02.36. Assembly Relationships

Assembly Relationships

Having considered the Scriptural characteristics of a local Assembly of believers gathered on the only Biblical ground of gathering-the owning of the One Body of Christ-and to the name of Christ, the only divine center of gathering, we would now inquire as to the Scriptural relationship that should exist between such Assemblies.

Independency or Unity

There are two possibilities with regard to their relationship with each other. They may exist as independent Assemblies, as individual units responsible only to Christ the head in heaven, as some teach and practice, or they may function in unity with each other, carrying out collective as well as local responsibilities, as is taught and practiced by others. The question, in brief, is which of these two possible courses of action involving diverse principles is the Scriptural one. Which is the path laid down for us in God’s Word? Which path did the New Testament Assemblies pursue? This is the question that must be settled by the Scriptures, for two distinct schools of thought and action, so to say, have developed on this point among those claiming to be Scripturally gathered Assemblies.

One Body

First of all, we would reiterate what we have stated several times in our previous chapter on the "Local Aspect of the Church," that since there is but one body of all true believers, each local Assembly is the representation or expression in that place of the whole Church of God. It is a part of a great unit "The Church of the Living God,"-and therefore from this standpoint alone there can be no thought of independent Assemblies.

If each local Assembly is a living part of that great Body of Christ on earth, then there must be a practical unity and a working together in fellowship among all these local representations of that One Body, otherwise the truth of the One Body is nullified both in principle and in practice.

Looking at it from a natural standpoint, if a great international company has branches or local representations in many places they must all function together as a unit and according to unified principles with local adaptations. If each branch or local unit acted independently of the other. they would not function as one company; there must be common action and unity to be efficient members of one company.

1 Corinthians 12:1-31 teaches us the marvelous unity that exists among all the various and diverse members of the Body of Christ. "For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also (is) the Christ" (i. e. Christ and the Church) (1 Corinthians 12:12, New Trans.). "But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you . . . God hath tempered the body together ... that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it., or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular" (1 Corinthians 12:20-21, 1 Corinthians 12:24-27).

Just as there is perfect unity, common functioning, and dependency among the many and diverse members of the human body, so God has ordained the same for the spiritual Body of Christ. As there is no independency, but greatest dependency among the members of the human body, so there can be no independency among the members of the Body of Christ if there is to be proper functioning according to God’s mind. One member cannot say to another member, "I have no need of you.,, There is to be no schism or division in the Body of Christ. The Corinthian Assembly at that time was the Body of Christ at Corinth and members in particular of the universal body, the Church.

Now if the foregoing is true for individual members of the Body of Christ, does not the same principle apply to local Assemblies, which are but groups of individual members of the Body gathered together in one place? Assuredly so. The truth of the One Body admits of no independency whatsoever, individually or collectively.

Keeping the Unity of the Spirit Not only is there One Body, there is also one Spirit, and Ephesians 4:3-4 exhorts us to use "diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. (There is) one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling" (New Trans.). "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13). This is the divine unity which was formed by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and into which all believers are brought. We have all been made to drink into one Spirit. This unity is formed by the Holy Spirit and He has the deepest and most intimate interest in carrying out and maintaining it for the fulfillment of the Father’s counsels and the glory of His Son. We cannot break this unity of the Body of Christ which the Spirit of God has made, for it is formed once and for all and Christ ever sees His Church as one, no matter how divided it may be on earth. But we can fail to manifest this unity of the Spirit, therefore, we are exhorted to use diligence to keep it in the uniting bond of peace.

Another has written:

"`The unity of the Spirit’ is that power or principle which keeps the saints walking together in their proper relationships in the unity of the Body of Christ. It is the moral realization of its unity: and endeavoring to keep it maintains our relations with all saints according to the Spirit of God and in the truth.

"We meet with others in the name of the Lord, on the principle of `one body and one Spirit.’ We thus `endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,’ and we seek thus to be in the `fellowship of the Holy Ghost,’ who maintains the unity of the Body of Christ ...

"What, then, is this unity? It is the power and principle by which the saints are enabled to walk together in their proper relations in the body, and as members of Christ. It may involve my separation from one member because he is attached in practice, or religiously, to that which will not stand the test of the Word of God. It may call me to walk with another who is walking in godliness and in its truth. . .

"This unity, too, excludes individuality most fully. No one can take an isolated place. If he is called to stand alone in some locality because of the Word of the Lord, it puts him in communion, and on common ground, all over the world, in other localities, with all who are walking in such a truth. It excludes individuality, too, when together with others; one might be tempted to act in independency of other members of Christ-to take action himself, not in communion with the rest. It throws us outside every system of man, too, but keeps us in that unity which is according to God!

" . . . It is wide enough for all, because it embraces all in its breadth, whether they are there, or not. It is exclusive of evil from its midst, as known and accepted; to admit it would cause it to cease to be the unity of the Spirit. It is not merely the unity of Christians-which is the effort of the many to effect, often to the refusal of the truth of the Body of Christ ... God attaches unity to Christ, not Christ to unity! Then it must be true in nature to Him whose body it is; it must be practically holy and true (Revelation 3:7)." (F. G. Patterson).

We shall also shortly notice that there is a divine unity of teaching and practice laid down for us in the Epistle to the Corinthians by the Spirit of God. And this was not for the Corinthian Assembly alone, but for "every church." Thus, in order to keep the unity of the Spirit, there must be uniformity of teaching and general practice among Assemblies and a recognition of each other as being in this divine unity. There can be no carrying out of the "unity of the Spirit" if Assemblies stand and act for themselves in independence of each other. The truth of the One Body and One Spirit, then, demands that Assemblies stand on the ground of this divine unity and that they recognize this relationship of unity with each other and seek to practice it. The principle of independent Assemblies is therefore in sharpest contrast and collision with the divine exhortation to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace." It is therefore unscriptural and divisive.