So it is of immense importance if we are to be free to move in liberty according to the truth of Paul’s ministry,

• that we should all understand and accept the teaching in Peter’s vision,

• that we should accept the same adjustment which Peter accepted because,

• while he, as a Jew, needed it in a special way, we all need it in measure.

• In one sense the ‘Jew’ is in all of us; we all naturally tend to have a sense of superiority, personally and nationally and in other ways;
  • it is the tendency of sin in the flesh that we should attach some sense of superiority to ourselves

• – like the Pharisees who regarded themselves as righteous and despised the rest of men.

• So we need the view of the assembly which Peter is given and to accept the adjustment which he accepts, so that there should be morally no hindrance to our entering upon the higher levels of the mystery.

• Peter’s vision teaches what one has referred to – I hope the expression is acceptable to the brethren – as the lower levels of the mystery.

• The lower levels of the mystery were not peculiar to Paul. In Ephesians 3: 4 he speaks of “my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ” – that was peculiar to himself;

• then he goes on to speak of a level of things which was
  • “revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit”,

• and I believe that is seen in chapters 10 and 11 of Acts.

• The Spirit was active here and He reveals things to Peter, and through Peter to the rest of the apostles, in the power of the Spirit,
  • “that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings”.

• That revelation was not peculiar to Paul; it was revealed to Peter and to the holy apostles and prophets.

• It does not rise to the level of Paul’s intelligence in the mystery, it does not take us into the heavenly relationships which pertain to the assembly;
  • it is a basic matter that those of the nations should be “a joint body”

• – it does not say Christ’s body – Paul would tell us that – but that the nations should be a joint body and joint heirs, and so on.

• I thought we might get help on this side of the truth which, as I say, is absolutely essential if we are to be free to move on to the higher levels which Paul was used to open up.

G.F.S. Would the fact that Peter is told to “slay and eat” indicate that the way has been opened up by the death of Christ, and help us to view one another in the light of it?

G.R.C. I am sure that is right. So the death of Christ is greatly stressed in Ephesians 2.

• I suggested reading that chapter because although the revelation was given to Peter, it is Paul who gives us the doctrine. You have to go to Paul for the doctrine in most things.

• For instance, Paul said that he was not sent to baptise but to preach the gospel, yet we have to go to Paul for the doctrine of baptism.

• So as to this: it was a revelation to Peter, but we have to go to Paul for the doctrine.

D.S.H. Does it appear in the character of Paul’s service? The administration of the mystery was committed to him as distinct from Peter, whereas something of a more general character was known to the others.

G.R.C. Yes. Although Peter had this vision in order to clear the ground for Paul’s ministry,

• yet Peter’s commission – he was the apostle of the circumcision – was not the administration of the mystery,

• although he had the keys of the kingdom and was used to bring the Gentiles in, in the wisdom of God’s ways.

• It was given to Paul to work out the truth of the assembly in its full conception; that is, as embracing Jew and Gentile and every type of man.

W.W.S. Is the light out of heaven which shone around Paul in chapter 9 now taking concrete and substantial shape in this certain vessel descending out of heaven – an allusion to the assembly in the light of the lower levels of which you spoke? It was necessary in view of touching the assembly in the light of what is heavenly, do you think?

G.R.C. That is very helpful, that the assembly here is called a “vessel”, so that, as you say, it is something substantial.

• It is one thing to have the light which came to Paul in chapter 9, which he said later was a light out of heaven above the brightness of the sun at midday, the brightest light that ever shone;
  • but it is interesting to see that Peter sees what is substantial; not only light, but a certain vessel.

• It is a great thing to hold in our minds that the assembly is a vessel; each one of us is a vessel – Paul was an elect vessel – we are vessels of mercy before prepared for glory.

• But the great vessel is the assembly and that is a very substantial idea. Peter sees this vessel, not in its heavenly relationships, not in a defined way, it is like a sheet.

• It is a question of what it contained, nevertheless it is a vessel, and one which is going to be filled to all the fulness of God.

• But it has not arrived at that here; it is an initial view of the vessel relative to the personnel which it contained.

• Yet the vessel itself, with all its contents too, comes out of heaven, and it goes back to heaven. That is the great thing to understand.

B.G.H. Is it important to see that the vessel is heavenly in origin and character, and is received back into heaven? That is the force of the word.

G.R.C. That is most important. We are to apprehend that there is a vessel on earth whose origin is heaven and whose destiny is heaven.

• It is only on earth for a time in testimony, and as soon as the time of testimony is finished it will be received back into heaven; meanwhile, all its links are there.

• It is let down out of heaven by its four corners, so that all its links are heavenward.

• But it is here for the time being in testimony, and while it is here we have to face the conditions which Peter saw inside the sheet.

• When it is taken up to heaven finally no such conditions will obtain but while it is here in testimony we have to face the fact that while the vessel itself is heavenly in origin, there are in it those who are very much earthly in origin and they have sinful histories.

• Nevertheless, viewed according to God, even the creatures in the vessel are out of heaven.

W.W.S. So it is here and now that moral exercises are worked out in the assembly.

G.R.C. Yes, and unless we face these moral issues we will never be free for what Paul would lead us into.

R.W. Would you enlarge further on what you call the ‘lower’ levels, and understanding the idea of the sheet as corning out of heaven? Are the creatures in the sheet the personnel?

G.R.C. Paul says in Ephesians 3: 3,

• “by revelation the mystery has been made known to me”.

• No doubt Paul had the whole of it; he did not need Peter’s vision, he had the whole matter, whether we speak of it as higher levels or lower levels.

• The mystery was made known to Paul. Then he says,
  • “according as I have written before briefly, by which, in reading it, ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ”.

• As I understand it, Paul’s intelligence in the mystery of the Christ includes the whole truth of the assembly, its full place and relationships relative to Christ and to God. But then he goes on to say,
  • “which in other generations had not been made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit, that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings”.

• As I understand it, verses 5 and 6 relate to that part of the truth of the mystery which is not peculiar to Paul but which is revealed to Peter in Acts 10, and in the power of the Spirit is passed on by him in chapter 11
  • to “the holy apostles and prophets”.

G.H.B. Does this involve the truth of the new head?

• Peter says, “he is Lord of all”,

• and Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 15 about
  • the “last Adam”,

• and of the one made of dust, and then of the heavenly One and the heavenly ones.

G.R.C. That is right, because the second Man is out of heaven – it is the same expression,

• “out of heaven”.

• He cannot be limited to Israel nor to any particular nation; what comes out of heaven is unique.

• There is the heavenly One and the heavenly ones, a new order. Is that what you had in mind?

G.H.B. That is it, and we come to it by recognition of the order to which we once belonged by nature, of dust, and then the order into which we come on account of Christ’s headship.

G.R.C. Quite so. Ephesians 2 says,

• “he is our peace”.

• That links with Peter’s preaching,
  • “the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ – he is Lord of all”

• – that is, Jew and Gentile, there is no distinction. He is Lord of all, but preaching peace.

