THE SANCTUARY
[p. 174] THE SANCTUARY
Reading, Revised by F.E.R.
Exodus 25: 1 - 22 I suppose you would say that the thought in Exodus 15 is that God has wrought deliverance for His people, and that is in view of something.
FER What comes out in Exodus 15 is that deliverance has been effected from the enemy, and that Jehovah reigns. You have in principle the kingdom. The people are delivered out of the authority of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God. Deliverance is one side, but the other is the important side, that is, they are brought into the kingdom.
GR Does the history of David illustrate that? God brought him to the throne and he wrought deliverance for His people, and just as the authority of David was owned the blessings of the kingdom were enjoyed.
FER The kingdom of God really means that God has come in to bring back man to Himself. Man has departed from God and set up his own will, and in the kingdom God has come in to recover man; that is, to establish His sway over man in grace.
JSA In this chapter there seem to be two points, the first, God come in to deliver His people, and the second, that He has appointed a place in which He will make known His mind.
FER Yes, you come to the sanctuary.
JSA How is it that the covenant comes first?
FER Because people have to learn before they come to the sanctuary. We are on the experimental side. Saints must know what the disposition of God is toward them before they can worship. They must enjoy the Lord’s supper before they really come to [p. 175] the assembly. To understand the terms on which they are with God is the first thing. You get that in chapter 20, and in the succeeding chapters you get the covenant; chapter 25 brings you to the sanctuary.
AG Is the assembly the sanctuary?
FER We have to come by purgation to the sanctuary. You get in chapter 24, verses 3 to 8, the covenant and the blood of the covenant; he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant”. The people were purged in that sense and had the covenant, and then in the succeeding chapter we have directions as to the sanctuary. Sanctuary brings in the idea of approach to God, that is, God is dwelling among men and in consequence of that men approach God according to the appointed order.
JSA But before they can really approach God they must know the terms on which they are with God.
WE What is the difference between the old covenant and the new?
FER You get the old covenant here. The old covenant was connected with the blood of bulls, etc.; the people were purged figuratively. The covenant included all that God made known to them. The covenant, the terms on which He would be with them, begins with chapter 20; that is, the ten commandments, and then the succeeding chapters open up the statutes and judgments, and the people accepted the terms, “All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient”. Then they are purged, and in the next chapter you get the sanctuary. I think that is the way in which things are presented.
GR The old covenant is what man should be for God.
FER Yes, but it brings out a good deal of what God would be for them, but conditionally on their obedience. The ten commandments laid down what the people should be for God, but the succeeding [p. 176] chapters show also what God would be for them. This was for them all a question of teaching. Moses was to teach the people statutes and judgments. The new covenant and the old largely meant divine teaching.
AEH What connection had this with the kingdom?
FER The covenant follows the kingdom; until God has established His sway in man’s soul you cannot have any covenant. God cannot really make terms with an unconverted man. You are brought into the kingdom in order that God may teach you.
JB Did Israel ever enter into the blessing of God being with them in this way?
FER Very poorly. They did not make a good beginning; they made a golden calf.
AG Could a person enter into the moral sway of the kingdom not having life?
FER John 3 shows that a man must be born again or he cannot see the kingdom; but at the same time a man receives the kingdom, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God”. The kingdom comes to a man in the way of testimony; the preaching is of the kingdom. God has set up a kingdom and the testimony of it is sent into the world. I think a man receives the kingdom in receiving the testimony of God’s grace.
AG Outside of that he cannot come into the kingdom.
FER It is plain, that if a man is to come under the moral sway of God it must be in the way of grace, else there could be nothing for him but judgment. There was no way possible for God to come out to man except in grace or judgment, and He came out in grace instead of judgment. The object and end of it is that man may come under the moral sway of God in grace, that grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life. The moment man is [p. 177] brought under the moral sway of God he comes under divine teaching.
AEH The terms on which God was with Israel are not the same as those on which He is with us.
FER No. The terms on which He was with them are laid down in these two or three chapters before the purging, then the purging comes in.
JS These terms proposed a certain responsibility to man.
FER The people accepted them, and the covenant depended to a large extent on the obedience of man.
JS Would you say there was a certain responsibility attaching to man at the present moment?
