COMPLETE BASIS OF ONENESS... (Culled from The Christian Church, Its Rise and Progress by H. M. Riggle )

COMPLETE BASIS OF ONENESS... (Culled from The Christian Church, Its Rise and Progress by H. M. Riggle )

1. NOT OF THE WORLD... "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." "The men which thou gavest me out of the world." John 17: 6, 14. Here is the very first condition of entering into the required unity. This world is all cursed and confused by the malady of sin. The fall of the race not only separated between man and God, but also broke the human family into fragments, bringing hatred and strife into men's hearts. Jesus, however came into the world and wrought a new creation. In it are peace, unity, and harmony. But no man can enter the new creation and still abide in the old. Hence it is no marvel that the mass of sectarians, who conform to the world in pride, love the world in covetousness, and run with the world in all its popular amusements and abominations, persistently cry:

We must agree to disagree;
We mortals cannot hope to see
The Word of God just all the same,

Until we reach a higher plane. Certainly not; but they need not wait for the future to bring the higher state. Let them repent of their sins, deny themselves of the lusts of the flesh, and be saved out of this world by the transforming grace of God; then shall they have met the first conditions of discipleship and also the first conditions of oneness. But in coming out of the old world of sin into what shall we enter and abide?

2. IN CHRIST ALONE... "That they all may be one: as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." Verse 21. This is an important condition and basis of oneness. We cannot hope to be one in any earthborn association, but we can and must be one in God and in Christ. They put darkness for light and light for darkness, who talk of joining some sect in order to be united. Every sect is a schism, and to join one is to partake of the sin of division, which is, as we have seen, extremely hateful in the sight of God. Of course, many have joined sects ignorantly, not discriminating between the church which is of God, and the sect which is of man; and our compassionate High Priest shows mercy to those who unwittingly go out of the way, provided they are only willing to walk in the light when it shines unto them. If, then, we are to be one in Christ Jesus, they who are saved out of the world unto him and abide in him, walking in all his truth and not allowing themselves to be enticed into anything else—these stand upon the divinely appointed foundation of unity and are free from the great transgression of schism. On the contrary, whoever professes the name of Christ and yet willfully enters anything besides the church of the Lord Jesus, will have to answer for the sin of division. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3: 28. “So we being many are one body in Christ. Rom. 12: 5.

What excuse, then, is there for division ? There is salvation in no other than Christ, and "ye are complete in him"—completely saved, completely kept, completely supplied, and completely unified. Since, therefore, we are commanded to "abide in him" and in him we have all grace, peace, and wisdom, oneness, happiness, and holiness, what but the will of the flesh and of the devil can lead men to join themselves to anything else?

"It is utterly impossible for anyone to bring the whole Christian body to this way of thinking," says the devotee of sects.  That is all true, and it accounts for the fact that every human institution has failed to unite all Christians upon the platform of its creed; but with all this admitted, there still remains no excuse for divisions. Man's inability does not overthrow God's ability. It still remains true that the Lord Jesus Christ "is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil. 3: 21). It was not man but Christ who "made both one [i. e., Jews and Gentiles], and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us"(Eph. 2: 14). The same salvation would utterly break down and sweep out of existence every sectarian wall of modern times. "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul.” He who, by his transforming grace, wrought this beautiful effect at the beginning of his heavenly kingdom on earth is able to give all who truly submit themselves to him the same "one mind" today; and, indeed, we shall show, in its proper place, that just now the Lord is gathering his holy bride from every ism under heaven into his own body and fulfilling prophecy in giving them "one heart and one way."

It is God's own doings, and man's inability has nothing to do with it. The work of unifying the children of God is no more the work of man than is our salvation. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

3. THE NAME... The third provision of our oneness in the prayer of Christ was his fulfillment of the prediction of Isa. 62: 2: "And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." Here is a clear prophecy of the transition from the first to the second covenant; from the Israel that was born after the flesh and was of the one nation to the Israel that is born of the Spirit out of all nations. The Jews as a nation rejected Christ, and the kingdom of heaven was open to the Gentiles. An entirely new order was then enacted, and old things passed away. The people (church) of God under the new covenant received a new name, which was given by the mouth of the Lord. The same thing is again spoken of in Isaiah 65. In verse 12 is an awful picture of the destruction of the Jews. " Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer." "And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name." Verse 15. These scriptures were fulfilled when the Lord Jesus said, "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the There are many reasons why the naming of the church is a matter of vital importance. One object, however, is sufficient to speak of here. Thus prayed the Man of Sorrows, "Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given me that they may be one, even as we are. " Verse 11, world. " "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name." John 17: 6, 12.