• It is a question of peace now, not only with God but peace between man and man.

• So it says in Ephesians 2, where the gospel of peace is referred to,
  • “he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of enclosure, having annulled the enmity in his flesh, the law of commandments in ordinances, that he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace”.

• Does that not bear on what we are saying that He creates the two in Himself into one new man?

• He is the Man out of heaven, and He creates the two in Himself into one new man. It is a heavenly matter, “one new man”.

E.C.L. It is interesting that in chapter 11 Peter has to face this matter with the brethren at Jerusalem;

• and then in chapter 15 Paul has to face it – the contention which arises over this very thing.

• I was thinking of what you were saying as to the enmity which exists, that the man after the flesh, personified in the Jew, does not seem to be able to appreciate God coming in sovereignly and bringing in something better than he has had before.

G.R.C. Through sin the old man is marked by every feature of enmity.

• The enmity between Jew and Gentile is the most pronounced; I suppose it has been the cause of more conflicts on earth than any other thing; and is still a great bone of contention.

• But then, while that is the greatest enmity between man and man, God in dealing with that has dealt with every other enmity also because He has dealt with the man himself.

• Our old man has been crucified with Christ; in the cross that man has been brought to an end in judgment, the man to whom all these enmities attach;
  • and He has formed the two – Jew and Gentile – in Himself into one new man, making peace, and that is the only way of making peace – “one new man”!

• Then following that He has reconciled both to God in one body by the cross, and following that we both have access through Him to the Father in one Spirit. The whole matter is one of peace.

• The gospel of peace brings in unity, real unity according to God, based on the complete judgment of man in the flesh in the cross of Christ, and our being formed in Christ Jesus into one new man.

A.H. Does Peter’s appropriation involve that on our part?

G.R.C. I think it does. It would be well for us to consider Peter now.

A.G.B. Is it of import to see that Peter is enjoined to eat? Is it a matter of our learning this great truth inwardly? It is not only light but what is formed by it.

• One was impressed by the fact that Peter hungered, and I wondered if it would be carrying it too far to link it on with the normal work of God in every one of our souls. God provides food that will satisfy the hunger in our souls.

G.R.C. That is an excellent suggestion, because unless we arrive at God’s full thoughts as to the assembly, we shall, I am sure, be hungry.

• The work of God in us is of such a character that the satisfaction of our souls requires, I believe, our arriving at the full thoughts of God.

A.B. In regard to the question of hunger, would the appreciation of the mercy and grace of God who has closed our former history in the death of Christ greatly help us in regard to unity?

G.R.C. I am sure it would, and it would help us as to feeding on one another.

• What you are saying as to the way God has cleansed us in mercy provides such abundance of food once we learn to appropriate the brethren in the way Peter did,
  • “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”

• – what abundance of food was available.

H.P. God says, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed”, Genesis 3: 15.

G.R.C. The enmity is with the serpent and its seed, and that works out specially in the religious man.

• He is an inveterate enemy; the religious man is always a tool of Satan, one of the most serviceable tools of Satan.

• The enmity was present in Peter at the beginning of this chapter. He says, “In no wise, Lord”. He shrank from anything of this kind.

• But then Peter gets adjusted. There is no enmity with Peter after this vision; his outlook is completely changed, and he is entirely changed.

• He understands that by the cross the Lord Jesus has slain the enmity.

• Men slay one another because of the incompatibility of the features of the old man, but the Lord Jesus, by the cross, has slain the enmity, so that the saints can be together in peace,
  • and if we do not learn to be together in peace, and not only in peace but as feeding on one another, how can we move on to the great thoughts of God ministered by Paul?

W.W.S. Peter is exhorted to slay. Does that mean that we have to bring the death of Christ to bear on one another in view of appropriating one another?

G.R.C. Yes, otherwise shall we not be feeding on one another’s natural and fleshly characteristics, which only foster the enmity, and we well know how it works out.

• How difficult it is to free our minds from such things. The solution is,
  • “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”.

• He is going to view the brethren now in the light of the death of Christ, where everything that has marked them has been dealt with.

B.G.H. We feed on what God has cleansed.

G.R.C. That is it, “What God has cleansed, do not thou make common”.

F.W.T. In that sense the brethren are available to us for the enjoyment of the thoughts of God.

G.R.C. It is a great thing to learn to feed on one another according to God, for it gives strength –

• “we, being many, are one loaf, one body”

• – and that implies that we feed on one another.

• In the tabernacle the priests could eat the shewbread. Israel will be reconciled to God in twelve tribes, and the shewbread was typical of Israel according to divine purpose.

• Those who form the assembly are reconciled to God in one body. We are one loaf, not twelve loaves – “we being many, are one loaf, one body”, and we are food for one another in that way.

W.J.T. When we come to the supper we look upon the elements, and we look, too, upon the brethren – we do not close our eyes.

G.R.C. If we are in the gain of this chapter that is just what we can do. We shall be able to look at the brethren in relation to their heavenly origin and destiny.

• God has cleansed them so that to us now they are no longer quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth and fowls of heaven; we do not view them like that at all.

E.J.B. Is it not a great thing to view the brethren as they actually are as the personnel of the heavenly vessel?

G.R.C. “A certain vessel descending like a great sheet, let down by four comers out of heaven”.

• You can understand this being part of the mystery for it is a mysterious thing.

• How can it be that a vessel let down out of heaven should contain the abominable things of the earth, for creeping things are an abomination to Jehovah, and yet they are there in the vessel that is coming out of heaven.

G.R.C. Yes, it includes God’s work in men as well as God’s work for men.

H.B. I was thinking about perception. He said,

• “I perceive that God is no respecter of persons”.

• Do not we need that perception, and then to feed on one another in the light of the death of Christ – “slay and eat”?

• Reconciliation is always in connection with the death of Christ, is it not? How wonderful reconciliation in one body is. If we could get help as to this it would help us in local difficulties.

G.R.C. That is just what I have in mind, because God has set us together in local companies where this has to be worked out practically.

• In some countries it is more testing than others, because there are brethren of diverse races.

• In Acts 13 there was a coloured man among the prophets and teachers, but there would be no racial discrimination, I feel sure.

• Even here, where we are mainly of one nationality, the working out of the truth of the one body tests us.

H.B. Did not Mr. G. say in London that if there is a difference between two brothers, if both died there would be an end to it?

G.R.C. So that “slay and eat” is the command.

R.W. Perhaps we do not appreciate Christianity as Ephesians 2 presents it.

G.R.C. I am glad you refer again to Ephesians 2, because the early part of the chapter views the work of God in its completeness and says God,

• “has quickened us with the Christ – ye are saved by grace – and has raised us up together” – i.e. Jew and Gentile – “and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that he might display in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus”.

• There you see the completeness of the work of God: the saints sitting down in the heavenlies.

• There are no quadrupeds or creeping things of the earth there, for they are quickened with Christ and raised up together and made to sit down together.

