The Church: Its Organization, Order and Discipline

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25 NUMERICAL REPRESENTATION AND COMMITTEES

“FOR I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality.” 2 Corinthians 8:13, 14. COOD 134.1

The thought here expressed by the apostle for raising means for the needy, and for the support of the gospel work, contains a grand principle on which the church should act; that is, the principle of equality. This equality is not an exact quantity from each individual, rich or poor; or exact numbers from each company, whether few or many; but in proportion to circumstances or number. In his Greek lexicon, Greenfield defines the Greek word isotes, rendered equality in this text, “equal proportion,” and he gives 2 Corinthians 8:13, 14, as an illustration of this meaning. The same term occurring in Colossians 4:1, he renders “fairness, equity, what is equitable.” COOD 134.2

Seventh-day Adventists, when deciding upon the point of order relating to delegate representation in our general and State conferences, sought to follow this principle of “equality,” or proportionate representation, so that all doings should be with fairness to every company, whether great or small. COOD 134.3