ECUMENICAL UNITY — SO-CALLED

“That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.”

“I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one: that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me.” — John 17.

The unity of which the Lord spoke concerned those who had “received Him,” being born of His Spirit, and their unity was founded upon His words, which they had also received and kept. “I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received them.” The Lord confessed that they loved Him; they were not of the world even as He was not of the world (John 16:27; 17:8, 14).

The preaching of the gospel by the Lord was a call to repentance, “Repent ye and believe the gospel,” and the Lord’s teaching commenced on the “Mount of the Beatitudes,” making more searching and stringent God’s moral law: anticipating also the persecution of them that followed Him; the poor in spirit, and whom, in their service for Him, the Lord likened unto “the salt of the earth,” and “the light of the world.” The apostle refers to these words as “the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine according to godliness.” (Matt. 5, 6, 7; 1 Tim. 6:3).

This unity in Christ had a fulfillment following Pentecost. They were then of one heart and of one soul, and great grace was upon them. They continued in the apostles’ doctrine and in fellowship. There was then a true ecumenical unity; the one fellowship and the necessary one discipline, and also the faith once delivered to the saints for their obedience. (Acts 2:44–47; 4:32–35; 5:14).

Although defection soon manifested itself among the saints, leaving much to be desired among them morally and spiritually, and increasingly so towards the end of the apostolic age and authority, yet the one fellowship and the one discipline invested in the apostles remained before the Lord while there was an apostle on the earth. (2 Tim. 1:15).

The letters from the ascended Lord through John the apostle to those held responsible for the conduct of the seven churches in Asia indicate this. These letters were not only to encourage saints, but also to give warning that if they would not hearken and repent, their privilege of collective oneness as acknowledged by the Lord, and figured under the symbol of the lampstand, would be removed. Like Israel formerly, whose kingdom through the long forbearance of God, remained before Him until the nation sinned beyond recall and lost their kingdom and privleged position, so with the church.

The Lord prayed that through this manifest unity the world might believe, and that the world might know that He was the Sent One from God. One of the results of this manifest unity expressing itself in faith and power was that multitudes from Jew and Gentile were brought to the faith. (Act 5:15; 9:31–42).

Rome falsely claims to continue this manifest unity, professing apostolic succession with infallible voice, though she herself is given to idolatry and superstition, and the so-called ecumenical movement striding the world today in Christendom cannot but result in toleration and submission to like deceptions.

Even some groups of believers, though not claiming it in name, have assumed a somewhat catholic or lampstand position before the Lord by acting as though their fellowship was “the church of God,” in a locality, and consequently viewing all other believers regardless of their knowledge or spiritual condition as in schism. But such a position or claim in the present condition of things, is highmindedness, unconscious though it may be. We need to recognize what has been forfeited, and God’s judgment in this respect. Neither could “corrected doctrine” of itself, which is generally the basis of such claims, make a “church of God.” For the leaving of “first love,” as at Ephesus, was a fallen state coming under the threatened judgment, a statement that must search all our hearts.

Other groups of believers ignoring the brokenness and independency around them have assumed that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit are theirs for the seeking and asking, forgetting that these gifts and powers were bestowed when Gods people were manifestly one, in one discipline, entailing also God’s judgments and severity as recorded in Scripture. (Acts 5:1–14; 1 Cor. 5:1–5; 11:30) The gifts were one expression of the manifest body of Christ then on earth, but a body divided, dismembered, each several part holding diverse teachings, is not a body though the mystical body of Christ remains, and the Lord knoweth them that are His. Also, God is sovereign and faith and devotion to the Lord have their blessings and deliverances, but this is not the aspect before us.

Since apostolic times this age has been in measure parallel with the times of the Judges in Israel. When iniquity and apostasy seemed to engulf the nation, then God raised up Judges to bring back the people in measure to His fear and worship. So since New Testament times, God has similarly worked through the centuries, raising up leaders to witness to His gospel and truth. It was notably so in the time of the Reformation. Also, does not the Lord, when unveiling end-time conditions preceding His return, indicate that there will be faithful and wise servanrs over His household to give meat in due season? (Matt. 24:44–47; Rev. 19:7)

An apprehension of God’s chastening and the changed conditions since apostolic times, will not hinder spiritually. High benediction rested on those who in a previous time of general blindness and apostasy feared the Lord, and spake oft one to another, and who thought upon His name. (Mal. 3:16–18) So may we take courage and pursue our lowly pathway, putting aside all false notions and claims. In humbleness of mind willing to prove our own selves, and considering one another, which is an essential prelude to making ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Rev. 19:7) For such there will be in these closing days’ a people repentant and humbled before the Lord, understanding, keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, and loving not their lives unto death. (Dan. 12; Rev. 12; 11:14; 12, 13).

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