FAMINE OVER THE INHABITED EARTH
[p. 296] FAMINE OVER THE INHABITED EARTH
Acts 11:27 - 29; 2 Corinthians 8:1 - 9
JT I believe these scriptures will furnish, in the active love shown in them in meeting a condition that arose, an occasion for touching on the culmination of our subject. It says, “Now in these days ..”.. I think it is well to keep the thought of “these days” — the days described in the verses preceding — in mind, as if the new departure on the part of God in His work necessitated that work being tested.
HSD Are “these days” days of great spiritual prosperity?
JT Yes; for the verses immediately preceding call attention to the very remarkable work at Antioch, and the care taken of it by Jerusalem in sending Barnabas there; and then the care taken by Barnabas in seeking out Saul, who with Barnabas laboured for a year in Antioch; and then, too, that the disciples were first called Christians there. It seems as though God would have the work tested by allowing this famine, to see how it would affect them — how they would act under such trying conditions. Certain prophets went down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and this incoming famine was the burden of Agabus; it was a prophetic announcement which, I think, meant that God would lay it on the saints at Antioch in a powerful way.
AFM Agabus signified it by the Spirit, which would give character and power to the announcement.
FL Would you think that the exigencies of the famine would promote, in a practical way, the breaking down of the middle wall of partition as between Jew and Gentile?
JT [p. 297] I think so. It would make way for the truth of the church as developed in Paul’s ministry.
FL That is what I was thinking. The Gentile believers contributed to the temporal needs of Jewish believers, and this would tend to break down the middle wall of partition.
JT Yes; and in a most effectual way, a way that not even a powerful ministry could bring about so effectually.
TA Do you regard the present world-wide depression as something allowed of God to test the saints in this way?
JT Yes; it should be a test to our love. It has also been a test to us in another sense, for certain things have happened through it that have brought discredit to the Lord’s name, alas! and we ought to feel this. But there is the other side — the shining out of the divine nature through it, in meeting the need that has arisen.
I have thought that perhaps we may see something of the pearl of Matthew 13, amplified in our subject, as seen in the heavenly city. It says, “And the twelve gates, twelve pearls; each one of the gates, respectively, was of one pearl”, (Revelation 21:21). We may see this one pearl at Antioch. There are other features connected with the gates; it says in verse 12, “... and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel”. But the main thought of each gate is one pearl, so that you have the idea that if you saw one gate you would see a facsimile of them all. A pearl gate denotes what is local now.
AFM Would that fit in with the scripture read: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he being rich became poor, in order that ye by his poverty might be enriched”,? The Lord sold all whatever He had and bought that one [p. 298] pearl.
JT So that the service rendered at Antioch to the brethren in Judaea would be the shining out of love in administration. The teaching of these two remarkable servants, Barnabas and Saul, led up to the administration of love, but it went beyond Antioch. It was administrative love that involved the whole church. Paul speaks of it in this way in 2 Corinthians 8:23: “... or our brethren, they are deputed messengers of assemblies, Christ’s glory”. It is not deputed messengers of the assembly, but of assemblies; that is, the local companies are seen acting together.
In Revelation 21 there are twelve pearls, without saying anything more about them, and then each gate is one pearl; so that there would be conveyed in any one of the gates, the same idea as would be seen in all, but in a local setting, as applied to us now.
AFM The gate, then, is the means for dispensing what flows out from the city, but locally now?
JT I think so; it is administrative love.
AEM-o One acting in the light of the whole.
JT Yes. Any administrative act here in this city would be expressive of the love of Christ — only assembly-wise. That is the idea of the pearl, and it would be in keeping with what was current, as of the pearl, elsewhere.
WGT Would Barnabas be the administrative link between Antioch and Jerusalem?
JT I think he is the link of the great administrative idea beginning with Jacob’s twelve sons; the golden thread of administration, being carried right through, whatever the vicissitudes of the way, is now seen operating in the first-formed Gentile company at Antioch. That is what God had in mind, and He would see that His thoughts are carried through. As seen practically, it came through Jerusalem, for the church there had “ears” to hear what God was doing elsewhere — in- this instance, to hear the report of [p. 299] what God was doing among the Gentiles. Upon this they sent out Barnabas, who is the link of administration, and through his great care for the work he sought out Saul as the kind of vessel suited for it; then we have the result in Barnabas’s own ministry and in that of Saul; it says, “And so it was with them that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd”, (Acts 11:26). Then we have this remarkable visitation of a prophetic nature from Jerusalem, calling attention to what was coming in the government of God, and causing those that were well off to take it to heart, and to determine to do something; and then the doing of it, and the using of Barnabas and Saul to take the gift to Jerusalem, so that this service is completed there.
