COVENTRY - READING (1)
COVENTRY — READING (1)
JT I have been thinking of the introduction of the gospel to the nations and especially as connected with the work of Peter. The Lord had said that to him He would give this service, and the thought now is to look at Acts 10 which leads to it and gives us the work among the gentiles. The preciseness with which facts are stated will strike the brethren as we look into what is said, and that, of course, is of great importance in the study of Scripture, especially as we study it together. Peter was told by the Lord that He would give unto him the keys of the kingdom of the heavens — “Whatsoever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be bound in the heavens”. And now the gentiles are in view here; the Jews, of course, were in mind in the first introduction of the truth in the book of Acts, but the gentiles come in here, and we have to bear in mind that there are very few Jews in the truth now; very few indeed. At the same time the truth requires that we should look into the facts of the introduction of both the Jews and the gentiles. This very thought would be in mind throughout the whole of the book of the Acts, and we can verily look into the length of time that Paul was used; how much time he spent in suffering in the sense of imprisonment. So that he becomes a peculiar ideal for us to consider, as he says himself: “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”. Now in the passage before us it is striking the regard with which Cornelius is held in heaven. He was building up something in heaven. It says, “A certain man in Caesarea — by name Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic, pious, and fearing God with all his house, both giving much alms to the people,
and supplicating God continually ...” That is a good word for all of us, especially in view of the need for looking into Scripture carefully. This chapter therefore might well be compared with the second chapter. That chapter points to the position of the Jews and the favour in which they were, but now it is the gentiles. The persons mentioned in Acts 2 are the pious Jews, drawn from every nation, but here the point is that it is a gentile centurion — a military man, showing that God is not restricted in dealing with men. It is a question of men, whether they are Jews or gentiles. We have the selection of the minister that is to be used, and Peter tells us later that God had shown him that he is not to be restricted, and that men are in mind; it is not to be specially Jews, but men.
HPW Do you think that God is very actively taking knowledge of everyone who wants to walk before Him and glorify Him?
JT That is in keeping with what we have said as to man. It is not simply Jews, but men, as it is said. “who desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”.
HPW God notices everything, does He not?
JT Quite so. As it is said of Enoch: “he has the testimony that he had pleased God”. Some of us have been greatly encouraged, and at the same time concerned, that the youth might come into the truth, I gather a good many of them are here today.
AJG It would seem from both chapter 2 and chapter 10 that piety is a basis necessary for the building up of what is spiritual. In chapter 2 in verse 5 it says: “There were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, pious men”, and then in regard of Cornelius it says that he was “pious, and fearing God with all his house”, and piety seems to mark Simeon in Luke 2 before his spirituality is enlarged [p. 58] upon.
JT It is remarkable that the early verses of chapter 10 give a clear indication of the character of the man — the centurion — Cornelius. It says: “Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic, pious, and fearing God with all his house” — notice that — “with all his house”. So that we have to consider in the light of this as to conditions in our houses, old and young in the houses: “With all his house, both giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually”. So that the idea of piety certainly is one of the first thoughts in connection with christianity. And, of course, the household includes everybody, in fact we might say servants, but especially children and young people; the household includes all. So it says further as to Cornelius that an angel appeared to him, and that is another thing to notice. It says: he “saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day”. Notice the accuracy with which things are stated, “About the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius. But he, having fixed his eyes upon him, and become full of fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God”. That is, Cornelius has established a memorial in heaven, before he is brought into christianity, which is a very remarkable thing. So that evidently the thought of alms, or giving, is one of the leading things too, as to christian practice; as to christian customs and walk.
Rem A little later on he speaks of “fasting unto this hour”. You have several times referred to that during the past weeks.
JT Quite so, it has been in one’s mind, that there is considerable prayer, thank God, and answers to prayer too, but perhaps not much fasting. There is perhaps very little fasting, and it is something for us to look into as it is now brought before us.
[p. 59] Rem There was evidently something very special coming into his life, and you remarked a little while back that at a crisis or a special time fasting would give us power.
JT The Lord Himself says. “This kind” — in the casting out of the demon, in fact it was a lunatic — “does not go out but by prayer and fasting”, showing that lunacy or mental conditions are the most difficult in relation to illness. We should therefore have recourse to fasting if there are such conditions in our houses.
