HEADSHIP (3)
[p. 260] HEADSHIP (3)
Colossians 1:18; Colossians 2:9,10; Colossians 2:14; Colossians 2:19; 1 Samuel 5:1,5; 1 Samuel 17:48,51
JT The brethren no doubt will have followed the order of the meetings so far and the distinctions made as to headship. First, Christ Head over all things to the assembly which is His body, His fulness, as connected with Genesis 1; and then Christ Head of the assembly, involving union as seen in Ephesians 5, Genesis 2, and Genesis 24. What is to be considered now in Colossians is the headship of Christ in relation to His personal glories, glories attached to Him as Man, involving His Deity. In view of this I hope we shall see certain things to be taken out of the way, and especially that principalities and powers are spoiled (Colossians 2: 14, 15). The handwriting of ordinances has been taken out of the way, God having nailed it to the cross; and having made a show of principalities and powers publicly. He has led them in triumph by it.
The passages in 1 Samuel were read to illustrate how principalities and powers were spoiled, typified in the Philistine god and in Goliath the military champion. David took the head of the giant to Jerusalem, and in this way he made a show of them publicly; thus making way for true headship. This corresponds with the allusion to Satan’s head in Genesis 3, that the seed of the woman should crush it.
CHH So then, union would not be brought out in Colossians 1: 18?
JT No, that Christ is said there to be Head of the body, the assembly, is not to bring out what accrues from His headship, but that He has that glory along with other glories. That chapter speaks of many glories and among these glories is His headship of the assembly.
AEH Does the word “firstborn” link on with the idea of [p. 261] first place?
JT Yes. All these glories, giving Him first place in all things, witness to His Deity. They are predicated of Him as Man. Thus His Deity in manhood is asserted in the strongest way.
ANW Is not the Colossian letter corrective while Ephesians is more constructive and carrying the great divine thoughts through to finality?
JT That is right. Ephesians is the full thought, completeness. The Colossians were getting on well, but they were in danger of “philosophy and vain deceit”, and hence needed the truth of Christ’s headship.
NB What is involved in the thought of the beginning?
JT It would mean that He must be first in everything. It is a remarkable statement without qualification, “firstborn from among the dead” following it. He was not simply at the beginning. He was the beginning.
NB Does “the beginning of the creation of God”, in the letter to Laodicea allude to this thought?
JT Yes, only in the verse before us He is the beginning, without saying of what. Hence nothing could be before Him. The epistle to the Colossians was to be read “in the assembly of Laodiceans” (chapter 4: 16). Alas, how far they got away from the truth of it!
HB Is it like “the root of David”?
JT Yes; David sprang out of Him.
GAT He had no beginning.
JT That is a strong statement of His Deity. We have also “That which was from the beginning”, but here He is the beginning. Not only was He in it, but everything originated in Him.
ANW Headship is given to Him as Man in Ephesians, but in Colossians He is Head; that is, in virtue of who He is.
JT In Colossians He is Head in virtue of what He is personally; all these glories belong to Him and [p. 262] there are other glories not mentioned here. What a great vessel the assembly is, seeing that in her, as the fulness of Christ, all of these glories are to be displayed!
HPR Do the first three verses in the gospel of John bring out the thought, “in the beginning”?
JT They link on; in the beginning He was there, that is the first thing stated. He was a divine Person. He was God.
CCT Is the thought more clearly defined in Revelation 1, “I am the Alpha and the Omega”, “the first and the last”?
JT Well, He was the First. No one was before Him; He was the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end. He was the first to speak, and will be the last; He is still speaking. It is “The Lord God ... the Almighty” in Revelation 1; Deity, in which, of course, Christ has part. “He who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”. He is the beginning and exists eternally; “was” is historical, “is to come” is future, but “is” is present, and without beginning and without end: Deity.
LES Would you say that the glory of His headship in Colossians is brought in over against every rival, so as to draw out the affections of the saints? Like the word to Joshua, “This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel”.
JT Yes; and that is why such a meeting as this should affect us. The fact that we belong to the assembly should move us as the glories of Christ, who is our Head, are presented to us.
CHH Is His incarnation involved in verses 18 - 20?
