There is One Body

… I think it's obvious that we want to say a word tonight about the truth of the assembly as the one body, and in the time that we have, quite impossible to go into all the details of the passages we have read together. But we trust we will be enabled of the Lord to say sufficient to indicate what a wonderful position this is for the people of God in this world. Much more could have been read in Ephesians, other choice passages relating to the one body, the assembly, but I read the three that we've read together to indicate three things. First of all, that it gives us the opportunity to see one of the distinctive glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the head of the body, the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He is the head of the assembly, his body, the fullness of him which filleth all in all. Well, anything that enhances the glory of Christ must be of the greatest possible interest to us. We are accustomed to think of our own blessings, and rightly so. The Bible is full of the wonderful blessings that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. But how right it is to consider the glory of Christ in relation to those blessings. Indeed, I believe if we miss this, we miss the very greatest and best. So the fact that there is on the earth at the present moment, and always has been since Pentecost, a company of people designated as the body of Christ, with a head in glory, enhances the greatness and glory of the Son of God. Because if there is a body, he is the head of it, and all that it has, it derives from him, in the way of power, and life, and nourishment, and strength, and blessing. The body derives it from the head. It's one of the statements in the epistle to the Colossians, that the body is of Christ. That is, it derives its origin from him. There would have been nobody, apart from the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequent upon his ascension, the sending down of the Holy Spirit. And this is the real vital truth, connected with the body of Christ, that each member is united to the head in glory, in virtue of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It's not so much that there is an aggregate of believers all joined together, that's perfectly true, but the vital truth of the body is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, uniting the members to a glorious man at the right hand of God. Now it says in Ephesians 4, there is one body. It doesn't say that there should be one body. It says that there is one body. And since Pentecost, this has always been true, that upon the earth at any given moment, the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, wherever they are in the world, are viewed as one body. Not one particular class of believers, however intelligent and separate they might be, but every believer is a member of the body of Christ. Every believer is united to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Every believer derives from the head in glory. So again, I say it's of the utmost importance to keep in our minds that there is one body at all times since Pentecost up till this present moment, there has been upon earth the body of Christ. We'll see in a moment that it can also be viewed as every believer from Pentecost until the coming of the Lord for his church, when he shall take it home to glory. We can view it in a universal sense, as we've already said, every believer forming the body of Christ. But we can also see it in a local sense, as we shall see in the Epistle to the Corinthians. Now, there is one body. Now, dear brethren, this raises a very practical question. We look abroad in Christendom, and we have our part in Christendom. We can't get out of Christendom. We're all part of it. Every believer is in Christendom. We may not be corrupt, and we may not be connected with many of the corruptions that exist in Christendom, and thank God if we have separated from them and desire to walk a path of truth and obedience apart from these abominations. But we face facts, and we see instead of one body, many bodies, and all under particular names and labels, which they avowedly claim. They meet together on certain ground, certain established ground, whether national or whether in some revival movement, and they meet avowedly under those names, different bodies. Now, it must be obvious to us, as we examine the Scriptures, that that's certainly not what Scripture says. Scripture says there is one body, and that body is the body of Christ. It hasn't a distinctive national name, or an international name, or a local name, or any particular man's name, or any particular truth attached to it. It says distinctly and plainly, there is one body. And so every believer is responsible to walk in the light of that truth and express the features that Scripture so clearly delineates for the expression of that truth. And that's a different story. And so this is something that we can be profoundly thankful for, that Christians who have been recovered in some measure to the truth of God over the last 150 years have never gathered under a particular name, have never gathered under a national designation, or even under a particular teacher's designation. Because of the truth that was brought to them in the mercy of God, they gathered together simply as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and according to the measure of power and truth they had, they tried to express what was true of the one body. And I trust that that is what we seek to do today. We cannot possibly claim to be the one body. That would be a most arrogant and presumptuous thing to do, something that we would have no right to do. But we can humbly desire