THE TRUTH OF THE BODY IN ITS BEARING ON THE SAINTS (1)
[p. 174] THE TRUTH OF THE BODY IN ITS BEARING ON THE SAINTS (1)
Romans 12: 4, 5; 1 Corinthians 10: 17; 1 Corinthians 12: 12 - 27
JT It is confidently hoped that the Lord will bless our inquiry into this subject at this time: first to see the application of the body to the saints in a public way as in that setting by faith, for the Spirit is not mentioned in Romans 12. It is a question of our public relations; and what would mark us off from ordinary bodies, for there are many such societies, is the fact we are one body by faith. And it is in Christ; one body in Christ. “Thus we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other” (verse 5), with a view to carrying on practical service for mutual good. There is manifestly the means of help amongst the saints. We are not left to operate at our own expense. There is a means of help, manifestly; so that we have the gift of prophecy in that service. And then in 1 Corinthians 10, following the same line, we are committed to the breaking of bread, and are, being many, one body as partakers; as a matter of our committal to the position; so as to attach our uprightness and honesty in the fellowship. And then in chapter 12 the truth seen in relation to the Spirit as vital power; baptised in the power of the one Spirit into the one body and all being made to drink into the one Spirit; so as being merged together and set in the position, the truth of the body might work in an automatic way, so that we appear to be Christ’s, so much so that we are the Christ. The idea is the Spirit; the drinking consequent upon it. That is what I had in mind.
ARS In the early days the truth of the one body was really dwelt on. Mr. Darby brought in how [p. 175] the body was here upon earth and the Head in heaven.
JT That is the final thought that we come to in Colossians and Ephesians; and, of course, as it was then brought out, it is a question of the recovery of the truth and the great position of the assembly. What is always so needed is how the brethren come into this matter practically.
Ques Would it be a matter of the responsible side? Perhaps this afternoon you had more the side of privilege.
JT Well, it would work out that way in Ephesians. The body is for the expression of Christ as Head. The assembly is mentioned first as the great general thought that is to prevail, but it is His body for the expression of Christ.
ARS That is quite important; for the expression of Christ.
JT It is; and I think it brings out the necessity of our coming into it in a practical way, so that we might be available for this very position, that Christ is in expression, Himself, in us. So that Romans is the beginning from our side; Ephesians is the full thought. It is a very initial thought in Romans. “One body in Christ”.
ARS If we are to get real benefit, we have not only to hear what you are saying, but we have to assimilate it, take it in; so that it might come out in us.
JT Quite so.
APT While the truth of the body had not yet been fully revealed, why is it said, “why dost thou persecute me?” Acts 9: 4?
JT Well, just to draw attention to the fact that they were His body. It is the first announcement we have of it, the Lord regarding the saints as Himself. It is a very forceful way of bringing the thing to attention; the allusion being to the saints whom Paul was dragging before the tribunals. It was all [p. 176] very practical. So that as I am thinking of this now, it is a question of how I go into the houses of the saints; when I meet them on the street; they are Christ. That is the great general thought. But Romans is the doctrinal side, so that we have to pay attention to how it is presented.
Ques Does the fact that the body having many members and all these members under the control of the Head suggest sympathetic and intelligent service to Christ and one another?
JT That is how it comes out here. It is more the status, the setting in Christ. We have not the Head here. The question arises whether we are ready to serve one another, the services that we may render to one another. We start with the truth of the body.
Rem Would you distinguish between the thought of members in Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12; the way it is to be taken in both chapters?
JT It is the same thought. “Thus we, being many, are one body in Christ”. It is a question now not of members of Christ yet, but of one another. Romans would consider how we look at the saints, so as to serve one another.
AR And as serving one another we look at them in Christ.
JT That is the thought. I think “in Christ” is our status. It is a delivering thought. We are not a body as freemasons are. We have this position which really takes us out of the world in a moral way. The link is in faith; so that we are taken at once out of the realm of human understanding, and yet it is in the eyes of men. We are to serve one another, we are objects to one another; so that we are to owe no one anything, but love. That is the obligation that stands.
