Truth Magazine

By Mike Willis

A few days ago, I received an e-mail from Leonard Ford of Beaver Dam, Kentucky that related some good things happening among our Christian teenagers. I want to pass it on to you that you might be encouraged as well.

The main reason that I am writing, is that there is something going on in this area with our teenage children that I think is very exciting and I would like to share it with you and hope that there is some way that you or someone else can write about this in hopes that it might spread to others. 

About nine years ago, Kathy and I felt that we needed to take the plunge and purchase a computer, not only for our needs, but as with many other parents, felt that our three young boys needed to be prepared for the twenty-first century. We bought one when we really couldn’t afford it because we felt we were doing the best for our children.  When the internet came along, we were torn whether we should “get on the net” so our children would have this wealth of knowledge or as many Christians were saying, and rightfully so, keep this from them due to all the filth that can be accessed from it. Well, after much thought, we took the plunge again because we thought that we could monitor what they were viewing, which we did, and still do. We realized that our children have been exposed to so many things in this world today that are pulling them away from the Lord such as television, movies, school activities, and we were concerned that we were just adding to these temptations. However, we have found something that has been a very pleasant surprise from our internet plunge.

When our youngest son, Steven, began surfing on the net, we were cautiously monitoring where he was going.  After a very short time, we were pleasantly surprised to see that he was “chatting online” with many other Christian friends from all over Kentucky and Tennessee whom he had met at FC camp or at meetings in the area.  During the past year we have seen the group grow swiftly and have been encouraged by their hunger to chat with one another each evening after they get home from school.  I suddenly realized that they have been starving for this “spiritual food” that they need so much, just as we adults do, and are “feeding themselves daily” with these conversations with one another. I have found a much better benefit from this “internet” than I thought was possible, and am so glad that my child has this avenue to get close to so many other wonderful young teenagers. I have seen his spiritual growth over the last year and I can’t help but sit back with pride to see how he is developing and that I had a small part in it. I know that there are still so many things on the web that are not good for Christians and that we as parents should still be watchful and protect our children as we do with all other things, but I think that many other Christian teenagers should know that there are other young people out there who are experiencing the same difficulties and peer pressures that they are suffering from, and that they have someone out there to talk to who is their own age, who can relate in a way that we as parents can’t. Each day, these young people send out a “Scripture for the day” to each other and it is very encouraging to see them “feeding” each other this way and to see their hunger pains disappear after a session with another Christian.

I would like to send you one these Scriptures that Steven sent out to about 100 teenagers just yesterday. The school homecoming dance was last Friday night and he was home on his computer, talking to his friends and sending them this message that I am about send to you.

Mike, I am so proud of Steven and all of his Christian friends and am also humbled to know these blessings and all others are from God and I give him all the thanks and glory for all his blessings. I can’t help but to be a little jealous of Steven and what he has received from this unexpected medium, but I guess we as Christians can benefit from this as have many others in other ways. 

Given below is the Scripture and commentary that brother Ford’s son Steven wrote:

Hey,

Just a few days left and it’s back to Shan . . . it was fun while it lasted. 
It snowed here a lot this weekend, I hope that we FINALLY miss SOME school for it.  It has snowed off and on lately but we haven’t missed a single day (sigh).  Better make this short, the Super Bowl starts in about 20 minutes).  Today’s verse is:

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ (Acts 5:40-42).

Okay, my commentary is very long today but please read it all because I assure you it’s the last long one I will do, and it took a lot of time to do. These three verses give an account of the first punishment given to the apostles as a result of their spreading the gospel. In the years to follow, all Christians were severely tormented for their beliefs, and had pain inflicted on them in many ways. Despite all this, very few of them ever quit doing what Jesus had commanded them and knew was right.  

Some were only scolded and were forced to flee, others were beaten and/or imprisoned, some were executed by the traditional beheading, and others were martyred in more “creative” ways. There are accounts of Christians who were taken to public events, tied to posts, and set on fire to serve as the light for that event. To the Romans who persecuted them, those such Christians were nothing more than candles. Yet the Christians never relinquished their faith or discontinued to practice their good works.
If you do a little bit of historical study outside the Bible (and in some cases in the Bible), you will find that of all the known apostles, only one of them died a death of natural causes, and that was John, the brother of James, who had been exiled to Patmos. Every single one of the others were executed in many different ways. James was the first, he was beheaded under the orders of Herod as we are told in Acts 12:1-2. Paul was beheaded after years in Roman captivity (and he kept on preaching until the very end!).  Peter was supposedly crucified upside down. Bartholomew suffered, in my opinion, the most terrible death ever recorded. He was fileted (skinned) alive. The list goes on.  Yet all these men were incredibly brave and strong in the faith, and never once faltered in teaching the gospel. 

