NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 1:1 - 9

C.A.C. This epistle is important for us, as giving the place the assembly has locally in the mind of God, and the great grace available for it in Christ. It also develops the dangers apt to manifest themselves, and the divine remedy for them. The object of the epistle is really to bring the saints locally into oneness of mind, and the joy of all that grace has conferred upon them as subjects of the work of God. This epistle is serviceable in a day of departure.

Paul had in view in writing it that we should be put in our right place locally. Actually in christendom a vast number of things have sprung up that have not the character of the assembly of God, and we have to go back to the beginning to find its true character. "Sanctified in Christ Jesus" -- that is not by being Jews, or better than before, but sanctified in Christ Jesus. God had certain great thoughts in His mind before we were converted (see Psalm 40:5). We have to get on to that side of things, what is in the mind of God for us; and however wonderful it is, Christ came in to bring it to pass. Saints are set apart from everything displeasing to God. If it got hold of us, it would have a most practical effect. This is built into our faith by the words of the apostle; and if I have never understood it before, it is there for me now. We are not set apart in the flesh, but in Christ Jesus.

Rem. Outside all the Adam conditions.

C.A.C. The youngest believer can say, I am in it, it is the mind of God for me. "Of him" (that is, God) "are ye in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:30) -- as a subject of divine working, the soul is brought into a new region, "in Christ Jesus". So the youngest believer is entitled to say, I am pleasing to God. It is God bringing in what is of Himself. If not walking in the Spirit I am sure to drop into human thoughts.

If I am full of Christ and what Christ has brought in, I cannot think of myself at all, and I am suitable to be a constituent part of the assembly.

Rem. "In Christ Jesus" -- it is the anointed Christ; they are linked up with that anointed Man.

C.A.C. It is the question of transfer, of 'changing your man', as it has been put. And we are in that Man; what I have of failure would only make me more thankful that I am linked up with the Man of God's pleasure.

Romans develops deliverance much more than this epistle. Here they allowed things to come in that did not belong to the work of God in us, and we have to learn to set them aside; and we come into the truth by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is descriptive of a Christian in Scripture. In every place there are such; they call on Him in the character in which He has made Himself known. That is not praying. "His name" is the way in which He has made Himself known. It is made known in the gospels, we might say, which present the varied characters of love He has assumed on behalf of His saints. Our knowledge of Christ comes out in how we call upon Him. The first part of our morning meeting consists in calling on His name; and we know Him first of all and most of all through His death. They call upon Him in their heart. They call upon Him not dependently, but worshipfully, as men called upon the name of Jehovah in contrast to all that was idolatrous. Abraham made an altar and called upon the name of Jehovah, in the character in which he knew God. So we call upon His name, responding in heart to the character in which we know Him, in absolute liberty. We lose ourselves when we do that. The varied characters of love which He delights to wear and in which He delights to serve us are all set forth in His name. We come together to call adoringly on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that it means.

Spiritual affections and appreciations of Christ are in the

saints; they cannot help it. However carnal I am, the Spirit of God can touch these, and there is the flow. So we should detach ourselves from the world and the flesh and occupy ourselves with Christ and all that is of Him. We may hear one pray beautiful words to the Lord, but is it the voice of the heart? "Those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22); "out of a pure heart" means it is genuine. Do they appreciate the Lord in true affection? The Lord would never bring anyone to a sect! It never occurred to God to make anything of my flesh, but to annul all that. "Sanctified in Christ Jesus" is God's side; then in calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we link ourselves on to that. It is the proper and normal occupation of the assembly.

Nothing is so intended to touch our hearts as the Supper. You cannot think of yourself at the Lord's supper, you are obliged to think of Him.

God bestows all in the grace of the Head; for there is none of us but would confess we have a glorious Head. And these things are continually brought before the saints. God sees to it that there is the furnishing through gifts and ministry of the light of all the precious thoughts of God. At Corinth the gifts were there, but they needed trimming. But the Lord on His part would not fail to supply what is needed. If we recognise a lack locally, we should ask for it to be met. We should ask for things. Epaphras was labouring that the body should function (Colossians 4:12). If we were more concerned about contributing, we should get more. How has God furnished His assembly, and how has Christ as Head furnished it, and how has the Spirit furnished it? We look to the Scripture for the answer, and we set ourselves to desire that, and we get it!

This epistle is corrective meal and would neutralise what is deadly in the pot (2 Kings 4:41).

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 1:4 - 21

C.A.C. An assembly is a place where speaking goes on; political speaking goes on in a Greek assembly, and religious speaking in a synagogue.

The assembly is a company of persons in each locality where there is divine speaking, where the things of God are spoken of in a suitable manner. That is what the apostle dwells on in the early verses in this chapter (verses 4 - 7); that is, they were fully furnished for divine speaking. It is not a company marked by silence, but by speaking, according to the resources provided, the grace in Christ Jesus that qualified them. Speaking supposes intelligence in both speaker and hearer. The "oracles" connect very much with it; if a man cannot speak as having the mind of God he should be silent in the assembly.

In these verses you get the constitution of the assembly, and what qualifies it to function. It functions in virtue of the grace that God has given it in Christ Jesus; it provides for everything in the assembly. He is bringing it out to people who badly needed it (and we badly need it); they had quite got away from the constitution, for there were divisions and so on. It is a wonderful source of supply -- "word", "knowledge", "testimony" -- and all is to find expression in the assembly in a divine way. Is what is said really being said from a divine source, from the grace that is in Christ Jesus? Then some are too backward. Why cannot I speak in the assembly? Is there a shortage? Has God set the assembly going without sufficient to carry it on? Why cannot I have a supply from the Head? There is to be no exaltation of man in what is said, or in the way it is said. It is a new kind of speaking which carries the grace of a new kind of Man -- not Adam at all. Every brother should look for ability to draw from this resource. What I can do

personally is not worth a straw, but what I can do in the grace that is in Christ Jesus is the only thing that counts.

Rem. The apostle asks for prayer "in order that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the glad tidings, for which I am an ambassador bound with a chain, that I may be bold in it as I ought to speak" (Ephesians 6:19, 20).

C.A.C. Beautiful! A man, an unbeliever, came home to his wife from a meeting, shaking like an aspen leaf. All he could say was, 'I only know that God is in that place'. He did not know he was quoting Scripture (See 1 Corinthians 14:24, 25). Well, that is the character of the assembly of God. And all has in view that we are so confirmed in Christ that if we knew the Lord Jesus Christ was going to appear in five minutes, nothing would need altering, but be just as it should be.

Ques. What is the difference between "the testimony of the Christ" here (verse 6) and "the testimony of God" (chapter 2: 1)?

C.A.C. Just the difference between Man and God. The first is the anointed Man, the second the preaching of the glad tidings making known what God is to men. "The testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you" means the thing is confirmed that God has brought in a new order of Man. That is confirmed; the assembly should be a testimony to a new order of Man.

Rem. It needs a counterpart in the assembly, in that way.

C.A.C. What good is it for me to say that God has brought in another Man, if people cannot see a trace of that Man in me!

Rem. Adjustment to the constitution would keep us right.

Ques. How would you explain the constitution?

C.A.C. Everything has a new character as deriving from Christ; and there is provision for it to be made known;

and it results in it becoming a reality. We want to be in the reality, the grace of it, and that leads to the fellowship in a practical sense. Saints have been so affected by the influence of the assembly that there is not a spot on them in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is wonderful! The apostle is writing that it may be practically true. All this forms the fellowship. The saints are brought into a wealth in which they all have a common share.

Ques. Why "of his Son" (verse 9)?

C.A.C. It is to give the highest possible touch to it, it is of such an elevated character. We are called by God in His faithfulness to have a common share in what has come in by His Son. It, the fellowship, is greater than the exercise of gift. There are four aspects of it. There is the fellowship of the body and of the blood of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit; but the greatest of all is the fellowship of God's Son. There is nothing greater than what God has set forth in His beloved Son. "When God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me, that I may announce him as glad tidings among the nations" (Galatians 1:15, 16). It is the greatest thing God has to speak of; it is the greatest glory of the gospel, because it is "concerning his Son ... Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:3, 4). It is opened out in the assembly. Fancy having a common share with Paul and John; they had a share in it. It is exclusive of all he goes on to speak of. Then "Jesus Christ our Lord" -- we confess we have come under His control. We continually need Him as such so that we are commanded for the blessing; and only so do we really come into the blessing. First He commands the blessing, and then us for the blessing. We are not fit personally to say one word in the assembly. But what is God working for? That the assembly should be marked by divine speaking; God is faithful. Verse 10 would seem an impossibility; but God likes to deal in impossibilities! If we move according to the constitution we shall find it impossible to be otherwise. He does not stress the Spirit here, but the kind of

speaking is to be according to the new kind of Man. Is it not a lovely conception? It works out universally.

The character of all this epistle is that it is the Lord's commandment. If we think of Moses as a type in the Old Testament, there was a beautiful unity when they were building the tabernacle, so that the whole thing was seen in its completeness.

If we have favourite teachers we may miss the greatest possible blessing. "I of Christ" (verse 12) would be pretension to the highest possible level -- the worst party of all. J.N.D. said he would never go with a party, whether for the truth or against it, whether good or bad. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the great lever and is to govern us. "Has Paul been crucified for you?" (verse 13). The assembly is formed of persons who cherish the thought of the whole assembly. "With those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22). You cannot have a party on that line!

It is good for us to remember to what we have been baptised. Matthew 28 is the greatest thought of baptism: the nations baptised "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Baptism connects us with divine Persons. The baptism of the feeblest saint is as great as the baptism of Paul. But what are we baptised to? To Christ and His death. Paul said, "Christ has not sent me to baptise" (verse 17). It was not in his commission, but it was in that of the twelve. That is important, because it puts baptism in its proper place. Paul had to do rather with the heavenly. Baptism is for earth; it is connected with the kingdom rather than with the assembly. It gives a certain side of privilege, but gives no title to heaven. The thief on the cross did not need to be baptised, he was going directly to heaven. But if he had been reprieved, he would have had to be baptised to enter the assembly.

Rem. The glad tidings bring you to heaven.

C.A.C. Yes, in the fulness of them they bring people to heaven.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 1:17, 18, 21 - 24; 1 CORINTHIANS 2l-5

C.A.C. It was thought that in considering together the precious subject of the Lord's supper we should first of all get some idea of the kind of persons who can eat the Supper. The thought, therefore, is to see how these people at Corinth came to be the assembly of God, and the features that marked them as the assembly of God. It is clear that the Lord's supper has its place in the assembly of God, and to understand it we must necessarily be acquainted with the character of the assembly.

Rem. I was wondering whether the two verses in early Acts would give the thought. "Those then who had accepted his word were baptised; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls. And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers" (Acts 2:41, 42). They give the setting of those whom we have in view at the present time.

C.A.C. Yes, the same character of things evidently took place at Corinth. The testimony corresponded with that rendered by Peter at Jerusalem. His testimony was that "God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ". That was the announcement which promptly affected them. Likewise at Corinth (Acts 18) Paul announced to them in the synagogue that Jesus was the Christ. It is well for us to understand that that is the very essence of the assembly position, it is composed of persons who believe the testimony that Jesus is the Christ.

Ques. Do you get that in the opening verses in Corinthians? Paul refers a good many times there to "our Lord Jesus Christ".

C.A.C. Yes, it is important to look at these things from the standpoint of divine testimony. It is not a question of our personal experience or needs at all, but it is a

question of a Person to whom God has given testimony that He is the anointed One; He is the Christ, God's Anointed. It is the testimony apart from all feeling or experience that I or anybody else may have.

Rem. "According as the testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you" (verse 6).

C.A.C. He refers to it further on: "I came to you ... announcing to you the testimony of God". It is summed up in "Jesus Christ, and him crucified". We cannot be too simple in regard to it, yet it is most profound because of its stupendous reality. We just believe the testimony. It certainly must come to us as the testimony of God and if we receive that testimony it would result in our identifying ourselves with the Person who is the subject of testimony; and those who do so form the assembly in a place.

Ques. Will you say what the testimony of the Christ involves?

C.A.C. It is most important to understand that. The testimony is that there is such a Person as God's Anointed. There are many prophetic references to Him in the Old Testament, but the testimony now comes to us that Jesus is that Person, that anointed Man of whom the Old Testament spoke. The thought of being God's Anointed means that He is the Man whom God distinguishes and accredits, and we cannot believe that without being powerfully affected. It is the first thing we come to when we have to do with God; we must accept that He is God's Anointed.

Rem. It was said of Simeon that "it was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord's Christ" (Luke 2:26).

C.A.C. That is the whole thing. Jesus claimed to be the Anointed when He stood up in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18 - 21), and His whole life was the evidence of the fact. I think Paul gave that evidence at Corinth for he "reasoned" with them. It was a matter of careful proof that Jesus was the Anointed.

Rem. The main theme of the first preaching was that God had made Him "both Lord and Christ".

C.A.C. This lies at the very basis of the formation of the assembly; you have no company to take the Supper otherwise. It is all a question of believing God's testimony, and His testimony is Jesus. It clears the ground at once. Corinth was full of idols and there were schools of philosophy and a synagogue of Jews, but none of these things had been anointed by God. He had put no distinction on any of them. He had put distinction on Jesus. These things are in a sense simple, but they are immense in moral power and significance. God is distinguishing one Man, He is testifying that Jesus is the anointed Man. It is no question of our exercises at all.

Ques. Is there a separating power in it?

C.A.C. Yes, I do not want to go on with anything that God has not anointed. God has shown me a Man who has been anointed. He stands alone -- it carries with it a separating power. This is a thing that can be reasoned out and Paul shows there is unquestionable evidence that Jesus is God's anointed Man. If people do not believe it they do not believe God's testimony. It was all developed in the life and testimony of Jesus, all was an undeniable proof. "Jesus who was of Nazareth: how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went through all quarters doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him" (Acts 10:38). Now God is still submitting the evidence of it to men, and they are responsible to form their own judgment regarding it.

Rem. God has raised Him.

Ques. Why is it that he stresses the crucifixion?

C.A.C. Because the princes of this world had crucified the Lord. The testimony was all there before their eyes. They did not call the blind man of John 9 or Mary Magdalene as witnesses. They did not call any worth hearing.

Rem. It says, "None of the princes of this age knew, (for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory)" (1 Corinthians 2:8).

C.A.C. It shows their blindness. It is just to bring out the utter incapacity of men to receive the testimony of God. So there must be certain persons who are called, and to them Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, but He is to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness.

Rem. Man after the flesh cannot appreciate Christ.

C.A.C. That is the whole thing, so the belief that Christ is God's anointed Man really delivers the soul from every other kind of man. That is the kind of man God distinguishes and accredits. A distinct issue was raised that none of us can avoid. The mass of men do not believe that He is the Christ, the fact that some do makes a sharp line of demarcation, and every believer feels that he must be baptised and take his stand with Christ, or be with the world that crucified Him. It is a clear-cut issue.

The anointing brings out the moral character attaching to Jesus. There was not a single thing about Him that God was not pleased to distinguish; He loved to put distinction on that Man.

Rem. I was wondering whether it went back to the breakdown in Eden. It is a necessity that One who pleases God should come into evidence, and that is the One to whom God is looking.

C.A.C. Yes, that is it. There is a perfect testimony in that blessed Man to all that God is morally. Does that attract me? Do I believe this testimony? If so, I have finished with the world as a system.

We find how very soon there is a sense even in a child of being naughty, very early there is a sense of not being pleasing to God, even at two or three years old! This wonderful testimony comes concerning Jesus -- there is everything in Him for God's delight. If I believe that, I

must stand by it.

Rem. We see it in the first two Psalms. God can anoint the Man in Psalm 2 who pleases Him in Psalm 1.

C.A.C. Yes. This is the supreme question of all time. There is one Man whom God has signalised and accredited, and every other man is discredited. If persons believe that, they are fit for the assembly. It is a question of whether I have believed the testimony. It is what I believe, not a matter of experience or formation.

After the preaching that God had made Jesus "both Lord and Christ", they recognised what an awful state the world was in and said, We must get clear of it! If I have really believed the testimony of God's Anointed, I have finished with the world. The world is after money and gain and pleasure. There is not a single thing that God has anointed in it. If there is one divine spark in my soul I am attracted to Jesus. Then I accept baptism, I have finished with the world -- that is what baptism means.

This is the kind of company who can eat the Supper: persons who have believed the testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed Man.

Ques. When did this anointing take place?

C.A.C. It took place at His baptism, which was the public accrediting of that Man.

Rem. I suppose we need to see the beauty of His deeds and Person and the immediate effect of what the world has done, and these would help us to have done with the world.

C.A.C. So that all things are exposed. The princes of the world are exposed; they crucified Him, they are exposed. How could I go on with politics and such things if I believe that Christ is God's Anointed? The assembly is made up of people who have judged these things.

Rem. It involves His coming into His rights down here.

C.A.C. Yes, it must involve that, because the One

whom God has anointed must have the supreme place. God has not adjusted things yet, but when God adjusts everything in the universe He will have that place. What you feel is He ought to fill the scene -- the universe. He is capable of filling it, we all ought to have that sense.

Ques. Would you say that if we are in the good of God's testimony, the Lord's pathway traced through this scene has a different bearing altogether?

C.A.C. Yes, and then, of course, His being crucified brings in another element, because if I accredit the Man whom God has accredited, there is another man who is the direct opposite. That is the best way of learning self. The proper way of learning self is to learn Christ first. It is reached by believing divine testimony, not on the line of my exercises. We see God expressed there; and everything that is pleasing to Him is all there in that Man and not in a world of learning and pride.

Ques. Will you say why it is the cross here and not the death of Christ?

C.A.C. We learn the necessity to value the cross, because if I really accept Christ as the Anointed of God and contemplate His character in the gospels, I begin to feel I am not like Him. He is everything that is desirable, but I am just the opposite -- that is where the cross comes in. The cross is a judicial matter, it was intended to be so by the princes of this world. Their judiciary sentence pronounced that Jesus ought to be subjected to the utmost degradation. From the divine side we know God would never have let them crucify Him if He had not something else in mind, that is judicially to expose what in us is not in correspondence with Christ. It is exposed publicly for He suffered on the cross what was due to me. He suffered for it, that is God's side of it. Everything about me deserved to be nailed to that cross; if I believe that I should never want to lift up my head again. God has been pleased to set forth in the most beautiful Man the condemnation of the degraded man -

what I am. Every one who comes into the assembly comes in in the light of that, and cannot come in otherwise. It is a wonderful company clothed in white raiment in a world of persons in black garments who do not believe God's testimony.

Rem. "God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ".

C.A.C. It was to mark in the strongest possible way the contrast between those that crucified Him and the place that God has given Him. He fills it gloriously and He fills it efficiently; we come together in the light of that. This is really the basis on which the assembly of God stands; when once it gets into the soul you cannot get away from it.

We should be reminded of one thing, that faith cannot be maintained in its integrity without the Spirit, and that is why Christians today are in such a lamentable state. At some point in their history they have come to this and they have drifted from it. How is it to be maintained? Only by the Holy Spirit. Christians are often not in the grace and power of it because they are not keeping in the company of the Holy Spirit. I am sure that we have all come to the faith of it. God is committed to that Man and we have committed ourselves to that Man and to His name and His company, but the maintaining power of it is the Spirit. If I do not keep company with the Spirit I wane in my soul. He is the power of things, and the Spirit never deviates from Christ. I may often do so, but I should be kept steady if I kept in the company of the Spirit.

SPIRITUAL SPEAKING

1 Corinthians 2:12, 13; Ecclesiastes 12:9 - 11

The present period is a dispensation of speaking. It is marked by the Father speaking, and the Son speaking, and the Holy Spirit speaking; and spiritual persons are speaking, too, as we have been reminded this evening from Malachi 3:16. We have been reading lately of the treasures of the house of God, and we have had before us now how wisdom fills the treasuries of those who love her.

It is of deep interest to consider that divine treasures take intelligible form by being expressed in words. We are capable of receiving and communicating divine things by means of words, and our intelligent bond with one another is realised as we speak one to another. It may, of course, be truly said that the Lord and the Spirit are our bond, but there is no intelligent bond unless spiritual things are communicated in words. Peter said to the Lord, on behalf of the twelve, "Thou hast words of life eternal" (John 6:68). Those words, those particular communications, were the link between the Lord and them.

The speaking of the apostle, as referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:13, was in "words ... taught by the Spirit", and his service was marked by "communicating spiritual things by spiritual means". The words taught by the Spirit were inspired words, and we do not claim to use Spirit-taught words in that sense, but we should seek in our speaking to one another to use words that are rightly expressive of the mind of the Spirit. By such communications we can have intelligent links with each other, and come into contact with the work of God in each other's souls. That can only be brought about by means of words being spoken and heard.

In connection with this subject it is well to observe the method of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, for he was a model

speaker. He was "wise", and he "pondered", and he "sought to find out acceptable words". We are often too casual and haphazard in our speaking to one another. It would be well if our speaking were more the outcome of what we have "pondered". It would thus take on more of the character of "the words of the wise", of which we are told that they are "as goads". Words which stimulate movement are truly valuable, and the collections of them are "as nails fastened in: they are given from one shepherd". It should be our business to collect as many of "the words of the wise" as we can, not merely as having them in our notebooks, but as having them "as nails fastened in". That is, they are driven right home, and have a fixed and permanent place in our souls. Let us consider whether our speaking is like this, whether it comes to others with stimulating power, and is so fastened in that it cannot be got out again. Nails truly fastened in remain permanently as part of our structure, if we may so speak.

In this way the work of the Lord would be promoted and developed amongst us. That work is largely accomplished by means of speaking. Our words are to be "acceptable"; they are not to be raw or immature. Our speaking to one another is important, for much depends upon it. Either it binds together, or it tends to disintegrate. Divine Persons have spoken so that we might take on the same character of speaking. It was so in the case of the apostles who learnt from Christ, who, indeed, uttered "acceptable words", learning from His Father every morning "how to succour by a word him that is weary". What a Model He is for us! In Luke 4 how carefully He found the words that were precisely suitable for the occasion! It is true that His words were rejected, and therefore we need not be surprised if our words are rejected; but let us see to it that they are "always with grace, seasoned with salt" (Colossians 4:6).

There is a particular sense in which these meetings for ministry are a revival of spiritual speaking. If prophetic

ministry had continued in the church it would have been a great check upon incoming evil. It would have been an effectual barrier to the setting up of the clerical principle. Probably the giving up of meetings such as are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14 was one of the first proofs of assembly decline, and it opened the way for man to have a voice in the assembly rather than God. Now that they are revived again it is for us to continue in exercise that the speaking is really in the power of the Spirit of God. "Goads" are not spiritual commonplaces; they are words which make it necessary to move forward. And "nails fastened in" are words "given from one shepherd"; they come from the Lord, and remain fixed in the soul.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16, 17; 1 CORINTHIANS 5:6 - 8

C.A.C. We were reading last Lord's Day that these persons who are addressed as the assembly of God in Corinth were persons who had believed the testimony of the Christ -- that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is God's anointed Man. What we had before us was that if Jesus was the Man whom God could accredit and distinguish, this necessarily involved the setting aside of every other man. That was judicially brought about at the cross, so that "Jesus Christ, and him crucified" really implies the testimony of God, and it was declared in Corinth.

Rem. This would be foundational and it would be illustrated in the Ethiopian eunuch who wanted to be baptised. That is, it is soul work.

C.A.C. Yes, he believed the testimony and it was testimony of "some other". His question was, "Concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other?" The Ethiopian had some inkling in his soul of some other man. And Philip preached unto him Jesus, He was the other Man! Immediately he wished to be baptised. Every one who really believes that Christ is God's anointed Man must desire to be in the good of his or her baptism, to be manifestly on the side of that Man whom God distinguishes. Those are the people who compose the assembly of God and form the temple of God.

I thought it would be well to read these verses today to see the greatness of the position the assembly occupies. Unless we do, I do not think we shall be able to enter much into the thought of the assembly.

Rem. Last time you referred to the need of the Spirit to support faith.

C.A.C. Well, I think it is important for us to recognise that faith is not sufficient, there must be a divine power to

maintain things, and that lies in the Spirit. Many believers begin with faith, but decline because they do not keep company with the Spirit. So in chapter 3 the apostle stresses that fact. In chapter 2 he stresses that his own service has been by the Spirit; here he tells the saints that they are the temple of God and the Spirit dwells in them. The Spirit is needed to support and maintain in our souls the things we have received from God.

Rem. These are such great things and we are so feeble that we need divine power to be maintained in them.

C.A.C. Yes. The thought of being the temple of God would suggest that it is a place where the service of God can go on suitably. That is the thought of the temple. There would be light in the temple. There were idolatrous temples in which dark and dreadful mysteries were enshrined. We should be exercised that there should be something in the place where we live which has the character of the temple of God. There is much around that has not.

Ques. When the apostle touches one of these vital points, he says, "Do ye not know?" Why does he say that?

C.A.C. I think it intimates that there may be great realities that we have never recognised. There are Christians around us who have no thought of the temple. Have we recognised the temple of God as a place where there is divine light, and where God can be served and which is marked by holiness? It is a very important matter if we are going to serve God in His temple that we should take our shoes off as Moses did before serving. And Joshua too, before he commenced his service was told to take off his shoes in recognition of the holiness of the place where God was.

Rem. That would not hinder liberty.

C.A.C. No, it would create liberty! There is no liberty apart from holiness. We do not want liberty apart from holiness!

Rem. It says, "The temple of God is holy, and such

are ye".

C.A.C. If there is a wrong state it can only be put right by the truth. If the testimony of Jesus being God's Anointed is accepted, and the truth of the cross as setting aside every other man, then we come to it that we are the temple of God where He dwells. We have to accept that as a great divine reality.

Ques. Will you please say what you mean by taking off our shoes?

C.A.C. I suppose it intimates to us that we set ourselves aside and any dignity or greatness that might have attached to us and we take the lowest place. The ground is holy. God said to Moses, "The place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). That is, there is no suitability in anything being found here that is not of God.

Rem. It says in Ecclesiastes, "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and draw near to hear, rather than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in the heavens, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few" (chapter 5: 1, 2).

C.A.C. Yes, I think that is very helpful in this connection. There is a danger of saying too much; we had better say a little that the Spirit of God can sanction rather than a great deal otherwise. In the assembly you would not look for an excessive amount of utterance but for things to be said which the Spirit could sanction. I think that taking off the shoes would intimate putting off what is not suitable for God. The shoes are loosened as not suitable to holy ground.

Ques. In what way is the temple looked at here?

C.A.C. I think that it is the place where God is suitably served, but the prominent thought here is holiness, the definite exclusion of what is not holy. We have to

recognise that we are connected with what is intrinsically and essentially holy -- that is the character of the things to which we belong.

Ques. Would taking off the shoes mean there is no standing for man, but the place is a place of service?

C.A.C. That is very important, so that we serve God in relation to what has come entirely from God. "All is of thee, and of that which is from thy hand have we given thee", David said (1 Chronicles 29:14). It is what comes from God into the hearts of His saints and gladdens them, and they can bring it back to Him, and it bears the stamp of holiness.

Then the thought of the temple suggests intelligence -- that God is intelligently served. In heathendom every idol temple would be marked by certain persons who understood, or pretended to understand, how that particular god should be served. There was nothing casual or haphazard about the service in the temple at Jerusalem. The courses of the Levites or the priests were all ordered. There were songs, they sang psalms that were inspired, that were indited by the Spirit of God and therefore acceptable to God.

Rem. Ezekiel was to show the form of the temple to the house of Israel to make them ashamed. "Make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its going out, and its comings in, and all its forms, and all its statutes, yea, all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the statutes thereof, and do them. This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain all its border round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house" (Ezekiel 43:11, 12).

C.A.C. That is very helpful. We have to bear in mind that we are in the midst of the christian profession, and we have to learn the true character of the temple and service. There are things which God has ordered and appointed, the

service in the temple is all in accord with what God has appointed.

The temple of God is a place of light, light is continually shining there. The candlesticks in the temple were bearing light, so light is maintained in the ministry by the Spirit; so that we are instructed priests who know what to do and how to do it. It is a great matter to accept these things as the truth of God. They may humble us, but at the same time they lift us up to the holy thoughts of God.

This subject is further developed in chapter 5 where the saints are spoken of as being unleavened: "according as ye are unleavened". That is what the assembly is in its true character. It is the holy temple of God, and it is an unleavened lump, therefore if anything comes in that belongs to the former state of things it is to be purged out -- it is a little bit of the old lump of what we were according to the flesh brought over. Satan would like to bring it over to what is really unleavened.

Then there is a holy watchfulness to be maintained, for the old leaven is not far from any of us -- it is myself -- and the danger is that it may leaven the whole lump; so we must deal with it promptly and cast it out. This does not refer to the evil committed but to the puffing up of the company who had not mourned over it. That was old leaven and that had to be purged out. To meet that, the apostle brought in a new apprehension of Christ that they had not had before. God generally does that when we have been wrong: He brings in a new impression of Christ. There is a difference between Christ crucified and Christ sacrificed. The Corinthians got away from the former, and God recovered them by presenting Christ sacrificed -- a deeper lesson. If I am going on rightly, God helps me by continual presentations of Christ; if I am going on wrongly, He helps me by a presentation of Christ. That is God! It is wonderful!

Crucifixion is a public matter. Every one can take account of a crucified man as put in the place of curse and

dishonour. But Christ sacrificed is a more inward thing and refers to all He went through in His holy soul as typically roast with fire. As we move on in the epistles we are more able to take account of Christ's death as an intimate matter. The attention of the household was concentrated on the lamb for four days before it was sacrificed, intimating that God would have us consider Christ in His spotless character and perfect suitability, and then sacrificed and eaten in this character. This is a private matter. I believe it is an intense, personal exercise before God. It is to be eaten. It is not Christ crucified, that was a spectacle, something to be looked at. "Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified among you", Paul wrote to the Galatians (chapter 3: 1). It is a far deeper thing to eat the lamb roast with fire, and it is intended to give the power to get rid of the leaven. If it is an assembly that is affected by leaven, it is only done by this intimate personal eating of the passover. He has been exposed to the public judgment of God and now He has been sacrificed. If we want to get to 1 Corinthians 11 we shall have to reach it by way of chapter 5.

It is possible to see Christ crucified and yet to become bewitched as the Galatians were. But feeding on Him would prevent that; it would give us a constitution that would preserve us from being bewitched. The passover was eaten at home; it is the intimate consideration of Christ as coming under the action of the judgment of God. He is our Passover. Thus we become attached to Him. The four days give the opportunity for the firstborn sons to become attached to Him. So God secures "firstborn ones". The passover is very important and wide in its range.

The Lord would help us so that we should eat the passover in company with Him, and consequent on that is the keeping of the feast. All leaven was to be discarded for seven days, typifying the whole christian period. There is power brought in to refuse the leaven. This is how the assembly assumes its true character. Someone might say,

We cannot set ourselves up as being unleavened. Well, let us acknowledge the fact that God says, "Ye are unleavened". He would say, 'I am going to bring Christ into your affections in such a way that you will get rid of it without any trouble'. This is brought about by private and personal consideration of Christ as the passover. I think we have much too small a thought of the passover, as if it were only very initial and elementary, but it is the greatest of all sacrifices, and of which God says, "My sacrifice" (Exodus 23:18). It is the only sacrifice by which He gets His own firstborn sons out of the world for His pleasure. I think it is correct to say we have to eat our way out.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 5:1 - 13

C.A.C. We cannot but notice that the first administrative action in the assembly, referred to in this chapter, is connected with the judgment of evil. It would seem to suggest that that is of primary importance. If the unleavened character of the assembly is not preserved there is no moral foundation for anything. Holiness is the law of God's house, as it is written, "Holiness becometh thy house, O Jehovah, for ever" (Psalm 93:5). The assembly of God is marked by great sensitiveness as to what is evil; this was lacking at Corinth, so that there was found amongst them that which was very much condemned, even in the world. Yet they were not mourning about it, but puffed up. They were very well pleased with themselves when they had evil among them that was abhorrent even to the natural man. It shows how they had fallen under carnal influences; it was manifest in how they were divided into parties, and later we find them going to law for redress. It all showed extreme lack of spiritual sensibility. They ought to have been preserved instinctively from such things, without instruction. Priestly sensibilities were lacking. We ought to feel that things are right. Scripture speaks of fulfilling the law according to nature, showing "the work of the law" in man's heart (Romans 2:14, 15). They ought to have mourned, even if they did not know how to deal with such a case; then God would have taken this wicked person away. A Christian walking in the flesh may become harder than a man of the world -- duller in sensibilities. Even the grace of God can be turned into lasciviousness. There is such a thing as people having a superficial knowledge of grace, making them more careless than when under law. Grace should have a much greater effect. The Corinthians had come under bad influence. It is one of the first instincts of the

divine nature to shrink from evil.

And the apostle sets up the standard as to how such things are to be dealt with. Evil is not to be allowed in the assembly. The apostle had judged it himself, and he required that they should judge it, that they should act regarding this person. It is a very solemn warning to us that, after having light from God, and the Spirit, when there was glaring evil among them they were not disturbed.

Rem. The assembly is the place of divine light and where judgment is carried out.

C.A.C. We find here that a man that acts wickedly is delivered to Satan. The apostle exercised his authority in delivering him to Satan, which meant, I suppose, some bodily affliction. They had just come out of the heathen world, which was full of dreadful conditions, and had brought a good deal of the old leaven with them. So Paul takes one man as an example -- for there were many. As he said in his second epistle, he was afraid he would find many who had not repented. God had the intention of getting to the root of their state. The Corinthians were to judge their condition and cast out the man. He was not the leaven, but it was their whole condition; it was more important that the assembly should get clear. One unhappy feature of the state of christendom is that there is practically no judgment of evil. Only the apostle could commit a man to Satan. It is very wonderful that he takes account of the man as capable of having his spirit saved in the day of the Lord Jesus -- that he was a believer. The object in view is the ultimate blessing of a very grave sinner who is to be discredited publicly. We are not exactly called upon to decide whether a person is converted or not, we could hardly do that.

Rem. Could this be done today -- to put a man away?

C.A.C. We have had some exercise as to whether it is quite suitable under prevailing conditions to do things formally on this ground, but in withdrawal the end arrived at is the same. We are all called upon to carry out 2 Timothy 2,

and the result is that the one withdrawn from is not walking with us nor we with him. 1 Corinthians 5 is a matter of obligation and we have the light of it always before us without assuming exactly to be the assembly. We do not want to weaken one scripture to strengthen another, and in every case of discipline we act on this chapter. Many have felt that in a day of ruin and scattering it is more comely to take the ground of withdrawing from a person. It is proper to the assembly of God that one who has been walking wickedly should be dealt with by God and we look on that as a fixed principle. Paul looks upon them as gathered together (verse 4); that is, there was a solemn act of the assembly and the apostle identified his name with it and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In any act of discipline we ought to be assured that Paul is with us, and the Lord Jesus Christ in it, otherwise it would hardly be right. And it has absolute authority over us all -- it ought to have -- and we bow to the commandments of the Lord.

Then he brings in the thought of leaven. If leaven is not judged it will spread, it is the very nature of it. What has the character of unjudged evil will spread, and must be purged out. What the assembly is abstractly remains true -- a holy and unleavened company -- and nothing contrary to it can be tolerated. There is to be nothing brought over of the old lump (that is, something brought over from our unconverted days). So now it is necessary to keep the feast. We are to realise that Christ was actually sacrificed; that is, there was not the slightest toleration of evil when Christ took the judgment of it upon Himself in love. He had to bear in His holy perfection all the judgment due to us, and if He did, how can we possibly think of going on with it?

"A new lump" (verse 7) -- the assembly was to take on that character practically. It is one of the descriptions of the assembly. We once belonged to an old lump that was thoroughly leavened, but we have been taken out of that, to be a new lump without any leaven at all. There is no reason

why leaven should work in any saint. The feast of unleavened bread was for seven days; we are always keeping the feast. The passover was the basis of everything. The lamb was "roast with fire" (Exodus 12:9); that is, every bit of the working of flesh in me -- well, Christ bore the judgment of it. I could not very well go on with it if I thought of that, could I?

The "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" is the contrast to the leaven. I think it is the saints viewed in their responsibility, they are to be an unleavened lump. There is no reason that the flesh should ever work in me.

The assembly is a place where discipline is exercised, and where there is no discipline there is no assembly!

Then he shows that we are not to have social intercourse with wicked persons, "with such a one not even to eat". There is not to be any intercourse with a person who has been removed from intercourse with the brethren, except what is priestly. The priest had to look at a leper from time to time to see if he were healed. We have a responsibility towards, and a care towards, any in the town we have withdrawn from -- it is not done to get rid of them, but to secure them; it is their blessing all the time that is in view, and we should always keep that side in view. If we carry on as if nothing had happened, we are really doing that person an injury. The apostle, no doubt, yearned over this man, and this man was liable to be swallowed up by excessive grief (how we should love to see that!). And Paul goes over to the side of comforting him. But he says, "It was not for the sake of him that injured, nor for the sake of him that was injured, but for the sake of our diligent zeal for you being manifested to you before God" (2 Corinthians 7:12). He was concerned about the assembly, and the Lord always supports His people in that when He sees it.

This chapter is of importance for us, for we are unlikely to go through a course of years without having to do with cases that call for the holy discipline of the assembly.

RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE LAST DAYS

1 Corinthians 5:1 - 13; 2 Timothy 2:1 - 26

In the first of these scriptures it seems to me that four distinct actions are contemplated. Of course, they all operated together at Corinth, but they are distinguishable one from the other.

