THE PERSON OF CHRIST AND ETERNAL LIFE (3)
[p. 458] THE PERSON OF CHRIST AND ETERNAL LIFE (3)
JT As we continue to dwell on this epistle, we are struck with the place that knowledge has, and especially the knowledge that we have eternal life. The gospel is largely to show how it is to be obtained: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may ... have life eternal”, but the epistle is to show how we know that we have it. That is, we are to have the consciousness that we have it, and hence the chapter closes with the fact that not only is the Lord Jesus the true God but “he is the true God and eternal life”. In the gospel it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. Here in the epistle the point is that He is the Son of God, but He is the true God, and not only that, but He is eternal life. In John 17, as we had it yesterday, the Father is the true God; but here the Son is the true God, and it might be equally said that the Spirit is the true God. There are not three Gods, but One. The Father is the true God, and the Son is God and the Spirit is God. Hence the frequency of the use of the word “God” in these two chapters, 4 and 5. If we look at it, we will be struck with the number of occurrences of the name “God”. Here, in the first verse, “Every one that believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God; and every one that loves him that has begotten loves also him that is begotten of him. Hereby know we that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments”. That is the peculiarity of the epistle, how the divine Persons are spoken of, and how the believer is brought into the life which Christ is said to [p. 459] be, eternal life.
FJF Does that make eternal life an objective thought?
JT That is just what it is. If you would enlarge on the word ‘objective’ a little bit, it will help us.
FJF That is, we apprehend it and see it, fully, in the Lord Jesus.
JT So that the knowledge of the Lord Jesus implies that we have it. He is it. We spoke yesterday of certain, who, in years gone by, asserted that eternal life was a Person, but the more accurate thought is that a Person is it, and that Person is the Son. The point now is to know this. It is not simply to be light to us, but we are to know it, to know that we have eternal life.
JC-S Would the consciousness of having eternal life be within the range of every person who has the Spirit?
JT That is just what I would say. It all depends on the Spirit, as well as on redemption. It shows the importance that is to be attached to the present stressing of the Spirit in our readings and in our ministry of the truth.
RH Would you be free to say a word about knowing the Spirit, in verse 2 of chapter 4, “Hereby ye know the Spirit of God” and then in verse 13, “Hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, that he has given to us of his Spirit”.
JT I think it is to stress that the saints should become acquainted with the Spirit, as well as with the Father and with the Son. The Spirit is One of the divine Persons, equal with the Father and the Son, and is to be known in a personal sense. He is not simply an influence, but a real Person, to be apprehended. He has not become Man, of course, neither has the Father, but the Son has become Man and died, because death had to come in; hence the [p. 460] idea of the water and the blood, in this chapter. Water is moral cleansing, but blood is judicial cleansing; that is to say, the judgment has been passed upon us, so that we have died.
JC-S “This is he that came by water and blood”. What is the thought of His coming in this way?
JT Just that He came into the sphere of testimony. It is not only that He came to earth. He has come to earth, but He has come into the sphere of testimony, so as to be within our range.
CAI He has come to where He now is, in that sense.
JT I would not just say that. The allusion is to His coming into the sphere of testimony. He is, of course, in heaven; He has gone into heaven, angels and principalities being made subject to Him, but the point is the sphere of testimony. He has come into the sphere of testimony, and hence the Lord can be said to come to us, as well as for us, which He does, on the first day of the week, and at all times when we are in assembly.
WmH Is the thought that it is characteristic of His coming, that He came by water and blood?
JT Just so. He came by the means by which we can be brought into the divine thoughts.
JC-S It is an added thought to chapter 4, where it speaks of “every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God”, “Jesus Christ come in flesh” is His incarnation really, but His coming by water and blood is introduced to meet a state, in us, is it not?
JT Quite so. The blood is judicial cleansing and the water is moral cleansing. That is, the judgment had to be passed and executed, but the water is for moral cleansing, and applies to us even now while we are [p. 461] still here.
CFI So that, apart from His coming in this way, we could never have been brought into eternal life, could we?
