Jottings

Recently we wrote of the change in Simon's name to Peter, and of the revelations the Lord made to him, recorded in Matthew 16.17-19, regarding the building of the Church which is Christ's Body (Ephesians 1.22, 28). It seems necessary that we add some further words on the subject of the difference between the Church of Matthew 16.18, and that in Matthew 18.17, and of the difference between the binding and loosing related to each. There is ever the danger of loose reading of the Scripture, arising either from carelessness or a lack of spiritual discernment, resulting in a lumping of things together which are quite plainly different. Where there is failure to "prove the things that differ" (Philippians 1.10, R.V.M.) there can be little progress in the knowledge of God or of His ways. To be able to see differences where difference exists is not hair-splitting, any more than it is hair-splitting to observe the little's which distinguish certain letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

That there are two lines of truth applicable to-day in the New Testament Scriptures, one that presents the gospel of free grace to the sinner and the other the will of God for His saints, no one with a modicum of knowledge of Holy Writ would deny. To the former is to be rendered the "obedience of faith" (Romans 1.5; 16.20) and to the latter we are to be "obedient to the faith" (Acts 6.7). Faith alone is necessary to the salvation of the sinner, but obedience to the commandments of the Lord, either given by Himself or through His apostles, is a matter of prime importance to all who would do God's will.

The Church of Matthew 16. includes all who are able through faith to confess that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God; this is the sole charter of this Church. No commandments are given to the members of this Church as such; the Lord's commandments were given to His disciples, His followers, for their obedience. Had commandments been given to the Church which is His Body, there would have been schism (that is division) in the Body, and there can neither be division in the human body nor in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12.24, 25). Think of the division that exists among children of God which are scattered in almost every de'n6mination under heaven. How could the Lord present the Church to Himself at His coming as a Church glorious without spot or wrinkle or any such thing if He' had given His commandments to it?

The Church in Matthew 16. includes all believers from Pentecost until the coming again of the Lord to the air, and not one member thereof can ever be lost. Death does not change the place of saints in this Church. By far the largest number of saints of this dispensation are with Christ, but they are still "in Christ," and we are told that the dead in Christ must rise first, then, with the living saints in Christ, they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

Such truths are accepted gladly by all instructed believers though there may be some groping in the dark, who think of the Church as being composed of all saved persons who are alive on earth at any one time. Others speak of the Church as though it were Christendom, a composite of saved and unsaved persons who profess Christianity, so called.

The church of Matthew 18. is quite evidently different from that of Matthew 16. In the latter there can be no sin, for the gates of Hades cannot prevail against it, and sin is the means by which the gate's of Hades have won their victories. But in the church of Matthew 18. we see the possibility of sin raising its head. The Lord's words are, "If thy brother sin against thee, go, shew him his fault between thee and him alone'" (Matthew 18.15). Paul in the matter of idolatry, in 1 Corinthians 8, shows that a brother who has knowledge may use his liberty to the destruction of a brother with a weak conscience, "And thus," he says, "sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ" (1 Corinthians 8.12), There are many forms of sin which may creep into a church of God, fornication and other moral disorders, as outlined in 1 Corinthians 5.11 ; 6.9, 10, and heresies in Galatians 5.2, 9, 20; Titus 3.10, 11.

A personal trespass by one brother against another, if allowed, would break the unity which should characterize a church of God, and the Lord outline's how the matter is to be dealt with. First of all the brother who has been sinned against is to go to his brother, the object being to gain his brother, for if he gains him he has enriched himself, but if he is not gained he is so much the poorer. If the sinning brother remains obdurate then the offended brother is to take one or two other brethren with him and to go again to seek to gain his brother. These one or two are to be witnesses, if it is necessary to take the case further, and if that necessity arises the endureth is to be told, for in cases of judgement each matter is to be established by two or three witnesses. In consequence of what the church hears they then convey their united mind to the sinning brother, and if he refuses to hear the church he has added to his sin against his brother rebellion against the lawful authority of the church. Not till this is manifested is the brother who has been sinned against allowed to treat his brother as a Gentile and a pubilcan, that is, one who is outside the church.

Then the Lord says, "Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18.18). Here is a binding and loosing connected with the authority vested in a church of God to deal with those of its number in binding such as sin, which sin has affected the service and testimony of the church, and also in loosing those for divine service who would approach and seek fellowship with those who are together in fellowship.

It should be noted that the plural pronoun, "Ye" is used in Matthew 18.18:

"What things soever ye shall bind," which shows the church acting in unity, but in Matthew 16.19 it is, "I will give unto thee [Peter] the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou [Peter] shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." The keys of the kingdom of heaven were, as someone has said, the insignia of the authority the Lord gave to Peter, for Peter was the chosen vessel to open the door of grace to the Jews at Pentecost, in Acts 2 and to open that door to the Gentiles in Acts 10. In connexion with the preaching of the gospel there is a binding and loosing, some through adding rebellion against the divine message to their other sins are bound as Christ rejectors, while others through that same message are loosed from their sins. The tense in both Matthew 13 and 18 is peculiar, as Dr. Young shows when he renders the future tense and the perfect participle as "shall be having been."

unknown | Dec 1954
Jottings