Firstly, the apostolic action in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, with which the saints (as gathered together and having the power of our Lord Jesus Christ) are identified, by which the wicked person was delivered to Satan for destruction of the flesh. I think it would be generally agreed that there is no apostolic power to act thus today.

Secondly, that with such a one there was to be no mixing -- "not even to eat". The application of this would clearly be individual, and it is as obligatory on each individual saint as ever.

Thirdly, "Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves". This was to be the act of the whole company of saints. The evil-doer was to be no longer of their company. He was to be excommunicated from the privileges and fellowship of the assembly, and outside there was nothing for him but the world of darkness and Satan's power. It was a "rebuke" terrible in its nature, and, as we know, well-nigh overwhelming in its effect.

Fourthly, "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened". This was a deeper and more searching exercise than merely getting rid of the wicked person. The fact that such a one was amongst them, and known to be so, without any mourning being caused, exposed their general state, and it was this which, I think we might say, was the most serious aspect of the case. There was general puffing up, boasting and the allowance of what was fleshly in many ways. All this "leaven" was to

be purged out, that the assembly might be practically true to its character as a "new lump" and "unleavened".

All this is before us in its solemnity and force as the commandment of the Lord. In proportion as we limit it in thought to anything less than the whole assembly of God, we lose in our souls its import, its unspeakable gravity, and it is well that a deep sense of this should be retained. The desire to preserve the force of this makes me hesitate to use "yourselves" in a limited sense. That is, to appropriate the "yourselves" of 1 Corinthians 5:13 to a few saints who are perhaps today the one-hundredth part of the assembly of God in a town. The assembly as such could, and did, act then effectively as an administrative body with divine authority. The "yourselves" was the whole christian company -- a concrete company from which a wicked person could be excluded. The fact that the assembly is not in view as such a company today is the sad evidence of ruin through man's failure. Indeed, it was the appalling contrast between what he saw the church to be in Scripture, and what it had become in his day, that led Augustine to speak of the "invisible church" and the expression has been in common use ever since. The use of such an expression is in itself the most complete evidence of utter ruin.

We have to feel, and it is right we should feel, the changed conditions. We may be sure that the heart of Christ is very deeply affected by the ruin, and He will not suffer His saints to be unaffected by it. It is really a very holy privilege to be sympathetic with the heart of Christ as to the ruin of that which bears His name in this world. If we are so, it will surely lead us to act with simplicity and lowliness becoming the present state of things. We have, I trust in some measure, the sorrow of being conscious that in the present conditions no such corporate action of the assembly as could be taken at Corinth is possible. It brings home to us that we are in the last days and not in the first.

But are we, on that account, to give up the truth, and

accept association with evil? Far be the thought! If any principle or pretext were alleged which would have the effect of causing saints to continue in association with evil it would be obviously making the commandment of God of none effect. We must certainly in the light of 1 Corinthians 5 refuse all fellowship and intercourse with a wicked person. But we must also recognise that all the conditions in the christian profession are changed.

It is these changed conditions which have been distinctly taken account of, and provided for, in 2 Timothy. In that epistle we have the Lord's mind as to how faithful saints should act in the last days, and how those saints should walk together. But it is essential to the right understanding of 2 Timothy that we should see that the light of the ministry of the gospel and of the ministry of the assembly is supposed to be possessed by the persons who are in view. That is, the epistle is addressed to an individual who has heard things of Paul, and who is thoroughly acquainted with Paul's doctrine (2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:10). These things, entrusted to faithful men, are to be the subject of instruction amongst the saints. This would clearly include what we have in Romans and Corinthians, and also Colossians and Ephesians. Every scripture is also spoken of as "divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). This proves that no part of Paul's doctrine, or indeed of any scripture, is to drop out of account.

In the light of all this the faithful saint is to "shun" vain babblings (chapter 2: 16), everyone who names the name of the Lord is to "withdraw from iniquity" (verse 19), and he who would be "a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work" must purify himself from vessels to dishonour "in separating himself from them" (verse 21). He must "flee" youthful lusts (verse 22), and "avoid" foolish and senseless questionings (verse 23). These

things, negative though they be, are most necessary in the midst of a profession where iniquity abounds.

But there is something positive also. We are to "pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart" (verse 22). The pursuit of these things would clearly involve practical consistency with every part of the truth which the individual has heard and known as Paul's teaching. As in the light of the truth of the assembly he finds here definite instructions in relation to his walking together with other like-minded saints. The "with" clearly brings in what is collective. He is not to be isolated. How could he be in the light of the assembly? Righteousness, faith, love, peace, are bound up with the practical recognition of our divine bond with all saints as members of one another in Christ's body, and as built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. We cannot pursue these four things alone; in the very nature of the case it must be "with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart". This necessitates much individual exercise, for if I am not pursuing righteousness, faith, love, peace, how shall I be able to discern others who are doing so in dependence upon, and desiring loyalty to, the Lord? "A pure heart" suggests that there must be more than the claim to be such; it must be a reality before the Lord, and when it is so there will hardly be the need or desire to claim it. The heart is set on maintaining it under His eye in spiritual reality.

The assembly exists, and all truth pertaining to it -- including l Corinthians -- remains as divine light for us, but our path amidst the ruin is marked out in 2 Timothy. No company can claim to have the status of the assembly, or to act as such. But saints can still, in the light of 1 Corinthians 5, refuse intercourse with a wicked person. It is imperative that they should do so. Indeed it is clear that none of such as were characterised by the moral traits of 2 Timothy 2:22 would go on with a wicked person. To recognise the authority of 1 Corinthians 5:13 as the commandment of the

Lord, and to be consistent with it, is part of the "righteousness" we are to pursue according to 2 Timothy, and we do so in company with our brethren who are treading the same path. Saints act together as pursuing "righteousness". And they not only have in mind the necessity for withdrawing from iniquity, but they act as those who have apprehended the true character of the assembly, God's house, as being essentially holy, and thus necessarily exclusive of evil. Profound exercise as to this before God, and eating the sin-offering, is of the deepest importance. But all this is spiritual and priestly exercise within -- a temple character of things which forms the moral basis in souls of the action taken in public. This must have due place, or we shall lose a solemn element which should be present in every dealing with a wicked person.

The assembly is characterised by purity, it is the abode of God's holiness. If the saints are the shrine where God dwells, this necessitates the positive refusal and rejection of evil. But we do not limit the thought of the purity and holiness of God's house to any special company of saints. All saints are of that house, and we apprehend things from that point of view. At Corinth there was a concrete company which had that character, and from which a wicked person could be excluded. But we are in a time of ruin, and though the assembly still exists, and is still characterised by holiness, it is not in view as a concrete company. But exercised saints can apprehend the character of God's house, and walk together consistently with it, in spite of the ruin, though, of course, very much affected by it. If we walk together in the light of what pertains to the whole company, we necessarily take action and we do so together. We come to the solemn judgment as before God that an evil-doer is unfit for christian fellowship, and we sever all our links of association and fellowship with him. Nothing could be more simple and definite, or more absolutely in keeping with 1 Corinthians 5.

Saints do not claim to act as the assembly, or as being the "yourselves" contemplated in 1 Corinthians 5:13, because they take account of the true scope of "yourselves", and they realise the present ruin under the eye of the Lord. But they seek to maintain consistency with every part of assembly truth, and every divine principle. They seek to come together and act together, in such a way that the Lord may be able to own them as gathered to His name and acting in His name. They desire, above all, that His presence with them may be their support, and that every act may be so carried out as to have moral value under God's eye. But they own the ruin, and do not set up to be anything. They are conscious that their place of blessing and power is to be a poor and afflicted people whose trust is in the name of the Lord. He will not fail such. They act together in refusing to be linked with evil, but the only community or corporate body which they recognise is the whole assembly.

The peculiar conditions of a day of ruin tend to narrow us in thought. If we have found a few saints with whom we can walk according to the truth, and on the line of 2 Timothy 2:22, we have to be exercised that we do not connect with them in a corporate way ideas which properly are only to be attached to the whole company of saints. Beloved and honoured servants of the Lord have frequently warned us against any such limitation. And I trust we recognise the importance of keeping such warning in mind. There are many expressions which we commonly use, as a matter of convenience, in a limited sense as referring to those who walk together. Such expressions as "we", "us", "ourselves", "the saints", "the brethren", "the assembly", "fellowship". So long as these are used simply and understood there is no harm in them, and I have no doubt we shall continue to use them. But the very fact that we do so renders it wholesome for us to be reminded occasionally that if they were used formally in this restricted sense they

would be purely sectarian. We need to keep our hearts and minds in the largeness of the assembly of God, while our feet are kept in the path of 2 Timothy.

The present application of 1 Corinthians 5 will be found as saints regulate their associations in the light of it, and its moral force will be preserved in their souls and in their actions. It has present authority and application, but it should be clearly before us that we act in the light of it as walking together according to 2 Timothy 2:22. Each walks in the light of the assembly, and seeks to pursue consistency with every part of assembly truth, and this is the divine way in which saints can walk together in the last days.

This is important as involving personal exercise on the part of each one. And this individual character of things is very suited to the last days, and gives faithful testimony a peculiar character and value. It is very possible that, while what was done at Corinth was the act of the assembly as such, there might have been many individuals among them who were not truly in accord with it (see 2 Corinthians 12:20, 21 ). But now each faithful individual is to pursue righteousness, etc., and what is collective really results from what is individual. Thus in the day of ruin it may be possible for things to be maintained under the eye of God in even greater moral value than was the case at Corinth. Faith and faithfulness came out with peculiar lustre in the dark days of Israel's history, and it may be so in the corresponding time of the church's history. We surely desire to have our little part in such divine favour!

You ask, if two or three in a day of ruin come together, say on Lord's day morning, do they not do it in assembly character, if as you have rightly insisted they are "of the assembly" in the place?

I should say that the two or three are "of the assembly" and are therefore responsible to judge themselves, and to see to it that their associations, ways and spirit are in

keeping with its holy character. It is also one of the first elements in "righteousness" that they should recognise and own the ruin into which things have fallen in the assembly of which they form part. In proportion as they are here for Christ, and devoted to His interests, they can be found gathered together unto His name and acting in His name, and they will have assembly character. But if their actions are such as to manifest indifference to Christ, or failure to maintain His rights, or are out of accord with the truth, though they are "of the assembly" they are not found in assembly character. There are many 'believers' meetings' which could not be recognised as having assembly character at all, though all believers in them are "of the assembly". It is as saints are formed in these moral features which properly belong to the assembly that it may be said that they come together in assembly character. But the more truly they come together in assembly character the less disposed will they be to claim to do so in any formal or ecclesiastical way. The character of their assembling, and of their actions, will speak for itself, and be justified by the truth. To speak, in a day of ruin, of coming together in assembly character in any other sense than as having the moral features of the assembly would be, I fear, that very ecclesiasticism which F.E.R. and others have so dreaded and deprecated, and with which J.N.D. would not have had an atom of sympathy.

In connection with this, I would like to call your attention to a most important paper, which, I am sure, you have often read and pondered. I refer to J.N.D.'s Considerations on the Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ, written in 1828 (Collected Writings 1). That paper contained, as you know, the seed of the great spiritual movement which, in the Lord's ways, marked the last century so distinctively. What is so prominent and striking in it is the intense depth of exercise which it discloses as to the moral features of the assembly. This was the line on

which assembly truth was recovered. It showed unmistakably that everything ecclesiastical was in complete ruin, but emphasised that that ruin was brought about by unfaithfulness and spiritual decline and defection. It presents everything from the moral side. It was in this way that the Spirit of God recalled saints in these last days to the truth of the assembly. It was no question of recovery to correct scriptural order, or to assembly position, but of exercise as to the restoration of those blessed moral features which mark the assembly. And I think we must conclude that divine revival could only be brought about in this way; the point of departure must be the point of recovery. It might well be a deep exercise for us, do you not think, as to how far we do come together in assembly character?

Then you ask, 'Is it no longer possible for any saints to "come together in assembly" because they cannot find the whole?' I do not question the possibility of this. I am sure that as saints walk according to 2 Timothy 2:22, and come together responsive to the Lord's love, they will know what it is to be in assembly, and to taste largely, through His marvellous grace, of assembly privilege. May we desire and experience this more and more! But is it not quite another matter for a few saints amidst the ruin of the last days to claim that they can exercise assembly administration in discipline formally as at the beginning? The assembly which was together in Corinth in outward unity as God's assembly in that city is now broken and scattered, a great part of it submerged in the world. Indeed, such is the state of things that the fact that two or three come together as seeking to walk in the truth is but a witness, as J.N.D. said, to the ruin. The fact that we are in entirely changed conditions is forced in a sorrowful way upon our attention.

My exercise is that we should adequately recognise the present ruin: it is one of the first elements of "righteousness" to do so; and it will be the first effect of receiving the light of the assembly. J.N.D. said, 'If any

Christians now set up to be the church, or did any formal act which pretended to it, I should leave them as being a false pretension, and denying the very testimony to the state of ruin which God has called us to render ... . I think it of the last importance that this pretension of any body should be kept down: I could not own it a moment, because it is not the truth' (Collected Writings 1: 350). I quote this for the words I have put in italics, which indicate J.N.D.'s sense of the importance of not losing sight of the ruin. The conditions are not now as at Corinth. J.N.D.'s paper On The Formation of Churches, written in 1840, contains much that is instructive in principle as to this, though he is not speaking of the point that is at present before us. For example, 'A return from existing evil unto that which God at the first set up, is therefore not always a proof that we have understood His word and will. Nevertheless, we shall rightly and truly judge that what He did at the first set up was good, and that we have departed from it' (Collected Writings 1: 142). 'Shall we, who are guilty of this state of things, pretend we have only to set about and remedy it? No; the attempt would but prove that we are not humbled thereby. Let us rather search in all humility what God says to us in His word of such a condition of things; and let us not, like foolish children who have broken a precious vase, attempt to join together its broken fragments, and to set it up in hopes to hide the damage from the notice of others' (Collected Writings 1: 144). 'I am enquiring what the word and the Spirit say of the state of the fallen church, instead of arrogating to myself a competency to realise that which the Spirit has spoken of the first condition of the church ... . The lowliness that feels aright the real condition of the church, preserves us from pretensions' (Collected Writings l: 146).

It is not enough to see that an expression is in Scripture. We must take account of the conditions in which the Spirit used it, and we have to ask whether the same conditions are present now. The propriety, or otherwise, of using words

now in a formal way which stand connected in Scripture with the assembly in its original character and unity is a matter for spiritual discernment.

What was perfectly suitable and appropriate when the building was intact might be pretentious if taken up formally when it is in ruins. The Lord has revived, in infinite grace, Paul's ministry, and also (especially since J.N.D.'s departure) John's. In the light of this there has been both separating and gathering of saints. But I think we should conclude from Scripture that the work of the Spirit at the end would not be on the line of re-establishing the Corinthian order so much as bringing about personal attachment to Christ and love to the brethren, so that all that is vitally characteristic of the assembly should be found here.

In Philadelphia everything is cherished which is divinely precious and vital. It is that which was from the beginning revived and restored in mercy at the end. Not a restoration of assembly status, but a revival of Christ in the affections of His saints, leading to love of the brethren. This is the principle on which saints may walk together even in the most difficult times; it is in line with 2 Timothy, and we may surely count upon the Lord to maintain it to the end.

The Lord has given through many "vessels to honour" a very blessed ministry of truth concerning Christ and the assembly. That ministry has made its way in the face of conflict all the time, and its effect, where spiritually received, has been that man in the flesh has been known as set aside in the cross, Christ's word and name have become precious and cherished, and the brethren have been loved. This is Philadelphia as I understand it. Not an ecclesiastical body, but saints characterised, amidst the ruin of the ecclesiastical body and owning their share in it, by spiritual affections and intelligence such as were found in the assembly at the beginning.

I most fully own, and rejoice in, the abiding value of

Matthew 18:20. It is blessed encouragement for even "two or three" of the assembly, and though not given especially for a day of ruin it becomes available in such a day. To be gathered together unto Christ's name secures His presence; it is privilege and power. And "two or three" may still act in His name, and with the sanction of His presence. Who could doubt that such acts are "bound in heaven"?

But then all this produces deep exercise. J.N.D. is careful to say, 'Their acts, if really done in His name, have His authority'. This is just the point. It is not for any two or three to claim that they do things in His name, but to be exercised in every way -- in the consideration of Scripture, and in much prayer and humble dependence -- that it should really be so. And this is especially important in a day when there is not only the general ruin, but the added confusion of many companies claiming to meet and act in His name. I add that, of course, the responsibility that it should be really so in any dealing with evil rests upon saints locally; saints elsewhere own what is done, as J.N.D. says.

If two or three really act in Christ's name amidst the ruin, would you not expect that their action would be both morally suitable to the matter in hand, and to the conditions in which the action is taken? Christ takes account of the ruin; He is deeply affected by it. Would it not be in accord with Him for us to own that the conditions are changed from what they were at Corinth? The subject of our present inquiry is not whether two or three may act in His name or not, but as to what manner of acting -- or rather, what ground to be taken in acting -- is most suitable to His name in a day of ruin?

To have assembly character, and to act in Christ's name, is blessed divine favour. To claim that we have this character, and that we so act, might be the most worthless pretension. May our exercise ever be to have things in spiritual reality! And it may be well to remember that we do not necessarily get rid of pretension by seeing that 2

Timothy is our special charter in the last days. A few individuals who claimed that they acted and walked together according to 2 Timothy 2:22 might be the most pretentious persons on earth. The true value of what we do does not consist in what we claim it to be, but in what it is under God's eye.

I fully appreciate the importance of order. If saints walk together according to 2 Timothy 2:22 in the light of all assembly truth, and seek, through grace, to maintain practical consistency with it in a day of ruin, I feel sure that of such it may be said, "Rejoicing and seeing your order" (Colossians 2:5). But this would be found without any thought of setting up to be an administrative body.

The truth regarding overseers or elders supplies a suggestive and helpful analogy. Elders and deacons had an important place in church administration at the beginning. No intelligent brother would think of taking any such place officially now. But I trust it is a matter of continual exercise with us that the care and service should be maintained. And in some feeble measure it is maintained.

All that is comely and in accord with divine order will be found with those who walk together according to 2 Timothy 2:22. But they will have no more thought of setting up to be an administrative body than those who serve in care and ministry would have of setting up to be deacons or elders. Divine order is maintained -- as to the moral reality of it -- without anything formal and therefore without pretension. It is consistent with the order of the assembly that a wicked person should be excluded from the companionship of those walking together. But this will be done on the line of following righteousness, and through each one taking up the exercise of it personally, and maintaining separation from the one in question. And, of course,

in such a case those walking together would act together. All that pertains to order and administration is secured, so far as possible in a day of ruin, as saints move on together in accord with the testimony. But there is no claim or attempt to secure this in a formal way in the scene of the church's ruin, though there is that which faith can recognise as in keeping with due order.

'Church position' is perhaps a somewhat ambiguous phrase. If it means that all saints are by God's grace and calling, and as having the Spirit, of Christ's body and God's house, and that all saints are responsible to be consistent with this position, and that those who walk together in the truth recognise this, and seek to be consistent with it personally and in their associations, I do not object to it. But if it means that a certain company of persons have 'church position' in the scene of ruin in a way special and distinct from other saints, it is ground which I do not care to take.

Spiritually, and as a matter of faith, it is open to those in separation from evil to enjoy assembly position and privilege to the full measure of their spiritual capability -- that is, the measure of faith, affection, growth, intelligence, and the Spirit's power; the measure, too, of the Lord's grace, in vouchsafing His presence to them and the gain of His headship. But when it comes to a question of the position which we take up formally here in the scene of the church's ruin, and conscious, as we surely are, that we are involved in that ruin, I think the greatest lowliness and the absence of all pretension whether in thought or word are becoming. To have the two sides clearly before us, and not to confound the one with the other, is very necessary if we are to be found here in intelligent accord with the testimony. As we know and enter into the grace and blessedness of the former, we can afford to take very low and simple ground in the latter. I believe the present exercise is intended to help us as to both, for if we are

defective on one side we shall almost inevitably be defective on both.

Providing that holiness in separation from evil were fully and practically maintained, I should be happy to leave my brethren free as to the terms which, in godly exercise, they might judge suitable to use, because it is the act of complete severance from what is evil which to me is vital, and not the words in which it is expressed. If they felt happy to use literally the words of 1 Corinthians 5:13 it would not affect my love for them or my fellowship with them, because I trust that in mind and spirit my brethren feel, and desire to own, the ruin as much as I do. If it were a matter of conscience with them to use those words I would defer to them. But personally I would desire to avoid the use of terms which might appear to involve the assumption that 'church position' attached in some special way to a certain company. That a few saints are privileged to walk together in these last days, through the Lord's peculiar grace, in the light of assembly truth and assembly position is true, and I count it great divine favour to walk with them.

Can it be truly said that the form of action which is regarded as comely in this little paper involves disobedience to the commandment of the Lord, and that it should be separated from as iniquity? Brethren must judge as to whether this is so. If a person is absolutely excluded from the companionship and fellowship of those who walk together, is he not, as a simple matter of fact, removed from amongst them? Is not the Scripture obeyed so far as possible in present conditions? Could any words that could be used add to the completeness or definiteness of the severance? And it must be admitted that even 1 Corinthians 5:13 is not a formula; it was an injunction to be carried out in fact. Where then is disobedience? In what does it consist? There is the fullest possible obedience, but it has taken a form becoming to the day of the church's ruin.

There is a serious exercise as to whether it is comely to

formally take the place in the scene of the church's ruin, of a 'company' having 'church position'. It is not thought well to have the 'company' idea in mind save as embracing, in principle, the whole. There are dangers to be guarded against -- a sectarian position or thought on the one hand, and a lack of due recognition of the ruin on the other. Those who do not agree with the way in which this exercise is sought to be expressed may surely in brotherly love respect the exercise and bear with it. It in no way infringes on what is due to the Lord. No one can say that what are called 'new' principles have been productive, or are at all likely to be productive, of laxity in associations. It must be obvious that to insist on each individual being true to certain principles in no way relaxes the obligations which are common to all. But the principles advocated are, in truth, as old as 2 Timothy.

In conclusion, I would submit to the judgment of others the following considerations. Firstly, is not the act of exclusion or separation from a wicked person an act which stands in connection with our position and attitude in that which is now the scene of the church's ruin? Secondly, can we take up formally any position or attitude in that scene save that of being involved in the ruin? Thirdly, are not the words which we use in such circumstances a solemn and formal announcement to which all who walk together are definitely committed? Fourthly, if these three questions are answered in the only way in which it seems to me they can be answered, is it not right and seemly that the words used should be in keeping with the truth of the position? It is really a question of where we are, or where we consider ourselves to be, in the place where the church is in ruin.

The exercise as to this matter may appear to some to be a mere quibble about words. But I am convinced that when saints consider it soberly apart from the atmosphere and spirit of controversy, and especially apart from any thought that it involves separation from our brethren, they will

realise that it is perhaps more important than at first appeared. The exercise has been widespread, and one feels constrained to believe that, under the Lord's hand, there is needed divine instruction in it. May it be our concern to see what that instruction is and profit by it! And may we be subject to one another in the fear of Christ, and be ready to give due place to every part of the truth! May God enable us, in this last solemn and critical moment, when the enemy is seeking to disintegrate and scatter, to lay ourselves out diligently to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace!

1920
Beloved Brother, ... It is many years since I saw the paper, Righteousness in the Last Days, but I believe the statements in it were intended to warn against the setting up on the part of the saints of any formal claim to be "the assembly". Well-known servants of the Lord, such as J.N.D. and F.E.R., had spoken in a similar way when circumstances seemed to call for it. But these honoured servants spent their lives in labouring that saints might be brought into the truth of the assembly, and might walk together according to it in spiritual reality. So that the warning against assuming in a formal way to be "the assembly" is quite consistent with the earnest desire that not one iota of the truth in regard to the assembly shall be a dead letter. I believe that the Lord intends us to walk in the light of every part of that truth. He has, in wondrous mercy, revived a testimony to what is in the mind of God, and I believe that He will maintain it.

I cannot understand saints who have had light as to the assembly, and who believe that the divine thought of fellowship, and of assembly features and privileges, has

been revived in mercy, and that these things are known in a practical way by thousands of saints the world over, taking the ground that assembly administration in dealing with evil is not to have any place. Matthew 18:15 - 20 is clearly part of the truth as to the assembly; it is a divine provision for matters which the Lord knew would arise. It may, of course, be said that the assembly is not in evidence in a concrete way as it was at Corinth. But if a few saints are in the light of the assembly, and in suitable moral conditions, assembly features will be there without any formal claim to be "the assembly". My impression is that, without any pretension, there is an increased cherishing of every part of the truth concerning the assembly, and increased desire to maintain it in a practical way. In order to this there must necessarily be the feature of assembly administration.

The Lord appears to have had a day of departure in mind when He added Matthew 18:19, 20 to what He had said before as to "the assembly". "Two of you" would be two of the assembly -- two who hold assembly ground spiritually, however great the general departure may be. If only "two" are available they can maintain what is due to the Lord in the assembly, in dependence upon His Father, and with the support and sanction of His presence. This, when the conditions of Matthew 18:19, 20 are found, is not a pretension but a spiritual reality, and it can be carried out in faithfulness to the Lord without any formal claim to be "the assembly".

I fully admit the weakness of things in the present day. It is manifested by the fact that I, or any other brother, may maintain the truth at one time and discredit it at another. You have had humiliating evidence of this in your own locality. But I cannot think of saints as able to take up in a practical way the fellowship, and the spiritual privilege of the assembly, and as having the Lord in their midst, and yet as unable to act with His sanction and authority in the matter of dealing with evil.

I am sorry to hear that some who have been withdrawn from claim that they are still in fellowship, for this seems to indicate an unwillingness to face the issues that have been raised, without which there cannot be a restoration of confidence.

I am not able to write as fully as I could wish, but I hope I have written enough to make clear what is in my mind. I fear that the statements in Righteousness in the Last Days may not have been sufficiently guarded, and it may be they would need to be balanced by the statement that assembly truth and principles can be maintained, by the grace of God, without any formal claim to be "the assembly". There has been a good deal of ministry which bears upon this with which I am in the fullest accord.

With much love in the Lord,
Yours affectionately in Him,
8 May 1941

CHRIST AS THE PASSOVER AND THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD

1 Corinthians 5:7, 8

C.A.C. It has come before me whether it might not help us if we looked a little at Christ as the passover and the feast of unleavened bread. The Spirit of God has made them both one in Luke 22:1, "Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the passover, drew nigh".

I suppose that every thought of God must reach us first through our need. God begins with us in our deep need. He introduces His thoughts to us first in connection with our need. But there is what is much greater than our need or His meeting it, and that is what is in His heart, the thoughts He cherishes in His mind. It is a great thing if He brings into our souls a divine thought, as He can add to it and cause it to become bigger and bigger. We never leave anything behind in God's things. The passover is brought before us in different settings. It was kept (1) in Egypt, (2) in the wilderness, (3) in the land, (4) in the days of Hezekiah and Josiah, (5) in days of recovery (Ezra), and (6) in the most blessed way of all when the Lord Jesus was here on earth. It was constantly coming out in new circumstances. The climax, the full thought, is reached when it is "fulfilled in the kingdom of God". And, inasmuch as saints are in the kingdom of God now, it is the pleasure of God that we should come into the full thought now, and not only know it as at the first as a shelter from judgment. The kingdom of God is come for us; we are not waiting for it. As having the Holy Spirit, we are in the kingdom and the kingdom is in us. We may understand it in its fulness, as "fulfilled".

Rem. I think you have said that the kingdom of God was established when the Holy Spirit came down.

C.A.C. Yes. The kingdom of the heavens is established in a glorified Man in heaven. There is a Man

crowned with glory and honour in heaven this minute. There is supreme rule and influence from Him now. But the kingdom of God is established in the Holy Spirit down here. He is the seal of the righteousness of faith. "The kingdom of God is ... righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). It is what is in the Holy Spirit down here. The kingdom of God is a blessed sphere subsisting now, in the power of the Holy Spirit, down here in this world. We need to see what is here. Up there "we see Jesus ... crowned with glory and honour" (Hebrews 2:9), but there is also what is here. We need to have our eyes opened to see (as Elisha's servant of old, 2 Kings 6:16, 17) heavenward and earthward.

The question is, What do I see? What is in the newspapers, or the circle where all the thoughts of God can be known in their fulness? Every thought that God had in His mind at the beginning? Peter speaks of "precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:19, 20). That was long before Exodus 12. What God had in His mind then was that He was going to have a people brought to Himself. I was very thankful once to think that God was outside, happy because God could not reach me in His judgment. How different to know that "Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). We want to get more and more into the thoughts of God and escape from the thoughts of men; it is the only way of blessing. A great many are glad that God cannot reach them in His judgment, but that is not the truth. The truth is that all the blessing starts in the heart of God, not that Christ comes in to rescue us from God. What a difference! The first time, the passover was kept for shelter, but it was only once needed for shelter. We have not to keep it in one sense in that way as Christ has kept it for us. "By faith he (Moses) celebrated the passover and the sprinkling of the

blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them" (Hebrews 11:28). Moses kept it for all Israel. The true Moses has really kept it for all who are brought to Him by the grace of God. The passover and the sprinkling of the blood stand in eternal blessedness for ever as the ground of our blessing with God.

Rem. We "keep the feast".

C.A.C. "For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed; so that let us celebrate the feast". There is a continual adding. What God gives you, you never leave behind. Did they leave the manna behind? No, they carried it over Jordan in the golden pot. They had a more blessed sense of what it was for God than ever they had in the wilderness. It was not needed for food then. We see the same thing with regard to Aaron's rod. The priestly grace of Christ that was needed in the wilderness is carried over in the ark. It remained with them in a divine way in the ark. God is never going to let me lose one single thought of Christ that I have ever had. I am never going to lose it. Although I may be freed from the pressures where I valued it first, I shall enjoy it in full for ever.

God never let the passover drop out. At each new step God brought it in. Its first celebration starts the year, the first year. "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Exodus 12:2). The second celebration takes place in the second year, "in the first month of the second year" (Numbers 9:1). How much more glorious was it than the first! Why? Because it is not now a question of judgment or the destroying angel but of God having taken up His dwelling. The tabernacle has been constructed according to His mind: it has been put together and set up, and the glory has come down. It is God's pleasure to be near to His people, and the first thing He would have them do is to hold the passover. And when He speaks of this second passover, He says of it, "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with

leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning" (Exodus 23:18; see also chapter 34: 25). That refers to the passover. In Exodus 12:5 it is spoken of as "your lamb", what you need for shelter, but now it is "my sacrifice, my feast". It is not "the fat" in Exodus 12, it is all about the blood there.

Ques. Does "the fat" speak of the excellence of Christ?

C.A.C. When we come to "the fat" we are getting more to God's side of it, His own thoughts about it. We may have kept the feast in the fourteenth day of the first month of the first year, but have we kept it in the fourteenth day of the first month of the second year? God has not only taken us up to meet our need perfectly and divinely but to bring us to His thoughts of Christ. What a feast for God! He is carrying everything out through that "Lamb slain"; the book of life is connected with it in Revelation 13:8, "Whose name had not been written from the founding of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb".

Ques. When God says, "My sacrifice", is He referring to what He sacrificed?

C.A.C. It is His own delight in it rather, His delight in what comes about by the death of Christ, the fat of the Lamb. The blood speaks of the life given, meeting what is due to God. "The fat" would speak to us of the excellence of Christ such as God alone could estimate it. "All the fat shall be Jehovah's" (Leviticus 3:16), but "the blood shall be for you as a sign" (Exodus 12:13). No one but the blessed God could measure what the fat speaks of.

Ques. As to Philippians 3:8, "The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord", how would that fit in?

C.A.C. We see that God has got it first, and that stirs up our hearts to want it for ourselves. Paul was throwing what was gain to him behind him there. Everything else, apart from the excellency of that knowledge, was dross and dung. All that could commend Paul he throws aside. He

says, as it were, 'I have seen another Person. His love holds me fast'. In the embrace of that love he is prepared to throw everything else overboard. You come to keeping the feast, for you cannot eat the passover without keeping the feast because they are both one (Luke 22:1). Nothing is to have any place with you but Christ. All that would give me a place has to go.

Rem. I have known a lovelier One.

C.A.C. All this fits in with the light of the glory of the tabernacle. Everything in it spoke of Christ. "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them". All the material came out of the hearts of the people. It was all a free-will offering. One had gold, another silver, and so on; all came from their side. God has taken us up to put valuable substance into our souls; He has put Christ there.

In every saint God has put spiritual substance so that we can contribute to His dwelling-place. We understand the blessing of God's dwelling-place by contributing towards it the knowledge of Christ that we have. There are thousands of contributors. The way that God is working at this present time is that He puts the knowledge of Christ into the hearts of His people and thus we fit together. We should fit together beautifully if we only gave place to Christ.

Rem. "That they may be all one" (John 17:21 ).

C.A.C. "One in us", one in the knowledge of divine Persons. Divisions come in because we do not give place to divine Persons. The only way to unity is to let that which is of God and of Christ enter our hearts; then all that is of God and of Christ in one will fit with all else that is of God and of Christ, and thus we arrive at God dwelling; His people are round Him and near Him and learning the passover as God's feast. The more we get increased, the more power there is for the practical refusal of the flesh, and the more power there is to keep the feast. How are we keeping it? In the light of Egypt or of the tabernacle, God dwelling? If I am keeping it in the light of God dwelling I shall have great

power. What I know of God and of Christ becomes great power for keeping the feast, so that we get rid of the leaven in that way. In the sense of what the passover is to God, there is power in the soul to purge out what marked us in our unconverted days. "Not with old leaven". Whatever taste we had in our unconverted days reasserts its power if we get away from God. Then there are also personal feelings, "the leaven of malice and wickedness", but we have power by the Spirit to refuse the leaven and bring in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. If we were content to be what the grace of God had made us, we should be happy. The apostle could say, "By God's grace I am what I am" (chapter 15: 10). Let me be what the grace of God would make me. "In simplicity and sincerity before God, (not in fleshly wisdom but in God's grace,) we have had our conversation in the world" (2 Corinthians 1:12). They were like Christ. The question with us should not be 'What is right?' but 'What is like Christ?' We should be concerned to give expression to Christ.

Rem. We are often slow to recognise what is of Christ in one another.

C.A.C. An old brother used to say, 'It takes a lot of grace in one to see a little grace in another'.

There is a great difference between the passover as kept in Egypt and that kept after the sanctuary had been made, setting forth all that God had found in Christ. The saints are now "the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, and not man" (Hebrews 8:2). Exercises with regard to holiness are most important. "The temple of God is holy, and such are ye". There should be great exercise with us to maintain holiness.

Rem. And all is to be "according to the pattern".

C.A.C. Some Christians ask whether certain things are left to our discretion or not. The answer is, 'Nothing'. Everything was done with regard to the tabernacle "as Jehovah had commanded Moses". Every ring and pin was

made as God required it. If that was so in regard of the type, the shadow, how important now in regard of the substance that all should be according to "the Lord's commandment" (1 Corinthians 14:37). There is to be no allowance of contamination or defilement. Hezekiah commenced by cleansing the house of Jehovah, "And the priests ... carried forth all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah" (2 Chronicles 29:16). It was all cleared out and in view of keeping the passover also. They could not keep it for the pleasure of God except in holiness. There is a lack with us of keeping the feast. We are not sufficiently exercised about it and therefore we have not much access into the mind of God.

Ques. Is to "keep the feast" a perpetual thing with us?

C.A.C. "Seven days". We work as Christians by the week. We begin the week on the first day by eating the Lord's supper. The Lord ate the passover with His disciples and brought in new thoughts in connection with it. We eat it now in the light of all that the Lord has added to it.

The third passover was kept in a new position over Jordan and in the land, and in new conditions -- after circumcision.

Ques. Has the passover a burnt-offering aspect?

C.A.C. The burnt-offering is introduced in connection with passovers observed in the days in Hezekiah and Josiah. In fact, in one passage the Spirit of God seems to speak of the passover as "the burnt-offerings" (2 Chronicles 35:14). It was provided for in Numbers 28:19 - 24, "besides the continual burnt-offering ... after this manner shall ye offer daily ... two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven yearling lambs", etc. It is a wonderful setting forth of the excellence of Christ as the burnt-offering. We shall get a multiplied apprehension of the death of Christ as we begin to keep the feast.

Rem. "And their oblation" also.

C.A.C. You get a sense of the delight of God in

connection with the death of Christ, "an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour" (Ephesians 5:2). God is enriched. The sin-offering meets His claims but the burnt-offering enriches Him beyond measure and He wants us to know Him as thus enriched. The meat-offering is not offered in connection with atonement, but in connection with His perfect devotion to God as the obedient, dependent Person, "fine flour".

Rem. Also "oil" and "wine".

C.A.C. Oil denotes that everything was in the power of the Spirit, but the wine was poured out in the sanctuary. You can pour something out for God. And in Hezekiah's day there is the addition of "cymbals, with lutes and with harps" and "at the moment the burnt-offering began, the song of Jehovah began" (2 Chronicles 29:25 - 30). And it is a long time before the burnt-offering is finished, "all night unto the morning". And we know the day that is going to break very soon when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth. Now, continually, we can send it up "all night". "It shall never go out" (Leviticus 6:13). The Spirit will maintain the affections of the saints for Christ. God will keep up the line of faith.

