7
THE MINISTRY OF JOHN.
The written ministry of John is not to be limited to his gospel, the epistles and the Revelation form a complete
whole.
The Gospel
`IN THE BEGINNING was the Word ... In Him was life' (John 1:1-4).
The Epistles
`That which was FROM THE BEGINNING ... which ... our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was
manifested ... )' (1 John 1:1,2).
The Revelation
`And I saw heaven opened ... His name is called The Word of God' (Rev. 19:11-13).
`The Beginning of the creation of God' (Rev. 3:14).
Here John uses the unique title of Christ `The Word' in His relationship with the past (John 1:1), the present
(1 John 1:1,2), and the future (Rev. 19:11-13).
We ask, where in the whole course of this ministry is there the faintest allusion to the Church which is the One
Body? There is most certainly a unity envisaged, but that is an entirely different company.
(John 10:16).
THE ONE FLOCK
Matthew's Gospel says:
`Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel' (Matt. 10:5,6).
John's Gospel says:
`Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and ... there shall be one fold (ONE FLOCK
R.V.) and ONE SHEPHERD (John 10:16).
`Jesus ... must needs go through Samaria' (John 4:1-4).
Here is a unity, composed of two companies of the redeemed, belonging originally to two `folds' but eventually
to become one `flock' (R.V.) under one Shepherd. Now there cannot be two such unities set forth as the goal of
John's Gospel :
(1) The One Flock.
(2) The One Body.
If therefore we believe that every one who believes the gospel set forth by John is, whether he knows it or not, a
member of the One Body, we cannot stay there, the unity of John 10:16 embraces `the lost sheep of the house of
Israel' and consequently we must extend the membership of the One Body to Matthew's gospel and to the ministry
of Peter! We thereby reduce the many and varied distinctions of calling, constitution and sphere that are recorded in
Paul's Prison Ministry to an incongruous muddle. While this `one flock' is a blessed unity, it cannot refer to or
embrace the Unity of the Spirit as set forth in Ephesians 4.
When we today read John 20:30,31, we do not realise as we should that to believe that `Jesus is the Christ' may
not mean to us exactly what John intended by the title. We repeat, that it is our incumbent duty to note the words
`which the Holy Ghost teacheth' and compare `spiritual things with spiritual'. Now we are not left in doubt as to the
intention of John. In the first chapter he tells us `We have found the MESSIAS' (John 1:41) and `The Messias', being
interpreted is `The Christ'. In the same chapter we read again:
`We have found Him, of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write' (John 1:45),
and the chapter closes with Nathanael's confession:
`Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the king of Israel' (John 1:49).