JT Just so. So that the water has a peculiar place in the testimony here.
Ques Would you say a word about the reference in Hebrews 10: “Our bodies washed with pure water”?
JT Well, that is to stress the character of the water. It is pure; there is no admixture.
AM Would the “washing of water by the word” bear on this? Does it link with the word of God?
JT Yes, quite so. It is the application of the water of the word to the believer, as well as the blood. It is not by blood there, but by the word. That is to say, it is the moral side of the matter. It applies to us even now, so that we might have part in the service of God, and then have part in eternal life too, as a present matter.
JC-S It would not be possible for us to get through without the water in our present condition, would it?
JT I think that is right. When we are raised, we shall have a perfect condition, so that we shall not need any more washing. But washing applies now, as we see in John’s gospel, to our feet: “He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet”. But then the washing applies both to the whole person as well as to the feet, before he is converted; but now that he is converted and has the Spirit, the only need of washing is the feet, “He ... needs not to wash save his feet”, in view of part with Christ in the fulness of it even now, before we are raised actually. So that in Colossians the believer is said to be raised through faith of the working of God, that is, the application of the water by the word.
[p. 462] Ques Does the matter of faith, and overcoming the world, run along with the practical side of the washing, the washing of the water?
JT Quite so, the practical side, and what should be added to that is, that it is in view of our entering into the purpose of God, because God must have His part in all these things. It is not simply that we should be clear ourselves, but that God should have His part.
WmH The Spirit seems to be brought in in connection with the water and the blood. It says, “They that bear witness are three: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood”. Is that to give the consciousness of eternal life?
JT I think so. The Spirit must finish everything; He must have to do with everything, in that sense. The Spirit is said to be the truth.
DJM Would you say a word as to that, “the Spirit is the truth”.
JT It is the application of the truth; He is it. It is not simply that He applies it, but He is it. Of course, the Lord is the truth too, as He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”. It shows how the divine Persons may be regarded interchangeably. There is only one God, so that the three Persons are One.
AR It says the Spirit bears witness. Could you help as to that?
JT I think it comes out in ministry; the Spirit works on that principle. Whether it be the ministry of the gospel or the ministry of the truth of the assembly, it is a question of the Spirit.
JC-S The footnote is interesting: ‘’Are to one point or purpose’-to one thing in their testimony’.
JT Yes. Doubtless we are all made to feel how much we have to learn as to these things, and to learning what abstract means. Here we have the thought of a person sinning and not sinning to [p. 463] death; therefore a distinction is made in certain sins. The idea of sin, of course, comes in constantly, because it has to be dealt with. If we run down the chapter, “Every one that believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God; and every one that loves him that has begotten loves also him that is begotten of him. Hereby know we that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments”. It shows that love is the great positive feature that is stressed in this chapter. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous. For all that has been begotten of God gets the victory over the world; and this is the victory which has gotten the victory over the world, our faith”. So that faith is brought into it here too, “Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” It is a question of testimony here, and different features of it.
AR What is implied in believing, according to John? Much is made of it in this chapter.
JT I would say that we should go to Romans for these distinctive elementary features, to see how things come to a believer. The epistle to the Romans is the great epistle to study in that respect; that is Paul’s gospel.
AR I wondered whether believing, according to John, involves a certain apprehension of the Person that is believed on?
JT I am sure that is true. You must get the facts of Romans, in order to be basic, and to see the full bearing of the gospel.
FJF Does it mean that our faith gives us the light of God’s world, a new world, before we can give up this one?
JT Very good, and “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”.
TT In verse 1, it is believing that “Jesus is the Christ”, and in verse 5, it is believing that “Jesus is the Son of God”. What is the distinction?
JT Christ is the One by whom things are done, the One whom God employs to do things; but the Son of God implies power, the power of the Person; the power of Christ is implied in His sonship; that is to say, He is no less than God Himself, in the sense of power. As to things being done, it is the Christ, I think. Of course, we cannot limit the terms, because they are all applicable to the divine Persons.
