THE NEW CREATION
The
Organization of the New Creation
[F_page 195]
STUDY V
The
“Living Stones” for the Spiritual Temple—The Nominal vs. the Real New
Creation—The “Mystery of God” and the “Mystery of Iniquity”—Great
Antichrist’s Organization—The Scriptures Trustworthy—Freedom Permitted
to the World and to Churchianity—Order out of Confusion—“In Due
Time”—“The Ends of the Ages”—The Vine of the Father’s Planting—“The
Twelve Apostles of the Lamb”—Paul the Successor of Judas—Number of
Apostles Limited to Twelve—The Apostolic Commission—The Apostles’
Strong Characters—The Apostle Paul “Not one Whit Behind” the other
Apostles—The Inspiration of the Twelve—Divine Supervision of the
Apostles’ Writings—“Upon this Rock Will I Build My Church”—Harmony
of the Gospels—Keys of Authority—Apostolic Infallibility—Objections
Considered—“One is Your Master”—The True Church is “The Flock of
God”—Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers—The Lord’s Organization
of The New Creation Absolutely Complete—He is Also Its
Superintendent—Gifts of the Spirit Ceased with Their Necessity—Unity
of the “Faith Once Delivered to the Saints”—Unity of Force,
Antichristian—Bishops, Elders, Deacons—True Significance of
“Prophet”—Humility Essential to Eldership—Other Necessary
Qualifications—Deacons, Ministers, Servants—Teachers in the Church—Many
Should Be Able to Teach—“Be not Many of You Teachers, Brethren”—“Ye
Need not That Any Man Teach You”—“Him That Is Taught” and “Him That
Teacheth”—Woman’s Province in the Church—Women as Fellow-Workers—“Let
Her be Covered.”
S THE New
Creation will not reach its perfection or completion until the First
Resurrection, so its organization will be completed only then. The
temple figure illustrates this: as living stones we are now called, or
invited to places in the glorious temple, and, as the Apostle explains
(1 Pet. 2:5), we come to Jesus, who, as the Father’s representative,
shapes, chisels, fits and polishes us for places in the glorious Temple
of the future—the meeting-place between God and the world. As in the
typical temple built by Solomon every
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stone was thoroughly fitted in the quarry for its place
in the building, so with us—all the fitting preparation is done in the
present life. As in the type every shaped stone went into its place
without the sound of a hammer, so in the antitype—the living stones,
which now submit joyfully to the Lord’s preparation, will be completely
organized under himself as the capstone when united to him beyond the
veil—without confusion, without need of further arrangement or
preparation.
However, the Scriptures recognize a oneness or relationship
of these living stones during the period of their preparation. Indeed,
they go a step further, and recognize a temporary organization
which permits each member of the prospective Kingdom to be a sharer with
the great Teacher and Master Builder in the preparatory work of
“building up one another in the most holy faith”—assisting one another
in the shaping of characters in accord with the lines of the pattern—our
Lord Jesus. As we proceed to a minute examination of the divine
arrangements for the present time, it may surprise many to discover how
much liberty the Lord has left to each individual member of the New
Creation: but when we recognize the fact that he is seeking willing
worshipers, willing sacrificers, who are prompted by love for the Lord
and for the principles of righteousness to lay down their lives for the
brethren’s sake, and for the sake of being colaborers with him, then it
is clear that the Lord’s plan of granting great liberty is the best
plan—the one which most surely tests the heart-loyalty, most fully
develops character, and proves the willingness of each to follow with
the other the Law of Love, doing to the other as he would the other
should do to him.
Such a liberty, or, comparative freedom, is well adapted to
the Lord’s object in the present time—namely, the selection of the
little flock and the perfecting of them in character and instructing
them for the Royal Priesthood of the future—but would be wholly out of
line with and insufficient for the work of converting the world, which
he is generally supposed to be doing. It is because of this wrong
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doctrine—this supposition that God has commissioned the Church to
conquer the world and to subdue all things unto himself during the
present age—that so many persons of good judgment have marveled at the
simplicity of the organization of the Church by the Lord and the
apostles. And seeing how inadequate such an arrangement would be for the
conversion of the world, men have undertaken to elaborate
the organization, as seen in the various ecclesiastical institutions of
Christendom. Of these is the Papacy, one of the most subtle and powerful
organizations imaginable. The Methodist Episcopal system is also
masterful, but on a higher plane; it controls a different class. It is
the thorough organization of these two great systems that has given them
their success and their power in “the Christian world.” We shall see as
we proceed that these and all human “churches” are in
their organization quite different from the Church which the Lord
instituted—that their ways are not his ways, even as their plans are not
his plans; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are the
Lord’s ways and plans higher than those of man. (Isa. 55:8,9) Ere long
the true-hearted will see that they greatly erred in leaving the
simplicity of Christ and attempting to be wiser than God in the conduct
of his work. Results will show his wisdom and man’s folly.
The Nominal vs.
the Real New Creation
As with the typical people all were Israelites in a nominal
sense, but comparatively few “Israelites indeed,” so in the antitype we
are not to be surprised that we find a nominal Church, as well as a real
Church, a nominal New Creation as well as a real New Creation. Ever
since Christianity became to some extent popular, “tares,” “imitation
wheat,” have infested the wheat-field, affecting to be genuine wheat.
However difficult it may be for man, who cannot read the heart, to
determine the true from the false, the wheat from the tares the Lord
assures us that he knoweth the heart, that—“The Lord knoweth them that
are his.” He does indeed expect us to discriminate between the true
[F_page
198] sheep and
wolves in sheep’s clothing, and between the true grapevine bearing the
true fruits and the thorns and thistles which might seek to pass
themselves off for members of the true Vine, and tells us so to do. But
beyond this general judgment—a liberal examination of the general
outward character, the Lord does not permit his people to go—saying,
“Judge nothing before the time.” Amongst those whom you recognize as
legitimate branches in the Vine, do not attempt to decide how long a
time should be granted them to bring forth the ripe fruits. We must
leave that to the Father, the Husbandman, who prunes every branch, and
who will ultimately take away every branch or member that “beareth not
fruit.” We, therefore, leave to the Husbandman the pruning of the
“Vine”—the correction of every truly consecrated member of the Church of
Christ—letting him do the excommunicating, recognizing that he did the
planting and the watering also, and brought forward the sprouting of
every branch in the true Vine. The spirit of the Vine is to be
recognized to some extent in each branch or member, and each is to be
encouraged and assisted in its growth. Love is to be the law amongst
all these branches; and only as the divine Word is heard—not a whit
beyond its authorization—has any branch the right to criticize, rebuke
or otherwise prune, or do aught against another branch. The spirit of
love is, on the contrary, to prompt to mercy, kindness, long-suffering
and patience up to the very limits allowed by the great Husbandman;
which, as we have already suggested, are broad and liberal and designed
to develop character in every branch.
All this is different in human organizations in proportion
as they have ignored or abandoned the simplicity of the divine
arrangement. They have made arbitrary rules respecting who may be
acknowledged as members or branches of the Vine, and who may not be
admitted to the full fellowship; they have made financial exactions and
various rules and regulations which the Scriptures have not made, and
laid down numerous creeds and confessions which the Scriptures have not
laid down, and have prescribed penalties
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for
violations of these which the Scriptures have not imposed, and have made
regulations for disfellowshipping, excommunicating, etc., contrary to
any authorization given to the True Church, the Body of Christ, the True
Vine, the New Creation.
We have already called attention to the fact that the Church
of Christ is called in the Scriptures the “Mystery of God,”*
because, contrary to expectation, the Church was to be the Messianic
Body which, under its Anointed Head, Jesus, shall rule and
bless the world. This mystery, or secret, now revealed to the saints,
was kept hidden from past ages and dispensations (Eph. 3:3-6), and is
the mystery of God which shall be finished now shortly, in the
consummation of the New Creation, in the close of this Gospel age. We
have also drawn attention to the fact that the Scriptures refer to
Babylon as a counterfeit system (mother and daughters—some more and some
less corrupt, some better and some poorer counterfeits), and there
designated the “Mystery of Iniquity.” We are not to be understood as
meaning that the founders of these counterfeit systems purposely and
intentionally organized them for the purpose of misleading the people of
God. Rather we are to remember that it is Satan who in the Scriptures is
credited with having “deceived the whole world” on this subject; putting
evil for good and good for evil; light for darkness and darkness for
light. Satan “now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Isa. 5:20;
Eph. 2:2), even as he proffered his cooperation to our Lord Jesus. He
delights to cooperate with all of Christ’s followers whom he can seduce
from walking in the footsteps of the Master. As he tried to persuade our
Lord that there were better ways—ways that involved less personal
sacrifice and self-denial than the Father’s ways—by which he might bless
all the families of the earth, so he, during this Gospel age, has been
intent upon persuading the Lord’s truly consecrated brethren to adopt
his plans—not to give careful heed to the Father’s plans and rules. He
would have them
—————
*Vol. I,
Chap. v.
[F_page 200]
overwise—to feel
that they can serve the Lord better by other methods than those the
Scriptures point out. He would puff them up with feelings of zeal for
and pride in their human systems, the work they are doing, and the
organizations which they have effected. With the Master the Adversary
had no success, his answer being invariably, “It is written.” But not
so with his followers. Many, many neglect what is written; neglect the
Master’s example and words; neglect the words and example of the
apostles, and are intent upon carrying out for God a plan which they
hope and believe he approves and which they trust will redound to his
praise.
How wonderfully mistaken such will find themselves when, by
and by, they shall see the Kingdom as God originally planned it and has
since worked the matter out along his own lines! They will then discover
how much better it is to be careful to be taught of the Lord, than to
attempt to teach the Lord—to do his work in his way, rather than work
for him in a way which he will not acknowledge. The success of these
human plans—as in Papacy, Methodism, and, proportionately, in other
denominations—helps to make these systems “strong delusions.”
The Lord has not interfered with, or hindered, the growth of
the “tares” in the wheat-field during this Gospel Age. On the contrary,
he instructed his people to expect that both would grow together until
the “harvest” time, when he himself would be present, superintending the
separation, gathering the wheat into his barn (the glorified condition),
and seeing to the bundling of the tares for the great time of trouble
with which the age shall end, and which shall destroy them as “tares” or
imitation New Creatures without destroying them as human
beings. Indeed, many of the “tares” are respectable, moral, and, as the
world uses the term, “good people.” So amongst all the heathen religions
there are elements of goodness, too, though far less than amongst the
“tares,” who have been greatly blessed and advantaged every way by
reason of their close contact with
[F_page 201]
the true
“wheat,” and their partial discernment of the spirit of the Lord in the
latter.
This Mystery of Iniquity (“Babylon,” Confusion, Christendom)
the Apostle Paul declares was already beginning to work amongst the
Lord’s people in his day; but the working was evidently but slight until
after the death of Paul and the other apostles. While the apostles
remained with the Church they were able to point out some of the false
teachers through whom the Adversary was seeking privily, privately,
secretly, to bring in damnable heresies to undermine the faith and to
turn the faithful aside from the hopes and promises and simplicities of
the Gospel. (2 Pet. 2:1) The Apostle Paul speaks also of some of these
in general terms, as beginning the workings of iniquity; but he names
some of them personally, Hymenaeus and Philetus, et al., “who concerning
the truth have erred,” etc.—“overthrowing the faith of some.” (2 Tim.
2:17) Respecting these false teachers and their errors, he again warned
the Church through the elders at Ephesus, especially pointing out that
these would flourish after his death—grievous wolves, they would not
spare the flock. (Acts 20:29) This last is remarkably in accord with
our Lord’s prediction in the parable. (Matt. 13:25,39) Our Lord clearly
shows that these false teachers and their false doctrines were the
agencies of the Adversary who sowed the tares amongst the wheat that he
and the apostles had planted. He says, “While men [the special servants,
the apostles] slept, an enemy came and sowed tares.”
It was not long after the apostles fell asleep, we may be
sure, until the spirit of rivalry under the guidance of the Adversary
led step by step to the ultimate organization of the great Antichrist
system—Papacy. Its organization, as we have already seen,*
was not effected instantly, but gradually—beginning to assume its power
about the fourth century. The great Antichrist flourished so
successfully for a
—————
*Vol. II,
Chap. ix.
[F_page 202]
time that all the
histories written from that period onward to the “Reformation”
practically ignored the right of every person and class to the name
Christian or to be considered orthodox and faithful who did not belong
to or in some manner support this Antichrist system. Others were not
permitted to exist except privately and under ban, and if there were
histories of them, apparently they were destroyed; but, possibly, like
those walking in the light of present truth today, the faithful of that
time were so insignificant in proportion of numbers and influence that
none would have thought them worthy of mention in comparison with the
great and successful system which they essayed to oppose, and which so
rapidly climbed to the influential place of power in both temporal and
spiritual matters.
Since the “Reformation” the Adversary has again showed his
cunning in organizing every new departure (every fresh effort to reach
the truth) into another Antichrist; so that today we have not only the
original “mother of harlots” but her many “daughters.”*
In view of these facts we will not seek for histories of the True Church
except such as we find in the New Testament, which evidently have been
preserved to us with great sacredness and purity, notwithstanding an
occasional interpolation, illustrated in John 21:25 and 1 John 5:7.
We will, however, briefly call attention to certain facts,
which not only prove to us that the Scriptures have been preserved in
comparative purity, but which attest also at the same time that the many
systems claiming to have been organized by the Lord and the apostles are
wholly different from the one which they did organize, the account of
which is given us in the New Testament.
(1) If the primitive Church had been organized after the
manner of Papacy or other denominations of today, the records would have
been quite different from what they are. We would have had some
reference to our Lord’s installation of the apostleship with great
ceremony, himself
—————
*See Vol.
III, pp. 42,154,155.
[F_page 203]
sitting
somewhere in state as a Pope, receiving the apostles in scarlet robes as
cardinals, etc., etc.; we would have had strict laws and regulations
respecting Friday, abstaining from meat, etc.—something respecting “holy
water” sprinkled upon the apostles or upon the multitude, and something
about making the sign of the cross. Mary, our Lord’s mother, would not
have been forgotten. An account would have been given of her claimed
miraculous conception and she would have been announced as “the mother
of God,” and Jesus himself would have been represented as doing her some
special homage, and as instructing the apostles to approach him through
her. Some injunction would have been given respecting “holy candles,”
when and how and where they should be used; some instruction respecting
the invocation of saints; some instruction about the “mass,” and how
Peter, meeting with the other disciples, was recognized as the Pope; how
they prostrated themselves before him, and how he performed mass for
them all, declaring that he had power to re-create Christ in the bread
and to sacrifice him afresh for personal transgressions. We would have
some account of Stephen’s burial; how Peter or the others “consecrated”
a grave for him, so that he might lie in “consecrated ground,” and that
they put in his hand a “holy candle” while they said certain prayers
over him. We would have had rules and regulations respecting various
orders of clergy, and how the laity are not at all “brethren” with them,
but subservient to them. We would in turn have orders amongst the
clergy, higher and lower, Reverend, Right Reverend, Most Reverend;
Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals and Popes; and particular directions how
each and all were to attain their positions, seeking honor one from
another, and who should be greatest.
The fact that these matters are in no sense of the word even
hinted at by the apostles is prima facie evidence that the
systems which claim either in whole or in part such divisions of the
Church, such authorities, such offices, etc., were not organized by the
apostles or under their guidance, nor
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by the
Lord who appointed them and recognized their work. John 15:16; Acts 1:2;
Rev. 21:14
(2) It proves, additionally, that the Bible was not
concocted by these wise organizers; for had they forged it we may be
sure they would have supplied it abundantly with references such as we
have suggested.
(3) Having this authority and evidence that the “mother” and
numerous “daughter” systems of the present day were not instituted by
the Lord and the apostles, but resulted from corruptions of their simple
teachings, and are, hence, mere human institutions—attempts to be wiser
than God in the doing of the divine work—let us have the greater
confidence in the Word of God, and let us give the more earnest heed
even to the smallest particulars it sets before us, upon this and all
subjects.