• But the second part of the chapter views the same persons here on earth reconciled to God in one body by the cross.

• It is like the vessel as a great sheet let down to the earth and the personnel viewed in relation to their earthly and sinful origin. It does not alter the truth of the early part of the chapter.

• The same persons, who, as represented by the creatures in the vessel, were so repugnant to Peter, have been raised up together, and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

• The “slay and eat” is the reconciling of the two viewpoints, the explanation of this mystery.

A.G.B. There is the word as to cleansing, and then, in Cornelius’s house, the Spirit falls upon those who were hearing the word.

• Did not the Spirit’s action crystallise and finalise in Peter’s soul the practical workability of this matter? He says in chapter 11,
  • “who indeed was I to be able to forbid God?”

• Does not the practical working out of the truth depend upon the presence and help of the Spirit?

G.R.C. Quite so. The cleansing is a comprehensive idea. Basically it depends on the death of Christ, so it says, “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”.

• The blood and the water which came from His side are the means of cleansing.

• But then Peter says in chapter 15: 8, referring to the Gentiles,
  • “and the heart-knowing God bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit as to us also, and put no difference between us and them, having purified their hearts by faith”.

• So that the next thing is faith. There is the work of Christ, which is the basis of cleansing, but then for persons to come into it there must be faith.

• Following that, there is sanctification of the Spirit, which, I think, completes the matter practically.

C.W.O’L.M. Does 1 Corinthians 6 help in that way? It says,

• “And these things were some of you; but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God”, verse 11.

G.R.C. That is very helpful. It brings the things together.

W.W.S. Will you say a word as to the confirming service of the Spirit? Peter is doubtful, but the Spirit speaks to him, saying,

• “go with them, nothing doubting”.

• May we rightly expect the peculiar service of the Spirit in relation to our apprehending the mystery in this sense?

G.R.C. I am glad you brought that in because we need to take account of the activities of the Spirit in this section of Acts.

• In chapter 9 the Lord is stressed as active in the calling of Paul and securing him as an elect vessel.

• In the higher levels of the mystery the Lord’s activities become more and more apparent, although the Spirit’s service is essential all through.
  • For instance, when Rebecca was brought to Isaac he led her into his mother Sarah’s tent.

• In the higher levels the Lord Himself as head becomes more and more prominent, but in this section the Spirit is prominent.

• It should draw out our affections to the Spirit as we see how active He is in the unifying of the body and in preparing the way for Paul’s ministry.
  • “In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews of Greeks, whether bondmen or free”, 1 Corinthians 12: 13.

F.E.S. Would drinking into one Spirit, symbolised in the cup, make the matter of unity joyful, not irksome?

G.R.C. It is indeed a matter of joy. There is nothing irksome in it, as we give place to the Spirit. In this chapter the Spirit takes Peter in hand in a most affecting way. He says,

• “Behold, three men seek thee; but rise up, go down, and go with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them”.

• Who would have thought that the Spirit sent those three men? You might say Cornelius sent them, but the Spirit said He had sent them. He was over all these operations, taking charge of the whole matter.

• He does not wait for Peter to finish, but while he was yet speaking
  • “the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”.

• He did not even wait for water baptism, showing most manifestly how His deep feelings and the urgency of His affections led Him to act energetically
  • in order that the full thought of the assembly from this standpoint, view and Gentile brought together in one body, might be brought to pass.

F.W.B. In chapter 11 Peter says,

• “I remembered the word of the Lord”.

• Is not that by the service of the Spirit?

G.R.C. It is; and it shows what an impression the Lord’s words in Acts 1: 5 had made on Peter. It was indelibly in his mind, and the Spirit could bring it forward at the right moment.

G.H.B. Peter also said,

• “the Spirit said to me” in chapter 11: 12.

• So that there is no doubt as to which of the Persons is acting.

G.R.C. It was a critical point in Peter’s history, and it is affecting that the Spirit should say,

• “go with them, nothing doubting”.

• The Spirit knows how to enable us .to go forward nothing doubting.

A.B. Would you connect the power of the Spirit with the promotion of unity among the saints? We have to wait sometimes to see how things are going to come to an issue, but can we count on the Spirit?

G.R.C. It would greatly help us if we did count on the Spirit and wait upon Him; sometimes we take matters into our own hands.

F.E.S. When we have difficulty with certain persons – some may not get on well together – if we have recourse to the Spirit He will help us in the way in which He helped Peter here.

G.R.C. Quite so. If we understood the baptism of the Spirit in a practical way all these difficulties would be overcome because we should all be immersed in the Spirit.

F.W.T. Would Peter be encouraged by the authority of the Spirit. He says,

• “I have sent them”.

• As subject to the Spirit’s authority would we get help together?

G.R.C. The Spirit asserts His authority in the matter of unity. We should recognise it, I am sure.

A.M. As to Peter’s words, “In no wise, Lord”, was he addressing the Lord Jesus, or was it really the Spirit?

G.R.C. It is evident that Peter was subject. The title ‘Lord’ implies that he was a subject man.

• Although he says, “In no wise, Lord”, it is not in the spirit of insubjection.

• I would say that the voice “Rise, Peter, slay and eat” came to him with divine authority and that is why he used the word ‘Lord’, but
  • from the setting of the chapter it would appear that the voice was actually the voice of the Spirit.

G.R.W. Can we not address the Spirit as Lord?

G.R.C. Scripture says, ‘Lord Spirit’ or ‘Jehovah Spirit’, 2 Corinthians 3: 18.

• The Spirit is Lord in relation to His place in Deity, just as the Father is Lord – see Matthew 11: 25.

• Even as regards the Lord Jesus, His lordship goes beyond what He is as made Lord. The angel says,
  • “a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord”.

• That really means Christ Jehovah. He is Lord in His own right in Deity; but, as Man, God has made Him Lord and Christ.

J.O.S. In Isaiah 6: 8 it says, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

• When Paul quotes this section in the last chapter of Acts he says the Holy Spirit spoke. Does that confirm what you are saying?

G.R.C. It does. “Holy, holy, holy” in that chapter seems to be an indirect reference to the Trinity.

• Each of the Persons in the Godhead is Lord in His own right.

• In John 12, referring to the same passage, it says,
  • “These things said Esaias because he saw his glory and spoke of him”, verse 41.

• So the passage is applied to the Lord Jesus as well as to the Holy Spirit.

H.P. In Acts 11: 9 it says, “And a voice answered the second time out of heaven, What God has cleansed, do not thou make common”;

• and in verse 12 it says,
  • “And the Spirit said to me to go with them, nothing doubting”.

• Is Peter referring to the same Person?

G.R.C. The fact that the voice was out of heaven does not mean that it was not the Holy Spirit, because we cannot limit the Spirit at all.

• He never ceases to be who He is as a Person of the Godhead; and the point of the voice out of heaven, I would say, is to stress heaven.

