Members of One Body

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     "Sound speech that cannot be condemned" (Titus 1: 8). "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me" (2 Tim. 1.13).

     Speech is the highest, although not the only form of communication between rational beings. Man is a gregarious creature; that is, he flocks together with his kind. Because, by nature, he is social, he requires a medium of exchange on the intellectual level. Speech provides that medium and words constitute its currency. But, as in the economic realm the value of currency fluctuates, so it is with the significance of words. They may suffer from inflation, or undue discount.

     God adapts his revelation to the needs of mankind and presents it in a form calculated to appeal to a rational being. Thus he employs human language which, in its inception was a divine gift, as the vehicle for conveying divine thoughts. Recognizing the value of a sound currency, he enjoins that sound speech or sound words be maintained. A sound dollar is one that is valued according to the original standard of accepted bullion on which it was issued. Sound spiritual words are those which convey the same values as when originally minted by the Holy Spirit. The value of a word is reckoned by the impression made upon the mind of one with whom it is deposited.

     The currency of a nation can be corrupted. This may be done by counterfeiting or by inflation. In the former there is a substitute of the spurious for the genuine. In the latter, the specie is not altered or amended, but loses its power for purchase. Thus, one may have a dollar issued by proper authority which will not be sound. The same holds true with the words of the Spirit. One can substitute other terms for them, or he can inflate them until they are worthless. In either case, he no longer has "sound words." A word maintains its value when its significance is equal to its original intent; that is, when there is a harmonious relation between it and the truth it is intended to express or convey.

     This will serve to introduce a theme worthy of examination and note by the earnest student of the sacred oracles. It is a rule of the Spirit that when God's people are designated in the aggregate, or en masse, the terms used to describe the individuals must correspond in relationship to those used to designate them in their totality. If they are called a flock, the individuals are called sheep; if a house, they are called stones; if an army, they are called soldiers; if a kingdom, they are called citizens. God never indulges in such incongruity as to speak of a flock of soldiers, an army of stones, or a house composed of citizens. The family is composed of children, or sons, because of this congruity of language.

     So apparent is this fact that many will

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consider it a waste of time and space to mention it at all, and indeed it would be except for the fact that in one important analogy the rule is completely ignored, as if the Holy Spirit, in this instance, had scrapped the appropriateness of language. I refer to the word "church." This is a common noun used in a collective sense. Ask the average person what designation is given individually to those who compose it, and he will invariably reply "members." So habitual is the expression "members of the church," so sanctified is it by traditional usage, it will come as a distinct shock to many brethren to realize that it is never so used by the Spirit, and for the very good reason that it is not sound speech.

     To call such matters to the attention of the average careless student in these days will earn for him who does so the scorn and ridicule employed by shallow thinkers to mask their ignorance. Yet, there are many who are eager and sincere in their desire to know the will of God more perfectly, and it is to such we address our remarks. It is hopeless to reason with the indifferent and the callous. If this were a mere quibble about words we would not waste precious space to mention it, but a serious principle is involved which has shaded the thinking of many as to the nature of the church of God.

     Perhaps no other philosophy in our day has done so much to render the church ineffective and sterile. So long as men are governed by this kind of thinking, they will miss the very spirit of the community of saints. This fuzzy, wooly rationalization strikes at the heart of "the fellowship of the Spirit." It is detrimental and deceptive. It is noteworthy that every time the Holy Spirit uses the word "member" it is in connection with the term "body." It is never employed in conjunction with any other noun expressing the totality of the saved ones. The body of Christ is not an organization. It is an organism. It is a living, growing, vital entity, pulsating and throbbing with the life of the Spirit. By that Spirit all who are members were immersed into the one body; of that Spirit all the members freely drink or imbibe (1 Cor. 12:13). They are both introduced into the body, and sustained in it, hy the Spirit. What are the implications of this great truth?

1. The human body is a living organanism depending upon its head for guidance and direction in every phase of existence.
2. It is a divine creation in which all of the members are specially adapted to perform certain functions contributing to the wellbeing of the whole. God set the members in the body as it pleased him.
3. It is the best illustration known to man of the harmonious relationship of divergent functions; thus, is a portrayal of unity in diversity.
4. It is an exemplification of complete inter-dependence and mutuality of service on the part of many members, each ministering to the needs of all the others.
5. It is an apt demonstration of the reciprocal attitude in joy and suffering essential to the cultivation of a proper relationship in the spiritual body to offset schisms.