FL The twelve sons of Jacob were reflected, were they not, in the Lord’s choosing the twelve apostles; but then in the administrative idea in the assembly you have the principle carried through.
JT The idea of administration is conveyed in twelve, it being the numeral that denotes the saints coming under the hand of God in love.
CAM So if God allows these trying conditions to come, it is because He has an abundant supply in His people to meet the need.
JT Yes; and it is well to see that after resolving to do a thing, they do it; that is to say, the brethren determined to do what was needed, and then carried out the determination.
JS Does this chapter show further movement on the part of the testimony in Antioch? Tidings regarding it had reached the ears of the assembly at Jerusalem, and they moved accordingly to support it.
JT That is what I was thinking. This feature of administration, having come into operation at Pentecost, as set up in the power of the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem, is carried through; the ears of the church there are open for the tidings of the work of [p. 300] God. And then the assembly provides for the furtherance of that work, so that it should be properly cared for, and they send out Barnabas as being just the man for this service.
JS The way in which God acts in government, bringing in famine over the whole habitable world, is it for the furtherance of the testimony?
JT Yes; it comes after this great movement at Antioch, upon which Jerusalem sent out Barnabas, who later went to Tarsus to seek out Saul. Each of these movements must have taken a considerable time. Barnabas did not send a letter to Saul, asking him to come to Antioch, but went to Tarsus for him. The word ‘found’ would indicate that he had to be sought; but Barnabas, having found him, brought him to Antioch, where for a whole year they taught a large number in the assembly; then the disciples are first called Christians in Antioch. All these things happened before you get the account of Agabus and the other prophets coming down.
AEM-o Do you suggest as a principle that we should ascertain the extent of need before we take up a collection for our needy brethren?
JT I do. I think there was order similar to that here. They had heard about the coming famine, and determined to send relief to the brethren who dwelt in Judaea. First they determined to send, and then sent; so that definite steps were taken in this service.
ARS Do they not commence to get ready before the famine actually came?
JT Exactly. That is what you see in all the instructions of Paul. Preparation was made for need known to exist. Later a long period was covered in the preparation because Paul speaks about “a year ago”, (2 Corinthians 9:2).
ARS Would you not see reflected in this God’s care for His people [p. 301] anticipatively?
JT I think so; and thus, in the consideration of need, you are acting for God who cares for His people always, and brings His assembly into accord with Himself in this respect as in all others.
ARS Those of the world are not aware of what awaits them until it actually comes upon them, but here the people of God knew about the coming famine through the prophecy of Agabus.
AEM-o God did that through Joseph, too.
AFM Would you say a word about this ministry of the prophets? They were not raised up in Antioch, but came down from Jerusalem.
JT I think it is to keep up the link with Jerusalem here, and it is well to bear that in mind at this juncture. Barnabas and Saul went up to Jerusalem with the gift, and then came back. In chapter 12:25 it says, “And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having fulfilled the service entrusted to them, taking also with them John, surnamed Mark”. They did not go back empty-handed, but with an addition. It was in view of keeping up the link, I think, with Jerusalem, and to emphasise the great principle of administration carried down through the ages and now seen in the most practical way in a Gentile city.
AP Would you say that the idea of Jerusalem and of the twelve is not at any time given up?
JT The Lord has the idea of the twelve still in His mind. His thought is to use us according to His pleasure in carrying it out.
AJD This administration of bounty was special, was it not? It says, “They determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off ... to send”
JT Yes; it does not seem to have been a collection embracing all the brethren, but rather left to those who were well off; you see this operating amongst us sometimes. On the other hand the word [p. 302] in 2 Corinthians 8 calls attention to “free-hearted liberality” in “deep poverty”.
FHL Does that not suggest individual exercise as to giving, as if famine conditions had come to the attention of the individual?
JT Do you not think that there is a difference between this and the end of Acts 2, where no one regarded anything he had as his own? It was a sort of community in which the wealth of one was the wealth of all. But there is a new feature here; some of the disciples in Antioch are said to be well off, and are marked off in that way by the brethren, who would place upon them the obligation to love to minister to their poor brethren in Judaea, as if to say, ‘You have the distinction of being well off, now is your opportunity of showing that love is operating in you’.
