THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES
"Search the Scripture." John 5:39.
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 ekklesia (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."
[1] There is an
apparent exception in the R.V. of Acts 9:31, where, while the Authorized
Version has "churches," the singular seems to point to a district; but the
reference is clearly to the church as it was in Jerusalem, which it had just
been scattered, as recorded in 8:1. Again, in Rom. 16:23, that Gaius was the
host of "the whole church," most naturally and simply suggests that the
assembly in Corinth had been accustomed to meet in his house, where also Paul
was entertained.
[2] If we grant that the words, "Thou art Peter,"
represent the actual original, the Lord was confirming a name which He had
already given him (John 1:42), and was indicating the association of his
character with that of the truth of his confession. There is, however,
considerable ms. authority for the reading "thou hast said." In the contracted
form of the last word the lettering of the original is the same, and the
difference is simply one of spacing; thus su ei ps is "thou art Peter,"
and su eips, which stands for su eipas, is "thou hast said." St.
Augustine in his Latin version has "tu dixisti" (thou hast said), and
must have had ms. authority for this. St. Jerome quotes the passage in one
place as "su eipas." Moreover on the occasion, as recorded in this very Gospel,
when Caiaphas questioned the Lord as to His being "the Christ, the Son of God"
(practically the same as in Peter's confession), He immediately answered, "Thou
hast said" (Matt. 26:64).
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," etc. a 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 suffer 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 to
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]
[4]
See an extended note on the subject in Notes on I and 2 Thessalonians by C. F.
Hogg and the writer.
[5] The phrase "the Kingdom of Heaven" is used
only in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament (in 2 Tim. 4:18, the phrase
is "His heavenly Kingdom"). That Gospel speaks of the Kingdom of God four
times. There is a distinction between what that Kingdom actually is and what it
resembles. In the parables in Matt. 13 the Lord does not say, "the Kingdom of
Heaven is so and so," but "the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto" (verses 24, 31,
33, 44, 45, 47), and again in the corresponding passage in Mark, "So is the
Kingdom of God as if..." (verse 26), and "How shall we liken the Kingdom of
God, or in what parable shall we show it forth" (verse 30). Just as there is a
radical difference between wheat and tares, so there is all the difference
between "sons of the Kingdom" and "sons of the evil one' (Matt. 13:38). Both
are to be found in the Kingdom, in its mystery form, outwardly acknowledging
the name of Christ. But some yield either merely formal or even feigned
obedience. This will be so even in the Millennium, and with hearts unchanged
they will rebel at the last (see Rev. 20:7-10). Only those can enter into the
Kingdom in reality and in its eternal blessedness who are born again (John
3:5).
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 co-terminous 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]
[6] A local church, meeting in any particular place,
is spoken of as a body in 1 Cor. 12:27, but in a different aspect: "To the
church in Corinth," the Apostle says, "Ye are (the) body of Christ" (the
definite article is absent in the original), but some of the members, in that
application of the word, are themselves part of the head, being spoken of as an
"eye," an "ear" (see verse 16). Accordingly the symbol is not applied in that
passage in the same way as in Ephesians, where Christ is the Head of the whole
Church, the Body.
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 still 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.
[7] The view
referred to has been explained by means of the illustration of a regiment in
the British Army, which fought, for instance, at the battle of Waterloo, and
still bears the same designation, though not a soldier who took part in that
battle is alive today. But Scripture knows no such third definition of the
Church as would provide ground for the illustration. Again, an attempt has been
made to find some support for the view in the suggestion that the letters to
the seven churches in the second and third Chapters of the Apocalypse speak of
conditions which anticipatively represent successive periods in the history of
the Christian churches, or of Christendom, throughout the present era. It is
argued from this that since the condition prevailing in any one of the periods
represents what is conveyed to a particular church in the actual letter, the
term "church" way be said to stand for all the Christians in the world during
the period intimated. This argument is precarious indeed. To begin with, it is
based upon a mere inference, and then, whatever justification there may be for
the successive period view, that view involves the teaching that the conditions
which are represented by the last of the four letters are not distinctly
successive since each of these four last continues from its beginning to the
end of the age; so that there are four simultaneous conditions at the time
represented by the letter to Laodicea, three represented by the letter to
Philadelphia, two by the letter to Sardis, while that which is represented by
the one to Thyatira continues through all four. In other words, if we hold the
anticipative and prophetic view of these letters to the churches they cannot
all be held to represent distinctly separate, successive periods. This itself
runs counter to the idea that the Church consists of all believers in the world
at any given time, and in any case it is unsafe to apply the word "Church," in
a way in which it is not used in Scripture, to something which is simply based
upon inference, and especially an inference which does not fit the view taken.
