In many ways the name "church" is misleading, partly because of a certain historical but
unscriptural meaning attached to it, and partly because the word is used in so many different ways.
For instance, a building where religious meetings are held is called a church; the persons meeting
there form a church; the denomination with which they are connected is a church. It is necessary,
as well as refreshing, to turn from these discordant definitions to the simple Word of God and
gather from it the truths as to this important subject.

The word "church" in our ordinary versions is a translation of the Greek word ecclesia, the word
used in the New Testament. "Assembly" or "gathering" would give us the meaning, which is at
once seen to be a very general term. In fact, it is used not only for the New Testament thought
of the assembly but, in Acts 7:38, for the congregation of Israel; and later, in the same book, for
a heathen mob at Ephesus (Acts 19:32,39,41).

We must therefore look for some passage in Scripture to settle the meaning and use of the word
"assembly." We find one which has all the clearness of a definition:"And hath made Him head
over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph.
1:22,23). We are in this part of Ephesians occupied with a risen and glorified Christ. He has been
raised from the dead in proof of an accomplished redemption and exalted to the right hand of God,
all things being put beneath His feet. He occupies that position not merely as the witness of eternal
redemption, but He is there as Head of the Church, which is His body. This is figurative
language, no doubt, but clear none the less. It suggests not only Lordship over His people, but
declares for them the closest connection, the same life, the same interests, and the same prospects
as His own. "The fulness of Him that filleth all in all" shows that through grace the Church is the
complement of Christ. As at the beginning, when God said, "It is not good that the man should
be alone; I will make him a help meet for him" (Gen. 2:18), so God now likens the Church in its
relation to Christ to a wife in relation to the husband_the complement, the rounding out (amazing
thought!) of the second Adam (Eph. 5:22-33). We would not for a moment hint that our adorable
Lord needed the Church to add anything to the worth, dignity, or beauty of His peerless person,
either as Son of God or Son of Man. In grace, however, He has taken her into fellowship with
Himself, and to all eternity she will be the vessel in which His grace, love, power, and blessing
will be displayed.

The Church, then, is the body of Christ. But how and of what is this body formed? Again
Scripture answers with the distinctness of a definition:"By one Spirit are we all baptized into one
body" (1 Cor. 12:13). "We all" means those who have the Spirit, and His baptism marks the
beginning of the Church. When did this take place? "This spake He of the Spirit, which they that
believe on Him should receive:for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not
yet glorified" (John 7:39). "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you" (John 16:7). "For
John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence"
(Acts 1:5). "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:4).

These passages show us that as long as the Lord Jesus was upon earth_until He was glorified

following His death _the Holy Ghost did not come. After His resurrection He reminded His
disciples of the promise_and used this very word "baptize"_of the descent of the Spirit; and in
Acts 2, at Pentecost, we have the promised baptism. Is it not clear, then, that the Church was
begun at Pentecost, not before? and does not this agree beautifully with the definition we have
been looking at? It is the body of Christ glorified; and when glorified He sent down the Holy
Spirit to form this body.

Until God called out Israel, He dealt with His people individually and in families. After the nation
came into existence, He recognized that as the responsible body, in connection with which all
earthly blessings were promised on condition of obedience.

God does not confound His dispensational dealings. When He took up an earthly people He made
all to center about them (Deut. 32:8). He did not forsake them in spite of their sad departures from
Him, as shown in the history of the times of the Judges and the Kings, but sent them prophets and
righteous witnesses, one after another, until there was no remedy (2 Chron. 36:14-21). Even after
the world power had passed over to the Gentiles, under Nebuchadnezzar, God restored a remnant
of His people from their captivity at Babylon, and_crowning act of love and mercy-sent them His
Son. Had they but reverenced Him, received Him, all the blessings promised to the earthly people
would have come upon them. But they put the capstone upon all their former sins by rejecting
their Messiah, and delivering Him over to the Gentiles to be crucified. In that act they forfeited
all claim to be considered the people of God, and all dealings with them as such, save in grace,
ceased. This is strikingly set forth in the last part of the Gospel of Matthew (chaps. 21-26:2).

After Pentecost, God began an entirely new thing. Once more did He appeal to His beloved but
unrepentant people as a nation, only to be answered by their stoning of Stephen (Acts 7). Then
the gospel began to go out to the Gentiles, and meanwhile the dealings with His earthly people
ceased. They are "not my people" (Hos. 1:9). True, the gospel is still presented to them, but not
as a nation; and in accepting it, they cease to be Jews (Col. 3:11), though it is an exhibition of
God’s grace to the remnant of His people (Rom. 11:5). As long as the Church is being gathered,
Israel is set aside as a nation until after the taking up of the Church, when God again will begin
to deal with them, and fulfill every word of promise recorded in the Prophets.

