THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES

Contents

PART I: THE CHURCH

I Introductory
2 The Church and the Kingdom of Heaven
3 The Body of Christ
4 A Fourfold Description of the Church
5 The Father's Family
6 "The Unity of the Spirit"
7 The Building Up of the Body of Christ
8 The Church the Object of Christ's Love

PART II: THE CHURCHES

9 Local Churches
10 "Jesus is Lord"
11 Spiritual Gifts
12 Ministry and Deacons
13 Baptism
14 "The Table of the Lord" and "The Lord's Supper"
15 "Reception"
16 Church Discipline
17 Giving
18 The Church, the Churches, and the Scriptures
19 Local Church Characteristics
20 The Position and Service of Sisters

PART I: THE CHURCH

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTORY

In matters of doctrine it is of vital importance that the authority upon which we act shall be one on which we can unhesitatingly rely. There are those who advocate that such authority is vested in the Church. This at once introduces certain questions for our consideration, namely, what the Church is, and what are its calling, constitution and destiny. No claim to authority on the part of any man, or company of men, can be admitted, till it is proved to be well founded. We do not acquiesce in anyone's demands simply because he puts them forward.

BASIC FACTS

It is axiomatic that the Church is the possession of Christ. if Christ were non-existent, there would be no Church. That there is a Church at all rests upon the basic facts of His Incarnation, His Atoning Death and His Resurrection, and upon the fulfillment of His prophetic announcement, "I will build My Church."

Our knowledge of this statement by our Lord is derived from the writings of the New Testament. These are indeed the chief sources from which comes our knowledge of Christ Himself, of the claims He made and the work He accomplished. This would involve, were it necessary here, the accumulation of proofs that the contents of the New Testament consist of authentic historical details and teachings and Divinely inspired writings. The subject of the authenticity, authority and inspiration of Scripture has been adequately dealt with elsewhere and will not be taken up in these pages. Suffice it to say that the evidence of Holy Scripture is of primary importance; all other evidence can be only subsidiary to it. As to their validity, the New Testament books were written by men who lived both in the time and in the country in which Christ lived, by men who wrote immediately for the generation that was born before Christ died, and many of the writers had been witnesses of the events they narrated. Where the writers had not personal experience of some of the events they recorded they had ample means of verifying the statements they made. All the evidence, external and internal, establishes their veracity. The very contrast of the character of these writings with that of non-canonical writings, both contemporaneous and of subsequent periods, pays its telling tribute to their validity and Divine authority and inspiration.

Of the four Gospels the Gospel of Matthew is the only one that contains a direct statement made by Christ concerning His Church. The same is true regarding a local church. But in each respect all that is taught in the rest of the New Testament is consistent with our Lord's statements, the whole forming a harmonious body of doctrine relating to the subject. The establishment of the claims of Holy Scripture and the Divine authority of its teachings necessitate our adherence to it and our acceptance of that alone which is in accordance with it. To follow any teaching contradictory to the doctrines taught by Christ and His Apostles is to challenge at once the accuracy of Holy Scripture and His prerogatives as therein set forth.

We turn, then, to these writings to consider the nature and constitution of the Church and the churches, and the character and scope of the authority given by Christ for the promulgation of doctrine.

THE TERM EKKLESIA

In the New Testament the word ekk1esia (lit. "called out"), apart from its application to an assembly of Greek citizens (Acts 19:39), and to a riotous mob (verses 32, 41), and to Israel (Acts 7:38), is used in two senses only, firstly, of the whole company of the redeemed throughout the present era, the company of which Christ said, "I will build My Church" (Matt. 16:18), and which is further described as "the Church which is His Body" (Eph. 1:22, 23); secondly, in the singular number, of a company consisting exclusively of professed believers, with reference to the place in which they are accustomed to meet together, and in the plural with reference to a district. [1]

A SPIRITUAL ORGANISM

The truth relating to the Church, as formed by the incorporation of believing Jews and Gentiles in one body, of which Christ is the Head, is spoken of by Paul as a mystery (i.e., a truth to be revealed to the saints in the Divinely appointed time) which from all ages had been "hid in God" (Eph. 3:1-9), "kept in silence through times eternal" (Rom. 16:25, R.V.).

While this great fact of its constituent parts as a living spiritual organism was especially committed to that Apostle (Eph. 3:9), the first specific pronouncement concerning the Church was made by Christ on the occasion of Peter's confession of Him as "The Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matt. 16:16). The Lord declared that the Father, and He alone, had revealed this to him, and that on the foundation of that revelation Christ Himself would build His Church, [2] and that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. The revelation conveys the great foundation truths of the Person of Christ as such, His eternal relation with the Father, and the fact of His resurrection; He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead" (Rom. 1:4). Being eternally the Son of God He was declared to be so in His resurrection. That He would be Himself the Builder of His Church was essentially connected with His death and resurrection. By these, too, He vanquished all that Hades stands for, the gates representing the place where authority is exercised. He brought to nought "him that had the power of death" (Heb. 2:14). Upon Christ risen, victorious, life-giving, immutable, the Church is established. "Other foundation can no man lay."

A SPIRITUAL EDIFICE

Conspicuous among the facts relating to the Church as set forth by Christ and His Apostles are its spiritual establishment and its heavenly character and destiny. The Apostle Peter, continuing the metaphor used by the Lord, and speaking of Christ Himself as "a living Stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious," says of believers, "ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices" (I Peter 2:5). "All the building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy Temple in the Lord" (a sanctuary, a spiritual holy of holies), believers being "builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:21).

The Apostles did not establish an earthly system, an organization of churches centralized in ecclesiastical headquarters. Such a policy is significantly absent both from their methods and their doctrine. What took place at Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 15 provides no example of such a centre. The company which assembled there has been called an apostolic council. Whatever was its nature, no Apostle presided over it; Peter and other Apostles took part, James summed up matters in a closing speech, and an epistle was addressed in the name of the Apostles and elders, and delegates were chosen by the whole local church together with them (verse 22). But this gathering was incidental and not intended as a precedent. No other such assemblage is recorded in apostolic times. Nor did the decision effect a settlement of the trouble. Peter himself was afterwards found acting inconsistently with the decree (Gal. 2:11-14).

A great missionary enterprise was initiated from Antioch, but instead of taking place under the aegis of Jerusalem it was undertaken in entire independence of the Apostles there, and own of their delegates (Acts 13:1-3).

UNAUTHORIZED SYSTEMS

Events at Jerusalem, therefore, provide no support for the establishment of a controlling centre for the organization of churches. One will search in vain in the Acts and the Epistles for even an intimation of the establishment of such an institution.

Apart from such matters as the supply, by churches in a district, of the needs of poor saints in another region, the only bond binding churches together was spiritual, that of a common life in Christ and the indwelling of the same Holy Spirit. There was no such thing as external unity by way of federation, affiliation or amalgamation, either of churches in any given locality or of all the churches together. Apostolic testimony is, indeed, against the organization of churches into an ecclesiastical system. There is no such phrase in Scripture as "The Church on earth," nor is there anything in the Scriptures to justify such an idea (see p. 57). The only Head of the Church is Christ, and at His hands provision is made for the spiritual needs of each local church. The Church, consisting of all who are joined to Him, the Head, is "visible" as an entity to God alone. In contrast to it there stand out to the eyes of the world ecclesiastical systems, but these include the real and the false. As systems, they are the product of departure from the design of the Divine Founder and Builder and of human interference with the operation of the Spirit of God.

The view has been promulgated that certain decrees of church councils, and potentates, in centuries subsequent to apostolic times, were either developments from apostolic teachings or such additions as were necessary to meet the circumstances of later times. That the accretions were developments is contrary to facts, and that additions were designed or needful is contradictory to the testimony of Christ and His Apostles.

The following pages show something of the departure from the instructions and commandments laid down for the churches by the Lord and His Apostles, and the radical difference between what was established in apostate Christendom and the doctrines of the faith "once for all delivered to the saints." The rise of ecclesiastical systems produced a state of things in the churches which, so far from being developments of the faith, were utterly opposed to it. Such a departure was, after all, the fulfillment of what Christ and His Apostles had foretold, that false teachers would arise, speaking perverse things.

In these later times the Spirit of God has been operating in the hearts of thousands of His people, causing them to return to apostolic teaching.

CHAPTER TWO: THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

The Lord's statement to the Apostle Peter, that upon the rock foundation of the truth of his confession, as embodied in His own Person, He would build His Church and the gates of Hades should not prevail against it, was followed by the promise, "I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). It is important to observe the distinction made by the Lord between the Church and the Kingdom of Heaven. To identify the two gives rise to much confusion.

"The Kingdom of Heaven" describes Heaven as the place from which authority proceeds, while the earth is the sphere in which it is exercised. Heaven is God's Throne, the Seat of Divine Government (Ps. 11:4; 103:19; Matt. 5:34; Acts 7:49). When the One who exercises the authority is the predominant thought, the phrase used is "the Kingdom of God," &~ phrase which also extends beyond all the various ages of time with their dispensational features.

