01.11. ESSAY NO. 11

ESSAY NO. 11

Christ gives his church, evangelist, elders, and teachers "for the perfecting of the saints . . . till we all attain unto the unity of the faith . . . unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-13). There is a two­fold unity in this chapter. The unity of these verses is not the absolute, organic unity received directly from the Holy Spirit, treated earlier in the chapter, but a relative unity of fellowship, attained progressively by a process of growth. If this lofty goal of Christ-likeness at first thought discourages, let us rather be encouraged by the implied possibilities within our na­ture to rise to the energizing challenge. In truth, this goal is so high that its perfect attainment awaits Christ’s return; but the conduct of the church to be at all worthy of its high calling must show that the church is climbing upward toward this goal now.

Within the realm of organic unity, Christians are one, because all, born of the Spirit, share the divine nature and life; but within the realm of relative unity, they may safely differ, and of necessity do differ. The church has a divine, living, fixed core of funda­mental, common truth surrounded by a rich variety of individual differences. Unity in Christ is a symphony of many instruments under the harmonizing direc­tion of the Holy Spirit. Like the unity of a human body or of a tree, it is organic unity in diversity. Con­formity and regimentation in secondary matters leave no room for independent study and individual growth, or for mutual edification. Externally enforced uni­formity in such things is vicious in its tendencies, for it makes dependent, ignorant slaves to creeds and hu­man authority. Within the Christian brotherhood, saints learn to make decisions of this nature in the light of partial knowledge, to allow for honest dif­ferences of judgment, and to give and take without being contentious. Otherwise, truth and unity of fel­lowship are both jeopardized.

Protracted Babyhood

"That ye may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrines, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error" (Ephesians 4:14). In this verse Paul names the malady that retards spiritual growth. In a similar strain, he writes Christians in Corinth that they are still carnal babes, given to childish jealousy and strife. And although the Hebrew brethren have had ample time to be grown up, they are still babes, needing milk. That protracted babyhood was prevalent in the church of the first century, is clear. (Is it less preva­lent in our twentieth century?) But why so much arrested development? According to this Ephesian verse, clever, crafty teachers of er­ror, playing with the souls of men and using their art to seduce Christians and to adulterate Christi­anity, counteract true teachers. However, in writing to Timothy, Paul makes unstable Christians at least equally responsible with false teachers for lack .of progress in the church: "Preach the word . . . for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, will heap to them­selves teachers after their own lusts (desires); and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4:2-4). There are those, who "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7)—that is, professed truth seekers, never becoming firmly fixed in the convic­tion that Christ is "the way and the truth"—are for­ever looking for something new, even new revelations from God, because they doubt the finality of his reve­lation in Christ. Such can never grow up, but are doomed to be children perpetually, "carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men." These two classes—silly seekers with itching ears and shal­low teachers with itching palms and swollen egos— are between them accountable for the many vagaries, fables, and cults in Christendom today. Designing, false preachers and teachers, and double-minded, half-converted members have ever plagued the church of our Lord. "Can the blind guide the blind? Shall they not both fall into a pit?" (Luke 6:39).