THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST AND CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST AND CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
JT I think it is helpful to connect the first epistle to the Corinthians with the position of Moses when he went up the mount to receive the instructions in regard to the tabernacle. The first epistle has relation, I think, to that section of Scripture. The apostle could not come to the Corinthians on account of their condition, which answers, in a way, to Moses being unable to come into the camp with the tables of the covenant; he could not come into the camp on account of the conditions which existed there. The second epistle corresponds with the renewal of the law; things were now on an entirely new basis, hence you have the shining of Moses’ face. I think the first epistle shows how the absence of Christ tests the saints. The first epistle corresponds to the first giving of the law; Moses, having gone up to the mount, could not bring into the camp the wonderful light he had received. He could not introduce it on account of the evil there, and, correspondingly, Paul could not come to Corinth because of the condition there.
In the second epistle you have things on an entirely different basis; that is, on the basis of the new covenant, and hence it corresponds with the second giving of the law; and connected with that you get the shining of Moses’ face. God was there coming out on the ground of sovereignty, of sovereign mercy. The first epistle shows that the absence of Christ tested the hearts of the saints, as the absence of Moses had tested Israel. They said, “as for this Moses — we wot not what is become of him” (Exodus 32:1)
[p. 303] and hence their hearts took license for self-gratification. You cannot have the introduction of divine wisdom unless the heart is right. The absence of Moses tested Israel as to whether they were capable of receiving God’s thoughts in regard to the tabernacle. What Moses was engaged with during the forty days was receiving God’s thoughts in regard to His world, but the condition of things in the camp precluded the introduction of them.
When the hearts of the saints are not right the headship of Christ will not be realised. Headship involves the introduction of God’s wisdom; the tabernacle represented that, but you cannot have headship apart from a right state of heart. Moses’ influence was withdrawn, and the people being left to themselves, their idolatrous state was exposed. That is the position in which the assembly has been left here on earth.
In Exodus 24 the law had been received; it was written in a book, and read in the hearing of the people, and they accepted all the obligations involved. And now the Lord has gone up on high, and has left commandments and principles for us, and it is from heaven that we get the full unfolding of divine wisdom. Headship was fully seen after Christ went to heaven, but the question is, whether the saints are obedient. He says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter”, John 14:15,16. The Comforter would reveal all things to the disciples, Israel were baptised to Moses in the cloud and in the sea, so we are baptised to Christ; it is a question of the authority of the Lord: He has left us here as subject to His authority. If you are not subject to the authority of Christ by keeping His commandments in His absence, you are not prepared for the disclosures which are involved in headship.
Ques. What [p. 304] is idolatry?
JT It is the diverting of our affections from Christ by any object whatever. It is simply a question of where the affections are. Israel professed not to know what had become of Moses, although he had left them only a few days before. In Christendom the absence of Christ is forgotten, and people do not know where He is except in terms. Then licence is taken and idolatrous principles are accepted. According to their own account, Moses had led Israel out of the land of Egypt. I think the truth was that they did not want to know, for they must really have known, because all was public. Moses ascended the mount before their eyes and the cloud was on the mount. There were evidences as to where Moses was, but they did not want to know; they wanted a leader of their own. Their true state was exposed.
Ques How does 1 Corinthians 10 affect us?
JT I think the practical effect is that saints get exercised as to their associations. We are in the midst of a Babylonish world, and so we are exposed to idolatry. In Stephen’s address in Acts 7, this incident, the worship of the calf, is connected with Babylon. Idolatry was the ground of God’s transporting them into Babylon. We are in the midst of a Babylonish world, a world that is characterised by idolatry, and the exercise of every true hearted christian is, whether we are in any sense recognising it. It is in that way that the breaking of bread is introduced in chapter 10. It is the bearing of the Supper upon you, not as convened, but as having to do with the world around you. It is fellowship that is in view. In Exodus 32 it was not open idolatry. Aaron called it “a feast to Jehovah”, Exodus 32:5. It was idolatry connected with the name of Jehovah, and the people were called to the feast.