CAM I suppose the use of the word ‘body’ in that way is used differently from the way it is used [p. 177] in the world. A body of people means nothing more than a group of people. Here it impresses you that it is used following all the teaching in this epistle as to our own bodies.
JT That is the way it would work out. The book being a foundational book, it is intended to lead us there, but on the divine foundation. And so when we come to this chapter, what is in mind is to present our bodies a living sacrifice; and the thought of the body is taken up and applied to the saints, so that it becomes very practical; and then the point is to serve. As it says, “But having different gifts, according to the grace which has been given to us, whether it be prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or service, let us occupy ourselves in service; or he that teaches, in teaching”, etc. (verses 6, 7). It is a question of how I am to serve the saints, and I am to clothe them in this way as one body in Christ. I am already come to an understanding about myself, and in this chapter my body is to be presented a living sacrifice so that I now follow the thought in serving the saints. I clothe them with this great thought.
AR I was wondering as to the idea of accept ability. It would help me to understand the truth of the position that all the other saints are acceptable to God in that sense.
JT I think it is included in the thought of one body in Christ. It is not yet members of Christ, but each one members one of the other. It is the brethren as I regard them. I can see this truth considers the idea of proximity in our localities, whether we are recognising those that are near, and whether we are governed mutually by this thought.
EP Would that come out in the apostle Paul in the way Ananias served him?
JT One can see what an important member he would be. The Lord had told Ananias about Paul;
[p. 178] what great thoughts He had as to him. How the brethren would be impressed with the importance of this member, and that he should be served properly. There was no loss in Damascus. The saints are to be viewed in that light. They are not going to suffer anything on account of me.
ABP Ananias laid his hands on him.
JT Ananias would clothe him with the Lord’s own word to him. On the other hand Saul would remember that this brother is a member of Christ. He is Christ in character.
AFM They were also rendering a good service to Paul in their mode of his escape from Damascus.
JT I think they were. They let him down carefully. They would think of the preciousness of the contents of the basket. He alludes to it himself. And it was through a window; his outlook would not be blurred by what they were doing.
CAM There were likely two sides that would strike Saul: that he had been doing violence to that body so precious to Jesus, and this slow education of how he formed a part of it.
JT He would remember the words of the Lord when He spoke to him first. “Why dost thou persecute me?” Well, this brother, Ananias — he is recognised. I must regard him in that way. He laid his hands on him and said, “Saul, brother”. It would be the Lord’s touch.
Ques Is it not a question, too, of showing what an office is? Ananias would have to learn what his office was and Saul his, as members.
JT That is the way it would work out. Ananias would have his own thoughts about Saul, and Saul would have his thoughts about Ananias. Saul’s thoughts about Ananias would be governed by what the Lord said to him, and so with Ananias.
JHE Would you say that in order for this service to be rendered to Saul he had to be submissive?
[p. 179] It was a basket that they carried away the dead in. Some brother may not be submissive enough to go into the basket.
JT He says it was through a window. His vision would not be blurred by their action.
CAM He was a spy now. He had ways that were necessary to a spy condition of things.
JT Quite so. It was over the wall. He certainly had them in his heart as the two spies of Jehovah had; and that is applicable to all of this. But we have to speak carefully, because we do not mean to be opposed. We pray for those in authority. We are ordering things in faith. Not that I am applying it literally at all. It is now in a moral sense. We pray for them, but our faith implies the reversal of things as they stand.
JHE What you say is brought out in the next chapter. “Let every soul be subject to the authorities that are above him”.
JT No man that has faith would overthrow the government of any country. His principle is faith. These things will happen in the future, but we are praying for the authorities now. Faith anticipates what is going to happen. It is when the Lord comes.
Rem The apostle would seem to bring before us the character of the sacrifice.
JT Your body is beneath on the altar of God and the sacrifice is never to be recalled. It must enter into what we say now. I am thinking of others.
