SPIRITUAL FORMATION FOR ASSEMBLY SERVICE (1)
SPIRITUAL FORMATION FOR ASSEMBLY SERVICE (1)
JT The features of the truth presented in the epistle to the Colossians are well known to the brethren, at least it is assumed that they are well known, but it is hoped that certain features that have not been stressed may come before us at this time, and particularly the idea of hope; then the personal side is pronounced in the epistle. Paul’s own feeling and thoughts, personal thoughts, are brought forward, he not having seen the saints at Colosse; a peculiar matter, which, of course, would apply at the present time to us. We cannot speak of any links with apostolic ministry, or even with such ministry as has an apostolic character; none of us can speak much of this. The occasion therefore has to be one amongst us who know each other, and specially the younger men, many of whom have been travelling under the government of God, and have come in touch with the brethren elsewhere. The knowledge we thus have of each other is, in this sense, considerably enlarged, as compared with earlier days. It is well to keep this in mind that we are not so far away from each other in the physical sense as we used to be.
Then the names mentioned by the apostle, such as Epaphras and others, are to be noted, especially some of them who are outstanding, one of them known to the Colossians as one of themselves. The personal side therefore is important, especially if it is spiritual. Spirituality enters into our personal acquaintance with each other, and the knowledge that many of us have acquired through the recent governmental circumstances of the wars. All this would be in mind, and especially with such a man as Epaphras who was one of them, and was marked by combat for the truth and for them.
The apostle’s opening word is characteristic, “Paul, apostle of Christ Jesus, by God’s will, and Timotheus the brother, to the holy and faithful brethren in Christ which are in Colosse”, and then he says, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ continually when praying for you, having heard” (that is, what he has to say was based on testimony rendered to him by others) “having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have towards all the saints, on account of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens; of which ye heard before in the word of the truth of the glad tidings, which are come to you, as they are in all the world, and are bearing fruit and growing, even as also among you, from the day ye heard them and knew indeed the grace of God, in truth: even as ye learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow-bondman, who is a faithful minister of Christ for you, who has also manifested to us your love in the Spirit”. I have just read this section to bring out the personal side, and how it was seen in Epaphras. He is mentioned later, showing how important a personality he was in the apostle’s mind, and that there are such persons who are reliable and have influence and have care for the local position. It is a matter of the first importance that the local position should be properly cared for, and that brethren who have ability and gift should not forget that the local position in each place has to be maintained.
WH Would this reference to Timotheus “the brother” bear on the character of the epistle definitely as opening up the features of the Christian circle?
JT Quite so; he is called the brother, as if the term brother applied peculiarly to him.
AAl Was not Timotheus himself personally introduced in that way as one who was “well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium”? Acts 16: 2.
JT He is brought forward at first on those lines and is particularly noted as one of whom there was a [p. 3] good report locally. The idea of universal service, or servants, is in the Scriptures, but generally, even in Paul and Barnabas, the local position is maintained. After their first journey of service they returned to Antioch and remained a considerable time with the brethren, as if to establish the importance of the local principle and that it was not to be overshadowed even by gift. Each is to have his part in it, because Corinthians, which is the scripture that bears on that point, stresses the importance of the local position, “the assembly of God which is in Corinth”. We do not get it here or in Ephesus, so much; it is Corinth that is in mind. Just now it is a question of Colosse and the personnel mentioned, showing that one of themselves is marked by spiritual feelings and concern about the local position.
Ques Would you look for a sober recognition of the government of God as entering into our localities; placing us there with a view to filling out our part in it, and strengthening what is of God in the place?
JT Just so. The military circumstances that have preceded us are not to be overlooked, because the two wars were not simply accidental. They have to do with the government of God, and the bearing of the government of God on the saints, especially the young men, is to be noted.
HBd Would what is said as to Samuel help? It says, “his return was to Ramah; for there was his house, and there he judged Israel”.
JT It would indeed. “There was his house”. As we have it even again in Corinthians, “have ye not houses to eat and to drink in?”. The bearing of the house on the assembly position is in mind and it is striking that it should appear as early as Samuel. He had a regular circuit and although some of his family did not turn out too well, yet he did not forget his house.
MAW Is the importance of “one of you” in the last chapter striking as linking on with the local thought?
“Onesimus ... who is one of you” and “Epaphras, who is one of you”.
JT Just so; he was one of them. So that he represents what we are speaking of, the importance of the local position. The epistle to Philemon bears on all this.
