We do not propose, in these short papers on the church, to speak so much on what the church is not, as on what the church is as revealed in the scriptures.
We have seen in our papers on Election, that those who form the church were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. What was it, then, that was so chosen, that so occupied the thoughts of God in eternity? And what was the thought of God in raising Christ from the dead, and in giving Him, as Man, a place above all principality and power in the heavens—nay, far above all heavens? Surely these words give the answer— “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” (Eph. 1:22, 23.)
Now, whilst the word church, or assembly, may be applied to any assembly, as it is to Israel in the wilderness (Acts 7:38), or to a heathen crowd as. in Acts 19:32, 39, 41, yet it is evident that the Spirit uses it here in a very peculiar sense—“the church which is his body;” the assembly, which is His body. What, then, do those words mean? His body. And how is it formed? These are evidently points on which we need to be quite clear and assured. We are thankful that scripture leaves no uncertainty as to these things. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:12, 13.)
In these words we have the formation of the church which is His body, the only means by which it is formed. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” We must not confound this with water baptism. The apostle, elsewhere speaking of Israel, says, “All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;” but there is no such thought in scripture as that they formed part of this “one body.” So also the disciples of John were baptized with water, but they remained Jews, and did not, and could not, receive the Holy Ghost, as He was not yet given. (John 1:31-33; 7:39; Acts 19:1-6.) They were baptized with water, but they had not received the Holy Ghost, and therefore they were not members of the one body. So, in this place, the Spirit does not say, By water are we all baptized into the one body of Christ. Let us, then, neither pervert nor misunderstand scripture on this important point. We would not undervalue or set aside baptism in water—it is the Lord’s own institution, and a type of doctrine, and introduces into the outward profession of Christianity; but it is by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.
How important, then, the question, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” If not, you have no part whatever in the church which is His body. It is no use pleading something else. It will not do to say, I was baptized, when a child, with water, or since I was grown up, or, I am a member of such a body; all this has nothing to do with the “one body” according to scripture. The all-important question is this—Have ye received the Holy Ghost?
Nothing can be more simple, if we bow to scripture. When Christ had accomplished redemption, and as Man had ascended up to heaven, then the Holy Ghost came down, and formed the church which is His body. On the very morn when He arose from among the dead, He was revealed firstborn from the dead to His brethren. But the Holy Ghost must come down on the day of Pentecost, to baptize them into the one body—to join them to Christ, the Head in heaven. What a striking figure of this great truth is the human body! the several distinct members of the body forming one person, guided by one head: so is Christ. A finger is not a toe, nor a hand a foot; yet all these members forming one body, joined to one head, guided by one spirit; such is the human body. And so, every individual Christian on earth who has received the Holy Ghost, is by that one Spirit baptized into the one body—even the church, which is His body.
Thus in every place, whether it be Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, or Rome, there was the church, the body of Christ. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” Not into different churches, or into various religious bodies or communities. No, in scripture “there is one body and one Spirit”—no doubt composed of individual members, and as gathered together in different places they were local gatherings, or assemblies, as, for instance, the assemblies in Galatia. But as truly as there was one Spirit, so truly there was only one church—one body. We need only to read the epistles to see this. Yes, there is one body and one Spirit.”
Thus, then, we get in scripture the one church, His body, “according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Does it not, then, follow that schism, or dissent from it, the church, must be grievous sin? There can be no question that it is the will of God “that there should be no schism in the body.” For u God hath set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him.” (Read 1 Cor. 12:12-28.)
The church, which is His body then, is wholly of God, according to His eternal purpose, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and formed by God the Holy Ghost come down from heaven. It is also joined to the Head, Christ, in heaven. It is not baptized Christendom; for you may be baptized in water, and not have been baptized by the Spirit. (See Acts 8:12-17.) It is by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. Thus the church of God is formed by the Spirit in union with its Head, Christ. “All the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.”
