Truth Magazine

By Larry Ray Hafley

Acts 10; 11:1-18; 15:7-11 describe the conversion of Cornelius and his household. The events in the text have a specific purpose. When the whole scene is seen, a plain illustration of the gospel system of salvation is set before us. True, there are exceptional miraculous occurrences, but these all pertain to conditions and situations which existed then but which do not inhere today.

Limited Happenings

1. The Appearance Of The Angel: The work and purpose of the angel of God was to bring Cornelius, the lost man, unto Peter, the preacher, who would tell him “words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved” (Acts 11:14). Observe that limited angelic function (Acts 10:3-7, 22, 30-32; 11:13, 14). The angelic appearance was not: (A) “To open his heart so he could believe.” The gospel preached by Peter did this (Acts 15:7); (B) To encourage him to “seek,” “get,” “feel,” or “experience” the Holy Spirit. The angel’s mission was to bring Cornelius and Peter together by telling Cornelius what to do-“send for Peter.” He fulfilled his duty. He departed and was not employed again in the conversion of Cornelius.

In Acts 8:26, an angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip. This was the reverse of Cornelius. In the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, the angel told the preacher to “arise and go.” In Acts 10, he told the sinner to send for the preacher. We need not, however, expect an angel to appear to one today. We have the word of the apostles in the New Testament (Eph. 3:3, 4; 2 Thess. 2:15); hence, there is no requirement for an angel to do the work he did when he warned Cornelius to send for Peter.

Take a good look at your life today. Be reminded that life is like a vapor and while traveling through it we are determining our destiny in the future life. We do not know what the future holds but we know who holds the future-God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

2. The Vessel Which Descended Unto Peter: You may read the account for yourself (Acts 10:9-17; 11:510). Peter did not know what this vision meant, but he soon learned. “God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). This strange vision did not: (A) Convince Peter that Gentiles should be allowed to be baptized. The gift of the Holy Spirit accomplished that purpose as we shall see later in detail (Acts 10:44-48); (B) Give Peter a special plan by which Gentiles could be saved distinct from the means employed to save the Jews. The effecting of justification was the same to Jew and Gentile (Acts 10:47, 48; 11:18; 15:9, 11; Rom. 1:16). What then? The vision achieved what Acts 10:28 says it did; namely, “I should not call any man common or unclean.” Therefore, Peter concluded, I can lawfully “keep company” with a Gentile.

Does anyone demand such convincing today? Obviously not; so, we dare not assume that a “certain vessel” will descend unto a preacher today. The purpose of that descending vessel was completed once for all.

3. The Spirit Speaking To Peter: The Holy Spirit actively led and directed the course of a number of First Century evangelists. “The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them . . . . So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed” (Acts 13:2, 4). “Now when they had gone throughout Phyrgia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bythinia: but the Spirit suffered them not” (Acts 16:6,7). “Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot …. (and after the baptism of the man in the chariot) the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch say him no more” (Acts 8:30, 39).

The Spirit spoke to Peter, but what did He say? He instructed Peter to go with the men sent from Cornelius and not to have any reservation about going (Acts 10:19, 20; 11:12). That is all the Spirit said to the apostle. Note that the Holy Spirit did not: (A) “Speak to Cornelius’ heart;” (B) “Lay a special message on Peter’s heart to give to the Gentiles;” (C) Tell Peter to share his “thrilling Holy Ghost experience” with Cornelius and urge him and his house to “get it.”

4. The Pouring Out Of The Gift Of The Holy Ghost: On the Gentile household of Cornelius, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out as it was on the apostles at the beginning as is recorded in Acts 2 (Acts 10:44, 45; 11:15). Before one assumes a position relative to this pouring out of the gift of the Holy Spirit, he needs to understand its meaning or purpose. Why was the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on the Gentiles? The importance of that question, and its answer, can hardly be overly emphasized. If one does not pause and ponder the purpose, he will soon find himself engulfed in a number of subjective ideas and doctrines.