I must say that we should thank God that persecution of that sort does not go on today. Sometimes we complain about how hard it is to be a good Christian. Stop. I myself am guilty of it, I think many of us are. Each time a dance comes around and some girl comes along and asks who I am taking, obviously hinting, and I have to tell her that I’m not going, it bothers me. Of course, then they always have to ask “why not?”, and I briefly explain to them why; all the while I have to sit there and watch the weird look that comes over their faces which expresses their thoughts (“What kind of religion is that?”). I remember just the other day (homecoming) telling someone about how awful that is, but when I think about it, I am lucky that getting a weird look occasionally is the worst thing that is brought on me by my Christianity. Getting 1,000,000 weird looks is way better than being beheaded or having my skin cut off of my body by a knife while I’m fully conscious and aware of what is going on.  

Also, notice how the apostles in this passage not only took their punishment and went on their way as if nothing had happened, they were rejoicing that they were “worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Using that as an example, I think that from now on whenever I have to explain why I can’t do something that is “normal” for all the other people at school, and I get a weird look, I’ll try to be proud and rejoice instead of sulking and getting upset.  I hope the rest of you feel the same way.

Good  day,
Steven

I can assure Steven that this did make a “good day” for me, and I am sure you for others who will read this as well.

Brother Ford also asked that I  mention that if anyone who reads the article wishes to have his e-mail address added to the list of Christians that receive the “verse of the day,” he can e-mail Shannon O’Neal at shanshine5@aol.com, and she (the teenager who created and regularly sends the verse of the day) will gladly add his name immediately.

While we wring our hands about the moral deterioration in this country, let us not be blinded to the fact that there are still many good, righteous people serving the Lord. May their tribe increase!

6567 Kings Ct., Avon, Indiana 46123 mikewillis1@compuserve.com

By Cecilio S. Galosmo

Bible preaching involves teaching all of God’s word. In fact, God’s word clearly sets forth that at times there must be negative preaching in order that the positive may take place. There can be no doubt that exposing error is preaching the gospel as is the presenting of the positive precepts of God’s word, and he who fails or refuses to do it fails to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20.27). This fact is undeniably proven by the following Scriptures.

God’s Instruction to the First Man

The very first instruction from God to man was in the form of “Thou shalt and thou shall not.” The first man had positive things to do. “And the Lord God took the Man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15). Then came the negative instruction: “But the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17).

God’s Commission to Jeremiah

The Old Testament prophets were spirit-guided preachers. Please notice the scale between the negative and positive preaching in God’s commission to Jeremiah: “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down,  to build and to plant” (Jer. 1:10). In this verse are found six terms: four negative and two positive. That is two-thirds negative and one-third positive. This is the same process that preachers must need to use in preaching and teaching the truth and dealing with error.

Paul’s Instruction to Timothy

Interestingly, this same scale obtains in Paul’s instruction to Timothy, another evidence for the need for balanced preaching. “Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2). This verse contains three terms. Two negative and one positive. So both the negative and positive types of preaching are necessary to carry out the Lord’s orders. Unfortunately there some preachers who spend two-thirds of their time, or maybe more, in negative preaching, not in fighting error though but those who expose it! Often gospel preachers think they can convince others of their soundness when they fellowship and/or compromise with error, and fraternize with those who espouse error while destructively criticizing those who expose error! They don’t believe in criticizing the denominations, but they criticize those who criticize the denominations. Some think the credentials of their soundness as gospel preachers are how long they have been preaching and how well-known they are in the brotherhood. A sound gospel preacher is not measured by how long he has been preaching or by his popularity among brethren. Soundness is determined whether he preaches the truth or not! Often, the most popular preachers are just that because they carry on a public relations campaign among the brethren; promoting themselves and standing for almost nothing. “He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips” (Prov. 20:19; 11:13). Some brethren will swallow just about anything he preaches. We must not “think of men above that which is written” (1 Cor. 4:6). Our love for men must not overrule our love for the truth.

