This afternoon we have read out of two epistles which refer to the local aspect of the assembly, and it is noticeable that the idea of local assemblies is not brought forward in Acts until after Paul's conversion. In Acts 9: 31 it says

• "The assemblies then throughout the whole of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, and were increased through the comfort of the Holy Spirit".

• And after that, Peter goes through all quarters and visits local assemblies, so that the metropolitan idea that was necessary there at the beginning as to the assembly in Jerusalem, begins to give way to what really was Paul's economy of the assembly, that is the assembly as set in local companies in the cities of men, with no earthly centre.

• In these two epistles Paul is addressing two local companies who came into being through his ministry, and he brings in two sides of the truth which have to be held together in our souls in our localities.

• In the first case, Thessalonians, he addresses them as the assembly of the Thessalonians and he makes no reference to his apostleship; it is what you might call an unofficial letter, it is just three brothers writing.
  • "Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace".

• That is a very different address from his address to the Corinthians. There he emphasises his own official position,
  • "apostle of Jesus Christ, by God's will",

• and he emphasises what one might call their official position, and their dignity according to God,
  • "to the assembly of God which is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints".

• It is a more dignified address by far than could be addressed to any earthly authority or power.

• Governments address one another as high contracting parties and so on, and the language of diplomacy on earth is full of complimentary phrases which may mean very little, but Paul's address to the assembly in Corinth puts a marvellous dignity upon them; it is a dignity that almost confounds our thoughts, the greatness of it,
  • "the assembly of God which is in Corinth … sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints".

• That is what they were in their dignity as set in that city by God. But if we take that up without the truth of Thessalonians it will be mere empty officialism. We must have the truth of Thessalonians underlying, and the address to the Thessalonians is a very practical matter, coming down to the saints just as they were in that city, calling them what they were, Thessalonians, just as the brethren in this place are Markinchians.

• Nevertheless he calls them the assembly, he puts a dignity upon them so far; they are the assembly but the assembly of Thessalonians which refers to them just where they are in their local settings and just what they are, but different from other Thessalonians because they are in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

• In this epistle these ideas are developed, what it means to be in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. It involves family affections as in God the Father, and power and grace to walk here worthily of God as being in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the kingdom. It involves the most tender affections.

• This must underlie the Corinthian side of things. If the greatness and dignity of what is brought out in the letter to Corinth is to be carried out according to God, the warmth and reality of the family conditions depicted at Thessalonica must be there underneath.

D.M. Do you mean it is so many individuals who are moving together in the light of the assembly and with assembly affections?

G.R.C. Yes, while he calls them the assembly, the personnel are stressed, it is the assembly of Thessalonians, and they are moved by family affections. He says they were taught of God to love one another, and they were to abound in it more and more.

• They were in God the Father, that supposes the family, and they were in the Lord Jesus Christ, that supposes the power of the kingdom, in their actual setting as Thessalonians. They were thus different from all other Thessalonians.

M.M.S. Is that the thought of "in the Father" seen in the Lord when He speaks in John 17, He says "I in thee", would it come in there?

G.R.C. When the Lord says that He would have the highest level of things in mind, I would think, in view for us there. The Lord is speaking with a view to our entering into the Father's own realm; but we are in the family of God down here.

• But even here, in the place where we are known as Thessalonians or Londoners as the case may be, we are set together assembly wise as in God the Father, so that family affections prevail amongst the saints.

A.N.G. The epistles to the Thessalonians are not, in the main, corrective epistles, and so he is free to bring them forward first as in God the Father, having in mind that the assembly is to be the vessel of praise and worship, and will continue to be so till the Lord comes, which is also the subject matter of Thessalonians?

G.R.C. I am sure that the height of assembly testimony is in mind. Paul never had anything less for any company. I think that is why he calls them the assembly. He does not develop the truth of the assembly as such, but he reminds them that they are the assembly.

• He has all the thoughts of God about the assembly in his mind for them; but he has brought them in their soul history to this point, that they are in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; and they are never to leave that.

