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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 11:19; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 4:6
In this chapter we will consider all the tests in the New Testament of the genuine oneness of the Body and of the proper one accord in the church. Immediately after the oneness was accomplished in Acts 2, the tests began to come in chapter 6. In this chapter I have selected fifty-one cases in the New Testament, from Acts to Revelation, in which the genuine oneness of the Body and the one accord in the churches were tested.
By considering all these tests and the way in which they were taken care of, we can see several things. First, we can see the actual situation of the churches at the time of the apostles. For many years I held the concept that the churches in the apostolic age were wonderful, but today my concept has changed. After considering the fifty-one tests of the oneness and of the one accord, I now realize that the churches in the age of the apostles were not as wonderful as I had thought. It is hard to tell whether their condition was better than ours or not.
Second, by considering this list of cases, we can learn how to face all the tests. We can learn how to solve the problems and how to take care of them. If we would ponder all these items, we will surely see the way. I believe that this is the reason that all these negative things were recorded in the New Testament. I believe the Holy Spirit’s intention was to establish some examples from which we may learn.
Third, by considering all these tests of the oneness and of the one accord, we can see what things should be tolerated and what things should not be tolerated. Many things may be mistakes and may cause us trouble, yet we should not be bothered by them; they are tolerable and can be taken care of. On the other hand, by all these examples we can find a few things that the Spirit would not tolerate; they are intolerable. Concerning these things, there is the need to exercise to quarantine those who are responsible for the contagious situations.
I came into the recovery in Chefoo in 1932. The church life at that time was very good. I remained in Chefoo for a little over a year, and during that time I did not see anything as a test of the oneness. Then the Lord led me to leave my job and to enter into His work full time. In October 1933 I went to Shanghai, and Brother Nee asked me to enter into the work there. After approximately one year, in the fall of 1934, a big turmoil arose. That was the first time that I saw a test of the genuine oneness and of the proper one accord. From that year until today I have passed through turmoil after turmoil, approximately one in every six to ten years. At times I have been bothered by this, thinking that our labor did not produce a satisfactory result. Fifty years ago I wondered why such things happened. At that time Brother Nee’s ministry was the highest in the entire world, but the situation was not very encouraging.
When I came out of mainland China and went to Taiwan, the work in Taiwan had a wonderful beginning. In less than six years, from 1949 to 1954, our number increased from fewer than five hundred to about fifty thousand. However, not long after that, a turmoil arose. Again I considered why this kind of thing happens. From that time I began to see that there was not one church recorded in the Bible that did not have any trouble. This comforted me very much, and I was much less bothered.
The first test of the oneness of the Body and of the one accord in the church was the test of the problem of language. Here we can see that murmurings arose because of the unequal daily dispensing of food. Even in the glorious condition of the church after the day of Pentecost, murmurings arose over the matter of eating. This problem was solved by the proper service arranged by the apostles according to the practical need (vv. 2-6).
According to the Levitical regulations (Lev. 11; cf. Acts 10:9-16, 28), the Jews were not allowed to contact the Gentiles. They considered the Gentiles unclean. However, in Acts 10 Peter contacted the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. Because of this, a disputation arose between the disciples of the circumcision and Peter (11:2-3). This disputation was solved by Peter’s testifying of the facts according to the truth (vv. 4-18). In dealing with such disputes, we must present the facts, and these facts must be vouchsafed by the truth. Such a big problem must be solved in this way: by the presenting of facts that are fully according to the New Testament teaching, the truth.
The Judaizers, the Jewish believers, not only stressed the practice of circumcision but also said that circumcision was a requirement for salvation (v. 1). This was a great heresy. No little dissension and discussion arose between the Judaic believers and those of the proper faith (vv. 2-5). This problem was solved by Paul and Barnabas and certain others among the believers going to Jerusalem from Antioch to have a conference with the apostles and the elders there (v. 2). The Bible shows us that when a question like this arises, the leading ones need to come together to have a conference, to bring everything out into the open. The problem in Acts 15 was solved by Paul and Barnabas going to Jerusalem, having a conference with the apostles and the elders there, and through thorough fellowship, working out a solution that satisfied all the believers in different localities, a solution over which all the churches rejoiced and by which they were comforted (vv. 2, 6-31). This is the way we should solve the problems among us today. I believe that if from the beginning the concerned brothers among us would have had a sincere heart with a pure motive to come together to pray, to study the Word, and to fellowship, their concerns would have been easily taken care of. However, until now the brothers have been avoiding this kind of necessary fellowship.