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 modelled 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.
[8] Here the presence of the definite article in the original refers
apparently to what has preceded.
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]
[9] In
Leviticus 22:10, the Septuagint has a different word for "stranger" (allogenos,
one of another race). In Genesis 23:4, "sojourner" (Paroikos) is the first
word. See also Leviticus 25:23, 35, 47. In the New Testament the terms are
found only elsewhere in Acts 7:6, 29; cp. 1 Pet. 2:11.
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."
[10] Some regard the apostles
and prophets as themselves the foundation. While this is possible, it is
needful to remember that the genitive case in the original, represented by the
preposition "of," frequently has an objective sense instead of the
appositional. That is to say, in the present instance the meaning would be, not
that the apostles and prophets were themselves the subjects, forming part of
the foundation, but that the foundation was the object laid by their agency,
and this is a fact. Revelation 21:14 affords no confirmation of the subjective
or appositional view; that passage speaks of a city wall, a symbol of defence,
not of God's Temple.
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]
[11] It is true that the Greek word pas may signify "all," even
when it is not followed by the definite article with the noun (when the article
is used, the rendering should be "all the " or "the whole" as in Acts 3:25,
"all the families," and Phil. 1:3, R.V. "all my remembrance of you; in contrast
"every prayer" in verse 4, where the article is absent). Yet a distinction is
necessary in the phrases without the article. In the case of an abstract, or a
proper noun, some collective nouns, and some used in a collective sense where
no other meaning but "all" is possible, the rendering is "all," e.g., "all
righteousness" (Matt. 3:15), "all Jerusalem" (Matt. 2:3), "all flesh" (Luke
3:6). Otherwise the rendering should be "every;" thus "every ordinance" (1
Peter 2:13), "every creature' (Col. 1:15, 23), "every Scripture" (2 Tim. 3:16);
so "every family" (here).
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,
exactly parallel in the original to that in 2:21, speaks of the Church as a
temple he says "in whom every building (see RV margin) 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 parts 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 Christ dwelling 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 of glory
(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 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 in 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.
THE 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.
[12]
"Speaking truth," represents the one verb aletheuo in the original. It
signifies to deal faithfully, or truly, with anyone. "The idea of integrity of
conduct as well as of truthfulness of speech is included in the word, see Gen.
42:16, LXX, "whether ye deal truly or no"' (Notes on the Epistle to the
Galatians, by C. F. Hogg and the writer, p. 207).
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]
[14] "The word
dorea, "gift," is used (in the eleven passages where it is found in the
New Testament) only of spiritual gifts bestowed by Divine grace. This word and
dorema, which has the same meaning, and is found only in Romans 5:16 and
James 1:17, are to be distinguished from dosis, which directs the
thought more particularly to the act of giving; dosis is used only in
Philippians 4:15, "giving and receiving," and in James 1:17, which, taking the
RX. margin, reads, "Every good giving (dosis the act) and every perfect
boon (dorenia, the concrete gift)." Here in Ephesians 4:7 the phrase
"the gift of Christ" is not "the gift possessed by or consisting of Christ,"
but "the gift bestowed by Him." There is a further word, charisnou,
signifying distinctly "a gift of grace," and though this is not used in the
Epistle to the Ephesians, yet it is connected with the bestowment of grace
(charis), as in chapter 3:7, as well as the present passage.