FER That is not the character of the covenant now. The covenant in our case is unconditional. In their case the covenant contemplated two parties, but in the new covenant the Mediator of the covenant has removed one of the parties, so that God is one, and nothing can alter His disposition toward us.
JSA You mean that the old man has been removed.
FER Yes. Now Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant, and He has removed one man.
AEH Is that the meaning of Galatians 3: 20?
FER Yes. “God is one”.
JS We could easily understand how this is a better covenant.
JSA Then you were pointing out the other day the difference as to writing. In this case it was outside on stone tables, and now it is inside on fleshy tables of the heart.
FER Two points are taken up in 2 Corinthians 3; first writing, and then covenant. The apostle takes up writing in connection with the thought of a letter of commendation, then he takes up the second point and that is covenant. God began in Israel with writing on tables of stone, for the writing of God precedes God dwelling. Until God writes He does not dwell.
[p. 178] Then connected with the writing you get the covenant, then the sanctuary, and we have to apprehend things in that order. That is the line of the Spirit’s teaching. You never get at things really except in God’s way.
JA You do not begin with eternal life.
FER You end with it, at least if Scripture is right, “The end everlasting life”.
WE And that scripture does not mean then that you die?
FER I do not think so. A man gets to eternal life on earth. He may not get it until resurrection, but get it he will. Every believer will certainly get it.
WHF Before he leaves earth?
FER Yes.
WHF You do not enter into it now, but in resurrection?
FER You will be put into it then; you will not enter into it.
AEH What is this writing you speak of?
FER In the case of Israel God wrote on tables of stone. In the case of christians God writes on the heart, but He will write.
AEH Is that before the covenant is established?
FER Yes, in a sense. The apostle was assured as to the Corinthians that there was a writing of the Spirit in them. He says, “Ye are our letter”. They were “the epistle of Christ ... written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart”. The writing of God was there, but the point before us is that the writing on tables of stone gives you the idea of writing preceding God’s dwelling.
AEH What He wrote was the terms of the covenant?
FER No, the ten commandments; that is not entirely the terms of the covenant; these come out afterwards. The ten commandments are the writing [p. 179] of God, and the tables were eventually in the ark of the testimony.
AEH What does that correspond with in christianity?
FER Christ. The ten commandments were the transcript of God’s mind as to man here.
JB Was the transcript as to what man ought to be?
FER Yes, it was so then, but God has everything now in Christ, and “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth”. And the Spirit in us means Christ in us.
AG Was it the presenting of it to the people that was the covenant?
FER No. What succeeds the ten commandments formed part of the covenant, then we have the blood of the covenant.
AEH We ought to read over the intervening chapters if we want to understand the terms of the covenant.
FER Yes, but we are only concerned now to see the principle.
JSA It is interesting that in the coming day with Israel God will write His laws on their heart, so there is writing then.
JB Was not the covenant what they agreed to be for God? It was not what He would be to them.
FER There were two parties to the covenant, and, on the condition of their obedience, God made known what He would be to them.
JSA I suppose part of the covenant is contained in this, “I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way”.
FER Yes, that is part of the covenant. The intervening chapters are Jehovah’s judgments; He gave them His judgments.
AEH What are the terms of the covenant [p. 180] of God with us?
FER They are uncommonly simple, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. I think that is the only condition of the covenant. Love makes no terms, and if it is the love of God you do not want anything more; you may be well content to leave yourself in the hands of God.
AEH The difficulty with me is to see how it is a covenant.
FER It is God’s disposition toward you, and that is love. That is His covenant.
JSA I think what our brother says discloses what is in many minds, that somehow at the bottom we think we have to do something, we do not understand what it is to be absolutely in grace.
FER The figure of a will is employed as to covenant in the Hebrews, and there are not two parties in a will. If I make a will it is my mind, I make a disposition of my property, but then the disposition I make shows my mind to those who come under my will. If I were to leave all my property to my children, it would show what my disposition was toward them.
GR What is written in the heart of a christian is Christ, and that means that Christ becomes the object of our affections. We prefer Christ to ourselves.
FER You get a sense of the love of God, and that is divine teaching. Christ is the expression of that love. Hence, in the Lord’s supper, “This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you”.
