CALLING HIM TO MIND
[p. 103] CALLING HIM TO MIND
The yearly sacrifices called sins to mind, but the Lord’s supper calls Him to mind. When He instituted it He was going to be absent from His own, but He provided that they should do collectively what would call Him to mind in a very special and distinctive way. He would be called to mind as having given His body for the saints of the assembly and as having His blood poured out. His life in flesh has terminated in a wondrous way of love, for it has been given up for His own, and even those who had known Him according to flesh would know Him thus no longer. His disciples, in breaking bread, called Him to mind in an entirely different way from how they had known Him “in the days of his flesh”. They called Him to mind as having passed by death out of that condition, and as disclosing His love to them in doing so, but as living in relation to them in the preciousness of that love though absent from the world. If we call Him to mind, it is as He is now, absent from the world, but known in the love in which He gave Himself.
But then we call Him to mind as having made Himself in death and blood-shedding available for us: He says “for you” in regard of both His body and His blood. He looks at His own now as those for whom He has given His body. Whatever they might have been before, His body is for them, and they are to take this in and understand it. All connected with the first and imperfect order is taken away, and the second is established, and not a trace remains of any liability which we might have incurred as Jews under law or as lawless Gentiles. The cup is the new covenant in the power of the blood of Christ, and it is impossible to alter that covenant, or to diminish the value of the blood in the power of which it stands. Christ effected all this when here, and what He effected remains, and the assembly now [p. 104] calls Him to mind as the absent One whose love effected it all, but who is now in a most blessed relationship of love to the assembly, though absent. The emblems represent the body and blood of the Lord: He used His body and His blood to give expression to His love, but His love has achieved Its purpose, and the assembly calls Him to mind as living for her in all the reality of His present love.
The wondrous thing now is that we can be risen with Him, through faith of the working of God who raised Him from among the dead. The full weight of our death was upon Him: it has passed from us altogether that we might be raised with Him. Not only are we cleared from the past, but we are introduced into what is wholly new in association with One who has been raised. What pains His love took to assure them that the night of death had passed, and that there was a morning without clouds, and that He was the Light of that morning! His active grace would draw them over the abyss of death, where He had been for them, to Himself.
[p. 105] [p. 106] SUMMARY OF A READING 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 31 The assembly is looked at as the place where God is working; all the Persons of the Godhead are concerned. The Spirit gives the gift but the Lord directs the action. Everything that is of God in the assembly gives the impression of Jesus as Lord. The one who takes part gives the impression that he is really subject to the Lord. There is what is spiritually natural. What marks a man is what he prays about in secret. God draws out the heart in a certain direction. It is not that a man thinks about it but it is spiritually natural. Here it is the spreading abroad of what is given; what is good for me is equally good for all saints; that is in the way of christian life and blessing. Ephesians goes much wider than this; it takes in all saints everywhere.
We want to know more of what it is to drink of one Spirit, the Spirit of Christ; that is how unity is arrived at practically. Instruction will not bring it about, nothing but drinking of the Spirit of Christ. It is something you drink here, the Holy Spirit looked at in a particular way. Everything that was suitable to God came out in the Lord Jesus. What a wonderful thing! It is only as the life of Christ comes out in the saints that there is unity. All this was brought out to exercise the Corinthians, and it ought to exercise us. Are we acting in that way — like Christ? Is the Spirit of Christ coming out in us?
SUMMARY OF A READING 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 31 One Spirit, the great object of all is to bring out Christ. It is very encouraging that in each there is a little bit to be worked out. If I fail in my bit, in so far the testimony fails. There is a loss to you and to other members. It is a greater thing to be a member of the body than a gift. The gifts are set in the assembly, not in the body, but for the edifying of the body. The gifts are working for the time when they reach ‘that favoured hour when toil shall all be o’er’. Gifts will cease then; there will be no more need of gift. Divine light and divine warmth are in the body. God might take up a man and use him as a gift but it is a greater thing to be a member of the body. If we get the thought that we are in the body of Christ, it would awaken the desire to express Christ. The exercises of each one ought to be that I am a part, and a necessary part, of the body of Christ. We think that if we go on well as individuals that is all that is required, but there is more, we must show love. Drinking into one Spirit (verse 13); really the Spirit of Christ is love. There is a want of the practical working out of Christ in the saints; we are not looking out for Christ in the saints and that is the cause of a great deal of dissatisfaction; we look at the imperfections. We have to recognise the assembly according to God and in that way to bring in light and power and grace. You see how the apostles kept the mind of God before them. Paul spoke of the whole twelve tribes when they could not be seen or found; faith stuck to the original intention of God; God has set His testimony amongst His people and I think faith sticks to it. David says, “I have stuck (Darby Translation is ‘cleave’) unto thy testimonies” (Psalm 119: 31, Authorised Version). It is a fine word.
A good deal of right conduct fails in its object because it is not done in a right spirit. If discipline is done in a hard,
[p. 107] legal kind of way it fails of its object because love is not in it.
If a member suffer (verse 26) he is incapacitated to fulfil his proper function. Each member is supposed to contribute, and if he ceases to contribute he is a drag upon the others. What the apostle is working for all through is the vitality of the body, and the vitality of the body is love. Each one has a particular place and he should set to work to find out what that place is. If saints were exercised as to their place in the body each would very easily find and fill his right place, not by introspection but by exercise. If a person is going on simply and happily he would naturally be in his place and be a contributor. The apostle is here viewing the working of the assembly as come together.
FROM C.A.C.’S NOTES 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 31 The body is the organism down here in which the various members function as the Spirit has sovereignly assigned to them their place. The assembly is composed of the same persons but viewed collectively rather than corporately. It is a company of persons found in many different places but having the character everywhere of God’s assembly. The Spirit divides to each member of the body as He pleases, and God has set certain gifts in the assembly. These gifts are sovereignly conferred and yet they are the subject of desire, so that it is open to us to pray that we may have gifts. The greater gifts are to be earnestly desired as being for the greatest profit of the assembly. But after all, a gift distinguishes a person, it makes him different from his brethren, and this might work wrongly if gift were not clothed with the divine nature. If there is a part of the body which lacks honour, it becomes our privilege to clothe it with all the thoughts of divine love which will much more than compensate for any seeming lack of honour in the divine ordering. But then on the other hand, the comely and prominent member needs to be reminded that without love he has nothing and is nothing. The gifts are all to be accompanied by love. It is love that gives stature. We may have spiritual gifts and yet be children in stature.
There was much gift at Corinth — they came behind in no gift — but there was a lack of the binding, wrapping power of love. The real power of ministry is love marking the vessel of gift. In chapter 12 it is seen that the Spirit distributes the gifts and that they all work in harmony as members of one body. But the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is God operating here not only in power but in love. That is, He is operating according to His own end. The Lord’s supper has shown how divine love is operating, and [p. 109] the Spirit has come in as a result of that operating. The Spirit has now a vessel here in which His movements come out. But they are all movements in love because they are for the expression of God. “God is indeed amongst you” (chapter 14: 25). The body is for spiritual manifestations, but they are given in love or God is not in them at all.
FROM C.A.C.’S NOTES 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 31 Having given us the truth of headship in its bearing on order with regard to man and woman in their speaking to God or for God, and having given the Lord’s institution of His supper as the rallying point of the assembly, the apostle takes up the subject of spiritual manifestations. He does not pursue the line of assembly worship towards the Lord or towards God: He makes no reference to the Lord taking His place in the midst of the assembly. I suppose the state of the Corinthians did not permit of any development on that line. The matter that was important to be considered next was the subject of spiritual manifestations as found in the assembly viewed as the one body here on earth. It is the body as the anointed vessel here, furnished with gifts for profit, all of which are operated by one and the same Spirit. This is a universal thought, which is made known to us that we may understand what has come to pass in the wisdom and power of God. It extends far beyond Corinth, for it took in at that time all saints on earth who had come under the baptism of the one Spirit. This delivers us at once from any thought of independency, for how can any member of one body be independent of the other members? They must all work together in unity, and this applies particularly to the gifts, services and operations that go on in the body. He does not go into the deeper and more spiritual aspects of the truth of the one body as seen in Colossians and Ephesians where the body is for the display of the graces of the heavenly Man. Here it is the gifts and services and operations that are profitable to the saints. A divine wealth has been conferred which results in a great variety of contribution, all having its source in one Spirit, and therefore all operating in perfect unity. This was something quite different from anything they had known in the world.
They had been “led away to dumb idols, in whatever way ye might be led” (verse 2). It seems to indicate that they had been under a leading of an evil kind, and they had now to learn to recognise the Spirit of God. And this would be, in the first place, by observing how speakers referred to Jesus. If one said “Curse on Jesus”, he was certainly not speaking in the power of the Spirit of God. This shows that there were those who pretended to have spiritual gifts, but they were really Satan’s ministers. Satan’s ministers would be known by casting some slight on Jesus — something that would take away His true glory as the blessed expression of God in Man. This evidently took at Corinth a bold form. Satan had made such inroads, and got such a footing there, that there were speakers actually going so far as to say “Curse on Jesus”. The low state into which the Corinthians had dropped may be gathered from this, and, of course, it is a warning to us; see also 1 John 4.