TT “He hath done all things well”. Is that Jesus the Christ?
JT Just so.
FW-n Would you say a further word as to how the thought of victory is identified with our faith?
JT It shows that even now we can come into the thing. Of course, when we are in the glory, we are in it; but then the point is, to come into it now, because we are in a dispensation of faith. When we are translated to heaven, everything is finished for us, although the millennium has to come, but there is no idea of unfinished conditions at all after we are translated to heaven. But now there is great need of dealing with unfinished conditions, and so these terms that we have before us indicate how this comes about; that is, it is through faith, so that we have each to learn to understand what faith means and how it comes about, and hence we are told how it comes about in the epistle to the Romans, “Faith cometh by hearing” showing the importance of hearing, but then, not only what we hear, but that hearing is by the word of God.
AA-n Is that why verse 5 is put in the form of a question, in order to raise a challenge with us?
JT Yes! “Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” He will get it. There must be the believing in the Son of God, and it is a question of faith, for we are in the faith period. When we are translated to heaven, faith is no longer needed. We are living in the faith period, and all these matters as to faith have in mind that it is a faith period in which we are; we have to learn how to exercise faith, so that we can be said to be believers, but then this epistle is intended to make us more definite as to all these things, and especially as to faith as to eternal life.
AS Is it important that it is in the present tense? “Who is he that gets the victory over the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” It is a continuous thing.
JT Just so. It is a present thing; that is the force of it. It is not he that has believed, although that also has its place. So that in verse 13 we have “These things have I written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God”.
JC-S It is not a passive thing, is it? It is an active thing in the soul.
JT It is a present active thing; that is the idea. So that we may come into the thing at once. It is all available to us, and therefore we can come into it at once. There is nothing to wait for.
AA-n Is there an illustration of it in John 9: 35? “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said to him, Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? And Jesus said to him, Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he”.
JT The Lord graciously answers his question fully. The Lord intends him to have the full effect of his faith, and He answers his question fully, not partially. All this shows the need of being sure [p. 466] about things, and Scripture supplies us with all that we need to know.
WmH The man seemed to become attached to the Son of God outside of everything accredited here, did he not? I was thinking of the way he was cast out, but he found the Son of God outside, and the faith of the Son of God involves an order of things in resurrection outside of all that is religious and accredited.
JT Just so; showing that such a one must be cast out. They cast him out, for he did not belong to their system. We do not want to belong to a system out of which we are to be cast.
HKR Does the closing section of Romans 8 set before us one who was in the full light of the victory over the world? Verse 31 says, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who against us?” and so on.
JT The chapter is wonderfully reasoned out by the apostle Paul, so that the conscience and heart should be set free from all that is against it. So verse 6 here says, “This is he that came by water and blood”; (we have already touched on that) “Jesus the Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is the truth”. A very remarkable word, “the Spirit is the truth”, “For they that bear witness are three, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree in one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he has witnessed concerning his Son. He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself”. That is a thing to be noticed, “the witness in himself”, that is, he has the Spirit. “He that does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning his Son. And this is the witness, that God has given to [p. 467] us eternal life; and this life is in his Son”. So that we are instructed here as to where the life is; it is in the Son.
SG When the Lord Jesus was here, the truth as to what God is was set out in Him, also the truth as to what man should be according to God. In what sense would we apprehend the Spirit as the truth?
JT It is as having been sent down from heaven, for the Spirit has been sent down. The Lord Jesus is not said to be sent down from heaven, but the Spirit is said to be sent down. He is here as sent down, and He is here to set out things and elucidate them, to make them applicable so that there is an answer to all that is in the mind of God for men. He is the truth in that sense.
WmH We were referring yesterday to the sphere of eternal life. Would the Spirit be our link with that sphere?
JT Just so. The sphere of eternal life is in the assembly; that is where it is. It is not on the earth, as we often say; it is in the assembly.
WR Why is eternal life connected with the name of the Son of God? It says in verse 13: “that ye may know that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God”.
JT The name there means simply that He is known by that designation, and all that enters into it. It is a question of the renown of the Son, and the believer coming into the effect of it. It is renown.