The greatest passover of all was when the Lord sat down with His disciples. It is said of the passover held in the days of Josiah, "And there was no passover like to that holden in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel hold such a passover as Josiah held" (2 Chronicles 35:18). But now, it is since the Lord was here. There was the sweetness of companionship in it: "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer". If He valued it then, does He not value it now? They were those given Him of the Father, their affections were bound up with Him: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" He sits down with them and connects (in Matthew and Mark) the loaf and the cup with the passover. In Luke they are separated or, rather, distinguished from it, His body

given and His blood shed in relation to the new covenant. But in Matthew and Mark the thought of the passover is given fulness to. The Lord brought out a new glory and put it on the passover, and it will never be disconnected from it. Even in the millennium it will always have the character that the Lord gave it. God's people on earth in a coming day will see the whole pleasure of God accomplished. The Lord brought in a new element, a cup which is not connected with the passover in the Old Testament.

Ques. I suppose "this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19) is peculiar to us?

C.A.C. The assembly is in view. "This is my body which is given for you". It is the peculiarly blessed way in which the church enters into it. We have it in a better way than Israel will ever have. We understand the fulness of God's thought in the passover -- what God has found -- and that has been furnished to Him in Christ in both the bread and the cup. "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you". It is a cup into which we drink, filled with all the love of God.

Ques. Would you connect it with Psalm 16:5, "Jehovah is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup"?

C.A.C. It was His portion as Man on earth and thus His cup -- unbroken joy in the love of God, His own personal portion, as He says, "That they may have my joy fulfilled in them" (John 17:13). What could be more blessed than to have His portion? God introduces a thought in connection with our need first, but He adds to it, and it becomes bigger and bigger until the Son comes and brings in the fulness of the divine thought, and we are set in it.

Ques. "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage". Does that give us a thought of the Lord's joy?

C.A.C. It is His joy, what He acquires. He wanted it and He has got it, present possession of the assembly

(Ephesians 5:25 - 32). Someone may say, 'But what if there are only two or three of us?' Never mind, you can have the substance of it. There is no reason why two or three should not minister to Him. It is one loaf and one cup. If ninety-seven out of one hundred do not respond, it need not hinder the three. "And the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel shall kill it" (Exodus 12:6), as if there were only one. And Hezekiah speaks of it being "for all Israel" (2 Chronicles 29:24). "The cup ... which we bless". How big is that "we"? Is not there room in it for every saint? "The bread which we break". God supposes that every Christian does it. "We have all been baptised into one body ... and have all been given to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13) is the whole church of God. It is heartbreaking that so many are not there when we come to break bread, but two persons can hold the truth of God's assembly for the whole church. The testimony consists in holding the truth for the whole assembly. The whole assembly will come out in the value of the truth in the day of glory. Some may then say, 'But, Lord, we have known nothing of it before', and He will answer, as it were, 'I had a few faithful souls holding it for you all the time'. I feel inclined to say to believers sometimes, 'I have valuable property in my possession that belongs to you and as soon as you put in a claim to it, the better will I be pleased'. The truth belongs to all saints. Anything not according to the truth is a lie. I want to be identified with the truth, not with a lie. You hold the truth as a steward for all saints. It is a great honour to hold it as the heritage of His people.

Rem. It is said of some in 1 Chronicles 11:14 that "they stood in the midst of the plot and delivered it ... ;and Jehovah wrought a great deliverance".

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 6:1 - 20

C.A.C. The effect of the teaching was to give the saints a very true sense of their dignity. There is more capacity really in the saints to judge of things rightly than in the highest court of justice.

Rem. It seems to make the assembly the highest tribunal.

C.A.C. Yes, and not only the assembly but the saints individually. "There is not a wise person among you", he says, which shows that matters of judgment connected with this life are not supposed to come before the assembly, which is instruction for us. They are matters to be reserved to wise men. 'Have not you a wise man among you?' Paul says. "Set those to judge"; that is, it is by appointment. The assembly deputes one or more to go into it and adjudicate it. In Israel, in every ten persons there was one who was qualified to decide matters. If it was so in Israel, there would not be less competency in the assembly. It does not suppose here that these matters are brought to the assembly, but the assembly appoints those to adjudicate, so the matter does not become a matter of general discussion, or perhaps of personal feeling. It is the wisdom of God, so it is settled, so to say, out of court. If they cannot find a wise man, "set those to judge who are little esteemed in the assembly" (verse 4).

To decide a dispute between one brother and another calls for an intense degree of spirituality. What the apostle is at throughout the whole epistle is to form spirituality in the saints. It makes a great demand on me to be in a spiritual condition, and that is a great help to me. We then shall possess those features in a substantial way. Sometimes we are baffled by feeling our incompetency; but it is a great call to spirituality. It is a great exercise for us all. If we take

up in prayer and worship the great things of God, and we do, are we not competent to decide a dispute as to matters of this life? But all this is to lift us up to our true dignity as the people of God.

Rem. "The elders" are mentioned in Revelation 5.

C.A.C. What is represented in the elders is maturity of judgment, and that is characteristic of the assembly. Such matters were to be considered by two or three wise men, and if that principle had been adhered to, it would have saved the saints much distraction. We could not walk with or be in fellowship with anyone who acted in this way and went to law. Now we have had the instruction, we know such action is altogether against the dispensation of grace. But at the same time Paul does not mince matters: such persons will not inherit the kingdom of God (verse 9); it is an absolute principle. I ought to be afraid to do something wrong, because then I am not practically in the kingdom of God! But such a matter must be settled righteously. Why should I want to be vindicated? Not to contest my rights -- that is the path of liberty. Thus the individual can leave his matters in the hand of the Lord, and it is not necessary for him to seek his own justification. But it is not so with the assembly, the assembly could not let things pass. It shows that God's way of handling things is the wiser and the best way.

A person walking in self-judgment and in the Spirit does not make a false judgment, as a general principle. It exposes my state if I do. It is a test in subjection too. The principle of government in Israel would only work on the ground of subjection, and no principle of government in Scripture will work under any other condition. A person without subjection is not fit for the assembly.

Rem. "But ye have been washed ..." (verse 11).

C.A.C. Now that is what has operated.

Ques. What is justification "... by the Spirit of our God"?

C.A.C. Does not it bring out the wonderful character of the working of God in His people? It is very important to take note of it, that the Spirit of God enters into all in this matter. It is the working of God in the matter, so the saints are morally cleansed from all the pollution around them, and the Spirit and the name of our God enter into it. The divine thought was that they should be freed from all that characterised them naturally; and he brings the highest motives to bear even on the basest and vilest lusts of the flesh.

Ques. It would not be right for a believer to bring anyone before the world's court either, would you say?

C.A.C. We used to be told the apostle did not say anything about that possibility, because he did not conceive such a thing possible!

The last section of the chapter has to do with our bodies, and it is summed up in, "glorify now then God in your body". The body is for the Lord, a vessel to be disposed of by the Lord; and the bodies of the saints are members of Christ; they are to be vessels through which Christ is to be expressed. He has no other vehicle of expression in this world but the bodies of the saints; so it dignifies the bodies of the saints! And the saints are "joined to the Lord" (verse 17). What wonderful elevating realities are brought in in regard to our mortal bodies, because all this refers to our mortal bodies. "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit"

(verse 17). It is a remarkable introduction of the marriage thought in connection with the bodies of the saints. It is an individual matter: "He that is joined to the Lord". It is worked out in the holiness of individual believers. There is the thought of being actually joined to the Lord, the most intimate link possible, of the individual believer who is in a mortal body, with the Lord. It involves a personal nearness and intimate contact with the Lord -- "joined to the Lord".

There is no other scripture I know of like it. "Members of the Christ" (verse 15) shows that the bodies of the saints are

the vehicles through which Christ is expressed; they are not to be used in the expression of self-will, or unrighteousness in any form. It rules out, by the highest possible consideration, the gratification of the body. In the presence of this, how can you entertain the thought of bringing your body into contact with anything vile? It is inconceivable! When it is a question of being joined to the Lord it is a spiritual matter. "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit", and that is true of the believer when he is still in the body.

Another motive is that purchase has come in; it is an unrighteous matter to indulge the flesh. Our bodies are the Lord's, the price has been paid for them. So a chain of most wonderful statements are brought in to counteract the lowest and basest things you can think of. "Joined to the Lord", would be an affectionate personal intimacy with Him. We read (Acts 11) that certain persons "turned to the Lord"; certain persons were exhorted to "abide with the Lord"; and some were "added to the Lord"; but this is intimate contact with the Lord in relation to the body. It is the marriage figure that is in his mind, but he applies it not to the assembly, but to the individual.

The first part of Romans 7 would come in here. God would have us conscious of an affectionate link with the Lord, as husband and wife are conscious of an affectionate link with each other. It is with the Lord in a marriage sense; it is only as we are conscious of that, that we shall understand the marriage links that exist between Christ and the assembly. There is nothing more wonderful than the way that here the highest possible considerations are brought to bear on the lowest dangers that attack us through the flesh.

"JOINED TO THE LORD"

1 Corinthians 6:17

"Joined to the Lord" is a very striking expression -- "He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit". Paul had spoken of the body as being "for the Lord" (verse 13); He has an exclusive right to it as over against any unclean association. Our bodies are members of Christ, which is a wonderful exaltation of the body; the mortal bodies of the saints are members of the anointed and exalted Man, and this is brought in to correct the debased filthiness of those who had recently come out of the corruption of the heathen world. And in this same connection Paul speaks of the individual believer as "joined to the Lord". It is evident that the marriage bond is in his mind; he would have each believer to know that he is in this bond with the Lord. As members of Christ the "body" conception is before us; our bodies are for the expression of Christ; but being joined to the Lord is the way by which we are brought into vital oneness, one Spirit with Him. I do not remember that the thought of being joined to the Lord is found in any other scripture, and it is presented as an individual matter. The people at Lydda and the Saron "turned to the Lord"; at Joppa "many believed on the Lord"; at Antioch "a great number believed and turned to the Lord". Barnabas exhorted all "with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord".

We read that "a large crowd of people were added to the Lord". But something more intimate is suggested in being "joined to the Lord"; it is a personal bond entered into which is comparable to the marriage relation, and which results in spiritual oneness -- the individual is "one Spirit" with the One to whom he is joined. It is truly a wonderful thought.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 7:1 - 40

C.A.C. All these instructions are most important, and never more so than in the present day when lawlessness abounds, even in the christian profession. But christian liberty is preserved as we submit ourselves to divine instruction.

Rem. The apostle handles things with great delicacy of touch, not to bring the saints into bondage (see verse 25). He says, "I think" twice over.

C.A.C. No, it is not laid down exactly in an authoritative manner. It is in divine wisdom that most of the subjects should be presented to us as the products of a spiritual man, who could say he had God's Spirit. And it was true, and all is by the inspiration of the Spirit; it is not that it has not authority. Christianity is a spiritual system, and matters have to be decided spiritually. Almost the only thing in the chapter that is said to be a definite command of the Lord is that the wife should not leave her husband, nor the husband his wife. That is the Lord's authority, there is no appeal against that! There was great disorder and looseness of morals at Corinth, and all is corrected with exquisite delicacy of touch. It is all in view that the saints should be in liberty and without distraction. On the other hand, some were underrating marriage. There was a line of ascetic teaching, forbidding to marry, which is a doctrine of demons. An earthly people would regard, I suppose, that not to marry would be to suffer disability, but Paul shows that such do not suffer any disability -- that is a comfort! He leaves the whole thing in liberty, he puts no one in bondage, what is done is done in liberty. So that a Christian can be perfectly happy and perfectly free with the Lord without the marriage tie. The apostle was not married, and I think he was perfectly happy, indeed in this chapter he

rather hints that it is good. He is careful to show that there is no disability with it. He was superior in spiritual power to what was right naturally. It was quite right, but there was a possibility of being superior to it in devotion to the Lord.

So that if marriage is not granted to every one of us, we need not regard it as any drawback, and there have been many thousands with whom this has been so. It is a great comfort to see there need be no spiritual loss; it may be a gain. To be entirely freed for the Lord and untrammelled by any natural relationship is really a better way of spending one's life.

Ques. "On account of the present necessity" -- what does that mean?

C.A.C. I think it is of general bearing. It is the time of Christ's rejection and reproach, when Christians do not look to have the best of both worlds. We have an extraordinary freedom at present, and marriage is God's ordering. There is a providential ordering in all these things, and it is not wise to set aside any of these things. If a brother or sister marry, we recognise the ordering of God in it and give them our fellowship. We should not like to think they were going to be worse Christians for that! He puts these verses in as a warning, not as a consequence.

Rem. Let "the younger (women) marry", he says (1 Timothy 5:14), in view of departure of the last days I suppose. To have mercy to be faithful seems the balancing point.

C.A.C. This chapter views the saints in the wilderness. This is not Colossians or Ephesians, where a greater dignity is given to the thought of marriage, and where the whole thing is carried on to a higher platform -- that of Christ and the assembly. Marriage belongs to the period before sin came in, and was purely the thought of God, and there was no thought of creature imperfections at all.

Then a woman who has an unconverted husband is not to be cast down, is she? There might have been many such;

but then he shows that the unconverted partner derives an advantage from it.

Rem. It seems difficult to understand that the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife etc., and the children holy.

C.A.C. That is why we have come here tonight. I think it gives us an insight into the mind of God. In such a case there is a certain advantage conferred on the unconverted partner; so he is not quite on the same footing as a man that is in the world. It is looked at much on the line of privilege. It is put in a remarkable way -- his conversion is to be looked for -- that she can save him. "For what knowest thou, O wife, if thou shalt save thy husband? or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy wife?" (verse 16). He does not say 'woman'; it shows God recognises the relationship. It is intended to encourage people in the possibility, and to let the unbeliever know that he is advantaged before God in having a believing partner. It is a special privilege connected with the marriage relationship -- he is sanctified in his wife.

And it says, "God has called us in peace" (verse 15); that is, the unconverted husband is to be thought of specially, and the wife is not to bring in anything to disturb the peace of the marriage relationship.

Rem. Peter speaks of husbands being gained by the conversation of the wives.

C.A.C. I have remarked all my life that when God converts one partner He almost invariably converts the other in time. The very ordering is God's, and this is specially so if they are God's elect, for every circumstance of their lives is ordered, and this is the greatest circumstance perhaps in any one's life. The whole chapter to my mind is full of spiritual encouragement. If the unbeliever, in spite of all the grace, departs, he says, "Let them go away", which is a very solemn thing. Marriage here is viewed on the lower plane -- on the natural plane.

In verses 17 - 24 the ordering of God is recognised in one's position as Jew or Gentile, or even as to one's occupation in life. One has to recognise the ordering of God in all these things. Take a man who is converted and his wife is not -- well, he has to recognise the ordering of God in it. So, if a slave, he is not to desire to alter it. If he has the opportunity to be free, he is at liberty to be free. But it does not matter very much, because the slave is the Lord's freedman, and the freeman is Christ's bondman. The thing that comes about in the ordering of God is the important thing. What we are occupied with (provided, of course, it is not in itself contrary to God), we are to continue in as the providential ordering of God. All is to make us content with where we are thus placed. We are not to want to change our occupation, as if we might be better Christians, or serve God better elsewhere. I am put in the circumstances in which I can best be a Christian, and if I cannot be a Christian there, I cannot be anywhere! If things bear a little hardly on me, well, that is not bad for me, indeed it may be a good thing, they may just touch me at the very spot where the Father sees there is need.

Rem. 'Do not change your location, or your vocation', J.B.S. said.

C.A.C. I suppose that is a large part of piety. Such saints are happy and more at liberty in their pathway, and get the advantage of it. We should so act in the natural sphere that we pass happily and freely into the spiritual sphere. Even a husband and wife leave the relationship behind them, and are as brother and sister in the spiritual sphere. This is the way a spiritual man takes account of the natural sphere, but he has in mind that we shall be at liberty for the spiritual sphere.

Ques. Is verse 32 what the Lord would love?

C.A.C. Yes, indeed! The Lord's word is, "Be careful about nothing". We need to be careful about nothing, "but in everything, by prayer and supplication with

thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6). Why should we carry any care? I often say to myself, how foolish I am to worry about something that only God can manage, and I have the liberty of taking it to Him! How this sphere of natural things tests us! We are always coming up against things that are difficult to us; but then it is the discipline of the Father's love, the very thing that is going to lift me up. He brings me down to the very thing that will lift me up. It makes more room for God. We want more room for God in our natural lives, and if this is brought about the assembly will gain. It is better to be with God in the greatest trial than to be in the greatest comfort without Him.

Ques. To depart and to be with Christ has its bearing today on us?

C.A.C. Yes. The enjoyment of the love of divine Persons is sweeter and greater than anything we could enjoy naturally. We should all sign our names to that.

Rem. David's knowledge of God enabled him to meet the Philistine.

C.A.C. It is beautiful to see in the Old Testament that God could make Himself such a reality to a young brother.

Ques. Was David the young brother?

C.A.C. Yes.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 8:1 - 13

Ques. Is this one of the matters they had written to the apostle about?

C.A.C. It appears to be so. The Spirit of God seems to take advantage of imperfect conditions to bring out very high and exalted truths. The very degraded habits of the Corinthians, into which even believers are likely to fall, were the means of bringing out the truth that they were the holy temple of the Spirit, and members of the body of Christ.

Ques. Why does it say, "Knowledge puffs up"?

C.A.C. It is a case where knowledge might even make people careless of their associations. There was a danger of knowledge and personal right to do things turning to a snare -- that is, the very knowledge that an idol was nothing might make a man say, 'It does not matter if I go and eat meat in an idol's temple; it means nothing'. But the apostle brings out that it may mean a weak brother is stumbled. If my liberty is injurious to another, it is a good opportunity for me to use self-restraint. "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies".

This very question leads the apostle to develop in a very remarkable way the truth in relation to God, the truth of the economy of revelation (verse 6). It is one of the most comprehensive verses of the Bible.

I suppose these verses show a danger of the Corinthians, and of us all, of putting too much value on knowledge in contrast to formation in the divine nature. I may know a great deal more than some believer in Teignmouth, yet he may be more formed in the divine nature, and he is the better man of the two! Paul says, for instance, we all know that an idol is nothing, and so a christian might use that knowledge to go and have a meal in an idol temple. Love is

the great building power. A man full of divine love would edify those he comes in contact with more than a man full of knowledge.

Ques. Why does it say, "If any one love God, he is known of him"?

C.A.C. The knowledge of God -- that is what God cares about. Not knowledge about Him from the Scriptures, that does not call forth God's recognition. That is, He takes account of where people's affections really are towards Him. God is not occupied at all with the amount of knowledge we have. Such are known of Him. He speaks in the Old Testament of "thousands of them that love me", even in Israel, and in Elijah's time He had seven thousand. Those are the people God takes account of -- He knows them.

Ques. Can we be conscious of it?

C.A.C. Oh yes, every one that loves God is conscious of it.

Rem. David said, "Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off" (Psalm 139:2).

C.A.C. That was the divine searching; in that sense He searches every one, nothing is hidden from Him. David knew God, and did not shrink from divine searching. He was afraid of himself, and so he asked God at the end of the psalm, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any grievous way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting" (verses 23, 24).

Here it is that the revelation has had its proper effect upon man. God has loved man that He should be loved by man, and where the revelation is received, that is the result. It is a very precious thought that God has come out in His beloved Son; and we are so affected by it that we respond to Him and we love Him.

Later on in this epistle he could tell us that what is offered to idols is offered to demons. It applies in principle

now to any place that represents a system that is not according to divine truth. We see great buildings, and these buildings represent certain systems of things that are not according to the truth. We do not want to mislead other people. I would not like to go anywhere where it would not be good for another to go.

Ques. Would you say more about verse 6?

C.A.C. That brings in what would effectually set aside idolatry. If God and the Lord Jesus Christ have Their place with us, we have done with idolatry, and really with everything that is not in accord with the revelation, because that is how it stands today.

God has come out as the Source of everything that is good and blessed. He has come out in that character, and in relation to a world of evil, and where men's hearts are full of distrust of Him. He has come out as the Source of every good; that is, God the Father is the Source of everything.

Rem. "Now they have known that all things that thou hast given me are of thee" (John 17:7).

C.A.C. I think some have a kind of undefined feeling that the Lord Jesus is the Source of everything, but the distinction is clearly made in these verses that God the Father is the Source, and the Lord Jesus the Channel, and the One through whom we derive everything, so that we may be in the happiest relations with God, "of whom are all things, and we for him". And when we speak of God we refer to the Father.

Ques. Knowledge will not bring me there, but love will.

C.A.C. Yes, the Lord Jesus is a divine Person and in that sense equal with the Father as to His deity, but He has taken up a certain position as the Mediator, so that all that is in the heart of God might be carried into effect, and that through Him we might have a most blessed place with God.

Ques. What are the "all things"?

C.A.C. The "all things" are the "all things" known in

the present economy. I think it refers to what is known in the economy of grace. It supposes that the Lord Jesus Christ is a glorious Man at the right hand of God. We have to do with these two blessed divine Persons. God the Father is the Source of everything -- every blessing that has come to us. It all comes from Him in love and goes back to Him in love, but it is through the Lord Jesus that it comes to us. We see that everything that has come out in the Lord Jesus is the expression of the Father -- the words He spoke and the works He did too. He could say, "He that has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

Ques. How far does the thought of Mediator come into this?

C.A.C. That is just what enters into the whole thought of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one God; that is, the Father -- the Father is the Source of everything. It was the Father who sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. The fact that the Lord was here in holy manhood was wholly of the Father -- that He should send the Son to be the Saviour of the world. That is very important, because of the worship in the assembly of the Father and the Son too, but there is also the peculiar glory that attaches to Him as the Mediator.

Ques. Why is the Mediator necessary for the revelation of the Father?

C.A.C. Well, the revelation of the Father is clearly mediatorial. Christ has come into the place of manhood that He might mediate to men all the grace and love of God, and that He might be the Revealer of the Father.

Rem. In Hebrews He is "mediator of a new covenant" (chapter 12: 24).

C.A.C. The mediatorship of the covenant is a special part of His mediatorial service. When He presents to us the cup of the new covenant He is taking a mediatorial place. "This cup is the new covenant"; it is as Mediator He says that.

Here what He has in mind is those who have come into

the light of the revelation. In Corinth there was the assembly of God. They had received Christ and the Spirit, and they were in the light of the revelation of God.

Rem. "And we for him", it says (verse 6).

C.A.C. And that will be the ultimate result, that the saints will be entirely for the pleasure of God. If He sets the home ringing with merriment because of one returning son, what will it be with many? The returned son would have had a very blessed sense that he was for the father. All that was in the Father's heart has come out to us by the Son, and believers are presented before God according to the value of His Person, His redemptive work, and His place on high. All that we have by Christ; we bring nothing to God but what we have derived from Christ. And He has come into a place in the presence of God in which He can have the saints along with Him.

I was thinking only yesterday that in one sense there is nothing higher than the attitude of subjection. We are learning it under the Father's discipline. All the terrible pressure coming upon the children of God in the world is teaching this, because subjection is going to be our place eternally. The Son is going to be in subjection eternally, and the saints are going to be with Him in that place eternally. The Father's chastening in Hebrews 12 is to bring us to the place of subjection, and we only acquire it in that way. And we are acquiring it to be suited companions of the Son throughout eternity. God's chastening always touches the will; we should have none if we had no will. J.B.S. said that we could easily discern what part of our nature was most likely to be active, for the Father is always touching that part. But if we take up the attitude of subjection the difficulty is gone, and we have acquired something for eternity.

God was revealed in One who never did His own will, never spoke His own words. It is a wonderful thing that God is going to have many sons patterned after Christ, is it

not? So that we have constantly to consider what has come to us from God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and all He has brought to pass. We shall see that we have come into a system where there is no flaw, and full of divine glory. His work is without a flaw, and the place we have with Him before God is divinely perfect.

"One God, the Father ... . and one Lord, Jesus Christ" is exclusive of all idolatry, the contrast to "gods many, and lords many". You see, these divine Persons are so great, that if They really get possession of the heart, They shut out everything else.

Rem. It is God and the Lamb in Revelation.

C.A.C. The distinction between divine Persons will be maintained eternally. Everything for us depends on the distinction, because it needed that a divine Person should come in to undertake for us, and He had set us in the highest and most blessed place in the family that a creature could possibly be in with God.

I do not know any scripture that is more comprehensive than this one. The greatest things possible in relation to God and Christ are brought in to counteract the action of one going into an idol house to eat meat. So it is all along in this epistle; he brings in the whole universe of God, and the principle of headship in the whole universe of God, to settle the question as to whether a woman should have her head covered. But if we want really to be happy, we must have divine Persons before us, and the way that divine Persons have moved in relation to us.

The weak brother comes entirely under the system of idolatry, and he will perish as going back to the very system he has come from. See what he says in verse 11. It is very touching, that. I would not like to do anything to stumble a person "for whose sake Christ died".

KNOWN OF GOD

1 Corinthians 8:6

There could be nothing greater or of more practical importance than the place that God and Christ have in our affections. Paul speaks in the opening verse of 1 Corinthians 8 of the contrast between knowledge and love, and it is important to note this. He says, "We all have knowledge"; that is, we know a good deal about God, but that does not give us recognition with God. "But if any one love God, he is known of him". We may know a great deal, but we should be concerned to be marked by that which God values and readily acknowledges. "If any one love God, he is known of him": there is something there that God can recognise; God can only truly delight in a nature that suits Him. I may say, I know God and I know the Lord, but the question of real importance is, Does the Lord know me? Is there anything in me that God can recognise as being of Himself?

The epistle to the Romans shows the wonderful way in which God has approached us in grace. He has set forth His righteousness, and His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He has made Himself known as the Justifier and the Deliverer; He has given us the Holy Spirit, who has shed abroad His love in our hearts and who witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. The result is that we love Him; God gets a place in our affections.

What is written in verse 6 is of importance, "Yet to us there is one God, the Father". The apostle is referring to those who love God. There is on earth a company, the product of divine love, to whom the blessed God has become an object of affection. This alone will deliver us from idolatry, which is a terrible snare -- not perhaps in the gross form in which it was found in Corinth, though there are still "gods many, and lords many". There are many influences in the

world that are always bidding for a place in the hearts of men; the christian company is to be found in complete separation from these, and that separation is brought about by the place which the one God and the one Lord hold in the heart.

We may never have given God the place due to Him, but if we were to take into account who He is, and what His nature is, and how He proposes to satisfy His love, we would love Him with all our heart!

It is important to weigh the words in verse 6; it is not there what God is in Himself, but what He has become to those who love Him: "To us there is one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we for him". This involves the whole delight of God in man, the making known of His love to us, and His proposal to find His delight in us eternally -- "We for him". "Of whom all things" brings God before us as the blessed One who originated thoughts for His own pleasure before even He commenced the work of creation, which had in view the satisfaction of the love of God. All that He proposed utterly failed in connection with the first man and his race -- all broke down; sin and death came in; but that could not change what was originally in the thought of God: He could not give up the satisfaction of His love.

Scripture shows that this was in mind when it speaks of wisdom rejoicing before Him and delighting in the habitable part of His earth. God's delight, the satisfaction of His nature, would be found in men. A universe created in wisdom alone would not suffice God. The realisation in our souls that we are necessary for the delight of the love of God would give us to be marked by great dignity.

We are not occupied with the way God is for us, but with the wonderful way God is for Himself. "Of whom all things" -- everything that will satisfy the love of God is of Himself -- and then the wonderful words are added, "We for him". Oh, the delight of God in men! This is the one God who is held in affectionate regard by those who love Him.

It is in that character that we love Him; we hold Him in our affections as the One who has proposed to satisfy His own heart of love to the full. Men are necessary for this; He must have men; no other order of being, however exalted, could satisfy the love of God. And we are those who have been called and brought to the knowledge of God through grace so that we might afford Him that peculiar satisfaction which His love seeks. To see this secures a place for the blessed God in the affections of men; it forms the intelligent spring of the Spirit's cry, "Abba, Father".

The fact that we are for Him covers every phase of our position and relationship with God; whether we think of ourselves as bondmen, as children, as priests, or as sons, we are for God. Every position in which divine love has set us is for the satisfaction of God. If we all understood this, it would produce a profound effect on us.

The Father is the Source and Spring of everything. He is the Originator of every purpose and counsel of love, but the Son became Man -- the "one Lord" -- in order to effectuate everything. The one Lord is Jesus Christ; Jesus, the anointed Man; a divine Person in manhood. He is to be held in affection as the One by whom are all things. When we come to the one Lord, it is "by whom are all things, and we by him". The understanding of the wonderful service and activity that He has taken up for the pleasure of God causes us to give Him His place as Lord, for all that the pleasure of God proposed has been entrusted to the one Lord to be carried out by Him.

"One Lord" is in contrast with many lords; there are many influences in the world, but the one Lord is exclusive. If He is held in our affections as the one Lord in relation to all that is brought to pass by Him, He must be without a rival.

The creation of Adam in innocence did not suffice for the satisfaction of the love of God, because it did not bring out what God was in the depths of His nature. The presence

of lawlessness and death in the world has been the occasion for the display of the glory of the Lord; and now the one Lord is held in affection in millions of human hearts. When we speak of one Lord we have a majestic thought in mind, that of supremacy in dominion; no power of evil can stand before or challenge the one Lord. He desires to be held in the affections of the saints in His majesty and greatness as the one Lord. He came into a scene under ruin, and touched the creation that had become subject to vanity, and glorified God in doing it. He touched death with the touch of a conqueror; He rules over the dead and living. What a glorious Person He is!

His dominion is exercised in order that the love of God might be satisfied. The one Lord has proved His greatness -- the greatness of a divine Person in manhood. He dealt with lawlessness and death, and He has relieved us of all that was against us. He has exercised lordship in order that the love of God might be satisfied, and that by Him we might be placed in the presence of God for His satisfaction.

The one Lord came out of eternity, saying, "Lo, I come ... to do, O God, thy will" (Hebrews 10:7). That will is eternal in its character: it embraces more than the glories of the kingdom; it involves the fulfilment of all that the love of God proposed for its own satisfaction; and will have its culmination in eternity.

The distinctive glory of the Father is to originate purposes of love -- "Of whom all things". The distinctive glory of the Son is to give effect to those purposes -- "By whom are all things"; and it is by that blessed One that we are for God's pleasure at this moment, and shall be eternally.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 10:15 - 22

C.A.C. We were noticing that faith is not sufficient if things are to be maintained. Without the Spirit, faith will decline. So the apostle calls attention to the saints that they are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in them and the temple of God is holy. We were seeing that in the temple of God we get much light as to Christ; everything in the temple speaks of Christ, and coming to the truth of the temple we get more light as to Christ. So in chapter 5 we have an increased knowledge of Christ; He is known as "our passover ... sacrificed". That means we have a spiritual view of Him and see Him not only crucified but sacrificed, which brings out the personal sufferings of His holy soul when He was typically roast with fire. By feeding on Him as the Lamb roast with fire we get strength to get rid of all leaven. So the exercise in chapter 5 is to purge out all leaven "that ye may be a new lump". Leaven is something that works inwardly causing us to be self-important, something in us that is not Christ. The assembly normally is unleavened, there is nothing active there but the life of Christ. It is only an unleavened company of persons who can truly eat the Lord's supper.

In chapter 10 we come to the thought of communion or fellowship. It is the question of the adjustment of our associations.

Rem. There was a young man in Malta who said his reason for coming to the meeting was because he found more of Christ there.

C.A.C. He was an "intelligent person" evidently as wanting more of Christ. Persons like that are suitable material for the assembly; if they want more of Christ they wish to eliminate what is not of Christ; we must begin personally as leaven works inwardly. "That ye may be a

new lump", that is what the assembly is; a leavened mass could not really be the assembly of God. Persons can go a long way on the line of exercise about themselves and their conduct without being much exercised as to their associations. I suppose every believer who is exercised about personal conduct may not be about associations; but if these are not right we cannot eat the Lord's supper.

We get the truth of associations in chapter 10 before the Supper in chapter 11. It would seem that at Corinth there were some who could go into an idol temple and eat what was offered, doing it on the principle that the idol was nothing and that it did not make any difference if it was offered to idols. But the question of association comes in, and the apostle shows that they were really in communion with demons. God is very concerned about the associations of His people and not only about our personal conduct. It is a serious matter to be going on with something that, in principle, is evil. A recognition of the true character of christian fellowship would save us from that. The apostle brings out the only kind of association that is contemplated for Christians. They are linked up with the communion of the body and blood of Christ -- it is an exclusive fellowship. Nothing could be more exclusive than the thought of the body of Christ and the blood of Christ. If we are associated with that, it entirely precludes any other kind of association. It says, "Ye cannot drink the Lord's cup, and the cup of demons"; "ye cannot", that is the true principle of all associations. It is not that there is anything narrow about it, it is a far greater and richer fellowship than any other kind of fellowship. He would impress that on us by speaking of the blood first, which is not in the order of the Supper. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ?" He has in mind to give us a sense of the wealthy character and wonderful blessing of the christian association. It is well for us to look at it and see that it is the cup of blessing. He supposes that all believers

bless the cup and break the bread; the Scripture does not suppose that any Christian fails to do so. If he does not he can hardly be said to be occupying true christian ground. Such are not behaving like the believers in the beginning for they "persevered" in breaking of bread.

The blessing of the cup shows very clearly that we think very highly of it. There is nothing about drinking the cup here; it is blessing it, involving that we look at it. You look at it as a cup of blessing and you bless it. It supposes that all Christians do it. "The cup of blessing which we bless" -- he assumes it. He is hardly thinking of the cup in its literality but in its import. It is very large in its import and contains every blessing that comes to us in the death of Christ. In this chapter you look at it; it is a cup larger than any cup you ever thought of, and it contains the love of God that comes to us through the death of Christ. It shows the necessity for purging out all leaven, for it will obscure our vision of the cup. The thing to do is to get rid of the leaven. We see here the immensity of the cup of blessing and we are associated with all that. How can you associate yourself with this defiling world after that? It would be well if some of us came into fellowship! If we were to consider all that the cup speaks of, it would take several readings. It is a great study to consider the effect and result in blessing of the blood of Christ being shed.

Rem. It is a feast -- the feast of unleavened bread.

C.A.C. I am glad you called attention to that. It is not a fast of unleavened bread. When you can stamp out a little bit of leaven from yourself it is a happy day for you, as making more room for Christ. It is feeding on the holy, spotless Lamb that gives us power to eliminate the leaven that is so ready to be active in us. We shall never eliminate it in any other way.

When our associations have been adjusted, we shall be quite free for the Supper in chapter 11. Our leaven has been purged away and our old associations put away because of

the new associations we have entered upon, then we can sit down together to eat the Supper. It was not the Lord's supper that the Corinthians were eating. It is a very important point that the assets of the fellowship are put first -- the infinite gain that comes to us in the shedding of the blood of Christ. We then have no craving for any other associations among men. All of these propose some benefits, but what benefit can it give me if I am in the gain of the benefit of all that of which the cup speaks? It is a fellowship of supreme satisfaction.

Rem. There are worldly attractions as well as religious associations.

C.A.C. There are all kinds of things to ensnare us, but we shall have fewer desires for them as we come more and more into the knowledge of our associations.

Then the other important element of the fellowship is the bread: "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ?" He suggests to us the thought of partaking. With the cup we are to look at it and bless it, but with the bread it is the thought of eating. The bread which we break -- you do not break bread except with the thought of partaking of it, and our object in partaking is that we may become an unbroken loaf ourselves. "We, being many, are one loaf, one body". In connection with the bread he distinctly brings forward the thought of partaking of it. It was when the bread was going to be partaken of that the Lord broke it. That gives us another view of the christian association or partnership. Christendom has got very used to the word "communion", and "fellowship" has become with us rather hackneyed, so it is good to use another word. It is a partnership -- a most wonderful one, and it brings out what corresponds with the cup of blessing. The blessing that is in the heart of God and in the love of God comes to us in the value of the blood of Christ, that is the side of blessing. But that necessitates something else and that is a moral character with us which corresponds with all the

blessing, and I think we reach that through the loaf.

The blood of Christ is a sacrificial thought and intimates the blessing that comes to us from God in the value of the death of Christ. It can never be less and it can never be more.

The body of Christ reminds us of what was in His body for the pleasure of God. It is the other side of the question. There was a Man here in a body, and that body was the vessel of God's pleasure from the manger right through to the cross, and most of all at the cross. We are to partake of the bread morally, we all partake of the one loaf. The exercise is important. To put it simply, it shows that the fellowship can only be taken up in the life of Christ, only in that character of life that was expressed in His body. There is a moral significance attaching to it -- a moral result. The partaking results in our being one loaf, one body. Every Christian normally wishes to move on that line, for we can only move on the line of the life of Christ or the line of the flesh. We can see what the life of Christ was in Psalm 16, "Preserve me, O God: for I trust in thee". Is it not very attractive to think of partaking of it?

The psalmist goes on to say that his delight was in the saints, speaking of them as "the excellent ..., In them is all my delight". That is the life of Christ, and we delight in the saints too. As to the idolatrous world he says, "Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, and I will not take up their names into my lips". He will not touch the idolatrous world, and he finds his joy in God, he has his portion in God. That is all the life of Christ; it came out in His body that was given in death that we might partake morally of it, and then we shall come out as one bread. If this one is a partaker of the life of Christ and that one is a partaker of the life of Christ, if we are all partakers of the life of Christ, shall we not come out as one bread? That is the common partnership of the body of Christ. This is the association in which we are set today, and it is only as we are true to this

in principle that we are fit to eat the Lord's supper. We are not in a condition to eat the Supper otherwise. It is good for us to see what christianity is. Christianity is Christ. All this puts our associations right, we cannot touch any other kind of association. The more clearly we see what true christian fellowship is, the less we shall be influenced or attracted by any other kind of fellowship whether religious, political or social. They are altogether inferior and below what we have learnt to value. There are associations working for the benefit of man, and christians get drawn into them, but they are inconsistent with the true Christian fellowship, and if Christians learnt the true character of fellowship they would have to give them up.

