In these days of demand for what is called Christian union, one may profitably, if the Lord will bless, bring under view three several presentations of God's unity, and three several presentations of man's union, by way of contrast, that the difference in principle between them may be the better brought into light. And should any honest seekers be led to see that what they are seeking, as Christian union, can be found, in truth and power, only in God's unity, and they be led on to God's ground of unity, one's desire will, through grace have been obtained.
One thing at the outset may be noted, namely, that union is man's word, not God's, for it is not to be found in the Word, in the sense now used, where, however, we do read, anticipatingly, of " brethren dwelling together in unity," of " unity of the faith," and of " unity of the Spirit," so that unity is a substantial and real thing in God's word. " Union " well enough expresses man's purpose and attempt, but that is short of God's purpose, and " unity " better expresses God's fuller purpose and real accomplishment. God's word man does not use, because the truth represented by God's word, man refuses. But if there be one sentence of the word more to be pressed upon Christians than any other, it is that beseeching of Eph. 4;3 " Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace;" so that if Christians attach importance to their union, God attaches importance to His unity, as expressed in Eph. 4 " ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT." Briefly then, first, there was really a unity before God, of the two occupants of Eden, on God's ground in innocence. God there communed with them both together, and they with Him. But Satan and sin came in, they fell, and that communion was cut off, and they both were put out of Eden. They were still together, but not in, nor upon, the ground of'' God's recognized unity. It was not that one sinned and had to be put off God's ground, and one remained to represent the unity, but both sinned, so the unity was broken up, they were put out of the garden, and the Edenic dispensation closed.
There was, second, a unity before God on God's ground, of the congregation of Israel. Innocence of the Eden character was no more, but grace had come in, and there was an imputed and acknowledged standing in holiness before the Lord God. As the congregation of God, fenced in, so to speak, as one people, all other peoples fenced out-the wall of partition up, and non-intercourse the rule-there was substantial and real unity of all within, so that cutting off from the congregation of Israel, was cutting off from among His people, cutting off from the presence of the Lord. This was the Old. Testament disciplinary equivalent of putting out of the assembly of God, in the New Testament (1 Cor. 5); for God in grace now has His one assembly as truly, though not so comprehensively, of all His people, as He had His congregation then, and now as then upon the ground and order of His own appointment.
So also, distinctively, it was God's unity in separation from evil, and on the ground of holiness, for the tabernacle of God was its center. It was therefore essentially a gathering or congregating to, or around, God, for God dwelt there and met with them there (Ex. 25:88And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8), and 29). Evil must needs therefore, be put away out of it, for separation of evil or from evil as God's principle of unity (as Josh. 7:1212Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (Joshua 7:12)), or if the case be worse and the evil more general, the tabernacle of the Lord must move out and be pitched without the camp (as in Ex. 33:77And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. (Exodus 33:7)), whither those who are for God, and obedient to Him follow, for there was now the gathering or congregating place of His true people-those who sought the Lord. And most suggestive is this to us who would be obedient, and would be upon God's ground in these evil days, for He who really seeks the Lord now, must needs go outside the camp, as in that day.
The Temple afterward was on the same ground, and God was its center, and it the place of His unity. But there was abundant failure, and the captivity. There was a remnant down to Anna's time (Luke ii, 36). But there had been, and there was still, failure, and after God's long patience, and distinct manifestation of man's utter failure, there came foreclosure of the dispensation-of that order of things-and beyond that foreclosure our present purpose does not carry us.
There is now, third, a unity on God's ground upon the same principle of separation from evil to God. The cross of Christ brought in redemption and broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. Thence results the church of God-the divine unity. This was the mystery, hidden from ages and generations, but now revealed. And if revealed, surely a divine principle is afforded as guide to this divine unity. Read Eph. 1:17-2317That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And 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 1:17‑23). Here we see the Father of glory has raised Christ and set Him at His own right hand to be " Head to the church, which is His body "-" One 'body, having access by one Spirit to the Father "-in Christ " builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2). " We being many members are one body in Christ." " There is one body and one Spirit," " for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body "-the one Spirit being therefore, the introducer into the one body. Surely we thus see the body formed, and God's unity set up-the church the habitation of God. The church of God as thus corporate and " endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," as enjoined upon all its members, expresses the corporate responsibility of each.
