Hugh Ful
ACTS 20:7 AND THE LORD’S SUPPER
“And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7). This apostolic example sets forth the biblical precedent for observing the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week, every first day of the week, and only on the first day of the week, but there are those who question this conclusion.
There are those who say that we cannot know if the reference to “break bread” in this text is a reference to the Lord’s Supper or to an ordinary meal. It is acknowledged that the expression is used in both senses in the New Testament. That the Lord’s Supper is under consideration is without doubt in I Corinthians 11:23-26, and probably in Acts 2:42. That an ordinary meal is under consideration is true of Acts 2:46 and, in the judgment of many, of Acts 20:11.
In the context of Acts 20:7, Paul and his companions had arrived in Troas where they remained for seven days (Acts 20:6). Yet, Paul “was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of Pentecost” (Acts 20:16). If the reference to breaking bread in Acts 20:7 is to a mere common meal and not the Lord’s Supper, then why did Paul wait seven days—a full week—to meet with the disciples in Troas on the first day of the week to have an ordinary meal with them? He could have met with them any day before the first day of the week for a meal, spoken to them, and then been on his way to Jerusalem.
On the other hand, if Acts 20:7 is a reference to the Lord’s Supper that can be observed any day of the week, why did Paul wait seven days until the first day of the week to meet with the disciples at Troas and “break bread” with them? Why did he not call them together on a Wednesday night or a Thursday night, speak to them, observe the Lord’s Supper with them, and go on his way? Why wait seven days until the first day of the week to meet with the disciples and “break bread”?
The entire context of Acts 20:7 indicates that this was the Lord’s Supper being observed on the first day of the week. Paul commanded the church at Corinth (as he had the churches of Galatia) to “lay by in store on the first day of the week” (I Corinthians 16:1-2, KJV). Why “lay by in store on the first day of the week”? Because that is when the church would be assembled for the observance of the Lord’s Supper! (Interestingly, most churches take a monetary contribution on the first day of every week, yet many of them are surprisingly indifferent about the observance of the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week!)
Warren W. Wiersbe, a Baptist scholar, preacher, and writer said: “The ‘breaking of bread’ in Acts 20:7 refers to the Lord’s Supper, whereas in Acts 20:11 it describes a regular meal.” He goes on to observe: “It is likely that the church [in New Testament times, hf] observed the Lord’s Supper each Lord’s Day when they met for fellowship and worship” (The Bible Exposition Commentary, Volume 1, Victor Books [1989 by SP Publications, Inc.], p. 484).
Of the meeting of the disciples in Troas, prominent denominational scholar and New Testament Professor, Richard N. Longenecker, wrote: “The mention of their meeting ‘on the first day of the week’ is the earliest unambiguous evidence we have for Christians gathering together for worship on that day (cf. John 20:19,26; I Cor 16:2; Rev 1:10)…They met, Luke tells us, ‘to break bread,’ which after Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 and 11:17-34 must surely mean ‘to celebrate the Lord’s Supper’ (cf. comments on Acts 2:42).” Following the record of the restoration of Eutychus to life (Acts 20:8-10), Longenecker continues: “Then they returned to their third-story room where they had a midnight snack (here the compound ‘broke bread and ate,’ signifies an ordinary meal, not the Lord’s Supper) and Paul talked on till dawn” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 9, [1981], The Zondervan Corporation, p. 509).
Bible scholar Rex A. Turner, Sr. wrote: “The case of the disciples’ breaking bread on the first day of the week at Troas, Acts 20:7, is more than a mere example, as the circumstances connected with that gathering will necessarily indicate. The apostle Paul and his companions, though in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, tarried seven days, Acts 20:6, in order to assemble with the disciples in Troas. The necessary inference here is that Paul was cognizant of a custom among disciples, at least among the disciples at Troas, of their coming together on the, or each, first day of the week for the explicit purpose to break bread, or to eat the Lord’s Supper. Those disciples at Troas did come together on the – the definite article ‘the’ is in the Greek text – first day of the week, and the object of their coming together was to break bread, not to hear Paul preach. The Jews were commanded to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8). [Every week had a Sabbath day and the Jews were expected to keep every Sabbath holy. Every week has a first day and the Lord’s Supper is to be eaten every first day, hf.] The first day of the week is the day upon which Christ arose from the dead. It is his resurrection day, the greatest and most momentous day in all of the annals of history! When the significance of the first day of the week is associated with the object and purpose of the assembly of the saints at Troas, including the circumstances and inferences that attended that assembly, the necessary and inescapable conclusion is that disciples must meet on, and only on, the first day of the week to break bread” (Sermons and Addresses on the Fundamentals of the Faith, Published by Rex A. Turner [1972], pp. 76-77).
In his study of the writings of second century Christians (those living nearest the time of the apostles and the church of New Testament times), New Testament scholar, Everett Ferguson noted: “The Lord’s Supper was celebrated only on Sunday as far as our second-century sources go.” He further observed: “The Lord’s Supper was a constant feature of the Sunday service. There is no second-century evidence for the celebration of a daily eucharist” (Early Christians Speak, ACU Press, Third Edition [1999], p. 84, 94).
Conclusion: The Lord’s Supper is to be observed every first day of the week (the Lord’s Day, Revelation 1:10) and only on that day! It is the Lord’s Supper, not our supper! It is not a religious “toy” to be used to “top off” or give “a special touch” to weddings, funerals, or anything else of our earthly imaginations, manipulations, and human wisdom! It is the sacred Supper of our Lord, to be faithfully and reverently observed by the saints of God on the Lord’s Day!
Hugh Fulford
November 20, 2018
GREAT GOSPEL PREACHERS OF THE PAST
(Part 2: Foy E. Wallace, Jr. and G. K. Wallace)
Foy E. Wallace, Jr. (1896-1979). Foy Esco Wallace was born September 30, 1896 near Blanchardville in Montague County, Texas. He was not a Junior in the true sense of the word. His father, a prominent Texas preacher, was Foy Edwin Wallace. When young Foy began preaching at the age of 15, he soon became extremely popular, and since they both had the same middle initial, to distinguish him from his father he became known as Foy E. Wallace, Jr. On November 29, 1914, he married Virgie Brightwell when he was 18 and she was 16. At his passing in 1979, they had been married for 65 years. I first heard Foy E. Wallace, Jr. preach in the late spring or early summer of 1959 while living in Louisville, Kentucky. Brother Wallace came to Louisville to preach in a meeting at the South End Church of Christ, and one evening my wife, less than one year old son, and I went to hear him. I had long known of him and was anxious to hear him. After he had preached for about thirty minutes on “blessed are the poor in spirit,” I concluded that brother Wallace was beginning a series on “The Beatitudes.” He was…but he preached the whole “series” in that one sermon (all, I might add, to my great delight)! It was a sermon that he loved to preach and he delivered it in many, many places. After the services, it was a privilege to meet and visit with him for a few minutes. Some fifteen years later, we had him come to Mobile, Alabama to conduct a meeting at the Pleasant Valley Church of Christ where I was serving as the local minister. What a privilege and joy to hear his masterful messages and to have a most pleasant association with him. One day I drove him to Dauphin Island and then back to Mobile and across Mobile Bay to Spanish Fort where we had a long and leisurely seafood lunch. It would not be possible to be in the company of a kinder, more gracious, more engaging personality than Foy E. Wallace, Jr.! The care he gave his invalid wife through the last several years of his life, as she traveled with him to his meetings, remaining always in the motels/hotels where they stayed while he went about his preaching and visiting, was indeed a thing to behold! The last time I heard him preach was only a year or two before his death when I was living in Shelbyville, Tennessee and he was in a meeting in Morrison, Tennessee. Brother Wallace did local work for a short period of time with churches in Texas and the Central Church of Christ in Los Angeles, but he was in such demand for gospel meetings that he eventually gave up local work to spend all of his time conducting meetings, in which he was eminently successful, often having 50 or more baptisms in his meetings, and not infrequently as many as 100 or more. From 1930 to 1934, he served as editor of the Gospel Advocate in Nashville, Tennessee. He was called on by the brethren to defend the truth in numerous debates with the leading proponents of error. Notable discussions were conducted with Charles M. Neal on premillennialism in Winchester, Kentucky, the Baptist J. Frank Norris in Fort Worth, Dr. E. F. Webber in Oklahoma City, Glenn V. Tingley in Birmingham, as well as many others. He was a voluminous writer. God’s Prophetic Word (showing the egregious errors of premillennialism), Bulwarks of the Faith (refuting the dogmas of Roman Catholicism and the doctrines of Protestant denominationalism), Number One Gospel Sermons, Neal-Wallace Discussion (see above), The Mission and Medium of the Holy Spirit, Commentary on the Book of Revelation, The Instrumental Music Question, The One Book Analyzed and Outlined, and others are all classics in their field. When I retired from full-time ministry in 2000, I disposed of a good portion of my library, but I kept all of Foy E. Wallace, Jr.’s works and hope to retain them in my family after my passing. Brother Wallace passed from this life on December 18, 1979 in Hereford, Texas at the age of 83. He is buried in West Park Cemetery in Hereford.
- K. Wallace (1903-1988). Gervais Knox (G. K.) Wallace was born on September 2, 1903 near McKinney in Collin County, Texas. He was baptized into Christ in 1916 by his older cousin, Foy E. Wallace, Jr. (see above). I first heard G. K. Wallace preach in either the summer of 1954 or 1955 when he came to Florence, Alabama to preach in a meeting at the Poplar Street (now Wood Avenue) Church of Christ. While I was a student at Freed-Hardeman College in Henderson, Tennessee, brother Wallace joined the administration and faculty of the school where he quickly became a favorite of the Bible majors. His class on “Denominational Dogmas” was unforgettable, as we used his book Lectures on Denominational Dogmas, consisting of an extensive series of lectures he had given in Vallejo, California in the early 1950s. After sixty years, this book remains a valued volume in my library. Brother Wallace was a superb teacher, having the ability to take the most complex subject, analyze it, and present it in a simple and understandable fashion. He was a master debater and conducted a number of debates with many denominationalists of various stripes (Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, etc.), as well as with a number of digressives and hobbyists in the church. It has been said that G. K. Wallace has more published debates than any other preacher among the churches of Christ. While living in Wichita, Kansas, he established and managed the Maude Carpenter Children’s home. After serving as the local preacher in Wichita and Kansas City, Missouri, brother Wallace spent the rest of his life in evangelistic work, working in college administration, teaching, debating, writing, and lecturing. He appeared on the Bible lectureship programs of nearly all of the colleges connected with the Lord’s church, including thirty-nine years on the annual Bible lectureship of Freed-Hardeman College/University. He served as a staff writer for the Gospel Advocate and wrote for other publications as well. He was outstanding both in debate and in gospel meetings, and these took him all across the country. In the early 1930s, in three meetings in Wayne, Oklahoma, he baptized over 100 people. He baptized all but nine members of the local Methodist church. The Methodist preacher stood on the bank of the pond and cried while brother Wallace baptized his organist! In 1960, brother and sister Wallace (Lillian) came to Knoxville, Tennessee for brother Wallace to preach in a week’s meeting with us at the Karns Church of Christ. They stayed in our home, made themselves at home, and we had a great time. We reminisced about my school days at Freed-Hardeman, studied and visited together, went to the members’ homes for meals, and enjoyed great services each evening, with many visitors (especially preachers) coming from the Knoxville and Oak Ridge area. His Autobiography and Retirement Sermons, inscribed to both Jan and me, and autographed by both him and sister Wallace, remains a valued treasure. The sermons in this book deserve to be read and digested by all young preachers (as well as older ones)! In late October of 1980, brother Wallace listened to the late evening news, went to bed, and woke up the next morning totally deaf. He had suffered a light stroke in the brain stem, but the only damage was the loss of hearing. He learned sign language and became proficient in communicating in this fashion. Though he could not hear a word, he never missed a service of the church during his remaining days on earth. I last saw him at the Fort Worth Lectures in Texas sometime in the early to mid 1980s. He passed from this life on September 22, 1988, twenty days past his 85th birthday. He is buried in the Hillsboro Memorial Cemetery in Brandon, Florida. G. K. Wallace will always be one of my all-time favorite people to have known.
Hugh Fulford
October 30, 2018
GREAT GOSPEL PREACHERS OF THE PAST
(Part 1: G. C. Brewer and H. A. Dixon)
(Note: A few months ago I wrote several essays on “Great Leaders of the Restoration Movement.” I now begin an intermittent series on “Great Gospel Preachers of the Past.” It is my plan to discuss two preachers in each essay. I hope you will find these biographical sketches both interesting and informative. “Remember those…who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct” [Hebrews 13:7]).
- C. BREWER (1884-1956). Grover Cleveland Brewer was born near Pulaski, Tennessee on Christmas Day in 1884. While still young his family moved to Florence, Alabama where he grew to manhood. In his youth he heard and was greatly impressed by the great Florence preacher, T. B. Larimore. (One of Brewer’s brothers and one of his nephews were named Robert Larimore Brewer, Sr. and Robert Larimore Brewer, Jr., the latter also a gospel preacher). At the age of 16, G. C. Brewer preached his first sermon in Florence. He was educated at the School of the Evangelists in Kimberlin Heights near Knoxville, Tennessee, Nashville Bible School, and Austin College. He was awarded LL.D. degrees by both Harding College and Abilene Christian College. He served churches in Chattanooga, Columbia, and Memphis in Tennessee; Austin, Sherman, and Lubbock in Texas; and Los Angeles, California. Brewer was an eloquent speaker with a booming voice. While I never had the privilege of hearing him, I read his book of sermons and was deeply impressed by their content. They all focused on Christ. He was a controversialist by nature and conducted a number of debates with various proponents of religious error. He served for many years as a staff writer for the Gospel Advocate and founded and served as the first editor of the Voice of Freedom, a publication devoted to exposing the errors and dangers of Roman Catholicism and communism. He was a popular lecturer for schools and colleges associated with the churches of Christ, as well as for gospel meetings, lectures, and special engagements at local congregations of the Lord. On one occasion he was lecturing on evolution at the Broadway church in Paducah, Kentucky. In the midst of his lecture he paused and said, “I am doing everything within my power and ability here in the pulpit to show that man did not come from a monkey, but there are some young people in the balcony who are behaving in such a way as to show that he did!” A prolific writer, Brewer wrote The Model Church, Brewer’s Sermons, Contending for the Faith, As Touching Those Who Were Once Enlightened, Medley on the Music Question, Forty Years on the Firing Line (a book I read with great enjoyment when I was 17 years old), and his autobiography, which he wrote in the closing months of his life. He also authored a number of tracts and pamphlets, and hundreds of articles in brotherhood journals. He was one of the most influential preachers in God’s church in the first half of the 20th century and passed from this life on June 9, 1956 in Searcy, Arkansas. His funeral was conducted in Memphis, Tennessee where he had lived for many years, and he is buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.
- A. Dixon (1904-1969). Hubert Allen Dixon was born on October 3, 1904 in Delrose, Tennessee. (Tomorrow will be the 114th anniversary of his birth). He was baptized into Christ by J. W. Brents in 1918. In 1929 he married Louise Cowan and to them were born Allen (also a gospel preacher) and Sara (Mrs. Glenn Sargent, Glenn being a gospel preacher and former missionary to Italy). Brother Dixon was educated at Middle Tennessee State Teachers College (now Middle Tennessee State University), Freed-Hardeman College, and the University of Alabama. Both Harding University and Pepperdine University bestowed on him honorary LL.D. degrees. Blessed with a great love for music and a marvelous voice, brother Dixon served from 1929 to 1935 as the assistant minister to G. C. Brewer (see above) at the Union Avenue Church of Christ in Memphis, Tennessee where one of his major responsibilities was leading the congregational singing. Brother Dixon had a high regard for G. C. Brewer and was greatly influenced by him. Like Brewer, brother Dixon had a clear conception of the undenominational nature of the church, and often spoke against the denominationalizing tendencies of some in the church. Brother Dixon began preaching in 1935 in Memphis and started his fulltime pulpit ministry in 1936 in Martin, Tennessee. He went on to serve churches in Springfield, Missouri; Jackson, Tennessee; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and Florence, Alabama. In 1950, he was called from Florence to Henderson, Tennessee to serve as President of Freed-Hardeman College, succeeding N. B. Hardeman. He continued in this position until his death in 1969. I was privileged to attend Freed-Hardeman during his administration where I had several classes under him and where I came to have a great admiration for him. Not only was he a great preacher and an exceptional administrator, but he was a marvelous teacher and his classes in Romans, Hebrews, Revelation, and other Bible subjects were unexcelled. Brother Dixon also was an able writer and served on the board of Voice of Freedom, was a staff writer for the Minister’s Monthly, and served as a member of the Editorial Council of Power for Today. He was in demand as a preacher for gospel meetings and for college lectureships. In 1956 he was the speaker for the Far East Fellowship in Tokyo, Japan. On his return from Japan he gave a fascinating report of his trip to the students and faculty in a chapel speech at Freed-Hardeman. Brother Dixon passed rather suddenly from this life on November 8, 1969. I remember the feeling of sadness that swept over me when I learned of his passing. His funeral was conducted in Henderson, Tennessee by Tom Holland, C. P. Roland, and E. Claude Gardner. He is buried in the City Cemetery in Henderson.
