MAN (31)
MAN (31)
JTJr This chapter brings Peter into the service, actively; verse 10 says, “And Jesus said to Simon, Fear not; henceforth thou shalt be catching men”. Now Peter is to be in the service, catching men. It is noticeable how the thought of man comes into these paragraphs. Peter says, “I am a sinful man, Lord”, then there is a man full of leprosy, and a paralysed man; and further, it says, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee”. I thought that all this would bring out that the thought of manhood was in the Lord’s mind. The new skins at the end of the chapter are suggestive of the new man.
CAM Is it the working out of the whole moral question in regard to man? We were speaking this afternoon about one Man in whom Satan found nothing, but with us the moral question has to be worked out.
JTJr Yes; this remarkable incident brings Peter to face the moral issue; he said, “I am a sinful man”.
JC Would the incident show that the goodness of God leads to repentance?
JTJr Very good, I would say that, and that Peter dealt with the thing in himself.
ANW Peter’s remark individualises the man, does it not? There are others who are more or less affected: “And in like manner also on James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon”. But Simon’s word, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord”, individualises him, does it not?
JTJr Yes, especially Peter, for he was to have a great place in the testimony. The Lord does not commission James and John here; Simon is [p. 483] singled out.
ABP Would this word sinful be a direct contrast to being filled with the Spirit?
JTJr Yes, I would think so.
ABP It suggests a vessel, does it not? “A sinful man”, but repentant.
JTJr Yes; we may wonder why he should say this at this point, but it indicates what the Lord might use to bring us to a confession.
CAM Is the idea of the vessel indicated by, “He saw two ships ... . And getting into one of the ships, which was Simon’s ...”? Would that indicate that He had a vessel in mind in connection with Simon? It would raise a question in Simon’s mind as to why his ship should be selected.
JTJr Yes; that would show that Peter had a special place in the Lord’s mind. He was thinking of Peter. Paul had a special place, but Peter had a special place, too. The partners were there and they are brought into it, but Peter is singled out. I think it is to distinguish him, for the Lord had in mind to distinguish him.
JHE In the Acts it says, “But Peter, standing up with the eleven ...” Acts 2:14. He evidently led in the partnership; the assembly is a partnership, is it not?
JTJr Yes, that would be a contrast to the ship, because the ship began to sink here; the vessel did not sink in the Acts. “The Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved”, Acts 2:47.
Ques Earlier in that chapter it says that they were all filled with the Spirit. Is that the culmination of a work begun here?
JTJr Yes; the divine thought is that we are to be filled with the Spirit. Judaism was not able for this; something new was needed, so the Lord refers to the new skins.
AR I was wondering if our chapter had that in mind; there must be a new vessel to hold [p. 484] the new wine I believe that is what is in mind in the Acts. There was a new vessel and new wine. Peter, in recounting his vision, said that the vessel came “even to me”. That is, the sheet that he saw came down from heaven, and he spoke of it in that way; “a certain vessel”, Acts 11:5.
Rem It was a great sheet; it was able to contain all that was in it.
JTJr Yes. The Lord used the ship here; that is He used judaism; He came into that and He used it. He spoke from the ship, but there was another vessel in His mind — a vessel that would not sink.
CAM Peter had to step out of the ship of judaism.
Rem The net broke with the number of the fish, but in John’s gospel where there were many great fish the net did not break; does that speak of the new order?
JTJr Yes; that is after the Lord had risen; the net does not break; the assembly therefore goes through. We should thus keep the assembly in mind, because it is the vessel in which the Spirit is at the present time.
ABP Do we see progression in this chapter, in that Peter, once sinful, is made into a new vessel, ready for the new wine?
JTJr I would think so, for the education of Peter would be in mind. The Lord had taken him up and he was to be distinguished, and no doubt to fit him for the place that he was to have in relation to the great vessel, the assembly.
Rem When the assembly is formed, in Acts 2, and Peter preaches, he first deals with the moral side, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”, Acts 2:38.
