Jesus said “Whoever does the will of my father is my brother, my sister, my mother” (Matt. 12. 50 N.E.B.), and consequently his followers became a brotherhood—a family. This family nature of the body of Christ is stressed over and over again by Jesus and the writers of the New Testament.
When you pray, Jesus said, say “Our Father, which art in heaven” and John who was so very close to Jesus admonishes us to “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God (1 John 3. 1). After his resurrection Jesus comforted Mary and told her “Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God” (John 20, 17). The great gulf between God and men is reduced immeasurably by a contemplation of this personal relationship with the heavenly Father, even as Jesus prayed in his darkest hours, “That they may all be one; as thou Father art in me, and I in thee that they also may be one in us” (John 17. 21).
Our finite minds prevent a full understanding, but the depth of the love of God is in these words—my Father and your Father—my brother, my sister, my mother —sons of God—all may be one—Father, begotten son and ourselves, one great Family.
The use of the family as an allegory is further evidence of the greatness of the divine provision for our needs. We are used to being part of a family in the natural sense and the relationship of children to parents and parents to children is so well understood. The Almighty God has adopted us as his children—we are all children—and we are called to love and obey. In return He will correct us for our disobedience as a Father does his children and in His farsighted way, He will test us in measure, as He develops in us characteristics well pleasing to Him. We should always remember that He can “of the very stones” raise up seed (children) to Abraham”.
When the Christadelphian body was formed our pioneers gave considerable prominence to this family nature of the group of believers. Bro. A. D. Norris in his booklet “Things We Stand For” tells us that the coiner of the name Christadelphian knew that one of the greatest honours ever to be paid to true believers was that contained in Hebrews 2. 11 “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” and therefore he pieced together two Greek words “Christou Adelphoi” to convey the thought “Brethren in Christ”. He wanted it to be generally known that we rejoice in the thought of being “children of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3. 26). That we are brethren in Christ and not merely brethren of Christ is of considerable significance. It demonstrates our fundamental dependance on Christ as our elder brother, through whom we can become sons and daughters of the living God. In Romans 6. 5 Paul tells us that we are “planted together in the likeness of his death” and this idea of being planted together can be more expressive when translated “incorporate with him” as in the New English Bible. We are brethren in Christ or incorporate with him. John tells us in the first chapter of his gospel that “Jesus gave us power to become the sons of God, born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God. Jesus is the only begotten son and we are called to be adopted sons by baptism into Christ.
As “adopted sons” with a common hope we gather together in family groups which we call ecclesias: groups of called-out ones,in which we again see the call to adoption as sons of God. Our ecclesias vary in size from a few to several hundred brethren and sisters and are found in most parts of the English speaking world and in a number of other countries. We gather together to partake of the emblems, to exhort one another, to teach our children, to preach the gospel and to care for the spiritual and physical welfare of each other. In our ecclesial families we must have arrangement and order, yet we must preserve the family atmosphere and the understanding that “all ye are brethren”. We face a multitude of problems which must be solved for the good of the family as a whole. It is essential that the ecclesial family is united in Christ’s service and certain basic principles in this regard have been adopted by our pioneer brethren in the development of the Christadelphian ecclesias as the family of God.
Bro. Robert Roberts in his “Guide to the Formation and Conduct of Ecclesias” stresses that “the appointment of brethren to certain offices is not the appointment of men to exercise authority but of men to serve”. He says it is wise to attach the term brother or brethren to every office to help preserve the family unity of the body of Christ and also “all official brethren are serving brethren; these are necessarily different sorts of serving brethren, but all are brethren” as Christ says “One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren”. Again Brother Roberts says “the ecclesia does not appoint masters but servants” and that “to form ‘unions’ or ‘societies’ of ecclesias in which delegates should frame laws for the individual ecclesias would be to lay the foundation of a collective despotism which would interfere with the free growth and true objects of ecclesial life. All ecclesiastical history illustrates this.”
There can be no doubt that the individual autonomy of each ecclesia, and the appointment by each ecclesia of its own office bearers as serving brethren or servants, must be continued if the true family spirit of Christ’s brethren manifested in the Christadelphian body for the past 100 years is to be preserved.
The worldly lust for power called in the scriptures “pride of life” is one of the main causes of disunity in the ecclesial family.not only is this seen in the history of the Christadelphian body, but it was a major cause of trouble in the first century ecclesias, and even among the disciples of our Lord during his ministry. When the disciples disputed among themselves as to who was the greatest among them Jesus called a little child and set him in the midst of them and said “Except ye be converted (changed) and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18. 2-4). On another occasion he instructed them, “You must not be called Rabbi for you have one Rabbi and you all are brothers. Do not call anyone on earth Father for you have one Father and He is in Heaven. Nor must you be called Teacher; you have one Teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt. 23. 9-12 N.E.B.).