But on the other hand “no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit”. I would much like help on this scripture. It can hardly mean that whenever the literal words, Lord Jesus, are used, as they might be by an unconverted man, they are evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit. Is it not rather intended to indicate to us that the first evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit is the personal recognition by the one who speaks of the lordship of Jesus? The Holy Spirit would keep that in the forefront and no one can really give the Lord Jesus His place and due honour except in the power of the Holy Spirit. The test of the power of the Holy Spirit is the recognition of the lordship of Jesus. Let no one think that he can speak in the power of the Holy Spirit unless his whole heart bows down to the Lord as the supreme One. This conditions all the spiritual manifestations.
All the gifts are in the power of the same Spirit, so they are unified, and they all function to bring the body into evidence. Every manifestation of the Spirit brings out that [p. 112] the Spirit is here, but acting by means of gifts for the profit of saints as composing the body. There is continual evidence that the Spirit is here, but manifested in distinctive ways, of which nine are specified, which would cover in principle all spiritual manifestations. The gifts can never be in discord because they are all in the power of one Spirit, and they can never be the subject of partiality or preference, so as to be set against one another, for they are all beautifully blended and co-ordinated like the members of the human body. The body is looked at in this chapter as made up of members, each of whom has a distinctive fitness for the manifestation of the Spirit. It is seen as a practical and substantial reality.
The actual services are under the administration of “the same Lord”. The Lord is the Director in all service: the servants do not look to the Holy Spirit for direction or support, but to the Lord. So personal nearness to the Lord is required for every act of service. The gift is capacity for service, but individual reference to the Lord is needed by each servant, or he may miss his way or lose his time or perhaps get in the way of other servants.
Then there are divine operations going on all the time. The Spirit gives ability to serve, the Lord directs in service, but alongside all this, God is operating. The question for all who serve is, can God operate by means of what we do? He operates all things in all — we rejoice in that, we look out for it. The assembly is a wonderful body, the only body on earth in which God is operating in a spiritual way.
The manifestation of the Spirit is always for profit. It is that side of things which is brought before us in 1 Corinthians, not the Spirit leading Godward but having the profit of the saints in view. The Christ is the anointed body down here in which every member contributes to the well-being of the whole, according to the Spirit’s sovereignty. It strikes me that all the things mentioned here are things in which sisters may have part as well as brothers. The [p. 113] ministerial gifts are mentioned at the end of the chapter and graded according to their importance. But spiritual manifestations are not limited to brothers or to the assembly as convened. The point in this chapter is that all the saints have been baptised in the power of one Spirit into one body, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit. Such a thing was never known before — how near it brings God to men. There is baptism into one body; this is effected in the very place where we were Jews or Gentiles, bond or free. In entering into what the Spirit has effected we are conscious of great nearness to each other. You have your spirit and I have mine naturally, but now alongside my spirit and your spirit is something much greater, and that is the one Spirit who has baptised us into one body: all organically one in the power of the one Spirit. “And have all been given to drink of one Spirit”. Being baptised is being made to share in the promised effusion of the Holy Spirit. It is a universal thing and applies to all who now stand in the value of redemption. But being given to drink is what we do each for himself, so that all souls have the same inward satisfaction and joy. It is not simply that we are constituted one body but we all have the same kind of inward satisfaction.
FROM C.A.C.’S NOTES 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 31 Baptism is always, I believe, in Scripture a bringing on to entirely new ground. John’s baptism was to repentance: his was “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3: 3). But after the Lord’s ascension, His disciples were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1: 5), but all so baptised were Jews. Peter said this extended to the Gentiles (Acts 11: 16). But Paul as having the light of the body — his own peculiar ministry — shows that Jews or Greeks, bond or free, have all in the power of one Spirit been baptised into one body. All thus now baptised in one Spirit are brought to this new ground, they are brought to be one body. However distinctive their gifts, they are one body. The distinctive gifts as operated by the one and the same Spirit are compared to the different members of the human body: they all work together as one body, they can never be detached or independent, because all are in the power of one Spirit. As a member of the body I cannot isolate or individualise myself: I am a member of an anointed body, an entirely new position here in this world; I am a constituent part of a vital organism in which the operations of the Spirit are active. My business is to function in that organism in which I am placed by the baptism of the one Spirit. I am a member of the body and I have to recognise that I am one of many, and to learn how to function in my appointed place so that I promote the well-being of the body.
The human body is the most wonderful organism of which we have any knowledge. Man was not only created and made, but he was “formed” under the direct touch of God’s hand. It is, as we might say, an artistic conception. There is an expression in the Song of Songs applied to the prince’s daughter: “The work of the hands of an artist”
([p. 115] chapter 7: 1). Man, as to his body, was indeed this; he was “fearfully, wonderfully made”, “curiously wrought”, and all his members were written in God’s book “when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139: 14 - 16). The members of the human body were the subject of divine counsel, and were written in God’s book before they were formed by His hand out of the dust of the ground. Dust was the material out of which they were made, but the design was in God’s book before they were formed. He worked in divine skill to form what He had planned long before, and as He formed the body of Adam we may be sure that He had in mind that one body which would in due time be the result of the baptising of the Spirit. In that body there is the most perfect balance and proportion. It cannot be improved upon; each member is necessary and is in its place; no one member can take the place of another. The foot may be foolish enough to say, “Because I am not a hand I am not of the body”; so is God having in mind that certain members would be discontented with the place assigned to them and might cease to function bodywise because they thought some other member had a more favoured place? But it is of God that there should be different members, and the Spirit has made no mistake in the place and function which He has given to each. Each is needed, and God on His own behalf has set each of the members in the body as it has pleased Him. The body is the great result, the sum total; no one member is independent of any other member.
But then another truth comes out, that certain members of the body seem to be weaker; but they are necessary! And certain parts we esteem to be less honourable, but these we clothe with more abundant honour — a striking and significant suggestion, for it is suggested that clothing implies honour. It seems to me that the clothing as applied to the less honourable members would be put on the saints by the ministry of what is eternal or that which is perfect. The gifts which characterise the members are time gifts; not [p. 116] one of those mentioned in the early verses of chapter 12 go into eternity. Now I may be less honourable in the distribution of the time gifts, and it is they which are chiefly in view in this chapter, but this does not hinder me from being honoured in a greater and permanent way. God has tempered the body together: that is the natural human body, and it has entered into His design that certain parts of the body should be adorned by clothing. This thought, as we know, runs through Scripture, and this chapter shows that it has some application to Christ’s body. The less honourable saints are, in regard to the time gifts, the more important does it become that they should be governed by love, which never fails. Love will preserve us from any division in the body: it would seem that the members have the same care every one for another. The way of surpassing excellence is like the adornment which make beautiful even the least honourable members in the body here. Spiritual manifestations are subordinate to love. So that if I feel I am less honourable than others in the line of spiritual manifestations, I must lay myself out to excel on the line of love.
If one member suffer (that is, a member out of function for the moment) all suffer with it. If a member is glorified (that is, a member through whom there is a manifestation of the Spirit) all the members rejoice with it.
Now while all this refers to the human body it is, of course, intended to have its application to Christ’s body. So the apostle concludes the subject by saying, “Now ye are Christ’s body, and members in particular”. The one Spirit coming into manifestation in the saints in Corinth, and in every locality, so one is exercised to be a member in whom and by whom spiritual operations go on. It is easy to see that this would practically exclude the flesh and the natural mind of man and would really prepare us for chapter 13.
FROM C.A.C.’S NOTES 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 31; 1 Corinthians 14: 1 - 40 I would suggest the importance of recognising that the local assembly is the assembly of God; it is the place where the word of God is known and where God dwells and walks. He dwells there so that He may be known, and He walks there: there are movements of God in the assembly which can be discerned by those who have eyes to see.
Then the assembly is also the body of Christ. It is the anointed vessel in which manifestations of the Spirit are found. And if we look at these manifestations in chapter 12, we see that they refer to a furnishing which brings into evidence what is profitable. Everything necessary is provided just as in the human body. The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation. Nine members, as we may say, provided for functioning in unity, so that each one is complementary to the others. No one is sufficient without the others. This is a death-blow to the clerical system. All the saints have been baptised into one body, to function together in unity, all given to drink of one Spirit. It is important to see that here he does not touch on prayer or praise or worship. It is all what relates to what is profitable for the saints. It is supposed, I think, that all the men take part in prayer or praise. These are not matters sovereignly distributed by the Spirit; they pertain to believing men, as such.
All this comes out in each local assembly. All are necessary to the local functioning, bringing out that the Spirit of God has distributed spiritual qualifications so as to secure the profit of all, and each being necessary. It will be seen that it is not the ministry of the word in chapter 12 alone, but many other furnishings. Prophecy would be as one thing amongst many. At the end of the chapter certain [p. 118] distinctive gifts are said to be set in the assembly, and amongst them ministerial gifts have the first place. These are outstanding contributions to the welfare of the assembly.
