Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Question 37:

“What is the distinction between the anointing and the sealing of the Spirit?”

Answer 37:

The anointing is the action of God, by the Holy Ghost, in sealing a believer as His. If I put a mark on something belonging to me, it is then marked as mine. It is the distinction between the putting on of the mark, and the fact of its being marked. God anoints us with the Holy Ghost, and the person, who has been thus anointed is sealed.

Question 38:

“You ask, Are the two last verses of 1 Corinthians 5 practically applicable, now, to those gathered together separate from evil, according to 2 Timothy 2:19-22?

And, Is it correct to refuse obedience until power come in?”

Answer 38:

To the first, I reply, that the word of the Lord abides for ever. Its authority never ceases, and obedience is always due to it. Power has nothing to do with it. Grace is needed to induce the heart to obey, but obedience is always due. The direction relative to tongues has not lost its authority. Were there tongues, it would apply. But its authority remains. This clears up at once the question as to 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. “Put away from among yourselves that wicked person,” has its own simple authority that nothing can take away. It applies to an assembly including all saints professing to own the Lord everywhere (see address of the Epistle, Chapter 1 verse 2); and whenever a wicked person is found in an assembly, the case it applies to is there, and it is a simple matter of obedience.

There are acts of power; as, “I have judged … to deliver to Satan.” Paul does not say, Do you do it? He does it in all the solemnity of the assembled saints; but there is no command, but a personal act of power, as Paul says elsewhere, “Whom I have delivered to Satan” (1 Timothy 1:20).

The declaration or exercise of a personal act of power, has nothing to do with the abiding authority of a command. The power may not subsist ― the command does. That it requires the help and grace of the Lord to act upon it, is no more than is true of every command in Scripture. To apply the ruin of the visible assembly to sanction disobedience, is a principle wholly unallowable. I cannot appoint elders; it is not a question of obedience, but authority, and I have not that authority; the assembly had it not when Paul was there, nor can they assume it now; but they were bound to obey the command then ― they are so now. Wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ’s name, Christ is; and there is the “within” and the “without.” It is a clearing of the conscience of the assembly; “Ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter” (2 Corinthians 7:11). Otherwise, the assembly would be the positive sanction ― and by Christ’s presence, of the association of Christ and sin; it would be far better there should be no assembly at all than that.

2nd Timothy 2:19, etc, gives us the general principle of everyone who calls himself a Christian departing from iniquity, purging himself from false teachers, and walking with those who call upon the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. It is individual duty when evil has come in.

As to the second question, it is practically answered already. In bestowing power, God is sovereign. When the Word has spoken, I am bound to obey. To “refuse obedience until,” is to disobey; and it is to assume authority on my own will, and not wait till God chooses to do that which rests on His will.