FL I suppose Barnabas’s action would be well known to them in Antioch. He had sold his land and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. That would be similar to what we get here.
JT Quite so. He sold the land and gave it all. But I think it is really Paul’s ministry that we are under now. To make a community now, in its literal sense, would be disastrous to many of the saints, and I think that in this change under Paul there is divine wisdom. But if a brother has the distinction of being “well off” at the present time, under the government of God, need among the saints affords him an opportunity to show that divine love is acting in him. Such service is a privilege given of God. Agabus was sent down to Antioch to make known that there would be this need, and it gave the brethren who had means an opportunity to show that they were really affected by the love of God.
AP Who are the “they” that “determined”?
JT “And they determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off, each of them to send to the brethren, who dwelt in Judaea, to minister to them”. I think the “they” here would be the saints generally, but “each of them” is to preserve the idea of a distinction seen in those that God can employ for the expression of love.
AFM Would not the order of things here be very helpful to us? The assembly at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch, then these prophets came down as spiritually directed, and then the contributions as put together were sent to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. The elders at Jerusalem rightly come in at the end.
JT It is all on the level of formal administrative action, and clearly shows that whatever distinction one may have, under the government of God, it should become a means of the expression of love, as setting forth the greatness of Christianity. Theophilus had a certain distinction, and this “treatise” of Luke would lead him to use whatever advantage he had to express divine love.
AEM-o Do you take it that this was an assembly contribution?
JT It was. “They” refers to the assembly, but it is helpful to notice that distinguished persons are called to our attention in this passage, and in the beginning of chapter 13. In this passage attention is called to persons of temporal means, but in the beginning of chapter 13 five persons of spiritual means are named. In both cases it is a question of distinguished persons in the assembly, as adding to, and not detracting from it.
AJD Would this show that those who have means are held subject to the call of the assembly?
JT Here love was acting. The beginning of verse 29 should be particularly noted: “And they determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off”. The wording implies that all the saints were in this exercise and decision, but it was those that were well off that provided [p. 304] the sending.
ANW And this special prophetic service is to incite them — “Agabus ... signified by the Spirit”, it says.
JT The beginning of chapter 13 says, “Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there ...”, The idea is that the assembly was in that city, and it has these persons at the end of chapter 11, and in the beginning of chapter 13, to distinguish and enrich it.
FL In chapter 20:35 of this book it is remarked that the Lord said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. Why is it more blessed to give than to receive?
JT Giving would be in line with God; it is acting like God, acting in love, and that is the more blessed part to take.
JS After the money is given by the saints, we have to be careful how it is handled. There was wisdom in sending it up to the elders.
JT The matter of distribution in the early chapters of the Acts would seem to have been left to the twelve apostles. Barnabas, for example, laid the proceeds of his sale at the feet of the apostles with that end in view. Here, the spirit of administration shows itself at Antioch in their sending to the elders at Jerusalem by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. I think it is beautiful to see the link of administration as in their hand in all that journey up to Jerusalem!
AFM Would Barnabas and Saul be messengers of the assembly, Christ’s glory, in the same way as were others in 2 Corinthians 8?
JT They would; they acted in unity. This bounty of Antioch was sent by their “hand”. Think of two such men travelling from Antioch to Jerusalem expressly to carry money for distribution among the poor saints there! How peculiarly valuable the money would be in their hands!
FL It would be “an odour of sweet savour, an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God”, (Philippians 4:18).
FHL Does this peculiarly special collection establish the principle for our general monthly collection and administration?
JT I think so. As far as I see, all the instruction in connection with Paul’s ministry had to do with need already determined.
AP Is it your thought that instead of determining the ministering to need after the collection is taken up, the ministering to such need should be determined beforehand?
JT Well, that is the order seen here. I do not think they knew just how much the need would be, but they knew it would be there when the famine arose.
JEH They were told it was to be a great famine.
JT Yes; and no doubt they would act accordingly. I think what we may see here is the elevated ground upon which giving is placed; that it is not simply a matter of “charity”, as they say in the world, but is put on a dignified level, especially as in the hands of two such men as Barnabas and Saul.
