surroundings of the crucifixion. Every [p. 2] feature of the truth was laid hold of by Paul, not only in his knowledge, but in his experience; he would have us know something of his knowledge, but particularly of the word of the cross, the experience of it. The experience of the thing would enable us to present it in power; nothing affects us as the cross does, the carrying of it out.
HW It is important for this to enter into our souls.
JT Yes, it is a root matter. The word of the cross deals with the roots of evil, it deals with our pride and our aspirations and with the meanness of our old man. How mean we are in thoughts as we give way to our old man! We know what our old man is capable of, and as we judge him the word of the cross becomes valuable. It shows how we get rid of him in the faith of our souls and the word makes the thing intelligible to us.
LM “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24).
JT That is a good scripture. Galatians helps us more than any other scripture in regard to the word of the cross. Paul tells us of his own view of it and of certain persons who belong to the Christ, they that are Christ’s. Every christian is His in a sense, His by purchase, but are we all His in a characteristic way? They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, they have done it themselves, with its affections and lusts. It would mean they thoroughly judged these things. Have we crucified the flesh and thoroughly judged it? The result is complete deliverance, first from our old man and then in detail from the flesh, which is the idea of the concentrated power of evil. The flesh is really dealt with more effectively in circumcision: “They that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts”. We arrive first at the judgment of the thing in a general way — our old man — then our experience comes [p. 3] in and we no longer live, Christ has displaced self. Paul had reached that in his experience, and making it an individual matter says, “I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me”. What he was is there; by faith one no longer lives but Christ is one’s life instead of oneself.
Ques Why do you give the Corinthian side first?
JT Because we get there the word of the cross; without the word the thing is not of much value, the word of a thing makes it intelligible to you. We get the essence of a thing first, then the word is what opens it up to your mind, the teaching of it. The word searches you out inwardly, and brings it to bear on you in the full scope of it in all the roots of your being. We get the bearing of it on oneself, what it involves, what it is to me; first we get our old man, then oneself, then the affections and lusts of the flesh. We are slow to lay hold of the utter meanness of our old man, the one that marked us.
Ques Why does the apostle bring in the glad tidings here?
JT If you seek in ministry or teaching to make an impression by wisdom of words, it would defeat its own object, it would defeat the truth of the cross, it would becloud it, but the word of the cross is different, it is God’s way of stressing the truth of it, not in wisdom of words. Paul is alluding to the great skill of the Greeks, their eloquence in the use of words; it is thought much of today but it is of no value in the things of God; there it is by demonstration of the Spirit and of power — it must be by the Spirit.
B What is the idea of perishing — “to them that perish”?
JT It is a strong word, there are those that perish, they are characteristic persons — a class of that kind who look upon the cross as foolishness. There are those who are lost too; their eyes are [p. 4] blinded by the god of this world. Some are spoken of as those that perish and others those that are lost, but to us who are saved the cross is God’s power. Those who are saved are a class too but to those saved the cross is not foolishness, it is the power of God.
Ques Would you distinguish between perishing and lost?
JT There is not much distinction in the result. We get the thought of perishing in John’s gospel. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish” (John 3:16). The allusion is to what happened in the wilderness to Israel: through their self-will their, carcases fell in the wilderness. Instead of going through in life one perishes; it is a very humiliating thought. The thought of carcases as attached to men is very humiliating; their carcases fell — they were graves of lust. ‘Lost’ carries with it a state, what we were to God — lost to Him. God classifies certain ones thus — “Our gospel ... is hid to them that are lost”. They are exposed to the blinding influence of the devil; they are blinded by him; he has got them.
HW We read of enemies of the cross of Christ in Philippians.
JT Yes, the cross is a scandal. Many nominal christians are enemies of the cross of Christ.
H Would perishing apply to believers?
JT No, we are speaking of classes of persons; we are speaking in a characteristic way.
H I was thinking of the carcases that fell in the wilderness.
JT They are not types of christians characteristically. We are speaking here of characteristic persons. It is another matter, it is a solemn thing, if a christian does not care for the teaching of the cross, if it cuts too much on his natural tendency, and it is well to remember that he is bordering on that class.
[p. 5] It is a solemn thing if he does not like the preaching and word of the cross. Judas was like that; he was a son of perdition and he died in a gruesome sort of way; it was a humiliating thing. How solemn it is for a christian to shrink from the word of the cross, to say, in his attitude, that it is too exacting! It may be the word of the cross cuts at the very root of things. How solemn it is if a christian is in that attitude of mind to shrink from it! How near he is to that class who perish!
C Acceptance of the word of the cross in oneself would bring one into accord with the death of Christ.
JT Yes, that kind of death, the death of the cross.