This, then, is what God purposed in Christ; and this is what He accomplished by the Spirit, as revealed to us in the Acts and the Epistles. What a wondrous mystery, that we poor sinners should be taken and baptized into perfect and everlasting union with the risen Christ, at God’s right hand. This is true of all who have the Holy Ghost, and of none else. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
Now this great truth of the one body, the one and only church, characterizes all ministry in the New Testament. Take the evangelist. We shall see this more distinctly if we look at another figure of the same truth, a building, or temple: as it is written of all the saints, the household of God. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone: in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:20-22.)
Thus, when the evangelist went forth into the stone-quarry—so to speak—he expected every stone got out there was to be built into this one building—this one temple—for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Thus every soul that passed from death unto life was built by the Spirit into the one temple, the church of God. Was it not so? Did the evangelist go forth to get stones to be left in the quarry, or thrown anywhere, or built into any man’s building? Surely not. Spiritual intelligence would lead the evangelist to build according to the eternal purpose of God. We cannot overestimate the vast importance to the evangelist of a right knowledge of the church, which is His body, or the one holy temple in the Lord. Is it not equally true, that, as there is but one foundation on which to build, Christ Jesus, so also the builder is to take care how he labors for the Lord. “Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” (1 Cor. 3) Surely there will be no building by guess, if guided by and subject to the Spirit of God. It is a notable fact that God has been pleased, during the last fifty years, to restore much long-lost church truth; and connected with the truth of the church, His body, a fuller gospel truth has also been recovered. About that time—fifty years ago—none preached the full gospel but those to whom the Spirit had restored the truth of the church. Now a host of evangelists are preaching the gospel which they have learned and borrowed, entirely disconnected from church truth—yea, rather encouraging converts to remain in what is opposed to the mind of God. We could easily give a long list of names. We earnestly entreat these, and all evangelists, prayerfully to examine the scriptures on this subject. We cannot find a single instance in apostolic days in which converts were not gathered into the one church of God, baptized into the body of Christ. Can it be right then, can it be pleasing to God, to preach the gospel at random, and leave souls the prey of every human party? Clearly, then, the most important truth of the church which is His body should characterize the labors of the evangelist. Shall we be careless about that which is according to the eternal purpose of God in Christ? If we examine each of these figures—the holy temple in the Lord; the church, or assembly; the one body of Christ, or the bride, unity is the distinct mark.
In Eph. 2:20-22 There is only one temple, one building, fitly framed together—only one habitation of God through the Spirit. Every living stone on earth built into that one holy temple of the Lord. And all “through the Spirit.”
Does it not, then, follow that whatever is not after this model is not of the Spirit, but of the will of man? He may call it liberty of conscience to build what and as he likes, but plainly, everything that is not on the ground that all Christians form the one holy temple of the Lord, cannot be of the Spirit, and therefore not pleasing to God. Independency here would clearly be sin. To dissent from what is the revealed mind of God cannot be faith; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. To dissent from what is of man may be the direct path of faith; and the man of faith can, in dependence on God, be wholly independent of all that is of man. How important, then, to know what is really of God. This will enable us to distinguish the wood, hay, and stubble, which is the work and building of man, about to be destroyed by fire. (1 Cor. 3:9-14.)
Oh, what grace, that God should take such vile sinners, and build us together, the one holy temple in the Lord! Do we take in this divine thought, that all believers on earth are built by the Spirit into, not many, but one habitation of God? Surely, if we believe this, it would make us embrace all the children of God in the love of Christ. Only, mark, the reception of this truth would not lead us to approve, or be identified with, what contradicts it. Was it not the knowledge of how dear that holy temple, the church, was to God that made the apostle grieve so much over the first buddings of sectarianism at Corinth? Surely the more the laborer with God knows the mind of God, the more will he be grieved with those who, whilst holding foundation truth, are yet building other and contrary to that which is the eternal purpose of God. No doubt the very idea of the one building, one temple, composed of every saved soul on earth, has been almost forgotten, but not forgotten of God. Can He forget His own eternal purpose? Men and Satan have done their utmost to mar and spoil the one temple in the Lord; but we can thus go back to the word, and contemplate it as what God hath wrought.
In our next we hope to look at the unity of the “church which is His body” under the four aspects given in scripture.