THE ASSEMBLY AS THE BODY
[p. 98] THE ASSEMBLY AS THE BODY
We all recognise the existence of one body, and how it is formed; that is simply dogmatic; but I think we need to see the reason why there is one body. We ought to know in divine things the reason why. There is nothing in Scripture, so far as I know, that is intended to be taken up merely dogmatically.
Ques Is it the displacement of Jew and gentile?
Well that is an effect of the formation of one body, but why should God bring about one body?
Ques Is it that the one Head, Christ, might be seen here?
I have no doubt that the body is to express Christ, but I think that comes in as a consequence rather than as the reason for it.
Rem God is one.
That is what I think lies at the bottom of it. God was always bent on giving expression to unity; it was always in His mind that there should be unity. There was the thought of unity in Adam and Eve, but it broke down because will came in on the part of the woman. Then there was the same thought in Israel; there were twelve tribes, but the table of shewbread witnessed that the mind of God was that they should be one. But that unity broke down. These cases indicated that God intended to set forth unity here, and I think the reason lay in Himself. God is one, and unity is a witness to God. The unity of the three Persons of the Godhead did not come out until Christ came, but the unity was there. Then when God’s thought had broken down in connection with men in the flesh the Spirit came to establish unity in the Spirit. This was consequent on redemption being accomplished. The Spirit came to form Jew and gentile into one body, that is to bring [p. 99] about unity of an entirely new character from that of Adam and Eve, or that of the twelve tribes. The whole of the twelve tribes will be brought together, and unity established in Israel in a coming day; Psalm 133: 1 speaks of that, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
In looking at divine things it is most important to get at the moral reason for things, and the reason is found in God Himself.
Ques Does that come out in John 17?
Yes, the unity of the saints is to be the witness that the Father sent the Son. The thought is really carried on to glory, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me”.
It is extremely interesting to trace the divine thought of unity in Scripture. Consequent upon the breakdown of unity in Israel, and upon the rejection of Christ, the Spirit of God came and established a unity of an entirely different character, but the thought of unity runs through Scripture.
1 Corinthians 12 brings out the truth of the unity of the body in order to meet the tendency to schism; in Romans it is brought in as a check to independency. In neither epistle is there much instruction in regard of the body; it is brought in incidentally as a check upon some tendency. Saints have to recognize that the Spirit is here to establish and maintain unity, and we have to see that we do not thwart that in any way; we have to endeavour “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.
The manifestations of the Spirit may be used to create schism. If some go after one teacher, and some after another, as they were doing at Corinth, it tends to use these manifestations of the Spirit to create schism. The members should have the same care one for another, not to have preferences or particular care for some. The apostle brings out the truth of the one body as a check [p. 100] upon this tendency to schism, so that whatever there might be in the way of gift, the members might have the same care one for another. For instance, my eye has no particular preference for any member of my body, it has as much concern for my foot as for my hand. I am sure we have to guard against the tendency to partiality; it works out practically in some preferring teachers, and others preferring evangelists. There is a great deal of that kind of thing, and we have to watch against it. All the manifestations of the Spirit are for the good of the body; there is place for all and we have to be careful that no schism is brought about. The members are to have the same care one for another. If one member be honoured, we are not to be jealous; if a man advances spiritually, and is brought into a kind of prominence, you are to rejoice; and on the other hand, if you see a member declining, you are to be grieved.
Ques What about heresies at the present time?
Well, heresies do arise; God allows them to be brought out to make manifest the approved. But I would say in regard of that, that I do not believe that any one christian is competent to judge of heresy. An apostle could judge of it, but I think we have to wait until heresy becomes clearly manifest, and we are dependent upon the Spirit of God to make it manifest.
Ques Would you say a word as to what you mean by heresy?
Heresy is using some peculiarity in doctrine in order to form a party. It may be done by exaggerating some particular doctrine to such an extent that it is taken out of its proper import, and becomes a rallying point for a party.
Ques Is not all evil doctrine heresy?
I think heresy has the forming of a party as the end in view.
Ques May heresy arise out of a true doctrine?
The exaggeration of true doctrine might become that;
[p. 101] for instance, if undue importance were attached to baptism, it might become heretical as leading to the formation of a party.
Rem Even the truth of the one body might be used in that way.