[15] The phrase "to lead captivity captive," was used to express the
completeness of a victory, as demonstrated by the multitude of captives taken.
Cp. the words of Deborah's song in Judges 5:12. The abstract noun "captivity,"
stands apparently for the concrete "captives," thereby adding force to the
expression. No intimation is given in Ephesians 4:9 as to who the captives
were. The statement has been regarded as referring to the release of the
spirits of the just from Hades and their transference by Christ into Heaven.
Not improbably the reference is directly to the complete victory of Christ over
the spiritual foe, which had formerly triumphed over his captives (cp. Is.
14:2). All the efforts to oppose the designs of God in the Death, Resurrection
and Ascension of Christ, had been frustrated, and now, as a result of what had
been accomplished, and in virtue of the glory and power of His own Person as
the triumphant one over him who had the power of death, as the Liberator of His
redeemed and as Head of the Church in His place of high exaltation, He "gave
gifts unto men," i.e., those on whose behalf He had triumphed (Acts 2:33).
CHRIST'S UNCHANGED PERSONALITY
The next verses lay 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, 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."
[16] Diakonia is "service," "ministering," not "the ministry," as if
signifying the present technical sense of an ordained set of ministers. The
prepositions pros and eis, in verse 12, make clear the order intended. Pros,
"for," "with a view to," introduces the phrase "the perfecting of the saints;
on the other hand, the preposition eis, "unto," is used to introduce each of
the two following clauses, "the work of ministering," and "the building up of
the body of Christ," showing that both the ministering and the building up are
intended to be the work of all the saints.
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.
[17] This is indicated by the use of the article with pantes,
"all"; as we might say, "the whole of us" (cp., e.g., I Cor. 10:17, there
especially of each local community).
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.
[18] The word methodeia is rightly rendered "wiles" in
the R.V. in this verse. The Apostle uses it again in 6:11, "the wiles of the
Devil," and it is found in these two places only in the New Testament. In 4:14,
it is in the singular number; in 6:11, it is in the plural.
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" (1 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, RV). 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
TERMINOLOGY
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
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, destoyeth the temple 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]
[20] It was
the naos into which Zacharias entered (Luke 1:9, 10), while the people
were without in the hieron. Into the naos the Lord did not enter
during His ministry on earth. He drove out the money changers from the
hieron, not from the naos. Zacharias was slain between the
temple, naos, and the brazen altar, which was outside. The priests alone
went into the naos, and there Judas in his despair entered and cast down
the money before them.
Many circumstances in connection with the
Temple, as with the Tabernacle, find their spiritual counterpart in a local
church. Of this we speak 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.
[21] The words "speaking" and "saith" stand for two different words in
the original, laleo and lego. Laleo signifies an utterance
of human language in contrast with silence; it stresses the fact that speech is
being uttered. Lego represents a statement or discourse in its orderly
reasoning; it stresses the meaning and substance of what is spoken.
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).
[22] The confession of Christ as
Lord is put first, presumably, for the following reasons:
1. It is
appropriate to the order, mouth and heart, verse 8.
2. The order is in
agreement with the order in verses 6 and 7, verse 6 speaking of Christ's
present position in Heaven, verse 7 of His resurrection.
3. The confession
of Jesus as Lord provides a distinctive and evident difference between those
who have been justified by faith and those who are seeking righteousness by
their own works.
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 ye and 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 ye make 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 faithful 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]
[23] Not "administrations," as in the
AV. The exercise of rule is not in view here. The word is diakoniai,
"ministrations," i.e., forms of service. The gifts are charismata, gifts of
grace (expressive of their utility); they are energemata, "workings"
(expressive of their activity).
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
They are mentioned just as they were in operation in
the churches in apostolic times. Some were designed for the temporary and
special purposes of that period, others were for permanent functioning. This is
made clear in the next chapter. The personal gifts of apostles and prophets,
for instance, were bestowed for the immediate purposes of the time. They laid
the foundation of the truths of the faith by the revelations Divinely imparted
to them, and laid it completely. No foundation doctrine remained to be added.