Paul proposed that he and Barnabas return to the places where they had worked and visit the brothers there. Barnabas intended to take Mark with them, but Paul did not consider it suitable (vv. 36-38). In their contending, both of them were frank, honest, and faithful. However, in these past two years I have not seen such frankness, honesty, and faithfulness with those who instigated the present turmoil.
The contention among Paul and Barnabas, with no way to resolve it, resulted in a separation between the two co-workers (vv. 39-40). This separation might not be considered a practical division, but it was surely a strong discord that seriously damaged the genuine oneness of the Body. There is no record that the problem between Paul and Barnabas was ever resolved.
I am comforted that Paul put such an item at the end of Romans, which is a book revealing how we sinners can be regenerated and transformed into mature sons of God that we may be the constituents of the churches. This is surely wonderful. However, even among the churches established by Paul, there were those who made divisions and causes of stumbling, deceiving people by smooth words and flattering speech to draw away the believers to follow after them. Paul told the saints that they had to keep a watchful eye on such persons and turn away from them. Paul did not say that because these persons were pitiful, the saints should show them love and sympathy. Such persons damage the Body and offend Christ, the Head. Thus, Paul did not tell the saints to express their love to them. Rather, he exhorted them to keep a watchful eye on divisive persons of this kind and to turn away from them.
The Lord’s recovery has been in the United States for over a quarter of a century. Such a thing as is described in Romans 16:17-18 has never taken place in the recovery in as serious a way as today. What has been going on among us and is still going on is exactly what is mentioned in Romans 16. Among us there are those who are making divisions and causing people to stumble. As the apostle Paul warned in Acts 20:30, these are perverted persons who speak perverted things to draw people away from the church to be their following. In Acts 20 Paul did not tell the believers to turn away from such persons, but in Romans 16 Paul did say that we should turn away from them.
This turning away is to exercise to quarantine the divisive, sectarian ones in order to protect the saints from being contaminated. The divisive ones are very contagious. Anyone who contacts them will be “infected.” This would not be good for them or for others. Thus, today we should carry out what is termed in medicine a quarantine. To quarantine a person does not mean that we do not love him. On the contrary, it means that we love both him and many others. If one member of a family contracts a contagious disease, the whole family may need to quarantine him. This is for the benefit of all the members of the family. To cut people off, to excommunicate people, was the practice of the Brethren. From the beginning of the Lord’s recovery we realized that was wrong. However, to quarantine those who are sick with a contagious spiritual disease certainly is scriptural.
This was the case among the Corinthians. Some said, “I am of Paul,” some, “I am of Apollos,” some, “I am of Cephas,” and others, “I am of Christ.” They exalted the gifted ones, thus creating divisions and strifes among themselves. Saying “I am of Christ” seemed to be very spiritual, but it was condemned by the apostle just as saying “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” because it caused division just as much as the other three sayings, which apparently were very fleshly (3:3-4). All of these sayings caused division; hence, all were condemned. The apostle charged all the Corinthians to speak the same thing and to be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion in order to avoid division among them (1:10-11).
In dealing with this case, the apostle as a begetting father admonished the Corinthians as his beloved children (vv. 14-15). Then the apostle told them that he would come to them with a rod, or in love and a spirit of meekness, depending on their preference (vv. 19-21). This was the apostle Paul’s way to solve this problem, that is, to show his love to the troublemaking believers, who were his children, and to point out to them his God-given authority over them.
In Corinth there was a brother who lived in gross sin and would not repent. The apostle had already judged such a one in the name of the Lord Jesus, with His power, to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of his flesh (vv. 3-5). The apostle charged the church in Corinth to remove this one from the fellowship among the believers (vv. 2, 9-13). This also was a kind of quarantine exercised over a sinful brother.