• In moving on to greater things as to the assembly, they are never to leave this position; and my impression is that we would all be well advised to look to it that we are in this position consciously and practically, and that we remain in it. It bears on what we had yesterday that the glory of the Father is governing us and we are wholly restful in the sense of His care of us in our circumstances.

• They were a suffering company, and the word Thessalonians takes into account all their circumstances which were trying circumstances; but they were in God the Father and that was the answer to everything. The Father loved them, the Father cared for them.

• And then they were in the Lord Jesus Christ; so that whatever happened there was power available to meet everything they had to contend with in every day life as well as in assembly matters.

• And I believe, dear brethren, that we need establishing on this fundamental side in view of taking up the Corinthian aspect.

R.H. Would these be the babes to which the Father has been so pleased to reveal things; and were they in the good of the appropriation of one another that we had this morning in relation to the adjustment of Peter?

G.R.C. That is very good. In one aspect we are always to maintain the attitude of babes in the sense that we are dependent on revelation for what we are to know, we are not among the wise and prudent

• But then these believers were little children according to John's epistle, but they were in God the Father, and John says about the little children, that they know the Father, and in circumstances of trial and affliction they could trust the Father. That is a fundamental matter for us all. If we are restful and trusting the Father, it promotes affections amongst us, tender fatherly affections.

• We are not to go on long before fatherly affections begin to be formed in our hearts towards each other. When the Lord says love one another as I have loved you, He has just called them "children"; it is a fatherly idea. He says "children, yet a little while I am with you", but He was going away, so He says, love one another as I have loved you; exercise fatherly care towards one another.

R.R. So John says "behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God". Does that correspond to being in God the Father?

G.R.C. I think it does.

A.A. Having been placed sovereignly in this wonderful sphere of divine affections should there be the extension of that in the local assembly setting in regard of each other?

G.R.C. That is just what I had in mind. We are taught of God to love one another, and the apostle says "abound more and more". I think what our brother brought before us last night bears on this, because Paul himself, as amongst them, was a model of this kind of truth. Is that so Mr B?

A.G.B. Yes. I was thinking of Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus. Is this position reached by the saints in their consciousness of "in God the Father" and in "the Lord Jesus Christ" through brethren being together in a service that reaches that end; brothers operating together as in Thessalonica and in our local companies?

G.R.C. I think so. I think Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus would have set the truth before them not only in word but in deed, in their attitude to one another, the way they loved each other, the respect they would give to Paul as the one who peculiarly had a father's place; they would see the thing exemplified in these three men. Is that what you had in mind?

A.G.B. Yes, they would be so operating together, Paul so constantly uses the word ‘we’.

G.R.C. So that it is a great thing to avoid officialism. There is the official side of things in the right sense, but we are to avoid officialism. Family affections are to underlie everything that proceeds amongst the saints.

A.R. And is it your thought that these conditions of family affections that were seen in the Thessalonians should be carried forward, we do not leave them behind if we move on to the Corinthian levels of the truth, but they rather help us in the reaching of those levels would you say?

G.R.C. We should not leave this behind at all, we should maintain this sympathetic outlook upon our local brethren, and upon the brethren in other localities. In each locality the saints have certain things to meet which no others have.

• We think of them as plants of the Father’s planting in all the circumstances of that particular city; and I believe there is room for a more sympathetic and loving outlook on the saints from this standpoint. That will prepare the way and set the saints free to take up the Corinthian side of the truth.

A.A. So that although not himself of Thessalonica the apostle can say

• "because you have become beloved of us".

G.R.C. They were beloved of Paul, and he says to them

• knowing, brethren beloved of the Lord, your election".

• That is another thing to notice in the Acts, that after Paul is converted and moves about in his ministry the saints are continually called "the brethren", showing that Paul, wherever he went, laid this foundation of family affections; the assembly was built on it.

A.C.C. In Deuteronomy 33 the blessing of Moses the man of God, which is the unofficial side, he says of Benjamin,

• "of Benjamin he said, The beloved of Jehovah"

  that would be the affectionate side, the family side,

  "he shall dwell in safety by him"

  that would be the Lord Jesus Christ, and

  "he will cover him all the day long, and dwell between his shoulders".