Ques Would the mention of the elderhood in relation to Timothy’s gift also bear this out and stress the importance of the local position?
JT His gift, of course, was connected with Paul too, but the elderhood is important and it bears on what we are saying, because the elders are never regarded as universal; they are properly local. They are first mentioned peculiarly in Acts 14, where the apostles Paul and Barnabas chose elders in each assembly, showing that in their minds the local position was to be properly cared for.
WSS Epaphras would seem to be one who had cared for the local position, and in consequence found himself linked with the apostle in his universal service.
JT That is just what we were saying, that he was one of them that clearly cared for the local position, he combated for them. Evidently he or someone must have told Paul about the general position at Colosse, and it was to strengthen it that the epistle was written. The epistles to Corinth begin with the local position and continue on to the universal position. The apostle saying, “Thus I ordain in all the assemblies”, refers to the universal position, which is to be marked by general unity and not independency. Therefore the customs are to be the same in every assembly, which is one of the most important things that can be mentioned; the idea of general unity in what we are saying and what we teach, and what we do, in our localities.
PL Would the princes of the tribes in Numbers illustrate that unity, as each attached to a locality contributed to what is [p. 5] universal?
JT They represent that very idea, for the princes would be influential and would influence all below them for good and for unity.
Ques Would Philemon show the link between the two sides when it says, “the assembly which is in thine house”?
JT Well, that is good. It says, “Paul, prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timotheus the brother, to Philemon the beloved and our fellow-workman, and to the sister Apphia and to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the assembly which is in thine house”, that is to say, Philemon’s house, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ”. So that the position is maintained there, and the nearness of Philemon’s position to Colosse is in mind.
PHH Is the question of testimony important, Paul having had the report of what was going on in Colosse by way of accredited testimony? As we hear reports from one locality and another, are we to receive them as accredited testimony?
JT It is important to be sure that whatever becomes current in the way of information should be accredited; hence Corinthians stresses “in the mouth of two or three witnesses”, and so does Matthew. Therefore whatever is circulated in the sense of information, either as to the work of God, or as to the personnel of the service, should be accredited before circulation.
AR The apostle Paul says to the Corinthians, “It hath been declared unto me ... by them which are of the house of Chloe”. She evidently reported to the apostle and he speaks of that when writing to them.
JT He uses the expression “reported commonly” later, but that common report would be accredited in his mind, I am certain, and so would that be from the house of Chloe. Chloe was evidently a woman and she was reliable, such as Phoebe. Sisters are specially in mind for reliability, that they should be reliable in what they may [p. 6] say.
EB How do you account for the inaccuracy of the report that went out at the end of John’s gospel?
JT Well, that is to be noted too, but the Spirit of God records what Jesus did not say. If John 21 be an appendix, then it makes it all the more important that the truth should be fully accredited, and now that we have come to the end of the dispensation it is most important that nothing is given out that is not accurate. We often refer to the Bereans, and that one of them was in Paul’s company, according to Acts 20, as if the apostle would have such a one as that to correct anything that is not according to Scripture. Sometimes notions or thoughts that are given out, it may be at local readings, are circulated and found to be inaccurate and, in fact, untrue, hence the importance of having a Berean or the spirit of the Bereans in our local meetings.
Rem It is said in Deuteronomy, that if certain things are reported, we are to make diligent search before we accept them.
A M. Does the quality of faithfulness, so stressed by Paul, therefore apply not only to persons, but to words?
JT So that if a report is circulated, the words ought to be carefully analysed. We have already alluded to the expression in John 21, “Jesus did not say”. The Lord is dealing with a special minister that He had in mind, a nameless one so far, at least according to what He said. It was John, of course, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. The Lord had in mind to keep him in reserve, to be used at any time, whether it be he actually or the spirit of what he represents. He was one to be used at any time to bring out some particular feature of the truth. The Lord would stress the need for accuracy in such matters.
Rem Reverting to the support of the testimony in the locality, there is a rather remarkable verse in 1 Samuel, which perhaps would bear upon it. It says,
“[p. 7] Behold now, a man of God is in this city, and the man is held in honour; all that he says comes surely to pass. Let us now go thither: perhaps he will show us the way that we should go”, 1 Samuel 9: 6. I was thinking that was a striking testimony to what was in the city.
