ADMINISTRATION
ADMINISTRATION
Acts 10:1 - 21; Acts 10:44 - 48
JT It is hoped that the principle of administration may come before us profitably at this time. It fits peculiarly into this chapter and the latter part of chapter 9, which presents Peter as passing through all quarters, indicating that he was alive to what the Spirit was doing in taking up Paul, and so the allusion to Aeneas is particularly in accord with the moment, because it was a time of liberty in service, and in all those who were serving. Aeneas had been a long time paralysed, and he had been lying for eight years upon a couch. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus, the Christ, heals thee: rise up, and make thy couch for thyself (Acts 9:34)”. That is to say the principle of local responsibility is herein set out, as if Peter discerned the time for it had come, not that Peter could have known everything, but the Spirit of God did. The time for the assertion of, and liberty for, local responsibility had come, and so Aeneas was to do things for himself, he was to make his bed for himself. So each of us is to bestir himself in view of what may be needful and current. Whatever he can do, let him do it; if he is to make his bed, let him do it, and do it for himself.
Then the other case in which Peter was active at the close of chapter 9 concerned Tabitha, a woman who had been distinguished as making garments for others. But she died, and much ado is made of her by the widows. It says, “She was full of good works and alms-deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days that she grew sick and died; and, having washed her, they put her in the upper room, Acts 9:36,37” and so forth. Then they sent for Peter, as if Peter was the man needed for the working out of things in view [p. 100] of the new order of service that was inaugurated. So he was sent for. Then it says, “all the widows stood by him weeping and shewing him the body-coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter, putting them all out, and kneeling down, prayed Acts 9:39,40”. As if he would remove all that would interfere with God’s service. Much was to be done, and laziness was not to be admitted at all; and so he put them all out, which is sometimes needed, otherwise we should be clogged. Then kneeling down, he prayed, showing that he is dependent on God. Then, “turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes, and, seeing Peter, sat up. And having given her his hand, he raised her up, and having called the saints and the widows, presented her living Acts 9:40,41”. The saints are now included. So that on the one hand Aeneas is set up working, doing things for himself that should be done, not expecting others to do them, and then this sister is made alive. A new order of things would be set out in her too. Instead of making garments in the sense in which they were made earlier, she is presented living. That is to say, a living person. I thought it well to call attention to these facts as entering into chapter 10, preparing the way for it indeed. Chapter 10 is the great administrative act of Peter in opening the door to the gentiles, but all these facts spoken of just now are making way for it, in view of Paul having been brought in.
PAH Do you think that there was preparation of local material seen in Aeneas and Dorcas?
JT That is the idea. Local material; that is to say we need material, and of a local character. Aeneas and this sister Tabitha represent that material, so that we may now proceed with the idea of a local company. What we said before enters into it because we are now to be ready to enter upon the gentile position, in which Paul and Barnabas are to operate;
[p. 101] in the meantime the great idea of administration is to be set out in one selected by the Lord, not yet Paul, but Peter; because when Peter made his confession in Matthew 16, the Lord said to him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona Matthew 16:17”. He is a blessed man; he has come in for this wonderful disclosure as to Jesus, that He is the Son of the living God, and the Lord acknowledges him as blessed, and says, “Thou art Peter”. That is not simply that his name was Peter, but he was stone material, durable material, suitable material for the assembly, and in this connection the Lord says to him, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”, Matthew 16:19.
ENJ It is remarkable, is it not, to see the way the Lord is working with certain individuals, with a view to their blessing, and at the same time working with Peter and preparing him to take in the gentiles?
JT That is the idea; working in a preparatory way; and it may be that we are now where this sort of thing exists; that is, in this city. That things have to be done that are left undone, and perhaps the fact that they are not done is interfering with what God is endeavouring to work out amongst us.
JMcN Is there some evidence of the work of the Spirit of God in preparing material able to take on impressions from Paul’s ministry?
JT But to take on impressions from Peter first, and then Paul; because Peter at once, according to his second epistle, is with Paul; there is no rivalry at all; Peter is fully with Paul. He says, “Our beloved brother Paul (2 Peter 3:15)”. There was indeed friction earlier between Peter and Paul, but the Lord has come in and healed that. So now according to the [p. 102] second epistle, there is thorough agreement between Paul and Peter, and that is the point that the Lord would stress amongst us — that everything is in agreement; we are of one mind and moving together, understanding what there is for us positively, and understanding what there is against us negatively, so that it must be removed, and we must remove it together.
