The New Testament reveals that the church in ancient times met in a solid way, in a way to edify and instruct the saints. First Corinthians 14:29 says, “As to prophets, two or three should speak, and the others discern.” If we came together only to have a good time, we would not need to do anything. However, because we come together to learn and to minister to one another, we must be sober and exercise our discernment. While a brother is speaking, all the saints need to discern whether or not he is speaking according to the truth. If what he speaks is not according to the truth, every saint should be ready to stand up and say something to uphold the truth. The saints should also be prepared to ask the elders to stop someone from speaking anything that is not according to the truth. Regardless of who is speaking, we must discern whether or not what is being spoken is according to the truth. We should never blindly trust that a person is speaking according to the truth. We should not care for the person but for the truth. The United States is a strong country because the Constitution is regarded more highly than any person. If someone even as high as the president violates the Constitution, he will be stopped. Likewise, in order for the church to be strong, every brother and sister must know the truth. I hope that if I were to say something contrary to the truth, even the young sisters would be prepared to stand up and exhort me in a proper way to stop.
In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul refers to “the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” We are each a living member of the church with the living God in us. The church being the pillar and base of the truth implies that every member of the church should know the truth. We need to make a decision to learn the truth. If the young saints do not make such a decision, the church has no future. For the sake of the spreading of the church to new localities, there is a need of leading ones, some who can bear responsibility. We are short of such ones because in the daily church life we do not learn or practice the truth. If we learn the truth and practice the truth in the daily church life, every member will be able to bear some responsibility. Then wherever we spread, there will be no problems; every local church will be strong.
In summary, in order to know how to conduct ourselves in the church life as the house of God, we need to be careful to always do two things: never insult the headship of Christ and always learn, guard, and bear the truth. The headship of Christ and the truth are two basic factors that direct, control, and safeguard the church life. We need to honor, respect, and not insult the headship of Christ, not overstepping in any matter related to Christ’s headship. We also need to learn and practice the truth. If we do these two things, we will be clear regarding how to conduct ourselves in the house of God.
Question: Do the sisters have the same responsibility to bear the truth as the brothers?
Answer: To illustrate, in ordinary times the wife should follow the husband. However, if a thief breaks in or the house is on fire, a wife should not wait for her husband’s permission to call for help. That is being too legal. For a sister to act in urgent situations is not overstepping. If someone stands up in a meeting and speaks something heretical, no one should hesitate. Everyone, including the youngest sister, should rise up to reject such speaking. If every saint is able to bear the truth in this way, it proves that the church is strong.
Question: How can the young ones see the light in the Word when they read the Bible? I feel that even if I read the Bible hundreds of times, I would never receive the kind of light that has been opened up in these messages.
Answer: The main purpose of spending time in the Word is not to understand it but to come into the presence of God, His breathing, and to be washed. To go further and see the light in the Word requires much labor in the Word. For instance, two years ago I was clear that God does not want any permanent, official, or organizational leadership in His church, but I had not yet gathered the verses to prove this point. In the past two years I gathered verses such as Matthew 23:8-12, 1 Peter 5:3, and 1 Corinthians 12:28, and examples such as Peter’s case and Paul’s case. Such study takes time. The New Testament mentions a category of workers called teachers (Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11). To be a teacher requires much time. Furthermore, the church is the house of God. Every local church is a family with people of all ages. The young ones will gradually come to know more things, not by waiting passively but by contacting the Lord and the Word. As we gradually accumulate knowledge of the Bible, the light will come to us from the accumulated truth in our being.
Question: I have heard some say that we should all “stay in one boat” whether we are right or wrong, that if we “go over a cliff,” at least we will be one, that we should not disturb the oneness even if we sense an objection within, and that we should simply go along and trust that the Lord will bless the oneness and bring us through somehow. What do you think about this?
Answer: Such talk is childish, foolish, superficial, and altogether illogical. We need to have a logical church life. No other book is as logical as the Bible. Every truth is logical. We should not accept such foolish, superficial talk. We need to learn the truth so that we can discern such speaking. We should not be rebellious or disobedient or cause trouble or turmoil, but our obedience must be based upon the proper knowledge of the logical truth. If someone stands up in a meeting and speaks something blasphemous or heretical, we should not be deceived to think that if we “stay in the boat to keep the oneness,” everything will turn out all right.
Some have said in recent years that the saints should not have any discernment and that to discern is not to love. However, 1 Corinthians 14:29 says that we should discern. Philippians 1:9 says, “This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in full knowledge and all discernment.” Love should abound in discernment, not in foolishness. We need to love soberly, not blindly. The proper love is in full knowledge and all discernment.
I do not mean that the saints should rebel against the church or the elders. On one hand, God does not ordain any official, permanent, organizational, or positional leadership in His New Testament economy. On the other hand, Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey the ones leading you and submit to them.” First Peter 5:5 says, “Younger men, be subject to elders.” Every truth has two sides. We need to hold both sides of every truth in order to be balanced. One side of the truth is that every member is responsible to know and practice the truth; the other side is that we also need to learn to know and subdue our flesh to be humbled and submit to others.
Question: Could you explain the meaning of the word truth in 1 Timothy 3:15?
Answer: The word truth means something that is real. In the Bible the word truth refers to God Himself, for only God is real. The Greek word rendered “truth” in 1 Timothy 3:15 is the same word rendered “reality” in John 1:17, which says, “The law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” This verse indicates that when Jesus came, grace came; that is, God came to be our enjoyment. When Jesus came, reality also came; that is, God came to be the reality. Thus, all the truths in the Bible refer to God Himself. However, some items in the Bible are not truths but are mere doctrines. Most Christians consider the doctrines in the Bible to be truths, but there is a difference.
Let us consider some examples in order to see the difference between truth and doctrines. The teachers among the Brethren studied many doctrines concerning the Lord’s table. They studied the proper time to have the Lord’s table. This is a doctrine, not a reality. They also studied what kind of cup and bread to serve, the way in which the elements should be distributed, and who has the right to participate in the Lord’s table. All these matters are doctrines, not the reality. However, there is also the truth of the Lord’s table. The truth is that Christ is the Head and the church is the Body. The death of Christ is displayed at the table because the wine, signifying the Lord’s blood, is separate from the bread, signifying the Lord’s body. Christ’s resurrection also is displayed because there is one loaf on the table made from many grains, signifying the believers, who were produced in Christ’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). Christ as the Head, the church as the Body, and the death and resurrection of Christ are not doctrines but the truth.
Another example of the difference between doctrine and truth can be seen in the matter of baptism. Many Christian teachers study doctrines concerning the outward forms of baptism, such as what kind of water to use, what temperature of water to use, what name or names to baptize people into, the number of times to immerse a person, and the direction in which to immerse a person into the water. These matters are all doctrines, which are not very important. The truth of baptism is the death and resurrection of Christ.
The church does not bear doctrines; it bears the truth. That God is the unique God is a truth, a reality, not a doctrine. All the truths in the Bible refer to God Himself directly or indirectly by referring to items such as Christ, the Spirit, Christ’s redemption, Christ’s crucifixion, or Christ’s resurrection. These are the factors of the truth. The church bears only the truth.
Question: How is the church safeguarded from confusion?
Answer: The church should be the safeguard by bearing the truth. However, the churches today are lacking in the truth and are therefore weak. The shortage of every member learning and practicing the truth is the reason that the churches suffer from turmoil. If the churches are strong and full of the truth, we will be safeguarded. Turmoils are proof that the churches are weak and lacking in the truth.