We have studied 1 Corinthians 5:13 particularly. The word translated remove here was taken from the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament. The removal of the sinful brother in 1 Corinthians 5 was like the putting of a leper outside the camp in the Old Testament (Lev. 13:45-46; Num. 5:2). In Numbers 12 Miriam rebelled against Moses, and she was stricken with leprosy. She was removed from the camp for seven days, until her leprosy was cleared up. This was a form of quarantining. There has been much talk among Christians concerning the matter of excommunication. It is wrong to excommunicate a believer. To excommunicate someone is to give him up, but to remove a person is to quarantine him with the hope that he would become sound.
The apostle charged the church in Corinth to remove the sinning one from the fellowship among the believers (1 Cor. 5:2, 9-13). He charged the church not to associate with such a one, not even to eat with him (v. 11).
Later, when the sinful brother repented, the apostle charged the church to forgive him by confirming their love to him, that they might not be taken advantage of by Satan, because the apostle was knowledgeable of Satan’s schemes (2 Cor. 2:5-11). Once a sinning brother has repented, the church should immediately forgive him and show its confirmed love to him. Otherwise, Satan will come in to take advantage of the church to devour the fallen and repentant believer. This is the proper way to deal with such a case, a way that takes care of (1) the purity of the church, (2) the discipline of an unrepentant believer, (3) the necessary and urgent forgiveness and confirmed love to a repentant believer, and (4) the schemes of Satan.
In Corinth, brother went to court with brother, and that before unbelievers, to be judged before the unrighteous and not before the saints. This took place in a church established by Paul. The apostle charged the brothers of this kind to realize that it is altogether a defeat for them that they have lawsuits among themselves and that they should rather be wronged and rather be defrauded, that is, suffer loss, bear the cross. This is the best way to solve a problem that concerns material gain or loss.
Paul made a defense for himself with the signs of his apostleship, and he took a strong stand concerning all his rights as an apostle (vv. 1-14; 2 Cor. 12:11-12). But for the sake of the spreading of the gospel, he had not used all the rights of his apostleship (1 Cor. 9:15-23).
It seems that Paul was vindicating himself in taking care of this case, but he did it in this way not for his own gain but for the profit of the church, which would have suffered a great loss by doubting his qualification for being an apostle.
In dealing with this problem, Paul said that parties, sects, are unavoidable among the believers, that those who are approved may become manifest among the believers (v. 19). This was the reason Paul gave for such things happening in the churches established by him. This kind of trouble is a sifting that shows whether or not we are approved. The word approved can also be translated “experienced.” Our being approved indicates that we are experienced and, thus, that it is not easy for us to participate in any kind of party.
This is the way in the experience of life to deal with such a case of trouble that indicates the shortage of growth in the spiritual life.
I do not believe that anyone among us has ever said that there is no resurrection of the dead. Therefore, in this sense we might be a little better than the churches established by Paul. In facing this test, the apostle corrected the heresy by unveiling the truth of resurrection (vv. 12-57) and by testifying to the fact of resurrection by the power and effectiveness of the resurrection of Christ (vv. 3-11). In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul said, “Not I but the grace of God.” The grace of God is the resurrected Christ. Christ in resurrection is the grace of God. Thus, Paul testified to the fact of resurrection not only by the power but also by the effectiveness of the resurrection of Christ, which he himself had experienced.
Paul’s way of taking care of this test of heresy was excellent, but it requires the adequate knowledge of the divine truth in the New Testament teaching and the sufficient experience of the reality of the divine truth. Hence, we need to endeavor to get into the divine truths and to experience the reality of the divine truths that we may be able to take care of this kind of problem for the churches’ profit.
In facing such a test, the apostles first fought the spiritual warfare to overthrow the strongholds in the believers’ minds and to take captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ (vv. 3-5). Then the apostles eventually would punish all disobedience among the believers (v. 6). Paul did not say that they would take revenge on persons but that they would punish the disobedience of the disobedient ones.
To take care of such a case related to the spiritual warfare requires the spiritual insight to see thoroughly that the source of such a case is not in man but in the evil power of Satan and needs the ability in the divine life to fight against the evil source.
