MY DEAR BROTHER,
I have been observing of late several distinct marks of the assembly of God, as given (sometimes in an indirect way) by the apostle in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, and have thought they may be of interest to your readers, especially in a day of difficulty and confusion such as the present.
There are two epistles which have for their theme the church of God viz., Ephesians and 1 Corinthians; but each views the church from a totally different standpoint. Ephesians is a rich exposition of the counsels of divine grace. (there I find the marvelous expression, “the exceeding riches of His grace”) concerning Christ and the church. Christ is shown as the One Whom God has raised again from among the dead, and set at His own right hand in the heavenly places, &c.—given by Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. Here we get the church's wondrous place spoken of according to the counsels of God, formed before the foundation of the world: it is Christ's body, and blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Him. This is altogether God's planning and working; man has no place here, save—as believing in, and associated with, Christ—being the recipient of all. 1 Corinthians, on the other hand, presents the church in its practical walk here below, giving the mind of God upon all matters collective, while exposing, alas! a terrible amount of human failure of every sort. Ephesians directs our eyes to the heaven, and we are shown our wondrous place before God, even the Father, in Christ; while Corinthians directs our eyes downwards, and we get human doings and, too often, sin. The latter epistle opens in an unusual way; it is not addressed “to the saints... and to the faithful,” as in Ephesians, nor to those “beloved of God, saints by calling,” as in Romans; but “to the church of God which is at Corinth... with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.” And the opening words are important as indicating the contents of the inspired note.
To proceed to the marks mentioned, the first is given (in an indirect way) in chap. i, the name of Christ, the assembly's true gathering point. The Spirit has grave fault to find on this score; for schools were rapidly forming, party-names were being adopted, and saints were no longer knit together in love, all speaking the same thing, perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Schism was already at work, and sects or heresies would follow, if not checked by the energy of the Holy Ghost through the apostle, as the natural result. Do we wonder at Paul's indignation? “Is Christ divided?” he asked; “was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” He loved the Head, and he loved His body, the church, far too well to accept quietly such dishonor. Nor did it affect the question, that his own name was one of those used: “who then is Paul, and who is Apollos?” Who? indeed, when Christ was in question! The Spirit was in the apostle to glorify Christ, and the devoted servant would knock down all at one blow, that Christ alone might be exalted among His saints.
What deep failure for the Corinthians? They were “enriched by Him in all utterance, and in all knowledge,” and came behind in no gift; yet were they carnal, and walked as men. But the truth that Christ is the alone center of His saints, both here and in glory, abides in spite of all human failure and sin. In Rev. 5. He is shown as the Lamb in the midst of the throne, the elders, representing the glorified saints, being seated around Himself. What a scene for the heart! How the thought of it causes the spirit to yearn for the day when all, through grace, shall be verified in all the saints! But the same Christ is the gathering point to-day ere the glory; and His precious promise in Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20) ever holds good, “Where two or three are gathered together in (unto) My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Happy for the church had she never departed from it; but alas, alas, how deep and widespread the failure and departure! Everywhere names gloried in and adopted, and party-making rampant, not the least painfully among many who declare sect-making to be of the foe, rather than of God. Surely the Lord had His eye on evil days when he spoke of “two or three.” I do not find twos and threes in the Acts of the Apostles, but rather thousands here, and hundreds there; but where is this seen to-day?
While not trying to be pessimistic, one is somewhat suspicious to-day as to the hundreds, where found gathered together—professedly in Christ's name. To be gathered to His name means more than is sometimes thought. His name Jehovah expresses what He is; and this principle runs throughout scripture. When God revealed His name “El-Shaddai” to Abraham, it was a revelation of what He was (and of course is), the All-sufficient and All-powerful One. Again, His name Jehovah expresses His eternal unchangeableness. But, sweeter still, the name of Father, revealed by and in the Son, expresses for us a wonderful relationship, and an intimate heart of love. Thus the gathered saints may count on Christ according to all that He is; and is He not enough? His fullness is for faith to draw upon, be the day ever so evil and dark.
