THE FOURTH PART: THE PATHWAY OF LORD’S RECOVERY
The Course of the Church
Message Two—From the First Century to the Reformation
That Martin Luther Brought In
Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:9-11; 1:4-11; Matt. 20:25-27; 23:8-11; John 17:14-17; 18:36; Acts 15:29
I. When we speak of the course of the church, we are referring to the origin and the progression of the church, and we must begin with eternity; the church came out from God’s eternal plan; therefore, in eternity past, before the creation of all things, God’s intention was the church; this means that in God’s intention the church has existed from eternity past; this is why we can say that apart from the Triune God, the church is the most ancient thing—Eph. 3:9-11; 1:4-11. (Three Aspects of the Church: Book 2, The Course of the Church, msg. 1)
II. God’s goal is the church, and the church is a corporate matter; the book of Ephesians reveals the church in seven major aspects: the Body, the new man, the kingdom, the household, the dwelling place of God, the bride, the wife, of Christ, and the warrior; these aspects of the church are all corporate matters; God has only one goal; God’s goal is unique; God’s ultimate goal is the church—1:22-23; 2:15, 19, 21-22; 5:23-32; 6:10-20. (The History of the Church and the Local Churches, msg. 1)
III. 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—Matt. 20:25-27, John 17:14-17; 18:36; Acts 15:29: (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
A. First, all the saved ones are brothers without any distinctions in rank—Matt. 20:25-27; 23:8-11. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
B. Another marked feature of the early church was that it was completely separated from the world; it was in the world but not of the world, just as the Lord said in John 17:14-17 and 18:36; this separation from the world was not merely a matter of not loving the things of the world; even more, it was a matter of not being mixed with the world and thereby being completely separated from the world—John 17:14-17; 18:36. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
C. The original church also completely forsook idols; from Acts 15:29 we can see that the original church forsook idols in a very thorough way—Acts 15:29. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
D. Completely allowing God to speak was another important characteristic of the early church; in the original church there was no human opinion and no human system; instead, the believers completely allowed the Spirit to speak through the Scriptures; they allowed the Holy Scriptures of God to have their position, and they also allowed the Holy Spirit of God to have His position. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
E. The original church also had another notable feature; there was only one expression in each locality—1 Cor. 1:2. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
F. Originally, although the fellowship among the churches was one, they were independent of each other in administration; there was no head church or any federation among them——Rev. 1:11-20. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
G. The church is the Body of Christ, and Christ is the Head of the church, reigning in the church through the Holy Spirit; it was this way in the early church; there was neither human opinion nor human authority; the believers let Christ be the Head in all things, and they let the Holy Spirit rule in all; they honored Christ as the Head and obeyed the authority of the Holy Spirit; this was the supreme characteristic of the original church—Col. 1:18; Eph. 4:15; Acts 13:2; 15:28. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg. 1)
IV. Now we need to briefly look at the degradation of the church, which is also the history of the church—cf. Rev. 2: (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg.2)
A. The first item of the degradation of the church is having hierarchy; this occurred as early as the beginning of the second century; at that time there was an elder in the church in Rome whose name was Clement; in his epistle he clearly referred to the matter of bringing the Judaic priestly system into the church. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg.2)
B. Next in the historical sequence is Ignatius, who was very close to Clement; the elders are the overseers; elder refers to the person, and overseer refers to the function; the elders are those who are mature in life, and their function is that of overseeing; Ignatius, however, said that overseers, or bishops, should be over elders. He made a great mistake in separating the elders and overseers into two groups, making overseers higher than elders: (Three Aspects of the Church: Book 2, The Course of the Church, msg. 10)
1. Ignatius’s mistaken belief was a seed sown into the church that has had a far-reaching influence on the church throughout the ages; even today this teaching has not been weeded out. (Three Aspects of the Church: Book 2, The Course of the Church, msg. 10)
2. Thus, the church developed a two-level organization with bishops on top and elders on the bottom; gradually, archbishops and a pope were introduced into this hierarchy. (Three Aspects of the Church: Book 2, The Course of the Church, msg. 10)
C. Around the middle of the third century, Cyprian, the archbishop of Carthage in northern Africa, strongly promoted the idea that the church should be organized with upper and lower levels, upper and lower ranks; this proposal greatly helped to produce organized Christianity. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg.2)
D. In the fourth century, when the Church of Rome was formed, there were various distinctions in rank, such as bishops, archbishops, and cardinals. (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg.2)
E. In the fifth century, the highest rank, the pope, was produced; all of these ranks constitute a priestly system, an intermediary class, in the Roman Catholic Church: (The Testimony and the Ground of the Church, Section Three: The Degradation and the Recovery of the Church, msg.2)
1. It was more than nine hundred years from that time until Martin Luther was raised up at the beginning of the sixteenth century. (Three Aspects of the Church: Book 2, The Course of the Church, msg. 13)
2. During those nine hundred years, the Roman Catholic Church did its best to corrupt, degrade, and defile the church in order to transmute it; under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, this was the darkest period in human history. (Three Aspects of the Church: Book 2, The Course of the Church, msg. 13)