JTJr That is right. It shows how Peter had been formed experimentally. In our chapter the Lord says, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee”. And the commission which the Lord gave the disciples in the last chapter of this book was “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name”, Luke 24:47.
FHL Peter had laboured all night, but the light broke in upon his soul in the presence of Christ.
JTJr Yes; no doubt labouring all night would allude to the general idea of judaism’s plight; it could bear nothing.
JHE The partners are working together here. It has been suggested that it may be Peter, Andrew, James and John of whom it is said, in verse 18, “And lo, men bringing upon a couch a man”.
JTJr Yes; men is the point there; the Lord has men in mind. I suppose they came into that partnership really at Pentecost; it suggests the great thought of the apostles’ fellowship.
Ques Would you say that the beginning of manhood is seen in repentance or self-judgment and that we are to be maintained in that?
JTJr I think so, from our side. We could hardly come to what is substantial in our souls until we judge ourselves, although the abstract side must ever be before us as seen in Christ as an Object; that came before us in the previous chapter in the way Jesus rebuked the devil and in the way He ministered; He ministered in the power of the Spirit. It says that they pressed on Him to hear the word of God.
FHL Would you distinguish between Peter falling at the Lord’s knees, and the man full of leprosy falling upon his face?
JTJr Well, I suppose the position of Peter is distinctive; his name is given, whereas in the next incident it is “a man full of leprosy”, and he effaces himself. Peter is singled out because of the special place the Lord had for him in [p. 486] the assembly.
FHL Would some light of the intercession of Christ be in Peter’s soul?
JTJr You have in mind that he fell at Jesus’ knees. It can be said that Peter was to learn what the knees of Jesus meant.
CAM “I have prayed for thee”, Luke 22:32 the Lord says to Peter later.
AMacd The recognition of the Lord’s authority means blessing to our souls. Peter calls the Lord Master in verse 5, saying also, “At thy word I will let down the net”. Twice in the previous chapter reference is made to the authority that marked His word, and Peter seems to recognise it.
JTJr That is a leading feature. We have to recognise that the Lord has authority, and that He has power to do things. And we are never left that we cannot do anything. The situation may look impossible, but the Lord has authority and He has power, and I think Peter recognised that.
EAL Peter was an experienced fisherman who knew how to catch fish, but he was now to become a fisher of men.
JTJr Yes, he is now to catch men and we are in that light tonight; we have been caught. The great matter of the gospel involves that we are to catch men. God is not thinking about the fish; this great haul is just descriptive of what He has in mind as to men. The Lord had told Peter to draw out into the deep, no doubt involving the great scope of humanity.
AR Would Peter’s confession suggest that he was conscious in his own soul that this Man was a divine Person and that He had control of the sea?
JTJr We need to keep that in mind; it is a question of the Lord’s authority and power; we should rely upon Him in every situation. Peter brings in the thought of man when he says, “I am a sinful man”.
JHE Peter uses the word “Master” also, which, according to the footnote, refers to the Lord’s authority over others. He had some impression of the uniqueness of the Lord.
JTJr Yes; he had said, “Having laboured through the whole night we have taken nothing”. They had accomplished nothing through having laboured all night. But at the Lord’s word he let down the net. We are to look for the Lord’s word.
ANW The word “Master” as used in verse 5 is different from the word “Lord” in verse 8. In the latter verse Peter was conscious that he needed the Lord as Intercessor.
CAM Does not this thought of Master, meaning one who is over others, link on with the previous chapter where it says that the Lord, “standing over” Luke 4:39. Peter’s mother-in-law, rebuked the fever? Did not Peter get an impression in the house of what a Master of the situation Jesus was?
JTJr Yes; I suppose the fever represents a temporary condition. Jesus rebuked it and it left her. It is a solemn matter if things do not leave us. If they do not, they may not be a fever, but darkness and the working of the will so that God does not grant repentance. It says in Romans 11:22, “If thou shalt abide in goodness”, Romans 11:22. If we do not abide in goodness we will be cut off.