This all shows how the assembly is furnished, so that we come to chapter 14 with an assurance that adequate supplies are available. God dwells there, and the assembly is the Christ, and there are spiritual qualifications. But chapter 14 shows that the saints come together in any locality to be edified. The whole chapter supposes that we come together assemblywise for the ministry of the word. It is all through a question of the assembly, and the whole assembly comes together in one place. It would be apparent, I think, that the Lord had in mind that a power for ministry to edification would be found in every locality where His name was called upon. It is evident that Paul expected to find such gatherings of the saints if he came.
He expected that he might speak to the assembly “five words”. All through, it is “in the assembly”.
It will be noticed that a wide scope of ministry is in view. Prophecy is expressly said to be marked by edification, encouragement and consolation. Then the apostle speaks of a wider range of ministry in verse 6: revelation, knowledge, prophecy, teaching. Then instruction in verse 19; learning and being encouraged in verse 31.
It is manifest that a great variety of ministry is contemplated, and as a matter of individual exercise. Each is to be exercised to prophecy; that is, it is not to be ordinary talking, but a speaking that will make manifest that God is amongst His saints in assembly. God would help in this, it is His own ordering.
The readings do not afford room for this. We limit ourselves to one book generally. It is most important that we should consider all Scripture together, if possible, but it is quite a different thing to be found desiring earnestly the greater gifts and being emulous of spiritual manifestations.
[p. 119] I have no doubt we shall have to accept our measure in each locality; we cannot go beyond the measure of spirituality that is there. But the very exercise of such assemblings would promote and deepen spirituality. Many a brother would be transformed if he took up the exercise. I think there is enough available in the way of vessels. All that is wanted is love. The saints ought to be able to rely on the fact that no brother will attempt to speak without a definite exercise before God.
The word “assembly”, or “assemblies”, appears nine times in chapter 14. In prophecy there is a moral force which affects even an unbeliever, showing that it is not merely saying what is correct.
Coming together to eat the Lord’s supper is evidently preparatory to worship, to the direct service of God. The Lord remembered, the will of God, the love of God, the Lord coming to His own, leading to God and the Father. We are not thinking of edification then but the spiritual service of God. We worship by the Spirit of God; “the Father seeks such” (John 4: 23).
[p. 120] SUMMARY OF A READING 1 Corinthians 13: 1 - 13; 1 Corinthians 14: 1 - 40 It is good for us to be going on with that which abides to eternity. Things in the assembly come to an end but the Spirit abides. Love is the spirit of everything. The love of God will be the moving spring of everything in a coming day. At the present time the great exercise of love is to edify, it is for building up. Seeing all is in part, all are necessary the one to the other. You have a part that I have not. Every individual saint has had a ray of light direct from heaven, an impression of Christ. The impression of Christ we have will come out in the city. What makes a saint such a wonderful person is that he has received something from Christ. God did not intend that every saint should be cast in the same mould. Each member in the body has a particular place in the body and we can rejoice in the thought. The impression of Christ that any saint has is very edifying, for we are able to pass on the knowledge of God that we have and it is edifying. We do not sufficiently cherish that ray of light that has reached us. We ought to cherish it and follow it up. Prophesying is really bringing the light of God to bear upon souls in a practical way — it is speaking the oracles of God. It is a kind of thing that entirely sets aside the mind of man.
Love would be always thinking of the good of others. In the assembly we should be soberly considering the good of others. The contrast is made here between the one who edifies himself and the one who edifies the assembly (verse 4). In a man’s own room he may be beside himself but in the assembly he is to be sober. Our knowledge of divine things is very small and imperfect (chapter 13: 12); practically we are very small and feeble in our apprehension of things. I dare say all this was brought in to show the Corinthians that they did not know. The Corinthians were taken up with the [p. 121] shell of things, but in chapter 13 you get the kernel. God has appointed each one to a certain place, and no one can fill another’s place. We know very imperfectly now.
There are three things that go together in chapter 14: 3, and these three things go together in everything in the assembly of God; however high and holy the things are that are set before us, there is encouragement and there is consolation, so that when you are edified you are also encouraged and comforted. God encourages us in what is of Himself; He is the God of all encouragement. The apostle presses understanding very much here; we ought to exercise ourselves to understand what we hear; it was not only the spirit but the understanding. If people’s understanding is unfruitful they do not get anything. He has the first word of blessing, but He has the last word too, and we come between. Verse 19 is instruction. We come together really to be instructed. He instructs us in the knowledge of God and in the meaning of His own death. “One is your instructor, and all ye are brethren” (Matthew 23: 8). That gives as good an idea of the assembly as any scripture that I know. The great thing is that the assembly is God’s place and what is there is of God, so that if an unbeliever come in, evil would be manifested. Everything in the assembly would savour of God and therefore be blessed and attractive to the believer. There is no appeal to sentiment or feelings in any way, the effect is conviction. Then there is certain order laid down here which is very important. God considers the capacity of saints (verse 29). You cannot receive more than a certain amount. Deference to the Spirit in others would lead to peace (verse 30). The women should be exercised about what they hear. If they do not understand let them ask some godly brother afterwards (verses 34, 35). We have to take the principle of the thing. It is a mark of spirituality where a man recognises all this as the commandment of the Lord (verse 37).
FROM C.A.C.’S NOTES 1 Corinthians 14: 1 - 40 We saw in chapter 12 that the one body is formed by all the members being baptised into it in the power of one Spirit. It is not looked at as a defective thing but as an organism complete in all its parts, like the human body, all the members being in proportion and balance and co-ordinated by the wisdom and power of God. The Christ as the anointed body does not contemplate any working of flesh. It is characterised throughout by spiritual manifestations and operations. Now if this is to be worked out practically it is clear that it can only be in the divine nature. So chapter 13 comes in to show us that love is the life of the body. And this is not the ‘invisible church’, as people say, it is a body composed of men and women in Corinth, and many other places, all being vehicles for the manifestation of the Spirit and for the activities of love.
There is nothing about the saints coming together in chapters 12 and 13, but chapter 14 contemplates the assembly as together and spiritual manifestations going on there. So that the manifestations in this chapter are limited to men — the women are to be silent. The men are to be emulous of spiritual manifestations. Chapter 13 tells us that we are not to be emulous of others; love would never want to take the place which another has. We would rather like to see him shine in all the spiritual worth which God has given him. But we are all to be emulous of spiritual manifestations.
All the men should desire to pray in the assembly and to prophesy. This is the normal exercise of every believing man. Those who take part in the meetings have to gain through this exercise. Then it comes out that he is ready to make a selection with regard to what we desire. The apostle says, “Rather that ye should prophesy”. They had the gift of tongues at Corinth, and we may gather from this chapter that [p. 123] tongues were too much in evidence. There was something miraculous about a tongue, but if it does not edify, it serves no useful purpose in the assembly. It is evident that a man with a gift of tongues could use it and think it was a gift altogether in the power of the Holy Spirit; and yet if there was no interpreter it was not edifying.
Edification builds up in the knowledge of God, and encouragement comes in in face of difficulties, and consolation is for those in sorrow. It shows what children they were that they seem to have preferred tongues to what edified. But Paul speaks of four ways in which he might speak of prophecy.
Revelation would be a manifestation from God by inspiration, which would be something imparted which had been acquired from exercise, or it may be from others. Prophecy would be a word from God to meet present conditions in the assembly. Teaching would be the opening up of the truth in the ability which God had given. The apostle speaks lower down in the chapter of instruction, and this is an important matter. How much instruction saints need is only known to those who come in contact with them. Further in the chapter he speaks of saints having a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation. All this shows how varied are the forms of edification in the assembly; and all this shows the importance of what we call the meetings for ministry, because it gives much greater scope than is usually found in the assembly as conveyed by the Spirit. Ministry then must be suitable to the service of the assembly Godward or towards the Lord. The aspect ever is towards divine Persons, but the aspect in chapter 14 is manward. In the reading of the Scriptures every form of edifying ministry comes before us.
The Spirit of God knew that tongues would cease historically in the assembly, so this chapter was written to comfort us by letting us see that the greater gifts remain. We ought to abound for the edification of the assembly.
FROM C.A.C.’S NOTES 1 Corinthians 15: 1 - 58 The first man Adam became a living soul: he lived by divine in-breathing; no other creature became a living soul in the same wonderful way, and all human beings bear his image: he was made of dust, and so are we, for we are of him. We cannot naturally rise above the head from which we sprang, but it is made known to us in the glad tidings that there is another Adam. God has brought in One who has a place corresponding with the place Adam was set in; that is, He is Head to give life spiritually to all those who are quickened by Him. This is a spiritual matter because He is “a quickening spirit”: I think it should be a capital “S” here. There will never be another such, it is impossible that there should be another: He is the last Adam. Divine thoughts reach finality in the last Adam; so that we may well fix our attention upon Him and He quickens, or makes alive, a spiritual race who are constituted heavenly ones by being quickened by Him. Quickening is always, I believe, in the New Testament, out of death. The first man Adam brought us all into death, but the last Adam quickens in the power of His own risen life out of death. This was illustrated in His breathing into His disciples on the resurrection day (John 20: 22); it was to make them realise that they lived now in the power of His risen life. This life is in the Holy Spirit received from Him, His own Spirit as the risen Man, as we read elsewhere, “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. The disciples had not had it before, but they knew Him as the last Adam, the quickening Spirit, then. They had been of the natural before — we see it often — but now they were vitally in what was spiritual and beyond death. It was an actuality in Him risen and ascending to His Father, but it was spiritually real to them as having His Spirit breathed in.