Where, then, is the place or scene of the manifestation of this endeavor? 1 Cor. 10:16, 1716The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:16‑17), shows that the Lord's Supper is the expression or manifestation of the communion of the body of Christ. The Lord's Table is therefore the place or scene of assembly, in corporate character and responsibility. To it, consequently, should all His members be gathered, and " where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst," and there, too, is the Holy Ghost, the gathering and controlling power.
So the "church of God which is at Corinth," " the churches of Galatia," " all that be in Rome called saints," the saints at Ephesus, at Philippi, at Colosse, and the Hebrews, " are holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling;" were each, severally, in principle and ground, as the forty gatherings in London, the one at New York, and the one in Montreal, are now, severally, in each of the three cities, the local expression of the body of Christ, and each and all had, and have, an acknowledged relation, the one to the other, as of the body, AND AS KEEPING THE UNITY, and all these assemblies, now existing, being in ground and principle, in distinct and declared acknowledgment of the unity as constituted by the Holy Ghost.
And the Holy Ghost, having thus constituted and expressed His own corporate unity, and signified where and how it is to be kept, all members of the body in these several places are under responsibility to keep it as bidden. They who are thus upon God's ground, though a feeble few, a very small remnant, do represent God's unity. Multitudes of members of the body of Christ, dear children of God, being off the ground of the unity of the Spirit, are in sects and systems, but the remnant, without any claim to be the church of God, only a part of it, represents not the unity of the body, but the unity of the Spirit, and the principle of the church of God, as keeping a unity of the Spirit remains intact, and remains with them, and they alone, as associated, the one with the other, in the keeping of the unity, the world over, are entitled to reckon on God for all that He has specially promised to His church while down here-gathered on the ground of the one body of Christ, by one Spirit at the Lord's supper-THE ONE LOAF.
And, if so, the principle of Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians is plain, for theirs was an early attempt to break this unity-contentions and divisions (1 Cor. 1). But the Corinthians had not broken away from the Lord's Table, the expression of the unity. They were not really schismatics nor sectarians.
Breaking away from the table of the unity came later. When it came there was disobedience, insubjection, sectarianism, and they constitute themselves a SECT who are thus insubordinated and disobedient to the word. So then, so now, the so-called churches of various names are each and all off the God-ordained ground of "the churches of Corinth" and " at Galatia," and are sects, and this being evil, members of the body of Christ are called to come out from them and be separate, God's principle of unity all along being separation from evil, and now, not by any judicial power, but by the power of the word and Spirit, and to come back upon the ground of the unity, as at its first setting up, which is not sectarianism now any more than on the day that Paul by the Spirit besought the Corinthians-" that there be no divisions among you."
Such are the disobedient ones, and such is the demand upon Christians at this present time, when these great truths of the one body, and the one Spirit, and the endeavor to keep the unity, have been distinctively set forth, and the Lord has gathered many of His people to Himself in the acknowledgment thereof.
We have thus seen, first, innocence in Eden-unity -communion; second, separation from the nations and from evil, the unity of the congregation of Israel gathered to God as His congregation-communion; -third, separation from the world, whether Jew or Gentile, separation from evil, formed by the Holy Ghost into one body, and, since ecclesiastical evil has come in, separation there from, in the endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, in the acknowledgment of the name of Jesus, and of the presence of the Holy Ghost-as made the temple of God by the Spirit-communion.
There is thus identity of principle in what we have denominated three several presentations of God's unity. The last of these is that which is now extant down here in the world, and is that whereunto they who would walk in simple obedience, and who, naming the name of Christ, would depart from iniquity, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart, must be gathered.
Subsequently, three several presentations of an opposite character will be noticed. T. M. T.