Beloved Mother,
In order to your better appreciation of the position into which "Brethren" are brought through the obedience of faith, I resume my pen to bring before you something of the Scripture-teaching about the Church.
"The Church of God " is a thing quite unknown to the Old Testament; there is not a word about it from beginning to end of that part of the Sacred Volume. This statement will probably surprise you, especially if you have in your hand a Bible with the chapter-headings of the Authorized Version: for there you will find it brought in at every turn in the headings of chapters and pages—put there by the translators; and as that has all the prestige of a venerable antiquity, it looks rather a daring thing to contradict it so flatly. But who should be supposed to know best—King James' translators or the apostle Paul? You will not find it difficult to answer that. Let us see, then, what Paul says about it.
Turn first to {vi 28362-28363}Rom. 16:25, 26: "Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest through prophetic Scriptures."
See next {vi 29255-29258}Eph. 3:3-6: "By revelation He made known unto me the mystery, (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of [the] Christ); which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel; " also Eph. 3:9, " To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God." Col. 1:26: "The mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints."
You perceive that in each of these passages there is a mystery spoken of, which in other ages (Old Testament times) was not made known, but kept secret—hid in God then, but now revealed.
This mystery was concerning the Christ—a body with many members (1 Cor. 12:12); and its substance is, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of one body (Col. 3:11; Gal. 2:28); in other words, it is the Church.
Now if you hunt the Old Testament through and through, you will not encounter a hint of this. You will find, indeed, lots of intimations of Gentile blessing, in subordination to the Jew, and of a national character, under the kingdom of the Messiah—the millennium of the New Testament—but not one word, as the apostle emphatically testifies, of that work which the Holy Ghost is now accomplishing, in the calling out from among Jew and Gentile a people to Jesus Christ, to constitute one body, on an entirely different ground, where all national distinctions are completely ignored.
The Church or assembly of God dates from Pentecost, when, for the first time, he baptism of the Holy Ghost of believers into one body took place (Matt. 3:11; {vi 26951-26954}Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 12:13).
There are two aspects or characters under which the Church of God is presented to us in the New Testament: as the body of Christ, {vi 29229-29230}Eph. 1:22, 23; and as the house of God, 1 Tim. 3:15.
Each of these aspects is distinct in its significance and bearing, and each requires to be examined and understood in order to our right comprehension of Church truth—indeed, of the entire dispensation.
The body of Christ is formed entirely independent of man's agency, and outside of his responsibility, so far as its intrinsic integrity is concerned. It is the work of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 12:13; 1 Peter 1:5); and man can neither make nor mar it; he can neither add nor subtract a single member. Every truly converted soul that has partaken of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is a member of that body, no matter in what part of the world he be found, no matter in what ecclesiastical connection—Protestant or Romanist, for there are converted persons found among Papists. All these scattered individuals, however little known to each other, however divided by schisms, constitute, in reality, but one body in union with Christ, the Head, and are seen and recognized of God as such (2 Tim. 2:19). No human power can cut off a single member of Christ.
But while human agency can neither make nor mar the unity of the body, it can manifest or hinder the manifestation of it. Sectarianism has hindered it; the return to God's principles of unity, already pointed out, if universally acted on, would manifest it again, and, when acted on by only a witnessing few, revives its manifestation in principle, though complete restoration is certainly beyond hope.
The house of God, with which His Name is connected, in a measure is committed to man's responsibility. It is built on Jesus Christ as its foundation (2 Tim. 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:11), and is His building (1 Cor. 3:9). Men are, however, admitted to the place of fellow-laborers or cooperators in the work—to build on His foundation according to His plan and directions (1 Cor. 3:9); and proportioned to the measure of their faithfulness in so doing is the degree of conformity to the mind of God in the result ({vi 28423-28426}1 Cor. 3:12-15).
The materials for the structure, contemplated in God's plan, are gold, silver, precious stones—lively or living stones (1 Cor. 3:12; 1 Peter 2:5); in other words, saved souls, made alive and sanctified in the new birth by the quickening power of the Holy Ghost, like the ready-prepared stones of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 6:7); for the temple, built of living men, is intended for "a holy temple," for the habitation of a holy God (1 Cor. 3:17; 2 Cor. 6:16; {vi 29251-29252}Eph. 2:21,22), and holiness becometh His house forever (Psa. 93:5).
The term house, according to Scripture usage, includes the edifice, the vessels it contains (2 Tim. 2:20), and the household or family ({vi 29997-30002}Heb. 3:1-6).
The house, according to God's ideal, is co-extensive with the body (on earth); and, had nothing but the divinely-appointed materials been built into it, the two would have remained co-extensive; the respective names expressing the same thing under different aspects—the body presenting it in its relation of vital union with Christ; the house presenting it in its relation to God as His dwelling-place on earth.
As a matter of fact, however, the body and the house have become widely sundered in character. As the former is entirely the workmanship of God, who "looketh on the heart," it is raised above any liability to confusion; but the latter, being entrusted to man, who "looketh on the outward appearance," is subject to such mixture of its materials as may arise from deception, carelessness, or self-will. God has nowhere, by any of His appointments, sanctioned such mixtures; but He has foreseen, and in some respects provided for and made regulations in anticipation of it.
On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended to form the body and inhabit the house, the two were exactly coincident—the same souls formed the one and the other. Had no false profession ever been made, had none but living stones been built into the structure, it would have continued co-extensive with the body. So far as we know, the house lost its identification with the body, when Simon Magus was baptized (Acts 8:13). When he, though still "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (ver. 23), made profession of believing, and was consequently baptized, a stone was added to the building, which was not a living stone; but as he was not a member of the body, there was now that in the house of which the body knew nothing; they were no longer one and the same.
As false profession increased, and unwise builders, through their blunders or self-will, brought in more and more unsuited materials, the distinction between the body and the house kept widening, till the one has become quite overshadowed by the other, if not almost lost sight of. Instead of "a holy temple" built of holy materials, and containing only hallowed vessels of precious metals, such as alone were deemed suitable for the interior tabernacle or temple of old, the Church hall now become comparable to a large human dwelling-place (2 Tim. 2:20), suitable for the habitation of men, and including vessels of baser materials; vessels to honor—the only ones fit for the Master's use—being indeed there, but vessels to dishonor mingled with them, and, alas, in overwhelming proportion!
God's plan, though not His purpose, has thus been marred in the execution by the unskilfulness and unfaithfulness of those He has admitted to the dignity of "fellow-workers" in it; and instead of a beautiful, harmonious, and united structure, there has resulted a mass of deformed, unstable building, fitted only for the judgment that will soon overtake it, as threatened (1 Cor. 3:13; 1 Peter 4:17, etc.). God will not restore the ruin. What He is doing now by His Spirit is, gathering out here and there some of the living stones from the midst of the rubbish, and upon the still unmoved foundation building them together in a form which, though not the perfect model of the original, does at least exhibit its leading features—its principles. Nothing more is to be looked for now. God never sets up again a failed dispensation. He only calls out a witnessing remnant. Who that loves His name would not aspire to the honor of a place among those witness-bearers, though, in taking that place, the reproach of Christ must be their lot?