Listen to audio:

“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1).

Excerpts from Reprint 5284

There are certain features of the doctrine of Christ which are fundamental and indispensable, and without which none would be recognized of the Lord as one of his followers. There are other features which would seem to be useful, helpful, blessed, but not fundamental—not essential to membership in the Body of Christ. The fundamentals have been enjoyed by good, saintly ones from the Day of Pentecost until now.

We, the same class now, have the same fundamentals, and are permitted to have other privileges, truths, “meat in due season,” for our strengthening. These latter are not necessarily essential to our membership in the Body of Christ; otherwise our forefathers who did not have them would not have been members of Christ, and there would have been no Christ Body for centuries.

The fundamental theory of the Atonement is as follows:

(1) All men—all of Adam’s children—are sinners.

(2) None can be reconciled to God without a Redeemer’s sacrifice.

(3) Jesus came into the world to be that Sacrifice—and later to apply that Ransom-price for the sins of the world.

(4) On the basis of faith in the Redeemer’s work, the believer may consecrate himself to the Divine service, in acceptance of the Divine invitation, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.”

(5) So doing, the believer may—up to the time of the completion of the Elect number—exercise full assurance of faith that his sacrifice will be accepted of the Father; and that he will receive a share of the anointing of the holy Spirit—the begetting.

(6) Such as meet these conditions are to be accepted as brethren in the highest sense of the term. This much would seem to have been always necessary, and more than this we believe is not necessary today. But if by reason of our favorable day we have more knowledge, we may also have corresponding trials, which our greater knowledge will offset.

Our advice to the Lord’s dear people everywhere is that they put no yoke upon each other, beyond the fundamentals specified above—that otherwise they stand free, and leave each other free, and fellowship and agree as much as they can with each other.

We are not criticizing the views of any one. Each has a perfect right to hold whatever he believes the Bible to teach, and our views are doubtless well known to all of our readers. Briefly stated, they are as follows:

(1) That the one that sinned was Adam, and that he and all his posterity were involved.

(2) That a redeemer was necessary, that Jesus became that redeemer, and “gave himself a ransom for all.”

(3) That God has invited some of the redeemed sinners—not to be the ransom-price, nor to redeem anybody else, but—to be associates of the redeemer, members of his Body, his Bride.

(4) The terms and conditions upon which these may have fellowship are that Jesus as the great advocate shall accept them as his members—their flesh as his flesh—and that he shall impute to them the share of his merit which would be coming to them as members of the Adamic race. Then they are legally justified from all the shortcomings, weaknesses and imperfections inherited by them; and their own wills and all their remaining powers and talents being consecrated, their sacrifice may be acceptable to God—as part of the sin-offering by the great high priest.