Phil. 1:1 Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons. 1 Cor. 1:2 To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours.
Philippians 1:1, which shows that a local church is composed of the saints [believers] with overseers to take the lead and deacons to serve, indicates that the church in Philippi was in good order. Paul did not say "to all the saints and the overseers and deacons"; he said "all the saints with the overseers and deacons." The Greek preposition rendered "with" actually means together with. If Paul had used the conjunction "and" instead of the preposition "with," this would indicate that in a local church there should be three groups of people--the saints, the overseers, and the deacons. But his use of "with" indicates that there are not three such groups in the church. The concept of today's organized Christianity is to have various distinct classes of people within the church. It is against the Bible, however, to have different classes of believers in a local assembly. The New Testament reveals that in a local church there is a unique group, and this group is composed of all the saints. Writing under the leading of the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote in a deliberate, cautious way, using the preposition "with" and not the conjunction "and." Paul's use of the preposition instead of the conjunction is very significant. It indicates that in any locality there should be just one church, which must include all the saints in that locality. (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Philippians, p. 12. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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