The Counsels Of God Concerning The Church
Clarence E. Lunden
Table of Contents
Preface
As the moment for the rapture of the Church draws near, so near, we should be earnest students of Scripture — those who meditate upon the Word of truth with delight to learn its true meaning and strengthen the sagging faith increasingly apparent during the last fifty years.
These brief meditations on God’s counsels concerning the Church and their soon-coming fulfillment should brighten the eyes of our hearts to seek to lay hold of every detail of the glories of Christ who gave Himself for the Church.
The Counsels of God
“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Eph. 5:32.
“God, in the solitude of His actings, breaks in upon earth’s silence and darkness to develop a sphere in which He might display His eternal power and Godhead, also His love to man” (JND).
God’s counsels called for Christ to die to provide a way that sinners from the lost race of man might have eternal life with Christ (Psa. 40; John 5:24).
The center of all of God’s counsels is the Church, the Father’s gift to His only begotten Son. One of God’s chief counsels is to have a bride for Christ. The first and second creations would be incomplete without the woman — Eve for Adam and the Church for Christ. Not only is the Church the bride of Christ, but according to the counsels of God, when He gathers together all things in Christ, she is part of His inheritance.
We bow in wonder as we think of these counsels and the sublimity of divine truth. The Queen of Sheba had a burning desire to learn from Solomon of the true God. Does this desire form our lives? Or have we allowed, through worldliness, our hearts to be drawn aside, so that we have lost sight of all that lies ahead with Christ our Head — the splendor of the deep eternal counsels, which make the great things of the present world pale into insignificance?
The Church, the Fulness of Christ
“He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places . . . and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” Eph. 1:20,22,23.
Christ is seated at God’s right hand in the heavenlies, above every power, angels or men, and above every name, having all put under His feet, being given headship, as man, over all, to the Church — His body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all.
A chief purpose of the work of redemption was the fitting of souls for the Church, because the Father sought a bride for His Son. She forms the fulness of His work, the last to be brought in after Israel. Therefore she is “the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” She is His complement; she makes Christ, as man, complete in God’s counsels.
The Church is composed of the children of God who cry, “Abba, Father,” having the indwelling of the Spirit of God. The body of Christ is composed of all living believers during the tenure of the Church in this world. It is only spoken of as on earth, because the Head, Christ, is in heaven.
“The Church is in the place of largeness with which there is no dispensation” (JND).
The Mystery Revealed Through Paul
The Church was hid in God’s counsels in eternity until the Apostle Paul was given a special revelation of the mystery of Christ and the Church.
“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, and by the scriptures of the prophets [prophetic scriptures, JND], according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.” Rom. 16:25-27.
Spiritual Life and Power in the Church
Before new birth, man is morally dead —dead in trespasses and sins. God gave Adam natural life, so Christ breathed on His disciples and gave them spiritual life (John 20:22). Power for the spiritual life was given at Pentecost by the descent of the Holy Spirit.
The believer is sealed (taken possession of) by the Holy Spirit whose coming was promised to the disciples (John 14:16). “In the church, the Spirit flows from the belly, deeper than knowledge.” (See John 7:37,38.)
The earnest of the Spirit causes us to look forward with joy to the full blessing at the coming of Christ, while now in our trials the Spirit helps us by interceding for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26).
We have spiritual eyes, having been anointed. These eyes of our hearts are opened to see three things: (1) the hope of His calling; (2) the riches of His glory in His inheritance in the saints; and, (3) His surpassing power towards us believers — so that we may understand that this mighty power, which raised Christ from among the dead, will also raise us up in the same way.
The Blessings of the Church
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Eph. 1:3.
The blessings of the Church are unfolded in Ephesians and Colossians.
The believer’s place is in the heavenlies where every spiritual blessing is found. We, who believe, were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before the Father in love. Being children by adoption we are accepted in the Beloved, Christ. Our sins are forgiven through the riches of His grace.
Divine wisdom and intelligence have given us to know the mystery of His will, His good pleasure and purpose, His counsels, “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times [the end of the millennial kingdom] He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him.” Eph. 1:10.
In Christ we have obtained an inheritance. We have been predestinated for it in the counsels of God according to His own will. We are a part of His inheritance.