AR Paul never gave up the idea of setting the thing out as a model. He says, “if even in abundantly loving you I should be less loved”. Kind, affectionate to one another, that is the idea.
JT That is what the chapter would be. I can clothe the brethren in this way. How Ananias would clothe Paul because of what the Lord said to him about Paul; and Paul would clothe Ananias in the same way. The two thoughts would meet. These two men had the Lord’s word in their hearts. They are able to take account of each other.
JS How one can serve another.
JT You can see how tenderly he dealt with him.
ABP Does Paul exemplify that in the end of the epistle when he salutes the brethren at Rome?
JT That is good. How he kisses the brethren with a holy kiss; how he saluted the brethren. It is very prevalent throughout this last chapter and it is in keeping with what we are saying.
CAM You think of the few in that city of Damascus and the wisdom that delivered them; really that wisdom worked out bodywise in that place.
JT Well, I think so. This brother would be regarded as a member. I believe the Lord would put it in their mind in Damascus to treat this brother according to what the Lord had said about him to Ananias. In Paul’s mind it was there from the Lord, so that he would view any kindness shown him at Damascus in this light.
JWD Do you not think there is a tendency among us to consider that because I am in fellowship I am entitled to the service of others, but yet I do not serve in relation to the body? A general principle is, I am under obligation to serve another on the principle of faith.
JT Exactly. Ananias certainly accepted obligation. His mind was different about Saul. He thought he knew better than the Lord; so ready we are to trust our own judgment about things. We can never know better than the Lord. So that the Lord put obligation upon him. It says, he “is an elect vessel unto me”, Acts 9: 15. Well, Ananias has all that in his mind; so the obligation was there, and the service was in keeping with it, and I think it went right through in the attitude of the brethren in Damascus until the time when they let him down in [p. 181] the basket. It did not hinder his outlook of things; he was let down from the window.
Rem It says he was with the disciples certain days in Damascus. It would seem that he stayed there temporarily before he began his service, and after that he entered on service.
JT Quite so. He lived with the brethren. Ananias was faithful with him. “Why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name”. It was the outcome of the Lord preparing Ananias to serve him. The Lord is working with each of us; these are examples. He worked with these brothers that they might serve each other. If we are in the Lord’s hands we will be helped by Him to serve one another right.
Rem It is as if each brother was responsible to the other.
JT Quite so. “Each one members one of the other”.
RWS It says in Acts 22, Paul speaking says, “Ananias ... coming to me and standing by me, said to me, Brother Saul” (verse 13).
JT Very good. Coming to me, standing by me, and then said to me. How sensible he was of this brother, Ananias! How well he served him! Indeed, he calls him a devout man. We should not have known much about Ananias if it were not for Paul. He knows how to speak well of the brethren.
JS Do we see in the Lord’s approach to Paul the exercise of the power of the kingdom for the perfection of the body? I was thinking that that would be seen also in Damascus in connection with perfection for care of the vessels. He was let down through a window in a basket.
JT So that Saul said, “What shall I do, Lord?” He recognised the Lord. And then the exercise of the power of the kingdom dominates all that we get in Romans. He is over all that is being done kingdom-wise;
[p. 182] for in chapter 14 we are told what the kingdom is. He is putting the brethren into an administrative line, so that the saints will get the best service from one another. And I believe that that implies that I begin with the brethren that are nearest to me, even though it be a subdivision in the city. It is a question of how we serve one another. The meeting would depend on this in the kingdom administration.
JTJr Is that seen in John 11: “Loose him and let him go”? Would that be a local matter?
JT That is good. The Lord could have done that. A word from Him would have removed the grave-clothes; but I think the idea is implied in the Lord saying, “Loose him and let him go”. Is not he worth letting go?
ABP When Saul was let go from Damascus he essayed to join himself to the brethren at Jerusalem, but they were afraid of him. Were they remiss?
JT Quite so. They were not afraid of him at Damascus. There might be some there saying, ‘I do not know whether you should give him too much liberty yet’. But the Lord says, ‘Let him go; he can be trusted’.