Preachers Should Be Balanced in Preaching

1. Must Be Combatant “Soldiers of  the Cross.” Those non-combative “soldiers of the cross who have, more sympathy for the espouser of error than for the exposer of it need to spend more time taking inventory of their own preaching. You better check to see if they are following the divine pattern for preaching the gospel.

I grew up and lived with my parents on a farm, before coming to Manila for my college education. I remember before we planted the seeds, it took more time and energy to clear a new ground of the trees, stumps, briers, and noxious weeds in order to be much more pleasant in planting the seeds. The same is true the spiritual realm. It is much harder and far more unpleasant and time consuming to unteach people of their error than to teach the truth. It is foolish to even think of going into an uncleared new ground and planting seed without first clearing it. It is worse than ridiculous to think of implanting the positive truth of God’s word in the heart of men still infested with moral and religious errors (Luke 8:14).

In the early centuries of this era, the church accepted people from false religious without clearing the new ground of the noxious weeds and thorns of paganism. Once the Roman emperor Constantine came to power (A.D. 321) and “accepted” the “Christian religion,” unconverted well-to-do pagans poured into the church by the thousands to be members of the same church that the emperor belonged. Pagan temples were turned into church buildings. Some of the pagan idols remained in place, and are still there today in another form — the result of that apostasy, namely the Catholic Church. I am sure there was much rejoicing over the “growth of the church”! But we must realize that not all growth is good — it may just be a swelling from infection! Growth is good only when it is the result of sowing the certified seed of the kingdom, the word of God (Luke 8:11; Gal. 1:11).

In our time the refusal to unteach denominational people by exposing their errors in the light of truth admits into the church half-converted persons. Pacifist preaching does not teach people essential gospel truths, but makes them feel good where they currently are. It does not take people from where they are to where they ought to be. Some say to stop opposing error and “let it die a natural death.” Brethren, error doesn’t die! It has to be killed with the sword of the Spirit. This is the point I am driving at. Many members of the church have come out of denominational backgrounds. They were never untaught, so they still cling to these concepts. In time, these people will become elders, deacons, Bible class teachers, preachers, etc. The consequences of such are obvious. A gospel preacher must learn what David said, “Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way” (Ps. 119:104). “Therefore, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way” (Ps. 119:128). Like David, gospel preachers must also hate every false way “because it leads into the broad way that leads to destruction” (Matt. 7:13-14). And that hate should motivate all of us to love people enough to teach them out of false ways by every right means in the interest of their salvation. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). It’s not enough just to refuse to fellowship them, but we are commanded to reprove them. Nobody can declare the whole counsel of God and obey only half of it.

2. Truth Must Be Properly Presented. If one preaches the gospel, it certainly will not let anyone alone. In fact, nobody. Every part of it will “hit” someone, be he a Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, Adventist, Baptist, Iglesia ni Cristo, drunkard, fornicator, etc. We have to live with these people. If we follow this pacifist principle, we will live with them in hell. Jesus preached the truth and drove away multitudes, even some of his disciples. “From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him” (John 6:66). “Many therefore of his disciples when they had heard this said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:60). If we preach the same gospel as did Jesus, can we expect a different result? If the truth properly presented drives people away, there is nothing we can do about it. We did not manufacture the truth and can do nothing that will alter it. “For we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth” (2 Cor. 13:8).

3. Never Compromise Truth. Although this is God’s plan, modernists (and even some of our own brethren) ridicule this arrangement. They do not want us to use this arrangement in preaching. They want us to be positive in our preaching. “Let’s preach love and grace and mercy.” But where does this positive approach lead? It leads to compromise. Yet Jesus our example, never compromised truth. In Matthew 15:1-9, as you can see reading the Scripture, Jesus was not only negative, but would be considered harsh in his denunciation of these people. In fact, his disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” (Matt. 15:12). This would have been an excellent opportunity for Jesus to have corrected himself by telling the Pharisees that he should not have been so harsh. But that would have compromised the truth. Instead we read, “But He answered and said, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father  has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone, they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch” (Matt. 15:13-14). Truth and error are like water and oil — they do not mix. We must follow Jesus’ example: We must “root-out” error and plant truth in its place.

