THE MAINTENANCE OF HOLINESS IN THE ASSEMBLY AND IN THE BELIEVER'S BODY

^[p. 362] THE MAINTENANCE OF HOLINESS IN THE ASSEMBLY AND IN THE BELIEVER’S BODY

1 Corinthians 5 and 6

FER The great point in the two chapters is the maintenance of holiness in the assembly and in the believer’s body. The Corinthians had to be awakened to the obligation in regard of both. No fellowship is either suited to, or worthy of God apart from holiness. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and ye are “not your own ... therefore glorify God in your body”. In the existing state of christendom, it is difficult to understand chapter 5. It is impossible that the obligation of chapter 5 could be felt in christendom on account of the general ordering of things in it. The apostle put upon the Corinthians the obligation of acting; I think he stayed away that they might act. The apostle passes away, but the obligation to fellowship remains. If we take the ground, or are in the light of the assembly, you have to accept the obligation. “Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves”. People soon get leavened if evil be allowed; they get accustomed to it and so become demoralised. I do not think they were leavened, but they had not proved that they were unleavened.

Ques “... deliver him, ... to Satan”?

FER In the way of discipline; I suppose there was authority in the hand of the apostle in that way. Even in the congregation of Israel, the obligation to holiness was maintained, in a fleshly way, I admit, still it was maintained. Here the charge is different from that in 2 Timothy; here it is purge out, but there it is to purge yourself. The latter is necessary when the first becomes impossible. It is a great mercy that we have got scripture and thus we have positive authority for purging ourselves from. The scripture cannot be broken ^[p. 363] and therefore it is a great mercy to have authority in that way to purge ourselves from. The passover is taken up and that, I think, is a great point. The feast of unleavened bread was connected with the passover. The one followed the other. The passover was not exactly a feast, but the feast of unleavened bread hung upon the passover. The passover is the witness of God’s righteousness, the witness that Christ has been into death; the blood was the witness of God’s righteousness. If the righteousness of God is declared, we cannot sanction that which God has condemned, and therefore we can see the suitability of our keeping the feast of unleavened bread. Keeping the feast is characteristic. They kept it seven days, and that includes every day, the complete period of a man’s life.

We have to accept as christians that we are to be in accord with the righteousness of God, “with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. Nothing is more important than to apprehend the intensely moral character of christianity; it is neither dogmas nor institutions. God’s righteousness is revealed and we are to be in accord with that. The passover refers to the death of Christ as the declaration of God’s righteousness. I do not think it is a reference to the Lord’s supper; it alludes to the same thing to which the Supper alludes, that is the death of Christ. But whether we had the Lord’s supper or not, it would remain true “our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed”. The two things go together: the more we are instructed in righteousness, the better we understand His love.

The new covenant gives two things: the ministry of righteousness and of the Spirit. The new covenant is a will — God’s will; He makes known not only what we receive, forgiveness of sins, but the declaration of His mind towards us — expressing His mind. We thus come under divine teaching. That is the idea to me of the new covenant and the principle of the new covenant is in every christian; he may not have come under the power of it. “The mind of the Spirit life and peace” and you could not get these save as in the light of divine love. The Holy Spirit when given (Romans 5) gives the consciousness of divine love; no one enters on the reality or domain of life until he gets the sense of the love of God. But that does not alter the fact that from the very beginning God’s disposition towards His people was love. I do not think the Corinthians had got so far as that. In chapter 13 the apostle brings before them the first principles of the gospel, and in the opening of the second epistle he brings before them the ministry of the new covenant and that of reconciliation. The work of the Spirit, as in the case of the Galatians, had been greatly hindered in the Corinthians.

What we get in chapter 5 is very elementary, “celebrate the feast ... with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. Christianity is morally sound and wholesome; the world is unsound and unwholesome. People pretend they have seen otherwise, but the truth is, they have gone to that which is morally unwholesome. What we get in this chapter is that they were to judge; but the church does not judge an act as is the case in a court of law; we judge an actor — the person who is a railer or drunkard, etc. If a man’s course is such that he can be so characterised, then he has to be judged. If a person is “put out”, he is put out as being unworthy of christian fellowship. If the act is to be judged, it is turning the assembly into a human tribunal. The wicked person is to be put away from among yourselves. Discipline is an impossibility in the present state of things in christendom. Among dissenters they are obliged to be partial; in the Church of England there is no such thing.

Ques Is this connected with Matthew 18, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven”?

FER Yes, I think it is. Discipline is the other occasion besides the Lord’s supper when the assembly can be convened. God could not have gone on with ^[p. 365] the people if Achan had not been stoned. If God is there, how can there be the allowance of sin? The Corinthians did not condone the sin in their midst, but they seemed indifferent to it. The apostle says “Put away, etc”. and that means you are not to eat with him, nor have any link which would be an expression of fellowship. It has been said ‘you have to bandage your eyes’, that is you are not to see them. Of course it is not final; for the object is restoration. It is a great proof of the grace of the Lord in a meeting if He brings to light evil, for then it comes on the conscience of the assembly and they can clear themselves. Whether an assembly know of evil or not, they are hindered and affected by it.