Rem Ananias is not afraid of Paul any longer. He said, “Lord”.
JT Quite so. Well, what we are saying now as to Lazarus and as to Paul’s place at Damascus would help us in 1 Corinthians 10. The body there implies confidence in one another. It is not so much the point in Romans; the point in Romans is to serve one another, and how I am to do it. I am not patronising them. I am not patronising my hand when I treat it, it is part of myself. It is to get into the mind what the saints are; not only one body, but one body in Christ. They are worthy of the best service we can render.
JWD It is also to be intelligent service. There are certain divisions of service; not only an obligation [p. 183] of service but certain things are to govern the way I serve. There would be a set system of spiritual service set forth in a general way.
JT Quite so. So that you have here the list, “having different gifts, according to the grace which has been given to us, whether it be prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or service, let us occupy ourselves in service; or he that teaches, in teaching; or he that exhorts, in exhortation; he that gives, in simplicity; he that leads, with diligence; he that shews mercy, with cheerfulness”, Romans 12:6 - 9. That is subdivisions, as you said, enter into the idea of intelligent service. That is what is needed. So that whatever it is let us occupy our selves; there is no need for idleness. If there is a general thought in that way to serve the saints, there will be plenty of opportunity. Occupy ourselves in it.
ARS Do you not get an example of how you ought to serve by the way the Lord served in John 13? He took a towel and girded Himself. He was among them as One that served.
JT Very good.
ARS You do not come in and lord it over the brethren, but you get down and serve them.
JT Quite so. The Hebrew bondman is really the basis of this chapter. The ten words (see Exodus 34:28) are given in Exodus 20, and Jehovah says, “thousands of them that love me”. And then chapters 21, 22, 23 and 24 are all a question of the new relation in which we are set, that is, the covenant relation; and really it amplifies what we are talking about. You must begin with the thought of the bondman in Exodus 21, it is not an enforced thing; he elects to be in it, he is pleased to be in it. It is his own election because he is entirely governed by love; he loves in every way; he is happy in the position of the bondman. Now as you run on to the [p. 184] types, you will find that that lowliness is clothed with the greatest dignity (see Exodus 28). The priesthood is really based on that, so that we lose nothing by taking the attitude of the bondman. It is the secret of true service; the more we go on in it, the more we are adorned with dignity from heaven.
CAM Those passages dealing with all the damage, you would wonder if that service was going to work in these things. You might be surprised to see the glorious garments at the end.
JT Yes, really it is the same idea. The person who is the bondman is Christ and the priest is Christ. So that it is a question of serving by love; “by love serve one another”, Galatians 5: 13.
EP That would give force to the epistle to Corinth: “So also is the Christ”.
JT Exactly. The idea of anointing is dignified.
Ques In the allusion to John 13, what would be the force of our Lord rising from supper and girding Himself with a towel and washing the disciples’ feet?
JT That would be taking a bondman’s form. Philippians tells us He humbled Himself, taking a bondman’s form. It is not merely exterior attitude, it is what He is in His mind, in His affections. In Romans 12 he beseeches by the compassions of God. It is a question of what God is towards the saints.
AR Does it work out that you understand your measure? You are thinking soberly so as to be wise. How lowly the Lord could become! We might think we are more than we really are.
JT Quite so. So that the measure God gives is from the divine side. We are not to be in each other’s way. It is according to the proportion of faith; what one’s measure is.
JWD It seems in the opening of this epistle he presents himself first as a bondman before his [p. 185] apostleship.
JT Very good. So the believer is a bondman in chapter 6.
APT I was wondering if Genesis 14 would fit in with your thought of the brother. Melchisedec served Abraham in bringing forth bread and wine. Is there priestly service in that? The main thought was the recovery of Lot.