AEM-o Do you mean literal fasting?
JT Surely, I certainly do. It is not what may be practised at the time of Lent by certain religious people, but literal fasting in the sense of denying oneself of what one is entitled to, or of what one has a right to. It is for the sake of the truth and for the sake of power that comes in through fasting, for there is power attached to it. “This kind”, the Lord says; it is a question of the kind of the disease, and the kind of power that is needed to cast out the demon. Whatever it may be that besets us, in the sense of sin or other things, the power of fasting is in mind.
HW Is it significant that the Lord Himself when here in manhood fasted forty days and forty nights prior to the temptation?
JT Quite so. It is the idea of anything that augments power for the overcoming of evil in households, and, of course, in individuals as well. In connection with the incident referred to in Matthew 17, the Lord Himself points out that that kind, it was lunacy, goes not out but by prayer and fasting. It was a certain kind of disease, and there is a means of overcoming it, and that means is fasting.
Rem You alluded, in your prayer, to conditions that may be in a district. Would you encourage the brethren in meetings where there are difficulties,
[p. 60] perhaps long standing, to engage in fasting to gain power to deal with them?
JT Quite so, and any governmental conditions and industrial conditions that tend to promote sin can be met by fasting.
AWR Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 uses the expression, “in fastings often”. It is not simply an exceptional thing. Is that important?
JT Just so. We would do well to point that out more particularly — “fastings often”.
HPW There are times in which we feel our desire is to draw near to God. Do you think that that is really what it means when it speaks about drawing near to God? We draw on Him in all His resources.
JT And another word as to that is “the Lord is near”. So we are encouraged to count on Him being near, and to draw near corresponding to that. If God is drawing near to us, let us be sure to draw near to Him and not to show any sign of diversion in ourselves from what is good. I would say to anyone that feels overcome by any particular tendency to sin, that it is a wise thing to have recourse to fasting if he wants to overcome. It is assumed that normal christians, certainly if they are real christians, ought to have the desire to overcome evil, and then to encourage purity in themselves and in their houses too, of course. This thought of fasting is of prime importance, because God helps us through it.
AC Is it connected with spiritual liberty in Acts 13? It says, “as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”.
JT There is something there to indicate, as we have been saying, that there is special advantage in fasting. There is more than that said, is there not?
AJG It says, following on that: “Then, having fasted and prayed, and having laid, their hands on them, they let them go”. So fasting is mentioned twice in those verses.
Ques Have you not said that prayer brings God in and fasting keeps what is of man out? Is that why they are both connected together so often?
JT So that prayer and fasting are, you might say, taken together, the great remedy. The great remedy for overcoming sin, and, of course, we need to overcome sin, because it will not go of itself. We have to be energetic in dealing with anything that we know to be sinful, or tending to sinfulness. To have recourse at once to the remedy, and that remedy is prayer and fasting. I remember that came up in Australia and I was very struck with the thought. They had large prayer meetings at that time in Australia, and the thing came to me very forcefully as to fasting. We had large prayer meetings and good attendance but what was the amount of fasting?
AEM-o What would you consider fasting really to be now, so that we may all take up the exercise practically?
JT What specially comes in now in the present phase of our exercise, is denying oneself of things that are legitimate. Many go in for what is legitimate and, in itself, perhaps is not evil, but we go in for the habit too much; we take shelter in the fact that in itself it is not evil, but at the same time the tendency would be sinful unless we judged ourselves: That is to say that the word ‘judgment’ would be intelligent understanding of what is in mind, because Scripture gives us intelligence. Paul says, “I speak as to intelligent persons: do ye judge what I say”. That is the remedy I would say, to apply to all this that is coming under our notice.
[p. 62] Ques Would you say that there is perhaps a greater danger with what is legitimate than with what is illegitimate?
JT That is right. Something that is legitimate and yet in itself is literally not right; yet we ignore the facts relating to it — facts that we should have if we were intelligent. We have the means of intelligence in the Scriptures, and the Spirit of God is here to help us in intelligence.
Ques Would true fasting bring us to a right judgment as to what is pleasing to divine Persons?