First, when it occurred, what did Peter conclude? He – was there. Upon seeing the Holy Ghost fall on the Gentiles,’ he concluded, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:47, 48). Should our immediate reaction upon reading the account of the occurrence be any different than Peter’s upon seeing it? To Peter it said, we cannot refuse to baptize Gentiles. This was its point to an apostle. How dare I conjecture more than an apostle of the Son of God?

Second, the Jewish brethren in Judea heard that Peter went in and ate with the uncircumcised Gentiles. They desired and deserved an explanation. Acts 11:1-18 is Peter’s answer as to why he dared eat with the Gentiles. Peter said that the falling of the Holy Ghost on the Gentiles, “anon us at the beginning” forced him to draw a conclusion. “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was 1, that I could withstand God” (Acts 11:17)? To refuse the Gentiles would have been tantamount to opposing God! Peter said the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles revealed that they, too, were accepted. The Jewish inquirers asked no further questions about Peter’s behavior. “When they heard this, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18). That was their decision as to why the Spirit fell on the Gentiles. Why should we say it had a different goal? Indeed, how can we say there was another aim for it?

Third, in the great dissension and disputation about whether or not the Gentiles should be required to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-5), Peter referred to the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles (Acts 15:7-11). The fact that the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe is established because God “bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us.” Watch Peter’s use of the giving of the Holy Spirit. What did, it prove? Peter says it showed that the Gentiles should be saved through the grace of the Lord just as the Jews were.

Three times the gift of the Spirit on Cornelius’ house is used to prove that Gentiles are subject to the gospel. Does that point need to be founded again? No, because in Acts 11 and 15:7-11, Peter cited it. God did not pour out the Holy Spirit again in Acts 11 and 15 to establish the fact. Rather, Peter preached the purpose of it, and that is what we should do. We should not: (A) Encourage others do seek the same gift. Peter did not; (B) Say that what fell on Cornelius will also come to other believers. Peter did not; (C) Teach that the giving of the Spirit to Cornelius proves anything other than the fact that Gentiles are now saved by grace just as the Jews are (Rom. 10:1-13). Peter did not.

Unlimited Happenings

There are some things about the case of Cornelius that are true in every circumstance of New Testament conversion.

1. It is still true “that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34).

2. It is still true that men need to hear words whereby they can be saved (Acts 11:14). Faith is produced by the gospel (Acts 15:7; Rom. 10:17). Even the devil knows that (Lk. 8:12)!

3. It is still true “that through his (Jesus’) name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). John says that in believing we may have life through His name (Jn. 20:30, 31). Those who believe on Jesus’ name are given the right to become the sons of God (Jn. 1:12). Hearts are purified by faith (Acts 15:9). The faith that purifies is that which is obedient to the truth. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth” (1 Pet. 1:22).

4. It is still true that we are commanded to be baptized in the name of the Lord (Acts 10:48). In Acts 2:38, repentance and baptism were declared to be “in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins:” The command to be baptized in the name of the Lord will continue as long as men need to be saved (Mk. 16:16).

A Simple Conversion

When the miraculous elements of the narrative about Cornelius are rightly understood, we see a simple demonstration of salvation by grace through faith. The same is true of other conversions in the New Testament. Compare Acts 8:26-40 and 16:25-34. Let us not be carried away and led astray by fanciful reasonings regarding certain miraculous acts which are limited to the particular situation described in the text. Today, we should not expect an angel to appear to tell us to hear an apostle any more than we should expect an earthquake to take place in a conversion sequence as it did in Acts 16:26. But we must still hear, believe and obey the gospel in order to be saved (Matt. 7:21; Heb. 5:8, 9).

Truth Magazine, XX:1, p. 12-14
January 1, 1976

By Austin Mobley

This is one of the most searching and sobering questions in all the Bible. James is asking, “Of what character is our life?” The question pleads with man to stop and take an inventory. Before making plans for the future, determine what sort of life you are living, make the necessary corrections, then let the will of God guide all future activities.

Paul viewed his life in three perspectives (2 Tim. 4:68). RETROSPECTIVELY: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” INTROSPECTIVELY: “I am now ready to be offered.” PROSPECTIVELY: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness . . .”

