|
|
|
The gospel plan of salvation is in itself proof of divine revelation. The first chapter of
the Ephesian epistle sets forth the supernatural origin of the scheme of redemption. In the
third chapter the apostle writes of the revelation which "when ye read, ye may understand
my knowledge" — the inspired knowledge of the gospel — "as it is now revealed unto
his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." The scheme of human redemption as foretold
by the Old Testament prophets is fulfilled in Christianity. It could not have been originated
by man; it cannot be a human plan (1 Cor. 1:18-31).
The same apostle in the first and second chapters of Corinthians contrasts ancient human philosophy and the divine wisdom of the gospel in the New Testament. In the former ages no eye had seen, no ear had heard, and no heart had known the things revealed by the Holy Spirit through the men whom God had immediately inspired to reveal them (1 Cor. 2:1-9). The revelation of the New Testament came through the "earthen vessels" of inspired apostles (2 Cor. 4:1-7), whose knowledge was not the information of natural men (1 Cor. 2:10-11); for natural men could not receive the knowledge of these things through natural channels of information. Philosophers and scientists are natural men, and they can by natural means receive the knowledge of natural things. But spiritual things are revealed things — revealed by the Holy Spirit through spiritual men, the inspired apostles of Jesus Christ — and scientists cannot by natural means discover them. Through chemical experiments, the chemist may receive scientific information, but he cannot receive the things of divine revelation through his natural experiments. The geologist can receive sedimentary information through his geological discoveries, but he cannot receive the knowledge of the things of divine revelation through his natural research. The astronomer by his telescope and spectroscope may receive astrophysical information through the science of astronomical investigation, but he cannot know the things of divine revelation through natural investigations. The purpose of the present treatise is to observe the church as the product of divine wisdom and revelation. I. The church as a manifest of divine wisdom (Eph. 3:9-10). As the heavenly firmament declares the glory of God and His creative handiwork (Psa. 19), so the spiritual institution manifests, by exhibition, its divine origin — that it is the manifold wisdom of God, comprehensive of the various features of the divine plan, making perceptible to men (v. 9) the unfolding of an eternal purpose. Divine revelation versus human prudence is seen in the existence of the church. It could not have been designed by the human mind. Hence, the divine architecture is exhibited, manifested, in the church. As a building exhibits the skill of the architect, the church as a spiritual institution manifests the wisdom that is divine, not human. "Which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence" (Eph. 1:8 ASV). "Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). The comprehensiveness of the church is here made to be coextensive with the whole scheme of redemption (Eph. 1:10-11, 20-23). The dignity of the church as the body of Christ, its grandeur as the building and habitation of God, including the Jew and the Gentile in one spiritual commonwealth, in which realm "elective" grace is conditioned on obedience and character rather than respect of persons by omnipotent partiality, and all of this by a foreordained plan — a foreapproved plan — "according to his will," the revelation of which is the gospel (Rom. 16:25-26); and it exalts the church to the highest sphere of divine knowledge and wisdom, beyond the prudence of men to devise or the power of the human mind to plan. II. The perpetuity of the church (Heb. 12:23-28). The church being coextensive with the scheme of human redemption, will be in existence as long as time endures.
III. The divine characteristics of the church (Matt. 16:16-20). The setting up of the church of Christ on the earth was the culmination of all the plans and purposes of God from the beginning to the end of time (Eph. 3:10, 11, 21). It was the inauguration of a kingdom not of the world — "now is my kingdom not from hence" (John 18:36) — but the "kingdom of heaven." Here the kingdom of Christ is paralleled in a sense with the worldly kingdom of Rome, but infinitely grander in character, scope and power. The origin of the kingdom of heaven and its perpetuity on the earth "throughout all ages world without end" imparts to it divine characteristics attached to no other institution.
IV. The voice of history. The Bible teaches that the church of Christ, the kingdom of Christ, was established on the Pentecost of Acts 2, and history joins with revelation in affirming this truth. Such historians as Orchard, Mosheim, William Smith, Faucett, Fisher, Schaff, Benedict, and Armitage testify to this fact. The beginning of the church is thus established by the prophecies of the Old Testament, the teaching of the New Testament, and by the voice of history. These same historians bear testimony against the so-called church succession of denominational bodies as being the New Testament church. And they are but a few of the many historians of all denominations who testify against the doctrine of an unbroken line of church succession through human denominational organizations. The New Testament has left unmistakable marks of identity on the true church, and any church professing to be such must offer these credentials. |