"The Heavens" have always ruled (Dan. 4:32). Inasmuch, too, as the Kingdom of Heaven assumed a special phase with the testimony of Christ in the days of His flesh, obviously the Kingdom of Heaven preceded the formation of the Church. While yet the inception of the Church was future Christ denounced the Pharisees for shutting up the Kingdom of Heaven against men: "Ye enter not in yourselves," He said, "neither offer ye them that are entering in to enter" (Matt. 23:13). That alone would be sufficient to show that there is a distinction. They were not hindering men from entering the Church, as it did not then exist.

THE KEYS

In saying to Peter, "I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven," He was at once differentiating between the Kingdom and the Church, of which He had just spoken. The keys are symbolic of authority and of the power to give admission to something. In this case the admission was not to the Church. Peter did not open the door into the Church either when He preached to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost or when he preached to Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. If the preaching of the gospel is the opening of the door into the Church, then all who engage in preaching are openers of the door. Moreover, the Lord's commission to preach the gospel was given to all the Apostles, as recorded in Matthew 28:19. While, on the one hand, He was about to build His Church, which would consist of true believers only, His disposition of the affairs of the Kingdom of Heaven, of which He handed Peter the keys, was quite another matter; it had to do initially with the nation of Israel, in the midst of which the powers of the Kingdom had already been exercised, though it was not limited to Israel.

ISRAEL AND THE KINGDOM

Whereas there is no mention of the Church in Christ's previous discourses, He had constantly spoken of the Kingdom of Heaven, as also had His herald John the Baptist in his special mission to Israel. Each had given the nation the message, "Repent ye; for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2 and 4:17), clearly a reference to the fact of Christ's presence in the nation. The Kingdom had been one of the Lord's chief topics in His discourses.

The nation of Israel, though professing allegiance to God, had shared in the general rebellion of mankind (cp. Isa. 1:2, 4). The King had at length Himself come into their midst, but they had refused to recognize Him, and, at the time when Christ spoke of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Jews were just about to reject Him absolutely. For this they were eventually to be "cast away," until a time of restoration, an event still future (Rom. 11:15,25). In spite of this, to Peter was to be committed the proclamation of a great amnesty to the nation, and thereafter the gospel was to be carried by him and others t6 the Gentiles.

PENTECOST

On the Day of Pentecost, after explaining the circumstances of the sending of the Holy Spirit, and addressing his hearers as "men of Israel" (Acts 2:22), and "brethren" (verse 29), i.e., as his fellow nationals, the Apostle proclaimed the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified by "the hand of lawless men." "All the house of Israel" were to know assuredly that God had "made Him both Lord and Christ" (verse 36). In, his subsequent message to the nation he says, "The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Servant Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied" (3:13). Yet, upon the condition of their repentance, their sins would be blotted out, "seasons of refreshing" would come from the presence of the Lord, and He would send the Christ (verses 19, 20).

Here, then, was a proclamation to the nation, "the house of Israel," and in this and his further testimony the Lord fulfilled His word to the Apostle, that to him He would give the "keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." In other words, besides the new fact that the Church, the Body of Christ, began to be formed at Pentecost, the Apostle Peter, in offering terms to Israel, was dealing administratively with the affairs of the Kingdom of Heaven; not that he was the first to do so (that is not involved in the Lord's word that He would give Him the keys), for the authority of the Kingdom had already been operating, but that he fulfilled a special function in regard to it.

.While members of the Church, the Body of Christ, are thereby in the Kingdom, yet, as we have seen, the Kingdom was preached as the Kingdom of Heaven before the Church began, and will be proclaimed on earth after the Church is complete and is removed from earth to its heavenly destiny at the Rapture.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Kingdom of God is the sphere in which God's rule is acknowledged. It is said to be "in mystery" (Mark 4:11), that is, it does not come within the natural powers of observation.' The Lord said, "The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation" [4] (margin, "with outward show") (Luke 17:20). The reign of God on earth today is not that of an earthly kingdom (though His Almighty power controls the affairs of kingdoms), but is the reign of His will over the unseen movements of the inner man. Submission to His will involves faith in Christ, and this brings regeneration, or the new birth, of which our Lord spoke to Nicodemus. Then it is that we become children of God, being born of the Spirit, and thereupon we receive eternal life and are justified in His sight, becoming accepted in Christ. Without the new birth all other conformity is vain. The Kingdom of Heaven, as Scripture portrays it, makes all attempt to gain temporal power entirely inconsistent with its objects. Those who would reign as kings to day must reign without the Apostles (see I Cor. 4:8, where Paul deprecates the attempt to reign now, and expresses an ardent longing for the appointed future time for doing so). When hereafter God asserts His rule universally, then the Kingdom will be in glory, and will be manifest to all (cp. Matt. 25:31-34; 2 Tim. 4:18). That is destined to be the ultimate phase of the Kingdom of Heaven, an expression which often covers the same ground as "the Kingdom of God," the two terms being frequently interchangeable (cp. Matt. 19:23 with verse 24, and again with Mark 10:23, 24; also Matt. 19:14 with Mark 10:14; and Matt. 13:11 with Luke 8:10). [5]

BINDING AND LOOSING

The promise with which the Lord immediately followed His word to Peter about the keys, namely, "and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven," He subsequently extended to all the disciples, as recorded in chapter 18:18. From this it is obvious that, whatever is indicated thereby, it was not, as a principle, to be confined exclusively to Peter. The preceding context in the eighteenth chapter shows that the reference there is to cases of discipline for maintaining the Lord's honour, and the succeeding context shows that the power was to be shared with two or three who would be gathered together in His Name. He would Himself be in the midst of them. The passage in the sixteenth chapter shows that the reference is, as we have seen, to administration in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Lord's words to Peter, therefore, do not in any wise imply that this Apostle was to receive a primacy of jurisdiction in the Church, or that he was to have supreme authority to teach and govern under Christ. Both this, and the idea that Peter was the rock foundation upon which the spiritual edifice of the Church was to be built, are based upon ecclesiastical misconception and find no support in the pages of Holy Scripture. Christ was neither founding a monarchy in forming the Church, nor was He establishing an individual to be a ruler over it.

Nor again can such superiority or authority be inferred from the Lord's words to Peter, after His resurrection, "Feed My lambs," "Feed (or tend) My sheep." What Christ was doing, as recorded in John 21:15-17, was not the impartation of ecclesiastical authority but a confirmation of Peter after his restoration from his fall, and a preparation for his service. There was no implication in the Lord's words that any specially superior work of pastoral care was to be committed to him. The care of the flock is a responsibility devolving upon all spiritual shepherds; as the Apostle himself says when exhorting elders, "Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight thereof, not of constraint, but willingly, according unto God; nor yet for filthy lucre but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock" (I Peter 5:2, 3, R.V.).

THINGS THAT DIFFER

To sum up, the Kingdom is not coterminous with the Church. Holy angels, though they do not form part of the Church, are in the Kingdom of God. The Psalmist, after saying "The Lord hath established His Throne in the heavens; and His Kingdom ruleth over all," calls at once upon His angels to praise Him. They fulfil His commandments, "hearkening unto the voice of His words"; they are "His ministers that do His pleasure" (Ps. 103:19-21). In the present era the powers of the Kingdom work in the hearts of men by means of the preaching of the gospel, but neither the Kingdom of God nor the Church consists of a visible external organization. Christ did not found and build up for Himself a Kingdom upon earth, nor do we find any intimation in Scripture that the Church is an earthly establishment.

When Christ, speaking of a trespass on the part of one brother against another, and of the efforts that were to be made by means of witnesses to remove the difficulty, said that if the erring one refused to hear them the injured brother was to tell it to the church (Matt. 18:17), obviously the reference was to a local congregation. The Church, in the extended significance of the word, is ruled out by the circumstances. The thought of the establishment of a central ecclesiastical institution as a court of judicature for the trying of such cases is as absent from that passage as it is from the rest of the New Testament. The Church is never looked upon, in the teaching of Scripture, as an earthly institution. To conceive of it as the Kingdom of God is to confound things concerning which Holy Scripture makes a difference. That Kingdom is spiritual in its present phase. Its operations do not consist in the punctilious observance of ordinances, in things external and material, but in those which are spiritual and essential, in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17).

CHAPTER THREE: THE BODY OF CHRIST

The truth relating to the Church as the Body, of which Christ is the Head, was especially committed to the Apostle Paul, and it was evidently with the design of unfolding it that he set out to write the Epistle to the Ephesians. The teaching that occupies the first twenty-one verses of the first chapter forms the basis of the statement that God gave Christ to be "Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

An essential truth laid down in this first chapter, amplified in the course of the Epistle, and conveyed in the symbolism of the head and the body, is that the Church, instead of being an earthly organization built up and established in the world, is heavenly in its design, establishment and destiny. Its individual members necessarily become incorporated into it in this life, according as each one receives eternal life through faith in Christ and is born of God. Each one then becomes part of the Body and is inseparably united to the Head. At no period can all the believers living in the world at any given time have constituted the Church. They could not in that respect be spoken of as the Body of Christ and yet that is an alternative designation of the Church. [6]

THE SCRIPTURE VIEW OF THE CHURCH

Even at the time of Pentecost those who believed comprised only a small fraction of the whole Church, and if they, or all the truly regenerate in the world at the present time, or at any other time, were the Church, then that of which He is the Head (and there is no other) would be a body maimed and marred and lacking most of its parts. In the early part of the present era most of the Church had not come into being; in the closing part of the era most of the Church has, or will have, departed this life, such, while stiff part of the Body, being present with the Lord. The whole will not be completed till the gospel has fulfilled its object. After its number is complete, the Lord will "descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thess. 4:16, 17, R.V.). The Church win then have its full membership as the Body of Christ, and only of that company can the term "the Church" be rightly used, apart from its application to a local company.

