God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain or discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure.
And that also clarifies the goal of all Christian community: they meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation. As such, God permits them to meet together and gives them community. Their fellowship is founded solely upon Jesus Christ and this "alien righteousness." All we can say, therefore, is: the community of Christians springs solely from the Biblical and Reformation message of the justification of man through grace alone; this alone is the basis of the longing of Christians for one another.
I like this quote as a good synopsis of why we should desire Christian community. Note the phrasing, because it's important: It's not that Christian community is necessary (see quote #1), it's that we should want it. There might be periods in our lives (or our brothers' lives) when Christian community is simply not feasible. But what is concerning is when we don't yearn for it.
ReplyDeleteThe last sentence might seem confusing, but I see it as a response to the cynical claim that Christians come together to do good deeds and earn their salvation. Then if we're Reformed, we reject that and also community itself. Protestantism has a lot of Lone Ranger Christians. No, instead, we need our brother because our salvation is from outside of ourselves, because we cannot save ourselves on our own through our good deeds. Finally, it's not that we don't long for each other for other reasons, but this is the only significant reason we should.