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Christ Is All
by Stephen TyngIn Christ
Chapter XI
Oneness in Christ
We have passed through many of the attributes of the members of Christ, in their present state of grace. We cannot better conclude this portion of our subject than by dwelling a little, upon their complete oneness in Christ, in whom they are. The Saviour's purpose and prayer for his disciples was, that they might be one. One, in the strictest and most entire sense in which intelligent and independent beings could be united;--"as thou Father in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us." That His real disciples are therefore one, and must always be one, in the sense to which His mind was directed in this prayer, cannot be doubted, without questioning His ability to accomplish the result for which He prayed, and thus unsettling the whole stability and prospect of the Gospel and the church of God. That His Gospel is really adapted and competent in the ministration of the Holy Spirit, to produce this projected unity, can no more be questioned, without denying the Saviour's ability to frame an instrument, competent and adapted to attain the end which He desired and proposed.
The Apostle Paul lays down the principle that unity is the mark of true religion;--and that unity in true religion is the work of God, the mark of God's people, and the proper object of pursuit, for those who would honour Him, and build up His spiritual church. On the other hand, divisions among the professed supporters of the Gospel, are represented as carnal in their origin and influence, and conformed only to the will and habits of men, in the course to which they lead. This religious unity among men, is the end, to which the real operation of the Gospel tends. And wherever the Gospel rules alone, unmolested and unperverted by earthly influence, and the corrupting plans of men, the actual result of its operation, is this unity of which the Apostle speaks. Wherever there are seen and found, divisions in opposition to this Christian oneness, and envying and strife attending upon these divisions, and arising out of them; they are, and they are to be considered, the evidence of the interference of another power, entirely diverse from that of the Gospel, and operating in direct opposition to it. If, among any bodies of professed Christians, or within any such body separately considered, there be divisions, envying and strife, we are therefore authorized to say of them, "they are carnal, and walk as men." But in considering this subject, it is important to inquire, what is the testimony of facts in this case? Has this Gospel ever produced among men, any thing which may be considered as the unity here specified? Is there such an oneness within our reach, as a visible and practicable object of pursuit? These are questions involving much that is of great practical consequence to us. As such, I would consider them.
What is this oneness in Christ to which we refer?
It is most evidently, not a mere intellectual unity; an agreement however perfect, in every view of religious doctrine; that is, an entire uniformity of religious sentiment. Such an unity as this, is not possible among unequal minds. Unless every single mind is supposed to have attained an entire, and an equally perfect view of religious truth, it is impossible to imagine an entire uniformity of religious sentiments pervading them.. Every step in the progress of spiritual study and acquirement opens, not only new truths to view, but, also, which is a fact of equal consequence, new relations of actual truths to each other. There is an intellectual perspective, as well as a physical one ; in the opening of which, as the mind proceeds on its journey in science, the whole landscape continually changes; distances, proportions, relations successively come forth to view; past impressions are relinquished, and new ones are received; judgments formed upon partial consideration are renounced, and general convictions including and modifying them in every variety of shape are formed. There are involved in the very progress of the mind in the study of the Gospel, new conceptions of truth, and varying conceptions of the truth every day.
Light after light, well used, they shall attain.
Even the angels above cannot be said to agree in a perfect intellectual unity. They are ever studying, learning, mutually imparting, and acquiring. They are of necessity therefore, changing their conclusions, and their views of truth, the partial for general, and the superficial for deeper, at every step. If this were not so, learning and study would be idle, and without an object. It cannot be said of any inferior minds, unless we suppose them to be perfectly equal in their powers, and in the progress of their attainments, that they can thus perfectly agree. While any thing remains to be learned, new conclusions, perhaps very different conclusions, are still to be formed and to be expressed. An omniscient mind alone can understand all truth. "The unity required in the church," says Bishop Stillingfleet, "is not an unity of judgment and apprehension among the members of it, which, though it be their duty to endeavour after, yet is no further attainable by man's endeavours, than Adamic perfection is. And unio Christianorum in this sense, is one of the jewels belonging to the crown of heaven."
This intellectual equality, without which there can be no intellectual uniformity, would not be desirable, even if it were possible. Its necessary result would be a tame and uninteresting identity of minds, constituting the whole race in fact, but a single individual. It. would destroy the chief beauty of the intelligent world; breaking up that whole variety of construction and display, which in minds as in matter, forms a yet more glorious harmony, from the very diversity in which its individuals shine. It would close that opened heavenly way which now directs
Our knowledge, and the scale of nature sets
From centre to circumference, whereon
In contemplation of created things
By steps we may ascend to God.
