Confessing Our Faith In the Culture - Chapter 28
Of the Communion of Saints
1. ALL saints are united to Jesus Christ their head by His Spirit and by faith. But this does not mean that they become one person with Him. Yet they have fellowship in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory. Also, as they are united to one another in love, they enjoy fellowship in the gifts and graces one of another, and are under obligation to render such services, public and private, as promote their mutual well-being, in both spiritual and temporal matters.
2. By their profession of faith, saints are committed to the maintenance of a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God and in the performance of such other special services as promote their mutual well-being. They are also bound to relieve one another in their temporal concerns according to their various needs and abilities. According to the rule of the gospel, this type of fellowship, while it particularly applies to the family and church relationships of saints, is to be extended, as God gives opportunity, to the whole household of faith, that is to say, to all who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. At the same time, however, it must be understood that such a sharing one with another as saints, does not deprive any man of the title and proprietorship which he has in his own goods and possessions, nor does it infringe such title.
From “A Faith to Confess”
A. What we have in common John 17:20-23
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. NASB
1. Head of the body Col. 1:18
2. common profession of faith Eph. 4:4-6
3. common Gospel to preach Gal. 1:6-9
4. common life Col. 3:12-16
a. but with individual duties/gifts Eph 4:11-16
5. common reputation Gal. 6:1-2
As they constitute one body in the eyes of the world, they have a common reputation, and are all severally and collectively honored or dishonored with each other. Hence all schisms in the body, injurious controversies, malignant misrepresentations of Christian by Christian, are self-defaming as well as wicked. A. A. Hodge, Commentary on the WCF
B. With whom we have it in common
1. those who profess the true faith Rom. 16:17; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14; 2 John 9-11
2. those who proclaim a true Gospel Mark 16:15; 3 John 5-8 (see next page)
3. who hold to what is of first importance 1 Corinthians 15:1-5
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ESV
a. Theological Triage Dr. Albert Mohler, 9Marks Journal
i. First-level issues
1. Trinity, full deity & humanity of Christ, sola fide, sola scriptura
ii. Second-level issues
1. meaning and mode of baptism, women pastors
iii. Third-level issues
1. eschatology, worship music, Bible translation
4. family, church, household of faith
Since this is the union of all true believers with the Lord and with each other, and since, consequently, a “communion of saints” so intimate necessarily flourishes among true believers in proportion to their intelligence and their advancement in grace, it follows that all branches of the visible Church, and all the individual members thereof, should do all within their power to act upon the principles of the “communion of saints” in their intercourse with all who profess the true religion. If the Church is one, the churches are one. If all saints are one, and are embraced in this holy “communion” then all who profess to be saints should regard and treat all their fellow-professors on the presumption that they are saints and “heirs together with them of the grace of life.” Think of it ! In spite of all controversies and jealousies, one in the eternal electing love of God ! one in the purchase of Christ’s sacrificial blood ! one in the beautifying indwelling of the Holy Ghost ! one in the eternal inheritance of glory ! Surely, we should be also one in all the charities, sympathies and helpful offices possible in these short and evil days of earthly pilgrimage. These mutual duties are, of course, some of them public as between different evangelical churches and many of them private and personal. Many of them relate to the souls, and many also to the bodies of the saints. The rule is the law of love in the heart, and the principles and examples of saints recorded in Scripture applied to the special circumstances of every individual case. But while these mutual relations and offices of the saints sanctify, they are not designed to supersede the fundamental principles of human society, as the rights of property and the family tie. A. A. Hodge, Commentary on the WCF
C. What we should do in common
3 John 5-8 (ESV) Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
1. pursue true fellowship founded on pure doctrine
Unity has too often been pursued by those who are not advocates of the “great foundation truths.” “Unity”—interpreted as organizational oneness—has been treated as a good remedy to stop the decline of Christian influence, with “fellowship” given priority over “doctrine,” contrary to Acts 2:41.
True believers do disagree over some issues in Scripture—church government and the ordinance of baptism, for a start. Yet history has shown that all attempts to downplay these distinctives, and thus to end denominations, are going to fail. Believers are going to hold convictions on all that Scripture reveals. The policy of John Wesley and others to deem anything “not fundamental” as “mere opinion” is not good enough. Given the imperfect understanding of all Christians, and the need for corporate agreement on some secondary issues, denominations of one kind or another will remain. Better for us to accept this fact and, as J.C. Ryle says, keep the walls as low as possible and shake hands over them often. This is not to deny that the distinction between secondary and fundamental truths, while not always easy to determine, is an important one. A Senior Saint on Unity, 9Marks Journal, Iain Murray
2. promote the Gospel
Instead of attempting to form new alliances and organizations, we need to discern what God is doing. His work will last for eternity. It is one of the brightest hopes in the United States at the present time that gospel preachers, from different denominational backgrounds, are being spontaneously drawn together in a common concern to advance the cause of Christ. This cause does not need new labels or structures; most of all it needs the anointing of the Spirit, more prayer, love, and humility. Announcements of success, or satisfaction with numbers, are to be feared rather than sought. God’s work needs no publicity. A true advance and recovery will be marked by the sense of weakness and need which gives all glory to God. Let us not stop short of seeking a real spiritual awakening! Ibid, 9Marks Journal, Iain Murray
See also Fellow Workers for the Truth by Andy Johnson, 9Marks Journal, http://filemanager.silaspartners.com/dox/9marks/9news/mar-apr08ejournal.pdf
