HOW WE ARE SUPPORTED IN THE WORD OF GOD
[p. 183] HOW WE ARE SUPPORTED IN THE WORD OF GOD
JT What is in mind particularly is the word of God as unfolded in this chapter, and ultimately we may see in the closing part of the chapter how we are supported in it — the word of God.
In the early part the idea of faith is in mind, so that it is said, “For indeed we have had glad tidings presented to us, even as they also; but the word of the report did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard”. The glad tidings here will be understood to refer to heaven, not the glad tidings of our salvation spoken of earlier. Therefore the application to our own time is evident, because heaven is specially stressed by the Spirit in view of the coming of the Lord. The allusion is to the report that was brought back by the spies; it was not mixed with faith in those who heard. Hence the disallowance of the great mass of Israel to enter the land. Similar disallowance is now current, for entrance into heaven is on the principle of faith, that is entrance into heavenly things or places now. It is a time of faith.
The epistle opens with an unfolding of certain statements in the Psalms and other scriptures referring to the Person of Christ. The whole of the first chapter is to call attention to the Person of Christ, and the terrors of disregarding the word: “For this reason”, as it says in chapter 2, “we should give abundantly to the things we have heard, lest in any way we should slip away. For if the word which was spoken by angels was firm, and every transgression and disobedience received just retribution, how shall we escape if we have been negligent [p. 184] of so great salvation, which, having had its commencement in being spoken of by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard; God bearing, besides, witness with them to it, both by signs and wonders, and various acts of power, and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to his will?” First there is the warning of slipping away. And the allusion in the chapter is to the report of the land which the spies brought back to Kadesh. And Psalm 95 being quoted in chapter 3, we are told, “Wherefore, even as says the Holy Spirit, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; where your fathers tempted me, by proving me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was wroth with this generation, and said, They always err in heart; and they have not known my ways; so I swore in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest. See, brethren, lest there be in any one of you a wicked heart of unbelief, in turning away from the living God”.
So that the object of the epistle is clearly set out, to appeal finally to Jewish Christians that they might not turn away. Because it is the Lord’s mind to set up Christianity as a thing by itself, not simply as something developed out of Judaism but opened up from heaven to us. There is abundant evidence that the terms of Judaism so prevalent in the early part of Christianity were to give place to Christian terms. Terms in this epistle are largely drawn from what the Spirit of God had taught at the beginning, but now the time had come for the full opening up of Christianity. There are many terms that are used in Christian doctrine which arose primarily from Judaism; not, indeed, that there is anything wrong in it, they are inspired, from the word of God, of course, but at the same time it was intended that they should give place largely to what is terminologically properly Christian. Hence the study of Paul’s ministry would show that there is very little — take, for instance, Colossians and Ephesians and some other epistles — save what we would regard as properly Christian terminology. And so such terms as covenant and sanctuary and many other such terms are gradually giving place to what is properly Christian. Especially, of course, what refers to the Lord’s supper, which was at the outset and is now the centre of the service of God. So that the terms should be derived from what is properly Christian.
The new covenant is much appealed to from time to time, but it is a term which does not properly belong to Christianity. There was no new covenant made with Christians. I only refer to that because the apostle Paul has the last word in regard to the Lord’s supper and it is clear that we should pay attention to it. It contains references, of course, to what is said in the gospels under the same head, but certain things were added by Paul that are not found in the gospels, and much is left out that is found in the gospels in Paul’s final word from the Lord regarding the Supper.
Ques Have you in mind that we should understand what you speak of now as really belonging to Christians, to our dispensation; what is for us now as Paul presents it in Colossians and Ephesians?
JT What is intended for Christians. Only, early terminology was used and God was patient and long-suffering with the Jewish Christians. Hence when the Lord ascended to heaven the disciples according to Luke went to the temple; they were continually praising God in the temple, but that was not intended to continue, and so the second treatise of Luke introduces the thought of mount Olivet. The ascension is connected with mount Olivet. And the disciples returning to the city went to the upper room, not to the temple. That is to say there was intended to be a gradual disappearance of mere Judaism and the [p. 186] establishment of what is properly Christian. So that the term Christian is an oracular term which indicates that God intended it to cover the position now from the time that Paul’s ministry was established.
