Bible Thoughts April 7, 2002
"For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved"(Romans 10:11-13).
This passage is one that should be very familiar to every Christian. Taken at face value it is very simple—if an individual calls on the name of the Lord, they shall be saved. While some misconstrue this as meaning that all a person must do to be reconciled to God is “say a prayer,” those familiar with the scriptures recognize Christ as “…the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him”(Hebrews 5:9). Even considering the need for obedience, “whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” has a profound meaning.
In times past the Gentiles(Greeks) were separated from the kingdom of God and were not the children of God. They were strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But when Paul wrote, “there is no difference between Jew and the Greek”, he was proclaiming the result of Christ breaking down the “middle wall of partition”(Ephesians 2:14). Essentially, Paul proclaimed the promises of God to be available to all people who are willing to hear His voice. Every man is responsible for himself, if he can hear, he can believe, if he can believe, he can obey and be saved. The individual is dependent upon no one but Christ.
This is a fundamental truth and is not
merely an academic exercise. You might ask, “Does anyone believe
otherwise?” Yes, there are people who believe otherwise. There are
various religious groups who believe that you must be baptized by
someone who is properly ordained, otherwise your baptism is not
valid. These people believe that even if you have heard the word of
God, believed it, repented of your sins, confessed Christ as Lord,
and been washed in water for the remission of sins, you will still be
separated from God because you were not baptized by one authorized to
baptize. In the minds of these people, your salvation depends not
only upon how you receive the word of God but also from whom you
receive it. This is entirely contrary to Paul’s teaching,
“whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved.”
Christians must take care not to become so preoccupied with personal
concerns that they fail to be moved by a lost and dying world from
whom the light of the scripture has been stolen and
corrupted.-Scott Huston
"Abstain from all appearance of
evil"(KJ); "Abstain from every form of evil"(NASV); (I Thessalonians 5:22).
The word that is translated appearance(King James) and abstain in the New American Standard is from a word(eidos) that is defined as "that which is exposed to view, signifies the external appearance, form, or shape..." However, the author(Vine) also states that "It has a somewhat different significance" in I Thessalonians 5:22. Vine's conclusion was it would cover "every sort or kind of evil." Hence, what is evil will obviously, for those who are knowledgeable of God's word, be evident. What looks evil is evil to those who are spiritually minded!
The standard for deciding what is good or evil is the word of God. All of our actions and activities are to be judged by what the scriptures reveal. Paul pointed out that one who is mature in the faith will "have their senses exercised to discern good and evil"(Hebrews 5:14). When the mind is properly trained in regard to the standards of morality, one will be capable of discerning between good and evil.
It is easy to fall into the trap of making one's own standards the criteria for deciding what is right or wrong. We have only the New Testament as a standard. As the child of God matures, all thoughts and actions are considered in the light of God's word. Would this action or thought cause me to commit sin? Would a temptation influence me to surrender to that which is contrary to God's word? Let each of us always be cautious in how we look upon the offerings of the world. Christians should not live on the edge of sin, but identify the ways in which Satan tries to capture the child of God. Living a life in which practices and behaviours are questionable is not the path for a faithful disciple.
Evil does have an appearance. Sometimes it
is wrapped in a glittering package that has been produced by Satan.
Sometimes it is the ugly results that one views in a person who is
ungodly. The advertisements of our day do not show the results of
sin, they show only the attactiveness that appeals to the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life. The only way
that one can determine what is evil is through the teachings of God's
word. When the heart is filled with righteousness, whatever appears
to that person to be evil will be avoided. Hence, evil does have an
"appearance"--it appears every time that Satan tempts a person. The
child of God knows how to avoid the appearance of evil: don't yield!
Comment: Some brethren, over the years, have become adept at
escaping the teachings of the New Testament on various subjects. One
of the most abused has been that of marriage, divorce and remarriage.
The scriptures are very plain in regard to this subject. The
difficulty lies in the unwillingness of some to accept what the New
Testament so clearly reveals. A paper that has been circulated
recently tries to make a distinction between "put away" and
"divorce." One passage answers such a foolish position:
"Whosoever shall put away his wife,
let him give her a writing of divorcement"(Matthew 5:31). This statement from the Law of Moses
was used by the Lord to emphasize that one can "put away" his
wife(divorce) on the grounds of fornication. "Put away" is the
action; divorce is the result.
Many books have been written to express the ideas of mankind. Since
the invention of the printing press, each generation has seen a fresh
supply put on the market. Some were good; some were bad; some were
worse. Long before the rapid reproduction process came into place,
the writer of Ecclesiastes observed, "Of making many books there is no
end"(12:12). Even the libraries of
our land experience storage problems because of this
phenomenon.
Most of the books that are printed are short lived. For the few that survive a generation, there are millions that crumble into the dust of time, ignored by the masses. A man may spend a lifetime to produce his "masterpiece," only to have it forgotten at his death.
There is one book that has not met the fate of most of those we have mentioned. It not only continues as the best-seller throughout the years, but actually increases its sales rather than decreases. Many of the books that criticized it have long been abandoned and/or forgotten. Even presses that turned out works attacking this book eventually were used to print it. Of course, we speak of the Bible. The reason the Bible remains year after year lies not in something fleshly, not in some great outpouring of earthly wisdom, not in the appeal to the present, but in the fact it is inspired of God(II Timothy 3:16-17). It is the book of books!