JT Very good, I would say that. So we have already alluded to Enoch, and he is said to be the seventh from Adam, meaning that a certain time elapsed, but it is said of him that he had this testimony, that he pleased God. He must have known in his own secret exercises and practice what pleased God, because God had afforded some knowledge there of the truth as to what pleases Him. But he is the seventh from Adam. Very few generations have come into such strength after the flood as they did before. So that Enoch was before the flood, but he was the seventh from Adam. He was almost the beginning of humanity, you might say, yet he learnt then how to please God. So that in our lives, we who are in the twentieth century and in the light of christianity, ought to know what pleases God. The thing then is to practise what we know in that sense and to make a habit of it.
Ques Enoch’s name means ‘discipline’. Would that involve self-discipline?
JT That is right; just so.
Ques Would the power to take up fasting issue from our presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God?
JT I am sure it would, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice”. They could not be evil if they were living.
[p. 63] Rem Daniel set his face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and fasting. He was one who felt things and sought a divine answer as being a man greatly beloved.
JT So that Daniel became an example in that sense, as to what we are speaking of — “a man greatly beloved”.
WJT Could you help us as to why the Lord says: “anoint thy head and wash thy face, so that thou mayest not appear fasting unto men, but to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret shall render it to thee”, Matthew 6: 17, 18.
JT It is a question of reality and not merely show. That is what God looks for. He looks for reality in us in what we are practising.
JEB In the Old Testament we get the expression “afflict your souls”. Would that be akin to fasting?
JT I should think so. But we must proceed now with Peter, because the lesson we have is worked out in Peter. So the angel says to Cornelius: “Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and fetch Simon, who is surnamed Peter” — notice the natural name is given as well as the spiritual name. “He lodges with a certain Simon, a tanner” It is another kind of work he is going on with. “And when the angel who was speaking to him had departed, having called two of his household and a pious soldier of those who were constantly with him, and related all things to them, he sent them to Joppa. And on the morrow, as these were journeying, and drawing near to the city, Peter went up on the house to pray”. So that we can see how the servant is already in the way of dependence on God, but he has got something yet to learn, and so it proceeds:
“[p. 64] about the sixth hour. And he became hungry and desired to eat. But as they were making ready” — that is, making the meal — “an ecstasy came upon him: and he beholds the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as a great sheet, bound by the four corners” — notice there the four corners are bound — we get peculiar detail — “and let down to the earth; in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven” — a large variety, but it is a question of God’s creatures, God’s creatures that we are not to despise. “And there was a voice to him, Rise, Peter, slay and eat. And Peter said, In no wise, Lord”. Notice how quickly he sets himself against the word of God; which is a matter to be noticed, peculiarly. And then he adds, “I have never eaten anything common or unclean. And there was a voice again the second time to him” — showing heaven’s interest and incessant desire to get the truth out and practised, “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common. And this took place thrice, and the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven”. So the facts are very remarkable, and that is why I proposed to read them, because I think the brethren will all get help. If we read this chapter and the following chapter carefully, and prayerfully, we shall all get help, and that is what these meetings are intended for by the Spirit of God.
AJG Would you say why all this detail is gone into, as to the occupation of Cornelius and Simon, and all these other matters.
JT I think it is because of the extraordinary value of what God was doing. It is a matter really of having things worked out in us, but, before that, you want to know why you are doing it, to have a good reason in your own mind why you are doing it, and then, if necessary, give a good reason to others.
EuR [p. 65] God was preparing the servant and preparing the persons to listen to him.
JT So that in our ministry we want to get interest and the like in what one is doing. In a reading where we are speaking of things as we are doing now, we have to pay attention and be strictly careful of what we do. The thing is to do it well; what we do, do well. Very likely you have something more in your mind?
EuR Only how everything depends on God’s orderings and God’s workings. We have to apply that to our day just as strongly as to the day of which we are reading. It is what God is doing in the place, is it not, and then the kind of ministry that would help the conditions in that place.
JT Just so. As we are here today, able to help the Lord’s people, we have to take account of the district, the district of Coventry and the neighbourhood. It is an industrial neighbourhood and we have to think of industrial conditions.
Ques Do we have to think of all that is transpiring in a circumstantial way in view of the development of the work of God in any given locality?