JT Incarnation and the special glories that attach to His Person in it are seen in verses 13 to 20. He is the Son of the Father’s love, in whom we have redemption. The statements down to verse 20 are intended to stress the greatness of His person. It is Christ as Man, but these things could be stated of Him only because He is God. The Colossians were to be impressed by these glories; in the new man “Christ is everything, and in all”, Colossians 3: 11. These personal glories make way for Him, shutting out all others from the minds of the saints. Redemption was necessary for this; through Him the Godhead reconciled all things to Itself. Believers, It has also reconciled “in the body of his flesh through death; to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it”. Chapter 2 shows that certain things contrary to us have been removed judicially: as we have noted, the handwriting of ordinances God has taken away, “having nailed it to the cross; having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly, leading them in triumph by it” (chapter 2: 14, 15). Thus the way is cleared for Christ’s place as Head over all things. He exercises power against idolatry. Thus Dagon fell before the ark; the ark, typical of Christ, has power to overthrow the Philistine system of idolatry. The head of Dagon and both palms of his hands were cut off (1 Samuel 5: 4).
AEH Does the word “publicly” refer to what is open, so that its false glory is exposed and hence its prestige is lost?
JT Quite so; that is why christianity involved the overthrow of idolatry. The result is far-reaching. The ark was set in the house of Dagon and when they of Ashdod arose the next day Dagon had fallen on his face, showing that he had no power to stand before the ark. But on the second night God shows His power and complete ability to displace any rival system, so that they found Dagon with his head cut off, and also the palms of his hands; only the fish-stump was left. The manifestation of the power of God had a very definite effect on the followers of Dagon in that neither the priests of Dagon or any that came into his house “tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day” (verse 5). It will be noted that the effect of these remarkable signs on the Philistines was not repentance, but, on the contrary, superstition.
AEH [p. 264] So that Dagon and Goliath represent the public side of things, and now we can judge them and have them displaced in our souls to make way for the headship of Christ?
JT Yes. The fall of Dagon was known publicly. God does things publicly, and that is why the testimony of the apostles had such great effect, bringing down the world by their signs and teachings. Christianity was thus proved to be superior to judaism and idolatry. Seeing the signs done by the apostles, many believed on Christ. Apollos convinced the Jews publicly, and Paul says he taught at Ephesus “publicly and in every house”, Acts 20: 20.
ANW Is it not interesting how the apostle enforces Deity at Athens to overthrow the idolatry there? Although he refers to Him. He does not name the Lord Jesus; it is God.
JT Quite so. It is God, who is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised Him from among the dead.
GAT Would you say that before I give up anything I must discredit it in my own soul?
JT Yes; God would have us give up worldly things and hence He discredits them in our souls. Dagon fell on his face; this did not shake the Philistines’ confidence in him for they set him up again. Rome was exposed through the Reformation and more particularly through the revival of the truth in the last century, but the evil was set up more boldly than ever in the Bull of Infallibility. Dagon was a public shame, but the Philistines, unconverted, advanced further in this error on superstitious lines. They could not deny that there was nothing but a stump left, yet they carried on by utter superstition; they would not tread on the threshold where their idolatry was exposed.
ANW “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch”, Colossians 2: [p. 265] 21.
JT Quite so; legalists would impose their restrictions, ignoring that such were taken out of the way in the cross of Christ.
AEH Superstition can only exist in the presence of darkness.
JT You can see by these references what has to be encountered, what christianity had to encounter in the beginning. And now that christendom has gone back to paganism we see what christians today have to do to remove darkening things.
CHH The public position of evil is seen in Timothy, but their folly shall be completely manifest to all (2 Timothy 3: 9).
WGT The ark has been disregarded according to 1 Samuel; the recovery of it would refer to the truth of the Person of Christ. Is that what is in mind in bringing in the ark?
JT Yes. The Philistines had captured the ark, but God restored it through David. “Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, like a mighty man that shouteth aloud by reason of wine; and he smote his adversaries”, Psalm 78: 65, 66. He restores the ark and sets up David. So today there is recovery of the truth of Christ’s Person and of the truth generally; and those possessing it in any measure are responsible to seek to lead their brethren out of the current captivity. The Lord has taken certain things that were against us out of our way and we must not go back to them. The Colossians were in danger of admitting the revival of what had been nailed to the cross.
ANW “Let none therefore judge you in meat or in drink”, Colossians 2: 16. Would you say a word to balance that, as to my consideration for a weak brother?