It is difficult to believe that in the apostolic church such a thing could have taken place. In Greek bear well with him was used in an ironic sense. The Corinthian believers bore well with the heretical preachers. Taking this as a base, Paul said, ironically, that since they bore well with those heretical preachers, they should bear well with his boasting. The apostle boasted of his apostleship and his virtuous conduct by listing many items concerning himself (vv. 5-33). This shows that sometimes it is necessary to boast, making a defense and taking a standing for the benefit of the churches and the saints.
The Corinthians accused Paul of sending Titus to collect the offerings for the Jewish saints in Judea and, by so doing, stealing money from them in guile. To this the apostle responded that both he and Titus walked in the same spirit and in the same steps (v. 18b). In fact, the apostle, like parents for their children, would most gladly have spent (money) and been utterly spent, that is, exhausted (himself), on behalf of the believers’ souls (vv. 14-15).
This shows that the apostle Paul, when slandered by the fleshly believers, did vindicate his honesty and generosity for the benefit of the evil-intentioned slanderers.
The Judaizers considered the observing of the law a gospel. The apostle cursed these heretical Jewish preachers (vv. 8-9). The apostle, a slave of Christ, was not persuading men or seeking to please men (v. 10). Thus, he condemned the heretical ones. For the truth of the gospel we need to learn of the apostle’s faithfulness, frankness, and boldness in cursing the heretics and not trying to please men.
Paul opposed and condemned Peter to his face and rebuked him in front of all (vv. 11, 14). In doing this, Paul was not merciful, and many would consider him unwise. Later, however, Peter still recommended Paul and confirmed his teachings as having the same standing as the rest of the Scriptures (2 Pet. 3:15-16).
Paul was faithful to the truth of the gospel and honest toward Peter for his correction, and Peter was humble in bearing Paul’s rebuking. In his old age Peter wrote a letter in which he recommended Paul highly and confirmed the standing of his writings among the Scriptures. We all need to learn of both Paul and Peter in their spiritual virtues.
The apostle instructed the believers, saying that the spiritual ones should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. It is common for believers to be overtaken in some offense. Those who restore such a one should look to themselves lest they also be tempted. To take care of such a case of restoration, there is the need of spiritual maturity with a heart that loves the brother and with a burden to recover him. In carrying out such a restoration, we must do it in fear and with consideration, not in a light and careless way.
When Paul was in prison, the Judaizers made more trouble for him. Paul rejoiced in that Christ was announced even in pretense (v. 18). Yet Paul considered those Judaic preachers dogs, evil workers, and the concision and warned the saints in Philippi to beware of them as such (3:2). On the one hand, Paul rejoiced over their preaching, and on the other hand, he considered them dogs, evil workers, and the concision. (Concision is a term of contempt for circumcision.) We need to learn of Paul in his discernment in judging things. In this case the preaching of Christ was good, but the preachers were evil in their preaching because of envy, strife, and selfish ambition and with a purpose to afflict others. We should not condemn the preaching because of the evil preacher, nor should we accept the evil preacher because of his good preaching.
It is easy for sisters to be different in their thinking. The apostle exhorted the two sisters to think the same thing in the Lord, and he asked his genuine yokefellow to assist the two sisters, who contended with him in the gospel (v. 3). The way the apostle took care of this case was gentle and loving. Gentleness and loving consideration for others are always necessary weapons in correcting others’ mistakes.
The apostle warned the believers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed and not to be deceived in any way (vv. 2a, 3a). He then rendered the proper teaching to the believers concerning the day of the Lord’s appearing (vv. 3b-8). To solve this kind of problem, the right way is to give people the proper teaching.
The apostle gave the believers the charge that if anyone does not want to work, neither should he eat (v. 10). The apostle also charged and exhorted in the Lord that working with quietness they might eat their own bread (v. 12). The apostle’s way in dealing with this case was very practical.
The apostle urged Timothy to remain in Ephesus in order that he might charge certain ones not to teach different things. The apostle also gave the correcting word according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which he was entrusted (vv. 5-11).
To take care of such a case, we should not merely correct but should supply the proper teachings to replace the wrong teachings. In taking care of such a problem that concerns God’s economy, we need the adequate knowledge of the holy Word, which conveys the full revelation of God’s economy.