It only remains necessary to add that all believers since Pentecost form part of the Church. For
all believers receive the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13); and we have already seen that by the Spirit we
all are baptized into one body. There is no select class of specially privileged or intelligent
believers. All who believe are "baptized into one body."

If the Church began to be formed at Pentecost, when will it be complete? We have seen (Eph. 5)
that the Church is spoken of as the bride of Christ. The marriage has not yet taken place:that will
be when Christ presents her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such
thing. At present she is espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). In Rev. 19:7 we read
that "The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready"; and in Rev.
21:9, etc., we have the description of the glorious Church, complete at last. This is after the
second coming of Christ and before His millennial reign. The Lord’s second coming marks the
close of the Church period. The Church, then, is composed of all believers from Pentecost till the

coming of the Lord.

We may well pause and meditate upon the mercy which has been shown to us Gentiles that God
should visit us in grace. The whole character of His dealing has been different from that with
Israel. The cross has made us strangers here and at home in heaven. The Holy Spirit has come
down to tell us of the glories of our heavenly inheritance. Israel will yet have blessing upon the
earth, for that is her inheritance. The bride of Christ has other hopes, another_ a
heavenly_destiny. Would that she realized it more fully.

(From The Church and Its Order according to Scripture.)

"With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:2,3).

The Need for Diligence

The importance which God attaches to keeping the unity of the Spirit should be plain to every
Christian reader. "Endeavoring" fails to give the real force of the word employed by the Spirit of
God. The word "endeavor" in the ordinary language of the day is habitually applied to that which
men try or seek after, even if they have not a hope of accomplishment. They feel that they may
fail, but at any rate they try or "endeavor" to do this or that. Such is not the meaning of the word
here, but rather it is zeal in heeding and carrying out what is already true, giving diligence "to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." This shows that not mere effort to attain, but
earnestness to maintain, is the exhortation intended.

There is, since Pentecost, a divine unity on the earth; not the mere aggregate of the individuals
called by grace, but those now made one by the Spirit of God. This divine society here below is
not formed by the will of the persons who compose it, although it is to be supposed that their
hearts, if right and intelligent, thoroughly go along with the grace that so united them. But the
Church of God is formed by God’s will; as it was purposed by His grace, so it is made good by
His power, the Holy Spirit being the One who brings about this blessed unity. Hence the Spirit
of God for that very reason has the deepest and the most intimate interest in carrying out this unity
for Christ’s glory according to the counsels of the Father.

There are various ways in which the saints may fail to keep this unity; but there are two general
though opposite directions in which the failure may work, which are as prevalent as they are
manifest. The first is by setting up a unity larger than that of the Spirit; the second by making it
too narrow. There may be a worldly looseness on the one hand, or mere partyism on the other;
and the danger is so great that only God’s Spirit can keep us looking to Christ by the Word.

Too Large a Unity_Looseness

In the first case men are prone to enlarge the unity. They insist on taking in multitudes beyond the
members of the body of Christ. Oh what dishonor to that excellent name! I speak not of lack of
wisdom in judging who is or is not a true believer, but of the deliberate intention to accept, and
treat as belonging to Christ’s body, persons who do not themselves even profess to be His
members, and have evidently never passed from death unto life.

Such is the well-known principle of nationalistic bodies, wherever found, whether in England,
Scotland, Germany, Holland, or the like. They profess to receive all decent people in the districts
or parishes. It is avowedly a religion for everybody. There is no demand of life or faith or
evidence of the gift of the Holy Spirit as of old (Acts 11:16,17). A member of a national church
may be a true Christian, or child of God, but there is no possibility for him to keep therein "the
unity of the Spirit." (Ed. note:In the United States there is no national church. However, many

denominations act on the similar principle of accepting all persons who express some vague belief
in God and in Jesus Christ, without regard to whether they know Christ as their personal Saviour
and Lord.)

True Christians _ those who are separated to God by faith of the gospel, in the power of the Holy
Spirit, on the ground of the work of Christ; those who are members of Christ’s body_are the
persons who are called in the bond of peace to keep with diligence the unity of the Spirit, setting
their faces against everything which might falsify that unity. One may behave as a true child of
God; he may walk worthily of all respect and love. But if he owns the fellowship of nationalism
in any country, is it not clear that he is off the ground on which Scripture places all the saints?
Unquestionably those who own a unity which takes in the flesh on the basis of rites open to all the
world are on ground far wider than that of the Spirit, and cannot be walking in accordance with
it.