Hugh Fulford
October 2, 2018
REQUIREMENTS, EXPEDIENTS, AND VIOLATIONS
(Part 2)
Christians are required to assemble for the purposes of worship, exhortation, and fellowship (John 4:24; Acts 2:42; 20:7; Hebrews 10:24-25). While we read nothing of church buildings in New Testament times, such are not wrong because they are expedient, convenient ways of doing what the Lord has authorized us to do. A place to assemble (including seats/pews, lights, etc.), whether in a private home, a rented hall, or a building constructed for that purpose inheres in and is authorized by the command to assemble. On the other hand, to fail to assemble and worship the Lord is a violation of His will, and therefore sin.
God requires Christians to minister to the poor and needy, including widows and orphans (Matthew 25:31-46; James 1:27). Both as individual Christians and as local churches we are to do this work of love and kindness (I Corinthians 16:1-4; II Corinthians 8 & 9; Galatians 6:10 [written to the churches of Galatia, Galatians 1:1-2]). We are to help needy individuals and needy families, the young and the old. An expedient way for providing for the needs of children who have lost their parents or who have been abandoned is to replace their natural home with a legal group home or what is sometimes referred to as an orphans’ home where several such children are cared for. The elderly may properly be cared for in a group home. The right of a church to help the natural home is the right of a church to help the restored home. These are expedient, practical ways for doing what God requires us to do. But failure to minister to the poor and needy, including widows and orphans, constitutes disobedience to the Lord.
The Bible authorizes Christians to eat the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week (Sunday, the Lord’s Day) in memory of the death of Christ for man’s sins and the shedding of His blood for our spiritual cleansing (Matthew 26:26-29; I Corinthians 11:23-26; Acts 20:7). Two elements constitute the Supper—unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine (grape juice). How many trays are used to distribute the bread and how many containers are used to distribute the fruit of the vine (the cup, I Corinthians 10:21; 11:26) are all matters of expediency, and should not become the source of contention and division among Christians. But, to forsake the assembly of the saints and fail to partake of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday when one is able to do so, to substitute Ritz crackers and Coca-Cola for the divinely appointed elements, or to add strawberry jam to the bread constitute a gross violation of what the Lord has authorized Christians to do in observing the Lord’s Supper!
In our worship to the Lord, we are authorized to sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord, thereby teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Singing is the kind of music God has commanded in the Christian age. Hymn books, pitch pipes, tuning forks, projection of the words and notes on a screen are expedient ways of carrying out what the Lord has required. When these are used we have only done what the Lord has authorized us to do—sing. On the other hand, when instrumental music is incorporated into the worship something is done that the Lord has not authorized. Instrumental music is another kind of music—completely different from that which the New Testament authorizes. Rather than being an expedient, instrumental music is an addition to, and in many instances a substitution for, what the Lord has authorized (the instrument is played, while the congregation sits in silence), and its use is a violation of the Lord’s will. Again, we must remember that there is no expedient way to do something which the Lord has not first authorized, and instrumental music has not been authorized in the worship of the church! Only singing (vocal music) has been authorized.
There was a time when these principles were understood and applied in the interpretation of Scripture by those seeking a return to the New Testament order of things. Over time, however, some failed to grasp these principles and began to object to the use of certain expedients in carrying out divinely authorized requirements. Others began to treat some matters of expediency as though they were requirements and endeavored to bind them as if they were the law of God Himself. Still others, in an effort to justify unscriptural innovations, tried to move things unauthorized into the realm of expediency. In all such instances, division and heartache occurred.
It is to be hoped that we may regain the ability to think clearly and biblically about these matters and to properly discern those things that are matters of faith (requirements), those things that are legitimate expedients for carrying out what is required, and those things that constitute a violation of what God has authorized.
Hugh Fulford
August 7, 2018
Speaking Schedule:
August 19: Karns Church of Christ, Knoxville, TN
August 20-21: Polishing the Pulpit, Sevierville, TN
REQUIREMENTS, EXPEDIENTS, AND VIOLATIONS
(Part 1)
Through His word, the Bible, God has set forth His will for mankind. By various kinds of statements (declarative, imperative, hortatory, interrogative, etc.), approved apostolic examples, and implications (from which we draw logical inferences or conclusions), God has communicated in an understandable way what He expects of us as rational, responsible, and accountable human beings. “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17, NASB).
Along with what God has required are various expedients (practical, convenient, advantageous ways) for doing what God has authorized. These expedients themselves are not always specifically spelled out in scripture, but by their very nature they inhere in what God requires of us. We must recognize, however, that expedients may be employed only in doing what God has authorized. There is no practical, advantageous way to do something which God has not authorized! (A little later we will provide some examples of what we mean by expedients). Then there are violations of (disobedience to) what God has required us to do. The Bible includes a long, sad tale (beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden) of mankind’s rebellion against God and his violation of God’s law and the tragic consequences of such.
In evangelizing the world with the gospel, Christ commissioned the apostles, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations . . .” (Matthew 28:19, KJV). The apostles were required to “go,” and in their time they were limited to walking, riding a beast of burden, or sailing on a ship. God’s people today also are charged with the responsibility of evangelizing the world (I Timothy 3:15), but we are not limited in our going to ways only available to the apostles. Today, we may utilize cars, trains, and airplanes to carry out the mission of preaching the gospel to every creature. These expedients inhere in the command to “go,” and therefore are authorized. We violate what the Lord requires/authorizes when we fail to go, or when we turn the work of evangelism over to a missionary society or some parachurch organization.
In evangelizing the world and in strengthening Christians in the faith, Christ required the teaching and preaching of the gospel (Matthew 18:18-20; Mark 16:15-16). In Bible times this teaching and preaching could be done orally and in writing (as, for example, in the letters of Paul), and it could be done both “publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20). The fact that the early Christians did not have radio, television, newspapers, magazines, the internet, PowerPoint, etc. does not mean that it is wrong to use these advantageous means today. When we utilize these expedients we still are only doing what the Lord authorized us to do—to teach and preach the gospel. However, when we teach the doctrines and commandments of men, when we proclaim the creeds, catechisms, and decisions of the religious councils of men, when we preach “another gospel,” we violate what the Lord has authorized for none of these is the gospel (Galatians 1:6-9; Matthew 15:7-9; II Timothy 4:2-4).
The Lord required people to be baptized in order to be saved from their sins and to become His disciples (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38-41; 22:16; Galatians 3:27; I Peter 3:21). “Baptize” is the anglicized form of the Greek word “baptizo” and means “to dip, plunge, submerge, immerse.” The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and if “baptizo” had been translated it would have come into our English Bibles as “immerse,” and John the Baptist would have been known as John the Immerser. All examples and descriptions of baptism in the New Testament show this to be the case (Matthew 3:13-16; Acts 8:38-39; Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12; et al). Expedient places for immersion/baptism to occur are a river, a lake, an ocean, a baptistery—anywhere there is enough water to immerse a person. But since scriptural baptism is only immersion, sprinkling and pouring are not expedient ways to baptize because they are not an immersion in water. Sprinkling and pouring are human substitutions for what the Lord has required, and therefore constitute a violation of what the Lord has authorized. Likewise, to reject the necessity of baptism for salvation constitutes disobedience to what the Lord has commanded.
Understanding what the Lord has required, what are expedient ways of doing what the Lord has required, and what are violations of what the Lord has required is one of the most important lessons to be learned in the practice of New Testament Christianity in the present age. Unfortunately, many have not learned to differentiate where these matters are concerned.
(To Be Continued)
Hugh Fulford
July 31, 2018
ford Basic Studies #28-30
THE ELIJAH COMPLEX
Elijah was a great oral (non-writing) prophet of God who lived around 860 B.C. His ministry was carried out during a time of great apostasy from the Lord and His law. I Kings 18 tells of the contest (debate) Elijah entered with the prophets of Baal who were leading the people of Israel into idolatry. Elijah challenged the Baal prophets to a showdown on Mount Carmel in which either Baal or the Lord would be shown to be the true God. Long story short, Baal was shown to be nothing, the Lord was shown to be everything, the people fell on their faces and repeatedly declared, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!,” and the 450 prophets of Baal were summarily executed by Elijah (I Kings 18:39-40).
The New Testament writer James tells us, “Elijah was a man of like passions with us” [ASV], or “with a nature like ours” [NKJV] (James 5:17). In other words, Elijah was human and subject to all the foibles of humanity, including the tendency to become discouraged. Following the glorious defeat of the prophets of Baal, Elijah became despondent and thought he was the only one who was faithful to the Lord. He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (I Kings 19:14). But God had a word for the discouraged prophet. The Lord said to him, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (verse 18).
Elijah’s mind-set has been referred to as “the Elijah complex.” It refers to those who think that they are the only ones who are faithfully serving the Lord. The fact is that today (as in Elijah’s day) there are many good and faithful servants of the Lord. Not everyone has abandoned the Lord’s army for the army of Satan. Not all who wear the name of Christ have become unfaithful. Not all churches of Christ have “thrown in the towel” when it comes to pleading for a restoration and practice of apostolic Christianity in the present age. Not all preachers, elders, and congregations have become liberal. As in Elijah’s day, there still are many “whose knees have not bowed to Baal”! There are multiplied thousands who are committed to being the church of the New Testament and fully dedicated to the Lord in both their personal and congregational lives!
At the same time we must realize that the faithful people of God have always been in the minority. Only eight souls were saved from the massive, world-wide flood – Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives (Genesis 7:13; I Peter 3:20). Just ten righteous souls would have spared the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:32-33; Genesis 19). Of the thousands who left Egyptian bondage under the leadership of Moses, only two above the age of 20 – Joshua and Caleb – were eventually permitted to enter the promised land of Canaan (Numbers 32:11-13).
Jesus warned that “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in through it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). Christ went on to say, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). The sad reality is that most people will not have the interest or be willing to take the time to learn the true way of the Lord as set forth in the New Testament. False teachers and false teaching will confuse many and cause them to be lost (Matthew 7:15; Matthew 15:8-9; I Thessalonians 5:21; II Thessalonians 2:9-12; I Timothy 4:1-5; II Timothy 4:2-4; Jude 3-4; et al).
One is not guilty of the Elijah complex to point out the preceding matters, and I have to wonder why some elders, preachers, Bible professors, and congregations seemingly never get around to addressing the above matters, the related texts, and how they apply to the contemporary religious scene. Do they not believe that all Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable? With the old apostle, “I marvel” (Galatians 1:6).
The great preacher and Bible scholar, Moses E. Lard, over a century and a half ago, with clear insight as to what was happening among the people of God at that time, said: “He is a poor observer of men and things who does not see slowly growing up among us a class of men who can no longer be satisfied with the ancient gospel and the ancient order of things. These men must have changes; and silently they are preparing the mind of the brotherhood to receive changes. Be not deceived, brethren, the Devil (sic) is not sleeping. If you refuse to see the dangers till ruin is upon you, then it will be too late. The wise seaman catches the first whiff of the distant storm, and adjusts his ship at once. Let us profit by his example.
“Let us agree to commune with the sprinkled sects around us, and soon we shall come to recognize them as Christians. Let us agree to recognize them as Christians, and immersion with its deep significance is buried in the grave of our folly…. Then the door of heresy and schism will stand wide open, and the work of ruin will begin. Let us agree to admit organs, and soon the pious, the meek, the peace-loving, will abandon us, and our churches will become gay worldly things, literal Noah’s arks, full of clean and unclean beasts. To all this let us yet add, by way of dessert, and as a sort of spice to the dish, a few volumes of innerlight speculations, and a cargo or two of reverend dandies dubbed pastors, and we may congratulate ourselves on having completed the trip in a wonderfully short time. We can now take rooms in Rome, and chuckle over the fact that we are as orthodox as the rankest heretic in the land.
“Though we thus speak, and though we see the future not in the most enchanting light, we yet have hope. Many noble men are left. Many true hearts are still ready to be offered up on the altar of one Book, a pure faith, and faultless practice. In God and these we put our trust” (Lard’s Quarterly, April 1865).
Hugh Fulford
July 17, 2018
“CERTAIN MEN CREPT IN UNNOTICED”
In his brief, one chapter, but extremely important letter, Jude exhorted his readers to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). “The faith” is the full, complete, and final revelation from God to man by Christ through the gospel as set forth in the New Testament. In it God has revealed all that He has done for mankind’s redemption from sin and all that man must do in order to establish and maintain a right relationship with God. It is the “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5).
In the next verse of his epistle Jude explained why it is so important for Christians to earnestly contend for the faith. He says, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4, New King James Version).
The King James Version says “certain men crept in unawares.” The American Standard Version says “certain men crept in privily” (i.e. secretly). The Revised Standard Version says, “For admission has been secretly gained by some.” The New English Bible puts it quite graphically when it says, “Certain persons have wormed their way in.”
This is a picture of false teachers and how they work. They never advertise themselves as false teachers. They never say upfront what their agenda is. They come in surreptitiously (Phillips’ translation). They enter by stealth, unnoticed for who and what they really are, showing great (though false) humility (Colossians 2:23), speaking “great swelling words of emptiness,” appearing to be so kind and so loving and so spiritual minded, “flattering people to gain advantage” (II Peter 2:18; Jude 16).
In reality, those who creep in are “false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves,” as our Lord warned in Matthew 17:5. They are “savage wolves” who “come in among you, not sparing the flock,” as Paul stated in Acts 20:29. Of such false teachers the apostle said, “And their message will spread like cancer” (gangrene, ASV) (II Timothy 2:17). Elsewhere he declared, “For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple (the undiscerning)” (Romans 16:18). In the previous verse Paul had plainly said to mark (note) such divisive teachers and avoid them (i.e., have no association with them) (Romans 16:17).
Let me be plain here: What the preceding texts are warning of still occurs today! False teachers, lacking the integrity to let others know what they really believe about various vital matters, “worm their way in” to various venues in order to influence and change the thinking, practice, tone, and tenor of those settings.
It happens in local congregations. Preachers come in whose views are not in alignment with New Testament teaching on such matters as instrumental music in the worship of the church, the role of women in the church, and the undenominational nature of the church. With a liberal, mocking, deriding view of the New Testament as a pattern for the people of God in all ages and how it authorizes, they soon wreak havoc in those congregations. Men who do not know their right hand from their left spiritually speaking manage to get themselves appointed as elders (worm their way in) and begin to allow such matters as those mentioned above (and a host of others) to be taught and practiced in the local church. Eventually, that church loses its identity as being “of Christ.”
It happens in the Bible Departments of our Christian colleges and universities. While it is not always the case, it is often the case that young and inexperienced men in the faith (as well as sometimes older men) study in denominational seminaries and in schools of divinity attached to secular universities. Not being “grounded and steadfast in the faith” (Colossians 1:23), they become easy prey for the infidelity and liberalism to which they are exposed in those schools. They become enamored with the “scholarship” and the academic euphoria found at such schools, and they breathe the very “air” of those institutions. They come to believe that they have risen above the rest of their “unenlightened brethren back at home.” Then they are hired to teach in the Bible Departments of our schools where they bring their unbiblical and liberal views and corrupt the faith of many young people (including young aspiring preachers) who are influenced by them and their teaching. It has happened again and again, it is happening today, and the Bible Departments of some of our colleges and universities are now completely dominated by such men.
Most recently it has happened in a Middle Tennessee gathering of preachers (and a few non-preachers) who meet for a half a day once a month for study, reflection, and fellowship. Into this gathering has crept one whose views on several matters are not in line with the known views of most of those attending this gathering. Yet, he has been welcomed with open arms by some and has been allowed to present and distribute sermon outlines, review books, participate in leadership roles in the meetings, and in general to have an influence on those too easily impressed with what is falsely called “scholarship.”