The apostle gave the correcting word (vv. 3-5). The apostle also charged Timothy to lay these things before the brothers so that Timothy would be a good minister of Christ, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which he had closely followed (v. 6). To take care of this test, we need to have a great deal of learning, as Paul had.
The apostle charged Timothy not to receive an accusation against an elder without two or three witnesses and charged him to reprove the sinning elder before all that the rest also may have fear. The apostle also solemnly charged Timothy before God, Christ, and the chosen angels to keep the apostle’s words without prejudice, doing nothing by way of partiality (v. 21). Here we can see the frankness of the apostle and also his faithfulness. He charged Timothy not just by himself but before God, before Christ, and even before the chosen angels. The eldership is related to God’s authority. It is for this reason that Paul mentioned the angels here, since the angels are subject to God’s authority.
The turning away in this case probably did not constitute a division. It surely was a separation that damaged the oneness of the Body of Christ. Nevertheless, the apostle Paul was altogether not affected; rather, he encouraged Timothy to be empowered in the grace of the Lord (2:1). If we are going to take care of such a case, we must not be shaken by anyone’s turning away from the Lord’s ministry but must be strong in the power of the Lord’s grace for God’s economy.
In this section of the Word, Paul exposed the names of two heretics, Hymenaeus and Philetus. The apostle Paul had the assurance that the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (v. 19). In spite of the heresy being spread like gangrene, God has a standing, namely, that His faithful ones who call on the name of the Lord would depart from unrighteousness.
To face this test, the apostle Paul reminded Timothy that he had closely followed the apostle’s teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings (vv. 9-11a). This indicates that to face such a test, we need to be an example in teaching and conduct in the days of apostasy.
Demas’s forsaking of Paul also should not be considered a division but was a separation, which is always a damage to the oneness in the Body of Christ. However, Paul was not discouraged even at the time of his martyrdom (v. 6); rather, he was still very active in taking care of his co-workers and all the necessary things (vv. 11-13). This should be a pattern to us.
The apostle Paul put his trust in the Lord concerning the evil attacks. He believed that the Lord would deliver him from every evil work and would save him into His heavenly kingdom (v. 18). Paul also had the assurance that the Lord would award to him the crown of righteousness at the Lord’s appearing for his participation in the Lord’s kingdom (vv. 8, 1). This was the apostle’s way to face all the adverse situations. We should learn of him.
In facing the above five tests by exposing them to Timothy, the apostle Paul could not avoid the mentioning of the names of five persons: Phygelus, Hermogenes, Hymenaeus, Philetus, and Alexander the coppersmith (1:15; 2:17; 4:14). This indicates that sometimes in dealing with some negative things that greatly damage the interest of the Lord, we may be forced to mention the names of those who are involved in the negative things, for the building up of the positive saints.
We should refuse such a one after a first and second admonition, knowing that such a one has been perverted and sins, being self-condemned. To refuse such a one is to exercise to quarantine him. When a believer is divisive, factious, sectarian, he becomes contagious; therefore, we need to refuse him, that is, to quarantine him.
Someone should turn him back, knowing that he who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. This is to restore from his sins a brother who is erring in the truth. To do this requires love, spirituality, and adequate knowledge.
The false teachers in this case were heretics in the ancient time, like today’s modernists. For them the judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber. The believers should take Noah, a herald of righteousness, and righteous Lot as examples (vv. 5, 7). In a situation of destructive heresies, we should learn how to follow the faithful saints who stand fast in the truth against any kind of heresies.
The truth escapes the heretical mockers by their own choosing (v. 5a). Because they are willfully ignorant, the truth in the word of God spoken by the prophets in the Scriptures is covered from their sight. Therefore, Peter reminded the believers to remember the word of God spoken by the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles (vv. 1-2, 5b, 7). This indicates that to take care of such a case of heresy, we need to help the believers to hold to the holy Word.
The antichrists deny that Jesus is the Christ (v. 22). The believers should abide in the Lord according to His anointing (vv. 20, 27). To take care of this case of heresy, we need the experience of abiding in the Lord according to His anointing, and we should charge the believers not to listen to the heretical teaching but to take care of the inner anointing.
