READING
READING
Romans 8:1 - 15: Malachi 2:4 - 7.
JT I have been thinking that it might be helpful, especially to young believers, to see that the thought of priesthood in Romans (for indeed the germ of everything that is for the believer is in Romans) develops particularly in the way in which he comes to recognise law, as seen in this epistle.
The element of law is necessarily interwoven in the priestly constitution, so that the believer begins, according to chapter 7, with “delight in the law of God after the inward man”, Romans 7:22 and in chapter 8 he fulfils its righteous requirements as having the Holy Spirit. Then he comes to see that as a believer he has part in the enforcement of law, not in the way of legal requirement, but in the Spirit; “the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens”. 2 Corinthians 3:6. He is delivered from the law in the legal aspect of it by the body of Christ, that he might serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. It is, I think, from the want of understanding the element of law — divine righteous requirement — that there is so much moral weakness and looseness, and so little sense of responsibility to God in the assembly. I believe it will help us, especially the young, if we look at law from this point of view. It is important to see that we are all priests as having the Holy Spirit, and that as priests we have part in the assembly, and have responsibility in regard of the law that governs the house of God; for the priests were charged with the law that governed the offerings, and indeed law in general was entrusted to the priest; it says here in Malachi, “they should seek the law at his mouth”.
WJH “Being not without law”; delivered from the letter of it, but not being without law. 1 Corinthians 9:21.
[p. 83] There has been a tendency with many of us to overlook that side in connection with grace.
Grace does not set any of us in a position, in relation to God or to one another, as without law.
JT In chapter 7, where the great question of law is worked out in the soul, the speaker refers to the principle, and he says that he delights in it after the inward man. Then in learning the principle of it thus in his soul, and finding that he can fulfil the righteous requirements of it by the Spirit of God, the flesh having been condemned, he comes into what is called in Ezekiel “the law of the house”, Ezekiel 43:12 that is Christianity. Even the life into which we are introduced has a law — “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”.
The epistles to the Corinthians are, we might say, the law for which we as priests are responsible to God. “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment”, 1 Corinthians 14:37. Commandment is equivalent to law — the law governing the saints, and every one of us is tested as to whether he recognises that.
JF In what way are we tested?
JT By the way we take things up, I think, in our meetings for prayer, and our general outlook. It is a challenge, as one might say, for every one who assumes to be a prophet or spiritual, as to how far he has taken care of the law of the house of God. Were you to apply to one of the leading men in Christendom who claims to be a prophet or spiritual, as to how far he recognises these epistles as the commandments of the Lord, you would bring out how things are. And so as applied to every one of us present, old and young — How far have I recognised the commandment of the Lord, not only in regard of myself, but in regard of the house?
FF Is that where Romans 8:14 comes in, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God”?
JT I think there you have the relationship which underlies priesthood. Those who have the Spirit are marked off as sons of God. And so it says, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father”, verse 15. Crying Abba, Father, I think, is a priestly act; it is approach to God.
AN Is your thought that you cannot be in the exercise of priesthood, apart from being subject to rule?
JT That is what I was thinking. So that the youngest believer, if he has gone through Romans 7, should know something about it. It is in beginning to have respect for divine rule, and that sense gradually enlarging, that you are concerned about all that God has unfolded in the way of law.
PL God has to say to the believer in connection with law, and the believer has to say to God in connection with priesthood.
WJH It is interesting to see that at the time when the Lord came, divine righteousness was secured and maintained in Zacharias and Elizabeth — they walked “in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless”, Luke 1:6. Although things around were in such a low state, yet they themselves were governed by every ordinance.
JT It would be in keeping with Malachi. One of the last words is, “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel;” Malachi 4:4. We are occupied perhaps unduly with the legal side of the law, and have overlooked the spiritual side of it. For that reason Romans 7 is very important. It is perhaps the most discussed chapter amongst the people of God, and I think if it were gone through [p. 85] more, especially by young believers, the principle of law would be better understood. There is no more important thing in the whole universe than law, whether you look at it morally or physically; nothing can be held together without law. So the law (spiritually understood) even in the Old Testament, was regarded not as something opposed to the people, or as an oppression upon them, but as “the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob”, Deuteronomy 33:4.
AN How do you understand the early part of chapter 7 where it speaks of being dead to the law by the body of Christ that we should be to Another; does that refer to the legal system?
