In the case of Cornelius, he received the Holy Ghost, God's proof that He would have him in His assembly, as formed down here, into which consequently Peter orders him to be admitted by baptism. Whether before or after, they are always distinct. So in Samaria they believed what Philip preached and were baptized. After that two of the apostles go down and pray that they may receive the Holy Ghost, for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. So in Acts 19 twelve men, on Paul's instruction, were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied. Baptism and the reception of the Holy Ghost are distinct; and it is by the latter that believers are baptized into one body, which is a real union with Christ. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” by which we are members of His body, He being the Head.
I turn now to being born of God in baptism. This is equally unwarranted by scripture—nay, formally contradicted. “Of his own will,” says James, “begat he us, by the word of truth;” and Peter, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Peter 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23).) Paul tells us, “In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:1515For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. (1 Corinthians 4:15)), and he was not sent to baptize—strange if men were born of God by it. He tells the Thessalonians God had chosen them to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called them by his gospel; and the Lord declares, “Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you.” I have quoted positive passages. He who keeps to the word will find it confirmed in every page.
But we will examine the passage which speaks of being born, as they allege, in baptism: John 3:55Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5). It is only an effort to squeeze it out of the passage, for of baptism directly it does not speak. Further, it is well to remark that it is not said, born of the Spirit by, or with, water, but born of water and the Spirit. I have already said the apostles were never baptized (they were clean through the word spoken) nor is there the idea of communication of a nature by water. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The water is necessarily dropped here. (John 3:66That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6).)
As a testimony of the extreme ignorance of Mr. Sadler as to scriptural truth, I would cite from page 54 the declaration that we find no allusion to such a use of water in the books of the Old Testament. This is a singular preoccupation of spirit. The Lord demands how Nicodemus, being a teacher of Israel, did not know this: the Old Testament, that is, furnished him fully with this truth. Let us turn to Ezek. 36:2525Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. (Ezekiel 36:25): “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh: and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them, and ye shall dwell in the land.....And I will call for the corn,” &c, dwelling on temporal promises to Israel in the last day, which last promises lead the Lord to say, “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” and He goes on to the fuller doctrine of the cross, which involved the rejection of Messiah, and the impossibility of the present fulfillment of earthly promises.
This leads us at once to see what being born of water means; it is purifying from evil, sanctifying through the truth; and the Father's word is truth, that by which we are positively told by James we are begotten, born again, according to Peter, who distinctly says, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit.” “Ye are clean,” says the Lord Himself, “through the word which I have spoken unto you;” so Paul, “that he might sanctify and cleanse it, by the washing of water by the word.” There are two things, and, to set Mr. Sadler quite at ease, at the same time communication of a new life or nature. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” and the purifying the soul by obeying the truth, for this birth is by the word, the incorruptible seed of God. The whole tenor of the Lord's statement contradicts the “church” doctrine. “The wind bloweth where it listeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.” Whereas it is tied in that system to a formal rite, which all are bound by the system to carry out universally. Besides, it is the way of seeing the kingdom, as well as entering it, with the solemn statement of “Verily, verily.” Does baptism make people see it? Not now, for the child at any rate, to whom that system habitually applies it, does not see it at all; not the kingdom of glory, for they admit that many baptized never see that at all.
To a Jew, a rabbi, who looked for the kingdom of God, and had read Ezekiel, and looked for the kingdom according to that and other passages, the being born of water and the Spirit had the clearest and fullest signification. But nothing blinds like the church system. Speaking of the insignificance of water does not concern me, as I do not apply it to baptism by water at all. But this is a mistake, because baptisms by water were the universal figure for cleansing among the Jews, even with proselytes, at least women. All the rest of Mr. Sadler's statements have nothing to do with the matter; save that when he rejects believing as the way of being born, the scripture replies, “We are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus.” The word nowhere joins the Holy Ghost and water as baptism, as if the Holy Ghost acted in it and by it. It is always a distinct thing.
But further: baptism is not even a sign of the new birth, but of death. We are baptized to Christ's death. It is a figure of death and burial, as Rom. 6 and Col. 2 clearly testify, and hence is connected with remission of sins because (in coming up out of death—death with Christ, which is figured by it, and risen with Him) we come up forgiven all trespasses, as is said in Col. 2, and having, as to our profession, left the old man behind us, put off the old man, crucified with Him, reckoning ourselves dead.
