Their Witness

by G. Prasher, Jr., Manchester | Category: New Testament Churches Of God | Jun 1967

New Testament churches of God were designed in His wisdom to radiate the light of revealed truth to others. Each was a local unit of witness. Their combined witness grew into a brilliant blaze of testimony over extensive areas within thirty years of Pentecost.

Details selected by the Holy Spirit in connexion with the growth of the work in the Acts of the Apostles tend to give special emphasis to the achievements of certain outstanding men. Until the twelfth chapter, the story centres largely around the work of Peter and others in the Judaean area. From chapter thirteen onwards, the mighty ministry of Paul and his associates illustrates the rapid outreach through Asia Minor, into Greece, and on to Rome. But the prominence given to the personal work of the apostles should not be allowed to obscure the fact that the immense spiritual momentum of the Lord's work in their times could never have been maintained apart from the churches of God, which they were at pains to establish. The apostles recognized such companies of disciples to be the divinely ordained means 'of bearing witness to the truths of the Faith. This is shown by the opening phase of the work of the twelve apostles in Jerusalem. Under their guidance was rapidly built up that powerful unit of witness-the church of God in Jerusalem. As far as the record of Scripture reveals, there was never a more powerful church. The effect of its witness was phenomenal, for within a few years it grew from one hundred and twenty to many thousands.

Paul spent preparatory time with the church in Antioch (Syria), from where he was commended, with Barnabas, to his first missionary journey (Acts 13.1-3). To that church they returned, the mission fulfilled (14.27,28). During their absence the witness of the church in Antioch would continue undiminished.

So it was from place to place where churches of God were formed. Sometimes Paul might stay in a large centre for a long time (e.g., Acts 18.11; 20.31), but more usually he soon moved elsewhere, leaving the disciples to develop their witness locally. Thousands of such disciples find no mention in our Bibles, but typically we read of two of them,

"Salute Prisca and Aquila my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life laid down their own necks; unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles" (Romans 16.34);

and again of another,

"Antipas My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth" (Revelation 2.13).

It was the apostles' faithfulness to the terms of their commission from the Lord Jesus that caused them to gather disciples into churches of God. The very principles on which these churches were designed fitted them to be centres of witness to others. For they were composed of disciples who had known a personal experience of salvation through faith in Christ and had subjected their lives to the will of their Lord. Such disciples would feel a responsibility to tell others of their Saviour, and to lead believers in the way of His commandments. These were no mere gatherings of nominal "church members". Each church of God had within itself the dynamic of spiritual desire that others might share the same blessings in Christ. Under the very terms of its association, every one of these churches must be a missionary church if faithful to the directive of the ascended Lord. This shines out in certain references to churches which were functioning healthily according to divine intention. There was, for example, the young church in Thessalonica:

"From you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not

only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your

faith to God-ward is gone forth" (1 Thessalonians 1.8).

Paul wrote to the Philippian church, after it had borne steady witness for several years, thanking God for their "fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now". While to the disciples in Rome he wrote, "I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world" (Romans 1.8).

New Testament churches of God, then, formed the great bulwark of divine testimony in apostolic times. From churches already established, there was continual further reaching out, and as new churches were formed they, in turn, added to the power of world-wide witness. So that what the Lord said to the apostles personally in Acts 1.8 found even fuller expression through the churches of God which they were instrumental to bring into being.

To what did New Testament churches of God hear witness?

They bore witness to the fact of a resurrected Lord Jesus Christ who had made possible the salvation of all who believed the gospel. From this glorious central truth stemmed every other aspect of their witness. For had not the exalted Lord called upon all who confessed Him as Saviour to yield to His authority? This must find expression in baptism and addition together with other disciples into churches of God. When so united together they must testify to the whole of the Lord's revealed will. Of this Paul spoke as "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20.27), and Jude described it as "the Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" - the whole body of teaching enjoined upon disciples of the Lord Jesus.

That the churches of God were responsible to maintain this full-orbed witness to "all things whatsoever the Lord hath commanded" is abundantly clear from subjects dealt with in the epistles written to them. Paul reproved the Corinthian church for failing to excommunicate a brother who had sinned morally (1 Corinthians 5.11-13). He exhorted them as to their obligations in connexion with the Lord's supper (11.17-34). He presented to them as mandatory that their women should keep silence in the church (14.34). Truth about the coming again of the Lord Jesus was as much part of the Faith to be defended as was the basic truth of resurrection (15.12-19, 5O-58).