JT That was the legal system. And so it goes on to say, “Having died in that in which we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter”. Romans 7:6. We are to serve; and as the priests served in connection with the legal thing, so we are to serve in newness of spirit. The chapter shows, if it is rightly understood, that we come to see the law, and to delight in it after the inward man, for in proceeding to the law that governs our own dispensation particularly, God is not going to pass over that which governed a previous dispensation. In its literal aspect we are dead to it, but in its spiritual aspect it remains, and the believer learns this at the very outset of his history. The law is a most valuable testimony from God, and the soul acknowledges that. So valuable was it that the Lord, in becoming man, had it in His heart; and the believer delights in it after the inward man. If you understand Romans 7 you correspond with Christ in regard to the law.
EA Is that the law that James speaks of?
JT The royal law. Exactly This epistle establishes law in its own dignity, and the believer acknowledges that.
PL So in Psalm 119:174, “O, Jehovah, and thy law is my delight. Let my soul live ...”
[p. 86] and then the Songs of degrees immediately follow which develop what is priestly.
JT Law is fully taken account of in the longest psalm, where all is worked out on the principle of severe exercise. It is an alphabetical psalm, meaning that the soul has gone through every item of it, letter by letter, and delights in it; then follow the Songs of degrees — you begin to mount up. But God will not have His law passed by; we correspond with Christ as we value it. Then you mount up till you arrive at Psalm 134, where you are a priest standing in the house of the Lord by night.
AN I suppose the tendency has been with us, in seeking to be clear of the legal system which is called law, to lose sight of that which is suitable to God — that which is regulated by Him.
JT I think so. I think these verses therefore in the beginning of chapter 8 bring out what God had said to Levi, “My covenant with him was of life and peace”. “the mind of the Spirit is life and peace”. I think there is a correspondence there; the believer in these verses is a qualified priest.
WJH He got the covenant on account of “the fear wherewith he feared”. Would that be the qualification you speak of?
JT Well, I think you see the elements that lead to priesthood. “My covenant with him was of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and trembled before my name”. That shows what marks the true priest.
Ques Would Ezra be an example of what we are speaking of? He read the statutes of the law of Moses.
JT Quite. He is a typical priest of the Old Testament. He is introduced in that way; his genealogy is given to show that he was a priest. He was a ready scribe, too, in the law of God.
WJH [p. 87] I suppose Levi recognised his responsibility when he stood for God. He did not wait for his neighbour, he stood for God himself. Would that be a mark of priesthood?
JT I think that was how he qualified; he rallied to Moses in the presence of idolatry. Then Phinehas (who I think is a spiritual representative of the house of Levi) secured the blessing by the use of the sword. When the people were about to be corrupted by the Midianitish wiles, he saved the position by using the sword.
AN When it speaks of “My covenant with him was of life and peace”, I suppose Levi earned it in a way, but we do not earn it, do we?
JT I think one gets good wages by going through Romans 7; one comes into the elements of priesthood. The lack of these elements is where the weakness lies with young believers. Directly you connect law with God, then you have the moral and spiritual element.
Ques How do you understand John 1:17. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”?
JT There again it is the legal side, I think.
PL Mary sitting at His feet and hearing His word — would that be her regard for law as found in Christ, and is she developing priesthood in that spirit?
JT That is so. Whatever He said would be the law of His mouth to her.
JS I suppose if you are waiting on Christ for guidance, the Spirit will connect you with Christ, and you will get direction from Him?
JT That is right; but then there is the constitution of the priest, which is important in the Old Testament, and the food that builds up the constitution. The food that was the portion of the priests, all speak of the features of Christ, whether it be in His humanity or in His self-sacrificing love. The [p. 88] priest usually had part in the meat-offering, in the sin-offerings that were not burnt, and in the trespass-offerings. He had a good supply of food — all that would build him up in the features of Christ. We begin on that line in chapter 7. One great feature of Christ was His rigid adherence to the law of God; He had it in His heart. He magnified the law and made it honourable. So Romans 7 develops that the believer delights in the law of God after the inward man; in his innermost being he delights in it, and that is a fibre of his nature ever afterwards.
AN He is unable to carry it out.
JT That is another thing. But you have got the nature of the thing; how he carries it out comes out in the next chapter. But his delight in the law of God is deeply rooted in his inner being.
Ques That is the germ of priesthood?
JT That is one great fibre in the constitution of it.
Ques Is that produced through deep exercise?
