Pauline epistles were
written. The church at Samaria also tolerated for a time one whose
"heart was not right in the sight of God" (Acts 8).

[Sidenote: A holy church]

Since the local church was designed to exhibit concretely the
spiritual body of Christ, none but saved persons could _properly_
hold membership therein; therefore the local church when in its normal
condition was free from sin and sinners. The physical body, which
Paul uses to illustrate the spiritual body, is normal only when every
member possesses the life of the body and functions properly. So also
was the body of Christ. It was not God's will that there should be
(as recognized members) "sinners in the congregation of the righteous"
(Psa. 1: 5). It was his will to purge Jerusalem "by the spirit of
judgment and by the spirit of burning" until "_he that is left_ in
Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called _holy_,
even _every one_ that is written among the living in Jerusalem" (Isa.
4:3,4).

[Sidenote: Discernment and judgement necessary]

The local congregation in Jerusalem did not cease to be the church
of God because two unworthy persons obtained recognition in it. This
incident gave occasion for the church to manifest its inherent _life_
by its ability to discern and then cast off the secret offenders just
as a healthy physical body casts off effete matter. As a result of the
judgment pronounced on Ananias and Sapphira, "great fear came upon all
the church ... and of the rest _durst no man join himself to them_;
but the people magnified them" (Acts 5:11, 13). The fiery judgments
of God put an end to formal church-joining there, as a result of which
"believers were the more _added to the Lord_, multitudes both of men
and women" (verse 14). "And the Lord added to them day by day those
that were being saved" (Acts 2:47, R.V.).

A clean, pure local church was the divine standard. It is evident that
such could never be obtained and maintained except by the power of the
Holy Spirit, who discerned evil and prompted its elimination. Peter
discerned the condition of the two false members in the church at
Jerusalem and removed that blemish. He also exposed the hypocrisy
of Simon at Samaria, and Paul pointed out the evil affection in the
church at Corinth and directed its removal. Chief responsibility
for the maintenance of the normal condition of the church will be
considered in our discussion of the particular features of church
orga