C Is there not a danger with us of tolerating, of not accepting it fully?
JT Yes. To die with Christ is one thing but to be crucified with Christ is another. The cross was the scandal of that day. The Corinthians were enjoined not to fall in the wilderness; let us accept the full weight of the word of the cross. It is no use if we are not taking in the word of the cross: we should feel the solemnity of the fact that we are near those who regard it as foolishness. The Corinthians did not behave themselves in relation to the Lord’s supper. Let there be the acceptance of the word of the cross in its full bearing, the kind of death by which He died. There is a danger of toleration and of not accepting the word fully. Crucified with Christ is the acceptance of the scandal of that death; death by the sword would have been honourable but it was the death of the cross that was a scandal.
Romans 6 deals with this matter as regards our old man; baptism is the sign which leads up to it: “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin”. Circumcision is the putting off of the body of the flesh, but here it is [p. 6] the act of God in the crucifixion of Christ that is the point; it is what God has done; it has been done in order that the body of sin as bearing on the christian might be annulled as the truth is taken in and accepted.
HW Would circumcision be a deeper thing?
JT Yes. As to the flesh the body of sin would mean the aggregate of the working of it as it affects the christian; it is a little more external to ourselves. God has dealt with it judicially and the light of that enables us to escape its power. Here the word of the cross comes in on our old man, God has dealt with it in order that the believer might escape the power of it.
Rem Knowing the word of the cross and inward reckoning and outward yielding are in this chapter.
JT Quite so, hence the importance of the word of the cross. Our old man has been crucified; it is not that I am crucified or they that are Christ’s have been crucified, here it is what God has done. Knowing that God has done it must precede our experience of it. Crucifixion took place at Golgotha, the place of a skull; it was man’s utter ignorance, his true state was exposed. The world knew nothing of this, none of the princes of this world knew, otherwise they would not have done it. They were exposed in spite of professed knowledge; there is nothing there but a skull; the root of the matter is dealt with. The power of sin is the force of will operating against God; God dealt with that in the cross and left nothing but a skull, and the word of the cross helps us to see that. God has dealt with things radically; crucified means that. The word they used before the crucifixion was, “Crucify him, crucify him”; that was the state of their mind, and the cross was the expression of that. They crucified and slew Him. That brought out where man was, and it takes the word of the cross to make this plain to us. Man [p. 7] is devoid of intelligence according to God, in utter ignorance of God, but He turns that round in the sacrificial death of Christ so that He has dealt with man from that point of view.
AMH Man has to be reduced to a skull in his own estimate?
JT Yes, the word of the cross helps us to see according to Romans 6 how God has dealt judicially with our old man so that the body of sin should be annulled that we should not any longer serve it, the aggregate of the operation of sin — man’s will — against God. Our knowledge of that enables us to disallow the thing and we look at it with God. It is under reproach as Christ is under reproach, and we look at the operation of sin with scorn. God has dealt with it in that way.
C The body of sin would be in its completeness?
JT Yes, it is the aggregate or the body of the thing; it operates as you go into the street. One man is affected one way and one another but the whole thing is destroyed. The word ‘annul’ means its power is gone in a certain setting and “the word of the cross” enables you to see it.
AMH Is that the bearing of John 3?
JT Yes, what is so much needed is to get to the root of things. They that are the Christ’s have crucified the flesh. In Romans it is the body that is spoken of; if Christ is in us the body is dead.
HW What is the thought of Christ being portrayed crucified among the Galatians?
JT It was so verified in the apostle; he was there the setting forth of the truth he was preaching. Christ was crucified among them, before their very eyes. How important to have the truth exemplified! It was exemplified in Paul. In Galatians we often get it cited and it underlies the whole point. I am crucified with Christ, not the flesh or our old man, but the person himself, he has undergone crucifixion.
[p. 8] It is very remarkable that we can say such a thing; “I am crucified”, it was Paul’s own judgment of himself. We cannot say much about that but Paul could say, “I am crucified with Christ”. God had met his exercises in regard of himself. We say, ‘No one can conceive how mean I am’, but God has dealt with that so that we need not be bothered with it; I am done with myself in that way.
Ques The offscouring of the world?
JT That is how Paul was regarded, and it was how Christ was regarded. Here in Galatians it is his own judgment before God of himself — how offensive he was to God! He arrived at that judgment of himself. He comes to the sense of how abhorrent he is as a natural man before God, and God has met that. This could not be said in Old Testament times, Moses or David could not say it; it could not be said until Christ was crucified because the vicarious thought is in it. Christ had not died in Old Testament times, but if you bring in the vicarious side you must see that God has done it for you. “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”. That is history, it goes back: He “loved me, and gave himself for me”.