JT All that comes in in relation to the recovery of the brother. He brought forward what was needed, and that drew forth from Abraham a proper recognition of that service. There should be no lack of mutual recognition of dignity in one another. The assembly is no place for communism. According to the God of measure, here is the greatest personage; consider how great this man was; but he was serving Abraham. But Abraham paid him tithes; he respected the dignity of the King of Salem, the King of Righteousness, and the King of Peace.
JS Apart from love we would not be morally clothed. I was thinking in christendom we have plenty of clothing seen, but there is no love. They are not morally clothed.
JT Quite so. I think what was said about Melchisedec and Abraham ought to help us as to how we regard one another; what God has made each of us; the distinctions that God has been pleased to make. Abraham was a great man. He had accomplished a great feat, one of the greatest feats that one could think of. Outwardly the odds were against him; the number of kings, the distance; these kings were experienced in victory, they had conquered large territories — Abraham with his trained servants pursues these men and overcomes them. “From smiting the kings” (Hebrews 7: 1), he smote them. He is certainly a great man. And God had made him great, and he is going to be greater, but there is a greater than Abraham and he recognises that. Naturally, he would overlook that. There was a greater and [p. 186] that was the priest of the Most High God. The Most High God was the possessor of heavens and earth. He gave him tithes of all. It is the Spirit of Christ. The measure that God gives to this, that, and the other one in the assembly are right; they are according to heaven.
AR The more we recognise the greatness of this thing you are speaking of, the more the knowledge of God will grow, whether in the district or in my heart.
JT That is right. The salutations bring out what distinguishes each. Some more and some less.
JWD Is that the thought of the proportion of faith? Why do we not recognise these greater things? Is that the reason for the matter of the proportion of faith not being understood?
JT I think that is right. There is a sort of officialism that takes no account of divine distinctions, what God is doing. He distinguishes this, that, and the other one. Not all had the same distinction, but the apostle discerns each one and mentions what it was that distinguishes each one. The proportion of faith bears on that; whether I am moving in that myself, and whether it is recognised.
JWD Abraham was spiritually successful, was he not? He had faith for the exploit that he set out to accomplish and he was successful in it.
JT Quite so. But here is a greater. What were Melchisedec’s exploits we do not know. The Spirit of God does not give us his history. It is what he was. He is King of Righteousness; he was King of Peace; and priest of the Most High God. It is what the man was.
JS We see Abraham in the flush of victory; he could take account of this great personage.
JT Well, that is the point. You may give an address and feel very successful, and when you step down from the platform you may think, ‘There is not another like me’. But that is a mistake. Therefore,
[p. 187] Abraham is ready to recognise the superior dignity of the King of Salem.
JWD How am I to become regulated to recognise another’s superiority, spiritually speaking?
JT It is the attitude of your mind. You never allow yourself to live in superiority to others.
APT Peter gives us a good example of how he arrived at it. He says, “Our beloved brother Paul”.
JT Quite so. He saw there was something beyond him; and I believe Paul would say the same of Peter. He says, I am “less than the least of all saints”. It was the attitude of his mind. We must not think he was not real in these remarks. I want to learn how to be able to say these things truthfully.
JS How moral greatness really shines in service!
JT Quite so.
AR And you were speaking about Troas in Acts 20, there were many lights in the upper room. Paul spoke.
JT They would fall in with that, I am sure; though we have the names of distinguished men that were there.
ABP Would you say the attitude of mind helps? “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister”.
JT That is it. Those milch kine we have spoken of in 1 Samuel, they were tied to the cart; they lowed as they went; they felt the thing, but they go on and on to the stone in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite, and there they are offered up as a sacrifice. That is the idea; to be “poured out as a libation”.
AFM What we have been speaking about is according to our chapter. In verse 10 the apostle says, “as to brotherly love, kindly affectioned towards one another: as to honour, each taking the lead in paying it to the other”, Romans 12: 10. That is really the result morally of our being one body in Christ.
JT That is the point. If we are able to clothe [p. 188] one another in that way, according to the measure of faith that God has apportioned. The one that has the most proportion will recognise it in the others most.
Rem I should not be hindered in any little service.
