SALVATION IN THE ASSEMBLY

SALVATION IN THE ASSEMBLY

In 1905 the importance of the assembly as a sphere of practical salvation from the world was emphasised in ministry by Mr. James Taylor, and was, for a time, seriously opposed by certain well-known brethren in England. It is so obvious from the early chapters of the Acts that in the early days of Christianity believers found in the assembly, into which they were introduced by faith in Christ and the reception of the Spirit, a sphere in which, in the practical enjoyment of eternal life, complete deliverance from the elements of the world was realised (see Acts 2: 42 - 47; chapter 4: 23 - 35), that it is difficult now to understand how it could have been seriously contested, but the opposition that arose at that time was an effort of the enemy to use objective truth to deny or obscure the importance and value of the presence in the assembly of the Holy Spirit and His resulting work in the saints. In this effort the enemy found material at hand in the failure, for a time, on the part of certain leaders to recognise and acknowledge the Lord’s sovereignty in using whom He would to bring out His mind for the assembly, but through the grace of the Lord the truth gradually prevailed, though many who refused a subjective line of ministry, including one of the leaders in the opposition, were carried away at the time of the Glanton issue. The truth brought out at this time is not only clearly set out in the Acts, but is equally clearly presented in Hebrews 11: 7, and in the typical teaching in Genesis to which that verse alludes.