AEH Is it spoken of in Hebrews where it says He will remember their sins and iniquities no more?
FER That is part of it; it is the love of God and no sins; He does not remember them any more; He has done with them, and, on the other hand, the Spirit makes known what is God’s disposition toward us.
GR That is what we have come to here in Exodus. The covenant is teaching what God would be [p. 181] for them.
FER And it is the same with us. People will not get further on if they do not come there.
JSA And that is what you mean, that we only get into the assembly through the Supper. This brings out what God is for us.
FER I think Christ’s body given for them indicated one thing and His blood shed for them indicated another, as to the meaning of it.
AEH What does each one indicate?
FER His body indicates that He has removed your old man from before God. You get such an expression as this, “ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ”. But His blood indicates the bringing in of the mind of God; it is the new covenant in His blood. It is the declaration of God’s mind toward you.
AEH And is the blood of the covenant spoken of in the Old Testament corresponding to that?
FER No, it comes in there more in the light of purgation. In the Lord’s supper you do not get the efficacy of the blood, but the teaching of the blood. You may look at the death of Christ in the efficacy of it, but also in the witness of it.
AEH I think many of us have been occupied with the efficacy of the blood.
FER In that case you are defective.
JSA It is a most important distinction. By witness you mean a witness to the love of God.
GR So that if we do not get beyond the efficacy God is still before us as a judge; but if we get the witness we are beyond that thought by what God is for us.
FER Christ refreshes us in the Supper by bringing again before us the expression of divine love. It is also a test as to whether you are in the fellowship of Christ’s death. You are glad enough of it, and answer to it [p. 182] readily.
GR If God is before you as a judge there is no worship, but if we get beyond that and see what His heart is toward us we worship.
FER If you remember, in Romans 5, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us”. And then it goes on to say, “God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. That is, the death of Christ is the witness and expression of the love of God.
JF I suppose when dwelling on the efficacy we are dwelling on the good of it to ourselves?
FER If people are on that line it only shows they do not yet know God. People who know God do not want assurance.
AEH I know this thought has been before me in the Lord’s supper, that we are there free from sin, but it was a reminder to us of the work of Christ on the cross.
FER I think the Lord brought His death before the disciples to show them how it could be that He would still be with them; He could no longer be with them after the flesh, but in the Spirit He shows them how He could still be with them. I think if you accept two things — that is, on the one side, your removal, and, on the other, your heart established in the love of God — you realise the presence of Christ, who has effected this by His death. You are in a new scene where man has no place, and God is everything. That is what you come to in the sanctuary.
JSA Does not that verse in John 15 help, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”? It is not as in Romans 5, dying for enemies; it is the love that led Him to give His life for friends.
FER Yes.
WE Would you say it is more the Person than what is done in the Supper that should be [p. 183] before us?
FER Certainly. If what is done is before you, it is not Himself. His death comes before you simply as an expression of Himself. You call Him to mind, not some fact about Him.
WHF Do you not get that distinction in the celebration of the passover in Egypt and in Canaan? In Egypt it was appropriation, and in Canaan it was appreciation.
FER Yes.
JB The difficulty with me was that the Lord said, “this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”.
FER That only makes the love more emphatic; the love has come out to remove everything which was inconsistent with Himself, so that there might be nothing to interfere with the love.
JB There is often a sense of gratitude that our sins have been removed by the blood.
FER Well, but then I think you get in that way to what is individual.
JB He has “washed us from our sins in his own blood”.
FER He has done it, quite so.
AG What is the next step to the covenant?
FER I think reconciliation, only you cannot in Israel get a clear type of reconciliation, because God was dealing there with a people after the flesh; but reconciliation comes out in regard to us, and there you come to an exceedingly important point, viz., to another head.
GR I do not know if I quite get hold of that.
FER In reconciliation God has begun in another Man, that is the point in reconciliation.
AEH That is what is brought out in Romans 5.
FER And in 2 Corinthians 5. It is of all moment to see that God has begun in another Man, and that Man has removed from before God all that came in by the first man.
WE [p. 184] Does that bring in the body?