JT Quite so, but there are certain districts that have certain features. We ought to take into account what these features may be, if we are working in them, to promote the service of God. That is all that is in mind. Whatever there is in this district, we have to pay attention to that. Of course, the truth is worked out generally, so that in another sense there would be the same everywhere, but there are certain things in certain districts that have to be noticed. If these things are against the truth, pray against them and speak against them and bring forward the truth from the Scriptures, that would tend [p. 66] to overcome them.
AGH Does the word to Peter, “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”, mean that we are to learn to appropriate persons?
JT That is the idea; fellowship includes the appropriation of the brethren. We say that we had a good meeting, or that we were at a certain house at a certain time, and we had a profitable time; but why was it profitable? It was because certain persons were there; we were appropriating each other. The truth has to be appropriated, but persons involving what the truth represents have to be appropriated. So that the animals in the Old Testament types are just types of men and women and children, and it is a question how we appropriate them and why we appropriate them.
EuR You mean the clean animals that we can eat are all suggestive of persons. “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common”.
JT So a young person may say, I would like to get to know this other young person. Well, then, the first thing is, is that young person godly or does he persecute the truth? If he does that, then you do not want to know him, except to save him if he is lost, but you do not want to know him otherwise. You do not want to make companionship of people who are sinful or tend to worldliness.
Ques Would that be the import of the word “slay and eat”; that is, our links with one another are not on natural lines?
JT Just so. The slaying and the eating, of course, would not be persons; it is just a figure of what is needed to bring meat, animal meat, into use, making it useful for food.
Ques Would this have been seen pre-eminently in Simon the tanner? There would be death, I should think, surrounding his circumstances, so that the skins might be [p. 67] available.
JT The fact that he was a tanner, you mean? There would be skins that he was making use of for pairs of shoes and the like. That would be the idea.
EuR That would involve that they had to go through a certain process.
JT If you are a shoe dealer you have to get raw material, and that raw material has to come from animals. So that what has been said is quite right, that Simon the tanner would be likely to be affected by these skins that he would be obliged to use. The idea of intelligence thus comes into all these things, because God is pleased to give us minds that can be instructed. But we will have to proceed a little further now. We have been dealing with Cornelius, and it goes on to say (verse 19): “But as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him ...” — notice that it is not said to be the Spirit of God, it is just the Spirit Himself — “the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men seek thee; but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them”. That is to say, the Spirit of God comes in personally, and He is the Sender at this time of Peter to this great service that is in mind. It is the Spirit of God by Himself.
AJG It says here, “I have sent them”; the sending of the men here is also attributed to the Spirit.
JT Just so. Then the three men that are sent to Peter give an account of Cornelius, and they say (verse 22), “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man, and fearing God” — notice that, “fearing God” — “and borne witness to by the whole nation of the Jews, has been divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for thee to his house, and hear words from thee. Having therefore invited them in, he lodged them”. Peter lodged them; that is to say, Peter had liberty to lodge people in another man’s house, which is another great feature of love. As I am here now in Mr. M.’s house I can invite somebody else in. He invited them in and lodged them, it says, meaning that he would give them a bed or give them food; he had liberty to do that, which I think is a point to be noticed. “And on the morrow, rising up he went away with them”. So that Peter is obedient; he goes away with the messengers: “And certain of the brethren from Joppa went with him”. We shall see later that there were six of them who went with Peter, and they were there as witnesses. “And on the morrow they came to Caesarea. But Cornelius was looking for them”. Cornelius too is in the whole matter; he is thoroughly in it. He was looking for them, “having called together his kinsmen and his intimate friends”. So we are to learn how we are to go on with the work of God in regard of our relatives. If we can use them, use them, but if we cannot they may damage us.
HPW You spoke of the intimacy in which the Spirit desires that we should enlist His help in everything. Is that a very great thing with all of us, to be intimate in our relations with the Holy Spirit?
JT Quite so. You will notice that it is the Spirit by Himself. It does not say “the Spirit of God” but the Spirit Himself — “the Spirit said to him”.
EuR Would you say something as to the distinction between the Spirit Himself and the Spirit of God?
JT The Spirit is a divine Person, the truth of which the Lord has stressed amongst us, making it clearer than it had been hitherto. The Spirit is a divine Person, as the Father is, and as the Son is, and the Spirit is mentioned as the third of the three divine Persons; that is, we are to consider the abstract idea of divine Persons. We cannot say what relations they stood in before the economy, because they are presented as equal, but in the [p. 69] economy it is the Father, and the Son and the Spirit. It is the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit. That is, the order is, one, two, three, and they are divine Persons, but abstractly they are clearly presented as equal.