Outside of the Church, there are two classes of people in the world, the Jew and the Gentile (heathen). In the main, the Church is being gathered from among the heathen and they are His inheritance. “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.” Psa. 2:7,8.
Types of the Church, the Bride of Christ
Eve & Adam
Adam was given dominion over all things on the earth, while Eve was associated with him as his bride. Christ will be in dominion over all things, both in heaven and on earth, and His bride, the Church, will be associated with Him (Rev. 21:10,11).
Eve was the first mother, and so she, as her name implies, is called the mother of all living (Gen. 3:20). She typifies the Church as the bride associated with Christ in the first and highest place in heaven, the holy Jerusalem.
Eve was formed from a rib taken from Adam’s side while he was in a deep sleep. She is a picture of the Church formed by the death and resurrection of Christ (Gen. 2:22,23). Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Gen. 2:23. (See also Eph. 5:30.)
Rebekah & Isaac
“And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” Gen. 24:67.
Rebekah replaced Sarah, Isaac’s mother, in the tent. In this picture Sarah is Israel in type. Also, we have that which typifies God’s habitation on the earth through the Spirit (Eph. 2:21,22).
The Church took on a Gentile character, when the heathen were saved and brought into the Church through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. The story of Isaac and Rebekah illustrates this.
The testimony of God on the earth, held by Israel in the city of Jerusalem, was then taken away because they had rejected their Messiah. Until that time Jerusalem represented God’s authority and testimony in the earth. Once formed, the Church carried the privilege and responsibility of testimony and discipline on earth among the profession of Christianity. Sad to say, it has failed and is in a state of ruin.
Asenath & Joseph
Asenath means beauty. As Joseph’s bride she is a picture of the bride of Christ in the day of the display of her beauty (Rev. 19:7,8). She is a type of the bride of Christ associated with Him in His greater glory over the earth (Gen. 41:39-45).
Beautiful Esther is another picture of this. She was selected for her beauty by King Ahasuerus, ruler over the whole earth (Esther 2:16-19).
Zipporah & Moses
Zipporah, Moses’s bride, was separated from him while he was away, preparing all things for blessing among the people of God. It reminds us of the Lord when He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2.
“I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.” Psa. 102:7. Zipporah’s name means “sparrow.” This pictures the present time when the believer is in the wilderness as a stranger and a pilgrim.
Abigail & David
Abigail means a father’s joy, a source of joy. It is the bride at home in the Father’s house (Eph. 1:6).
Pharaoh’s Daughter & Solomon
The Egyptian (heathen) daughter of Pharaoh sits with Solomon on his glorious throne, a type of the Church reigning with Christ in His millennial kingdom on earth. Solomon chose the daughter of Pharaoh for a bride. She formerly belonged to Egypt, a slave to the pleasures of sin. The Church, the bride of Christ, was set free from the temporary pleasures of sin (Heb. 11:25,26).
The Prophecy of Caiaphas
When the Jewish leaders held a council meeting to try and decide what to do about Jesus, Caiaphas the high priest said,
“Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” John 11:49-52.
In Israel when the high priest went into the holy place, he had a breastplate of judgment upon his heart for a memorial before the Lord. He was to bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart continually (Ex. 28:29,30). On this breastplate he was to have “the Urim and the Thummim.”
Caiaphas prophesied under constraint when he gave the last Urim and Thummim sentence. As high priest he not only acted as a judge to condemn Jesus to death, but he also prophesied as to the Church. His prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost. What he said was not his choice, but God made him say it as a type of Christ bearing the breastplate of judgment upon His heart for His people forever.
Urim means “light” or “revelation,” and Thummim means “perfection” or “truth,” so we have in this type Christ as the only source of revelation and truth. Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6. We see the calling of the Church, which followed His death and resurrection, indicated by the judgment upon the breastplate over the heart.
In Caiaphas’s prophecy “the children scattered abroad” are those who formed the Church at Pentecost. He said, “And not for that nation only,” indicating that not only the Jew but also Gentiles would be blessed by His death.
The Church "I Will Build"
The first mention of the Church in Scripture is Matthew 16:18, but at that time nothing was revealed as to the mystery.
Jesus asked His disciples, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” Some said one thing, some another. (You can expect different answers and opinions when the Holy Spirit is not guiding.)