TT Does the Son of God imply that He takes things up for God?
JT Quite so; but the idea of the name, the name of the Son of God, is renown in the universe. That name has renown, and as it comes to the believer, he becomes victorious. That is to say, “These things have I written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God”. That is, the believer [p. 468] comes into it, into the renown, the universe is full of it, as it were.
JC-S There is no name to put alongside of it. It is the fame that he has acquired in that name.
JT Quite so.
CFI Does the expression, “has the witness in himself”, involve the inward consciousness and joy of life?
JT Just so. It is the witness in the sense of the Spirit. It is what the believer has positively; not simply as light, but positively, and it is in the Spirit as given to the believer. Hence the word is, “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?” “We did not even hear if the Holy Spirit was come”, they said, and so the apostle instructs them and then he baptises them to that name, to the name of the Lord Jesus, and then he lays his hands on them so as to bring them into touch with what there was, and the Holy Spirit came upon them.
Ques Is that the truth in Romans 8, when it says, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit”?
JT Very good, showing that it is the highest part of the believer. There is the spirit, and the soul, and the body, and the spirit is the highest part of us. It is the part in which we are connected with God, and therefore it is morally the greatest thing to be stressing, while we are in the body.
FW-n Does it all show that there is an end corresponding with what is in the gospel, reached in this chapter? I was thinking of the word, “that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name”, John 20: 31.
JT Well, just so, the Christ, the Son of God. Paul himself preached the Son of God, Jesus Christ, at Corinth. The Man is Jesus, of course; He acquired that name in becoming Man.
[p. 469] FW-n You stress what was set out in the gospel, in Christ personally. Is the thought that the end is reached with the saints corresponding to that?
JT Quite so. We might now proceed, and verse 11 says. “And this is the witness, that God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in his Son”. That is, God has given us the Spirit, as the witness. “He that has the Son has life, he that has not the Son of God has not life”. So that the positive and the negative are there. “These things have I written to you that ye may know”; that is the next thing, the emphatic idea of conscious knowledge, “that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God”. That is, it is not simply on the Son, but on the name. It implies the fame or renown that attaches to Him, the renown that fills the universe, as we may say, the renown of Christ, that name. We need not be ashamed of it, therefore. It says in Philippians, “to you has been given, as regards Christ, not only the believing on him but the suffering for him also”. Suffering is attached to it, but we need not be ashamed of that. It is all calculated to strengthen us in our testimony. And so it goes on, here in verse 14, “this is the boldness which we have towards him, that if we ask him anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him”. Now the word know has a great place in the whole of the chapter we are now on. We are to know, and be certain of things.
FJF Did not the Lord wonder that men did not see what was in Himself when He said, “Ye know how to judge of the appearance of the earth and of the heaven; how is it then that ye do not discern this time?” Luke 12: 56.
JT Yes. The expression “this time” in that verse is the point. The whole universe is filled with [p. 470] the renown of Christ, and they did not know about it. And so it is today people do not know about things, but the renown is there, “How is it then that ye do not discern this time?” This is the most wonderful time of all.
CAI Do you connect this thought of the renown with the sphere of testimony to which you have referred? And could you help us a little more as to the Lord and the sphere of testimony.
JT It is what literally He has come down into. He was born in the world; that is to say, He was born as an ordinary child. He came into the world that way. But then He came into the sphere of testimony in due time, and was anointed. When the time of the anointing came, He was anointed, and it was in the power of the anointing that His testimony was rendered. He came into the sphere of testimony, and remains in it still; even although He has gone into heaven, the sphere of testimony is within our range. He was born as a babe, of course, which is a wonderful thing, and it is most touching. Luke would affect our hearts, so as to make us touched by the gospel, and so Luke gives us the full account of the Lord’s birth. He is there in the world, and in due time He is anointed, the Spirit of God coming upon Him.
CAI Is it right to connect the thought of eternal life with the sphere of testimony, and the saints as in that too?