HW That is the only way Christ can live in the believer.
JT Yes, He cannot tolerate our old man.
C Would the whole of verse 20 enter into the word of the cross?
JT It is beautiful to see who it is who “has loved me and given himself for me”; it brings out how the glory and beauty and attractiveness of Christ had place in Paul’s heart. There can be no rival there; Christ must have all the place, He must have such a place that He fills all my intelligence and affections. I must give Him all [p. 9] the place.
Ques It involves soul history?
JT Quite so. “By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (chapter 6:14). That is his relation to the world and the world’s relation to him; it is real deliverance. There is no real deliverance without the word of the cross; Paul glories in the cross. “Far be it from me to boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world”. Christ in you is what is in mind to be reached with us — in our minds and affections — that He should have all the place.
The passage in Ephesians is to bring out unity that is pleasing to God. God is complacent with us, it is a collective thought, that He might reconcile both, Jew and gentile, in one body to God by the cross.
H We are said to be reconciled to God by the death of His Son but here in Ephesians it is by the cross. Why?
JT Being reconciled to God by the death of His Son is Romans and refers to the person more, it is a general thought of reconciliation. It is not crucifixion there.
Rem In Ephesians it is the removing barriers between Jew and gentile.
JT Yes, it is dealing with the root of national feeling, which is deep with us too. It is collective; both have been reconciled by the death of God’s Son; that is what it cost to effect it, no less than that, but in Ephesians the roots of national feeling are dealt with at the cross so that there may be such unity among the brethren that God would be pleased with it. Here it brings out how God has effected unity in Jew and gentile among the saints through dealing with the evil of national feeling that gets such a place with us.
[p. 10] Rem The superscription on the cross was in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.
JT Yes, those languages represented the national feelings of the world at that time.
JEB What about the “blood of his cross”?
JT That is very much akin to what we have in Ephesians, making peace here and also there, “by him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20). The Godhead is in mind or rather the fulness, that is, what God is has come out, it is the Deity in that sense. It is what is effected through Christ, so it is by Him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace. The Godhead, the fulness or the Deity has done that by the blood of His cross. In Ephesians and Colossians things are dealt with radically in their roots. It is by the blood of His cross, the death of Christ viewed in that light, the Deity did it itself.
HW Is peace in view of the Deity?
JT Quite so. The blood means the laying down of the life which the Lord had taken up; life is in the blood. The Lord laid down His life vicariously in dealing with the meanness of man which is abhorrent to God; the fulness did all that.
LM Purchased with the blood of His own.
JT That is the same blood that brings out the love of God; it is the One He loved. The blood of His cross is the dealing with the thing abhorrent to God but the blood of His own is the love of God; the blood of His cross is a very remarkable word.
We sit down in the assembly and God sees what is in our hearts, what we think of the brethren; He is looking on. If I think of them as He does there is complacency. These things have the assembly in view. If crucifixion has its full place, God is restful in us as reconciled in one body. Then my last thought is, where we are breaking bread, what are the surroundings? The verse in Revelation helps as [p. 11] to that. Whatever city or town or village we may be in there is no difference in principle; wherever we may be the attitude of the world remains what it was to Christ; it is the same towards us for it is where our Lord was crucified. The bread we break is the communion of the body of Christ and as often as we do it we show the death of our Lord until He come. The thought runs right through; we are exposed to that attitude of the world, crucifying, and the world has not changed, the same thing is there, the same attitude.
C “Where also our Lord was crucified”; the word ‘also’ brings out a likeness of treatment?
JT The beast made war and overcame and killed the two witnesses and their bodies were exposed three days on the street of the great city to make ridicule. It shows the abhorrence of the world to the witnesses; the people rejoiced in their death and made presents to one another. It is a solemn thing to think that that sort of thing obtains where we break bread. However respectable things may seem outwardly that is what lies at the bottom, and we must expect that. If a real test were made the world would show its hand, and the test will be made and they will treat us in the same way.
HW We are in danger of being attached to places.
JT Very good. If the test is made they will treat you as they did the Lord. We may expect tests and if they come this is what would come out. The love of one’s own native place or country is deep rooted and we think there is nothing like it but if the test comes we shall find they will treat us as they did the Lord. I am not saying anything about the authorities, it is not disrespect for them. Sodom and Egypt stand for the world — the world is there in all its features — Sodom is corruption. Egypt refers to the world affording gratification to our natural tastes.
The final thought is “Where also our Lord was crucified”. The positive side of the truth runs with what we were saying; the word of the cross deals with the root principles that govern us, that come out, so that we might be here for God. “The Son of God ... loved me, and gave himself for me”; that runs along with what we have been speaking of. It is Christ having been crucified that makes all this of import to us.