As Paul contemplated the unity of all true believers, he burst into a sevenfold exclamation: “One body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one, faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:4-6).
We ought to aim at holding the whole truth revealed to us in the holy Scriptures; but we must never forget that those who have less light, if children of God, belong to one Church.
At no time has any local church possessed the whole truth. Yet His Church has existed in every age since the day of Pentecost. The closing epistles show that the earthly testimony of the Church–in the churches–was fast becoming weak and unfaithful, and the history of this failure is unfolded to us in the letters to the seven churches (Rev. 2 & 3).
The question of the Church touches our hearts as we remember that tender scripture: “Even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25). If we are His, we belong to the Church which He loved. What a comforting assurance this is. We are not the objects of a human ecclesiastical union, but of the love of Christ, which led Him to give Himself for His Church (Mt. 16:18), built by Him upon Himself.
For His Body’s Sake
But dearer still is the thought of the Church as the Body of Christ. Surely this speaks to us of a living union with Christ, of belonging to Him. And it is in this aspect of the Church that He is spoken of as its only Head, “the Head over all things to the Church” (Eph. 1:22) to whom the Church is subject (Eph. 5:24).
Human ecclesiastical supremacy has so characterized Church history that we are accustomed to associate mere official dignity and direction with the head of the Church. But it is not so with our Lord. As Head, He nourishes it (Eph. 5:29); and all His ministering is the fruit of His loving care for the members, “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ” (4:12).
Man’s instinct has been so perverted by the Fall that his very religion may lead him to attack the Church. “Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church” (Phil. 3:6), wrote Paul. Then the persecutor heard the voice of the Head: “Why persecutest thou Me?”
The Wonder of Heaven!
What a Church to belong to! “That now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3:10); and not only now, but through eternity God will be glorified in her (see Eph. 3:21).
So in considering the Church we have to return to Christ. He loved it, and gave Himself for it. The Church is composed of all who have come to God by Him, and to whom He has revealed the Father (Heb. 2:12).
I remember what erroneous views I had of the Church in my boyhood, which I passed under several noted divines. Some of us gloried in being “free,” others “established,” while others rejoiced in being “independent.” But before long, through the grace of God, I discovered that I was not truly free, spiritually established or really independent.
I was fourteen years old, and the minister had a class for preparing the youth of the congregation as members of the church. This preparation, however, only convinced me that I was not a member of the Body of Christ, that I did not belong to Him, and that therefore it was worse than vain for me to join a church. How, then, did I become a member of Christ and belong to His Church?
I thought I should do my best, and my love to God became my one aim in life for salvation. But my endeavor proved vain. I found I did not, could not, love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength; my misery increased with the discovery.
Then I heard from John 3:16 the saving message of God’s love to me. I believed it, and had the assurance of everlasting life.
Now I belonged to Him. But I read that “Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25). Thus the question of the Church became clear to me. I had not to join it nor do anything to belong to it. As Christ’s I was now in it. It has been a joyful privilege to witness to those under the yoke of Papal unity, or under the burden of any other party Church fellowship, that it is the will of God that every local church should be united in Christ “with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2).