<p>9:40 <em>For he that is not against us, is for us</em>- See on :39. If a person is not against the Lord personally (:39), then he is not against &quot;us&quot;, the body of Christ. And so even if that person will not mix with us, from God's wider point of view he is &quot;for us&quot;, &quot;on our part&quot;. Here on earth, sectors of the Lord's body are against each other. But from the Lord's perspective, those who are not against Him are on His part. But speaking evil of the Lord personally (:39) is parallel here with not being against <em>us</em>. And here we have a worrying implication. Attitudes to those in Christ are attitudes to Him. To be &quot;against&quot; any of them is to be against Him.</p><p>And so the Lord's attitude to John&rsquo;s disciples is very telling. He saw those who &ldquo;follow not us&rdquo; as being &ldquo;on our part&rdquo;, not losing their reward, as being the little ones who believed in Him; and He saw wisdom as being justified by <em>all</em> her children, be they His personal disciples or those of John (Mk. 9:38-41; Lk. 7:35). John&rsquo;s men had a wrong attitude to fellowship- they should have &lsquo;followed with&rsquo; the disciples of Jesus; and it would seem their doctrinal understanding of the Holy Spirit was lacking, although not wrong (Acts 19:1-5). Indeed, they are called there &ldquo;disciples&rdquo;, a term synonymous with all believers in Luke&rsquo;s writing. And the Lord too spoke in such an inclusive way towards them. No wonder His disciples had and have such difficulty grasping His inclusiveness and breadth of desire to fellowship and save.</p>