The Spiritual Principle
W. Carl Ketcherside
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The community of saints is a divine organism. It originated in the mind of God and is the result of divine purpose. Yet it is composed of human beings who are joined to one another only because they are joined to Jesus. The center of attraction is not within themselves at all. It does not lie within human nature.
Every institution among men must be built upon a principle, and that principle must be so related that the institution grows out of it, and gives expression to it. If the institution survives it must exist to maintain its foundational principle even while it is sustained by it. And the nature of the institution will be determined by the nature of the principle to which it traces its inception.
Political institutions, whether democratic, republican, monarchial, socialistic, or otherwise, must be built upon political principles. Economic institutions must be built upon economic principles. Moral institutions must be built upon moral principles. Spiritual institutions must be built upon spiritual principles. These principles nourish the institutions, even as the institutions which hope to survive must cherish the principles which called them into existence.
The community of believers is not built upon a political philosophy, or upon a socio-economic theory, but upon a historic fact, attested to by credible witnesses. That fact is simply that God has manifested Himself to the rational beings whose chief purpose in existence is to glorify Him. To enable the achievement of this purpose divine disclosure was essential and it was afforded in three aspects--creation, incarnation and revelation.
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In creation every element essential to our relationship to life on the earth is provided.
In incarnation every element essential to our relationship to God is provided. "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father."
In revelation every element essential to our relationship to Christ is provided. "If ye continue in my words, then are ye my disciples indeed" (John 8:31).
God has spoken! The flock of God is composed of those who have seen His works, and heard His words, and have responded unto them by complete surrender to the Call. Christ broke through the flesh curtain to be with them, some day they will break through it to be with Him. In the meantime they are (sustained by the Word, even as they seek to share it with others in love.
To relinquish the principle of revelation is to renounce our purpose for continuation upon the earth, and our hope of glorification in the life beyond.