LETTERS OF COMMENDATION

The principle of commending to the saints one unknown to them personally appears early in the history of the assembly. We read in Acts 9, verses 26 and 27, that when Saul of Tarsus, after having been many days with the disciples at Damascus, wished to join himself to the disciples at Jerusalem, the latter doubted that he was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and commended him to the apostles, after which he was received among the brethren in Jerusalem. So also in the case of Apollos, Acts 18: 27, when he wished to go into Achaia, the brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him.

By the time the second epistle to the Corinthians was written, the practice of giving letters of commendation was evidently recognised, and in verse 1 of chapter 3 the apostle refers to the need for such letters where the person concerned was not known. In the case of the apostle himself and Timothy, who were well known to the Corinthians and had served them in love, there was indeed no need for such a letter, but the apostle, in saying “as some”, clearly indicates that the need exists where the person concerned is not known.

The giving and receiving of letters of commendation is an important feature in the practical working out of Christian fellowship. It recognises that saints, as cherishing the Lord’s name, and valuing the presence of God among them, will be jealous to refuse evil amongst themselves, and will thus be unprepared to receive anyone until they are satisfied that he not only has the Spirit, but also is not marked by unholy practice or associations. At the same time it recognises that saints will gladly receive any fellow believer, though personally unknown to them, on being assured, by the commendation of any brother in whom confidence may rightly be placed, that the person commended is numbered among the saints in the place he comes from. Holy jealousy for the Lord’s name and interests must always mark the saints, as if vigilance is not maintained among them, the enemy will not fail to take advantage of it to introduce among them false brethren, as he did at Jerusalem and elsewhere, Gal 2: 4, or unholy principles. On the other hand, love among the saints, and the recognition that by one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body, will at once embrace a fellow believer in whom there is confidence. These two features of jealousy to exclude all that is foreign to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to which we have been called, and readiness to include, in the embrace of love, every saint who is walking consistently with it, are seen in the incident as to Saul already referred to, first in the unreadiness of the disciples to receive him because they doubted his genuineness, and then in his reception among them as commended to them by one who rightly commanded their confidence.

In these last days, which are marked by general departure from the truth, the Lord has made it clear that the path for His people, as naming the name of the Lord, is individually to withdraw from iniquity, to purify oneself from vessels to dishonour in separating from them, and to follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. On these lines the truth of the assembly has been recovered to the saints, and is, through the grace and mercy of God, finding expression in a small but living way, in local companies of saints in places in almost all parts of the world. Coupled with this, the reality of Christian fellowship is being known and enjoyed as perhaps never before since apostolic days, and as saints have occasion to move about from place to place, the necessity of letters of commendation as ensuring the preservation of the fellowship, and their value as greatly promoting bonds of love in the Spirit, are being more and more recognised.

The giving of a letter of commendation should not be a merely formal matter; it certainly should not be regarded as issuing a kind of passport to break bread. The apostle Paul, in commending Phoebe to the saints at Rome, indicated certain spiritual features about her that were themselves her commendation. First, “our sister”, then “a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea”, then “she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also”. So also, in commending Onesimus to Philemon and the assembly in his house, Paul says of him, first, “whom I have begotten in my bonds”, then “now profitable to thee and to me”, then” not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved”. Attention might also be drawn to the way the apostle writes to the Corinthians, of Timothy, 1 Cor 4: 17, and 16: 10, and of Titus, 2 Cor. 8: 16, 17, and 23, and to many other cases, in which the apostle in commending individual brethren to the saints, indicates briefly and soberly the spiritual features that marked them.

Letters of commendation should, as far as possible, have this character, but in this connection it may be well to point out the need for guarding against the use of extravagant or flattering expressions. What Paul wrote, in each of the cases alluded to, was simple and direct, and would convey to those to whom he wrote a true impression of the one commended. It is a good thing, when writing a letter of commendation, to ask oneself what kind of impression the letter will convey to those who do not know the person commended, and who are, therefore, dependent on the letter itself for their first impressions. If the letter, as written, would be likely to convey an impression not wholly according to truth, it would be better to re-write the letter. In some cases, it may only be possible to say very little; but Jove according to God will not go beyond the truth.

The giving of a letter of commendation should therefore raise wholesome exercise as to how far we have been able to discern and appreciate the work of God in the one to be commended. It should also raise concern with the one commended that he or she should, in spirit and conduct, justify the letter and commend those who gave it. The apostle says to the Corinthians, “ye are our letter ... known and read of all men” and again that they were “manifested to be Christ’s epistle ministered by us”. And further, a letter of commendation calls for a response in affection on the part of those to whom it is addressed, which should go out to the one commended. Paul charges the Romans to receive Phoebe in the Lord, as becometh saints, and to assist her in whatever way she had need of them; he charges Philemon to receive Onesimus as the apostle himself; and he charges the Corinthians as to their conduct towards Timothy when he arrived among them.

It would seem that in ordinary simple cases of a brother or a sister visiting a place where he or she is unknown, it is satisfactory for an individual brother to give a letter of commendation on his own responsibility, but he should, of course, be one in whom the saints in his own gathering have confidence, and he would only give it as in full fellowship with them. If he knew, or had reason to think, that they had any difficulties or reservations about the one desiring to be commended, he should consult his brethren before giving any letter. In particular cases, as, for instance, where brethren permanently leave the place where they have lived to take up residence elsewhere, or where there are special circumstances calling for care or sympathy, it may be better for the brethren, as such (by the hand of two of their number) to give the letter. There seems to be authority for both methods of procedure, in Paul’s letter commending Phoebe, “I commend unto you Phoebe”, and in the brethren at Ephesus writing to the disciples in Achaia to commend Apollos to them.

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From Words of Grace and Comfort 1936

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