As it annihilated the beauty, so would it overturn much of the mutual benevolence of intelligent beings. It would constitute an entire independence of minds upon each other; making all to know as much as any; calling into being an indifference to others, and a selfish satisfaction and complacency, for which no uniformity of sentiment, or agreement in opinion, could ever be considered an adequate compensation. Vainly therefore, do men strive for, and insist upon, this perfect similarity of opinion and judgment, as the intended unity of the Christian church. Had this been the point divinely proposed and appointed, the Bible would have been a simple catena of articles, like the ancient Creeds; articles to be imposed upon all, and to be received by all; articles without which there could be no salvation; less than which would have been infidelity, more than which additions of man's device. God be praised, His blessed Bible is no iron mask like this. It is full of divine instruction, with which the diligent soul shall be made fat. But its blessings are to descend. only upon those who read, and study, and meditate; who are not only learning, but also coming to the knowledge of the truth. And the discovered width and depth of the stream of light, and knowledge, is regulated by the distance we travel along its heavenly banks, and. the zeal with which we attempt to ford it; presenting unceasing encouragement to those who labour to understand, and to stand perfect in all the will of God.
This religious unity is as evidently, not a mere external, apparent unity of profession and name,--a oneness of temporary discipline, and outward type. Such an unity as this, an universal form, without a co-ordinate entire intellectual unity delighting to express itself through this form, would be an intolerable burden. Outward union of religious form is the creature of mere earthly power and arrangement, and it must perish, and pass away with the earth from which it springs. It may be valued as an expression of truth, for the inferior purposes to which it may be made subservient, and which it is able to promote. But it cannot justly be considered as any thing beyond an incident, however occasionally of increased importance, in the spiritual and abiding system of Gospel truth.
The very condition of man on earth renders the actual perfection of such an outward union in discipline and appearance, excluding all variety, utterly impossible. The changes in human generations and circumstances, as man passes on through successive steps in the history and destiny of his race, must continually tend to break it up. To say that these necessary changes only break up certain less important parts of this discipline, but, leave its fundamental substratum of authority and requisition still entire, is an assertion wholly arbitrary, and a weak begging of the whole question. If God has appointed an entire oneness in the circumstances of outward religious discipline, as man's absolute duty under the Gospel, as he did under the Law, it is not for man to speculate upon the comparative importance of its various impositions. The bell and the pomegranate are of as much importance, and clothed with as much authority, in such a system, as the Temple and the veil. The Jewish system of religion was necessarily local. And any Judaizing of the Gospel, to cramp it up in an unyielding outward shape of ministration and observance, of equal necessity localizes and limits it.
No mere outward imposition, unless it be of the simplest character, can be unvaryingly preached to every creature. Had this external uniformity been the Lord's plan of oneness for His people under the Gospel, He would have laid down exactly, the outward system, to which it might be possible to conform all the declaration and nations of men, to whom His Gospel was to be proclaimed. And wherever such an arrangement of ordinances had. been established and proclaimed by Him, the very omission of every point beyond it, becomes the strongest declaration that in this relation, such points were merely incidents and not essentials. This our God and Saviour has done, in setting up a living ministry of men to preach His word, and two outward rites as marks and professions of those who embrace it. Beyond this, men may go in the expediency of circumstances, not in the authority of absolute imposition.
The attempt to carry out such an outward system in every possible application, and to make a mere uniformity of circumstances and outward condition the desired oneness of the church of God, has been Satan's imitation of the spiritual kingdom of the Lord, and the spiritual communion over which He reigns, in that perfection of his craft for man's destruction, the system of Anti-Christian Rome. All such impositions, set forth and received, as the required unity of the church, must be the result of constraint on the one side, and of indifference or weakness on the other; the usurpings of ambitious authority, and the yielding of the spirit of feebleness in submission to it. It is a worthless impounding of the divergent spirits of men, under the mere key of terrifying force, instead of the transformation of them by the inwardly renewing and subduing influence of spiritual and unchanging truth. It is a shell to cover merely, and not a substance to abide. In such a system Satan accomplishes the destruction of men in two entirely separate ways,--by the power of superstition within, and by the power of infidelity without. If you allow external toleration in religious concerns, you have necessarily external variety, the natural result of freedom. If you refuse it, you make the alternative of submission, infidelity,--the inevitable product of constraint. Rome refuses toleration, and doing it, has all the responsibility of propagating infidels. It says to surrounding men who look upon its system, "You shall be this or nothing, for no other system shall be allowed." And men reply, "Then we will be nothing," and they abide by their choice. And whether they are brought in, or excluded, Satan's plan in their destruction is equally secured. External minute uniformity is not the Lord's plan of oneness for his people.