Many apply the term "the Church" to all those in the world who profess the faith. But such a view of the Church is not borne out by the teaching of Christ and His Apostles.' Believers [7] are formed into local churches here, each being a separate spiritual temple of God, according to the Divine plan; as the Apostle says to the church at Corinth, "Ye are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Cor. 3:16, R.V.). But the churches were not externally organized into an ecclesiastical entity, in any district or country, or generally as a universal system. Neither is there any hint in apostolic teaching that such was Divinely intended to be the case. To such a system or combination the word "Church" is nowhere applied in Scripture, and any such organization is a contravention of apostolic testimony and therefore of the will and design of Christ.

CHRIST'S DESIGN ABANDONED

In times considerably subsequent to those of the Apostles, churches were externally combined, organized and centralized, as the result of ecclesiastical aims and efforts, and by such means something took shape quite different in character from the arrangements which were designed by Christ and carried out by the Apostles. It is true that then the term "Church" was applied to that organization, but in no way could its use in that respect be justified from the Divine point of view. The claim is made that such an organization was inevitable, and was developed and directed by the Spirit of God, but the claim is invalid. The ecclesiastical history of the third, fourth and fifth centuries is a witness against it. In those times the churches became partially paganized, and their organization was arranged under the influence and guidance of the Emperor Constantine, and modeled largely on the plan of State arrangements. The whole system thus became a travesty of the Divine institution and the term "the Church" was, and has been since, a, misnomer, when applied to it.

That local churches are themselves visible communities professing the same faith, partaking of the same holy privileges and spiritual blessings, governed by the same Lord, and indwelt by the same Holy Spirit, has never afforded any ground for their external amalgamation, with the establishment of a central ecclesiastical authority on earth, either for any particular district, or for the churches at large; neither has the fact that the Lord provides spiritual gifts in the several churches for the guidance and care therein of believers. We have already remarked that the record of what is regarded as a Council of the Church in Acts 15 affords no evidence of this. The incident there mentioned is, on the contrary, a testimony against such an institution rather than an evidence in favour of it.

THE ONE AND ONLY HEAD

That God the Father gave Christ to be Head over all things to the Church as His Body, is the crown of all the Divine counsels relating to the Church. There is no more glorious theme in all the plan of Redemption. That, no doubt, is the significance of the double title of God, "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" and "the Father of glory," with which this passage begins (Eph. 1:17), while it also resumed the threefold mention of the praise of His glory, in verses 6, 12 and 14. The Son wrought for the glory of the Father in His life on earth and His atoning death, and the Father, in response thereto, glorified His Son in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the place of universal authority and in Headship over the Church.

The phrase "Head over all things to the Church" is very comprehensive when viewed in the light of both the preceding and succeeding contexts. The latter speaks of the Church as the fulness of Him "that filleth all in all" [8] that is to say, in regard to the Church as His Body, He fills all things' in all the members, all their activities being under His direction and fulfilled by His power. But this does not exhaust the meaning of the phrase. The preceding context directs our thoughts to the position which Christ occupies in His universal power and authority both in this age and that which is to come, a position in which all things are put in subjection under His feet. This is stated here anticipatively, as an accomplished fact; for, though as the Epistle to the Hebrews says, "we see not yet all things subjected to Him," yet its fulfillment is as certain as if it had already taken place.

This opens out a wonderful vista. The One to whom all things are to be subjected has been given to the Church as its Head. The Church in this relation to Christ occupies the highest position in the Divine counsels for the future. All things in Heaven and on the earth are unitedly to own His authority, and the position of the Church as being "in Christ" determines its association with Him in the exercise of this universal control. We are to be "joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17). The Father has in view for His Son "a dispensation (or administration, lit., economy) of the fulness of the times," wherein He will sum up all things in Christ, "the things in the heavens and the things on the earth" (Eph. 1:10); and inasmuch as the Church, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, is united to Him in the closest possible manner, it will, while being under His Headship as His Body, at the same time be associated with Him in His power and rule, and thus He is, in the fullest scope, "Head over all things to the Church."

PREPARATORY ANTAGONISM

Against such a transcendent truth, affecting as it does the glory of God and the Person of Christ, it is not a matter of surprise that the arch-adversary should set himself with his utmost might and his most persistent and ingenious devices, both by opposition and imitation. Nor need we be surprised that, throughout an era when God is calling out from among the nations a company for His Name, to constitute the Church the Body of Christ, formed by the Holy Spirit, and Heavenly in establishment and destiny, the adversary should seek to obscure and travesty the truths relating thereto. Satanic preparation had been made, in the long centuries before Christ came, for the paganizing of the apostate Christendom of the fourth century A.D., by the worldwide spread of Babylonish tents, customs and practices.

ECCLESIASTICAL PRESUMI'TION

The doctrine relating to the Church as the Body of Christ has a most practical effect on the life of believers, and is strikingly counteractive of a tendency to regard Church truth as merely doctrinal and removed from the sphere of Christian activities. The dominating principle for all believers, in this figure under which the Church is set forth, is their entire subjection to Christ. The Body is for the Head. Human will of itself is ruled out. The glory of man as such has no place. For the believer the Cross of Christ is the death of human self-satisfaction, ambition and pride. The Cross has revealed in full measure man's alienation from God, his love of this world and his disinclination towards grace. But the Cross is at the same time the very basis upon which the relationship of the Church to Christ is established. Man's tendency is to exalt himself. He loves reputation. He likes to be somebody, to do something which will attract the esteem of people to himself, to be of importance in his own eyes as well as in the eyes of others. In the very discharge of spiritual functions in the Church, man is apt to forget that all that he is and does is to be surely and solely for the glory of Christ, that Christ is the one Head, controlling everything, and imparting everything of life and energy to the Body in all its members.

Nowhere is this innate tendency more dangerous than in spiritual things, and particularly in the exercise of the care and guidance of the people of God. Here one exposes himself especially to the wiles of the adversary, and a man may be deceived into thinking that he is serving God while really he is establishing the glory and power of his ecclesiastical position. The true glory of Christ is obscured when man's greatness is prominent. Ecclesiastical rivalry, and the resulting domination of the strongest men in the churches, served to produce such a condition, that control eventually was exercised from one religious centre, and man usurped the position of the authority of Christ.

That the Church is the Body of Christ strikes a blow at the idea of its establishment on earth as a universal ecclesiastical organization. Christ the Head is in Heaven, and His Body the Church is identified with Him in the Heavenly places. There the Church is "seated" with Him, and its establishment and destiny are there. Its very existence and condition depended, and ever will depend, upon His ascension and exaltation there as a result of His Incarnation, Death and Resurrection. There could be no Church without Christ as its Head, and it is because He is set at God's right hand that He holds that position. That the Church is His Body assumes, then, both His exaltation and the identification of the Church with Him in the heavenlies.

GROWTH OF CLERICAL DOMINATION

This is not according to the ideas and inclination of the natural mind; it clashes with man's carnal propensities. It is significant that, while this great truth relating to the Church as the Body of which Christ is the Head, was taught and maintained by apostolic testimony, there is the clearest evidence that in post-apostolic times it fell into neglect. The low spiritual condition into which the churches lapsed made this inevitable. The state of things against which Christ Himself remonstrates through the Apostle John in Revelation 2 and 3 was such as to induce a disregard of the doctrine concerning the true position and relation of the Church. Not only so, but, on the other hand, there were forces at work detrimental to it. The rapid and general advance of clerisy was against it. The un-apostolic assumption of human power and domination on the part of Church leaders practically obliterated it. How could it be apprehended when men "loved to have the pre-eminence," and when people gloried in man? The general development of the clerical system was antagonistic to that truth.

Those who have carefully studied the history of the first few centuries of this era, will perhaps have observed that the writings even of the early "Fathers" contain no testimony to this doctrine of the Headship of Christ over the Church as His Body. Whatever else was taught, that was allowed to lapse. Earthly aspirations, motives guided by natural ambition, aims that were concentrated on worldly ideas, superseded the truth of the Church as the Body of Christ. The confusion of the true character of the Church with that of earthly organization was a triumph for the adversary and shows how possible it was for the churches to be "corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ."

CHAPTER FOUR: A FOURFOLD DESCRIPTION OF THE CHURCH

The first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians sets forth the Character of the Church as heavenly in its position, its relationship to Christ and its destiny. As His Body, it is united to Him as its Head "in the heavenly places." The second chapter likewise speaks of the Constitution of the Church. It consists of those who "in the flesh" were Jews and Gentiles, all alike being "sons of disobedience," living "in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind," "by nature children of wrath," and spiritually "dead through our trespasses" (2:3-5). Of such materials Divine grace has designed that Christ should "create in Himself... one new man," reconciling believers both Jew and Gentile, "in one body unto God, through the Cross" (verses 15, 16). The "one new man" is the Body with the Head, viewed anticipatively, instinct with spiritual life derived from the Head, though the Body is actually in process of formation until the whole attains "unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (4:13).