While some who attend this gathering may agree with (or at least be in sympathy with) his views and those of the university where he serves as a Professor of Bible, nevertheless since I have made known my objection to his participation in these meetings (first to him and later to the group as a whole) a number of attendees have spoken to me about this matter and agree with me. One of the former regular attendees wrote to me saying, “Dear Hugh, I sincerely appreciate your conscientious stand for truth. I have struggled with the same feelings of confliction, wanting to be at the meetings but knowing the liberal influences.” Another wrote: “Hugh…agreed with your email on ___________________ (the name of the person). / I appreciate your stand for the truth.” Others have sent private messages and some have expressed themselves verbally to me about their concern over this situation.
I understand that this is an informal gathering, and no one has the authority to ban another from attending. At the same time, no one has the authority to ban me from speaking out and registering my objection to the participation of this person in the meetings. As noted above, others agree with my objection to his participating in the meetings. As the old saying goes, “We shall see what we shall see” where this matter is concerned, but we all would do well to heed the admonition and warning of Jude 3-4.
“MY BRETHREN”
Jesus was born of a virgin by the name of Mary, being conceived in her, not by any man, but by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-23; Luke 1:26-35). After the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph came together as husband and wife and several children were born to them. Scripture names four fleshly brothers of Jesus and mentions sisters, though the names and number of the sisters are not given (Matthew 13:55-56; Mark 6:3).
On one occasion, when Jesus was with a multitude of people (likely engaged in teaching them), His mother and brothers stood outside, calling for Him. When the crowd told Him that His mother and brothers were asking to see Him, Jesus’ laconic, and in some ways odd, response was, “Who is My mother or My brothers?” Then looking at the circle of those around Him, Jesus said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven is My brother and My sister and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35). Today, all who have obeyed the gospel and are faithfully following Christ are His brothers and sisters.
Among the fleshly brothers of Christ was one by the name of James. He became a pillar in the church at Jerusalem (Acts 15; Galatians 1:18-19; 2:9), and is believed by most scholars to be the author of the book of James. James’ letter is one of the most practical in all of the New Testament. I sometimes refer to it as “The Gospel of Do,” because it places so much emphasis on the practical aspects of the Christian life. In this little letter, over and over, James uses the expression “my brethren.” Sometimes he intensifies the expression by saying “my beloved brethren”; at other times he simply uses the more direct term, “brethren.” A study of the things James talks about when he uses these expressions will be beneficial to all who want to be loyal brothers and sisters of Christ today.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (1:2-3). All of us grow spiritually when our faith is tested by various trials (cf. Romans 5:3-4).
“Do not be deceived my beloved brethren” (1:16). When we are warned about being deceived we need to pay close attention to the specific matter mentioned. Generally, it involves something about which it is easy to be deceived. (cf. I Corinthians 15:33; Galatians 6:7).
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man we swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (1:19). How many times do we get these out of order and are slow to hear, swift to speak, and swift to wrath?
“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality” (2:1). Partiality and prejudice of all kinds is sinful (verse 9).
“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him” (2:5)? Paul makes a similar point in I Corinthians 1:26-31.
“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it” (2:14)? James stresses that one is not justified by faith only (verse 24). It is amazing that the denominational world teaches the doctrine of salvation by faith only. If “faith only” will not save a child of God, neither will it not save an alien sinner!
“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive stricter judgement” (3:1). We need mature Christians who are able to teacher others (Hebrews 5:12; II Timothy 2:2), but teaching the word of God is a weighty responsibility.
With reference to the inconsistent use of the tongue in blessing God and cursing men, James writes, “My brethren, these things ought not to be” (3:9-10). He illustrates the matter in verses 11 and 12 and again uses his stock expression, “my brethren.”
“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren” (4:11). The Golden Rule of our Elder Brother (Matthew 7:12) will prevent us from doing this!
“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord” (5:7). Perseverance in living the Christian life is essential.
“Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold the Judge is standing at the door” (5:9)! Paul wrote, “Do all things without murmuring (grumbling, NASB) and disputing” (Philippians 2:14).
“My brethren, take the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience” (5:10). We can learn to patiently endure whatever we may have to suffer by looking at the noble lives of God’s inspired spokesmen!
“But above all, my brethren, do not swear, neither by heaven nor by earth nor with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment” (5:12). Christians need to be known for being people of their word.
“Brethren, if anyone among you should wander (err, KJV, ASV) from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (5:19-20). Christians can err from the truth and become sinners in danger of losing their souls to the second death in the lake of fire and brimstone (hell) (Revelation 21:8). The doctrine of “once saved, always saved” is of man, not of God. To rescue a wandering Christian brother or sister is a great and noble work.
Fifteen times James uses the expression “my brethren,” or some variation of it. Fifteen times he sets forth a truth to which we need to give careful attention. Let us listen carefully to our first century brother, one who was a brother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Hugh Fulford
April 24, 2018
Speaking Schedule:
April 25: Green Hill Church of Christ, Mount Juliet, TN
April 29: Mission Church of Christ, Smyrna, TN
SOME GREAT LEADERS OF THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT
(Part 7)
19. T. B. LARIMORE (1843-1929). Theophilus Brown Larimore was born July 10, 1843 in Jefferson County, TN. Little is known of his father. When he was some eight or nine years old, Larimore, his mother, and two sisters moved to the Sequatchie Valley near Dunlap, TN. When he was little more than a child, Theophilus hired himself out to a farmer for $4.00 a month to do the work of a man as a plow hand. When he was sixteen years old, he entered Mossy Creek Baptist College near his birthplace in Jefferson County. While there he tried to “get religion” according to the Calvinistic views of the day (the “mourner’s bench”), but failed to do so. When he returned home from school his mother, who had heard a gospel preacher from North Alabama by the name of Madison Love, informed him that she and a sister had been baptized, and told him some things he had never heard about the gospel plan of salvation. In 1861 young Larimore joined the Confederate Army and was at the Battle of Shiloh. Near the end of the war he moved his mother and two sisters by wagon to Hopkinsville, KY where on his 21st birthday—July 10, 1864—he confessed his faith in Christ and was baptized by E. H. Hopper, one of the elders of the church in Hopkinsville. Soon after he was baptized he began preaching. From the beginning he attracted attention as a persuasive preacher and consecrated Christian. In the fall of 1866 he entered Franklin College near Nashville where he remained for about two years and where he was greatly influenced by the school’s founder and president, Tolbert Fanning. After graduating from Franklin College as valedictorian of the class, he traveled on horseback with R. B. Trimble through much of Middle Tennessee evangelizing. Later he went to Northwest Alabama to evangelize and teach school. He preached in school houses, under brush arbors, and in the log cabin homes of the people. On August 30, 1868 he married Esther Gresham of Florence, AL. In 1871, near Florence, he established Mars Hill Academy (later changed to Mars Hill College) as a school to educate young people and to assist in the training of young men to be preachers of the gospel. The school continued until 1887, when the call to preach in evangelistic meetings became more urgent than Larimore could resist. From then until his death, he preached in meetings “from Maine to Mexico and from the Carolinas to California,” and all the way from Canada to Cuba. His schedule called for two sermons each weekday and three on Sunday. His meetings met with great success, often with 100 or more people obeying the gospel. With reference to his sermon preparation he said, “What books do I consult? The Bible, Webster’s Dictionary and the Bible—these three and no more” (Letters and Sermons of T. B. Larimore, Vol. II, as cited by J. M. Powell, The Man From Mars Hill, p. 83). For some forty years he conducted an annual meeting with the Mars Hill church near Florence, AL, baptizing large numbers of people every year. His longest meeting was in Sherman, TX. It began on January 4, 1894, and ran for twenty-two weeks and one day, ending on June 7. During the meeting he preached 333 sermons and almost 300 people were baptized. Following the death of Esther Larimore in 1907, Larimore married Emma Page on January 1, 1911. He spent the last several years of his life in California and died on March 18, 1929. He is buried in Santa Ana, CA.
20. F. D. SRYGLEY (1856-1900). Born on December 22, 1856 in Rock Creek, in what is now Colbert County, AL, Fletcher Douglas Srygley was one of five boys and several girls born to James H. and Sarah Jane Coats Srygley. All five of the boys had names which began with the letter “F”—F. G., F. W., F. D., F. B., and F. L.—with two of them—F. D. and F. B.—becoming preachers. F. D. was baptized into Christ by T. B. Larimore (see preceding sketch) in August of 1874 when he was 17 years old, though another account indicates he was baptized a year later by J. H. Halbrook. Be that as it may, T. B. Larimore had a great influence on the entire Srygley family, especially F. D. and F. B. And though thirteen years separated them in age, no man ever had a closer friend than Larimore had in F. D. Srygley. Srygley attended Larimore’s school, Mars Hill Academy, in Florence, AL and spent the summer months traveling with an old preacher, John Taylor, preaching throughout northern Alabama. On December 15, 1878, he married Ella Parkhill of Mars Hill, with Larimore performing the ceremony. Their oldest child (a little girl) died in infancy, and within a few months Ella herself died, apparently of overwhelming grief for the death of her child. On December 26, 1888 Fletcher married Jennie Scobey. Though now ill with heart trouble, Jennie was aware of his illness, but according to F. B. Srygley, she added ten years to his brother’s life. In 1889, F. D. Srygley became the front page editor of the Gospel Advocate and served in that capacity until his death in 1900. It was said that David Lipscomb’s “heavy artillery” gave the paper depth, E. G. Sewell’s grace gave it elegance, J. C. McQuiddy’s ‘Office Notes’ made it informative, and F. D. Srygley’s wit gave it life. Srygley’s specialty was in writing about the church, and many of his editorials were later compiled by his brother into the book, The New Testament Church. In my judgment this is one of the finest books ever written by a non-divinely inspired man on this theme. F. D. Srygley passed from this life on August 2, 1900 at the age of forty-four. His funeral was conducted by none other than his friend, T. B. Larimore, and he was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville. Writing of him in the Gospel Advocate of August 9, 1900, J. C. McQuiddy said, “While his life was a short one, being hardly forty-four years old, yet he lived much and did much that will ennoble and purify…. His work in showing that what constitutes one a Christian makes him a member of the one body, cannot be in vain” (as cited by Earl West, The Search For The Ancient Order, Vol. 2, p. 331). T. B. Larimore said of him, “F. D. Srygley was a marvelous man. Notwithstanding he lived in this beautiful world scarcely forty-four years, he wrought a wonderful work for the salvation of the sons and daughters of men.”
21. F. B. SRYGLEY (1859-1940). Filo Bunyan Srygley was born on September 10, 1859 at Rock Creek, in what is now Colbert County, AL. He was a little less than three years younger than his brother, F. D. Srygley (see preceding sketch). When he was eight years old, he came under the influence of T. B. Larimore (see first sketch in this installment). Larimore was then 24 years old, and he and the Srygley brothers remained close friends until the death, first of F. D. Srygley, and then of Larimore himself. Filo was baptized into Christ by J. H. Halbrook on August 26, 1876. His early educational advantages were limited, but on January 1, 1880 he entered Larimore’s Mars Hill Academy/College near Florence, AL where he remained for three years. Between sessions at Mars Hill he taught school one summer in Marion County, AL and devoted much time to evangelistic work in Northwest Alabama, traveling on horseback. On January 1, 1883 he moved to Lebanon, TN where he engaged in evangelistic work. As he grew in ability and reputation his services were demanded elsewhere: Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, and North Carolina. He was a controversialist by nature and conducted his first oral debate in 1885 with a Methodist preacher in Gladeville, TN. He held formal debates with Baptists of various doctrinal hues and stripes, Methodists, Presbyterians, Cumberland Presbyterians, and Mormons. According to his brother, “In wit, humor, repartee, and anecdote he was inexhaustible and unanswerable” (Biographies and Sermons, p. 68). On January 26, 1886 he married Mary Hubbard of Bellwood, TN, and in September of 1892 he moved to Donelson, TN where he continued to do evangelistic work and to write for the Gospel Advocate (for which he had written almost from the time that he began to preach). He, and his brother, F. D., along with E. A. Elam, M. C. Kurfees, and F. W. Smith, constituted “A Noble Quintet” of Advocate writers, and with the death of F. B. Srygley on February 11, 1940 it was said that the last of “the old guard” had passed. He had a clear view of the undenominational nature of the church, and, like his brother, wrote frequently on this theme. Sixty-four years after his baptism, Srygley said: “I was baptized in Rock Creek by Joe Halbrook, a little more than sixty-four years ago. I have wobbled along all these years, but I have not turned directly around and started the other way” (as cited by Earl Kimbrough, The Warrior from Rock Creek: Life, Times, and Thoughts of F. B. Srygley 1859-1940, p. 480, a book I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the history of the Restoration Movement, especially in the South, from the latter half of the 19th century through most of the first half of the 20th century). When F. B. Srygley was born Alexander Campbell was still living, and he continued to write for the Advocate into the first year of the editorship of B. C. Goodpasture. A young Taylor Wallace, oldest son of Foy E. Wallace, Jr., editor of the Advocate from 1930 to 1934, often drove the aged Srygley to and from the Advocate office in downtown Nashville. F. B. Srygley passed from this life on February 11, 1940. He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville. At his death, H. Leo Boles wrote: “It will be a long time before, if ever, there arises among us another such man as F. B. Srygley.”
Hugh Fulford
March 20, 2018
BASIC BIBLE STUDIES
“SON OF MAN, I HAVE MADE YOU A WATCHMAN”
From time to time, I feel compelled to deal with matters of a controversial nature, especially erroneous views and false teaching being advanced in some churches of Christ and often “incubated” in various institutions of higher learning connected with the church. I use my Facebook page, my “Hugh’s News & Views,” and other venues to point out that which I believe is contrary to God’s word, but I am aware that some of my brethren would prefer that I not do this. They think it is “hanging out our dirty laundry” for all the world to see, and they would rather I not do that. I am sorry that they feel this way, but the erroneous views and false doctrines are publicly disseminated (via the pulpits of churches, lectureships, journals, and books), so why should the warnings not be publicly disseminated as well?
I, of course, am not the only one who is warning of the aberrations in doctrine and practice now facing the church in various places, but if everybody felt about these matters as some seem to feel about them, I wonder if anyone would ever lift a voice in protest and refutation of what the false teachers are advocating. I never see from the pen or hear from the pulpit of some otherwise very fine brethren any protest concerning the error now facing the church or any refutation of it. Perhaps they are doing this and I just don’t know about it. Hopefully, this is the case.
As for myself, I know that at best I have only a few years left to serve, and I consider myself fortunate to continue to be blessed with opportunities to preach, teach, write, encourage, exhort, and warn. I have no ill feelings toward any of my brethren who think differently about the response that should be made toward false teachers, and I can only hope that they have no ill feelings toward me for the way I choose to respond. God commissioned Ezekiel to be a watchman for the house of Israel (Ezekiel 33:1-20), and our times cry out for a host of Ezekiels today to warn spiritual Israel, the church. (I would urge all to read and reflect long and hard on the Ezekiel text cited above. It is a sobering passage of divine scripture.)
I am not all negative and I do not believe in being all negative. I believe in being positive and preaching positive sermons and writing positive articles, and I do that. There is so much positive truth that needs to be taught, and I genuinely applaud all who provide that kind of teaching. At the same time, we are burying our head in the sand and refusing to face the facts if we think there is not much error emanating from the elderships, pulpits, and classrooms of many churches professing to be of Christ, and from the Bible Departments of various colleges and universities that claim a connection to the Lord’s church. And, sadly, there seems to be among some of them an air of superiority that they have “advanced” and arrived at a more “enlightened” view than the rest of us on those matters that are now separating brethren in many places.
Negativity is not inherently bad. I am not an auto mechanic or an electrical engineer, but I know that a car battery must have both a positive and a negative post, and that without either the battery will not work and my car will not run. G. K. Wallace, my now deceased but still highly esteemed Bible professor, once observed that eight of the Ten Commandments are negatives (Exodus 20:1-17). Before one becomes too critical of negativity (i.e., becomes too negative about being negative!), he needs to think through some things lest he be guilty of indicting the wisdom of God Himself!
Paul urged Timothy to “reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine,” and went on to say that the time would come when “they will not endure sound doctrine” (II Timothy 4:2). He reminded Titus that “there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers . . . whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not . . .” (Titus 1:10-11). In dealing honestly with the text of scripture, one will be forced to preach both positively and negatively. In relevant application of scripture, one will be forced to refute error wherever it is found—in the church or out.
It is readily acknowledged that rebuke, reproof, and correction should be offered with tact and in the spirit of Christ and that a lack of such does not tend to encourage and promote unity among brethren. But false doctrine and false practices do not promote unity among brethren either, but rather are causes of disunity (Romans 16:17)! Yet some speak in glowing terms of being tactful and having the spirit of Christ while seemingly overlooking the spiritually fatal danger of false teaching and false practices.
