QUES. 5.-(1) Should every one in an assembly be clear as to receiving a person into fellowship before they are taken in, and (2) how should we act towards one who has been coming at long intervals to the breaking of bread for several years, and may not be seen again until especially invited when some new laborer comes along? (3) Should such a one be received the same as one who has recently seen the truth of separation, and for the first time acts on it? The assembly at– has written me regarding one of this kind, and I would much value a word from you.
ANS. (1) Most assuredly, whether in reception or in excision, every conscience in the assembly should be satisfied, and not only so but ample opportunity should be given for every conscience to be exercised by announcing beforehand the person to be received in such a way that all may be duly informed, and free to make objections, if they have any of value. So also in excision. The wrong-doer having been thoroughly investigated by such as are deemed most competent, a report is made to the assembly which alone, according to Scripture, receives or expels. If the reception or excision is made by one or more, and not by the whole assembly, it breeds division or it forms a clergy-such as act for the rest- either of which produces weakness.
(2) In the divine regulations concerning the Passover, which is typical of the Lord's Supper, we read in Num. 9 :10, 11, 13, "If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the Lord, the fourteenth day of the second month . . . but the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and for beareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people:because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season ; that man shall bear his sin." In the New Testament language this would represent a brother or sister who neglects the Lord's supper-if wilfully absent, he sins. For such are guilty of what may be called "contempt" of the Lord's table. For it is not the assembly, nor the ministry, which calls the. Lord's people together at the Lord's Supper, but the Lord Himself. He says, ''Do this in remembrance of Me," and by apostolic authority the first day of the week is the regular appointment for this (Acts 20 :7). Each one comes there at the Lord's request, to offer praise and worship as is due to Him, and a portion of their substance for His service. To have taken a place among those who thus assemble under such a call and for such a purpose, and then wilfully absent themselves, is insulting the Lord. It is using Him for our convenience, then denying His claims over us.
In cases of frequent or protracted absence the person should first be visited in a spirit of love, to see if perhaps there be illness or something calling for the saints' sympathy. If it be pure neglect however, a lack of heart for the Lord and His table, the word of God should be brought to bear on the heart and conscience, as Heb. 10 :25, and Num. 9 :10-13, which we have quoted above. If these efforts fail, the brothers' monthly meeting for the government of the assembly should inform the assembly that efforts and admonitions have failed, and the assembly should inform such as wilfully absent themselves that they are forfeiting their place among them and at the Lord's table, and will be regarded as "without" (1 Cor. 5:12, 13), unless their course is repented of.
Such godly discipline, we believe, might effect a recovery, and prevent others from following the same course, thus proving itself the way of true love. But it requires the courage of true love to carry it out. How blest are assemblies which possess pastors who Stimulate such courage. We should pray for such.
(3) By what we have said above, you can see that it is a very different case from one presenting himself for the first time. Coming for the first time is a godly step. Coining again without confession of sin after wilful absence, is making the whole assembly partaker of the sin. The Lord is exceedingly patient, but sooner or later He surely visits sin, whether in the individual or the assembly, unless sincerely repented of.
QUES. 6.-A correspondent complains of lack of proper care in the matter of Letters of Commendation. Though not sent in the form of a question, it is really a series of questions, and this accounts for its appearing here.
He asks if it is right for an assembly to give a letter of commendation to a brother whose course among them has been a burdensome one
ANS.-Refusing to give a letter would be practically saying to the brother :We refuse further fellowship with you ; which is the extreme of Christian discipline, and to be carried out only when all other forms have failed, or when some clear case of evil has been committed. A brother who does not come under such a degree of discipline and who goes elsewhere with a letter of commendation should be preceded by private advice to the assembly to which he is commended, telling them what the faults are from which they have suffered, thus putting them on their guard. Love owes this to the people of God. We should do to them as we would have them do to us.
There are some, alas, who are too ready to take advantage of Christian confidence and kindness. Far be it from us to discourage such kindness, even if it be abused sometimes ; but it is not right that persons who have health, and strength to earn their own way should receive what might be given where need is real.