APT If our service is rendered in this spiritual and elevated way, the gold standard will always be maintained at its highest level.
AEM-o The Corinthians, to whom the apostle wrote upon the fulfilling of their part in ministering to need, were evidently not well off spiritually, and so were not ready to give. He therefore puts before them the free-hearted liberality of the Macedonians which abounded out of their deep poverty.
JT Yes; Paul says to them, “But we make known to you, brethren, the grace of God bestowed in the assemblies of Macedonia; that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their free-hearted liberality”, (2 Corinthians 8:1,2). He brings forward [p. 306] the Macedonian poor saints as an example, in order to stimulate the wealthy saints at Corinth.
AP-f Is there a principle involved in sending the assembly’s gift by two?
JT The apostle Paul makes a great deal of the persons who carry the bounty. In the first letter to the Corinthians he says, “And when I am arrived, whomsoever ye shall approve, these I will send with letters to carry your bounty to Jerusalem: and if it be suitable that I also should go, they shall go with me”, (chapter 16:3,4). We marvel at the amount of thought he gave to this subject, for it is remarkable that such a great servant should be willing to leave his invaluable labours in order to carry this gift, with other brethren accompanying him, to Jerusalem.
CAM It seems to have been an exceptionally gracious thing for him to do; because in the beginning of Acts this kind of work was given to others by the apostles. But here Paul was ready to do it himself.
JT Two of the persons, Stephen and Philip, selected for that work were later taken up by the Spirit for greater service, as if God would specially honour them; and the apostles themselves, except Peter, were not much in evidence afterwards, though doubtless they were greatly used. It seems, therefore, that the Holy Spirit would call attention to this feature of service in Paul, and place it on a higher plane than seems to have been in the mind of the twelve in Acts 6.
FL With regard to Acts 6, one can very well understand that there would be observation by the saints, and that they might say, ‘If such promotion came to Stephen and Philip, who, with others were entrusted with this daily ministration, there must be more in it than we thought there was’.
JT There is a great deal in the thought, as you can see from the use of the word ‘treasury’ both in the Old and New Testaments. It says, “And Jesus,
[p. 307] having sat down opposite the treasury, saw how the crowd was casting money into the treasury”, (Mark 12:41). This shows what the treasury meant to Him.
AJD Therefore, in handling monies in this way, there would not be any suggestion that certain brothers should take up this service because they happen to be financial men.
JT No; this is a spiritual matter; the gifts of the saints are an expression of love, which lifts them out of the rut of mere material things and puts them on the level of what is spiritual; so that what is material may become the suggestion of what is spiritual.
ABP Would you say that Barnabas, in selling his land, etc., did it in the spirit of consolation? He was surnamed, “Son of consolation”.
JT When he approached the altar, so to speak, with the price of his land in his hand, how beautifully priestly he was! The apostles would notice those hands carrying that money and laying it at their feet. Surely, those hands would be worthy to dispose of the money of the saints!
APT In Acts 11 the Spirit of God refers to him as going to Tarsus to seek out. Saul. That is a nice touch. Barnabas did it; he was a true son of consolation.
JT He is a beautiful antitype of the golden taches of the tabernacle in linking up things.
AFM Say a little about 1 Corinthians 16:1,2. There is a collection for the saints mentioned there, but it is provided for on the first day of the week.
JT You will notice that, apparently, the Corinthians had written to Paul about this matter. The expressions “but concerning” and “now concerning”, found in this epistle are the usual forms of reply to some inquiry made. So he says, “... as I directed the assemblies of Galatia”. They, also, were brought into this service, and it is the only [p. 308] notice that we have of that fact. Those that were of the assemblies of Macedonia were also brought into this great service of administrative giving, and now the Corinthians were brought into it, too. Macedonia, Achaia, and Galatia were all brought into it, to do as Paul had directed; they were to be governed by the same general principles, only he brings in the first day of the week in 1 Corinthians, not in connection with the Lord’s supper — strange as this may seem — but in connection with what we might think of as of very little account. The idea of that, I think, is to promote spiritual sentiment, the first day of the week being full of holy sentiment.
WGT “In whatever degree he may have prospered”, would link on with Acts 11:29.
JT Yes. How practical Paul is! The giving is to be according to the prospering of God.
CAM This is a very great subject, in view of so much entering into it. It would seem that this matter of spiritual sentiment is to touch everything I may have.