JT Well, we have to consider a weak brother, as taught in Romans 14: “him that is weak in the faith receive”, and, “let not him that eats not judge him that eats: for God has received him”. It is a question of thoughtful love and had more force at the beginning [p. 266] when converts were coming in from judaism and heathendom. Young believers who had views from earlier teaching not quite according to the liberty of the gospel, but not self-willed in what they held, were to be charitably considered. They were weak in the faith, but they were in it. All were to be considerate of each other. Patient love is always needed. As time is given for teaching and growth, all will see eye to eye. But if any one is persistent in a wrong thought it should be made clear that his conscience cannot rule the saints. What may be borne with in a young believer may be leaven in an older one who would force his views on others. Thus an insistent vegetarian or prohibitionist would be leavened.
AEH It becomes a kind of system, a working of evil that is seen in painful results in gathering others into its views.
NB Would you help us a little as to “not holding fast the head”, Colossians 2: 19?
JT In Colossians the first great feature of our subject is the glories of Christ as in chapter 1, as we have been speaking of them. They lead to the thought that He is Head. Head here is not exactly official, not what Christ is made, but it is that in virtue of who He is He, becomes all to us — He is Head. We are morally lifted up in the knowledge of the greatness of the Person who is our Head.
CHH Is that why the word “therefore” is used in Colossians 2: 16? Would it imply that these glories substantiated in our souls would liberate us from all these things?
JT Quite so. “Let none therefore judge you in meat or in drink”; we are to be governed by the principles taught in this chapter.
CCT We find slow progress with some brothers and sisters. Is this because we do not take in the glories of which you have been speaking?
[p. 267] JT That is right; and the general instruction is much neglected. The epistles are written largely to remove what hinders, and to promote growth by presenting what is positive. One great fact is that the Father has “made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light”; and He “has delivered us from the authority of darkness”. Darkness had authority over our souls — paganism, judaism, and such like. The Father delivered us from all that and “translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love”, the supreme Object for all our affections. ‘The Son of the Father’s love’ is one of the most beautiful expressions. Solomon was a type of Christ thus viewed. The extension of that is in the book of Proverbs, “tender and an only one”, Proverbs 4: 3. He was a special object of affection to his parents; Jehovah loved him and he was called Jedidiah for Jehovah’s sake.
PG John was in the Lord’s bosom.
JT Yes; John knew divine love. Christ is the “only-begotten Son”, in John’s gospel; it also says, “The Father loves the Son”. Believers are translated into His kingdom. How attractive to be under the rule of such an One; the rule of love! Proverbs opens it up to us, showing how one who is conscious of being a son can speak to sons. For example, “My son, give me thy heart” (Proverbs 23: 26), a good word for young christians. Psalm 45 says, “My heart is welling forth with a good matter: I say what I have composed touching the king”. By such compositions help is afforded for young christians to see Christ in His glory. Colossians 1 presents many of His glories as we have seen.
BP Would verses 12 and 13 provide conditions that are essential in the assembly for Christ to be recognised as Head?
JT That is right: “giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light” (verse 12). That is what the Father has [p. 268] done, and all to the end that we might be ready for our part in the great range of glory.
WGT Does the fitness contemplate that we are in fellowship with the saints?
JT That is what is meant; “who has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light”, that is our portion. So that we can walk in the light as God is in the light and have fellowship one with another (1 John 1:7).
ANW “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”, Colossians 1: 14. The forgiveness of sins is a very sweet thought, is it not?
JT It relieves us in our consciences; thus we are free to enter into the great relationships and glories mentioned.
AEH If I am conscious of my relationship with the Father, would the main effect of it be joyfulness in me? “That my joy may be in you, and your joy be full”, the Lord says (John 15: 11).
JT That is it; the things connected with the Father. How blessed to know that the Father loves you! “The Father himself has affection for you”, the Lord said.
SWP Is the knowledge of this great love involved in the word “translated”, (verse 13)? It is not a mere movement on my side, it is the Father’s action. “Who has ... translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love”. I am conscious of the Father’s pleasure in the action, am I not?
JT Just so. The thought of translation into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love is very beautiful, enhancing the glories of Christ in our souls.
SC As to your reference to Solomon, is not David’s concern chiefly to get the people to see that his son is young and tender?
JT Yes, he is a remarkable babe. There is hardly any like him in the sense of the love shown to him. He is, of course, a type of Christ; and so we are translated into the kingdom of that One. It is not, however,
[p. 269] a house, but a kingdom. Proverbs is a most helpful book for young people to look into on this line. It affords counsel and love, but it also involves rule.
