The Word of Truth

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Fellowship

What does Jesus’ cleansing cover?

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”* (1 John 1:7)

Please, explain what the phrase “cleanseth us from all sin” means. What sin is this referred to here—imputed sin? Depravity? Or what?

Reply:

When the scripture says “all sin,” It means all sin. The objective of salvation is to restore a man to Adamic purity—no sin—acquired or inherited. This scripture teaches that “if we walk in the light as He is in the light,” it will bring us to a state of cleanliness through the blood of Jesus. The first work of purification takes away one kind of sin. This is the result of walking in the light of repentance, restitution, and faith in the saving blood of Jesus. The second work of purification takes away the other kind of sin. This is the result of walking in the light of death to self, absolute consecration to God, and faith in the blood of Jesus for complete sanctification. Thus the objective of cleansing from all sin in a given human being is accomplished.

How is spiritual fellowship attained?

“…we have fellowship one with another….”

Please, explain what it takes for the true saints to have fellowship. It does not appear like spiritual fellowship results from our socially coming together in services and human acceptance, or even in formulated doctrinal agreement. It has to come from a deeper spiritual relationship than that. I cannot explain clearly what that deeper relationship involves, for us to be able to fellowship freely and joyously, as happens when we sit to laugh and joke as ordinary human beings. As ordinary men and women, we laugh and joke a lot about the entertaining things of our common life. Shouldn’t this be the case when we are in the same Holy Ghost elevation? When I am in company of real spiritual men, I find it very enjoyable to talk about the biblical experiences, and we even have a lot of joyous time which even includes holy laughter. Kindly clear this for me, please.

Reply:

Yes, spiritual fellowship goes deeper than trying to have fellowship. Spiritual fellowship arises from what we are, as contrasted with what we try to be. There is something deeper than intellectual agreement and a decision to agree. Here the words of the apostle apply: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”* (1 John 2:19) These words have been used to explain why nearly anyone left anyone else, but they contain a deeper message than just disagreement in thought. They imply disagreement at a deeper level.

There are many fellowships, and there are many degrees of fellowship within each kind of fellowship. We look into the eyes of an animal, and we experience a distinct lack of human fellowship. There is something in the very nature of the beast that is alien to our nature, yet we experience a certain fellowship with the animal. When we see that the snake or rat or dog feels pain, we can feel his pain. This would be the fellowship of living things, as contrasted with your relationship with a rock.

Within the human fellowship experience, there is a distinct difference in the adult’s relationship to the child—but it is a difference in degree, not in kind. The basic human nature is the same. And there is a difference between the adult and a teenager, as contrasted with an eight-year-old child, but again, it is in degree. Between a grandfather and a given child, as contrasted with a young father and the child. Between the two genders. Between nationalities. Between races. Between the slave owner and the slave. When the nature is the same (human nature, in these cases), then there may be differences in agreement, empathy, or thought that change the scope of fellowship, but the basic fellowship of human being to human being remains. There are things that can affect this basic relationship, too, as when a human being becomes insane or hardened through sin to the point that the individual becomes less and less human.

The word fellowship and its synonyms are very expressive. It is defined as “the condition of sharing similar interests, ideals, or experiences, as by reason of profession, religion, or nationality.” A second meaning is “the companionship of individuals in a congenial atmosphere and on equal terms.” My dictionaries and thesauruses give the following list of synonyms: amity, association, brotherhood, camaraderie, companionship, comradeship, fraternity, amicability, friendliness, friendship, intimacy, society, togetherness. The Bible tells us that there was an affinity between Ahab and Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 18:1). This affinity/fellowship was of sufficient depth to send them out to war together, yet there was a lack of affinity/fellowship between the two with respect to truth and the prophet of truth (Micaiah). We read of the fellowship of Jonathan and his armor-bearer. “And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.”* (1 Samuel 14:7) It is quite evident that the fellowship of Jonathan and his armor-bearer was of quite a different merit than the unholy affinity between Ahab and Jehoshaphat.