JT Yes; it must be spiritual sentiment — not sentiment in the ordinary sense of the word, but such as the first day of the week suggests. When you think of all that happened on that day, it surely should promote giving.
AFM You mean that this sentiment and giving should be found among ourselves and not simply applied to the Corinthians.
JT Surely; it was written equally for us.
AEM-o So that your contribution might vary very much, according as your affections are moved. You might empty your pockets one Lord’s day, and perhaps give less on another.
JT Yes. Love is most practical. We must not be rigid, but be open to its promptings; in which case one may be able to do more than one thought was possible.
AP In building a structure, the refinement comes [p. 309] in at the end. Do you not get the thought of spiritual refinement here?
JT I think you do. Revelation 21 has the great feature of refinement in it with regard to the city. There is adornment even in the foundations. But the gates are severally one pearl; the greatest idea of refinement is seen there. It is very suggestive, being an administrative thought. That chapter in Revelation presents the Pentecostal church, and therein is seen the excellence of the quality in the twelve foundations on which are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. It would seem as if Paul must be alluded to in that “each one of the gates, respectively, was of one pearl”.
AEM-o While there is quality in the city, would there not be quantity, too? Think of the abundance of supply that will pour through those gates in the world to come! If we get a touch of that in our spirits now, there will be no lack amongst us.
JT I was touched by hearing F.E.R. say, on one occasion, that it was humbling to see the small amount that was put into the box. The idea of divine giving should be reflected from our side.
FL I was wondering whether we do not get a suggestion of dignity in Ezra’s receiving the treasure and committing it to twelve of the chiefs of the priests; (Ezra 8:24,25). The idea of administration in the chiefs of the priests would bring in the dignity of the priestly element.
AP It says that Ezra “weighed into their hand” (verse 26).
FHL How does that fit in with the end of Acts 4 — those who had lands or houses sold them and laid the money at the feet of the apostles?
JT Well, it would all be on the line of administration. The apostles would represent that element to a young convert; he would see that God was [p. 310] working in the apostles, and that they were representative of God.
TA I suppose if my other obligations are not righteously met as before the world, I should not put a contribution into the box?
JT God will not accept gifts from unrighteous hands.
RGD Would setting aside the collection on one Lord’s day in the month place the collections of the other Lord’s days on a lower level?
JT I think not; I have no doubt that at Corinth and all those places referred to in 2 Corinthians they would have collections for the ordinary expenses. That would be their own local matter, therefore Paul said nothing about it; he was concerned about need elsewhere, and the promoting of love in its universal bearing — love for all saints, which would bring us on to the lines of Colossians and of Ephesians.
JS The thought of the first day of the week is very suggestive. If we are in touch with God, we will act like God — on the line of giving.
AEM-o Paul does not suggest that on the first day of the week they should put money into the box, but that they lay by at home. Could not this be carried out among us? We know that a certain collection is to be taken up, say, a month hence for saints in need elsewhere, and so we provide for it.
JT Surely there should be preparation for such giving.
TA Is it not right also to consider need beforehand at the care meeting, and then to decide to give something definite towards it?
JT It is a question as to whether collections are to be regarded as meeting local need or expenses, or whether they may not also be viewed as taking account of special need at a distance. For instance, we here take up a collection regularly to meet local [p. 311] expenses, but then we believe that these scriptures deal with special need and that it is right to have a special collection in view of such need. I believe that giving has been on a lower plane than God intended. These scriptures are to raise the question of giving to its own proper level; that whatever the gift may be, love is behind it, love which is of God, and is eternal in duration.
ANW I was struck with what you said about our giving as in the light of Colossians and Ephesians. Very often one feels that our giving is as though it were gotten out of us, rather than on the high level of those epistles.
HSD “God loves a cheerful giver”, (2 Corinthians 9:7). If what we give is not given cheerfully, it is better not to give at all.
APT It is always well to go back to the idea of gold. The apostle in speaking of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ says, “... for your sakes he being rich became poor, in order that ye by his poverty might be enriched”, (2 Corinthians 8:9). The gold is contained in “his poverty”.
JT The beautiful thing is that these Macedonians are spoken of as being in “deep poverty”, and then the Lord is brought in as having entered into poverty. It is a most touching thing that “for your sakes he being rich became poor”. I suppose it would refer to the Gentile saints here. We get in Psalm 34:6, “This poor man cried”. The Psalms are full of the Lord’s poverty; in grace He entered into those circumstances for us.