• There was a sound out of heaven in chapter 2, a light out of heaven in chapter 9, a great vessel out of heaven and a voice out of heaven according to chapter 11.

Eu.R. Does it not leave us with an impression that the whole Godhead is delightfully active as engaged in this great matter of the reception of the Gentiles?

G.R.C. I would say that and especially the Spirit.

J.J.McC. Is that not borne out in chapter 13, where we have a further – reference to the direct operations or speaking of the Spirit?

• You have already alluded to those who were present, a mixed gathering, and it says,
  • “the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul”,

• as if the Spirit had great interest in the bringing in of the Gentiles, having in mind particularly what is for the heart of Christ.

G.R.C. That is very good; it confirms what we have been saying. The Spirit was operating with a view to Saul, afterwards Paul, filling out the whole of his ministry and securing the bride for Christ.

J.P.H. And it is interesting, too, that in chapter 16, where Paul is about to go into Europe,

• he is forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow him to go to Bithynia, and then a man comes to light.

• I was just thinking of the Spirit Himself controlling Paul with a view to his ministry coming into the west.

G.R.C. All that is very instructive and should attach our hearts to the Holy Spirit as we see how He takes affairs in hand.

• How true He is to His mission, and how He asserts His sovereign authority in connection with the unity of the body and the securing of the church for Christ.

A.G.B. Does 1 Corinthians 12 stress the sovereignty of the Spirit?

• “But all these things operates the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each in particular according as he pleases”.

• That chapter refers to the way we regard one another,
  • “those parts of the body which we esteem to be the more void of honour, these we clothe with more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness … that there light be no division in the body, but that the members might have the same concern one for another”.

• Is that something like the working out of things locally in the light of the sovereignty of the Spirit?

G.R.C. I am sure it is, and it shows how the Spirit, in the way He distributes to each in particular, would help us as to mutual respect for one another.

• How can I have anything but respect for a brother or sister as I see the Spirit manifesting Himself in and through them?

• Then as we respect one another, we shall appropriate one another as cleansed by God, thus viewing one another according to our divine and heavenly origin.

• What strength such food affords in moving forward bodywise.

W.W.S. Is it well to remind one another that the voice of the Spirit will be heard only in certain conditions? It says in chapter 10,

• “But as Peter continued pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him”, and

• in chapter 13, to which allusion has been made, it says,
  • “And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting”.

• Are those the conditions necessary if we are to hear the voice of the Spirit?

G.R.C. That is very interesting – individual conditions in Peter and assembly conditions in chapter 13.

G.W. And in verse 30 of chapter 10 it says of Cornelius that he had been fasting “unto this hour”.

A.B. It is interesting that two praying men are put together. Peter had withdrawn to pray. Then he sees the vision, and the Spirit speaks to him. Cornelius also was a man marked by prayer.

G.R.C. Prayer and dependence make way for the Spirit’s activities.

A.H. Could we have a word about chapter 10, verse 44,

• “While Peter was yet speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”.

• Is it the same word as Luke 15: 20, where the father,
  • “fell upon his neck and covered him with kisses”?

• It is the idea of embrace – a feeling matter.

G.R.C. It is an act of affection on the part of the Spirit. We were hearing last night about the love of the Spirit – is not this an example of it?

J.C.T. I was wanting to enquire about the thought of affectionate movement of the Spirit. Is it to mark us in the way that we embrace one another?

• There were persons hearing the word. Once this feature is in evidence there are no reserves on the part of the Spirit.

G.R.C. How lovable people are as they hear the word, how lovable they become to the saints, how lovable they are to the Spirit. He fell upon them; that is, embraced them.

• The love of the Spirit was drawn out to those who were hearing the word.

W.W.S. Is it the idea that the Spirit cannot withhold Himself, the lovable features were so attractive to Him.

G.R.C. He does not even wait for Peter to finish nor does He wait for water baptism.

J.O.S. When the servant saw Rebecca it says he ran to meet her.

G.R.C. Another reference to the depth of affections in the Spirit.

This morning we were engaged with the revelation to Peter in chapter 10,

• the Spirit being active in a remarkable way to prepare and adjust Peter, with a view to his exercising the authority the Lord had given him – the keys of the kingdom of the heavens –

• in order to make way for Paul’s ministry, to whom the administration of the mystery was committed.

• If that administration was to go through it was essential that Peter should fulfil his service in using the keys,

• and essential that he personally and all the holy apostles and prophets should be brought into line with what we spoke of as the lower levels of the truth of the mystery, that is, that
  • “they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings”.

• We considered how that bears on us in our localities and our relations with one another; we need to act as Peter did and to have the view Peter had of the vessel, as a great sheet, which contained all kinds of creatures, a vessel which comes from heaven, and goes to heaven!

• We are not to be hindered or turned aside from the great light which has shone through Paul, through failing to have a right outlook on the brethren.

• We are to have such an outlook on the brethren that we are prepared to feed on one another, “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”.

• In the light of the death of Christ we are to look upon one another as cleansed by God, and to feed upon one another as those who, from the divine standpoint, have a heavenly origin.

Now we are to consider the practical functioning of the assembly in the sphere of testimony.

• In the earlier part of Acts the activities were largely in the hands of the apostles, the foundation men;
  • but now the structure is erected and the assembly as a living organism, a living structure, is functioning in its own dignity, and, as we may say, in its own precedence, because

• the assembly takes precedence over the greatest gifts, although it needs the gifts and their service.

• It is good to get a view of the dignity of the assembly as a living active vessel for God here in testimony, devoted to the interests of Christ.

• Chapter 11 refers to “the ears” of the assembly, and as she hears things which relate to the interests of her Husband her feelings are aroused and she takes action. It says,
  • “the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas”.

• Then chapter 12 refers to the prayers of the assembly. The assembly had a right valuation of Peter, and unceasing prayer was made by the assembly to God concerning him.

• The whole assembly in Jerusalem was praying. At least three local companies are mentioned in this chapter.

• There may have been a hundred meetings; the whole assembly was engaged in prayer and it results in angelic intervention, which we can count upon.

In chapter 13 the assembly is the vessel in which the gifts are set and in which the Holy Spirit speaks authoritatively in His own sovereign right,

• “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”.

• The Lord Jesus had commissioned Saul for his great work at his conversion, as he tells Agrippa.

• But he did not go round telling people that the Lord had commissioned him; he waits until the Holy Spirit speaks in the assembly so that there can be no question about it.

• Persons claiming that the Lord has commissioned them, when the brethren know nothing about it, do not carry confidence.

• But the great apostle patiently pursued his service at Antioch as at the bottom of the list, esteemed, I suppose, as the least of the gifted men at Antioch at that time.

• Although he knew in his own soul what the Lord had called him to, he waited until the Holy Spirit’s voice was heard in the assembly saying,
  • “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”.

• Who could say anything against that?

Following that, elders are referred to in Chapter 14; he chose them elders in every assembly –

• not over but ‘in’ every assembly

• – and chapter 15 affords instruction as to the relation between elders and the assembly in a matter relating to the truth, for the assembly is seen there as
  • “the pillar and base of the truth”.