ANW So that the Lord did not rebuke Peter’s mother-in-law. He rebuked the fever; He rebuked the condition and it left her.
JTJr Yes, quite so; it left her; the fever went out; it was not constitutional. The Lord may deal with what is constitutional, too. God hardened Pharaoh. Whom He will He hardens. The fever was not a constitutional matter.
TEH Peter had a remarkable insight as to vessels of mercy being prepared for glory because he [p. 488] understood the idea of mercy from the very commencement of his links with the Lord.
JTJr Quite so; that comes out here. He says, “I am a sinful man, Lord”. We should recognise the havoc sin has wrought in manhood, but that is the negative thought; God has in mind another order of man that has not to be governed by sin but by His will. “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practise sin”, 1 John 3:9. So Peter says, “At thy word”. That is a great thing to come to, to recognise the Lord’s word.
Ques Would the expression, “O wretched man”, Romans 7:24 in Romans 7 be the same idea as is in Peter’s mind here — “sinful”?
JTJr That would be the discovery of what the law of sin leads to. It is the law of sin and of death, and in its discovery he is wretched. I think that is the idea there, whereas in our chapter it is the initial discovery of the sinful condition, or the origin of things.
ABP Would the wretched man be seen in the leper in the next section? There it is a question of the Lord’s will; “If thou wilt”.
JTJr I think that; “full of leprosy”. Then, “If thou wilt, thou art able”.
ABP Is it not a wonderful point to reach in soul history, that we have no doubt at all as to the Lord’s ability to deal with matters?
JTJr Yes; and so you ask the Lord to deal with them. Leprosy would refer especially to the working of man’s will.
ABP There was a man who said, “If thou couldst do anything, be moved with pity on us, and help us. And Jesus said to him, The ‘if thou couldst’ is if thou couldst believe”, Mark 9:23. This man said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able”.
JTJr Quite so; so that we need faith. We are to follow righteousness and the next step is faith [p. 489] in relation to the course of things; that, as having faith, the Lord is able to deal with matters which arise.
AR Is the idea in the cleansing of the leper that we all must get the cure and that the cure is governed by the will of divine Persons?
JTJr The section which deals with leprosy follows immediately upon Peter’s conversion, and the Lord instructs him to go to the priest. Priesthood is an important matter in relation to manhood. In Leviticus 14 the leper is anointed with the blood and the oil.
JHE Christ has “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father”, Revelation 1:6.
JTJr Quite; I think we should dwell further on the Lord dealing with the leprosy because it is the beginning of His work in us. Peter says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord”. The Lord did not say anything to him about his sins and He did not depart from him. The Lord had no intention of departing from him. He says, “Fear not; henceforth thou shalt be catching men”. The next thing then is how leprosy is dealt with. We cannot heal leprosy; it is a divine operation.
AR Why is so much said about leprosy in the book of Leviticus?
JTJr Is it not to show that this kind of thing exists? it is a type of the working of the will of the flesh and only a divine Person can rightly deal with that. If man is to approach God there can be no evidence of his will being active.
CAM The cleansing of the leper would be an object lesson to Peter; he would be impressed by the Lord’s word and how the matter worked out.
Rem And so the word is, “Go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing as Moses ordained, for a testimony to them”. The priest would [p. 490] have seen nothing like this before; he would have to acknowledge that, would he not?
JTJr Yes; the leprosy departed from the man at the Lord’s word: “And immediately the leprosy departed from him”.
FNW Is that the mind of God for each one of us? It says of Uzziah that he was a leper till the day of his death. But should not this chapter encourage us to get to God about any unsettled sin question and have it settled?
JTJr The leprosy was fixed on Uzziah which is a very solemn matter. Unless God comes in there is no possibility of healing.
TEH In Leviticus 13, reference is made to a “burning inflammation” Leviticus 13:24 which may prove not to be leprosy and may refer to irritability or something that marks us naturally, but that condition may become leprous if we do not judge it before God.
