We must receive the saints according to God’s receiving of them. Whomever God has received, we are compelled to receive. We have no choice. Consider a family with many children. Some of the children are good and the others bad; some are sweet and the others naughty. Perhaps in such a large family some of the children may not be happy with all of their brothers and sisters. However, the children must realize that it does not rest with them to determine who their brothers and sisters will be. That depends upon the parents. If one of the children in this family thinks that his brother is ugly and complains against him, his complaint should not be directed against his brother, but against his parents who brought him forth. Our heavenly Father has brought forth many children, many Christians, and He has received them all. Therefore, we also must receive them, not according to our tastes or preferences, but according to God’s receiving.
However, most of the receiving of the believers in Christianity is not according to God’s receiving, but according to doctrinal concepts. Consider the example of baptism. There are many different concepts about baptism. Some people insist on sprinkling, some on immersion, others argue about the name in which we baptize people, and still others argue against physical baptism, claiming that baptism is purely spiritual. How many different schools of opinion there are over this one matter of baptism! This is dreadful. And this over just one doctrine! It would take us months to cover all the differing doctrinal concepts, such as eternal security, predestination, free will, rapture, etc. Even the teaching of head covering has caused some divisions. Certain Christian groups pay a great deal of attention to the matter of head covering for the sisters. There is much argument even about this as people debate the size, color, and thickness of the material used as a covering. I know of one group that insists upon a white head covering, not permitting any other color. Even this little thing has caused division.
No one can say that the churches in the Lord’s recovery are heretical. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and is divinely inspired word for word. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He was incarnated as a man and lived on this earth, that He died upon the cross for our sins, that He was resurrected physically, and spiritually, that He has ascended to the heavens and is the Lord of all at the right hand of God, and that He dwells within us. We believe in the unique God, the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We believe that the Lord Jesus is coming again and that He will establish His kingdom on the earth. There is nothing heretical about any of this. Nevertheless, some people criticize us and find fault with us because we do not agree with all of their opinions regarding doctrine. Some insist upon baptizing others three times and demand that the church practice this. However, if we make this our practice, we shall denominate ourselves as a “three-times-baptizing church.” Others insist on speaking in tongues. Undoubtedly, the Bible includes tongue-speaking, but we cannot make the church a tongue-speaking church. The church must be general. Many dear saints have attempted to make the church in the Lord’s recovery into a particular kind of church according to their doctrinal concept, but we simply cannot agree with that. Therefore, some have separated from us because they were divisive over doctrines or particular practices.
The pitiful history of Christianity is a history of division and confusion. Much of this division has been caused by divergent doctrinal concepts. We have learned this lesson after a thorough study of church history and we do not want to repeat the tragedy of the history of Christianity. Therefore, we will never argue about head covering or baptism or holy days or about the wine used at the Lord’s table. We will never dispute about trifling matters such as the bread and the cup used at the Lord’s table, the kind of water used in baptism, and the way of baptizing people. The Lord’s recovery is not concerned with that. The Lord’s recovery is for Christ as life and for the church as the expression of Christ in unity in each locality. Some dear saints, after claiming to see the church, continued to hold to their particular doctrinal understanding. As a result, they caused a great deal of trouble, inflicting suffering upon themselves and severing themselves from the Lord’s recovery in their attempt to cut the church into pieces. Thus, we must be careful not to receive people according to doctrinal concepts, but according to God’s receiving.
Paul knew how important was the matter of receiving the believers and consequently he devoted all of chapter fourteen plus part of chapter fifteen to this subject. In Romans 12 we see the Body. In Romans 14 we are given a warning. If we do not take heed to this warning, we shall use doctrine as a knife to cut in pieces the very Body revealed in chapter twelve. Many Christians talk about the Body of Christ according to Romans 12; nevertheless, they are responsible for killing the Body and for cutting it into pieces by wielding the knife of doctrinal divisiveness. This is why the Body that is revealed according to Romans 12 must be lived out according to Romans 14. Without Romans 14 we are unable to have the proper practice of the Body unveiled in chapter twelve. Many Christians pay attention to Romans 12, but neglect Romans 14, talking about the Body, but remaining divisive and divided because they continue to hold to their doctrinal concepts. They are unwilling to drop them. Thus, it is impossible for them to experience the Body life. Therefore, Paul, after revealing the proper church life and the normal Christian life, takes up the crucial point of receiving the believers. If we do not care for this point, we shall commit spiritual suicide as far as the church life is concerned. In order to have the Body life, we must receive the believers according to God’s receiving of them in a general way, not according to our doctrinal concepts in a particular way.
The most terrible doctrinal concepts are mainly those held by the religious, Jewish believers. These concepts fall into two categories: eating and keeping of days. Those who hold these concepts insist that certain foods are holy and that others are unclean, that certain days are holy and that others are common. They base their dietary regulations on Leviticus 11. In their eyes, the Gentiles are little more than unclean beasts that eat everything. Acts 10 shows that even Peter, the first apostle, was religious with respect to eating. His religious nature forced God to give him the same revelation three times regarding what is sanctified and what is common (Acts 10:9-16). When the Lord told Peter to “kill and eat,” Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:13-14). The Lord answered Peter saying, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:15). We see by this that Peter, like so many others, clung to doctrinal concepts because he was religious. When such people argue for their concepts, they think that they are fighting for the truth of God. Actually, they are frustrating God’s move in the building of the Body of Christ. No doctrinal concept should be our ground in receiving the believers. The only ground for us to receive the believers is God’s receiving.