A British nobleman preaching the Gospel in Sweden some years ago was asked by a lady of the country to what Church he belonged. “To the Church of Christ,” was his reply. “Yes, but to what branch?” she insisted. “Madam,” he answered, “I do not belong to any branch, I belong to the ‘Trunk.'”
This is an important distinction. How many belong to religious “branches” who do not, alas, belong to Christ, “the root out of a dry ground!”
Cain, had he lived today, would no doubt have belonged to a “branch.” He was a religious man. He brought to God an offering of the fruit of the ground. It was beautiful, and had cost much labor. Why then did God reject him and accept Abel? Had they not both “sinned and come short of the glory of God”?
We learn the secret in Hebrews 11. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” It was not because Abel was better than his brother that he was accepted, but because his offering was better. In Cain’s fruit-offering, there was no confession of guilt expressed nor any blood shedding, and consequently no forgiveness of sins was possible. For “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). But the lamb slain by Abel pointed forward to ”the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” Thus for six thousand years he has preached to men: “Come to God through Christ crucified, the only Way.” Cain justified himself and rejected the mercy of God towards him. Abel condemned himself and justified God in accepting him on account of his sacrifice.
Cain founded a religion; Abel a faith. Men today are divided into two great classes. The Cainites, the votaries of religion; and the Abelites, the followers of the Lamb.
The Pharisee “who went to the temple to pray” was a true scion of the stock of Cain. The publican was in the line of Abel. Listen to the former: “I thank Thee that I am not as other men are . . . I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” Hear, too, that brother of his in Luke 15: “These many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment.”
The Abelites pray in another tone: “Father, I have sinned.” “God be merciful to me a sinner.” “Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy Kingdom.” Christ must be the Alpha and the Omega. He must be all in all. He is the Door, the only Way, the one Mediator, the unique Foundation, and He must have all the glory.
Had Cain “done well,” that is, offered a lamb, he too would have been accepted (Gen. 4:7; John 5:29; 6:29). Men trust in religion, but true religion demands three things impossible to the unconverted: To bridle the tongue, to comfort the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep unspotted from the world (James 1:26-27). Who can tame the tongue but the man divinely tamed? Who can comfort the mourners but he who has been comforted by God? Who keeps himself unspotted from the world but he who has first been cleansed by the blood of Christ?
The oldest, largest, and apparently the most fruitful olive trees in that home of the olive, North Africa, are the wild olives. These are covered with berries in profusion, but there is no oil in them. They have never been grafted. Nature never bore fruit for God. Man is lost, guilty, fruitless. He must be found by a seeking Saviour, justified by His blood, and grafted by faith in Him who died and rose again. How is this to be brought about? By faith in Christ. The moment a sinner is willing to be saved by Him alone, he is forgiven all his sins, he receives the gift of eternal life, and becomes a member of the True Church.
Man cannot receive their fellows into this Church. When the sinner believes, he is incorporated into it by the Lord Himself, as we read: “In one spirit were we all baptized into One Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,” and were all made to drink of one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13, R.V.) .
The reception by fellow Christians has to do with practical fellowship and service in the local Church, but is only a recognition of what the Lord has already done in the soul. “Receive ye one another, as Christ also received you to the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7); but no man can receive another into the Church of Christ.
A question now presents itself: What is the Church? The word “church” (ecclesia) really means that which has been called out. Usually in the New Testament the word denotes specifically the whole company of the believers from Pentecost to the return of Christ, and is represented on the earth at any given moment by all true Christians wherever found alive at that moment, or still more often is found in a secondary sense in such expressions as “the churches of Christ,” “The churches of the Gentiles,” “The churches of the saints.” These are the local expressions of the Church, and should also be composed of the believers in the locale gathered according to the principles of the Word of God and in dependence on the Spirit of God. According to Acts 2, “They continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, and in the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (R.V.).
The germ of denominationalism showed itself in apostolic times. “I am of Paul,” “I of Cephas,” were party cries heard in the Corinthian church, but it was a thing to be deplored (see 1 Cor. 1:10-12). Now we see the principle in full bloom, and it is justified or even gloried in. “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26), and this name is referred to by the Apostle Peter in his first epistle. “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name” (1 Pet. 4:16, R.V.). With that divinely-given name we may well rest satisfied. The true Church then is formed of all who in this dispensation of the Spirit of God are united to the Lord Jesus by that Spirit in response to their faith.
