24

24

MUSINGS

“BE PERFECTLY UNITED” We have often been reminded of

the fact that, when there was so much in Corinth that called

urgently for correction—carnality, pride, gross immorality,

denial of the resurrection—the first matter which Paul singles

out in his first epistle is division (1 Corinthians 1: 10). He says,

“It has been shewn to me... that there are strifes among you”.

To meet this he brings in the most weighty appeal—“Now I

exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that ye all say the same thing, and that there be not among

you divisions; but that ye be perfectly united in the same mind

and in the same opinion”. No exhortation could be more

powerful than Paul’s use of the full title, “our Lord Jesus

Christ”.

The existence of strife or division anywhere must mean that

there is insubjection to the supreme authority of the Lord, for if

all are subject to His authority there must be unity.

Then we have His personal name, Jesus. Has the charm and

sweetness of that name lost its effect upon us? In Him we

contemplate the perfection of devotion, humility, obedience

and grace. Surely that name is sufficient to bow us afresh in

submission to His blessed Person.

Then He is the Christ, the Anointed, marked, out as the unique

object of the Father’s delight

and pleasure. As such, He is the Head of the assembly, the

anointed company. Can strife or division mark the company of

which He is the Head? Let us not be prepared to accept any

continuing disunity as normal; let not our feeling’s become

blunted as to its terrible character and how the Lord feels it.

Let us resent any such intrusion into the area where all should

be in holy subjection to Christ, and let every holy resolve and

effort be directed to bringing about normal conditions and

relationships for the sake of Him who, having found one pearl