During the six thousand years of the world’s history up to
the present time, God has permitted mankind in general to do their best
in solving the problems of life. The natural man was created with
qualities of mind which inclined him to honor and worship his Creator;
and these qualities of mind have not been totally obliterated by the
fall—“total depravity” is certainly not true of the race in general. As
God has allowed men to exercise the other qualities of their minds as
they chose, so he has permitted them to exercise their moral and
religious traits according to their inclinations. We may see that aside
from natural Israel and spiritual Israel, and the influences which have
gone out from these to the world, God has let the world alone—let it do
the best it could do in the way of self-development, etc. Man in his
ignorance and blindness has largely fallen a prey to the devices of
Satan and the fallen angels, who, through various forms of superstition,
false religions, magic, etc., have turned the masses far from the truth.
The Apostle explains the situation, saying that this is so because when
men knew God they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened,
and God gave them over—allowed them to take the way they preferred, to
learn certain
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lessons
in connection with their own depravity, and to manifest by the
degradation into which they would fall the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
and the unwisdom of listening to any counsel except that of their
Creator.
As we have already seen, the Lord does not purpose to leave
mankind in this weak and fallen condition; but through the New Creation,
in his own due time, the knowledge of the Lord will reach every member
of the human family, with full opportunity to come to a knowledge of the
truth, and to all the blessings secured through the redemption. But the
point which we wish specially to enunciate here is that, as God has thus
left the heathen nations to themselves, so also he is leaving so-called
“Christendom” to itself. He is permitting men who have received some of
the light of divine revelation to use it as they please—to try their
hand at improvements upon the divine plan, to organize human systems,
etc. All this does not mean that he has not the power to interfere, nor
that he approves of these various conflicting and, more or less,
injurious devices and institutions of humanity and Churchianity. These
experiences will constitute another lesson, which by and by will reprove
many, when they shall recognize the grand outcome of the divine plan and
see how God kept steadily on, working out the accomplishment of his
original purposes, practically ignoring the schemes and devices of man,
and accomplishing his results sometimes partly through them and
sometimes in absolute opposition to them. Just so he did in the end of
the Jewish age, when he permitted some of that nation to accomplish his
plan in persecuting and crucifying the Lord and his apostles. And as
some of them were “Israelites indeed,” afterward blessed and uplifted
and made partakers of the sufferings of Christ that by and by they might
also be partakers of his glories, so now there are probably spiritual
“Israelites indeed” who, Paul-like, will be recovered from the snares of
the Adversary.
Another point is worthy of notice: the Lord has a special
time for the beginning of his Kingdom, a special time, therefore, in
which his elect New Creation shall be developed
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and
prepared for his service; and apparently it was a part of his plan that
special light should shine upon the beginning and upon the close of this
period. The Apostle intimates this when he refers to us “upon whom the
ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor. 10:11) It was in the lapping
of the Jewish and Gospel ages that the Way, the Truth and the Life first
were manifested; “Dark Ages” intervened, and now in the lapping time of
the Gospel and Millennial ages the light shines as never before—on
“things new and old.” While we are to suppose that those in accord with
the Lord in the beginning of the age were given special light, and that
such now, in the close of the age, will be favored with the light of
Present Truth that they may thereby be sanctified, we are not to think
that the same measure of light was necessary to sanctification during
centuries intervening, some of which are known as the “Dark Ages.” We
are not to suppose that the Lord ever left himself without witnesses,
however they may have been ignored on the pages of history; but are to
regard this ignoring as due to their comparative obscurity and to their
being out of touch and out of sympathy with the great anti-Christian
systems—even though some of them may have been in those systems. So the
Lord’s call, applicable now, clearly indicates that we should expect to
find many of the Lord’s people in, and confused and
bewildered by, sectarianism, in Babylon: “Babylon the great is fallen.”
“Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Rev. 18:2,4
Having thus taken a cursory view of the Church and her
limited history, let us come more particularly to an examination of the
Church as it was originally instituted by our Lord. As there is but one
Spirit of the Lord, which all who are his must possess, so
there is but one Head and center of the Church, our Lord
Jesus. We are to remember, however, that in all of his work the Father
was freely acknowledged, and that according to his own account his work
was done in the Father’s name, by the Father’s authority—“Every plant
which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be
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rooted
up.” (Matt. 15:13) The true Church, the New Creation, is of the
Father’s planting. Our Lord says, I am the true Vine, ye are the
branches and my Father is the Husbandman. Later on he points out that
there is a “Vine of the Earth,” a nominal church, a false church, that
was not of the Father’s planting, and which shall be rooted up. The
fruitage of the True Vine is Love, and is precious to the Father; but
the fruitage of the Vine of the Earth is selfishness in various forms,
and will be ultimately gathered into the great winepress of the wrath of
God in the great time of trouble with which this age will close. John
15:1-6; Rev. 14:19
Every Bible student has surely observed that our Lord and
the apostles recognized no division in the Church and ignored everything
like schism, both in fact and in name. With them the Church was one and
indivisible, like its one faith, one Lord and one baptism. It was spoken
of from this standpoint as the Church, the Church of God, the Church of
the Living God, the Church of Christ, the Church of Firstborns; and the
individuals of it were called “Brethren,” “Disciples,” “Christians.” All
these names are used indiscriminately of the whole Church and of the
smallest gatherings—even the twos and threes—and of the individuals, at
Jerusalem or Antioch or elsewhere. The variety of these names and their
general use clearly implies that none of them were intended to be proper
names. All were merely illustrative of the great fact which our Lord and
his apostles continually set forth, viz., that the Church (Ecclesia,
body, company) of the Lord’s followers are his “elect”—to share his
cross and learn needed lessons now, and by and by to be associated with
him in his glory.
This custom should have continued, but was changed during
the Dark Ages. When error had developed, the sectarian spirit came with
it and peculiar designations followed—Church of Rome, Baptist Church,
Lutheran Church, Church of England, Holy Catholic Church, Wesleyan
Church, Christian Church, Presbyterian Church, etc. These are marks of
carnality, as the Apostle points out (1 Cor. 3:3,4);
[F_page 208]
and as
the New Creation emerges out of the gross darkness which has so long
covered the world it becomes enlightened upon this point also; and
observing the error and appearance of evil, not only comes out of
sectarianism, but refuses to be known by these unscriptural names—though
willingly answering to any or all that are Biblical.
Let us now examine the foundations of the one Church which
the Lord established:
The Twelve
Apostles of the Lamb
The Apostle declares that other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid—Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 3:11) Upon this foundation our
Lord, as the Father’s representative, began to rear his Church, and in
so doing he called twelve apostles—not by accident, but by design, just
as the twelve tribes of Israel were not twelve by accident, but in
conformity to the divine plan. Not only did the Lord not choose more
than those twelve apostles for that position, but he has never given
authority since for any more—barring the fact that Judas, having proved
himself unworthy of a position amongst the twelve, fell from his place
and was succeeded by the Apostle Paul.
We notice with what care the Lord watched over the
apostles—his carefulness for Peter, his praying for him in the hour of
his trial, and his special appeals to him afterward to feed his sheep
and his lambs. We note also his care for doubting Thomas and his
willingness to demonstrate to him thoroughly the fact of his
resurrection. Of the twelve, he lost none save the son of perdition—and
his deflection was already foreknown to the Lord and foretold in the
Scriptures. We cannot recognize the choice of Matthias recorded in Acts
as in any sense of the word the Lord’s selection. He was, doubtless, a
good man, but was chosen by the eleven without authority. They had been
instructed to tarry at Jerusalem and wait for endowment from on high by
the holy Spirit at Pentecost, and it was during this waiting period, and
before they were endued with power, that
[F_page 209]
they
mistakenly cast lots and chose Matthias to take the place of Judas. The
Lord did not reprove them for this undesigned meddling with his
arrangement, but simply ignored their choice, and in his own time
brought forward the Apostle Paul, declaring, “He is a chosen vessel unto
me”; and, again, we have the Apostle’s statement that he was chosen from
his mother’s womb to be a special servant; and, further, that he was not
a whit behind the chiefest of the apostles. Gal. 1:15; 2 Cor. 11:5
From this it will be seen that we are entirely out of accord
with the views of Papacy and of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and of
the Catholic-Apostolic Church, and of the Mormons, all of whom claim
that the number of the apostles was not limited to twelve, and that
there have been successors since their day who spoke and wrote with
equal authority with the original twelve. We deny this, and in evidence
note how the Lord particularly chose those twelve, calling to mind the
prominence of the number twelve in sacred things pertaining to this
election; and we cap the climax by pointing to the symbolical picture of
the glorified Church furnished in Revelation 21. There the New
Jerusalem—the symbol of the new Millennial government, the Church, the
Bride united to her Lord—is very clearly delineated; and in the picture
the statement is most distinctly made that the twelve foundations of the
City are precious, and that in the twelve foundations were the names
written of the “twelve apostles of the Lamb”—no more, no
less. What better proof could we have that there were never more than
twelve of these apostles of the Lamb, and that any others were, as the
Apostle Paul suggests, “false apostles.” 2 Cor. 11:13
Nor can we imagine any need of more apostles; for we still
have those twelve with us—their testimony and the fruit of their
labors—in a much more convenient form than had those who were personally
with them during their ministry. The records of their ministries are
with us; their records of the Lord’s words, miracles, etc. Their
discourses on the various topics of Christian doctrine in their epistles
are in our
[F_page 210] hands today in a
most satisfactory manner. These things are “sufficient,”
as the Apostle explains “that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished.” Explaining the matter further the Apostle declared, “I have
not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God.” What more is
necessary? 2 Tim. 3:17; Acts 20:27
Immediately succeeding his forty days of meditation and
testing by the Adversary in the wilderness, and having determined upon
the proper course, our Lord began to preach the Gospel of the coming
Kingdom and to invite followers, who were called disciples. It was from
amongst these disciples that he eventually chose the twelve. (Luke
6:13-16) They were all from what might be termed the humbler walks of
life, several of them fishermen, and of them it is declared without
disapproval that the rulers “perceived that they were unlearned men.”
(Acts 4:13) Apparently the twelve were called from amongst the
“disciples” or general followers who espoused the Lord’s cause and
confessed him without leaving their daily avocations. The twelve were
invited to become associates in the ministry of the Gospel and the
record is that they forsook all to follow him. (Matt. 4:17-22; Mark
1:16-20; 3:13-19; Luke 5:9-11) The “seventy” commissioned later on never
were recognized as apostles. Luke gives us a particular account of the
selection of the twelve, informing us that just prior to this event our
Lord withdrew to a mountain for prayer—evidently to take counsel with
the Father in respect to his work and his colaborers in it. He continued
all night in prayer—and when it was day he called unto him his disciples
(Greek, mathetes—learners or pupils); and of them he chose
twelve, whom he also named apostles (Greek,
apostolos—sent forth ones). Thus the twelve were marked as
separate and distinct amongst the disciples. Luke 6:12,13,17
The other disciples not thus chosen to apostleship were also
beloved of the Lord, and no doubt they were in full sympathy with his
appointment of the twelve, recognizing it as in the interest of the work
in general. Upon what bases
[F_page 211]
the Lord
made his choice is not stated; but we have the record of his own prayer
to the effect that, “Thine they were and thou gavest them me”; and
again, “Of those whom thou hast given me, I have lost none save the son
of perdition”—Judas. In what sense or to what degree the Father made
choice of the twelve matters nothing to us. No doubt one qualification
which they possessed was humility; and, undoubtedly, their lowly
vocations and previous experiences in life had been such as tended to
make them not only humble men, but to lead additionally to strength of
character, determination, perseverance, etc., to a degree which other
pursuits might not have done to the same extent. We are informed that
the selection of the twelve at the time it took place, instead of
waiting until Pentecost (the date of the begetting of the Church), was,
in large measure, for the purpose of permitting these twelve to be
specially with the Lord, to behold his works, to hear his message, that
thus they might in due time be witnesses to declare to us and to all of
God’s people at first hand the wonderful works of God, and the wonderful
words of life manifested through Jesus. Luke 24:44-48; Acts 10:39-42
The Apostolic
Commission
There is not the slightest suggestion anywhere, to the
apostles or concerning them, that they were to be lords over God’s
heritage; that they were to consider themselves as different from other
believers, exempt from the operations of divine law, or specially
favored or secure as respects their everlasting inheritance. They were
continually to remember that “all ye are brethren,” and that “one is
your Master, even Christ.” They were always to remember that it was
necessary for them to make their calling and election sure;
and that unless they obeyed the Law of Love and were humble, as little
children, they should in no wise “enter into the Kingdom.” They were
given no official titles nor any instruction respecting special garb or
peculiar demeanor, but merely that they should in all these things be
ensamples
[F_page 212]
to the
flock; that others seeing their good works should glorify the Father;
that others walking in their footsteps should thus be following in the
footsteps of the leader also, and ultimately attain to the same glory,
honor, immortality—partakers of the same divine nature, members of the
same New Creation.
Their commission was one of service—they were
to serve one another, to serve the Lord and to lay down their lives for
the brethren. These services were to be rendered specially in
connection with the promulgation of the Gospel. They were partakers of
the pre-anointing that had already come upon their Master—the same
anointing which pertains to all of the New Creation, all of the Royal
Priesthood, and is described by the prophet, saying: “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek,...to bind up the broken-hearted,” etc. Isa. 61:1,2; Luke
4:17-21; Matt. 10:5-8; Mark 3:14,15; Luke 10:1-17
Although this anointing did not come directly upon them
until Pentecost, they had previously had a foretaste of it in that the
Lord conferred upon them a share of his holy Spirit power, etc., when he
sent them out to preach. But even in this, special opportunity for
pride was taken away when later on our Lord sent seventy others forth to
do a similar work, and similarly empowered them to perform miracles in
his name. The real work of the apostles did not, therefore, begin in
the proper sense of the word until they had received the holy Spirit at
Pentecost. There, a special manifestation of divine power was conferred
upon them—not only the holy Spirit and gifts of the Spirit, but also,
and specially, power to bestow these gifts upon others. Thenceforth
they were by this last-mentioned power distinguished from all others of
the Church. Other believers were counted in as members of the anointed
body of Christ, made partakers of his Spirit and begotten of that Spirit
to newness of life, etc.; but none could have a gift, or special
manifestation except as conferred through these apostles. These gifts
[F_page 213]
of
miracles, tongues, interpretations of tongues, etc., we are, however, to
bear in mind, in no sense hindered or took the place of the fruits of
the holy Spirit, which were to be grown or developed by each of the
faithful through obedience to the divine instructions—as each grew in
grace, knowledge and love. The conferring of these gifts, which a man
might receive and yet be sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal, marked the
apostles, nevertheless, as the special servants or representatives of
the Lord in the work of founding the Church. 1 Cor. 12:7-10; 13:1-3
Our Lord in selecting these apostles, and in instructing
them, had in view the blessing and instruction of all of his followers
to the end of the age. This is evident from his prayer at the close of
his ministry, in which, referring to the disciples, he said, “I have
manifested thy name unto the men [apostles] which thou gavest me out of
the world; thine they were and thou gavest them me; and they have kept
thy Word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast
given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words [doctrines]
which thou gavest me and they have received them,...I pray for them: I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they
are thine. ...Neither pray I for these [apostles] alone, but for them
also which shall believe on me through their word [the entire Gospel
Church]: that they all may be one [in purpose, in love], as thou,
Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; [then
showing the ultimate purpose of this election, both of the apostles and
of the entire New Creation, he added]—that the world [loved of God while
sinners and redeemed by the precious blood] may believe that thou hast
sent me”—to redeem and restore them. John 17:6-9,20,21
The apostles, although unlearned men, were evidently strong
characters, and under the Lord’s teaching their lack of worldly wisdom
and education was more than compensated for in “the spirit of a sound
mind.” It is not strange, therefore, that these men were uniformly
recognized
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by the
early Church as guides in the way of the Lord—specially appointed
instructors—“pillars in the Church,” next in authority to the Lord
himself. In various ways the Lord prepared them for this position:
They were with him continually and could, therefore, be
witnesses respecting all the affairs of his ministry, his teachings, his
miracles, his prayers, his sympathy, his holiness, his self-sacrifice
even unto death, and, finally, witnesses of his resurrection. Not only
did the early Church need all these testimonies, but all who have since
been called of the Lord and have accepted his call to the New
Creation—all who have fled for refuge and are trusting in the glorious
hopes centered in his character, in his sacrificial death, in his high
exaltation and in the plan of God he is to fulfil—needed just such
personal testimony in respect to all these matters, to the intent that
they might have strong faith, strong consolation.