No individual Christian, local church, brotherhood pubication, or Christian institution of higher learning (including its Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, staff, Bible Department, lectureship committee, or student body) should feel that they are above criticism and correction. In fact, all of us should welcome such, for that is the only way that fidelity to the Lord can be maintained. When any of us are found to be wrong—in our teaching, in our practice, in our thinking, in our attitudes, in our conduct, in our concepts, in our terminology—we should welcome and humbly accept correction and adjust accordingly. No one should think that he is above such, but rather should heed the admonition, “Be not wise in your own conceits” (Romans 12:16c, KJV).
Preachers of the gospel are watchmen! Elders of the local churches are watchmen! Editors of gospel publications are watchmen! Board members and administrators of Christian schools are watchmen! Christian fathers are watchmen! Let us be bold and courageous in our service to the Lord. Let us not be “ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 1:16). Let us not be afraid to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Let us “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong” and “Let all that [we] do be done in love” (I Corinthians 16:13-14). If I know my own heart (and I believe that I do), that is my sole intention and desire, and it explains why I sometime speak and write as I do.
Hugh Fulford
December 5, 2017
# 028
Use questions about all topics and share your knowledge
(Note: My post-Thanksgiving “News & Views” comes from the pen of Neal Pollard, via the bulletin of the Calvert City, Kentucky Church of Christ where my friend Lance Cordle has preached for many years. Neal is the able preacher for the Bear Valley Church of Christ in Denver, Colorado and an insightful writer. His article reminds me of a popular song of a past generation, “Little Things Mean a Lot,” though many of the things he mentions are not little. Read what he has said, reflect on your blessings, and continue to be grateful. hf).
Running water. Electricity. A stove. A microwave.
Family sanity. Health. Domestic tranquility. Health care.
Dexterity. Opposable thumbs. Involuntary muscle movement.
Singing. Friends. Children. Parents.
Nature. Mountains. Breezes. Fireplaces. Automobiles.
Law enforcement. Aspirin. Hot water. Showers.
Eyesight. Clothing. Emotions.
Dogs. Sunsets. Siblings. The ocean. Companionship.
Passion. Nerve endings. Shelter. Rocking chairs.
Reading. Running. Refrigerators. Board games.
Evangelism. Firefighters. Pockets. Paved highways.
Ozone. Cotton. Kindness. Shoes. Trees. Songbirds.
Smiles. Waves. The wisdom of the aged. Elders.
Dentists. Coffee. Babies. Modesty. Make-up. Music.
Lights. Stars. Comfortable chairs. Eyeglasses. Leftovers.
Devotionals. Airplanes. Sunrise. FedEx. Interstates. Telephones.
Fresh, hot homemade bread. GPS. Front porch swings.
Memories. Fertile fields. Prayer. Reading comprehension.
Hearing. Smelling. Touching. Tasting.
Harmony. Trust. Forgiveness. Wedding cake.
Teachers. A spirit of cooperation. Sunglasses.
Charity. Soap. Good neighbors. Fresh fruit. Beds.
Fireflies. Encouragement. Imagination.
The Lord’s church. Thread. Belts. Livestock.
Peace and quiet. Laughter. Pain.
Flowers. Hikes. Language. Swallowing. Breathing. Teeth.
The Bible. Maps. Love. Blankets. Wildlife.
Humor. Curtains. Bedspreads. Snow. Sunshine. Rain. Clouds.
Hope. Canned goods. Grandparents. Fellowship.
Heaven. Providence. The cross.
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17).
Hugh Fulford
November 28, 2017
SKIPPING THANKSGIVING
Christmas decorations began to make their appearance in some large chain stores soon after Labor Day, and in some places sooner. Halloween decorations and “Trick or Treat” candy likewise made an early appearance. But what has become of Thanksgiving?
In the mad rush to capitalize on Halloween and Christmas spending, it seems that Thanksgiving is getting overlooked. Walmart has announced that it will get a “head start” on “Black Friday” by opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. (Some Walmart locations are indicating that they will open at noon on Thanksgiving!) Other businesses have indicated a similar kind of schedule.
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620. The following year was a hard one, with only about half of the original group on the Mayflower surviving the year. But in the fall of 1621, in company with the friendly Indians, they held a joyful three day festival.
In 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation for a national day of Thanksgiving to be observed on November 26 in honor of the United States Constitution. However, it was not until the administration of Abraham Lincoln that Thanksgiving Day was set up to be observed every year, with Lincoln naming the last Thursday in November as the day for observance.
Franklin D. Roosevelt thought Thanksgiving was too close to Christmas, and in 1939 he issued a proclamation naming the third Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. In 1941, Congress, in a joint resolution, named the fourth Thursday (which is not always the last Thursday, as is the case this year) as Thanksgiving Day.
I am glad that our nation celebrates a day of Thanksgiving, but we, our children, and our grandchildren need to understand that Thanksgiving is not a day! Thanksgiving is an attitude and an action! It is an attitude of gratitude that manifests itself overtly in the giving of thanks to the One from whom all blessings flow!
The Bible is filled with admonitions for us to be thankful. Note just a few of them:
“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O most High” (Psalm 92:1).
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100:4-5).
“Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” (Ephesians 5:20).
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also you were called in one body, and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).
Will Rogers (1879-1935), humorist, rodeo performer, actor, and author, said, “In the days of our founders, people were willing to give thanks for a mighty little, for mighty little was all they expected. But now neither government or nature can give enough but what we think it is too little. In the fall of the year, if the founders could gather in a few pumpkins, some potatoes, and some corn for the winter, they were in a thanking mood. But if we don’t gather in a new car, a new radio, a tuxedo, and some government relief, why we feel like the whole world is ‘a-gin’ us.”
As Christians may we never think of thanksgiving as simply a day on the calendar. Let us be thankful every day for our very life, for our parents and grandparents, for our spouse, for our children, for our grandchildren, for our food, for our clothing, for our home, for our means of transportation, for our health, and for all other physical and material blessings. Let us constantly remember that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Compared to most people in the world, the very poorest person in the United States is extremely wealthy!
As God’s children let us be thankful at all times that God is our Father, that Christ is our Savior, that the Holy Spirit is the seal of our sonship and the earnest of our eternal inheritance, that the Bible is our sole and all-sufficient guide in religion, that the church is the redeemed body of people to which we have been added and of which we are members, and that heaven is our home!
Let us not be guilty of skipping thanksgiving!
Hugh Fulford
November 21, 2017
SOME GREAT LEADERS OF THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT
DENIAL AND BETRAYAL OF THE RESTORATION PLEA
In 1973, a man who was viewed as a prominent preacher in the Lord’s church made the startling statement, “The church of Christ is a big, sick denomination, and I mean all three of those words – big . . . sick . . . denomination!” He had been taught better, had known better, and had preached better. If I am not mistaken, his family had been converted from denominationalism. But in this instance, he caved in to the religious pluralism of our age and turned his back on the restoration principle, the restoration plea, and the commitment to be Christians only and simply the undenominational church of the New Testament. He has been a friend for over sixty years (ever since our student days at Freed-Hardeman College [now University]). He is still loved, and it is sincerely hoped that he has seen the error of his way and returned to “the old paths” (Jeremiah 6:16) of New Testament Christianity, but I know of nothing to indicate that he has done so.
My friend was neither the first nor the last to deny the restoration principle and betray the restoration plea. Earl I. West, the great restoration historian, observed: “There are always those who believe they sense something in the ‘spirit’ of a thing contrary to what may be found in the ‘letter’; or, who, reacting against what they consider a radical extreme of isolationism devote their energies to popularizing a movement. The restoration period came to know these individuals following the war between the states. The church appeared to them to be too narrow and restricted, and their ambition therefore was to lift the brotherhood to a ‘dignified church’ in a world of denominationalism, commanding at least some respect from these religious bodies” (The Search For The Ancient Order, Vol. 2, p. 250).
Homing in on what was occurring in many churches of Christ at the beginning of the 21st century, Jimmy Jividen wrote: “A whole group of so-called church leaders have an agenda to change the church and bring it into conformity with the current culture. Already scores of once faithful gospel preachers are affiliated with the denominations of men. Already former churches of Christ have changed their identity so as not to be associated with what they call ‘Church of Christ theology’ ” (Inspiration and Authority of the Scriptures, p. 114).
In their book, Embracing Creation, John Mark Hicks, Bobby Valentine, and Mark Wilson state: “God’s people remember their identity, their mission, and are renewed. These retellings point God’s people to the future. They do not restore the past; they are restoring the future (p. 184, emphasis mine, hf). They go on to say, “According to the story, the goal of restoration is not an attempt to return to any historical golden age…. The story did not foster faithfulness to a distant past but openness to God’s future” (pp. 184-185). Still further they state: “God’s restoration movement does not take us back to the first century; it moves us into the future” (p. 186).
These are blatant denials of the restoration principle and the restoration plea, and a sad and tragic betrayal of the concept that we should be concerned about going back to the New Testament for authority for all that we teach, believe, and practice in religion. John Mark Hicks is a member of the Bible faculty of Lipscomb University in Nashville and one of the organizers of a Sunday afternoon “gathering” known as the “All Saints Church of Christ” that meets in the facilities of the Vine Street Christian Church (a Disciples of Christ congregation) in Nashville. The “All Saints Church of Christ” uses instrumental music in its worship and features women preachers, both of which Hicks is on record as endorsing. Lamentably, as David B. Jones said at the 2017 edition of Polishing the Pulpit, “Some brethren are more interested in destroying than restoring.”
I am aware that there are those among us who not like to talk about these “negative things.” But false teachers and traitors to the cause of Christ were not winked at and overlooked in New Testament times, and they should not be winked at and overlooked today. Neither should they be held up as representatives of New Testament Christianity and champions of the faith of the gospel because they are neither!
The true position of loyal churches of Christ is well summarized by Jimmy Jividen: “Leaders in the churches of Christ have historically resisted the pressures to become an ecumenical denomination, a human ecclesiastical organization, or to accept an open-ended hermeneutic to determine their faith and practice. They view the Scriptures as inspired and authoritative. They seek to be involved in a perpetual restoration of faith and practice of the apostolic church. The restoration principle is still alive and well. They hold to no creed, no central organization and no clergy. Nothing is involved in their faith and practice that cannot be supported by Scripture” (Inspiration and Authority of the Scriptures, pp. 86-87).
This is the restoration plea—a back to the Bible plea, a back to the God of the Bible plea, a back to the Christ of the Bible plea, a back to the church of the Bible plea! Let us love it, adhere to it, and proclaim it to a world badly in need of hearing and accepting it!
“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God” (I Peter 4:11).
(Note: The above is the last of a series nine essays on the restoration plea. It is hoped that these essays have helped all who have read them to have a greater understanding and appreciation of the effort to simply be the undenominational church of which we read in the New Testament and the importance of continuing to press the principles that enable us to be the true church of our Lord.)
Hugh Fulford
November 14, 2017
SOME GREAT LEADERS OF THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT
SOME GREAT LEADERS OF THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT
(Part 3)
Here are the remaining three vignettes in this series of some of the great leaders of the Restoration Movement. The numbering sequence continues from the two preceding articles.
7. Tolbert Fanning (1810-1874). Born in Cannon County, TN on May 10, 1810, the Fanning family moved to Lauderdale County, AL in about 1818. When he was 17 years old, Fanning heard the gospel preached by B. F. Hall during a meeting held on Cypress Creek in Lauderdale County. Young Tolbert responded to the invitation and was immersed into Christ by James E. Matthews. Within a few years he was preaching and, according to Earl I. West, became the most influential preacher in the South before the War Between the States. Fanning was a giant of a man physically, intellectually, and spiritually. As an adult, he stood 6’ 6” tall and weighed 240 pounds. He was possessed of a strong physical constitution and was capable of an immense amount of work. At the age of thirty-three, he founded Franklin College in Nashville, on land now engulfed by the Nashville International Airport. In 1855, with William Lipscomb, Fanning founded the Gospel Advocate and was its first editor. Except for a short period of time during the Civil War, the Advocate has been in continuous publication since its founding. I have treasured copies of the 100th, the 150th, and the 160th anniversary issues of this journal. In addition to his preaching, school work, and work as an editor, Fanning was a farmer and a breeder of cattle. West says of him, “It was nothing unusual for him to spend all day at school or on the farm, and then write or study until 2:00 A.M. The next day he would continue his usual program. Fanning possessed a powerful brain, a strong will, an indomitable courage, great self-reliance and perseverance.” He passed from this life on May 3, 1874, a Lord’s Day, and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.
8. David Lipscomb (1831-1917). David Lipscomb was born in the Old Salem Community of Franklin County, TN on January 21, 1831. His family had been members of the Baptist Church, but left the Baptists when they learned the principles of the restoration of apostolic Christianity. Lipscomb was a diligent and thorough student of the Scriptures. At the age of thirteen he memorized the four gospels, as well as the book of Acts. He entered Franklin College under Tolbert Fanning (see above) where he was a good student. He preached his first sermons around 1857 or 1858, and when the Gospel Advocate resumed publication after the Civil War, Lipscomb was listed as co-editor with Tolbert Fanning. Because of Fanning’s other interests and activities, much of the editorial work of the Advocate fell on Lipscomb. For the next almost 50 years he served as editor of the Advocate and wielded a great influence on the church throughout the South. He wrote in strong opposition to missionary societies, instrumental music in the worship of the church, and women preachers, issues then confronting the church. In 1906, those issues led to a split between those who were for the innovations and those who opposed them. Those who supported them became known as the Christian Church, which later again divided into the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ. Those who stood on the original ground of the New Testament were known simply as churches of Christ. (It is alarming to note that instrumental music and women preachers are again plaguing the church in some quarters today). In 1891, Lipscomb and James A. Harding established Nashville Bible School. In 1903, the school moved to Lipscomb’s farm—Avalon—on Granny White Pike which Lipscomb had donated to the school. Following Lipscomb’s death in 1917, the name of the school was changed to David Lipscomb College, and today is known as Lipscomb University. Lamentably, the current Lipscomb University does not hold to the principles and truths so ardently advocated by Lipscomb the man. David Lipscomb passed from this life on November 11, 1917 at the age of 86 and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.
9. N. B. Hardeman (1874-1965). Nicholas Brodie Hardeman was born on May 14, 1874 near the little town of Milledgeville in McNairy County, TN. He was baptized into Christ in 1890 while a student at West Tennessee Christian College in Henderson, TN. Hardeman later taught at WTCC, and its successor institution, Georgie Robertson Christian College. In 1908, he and A. G. Freed founded National Teachers’ Normal and Business College in Henderson. This school was renamed Freed-Hardeman College in 1919 and Hardeman served as its president from 1926 until 1950. In 1990 it became Freed-Hardeman University. I am honored to be an alumnus of this great school. In addition to being an outstanding educator, Hardeman was a great preacher and debater. From 1922 until 1942, he held five extended meetings in Nashville – known popularly as the “Hardeman Tabernacle Meetings.” The first four meetings were held in the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The fifth meeting was conducted in the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville. The sermons from the meetings were published in their entirety in both The (Nashville) Tennessean and The (Nashville) Banner, Nashville’s two daily newspapers. It has been said that Hardeman’s Tabernacle Sermons did more to advance the cause of New Testament Christianity in Middle Tennessee than anything else. I own all five volumes of these published sermons and commend them highly as being representative of the kind of preaching that is still badly needed today! Hardeman also was an extremely able debater and conducted a number of outstanding discussions with exponents of religious error. In 1923 he met Ira M. Boswell of the Christian Church in the Ryman Auditorium in a debate on the use of instrumental music in worship. Hardeman showed convincingly that instrumental music is not authorized in the worship of the church, and he often felt that this was his best debate. The Nashville newspapers gave wide coverage to the discussion. In 1938, he met Ben M. Bogard of the Baptist Church in a debate in Little Rock, AR. They discussed the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion, the necessity of baptism, the establishment of the church, and the possibility of apostasy. I have read and relished both of these published debates. On the evening of May 18, 1959, more than 750 people gathered at the elegant Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN to honor N. B. Hardeman on his 85th birthday. Among an array of dignitaries present were Governor Buford Ellington, Senator Albert Gore, Sr., and Senator and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. N. B. Hardeman passed from this life in Memphis, TN on November 5, 1965 and is buried in the City Cemetery in Henderson, TN.