God’s Word teaches what our life ought to be as we travel through this pilgrim land and warns that we will give an account at the judgment (2 Cor. 5:10-11). What is Your Life?

Retrospectively

What has your past life been? With many, youth is a mistake, middle age a losing struggle, and old age spent in regret. Quite frankly, if most of us could live our lives over we would make some drastic changes. However, our past is compared to “water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again . . .” (2 Sam. 14:14). Since it is impossible to recall the past and live it over, let us be “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before . . .” (Phil. 3:13).

Introspectively

What is your life now? This we can and must do something about. Your life is:

A Schoolroom. “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Two young children observed that their grandmother studied her Bible frequently and one asked the other, “Why does grandmother study her Bible so much?” The other replied, “I guess she is studying for her final exams.” How true this is. We will be judged by the Word (John 12:48), and in essence, the more we study, the better prepared we are to “pass our final examination.”

Parents must teach their children to love God and their fellow man. Do not send them to a place of worship; take them. Children learn best by example. Merely telling them a thing is not fully teaching them. A deep, abiding faith in God which your child has seen in you may well be his strength and light when all else fails.

A seedtime. There are two ways in which man sows in this life; by words (Matt. 12:36-37), and, by deeds (Rev. 20:12). God has established an unfailing law in both the physical and spiritual fields. His law says we will reap exactly what we sow (Gal. 6:7-8). To think that one can sow to the flesh and reap of the Spirit is to attempt to mock God but “God is not mocked,” said Paul. Many sow wild oats during the week and go to church on Sunday to pray for a crop failure!

A dressing room. Actors dress to complement the part they play. This is true of life in general. Paul demonstrates the uniform of the Christian by listing the armor of God (Eph. 6:11-18). He, admonished, “Put on the whole armor of God.” God does not want His children to be half-clothed. If in this life the garments are kept unspotted by sin, we are assured that, in the life to come, we will “walk with him in white.”

Life is a book. Each day a page is written. The deeds of the day are sentences forming the paragraphs. The attitudes of the individual are the punctuation marks. Each year marks a new chapter. When death comes, the final chapter is finished. How will your book read when it is all put together? Will it be a story of faith, courage, hope, consecration, or will it be a cheap “paperback” on the “not recommended” list? Review what you have written to date. How does it read? What do you expect the remaining chapters to contain? It is your book! If we could write another edition of our life, we would spend a lot more time proof-reading!

Prospectively

What shall your life be? A blessing or a curse? Will the world be made better by your pilgrimage or would it have been better had you never lived? The future is uncertain but we are sure of one thing; it will be a gateway into eternity (Heb. 9:27). Man holds no option on life. The divine verdict is, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19). Death is no respecter of persons. It strikes both rich and poor, proud and humble, young and old, prepared and unprepared. Today man is in the prime of life; tomorrow he is in the city of the dead.

Conclusion

Take a good look at your life today. Be reminded that life is like a vapor and while traveling through it we are determining our destiny in the future life. We do not know what the future holds but we know who holds the future — God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Truth Magazine, XX:1, p. 11-12
January 1, 1976

By Wallace H. Little

I subscribe to a number of publications put out by liberal and modernistic brethren on the theory, “If your enemy writes a book, buy it; he’ll tell you what he is going to try to do to you.” The reading is sometimes more than merely amusing; it is startling. In one recently I read a letter to the editor from one of the “brilliant,” young, wild, woolly, way-out-types trying to destroy God’s church like termites destroy a house. He said that after many years of listening to Church of Christ preachers (yep, we got some of ’em) who learned their doctrine from the collective positions of the Church of Christ newspapers (we have some of these, also), he finally discovered the “truth” on a particular passage of Scripture. Where did he learn this “truth?” From a denominational commentary, that’s where’!’ Q. E. D.