Jesus asked again, “But whom say ye that I am?”
Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Father had revealed this to Peter. And Jesus declares,
“I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [a little stone], and upon this rock [Christ] I will build My church; and the gates of hell [Hades] shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:18.
As man Christ builds His Church. In Matthew 16 it is seen as a future temple built on earth — built upon Christ after His death and resurrection. It will be complete when He comes.
The Church on earth, being the “habitation of God,” is where God, by the Spirit, dwells at present. How holy and solemn this truth is for us. We are the household of God.
Holiness in God’s House
“O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the earth.” Psa. 96:9. “Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever.” Psa. 93:5.
“Holiness is the activity of [God’s] nature in its own delights” (JND). Holiness must be maintained in the assembly or it will cease to be an assembly. Truth, all the truth (John 16:13), has been entrusted to the Church. It is responsible to be “the pillar and base of the truth.” 1 Tim. 3:15 JND. May we be faithful in keeping it.
The Lord’s Table
The Lord wants every believer to be at His table and would lead them there by the Holy Spirit. The loaf we partake of at the Lord’s table is the symbol of the one body (1 Cor. 10:16,17).
All believers everywhere are part of the one body and are represented in the loaf at the Lord’s table. However, many are at other tables, set up by men, which do not represent the one body, because they are independent of other believers.
Only a professing believer connected with moral or doctrinal evil is to be excluded from His table. The testimony of God on the earth is preserved by the Holy Spirit through discipline, displaying the authority of Christ on the earth.
The assembly should be a testimony to all that there is one body. When we sit down and partake of the one loaf during the Lord’s supper at the Lord’s table, we express that we are members of the one body. There may be believers who do not know this truth and so sit down at men’s tables but who in simplicity worship God in the Spirit.
Believers are gathered to the Lord at His table by the Spirit of God. To be in fellowship at the Lord’s table, we need to be led by and submissive to the Spirit. Have we responded to His call?
"There Am I"
“For where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matt. 18:20 JND.
The Holy Spirit has only one Center —Christ — for His people, to whom they should gather. All other centers are of men. All believers have the Lord’s presence with them individually because they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, yet the indwelling of the Spirit, most blessed as it is, is not a public testimony to the oneness of the body.
Think of this, dear fellow-believer, Christ has promised His presence in the midst of the assembly where the Holy Spirit has gathered Christ’s saints together unto His name in separation from evil. An assembly in a place represents the whole body in that place and manifests the one body.
It is a comfort that the gathering of just two or three is mentioned. God is no doubt making provision for these last days of the Church’s history on earth when such ruin has come in. But the ruin does not take away privilege or responsibility, for the testimony (two is adequate testimony) of the one body may continue.
Is there a higher privilege than this one? I know of nothing else like it — a divine Person gathering His people to a divine center to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth.
The Sanctification and Cleansing of the Church
“Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Eph. 5:25-27.
While discipline includes judgment and punishment, it is a subject which brings in far more important considerations than those two. Instruction, tender care, correction, shepherding, teaching by word and example, circumstances and trials all work together to mold and perfect the moral character of a child of God.
The Spirit of God might occupy us with our ways, not to remind us of our wicked hearts, but to draw us away from them and engage our hearts with the eternal things and the Person and place to which we are going. God’s purpose is to remove all fears and give our hearts peace. “He is our peace.”
In Ephesians 5:26, “the washing of water by the word” is discipline, which is part of the preparation of each member of the body of Christ to live in the home of the Father in heaven, the home into which we shall soon be taken (John 14:2). “All the history of the saints is an exhibition of the hidden eternal counsels of the divine bosom to be revealed later” (JND).
As the Holy Spirit works, washing with water by the Word, lessons are learned and the heart is drawn to heaven with Christ as its Object. If we keep our eye upon Him, we are changed by being occupied with our Object, Christ. As heavenly scenes grow brighter, the things of earth become dim.
The character of each saint is molded as he passes through trials of many kinds —disappointments, loss of friends, death of loved ones, and the like. Anything in this world that the heart is set upon must be replaced by Christ. Only He will be the eternal Object of the heart.