Seventy other disciples were sent forth later, by the Lord,
to proclaim his presence and the harvest of the Jewish age, but their
work was different in many respects from that of the twelve. Indeed in
every manner the Lord seemed so specially to set the apostles apart,
that we, with the entire Church, may have fullest confidence in them.
These alone were participants with him in the last Passover and in the
institution of the new memorial of his own death; these alone were with
him in Gethsemane; it was also to these that he manifested himself
specially after his resurrection; and it was these only who were
specially used as mouthpieces of the holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost. The eleven were “men of Galilee”; as some who heard them
remarked, “Are not all these Galileans?” Acts 2:7; Luke 24:48-51; Matt.
28:16-19
Although—as the record shows—our Lord revealed himself after
his resurrection to about five hundred brethren, nevertheless the
apostles were specially dealt with and were intended to be the specific
“witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and
in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: him God raised up on
the
[F_page 215]
third
day...And he commanded us to preach unto the people,” etc.
Acts 10:39-45; 13:31; 1 Cor. 15:3-8
The Apostle Paul, although not directly a witness to the
same extent as the eleven, was, nevertheless, made a witness of our
Lord’s resurrection in that he was given a subsequent glimpse of his
glorious presence, as he himself states the matter—“Last of all he was
seen of me also, as of one born out of due time [before the time].” (1
Cor. 15:8,9) The Apostle Paul was not really entitled to see the Lord
in glory before the remainder of the Church at his Second Advent, when
all of his faithful shall be changed and be made like him and see him as
is; but in order that the Apostle might be a witness he
was granted this glimpse and was additionally granted visions and
revelations more than they all. He was thus, perhaps, well compensated
for his previous lack of personal contact with the Master. Nor were his
special experiences merely for his own advantage; but chiefly, we may
presume, for the advantage of the entire Church. Certain it is that the
peculiar experiences, visions, revelations, etc., granted to the Apostle
who took the place of Judas, have been more helpful than those of any
other of the apostles.
His experiences permitted him to know and appreciate not
only “the deep things of God”—even some things not lawful to be uttered
(2 Cor. 12:4), but the illumination which they gave to the Apostle’s
mind has through his writings been reflected upon the
Church from his day to the present time.
It was because the Apostle Paul had those visions and
revelations that he was enabled to grasp the situation and to appreciate
the new dispensation and recognize the lengths and breadths and heights
and depths of the divine character and plan so clearly, and it was
because he appreciated these things clearly himself that he was
qualified to state them in his teachings and epistles in such a manner
as to confer blessings upon the household of faith all down throughout
the age. Indeed, even today, the Church could better afford to lose the
testimonies of any or all of the other
[F_page 216]
apostles
than to lose the testimony of this one. Nevertheless, we are glad to
have the full testimony—glad to appreciate it all, as well as the noble
characters of the entire twelve. Mark the testimony which indicates his
apostleship: first of all, the Lord’s words, “He is a chosen vessel unto
me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of
Israel.” (Acts 9:15) The Apostle’s own declaration is, “I certify you,
brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not of man; for I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11,12); and again he declares, “He
that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision
[the Jews], the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.” (Gal. 2:8)
Not only did his zeal for the Lord and the brethren, and his willingness
in laying down his life for the brethren—in spending time and energy for
their blessing—testify to his worthiness to rank as an equal of any
apostle, but when his apostolic relationship to the Church was called in
question by some, he frankly pointed to this, and to the Lord’s blessing
in connection with his revelations and ministries, etc., as proving that
he was “not a whit behind” the others. 1 Cor. 9:1; 2 Cor. 11:5,23;
12:1-7,12; Gal. 2:8; 3:5
It was not the Lord’s intention that the apostles should do
a work merely amongst the Jews—quite to the contrary is the record. He
instructed the eleven that his work and their message was for all the
people, ultimately; though they were to tarry at Jerusalem until endued
with power, and were there to begin their testimony. Our Lord’s words
were, “Ye shall receive power after that the holy Spirit is come upon
you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea
and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
This witnessing continued not only during the lifetime of the apostles,
but still continues. They are still preaching to us, still instructing
the faithful, still encouraging, still admonishing, still reproving.
Their death did not stop their ministry. They still speak, still
witness, are still mouthpieces of the Lord to his faithful.
[F_page 217]
The Inspiration
of the Apostles
It is well that we have confidence in the apostles as
faithful witnesses, or historians, and that we notice that their
testimonies bear the stamp of honesty, in that they sought not wealth
nor glory amongst men, but sacrificed all earthly interests in their
zeal for the risen and glorified Master. Their testimony would be
invaluable if it had no further weight than this; but we find the
Scriptures teaching that they were used of the Lord as his inspired
agents, and that they were specially guided of him in respect to the
testimony, doctrines, customs, etc., which they would establish in the
Church. They bore witness not only to the things they heard and saw,
but, additionally, to the instruction which they received through the
holy Spirit; thus they were faithful stewards. “Let a man so account of
us as...stewards of the mysteries of God,” said Paul (1 Cor. 4:1). The
same thought was expressed by our Lord when he said respecting the
twelve, “I will make you fishers of men,” and again, “Feed my sheep,”
“Feed my lambs.” The Apostle also says—The mystery [the deep truths of
the Gospel concerning the high calling of the New Creation—the Christ]
hidden in other ages, is now revealed unto his holy apostles and
prophets by the Spirit. The object of this revelation is explained to
be: “To make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery [upon
what terms participation in this New Creation may be obtained] which
from the beginning of the world has been hid in God.” (Eph. 3:3-11)
Again in describing how the Church is to be built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone, the Apostle declares “For this cause [for the building up
of the Church, the temple of God], I, Paul [am] the prisoner of Jesus
Christ for you Gentiles.” Eph. 2:20,22; 3:1
The Comforter was promised to “teach you all things and
bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you”;
“and he shall show you things to come.” (John 14:26; 16:13) To a
certain extent, undoubtedly, this is applicable to the entire Church,
but it was specially [F_page
218]
applicable to the apostles; and, indeed, it still operates toward the
remainder of the Church through the apostles—their words still being the
channels through which the holy Spirit teaches us things both new and
old. In harmony with this promise we may understand the apostolic
inspiration to have been of a threefold character. (1) Refreshment of
memory enabling them to recall and reproduce the Lord’s personal
teachings. (2) Guidance into an appreciation of the truth pertaining to
the divine plan of the ages. (3) Special revelations of things to
come—the things of which our Lord declared, “I have yet many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” John 16:12
We are not to suppose that the refreshment of the memory of
the apostles implied a dictation of the exact phraseology or of the
exact order of our Lord’s words. Nor do the apostolic writings give
evidence of such a dictation. The Lord’s promise, however, is itself a
guarantee of the correctness of their statements. In each of the four
Gospels we have a history of the Lord’s early life and ministry; yet in
each the individuality of the writer is manifested. Each in his own
style records those items which seem to him most important; and under
the Lord’s supervision these various accounts furnish altogether as
complete a history as is necessary for the establishment of the faith of
the Church, of the identity of Jesus as the Messiah of the prophets, of
the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning him, of the facts of his
life and of his teachings. Had the inspiration been verbal (a
word-for-word dictation), it would not have been necessary for several
men to rephrase the narrative; but it is noteworthy that while each
writer exercised his individual freedom of expression and made his own
choice of the events most important and worthy of record, the Lord by
his holy Spirit so supervised the matter that nothing of importance was
omitted—all that is needed is faithfully recorded—“that the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished.” It is interesting to note that
the Apostle John’s record supplements the other three—Matthew,
[F_page 219]
Mark and
Luke—and that he chiefly discourses of circumstances and incidents of
importance omitted by the others.
The Lord’s proposition that he would through the holy Spirit
guide the apostles, and through them the New Creation, “into all truth,”
implies that the guidance would be a general one rather than a personal
and individual guidance into all truth—the fulfilment after this manner
is evidenced by the records. Although the apostles, with the exception
of Paul, were plain and unlearned men, nevertheless their scriptural
expositions are very remarkable. They were able to “confound the wisdom
of the wise” theologists of their day—and ever since. However eloquent
the error, it cannot stand before the logic of their deductions from the
Law and the Prophets and the teachings of the Lord. The Jewish Doctors
of the Law remarked this, and, as we read, “took knowledge of them that
they had been with Jesus”—that they had learned his doctrine and copied
his spirit. Acts 4:5,6,13
The apostolic epistles consist of such logical arguments
based upon the inspired writings of the Old Testament and upon the words
of the Lord; and all who, throughout this Gospel age, have partaken of
the same spirit by following the lines of argument which the Lord
through his mouthpieces has set before us, are guided to the same
truthful conclusions; so that our faith does not stand in the wisdom of
men but in the power of God. (1 Cor. 2:4,5) Nevertheless, in these
teachings, as well as in their historical presentations, we have no
evidence of a word-for-word dictation—no evidence that they were merely
amanuenses of the Lord, speaking and writing in a mechanical manner as
did the prophets of olden times. (2 Pet. 1:21) Rather, the apostles’
clear-sighted view was an illumination of the mind which enabled them to
see and appreciate the divine purposes and thus to state them clearly;
just as all of the Lord’s people since, following their leading, have
been enabled to grow in grace and in knowledge and in love, and so have
been enabled to “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
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and
length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which
passeth [all human] knowledge.” Eph 3:18,19
Nevertheless, we are fully justified in the belief that
their other teachings, as well as their historical accounts, were so
supervised by the Lord that improper words were avoided, and that the
truth was set forth in such a form as to constitute “meat in due season”
for the household of faith from their day to the present. This divine
supervision of the apostles was indicated in advance by our Lord’s
words, “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt.
18:18) We would understand this to signify, not that the Lord would
yield his prerogative and become obedient to the dictates of the
apostles, but that they should be so kept, so guided by the holy Spirit,
that their decisions in the Church, respecting what things should be
considered obligatory and what things should be considered optional,
would be proper decisions; and that the Church in general, therefore,
might know that the matters were fixed, settled—the conclusions arrived
at being the Lord’s decision as well as that of the apostles.
Upon This Rock
Will I Build My Church
It was in full accord with this that, after the Apostle
Peter had borne witness that our Lord was the Messiah, “Jesus answered
and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I
say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [petros—a stone, a
rock], and upon this rock [petra—a mass of rock—the great
fundamental rock of truth, which you have just expressed] I will build
my Church.” The Lord himself is the builder, as he himself also is
declared to be the foundation, “Other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid—Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:11) He is the great Rock, and
Peter’s confession of him as such was, therefore, a rock testimonial—a
declaration of the foundation principles underlying the divine plan.
The
[F_page 221]
Apostle
Peter so understood this matter and so expressed his understanding. (1
Pet. 2:5,6) He declared all truly consecrated believers to be “living
stones” who come to the great Rock of the divine plan,
Christ Jesus—to be built up as a holy temple of God through union with
him—the foundation. Peter, therefore, disowned any pretension to being
the foundation-stone himself and properly classed himself in with all
the other “living stones” (Gr. lithos) of the
Church—though petros, rock, signifies a larger stone than
lithos, and all the apostles as “foundation” stones would
in the divine plan and order have a larger importance than their
brethren. Rev. 21:14
Keys of
Authority
In the same connection the Lord said to Peter, “I will give
unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,” etc. Thus the same authority
given to the apostles as a whole was specifically expressed to Peter,
with the additional privilege or honor of the keys—the opening power or
authority. We remember how the Apostle Peter used the keys of the
Kingdom and did the opening work of the new dispensation,
first, to the Jews at Pentecost, and, later, to the Gentiles at the
house of Cornelius. On the Day of Pentecost, when the holy Spirit was
poured out, we read that “Peter stood up with the eleven”—he took the
initiative; he opened, the others followed, and the gospel
invitation was thus thrown open to the Jews. In the case of Cornelius
the Lord sent messengers to Peter, and specially directed him by a
vision to follow their invitation, and thus particularly used him in
opening the door of mercy, liberty and privilege to the Gentiles—that
they also might come into and share the privilege of the high calling of
the New Creation. These matters are in full accord with what we have
seen respecting the Lord’s purposes in connection with the choice of the
twelve apostles. And the more clearly the Lord’s people discern the
fact that these twelve men were made the peculiar representatives of the
new dispensation and their
[F_page 222]
words the
special channels of truth in respect to the New Creation, the more
thoroughly they will be prepared to accept their words, and the more
disinclined they will be to indorse the teachings of others in conflict
with their testimony. “If they speak not according to this Word, it is
because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20
The last proposition of our Lord’s promise reads, “He [the
Father’s holy Spirit] shall show you things to come.” This implies a
special inspiration of the apostles, and indirectly it implies the
blessing and enlightenment of the Lord’s people down to the very close
of this age, through their teachings. They were thus not only to be
holy apostles, but also prophets, or seers making known future events to
the Church. It is not necessary to suppose that all of the apostles
were used to the same extent in any or all of these ways of service.
The fact is that some were honored more not only in privileges of
service as apostles, but also more in showing the things to come. The
Apostle Paul points out various things to come: the great falling away
in the Church; the revealing of the “Man of Sin”; the mystery respecting
the second coming of the Lord, and that we shall not all sleep, though
we must all be changed; the mystery, hidden from past ages and
dispensations, that the Church, including the Gentiles, should be
fellow-heirs of the promise made to Abraham—that his seed should bless
all the families of the earth, etc., etc. He points out, also, that in
the end of the age evil conditions will prevail in the Church; that men
will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having the form of
godliness but denying the power thereof; covenant breakers, etc., and
that “grievous wolves” (destructive higher critics) would not spare the
Lord’s flock. Indeed, all of the writings of the Apostle Paul are
brilliantly illuminated by the visions and revelations which he enjoyed
as a seer of things that in his day were still future and not proper to
be fully explained, but which now are manifest to the saints through the
types and prophecies of the Old Testament—understandable now in the
light of the
[F_page 223]
apostles’
words because the “due time” has come for them to be understood.
The Apostle Peter, also, as a seer points out the coming of
false teachers into the Church who privily, secretively, will bring in
damnable heresies, even denying that the Lord bought them. Looking down
to our day he prophesies saying, “There shall come in the last days
scoffers... saying, Where is the promise of his [Christ’s]
presence?” etc. He prophesied also that “The day of the Lord
shall so come as a thief in the night,” etc.
The Apostle James likewise prophesies respecting the end of
this age, saying, “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for the
miseries that shall come upon you...Ye have heaped treasure together for
the last days,” etc.
The Apostle John, however, was the most remarkable seer, or
prophet of all the apostles: his visions, constituting the Book of
Revelation, delineating in the most remarkable manner the things to
come.
The Apostolic
Infallibility
From the foregoing we are fully justified in believing that
the apostles were so guided by the Lord, through his holy Spirit, that
all of their public utterances were of divine inspiration for the
admonition of the Church, and no less infallible than the utterances of
the prophets of the preceding dispensation. But while feeling thus
assured in respect to the truthfulness of their testimony and that all
of their utterances to the Church have the divine approval, it is well
that we examine carefully five different circumstances, mentioned in the
New Testament, which are usually considered as opposed to the thought
that the apostles did not err in their teachings. We will scrutinize
these separately.
(1) Peter’s denial of our Lord just prior to his
crucifixion. It cannot be disputed that Peter here was overtaken in a
serious wrong, for which afterward he was sincerely penitent; but we
should not forget that this transgression though committed after his
choice as an apostle, was prior
[F_page 224]
to his being
anointed by the holy Spirit at Pentecost, and his divine endowment as an
apostle in the fullest sense. Furthermore, the infallibility we have
claimed for the apostles is that which applies to their public
teachings and writings, and not to all the incidents and minutiae of
their lives, which, unquestionably, were affected by the blemishes of
their earthen vessels, marred by the fall in which all of Adam’s
children have suffered. The Apostle’s words that “we have this treasure
in an earthen vessel,” evidently applied to himself and the other
apostles, as well as to all of the Church—recipients of the holy
Spirit. Our share, as individuals, in the great atoning work of our
Master, covers these blemishes of the flesh which are contrary to our
desires as New Creatures.