to meet together in the truth of those things. We can meet together humbly and desire to express them, and if we do that, I'm perfectly sure the Lord will sustain us and maintain us, even though it might be in much weakness and much reproach. No company of Christians could ever claim to be the one body. What a joy it would be if all believers were unified by the truth and by devotion to Christ ahead and walk together in this world as the one body. What a powerful thing it would be. What a joy it would be. Every believer in London, every believer in Britain, every believer throughout the whole world, every member finding his true place in the body and expressing what God wants him to do. Oh, what an impact upon the world in testimony. It's sad to say it isn't so. But we mustn't throw up our hands in despair and say, well, not much that we can do, and we'll just sink into the confusion and hope to get through the best way that we can. No, dear brethren, we would seek to be governed by the truth of God. Because if we do throw up our hands in despair, if we do say that we cannot act upon the principles laid down in the Word of God, then we are tacitly acknowledging that we're taking a lower ground, as scripture says, and we're confessing that we're following error. Surely no saint of God would ever desire to do such a thing, but rather to be humbly governed by the Word of God and seek to do the things that please him. The other scripture that I read was the one in connection with the ascended Christ receiving gifts and giving them to men, and those gifts all operating together for, as it says, the work of the ministry, the perfecting of the saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ. And how long is that to go on? Well, the scriptures make it very plain. Until, until, until that day comes when the purpose of God is completed for us, we're conformed to what God has in mind for us, and surely that's the end of the road, the end of the dispensation. And when God's mind is complete, then the final moment arrives for the completion of his thoughts here in testimony in this world for the saints, and the body of Christ ceases as far as this earth, earth is concerned. Some speculation as to whether there will be such a thing as the body of Christ in heaven, and I'm not prepared to enter into that, but it's certainly very true that the scriptures indicate that the body of Christ is upon earth in testimony to exalt its glorified head, and to show something that has never been in the world before, and that's very important to take account of. So we have the fact that scripture says there is one body, we have the fact that it's going to continue in spite of all the opposition against it, and in spite of all the confusion that exists, it's going to continue right to the very end. Nothing will thwart God's mind in relation to it. You see, this is something that is not in our hands and responsibility. There is no such thought in scripture as an abnormality, a body without a head, or a body without arms or legs. The truth of the one body is always presented as the normal figure of a healthy, strong body, and operating in life and vitality. So it's a very wonderful thing to realize that this is going to go on, because Christ is in glory, its head, in power, and in blessing, and in resource, and the Spirit is here, the one who has united us to him, and because of those two great distinctive blessings, the truth of the body will continue right to the end. Now we ought to say that this is one of the most distinctive blessings belonging to the Christian dispensation. If we read about Israel, we certainly read that God's mind was that this should be the particular nation in the world. It was to be separate from all other nations. It wasn't to mix with the other nations. It wasn't to adopt their customs, wasn't to be marked by their idolatry. It was a distinct nation, the one nation that God had blessing for. That's abundantly plain in the Old Testament. They were to have no dealings with the Gentiles. They were to be separate from the Gentiles. An Ammonite or a Moabite was not to come into the congregation of the Lord, even to a thousand generations. You can see how God desired his nation to be kept very separate and very distinctive. Now when we come to the truth of the one body, we find something entirely different. It doesn't matter whether a person is a Jew or a Gentile. National distinctions, they go. Social distinctions go. We're all one body in Christ, and there it's not that we're leveled down, it's that we're all raised up to a very dignified and glorious position in Christ. One body in Christ. Now that indicates to us something very special, and there isn't any figure of this in the Old Testament. There are many beautiful figures of the assembly in the Old Testament, but there isn't any figure of the one body, because there isn't a figure of a man in glory, a head, and a body here upon earth. It doesn't exist in the Old Testament. So we have to wait until this glorious truth comes out, and of course the Apostle Paul was the great minister of this truth, and he says so distinctly that this was never revealed to the Old Testament prophets. It was something that was hidden God and was made known to the New Testament apostles and prophets, and Paul was the vessel used of God to make this known, to complete or to fulfill the Word of God. And the idea there is not simply that it's the last revelation, it's to give a fullness to it, the topstone of your life. You see, there had been progressive revelations, and many wonderful things had come out, but something was wanting. And when the truth of the mystery was revealed to Paul, that there's a man in glory, and