1. In the physical body many of its members are remotely and indirectly joined to the head. They sustain a relationship to the head only through other members. A toe is joined to the foot, which is joined to the leg, which is joined to the trunk, which is joined to the neck, which is connected with the head. In the spiritual body, each member is directly in contact with the head, with no intermediary between. In the physical body many members are joined to the head only because they are united with other members; in the spiritual body all of the members are joined to each other because they are united with the head.
2. In the human body, all of the members are present at birth, or inception, These grow and develop in size and skill, but no new organs, or members, are added. The body is static as regards the number of members, and progressive only as pertains to their increasing functional ability. In the spiritual body perfection in membership is an ideal, never to be fully attained until the Lord comes. New members are constantly being added, so the spiritual body is static as regards the number and variety of functions, but progressive as respects the number of members. New members were added daily after the inception of the body of Christ.
3. In the physical body, when the members die, the body suffers dissolution, but in the body of Christ the functions are maintained from one generation to another by continuous replacement of members with diversified natural gifts. The body is self-perpetuating by addition of members, or organic functionaries.

     The primary relationship is, therefore, one of the member to the head. The life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). It is not the member who lives, but it is Christ who lives in him (Gal. 2:20). Life is sustained only through contact with the source of life. It is attachment to the head, not to the other members, that makes spiritual existence possible and real. The body is not the Saviour. "He is the head of the church, and he is the Saviour of the body." But while the body cannot save, one cannot be saved outside the body. It is the body that will be saved and one who is detached from it has no promise of salvation. There is no provision for a "lone wolf" philosophy in God's program. The apostolic message was declared to establish a fellowship of the redeemed person with God and Christ, but also assures that "we have fellowship one with another" (1 John 1:7)

     This introduces the secondary relationship, that of the members to each other. It is expressed in the phrase "members one of another" (Romans 12:5). This is not a mere reciprocal feeling of the members of a local congregation to each other. Neither is it an inter-relationship of local congregations. The constituents of the body of Christ are not congregations at all. One of the gravest misconceptions of our age is that the body is made up of congregations, that it is the sum total of all the congregations of a given faith and order. This leads to the mistaken idea that no one is a member of the body unless he is attached to a local congregation receiving our endorsement or support. One is a member of the body before he is attached to a local congregation. No one is immersed into a local congregation, but "by one Spirit are we all immersed into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13). One becomes a member of the body by an act of God; he becomes an affiliate of a local congregation by his own act. The members of a local congregation can receive or reject one who applies for association with them; only God can add or sever a member as relates to the body.

     Congregations are not so much essential to the being, as to the wellbeing of the body. The congregational system is a provision of divine wisdom for the government, discipline and development of the members of the body in a given locality. It provides for orderly training and equipping the children of God. The very word "congregation" signifies a gathering. But when persecution, or some other catastrophe, disrupts and destroys the local unit, those who are scattered abroad are no less members of the body than when they congregated in orderly procedure.

     This in no sense minimizes the worth and value of the congregation. He who does that impugns the divine wisdom and impeaches the arrangement of heaven. But the body is not composed of congregations. It is composed of members! Congregations are organizations of disciples for implementation of God's purpose. The divine organism is made up of many members, set in the body as it pleases God. The Ethiopian eunuch was a member of the body when he

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was immersed, although the Holy Spirit immediately caught away the only other member of the body whom he knew. Whether he was ever affiliated with a local congregation, we have no way of knowing. Certainly as a sheep of God, he would join the flock, if one existed in his area.

     The relationship of members of the body is as universal as discipleship. It is unaffected by geographical lines, differences in race, color, social status, or degrees in educational or intellectual attainment. It is not a horizontal, but a vertical relationship. The tie that binds does not run on a line from one heart to another, but from each heart up to Christ. Our relationship is established through Him. We were not drawn together, but we came together because we were drawn unto Him. "And I, if I he lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." No fellowship can long be maintained on a horizontal basis, for the divergent backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, temperaments and dispositions will create frictions which burn through and dissolve the bond of unison. Only a vertical fellowship can be sustained, for if each is joined to Jesus directly, and through Jesus to his brethren, he must first sever himself from Jesus in order to be divided from any other member of the body. No one under the motivation of the Holy Spirit can ever tolerate the thought of being separated from any other member of the body. "These are they which set up divisions, worldly men, devoid of the Spirit." Those who create or condone division are carnal and walk as ordinary men. Those who defend and apologize for schisms among brethren do despite to the Spirit of God.