AEM-o You emphasize then that it is not the Lord speaking by the Spirit, but the Spirit Himself. We have been rather inclined to turn to the Lord for guidance, have we not, and receive it by the Spirit? Now you would turn to the Spirit for guidance, would you?
JT Just so. You would agree with that, I am sure.
AEM-o Yes, I would.
JT The Spirit is presented in the Acts as in charge of the position down here, but at the same time He has been ignored in certain ways. So in Numbers 21 they sang to the well. It says, “And from thence to Beer: that is the well of which Jehovah spoke to Moses, Assemble the people, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Rise up, well! sing unto it: Well which princes digged, which the nobles of the people hollowed out at the word of the lawgiver, with their staves” Numbers 21: 16 - 18. That passage is the confirmation of what the Lord has helped us on in recent times; that the Spirit of God can be spoken to. It is not only that He can speak to us — of course, He does — but He can be spoken to. Typically they sang to Him here.
Ques Does the thought of accuracy enter into the message which is conveyed to Peter by the three men?
JT I think so, and then that he took others, because in the next chapter we find that there were six men as witnesses.
AJG It says, “There went with me these six brethren also”.
JT Showing how concerned God is as to testimony in the sense of witnesses. We constantly use the word testimony, and it implies witnesses; it is what is testified to, what the witness would say or do to establish a fact.
JSE May I ask a further question as to this matter of fasting, and the way the Spirit comes into the happenings here? I was thinking of the allusion to Cornelius and the interest that heaven was taking in him, when it says: “As Peter continued pondering”. He was not exactly occupied with the meal that he was originally concerned about, but he was pondering; that is, he was engaged with the matter in hand, and so the Spirit comes into the matter sympathetically and speaks to him directly and personally.
JT Would you not say that God was over the fact that he should be hungry, because all this was the outcome of it. God was over it and so the vision came to him, that is, what he saw coming down from heaven. There is the vessel as a great sheet, bound by the four corners. The four corners are a universal idea, and this is to be brought into his mind, meaning that he was to be ready, through this process, to listen to what was to be said about the gentiles coming into the truth.
PL Would his experience help him to be found in sympathy with divine hunger for the gentiles?
JT Will you explain to us ‘divine hunger’?
PL I was thinking of Luke 15 — the hunger of love in that way, and also chapter 14, “That my house may be filled”.
Ques Does the reference to all the quadrupeds and creeping things suggest that there is going to be a quota from every nation — every class, you might say, of the [p. 71] gentiles?
JT Just so. There are certain kinds of men that are somewhat in disrepute in the minds of the so-called white people in the West. You have that in mind?
Rem I did; I had never noticed it before, but it seems as though they must have covered every kind — “were all the quadrupeds and creeping things”.
JT So that God’s mind would stretch out to the coloured man. We know them in New York, and that God is blessing them and He is overcoming the disadvantage of colour.
Rem So that if we are to be true to our assembly instincts we must get away from respect of persons and come into God’s view of them all.
JT So that we have in verse 26: “But Peter made him rise, saying, Rise up: I myself also am a man. And he went in, talking with him, and found many gathered together. And he said to them, Ye know how it is unlawful for a Jew to be joined or come to one of a strange race”. We should notice the word ‘race’ there; that covers the whole idea of humanity. The word ‘race’ is not applied to angels; it is applied to men.
AM Was not the collection of brethren in Acts 13 a remarkably varied one in that connection? I mean there was Barnabas, and then Simeon called Niger, who would presumably be a coloured man; there was Lucius the Cyrenian, and the foster-brother of Herod, and then there was Saul.
JT Well, that would bear out what we have said, and you had in mind the word ‘Niger’ specially, did you not?
AM I was thinking what a mixed company they were, and how grace worked with Barnabas, for instance, and Saul, to sit down in such company as that.
JT So that this idea of nations comes into what we are saying (the word ‘nation’ is used in this section [p. 72] of Scripture) but we have to make allowance for detrimental things. I would not like to say things that would cause offence to anybody, but we cannot ignore the fact that certain conditions do exist that imply reproach on certain persons. So that we have to overcame that, and Peter had to overcome it. He said he had overcome it and we have to overcome it too, so that we do not look down on people, so to speak, because of certain conditions, because I am sure God is not pleased with that at all. It is said of Enoch, that he pleased God, which means that he did please Him, and he did the things that were suitable.