• The result of it all is that the assemblies generally were confirmed and increased in number every day – chapter 16: 5.

• One feels that if we were in the gain of these chapters that would be the result; instead of so little increase, which we often deplore, the assemblies would be confirmed and increase in number every day.

J.P.H. As we have a universal outlook in our affections and interests, does the Lord bring us news of the brethren in various parts?

G.R.C. I would think that. If we have assembly ‘ears’ the Lord will see to it that the tidings of what He is doing reach us.

W.J.T. Would the thought of the sheet bound at the four corners suggest what is universal?

G.R.C. It would. God “desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth … the testimony to be rendered in its own times”, 1 Timothy 2: 4-6.

• That is the present testimony.

W.S.S. Is it remarkable that the persecution which took place on the occasion of Stephen should have led to the establishing of the position at Antioch?

• How wonderful the overruling hand of God is in these matters. We should never be discouraged if persecution comes in, for it will establish the truth more firmly amongst the saints.

G.R.C. To be scattered abroad, viewed from a natural standpoint, is a great calamity; there was a certain amount of it during the last war – called evacuation.

• If we gave way to nature it would bring about despondency. But there was no despondency amongst these saints.

• First they spoke to Jews alone, but then they went over the wall, as it were, and spoke to Greeks, announcing the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus.

• So that if scattering takes place we should see in it all the ordering of God for the furtherance of the testimony; and the ears of the assembly would be alert as to what God is doing.

W.S.S. I suppose the Cyprians and Cyrenians would be the most unlikely kind of people to bring the truth to educated people in Antioch.

J.M. Was there at Antioch the development of body features which were hardly apparent at Jerusalem?

• The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch, the features of Christ had developed;

• and then consideration one for another leads them to minister to the brethren in Judaea.

G.R.C. The truth of the body of Christ came into view definitely at Antioch. According to 1 Corinthians 12: 27,

• “ye are Christ’s body and members in particular”.

• So they were called Christians. You can understand how that would come about under Paul’s ministry.

• But at the same time we have to give credit to the assembly at Jerusalem in that they had ears, they had feelings about things;
  • and while in this broken day we cannot send out anybody in the way they did, yet it is just a question how much true assembly feelings of this kind have developed amongst us,

• whether we have a living interest in what is happening far afield at the moment, as, for instance, in India; and whether we are prepared to do all that we can assembly-wise.

• If these feelings were really developed in us, would not the outposts be better looked after?

• Where the saints are in large numbers they are fairly well looked after. The saints invite certain ones to minister; we are accustomed to assembly invitations.

• But if these feelings were more developed would not brethren be encouraged to visit and minister the word in outposts where the local brethren feel loth to invite because they are small in number and far away?

• It is a question of the feelings proper to the assembly as caring for the interests of Christ. Here the assembly sent out the best man available.

Eu.R. Perhaps if there were more assembly feelings with us, and more prayer for the outposts in the prayer meeting, the Lord might move more brethren to visit the outposts in India and the like.

• Brethren in the north of Norway are well worthy of a visit. It is most refreshing to take account of the way they move in line with the testimony.

K.P. Is that what Paul means in chapter 15: 36, when

• he says, “Let us return now and visit the brethren in every city where we have announced the word of the Lord, and see how they are getting on”?

G.R.C. There it is Paul himself taking the initiative. In chapter 13 the Holy Spirit takes the initiative:

• “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”.

• But after the journey was over and they had fulfilled the work, Paul said to Barnabas,
  • “Let us return now and visit the brethren … and see how they are getting on”.

• There is room for the ministers themselves to be concerned about pastoral visits.

A.B. Is not Barnabas developed as moving in chapter 11?

• Certain fresh qualities come to light in him. He had already been spoken of as
  • “son of consolation”; now he is referred to as

  • “a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith”.

• Later he fetches a better man, Paul.

G.R.C. Barnabas is a great model. He was the best man they had, other than the apostles.

• When it was a question of the work in Samaria the apostles sent Peter and John – the two best apostles.

• In chapter 11 the assembly sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch – no doubt he established the brethren all the way along –
  • and “having arrived and seeing the grace of God, rejoiced”.

• Then it says, as you say, that
  • “he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith”;

• and he proved his worth in going away to Tarsus to seek out Saul, the very best man for the work in hand.

A.B. Unselfish love on his part had in mind the best for the saints.

G.R.C. It is remarkable the perception he had as to the potentialities there were in that vessel:

• “he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul”.

J.M. Would you say a further word as to whether we should wait to be sent out or wait for an invitation, or move on our own exercises with the Lord?

G.R.C. We have noticed the way Saul waits at Antioch; he does not go further until the Holy Spirit says, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul”.

• Prior to that he is amenable to the brethren, and to a brother seeking him out. He was there for a whole year as a result of a brother seeking him out. It shows that, as brethren, we can help one another.

• Then the Holy Spirit directs in chapter 13, and later he had a vision of a man saying,
  • “Pass over into Macedonia and help us”, 16: 9,

• and they concluded that the Lord had called them.

• It appears, therefore, that generally an individual waits for direction of some kind. But what is in mind at the moment is the assembly’s part in the matter.

• The assembly is spoken of as having ears and being affected by what she hears and taking action in the interests of Christ – like the virtuous woman who considers the field and buys it; she does something about it.

E.J.B. Would assembly ears hear what may arise in a locality by a sovereign action of the Spirit, apart from us?

• I was thinking of the possibility of a town or village having persons in it exercised as to the assembly, and yet knowing nothing as to procedure. Assembly ears might hear something of that?

G.R.C. That has happened in times past, and meetings have been established as a result. In our locality at the moment there is a work going on, and it is an exercise as to whether God may secure some assembly material from it.

W.S.S. Would you say a word as to the assembly sending out in chapter 11, and the Holy Spirit sending Barnabas and Saul in chapter 13? We have been taught that the assembly does not preach or teach or send out.

G.R.C. Have we been taught that the assembly does not send out?

W.S.S. According to chapter 11 the assembly did send out.

• I am seeking help as to the general principle; I am not suggesting that in this broken day these things would occur as they did at the beginning.

• But should these feelings and sensibilities govern us even though we cannot send out in this way?

• If the affections of the assembly are touched surely there will be results, the assembly will be praying about it and something will be done – not in the way of official sending out, but something will be done.

G.F.S. Even if only in a practical way.

G.R.C. Quite so. The assembly will be prepared to support in a practical way suitable persons who are able to go.

W.S.S. We need to be very much exercised in our localities in regard to these matters.

G.R.C. We are used to the idea that a servant is responsible to the Lord and in the ultimate issue that must govern him; but have we tended to make service too individual?

• According to chapter 11 there are the ears of the assembly and also the feelings and actions of the assembly relative to the interests of Christ.