Toward the close of the second chapter the metaphor is changed (to be resumed in the fourth chapter), and a threefold description is given. There is firstly the figure of a city, secondly that of a household, and thirdly that of a temple. Gentile believers are not raised to the level of Jewish believers; both are brought out of their former condition into the high privileges of fellowship and association with Christ.

A CITY AND A HOUSEHOLD

"So then" (i.e., because of this union in Christ and the common access by one Spirit unto the Father) "ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." The words rendered "strangers" (xenos) and "sojourners" (paroikos, lit., a by-dweller) and not infrequently found together in the Septuagint.

The stranger was an alien, tolerated, indeed, yet liable to be frowned on and debarred from rights and privileges which belonged to the nation into whose midst he had come to reside for the time being.

As a sojourner, if the Apostle was merely referring to conditions in Greek States, a sojourner was one who came from one city and settled in another but did not enjoy the rights of citizenship. If, however, he had in mind the Septuagint use of the word in the rendering of Leviticus 22:10; 25:23, etc., the reference would be to one who, while resident with a family or community, was excluded from its domestic rights and privileges, as, for instance, in the case of one who sojourned with a priest as his guest but was prohibited from eating the holy things. That this is the meaning is suggested by the contrasting context, which speaks of believers as "of the household of God." [9]

How striking the change wrought by Divine grace! Instead of "strangers," "fellow-citizens with the saints!" Literally the phrase is "fellow-citizens of the saints," that is to say, the saints constitute a community of which all are fellow-citizens not that Gentile believers are now privileged with Jewish saints, as a distinct class, but that all saints (whether Jew or Gentile formerly) are together privileged as being possessed of heavenly citizenship. All enjoy the same government and protection, the same organization and fellowship, the same rights and liberties. Instead of "sojourners," they are members "of the household of God!" Not mere guests, here to day and gone tomorrow, but members of God's spiritual House, enjoying all the benefits of domestic life, in the most intimate relationship, as "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."

A TEMPLE

As a Temple the saints are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom each several building (more literally, 'every building') fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord."

As to the foundation, the word rendered "being built" (lit., "being built upon"), containing in itself the mention of a dwelling place, forms a transition from the figure of the household to the material of a building, that of a temple being in view. The foundation was laid by the Apostles and prophets (i.e., those whose testimony was contemporaneous with that of the Apostles); it consisted of the doctrines relating to Christ. [10] Their testimony was foundation work, Christ Jesus Himself, i.e., His own Person, being "the chief corner stone," the foundation stone placed at the corner. Cp. Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16. Christ, the glories of His Person and work, form the foundation. The Apostles and prophets are again viewed in 4:12 as engaged in the work of "building up."

The phrase rendered "every building" (R.V. margin); "all the building," (A.V.); each is possible as a rendering signifies the structure in every part of it. The edifice in course of construction, in process of being "fitly framed together (or, more literally, 'jointed together')," grows "into a holy Temple in the Lord." This presents the process in its ultimate issue. All is viewed in its future state as complete and perfect, every stone fitting its appointed place, the whole being God's dwelling place, a place of absolute holiness, a structure of glory and beauty, a place of worship. There is no noise in the process, no outward display. The building is not set up on the earth it is a spiritual structure and this is consistent with and confirms all the teaching of the New Testament concerning the Church. Nothing can prevent its completion. The gates of Hades cannot prevail against it.

CHAPTER FIVE: THE FATHER'S FAMILY

The first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians speaks particularly of the counsels of God in regard to the glory of Christ and the relationship of the Church to Him. The second chapter brings especially before us the operations of God in the formation of the Church, the present process and the ultimate design.

The third chapter, which, since the Apostle treats therein of his own ministry, is parenthetic, yet introduces, as we shall see, a figure additional to those of the second chapter. At the same time even here he recalls the subject of the Body; in speaking of the special stewardship committed to him in connection with "the mystery" of Christ and the Church, he defines the mystery in this way, "that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-members of the same Body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, through the gospel" (3:6, R.V.) Co-heirs, co-incorporated and co-sharers. Here the one Body is again the dominating thought. For the thought of the incorporation into the same Body conveys a closer union than that of joint inheritance, and the third expression, "fellow-partakers" is simply added to show that the first two involve this, that there is no blessing or privilege, either in kind or in degree, which is not shared alike by believers, both Jew and Gentile.

The additional figure which this chapter presents is that of a family. Having pointed out the present purpose of God concerning the Church, in regard to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, the Apostle speaks of the access which we enjoy through faith, and bows his knees "unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named." "Every family" may be taken as the correct rendering. [11]

THE PATRIA

As to the meaning of the word patria, "family," it is found only twice elsewhere in the New Testament, in Luke 2:4, "lineage of David" (R.V., "family"), that is, those who reckon their descent from David, and Acts 3:25, "the kindreds (R.V., families) of the earth." The word, then, signifies those who have a common paternal origin.

Now as to the context, the Apostle has mentioned in the 18th verse of the preceding chapter that through Christ "we have our access in one Spirit unto the Father." This he has just repeated in the 12th verse of the third chapter and in this connection he speaks of "the Father" as the One to whom he bows his knees. In both passages the Fatherhood of God is stressed, and the point here is that from the Father every family in heaven and on earth is named. Some have regarded this as signifying a series of families consisting of the Church, angels, Jews and Gentiles. This, however, does not seem to be the apostle's meaning.

"EVERY FAMILY"

The phrase is exactly parallel in the original to that in 2:21, where, speaking of the Church as a temple, he says "in whom every building (see margin of the RX.), fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord." Just as there the phrase "every building" signifies "the building in all its parts," so here "every family" would point to the same kind of meaning, namely, "the whole family in all its parts," that is to say, all those who, whether in Heaven or on earth, enjoy relationship to God as their Father. Thus the Church is in view, in all its constituent parts9 those who are already with the Lord and the various communities or assemblies on earth who likewise enjoy this Divine relationship. This is in keeping with the tenor of the whole Epistle.

That the whole in its several parts is named from the Father indicates that from Him as Father it derives that which gives it its true character, and it is the practical realization of this in the lives of believers that the Apostle desires, as expressed in his immediately following prayer. For the Fatherhood of God, and all that this means in spiritual relationship and experience, can be carried into practical effect only if we are strengthened by the power of the Spirit of God in the inward man and Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. only so can we be rooted and grounded in love and be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Thus and thus only can we be "filled unto (Or 'into) all the fulness of God." All this is consequent upon having God as our Father.

THE FATHER

The matters contained in. this comprehensive prayer, then, are those which appertain especially to the family of God. In the Apostle's prayer in the first chapter he speaks of God as "the Father of glory," as well as "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" (verse 17); for the subject of that prayer is more especially the power of God in raising Him from the dead, and in consequence the greatness of His power to usward. Here in the third chapter his prayer is occupied more particularly with the subject of love. We are to know the love of Christ and are to be rooted and grounded in love. The theme of love is especially appropriate to the subject of the family. As the Father ofg1ory (chapter 1) He raised up Christ from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in heavenly places, giving Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body. As the Father of the spiritual family (chapter 3) His design is that the members of the family should know His love as embodied in and expressed through Christ. In the first prayer the Church is 44 the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." That is a matter of glory expressed in power. Here in the second prayer the subject of fulness is not the power by which Christ fills all things in all the members, as in 1:23, but the design of the Father that the members of His family should so know the love of Christ that they may be filled into all the fulness of God. Divine. power fills all the members of the Body; by Divine love the members of God's family are filled into His fulness.

THE DOXOLOGY

The theme of the Apostle's prayer is so transcendent, and the effects designed to be produced so soul-stirring and heart-affecting, that he follows his prayer with this doxology: "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever" (3: 20, 21). Let us note particularly the combination "in the Church and in Christ Jesus"; that is undoubtedly the right rendering. The Church is the sphere in which the glory here spoken of is to ascend to God. But not simply the Church; never the Church without Christ who is its Head, who fills the members, and whose love draws forth their praise. The combination is a beautiful continuation of the great theme of the Epistle, the union of Christ and His Church. The Son, who glorified the Father on the earth, having finished the work which He gave Him to do, glorifies Him now, and will ever do so, in and through His Church, which He has redeemed by His precious blood and united to Himself. It is this oneness, this fellowship, with Christ which causes the glory to ascend to Him who is the Father of glory. The glory, which is the exhibition of His own character, power and attributes, flows down from Him, and returns to Him, in responding recognition and expression, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, and it will do so through all successive generations and throughout eternity.

CHAPTER SIX: "THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT"

At the beginning of the 4th chapter of Ephesians the Apostle recalls his circumstances as mentioned at the opening of chapter 3. There he described himself as "the prisoner of Christ Jesus;" here he speaks of himself as "the prisoner in the Lord." The change of title is appropriate to the context. At the close of chapter 2 he had been occupied with the Heavenly aspect of the Church, and there, in introducing his appeal, he uses a title of Christ which expresses the intimacy of the mystical union between the Lord and His saints; here, where his appeal actually begins, and his series of exhortations i~ regard to practical Christian life, he uses the title which betokens His authority as Lord over their lives.