The apostolic office for the service of the Lord and the
Church was entirely apart from the mere weaknesses of the flesh, and was
conferred upon them not because of human perfection, but while they were
admittedly “men of like passions” with ourselves. (Acts 14:15) The
office did not bring restitution—perfection to their mortal bodies—but
merely the new mind and the holy Spirit to guide these. It did not make
their thoughts and actions perfect, but merely overruled those thoughts
and actions so that the public teachings of the twelve are
infallible—the Word of the Lord. This is the kind of infallibility
claimed for the popes—that when the pope speaks ex cathedra,
or officially, he is overruled of God and not permitted to err. This
inerrancy of the popes is claimed for them on the basis that they are
also apostles—overlooking and ignoring the fact that the Scriptures
teach that there are but “twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
(2) Peter on one occasion “dissembled”—was guilty of
double-dealing. (Gal. 2:11-14) This is pointed to as a proof that the
apostles were not infallible in conduct. We concede this as we perceive
the apostles also avowed it (Acts 14:15); but we repeat that these human
weaknesses were not permitted to mar their work or usefulness as
apostles—who “preached the gospel with the holy Spirit sent down from
heaven” (1 Pet. 1:12; Gal. 1:11,12)—not with man’s wisdom,
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but with the
wisdom from above. (1 Cor. 2:5-16) This error on Peter’s part God
promptly corrected through the Apostle Paul, who kindly, but firmly,
“withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed”; and that it was
properly received by the Apostle Peter, and that he quite overcame this
weakness in respect to preference for the Jews, is abundantly witnessed
by his two epistles, in which no trace of wavering on the subject can be
found, nor any lack of faithfulness in acknowledgment to the Lord.
(3) It is claimed that the apostles expected the Lord’s
second advent to take place very quickly, possibly in their own
lifetime, and that in this they erred doctrinally and showed that their
teachings are untrustworthy. We answer that the Lord declared that he
left the apostles in uncertainty respecting the time of the second
coming and the establishment of the Kingdom—simply telling them and all
to watch, in order that when the event should be due they might know and
not be in darkness on the subject as the world in general will be.
Their inquiry about this matter after the Lord’s resurrection brought
from him the answer, “It is not for you to know the times and the
seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.” Shall we then find
fault with the apostles for a matter which the Lord declared to be, for
a time, a divine secret? Surely not. We do find, however, that under
the guidance of the Spirit in respect to “things to come,” the apostles
were very guarded in their expressions in respect to the time of the
second advent; and so far from expecting the matter in their own
lifetime their words indicate the contrary.
For instance, the Apostle Peter distinctly says that he
wrote his epistles to the intent that his testimony might be with the
Church after his decease—a clear evidence that he did not expect to live
until the establishment of the Kingdom. (2 Pet. 1:15) The Apostle Paul,
while declaring that “the time is short,” did not pretend to say how
short. Indeed, viewed from the standpoint of a week of seven
one-thousand-year days—the seventh of which would bring the Kingdom—more
than four-sixths of the waiting time had
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already
passed, and the time was far spent. In exactly the same way we speak of
such matters now respecting earthly affairs, when on Thursday we say
that the week will soon be gone. Paul also spoke of the time of his
departure, of his readiness to lay down his life, of his preference so
to do. He points out that the day of the Lord would so come as a thief
in the night. Some false impressions on the subject he corrected,
saying, “Be not soon shaken in mind nor yet be troubled: neither by
spirit nor by word nor by epistle as from us, as that the day of Christ
is now present. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall
not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition,” etc.... “Remember ye not that when I
was with you I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth,
that he might be revealed in his own season.”
(4) It is objected that Paul, who wrote, “I, Paul, say unto
you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing” (Gal.
5:2), caused Timothy to be circumcised. (Acts 16:3) And we are asked,
Did he not thereby teach falsely, and in contradiction to his own
testimony? We answer, No: Timothy was a Jew, because his mother was a
Jewess (Acts 16:1); and circumcision was a national custom amongst the
Jews, which began before the Law of Moses and which was
continued after Christ had “made an end of the Law [Covenant], nailing
it to his cross.” Circumcision was given to Abraham and his seed four
hundred and thirty years before the Law was given to Israel as a nation
at Mount Sinai. Peter was designated the Apostle to the circumcision
(i.e., to the Jews), and Paul, the Apostle to the uncircumcision (i.e.,
to the Gentiles). Gal. 2:7,8
His argument of Gal. 5:2 was not addressed to Jews. He was
addressing Gentiles, whose only reason for desiring or even thinking
about circumcision was that certain false teachers were confusing them,
by telling them that they must keep the Law Covenant, as well
as accept Christ, thus leading them to ignore the Grace Covenant. The
Apostle
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here
shows that for them to be circumcised (for any such reason)
would be a repudiation of the Grace Covenant, and, hence, a repudiation
of the entire work of Christ. He found no objection to Jews continuing
their national custom of circumcision: this is evident from his words in
1 Cor. 7:18,19, as well as in his course with Timothy. Not that it was
necessary for Timothy or any other Jew to be circumcised;
but that it was not improper; and that, as he would be going amongst
Jews to a considerable extent, it would be to his advantage—giving him
the confidence of the Jews. But we see Paul’s steadfast resistance, on
this subject, when some who misconceived the matter sought to have
Titus—a full-blooded Greek—circumcised. Gal. 2:3-5
(5) The account of Paul’s course, recorded in Acts 21:20-26,
is reflected upon as being contrary to his own teachings of the truth;
and as indicating his errancy as respects doctrines and practices. It
is claimed that it was because of wrongdoing in this instance that Paul
was permitted to suffer so much as a prisoner, and was finally sent to
Rome. But such a view is not borne out by Scripture-stated facts. The
record shows that throughout this entire experience Paul had the
sympathy and approval of all the other apostles, and, above all, the
Lord’s continued favor. His course was at the instance of the other
apostles. It was testified to him by prophecy, before he went to
Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-14), that bonds and imprisonment awaited him; and
it was in obedience to his convictions of duty that he braved all those
predicted adversities. And when in the very midst of his trouble, we
read: “The Lord stood by him and said, ‘Be of good cheer, Paul: for as
thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear
witness also at Rome.’“ Later we find the Lord again showing him favor,
as we read: “There stood by me the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I
serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and
lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” Acts 23:11;
27:23,24
In view of these facts, we must seek an understanding of
[F_page 228]
Paul’s
course in correspondence with his uniformly bold and noble
course—esteeming very highly the work and testimony which God not only
did not reprove, but did approve. Coming then to the examination of Acts
21:21-27, we notice (verse 21) that Paul had not taught that
Jewish converts should not circumcise their children; nor did he
repudiate the Mosaic law—rather, he honored it, by pointing out the
greater and grander realities which Moses’ law so forcibly typified. So
far, therefore, from repudiating Moses, he honored Moses and the Law,
saying: “The Law is just and holy and good,” and pointed out that by it
the knowledge of the heinousness of sin had been
increased; that the Law was so grand that no imperfect man could obey it
fully, and that Christ, by keeping it, had won its rewards, and now
under the Grace Covenant was offering everlasting life and blessings as
a gift to those unable to keep the law, but by faith,
accepted as the covering of their imperfections his perfect obedience
and sacrifice, and who became his followers in the path of
righteousness.
Certain ceremonies of the Jewish dispensation—such as the
fasts, the celebration of new moons and Sabbath days and feasts—were
typical of spiritual truths belonging to the Gospel age. The Apostle
clearly shows that the Gospel of the Grace Covenant neither enjoins nor
forbids these (the Lord’s Supper and Baptism being the only injunctions
of a symbolic character commanded us, and they new ones). Col. 2:16,17;
Luke 22:19; Matt. 28:19
One of these Jewish symbolic rites, termed “purifying,” was
that observed by Paul and the four Jews, in the case which we are now
examining. Being Jews, they had a right, if they chose, not only to
consecrate themselves to God, in Christ, but also to perform the symbol
of this purification. And this is what they did—the men
who were with Paul having made, additionally, a vow to humiliate
themselves, before the Lord and the people, by having their heads
shaven. These symbolic ceremonies cost something; and the charges
presumably made up the “offering” of money—so much for
each, to defray the expenses of the Temple.
[F_page 229]
The Apostle Paul never taught the Jews that they were
free from the Law—but, on the contrary, that the Law had
dominion over each of them so long as he lived. He showed, however,
that if a Jew accepted Christ, and became “dead with him,”
it settled the claims of the Law Covenant upon such Jew, and made him
God’s freeman in Christ. (Rom. 7:1-4) But he did teach the
Gentile converts that they had never been under the Jewish Law Covenant,
and that for them to attempt the practice of Jewish Law ceremonies and
rites would imply that they were trusting in those symbols for their
salvation, and not relying wholly upon the merit of Christ’s sacrifice.
And to this all of the apostles assented. See Acts 21:25; 15:20,23-29.
Our conclusion is that God did most wonderfully use the
twelve apostles, making them very able ministers of his truth, and
guiding them supernaturally in the subjects upon which they wrote—so
that nothing profitable to the man of God has been omitted—and, in the
very words of their original writings, manifested a care and wisdom
beyond what even the apostles themselves comprehended. Praise God for
this sure foundation for our faith!
The Apostles Not
Lord Of God’s Heritage
Are the apostles to be regarded as in any sense lords
in the Church? or, in other words, When the Lord and Head of the Church
departed, did any of them take the place of the Head? or did they
together constitute a composite head, to take his place and assume the
reins of government? Or were they, or any of them, what the popes of
Rome claim to be, as their successors—the vicars or substitutes of
Christ to the Church, which is his body?
Against such hypothesis we have the plain statement of Paul
(Eph. 4:4,5) “There is one body” and “one Lord”; and,
therefore, among the various members of that body, no matter what may be
the relative importance of some, only the one Lord and
Head is to be recognized. This the Lord also clearly taught when,
addressing the multitudes and his disciples, he said, “The Scribes and
Pharisees...love...to
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be called
Rabbi; but be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master, and all ye
are brethren.” (Matt. 23:1,2,6-8) And again, addressing the apostles,
Jesus said, “Ye know that those presuming to rule over the Gentiles
exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority
over them, but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever
will be great among you shall be your servant, and whosoever of you will
be the chiefest shall be servant of all; for even the Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister [serve] and to give his life
a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45
Nor have we any evidence that the early Church ever regarded
the apostles as lords in the Church, or that the apostles ever assumed
such authority or dignity. Their course was very far indeed from the
papal idea of lordship, and from that of the prominent ministers in all
Christian sects. For instance, Peter never styled himself “the prince
of the apostles,” as papists style him; nor did he and the others ever
title each other, or receive such homage from the Church. They
addressed or referred to one another simply as Peter, John, Paul, etc.,
or else as Brother Peter, Brother John, etc.; and all of the Church were
similarly greeted—as brothers and sisters in Christ. (See Acts 9:17;
21:20; Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 7:15; 8:11; 2 Cor. 8:18; 2 Thess. 3:6,15;
Philemon 7,16.) And it is written that even the Lord himself was not
ashamed to call them all “brethren” (Heb. 2:11), so far is he from any
domineering attitude in the exercise of his true and acknowledged
lordship or authority.
Nor did any of these leading servants in the early Church go
about in priestly robes, or with cross and rosary, etc., courting the
reverence and homage of the people; for, as the Lord had taught them,
the chiefest among them were those who served most. Thus, for instance,
when persecution scattered the Church and drove them out of Jerusalem,
“the eleven” bravely stood their ground, willing to do whatever might
come; because in this trying time the Church abroad would look to them
at Jerusalem for encouragement and
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help.
Had they fled, the whole Church would have felt dismayed and
panic-stricken. And we find James perishing by the sword of Herod;
Peter, with a similar fate in view, thrust into prison and chained to
two soldiers (Acts 12:1-6); and Paul and Silas in their ministry beaten
with many stripes, and then cast into prison and their feet made fast in
the stocks; and Paul enduring “a great fight of afflictions.” (Acts
16:23,24; 2 Cor. 11:23-33) Did they look like lords or act like lords?
Surely not.
Peter was very explicit in this matter, when counseling the
elders to “feed the flock of God.” He did not say
your flock, your people, your
church, as many ministers today speak, but the flock of God,
not as lords of the heritage, but being patterns to the
flock—patterns of humility, faithfulness, zeal and godliness. (1 Pet.
5:1-3) And Paul says, “I think that God hath set forth us the apostles
last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto
the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s
sake,...we are despised;...we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and
are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place, and labor working with
our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it;
being defamed, we intreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and
the offscouring of all things.” (1 Cor. 4:9-13) Not much like Lords in
all this, were they? And in opposing the idea of some of the brethren
who seemed to be aspiring to lordship over God’s heritage, Paul
ironically says, “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as
kings without us”; but further along he counsels the only
right way, which is that of humility, saying, “Be ye followers of me” in
this respect. And again, “Let a man so account of us as of the
ministers [servants] of Christ, and stewards of
the mysteries of God.” 1 Cor. 4:8,16,1
And, again, the same Apostle adds: “As we were allowed of
God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as
pleasing men, but God, who trieth our hearts. For neither at any time
used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness: God
is witness. Nor of men
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sought we
glory—neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been
burdensome as the Apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse [nourisher] cherisheth her children.” (1 Thess. 2:4-7)
The apostles issued neither bulls nor anathemas, but we do find among
their loving entreaties such expressions as these: “Being defamed, we
entreat.” “I entreat thee also, true yokefellow.” Rebuke
not an elder, but entreat him.” 1 Cor. 4:13; Phil. 4:3; 1
Tim. 5:1
The early Church rightly reverenced the piety and the
superior spiritual knowledge and wisdom of the apostles, and, regarding
them, as they really were, as the Lord’s specially chosen ambassadors to
them, they sat at their feet as learners; yet not with blank,
unquestioning minds, but with a disposition to try the spirits and to
prove the testimony. (1 John 4:1; 1 Thess. 5:21; Isa. 8:20) And the
apostles, in teaching them, enjoined this attitude of mind, which
required a reason for their hope, and encouraged it, and were prepared
to meet it—not with enticing words of man’s wisdom (of human philosophy
and theory), but in demonstration of the Spirit and
of power, that the faith of the Church might not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Cor. 2:4,5) They did not
cultivate a blind and superstitious reverence for themselves.
We read that the Bereans “were more noble than they of
Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,
and searched the Scriptures daily [to see] whether those things were
so.” And it was the constant effort of the apostles to show that the
gospel which they proclaimed was the very same gospel darkly expressed
by the ancient prophets, “unto whom it was revealed, that not unto
themselves, but unto us [the body of Christ] they did
minister the things now reported unto you by them [the apostles] that
have preached the Gospel unto you with the holy Spirit sent down from
heaven” (1 Pet. 1:10-12)—that it was the very same gospel of life and
immortality brought to light by the Lord himself—that its greater
amplification
[F_page 233]
and all
the particular details discovered to the Church by them, under the
leading and direction of the holy Spirit—whether by special revelations
or by other and more natural means, both of which were used—were in
fulfilment of the Lord’s promise to the apostles, and through them to
the whole Church—“I have yet many things to say unto you,
but ye cannot bear them now.”
It was right, therefore, for the Bereans to search the
Scriptures to see whether the testimony of the apostles agreed with that
of the Law and the prophets, and to compare them also with the teachings
of the Lord. Our Lord also invited a similar proving of his testimony
by the Law and the prophets, saying, “Search the Scriptures,...for they
are they that testify of me.” The whole divine testimony must be in
harmony, whether it be communicated by the Law, the prophets, the Lord
or the apostles. Their entire harmony is the proof of their divine
inspiration. And, thank God! we find that harmony existing, so that the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments constitute what the Lord
himself designates “the harp of God.” (Rev. 15:2) And the various
testimonies of the Law and the prophets are the several chords of that
harp, which, when tuned by the holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, and
swept by the fingers of the devoted servants and searchers after divine
truth, yields the most enchanting strains that ever fell on mortal
ears. Praise the Lord for the exquisite melody of the blessed “song of
Moses and the Lamb,” which we learn through the testimony of his holy
apostles and prophets, of whom the Lord Jesus is chief!