The unity of the Gospel,--the unity which it gives to man, and enjoins upon man, and by which the church of God is known, in opposition to all the divisions of men, is a spiritual unity; which though consistent with much outward diversity, is real, operative, and permanent. "Ye are all one in Christ Jesus." It is the fruit, of the Holy Spirit in the hearts in which He dwells and rules; the result of which is an everlasting and unchangeable oneness of such souls thus renewed, in their relations to God, and to each other. It is an unity of motive, by which every true Christian, every real member of the body of Christ, is led to desire only and above all things, the promotion of the divine glory. It is an unity of desire, by which each one seeks to attain the one mind, and character, and presence, of a beloved Lord. It is an unity of purpose and plan by which every possessor of it is prompted to obey, and honour, and imitate, one Divine Master and Guide of all renewed. souls. It is an unity of spiritual experience, in which each one has been enlightened and quickened by the same Divine Spirit,--made to feel the same burden of guilt, to be conscious of the same personal deficiencies,--to seek the same provisions of divine mercy,--to accept the same complete salvation in Christ,--to find pardon in the same fountain of love,--to depend upon the same inward spiritual power, divinely bestowed,--to ask for the same gifts of grace, to rest upon the same Almighty victorious arm,--to hope for the same eternal glory,-- to confide in the same perfect obedience, and to fasten all their hopes and joys upon the same infinite sufficiency of one glorious reigning Lord. It is an unity of relation which has joined together vast multitudes who have no outward knowledge of each other, in one eternal and indissoluble bond,--an unity which in this view expresses itself habitually in prayer, in sympathy, in love, in spiritual aid, and which in this operation, is made the grand instrument of the Holy Ghost in enlarging this heavenly companionship, and of gathering lost and perishing souls into the shelter which is thus displayed. It is an unity of affection and feeling, which the Apostle calls the most perfect bond which can subsist among men. "Put on charity, which is the bond of perfection!" far higher, more real, more operative, more lasting, more divine, than all the possible bonds of intellectual agreement, or accordance in outward discipline.
Here is unity,--real, actual oneness. A oneness which brings vast multitudes who had no common relations, but the needs, and guilt, and feebleness of a common humanity, into one spiritual connection from which they go no more out. Here is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and in all; one body, one spirit, one hope of one divine calling." How can there be greater unity among independent, intelligent beings? In what do they differ, which is not temporary and comparatively unimportant? In what do they agree, which can ever fade or perish? Surely, the boasted unity in discipline of Papal Rome, is nothing in comparison of this. That is the oneness of bodies which are alike, because all are dead, and motionless, and without self-control. This is the union of living agents, who are one, because all perfectly agree in the same great and choral harmony of love, and activity, and praise. That is the organized working of a machine, in which every automaton figure obeys the will of him who directs the motions of the whole. This is the combined energy of responsible beings, who, moved by the same spirit, accord in voluntary united operation, to produce the same great and desired result. That is the valley of Ezekiel, when its bones were scattered, and were alike, because all were bleached and dry. This is the same valley when the army stood forth clothed in the activity, and endowed with the powers of a new life, and the one Spirit of God breathed from every quarter, upon the standing host, and they lived, and moved, and acted, and went forth to victory, under His single heavenly guidance. This is unity,--entire, actual, operative unity. But it is perfectly consistent with great outward diversity of nation, and language, and form of worship;--with many and wide differences of judgment upon many unessential points of mere intellectual perception;--with very differing conceptions of truth progressively understood, and, as yet, but very partially discerned by any.