JM You made a remark as to the Lord wanting to do something in this city and we may be hindering; is that feature seen in Peter in putting them all out?
JT Well, that is the idea, he put these widows out. The saints are not mentioned at first. The widows apparently were in the way, because they were on natural, social lines, a sort of Dorcas Society, with just common social interests it may be.
JM The occupation of Dorcas would be on too low a level in that way.
JT Quite so. She is to be brought on to the level of life, because that is the point with God in all these things. As Caleb said, Jehovah had kept him alive for so many years, forty-five years. It is a question of life.
ENJ Would it appear that Dorcas had become a centre, seeing that these widows felt it so deeply that she had died? They were attached to her and her accomplishments.
JT Therefore they were driven out, because they were simply a mixed condition of things, just like the camp followers who followed Israel in the wilderness.
JAA “And seeing Peter”, it says, she “sat up Acts 9:40”. There was something to look at in Peter.
JT Yes. There was a similar thought in Peter’s first service after his first great address. He and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, and they said, “Look on us”. There is something to see, and that is the point now. There is something [p. 103] to see, not a mere religious building or the like, or a Dorcas Society, but something of God to be noticed.
AM Is there something in the fact that the keys of the kingdom are entrusted to Peter? You referred to the idea of the kingdom. Would that bear on these initial matters with us, for instance?
JT Well, just so. Peter was now qualified to take on this great phase, because it is a question of administration, and Peter is to be the administrator for the admission of the gentiles, and he is showing he is qualified in these closing verses of chapter 9. Is that in your mind?
AM Well, I was just wondering whether Peter did not give us light in his own ministry as to certain principles of the kingdom, making way for Paul.
JT I think he does. He has the leading place pending Paul’s introduction. “First ... Peter”, it says in Matthew; and it is Matthew who mentions Peter obtaining from the Lord the keys of the kingdom, not the key of David, but the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
PAH Had you thought to refer to angelic service in this chapter?
JT Well, that would be the next thing. It says, “A certain man in Caesarea, — by name Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic, pious, and fearing God with all his house, both giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually, — saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him”. So that angelic ministry has a great place. It seems to be particularly so in the introduction of the gentiles as in this chapter.
ENJ Is this work in connection with Cornelius something on the line of a work of extrication? He was apparently a very pious man, but he belonged to a band, did he not?
JT Well, he was a government man we might [p. 104] say, a military officer, but at the same time he is a godly man, and that is the thing that is outstanding in him, because the angel speaks of it. “An angel of God coming unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius. But he, having fixed his eyes upon him, and become full of fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God”. That is a very great matter, that a man should have a memorial, and he, so far as we know, was not a Christian. He had not professed the full truth of Christianity, and yet he has built up something in heaven.
ENJ Yet he is in view for blessing, and to be added to the assembly. Is that it?
JT But already he has a distinguished place; that is, he has a memorial before God, one of the most remarkable things said of any man.
JMcN And then too, he prays at the ninth hour. He evidently is intelligent as to the hour of prayer.
JT Quite so, in keeping with the early activities of the Spirit through Peter and John.
PAH I notice in verses 19 and 20, when the Spirit speaks to Peter, He says, “Behold, three men seek thee; but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them”. Is there some instruction in it? The angel really directs them, and speaks to Cornelius, but behind the speaking of the angel there is a divine Person, the Spirit, active in the matter.
JT That is very interesting, and we have already had something as to angelic ministry, and I believe it is important that we should all be clear about it. The Spirit of God is distinguished here and later in chapter 13, as acting of Himself. There have been inquiries as to this, and it may be the Lord would help us as to the position of the Spirit as being here. Although here as sent, yet He is a divine [p. 105] Person and acts as of Himself, and independently as a divine Person. So that He says, “I have sent them”.
PAH So that angelic service would be always under the direction of a divine Person.