Warning And Explanation

Let me make something clear, before closing this article. I am not encouraging a mean spirit or the use of hateful language or vitriolic language. Arrogance has no place in the pulpit. We are to preach with longsuffering and teach ing (2 Tim. 4:2). We should not throw caution to the wind and use the pulpit of the Lord’s church to insult, belittle, or embarrass people in error, but with patience, love and gentleness, we should use every effort and right means to teach them. In light of this, please read 2 Thessalonians 2. What we want to do is convert them to Christ. We must be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves (Matt. 10: 16). The seasoned preacher will use good judgment in this and will know when and how to do it to the greatest advantage.

A preacher has upon his shoulders the heaviest responsibility ever borne by human beings because by using the wrong tactic he can lose his soul and that of his hearers. It should always be done with kindness. The pulpit is no place for the preacher to stroke his own ego or take unfair advantage of his hearers. Preaching is serious work. Any blunder or instance of poor judgment can endanger his soul and that of his hearers (1 Tim. 4:16). Preachers must give attention to the fact that when Paul told Timothy to “reprove, rebuke and exhort” he also told him to do it with all long-suffering and doctrine. It is easy to emphasize the first part of the verse and overlook the last part.

Conclusion

All error is serious and must be opposed and exposed at all costs. Error does not lead to heaven. If it did, the Bible would be a worthless book fit for the shredder or the dump­ster. Jesus said, “He shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). I ask you candidly, what does that say about error? Error will damn the soul, and he who thinks exposing error manifests a lack of love for the person in error has a convoluted concept of love. That is like saying that saving a neighbor from a burning house manifests a lack of love for one’s neighbor!

(Reprinted from The Sword & Shield, I, 3 [Aug.-Sept.-Oct. 1999] 54-55, 61; edited by Lordy G. Salunga, P.O. Box 6, Tarlac City 2300, Tarlac, Republic of the Philippines.)

By Joel Plunkett

In 1953, I transferred from Florida College to David Lipscomb College at a time when the institutional question was a hot topic. I remember some of the excuses that were used by brethren to justify the church supporting human institutions. Do you remember them? Well, they are on the market again and being used by a different group of people to justify ungodly marriages.

Let’s look at the list:

1. Do you remember? “You are making creeds that God did not make.” We could see that when book, chapter, or verse could not be found to support their belief, this was only an excuse. Have you heard this excuse today when one asks for an exception other than the one found in Matthew 19 for divorce and remarriage?

2. Do you remember? “Roy Cogdill and Yater Tant are nothing more that self appointed watch dogs for the church.” Some of us are grateful for them as well as many like them. If not for this type of brethren, we might be in a liberal church today. Some may question the spirit of watch dogs, but thanks be to God that someone cares about what is being taught to God’s people. 

During the conflict over the institutional issues, some preachers took it upon themselves to visit young preachers and small congregations in Middle Tennessee. These preachers asked them to send at least $5.00 per month to the orphan homes so everyone would know where they stood. Have you heard that some are visiting young preachers and small churches to influence them against watch dogs?

Brethren, have you heard someone say, “Some brethren among us are self appointed watch dogs”? Who are they talking about? When you question an ungodly practice concerning divorce and remarriage, does that make you a watch dog? If that is the case, then we need more, not less, watch dogs.

3. Do you remember? “These watch dogs will write you up in their bulletins.” I remember one church in Nashville sponsoring a boy scout troop. They were afraid that they were going to be written up by some watch dogs. Unfortunately, they were not afraid that they might violate some Scripture.

Brethren, have you heard some preacher use the same lame excuse? I agree with brother Aude McKee’s viewpoint on the subject of someone writing up my position. If a person will listen to my position and then sincerely represent my position, then I have no room to complain. Should my conviction be unscriptural, then that is the price I must pay for taking an ungodly position.

4. Do you remember? “When brethren would not be honest about their position when questioned?” I remember some who had preached for over twenty years and were still studying the institutional question. I learned that some believed one thing and said they believed something else. Brethren, have you heard of preachers today that still have not made up their minds about Romans 14 or 1 Corinthians 7 as they relate to Matthew 19?