In saying, "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord," he not merely resumes what he had said of the Church at the close of chapter 2, but bases it likewise on all that he has unfolded in chapter 3.

HOW TO KEEP THE UNITY

While now beginning that part of his Epistle which consists more especially of practical exhortations, he has yet more to say, by way of the development of his subject, concerning the Church as the Body of Christ. The sublime character of his theme leads him at once to enjoin upon the saints the need of a walk worthy of their calling. Such a walk could be marked only by "all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering" and by forbearance of one another in love. Indissociable from these is the diligence necessary "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Unity can exist only where we have a right estimate of ourselves, a realization of our own littleness and demerit, and that unassuming self-abasement which is a reflection of the lowliness of Christ; when, too, we exercise that spirit of glad submissiveness to God's dealings which produces considerateness towards others even when under provocation, the "invincible might of meekness," which reflects the meekness of Christ and overcomes evil with good. To these is to be added the longsuffering which patiently bears with unreasonableness and meets disappointments with quiet fortitude. Only so can we forbear one another in love. That kind of forbearance is not studied courtesy or frigid endurance, but is characterized by the holy attachment which binds believers together in the bonds of Christian love.

TEM FORMATION OF THE UNITY

Since these things are exhibited by reason of our relation to Christ, and are the fruit of the Spirit, they are essential to the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit. We are to "give diligence" (not merely "endeavour"), i.e., to make it our business, to keep this unity. The unity is there; it is not for us to fashion it. The Church is one, a Divine entity. The Spirit of God makes it so. As the presence of the Holy Spirit imparts to the Church its fitness to be God's Temple (2:22), so His power imparts its unity to it. That unity is not formed by man, nor by any ecclesiastical organization on earth. Human arrangements and institutions may devise, and have devised, something which possesses a show of uniformity from the natural point of view, but the unity of the true Body of Christ of which Scripture speaks, is spiritual in its course of development and heavenly in its position and character, its design and destiny.

Believers, then, are not exhorted to make the unity but to keep it. Each has a responsibility to act consistently with it, keeping it in the bond of peace, by exhibiting those traits of character and that conduct which are here enjoined. Such a manner of life is necessarily connected immediately with local conditions and circumstances. The Apostle was, for instance, directing his injunctions to the church at Ephesus, thus bringing his general instruction about the character of the whole Church as the Body of Christ, to bear upon their life as a local community. By dwelling together in harmony in "all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love," they would walk worthily of their high and spiritual vocation, and, as he says further on, by speaking truth in love (or rather dealing truly [12] in love), they would "grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ" (verse 15). Again, "putting away falsehood, they were to speak truth, each one with his neighbour, since they were members one of another" (verse 25). All bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour and railing, and all malice were to be put away from them; they were to be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave them (verses 31, 32). Thus maintaining unity in the local church, their harmonious conduct would be in conformity with the unity of the Spirit which pervades the whole mystical Body.

AN UNSCRIPTURAL UNIFICATION

There is no hint here, or anywhere else in the New Testament, of anything like a unity consisting of the combination of a number of communities, or assemblies, delimited by geographical conditions, or formed into earthly associations or circles of fellowship, nor is there any hint of a number of churches bound together by the bonds either of formulated religious creeds or of human tradition. No matter whether such communities are organized by mutual consent or under a church council or any form of ecclesiastical authority centralized in a given locality, all such combinations are a distinct departure from the plain teaching of Christ and His Apostles. They do not constitute the unity spoken of in this passage or any other in the Word of God. They are the outcome of human conceptions and operations. They satisfy the aspirations of men but are contrary to the mind of the Lord.

The unity which the believer is to give diligence to keep is determined neither by efforts to bind churches into an earthly organization, nor by human ideas of what is or is not a local church. The risen and glorified Head has made provision for the spiritual direction and care of each local assembly. The traditions of men and the bondage, or confusion, which has been brought about by them have naught to do with the unity formed by the Holy Spirit. Where a local church acts in conformity with the teaching of the Word of God, it is thereby an expression of the unity of the Spirit.

ELEMENTS OF UNITY

There are elements of unity which characterize the whole. These are enumerated in verses 4 to 6:"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye were also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." The mention of the Trinity, "one Spirit," "one Lord," "one God and Father of all," is significant. The Spirit is put first, for the immediate subject dealt with is the unity of the Spirit. Associated with Him are the spiritual and heavenly unities of the Body and the hope of our calling. The Body, yet incomplete, and only a small portion of which is on the earth, is the entire Church, formed by the Spirit of God. The hope is associated with the Spirit, inasmuch as He is "the earnest of our inheritance" and is in that connection called "the Holy Spirit of promise" (1:13, 14).

The next three unities are associated with Christ. They have to do with public witness; firstly, the acknowledgment of Christ as Lord; secondly, the one faith, the complete Divine revelation, which testifies of Christ; he who holds it confesses Him; thirdly, the one baptism, an ordinance involving the public recognition of, and identification with, Christ as Lord. Then, to crown all, "there is one God and Father of an, who is over all" (His transcendence and supremacy), "and through all" (His pervading and controlling power), "and in all" (His indwelling and sustaining presence).

All these constitute "the unity of the Spirit" (verse 3), and they are enumerated as inducements for us to give diligence to keep this unity in the bond of peace. They have to do with the one Church, the Body of Christ, in which all believers are thus united to Him. Its unity is not yet visible, for the Head is not visible, but it will become so when He is manifested and His saints with Him.

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

After the description of "the unity of the Spirit," a unity which constitutes the high character of our calling (Eph. 4:1-6), our attention is drawn to the functions assigned to individual members of the Body. Indeed the mention of the seven unities in verses 4 to 6 is designed to form a basis for the setting forth of the various forms of service given to us and the source from whence they are derived.

UNITY NOT UNIFORMITY

Unity is not uniformity. There is diversity of gifts, a variety of operation. "To each one of us was the grace given." None have been overlooked. There is no room for envy at the possession of gifts by others, or of self-glorying in the exercise of them ourselves; they are gifts of grace; they are to function for the glory of Christ. Grace and self-exaltation are incompatible. The grace was given "according to the measure of the gift of Christ." That is the principle operating in the endowment of gifts. To each believer grace for service is supplied upon becoming, by faith in Christ, a member of His Body, the Church. That is the significance of the past tense "was given." In 2:8 grace was mentioned in the matter of salvation: "by grace have ye been saved through faith." That gives us membership in the Church. In no other way is such membership possible. Here in 4:7 there is an added grace
grace for functioning in the Body.

THE GIVER OF THE GIFTS

"The gift [14] of Christ" suggests the source of the supply, the fulness which there is in Christ, and the relation which each recipient bears to Him. Paul has already anticipated this in the preceding chapter. His own ministry of the gospel was 'according to the gift of that grace of God which was given him according to the working of His power.' "Unto me," he says, "was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (3:7, 8). In his case he mentions God the Father as the Bestower of the gift; here he speaks of Christ as the Bestower, a testimony to the Deity of Christ and His oneness with the Father. Whatever the nature of the gift, Christ is the sovereign Distributer. Whatever the degree of ability, whether the more highly gifted, or the less, the adjustment in the Body is His work. The measure of the gift is His.

The description of the varying gifts is preceded first by a quotation from the Psalms, which tells first of Christ's triumphant Ascension (verse 8), and then by a statement as to the antecedent descent which His Ascension involved, and the position and purpose of His Ascension (verses 9, 10); all this serves to establish the fact of His absolute prerogative and power in the distribution of the gifts. Let us consider this a little. "Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men." Psalm 68, from which this is quoted, is a celebration (probably of a general character, that is to say, without pointing to any particular occasion) of Jehovah's victory over the foes of Israel and the deliverance of His people from the oppressor. [15]

CHRIST'S UNCHANGED PERSONALITY

The next verses lay special stress upon the fact of His descent and then upon the identity of His Person as the One who having descended likewise ascended. "Now this, He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?" (verse 9). Opinions vary as to whether this means the descent into Hades after His death, or whether the reference is to His Incarnation. In the latter case the phrase, "lower parts of the earth," means the earth as consisting of the parts lower than heaven. Whatever may be the intention in the statement, the great fact stands out that Christ could not be the Ascended One if He had not first descended. It is a confirmation of His pre-existence, and served to counteract the erroneous Gnostic theories being promulgated in the Apostles' times. So again, in the next statement, "He that descended is the same also that ascended, far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." Changes of locality meant no change in His humanity.

The Giver of the gifts is One who ascended with unchanged personality. Coming down from heaven to enter upon a life of true manhood, and having become, by His Death and Resurrection, the Victor over death and him that had the power of it, He ascended in His glorified humanity to His place of authority at the Father's right hand. As Son of Man, while still Son of God, He had experienced all human conditions, sin apart, and still with undissociated Godhood and manhood He ascended far above all the heavens, that filling all things He might meet the needs of His Church. The One who supplies the gifts is as absolutely cognizant of human needs as He was m the days of His flesh. He is therefore entirely fitted to give gifts to His Church, assigning to each his appropriate work. This is indicated by the emphatic pronoun in the original; "He Himself gave," that is to say, He and no other is the Provider and Bestower of the gifts.