JT Quite so. And then the young women, how they were able to tell Saul and his servant where the man of God was. They know, showing the importance of sisters knowing in these matters. As to Colossians, the matter of the brother which was brought forward, “Timotheus the brother”, then “the holy and faithful brethren in Christ which are in Colosse”, the idea of holiness attaching to the brethren, as well as faithfulness. I am only alluding to the actual wording of the introductory address of Paul, and then what he gives thanks for. His word runs on to the hope, in verse 5, “on account of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens”. The word “heavens” is here viewed in the sense of what heaven really is, not the expanse, which would include other things. The word “heavens” here, as coming up in the New Testament, would allude to heaven itself, and what heaven is in regard to matters we are speaking of, but as to the expanse, we have to bear in mind that we have other things besides what is good in the expanse. It says in Genesis 1, “God called the expanse Heavens”, but we have to bear in mind that it is more general. Here the hope is not in the expanse, it is in the heavens, laid up in the heavens for the Colossians.
Ques Had you in mind that the hope in this connection is limited definitely to the place the assembly has and not any other heavenly family?
JT I would think so. It says, “for you”; that is to say, we have to keep in mind who is spoken of and whether the Colossians are viewed simply as a local company or whether they really represent the gentiles, which they do. So what is said to be reserved in the heavens is for the gentiles, I would think. The Jews [p. 8] are contemplated as well as the gentiles in Ephesians, but Colossians shows that the gentiles are not at any disadvantage, because the hope is for them, and it is laid up in the heavens, meaning that it is where it is reserved and preserved for them, only they have to come to it. It is a question now of where they are and what God has wrought in them because the epistle depends on what is wrought in us, not only the objective side of things, but what is wrought in us, so that we have means in ourselves of affecting ourselves.
HFN Would you give us a little help in regard to the three fold way the hope is brought in: the reference here to “the hope ... laid up ... in the heavens”, then “the hope of the glad tidings”, and finally “Christ in you the hope of glory”.
JT I am glad you bring that forward. The three-fold thought as brought in here in this epistle of hope, may be compared with the Thessalonians. It does not say that the Colossians had given it up. In the second epistle to the Thessalonians the idea of hope is dropped, whereas in the first epistle it is found, and here it is found three times. I think that it should be specially stressed that hope should mark us, because things are gradually getting worse in the world and the brethren need to be buoyed up by hope. There are going to be better things for us, but we have to wait for them. “What a man sees”, that is the present situation, political, industrial, social or whatever it be, but it is not affording anything, especially for young men and young women. All this is intended, because really God would give the youth to understand that He is thinking of them, and they may count on God anyway to come in for them circumstantially in view of certain things, such as marriage and the like, but on the whole what is so specially needed for all of us, I believe, is the idea of hope. There is little or nothing to be expected here, and so the question is as to whether we are resting in [p. 9] hope.
HFN Would it be right to link the first reference to hope with the thought of sonship, and the second with the thought of the inheritance? Then would “Christ in you the hope of glory” be the distinctive feature of the Colossian side of the mystery?
JT Quite so. God is not spreading things out for unconverted people or even merely religious people. It is a mystery. The hope that we are trusting to involves mystery. And so we are to be instructed in mystery, and hence the need specially of reading Matthew.
EJM Is it a matter for our encouragement that God is pleased to associate Himself with us as the God of hope? “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing”, Romans 15: 13.
JT I was thinking of that as what you would expect in Romans; that is to say, the fundamental truth, especially for the young. So “hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”, a very great and comforting thought, a fundamental thought. So young people are to be established in the truth as to hope. I thought I should add that.
Ques Would hope make us heavenly?
JT Well, it does, it is connected with heaven here.
WC Would that link on with chapter 3, “seek the things which are above”? If we hope for them we would seek them.
JT Quite so, “where the Christ is”. Hope, as in Romans, is a fundamental thought, and it does not make ashamed, because God recompenses us as to what we may speak of as our hope, by the fact that His love is in our hearts. It is not viewed as in heaven, it is in our hearts, “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”.
PHH Would it correspond at all to the book of Deuteronomy? I was thinking that the position of the children of Israel as they stood in the plains of Moab [p. 10] looking across the Jordan, corresponded a little with our present position. Moses takes advantage of that, somewhat like Paul here, to speak of the attractive features of the land so as to get the people’s hearts engaged with it.