[p. 125] This leads on to the thought of the second Man who completely supersedes the first, and His distinguishing feature is that He is out of heaven. He is of a heavenly order, the heavenly One, and those quickened by Him are heavenly ones. He does not quicken for earth but for heaven. He was Himself put to death in flesh but made alive in (the) Spirit, as Peter tells us. Quickening has to do with what lies before it, and that is what is heavenly now in a spiritual sense, or what is heavenly actually when the Lord comes. The heavenly One here (verses 48, 49) is what Christ is as in heaven: He is the heavenly One even in bodily condition. His body is called “his body of glory” (Philippians 3: 21). He was the second Man out of heaven in all His moral characteristics when here, but it was not until He was glorified that He was seen as the One whose image we shall bear.
The second Man out of heaven is not quite the same thought as the heavenly One. The former applies to Him as having His origin in heaven so that He was always when here of the things which are above. Indeed, He was the Son of man who is in heaven even when here, He was from above in contrast to being of the earth. But when He is spoken of as the heavenly One it refers to what He is now as in heaven, and this makes it surpassingly wonderful that His saints are said to be heavenly ones “such as the heavenly one”. We do not understand our calling until we see that we are as much heavenly ones as Christ is the heavenly One. This is a matter of God’s calling, and of God’s appointment in this time of heavenly things. We cannot make this a time of earthly things because God has fixed that it is a time of heavenly things. All saints now are partakers of the heavenly calling: they inherit God’s kingdom on the heavenly side of it, therefore flesh and blood cannot inherit it. There must be a changed condition, and believers get it by resurrection or by a change which is equivalent to resurrection at the last trumpet. Corruption [p. 126] cannot inherit incorruptibility: it must needs put on incorruptibility. Corruptibility refers to those living; they will put on an incorruptible condition of body suitable to the heavenly side of the kingdom. So far as they are concerned, death will be swallowed up in victory. The question is asked of death, Where is thy sting? thy victory? The sting of death is sin, that is the sharp venomous sting which death carries. It is the terrible fact that sin brought it in that strikes terror to the conscience of man. Then the power of sin is the law — a statement to be deeply considered: the law which tells man what he ought to be and to do is the very power of sin: the prohibitions intensified the desire for what is wrong. What man in his ignorance would look to for help against sin is a thing which adds to the power of sin in his conscience. The more clearly he sees what he ought to be, the more powerful is his conviction of sin.
[p. 127] [p. 136] [p. 146] [p. 148] SUMMARY OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 1 - 58 The apostle seems to have reserved to the last the most serious thing at Corinth, the denial of the resurrection. The other things were inconsistent with the truth but this was the sweeping away of the truth altogether. Everything was gone if Christ was not risen; the whole thing was a lie that had been preached to them from beginning to end. The idea of the enemy is to limit everything to the earth and the present time. This was the error of the Sadducees come in — rationalism. The error of the Pharisees was a religious error. What the devil had brought in from the beginning resulted in death on man and so now he would bring in the denial of the resurrection. Nothing could put away sin but death, and nothing could remove death but resurrection. Paul had received this gospel from the glory; he had it direct from Christ in heaven and what he had received was that Christ had died for sins and that He had been buried, etc. If instead of reasoning out things we bring Christ in we should be put right at once. The simple might not be able to explain things but if he has the unction he has the sense that he is right. God is allowing His people to be tested today by the most pernicious errors. The Old Testament saints died in the consciousness that God would not be baffled. This chapter shows that God is really victorious and will be. We are not very familiar with resurrection power ourselves. The point is really to be in the consciousness of present victory. The enemy has succeeded in putting away the truth of resurrection. Resurrection puts us outside the course of things here altogether. Where Christ is carries the whole position of where His own are — all that belongs to Him. Where Christ is is the important thing and settles the whole matter if I love Him. I think the common idea is that death is somewhere between God and us; you go through death,
[p. 128] and there at the other side is God; but there is no longer the distance of death between us and God. Someone has said that Bunyan put the river in the wrong place; he ought to have had it near where the burden rolled off instead of at the end of the journey. We can be with God outside death altogether and that because Christ has died and risen. J.B.S. said, speaking of his departure not long before, that his thought of it was that he should be very happy with the Lord and all at once he would find himself with Him. It is really in the company of a living One that we taste life; it is as being in the company of the Lord that we are happy. There must be a transaction between the soul and Christ; it is not simply that it is something you hear and believe. To these individuals it was a distinct manifestation. What Paul could say was that Christ had possession of him. As to the things of christianity we are often like children looking into the shop windows and desiring to have, and stop there. If God gives us desires, He wants them to be satisfied. I think the actual journey to resurrection is a great reality to us. There is the attraction of Christ and there is the death side to learn too. The discipline of God comes in to help us, and there are the yearnings of life. This is a death scene. God presents everything that is beautiful and attractive to us. I am sure if we paid more attention to God we should get on better. He tells us most blessed things if we would only listen to Him. If Israel had hearkened to the word it would have been their [p. 129] salvation.
NOTES OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 1 - 58 Will you say why the great subject of resurrection follows as it does on the truth of the body and the subject of ministry and so forth, as we get in the previous chapter?
CAC I suppose the apostle with the spirit of wisdom left the most serious matter to the end of his letter. If there is no resurrection there is nothing! It sweeps away the whole fabric of christianity at once. It is well to keep in mind what we have often noticed in the epistle, that the object of the apostle was to produce spirituality in these children of his at Corinth. They had received the gospel, but were very unspiritual. They were gratifying the flesh in many different ways, so he brings forward one thing after another to bring about more spiritual conditions — a matter which all Christians should carefully consider — and there is nothing that would produce spirituality more than resurrection.
Rem The Spirit was given consequent on Christ being risen and ascended.
CAC It is important perhaps to notice the subject is confined to believers in this chapter. It is not a general teaching on the resurrection; the wicked dead are not once mentioned, unbelievers do not come into it. We know they will be raised to the resurrection of judgment. There is no allusion to that; it is the resurrection of Christ as bearing on believers.
Rem The gospel is brought in here.
CAC He now has to go back to what he had brought before them at the beginning, and repeat it again to them.
Ques What is the great bearing of resurrection in this chapter? It does not go beyond the earth.
CAC Well, he goes a little beyond the earth when speaking of the heavenly One, but in its general bearing it [p. 130] refers to the earth.
Ques Is it the truth of resurrection here, as established in Him?
CAC The first thing is to believe the testimony that has been rendered. God has set forth a testimony by accredited witnesses; they are all men that can be trusted — because that is the point here in the different appearings of the Lord — so that no mention is made of the women among those that saw the Lord in resurrection. They are not required in this chapter. This is a question of the testimony by accredited witnesses and Paul himself tells us that he received the gospel; he got it directly from Christ in heaven. It is wonderful that he should be instructed in the great truth that Christ died for our sins. The Lord told him that from heaven.
Ques Were the Corinthians actually unbelieving in the fact of the resurrection or is there something more in the apostle’s mind?
CAC Certain persons amongst them were saying that there was no resurrection of dead persons. Paul meets it by bringing in Christ. That is the usual way of meeting all difficulties; how all difficulties melt away when He is brought in. If dead people do not rise, then Christ is not risen; all Paul said is false, and their faith not worth a straw, because they have believed a lie. He shows the bearing of His resurrection in regard of all those who are His. “The first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ’s at his coming” (verse 23). God has brought about the resurrection of a dead Man, and the value and the result of it are for all those that belong to that Man, and it does not extend any further than that. He says, ‘You have received what we told you, and stand in it, and are saved’.
The men who denied the resurrection were Satan’s emissaries, and not believers at all. And it had a certain effect, it worked like a poison.
Rem It brings out a wonderful line of [p. 131] truth.
CAC So that he turns everything to blessing.
Rem “According to the scriptures” (verse 3), it says.
CAC Yes, it could all be established from the Old Testament. There is a good deal there about Christ dying for His people’s sin, and a good deal about His being raised. It could be proved from Scripture.
Rem Isaiah 53 speaks of His burial.
CAC You could not have resurrection without burial, could you? That is, the whole sentence that had been passed on man as a fallen creature was really executed upon Christ. If people do not understand Christ’s burial they will be worldly. Many are glad Christ has died for them, as securing them a place in heaven, but what about His burial? It is emphasised in Scripture that we are to be buried with Him. Burial is always connected with baptism. “Buried therefore with him by baptism unto death” (Romans 6: 4). In baptism the person goes out of sight, so the baptism of Christ is the most serious matter to consider.
Ques Would you say that condition has disappeared forever?
CAC He will never be seen again in the condition He was in before He died. There was no necessity on His part for burial, but He had come there in the cause of those who were under death and the sentence, “Unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3: 19). But it does not end there.
