PETER'S FIRST EPISTLE AS BEARING ON THE PRESENT MOMENT (4)
PETER’S FIRST EPISTLE AS BEARING ON THE PRESENT MOMENT (4)
JT The mind is particularly stressed in the beginning of this chapter, and it may be helpful to call attention to that faculty especially, because of its place in the service of God! It enters much into the Lord’s supper. The saints often consider that the heart is the leading thought, but it would seem as if the mind is divinely given to have control, especially as it is said that we, that is christians, have the mind of Christ, meaning the thinking faculty of Christ, so that growth in the knowledge of Christ should be before us especially as to our minds. We have already had reference to the “pure mental milk of the word” 1 Peter 2:2, showing that the idea of the mind is to have a great place with us in the service of God, that our minds should grow as partaking of the pure mental milk of the word.
JS Is it seen here as an arm of defence, “Arm yourselves with the same mind”? 1 Peter 4:1.
JT It is. The word “arm” would allude to military activity, and if we are to use the mind in that sense it is to be controlled. We are to be controlled, so that our minds may be tempered with grace. The law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ — grace and truth.
AR Is that seen in the end of Romans 7 where it says, “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”?
JT I have often thought of that, “I myself”. Particular stress is laid on the word ‘self’ — oneself.
JRHSr Is this military allusion something like the exhortation to Timothy to take his share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ?
JT Just so; that allusion is very apt I would say. A young man is to take his share in suffering as [p. 61] a good soldier.
AAT Do you distinguish between oneself and one’s mind in that we are to control the mind?
JT Well, it is the faculty by which we control the whole body.
Rem Mr. Darby renders “myself” emphatically in the end of Romans 7.
WFW How would Philippians 2:5 fit in, “For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”?
JT It fits in because it refers to Christ who had been in the form of God but had taken the form of man, and further what characterised Him as Man.
Ques One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. Does that involve a control of the mind?
JT I would think so. Self-control: the reference would be to the person himself, to his own consciousness.
CCT “Have your mind on the things that are above” Colossians 3:2, does that come into this matter?
JT Quite so. That is a peculiar reference in Colossians, that epistle being a link between Romans and Ephesians.
Ques. Involving state?
JT I would say that.
JRH Is this kind of suffering through the refusal of the flesh, rather than for the testimony?
JT Well, the passage would tell us: “Christ, then, having suffered for us in the flesh” 1 Peter 4:1 — the article is not in the original here; we have already noted the absence of the article, it is a question of language and the use of language, so that the stress is on “flesh”, the condition of the Lord as having become flesh. It is said, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” John 1:14, showing there was a change: this may be seen in the Lord Jesus and the other divine Persons; it is emphasising the idea [p. 62] of change.
JRH It goes on to say, “For he that has suffered in the flesh has done with sin” 1 Peter 4:1.
JT The “he” there is impersonal or abstract I would say, but the full bearing of it refers to Christ. The thing was fully set out in Him. But we want to get this matter of the mind. The chapter begins: “Christ, then, having suffered for us in the flesh” — as it might read literally — “do ye” — ye is emphatic — “also arm yourselves with the same mind”; that is the mind of Christ, only in this sense, that He refused all thought of sin, absolutely refused it. But then the teaching leads on to ourselves, so it says. “for he that has suffered in flesh has done with sin”, — that is to say the matter is settled, we have done with it — “no longer to live the rest of his time in the flesh” — the article again omitted — “to men’s lusts, but to God’s will” 1 Peter 4:1,2. So that the teaching leads on to ourselves.
JTJr Does the suffering allude to the cross?
JT I would think so. The reference, of course, is to 1 Peter 3:17, 18: “For it is better, if the will of God should will it, to suffer as well-doers than as evildoers; for Christ indeed has once suffered for sins”. So the reference is to the cross, and the thought is carried on into the fourth chapter in the sense of armour, that we should arm ourselves with the same mind.