JT Certainly. It belongs to it. Not only that, for there is much more than eternal life, the whole matter of the assembly is in the sphere of testimony. Therefore ministry is always in mind, and we constantly have these meetings. You might say, we cannot get on without them.
JC-S “The Spirit is the truth” would cover all [p. 471] that.
JT Just so. The Spirit is the truth. The article shows that it is the whole matter, and, of course, the same thing is applicable to Christ because He also is the truth and the life.
WR Is eternal life connected with the true God and true Man in that way?
JT Just so. It is the two things we need to know, to know God and to know Jesus, whom the Father sent. We need to know what man is in Christ, and then to know what we are in the counsels of God to be made through Him. What we shall be eternally, that will cover it, but what God is to us, and what we are to God, are all set out in Christ.
JC-S Does the consciousness of eternal life involve that we have really come to a conclusion in our souls in regard of the judicial ending of the man that sinned?
JT Very good, and then the moral side too, the moral ending of things. But the judicial side really implies that, and both are applicable to the Spirit and to Christ. The Spirit is the truth and Christ is the truth.
Ques Is the prayer, referred to in verse 15, an evidence of eternal life in the believer?
JT Well, very good, “If we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him”. “If we know that he hears us”; hence we should be conscious, when we are praying, that we are heard in heaven; I am saying in heaven, but we are heard anyway. The “He” would refer to Christ and also to God the Father, it would refer to both; in fact, we might say, to all the divine Persons. The hearing is available to us, it implies that our voices are heard up there.
WS Does verse 14 indicate that we are heard if we ask according to His [p. 472] will?
JT Just so. We ought to be taught to pray. Therefore a brother says to the Lord, “Teach us to pray”, and the Lord did teach them how to pray, and perhaps we might ask ourselves, have we learnt how to pray? I think we should ask that question. The Lord says, “When ye pray, say, Father”, not ‘Our Father which art in heaven’, but just “Father, thy name be hallowed”, and so forth.
AR Would you include the three divine Persons in the last clause of verse 15, “We know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him”?
JT I do not say it would be the Holy Spirit, although it might be; but certainly I would say it may be either the Lord Jesus or the Father.
Ques If we prayed like Jabez would we be sure of being heard? It is said, “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh that thou wouldest richly bless me, and enlarge my border, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” 1 Chronicles 4: 10. Would that be the kind of prayer that would be sure of an answer?
JT Very good, I would say that fully.
JC-S “We know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him”. Would there be a conscious sense in the soul, an impression that God really hears us and we will get the thing?
JT I think so, and therefore I would bring it into the days of the week. If we select Monday as the day of prayer, the evening of prayer, God will acknowledge that. He acknowledges what we fix in that way, and then we ought to look for the answers on Tuesday. That is the way I would look at it. Tuesday is the day of answers, and we ought to have good times on Tuesdays. It is a good time for ministry meetings; Tuesday is very often selected for them.
[p. 473] Ques Is that illustrated in the assembly making unceasing prayer for Peter when he was in the prison?
JT Very good. Although they did not believe it fully, for they really persecuted Rhoda, showing how easily we may persecute each other when we should be thanking God for each other.
Rem I was wondering if verse 15 was an evidence of eternal life, because it follows the statement in verse 13, “that ye have eternal life who believe on the name of the Son of God”; life seems to give us the boldness, the liberty, of approach.
JT Yes. That is right, “And this is the boldness which we have towards him, that if we ask him anything according to his will he hears us”, I remarked that if we fix a day for prayer, and we usually fix Monday, whether we may not in our minds sanctify Tuesday as the time of answering of prayer. It is not that the whole week should not be devoted to the answers, as doubtless it will, but I do think that we should learn to fix the days of the week, especially because the first day is so honoured in that we have the Lord’s supper. It was the day on which the Lord Jesus was raised from among the dead. In the old economy it was more months, whereas, in our economy, it is weeks and days and hours; so we have the term “last hour” here in this epistle. Our time is thus so fixed and utilised, and we should make the most possible use of it too, so that the whole economy should be operative, from our side, not only from the divine side but from our side. This epistle is to bring us into it, so that we also are operative, every one of us; that is the divine thought for us. Our prayers will thus begin to move too, and hence our prayer meetings.