THE VARIETY OF THE GIFTS

"And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." Human appointment has no place here. The list is a series not of formal offices but of the exercise of spiritual gifts bestowed by the Lord. The apostles and prophets fulfilled an initial ministry in laying the foundations of doctrine. The revelation given to the apostles was likewise communicated to the prophets (see 3:5). Evangelists, pastors and teachers communicated the truth already received in respect of the gospel and the ministry of the truths of the faith. The work of the apostles and prophets was distinctly supernatural and temporary, until the completion of the Divine revelation. The work of evangelists, pastors and teachers continued and still continues. The last two are associated in a special way, as one who teaches thereby engages in a measure of pastoral work.

The provision of these spiritual gifts by the ascended Lord was for the perfecting of the saints, that is to say, for the development and equipment of each member, with the following twofold object in view:(1) "unto the work of ministering," [16] that is to say, for service in all its various forms, each in harmonious relationship with others (a general ministry in which we all share), and (2) "unto the building up of the Body of Christ." What this verse plainly sets forth is that both the service and the building up of the Body, by gathering in new members and consolidating the work, are to be rendered by all the saints. In other words, the provision of the spiritual gifts mentioned is to enable all the saints both to serve and to do the work of building up of the Body, and this "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

THE COMPLETION OF THE BODY

There are three parts to the subject of the unity of the Spirit in the 4th chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians:

(1) As to its essentials (verses 1-6); (2) as to its development (verses 7-12, 14-16); (3) as to its ultimate state (verse 13). In the first part, the unity, which is sevenfold, provides the standard of conduct consistent with our calling. In the second part the unity is shown to be developed by the ascended Lord, who provides the requisite spiritual gifts, the object being that the saints may be perfected in their service and may fulfil their part in the building up of the Church, avoiding error, dealing in truth and love, and so growing up into Christ in all things. In the third part the finality designed is stated, and is to have fulfillment in the completion and perfection of the Body of Christ.

In verse 13 the threefold use of the word "unto" (eis) should be noted: "till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (R.V.). The 46 we all" signifies all believers as a Body, the complete company. [17] The end in view, then, while it has its bearing upon the life of each individual, is yet the consummation of the whole as the glorified Body of Christ. The present operation of the Spirit in the process of building in regard to each member, is antecedent to the aggregate completeness. The perfect attainment is not possible for the individual in this life, but nothing can prevent its fulfillment in all the saints in the Divinely appointed time and manner.

CONFORMITY TO CHRIST

Again, the word rendered "attain," in its grammatical form in the original, signifies the point of time at which the end determined is to be realized, indicating the culminating event. The faith and the knowledge of the Son of God are associated as a unity. They will together reach their climax in the day to come. Faith is the outcome of, and is inseparable from, "the faith." The doctrines of Scripture, spoken of as "the faith," so called because they consist of what is to be believed, are not given merely as a revelation of Divine truth, less still as a mere subject for theological contemplation, but with a view to bring to us an increasing knowledge of the Son of God; an all this is a matter of faith on the part of believers. Here the word for "knowledge" is, more literally, "full knowledge," as in 1:17.

But this, again, is not a matter simply of personal acquaintance with Christ. It is rather that of conformity to His character, of the manifestation of Christ Himself in His saints. This is what is suggested by the phrase "a full-grown man." This, too, is what is borne out by the context, both immediately and what follows in the subsequent verses. The complete development is defined as "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," for it is Christ as the Head of His Body who fills every part, ministering His grace and power by the Holy Spirit through His spiritual gifts in the Church. The fulness is that which is His in His own Person as the Head and by means of which the Body is filled, now as the members are united to Him and hereafter in eternal completeness. The present process of conformity to His character is brought out in the exhortations which follow. "That ye be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, which is the Head, even Christ from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love" (verses 14, 15, 16, R.V.).

I THE WILES OF ERROR

The first exhortations have to do with that which hinders the development of spiritual growth. We are not to remain as infants, spiritually immature in the knowledge and likeness of Christ. Our spiritual foe exerts himself in unremitting antagonism against all that makes for the glory of Christ. While, therefore, Christ provides those in the Church to minister the doctrines of the faith and build up the saints, the adversary endeavours to thwart this work by false teachings. These are spoken of metaphorically in two ways. They are winds of doctrine and wiles [18] of error (R.V.). Winds are variable and irregular, wiles are ingenious and subtle. Those who are subject to such errors are like a rudderless vessel, tossed about on a stormy ocean. On the other hand, they unconsciously yield themselves to the craftiness of the Devil.

To give way to error, then, is to come under a power which prevents that spiritual growth into conformity to Christ which it is the gracious work of the Spirit of God to develop. In contrast to such hindrances, that which makes for spiritual progress is "speaking truth in love" (margin "dealing truly"). This is not a matter merely of the maintenance of moral virtue, it is a case of that conduct towards one another which is essentially the outcome of adherence to the truth of Holy Scripture and manifesting it in all our ways in the exercise of the love of Christ. "No lie is of the truth" (John 2:21). If I deal falsely I not only act contrary to the truth but stifle its power to work in me. I am robbing myself as well as injuring my brother, and above all I am grieving the Holy Spirit. The truth, the revealer of which is the Holy Spirit, binds together in love those who know it. Possession of the truth leads to walking in the truth, for the truth produces truthfulness (see 2 John I and 3 John 3, 4). The exercise of godly sincerity, of love that goes hand in hand with the truth, enables us with our fellow believers to grow up in all things into Christ. For such conduct is the effect of His own work as the Head, making increase of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

TRUTH AND LOVE

It is needful to give heed to the exhortation that, "putting away falsehood," we should "speak truth each one with his neighbour," remembering that "we are members one of another" (Eph. 4:25). Love and truth are never to be separated; they are intimately associated. Love that is pursued at the expense of truth is mere sentiment. While it may captivate the natural mind, it is not of God. It plays no part in the building up of the Body of Christ. Truth that is maintained at the expense of love is frigid theory. It lives in the element of legalism. Its effect may be the very opposite to that which it seeks to maintain. Faith, which links us to Christ, works by love and maintains truth, of both of which He is the source and which therefore in the life of the believer are expressions of His character.

When Christ fills the heart there is no room for selfishness. False teaching and deceit have selfishness as their motive. They belong to the old nature and are expelled by the love of Christ. They are superseded by that self-forgetfulness which seeks the interest of Christ and His people. Truth and love belong to the new man, "which after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth." It is only the power of the Holy Spirit which enables us to grow up "into all things in Him."

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE CHURCH THE OBJECT OF CHRIST'S LOVE

In the passage which follows the command, "be filled with the Spirit," Eph. 5:18 (a passage which, we may note, in passing, is explanatory of what being filled with the Spirit involves in human relationships, as of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants), the subject of the relationship of husband to wife is taken as an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the Church. It should be observed that what is here set forth is used simply as an illustration. That is to say, the passage does not state that the Church is actually the Bride of Christ. Whatever may be gathered from the other parts of Scripture, we need to keep clearly before us the difference between what is definitely set forth in the passage and what are merely deductions from it. The illustration, with its spiritual application, is beautiful and full of teaching, but any direct statement that the Church is the Bride is absent from this chapter.

THE METHOD OF COMPARISON

The language adopted is that of comparison. The reason why wives are to be in subjection to their own husbands as unto the Lord, is given as follows: "For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the Head of the Church, being Himself the Saviour of the Body" (verse 23, R.V.). The phraseology of comparison is continued in the next verse, where the order of the natural and the spiritual is reversed. "But as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything." Again, husbands are to love their wives, "even as also Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it" (verse 25). Again, and still by way of comparison, "No man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the Church" (verse 29). Finally, when the Apostle speaks about a man's leaving his father and mother and cleaving to his wife, the twain becoming one flesh, he says, "This mystery is great: but I speak in regard to Christ and the church."

THE COMBINED FEATURES

While injunctions are given as to Christian conduct in the matter of this natural relationship, the subject of the Church which has occupied a prominent place in the earlier part of the Epistle, is interwoven into them. There are features of the relationship between Christ and the Church which could not all be included in any of the figures which have been used in the earlier part of the Epistle, those namely of the body (1:23), the city, the household (2:19), the temple (2:20, 21), the family (3:15), and the full-grown man (4:13). While the subject of authority and subjection are involved, for instance, in the relationship of the head to the body, yet there are additional features in this respect in the simile of the relationship between husband and wife. In the illustration of the head and the body there is union between the one and the other, but, so far as the physical illustration itself goes, the head does not choose the body; with husband and wife there is choice as well as union, and love, joy and companionship.

Again, there are servants in the household, and they are chosen for their service, but they are not related to the head of the household; with husband and wife there is relationship as well as choice. There may be friends in the household, but here, too, there is choice without relationship. Again, in the family there are love and joy, communion and relationship, but not choice. Only in the case of husband and wife are an the conditions fulfilled choice, union, relationship, love, joy, companionship and communion. All are comprehended in this illustration.