G.R.C. That is very interesting; I feel that one has little understood the resource we have in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is resource for every contingency that can arise.

J.B.M. While Paul, Sylvanus and Timotheus would leave very definite impressions of the Father, on the other hand, were the Thessalonians impressionable? I was thinking of the reference to the babes; babes are very impressionable material, therefore capable of taking on the impressions conveyed by these brothers.

G.R.C. I would think that was one of the reasons they became so dear to Paul, "you have become beloved of us". It is a feature of loveableness to see those who are so sensitive and ready to take on the truth.

W.B. In connection with this company of young believers, it is of interest that in writing to the Philippians, who were a very advanced company, the apostle speaks to them about Thessalonica, and to the Thessalonians he speaks not only of Macedonia and Achaia, but also of the assemblies of Judaea. Is it of interest that these young believers are told about the saints elsewhere, linked up with them?

G.R.C. That is very good. It is important that, while recognizing God's affections for us, and care in our local settings, we should have a universal outlook, and I believe Paul had in mind, as also in the last chapter of the first of Corinthians, to widen the outlook of the saints.

• It helps the brethren to hear what is going on elsewhere. We have heard recently of the breaking of bread commencing in Bombay on the 20th of this month. All such news of brethren in other parts is intended to widen our outlook, to give further scope for our prayers, and deliver us from self centredness, or local centredness, do you not think?

• And so these brethren became imitators of the assemblies which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus; they had a wide outlook.

H.P. Is there an indication of the importance of this matter in the remarkable way that he closes the epistle with a word of adjuration, "I adjure thee". A word of adjuration is really a most important matter is it not?

G.R.C. Yes, the reference is to verse 27 of the last chapter,

• "I adjure you by the Lord that the letter be read all the holy brethren".

• It does seem to show the importance of this letter.

A.R. Would you say another word as to the oneness of assembly functioning. All the local assemblies would harmonise in carrying out assembly service. There is not one rule for Thessalonica and another for Corinth. We move in conformity would you say?

G.R.C. Quite so. That is where the distinction between these two epistles lies. If we think of the assembly of the Thessalonians they had their own distinctive character, just as the Corinthians had.

• He says in a second epistle, "Oh ye Corinthians".

  He also says "Oh ye Philippians".

• He thought of each company in their local setting with their own peculiar tests and difficulties and exercises, God having in mind that every locality should be formed in certain features which will shine out in the day to come.

• But, on the other hand, when you come to what is proper to the assembly of God, then you come to uniformity, because the assembly of God in Corinth, when it is acting as such, and in the ordering proper to the assembly of God, could not be different from the assembly of God in Thessalonica or in Philippi. The assembly of God must be marked by the same features in every town.

A.R. That is what I was thinking.

J.A.C. Is that what the apostle has in mind in writing to the Corinthians when he says

• "if any one think to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the assemblies of God"?

G.R.C. That is just what he has in mind. He does not say ‘nor the assemblies’, but "nor the assemblies of God".

• It is the local assemblies viewed as the assemblies of God, and the assembly of God in any locality would act in a similar way in matters relating to God and divine order, as the assembly of God in any other locality, because it is the same God, and He is the God of order.

A.A. So that in the second epistle he says "So then, brethren, Stand firm, hold fast the instructions that you have been taught, whether by word or by our letter".

• hat word for instruction is the same as referred to in first Corinthians 11 is it not, directions?

G.R.C. They are of universal application.

J.B.S. Would you say that the fact that there are two epistles to Thessalonians and two to Corinthians shows that these exercises should continue and go on?

G.R.C. I think when there are two letters it shows that the matters in hand are urgent, and they need a sustained exercise to bring them to completion.

A.R. Would you think then that if in a certain locality, there is assembly action, it would, as being of God, carry weight and power in all the other localities?

G.R.C. Are you thinking now of disciplinary action?

A.R. Yes, or it might be other matters. If assembly action is carried out in one locality, it has its weight and bearing on all the others.