JT That is so. In chapter 8 you emerge from that to the Christian position. In the end of chapter 7 he says, “Who shall deliver me? ... . I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 7:24,25. That is life. He has got a glimpse of Christ as his Deliverer; and in chapter 8 it is “the law of the Spirit of life”; it is still law, but now passing over to another principle — the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
PD Would you say that having the Spirit of Christ as referred to in chapter 8, would cover pretty much what we have been saying: “If any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him”?
JT Quite so. But then there is the law of the Spirit of life, not merely the Spirit of life, but the law of it.
WS Do we not get the contrast, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”?
JT Yes. “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh”. The law is not condemned; it is holy, just and good, but sin in the flesh is condemned. So that in emerging from that, as knowing the law and delighting in it, I am prepared by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to fulfil the righteous requirements of the law; and I see the importance of it as a witness for the testimony. Then follows, “The mind of the Spirit life and peace”. I apprehend that one corresponds with Levi as having that.
AN You get them brought together, do you not, in the beginning of Luke 1:74, “That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies” — that is the seventh chapter — I am delivered from the elements that hindered me, but the object in view is, “That we ... might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life”? That is priestly.
JT That is exactly the thing; so in this seventh chapter it is that we might serve in newness of spirit.
PL Do you get the thought, “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God”, 2 Corinthians 1:21? Are we established on the principle of law, and then are we anointed?
JT Just so. If we pursue the line of law, understanding it is not the legal system we are dealing with, but what God speaks of as law in a spiritual sense, we emerge into the assembly, and know how to act there; we are constituted priests. In every one of our localities we are confronted with complex questions. We have to discern, and it is said, “the spiritual discerns all things”. 1 Corinthians 2:15. We have to discern doctrines, we have to discern principles, we have to discern persons. We are confronted with these things in every locality, and it is of the very last importance that young people should see that they are prepared to meet them. So that we are faced with the need [p. 90] of this principle — that of discerning — at the very beginning of our spiritual career.
AN So that even deliverance, and being brought into liberty and joy, do not go so far as the real object in view, which is the service of God?
JT That is so. You serve in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter. When you come to Levi as the type, it says, “He feared me and trembled before my name”. He is a delivered man, he has got the covenant of life and peace, he is set up in liberty, established in it, and yet he fears God.
Ques Would you say that in that way we would get a covenant of life and peace?
JT Well, I suppose we cannot continue in the covenant of life and peace unless there is the fear of God. We have to say to God about conditions in our locality, as well as in our own walk. A priest has to answer to God as to all that takes place in the assembly, and what is very noticeable is that “the law of truth was in his mouth”. Truth is one of the most difficult matters amongst us; and note, it is not simply that truth is in his mouth, but the law of truth.
JF Hence in Psalm 37:30, “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide”.
JT Law is a subtle thing; law regulates everything in the physical and moral universe. I do not believe there is anything in the physical universe not governed by law, and the same applies to the moral universe, so that when you come to truth, there is the law of it. You not only think of the words you are using, but the value of them, and the possible misconception of them; you have to guard against that and to be sure there is no deception.
AN “Clear as crystal”, Revelation 22:1 because it proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. God and the [p. 91] Lamb are in control, and whatever has its source there is clear as crystal — “a pure river of the water of life”. Revelation 22:1.
JD And does not the law apply particularly as well as generally?
JT Quite. I may say the truth literally and yet deceive, but the law of truth does not miscarry. That is what you are concerned about, that truth may remain whatever words are used.
PL So that the man in James, speaking of the perfect law of liberty weighs his words as governed by that law.
JT “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man”. James 3:2. But if you have the law of truth you do not deceive any one, although your words may be imperfect.
WA With regard to the virtuous woman, the law of kindness is upon her tongue; Proverbs 31:26. The law of truth is exercised as governed by the law of kindness.
WJH It becomes increasingly evident that law really makes for liberty. It is where law is absent that there is bondage; where law prevails there is liberty, and this is equally true individually and in a locality.
WS In the third of John, “He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God”. John 3:21.
JT Law is a principle that governs all these things — the law of truth, the law of kindness, and that is what you are concerned about, rather than the letter.
Ques You would say that, viewed spiritually, the law is never weak? It says it was weak through the flesh, but the thing that rendered it weak has been condemned.
JT The Lord in true priestly power summarised the law really from the standpoint of Deuteronomy. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”, Matthew 22:[p. 92] 37 - 39.