And note, our resurrection with Christ is not the same as quickening. In resurrection Christ is viewed as a raised man. God raised Him from the dead, and us, for faith, with Him. But we are baptized to His death. I go down there into His death, and am raised with Him, “through faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.” It is not the Son quickening whom He will, nor pimply our being born, but Christ a dead man raised, which implies the remission of sins for those who have part in His death, buried with Him, and consequently to walk in newness of life, reckoning oneself dead to sin, and alive to God in Him.
What Mr. Sadler says as to Ephesians is a mistake. Church union with Christ is not the only or great subject of the epistle, doctrinal or hortatory. You do not come to it till the very end of the first chapter. All the previous part, our calling and inheritance, is based on our relationship with the Father, and being in the same place as Christ, as to this, as sons. In the hortatory part we are to be followers (μιμηται) of God as dear children, and walk like Christ. In our relationship with Christ, it is with Him as man, whom God has raised. Then the body, and our quickening with Him, is spoken of. There is no reference to this relationship in the hortatory part, except in speaking of husband and wife.
Now as to other passages connected with baptism, the “church principle” gives remission of sins by it regularly, when the person has committed none. So that the application of all this is singular enough in this system. A heathen or a Jew, baptized to Christ, does, I doubt not, receive administratively forgiveness of all past sins—I believe a great deal more in connection with Christ's death (a believer, as to his conscience, is perfected forever), but I believe that he comes in as one who has died with Christ, and left all the old things behind him—is indeed as a risen man.
But we must consider the passages, which are of great importance in their place. We are all baptized to (never into) something, as “to Moses,” “to John's baptism,” where it is the same word; and where it is said, “baptized to,” or “for, the remission of sins,” it is that which is the portion given in Christ, and we come to partake of it, just as we do to have death to sin; where a person has been a sinner, he receives it, as to all he had done, in it. Baptism is that by which we are introduced into the enclosure in which God has set His blessings administratively on earth, though He be sovereign. There is forgiveness there, the Holy Ghost there, the administration of all God's blessings down here. On entering, I enter into the condition and place where these blessings are enjoyed. Hence we find, washing away sins, the consequent receiving of the Holy Ghost, indeed every blessing, in Christ, as far as they exist down here, connected with it. But no one, save those blinded by “church principles,” could, as having read the scriptures, ascribe operatively and effectually to baptism the possession of these privileges. The blood of Christ, and nothing else, washes away our sins before God; but I come professedly to Christ in baptism, in whom and where this blessing is. It is the admission into the open confession of His name and death, and, in a certain measure, resurrection. Hence, guarding it where he says it saves, Peter says, “not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer (request, ἐπερώτημα) of a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
As to being born in it, such a thought is never found. Regeneration is connected with it in Titus, and modern language has connected that word with being born again. It is only found in one other place in scripture. “In the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory” —the millennial earth, a new state or order of things. Thus Peter, when he speaks of saving us, is referring expressly to Noah, who came through the flood, which was death to the old world, into a new one, and was buoyed up by that which was death to them, into that new one—was saved by or through water; so we, seeking a good conscience, find it in Christ's death, brought safe with Him into the new place of resurrection. I believe regeneration in Titus refers to baptism as a sign of this. But we are washed by passing out of the old condition of heathenism, or Judaism, or fleshly life in any sense, into the new state of things, which is, where real, a new creation altogether, of which we are thus—professedly at any rate—partakers. But then Paul carefully distinguishes this from the renewing of the Holy Ghost. I have no doubt he is thinking of the regeneration as a real thing, but not as the renewing of the Holy Ghost as an actual inward work. It is a change of state and position, the renewing an actual internal work. This is never connected with baptism.
I have spoken of Acts 2:3838Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 2:38), and of Acts 22:1616And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22:16). Eph. 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26) has, on the face of it, nothing to do with the matter; the washing is by the word. Mark 16:1616He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16) brings in faith on preaching. Now, if a heathen believed Jesus was Son of God, and refused to be baptized, he refused to be a Christian when he knew he ought; for him it was refusing to confess unto salvation. It has nothing to do with any efficacy in baptism. (Titus 3:55Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5) Peter 3:2.) I have spoken of Rom. 6:1414For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14) and of Col. 2:1212Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12). To say that being baptized to Christ's death is being born of God is as absurd as to the meaning of the rite, as it is groundless. That death is the force and meaning of the rite is quite true, and it is so used by the apostle; but it has nothing to do with any inward work, or being born again.