This blessed oneness of heart and feeling must everywhere govern the members of Christ. Wretched is the house and heart which has it not. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is peace and order, as well as liberty. It must rule in the individual congregation of professing Christians, uniting in the same house of prayer, for worship and. mutual edification. It must there oppose and correct all the divisions which jealousy and earthly pride, or selfish interest may tend to produce. Here men are to be all of one mind, to love as brethren, to be pitiful and courteous, to be of the same mind one towards another, according to Christ Jesus. In the whole church of God. it must be the governing principle, extending its influence and embrace, not merely within the limits of one particular outward communion, but to the whole company of God's people,--to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
It is an union however, with the people of God alone,--with real manifest believers in the Lord Jesus,--with the true servants of the Most High; which seeks them for its objects here, because they are to be its eternal objects hereafter; and which renounces for them, the society and fellowship of the unbelieving, superstitious, and profane. Whoever is to dwell with us forever in the Saviour's glory, must be united with us, in our exercise of sympathy and love upon the earth. And though we may differ, and must differ, in judgment and perception, and conclusions here,--yet there need be no divisions, envyings, or strife. Whereto we have already attained, we are to walk by the same rule, we are to mind the same thing. Our union is not to be with the ungodly, or profane; or with this evil world, whose friendship is enmity with God; but with the people of the Living God. Union with them for efforts to advance His glory, and to establish His truth, we have no right to withhold, or to refuse. We are bound to edify them;--we have no authority to destroy them. To withhold our fellowship and co-operation in the Saviour's work for those whom we really believe to be His servants, in the extent to which we are able to impart it, must, always be sin.
This is a oneness whose duration will be eternal. The bond by which the renewed people of God are bound together on earth, is the bond which unites them all to Christ. It is an imperishable bond. It is the work of a Spirit of almighty and undying power. It is the operation of a plan of grace which was formed in an eternity past, and which will abide in an. eternity to come. The principles upon which it is formed, and by which it is governed, are the inseparable elements of a purified, intelligent mind. And when all the bonds of earthly circumstances, the outward conformations of ministries and ordinances have passed forever away, the whole company of God's elect, the real church and body of Christ, shall stand up together in an imperishable fellowship, known by one name, animated by one spirit, combined together in one glorious employment for eternity. The chaff of material organizations, whose protection was needful for a season, shall have been swept from the floor; and the wheat of abiding principle, of sympathy, and peace, and love, and truth, shall be gathered into the garner, and remain forever.
In opposition to this enjoined and required unity of the Christian body, the Apostle solemnly declares, that divisions, envyings, and strife, are carnal. He does not mean mere differences of opinion, of judgment, even upon important points of doctrine,--differences which were found and tolerated, not only among the apostolic churches, but among the Apostles themselves. They received different measures of divine light, and their conclusions and. views of duty varied accordingly. And the Holy Spirit has thought fit to record this important fact, and to show how, in the case of Peter, (compare his Epistles with the Epistle to the Galatians,) even in an inspired man, increasing experience brought out a clearer and better understanding of the Gospel, in the closing years of life. That the whole church of Christ should be of one judgment and habit, in external conformity, can never be expected, nor is it in all respects to be desired. The divisions against which the Apostle warns, are such as spring from envy, and result in strife. They are carnal, carnal in their origin. It is not truth, nor the love of truth, which promotes them, but often extreme hostility to truth, and to the spirit which real truth imparts. They are carnal in their influence. Nothing more certainly disturbs and destroys the spiritual mind. They break up all peace and joy within the soul. They destroy all the holiness and power of the church without. They are carnal in their effects. They separate real brethren from each other; and often divide into unnecessary and lasting hostility, those who are partakers of common privileges and blessings. They are the walk and the course of men, merely selfish in their purposes and operations, eager for personal aggrandizement, careless of mutual injury. Sad indeed is it that such a course should ever be introduced into the church of Christ. But, blessed be God, they are carnal in their duration also. They belong to the earth, and they will perish with the earth from which they spring. The servants of the Lord will soon outlive them, and pass beyond the field of their operation and influence. The hour will come, when they shall be mere men no longer,--but, equal unto the angels, as the children of the resurrection, they shall all have the one mind which was in Christ Jesus the Lord.
I would entreat my readers, let such a system have no dominion among you. Strive to walk, not as men, but as the servants of the Living God. Avoid these contentions among Christians, and those who originate them. Look less at the facts in religion which are temporary and hiding, and more at those which are permanent and unchangeable,--less at mere outward characteristics, and more at the real and spiritual marks of the church of God,--less at the deficiencies of others, and more at the needs and dangers of your own souls. We are in no danger of loving the true servants of God too much, or of uniting too much with those who are really united to Christ. Let it be our purpose and effort, to pray for, and to communicate peace and mercy to all who walk according to this rule, as the Israel of God.
  
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