To borrow the language of the writer of Hebrews (11:32, 38), “And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of” Barton W. Stone, John T. Johnson, Samuel Rogers, Benjamin (Ben) Franklin (not to be confused with the statesman of the same name), T. B. Larimore, A. G. Freed, F. D. Srygley, F. B. Srygley, J. D. Tant, and a host of others “of whom the world was not worthy.”
Hugh Fulford
November 7, 2017
Speaking Schedule:
November 8: West Fayetteville Church of Christ, Fayetteville, TN
(Part 2)
Below are vignettes of three more great leaders of the Restoration Movement. The numbering sequence continues from last week.
4. “Raccoon” John Smith (1784-1868). John Smith was born on October 15, 1784 in what is now Sullivan County in East Tennessee. In 1795 the family moved to Kentucky. Smith was reared in a Calvinist home, and as a young man “seeking religion” he struggled with the doctrine of predestination as taught by the Baptists of his day . . . that a person could do nothing toward his salvation. His mother told him “to wait on the Lord.” On December 26, 1804, Smith appeared before the Baptist Church, made a simple statement of his religious feelings, and was voted into the Baptist Church. In 1808 he was ordained to preach in the Baptist Church. In 1815 he was asked to speak at the Tate’s Creek Baptist Association meeting in Crab Orchard, KY. He began his sermon by saying, “I am John Smith from Stockton’s Valley. Down there saltpeter caves abound and raccoons make their homes.” Forever thereafter he was known as “Raccoon” John Smith! He continued to struggle with and to question Calvinistic teaching. To a congregation of Baptists he said, “Brethren, something is wrong—I am in the dark—we are all in the dark; but how to lead you out to the light, or to find the way myself, before God, I know not,” and abruptly ended his sermon. But by 1826 he had become acquainted with the principles of the restoration movement and began to preach the need to return to the ancient order, thus disassociating himself from the Baptists. He became a fervent and effective proclaimer of “the ancient order of things.” In one letter to his wife he reported on his evangelistic efforts by saying, “I have baptized 600 sinners and capsized 1500 Baptists.” On one occasion Smith was asked the difference between baptism and the mourner’s bench. He replied, “One is from heaven, the other is from the saw mill.” “Raccoon” John Smith passed from this life on February 28, 1868 and is buried in Lexington, KY. A part of the inscription on his tombstone reads: “Strong through affliction, and wise by the study of the Word, he gave up the Creed of his fathers for the sake of that Word. By its power, he turned many from error; in its light he walked, and in its consolations he triumphantly died.”
5. Moses E. Lard (1818-1880). Moses Easterly Lard was born in abject poverty in Bedford County, TN on October 29, 1818. When he was fourteen years old his family moved to Missouri. At the age of seventeen he was unable to write his name, but went on to become one of the great scholars and preachers of the principles on which apostolic Christianity is possible in any age of the world. He came into possession of Walter Scott’s The Gospel Restored, and after reading it became convinced of the validity of New Testament Christianity. In 1841, at the age of twenty-three, he obeyed the gospel. When Lard met Scott for the first time, he threw his arms around him and said, “Brother Scott, you are the first man who taught me the gospel.” Past the age of thirty and after he was married and the father of two children, Lard entered Bethany College where he completed the four year program in three years and graduated as valedictorian of his class. All of this was accomplished while supporting his family with secular work. After college, he returned to Missouri where he preached for ten years, then moved to Kentucky. He was a gifted orator and when he preached on the Prodigal Son it was said that he painted the scene so vividly that the audience would turn and look back to the door to see if the prodigal was coming home! He founded and edited Lard’s Quarterly, wrote extensively for several other publications, and in 1875 issued his Commentary on Romans, representing the ripest of his scholarship. The dedicatory note to the book reads: “To my Savior, in profound humility, this volume is gratefully inscribed.” I have owned and used this volume for over sixty years. Moses E. Lard passed from this life on June 18, 1880 in Lexington, KY. As death approached he said, “There is not a cloud between me and my heavenly Father.”
6. J. W. McGarvey (1829-1911). John William McGarvey, destined to become one of the greatest Bible scholars, was born in Hopkinsville, KY on March 1, 1829. He attended Bethany College and graduated at the head of his class in 1850, delivering the Greek valedictory address. He moved to Missouri where he preached for eleven years, before moving to Lexington, KY to serve as minister, first with the Main Street church, and then the Broadway church. In addition to his preaching, McGarvey taught at the College of the Bible (then a part of Kentucky University), and also was a prolific writer. At the age of thirty-three he completed a commentary on the book of Acts, being motivated to write it because of the futile efforts of denominationalism to provide the Bible answer to how one becomes a Christian. I have owned and used this book for almost sixty years. In 1879 McGarvey made a six month trip to the Bible lands, and the following year his book, Lands of the Bible, made its appearance. McGarvey believed unreservedly in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures and wrote often in opposition to the liberal critics of the Bible. In 1886, he wrote Text and Canon of the New Testament and in 1891 produced Credibility and Inspiration. The London Times said of him, “In all probability, J. W. McGarvey is the ripest Bible scholar on earth.” McGarvey was strong as a doctrinal preacher. He delighted in preaching on the cases of conversion found in the book of Acts. In the summer of 1893 he preached for the Broadway church in Louisville, KY and preached all the cases of conversion in Acts. The following year a book containing the Broadway sermons was published. This became his most popular book. The young preacher boys at the College of the Bible would ask on Sunday morning, “Where are you going to church today?” The answer was, “If I knew Lard (Moses E. Lard, a gifted orator but with a limited number of outstanding sermons, hf), was on his high horse, I would go to Main Street, but there is doubt about this, so I will go to Broadway, for ‘Little Mac’ never disappoints.” J. W. McGarvey passed from this life on October 6, 1911 and is buried in Lexington, KY near the graves of “Raccoon” John Smith and Henry Clay.
(To Be Continued)
Hugh Fulford
October 31, 2017
Speaking Schedule:
November 8: West Fayetteville Church of Christ, Fayetteville, TN
(Part 1) of 3
In the movement to bring about a restoration of original, apostolic, undenominational Christianity—Christianity as it existed in New Testament times—there are literally hundreds of men who stand out as stalwart leaders. Over the next three weeks (D.V.) we shall provide vignettes of nine of them, three per week.
1. Thomas Campbell (1763-1854). Born in County Down, Ireland on February 1, 1763 and educated for the Presbyterian ministry, Thomas Campbell migrated to America in 1807. He was received by the Philadelphia Synod of the Presbyterian Church and assigned to preach in Washington County, PA. Becoming dismayed by the divisions within the Presbyterian Church, as well as the many denominations, he withdrew from the Presbyterian Church and began to preach as an independent. In July of 1809, in the home of Abraham Altars in Washington, PA, he declared, “Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where they are silent we are silent.” On hearing the statement, Andrew Munro said, “If we adopt that as a practice, then there will be an end to infant baptism.” Thomas Campbell replied, “If infant baptism is not found in the Scriptures, we can have nothing to do with it.” In August of 1809 he wrote the “Declaration and Address,” a 30,000 word document that was, in effect, a statement of purpose of those who agreed with his religious principles. Among other matters emphasized were these: 1. “That the church of Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, constitutionally one.” 2. That although there must be separate local congregations, yet they should be one, with no schisms and discord. 3. That nothing be required of Christians as articles of faith but what is expressly taught in the Scriptures. 4. “That the New Testament is supreme authority for Christians in all matters of faith and practice.” Thomas Campbell was known for his deep piety. He died in Bethany, VA (now WV) on January 4, 1854.
2. Alexander Campbell (1788-1866). Born in County Antrim, Ireland on September 12, 1788, Alexander, the son of Thomas Campbell (above), and the rest of Thomas’ family migrated to America in 1809. Alexander Campbell established Bethany College in Bethany, VA (now WV). He was the founder and editor of two religious journals and his prolific writings extended over a period of almost fifty years. Among these was a series of more than thirty articles on “The Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things.” Alexander Campbell had five major religious debates—three with Presbyterians, one with Robert Owen, a Scottish infidel, and one with Bishop John Purcell of the Catholic Church. Besides the landmark debates with Owen and Purcell, his most significant debate was with the Presbyterian Nathan L. Rice in Lexington, KY in 1843 in which Henry Clay the statesman served as chairman of all sessions and in which such subjects as the action of baptism, infant baptism, the purpose of baptism, the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion, and the heretical nature of human creeds were thoroughly discussed. He traveled widely, preached extensively, and wrote prolifically. In 1850 Campbell preached before the United States Congress. He was unreservedly determined to follow “nothing that was not as old as the New Testament.” He once likened instrumental music in the worship of the church to “a cowbell in a concert.” Alexander Campbell died on March 4, 1866 and is buried in the Campbell Cemetery in Bethany, WV which my wife and I have had the privilege of visiting.
3. Walter Scott (1796-1861). Not to be confused with his distant relative, the Scottish novelist, playwright and poet of the same name, Scott was born near Edinburgh, Scotland on October 31, 1796. Following the death of his parents (who wanted him to be a Presbyterian minister), he migrated to America in 1818, and soon located in Pittsburgh, PA where he taught in an academy conducted by George Forrester. After a study of his Greek New Testament, he requested Forrester to immerse him. Soon he was preaching the principles on which the restoration of New Testament Christianity is possible. With his analytical mind, he was the first of the restorers to properly discern that the gospel consists of facts to be believed, commands to be obeyed, and promises to be enjoyed. He became famous for his “five finger exercise”—faith, repentance, baptism, remission of sins, and gift of the Holy Spirit. Because of his oratorical skills and evangelistic fervor, he became known as the “Golden Oracle of the Western Reserve” and by him the principles of the restoration movement were widely disseminated. Scott died on April 23, 1861 at the age of sixty-five. At his death Alexander Campbell wrote of him: “His whole heart was in his work. I knew him well. I knew him long. I loved him much…. By the eye of faith and the eye of hope, me thinks I see him in Abraham’s bosom.”
(To Be Continued)
Hugh Fulford
October 24, 2017
Speaking Schedule:
October 29: Mission Church of Christ, Smyrna, TN (9 a.m. & 10 a.m.)
THE OLD PATHS
The restoration plea is about calling people back to the “old paths” of first century, New Testament, apostolic (i.e., “as in the days of the apostles”) Christianity. In reality, there is no other kind of Christianity, for anything that differs from what was preached, believed, and practiced in the first century, during the days of the apostles, and as set forth in the New Testament is but a perversion of the “one faith” (Ephesians 4:4), “the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27), “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Those who preach “another gospel” are accursed (Galatians 1:6-9).
As noted in an earlier essay (“The Restoration Plea: Is It Valid?”—September 19, 2017), in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (c. 640-609 B.C.), the prophet Jeremiah said to the people, “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’ ” (Jeremiah 6:16). How sad that many today do not desire “the old paths” as revealed by Christ and His apostles and as set forth in the New Testament. Any mention of “the old paths” brings a smirk to the face of some and a mocking, condescending comment from their lips. Now, as in the days of Jeremiah, people by their attitudes and by their actions are saying, “We will not walk in the good way of the old paths”! Rather, they seek their own way. Many are enamored by the latest fad in churches and that which appeals to their “felt” needs and their desire to be entertained. Simple, New Testament Christianity has little appeal to them.
As we continue our emphasis on the restoration plea, consider these thoughts concerning the “old paths” of biblical Christianity.
1. To be in the old paths we must follow the old guide. That old guide is the doctrine of Christ and His apostles as set forth in the New Testament (John 14:6; II John 9; Acts 2:42; II Timothy 3:16-17).
2. When we follow the old guide we will be in the old church, the church that Christ Himself and not man established, the one of which He is the sole head and savior, the one to which all the saved are added, the one spiritual body (church) of Christ (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:23; Acts 2:47; Ephesians 4:4; Colossians 1:18).
3. To be in the old church we must obey the old plan. We must hear and believe the gospel, repent of our sins, confess faith in Christ, and be immersed into Christ for the remission of our sins (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; I Corinthians 15:1-2; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 2:28; 22:16; Galatians 3:27).
4. When we obey the old plan we can wear the old name, the name Christian (Acts 11:26; 26:28; I Peter 4:16). The denominational names that are worn today were unknown in New Testament times for the simple reason that denominationalism did not characterize original, apostolic Christianity. You will find absolutely nothing in your Bible about Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, or Methodists, et al.
5. When we wear the old name we can worship in the old way. We can worship God in spirit and truth, offering those acts of worship that the Scriptures authorize (John 4:24; Acts 20:7; Ephesians 5:19; Hebrews 13:15; I Timothy 2:1-2, 8; I Corinthians 16:1-2; II Corinthians 9:7).
6. When we walk in the old paths we can have the old hope, the one hope, the hope of everlasting life in heaven (Ephesians 4:4; John 14:1-3; II Corinthians 5:1; II Peter 1:10-11).
Reflect seriously on each of the above points. Read the scripture passages that have been provided. Ask for the “old paths” of pure New Testament Christianity and walk in them.
Hugh Fulford
October 10, 2017
Speaking Schedule:
October 22: Nashville Road Church Christ, Gallatin, TN (6 p.m.)
October 29: Mission Church of Christ, Smyrna, TN (9 a.m. & 10 a.m.)
THE BAPTISM OF ALEXANDER CAMPBELL
Following is the account of Alexander Campbell’s baptism (as well as that of other members of his family) as reported by him in the Millennial Harbinger of May 1848, Vol. V, Number V. These are Campbell’s own words (including his spelling and punctuation) in describing the baptisms and the events leading up to them. It will be noted that the baptisms occurred one year to the month following Campbell’s sermon on “Humble Beginnings,” the subject of last week’s “News & Views.” (Note: I have inserted numbers into the body of Campbell’s account to indicate explanatory notes which I provide at the end of the account.)
“All the members of the ‘Washington Christian Association,’ whose ‘Declaration and Address’ my father had then written, were not only all Pedobaptists, but the most leading and influential persons in it were hostile to the Baptist views and practice (1). So to work I went to maintain my positions in favor of infant baptism. I read much during one year on the subject. I was better pleased with Presbyterianism than with any thing else, and desired, if possible, to maintain it. But despite of my prejudices, partialities and prospects, the conviction deepened and strengthened that it was all a grand Papal imposition. I threw away the Pedobaptist volumes with indignation at their assumptions and fallacious reasonings, and fled, with some faint hope of finding something more convincing, to my Greek New Testament. But still worse, I found no resting place there; and entering into conversation with my father on the subject, he admitted there was neither express terms nor express precedent. But, strange to tell, he took the ground that once in the church, and a participant of the Lord’s supper, we could not ‘unchurch or paganize ourselves;’ put off Christ and then make a new profession, and commence again as would a heathen man and a publican (2).
“Having the highest esteem for his learning, and the deepest conviction of his piety and devotion to the truth, his authority over me then was paramount and almost irresistible. We went into discussion. He simply conceded that we ought not to teach nor practise infant baptism without Divine authority; but, on the contrary, preach and administer the apostolic baptism. Still, however, we ought not to unchristianize ourselves and put on Christ, having not only professed and preached the Christian faith, but also participated in its solemn rites. We discussed this question, and all that family of questions, at sundry interviews, for many months. At length I told him that, with great reluctance, I must dissent from all his reasonings upon that subject and be baptized. I now fully and conscientiously believed that I never had been baptized, and, consequently, I was then, in point of fact, an unbaptized person (3).
“His response was—’I have, then, no more to add. You must please yourself.’ On leaving, in the morning, he asked me when, where and by whom I intended to be immersed. As to the place, I preferred to be baptized near home, among those who were accustomed to attend my preaching; as to the time, just as soon as I could procure an acceptable Baptist minister (4). The nearest and, indeed, the only one known to me was Elder Matthias Luse, living some thirty miles from my residence. I promised to let my father know the time and place, as soon as I obtained the consent of Elder Luse.
“Immediately I went in quest of an administrator, of one who practised what he preached. I spent the next evening with Elder Luse. During the evening I announced my errand. He heard me with pleasure. Having, on a former occasion, heard him preach, but not on that subject; I asked him, into what formula of faith he immersed. His answer was, that ‘the Baptist church required candidates to appear before it, and on a narration of their experience, approved by the church, a time and place were appointed for the baptism.’
