Could you please answer some questions on what the scripture teaches regarding
1. Headship
2. Head coverings
3. The woman’s role in the assembly
4. Assembly meetings and meetings of the assembly
What is the difference, if any? Is a person’s conduct different in the two meetings, and if so, where would that difference be found in scripture?
5. Reception
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Dear ________
It is good to hear from you. I thank the Lord for the privilege to tell you of the “ground” that we seek to follow for gathering together in assembly fellowship. It gives me pleasure to point you to the Scriptures that tell us how God desires His people to gather today, for it is through the Scriptures that the Lord has shown us how to gather and we are therefore responsible to Him to follow those Scriptures.
First however, I trust you will bear with me as I mention a few things that I think may be of help in understanding how we gather:
(1) The ground or basis we gather upon is the Word of God. Any other ground cannot rightly be claimed to be of God. For “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17). The fellowship we enjoy is due to being of the same mind regarding the understanding of the Word as to gathering together. “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:2).
(2) The thoughts I express to you are my own personal understanding and conviction, and I do not claim that they are held by everyone in the assembly fellowship I am linked with. The reason I say this is because the fellowship I am linked with does not have a creed like the systems of men do that declares what we as a fellowship believe, and we do not believe it would be Scriptural to have a creed as a fellowship.
Instead we believe that each individual “man of God” is furnished with the words of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16,17), and Timothy as an individual was told to “Hold fast the form of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13). Notice it is not only the sound words but the “form” of sound words that he is to hold fast. In other words, Timothy was told to hold the words in the very way in which they have been written in the Scriptures, which shows the importance of using a good translation in order that the Spirit of God can reveal to us God’s mind.
(3) Though we are a fellowship, we are a fellowship made up of individual believers, each of which is responsible to the Lord himself. And it is individuals (not companies of believers) that the Lord calls in these closing days of His grace to be part of a testimony to Himself. As He says: “If any man” (Revelation 3:20), and “IF A MAN therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
(4) The “ground,” basis, or principle upon which we gather is “the one body” of Christ which is composed of all believers. The reason this is the ground for the gathering of God’s people today is because Christ reconciled Jews and Gentiles “unto God in one body by the cross” (Ephesians 2:16), and we are instructed to “Let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been CALLED in one body” (Colossians 3:15, JND translation).
In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Himself announced “I WILL build My church,” which He did on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God baptized believers into the one body (Acts 1:5; 2:4; 1 Cor. 12:13), and every one who has believed since then has been added to the church (Acts 2:47). In Matthew 18:17-20 the Lord shows that He desires that there be a local representation of the truth of the church, “Where two or three are gathered [by the Spirit of God through the Word] unto My name [and all that Name stands for] there am I in the midst of them.” The apostle Paul tells us of this fellowship in 1 Corinthians 1:9: “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
(5) The Lord has not only called the “two or three” (or two or three hundred as the case may be) in one local assembly to gather unto His name alone, but each local assembly is linked with other local assemblies that are gathered on the same principles. The assembly is NOT independent for it represents the “one body” of all believers thus only distance is to keep us apart as the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 1:2: “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.” This fellowship between local assemblies has been called a Circle of Fellowship, in which each local assembly has the same teaching — as the apostle Paul says: “As I teach everywhere in every church” (1 Cor. 4:17), and the same judgment: “So ordain I in all churches” (1 Cor. 7:17). A judgment made by an assembly according to the authority the Lord has given the local assembly in Matthew 18:18, if according to the Scriptures, should be honored by all the assemblies.
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Now I turn to consider your questions:
Of all the points you inquire about, “5. Reception” to break bread at the Lord’s supper (and thus to assembly fellowship), has especially to do with the “ground” or order upon which we gather.
Regarding RECEPTION to fellowship, we believe that the Lord has NOT given the decision of reception to break bread at the Lord’s supper to the individual who wants to partake, nor to the elders to decide (though they should give their judgment), but that in Matthew 18:17,18,20 the Lord has given this responsibility into the hands of the local assembly. “Tell it unto the church…Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven….For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” This is also taught in 1 Corinthians 5:4,12 where the gathered assembly is told to: “judge them that are within” the assembly, which of necessity includes those who DESIRE TO come “within” the assembly testimony.
When a person is received to break bread he is received into a circle of what we believe to be of God; into the enjoyment of all the privileges and responsibilities of His “name” (His character). It is where Christ is obeyed, thus honored and the blessed fellowship of His presence is known through the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
“Fellowship” means a community of interests and judgment. Where these do not exist, fellowship is not possible. But Christ desires to have FELLOWSHIP with His people and to TEACH them in the assembly as is revealed in the Scriptures. (A picture of this fellowship and teaching is the first words Boaz said to Ruth: “Go not to glean in another field” and find your fellowship with “my maidens”–that is those who owned Boaz as lord (Ruth 2:8). After Ruth had obeyed Boaz in this, Naomi said to Ruth in verse 22: “It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with His maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field.” The Lord has provided all the teaching and fellowship we need in the assembly where He is owned as Lord.)