Ques Do we see that first developing at Antioch when Barnabas seeks out Saul and they taught a large crowd?
JT That is what I was thinking. Paul and Barnabas taught a large crowd, as you say. They taught them in the assembly, which is remarkable, as if that was to prevail — teaching in the assembly. And so it is in later days, as in Acts 20 where Luke tells us that they assembled, “We being assembled to break bread, ...” Not simply being gathered together, but being assembled. And the Lord would, I am sure, impress this upon us, that our expressions should be correct, derived as it were from heaven and have a heavenly character to them. Especially now, because we are dealing with a chapter which deals with heaven typically — the report of the spies as to the land. It was no question of the wilderness, but the land — the land of promise.
Ques What difference do you make between being gathered and being assembled?
JT It is said of the Lord Himself in Acts 1, “being assembled with them”. And in several instances later it is not simply being gathered but being assembled. It is not indeed the word that refers to the assembly later, but it is the idea of the assembly. Not just gathered together as at a railway station or in a house as at an ordinary social or family time, but being assembled with a certain attitude in the mind and in the heart. That is, it makes way for God and God’s things, especially the Lord’s supper.
Rem I think it would help us if, as you say, the new covenant does not apply to us, if you would say something about what we get in 1 Corinthians 11, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”.
[p. 187] JT Well, it is there, of course, and other things are there in 2 Corinthians 3. But it is not in letter but in spirit, as it says. The reference is spiritual, and intended to run into Christianity. Because the new covenant was made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The Lord does not say anything different from that, but He does say it is in His blood, and it was in His blood as they drank it, “As oft as ye drink it”. And it is remarkable that the writer, Paul, alludes to “after having supped”, the passing by of the Passover time. “After having supped” means that the Passover had come to an end and it was now the Lord’s supper, which means Christianity. So that it is said, “In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me”. Or, “For the calling me to mind”. It is a memorial just as the bread is. It is only said to be a memorial there, that is, in Paul’s message from the Lord. It is only said there. The bread is said to be a memorial in Luke and it is also said in 1 Corinthians 11. That was the Lord’s message from heaven through Paul, because the apostle says, “I received from the Lord ...”. He does not say he received it from the twelve; he received it from the Lord.
Ques Was he like the twelve spies coming back with the heavenly light?
JT It was that exactly, which is very important to keep in mind. He was a heavenly man; “an elect vessel to me”, the Lord says.
Rem So that the light of heaven came more into prominence at Antioch than at Jerusalem.
JT Well, I would say that. The service of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch is to be noted. It was said to be in the assembly; not simply in a meeting place or hall, but in the assembly, which has its own distinction. And then beyond that in Acts 13 the [p. 188] service of God is already current, it was proceeding. It is said, “Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”, showing it was an epoch; the time had come for it and it was a question of the Spirit Himself; it was the Spirit’s action. We must read it carefully. Of course, we no doubt do read carefully, but specially should this be so when attention is called to it that the facts stated as to Paul are intended to be a turning point in regard of the testimony. Not indeed that there was any change in a doctrinal way but there was a sort of revival. The advent of Paul was an advent stirring up the saints and leading out into a wider field. And so the first great missionary service of Paul and Barnabas began here and it carries with it the term Christian. As we know, the word is in Acts 11: 26, “And so it was with them that for a whole year they were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd: and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch”. Then we have chapter 12 which is somewhat parenthetical, but it really indicates a crisis in the history because the allusion is to setting aside Judaism. The king, the whole system, was being dealt with, and the full thought of Herod would show that God was abominating what was going on in turning away from them. But Christianity was to stand on its own footing, and the service was to continue, particularly the service of the Lord’s supper.
Ques Does the fact of ministering to the Lord in chapter 13 refer to the public character of the work?
JT That is right. It is the public worship of God, you might say, in that sense.
[p. 189] Rem I wondered if you meant that it had taken on proper Christian character.
