THE CAUSE OF DIVISIONS?
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We may well ask ourselves how is it that the enemy has been allowed to bring about these disastrous divisions among this little remnant of God's people? In order to understand the underlying causes of division let us remember there are two great facts on which hang all the distinguishing truths of Christianity which were recovered by this last movement of God. First that Christ is seated as Son of Man in the glory of God: second that the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person is dwelling in and with believers on the earth.
We do not forget that every blessing enjoyed by the saints in this dispensation, as well as in the past and in the future, is secured by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but the particular blessings which belong exclusively to Christianity are secured by these two immense facts, only true in this dispensation, that there is a Man in the highest place in glory, and a Divine Person on earth. By the Holy Spirit believers on earth have been united to one another to form that mystic body of which Christ in heaven is the Head. Then, as we have already seen, these truths, and all that they involve, can only be known in power by those who have taken a place in separation from the great religious systems of men which, by their constitution, their teaching and their practice, are a denial of the truth of the Church as unfolded in Scripture. In the light of these truths we judge the root causes of all divisions will be found to lie in three solemn facts: —
1st. We have failed to walk in the Spirit.
2nd. We have not held the Head.
3rd. We have not maintained that holy separation without which it is impossible to act in accordance with these truths.
This, however, calls for further explanation. The movement of the last century to which we have referred was essentially a spiritual movement. The return, in any measure, to the principles and practice of the great truths of the Assembly, as unfolded in the epistles, was a return to ground on which there was no room for the activity and devices of religious flesh.
It was ground which, being divine, could only be taken and maintained in the power of the Spirit. We cannot read the early chapters of the Acts without being struck by the fact that the Church on earth was not only formed by the Holy Spirit, but was maintained by men who were filled with the Holy Spirit, and acting in the power of the Spirit by spiritual means. On the day of Pentecost the disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Brought before the rulers, Peter is filled with the Spirit when he confounds his opponents. Later we read "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness." To meet the temporal needs of believers, men were appointed full of the Holy Ghost. The adversaries of Stephen could not resist the Spirit by which he spoke, and at his martyrdom "he being filled with the Holy Spirit looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God."
From this rapid survey of these early scenes it is manifest that whether it was the formation of the Church, or the maintenance of the Church against the attacks of the enemy; whether it was preaching to sinners or ministering to the saints, all was one in the power of the Holy Spirit, and by men who were filled with the Spirit. There was an entire absence of all the religious machinery and carnal methods by which the varied religious systems of today seek to conduct their services and retain their hold on the people.
It must be plain that if all were walking in the Spirit, we should be perfectly joined together, in the same mind and in the same judgment. There would be no occasion for a divided judgment. There may indeed be different apprehensions of divine truth, — some see farther than others, — but if controlled by the same Spirit all look in the same direction. There may be different views of the same object even as the gospels present different views of the life of Christ yet all are in perfect accord because presented by the same Spirit. (1 Cor. 12: 4, 8, 9, 11).
What then is the cause of strife and divisions? Does it not lie in the fact that in the Christian there are two opposing powers, the flesh and the Spirit, and these are contrary the one to the other. To be in agreement with one another we must be controlled by the same power If two Christians are controlled by the Holy Spirit they will be in accord. If both are controlled by the flesh they may be in accord. But if one is controlled by the Spirit and the other by the flesh there must be conflict, for "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." There must be strife when the flesh and the Spirit come into collision whether it be in an individual or in a company. (Gal. 5: 17)
Now the movement to which we have referred called for and necessitated a spirituality for which the mass were not prepared. So it came to pass with the increase of numbers there was a decrease of spirituality. The flesh acted and fleshly methods crept in with the result that there was collision between those seeking to walk together in the line of the Spirit and those acting in a more fleshly way. It has been truly said "the more we investigate, the better we shall see that the cause of strife generally between any two Christians is, that one has allowed human considerations of some kind to sway him, while the other, with a more single eye, considers for the Lord only."