This again is a case of heresy. The spirit in this case is not out of God but is of the spirit of the antichrist; it is not the Spirit of truth but the spirit of deception. The antichrists are out of the world; the believers are out of God. The believers have overcome the false prophets in verse 1 and the antichrist in verse 3, because greater is He who is in the believers than he who is in the world.
To confront such a case of heresy, we need the experience of (1) the Triune God as the all-inclusive, anointing Spirit, who is in us, being greater than Satan as the evil spirit who is in the world, and (2) the world having been overcome by us through the indwelling Triune God.
He should ask, that is, pray, for the sinning one. By so doing, he will give life to such a one. To give life to such a one is to minister life to the sinning one in our contacting of him. This requires us to have a certain amount of the divine love to care for the sinning one and to have a certain degree of growth in the divine life that we may have the riches of the divine life to share with him.
This is the case involving the greatest heresy. The apostle John charged the believers not to receive the heretical antichrists into their houses and even not to say to the heretics, “Rejoice!” (v. 10). To say “Rejoice” to someone is to greet him. He who says to these heretics, “Rejoice,” shares in their heretical, evil works (v. 11). This is a strong quarantine exercised over the heretics who do not confess the incarnation of Christ, who came in the flesh. Here there is the need of our boldness and frankness to keep the divine truth concerning Christ’s divine person in His divinity and humanity. Any compromise in dealing with heresies concerning Christ’s person should be abandoned.
Diotrephes did not receive the apostles and babbled against them with evil words; neither did he receive the brothers, and those intending to do so he forbade and cast them out of the church. If the apostle John would have come to the church, he would have brought Diotrephes’s works to the remembrance of the believers (v. 10). We need to be careful in dealing with such a case. Diotrephes’s actions surely constituted a great sin. However, the apostle did not indicate that Diotrephes’s sin was intolerable to the extent that he needed to be quarantined. John did not tell us to quarantine such a person. Even sinful acts such as this in the church life should be dealt with through much consideration, with the expectation that the sinful acts could be corrected after a certain amount of loving rebuking and punishment.
These apostates were hidden reefs in the believers’ love feasts, shepherds who fed themselves, waterless clouds, autumn trees without fruit, wild waves of the sea, and wandering stars (vv. 12-13). Jude exhorted the believers to remember the words spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said that in the last time there will be mockers, going on according to their own lusts for ungodliness, making divisions, soulish, having no spirit (vv. 17-19). Jude exhorted the believers also to build up themselves upon their most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, and keep themselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (vv. 20-21). This shows that in such a situation of apostasy, the best way for us is to exhort the believers in the positive way that Jude did.
What these false apostles did in their false assuming and pretense was a great damage, carried out by Satan, to the building up of the Body of Christ (2 Cor. 11:13-15). This was a real test of the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ. We should follow the positive example of the church in Ephesus by trying these false apostles and finding them to be false.
The church in Ephesus was praised by the Lord for its works, labor, endurance, not bearing evil men, and trying the false apostles and finding them false (v. 2). However, it was rebuked by the Lord for leaving its first love. To leave the first love is to become indifferent and dormant in the appreciation of the Lord’s excellency and preciousness and also in gratitude for the Lord’s love in His redemptive work for us. This is the root of the degradation of the church through the centuries. For this the Lord admonished the church in Ephesus to repent; otherwise, its lampstand would be removed. The removing of the lampstand implies the losing of the power to shine in the darkness and to testify for the Lord. The Lord’s admonishing is the way for us to take care of a case of leaving the first love toward the Lord.
The church in Pergamos became worldly and was even dwelling in the world, where Satan’s dwelling and throne are. This caused her to be joined with Satan in the satanic cosmos — the system of darkness — that is against God and His economy.
Becoming worldly and even dwelling in the world led some members of the church to hold the teaching that caused the people of God to stumble in eating idol sacrifices and committing fornication. Becoming worldly always issues in idolatry and fornication. These three always go together, one along with another, damaging the people of God in their carrying out of God’s economy.
The Nicolaitans were a group of people who esteemed themselves higher than the common believers. They constituted a hierarchy that was versus the building up of the Body of Christ, like the hierarchy in Catholicism and Protestantism. Such a hierarchy is hated by the Lord (v. 6) because it destroys God’s New Testament economy concerning the church.