JT I think it had. Because of what it says in chapter 11 where it speaks of the disciples being called Christians. The word is oracular, which means that it is intended to be stamped on Christianity. Not simply something which arose out of Judaism but from heaven really.
Ques What is the significance of it being the Holy Spirit who says, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”?
JT What is significant is that it is the Holy Spirit Personally who is acting. He is sent down from heaven, but at the same time, in keeping with what we have been remarking, there is an outstanding stress laid here on the Spirit acting Himself. And so it says, “As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and having laid their hands on them, they let them go”. They are not sent out by the assembly, they are let go, but let go with the assembly’s sympathy and fellowship. “They therefore, having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit” — it does not say they are sent out by the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit — “went down to Seleucia, and thence sailed away to Cyprus ...”, That is the position. So that the idea of missionary work is not ever based on the assembly. It is by the Spirit — the action of the Spirit.
Ques Would that be pressing them from within?
JT I think it would be. The movement was not simply external. It was external, it could be seen, but it was also inward, which indeed marked Paul’s ministry. He says, “God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me”, not to but in me — “that I may announce him as glad tidings among the nations”.
[p. 190] Galatians 1: 15, 16. It was an inward thing. Not exactly like what was said to Peter in Matthew 16; the revelation was to Peter, not in him, whereas it was in Paul. And so Paul stresses the idea of the inward man.
Ques Would it be the extension of what we get in Acts 2: 42, “They persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles”? Were you suggesting that Paul and Barnabas should carry this out to the nations?
JT Well, it was to bring out the apostolic position, because it was to stamp not only the present dispensation but the millennial time. On the foundations of the wall of the city in Revelation 21 were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So that the idea of apostolic service was ever to be kept in mind, but at the same time Paul was additional to that — a special person separated to God’s glad tidings and receiving the ministry of the gospel and the ministry of reconciliation, and, indeed, the ministry of the word of God itself because he completed it. So that it was, you might say, a beginning over again, not at all setting aside what was there, only adding what was not there, that is the heavenly side of the position, which is the basis of the service of God. “Minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, and not man” (Hebrews 8: 2); which is Christ in heaven. Hebrews is the book of the opened heavens and discloses to us that the ministry is in the heavens.
Rem Would 2 Corinthians 3 come into it where the apostle speaks of not needing letters to them or from them, they being Christ’s epistle written not with ink but the Spirit of the living God? It was the spiritual side that he had in mind. So that the new covenant ministry coming in, it is not in letter but in spirit. It is not a formal matter.
JT Quite so. It is not a formal matter. It [p. 191] is a spiritual matter. And then the Lord Himself is that Spirit, “Now the Lord is the Spirit”, 2 Corinthians 3: 17.
Ques Is it right to link this with the Supper on the line of the Lord manifesting His glory?
JT It is indeed, and confirms what we are saying as to the thought of the spiritual and heavenly side of things being gradually brought to the front instead of the position being the outcome of Judaism. Because in due time Paul formally states in the second treatise of Luke, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles”. And again at the end of that book, “The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it”. And, of course it has gone on on these lines ever since. So we find in Ephesians 2 that the position of the Gentiles is formally recognised by itself as the habitation of God. “In whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” (verse 22). Not, of course, setting aside the great thought of Jew and Gentile being formed into one body and one house, but the time had come to see that Christianity was coming on to its own footing.
Ques Would you say that both Mark and Barnabas were tested as to this, and even Peter in connection with Cornelius? Do you think there was a touch of Judaism there which might have hindered them going on with Paul fully?
JT There was undoubtedly some feeling about it, but the Spirit of God overcame it. Although in the case of Barnabas and his nephew they left Paul — you were referring, of course, to Acts 15 — the contention being so sharp, still the position is that Paul is being led forward. God is distinctively with him. And it is to set out the full position of Christianity, which is to take a westerly course. And so in chapter 16 we have the reference to the jailor and the vision made to Paul leading to the Greek world, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us”. And so Paul’s course was henceforward in that [p. 192] direction.