The name of the Lord is today connected with [p. 305] a Babylonish world and it is idolatrous. People recognise the Lord outwardly, but their hearts are far away from Him, and they in no way feel His absence. Those who love Him, on the other hand, feel His absence, and as far as the world’s overtures are concerned they hang their harps on the willows. You are not going to join in with the world around you if Christ is absent. What is called idolatry here is sitting down “to eat and drink and rose up to play”; people enjoying themselves in the absence of Christ. They are perfectly satisfied with their surroundings in the absence of Christ. That is what marks Christendom, whereas there ought to be a sense of bereavement.
What the apostle says is, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” That is the point. It is the communion of the blood of the One whom you profess to love, and you are committed to that. How then can you recognise what is idolatrous, what disputes His rights? His blood poured out is a perfect testimony to His love; so He has a claim upon our affections. The blood is the life.
Rem We should be ashamed to be associated with the world in Christ’s absence in view of that.
JT I think so; the blood is the witness of His love for us. A man’s life is the most precious thing possible; so with the Lord. He surrendered what was most precious, even His life. In that way the Holy Spirit appeals to the affections of the saints as to what they are going on with in this world. There may seem no harm in it, but any association or combination formed in this world other than the result of the gospel is Babylon, and it disputes the authority of Christ.
Ques Is it a question of fellowship?
JT That is the point. The first part of the chapter brings before us the absence of Christ, and [p. 306] in view of it the terrible seriousness of idolatry, He brings forward what happened to Israel as a warning. You cannot escape the governmental dealings of God if you disregard the authority of Christ. The disregard of the authority of Christ brings down the judgment of God. The Supper is introduced in connection with the fellowship, but the first part of the chapter is in connection with the governmental dealings of God on account of sinful disregard of the absence of Christ. There is no possibility of escaping the consequences if our affections move away from Christ. We all know what our hearts are. We naturally love independency, but independency is inconsistent with christian fellowship.
Rem The world excludes God, but christian fellowship excludes the world.
JT Quite so. I think the blood is brought in as an appeal to show how utterly inconsistent it is for christians to touch idolatry; “dearly beloved, flee from idolatry”.
The cup sets forth to us divine love. It represents to us the life of Christ given up; not merely that He died, but the Lord Jesus had a life as man here in this world in relation to Israel. He had affections in this respect. He was Messiah, the King. To Him all the promises referred, and that life He surrendered. We forget too much what it was to Christ to have all His links as a man and as Messiah broken.
Rem By giving up His life He broke those links; death broke those links.
JT Yes, and the Lord Jesus in death surrendered all that He had as man. Everything was real to Christ, everything was divinely real. The state of Israel affected Him; the state of the temple at Jerusalem affected Him, because He was related as man to all these things. It is true, of course, that all would be secured by Him in another way; that [p. 307] is through His death; but as in the flesh here, the Lord had affections in regard of His earthly people, and these were very real to Him. He drank of the fruit of the vine with His disciples; that was joy. He had joy, and a joy that He could not have in the same way again. When He would drink it again it should be in a new way.
Rem He cherished all the bonds that God had formed.
JT Probably we do not think enough of that.
Rem This aspect of His death is very precious. The bonds in Christ’s eye were holy bonds. So He came into this life cherishing all those bonds that Jehovah had formed, and He gave up the life in which they were enjoyed.
JT Yes, we must take all that into account in order to see the full meaning of His blood. And rightly to estimate the gift of God you must see what Christ was here under the eye of the Father, “the only begotten Son”, John 1:18; John 3:18. It is what Christ was to God in manhood. Many of us here can recall what trouble a pamphlet on the sufferings of Christ occasioned Mr. Darby. Many did not understand it but we ought to be able to enter into the Lord’s personal sufferings. We ought to enter into what He suffered in having all those bonds broken.
Rem He will have the joy of making those bonds good again.
