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from faith Unto Faith '—'Friday Nights With Romans
Perhaps a word of explanation just here is nec
essary. These Friday night lectures by Dr. Brough
ton to his large, popular Bible class at the Taber
nacle were so rich and strong, that the stenograph
er’s notes have been worked out and carefully
revised by Dr. Broughton for The Golden Age.
There are sixteen of them and The Golden Age
will be glad to furnish back numbers to new sub
scribers. It is confidently expected that they will
be eagerly received as they contain the best
work of Dr. Broughton’s life and will greatly aid
the busy Bible student. Editor.
LECTURE IV.
Paul's Testimony of the Church.
Oh. 1:1-5.
I. Who Makes up the Church?
2. Called Saints.
1. Beloved of God.
11. His Feelings for the Church.
1. Thanks God for Their Faith.
2. Makes Mention of Them in Prayer.
3. Desires to see Them.
4. That They Might be Established.
5. That They Might Comfort Each Other.
111. Practical Suggestion Concerning the Church.
1. It is of Divine Origin.
2. It has Divine Conditions for Membership.
3. It Imposes Divine Obligations.
4. It Results in Divine Blessings.
We are at present dealing with the first section
of the Epistle, the section of introduction, in which
we have Paul’s fourfold testimony: His testimony
of himself, of Christ, of the church, of the gospel.
We have considered his testimony of himself and
his testimony of Christ, and now we come to take
up his testimony of the church, and we find this
in Ch. 1:7-15, inclusive.
I. WHO MAKES UP THE CHURCH?
1. Beloved of God.
2. Called Saints.
There is an apparent omission there. The old
authorized version and the American revised sub
stitute “to be,” but it is hardly proper to call is
a substitute, though it is not contained in the orig
inal text as distinct words. The Greek word
means those who are called to be, or to do some
thing. They are first, beloved of God. God loved
everybody in Rome, as God loves everybody in the
w’ide, wide world, for as John says, “For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believed on him, should not perish,
but have everlasting life.”
That is the expression of God’s love to the world
at large, but God loved the church at Rome v ’
a different love from that love which he had for the
entire world, and so it is today. God loves the
church with a different love from that which He
has for the world. God loves the church as a
father loves an obedient, loving, sympathizing,
helping child. A father naturally loves all his
children, but any father knows that he loves that
obedient, trustful, sympathizing, helpful child with
a very different love from that which he has for the
one indifferent to his will and his wish. So it is
with respect to us who are God’s children by re
creation. We are His children in the sense that He
created us, and in that sense he loves us and feels
a responsibility for us. He feels a responsibility
for us which is so great that He robbed Himself of
the presence of His only Son and sent Him to this
world to live and die that we might be saved. Bu+
there is a very different sense in which God loves
His own children by re-creation. He loves them as
obedient, loving, trusting, confiding, promising chil
dren with a different kind of affection.
Then you will observe that they are called from
among His other creatures to be “saints.” Now
this word translated saints is a word which needs
some study in order to get the full force of its
meaning. “Called saints,” that is to say, they are
saints byway of a calling. No man ever became a
The Golden Age for August 15, 1907.
By Reb. Len G. Broughton
saint in any other way than byway of a calling
from God. No man ever became a Christian ex
cept byway of calling. No man ever came to
Christ who was not called before he came. I be
lieve God calls every man, whether he be in this
country or some dark heathen corner of earth.
I was talking to a missionary who had made a
study of the conditions of the race and he san
that he had never yet found a man, however deep
in ignorance and superstition, but that in his heart
there was something that pointed him to a better
life; a life of justice and equity with regard to hi
relations to his fellow men. There was always
something, somehow, somewhere, that worked up
their consciences and told them of a better life
and a better way. I believe that that is the Spirit
of God, and I believe that a man who lives in ac
cordance with the light that God gives him is the
man who is eventually saved.
This expression means more than that. It means
that they are what they have come to, that to which
they have been called; that they are in fact saints,
as they are in another sense called saints. It meant
a great deal for those people there in Rome to
come out and join the church of Christ. It meant
a great deal anywhere in that day to join the church
of Christ. You may rest assured that those peo
ple who came out and connected themselves with
the church in those days were what they professed
to be. They were what they were called to be.
Would to God that that could be said of the church
of this day and time; in this city; of my church;
that it could be said of everyone of us; that we
are what we are called to be.
We are called Christians; would to God that
we were Christians. Have you ever stopped to
think of the deep significance of that word? O'*
all there is wrapped up in it? If so, I feel that
you have been impressed with the fact that even
the best of the people of God fall far short of
coming up to their calling.