JT It is not the easterly outlook that is stressed, but what is over Jordan, that is to say what any one of us may come to, certainly if we are advanced in years. We have to prepare ourselves for, perhaps, departing to be with Christ, and it is said to be “far better”. So that we are not disconsolate nor discouraged by anything, even if it be serious illness, but we are occupied with what is over Jordan. In principle it is the land. The Lord, when He said to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”, implied that the thing would be very blessed, it would be a blessed condition. That is very wonderful, I think. And so it is that any one of us may be called to depart to be with Christ, but let us have the hope too, that is to say the hope of a better condition.
AAl The apostle brings in hope in 1 Corinthians 13 as one of the things that abide. “Now abide faith, hope, love; these three things”.
Ques Was the hope linked with their love to all the saints? It says, “and the love which ye have towards all the saints”. We are going to dwell with all the saints eternally, would not that help us to love them now?
JT Yes, but we are going to dwell with Christ immediately. It is just as well for us to be practical, for if we are going to be “with Christ”, it is immediate, even if we are old or young. It is not a question of joining the throng, it is a question of being with Christ; so that it is a better thing, and that would make us more cheerful and stress the thought of hope; already hope is in the matter.
LES It is said of Abraham, “who against hope believed in hope to his becoming father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be”.
[p. 11] Would that link on with the Colossian epistle in regard to the nations?
JT Quite so, and it is not what we see, as it says, “For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”. Hope refers to what is not seen, and so we should be encouraged as to this point. Whilst there is the great and glorious thought that we are to join the heavenly, the ransomed throng, as we say, and to enter into the actual fact of sonship, because sonship is implied in the full thought of salvation in Romans 8, yet there is that which precedes that, namely what we may hope for in joining the Lord. He says to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise”. That is something to think of. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12 that he did not know whether he was in the body or out of it. But he was in paradise, and that was a truth that he would bring into his ministry. So that those who are ministering, even if old, have hope in what is immediate, in view of the Lord’s coming or of His taking them to be with Him at any time.
WH So the apostle says, “we are ... pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord”, 2 Corinthians 5: 8.
JT Quite so. The immediate thought of what the Lord will do for us pending the full end of the dispensation is to be before us; that He is thinking of us in view, of what is better, is something that very many need to be encouraged with. That brings an element of joy too, but many of us, perhaps, are not very much accustomed to joy in our experience. This may be especially so if we are ministers or gifted men, for we are apt to rest in our gift and what we are doing, whereas the joy lies in what we are coming into, the better things.
Ques Is this in any way set forth in Caleb when he says, “I brought him word again as it was in my heart”? Was hope there livingly?
JT Then he realised it at the end. When he was eighty-five he was equal to what he had been at forty-five [p. 12] or forty. Therefore what we are saying as to our having joy in our hearts is very important, especially for those of us who are older. The Lord would say, There is plenty of joy, why not have it? It is all bound up with the Lord’s doings. Whatever He may do for us, He has us in His mind, so that we may have joy now, as well as the joy that comes in with our departure to be with Him.
Ques Reference was made a moment or two ago to faith, hope and love. Would it be out of place to ask what is the difference between faith and hope?
JT Well, it is a very good question. We speak more of faith, perhaps, than we speak of hope. While faith is fundamental as to the truth and as to the ministry, hope is intended to stimulate us before things become visible, as it says, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”. That is to be in our hearts in view of possible dissolution.
Ques Have you in mind that faith is on the principle of light, while hope is really something arrived at in the way of enjoyment?
JT Well, I think hope really involves promise. The promises are very tangible. The Lord says to Philadelphia, “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”. That we are to be taken out of the great tribulation is a promise which I believe the brethren are coming to see. The fact that the Lord has made that promise, as well as other promises, is an element that affords satisfaction and joy. Then, what you say enters into Romans, as has already been remarked; that is to say, “Hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”. The thing is in our hearts, but it is based on promise, and, of course, on light too, as it says, “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal”, and these all occasion hope and encouragement and joy.
AAl Do not the two terms “faith” and “hope” seem to blend into one in 1 Corinthians 13, where it says, “the greater of these is love”, as if love is over against the other two joined together?
JT Love is the greater. It is not superlative, it is comparative. The comparison is between faith and hope, but love abides, for love is eternal. It is not based on anything in a sense; it is what God is, and what the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts.
ANW Is faith particularly connected with Abraham, whereas hope more with Sarah? It says she “hoped in God”.