JTJr Quite so; the detail of examination and detention is to bring out the features of priestly discernment. The person is declared to be clean or unclean by the priest, and if he is unclean he is put outside the camp. Outside the camp there is no priest; none to attend to the case; the priesthood cannot heal; it is God — He brings in healing. That is the way I understand it; the healing outside the camp is what God does. The priest has to do with the matter in the day of his cleansing, when he is brought to the priest and the priest looks upon him and sees that the sore of leprosy is healed (Leviticus 14:3).
GVD Would you say that the matter of the leprosy is deeper than the sinfulness of which Peter speaks? Does leprosy involve that we were born in sin and shapen in iniquity, whereas would Peter’s case be more a matter of what he had done — his sins, as distinguished from sin itself?
JTJr Peter said, “I am a sinful man, Lord”. There is no reference to Peter’s being healed, but you get the matter brought forward in the man full of leprosy; he is healed. And then later in the chapter the Lord says, “Thy sins are forgiven thee”. He has power to do that. So that as forgiven we get free from the burden of our sins. But the Lord touched the leper, and He has power to forgive sins.
ABP Is it not important to see the meaning connected with touching the leper? The footnote indicates that it is to handle freely. Does it not link on with Romans 8? “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”, Romans 8:3.
ANW And again, “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in him”, 2 Corinthians 5:21. So that when He touches the leper freely, it is not merely a word or act of intercession, as the Lord’s knees might suggest, but the Lord was actually made sin to bring this about.
JTJr Peter’s saying, “I am a sinful man” shows that there was an actual disclosure to him of his state. The leper, falling down links on with Peter. He falls down before Jesus. He besought the Lord. The consciousness of his state was real.
AP We have in Peter, and in the leper, conditions which enable God to grant repentance. Both Peter and the leper acknowledged their condition.
AR In Leviticus 14 the leper gets healed outside the camp. Would that be the work of God in the soul?
JTJr That is what is needed, there is a divine Person here who is dealing with the whole matter of sin and of sins.
AR So that we can come to this in our souls by the help of the Spirit of God that we judge sin.
JTJr [p. 492] Quite so; so that if we continue in darkness we are in a very solemn position because it is a question of God showing mercy or hardening.
SCM In order that we may serve at all we must be right morally. It is after Peter made his confession that the Lord said, “Fear not; henceforth thou shalt be catching men”.
JTJr Quite so. The Lord set up such men as the apostles, in view of establishing the testimony. Peter was to be a true leader. He stood up with the eleven and three thousand men were converted. We should therefore see the place the Lord had in mind for Peter in relation to the assembly at the beginning. He is seen as fulfilling his mission of catching men. The numbers given indicate this; the three thousand at the first preaching, and then, later, the number had grown to five thousand. That is the idea of catching men; and not only were there great numbers, but there was a place to bring them where there was no experience of sinking. Unlike the ship of judaism the assembly has not sunk yet, and it will not sink.
CAM Do you have in your mind in relation to the effectiveness of Peter’s ministry, that Peter himself had gone through the experience of being a sinful man and then, later, denying the Lord? These things had been learned in his own soul before he had power in service.
JTJr Yes; it must have been a wonderful sight for Peter to see the fulfilment of the Lord’s word in the men coming in. He would bring them to a place that would not sink as his boat had begun to do. They were now to come into that which was going to abide; and that is what we have come into.
ABP I suppose we never get complete deliverance from sinful self until we cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?”, Romans 7:24. Something of the character of this cry must be reached to be [p. 493] consciously delivered, so that we can say, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”, Romans 7:25.
JTJr Just so. We have remarked about the Lord’s knees and I think that fits with this section because the Lord sends the healed leper to the priest. That is very instructive to us as to how we arrive at manhood. We may enquire as to what we know about the priest. We are to become priests. So that we do not go to another, in that sense, but take on priestly feelings, to have a right judgment of things.
AR Would the knees be suggested in verse 16?
“And he withdrew himself, and was about in desert places and praying”.
JTJr Yes; the Lord was doing that. Romans 7 shows that the man himself becomes a priest; he does not go to someone else; he goes through the experience himself, the Spirit helping, no doubt, but he is finally able to say, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”, Romans 7:25.