G.R.C. Yes, the Lord is jealous of His rights in the local assembly, it is called in that connection, the assembly of God in Corinth. God has rights, of course, because it is His assembly, but it says

• "with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours",

• which shows that the directions in the letter to Corinth are universal in application, they apply to every local assembly, and the Lord is jealous of His rights in each local assembly.

• The local assembly is the constituted authority in that place to act for God, as acting in relation to the Lord; and it behoves those in other localities to recognise that.

• Even if, in an extreme case, all cannot subscribe to the judgment arrived at, they must leave the constituted authority to the One whose authority it is, the Lord will deal with it. Individuals can speak to them and seek to give help, but meantime it behoves all the brethren to accept the position.

• The local assembly is the constituted authority under the Lord in that city, and if that authority acts wrongly, he will deal with it in His own way and time. Others can give advice, but the Lord will deal with it.

• t is not for others to arbitrarily set aside the judgment arrived at, it is the Lord's matter. That is how I understand it. I do not know whether you agree.

A.R. I think that helps.

Ques. Why do you think that the apostle links himself with a brother who is very little known, "Sosthenes the brother"?

G.R.C. He was a local brother, was he not, at Corinth, who must, I suppose, have been with Paul at this time.

• I think there is special wisdom and skill in that because there was much to correct at Corinth and, while Paul asserts his official position and authority, he links the brother with him.

• In principle he brings the truth of Thessalonians into the matter, he is not ignoring that side. Sosthenes the brother would represent the Thessalonians side of the truth. The fact that he had suffered – Acts 18: 17 – was also calculated to touch their affections.

W.B.J. Is it important that it speaks in Thessalonians first of being "imitators" before it speaks of being "models".

• It says in verse 6 "ye became our imitators

  and then in verse 7 "ye became models to all that believe".

G.R.C. Very interesting. It could not be the other way round could it? Would they not become models through being imitators of these three brothers and of the Lord?

J.H. Would the term assembly of Thessalonians indicate that there should be a realisation, on the part of each individual, of the assembly calling and standing. We saw yesterday that the Spirit sat upon each one; it has been said that we cannot have strong corporate conception with a weak realisation.

G.R.C. The truth of the family idea would produce loving care for each individual. We should love one another as the Lord Jesus has loved us.

• He said "of those thou hast given me, I have lost none".

• That is the kind of care that this would lead to, a carer for each person in the local assembly, so that not one should be lost, but that each one should be preserved for his place in the assembly of God.

J.Cm. “Ye know how, as a father his own children, we used to exhort each one of you, and comfort and testify, that ye should walk worthy of God”.

G.R.C. That shows to what an amazing extent Paul himself was a model. They became models, but Paul himself was a great model on the line of family affections. Could you help us Mr B?

A.G.B. Well one's eye was just resting on 1 Corinthians 4: 14-15. While the family side is presented in its own distinctiveness in Thessalonians, yet does not Paul interweave it even with the authoritative ministry he gives to Corinth?

• He says, "Not as chiding do I write these things to you, but as my beloved children I admonish you. For if ye should have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the glad tidings. I entreat you therefore, be my imitators”.

• Is not the Thessalonians side of the truth interwoven even with the commandments of the Lord in this epistle?

G.R.C. Does that not show that we should never leave the truth of the family behind, otherwise we become mere officials.

• Paul could have asserted his authority and written all these directions to Corinth simply as an apostle, but he weaves his fatherhood into it, as you say.

A.R. He also brings in the house of Chloe, and the household of Stephanus, and Fortunatus and Achaichus, these were marked by the warmth of family affections and they really held the ground at Corinth till recovery came in.

G.R.C. That is very fine because Corinth was overridden by officialism of a wrong kind. If we depart from the family thought we shall get mere officialism.

• At Corinth most of the brothers and sisters in the meetings wanted to be somebody; but that is the very antithesis of the Thessalonians teaching; the very opposite of Paul, a man who was prepared to cherish the saints as a nurse her own children, and to admonish them as a father, and who would have found delight in imparting to them his own life. 1 Thessalonians 2: 8.

