DIVINE APPEARINGS

Colossians 1: 17-20; Ephesians 3: 14 -21; Revelation 21: 1-6

C.R.B. The Lord would no doubt help us to gather up from the experiences we have had as being together in relation to the Supper and the service of God, and to relate that to what He may have in mind to say to us as to what has been occupying us as to the way that He was pleased to appear to certain persons in a distinctive way. When Paul refers to the way the Lord had appeared to him, he says it was "last of all, as to an abortion, he appeared to me also", 1 Cor 115 8. The references to Christ appearing to the twelve and to all the apostles would seem to be related to the Lord's position as ascended. They would have that bearing. But the appearing to Paul as to the last of all is clearly from Christ in glory, and would bring a special touch of richness and greatness into what was committed to Paul in relation to the opening up of the truth of the preciousness of the assembly to Christ, and of the whole service of God as related to sonship.

Paul, as having been conscious that it was "last of all" that the appearing was made to him, would be especially delighting to draw attention to Christ as having the first place - first of all. No doubt the Lord's first breaking in to Saul of Tarsus: "Why dost thou persecute me?", Acts 9: 4 in relation to His own personal name of Jesus would have left an abiding impression upon Paul which would have grown by way of experience as to the way that Christ loved the assembly. So that Paul's love for the assembly and our love for the assembly would be directly related to the consciousness of Christ's love for the assembly. Where we read in Ephesians would link on with the hymn that we have sung (No 325) as to the way that we are brought into direct relationship with the Father. The result is glory to God. The section in Revelation 21 would remind us in a special way of the pleasure that God Himself has in what He has secured for Himself eternally. But the way into these things is to be enlarged in our appreciation and love for Christ as the One who in His own greatness is so fully entitled to the first place in all things.

C.F.D. Do you think Paul saying "For me to live is Christ", Phil 1: 21, would show the extent to which Christ had the first place in his life? And he was really taking character from the Man that had that place in his affections.

C.R.B. And to be able to say that, when he was in the limitations of prison conditions, would show that his occupation with Christ personally caused him to rise above every possible hindrance and difficulty to be occupied with Christ where He is.

E.T.M. I wondered whether the way he speaks of this appearing would help us to appreciate what is cumulative of the wealth of the appearings of Christ: "he appeared to me also". He would be thinking of what is cumulative. There is a great wealth of it in these appearings. It seems to me that one great feature of it would be the help that the Spirit would give us to treasure the immensity of wealth that these appearings occasion in relation to Christ. So that "last of all" would mean that he had the whole thing summed up in its cumulative wealth, when he says, "he appeared to me also." It helps us as to what we were saying as to Christianity, that it is extraordinary.

C.R.B. So that it would show, amongst other things, the wisdom of Christ as Head. He was preparing, you might say, for the great unfolding of the truth under Paul, but He appeared to other persons first. The working out of matters under the hand of Christ often is by way of extension. It is not because divine Persons are not able to arrive quickly at what They have in mind, but They choose to move in a certain way, and we find that the result is all the greater and all the more glorious.

A.B.P. Could you say something about the evident humility that marked Paul in not exactly bringing himself personally into the line of those who were appeared to, but as a forerunner of Israel being recovered. Is that humility on his part, or is it intended that the glad tidings should not only relate us to the Man in the glory, but what that Man will do to consummate the purposes of God?

C.R.B. You are thinking of the reference to "as to an abortion" as one born out of due time?

A.B.P. Yes.

C.R.B. We need to hold in our hearts the glory that Christ has as the Saviour of the world - the vast extent of what the true Joseph is going to secure. It is when the deliverer comes out of Zion that all Israel is going to be saved, but we would hold God's thoughts in relation to His ancient people now.

A.B.P. I was connecting it in my thoughts with the Lord's own words in John 17, where you get the height and glory of His place amongst His own. He refers to the fact that the Father had given Him authority over all flesh. But then He concentrates on those who are immediately in His own thoughts. It seems to carry the suggestion of the millennial day of glory into the occasion, does it not?

C.R.B. Would that be connected in your mind with what we had in our hymn as to the many families? The assembly as being so near to Christ and to God is divinely formed to be able to appreciate in some measure what the many families mean to God.

A.B.P. And is it not really vital that we should have that in our minds because we are so close to the end of the present dispensation? And all that is going to transpire to sum things up in view of the introduction of the millennial day must be in the divine mind very prominently. The Lord will have us share with Him in His prospect.