JT Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. He looked for that and that was a hope. But now we have to come back to the question raised as to the difference between faith and hope. Faith is by report; that is the way it is put in Romans, “Faith then is by a report, but the report by God’s word”. Then we have what is said about hope also in Romans. Faith is a report which our souls rest in, but hope is clearly additional as something to affect us in a moral way. There is such a thing as what is unseen affording joy, and hope covers all that, for what is not seen is eternal. The soul thus learns to live in hope in that sense.
EJM Is hope linked with the progressive reception of the truth as in Romans 15? It says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that ye should abound in hope”.
JT Just so, it is a question of the power of the Holy Spirit, for things are all in the Spirit.
Rem The sojourners of the dispersion had lost everything so far as what was material and earthly was concerned, but the apostle writes to them and says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has begotten us again [p. 14] to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead”, 1 Peter 1: 3.
JT “A living hope”, not simply hope, but a living one, which is just a strengthening thought.
Ques Would it be right to bring forward the first verse of Hebrews 11, “faith is the substantiating of things hoped for”?
JT That shows that faith and hope are intimately linked together. Faith, of course, is the great fundamental thought and gathers up everything, you might say, in itself, but then when we specialise, we have to come to love, and see that it is greater than the other two. That is to say, it is the great essential thing that emanates from God.
EG Peter in his first epistle says, “whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom though not now looking, but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory”.
JT That is intelligible, in view of Peter’s writing to the saints of the dispersion. He was the apostle of the circumcision, but they were dispersed, which would mean that they were suffering, and he encourages them in that way. “Filled with the glory”, as it goes on to say, would imply the Spirit, of course. So that the Jewish Christians in that day would be filled with the glory, but the glory as faith would lay hold of it through the gospel.
SB Would it be right to bring the blessed Lord into this question of hope? It is said of Him in Psalm 22, “thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts”, and then it says in Hebrews, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame”. The word hope is not used there, but is it not very much implied?
JT The joy coming in there, and the Lord Himself saying that He had been made to hope, is very remarkable; the joy that was set before Him, showing that the Lord Jesus Himself as Man entered into all these matters; He leads [p. 15] in them.
AAl Is that seen too in Psalm 16, “my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore”?
JT These are Psalms, of course, that the saint feeds on, as furnishing food from the experience of Christ, but they are not on the level of Colossians and Ephesians.
ECM Does the word, “the word of the truth of the glad tidings”, involve the hope that you have dwelt on?
JT It does. It shows how the gospel is blended into all these matters. The Colossians were gentiles, they were not such as Peter wrote to, the saints of the dispersion, the gentiles are not viewed as dispersed. We are just set here and God has converted us here where we are and we have to battle with the world as it is. We are not in the Jews’ position, we are gentiles, and we get here the elements of the gospel involving what we need, that is, joy in our hearts through faith.
AWGT Is not that confirmed in relation to the gentiles in Ephesians 2 where we are said to have “no hope”?
JT That is, of course, over against what the believer has. Ephesians contemplates the Jew and the gentile. We shall come to that later, no doubt; but now we are dealing, for the moment, with the gentiles represented in the Colossian assembly, and what the gentiles had through the gospel. So we have in verse 6, “bearing fruit and growing, even as also among you, from the day ye heard them and knew indeed the grace of God, in truth: even as ye learned from Epaphras”.
PHH Does it raise at all the question of the type of gospel nowadays, whether there is a peculiarly heavenly touch in the preaching such as is known amongst us?
JT [p. 16] I believe the custom that the Lord has brought about of the brethren having prayer in their houses in view of their gospel testimony on the Lord’s day evenings, would tend to bring about a higher level of the gospel testimony. Usually, we have to say that most of the hearers are already saints, or the children of saints, and it is all the more necessary that we should preach a full gospel, which would mean that the young people are to be encouraged in the line of hope. The gospel involves hope, the hope that makes not ashamed, because of the tangible thing, that is, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts and by no less a person than the Holy Spirit Himself. So that I think prayer for the gospel before the meeting is leading to a better and more intelligent apprehension as to the truth of the glad tidings.
JSE In pursuance of that, would you remark on the expression, “having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus”?