When we look further into the scriptures, we find a fellowship described between God and man. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father.”* (1 John 1:3) This is a marvelous thing. God created man to have fellowship with Him, and at first, Adam and Eve enjoyed a wonderful, unbroken fellowship with God. “They heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.”* (Genesis 3:8) Although this scripture describes things after fellowship was broken between God and man, we are distinctly left with the impression that God walked in the garden and communed with Adam and Eve regularly before this, to the great joy and happiness of all three. There was a holy affinity between them. God and man were at peace. We catch a glimpse of how the relationship worked, “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”* (Genesis 2:19) This scripture describes things before Eve was created from Adam’s rib, but we see that there was an involvement, an interrelationship, between God and man that is beautiful to behold. God and man were living together in harmony. It was as it was created to be. Ah, the power of the gospel! It restores man to the proper fellowship between himself and his Creator. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”* (Romans 5:1) “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”* (Psalm 23:3)

This fellowship had (and has now) deep roots. It originated in the moral nature of the Almighty and the then unblemished moral nature of the created man and woman. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them…. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”* (Genesis 1:27,31) There was a likeness, a spiritual fellowship, far beyond words, that was involved in this fellowship between God and man. It was not in power, for man was and is weak. It was not in intellect, for God’s ways are high above our ways, and His thoughts above our thoughts. It was not in flesh, for God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. It was in perfect moral fellowship, because God and man were in complete agreement, morally speaking. Man’s inner nature was in complete harmony with the nature of God. Man was not a puppet. He was created to think for himself, did so, and broke spiritual fellowship with God by thinking and doing for himself in disobedience to moral law. When he chose to do so, he defiled his moral nature and incurred a curse that passed on his defiled nature to all his offspring. Thus we read that Adam begat a son “afer his image,”* (Genesis 5:3) instead of after the image of God; and it is a terrible thing to realize that Adam’s image at that point was a sinful image, and that Seth’s image was sinful, too. Then we find the conclusion of the Bible on this whole subject, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.”* (Romans 5:14) Thus we realize that even the newly-created, whom God sends continually into the world, are defiled by the curse of depravity. God makes the soul, and it is holy, but it is defiled at conception, when body and soul come together. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”* (Psalm 51:5-6) This defiled nature hinders fellowship with God. Although the young child is not conscious of acts of rebellion (whether of commission or omission) toward God, and therefore feels a certain affinity toward their Creator, yet there is something that does not fit and hinders fellowship. When a person gets saved and is at peace again with God, there is still something down deep, as we say, that is not in agreement with the holy and pure nature of God, and it hinders fellowship. There is fellowship, for there is a real love for God and a strong desire to never displease Him again, but the root cause of rebellion (in the nature of wrath) is still present and needs to be purified.

As can be seen, there are many kinds of fellowship and many degrees of fellowship within a certain kind. Mutual fear of the one true God brings a certain fellowship. A cleansing that takes away guilt and brings peace between a man and God will also bring a sweet fellowship between all who have received like faith. And yet that is not perfect. Only a fellowship of moral nature is the same as was at the beginning. And only a fellowship of moral nature reaches to the depths of what wholly-sanctified Brother John was telling us in 1 John 1:7. The fellowship that comes from being cleansed from all sin lays the foundation for a degree of affinity and closeness that is just like that between Jesus and God. It matches the fellowship of all the inhabitants of glory.

Fellowship leads to trust. It develops confidence in the fellowshipped person or persons. Complete and perfect fellowship brings about complete and perfect trust. Partial fellowship, partial trust. No fellowship, no trust.

“The bond that circles heaven’s pure—
Oh, wondrous, wondrous story!—
Has dropped around the holy here,
And fills us all with glory.

“Oh, mystery of heaven’s peace!
Oh, bond of heaven’s union!
Our souls in fellowship embrace,
And live in sweet communion.