A.R. And does he not say that what the Corinthians had failed in they had supplied? So that there was a resource in these families in Corinth, and something that answered to the apostle’s desires.

W.H.B. Before he adjures them by the Lord in the end of chapter five he says

• "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss".

  He says, "I adjure you by the Lord that the letter be read to all the holy brethren"

• but there were conditions of love, greeting one another with a holy kiss, previous to it. Would that be a basis of affection in which the truth can be readily received?

G.R.C. It would, and I think the word "greet" has to be noted, because the word greet is the family idea. In Paul's letters dealing with the dignity of the saints, he says, Salute one another with a holy kiss.

D.M. Does Paul demonstrate this principle in Acts 20? While discoursing in the presence of much light, certain conditions arise, and he is so marked by a father's feelings that he is able to descend, and embrace Eutychus in his arms. Would he exemplify there the unofficial spirit that is able to meet an emergency?

G.R.C. I am sure that is right. It is somewhat like the Lord laying aside His garments, is it not? It was not Paul moving in his official dignity as an apostle, but moving in the bowels of affection.

• If there are these conditions of warmth and affection amongst us, we shall be able to take on the great thoughts connected with the assembly of God in a place. There were other assemblies in Corinth, but only one assembly of God, where God was.
  • "Sanctified in Christ Jesus"

• would imply that in the assembly the priestly service of God was proceeding.

• There were even temples, where hideous rites were going on, and lying oracles, but there was the assembly of God where the sanctified in Christ Jesus were carrying on the true service of God, and where the oracles of the living God were.

W.B.J. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians of their faith, love and hope. It is the work of faith, the labour of love, and then the enduring in relation to hope?

G.R.C. You may say to me that you have got faith, but I would say ‘show me your work of faith’.

• It means that they were real. They had not only got faith, but it was proved, there was a work of faith.

• Then you may say you love the brethren, but I would say, If you really love you will labour.

• As to hope, you may say, I am hoping for the Lord's coming. Well, show me your enduring constancy, show me by your every day life that you are looking for His coming and are not earthly minded.

• The evangelical side of things is stressed in Thessalonians,
  • "From you sounded out the word of the Lord",.

• and it is from these conditions. I believe we tend to lack these conditions, and that may be why we get so few converts. It is from these conditions of faith and love that the word of the Lord sounds out.

• But the word of the Lord sounds out in order to attract and secure people who will be brought in, and when they are brought in they come into the gain of the assembly of God; they come into the very shrine, where God is, and where the simple person falls down and says
  • "God is among you".

• But the word of the Lord sounding out is one side, and it is in view of securing souls who will come into this vessel which is called the assembly of God in Corinth. It shows that both sides of the truth must go on together.

J.A.C. Is that what the Lord would have in mind, when He said as to the testimonial side,

"by this shall all men know that ye disciples of mind, if you have love among yourselves"?

G.R.C. That is just the point. It is the warmth and reality of love amongst the saints that attracts people from outside. Once they are attracted and drawn in, they come into the environment of the very shrine of God Himself, and they will be affected then, in a deeper way. The man falls down and does homage to God.

A.R. Would you say that there is not only to be love amongst the saints as the basis, but the sounding out would be an approach to men? And we know the assembly does not preach, but is the assembly not responsible to provide conditions for the preaching?

G.R.C. I think the state at Thessalonica provided these conditions. There was a warmth of affection from which the gospel could rightly go out; the preaching had a right backing. Is that so?

A.R. Yes, and perhaps the regret we have as to seeing so few results might challenge us as to our state locally.

G.R.C. I believe we need more warmth and reality, and that is what marked these young believers, a work of faith, and a labour of love. Where is our work of faith? Where are our labours?

• Also a state of enduring constancy of hope would provide a background from which the preaching would go out with great buoyancy and vigour, and people would be affected and brought in. Corinthians shows what such souls are brought into, the assembly of God in the place.