Here then lies one great root cause of all divisions. We have not walked, nor held the truth, in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit; nor submitted to His guidance and control, with the result that there has been the increasing intrusion of the flesh, and its methods, leading to endless strife, confusion and division.
There is, however, as we have said, another great cause of divisions; we have not held the Head. One has said "while we have theorised about Christ as Head (and consequently as our Resource, instead of the machinery of the denominations) we have never known how to use Him when difficulty has come in. Where we should have referred the matter to Him, and waited for His solution, there has been the impatience and zeal of the flesh that would put forth its hand for the steadying of the Ark with the resultant smiting from the hand of the Lord." We have held the truth of the Head, we would have died for the truth, and yet all the time it may be, we have not held the Head. To hold the truth of the Head is merely to hold the doctrine, and so far right; but to hold the Head is to turn to the One who is the Head and use the resources that are in Him as the Head.
We have made the mistake of looking for power and wisdom and guidance in the Church and our conceptions of it; and thus in our difficulties and perplexities we have looked to teachers, leaders, and gifted men in the Church, rather than to the One who is the Head of the Church and in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead. We have not turned to Him and spread out before Him all our difficulties and differences of judgment. With a measure of knowledge of divine principles we have assumed competency to apply these principles in the difficulties that have arisen, forgetting that however correct our principles they can only be rightly applied under the direction, and by the wisdom and perfect knowledge of the Head. We have discussed difficulties amongst ourselves, and trusted in men rather than in Christ the Head; with the result that we have been left very largely to our own devices. As we read of the godly Hezekiah, there came a moment in his history when "God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart" (2 Chron. 32: 31). We have failed to hold the Head and we have been "left" to do what is right in our own eyes, and the outcome has been sorrow upon sorrow and division upon division.
Moreover, have we not failed in the maintenance of that holy separation which in the beginning was such a prominent mark of this spiritual movement, and without which all else is in vain? In the history of the remnant who returned from the captivity to build the house of the Lord, the first attack of the enemy was an effort to break down their holy separation by the attempt to form an unequal alliance to do the work of the Lord (Ezra 4: 2). And so also in regard to those who, in obedience to the Word, have gone forth from the great religious systems which have been formed by sincere men after the pattern of the Camp (Heb. 13: 13), has there not been a constant effort by the enemy to entangle them again in these systems, and thus lead them to surrender or nullify the great truths concerning Christ and the Church which can only be held and enjoyed by a separated people?
As we have seen with the remnant in the days of Ezra, the plea of service to the Lord's people and furthering the Lord's work, has been constantly advanced in order to justify a return to, or service in connection with, these corrupt religious systems in which so many of God's dear people are held in bondage. Those caught by this snare forget that the measure of our preparation for the Master's use is the measure of our separation from all that is contrary to the Lord outwardly and inwardly (2 Tim. 2: 19-22). We do well to remember that if we have separated from these systems in spite of true people of God being in them, it cannot be right to return to these systems because they are there. Furthermore, we must not forget that the Lord knows full well how to care for His beloved sheep wherever they may be found, and that He will not let them suffer because we, in obedience to His word and faithfulness to Himself, refuse to go back to the systems in which they may be found.
These then are, we believe, the great root causes of division — we have not maintained separation — we have not walked in the Spirit — we have not held the Head. Moreover, a little thought will show that the root causes of the divisions that have marred this last great movement of the Spirit of God, are the same causes that brought all the ruin into the early Church. The practical setting aside of the Holy Spirit by fleshly expedients, the absolute ignoring of the Church's Head in heaven by setting up a visible head on earth, and the formation of unholy alliances with the world, are the outstanding sins of Christendom, which have involved the ruin of the Church on earth and are leading to the final apostacy. As we have seen, the Spirit of God, in the last century, led a great number of the people of God to separate from the systems of men to walk in the light of the truth as taught in the epistles, and maintained in the Church at the beginning; but, alas, very soon there came breakdown in practice by falling into the failures of the Church in its early days, when it departed from first love and allowed the world a place inside. The result is, as with Israel of old, the enemy is at the gate and there are breaches in the wall.
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