The church is not simply a voluntary association of believers who are one in doctrine and faith for the mutual benefits to be derived from worship, praise, and prayer in communion one with the other; but it is composed of men and women who have been reborn, regenerated, re-created, and made into new creatures in Christ Jesus through faith and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Christian becomes so united with Christ that the Deity identifies Himself with the church as such through the consecration of its individual members.
The head and the body constitute one complete unity, nor can they be separated and prosper. The church and Christ are one, a unit, with Christ as the head. Though the body is composed of many members, all the members become one by uniting in Christ as their head. They become interindwelling, and thus the church becomes perfected, united, and joined together, functioning like the organs of the human body.
The church is one body, composed of the head and body with all its members fitly joined together. Each member has its own duties to perform, its own particular functions, its own service; but they all serve the head, and the head directs and controls all the members.
The life of the body is dependent on the nourishment it receives. Christ illustrated the dependence of the body on its Life-giver when He said:
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples." John 15:1-8.
The church is fed through the indwelling and ministry of Christ through the Holy Spirit. It is perfectly united in Christ; and because of His presence and power in it, the church is a unit. The Holy Spirit is to dwell in each individual member of the church, and the member becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost. As the vine feeds the branch, and nourishes it with sap and food, so the Holy Spirit in Christ feeds each member of the church according to his proportion of faith and consecration. The severed branch cannot live. It withers and dies. The severed branch cannot bear fruit, for it has no nourishment.
Christ prayed for His church. Never was there such a petition as Christ uttered in His prayer for unity and oneness. The mutual indwelling of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the church, each in the others, is a oneness beyond our finite comprehension.
"As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gayest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me." John 17:18-23.
Unity Demanded
The church must be one in Christ. It cannot be separated, divided into factions and parties, but must remain one in Him. We all are branches of the True Vine, fed and nourished by His life. Thus we cannot remain nourished by the vine Christ Jesus and partake of the sacrament, symbol of Christ's body and blood, and be at variance with the church or any member of the church, without great loss to ourselves spiritually. Christ Himself had the Holy Ghost dwelling in Him, for He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, was led of the Spirit, and spoke in the power of the Spirit. Each child of God is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The life of Christ dwells in the body, and He dwells in each member as He dwells in the body. Only thus can the church as such carry out the will of God.
When a member willfully continues in sin, and separates from the church, which is the body of Christ, how can he claim still to belong to Christ? Does the severed branch belong to the vine? Does the sap of the vine feed and support the severed branch? What fruit can the severed branch bear? It matters not how loaded with clusters the branch may be when connected with the vine, if the branch is severed from the vine, that fruit perishes. It cannot ripen. It wastes with the severed branch and is cast away.
In God's sight the church is a holy thing. On it He bestows His special care and love. It is not a human, earthly structure. It is not carnal nor earthly, but spiritual. It belongs to Christ, and He feeds and nourishes it.
"God's love for His church is infinite. His care over His heritage is unceasing. He suffers no affliction to come upon the church but such as is essential for her purification, her present and eternal good. He will purify His church even as He purified the temple at the beginning and close of His ministry on earth. All that He brings upon the church in test and trial comes that His people may gain deeper piety and more strength to carry the triumphs of the cross to all parts of the world. He has a work for all to do."--"Testimonies," Vol. IX, p. 228.
The Church Must Be Spiritual
The church being the body of Christ, while Christ is the head, and the divine presence ever being in the church through the Holy Ghost, the church of necessity must be spiritual. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." In order to become spiritual, there has to be a new creation, and there must be a continual daily dying to self, as there is continual new life inflowing and indwelling in each member. As the branch must "abide in the vine" and draw daily from the vine in order to live, so in the church there must be continual abiding in Christ, with death to sin in every form, that there may be new life from God.
The church is composed of the life and spirit of each individual member. The life of the Deity, through the Holy Spirit, flows into the church as it flows into each member. Without this divine inflow, there can be no outward flowing of real spiritual life and power. As the individual Christian has within him a well of living, overflowing water of life, to water other souls, so the church is to be a fountain of life through which the life of God flows not only to its members, but also to those outside the church.
The church, as such, is to carry on the work of soulsaving, not under some fallible human being elected by delegated or assumed authority, even when regulated by codes of laws and legislation; but it is to be controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit indwelling in the church as a whole by each member's being filled with the Spirit. Order and moderation are to be shown by the church on all occasions, and in all things it is to speak only the oracles of God.
"Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 1 Cor. 1:30, 31.
"You . . . now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister." Col. 1:21-23.
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and bath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5:17-20.
When the church loses its spirituality, it loses its power; and so far as God is concerned, its authority. Its authority and power lie not in itself, but in the Holy Spirit which dwells within the individual and in the church as its habitation. The Holy Spirit is power, but we know Him as a spiritual power, not human nor physical. His wisdom is from above, not earthly, sensual, nor after the wisdom of the world. So the church, consecrated and clean under the control of the Holy Spirit, is a mighty spiritual power, and is God's channel of service for winning the lost to Christ.
I. H. E.