Too Narrow a Unity_Sectarianism

But there is another form of departure from the truth which may hinder God’s children from
keeping the unity of the Spirit. By misuse of doctrine or discipline they may form a unity not only
in fact but in principle and design narrower than Christ’s body. Are such on God’s ground? I think
not. They may openly draw up their own form of government, or they may have an understood,
though unwritten, system of rules which excludes saints as godly as themselves who cannot accept
these rules. Here we have a sect. Their decrees are not the commandments of the Lord, yet they
become practically as authoritative as His Word, or (as is usual) yet more so. What is it for men
to pretend that they have no human rules, when they introduce some unheard of conditions of
fellowship _ here rigidly, there loosely, according to varying policy or the caprice of their
rulers_for those who come within their range? Anything of this nature takes the shape, not
exactly of nationalism, but of sectarianism, which (instead of too wide or loose borders) rather
seeks to split up those who should be together, making their communion express their difference
from their brethren, and in no way standing together on that unity which is of God.

Under this head we find God’s children often scattered through the pressure of questionable and
even wrong discipline, or of unduly urged if not false doctrine. Some prefer a communion which
is distinctively Arminian, or decidedly Calvinistic. Some might press particular views as to the
coming and kingdom of Christ; others as to ministry, bishops, etc.; others again as to baptism,
the mode or the subjects. These ecclesiastical legislators seem not at all aware that their abuse of
these doctrines or practices is incompatible with keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace, they themselves being wrong, if not in their views, at least in the way they are pressed.

Intelligence no Test for Reception

Are we to require a measure of intelligence before reception of a believer into fellowship? Never
was a requirement of intelligence heard of, even when the Church began and the presence of the
Holy Spirit was a wholly new thing. Saints were received on the confession of Christ’s name, God
having given to all the like gift, His seal and passport. (Ed. note:This is not to say that all
Christians, whatever their doctrine and walk, are to be received. As Mr. Kelly mentions elsewhere

in his pamphlet, "God will not sanction in His assembly the allowance of any real evil whatever.
Evil, no matter what its shape or measure, must be judged as inconsistent with His presence who
dwells there. The assembly is the pillar and ground of the truth:how then can falsehood be a
matter of indifference in the house of the living God? There must be the disallowance of all leaven
where the feast of Christ the pascal Lamb is kept. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and
none can be tolerated, be it moral as in 1 Cor. 5, or doctrinal as in Gal. 5. If one called a brother
be characterized by corruption or violence, by ways wholly opposed to the truth and character of
Christ and to the very nature of God, he must be excluded from His assembly." We might add to
these remarks that there seems to be a principle in Scripture that association with evil defiles. Thus
there are three chief criteria for exclusion from fellowship:(1) fundamental doctrinal evil, (2)
moral evil, and (3) ecclesiastical association with evil. With regard to the requirement of
"intelligence," there is, no doubt, at least a simple measure of intelligence as to the character of
sin and as to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ involved when one repents of his sin
and puts his trust in the finished work of Christ for his salvation. But to require intelligence
beyond this as to the many doctrinal truths of Scripture before reception into fellowship is to raise
an unscriptural, sectarian barrier.)

Let us consider an example. Take the hope of the return of the Lord Jesus. You know how
important it is for Christians to be waiting in truth and heart for Christ from heaven; but would
you require that those who seek fellowship in the name of the Lord should understand and confess
that hope before you receive them in the Lord? Would not this be a sect? Be it that your assertion
of the Christian hope is ever so right, and that the person in quest of fellowship is ever so ignorant
on that subject; but who authorizes you or others to stand at the door and forbid his entrance?
Perhaps by entertaining some wrong thought, he may fancy that the Christian, like the Jew or like
the Gentile in Rev. 7, has to go through the great final tribulation. It is granted that he little
understands the place of the Christian by not seeing his union with Christ in heaven, which is
made known by the Holy Spirit in this day. Hence he is in confusion and knows not that the Lord
will come and take His own before the days of that terrible retribution which is coming upon the
world.

Is, then, the knowledge of truth or growth in spiritual intelligence to be slighted? In no way; but
it is false and vain to require either as a preliminary condition from saints who seek fellowship
according to God. Help them, instruct them, lead them on in both. This is true service, albeit often
entailing much time and hard work. The other is sectarian, and wrong.

(Condensed from Christian Unity and Fellowship.)