Rem Psalm 78 would show that there is the possibility of avoiding the issue; the sons of Ephraim, armed bowmen, turned back in the day of battle. They really did not maintain this outlook. But the Spirit of God being here, we would have every equipment for the conflict. It is a question of being maintained in our minds in relation to the cross.
JT Therefore we should be taught as to that. David refers to it in Psalm 144:1, “Jehovah … teacheth my hands to war, my fingers to fight”. The fingers would show that it is a matter of detail.
[p. 63] Ques Would it suggest that resistance to sin involves suffering, especially in the attitude of mind?
JT It is bound to, I would say, because the flesh itself is militant; it becomes militant in a believer unless it is thoroughly under control, that is to say, that the man is under control himself.
AR It says that the flesh lusts against the Spirit, that is what is going on inside.
BH It says that “he that ruleth his spirit” is better “than he that taketh a city” Proverbs 16:32. Does that enter into this?
JT It does indeed, showing how our own spirits can be restless and useless, or worse than useless; and therefore if a man controls his own spirit he is greater that he that takes a city.
WL In that way would you say this arming is against oneself?
JT That is the way it reads, “no longer to live the rest of his time in the flesh to men’s lusts, but to God’s will” 1 Peter 4:2. So that it would be a question of arming oneself against oneself, so that one is entirely subject to the will of God, as Christ was; as He said, “Lo, I come … to do, O God, thy will” Hebrews 10:7.
Ques Is the mind then made to dominate the flesh?
JT Well, just so; only it takes on a more spiritual character than simply the activity of the mind by itself, because the Spirit of God must have His place if there be conflict.
JRH It helps much to see that Peter’s reference to the flesh here is not in any bad sense but rather the human condition in which Christ was.
JT Quite so. It is Christ’s condition as Man down here.
Rem I think your remark that the flesh is always militant is something we should take careful notice [p. 64] of. It implies that there is never a moment when the flesh is quiescent unless we are actively in control of the situation.
JT That is why Romans enters so much into all Scripture as basic and instructive as to every side of the truth that we are dealing with.
JHE Paul says, “I die daily” 1 Corinthians 15:31.
Rem So that Romans 8:6 says, “The mind of the flesh is death”; it is predominantly that.
JT Just so.
WL In that regard will you make a distinction between “in flesh” and “after the flesh”?
JT 1 Peter 4: 6 says, “For to this end were the glad tidings preached to the dead also” — that is, those that are dead now; they were not dead then, and the gospel was preached to them — “that they might be judged, as regards men, after the flesh, but live, as regards God, after the Spirit”. That is to say, the idea of “after the flesh” is a characteristic position as to those to whom the preaching was in the early days alluded to, in chapter 3 as well as in chapter 4. So that subsequent to the preaching the question would be whether the ‘living’ afterwards would be as regards men or as regards God.
EAL Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:3, “But if also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost; in whom the god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine forth for them”.
JT They are lost, which is a characteristic word, an awful word; a class of persons that are absolutely lost. The gospel is veiled to them. It is a judicial position.
JWD In Romans 12 after the body is presented as a living sacrifice it speaks of the mind being renewed. Is that something specific and special? The renewal comes at the beginning and remains.
JT “Transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” Romans 12:2. That is clearly the christian’s mind.
GMcP Would not the reference to the healed demoniac help us? He was clothed and in his right mind.
JT Quite so, in his right mind. We have a similar allusion in Timothy, “a spirit ... of wise discretion” 2 Timothy 1:7. The note says, ‘A quiet, sound or sober mind’; a very good word for young men especially.
RWS The sins enumerated in verse 3 represent gross sins, do they not?
JT I think they do. I think the remark has been made that if Paul is dealing with the truth he goes to the root of things, whereas Peter goes to the fruit, the effects of it; and that is the idea here.
ANW Is that why Philippians 2 goes deeper and higher than what we get here, in connection with the mind of Christ and His mighty stoop from the position of Deity?
JT It does indeed; we do not get anything exceeding Philippians 2 in that sense. It is a question of Christ as Man and what characterised Him, the mind that characterised Him. It was “also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God … humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” Philippians 2:6,8.