But although the testimony of the Lord and the apostles must
harmonize with that of the Law and the prophets, we should expect them
to testify of things new as well as old; for
so the prophets have led us to expect. (Matt. 13:35; Psa. 78:2; Deut.
18:15,18; Dan. 12:9) And so we find them not only expounding the hidden
truths of ancient prophecy but also disclosing new revelations of truth.
[F_page 234]
Apostles,
Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers
According to the general thought of Christendom, the Lord
left the matter of Church organization with provisions which were
entirely inadequate to the ends he designed, and has expected his people
to use their own wisdom in the matter of organization. Many men of many
minds have favored more or less strict organizations, and so we find
Christians throughout the world today organized on various lines and
with more or less rigidity, and each claiming advantages for his
particular denomination or system of government. This is wrong! It is
not reasonable to suppose that God, foreknowing this New Creation before
the foundation of the world, should be so negligent of his own work as
to leave his faithful people without a clear understanding of his will
and an adequate arrangement or organization for their well-being. The
tendency of the human mind is either toward anarchy on the one hand, or
toward tight organization and bondage on the other. The divine
arrangement, avoiding both of these extremes, marks out for the New
Creation an organization simple in the extreme, and devoid of everything
akin to bondage. Indeed, the injunction of the Scriptures to each
individual Christian is, “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage.” Gal. 5:1
In showing forth this divine arrangement we must confine
ourselves wholly to the divine records, and must entirely ignore
ecclesiastical history—remembering that the predicted “falling away” had
begun to work even in apostolic times; and that it proceeded rapidly
after the death of the apostles, culminating first in the Papal system.
In taking the Bible account we may include with the New Testament
records the typical arrangements under the Law, but must continually
remember that those types represented not only affairs during this
Gospel age, but typified also arrangements for the coming Millennial
age. For instance, the Day of Atonement and its work represented, as we
have
[F_page 235]
seen,
this Gospel age. On that day the High Priest wore not his glorious
garments, but simply the holy garments, or linen robes—illustrating the
fact that during this Gospel age neither the Lord nor the Church occupy
a place of distinction or glory in the sight of men—their whole standing
being represented simply as one of purity, righteousness—typified by the
linen robes which, in the case of the Church, symbolize the
righteousness of her Lord and Head. It was after the Day of Atonement
that the High Priest put on his glorious robes, representing the
glories, dignities, etc., of Christ’s authority and power during the
Millennial age. And the Church is represented with her Lord in the
glories of that figure; because as the head of the High Priest
represented our Lord and Master, so the body of the priest represented
the Church; and the glorious garments, therefore, represented the
dignities and honors of the entire Royal Priesthood when the time of
exaltation shall have come. The Papal hierarchy—claiming falsely that
the reign of Christ is being accomplished by proxy, that
the popes are his vicegerents, and the cardinals, archbishops and
bishops represent the Church in glory and power—attempt to exercise
civil and religious control over the world, and counterfeit the glories
and dignities of the elect New Creation in the gorgeous robes of office
which they wear. The true Royal Priesthood, however, still wear the
white robes of sacrifice and wait for the true Lord of the Church, and
for the true exaltation to “glory, honor and immortality,” when the last
member of the elect shall have finished his share in the work of
sacrifice.
It is to the New Testament that we must look particularly
for our directions respecting the organization and rules of the Church
during the days of her humiliation and sacrificing. The fact that these
rules are not laid down in a compact form must not deter us from
expecting and finding that they are, nevertheless, a complete system.
We must fight against the natural expectations of our perverted
judgments in respect to laws, and must remember that the
[F_page 236]
Church as
sons of God are given a “perfect law of liberty,” because they are no
longer servants, but sons, and because the sons of God must learn to use
the liberty of sonship and thereby show the more particularly their
absolute obedience to the law and principles of love.
The Apostle sets before our minds a picture of the New
Creation which illustrates the entire subject. It is a human figure,
the head representing the Lord, the various parts and members
representing the Church. In 1 Cor. 12 this subject is grandly
elaborated, and with great simplicity, the explanation given being that,
“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 [one body or
company composed of many members]. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body [whether Jews or Gentiles, whether
bond or free].” The Apostle proceeds to call attention to the fact that
as the well-being of a human body depends largely upon the unity and
harmony and cooperation of all its members, so also it is with the
Church, the body of Christ. If one member suffer either pain or
degradation or disgrace, all the members are affected, willingly or
unwillingly, and if one member is specially blessed or comforted or
refreshed, proportionately all others share the blessings. He points
out (verse 23) that we seek to cover and hide the weaknesses, blemishes,
etc., of our natural bodies and seek to relieve and help them; and that
thus it should be with the Church, the body of Christ—the most blemished
members should have special care as well as the covering of
charity—love; “that there be no schism [division] in the body, but that
the members should have the same care one for another,” for the most
humble as well as for the most highly favored member—Verse 25.
According to this the Lord’s organization of the Church is a
very complete one indeed; but, as in nature, so in grace—where the
organization is complete there is the less necessity for splints and
bandages. A tree is thoroughly organized and unified from tips to
roots, yet the branches are not held on by patent fastenings or cords or
screws or
[F_page 237]
printed
rules and laws; and so with the body of Christ. If properly adjusted
and harmonized and united on the lines which the Lord has laid down,
there will be no necessity for cords, splints or screws to hold the
various members together—no need for laws and creeds and human
spectacular appliances to bring them together or hold them together.
The one Spirit is the bond of union, and as long as the spirit of life
remains, a unity, a oneness of the body must remain also, and this will
be a strong or a weak union, according as the Spirit of the Lord
abounds.
The Apostle goes further, and points out that God is the
superintendent of the affairs of this organization, the New Creation,
which he himself devised and inaugurated. His words are, “Now ye are
the Body of Christ and members in particular. And God hath set
some in the Church [Ecclesia, body], first, apostles;
secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that miracles, then gifts
of healing, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues.” It will be a
new thought to many who are used to setting themselves and setting each
other in places of glory and honor and trust and service in the Church,
to realize that God has promised the superintending of this matter
amongst those who are looking to him for guidance and are directed by
his Word and Spirit.
If this were recognized how few would dare to seek the chief
seats and to wire-pull after political fashion for honorable stations!
To realize the divine care over the true Church means first of all to
distinguish the true Church from the nominal systems; and then to seek
reverently and humbly to know the divine will in respect to all of the
true Church’s arrangements, services and servants.
The Apostle inquires, “Are all apostles? are all prophets?
are all teachers?” implying that it will be generally conceded that this
is not the case; and that any recognized as filling any of these
stations should be able to produce some evidence of his divine
appointment, and should exercise his office, or service, not as a
man-pleaser, but as pleasing the great overseer of the Church—its Head
and Lord. The Apostle calls our attention to the fact that these
differences
[F_page 238]
in the
Church correspond to the differences amongst the members of the natural
body, and that each member is necessary and none to be despised. The
eye may not say to the foot, I have no need of you; nor to the ear, I
have no need of you; nor to the hand, I have no need of you; if they
were all one member where were the body? “for the body is not one member
but many.” Verses 19,14
True, there is not now this same variety of members in the
Church; for, as the Apostle pointed out, “Tongues were for a sign not to
them that believed, but to them that believed not,” likewise were the
miracles. When the apostles, in whom resided the power to confer these
gifts of the Spirit, died, and when those who had received
these gifts from them died, these miracles—gifts—would, as
we have already seen, cease in the Church. But still there would be in
the Church a corresponding work for every man and for
every woman—an opportunity to serve the Lord, the Truth and the
fellow-members of the body of Christ, each according to his natural
abilities. As those miracles discontinued, education in the Truth and
in the knowledge of the Lord and in the graces of the Spirit took their
places. Even while these inferior gifts of healing, tongues,
interpretations, and miracles were in the Church, the Apostle exhorted
the brethren to “covet earnestly the best gifts.”
They could not reasonably covet or expect an apostleship,
since there were only twelve; but they might covet or desire to be
prophets (expounders) or teachers. “And yet,” adds the Apostle, “a
still more excellent way I show unto you.” (vs. 31) He proceeds to show
that far above any of these gifts or services in the Church is the honor
of possessing in large measure the spirit of the Master—Love. He points
out that the humblest member in the Church who attains to perfect love,
has reached a position higher and nobler in the sight of the Lord than
that of any apostle or prophet or teacher who lacks the grace of love.
He declares that no matter what the gifts, if love be lacking, the whole
matter is empty and unsatisfactory in the sight of the Lord.
[F_page 239]
Indeed,
we may be sure that no one could by the Lord’s approval long hold the
position of apostle or prophet or teacher in the Church unless he
attained a standing of perfect love, or sought, at least, to attain to
that standard. Otherwise he assuredly would be permitted to drift into
darkness, and perhaps become a teacher of error instead of a teacher of
the Truth—a servant of Satan to sift the brethren.
In his letter to the Ephesians (4:1-16) the Apostle
reiterates this lesson of the oneness of the Church as one body of many
members, under one Head, Christ Jesus, and united by one spirit—the
spirit of love. He exhorts all such members to walk worthy of their
calling in lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another
in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. In this chapter the Apostle sets forth the various members of
the body appointed to special services in it, and tells us the
object of the service; saying: “he gave some [to be] apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry
[preparing them for the glorious ministry or service of the Millennial
Kingdom], for the edifying [building up] of the body of Christ: till we
all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ: that we,...speaking the truth in love, may grow up
into him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: from whom the
whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint
supplieth... maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in
love.” Eph. 4:11-16
We note the picture which the Apostle draws for us—that of a
human body, but small and undeveloped. He informs us that it is the
divine will that all of the various members should grow to full
development, full strength and power—“the full stature of manhood” is
the picture which represents the Church in its proper, complete
condition. Carrying
[F_page 240]
the
figure down through the age to the present time, we see that member
after member fell asleep to await the grand organization of the
Millennial morning in the First Resurrection, and that the places of
these were being continually supplied, so that the Church was never
without a full organization, although at times there might be greater
weaknesses in one member and greater strength in another. However, the
endeavor of each member at all times must be to do everything in his
power for the upbuilding of the body, for the strengthening of the
members and for their perfection in the graces of the Spirit—“till we
all come to the unity of the faith.”
Unity of faith is desirable; it is to be striven for—yet not
the kind of unity that is generally aimed at. Unity is to be along the
lines of “the faith once delivered unto the saints” in its purity and
simplicity, and with full liberty to each member to take different views
of minor points, and with no instruction whatever in respect to human
speculations, theories, etc. The Scriptural idea of unity is upon the
foundation principles of the Gospel. (1) Our redemption through the
precious blood, and our justification by demonstrated faith therein.
(2) Our sanctification, setting apart to the Lord, the Truth and their
service—including the service of the brethren. (3) Aside from these
essentials, upon which unity must be demanded, there can be no
Scriptural fellowship; upon every other point fullest liberty is to be
accorded, with, however, a desire to see, and to help others to see, the
divine plan in its every feature and detail. Thus each member of the
body of Christ, maintaining his own personal liberty, is so thoroughly
devoted to the Head and to all the members that it will be his pleasure
to lay down all, even life itself, on their behalf.
We have already considered the special work of the apostles,
and the fact that their number was limited, and that they are still
performing their service in the Church, speaking as the Lord’s
mouthpieces to his people through his Word. Let us now examine
something respecting these
[F_page 241]
other
services of the Church to which the Apostle refers as the Lord’s gifts
to the general body, or Ecclesia.
The Lord provides the apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, teachers, for the blessing of the general body, as respects
both their present and their everlasting welfare. It is for those who
are earnestly relying upon the Lord as the Head, the Instructor, the
Guide of the Church, his body, to expect, look for and notice his gifts
in all these particulars; and to accept and to use them—if they would
have the promised blessing. These gifts are not forced upon the Church,
and those who neglect them, when offered, experience a corresponding
loss. The Lord set these in the Church at the beginning and thus gave
us the ideal Church arrangement, leaving it to his people to follow the
pattern thus set them and to have proportionate blessings; or to ignore
the pattern and to have corresponding difficulties and disappointments.
Let us, as those who desire to be led and taught of the Lord, seek to
learn how he set the various members originally, and what gifts of this
kind he has been bestowing upon his people since, that we may thus
appreciate whatever gifts of this character are at our disposal, and may
the more zealously avail ourselves of them for the future.
The Apostle declares that it is the Lord’s pleasure that
there be no schism in the body—no splits, no divisions. With human
methods divisions are unavoidable—except as in Papacy’s period of
triumph, when the nominal system became powerful and used drastic
methods of persecution in dealing with all not fully in accord with
itself. That, however, was a unity of force, of
compulsion—an outward unity, and not a unity of the heart. Those whom
the Son makes free can never participate heartily in such unions, in
which personal liberty is utterly destroyed. The difficulty with the
Protestant denominations is not that they are too liberal and,
therefore, have separated into many fragments, but rather that they
still have much of the spirit of the mother institution, without
possessing the power which she at one
[F_page 242]
time
exercised for quelling and suppressing liberty of thought. We will,
doubtless, surprise many by saying, that instead of having too many
divisions or splits of the kind we now see on every hand, the real need
of the Church of Christ is still more liberty—until each
individual member shall stand free and independent of all human bonds,
creeds, confessions, etc. With each individual Christian standing fast
in the liberty wherewith he was made free by the Lord (Gal. 5:1; John
8:32), and each individual Christian united in loyalty to the Lord and
to his Word, very quickly the original unity which the Scriptures
inculcated would be discerned and all true children of God, all members
of the New Creation, would find themselves drawn to each other member
similarly free, and bound each to the other by the cords of love far
more strongly than are men bound in earthly systems and societies. “The
love of Christ constraineth us” [holds us together—Young’s
Concordance]. 2 Cor. 5:14
All the members of the Aaronic family were eligible to the
services of the priesthood; nevertheless, there were certain
limitations, barriers, and disqualifications for service in this
connection. And so it is amongst the antitypical “Royal Priesthood”—all
are priests, all are members of the anointed body, and the
anointing signifies to each a full authority to
preach and to teach the good tidings, as it is written: “The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the good tidings to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted,” etc. While
these words applied specially to the Head of the Christ, the New
Creation, the Royal Priesthood, they apply also to all the
members—hence, in a general sense, every consecrated child of God has in
his anointing of the holy Spirit, a full authorization or commission to
preach the Word—“to show forth the praises of him who has called us out
of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Pet. 2:9
But as it was required of the typical priests that they
should be free from certain blemishes and should have attained a certain
age, so amongst members of the Royal [F_page
243]
Priesthood there are some who lack qualifications for public service
which others possess. Each is soberly (Rom. 12:3,6) to seek to
determine for himself the measure of God’s gifts possessed and, hence,
the measure of his stewardship and responsibility. And likewise all the
members are to take cognizance of one another’s natural, as well as
spiritual, qualifications and attainments, and to judge of the divine
will accordingly. In the type, age was a factor; but this with the
antitypical priests would signify experience, character-development; the
blemish of crossed eyes in the type would signify in the antitypical
priesthood a lack of clearness of insight and clearness of vision
respecting spiritual things, which would properly be a hindrance to
public service in the Church. Likewise also all the various blemishes
which hindered the typical priesthood would represent various moral and
physical or intellectual disabilities amongst the antitypical Royal
Priesthood.
Nevertheless, as the deformed priests in the type exercised
all the privileges of the others in respect to their own sustenance,
eating of the shew-bread, sacrifices, etc., so with us in the
antitype—those deformities which might hinder a member of the body of
Christ from being a public servant of the Church and of the Truth need
not hinder his spiritual development and his recognition, as possessing
full rights with all the others at the spiritual table of the Lord and
at the throne of grace. As none could exercise the High Priest’s office
except he were faultless physically and of full age, so those who would
serve as ministers of the Truth in “word and doctrine” should not be
novices, but members of the body, whose ripeness in character and
knowledge and fruits of the Spirit would qualify them for such a
service. Such were to be recognized as elders—not necessarily elders in
years of natural life, but elders, or seniors, or ripe ones in respect
to the Truth, and fitness to counsel and admonish the brethren along the
lines of the Lord’s Word.