AR Would you say that is a priestly exclamation?
JTJr The believer begins to be a priest there.
CAM Luke’s gospel really shows that the sinner becomes a priest. One of the ten cleansed lepers glorified God; and the thief on the cross really was priestly in his desire for his fellow. So that the leper here is told to offer. He himself becomes a priest.
JTJr I am sure that is right; we should discover, if we do not know it, that the idea of the priest is to be seen in regard to ourselves and we learn how to be with God in the whole matter of cleansing. So that the oil is brought in in Leviticus 14 in order to set the man up in service.
Ques Why is the leper to show himself to the priest and to offer for his cleansing?
JTJr In Leviticus 14 the priest was to look upon the leper. We have been sinners with no right to priestly activity, like this man, and he was feeling [p. 494] it. The Lord cleansed him and told him to go to another position. With us it is not a physical movement, but a moral movement: you arrive at priesthood in your soul.
AR The paralysed man in our chapter, after he was healed, stood up and glorified God: “standing up before them ... . he departed to his house, glorifying God”. And then they glorified God. The man became a priest and the people became priestly.
JTJr The instruction which Peter received through these experiences extended to his preaching. Peter learned how the Lord did things. So that his converts at the beginning received forgiveness of sins and were freed from the paralysis of judaism. And we are not to be paralysed but should be able to carry things and influence our houses and be in the assembly in an intelligent way. It has been remarked that Luke makes us priests. At the end of the book the disciples are in the temple praising and blessing God; they are priests to God.
GVD David was involved in sin, but got clear before God through self-judgment and acknowledgment of his sin. Would the last few verses of Psalm 51 be seen as the issue of praise from David as the priest?
JTJr Quite so; this becomes an abiding principle, “Go, shew thyself to the priest”. The priest teaches us what is right, and keeps us right.
JHE Verse 18 says, “And lo, men bringing upon a couch a man ...” This man was healed through the faith of others. Is the partnership seen working out here?
JTJr It is men bringing a man. They were acting like men; they would be priests; they would be thinking of others who needed help and would know where the help is. It is like ourselves who, on Monday night, or at any time, would bring matters to the Lord for adjustment. {495} [p. 495] Would the oil in Leviticus 14, which was used to anoint the cleansed leper, refer to the Spirit?
JTJr Just so; we are set up in the power of the Spirit.
Ques Before we are clear from our sins we may have to do with others, like Paul, who was told to “go into the city” and it would be told him what he must do. And Ananias said, “Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away”, Acts 22:16. But when do we become priests?
JTJr I think when we turn to God. The very young can pray; but I think we must know what to say. Priestliness involves right feelings and what is due to God, but we learn to have links with God early in our spiritual history.
ANW It has been said that the expression at the end of Romans 7: “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”, Romans 7:25 is the first utterance of priesthood. We must never overlook the idea of Christ being our great High Priest.
JTJr Quite so; but the Lord did not act as the priest here, exactly; He said, “Go, shew thyself to the priest”. He was thinking of a system of things. We may go to a brother who can help us, but the Lord means that we should discover our own relations with Him and get clear of our sins.
AR In verse 18 we get the system working, do we not? The system is seen in the men bringing a paralysed man to Jesus.
JTJr That is what I thought; the system is seen working in relation to others.
AR And the system is extended in verses 25 and 26; all are glorifying God.
JTJr Quite so; the man becomes a part of the system; and he takes up his couch and goes to his house, glorifying God. The house is a great feature of the truth. He has that before him now. He [p. 496] could do nothing about it before, but now he goes to his house.
CAM The thought of carrying involves the levitical service. This man is now a levite. The men who carried him were doing levitical service, too, were they not?
JTJr Quite so; it was an arduous duty; the Merarites carried the heavy parts of the tabernacle.
AR The next paragraph brings in a Levite, “a tax-gatherer, Levi by name”.