Rem “Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having” (Luke 24: 39). That showed them He was in a new condition in resurrection. It was a first step to spirituality for the disciples.
CAC Yes. It is important to see that Christ has risen in a spiritual body, not a body in flesh and blood. It was a body that could go through a closed door. You may say, How can you explain that? You cannot explain spiritual matters to the natural mind. He could come out of the grave without disturbing the gravestone; the graveclothes were undisturbed too, and the very position of the graveclothes [p. 132] was a testimony to resurrection, for it says, they “saw and believed” (John 20: S), and that was the witness.
We are going to have spiritual bodies too. If I am going to be wholly spiritual in five minutes, I had better be as spiritual as I can now! We may be in spiritual bodies, wholly like Him, without a trace of the world or the flesh about us in five minutes, so we had better be spiritual now.
What He has done is accredited to us; the sins of the believer are absolutely gone. God could not find them. And death has gone, if Christ has died for us. Death does not remain for us as the judgment of God or as the power of Satan; it is absolutely annulled, as if it did not exist.
Ques What does the flesh mean?
CAC It refers in one sense to our bodily condition, but connected with the bodily condition there is terrible fleshly condition. We have to learn to judge our will, and we look forward to the time when we shall say goodbye to it for ever. In our glorified bodies there will not be a trace of it.
Rem “In that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2: 20). There is a new influence altogether.
CAC There is a new power, the old shop is opened under a new management. Paul says, “I have persecuted the assembly of God” (verse 9). He is quite conscious he is the same man who did it, though he would not do it now. “By God’s grace I am what I am” (verse 10).
Ques Could we not all say that in a certain sense?
CAC I am not sure we could say much about it. I sometimes feel there is much about me that the grace of God did not make me!
It is rather striking that we have no account of these appearings in the gospels, not one of them is mentioned. He is setting the thing out in public testimony. All these were selected witnesses, accredited men, and they have given a testimony that no one can gainsay. There were, nearly thirty [p. 133] years after the resurrection, more than two hundred and fifty persons who had seen Christ with their living eyes. There never was a more established testimony in the history of the world.
Rem It says, “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve”.
CAC It is very beautiful to see it was the twelve; that is, what they were in their testimonial witness. In the Lord’s mind they were “the twelve”. That is God’s way of reckoning very often. Paul says, “To which our whole twelve tribes ... hope to arrive” (Acts 26: 7). Well, Paul, where are they? He could not have shown them.
The resurrection has no part in the history of the world. No unbeliever saw the resurrection of the Lord; it is the peculiar property of the believer. People say, I believe in the resurrection, but they do not.
Rem Paul places a tremendous amount of importance on the place the glad tidings have.
CAC The gospel is preached to find out people who are interested. If we had never heard of the resurrection, the first time we did we should be profoundly astonished; but we have got accustomed to it. If it does not lay hold of the soul, what is the use of it? It is only a creed to one.
It is wonderful to learn that my sins have been taken away by a perfect, holy Substitute who bore them for me — that He has gone under for me the sentence of death. “Unto dust shalt thou return”, of which I deserved to be the subject, for I deserved to be swept off the face of the earth — so that I might be able to think of resurrection with joy. No unbeliever can think of resurrection with joy. He knows he is accountable. But the believer can contemplate resurrection with the deepest joy, and know we are entitled to come into all that is connected with resurrection — to share His part and place, beyond death in resurrection. After His having been in death, think what it was to God to have Him out of it! “Raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 6: 4) — the glory of the Father wrapped itself around Him in Joseph’s tomb and brought Him out!
Rem “And has raised us up together” (Ephesians 2: 6); that is, we are clear for the presentation.
CAC Yes, is it not wonderful?
He is going to come forth in a very short time with all His saints with Him, in His great glory, in this very world as it is now to put down all that is contrary to God, so that righteousness and peace will fill the earth. It is quite possible that hundreds of millions of people will live to see this. For men to be talking about a better world with the Bible in their hand is wicked unbelief; it is flying in the face of the testimony of Scripture.
Ques “If ye hold fast ...” (verse 2), why is that there?
CAC Of course if people give up the gospel there is nothing else for them.
Ques “Unless indeed ye have believed in vain” — what does that mean?
CAC Unless it was all false that I told you — then it was no good believing it, was it?
Ques What is the thought in regard to James and the apostles?
CAC I suppose James was brought in as one who had every opportunity to believe in the lifetime of the Lord, and he did not believe, and the Lord appeared to him in resurrection and converted him on the spot. He lived in the same house with him, and did not believe on Him! It says so, “neither did his brethren believe on him” (John 7: 5). It represents, no doubt, a testimony, that there is such a man. All he had seen of Christ after the flesh for thirty years did not convert him; one sight of Him risen converted him. No doubt he represents those that will not believe on Him until they see Him, His brethren in a future day. So James is brought in as an accredited witness, he is amongst that class.
[p. 135] The point is, there is a volume of testimony that cannot be discredited.
Rem James speaks well in Acts 15: 13.
CAC He never quite shook off his Judaism; there were certain legal characteristics about him, but he could not have given a more definite answer as to the resurrection.
Paul says, “Thus we preach, and thus ye have believed”; so there is no sense in people saying there is not a resurrection. If it is not true, then all we said was nothing, and your faith was nothing, and we have been found false witnesses; that is, he puts it in the very plainest way. It is a question of faith, a divine testimony is only received by faith. He does not mind confessing that, if it is not true, “we are the most miserable of all men” (verse 19).
SUMMARY OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 15 - 45 The apostle would not have had much to say if he had not brought in the resurrection in his preaching. It is important for one to have his feet planted on the rock of resurrection. This was a special attack of the enemy and not the state of the Corinthians that made him write like this. There was an activity of mind at Corinth that laid them open to questions and carnal reasonings. The important thing is that resurrection is the sphere of God’s working at the present time. In Psalm 150: 1 there are two things: “Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in the firmament of his power”. 1 Corinthians is the firmament of His power, and 2 Corinthians is the sanctuary. The first epistle (resurrection) is all the power of God. 1 Corinthians is the foundation epistle and 2 Corinthians is the superstructure. Where Christ is determines everything for God and for faith. If Christ was accepted here and honoured after the flesh, this would be the place for God. The resurrection sphere is the sphere where God is working, and there is no knowledge of God anywhere else. He is the God who raised up Jesus from the dead. Abraham knew Him as the God of resurrection; it is very wonderful.
The enemy has brought in sins, and in that way death has ruined the old creation, and God has a new creation. I think the aim of the enemy is to try and make it out that God is in relation to this scene of evil. Faith knowing God cannot possibly connect God with the present state of things, so Enoch walked with God, and death could not touch him. Enoch is the first example of eternal life in Scripture. God would not let two men die (Enoch and Elijah), showing that He was superior to death and He could make a man superior to death. Now we see the Lord Jesus Christ superior to death. God shows us a scene that never can be [p. 137] shadowed by death, and He shows us the Person who fills it. God must have His way and He must have everything according to His thought and purpose. Satan has apparently had his way for a long time. Christ is the first-fruits; you see in a risen Man everything that is according to God, and that Man is put in power to subdue everything to Himself, and when He has subjugated everything He will hand over the kingdom to God. I think it is at the end of the millennium that all will be seen to be dealt with, everything that challenges God’s place of supremacy — sin, death, antichrist, the beast, Satan. God’s Man is holy and true.
I suppose that death is the last power to be dealt with (verse 26); all these other powers will be dealt with first, and last of all death. There will be no more death; there could not possibly be death in a scene where God is all in all. The whole scene will be pervaded by life, and all will be suited to God. The wicked dead are not contemplated in this chapter. “In the Christ all shall be made alive”, but it is in Christ. The wicked are not in Christ. Those in Christ will be made alive after the image of Christ, but the wicked will not be in the image of Christ. It is God’s harvest; He is going to have a harvest out of this wicked scene. The whole chapter shows there is going to be a harvest for God; Christ the first, and nothing could be in Christ that is not of Christ.
There are three very important prepositions: through, of, in. Through the administration of grace the believer is of Christ, and being of Christ he is in Christ. Everything is through Christ, as in Romans 5: “peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ”, “making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ”, etc. What is through Christ can be preached to all men. The moment I receive the gift of Christ I am of Christ, and being of Him I am in Him. It is wonderful how God has gone to work to build up Christ in our souls. In thinking of reigning we think of authority, but the great thing is influence. The influence of the king is greater than authority. The king’s influence gives character [p. 138] to the country over which he rules. Christ gives His character to everything for God. He will exercise His authority against the rebels but His influence will be exercised over His own. The One who exercises the rule is the Holy One and True. It is all exercised to bring about a sphere where God is all in all.
Everything is subjugated to man and man is subject to God (verse 27). Christ will cease to be King but He will never cease to be Head. He gives up the kingdom but He never gives up the headship, and our relation with Him is as Head. Israel is in relation to Christ in an order of things that will pass away but the church is in relation to Him in an order of things that will never pass away. We are glad to be relieved, but after all we ought to be a little interested in what God is doing. I must have a risen Christ for righteousness, but I do not think there is any affection until we are delivered from our own side. You must be free — love must be free. It is a blessed thing to see that all our relations with God are outside everything connected with this scene, and that puts us in view of all that for which God is working, that resurrection scene. We want to be a little more in the spirit [p. 139] of it now.