Rem The Spirit particularly guards their movements.
JT Quite so. They would have taken a certain easterly course but the Spirit of Jesus did not suffer them, which is remarkable. The vision of Paul had in mind the Greek world, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us”. And so from that time forth that is the direction in which the testimony flows.
Rem They must have been very sensitive as to what the Spirit’s feelings were to discern that, do you think? — the Spirit of Jesus suffering them not.
JT I would say that. Confirmed by the vision. Because at that particular time there were visions, Paul’s service being accentuated in that sense. He had a vision at Corinth, for instance, indicating that there was to be a great work there; the Lord spoke to him by a vision saying, “I have much people in this city”. So that these visions ought to be guides for us to know how things are stressed in any given time.
Ques In connection with the changeover from Judaism to Christianity is there any suggestion in the early part of Acts 13 in Paul retaining his old name? It is “Barnabas and Saul” when the Spirit calls them out, but later it is Paul.
JT Yes. And it is “Paul and his company”, the Spirit of God recognising his company — a remarkable thing. No one else is distinguished in that way, and we should all recognise the way the Lord distinguishes Paul at that time. I think what has been said is to clarify the whole position, and what we have to look at now is the rest of God which is involved in the chapter read in Hebrews. And inasmuch as Psalm 95, which is to warn against the apostasy is touched on in chapter 3, in chapter 4 the setting is clearly the heavenly side, that is to say, the report of the twelve spies, and how it led to rebellion on the part of the mass of the [p. 193] people, so that only the young ones should go into the land. It really involves a new movement, that is to say, a movement of the younger. The first had failed. And so it says, “For we enter into the rest who have believed; as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest; although the works had been completed from the foundation of the world. For he has said somewhere” (the allusion is to the creation now) “of the seventh day thus, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”: it is a very touching thing because it comes in here to show how our sympathy should arise towards God in His wonderful creative works and how His love really underlay all that He was doing. For it was not a question of the primary works of creation, but how God brought the creation into its present form with a view to Christianity and the great testimony in mind.
And so it is said in Genesis and in Exodus that God rested. It is not said in Genesis that He was refreshed, but in Exodus it is said that He rested and was refreshed. So that we are to be in sympathy with God in His creative works as well as His redemptive works. So here, “and in this again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remains that some enter into it, and those who first received the glad tidings did not enter in on account of not hearkening to the word, again he determines a certain day, saying, in David, ‘To-day’, after so long a time; (according as it has been said before), To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts”. That is to say, the Spirit of God is stressing the danger of hardening our hearts, which is the present condition in Christendom, a hard state of things leading to the general apostasy and all the more stressing the need of the brethren who have the truth, and faith, to continue and persevere in it. So that it says, “Seeing therefore it remains that some enter into it”.
[p. 194] That is, some enter into it, and it is a question of seeing to it that we all enter into it — the time of the rest of God.
Ques What are we to understand today by entering into the rest of God?
JT I think it has to be taken up from the Old Testament and see what is meant. What is God doing at the present time? What is this great revival that God has brought about that extends to our present time? What does it mean? It means that we are going to heaven. Some enter into it, but the question is whether we are now seeing to it that we are entering into it. “Let us therefore use diligence to enter into that rest”.
Ques Is God speaking in David today? It says, “Saying, in David ...”
JT Well, that just means Psalm 95 here, because David you might say is the editor of the Psalm; he is the sweet psalmist of Israel, and his Psalms were a prophetic thing. David was a prophet, and all the prophets have their voice, you know. We read of “the voices of the prophets” in Acts 13.
Ques Instead of looking at the Psalm as what David said, do you look at it as the word of God?
JT Exactly. It is the word of God. Not hearkening to the word is the point here. “Let us therefore use diligence to enter into that rest, that no one may fall after the same example of not hearkening to the word” (verse 11). Hence the idea of the word of God is enlarged on as we look at the next verse, “For the word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”. The point is whether we are hearkening to the word. Because the glad tidings are being preached to us — the glad tidings of the land. Not simply the glad tidings of salvation preached as Paul says to [p. 195] all the world, but the glad tidings of heaven. That is what the report of the spies brought out, telling the people that the land was good. It was an exceedingly good land. But the mass of the people did not hearken to it.