FER It paves the way. It brings in life, for you are necessarily in the life of that Man. God has ignored every order of man, Jew and gentile, in coming in by another Man. Consequently God takes up everything now in Christ, “if any one be in Christ there is a new creation”.
WE You say removed before God, must he not be gone from before you before you can enter into reconciliation?
FER That is consequent on your seeing that the man is gone from before God, for if he is gone from before God he has gone from before you. If I see sin and death gone from before God, they are gone from before me. If the old man has gone for God he has gone for me, he has gone for me in my seeing that he has gone for God. The putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new is the truth in Jesus.
GR So that in reconciliation we are really before God consciously for His perfect complacency.
FER But in another Man. You have changed your man.
JSA I think we have often had the idea that reconciliation did not mean more than a change of that disposition in us which was contrary to God.
FER That is not the idea of reconciliation in Scripture.
JSA We have stopped at this, “alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled”.
FER How could that man be reconciled; you could not reconcile a man who is an enemy in mind by wicked works. He can only be so as to being in another individuality.
JSA We have left this part of the scripture out very often.
GR The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not simply at enmity, but [p. 185] it is enmity.
JB Now another Man is brought in.
FER The truth of reconciliation is stated plainly in 2 Corinthians 5, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses”. This was in Christ; all that God had to say to man was that He did not impute unto them their trespasses. When Christ was born into the world the song of the heavenly host was, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. That was in the birth of Christ. God was “in Christ”; He ignored every other man in a sense, for the moment. There was one Man before Him, and that was Christ. But that was only the beginning; now you get not only the ministry of reconciliation but the word of reconciliation, and that is that all that came in and was left behind by the first man has been removed in Christ; and I believe we have to learn that our own state is irremediable and there is nothing for us now except to be in the life of Christ, for Christ is the one Man who now subsists before God.
GAD So that is where you touch life for the first time.
FER Quite so. You get a beautiful statement, “if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life”. You touch His life now because you have accepted His death.
JSA And is there not an interesting point in connection with reconciliation; it is the beginning on God’s side. The kingdom and the covenant are first, but reconciliation is God working for Himself.
FER Yes, and the way in which He works in that connection is by another Man. It is not apart from man, but by another Man.
JSA And it is unto Himself.
FER All is for God now. You get that stated, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to [p. 186] himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation”. That is what the apostle says.
JSA It brings out a beautiful thought, that all life for God is in Christ, and all the rest is a scene of death.
FER You have come to a very important point, and that is that you change your man. It is no longer Adam, it is Christ.
GR One can see how necessary it is to learn that before you can enter the sanctuary, because God cannot have man in the flesh in the sanctuary.
FER You can only enter the sanctuary in the life of Christ.
GR Is that why it says in Hebrews, “through the veil”?
FER Yes, you have to go in in the way in which Christ came out, that is, by death.
AG Would you say in God’s purpose of love He had but one Man before Him?
FER Yes. I think what reconciliation brings in is that you have changed your man, and there is a response in your heart to the love of God. After all, the true measure of every one of us is our response to the love of God set forth in Christ. That is the true stature of a christian. You get that brought in in 1 Corinthians 13.
JA Would you say at that point the soul is brought to God?
FER Yes, you are really brought to God in reconciliation. In the kingdom God is brought to you, but in reconciliation you are brought to God, but in the life of Christ.
JA I suppose, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost” is God brought to us.
FER And then as the effect of that there is response to God. The moment you love God you are in the life of [p. 187] Christ.
JA I suppose it is at that point God has got man back to Himself.
FER Exactly, He has secured man’s heart for Himself.
JSA And strictly speaking it is for those who love God that the unheard of things are revealed.
FER Yes.
JSA And that is those who have a response in their hearts to the love of God toward them.
AEH Is that why it says we are reconciled to God?
FER But you are reconciled to God by Jesus Christ, “we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement [reconciliation]”. You have another head. There is the sense of change from Adam to Christ. That is the point realised in reconciliation.
GR Is that worked out in the latter part of Romans 5?
FER Yes, and thus the argument of the last part of the chapter is to prove that there is only one Man; one man has died, but he left sin and death behind him, and another Man has come in and removed the sin and death which the first man left behind him, and that Man abides.