     I am an integral part of a society of the redeemed. Every person on earth who has been reconciled unto God is a participant. Everyone who has been received of God is a part of the brotherhood. None of these has been received on the basis of perfection in knowledge, conduct, or character. All are frail, weak, and erring mortals. Their claim to membership in the body is a response to the call of God, and commitment to the divine ideal. They have not yet attained, they are merely striving toward the mark. With their sins remitted by God and their lives committed to God, they are partners in the furtherance of the divine purpose on earth, and are inter-related with every other such consecrated and sanctified human instrument. It will help us to realize that none of us has "arrived." The body is made up of those who are on the way because they are in Him who is "the way.

     Many of our problems arise from the pride and ambition of men who seek unwittingly to displace the head, and snatch the prerogatives which are his. In every age there are those who would "lord it over the heritage of God." These elevate their opinions, views, and interpretations into a legalistic code and seek to bind that code upon the remainder of the body. All such persons would do well to analyze their behavior

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in the light of the remarkable disclosures in Colossians, chapter two. This portion of sacred scripture has a definite protective purpose. "I write like this to prevent you from being led astray by someone or other's attractive arguments" (verse 4).

     The apostle continues. "Be careful that nobody spoils your faith through intellectualism or high-sounding nonsense. Such stuff is at best founded on men's ideas of the nature of the world, and disregards Christ;...your own completeness is only realized in him, who is the authority over all authorities, and the supreme power over all powers (verses 8-10). After showing the majestic accomplishments of Jesus in our behalf, he says, "In view of these tremendous facts, don't let anyone worry you by criticizing what you eat or drink, or what holy days you ought to observe, or bothering you over new moons or Sabbaths. All these have at most only a symbolical value: the solid fact is Christ" (verses 16, 17). How often the body has been worried and bothered by criticism of those who would elevate their personal scruples to the realm of dogma. The spiritual domain has frequently been made the arena for fierce disputes over food and days, until it would appear that Jesus died for a diet kitchen or vitamin dispensary, and the good news to be heralded was about food supplements.

     There are ever among us those who would rob us of the vitality of the Christian way by advocating the ascetic life. They feel that a long face denotes a pure heart; and that he who frowns is faithful. These purveyors of gloom who think that the flower of spiritual existence thrives best in the dark interior of a monastery, encourage what they describe as humility. They actually take a fierce pride in being humble. The apostle writes, "Nor let any man cheat you of your joy in Christ by persuading you to make yourself 'humble' and fall down and worship angels" (verse 18). He then describes the real reason for such critics and troublers.

     "Such a man, inflated by an unspiritual imagination, is pushing his way into matters he knows nothing about, and in his cleverness forgetting the head. It is from the head alone that the body, by natural channels, is nourished and built up and grows according to God's laws of growth." Troubles are caused often by those who push their way into things about which they know nothing. In many instances, it is not essential to know about such things. They contribute not one whit to spiritual betterment. But, it is significant that those who intrude into such disturbing and controversial fields do so because they "forget the head." They cease to take directions, and begin giving them. They do not obey laws, they make them! They want not to be led, but to be leaders. They know the body is one, and they propose to be the one!

     "The head alone." God has a law of spiritual growth. He who created nature and established natural laws of development and reproduction has not left the spiritual body to grow in haphazard fashion. Growth is according to divine formula. The body is nourished, grows up, and is strengthened from "the head alone." It is not my relationship to other men and women which provides for growth, but my relationship to the head. Others may help me, or they may discourage me. But my development is the result of my connection with the head. Before my foot can function the message must be relayed through other members of my body. If there is a nerve block in another member, my foot, although perfectly sound in itself, is paralyzed. But the message of heaven need not pass through another member to reach me. I am joined to the head, as directly as any other member. There is no human intermediary between me and my God. The Holy Spirit does not link me with God through someone else. If, therefore, I do not grow, I cannot blame the body nor any other member. The only reason I do not grow is because I have personally neglected or violated God's laws.