CCT Would you say a little more about “the kingdom of the Son of his love”.
JT According to the words used, it is a sphere of dominant love; love rules in it; love active in an authoritative way characterises it. As I said, Proverbs opens it up to us. It is the kingdom of One who is a Son to His Father, who addresses us as sons. Matthew 11 fits in here; there the Lord praises the Father for revealing His things to babes. He says, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes. Yea. Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in thy sight”, Matthew 11: 25, 26. Then He says, “Come to me”, that is the Son of the Father’s love. The Father is operating in babes. He is translating them into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
CHH In the next chapter of Matthew He is seen as one greater than Solomon, “behold, more than Solomon is here”, Matthew 12: 42.
JT Yes; chapter 11 is introductory to the chapters immediately following. It is not only what He is personally, but also what was there in the babes, in the circle which He calls His brethren at the end of chapter 12. All was centred in Himself. How pleasing they were to Him! His relatives were without and wanted Him to come to them, but He would say, ‘Let them come to Me’. That was not their thought; they would have Him come out to them; that, however, would be interfering with His service and breaking up the circle within. How beautiful is the incident recorded in Mark! “Looking around in a circuit at those that were sitting around him, he says, Behold my mother and my brethren”. They did the will of God. The Spirit having come, this circle continues. It took form [p. 270] in the assembly; in it normally believers find in a practical way salvation and life.
GAT Is Mary here governed by what is natural?
JT Quite so; many nominally in fellowship are governed by natural feelings; they make more of the natural than of the spiritual.
LES Would not Isaiah 33: 16, 17 bear on this? “He shall dwell on high, the fortresses of the rocks shall be his high retreat; bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is far off”.
JT That is a touching scripture, the King in His beauty. Song of Songs 3: 11 corresponds, “Go forth, daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart”. In both scriptures He is presented in His attractiveness. That we may arrive at these things we are told in Colossians that certain obstacles are taken out of the way so that we might be in liberty. “Let none therefore judge you ...”; this links on definitely with what is before us in headship. Christ as Head of the body involving that the body is of Him; it is not a human development. As Eve was of Adam so is the body of Christ; “and not holding fast the head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God”, Colossians 2: 19. The subject is now squarely before us; we, as of the body, are to hold the Head. All supply depends on the Head.
GAT Do you keep all this before you when dealing with things in the current religious systems?
JT Yes; you are holding fast the Head as the attitude of your mind. It would disallow all human ecclesiastical and denominational arrangements. You learn to exercise your mind against all that is under these heads; you hold fast “the Head”, maintaining full [p. 271] scope for Christ in the mind. Christ as Head is thus known experimentally.
WGT It would influence the mind of a believer; holding Christ as Head enables him by discernment to detect and refuse his own will.
JT Quite so; those in nunneries often appear very humble and chaste in their outward movements, but their wills are in this, not giving place to Christ as Head. Thus we are enjoined, “Let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels ... not holding fast the head” (verses 18, 19).
NB Is departing from iniquity consequent upon this, or does it precede it?
JT It precedes it; we must be clear of iniquity to come into Christ’s headship. In enjoying His headship I am not only subject, but I regard Him in my mind in a holy, affectionate and intelligent way.
LES Would the last verse of Romans 7 fit in with this as to the mind? “So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law; but with the flesh sin’s law”.
JT Yes; the idea there is to eliminate all else but God’s law. That state is basic in the christian. It leads up to this truth, that I make room for Christ to influence me organically.
GAT Does that fit in with Colossians 3: 2: “have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth”?
JT That is right. You have control over your mind; by holding the Head you can turn your mind away from corrupt things; you have power to do that.
AB Does the last phrase of verse 15 of Colossians 2 advance the thought, “leading them in triumph by it”?
JT Yes. In verse 12 you get the full thought as to power, “In which ye have been also raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead” (see footnote New Trans.). God has done all — raised Christ and quickened the [p. 272] saints with Him by His power, also taking out of the way the things mentioned in verses 14 and 15; and the cross is the means of it morally.
AEH Why are the bands brought in here (verse 19)?