Jesus by washing his disciples’ feet, a most humble and menial act, set an example for us to follow. Personal rivalry, group-forming within ecclesias and even on an inter-ecclesial basis, was condemned by Paul who exhorted the Corinthians, I appeal to you my brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: agree among yourselves and avoid divisions; be firmly joined in unity of mind and thought. I have been told, my brothers, by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: each of you is saying, 1 am Paul’s man’, or I am for Apollos.; I follow Cephas., or I am Christ’s. Surely Christ has not been divided among you!” ( 1 Cor. 1. 10-13 N.E.B.). Writing to the Ephesians Paul says, “Spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace, the unity which the spirit gives” (N.E.B.). The entire fourth chapter of the letter to the Ephesians provides most rewarding reading with particular emphasis on verses 4 to 6, 11 to 16, 21 to 25 and 31 and 32 from both the Authorised version and the New English Bible.
It is not surprising that there are differences of opinion among us; each ecclesia is composed of people drawn together by a common hope, but with vastly differing backgrounds and abilities. Not only are we of differing ages but we have different temperaments, intellects and personalities. We are influenced by our early training, education, environment and experiences in life and all those have a marked effect on our attitude to the Truth. There are innumerable jobs to be done in each ecclesia; there must be elders, speakers, teachers, preachers, doorkeepers, stewards, welfare workers, musicians, singers, writers and a multitude of other functions differing from ecclesia to ecclesia. No one of us can fulfil every function and each will select the task or tasks in the ecclesia which appeal most. Sometimes we may find that the ecclesia does not think we are suited for the work we select to do and this is when we must be careful to control the worldly lusts of envy and anger remembering that we are part of a large family and we have agreed to accept the decisions of the other members of the family as binding on us, so long as they are not contrary to the doctrines of our Lord. Those elected to office in an ecclesia must also be on their guard, remembering that they are not masters but servants. If unity in the ecclesial family is to be preserved, we must each put aside the old man of the flesh and graciously accept the majority decisions of the whole family.
Many of us become single minded in regard to the particular talent or talents we possess and spend our time developing. There is always a danger that we will think our particular function is the only really important work and that others engaged in quite different functions are wasting their time on unimportant things. The welfare worker may think that the student is wasting his time and the speaker may think that the steward is of no consequence. Even within functions there may be strong differences of opinion; one thinks that prophetic lectures are essential in preaching the gospel while another brother just as strongly believes that prophetic lectures are valueless and that lectures should be restricted to fundamental doctrines. Another brother will think a certain book or pamphlet is a valuable help in preaching the Truth, while another considers those particular publications to be shallow or unsuitable. One brother may wish to study the spiritual significance of the Law of Moses, while another with a different intellectual outlook, prefers to concentrate his studies on the prophets or the gospels or the epistles. These are just a few of the differences which arise from day to day in the ecclesial family and we must not permit them to interfere with the basic unity of our family. It is far too easy to criticise, or even slander, someone with a different opinion; but Jesus told us clearly to first remove the beam from our own eye so that we can see to help our brother get the splinter out of his. The simple lesson is so clear—we must look inwardly and examine and criticize ourselves first. The ecclesia at Corinth faced the same basic problems and Paul told the Corinthian family, “Christ is like a single body with its many limbs and organs, which many as they are, together make up one body”. He continues, “Suppose the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it does belong to the body none the less”; also, “The eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need you”, and, “God has combined the various parts of the body, giving special honour to the humbler parts, so that there might be no sense of division in the body”. Our dependence on one-another is stressed when Paul says, If one organ suffers, they all suffer together. If one flourishes, they all rejoice together”, and, “You are Christ’s body and each of you a limb or organ of it”.
If we are to maintain the unity of the ecclesial family as we have been commanded we must learn to put aside worldly lusts and be understanding towards Our brethren. We must be tolerant, within the essential principles of truth as expressed in the Statement of Faith which provides a basis for our family association, and we must train ourselves to respect and love our brethren as Christ also loved us and gave his life for us—the just for the unjust. There is tremendous scope for fostering family unity in the ecclesias of today by putting aside the tendency to form into competitive or critical groups, remembering that John tells us, If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar”.
Fellowship with the Maker and Brethren