R.W. In chapter 8 it says that Philip going down to a city of Samaria preached Christ to them. Is that not the kind of preaching that the Spirit would link the assembly with?

G.R.C. I think so; but in chapter 8 the apostles take action. In chapter 11 it is the assembly that acts.

E.C.L. The virtuous woman in Proverbs 31 considers and acts in view of all the interests of her husband, and in doing so she is blessed in all her work. Is the assembly moving on that line here?

A.L.B. One of the things it says of the virtuous woman is that she delivers girdles to the merchant. I was thinking of the binding together – involving Barnabas going out.

G.R.C. That is an important feature; binding together resulted. Barnabas goes to Antioch and then seeks out Saul, and they teach for a whole year;

• and when the famine came anyone of the disciples that was well off determined, each of them, to send to the brethren who dwelt in Judaea to minister to them.

• So that the “girdles” were very much in evidence; the assemblies were bound tightly together in the bonds of divine love.

• The truth of the body, Jew and Gentile, brought together in one body, was seen as an actual working reality in the sight of heaven.

A.B. Does it show that the governmental dealings of God in the persecution, and His providential dealings in the famine, all worked together, through divine love, for the development of what is pleasing to God in the assembly?

G.R.C. That is very good. They were designed to knit the assembly together, Jew and Gentile. All God’s dealings have the prosperity of the assembly in view.

C.C.I. Paul spoke of the burden of all the assemblies in 2 Corinthians 11. Would he have in mind that, as local companies, we should be alert to what is happening throughout the earth?

• So that sorrows in any locality affect the saints universally in relation to the truth of the assembly.

G.R.C. One of the great points in his letter to the Corinthians was to deliver them from parochialism;

• they were so proud of themselves and so self-satisfied that they did not look beyond their own locality.

J.L.W. Is that something we need to bear in mind in our meetings for care? We tend to be very parochial.

G.R.C. We do. In Corinthians Paul referred to universal customs and directions.

• He also told them what was going on at Ephesus:
  • “for a great door is opened to me and an effectual one, and the adversaries many”, 1 Cor. 16: 9.

• They knew nothing about it, because they had not assembly ears. A meeting wrapped up in itself has not assembly ears at all.

A.G.B. Is it interesting to see that the unceasing prayer in chapter 12 stands related to a direct and venomous attack on the assembly with a view to nullifying the unifying affections working at the end of chapter 11?

• The attack was defeated and at the end of chapter 12 it says that the word of God grew and spread itself.

G.R.C. “At that time Herod the king laid his hands on some of those of the assembly”.

• It is not simply some of the disciples of the Lord, it is the assembly that is stressed now, a living organism so precious to God.

• No one can lay his hands on some of the assembly except at mortal peril to himself, no matter how great he may be.

• Where true assembly features are developed they are so precious to God that He will not have them destroyed.

• The attack was used by God to bring out the further feature of assembly prayer.

A.G.B. There might be a danger of our being overwhelmed by such a venomous attack, but if it develops assembly prayer God comes in, and thus way is made for the word of God to grow and spread itself. The result is evident.

G.R.C. I wonder whether we realise the power and efficacy of assembly prayer. According to Matthew 18: 19,

• “if two of you shall agree on the earth” – that is, two of the assembly – “concerning any matter, whatsoever it may be that they shall ask, it shall come to them from my Father who is in the heavens”.

• Do we believe that the Lord gives us a ‘blank cheque’ in regard to assembly prayer?

• The Lord, in His own case, says,
  • “Thinkest thou that I cannot now call upon my Father, and he will furnish me more than twelve legions of angels?” Matthew 26: 53.

• The Lord did not ask for them, and the assembly may not always be free to seek deliverance; nevertheless twelve legions of angels were available. One angel was sufficient in this chapter.

J.P.H. We were not afraid during the war to pray for Cairo, and God stopped a great army; and Cairo and the assembly there were preserved.

G.R.C. That was an important meeting during the war.

A.H. What would be the effect of James being slain in relation to what you have said? There was a great deal of exercise as to Peter, but the saints did not seem to be alert as to James.

G.R.C. They were certainly alert as to Peter. Unceasing prayer was made by the assembly to God concerning him.

• The final result was not only that an angel released Peter but that an angel of the Lord smote Herod because he did not give glory to God, and he expired eaten of worms.

• But over against that the word of God grew and spread itself – wonderful result of prayer!

• The Lord bringing this down to any ‘two of you’ in Matthew shows that the resource of assembly prayer is always available.

F.E.S. Do you think the Lord is allowing the trade-union element to assert itself so that the feature of prayer and the fruit of it may be encouraged amongst us?

G.R.C. And not only trade unions but trade associations;

• I believe assembly prayer would work wonders in these matters.

• Some trade associations are just as murderous as trade unions. If you do not belong to them you cannot get goods.

• But all these things. I have no doubt, can be met by assembly prayer. What can God not do!

Eu.R. Do you think it is necessary to stress the murderous element, however nice the associations may appear in their activities?

• Would not 2 Corinthians 6: 14, “be not diversely yoked with unbelievers”, be sufficient?

G.R.C. I would think so; and you certainly have what is murderous here:

• “at that time Herod the king laid his hands on some of those of the assembly to do them hurt, and slew James”.

G.R.C. I think so; and also from calamities which happen nowadays. This was a great calamity.

• It was persecution, and he died for the testimony; yet there was not the glory attaching to it that marked the death of Stephen.

• It was just the wanton act of a wicked man. God allows, at times, what appears to be a great calamity among the saints to bring out assembly feelings and to quicken assembly prayers.

D.W.W. In what way did you mean that trade associations can be met by prayer?

G.R.C. God can enable His saints to get through and gain a livelihood in spite of them.

W.J.T. You mean that their power would be broken in answer to the prayers of the assembly.

G.R.C. God can completely break the power of these confederacies and He can come in in other ways and provide for His own.

• We are told in Isaiah not to fear confederacies, but
  • “Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread”, Isaiah 8: 13.

• When you think of the angelic resources available, what can God not do? How easily He can deal with these seemingly powerful men!

H.P. Does Peter himself get the gain of the scripture quoted in Isaiah? He uses it in his epistle. Does it show that the government of God is on behalf of those who fear him, and against those who do not?

G.R.C. Peter’s epistle helps.

• “Sanctify the Lord the Christ in your hearts”.

S.H. Have we to notice that in spite of such pressure, when assembly prayer is proceeding, assembly administration proceeds normally? According to verse 25 the service of Barnabas and Saul was fulfilled. It was part of assembly administration.

G.R.C. Quite so. It is interesting to see how this attack was timed by the enemy.

• Had it dismayed and discouraged the brethren they would have failed to get the gain of the ministration which Barnabas and Saul had brought;
  • and the remarkable effect, to which our brother has referred, of the girdles uniting Jew and Gentile practically in one body, would have failed to materialise; but it did not fail!

• The resource of the saints was in prayer; Peter was released, Herod was destroyed; and the chapter concludes by referring back to Barnabas and Saul, indicating that this service of binding the saints together had been fulfilled.