On Gal. 3 (p. 58) also I have spoken. Rom. 6 and Col. 2 are both used as public profession; Romans, as showing that living on in sin denied it: Colossians, that this profession of being dead subverted the religion of ordinances, which Mr. Sadler is insisting on. We are no longer alive in the world in Colossians, we are dead to sin in Romans. The conclusion Mr. Sadler draws from the passage in Romans, in page 56, is exactly the contrary of that drawn by the apostle. The difficulty was, if one man's obedience made us righteous, we might continue to live in sin. How shall we that have died to sin live in it any longer? And that is what you did professedly, he goes on to say, in baptism; you were baptized to Christ's death. You are denying your profession of Christ by such an argument.
As to Col. 3:1-101If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:1‑10), it is not “yet” (p. 67), but “because,” and the passage proves the contrary of what it is cited for. If I am risen with Christ, I have power, and am to mortify these evil members—for he will not recognize the Christian as having his life in this world; he is professedly dead and risen with Christ.
What Paul is showing in 1 Cor. 10 is that, belonging sacramentally to the church, taking in both sacraments, did not secure salvation, which I wholly accept. It was a professed deliverance out of the world, but not the new birth. In Jude he shows the same thing, they had an outward deliverance, like Israel, but, he adds, not having believed, and we are children of God by faith, He afterward destroyed them. This is a poor argument for the value of baptism, and note, saving out of Egypt has nothing to do with personal or eternal salvation. It was the deliverance of a people, a change of situation; which is just what baptism effects, not involving any real change or internal salvation at all. And so both the passages declare: a very necessary warning when such a book as Mr. Sadler's is written.
It is perfectly true that in his epistles to the various churches the apostle treats those to whom he writes as saints; not indeed on the ground that Mr. Sadler puts it, but on the solid ground of God's work—on that of real faith—as I shall show. In the Galatians alone he speaks doubtfully in one passage, but recovers his confidence in the next chapter. And observing days, and months, and years, was one great cause of his doubts—the Judaism Mr. Sadler recommends. (Gal. 4:10, 11-2010Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. (Galatians 4:10)
11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. 12Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. 13Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. 14And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. 16Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? 17They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. 19My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 20I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. (Galatians 4:11‑20).) He recovers his confidence, looking to the Lord. (Chap. 5:10) He anxiously warns the Corinthians, but is not in doubt of their real Christianity. Brought out of heathenism by the word and Spirit of God, and passing by baptism formally, as Mr. Sadler says, into God's established place of blessing, the apostle treats them as real Christians, but on the ground of their real faith, never on the ground of a fancied work in baptism. He does show in two instances what baptism implied in the Christian (Rom. 6; Col. 1), but never as the ground of addressing them as saints. When he does in this way refer to it, it is to warn them not to deceive themselves by such a thought. (1 Cor. 10) Let us see this.
In Rom. 1:77To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7) they are saints by God's calling, and (ver. 8) he thanks God for them all that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world. He Sought to be comforted by their mutual faith.
The church of God at Corinth were saints by God's calling, sanctified in Christ Jesus. The formal profession id even distinguished as those who everywhere called on the name of the Lord, though treating them as true, unless proved otherwise; and, so far from not esteeming them as real saints, he declares that God would confirm them to the end, so that they should be blame, less in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. God had called them into the fellowship of His Son, and He was faithful. The worst among them turned out in fact, sad as his conduct was, a real Christian, and was restored. Accustomed to heathen habits, they had everything to learn morally. Indeed, as we read in the Acts, God had a great people in this notably corrupt city. In those days dissipation in sin was called Corinthianizing. In the second epistle, they, being restored in state by his first, he speaks of them with full confidence, “having confidence in you all.” (Chap. 2:3) Titus's spirit had been refreshed by them all. His boasting of them was found to be a truth. The whole epistle shows his confidence in the reality of their Christianity. In chapter 12 he is afraid he may have to use sharpness as to some who might have sinned, but of their true Christianity no doubt.
Of the Gal. 1 have spoken. There for a moment he stood in doubt. But this proves what I am saying, and that Mr. Sadler is all wrong. For they had been all baptized like all the rest. It was their actual state which raised the question, though they had been, and when that was turning from the truth, their baptism availed nothing as to their being treated as saints. “Ye did run well: who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?” Nor does he therefore boldly call them saints at the beginning, though in looking to Christ he regained his confidence. Their baptism did not suffice for this.