“Oh, brethren, how this perfect love
Unites us all in Jesus!
One heart, and soul, and mind we prove
The union heaven gave us.”*

I have spiritual fellowship with a young, unsanctified brother. That fellowship is founded on a love for God and a trueness to God that is very real in his life and in mine. It is distinctly different from our friendship before he got saved. Then we only had a natural fellowship, as two human beings living in the natural world. Both of us had to eat and sleep. We had different human emotional needs in common, etc. When he got saved, there was a new spiritual relationship. When I spoke of living right, resisting temptation, etc., he was not merely hearing about it—those desires and life within him were strongly in agreement. When he spoke of it, I felt agreement, rapport, and concord with his spirit and life. We were in unity on these important things. But when I speak of death to self, of being all the Lord’s, of living all on the altar, we are not the same. He respects what I am, and he desires it. But he is not there. He can talk the talk a little, but it does not come from deep in the heart, for he is not walking this particular victory over self. He has increased his consecration, but it is not salted with fire. His heart, while truly in love with Jesus, is not glowing with perfect love. Therefore, our fellowship is not that of the wholly sanctified. It is good fellowship, and certainly far different from how it was when he was dead in trespasses and sins, but is short of the songwriter’s words quoted above. When heavy trials come his way, I am more afraid for him than I am for the wholly sanctified. The fear arises from a perception of this weakness in his experience. If he continues to walk in the light, he will find God’s mighty transforming power to purify the soul and fill him with the Holy Ghost. Then we will both talk and walk the language of those who have entered into rest. It is very plain to me that inward carnality, even imperfectly or completely hidden to the view of the possessor, hinders perfect fellowship.

In the young brother’s case, the burden for his sanctification rests strongly upon me, and I am closely involved with him. I am thinking of another brother who lives quite a distance away. I have not seen him now or heard from him for several years. There is fellowship between us. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves the Lord and is living a holy life. I feel confident of brotherhood in Christ with this man. There is also something that blocks the complete fellowship of the wholly sanctified. It surfaces in small things, that, on closer examination, are not so small. After all, they are big enough to block perfect fellowship. Both of us respect each other very much, and we love each other and bear each other’s burdens when we become aware of tribulations in each of our lives. Yet we had to say to him that we were teaching two different standards, and we could not make him feel free to preach to us because of the contradictions in the standards that we both held. There is a certain fellowship, but I think it would be safe to say that it is hindered from being all that God would have it to be. God knows the reasons why.

I honestly do not think that he sees the things that hinder fellowship between us as important enough to have convictions about. To him, we just seem a little strained, I think. He respects our right to have convictions, but doesn’t feel that the principles and things involved are any more than just two different human ways of doing things, and he has not dug deep enough to be convicted that there is more to it. To us, it seems plain that the lack of depth here is costing him and his greatly, but I do not believe that he sees that at all.

So, where is he spiritually? I leave that in God’s hands. It takes something from God to trust Him with our bodies, and, beyond any doubt, this brother has gotten that grace in his battles. So, why doesn’t that give room for him to work among us freely? If we give him that room, his lack of conviction on other things will affect us. As a shepherd and overseer, I am answerable to God for what I receive, either overtly or tacitly. As a watchman on the wall, I can have the blood of others on my hands if I am not faithful to the light and faithful to warn others of the light that God has shown on my pathway. It fills me with grief to not receive this brother in this capacity as a minister, and I gladly receive him as a brother just as far as I can, while also recognizing that the fellowship is flawed and incomplete. I have a message of truth and deliverance from heaven to teach and hold before them, nor can I back away from it. If they just view those convictions as my personal idiosyncrasies, then they cannot receive me on that basis and have rightful spiritual fellowship. We hunger for the testimony of Brother Paul to the congregation at Thessalonica, “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”* (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Until our convictions and the reading that we have put before them are able to appear as other than the word of men, then things will probably continue on as they are: flawed fellowship. I believe that they wish for better, even as we do.