C.R.B. I think so. It would be important, of course, to remember that there is only one family that is being gathered at the present time. God is working only in relation to the assembly. But as we think of the many families, those already secured and those that will be secured after the assembly has been taken, it would all be part of the vast sphere of things which can be named of the Father as having some impress of Christ upon them.

H.W.K. The true value of what Paul received from the Lord was known to Paul, was it not? And Paul would share that with others; that is, his intelligence in the mystery was to be understood by others.

C.R.B. I think so. When he speaks of the appearing in Corinthians, he says that he was the least of the apostles and not fit to be called apostle. He does not say that he had persecuted the saints or those who were of the way, as disciples of Jesus; he said "because I have persecuted the assembly of God", 1 Cor 15: 9. He had arrived at it in his own experience that the persons, of whom the Lord Jesus could say 'they are Me', were the assembly of God, and the spirit of reverence is in all Paul's writings. He would give us a very dignified understanding of what the assembly of God means to God.

J.N.C. "Purchased with the blood of His own." That is a unique touch and a very affecting one: "The assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own", Acts 20: 28.

C.R.B. Would that be intended to affect the elders of Ephesus so that they took on something of Paul's understanding of divine affections in relation to the assembly of God as represented in the locality?

J.N.C. I am sure he had that in mind, and you can see how valuable that would be. That would be in the Spirit's hands, would you say, as a valuable way in which what is going on above can be fully communicated and appreciated here?

C.R.B. We have often been reminded that you cannot make too much of the assembly because, in making much of the assembly, you are making much of Christ. The very experiences we have had today in relation to the Supper, and all that entered into it in each gathering where we have been, would help us to value the assembly more and to seek to move in a way which will be for the prosperity of the brethren in every locality.

A.B.P. Is the title "assembly of God" masculine?

C.R.B. That is how I understand it, and it is particularly connected with the working out of responsibility in Corinth and every local setting.

A.B.P. And eternally in sonship?

C.R.B. Yes. You have in mind that the assembly femininely is for the heart of Christ. It is not a question of feminine response assembly-wise to God or to the Father; it is the response of so ns, but persons who constitute the assembly.

A.B.P. I thought in that way that "glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus" seems to be related to sonship.

C.R.B. Yes, I think so. It is remarkable that the title 'assembly of God' is brought in i n Corinth and in Acts 20. So the working out of things has a dignified setting, but response to God is in the liberty of sonship.

G.H. In the letter to the Corinthians, it says "to the assembly of God which is in Corinth", 1 Cor 1: 2; would it also bring out God's rights?

C.R.B. Yes. The more we are helped to enjoy the privileges connected with the inside position, the more we would seek grace to represent God rightly, not claiming to be the assembly of God, but seeking to represent God in a way which will mean that God will have something in each locality where the saints are seeking to walk in the light of the assembly, which, in character, is rightly related to the thought of the assembly of God.

J.A.P. I would like to get clear on this point about the assembly of God being masculine. You guarded that by saying that the thought of sons of God is masculine, but I thought that generally the assembly is a feminine thought, even in the care of matters locally. For instance Paul says to Corinth "I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ", 2 Cor 11: 2. Would not that be the local assembly?

C.R.B. That is in the setting of being related to Christ. But Mr Taylor sen taught us that "the assembly of God which is in Corinth" is a masculine setting (N.S. Vol. 67, p.742); it refers to the way the saints would be helped to represent God in Corinth. When you speak of the assembly as related to Christ, that is the feminine side. Response to God or to the Father would be from sons.

J.A.P. It was quite guarded about the matter of sons, but I wanted to be clear in my own mind, if we can come down to practical matters, that if the local brethren in the light of the assembly are caring for matters in this city, how do you view the brethren in that light?

C.R.B. I think that as the saints are seeking to care for the interests of Christ they would be related to the Lord as Head. But the side of the assembly of God seems to bring in a very dignified view of the way that God would be represented in the locality. We may have to view it somewhat abstractly at the moment, and yet what is abstract can be real. But when Paul wrote to Corinth, the gathering of persons.

J.A.P. Is what you are stressing "God is indeed amongst you" chap 14: 25?

C.R.B. It would bear on that. It is the area of things where God Himself is free to speak.

A.B.P. Is it that the assembly fills out, when it is normal, what the Sanhedrim failed to do? It is the dignified body of those who cherish and are regulated by the thoughts of God, is it not ?

C.R.B. That is an affecting link, because it was the Sanhedrim that condemned the Lord to death. It is the assembly of God that makes way for the Son of God.