T.T. So in coming into the Corinthian circle, do we find not only affection, but divine authority; God's will is to be done?

G.R.C. "Paul apostle of Jesus Christ, by God's will", everything in God's assembly is regulated by God's will.

• There is no room for man's will in the assembly of God, everything is to be ordered according to God's will, and therefore, according to apostolic direction.

A.G.B. Would it be right to think that we begin to appreciate authority, as seen in the family setting? There is authoritative speaking in the family on the part of the father and the mother?

G.R.C. That is good. Authority is easy to accept from a father and mother, so it should have been easy to accept from Paul because he was spiritually a father and a mother among the saints.

• But then, in the assembly of God, there are commandments; everything must be according to divine commandment, and the apostle says,
  • "if any one think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you that it is the Lord's commandment".

• There is no room for deviation from the Lord's commandment. The epistle to the Corinthians regulates the assembly of God, and every assembly in any part of the earth is subject to the same regulation. There are not different regulations in Sydney from what there are in Markinch; it is the same commandment.

H.P. In the second epistle to the Thessalonians he says

• "But we trust in the Lord as to you, that the things which we enjoin you, ye both do and will do".

• Does not the reception of the word of the Lord prepare us to take on authority?

G.R.C. I think the acceptance of the word of the Lord is just what is needed, because the Corinthians is addressed to all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours, and we gather as those who call on the name of the Lord.

• We gather as those who say Lord Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the whole principle of our gathering.

A.N.G. Do you think the Lord sometimes exercises us with skill because of what is not referred to. In the first epistle to the Corinthians Paul said that God has set certain in the assembly, apostles, prophets, teachers and so on, but he makes no reference to evangelists. Would they not be exercised as to why he left that out?

G.R.C. Perhaps it was because of their state?

A.N.G. I thought so.

G.R.C. On the other hand, it may be that the main point in this epistle is not evangelism – it has a great place in Thessalonians, and we carry that forward – but in Corinthians, it is a question of God's assembly,

• and what is due to Him in His assembly, and what is to be known and learnt in it, because the living oracles are there. And so in chapter 3 it says
  • "Do you not know that ye are temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you".

• That word temple is the very shrine of God. His immediate presence could be known in that heathen city. God Himself was there, because the Holy Spirit of God was there; and they were to recognise what they were in that respect.

A.R. And would you apply that to local companies today?

G.R.C. I would. Not that we can take the ground of being the assembly of God in a place, but as acting on second Timothy two and seeking to walk humbly with others in the path of righteousness, faith, love and peace in assembly matters, governed by the light of Corinthians, can we not rely upon the Spirit of God, Who is certainly dwelling in us, to provide us with temple conditions?

A.R. I think that is helpful, because sometimes when a meeting is small we are apt to disparage it, whereas if conditions are right, even though there is fewness of numbers and weakness, the Spirit of God is ready to come in with temple light.

G.R.C. I am sure that is true, and so you find repeatedly in very small meetings when things appear to be dying out, the Lord brings in some soul from the locality, who says that God is there, although the conditions are so small, and the soul is added to the Lord.

Ques. Do you think that as we recognise what is due to God it comes near to giving glory to God?

G.R.C. According to this epistle we are to do all things to the glory of God; and that lays the basis for the praise of God in the assembly in which glory is rendered to God in the highest degree possible from a creature vessel.

J.B.S. It says that the temple of God is holy. Do you understand there that holiness is practical? Or what is the bearing of holiness there? It says "such ye" and the "ye" is emphasised.

G.R.C. I think the apostle is viewing them abstractly, in relation to the work of God in them.

• Abstract does not mean unreal, it simply means that we view the brethren apart from what they are in the flesh, like Peter was enjoined to do,
  • "what God has cleansed, call not thou common".

• Viewing them thus he can say "such are ye", they were holy. Later he says, as to the leaven,
  • "purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump even as ye are unleavened".

• It sounds like a contradiction. They were to purge out the old leaven, and yet he says "even as ye are unleavened"; that is the abstract view.

A.A. Would it refer back to "sanctified in Christ Jesus"?