The special work of apostles and prophets ceased with the completion of the
inspired Scriptures. All that was communicated to them by direct revelation,
and through them by oral testimony in the churches, was, during their lifetime,
imparted "in the written Word of God."
TONGUES AND PROPHESYINGS
As with the temporary character of the
ministry just mentioned, so with other gifts imparted for the particular
purposes of the apostolic period. "Tongues" were "for a sign" and especially to
unbelieving Jews (I Cor. 14:21, 22):the Apostle makes this clear by basing the
fact that they were for a sign upon the quotation from Isaiah 28:11, 12,
wherein God declared that "by men of strange tongues" He would speak "unto this
people," that is to say, to Israel. This testimony, the rejection of which was
likewise foretold, continued while God maintained relations with His earthly
people, and ceased with the termination of those relations." [24]
[24]
As to the gift of tongues, this was not be exercised without being interpreted
(verse 28). There was a special gift of interpretation (12:10). Each of these
was an inferior gift (verse 31; 14:1, 2, 12, etc.).
So, again, with
the miraculous manifestation of the power of the Spirit of God. In every
instance recorded in the Acts, the testimony and its appeal were especially to
Jews, as vindicatory signs of what God had done and was doing through Christ
Jesus in His death, resurrection and session at His right hand. Firstly, there
was the testimony at Jerusalem at Pentecost (2:22- 36); secondly, in Samaria
(8:14-17); thirdly, at Caesarea, in the house of Cornelius ("they of the
circumcision were ... amazed," 10:45); fourthly and lastly, at Ephesus, where
the "certain disciples" were clearly Jews who had been baptized with John's
baptism, and had not heard "whether the Holy Ghost was given" (19:2, R.V.). The
sign was accompanied by the exercise of the gifts, tongues and prophesying
(verse 6). There is no further mention of this kind of demonstration either in
the Acts or anywhere in the Epistles. All took place within twelve years after
Pentecost, in the period of transition characterized by God's special dealings
with the Jews.
HEALINGS
So,
again, with the miraculous "gifts of healings," these were designed for the
same period of apostolic testimony, whereas those gifts, the purpose of which
was the ministry and unfolding of the Scriptures, were of a permanent
character. The limitations of the gifts of healings as sign gifts are shown by
the fact that Timothy, Trophimus, Gaius, and others were not healed of their
physical infirmities. Yet these were certainly Spirit-filled men. Moreover, in
the same period the supernatural power was imparted of raising the dead (Acts
9:40; 20:9, 10), all attempts at which since have been unsuccessful. Undeniably
God does heal the sick in answer to prayer and such ministry as is enjoined in
James 5:14, 15, but the distinction between that and the supernatural gifts
temporarily bestowed in the churches in the times of the Apostles, is clear
from the Scriptures themselves. The Apostle lays it down as a general principle
that "when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done
away" (I Cor. 13:10). Wherever the principle holds good it is applicable. It
will be applicable at the coming of the Lord, after the completion of the
Church. It was primarily applicable when the sacred Volume consisting of the
Scriptures of truth, the written Word of God, was complete. As the Word of God
it stands perfect. With this communication of the full cycle of Divine truth,
the temporary gifts, imparted as supernatural sips, were done away.
The
professed possession of supernatural power is always attractive to the mind of
man, and imparts a glamour to any so-called "Movement" which claims to use such
powers and even performs supernatural deeds. Those, however, who are living in
the light of God's Word, and know the fellowship with Him which the indwelling
Spirit of God imparts through its pages, will ever test all things by its
teachings, and will "prove the spirits, whether they are of God: because many
false prophets are gone out into the world," and even Satan "fashioneth himself
into an angel of light."
THE CARE OF THE
CHURCHES
The New Testament gives a constant and uniform
testimony of the mind of God concerning the provision and work of those to whom
is committed the care of local churches. The various passages relating to this
subject are not merely the records of facts; what is written is the Divine will
for all churches, not only in apostolic times but throughout the present era.