Rem. There is the thought sometimes of doing things as an individual.

C.A.C. There is no ground in Scripture for any believer detaching himself from the company of his brethren. I have often referred to the young brother who was on a two-year cruise in the navy. He said to himself as he lay in his bunk the first night, 'I do not know that there is a single believer on this ship and I do not know that I shall see a single believer for two years, but how I behave myself on this ship will affect the fellowship all over the world'. If you go into wrong associations you take all the partners with you and it is inconsistent with the association in which God has set us in His great blessing.

THE LORD

1 Corinthians 11:20 - 32

It is to be noted that "the Lord" is mentioned seven times in these verses. It is a title which calls for reverence as setting forth that He is a divine Person. It is the word used in the New Testament to translate the word Jehovah from the Old.

Luke speaks of Jesus as "the Lord" more than all the other evangelists. I have no doubt it conveys that He was a divine Person. We may distinguish between "the Lord" as an official title and as a personal title. When Peter said, "God has made him, this Jesus ..., both Lord and Christ", he was presenting the official glory with which God has invested Him in contrast to their crucifying Him. But He was personally "the Lord" in the sense that He was a divine Person in manhood. He took a prepared body that He might give it in love for the assembly so that the assembly might be enriched with all that His incarnation brought in. And the cup is the new covenant in His blood. Who could consummate the new covenant but a divine Person? So the death of the Lord is a wondrous thing; He was "the Lord of glory". His supper can only be truly eaten in a worshipping spirit, as understanding that He is supreme because of who He is, but supreme in love when we think of what He has become, and how He has died. A living remembrance is kept up by those who love Him, but if there is not reverence and worship it is not the Lord's supper at all.

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 11:20 - 34

C.A.C. In coming together, each one should go away better than he came. We are not sufficiently exercised about coming together, especially as to the Lord's supper. The idea of a supper is a meal. Here it is not so much the Lord's supper as a lordly supper. It is a memorial to the world, not to the saints. I connected it with Luke 14. Lordship now is connected with blessing and grace; He is the Minister of grace and blessing. In Luke you get what has been spoken of as heavenly grace, and in the Lord's supper you have access into all that. In the cup you have what is connected with heavenly grace. You get what is of Christ in contrast to what is of the world's system. The way you learn the love of God is in Christ. The divine idea is that you come together in a common festivity. In coming together in assembly it is properly to enjoy what God has given us.

No one has peace who has not reached a spot in his soul where there is nothing but Christ. The only cure for a dissatisfied state of soul is the ministry of Christ personally to the heart. But there must be surrender. It may come in different ways to different individuals but there must be surrender. The Lord takes occasion in a special way to minister Himself in the Supper. The coming of the Lord to His own is what marks the present time, and particularly when we come together. I think the Lord recognises a company on earth who love Him and cherish His company -- "I am coming to you". Christ's assembly derives from Himself; there is nothing in Christ's assembly but what is of Christ. People in a bad state would not know the presence of the Lord. I do not think people in a bad state would want the presence of the Lord. The Lord comes to those who want Him. "Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking" (Revelation 3:20) -- He waits to be invited. If we get

near the Lord we shall understand the character of the assembly as we could in no other way. You might get the whole meeting for a little moment into a sense of not being conscious of anyone else but the Lord. The test of everything in the meeting is, is it edifying? I think a meeting that is really in power has a distinct line, a character. I think it is a question of faith -- whatever is done is in faith. It ought to be a great reality to see that the Lord is here.

Ques. Should we have faith about what any brother does in the meeting?

C.A.C. You have confidence in your soul that it will please the Lord if you take a certain course. Slowness in the meeting is want of liberty.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 11:23 - 26

C.A.C. It may be well just to say what we had before us on a previous occasion, namely the presentations in Mark's gospel and in Matthew's of the Lord's supper: the prominent feature in Mark is that the bread was to be taken, and in Matthew the prominent thought is that it was to be eaten; the thought of calling the Lord to mind does not have any place in these two gospels.

But when we come to the account in Luke of what took place in the presence of the twelve apostles, and the account given to us by Paul, which he received from the Lord that he might give it to the gentile assemblies, the thought of remembrance or calling to mind is, I suppose, the prominent thought of the service. So that we come to that particular aspect of this precious subject this afternoon.

Ques. Does Luke's account follow this?

C.A.C. Well, I think it is very likely that this account was the first one that was given to the assembly. It is a debatable matter, but it is probable that 1 Corinthians was written before Luke's gospel. This account distinctly places the Lord's supper in the assembly, does it not? It is important that the Lord's supper should not be seen as an individual privilege. Most believers perhaps regard it in this way. It is important that it should be seen as a collective matter -- it requires that the saints should come together. It is that He should be called to mind in a particular way, and requires that the saints should be together in order to do it.

There are comings together mentioned here. It was evidently possible, we find, to come together for the worse, but the proper object to be before the saints in coming together in assembly is to eat the Lord's supper.

Ques. Does it belong exclusively to the assembly?

C.A.C. Yes, we have no reason to think otherwise,

and the moral significance of the one loaf and the one body would confirm that thought.

Rem. Other families will take up other things, but not this.

C.A.C. I think that is so. It was for the collective calling of the Lord to mind, so that no amount of individual exercise or desire, prayer or study of the Scripture could take the place of it. There was evidently a custom in Israel of breaking bread for those who had died. We are all familiar with the scripture (Jeremiah 16:7). That scripture shows us it was customary to break bread and drink a cup in reference to those who had died. Now the Lord takes up that custom and glorifies it by giving it an entirely new setting. He gave it a new thought altogether, because the thought was that it was done in mourning. There is no such thing in the Lord's supper. When the Lord instituted it, He set aside all thought of mourning; it is a eucharist -- it is thanksgiving.

It is the Lord's desire to bring about a particular condition of mind in His saints collectively; that is the Lord's intent, and it is brought about by the breaking of bread and nothing else. If anything else would have done it the Lord would have used other means. Love is infinitely wise, and there is no better means than the Lord's supper to bring this about.

Ques. Is there not the thought of His sufferings?

C.A.C. The Lord did not mourn. No, the sufferings are not absent, but they are past. When the Lord instituted the Supper He was in mind beyond His sufferings and death. He spoke of His body given and his blood poured out, so they were all past in His mind.

Rem. To remember the Lord in His death is not a right expression.

C.A.C. No, I do not think that it is right, though it is often used and affectionately meant. But it cannot be established by Scripture.

Rem. The emblems represent a dead Christ, it has been said. We cannot dissociate them from His death.

C.A.C. Yes, His body is given and His blood poured out, that is clearly in death; but it is for a remembrance -- the calling of Me to mind.

Rem. His death is included.

C.A.C. Quite so. It is not Christ after the flesh that we call to mind, it is a living Christ known in love which has been expressed in death.

Rem. We are apt to be too historical. Mr Raven called attention to its being a remembrance, not a reminiscence.

C.A.C. Yes. No one will understand the Supper until he sees the Lord was anticipatively beyond His sufferings and death, and is now actually so, so that nothing remains but thanksgiving. In breaking the bread and drinking the cup there was nothing of mourning, it was an occasion of unmixed thanksgiving. The Lord says, 'Now, I want you to call Me to mind in that relation of things'. It was intended to bring about an attitude of mind in the saints of the assembly, so that they are positively unified in one mind, so that there is not a divergent thought. Is not that a wonderful thing?

We have been saying that there needs to be a constitution built up, so that assimilation precedes this. The eating and the drinking, I think, really preceded the calling of Him to mind.

Rem. It is remembrance of Himself.

C.A.C. It is "in remembrance of me" in relation to this particular act of breaking bread and giving thanks for the cup. The Lord says "This do" -- you do it, but do it for the calling of Me to mind. It is not a dead Christ; it is Christ beyond death. If we miss that, we miss it altogether. It has an active sense of calling to mind. He would have the assembly united in this wonderful way, all having Him in mind. The functioning of the assembly depends on this unity of mind.

Ques. What is the significance of when He was "delivered up"? It is not when He died.

C.A.C. I think the great moment of crisis had come. That was the thought: the great moment of crisis. He was just about to be actually delivered up and to go through suffering and death, but He anticipated it, having in mind that the saints were going to continue in the place where He was absent. In doing it the Lord regarded His own body as given and His blood poured out: He was anticipatively beyond His sufferings and death. He says, 'Now I want the saints of the assembly to call Me to mind in that manner'; we come into the apprehension of the love of the Christ that we know. As Christ is now, He has given His body for the assembly, and His blood has been poured out -- that is how we know Him. So the calling of the Lord to mind is not our individual thinking of Him in what He has done for us; we can do that all the week. There is this peculiar privilege of doing it collectively, so that all are unified, so that this blessed Me fills every mind.

That is the starting point of assembly privilege. We cannot move at all until we are all of one mind. It should have a pervading influence all the week, but there is a remembrance at the beginning of the week when the saints together experience this peculiar unity of mind, which brings all together, so that we merge. It is not like so many individuals. We are so intensely individual. I was looking last week through the epistles to find something of individual privilege or blessing and I found it very difficult to find any! It is so beautiful that the Lord unifies us in the calling to mind of something of which there cannot be a divergent thought. The Supper properly taken would absolutely abolish every bit of discord.

We see the importance of this matter to the Lord. He had given it officially in the presence of the twelve apostles, who represented the assembly administratively; but when He gives it from heaven it is almost a personal matter. It

is a personal communication to Paul. He cherished the thought of it and wanted it to be set amongst the assemblies, such as ourselves. We need to cherish the thought of the assembly, for it is the assembly that eats the Supper. A young person says, 'I should like to remember the Lord', but that is not quite the divine thought, there should be the thought of being identified with a certain company of persons.

We have been noticing that it is not until chapter 11 of this epistle that he speaks of the Supper, and morally we have to travel over the previous ten chapters, we cannot jump into the matter. He speaks of many and various matters before He comes to the Supper.

Rem. The Supper is introductory to what is coming.

C.A.C. I think the Lord had a good deal in view that He did not unfold to the Corinthians, because they were not ready for it. The apostle suggests that he has many things to add later on, but he brings in this great unifying power by the calling of the Lord to mind in this precious and distinctive way.

Ques. "The Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was delivered up" -- would it be suggestive of intense affection?

C.A.C. Yes. And yet the Supper was being brought in correctively. There was great disorder in Corinth, they were making it applicable to saints in whatever state they may be. They made it available to the most carnal believer on the face of the earth. The apostle speaks of their eating and drinking in a carnal way and even bringing judgment on themselves. It does not enter into the Supper at all.

Rem. I should like to be clearer as to the difference between blessing the loaf and giving thanks for it.

C.A.C. When the Lord blessed the loaf He gave it a new and spiritual import which never attached to any loaf before; but in giving thanks the Lord places Himself on ground where there was nothing to do but to give thanks -- it is not a mournful occasion. Tears shed over the Lord's

sufferings at the Supper are not pleasing to the Lord. It is not the right time and place. You can do that in your room, but do not bring tears into the assembly. It is a moment of thanksgiving, a joyful occasion.

It is important to notice that the whole service has the character of calling to mind from the giving thanks for the loaf, which is the beginning of the service, to the drinking of the cup, which is the end of the service of calling Him to mind. The Supper so gone through spiritually leaves the Lord filling every mind. That is the sort of material for the service of the assembly.

Ques. We have spoken of the Lord giving His body for the will of God, here it is "for you". Is it included in the thought of the will of God?

C.A.C. I think all that was accomplished for God in the giving of His body is conferred on the assembly -- the whole value of it. The whole value of the incarnation and the giving of His body in death is for the assembly, and we come to it afresh each Lord's Day. It is not that we do this Lord's Day what we did last, we come afresh. So you can understand how the assembly becomes suitable to the Lord.

It seems to me that a company of persons, fifty or so, who actually come together, find things become so unified that there is no divergent thought. And with all unified in thoughts of this wondrous Person, what is there to hinder the Lord coming to us? There is everything to attract Him! He may not come to us if we are not attractive to Him. I think that is sound doctrine. He fills every mind. The effect of the Supper has failed of its object if it does not fill every mind with Himself. Then, there is a clear course for the Lord, He does not keep away from those who attract Him. The spouse says, "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills" (Song of Songs 2:8). He will come with the utmost speed if the conditions are there. The calling of Him to mind is with this in view. It is not for our comfort or 'a means of grace'

for us, though we shall assuredly get that. But the object is so to unify us that we are attractive, and the Lord says, I cannot keep away from that company. He will not keep away if these conditions are there. He comes as an Object of worship; He comes in all the greatness and wonderfulness of what He is as having given His body. Then the assembly's relation to Christ, and Christ's relation to the assembly can be developed affectionately.

Rem. Everything up to that point is prescribed, and nothing after.

C.A.C. Yes, quite so! We have no divine authority to do anything else before we break bread, not to carry on a little service before it, which has been done. The Lord has expressed His mind: This do for the calling of Me to mind. It is not an open matter, if our affections are right, we shall carry out His mind.

Rem. Sometimes we try to work up to it as an object.

C.A.C. In christendom they have what they call 'the Lord's supper' at the end of the service. That is not the divine thought, it is at the beginning (Acts 20:7)!

With this remembrance in view, I wish we might have this before us, that the Lord's thought is that it is for the calling of Him to mind (not a state of heart exactly, but a state of mind), which has a unifying effect. I wish we could pray about it and consider it.

THE LORD'S SUPPER

1 Corinthians 11:17 - 34

It is evident that the truth of the Lord's supper was brought out correctively in 1 Corinthians 11, the Lord's death having ceased to hold the hearts of the saints as gathered together. So that there was a disunited state of things and the saints were not unified; there was not a collective calling of the Lord to mind. Now it is in the absence of the Lord that He is to be called to mind, and this is necessarily as the One who had passed through death. The assembly knows Him thus. The whole truth of His devotion to the assembly has come out, and the whole truth of God's relations to His people on earth. For one aspect of the assembly is that those who compose it are set in blessing of new covenant character. They are born anew and cleansed morally by the knowledge of God, and their sins and lawlessnesses are remembered no more. But they have come to this great blessing as brought into the value of the blood of the Lord Jesus. The houses of Israel and Judah have not come into new covenant blessing yet, but the saints of the assembly have; they are in it as a people on earth. His death has brought it about, and the memorials speak of His death, but they are partaken of for the calling of Him to mind. But the One we call to mind is known to us as living. We should not be together in assembly at all if we did not know that He was living at the right hand of God and had thus received the promise of the Holy Spirit and poured out the Spirit on His own down here.

The "me" that is called to mind is the absent One now in heaven, or gone to the Father, but known now as He could not be known in the days of His flesh. His love and what He is for the assembly has been expressed in death but He lives in all the strength of it. He is called to mind as the perpetuation of that love, though absent and risen.

The assembly is not to think of Him collectively in any smaller measure of love than was set forth in His death, and it can never think of Him in a greater measure, but the love that is thought of is a present love, a living love. He says, as it were, 'The love expressed in My death was Myself and it is living in Me now'. He will never express that love in the same way again but it will never be less than it was then. The "me" is unchanged. It is not one Person in death and another as with the Father; the "me" is the permanent Lover of the assembly.

But His death is employed in the Supper because the assembly begins at that point, and also because of the deep moral exercises which are bound up with the Lord's body and His blood. It is the public announcement of His death until He come. It is a great reality! The Lord has died here. If what we do is the setting forth of that, how can we do it unworthily? It must be done in deepest reverence, with subdued hearts, as in presence of the fact that the Lord, the righteous One, died here. If one does not regard the emblems with reverence, one is guilty in respect of the body and the blood of the Lord. They are that symbolically and representatively. There is no change in the elements, but they have been consecrated by the Lord to represent His body and His blood, so that they are not ordinary bread and wine to be treated merely as such. The Lord's words have consecrated them, and he who disregards them becomes guilty.

"But let a man prove himself" (verse 28). Are the bread and the cup really to me symbolically the body and the blood of the Lord? Do they really mean that to me? Then I am welcome to eat and to drink. But if I do not distinguish His body I am trifling with a holy institution and I shall come under judgment. They were not distinguishing the body at Corinth. The Lord's supper had become just like a common meal, and the Lord was dealing with them on account of this.

In the act of eating and drinking the assembly announces the Lord's death. The act has a public voice; it does not speak of His life in flesh, or of His risen life, it speaks of His death. Then it must be done worthily. This refers to the manner of doing it, not to the worthiness of the persons who do it. It refers to what can be seen. If one did it unworthily he would certainly have no part in calling the Lord to mind; he does not regard the bread and the cup as representing the body and blood of the Lord, but they do in the Lord's account. They have that place in the assembly; the assembly gives them that place. So that to eat and drink carelessly is a most serious matter; it makes one guilty in respect of the body and blood of the Lord. Therefore a man is to prove himself as to whether the bread and the cup really represent to him the body and the blood of the Lord.

It is not examining his own spiritual state, or reviewing his own history, that is meant by this; it is not even a question of seeing whether I have judged everything that I ought to have judged. These things are all necessary in their place but they are not what the apostle has in mind here.

Do the loaf and the cup really represent to me the body and blood of the Lord? If they do, there would be no doubt about my partaking worthily. But if one does not distinguish the body, one eats and drinks judgment to oneself. That is, it is essential to separate that bread from all other bread, to see the unique place the Lord has given it as representing His body. It comes before us on every occasion invested with the special and holy character given to it by the Lord's own words.

THE SUPPER

1 Corinthians 11:17 - 34

The twelve apostles were with the Lord when He instituted His supper. It was given to men who had a place in the assembly as representing the Lord's authority. They were to do a certain act in remembrance of Him, and this was of such importance to Him that He gave an account of the institution to Paul from heaven so that Paul might deliver it to the assemblies in the gentile world. The Lord was to be remembered, or called to mind, in a certain definite act which required that the saints should come together. There are five references to coming together in these verses, and Paul clearly implies that their coming together should have been to eat the Lord's supper, for he has to tell them that they were not eating that Supper. Each was eating his own supper, and there were divisions among them even when they came together, so that they came together not for the better but for the worse. Truly eating the Lord's supper would abolish all divisions among saints, and would bring about perfect unity in mind. We are not told in 1 Corinthians when the Supper was to be eaten, but we have an example in Acts 20 of certain brethren, of whom Paul was one, who spent a whole week in Troas, and there is nothing said about them assembling to break bread until the first day of the week: this intimates to us that that is the special day for assembling together.

The proper object to be before us in coming together in assembly is to eat the Lord's supper, and it is for the remembrance of Him, or calling Him to mind. If the Lord were here we should have no reason to call Him to mind. It is because He is not here that the assembly calls Him to mind in a collective way. No doubt there was a custom amongst the Jews to break bread for one who had died and to drink a cup of consolation (Jeremiah 16:7), and the Lord took

this up and glorified it by giving it a place in relation to Himself. But He gave it quite a new and different setting.

The breaking of bread amongst the Jews was in "mourning", the cup was one of "consolations" for a parent of whom they had been bereaved. We do not break bread for the Lord in this sense at all: our breaking of bread is a service of thanksgiving, it is a eucharist, there is no mournful element in it. It is not that we have lost Him, but that we have gained Him in the most blessed way: His body has been given, His blood poured out for us. He now has a body of glory in heaven, but He once had a body which He devoted to the will of God and for us, and He once had a life which could be poured out that the new covenant might take effect. And it is ours to give thanks, even as He did when He instituted His supper. We call Him to mind as giving thanks for the loaf and the cup: the Lord was in Spirit beyond His suffering and death when He gave thanks. All was, to His mind, accomplished, His body given and His blood poured out, so that nothing remained but thanksgiving. That is, the Lord placed Himself anticipatively in the position in which His own would be when they ate His supper, and He would be called to mind as in that position. It was in the night in which He was delivered up: the hour of crisis had come, but in His own mind and spirit He could, in the company of His apostles, regard His body as given and His blood as poured out. The new covenant as brought in in the power of His blood was present to Him in that cup. We are to do what He did, for the calling of Him to mind, and we are also to eat the bread and drink the cup, which He did not do. That is our part, to call Him to mind, and our drinking the cup has its place in this. So that the whole service, from the giving of thanks for the bread to the drinking of the cup, is with the object of calling Him to mind, not quite as He was here in the days of His flesh, for His sufferings and death were all future then, but viewed as having given His body and as having

made good the new covenant in His blood. So that it is Christ as He is now who is called to mind. He is not viewed as present, but as called to mind, for the saints of the assembly are in the place where He died, but they call Him to mind as the One who in instituting the Supper regarded His body as given, and His blood as filling the cup with new covenant blessings. It is not Christ after the flesh that we call to mind, but Christ as having given His body for the saints of the assembly and as having secured in His blood the new covenant.

What a beautiful thought this gives us of the assembly as all brought together into one thought of Christ! The whole company calls Him to mind in the reality of His great service of love so that every mind is filled with Him as He is now in the presence of God, having devoted His body and His blood for the assembly! Now if a company on earth is thus filled in mind with Him, what is to hinder His coming to them? We do not read of His coming to any company of saints after His ascension because this is not a public matter. It belongs to the intimacies of holy affection, but the disciple whom Jesus loved has recorded His precious words, "I am coming to you". It is for love to be on the alert, to be ready to say, "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart" (Song of Songs 2:8, 9). He is making haste to come to those who call Him to mind. He is able to come in a spiritual way to us if we are ready to receive Him in the truth of His present love to the assembly. The Holy Spirit is here, who is also the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of the glorious Man who is at the right hand of God, so that if He is attracted to come to us He can come in an unseen but very real way to His lovers here as collectively calling Him to mind. He does not come in body, as we well know, but He comes in a spiritual way, so that He can be thus known in a thousand different assemblies at the same time. But when He comes we no

longer call Him to mind: He is there Himself, discerned as present by His lovers who worship Him. Some may ask, How, and in what character, will He manifest Himself? That we cannot tell beforehand.

CALLING HIM TO MIND

1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26

The yearly sacrifices called sins to mind, but the Lord's supper calls Him to mind. When He instituted it He was going to be absent from His own, but He provided that they should do collectively what would call Him to mind in a very special and distinctive way. He would be called to mind as having given His body for the saints of the assembly and as having His blood poured out. His life in flesh has terminated in a wondrous way of love, for it has been given up for His own, and even those who had known Him according to flesh would know Him thus no longer. His disciples, in breaking bread, called Him to mind in an entirely different way from how they had known Him "in the days of his flesh". They called Him to mind as having passed by death out of that condition, and as disclosing His love to them in doing so, but as living in relation to them in the preciousness of that love though absent from the world. If we call Him to mind, it is as He is now, absent from the world, but known in the love in which He gave Himself.

But then we call Him to mind as having made Himself in death and blood-shedding available for us: He says "for you" in regard of both His body and His blood. He looks at His own now as those for whom He has given His body. Whatever they might have been before, His body is for them, and they are to take this in and understand it. All connected with the first and imperfect order is taken away, and the second is established, and not a trace remains of any liability which we might have incurred as Jews under law or as lawless Gentiles. The cup is the new covenant in the power of the blood of Christ, and it is impossible to alter that covenant, or to diminish the value of the blood in the power of which it stands. Christ effected all this when here, and what He effected remains, and the assembly now

calls Him to mind as the absent One whose love effected it all, but who is now in a most blessed relationship of love to the assembly, though absent. The emblems represent the body and blood of the Lord: He used His body and His blood to give expression to His love, but His love has achieved Its purpose, and the assembly calls Him to mind as living for her in all the reality of His present love.

The wondrous thing now is that we can be risen with Him, through faith of the working of God who raised Him from among the dead. The full weight of our death was upon Him: it has passed from us altogether that we might be raised with Him. Not only are we cleared from the past, but we are introduced into what is wholly new in association with One who has been raised. What pains His love took to assure them that the night of death had passed, and that there was a morning without clouds, and that He was the Light of that morning! His active grace would draw them over the abyss of death, where He had been for them, to Himself.

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 - 31

The assembly is looked at as the place where God is working; all the Persons of the Godhead are concerned. The Spirit gives the gift but the Lord directs the action. Everything that is of God in the assembly gives the impression of Jesus as Lord. The one who takes part gives the impression that he is really subject to the Lord. There is what is spiritually natural. What marks a man is what he prays about in secret. God draws out the heart in a certain direction. It is not that a man thinks about it but it is spiritually natural. Here it is the spreading abroad of what is given; what is good for me is equally good for all saints; that is in the way of christian life and blessing. Ephesians goes much wider than this; it takes in all saints everywhere.

We want to know more of what it is to drink of one Spirit, the Spirit of Christ; that is how unity is arrived at practically. Instruction will not bring it about, nothing but drinking of the Spirit of Christ. It is something you drink here, the Holy Spirit looked at in a particular way. Everything that was suitable to God came out in the Lord Jesus. What a wonderful thing! It is only as the life of Christ comes out in the saints that there is unity. All this was brought out to exercise the Corinthians, and it ought to exercise us. Are we acting in that way -- like Christ? Is the Spirit of Christ coming out in us?

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 - 31

One Spirit, the great object of all is to bring out Christ. It is very encouraging that in each there is a little bit to be worked out. If I fail in my bit, in so far the testimony fails. There is a loss to you and to other members. It is a greater thing to be a member of the body than a gift. The gifts are set in the assembly, not in the body, but for the edifying of the body. The gifts are working for the time when they reach 'that favoured hour when toil shall all be o'er'. Gifts will cease then; there will be no more need of gift. Divine light and divine warmth are in the body. God might take up a man and use him as a gift but it is a greater thing to be a member of the body. If we get the thought that we are in the body of Christ, it would awaken the desire to express Christ. The exercises of each one ought to be that I am a part, and a necessary part, of the body of Christ. We think that if we go on well as individuals that is all that is required, but there is more, we must show love. Drinking into one Spirit (verse 13); really the Spirit of Christ is love. There is a want of the practical working out of Christ in the saints; we are not looking out for Christ in the saints and that is the cause of a great deal of dissatisfaction; we look at the imperfections. We have to recognise the assembly according to God and in that way to bring in light and power and grace. You see how the apostles kept the mind of God before them. Paul spoke of the whole twelve tribes when they could not be seen or found; faith stuck to the original intention of God; God has set His testimony amongst His people and I think faith sticks to it. David says, "I have stuck (Darby Translation is 'cleave') unto thy testimonies" (Psalm 119:31, Authorised Version). It is a fine word.

A good deal of right conduct fails in its object because it is not done in a right spirit. If discipline is done in a hard,

legal kind of way it fails of its object because love is not in it.

If a member suffer (verse 26) he is incapacitated to fulfil his proper function. Each member is supposed to contribute, and if he ceases to contribute he is a drag upon the others. What the apostle is working for all through is the vitality of the body, and the vitality of the body is love. Each one has a particular place and he should set to work to find out what that place is. If saints were exercised as to their place in the body each would very easily find and fill his right place, not by introspection but by exercise. If a person is going on simply and happily he would naturally be in his place and be a contributor. The apostle is here viewing the working of the assembly as come together.

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 - 31

The body is the organism down here in which the various members function as the Spirit has sovereignly assigned to them their place. The assembly is composed of the same persons but viewed collectively rather than corporately. It is a company of persons found in many different places but having the character everywhere of God's assembly. The Spirit divides to each member of the body as He pleases, and God has set certain gifts in the assembly. These gifts are sovereignly conferred and yet they are the subject of desire, so that it is open to us to pray that we may have gifts. The greater gifts are to be earnestly desired as being for the greatest profit of the assembly. But after all, a gift distinguishes a person, it makes him different from his brethren, and this might work wrongly if gift were not clothed with the divine nature. If there is a part of the body which lacks honour, it becomes our privilege to clothe it with all the thoughts of divine love which will much more than compensate for any seeming lack of honour in the divine ordering. But then on the other hand, the comely and prominent member needs to be reminded that without love he has nothing and is nothing. The gifts are all to be accompanied by love. It is love that gives stature. We may have spiritual gifts and yet be children in stature.

There was much gift at Corinth -- they came behind in no gift -- but there was a lack of the binding, wrapping power of love. The real power of ministry is love marking the vessel of gift. In chapter 12 it is seen that the Spirit distributes the gifts and that they all work in harmony as members of one body. But the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is God operating here not only in power but in love. That is, He is operating according to His own end. The Lord's supper has shown how divine love is operating, and

the Spirit has come in as a result of that operating. The Spirit has now a vessel here in which His movements come out. But they are all movements in love because they are for the expression of God. "God is indeed amongst you" (chapter 14: 25). The body is for spiritual manifestations, but they are given in love or God is not in them at all.

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 - 31

Having given us the truth of headship in its bearing on order with regard to man and woman in their speaking to God or for God, and having given the Lord's institution of His supper as the rallying point of the assembly, the apostle takes up the subject of spiritual manifestations. He does not pursue the line of assembly worship towards the Lord or towards God: He makes no reference to the Lord taking His place in the midst of the assembly. I suppose the state of the Corinthians did not permit of any development on that line. The matter that was important to be considered next was the subject of spiritual manifestations as found in the assembly viewed as the one body here on earth. It is the body as the anointed vessel here, furnished with gifts for profit, all of which are operated by one and the same Spirit. This is a universal thought, which is made known to us that we may understand what has come to pass in the wisdom and power of God. It extends far beyond Corinth, for it took in at that time all saints on earth who had come under the baptism of the one Spirit. This delivers us at once from any thought of independency, for how can any member of one body be independent of the other members? They must all work together in unity, and this applies particularly to the gifts, services and operations that go on in the body. He does not go into the deeper and more spiritual aspects of the truth of the one body as seen in Colossians and Ephesians where the body is for the display of the graces of the heavenly Man. Here it is the gifts and services and operations that are profitable to the saints. A divine wealth has been conferred which results in a great variety of contribution, all having its source in one Spirit, and therefore all operating in perfect unity. This was something quite different from anything they had known in the world.

They had been "led away to dumb idols, in whatever way ye might be led" (verse 2). It seems to indicate that they had been under a leading of an evil kind, and they had now to learn to recognise the Spirit of God. And this would be, in the first place, by observing how speakers referred to Jesus. If one said "Curse on Jesus", he was certainly not speaking in the power of the Spirit of God. This shows that there were those who pretended to have spiritual gifts, but they were really Satan's ministers. Satan's ministers would be known by casting some slight on Jesus -- something that would take away His true glory as the blessed expression of God in Man. This evidently took at Corinth a bold form. Satan had made such inroads, and got such a footing there, that there were speakers actually going so far as to say "Curse on Jesus". The low state into which the Corinthians had dropped may be gathered from this, and, of course, it is a warning to us; see also 1 John 4.

But on the other hand "no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit". I would much like help on this scripture. It can hardly mean that whenever the literal words, Lord Jesus, are used, as they might be by an unconverted man, they are evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit. Is it not rather intended to indicate to us that the first evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit is the personal recognition by the one who speaks of the lordship of Jesus? The Holy Spirit would keep that in the forefront and no one can really give the Lord Jesus His place and due honour except in the power of the Holy Spirit. The test of the power of the Holy Spirit is the recognition of the lordship of Jesus. Let no one think that he can speak in the power of the Holy Spirit unless his whole heart bows down to the Lord as the supreme One. This conditions all the spiritual manifestations.

All the gifts are in the power of the same Spirit, so they are unified, and they all function to bring the body into evidence. Every manifestation of the Spirit brings out that

the Spirit is here, but acting by means of gifts for the profit of saints as composing the body. There is continual evidence that the Spirit is here, but manifested in distinctive ways, of which nine are specified, which would cover in principle all spiritual manifestations. The gifts can never be in discord because they are all in the power of one Spirit, and they can never be the subject of partiality or preference, so as to be set against one another, for they are all beautifully blended and co-ordinated like the members of the human body. The body is looked at in this chapter as made up of members, each of whom has a distinctive fitness for the manifestation of the Spirit. It is seen as a practical and substantial reality.

The actual services are under the administration of "the same Lord". The Lord is the Director in all service: the servants do not look to the Holy Spirit for direction or support, but to the Lord. So personal nearness to the Lord is required for every act of service. The gift is capacity for service, but individual reference to the Lord is needed by each servant, or he may miss his way or lose his time or perhaps get in the way of other servants.

Then there are divine operations going on all the time. The Spirit gives ability to serve, the Lord directs in service, but alongside all this, God is operating. The question for all who serve is, can God operate by means of what we do? He operates all things in all -- we rejoice in that, we look out for it. The assembly is a wonderful body, the only body on earth in which God is operating in a spiritual way.

The manifestation of the Spirit is always for profit. It is that side of things which is brought before us in 1 Corinthians, not the Spirit leading Godward but having the profit of the saints in view. The Christ is the anointed body down here in which every member contributes to the well-being of the whole, according to the Spirit's sovereignty. It strikes me that all the things mentioned here are things in which sisters may have part as well as brothers. The

ministerial gifts are mentioned at the end of the chapter and graded according to their importance. But spiritual manifestations are not limited to brothers or to the assembly as convened. The point in this chapter is that all the saints have been baptised in the power of one Spirit into one body, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit. Such a thing was never known before -- how near it brings God to men. There is baptism into one body; this is effected in the very place where we were Jews or Gentiles, bond or free. In entering into what the Spirit has effected we are conscious of great nearness to each other. You have your spirit and I have mine naturally, but now alongside my spirit and your spirit is something much greater, and that is the one Spirit who has baptised us into one body: all organically one in the power of the one Spirit. "And have all been given to drink of one Spirit". Being baptised is being made to share in the promised effusion of the Holy Spirit. It is a universal thing and applies to all who now stand in the value of redemption. But being given to drink is what we do each for himself, so that all souls have the same inward satisfaction and joy. It is not simply that we are constituted one body but we all have the same kind of inward satisfaction.

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 - 31

Baptism is always, I believe, in Scripture a bringing on to entirely new ground. John's baptism was to repentance: his was "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" (Luke 3:3). But after the Lord's ascension, His disciples were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5), but all so baptised were Jews. Peter said this extended to the Gentiles (Acts 11:16). But Paul as having the light of the body -- his own peculiar ministry -- shows that Jews or Greeks, bond or free, have all in the power of one Spirit been baptised into one body. All thus now baptised in one Spirit are brought to this new ground, they are brought to be one body. However distinctive their gifts, they are one body. The distinctive gifts as operated by the one and the same Spirit are compared to the different members of the human body: they all work together as one body, they can never be detached or independent, because all are in the power of one Spirit. As a member of the body I cannot isolate or individualise myself: I am a member of an anointed body, an entirely new position here in this world; I am a constituent part of a vital organism in which the operations of the Spirit are active. My business is to function in that organism in which I am placed by the baptism of the one Spirit. I am a member of the body and I have to recognise that I am one of many, and to learn how to function in my appointed place so that I promote the well-being of the body.

The human body is the most wonderful organism of which we have any knowledge. Man was not only created and made, but he was "formed" under the direct touch of God's hand. It is, as we might say, an artistic conception. There is an expression in the Song of Songs applied to the prince's daughter: "The work of the hands of an artist"

(chapter 7: 1). Man, as to his body, was indeed this; he was "fearfully, wonderfully made", "curiously wrought", and all his members were written in God's book "when as yet there was none of them" (Psalm 139:14 - 16). The members of the human body were the subject of divine counsel, and were written in God's book before they were formed by His hand out of the dust of the ground. Dust was the material out of which they were made, but the design was in God's book before they were formed. He worked in divine skill to form what He had planned long before, and as He formed the body of Adam we may be sure that He had in mind that one body which would in due time be the result of the baptising of the Spirit. In that body there is the most perfect balance and proportion. It cannot be improved upon; each member is necessary and is in its place; no one member can take the place of another. The foot may be foolish enough to say, "Because I am not a hand I am not of the body"; so is God having in mind that certain members would be discontented with the place assigned to them and might cease to function bodywise because they thought some other member had a more favoured place? But it is of God that there should be different members, and the Spirit has made no mistake in the place and function which He has given to each. Each is needed, and God on His own behalf has set each of the members in the body as it has pleased Him. The body is the great result, the sum total; no one member is independent of any other member.

But then another truth comes out, that certain members of the body seem to be weaker; but they are necessary! And certain parts we esteem to be less honourable, but these we clothe with more abundant honour -- a striking and significant suggestion, for it is suggested that clothing implies honour. It seems to me that the clothing as applied to the less honourable members would be put on the saints by the ministry of what is eternal or that which is perfect. The gifts which characterise the members are time gifts; not

one of those mentioned in the early verses of chapter 12 go into eternity. Now I may be less honourable in the distribution of the time gifts, and it is they which are chiefly in view in this chapter, but this does not hinder me from being honoured in a greater and permanent way. God has tempered the body together: that is the natural human body, and it has entered into His design that certain parts of the body should be adorned by clothing. This thought, as we know, runs through Scripture, and this chapter shows that it has some application to Christ's body. The less honourable saints are, in regard to the time gifts, the more important does it become that they should be governed by love, which never fails. Love will preserve us from any division in the body: it would seem that the members have the same care every one for another. The way of surpassing excellence is like the adornment which make beautiful even the least honourable members in the body here. Spiritual manifestations are subordinate to love. So that if I feel I am less honourable than others in the line of spiritual manifestations, I must lay myself out to excel on the line of love.

If one member suffer (that is, a member out of function for the moment) all suffer with it. If a member is glorified (that is, a member through whom there is a manifestation of the Spirit) all the members rejoice with it.

Now while all this refers to the human body it is, of course, intended to have its application to Christ's body. So the apostle concludes the subject by saying, "Now ye are Christ's body, and members in particular". The one Spirit coming into manifestation in the saints in Corinth, and in every locality, so one is exercised to be a member in whom and by whom spiritual operations go on. It is easy to see that this would practically exclude the flesh and the natural mind of man and would really prepare us for chapter 13.

