Gospel Order, Pt. 1

What is the proper relationship between the individual church member and the church organization?

This is a question we would like to explore. We begin with an eight part series of articles entitled “Gospel Order” which were published in the Review and Herald in 1909. These articles discuss the examples of organization seen throughout the Bible and the lessons to be learned from them:


(MARCH 25, 1909)

Gospel Order — No. 1
The Divine Principle of Organization

The Lord is a God of order. All his works reveal the perfection and simplicity of divine organization, "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." 1 Cor. 14:33.

The church of Christ is to reveal on earth the order and harmony of the kingdom of heaven. The "Great Shepherd of the sheep" leads the flock of God. The closer the members of the flock press to the Shepherd, the closer do they press together. And the counsel of the Lord through the spirit of prophecy to all believers just now is, "Press together, press together."

The Lord led the church of the exodus out of Egypt, and by the gift of prophecy organized it as one body to represent the unity of his work. He led forth the church of apostolic days, as one body, its organization being developed according to the need, under the instructions of the gift of prophecy placed in the church. In this advent movement he has raised up a church to bear the final gospel message to the world. He has organized the movement as one united body, giving instruction by the gift of prophecy placed in the church.

There were in "the church in the wilderness" those who rebelled against the organization that maintained unity and order. There were those in apostolic days who worked against the order and harmony of the church. There have now and then appeared in our own midst those who have opposed the order and organization established in the church in harmony with the Word of God and the counsel of the spirit of prophecy. But all along — in the wilderness, in apostolic days, in these last days — it has been God's order and God's leadership in the church that has been set aside.

"God is not the author of confusion." He is the author of order. Every thought in divine organization is to secure to his children the greatest liberty to develop a godly character. Harmony with God's order is Christian liberty. "So long as all created beings acknowledged the allegiance of love," says the spirit of prophecy, "there was perfect harmony throughout the universe of God."

Lucifer is the author of confusion. Coveting the supremacy that belonged to Christ, he charged that the order and harmony of heaven imposed a restraint upon the liberty of the angels. So came rebellion in heaven. "It was pride and ambition that prompted Lucifer to complain of the government of God, and to seek the overthrow of the order which had been established in heaven. Since his fall it has been his object to infuse the same spirit . . . into the minds of men."— "Patriarchs and Prophets," page 403. His principles make for separation and disorder.

If it be but secular work in which numbers of people are engaged together, the value of system and organization is universally recognized by the thoughtful and successful. Much more is organization to be valued in God's work, in which "all things" are to be "done decently and in order." I Cor. 14:40.

The organization of believers is no arbitrary or mechanical arrangement, but the natural and spiritual expression of Christian fellowship in service, a means of personal strength and blessing to the individual, and a sign of the "unity of the Spirit" among the members making up the "one body." The spirit of prophecy says: —

“Angels work harmoniously. Perfect order characterizes all their movements. The more closely we imitate the harmony and order of the angelic host, the more successful will be the efforts of these heavenly agents in our behalf. . . . Those who have the unction from on high, will in all their efforts encourage order, discipline, and union of action, and then the angels of God can co-operate with them. But never, never will these heavenly messengers place their indorsement upon irregularity, disorganization, and disorder. All these evils are the result of Satan's efforts to weaken our forces, to destroy courage, and prevent successful action. ... It is his studied effort to lead professed Christians just as far from heaven's arrangement as he can; therefore he deceives even the professed people of God, and makes them believe that order and discipline are enemies to spirituality. . . . All the efforts made to establish order are considered dangerous, a restriction of rightful liberty, and hence are feared as popery.— "Testimonies for the Church," Vol. I, page 649.

But all the Bible history shows that thorough organization is one of the heavenly appointed safeguards against popery. This is why those who have risen in rebellion against the truth, to lead away disciples after themselves, have always struck at organization. This has been as a hedge round about the people of God, securing the protection of the angelic host.

The details of organization may vary according to conditions and work, but ever as God has called his church together there has appeared in it the spiritual gift of order and of government, the spirit that rules in heaven. Harmony with God's truth and work for the time has been shown by orderly and harmonious co-operation with the body of believers. And all along the enemy who began his attack on organization in heaven, in order to detach the angels from the ranks and lead them astray, has worked against the organization of the body of believers on earth, in order to divide and scatter.

W. A. Spicer