GVD Would you say that Joseph had a sound mind in that he refused the advances of Potiphar’s wife? He said, “How should I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9.
JT A very good reference and it is particularly for young men and young women, though it is from Genesis, and Genesis is a book of old men more. But this allusion to Joseph is to him as a young man, and the characteristic qualities of young men are [p. 66] depicted in Joseph. So he says, How can I do it? He was well armed against the blandishments of Potiphar’s wife.
But now we should consider the full bearing of Peter’s remarks, because I think this epistle is of great importance at the present time. So he goes on to say, “For the time past is sufficient for us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles” — so that it is not simply a matter of Jews, but Jews among gentiles that are “walking in lasciviousness, lusts, wine-drinking, revels, drinkings, and unhallowed idolatries. Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same sink of corruption, speaking injuriously of you; who shall render account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” 1 Peter 4:3 - 5. That is the Lord Jesus. He is ready to judge but He is slow to do it, being with God about it as desiring that all should be saved. The principle is that there should be salvation unto all — it is available to all; and therefore God is slow to anger, slow to wrath.
Rem And yet the psalm says, “Thou art to be feared, and who can stand before thee when once thou art angry?” Psalm 76:7. As though God is slow to it but will come to it eventually. I wondered if it would bear on your thought of government yesterday?
JT It is wonderful to think of God as He is moving outside this building now, as it were, moving in His governmental way, not to destroy men but to hold them back from evil. He that now hinders will hinder, until He be taken out of the way. It is wonderful, I think, to think of God in that activity while we are here today.
JTJr Does that thought enter into the local assembly? The local assembly is to be ready to judge, is it not, as things come up?
JT Just so, and that is the great protection that we have, that the assembly has power to deal with [p. 67] sin — it has authority. It is a very great matter and therefore our care meetings are of great value too. We have not got elders exactly but we have care. The word ‘care’ is most expressive because it means that we care for the things of God; and we have to use judgment, sometimes even to the point of withdrawal. We used to speak of ‘putting away’, but now it is ‘withdrawal’, which is more accurate.
AR Is that why it says that judgment begins from the house of God?
JT The allusion would be to Ezekiel 9. Judgment is to begin from the house of God, as we get here in verse 17; but it is linked up with Ezekiel 9 where the man with the inkhorn is present to record everything accurately.
Ques The change of term from ‘putting away’, as used years ago, to the more correct word of ‘withdrawing’ does not in any sense involve the diminution of the power to deal with sin?
JT No, indeed. It would never do for a moment to give up the thought of dealing with sin, because God has given us the power to do it — the authority to do it too.
ANW In saying that you would act on the line of withdrawal you would still have 1 Corinthians 5 in mind, would you not, where the expression used is, “put away”?
JT That stands as Scripture. It is only a question of the word that is used and God helped us maybe twenty years or more ago on that very point, The question was raised in opposition to the truth and the answer was that both terms were true, both ‘putting away’ and ‘withdrawing’; they both had the same force.
Ques Does not the one relate to what is done as before God and the other to the public position we need to take in view of the [p. 68] breakdown?
JT Quite so. We are not obliged to walk with evil people for we can withdraw; we cannot put away, but we can withdraw.
Rem But in any case, sin is repudiated as before God.
JT And so the apostle in that passage, 1 Corinthians 5, finally ends up with, “Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves”. Remove him.
OW Would you say something about 1 Timothy 4:1? “But the Spirit speaks expressly, that in latter times some shall apostatise from the faith, giving their mind to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy”.
JT Well, it says, “in latter times”; we have to decide as to the time we are speaking in. We are speaking now in 1948, and we are to know the things that have happened that bear on the truth. One is not free to refer in public to certain religious associations because we do not want to draw out opposition unnecessarily. I say unnecessarily; but there is a system to which that scripture especially applies. It says, “Some shall apostatise from the faith”. Then what are the forbiddings?