The “absurdity” part of my title is the following: (a) supposing Church-of-Christ newspapers, plural, have a common “position” on anything; and (b) even the writers for a single paper agree on all things they write about; and (c) Church-of-Christ preachers (I am glad he didn’t say “gospel preachers”) would be governed by “the position” of one or all the various papers on any subject; and (d) all, or even a majority of Church-of Christ preachers subscribe to enough Church-of-Christ papers to be sure of what the “official position” is; and finally, and most important (e) if (and let me stress this “if” because his point of “truth” was on one of the relatively few doctrinal issues on which nearly all of the preachers I know agree)-if the “Church-of-Christ position” causes one to drink from a spiritually muddy stream, how can he expect to get purer water from the polluted wells of denominationalism.

Now all this is bad enough. This man stands to lose his soul and lead all he can influence to hell, and that is a catastrophe. Twenty years ago, in disgust over the rigid legalism of God’s church, he would have left and found a religious home more suited to his rebellious temperament. Today, however, things are different. In January 1971, along with Hayse Reneau and 20 other “anti” preachers, I attended the First Annual Preachers’ Workshop at ACC, in Abilene, Texas. With hundreds of liberal preachers, we were treated to an enlightening program sparked by one-third of the speakers who, by Webster’s definition, were out-and-out modernists. Twenty years ago, they too would have left God’s people for that particular brand of Satan’s religious organization which pleased them best. Again, today it is different, with a vengeance!

Commenting to Hayse, I said something to the effect the modernists did not even have to fight to take over the liberal portion of the church. All they have to do is wait. In time, lock, stock and barrel would fall to them. The reason is simple, and it takes no prophet to see it. For decades, liberal brethren preached their “nopattern” philosophy, training their young people in this, though stopping short of its full application. They accepted only what they wanted-congregational support of the Herald of Truth, orphans’ homes and sometimes colleges. But they raised a generation of heretics who took the “no-pattern” nonsense a good deal further than their teachers intended. Now here is the rub: our so-called middle-of-the-road liberal brethren have no intention of going to the “anti’s” for sound men to fill their editorships, college positions, and “big, important pulpits.” But the only other resource they have is the modernists they nurtured, and who are set to destroy them!

The “idiocy” of the title is that the trip which the liberals are taking is one from which very few return. Some, as this young letter writer, are leading them. Study carefully 2 Thess. 2:10-12.

Truth Magazine, XX, 1, p. 10-11
January 1, 1976

By Jimmy Tuten, Jr.

There is a certain ambiguity attached to the English word “perfect,” particularly as it appears in various passages of the New Testament in the King James Version. Most people look upon the word as referring to sinlessness. The disciple of the Lord should indeed be perfect, but not in the sense that some of the sects use the word in their teaching and preaching. The most satisfactory way to establish the meaning of the word as it is found in the New Testament, is to inquire into the usage of the Greek word from which it is translated. The most frequent words translated “perfect,” are the Greek words telefos (adjective form), and teleloo (verb form).

The Englishman’s Greek Concordance reveals the fact that telefos is translated “perfect,” one time it is translated “men” (1 Cor. 14:20), and in at least one instance it is translated “of full age” (Heb. 5:14). The verb form (teleloo) is translated “had fulfilled” (Lk. 2:43; Jno. 19:28), “perfected” (Heb. 10:14), “finished” (Jno. 14:4), and several times “made perfect.” Space will not allow our looking into the synonymous terms in the Greek.

Vine tells us that these two Greek words mean “Having reached its end, finished, complete, perfect.” Thayer’s Lexicon of The Greek New Testament gives the following meanings: brought to its end, wanting nothing necessary to completeness; when used of men it means full-grown, adult, of full age, mature. Arndt and Gingrich follow this definition in their Greek-English Lexicon of The New Testament. The word is used of persons and things.

“Perfect” With Reference To Persons

When used of persons the word perfect simply means attaining the full limits of stature, strength, and mental power within their reach. It conveys the idea of full; completed growth as contrasted with childhood. In Heb. 5:14, the writer says, “but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age” (emphasis mine, JTT). The New American Standard Bible translates it, “but solid food is the mature.” It is obvious that telefos, translated “of full age,” is in contrast to the word “babe” verse 13. The idea behind “babe” is that of immaturity, being untaught, or unskilled and is so defined by the expression, “is unskillful in the word of righteousness” (Heb. 5:13). Those spoken of as being “of full age” (or, perfect) are those who are spiritually mature.