A.B.P. Do you think that, to balance this out, we might refer to Proverbs 31? During the time of absence of the husband, the wife cares for his interests.

C.R.B. That is helpful. We would not overstress the side of the responsibility and the masculine side, yet it is there and it needs to be treasured in our hearts. But Mr McCallum could help us on this.

S.McC. I think that the administrative side emphasises the masculine side. The assembly as with Him femininely in the administrative side, as in Ephesians, is one thing, but generally, in Corinth, the assembly of God would represent the masculine side.

C.R.B. As we hold all these impressions in balance they would magnify to us the richness of what the Lord chose sovereignly to entrust to Paul as the one who was going to complete the word of God.

S.E.H. I was going to inquire about what we were saying earlier that responding to God would be in sonship and would be a masculine thought. Some of our hymns, especially No 370, for example, speak about the assembly in a feminine sense, with Christ, praising God. How do we understand that, as coming before God with Christ, as His bride?

C.R.B. It is good to get help on these holy matters. I think the references to the assembly in those settings brings out the richness of her relations with Christ. When you think of Christ in the midst of the assembly singing praises (Heb 2: 12), that refers to persons who form the assembly in relation to Christ. Those persons, as taking part in response to the Father and to God, do so as in the liberty of sonship. We were speaking yesterday of the three great matters that beloved Mr Taylor sen brought out that go through into eternity, and it is wise to be confirmed in these things because we might have thought otherwise at one time. The assembly in relation to Christ, the brethren, and sons, are three matters which go through into eternity. The working out of them, of course, we hold together, and yet they are distinct.

E.B. The thought of the Son Himself being placed in subjection is always masculine. There is never any thought of the feminine in that is there? But the assembly would be with Him. I was thinking of what you were saying about the assembly being a masculine thought in relation to God. I understand what it is in relation to administration, but I was wondering ab out the thought of the assembly being with Christ when He is placed in subjection. He never leaves the assembly, does He ?

C.R.B. What Mr McCallum was referring to as God's great primary thoughts would include God's thoughts in relation to man. The working out of that as to man and woman involves Christ and the assembly.

B.T. "The assembly of the firstborn," in Heb 12:23, would also be masculine, would it not?

C.R.B. Yes. That would be a dignified reference to those who take character from the One who is the firstborn.

C.F.D. So can we just carry in our minds the thought that what is united to Christ in a feminine way is made up of persons, of which we form part? In the way of extension, those same persons, in relation to the Father, respond to Him as sons, and likewise God. So we get the thought of God and men, do we not? But it is the same personnel viewed from a different viewpoint.

C.R.B. Yes, and whilst we get help on these matters as seeking to inquire into them dependently in the temple, the confirmation of them is related to experience in the service of God.

D.T.H. Is this all part of the purpose of God? We have the thought that God purposed to have men dwelling with Him, God tabernacling with men, but then He also purposed, did He not, that Christ should have a bride?

C.R.B. That is very helpful, because it brings out the greatness of what has been made known in these days. It was hidden throughout the ages in God, and yet God patiently pursued His ways with men until the time came when this wonderful mystery should be revealed.

S.D.K.R. Is it right then that feminine response in eternity would be seen in relation to the assembly to Christ?

C.R.B. That is how I understand it.

S.D.K.R. That was made clear by Mr Taylor sen. There were some who thought of feminine response to God, but he said that that was not right.

C.R.B. Yes. Some of the proposed hymns for the 1951 revision had to be adjusted as a result of what came out in New York with Mr Taylor sen at that time. Is that right, Mr Parker?

A.B.P. That is right.

A.S.M. In relation to God's thoughts, He saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so that Christ has the assembly now.

C.R.B. It is a wonderful matter, that the Spirit works in relation to the saints to form them in true assembly affection for Christ. So that He has one as in Proverbs 31: "The heart of her husband confideth in her".

C.S.E. When the apostle speaks of the appearing to himself, he says, "last of all". Would there be a touch of the grace that was extended to him? In another place he speaks of himself as the chief of sinners. He knows how to place himself rightly. Do you think at is the mark of the Spirit?

C.R.B. The more we are helped of the Spirit to experience in any measure the greatness of these wonderful matters, the more we will be deepened in our understanding of the greatness of the mercy of God and of the preciousness of the blood of Jesus.

L.MacF. The reference in Acts 20 is in relation to his departure. Would you say something as to that?