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES 1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 - 31; 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1 - 40

I would suggest the importance of recognising that the local assembly is the assembly of God; it is the place where the word of God is known and where God dwells and walks. He dwells there so that He may be known, and He walks there: there are movements of God in the assembly which can be discerned by those who have eyes to see.

Then the assembly is also the body of Christ. It is the anointed vessel in which manifestations of the Spirit are found. And if we look at these manifestations in chapter 12, we see that they refer to a furnishing which brings into evidence what is profitable. Everything necessary is provided just as in the human body. The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation. Nine members, as we may say, provided for functioning in unity, so that each one is complementary to the others. No one is sufficient without the others. This is a death-blow to the clerical system. All the saints have been baptised into one body, to function together in unity, all given to drink of one Spirit. It is important to see that here he does not touch on prayer or praise or worship. It is all what relates to what is profitable for the saints. It is supposed, I think, that all the men take part in prayer or praise. These are not matters sovereignly distributed by the Spirit; they pertain to believing men, as such.

All this comes out in each local assembly. All are necessary to the local functioning, bringing out that the Spirit of God has distributed spiritual qualifications so as to secure the profit of all, and each being necessary. It will be seen that it is not the ministry of the word in chapter 12 alone, but many other furnishings. Prophecy would be as one thing amongst many. At the end of the chapter certain

distinctive gifts are said to be set in the assembly, and amongst them ministerial gifts have the first place. These are outstanding contributions to the welfare of the assembly.

This all shows how the assembly is furnished, so that we come to chapter 14 with an assurance that adequate supplies are available. God dwells there, and the assembly is the Christ, and there are spiritual qualifications. But chapter 14 shows that the saints come together in any locality to be edified. The whole chapter supposes that we come together assemblywise for the ministry of the word. It is all through a question of the assembly, and the whole assembly comes together in one place. It would be apparent, I think, that the Lord had in mind that a power for ministry to edification would be found in every locality where His name was called upon. It is evident that Paul expected to find such gatherings of the saints if he came.

He expected that he might speak to the assembly "five words". All through, it is "in the assembly".

It will be noticed that a wide scope of ministry is in view. Prophecy is expressly said to be marked by edification, encouragement and consolation. Then the apostle speaks of a wider range of ministry in verse 6: revelation, knowledge, prophecy, teaching. Then instruction in verse 19; learning and being encouraged in verse 31.

It is manifest that a great variety of ministry is contemplated, and as a matter of individual exercise. Each is to be exercised to prophecy; that is, it is not to be ordinary talking, but a speaking that will make manifest that God is amongst His saints in assembly. God would help in this, it is His own ordering.

The readings do not afford room for this. We limit ourselves to one book generally. It is most important that we should consider all Scripture together, if possible, but it is quite a different thing to be found desiring earnestly the greater gifts and being emulous of spiritual manifestations.

I have no doubt we shall have to accept our measure in each locality; we cannot go beyond the measure of spirituality that is there. But the very exercise of such assemblings would promote and deepen spirituality. Many a brother would be transformed if he took up the exercise. I think there is enough available in the way of vessels. All that is wanted is love. The saints ought to be able to rely on the fact that no brother will attempt to speak without a definite exercise before God.

The word "assembly", or "assemblies", appears nine times in chapter 14. In prophecy there is a moral force which affects even an unbeliever, showing that it is not merely saying what is correct.

Coming together to eat the Lord's supper is evidently preparatory to worship, to the direct service of God. The Lord remembered, the will of God, the love of God, the Lord coming to His own, leading to God and the Father. We are not thinking of edification then but the spiritual service of God. We worship by the Spirit of God; "the Father seeks such" (John 4:23).

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1 - 13; 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1 - 40

It is good for us to be going on with that which abides to eternity. Things in the assembly come to an end but the Spirit abides. Love is the spirit of everything. The love of God will be the moving spring of everything in a coming day. At the present time the great exercise of love is to edify, it is for building up. Seeing all is in part, all are necessary the one to the other. You have a part that I have not. Every individual saint has had a ray of light direct from heaven, an impression of Christ. The impression of Christ we have will come out in the city. What makes a saint such a wonderful person is that he has received something from Christ. God did not intend that every saint should be cast in the same mould. Each member in the body has a particular place in the body and we can rejoice in the thought. The impression of Christ that any saint has is very edifying, for we are able to pass on the knowledge of God that we have and it is edifying. We do not sufficiently cherish that ray of light that has reached us. We ought to cherish it and follow it up. Prophesying is really bringing the light of God to bear upon souls in a practical way -- it is speaking the oracles of God. It is a kind of thing that entirely sets aside the mind of man.

Love would be always thinking of the good of others. In the assembly we should be soberly considering the good of others. The contrast is made here between the one who edifies himself and the one who edifies the assembly (verse 4). In a man's own room he may be beside himself but in the assembly he is to be sober. Our knowledge of divine things is very small and imperfect (chapter 13: 12); practically we are very small and feeble in our apprehension of things. I dare say all this was brought in to show the Corinthians that they did not know. The Corinthians were taken up with the

shell of things, but in chapter 13 you get the kernel. God has appointed each one to a certain place, and no one can fill another's place. We know very imperfectly now.

There are three things that go together in chapter 14: 3, and these three things go together in everything in the assembly of God; however high and holy the things are that are set before us, there is encouragement and there is consolation, so that when you are edified you are also encouraged and comforted. God encourages us in what is of Himself; He is the God of all encouragement. The apostle presses understanding very much here; we ought to exercise ourselves to understand what we hear; it was not only the spirit but the understanding. If people's understanding is unfruitful they do not get anything. He has the first word of blessing, but He has the last word too, and we come between. Verse 19 is instruction. We come together really to be instructed. He instructs us in the knowledge of God and in the meaning of His own death. "One is your instructor, and all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8). That gives as good an idea of the assembly as any scripture that I know. The great thing is that the assembly is God's place and what is there is of God, so that if an unbeliever come in, evil would be manifested. Everything in the assembly would savour of God and therefore be blessed and attractive to the believer. There is no appeal to sentiment or feelings in any way, the effect is conviction. Then there is certain order laid down here which is very important. God considers the capacity of saints (verse 29). You cannot receive more than a certain amount. Deference to the Spirit in others would lead to peace (verse 30). The women should be exercised about what they hear. If they do not understand let them ask some godly brother afterwards (verses 34, 35). We have to take the principle of the thing. It is a mark of spirituality where a man recognises all this as the commandment of the Lord (verse 37).

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1 - 40

We saw in chapter 12 that the one body is formed by all the members being baptised into it in the power of one Spirit. It is not looked at as a defective thing but as an organism complete in all its parts, like the human body, all the members being in proportion and balance and co-ordinated by the wisdom and power of God. The Christ as the anointed body does not contemplate any working of flesh. It is characterised throughout by spiritual manifestations and operations. Now if this is to be worked out practically it is clear that it can only be in the divine nature. So chapter 13 comes in to show us that love is the life of the body. And this is not the 'invisible church', as people say, it is a body composed of men and women in Corinth, and many other places, all being vehicles for the manifestation of the Spirit and for the activities of love.

There is nothing about the saints coming together in chapters 12 and 13, but chapter 14 contemplates the assembly as together and spiritual manifestations going on there. So that the manifestations in this chapter are limited to men -- the women are to be silent. The men are to be emulous of spiritual manifestations. Chapter 13 tells us that we are not to be emulous of others; love would never want to take the place which another has. We would rather like to see him shine in all the spiritual worth which God has given him. But we are all to be emulous of spiritual manifestations.

All the men should desire to pray in the assembly and to prophesy. This is the normal exercise of every believing man. Those who take part in the meetings have to gain through this exercise. Then it comes out that he is ready to make a selection with regard to what we desire. The apostle says, "Rather that ye should prophesy". They had the gift of tongues at Corinth, and we may gather from this chapter that

tongues were too much in evidence. There was something miraculous about a tongue, but if it does not edify, it serves no useful purpose in the assembly. It is evident that a man with a gift of tongues could use it and think it was a gift altogether in the power of the Holy Spirit; and yet if there was no interpreter it was not edifying.

Edification builds up in the knowledge of God, and encouragement comes in in face of difficulties, and consolation is for those in sorrow. It shows what children they were that they seem to have preferred tongues to what edified. But Paul speaks of four ways in which he might speak of prophecy.

Revelation would be a manifestation from God by inspiration, which would be something imparted which had been acquired from exercise, or it may be from others. Prophecy would be a word from God to meet present conditions in the assembly. Teaching would be the opening up of the truth in the ability which God had given. The apostle speaks lower down in the chapter of instruction, and this is an important matter. How much instruction saints need is only known to those who come in contact with them. Further in the chapter he speaks of saints having a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation. All this shows how varied are the forms of edification in the assembly; and all this shows the importance of what we call the meetings for ministry, because it gives much greater scope than is usually found in the assembly as conveyed by the Spirit. Ministry then must be suitable to the service of the assembly Godward or towards the Lord. The aspect ever is towards divine Persons, but the aspect in chapter 14 is manward. In the reading of the Scriptures every form of edifying ministry comes before us.

The Spirit of God knew that tongues would cease historically in the assembly, so this chapter was written to comfort us by letting us see that the greater gifts remain. We ought to abound for the edification of the assembly.

FROM C.A.C.'S NOTES 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1 - 58

The first man Adam became a living soul: he lived by divine in-breathing; no other creature became a living soul in the same wonderful way, and all human beings bear his image: he was made of dust, and so are we, for we are of him. We cannot naturally rise above the head from which we sprang, but it is made known to us in the glad tidings that there is another Adam. God has brought in One who has a place corresponding with the place Adam was set in; that is, He is Head to give life spiritually to all those who are quickened by Him. This is a spiritual matter because He is "a quickening spirit": I think it should be a capital "S" here. There will never be another such, it is impossible that there should be another: He is the last Adam. Divine thoughts reach finality in the last Adam; so that we may well fix our attention upon Him and He quickens, or makes alive, a spiritual race who are constituted heavenly ones by being quickened by Him. Quickening is always, I believe, in the New Testament, out of death. The first man Adam brought us all into death, but the last Adam quickens in the power of His own risen life out of death. This was illustrated in His breathing into His disciples on the resurrection day (John 20:22); it was to make them realise that they lived now in the power of His risen life. This life is in the Holy Spirit received from Him, His own Spirit as the risen Man, as we read elsewhere, "The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus". The disciples had not had it before, but they knew Him as the last Adam, the quickening Spirit, then. They had been of the natural before -- we see it often -- but now they were vitally in what was spiritual and beyond death. It was an actuality in Him risen and ascending to His Father, but it was spiritually real to them as having His Spirit breathed in.

This leads on to the thought of the second Man who completely supersedes the first, and His distinguishing feature is that He is out of heaven. He is of a heavenly order, the heavenly One, and those quickened by Him are heavenly ones. He does not quicken for earth but for heaven. He was Himself put to death in flesh but made alive in (the) Spirit, as Peter tells us. Quickening has to do with what lies before it, and that is what is heavenly now in a spiritual sense, or what is heavenly actually when the Lord comes. The heavenly One here (verses 48, 49) is what Christ is as in heaven: He is the heavenly One even in bodily condition. His body is called "his body of glory" (Philippians 3:21). He was the second Man out of heaven in all His moral characteristics when here, but it was not until He was glorified that He was seen as the One whose image we shall bear.

The second Man out of heaven is not quite the same thought as the heavenly One. The former applies to Him as having His origin in heaven so that He was always when here of the things which are above. Indeed, He was the Son of man who is in heaven even when here, He was from above in contrast to being of the earth. But when He is spoken of as the heavenly One it refers to what He is now as in heaven, and this makes it surpassingly wonderful that His saints are said to be heavenly ones "such as the heavenly one". We do not understand our calling until we see that we are as much heavenly ones as Christ is the heavenly One. This is a matter of God's calling, and of God's appointment in this time of heavenly things. We cannot make this a time of earthly things because God has fixed that it is a time of heavenly things. All saints now are partakers of the heavenly calling: they inherit God's kingdom on the heavenly side of it, therefore flesh and blood cannot inherit it. There must be a changed condition, and believers get it by resurrection or by a change which is equivalent to resurrection at the last trumpet. Corruption

cannot inherit incorruptibility: it must needs put on incorruptibility. Corruptibility refers to those living; they will put on an incorruptible condition of body suitable to the heavenly side of the kingdom. So far as they are concerned, death will be swallowed up in victory. The question is asked of death, Where is thy sting? thy victory? The sting of death is sin, that is the sharp venomous sting which death carries. It is the terrible fact that sin brought it in that strikes terror to the conscience of man. Then the power of sin is the law -- a statement to be deeply considered: the law which tells man what he ought to be and to do is the very power of sin: the prohibitions intensified the desire for what is wrong. What man in his ignorance would look to for help against sin is a thing which adds to the power of sin in his conscience. The more clearly he sees what he ought to be, the more powerful is his conviction of sin.

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1 - 58

The apostle seems to have reserved to the last the most serious thing at Corinth, the denial of the resurrection. The other things were inconsistent with the truth but this was the sweeping away of the truth altogether. Everything was gone if Christ was not risen; the whole thing was a lie that had been preached to them from beginning to end. The idea of the enemy is to limit everything to the earth and the present time. This was the error of the Sadducees come in -- rationalism. The error of the Pharisees was a religious error. What the devil had brought in from the beginning resulted in death on man and so now he would bring in the denial of the resurrection. Nothing could put away sin but death, and nothing could remove death but resurrection. Paul had received this gospel from the glory; he had it direct from Christ in heaven and what he had received was that Christ had died for sins and that He had been buried, etc. If instead of reasoning out things we bring Christ in we should be put right at once. The simple might not be able to explain things but if he has the unction he has the sense that he is right. God is allowing His people to be tested today by the most pernicious errors. The Old Testament saints died in the consciousness that God would not be baffled. This chapter shows that God is really victorious and will be. We are not very familiar with resurrection power ourselves. The point is really to be in the consciousness of present victory. The enemy has succeeded in putting away the truth of resurrection. Resurrection puts us outside the course of things here altogether. Where Christ is carries the whole position of where His own are -- all that belongs to Him. Where Christ is is the important thing and settles the whole matter if I love Him. I think the common idea is that death is somewhere between God and us; you go through death,

and there at the other side is God; but there is no longer the distance of death between us and God. Someone has said that Bunyan put the river in the wrong place; he ought to have had it near where the burden rolled off instead of at the end of the journey. We can be with God outside death altogether and that because Christ has died and risen. J.B.S. said, speaking of his departure not long before, that his thought of it was that he should be very happy with the Lord and all at once he would find himself with Him. It is really in the company of a living One that we taste life; it is as being in the company of the Lord that we are happy. There must be a transaction between the soul and Christ; it is not simply that it is something you hear and believe. To these individuals it was a distinct manifestation. What Paul could say was that Christ had possession of him. As to the things of christianity we are often like children looking into the shop windows and desiring to have, and stop there. If God gives us desires, He wants them to be satisfied. I think the actual journey to resurrection is a great reality to us. There is the attraction of Christ and there is the death side to learn too. The discipline of God comes in to help us, and there are the yearnings of life. This is a death scene. God presents everything that is beautiful and attractive to us. I am sure if we paid more attention to God we should get on better. He tells us most blessed things if we would only listen to Him. If Israel had hearkened to the word it would have been their salvation.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:1 - 58

Ques. Will you say why the great subject of resurrection follows as it does on the truth of the body and the subject of ministry and so forth, as we get in the previous chapter?

C.A.C. I suppose the apostle with the spirit of wisdom left the most serious matter to the end of his letter. If there is no resurrection there is nothing! It sweeps away the whole fabric of christianity at once. It is well to keep in mind what we have often noticed in the epistle, that the object of the apostle was to produce spirituality in these children of his at Corinth. They had received the gospel, but were very unspiritual. They were gratifying the flesh in many different ways, so he brings forward one thing after another to bring about more spiritual conditions -- a matter which all Christians should carefully consider -- and there is nothing that would produce spirituality more than resurrection.

Rem. The Spirit was given consequent on Christ being risen and ascended.

C.A.C. It is important perhaps to notice the subject is confined to believers in this chapter. It is not a general teaching on the resurrection; the wicked dead are not once mentioned, unbelievers do not come into it. We know they will be raised to the resurrection of judgment. There is no allusion to that; it is the resurrection of Christ as bearing on believers.

Rem. The gospel is brought in here.

C.A.C. He now has to go back to what he had brought before them at the beginning, and repeat it again to them.

Ques. What is the great bearing of resurrection in this chapter? It does not go beyond the earth.

C.A.C. Well, he goes a little beyond the earth when speaking of the heavenly One, but in its general bearing it

refers to the earth.

Ques. Is it the truth of resurrection here, as established in Him?

C.A.C. The first thing is to believe the testimony that has been rendered. God has set forth a testimony by accredited witnesses; they are all men that can be trusted -- because that is the point here in the different appearings of the Lord -- so that no mention is made of the women among those that saw the Lord in resurrection. They are not required in this chapter. This is a question of the testimony by accredited witnesses and Paul himself tells us that he received the gospel; he got it directly from Christ in heaven. It is wonderful that he should be instructed in the great truth that Christ died for our sins. The Lord told him that from heaven.

Ques. Were the Corinthians actually unbelieving in the fact of the resurrection or is there something more in the apostle's mind?

C.A.C. Certain persons amongst them were saying that there was no resurrection of dead persons. Paul meets it by bringing in Christ. That is the usual way of meeting all difficulties; how all difficulties melt away when He is brought in. If dead people do not rise, then Christ is not risen; all Paul said is false, and their faith not worth a straw, because they have believed a lie. He shows the bearing of His resurrection in regard of all those who are His. "The first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ's at his coming" (verse 23). God has brought about the resurrection of a dead Man, and the value and the result of it are for all those that belong to that Man, and it does not extend any further than that. He says, 'You have received what we told you, and stand in it, and are saved'.

The men who denied the resurrection were Satan's emissaries, and not believers at all. And it had a certain effect, it worked like a poison.

Rem. It brings out a wonderful line of truth.

C.A.C. So that he turns everything to blessing.

Rem. "According to the scriptures" (verse 3), it says.

C.A.C. Yes, it could all be established from the Old Testament. There is a good deal there about Christ dying for His people's sin, and a good deal about His being raised. It could be proved from Scripture.

Rem. Isaiah 53 speaks of His burial.

C.A.C. You could not have resurrection without burial, could you? That is, the whole sentence that had been passed on man as a fallen creature was really executed upon Christ. If people do not understand Christ's burial they will be worldly. Many are glad Christ has died for them, as securing them a place in heaven, but what about His burial? It is emphasised in Scripture that we are to be buried with Him. Burial is always connected with baptism. "Buried therefore with him by baptism unto death" (Romans 6:4). In baptism the person goes out of sight, so the baptism of Christ is the most serious matter to consider.

Ques. Would you say that condition has disappeared forever?

C.A.C. He will never be seen again in the condition He was in before He died. There was no necessity on His part for burial, but He had come there in the cause of those who were under death and the sentence, "Unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19). But it does not end there.

Rem. "Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me having" (Luke 24:39). That showed them He was in a new condition in resurrection. It was a first step to spirituality for the disciples.

C.A.C. Yes. It is important to see that Christ has risen in a spiritual body, not a body in flesh and blood. It was a body that could go through a closed door. You may say, How can you explain that? You cannot explain spiritual matters to the natural mind. He could come out of the grave without disturbing the gravestone; the graveclothes were undisturbed too, and the very position of the graveclothes

was a testimony to resurrection, for it says, they "saw and believed" (John 20S), and that was the witness.

We are going to have spiritual bodies too. If I am going to be wholly spiritual in five minutes, I had better be as spiritual as I can now! We may be in spiritual bodies, wholly like Him, without a trace of the world or the flesh about us in five minutes, so we had better be spiritual now.

What He has done is accredited to us; the sins of the believer are absolutely gone. God could not find them. And death has gone, if Christ has died for us. Death does not remain for us as the judgment of God or as the power of Satan; it is absolutely annulled, as if it did not exist.

Ques. What does the flesh mean?

C.A.C. It refers in one sense to our bodily condition, but connected with the bodily condition there is terrible fleshly condition. We have to learn to judge our will, and we look forward to the time when we shall say goodbye to it for ever. In our glorified bodies there will not be a trace of it.

Rem. "In that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God" (Galatians 2:20). There is a new influence altogether.

C.A.C. There is a new power, the old shop is opened under a new management. Paul says, "I have persecuted the assembly of God" (verse 9). He is quite conscious he is the same man who did it, though he would not do it now. "By God's grace I am what I am" (verse 10).

Ques. Could we not all say that in a certain sense?

C.A.C. I am not sure we could say much about it. I sometimes feel there is much about me that the grace of God did not make me!

It is rather striking that we have no account of these appearings in the gospels, not one of them is mentioned. He is setting the thing out in public testimony. All these were selected witnesses, accredited men, and they have given a testimony that no one can gainsay. There were, nearly thirty

years after the resurrection, more than two hundred and fifty persons who had seen Christ with their living eyes. There never was a more established testimony in the history of the world.

Rem. It says, "He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve".

C.A.C. It is very beautiful to see it was the twelve; that is, what they were in their testimonial witness. In the Lord's mind they were "the twelve". That is God's way of reckoning very often. Paul says, "To which our whole twelve tribes ... hope to arrive" (Acts 26:7). Well, Paul, where are they? He could not have shown them.

The resurrection has no part in the history of the world. No unbeliever saw the resurrection of the Lord; it is the peculiar property of the believer. People say, I believe in the resurrection, but they do not.

Rem. Paul places a tremendous amount of importance on the place the glad tidings have.

C.A.C. The gospel is preached to find out people who are interested. If we had never heard of the resurrection, the first time we did we should be profoundly astonished; but we have got accustomed to it. If it does not lay hold of the soul, what is the use of it? It is only a creed to one.

It is wonderful to learn that my sins have been taken away by a perfect, holy Substitute who bore them for me -- that He has gone under for me the sentence of death. "Unto dust shalt thou return", of which I deserved to be the subject, for I deserved to be swept off the face of the earth -- so that I might be able to think of resurrection with joy. No unbeliever can think of resurrection with joy. He knows he is accountable. But the believer can contemplate resurrection with the deepest joy, and know we are entitled to come into all that is connected with resurrection -- to share His part and place, beyond death in resurrection. After His having been in death, think what it was to God to have Him out of it! "Raised up from among the dead by the

glory of the Father" (Romans 6:4) -- the glory of the Father wrapped itself around Him in Joseph's tomb and brought Him out!

Rem. "And has raised us up together" (Ephesians 2:6); that is, we are clear for the presentation.

C.A.C. Yes, is it not wonderful?

He is going to come forth in a very short time with all His saints with Him, in His great glory, in this very world as it is now to put down all that is contrary to God, so that righteousness and peace will fill the earth. It is quite possible that hundreds of millions of people will live to see this. For men to be talking about a better world with the Bible in their hand is wicked unbelief; it is flying in the face of the testimony of Scripture.

Ques. "If ye hold fast ..." (verse 2), why is that there?

C.A.C. Of course if people give up the gospel there is nothing else for them.

Ques. "Unless indeed ye have believed in vain" -- what does that mean?

C.A.C. Unless it was all false that I told you -- then it was no good believing it, was it?

Ques. What is the thought in regard to James and the apostles?

C.A.C. I suppose James was brought in as one who had every opportunity to believe in the lifetime of the Lord, and he did not believe, and the Lord appeared to him in resurrection and converted him on the spot. He lived in the same house with him, and did not believe on Him! It says so, "neither did his brethren believe on him" (John 7:5). It represents, no doubt, a testimony, that there is such a man. All he had seen of Christ after the flesh for thirty years did not convert him; one sight of Him risen converted him. No doubt he represents those that will not believe on Him until they see Him, His brethren in a future day. So James is brought in as an accredited witness, he is amongst that class.

The point is, there is a volume of testimony that cannot be discredited.

Rem. James speaks well in Acts 15:13.

C.A.C. He never quite shook off his Judaism; there were certain legal characteristics about him, but he could not have given a more definite answer as to the resurrection.

Paul says, "Thus we preach, and thus ye have believed"; so there is no sense in people saying there is not a resurrection. If it is not true, then all we said was nothing, and your faith was nothing, and we have been found false witnesses; that is, he puts it in the very plainest way. It is a question of faith, a divine testimony is only received by faith. He does not mind confessing that, if it is not true, "we are the most miserable of all men" (verse 19).

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:15 - 45

The apostle would not have had much to say if he had not brought in the resurrection in his preaching. It is important for one to have his feet planted on the rock of resurrection. This was a special attack of the enemy and not the state of the Corinthians that made him write like this. There was an activity of mind at Corinth that laid them open to questions and carnal reasonings. The important thing is that resurrection is the sphere of God's working at the present time. In Psalm 150:1 there are two things: "Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in the firmament of his power". 1 Corinthians is the firmament of His power, and 2 Corinthians is the sanctuary. The first epistle (resurrection) is all the power of God. 1 Corinthians is the foundation epistle and 2 Corinthians is the superstructure. Where Christ is determines everything for God and for faith. If Christ was accepted here and honoured after the flesh, this would be the place for God. The resurrection sphere is the sphere where God is working, and there is no knowledge of God anywhere else. He is the God who raised up Jesus from the dead. Abraham knew Him as the God of resurrection; it is very wonderful.

The enemy has brought in sins, and in that way death has ruined the old creation, and God has a new creation. I think the aim of the enemy is to try and make it out that God is in relation to this scene of evil. Faith knowing God cannot possibly connect God with the present state of things, so Enoch walked with God, and death could not touch him. Enoch is the first example of eternal life in Scripture. God would not let two men die (Enoch and Elijah), showing that He was superior to death and He could make a man superior to death. Now we see the Lord Jesus Christ superior to death. God shows us a scene that never can be

shadowed by death, and He shows us the Person who fills it. God must have His way and He must have everything according to His thought and purpose. Satan has apparently had his way for a long time. Christ is the first-fruits; you see in a risen Man everything that is according to God, and that Man is put in power to subdue everything to Himself, and when He has subjugated everything He will hand over the kingdom to God. I think it is at the end of the millennium that all will be seen to be dealt with, everything that challenges God's place of supremacy -- sin, death, antichrist, the beast, Satan. God's Man is holy and true.

I suppose that death is the last power to be dealt with (verse 26); all these other powers will be dealt with first, and last of all death. There will be no more death; there could not possibly be death in a scene where God is all in all. The whole scene will be pervaded by life, and all will be suited to God. The wicked dead are not contemplated in this chapter. "In the Christ all shall be made alive", but it is in Christ. The wicked are not in Christ. Those in Christ will be made alive after the image of Christ, but the wicked will not be in the image of Christ. It is God's harvest; He is going to have a harvest out of this wicked scene. The whole chapter shows there is going to be a harvest for God; Christ the first, and nothing could be in Christ that is not of Christ.

There are three very important prepositions: through, of, in. Through the administration of grace the believer is of Christ, and being of Christ he is in Christ. Everything is through Christ, as in Romans 5"peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ", "making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ", etc. What is through Christ can be preached to all men. The moment I receive the gift of Christ I am of Christ, and being of Him I am in Him. It is wonderful how God has gone to work to build up Christ in our souls. In thinking of reigning we think of authority, but the great thing is influence. The influence of the king is greater than authority. The king's influence gives character

to the country over which he rules. Christ gives His character to everything for God. He will exercise His authority against the rebels but His influence will be exercised over His own. The One who exercises the rule is the Holy One and True. It is all exercised to bring about a sphere where God is all in all.

Everything is subjugated to man and man is subject to God (verse 27). Christ will cease to be King but He will never cease to be Head. He gives up the kingdom but He never gives up the headship, and our relation with Him is as Head. Israel is in relation to Christ in an order of things that will pass away but the church is in relation to Him in an order of things that will never pass away. We are glad to be relieved, but after all we ought to be a little interested in what God is doing. I must have a risen Christ for righteousness, but I do not think there is any affection until we are delivered from our own side. You must be free -- love must be free. It is a blessed thing to see that all our relations with God are outside everything connected with this scene, and that puts us in view of all that for which God is working, that resurrection scene. We want to be a little more in the spirit of it now.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20 - 28

C.A.C. The apostle reasons in the first part of the chapter on the importance of Christ's resurrection, and he shows that if Christ was not risen, all he had preached to them was nothing, and they had gained nothing by believing it. But if Christ had been raised, it was the proof that dead persons could be raised. If one man was raised, it was the proof that dead persons could be raised. It is most wonderful that Christ has been found among the dead; and He has been found there that He might be the first-fruits in resurrection.

Ques. Is it just as wonderful that the Lord should be in death, as be raised? If He goes into death, it emphasises all connected with that death.

C.A.C. Nothing could be more wonderful than the thought of a divine Person, One who was God, coming into a condition in which He could die. So Christ, the apostle said, was the first to show light to the people and to the nations (Acts 26:23). By His resurrection Christ has become the great Illuminator of the world -- the Illuminator of the Gentiles.

We see all men going down into death. We do not need the Bible to know death has passed upon all men, we can see it. And the light that is worth having is the light of resurrection.

Rem. That is, not the doctrine, but the substance, for all is substantiated in Christ. They were "preaching by Jesus the resurrection from among the dead" (Acts 4:2), it says.

C.A.C. And He was the first, Paul says, by the resurrection of the dead to show light to the people and the nations.

Ques. Why are the nine verses a parenthesis?

C.A.C. Well, do they not come in as a very special revelation from God? Paul brings them in in the midst of his argument (he leaves it for the moment but returns to it in verse 29), and turns aside to this great revelation -- this great shining of divine light.

"How say some among you that there is not a resurrection of those that are dead?" (verse 12). He exposes the folly of their thoughts. There are plenty saying that today, it is not a thing that has died out.

Rem. Satan suggests that everything to be gone in for is now, this side of death, and the argument is, there is nothing after death. But when a man sees there is something after death, his outlook is altered entirely.

C.A.C. And how it magnifies Christ; because there is only one Man beyond death, after having been in it, as raised from among the dead. He is the only One in that position, so the light of all that is after death shines in that Man.

And the resurrection of those that are dead has come to light in Christ. It is "by man came death". People have extraordinary ideas about death, calling it the debt of nature. They do not like to think they brought death upon themselves. It is man that brought in death, and now Man has brought in resurrection. It is Adam and Christ put in contrast. It is the man -- Adam -- who brought in death, not Satan. My father brought in death, our father brought it in, our parents brought in death. How could any of his race bring in resurrection? That is the question! If one of his race could have done so, it would have been a great triumph -- if there had been one who could reverse death and bring in resurrection. Well, where could such a man be found?

This chapter has a reference to those who are Christ's; it is not a chapter that any unconverted person would have any interest in. We see a Person raised from among the dead, and if I look at Christ I see death absolutely annulled.

If I look at myself, I do not.

Ques. Why is the word "annulled" used?

C.A.C. Annulled is about the strongest word that could be used to show it is completely set aside, annulled of its power. Christ was in death in a more terrible and complete way than any other ever was. Now He is risen out of it, death is annulled, and sin is annulled, and Satan is annulled. It is in looking at Christ you see that.

Ques. How do we see death annulled, for we see it around us?

C.A.C. By looking at Christ; that is the only way to see death annulled. I see a glorified, risen Man coming out of the dark domain of death -- coming out in victorious power.

Ques. It is not non-existent?

C.A.C. It is in the faith of our souls that we reach it; we have the faith of a blessed Man raised from among the dead, and everything hangs upon that. His death would be nothing, if He had not been raised. His resurrection is the proof of the power and efficacy of His death.

Ques. Why is it "the Christ" here?

C.A.C. He is God's anointed Man to destroy the power of death and the power of the devil completely and put away the sins of His people; and believers thankfully accept it, and they fix their eyes in faith on Christ risen from the dead. So that in the resurrection sphere Christ is everything; you cannot have any doubt about that. He fills that sphere, and He is going to have a great harvest. "The first-fruits, Christ; then those that are the Christ's at his coming" (verse 23). He is the First-fruits of a mighty harvest.

Rem. There is nothing of self in resurrection, nothing but Christ, and we need to get our eyes on Him.

Rem. It is remarkable that we are saved by His life; we are not told that we are saved by His death.

C.A.C. Yes, it has helped me to see that what God has done for Christ (the blessed anointed Man) He can do for

me; and that is brought out here in the first-fruits.

Ques. And God is going to secure a universe, where He is going to be supreme. Why is it the Adam and the Christ -- the article is used here?

C.A.C. To show the distinctiveness of the two heads. "In the Adam all die". We were all naturally in the Adam -- of that family of which he was head. But "in the Christ all shall be made alive"; that is, it is a transfer to a new Head, and that is what faith really is. I am transferred in the faith of my soul from Adam to Christ. We finish with the conviction that all expectation from Adam ends in death, and we pass into connection with a new Head, and all connected with Him will be made alive in His life. It is not that all men are made alive in Christ, but "in Christ" all are made alive. You must come into connection with the new Head, or there is nothing but death. And all those alive in resurrection will be seen to be in Christ. We could not quite say so of the Old Testament saints, for He had not come.

Ques. Is that Romans 5:12?

C.A.C. Yes, the thing is worked out there very fully. It is good to see that in the resurrection state there will only be those in Christ. When Christ comes, the Old Testament saints will be raised and translated with the New Testament saints. They will then be manifestly alive in Christ. What a triumph for God that will be -- myriads of Old Testament and New Testament and tribulation saints, all made alive in Christ. All will be "the Christ's" (verse 23), from the beginning up to that moment.

Rem. God has only one way for every man -- those before waited.

C.A.C. Now there is the privilege available for men, that they can leave Adam and come to Christ. Christ died for all that they might have that opportunity, and that is really conversion; it means I leave myself altogether behind, and possess Christ. So that one can say, Christ is my life. I have no other life but Christ, so that the great

thing is to get more acquainted with Christ risen. Christ is our life, and it says, "When the Christ is manifested .. then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory" (Colossians 3:4); I have nothing else of life but Christ, all else is death before God. J.B.S. often asked, Have you changed your man? We are not really converted until this takes place.

Ques. Then we have a clearer understanding of what the death of Christ means?

C.A.C. Why did He die for me? It was because nothing attached to me but sins and death, and He took it all up, that He might be my life. It is very simple. We pass over from ourselves and the world to Christ, and from that moment we never think of anything else in the faith of our souls but Christ.

Men in the world are just working out Adam; and looking at it morally, it is nothing but death. What is the working out of it now but bloodshed and strife, and what is that but death? When Christ comes in, it will be the very opposite, as we read in this very scripture. Man's place, and what is due to man, is death.

Then he passes over in verse 24 to "the end". That is, he passes over the thousand years' millennial reign of Christ. He says that those who are the Christ's shall be raised at His coming (that refers to before His coming) and he passes right over to the end, and looks at the reign of Christ as putting down everything that is contrary to God. "When he shall have annulled all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that is annulled is death" (verses 24 - 26). That is, the reign of Christ is a time of the subjugation of all rule and authority and power contrary to God. It will be then dealt with by Christ. He will reign until everything contrary to God will be put down.

Rem. Death is spoken of as the "last enemy" (verse 26). The state will not exist even.

C.A.C. Yes.

Rem. Death is looked at as a spoiler, it robs man and it robs God.

Ques. It goes on to Christ giving up the kingdom to "him who is God and Father". Why is the name of Father brought in?

C.A.C. It is now an eternal name of God. He is Father as well as God. It is the name of revelation, the name the Son has revealed Him as now; He is not so known in the Old Testament. God retains its character; He is not going to lay aside that character. Every family in heaven and earth is named of the Father. The Father it is who has impressed certain features of Christ on all families of the redeemed. Some will have blessing in heaven, and some on earth, even in eternity.

The Son will exercise the kingdom for a thousand years, and then He will give up the kingdom to Him who is God and Father, because there is nothing more to be done on kingdom lines, all will be subjugated. So He will give it up to God and the Father, having accomplished all. God will always be God, and always the Father, and the Son always the Son throughout eternity. So the remarkable statement comes in, that the Son is placed in subjection to God, and all the saints will be along with Him in that place of subjection. It is the way that God will be all in all, because everything in God's blessed universe will come under the headship of One placed in subjection. There will be no element of lawlessness then. True blessedness is to be in subjection to God. The Son has the first place in that glorious scene of subjection. It is the peculiar, distinctive and eternal glory of the Son. It has been expressed, as it were, beforehand in the life of Jesus; He was in perfect subjection. And repentance is that I judge my lawless and insubject self, and I pass over in my affections to the One who was always subject. And then the Spirit is given. In that eternal scene there will be the Spirit; there will be nothing seen in the subject One but God, and there will be

nothing seen in those in companionship in subjection with that One, but God. And that will be a blissful eternity. Insubjection is what causes all the discontent and annoyance and irritability of the believer; it is simply the rising up in ourselves of the awful corrupt nature of the flesh. But there is that in the new man that loves to be subject to His will.

'God's will is sweetest to him
When it triumphs at his cost'.

I am afraid we do not always think so.