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     Men sometime become so clever they "forget the head." It is a common saying that a person noted for lack of memory would forget his head "if it were not fastened on him." This is true in the spiritual domain. Men become so engrossed in their theories, ideas and programs for expansion, that they "forget the head." This is a day of promotion and propaganda. Religion takes its cue from "Big Business." If a huckstering program will sell soap chips or automobiles, it is reasoned that it will sell the gospel. "Church membership" can be built up by the hard sell. If we can get a clever television program, an attention-arresting display advertisement in a national magazine, or a hot-shot radio appeal, we will grow and increase.

     We overlook the fact that the body increaseth with the increase of God." It may be one thing to increase "church membership" figures, and a wholly different thing to make "increase of the body to the edifying of itself in love." The word of God knows nothing about persuading men and women to join the church, or enroll as members of it! This is what transpires when men in their cleverness forget the head. We have clever men in these days! Their stuff is at best founded on men's ideas of the world. The body of Christ does not grow like an insurance company. It is not increased like the sale of deodorant or cough syrup!

1. Dependence upon Christ. All religion grows out of a sense of dependence. Man realizes the futility of his own life and recognizes a void or emptiness that cannot be satisfied by any material blessing. The Christian religion answers the longing of the human heart and supplies its need through Jesus. Man does not find God, but God finds man. We cannot come to Him unless he first comes to us. The greatest fact of history is that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." In Jesus dwelt the fulness of Godhood, or Deity, in a body. Of that fulness we have received and are, therefore, complete in Him. He is our atonement, our reconciliation, our mediator and intercessor. He is our peace. He is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. "He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption."
   
        To be cut off from Christ is to be severed from the source of life. Just as an arm when amputated must die and cannot live of itself, so a person who does not sustain an organic connection with Jesus is dead. The life is not in the arm. If it were, the arm could live as well after surgical removal as before. The life is in the union or fellowship inherent in the body where the source of life is contacted. Any theory of spiritual existence which does not proceed upon the principle of personal and vital relationship to Jesus is false and misleading. "In him was life and the life was the light of men." He rightly declares, "For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
2. Subjection to his will. The great passage which asserts the headship of Jesus over all things to the church, which is his body, is but the climax of a majestic power-packed paragraph, a portion of which we shall note in Ephesians 1:19-23. The first of these verses employs such expressions as immeasurable greatness," "power," and "great might." These are descriptive of divine energy. They refer to a force working in us who believe. The child of God is, therefore, a veritable dynamo,

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   motivated and charged by heaven. It is affirmed that by this great might God raised Jesus from the dead, then elevated him to his own right hand in heavenly places. This exaltation was so supreme that it lifted him not only above, but far above, "all rule and authority and power and dominion." It involves supremacy over "every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come."
   
        It includes the subjection of all things under his feet. Jesus is upon the throne of majesty. Under him, as a footstool, are all the created beings of the universe. The climax of this catalog of triumphs is found in the expression, "He has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body." The word "over" implies that everyone and everything else is "under" Jesus. The master-servant relationship can never he dissolved by those who love Jesus sincerely. We are free to serve him, not free to do as we please, but at liberty to do as he wills. There is no thought of an organ in the physical body disobeying a directive from the head. Such an organ has no will of its own. It is motivated and regulated by the head. Its response is made automatically; because of its vital connection with the source of authority.
3. Dedicated to his ends. If it had been best for the accomplishment of the divine purpose for those in Christ to go their separate ways, God would have thus arranged it. But as it was impossible for God to fully reveal himself to the world except through the physical body of Jesus, it is likewise impossible for Jesus to continue to manifest himself to the world except through his spiritual body. The church makes known the manifold wisdom of God to angelic and demonic powers. This was in conformity with the divine purpose (Eph. 3:10, 11). This means that, as these principalities and powers look at the church, they behold in it the outworking of the plan of the ages.
   
        In like manner, Jesus holds converse with the world through his body. It is through the members His will is accomplished. He needs eyes to look upon the fields, hands to pluck the ripened grain, feet to run on errands of mercy, and hearts to throb with compassion. The fellowship of kindred minds is the greatest force for righteousness upon earth. The body should represent the combined force and strength of all the redeemed ones applied in unified effort to the achievement of the eternal aim. When we work against each other we work against God. When we undermine each other we sabotage the purpose of God. "Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ" (1 Cor. 8:12).
   