C.R.B. He was seeking to give those elders at Ephesus something of the impression he had as to the way that God valued the assembly - as our brother was saying 'purchased with the blood of His own' - so that they would seek to care for the assembly with the genuine feeling that marks persons who love Christ and who love God.

G.D.W. In that reference to the assembly of God in that scripture, he says, "I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsel of God", Acts 20:27. Would this be the setting in which we would take up responsible matters of the assembly?

C.R.B. Yes. In going over matters with the elders of Ephesus, obviously Paul had something especially in his heart; he had called them over to him. His closing reference to the words of the Lord Jesus "that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive", Acts 20: 35, would help us to be committed in a very real and deep way to the interests of the local assembly. How often we have pondered over the way that Mr Taylor sen committed himself to the interests of the local assembly. And that is to mark us all.

G.D.W. I have wondered sometimes why he says, "I have not shrunk", Acts 20:27. I think we are hesitant sometimes to come back to the primary thoughts as to this relationship and what the assembly of God really means. It would give a different colour to the way we take up matters.

C.R.B. Well, it would mean that we would hold everything in this world very lightly, and we would always be on the alert to defend the home front.

B.T. A locality cannot impose a wrong judgment on the assembly universally, can it?

C.R.B. Open up what you have in mind.

B.T. You might say, 'It is the assembly of God in this place, and we have done so and so here, and that is what it is.' But if it is wrong, it cannot be imposed - you cannot divorce the locality from what is universal.

C.R.B. No. That is very important. We need to distinguish, as we have been instructed. If brethren in a place, in the light of the assembly, arrive at a judgment regarding a matter arising in the place, then we would honour that, unless it can be established that that judgment cannot be justified according to the truth and according to facts. But if brethren in a place arrive at a judgment of a matter outside of their own borders, that can never be regarded as binding on other local assemblies. That comes in frequently in Mr Taylor's ministry. It is a current issue, I think, that the rights of Christ in the assembly need to be honoured.

S.McC. Mr Taylor sen was very simple in some of the answers he gave. I remember being in a three-day occasion with him when a brother said, 'Do you always believe that an assembly judgment is right?' There was a little pause, and then he looked at the brother and said, 'Not if it is wrong.' That was very simple.

C.R.B. Just so. It is sometimes a bit more testing to arrive at that in our experience, but the truth of that is vital.

S.McC. Prima facie, we accept an assembly judgment, but as Mr Taylor pointed out in regard to this very city, where they had a crisis, if priestly investigation shows by facts that the judgment was not right, then it is not right. That happened in regard to a matter in Plainfield, and Westfield. It was Plainfield where a brother was withdrawn from, and it was thought it was not right. A number of others had the thought that it was not right to interfere with the judgment. The brother was restored, (although he went out of fellowship again eventually) but it was said that the facts did not support the judgment in withdrawing from the brother. (See J.T. N.S. Vol. 59, p.83-99; Vol. 56, 206-243).

A.S.M. It reminds me of what is said in relation to "last of all". I think Mr Taylor sen brought out that Paul has the last word in relation to every matter in relation to the assembly.

C.R.B. He completed the word of God. But in relation to what Mr McCallum was saying, that would always leave scope for priestly inquiry as to any judgment in any place, because if we arrive at a judgment in a place, we ought to be able to justify it and be quite ready to explain the facts to any priestly inquirer.

S.McC. What you are saying is very important because there was one city in Ohio where the brethren to protect, according to their thinking, a brother in their midst in a financial matter, had an assembly meeting and gave out that they judged the person to be righteous. What was being said was wrong. And they would have made that judgment, which was wrong, legal and binding on all the assemblies. Mr Taylor sen rose up very strongly against that, with the result that that assembly was neither received from, nor commended to, for a number of years. (See J.T. Letters Vol 2, p.94- 98).

A.B.P. Do you not think in relation to these matters, the test to us is when we have the feeling that a judgment that has been arrived at is not right we are liable to discredit the assembly that is making the judgment. I think we learned a very great lesson in New York, when Mr Taylor sen returned and we had done what was not right, he did not discredit the brethren, but he brought in a corrective ministry which brought the brethren around to see that what they had done was not right. But he did not intrude upon the dignity of the local assembly.

C.R.B. The spirit of that would enter into what was mentioned yesterday as to David and Abigail; there was no discrediting of David or Abigail. The result of priestly movements is that the whole assembly position is strengthened.

J.A.P. That is fully confirmed in Mr McCallum's account of Westfield and Plainfield, because the Westfield brethren would have been wrong to interfere in the other locality, and what happened was that the elders in Plainfield were respected as such, and they got adjusted and did the thing themselves to get it right.