Ques Does this refer to the gospel for believers?
JT That is what I would say. Of course, you might also say it is a gospel for anyone; but it is a gospel intended to remind us that we are going to heaven and we are to be ready to go in.
Rem Mr. Coates used to speak of a heavenly present.
JT Quite so. That is the idea. Because we have already access to it. Therefore it is said that we are raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. That is a heavenly present — not simply a heavenly future but a heavenly present — what we do now.
Rem Does that mean that we leave everything connected with the wilderness? While we are here we have our responsibilities and there are various things we have to touch, but in our spirits we leave all that and cross over the Jordan.
JT And so Moses when speaking to Hobab, his father-in-law, proposes that he should be eyes to them in the wilderness as they were journeying to the land. But Hobab refused; he would stay in the wilderness. Whereas Christianity is not to stay in the wilderness; we are simply to pass through it. We are journeying to the land God has promised us. The point is, If we believe if we really believe what this gospel means we belong to heaven.
Rem Those who believe enter into the enjoyment of the rest of God. “For we enter into the rest who have believed”.
JT That is what is meant.
Rem And then it says, “As he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, If they shall enter into my rest”.
JT The ‘if’ there means that they did not. But then some have entered in and the question now is whether we all make a point of it to enter. The way is open to us to enter the rest of God.
Rem Not to harden the heart so that it becomes less sensitive to divine speaking.
JT Exactly. Because the wilderness in itself has a hardening character. The hard road they had to travel, they grew weary of it, we are told. It does harden us. Hence the point here is that we see to it that we are going into the land. Hobab would not go; he would remain in the wilderness. Many are doing that and settling down here. And so the Lord says in the letter 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”. Earth dwellers are not going in.
Ques Would the word of God as presented to the Corinthians in Acts 18 help? Paul remained with them for a year and six months teaching the word of God. I wondered whether it was basic to our entering in.
JT Quite so. It was the word of God, not the word of the Lord there. The Lord had a large number of people in that city. It was a terribly bad city, but then the point in the Lord’s mind would be what could be done in spite of the badness, whether we can go through. And so we have more about the assembly in its public character — the formation and structure of it — in the epistles to the Corinthians than anywhere. And the Lord’s supper peculiarly is set in a wilderness position, and the service of God begins with it and then we go on from glory to glory to the higher levels which we get in Ephesians. Paul came in at Ephesus by way of the upper regions. And so it is that the service of God is to begin with the Lord’s supper according to what we have been saying, but then it [p. 197] does not stop there, it goes on to the higher levels, that is to say, the full thought of the service of God. Hence the ministry in the second epistle is much more spiritual than it is in the first.
Ques In verse 12 does it mean that the word of God discovers to us what the hindrances are that would keep us from entering into the rest?
JT The danger would be not hearkening to it. “For the word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents [p. 201] of the heart. And there is not a creature unapparent before him; but all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do”. So that the idea is not simply the unfolding of divine counsels in Scripture or in ministry, but the word of God is that by which God can deal with evil in us, and hence the danger of evading it. We see what can happen to us if we do not hearken.
Rem This would go further than what is referred to in the second chapter, the “great salvation”
JT This does go further, by inference. Because in 2 Timothy the apostle Paul urges Timothy to “preach the word”. That is a higher thought than simply the glad tidings. And it is the word here that is in mind. And so whilst there is the danger of evading what is presented in the word and failing to enter in, the Priesthood of Christ is brought in in verses 14 - 16 so as to help us in and to keep us from falling. “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession”. (That is, the confession of Christianity). “For we have not a high priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart. Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and seasonable help”. The priesthood of Christ is brought in so that we might not fall in the wilderness. The High Priest from that point of view is to support us in our weakness. Not to allow us to go on in sin, because sin is apostasy in Hebrews. He supports us in weakness; as the Lord said to Paul, “My grace suffices thee; for my power is perfected in weakness”, 2 Corinthians 12: 9.