        The divine end will be achieved when all of the ransomed ones of earth gather in a grand fellowship of heaven. This is called "the festal gathering" in Hebrews 12:22. To fit and prepare us for participation in that magnificent event we are made to be sharers in a fellowship on earth. In this we actually and actively join with Christ in furthering his mission. This is the highest honor that can come to sinful man, yet it is bestowed upon the humblest and poorest who are willing to commit themselves wholly unto God.

     Unfortunately, many of us have learned to labor but not to wait. In the postponement of our Lord's coming, we either fall asleep, or fall out with our brethren. Engaged in disputes and involved in quarrels, there is ever the danger that his coming will find us unprepared. "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes" (Luke 12:35-37). More than anything else today we need to recapture the sense of closeness and inter-relationship which is characteristic of a body, and be just the one body. This is our major task in this generation.

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     Being members of a body always presents grave problems. A body composed of men and women constitutes a social unit, whether that body be political, fraternal or spiritual. This very fact produces tension in thinking. There arises the conflict between the idea of the individual and his right to freedom and self-determination; and the idea of the group, or the social unit, with its communal ends overriding and sublimating those of any individual.

     We have been made aware, in these days, of those societies grounded in a belief of the supremacy of the state. In these the individual lives only to serve the commune. The emphasis placed upon the society is so strong that the significance of the individual person as a moral unit is denied. His whole energy is directed by and toward the state. Even his expression of affection for another, consummated in a union of bodies, must be as a breeder for the state. Nothing can be sacred to him as a person, not even a belief in a personal God. The state is god! To this god must be consecrated everything. The individual presents both mind and body as a living sacrifice to the god of the commune. Yet, in tending to swerve from this ideology, man violently reasserts the rights of the individual as opposed to the state and thus wrecks his bark upon the rocks of anarchy as the other is battered to pieces by the lashing breakers of tyranny.

     The truth is that no community or society which is entered voluntarily, or by choice, has an absolute claim on the individual except the body of Christ, and that only because it is Christ's. He has purchased us. We belong to Him in body and spirit. We are slaves of Christ in the totality of our being. So the community of saints can make total demands upon those who compose it without being totalitarian, because it never claims to be a sovereign power. The body is entirely subordinate and wholly dedicated to a task beyond its own power, the ends of Jesus Christ.

     Let us again emphasize that a member of the body is not one who has joined an organization or who merely belongs to a society. He is a vital organ in a divine organism. As such he is directly related to and connected with every other member on earth. He is obligated to prevent and eliminate discord in the body by concern for every other. "But God has so adjusted the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another" (1 Cor. 12:25).

     No one realizes, as he advances in research, where his increasing knowledge of truth will lead him. He cannot foresee the consequences nor predict the results. It is enough that he be honest enough to admit truth as he discovers it, and humble enough to walk in its brightening light. But, if what we have affirmed in this issue be correct, there are certain implications which can be determined, and these will demand alteration of some of our previous views if we are to adjust to truth. With no intention of arousing ire or provoking controversy, and only with a desire to stimulate wholesome thought I suggest a few items which grow out of our reasoning.

1. No local congregation, or coalition of congregations, in existence today constitutes the body of Christ. The body is composed of members, individual saints. There were seven congregations in Asia in the days of John, but there was only one body in the whole world. Many of those in these congregations were in the body, some of them were not. They associated with these congregations by choice and because of geographical location. They were attached to the one body by an act of God.
2. Men are neither judged, saved, nor damned as congregations, but as individuals. We should cease to regard them as a mass, or group, and treat them as God does. Those who protest against evil in a congregation should not be charged with it. No one should be held responsible for what he disavows. We need to renounce the doctrine of "guilt by association" and let every man plead his own cause and stand upon his own convictions.
3. We should recognize our limitations. We may help in the regulation of the affairs of a congregation, but we have no authority over the body. Of it, all of us are merely members, and it has but one head. An elder is not a bishop of the one body, but of a congregation of saints. God has placed the members in the body as it pleased him; we can neither place or displace a member in the body.
4. Since there is no such thing as a useless or non-functioning member, each of us should determine in what realm God has qualified him to serve and diligently pursue his responsibility. God has no more ordained a useless organ in the one body than in the physical body. We should synchronize our efforts with those of all the other members, seeking to avoid discord, in order that the body may function smoothly and efficiently.
5. One congregation cannot "withdraw fellowship" from another congregation. The expression is unscriptural to begin with. We can neither extend nor withdraw fellowship. The term "withdraw fellowship" is not in the new covenant scriptures. We can sever ourselves from those who walk disorderly; we can put away from among ourselves those who are immoral. This is individual and congregational discipline. Beyond it we cannot go! No congregation of saints has any authority over any other congregation, and can exercise no regulatory or restraining power over another. Many who pay lip service to local autonomy seek to run and rule all the congregations in the country by remote control.
6. One can be in the body and be saved even though in a congregation which is unworthy of Christ as a whole. He can be alive by sustaining his relationship to Jesus as the source of life even if the congregation is dead. Jesus wrote to the messenger of the congregation at Sardis, "I know what you have done, that you have a reputation for being alive, but that in fact you are dead. Now wake up! Strengthen what you still have before it dies. For I have not found any of your deeds complete in the sight of my God...Yet you still have a few names in Sardis of people who have not soiled their garments.