This state of things is different from those who reject and rebel against truth or are unwilling to pay the price of truth. In those cases, something in the heart is revealed that is not willing to go through for God. If I were in their position and they in mine, I would feel obligated to dig and determine for time and eternity what is the mind of God about those things that block complete fellowship. I cannot let it rest without getting down to foundation stones of truth. I am not certain just why they do not pursue this matter this intensely and persistently. I will not judge it before the time (1 Corinthians 4:5). When God reveals what stands behind the beliefs, then I will know the judgment of the matter.

I must not pretend or “gloss over” this lack in fellowship with these dear ones. I am commanded to think soberly (realistically) in Romans 12:3. The grace of God teaches me to live soberly (Titus 2:12). I must face the situation, regardless of my feelings or hopes, and love, pray, bear, and forebear on that basis.

I recognize, my brother, that in closely examining this situation, I have identified the general pattern of all limited, flawed fellowships with God’s genuine little children who are in something less than full light and under other influences than the Spirit of God. This would include people who sit under the influence of full and complete gospel teaching, but who have responded to that teaching with the head only, instead of the heart. There is a certain fellowship, and there is not a certain fellowship. It differs completely from that described in the Bible: “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”* (1 John 1:3) “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”* (John 17:22)

“To unity glorious, rich and complete.”* The poet says: (1) glorious, (2) rich, (3) complete. This greatly stirs my heart to walk in all the light that Jesus shines on my pathway. If I fit in perfect fellowship with Him, I will be in perfect fellowship with every other child of God who does the same, including that great body of saints in glory. Praise God!

In family devotions several nights ago, my wife and I were reading a tract by Charles Finney. The author’s name seemed vaguely familiar—I think I actually had this name confused with Fletcher in my mind at the time of the reading. I have quoted the first part of the tract:

To the honour of God alone I will tell a little of my experience in this matter. I was powerfully converted on the morning of the 12th of October. In the evening at the same day and on the morning of the following day, I received an overwhelming baptism of the Holy Ghost that went through me, as it seemed to me, body and soul. I immediately found myself endued with such power from on high, that a few words dropped here and there to individuals were the means of their immediate conversion.

My words seemed to fasten like barbed arrows in the souls of men. They cut like a sword. They broke the heart like a hammer. Multitudes can attest to this. Oftentimes, a word dropped without my remembering it, would fasten conviction, and often result in almost immediate conversion.

But sometimes I would find myself in a great measure empty of this power. I would go out and visit, and find that I made no saving impression. I would then set apart a day for private fasting and prayer, fearing that this power had departed from me, and would enquire anxiously after the reason of this apparent emptiness. After humbling myself and crying for help, the power would return upon me with all its freshness. This has been the experience of my life.

The reading of this tract had a stunning effect on my wife and myself. It was an amazing story. Further along in the reading, there is a story of how an entire mill of scoffing, skeptical young women, along with others, were all affected by the presence of this man. According to the account, all got converted. The owner actually stopped the mill’s production, stating that it was more important that souls be saved than that this mill should run. Reportedly, he got saved, too.

At the end of this reading, my wife and I looked at each other. We had never heard or witnessed anything like it. When we had prayer, I prayed that God would show anything we needed to see about being used of Him. I asked the Lord to teach me how He wanted me to be. If I had missed anything in boldness and aggression that He wanted me to have, then I requested that He open the matter to me.

I felt confident that God had heard my prayer. There was a sweet peace that lay upon my heart, and I committed all perplexities to God. I trusted Him, as always, to teach me what I needed to know. I knew He would be faithful to instruct, reprove, and guide in the matter.

A little research the next morning revealed a glaring inconsistency. This man, Finney, did not believe in the reality of an inherited nature of depravity. Another fact came to light. It is a matter of historical record that his converts filled the ranks of formal, professed Christianity in sectism. This “baptism of the Holy Ghost” was a different “ghost” than the One that had sanctified me. It yielded a different fruit—a fruit that seemed more obsessed with sensational change than the nature and endurance of that change. Then I began to realize significant differences between this ministry (Finney) and the ministry of Brother D. S. Warner. The latter wrote:

I began to fast on Friday. Ate but little yesterday and nothing this forenoon. The Lord came very near to me. Oh, how He let me down to nothingness! I saw and felt ashamed of the trouble the Lord has had with me. I sank down into the dust before Him, and instead of wondering why God did not give the greater measure of power that the Spirit impressed me I should have, I was led to wonder that He had entrusted me as much as He had.

