Is it by accident (an accident of no importance) that the term (which is become in our days almost the sole designation for the church, namely, the church of Christ) is nowhere to be found in the New Testament; whereas the very expression, " the church of God" is met with seven times? This does not imply that the church is not Christ's, as well as God's. That it is so is too plain to require a proof. Though it would be established, if doubted, by what is written in John 17:9, 10; and 16: 15.
But it is of all importance, in a time such as the present, to weigh deliberately the very words of God (ipsissima verba); especially upon such a subject as that of the church. Now, according to the word, there is something special as to the kind of relationship of Christ with the -church, which can only be understood by entering into the scriptural force of the expression, " The church of God."
When the Spirit speaks of the church as belonging to Christ, He is most careful to set forth this truth in such a way as to make us see that the church has for Christ all the savor of His Father's name upon it; and that, as to ourselves, never should we think of it without remembering its close and inseparable relationship with Him as the Son of God. To say the church is Christ's would be too feeble an expression. What the Spirit of God desires is, that the nature and closeness of the relationship should be recognized as well as its existence. Communion and mutual sympathy are expressed by both of these. The Spirit speaks of the church as the " body. of Christ"; "the Lamb's wife"•' or as that which belongs to Christ because it belongs to His Father, etc.
This is seen by the following passages: Eph. 1:22,23; 5:24-32; Col. 1:18, 24; Rev. 21 and 22, etc.; but never once is the expression " the church of Christ" employed. When the church is spoken of as belonging to Christ, it is as "the body" which is absolutely necessary to the Head; as "the wife" which expresses a relationship necessarily existing where there is a husband, etc. The following are the seven passages in which the Spirit speaks to us of the church as being the church of God:-
"Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God" (Acts 20:28).
" Paul... to the church of God... to them that are sanctified in Jesus... Grace... " (1 Cor. 1:2).
" Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God." (1 Cor. 10:32.)
"Despise ye the church of God?" (1 Cor. 11:22.)
" I am the least of the apostles, which am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." (1 Cor. 15:9.)
" Beyond measure I persecuted the church of God." (Gal. 1:13.)
" If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (1 Tim. 3:5.)
" The churches of God (1 Cor. 11:16);-of God, which are in Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 2:14, and 2 Thess. 1:4);-of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33);-which were in Christ (Gal. 1:22); and the churches of Christ" (Rom. 16:16).
I do not know of the Lord Jesus once saying, "MY CHURCH," except it be in the following passage, "And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter [Petros, in Greek], and on this rock [Petra, in Greek] I will build my church." But here (Matt. 16:16) it is rather speaking of a testimony to be given to the world, and upon earth, than of anything else. He whose title is King of kings for the earth has been rejected by the Jews, the subjects of His kingdom here below: but there, at the right hand of God, His title of King is acknowledged; and it is most evident also in this world to those who are the friends of the King. For though the subjects of the King are in rebellion against Him; and though He has been driven out of the world, He has friends who love Him and who own His title. He admits them into His counsels, and He strengthens and encourages them. There is that which one has well named, " The kingdom in mystery"; and it is the church under this point of view, as the church bound up with the government of the heavens, which is brought before us here.)
"The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1 Tim. 3:15)
Many things are disclosed to us in this last verse. " Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh; justified in the Spirit; seen of angels; preached unto the Gentiles; believed on in the world; and received up into glory." The words " God was manifest in the flesh," do not give the meaning of the " mystery of godliness" if they are separated from what follows. Though many do so read them and would have it so; as though the expression, " the mystery of godliness" were synonymous with the person of the God-man, and as though that which is intended by the one expression were the same as that which is intended by the other. If it were so, the child Jesus in the cradle, or Jesus on the cross, would present to us the meaning of this expression, " the mystery of godliness." But in the verse which is now before us, there are, after the expression
God was manifest in the flesh," five other characteristic terms, namely, 1. "justified in the Spirit;" 2. "seen of angels"; 3. "preached unto the Gentiles"; 4. "believed on in the world"; and 5. "received up into glory." That is to say, the God-man, in His present position, is the meaning of this mystery. The God-man has now been received up into a certain glory. The Word teaches us that many things are waiting for Him to do when He leaves this His present position. But He is now received up into glory. " God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory." Without a question, it is Christ that is spoken of here; but Christ in such a manifestation of Him as supposes the church; the church as that which God has formed of Him, by Him, and for Him.
All things are, in a sense, of Him, by Him, and for Him (Rom. 11:36); but the church is so in a way peculiar to itself. There is a relationship between God in His eternal state, in that eternity which belongs to Him, and the church, which distinguishes it in a way peculiarly its own. Of not one of the divine works besides, is it said in the word that it is the expression of His counsel before the world was; of His election before the foundation of the world. Whilst beyond all controversy it is so stated of the church; but, I repeat it, of it alone.