C.R.B. I am sure that is right. The matter is adjusted in the place itself. But priestly inquiry would result matters being reviewed in a godly way, and no judgment in that way is in itself to become a test of fellowship, because all these matters are subject to review and subject to confirmation.

S.D.K.R. I think what you said as to an assembly acting in matters outside of itself needs to be underlined. Mr Taylor sen said that the nearest city does not determine anything (J.T. N.S. Vol. 40, p.373).

C.R.B. I think we are all drawing from recent experience on these matters. There are at least five places in Mr Taylor's ministry where he refers to this matter. Mr Raven had brought it out earlier (FER Vol. 20, p.293/4). How quickly something can become a formula which becomes a test of fellowship. It may be said that a certain meeting has arrived at a judgment in relation to another meeting, and you must accept it, otherwise you are not in fellowship. And it is not of God.

S.D.K.R. That was what led us astray, actually, and I am very thankful it has come out freshly.

S.McC. Mr Taylor sen said in relation to the Glanton issue that no assembly has administrative authority outside the realm of its own responsibility.

C.R.B. Whilst no assembly is independent, yet every assembly is dignified. This is really related to the rights of Christ personally in each local assembly. Philadelphia would not have arrived at a judgment about Laodicea on the basis that the Lord's rights were supreme in Philadelphia. They were equally supreme in Laodicea, and you have to leave it to the Lord as to how He is going to work things out in another locality.

S.McC. Exactly. So that we have to keep clear the distinction between local assembly authority and priestly inquiry. Because the priestly side of inquiry involves a universal position.

A.B.P. And the word is that the matter is to be settled, or established, at the mouth of the priests, the sons of Aaron, which would not restrict it to the local priesthood. What you say about the matter being handled in a priestly way and not an administrative way, I think is important.

S.McC. It is very important, because we would be in danger in acting in an administrative way outside the local assembly, of transgressing the responsibility in that local assembly.

C.R.B. So that one of the matters that flowed out of the exercises at Newcastle was that the issue there became one which affected the general fellowship. It affected the saints in a priestly way universally. And yet the settlement of matters, of course, finally had to be in the place itself.

S.D.K.R. Actually, in that matter, Wallsend, the nearest meeting, had a judgment and Mr Taylor did not agree with it. It was not the final decision in the matter.

C.R.B. In that way it is important to get through in all these matters so that there will be spoil for God; you can sense in the writings of these beloved men, who were so used of God, that this was what they were desiring out of every difficulty that arose. Christ's own place as Head is to be seen more fully, so that if there are matters that may be causing concern to the brethren, what is in mind is not that certain administrative matters should be cleared and certain points should be established, but what God would have in mind is peace among all the assemblies with a greater understanding of the place that God should have amongst us.

J.N.C. It is a wonderful thing in that way, to think of the Lord asserting His rights and presenting Himself in a local assembly where adjustment may be needed, and appearing and just adjusting saints so that He is the one that is glorified. He has exercised His rights in an area which He loves.

C.R.B. So would you have in mind that the spirit of Paul as he spoke to those elders in Acts 20 was really the spirit of a shepherd?

J.N.C. Quite. That seems to be the bearing of what he says to them. How effective that line of things is.

C.R.B. Yes.

J.A.P. Elijah said, "I have been very jealous for Jehovah the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I am left, I alone, and they seek my life, to take it away", (1 Kings 19: 10). He was being very faithful to the Lord. How are we going to get a brother like that to say, 'Let us review things'? How are you going to get that state in the responsible element, that they might see that that is not all the point?

C.R.B. Would it not involve the priestly power of men who are with God as helping persons to review facts in the light of God and in the light of the present dispensation? It is noteworthy that when John, as writing after the breakdown had come in publicly, begins to speak of Christ personally, he says "full of grace and truth", (John 1: 14). So that what we do assembly-wise needs to be right, and it also needs to be done in the right way, in a spirit of grace, and thus in a way which would carry the consciences of the brethren universally. So that summary judgments assembly-wise, unless it is a matter of grave public sin, would never find, I judge, a part amongst us now. We would always wait patiently, in the spirit of a shepherd, as long as we righteously can.

A.S.M. I have been very much impressed with the scripture relating to Elijah, to which we have referred. We could say that he was translated. I was thinking of a scripture Mr Taylor sen used in relation to an assembly judgment, "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness", Isaiah 26: 9, but he says that God's judgments are in the assembly. That is a wonderful thing.