In Ephesians there is no doubt. They were not only saints, but faithful in Christ Jesus; but here the apostle distinguishes between one Spirit, one body, and one hope of our calling; and one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. The latter as public profession. But of the Ephesians he affirms that they were quickened of God, when dead in trespasses and sins. They had been sealed after believing. His address is not founded on their baptism, but on their faith. Every verse of the Epistle bears testimony to it. The church is one which Christ has loved, sanctified by the word, and will present glorious to Himself: one was as true as the other, His loving, sanctifying, and presenting glorious to Himself.
The Philippians gives the same testimony—that he looked to a real work. He was thankful for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He that had begun a good work would perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. He writes to them on the ground of true faith and grace, not on that of baptism, assured moreover that the work would go on to the day of Jesus Christ.
In Colossians “faithful brethren” is again added. And what was the ground of his writing? He had heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, and their love to all the saints. It was reality, not baptism. They too had been dead in their sins, and God had quickened them with Christ and forgiven them all their trespasses. Would Mr. Sadler say tins to all his congregation, and, as Paul to the Corinthians, that God would confirm them unto the end? and to the Philippians, that He who had begun a good work in them would perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ—that they were all complete in Christ? or with Ephesians, that the same power had wrought in them which had raised Christ from the dead and set Him at God's right hand? He knows he would not; his whole theory is false and delusive. Preach to them as baptized, and not as heathen—all well and right. But the Epistles go on the ground of real Christianity in the soul.
With the Thessalonians, he knew not their baptism but their election of God, because his gospel had come to them, not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost; so that they were ensamples, and so spoken of that he needed not say anything. The word worked effectually in them; they were his hope and joy and crown, when Christ came. In the Second, their faith grew exceedingly, and the love of every one of them all towards each other abounded.
Of Timothy, Titus, and Philem. 1:1, 11Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlaborer, (Philemon 1)
1Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlaborer, (Philemon 1) have no need to speak; they were individually known and chosen brethren.
The whole thing is an awful delusion, which the reading of the Epistles exposes at once, in its bare nakedness and soul-deceiving character. But we have an Epistle which speaks of the converse of this, and, if possible, proves more strongly, because negatively, what I say. The church was soon corrupted.
Jude tells us that false brethren had crept in unawares. Who could creep in unawares to Mr. Sadler's system? Baptized, no doubt, but crept in, and unawares, but showing distinctly that, where they were not real saints, they were not recognized as saints on the ground of baptism indiscriminately, but detected as having no business there. They had crept in unawares, spots in their love feasts, feeing themselves without fear. If Mr. Sadler's theory were right, why not address them as saints, like all the rest, by baptism?
Peter equally takes the ground of true saints, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, and declares they were kept by the power of God, through faith, to the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. They had purified their souls in obeying the truth. Christ was precious to them. In the Second Epistle he stirs up their pure minds by way of remembrance. The other Epistles are more treatises, not addressed formally to Christians.
Only that in John some had gone out that it might be manifested they were not all of them. They had slipped in undetected, but were manifested as “not of us.” God did not allow them to remain: if of them, they would have continued, showing clearly what “of us” means. But baptism is never laid as the ground of addressing saints as such, but faith and being obedient to the truth: in a word, being Christians in truth, though some false brethren began to creep in unawares.
I conclude then that (while baptism was the public and outward admission into the Christian assembly, as formed on earth, and so to its privileges here, and so formally to the remission of sins, which was found there, and hence, when sins were already committed, their remission received administratively, and men passed into a new place and position, being accounted to have wholly left in Christ's death, to which men were baptized, their old standing) it is not being born again at all according to John 3, it has nothing good or had to do with being a member of Christ's body, nor was it any way receiving the Holy Ghost, which is always carefully distinguished from it. It is not receiving life, not being made a member of Christ's body, not receiving the Holy Ghost. The whole theory is anti-scriptural as to the meaning and import of baptism, as well as to any fancied actual efficacy.
I now turn to the scriptural view of the church or assembly of God. It is formed, we have seen, by the descent of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is given to believers as a seal on God's part of their faith, by reason of their being cleansed by the blood of Christ. They are sealed to the day of redemption. The effect of this in the individual, though full of blessing, and as important as the others of which we shall speak, is not our subject now. But the result, as stated in scripture, as to the assembly, is that it is the body of Christ, each individual who is thus sealed being united to Christ the Head, and a member individually of His body; all thus sealed constituting His body. This, though it will be perfected as a whole in glory, is constituted on earth; for the Holy Ghost has come down here consequent on the Head being a Man exalted to the right hand of God. This may be seen in Eph. 1:19-2319And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:19‑23), as it is in the counsels of God; and in 1 Cor. 12 as in fact down here.