Occupation with the Word of God, which brings Christ before us, corrects our ways as we look upon the perfect Man, whom we shall be like in every way. God uses this way to prepare us to feel at home and feel the warmth of our relationship as children before the Father, and only in this way does the cry, “Come, Lord Jesus,” take on breadth and depth in our souls.
In Song of Solomon 1:5, the secret of the bride’s affections is being black, because it is coupled with the display of love of the Bridegroom. “A sense of constancy of affection lightens the burden of life, making the heart brave and enabling it to reach its objective.”
The heart (“a prisoner of hope”) knows well the power of that One who is its Object. The expectancy of His coming, our only hope, takes hold of our hearts as we in spirit are drawn nearer to heaven. “An easy yoke brings generous affections.”
The Bride Prepares for Her New Home
Have you ever thought of being in the domestic atmosphere of the Father’s house — to be the companion of Jesus, to be loved of the Father and to have the Holy Spirit fill your heart with the love of Christ? We will live in the very home that Jesus has lived in for the past eternity.
When in heaven we will feel at home and comfortable in our surroundings, our hearts filled with joy, as we for the first time experience the atmosphere of heaven in heaven, which will be no small part of our heavenly joys, when Jesus comes forth to serve. “What fresh, balmy fragrance will fill all heaven then” (JND).
“Christ only loves that which is holy, according to His knowledge of purity in virtue of His eternal, natural abode where He will take us” (JND).
In this world the bride discovers the elements of the heavenly glory in which she will soon participate. For her happiness she experiences cleansing, the essential work of the love of Christ. He sanctifies and cleanses by the washing of water by the Word in view of what is proper for the Father’s house. All that characterizes the natural man or his ways must go.
The Word of God is the divine expression of the mind of God, and through the Word Christ develops spiritual affection in our inner man. In view of this, would it not be wise for us to be occupied with the reading of the Word, so that we may gain much here of heavenly decorum? We grow little by little as we are prepared for our heavenly home, and “fruit is a sign of maturity and is a result of full growth. It is not found in a moment.”
“A man [shall] leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” Eph. 5:31-33.
The man pictures the Head (Christ) who is distinct from the bride, so the picture might be seen of Christ and His bride forming the complete man. “The body must be in heaven for Christ to be complete.”
Purity must be maintained in the bride. The woman is to maintain the character of the bride as a continual testimony to all mankind of the place and character of the bride of Christ. “In like manner also that the women in decent deportment and dress adorn themselves with modesty and discretion, not with plaited hair and gold, or pearls, or costly clothing, but, what becomes women making profession of the fear of God, by good works.” 1 Tim. 2:9,10 JND. God requires that there be distinction between the man and the woman in everyday dress and manner of life in this world. “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Deut. 22:5. “Let a woman learn in quietness in all subjection; but I do not suffer a woman to teach nor to exercise authority over man, but to be in quietness; for Adam was formed first, then Eve.” 1 Tim. 2:11-13 JND. “I will therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up pious hands, without wrath or reasoning.” 1 Tim. 2:8 JND.
The Rapture of the Church
“For the Lord Himself shall 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 which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:16-18.
First heard is the Lord’s shout of victory, then the voice of the archangel, which is the authority of heaven, then the trump of God, which raises the dead. This is the first part of the first resurrection.
Following the rapture will be the judgment seat of Christ for all of the heavenly saints, including all believers who have died from the beginning of the world as well as the living who will have been raptured. How blessed and happy will be this time when rewards are given.
The Bride’s Preparation for Marriage
“And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.” Rev. 19:8 JND.
Then it can be said, “For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready [at the judgment seat of Christ].”
The pearl exemplifies and illustrates the graces which have been the result of “the washing of water by the Word” and which belong to the bride of Christ at the time of the marriage of the Lamb. The pearl is characterized by depth of beauty, fairness, worth, iridescent luster, softness, delicacy, effulgence, elegance, intrinsic value and delicate, feminine graciousness.
No money value is set upon a pearl. Its value is discovered at the time of purchase. What a price was paid to purchase the Church — the blood of Christ Jesus shed at Calvary.
Years of patient work are necessary for the formation of cultured pearls. The woman who sweeps the house in Luke 15 gives a picture of the patient work of the Spirit of God within the bride.
One pearl, there never was another
Thy heart to satisfy,
Eternal joys discover.