W.S.S. Would you say a word as to Peter’s experience in this chapter coming before the Antioch position in chapter 13?

G.R.C. Barnabas and Saul carried in their souls the gain of all that transpired in chapter 12; they would bring the gain of it to the assembly in Antioch.

• It says, “there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers”.

• What a dignified view of the assembly! This is not now in Jerusalem. The assembly in Jerusalem had had a distinctive place.

• But now the heavenly side of the truth was out and the Spirit of God brings out the glory and dignity of a local assembly as seen at Antioch.

• The Spirit loves to adorn the assembly with distinctive gifts:
  • “Barnabas, and Simeon, who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul”.

• What a mixed company! It reminds us of what was in the great vessel like a sheet, in chapter 10.

• These men were among those whom God had cleansed, and not only had He cleansed them but they were gifted men and assembly adornment.

G.F.S. You were stressing that they were in the assembly.

G.R.C. Quite; God had set certain in the assembly, and here they were.

A.McG. Would those set in the assembly bring out one side, the public side, and then is there the feeling side in regard to the body, God having tempered the members?

G.R.C. Just so. Underlying all is the truth of the body, and as members of it we have the same respect one for another.

• Then it says, “as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said”.

• What a dignity this gives to the assembly that this glorious Person, the Holy Spirit, is there!

• While we know this is special, yet the way it is set would leave one with the impression of the normality of the Spirit’s presence and speaking in the assembly.

• As we are together, in holy conditions, ministering to the Lord and fasting, it would be a normal thing for the Holy Spirit to speak.

• What dignity that gives to the assembly!

J.L.W. The gifted men are not over the assembly – the Holy Spirit is in that position administratively.

G.R.C. That is important. They were in the assembly which was there. Gifted persons are not to assume to be over the assembly.

• The assembly is the greatest vessel, and in that vessel there are great persons.
  • So “the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”.

• Marvellous thing to think of the assembly in that way as the vessel where the Spirit is and where His voice is heard expressly!

G.W.B. Are these conditions spiritually suitable to His voice being heard, as ministering to the Lord and fasting?

G.R.C. They were ministering to the Lord, that is, engaged in priestly service.

• Priestly service should underlie all that we do.
  • Paul said, “God … whom I serve in my spirit in the glad tidings of his Son”, Romans 1: 9.

• The word ‘serve’ there means priestly service. Even when Paul was preaching he was serving as a priest.

• Fasting, I think, means the refusing of natural tastes and desires, and that leaves the Spirit free. The Spirit should have complete liberty in the local assembly, and then He will use whom He will.

• If we have natural likes and dislikes it tends to quench the Spirit. The Spirit distributes to each in particular as He will.

• If we are ministering to the Lord and fasting we are prepared for the Spirit to do as He will.

• If the flesh had been active at Antioch some of the brethren might have said, Why choose the one at the bottom of the list? Why go from Barnabas right down to Saul?

• But as ministering to the Lord and fasting they were ready for whatever the Spirit indicated.

A.G.B. Do I gather that this sending finalised itself in chapter 16? What would be in the mind of the Spirit at this point would be the filling out of all Paul’s service, going westward even as today.

G.R.C. Quite so. The Spirit had in mind all Paul’s service, although in divine wisdom He puts Barnabas with him at the beginning.

• The Spirit is always considerate, acting in a manner calculated to carry the full confidence of the brethren; He would never do anything to cause cleavage amongst brethren.

• So He links Barnabas with Saul, and Barnabas was an excellent companion for this first journey because of his unselfishness.

• While to begin with he had the first place, before they had gone far Paul was in the ascendancy, and that is what the Spirit had in mind.

J.P.H. Is the secret of the Spirit’s selection of Paul seen in verse 9,

• “Saul, who also is Paul”?

G.R.C. Because he is little, you mean – that is just it. The Spirit will use us if we are small enough.

F.F. There were no local peculiarities or customs at Antioch. It says,

• “in Antioch in the assembly which was there”.

G.R.C. There should be no local habits or customs.

• It is a great sorrow to hear people speaking of what ‘we’ do in the sense of local customs. “We” normally is the universal “we”.
  • “We have no such custom”, Paul says; that is the universal “we”.

• But to proceed, the sending out in chapter 13 was a new departure, and you can understand the Spirit Himself coming into it,
  • so that there should be no question about it, but that it should carry full confidence.

• It was evident to all that He was governing the reception of the Gentiles in chapter 10. Now He is sending out Barnabas and Saul.

• Then in chapter 14 we come to the choosing of elders. Apostolic authority, in the actual person of the apostles, was a passing phase.

• But under Paul’s economy of the assembly no apostle could remain in every place to help the local meeting. Therefore in chapter 14: 23 it says,
  • “having chosen them elders in each assembly”.

• Note that it is “in each assembly”, not over each assembly.

• There is no thought of an elder being over the assembly any more than there is any thought of gift being over the assembly; gifts are in the assembly, and elders are in the assembly, as Peter says,
  • “the elders which are among you”, 1 Peter 5: 1

• – that is where they are, they are among you.

W.S.S. I suppose the passage in chapter 14 would link up with chapter 20: 28:

• “take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers”,

• having in mind the departure of the apostles?

G.R.C. Yes. So eldership is essential for the care of the assembly.

• We have to remember that the principle of eldership governs the care-meeting, because when it is a question of caring for the assembly of God the apostle gives the qualifications of overseers.
  • He says, “if anyone does not know how to conduct his own house, how shall he take care of the assembly of God?” 1 Timothy 3: 5.

• We should all aspire to the work of overseership, but the actual care of the assembly of God is in the hands of the elders or overseers.

W.S.S. That would preserve us from the democratic spirit.

G.R.C. We have to beware of that spirit. What I am saying does not mean that the care-meeting is not open to all;

• it is open to all, as indicated in chapter 15, and we are glad we have so many young people in fellowship.

• At our care-meetings quite young persons are present, and we would desire that from early days they might aspire to exercise oversight, for
  • “if anyone aspires to exercise over-sight, he desires a good work”.

• You cannot be too young to desire to care for the assembly of God.

• But, nevertheless, we must avoid democratic principles; we must avoid the idea of power from below, for the
  • principle of Christianity is “power from on high”.

G.F.S. Would you say that spirituality is an essential feature in relation to eldership?

G.R.C. Yes. The verse quoted, chapter 20: 24, speaks of the Holy Spirit setting them as overseers.

J.W.G. Does what is educational enter into the care-meeting? I was thinking particularly of the younger brethren.

G.R.C. It does, and also it is important that every conscience should be carried in view of anything going further to the assembly.

• Every conscience should be carried and enlightened. The consciences of all need enlightening as to principles involved in any matter;
  • but we must keep to scripture as to the care of the assembly being in the hands of elders.

• I am not speaking of official elders for we cannot appoint official elders in these days. If any claim to be official elders the Lord will not support them.