ABP Is the key to the healing of the paralytic seen in the word ‘power’? The Lord says, “But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins ...” There is delegated authority in the hands of a Man here.
JTJr Quite so; it says that “the Lord’s power was there to heal them”. And the Lord’s power is here tonight.
ABP That power coming to earth in the Son of man was later committed, according to Mark 13:34, to the bondmen; and according to Matthew 18:18 to the assembly. So that the authority is here now, in the Spirit, is it not?
JTJr So that on the day of Pentecost there was power to heal; and it is still here.
ANW Is that not confirmed by James, who says, “Let him call to him the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall heal the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up”, James 5:14,15.
JTJr We want to act like that, and not be in fear. The Lord says here, “Fear not”.
A-wR Is it not important to see that while disability and sin are apparent, the great thought is the recovery of the person? It would be a great help to us in the way we do things, if we have in mind to get the person before [p. 497] the Lord.
JTJr Quite so. It says in 1 Timothy 2:8, “I will therefore that the men pray in every place”. One great feature of manhood is the ability to pray to God in relation to the great need there is amongst us.
AR It is the Son of man who has power to forgive sins in this chapter. That title goes beyond judaism, like Peter’s word in the house of Cornelius. The system operated in bringing in the gentiles.
JTJr Yes; the title, Son of man, has all men in mind.
FNW Peter said to Aeneas, “Jesus, the Christ, heals thee”, Acts 9:34. The power was in the Name.
JTJr Quite so; the apostles had to face difficult matters all the way in the establishment of the testimony and it is a question of what, in the government of God, may be allowed for us to meet. But the Spirit of God is here to help us, and the Lord is in heaven; but the power is here in the Spirit and we should have faith in facing matters which arise.
EAL Is the priest to be on sure ground, like Paul who could write to the Galatians, saying, “In that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”? Galatians 2:20.
JTJr Quite so; the faith of the Son of God would be the power that comes into the soul as knowing the Son of God.
EAL In a crisis the priest should always be sure of his ground.
JTJr The Spirit of God is here and He will lead us if we are dependent upon Him in critical times. He led Jesus in the wilderness. The leadership of the Spirit must always be before us.
AR In the next paragraph there is the suggestion of liberty: “The Pharisees murmured at his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with tax-gatherers and sinners?”.
[p. 498] But the Lord defends them. There is liberty in the system.
JTJr The section starts with reference to “a tax-gatherer, Levi by name”. He is named and is said to be sitting at the receipt of taxes. Our employment is taken account of.
LW It is as Son of man that the Lord had power on earth to forgive sins. Why is it not Son of God?
JTJr The Son of man stands in relation to all men. The title Son of God has reference to His deity.
EAL Stephen saw the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.
JTJr He stood in relation to the whole position of man, not just the Jew; the whole idea of man is in mind.
ABP Why did the Lord say, “Which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?”
JTJr It is a question of the Lord’s authority. He could have said either, but He spoke about the moral side first: “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee”. The Lord had come to deal with the whole moral issue, and when that is dealt with man is recovered.
ABP And does it possibly suggest that we should not take the easiest course in matters? Naturally we do not choose to take up a path of self-denial, but take the easiest way out. The Lord would face the moral issue involving His death.
JT I am sure that is right.
CAM When we have difficult administrative cases we may find that it is easier to get things righted circumstantially. But the great point, as you were saying, is that the moral side must be adjusted in view of administrative forgiveness.
JTJr That is what I thought. He said, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee”. Either statement would [p. 499] have accomplished the result, but the Lord went to the root of the matter for the benefit of the disciples.
CAM Some of us may be satisfied if we could only get our circumstances changed, but that is not the issue.
KWMR All was based on the death of Jesus, both the physical and the moral.
JTJr It must be; He came to deal with sins and to remove the burden and consequence of sin.
ANW I thought that was the point of the Son of man, that He might bear the very sins that He was forgiving. He was really forgiving sins before- hand.
JTJr He had power to do it.
Ques What would “Take up thy little couch” mean?