While men foolishly affirm that there is nothing in a name, the Lord God attaches importance enough to the naming of his church to constitute it a matter of prophesy. He excluded all men's attempts at naming it by preannouncing that it should be "named by the mouth of the Lord.”  New Version. The word rendered "through" in the Common Version is en in the Greek, and is the same word that is regularly translated in throughout the New Testament. Of the twelve translations that are before the writer all except the Common Version render it, "Keep in thy name." Christ fulfilled the prophecy by manifesting the name of God to be the basis of the church title, and prayed the Father to keep the disciples in his name, that they might be one as he and the Father are one. Therefore, even in the name, perfect unity is provided for. The entire church is to be kept in the one name, as a means of its perfect oneness.

Though other names are not the chief cause of divisions, but more generally have come into use because the divisions have been fomented by some factious spirit or false doctrine, yet? nevertheless, party names have contributed their share to the making of sects. To say that rival names do not help to divide and to perpetuate division is to charge Christ with nonsense; for why did he pray the Father to keep the disciples in his name, in order that they should be one, if they would have been one just the same under various names ? In other words, if oneness in name is not essential to oneness in faith, life, and spirit, why did the Savior pray for the former as a condition of the latter? We admit that sincere, humble children of God mutually cherish much love and enjoy some fellowship with each other while under sectish names; but such names are inconsistent with Bible unity, prevent its manifestation to the world, and become a wedge in the hands of Satan to separate and alienate. Yea, it is a fact clearly seen by spiritual men, that sect names are real idols that men worship and are exceedingly mad upon. But Christ has left no excuse for these names. In giving the one name for the church to be known by, he provides for her unity and condemns all divisions.

"Keep them in thy name." The holy apostles held this prayer of their Lord in profound respect. Let us see how they understood and carried it out. "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Acts 20: 28. "The church of God which is at Corinth. " 1 Cor. 1: 2 and 2 Cor. 1: 1. "Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. " 1 Cor. 10 32. "We have no such custom, neither the churches of God." 1 Cor. 11:16. "Despise ye the church of God?" 1 Cor. 11:22. "I persecuted the church of God." 1 Cor. 15:9. "Beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it." Gal. 1:13. "For brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. " 1 Thess. 2: 14. "We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God. " 2 Thess. 1: 4. "If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" 1 Tim. 3: 5. "That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God. " 1 Tim. 3: 15.

The word "church" frequently occurs without the qualifying part of the name; because, there being only one church that is of God, it was not necessary to designate it every time by its full name. But that men should not give some appellation of their own to the divine community, we find it twelve times denominated "the church of God, " according to the prayer of the Savior that it should be kept in the name of God, the Father. And lest men should ascribe this heavenly Jerusalem to some earthly god, it is once qualified in full—"The church of the living God." This excludes all dead fraternities of the dead gods of the nations.

The name chosen by divine wisdom beautifully acknowledges the various relations of the church to God. To her it is said, "Thy maker is thy husband." Is it not proper and right that the heavenly bride should honor her husband by assuming his name? Again, the church is the family of God; she therefore naturally inherits the name of the Father. Because of both these relations, to assume any other name is to insult the jealous God, who will not give his glory to another. "For this cause," says the apostle,” I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; of [from] whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Eph. 3: 14, 15. We have seen that the name was given by the mouth of the Lord Jesus, but was derived from the Father. This latter fact is clearly seen in the above passage when correctly rendered; for the Greek preposition ez is defined the same as ek, and signifies, from, out of. Hence it expresses the source or derivation of the name. It is rendered "from" in the Emphatic Diaglott: "For this cause I bend my knees to the Father, from whom the whole family in the heavens and on earth is named." Thus also seven out of the twelve versions render it. We should also observe that this title, "The church of God," acknowledges God as its founder, builder, and owner. It, therefore, not only lays an important foundation for the unity of all believers under the one and only Scriptural church cognomen, but also honors God as its author and possessor. Is there, then, no difference in a name? Would a title that does not indicate whether the church originated from, and belongs to, God, man, or the devil, do equal honor to God with that which ascribes it wholly to him!