there's an assembly on earth composed of members who are united to him, then was revealed for the first time this wonderful truth, and this gave a fullness to all the revelations, a completion and fullness. What a wonderful thing it is that we belong to this, one of the most distinctive revelations and distinctive blessings ever given to man. Now I want for a few moments to dwell upon the epistle to the Romans and the epistle to the Corinthians, and we'll begin at the epistle to the Romans first. I'm sure we all know here that the epistle to the Romans is Paul's great pretext to salvation. The early chapters of the epistle to the Romans unfold to us a very dark and sordid picture of man's fall and his departure from God, and if left in that condition he was hopeless and helpless. There was nothing he could do to retrieve himself from this terrible position. But God stepped in, and God said, I'll change the whole thing. Man has been changing my glory and has suffered the consequences. Now I'll change man, and in the power of the work of Christ, and in the person of Christ at his right hand, he brings in salvation and justification and reconciliation, and he changes man completely and gives him a place of blessing before him. What a wonderful change. Dear brethren, let us all rejoice in the glory of God's salvation. Wonderful thing to be saved, wonderful thing to be justified, wonderful thing to be reconciled, and to have our part in this great recovery to God. But then there is always the danger of man even in blessing being independent. Always a danger of him saying, well, I'll follow my way, thankful for the blessing that I have received from God, but I want to move in my way, the way that I think is right. And sad to say, this is quite often done. Now I believe that the twelfth chapter of Romans is to show us that if we give our wills to God, we'll find that we are not walking in an individual pathway, but we'll find that there are others who have subjected their wills to God, and normally, theoretically speaking, this ought to be true of all believers, and finding themselves in this company that Paul refers to as one body in Christ. Now it's often been said that the truth of the body of Christ coming in in the twelfth chapter of Romans is to be a check on independency, and that's a very important thing in these last days. Because of the confusion that prevails, we might be led into the idea, well, everything's broken, everything's being given up. Well, I'll tread the individual pathway myself. Now we've got to say very clearly and distinctly that there is such a thing as individual discipleship, very much so. I cannot live for God for you, and you cannot live for me. We all have to live our individual lives of faithfulness. But what the epistle to the Romans is showing is that we're not expected to do that all the time, that we've got to find our responsibility in relation to other Christians who are walking in the same pathway. And I believe unless we arrive at the point mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, where we give our bodies to God and we desire nothing else but his will, we'll never know what it is to find our true place in the company in relation to each other. Because it's my will and my desire and my service and my operations and my, my, all along the line. But if we find that God has a sphere of operations that embraces all believers because we're all members one of another, then we'll find we have to work out the truth of God with each other. And oh, what a need there is. And the truth of the body, the truth of the one body, is perhaps the greatest and best figure that has been employed to indicate how much we need each other. Now you take your own body, you would never think for one moment that you can dispense with your arm and not be seriously affected in your movements and in your desires too. You need your arm, you need your legs, you need your ear, you need all your organs. The body is one, the physical body is one, and God has made it so, so that it works together the most wonderful machine that the world has ever seen. I use the word machine advisedly. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is, the human body, and it works according to the way God desired it to work. But it works in harmony, I'm talking now of a normal body, and that's the figure that the Spirit of God has given to show how much we need each other. And the Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 12, we'll touch that in a moment, indicates how this operates. The leg cannot say to the arm, I have no need of thee. It cannot. It's not that it says it, or it feels that it can do without. It cannot do without. It's an impossibility. Every member is working together in complete harmony. Now, if we think of that in relation to each other, we can never have any thoughts in our hearts that we can do without each other, or we can get on very well together without this one or that one or the next one. And when you bring it down to very practical details, it means that in a given area where there is a number of Christians, the truth of the body in expression must be very seriously affected if we are not together in actual practice. If we're all scattered and broken, how can there be an effective expression of the truth of the body? But if we can be together for various reasons, and I would think it was the reason would be discovered in the first few verses of chapter 12, there is some evidence of self-will rather than God's will that prevents all Christians from being together. I'm sure you would agree to that. And of course we're not saying that all the humility is on our side. There might be some self-will in our part that