Therefore when a person asks to partake of the emblems at the Lord’s supper, everyone in the assembly should be exercised before the Lord, and the whole assembly is to judge whether to receive that person to break bread or not. Everyone in the assembly should keep in mind that it is “the Lord’s supper” (1 Corinthians 11:20), and that it is the Lord who exercises souls to partake of His supper through His Word, as He exercised the apostle Paul to do so: “For I have received of the Lord…That the Lord Jesus…said…this do in remembrance of Me. etc.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). But we should also keep in mind that the Lord has given the assembly the authority to decide regarding matters of discipline, and reception is clearly a matter of the discipline of the assembly. Therefore we believe that reception to fellowship has to do with the whole fabric of the testimony the Lord has for His assembly on earth today, and thus is an integral part of the ground or basis or principles upon which we are to gather as an assembly.
The DOCTRINE (or teaching) about reception (or “fellowship”) at the Lord’s supper is found in 1 Corinthians 10:16,17: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”
— The “cup” mentioned FIRST teaches that there is no fellowship with Christ at all apart from His blood cleansing the individual from all sin. (Contrast this with the fact that the Lord mentioned the “bread” first when He initiated the feast in Matthew and Luke, and in the observance in 1 Corinthians 11.) The assembly must see evidence of salvation in the life of the one who desires to partake of the Lord’s Supper.
— The person should also “KNOW” he is saved (2 Timothy 1:12). A person cannot remember someone he does not know, and a person cannot have fellowship with the Lord in remembering Him if he is not sure he knows Him as His Saviour.
— The “bread” not only speaks of the physical body of Christ, but when partaking of it we are expressing that we have fellowship with the “one body” of Christ, which is composed of all believers. “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” We are not representing a particular church, group of brethren, etc., but the “one body” composed of every believer. For the Lord adds to the church daily such as are being saved (Acts 2:47).
— Also, the Lord’s Supper is an act that cannot be done alone, but must be observed with the “two or three” who “are gathered” by the Word in expressing “the one body” of all believers.
The person received must also have NO:
1. Unjudged moral sin in his life, because “a little leaven leaventh the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6). He must have a CONSISTENT WALK.
2. False teaching, because “a little leaven leaventh the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9)–He must have RIGHT DOCTRINE. (The expression: “a little leaven LEAVENETH the whole lump,” does not say that individuals in the assembly “MAY be defiled,” but that the assembly IS defiled. When Achan sinned, all Israel sinned and were judged–Joshua 7:1.)
3. Association with evil–a principle throughout the Word of God (1 Corinthians 15:33; Haggai 2:12,13)–He must have CLEAN ASSOCIATIONS. Secret societies are contrary to the nature of Christianity of which we read: “This thing was not done in a corner” (Acts 26:26).
1 Timothy 5:22 is overall instruction for reception: “Lay hands suddenly [or, quickly] on no man, neither be partakers of another man’s sin: keep thyself pure.” A person asking to be received opens himself to careful examination that should be made at that time, and the assembly should take the responsibility for the person’s walk from when he is received.
The way reception normally works is that the person tells one in the assembly his desire to remember the Lord with those who are seeking to represent the “one body” of Christ. The elders (or guides) then look into the matter and if clear before the Lord to receive the person, they announce his name to the whole assembly at least a week or so before he partakes of the Lord’s supper. This gives each one in the assembly some time needed to be exercised before the Lord, opportunity to speak with the person if need be in order to give information and express his judgment whether he should be received or not, and more time should be given if needed. If a person knows of sin and does not tell it, Leviticus 5:1 tells us that “he shall bear his iniquity.” Each individual in the assembly is responsible for receiving.
When a person is received, as with all discipline, the assembly decides and declares WHAT IS by known facts, and it acts upon those facts. Assembly action is not unanimity (100%), but the Lord’s mind–though care is made that no exercised conscience in the assembly is violated. It was “the many” in the assembly at Corinth that placed the wicked man under discipline (2 Corinthians 2:6). That does not mean that the assembly was divided, but that some were not properly exercised or were indifferent. Most cases of evil are clearly manifest to those who have a single eye.
Reception brings the soul into the place God has designed for His people to function together as members of “the one body” of Christ, in fellowship with Him for He says: “there am I in the midst” (Matthew 18:20). Those in the assembly should be directed by the Spirit of God through the Word for the exaltation of Christ and the good of all. Reception (as with all assembly discipline) is designed for the glory of God and the blessing of His people. We are instructed to “RECEIVE TO THE GLORY OF GOD” (Romans 15:7), and it is because of God’s glory that some may have to be refused. It is love for souls who are wrong, to refuse them.
