I would like to examine from Scripture the path of the Christian at the present time and our responsibility in connection with the Holy Spirit’s presence on earth and as members of the body of Christ. We know that the professing church has fallen into ruin, in which we ourselves are involved. But God permitted the roots of all this state to come out in apostolic days, so that we might have direction from His Word as to it all and His guidance in the scene of confusion which exists around us. We cannot leave the profession of Christianity to go outside, nor does God force us to abide in a path where the conscience is outraged and the Word of God discarded.
The Epistle of 2 Timothy was not written in a day when everything was in order and the church of God walking in the first freshness of power and blessing. Rather, it was written just when the days were darkest in apostolic times. The gradual but sure decay had begun at once in the early church. Tares were sown among the wheat, false persons were introduced from without, and the enemy had begun to sow discord within. Some of this is evident in Paul’s earlier epistles, but when we come to 2 Timothy, these things were current, and all those of Asia had turned away from Paul. It is then that the Holy Spirit forecasts the state of the “last days,” which was then coming in. “Perilous times” would come, and the state of nominal Christians would become like that of the heathen, but with the difference of “a form of godliness” while they denied the power of it. The professing church, which had been established on earth as the “pillar and ground of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:15), was now the sphere where error and evil existed unchallenged.
Separation and Largeness
What were God’s principles when the sphere set up by Him at any time in the earth became corrupted? We may notice that these principles were His before evil entered the scene and were unchanged by any circumstances which ensued. They were “separation” and “largeness” — separation to God because He is holy and largeness of heart because He is gracious! We see this many times in man’s history.
The Garden of Eden was separate from the rest of the scene, for the man to dwell in, yet from it flowed four rivers to carry its blessings to the rest of the earth. When God divided the world into nations at Babel, God called Abraham out of it, separating him to Himself, because He was holy; yet, because He was gracious, He promised that “in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” So also in Israel: They were to be holy unto the Lord, yet they were to be the center from which blessing should flow forth to the nations.
When Israel, under Aaron, made the golden calf, Moses then prayed to the Lord to spare the people, or to blot him out of the book He had written. But Moses also “took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation” (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)). Here again was separation to God, yet largeness of heart for His people and for their true blessing.
When we turn to 2 Timothy, we find this same principle applied to our path. The Apostle’s heart is burdened with the sin in which the people of God were now involved, yet bright in the freshness of the courage needed to lift one above it all. Often the soul gets under the power and sense of the evil to such a degree that it becomes occupied with it, thus losing sight of God. But while conscious of the evil, the heart can turn to God and find Him superior to the evil; we are called to separate ourselves to Him.
Individual Recovery
This character of things occupies the greater part of the epistle. The Spirit of God recognizes that there is no ecclesiastical recovery for the church of God as a whole, but there is always individual recovery by the truth. He had been treating of the false teaching of Hymenaeus and Philetus, and such like, when he adds, “Yet the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are His; and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19 JND). How refreshing to think that no amount of corruption had destroyed that sure foundation of God! But those hidden ones of the Lord must be separate from evil to Him. Let the evil be moral, doctrinal, intellectual, or religious, the path is the same — to “depart from iniquity” is the responsibility of the saint who names the name of the Lord. Only in this way will he “be a vessel unto honor, sanctified [or, separated], and meet for the Master’s use” (2 Tim. 2:21).
The word “purge” is found only twice in the original tongue of the New Testament Scriptures. The first place is in 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” This marked the responsibility of the whole church of God, but she did not, as a whole, do this. Now comes the second use of the word. The individual, finding himself in the midst of “a great house,” filled with vessels to honor and dishonor, was to “purge himself” from such by standing apart from them, in order to be a vessel unto honor for the Master’s use.
But when a soul has taken this step, it might foster a Pharisaic spirit in him, and so we have next, “Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22 JND). He would find others who, like himself, had grace given to be separate to the Lord, and he was to walk with such, in holiness of conduct and a pure heart.
Negative and Positive
But this separation to the Lord has, so far, only a negative character. We want something more; we need a positive ground of action for our souls in the midst of the scene. Here, then, comes in the never-changing truth of the unity of the body of Christ, for it is within the sphere of Christendom that the Holy Spirit maintains this unity. Outwardly it is broken to fragments, and it is utterly impossible to restore it to its original state, but I am always responsible to set myself to rights before God. If, as a member of Christ, I separate from evil, I find others also; we meet as His members to worship the Father and to remember our Lord. But it is as members of Christ and as acting in the truth of that one body and on no other ground! We are thus in a breadth of truth which embraces every member of Christ on earth!
The Unity of the Body
We can neither keep nor break the unity of the body — that is kept by the Spirit Himself, in spite of every failure of man. But we are to be “using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace” (Eph. 4:33Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3) JND). What, then, is this unity? It is the power and principle by which the saints are enabled to walk together in their proper relations in the body and as members of Christ. I can enjoy with every true soul all that he enjoys in the unity of the Spirit. If fresh light reaches his soul and he refuses it, I must never compromise the truth with him. All this involves the body of Christ; it is the ground of action, because the Spirit of God maintains it.
This unity, too, excludes individuality most fully; no one can take an isolated place. If he is called to stand alone in some locality, he is still on common ground, all over the world, with all who are walking in such a truth. It excludes individuality, too, when together with others, for one might be tempted to act in independency of other members of Christ. This precious truth throws us outside every system of man, too, but keeps us in that unity which is according to God!
Now here is the divine and positive foundation under our feet for this day of ruin. This is not merely a negative path. It is wide enough for all, because it embraces all in its breadth, whether they are there or not. It is exclusive of evil from its midst, for to admit it would cause it to cease to be the unity of the Spirit. It is not merely a unity of Christians, which man seeks to effect, sometimes at the expense of the truth of the body of Christ. God attaches unity to Christ, not Christ to unity! Then it must be true in nature to Him whose body it is; it must be practically holy and true (Rev. 3:77And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; (Revelation 3:7)).
F. G. Patterson, adapted