NOTES OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 20 - 28 The apostle reasons in the first part of the chapter on the importance of Christ’s resurrection, and he shows that if Christ was not risen, all he had preached to them was nothing, and they had gained nothing by believing it. But if Christ had been raised, it was the proof that dead persons could be raised. If one man was raised, it was the proof that dead persons could be raised. It is most wonderful that Christ has been found among the dead; and He has been found there that He might be the first-fruits in resurrection.
Ques Is it just as wonderful that the Lord should be in death, as be raised? If He goes into death, it emphasises all connected with that death.
CAC Nothing could be more wonderful than the thought of a divine Person, One who was God, coming into a condition in which He could die. So Christ, the apostle said, was the first to show light to the people and to the nations (Acts 26:23). By His resurrection Christ has become the great Illuminator of the world — the Illuminator of the Gentiles.
We see all men going down into death. We do not need the Bible to know death has passed upon all men, we can see it. And the light that is worth having is the light of resurrection.
Rem That is, not the doctrine, but the substance, for all is substantiated in Christ. They were “preaching by Jesus the resurrection from among the dead” (Acts 4: 2), it says.
CAC And He was the first, Paul says, by the resurrection of the dead to show light to the people and the nations.
Ques Why are the nine verses [p. 140] a parenthesis?
CAC Well, do they not come in as a very special revelation from God? Paul brings them in in the midst of his argument (he leaves it for the moment but returns to it in verse 29), and turns aside to this great revelation — this great shining of divine light.
“How say some among you that there is not a resurrection of those that are dead?” (verse 12). He exposes the folly of their thoughts. There are plenty saying that today, it is not a thing that has died out.
Rem Satan suggests that everything to be gone in for is now, this side of death, and the argument is, there is nothing after death. But when a man sees there is something after death, his outlook is altered entirely.
CAC And how it magnifies Christ; because there is only one Man beyond death, after having been in it, as raised from among the dead. He is the only One in that position, so the light of all that is after death shines in that Man.
And the resurrection of those that are dead has come to light in Christ. It is “by man came death”. People have extraordinary ideas about death, calling it the debt of nature. They do not like to think they brought death upon themselves. It is man that brought in death, and now Man has brought in resurrection. It is Adam and Christ put in contrast. It is the man — Adam — who brought in death, not Satan. My father brought in death, our father brought it in, our parents brought in death. How could any of his race bring in resurrection? That is the question! If one of his race could have done so, it would have been a great triumph — if there had been one who could reverse death and bring in resurrection. Well, where could such a man be found?
This chapter has a reference to those who are Christ’s; it is not a chapter that any unconverted person would have any interest in. We see a Person raised from among the dead, and if I look at Christ I see death absolutely annulled.
[p. 141] If I look at myself, I do not.
Ques Why is the word “annulled” used?
CAC Annulled is about the strongest word that could be used to show it is completely set aside, annulled of its power. Christ was in death in a more terrible and complete way than any other ever was. Now He is risen out of it, death is annulled, and sin is annulled, and Satan is annulled. It is in looking at Christ you see that.
Ques How do we see death annulled, for we see it around us?
CAC By looking at Christ; that is the only way to see death annulled. I see a glorified, risen Man coming out of the dark domain of death — coming out in victorious power.
Ques It is not non-existent?
CAC It is in the faith of our souls that we reach it; we have the faith of a blessed Man raised from among the dead, and everything hangs upon that. His death would be nothing, if He had not been raised. His resurrection is the proof of the power and efficacy of His death.
Ques Why is it “the Christ” here?
CAC He is God’s anointed Man to destroy the power of death and the power of the devil completely and put away the sins of His people; and believers thankfully accept it, and they fix their eyes in faith on Christ risen from the dead. So that in the resurrection sphere Christ is everything; you cannot have any doubt about that. He fills that sphere, and He is going to have a great harvest. “The first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ’s at his coming” (verse 23). He is the First-fruits of a mighty harvest.
Rem There is nothing of self in resurrection, nothing but Christ, and we need to get our eyes on Him.
Rem It is remarkable that we are saved by His life; we are not told that we are saved by His death.
CAC Yes, it has helped me to see that what God has done for Christ (the blessed anointed Man) He can do for [p. 142] me; and that is brought out here in the first-fruits.
Ques And God is going to secure a universe, where He is going to be supreme. Why is it the Adam and the Christ — the article is used here?
CAC To show the distinctiveness of the two heads. “In the Adam all die”. We were all naturally in the Adam — of that family of which he was head. But “in the Christ all shall be made alive”; that is, it is a transfer to a new Head, and that is what faith really is. I am transferred in the faith of my soul from Adam to Christ. We finish with the conviction that all expectation from Adam ends in death, and we pass into connection with a new Head, and all connected with Him will be made alive in His life. It is not that all men are made alive in Christ, but “in Christ” all are made alive. You must come into connection with the new Head, or there is nothing but death. And all those alive in resurrection will be seen to be in Christ. We could not quite say so of the Old Testament saints, for He had not come.
Ques Is that Romans 5: 12?
CAC Yes, the thing is worked out there very fully. It is good to see that in the resurrection state there will only be those in Christ. When Christ comes, the Old Testament saints will be raised and translated with the New Testament saints. They will then be manifestly alive in Christ. What a triumph for God that will be — myriads of Old Testament and New Testament and tribulation saints, all made alive in Christ. All will be “the Christ’s” (verse 23), from the beginning up to that moment.
Rem God has only one way for every man — those before waited.
CAC Now there is the privilege available for men, that they can leave Adam and come to Christ. Christ died for all that they might have that opportunity, and that is really conversion; it means I leave myself altogether behind, and possess Christ. So that one can say, Christ is my life. I have no other life but Christ, so that the great [p. 143] thing is to get more acquainted with Christ risen. Christ is our life, and it says, “When the Christ is manifested .. then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory” (Colossians 3: 4); I have nothing else of life but Christ, all else is death before God. J.B.S. often asked, Have you changed your man? We are not really converted until this takes place.
Ques Then we have a clearer understanding of what the death of Christ means?
CAC Why did He die for me? It was because nothing attached to me but sins and death, and He took it all up, that He might be my life. It is very simple. We pass over from ourselves and the world to Christ, and from that moment we never think of anything else in the faith of our souls but Christ.
Men in the world are just working out Adam; and looking at it morally, it is nothing but death. What is the working out of it now but bloodshed and strife, and what is that but death? When Christ comes in, it will be the very opposite, as we read in this very scripture. Man’s place, and what is due to man, is death.
Then he passes over in verse 24 to “the end”. That is, he passes over the thousand years’ millennial reign of Christ. He says that those who are the Christ’s shall be raised at His coming (that refers to before His coming) and he passes right over to the end, and looks at the reign of Christ as putting down everything that is contrary to God. “When he shall have annulled all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that is annulled is death” (verses 24 - 26). That is, the reign of Christ is a time of the subjugation of all rule and authority and power contrary to God. It will be then dealt with by Christ. He will reign until everything contrary to God will be put down.
Rem Death is spoken of as the “last enemy” (verse 26). The state will not exist even.
CAC Yes.
[p. 144] Rem Death is looked at as a spoiler, it robs man and it robs God.
Ques It goes on to Christ giving up the kingdom to “him who is God and Father”. Why is the name of Father brought in?
CAC It is now an eternal name of God. He is Father as well as God. It is the name of revelation, the name the Son has revealed Him as now; He is not so known in the Old Testament. God retains its character; He is not going to lay aside that character. Every family in heaven and earth is named of the Father. The Father it is who has impressed certain features of Christ on all families of the redeemed. Some will have blessing in heaven, and some on earth, even in eternity.
The Son will exercise the kingdom for a thousand years, and then He will give up the kingdom to Him who is God and Father, because there is nothing more to be done on kingdom lines, all will be subjugated. So He will give it up to God and the Father, having accomplished all. God will always be God, and always the Father, and the Son always the Son throughout eternity. So the remarkable statement comes in, that the Son is placed in subjection to God, and all the saints will be along with Him in that place of subjection. It is the way that God will be all in all, because everything in God’s blessed universe will come under the headship of One placed in subjection. There will be no element of lawlessness then. True blessedness is to be in subjection to God. The Son has the first place in that glorious scene of subjection. It is the peculiar, distinctive and eternal glory of the Son. It has been expressed, as it were, beforehand in the life of Jesus; He was in perfect subjection. And repentance is that I judge my lawless and insubject self, and I pass over in my affections to the One who was always subject. And then the Spirit is given. In that eternal scene there will be the Spirit; there will be nothing seen in the subject One but God, and there will be [p. 145] nothing seen in those in companionship in subjection with that One, but God. And that will be a blissful eternity. Insubjection is what causes all the discontent and annoyance and irritability of the believer; it is simply the rising up in ourselves of the awful corrupt nature of the flesh. But there is that in the new man that loves to be subject to His will.