AJD Is that the leverage in the soul that produces giving!
JT Yes. By bringing the Lord into it, we can see this principle of riches coming out in poverty; so that even if I am a poor brother I should never cease to be in the attitude of giving.
AFM I suppose if we were to examine our [p. 312] accounts for twelve months, we should find that we do not give the Lord even one-tenth of what we receive; and yet that was Jacob’s standard.
JT Yes; giving out of deep poverty appeals to me very much. It brings in everybody, whether employed or not. Are you in deep poverty? Well, the Lord was; the Macedonians were, too; and yet it was with them that the principle of giving shone. Of course we can give only as we have, but what is stressed is that a giving attitude should be maintained.
CAM It must be in the spirit of it, because you know — just to make a practical remark — it is evidently comparatively easy to give at times; but it is peculiarly difficult to do so today. But if you are disposed to do it, God takes account of that.
JT There is another encouraging thing. The quotation in 2 Corinthians 8:15 is from Exodus 16, and introduces the manna. There is an unseen but effective working in what is stated there, for he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little lacked nothing. It is the unseen power of God operating. As soon as a brother takes the initiative of giving, then he gets some happening of God. Here, we will suppose, is an Israelite that gathered a lot of manna and went back to his tent, and yet after all, he had nothing over when everyone in his tent had eaten; and here is another Israelite who, for some reason gathered less, but in spite of this he had no lack! So with ourselves, there is the unseen power of God operative in material things on our behalf, so that there is an equalizing, for God acts on the principle of equality.
AEM-o Would you say it is a very practical point for us, that whatever our income none of us should spend it all on ourselves; there should be a proportionate margin for God?
JT I think it is pure selfishness for one to think that what he has is little enough for himself. God [p. 313] would seriously regard such an attitude, and the brother would not become enlarged. But if one takes the ground of giving, it will not be long before there will be the equalising. It may take time, but one will eventually prove the blessing of God. “He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains for ever” (2 Corinthians 9:9), and I cannot afford to miss that!
AJD Why is righteousness brought in in connection with that quotation?
JT Well, it is righteous to give to the poor, and is obligatory on us all if we are to be like God whose righteousness is manifested “by faith of Jesus Christ towards all, and upon all those who believe”, (Romans 3:22).
AEM-o “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is right, but it tendeth only to want”, (Proverbs 11:24).
AP “Honour Jehovah with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine”, (Proverbs 3:9,10).
ANW When it is a question of caring for myself, the Lord would say, “Sufficient to the day is its own evil” (Matthew 6:34); but when it is a question of caring for others, then He will tell us beforehand of the famine.
TA There is no mention made of the duration of this famine.
JT No; it is just stated that a great famine would come over all the inhabited earth, so that they were forewarned; and it works out, as the scripture in 2 Corinthians and also Romans 15:25 - 28 show, to bring us into accord with God. “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable free gift”, (2 Corinthians 9:15). That is the great culminating thought, as showing the high level we are on.
AR [p. 314] Since it is the end of the subject in 2 Corinthians, is there not some reason for that?
JT I think it is to show the great stream of love going out from God and reverting to Him in praise. The saints are brought into accord with God.
AJD What unspeakable gift is referred to in that verse?
JT I think His unspeakable free gift is left open; to define it might detract from it. Of course, the fulness of His giving is Christ, and the Spirit.
FHL Is the box on the table in view of our acting like God?
JT Yes; I think it belongs there. There is no more practical way of showing your love than by material giving; anybody can see it. Though in Luke 15 you reach the highest point of grace in the prodigal, the next chapter speaks of this very subject; we have the unjust steward, who came to see how he could use the mammon of unrighteousness for his own advantage; and then follows the rich man who disregarded poor Lazarus, and the doom he met! Luke 16 is very solemn as over against the full height of divine grace in chapter 15.
AP Is Luke 15 what gives colour to good stewardship?
JT I think heaven’s bounty, the lavishness with which the prodigal was dealt with, illustrates all the love of God, and would affect the prodigal afterwards. He would say (and we have to carry the thought on), ‘How am I going to act now, as having my father’s goods? Am I going to waste them on myself as before?’ The later teaching in Luke shows that giving is to mark the believer.
Pages 315 - 482 — “New York Readings”, 1934 (Volume 121).