CHRISTIANITY is Christ. There may be much theology, but no Christianity, without Christ, and the theology without Christ can not bring blessing or salvation to any one. The only object in writing this article upon the true source of infallibility is to help some one to a better appreciation of Christ in his relation to the church and the believer.
One of the essential attributes of God is that he is true, a “God of truth” (Ps. 31:5), that it is impossible for him to lie (Heb. 6:18), that he can not lie (Titus 1:2), that he can not deny himself (2 Tim. 2:13). But “no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18), and he is “the faithful and true witness” (Rev. 3:14). “It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell” (Col. 1:19), even “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” for “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). After his life of suffering and death of shame, God raised Christ from the dead, “and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22, 23), and thus “Christ is the head of the church, and he is Saviour of the body” (Eph. 5:23). This position was not assigned to Christ arbitrarily, but came to him as the inevitable result of his work as the Redeemer of man. It was because “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” that “God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” Phil. 2:8, 9.
Inasmuch as the Son of God took our nature and place, and became the substitute for the human family, “the last Adam,” in the very nature of the case, became the head of the divine-human family, the head of the church, the head of each believer. So long as he is the “Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5), so long he must be the head of the church. And he can no more delegate this position to another than he can delegate his work as Saviour to another. The fact that he is the head of the church grows out of, and is inseparably connected with, his experience in humbling himself to take our nature and to bear our sins. His own experience is a living illustration of the truth which he taught: “Whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” Mark 10:44.
Furthermore, the circumstances of the case do not require, and it is contrary to the express teaching of Christ to suppose, that he should designate some one to be the visible head of the church after his ascension to heaven. His last words were, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;” and his promise is, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matt. 18:20. This presence is a real one. He who led his people of old in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, and who revealed himself to Joshua as the Captain of the Lord’s host, is with his people still.
As head of the church he has reserved to himself the prerogative of directing his church both in doctrine and in discipline. Facts are better than theories, and the inspired history of the church as Christ founded it, is the best teaching upon this subject. Before his ascension the Saviour said to his disciples, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:16), and this promise was fulfilled in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the representative of Christ in the earth. The record shows the blessed results of giving Christ his true place as head of the church. “They spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. . . . And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 4:31–33. Hypocrites were designated by the Holy Spirit, and speedy punishment meted out to them (Acts 5); the first Christian martyr was strengthened to seal his testimony with his life (Acts 7:56); through a personal revelation of the glory of Christ, Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle, so that “he which persecuteth us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed;” by a vision to Cornelius and a vision to Peter and the direct instruction of the Spirit, the way was opened for the Gospel to go to the gentiles; under the special instruction of the Holy Spirit, Paul and Barnabas were selected and set apart “for the work whereunto I have called them;” when doctrinal difficulties arose in the church, the decision reached was that which “seemed good to the Holy Ghost;” the apostles were guided in their choice of fields of labor by vision; and in all these ways it was made manifest that Christ himself was filling his true place as head of the church which he had established in the earth. It followed, of course, that “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” That these same results are not seen in the church to-day is because Christ is not properly recognized as the real head of the church; and just in proportion as his place is filled by men, his power and guidance are lacking. It is high time to return to the practices and the blessings of the early church.
Righteousness is simply an expression of truth in concrete form, life-truth. It is because Christ is the truth that he is the Lord our Righteousness. But he who is the truth, who can not lie, is infallible; and it is therefore true that the source of infallibility and the source of righteousness must be the same, and “this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 54:17. To put infallibility in any one else than Christ, even a supposed delegated infallibility, involves the necessity of looking to some other source than to Christ for righteousness; but this would be to trust in the arm of flesh, to forsake the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that can hold no water. “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” Isa. 45:24.
God’s appointed way of communicating with his church is through prophets of his own choosing, by visions and dreams (Num. 12:6); but the infallibility is never transferred to the human agent. Infallibility is an attribute of divinity, and can never be imparted to a created being so long as he retains his freedom of will. To make a man infallible would be to make him simply a machine, but this is not God’s plan.
Any teaching which tends to detract from the glory of Christ, or to put him at a distance from the church or the believer, is to be shunned. He is to be received as a personal Saviour who deals directly with his church and his children. “When Christ took human nature upon him, he bound humanity to himself by a tie of love that can never be broken by any power save the choice of man himself.” Give Christ his place as head of every man, as head of the church. Believe in his real presence in the heart of each believer, and that we “are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit,” and enjoy the blessed presence of him who has said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” This is salvation.