In Eph. 4:13-14 the contrast between the perfect man and the spiritually immature is made clear: “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children.” The “perfect man” of this text is the one who has attained “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” He has completed his growth (that for which he was intended), namely to be a man in Christ. Having reached this goal, there are higher ends to be reached, for one is to always “study to show thyself approved of God” (2 Tim. 2:15). This is precisely what Paul had in mind when he said, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are behind,, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press onward to 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: . . .” (Phil. 3:13-15). In Phil. 3:12, Paul said he was not yet perfect, and in the text quoted above he admonishes those who have attained perfection to be thus minded. There is no contradiction! He is simply saying that he has not ,reached the place where further advances are not needed. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). When one reaches maturity there is still room for advances.

In connection with the foregoing remarks, one should have no problem understanding that the Christian can be perfect without being sinless (1 Jno. 1:6-8). They must strive for spiritual maturity, for to this end is the prayer of our Lord uttered: “that they may be perfect in one.”

“Perfect” With Reference To Things

Just as the word “perfect” is used with reference to persons, so it is applied to things in the New Testament:

(1) In Jas. 1:4 we are told to “let patience have her perfect work.” Patience means “abide under,” and in this instance, under trials (V. 3). This perfects the character of the Christian in that it causes one to want nothing to completeness. One should keep in mind that fellowship with Christ involves fellowship in His patience and this is one of the conditions upon which they will reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12). For this the Christian is strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man (Col. 1:11; Eph. 3:16).

(2) The Word of God is called the “perfect law of liberty” (Jas. 1:25). This law of liberty wants nothing to completeness. Hence, the Christian is told to “speak ye, and so do, as they that be judged by the law of liberty” (Jas. 2:12).

(3) The love of God is said to be perfected. This takes place in “whoso keepeth his word” (1 Jno. 2:5). If we love one another, “his love is perfected in us” (1 Jno. 4:12). In these Scriptures, along with that of 1 Jno. 4:16, love for one another assures God’s presence and causes the Christian’s love to be perfected (1 Jno. 4:17).

(4) Faith that works is described as a faith made perfect (Jas. 2:22). The context is talking about Abraham who made his faith perfect in the sense that he made it complete in good works, i.e., submission to God. Abraham’s obedience consisted in preparing to sacrifice his son Isaac, hence, in submitting to God’s will. In this way it was made complete. When we submit to God’s will, our faith can be made perfect in the same sense. We then become the children of God by faith (Gal. 3:26-27).

(5) Another interesting passage in this respect is Heb. 9:9, “which is the figure for the time present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.” The conscience is spoken of as being perfect. What does this mean? It simply refers to the inability of the typical sacrifices themselves to bring the believer’s conscience to a state of completeness. The blood of goats and calves could not remove the sins of the people, and the very fact of the constant repetition of the sacrifices showed him that sin had not yet been actually paid for (Heb. 9:12-14). The blood of Christ purges the conscience, thus the obedient believers today have that complete sense of forgiveness which was lacking under the Old Testament (Heb. 10:14). Their appeal to God for a clear conscience is fulfilled and made perfect.

There are many other things in the New Testament that are referred to as being “perfect.” Space will not permit our covering all of these occurrences.

Conclusion

The brief study before us should help us to better understand the use of the word “perfect” in the New Testament. “Be ye therefore perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). The faithful child of God shall be “perfect” in that he will aim by the grace of God to be furnished and firmly established in the knowledge and practice of the things of God (Jas. 3:2; Col. 4:12). But merely having the presence of all the parts necessary to completeness is not enough. The Christian must adapt these parts for the ends which they were designed to serve. He is therefore furnished (2 Tim. 3:16-17), and accomplished for the carrying out of the work to which he is appointed. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Tit. 2:11-12). Let those who would be thus minded strive for perfection.

Truth Magazine, XX:1, p. 9-10
January 1, 1976