JT “Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have towards all the saints”, and so forth. Then we have the word heard in regard to Paul himself, “from the day ye heard them and knew indeed the grace of God, in truth: even as ye learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow-bondman, who is a faithful minister of Christ for you, who has also manifested to us your love in the Spirit”. That is to say, Epaphras would represent the spirit that we are speaking of, the higher level of things in the gospel, which had laid hold of the Colossians, and Epaphras, who was one of them, informed the apostle. He says, “Who has also manifested to us your love in the Spirit”, so that love in the Spirit is evidently the thing that we are led up to in this paragraph. It is something that is to be looked for now, because of the level to which things are being brought in the ministry. Although it may be to fewer numbers, yet the quality is [p. 17] better.
JG Would this be supported by verse 28, “whom we announce, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, to the end that we may present every man perfect in Christ”?
JT Well, that is, of course, Paul himself, Paul’s ministry itself. But we were trying to work out a little this matter of the gospel as it is preached now amongst us, in our little gatherings. It is to be of a better quality. When we come to verse 28, of course, we come to Paul’s ministry, his preaching, what he had in mind, but what we have in mind now is to make the most of things as they are. Even although the numbers may not be large, there should be something there that ministers the truth even to young people, so that their hearts are stirred up by the presentation of something that they can count on in this present disturbed world.
HPW In speaking of the improved quality of the gospel, do you think that there is something particularly attractive on the side of joy, which would counteract the elements that are abroad in the world? I am thinking of “joy in the Holy Spirit”.
JT That is exactly what I was thinking, and that we come now to the Holy Spirit, “who has also manifested to us your love in the Spirit”, what the Colossians had in the Spirit. I have no doubt you are accustomed to what I am saying as to preaching, and the question would arise, Who is to preach, and how often is he preaching, and is he looking after the home front, and all that. Now we find that we have prayers, and the young people and even the young boys in the families are drawn into the prayers, and this fact is not to be overlooked. They are learning to have part in the things of God. Even although the result may not be as great as we might wish, yet the quality is better, and I believe that is of very great importance. The apostle’s allusion here to “your love in the Spirit” is to show what Christianity really is. It is not simply that they have received the Spirit, but the love that they have is in the Spirit. We [p. 18] have to learn to love in the Spirit; not simply to love persons that we may have special predilections for, but to love in the Spirit, which rises to the thought of love as in God Himself.
WC Would preaching of that character lead to assembly material being secured?
JT Precisely. That is just what I was thinking. You have something that the Lord can use at once, that He can lay His hand on at once. If love is in the Spirit in the gathering, as it was at Colosse, there is something that the Lord can lay His hand upon.
WC Is not that indicated in John 4 where the Lord leads on from what you might call the gospel to worship?
JT Quite so; and it leads on to a person like the woman who left her waterpot and went her way into the city to testify. This is the sort of things that the Lord can lay His hand on; persons that can testify, and the state of the local assembly as characterised by love in the Spirit.
PL So that Onesimus, the convert, is introduced as “a brother beloved”. Is that the quality?
JT Quite so. “A brother beloved”.
EuR Does Acts 26: 18, give us the high level of the gospel? “Receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified”.
JT Very good.
AR Does it not seem to start with receiving or knowing, “and knew indeed the grace of God, in truth”? Would that be the start, and would it be included in the gospel that he speaks of, “the word of the truth of the glad tidings”?
JT Very good. The word of it, not simply that you preach the gospel, but the word of it, and therefore we have in Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season”.
WSS We are not to be “moved away from the hope of the glad tidings”. It would be in our hearts in the preaching, would it not?
JT Therefore the glad tidings conveys the idea of hope, so that we are not droopy or downcast, we are alive. Caleb says, “Jehovah has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years ... and now behold, I am this day eighty-five years old”, Joshua 14: 10. Therefore if a brother is old, the question is, Is he living in the truth?
PHH What did you mean just now by emphasising the word? “The word of the glad tidings” here, and “Preach the word” in Timothy.
JT “The word” conveys the mind of God in the thing. It is not simply the formal thing, the terms of the gospel, but the word of it conveys the mind of God.
Ques The apostle says, “Even as ye learned from Epaphras”. Does the word learned suggest the higher quality of the preaching?
JT I was thinking that the young people in the houses of the brethren are brought into the thing in these Lord’s day evening prayers. Sometimes you hear young brothers joining in the prayers, and they are learning. One of the most important things, as we have been remarking, is the youth, and how the truth is brought to them. Then the question is raised as to how they are taking it on and being influenced by it. A man like Epaphras would be just the man to help them. He is “one of you”, and that would mean that he was one of them characteristically, I would think. He would thus take on things and teach them to the young.