With this understanding of the meaning of the word elder, we
recognize the reasonableness of the Scriptures declaring that all who
attend to the spiritual ministries of the
[F_page 244]
Truth are
properly described by the term “Elder”; whether otherwise they are doing
the service of an apostle or prophet or evangelist or pastor or
teacher. To fill any of these positions of service properly one must be
recognized as an Elder in the Church. Thus the apostles declared that
they were elders (1 Pet. 5:1; 2 John 1); and when referring to the
ministers (servants) of the Church and their selection, they are
mentioned in our common version of the Bible under three names:
Bishops,
Elders, Pastors
These three terms are, however, misleading in view of the
misapplication of them in churches of various denominations; hence, it
is necessary that we explain that the word bishop simply signifies
overseer; and that every appointed Elder was recognized as an
overseer of a work great or small. Thus, for instance, on one occasion
the Apostle was met by the elders of the Church at Ephesus, and in
giving them his parting admonition said: “Take heed to yourselves and to
the Church over which the holy Spirit hath made you overseers.”
Acts 20:28
However, under the Lord’s providences some of these elders
were granted a wider scope of influence or oversight in the Church and
might, therefore, be properly termed general overseers.
Such were all the apostles—the Apostle Paul having a wider scope of
oversight, specially amongst the Churches established in Gentile
lands—in Asia Minor and in Southern Europe. But this position of
general overseer was not restricted to the apostles: the Lord in his
providence raised up others to serve the Church in this manner—“not for
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind”—with a desire to serve the Lord and
the brethren. Primarily, Timothy engaged in this service under the
direction of the Apostle Paul and partially as his representative, and
was commended to various companies or ecclesias of the
Lord’s people. The Lord was, and is still, entirely competent to
continue to send such overseers as he chooses to advise and admonish his
flock. And the Lord’s people should be thoroughly competent
[F_page 245]
to judge
of the value of the advice offered by such overseers. It should be
attested by a godly life, humble demeanor and spirit of self-sacrifice;
by an absence of all scheming for honor and filthy lucre, as well as by
teaching which would stand the scrutiny of thoughtful Bible
study—searching the Scriptures daily to see whether or not their
presentations fully accord with both the letter and spirit of the Word.
This, as we have seen, was done with the teachings of the apostles—and
as they invited the brethren to do—commending those specially who were
thus cautious without being captious, hypercritical. Acts 17:11
However, so far as we may judge from Church history, the
spirit of rivalry and love of honor rapidly took the place of the spirit
of humble devotion and self-sacrifice, while credulity and flattery
readily superseded Scripture-searching; and as a result the overseers
gradually became dictatorial—gradually claimed equality with the
apostles, etc.—until finally amongst them arose a rivalry, and some of
them became known and distinguished by the title of chief or
archbishops. In turn, a rivalry amongst these archbishops led to the
exaltation of one of their number to the position of pope. And the same
spirit has since obtained to a greater or less degree, not only in
Papacy, but also amongst those who have been deceived and misled by her
example far away from the simplicity of the primitive arrangement. In
consequence, we find today that such an organization as obtained in the
primitive Church—namely, without a sectarian name and without glory,
honor and authority on the part of a few over the many, and without a
division into clergy and laity—is regarded as no organization at
all. We are happy, however, to take our position amongst these
disesteemed ones, to copy closely the example of the primitive Church
and to enjoy correspondingly similar liberties and blessings.
As elders of the Church are all overseers, caretakers,
watchers of the interests of Zion, some locally and some in the broad
and general sense, so also each, according to his talent and ability,
might serve the flock, one as an evangelist,
[F_page 246]
whose
qualifications fitted him and whose conditions permitted him to go about
preaching the truth to beginners—finding those possessed of an ear to
hear the good tidings, etc.; another serving the flock as a pastor
(shepherd), because of special qualifications of a social kind, enabling
him to look after the interests of the Lord’s people personally,
individually—visiting them at their homes, encouraging them,
strengthening them, holding together and defending them against the
wolves in sheep’s clothing who would bite and devour them. “Prophets”
also had their special qualifications for service.
The word “prophet” is not generally used today in the broad
sense in which it was used in olden times, but is rather understood to
signify a seer, or foreteller. The word prophet, however, strictly
signifies a public speaker—an orator. A seer of visions or
a recipient of revelations might also be a prophet, in the sense of a
declarer of the same; but the two thoughts are distinctly separate. In
the case of Moses and Aaron, Moses was the greater, being the divine
representative, and the Lord said to him—“See, I have made thee a god
(mighty one or superior) unto Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be
thy prophet”—spokesman, mouthpiece. (Exod. 7:1) We have already seen
that several of the apostles were seers in the sense that they were
granted a knowledge of things to come; we now remark that they were
nearly all prophets too, that is public orators—especially Peter and
Paul. But there were many other public speakers, or prophets.
Barnabas, for instance, was one; and it is written “Judas and Silas,
being prophets [public speakers] also themselves, exhorted the brethren
with many words.” Acts 15:32
There is no suggestion in the Scriptures that any person
disqualified for the work to be done should be considered the Lord’s
appointee to that position for which he lacks special adaptation; but
rather it is as a duty that in the body of Christ each member should
serve the others according to his talents—according to his abilities—and
that each should be modest enough, humble enough, “not to think of
himself
[F_page 247]
more
highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly,” according to the
actual value of the talents the Lord has bestowed upon him. Neither
should the Church recognize those of their number desiring to be
greatest on that account. On the contrary, they should
take cognizance of humility as being one of the essential qualifications
to eldership or to service in any department. If, therefore, two
brethren seem to have equal talent, but one is ambitious and forward and
the other humble and backward, the Spirit of the Lord, which is the
spirit of wisdom and of a sound mind, would teach the Lord’s people to
appreciate the humbler brother as the one whom the Lord would specially
favor and wish them to put into the more prominent place in the service.
It seems less remarkable that “goats” and goat-like sheep in
the Lord’s flock should aspire to leadership, than that the true sheep
who recognize the Master’s voice, who know his Spirit and who are
seeking to do his will, should with docility permit such goats or
goat-like sheep to take the leadership amongst them. It is well that we
follow peace with all men; but where we disregard the Word and Spirit of
the Lord for the sake of peace it will be sure to result injuriously to
a greater or less extent. It is well that all should have the docile,
sheep-like nature; but it is necessary also that the sheep have
character, else they cannot be overcomers; and if they have
character they should remember the Chief Shepherd’s words, “My sheep
hear my voice [obey it]...and they follow me,” “a stranger
will they not follow...for they know not the voice of strangers.” (John
10:5,27) It is the duty, therefore, of every sheep to take special
notice of the message and the manner of every brother before they aid in
putting him forward as an overseer, either local or general. They should
first be convinced that he has the real qualifications of an elder in
the Church—that he is sound on the basic doctrines of the Gospel—the
atonement, redemption through the precious blood of Christ, and full
consecration to him, his message, his brethren, his service. They
should have charity and sympathy for the weakest of the lambs and for
all the mentally and morally lame sheep; but they
[F_page 248]
would be
doing violence to the divine arrangement to choose such for their
leaders or elders. They should have no sympathy with goats, or with
wolves in sheep’s clothing who strive for place and authority in the
Church.
It should be recognized that the Ecclesia is
far better off without any public servant than to have for a leader a
golden-tongued “goat,” who would surely not “direct their hearts into
the love of God,” but seductively into wrong channels. Of such our Lord
forewarned the Church; such the Apostle described, saying, “Of
yourselves shall men arise speaking perverse things [wrong, misleading
doctrines], to draw away disciples after them [to artfully attract
followers after themselves].” The Apostle says that many shall follow
their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the Truth will be evil spoken
of. Acts 20:30; 2 Pet. 2:2
So we see it today. Many are preaching themselves rather
than preaching the Gospel, the good tidings of the Kingdom; they are
attracting disciples after themselves and their denominations, rather
than attracting them to and uniting them only with the Lord, as members
of his body. They are seeking to be the heads of churches, instead of
having all the members of the body look directly to the Lord as the
Head. From all such we should turn away—the true sheep should give them
no encouragement in their wrong course. The Apostle Paul speaks of
these as having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Tim. 3:5)
They are great sticklers for days, forms, ceremonies, ecclesiastical
authorities, etc., and are highly esteemed amongst men, but an
abomination in the sight of the Lord, saith the Apostle. The true sheep
must not only be careful to recognize the voice of the true Shepherd and
to follow him, but they must remember also not to follow, not to
support, not to encourage those who are self-seeking. Every one
esteemed worthy of confidence in the Church as an Elder, should be
sufficiently well known in advance to justify such confidence; hence,
the Apostle says, “not a novice.” A novice might do the Church injury
and might himself be injured also, by being puffed up, and thus be led
away from the Lord
[F_page 249]
and the proper
spirit and the narrow path toward the Kingdom.
The Apostle Paul* gives very
explicit advice concerning who might properly be recognized by the
Church as elders—describing in detail what should be their character,
etc. In his letter to Timothy on this subject (1 Tim. 3:1-7) he
reiterates the same in slightly different language. In addressing
Titus, who evidently was another general overseer (Tit. 1:5-11), he
describes their duties toward the Church. The Apostle Peter on the
subject says, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an
Elder,...Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof...not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being
lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” 1 Pet.
5:1-3
They should be generous men, men of pure lives, having no
more than one wife; and if they have children it should be noticed to
what extent the parent has exercised a wholesome influence in his own
family—for it should reasonably be judged that if he has been derelict
in his duty toward his children, he probably would be unwise or derelict
in his counsels and his general ministries amongst the Lord’s children
in the Ecclesia, the Church. He is not to be
double-tongued or deceptive, not to be a brawler or a contentious
person. He should be one of good reputation amongst those outside the
Church: not that the world will ever love or rightly appreciate the
saints, but that the world should, at least, be unable to point to
anything derogatory to their character as respects honesty, uprightness,
morality, truthfulness. There is no limitation made respecting the
number of elders in a Church or Ecclesia.
In addition to the foregoing limitations, it is required
that an Elder shall be “apt to teach”; that is to say, he must have
ability as a teacher, explainer, expounder of the divine plan, and thus
to be able to assist the Lord’s flock in word and in doctrine. It is
not essential to eldership that the talent
—————
*1 Tim.
3:2; 5:17; 1 Thess. 5:12; Jas. 5:14
[F_page 250]
or qualifications
of a “prophet” or public speaker be possessed; there may be found
several in the same Church possessing teaching abilities and pastoral
and other qualifications of an Elder, and yet possibly none possessing
the qualifications of a public speaker or declaimer of the divine plan.
The Lord should be trusted to raise up such servants as are needful, and
if none are supplied the need may be doubted. We might
here remark that some of the most prosperous Ecclesias, gatherings or
congregations are those in which there is no great talent for public
speaking, and in which, consequently, Bible studies are the rule rather
than the exception. The Scriptures clearly show that this was a custom
in the early Church, too; and that when they came together an
opportunity was offered for the exercise of the various talents
possessed by the various members of the body—one to speak, others to
pray, many, if not all, to sing. Experience seems to show that those
companies of the Lord’s people which follow this rule most closely,
receive the largest amount of blessing and develop the strongest
characters. That which is merely heard by the ear, however well-spoken
and however good, is not impressed upon the heart so thoroughly as
though the individual himself exercised his mind in connection with it,
as is sure to be the case in a properly conducted Bible study in which
all should have encouragement to take part.
Others of the elders, perhaps not so apt to teach, may be
just in their element in prayer and testimony meetings, which should be
a feature amongst the various gatherings of the Lord’s people. He who
finds himself possessed of a good talent of exhorting should exercise
that talent rather than let it lie dormant while endeavoring to exercise
a talent which he does not possess in any special degree. The Apostle
says, “he that exhorteth let him wait upon exhortation,” let him give
his ability and service in that direction: “him that teacheth [who has a
talent for exposition—for making the Truth plain] let him give his
attention to the teaching.”
[F_page 251]
As the word bishop or overseer has a wide range of meaning,
so also has the word pastor. No one but an Elder is competent to be a
pastor, or overseer, or shepherd. A pastor, or shepherd in a flock, is
an overseer of the flock; the two words are practically synonymous. The
Lord Jehovah is our Pastor or Shepherd in the largest sense of the word
(Psa. 23:1), and his Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus, is the great
Shepherd and Bishop (overseer) of our souls—to all the flock,
everywhere. The general overseers and “Pilgrims” are all shepherds or
pastors—looking out for the interest of the general flock; and every
local Elder is a pastor, shepherd, overseer in a local capacity. It
will be seen, then, that the elders in the Church should primarily
possess general qualifications fitting them for eldership, and
secondarily that their special natural qualifications should determine
in what part of the service they can best serve the Lord’s cause—some in
connection with the evangelistic work and others in connection with the
pastoral work amongst the sheep already evangelized, already
consecrated, already in the fold; some locally and some in a wider
field.
We read, “Let the elders that rule well be accounted worthy
of double honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine.” (1
Tim. 5:17,18) On the strength of these words the nominal church has
built up a class of Ruling Elders; and has claimed for all elders a
ruling or authoritative, if not a dictatorial, position amongst the
brethren. Such a definition of “ruling” is contrary to all the
presentations of the Scriptures on the subject. Timothy, occupying the
position of a general overseer, or Elder, was instructed by the Apostle,
saying, “Rebuke not an Elder, but exhort him as a brother,” etc. “The
servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle toward all men.”
Nothing here, certainly, would sanction an autocratic ruling, or
dictatorial bearing—meekness, gentleness, long-suffering,
brotherly-kindness, love, must be prominent qualifications of those
recognized as elders. They must in every sense of the word be ensamples
to the flock. If, therefore, they should be dictatorial, the example
[F_page 252]
to the
flock would be that all should be dictatorial; but if they should be
meek, long-suffering, patient, gentle and loving, then the illustration
to all would be in accordance therewith. A more literal rendering of
the passage under consideration shows it to mean that honor should be
given to the elders in proportion as they manifest faithfulness to the
responsibilities of the service they have accepted. We might, therefore,
render the passage thus: Let the prominent elders be accounted worthy of
double honor, especially those bending down through hard work in
preaching and teaching.
Deacons,
Ministers, Servants
As the word bishop signifies overseer merely, and in no
sense of the word signifies a lord, or master, though it has gradually
come to be so misunderstood by the people, so also is it with the word
deacon, which literally signifies servant, or minister. The Apostle
refers to himself and to Timothy as “ministers of God.” (2 Cor. 6:4)
The word here rendered ministers is from the Greek diakonos,
which signifies servants. The Apostle again says, “Our sufficiency is
of God: who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament.” (2
Cor. 3:5,6) Here also the Greek word diakonos is rendered
ministers and signifies servants. In fact, the Apostle declares that
himself and Timothy were deacons (servants) of God and deacons
(servants) of the New Testament—the New Covenant. We may see then that
all true elders in the Church are thus deacons, or servants of God and
of the Truth and of the Church—otherwise they should not be recognized
as elders at all.
We do not wish to give the idea that no distinction obtained
in the early Church as respects service. Quite the contrary. The point
we are making is that even the apostles and prophets who were elders in
the Church were all deacons, or servants, even as our Lord declared: “He
that is greatest among you shall be your servant [diakonos].”