I was talking the other day with a skeptic. He
said: “The thing that staggers me when I begin
to think of my relation to Christ, is the way that
you people live. You claim Him to be Lord and
Master, and I know from the study of His life as
revealed in the gospels that you are not what you
call yourselves. I know that He is not your Lord
and Master. To be Lord and Master of your lives
would mean a different thing from what I see ex
emplified. It seems to me as I look at the church
that there is no difference between your life and
the life of the average responsible citizen who
makes no professions at all to religion.”
This criticism cut me to the heart, because I knew
that to a great extent it was true. Now and then
we find a conspicuous exception to this general
rule, but you know that, generally speaking, it is
true. The average church member will stay away
from church on Sunday because she has not a new
hat or bonnet just as easily as one who is not a
member of the church. The average church mem
ber is just as sensitive with respect to his rights
as the man outside the church. I would to God
we were all what we are called; I would to God
that we would measure up to our calling half as
well as these Roman Christians measured up to
theirs. They knew that this meant the loss of their
lives, perhaps, and yet, having their hearts fixed
upon God, they were willing to die.
Then let us take further the consideration of
this question of saints: This term is applied to
Christians in the Epistles in two different ways.
First, as individuals, Eph. It 18, Col. 1: 12. Second,
as members of a spiritual community, 1 Cor. 1:12.
The term saints used here, I say, is used in two
separate senses in the Epistles. First, as individ
uals. The word translated saints in Eph. 1:8-18,
refers entirely to the holiness of the individual, and
in that sense he uses the term saints there.
Now then, as members of a community: The
word refers to the members of a specific commu
nity, as you would denominate certain people who
live in the city of Atlanta, or any other place.
Take another aspect of the word. In this sense
the word is used precisely as it is used here. It is
the same word exactly and is used to convey iden
tically the same idea. It is called out of and away
from the rest of creation to be saints, and named
saints. Here he is writing to the Corinthian
Christians as members of a spiritual organization,
the very same thing that he is referring to when
he addresses the brethren in the church at Rome,
“called saints”; saints byway of calling, and
called by God; saints who are what they are
called. Just as it was true in the case of the saints
at Rome, it was true of the saints at Corinth. It
took a great deal to come out and be a saint in
Corinth. It was risking their lives, their standing,
friends, companions, so that when they came out
and joined the church they were men and women
who had determined to live exactly in keeping with
their profession, let it cost them what it might.
11. HIS FEELING FOR THE CHURCH.
1. He thanks God for their Faith.
2. He makes mention of them unceasingly in
his prayers.
3. That he may be prospered in the will of God
to come to them.
4. That in coming to them they might be es
tablished.
5. That he and they might be comforted in
each other’s faith.
First, he thanks God for their faith. Now ob
serve what a vast difference there is in the testi
mony and thankfulness of the Apostle Paul con
cerning the church at Rome, and the testimony*
and thanks of the average man of the church today
concerning the church of today. The Apostle Paul
in commending the church at Rome commends them
for their faith. When we wish to commend a
church we generally commend it according to its
intelligence, or wealth, or social position, or num
bers, sometimes according to the location of the
building, and the character of their work. I am
thoroughly aware that “By their fruits ye shall
know them.” At the same time, I believe that
God is displeased, greatly displeased with the way
we have of estimating churches.
To illustrate: I was present in a little town in
another state one day, and the question of the
most important and most beautiful church in the
city was up. One man said: “I think that church
over on the hill is the most important church be
cause there are three millionaires belonging to it.”
“What about its prayer meeting?” I said.
“I don’t know whether they have one or not,”
was the answer.
“What about its Sunday school? You are an
officer in the church and ought to know that.”
“Well,” he replied, “I don’t think much of a
Sunday school.”
He did not know one thing about it except that
it had three millionaires in it. He was a type of
many of the leading men of the churches today.
The pulpit itself has away of estimating the
strength and power and position of the church by
the amount of wealth and culture and refinement
that it has in its membership. When a preacher
is called to a church, one of the first things that he
wants to tell is that they have Major This and Col.
That and Hon. The Other.
This is all displeasing to the Spirit of God. It
is not God’s way of estimating the church.
The thing that Gcd cares for most in a
church is its faith; to what extent can that people
bring things to pass for the kingdom of heaven?
That is the thing God is asking of the church, and
that is the thing that He would bring us to the
point of appreciating; the faith of the people; the
extent of its grip on God. That is what God wants
of the church today, and, my brethren, the more
I see of the work of the church and the move
ments of God in this present day and time, the
more I am convinced that that is the thing God is
concerned about.
Culture will come; refinement will come; wealth