WE Then in the new heavens and the new earth there will be nothing of Adam?
FER No, Christ is the Head. But what a profound effect that must have on people, for you are influenced and affected in every detail of life by the One who has made known to you the love of God.
JA And that in the very scene where God has been dishonoured.
FER So that reconciliation leads up to the truth of life and of Christ’s body.
JSA And it also leads you to understand the having put off the old man and having put on [p. 188] the new.
FER Quite so.
AEH Is the prodigal an example of reconciliation?
FER I think so in a way, but in that parable the point is not so much reconciliation as the satisfaction of the father. It is the celebration of grace.
AG Is it not important to have before us the death of His Son as that which brings in reconciliation?
FER Quite so, because He comes in as the One in whom God reconciles everything — the second Man, and in death He has removed all that came in by the first man.
AG The only way in which it could be removed.
FER There is a distinction between the thought of the first and second Man and that of the old man and the new man. The first man is superseded; the old man is removed. The first man is superseded by the Second; at the same time, all that came in by the first, sin and death, are removed. The meaning of that to a christian is that you must change from Adam to Christ.
WE It is really a change over from yourself?
FER It means a very great deal, and that is that every expectation of your heart is bound up with Christ. I have got everything to expect from Christ, and nothing from the first man.
GAD So it is effected in our souls by the preference to Christ above all else.
FER Certainly. Where that comes home Christ gets His proper place in the heart. We would not care to be in the sanctuary without Christ; we would not entertain the idea for a moment.
JB The new creation, is that the change of the man?
FER It is very much of a change. If any man be in Christ it is a new creation.
JS Could you strictly say it is a change?
FER It is a new creation, different in kind.
JS That is what [p. 189] I think.
FER Morally it effects a very great change. I believe the reading of the passage is, “Old things have passed away, new things have come to pass”.
GR The thought of the sanctuary, as brought before us in the scripture read, is exceedingly precious in this way, as showing the heart of God desiring to be with His people, and to have them with Him.
FER Yes, with the sanctuary comes in the mercy-seat, this is where God makes His communications.
GR Is there not a similar thought in the feasts of Israel, that is that God would surround Himself with His people?
FER Yes, but they do not give exactly the thought of the sanctuary.
GR No, but they show where God’s heart is.
FER I think the sanctuary is where God has come out to make known all the counsels of His love, that is in Christ.
JSA That corresponds with the assembly, and therefore it is not exactly as individuals we gain insight into the Lord’s mind. We comprehend with all saints.
FER It is as the worshipping company, the sons of Aaron.
GR As we had last night, God still has a sanctuary.
FER I think Christ has come out from the heart of God to make known to us God’s counsels of love; that is where you get the mercy-seat; it is the light of God in Christ.
AG Does reconciliation bring out the difference between the first and second Man?
FER If you accept reconciliation you do not go in for the comeliness of the first man. Many have put off the worst things of the first man, but want to keep the best things. They go in for proprieties and the amenities of life, and that kind of thing. Now the christian gives all that up in spirit, because he has left the first man for the Second. You can only be comely for God as you are in the life [p. 190] of Christ.
WE Is not the apostle a marked case of that?
FER Yes.
JB And that is the only comeliness to be thought of.
AG And the power for that is the Holy Spirit.
FER That is what the Holy Spirit has come down for.
GR But at the same time that would make us courteous to all men.
FER What makes you really comely is love. I have come across pleasant men in the world and like them so far. In children you see a difference in natural character, but that is all the first man. But love never behaves itself unseemly; it does not seek its own. 1 Corinthians 13 is the rule of your life then, “Charity suffereth long and is kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil”. You see it in the most perfect way in Christ Himself. There was not a bit of the first man about Christ because He was the second Man, Of course He lived down here in flesh, but in the world He was the lowliest of men, who would go anywhere for God’s will; and you see the moral perfection that marked Christ out. There was neither leaven nor honey, neither amiability nor sourness, and yet perfect love. You see the heavenly Man, the living bread come down from heaven.
GR Often the most cultured men are Unitarians.
FER Yes, they go in professedly for the first man.
JS That is very deceptive to christians.
JB But there is nothing for God in it.