[Daniel S. Warner—quoted in Andrew L. Byers; Birth of a Reformation, “A Preacher of Holiness”]

There was nothing of the irresistible, all-compelling power that Mr. Finney experienced, that makes people turn to God in spite of themselves. Upon further reflection, I realized that Jesus did not have this effect on the world around Him. This was conclusive. The gospel is open to all, but those who respond are those who decide to have ears to hear. God is after the intelligent choice, the act of the will. Nor is it a scriptural pattern for the power of God to wax and wane, to fade away on its own volition. The language of Mr. Finney is different from that of the New Testament. It is a counterfeit, mimicking in many ways the outward words of the valid infilling, but it is focused differently and yields a different result. At this point, an overwhelming sense of thankfulness came over me, and I thanked God for how He had led me and shown me the way. The scripture in Revelation 13:14 gave me much food for thought: “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.” Ah, miracles (genuine miracles) that produce experiences in men that engender the making of an image to the beast! Power to produce these impressive, sensational miracles! “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”* (Proverbs 16:25)

So, here is the question. Did I experience a sense of fellowship with Mr. Finney when I first read his tract? If you had asked me at that point before all the subsequent light came to my soul, I would still have to reply, “no.” There was something in his testimony that did not fit with how God had led me, yet I would have been hard pressed to articulate just what it was at that point. There seemed to be a lot of self—more so than the Spirit of God had ever allowed me to feel. That was my initial impression. But did I reject fellowship on that basis? No. It was possible for Mr. Finney to be walking in all the light that had shown on his pathway and simply need some more help from God. Did I reject fellowship after getting more light on what Mr. Finney was and where he was? Yes. What he had and what I have are contrary to each other. I would feel compelled to approach a manifestation of God’s power in dealing with others from a very “hidden self” standpoint (we must be hidden behind the cross), and I would stress the validity of the work by mentioning how well (or not) the “converts” had done since the beginning of their change. “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”* (Matthew 7:16) “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”* (Matthew 7:20)

In The More Abundant Life, Brother C. E. Orr states, “It is a mistake to seek after power. It exposes the soul to deception. Seek after life.”*

An old brother was asked whether a young man had “gotten anything,” after the young man had wept and repented at the mourners’ bench. “Time will tell,” he replied. It did not matter how much conviction he had, how hard he wept, how sincere he seemed. “Time will tell.”

We operate in the dark about each other to a great extent. Sometimes God tells us things, as He did to Ananias about Saul. That was good enough for Brother Ananias. Before God opened the matter to him, it was, “Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem.”* (Acts 9:13) But after God revealed the condition of Brother Saul’s heart to Brother Ananias, it was, “Brother Saul….”* (Acts 9:17) He just committed it to God and went to do what God had told him to do. He left the degree of confidence, etc., in God’s hands. This is the thing to do. We do not know how much light an individual has. We do not know how well the individual is living up to the light that he has. We do not know how he has done recently with what he knows. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.”* (2 Timothy 2:19) We can safely trust God with each other.

It is not the degree of light that has been revealed to any of us that seems to matter in this business of fellowship. It is what has been done with what has been revealed. I know a number of people who largely believe as I believe in almost all doctrinal matters, who conduct themselves fairly much the same in almost all the outward things of religion. It is difficult to explain to any observer just what is different between them and us, but there are profound differences. They can be summed up as the differences between those whose hearts are taught of God and those whose hearts are not taught of God. “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.”* (John 6:45) “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.”* (1 Thessalonians 4:9)

