Concerning the original condition of the church, we cannot possibly cover everything; rather, we can look only at some important points related to the testimony and the ground of the church so that through them we can know the church, including her principle, her constitution, and her ground. According to these aspects, we need to look at seven points briefly.
One of the characteristics of the original church was that there was no hierarchy among the saved ones. They were all members one of another, coordinating mutually and serving together. There are three sub-points related to this.
First, all the saved ones are brothers without any distinctions in rank. When the Lord was on the earth, He told the disciples clearly, “The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you [that is, in the church]; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave” (Matt. 20:25-27; 23:8-11). Do you want to be high? Then you need to be low. Do you want to be great? Then you need to be little. All the believers are brothers on the same level; there are no distinctions involving some who are higher and some who are lower.
Today we often discover that brothers and sisters like having distinctions in rank very much. Originally the elders in the church were not a distinctive group; they were merely saints who were responsible for the administration and the leading of the church. The term elder emphasizes that the elders are saints who are more mature spiritually; it is not a title of a particular rank in the church. However, in recent years some brothers and sisters have frequently used elder as a title, such as “Elder Liu” or “Elder Chang,” in their correspondence and conversation. This is altogether a concept of rank which completely contradicts the condition of the original church. I dearly hope that among us there are those who really are elders, who love the church of God, shepherd the flock of God, and who lead the brothers and sisters. But we must not use elder as a title to address anyone. To do so is altogether related to the human concept of class distinctions, and it should never be brought into the church.
The aged apostle John, who was the last of the original group of apostles, was approximately ninety-five or ninety-six years old when he wrote the book of Revelation. At that time the apostle Paul had been gone for about thirty years. Therefore, John was the oldest apostle. Furthermore, he had actually been an elder in a local church. Since he was approaching the age of one hundred, he could be considered the most senior among the Christians at that time, not only in one locality but even in all the localities. However, when he wrote the epistles to the seven churches, he still said, “I John, your brother” (1:9). Therefore, we must always see this one thing: one of the characteristics of the original church is that all the saints were brothers, without any concept of hierarchy.
Second, all the believers are members of the Body of Christ; as such, they coordinate with each other on an equal level, and each of them fulfills his particular function. This is shown very clearly in Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, and Ephesians 4:16. Without exception, every saved one is a member of the Body of Christ. Since all the saved ones are members of the Body, no one is without a function. If a person is saved but has no function in the church, surely he must be a degraded Christian, a brother who is in trouble. As long as a person is saved, he is a member with a particular function in the church and should serve the Lord in coordination with all the saints. In our physical body even the smallest member is useful. Similarly, the smallest brothers and sisters in the church, even those who are newly saved, also have a useful portion.
In addition, the coordination of every member is also on equal standing in the church as the Body of Christ. In the coordination, although there is an order in position, this is not rank. For example, in the human body the eyes are in a higher position, and the nose is in a lower position; however, this is absolutely not a matter of higher or lower rank but merely the order in the arrangement of functions. If the nose were placed above the eyes, how ugly it would be and how inconvenient! In the original church the coordination was beautiful, and it was so fitting with everyone keeping his place, not making any distinctions in rank and being in mutual coordination as members.