A.B.P. Would you think that, if priestly inquiry is being made by the nearest meeting, we do well to refrain from being active in our efforts to do things from a distance?

C.R.B. Yes. In many of these matters, the counsel of wisdom is to talk less and pray more.

G.D.W. We would not consider priestly inquiry to be interference or anything of that sort in another locality. It is a godly interest, is it not? Paul's counsel in Acts 20 shows he was greatly concerned.

C.R.B. Yes, and when we speak of priestly or spiritual inquiry, it involves, not a position which we may think we are entitled to by way of a number of years in fellowship, but a nearness to Christ as Head and a nearness to the Spirit, which helps us to take on something of the feelings of divine Persons as to any matter.

G.D.W. The Lord says to Peter, "Shepherd my sheep", John 21: 16.

C.R.B. Yes, so that when Paul bowed his knees to the Father in Ephesians 3, that was not weakness, that was an evidence of great spiritual strength. He could pray to the Father for the saints in a way which was according to divine purpose and according to the divine mind.

C.G. In the song of Moses, as recorded in Deut.32: 9, it states, "Jehovah's portion is his people". How would you give that a present day application as related to the assembly?

C.R.B. That would involve that God's pleasure is found in the willing-hearted response of those who seek to be marked by the features which are proper to the people of God. God's portion is there.

S.McC. In regard to what you say as to headship and the difference between Colossians and Ephesians. The Lord is said to be head of the body in Colossians; that is, the assembly derives from Christ as Head. But in Ephesians it is not head of the body, but head to the assembly, which is His body. She is associated with Him in the headship.

C.R.B. So that there is no suggestion that Christ is given to the assembly in Ephesians 1. We had help on that. It is "gave him to be head over all things to the assembly." (Eph 1: 22). It is the assembly as sharing with Him in headship, and seeing the distinctive place that all things are to have in relation to the whole thought of headship. It is helpful to distinguish that because the thought of head of the assembly in Colossians is how we derive wisdom from Christ as head in relation to all these various matters. But what is in mind is to get through to the experience of the glory of a universal system of things where the assembly is able to enter sympathetically and feelingly into the way that Christ is operating as head.

E.T.M. Does that synchronise with the reference to the woman in the end of Proverbs? Her husband is even known in the gates when he sits among the elders. She is in the gain of him being head to the assembly.

C.R.B. There are three references to the husband in that section, so that what lies behind the activities of the woman is her conscious relationship to the husband as head. It is not that the husband is disconnected, but that the woman is working directly in relation to her husband's own feelings. So that the final word that comes in, "Thou excellest them all", Prov.31:29, is the Lord's own touch of appreciation of the way the assembly is set for Himself.

E.T.M. I wondered whether that helps us to distinguish between what you have been stressing, not the doctrine of it, but the experience of arriving at these things.

C.R.B. Yes, just so.

G.H. In view of what Mr McCallum is saying would "and he is the head of the body" be more in the way of direction?

S.McC. As head of the body, the assembly derives from the head, as our brother was saying, wisdom. Union is not taught in Colossians. Union is taught in Ephesians, and I think we need to see what union involves in that sense. The assembly is a distinct entity. She is the woman. And she is united to the Man, to Christ. In Colossians it is organic. The body derives from the head as the organism.

A.B.P. Would "we have the mind of Christ", (1 Cor 2: 16), relate to that?

C.R.B. It is good to distinguish what you are drawing attention to from the references. in 1 Cor 12, where the head is viewed as part of the body. That is a different setting of things altogether, where a human figure is used to show how the members of the body would work together.

S.D.K.R. Would the Ephesian touch come in in Genesis 1, "Let us make man in our image"? and then it says, "Let them have dominion... And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" Gen 1: 26,27. Would the dominion be linked on with the Ephesian thought?

S.McC. Oh, yes, I think so. In union the woman is brought to the man. That is not the point in Colossians. Mr Raven gave an address on headship and union, and linked the Lord in headship with the body organically as setting out the thought of union. After the meeting, Mr Stoney spoke to Mr Raven and said, 'Is not union linked with the woman being brought to the man, rather than the organic side of the Lord being head of the body?' And Mr Raven thanked Mr Stoney very much for his help in that. Rebecca was brought to Isaac. The woman in Genesis 2 was brought to the man. That is the basis of union, is it not?

C.R.B. So you would link the thought of union with Genesis 2, but the thought of the assembly sharing in headship with Christ with Genesis 1.

 

PLAINFIELD NJ

14 April 1974