JT Quite so. But there is here the peculiar place that the Spirit has as asserting Himself. Verse 13 says, “there was a voice to him, Rise, Peter, slay and eat. And Peter said, In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. And there was a voice again the second time to him, What God has cleansed, do not thou make common. And this took place thrice, and the vessel was straightway taken up into heaven. And as Peter doubted in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold also the men who were sent by Cornelius, having sought out the house of Simon, stood at the gate, and having called some one, they inquired if Simon who was surnamed Peter was lodged there. But as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold three men seek thee; but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them”. The “I” is emphatic. So it is a question in this remarkable passage, as well as in chapter 13, of the Spirit asserting His deity, and being in the position of speaking as a divine Person, ordering Peter and controlling all that he was doing. It is very important that all of us should be clear as to it, as to the Spirit having the place of a divine Person here below, and that He is here until the end of the dispensation according to John 14. He is another Comforter, and remains with us until the end.
AM He is a divine Person. He is not incarnate, and He requires a means or a vessel suitable for Him, and Peter fits in at this time.
JT He is not incarnate as you say, but He takes on persons, of course, and angels too, He takes on vessels suitable for His service. We can only decide [p. 106] by the context who might have been used, as in chapter 13, because the Spirit in speaking may have spoken by someone.
ENJ You are referring to the Spirit saying, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”, (Acts 13:2)? It is one of the Scriptures that assure us of the sovereign actings of the Holy Spirit.
JT And that He may act as in the inspiration of Scripture, as in the writing of this book by Luke, because Luke is the instrument, but the Spirit used him. We have to understand that while the Spirit is here, He is not incarnate as Christ was; Christ alone of the divine Persons became incarnate, and He is the great Vessel of God for operating.
RGW Is that in line with what is said of spiritual manifestations in 1 Corinthians 12:11? “But all these things operates the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each in particular according as he pleases”.
JT Very good. So that the Spirit operates through the vessels; in fact the peculiar word there in 1 Corinthians 12:12 is “so also is the Christ”. That is, “the Christ” there is not simply Christ personally, but includes the assembly. It is a question of the assembly as the vessel that the Spirit is using and has chosen to use. Do you think that?
RGW I just thought of the words “dividing to each ... as he pleases”, 1 Corinthians 12:11 as emphasising His sovereign action.
JT Quite so. I hope the brethren will be free to enlarge on this, because it has been beclouded a little.
PRP Have you something in mind as to the Holy Spirit’s service in relation to angels?
JT The facts are; that they are used in relation to the Spirit, and the Spirit serves in relation to them, and what is to be seen is that angelic service [p. 107] is a leading thought with God. The service is mentioned in the book of Job very early.
JSP Is that how the testimony is carried on today, by the Spirit using men?
JT Very good, and His own choice too, not anyone, not those who have acquired ability and power through university training. It is a question of whom the Spirit would have. He uses His own vessels. It is a question of being available to Him, and He will use us.
JSP Peter was in prayer about the sixth hour. Would that be the way we would come into things and be serviceable?
JT That is good, discerning the hour. It has been alluded to before, the idea of prayer having such a place in God’s economy. It is of prime importance that we should be present at the time arranged for prayer; according to Luke 11 a certain one saw the Lord praying. He was praying in a certain place. That is another thing to notice; the word ‘place’. A disciple said, “Lord, teach us to pray (Luke 11:1)”. He did not say, ‘Teach me to pray’, but “Teach us to pray”. He wanted all the brethren, to get the benefit of the teaching.
PRP Would you link this thought up with Aeneas as to the Spirit taking on persons?
JT Quite so, Aeneas would be ready if he was starting to make his bed for himself. Then the Spirit would take him on, because chapter 8 shows that the Spirit took on Philip after the angel had taken him on.
PRP I was seeking to follow up what you were suggesting as to the importance of doing things ourselves. At present, divine Persons are operating through men in a special way.
JT It is a question therefore of persons being available to the Spirit, because He will take us on as we are [p. 108] available.
AG We need to be concerned that we perceive when the Spirit speaks to us. There was no doubt in Peter’s mind when the Spirit spoke, and he is able to recount it later.
JT Just so. Then we get “quench not the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)”. We may quench Him by ineptitude, by unrighteousness.
JMcN Is this a further step in Peter’s education? There are instances of his being taught in relation to fishes, but here in the vessel like a sheet it is in relation to unclean creatures.
JT I would think that. He is not sure about it, hence the force of the word “nothing doubting”. Be sure of what you are doing and then do it. This is evidently a new experience for Peter, and he needed it, because it was a question of gentiles, and Peter might call them unclean, whereas they were not, for God had cleansed them. The time for God’s cleansing of the gentiles had come, and Peter might stand in the way; but God preserved him from that, because Peter did what he was told.