The glorious institution that Jesus founded is a complete organization. Now, nothing could well take on regular organic form without designating its name. Therefore about the first clause of every constitution of earthly organizations, reads somewhat as follows: " This society [corporation or joint stock company, etc.] shall be known by the name of," etc. So when Jesus, the Son of God, founded his heavenly Jerusalem on earth, he put on record that this holy community should be kept in the name of the Father, and the apostles were inspired to word the name thus: "The ekklesia of God." In this one name her oneness is to be maintained. Whoever, therefore, imposes or assumes any other church title is not only guilty of disobeying the earnest desire of Christ, but also guilty of creating or partaking of the enormous sin of schism. This is a matter of no small weight in the sight of God.

4. THE DISCIPLINE... The fourth plank in the divine basis of oneness is the inspired discipline that the head of the church gave for its government. The Lord Jesus forever cut off all excuse for his professed disciples to usurp the headship of his church by presuming to make laws and regulations for their own government. In the very prayer that pleads for their perfect unity he says, "I have finished the work which thou gayest me to do." John 17: 4. By reference to Deut. 18:15-19 it is seen that one thing the Father required of him was to speak unto the people all his new covenant law. This he had therefore done. Yea, he saith, "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me." "I have given them thy word." John 17: 8, 14.

Having already shown the perfection and the infallibility of this divinely authorized discipline, we call attention to it here merely to show that nothing essential to the foundation of perfect unity is unsupplied. Had the founder of the church of God left her without a creed or system of cooperation, it might have been taken for granted that men were left at liberty to draft such rules and regulations as they thought best. In this case there would have been an excuse for different creeds and for the resultant divisions. But Jesus has forever excluded all who would be lawmakers in the kingdom of heaven.

"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. " Eph. 4: 4-6. What a beautiful picture of perfect unity! There is but one body, therefore to start another is to go out of the one; one Spirit, hence to admit another is to give place to the devil. There is one Lord; this ignores all the ecclesiastical lords and high officials that resolve themselves into a rival head and announce themselves "the law making power of the church." "One faith"—the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). By whom was it given? "The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it." Psa. 68: 11. This clearly defines the prerogative both of Christ and of all his ministers. As head of the body, he issues all laws. As simple messengers of the Lord, his ministers deliver and enforce his Word, without adding thereto or taking there from one jot or tittle. How utterly different the province of ministerial duty as portrayed in the Word of God from that disgusting, God dishonoring scheme of general and annual conferences and assemblies of modern sectarians, wherein men usurp the office of Christ, the "one lawgiver"!

There is "one faith, one baptism"; that is, the one faith of the gospel is publicly professed in the one literal ordinance of baptism. Hence when Satan infused party spirits into the disciples at Corinth, the apostle Paul reproved them by three questions: "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Cor. 1: 13. The idea is this: Christ is not divided; he only was crucified for them; and they all received the same ordinance of baptism. They could not be divided without going out of Christ and inventing a different baptism. Therefore it has come to pass that the modern factions "deny the Lord that bought them" and substitute the sacraments of Rome for the ordinances of Christ, especially wherein we testify our death to sin by burial with Christ in baptism. The Lord having given the same rule for all his disciples to walk by, and the Holy Spirit to guide each one into a knowledge of all this divine system of truth, there is here, again, no possible excuse for division. Neither Christ, his Spirit, nor yet his Word causes divisions. These are all the result of carnality and of subscribing to some tradition or creed of man. He, therefore, that subscribes to anything else than the inspired Word is guilty of the sin of division in the sight of Him who has made all provision for unity.

5. SANCTIFICATION... We now come to the great condition and all potent means of perfect unity. In the very midst of his quadruple prayer that we should be "one as he and the Father are one," he thus implores the Father: "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." John 17:17, 19. Here, we say, is secured to us the essential and all sufficient means of producing perfect unity in all the body of Christ. First we will trace the blessed cause and effect in its negative virtues. In 1 Cor. 3: 3 and Gal. 5: 19, 20, we see that factions, or heresies, are the works of the flesh, the fruits of the carnal mind. Entire sanctification destroys all divisions by removing the cause; for it cleanses the heart from all unrighteousness. But there is a positive part to this sanctifying work of grace; namely, the infilling of the Holy Spirit; the return of Christ from heaven in the power of the Comforter, bringing with him the Father. Thus his sanctified temples are filled "with all the fullness of God." The perfect cleansing feature of the sanctifying grace removes all carnality, which is the cause of division, and the all‑ pervading love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, brings all hearts into the same harmony that reigns in heaven, into perfect unity, as the Father and Son are one.

