Truth Magazine

By Dan King

The natural longing which exists within each one of us to “better our situation” and improve upon our lifestyle, grows out of a deeper instinct within the human soul. Our parents wanted us to “have it better” than they did, and we want out children to “do better” than we have. One gets the impression that we human beings are either impossible to please, or else there is an instinct that resides within us which points us to-ward another and incomparably better future than anything we are ever able to enjoy here in this world. I am convinced that the latter is the case. Like the patriarchs of the book of Genesis, “We have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come” (Heb. 13:14). So, no matter how good we have it now, we are never satisfied, nor shall we ever be, this side of heaven.

Peter speaks of the consummation of this present world, with its very elements dissolved, yet concludes upon a clear note of hope:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. 3:10-13).

The prospect of being stripped of what we have by the “death knell” of this present universe should give us no joy. After all, there are some very good and pleasant aspects of our beautiful planet which we would hesitate to sacrifice to fiery destruction. Yet, if we could be assured, with absolute certainty, that this is merely a trade-off, and we will come out the better for it, then we could “look for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God.” That is the idea. It is not what we lose that is important. It is what we gain in the transaction. This is what really counts.

Peter points out four things we ought to appreciate in order to keep this terrible and wonderful future time in proper perspective:

These things are all to be dissolved. All earthly things, material possessions, earthly power and prestige, worldly accomplishments and ambitions, will be no more. As Christ said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). Some things really matter, while others actually do not. We must keep our perspective: “If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth (Col. 3:1-2).

What manner of persons ought we to be? Realizing that this world and its possessions and attainments have no long-term future, no permanency, places the emphasis where it belongs: upon developing Christian character: “holy living and godliness.” What will abide is what we send on ahead of us into eternity (Matt. 6:19-20), and the qualities we allow God to develop in us, while here, which make us fit citizens of the heavenly kingdom: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof’ (Gal. 5:22-24).

We ought to look for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God. As the writer of the Hebrew epistle said: “They that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own . . . they desire a better country” for they are truly “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13-16). As the old hymn says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through; my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.” We must have the outlook of John who, when robbed of all earthly moorings and sent to the prison-isle of Patmos wrote, “He who testifieth these things saith, `Yea: I come quickly.’ Amen: come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

According to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth. The Christian keeps his anchor tied securely to the promises of God. No earthly loss, discouragement or frustration can break the chain. We see beyond this world, its treasures and achievements. There is ahead a destination where we truly can say, “The first things are passed away,” and where God will say, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:4, 5). When we consider the terrible evils we will put behind us, “we who are spiritual” can appreciate with great anticipation “new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.” How can we? Because God promised! As a popular expression has simply but majestically articulated it: “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 5
April 4, 1996

By Connie W. Adams

Since God created the world, he controls it as it functions according to the laws which he set in motion. It is subject to his authority. God also made man in his image and therefore man is subject to divine authority. He will be called to judgment (Acts 17:30-31). God established the family and defined the roles of men, women, and children in the relationship. When it operates according to the will of him who created it, then great blessings flow. When his authority is rejected, then chaos follows. God also ordained civil government “for the punishment of evil doers that for the praise of them that do well” (1 Pet. 2:13-14). Peace and safety emanate from following this divine plan. Rejection of it brings anarchy, crime, and violence of every kind.

The church is a divine creation. Those who make it up are called “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). We are “created in Christ unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). It was built according to the “eternal purpose of God” (Eph. 3:11). The very establishment of it made known to heavenly powers the “manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3:10).

Everything about it suggests divine order. Christ is its builder. “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). Christ is its foundation. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). It rests upon his divine power and deity. Christ is its “chief corner stone” (1 Pet. 2:6-7). He is the point of reference for every-thing about it. He is the purchaser. He purchased it “with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). He is its savior. “He is the savior of the body, the church” (Eph. 5:23). He is its king. “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He is “head over all things” to it (Eph. 1:22-23). All things in it must be done according to his authority. “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). If anything is taught or practiced which he has not authorized, then divine authority has been rejected. This will amply proved in a future article.

Walk By the Same Rule

There is an objective standard by which all who make up the church of the Lord are expected to walk. “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. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things). For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:16-20).

The word “rule” in verse 16 is kanoni from which we get the word “canon.” This is from the Hebrew /canna) which meant a cane, reed. It was used of a measuring rod, rule, a carpenter’s line, or measuring tape. In the New Testament it meant (1) a definitely bounded or fixed space within the limits of which one’s power or influence is confined; the province assigned one; one’s sphere of activity: 2 Corinthians 10:13,15, and (2) Metaphorically, any rule or standard, a principle or law of investigating, judging, living, acting: Gal. 6:16; Phil. 3:16 (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament 324). Green says “met., rule of conduct or doctrine” and cites Gal. 6:16 and Phil. 3:16 (Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament 92).