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:20 - 58

Resurrection is the firmament of God's power. Had they known God they must have had the sense that resurrection was a moral necessity. Death was an enemy, and God would not suffer any enemy to triumph. Death comes in as the destruction of man, the creature of God, and God was not going to accept quietly the destruction of His creature, so resurrection has to come in as recovery with a view to the whole universe of bliss. As all the damage has come in by man, resurrection has come in by Man. It was God's intention from the first that He should be set forth in man. Another Man has come in in whom there is the perfect setting forth of God. Really God has brought in a Man in whom resurrection is inherent, One who is the resurrection Himself, not merely one whom God raised. It is brought out here that not only in Christ all shall be made alive, but that that Man by whom resurrection comes is also the Son, a Person of the Godhead. Resurrection is inherent in His Person. He could say, "In three days I will raise it up". "He spoke of the temple of his body" (John 2:19, 21). The Christ is also the Son, He is a Person in the Godhead. Though having all the power, He never used it except as in subjection. The Son has taken the place of subjection to the Father, and resurrection is in His power, even the raising of the wicked dead. "All who are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall go forth" (John 5:28, 29). He was of such intrinsic worth. There was nothing that death could touch morally in that Man, He was beyond the touch of death, the Prince of life. "Thou wilt not ... allow thy Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:10). It is a holy scene, it is all characterised by holiness. What marks the new creation is holiness, and therefore it is incorruptible. By the grace of God the Lord took part in death; He was made to feel the

power of the enemy in death -- of course as to His own personal state there was nothing death could touch. Death is a moral necessity to us. In Psalm 22 there was not only the forsaking of God but there were the strong bulls of Bashan, and He felt it as no other could, but He was really in the path of resurrection. He was going on to resurrection. There was everything about Christ to make Him the Head and Centre of God's universe.

In verse 24 "the end" is not the finality but the great end of all the ways of God. It is what He does Himself in verse 28. It is part of His perfection, it is His glory to be in that place of subjection. God will be all; He is the only Object of His creatures, but that is only brought about by His being in all. Certain things have a place in the universe that are not at all according to God's nature -- principalities, powers, etc.

And these have all to be put down and removed so that everything in the universe should be according to God. What marks the new creation is love, and what preserves it is holiness: the divine energy of love carrying everything according to God and holiness preserving from everything evil. Sin has come into the universe of God and through eternity there will be the witness of evil. Love is the active power of holiness now. Holiness supposes the knowledge of good and evil. In an innocent world there was no such thing as holiness. You could not have holiness where there was no idea or conception of evil.

Death is the last enemy to be annulled in the historical order of things. Satan will be dealt with before the last resurrection; in the ways of God those who have been the cause of all the mishap will be dealt with first. The issue is that "God may be all in all". And every enemy has to be cleared away that God may have what His heart is set upon.

SUMMARY OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:29 - 45

In those days if a man was baptised he was a target for the enemy. The apostle had had anything but an easy time of it; he had fought with beasts at Ephesus. He shows them that it was folly to become a Christian if there was no resurrection. I think certain unbelievers had come in amongst them and they had corrupted the saints (verse 33).

The notion that people have of resurrection is that they will be raised up to live pretty much as they do now, whereas resurrection introduces an entirely new order, and that is what gives it a practical bearing at the present time.

Every believer now is a child of resurrection, begotten again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; it is the very starting-point. Everything depends upon where Christ is; Christ after the flesh exists no more, He has died.

The Christ that we know is a risen Christ, and every blessing is in Him and through Him. The wonderful thing is that the Christian is walking about indwelt with the Spirit of a risen Man. The whole work of God in the soul is to direct us to Christ risen. The practical end is that the saints may represent Christ here because they are connected with a new Head. God has two great ways: there is the privilege line and there is the experimental line. We have to learn death and the breaking up of things here, and then there is what He manifests of Christ to us. I do not think we should value the privilege line if we did not have the experimental line, but it is the mind of God that we should learn on the privilege line. The apostle could say, "Daily I die". I find I am very much in danger of living here rather than dying here. Christ as Priest comes to our side that He may take us to His side. It is very important to see that Christ has His assembly here. The assembly is the place of attraction for us. The assembly is altogether on resurrection and heavenly

ground. From verse 35 onward is the bringing out of the new order.

The figure of sowing (verse 37) shows that it is not the body that shall be, but a bare grain; there is a connection between what goes down and what comes up. The point is that what is put down is not what comes up. What is sown in dishonour and weakness goes down, but what comes up is in glory and power. The present condition is not suitable to the resurrection scene. There is a positive connection between what goes down and what comes up -- as to the dead there is nothing there but corruption; you laid down that body of corruption, and corruption cannot inherit incorruptibility. If we begin to reason and question we shall be sure to err; we must not go outside the statements of Scripture. A man of another order was before the mind of God before sin came in. The saints shall be raised according to the order of the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. There are different orders in creation, one the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars (verse 41). The apostle was seeking to lead the saints to another order. The great thing is to keep clear that we are heavenly ones, we are of the order of the heavenly ones. The saint as being a heavenly one has a mortal body here, and Christ has to be expressed in that mortal body; that is a wonderful distinction! It is more wonderful in a certain way that Christ should come out in a mortal body than that He should come out in a glorified body. God's original thought was to have a heavenly man, and He has in Christ. Everything must correspond, and a mortal body does not correspond with a heavenly man.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:29 - 50

C.A.C. I suppose most of the wrong thoughts which Christians have entertained are the result of contact with unspiritual persons. These doubts as to the resurrection no doubt came into circulation through the tares which the devil had sown in the field. So that the apostle has to warn the saints that "evil communications corrupt good manners" (verse 33). I suppose it is more than ever necessary we should keep ourselves very strictly from contact with what is evil, and persons who are infected with evil. And generally what Satan is working at is something that lies at the very foundation of all revealed truth. Satan does not trouble about details. It will be seen that every wrong thought strikes at the very root of all that God has made known.

Ques. Speaking of foundation truths, would verse 29 be an example of the danger of our not abiding by our baptism?

C.A.C. It was very foolish for people to step into the christian ranks, if those who had died had nothing. A number of persons had been standing in the christian profession, in the faith of resurrection, and a good many of them had died, had fallen asleep, but others were ready to come forward and stand in their places. Well, it was a mad thing if there was no resurrection.

Rem. Baptism here has the force of committal, has it not? I believe men are baptised into the Turkish army in that way.

C.A.C. He is showing the extreme folly of the thought. If there was no resurrection, all that went on among Christians was folly; and there was nothing better than to eat and drink and be merry, if tomorrow we die; that is, have a good time of it now.

Rem. In Timothy, Paul speaks of some who said the

resurrection was past already, and overthrew the faith of some.

C.A.C. You would have thought it was not possible to say such a thing. And I have met with people who say they have their resurrection bodies now. I said to one who spoke to me like that, 'Well, it is a very shabby turn-out'!

Ques. Is it an incentive to take up baptism; you would not take it up otherwise?

C.A.C. Of course not! Being baptised in those days meant you might be thrown to the beasts tomorrow at Ephesus. Well, what folly.

Ques. What does it mean, "I have fought with beasts in Ephesus"?

C.A.C. Paul was constantly facing danger; every day he did not know whether he would be killed. It was the character of his life. No one would enter on a path like that except in the faith of resurrection, it would be folly. And of course we are not unaware that many people are puzzled about resurrection, and asking just what we get here, "How are the dead raised? and with what body do they come?" Well, Paul had a very short answer, we might say.

Ques. What connection is there between verse 34, "Awake up righteously", and what goes before? Does it suggest that there were those who believed, but who had not come to the knowledge of the power of God?

C.A.C. Yes, they were not awake morally. That is why he says, "Awake up righteously" -- they had not a right thought of anything.

Rem. I wondered if it was brought in as a sort of correction. The knowledge of God, and of His power and nature, would do away with these doubts.

C.A.C. Yes. It is a question of what God has before Him for His saints. You cannot see in a seed sown any evidence of what will spring up. It is sown a bare grain, and God gives it a body as it pleases Him -- that is the great thought.

Ques. So that connects definitely with verse 34 in that way?

C.A.C. Yes, quite so.

Rem. It is a divine necessity that there should be this new body.

Rem. The apostle presses the importance of death here: "Fool; what thou sowest is not quickened unless it die" (verse 36), and "Daily I die" (verse 31).

C.A.C. He is showing that the thought of quickening is, 'out of death'; that is the thought of quickening in the New Testament. If the saints are quickened out of death, it is to have a body as it pleases God; that is, the same kind of body as the heavenly One. He speaks of many different kinds of glory, God having distributed glory; but what is in view is something that transcends all other glories.

Rem. I suppose it is really the idea of order; to bring before our minds that we should be like that One -- after His order.

C.A.C. It is most important to see that. In the wisdom of God there is great variety in His ways, different kinds of flesh and different kinds of heavenly glory, even in nature. God has assigned different kinds of glory even naturally.

Well, He is going to surpass all that in His dealings with the saints; and resurrection is in view of the purpose of God.

Rem. The body will be raised on account of the Spirit that dwells in it.

C.A.C. It says, "Shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of his Spirit which dwells in you" (Romans 8:11).

Rem. They will have a distinct place as of the assembly.

C.A.C. And of the heavenly saints. What he is after in all this teaching is to develop spirituality in the saints.

There was a great lack of it at Corinth.

Ques. You mean, to understand their heavenly calling and place?

C.A.C. That is the thing, to see that truth, and what

God has in purpose. What is the object of resurrection, if God has not some wonderful thought in His mind for His saints? What does it mean? The saints are quickened in view of all that is in the purpose of God for them.

Rem. The saints are going to have bodies suitable to their environment, not for the earth.

C.A.C. No, God is working now in relation to what is heavenly, and however much we want to be earthly, we cannot be earthly, because God has fixed it, that we are going to be heavenly.

I think there is a present quickening referred to. Saints are not quickened in their bodies, but in their affections, because the glad tidings have brought to light another Adam. Until we see that, we get nowhere. The first Adam brought in sin and death, and God has brought in another Head, One never to be succeeded -- the last Adam, and He is a quickening Spirit.

Man became a living soul in a wonderful way -- by the inbreathing of God; that is, man made out of dust; and we have all been connected with that head naturally. It did not qualify man for heaven, so if Adam had never sinned and never died, he would never have gone to heaven.

Israel in the millennium will be in flesh and blood on the earth. Morally they will be raised up out of their national death to live on the earth. They will have the knowledge of Christ risen, but they will not be risen.

Those who suffer and die for righteousness' sake, and anticipatively for Christ's sake, have their part on the heavenly side. Every saint that will be raised, will be raised in the condition of heavenly purpose. It is patterned, of course, by the Lord. He was raised; He was on the earth for forty days to give unquestionable proof. But the very first day He came out of the grave He said, "I ascend" (John 20:17). And the place of association with Him as ascended is open to all saints, if we love Him. It is affection that joins Him in that sphere.

Those in the millennium see them in the heavenly side of the kingdom; flesh and blood cannot inherit God's kingdom. It is the heavenly side of the kingdom, entered into by the saints as raised from the dead. Old Testament saints will, no doubt, be raised at the same time as the saints of the assembly. When they are raised from the dead they will be in Christ.

Rem. There were the saints who rose after the resurrection of Christ "and appeared unto many" (Matthew 27:52,53).

C.A.C. It is a very remarkable testimony that persons came out of their graves after the resurrection. Well, I do not think they went back to their graves. Lazarus was brought back to his natural life here, and the last thing said of him was that they were talking of killing him. That was more resuscitation, but it was a wonderful demonstration of the power of the Son of God, that He could bring a man out of death.

In verse 54 he has in mind the heavenly -- the kingdom of God on its heavenly side, which requires a new condition; flesh and blood cannot come into it. It all stands connected with the "last Adam", and the "second man" (verse 47). He is showing that resurrection is an established matter, involving a change of condition. So you cannot tell at all from what is sown what will be raised.

Rem. A new Head is introduced to bring all this to pass.

C.A.C. The disciples on the resurrection day were made to live by His inbreathing. They had never had that before. They had been with Him, but on the natural line; their thoughts had been natural thoughts, but after that they lived in virtue of His own Spirit, "Because I live ye also shall live" (John 14:19).

Ques. Why are the saints viewed as being sown? In the Lord's death it was the fruit that is stressed. There is a difference.

C.A.C. It speaks of all that is actually coming to fruition in the purpose of God. It has done so in Christ. In the last Adam there is the finality of every divine thought. We do well to consider Him. And He was the heavenly One, and we have been brought to know Him thus by divine grace. And the marvellous thing is, "Such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones" (verse 48), which is a marvellous thought for us to take in.

We are all going to bear the image of the heavenly One; there is not to be a shade of difference of bodily condition between Christ and His saints. Those who have borne the image of the one out of dust are going to bear the image of the heavenly One. We do not understand our calling until we understand that. The apostle Paul and the one just converted stand on exactly the same platform as to that. It is not a question of capacity here, but condition.

Ques. All in a certain order are alike; is not that the point here?

C.A.C. The point here is, that we are all alike, we are all to bear the image of the heavenly One. It is the point he is stressing, and it is important to stand to that.

We stand in the value of the heavenly One, and we are as heavenly as He is, and that not because of ourselves, nor because of the work of God in us even. It is on account of the purpose and calling that has marked us out before the foundation of the world, that we are all going to be conformed to the image of His Son. It is most important to see that clearly. This is all connected with purpose; it has nothing to do with responsibility.

Rem. It is all for God's pleasure; He is going to do it for His pleasure.

C.A.C. Yes. What sort of eternal condition does it please God to give those quickened by the last Adam? They are all made to live in the power of life in Him; there is no thought of responsibility in that, it is a sovereign act. The saints are going to be in the heavenly side of the kingdom

in the power of that. How beautiful to think that every person in that display will be like Christ. Does not that surpass any thought that might bring in a difference on the line of responsibility? In God's eternal purpose He is going to have sons according to His thought. You cannot bring in degrees of capacity, or kingdom reward, into that. They fade into insignificance in the presence of something so vastly great.

J.N.D. suggested that the object of our being like Christ was that there would be nothing whatever to distract from Himself. All those quickened by Him live in His life; there is not a shade of difference between His life and theirs. He is the second Man out of heaven; all that is suitable to heaven has been shown out morally by Him, "the Son of man who is in heaven" (John 3:13). When we speak of Him as the heavenly One, that does not apply to Him on earth. He is in heaven in a body of glory, and that condition God has purposed for "many sons" (Hebrews 2:10). We shall be in that condition.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:46 - 50

Ques. The first man and the second man (verse 47); is it the persons or is it order?

C.A.C. I thought it was the persons, two individuals but the two heads; that is, the first man is the head of an order, and the second Man is the Head of an order. I think it is a mistake to speak of the first man as meaning man after the flesh. It is a common expression and people do not mean the first man; the first man was Adam. It would be more correct to say our old man; that is, if you can. It means that our man is somewhere in the rear. It pleased God that there should be a natural order and it pleased God that there should be a spiritual order. The natural man is one who is in relation to the whole system of created things. It was right that man should be in relation to created things, then if God brings in a spiritual race, the life of the spirit is all in relation with God. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6); it is, I suppose, of that kind in distinction from what is natural. It is very blessed to see this intention of God to connect man with heaven. The first man was out of the earth and could not be connected with what was of heaven; it was outside the order of his being altogether. God intended to have a Man suited to heaven as the first man was suited to the earth. I suppose Adam was the finest man that ever lived and perfectly suited to the earth. The heavenly is the idea of a man suited to God's own place. In the wisdom of the Spirit the truth of the new order is brought out for its moral bearing and not as a mere historical fact, so that we might understand the new order. The idea of Christ coming in to save a ruined creature is pretty generally accepted, but the truth is He gives His own life and character to everything so that everything should be after His order.

Ques. What is the difference between "heavenly" and "new creation"?

C.A.C. I think it is new creation because new creation is all after the order of Christ. I thought it was as having reached the heavenly state in resurrection that He takes the place of second Man. A great deal of what Christ wrought when here was in connection with the old order though seen much in view of resurrection, but after His resurrection everything was different. We never shall be like what He was, but we shall be like what He is. I was thinking in reference to Christ after the flesh, when He was here the predominant thought was the presentation of God to man; whereas when you come to resurrection the predominant thought is man in a new place with God. The great thing in connection with the incarnation is that God was manifest in flesh, and God was declared; but when you come to resurrection it is man in a new place with God. "I ascend ... to my God and your God" (John 20:17). In the gospels you get perfect illustrations of the gospel. We go back to the gospels and see it in the light of the cross and the glory, and we see a good deal in it that did not occur to people at the time. John 13:3 tells us He came out from God and went to God. He came out from God bringing the light of God to men, and then He goes to God that man might be entirely in a new place and order. It is a great thing to see what is before the face of God: there is a Man as perfectly suited to God as Adam was suited to earth. Christ is there before God representatively.

Ques. What do you mean by representatively?

C.A.C. Many have the idea of a Mediator as One being between a poor sinner and an angry God. The Mediator is between God and men but He has brought all the good of God to me, He has come to tell me that God is favourable to me. God is favourable to me and He has shown that in Christ; Christ came out to be the expression of the heart of God. And this chapter brings us to it that we

are to have the image of that heavenly One.

Rem. In Romans 8:34 it says He intercedes for us.

C.A.C. There He is Priest for me. God has been pleased that tribulation, distress, etc. should be taken up by a Man who knows what all that means and how to intercede for His own. As Man He intercedes, knowing what these things are as having felt the pressure of it all. All the cares and pressure do not take us out of the sense of His love. I think that the result of the intercession of Christ is that we are kept in the happy sense of the love of God. There is creature weakness in the presence of the enemy's power. He is rather showing how divine Persons are All for us: God is for us, Christ is for us, and the Spirit is for us.

HOW THE LORD WILL COME

1 Corinthians 15:51 - 54; 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 18

These scriptures should be studied prayerfully. They are so clear and explicit as to require no expounding.

Some of the believers at Thessalonica had died. The others were sorrowing because they were afraid that those who had died would miss the Lord's coming. Paul writes to comfort them by assuring them that the believers who had died would have part in it as much as those who were alive when He came. The spirits of all departed believers are with Christ, though their bodies are still here in the grave. When the Lord comes, the very first thing that will take place will be the raising of "the dead in Christ". That which was sown in weakness, dishonour and corruption will be raised in power and glory, and invested with the splendour of immortality. As it is said in 1 Corinthians 15:42 - 44, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptibility. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body". Then we who are alive, upon whom death has not laid its hand, we who have not descended to the grave, shall be changed and "caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord".

That assembling shout may be heard today. Oh! what a soul-transporting thought it is, that in the twinkling of an eye we may be caught up into glory with the One who loves us and who gave Himself for us! The last message that has come down from the glorified Saviour is a thrice-repeated declaration, "Behold, I come quickly", "Behold, I come quickly", "Yea, I come quickly" (Revelation 22:7, 12, 20). Are we ready to look up now, and say with the beloved John, "Amen; come, Lord Jesus"?

We may now look at the twofold character of the Lord's

coming. Scripture plainly indicates that there are two events -- two acts, as it were -- in the Lord's coming, and if we confound these two events we shall come to wrong conclusions. We gather from Scripture that Christ will come firstly, for His saints, and secondly, with His saints. We have seen that the Lord Jesus is coming again to receive His own to Himself, that where He is they may be also. This is the true scriptural hope of the church. But the second event has a very prominent place in the Holy Scriptures, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in great power and glory to judge and reign over the earth. It is this event which is the grand theme of prophecy throughout Scripture. The great mistake which the Jews made, and in which, as a nation, they are still involved, was that they were so occupied with the scriptures which spoke of Christ coming in glory and power that they overlooked those which spoke of His humiliation and suffering. They lost sight of the fact that Christ was coming in humiliation to suffer, just as Christians now are in danger of losing sight of the fact that He is coming in glory to reign.

Yet all the prophets testify that the Lord is coming to judge the nations, and to rule the earth in righteousness. They speak largely of a time of future blessing for Israel and the whole world: a time when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; a time when swords shall be forged into ploughshares, and the nations shall not learn war any more. How are all these things to come about?

At this point we must be warned against a common mistake. Many Christians fail to see the difference between Israel and the church, and they apply to the church Old Testament promises and prophecies which belong exclusively to Israel. The Old Testament is the record of God's past and future dealings with people on earth, and of those dealings Israel is the centre. In the Old Testament there is not a line about the church of God. The church is

composed of Jews and Gentiles, formed into one body, and united to Christ in glory by the Holy Spirit. It is thus a complete contrast to everything we read of before.

All the prophecies concerning Israel's future glory will yet be fulfilled. On account of idolatry and unbelief, and finally because of the rejection of Christ, Israel has been set aside for the present. But the day is coming when Israel will be brought from exile, and from wandering, to that promised land where the glory of God shall be her light, and the presence of the Lord her everlasting joy. See Isaiah 11:11 - 16; Jeremiah 16:14, 15; Ezekiel 20:40 - 44; Isaiah 60; etc. The prophetic period of future happiness and peace on earth, commonly spoken of as the millennium, is always connected with the restoration of Judah and Israel to their own land.

This present period of grace in which we live is a gap in God's dealings with Israel. He has laid them aside "until the fulness of the nations be come in" (Romans 11:25). God is not now dealing with Israel as a nation: He is gathering out a bride for Christ -- the church -- from among both Jews and Gentiles. But when the church is complete and caught up to meet the Lord, God will resume His dealings with Israel. A number of Jews will be convicted of their sins, and will repent deeply of their individual and national wickedness. They will be brought to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, and they will look out for Him to come as their Deliverer and King. They will have to pass through the great tribulation spoken of in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, and will look out for the signs which are there spoken of as preceding the coming of Christ in power and glory.

Many students of prophecy have not distinguished the two parts of the Lord's coming, and have supposed that these things are to happen before He comes for the church. It is an utter mistake for Christians to look for signs. Before this time of signs, wonders, earthquakes and tribulation

begins, the church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and will be happy in His presence during the time of all these terrible disasters and calamities on earth. His own word to the church is, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, 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". (Revelation 3:10).

The period of great tribulation is described in Revelation 6 - 18. To read those chapters is enough to make the heart quake: what will it be to go through the terrible realities which are there so vividly described? But where is the church during that fearful time?

She is seen on earth up to the end of Revelation 3, but in chapters 4 and 5 she appears in heaven under the figure of twenty-four crowned elders round about the throne. God has taken pains to let us see that the church will be complete and in glory before a seal is opened, a trumpet sounded, or a bowl poured out.

Then after that great tribulation shall all the tribes of the earth see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:29, 30). Then shall the Lord Jesus Christ be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, "in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who know not God, and those who do not obey the glad tidings of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 1:8). This is the event proclaimed in Revelation 1:7, "Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they which have pierced him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of him".

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51 - 58

Ques. What is the difference between this and the special communication made to the Thessalonians?

C.A.C. The point here was, what we have noticed before, a new order. To the Thessalonians that was not touched upon, it was a question of dead persons there. If man was to be recovered from death, resurrection must come in. This is the bringing out of the new and heavenly order and that could not be brought out until there was a heavenly One. Until Christ had taken His place in resurrection there was not a heavenly one. Martha's thought was a pretty general one, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection in the last day" (John 11:24). In Old Testament times there was very little light as to what is outside life on earth. All this chapter turns on Christ being risen and being now a heavenly Man, He is the heavenly One. This chapter is not to establish the fact of resurrection, but the new order is what gives it its importance; it is what gives character to christianity. The point is, risen with Christ. If you get association, it is of His order. I think Christ as He is is so little known by any of us. Certain historical facts are believed, but have we got a present, living Christ for our hearts today? If so, what sort of a Christ is He? He is a risen Christ. To reach a risen Person one must go through death; there is no other way.

Ques. What do you mean?

C.A.C. It is just a simple fact that a risen Person does not belong to this side of things at all; He can only be reached the other side of death. We see it in figure in the children of Israel; they had to go through the Red Sea and they had to go through the Jordan.

Ques. What is going to help one to reach Christ?

C.A.C. Do you not think we need to know a little

more of the attraction of Christ? He is God's great attractive Centre. It brings a new Object before us altogether, and it engages our affections with Himself. The power of God is needed just as much in this as for a sinner in his sins. We must begin by learning Him as Lord. He administers all grace and blessing. If we truly learn that, we should soon apprehend what Christ is as Head; there is a new beginning for God's pleasure. It has been said that the fear of the Egyptians moved Israel much more than the attractions of Canaan. Then there is a great deal of self-interest in seeking God. It is really when we begin to seek the pleasure of God that we begin to see things rightly. It is a very blessed thing for us to see that He has taken us up to be bound up in "the bundle of the living" with Him for His pleasure.

Ques. When does the call of God take place?

C.A.C. I think there must be a sense of being called of God very early in the soul's history. I think normally a soul would be conscious of having the Spirit. There would be the full consciousness of being called of God when he has the Spirit. No one could taste the joy of grace without being conscious that it is all of God. There is very little apprehension of Christ as Head. It is very remarkable how God has brought it out in recent years.

Ques. What is the difference between this scripture and 1 Thessalonians 4?

C.A.C. Thessalonians is for those just converted; it was given to comfort their hearts as to some who had died. The subject is the same here, but more in its own proper bearing. This is the complement of the other, it fills it out. There is one point in Thessalonians that goes further than here, "caught up". It is the "Lord himself" that shall descend. There is nothing here about the saints being caught up. Death is swallowed up in victory. He does speak of being at home with the Lord. That gives the nearest to what people think of going to heaven. There is nothing here

that would lead us to suppose that we are taken off the earth.

There is a remarkable expression used here, "the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin the law" (verse 56). It is remarkable coming in in a place where you would not expect to find it. It is not the same as the law of sin and death in Romans 8:2. It is Moses' law here, I suppose.

Ques. Does he mean the law of sin in its condemning power?

C.A.C. Romans 7 speaks of law. "I was alive without the law", etc. That brings in the sense of condemnation of the law. This is experimental, the bitter sting of death, and the strength of sin is the law. The victory is over everything connected with sin and death. It is very interesting to see how he begins the chapter (1 Corinthians 15) with the gospel, and he comes back to the gospel again at the end. Many true Christians are afraid to look death in the face. This chapter shows how the Christian can look death in the face; it is not so much to give us light as to the future. It is of importance as placing the Christian in his true position of triumph and victory. It is very encouraging to see what is in Scripture because it is there for us; no one need be discouraged by thinking there is so much there that he knows nothing about; if I am not in it, it is all there for me. It is like a man coming into an estate, and after some years he finds it is a great deal larger than he knew of; but he would not be despondent about that; he would perhaps be humbled to think that he had not travelled over his estate a little more quickly.

Ques. Why does it say victory by our Lord Jesus Christ, not, as Romans puts it, deliverance "through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:25)?

C.A.C. I think as to victory over sin practically one has really to find that He alone is the source of power. It is so important to see that we have a resource. Our responsibility is to use our privileges. It seems to me it is

like this: there is virtue in Christ and it has to come out of Him to us, like the woman who came to Jesus and touched the hem of His garment and virtue went out of Him to her; it is like that. There must be virtue come out of Him, and it is the virtue that comes out of Him that helps. I think it is a wonderful moment for a soul engaged in conflict when he comes to it that Christ can never fail. You are like a cork on a big billow. You are amid a tempest of evil and He has stood by you. Not only have you escaped the evil but you have positive gain, because you would not have known Christ in that way if you had been without it. I think there is many a soul that is walking in victory without much doctrinal knowledge.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:48 - 58

C.A.C. We have to do with the last Adam.

Ques. What is the meaning of the last Adam?

C.A.C. I thought it was God's Head. The first man was head of creation in a way, but he was not really capable of being the head, and as soon as he was tested he failed, and God went back to His original thought. The last Adam is never superseded. Just as the inbreathing of God gave man natural life so the inbreathing of Christ -- of His Spirit -- into the disciples gave them spiritual life in connection with the new creation. A wonderful new order of things has begun for God, and the great thing is to live in that order of things; and how are we going to live in those things unless we have the Spirit of Christ? We are to know Him as the life-giving Spirit, as the Head. My own impression is that the Son of God as presented in the gospel of John is the last Adam. As I apprehend Him as the Head I get the blessing which attaches to Him in that character. It is a great thing that the Son of God has called us to Himself that He might quicken us. Quickening in the scriptural sense means made to live, and to live in a new sphere of things -- to live spiritually in new things, in a new order of life altogether, in association with Him as the risen One. All these things, as to getting the good of them, are matters for exercise and prayer. The mischief is that people have taken it for granted that because they are believers they have everything. It is a great thing to know the Lord as the life-giving Spirit. Every blessing lies in the apprehension of Christ; it is not something I have in myself. Every blessing in christianity is that I have some fresh apprehension of Christ. We have a great deal in our minds that we have not in our souls. It is so very attractive when you know that the Father has given you to Christ. Getting to know Him better -- that is growth.

I think life is connected with the presence of the Spirit. If a man has the Spirit, in one sense he has everything. Exodus 15 is an illustration of this.

They were in the joy of redemption and singing the song, "My strength and song is Jah, and he is become my salvation: This is my God, and I will glorify him". They speak of a habitation, and if you look at the Darby Translation you will see that all is in the past tense: "Thou by thy mercy hast led forth the people that thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them by thy strength unto the abode of thy holiness. The peoples heard it, they were afraid: A thrill seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the princes of Edom were amazed; The mighty men of Moab, trembling hath seized them; All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. Fear and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of thine arm they are still as a stone; Till thy people pass over, Jehovah, till the people pass over that thou hast purchased" (verses 13 - 16). In that sense they were in the land. For a brief moment they tasted it, but they had not taken possession. They were in spirit in the land, enemies all gone and singing the song. That is like a soul in the joy of redemption. In the Spirit he is in the land, but then he has a long journey to take and there are many exercises on the way. There is not only life in a new sphere of things but there is life in power.

Ques. In what sense?

C.A.C. The body is to be presented a living sacrifice. Christ is to come out in the body of a believer, and that is a very practical expression of life. The qualities of the heavenly Man are to come out in the saints. What marks the new order is that it is heavenly and spiritual. The saint waits for the fulness of it until he gets his glorified body; spiritually we belong to that order now. The true character of saints will be brought out in display. There is no outward display now; it is all known in the Spirit; but at that moment the saints will be seen truly as heavenly ones. We

now bear the image of the man made out of dust, the heavenly is spiritual.

Ques. What is that "changed" in verse 51?

C.A.C. In spirit we anticipate the rapture. In Ephesians "raised ... up together" and seated in heavenly places is all spiritual and anticipative of the rapture. We await the rapture to bring us into it actually.

Ques. What is the mystery?

C.A.C. It is what had not been made known before. The Spirit has let us into the secret now. The mysteries in Scripture can be well understood by those who have the Spirit. People in flesh and blood on the earth will be subjects in the kingdom, but the heavenly saints will reign with Christ. It is men after a new order that will inherit the kingdom. There are the two sides of the kingdom, the reigning side and the subject side. The earthly saints will be the subjects in the kingdom and the heavenly saints will be reigning. You are prepared to reign in the kingdom by suffering now. There will be three nations in special blessing, Egypt, Assyria and Israel, but others will come into the light of the city. The truth of the kingdom of God has a very great place in Scripture.

Ques. Which, did you say, were the nations that will be blessed?

C.A.C. Egypt (Gentile), Assyria (Gentile), and Israel His inheritance. "In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; whom Jehovah of hosts will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance!" (Isaiah 19:24, 25). So that even in that day God acts in sovereign right, He does His own will and pleasure. The light of God shines for the church in Christ mediatorially. It shines for Israel in the church and it shines for the nations in Israel, so that it comes down step by step mediatorially. God has lighted a candle to give light to everyone in the house, and the church is the light of God

for the world today. It will come out in the city, the city is the light of the Lamb to the nations below. The light shines out from the city, "The glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk by its light" (Revelation 21:23, 24).

"We shall all be changed" (verse 51) shows what the power of God can do in a moment. It is victory now. God has apparently been sustaining defeat for many years. The victory has been won but it has not been displayed yet. What the saint can say now is, "Thanks to God, who gives us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ". That is, we are so in the light of all that marvellous work that the saint can be in the joy of it all now, but there is going to be outward victory too. Death is swallowed up by our Lord Jesus Christ. You get the thought of putting on the new order in verse 53: "put on incorruptibility ... . put on immortality". It is like 2 Corinthians 5:4, "but clothed". It seems to me it is the best robe in the full sense of it. We shall never have the best robe in its completeness until we have our glorified bodies -- until we have "put on". It is like the psalmist says, "All glorious is the king's daughter" that is within, and by and by the outside will match with the inside, "Her clothing is of wrought gold" (Psalm 45:13). He speaks of a wonderful treasure in an earthen vessel in 2 Corinthians 4, and in chapter 5 he speaks of how the heavenly treasure will be in a heavenly vessel. It is the entire setting aside of the earthly, nothing left but what is of Christ. "So then, my beloved brethren, be firm, immovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord" (verse 58). (Note it is, "So then".) Every saint is called to work and stand and walk in the light of resurrection. It is what the Lord had before Him Himself. He went through everything in view of resurrection. If you do that, people do not take any account of you, you are nothing, you go down now, but you will go up by and by; go on in the light of resurrection, having this glorious future

before you, and you do not go down then. Not one bit of labour for the Lord is going to be lost. The Lord laboured in vain and for nought; He says, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain" (Isaiah 49:4). The apostle Paul seemed to labour in vain as to present result, for all in Asia forsook him. You do not find a servant of the Lord in Scripture who laboured and was made much of in this world. Every bit of labour for the Lord is gathering up for that day. We get our eye on today instead of on tomorrow. Keep your eye on tomorrow -- the resurrection morrow. Nothing is going to be lost, you have the certainty of results then, we are on the winning side, all that is of the Lord will stand. Paul always had tomorrow in view. Labour is not in vain in the Lord. J.N.D. said, 'Christianity is marked by what it brings, not by what it finds'.

NOTES OF A READING 1 CORINTHIANS 15:58; 1 CORINTHIANS 16:1

C.A.C. These doubts and questions that had come in at Corinth had evidently an unsettling effect on their minds, and what affects the mind would naturally affect the activities.

Ques. Does verse 58 not show too that all labour is in view of resurrection? It is not by looking at present results that the servant is encouraged.

C.A.C. He may not see much now. The labour is in the Lord. Everything that is for God is really the work of the Lord. It is labour in spiritual things. Those who labour in spiritual things do so in view of resurrection; it is in that sphere, so that if the truth of resurrection is enfeebled the work of the Lord is enfeebled also. The Lord supports what is of Himself, He sees to it that what is of Himself will not fall to the ground. The "work of the Lord" is a great work, it is not a superficial thing. And what the Lord does there is no mistake about. When the Lord takes a soul in hand He makes a good job of it. You see an example of that in this epistle. The apostle was faithful to the Corinthians, and the Lord supported it. He brought the Lord in and then he was steadfast and unmovable. He says about Timothy, "He works the work of the Lord, even as I". The epistles to Timothy show what is to characterise the servant of the Lord and his work. It is nice to recognise the Timothys as well as the Pauls. The note to chapter 16: 15 (J.N.D.) reads 'appointed themselves'. It is good to see that there is room for volunteers. The gifts are in a way pressed men. I suppose "what was lacking on your part" (verse 17) was probably temporal things. It is no small service to care for the saints in a temporal way, caring for the poor. There might be a good deal of need where there was not actual poverty; that is where we are tested in a practical way, and I

am sure practical care one for another and practical help as we have opportunity is an important thing as to the saints. And that comes out in the collection for the saints. He is pressing a good deal the practical side here. J.N.D. thought that consideration and care for the poor and the needs of the saints were very much more important than we had any idea of; it shows what the care of the house of God is. The natural selfishness of the heart has to be corrected; naturally we are selfish and like to keep what we have to ourselves. I think the apostle was greatly exercised as to the collection. He writes two chapters about it in the next epistle. It was the moral side, the seal of his ministry; the grace in the Gentile ministering to the poor Jews and the grace in the Jews taking it from them. So that the Jew was actually thanking God for the Gentiles. It accomplished more a great deal than the conference at Jerusalem. That was only the Gentile let in on sufferance. This practical ministry did far more than the discourse of Acts 15. There is the practical binding of saints together; we all admit the doctrine, but there is to be the practical working out. The great thing is to open the heart and let grace shine in, and then it will produce its fruits. All the practical side of christianity flows from that. The word of God is like the seed and it grows up and brings forth fruit. The apostle speaks of the word effectually working in those that believe.

Where the Lord is working the activity of the enemy is sure to be found (chapter 16: 9). I think that whatever the Lord is doing, there is always some kind of adversary to defeat that particular thing. There is something very fine in the way the apostle speaks of his coming to them and about Apollos coming to them. He does not allow any coldness of affection to come in on his part. It shows how his whole spirit was in the fulness of grace. When things are not as we like we turn away and feel annoyed, but not so with the apostle. It only shows how entirely superior to what was

natural the servant could be. Though they had been speaking evil of his ministry, he was thinking only of their spiritual good. He was pained for their sakes; he was a true parent, he was laying up for the children. He was gracious enough to wish Apollos to go to them and he was gracious enough not to go himself. Apollos, like the apostle, was waiting his opportunity. Every servant has to wait sometimes until his course is clear.

CONCERNING THE COLLECTION

1 Corinthians 16:1 - 9; 2 Corinthians 8:1 - 24; 2 Corinthians 9:1 - 15

A question having been raised as to the propriety of the custom of having a collection when the Lord's supper is eaten, it is well that we should see how Scripture presents the subject of the saints' giving.

From the earliest day of the assembly, the breaking of bread and prayers were accompanied by a distribution "according as any one might have need" (Acts 2:45). The unity of heart and soul which marked the multitude of believers was evidenced by the great grace in which they were ready to give. There was a divine administration of spiritual wealth through the apostles, and a corresponding answer in what the saints freely laid at their feet (Acts 4:32 - 37).

The Holy Spirit has called our attention to this as a primary feature of the assembly -- one might say, a constitutional feature of it. There is no intimation that it was enjoined by apostolic authority. It was entirely spontaneous: the practical evidence that the new commandment governed the assembly. They loved one another as the Son of God had loved them (John 13:34, 35), and were thus known to be disciples of His. The thing true in Him had become true in them (1 John 2:8). How precious this must have been to Him who had given Himself in order to secure a company who should love one another as He had loved them!