Yes.
Schools of opinion are allied to heresy. Some particular opinion is the basis, and a party is formed by it.
Ques Did you say that no one person is competent to judge of heresy?
I think you have to wait for the Spirit of God to make the character of the heresy manifest to the saints. What appears to you to be heretical may not be so after all. People sometimes judge hastily because things are contrary to their own ideas. The Spirit of God will make manifest, and we have to wait for Him.
Ques What is the force of being made to drink into one Spirit?
We have not only been baptised by one Spirit into one body, but the unity is made effectual in saints by their having been made to drink into one Spirit; that is, the Spirit of Christ becomes characteristic of us. I take it that the one Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”. The Spirit is often spoken of characteristically, and we have been made to drink into one Spirit characteristically.
The apostle took up the existing fact that they were one body, and they had all been made to drink into one Spirit; he does not set forth how it came about, but states the existing fact that all believers, wherever they might be, Jews or gentiles, had been baptised into one body, and made to drink into one Spirit. What we are brought into is simply an extension of it; there was no other baptism of the Spirit than what took place on the day of Pentecost; the gentile was brought into it afterwards in Acts 10. The Jew had lapsed into the world, and got away from the ground of being God’s people, and then God brought about a unity, not by [p. 102] marriage or by nationality, but by one Spirit.
Ques What is the difference between the one body and the new man?
The one body presents the idea of unity, but the new man gives the thought of another order of man. There are three great witnesses to Christ. One witness is the Scriptures, another the apostles, and the third the new man. The Lord says of the Scriptures, “they are they which testify of me”. Then the apostles spoke of what they had seen and handled, what had come within their own observation, and that made a difference between their testimony and all Scripture that went before. They are spoken of in John 15 as those who were to testify of Him because they had been with Him from the beginning. Then there is the testimony of the new man — an order of man that is the effect and product of the revelation of God in Christ, characterised by righteousness and holiness of truth.
Ques What is the meaning of holiness of truth?
It is holiness which is the effect of truth, and is characterised by truth. It is holiness of truth in contrast to ceremonial holiness. There is the same thing in principle in John 4, worship in spirit and in truth is in contrast to ceremonial worship. It is not outward holiness in the flesh.
Ques Is it the same in the Lord’s prayer, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”?
His word is the expression of His mind, and when we are led into His mind it has the effect of sanctifying us — of setting us apart for God.
The new man is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth; it could not be created until God had revealed Himself. The new man is the witness to the fact that God has come out in Christ. Neither judaism nor philosophy could produce that man. Philosophers wrote well, and had a certain judgment of things, but they were personally corrupt. But the new man is created after God; it is the result and product of [p. 103] the revelation of God. It is in the knowledge of what God is in righteousness and holiness as revealed in Christ that we come to put on the new man. The having put off the old man and the having put on the new are both truth in Jesus; it refers to the death of Christ. If the old man had not been put aside for God in the death of Christ you could not have the new man in his place. The new man is in the place where the old man was. It is we who have put off the old man, and have put on the new. God has been declared, and the effect is that the new man is here. We ought all to be concerned about it, that the new man should be seen in us as a witness to Christ. It is not simply now that the Spirit is a witness to Christ, but the work of the Spirit is a witness to Christ; there is that here which is the result of the operation of God by the Spirit.
The one body is for divine complacency. I think that comes out in Colossians; we see there the place it serves; it is the first-fruits of reconciliation. The body holds the Head, and increases with the increase of God, and so there is divine complacency.
Rem There is nothing so precious to God as the body of Christ.
Christ was infinitely precious to God when here on earth, and now the body is here for divine complacency as the first-fruits of reconciliation. The body is descriptive of all the graces of Christ. In Colossians it is “Christ in you the hope of glory”. In Ephesians the thought is that the body is adequate for the setting forth of the glory of Christ; it is like the heavenly Jerusalem; it is a vessel which can carry the full blaze of divine glory. It is the fulness of Him who filleth all in all, and that refers to ages to come, for Christ does not yet fill all things. There is nothing in the body which is not of God, and the body is increased by the increase of individuals in the knowledge of God, that is, by divinely given intelligence. We can help one another; it is by joints and bands that nourishment is ministered.