Ques Would you say that love is the righteous requirement?
JT Deuteronomy has to be understood, I think, to know what is meant by “the righteous requirement”. It is from that point of view that the law is said to be the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. You cannot have a congregation without law.
WA Is that the reason why Moses commanded the priests, the sons of Levi, to read the law before all Israel at the end of every seven years; Deuteronomy 31:9 - 11?
JT Quite so. What comes out in Leviticus is the law of the priest; you get light governing the offerers in chapters 1 to 5; then the Lord addresses Moses in regard to Aaron, “Speak to Aaron and his sons”, Leviticus 6:25 and He unfolds the law governing these offerings, for which the priest would be responsible. First we are told how to bring our offerings, but after that the priest had the obligation of seeing to it that the rights of God were maintained in regard to these offerings. If you take our morning meetings, these are under the supervision of the priests. You may bring an offering, but it comes under the supervision of the priest; he is in charge of the law. Then if it is a question of discipline, if it is a question of discerning evil, the priesthood is brought forward, so that we cannot get on without the priest.
WJH Do you think it is important in that connection to see that in the mind of God all should be spiritual, all should be priests, and there is spiritual capacity for that to be true of every one in measure?
Rem Your thought is that the youngest believer should be exercised in regard of this matter.
WJH We have suffered much from brethren [p. 93] and sisters looking upon spirituality as something beyond them, something requiring many years’ experience, but I think the giving of the Spirit had in view that everyone should be spiritual, and there is power in the Spirit that it might be true of everyone.
JT It would save us from permitting the affairs of the assembly to drift into the hands of a few; these affairs belong to every one in the assembly, for each one is a priest and obligated in regard of the law.
WJH Hence the importance of law, if every one is a priest; Uzziah shows the solemnity of a lawless person acting as a priest; he is stricken with leprosy; 2 Chronicles 26:19.
Ques Is it the priests who have charge of the house?
JT That is right; the priest is over all the sanctuary, responsible to God in regard of it.
AN When it speaks of heavenly service, “His servants shall serve him” Revelation 22:3, every element of evil will then be eliminated — there will be nothing but what is according to God. But God has in view that there should be a present answer to it now, and it would be essential that the flesh does not intrude — there is to be subjection to the law of God.
PL The word of the Lord is “All things which are written in the law of Moses ... . concerning me”, Luke 24:44. The Lord throws a lustre, does He not, upon the law?
Ques Would you give us a little help regarding “walking in the flesh” and “walking in the spirit”?
JT Walking in the flesh is that you are governed by fleshly motives; your conduct would be fleshly, the arms of your warfare would be fleshly, and alas, it often arises that one sees these things amongst us — fleshly feelings, fleshly weapons and artifices employed to attain certain ends. But the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. One loves that thought; you are restful in the sense of the relationship you are brought [p. 94] into with God, you have nothing to concern yourself about but what is due to God. Hence “The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips”. We do well to take note of the reference here to the mouth and the lips, because it is what passes the mouth and the lips that causes all the trouble. Even a great man like Moses sinned by speaking unadvisedly with his lips.
Ques And what is walking in the Spirit?
JT I think you are restful, and you are governed by spiritual sensibilities and feelings, then the law of truth, and righteousness, and kindness will develop in you. All these things will mark what you have to say.
PL “Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet”. Is that the royal law, the truth governing your lips, and then “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb”, Song of Songs 4:3,11; would that be what is priestly?
JT Yes, that would mean that you are not arbitrary or dictatorial, you are mutual, you take account of others.
AN Would Peter refer to it in principle when he speaks about the object for which we are set apart unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ? Nothing that His death has put away is permissible there; obedience and sprinkling of His blood are in view of priestly service. Do you think that is right?
JT Quite. So that we are said to be priests there in the second chapter, and we are to put away guile and hypocrisies, etc., and desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word. We, “as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood”. 1 Peter 2:5. But it is all on the line of Levi.
AN I was thinking that sometimes we make our own blessings the climax, but in reality it is that there might be something for God.
Ques It says, “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge”. The priest always seems to know?
JT Well, I notice there it says, “He walked with me in peace and uprightness”. He is in relation to God, he is concerned about God. Are we in our locality concerned about God, how we can move on with God? One is impressed with the place that peace has in all priestly service and influence. The man who is a priest, his influence is peaceful; he walks with God. He is a son of peace, he is concerned about peace and uprightness. What an asset the priest is, whether it be a brother or a sister! This passage, I think, is one of the finest passages we can get.
