This is lesson 59 of the old Oneness Pentecostal Correspondence Course
Their Own Company
“And being let go, they went to their own company” (
Acts 4:23). This verse of Scripture refers
to the disciples of the Lord. After the Jewish authorities had threatened and mistreated them, they
gathered with the saints and had such a prayer meeting that the house where they met was
shaken. In this lesson, we wish to draw a mental picture of what could easily happen today if the
two most outstanding apostles, Paul and Peter, were raised from the dead and came back to earth
in search of their own company!
Let us follow these apostles as they find themselves on the street of a modern city. They
inquire about the location of the nearest place of worship and are directed to the Roman Catholic
Church. As they watch with curiosity the ceremonies and ritual of the priest and his helpers, they
fail to associate anything they see there with the worship of the saints in the early church. They
soon decide that they must look for some other gathering if they are to find their “own company.”
The next people they approach direct them to the Lutheran Church, and soon they are listening
to a sophisticated man preaching on the wonderful theme of justification by faith, from the
text “The just shall live by faith” (
Galatians 3:11). The apostles enjoy the message very much until
the minister changes his subject and takes occasion to preach against immersion as the proper
mode of water baptism. It seems he has been quite disturbed by a Baptist revival going on in the
city, where some of his flock were baptized by immersion. Peter and Paul are convinced that they
have not yet found their “own company,” since Peter remembers well that when Jesus was baptized,
He came up straightway out of the water (
Matthew 3:16), and Paul taught that baptism was
a burial with Christ (
Romans 6:4;
Colossians 2:12).
The apostles now hasten out and follow every clue given them until they arrive at the scene
of a great Baptist revival. They are very impressed as the speaker gives clear, scriptural teaching
on water baptism by immersion, using
John 3:23 for a text, where John baptized in Aenon because
there was much water there. He also relates how both Philip and the eunuch went down into the
water, and after Philip baptized him they came up out of the water (
Acts 8:38-39).
But the Baptist minister has been having his troubles too, for it seems that the Holiness people
are in town and are convincing some of the Baptists that God commands His people to live
holy lives. So the speaker, in no uncertain terms, condemns the teaching of holiness, declaring
that there is “none righteous, no, not one” (
Romans 3:10). Taking these words out of context, he
applies them to the children of God, instead of unsaved Jews and Gentiles, attempting to prove
that there is not a single righteous Christian. Paul looks at Peter and Peter looks at Paul. Peter
says, “I declared by the word of the Lord, ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy.’” (See
I Peter 1:16.) Paul said,
“I taught the saints to ‘follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord.’” (See
Hebrews 12:14.)
Again they realize they have not found their own company, so they go out in search of the
Holiness believers. Upon entering their church, they hear a fine message on the necessity of being
holy. Here they begin to feel quite at home until the speaker spoils the message for them by a sudden
outburst of harsh and cruel words directed at a group of people he calls “the tongues folks.”
With a great tirade of words he condemns, in general, not only the people who speak in tongues
but the doctrine of tongues itself. Again Paul looks at Peter and Peter looks at Paul. Peter declares,
“It is plain we still have not found the people we are trying to locate, for it was by the witness of
other tongues that I, with the rest of the 120, received the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost,
and I remember well how speaking in tongues convinced us that Cornelius and his house had
received the Holy Ghost.” (See
Acts 2:4; 10:44, 46.) Paul answers, “Yes, and in one of my letters
364 • Lesson 59 | Their Own Company PENTECOSTAL BIBLE STUDY COURSE
to the Corinthian church I told them plainly that I spoke in tongues more than all of them.” (See
I Corinthians 14:18.)
Not far down the street they enter a large hall crowded with happy, shouting people who seem
to enjoy God’s presence as they praise the Lord in song and in testimony. Surely at last we have
found our own people, think the apostles. Finding a seat near the door, they settle down to enjoy
the fellowship that they feel is surely there for them. The minister’s searching eye soon catches
sight of them and something about their bearing causes him much concern. He watches them
carefully as their old sainted faces shine with the glory of God. Not recognizing them as anyone
of his acquaintance, he concludes they must be some of those Jesus Name preachers.
The evangelist delivers a great sermon on the present outpouring of the Holy Ghost, declaring
it to be the fulfillment of the prophet Joel’s prophecy concerning the outpouring of God’s
Spirit (
Joel 2:28). He concludes by showing that speaking in other tongues is, as it was in Bible
days, the evidence of having received this experience. Before calling the people to prayer, he cannot
resist the temptation to warn his hearers to beware of those false teachers who claim a revelation
that Jesus is God and that all believers should be baptized in Jesus’ name. He lets the congregation
know, in no uncertain terms, how little he thinks of anyone who would consent to water
baptism in Jesus’ name.
Again Paul looks at Peter and Peter looks at Paul. Peter says, ‘‘I commanded the people to be
baptized in Jesus’ name in the first gospel message to the Jews, and later I gave the same teaching
to the Gentiles.” (See
Acts 2:38; 10:48.) Paul said, “I also taught baptism in the name of the
Lord Jesus.” (See
Acts 19:5.) “Let us go and try to find these people who are still preaching the
same message we taught so long ago.” And once again they go out in search of their “own company.”
It would be a very sad affair, indeed, if Peter and Paul could not find a single group of people
in all the Pentecostal movement where they could preach the same old gospel message they
preached in Bible days. But there is such a people!
Let us take note that the apostles will be coming back and will be looking for their “own company,”
for the dead in Christ (and they are in that company of people) will rise first; and with their
“own company,” they will be caught up together in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord
(
I Thessalonians 4:13-18).
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