“...the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not” (1 John 3:1).
In our
pursuit of this enquiry into the differences between
things now and as they were in the first years of
Christianity let us at once make it clear that this is no
idle wish to make comparisons and just leave it there. It
is always a very easy and usually unprofitable thing to
find and display comparisons and it is not very clever to
do so.
In our
quest there is one object which governs: it is to
discover whether the differences represent real gain or
loss.
We may
find that we are led to a more than general conclusion
relating to Christianity at large. The probability is
that spiritual problems in the life of the individual
Christian may have light thrown upon them. But we must
begin with the fundamental principle and major
difference. This difference is easy to see and very great
indeed.
The
quotation from the letter of John (alongside of which
much more could be ranged) contains a categorical
statement: “the world knoweth us not”,
and it is linked with a larger, drastic, and sweeping
indictment and explanation: “because it knew him
not”.
This
is a simple and plain statement of fact; the fact that
both the Son of God and the church of God could be here
in this world in closest touch with its people, with all
the wonder and miracle of the divine purpose, and the
world be in a state of complete inability, or disability
to identify them — “know them not”.
That
does not mean that the world was unaware of their
presence. Very much to the contrary! The world was far
from being able to ignore them. It had to take account of
them. But as to their true identity and significance, the
world could give no explanation. From time to time the
world, which must reduce everything to a formula, a
label, a name, made an attempt to confine this
inscrutability within a word or phrase or epithet. It
coined a term and dubbed them “Christians”, or
people of “the way”, or a “sect”.
That is the way of the world. It must reduce the
infinite, the eternal, to the measure of its own mind.
But
the question which is vital to us is whether this
incognito position was gain or loss. We beg to earnestly
affirm that it was of unspeakable gain in the case of
both Christ and His church that the real nature, virtue,
power and significance of their presence in this world
was in the very fact that there was a secret which was
beyond all natural comprehension. Much as they desired
that men should come by the way which would make that
secret true of them also, it was just in the knowledge
that a divine miracle lay at the heart of that experience
that the strength of Christ and the church lay. The
mystery intrigued, baffled, defeated, angered the world
or made it wistful. Flesh and blood could not reveal that
mystery, only God Almighty! “The world knoweth us
not” was no complaint, no lament of defeat and
no confession of something faulty with them. They were
sorry for the world, not for themselves.
Their
power lay in this fundamental difference. That the time
came, all too soon, when this distinction began to be
surrendered in exchange for “standing” with the
world, gives the force to our question: Has the church or
Christianity really gained by this exchange? Christianity
now resorts to every conceivable means by which it can
gain position, recognition and prestige, and in which the
world can easily understand it. For its very success it
must have names, titles, designations, honours, etc.
Unless Christians “conform”,
“belong”, take a name, and explain themselves,
they are suspect, outsiders, and of no
“standing”; no matter what their SPIRITUAL value
may be. “Sect” has become an epithet, an
expression of scorn, as in apostolic times. On this line
Christianity has expanded, become big, but the question
is pressing on many honest and serious minds as to
whether the INTRINSIC value will stand comparison
with that of the beginning.
Is it
not impressive to see how, whenever that which had a
strong, deep, rich, and effective beginning has been
“accepted” by the world, especially the
religious world, marks of SPIRITUAL loss show
themselves? Of how many God-initiated ministries and
instrumentalities this is true. From something of heaven
containing a deep and costly spiritual history and
possessing the dynamic and impact of the divine presence,
with its later development as an “institution”
standing well with men, with all its bigness and natural
impressiveness, it has become a mere shadow of its
origin, so far as depth and spiritual strength are
concerned. There is now little or no “mystery”
about it. It has nothing inscrutable and inexplicable in
it. It can be mainly attributed to human ability.
Let us
hasten to insert a protective word. We are NOT saying
that it is a wrong thing for Christians as private
persons to have EARNED honours, degrees, titles,
or designations. We are aware of an ultra-exclusive
movement which for fellowship, recognition, and
participation at the Lord’s Table demands a
repudiation or relinquishing of all professional,
academic, and other degrees. This we are definitely not
countenancing. IN THEIR REALM these things have
their place. What we are saying is, that if Christianity
seeks to make these things the basis of its strength, its
appeal, or its status, it has gone astray and will
resultantly suffer the loss of spiritual power. “The
world knoweth us not”, and any attempt to put
human importance in the place of that supernatural secret
will prove disastrous. When the term
“institution” begins to loom large in the
Christian vocabulary, it can be taken to mean that a
change has taken place which is not for the better.
The
challenge to many hearts is as to whether they are
prepared to be ununderstood, unacknowledged, unsung and
unapplauded in this world and live only for eternal
values. It has been said of the apostle Paul that
“he lived with eternal values only in view”.
Was he right?
One
apostle says: “The world knoweth us not... it
knew him not”. Another says: “The
earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the
revealing of the sons of God”
(Romans 8:19). There will be some surprises when that
happens — both ways!
Only
the Spirit of sonship, and those who have Him, know the
sons. God has hidden them from the world. It is painful
not to be recognized, because it is contrary to our
nature — as it is.
The
world must see the embellishments, honours, vestments,
titles, in order to take account. In the beginning it was
not so. “They took knowledge of them that they
had been with Jesus.” There is a right way in
which the world must know us, that is, know that we are
here, and that is that we are something that it cannot
comprehend.