Even this brief study will have revealed that the Gospel conception of the Christian's com- munion with God is essentially difl'eront from that of the Quietist. Whether we have regard to our Lord's example or to His teaching, whether we are thinking of the status of fellowship or of its conscious practice, the means by which the Di\ine communion is realized are not exclusively periods of secluded contemplation. In Christ's own life upon earth the two elements of active and passive fellowship are signally combined. The sense of union with the Unseen Father, fostered in lonely retreat, is also intensified in moments of strenuous activity. In His thoughts for the lives of His followers, too, the consciousness of God's presence is secured not alone by solitary worship, but also by the doing of the Divine will, by the earnest struggle to subdue the lower self, and even by active participation in the very suflerings of Christ. So the servant, as his Lord, must practise the communion of service as well as the communion of retirement (cf., again, Jn W'-). The desire for the permanent consciousness of the more immediate Presence must be sunk in the mission of carrying to others the tidings of salvation (Mk 5'*'"-'' = Lk S^-^\ It is but natural that in the moment of siiecial revelation on the mountain the disciple should long to make it his abiding place (Mk O'^ and II) ; but his Master can never forget the need of service on the ordinary levels of life (Mk O'-""- and II). And the experience of the one is the source of power for the other (Mk 9-', cf. Jn 15^).
3. Our communion one with another. — Just as our communion with God was seen to bear a close relation to our Lord's communion with the Father, so our spiritual fellowship one with another rests upon the fellowsliip of each with Christ. As we had occasion to point out above, communion be- tween any two persons is possible only in virtue of some element common to the natures of both. This common possession in the case of believers is the life, the 'self,' whioli is called into being and ever progressively realized in their indtvidual communion with Christ. The possibility of our spiritual fellowship with one another rests ulti- mately upon what He is and our relationship to what He is (see 1 Jn 1''^, and especially 1' ; cf.
554
COMMUNION
CO]MPLACENCY
also 1 Co 10"=- 1"). His Presence is the bond of union in wliieli we are one, and in which we realize the oneness that we possess (Mt 18-"). Indeed, the two tj'pes of communion — the com- munion with God and the communion with our fellow-believers— react each upon the other. On the one hand, as we have just seen, our communion with men rests upon our communion with Christ ; on the other hand, our Divine fellowship may be intensified (Mt 18™ again and 25") or impeded (Mt 523.24 615 25« Mk 11^) by our relations with our fellow-men.
That our Lord looked for the unity of His followers is not open to question. He both prophesied it (Jn 10"*) and prayed for it (IT'"'--'). An intimate friend, clearly one of an inner circle of disciples and probably John himself, understood its attainment to be part of His purpose in dying for mankind (Jn 1P=). Moreover, it is natunll to suppose that the desire to ensure it would con- tribute to His decision to found an organized society (Mt 16'*) and to institute an important rite (Mk 14-^- and 11) for those who should believe in Him. The unity of His followers was even to be one of the grounds on which He based His appeal for the world's faith (Jn n-""). Of His wish for this unity, therefore, there can scarcely be reason- able doubt. But when we ask in what He meant tlie unity to consist, agreement is not so easily reached. The expression of His followers' unity certainly includes kind and unselfish relations with one another — mutual honour and service (Mk 1035-«=Mt 20="-=«), mutual forgiveness (Mt 6'^ Lk 17'-*), mutual love (Jn 13" 15'-). It is exemplified further by participation in tlie common work (Jn 436-38) Another very special means of its realiza- tion, the Lord's Supper, we have already indicated. Although this particular aspect of the rite is not actually revealed in the Gospel narrative itself, it will scarcely be questioned that one of the great truths which it both signifies and secures, is that of the fellowship of Christ's followers. The sacred service in whicn the believer may realize com- munion with His Lord (see § 2 above), is also a means by which he is to apprehend his oneness with all other believers (see 1 Co 10").
While, however, it is plain that in Christ's teachin" the communion of Christians is at once attested and secured by means like these, it is disputed whether He designed their unity to be simply a spiritual or also an external one. Three important passages may be very briefly considered. (1) Jn 10'^ artbrds no support to the upholders of an external unity. Tlie true rendering is unques- tionablv, 'They shall become one flock' {'RV: rt Tindale and Coverdale), and not, 'There sIkiII )..■ onefold' (AV; cf. Vulgate). The unity meminiir,! here is one that is realized in the personal rt-Lition of each member of the flock to the Great Shepherd Himself. — (2) There is teaching a little more definite in Jn 17" and -'• ". In both these places our Lord makes His own unity with the Father the exemplar of the unity of believers. Reverence forbids any dogmatic statement as to the point to which this sacred analogy can be pressed. But Christ's own words in the immediate context con- tain suggestions as to His meaning in using the analogy. It is noticeable that here also, as in Jn lu'"*, tlie underlying basis of unity is the believers' personal relation to Christ (and tlie Father). ' That they may be one, even as we are one,' in v.", is at once defined more closely in the words, ' I in them, and thou in me' (v.^). The resultant unity is gained through the medium not of an external, but of a purely spiritual, condition (iVa Siuif rere- 'Kctun^foi CIS en, v.^). In the same way, in the statement of v.", it is a spiritual relationsliip to God that will yield the unity Christ craves for His