February 1929
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I n t e r n a t i o n a l L e s so n C om m e n ta r y Heart of th e Lesson—K . L. B. :: Outline—David L. Cooper I
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vation is preached, regardless of differ- ences"cif interpretation upon the non-es sentials, there heaven’s dews distil on all alike. It is doubtless true that many denomi nations have no logical right to exist. Sev eral are practically without differentiating principles. Some have come into being because groups of people have found it easy to fly off at a tangent. Yet the fact remains that denominational Christianity has produced the finest type of character and civilization. A religious weekly has recently suggested a comparison between North America, “cursed with denomina- tionalism,” with South America, “blessed with a unified church,” Perhaps it is best, after all, that there should be many different types of Christian experience and faith that met together on the shores of America in the early days. Dr. W. F. Tillet in a book, “The Hand of God in American History,” points out that the different churches have influenced each other for good and helped to create and maintain that ideal of civil and relig ious liberty which is the crown and glory of our republic.. The contributions of American Christianity to world evangel ism, never equaled by any other country, are probably in no small degree the result of the formation of the various great evangelical denominations. It is our purpose in this study, how ever, to trace God’s thought of the church as unfolded in His Word. Let us lay aside, if we can, all preconceived nations and prevalent novel teachings, while we examine the Scriptures. On the authority of the NewTestament, it was the cross of Jesus Christ which broke down the middle wall o f partition between Jew and' Gentile (Eph. 2:14), and the resurrection of Christ that constituted Him Head over the church (Eph. 1 :19- 22). In Matt. 16:13-20 Jesus prophetically announced His church, the foundation stones of which were laid at Calvary and the open tomb. A few days later we see the church formed and in actual existence. The tangible formation awaited the ascen sion of the risen Christ into the glory and the coming of the Holy Spirit to earth on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). The Man in the glory and the Holy Spirit abiding on earth, are the two great distinguishing* facts of the Christian pe riod, having no existence in the prior ages. They give the entire character to the church period and definitely fix the begin nings of the Gospel church at Pentecost, Everywhere in the New Testament, the word “ecclesia” (church) is used as a col lective term for the “ealled-out ones,” and the church is defined as that body of per sons who believe in Jesus Christ as Son of God and Saviour of men, crucified and risen. This is the Saviour preached by Peter at Pentecost (Acts' 2:36-41) when about 3,000 souls were “added to the church.”
From the fact that Paul speaks in Eph. 3 6f the church mystefy as previously hidden but the'fi repealed to him, some have reasoned in recent years that- the church, as the Body of Christ, is not iden tical with the church of Acts 2, which they conceive to have been a “Jewish kingdom assembly.” Such a view, however, is not only contrary to the understanding of the devout scholarship of nineteen centuries, but a sad misunderstanding of Paul’s statement. Dr. W. J. Erdman points out that Acts and the Ephesian epistle were written about the same time (62-63 A. D ). When the events of the early part of Acts took place, there was not a full understânding of the “mystery . , . that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel" (Eph. 3:6). The mystery revealed to Paul, be it noted, was not the formation of a new body, but that the composition of the church was to ad mit believing Gentiles into the promises on exactly the same footing with Jews. Nor did Paul, claim a monopoly of this revela tion, for he definitely states that while “in other ages this was not made known as it is now revealed ” His holy apostles and prophets, like himself, understood it (Eph. 3:5). Long before this, a special vision had made this known to Peter (Acts 10). The fact, also, that Paul tells us in two of his episties that before his conversion he “persecuted the church of God” (Gal. 1 : 13; 1 Cor. 15:9) fixes the origin of the church at least as far back as Pentecost. When Luke, about the same time that Paul wrote Ephesians, sat down to write the book of Acts, he spoke retrospectively of all events as related to the church. “The' Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). “Great fear came upon the whole church” (Acts 5:11). After the martyrdom of Stephen, “there arose a great persecution against the church,” arid “Saul laid waste the church,” as he himself later confessed (Acts 8:1-3). At the council of Jerusa lem, the decision reached is said to be of “the apostles and elders and thé WHOLE .church,” (Acts 15:22), and on his way to Jerusalem Paul “sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church” (Acts 20:17), Thus we see that years before Acts was written, all the events narrated form a part of the once hidden purpose to form believers, both Jews and Gentiles, into one body, “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). There could be no temporal king dom until the church planned in the coun sels of God “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1 :4) had found its place in the world, and even the second coming of Christ is held in abeyance until the church is completed. Mark the fact that on the very day of Pentecost Peter intimated in his sermon that Jews as a nation were not being dealt with, for he exhorted them saying: “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
March 3, 1929. The Christian Church
Texts: Mt. 16:13-20; Mk. 4:26-32; Rom. 12:4-8; Eph. 1:15-23; 2:13-22; 4:4- 6, 11-16; 5:22-27; 1 Tim. 3:15. L esson in O utline I. Jesus, the God-Man, the Foundation of the Church. Matt, 16:13-20. . II. The Growth and Development of the Church. Mk. 4:26-32. III. Unity and Cooperation of the Sev- eval Members of the Church. Rom. 12:4-8; Eph. 4:4.6, 11-16. IV. Apostolic Prayer for the Growth of the Church. Eph. 1:15-23. V. Universality of the Church. Eph. 2: 13-22. VI. The True Pure Church, the Bride of Christ. Eph. 5 :22-33. VII. The Church, the Support of the Truth. 1 Tim. 3 :15. . — o — - | N these days of multiplied denomina tions and religious cults, it is well to re member that from the standpoint of the Scriptures, there is but one religion— Those who think only of the visible church are naturally solicitous to know which is the true church among all the parties in the world that lay claim to the title. They are prone to overlook the fact that the church has more professing than regenerate members and that regardless of the outward form of worship chosen, only those individuals belong to that true Church of which Jesus Christ was the Foundation Stone, who are vitally united to Him by the Holy Spirit through ac ceptance of the Saviour. Newman Hall has said that “the church is a garden laid out in many beds which vary in shape with the nature of the ground.” Some of the under-gardeners would like to make one large bed out of it, with one and the same border. Others advocate having separate beds but all of the same form, but cannot agree among themselves whether they should be square, oval or round. The differences of form will, no doubt, continue, however, until He comes who is able to bring all true believers together in a divine unity. In the meantime, may we not fail to notice that God’s bright sunshine and refreshing showers come on all the garden, not heed ing the fences that have been erected by men. Wherever the true message of sal God’s religion, thè way of the cross— and but one univer sal c h u r c h , com prising all who are truly saved by faith. There is a visible church within which there is a mystical church.
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