Ques Does the service of the Priest bring us to God’s viewpoint and feelings about this matter?
JT I would say so. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. The priesthood of Christ is the reflection of God’s own heart for His people. Why then should we turn away in unbelief?
Ques God waits upon us so as to bring us into sympathy with His own heart. Does the service of the Priest bring us to this?
JT That is so, and that brings us to another point. The system which we are in has a High Priest above, in heaven, and the Holy Spirit here, so that an impregnable position is opened up to us.
We have the intercession of Christ in heaven as we read in John’s first epistle, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. There we have a reference to sin, but Hebrews does not contemplate sin as at all owned in the believer. He is to be relieved of it. As said before, sin is apostasy in Hebrews. We read of it in chapter 6 particularly: if they have fallen away there is no hope for them — a most solemn thing. At the same time the priesthood is running parallel all the time. That is, the priest is sympathetic with us, not with our sinful ways but in our weaknesses, and hence it says, “Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace for seasonable help”. Why should we turn away? We have such a system; Christ above and the Holy Spirit below and the assembly here with all [p. 199] its privileges. We are furnished in the most wonderful way so that we should go on to the end. As it says, “Let us go on”.
Rem It should encourage us to go on.
JT It ought to touch us that God has set up such a system for us — the Lord our great High Priest above and the Holy Spirit here, also sympathetic with us, who “makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered”, Romans 8: 26.
Ques Why does it say in verse 14, “Who has passed through the heavens”? Does it show how much greater this is than the Jewish system?
JT Yes, to bring out that very thing. Meaning that He is a divine Person, because no creature goes beyond the heavens. Creation is where we may go, but the uncreated condition is where God is,”dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see”, 1 Timothy 6: 16.
Ques Why is faith linked with hearing? “Not being mixed with faith in those who heard” (verse 2).
JT I think it would be well to look at the modus of faith in Romans 10, beginning at verse 10, “For with the heart is believed to righteousness; and with the mouth confession made to salvation. For the scripture says, No one believing on him shall be ashamed. For there is no difference of Jew and Greek; for the same Lord of all is rich towards all that call upon him. For every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without one who preaches? and how shall they preach unless they have been sent? according as it is written, How beautiful the feet of them that announce glad tidings of peace, of them that announce glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the glad tidings. For Esaias says, Lord, who [p. 200] has believed our report? So faith then is by a report, but the report by God’s word”.
Well, that is the thing to understand. The hearing is the basis of faith. There is the report, but it is what is possible through the ear, what it effects. Faith is by a report, and the report is by God’s word. God’s word is the more positive side of it, the substantial side, but the report is there. So that faith is the product, and what we are dealing with now is the question of faith in the word of God. And added to that is the support and sympathy of Christ as Priest.
Ques Does the gift come in that way — by way of the report — faith being the gift of God?
JT Exactly. It does away with irresponsibility. People are so irresponsible. And as to faith, the avenue of the report is through the hearing.
Rem It is to affect the heart.
JT Quite so. “With the heart is believed to righteousness”.
Rem “For every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved”. It is very touching, as though it would move us on evangelical lines.
Rem It makes the ministry very important, because it says, “How shall they hear without one who preaches?”
JT Quite so. Hence preachers according to 2 Timothy should “preach the word”. Not simply the glad tidings but the word of God. I think that is the word at the present time, “Preach the word”, and all the responsibility that attaches to the non-hearing of the word of God, because the word of God carries its own judgment with it, its own penalties. As we see here, it is “living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is not a creature unapparent before him; but all things are naked and laid bare to his eyes, with whom we have to do”. So that the word of God runs on to the thought of God Himself. “Him ... with whom we have to do”. And this epistle opens up the terribleness of failing to hearken to the word. There is so much opened up to us, and if we fail to hearken to it the penalties are attached.
Rem The last chapter of the epistle refers to remembering those “who have spoken to you the word of God”.
JT Yes, and then the present ministers, too, are referred to in that chapter — those who minister at the present time.