04.35. LESSON 35

LESSON 35

"As we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office: so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and several members one of another" (Romans 12:4-5). The Holy Spirit, because we are all branches of one Vine, Christ, who shares his life with us, thus constituting Christian unity, in these verses stresses our mutual interrelationship and interdependence. To make these spiritual relationships more realistic and practical, Paul repeatedly uses the analogy of the human body (1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Ephesians 4:1-32; Colossians 1:1-29) with all of its amazing perfection, without deficiency or redundancy, of unity in the midst of diversity. As in the body there are no gift-less, useless members, and as each member has its own particular gift, so is Christ; as in the functioning of the body as a unit each member does its own work, and supplements all other members, so is the church. Thus Christians are, so to speak, organs of one another. For example, if I cannot lead singing in the assembly, my brother who can is my organ of song, whom I must love and help, not envy and disparage. I have grace, faith, and gift to fill only my own office, and can never work in the measure of another’s faith, gift, and aptitude—each key fits its own lock. Paul teaches in the context of, "But now are there many members, but one body" (1 Corinthians 12:20), that unity in diversity is equally essential in the body and in the church—both are so constituted. Herein lies the possibility of mutual edification, as in music, "Distinct melodies breathed by different voices constitute full harmony." But nothing can be more deadly to divine Christian unity than the substitute, synthetic, uniformity, built upon human authority, written or oral, and social bias and pressure. Not until we think "soberly" of our talents—neither flaunt nor bury them—and possess the cardinal Christian virtue, humility, can our self-sufficient, egotism ("mistaken nonentity") and envy break down and make possible the presenting of our bodies to God. Only when we do this, however, the ambitions and lusts of the flesh may be superseded by nine-fold fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Romans 12:9-21 As a spontaneous sketch of the fairest graces of personal behavior toward others, growing out of the master principles of Christian love, this Scripture is unrivaled. It comprises a cluster of some two dozen specific exhortations, running counter to the instincts of human nature, to act in nobly unselfish love "Toward all men, especially toward them that are of the household of the faith." The Greeks wrote of wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice, but of nothing similar to the Christian traits of lowliness, tenderness, sympathy, kindness, forgiveness, peaceableness, and general largeness of soul that pervade these verses. Our difficulty lies not in understanding, but in obeying, the requirements of this passage. A basic mistake, I think, is we expect the flesh by the process of education to evolve into Christianity, whereas Paul says, "They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh" (Galatians 5:24). In writing this compendium of Christian virtues, Paul assumes that his readers "have no confidence in the flesh" (Php 3:3), for he has already taught them: "In my flesh dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not... The mind of the flesh is enmity against God... they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 12:7-8). "Fleshly Christian" is a contradiction of terms. The unwillingness of the flesh to die has ever been the tragedy of the church.

Digging down to the deepest roots of Christianity on the human side, Christ gave Nicodemus to understand that his flesh was so polluted that it would have to be discarded, and a new start, involving such a radical change in him that lie called it being "born anew" (John 3:1-36), must be made Paul says the man who has been so born is "a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17), and that his former life is "but refuse" (Php 3:8). If Nicodemus ever was born again, he became one of the "babes in Christ" and possessed for the first time spiritual life which is imparted by God in this spiritual birth. Only then, could he judge the values of life as God judges them, and live a spiritual life. Could he have attained this new order of life by developing his flesh, "Then Christ died for naught" (Galatians 2:21).

Love in Action The world is built upon a cross. "The love at the heart of the universe is a stern, splendid thing, deep and tragic." Without stern aspects nothing nobler than facile good nature and unrighteous indifference to sin is possible. In both God and man, love embodies wrath—the two constituting holiness. Love may have to be "grievous" in order to yield "peaceable fruit" afterward. Only the love that is strong enough to abhor evil can cleave to the good. Honest love hates the evil even in friends, and loves the good even in enemies—"rejoiceth with the truth." When both truth and peace cannot be kept, let peace go.

Only lowly Christian love is capable of honoring others before self. In times of suffering and trouble, patience with her "perfect work," hope that "putteth not to shame," and love that "never faileth" unite to compound the best soul tonic. "Little minds are too much hurt by little things." An unknown brother’s trouble is a letter of introduction to his brethren. Prayer is such a simple thing that a child can pray, and yet it involves such profundity and mystery that mature saints thank God for the privilege and boon of prayer without understanding philosophy of prayer. Love enters into the joys and sorrows of others. It is easy to weep with the weeping, but it takes a heavenly spirit and a large, rich nature to rejoice with those in success and happiness. What is more moving than the tears of a strong man? "A good man weeps easily, the better, the easier." One who is not very kind is not very spiritual.

Christians having equal minds toward all, keeping in harmony with one another, affecting not high things but living in sympathy with the lowly (many early Christians were slaves), and practicing scrupulous honesty are the best examples of the fine art of living together, and prove that of all institutions on earth "The church is the noblest school of courtesy." Only the church knows the full meaning of love, fraternity, equality, freedom, and peace. Were Christians only Christian, unloving, over-bearing self-confidence and self-assertion, the thing against which this chapter forewarns, could never be among brethren.

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