ENJ We need to be ready for God’s sovereign movement in that way. He may take up most unlikely persons and use them, as the contents of this vessel would indicate.
JT So that we are to be ready for that, and make way for them; and we may thank God for the number of younger men He has raised up and is using.
CMcC Would the fact that Peter was in a house by the sea, and also that the vessel was as a great sheet which had four corners, indicate that God had a great universal system in view?
JT That is the idea exactly. It had four corners, and was knit at the four corners. It was held together, it was not held loosely. The idea was something that was going up into heaven, and being [p. 109] carried up.
RGW Although it does not say Peter was deliberately on the line of fasting, the fact that he was fasting seems to be used by the Spirit for further revelation or instruction. Is there some lead to us in that?
JT He was hungry and desired to eat, and God used that to bring the whole matter into its place. So that he went up to pray while the meal was being prepared, instead of misusing his time or whiling it away, and he is taken on, God honouring him, showing how godly he was. He goes up to pray, and becomes in an ecstasy. What you mean, maybe, is that the ecstasy was possible because he was fasting. I would agree with that.
AM Would it be right to say that in Cornelius also there seem to be certain preparatory features that are very important? For instance the men say of him that he is a righteous man, and he is able to say of himself, “I was praying in my house”, and before that he said, “I had been fasting”.
JT Cornelius was ready for what was opened up to him; and that would bring in the question of fasting, which is of prime importance; it came before us in Sydney in our committal to the Lord in prayer. It is noticeable that Esther only asked for fasting; she did not ask for prayer, and yet the result of the fasting was of great moment, as anyone would see who reads the book of Esther.
JSP Do they run together? There was one whom the disciples could not heal, and when they took him to the Lord and raised the question as to why they could not heal him, the Lord said, “This kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting”, (Matthew 17:21).
JT We might well think for a moment of the idea of fasting, but there is not much time to deal with it now. I think we ought to proceed with the main thought in our chapter, and that is, administration.
[p. 110] Peter is actually administering here. He is sent for, and the Spirit of God says to him, “Go with them, nothing doubting”. Then we are told that as Peter preached, “the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”. That is, Peter is administering the word, and the Holy Spirit takes the opportunity to seal those who were hearing, because it says, “the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”.
ENJ Would that suggest something more than just hearing with the ear? They were receiving the word, were they not?
JT Quite so. It is the word logos, I understand, meaning that what is in God’s mind is being opened up to us. It may mean something to be opened up later, but at the moment it was being opened up to them. The “word of God” is the same idea, and here the word of God is being listened to. It is being ministered, but it is being attended to, and the Spirit of God honours those who were listening, by falling on them.
ENJ There must have been a moral foundation for the Holy Spirit to come upon them forthwith as He did.
JAA Cornelius said to the angel, “What is it, Lord?” so he was prepared to take account of what was said to him.
JT He was a subject man already, God is not bringing in an ordinary gentile; one who might be there to listen and perhaps move away. The Spirit of God is bringing in a man like Cornelius. He is honouring that state of things in the man, and he is the man that is brought in to set out the idea of the gentiles being introduced into Christianity.
AM Is there not a suggestion there of lovableness in the action of the Holy Spirit? Has it not been compared with the Father falling on the neck of the son in Luke 15?
[p. 111] JT It is the same word. As the father fell on the prodigal and covered him with kisses, that is the idea here; it is an energetic action of the Spirit upon the gentiles.
PAH What is really involved in the thought of administration is seen in Peter here.
JT I do not know of anything more expressive of it, than the facts relating to Peter. If you go back to Matthew 16, you will see what the Lord had in His mind. The Lord says to him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is inn the heavens”, Matthew 16:17. I do not know of anything better as an example of what administration is than what is said to Peter here, that he is blessed as receiving the Father’s revelation, and announcing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord said to him, “And I also, I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest loose on the earth shall be loosed in the heavens”, Matthew 16:18,19.
PAH Peter is really carrying into effect the commission the Lord committed to him.
JT He, of course, has to be fitted for it, and he is in the things that are mentioned. Verses 46,47 say, “Then Peter answered, Can any one forbid water that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did? And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord”. Well, there it is, the idea of administration actually brought about in Peter.