I have noticed that many whose hearts are not taught of God, yet who hold the same doctrines (even fervently), simply do not understand why the same doctrines do not produce Bible fellowship. “You teach that all the saved should love one another, and we teach the same. What is the difference?” they say. And when we reply that there is something that goes beyond the teaching, beyond the setting of the human will to be affectionate, beyond the ability of man to manifest divine charity, they don’t get it. I was discussing the story of the blind man’s healing and consequent effect on many (John 9), including his parents, and I stated that the effect on the man’s parents was disastrous. They manifested a dishonesty that drove them further into the deceptions of Judaism and completely broke fellowship between them and their son. The person I was talking with had a broad and deep intellectual knowledge of the truth, but was not taught of God about very much of it. He said that he just couldn’t see how the blind man’s parents were wrong. Said it several times. “I just can’t see it….” I believed him. He couldn’t see it. It all seemed reasonable to him that they were being cautious, wise, prudent, politically astute, etc. He was like that himself. He had not been taught of God to ignore all that (as the blind man did) and venture all and risk all on clinging to truth.

“Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.”* (Ezra 4:1-3)

In this matter of Jewish history as given us in the scriptures, the people claimed that they were the same and demanded fellowship on the basis of their claim, but those who were actually doing the work of God saw through the claim and denied it. “Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God.” They denied even partial spiritual fellowship. The subsequent verses manifest beyond any doubt that this was the right stand to take, for these fellowship claimers began to oppose and fight the real work of God. “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose.”* (Ezra 4:4-5) Then they sent letters of accusation against the people of God and manifested the reality of what they were unmistakably. The saints of that time did not experiment with these who claimed fellowship, for God helped them to discern them before becoming fatally entangled. This is very important. We cannot afford the high price of finding out what is wrong by getting involved and then withdrawing. The price is too high. We need God to fight our battles and to protect us. He knows how far to let the devil go before He reveals the truth. At the right point, He will protect us. Sometimes it comes to an Ananias and Sapphira. Sometimes it comes to, “they went out from us, but they were not of us.”* (1 John 2:19) But the end result is the same: A people who are taught of God will wait on Him with faith and trust, and He will be their God and deliver them. They will each wait on God individually, and it will be a natural extension of their personal waiting on God with faith and trust to wait and trust as a body. In other words, individual fellowship between each child of God and God Himself produces a group of children who have a heavenly affinity with each other through Him. “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”* (Romans 12:5)

We related a situation earlier in this writing about a brother whom we could not receive as a leader. We recognize a heart fellowship to a considerable extent, but we also recognize the presence of something else: something contrary to the working of the Spirit of God. And we do not know if this manifestation is conscious and knowing on the part of the brother, or if he is innocent and needs to learn the way of the Lord more perfectly. Whether he is innocent or not, he cannot be received as a leader in his current condition. At best, he remains a novice or under a foreign influence.

In The Gospel Trumpet paper of May 10, 1900, Sister Jennie Rutty published an article entitled, “Fellowship Is of the Spirit.” We quote:

A great many, having received the outward doctrine of Christ, conclude they have the Spirit of truth, when in reality they have only an intellectual understanding without an actual experience in the soul. They put on some of the fruits of the Spirit and are often received as the children of God by those who do not discern between the fellowship of the doctrine and that of the spirit.

When a company of people believe about the same things, there is an agreement, union, and fellowship that has resemblance to the true fellowship which is of God through the Spirit. Each denomination has its denominational fellowship, and there is great danger of God’s people in the local churches drifting into the same error—receiving those who sanction or assent to the truth, but have not humbled themselves to obtain a precious soul-experience of saving grace; and these with their spiritual lack exert a depressing, unwholesome influence that hinders the work of God.

In this time of great deception, God’s children are so rejoiced over those who do acknowledge truth that they may overlook the great necessity of spiritual life and “truth in the inward parts.”* (Psalm 51:6) If we do this, we are consenting to the same thing as the denominations—doctrinal fellowship—with this difference: the doctrine of Christ instead of men.

[Jennie C. Rutty; Fellowship Is of the Spirit]