Men talk about union among Christians. They are one already in Christ, and by the Holy Ghost. Let them abandon all partition walls, and keep to this “unity of the Spirit.” They have not to form a unity, but relinquish those things which form the disunities.
I observe that at chapter 4 of Ephesians, at verse 3rd, we are enjoined to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace,” and verse 4th reads “[There is] one body and one spirit, as ye have also been called,” &c. It seems to me that “the unity of the spirit” and “one body and one spirit” both refer to “an outward organization”—not to an ideal or mystical thing—and the passage you refer to, 1 Cor. 12:2727Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:27), is very plainly “the outward organization” of the Church at Corinth, and verse 28 as clearly points to outward organized “unity of the spirit,” the whole Church then on earth. For it must be an outward and visible institution before God could set in it, “first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then miraculous powers; then gifts of teachings; helps, governments, various tongues.” These people were surely set in the visible church on earth. I grant that it began with the outward and the spiritual being one and the same with the “outward organization,” having been made a living organism by the all-pervading life of its risen Head, transfused throughout every individual of its entire membership by the Holy Ghost, who had come down to form all into one with the Head on high, and to be the one bond of its union to Christ in the heavens. It is a risen body as to its privileges; on earth as to responsibility. This being so, is it not too strong to say, as you do of 1 Cor. 12:2727Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:27), “Where no reference is had to an outward organization?” It was an assembly—the apostle writes in so many words to the Corinthians “Ye are Christ’s body.” The assembly at Corinth was Christ’s body, then it was surely outward and visible, and not merely “spiritual,” but (unhappily at that time, as the apostle charges them, chapter 3) “carnal.” But I do not press this. They were members of “Christ’s body,” and that is what you mean by “spiritual.”
Again, farther on you say, “an external for a spiritual and visible church.” Now, Scripture says, all three “external,” for it was a known and recognized assembly; “spiritual,” for it was the unity of the spirit, i.e., the unity made and pervaded by His presence; and, “visible,” for “all that believed were together;” “one assembly;” “their own company;” “one body.” The “invisible” Church was invented centuries after; it was a visible one at Pentecost, and in the time of the apostles (Acts 2-7); and only after the sad fact had become obvious that it was no longer “the light of the world, a city set upon a hill.” But an invisible church, an invisible light, is not the Church formed by the Holy Ghost at Pentecost; and visibility is one of the marks of the Church of God.
What you say of Christianity not being intended as a mere civilizing force, is quite just.
The vine and the branches is fruit-bearing rather than union. If it were life-union, how could there be taking away of branches “in me?” It is on the earth that the vine is planted. Men do not plant vines in heaven. It was the then state of Christ and the disciples, He was the vine, they the branches; but this was as associated with Him before His death on earth. Judas was in this sense a branch of the true vine, but he did not abide, and there was not fruit, but taking away. “He went immediately out,” and went ultimately “to his own place.” (John 15:66If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:6); Acts 1:2525That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. (Acts 1:25).)
Christian union, such as is known in the Church on earth, is union with a risen and glorified Head in heaven, by the Holy Ghost come down, and results not in making those who enjoy it branches of a vine, but members of a body— “the Body of Christ.” I fully admit the moral principle of the vine and its branches; but it is communion which we must maintain, not vital union as in the body of Christ, which is formed independently of our endeavors. “For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body,” &c. “Now ye are the Body of Christ, and members in particular.”