Now regarding the other points you ask about I will quote mostly the Scriptures that apply to each:
1. Headship – We are told of this amazing truth in Ephesians 1:22,23 that God “hath put all things under [Christ’s] feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” The saints at Colosse are warned against “Not holding the Head [by disobeying Christ], from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God” (Colossians 2:19).
2. Head coverings – The instruction for women wearing a head covering and the man not wearing a head covering when “praying or prophesying” is given to us in 1 Corinthians 11:3-16. This instruction is applied to the assembly for it is in the instruction to the assembly in 1 Corinthians, but it is based on the headship given to man in his place in creation apart from the effects of the fall which is stated in 1 Corinthians 11:3: “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” Thus what a privilege we are given today to present Christ as man as “firstborn” of all creation (Colossians 1:15) as well as Head of His body the church, by the woman covering her head and the man not covering his in the assembly and wherever prayer and prophecy is made!
3. The woman’s role in the assembly – “If therefore the whole church be come together into one place…Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church” (1 Corinthians 14:23,34,35). This instruction is told to the assembly (not just to the women). It is not left to the women to decide. The assembly is not to allow her to speak publicly. This is the one exception to the general liberty in the assembly and is not a question of a woman’s gift or ability, but the question of order. The women’s praise, prayers, and judgment are just as vital to the working of the assembly as that of the men and women have been likened to being the heart of the assembly. But her sphere of liberty is in the home, in private, not in public. God placed the babe in her arms. Also, she has ability to reach other women and among the sick she has a special place with her gentleness.
4. Assembly meetings and meetings of the assembly
What is the difference, if any?
Is a person’s conduct different in the two meetings, and if so, where would that difference be found in scripture?
What has been called “Assembly meetings” are distinguished from other activities of the assembly by the expression “When ye ARE GATHERED together.” I have found four of these meetings in the Scriptures and they are for the purpose of:
(1) Assembly Discipline (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5).
(2) Assembly Prayer (Matthew 18:19,20; Acts 4:31).
(3) Remembrance of the Lord as the assembly (1 Corinthians 11:20,23-26; Acts 20:7).
(4) Ministry of the Word in the assembly through the prophets (1 Corinthians 14:23,29).
“Assembly meetings” are characterized by:
A. The women being “silent” during these meetings. The Greek word see-gah’-o translated “silence” in 1 Corinthians 14:34 means to not address publicly—-though she is at liberty to sing with the assembly (v. 15) and say “amen” (v. 16).
B. The Spirit of God is to lead in these meetings, and no gift is necessary for the functioning of the assembly meetings. Not only does the Spirit gather believers as a local assembly, for they “are gathered” (Matthew 18:20) by the Spirit through the Word, but also as gathered the Spirit “helps” in prayer (Romans 8:26), etc. through our spirits being in tune with Him as directed by the Word. “I will sing with the spirit, etc.” (1 Corinthians 14:15).
We are told that no gift is necessary in the assembly meetings because in the meeting for:
(1) DISCIPLINE–He that is least esteemed is to judge (1 Cor. 6:4).
(2) PRAYER–Prayer is the very breath of the Christian (Acts 9:11).
(3) THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE LORD–“We worship by God’s Spirit” (Phil. 3:3, JND).
(4) THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD BY THE PROPHETS—-Not only those gifted to minister the Word publicly but “all” the men in the assembly may be led by the Spirit to prophesy one by one (1 Corinthians 14:31), though only two or three are to speak at each of these special meetings. These special meetings of the assembly are designed for the assembly to receive a word from the Lord for the time for the needs of the saints (1 Corinthians 14:29,3).
Since these four gatherings are the only meetings that the Scriptures specifically direct the assembly to have, any other activities the local assembly may decide to have must be placed into the hands of individuals who are exercised to do those activities. These individuals are responsible to do them (not for the assembly but) for the Lord as directed by Him, in service to Him, and they should use any spiritual gifts the Lord has given them in doing these activities. In fact, gifts are needed and appreciated when conducting these activities. For example: The assembly may desire to have a gospel meeting. This would provide an opportunity for the exercise of the gift of the evangelist. In a Bible study and in a Sunday school is where the gift of the teacher is appreciated, but I believe that none of these activities are assembly meetings in the sense that we “are gathered” by the Spirit of God by the Word to conduct them as is true of the four meetings above—even though these activities may be held in the assembly meeting hall.
As to any difference in a person’s conduct between during the “Assembly meetings” and the “Activities of the assembly,” the Scriptures indicate that this is determined by whether the activity is public, and if men are present. A woman is not “to usurp authority over the man” (1 Timothy 2:12), but she is to teach children and other women (Titus 2:3,4) as in the Sunday school.
We trust this may be of help.
Dave Johnson