(Matt. 23:11) [F_page
253] The
character and faithfulness of the servant should mark the degree of
honor and esteem that should be rendered to any in the ecclesias
of the New Creation. As there were servants in the Church not qualified
by talents, etc., for recognition as elders, because less apt to teach
or less experienced, so, aside from any appointments by the Church, the
apostles and prophets (teachers) on various occasions chose certain ones
for their servants, or assistants, or deacons; as, for instance, when
Paul and Barnabas were together they had John Mark for a time as their
servant, or helper. Again, when Paul and Barnabas separated, Barnabas
took John with him, while Paul and Silas took Luke with them for a
servant, or helper. These helpers did not regard themselves as the
equals of the apostles, nor as the equals in service to others of
greater talents and experience than themselves; but rejoiced in the
privilege of being assistants and servants under the direction of those
whom they recognized as being qualified and accepted servants of
God and of the Truth. They needed not to be chosen by the
Church for such a service to the apostles; as the Church chose its
servants or deacons, so the apostles chose their own. Nor was it a
matter of constraint, but one of option. John and Luke, we may presume,
considered that they could better serve the Lord in this manner than
perhaps in any other way open to them, and hence it was of their own
free will and without the slightest restraint that they accepted, as
they might with equal propriety have refused the service, if they
believed that they could more faithfully use their talents in some other
manner.
Nevertheless, this word deacon is applied in
the New Testament to a class of brethren useful as servants of the body
of Christ and honored accordingly, but not so well qualified as others
for the position of elders. Their choice at all, however, to a special
service in the Church implied good character, faithfulness to the Truth
and zeal for the service of the Lord and his flock. Thus in the early
Church, when
[F_page 254]
the
distribution of food, etc., for the poor of the flock was arranged, the
apostles first undertook the matter themselves; but subsequently when
the murmuring arose and the claim was made that some were neglected, the
apostles turned the matter over to the believers, the Church,
saying—Choose out from amongst you suitable men for this service, and we
will give our time, knowledge and talents to the ministry of the Word.
Acts 6:2-5
It will be remembered that seven servants, or deacons, were
chosen, and that amongst these seven was Stephen, who later on became
the first martyr—having the honor to be the first to walk in the
Master’s footsteps even unto death. The fact that Stephen was chosen by
the Church to be a deacon in no sense of the word hindered him from
preaching the Word in any and every manner in which he found an
opportunity. Thus we see the perfect liberty which prevailed in the
primitive Church. The whole company, recognizing the talents of any
member of the body, might request him to render it a service; but its
request and his acceptance was in no sense a bondage—in no sense
hindered him from using his talents in any other way he might find
opportunity. Stephen, the deacon, faithful in the serving of tables,
transacting financial matters for the company, etc., was blessed of the
Lord and granted opportunities for the exercise of his zeal and talents
in a more public manner in the preaching of the Gospel—his career
demonstrating that the Lord recognized him as an Elder in the Church
before the brethren discerned his ability. Doubtless had he lived
longer the brethren likewise would in time have discerned his
qualifications as an Elder and expounder of the Truth and would so have
recognized him.
However, the point we wish to impress is the complete
liberty of each individual to use his talents as he may be able,
as an evangelist, whether by direct appointment of the
Ecclesia of the New Creation or not. (Stephen would not have
been competent to teach in the Church, however, unless
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chosen by
the Church to that service.) This absolute liberty of the individual
conscience and talents, and the absence of any bondage or authority to
restrict, is one of the marked features of the early Church which we do
well to copy in spirit and in deed. As the Church has need of elders
qualified and competent to teach, and evangelists to preach, so it has
need of deacons to serve it in other capacities, as ushers, treasurers,
or what not. These are servants of God and of the Church, and are
honored correspondingly; the elders are servants, though their service
is recognized as being of a higher order—labor in word and doctrine.
Teachers in the Church
As we have just seen, “aptness to teach” is a qualification
necessary for the position or service of elders in the Church. We might
multiply citations from the Scriptures to show that St. Paul classed
himself not only as an apostle and as an elder
or servant, but also as a teacher, “not in
words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but as the holy Spirit teacheth.” (1
Cor. 2:13) He was not a teacher of languages nor of mathematics nor of
astronomy nor of any of the sciences, except the one great science to
which the Lord’s Gospel, or good tidings, refers. This is the
signification of the Apostle’s words just quoted; and it is well that
all of the Lord’s people should keep this strictly in mind. Not only
those who teach and preach, but those also who listen, are to see to it
that it is not man’s wisdom that is proclaimed, but the divine wisdom.
Thus the Apostle exhorts Timothy, “Preach the Word.” (2 Tim. 4:2)
“These things command and teach.” (1 Tim. 4:11) “These things teach and
exhort.” (1 Tim. 6:2) Going still further the Apostle indicates that all
of the Church as well as the elders should see to it that teachers of
false doctrines, and teachers of philosophy and “science falsely
so-called,” are not recognized as teachers of the Church. The Apostle’s
recommendation is, “If any man teach otherwise,” etc., withdraw
thyself—do not lend support
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to that
which is another Gospel than the one ye have received, which was
delivered unto you by them that preached the Gospel unto you with the
holy Spirit sent down from heaven. 1 Tim. 6:3-5; Gal. 1:8
There are some, however, who are competent to teach, capable
of making plain to others the divine plan in a private way, who have no
capacity for oratory, public speaking, “prophecy.” Those who can
privately speak a word for the Lord and for his cause are not to be
discouraged; but, on the contrary, are to be encouraged to use their
every opportunity to serve those who have an ear to hear, and to show
forth the praises of our Lord and King. Then, again, we are to
distinguish as between “teaching and preaching.” (Acts 15:35) Preaching
is discoursing in public; teaching can generally better be accomplished
in a more private manner—in a Bible class or in private conversation—and
the ablest preachers, public speakers or “prophets” have found
occasionally that their public work prospers best when it is ably
supplemented by the less public discourses, by the more private
expounding of the deep things of God, to a smaller company.
The gift of the evangelist, the power to stir men’s hearts
and minds to investigation of the Truth, is a special gift not possessed
by all today any more than in the early Church. Moreover, changed
conditions have more or less changed the character of this work, so that
today we find that in consequence of general education amongst the
people, the evangelistic work can largely be accomplished through the
printed page. Many are engaged in the present time in this
work—scattering tracts and colporteuring the SCRIPTURE STUDIES series.
The fact that these evangelists are working on lines adapted to our day
instead of upon the lines adapted to the past, is no more an argument
against this work than is the fact that they travel by steam and
electric power instead of on foot or on camels. The evangelization is
through the presentation of the Truth—the divine plan of
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the
ages—the Word of God—the “good tidings of great joy.” According to our
judgment, there is no other evangelistic work today achieving so great
results as this. And there are many who have the talent, the
qualifications, for engaging in this service, who are not prepared to
engage in other departments of the work—many reapers who have not yet
gone forth into the vineyard, and on whose behalf we are continually
praying that the Lord of the harvest would send them forth—would grant
them to see their privileges and opportunities of engaging in this
evangelistic ministry.
When Philip, the evangelist, had done what he could for the
people of Samaria, Peter and John were sent to them. (Acts 8:14) And so
our colporteuring evangelists, after stirring up the pure minds of their
hearers, introduce to them the Studies in the Scriptures
as teachers from which they can further learn respecting the way of the
Lord. As Peter and Paul and James and John, as the Lord’s messengers
and representatives, wrote epistles to the household of faith, and thus
shepherded and counseled and encouraged his flock, so now truth
literature visits the friends, personally and collectively,
regularly—seeking to confirm their faith and to form and crystallize
their characters along the lines established by the Lord and his
apostles.
Many Should be
Able to Teach
The Apostle wrote to some, “For the time [ye have been in
the Truth] ye ought to be teachers, but [in consequence of a lack of
zeal for the Lord and a spirit of worldliness] ye have need that one
teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.”
(Heb. 5:12) This implies that in a general sense, at least, the entire
Church, the entire priesthood, the members of the New Creation, should
become skillful in their Father’s Word to the extent that they will be
“ready always to give an answer to every man that
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asketh a
reason for the hope that is in them, with meekness and reverence.” (1
Pet. 3:15) Thus we see again that teaching, Scripturally considered, is
not limited to a clerical class; that every member of the New Creation
is a member of the Royal Priesthood “anointed to preach,” and thus fully
authorized to declare the good tidings to those who have ears to
hear—each according to his ability to present it faithfully and
lucidly. But here comes in a peculiar statement by another Apostle:
“Be Not Many of You Teachers,
Brethren”
—James 3:1—
What does this mean?
The Apostle answers, saying: “Knowing that ye shall receive severer
sentence”—knowing that temptations and responsibilities both increase
with every advance step of eminence in the body of Christ. The Apostle
does not exhort that none shall become teachers, but would have each one
who believes himself possessed of some talent for teaching remember that
it is a responsible thing to undertake to any extent to be the
mouthpiece of God—to make sure that not a word is uttered which would
misrepresent the divine character and plan, and thus dishonor God as
well as do injury to those who might hear.
Well were it for the Church if all would recognize and obey
this counsel, this wisdom from above. There might be much less teaching
done than is now being done; but the effect both upon teachers and
learners would be not only a greater reverence for the Lord and the
Truth, his Word, but a greater freedom from confusing errors. Along
this line, our Master’s words imply that some will have a share in the
Kingdom whose teachings have not been in the fullest accord with the
divine plan; but that the consequent result will be a lower position in
the Kingdom than if more earnest heed had been given to have the
teaching none other than the divine message. His words are, “Whosoever,
therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matt.
5:19
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“Ye Need Not
That Any Man Teach You”
“The anointing which ye have received of him
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and
even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him.”
“Ye have an unction from the holy one and ye know all
things.” 1 John 2:27,20
In view of the many scriptures which encourage the Church to
learn, to grow in grace and knowledge, to build one another up in the
most holy faith, and to expect that the Lord would raise up apostles,
prophets, evangelists, teachers, etc., this statement by the Apostle
James seems very peculiar until rightly understood. It has been a stone
of stumbling to quite a few, although we may be sure that the Lord has
not permitted any whose hearts were in a proper attitude toward him to
be injured by it. The prevalent tenor of the Scripture to the
contrary—line upon line and precept upon precept—no less than the
experiences of life, are quite sufficient to convince every person of
humble mind that there is something radically wrong with the translation
of this passage or with the ideas that are generally drawn from it.
Those who are injured are usually very self-conscious people, whose
self-conceit leads them to prefer that the Lord should treat them
separately and apart from all the remainder of the New Creation. Such,
however, is in absolute contradiction to the general teaching of the
Scriptures that the body is one, and has many members united in the one;
and that the nutriment supplied is carried to each member of the body
for its nourishment and strengthening through or in conjunction with the
other members. Thus the Lord intended to make his people interdependent
upon each other, to the intent that there might be no schism in the
body; and it is to this end that he has exhorted us through the Apostle
not to neglect the assembling of ourselves together, but to remember
that he is specially pleased to meet with the Ecclesia, the body, in
every place, even if so small a number as “two or three be gathered
together” in his name.
Examining the text we find that the Apostle is controverting
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an error
prevalent in his day—a gross error which, in the name of the Truth, in
the name of Christianity, in the name of discipleship to the Lord, was
virtually making void the entire revelation. He declared this erroneous
system to be no part of the true Church or its doctrines, but, on the
contrary, antichrist, or opposed to Christ while claiming his name; thus
sailing under false colors. He says of these that “they went out from
us because they were not of us [either they never were true Christians
or they had ceased to be such]; for if they had been of us they would
have remained with us.” He points out their error; namely that the
prophecies of a Messiah were figurative, and never to be fulfilled
through mankind, and declared this a complete denial of the Gospel
statement that the Son of God became flesh, was anointed at his baptism
by the holy Spirit as the Messiah and that he redeemed us.
The Apostle’s thought is, that any who have become
Christians at all, any who have understood the divine plan to any
extent, must first have before them the fact that they and all were
sinners and in need of a Redeemer; and, secondly, the fact that Jesus,
the Anointed One, had redeemed them by the sacrifice of his own life.
The Apostle further declares that they have no need that any man
teach them this basic truth. They could not be
Christians at all and yet be in ignorance of this fundamental of the
Christian religion—that Christ died for their sins
according to the Scriptures, and rose again for their justification—and
that our justification and consequent sanctification and hope of glory
are all dependent upon the fact and value of Christ’s sacrifice on their
behalf. He points out that although it might have been possible to
trust in and believe on the Father without believing on the Son before
the Son was manifested, yet now, whosoever denieth the Son
of God denies thereby the Father; and no one can confess the Son of God
without confessing at the same time the Father and the Father’s plan, of
which he is the center and executor.
So, then, we today can see exactly what the Apostle meant;
namely, that whoever had been begotten of the
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holy
Spirit must first have been a believer in the Lord Jesus; that he was
the Only Begotten of the Father; that he was manifested in the flesh;
that he was holy, harmless and separate from sinners; that he gave
himself as our ransom; and that the sacrifice was accepted of the Father
and witnessed by his resurrection to be the glorious King and Deliverer.
Without this faith no one could receive the holy Spirit, the anointing:
consequently, whoever has the anointing needs not that any man shall
waste time in discussing further the fundamental question as to whether
Jesus was or was not the Son of God; whether or not he was the Redeemer;
whether or not he was the anointed Messiah who shall fulfil in God’s due
time the precious promises of the Scriptures. The same anointing which
we have received, if it abides in us, will assure us of the truth of
these things—“Even as it hath taught you ye must abide in him.” Whoever
abides not in him, in the Vine, is—like the branch cut off—sure to
wither; whoever abides in him is sure to abide in his Spirit also, and
cannot deny him.
“Ye have an unction from the holy one and ye all know it.” (Diaglott)
The holy Spirit was typified throughout the Jewish dispensation by holy
oil which, poured upon the head of the High Priest, ran down over all
the body; so whoever is of the body of Christ is under the anointing,
under the influence of the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord
is, it is unctuous, smooth, lubricative. Its tendency is to follow
peace with all men, so far as is possible, and so far as fidelity to
righteousness will permit. It is opposed to friction—to anger, malice,
hatred, strife. Those under its influence are glad to be taught of the
Lord, and so far from quarreling with his plan and revelation, they
readily fall into full harmony with them, and have correspondingly the
lubrication promised—the unction, the smoothness, the peace, the joy,
the holiness of mind.
Those who have received the Spirit of the Lord in this sense
of the word, bringing peace and joy and harmony into their hearts,
knowing that they have these as a result of the Lord’s dealings with
them, and that they received these
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since
they believed on the Lord Jesus and accepted him as the Anointed One.
This unction, therefore, is an evidence not only to themselves but, in a
considerable measure, an evidence to others that they are members of the
body of Christ; while those who lack this peace and joy, and whose
hearts are filled with malice and strife and hatred and bickerings and
quarrelings and disputes, certainly lack the evidence of the anointing,
of the lubrication, of the smoothness which accompanies the Spirit of
the Lord. True, we are not all alike, and the smoothness may not in the
outward affairs of life manifest itself so quickly in some as in others;
but very early in the Christian experience this smoothness should be
looked for in the heart, as an evidence that we have been with Jesus and
learned of him and received his Spirit, and shortly after it should
begin to be evident to others in the daily life.
We see, then, that nothing in the Scriptures opposes the
general tenor of the Lord’s Word respecting the necessity of teachers
and of learning the mind of the Lord through them. Not that we hold
that God is dependent upon the teachers, and that he could not
instruct, edify, and build up the members of the New Creation by some
other means or agency; but because his Word declares that this is
his means and agency, his method for instructing and upbuilding the
Church, the body of Christ—that there may be no schism in the body and
that each member may learn to sympathize with and cooperate with and
assist every other member.
We have already considered the fact that these teachers are
not to be regarded as infallible but that their words are to be weighed
and measured by the divine standards—the words of the Lord and the
apostles and the holy prophets of past dispensations, who spoke and
wrote as they were moved by the holy Spirit for our admonition upon whom
the ends of the age have come. We now call attention to the Apostle’s
declaration, “Let him that is taught in the Word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things.” Gal. 6:6
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“Him that is
Taught” and “Him that Teacheth”
This scripture, in accord with all the others, shows us that God
designed to instruct his people by means of each other; and that even
the humblest of his flock shall think for himself and thus develop an
individual faith as well as an individual character. Alas, that this
important matter is so generally overlooked amongst those who name the
name of Christ! This scripture recognizes teacher and pupils; but the
pupils are to feel free to communicate, to make known to the teachers
any and every matter coming to their notice and seeming to bear upon the
subject discussed—not as desiring to be teacher but as an intelligent
student to an elder brother student. They are not to be machines, nor
to be afraid to communicate; but by asking questions, calling attention
to what seems to them to be misapplications of Scripture or what not,
they are to do their part in keeping the body of Christ and his
teachings pure—they are thus to be critics; and instead of being
discouraged from doing this, and instead of being told that they must
not criticize the teacher or call in question his expositions, they are,
on the contrary, urged to communicate, to criticize.
