It is Communion with God, so that their “life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. iii. 3). They are declared to be united with God, as a branch is united with its stem; deriving spiritual life—a new and higher life than the natural life which belongs to all—from Him. They are “begotten again” (1 Pet. i. 3), and “born of God” (S. John i. 13); and the seed of this eternal life is not left dormant in them, as it is in the careless and ungodly; for they remain not as “children,” but “grow up unto Him in all things” (Eph. iv. 14, 15); and letting “the mind that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil. ii. 5) be in them, and “being strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, Christ dwells in their heart by faith” (Eph. iii. 16, 17); and they are advancing “unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. iv. 13).
The closeness of this union or communion with God in Christ is expressed more fully by the figure of the body and its members. The Saints together form the Body of Christ. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. xii. 12, 13). Christ is the Head: and the Church is the Body. For God “gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body” (Ephes. i. 22, 23). So intimately connected are the Saints with their Lord that they are the members of Christ—yea, S. Paul does not hesitate to say, “We are members of His Body, of His Flesh, and of His Bones” (Ephes. v. 30). This is a great mystery; but when faith has accepted it, it is seen to be the ground of the Christian’s strength. He is strong through grace, because his strength is not his own, but is derived from Christ his Lord, with Whom through the Spirit he is united.
The importance of the two holy Sacraments of Christ is in connection with this truth. Holy Baptism is the means ordained for uniting us with the Body of Christ (1 Cor. xii. 13). Holy Communion is the means of maintaining this union, and of drawing supplies of grace from Him (1 Cor. x. 16, 17), as will be considered more fully presently.
Thus through a right use of the means ordained by Christ Himself the Saints are His own members[30]. “Why persecutest thou Me?” said the Lord to the persecutor of His people. And they have the good hope to cheer them, that when the great day of judgment comes, whilst to some who address the Judge, “Lord, Lord,” as if they had always served Him, it will be said, “I never knew you, depart from Me” (S. Matt. vii. 22, 23); the Saints, on the other hand, will be recognised as being like Him—as bearing God’s image—and will receive the welcome, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you” (S. Matt. xxv. 34).
The meaning of “The Communion of Saints” becomes clearer when we know that “Communion” is the same word as that which is more often translated “Fellowship.” The Apostle S. John speaks with great clearness about this Communion or Fellowship. Referring to the good tidings delivered by himself and the other Apostles about the person and work of the Saviour, he saith, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.” In other words, he declares that the Gospel was preached that all might enjoy the Communion or Fellowship which the Apostles possessed. And then he goes on to explain with whom they enjoyed this Communion: “And truly our Fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 S. John i. 3). And this assertion of the Communion of the Christian with God agrees with the words of the prayer of our Lord for His people, recorded by the same Apostle; wherein He prayed, “That they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one” (S. John xvii. 22, 23).
These thoughts of the Communion of the Christian with God—the Father and the Son—would be incomplete, did we not also think of our Communion with the Holy Ghost. For inasmuch as the whole spiritual life of the Christian is due to the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, this Communion with God, which the Christian enjoys, is in reality the work and gift of the Holy Ghost. And this is testified to us by the familiar words of blessing, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the Communion” (or Fellowship) “of the Holy Ghost, be with you all” (2 Cor. xiii. 14).
Furthermore, “The Communion of Saints” describes the fellowship or tie of brotherhood which unites Christians together, one with another. For if all Saints have Communion with God, it follows that all have Communion one with another in Him. If Christians are really striving to be, what they are called to be, holy, they are all one family; united together by the common bond of sonship; “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. iii. 26). Their adoption into the one family of God is to them a real relationship. And this also is expressed very clearly by S. John: “If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie; but if we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 S. John i. 6, 7). And inasmuch as death does not sever the union between the Saint and God, but rather intensifies it (seeing that S. Paul describes the result of death as the “being with Christ,” Phil. i. 23), it follows that “The Communion of Saints” is not a fellowship with the living only, but with the departed also. “All are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. iii. 28); whether Jews or Gentiles, whether living or departed.
Having now concluded, from the teaching of Holy Scripture, that “The Communion of Saints” is that fellowship which Christians enjoy, through being made one with God, and with one another; we shall do well to consider more carefully about the means by which they are enabled to keep up this union, and to maintain the sense of its reality from age to age. When our Blessed Lord spoke in the synagogue at Capernaum respecting the Bread of Life, He used these words, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you;” and then He added, “He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in Him” (S. John vi. 53, 56). His hearers had no idea about what He meant by His Flesh and Blood. But in instituting the Holy Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, He explained the words Himself. For “He took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to His disciples, and said, This is My Body; and He took the cup, saying, This is My Blood” (S. Matt. xxvi. 26-28). And consequently S. Paul, referring to this Holy Sacrament, appealed to the Corinthians to remember the bond of union with God, and with one another, in which they were joining, saying, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ? For we being many are one Bread and one Body, for we are all partakers of that one Bread” (1 Cor. x. 16, 17). And, therefore, we conclude that this Holy Sacrament is the bond of union, ordained by our Lord Himself, to maintain outwardly and visibly, as well as inwardly and spiritually, “The Communion of Saints” with God and with one another. And this is clearly expressed by the name “Holy Communion” by which we commonly speak of this Holy Sacrament.
Does any one ask, What is “The Communion of Saints?” The answer is clear. It is the Communion or fellowship which Christians enjoy with God, and therefore with one another, whether in this world or in Paradise. And the Sacrament of the Holy Communion is the ordained means whereby this union is maintained by the Saints on earth.
It is a sad but manifest fact, that it is in the power of men to “frustrate the grace of God” (Gal. ii. 21), and to make His good-will concerning them to be of none effect. So that whilst all who are called to enter the Kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are called to enjoy the blessings which He has gained for us, the multitude make little or no use of His gifts. But all who will, may by His grace be assured of sharing in all the benefits of His Sacrifice. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 S. John i. 7).