This is expressed in these words: "And the glory which thou gavest 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: 22. 23. The glory which he has given to the church and I which makes us one as he and the Father, thus defines: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." The unifying glory is the indwelling God; for "the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory" (Isa. 60:19). In Luke 2:32 Christ is declared to be, "A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." And again, we read, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you." 1 Pet. 4:14. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitute the excellent glory that Jesus bequeathed to his church. Who dare say that this divine fullness is unable to produce the effect Christ said it would?

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:18. From "glory to glory" we receive the glory of the very image of Christ; namely, from the glory of justification into the glory of entire sanctification. "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 2:13, 14. This very clearly shows that the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is the infilling of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. For our sanctification is "to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

This glory makes us all one as the Father and his Son. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Heb. 2:10, 11. Here again the glory and the grace of entire sanctification are spoken of as the same, and perfect oneness is its sure fruit. Christ and all that are wholly sanctified by him are of one, yea, of one Spirit, of one mind, of one faith, of one heart and soul, and all in "one body," of which he is the head, and we are members in particular. If, therefore, Christ and his apostle tell us the truth, we are forced to the conclusion that all who are not thus made one, and who yet plead for sects, are not sanctified, not in possession of the glory.

But let us hear the testimony of the Word once more: "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. " Eph. 4: 11-13. Here again this beautiful fruit of perfected holiness is recorded; namely, unity. The various gifts of the ministerial calling are all given of God, and all center in the paramount object of the perfection of the saints, in which experience they "all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man," a perfect body. Christ "made of twain [Jews and Gentiles] one new man," a new church; and, thank God, he has provided for the perfect holiness and unity of this church of the new covenant. The perfection of the saints is attained in entire sanctification (Heb. 10:14), and "the unity of the faith" is its inevitable fruit. The language implies two things: first, they are all brought into the one faith, the faith once for all delivered to the saints; second, they are not left in various and conflicting views and interpretations of the one faith. Nay, the "unity of the faith" implies one faith and a perfect uniformity in the understanding of that faith.

So we plant our feet on the sure Word of God and by its authority affirm that God has made full provision, in every respect, for the perfect harmony in faith, life, and teaching of all who honestly wish to know the truth and obey the same. Therefore perfect unity is a law and characteristic of God's church in its normal condition.

But before we pass from this point, we must expose the perverse reasonings of modern heretics. In one strain of logic they affirm that it is all right for the Christian world to be divided into so many different shades of belief and to have such a variety of church organization; that thereby the gospel has been more extensively spread and more people evangelized, because everybody can find a church to suit him And when the Word of God is brought forward to show that all God's people should be one, they seek to cover the enormous sin of schisms by saying, "All God's people are one." Now while it must be admitted that in the hearts of all who possess any degree of saving grace there is a measure of inward fellowship and a tendency to draw together, it is equally true that there is such a thing as the sin of division. Had not Christ seen that it was possible for divisions to be brought in among his disciples, he would not have so earnestly prayed that they should all be one. It is also true that although there are men and women in the various organized divisions who have passed from death unto life, they can only "live at a poor dying rate " while they are fenced apart by the party names and creeds. As we have said, the tendency of all who profess any measure of the love of God is to draw together and assemble together; but this very inward bent of the Spirit of God is denied this course by the control of party interests and party lords. And so the Spirit, grieved and hindered, gradually dies out of the heart, and the sectarian spirit only is left to animate the profession.

So, then, be it understood (1) that perfect unity is the order of God's church and his will in all that believe; (2) that disciples of Christ may be in a scattered condition in sects, and are in all the Protestant sects, so far as real Christians compose their membership; (3) that where separations of any kind are brought in between truly converted men, the church is not in the normal state, and spiritual death must sooner or later ensue to the body thus disintegrated; and (4) that the forming of sects, or the organizing of divisions, both destroys the church and prevents the salvation of the world.