prevents us walking with other Christians in the truth. And if there is so, then we would need to examine this very carefully and desire and pray to God that anything that hinders the expression of this great truth might be removed. It's not an ecumenical movement where we're all brought together under one lump and all thinking different things and thinking our differences to walk together. That's not what Scripture is presenting. It's one body, a harmonious working together of all the members according to the mind of God. So Paul says, now you Roman believers, you offer your body to God because it's the right thing that you should do. And if you do this, you'll soon prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I don't think that we can ever make effective progress in the Christian life until we arrive at this point. When we say deliberately, carefully, that we have a desire to do the will of God, no matter the cost, no matter the sacrifice, we are prepared to do the will of God. I believe this is extremely important in every Christian's life, whether they be young or old. Now, having made that decision, you can see what a challenge it is going to be to put that into effect. And of course one of the greatest helps to put that into effect is the fellowship of other believers, the help of others, other members of the body. Now Paul goes on in verse 3 to say, for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Now don't you think it's very, very important to take account of what Paul said in that expression? Isn't it significant that he should say such a thing? He says, now don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Isn't that another way of saying don't express your own will? Don't think of yourself as the most important person and ignore others. He goes on to say, now think soberly. Now that means you have a true appraisal of yourself in the presence of God. You take account of what God has made you. Not what you might think you are, but what God has made you. A true, sober reasoning, if you like, in relation to the blessing that God has brought you into. Now having done that, he goes on to say, for as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office, he's reasoning from the figure of our natural bodies. All our bodies have many members, but they don't do the same thing. My ear can't do what my hand does. Every member has its own particular place in the body, given to it by God, but they're all one body. The ear is not the body, the hand is not the body. There's one body with many members and they're all members one of another. Now he says, apply this figure of the physical body to the Christian company. He says, so we, the Christian company, being many, many individuals, are one body in Christ. Not one body in the expression of who we are and what we are naturally. After all, one member might be very intellectual, another member might be very illiterate, one member might be very rich, another member might be very poor, and so on. We could mention many contrasts. That's not the point, says Paul. We're not many members in our natural ways or our natural propensities. We are one body in Christ and that makes all the difference. You know, if this had been realized and followed out amongst believers, it would destroy the notion of many bodies. Many bodies following particular men or particular crews, under state control, or any other idea of that kind. It would have cleared away man's ideas and showed clearly that this organism, this living vital body, is so in Christ, the man who is at the right hand of God. But not only so, not only are we one one body in Christ, but we're everyone members one of another. I'm going to take you to another figure, one I'm sure that you know well. You remember in the book of Daniel, that Nebuchadnezzar saw a vision of a great image. And in the description of it that Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar, the interpretation of his dream, he went down from the head right down to the legs and the feet and the toes. And when he came to the part that was made of clay and iron, he indicated that these two elements, they formed the legs and the feet and the toes. What he says, they don't unite. That's not the exact words. They mingle, but they don't cleave together. You see, opposite elements, different elements, but there was no affinity, no cohesion. Now, says Paul, in this figure we are members one of another. Now, if in pride we think of ourselves above our fellow believer, simply because we have a better social status, if we think ourselves above others because we are better educated than they are, we don't understand the truth of the body. These things are the proper place, and we must accept them. But in the understanding of the truth of the body, we are members one of another in Christ. All social and national distinctions have gone. And when we apply this in a practical sense, and we think of Christians in the Anglican Church, in the Church of Scotland, in the Baptist Church, in the Methodist Church, brethren, or any other company of believers you like to mention, if we understood this truth, every one of us, all these distinctions would need to go, because we are not members of different companies one of another. There's no such thing in the Bible of churches being one of another, but members one of another. So every believer in Christ, wherever he is or she is, they are members one of another. And if we realize that, we wouldn't look down our noses at other Christians simply because they don't walk with us. We would remember that they belong to the body as we do. When we come to other distinctions, of course, the question of evil associations, or wrong doctrines, or