Oh, gracious Lord,
Thy Father’s wisdom, Boundless,
Has through Thy cross
Now wrought a work
So groundless,
Except for love
That would not spare
His darling
To open wide the heart of God
And fill the heavens with children,
Precious stones, formed
As His companions ever,
In felicity, Thy bride,
One pearl, the Church,
Thy radiant display, Forever,
Of God’s eternal glory.
“Purity here, the result of the Spirit’s work, prepares His bride for a happiness of which His heart is the measure and source” (JND).
The Marriage and the Marriage Supper
Of all the events which take place in the history of man, the happiest and the most blessed will be the marriage of the Lamb — a moment unlike any which have been before or ever will be again. It sums up in fulfillment the counsels of God concerning the Church. Since Pentecost, generations of saints, martyrs and faithful ones have waited for this moment with joyful anticipation.
The Old Testament saints have waited, too, but not intelligently, because life and incorruptibility were brought to light through the gospel. They have no part in the Church but will shine in the heavenly city, Jerusalem.
The marriage supper of the Lamb will follow the marriage. There will be many guests —perhaps all of heaven (Rev. 19:9).
After the marriage, perhaps a year later, (“When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” Deut. 24:5), heaven will open, and the Word of God, the One riding upon a white horse, will appear, with His wife following. Armageddon and the great day of God Almighty will be the result.
Finally and forever comes the Father’s house, visits to the new earth, the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and all of the universe in the hands of the man Christ Jesus.
Oh! to be loved by the Father in His own home, which will be ours, with His beloved Son forever, to sit at His table and to be served by Jesus. These are the riches of His glory.
The Counsels Fulfilled
We have followed in measure the counsels of God concerning Christ and the Church, the mystery. These counsels rest at last in the riches of His glory (Eph. 1:18). Redemption is the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:7). “The unsearchable riches of Christ” are the riches of His glory in which the Church will be seen with Him. Glory is excellence in manifestation.
These reflections concerning the counsels of God in regard to Christ and the Church have their origin in many years of happy meditation in anticipation of their fulfillment. Surely, we, as the children of God, bound for the Father’s house of many mansions, can cry with full hearts, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Rev. 22:20.
To be unlinked from chains and fetters frail,
Like bark unmoored from earth’s receding shore,
To have the old familiar lights grow pale;
All death behind, all life before.
So reaches forth the heart to Thee, to Thee,
Beyond decay and what is changing here;
Dimly the spirit even now can see,
Her great sure bliss is drawing brightly near.
D.B.H.
Appendix
Assembly Care and Discipline
When the assembly is gathered together, two or three may minister, one following the other. We do not find in the New Testament any instructions for the Church to appoint speakers. The Holy Spirit guides as to who should speak and what should be said as in all things in the assembly.
“The elders which are among you I exhort. . . . Feed [shepherd] the flock of God which is among you.” 1 Peter 5:1,2.
The Holy Spirit made the elders in Ephesus overseers to care for and shepherd the assembly (Acts 20:28). The shepherd has a responsibility to God’s sheep (which make up the assembly) to feed, guard and protect them and deliver them from evil. His credentials must be according to Scripture. “If a man desire the office of a bishop [overseer], he desireth a good work.” 1 Tim. 3:1.
The overseers (elders) should practically take on the character of a shepherd, not by compulsion but willingly. In their walk, they should practice the very things that would cause the sheep to follow the Lord (1 Peter 5:13). The believer is exhorted to obey his leaders and be in submission, the state of soul that loves to obey (Heb. 13:17).
The kingdom of heaven in its present phase is the sphere of Christ’s authority on earth by the Holy Spirit while He is absent in heaven. It supposes discipline and order. The keys of the kingdom of heaven were placed in the hands of the Apostle Peter.
In Matthew 16 we have a definite account of the counsels of God, first the Church built upon Christ, then the kingdom of heaven —the sphere where the Church is formed. The kingdom of heaven and the forming of the Church go alongside one another as two connected yet separate things.
The Father revealed to Simon that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that He with life-giving power would build His Church. Christ in virtue of His power and authority gives to him the name of Peter, for he was a living stone in the Church to be built. He also confers upon him special authority relating to the kingdom, saying: “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.”