JTJr Well, it refers to the man’s circumstances; he is not to be carried by his circumstances. The thing that had carried him is now being carried by him. He has now to go down to his house and look after things there. When we come to Levi we have a man who has a house and he entertains the Lord and His disciples. It is in relation to a new order of things that has come in; it is no longer a ship that is sinking. The new bottles referred to in the end of the chapter are able to hold the new wine. It suggests that there are men now that can hold things; they can hold the truth.
AR Does it involve the incoming of the gentiles?
JTJr I am sure that it does. It is a new order. We are to be delivered from sitting at the receipt of taxes. We are not to be taxing the brethren or taxing anyone. When you get free in your spirit and know how to be a priest in dealing with matters you do not pass by sin, but you are not on the line of demand either. You act in the spirit of liberty. The priest knows how to do things.
FNW [p. 500] Levi made a great entertainment for the Lord, and got together “a great crowd of tax-gatherers and others”.
JTJr Yes; it is a gospel scene. There is great entertainment, and good feeling.
JHE The Lord said to Levi, “Follow me”. As we follow Christ we set an example. Paul, in writing to the Philippians, said, “Be imitators all together of me, brethren, and fix your eyes on those walking thus as you have us for a model” Philippians 3:17.
JTJr Quite so; we are to follow the Person. We have leaders, of course, and we are to follow our leaders, but a true leader will always lead you to Christ.
Rem We are called upon to forgive one another “even as the Christ has forgiven you”, Colossians 3:13.
JTJr It is to be our outlook in matters that remittance is mentioned first: “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained”, John 20:23.
AR I had always thought of the new wine and the new skins as referring to Pentecost, but I see that it includes the gentile as well as the Jew.
JTJr Yes; it is the new man; it awaited Paul to bring that in.
Rem It says, “For he is our peace, who has made both one ... that he might form the two in himself into one new man”, Ephesians 2:14,15.
ABP You are suggesting that the “new skins” refer to the new man rather than to the assembly?
JTJr I think so.
AR And that goes through, for it says that the new wine is put into new skins and both are preserved.
JTJr It is christianity. If you try to attach it to the old man you lose everything. What is needed is a new vessel, the [p. 501] new man.
ABP All that has been said would confirm that this is Peter’s chapter. It is one whole.
JTJr I am sure that is right; and we see the whole matter at Pentecost. Think of what they contained; but the vessel did not break. They were filled with the Spirit and that could not break.
DP Christianity is not a modification of judaism but something entirely new.
JTJr Quite, and we are to be in what is entirely new. The more we are in that, the more we will see how God meets things amongst us.
EAL “So if anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new”, 2 Corinthians 5:17.
AR Does the new wine refer to the Spirit?
JTJr Yes. The new skins refer to “the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness”, Ephesians 4:24.
AR It says that both are preserved; the Spirit of God preserves the idea of the new man right on to the end.
JTJr That is right; the new man is a singular idea — not men, but man. We are called upon to put on the new man. It leads into the thought of the assembly; the assembly is composed of persons.
A-wR The apostle Paul would be the opposite to a tax-gatherer. In his letter to Philemon he speaks of putting “this to my account”, Philemon 18.
ABP What does the new garment signify?
JTJr Well, it is the idea of clothing: “No one puts a piece of a new garment upon an old garment”. There must be a new garment; it must be new throughout. I suppose the old garment would be judaism, and particularly the traditions.
SCM I suppose the new garment would be an outward expression of what we are morally.
JTJr Quite so, whereas the skin would involve death, it has come to light [p. 502] through death.
CAM The moral change takes place inside the person, but there is also the outward expression or manner of life, which would be the garment. We do not go in for ‘the cloth’, but for proper priestly clothing..
ABP Would it be seen in Elisha? He rent his own garment and took up the garment which had fallen from Elijah. It was remarked by the sons of the prophets, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha”, 2 Kings 2:15. He was clothed with power from on high, in figure.
JTJr So that the Lord could say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”, Luke 4:18. It would be the outward evidence of the Spirit.