“To this I immediately demurred, saying:—That I knew no scriptural authority for bringing a candidate for baptism before the church to be examined, judged and approved by it as prerequisite to his baptism. To which he simply responded:—’It was the Baptist custom.’ But was it, said I, the apostolic custom? He did not contend that it was, admitting freely that such was not the case from the beginning. ‘But,’ added he, ‘if I were to depart from our usual custom they might hold me to account before the Association.’ ‘Sir,’ I replied, ‘there is but one confession of faith that I can make, and into that alone can I consent to be baptized.’ ‘What is that?’ said he. ‘Into the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the confession into which the first converts were immersed. I have set out to follow the apostles of Christ and their master, and I will be baptized only into the primitive Christian faith.’ (5)
“After a short silence he replied, saying—’I believe you are right, and I will risk the consequences; I will get, If possible, one of our Redstone preachers (6) to accompany me. Where do you desire to be baptized?’ ‘In Buffaloe creek, on which I live, and on which I am accustomed to preach. My Presbyterian wife,’ I added, ‘and, perhaps, some others will accompany me.’
“On the day appointed Elder Henry Spears, from the Monongahela, and Matthias Luse according to promise, met us at the place appointed. It was the 12th of June, 1812, a beautiful day, a large and attentive concourse was present, with Elder David Jones of Eastern Pennsylvania. My father made an elaborate address on the occasion. I followed him with a statement of the reasons of my change of views, and vindicated the primitive institution of baptism, and the necessity of personal obedience.
“To my great satisfaction my father, mother, and eldest sister, my wife and three other persons besides myself were that same day immersed into the faith of that great proposition on which the Lord himself said he would build his church. The next Lord’s day some twenty others made a similar confession, and so the work progressed, until in a short time almost an hundred persons were immersed. This company, as far as I am yet informed, was the first community in the country that was immersed into that primitive, simple, and most significant confession of faith in the divine person and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, without being brought before a church to answer certain doctrinal questions, or to give a history of all their feelings and emotions, in those days falsely called ‘Christian experience;’ as if a man could have Christian experience before he was a Christian? (7) A. C.”
(1) They believed the Baptists were wrong in insisting that only immersion was the scriptural action (“mode”) of baptism.
(2) Obviously none of the Campbells or the other members of the Washington Association were “heathens” or “publicans,” but Alexander did not believe any of them had been scripturally baptized.
(3) As one who had only been sprinkled, Alexander viewed himself as being unbaptized.
(4) Campbell chose Matthias Luce/Luse, a Baptist minister, to baptize him because he was seeking someone who practiced immersion.
(5) Campbell would not agree to be baptized according to accepted Baptist custom (with Luce himself acknowledging that such custom was not true from the beginning of the Christian era), but rather upon the confession of his faith in Christ.
(6) Luce agreed to baptize Campbell contrary to Baptist custom and sought a fellow Baptist preacher from the Redstone Baptist Association to accompany him to the Campbells’ baptisms.
(7) Campbell here acknowledges that he was not truly a Christian and a member of the primitive Christian faith before his immersion into the faith.
Hugh Fulford October 3, 2017
HUGH’S NEWS & VIEWS
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
In the Millennial Harbinger of January 1842 (Volume VI, Number I), Alexander Campbell, one of the leading voices in pleading for a restoration of original New Testament Christianity, looked back to the earliest days of the movement and gave a recap of a sermon he preached “under an oak” some eight miles from Bethany, Virginia (now West Virginia) in June of 1811 when he was 22 years old. Below are excerpts from the article by Campbell in which he gives the background to his sermon titled “Humble Beginnings.” Following that are excerpts from the sermon itself in which Campbell set forth some of the principles upon which he and others were launching out in the establishment of an independent congregation based on the New Testament alone. This was before any of the group had come to be immersed. (“We were all then Pedobaptists,” Campbell acknowledges, meaning they had been sprinkled as infants or very young children), thus indicating the infancy of the movement. Excerpts are in Campbell’s own words (as well as his spelling and punctuation), not the words of some Restoration Movement historian giving his spin, twist, or “interpretation” of what Campbell wrote and said about the event.
“IN retrospecting our course, and in collecting documents connected with the history of reformation principles, amongst the few memorabilia of early beginnings I have yet extant the exordium, or a part of the exordium and some of the details of a discourse pronounced under an oak, eight miles from our present residence, in the month of June, 1811, (2d Lord’s day, I think,) with a special reference to the organization of a new church (i.e., local congregation, hf), founded on the New Testament alone, and meeting for the first time to commemorate the Lord’s death statedly on every Lord’s day. The table was spread in the woods, and some sixty or seventy disciples, gathered out of various denominations, had assembled to show forth the Lord’s death, covenanting with each other to follow the truth, the whole truth of Christianity, whithersoever it might lead us, without regard to former prepossessions, manners, or customs. We were all then Pedobaptists….”
Following are excerpts from the sermon itself in which Campbell begins to articulate the principles upon which he and those gathered with him set forth to restore what he would later call “the ancient order of things.” Read these remarks and reflect soberly on their significance. Remember, too, that Campbell was only twenty-two years old, yet what a grasp of things he already possessed!
“The present partyism is a disgrace to our profession. It is fatal to the progress of piety and truth. Ignorance and superstition, enthusiasm and fanaticism, are the fruits of these human institutions, which have displaced the Bible or refused to admit it as its own interpreter. The key of knowledge is virtually taken away, and ages of darkness are again spreading their sable wings over a slumbering world. We must awaken from this sleep of death—this fatal lethargy that has seised the body ecclesiastic. Men are fighting about chimeras, loving and hating, approbating and disapprobating one another for reasons they do not comprehend, and, if comprehended, they would blush to see the illusions and phantoms that have bewildered them.
“We believe the Bible to be God’s own book, and well adapted to the ends of its existence. It is a lamp, and gives light. It makes the simple wise. ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.’ ‘All scripture given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works’—’able to make one wise to salvation.’ It is a perfect book.
“We commence our career as a church under the banner of ‘The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible,’ as the standard of our religious faith and practice. We have our own opinions; but these we shall hold as private property. The faith is common. Our inferences and opinions are our own. If our brother asks for them, we may tender them; but must not force him to accept them. This is the very essence of Popery….
“For what are we here convened? To worship God, to commemorate the Lord’s death and rising again, and to grow in grace, in favor with God and men, by growing in Christian knowledge and in the practice of the Christian duties—to follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord—to bear with one another’s weaknesses, and to maintain unity of spirit in the bonds of peace….
“We shall begin with the Acts of the Apostles, and as they intimate the apostolic doctrine and practice we shall follow these. In Jerusalem the church began. To Jerusalem we must then look for a fair beginning. Whatever we have got in our faith and practice which they had not, we shall return to the rightful owners. What they had and we have not, we shall append to our inventory of Christian duties and Christian excellencies. Meanwhile, we shall assist each other in getting rid of our prejudices and errors as soon as we can, and ‘whereunto we have already attained, we shall walk by the same rule and mind the same thing ;’ and if we live in peace, the God of love and peace shall be with us: for he has promised it….”
Words deserving of serious and sober reflection yet today
THE RESTORATION PLEA: IS IT VALID?
The restoration plea is a plea to go back to the Bible for all that we preach, teach, believe, and practice in the realm of religion. As we noted in our essay last week, it is a plea to take the Bible as our only guide in religious matters and use it as the divine pattern by which to reproduce in the present day the church as it existed in the first century—in faith, doctrine, and practice. It is a humble plea to speak where the Bible speaks and to remain silent where the Bible is silent, to call Bible things by Bible names and to do Bible things in the Bible way.
Is the restoration plea valid? Is it a sound, reasonable, logical, and defensible plea? Should people today be concerned about discovering what God has authorized in the Scriptures in the way of religious belief and practice and hold to those same beliefs and practices today?
Some 700 to 800 years after God had given the Law of Moses to the Israelites on Mount Sinai the people had departed far from the Lord and His law. A good king by the name of Hezekiah saw the apostasy of the nation of Judah and led it in a restoration movement. “He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden images and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan” (II Kings 18:4). All of these were symbols of the idolatry into which the people of God had sunk. Of Hezekiah the Bible says, “For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses” (II Kings 18:6). Hezekiah viewed the Law of Moses as a pattern for the service of God, and wherein the people had departed from that pattern, he led them to return to it. God was pleased with the restoration efforts of Hezekiah to bring the people back to the standard God had set for them centuries before in the Law of Moses!
Several years pass and God’s people again enter a state of apostasy. (How true it is that God’s people never remain entirely faithful to Him for very long!) A king by the name of Josiah came to the throne of Judah, and Hilkiah, the high priest, found a copy of “the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord” (II Kings 22:8). (How ironic that the book of God had been lost in the house of God! Sadly, however, that was not the last time for such a thing to happen! It continues to happen in our own day.) Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan the scribe who, in turn, read the book to Josiah the king. When Josiah heard the words of the book, he commissioned the priests and scribes to “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us” (II Kings 22:13).
The following chapter of II Kings relates the great restoration movement enacted by Josiah and how God was pleased with what he did. “Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him” (II Kings 23:25). Jeremiah, who lived during the reign of Josiah, urged God’s people to “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16).
These two pieces of Old Testament history show that the restoration plea—the plea to call people back to God’s authoritative standard of religion—is valid, reasonable, and right. In the New Testament we are reminded that “whatever things were written before were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4). Let us learn from Hezekiah and Josiah!
Jesus believed in the validity of the restoration principle and the restoration plea. When the Pharisees tried to trap Him concerning divorce and remarriage He called them back to God’s original law concerning this sacred relationship (Matthew 19:1-9). When the rich young ruler questioned Jesus about what to do to have eternal life, Christ told him to keep the commandments found in the Law of Moses (Matthew 19:16-22). When a certain lawyer asked Him what to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read” (Luke 10:26)? These texts all emphasize that Christ regarded the Law of Moses as the authoritative pattern of conduct for people of that time, and wherein they had departed from that standard they had to go back to it to be pleasing to the Lord. Christ Himself therefore placed great emphasis on the restoration principle and the restoration plea!
“When anyone accepts any part of the Scriptures as an authoritative rule of faith and practice, he has, regardless of how limited his concept might be, accepted the restoration principle, at least to some degree. When one appeals to the Scriptures on grace, faith, blood, mercy, etc., he is essentially saying, ‘Let us return to the Bible on grace, faith, blood, mercy, etc.’ Thus it is no man can appeal to the Scriptures as authority without embracing the restoration plea” (Howard Winters, Up To Bethany: Another Look At The Restoration Plea, p. 15). Sadly, however, many do not want to return to what the Bible says about baptism, the nature of the church, the organization of the church, how we are to worship, or how we are to live! As a “left leaning” preacher in Dallas, Texas said to me many years ago, “We all believe the Bible is a pattern to some extent, but many of us do not believe it is a pattern to the extent that some of the rest of you believe that it is!”
The New Testament is the standard by which people are to live and serve the Lord today (Matthew 5:17; 17:5; 28:18; John 12:48; Hebrews 1:1-2; 12:25). All that we teach, believe, and practice in religion is to be by the authority of Christ and the inspired apostles and prophets of the New Testament. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name (by the authority, hf) of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17). “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (I Peter 4:11). And wherein people have departed from that divine standard, it is rational, reasonable, and right to call them back to it!
This is the restoration plea! It is a valid and biblical plea!
Hugh Fulford
September 19, 2017
THE RESTORATION PLEA: WHAT IS IT?
There are three inseparably connected and interrelated concepts with reference to the way God’s people approach scripture and their service to the Lord. First, there is the restoration principle, the principle that says we need to go back to the Bible for authority for all that we believe, preach, and practice in the realm of religion. Second, for those who take this principle to heart and believe that others should take it to heart as well, a clear and compelling proclamation is made of it. This is known as the restoration plea, a plea to actually go back to the Bible for one’s religious faith and practice. Third, as the principle and plea are advanced and people see that they are both right and necessary, a restoration movement begins to unfold, a movement that takes people back to the Bible for all that they preach, teach, believe, and practice in religion.
In America, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, conscientious and devout people in various religious denominations began to take stock of the religious situation of their day with the many religious creeds and the many different kinds of churches. Those who were reading their Bibles knew that religious division was wrong (John 17:20-21; I Corinthians 1:10), that Christ had established only one church (Matthew 16:18), that the New Testament authorized the existence of but one body (Ephesians 4:4) and that this one body was the church (Ephesians 1:22-23). Thus, men began to see the need to go back to the New Testament alone as their guide in religion—to cast aside human creeds and catechisms, human names in religion, man-made churches, and unscriptural doctrines and practices. They were not the first, however, to do so. Down through the centuries the restoration principle had been recognized and the restoration plea had been made by various individuals and groups.
Advocates of the restoration plea said: “Let us take the Bible as our only guide in religious matters, let us use it as the pattern by which to produce in the present day the church as it existed in the first century—in faith, doctrine, and practice. Let us speak where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent. Let us call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in the Bible way.”
It was a great idea, it met with more than average success, and today there are thousands of churches of Christ across America and around the world that are committed to the restoration principle and the restoration plea. These churches have no denominational hierarchy, wear no denominational name, advocate no denominational creed, advance no denominational doctrine or practice, and do not aspire to or seek denominational status. They are simply autonomous congregations of Christ committed to being what the church was in New Testament times.
Howard Winters has observed: “In New Testament times, the followers of Christ were simply Christians, nothing more and nothing less. As Christians they were members of the church to which the Lord added them (Acts 2:47), the one built by Christ (Matt. 16:18) and purchased with His blood (Acts 20:28). This should be enough to show that to restore the primitive order of things necessitates coming out of denominationalism and being nothing but Christians. Not Baptist Christians, nor Methodist Christians, nor Presbyterian Christians, nor Catholic Christians, but simply Christians, Christians only, Christians apart from sectarian parties and denominational churches” (Up to Bethany: Another Look at the Restoration Plea, p. 15).
Dr. Cecil May, Jr. recently wrote: “The Lord’s church began on the Day of Pentecost following His resurrection and ascension into heaven. Peter preached the gospel of forgiveness of sins through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. People were convicted of sin, ‘cut to the heart,’ and asked, ‘What shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:37-38). Three thousand responded favorably, were baptized, forgiven and added by the Lord to His church.
“The essence of the restoration plea is, ‘If we hear what they heard, believe what they believed, do from the heart what they did, we will receive what they received—forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit—and become what they became—Christians, added to His church.’ People today can respond in the same way and receive the same blessings. When several do and band together to ‘do Bible things in Bible ways,’ they are a church, a congregation, of Christ….
“The nineteenth century restorers did not begin the church of Christ. We are grateful to them because they reminded people that they should come back to just the Bible, laying aside human creeds, sectarian names and anything nonbiblical that divides. We should continue that today” (“Response to a Sermon ‘For’ Instrumental Music,” Dr. May’s answer to a sermon preached in a church of Christ in Montgomery, Alabama, Summer 2017, advocating instrumental music in the worship of the church).
This is a brief look at what the restoration plea is—a plea to go back to the Bible, back to the God of the Bible, back to the Christ of the Bible, back to the church of the Bible, back to the moral standard of the Bible! Next week, D.V., we will show that the restoration plea is valid.
Hugh Fulford
September 12, 2017
FORTY THINGS WE ALL NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. The Holy Spirit (referred to as the Holy Ghost in the King James Version of the Bible) is a member of the Godhead (the Divine Nature) (Matthew 28:18-20; II Corinthians 13:14; Acts 17:29; Romans 1:20). As such, the nature of the Holy Spirit is compatible with the nature of the other two members of the Godhead, the Father and the Son.
2. As the Father and the Son are divine persons, so the Holy Spirit is a divine person. Six times in John 16:13 the Holy Spirit is referred to as “He” and once as “Him.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not an “It” or simply the power or influence of God but a divine person.
3. The Holy Spirit is also known as the Spirit of God (Matthew 3:16), the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), the Spirit of the Lord (II Corinthians 3:17-18), the Spirit of truth (John 14:26), and simply the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). It is important to note that these are not different divine entities, but different ways of referring to one divine entity, the Holy Spirit.
4. There is only one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4)
5. The Holy Spirit is an eternal being (Hebrews 9:13-14).
6. The Spirit of God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7).
7. The Spirit is all-knowing (I Corinthians 2:10-11).
8. The Spirit was present in the creation of all things and exercised a role in the creation (Genesis 1:1-2; 26-27 [Note the plural pronoun]).
9. The Spirit of God enabled Joseph to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41:38).
10. The Holy Spirit equipped men for the building of the Old Testament tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-5).
11. The Spirit spoke through the prophets of the Old Testament (II Samuel 23:2; Ezekiel 11:5; et al).
12. By the prophets, the Spirit of God warned and testified against the Lord’s people in Old Testament times (Nehemiah 9:30).
13. The Spirit of Christ led the Old Testament prophets to testify beforehand of the coming of Christ, His sufferings, and the glories that would follow (I Peter 1:10-11; II Peter 1:21).