FER There is neither knowledge of the love of God on the one hand, nor reconciliation on the other. God has come out and man goes in, but then man only goes in in Christ; you do not go in in Adam.
WHF That is the thought of going through the veil.
FER You see Christ came out from the heart of God through the veil, that is the cross, and you go in [p. 191] by the veil, the cross, to the heart of God, and that is brought about by the Holy Spirit making effective in you what Christ came out to reveal, that is the love of God. It is in that way that you become partaker of the divine nature.
JSA The difficulty is there has been a wish to have things in ourselves instead of in Christ, and if we see we only have them in Christ, we can better understand the assembly, and a great number of other things.
FER Yes, but if you have them in Christ it involves this, you have to leave Adam.
JA That will account a good deal for how little real fellowship we have.
FER Yes; you may get cliques in a meeting, and that is only Adam; it is not divine love; people like others who are agreeable to themselves, and they get on with a few.
JS It is really the amiability of the first man.
FER Amiability is Adam. What was about Christ was love, “hatred for my love”, Psalm 109: 5. Perfect love knows how to adapt itself to the most incongruous circumstances. He says, “I am meek and lowly in heart”, that never came from Mary. It was the adaptation of love to every circumstance.
JA So the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price.
JS It shows the kind of man that God wants.
FER It shows more than that; it shows the kind of man that God has got. It is a great thing to know that the Man is there. The first man is of the earth earthy, and the second Man is out of heaven. God would not trust a man from earth again. It is a wonderful day for christians when they prepare to change their head. I am not prepared to say much about it for I know so little of it. Many a christian is prepared for the grace of God, but has never had the courage to change his head.
[p. 192] JA They have pleasure in the kingdom.
FER Yes, but they have not changed their head.
Ques So according to that a person may be in the kingdom and not in the church.
FER As to their apprehension of things they may. You have to distinguish, however, between what God has brought about as a fact, and what the soul enters into experimentally.
JA And this is the experimental side.
FER It is all experimental to us; that is why the history of the children of Israel is given, so that you may get an apprehension of how the soul is led on in divine things.
GAD I suppose these things are only effected by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
FER They are effected just as you are able to bear them. God does not carry on His work too fast. If God began to work in all the mighty power of His Spirit you could not bear it. God deals gently and leads on as one is able to bear it. Can you imagine anything more wonderful than that man should be transferred from Adam to Christ? Can that be done in a moment?
JF Is that what you get, “line upon line, precept upon precept”?
FER Yes, you get the thought in gifts, they are for the edification of the saints; they are being built up. You cannot be full grown in Christ in a moment; you have to go on step by step.
WE It is a great deal like natural growth.
FER Yes, and the figure is employed of natural growth; “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro ... but speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ”.
JF So the apostle says, “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat”.
FER Quite so. Milk is good for babes, but when [p. 193] you get on to solid food you obtain an apprehension of divine counsels. Milk alludes to the elements.
AG I suppose the teaching of Philippians is to those who are reconciled.
FER Yes. The great thing in the new covenant is God gets His place with us. In reconciliation Christ gets His place with us as Head.
JF Would you say they are referred to in Isaiah, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied”?
FER Yes, He gets His place as Head. I see nothing for me but Christ now; I would not go in for the proprieties of Adam, but for the love of Christ. The love of Christ constrains us, the apostle says. I suppose they had insinuated first that Paul was mad, and on the other hand that he was sober. They are very contrary ideas, and the apostle takes them both up. He says, “For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause”. Then he says, “the love of Christ constraineth us”. Christ had His place with him.
GB Where it says, “we pray you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God”, is that to believers?
FER I think it is practical; the Corinthians had not left Adam for Christ. They were practically very much in Adam. They had believed in Christ; I do not doubt for a moment they were Christ’s, and had received the gift of the Holy Spirit. But certainly, judging from the epistle, they had very little readiness to leave Adam for Christ.
JF That, I suppose, brought in what they were doing — reigning?
FER They had got into cliques, schisms, etc., saying, “I am of Paul, ... I of Cephas”. That was not leaving Adam for Christ. Christ has His own special claim on us as Man, because He is the Man who has come out from the heart of God to make that heart known.