JT Quite so. I am free about him; he is fit for fellowship; he can be trusted wherever he goes. And that, of course, leads us to our passage in 1 Corinthians 10. The idea is not here to serve one another, but it is a question of fellowship. The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship or the communion of the body of Christ? That shows us all that enters into that great thought. The Lord’s own body. How trustworthy He was! That works out into our being one body; and as partakers of that one bread; and hence the truth of fellowship follows, that we are trustworthy.
Rem Does not Mark 3 help us as to the peculiar way the Lord Jesus values the body? His brethren and his mother without were disturbed by what was internal. The Lord says, “whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and sister, and mother” (verse 35).
JT That is what we are at now. That works out with each of us, as to whether we are concerned about the will of God. It is not serving one another, exactly; but that we are moving in the will of God and entirely trustworthy.
AFM What is the connection between the taking of the loaf and being morally of the body?
JT The connection is from the Lord’s body; the fellowship of the Lord’s body. “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ?” That is the basis of what he says. “We, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other”. That is, we are committed to the thing of our own selves. For fellowship is our committal to the thing, it is my own action. But [p. 189] what I come into is the body of Christ, and that means the will of God.
JWD What do you mean by the will of God?
JT I am alluding to Hebrews 10, “by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (verse 10). We have come into the thing that way, but then 1 Corinthians 10 is my committal to that. So that “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ? Because we, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf” (verses 16, 17). And then it goes on to say about Israel after the flesh. We are obligated to one another. That implies fellowship, not to serve; but whatever we do we are obligated.
JS So that in putting forth our hand to break the bread, we are actually saying we are in the thing.
JT We are partners in the thing.
Rem Verse 17 would be transferring the thought of the body to the saints.
JT Yes. “We, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf”. It is what we are doing. And hence the teaching is to bring out that you are to be trustworthy. Because you are influencing all the others in what you are doing. Well, now we come to chapter 12, the Lord’s supper intervenes in chapter 11; His self-sacrifice and love, and the blood of the covenant; so that chapter 12 is service in the assembly. It is not service in general, as in Romans 12, it is service in the assembly. Spiritual manifestations; the saints are viewed now as the Christ. “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body, ... and have all been given to drink of one Spirit”. So that the exterior members now are brought in, the actual members of the human body, and are caused to speak; so as to bring out what we may be thinking [p. 190] about.
AR It is not the members speaking to Christ, it is one member speaking to another member.
JT The first is a complaint. The foot having the most arduous duties says, “Because I am not a hand I am not of the body”. It is a brother complaining in that position.
ABP “Dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?”
CAM The idea of the organism is so definite; the members are the persons, the eye is a person.
JT You mean a normal christian?
CAM What impressed me was in Romans you are looking at the person as a member, but here you are looking at the work and the apostle is thinking of the person.
JT Quite so. The foot says, “Because I am not a hand I am not of the body”. Well, that means my part is more onerous than others, and I elect not to belong to it. It is a selfish thought.
Rem The foot is the extreme end of the body. It is the farthest away from the head.
JT Look at what I am doing; the burden I am bearing.
APT Is the body viewed here as an organism or an organisation?
JT It is an organism here. It is the Spirit that is a power in the organism, not the public side so much as the inward side of things.
Rem In verse 28 it is the organisation.
JT Yes, the word’assembly’might be organisation in a modified way. From verse 12 to verse 27 it is the organism.
Rem It is remarkable in Romans and Corinthians the idea of the head is left out, to test us as to how I am working out christianity relatively, what I think of another member in the body.
JT That is the idea. We are tested as to what the foot says of the hand. I am thinking of the [p. 191] brethren. Well, later the apostle says that this comparing themselves with themselves is not wise. That is the idea. The point for me is that I am baptised in the power of one Spirit, not with water. It is a heavenly action. I am set in the position by the Spirit, I have drunk into that, I have committed myself, I have said I am satisfied with that; and then why should I begin to complain? It is the Spirit of God that has done it.
AFM According to this the members are not only set in the body but are all divinely regulated.
