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Paul's imprisonment nor upon the acceptance of the truth, but solely upon the
purpose and will of God. Further, I think you must make a distinction
between salvation and position.
A -- Just what do you mean by that?
B -- The basis of salvation for the church of the One Body was laid
before Acts 28, and is found in the epistle to the Romans, particularly in
chapters 5 to 8, but although all believers both pre - and post -Acts are
saved with the same salvation, it does not follow that they are all destined
for the same position. During Paul's earlier ministry the position of the
Gentile believer could be expressed by the words, `Blessed with faithful
Abraham'. After Acts 28 the name of Abraham never occurs in Paul's writings.
The believer after that, as a member of the One Body, while still saved with
the same salvation as Abraham (Rom. 4; Gal. 3), is chosen to a different
destiny which can only be expressed by the words, `With Christ in the
heavenly places, far above all principality', etc.
Then, further, we have no warrant to teach that every believer at the
present day is necessarily a member of the church of the One Body. The great
bulk of Christians are ignorant of the revelation of the Mystery. They do
not believe the truth for which the apostle suffered, they do
not entertain its hope, they do not endure anything for its doctrine. In all
dispensations it has been true, `faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God'.
A -- Yet this seems to make acceptance of the truth the basis of
membership.
B -- Scripture says, `It pleased God through the foolishness of the
preaching to save them that believe', and at the same time says, `As many as
were ordained to eternal life believed'. You might just as well bring your
objections against these Scriptures as against the teaching concerning the
One Body. Every member of this church will hear and believe the truth, yet
every member is, nevertheless, as much `ordained' to that membership as were
those who were `ordained to eternal life'.
A -- You mean, then, that seeing it is within the bounds of possibility
that two dispensations may run together at the same time, it also is a
possibility that all Christians are not necessarily members of one elect
company and that there are `kingdom' believers today as well as `church'
believers, and that the church of the One Body may be termed `An election
within an election'.
B -- Yes, and further, instead of adopting the attitude that Christians
who do not see with us in these things must necessarily be wrong, we believe
that our responsibility ends with the presentation of the truth, and that
according to whether the one who hears has been chosen to membership of the
One Body or not, so will his response be.
A -- That explanation accounts for the very obvious difference that I
found between your attitude toward differing believers and their attitude
toward you. The spirit of condemnation and bitterness would certainly not be
so manifest if all Christians saw the truth from that standpoint. I do not
pretend to accept your teaching yet, but I do most certainly appreciate the
spirit that it produces.