In the following passages, Ex. 2:22-25; 3:15; 6:3-8; Lev. 26:42; Deut. 30:20; Neh. 9:7; Psa. 105:8-10; Ezek. 16:60; and especially Rom. 11:28; we see that God, when speaking of the blessing of the Jews, hardly ever goes further back than to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with whom He had formed a covenant which the wickedness of the nation could not disannul. Abraham was called to turn from idolatry to walk with the true God (Gen. 12; Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:12; Jer. 24:15); and God shows His faithfulness to the call which He-Himself addressed to Abraham. Nevertheless we are never told of the blessing of the Jews as being the result of a divine counsel and choice formed before the world was, and as such to be looked upon by us. Again, as to the nations, we see the faithfulness of
God in his providential arrangements; for we find the very same distribution which He made of the nations in the day of Noah (Gen. 10) again in Ezekiel; and in like manner the providence of God is ever bearing Him witness (Psa. 19; Matt. 5:45); nevertheless, His providence is never spoken of to us as being the result of His divine counsel and choice before the world was, and as such to be looked upon by us.
Again, the world is that which bears witness to the creative power of God (according to Rom. 1). The way in which God introduces the history of the creation is this: "In the beginning God created," etc.; nevertheless this creation is never held out to us as being the recognized result of the divine counsel and choice before the world was, and as such to be looked upon by us. But it is not so with the church. When desiring to set before us what is the power and the blessedness distinctive to the church, God begins thus:
" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [This is plainly before Gen. 1:1, as the Creator is before his creation.] All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
" And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father."
" And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace (χαρις αντι χαριτος). Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the Only Begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (John 1:1-4, 14, 16-18).
We find ourselves then here in quite another sphere, whether we consider the sphere of the creation (including all created things); or, again, that of providence (with its ordinances for the seasons, etc.); or, even that of the family of Abraham, who was upon earth the individual whom God had chosen and set apart for Himself from amongst idolaters. What we have in the opening of John's gospel, as cited, is the glory of God shown to us as in His own self; eternal life in Him through whom God alone has ever revealed it; and this life declared to be communicable to whomsoever God wills. It is the fountain of living water whose source is in God, and which pours itself forth through the church. It is then, impossible to find any beginning for the church without going back to Him who was in the beginning. It is His glory which John is sheaving to us in the three first verses of his first epistle.
" That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life; for the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and do show unto you that Eternal Life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us; that which we have heard and seen declare we unto you; that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.'
This is the way, peculiarly its own, in which the church is OF GOD. It has its beginning in Him who was from the beginning; for as the body could not exist without the head, as there would be no meaning in a bride without a bridegroom, so the church could have no existence without Him who is the Son of God.
If I am right, it seems to me that here is the reason why the counsels of God, formed before the world was, are so naturally brought in the moment that the church appears.
" Before the foundation of the world," is declared, or said, of the love which the Father bore to the Son (John 17:24); and (Eph. 1:4.) it is also said of our election in Christ; and (1 Peter 1:20.) of the Lamb the Redeemer, or the Head of redemption.
Perhaps some explanation of the difference in the four cases of which we have spoken, may be found in the truths contained in the different names under which God reveals Himself. First of all we find Elohim, the name of God, in the first chapter of Genesis, and it is Elohim who reveals Himself as Creator through the means of the creation. These are the things which are seen, and it is by their means that the Creator reveals Himself to us. Next, He makes himself known as Jehovah, the God of providence, by the care which He has for His own. We see this in His way of acting after Noah left the ark, He revealed His name in the system which He set up. And, lastly, the name by which God reveals Himself to Abraham is El-Shaddai, the God whose bosom contains every blessing for His people, then only an earthly people.
In the kingdom of creation as well as that of providence, we have, it is true, blessed and glorious testimonies to the divine attributes; but it is God revealing Himself by His attributes in the things which He Himself has created, and which must ever remain entirely below Himself and His own state of blessedness.
In the name of God, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (the nursing-place as well as the birth-place of the church), there is a difference which distinguishes it from every other. The value of this name is eternal and divine; it is before all creation, and even before all revelation. It expresses relationship within the bosom of Divinity itself-the Word was with God and was God.
In the Divine foreknowledge all was foreseen. It is needless to repeat it; as it is said in Acts 15:18, "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world."
God, when bringing before us creation, providence, and the call of the Jews, saw it good to do so in the light of His actions; but the church it was His good pleasure to present to us in the light of His choice and His counsels. Now, it is our wisdom to look upon everything, even to the least detail, in the manner in which God has taught it to us; for surely His way is wiser than ours. But, in order to enter into the height and depth of this truth (that the church is of God), we must meditate upon John 17; Rom. 8; Eph.; Col. 1; 2; 3, and 1 John, etc.
May God bless us graciously, and open our hearts more and more to these precious truths I