This truth of the one body is still, as of old, the governing principle of God's Church (the assembly) and it is therefore as binding now upon all the members thereof as it ever was; and it is even the more necessary now that it still be owned, because its members are scattered in confusion. The recognition of the authority of Christ by His members, would at once do away with any need for the creeds and confessions of Christendom, and would unite all true Christians practically in the "fellowship of the Spirit." The Word of God condemns sects (1 Cor. 1:10-1310Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:10‑13)) and if believers were in obedience to it, the Head of the Church would have His own true place of authority; the Holy Spirit would be owned in the assembly. Holding fast the Head, the body would be nourished and would "increase with the increase of God" (Col. 2:1919And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (Colossians 2:19)). Still more, the enemy would be foiled and the testimony to the unity of the Spirit maintained till the Lord should come.
"Besides, there is another question. How comes it that Satan finds it possible to succeed in the face of such evidence as the New Testament affords? Alas! the reason of this, too—the moral reason—is evident. The children of God may be the more readily deceived, because the doctrine of the Church, the body of Christ, brings God too close to us—sets His grace too richly before our souls—makes us feel (if our souls believe, bow, and enter into it) the vanity of all things here. Alas! our hearts shrink from the feeling. We naturally love ease; we like a little reputation, it may not be perhaps in the vulgar world, but in the so-called church-something at any rate, for self, something outside the portion of Christ and the cross." (W. K.)