‘God’s will is sweetest to him
When it triumphs at his cost’.
I am afraid we do not always think so.
SUMMARY OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 20 - 58 Resurrection is the firmament of God’s power. Had they known God they must have had the sense that resurrection was a moral necessity. Death was an enemy, and God would not suffer any enemy to triumph. Death comes in as the destruction of man, the creature of God, and God was not going to accept quietly the destruction of His creature, so resurrection has to come in as recovery with a view to the whole universe of bliss. As all the damage has come in by man, resurrection has come in by Man. It was God’s intention from the first that He should be set forth in man. Another Man has come in in whom there is the perfect setting forth of God. Really God has brought in a Man in whom resurrection is inherent, One who is the resurrection Himself, not merely one whom God raised. It is brought out here that not only in Christ all shall be made alive, but that that Man by whom resurrection comes is also the Son, a Person of the Godhead. Resurrection is inherent in His Person. He could say, “In three days I will raise it up”. “He spoke of the temple of his body” (John 2: 19, 21). The Christ is also the Son, He is a Person in the Godhead. Though having all the power, He never used it except as in subjection. The Son has taken the place of subjection to the Father, and resurrection is in His power, even the raising of the wicked dead. “All who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall go forth” (John 5: 28, 29). He was of such intrinsic worth. There was nothing that death could touch morally in that Man, He was beyond the touch of death, the Prince of life. “Thou wilt not ... allow thy Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16: 10). It is a holy scene, it is all characterised by holiness. What marks the new creation is holiness, and therefore it is incorruptible. By the grace of God the Lord took part in death; He was made to feel the [p. 147] power of the enemy in death — of course as to His own personal state there was nothing death could touch. Death is a moral necessity to us. In Psalm 22 there was not only the forsaking of God but there were the strong bulls of Bashan, and He felt it as no other could, but He was really in the path of resurrection. He was going on to resurrection. There was everything about Christ to make Him the Head and Centre of God’s universe.
In verse 24 “the end” is not the finality but the great end of all the ways of God. It is what He does Himself in verse 28. It is part of His perfection, it is His glory to be in that place of subjection. God will be all; He is the only Object of His creatures, but that is only brought about by His being in all. Certain things have a place in the universe that are not at all according to God’s nature — principalities, powers, etc.
And these have all to be put down and removed so that everything in the universe should be according to God. What marks the new creation is love, and what preserves it is holiness: the divine energy of love carrying everything according to God and holiness preserving from everything evil. Sin has come into the universe of God and through eternity there will be the witness of evil. Love is the active power of holiness now. Holiness supposes the knowledge of good and evil. In an innocent world there was no such thing as holiness. You could not have holiness where there was no idea or conception of evil.
Death is the last enemy to be annulled in the historical order of things. Satan will be dealt with before the last resurrection; in the ways of God those who have been the cause of all the mishap will be dealt with first. The issue is that “God may be all in all”. And every enemy has to be cleared away that God may have what His heart is set upon.
SUMMARY OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 29 - 45 In those days if a man was baptised he was a target for the enemy. The apostle had had anything but an easy time of it; he had fought with beasts at Ephesus. He shows them that it was folly to become a Christian if there was no resurrection. I think certain unbelievers had come in amongst them and they had corrupted the saints (verse 33).
The notion that people have of resurrection is that they will be raised up to live pretty much as they do now, whereas resurrection introduces an entirely new order, and that is what gives it a practical bearing at the present time.
Every believer now is a child of resurrection, begotten again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; it is the very starting-point. Everything depends upon where Christ is; Christ after the flesh exists no more, He has died.
The Christ that we know is a risen Christ, and every blessing is in Him and through Him. The wonderful thing is that the Christian is walking about indwelt with the Spirit of a risen Man. The whole work of God in the soul is to direct us to Christ risen. The practical end is that the saints may represent Christ here because they are connected with a new Head. God has two great ways: there is the privilege line and there is the experimental line. We have to learn death and the breaking up of things here, and then there is what He manifests of Christ to us. I do not think we should value the privilege line if we did not have the experimental line, but it is the mind of God that we should learn on the privilege line. The apostle could say, “Daily I die”. I find I am very much in danger of living here rather than dying here. Christ as Priest comes to our side that He may take us to His side. It is very important to see that Christ has His assembly here. The assembly is the place of attraction for us. The assembly is altogether on resurrection and heavenly [p. 149] ground. From verse 35 onward is the bringing out of the new order.
The figure of sowing (verse 37) shows that it is not the body that shall be, but a bare grain; there is a connection between what goes down and what comes up. The point is that what is put down is not what comes up. What is sown in dishonour and weakness goes down, but what comes up is in glory and power. The present condition is not suitable to the resurrection scene. There is a positive connection between what goes down and what comes up — as to the dead there is nothing there but corruption; you laid down that body of corruption, and corruption cannot inherit incorruptibility. If we begin to reason and question we shall be sure to err; we must not go outside the statements of Scripture. A man of another order was before the mind of God before sin came in. The saints shall be raised according to the order of the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. There are different orders in creation, one the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars (verse 41). The apostle was seeking to lead the saints to another order. The great thing is to keep clear that we are heavenly ones, we are of the order of the heavenly ones. The saint as being a heavenly one has a mortal body here, and Christ has to be expressed in that mortal body; that is a wonderful distinction! It is more wonderful in a certain way that Christ should come out in a mortal body than that He should come out in a glorified body. God’s original thought was to have a heavenly man, and He has in Christ. Everything must correspond, and a mortal body does not correspond with [p. 150] a heavenly man.
NOTES OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 29 - 50 I suppose most of the wrong thoughts which Christians have entertained are the result of contact with unspiritual persons. These doubts as to the resurrection no doubt came into circulation through the tares which the devil had sown in the field. So that the apostle has to warn the saints that “evil communications corrupt good manners” (verse 33). I suppose it is more than ever necessary we should keep ourselves very strictly from contact with what is evil, and persons who are infected with evil. And generally what Satan is working at is something that lies at the very foundation of all revealed truth. Satan does not trouble about details. It will be seen that every wrong thought strikes at the very root of all that God has made known.
Ques Speaking of foundation truths, would verse 29 be an example of the danger of our not abiding by our baptism?
CAC It was very foolish for people to step into the christian ranks, if those who had died had nothing. A number of persons had been standing in the christian profession, in the faith of resurrection, and a good many of them had died, had fallen asleep, but others were ready to come forward and stand in their places. Well, it was a mad thing if there was no resurrection.
Rem Baptism here has the force of committal, has it not? I believe men are baptised into the Turkish army in that way.
CAC He is showing the extreme folly of the thought. If there was no resurrection, all that went on among Christians was folly; and there was nothing better than to eat and drink and be merry, if tomorrow we die; that is, have a good time of it now.
Rem In Timothy, Paul speaks of some who [p. 151] said the resurrection was past already, and overthrew the faith of some.
CAC You would have thought it was not possible to say such a thing. And I have met with people who say they have their resurrection bodies now. I said to one who spoke to me like that, ‘Well, it is a very shabby turn-out’!
Ques Is it an incentive to take up baptism; you would not take it up otherwise?
CAC Of course not! Being baptised in those days meant you might be thrown to the beasts tomorrow at Ephesus. Well, what folly.
Ques What does it mean, “I have fought with beasts in Ephesus”?
CAC Paul was constantly facing danger; every day he did not know whether he would be killed. It was the character of his life. No one would enter on a path like that except in the faith of resurrection, it would be folly. And of course we are not unaware that many people are puzzled about resurrection, and asking just what we get here, “How are the dead raised? and with what body do they come?” Well, Paul had a very short answer, we might say.
Ques What connection is there between verse 34, “Awake up righteously”, and what goes before? Does it suggest that there were those who believed, but who had not come to the knowledge of the power of God?
CAC Yes, they were not awake morally. That is why he says, “Awake up righteously” — they had not a right thought of anything.
Rem I wondered if it was brought in as a sort of correction. The knowledge of God, and of His power and nature, would do away with these doubts.
CAC Yes. It is a question of what God has before Him for His saints. You cannot see in a seed sown any evidence of what will spring up. It is sown a bare grain, and God gives it a body as it pleases Him — that is the great thought.
[p. 152] Ques So that connects definitely with verse 34 in that way?
CAC Yes, quite so.
Rem It is a divine necessity that there should be this new body.
Rem The apostle presses the importance of death here: “Fool; what thou sowest is not quickened unless it die” (verse 36), and “Daily I die” (verse 31).
CAC He is showing that the thought of quickening is, ‘out of death’; that is the thought of quickening in the New Testament. If the saints are quickened out of death, it is to have a body as it pleases God; that is, the same kind of body as the heavenly One. He speaks of many different kinds of glory, God having distributed glory; but what is in view is something that transcends all other glories.
Rem I suppose it is really the idea of order; to bring before our minds that we should be like that One — after His order.
CAC It is most important to see that. In the wisdom of God there is great variety in His ways, different kinds of flesh and different kinds of heavenly glory, even in nature. God has assigned different kinds of glory even naturally.