WmH He refers in verse 16 to the circle of the brethren, does he not? “If any one see his brother [p. 474] sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask”. Would that be to preserve the circle of the brethren intact?
JT Yes, and we must distinguish sin from sin; some are worse than others. We were speaking last evening as to unionism and the terribleness of it and how death, in principle if not actually, is often applied to anyone that offends unionism. How terrible that is!
JV What would you understand by a sin unto death?
JT It would be a sin that God would not pass over, as it were. It is not easy to be sure what sin it might be, but that there is such a sin is what the apostle says here. There is such a sin. “There is a sin to death”, and then he says, “I do not say of that that he should make a request”.
DJM That kind of thing as in Ananias and Sapphira?
JT Well, it might be that. It has often been alluded to as an illustration, I think they were christians, all the same; they were believers.
Ques This verse would test the spirituality of those we referred to yesterday, spoken of in Galatians 6, would it not?
JT Just so. That was the prime thought last night, when we finished. Perhaps we did not finish it fully.
Rem There was a great deal of interest amongst the brethren, as you would detect, when you spoke of that matter, because what was said was so liberating, having in mind the great system of grace, of which we know so little although we are in it so fully.
JT Especially not to have things prolonged. Some say, Let us take time and see how it works out, whereas we have already forgiven a brother, and yet we say we will wait a while. Why should we wait?
JC-S I think that is particularly so in regard of those who serve. Sometimes there is a long waiting [p. 475] to see how they will shape. There is no indication that Peter, after the break for which Paul rebuked him, had to give up his service for a period.
JT Not the least. You marvel at the quickness whereby Peter is brought into the service, and yet he had to go out and weep bitterly when he had denied the Lord. I think we ought perhaps to learn that we may not be fully believing in our own prayers and the result of them.
FJF So that when a brother is restored, he is fully restored?
JT Quite so. He is ‘mended’; that is the word, as we had it last night. He is mended so that he is what he was before, fully.
FJF It is the same word as that used for mending their nets in Matthew 4. They were ready for use?
JT Just so, to make them ready for use. They were what they were before; even if they were broken they became what they were before, when they were mended. If a brother is mended, he becomes what he used to be.
AA-n Do you distinguish then between recovery and restoration?
JT Not much. Recovery would be restoration, of course, but why do you say that?
AA-n Does recovery mean more the person’s own part in the matter, and restoration the part of the saints in the matter?
JT I do not know about that. It is a question of who is offended by the sin. It may apply to God, or it may apply to the whole testimony of the saints, or it may only apply to one person. Therefore we have to examine, and see what is what and how the thing should work out. We must see what the real value of the thing is, or importance of the thing, or evil of the thing, I mean to say, we have to compare [p. 476] values, as it were, on the line of comparing spiritual with spiritual.
AS It says here, “he shall give him life”. Would you say something about that? Does it involve something in the person’s soul?
JT “If any one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death”, (it is a question of someone seeing him) “he shall ask, and he shall give him life, for those that do not sin unto death”. So that if it is a sin that is not unto death there is evidently a clearance of him. But then it goes on and “There is a sin to death: I do not say of that that he should make a request”. Therefore there is a certain bar on making a request if it is a sin unto death. We have to decide what a sin unto death is, and I believe, according to what was said just now, that Ananias and Sapphira sinned that sin. But I do not believe they were unforgiven, I believe they were saved.
Ques Do you mind saying a word as to the pronouns in verse 16; it might clarify the matter slightly, “He shall ask” and “he shall give him life”. To whom do these two pronouns refer?
JT “If any one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask”; that is, the person who sees him asks. Then, “and he shall give him life, for those that do not sin unto death”. So there is evidently latitude in the person who sees the thing happening, showing how important a person of that kind is. And then again, it says, “there is a sin unto death”. So that the apostle is making it all plain for us, and then he says, “I do not say of that that he should make a request”. So that we have to stop. Then the next thing is, “Every unrighteousness is sin”; that is a generality, and finishes the whole matter. Verse 16 is of prime importance as to what is a sin unto death and what is not a sin unto [p. 477] death.