JT That is very touching. He will yet bring all together. In Isaiah 11 you have the stem of Jesse and the root of Jesse, and the tribes come under His influence. “The envy also of Ephraim shall depart ... Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim”, Isaiah 11:13. It is in that way unity is established under Christ. It is established by His influence.
Rem But we are getting the good of it now.
JT Yes, but outward unity is now anticipative.
[p. 308] The Lord brought a unity to pass while here on earth. There were the twelve, but that was broken up, and that was a terrible sorrow to Him. His life, in a sense, was with that circle that had been formed around Him by His ministry. Judas’ defection broke up that fellowship, and He went into death. “His life is taken from the earth”, Acts 8:33.
Rem Messiah was cut off.
JT That was a solemn thing to Christ, to whom everything belonged. In resurrection He renews the bonds. We anticipate the re-union of Judah and Ephraim. Our unity has been brought to pass by the influence of Christ, and we cannot have it maintained without the influence of Christ.
Rem Christ has shed His blood and brought the love of God to us. We must not form links in connection with this scene from which He is absent. That is the force of it here.
JT The first part of the chapter refers to His authority over us and what tests us while He is away, but then you come to fellowship, and you have the thought of unity there. The point of it is, that you cannot do as you please. In chapter 12 you cannot minister to the assembly as you please; you are corrected by the unity. In chapter 12 the truth of the body is brought in to counteract independency in ministry. You cannot be independent in the exercise of your gift; but chapter 10 is to correct independency of walk; you are amenable to discipline because of the fellowship: “we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread”. We commit ourselves to the unity, and it is inconsistent with it to be independent.
Ques Why is conscience brought in?
JT You are set for the good of others; while maintaining the liberty which intelligence gives as to God’s creatures, you waive your right because of [p. 309] the conscience of a less intelligent christian. You are not insisting on any right, because you are set for the good of all.
The bread is the communion of the body of Christ. The body of Christ refers to that in which God’s will was carried out; the blood refers to the giving up of His life. In His body there was the carrying out of the divine will: “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God”, Hebrews 10:9. The Lord’s body was the vessel in which the divine will was carried out, so it is, “by the which will we are sanctified”, Hebrews 10:10. Your body is to be here for the will of God; in that way you are to be sanctified. You cannot do your own will if you are in the communion of Christ’s body.
Ques There we are in the truth of headship?
JT It makes way for headship; the communion of Christ’s body involves that we are sanctified, and to be sanctified means that we are here for God’s will.
The Lord introduces an entirely new kind of food for humanity. His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him; that is the manna — “angels’ food”, Psalm 78:25. God opened the windows of heaven and rained manna, the food of angels; it is really obedience, because the angels always do His will, and Christ introduced that principle on earth. His delight was to do the will of God; then He went into death to set aside our wills, so that our bodies should be the vessels of the divine will.
Ques “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4)?
JT That refers to man’s proper place of obedience; what sustains this is manna. Christ is manna, as having carried out God’s will in every circumstance.
Rem In that way He goes into death rather than that the will of God should fall to the ground.
JT I think it is an immense thing to see what manna is. It is an entirely new kind of sustenance; the natural mind cannot understand it. It is morally the food in heaven, angels’ food; and God gives that food to man in the wilderness. The Lord introduced it here. God’s will should be done on earth as in heaven.
Rem Man can only get divine support as he walks in obedience.
JT The Israelites learned that at the end of their course. Deuteronomy introduced it after the forty years in the wilderness. There we are told that “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live”, Deuteronomy 8:3. The Lord began there. He had not a will to correct; He began with the book of Deuteronomy.
Rem The temptation was that He should make bread.
JT And He would not do it, because He had no word for it.
Ques In that way He is qualified to be the Head and the Leader?
JT I think so. He begins His career as a servant on that ground. His meat was to do the will of God.
Rem The communion of His body would be that by which the will of man is excluded.
JT The manna is Christ here doing the will of God. We are here in the wilderness for God’s will, and Christ is food for us in that light. The Lord had not to go through the wilderness to have His will subdued, as Israel had — “to humble thee and to prove thee”, Deuteronomy 8:2. He began His career as a man with Deuteronomy, which was the end of the wilderness journey.