Well, He is going to surpass all that in His dealings with the saints; and resurrection is in view of the purpose of God.
Rem The body will be raised on account of the Spirit that dwells in it.
CAC It says, “Shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of his Spirit which dwells in you” (Romans 8: 11).
Rem They will have a distinct place as of the assembly.
CAC And of the heavenly saints. What he is after in all this teaching is to develop spirituality in the saints.
There was a great lack of it at Corinth.
Ques You mean, to understand their heavenly calling and place?
CAC That is the thing, to see that truth, and [p. 153] what God has in purpose. What is the object of resurrection, if God has not some wonderful thought in His mind for His saints? What does it mean? The saints are quickened in view of all that is in the purpose of God for them.
Rem The saints are going to have bodies suitable to their environment, not for the earth.
CAC No, God is working now in relation to what is heavenly, and however much we want to be earthly, we cannot be earthly, because God has fixed it, that we are going to be heavenly.
I think there is a present quickening referred to. Saints are not quickened in their bodies, but in their affections, because the glad tidings have brought to light another Adam. Until we see that, we get nowhere. The first Adam brought in sin and death, and God has brought in another Head, One never to be succeeded — the last Adam, and He is a quickening Spirit.
Man became a living soul in a wonderful way — by the inbreathing of God; that is, man made out of dust; and we have all been connected with that head naturally. It did not qualify man for heaven, so if Adam had never sinned and never died, he would never have gone to heaven.
Israel in the millennium will be in flesh and blood on the earth. Morally they will be raised up out of their national death to live on the earth. They will have the knowledge of Christ risen, but they will not be risen.
Those who suffer and die for righteousness’ sake, and anticipatively for Christ’s sake, have their part on the heavenly side. Every saint that will be raised, will be raised in the condition of heavenly purpose. It is patterned, of course, by the Lord. He was raised; He was on the earth for forty days to give unquestionable proof. But the very first day He came out of the grave He said, “I ascend” (John 20: 17). And the place of association with Him as ascended is open to all saints, if we love Him. It is affection that joins Him in that sphere.
[p. 154] Those in the millennium see them in the heavenly side of the kingdom; flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom. It is the heavenly side of the kingdom, entered into by the saints as raised from the dead. Old Testament saints will, no doubt, be raised at the same time as the saints of the assembly. When they are raised from the dead they will be in Christ.
Rem There were the saints who rose after the resurrection of Christ “and appeared unto many” (Matthew 27: 52,53).
CAC It is a very remarkable testimony that persons came out of their graves after the resurrection. Well, I do not think they went back to their graves. Lazarus was brought back to his natural life here, and the last thing said of him was that they were talking of killing him. That was more resuscitation, but it was a wonderful demonstration of the power of the Son of God, that He could bring a man out of death.
In verse 54 he has in mind the heavenly — the kingdom of God on its heavenly side, which requires a new condition; flesh and blood cannot come into it. It all stands connected with the “last Adam”, and the “second man” (verse 47). He is showing that resurrection is an established matter, involving a change of condition. So you cannot tell at all from what is sown what will be raised.
Rem A new Head is introduced to bring all this to pass.
CAC The disciples on the resurrection day were made to live by His inbreathing. They had never had that before. They had been with Him, but on the natural line; their thoughts had been natural thoughts, but after that they lived in virtue of His own Spirit, “Because I live ye also shall live” (John 14: 19).
Ques Why are the saints viewed as being sown? In the Lord’s death it was the fruit that is stressed. There [p. 155] is a difference.
CAC It speaks of all that is actually coming to fruition in the purpose of God. It has done so in Christ. In the last Adam there is the finality of every divine thought. We do well to consider Him. And He was the heavenly One, and we have been brought to know Him thus by divine grace. And the marvellous thing is, “Such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones” (verse 48), which is a marvellous thought for us to take in.
We are all going to bear the image of the heavenly One; there is not to be a shade of difference of bodily condition between Christ and His saints. Those who have borne the image of the one out of dust are going to bear the image of the heavenly One. We do not understand our calling until we understand that. The apostle Paul and the one just converted stand on exactly the same platform as to that. It is not a question of capacity here, but condition.
Ques All in a certain order are alike; is not that the point here?
CAC The point here is, that we are all alike, we are all to bear the image of the heavenly One. It is the point he is stressing, and it is important to stand to that.
We stand in the value of the heavenly One, and we are as heavenly as He is, and that not because of ourselves, nor because of the work of God in us even. It is on account of the purpose and calling that has marked us out before the foundation of the world, that we are all going to be conformed to the image of His Son. It is most important to see that clearly. This is all connected with purpose; it has nothing to do with responsibility.
Rem It is all for God’s pleasure; He is going to do it for His pleasure.
CAC Yes. What sort of eternal condition does it please God to give those quickened by the last Adam? They are all made to live in the power of life in Him; there is no thought of responsibility in that, it is a sovereign act. The saints are going to be in the heavenly side of the kingdom [p. 156] in the power of that. How beautiful to think that every person in that display will be like Christ. Does not that surpass any thought that might bring in a difference on the line of responsibility? In God’s eternal purpose He is going to have sons according to His thought. You cannot bring in degrees of capacity, or kingdom reward, into that. They fade into insignificance in the presence of something so vastly great.
JND suggested that the object of our being like Christ was that there would be nothing whatever to distract from Himself. All those quickened by Him live in His life; there is not a shade of difference between His life and theirs. He is the second Man out of heaven; all that is suitable to heaven has been shown out morally by Him, “the Son of man who is in heaven” (John 3:13). When we speak of Him as the heavenly One, that does not apply to Him on earth. He is in heaven in a body of glory, and that condition God has purposed for “many sons” (Hebrews 2: 10). We shall be in that [p. 157] condition.
NOTES OF A READING 1 Corinthians 15: 46 - 50 The first man and the second man (verse 47); is it the persons or is it order?
CAC I thought it was the persons, two individuals but the two heads; that is, the first man is the head of an order, and the second Man is the Head of an order. I think it is a mistake to speak of the first man as meaning man after the flesh. It is a common expression and people do not mean the first man; the first man was Adam. It would be more correct to say our old man; that is, if you can. It means that our man is somewhere in the rear. It pleased God that there should be a natural order and it pleased God that there should be a spiritual order. The natural man is one who is in relation to the whole system of created things. It was right that man should be in relation to created things, then if God brings in a spiritual race, the life of the spirit is all in relation with God. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 6); it is, I suppose, of that kind in distinction from what is natural. It is very blessed to see this intention of God to connect man with heaven. The first man was out of the earth and could not be connected with what was of heaven; it was outside the order of his being altogether. God intended to have a Man suited to heaven as the first man was suited to the earth. I suppose Adam was the finest man that ever lived and perfectly suited to the earth. The heavenly is the idea of a man suited to God’s own place. In the wisdom of the Spirit the truth of the new order is brought out for its moral bearing and not as a mere historical fact, so that we might understand the new order. The idea of Christ coming in to save a ruined creature is pretty generally accepted, but the truth is He gives His own life and character to everything so that everything should be after [p. 158] His order.
Ques What is the difference between “heavenly” and “new creation”?
CAC I think it is new creation because new creation is all after the order of Christ. I thought it was as having reached the heavenly state in resurrection that He takes the place of second Man. A great deal of what Christ wrought when here was in connection with the old order though seen much in view of resurrection, but after His resurrection everything was different. We never shall be like what He was, but we shall be like what He is. I was thinking in reference to Christ after the flesh, when He was here the predominant thought was the presentation of God to man; whereas when you come to resurrection the predominant thought is man in a new place with God. The great thing in connection with the incarnation is that God was manifest in flesh, and God was declared; but when you come to resurrection it is man in a new place with God. “I ascend ... to my God and your God” (John 20: 17). In the gospels you get perfect illustrations of the gospel. We go back to the gospels and see it in the light of the cross and the glory, and we see a good deal in it that did not occur to people at the time. John 13: 3 tells us He came out from God and went to God. He came out from God bringing the light of God to men, and then He goes to God that man might be entirely in a new place and order. It is a great thing to see what is before the face of God: there is a Man as perfectly suited to God as Adam was suited to earth. Christ is there before God representatively.
Ques What do you mean by representatively?
CAC Many have the idea of a Mediator as One being between a poor sinner and an angry God. The Mediator is between God and men but He has brought all the good of God to me, He has come to tell me that God is favourable to me. God is favourable to me and He has shown that in Christ; Christ came out to be the expression of the heart of God. And this chapter brings us to it that we [p. 159] are to have the image of that heavenly One.
Rem In Romans 8: 34 it says He intercedes for us.
CAC There He is Priest for me. God has been pleased that tribulation, distress, etc. should be taken up by a Man who knows what all that means and how to intercede for His own. As Man He intercedes, knowing what these things are as having felt the pressure of it all. All the cares and pressure do not take us out of the sense of His love. I think that the result of the intercession of Christ is that we are kept in the happy sense of the love of God. There is creature weakness in the presence of the enemy’s power. He is rather showing how divine Persons are All for us: God is for us, Christ is for us, and the Spirit is for us.