As the children of God, we need to know, realize, apprehend, experience, hold on to, and practice the truth. Many Christians have the wrong concept that they need to learn many doctrines. The New Testament stresses not doctrines but truth. The word truth is used again and again in the two Epistles to Timothy. First Timothy 3:15 says that the church is the pillar and base of the truth. The “full knowledge of the truth” is mentioned four times (2:4; 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:25; 3:7). Second Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.” Verse 8 of chapter 3 says, “These also oppose the truth.” Verse 4 of chapter 4 says, “They will turn away their ear from the truth.” The truth is mentioned repeatedly throughout the two Epistles to Timothy, because these letters were written at a time when the church was in degradation. The church had degraded from the truth and reality to forms, empty doctrines, and vain teachings. Paul wrote these two Epistles to recover the church to truth and reality. The same kind of recovery is needed today. The Lord has a recovery in order to recover Christ. Because Christ is the truth, the reality, the recovery of Christ is the recovery of the truth.
It is possible to study doctrines concerning the Lord’s table but neglect the reality of the Lord’s table. I am concerned that today in the local churches we may come to the Lord’s table only to have a remembrance according to the outward teaching; we may not apprehend the reality of the Lord’s table. When we take the bread, we should realize that we are participating in the Body of Christ. We should not keep a doctrinal form yet not have any realization of the truth. We should not have many teachings but not care for the reality, which is Christ Himself.
In Matthew 23:8 the Lord said, “Do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.” In verse 10 He said, “Neither be called instructors, because One is your Instructor, the Christ.” The word instructors in this verse may also be translated as “guides,” or “directors.” In the New Testament age we have only one unique Leader—the Lord Jesus (Acts 5:31). It is possible to learn this doctrine yet not see the reality that in the New Testament the headship and lordship of Christ are fully established.
In the Old Testament age the headship and lordship of Christ were not yet fully established. At that time Christ was only the Son of God with divinity; He was not yet the Son of Man with humanity. Christ was not anointed as the Messiah until He became a man (Matt. 3:16). Christ was and is eternally the Son of God, but before the New Testament time He did not possess the human nature. He was God but not yet man; He had divinity but was without humanity. To be the Messiah, Christ needed to be a man with the human nature. Thus, although Christ was the Son of God and even God Himself in the Old Testament age, His headship and lordship were not established, because He was not yet a man.
God needed a man in order to fulfill His eternal purpose, and God needed a man also to defeat Satan, His enemy. Satan was an angel created by God, but he rebelled. However, God would not lower His status as the Creator to deal with one of His creatures. Therefore, He needed another creature to deal with Satan. For this reason God created man. However, the first man failed God and fell. Eventually, the second man came (1 Cor. 15:47); He was born of a virgin and was called Jesus. As a man having blood and flesh, He went to the cross to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. By His redeeming death, He destroyed Satan. “Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). After His accomplishments on the cross, Christ resurrected, and in resurrection He ascended to the heavens. In Christ’s ascension God inaugurated Him into the headship and the lordship. At that time God established Jesus Christ the Nazarene to be the Lord of all. In the heavens a man was made the Lord of all. Ephesians 1:22 says, “He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” In His ascension Christ was made the Head and the Lord.
We need to see that today there is only one Head and one Lord in the universe, that is, Christ. This is the reason that God did not ordain any organized system of human leadership in the New Testament. Any such leadership would be an insult to the headship of Christ. We need to learn this truth. When we are asked who the leader of our church is, we should answer that Christ, and not anyone else, is the Leader. Everyone, including the young sisters, needs to learn the truth. If we hear anyone say that someone other than Christ is the head or the leader of the church, we should immediately stand up and say, “No, the truth in the New Testament is that we have only one Head. In the universe and in God’s economy there is only one Head—Christ.”
It is crucial to know and practice the truth of Christ being the unique Head and Leader. Within the last few years a certain brother traveled to many places and told the saints that he is the future leader of the Lord’s recovery. Regrettably, many saints accepted this kind of speaking. Even in a meeting of elders from different localities, some promoted this brother, telling the other elders that he is God’s anointed and that they all need to submit to him. Because some brothers who know the truth were there, they should have stood up and spoken a word of the truth, saying, “Brothers, in the Lord’s recovery there is no organization. Since there is no organization, there cannot be a leader. We should never form a hierarchy with an official leader, for this insults the headship of Christ.”
If we do not have the truth, we are in darkness. It is erroneous to say that a certain brother is God’s unique anointed leader. The truth is that every member of Christ is anointed. If anyone says that we should submit to a certain brother because he is God’s anointed, we should say, “We all are anointed.” Ephesians 5:21 says, “Being subject to one another.” Because we all are anointed, we all need to submit to one another. Only Christ is the unique Head.
In the Old Testament times God ordained that there be one king among His people. However, in the New Testament there were always several apostles and several elders in each local church. The plurality of the apostleship and of the eldership indicates that today God has ordained only one Head. In God’s economy there is only one Head and one Lord. Christ alone is the King, the Lord, and the Head.
We often try to understand spiritual matters according to our human mentality. We may think that although we are not the head, we are a “subhead.” According to our natural concept, our body has a head and many subheads. This is wrong. There is only one head in the body; no other members are heads or subheads. The notion of subheads in the Body is a human invention inspired by the devil.
The head gives orders directly to every part of our body. The head gives orders directly to the fingers, just as it gives orders directly to the shoulders. The head does not send a message to one member and depend on that member to pass on the message to another member. There is no difference in how the head gives orders to different members. In the whole body there is only one unique head.
The matter of Christ being the unique Head and the unique Leader is not merely a doctrine but a truth. Our one Head and Leader is the Son of God, the man of Nazareth, Jesus Christ. If we see this truth, no hierarchy will ever be built up among us. A small local church was told recently that they should submit to a larger nearby church. This is organization, which leads to hierarchy and insults the headship of Christ. This is a crucial matter. To think that one church should submit to another church is altogether in darkness. If we hear this kind of speaking, we should immediately rise up and declare that this is an insult to our Head, Christ.