5. Do you remember? “Those so-called conservative brethren have un-Christlike attitudes.” Let me state that there were and always will be those on both sides of any issue who may have a bad attitude. Paul’s attitude was questioned by some in his day. Truth was never determined by one’s attitude, whether good or bad. Brethren, have you heard this statement used today against those who follow the teaching of Jesus on the subject of divorce and remarriage?

6. Do you remember? “Elders have the right to make the decisions about how the money is spent and those outside the local church violate church autonomy when they question this practice.” Brethren, have you heard this saying today when a church determines to keep a fornicator or one like that found in 1 Corinthians 5, give fellowship to a false teacher, or false doctrine? If someone questions them, they accuse that person of violating church autonomy.

7. Do you remember? “What a local church does is between them and their God.” Have you heard the same weak excuse used today in reference to ungodly marriages?

8. Do you remember? “We must attack the doctrine rather than the man.” Have you heard this bad excuse used by people again in the church? Brethren, if we stop false teachers, then false doctrine will die. I’m not sure what the Nicolaitans taught, but I am sure the Ephesians and the Lord hated their deeds. In Romans 16:17, Paul said, “mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them.”

9. Do you remember? “God is not as concerned with details like he was in the Old Testament. He is not concerned who does the work or how it is done, but that his work is accomplished.” Have you heard that the God of New Testament would never break up a marriage as he did in the Old Testament? Is he not the same God yesterday, today, and forever?

10. Do you remember? “Our young people are too idealistic to be held by the old, traditional church.” Those who said that were right. The liberal church could not hold them. So today they are in the “Community church” or the Crossroads movement.

11. Have you heard, “We’ve lost a generation of young people and we’re not going to do it again”? I must disagree. The church has not lost them, but their parents who were busy making money and giving them things lost them. They were giving them things that they never had, rather than giving them what they did have. As a result, are not some of the conservative churches in Middle Tennessee are more liberal than some of the liberal churches in the 60s?

• When these churches invite preachers for gospel meetings, knowing that they do not teach the truth on marriage and divorce?
• When they conclude that divorce or immodest apparel will not be attacked from the pulpit?
• When they hire a preacher and restrict his teaching on the subject because he has taken an unscriptural stand, yet allow him to continue ministering to the congregation?

Brethren, would we hire an “institutional” preacher and tell him that he could not teach his position from the pulpit? Would we not know that he would teach it from his home or office? 

12. Do you remember? “I’ve never heard him teach any false doctrine.” This pretext was often used in Nashville in the 60s. I am hearing it said again by people who should know better. Would a man not be guilty of murder simply because the jury didn’t see him commit the crime? Why would we refuse to accept the word of others when two or more witnesses are available?

13. Do you remember? “What we need is more brotherly love.” Are you hearing this once more today? We must remember that love for God and love for truth must come before our love for our brethren. Who would question the Lord’s love for Jerusalem and his people when one reads Matthew 23? Love causes one to reprove, rebuke, and exhort. It is with tears, prayer, and much concern that I write this article.

Am I just getting old, or is history repeating itself? It is past time that we as Joshua make up our minds who we are going to follow, God or our loose-minded brethren? Brethren, years ago I took a stand against some of the most lovable people I have ever known to stand with my God. In doing so, I stood with some very unlovable people with poor attitudes. The thrill of pleasing God has far exceeded the small price I had to pay.

8183 Old Charlotte Rd., Nashville, Tennessee 37209

By Mike Willis

We have looked at the Apostles to see their function in the first century church. There are some things that were unique to them that cannot be repeated in another generation. Other things they did were models for men to imitate (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Phil. 4:9; 2 Thess. 3:9; etc.). Unless we can discriminate what these were, we shall not know what men are and are not to imitate. Consequently, we continue our study of the Apostles.

Some Things Being An Apostle Did Not Do

Because of mistaken ideas about what being an apostle did and did not do, we need to notice some things that were not results of one’s being an apostle.

1. Being an apostle did not keep one from sin. Peter’s conduct at Antioch shows that conclusively. In Galatians 2:11-14, Paul reported his rebuke of Peter’s hypocrisy in his treatment of the Gentiles, not to belittle Peter, but to confirm that the gospel he preached was approved by the Apostles. As an aside, however, this incident demonstrates that the Apostles fought the same battle with sin as do the rest of us. This battle with sin, described in Romans 7:14-25, did not cease when God called a person to be an Apostle.