We must not, however, suppose that the Lord wished to
encourage any hypercritical spirit, or combative, fault-finding
disposition. Such a spirit is entirely contrary to the holy Spirit, and
not only so, but would be very dangerous; because whoever in a spirit of
debate sets forth a hypothetical, or supposititious case which he does
not believe to be the Truth, merely with a view to confusing his
opponent, having a “debate,” etc., is sure to be injured as well as
tolerably sure to injure others by such a course. Honesty to the Truth
is a prime essential to progress in it: to oppose what one believes to
be the Truth, and to even temporarily uphold what one believes to be an
error, “for fun,” or for any other reason, will surely be offensive to
the Lord and bring some just retribution. Alas, how many have
undertaken to “see just what could be said” against a position which
they believed to be the Truth, and have been entangled and entirely
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captivated and blinded while pursuing this course! Next to the Lord, the
Truth is the most precious thing in all the world; it is not to be
trifled with, not to be played with; and whoever is negligent along this
line will himself sustain injury. See 2 Thess. 2:10,11.
It is proper to remark that the word “communicate”
is a broad one, and includes not only communication respecting thoughts,
sentiments, etc., but may be understood also to mean that he who is
taught and who receives spiritual benefits should be glad to communicate
in some manner to the support of those who teach—giving to the Lord, the
brethren, the Truth, of the fruit of his labors and talents. And such is
the very essence of the holy disposition of the New Creation. Early in
Christian experience each learns the meaning of their Master’s words,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and, hence, all who have
this spirit are glad indeed to give of earthly things in the service of
the Truth, and that in proportion as they receive spiritual blessings
into good and honest hearts. The question of how to give, and of the
wisdom to be exercised, will be considered later on, under another head.
Woman’s Province in the Church
In some respects this subject could be better considered
after examining the general relationship of man and woman in the divine
order; but in an important sense this is the appropriate place for its
presentation—the other concurrent views, set forth later on, we believe
will be found corroborative of what we now present.
Nothing is clearer than that sex is ignored by the Lord in
the selecting of his Ecclesia of the New Creation. Both
males and females are baptized into membership in the “one body” of
which Jesus is the Head. Both are, therefore, alike eligible to a share
in the First Resurrection and its glory, honor and immortality, on the
general condition, “if we suffer with him we shall also reign with
him.” Both have been honorably mentioned by our Lord and the apostles
in
[F_page 265] warmest
terms. Hence, any limitations placed upon the female as to the
character and extent of Gospel service, must be understood to appertain
merely to the present time, while still in the flesh; and must be
accounted for in some other manner than by supposing a divine preference
for males. We shall endeavor to show that the discriminations between
the sexes are along symbolical and typical lines—because the man
symbolizes Christ Jesus, the Head of the Church, while the woman
symbolizes the Church, the Bride, under the divinely appointed Head.
Our Lord’s love for his mother, and for Martha and Mary and
other “honorable women who ministered unto him of their substance,” is
very evident from the record, even aside from the direct statement that
he “loved” them (Jno. 11:5); yet when choosing his twelve apostles, and
later the “seventy,” he included none of them. We cannot suppose this
to have been an oversight, either—even as it was not by oversight that
the female members of the tribe of Levi were, as respected the public
services, ignored for the more than sixteen centuries previous. Nor can
we explain the matter by supposing that the females of our Lord’s
friends were not sufficiently educated to be used by him; for of those
chosen the record is that it was readily perceived that “they were
ignorant and unlearned men.” We must, therefore, conclude that it was
of divine intention that from amongst the “brethren,” only the males
were chosen to be the special public servants and ambassadors of the
Gospel. And here, be it noted, that this divine arrangement is the
reverse of the method of the great Adversary who, although ready to use
either sex as his tools, has always found woman his most efficient
representative.
The first woman was Satan’s first ambassador—a successful
one, too, in misleading the first man and plunging the entire race into
sin and death. The witches of the past, and spirit mediums, “Christian
Scientists” of our times, are all evidences along this same line—of
Satan’s propaganda through women nearly as marked as the divine
propaganda through men. Moreover, the divine program runs
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counter
to the natural tendency of all men to specially esteem women in
religious matters—to accredit to the sex a higher degree of purity,
spirituality, fellowship with God. This tendency is notable in the
records of the past as well as in the present, as evidenced by the
Egyptian goddess Isis, the Assyrian goddess Ashtaroth, the Greek goddess
Diana, and Juno and Venus and Bellona, and the Mariolatry which for
centuries and today dominates fully two-thirds of those claiming the
name of Christ—notwithstanding the most explicit appointment of man as
the mouthpiece and representative of the Lord in his Church.
Aside from its symbolic meaning, the Lord’s Word does not
inform us if there be other reasons for sex distinction, and our
surmises respecting the matter may or may not be correct: in our
opinion, however, some of the qualities of heart and mind which combine
in the noblest types of woman, render her unsuitable for public
religious services. For instance, by nature woman is, fortunately,
endowed with the desire to please and to win approval and
praise. This quality is an inestimable blessing in the home, leading to
the preparation of the numerous table delicacies and attractive home
adornments which differentiate a home from the apartments of old maids
or old bachelors. The true wife is happy when endeavoring to make her
family happy, and rejoices in their manifestations of appreciation of
her efforts—cookery, etc., and she should never be denied the encomiums
which surely are her due and which her nature craves and which are
absolutely essential to her health and progress.
But, if woman be lifted out of her sphere—so large and so
important that the poet has well said, “The hand that rocks the cradle
is the hand that rules the world”—if she gets before the public as a
lecturer or teacher or writer, she gets into a position of great danger;
because several of the peculiarities of her sex (one of which we have
mentioned) which go to make her a true woman and attractive to true men
will conspire under the unnatural conditions to spoil her
womanhood—to make her “mannish.” Nature has set the
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metes and
bounds of the sexes, not only in physical contour and hair-suite but
equally in qualities of heart and head—adapting each to the other so
thoroughly that any interference with, or disregard of, her laws is sure
to work injury in the end, however beneficial the changes may
temporarily appear to be.
The quality of approbativeness which nature
has so freely bestowed upon and which rightly exercised is so helpful to
her, to her home and to her family, is almost certain to become a snare
to her if exercised toward the public—in seeking the approval of the
Church or the world. Ambition to shine—to appear wiser and abler than
others—is a danger which besets all before the public eye, and,
undoubtedly, has stumbled many men who have become puffed up, and thus
have fallen into a snare of the Adversary: but the very womanliness of
woman renders her peculiarly liable, not only to herself stumble in her
attempt to shine, but liable also to stumble others; because such an one
getting off the track would be sure to be supplied by the Adversary with
spurious oil—by whose false light many might be led out of the way of
the Lord. Thus the Apostle’s warning—“Be not many of you teachers,
brethren, knowing that a man [who is a teacher] shall receive the
severer testing” (James 3:1)—would be still more forceful if applied to
the sisters. Indeed, the danger with them would be so great that none
were appointed to be teachers; and the Apostle writes—“I suffer not a
woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over a man, but to be in
silence.” 1 Tim. 2:11,12
This emphatic and explicit statement cannot, however, be
understood to mean that the sisters of the New Creation may never impart
a blessing by telling the old, old story. The same Apostle refers most
respectfully to noble women of his day as helpers in the
ministry. For instance, he mentions Priscilla as well as her husband as
“helpers,” or “fellow-workers.” (Rom. 16:3) This signifies more than
merely entertainers who had received the Apostle into their home: it
meant that they worked with him in his work—not merely in tent-making,
but specially in his chief work as a minister
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of the
Gospel. In a later verse (6) he mentions Mary’s services differently,
saying—“Mary bestowed much labor on us.” She evidently was
not a fellow-worker. Her services rendered the Apostle, and which he
wished to acknowledge, were personal services—perhaps washing or
mending. Priscilla’s service, on the contrary, is mentioned in the same
language as the services of Urbane (vs. 9). Indeed, since Acquila’s
name is mentioned after that of his wife, the inference is reasonable
that the wife was the more efficient of the two as a “fellow-worker.”
Tryphena and Tryphosa (vs. 12) are two other sisters whose “labor
in the Lord” is honorably mentioned.
Any interpretation of the Apostle’s words which would ignore
all opportunity for the sisters to “labor in the Lord” would manifestly
be erroneous. It is in the gatherings of the Church (whether two or
three or more) for worship and praise and mutual edification that the
sisters are to take a subordinate place and not attempt to be the
leaders and teachers—thus to do would be usurping
authority over the man, upon whom, both by nature and by precept, the
Lord has placed the responsibility of the leading ministries—undoubtedly
for wise reasons, whether we could agree respecting them or not.
The Apostle’s restrictions evidently related to meetings
such as he describes in 1 Corinthians 14. These meetings included the
sisters, who certainly shared all of its blessings—joining in the songs
and hymns and spiritual songs and in the prayers, by whomsoever
offered. The Apostle wished to inculcate the necessity for order in the
meetings, that they all might be the more profited. He urges that not
more than one speaker orate or prophesy at a time, and that all others
give attention; and that not more than two or three orators or prophets
speak at one meeting, so as not to give too great diversity of sentiment
at one session. Likewise any speaking unknown tongues were to keep
silence unless some one present could interpret their utterances.
Women were not to speak at all in such meetings, although
outside the meetings or at home they might “ask
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their own
husbands,” or, more properly, their own men; they could
suggest their views or make queries through those brethren (men) with
whom they were most intimately acquainted—their husbands, if possible,
or brethren with whom they talked on their way homeward from meetings,
etc. The word home in this text has the significance of
family or acquaintanceship. The thought then is, Let them
ask their questions of or through the males of their acquaintance. The
Apostle proceeds to say, “It is not permitted unto them to speak; but
they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the Law.”
1 Cor. 14:34-36
Evidently some in the Church at Corinth favored the “women’s
rights” idea, claiming that in the Church the rights of the sexes were
indiscriminate. But the Apostle not only negatives this thought but,
additionally, reprimands their audacity in thinking to inaugurate a
procedure not recognized by others of the Lord’s people. His words are,
“What, came the word [message] of God out from you [originating with
you]? or came it [from elsewhere] unto you, only? If any
man think himself a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord,”
and not merely my personal opinions, or crotchets. We, then, no more
than the Corinthians, are to exercise our own preferences or judgments
on this subject, but are to bow to the Apostle’s statements as the
Lord’s command. And if any one disputes the Apostle’s guidance on this
subject, let him be consistent and reject him as an apostle in toto.
It is proper in this connection to call attention to the
Apostle’s words when speaking of the gifts from our Lord to the
Church—dating from Pentecost. He says, “And he gave some to be
apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and
teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. (Eph. 4:11,12) In the
Greek the article indicates the gender—masculine,
feminine, or neuter. This text then is an excellent one from which to
decide how particularly the Lord through the holy Spirit drew the line
of
[F_page 270] sex
amongst the active servants given to his Church. What are the facts as
respects the above text; which gender is indicated in the Greek? We
reply that the article tous (plural, Accus.,
masculine) occurs before apostles, prophets, evangelists and
pastors, and no article at all before teachers, which apparently stands
here either for “helpers” (1 Cor. 12:28), or else is a comprehensive
term referring to the male apostles, male orators, male evangelists and
male persons as all teachers.
Let us here remark, however, that for a sister to call the
attention of the assembly to the words of the Lord or of the apostles on
any subject under discussion without giving her own views could not be
considered teaching, nor as in any sense usurping authority over the
man: she would, on the contrary, merely be calling up the words of
recognized and authorized teachers. Similarly for a sister to refer to,
or to read to others, this book or other of our publications explanatory
of the Scriptures would not be teaching on her part, but by the author
quoted. Thus we see that the Lord’s arrangements safeguard his flock
and at the same time make ample provision for their needs.
All may obey the divine command, but, assuredly, none will
comprehend it except as he realizes that in Biblical usage a woman
symbolizes the Church, and a man symbolizes the Lord, the Head or Master
of the Church. (See Eph. 5:23; 1 Cor. 11:3) As the Church is not to
attempt to teach the Lord, so woman, who symbolizes the Church, must not
assume the role of teacher over man, who symbolically represents the
Lord. With this thought before our minds no sister need feel slighted
and no brother may feel puffed up by this Scripture regulation; rather,
all will have in mind that the Lord is the only teacher and that the
brethren dare not utter wisdom of their own; but merely present to
others that which their Head sets forth as the Truth. Let us apply this
scripture (1 Tim. 2:11,12) to the Lord and the Church, thus—Let a church
learn in silence with all subjection. I suffer not a church to teach,
nor to usurp authority over Christ but to be in silence.”
[F_page 271]
“Let Her Be
Covered”
We have already pointed out*
that the High Priest who typified Christ, the High Priest of our
Profession, alone went with uncovered head when in priestly attire; and
that all of the under-priests, who typified the Church, “the Royal
Priesthood,” wore head coverings called “bonnets.” The teaching of this
type is in full accord with what we have just seen, for in the
gatherings of the Ecclesia of the New Creation, the Lord,
the antitypical High Priest, is represented by the brethren, while the
Church or Royal Priesthood is represented by the sisters, who the
Apostle declares should likewise wear a head covering as indicating the
same lesson—the subserviency of the Church to the Lord. The Apostle
details this in 1 Cor. 11:3-7,10-15.
Some have inferred that as the Apostle mentions a woman’s
long hair being given her by nature as a covering, that he meant nothing
more than this; but verse 6 clearly shows to the contrary—that he meant
that women should not only let their hair grow long as nature provided
for, but, additionally, should wear a covering, which in verse 10 he
declares is a sign, or symbolic recognition of being
subject to, or under the authority of man; symbolically teaching that
the entire Church is under law to Christ. The record of verse 4 seems
at first to be in conflict with the requirement that women keep silence
in the ecclesias. Our thought is that while at the
general Church service women are not to take a public part, yet in
social meetings for prayer and testimony, and not for doctrinal
teaching, there could be no objection to the sisters participating with
their heads covered.
Respecting this matter of perpetuating the typical covering
of their heads by the sisters, the Apostle urges it, but he does not
state it to be a divine command. On the contrary, he adds, “If any man seemeth to be contentious [on the subject] we have no such custom
[positive law in the Church].” It should not be considered a vital
subject; though all who are seeking to do the Lord’s will should be
—————
*Tabernacle
Shadows of the Better Sacrifices, p. 36.
[F_page 272]
particular in this as well as in other regards from the time they
discern its appropriateness as a symbol. The words, “because of the
angels,” seem to refer to the chosen elders of the Church,
who specially represent the Lord, the Head, in the ecclesias.
Rev. 2:1
*
*
*
Summarizing, we suggest that the most liberal
interpretation possible should be given to the inspired Apostle’s words
respecting the scope of the liberty of the sisters in the affairs of the
Church. Our judgment of this we set forth thus:
(1) The sisters have the same liberty as the brethren in the
matter of the election of the Church’s servants—the Elders and Deacons.
(2) The
sisters cannot serve as elders or teachers in the Church, because, the
Apostle says, “I suffer not a woman to teach.” (1 Tim. 2:12) This,
however, need not be understood to hinder the sisters from participating
in meetings not of the teaching or preaching kind; such as prayer and
testimony meetings, Berean studies, etc., because the Apostle says that
if she pray or prophesy (speak) it should be with her head covered,
representing her acknowledgment of the fact that the Lord, the Great
Teacher, is specially represented by the brethren. (1 Cor. 11:5,7,10)
Such participation need not be considered teaching; because neither are
the brethren who participate teachers; as the Apostle says “Are all
teachers?” No, the teachers or Elders are specially chosen, though
always from among the males. Eph. 4:11; 2 Tim. 2:24; 1 Cor. 12:28,29
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