As in other matters, the Word of God not only is sufficient for all, it is
binding upon all, and those who desire to be conformed to His will and to act
in loyalty to Christ, will adhere to the teaching in subjection to Him. The
instruction given does not admit of human accretions. The devices of men,
however specious and plausible, fail to accomplish the designs of the Lord, as
revealed in the Holy Scriptures. The teaching, unvarying as it is throughout
the canon of the New Testament and the apostolic ministry which it records,
should have been heeded and followed throughout subsequent centuries, instead
of being modified or adapted to suit human opinions and convenience. If we hope
to receive the approval of the Head of the Church hereafter, let us submit to
the claims of the Word of God, and follow it at all costs, in devotedness to
Him whom we recognize and own as Lord.
BISHOPS IN EVERY CHURCH
We turn, then, to what
is set forth in the Word of Truth. It requires no laborious scrutiny to observe
from Acts 20, that elders are bishops (or overseers), that there are more than
one exercising the care of a single church, and that they receive their
function from the Holy Spirit. From Miletus the Apostle sent to Ephesus, and
called to him the "elders of the church" (verse 17) obviously the elders of the
church in that city (cp. Rev. 2:1). In his address he says, "Take heed unto
yourselves and to all the flock in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you
bishops" [25] (verse 28, R.V.). Not only, then, are the elders bishops, but
they are figuratively regarded as shepherds, for the local church is spoken of
as a flock, and their duty is to "tend it." The word in the original denotes
not simply "to feed," but to do all that devolves upon a shepherd. They are
therefore to exercise pastoral care, acting together as pastors over the local
company.
[25] AV "overseers" The word "overseer" is a literal
translation of episkopos from which also the word "bishop" is derived.
The case of the church at Ephesus is illustrative and not exceptional. In the
churches previously formed in Lycaonia "elders in every church" had been
"appointed"' [26] (14:23, R.V.). Again, the Epistle to the Philippians is
addressed to the saints there "with the bishops and deacons"--bishops acting in
one church. Later, in the island of Crete, Titus is enjoined to "set in order
things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city" (Tit. 1:5) never a
single elder or bishop over one church, much less over a number.
[26]
The word cheirotoneo, rendered "appointed" (A.V. "ordained"), is the
same as that in 2 Cor. 8:19 (the only other place where it is found in the New
Testament); at Corinth men were to be "chosen" to take a monetary gift to
Judea. Here in Acts 14:23 a formal ecclesiastical ordination is not in view.
The apostles chose men who were already evidently fitted for the work. The
churches did not choose their leaders. The context makes that clear. Sheep do
not choose their shepherds. This passage, again, shows that an elder is a
bishop; for, in describing the character requisite for an elder, the Apostle
immediately says, "for the bishop must be blameless" (verse 7). [27] The
postscript printed in the Authorized Version at the end of the Epistle, to the
effect that it was "written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church
of the Cretans," is false in two respects, to say nothing of the wrong
implication that he was to be resident there. For, firstly, Titus was not a
bishop, and, secondly, there was not "a church of the Cretans"; there were
churches in Crete.
[27] "The definite article here obviously does not
point to a particular individual, but represents a type (cp. 1 Cor. 12:12). The
passage clearly provides no ground for the functioning of a single bishop.
That a number of elders were exercising pastoral care of the church at
Thessalonica, is clear from the exhortation to that church, "But we beseech
you, brethren, to know them that labour among you, and are over you in the
Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their
work's sake" (I Thess. 5:12, 13). This passage is very instructive. That the
recognition of the elders is urged shows that the well-being of the church
could not be maintained without them. On the other hand, it is clear that their
authority was based, not on human appointment, whether of an individual or by
the election of the church, but upon the relation of all to the Lord. When the
qualifications of overseers had been put on record, to guide the saints in the
recognition of those who had been put over them in the Lord, apostolic
appointment became unnecessary. That the elders "are over" them (lit. "stand
before," and so lead and care for "in the Lord') limits the scope of t