WmH So that the thought of the brother is one who would cover a multitude of sins, would he not?
JT Just so. Love does that. The more love I have, the more likely I will be forgiving towards the brethren. But the want of love is apt to make me unforgiving.
RH This is singular as compared with Galatians being plural. Does it allow for such a matter to be dealt with by an individual without further consultation with another? It is just one: “if any one see his brother”. In Galatians it is “ye”, which is plural. You were saying yesterday, in connection with elders, that it might be dealt with by two, but I wondered if this would allow for one, the matter being settled without others being brought into it. James, too, speaks of one, does he not? “If any one among you err from the truth, and one bring him back”.
JT Apparently it can be dealt with by one person here, as far as I see. Let us read it again, “If any one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life, for those that do not sin unto death. There is a sin to death: I do not say of that that he should make a request”. Well now, that is all that we can say, we cannot bring in the plural here.
AS Does this refer to private prayer?
JT I do not know, I take it just as it is, and then let it have its full force. It is a question of what is not unto death and what is unto death, and then the apostle does not commit himself; that is, he is going to leave it with you, and yet it is you he is dealing with.
Rem It seems to put a special responsibility on the one who sees, that he should take up the service of an intercessor.
JT That is right. It is to bring in the importance of this man, whoever he may be, and apparently [p. 478] the idea would be that he is spiritual. The apostle can take him up in this abstract way, so that it is left open, as to whether he should pray for it or not. I think it brings out the importance and the value of the saints, in all these cases.
WHW There is a rather beautiful example in the Lord praying for Peter, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not”.
AM Is all this to encourage the confession of sins so that we not only confess them to God, but we confess them to one another?
JT Well, the Lord says there, “I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not”. The point is that Peter’s faith might not fail, because the Lord had taken him up as an apostle. It would be a terrible thing in an apostle if his faith failed, it would weaken the whole system. It is a question of faith; and that his faith should not fail, even though he had sinned. It was not a question of the importance of the sin, but that his faith should not fail because of it.
FJF The “you” there is plural, is it not, in the first instance (verse 31)? “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, to sift you as wheat”. The ‘yous’ are plural, but then the singular is used, “I have besought for thee”.
JT Yes. The Lord had prayed for him, that his faith should not fail, whatever might happen. It is not so much there the importance of the wickedness involved but that his faith should not fail, that Peter as an apostle should not fail. Even although the sin might be great, yet the Lord prayed that he should not fail in faith, because faith is a characteristic of the dispensation. The whole dispensation is a dispensation of faith.
JC-S He was an important person in the inauguration of that, was he not?
JT [p. 479] Just so.
CFI Would the answer to that prayer be that Peter judged himself?
JT Undoubtedly he did. He went out and wept bitterly.
CFI I notice there is no reference to repentance in verse 16 of the chapter we are considering. It is simply, that if one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask. It is taken up apart from the state of the person, is it?
JT Well, it is always better to go by the actual words of the scripture, “There is a sin to death. I do not say of that that he should make a request”. That is what John says here. And then, in verse 17, “Every unrighteousness is sin”. That makes it very large. How much we have to forgive!
TT “He shall ask”. Would that suggest that the Lord puts it upon us as an obligation, that we ought to ask? We are not allowing it to drift, nor leaving it to someone else, but we feel that it is incumbent upon us, if we see one sin, that we should ask, and should seek his liberation.
JT That is, it suggests he gets life for the asking by his brother. But then, the matter is left open, according to what John says here. He says, “There is a sin to death: I do not say of that that he should make a request”. That is all it says there. What the brother is going to do about it is left, for John says, “I do not say of that that he should make a request”. So it is left to him.
Ques Is speaking against the Holy Spirit a sin unto death?
JT I would say that, but there is no forgiveness of that either in this age or in that to come.