Love to one another was in no sense a rival to affection for Him. It was rather the witness of true love for Him that they kept His commandment to love one another (John 14:15, 21). It was far from a Judas-thought for the poor, which was only, as the Spirit of God has been careful to tell us, a cloak for selfishness and greed, and for utter indifference to Christ. The covenant had secured, as typically of old, the

affections of the people of God so that they offered from willing hearts. All flowed, not from legal enactment, but from lively affections. It was in keeping with the character of things -- so delightful to God -- which marked Exodus 35:20 - 35; Exodus 36:1 - 7 and 1 Chronicles 29:6 - 17.

When they were in the land, the inheritance bestowed in the love of God upon His chosen and called people yielded wealth for tithes, for offerings, for gifts to those "treasuries" which had so definite a place in the house of Jehovah (1 Chronicles 28:11, 12). It was the divine giving echoed back by a willing-hearted people. The Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, the widow were all to be thought of and cared for, as we see repeatedly in Deuteronomy. It was the evidence that Jehovah Himself had the place which He loved in the affections of His people, and that His own blessed character was reproduced in them.

Assembly giving cannot be separated from its blessed Source in the giving of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. There could not be any disparity, or incongruity in character, between the love that gives in divine Persons and the love which that love begets in the children of God, and which prompts their giving.

The spirit of all this was realised in the assembly at Jerusalem, and it is to be sorrowfully noted that the first manifestation of the working of evil in the assembly was the attempt to have credit for devotedness of this kind when the reality of it was not in the heart. And the first difficulty which arose in the assembly was in connection with the ministration of that bounty which the love of the disciples made available -- a ministration which needed men "full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:3).

Then when James and Cephas and John gave Paul and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship in their going to the nations, they desired that a similar grace should be found amongst gentile believers; "only that we should remember the poor, which same thing also I was diligent to do" (Galatians 2:10).

And Paul's parting word to the elders of Ephesus was a touching reminder that the Lord Jesus "himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

In writing to the saints in Rome, Paul speaks of the contribution of Macedonia and Achaia for the poor in Jerusalem as a matter of righteousness: "They are their debtors" (Romans 15:27). And to the Corinthians he claims as a "right" that those that announce the glad tidings should "live of the glad tidings" (1 Corinthians 9:14), though he is careful to say that personally he had not used that right. Both in Romans and in I Corinthians the righteous claim is insisted on, and in 1 Corinthians definite direction is given as to it being rendered.

It is noticeable that it is not said precisely when the contributions of the saints should be put together. This is left to be determined by the spiritual intelligence of the saints. In keeping with this the choice of deacons (Acts 6) and of those who should carry the bounty of the saints (1 Corinthians 16:3; 2 Corinthians 8:19, 23) was left to those whose bounty was to be administered. The Lord would leave it in the hands of those whose love was expressed in it; they could be trusted to act suitably as to detail without precise commandments.

But Paul does speak definitely of each putting by at home, "laying up in whatever degree he may have prospered", and this "on the first of the week". He links the exercise as to giving with "the first of the week", and thus with all that that day would speak of to a spiritual mind. There is no hint as to what proportion of one's income should be put by. In Numbers 18 there is a tithe from all Israel for the children of Levi, but in Deuteronomy 12 and 14 there is a second tithe to be eaten before Jehovah in the place which He would choose, and there is even a third tithe mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:28, 29. This would indicate that with increased prosperity in the land there would be an enlarged outlet for the affections of the people

towards Jehovah and towards each other. He would not limit their giving to one tithe or even to two. There is no prescribing in 1 Corinthians 16 whether one, two, or three tithes are to be given; it is simply said, "in whatever degree he may have prospered". The proportion is left to be assessed by personal devotedness. And we can surely see that this is according to the love and liberty of the dispensation.

It is well that we should regard this exercise as to putting by at home on the first of the week. It would provide a ready and dedicated fund which could be drawn from, whether for contributing to the collection of assembly character, or for needs that might present themselves to us individually.

But it is not until 2 Corinthians that the subject is put on its true spiritual basis; then the apostle's heart was set free to write to a self-judged company who had cleared themselves of evil. He would not only speak to such a company of the ministry of the new covenant and of reconciliation, but he would make known "the grace of God bestowed in the assemblies of Macedonia" (2 Corinthians 8:1). He would speak of this as not unworthy to be dwelt upon in great detail alongside with the glorious subjects of his spiritual ministry. It was, indeed, the fruit in the saints of that ministry, and was in correspondence with it -- the grace and actings of divine Persons characterising assemblies of saints who had been "transformed according to the same image" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The circumstances in which the grace of God had manifested itself gave peculiar lustre and glory to it. "That in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty has abounded to the riches of their freehearted liberality". It was out of "deep poverty" that this contribution was made, but poverty and great trial of affliction accompanied by abundance of joy. The spiritual springs from which the liberality flowed are emphasised by

this touching reference. The inward and spiritual went far beyond what was material. "Beyond their power, they were willing of their own accord, begging of us with much entreaty to give effect to the grace and fellowship of the service".

It was not that Paul had entreated them to give, but they had entreated that they might be permitted "the grace and fellowship of the service". They were not abundant in carnal things; on that side it was "deep poverty"; but they were abundant in joy and in the riches of free-hearted liberality, and in the grace and fellowship of service to the saints. Indeed, they had given themselves first to the Lord and to Paul and those with him by God's will. There had been complete self-dedication, and "this grace also" of giving abounded as a result; it proved the genuineness of love; it was the evidence of the presence of elements of a profoundly spiritual character.

It is noticeable how the apostle puts the whole subject in these chapters on a most elevated plane. The action of divine Persons is presented as the model, and nothing can be more spiritual than that. Think of the moving strength of such an appeal as this! "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he, being rich, became poor, in order that ye by his poverty might be enriched".

And then he concludes his appeal by saying, "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable free gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15). The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, God's unspeakable free giving, and the grace of God bestowed in the assemblies are linked together in a very blessed way, as having the same precious character, and in perfect harmony one with another.

The spirit of giving in the saints is the evidence of their having been "transformed according to the same image".

How delightful is this to the blessed God, and to His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! The primary and cherished thought of God has been realised: men are in God's image, after His likeness. It comes out, truly, in things that are "according to

their power" -- even "carnal things", as Paul would say in another place -- but what comes out is a condition of mind and affection which is patterned after divine Persons.

It may be that the Lord intends to give us a much more exalted and spiritual conception of the whole subject of giving, and to show us that it is characteristic of God's assembly -- part of the very constitution of that assembly -- because it is characteristic of the blessed God Himself, and is therefore a peculiar delight to Him as manifested in His saints. It is not the amount of what we give that has value -- that would be a carnal estimate of it -- but the "spirit of blessing" in which it is given, rendering it delightful to God as being according to what He is Himself. The widow's two mites probably represented a greater devotion of heart than the munificent gifts of Solomon at the dedication of the temple. It is not the amount of our contributions that give them value, but the state of heart of which they speak to the Lord.

Then we may note how spiritual are the elements which appear in those who have to do with this matter. God is thanked for giving diligent zeal as to it in the heart of Titus. A "brother whose praise is in the glad tidings through all the assemblies" is "chosen by the assemblies as our fellow-traveller with this grace, ministered by us to the glory of the Lord himself".

It is striking that one peculiarly esteemed in connection with his setting forth of the glad tidings should be chosen by the assemblies for this service. It seems to suggest that the one who could well set forth the grace of God to men was best fitted to carry the expression of His grace in men. It shows how the assemblies in that early day linked together the grace set forth in divine Persons with the grace bestowed in the assemblies. It was, indeed, the same grace, but peculiarly sweet as seen produced in men, through divine working, who had shortly before been so far from God. Hence "the glory of the Lord himself" was secured by

it; the brethren who were entrusted with the service of it were "deputed messengers of assemblies, Christ's glory". It is all put on a most elevated spiritual plane. It may be that sometimes "the collection" is looked at as a mere matter of pounds, shillings and pence, and as having to do with meeting righteous obligations of various kinds. It is true that obligations have to be met, but even these have to be met according to the dignity of an assembly which is God's assembly, and which is passing through this world in the spirit of Deuteronomy 2:28, declining to be indebted for favours to anyone here; discharging all that is due; owing no man anything. But assembly giving must not be disconnected in the mind from all that is the true spring of it, or it may become to us carnal rather than spiritual. It would then have no longer the character of the grace of God bestowed, or the expression of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; it would lose all that is rightly connected with it as a manifestation of "Christ's glory". It might then be felt that there was something incongruous between the Supper and the collection.

In this connection the quotation from Psalm 112 is very illuminating (2 Corinthians 9:9), for in that psalm we see stated of the man that fears Jehovah the same things as are said of Jehovah Himself in Psalm 111. It is God expressed in His people, and hence their "free-hearted liberality ... works through us thanksgiving to God. Because the ministration of this service is not only filling up the measure of what is lacking to the saints, but also abounding by many thanksgivings to God; they glorifying God through the proof of this ministration, by reason of your subjection, by profession, to the glad tidings of the Christ, and your free hearted liberality in communicating towards them and towards all; and in their supplication for you, full of ardent desire for you, on account of the exceeding grace of God which is upon you" (2 Corinthians 9:11 - 14).

If the collection thus carries with it the expression of

Christ's glory and God's glory it is truly correspondent with the loaf and the cup of the Lord's supper. It is the practical witness that the saints are in mind and spirit in accord with that which they are calling to mind. The Lord loves to link with what He has done the precious fruit of it in those who love Him (Matthew 26:13). It can be easily understood that Paul would hardly enlarge on it when writing to a carnal people in regard to the order due to the Lord in relation to eating His supper. But to a self-judged and repentant company who had recognised what was due to the Lord in His supper he would write at much length on what was involved spiritually in the Supper; namely, the ministry of the new covenant and reconciliation, and the expression of the grace of God and of Christ in a practical way in the saints.

What flows out of the affections of the saints as divinely taught is of the same order and character as the grace which has flowed out of the heart of Christ and out of the heart of God. I think the Lord would elevate our thoughts as to it more to the level of His own. In presenting His own love and the love of God to us He would not exclude our love; He would rather call it into lively activity. What would the Supper be to Him if the affections of His saints were excluded from it? Is it not His peculiar portion to have those affections, and to see them flowing in warmth and freshness amongst His own and to one another?

In the light of this the collection is surely very sweet to Him. Not indeed the carnal element in it, but the spiritual grace and affections of which it is the expression, and apart from which it is a mere formality, just as the Supper itself is a mere formality if not eaten in the freshness of holy affection for Him whose supper it is. The Lord has exercised us about the spiritual import of the supper, and He would not have us indifferent to the spiritual import of the collection. We may be sure He would not have spoken to us so fully through His apostle about it if it had not much

importance in His sight. I think we may say that it is an essential feature of the assemblies as divinely constituted.

In the light of this it is surely not inappropriate that the collection should have a definite place when the saints come together in assembly. The "customs" of the "assemblies of God" are not to be lightly regarded (see 1 Corinthians 11:16), for if they have their origin in spiritual sensibilities and intuitions -- as they would have normally -- they have divine value. The spiritual intelligence and affections of the saints as wisdom's children qualify them to work out in wisdom what is suitable to God in His assembly. Assembly affections, governed by the letter and spirit of many scriptures, have led to the recognition of the collection as an important feature of the assembly, and therefore not unworthy of a definite place when the saints come together in assembly. We love to dwell adoringly on the love of divine Persons, and then that there should be opportunity for the expression in a practical way of the love of the saints. Both form a spiritual basis for being led into holy and heavenly privilege on the one hand, or, on the other, instructed by the Head in view of our place here in testimony.

The collection is a practical expression of the fact that the saints love the Lord and they love His people and His interests. It is out of such affections that everything can be secured that is for the pleasure of divine love. The whole structure of the tabernacle was the outcome of the willing-hearted gifts of God's people; it all came out of their affections, developed through His working under the influence of His known grace and love. If there is a company marked by love to the Lord and love to the saints, everything that is for His pleasure can be brought about. The gift of the Spirit, the coming of the Son of God to His own, His manifestation of Himself, the Father's love, are all brought in on the ground of "If ye love me" (John 14:15). If the collection does not speak of active affections in

the saints -- affections of true assembly character -- it has no spiritual value under the eye of the Lord that would justify it being associated with His supper. But if it does, it is a delight to Him as an expression of affections which He died to secure.

God Himself is the Source of all ability to give, whether it be the actual means or -- what is much greater -- the disposition to give. All is of Him that is for Him (see 2 Corinthians 9:8 - 11).

It is well to ponder 1 Chronicles 29 in this connection. They were glorious days in Israel's history when "with perfect heart they offered willingly to Jehovah". Whenever this is the case the giving is in a spirit of worship; it brings the blessedness of God before the heart. There is hardly a loftier note in the Old Testament than the outpouring of David's heart in connection with the willing offerings for the house of God. All was traced to Jehovah exalted as Head over all -- all of His hand and all His own -- but He tried the heart and had pleasure in uprightness; He delighted in the state of heart which led to willing offering. "And I know, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart have I willingly offered all these things; and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, offer willingly to thee. Jehovah, God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and direct their hearts to thee!" Even the collection should be imbued with the spirit of this great and glorious scene, and if so it would be no unworthy part of the service of the assembly. It would be truly "an odour of sweet savour, an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God" (Philippians 4:18).

We do not eat the Lord's supper as risen with Christ -- the truth of the Supper is in 1 Corinthians, not in Colossians -- but as those who affectionately own His lordship in the place where He died. It is locally partaken of in each place

where saints come together in assembly. And it would seem to be appropriate that the collection should be taken immediately after the Supper rather than at a later period. To take it after the meeting was over would hardly sufficiently recognise its assembly character. To have it at the end of the meeting would make it a formal conclusion to assembly privilege, which cannot really be concluded, for it is spiritual and eternal in character. The collection, like the Supper itself, is part of what pertains to the order of the assembly as convened locally rather than of what appertains to the assembly viewed as in heavenly associations and privilege.

SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 1:1 - 24

C.A.C. The apostle is now free to speak of the things on God's side which he could not do in the first epistle. There he drew the contrast between milk and meat. Here I think things are taken up more on the divine side -- it is positive ministry. It is very interesting to see that all that the apostle brought out in this epistle had been the comfort of his own soul when he was heart-broken about them. The things that had been a comfort to him in exercise he could pass on to them now that they are in exercise. The first epistle is much more on the general ground of christianity, the second epistle supposes a people really attached to Christ and anointed and sealed. The same exercise had been going on in the apostle and in the Corinthians, only he had been going through it with God and they as being guilty in the matter.

The assembly at Corinth was brought to its proper moral condition by the exercise it went through. If ministry is to be of any good to us there must be state of soul; it is very much the parable of the sower; there is the divine seed and the divine work. There must be a preparatory work of the Spirit in the soul. There is nothing of the work of God apart from exercise of soul. There is exercise of conscience and heart too and that is the work of God. It is just the same as with the new birth. "The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes" (John 3:8). It is like "O God, have compassion on me, the sinner" (Luke 18:13); that is the sound.

There were some at Corinth as much exercised as the apostle; he speaks of some. 1 Corinthians is the firmament of His power, 2 Corinthians gives us the sanctuary side of things -- they are the two spheres where God is praised; one

is the outside and the other the inside. The Supper brings before us that every other man is gone and only Christ remains. Christ is the Yea. It was really the positive stability of all the counsels of God in Christ. It is a contrast to all that had gone before. God had been setting forth His Yea, and man had been answering Nay, and now Christ has come; He is the Yea -- everything that is of God and for God. When you come to the Son of God there is the perfect revelation of God in Him; then everything that is for God; it is all yea.

Ques. What is "for glory to God by us" (verse 20)?

C.A.C. I thought His glory was that He is the Minister of the new covenant -- the intelligence and praise of it is in the saints. If the saints do not give the praise of it, who will? It is an Old Testament thought, "Thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel" (Psalm 22:3).

Ques. What are the "promises" (verse 20)?

C.A.C. As the power of evil encroached on God's domain, God gave a promise to meet it. There are three great classes of promise. The first, as to sin and death; God answered that by the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Second, the confusion of Babel; God answered that in His promise to Abraham; the seed of Abraham brings in what answers all the confusion. Third, weakness, man's inability to hold the field for God; God met that by His promise to David. The seed of David brought in One who could hold all for God. David at the end of his life has to say, "Although my house be not so before God" (2 Samuel 23:5), yet his heart turns to One who could hold it all for God. God brings out what He is in face of all the power of evil. God establishes everything in Christ and then He anoints us. I think the sealing means that one carries God's mark in this world. "God, who also has sealed us" (verse 22). Everything in Christ carried the Father's seal in the presence of men; if they had known the Father at all they would have known the seal. God has a

people in this world who carry His mark; that is what sealing is. It is a wonderful thing to be in this world carrying God's mark. The anointing is what qualifies a man to fill the position in which he is set. Christ was perfectly competent as anointed to fulfil everything that He undertook. I think morally the anointing precedes the sealing. The true power of the gospel is the setting forth of the Son of God. I suppose that by the preaching of the Son of God the assembly is formed. "On this rock I will build my assembly" (Matthew 16:18). You think of the strength of the testimony in a place where saints have come to the Son of God. The preaching of the Son of God takes in both sides: the revelation of God, and what God has brought about. Whenever He is spoken of as the Christ, it is His office. As to the Son of God, it is more His Person you think of.

THE ANOINTING, THE SEALING AND THE EARNEST

2 Corinthians 1:21, 22

It is most important that we should understand the positive character of what has been preached to us as made good in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. If we were content to have things in Christ, and to let every other man drop out of sight, there would be glory to God by us. God would establish us in Christ, or, as it might read, firmly attach us to Christ, or connect us firmly with Him. And this is a collective or corporate matter, set forth in the words "us with you". This is a work of God which is common to Paul and all those who can be said to be in Christ. There is not only the preaching, and all the positive blessedness of what is preached, but a mighty work of God forming an unbreakable bond between Christ and a company of persons in this world who have become the subjects of divine favour. The whole matter is presented here as of God; there is no admixture of any other element. This is all the more striking when we think of the next sentence, "To spare you I have not yet come to Corinth". He speaks of what is true on the line of divine operations; this is what God is doing; Paul does not raise any question about it being understood on their part, or known in its experimental power. Exercises on that line would follow the reading of the epistle, no doubt, but he states here the great and blessed reality of what God has done. Scripture has largely this character, and saints are able to take it up according to the measure of their spiritual exercise. So that the question arises as to how much it means to us? We may be sure these statements meant much more to Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus than they did to the saints generally at Corinth, or perhaps to ourselves, but they come

before us again and again so that they may acquire a much greater meaning to us than they have had before.

The firmly attaching to Christ may be illustrated by what happened when He was here. The gospels show us a number of men and women who were not loose hangers-on; there were sometimes crowds of people who professed faith in Him, but they were not firmly attached to Him; they drifted off and walked no more with Him when certain features of the truth came out. Some loved glory from men rather than glory from God. But there were some of whom the Lord could say, "Those thou hast given me I have guarded, and not one of them has perished" (John 17:12). Not one whom God has firmly attached to Christ will ever be detached from Him. There might be some amongst them at Corinth who had never been thus attached, as there are many in the christian profession generally, but Paul has in mind here what God had done. He is occupied with the positive, and for the moment with that only.

"And has anointed us". I think this refers to the public position in which they were set up as the assembly of God in Corinth. There was idolatry there, and great schools of philosophy, and there was a synagogue, but there was something far greater than all these. There was the assembly of God as an anointed company. It was not that they had anointed men amongst them to carry on the service of God, but the whole company was anointed. Every brother and sister has part in the anointed vessel; there is no lack of competency. For that is the thought of the anointing; it confers a competency which is of God. One longs that this should come much more into evidence. And all have responsibility as to this, for the service can never be beyond the general state without becoming more or less artificial. Power in the meetings cannot be expected to go beyond the general state and condition, so that we must be in the power of the anointing in our households and in everyday life if we want to be in the power of the

anointing in the meetings. The anointing gives depth, and that is what is wanted in the meetings, not length. The longer we are, without depth the shallower the stream becomes. Whereas in Zion Jehovah becomes glorious, "a place of rivers, of broad streams", as Isaiah said (chap 33: 21).

The anointing gets a great filling out of meaning as we trace the ingredients in Exodus 30. It is "a perfume of perfumery after the work of the perfumer". "Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured". Things anointed become holy. None of it is to be put on any strange thing.

"Who also has sealed us". The Son of man gives food which abides unto life eternal, "for him has the Father sealed, even God". (John 6:27). He carried the Father's mark. An angel ascends from the sunrising having the seal of the living God to seal the bondmen of our God upon their foreheads (Revelation 7:2, 3). In Christ we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, "the promise of the Father, which ... ye have heard of me" (Acts 1:4). The Spirit is specially connected with the Father. The exalted Jesus received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit and poured out that which the people beheld and heard. I take it that the seal is to appear, which would be conveyed in the bondmen being sealed upon their foreheads. In the light of this how impossible to think of an invisible church!

"And given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts". The Spirit is an actual part of our eternal portion. God has wrought us for an eternal condition of glory, and the Spirit will be part of it. There will be no other power to enter upon what is in Christ even in eternity.

SUMMARY OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 3:1 - 18

The saints themselves were the letters of commendation -- they were the evidence to the apostle of his work, and this was a comfort to him. He thinks of himself first and then he takes a wider view -- our letter, and then known and read of all men. It was a cheer to him that God had really used him, and they were the testimony. Christ was the Writer, the apostle the pen and the Spirit the Ink; the tables the hearts of the saints. It is in contrast to the tables of stone; the saints are the tables of testimony. Christ is writing what God is toward man, not a demand as to what man is to be toward Him. What we get here puts the saints in an important place as being God's testimony in this world. Every bit of the knowledge of God that is in the heart of man is written there by Christ. Christ is One that can make a divine impression in our hearts. The great thing is that there should be a people here for Him according to God so as to be a testimony. When Christ was here on earth in grace, the attitude and testimony of God were perfectly set forth, and that is carried on now in the saints. "Transformed according to the same image" is behaving according to grace. The great point is that there is a divine impression of God in our hearts which is derived entirely from Christ. The greatness of Christ is that He brings us the knowledge of God, that is His glory here. It is a question of what God is for man, not, as in the Old Testament, what man is to be for God. God had come out in the way of demand but now He is coming out in the way of ministry -- supply. It is a glory that confers and conforms, it does not demand. All blessing even in the Old Testament times was on the ground of grace. Faith always links itself on to God in grace; that is the great characteristic of faith in all ages.

In Psalm 119 it is a question of quickening all through;

that is, everything has to become living in the soul.

The glory of the Lord is that He is the Mediator of the new covenant. The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. The Lord is a Man and the glory of that Man is that He is the image of God, and every glory is set forth in that Man. The crown of all is in Jesus.

Sacrifice is one element of God's ways, promise is another, and resurrection is a great principle of God's ways, and all has come out in Christ. Sacrifice speaks of righteousness and holiness, resurrection of power, and promise of grace and faithfulness, and all has come out in Him. God has certain defined ways and those ways find their full expression in Christ. All that God is morally is revealed in His ways. All that God is has come out in a Man; it is most wonderful! If we beheld that a little more it would have a great effect upon us. I do not think it had come out in its full radiancy until Christ died and was raised again.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 3:17, 18; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:1 - 18

Ques. "The Lord is the Spirit", what does that mean?

C.A.C. I suppose it is connected with the end of verse 6, "The letter kills, but the Spirit quickens". Then there is a long parenthesis, and then, "Now the Lord is the Spirit" (verse 17). It is the spirit of the new covenant in contrast to the letter; the letter being external. Man needs what is spirit, not what is letter. Whatever a man really has, he must have it in spirit, the letter is external.

There is a wonderful effect produced by beholding the glory of the Lord; you are changed, and that is what the letter never did for anybody. The letter kills but the Spirit quickens. It is really the spirit of the thing; for instance, the apostle in chapter 4 says, "We also believe, therefore also we speak" (verse 13). That is, the apostle was occupied with the spirit of the thing, not the letter -- the very life of the thing. You want the life of it, and each one must find the life of it in the Lord, and it is as each one gets it in that blessed Person we get life. It is not merely a text of Scripture, it is a Person. The gospel is not preached simply to teach people Scripture but to bring them to a Person. God has unveiled His glory in a Man, He has brought it near to us in a Man.

Ques. What does it mean by His glory?

C.A.C. I think all that God is has come out in a Man, and in connection with our deep need too. It is a very great thing to see that; very much depends on which side we look at the gospel. I may look at it as how it affects me, and all that is very true and very blessed, but it is not what Paul calls "my glad tidings" (2 Timothy 2:8). By the fall God's creature has lost the knowledge of God altogether, and God has come out in the gospel to make Himself known, and if that is the case the blessing must be infinite; it must be

worthy of the Giver. The apostle was anxious that we should see the gospel from the divine side. All is coming out in a Person. The Christian ought to think it his privilege to speak a good word for God, if I may put it so. You feel that people do not know Him. To know Him is to love Him. God will never be content until we love Him with all our heart. In the Old Testament, God says, "My son, give me thy heart" (Proverbs 23:26), and in the New He says, 'I have given you My heart'. That produces a different effect, and that is, that I give Him mine. It is a very marvellous thing that God has given His Son and His Spirit; and I ask myself, what is it for? It is that I may know Him. You must have the two things: there is a perfect revelation in the Son, and a perfect capacity to enjoy it in the Spirit. We only get things as we feel the need of them. It is a great principle with God that "He hath satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with good" (Psalm 107:9). The new birth is God working in man so that he has desires after God. Nicodemus is an illustration of a man seeking after God. He says to Jesus, "We know that thou art come a teacher from God, for none can do these signs that thou doest unless God be with him" (John 3:2). There was a longing in the heart of that man for the knowledge of God, and that is what the new birth produces. What a wonderful thing that God should open out to Nicodemus things that He had never opened out before. The One who was the revelation of God was before him, and He opened out that wonderful gospel that nobody had ever heard before. Nothing could be available for us without His death, that comes out in John 3. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up". The death of Christ is brought in immediately, and that is the very way in which the love of God has come to light for us.

The word of God was so precious and holy that the apostle was anxious that nothing should cast a shade on the glory of this wonderful testimony. I think the apostle was a

changed man himself, he was an illustration of what it is to be changed. His exercise at the end of this chapter (4) was that the life of Jesus should be coming out in his mortal body.

God has shone out (verse 6), and when Paul comes to the practical side it is the life of Jesus; that is the way that the glory of God must express itself in a world of sin.

'There only could He fully trace
A life divine below'. (Hymn 6)

If we have the privilege of knowing God in His glory as set forth in Christ glorified, the other side is that the life of Jesus must come out here. If you are ministering the gospel of the glory you must express the life of Jesus -- the life of that holy, dependent, lowly Man as He was here. And one feels that nothing else comports with the gospel of the glory of Christ. What goes along with that? The life of Jesus; you see it coming out in Stephen very markedly. He is an example of one who saw the glory of God, and how did he come out down here? He just comes out as Jesus came out. It is lovely to see it. It is one of the most blessed things in the gospel that it is a power to make us like Christ. You are actually changed so as to be like Him. The glory of the law was a consuming fire, but the gospel of the glory is a conforming power. You remember the old lines,

'Run, run and work, the law demands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands;
But sweeter sounds the gospel brings,
It bids me fly and gives me wings'.

What a wonderful thing that such a man as I am can be given power to be here expressing the life of Jesus! I may think I am a poor thing, what can I do? But He gives me power. One is not surprised that the devil tries to blind minds to that. The Christian has seen the image of God in a Man. I think our great business as Christians is to put Christ

before people. It is the only thing that will satisfy thirst. We must not forget that there are thousands of souls in this world who are longing for some knowledge of God, and we need to be diligent. The Spirit of God is here and He is diligent. There is one diligent Person here at any rate. The woman in Luke 15 lights a candle and sweeps the house and seeks diligently till she finds the lost piece of silver.

The great thing that people need is light -- she lights a candle. It is a great thing if you or I can be a vessel to carry that blessed light of God revealed in grace.

"God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth" (verse 6), and that is true in principle for all Christians. If the knowledge has shone in, it is for the shining out. It is not anything of ourselves, we are only vessels, and vessels simply carry what is put in them. We have to be nothing but vessels, we simply have to hold what is put in us, "that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us".

It is a very great subject, the glory of God in the face of Jesus, it takes some travelling over. God has been pleased to bring out His glory in many different ways, but all those ways reach their fulness in Christ. Promise has been a great element in the ways of God. A promise sets forth two things, His grace and His faithfulness; that is, when God has made known His grace, it is made good in blessing through His faithfulness, and all this is seen in Christ. If you want really to understand the glory of God you must survey the whole field of promises, and you see them all in Christ. In Him is the Yea and the Amen of them all.

Another element in God's ways is sacrifice. You see God bringing out the great principle of sacrifice from the garden of Eden right down; in connection with the tabernacle too. In sacrifice you see the righteousness and holiness of God, but these could not be met by the sacrifice in themselves. They all pointed to Christ. You see it all through the Old

Testament and it all leads up to Christ.

Another great principle is resurrection; you get it all through the Old Testament. Resurrection is the display of God's power. We see the grace and faithfulness of God, His righteousness and holiness, and His power, and behind all we see His majesty and His love. You could spend eternity in meditating upon it. It is "the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ". It is God shining out, and what God wants is that our hearts should be the vessels of His glory. And God wants all this known in the affections of men and not as a lot of dry doctrine. Then this glorious gospel does not take men out of the exercises of the pathway here, you see that very plainly in verses 8 - 10. God turns the exercises of the way to profit and blessing. It is a blessed thing if we go through them in heavenly light.

'And heavenly light makes all things bright, Seen in that blissful gaze'.

It makes all the difference. The apostle was able to go through the exercises in divine power. It is not that he did not feel them, for God means us to feel things. What a remarkable word that is in Colossians 1:11, "Strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy". You are made to feel things, but the power of the glory enables one to endure things with joy. I find a very little suffering soon clips my wings. It is because we know so little of the power of His glory. We may not know much about joy in it, but when souls are really exercised they are able to justify the ways of God. You feel that God's ways are good. The Christian is a paradox, "As grieved, but always rejoicing; as poor, but enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things" (2 Corinthians 6:10). The apostle was afflicted every way. When we have trouble and sorrow we are straitened, the apostle was not straitened (verse 8). He

could not see any way out and yet his way was not entirely shut up. You might find moment by moment God opens the way out. The old woman said she was 'never so hedged up that she could not see a way out at the top'.

There is not much apparent triumphal progress in that, and yet that is the way God carries His saints in triumph. God says, I will not lessen a bit of your exercise and trial, but I will lead you through in triumph. It is a fine thing to be a Christian after all.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 4:1 - 18

Ques. What is "the Spirit of the Lord" (chapter 3: 17)?

C.A.C. It is the Lord in that special character. It goes back to verse 6. I thought it was that grace is thoroughly known, not only objectively, but the Spirit of the Lord is given. Liberty is freedom of soul with God. It is an immense thing to have this liberty; it arises from knowing God's disposition towards us, so that a man can be happy and free with God. It is quite a different thing from knowing God in your circumstances. The Spirit of God dwelling in man is characteristically the Spirit of Christ. Here it is the Spirit of the Mediator. We have the Spirit of that One. It is very much like the love of God shed abroad in the heart; it comes very near to that practically. It is really here in verse 17 in connection with our being confirmed in grace -- the true grace of God. It seems to me that when a soul is free it is at liberty to be occupied with God's mind. God's mind becomes very interesting and attractive. It is a great thing to be kept on the line of beholding the glory of the Lord. We have always to be called back to it. The crowning point of the new covenant is that His people know God and will be satisfied with His goodness. There is no element of bondage connected with the goodness of God. "My people shall be satisfied with my goodness" (Jeremiah 31:14). I think the assembly properly is the sphere of liberty. "Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother" (Galatians 4:26).

"Looking on the glory of the Lord". All the goodness and grace of God to man had really come out in the Lord -- all that God is in grace has come out in a Man. There is a Man great enough to give expression to all that God is in grace. In reading the gospels, more particularly the gospel of Luke, we want to see the glory of the Lord. You see Him

showing out the glory of God in grace. If you put all the incidents together you get a very good idea of the glory of the Lord, and by beholding that you are changed into the same image. Levi beheld (Luke 5:27 - 29), and we see in him a man who was really in the communion of grace. You see a man so affected by grace that he goes and does the same thing as the Lord did -- he is changed into the same image. Like as to the good Samaritan, He says, "Go, and do thou likewise".

Here it is a question of the covenant. Moses came down after being with God to bring down what God was, and he had to veil the glory. Now One comes down and clears the ground in grace and makes known God's grace. The grace of God is what is made known by redemption. Death is the basis of it all. Moses prayed, "Let me ... see thy glory". God put him in a cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand (Exodus 33:18 - 23); Moses as man after the flesh is hidden and God's glory is shown; and that takes place in the death of Christ, man is hidden and God's glory comes out. We have to come to it to be hidden in the cleft of the rock. God says, "There is a place by me"; those words "by me" are the point. Grace is obnoxious to man; he will tolerate law but will not have grace. In Luke 4 they wonder at the gracious words that proceed out of the Lord's mouth, but immediately He brings grace home to them they take Him out and want to throw Him down the precipice. Many are praying to God to be helped to keep the law, but how many are praying that they may truly and deeply appreciate His grace?

Ques. What is "this ministry" (chapter 4: 1).

C.A.C. The new covenant ministry; God had made the apostle a competent new covenant minister -- the gospel is in verse 3. Everything is included in the gospel.

Ques. What is "manifestation of the truth" (verse 2)?

C.A.C. It is important to keep to the conscience. When people raise points, touch their conscience and they

are done for. Ask them about their sins, and it is new light on the subject. There is no hope for those in verse 3. I suppose the conscience of man is always on God's side. When a man is going on wrongly, he is not only not going on with God but he is not going on with himself; he has a conscience and his conscience is protesting. Of course the longer a man violates his conscience, the less it troubles him. Even a poet of the world has said, 'Thus conscience does make cowards of us all'.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 4:11 - 18; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:1 - 10

C.A.C. There was a working of death in the apostle. God took care that death should work on everything that was of the flesh in Paul. The character of the gospel is the bringing out of the glory of God; that was the ministry of the apostle. All the lowliness, gentleness, and meekness of Jesus was suited to the way in which He came. If God came into this world He must come in either at the top or at the bottom, and it pleased Him to come in at the bottom.

Ques. How do you understand "the dying of Jesus" (verse 10)?

C.A.C. Is it not pretty much christianity to be always looking for death here? I suppose if we got a little more into this gospel it would put us pretty much on this line. It is through death, and that is where we are deficient, we know so little about it. The discipline of God comes in when we are set for that way, when we have accepted that way.

Ques. What is the meaning of "the life also of Jesus"?

C.A.C. We see in Jesus One who was always thinking about others -- faithfulness to God and love to man -- there was never any consideration of Himself. We look at everything pretty much as it affects ourselves.

Ques. What is "the same spirit of faith" (verse 13)?

C.A.C. All that belonged to faith was really found in the life of Jesus. It was all the outcome of faith. The wonderful thing is that in the life of Jesus we see the life of a Man who had perfect confidence in God, and the gospel is come that we might walk in the same spirit and the same life. The apostle was following on in the life of Jesus and was content to die in His service.

Ques. Why does he say, "All things are for your sakes" (verse 15)?

C.A.C. All that was in his soul was confirmed and strengthened -- the inward man was renewed, the outward was consumed.

Ques. What does "our momentary and light affliction" mean (verse 17)?

C.A.C. I thought it was all helping to carry on the work of God in his soul. God had a place for Paul in His system of glory, and everything was helping to fit him for it. The afflictions of saints whatever they have been will be seen by and by to have contributed to God's great end. God was behind it all; it was pre-eminently so in Paul's case.

Ques. What "things" are these (verse 18)?

C.A.C. "The things", I suppose, that he is talking to them about in this epistle. These things were engaging his own eyes and he was seeking to engage the eyes of the Corinthians with them.

NEW CREATION

2 Corinthians 5:1 - 21

New creation brings in a further thought (than reconciliation): there is a positive divine work in the saints which will issue ultimately in the holy city ... . New creation is a subsisting fact when the soul receives the Spirit and is consciously in Christ. "If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Everything in Luke 15 is based on reconciliation. The father could not run and cover the prodigal with kisses if reconciliation had not been effected. The peculiarity about Luke 15 is that it does not tell the secret ... . We see the Fulness reconciling. Luke 15 is the glorifying of the supreme grace in which divine Persons are acting ... .

We begin small in it ... but the babe in Christ is a constituent part of new creation. He is part of that immense spiritual system which will be eternally for the pleasure of God. To grasp new creation fully we must apprehend with all saints the breadth and length and depth and height ... . (Insofar as there is new creation the city exists now; we have come to it, and it has come down morally.) What we read in Revelation 21 and 22 is of deepest interest; it shows the character of what pertains to new creation; those things we sang of in Hymn 206 pertain to new creation. We can measure ourselves in a way by the holy city, and particularly by the internal life of the city.

The "in Christ" is the secret of new creation. "If any man be in Christ, ... new creation". I think it means we have come to be in Christ vitally, He has become the tree of life to us; all that Christ is becomes subjectively our life through the Spirit ... .

The twelve fruits (Revelation 22:2) are the completeness of Christ in His ability to maintain the saints in spiritual freshness and vigour in every season of the spiritual year.

As being in Christ we touch new creation and if in Christ we want to use Him. What are we in Christ for? Is it only a doctrine? Or is it for headship, a perennial source of supply? If we are in Christ we are in the Head for supply. It ought to be a great exercise for us to be kept in the freshness which pertains to new creation.