Thus the first mark of the assembly, which I have seen in 1 Corinthians, is its gathering to Christ's name; the second is found in chap. 5., a holy maintenance of discipline according to God. When this is despised, and the holiness that becomes God's house ignored, how can we recognize the company as God's assembly? Grave moral evil had appeared among the saints at Corinth—evil graver than was common among the dissolute Gentiles around them. How low may not even the saints sink, when the heart departs from the Lord! Flesh in the Christian is the same as flesh in the unbeliever; only there is light, which makes its outbreaks the more dreadful. Solemn indeed was the general condition of the Corinthian assembly. They had evidently been puffed up before the evil appeared, and even so glaring a blot had not humbled them. One would have thought that such a dishonor would have dispelled the boasting and brought them to their faces; but what is man? The apostle wrote and wrote vigorously by the Spirit, “What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in spirit of meekness?” He then proceeded to declare the mind of the Lord concerning the evil in question. “For I verily as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and my spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (vers. 3-5).
The assembly, not merely official individuals (of whom, I may say, we have no trace at Corinth, as it was not long that the saints had been called), was to act, and clear the Lord's name. Of old Jehovah had said, “Israel hath sinned,” and all Israel stoned the offender with stones that he died (Josh. 7.). So here; the assembly, with Paul present in spirit, was to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Did they not know that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Were they not familiar with the former oracles of God, where instructions are constantly given to expel all leaven? Did they not know that the assembly in God's sight is an unleavened lump? How inconsistent, nay, how dishonoring to Him Who is Holy and True, to allow the unclean leaven to remain unjudged! They were to judge those “within” (leaving those “without” to God), and were therefore to put away from among themselves that wicked person. And this is ever incumbent on the gathered saints. The assembly, according to God's thought, is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:1515But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)); and its character is quite belied, when it becomes indifferent to holiness. But in the absence of apostolic power, the “two or three” cannot go beyond the putting away in ver. 13, the handing over to Satan calling for authority which we have not, in the present broken and ruined condition of things (compare 1 Tim. 1:2020Of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. (1 Timothy 1:20)). Assumption is out of place, and an offense to God; it is ours to walk with lowliness before Him, and use what we have for His glory.
I refrain at this point, from speaking of the assembly's attitude towards false doctrine: it is a matter for discipline most assuredly, where Christ has His true place; it will, however, come before us later. A due maintenance of discipline is therefore an undoubted mark of God's assembly.
I now proceed to the subject of ministry as dealt with by the apostle, chiefly in 1 Cor. 9., and somewhat in chap. 4. Some were evidently venturing to put the apostle on his trial as to his service, pronouncing as to the genuineness of his call to the office, judging his motives, and making various insinuations concerning him. The blessed man of God, established in God's thoughts, knew well how to deal with all such assumption and folly. He stood on his own direct responsibility to the Lord, and wishes them to know it: “let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:11Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Corinthians 4:1)). He was in no wise their servant ("save in a sense for Jesus' sake, 2 Cor. 4:55For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5)), and he repudiated their right to inquire into, or criticize him in, his path of service for Christ. Ministry is in Christ's hands; not in any sense in the hands of official men, or of the church. The source of all ministry is given in Eph. 4—the ascended Christ. He has given gifts; apostles, prophets evangelists, pastors and teachers; the church has no place, save as receiving what He gives according to the grace of His heart, and the fullness that resides in Him for all its needs. How lamentably has this been lost sight of in Christendom! to the church's serious hurt, and graver still, to the Lord's dishonor. Officialism is to be observed on the one hand, men assuming to be successors of the apostles with power to ordain; religious republicanism on the other, the church claiming the right to control itself, and to control ministry. Which is the farthest from the divine pattern? Surely in both systems the true idea is entirely lost. The truth is, that the ascended Head gives and fits, while the assembly is but the receiver of all.
The apostle asserts his right to support from the saints (not from the Gentiles, 3 John 77Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. (3 John 7))—though not a salary—and draws analogies from vineyard, flock, oxen and temple; yet glories in the fact that he had not used this right, nor had he written such things that it should be so done unto him: for it were better for him to die, than that any man should make his glorying void (1 Cor. 9:12, 1512If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. (1 Corinthians 9:12)
15But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. (1 Corinthians 9:15)).
Noble and self-sacrificing servant! He had drunk deeply into his Master's spirit, and felt it to be far “more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20.). What have his professed successors to say to this?