But there is another aspect of the assembly, the house of God: only we must remark that the body of Christ exists by true union with Christ by the Holy Ghost. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” and “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” If he be thus united to Christ, it is a real thing. “If Christ be in you,” says the apostle. People have taken the Spirit of Christ here to be a temper or state; but the words cited which follow show at once the fallacy of this. “If Christ be in you” is the sense the Holy Ghost puts upon it. Eph. 5 clearly shows what this body is—the bride of Christ. It is what Christ loved, and which He will present to Himself, as God presented Eve to Adam. It is no doubt established on earth, because the Holy Ghost is come down to earth, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost took place then; but it is real—if one member suffers, all suffer with it; if one rejoice, all rejoice with it. We are members one of another. Of this the Lord's supper is the symbol and the outward bond. (1 Cor. 10:1717For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:17).) Baptism with water is not what makes us members.
But I now turn to the house. God's dwelling amongst men is a great truth, and the consequence of redemption. He did not dwell with Adam innocent; He did not dwell with Abraham. But as soon as Israel was redeemed out of Egypt, though by an external redemption, He came to dwell among them in the Shechinah of glory. We read in Ex. 29, “They shall know that I Jehovah their God have brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them.” Consequent on a true eternal redemption, Christ as man being at the right hand of God, the Holy Ghost comes down, making the assembly His dwelling place. But here we have to look at the house, as scripture presents it to us, in two distinct ways; according to the purpose of God, and indeed as founded by Him on earth; and as administered by man responsibly.
According to the purpose of God, it is not yet complete. The Lord says, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This is not yet complete. At least, we trust that souls will be yet converted. God is not slack concerning His promise, but longsuffering. So Peter: “To whom coming as unto a living stone... ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house.” (1 Peter 2:4, 54To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4‑5).) So in Eph. 2:2121In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (Ephesians 2:21): “In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” Here, in the first case, the Lord Himself builds, in the others no instrumentality is spoken of; the living stones come, the building grows, to a holy temple. This is the Lord's work and it cannot fail, and the stones are living stones, built on Christ the living Stone. It may be visible, as it was at the beginning; or invisible, as it has become through man's sin. But the Lord builds His temple, and that cannot fail, and His work cannot be frustrated.
But the external body, as a house and temple down here, in which we are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit, has been entrusted to the responsibility of men, as everything has to begin with. “As a wise master builder,” says Paul, “I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” Here is man's responsibility. Wood and hay and stubble may be built into the house. Till God judges it, it is the temple of God, as the Lord calls the temple His Father's house, though it was made a den of thieves. We have instruction how to conduct ourselves in a state of things which, in its hidden germ, began in the apostles' day. Where there is the form of godliness, denying the power of it, we are to turn away; to purge ourselves from the vessels to dishonor. In the beginning it could be said, The Lord added daily such as should be saved, and that visibly. Now we say, “The Lord knoweth them that are His;” and “every one that nameth the name of Lord” must “depart from iniquity.” The wolf may catch and scatter the sheep, but cannot pluck them out of the Savior's hand.
The mystery of iniquity wrought in the apostles' days. All, at the end of his career, sought “their own, not the things of Jesus Christ;” and he knew that after his decease, the barrier gone, grievous wolves would enter in, and from within men arise speaking perverse things to draw the disciples after them. Jude tells us that false brethren had already crept in unawares, and these, we learn from him, were the class who would be judged by Christ at His coming. And John tells us that the last times were already there, manifested by apostates. The church then, as God's house, might be largely composed of what would be burned up—wood, and hay, and stubble. But when this was so, when there was a form of godliness and the power denied, from such true Christians were to turn away, and walk with those who called on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. True saints would be hidden, or might be, so that we could only say, the Lord knows them that are His. But there are explicit directions what to do when this is the case—turn away from them. The church could have no authority, for Christians were called upon to listen to Christ's judgment of it. See the seven churches. Jezebel would be its teacher, the mother of its children; and from its lukewarmness it would be spewed out of Christ's mouth. And the apostle in 2 Tim. 3, when the perilous times of the last days should be come, refers to the scriptures as able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. When the church would be a false and insecure guide (having the form of godliness, denying the power of it), the believer is referred to the scriptures as a secure one, and called on authoritatively to listen to and hear the Spirit's judgment of the church.
(To be continued)