G.R.C. That is a word that implies holiness, is it not? They were a holy company in the mind of God and according to His work, although there was much practical unholiness there.

• He has in mind that there should be practical holiness and encourages them in it by saying "such are ye". He does not say, such you ought to be, but "such are ye"; be true to what you are.

• That is the method the apostle always used. He tells us what we are, according to divine workmanship, and exhorts us, in practice, to be what we really are.

J.Cll. What would be the difference here in regard to the corruption of the temple and God dealing with the matter, and the saints dealing with the matter further on in chapter five?

G.R.C. I think this is more serious than chapter five.

• "Him shall God destroy"

• I would say refers to false teachers. He refers to the building earlier, and what any one build, although even there he speaks of a person being saved, but so as through fire.

• But then there are some false teachers who will never be saved. They will be destroyed by God, because they have corrupted His temple in this sense.

A.N.G. Mr. Raven always insisted on the truth of the temple, and he illustrated it by saying that the height of Israel's history was in the days of the temple. When that was destroyed the Lord came in and spoke of the temple of His body. Then in Corinthians the apostle insisted on the truth abstractly that the saints were the temple, in view of it being secured substantially.

G.R.C. That is what we desire to do today. We are looking at the abstract view but we want it to become substantially true in our localities.

J.Tr. Balaam says "and that this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, what hath God wrought". Is that the way the Corinthians are viewed?

A.C.C. And does Paul hold on to the abstract with a view to persons being affected and presenting their bodies a living sacrifice, having the whole sanctuary in mind?

G.R.C. Exactly. In chapter six he says "do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?"

• And "do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price".

• He goes back in his teaching to remind them of the individual side which must precede the truth of the temple in chapter 3: 16.

• Individually we must recognise that our bodies are members of Christ and temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in us. If that is so we shall merge together as the body of Christ and as temple of God.

• Understanding that our bodies are members of Christ will help us to merge together as body of Christ according to chapter 12; and understanding that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit will help us to merge together as temple of God collectively as in chapter 3.

• He says as to the man in chapter 5 "to deliver him… to Satan for destruction of the flesh". But in chapter 3 "him shall God destroy" — it is the person who corrupts the temple. The man in chapter 5 was recovered.

J.Cm. It shows that the apostle, while viewing them abstractly, could deal with evil on the principle of righteousness in order that the one might be recovered to what is abstract.

G.R.C. I do not think we can deal with what comes in unless we have the abstract view, nor can we help the saints to deal with the thing unless we bring the abstract view before them. He is putting the abstract view before these saints who were in such a low state with a view to their rising up to the level of their calling and dealing with the matter.

J.Tr. Does it show how slow they had been in taking in this abstract thought? They had not the spiritual discernment to know when to withdraw from the man, nor had they the spiritual discernment to know when to restore him.

G.R.C. We always need help on both lines. We need help to act when we should act, and act quickly, when it is necessary; but also to be just as quick in restoration.

We ought to go on now to the truth of the body because the body underlies the temple. While in the teaching the apostle brings in the temple first, in chapters 12, 13, and 24,

• he shows how the truth of the temple works in practice, through the recognition that we are the body of Christ, and members in particular, and that the Spirit distributes to each in particular as He will, according to verse 11 of chapter 12
  • "all these things operates one and the same Spirit dividing to each in particular as He pleases".

• So that the practical gain of the temple depends on our recognizing the truth of the body. All our collective relations depend on understanding the truth of the body. It is because we are body of Christ that we are temple of God.

• When He was here, His own body was the temple, but now the saints as Christ's body are the temple. Therefore we shall never get the gain of temple of God unless we are governed by the truth of body of Christ.

W.McI. Had the Psalmist that side in Psalm 48 when he said

• "we have thought of thy lovingkindness in the midst of thy temple".

• Is that the sort of feature to be looked for — feelings bodywise?

G.R.C. We need body feelings. You cannot think of an illustration which views us so close together as the illustration of the human body.

The term "Lord's Supper" might be translated "the lordly supper".*