The unique character of the Church is all the more clear when we consider the object of our Lord’s mission. The Lord came first of all to Israel, according to His own words, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” When Israel as a nation rejected her Messiah, her blessing, and that of the Gentiles through her, was postponed.
But God had foreseen all, and had provided “some better thing,” “the mystery, which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God.” This mystery was not merely that Jew and Gentile should be blessed. That had been foretold by the Old Testament prophets, but that a people should be taken out of them and formed into One Body, “that the Gentiles should be blessed” as “fellow-heirs with Israel, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ,” this was a new thing. This great mystery was officially, though not exclusively, revealed in Ephesians (chaps. 2 and 3; see also Rom. 16 and Col. 2). In this epistle, the Church is mentioned nine times, and each in a special connection.
1. A Purpose Unfolded. “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church” (5:32). This “in other ages,” as we have seen, “was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (3:5). The Church is to occupy towards Christ the relation of Body presently to manifest the perfections and excellences of the Head, and of Bride, to enter into and enjoy the affections of the Bridegroom.
2. A Love Revealed. “Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it” (5:25), leading on to “cleansing,” a single act; and “sanctification,” a continuous process in the case of each member of that Church, and so of the whole. The depth of the love of Christ can only be fathomed by His death on Calvary: “He gave Himself.”
3. A Ministry Performed. “No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church” (5:29). The word translated “nourisheth” is used in chapter 6:4 of a father “bringing up” his children; and that rendered “cherisheth” is found in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 of a nurse who brings up her own children. Here we see the Lord’s present affections and unceasing activities on behalf of His own.
4. A Relationship Established. “The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the Saviour of the body” (5:23). This shows us the intimate dependence of the Church on Christ.
5. A Responsibility Incurred. “The Church is subject to Christ” (5:24). That is, placed in a relation of subjection, as the wife to her husband, and therefore ought to be subject as also is the wife.
6. A Service Intended. “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.” This explains one phase of our service here. The Church is an object lesson to the elect angels (3:10).
7. A Privilege Prepared. He “hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (1:21-22). This is not merely that Christ is the Head of the Church.He heads up all things for the benefit and blessing of the Church. “All things are ours,” because all things are His.
8. A Consummation Awaited. “That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish” (5:27). The Lord God presented Eve to Adam. That Christ will present His Church to Himself is only one more incidental proof of His Deity.
9. An Honor Revealed. “Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end” (3:21). So the peculiar position of the Church is not temporal merely, but is eternal. The differences between the Church and Israel will never disappear.
It will be clearly seen from the above that the Church is not a dead organization, but a living organism; not a material edifice, but a spiritual building; not an earthly association, but a heavenly fellowship.
When the first preachers reached Corinth, the city was composed of two classes–the Gentile inhabitants in large majority and the Jewish settlers. When the gospel was preached, a third class arose, “called out” of the other two, and named the “Church of God.” These classes are referred to in 1 Corinthians 10:32: “Giving none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.”
The position of the Church of Corinth was one of abounding privilege. They were washed, sanctified, and justified. They were also gifted, intelligent, and eloquent, but carnal, because divided.
How does the Apostle meet their condition? Does he exhort them to seek “the baptism of the Spirit,” or to attain to some new spiritual position, some “higher life,” some “Pentecostal blessing?” No, they had all been “baptized in one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13); they were “temple(s) of the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 3:16); they had all been “blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.”
He reminds them where they are and what they are. “Of God are ye in Christ Jesus,” and therefore all that Christ is He is for you–“wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). “Ye are God’s husbandry” (1 Cor. 3:9). ”Ye are God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). “Ye are the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16). “Ye are (the) Body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27). “Ye are . . . the epistle of Christ” (2 Cor. 3:3). All this is true of each assembly of believers at the present time, and such privileges carry with them their corresponding responsibilities. This we need to lay hold of by faith. If we are “in Him” let us glory in Him, and let us count on Him. If we are God’s husbandry, we are expected to bear fruit to His Name. If we are His building, let us as His servants seek to build not mere “wood, hay, stubble”–ostentatious stuff it may be, but how combustible–but “gold, silver, and precious stones.” If we are “the Temple of God,” we are on holy ground. If we are “the Body of Christ,” we must use our gifts for the glory of the Head and for the good of our fellow-members. If we are “the epistle of Christ,” we must commend Him by the lucidity and purity of our testimony.