There is a rule, a standard of action, to which all in Christ are subject. All are expected to walk by it. Paul was stern in describing those who did not walk by that rule. Since our citizenship is in heaven, then the rule of God and Christ must govern our “walk” as citizens.

That rule, also involves the practice of the apostles of the Lord. “Be followers together of me” and walk so as ye have us for an example.” Apostolic examples are crucial in understanding the rule of Christ. I hear preachers speak disparagingly of the old sermons they have heard on “ac-cording to the pattern.” One said recently, “and do you know what that pattern is? The pattern is Jesus Christ.” Well, now, what does that include? Is that limited to what Jesus said while here on earth? Only what we can read in red? Or does it include what the Holy Spirit guided the apostles to preach and write? Paul wrote “Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, combining spiritual things with spiritual words.” “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:13,16). “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37). When we speak or write about “the pattern” for scriptural worship, work or organization, then we must consider what the head of the church about it, including what the Spirit guided his apostles to preach and write. The Lord’s pattern is the sum total of all he said on any subject. This business of arguing that we “must major in the gospels and minor in the epistles” and that the epistles are just “love letters” and therefore the doctrinal matters presented there are not of equal weight with what Jesus said while on earth, or what we might imagine he would have said or done based on our own subjective analysis of his person, springs from an unwillingness to “walk by the same rule.”

Unity in spiritual things is both desirable and required. We are to be “of one mind.” How is that possible? Don’t we all have our own prejudices and opinions? That may be, but when we stretch out the reed of divine truth for measurement, than what it says is right and I must be willing to lay aside my prejudice or opinion. And so must you! If there is no rule by which we all walk then we are left with spiritual anarchy. The universe functions by divine law. So does the family. So does civil government. And so does the church. Disrespect and disregard for divine authority in either or all of these matters brings chaos of gigantic proportions. (More To Come)

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 3-4
April 4, 1996

By Irvin Himmel

Eddie was a clerk in a hardware store. He made a name for himself as the most inefficient and contentious sales-man ever. The atmosphere when he was absent one day was like the tranquil beauty of summer weather after a bad thunderstorm. One regular customer remarked on the difference. “Eddie ain’t just away for the day,” said the proprietor, “He don’t work here no more.”

“Do you have anyone in mind for the vacancy?” asked the customer. “Nope,” said the proprietor cheerfully, “Eddie didn’t leave no vacancy.”

This little story reminds us of some folks in the church. It is so seldom that they attend services that no one really misses them when they are absent. They are such that no great loss is felt if they move to another city. Like Eddie, they leave no vacancy. Others can be absent for only one or two services and they are missed. Why? Because they are dependable. When their seat is vacant people take notice.

Church attendance is not the only matter of importance in the life of a Christian. However, it is a pretty good index to the temperature of one’s fervor for the Lord. Non-attending members are usually non-participating in other aspects of the Lord’s work. One must fill a place, render needed service, and be a participant before he can leave a vacancy.

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 4
April 4, 1996

By Edward O. Bragwell, Sr.

Context is from the Latin, contextus, meaning that which is woven together. Good Bible students know the value of context in biblical interpretation. Passages must be woven together with other pertinent information to get a clear picture. Somewhere I heard, “A text out of context often becomes a pretext.”

“Handling aright the word of truth” involves considering any biblical pas-sage in the light of its context. Words and phrases often have different shades of meaning in different contexts.

I believe that we need to be careful (1) lest we give a text a broader application than its context warrants, (2) lest we use a context to overly restrict a text, or (3) lest we lose sight of the writer’s message in our applications. Here are some examples of the use and abuse of texts and contexts.

2 Corinthians 5:7

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” This passage is popularly quoted as a proof text against walking by one’s opinion. Either explicitly or implicitly speakers frequently make “opinion” synonymous to “sight.” While the Bible clearly teaches that our walk is to be by faith (according to the word of God) and not according to our own opinions, it is not what this verse says. In this context, Paul contrasts our present life on earth with our future life in heaven  our “earthly house” with the “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (v. 1). We are now “at home in the body” but “absent from the Lord” (v. 6). We look forward to being “absent from the body” and being “present with the Lord” (v. 8). Hence, “we walk by faith” now without seeing the Lord, but will walk “by sight” when we are “present with the Lord.” Remember “faith is . . . evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” It is certainly true that God’s wisdom is inherently far superior to man’s wisdom and God’s way of doing things is not the way man would inherently behave. I have no problem with using this verse to point these facts out. However, we may be missing the real thrust of God’s message to Israel through the prophet by not viewing these verses in the light of their con-text. Taken in context, this is actually a call for Israel’s repentance. In verse 6, Isaiah admonishes them to “seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” Then in verse 7, “let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous his thoughts; let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Then verse 8 begins with “for” referring back to verse 7. The prophet then invokes the words of the Lord to reinforce his call to repentance. They needed to repent because God’s thoughts and ways were not their thoughts and ways, but they should have been. Instead of thinking as God thinks and walking in God’s ways, they had come to follow their own ways and thoughts. The gap had become as wide “as the heavens are higher than the earth.” The wicked needed to forsake his way and return to the Lord’s way. The unrighteous man needed to forsake his thoughts and think like the Lord.