Peter was in the assembly in Jerusalem. He, as an apostle, had the authority to bind and loose. This means that he could put one away from the Lord’s table or receive one at the table. In many cases the acts of an apostle give a pattern of action for the assembly in a day when there would be no apostles. The assembly in Jerusalem was a sample of the assembly in each city where it has been or will be formed.
There is always the opposition of Satan in the kingdom where the Church is being formed, as the Lord spoke in Matthew 11:12, “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Satan brings in difficult and questionable ideas that only a spiritual mind can discern, leading the Spirit of God to provide overseers to guide, feed and guard the flock (Acts 20:28). Those who walk with God and read His Word learn to submit to their leaders, even though, sometimes, some things are hard to understand.
If evil arises in the assembly, the one who has brought it among the believers must be put away. It must be done in the name and by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The holiness that becomes God’s house requires it; the one put away needs “the destruction of the flesh”; and the leaven of evil must be purged out or the whole assembly will be leavened.
In spite of the ruined state of the Church, two or three gathered unto the Lord’s name still have the authority and responsibility to follow Scripture in dealing with evil. The Lord’s presence in the midst of believers so gathered and the explicit authority given by the Scriptures to act in His name have been preserved in spite of the failure to the Church to keep the unity of the Spirit. When the Lord promised to be in the midst of two or three gathered in His name, He told them, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matt. 18:18.
The assembly, not individuals (except the apostles), have authority to bind and loose. The putting away or receiving back are sanctioned in heaven. The assembly in a place represents the whole body and acts for it. The Spirit of God through Paul said to the assembly in Corinth, “Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” 1 Cor. 12:27.
If evil arises in the assembly, the facts concerning the evil must be determined. In 1 Cor. 5:11, a list of evils is recorded. They are a sample of what is “evil,” but they are not an exhaustive list. Occupation with evil defiles, so it is wise for overseers to be the ones involved in determining the facts of a case. There may be details that would be improper to bring before the whole assembly, but the general facts should be available to all.
No one person should call the assembly together for a special meeting. Two or more elders might do so. In Israel two trumpets were needed to call the assembly to assemble themselves before the Lord (Numbers 10:24).
Setting facts concerning the evil before the assembly and subsequent actions must be carried out only after and with much prayer. A certain period of time should be allowed for the conscience of the assembly to be exercised, then one from the assembly (an overseer) should take the responsibility to make known to the assembly what the Lord’s mind is.
If there is no valid opposition, the judgment should be declared before the assembly and, when necessary, communicated to other assemblies. An invalid objection, which would hinder the exercise of the discipline considered, would not be for the glory of God and should not be tolerated.
Since the Lord, the Head, is in the midst and since, in the oneness of the body, the assembly in a place is viewed as the whole and acting for it, there is no higher and no other authority to appeal to. In the case of personal trespass taken up in Matthew 18, the order of resolution was “between thee and him alone,” then “one or two more,” and finally “unto the church.”
The assembly must never allow known evil to remain in its midst unjudged. If evidence of evil is discovered, the assembly in which the evil is found is responsible to “purge out . . . the old leaven.” The assembly in Ephesus was told by the Lord, “Repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Rev. 2:5.
An example of discipline is found in Matthew 18:1517. It was not gross moral evil (as in Corinth) or doctrinal evil (as in Galatia), but it had to be dealt with, or there would be no order or peace in the assembly. If a brother has been offended by another, he should go to him alone and tell him what he has done wrong, and if his brother receives him, the matter is settled. If he does not take the correction, one or two more should accompany the offended one as witnesses, but if they are not heard, then the matter should be told to the Church. If the offender does not listen to the Church, he is to be as a publican or a heathen. This means, we presume, that the assembly has put him away from the Lord’s table.
Seventy years of studying the Scriptures and of observing the actions of the assemblies in many different places have helped in understanding how discipline and putting away have been and may continue to be done “decently and in order.” First and above all, it is important to remember that the glory of the Lord has the priority, not our own thoughts or our own wills.
The crafty foe may further thin
Our ranks if left down here.
Fightings without and fears within
Draw forth the sigh and tear.
Yet, Lord, on Thee we may depend,
Though of all else bereft,
For Thou wilt graciously defend
Thy people that are left.