In order to get the fruit of the tree of life we have to be overcomers ... . Then we sometimes fail to wash our robes ... . All our personal habits and associations have to be brought under the moral application of the word; a truly exercised heart cannot bear that there should be a spot unsuited for Christ, a single thing that God cannot pronounce very good ... .

There are no streets in the city ..., there is only one street; all move in one direction -- in the energy of the divine nature. I think Christians generally are greatly hindered by looking at these figures literally. The street is the movement of the city; it is of gold, that is new creation character -- all things of God ... . We can have a bit of that now; we should not need to have to hide our motives or to be opaque like the world ... . In the divine nature we can afford to be transparent -- "pure gold, as transparent glass". Pure gold can never be got without a refining process. It is a comfort to know that the saints are in the crucible of divine discipline in order that the dross, tin and alloy may be all got rid of and nothing but the fine gold of Ophir be left. God is going to bring His saints out as fine gold; there will be no suspicions in the holy city, no distrust, no uncertainty about the motives of each one. We want to cultivate a little of that now; that is the practical side of things.

The tree of life was not forbidden. God intimated to Adam that He had something in reserve far better than the old creation -- the promise of life in Christ before the ages of time had begun to run their course ... . They ignored the tree of life; Eve speaks as if there were only one tree ... .

Then we have the river. There is nothing more interesting than to see how the tree, the street and the river are all mixed up together; that is, all the movements of the city and the tree of life and the river blend together. All movement in the divine nature has Christ as its spring and origin, and it is in the power of the Spirit. Anybody trying to make a drawing of this would be puzzled! It was never meant for that; it is a moral conception ... . If we want an illustration of it we shall get it in Acts 2:4. We see a sample there of what the city will be; all the movements of the divine nature were in relation to Christ and were carried out in the power of the Spirit. Alas! it did not last long.

John 8 is reconciliation. "God was in Christ" etc. In John 13 - 17 we have what answers to the city; it is the city viewed in its moral display in contrast to the present state of things ... .

"They shall see his face; and his name is on their foreheads" (Revelation 22:4). The crown of the old creation was, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). That was the cherished thought of God, and His primary thought will be fully realised when His name is on the foreheads of His saints and they become the image of God and His likeness.

SUMMARY OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 5:1 - 21

"We know" is christian knowledge, I think. The apostle again touches on the subject of the glorified condition of the saints. Resurrection had been an important subject in his first epistle. The apostle has before him a new and eternal order of things, all the fruit of the work of God. He that wrought us for the selfsame thing is God; it is God's eternal thought and purpose, what lies outside man's course as a responsible creature here.

It is not here like in John 14, it is in contrast to our earthly tabernacle, it is a building from God. God has something before Him not made out of dust; he contrasts all that is of the flesh and all that is of God -- the earthly thing and the heavenly. Here all is seen as the work of God, the body suited to the heavens; man as made out of dust was suited to the earth. God is in no way satisfied with restoring what has perished; it is not that He reinstates man into his forfeited place. In verse 3 he has the completion of the work of God before him. In Philippians 1:23, 24, Paul is telling us how he settled the matter, for their sakes he would remain. He does not stop short of the final issue of the work of God, nothing else has a personal satisfaction for him. It is bringing in life really so that everything is swallowed up that is not life. It is very important that the christian hope should come out. When he enters the epistle of christian experience (Philippians) it is the christian attitude in view of departing. "The earnest of the Spirit" (verse 5) is, I think, the earnest of the full result -- the earnest of this very thing. In Romans 8 it is the same thought, the redemption of the body. The Spirit does not engage the heart with anything short of the glory. Nothing short of being like Christ is the goal before the christian company. Our present bodily condition is more or less a burden. The

saint is connected with the old creation in his mortal body, and in that sense he groans. The whole creation groans, everything is out of joint, everything groans and the Christian groans as connected with it. I think faith always has in view what is of God; God has an eternal system before Him and He is going to bring us into it. All His work is in view of that.

The thought of divine purpose never overlooks responsibility. The apostle had confidence in full light of divine purpose and yet a holy exercise as to responsibility, and the two are always kept together in the soul by the Spirit. What strikes me about the judgment-seat of Christ (verse 10) is that we shall have the Lord's judgment about everything; the happiest thing possible for the saint is to be in accord with the Lord's mind about what He does. Some things in our history we may find out after some time are all wrong, and we are therefore gainers; things done last week we would not do now, in the light of the judgment seat, so we have gained by it. I may be in the dark and not know if I have His mind or not, but at the judgment-seat we get His mind about everything, and that is what we want.

J.N.D. used to say we should greatly value that we are always the subjects of God's dealing in mercy. Up to our conversion we were quite blind, and light will be thrown on all that. You can quite understand that if people have not purged consciences, anything of judgment in any shape or form would make them uneasy. The gospel remedies that. All this is put in to exercise their consciences; the effect on Paul was that it led him to persuade men. This did not raise questions for him, it made him think of men. All the time that Christ sits as Judge is really covered by the judgment-seat of Christ. It has often been said that "his wife has made herself ready" (Revelation 19:7) is that she has passed the judgment-seat. Judgment is wider than penalty; it is often taken up in connection with the infliction of punishment, but it is more often the discrimination of things. We say a man has sound judgment. A judicial award is founded on a

holy discrimination; the character of everything is thoroughly brought to light. A judge does not always condemn; take a dog show, for example. A judge is often as much concerned in the approval of what is excellent as in the condemning of the guilty.

The apostle was always zealous to be agreeable to the Lord. He cultivated the judgment-seat of Christ all along and was not putting it off to the future. The sense of having the Lord's mind about things is a very real thing. It is a very distinct thing to have the Lord's mind, and particularly if you have had a different mind before; our own mind has to go; it is very humiliating, but a great reality. You find as to the bride it was granted to her that she should be arrayed in fine linen -- the righteous acts of saints. The fine linen is the righteousness of saints. The bride is seen to be adorned with all that is of the Spirit. There will be seen in the saint the display of all that has characterised that saint spiritually, it will all be distinctly seen. Many of those in whom the most fruit of the Spirit is seen are quite out of sight at the present time and perhaps many have not the opportunity of its coming out, but it will all come out some day. There may be those "boasting in countenance, and not in heart", the apostle has in mind those who were making a fair show at the present time. He is insisting on reality in all this -- there must be reality in having to do with divine Persons, and there were those at Corinth evidently who were not on this line. Whatever God has wrought in the soul cannot be lost. You may depend upon it that the Lord loves to show His approbation of all that is of and for Himself, He never forgets a good point. "I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown" (Jeremiah 2:2). He forgets our sins but never the good. "I will pardon their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). It has been said that when God speaks of an Old Testament saint in the New, He never records anything to his discredit; He calls Lot a righteous man.

SUMMARY OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 5:12 - 21

The apostle anticipated the judgment-seat. If anyone is fully manifested to God now, there is nothing to add. The saint always welcomes the light of God; one is not a saint otherwise. The difference between one born of God and a natural man is that he loves the light and the natural man hates it. If we are born of the light we cannot hate it; the saint is formed by the light. The government of God works out down here, not at the judgment-seat. If I do wrong, in the government of God I eat the fruit of my own way. If everyone travelled through Romans he would only do good; he would live outside every influence here and present his body a living sacrifice. Nothing is going to satisfy God but having His saints in perfect suitability to and holy accord with Himself. The saint at the judgment-seat gets everything measured according to Christ; Christ is the criterion of everything; it would be a loss to me not to have a divine estimate of my course down here. The judgment-seat of Christ is the end of man's responsibility; God winds up everything worthily of Himself by giving the saint His estimate of it all. Everything must be according to the standard of Christ. The saint here is not supposed to be a mixture of good and evil but he is set up with a capacity equal to his responsibility. Paul was so manifested to God that he had not anything to go over. J.N.D. said when dying that he could say, 'Christ has been my only Object, I am not aware of anything to recall, little now to add'. That is the result of really being manifested to God as you go along; and if we are thus manifested there would not be a sudden blaze of light throwing up a lot of hideous things in the past. The apostle knew what it was to be with God without the intrusion of a single thought that was of himself -- we cannot say this (see J.N.D. note b, verse 13). The

Christian can be outside himself with God in all the blessedness of what God is; it is his highest privilege. Then the apostle was held by the love of Christ. I suppose the love of Christ would be probably Godward, the devoted love which has taken up everything for God. The love of Christ held him; it holds me, that is the thought, the love in which Christ has taken up everything for God, the removing all the old and bringing in all the new even at the expense of laying down His life. It was what characterised that Man; it is all in relation to God, the obedience of Christ and the love of Christ. It had its outflow manward, but the essential point was what it was Godward. He died for all to bring to a termination that race -- man after the flesh. All is removed that was unsuitable to God that there might be a people in connection with life being in relation to God's Head. The general bearing of the passage is that old things being removed, the love of Christ comes out in that way.

"All have died" (verse 14) is judicial, not moral. Man after the flesh has gone in the death of Christ; all is now in new creation. The whole scene is terminated before God, "The end of all flesh is come before me" (Genesis 6:13), and now everything that lives is in relation to the living One; there is no other life. The love of Christ is a love that has come out in a particular way, a way that sets aside man after the flesh. I think there is a tendency to lose sight of the way in which the love of Christ has come out. The point is that God has lost man, and Christ has recovered man for God in new creation, not after the flesh, having judicially terminated all that he was in his old position. The apostle enforces the need of new creation; everything connected with the old had to be entirely set aside that we might be formed in a new state. We cannot walk with God except on new creation lines; we must walk with God in the place that God puts us; we must be with God on another footing altogether. We all have to find out for ourselves that as natural men we hate God. There are times in our history

when we would curse God to His face, which is grievous to the believer to find it, but so it is. We are by nature akin to the devil; it is a wonderful thing that Christ comes in with another Man; I have another Man's life and righteousness, I rejoice in that.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14 - 21

C.A.C. Nothing could be more sweeping than what the apostle says here as to "know no one according to flesh".

Rem. He is taking account of a man as before God.

C.A.C. Yes, that is the attitude of a man who is living to the One who died for him and has been raised. With all our light, and we have a lot of ministry, yet how few of us come near to where the apostle was in this chapter. All the old things were really gone in the death of Christ, and in connection with Christ raised all things had become new. Everything that sin had touched had to go that there might be an entirely new beginning for God. Everything was good and beautiful as God created it, and sin came in and touched it all, and the mark of sin stands connected with all that is after the flesh. What is seen in Christ is the absolutely glorious setting forth of the righteousness of God and in new creation nothing is seen but 'God's righteousness with glory bright'.

Ques. There is no discouragement, is there?

C.A.C. No, that would not be the circle where reconciliation is known, would it? Everything is quite of a new order now. If there was anything perfect in the flesh it could certainly be found in Christ, and yet the apostle says we do not now know Him any more after the flesh; it must be a new order. If we are occupied with ourselves we are occupied with imperfection. The love of Christ is that which held the apostle, and the love of Christ holds us. In God's new world everything is in relation to Christ, and in the old world everything stood in relation to Adam. You get the same thought constantly in Scripture, He becomes the gathering centre in attraction to Himself. "I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me" (John 12:32). And again, "He should also gather together into one the children

of God who were scattered abroad" (John 11:52).

Then there is the fresh claim of redemption that God has acquired (verse 15). It is a wonderful thing to be able to take that ground; they were to live in relation to Christ, and if I do not live in relation to Christ I do not live at all. In all our relations with God there is nothing but what is of God. The soul is put in liberty. "He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it" (Isaiah 38:15). We have to come to God, and it is a blessed thing to come to God. When we come there we find nothing but Christ; we are not occupied with ourselves, we disappear and Christ remains. Practically we are a long way from God sometimes. There is no greater joy than to see that there is only one Man before God. I see another man very often and that makes me value the death of Christ.

The old things in the case of the apostle were good things after the flesh; he surpassed everybody on that line, but he was very thankful to let it all go. Many have never come to this point until their deathbed when they are obliged to let themselves go and see nothing but Christ. It is a pity not to come to this a little sooner. There is no conflict in your place with God. The point is, on what ground am I with God when alone with Him? A man derives all his power and his character from God; if I am right in the inner circle I come out in the power of it to meet all the difficulties and complications outside. There must be a learning of things experimentally. We are now set in divine grace in company with the Holy Spirit who always resists the things of the flesh so that we may not do the things that we would wish to do. If you come to think of it, it is incredible that God should give us these wonderful things and then leave us to get on as best we can at the mercy of everything. We encourage one another in the things of God; the more we have to do with divine Persons the more we are encouraged. There are so many difficulties because souls do not know the true grace of God; souls want

evangelising. If we only had the gift of evangelisation what a lot of good we might do; it is greatly needed even amongst people supposed to be Christians.

Ques. What is "the ministry of that reconciliation" (verse 18)?

C.A.C. There were the two things, the ministry of reconciliation that God had given to the apostles, and the word of reconciliation that He had also put in the apostles; they not only had an official ministry but the thing was really in them. Then everything in Scripture is for us -- what the apostles had is all for us in a way -- "Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). There is no other way of getting on; it is constantly presented in Scripture. "Diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6, Authorised Version). And if these things are worth having, they are worth seeking. I think we shall all be able to say this, that if we have in any way set our faces that way we have got a great deal more than we expected. "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). "Be reconciled to God". It means that the soul comes on to the ground where there is nothing but Christ. When Christ was here after the flesh God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; that was God's approach to man; everything was according to Christ, and that gives character to reconciliation. When the people came to Him with their sins, diseases or infirmities, all were met in Christ; it was because God was in Christ; they came under the influence of all that God was. All that God does is according to Christ. If I see that God's coming to me is according to Christ then everything in my coming to God must be according to Christ. One is the kiss and the other the best robe. It is a wonderful thing to be kissed by God. I have said sometimes to people, 'Have you been kissed?' And they have said, 'I do not know what you mean', which

shows they have not. You cannot be kissed by God and not know it.

Ques. Is that Romans 5:1?

C.A.C. Yes. You get the powerful and overwhelming sense in your soul that God loves you. The love of God is poured out -- it is an energetic word! It is a wonderful moment. The prodigal knew the kiss, it showed that all was clear on the father's side. The best robe added nothing to the father's delight; it was as great before as after, but it altered everything on the prodigal's side. That is another aspect of reconciliation. The best robe is to meet every thought of fitness in the soul which is quickened by God and equipped in suitability to God. When we see what it is to be made the righteousness of God in Him, that settles the whole question.

Ques. Is verse 18 apostolic?

C.A.C. The ministry of the apostles is living and abides. The scripture says, "The things thou hast heard of me ... entrust to faithful men" (2 Timothy 2:2). It is supposed to be handed and kept alive -- the apostles' ministry was never to become dead. They were body and soul in it, they laid themselves out that this blessed ministry should find its way into hearts. The great thing is to preach Christ, what we know of Christ, however little we may know. If we speak of Christ there is a sweet savour about it; people are refreshed and comforted even when they do not properly enter into it. We are not simple in our joy in Christ. "He preached unto him Jesus". The great thing is that people should be impressed with a Person; what is going to deliver if it is not the blessed and satisfying power of Christ in the heart? What else is going to bring the soul out of its graveclothes? Nothing but Christ. If you get the preaching of Christ you have a new Person brought in.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 5:19 - 21; 2 CORINTHIANS 6:1 - 13

Ques. When is a man in Christ?

C.A.C. I thought there was progress in it; I do not think anyone is in Christ all at once.

Ques. To what scripture would you turn for the first apprehension of this?

C.A.C. There is a scripture (1 Corinthians 1:30) which speaks of "in Christ". I think if a soul has come to the apprehension of Christ as his righteousness, he has come to the first touch of it. Romans 8:1 is another experience. I think a man was in Christ in contrast to his experience under law. It is not so much the righteousness of God as the new atmosphere a soul is breathing.

Ques. What would be the difference between us in Christ and Christ in us?

C.A.C. One is the answer to the other.

Ques. What are the "old things" (verse 17)?

C.A.C. The things that sin had touched. Nothing adds to the kiss; it was the father's kiss that was the witness of the father's love, and the next thing is the best robe. It is what the apostle is doing here, if you would only stand still and let him put it on you.

The Urim and the Thummim are light and perfection. The Urim are Luke's gospel, the Thummim John's. The breastplate was all within the span of a man's hand. The Urim are the light of all that God is, the Thummim are perfection in man Godward. It is a great thing to see that the revelation of God is in relation to man; God was pleased to create man capable of knowing Him. The whole revelation of God is bound up with man, The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. It has all come out in that way.

This chapter is the doctrine of the divine parable in Luke 15,

new creation. In the house the prodigal was suited to the father's eye. We cannot enter into the truth of the assembly until we are in the good of reconciliation -- God has pleasure in me.

Ques. What is the word of reconciliation?

C.A.C. The apostles had the testimony of it in their own souls. I think that verse 18 is the idea of all true ministry -- ministry not only as to terms, but it is expressed. What a servant is impresses people much more than what he says. It is important that the true character of a thing should be seen in a vessel livingly; it might otherwise be taken up mentally. People ought to be afraid of taking things up mentally. There was no place given to the flesh, nothing had any place but Christ (verse 20). It characterised the full walk and life of the apostles. I think the great point was that the saints should be near to God according to God's own way. A great many accept the truth without being near to God. And he wanted them to be personally near to God according to the truth.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 5:20, 21; 2 CORINTHIANS 6:1 - 18

Ques. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself". Does that refer to any particular time when Christ was here?

C.A.C. God was in Christ (verse 19) reconciling, etc. Everything was on the footing of what Christ was; all God's ways with man were according to what Christ was. I thought that every bit of grace that was in Christ was on the ground of His death. In Luke, "good pleasure in men" was reconciliation; God had good pleasure in men. The point here (verse 19) is God was reconciling. There was great pleasure for God in having Christ under His own eye. "Ye have had affection for me, and have believed that I came out from God" (John 16:27). That gives the idea of reconciliation. There is a bond of contact between God and men.

Ques. What is it on our side to come into the good of reconciliation?

C.A.C. I thought it was this, that really God has found His infinite delight in Christ and He has called us into that circle; it is like the prodigal. In new creation it is not sinful nature that is in view, but God's delight; and the work of the evangelist is not really done until souls have come into a circle where there is positive delight for God. If I think of myself as a man, I am gone, and there is nothing before God but Christ.

The ministry of the new covenant is the setting forth of what God is to sinful man, but reconciliation is that there is delight for God in man. I think you see the activity of divine love in this ministry, thus put in Paul; there is a beseeching character about it, a warmth. In all true ministry there is a warmth and earnestness; that God is beseeching, God is seeking to win man by His earnestness.

Ques. How do we answer to this earnest beseeching practically?

C.A.C. I think to take it in is the most important thing.

We find ourselves with God on an entirely new footing if we take it in.

I think he turns in the next chapter (6) to the things that hinder. The apostle says, as it were, I have set such wonderful things before you, how is it that you are so small? He turns round pretty sharply on to the practical side; he says, as it were, if you want to be led into these blessed things you must be separate. Chapter 5: 21 is about the biggest verse in Scripture. Man has been a dishonour to God, he has been a libel on God's character, but in new creation everything that is worthy of God will be displayed in us. God has dealt with sin in a right way on the cross, and it is all going to come out in new creation. As J.N.D. puts it in his hymn, 'God's righteousness with glory bright' (Hymn 88). Righteousness and glory go together more than once in Scripture. Righteousness is often used very much in the sense of faithfulness. It is a matter of righteousness with God to effect His own purposes. New creation will be the display of the righteousness of God. Everything there will be eternally right. Everything will be of God so that it is not creature righteousness but God's righteousness. If it were creature righteousness it would drag down as creature innocence did, but it is God's righteousness and that is all right, it is satisfactory to God.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 6:1 - 18

Rem. The ministry was not to be a dead letter, but to find a living expression.

C.A.C. I suppose it is really what belongs to the day of Christ's rejection -- something for God in me. Everything that was of God and for God was set forth in ministry with the idea of the thing really working out. The apostle was anxious that the ministry should not suffer, that nothing should bring a cloud on the glory -- the ministry having come into the world, the great thing is that it should not be clouded; it is not being concerned about our character to keep up a religious reputation.

Verse 4 shows the power to go against the stream. In Philippians 1:28 it is, "Not frightened in anything by the opposers". It is evidence of the power of God to go on, right in the teeth of everything. Everything was against the apostle's ministry. I suppose we have to be tested in different ways, especially those who take up God's service in any way. It brought out in the apostle that he was a true man. We can all get on very well when in favour, the question is how we get on when things are contrary. We might easily get high-minded as to doctrine, but the practical side comes in as a check. You get the doctrine in Romans; there he says, 'Now I will show you the photograph of a man who is in the good of all this'. I suppose we only understand the doctrine as we are formed by the Spirit in the things.

Ques. What is God's temple?

C.A.C. It seems to me a very holy thing to be said of the saints that they are the temple of the living God.

Ques. Why "living God"?

C.A.C. We are very feeble in our apprehension that God is here; the general idea is that God is in heaven and

we hope to get there some day, whereas the great thing of the present moment is that God is here. People of the established church have a greater reverence for stones and bricks -- the material building -- than we have for God's building. The reverence they have in flesh, we ought to have in the Spirit and be the moral expression of what God is. God comes into the soul by blessed ministry; it all works out very simply and naturally, if we are only simple enough; there is nothing very complicated in christianity. The temple is a place where you are entirely withdrawn from all the influence of man; it is the shrine, and you are initiated there into things that are entirely outside the sphere of man.

Ques. What is the difference between the temple and the kingdom?

C.A.C. You must be initiated to get into the temple; there are mysteries; you must be a priest to have anything to say to the temple. It puts us outside man in the flesh altogether, for we are not priests according to the flesh. In verse 18 you are outside man's resources. God would say, 'If you be for Me I will be for you'.

Rem. If I am wanted in the place where Jesus is, I shall be cared for in the place where Jesus was.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 6:11 - 18; 2 CORINTHIANS 7:1

Ques. What is the thought in the heart being expanded?

C.A.C. I suppose the apostle had been under a certain restraint when writing his first epistle. The conditions at Corinth did not tend to give him liberty; but now his letter had taken effect, he was at liberty to open his heart freely to them.

Ques. "Let your heart ... expand itself", and "Come out ..., and be separated"; are these two different thoughts?

C.A.C. They would be expanded by being more separate. True expansion of heart will only be found in the path of separation.

Rem. In the first epistle he calls them "babes"; here he says, "children".

C.A.C. He had to tell them in the first epistle they were babes. They had not grown up in Christ, therefore they had not much capacity to take in spiritual thoughts. He could not speak to them of the things that were so precious to his own heart. "Children" was a suitable term of endearment for them; they were his children.

Ques. Why does he say, "our heart", and "your heart" in the singular number in verses 11 and 13?

C.A.C. I think he is looking at them collectively. It was a general matter, and they were straitened because they were keeping up links with the world really.

Rem. Things are put in very strong contrast here. Our tendency is to water things down in all directions.

C.A.C. Quite so, righteousness and lawlessness cannot possibly go together, nor can light and darkness. It is an impossibility!

Rem. It is remarkable that separation or division is the first principle that God works upon (cf. Genesis 1).

C.A.C. Yes, it is the first principle of God's ways; it is

the first principle of spiritual enlargement that we learn to see the difference between light and darkness.

Rem. There is to be no blending of the two.

C.A.C. Satan is always working on the principle of mixture, he is always trying to bring about a mixture. God hates mixtures.

With God it is to be one thing or another, and Paul insists that the Corinthians are the living God's temple. Well, if you are that, be true to it!

And this great thought is to be much before us, that God had said, "I will dwell among them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be to me a people" -- that the saints are really the holy places where God dwells and where He walks, where His movements are known.

Rem. It is very touching that God condescends to walk with His people, as it says He did in the wilderness. This, I suppose, is a provisional thing as it is here in the wilderness.

Ques. I suppose it is the most wonderful thing to think of at the present time?

C.A.C. Yes, if we realised that, we should want to be exceedingly separate from everything with the character of darkness or unrighteousness. It is striking how, in both the first and the second epistles, he holds the people of God to what they are. He does not say, You ought to be God's temple, but, You are; therefore be consistent with it. It ought to be a great matter to us that God has a dwelling-place here on earth, where He moves, and where He discloses Himself in wonderful movements of grace and love and blessing and, of course, holiness.

We need, too, to keep in mind that God wants to receive us as having entered into His own great thoughts; so that He can receive us as intelligently in the place where He has put us. He would take on that character of Father practically with us. 'If you suffer from the world's hatred or opposition, I will be a Father to you'; and if so, it does not

matter what happens to us outwardly.

Ques. Why is the title, "Lord Almighty" used?

C.A.C. Because He is looking at the saints as here on earth. He says, 'I will be everything to you that I was to My earthly people of old'.

Ques. Is there a difference between "separate" and "separated"?

C.A.C. "Separated" is the thing completed, as it says of the Lord that He was "separated from sinners" -- not simply separate, but separated. God has great pleasure in a people who are satisfied with Himself and who do not want that system where everything is opposed to God.

Rem. It would involve holiness.

C.A.C. That would be bound up in the thought of God's temple. There is nothing so holy as what is connected with God's temple. Though no respect is due to any building, respect is due to the saints. You cannot think of anything stagnant where God is. Our tendency is to drop down to a certain religious routine. "The living God", and God moving, suggests activity. So when we come together we expect to get something in a new way, something we have not had before. Numbers 6 speaks of contact with a dead person.

Ques. How might we be touching what is unclean?

C.A.C. It needs constant exercise, and we have to recognise the utter evil of the man in the flesh. His world is utterly evil. Men talk of a new world, but it is a new world without Christ! Such a thing is abhorrent to every saint, so the thought of it is unclean. The thought of securing better conditions in the world without Christ is an unclean thought, and is doomed to bitter disappointment.

The thing is to be set to experience what God can be to His people in the midst of the very condition of things brought in by sin. What can God be to us as His sons and daughters, while nothing is changed in the scene around us, when everything goes on just the same? What can God be

to us? It calls for separation and for holiness. So that this self-purifying is to go on continually, and the perfecting of holiness in God's fear. It is a continually progressive thing.

The apostle was anxious that there should be more space for God to walk in at Corinth. Wherever there is room made for God, He will take it. Wherever there is a holy place -- a suitable place -- for God, He will take it; and saints will experience this just in proportion as they are separated from a fallen world and fallen man.

Nothing will satisfy God but that His sons and daughters shall partake of His own character. How wonderful to think of becoming more like God every day! That is, things we did last year, we cannot possibly think of doing today, we dare not. As we take on more of God's character we become expressive of it, so that God can recognise us as sons and daughters in this world, taking on more of His character every day.

Ques. Is John 17:17, "Sanctify them by the truth", a parallel thought?

C.A.C. Yes, it is wonderful the place that the saints have in God's thoughts. They are left in this world in Christ's place, and they have Christ's place before the Father. Of course God's things are continuous in being worked out. He will chasten His children until they are like Himself and take on His blessed character of holiness. It has been said that righteousness judges evil with authority, but holiness shrinks from evil and repels it by its own character.

Ques. Would righteousness be seen more at the cross and holiness at Gethsemane?

C.A.C. Gethsemane is a most wonderful theme, in a sense more wonderful for us to apprehend than the cross, because it is the Son going with the Father anticipatively. I think there it is more holiness; that is, the sense pressing on His holy soul of what was involved in all that necessitated the drinking of the cup -- the shrinking from it in His holy

soul. It is remarkable that it is the only time He uses that unique term of endearment, "Abba, Father". Gethsemane is a most wonderful study for the hearts of the saints. He went through it all in spirit beforehand and all in communion with His Father. I think holiness was perhaps the more distinctive feature there. Then the Father's will must prevail, and, at whatever cost, He wishes the Father's will should prevail. Well, that is a very holy feeling; it brings out the holy sensibilities of His soul. We belong to the One who has gone through all that in the agony of His soul, not only drinking the cup of judgment, but before drinking it, He has gone through it all in communion with His Father.

Ques. Is that why "spirit" is brought in here (chapter 7: 1)?

C.A.C. The spirit is very important, because the pollutions of the spirit are more evil than the pollutions of the flesh, because they work inwardly. The gratifications of the flesh work outwardly, but the pollutions of the spirit work inwardly -- something working in a man's spirit that is offensive to God. In Hebrews 12:9 it says, "Be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live". The Father is the Father of spirits, and we should remember He is concerned about our spirits -- what we are inwardly. The pollutions of the spirit are to be cleansed. I might be a decent man outwardly, but thoroughly polluted inwardly. There were certain men at Corinth wishing for a place or to be leaders among the saints. Well, that is a pollution of spirit; there might be no pollution of the flesh exactly. I suppose it is the deepest exercise of our souls to keep our spirits pure, so that in our inward exercises we are purifying our spirits and perfecting holiness in the fear of God all the time.

Rem. We only discover our motives as getting near to God.

C.A.C. That is very true. It should be a great exercise with us that we want more of God. We want Him to come

in and really have the place in our hearts' affections that is due to Him. And when that takes place we find out all the things that work against Him.

Paul shows, in the chapter that follows, his intense affection for his Corinthian children. He wanted them for himself, but he wanted them for God first.

Rem. "Ye are in our hearts, to die together, and live together".

C.A.C. And is it not remarkable that he says, "Die together, and live together"? We should not naturally put it in that way. Is it not because morally we shall only live together as we die together?

Ques. It is a spiritual matter, you mean?

C.A.C. Yes. The apostle was clearly on the line of dying, "dying, and behold, we live"; and death always comes first spiritually, and particularly in christianity. He was governed by the thought of dying out of the world so as to live with Christ. So the saints, if they would be in companionship with Paul, must die with Paul, so that they might live with Paul.

Rem. The apostle was the great exemplification of what he ministered.

C.A.C. He saw a little bit of movement in them, and it was sufficient to make his heart leap with joy. And we may have the same joy when we see the same thing; we can have profound joy.

"BE NOT DIVERSELY YOKED WITH UNBELIEVERS"

2 Corinthians 6:14

In Proverbs, wisdom and folly are contrasted. You could not fancy wisdom and folly yoked together. If saints do not separate from the unconverted the result is disastrous. Separation is the witness of the power of God. If Christians only remembered what persons they are, not what they ought to be, they could not associate and be yoked with unbelievers. We have nothing in common with the world morally; its joys and interests are not ours.

If I make a companion of an unconverted man, how can we go on together? The things that are so precious to me, filling my heart with divine light, are actually repulsive to him. I am beholding the glory of the Lord and he is beholding the glory of man. There is no spiritual prosperity if there is not a break in friendship with unconverted people. God says, "Come out". It is very important too not to be in partnership with the unconverted. I think we ought to test all our companionships by whether there is a real desire after Christ. We ought not to make companions otherwise. If I make a friend of one not the Lord's, it is a yoke. You cannot of course break ties of relationships; you have to be prepared to part company with such.

The first division amongst brethren was between Abraham and Lot; one liked to live on the hilltop with God, and the other down on the plains. It is better to part company than to go with those in the world.

Then we should come out with dignity, "For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go out by flight; for Jehovah will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear-guard" (Isaiah 52:12). One sometimes sees people sneak out, that is to try to avoid their old companions. No, that will not do! Tell them about it. You go out with a high hand; you go out

with a sense that God is before you and behind you; you are not afraid of anybody, and you are not afraid of the consequences. You go out with dignity.

If we need extra care we shall get it. The daughters represent the weaker side. If there is special need there will be special care. It is well to come under the grace of it. This is parental care. We leave the resources of Egypt, but then we find God.

There is the persecution side undoubtedly, but it is all gain, for you begin to prove for the first time that God is a reality. No young believer finds his feet until he has proved God for himself. The Lord says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God ..." (Matthew 6:33). If you are on that line you are set to prove how He can preserve and keep you. No Christian makes any progress if he does not act on the principle of verse 17. We all had links and we had to break them and come out, and made no start until we did. It is that I had to move, but God moves in me.

NOTES OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 7:1 - 16

C.A.C. "Pollution of flesh and spirit" (verse 1); both were at Corinth, flesh gross outwardly, pollution of spirit in divine things, self-confidence, vain-glory; there were gross and refined things; also pollution of spirit -- anything allowed in spirit, what one entertains inwardly, anything unworthy of God is really a pollution in those who form God's temple. The fact of being God's temple makes the necessity of separation and holiness very great. The absence of the fear of God is the root of almost every kind of evil; there is a great lack of it today. It has almost become characteristic of the christian profession at large, "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:18). I suppose we have now to distinguish between righteousness and lawlessness in the christian sphere; it was not so in early days. When the apostle writes in chapter 6: 14, lawlessness was the state of the world around. Today we have to do with it within, then it was without.

Ques. Do you think saints do not realise their responsibility?

C.A.C. The secret of all is that we do not know the grace of God, we are not established in grace, and there is room for the world when the heart is not kept in grace.

Ques. Does indifference indicate a want of preparedness of heart?

C.A.C. "An honest and good heart" (Luke 8:15) I suppose would be where the fear of God was. It is practical, there are certain things that pollute that have to be put aside; they do not always just drop off. I think God puts His finger on things that are hindrances; we may go on for years, but a time comes when God puts His finger on a thing; it may be through ministry, or prayer, and waiting on Him. God gives no more light, if light from Him is refused.

It is a very serious thing to refuse light from God, should it be in the character of the light which either exposes something in me, or opens up something in Him; serious consequences follow if Christians refuse light -- they get left behind. J.B.S. used to say that discipline comes for correction when people want to go right -- God comes in to help them. God may come in and deal with you so that you could not go on with the thing. A conscience is kept tender by always listening; if we refuse to hearken, it is surprising how quickly the conscience gets callous. Then God comes in and quickens the conscience again, as we see in this epistle; it is very encouraging to see that God can come in and restore things and put things on a footing more suitable to Himself.

The apostle does not seem to have the thought of perfection this side of glory; there is such a thing as entire sanctification though; the apostle prayed that the whole spirit, soul and body may be "preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). A saint needs conversion very often, a turn round. God allows many a thing to arise to exercise His people generally. All the trouble at Corinth, and the necessity of dealing with evil, was quite abnormal, but all for their spiritual profit.

God intended they should be exercised by it, that they might come into exercise before God. It is very much the same amongst Christians today. The occasion of sorrow and trial is the voice of the Lord, not by chance or the folly of believers, but we ought to hear the Lord's voice. The Lord has a voice in it. It is only by walking with God that we grow in holiness; it is then very serious that when things arise God means to teach us something; we may have been going on carelessly and run up against some block in the road. We need to be exercised about things. The exercise passed through at Corinth resulted in their understanding the character of God's house, and their behaviour in that house, more than they ever did before. So that when evil

comes into the assembly it is not all unmixed evil. God uses it for the instruction of His saints.

Rem. The cover of the tabernacle was badger skins to repel evil.

C.A.C. Yes, it is very much what salt is a figure of; it is that savour of God that preserves from the corrupting influences of evil, and what enables one to cut off a right hand, or pluck out a right eye if found to be an offence. The Holy Spirit is a Holy Spirit, we must ever remember that. The moment evil touches the soul, it is a very blessed thing if there is self-judgment at once, it does not then go any further.

How the apostle lets himself out is very lovely. He exposes his own weakness to them; he tells them he regretted writing that letter to them. It was really the love of Christ in the apostle. It is very edifying to see it in that light -- the love of Christ in a vessel characterised by weakness. He was so distressed, that he had no rest in his spirit. It is never happy when saints have to be grieved, and it is no pleasure to the Lord, but a necessity that they should be grieved according to God. The thought of a breach between him and the saints was intolerable, and it should be today if there is any affection for the people of God.

SUMMARY OF A READING 2 CORINTHIANS 8:1 - 24

The subject of giving occupies such a large place because it is the practical exhibition of the truth of the one body. It was of great satisfaction to the apostle that the Gentiles ministered to the poor Jews -- it showed a practical binding together. He had besought them not to receive the grace of God in vain, and had said also, "Corinthians, our heart is expanded ..., let your heart also expand itself" (chapter 6: 11, 13), and now he could speak of the grace that had shown itself in a very practical way. It is the character of God coming out in the saints. God's character is that of a giver. If you can become poor even in money to the enriching of others it seems to me it is on the line of what God is and of what Christ is (see verse 9). That makes the subject important.

God is bringing out His own testimony in men "for glory to God by us" (chapter 1: 20); and there is a circle where divine affections can have their outflow; the saints were not to be narrowed up to themselves, but to widen out to other saints -- the wide circle of Christ's interests. There are two sides of expansion. First, separation from what is outside, and then, inside, the outflow of grace and liberality. I do not think the apostle was anxious as to himself; even with the Philippians, he desired that fruit might abound to their account. The two things that characterise the saints are separation from the world which rejected Christ, and then their love for one another; they are bound together in holy love. Separation in itself would be a poor, cold thing; there must be these exercises of divine affections. We need to have the practical character of christianity before us, for we are in danger of being theoretical. This is a remarkable bringing together of things in verse 2: trial of affliction, abundance of joy, deep poverty, riches of liberality; you

could scarcely have a mixture of greater contrasts. In early days, the light of God's grace was in every heart; there was the simplicity of fellowship and all was brought into the assembly. They brought their money and "laid it at the feet of the apostles". The widow's offering of two mites surpassed even the offerings of Solomon. The tendency of many things is to dry us up and to make us suspicious. We have to guard against it. The widespread character of evil tends to make us suspicious, and we have to mind that that sort of feeling does not have the upper hand with us. The basic thing for us is that we should hold everything as the Lord's. These Macedonians first gave themselves to the Lord and in doing so they gave everything. We give and the Lord accepts, "according to what he may have". He knows what we have and accepts the gift accordingly.