To deal with such a complicated case as the case of the church in Pergamos being one with the world and some of its members holding the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans requires us to be one with the Lord in standing against the world as the satanic system of darkness, and it requires us to hate idolatry, spiritual fornication, and the sin of hierarchy — the evil system of organization in religion.
Jezebel was the pagan wife of King Ahab (1 Kings 16:31). She was a type of the apostate Catholic Church and a figure of the woman prophesied by the Lord in Matthew 13:33, who brought evil, heretical, and pagan things as leaven into the teaching concerning Christ and who became the great prostitute in Revelation 17, who mixes abominations with the divine things and who leads the Lord’s slaves astray to commit fornication and to worship idols. Of all these she is not willing to repent, and for all these the Lord will destroy her (2:21-23).
To handle such a great case of the apostasy of the degraded church, we need to be equipped with the knowledge of the history of the church’s degradation and with the knowledge of the divine revelation concerning the church in God’s New Testament economy.
This depicts the real situation of the present Protestant churches — seemingly living but actually dead.
This also is a picture of the Protestant churches, with which some of the positive things remain but are about to die. Every item of the positive things inherited and received by the present Protestant churches remains in a dying situation.
This also is a portrait of the present Protestant churches, concerning which no work has been found by the Lord completed before God.
The three cases related to the church in Sardis all indicate a shortage of the vigor of the divine life and a lack of the power of the Holy Spirit. To take care of these cases would force us to be enriched in the vigorous divine life and to be empowered in the powerful Holy Spirit. Only the vigor of the divine life and the power of the Holy Spirit can make us living, fresh, and complete.
The main meaning of the Greek name Laodicea is “the opinion, the judgment, of the people.” When a local church is full of people’s opinions, it surely will become neither cold nor hot. Because of its lukewarmness, such a church will suffer being spewed out of the Lord’s mouth. This is to be given up by the Lord because the taste of that church is repulsive. Thus, a church that is full of people’s opinions, people’s judgments, is terrible. Even we would reject such a church in the practice of the church life, not to mention that the Lord would spew it out. People’s opinions are versus God’s judgment and authority. This is why the Lord is standing at the door of the church in Laodicea (v. 20), indicating that the Lord has been rejected by that church.
An opinionated and lukewarm church would always be proud and boast of its riches, thinking that it has need of nothing, but not knowing its wretchedness, miserableness, poverty, blindness, and nakedness. Hence, the loving and merciful Lord counsels such a church to buy, to obtain at a cost from Him, refined gold (the tested faith for partaking of the divine nature), white garments (the conduct approvable to the Lord), and anointing eyesalve (the anointing Spirit, the Lord Himself as the life-giving Spirit) as their remedies (v. 18).
The above items, XLI to LI, are all the negative items in which the seven local churches in Asia were different from one another. The seven churches as the seven golden lampstands were all identical in the positive things concerning the testimony of Christ. But they were abnormally different in these eleven cases, all of which are serious tests that have done tremendous damage to the oneness of the organic Body of Christ. Hence, the Lord advised all seven churches to overcome all these tests that they might be rewarded (2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). Otherwise, they will be punished (2:5, 11, cf. vv. 16, 22-23; 3:3, 11, 16).
The seven local churches in Asia were sovereignly arranged by the Lord so that they might typify all the churches in the seven stages of the church age. Thus, regardless of what stage we are in as a local church, we should take care of all the eleven cases of negative things in the proper way as shown in Revelation 2 and 3. May the Lord have mercy on us and afford us His grace and blessing that we might not be negligent and indifferent in dealing with all these oneness-damaging problems.
Among the fifty-one cases listed above, thirty-five, the majority, are of different kinds and were all (except case IV) taken care of positively by various adequate ways, such as the proper arrangement of the service in case I, testifying according to the truth in case II, and recovering in a spirit of meekness a brother overtaken in an offense in case XVIII, leaving only sixteen, the minority, to be taken care of in the way of quarantine. This indicates that, according to His loving concern over His dear redeemed saints, the Lord’s intention concerning all the believers who are involved in the tests of the oneness of His Body and of the one accord of His church is to adjust, correct, rescue, recover, and perfect them so that He can carry out the building up of His organic Body.