Rem Peter says: “To me God has shewn to call no man common or unclean”.
JT Quite so. God had showed him, and that indicates that Peter had taken it in; the vision had done its work with Peter. I do not think we see that he was at all hungry afterwards — there is no word that he wanted to eat afterwards; it is as though the hunger was in order to bring about the results that we are now dealing with. So that we have got to watch in our ministry not to have disrespect for certain persons. It may be because they are poor — in lower conditions than we may be, but we have to think of them as men; “the mediator of God and men”. It is not their colour, but men. It is humanity that is in mind.
Ques Would there be help in relation to that in what Peter says about this matter in chapter 15? He refers to the fact that he had been given the commission from the earliest days to bring the nations into this matter, and he referred to God as “the heart-knowing God”.
JT Just so. Two of them spoke in that extraordinary chapter. Peter was the leading speaker, and then there was James. God had honoured them in that sense and Peter was honoured, you can see [p. 73] particularly, because of the way he had been educated in chapter 10.
Ques Did the Lord have this sheet in mind in the end of Matthew’s gospel when He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”?
JT Just so, showing that it is all the nations. It is not simply all men, but all the nations; the division into nations is involved, and that is governmental on God’s part. They are called into it in Matthew 28.
ACSP Is what we are saying borne out by the verse in chapter 2. “pious men, from every nation of those under heaven”, and then Peter’s own expression here, “I myself also am a man”.
JT Very good.
AEM-o I suppose the systems around you in New York do make a distinction. They have separate buildings for those who are coloured; but those walking according to assembly principles would receive a coloured brother as warmly as a white brother. You have many coloured and white mixing together in the same meeting.
JT We have, indeed. In New York we have about half and half, and there are about five hundred altogether.
Ques Does verse 35 of this chapter help us? “But in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him”.
JT It says, beginning with verse 34, “I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him. The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all things,) ye know; the testimony which has spread” — notice “has spread”, it is the fact — “has spread through the whole of Judaea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached — Jesus who was of Nazareth” — notice [p. 74] that too, who was of Nazareth. He is not that now, but it is what He was — “how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went through all quarters” — notice that, all quarters — “doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him”. Then it says further. “We also are witnesses of all things which he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they also slew, having hanged him on a cross. This man God raised up the third day and gave him to be openly seen, not of all the people, but of witnesses” — notice that again — “who were chosen before of God, us who have eaten and drunk with him after he arose from among the dead”. So that the idea of humanity is greatly stressed in all that. It is a question of man.
Ques When Peter says: “I myself also am a man”, has he overcome any thought of religious superiority? He does not say, ‘I am a Jew’, but ‘I am a man’.
JT I think so. But I think we ought to include other remarks before we close, and particularly that the Lord Jesus became a Man, for that is the basis of everything. It is not simply that it is that kind of creature, but the basis of everything is that the Lord Jesus Himself became a Man — “the Man Christ Jesus”.
AJG So that man is now greatly elevated in the thoughts of God?
JT Quite so. I believe that is why christianity is brought in, because God intends to take out the very best, and He knows it, and the very best is the assembly. The assembly is the greatest of all families.
Ques Should there be a readiness on the part of the evangelist not only to preach the gospel but to link himself on, or identify himself, with those converted? I was thinking of Philip and [p. 75] the eunuch.
JT Quite so. It says, “they went down both to the water”. He took the same level as the eunuch, and the eunuch was probably a coloured man. Philip went down with him into the water; that is to say, he accepted the equality of man, although we should not go the length of President Lincoln who said that all men were created equal, for that is not true either. We have to avoid that too, for we want to be sure that we are saying the truth.
EJB Is there a link with Ephesians 2 in all this, particularly where it says: “That he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace”.
JT Quite so. The ‘one new man’ is another matter altogether; Christ is the expression of that. It is not that Christ is a new Man at all, because He is not; He is not so regarded, but it is the kind of man that is formed in ourselves, that is called a new man — it is a quality; that is what is meant. It is seen in Colossians and Ephesians.