14. Christ was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35).
15. Following His baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Christ in the form of a dove (Matthew 3:16).
16. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1).
17. The Spirit of the Lord empowered the teaching of Christ (Luke 4:18-21).
18. All of Christ’s miracles were performed by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38).
19. Christ warned of the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-30). (Note: Study these texts in their context to see what it meant to blaspheme the Holy Spirit).
20. It was through the eternal Spirit that Christ offered Himself to God to purge us from our sins (Hebrews 9:14).
21. John the Baptist promised that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; cf. Acts 1:4-5, 8; 10:44-48; 11:15-16).
22. Following Christ’s ascension back to heaven, the apostles were filled with (baptized with) the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4; 11:15-16).
23. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter/Helper whom Christ promised to send to the apostles (John 14:26; 15:26)
24. The Holy Spirit brought to the apostles’ remembrance all that Christ had said to them (John 14:26).
25. The Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth (John 16:13). (Note: With the close of the first century and the apostolic age, no further truth or revelation from God has been dispensed. “The faith” has been “once for all [a note of finality, hf] delivered to the saints” [Jude 3; cf. Ephesians 4:5]).
26. The Holy Spirit revealed to the holy apostles and prophets of the New Testament God’s eternal purpose to save man by the gospel (Ephesians 3:1-13; Galatians 1:11-12; I Peter 1:12).
27. One must be born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5; cf. I Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 5:25-26; Titus 3:4-5). (Note: This new birth is brought about by “the word which by the gospel [is] preached to [us]” [I Peter 1:22-25; James 1:18]).
28. All obedient believers in Christ receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as a seal that they are owned by God and as a deposit (earnest) on their eternal inheritance in heaven (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; II Corinthians 1:21-22; 5:5).
29. The Holy Spirit dwells in Christians individually and in the church, the temple of God, collectively (I Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 2:19-22).
30. There were various miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed on members of the first century church for the confirmation of the word of God and to aid the early church in its development until the revelation of the New Testament was complete (Mark 16:15-20; Hebrews 2:1-4; I Corinthians, chapters 12, 13, and 14; et al).
31. In New Testament times, the apostles of Christ (but apparently not others) could lay their hands on people and miraculously impart the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-23; 19:6).
32. Christians are to produce the fruit of the Spirit in their lives (Galatians 5:22-26).
33. Christians are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirt in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3).
34. Christians are not to grieve the Holy Spirit by the way they live (Ephesians 4:30).
35. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9). (Note: This is a reference, not to the disposition of Christ, but to the Holy Spirit Himself).
36. Christians are sanctified (set apart and made holy) “by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (II Thessalonians 2:13). We are sanctified by the truth, God’s word (John 17:17).
37. The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, especially when we are so overwhelmed that we do not know what we should pray for as we ought (Romans 8:26).
38. By His Spirit, God will give life to our mortal bodies at the resurrection of the dead (Romans 8:11).
39. The Spirit spoke through the letters that were sent to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). (Note: We “hear” the Spirit today when we read the twenty-seven divinely inspired documents making up the New Testament).
40. The Spirit joined in the final invitation of God to man (Revelation 22:17).
Hugh Fulford
September 5, 2017
A MEDLEY OF MATTERS AND “ISSUES”
“There is an abundance of New Testament evidence for vocal music (in the worship of the church, hf); none for instrumental music. Jesus and the eleven apostles (without Judas Iscariot) sang a hymn as they left the upper room where the Lord had instituted the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). James encourages singing as a means of expressing joy, and prayer as an appropriate reaction to suffering (James 5:13). Paul exhorts Christians to sing with grace in their hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16), and to sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).
“Some references to singing place it specifically in the Christian assembly. A prophecy in Psalm 22:22, cited in Hebrews 2:12, pictures Christ in the assembly of His people singing praises to God with them. The Corinthians sang in the assembly, and Paul reminded them that the assembly is for the edification of the saints and urged them therefore to sing with intelligible words (1 Corinthians 14:15)….
“Throughout the New Testament, ‘singing” is given apostolic approval, and consequently God’s approval. Sometimes reference is to individual Christians singing praises, as Paul and Silas in a Philippian prison (Acts 16:25). Sometimes it is speaking of Christians edifying one another in corporate assembly (1 Corinthians 14:15). Every reference to Christians worshipping and praising God musically specifies they were singing. In no instance were musical instruments mentioned as being present or used” (Dr. Cecil May, Jr.’s “Response to a Sermon ‘For’ Instrumental Music,” a sermon preached in a church of Christ in Montgomery, Alabama, Summer 2017, defending instrumental music in worship).
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I was recently told by a Facebook friend that a very fine religious publication for which I regularly write was “issue centered and issue driven rather than Christ centered and text driven.” The amusing thing about his observation is the fact that in his blog and FB postings he is constantly harping on two “issues”: 1) the value of the Old Testament and its connectedness with the New Testament (which all informed students of the Scriptures recognize and affirm, though no informed student believes the Old Testament is what governs God’s people in the Christian era), and 2) women preachers (which he believes to be scriptural in spite of what Paul writes in I Corinthians 14:34 and I Timothy 2:11-15). Were it not for these two “issues” he apparently would have little about which to write, other than from time to time to speak in favor of instrumental music in the worship of the church, to belittle the necessity of a baptismal candidate understanding that baptism is “for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38) or some equally valid Bible reason, or to promote his “heaven here on earth” theory. But he apparently does not recognize his own “issues centered and issues driven” concerns! If consistency is a jewel, then some folks have lost all their jewels!
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My same friend referenced in the preceding paragraph chides me when I say “grace, but,” indicating that indeed we are saved by grace, but not grace without faith in Christ and obedience to the gospel. At the same time, however, when I proclaim that baptism is “for the remission of sins,” he injects his own “but” into the equation by saying, “But baptism is not the only thing that is ‘for the remission of sins’ ” (Acts 2:38). Again, I marvel at such inconsistency and blindness.
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Speaking of “issues,” a cursory reading of the ministry of Christ in the four gospel records, the book of Acts, the letters of Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John, and Christ’s letters to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 2 – 3), shows that the New Testament is greatly concerned about issues—both doctrinal and moral! And with the recent defection of a former gospel preacher to Unitarianism, and others through the years to the Disciples of Christ and other assorted denominations and Community churches, and with alleged gospel preachers now defending homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and transgenderism, it is time—in fact, way past time—for some serious moral and doctrinal “issues” to be addressed from their biblical perspective. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30). That draws the “issue” pretty tightly, it seems to me.
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If homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and trangenderism are not wrong, pray tell me just exactly what such folks were washed from, sanctified for, and justified from in I Corinthians 6:9-11! The old apostle was clearly right when he said, “But evil men and impostors (seducers, KJV) will grow worse and worse (proceed from bad to worse, NASB), deceiving and being deceived” (II Timothy 3:13). These “filthy dreamers” are doing just exactly that today (Jude 8, KJV). Once the wall of the authority of the Scriptures is breached a gaping and ever widening hole develops allowing anything (and I do mean anything!) to be accepted as right.
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August 18-20, D.V., I will be in a weekend meeting with the church in Greenway, Arkansas. I have been going to Greenway for forty-four years. My first meeting there was in 1973 and this will be my 13th with them and my first week-end only meeting. In all, I have been going to Clay County, Arkansas for fifty years, preaching in four meetings with the Pleasant Valley church between 1967 and 1971. I love the folks at Greenway and look forward to being with them once again.
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Enjoy the eclipse on August 21 because it is a rare experience, but protect yourself against an eclipse of faith!
Hugh Fulford
August 15, 2017
Speaking Schedule:
August 18-20: Greenway Church of Christ, Greenway, AR
August 27-30: Belinda Parkway Church of Christ, Mount Juliet, TN
FORTY THINGS WE ALL NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHRIST
Note: A few weeks we named forty things we all need to know about the church. This essay sets forth forty things we all need to know about Christ. In the future we hope to have essays on things we need to know about God, about the Holy Spirit, and about the Bible.
1. Christ, as the pre-incarnate (pre-enfleshed) Word, existed from the beginning (John 1:1-2).
2. He was co-eternal with God and was God (deity, divine) (John 1:1-2; 10:30).
3. He was the divine agent by whom all things were created (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17 [Note the antecedent of the pronoun “Him”]; Hebrews 1:1-2).
4. He is a member of the Godhead (the Divine Nature, Acts 17:29; Romans 1:20) that created man in His image (Genesis 1:26-27; 3:22a; Matthew 28:19-20; II Corinthians 13:14; et al).
5. He was the spiritual Rock that followed Moses and the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings (I Corinthians 10:4).
6. By many able students Christ in His pre-fleshly state is believed to have been the Angel of the Lord who frequently appeared and intervened in the affairs of God’s people in Old Testament times (Exodus 23:23; 32:34; Numbers 22:22ff; Judges 2:1; 13:3ff; Zechariah 3:1; et al).
7. At a point in time, He became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
8. He was born of the virgin Mary, being conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35 [note especially verse 35]; cf. Galatians 4:4-5).
9. His birth and mission to the world were prophesied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 53:1-12; et al).
10. He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10; I Timothy 1:15).
11. He gave Himself a ransom for many (all) (Matthew 20:28; I Timothy 2:3-6).
12. He shed His blood for the remission of the sins of all mankind (Matthew 26:28).
13. He was made to be sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21), and bore our sins in His body on the tree of the cross (I Peter 2:24).
14. He is the propitiation (atonement) for our sins (I John 2:2; Romans 3:24-26).
15. He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (I Corinthians 15:2-3; Matthew 28:1-6; Luke 24:1-6; et al).
16. He established the church (Matthew 16:18).
17. He is the foundation of the church (Matthew 16:18; I Corinthians 3:11; I Peter 2:6).
18. He is the head over all things to the church which is His body (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18, 24).
19. He is the One by whom we have been reconciled to God in the one body, the church (Ephesians 2:14-17).
20. He is the Savior of the body, the church (Ephesians 5:23).
21. He is the one Mediator between God and men (I Timothy 2:5).
22. He is our Advocate with the Father (I John 2:1).
23. He ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).
24. He is the (spiritual) light of the world (John 8:12; cf. 1:4).
25. He is the good shepherd (John 10:11).
26. He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).
27. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only means of access to the Father (John 14:6; cf. 10:1-10; Acts 4:11-12).
28. He is the true vine and His individual followers are the branches (John 15:1-8).
29. He is the great and eternal I AM (John 8:58).
30. He is our example in all that is good and right (I Peter 2:21; I Corinthians 11:1).
31. He is the One through God speaks to man today (via the Scriptures) (Hebrews 1:1-2; Matthew 17:5; John 12:48).
32. He is the mediator of the new covenant/testament (Hebrews 9:15).
33. He fulfilled the Old Testament and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross (Matthew 5:17; Colossians 2:13-14; Galatians 3:22-25; 4:4-5).
34. He ascended back to the Father in heaven and is seated at God’s right hand where He now reigns over His spiritual kingdom, the church (Acts 1:9-11[cf. Daniel 7:13-14]; Mark 16:19; Acts 2:33-36; I Peter 3:21-22; Ephesians 1:22-23).
35. All authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
36. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Revelation 1:8, 17).
38. He will come again and will be the One through God will judge the world in righteousness (John 14:3; Matthew 25:31-32; Acts 17:30-31; II Corinthians 5:10).
39. His word (not the creeds, catechisms, councils, and commandments of men) will be the standard of that judgment (John 12:48).
40. At the end of time Christ will relinquish all rule, authority, and power and deliver the kingdom (the redeemed) to God the Father that “God may be all in all” (I Corinthians 15:24-28).
MAKING SURE I AM RIGHT WITH GOD
An old gospel hymn reminds us that “We are going down the valley one by one, With our faces toward the setting of the sun; Down the valley where the mournful cypress grows, Where the stream of death in silence onward flows” (Jessie Brown Pounds). Scripture tells us that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). As people facing certain death and a final day of reckoning for our lives before the Lord, we all should be deeply concerned with making sure we are right with God. How do we do this?
To be right with God, every accountable human being must obey the gospel of Christ, be saved from his past sins, and become a child of God (a Christian) (I Corinthians 15:1-5; II Thessalonians 1:6-10). Our own goodness and morality (real or imaginary) cannot save us, no more than the rich young ruler’s goodness could save him (Mark 10:17-22), and no more than the devout Cornelius’ morality and charity toward others could save him (Acts 10:1-4, 45-48; cf. Acts 11:13-14).
To obey the gospel, one must hear it (Romans 10:17), believe it (Mark 16:15-16; John 8:24), repent of all sins (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 3:19), confess faith in Christ (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed in water) for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:1-6). The person who has never done these things is not right with God, and can only be right with God by doing what these scriptures plainly require! For instance, the person who has only had water sprinkled or poured on him (either as an infant, as a child, or as an adult) has never been scripturally baptized, and to be right with God must submit to Bible baptism (Acts 8:35-39).
If one is an adherent of one of the so-called “World Religions” (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, etc.), one must leave that religion, come to faith in Christ, obey His gospel, and be added to His church! Christ alone is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Of Christ the Scriptures affirm, “Nor is their salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
One cannot be right with God while being a member of any church created by men rather than the church founded by the Lord. If one is a member of a denomination (whether Catholic or Protestant), a community church, or a so-called Bible church, that person needs to realize that these institutions are of human origin rather than divine origin. They are not the church that Christ established and of which we read in the New Testament. These churches should not be confused with the Lord’s church. All who are members of these humanly devised religious organizations must remove themselves from them, obey the gospel (see paragraph # 2), and be added to the church which the Lord Himself established (Acts 2:47; Matthew 16:18; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:23-27).
To be in a right relationship with God, one must be a part of a faithful congregation, one that adheres to God’s word in all things. One cannot be right with God while remaining in a church that teaches for doctrines the commandments of men, thus making worship vain and meaningless (Matthew 15:8-9). Being right with God involves worshiping and serving the Lord in keeping with His divinely inspired word (John 4:24; Colossians 3:17; I Peter 4:11).
If one has obeyed the gospel but left the church of our Lord for a denomination, community church, or so-called Bible church—any church not adhering to New Testament teaching—that person needs to leave the unscriptural church, repent of his/her sins, and return to a faithful church of Christ. If one has obeyed the gospel and become a Christian but is living an unfaithful life, that person must cease his or her sinful practices, repent, and be restored to the Lord (Acts 8:22; Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20; I John 1:9). If one is living in sexual immorality, homosexuality, drunkenness, deceit, dishonesty, and vulgarity and profanity of speech that person needs to give serious consideration to Matthew 5:31-32; Matthew 19:1-9; Romans 7:1-3; I Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-26, Ephesians 4:17-32, Ephesians 5:1-21, Revelation 21:8, and a host of other passages that speak of how a Christian is to live. To be right with God one must live as God’s grace instructs (Titus 2:11-14).
The person who is a member of Christ’s church but is lukewarm and spasmodic in his attendance at the services of the church and in the work of the kingdom needs to take a good look at himself and decide if he really is right with God. Allowing the attractions of the world or less important things to interfere with faithfully attending the services of the church and being involved in the work of the church makes the Lord nauseated, and will cause the lukewarm Christian to finally be rejected by the Lord (Revelation 3:14-16).
None of the above is written in a harsh, judgmental spirit. The Scriptures “judge” our relationship with God, and I have cited book, chapter, and verse for every point I have made in this from-my-heart essay. I have written in a spirit of genuine love and deep concern for the souls of any of my readers who, according to biblical teaching, are not right with God. If you are serious about wanting to be right with God, I stand ready to assist you in learning and obeying the gospel of Christ and becoming a faithful member of the Lord’s church or in returning to His church. If you live outside of my geographical area, I will most gladly make every effort to put you in touch with someone in your area who can assist you in doing the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21). Death is too sure, judgment day is too certain, and eternity is too long for anyone to take a chance on not being right with God! Life has many choices, eternity only two!
FAITH
One of the most rewarding studies in which one can engage is of what the Bible teaches about “Faith.” The biblical definition of faith is found in Hebrews 11:1 where it is said, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” “Substance” is that which “stands under” and supports the spiritual realities we hope for. Faith gives substance to those invisible realities.