[p. 104] Sisters have a place in that as much as brothers; spiritual sisters have much place in the body as joints and bands. The body is the first-fruits of reconciliation, so that God has a spot of complacency. All the sensibilities of Christ, as Mr. Stoney used to say, are found in the body. There is the word of Christ, and the peace of Christ, and Christ is everything and in all. The body is the continuation of Christ morally; Christ has been here under the eye of God, and the body is here as a continuation of Christ, and of all that was expressed in Him. The body is to be descriptive of Christ under the eye of God for the complacency of God.
Rem God has tempered the body together, and made every part suitable to the other.
Yes, and we have to look to it that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members have the same care one for another. We ought to guard against partialities and particular intimacies. If people become peculiarly intimate it works sometimes in the direction of cliques and parties. We have to remember that our links are spiritual, and there is to be no preference or partiality. It does, not matter to me whether a person is high-born or low-born, rich or poor. Christ takes account of people in an entirely different way; the first are last, and the last first. We have to take account of people in regard to Christ, and as of a spiritual order.
When we come together in assembly we come to meet one another. I do not think that is the ultimate object, but it is the immediate one, and we have to see to it that we meet one another in spiritual affection, outside every worldly distinction. It is spiritual links which bind us together, and if we are not right with one another in that way, we shall not meet the Lord. The Lord enunciated the principle, “first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift”, and we have to act upon that principle.
Rem There may be other difficulties as well as social ones, such as personal peculiarities.
[p. 105] Well, the great thing is to approach people carefully, and seek to gain them; it never does any good to go full tilt at a person’s peculiarities.
Rem When we come together we ought to be conscious that we are members one of another.
Yes, and that in a vital way, because all that Scripture expresses to us is vitality. Things are expressed to us in the way of doctrine, but what is expressed in doctrine is really vitality. It would be a great joy to saints to come together if they realised that they had been made to drink into one Spirit, and if they recognised one another according to Christ. Coming together in assembly is more than the mere formal meeting; we come together in assembly with “one accord”. Partaking of the one loaf is the symbol of this. “We being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread”.
Ques What is meant by Acts 2: 42, “They continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”?
The apostles’ doctrine was the standard and basis of fellowship. Without the basis of revelation there would be no real ground for fellowship. Then fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers follow in divine order.
When the saints come together it is the assembly in function, and when thus together we have to recognise the distinction between male and female, because the woman is to be silent in the assembly. But really when we come to look at the body or the bride of Christ in its own proper character there is neither male nor female; the most marked distinction which exists after the flesh is gone is Christ. What difference can Christ make between a duke and a beggar? All these distinctions disappear before Christ. The value of the assembly as come together is that we find out our relation to one another and to Christ.
Ques Has gift no special place when we come [p. 106] together in assembly?
No, I do not think so. There are manifestations of the Spirit in the body, but all the members are to have the same care one for another. We have to take account of one another according to what we are to Christ. We are all equal objects of affection to Christ, and we have to think of one another in that light. I do not think the assembly comes together for the exercise of gift. Gifts may be present, and it is a great thing to be in a state to be contributory to the assembly, but each one should come there, as Mr. Stoney used to say, with his mind like a clean sheet of paper. The true preparation for the assembly is to enter the holiest, so that in the effect of it we may be efficient when we come together in assembly. No one can tell how the Lord may lead.
Ques I suppose gift would be recognised in other meetings?
Yes. A teacher waits on his teaching, seeks opportunity and has it; so too the evangelist waits on his work, and the exhorter on his.
The great point is to see the purpose the body is intended to serve at the present time. I believe it is for divine complacency. It is the first-fruits of reconciliation, and it is marked by holding the Head — the Head in the widest sense possible, the universal Head.
Ques What is the thought in “ye are the body of Christ”?
The church at Corinth had that place, but they needed to recognise that they were Christ’s body; there was that coming in which was of man, and it had really no place there.
The truth of the body is to regulate us at all times in our relations to one another. We have to take up certain things here which do not belong to this order, but the more we are in the truth of the body, the more we are qualified and helped for all that lies in the will of God for us down here. The relations which subsist in the body must have the first place; spiritual ties are [p. 107] superior to natural ties; and a person converted in a worldly family will soon find that the truth of the body will bring in trouble with his relatives.