2 Corinthians 13:5

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.” I have no problem with using these words at face value in a general way to urge people to look at their lives to see if they are living according to God’s word. In context, what is Paul was really saying to the Corinthians? He finds himself having to defend his apostleship (cf. 12:12-13), offering proof that Christ was speaking in him (v. 3). Since they had come into the faith under Paul’s preaching he urges them to just “examine yourselves.” Were they in the faith? Of course they were. He asks, “Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” Of course they knew. By examining or looking at themselves they would find proof of Christ speaking in Paul. If they wanted proof of Paul’s apostleship they needed to look no further than themselves and their claim to being in the faith. If under his preaching they were not disqualified (reprobates, KJV), surely then they would know that Paul was not disqualified (v. 6). In other words, the Corinthians themselves were the “proof of the pudding” that Paul was an apostle  if they would just examine themselves they would know that.

1 Timothy 2:12

“And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” Here is an ex-ample where one needs to look at the general context as well as the immediate context. I have known some conscientious people who feel that is wrong for a women to teach over a man or have authority over a man under any circumstance. For example, they feel that a lady could not be a man’s boss on the job. A lady could not teach men in a college classroom. Nor could she be a principal in a school with men teachers. She would have authority over them. A young lady could not deliver a valedictory address at her graduation. After all, the verse does say that a woman cannot “teach or have authority over a man”  period. Or does it?

Here the general context must come into play. These words are in a book dealing with spiritual matters  not secular matters. The teaching and authority under consideration is in the spiritual realm. It is not dealing with teaching mathematics or science. Nor is it dealing with authority in the school system or work place. If the application is universal throughout all realms of life, then a woman could not hire a male gardener and exercise any authority over his work.

I went to a college where the Bible is taught along with secular subjects. I sat at feet of some great lady teachers in some of my secular courses. Believe me, they had authority over the classes even to the point of being able to order one to leave the class. However, all my Bible classes and other classes dealing with spiritual matters, I sat at the feet of men. I could not, in view of this verse, have taken a Bible course under a woman  but science and English are courses of a different color.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

“Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.” In this example and the one to follow, a general principle is invoked and applied to the specific situation being discussed. It is an abuse of the context to make the general principle apply only to situations described by the immediate context. In these verses, Paul is dealing with a specific situation in an unusual kind of church assembly at Corinth. It is likely that “your women” refers to prophets wives. At any rate, the only women under consideration were married women with husbands, whom they could ask at home. No doubt, this was an assembly where spiritual gifts were exercised.

However, the reasons given for these women not speaking and being submissive are general principles that would apply to all women in the church. The reasons given are “as the law also says” and “it is shameful for women to speak in church.” What “the law also says” does not apply just only to prophet’s wives in assemblies where spiritual gifts are exercised. It would apply to that kind of situation, but it would apply to any other situation that violated the law on the submissiveness of women. The reason it was wrong for a prophet’s wife to speak in the churches is the same reason “it is shameful for women (in general, not just “your women” ) to speak in church.” I believe it is an abuse of the context to limit application to just duplications of the specific situation described in this immediate context.

2 Thessalonians 3:6

“But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.” This example, like the one above, invokes a general principle and applies it to a specific matter. Since the context of this verse shows that the specific problem at Thessalonica was that of idleness or free-loading, some have concluded that this verse only authorizes us to withdraw from lazy bums among us. Some have relied so heavily upon the context that they have mistranslated atoktos (“disorderly, out of ranks [often so of soldiers] . . . deviating from the prescribed order or rule, Thayer) by substituting the word “idle” for “disorderly” as in the New International Version. However, most reputable translations have it “disorderly” or “unruly.”

An idle lifestyle is one way to “walk disorderly,” but there are other ways to “deviate from the prescribed order or rule.” So, Paul simply applied the general rule of withdrawing from every brother who walks disorderly to specific brethren who were walking disorderly  namely, brethren who were “working not at all” (v. 11) or idle. But, we must not refuse to with-draw from brethren who are walking in other forms of disorderliness.

Conclusion

Let us become more aware of the context in our study. Let us not stretch the application of passages beyond what the context will allow  nor make applications more limited than the context warrants.

Guardian of Truth XL: 6 p. 14-15
March 21, 1996