OW “Forbidding to marry, bidding to abstain from meats, which God has created for receiving with thanksgiving for them who are faithful and know the truth” 1 Timothy 4:3.
JT Quite so, and that all refers to a certain system. While it is not necessary to refer to systems by name, because it might incur opposition unnecessarily, at the same time we might as well have the truth privately, and carry it out too.
SMcC Is it not important in regard to what you are saying that in preaching the word of God we abstain as much as possible from naming these systems?
JT It is just as well to avoid it. There is no need to incur opposition unless there is a point in [p. 69] it of gaining the truth, if that is what is in your mind. That system I referred to is not so flagrant now as it used to be, and moreover there is that which is called trade unionism, which is worse, really; that is, it is dominating men’s minds, more than it used to. I am not afraid to mention that name. But verse 4 of our chapter says, “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same sink of corruption” 1 Peter 4:4. Notice the word is “run”, showing that the system in mind used to be more flagrant than it is now, it is more quiescent now and we are thankful for it. Other things have come into prominence, but that has receded. It is there, however, and the book of Revelation would tell us plainly what God thinks about it. Revelation 18 especially tells us what God thinks about it, and the word “Hallelujah” is used in connection with its destruction.
Rem In that sense the enemy can change his troops and the form of attack to what he thinks will give the best result for his end.
JT Quite so. And we know how skilful men are with the use of words and phrases: “well-turned words”, indeed, Peter says.
ANW Is that why the apostle Paul uses the word “that” in connection with what restrains as well as ‘he’ that restrains? He leaves it undefined, but we are close to what it means.
JT “That which restrains” refers to government, I would think, and we thank God for government and pray about it every Monday night. Then there is “he who restrains” which would obviously be the blessed Holy Spirit.
EAL Speaking of governments, the government of this country has now ruled that communists are an illegal company, and any who claim to belong to them are reported and jailed if they go on with this [p. 70] link.
JT A very remarkable thing, and we give thanks for it, too, that God is restraining things. In all this Peter enlarges on the wisdom that we need as christians. He says, “Be sober therefore, and be watchful unto prayers” 1 Peter 4:7.
AM In that connection will you say why Peter speaks of covering sins; that “love covers a multitude of sins” 1 Peter 4:8, when he has said so much on the line of exposing the true character of sin?
JT I think it is to bring out what christianity is in every day life, so to speak, that we are not on the line of exposing unnecessarily. If we have to expose sin it must be taken up authoritatively in the assembly; if we have to deal with it, we do deal with it. At the same time there is the daily walk of the christian and his daily conversation, and in that he is gracious and forgiving and would cover sins rather than expose them.
JHE “Tell it not in Gath” 2 Samuel 1:20, that is what Peter had in mind.
JT Quite so, do not expose anything that is adverse to David, and to this system with which we are connected — the spiritual system. It is wise not to expose it unnecessarily, though if need be it must of course be done.
Rem “Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice” 2 Samuel 1:20: he gives a reason for his statement.
ANW What has Peter in mind when he says, “Before all things having fervent love among yourselves”? 1 Peter 4:8. Does that mean above all things, or in what sense is it “before”?
JT Well, 1 Peter 4:7 says, “But the end of all things is drawn nigh: be sober therefore, and be watchful unto prayers; but before all things having fervent love among yourselves”. I would say that fervent love has first place that is what is meant. Let fervent love have first place. Hence in John’s gospel it says, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves” John 13:35.
Ques Does 1 Corinthians 16:13 bear on it also? “Be vigilant; stand fast in the faith; quit yourselves like men; be strong. Let all things ye do be done in love” - Quite so, There are such things as first things. We often use that expression, Let first things be first. Let love be first always.
RWS Does this epistle, with the second epistle, cover the period which the Lord speaks of in Matthew as the beginning of throes?