Rem The only part of the wilderness Christ had was the wilderness according to God.
JT “All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not”. That is a great principle to have established among the saints. You are not only amenable, but we have to answer one another. We cannot be [p. 311] independent; we must consider others. Many young christians are damaged because they do not see this. You cannot do what you please; as actuated by love, you consider for others.
Rem You must be true to the One who is not here, and look after the ones who are here.
JT Quite so. I was speaking lately of the kind of people that compose the heavenly city, people that have been formed by the ministry of Paul. This chapter follows upon chapter 9. What spirit actuated Paul? He surrendered all his rights, whatever they were, for the good of the saints. Paul’s ministry produces the kind of people who compose the heavenly city. They are actuated by love, and hence the city has the divine character. It comes “down from God out of heaven” (Revelation 21:2) hence it exerts influence on earth. We are set for the common good now; we shall be in the same happy employment then. This second epistle corresponds with Moses’ action after he came down from the mount. It was a question of putting things right; hence he pitched the tabernacle outside — “afar off from the camp”, Exodus 33:7. The communion of the body of Christ is a most important point, because it excludes the will of man, and this leads to the truth of the one body. The one body is for the carrying out of God’s will. The one body is for the continuation of Christ’s body. In His body here He carried out God’s will; and in death He set aside our wills, and now there is the continuation of His body in the saints — a vessel for carrying out God’s will; so how can I do what I please?
Ques Why is the cup spoken of here before the bread?
JT It was as a rebuke. It shows how far they had gone astray. The apostle says it is Christ’s blood; that is what you are committed to, and you are going into idolatry? It was an appeal to their [p. 312] affections. It is the communion of the blood of Christ; the One whom you profess to love, and yet you are going after other things!
There is another principle here of immense importance, and that is what you cannot do. “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils”. “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” We enter into a tremendous conflict in associating ourselves with idolatry. The Lord has a tremendous issue with Christendom; what the end will be remains to be seen. They have professed to call upon His name and they are going on with idolatry; and the Lord is jealous.
Ques “Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave”, Song of Songs 8:6. Is that the principle?
JT I think so. The Lord certainly will not tolerate it, and the result will be appalling, because He is the strongest.
Rem Idolatry involves the displacement of Christ, so that the principle will come near to us in regard to what is spoken of as idolatry.
JT It refers to christians enjoying themselves in the things of this world. Idolatry is what characterises the world system, as built up by the god of this world. Total exclusion of Christ marks it. Do you not believe that Satan is behind all this enormous system called Christendom? It is his formation. The world, although nominally christian, is distinctly anti-christian.
In the absence of Moses, Aaron introduced the worship of the calf and called it a feast of Jehovah. Leadership in Christendom has given way. The responsible ones have given way to the influence of the people. A leader ought to lead. The true leader leads, he does not follow the people. It was not that Aaron did not know better; he gave way to the people. What are the clergy today? They are in the hands of the people. The true servant [p. 313] stands for Christ. Moses represents the true servant, the man who stands for the rights of God. The man of God is the man for the moment. Aaron was for the people, Moses was for God. If we stand for God we shall help people rightly.
The introduction of the worship of the calf into the feast of Jehovah corresponds with Christendom today. The world was taken over by the church, but the name of Christ was still maintained, hence the associating of Christ’s name with the abominations of the world. Romanism took over the pagan world, and Protestantism has a great deal of what is pagan. Babylon has daughters begotten of her.
Ques What is your thought as to things sold in the shambles?
JT God’s rights in creation. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”, Psalm 24:1. You do not admit that anything, even if offered to idols, belongs to the idol. It belongs to God. You refuse it, not because it is not clean, but because you are afraid of stumbling a brother. But maintaining God’s rights in His creation is, so far, the refusal of idolatry. It is a creature of God; you do not admit the idol’s claim at all.