So that one member would not compare with the other member; each has some responsibility on his shoulders.
JT It is the Spirit’s action. We have all been baptised in the power of the one Spirit. It is an act of power. He has set each of us in his place. I am not to complain any more.
JTJr Would Martha represent that when she complains about Mary?
JT That is the thing.
CAM In the gospels Luke would really be on the line of the body, Matthew on the line of the assembly.
JT That is good, that is helpful. Martha was complaining; the complaint was the brethren were not doing anything. And she was complaining not only against her sister but against the Lord. Well, what God would lay upon us is to get the mind of God about things. That is more important than a missionary journey. Mary was getting the mind of God.
JS The truth set forth in chapter 12 here, that is the power of being baptised by one Spirit into one body, involves that personal distinction would disappear.
JT Quite so. It may be there, but merged in the power of the Spirit into one body.
[p. 192] AR So that in Romans, as I discern the status of the member in Corinthians, I begin to discern the anointing of the member.
JT That is the point. That is what we want to carry with us. In chapter 12 it is a question of the dignity of the saints in service. You do not want to rob the Lord of that. So that verse 27 says, “Now ye are Christ’s body, and members in particular”. You do not lose your identity, but you are members; collectively you are that, you are the Christ. Each has his identity, members in particular, but it is Christ’s body.
AR Does that anointing of the body here correspond with the Christ being anointed and ascending to a new order of things?
JT That is the point. Is there anybody who had been in it, who elects himself out of it? I may say, ‘I can do more by getting out’, but you are electing yourself out of the greatest thing in the universe, and I cannot do better by electing myself out of it.
Rem The functioning of one depends on the proper functioning of all.
JT All depends on the other.
Rem Would Luke’s ministry fit in with this ministry? The point of those two going to Emmaus was that they must get back to Jerusalem.
JT Quite so. That was the setting.
Rem You were speaking about complaining; I was wondering if Psalm 40 would help. “Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire: ears hast thou prepared me. Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not demanded; Then said I, Behold, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me — To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight” (verses 6 - 8). It was getting the mind of God on the thing.
JT Very good. That all enters into Hebrews and 1 [p. 193] Corinthians.
AR As in the body do I understand that I have come under the hand of God as my natural body has come under the creational mind of God? I have my place in the body according to the mind of God.
AFN It is wrong to excuse oneself of responsibility in the body.
JT One who does that becomes lawless. As Jude says, a wandering star, clouds without water. There may be a show in it, but that is what it is.
AFM He would go into darkness personally.
JT I am sure he would.
JWD This is a very practical matter in all our local meetings. Do you get the remedy for it here?
Does the truth of the remedy come out in this chapter? This complaining condition — do we have the remedy here?
JT The Spirit has baptised us in the power of one Spirit into the one body. It is an act of power, and then we have all been made to drink into one Spirit. That ought to set us up on both sides. I am set in the assembly sovereignly in power, and I find what satisfies me in it. Because if a person says, ‘I want to have a freer hand’, he is not satisfied. He is selfish.
JS So that one who elects to go on in it is in the will of God.
JT And anyone who does not is dislocated, and is affecting the whole position. Hence the importance of this chapter. “Now ye are Christ’s body, and members in particular”. My identity remains. I am part of the greatest thing in the universe. Why should I elect myself out of it?
EP “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places”, Psalm 16: 6. The infinite satisfaction the Lord found in being in that place.
JT Very fine. In this setting where we are baptised in the one body, the lines are fallen so that I am in pleasant places.
[p. 194] Rem You regard this matter as forcing an issue as to the foot and the hand.
JT That is what the apostle is aiming against. There were those that were aiming at what they did not have. So you can see how he is seeking to regulate the saints.
Rem In chapter 12: 15, “Because I am not a hand I am not of the body, is it on account of this not indeed of the body?” Does that bring out how indispensable each is?
JT Quite so. So that if you elect yourself out because you are not a hand you suffer loss, and the brethren suffer loss.