Rem It shows the influence Levi had over others.
JT That is what I think comes out wherever a spiritual person is.
WJH “Great peace have they which love thy law; and nothing shall offend them”, Psalm 119:165. Nearly all the offences that come, come through lack of being regulated. If we are governed by what is due to God and what is due to others, it will be very difficult to offend us, because we are not on the line of what we are going to get ourselves.
JT And then it goes on, “He turned many from iniquity”. See the power that goes with priesthood! Many are on the line of lawlessness now, alas I but the priesthood is effective in turning many from iniquity. There is a beautiful order, I think, in the description of the priest. And then it says, “For the priests’ lips should keep knowledge”. In turning people from lawlessness, he can convey the mind of God; what he says has weight. You want something that you can take hold of as a final word. A confirming word is an immense thing in times of trouble. Peter stands up after long discussion, in Acts 15, and recites the scripture governing the position, and it was convincing. Then James stands up, and he also cites [p. 96] Scripture, and it carries conviction, so that the whole assembly send their decision. “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” Acts 15:28; that was the result. All the assembly was carried. It is the word of a priest that has weight with it. “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge; and they should seek the law at his mouth”. How much that is needed in these days of local troubles — a word that is convicting, a word that carries weight, and becomes final!
AN “If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge”, 1 Corinthians 14:37 and “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God”. John 7:17. If my will is in activity it will blind me, although the mind of God may be there.
JT Yes, indeed. You find a beautiful illustration of a word that carried weight in the wise woman of Abel; 2 Samuel 20:16. One sees in her the working of wisdom in a locality. In the second book of Samuel there is the working of evil, first in the case of Absalom, where the evil takes a general form, a general outbreak, then in the case of Sheba when the outbreak took a local form; he was shut up in a walled city. The latter is the form of evil we have to do with now. Thank God, we are saved from general cleavage, we have had our sorrows in that way, of course, but now the enemy is working on the line of local eruptions. So Sheba said, “Every man to his tents, O Israel”. 2 Samuel 20:1. Well, he was shut up in a city; it became a local matter, and was confined to one locality. Joab would have destroyed the city in order to get the offender. That is what Satan would love, if he could break up a local meeting through disintegration, or whatever the means, to break up the assembly. The wise woman says to Joab, “They were wont to speak in old time saying, Just inquire in Abel; and so they ended”. 2 Samuel 20:18. I think she called attention to first principles, in old time it was said, inquire in Abel.
[p. 97] Evidently there was something that was final, some means of reaching a final decision; and there is in every case a way out, if it can only be found. It seems to me to point to what is available in every locality. If we understand the truth of the temple at all, if we enquire on that line, there will be a way out. Get help wherever you can, of course, but there is local enquiry, a taking account of things where the trouble is, as before God, and then reaching a final decision. We read that this wise woman went to all the people of the city in her wisdom, and she carried them. She must have been a priest. She was a priest, for she is called a wise woman by the Spirit of God. She carried all the people, so that they cut off the man’s head — they did it (she did not do it) and threw it over the wall. It was a local action, done in wisdom, and it saved the city — saved all that were there except the offender. That is what we want; it is a priestly thing.
PL Was Paul’s letter to the Corinthians to lead them to deal with the evil, so that the offender’s head might be thrown over the wall?
JT I believe that if brethren take things up thus, according to the features of Levi — the law of truth in his mouth, unrighteousness not found in his lips, walking with God in peace and uprightness, that things will be brought to a head. But all the saints must be exercised. It is a question of whether we respond to the law of God, and as all are exercised the evil will be located in whomsoever it may be, and the saints will be saved and Satan will be defeated.
AN The wise woman carried the consciences of the whole city.
JT She went to them all in her wisdom.
AN That would have an answer today, would it not?
JT It has indeed. Going to all the people in her wisdom, she would be very considerate; in going [p. 98] to an old man, she would take account of his experience; and she would be wise in the way she dealt with a young man. She would not antagonise anyone; she would act wisely She went to them all, and they did the thing, she did not do it. It is an assembly matter, the thing has to be dealt with by the assembly, because that is where the authority is. Her object in the offender being dealt with was that the inheritance of Jehovah might not be swallowed up.