ENJ In Matthew 16, binding and loosing are mentioned, but Peter is here fully occupied with [p. 112] the loosing.
PRP Is it important to take account of the special place the Holy Spirit has in all this, first of all in speaking to Peter, and then also as to falling upon these men? Peter waits till he gets this word from the Spirit, and then also in relation to the results, he moves when the Holy Spirit falls upon these men.
JT Yes, showing that the Spirit is acting with Peter.
ENJ Is verse 47 also instructive, inasmuch as Peter would have the brethren to move with him? “Can any one forbid water ... ?” He would have the brethren to move intelligently with him in the matter.
JSP The truth of baptism had to come in in relation to the gentiles, had it not?
JT Yes, and Peter commands it too. We have to compare the baptismal formula in Matthew 28 with this, and we will get instruction if we do, but here it is by itself. That is, Peter commands baptism.
AM Peter took certain men with him. This is such an important matter that the idea of witness enters into it.
JT It is appropriate that he should take so many because it was one of the most important occurrences, up till this time, the introduction of the gentiles.
AM He makes use of the six men later when he had to stand his ground against the elements of legality.
JT You get that in the next chapter. All these things are important, and especially in Peter’s administration, because Matthew makes much of Peter. He says “First ... Peter”, and so now Peter is fully honoured in what he is doing. He is called blessed, and he has the keys, and he knows what to say here. Cornelius would have worshipped Peter, which is a matter to note too. He fell down to worship him, and Peter says, “Rise up: I myself [p. 113] also am a man Acts 10:26”. He went into the house with Cornelius, talking with him, so as to establish mutual feeling between the gentiles and the Jews, talking to one another. We do not hold aloof from one another. We are united closely and talk to one another. “They that feared the Lord spake often one to another”, (Malachi 3:16).
ENJ Would you say a word as to verse 48? He commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord. Is it that the act is done in the name of the Lord? You spoke of the baptismal formula at the end of Matthew; that would also be used, but whatsoever ye do in word or deed, all is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus.
JT I think the formula of Matthew 28 is the one to use. That is what I would regard as the full baptismal formula. We baptise to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, the full divine thought. The whole Godhead is brought into it; that is to say, Christianity is established as brought in under the Godhead; the full authority of the Godhead is brought to bear on us in our baptism.
ENJ It says, “baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit Matthew 28:19”. Now in our scripture it says, “He commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord”. I wondered if that was attached to the act that we do, whatever we do being in the name of the Lord.
JT Well, I think baptising to is right, because it is what we are introduced into. In is a question of power. “In the name of the Lord” implies power in what has been done, but to indicates what we are introduced into, and I believe the baptismal formula in Matthew 28 is the one properly to be used by us. Peter was an apostle, and could say “in the name”, but it was simply a question of power.
JSP Would it bring in the thought of authority here?
JT [p. 114] Well, it does, because he commands. We would not do that. We use the formula of Matthew 28.
JSP I was thinking “in the name of the Lord” would bring us under the authority of the Lord in that way.
JT Well, it does. But in there implies power. The thing is done in power.
AM The twelve men in Acts 19 were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus.
JT Well, that would be the same as Matthew 28. It is what you are introduced into.
AM It would be included in Matthew 28?
JT It would. Our position is that we are introduced into Christianity or the assembly in the formula of Matthew 28. Any one of the apostles’ could command “in the name”, but we do not do that. We are simple about it, and use the formulae of Matthew 28, bringing in the whole of the Godhead, and establishing Christianity as in the name of the Godhead.
ENJ The apostle Paul brings in “the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” in 1 Corinthians 5:4. I was wondering whether we should act in that name.
JT The word there in 1 Corinthians 5:4,5 is: “to deliver, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (ye and my spirit being gathered together, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ), him that has so wrought this: to deliver him, I say, being such, to Satan for destruction of the flesh”. You can see how different that is from what we are dealing with. We are dealing now with what souls are brought into, whereas in the passage you read it is that one is excommunicated, delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. It is a question of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
ENJ That is really what was in mind, that [p. 115] there is power in the name, and it is used in relation to what we do.
JT Quite so. Then in the latter part of the chapter they are told to remove that wicked person from among themselves. That is, the saints have power to do that, and they are doing it in their own power, so to speak; whereas the first reference is t delivering to Satan in the name and with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.