Among the sixteen cases remaining to be dealt with in the way of quarantine, there are two cases of division (cases V and XXXI), thirteen cases of heresy (cases III, XII, XVI, XXIV, XXVII, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVIII, XL, XLIV, and XLVI), and one case of gross sin (case VIII).
Concerning the first case of division (case V), the apostle Paul decisively and emphatically gave us a strong charge that we should carry out a quarantine by turning away from the divisive persons (Rom. 16:17). Concerning the second case of division (case XXXI), the apostle Paul also charged us strongly and decisively to exercise a stern quarantine by refusing the factious, divisive person (Titus 3:10).
As to the thirteen cases of heresy, case III was taken care of by the proper fellowship according to the truth (Acts 15:1-31); cases XII, XXIV, XXXV, and XXXVI were taken care of by teaching; case XVI was dealt with by cursing the heretics (Gal. 1:8-9); cases XXVII, XXXIII, XXXIV, and XL were taken care of by warning the saints; cases XLIV and XLVI were dealt with by condemnation; and case XXXVIII was dealt with by the exercising of a quarantine. In case XXXVIII the apostle John sharply and emphatically charged us not to receive into our house a heretic who does not confess Christ’s coming in the flesh but goes beyond the teaching of Christ, and even not to greet him, so that we may not share in his evil works (2 John 7, 9-11).
Concerning case VIII, a case of gross sin, the apostle Paul took care of it first by judging the sinning one in the name of the Lord and delivering him to Satan for destruction of the flesh (1 Cor. 5:3-5) and then by solemnly charging the saints to exercise to quarantine the sinning one by not eating with him and removing him from the fellowship in the church (vv. 11, 13).
Among all the tests of the oneness of the Body and of the one accord of the church listed above, only three — divisions, heresies, and fornication — are intolerable and need a quarantine by the churches and the saints according to the apostles’ teaching. Divisions damage the Body of Christ, and heresies insult the person of Christ and also damage the work of Christ. Thus, divisions are related negatively to the Body of Christ, and heresies are related negatively to Christ in His person and His work. Fornication is a gross sin that damages the humanity made by God to be the members of the Body of Christ. If these three things are taking place in the church, the Body of Christ would be annulled, the very Christ would be altogether damaged, and the humanity used as the constituents of the Body of Christ would be fully corrupted. Therefore, these three problems cannot be tolerated, and we should exercise to quarantine those who are involved in these problems, in order to preserve the building up of the Body of Christ.
I hope that we will spend some time to learn the proper way to face each kind of problem. We all must be impressed that among so many kinds of problems, only three are intolerable. Even with those involved in the three intolerable sins, we must be careful to deal with them in our spirit by the Spirit. We should be careful to carry out a quarantine over them to restrict the spreading of the contagious diseases. Concerning all the others, we must exercise our long-suffering, with love, in hope of recovering them. There might be a few hopeless cases. Concerning the three problems of division, heresy, and gross sin, we need to be very careful in dealing with those involved, in order that the building up of the Body of Christ may proceed in a proper way, not allowing the Body of Christ to be damaged by divisions, Christ to be damaged by heresies, and the humanity that is for the Lord’s Body to be damaged by gross sins. Such a study of fifty-one cases in the New Testament as tests of the genuine oneness and the proper one accord helps us to find the proper way to solve our present problem in the rebellion among us. Thus, it also is a part of the scriptural remedy for our problem.
We have studied the genuine oneness in chapter 1, the proper one accord in chapter 2, and the fifty-one negative cases as tests of the genuine oneness and of the proper one accord in this chapter. I consider the genuine oneness as our constitution, the proper one accord as our law, and the tests as cases of judgment. The case of the present rebellion in the Lord’s recovery should be judged according to our constitution (the genuine oneness), our law (the proper one accord), and the fifty-one cases for reference. If a just judgment were to be rendered, none of the fifty-one cases could be used as an example to judge any item of the dissenting ones’ accusations against us as a case that requires a quarantine. In contrast, there are cases on the list of tests that can be used as strong examples to judge our case against the dissenting ones as a case that needs a thorough quarantine.