Faith also provides “evidence (testimony) of things not seen.” Real faith, Bible faith is not wishful thinking, nor is it a “blind leap into the dark,” but it is based on solid, substantive evidence. As the able Bible scholar Wayne Jackson has noted: “Faith is grounded in testimony—the abstract testimony of the creation (Psa. 19:1; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 11:1ff), and the concrete testimony of Scripture (Rom. 10:17) (Bible Words and Theological Terms Made Easy, p. 57). The Bible affirms, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
“Faith” and its companion “belief” are used in different ways in the Bible, and a study of these ways is highly instructive. Sometimes “faith” is used in a limited, restricted sense to refer to the mere act of believing or giving mental assent to certain truths or facts. King Agrippa believed in this sense but he was not saved (Acts 26:27). Certain Pharisees believed in this sense but they were not saved (John 12:42-43). In this sense “The demons also believe—and tremble” James 2:19), but no right thinking person believes they are (or will be) saved! James goes on to say, “You see then that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24). Yet one must have faith in the sense of mental assent. It is a vital step in God’s plan of redemption. One who comes to God “must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). One must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 8:24). One must believe the facts of the gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4). But “faith only” in the sense of mere
mental assent will not save.
“Faith” also is used in a comprehensive sense to summarize all that one does to respond to the gospel and receive salvation. “For by grace you have been through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “Grace” summarizes all that God has done to save us, including His love, mercy, kindness, the death of Christ, the blood of Christ, et al. “Faith” summarizes all that man must do to avail himself of God’s saving grace, including such acts of submissive obedience as repentance, confession, and baptism, none of which are works of meritorious righteous but works of faith done to receive the benefits of God’s grace. Even belief in Christ is said to be a “work” (John 6:29), but it is a work that God has made a condition of salvation, and without doing that “work” one cannot be saved (John 8:24). Further, Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). Luke reported that “many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). (All emphasis mine, hf). In New Testament times, it was people who had complied with these divine conditions of salvation from sin who were identified as those who had “believed” (Acts 2:44; 4:32; 10:45; 16:34; I Timothy 4:12; et al).
Paul wrote, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Observe that Paul said “we have peace with God.” He included himself among those who had been justified by faith and obtained peace with God. But a study of the accounts of Paul’s conversion in the Book of Acts, chapters 9, 22, and 26, will reveal that he did not have peace with God until he arose from three days of fasting and prayer to be “baptized and wash away [his] sins” (Acts 9:9-11; 22:16)! Repentance and baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38) are involved in what it means biblically to believe or have faith.
Of “faith” in this comprehensive sense, Dr. Joseph Henry Thayer, Greek scholar and lexicographer, says: “A conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah—the divinely appointed author of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God, CONJOINED WITH OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST” (caps mine for emphasis, hf) (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 511). In other words, saving faith is an obedient faith, submitting to whatever conditions/works Christ and/or His inspired apostles have set forth in order to be saved or to have the remission of sins. “Faith” in this comprehensive sense includes a life of continued faithfulness to the Lord in all things. “For we walk (live, hf) by faith, not by sight” (II Corinthians 5:7).
Faith also is used to refer to the object of belief, the body of truth (the gospel) revealed by the apostles and prophets of the New Testament (Ephesians 3:5), i.e., the entire Christian system as set forth in the New Testament. Following his conversion to Christ, Paul preached “the faith which he once tried to destroy” (Galatians 1:23). In this sense, there is but “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5). One can deny “the faith” and become worse than an unbeliever (I Timothy 5:8). God’s faithful people are to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
Much more could be said about “faith.” We have barely “touched the hem of the garment” where this great subject is concerned. As my longtime friend and fellow preacher of the gospel, Jay Lockhart, said so many years ago in a lecture at Freed-Hardeman College (now University): “Faith is a subject of such depth that it thrills the soul as we try to fathom it, and of such breadth that it blesses the heart as we try to bridge it.”
Hugh Fulford
August 8, 2017
The Gift Of The Holy Spirit
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ ” (Acts 2:38).
When a person hears the gospel of Christ (the good news of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection) with an open heart, sincerely believes that message of God’s redeeming grace, genuinely repents of his sins, confesses faith in Christ as the Son of God, and is baptized (immersed) in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19) for the remission of sin (Acts 2:38), that person has properly appropriated the saving grace of God to his life. His sins have been remitted, he has “been justified (brought into a right standing, hf) by faith,” and has made “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). He has moved into the realm of God’s grace in which he now can stand with confidence and “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2). Of the many spiritual blessings available to the person who has been baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3; Ephesians 1:3) is the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
There is a wealth of information in the New Testament regarding the Holy Spirit and His work. In the apostolic days of the church (the first century), there were people who exhibited various miraculous manifestations of the Spirit, either as a result of having been baptized in the Holy Spirit (as were the apostles on the Day of Pentecost [Acts 2:1-4] and as were Cornelius and his household [Acts 10:44-48; Acts 11:15]), or as a result of having the hands of an apostle laid on them (as in the case of the Samaritans [Acts 8:14-17] and as in the case of 12 disciples in Ephesus [Acts 19:1-7]). A careful and thorough study of the New Testament reveals that these miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased once their purpose had been achieved (see Mark 16:17-20; Hebrews 2:1-4; I Corinthians 13:8-10). But the cessation of the miraculous manifestations of the Holy Spirit in no way denies the reality of God’s redeemed people possessing the Spirit as His gift to us.
The apostle Paul affirms: “And because you are sons (because we have become children of God, hf), God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ ” (Galatians 4:6). It is important to note that God does not send the Spirit of Christ into our hearts to make us His children; rather, we receive the Spirit of Christ because we have become God’s children.
Ephesians 1:3-14 is a magnificent section of Holy Scripture, providing the reader with a vast “sweep” of the magnitude and scope of God’s eternal purpose for mankind’s redemption. In the original Greek language of the New Testament, these 12 verses constitute one long sentence, a construction that is honored by the translators of the American Standard Version of 1801. But in order to make the passage more “manageable” to study and digest, other English translations–including the King James Version, the New King James Version, the New American Standard Version, and the New International Version–break the sentence down into paragraphs. Verses 3-6 summarize what God the Father has done for us, verses 7-12 show what we have in Christ the Son, and verses 13-14 tell what the indwelling Holy Spirit does for us. Let us look at these last two verses.
First, Paul briefly reviews the conversion process: (1) In Him (Christ) you also trusted (put your faith), (2) after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. (Let it be recalled that faith comes by hearing the word of God, Romans 10:17). Next, the apostle speaks of the results that occurred as a result of believing in Christ: (1) in whom (Christ) also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (2) who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (Christians are God’s purchased possession, Titus 2:14; I Peter 2:9-10). Paul concludes by declaring that all of this is “to the praise of His (God’s) glory.”
Let us now look a little more carefully at the two purposes for which God’s “purchased possession” (Christians) receive the Holy Spirit. First, the Holy Spirit is a seal (an official mark of ownership) that we indeed belong to God. This seal/mark is not outward or fleshly, but is inward and spiritual. Later, Paul writes: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). We grieve God’s Holy Spirit when we live in ways that dishonor the One who owns us! The evidence of the Spirit’s seal on us (His indwelling us) is not in miraculous manifestations such as were characteristic of some in the apostolic age (as noted in paragraph two above), but rather in the manifestation of the beautiful “fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Second, the Holy Spirit serves as a guarantee of the faithful Christian’s inheritance. The King James Version uses the quaint term “earnest,” a term we still use today in certain business transactions (as in “earnest money”) to indicate our good intentions to “carry through” on our part of a deal. God gives the Holy Spirit to His redeemed children as an earnest or deposit of His final reward. Elsewhere, Paul wrote: “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a deposit” (II Corinthians 1:21-22). Again, he said: “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing (our eternal dwelling place in heaven, verses 1-4, hf) is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a deposit” (II Corinthians 5:5).
When in our earthly transactions we put down earnest money on an intended purchase, we commit ourselves to a process that we do not want to abort or on which we do not want to renege. By the same token, when we commit ourselves to the Lord and receive His earnest/deposit of the Spirit, we do not want to abort His eternal intentions for us by grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), quenching the Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19), or by conducting ourselves in such a way as to wind up “not having the Spirit” (Jude 19). The apostle Paul unequivocally affirmed: “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Christ’s)” (Romans 8:9).
May we as the redeemed people of God heed the exhortation: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:18-21). And let us be duly reminded of what one must do to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
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BASIC BIBLE STUDIES
# 029
Membership In The Church
“Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47b).
One of the attendant blessings of being saved and brought into a right standing with God is membership in the church. Just as surely as a person who repents of his sins and is baptized for the remission of his sins receives the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), just that surely that person also is added to/incorporated into the spiritual body of Christ, the church (Acts 2:47; I Corinthians 12:13). According to the New Testament, there is no such thing as a person being saved and not being a member of the church. Membership in the church automatically follows being saved, as much so as daylight follows dark. Membership in the church is not a human act of “joining,” but a divine act by which the Lord Himself is the one who adds the saved person to the church. The person who cavalierly says: “You can be saved outside the church as well as inside the church, the church never saved anybody,” shows a remarkable lack of understanding of what the church is! While it is true that “the church never saved anybody,” nevertheless the church is the aggregate body of those people whom God has saved, and therefore there is not a saved person on earth who is not a member of the church!
The church had always been in the eternal purpose of God because God had always planned to save mankind through Jesus Christ (II Timothy 1:8-10), thus creating for Himself “a people for [His] own possession” ( Titus 2:14; I Peter 2:9). These “special people” are the ones who have come to faith in Christ as their Savior, and responded in obedience to the message of the gospel of God’s grace (Romans 6:16-18). As a result of receiving God’s salvation, they have been added to the church so “that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known (displayed, hf) by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord…” (Ephesians 3:10-11). And just as the church was in God’s eternal purpose “from the beginning of the ages” (Ephesians 3:9), so the church will be in the consummation of all things, for “to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:21).
Christ Himself brought the church into existence. He said: “…and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Christ “built” the church by shedding His blood so that mankind might have the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28), and all who receive remission of sins by the blood of Christ become members of “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). (Note: This verse is a powerful proclamation of the deity of Christ, for it was God the Son [Christ] who shed His blood for the sins of the world [I Peter 1:18-19], yet in this pasage Paul designates Him as “God,” as do many other passages). Since the church is composed of those who have been “purchased with His own blood,” there is not a blood-cleansed, blood-redeemed person anywhere on earth who is not a member of the Lord’s church. And since Christ is the one who paid the purchase price for the church, it belongs uniquely to Him!
The reasons for membership in the church are many. Christians (people redeemed by Christ) need fellowship with one another. The Christian life was not meant to be lived in isolation from the rest of God’s people. The writer of the Book of Hebrews admonishes: “And let us consider one another so as to stir up to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). God’s people need the blessings and benefits to be derived from corporate worship and fellowship (Acts 2:41-47; Acts 20:7). The notion that one can be “a good Christian” without having to “go to church” is not rooted in New Testament teaching, as the above passages so clearly reveal.
For this reason, Christians are to be organized into local congregations/churches, with a plurality of elders (also known as pastors, shepherds, bishops) tending “the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers…” (I Peter 5:2). Paul and Barnabas “appointed elders in every church” (Acts 14:23). The only organizational and governmental structure for the church known in the New Testament is the local church “with the bishops and deacons” (Philippians 1:1). Both elders/bishops/pastors (in the New Testament, all of these terms refer to the same function) and deacons must meet certain qualifications in order to scripturally serve as such (I Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9). When these divine qualifications are ignored or compromised, great harm comes to the church.
People skilled in evangelism serve in the local church, with some serving fulltime as paid evangelists, preachers, and teachers (I Corinthians 9:14). But every member of the local church is to see himself or herself as a minister/servant of Christ (I Peter 4:10). The New Testament does not make a distinction between “clergy” and “laity,” but sets forth the principle that all of God’s people are “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people…” (I Peter 2:9).
For this reason, Christians are to “serve one another” (Galatians 5:13), “be hospitable to one another” (I Peter 4:9), “comfort one another” (I Thessalonians 4:18), “exhort (encourage and admonish) one another” (Hebrews 3:13), “confess [their] faults to one another, and pray for one another” (James 5:16), and above all “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (I Peter 1:22). Christians are “members of one another” because they are members of the “one body” of Christ, which is the church (Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 1:22-23). So intimate, in fact, is the relationship between Christ and the members of His church that Paul says: “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Ephesians 5:30).
Membership in the church is a rich privilege. Such membership cannot be purchased with money. It cannot be earned by good works. It comes only as result of complying with the conditions set forth by Christ and His apostles for appropriating His grace and being saved. When those conditions are met, the Lord adds that person to the church. Having been saved and added to the church, one must not take his or her membership lightly, as if little is required or expected of them. All members of the church must heed the exhortation: “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kindgdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 1:10-11).
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BASIC BIBLE STUDIES
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The Christian Life
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
As a result of appropriating the saving grace of God to one’s life through faith in Christ, repentance of all sin, confession of faith in Christ, and baptism into the death of Christ (Romans 6:3-4), at which point all of one’s sins are washed away (Acts 22:16; Revelation 1:5b), a person enters a state of justification (right standing) with God (Romans 5:1-2). At the same time, he receives the gift of God’s Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and is added to the church, the aggregate body of all who have been saved from their sins through obedience to the gospel (Acts 2:47). As a member of the church and with God’s Spirit dwelling in him, how is such a person to live day by day? After all, a great change has taken place in a redeemed person’s standing before God, and that change should be reflected in the everyday life of that person. There is a difference between a Christian and a non-Christian!
As a redeemed child of God, a Christian is “a new creation/creature” (II Corinthians 5:17). His words, deeds, actions, and attitudes are to demonstrate that new relationship. He is not to “continue in sin” for “how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). Having become God’s child, a Christian is to live “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). This “newness of life” is reflected in a number of ways.
The holy God is now the object of the Christian’s supreme love (Matthew 22:37-38), and the kingdom of God and His righteousness is a Christian’s top priority (Matthew 6:33). Worship–both private and corporate–are eagerly and earnestly engaged in by a faithful child of God (John 4:24; Matthew 6:5-6; Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:25).
A redeemed child of God abstains from every form of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22) and does not engage in “the works of the flesh…which are these: adultery, fornication, [moral] uncleaness, licentiousness (a loose attitude toward God’s sexual standards, hf), idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contention, jealousy, outburts of wrath, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies (false teachings and practices, hf), envy, murder, drunkenness, revelry, and the like…[because] those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21). Rather, the child of God, having received God’s Spirit (Galatians 4:6; Acts 2:38), keeps himself “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and allows the Spirit to produce in his life the beautiful and multi-faceted “fruit of the Spirt [which] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
The Christian life was not meant to be lived in isolation from the rest of the world–in a cave or conclave or monastery–but in the milieu of humanity, with Christians being “blameless and harmless, children of God without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among you are seen as lights in the world…” (Philippians 2:15). As Edwin Jones recently wrote: “Daily life is the arena for effective Christ-likeness,” and it is in this arena that all Christians are to be “the fragrance (aroma) of Christ” (II Corinthians 2:15).
Beginning at home as husbands, wives, and parents, Christians are to practice the principles of Christ. God’s law regarding marriage, divorce, and remarriage is to be honored (Matthew 5:31-31; Matthew 19:1-9; Romans 7:2-3). Parents, and especially fathers, are to bring their children up “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). The home is the bulwark and backbone of civilization, and without strong, God-fearing homes where God’s Word is honored there is no solution to the moral degradation that is currently destroying the very fabric of America!
In one’s work, recreation, business transactions, and social interaction with others, a Christian is to be honest, upright, dependable, and fair, always practicing “the golden rule” (Matthew 7:12). A Christian is to “aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind [his] own business, and to work with [his] own hands…[and to] walk properly toward those who are outsiders” (I Thessalonians 4:11-12). He is to “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (I Timothy 2:2). He is to be a law-abiding citizen (Romans 13:1-7). He is to “pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
Over the years, a number of Biblical passages pertaining to a truly Christian life have become indelibly impressed upon my mind and memory–some from childhood. As I complete this Study I will list some of these passages in the hope that you, the reader, will take the time to turn to them in your Bible, absorb their message, and let them shape your life. They are: Matthew 5:3-14; Matthew 6:31-34; Matthew 7:12; Matthew 22:37-40; Luke 6:46; John 13:35; Acts 2:42; Acts 20:24; Romans 12; I Corinthians 13; I Corinthians 15:58; Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 4:17-24; Ephesians 5:15-21; Philippians 1:21; Philippians 3:7-11; Colossians 3:1-4; I Thessalonians 5:16-22; I Timothy 2:1-4; II Timothy 4:6-8; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 4:15-16; Hebrews 10:19-25; Hebrews 12:1-2; James 1:21-27; II Peter 1:5-11; I John 4:7-8; Revelation 14:13.
If this essay has blessed you, feel free to forward it to others who may benefit from it.
Hugh Fulford