The next part of the complaint is concerning a brother who had come from a distant city with a letter addressed "To those who are gathered to the Lord's name," without any particular assembly being mentioned. And though the signers of the letter were quite unknown, the person thus commended was readily received, but soon developed into an enemy within who labored to carry them away from what they held as the path with God. Was there no remedy against being so deceived?
ANS. The remedy is very simple :Let the assembly which gives a letter address it to the individual assembly where the brother goes, mentioning its location. If this is not done, and the signers are not known to the assembly where the brother presents himself, let them delay receiving the bearer of the letter until they have made inquiry from those who can give them the information they need. "Gathered to the Lord's name " is such good coin that it is being freely used by many who have no thought of sharing the responsibility of maintaining its integrity. Hence the need of special care. It is not a legal form to be carried out. It is needless where a brother is well known ; it is a protection which love is ever anxious to extend over the flock of Christ, for if we tread the path of truth we soon learn why the dear apostle, near the end of his course, called it "a good fight." The whole Christian course is a fight from beginning to end, from without and from within. Israel had no sooner set foot on the territory God had given them than 'they must begin to fight. At first conflict was from the Gentile nations ; later on, ten of the tribes proved as great adversaries as the nations around. Jehoshaphat who failed to recognize this, and to take account of the condition of the ten tribes, found himself repeatedly in circumstances unworthy of the man of God-to his own shame and God's dishonor.
Letters of commendation take account of existing conditions in Christendom, and are intended to protect those who desire to please God from what would interfere with that desire. They are a divine bar to the spirit of independence-a spirit obnoxious to God ; for God, who has made us " members one of another," even as our foot and our eye are dependent on each other, could have us recognize and carry out that same dependence toward each .otter, in -view of practical unity.
QUES. 7.-Will there be new birth during the millennium?
ANS.-According to John 3:3, without new birth no one can see the kingdom of God; there is no communion with God without it. According to the Lord's word to Nicodemus there must be new birth, imparting eternal life, or perishing forever, whatever be the dispensation-from the Fall to the great White Throne. It seems clear that some, during the glorious reign of the Son of Man, will fail of the new birth ; for when at the end of it Satan is loosed from his prison, he succeeds in gathering great numbers in rebellion against God. Men who are born of God do not rebel against Him. They love Him, and His Son, and His people.
QUES. 8 -(1) In Ps. 106:31 it is said of Phinehas that what he did "was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore " How is this in agreement with justification by faith? (Rom. 4:3).
(2) Why is Abraham called the father of (Rom. 4 :16) present-day believers? Why not men of faith before him, such as Noah or Enoch, etc. ? (Heb. 11:5, 7).
(3) If God is invisible, as stated in Col. 1:15 and 1 Tim. 6 :16, why are we said to have "seen the Father " in John 14:9?
ANS.-(1) Phinehas' action proved that he was a man of genuine faith who saw things with the eye of God, the same as Abraham when he lifted his hand over Isaac, or Rahab when she hid the spies The works of a living faith are a part of that faith itself, as the fruit is a part of the tree. Heb. 11:33 mentions such, who "wrought righteousness," and they will finally appear, as in Rev. 19:8, in the "fine linen" which "is the righteousnesses of saints."
(2) Because in Abraham was conspicuously manifested the faith which is in all true children of God. Death and resurrection- the hopelessness of his circumstances, yet an unflinching confidence in God for the issues-mark him above any other. It is with matters beyond all human possibilities that Christian faith is likewise engaged ; therefore we are children of Abraham. Other men of faith before Abraham were not tested to the extent, nor in the way, which made Abraham the leader in the great family of God.
(3) Col. 1:15 and 1 Tim. 6:16 refer to the seeing of the Person of God with the creature-eye ; John 14 :9 to the character of the Father as seen in the teaching and life of our Lord by the eye of faith; two very different things.