JT I would think so. That in Matthew is called Jacob’s trouble, but Peter would have that in mind too. The most fearful of times is ahead of us and it is very near us too, very near. Of course, we often say in a mere formal way, that the Lord’s coming is very near; but how do we know? If we say it is very near, surely there should be some evidence of it. That terrible time that is before us covering three and a half years is the time of Jacob’s trouble. That is the term used. Well, what precedes that is the Lord’s coming, and the Lord therefore promises us that He will keep us out of the great tribulation. He will keep us out of it; not take us out of it, but keep us out of it.
RWS I am impressed with the timeliness of what you are bringing before us because of the difficult times that we are in now about which Peter is addressing us.
JT They are difficult times — that is just what they are. Only the saints are still here and that makes all the difference in the mind of God. But as soon as they leave, then the awfulness comes in — the apostasy comes in. And so the word is that there cannot be the presence of the Lord here unless there be the apostasy first; that has to [p. 72] come first.
JWD Fifty years ago the brethren thought the Lord’s coming was imminent. What has transpired since then to make it that, as you say, the time is very near?
JT I am quoting somebody else. But you would like me to say what the things are that have made a difference between the present time and fifty years ago? I can speak of both times very conveniently, and I would say that the word of God and the use of the Scriptures in a public sense have made a great difference. I thank God that the Scriptures are acquiring more place in the public mind than they have had. I do not know if the brethren have noticed it, but I have noticed it, and I thank God for it even though it be only short-lived.
AR So you do not expect the apostasy to come so long as we are here?
JT Not fully; that is what the apostle says, that the day of the Lord will not come except the apostasy comes first, and that of course will be when the hand of restraint is removed, as it is said, “There is he who restrains now until he be gone” 2 Thessalonians 2:7. And then shall come the man of sin.
WW Are we in the spirit of the thing now?
JT I think that is right. The thing has been developing for maybe two or three hundred years, I would say, since the reformation was established in the world. Then man’s will began to work and it has gone on ever since. We have had great evangelical movements in the 17th and 18th centuries; but the real movement from which we date, the revival of the truth of the assembly, has come within the last hundred and fifty years and is going on yet. And the Spirit is not going to leave while the assembly remains; it is Christ’s chief interest on earth.
EAL Would you say that anyone who says he has a judgment about the assembly and that he is going to withdraw is apostate in character?
[p. 73] JT Quite so. You are moving on towards the apostasy when you say that.
WWM The scripture says, “Be sober therefore and he watchful unto prayers” 1 Peter 4:7. Would that help us to be preserved?
JT What a word that is, “watchful unto prayers”! Mark 13 stresses how we are to be watchful, and it is a word for us this very minute.
Rem The distinction you made as to the promise to Philadelphia is helpful, “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial” Revelation 3:10 — not ‘take’ you out; because it is taught in a very large section of christendom that the saints will go through the great tribulation and it is at the present moment causing a great deal of perturbation in the minds of many; so that the distinction you made should, I think, have very far-reaching effects.
JT Quite so. The Lord means that we are to be kept out of it; not taken out of it, but kept out of it, and the Lord is doing it by maintaining the truth of the assembly. The government of the assembly keeps us: we are held by that if our consciences are right.
SMcC In view of what we have been saying, the exhortation that “if any one speak — as oracles of God” 1 Peter 4:11 is very important, so that there may be what is authoritative amongst us.
JT Very good. Then it says in 1 Peter 4:9, “hospitable one to another”. That is a good word and it is evidently having much place now in this town considering the number of brethren that are being entertained in the houses here, which God honours. “Hospitable one to another, without murmuring; each according as he has received a gift, ministering it to one another, as good stewards of the various grace of God” 1 Peter 4:9,10. We are dealing with the most practical things in these verses and they apply here in Rochester where the brethren are entertaining so [p. 74] many of their brethren from different parts. It is a pleasure to be in these houses — in them according to God, in a sober, instructive way with each other; not as young people are often found in company with one another in lightness; God abhors that. He wants us to be in sobriety. Thus in 1 Peter 4:10, the gift anyone may have: that is, means; let him distribute it — “ministering it to one another, as good stewards”. Notice that it is not merely doing good service or being kind or hospitable, but we are to be “good stewards of the various grace of God”. It is a question of stewardship, as to what God has given us in His governmental ways.