These features form, in a special way, the subjects of that part of the Lord's discourse in the upper room recorded in John 15. There He speaks of His choice of them (verse 16), of their union with Him (there in the figure of the vine and the branches verses 4, 5 and 16, where the word "appointed," R.V., is literally "set in"), of His love for them (verse 9), their mutual joy (verse 11), their companionship with Him (verse 27), His communion with them (verse 15), and their relationship with Him (verse 5). Thus to those who formed, as it were, the nucleus of His Church, He unfolded, before His death, those details which the very illustration of husband and wife in Ephesians 5 provides.

UNITY AND UNION

The metaphor of the head and the body suggests unity; the illustration of husband and wife suggests union. The former has to do with constituent parts of a whole, the latter with the oneness of two persons. The body conveys the thought of that which is the instrument of the Lord's will; the simile of the wife conveys the thought of that which is the counterpart of Himself and the object of His love.

The similitude of the marriage state is the most lovely of all the figures by means of which the mystery relating to Christ and His Church is set forth. It is at the same time the most practical in its teaching for it sets forth, to begin with, the headship and authority of Christ over the members of the Church and their delighted subjection to Him in the fulfillment of His will, the great principle that moulds their character and guides their conduct; for Christ Himself becomes the ideal and standard of their manner of life. Further still, the illustration conveys the truth of that holy and gracious intimacy by which the Lord unlocks the secrets of His heart, making known His mind, His counsels and His love; while on the other hand it suggests that living response which those who enter into the joy of this communion make to Him.

THE PRACTICAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

It was the delight of Christ ever to abide in the Father's love and so to fulfil His will. This is the very fount of His love to us and His desires toward us, as is expressed in His words of grace "Even as the Father hath loved Me I also have loved you: abide ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love" (John 15, 9, 10). Let us, then, abide in His love, as a faithful spouse does in her husband's love.

The practical acknowledgment of this relationship is intimated in what is said of Sarah, who "obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord" (I Peter 3:6). Not by mere exclamations of faithfulness and loyalty, or loud protestations of adherence to the truth, is He to be acknowledged as Lord, but by manifestation of that character which is conformed to His own, which indeed involves the maintenance of Divine truth, but therein displays His virtues and excellences. Christian conduct consists in truth expressed in love, love which is a Spirit-kindled response to His. "We love because He first loved us" (I John 4:19, R.V.).

THE CLEANSING AND PRESENTATION

"Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for it." Displayed in all its fulness at the Cross, His love is undiminished now that He is in glory. The love which led Him to the Cross had this as its object, that, having cleansed the Church by the washing of water with the Word, "He might sanctify it," and might "present it to Himself." Christ did not sanctify the Church in order that it might be His possession, He made it His possession in order that He might sanctify it. It belongs to Him inasmuch as He gave Himself for it, and it is destined to be just what He designed that it should be, the great expression of His character as well as the object of His care. It is in its heavenly sphere and destination that He will present it to Himself and it will then be entirely suited to His own glory.

Since there are things which are contrary to His character in the life of believers here below, His present work is to cleanse them by the laver of the Word of God. This is the Divine purpose for all who as true believers constitute the Church. How readily, therefore, should we respond to this His gracious operation, realizing what He has done in giving Himself up for us, what His will is for us now, and the destiny to which He is bringing us! How ardently we should desire just those things that He desires, and do only that which pleases Him, that our life may be entirely lived for Him!

THE NOURISHING

Let us ever remember that we are the objects of that tender care and love which are expressed in the words "nourisheth and cherisheth." "Even so ought husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies." To love one's wife is to love oneself. "For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the Church" (verse 29, R.V.). What is said about Christ's love for the Church is given as the pattern of the husband's love for his wife, but what constant and loving care on the part of Christ, what provision for all our needs, are herein set forth! As one ministers nourishment to his body so that it may be healthy and strong, and affords it protection and everything else designed to make it free from that which would be detrimental to it, so is the gracious and unremitting ministry of Christ for those who are members of His Body, the Church.

All this is designed for our comfort. May we live in such close communion with our Lord that we may enjoy the realization of His love, and respond by our love to the impulse of His. Let us remove from us all that would hinder this holy communion, and, entering into His desires towards us, find accordingly our delight in Him.

PART II
THE CHURCHES

CHAPTER NINE: LOCAL CHURCHES

The word ekklesia is never used in the New Testament in the singular number to embrace all the believers in a country, or district, or the churches in any locality. Such companies of believers are spoken of in Scripture as "churches of God," as in I Cor. 11:16; 1 Thess. 2:14; 2 Thess. 1:4. The phrase in the singular, "the church of God," is correspondingly used to designate a company of believers acting together in local capacity and responsibility. Thus Paul addresses his first Epistle to the Corinthians to "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1:2. See also 10:32, and 11:22). He uses the same phrase with reference to the church at Jerusalem, which he had persecuted (I Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13). So with regard to the church at Ephesus in Acts 20:28. Obviously the phrase is used of the local church there, for the Apostle, in addressing the elders of the church whom he had called to him at Miletus, exhorts them to take heed to themselves and "to all the flock, in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, to feed the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (R.V.). That the church in which they were to exercise their responsibility is spoken of as a flock, and the whole character of the injunctions given to them, indicate that the phrase is used there simply of the local company.

THINGS THAT DIFFER

Similarly in his instructions given to Timothy as to the character and qualifications of a bishop, he says, "If a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (I Tim. 3:5). Again, the Epistle is written that he may "know how men ought to behave themselves (lit., 'how it is necessary to behave,' i.e., for all in the assembly) in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (verse 15). The description of the kind of person referred to is general, but the application is to any given local assembly, as is clear from the facts that Timothy, who had been at Ephesus, was exhorted in the same Epistle to stay there for a time, and that the Apostle was hoping to come shortly to him there (3:14). If we speak of the whole Church, the Body of Christ, as "the Church of God," we confuse things which Scripture differentiates, and we miss the import and teaching conveyed by the term, which has to do with local responsibility and testimony.

The plural, "churches," is used in other descriptions of such companies, besides that already referred to. They are spoken of as "churches of Christ" (Rom. 16:16), "churches of the saints" (I Cor. 14:33), or, topographically, as churches of a particular country (I Cor. 16:1; 16:19; 2 Cor. 8:1; Gal. 1:22), or, ethnographically, as "the churches of the Gentiles" (Rom. 16:4). None of the phrases containing the word "churches" is used with reference to the entire Church, the Body of Christ, and this for the obvious reason that the Church which is His Body is one and indivisible and to it the plural would be inapplicable.

SCRIPTURAL TERMNOLOGY

The importance of having regard to the Scriptural use of these terms lies especially in this, that deviations therefrom support unscriptural organizations, sectarian views, racial antipathies, and merely human traditions concerning the true Church. The application of the word "church" to the Christians or to the churches in a whole country, as, e.g., "the Church of England," "the Indian Church," or "the Church in China," or again, to any section or branch of professing Christians, is unwarranted by the Scriptures.

Hence the importance even of guarding against the term "Indigenous Church." The expression is subversive of the maintenance of that true and spiritual position and relationship the realization of which is necessary for our fulfillment of the will of God. A believer of Chinese nationality is as much a foreigner spiritually as the missionary from Europe or elsewhere who brought him the gospel. Plants of the Heavenly Father's planting are not "indigenous" in the spiritual realm; they have been transplanted by the Holy Spirit (cp. Col. 1:13). Churches of God as such should know no racial distinctions.

We have already pointed out that it is contrary to the teaching of Scripture to use the word to designate all believers now living in the world, or for any religious system to apply the term to all its adherents in the world. The phrase "the Church on earth" finds no support in the Scriptures. The Church is heavenly in its constitution and organization; its seat and centre are in Heaven, where its one and only Head is. The Word of God does not countenance any organization or amalgamation of churches, whether in a locality or in the world at large.

A SANCTUARY

The terms "churches of God" and "churches of Christ" indicate that they are each His possession, a possession purchased by His blood. As "churches of the saints" they consist of those who, by the operation of the Spirit of God, have been set apart to Him for His glory. Not only so, they are, in each case indwelt, as churches, by the Holy Spirit, and hence are I as each one a temple, of God. To the church in Corinth the Apostle writes, "Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man, 4**Uoycth the temple 4 of God, him shall God destroy; for
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (I Cor. 3:16, 17, R.V.). The word used for "temple" here (as also in 6:19, and again in 2 Cor. 6:16, of the body of the believer and of the whole Church in Eph. 2:21) is naos, which is derived from a word meaning "to dwell." The earthly temple in Jerusalem was most frequently called hieron ("the divine or dedicated place"). That term was applied to the whole building, and is never used in the New Testament in the figurative sense, as in the passages in the Epistles just referred to. Naos, while occasionally used of the whole earthly temple, more frequently signified the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies." [20]

Many circumstances in connection with the Temple, as with the Tabernacle, find their spiritual counterpart in a local church. Of this we speak more fully later. How solemn and yet what a high and holy privilege it is to be a naos, a sanctuary, a dwelling-place for God, a house of God (oikos, from oikeo, "to dwell") as the local church is called in I Tim. 3:15! "Holiness becometh Thine House, 0 Lord, for evermore." Evil doctrine, evil association and evil practice are to have no place there. Where such exists it is to be judged and put away. It is a place where God's honour dwells (Ps. 26:8, lit., "the place of the tabernacle of Thy glory"). There the honour of the Name of Christ is to be maintained, and those who name His Name are "to depart from iniquity." It is a place of worship, and worship can only rightly be offered in "the beauty of holiness." It is a place of witness for God, where the testimony to His attributes, His character and His Word are to be maintained; for the house of God, the church of the living God, is "the pillar and ground (or stay) of the truth," and the witness is to be that not only of oral testimony but of Christian character and conduct. Those who belong to it are to live "in righteousness and holiness of truth."