even wrong behavior, that's a different matter altogether. And, of course, we have plenty of scriptures to guide us in relation to these things. But in the truth of the body, we face this again, and we must face it because it's what the Bible says, we are members one of another. Every Christian existing in this area and throughout the whole world are members one of another. We're all united together in this wonderful life and blessing and power. Is it not right to say, dear brethren, what a shame it is that there isn't a better expression of this in these last closing days. Isn't it a disgrace that such a wonderful blessing should find such a feeble expression, when so much has been done by the Lord, by the Spirit, by God himself, to bring this into concrete expression. How sad it is that there isn't a better expression of it. Now we turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We began at verse 12, and again the reference is to the human body. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, now that's all the physical body that's being referred to, then Paul refers to the Christian company. So also is Christ, or so also the Christ. Now we believe that it's not the Lord Jesus Christ personally that is referred to here, but rather a designation of the Christian company in Corinth, that they were the anointed vessel in Corinth. The Bible says this clearly in chapter 1 of the second epistle. God anointed them. They were sealed. They were anointed. And let me quote the other three things in the, yes, verse 22 of chapter 1, sealed us, given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, and anointed us. So the Christian company in Corinth is viewed as anointed with the Holy Spirit in the midst of all the corruption that prevailed in that city. You remember the tabernacle of old was anointed with oil, and this indicated the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in a typical way. So this is what Paul is saying, you Christians in Corinth, you're anointed with the Holy Spirit. And because of this, the anointed vessel is the figure in Corinth of the one body. We'll see this later on in the chapter. Now he says in verse 13, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. Now this is an expression that's used quite often. You remember in Ephesians chapter 2, Paul says we all, that is Jew and Gentile, we all have access unto the Father by one Spirit through Christ. Now the Jews might have said, well we've got one Spirit, exclusively so, and you Gentiles, well we don't know what kind of Spirit you have, but we have the Spirit to help us to worship the Father. No, says Paul, you can't say that, because Jew and Gentile have been brought onto exactly the same platform of blessing and position, and Jew and Gentile in the power of one Spirit, the Spirit, have access to the Father. Now Paul says this is exactly the same in Corinth, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Now it's extremely important to keep in our minds here that this is not water baptism. There are no unbelievers in the one body. Unfortunately it's quite possible for an unbeliever to be baptized in water baptism. It's quite possible for a person to profess to be a Christian and yet to have no living connection with our Lord Jesus Christ. It's well known that in the Middle Ages many companies of people were forced to be baptized to the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit at the point of the sword, either get baptized and become a Christian or perish. Well what kind of conversion was that? And today we say it is quite possible for an unbeliever to be baptized and yet not to be a real Christian. Now the baptism of the Holy Spirit brings us into the one body and that took place once and for all when the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, never to be repeated. I've tried to give a simple illustration to prove this and I trust you'll bear with me. I hope it is of some help. When Parliament opens for the first time after an election a great deal of pomp and pageantry and ceremony takes place and then proceeds the daily duty of the Parliament in governing the country. In the course of the Parliament many members die and by-elections are held. Now when a new member takes his seat in Parliament there is no pageantry and pomp to welcome him into Parliament. He takes his place in Parliament in view of what was done at the very outset at the opening of Parliament. It was there that it was instituted as the government of the land and those who are elected come in and take their place in virtue of what was begun then. Now to me this is a simple illustration of the Holy Spirit coming down from the ascended Christ and forming the one body uniting every believer to Christ in glory. Now when a person gets converted today the Bible tells us that when they believe they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. They receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and they take their place in the body or rather they're set in their place in the body in virtue of what took place at Pentecost. There's no more repeating of the rushing mighty wind and the cloven tongues of fire and the speaking with tongues and the three thousand souls getting converted when the preaching of the gospel takes place. There's no repetition of that. That was done in power and glory the outset of the assembly's position here upon earth. But every person who gets converted comes into the body in virtue of what was set up at the beginning and will continue right to the very end. So when we read by one spirit are we all baptized into one body we think of what began at the beginning and whatever the believer comes into in virtue of that