Ques Is that why it says “various grace”, that it covers a wide field?
JT Quite so. And then it goes on to say, “If anyone minister — as of strength which God supplies; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 4:11. And then we have this wonderful doxology, a matter which is somewhat rare in Peter though it is very common, as I might say, and blessed too, in Paul. But here it is: “to whom is the glory and the might for the ages of ages. Amen” 1 Peter 4:11. This is a word from Peter that touches the heart in the midst of all this instruction, it is what is due to God, as we get also in Romans 11.
WW Is it the spirit of worship here?
JT It is, God getting something in the midst of the instruction.
PC Was Peter fulfilling the commandment of the Lord: “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren”? Luke 22:32.
JT Are you speaking of John 21? That is Peter’s commission. I mean to say that he is commissioned to feed the lambs and to shepherd the sheep. And then we end with this doxology which I think we should take into our minds, to note how [p. 75] the apostles were given to rendering tribute to God in the midst of much instruction for the saints.
Ques Does that show the ultimate end of all ministry, something rendered as a result to God Himself from whom it came?
JT I think so. The ministry should be strewn with references to God and what is for God. If that is so now, what will it be in eternity?
SMcC In this doxology, “to whom is the glory and the might for the ages of ages” 1 Peter 4:11, is that the full thought as to God, or is it God presented as Father?
JT I think it is the full thought in the sense of Ephesians 3:21, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”. It is a thought similar to that, showing how Paul and Peter link on together in rendering tribute to God.
Ques What is the distinction between ‘speaking’ and ‘ministering’ as it is referred to in 1 Peter 4:11? “Speak — as oracles of God”; and “minister — as of strength which God supplies”.
JT “If anyone speak — as oracles of God”; it would be a question, I would think, of ministry as we call it, what might be said in assembly on the first day of the week. We speak of giving a word. It is the speaking, and the speaking garnishes what is said. “Who gave man a mouth?” Exodus 4:11. Jehovah says that Himself. The mouth of a christian is of peculiar value when it is active in regard of God, or when it is active in giving instruction to the saints. “If any one speak — as oracles of God” 1 Peter 4:11, what God would say in the oracle. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 it says, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God?” That is the idea, God speaking in the temple. Then Phoebe is mentioned peculiarly by Paul as a minister of the assembly, but not in the sense of speaking, but of giving according to what she had. She was generous.
RWS In making man’s mouth and in all His creative skill, had not God in mind what was to be for Himself in the way of praise?
JT I would think so. When God made Adam He evidently was governed by holy discrimination in using the word “us”: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion” Genesis 1:26. All that is said of Adam and Eve afterwards would indicate what God had found in man, whether the man or the woman. The word ‘man’ covers both.
JRH I suppose this ministering would not be quite the same as in Acts 13 where it says they were ministering to the Lord in Antioch and fasting?
JT This is not quite that; that would be actually God’s service. And then the Spirit of God has room to act. He says, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” Acts 13:2.
AM The idea of strength brought in here, “If any one minister — as of strength which God supplies” 1 Peter 4:11 — is a great levitical idea, is it not? The idea of labour connected with the work of the Lord is mentioned in the book of Numbers.
JT The word governing the Levites is a strenuous word, is that what you mean? So the ministering here is “that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 4:11. It is a question of what God is going to get out of all this.
RBP Will you say a little more as to ruling the mind in the service of God to which you referred at the outset? We have before us from time to time the question of affection but now we are thinking of the mind and its control in relation to the service of God.
JT I think it is a question of God and what is becoming in God’s house — in God’s assembly. “I speak as to intelligent persons”, the apostle says,
“do ye judge what I say” 1 Corinthians 10:15. So it is a question of what adorns the whole position. It is a question of what God would say and of what would come from the saints in the way of speaking, the mind being active, so that the things that are said are right and comely and adorning. I think God attaches much to the use of words and to adornment. For instance it says, “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens” Job 26:13. That would suggest what God might say by the Spirit, through some brother, that would adorn the position.