There is no suggestion in the New Testament record that churches of God were loose-knit associations of believers in a locality with the limited aim of preaching the gospel for the salvation of sinners. Vital as this aspect of their witness must always be, it was nevertheless the prelude to teaching converts further truth which would separate them from the world and gather them into a divine unity. An overall impression of the combined witness of hundreds of churches of God is well described in 1 Timothy 3.15 as "the pillar and ground of the truth". These churches had been brought into being by the work of God's Spirit to provide a firm foundation of truth held by deep conviction, and to raise a pillar of testimony to which seekers after truth could be drawn.

Sources of their Power in Witness The Power of Holy Spirit Fulness

"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4.31).

"The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 13.52).

Whether at Jerusalem in the beginning or among the Gentiles later, it was this fulness of the Holy Spirit which so empowered the testimony. So the Lord had ordained it (Luke 24.49, Acts 1.8), and by yielding themselves to the enabling power of the Spirit of God His people were able to speak the word with boldness and effect.

The Power of the Word of God

"The word of God increased" (Acts 6.7).

"The word of God grew and multiplied" (Acts 12.24).

Reliance upon and able application of God's word pervaded their testimony. They used the word of God as the "hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces" and as the light that could direct men's feet into the pathway of truth.

The Power of Prayer

"They... lifted up their voice to God with one accord" (Acts 4.24).

"Continue stedfastly in prayer... that God may open unto us a door for the word" (Colossians 4.2,3).

Under the impetus of the spirit of prayer and supplication poured out upon them, their witness prevailed despite bitter hostility from Judaism, paganism, and political authorities.

The Power of their Manner of Life

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1.27).

"Having your behaviour seemly...that... they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2.12).

Changed lives bore witness to the genuineness of Christian experience, giving weight to the word of the truth of the gospel through them.

The Power of their Sufferings

"Ye endured a great conflict of sufferings" (Hebrews

10.32).

"If a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed" (1 Peter 4.16).

There was wonderful readiness to suffer for the sake of the Name, even unto death. The light of witness was not smothered beneath the bed of self-indulgence or the bushel of worldly advancement. "We cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard" could well have been the motto of those early churches of God-regardless of the consequences!

Instructive Features of their Witness

It was the unreserved commitment of so many disciples to testify for their Lord that caused the word to spread so rapidly through those early churches of God. Men and women, boys and girls, at home and in their everyday contacts with others, made known by personal testimony whose they were and whom they served. They were an "epistle... read and known of all men".

In many of the churches there were men specially fitted for the public declaration of the gospel or teaching of the word, for "He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers". From among such gifted ministers of the word certain were called of God to devote all their time to the proclamation of the message, itinerating among existing churches of God, and reaching out to regions beyond. Peter, Paul, Apollos, and Timothy stand out as illustrious examples. Yet the tendency of some disciples to develop an unhealthy attachment to men of brilliant gift or achievement was discouraged:

"Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of

Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of

Christ.... What then is Apollos? and what is Paul?

Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the

Lord gave to him. I planted, Apollos watered; but God

gave the increase" (I Corinthians 1.12; 3.5-6).

The Scriptures anticipated the serious harm which may result from disciples becoming so engaged with a man's gift or personality that they are led away from the divine plan for Christian testimony. Disciples were to be gathered into churches of God as a matter of divine principle. Individual personalities were not intended to make themselves a focal point of witness. However gifted in evangelism or teaching, they were to exercise those gifts in fellowship with their brethren in churches of God.

Nor did women feature in public witness as preachers or teachers among those churches. The voice of Scripture is clear on this matter. Women were to keep silence in public gatherings of the church (1 Corinthians 14.34,35). They were not permitted to teach or to have dominion over a man, but were to be in quietness (1 Timothy 2.12). While their influence in private personal testimony must have added immeasurably to the spread of God's word, we never read of them being sent forth in public witness as preachers of the gospel.

The challenge of the gospel of Christ through the churches of God in those days was presented without recourse to worldly expedients. For many disciples their testimony meant serious suffering. The issues stood out in sharp relief. Would Jewish people face the hatred involved in recognition of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God? Would pagans renounce idolatry and risk the hostility of family or friends? Would intellectual Greeks humble themselves to be accounted fools for Christ's sake? Witness for Christ in those days could not be merely the speaking of the message "as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument" (Ezekiel 33.32). It must needs have been the challenging declaration of man's sin, of the wrath to come, of a crucified and resurrected Saviour, of the need for repentance and faith. Then as to discipleship it was necessarily a call for wholehearted separation unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. New Testament churches of God were led by men who knew what it was to be crucified unto this world and the world unto them. Their witness bore clearly the stamp of this uncompromising truth. The words of the Master in Matthew 5.13,14 have fitting application to disciples who served Him so nobly among those churches:

"Ye are the salt of the earth .

Ye are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hid."

G. Prasher, Jr., Manchester | Jun 1967
New Testament Churches Of God