EXTRACTS

JT The whole chapter suggests that the assembly should be ornamented in a spiritual sense. Paul says, If I am singing a hymn, “I will sing with the spirit”, 1 Corinthians 14: 15. I want my spirit to be in it, not merely the words, “but I will sing also with the understanding”. I am singing right words. The order of the assembly includes the dress we wear and the way we sit. Some sit as though they were just waiting for a train; that is not right. We ought to be reverential in the assembly. If we speak, we should not speak with slang words, but with right words, having a spiritual setting; words the Holy Spirit would indite. Many other things enter into this matter. God is concerned about the vessel through which the testimony goes out to men. What is there before their eyes? That is what they are to be brought into, and they must be formed accordingly.

AHP Do you think the prominence of the Holy Spirit in the finishing touches of His work is important?

JT Yes. What we are saying now is most important, God is a God of order, Corinthians is stressing order. It is God’s assembly. He has set the gifts in it; all the vessels, the servants, adorn it. He is concerned that what goes out to men should be ornamental. Luke presents the Lord at Nazareth in His service as attractive—how He spoke; how He stood to read the Scriptures, “having rolled up the book, when he had delivered it up to the attendant, he sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him”, Luke 4: 20. The Spirit records this as showing that the ministry is to be enhanced in the minister. That is the reason why order in the assembly is stressed in 1 Corinthians; it is what is down here.

J. Taylor (Vol. 49, pp.458, 459)

“That disciple whom Jesus loved saith … It is the Lord”. How much followed upon this is left for the reader’s reflection. The Lord did not announce Himself—He was recognised in His features by those who had already known Him. How gracious and beneficent was His reception of His needy followers! If the Lord causes us to hear His voice or see His hand in our circumstances it is to remind us of Himself—that we may be drawn to His side, so as to see Him in the sanctuary.

J. Taylor (Vol. 76, p.564)

Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex CM12 9DZ, (T) (01277) 650661