2. Being an apostle did not give one authority over a brotherhood of churches. Some brethren appear to have the idea that the Apostles had authority over a brotherhood of churches (church-hood) in a way that no one else does. Their idea appears to be that the Apostles could give orders to a local church in another area of the country and that local church was obligated to submit to the authority of this officer of a brotherhood of churches, much like any local Catholic Church is obligated to submit to the authority of the pope.

 Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 11:28 needs to be considered. The text reads, “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28). This expression states his mental anxiety about the churches; it does not define a role of an apostle as being a “pope” over all of the churches, or a “bishop” over an ecclesiastical diocese. That same concern is on the hearts of every Christian who witnesses the spread of error or trouble in local congregations.

I know these apostles were not officers over a brotherhood of churches  because of one simple fact: The universal church is not composed of a brotherhood of churches. The Apostles could not hold authority over a brotherhood of churches because there never was a brotherhood of churches in the first century.

Whenever a person does what the Apostles of the first century did in addressing the error in a church of which one is not a member (such as what Paul did at Corinth, the churches of Galatia, etc.), someone is quick to condemn their action saying, “But you’re not an apostle.” The full implication of this argument is that the Apostles could do this because they were officers over a brotherhood of churches in contrast to a local preacher who does not hold that office. That argument is wrong because the Apostles were not officers in a brotherhood of churches. There never was a brotherhood of churches in the New Testament.

The work of the Apostles was to give revelation. Aside from that, these men had no greater and no lesser authority over local churches than any other man. Whereas the Apostles could speak through inspiration to these churches, any other man can follow the Apostles’ example in addressing churches, using the “apostles’ doctrine” in addressing the needs of those churches.

3. Being an apostle did not give one authority to commit sin. We are being told that one is guilty of violating the autonomy of a local church whenever he teaches on errors existing in a local church of which he is not a member. If that is a sin for a person living in the twentieth century, then it was a sin for a person living in the first century. And the Apostles did not have authority from God to commit sin just because they were apostles. Lying is just as much a sin when committed by an apostle as it is when committed by anyone else; hypocrisy is just as much a sin when committed by an apostle as it is when committed by anyone else (Gal. 2:11-14). In the same manner, violating the autonomy of the local church is just as much a sin when committed by an apostle as it is when it is committed by anyone else!

The truth of the matter is that some brethren have a mistaken view of what is meant by the autonomy of a local church. When New Testament examples are cited of an apostle doing the very thing that they are condemning in modern day practice as a violation of congregational autonomy, these brethren excuse what they judge to be sinful behavior on the grounds that an apostle did it. That reasoning is mistaken and absurd. The Apostles did not have a free reign to commit sin because they were apostles.

Undermining Apostolic Examples

Through the years, brethren have understood that God reveals his will to mankind through direct command or statement, apostolic example, and necessary inference. Some of the uses of the “you’re not an apostle” argument effectively undermine the example of the apostles as a means of learning the revealed will of God. 

Let’s remind ourselves of the evidences that the examples of the apostles are to be used to learn what is approved conduct before the Lord.

The plain statement of Scripture emphasizes that their examples are to be imitated. Here are some statements that this is so.

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you (Phil. 4:9).

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample (Phil. 3:14-17).

Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church (1 Cor. 4:16-17).

And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia (1 Thess. 1:6-7).

Note that these Scriptures reveal that one can learn how to conduct himself in the Lord by imitating what he had seen an apostle do (Phil. 4:9), by being a follower of an apostle (Phil. 3:17), and by imitating the apostles’ “ways” (1 Cor. 4:17).

The argument “you’re not an apostle” presupposes that the examples of the apostles cannot be followed, which is directly contrary to what these Scriptures state — that the examples of the apostles are to be used for our imitation.

We conclude that the examples of the conduct of the Apostles are to be imitated as much as possible, the exception being that the apostles gave divine revelation and confirmed that revelation by miracles, wonders, and signs. Revelation is not on-going and miracles have ceased (1 Cor. 13:8-10; Jude 3). When this is understood as the limited sphere unique to apostles, prophets, and those possessing other miraculous gifts, what is left in the divine record of the conduct of the Apostles can be imitated and used as an example that men should follow.