CONSISTENT CONDUCT

It is with that in view that the Apostle, in the passage just referred to, says that the object of his Epistle is that Timothy may know "how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God" (R.V.). That is to say, instruction is given concerning the believers who form a local church, in regard to their general life, conduct and service, so that the assembly itself may be a living testimony for God.

Both in doctrine and practice, our spiritual foes are constantly and assiduously set against such a testimony. Collectively as well as individually, we need to be much in prayer and intercession and ever on the watch, lest the Lord's Name should be brought into dishonour, and the witness He designs be marred by our inconsistencies.

CHAPTER TEN: "JESUS IS LORD"

That part of the first Epistle to the Corinthians which treats specially of the distribution and exercise of spiritual gifts in a local church, is introduced by a declaration concerning Christ Jesus as Lord: "No man speaking by the Spirit of God saith, [21] Jesus is anathema; and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit" (I Cor. 12:3, R.V.). The test of the witness is the due acknowledgment of Christ. The two utterances, "Jesus is anathema" and "Jesus is Lord," were the battle cries of opposing spiritual forces. Readily would the words of execration spring to the lips of hostile Jews. "Anathema" designated that which was devoted to God for destruction under His curse. That was how the rulers of the Jews, and the people after them, regarded and treated Jesus of Nazareth. That was how they instigated Gentiles to do the same, and the utterances became the glib expression of Satanically-inspired antagonism, whether on the part of Jew or Gentile, to the gospel and the Person whom it proclaimed. Doubtless, upon occasion, when testimony was being given by the preachers of the gospel, or in the midst of an assembled church, the witness would suddenly be interrupted by the blasphemous cry "Jesus is anathema," uttered by opponents of the truth.

THE GREAT ESSENTIAL

"Jesus is Lord;" that was the witness of the faithful. It sums up the doctrines of the gospel. It was the great central truth. It formed, therefore, an essential part in the ministry, 'not only of gospel testimony itself, but of the foundation thereby laid in the formation of local churches.

The acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord marks the beginning of the life of a believer. It is an element of that faith by which he is saved and becomes a child of God: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:9). [22] That is, "the word of faith" which is preached (verse 8).

With a special significance this passage in Rom. 10, which deals with the basic ministry of the preaching of the gospel, stresses His title "Lord." "The same Lord is Lord of all" (verse 12, R.V.), that is to say, of Jew and Gentile alike, "and is rich unto all that call upon Him; for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." The acceptance, then, of Christ as Lord as well as Saviour is essential for faith, and the proclamation of Christ in both respects is the responsibility of the evangelist.

THE FULL COMMISSION

That the work of the preachers of the gospel was not simply that of evangelization, is clear from the narrative of the Acts and from the Epistles. The service in which they were engaged had wider responsibilities. Gospel ministry was designed to issue in a corporate testimony. Hence, by means of the gospel they preached, evangelists are spoken of as laying the foundation of churches (I Cor. 3:10).

The commission given by the Lord Himself intimates this wider scope. "Go yeand make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you" (Matt. 28:19). The incorporation of believers into local companies had been definitely inculcated by Him. Besides His intimation concerning His formation of His entire Church (16:18), He gave unequivocal instructions as to His design for the existence of communities, gathered in His Name, conditioned by local circumstances, and enjoying His spiritual and continued presence (18:17-20). These were not already existent Jewish companies, as has been supposed. The teaching given by the Lord as recorded in the context makes clear that He had in view not only His disciples but those who would become so by their instrumentality.

APOSTOLIC METHODS

The record in the Acts of the Apostles relating to the founding and formation of local churches is significantly in keeping with the Lord's instructions in His commission regarding making disciples and teaching them to observe all that He commanded. No sooner do we read of the effects of the gospel in Antioch in Syria on the part of the scattered members of the church at Jerusalem, than we learn that a church has been formed in the northern city; so that those who go there as servants of God are able to gather together "with the church" (11:26), and the believers so gathered are spoken of as "disciples."

So again, as the gospel spreads, not only are churches formed in every place, but the saints are described as "disciples." They were "disciples" who stood around Paul after his stoning at Lystra (14:20). At Derbe he and Barnabas preached the gospel and "made many disciples" (verse 20, R.Y.). From thence they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch "confirming the souls of the disciples" (verses 21, 22), and after arriving back at Antioch in Syria they are said to have tarried there with the disciples.

"Go yemake disciples," said the Lord. Now while believers are spoken of as "brethren" in relation to one another, they are designated as "disciples" in relation to Christ as their Master and Lord. Disciples are those who have learned His Will and seek to carry it out in that relationship. "Ye call Me Master, and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, the Lord and Master, have ... ye ought also to.. ." (John 13:14). In Acts 9:1 believers (not simply the Apostles) are distinctly called "the disciples of the Lord."

COLLECTIVE ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Since, then, confession of Christ Jesus as Lord marks believers from the time of their conversion, and their life as His disciples gives proof of their recognition of their relationship to Him in this respect, so in their collective capacity, as constituting churches, it is their high privilege and responsibility to acknowledge Him as Lord by the fulfillment unitedly of all that He has commanded. Only as an assembly owns Christ as Lord, can it be built up and ordered according to the Divine will. Only when Christ has His rightful place in a local church can it be constituted according to God's design. Only adherence to what is taught in the Word of God will meet with His approval.

That Jesus Christ is Lord betokens the authority committed to Him by the Father, who has made Him "both Lord and Christ." The measure in which His authority over a local church is recognized by it is the measure of its spiritual vitality and power. In virtue of His authority He has Himself appointed the ordinances and exercises His prerogative in the provision of spiritual gifts in each assembly and in the functioning of each member in the power and operation of the Spirit of God.

THE EFFECT OF THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The genuine acknowledgment of Christ as Lord will keep the saints f4ithful in their adherence to the Scriptures in these matters, and in the recognition of the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in matters of worship and service. They will be likewise kept separate from the world's religions as well as its principles and ways, its ambitions and follies. The fulfillment of the will of their Lord will be their consuming ambition, if they are indeed true to Him, and this will involve their repudiation of the traditions of men, of human accretions to the faith "once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3), and of all that undermines its doctrines as they are set forth in the Scriptures of truth.

The craft of Satan is ever at work to beguile us from allegiance to our Lord. We need, then, to receive the exhortation He gave to His disciples in this matter, when He warned them against lip confession, against mere profession of faith, and the imagination that service is being rendered to Him while all the time His revealed will is being ignored. His words demand our careful attention. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21). His will is not far to seek. It is set forth with such clearness in the Holy Scriptures that none who genuinely seek to know His mind need err therein. Let us beware of substituting our own predilections, or the traditions of men, or matters of our own convenience, or even the bonds of human associations, for what He has enjoined upon us, lest, in setting aside or ignoring His authority over us, both in our private life and in our church capacity, we are after all found wanting.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: SPIRITUAL GIFTS

In the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians, after the introductory statement that the acknowledgment that "Jesus is Lord" is due to the operation of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle takes up the subject of the provision of spiritual gifts and their exercise, with special reference to the local church. The uniform confession of Christ as Lord produces multiform effects. The source, the distribution and the operating power are Divine, not human: "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all" (verses 4-6).

The essential element of harmony and unity is pointedly stressed by a sevenfold mention of "the same," first as to the Triunity of the Godhead, "the same Spiritthe same Lord ... the same God," and then a fourfold repetition of "the same Spirit," in verses 8-11. So in Ephesians 4, with reference to the whole Church, the Body of Christ, stress is laid upon the essential unity--a sevenfold oneness; there not only of the Trinity, but of details of a basic character relating to the church.

There is a threefold diversity, first as to possession of the gifts, then as to forms of service, and then as to their exercise: diversity of "gifts," of "ministrations," of "workings." Firstly, the differing gifts are distributed to be possessed according to the individual capacity as Divinely prepared. Secondly, there are the varying kinds of ministration of service. [23]

Two enumerations of gifts follow, one immediately, in verses 8-10, the other in verse 28. The former has to do with the functions discharged, the latter more particularly with the persons who exercise them. The lists are not formal and exhaustive. The order sets forth, to some extent, their comparative importance, but the great object for which they are mentioned is to keep before us their Divine origin, and the purpose for which they are bestowed. "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit withal" (verse 7). Their rightful exercise gives evidence of the power of the Spirit of God acting through the human channel. This again, in each case, is for the profit both of the one who possesses the gift and of the other members of the church. They are given not for the display of human abilities but for the glory of God in the edification of the saints. They are given not to be characterized by an atmosphere of mystery, but that the Spirit's power may be manifest.

THE TEMPORARY AND THE PERMANENT