Subject 12 : The Faith of the Apostles Creed
● Faith in the Communion of Saints
What Is the Communion of Saints?
Those
who received the salvation from all their sins by believing in the
truth that Jesus is God Himself, and in the baptism that He received and
the blood of the Cross, are the ones who have joined the family of God.
As Ephesians 2:19 states, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers
and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God.” The righteous have fellowship with each other.
There Is a Precondition to the Communion of Saints with God
Before
we hold communion with the other saints, there must first be the
communion with God. This is why the latter half of 1 John 1:3 states,
“Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
That’s
right! There must first be the communion with the Lord. For there to be
the communion with the Lord for us, we must first receive the remission
of our sins by believing in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit
that He has given us. Why? Because the Lord is the Holy One who is
sinless.
Those
who thus have the right relationship with the Lord first by receiving
the remission of sin can have the right fellowship with the other
righteous persons as well. The saints who have been saved through the
baptism and blood of the Lord can have fellowship with God, on their
above, and, at their sides, with their fellow saints. The God-given
salvation enables us to have fellowship with God, and with the fellow
saints as well. In other words, because of the works of the baptism of
Jesus and the precious blood of the Cross, we, who had been God’s
enemies before, have now come to serve Him as our own Father by first
being forgiven of all our sins. And furthermore, we have to come to
forgive, understand, and have fellowship with one another when we admit
the works of Christ that has perfectly removed the blockages among us.
The Core Essence of the Communion of Saints Is the True Gospel and True Love
By
giving the righteousness of the salvation of His baptism and His
bloodshed of the Cross to those who believe, Jesus declares, “You have
now received the remission of your sins.” The One who thus told us is
the Lord. And He admonishes us to love the Lord, and to live with the
fellow saints in peace also. The Apostle Peter, who had disobeyed the
Lord before but was forgiven, explained his joy by saying, “And above
all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a
multitude of sins’” (1 Peter 4:8).
That’s
right! As trees and grasses grow when watered, and the saints grow by
the fellowship with each other, by the Word, and by the love of God.
From
Acts 2:46-47, we can see the beautiful lives that saints of the Early
Church had lived: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple,
and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with
gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all
the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being
saved.”
Not
every Christian who professes to believe in Jesus actually believes in
the true Jesus. This means that those who do not know the gospel of the
water and the Spirit given by Jesus, and therefore do not believe in it,
are not saints. Therefore, the true forgiveness and fellowship can only
be possible within the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Ecclesiastes
4:9-12 states, “Two are better than one, because they have a good
reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his
companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one
to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another,
two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Let
us all put our efforts into the communion of saints, looking at
ourselves to see if any of us has been left alone and ostracized.
The
works and burdens you have to bear may be too much for you. Then, you
have to share your problem with you fellow saints, for “you are not able
to perform it by yourself” (Exodus 18:18). And Matthew 18:20 states,
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in
the midst of them.”
There
is an orient saying, “When there is peace in the family, everything is
fine.” Taking a step further, we can say, “When there is peace among the
saints in God’s Church, everything indeed is fine.” When the saints are
at peace with God, everything works out. It is when we first have peace
with the Kingdom of the Lord that we can have peace in our homes and
with each other.
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