SMcC How wonderful it must have been to God to hear framed in Man’s mouth, “This shall be called Woman”! Genesis 2:23 ‘Ishshah’, a word denoting what was there.
JT Very good. The word ‘Ishshah’ stands in contrast to the names of the lower creatures: “This time”, Adam said, “… this shall he called Woman” Genesis 2:23, showing what he is, what God had made him, the wisdom that He had given to him. So he says, “this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man” Genesis 2:23 It is to bring out the great creature that God had made for His own pleasure.
Rem Aaron was successful, was he not, when he spoke to the people in Exodus 16, and they turned toward the wilderness? They saw the glory of Jehovah. I thought it fitted in with this passage that there was glory to God by Jesus Christ. Something was accomplished.
JT They turned to the wilderness — that is where God dwells — and they saw the glory. That is wonderful I think. It is not in a garnished place, or in a house, but in the wilderness; they turned that way.
Ques Does that mean that their backs were on the world?
JT Just so.
SJH [p. 78] With reference to the ages, the plural is used here in the ascription of glory to God for the ages of ages.
JT I think the word ‘ages’ is just a suggestion of indefinite time. In Ephesians 3:21 where it is glory to God “in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”, there is one age spoken of, which is the greatest thought of eternity that you could get, I understand. It is in connection with the assembly in Christ Jesus.
Rem Whilst Paul makes it specific, as you would expect him to, Peter here gives you an impression of extensiveness — “ages of ages” — as though there is a vast expanse running on endlessly.
JT If scientific men were talking to you they would pile on the words to express the duration of time; your mind gets lost in what they are saying, whereas the Spirit of God keeps the thing within bounds so that we can understand it. That is the beauty, I think, of Ephesians 3; it is so full and yet so beautiful in the language of the Spirit of God.
GMcP Do we understand that beholding the glory of the Lord and being changed into the same image is what is formed in the assembly through Paul’s ministry?
JT That is Paul’s ministry; he is used of God especially in those two Corinthian epistles. In the scripture referred to the Spirit of God is called Lord: “The Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” 2 Corinthians 3:17.
JRH Where it speaks of the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resting upon the saints, does the parenthesis following refer to the Spirit, or to Christ, where it says, “on their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified”? 1 Peter 4:14.
JT It is a question of grammar. It would be the Spirit of God, I would [p. 79] say.
AR Was not this transformation seen in Stephen? He saw the glory of God and his face shone as that of an angel.
JT Quite so. What a beautiful picture it is of a saint in suffering; the first great martyr of christianity!
J.R.H.Sr, Would you say something as to the blessing of those who suffer for the name of Christ, over against the reproach? There is great blessing in having the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resting upon them.
JT It is a beautiful reference, a saint having this upon him; not in him, but upon him.
FNW Although the Holy Spirit is not said to descend at Pentecost like a dove as He did upon Jesus, is this not a close link with that thought, that “the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you”? 1 Peter 4:14. In the Spirit coming down as a dove upon the Lord Jesus there was restfulness. Is this a link with that in some sense?
JT I think that is very good, that the Spirit is restful. “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit”, John 1:33. It suggests here the restfulness, I believe, that the Spirit of God had in coming down on Jesus.
Ques May I refer to Ezekiel as bearing on the present time? For the mark of the beast is having its foreshadowings now in trade unionism and such affiliations, It says in Ezekiel 9:4, “Go through the midst of the city … and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh … for all the abominations … in the midst thereof”. Is that over against the devil’s mark, the coming of the lawless one and the mark on the forehead? We are obviously standing aside from these matters. The man with the ink-horn sets a mark on those who feel the condition of things. Should not christians be available for [p. 80] that mark as avoiding anything that is a foreshadowing of the mark of the beast?
JT It is a question, therefore, as to what is observable in us externally, christians becoming intelligible in that sense as marked off by Christ.
Rem That would link on with what our brother said, that if it involves suffering the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God would rest upon us.