wonderful day. And it says here what we've said already there's no national distinction or social distinction. There's neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. Now if we read in the Bible we'll find that our spirits are affected by the different circumstances that we are in. Even the Lord Jesus when he was here says he groaned in his spirit. The circumstances were such. We think of Mary my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. There are many other references to how our spirits are affected in certain ways because of the circumstances that we are in. Now the spirit is the real part of us. Our bodies are the temple. It's been said that our soul connects us with earth but our spirits connect us with God. And of course when we die it is our spirits that go to be with the Lord Jesus. Just as Stephen said, Lord receive my spirit. As the Lord himself said to his father, father into thy hands I commend my spirit. So our spirits really are the part, it's the thing I should say, that expresses us in the actions of our bodies. Because of the circumstances we're in and our spirits are affected we either groan or rejoice or we pray or we worship or we serve in whatever way our spirit directs us. Now says Paul, every member in the body drinks from the one spirit, the spirit of God which animates the body and gives it its expression. Now the spirit says to you do this and under his control and obedience to the headship of Christ you do it. And the spirit says to another one, another member of the body, you do this and so we're all drawing from the one resource, the spirit of God. And there is no other resource to help us to express our true position in the body or our true function. Now we come down to the end, the other verses that we read. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Is that a difficult thing to do? Unfortunately sometimes it is. If a member of the body, our physical body, if we have a sore finger, very small member of the body, you might say very insignificant, but a lot of pain and trouble it can cause us. Just one little finger or one little toe, indeed, any part of our bodies, if it is affected by pain, it affects the whole body. We know this only too well. Now says Paul, this is exactly the same in the Christian circle. If there's one member who is ill and we're unconcerned, we're not expressing the true features of the body. And perhaps the other thing is more difficult. One part of the body is being exalted and envy and jealousy can operate, and instead of full-hearted acclamation and praise for the other person who has been so honored, there might be a reluctance to give what is due. But the scripture says so plainly that we are to both suffer and rejoice with the members in those respective conditions. Now says Paul, now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. Now here we have Paul saying to that company in Corinth, now you are the body of Christ. Of course at that day, that was the only Christian testimony that existed in Corinth. They were together as one. There might have been differences of opinion, but up to this point they hadn't separated into different halls and into different companies and under different names. They were, as Paul designated them in the first chapter, the assembly of God in Corinth. Now he's giving them a different figure. He's saying they are the body of Christ in particular in Corinth. There was no other such company and they were the body of Christ. Now the body of Christ in a local sense was simply a miniature expression, if you like, of what existed in the whole world. You couldn't conceive of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory and the Spirit of God here upon earth guiding, controlling, and animating one company of Christians in the city of Corinth and doing something the opposite in the city of Ephesus. And the two companies claiming we're all under the guidance and control of the Lord and we're all under the control of the Holy Spirit and yet they're doing things that are diametrically opposed, in conflict with each other. Well, it's inconceivable. If there is the body of Christ in Corinth and it's under the control of the head and the Spirit, it will produce exactly the same features in Ephesus as it does in Corinth. And Corinth will be exactly the same as they're doing in Colossae, that is, if they're all under the control of the Lord and the Holy Spirit. Can it possibly acquiesce with any idea that it's possible to be under the Lordship of Christ and under the guidance of the Spirit and yet do things that are contrary to each other? Because it certainly isn't in Scripture. There is one body and it's under one head and it's animated by one Spirit and it ought to produce the same features, not a uniformity that is rigid, but a variety of expression that all adds up to the same thing. And so, dear brethren, we feel this is a most important truth for us in these last days, that although things are in confusion, we would seek to seek help from the Lord to put it into expression wherever we are. I know how difficult it is to remember that we ought to love every Christian and to help every Christian and to be helped by every Christian as far as the truth of God will allow us. That's a peculiar thing to say, but we're reminding that there are other scriptures that we have to consider in connection with doctrine and practice. And so, again I say, dear brethren, we would cry to God for his help and guidance that in these days of confusion we might have the utmost wisdom and power and blessing to put these things into practice until we reach what the fourth of Ephesians says, conformity to the Son of God. May it be so for his namesake. …