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   They shall walk with me in white, for they have deserved to do so."

     This writing is in direct contradiction to the teaching of those who advocate splitting and dividing the congregation an attempt to secure purity and diligence service. Nowhere in all of God's word are brethren ever told to divide from their brethren. Both schism and division are deplored and condemned. If it be asked how members at Sardis could live and walk with Jesus while in a congregation that was pronounced dead, the answer is simple. We do not derive life from the congregation, but from Jesus. The congregation is simply a group of persons who may or may not be attached to Jesus. But those who abide in Him, and who are deserving, will he saved regardless of the fate of the others.

     Against this it is urged that the church at Ephesus was threatened that if it did not reform, it would have its lampstand removed. We need to note the reason! It is important! Many good things were said about the congregation at Ephesus. "I know what you have done; I know how hard you have worked and what you have endured. I know that you will not tolerate wicked men, that you have put to the test self-styled 'apostles' who are nothing of the sort, and have found them to be liars. I know your powers of endurance, how you have suffered for the sake of my name and have not grown weary. I submit that this is a pretty fair recommendation. Many of the "loyal churches" of today could not deserve such plaudits.

     Then why was the lampstand of such a place to he removed? Here it is! "But I hold this against you, that you do not love as you did at first. Remember then how far you have fallen...Otherwise, if your heart remains unchanged, I shall come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." Thayer indicates that "love" in this place is affection for the brethren. No one falls so far as he who ceases to love. Without brotherly love we are still in darkness, we are murderers and have not God. One who does not love his brother whom he sees cannot possibly love God whom he has not seen. "If your heart remains unchanged." A congregation must either change its heart or Jesus will change its status. Is there not an indication in these letters that a congregation may survive almost anything except a decay of love? The over-tolerant congregation at Pergamos, the compromising church at Thyatira, the sleeping church in Sardis--these were not threatened with extinction, though criticized and warned.

     It is not enough to work hard and endure, to refuse to endorse wicked men and deceivers, or to suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus and not grow weary. All of these were characteristic of Ephesus, yet the lampstand was to be removed because of dearth of love. How important it is to love one another! Yet amidst all of our doctrinal disputes, our wranglings and debates, this is the one quality that is lost. Indeed one is thought to be a weakling or compromiser who dares to urge it as the last great hope of a dying movement.

     In closing, I plead with all of my readers to help us recapture the value and significance of the individual soul. Let us allow men to remain where God attached them, and not seek to make them "members" of something else. It is enough that we be welded to Jesus, that we be members of one body. Let us destroy sectarianism by destroying that spirit which gave it rise. Let us begin such a noble work of destruction in our own lives. We need to purge our hearts of littleness. All of us have been too much affected by the party spirit. All of us have been too factional, exclusive and circumscribed. The will of God can only be done when we recognize as members of the body all whom he has received, whether they be affiliated with our small splinter or segment, or not. Let us, while we defend those truths we have been fortunate enough to discover, not un-Christianize those sincere brethren who have not yet found them. Then we shall truly be one body

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and walk in love. God, please hasten that day!

     Will you who read resolve to share this message with others in a world so sick of strife and division? You can aid very practically by sending this issue of the paper to others. Is there not some preacher, teacher, friend or neighbor who ought to be allowed to think through on these points? Can you be content to selfishly read and forget? If you'll send the names and addresses of those who should see a copy of this edition we will mail it at our own expense and with a fervent prayer that it may strengthen and help. Please be a worker for Christ during 1961. Do not just absorb this teaching, but share it! Let us help you while you help others. God has called us to serve! "We are your servants for Jesus' sake."