Apostolic-preparation.
"Set in order the things that are wanting." Christian life is destined for development and for continuance. To this end the Church is to be the center alike of evangelistic effort and of Christian culture. Here is—
I. THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE ECCLESIA, OR THE "CHURCH." "And ordain elders in every city." The New Testament gives no sanction to the idea that an unorganized Christianity is the simplest and the best. The precedents of the early Christian Church were to be faithfully adhered to. Whether the organization of the Church was to be a growth conditioned by the circumstance of every age, is a question we do not hero discuss; but that there was to he organization is here settled forever. The expression, "in every city," shows that the life of the Church was not to be spasmodic, but settled.
II. THERE MUST BE LIFE AS WELL AS ORGANIZATION. This, too, is manifest here. Christians were enjoying "grace, mercy, and peace;" were "renewed in the spirit of their minds." Divine life comes from faith in Christ alone, and is not dependent upon aught else. The declaration of Paul is there always and everywhere, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." We are, therefore, to recognize the fruits of the Spirit everywhere, whether the gardens in which they grow be according to our plan and ideal or no. But as all Christian life needs constant care and discipline, as the disciple needs teaching, and the justified need sanctification, so there was to be the "setting in order" of all that we mean by the organized Christian Church; not that every detail is to be binding, or to be reproduced by every Church in every age.—W.M.S.