JT It is an allusion to the human body, “bands” referring to ligaments; they hold other things together. We get a larger view in Ephesians 4: 15, 16: “but, holding the truth in love, we may grow up to him in all things, who is the head, the Christ: from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love”. There you get “the whole body” and it is from the Head that it increases. The human body is used to convey the idea of Christ and the assembly. The apostle felt the Colossians could follow him on this point, so he points out that what would hinder had been removed through the cross. Thus in holding the Head what is needful would flow in, which would produce in them the working out of the truth of the body in love. The Head functions to the increase of the body. It increases with the increase of God.
TS Do you think that we should constantly look for a manifestation of Christ in His body? The things of which you were just speaking might be on our side a hindrance to this.
JT Quite so. God has acted to remove them, and we accept that, and thus make room for Christ and nothing else. He is everything and all to us.
GAT When you say, making room for Christ, what do you mean?
JT It is very essential that we make room for Christ in our minds and affections. In a sense what is before us depends on love, being rooted and grounded in love. In chapter 2: 1 - 3 we see how essential it is that we hold the saints in our affections, not in any [p. 273] sense ignoring wrong or compromising with evil, but at the same time clothing the saints with God’s thoughts of them.
AEH Would Epaphras fill out the idea? His prayer was “to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”, Colossians 4: 12.
JT That is right; he was a Colossian saint. Through him Paul evidently got to know their state. Paul knew that he was concerned about the state of the Colossians — that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
NB Verse 16 of the last chapter shows the circulation of which we have been speaking: “And when the letter has been read among you, cause that it be read also in the assembly of Laodiceans, and that ye also read that from Laodicea”.
JT Paul had also written a letter to Laodicea; it is worthy of note that he did not make one letter do for both assemblies, but he writes a letter to each assembly and both were to be read in Colosse and Laodicea. Evidently conditions in the two assemblies were similar. Thus ministry may deal with a district, although each assembly retains its local status.
SWP Is constitutional development in view in verse 19 of chapter 2: “and not holding fast the head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God”?
JT Yes; there can be no growth save as we hold the Head, “from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love”, Ephesians 4: 16. That would be all the saints on earth; Colossians 2: 19 corresponds, as we have seen.
ANW The increase would be in spiritual substance, I suppose.
[p. 274] JT Just so. And it is comforting to know that it is the whole body. What is going on in other countries affects us.
AEH It would seem as though God would have us be in the very centre of all His present operations. I was wondering if chapter 2: 19 speaks of what is basic, things inaugurated by God? The negative side would have feasts, new moons, and sabbaths, darkening our minds; but believers holding Christ as Head, are set in the centre of the great system of glory inaugurated by God Himself.
JT Yes; it is immense. And it is most important that this should be apprehended and maintained in our souls. We are in the midst of apostasy and hence the dense darkness. It is not simply the natural darkness in men’s hearts, but a turning away from the true light which now shines — God known in Christ. Thus in christendom certain men are “twice dead”.
AEH You are touching on Jude now. The maintenance of the truth is much more difficult now than at the outset.
JT You feel the denseness of the darkness in this twice-dead condition. “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness!” Matthew 6: 23.
WGT The fig-tree was to be cultivated for one more year. Is that what you had in mind?
JT The fig-tree was to be cultivated for one more year (Luke 13: 6 - 9), which represents the longsuffering of God; “But early in the morning, as he came back into the city, he hungered. And seeing one fig-tree in the way, he came to it and found on it nothing but leaves only. And he says to it, Let there be never more fruit of thee for ever. And the fig-tree was immediately dried up”, Matthew 21: 18, 19. The fig-tree was thus dead, as cursed by the Lord. Apostasy has set in in Christendom and in due time God will confirm it there. “For this reason God sends to them a working of error, that they should believe what is false, that all might be [p. 275] judged who have not believed the truth”, 2 Thessalonians 2: 11, 12. The Lord says of Jezebel, “Her children will I kill with death”, Revelation 2: 23. That is an apostate condition, and it has already taken place. It is judicial fixedness and hence there is no hope. It is most solemn.
WGT We have to look on persons here in a judicial way and not now as subjects of grace.
JT Yes. The time of judicial fixedness is in God’s hand. When the Lord says, “I will kill her children with death”, that is final. Revelation 18 announces prophetically the destruction of that system.
GAT If a person is found amongst us suffering under the judicial dealings of God, what should be done as to him?
JT That is a matter for discernment. John says, “I do not say of that that he should make a request”, 1 John 5: 16. He refers to “a sin to death”. There is no evidence that the Lord or the disciples prayed for Judas after he betrayed his Master.