• But the Holy Spirit, having the care of the assembly, sees to it that in every assembly there are those qualified to care. So it says here,
  • “elders in each assembly”;

  • in Titus 1: 5 it is “elders in each city”.

• But what we have to remember is that not only are there elders in a city but elders in each assembly, which means each gathering in the city.

• The Holy Spirit would not leave one gathering in a city without the element of eldership.
  • Paul speaks of “the assembly which is in thine house”,
    Philemon 2;

• in every one such assembly there would be the element of eldership. Of course, elders in the city add great strength to the whole position.

C.R.W. The elder brethren could not possibly decide any matter except as assembled with all the saints, could they?

G.R.C. The next chapter helps us as to that. We have a very serious matter there and it brings out what the assembly is as

• “the pillar and base of the truth”.

• When the truth is at stake the assembly takes the matter up. First of all the assembly at Antioch took it up because it says,
  • “they therefore, having been set on their way by the assembly”

• went to Jerusalem; and then it says,
  • “being arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly, and the apostles, and the elders”.

• The assembly is put first. Throughout this section of Acts the assembly is seen to be paramount, and it remains paramount throughout the dispensation.

• Then as the passage proceeds and the conflict had commenced, it says in verse 6,
  • “the apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter”.

• It does not suggest they were together alone – the whole company appears to be there.

• The discussion, however, was in the hands of the apostles and elders,
  • “much discussion having taken place”.

• But the discussion was apparently in the presence of all the brethren.

G.F.S. Verse 12 would confirm that:

• “all the multitude kept silence and listened to Barnabas and Paul”.

G.R.C. Yes. So that first they were all listening to Barnabas and Paul in verse 4, then the opposers speak in verse 5;

• and then the apostles and elders discussed the matter in verses 6 and 7.

• They would not expect young brothers to take part in a discussion of that kind, when the truth was at stake, but it would be educative for all – there was much discussion.

• The discussion was needed so that the minds of the brethren might be clarified as to the whole issue. Discussion belongs to the care-meeting.

• Then the Holy Spirit takes charge of the matter authoritatively.
  • “Peter, standing up, said to them, Brethren”.

• It was now, one would judge, an assembly meeting. Peter was speaking authoritatively, bringing in a word of wisdom by the Spirit, as it says,
  • “to one, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge”.

• Peter brings in a word of wisdom. Then Barnabas and Paul in verse 12 go on to relate all that God had wrought among the nations, which would confirm the word of wisdom.

• Then, when they held their peace, James, by the Spirit, gives a word of knowledge with a supporting scripture and is enabled to express a judgment which carried the consciences of all the saints.

• In the final issue they say,
  • “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”,

• that is, the Holy Spirit was authoritatively in the matter.

A.McG. It looks as if the meeting of assembly character followed very closely on the meeting for care.

G.R.C. It was a very special occasion; but we can just get the general principle of the way elders functioned in the care-meeting, as we speak,

• and then the way the Holy Spirit came into the matter authoritatively in the assembly. It says,
  • “it seemed good to the apostles and to the elders, with the whole assembly, to send chosen men from among them”; and later,

  • “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”.

B.G.H. Is it important that James gives a distinct and definite judgment which all understood, even the simplest person present?

G.R.C. If the Holy Spirit has His place a clear judgment will always be expressed. This is specially important when the truth is at stake.

W.J.T. Would Micah 5: 5 help,

• “When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men”?

• The brethren have shepherds and princes to raise against the enemy in his movements.

G.R.C. Quite so. Elders are not over the assembly but in the assembly, as already remarked.

• Peter speaks of “the elders which are among you”, and warns them not to exercise oversight as lording it over their possessions.

• Normally their discussions would take place in the presence of the brethren; there are sometimes sordid and defiling details which might profitably be kept out of the care-meeting; but, apart from these, things should be ventilated before all the brethren.

• I say that because later in this book, chapter 21: 18, the elders come together apart from the brethren generally, and they do mischief.
  • It says, “on the morrow Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders came there”;

• it does not say the brethren were there, but
  • “all the elders came there. And having saluted them, he related one by one the things which God had wrought among the nations by his ministry”.

• Then they proceeded to give Paul wrong advice. That is what happened when the elders gathered independently of the saints.

E.J.B. How do you regard Galatians 6: 1 in this regard?

• “If even a man be taken in some fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one”.

• Would that call for spiritual eldership?

G.R.C. Yes. That applies in all cases whether a matter comes to the assembly or not; restoration must be in the hands of those who are spiritual.

Rem. It says in James 5: 14,

• “Is any sick among you? Let him call to him the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord … and if he be one who has committed sins, it shall be forgiven him”.

• But I wondered whether the scripture in Acts 21 shows the danger of elders assuming an official status and acting on their own.

• The advice given on that occasion was unspiritual, it was wrong, it was just expediency.

• Normally, we need the atmosphere provided by brethren as together to keep the discussions on a spiritual level.

• The assembly, as such, is in the background all the time as being the greatest vessel. The elders are not over it.

E.J.B. The elders as a whole would not meet together except in the care-meeting?

G.R.C. No, unless there is something of a sordid character of which some details might be spared the brethren.

E.J.B. Would all the elders be involved in that, or might it be just one or two godly ones?

G.R.C. Just those who are directly handling the case. We need to avoid the idea of official elders in all that we are saying.

• Nevertheless we must recognise that the care of the assembly is especially the responsibility of those who have the moral qualifications of eldership.

H.M. Would it be particularly necessary in a day of brokenness to take the brethren into our confidence and to bring things to the care-meeting, although we cannot speak of having elders in the way they had them at the beginning?

G.R.C. Just so.

A.H. Is it not instructive that in the beginning of chapter 21 we have a wonderful indication of what lies in the Spirit?

• The mind of the Spirit is given by a little company of saints. They say to Paul by the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.

• My own exercise is that we need much help as to the recognition in a local company of the presence of the Spirit, the local company being divine territory, and it should not be invaded by elders from other parts.

• I think it has been trespassed against.

G.R.C. Elders normally function in the local companies.

A.H. Are we warranted in going beyond that? What you have referred to in Acts 15 is a matter of this very thing.

G.R.C. A man is what he is wherever he is; but his special responsibility would be in his locality.

• But what you say as to having respect for the local company as a vessel of the Spirit is of great importance.

• The beginning of Acts 21 is remarkable. A simple company of saints at Tyre could tell the great apostle by the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.

• It shows the predominance of the assembly; the assembly must predominate in everything.

Rem. Paul found the disciples there; they were not expecting him.

G.R.C. He found the disciples, and moved among them in such a manner that they were free in his company and the Spirit could use them to speak to him.

• The greatness of the assembly shines out in that.

• It is a contrast to what happened in Jerusalem where he goes to James and meets the elders by themselves.

R.W. In view of what has been said, is it not good to distinguish between what relates to elders and what is priestly? A brother with priestly discernment is helpful anywhere.