The brethren of Christ meet together every Sunday wherever possible, to memorialise the sacrifice of Christ by partaking of the emblems of bread and wine. But they do so in all sincerity, recognising the gravity of what was accomplished in the offering up of Messiah. And in a sense, it is a Passover meal of fellowship – hence the Apostle writes:
“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7-8).
Notice these two features of our worship: “sincerity and truth”, together comprising the “unleavened bread” spoken of by Paul. Especially in our irreverent age of frivolity and shallow thinkers, there is a very real need for gravity and sincerity. So Paul exhorts the brethren to “try the things that differ (AV. Margin); that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:10). But this sincerity is linked with lacking “malice and wickedness” – elements which must be cast out. The phase “sincerity and truth” is derived from the Old Testament, particularly the occasion where Israel are told by Joshua at the end of his life, to cast away every vestige of false worship:
“Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye Yahweh” (Josh 24:14).
In a similar way, Messiah’s brethren must put away malice and wickedness: both features of false worship. We must have a sincere and genuine desire to worship the Lord in the Way that He Prescribes, and not according to our own dictates and whims. The Lord Jesus Christ uses a similar expression, as recorded in our New Testament reading from John chapter 4:
“God is spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (Jno. 4:24).
A Scriptural analysis of the word “spirit” indicates that it refers to the moral, emotional and intellectual aspects of a person. We must worship the Father with a willing spirit, and a wholehearted devotion to learning and implementing His Ways in our lives.
But there are many who follow other religions who are very devout and “sincere” in their worship. Indeed, there are many churchgoers who are ever so sincere in their outlook and their faith. But according to Jesus, and the examples we have considered above, sincerity alone is not sufficient. We need to worship “in truth” also: and this is something that excludes those who are sincerely wrong. To worship “in truth” implies a recognition of certain true principles that are taught and embodied in Messiah. Men and women need to receive “the love of the truth that they might be saved” (2 Thes. 2:10). Only the Truth can save – there is no power to save in falsehoods: a person needs to “believe” the true Gospel in order to be saved by it.
THE BROAD AND NARROW WAYS
According to the Lord Jesus Christ, there are two ways, which are accessed by two gates (Mat. 6:13-14). One way is a broad way which is traversed by many who enter in at a wide gate. This way has enough space to accommodate the multitudes who find it – yet it is a way that leads to destruction. The “many” who walk along it, doubtless do not know where it leads, for if they did, they would turn aside out of it. They go forward blindly, not knowing any other way, for the alternative route is found only by a few. This alternative is a narrow way – and being narrow by design, it will accommodate only a “few”. The entrance to this way has to be sought for, and the way is traversed by a minority who have forsaken the broad streets of iniquity to walk along the paths of wisdom. This way, though narrow, is the only way that leads to everlasting life. The travellers know exactly where it leads, and it is the knowledge of this that gives them encouragement and comfort when the going gets tough, and obstacles present themselves. In such circumstances, the faithful few exhort and help one another, lifting up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees (Heb 12:12), that they be not turned aside out of that way. They walk together, to reach their final destination which they so earnestly long for.
According to these principles, the majority are not walking along the path of life. They wander along the broad way that leads to destruction – only a minority can say in truth, that they are walking towards life everlasting. In other words, the majority live in their sins and their iniquities, whereas the few live within the parameters of the Truth, in hope of greater glory to come. It has always been so; the way of Truth has only ever been discovered by the few souls who search it out, and who eschew every evil work. For most of mankind, the way of Truth is too restrictive, for it does not allow for the unfettered satisfaction of the fleshly instincts that govern their walk in life. They are excluded from it both by its nature, and theirs, the two being mutually incompatible to the extent that most men never even find the entrance to the narrow way, let alone walk down it.
However, there are those who profess to be walking along the narrow way of life, who seek to make that way wider, that it might accommodate more men and women. Who push against the parameters of the Truth, seeking to broaden it’s constraints in order that those who are not devoted to living in humble obedience to Christ, might nominally enter in. The pushing takes various forms, from seeking to accommodate inappropriate behaviours, to embracing others of other religions to that enunciated by the Most High in the Bible. Most commonly, it is the latter; there is an embracing of the Ecumenical policy of humanism, an attempted widening of the entrance that others of other persuasions may enter in, who do not know or believe the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes our detractors describe us as being “arrogant” because we say that we have the Truth, and “other Christians” do not. As one of our adversaries has it: “we don’t have a monopoly of the Truth” – and who are we to judge others who worship Jesus just as sincerely as we do?
The root of the mischief – for that is what it is – is that our position is mis-stated. We do not say that of our own selves “we have the Truth”. Rather, we say that the Bible has the Truth, and we believe the Bible with all deference, sincerity and humility – just as our adversaries are at liberty to do, if they so choose. It is perfectly true to say that “we don’t have a monopoly on the Truth” – but our God does. As it is written: “Yea, let God be True, but every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4).
As we have often cited, according to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God is Truth. As he said in his prayer for his disciples: “Sanctify them through thy Truth: thy word is Truth” (Jno. 17:17). Whereas Truth is sometimes portrayed as a subjective thing, with “one man’s truth being another man’s heresy,” these words of the Master demonstrate that there is a fixed and absolute standard of Truth – which is the Word of God. And by definition, that which differs from that Word is not Truth. Hence it is said of those who forsake it, that they “concerning the Truth have erred” (2 Tim. 2:18). And again, that they “erred from the Truth” (Jas. 5:19). Concerning teachers who preach something different to Apostles, it was prophesied: “… they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:4). Here is the vital principle: “no lie is of the Truth,” (1 Jno. 2:21) and that which contradicts the True Words of God are by definition lies.
But what of those “sincere Christians” who have a different point of view to ourselves? Surely it is unChristlike to speak against others who just don’t see things as we do? Actually, no, as we have shown before, This is the teaching of Messiah:
“… they be blind leaders of the blind. And if. the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch”. (Mat. 15:14).
A blind man cannot have a “point of view” – he can see nothing. Those who would brand us to be “unChristlike” should examine what Christ actually said. Men close their eyes to the things of the Truth (Acts 28:27), for the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). A person who closes their eyes cannot have any vision of what is before them. They need to anoint their eyes with the eyesalve of the Word, so that they can see (Rev. 3:18). Only then can they have a legitimate “point of view”.
THE GOSPEL TRUTH
The Word of Truth comes to us through the Gospel being preached. Hence that Word is styled in Scripture: “the Truth of the Gospel” (Gal. 2:14, Col. 1:5). The Gospel is defined as “the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ”, which is was necessary for the hearers of Philip to understand and believe in order to be baptised (see Acts 8:12). The BASF describes those two aspects very succinctly and scripturally. It thus epitomises the principles of the Gospel.
Sometimes the issue is raised as to how much a person needs to understand in order to be validly baptized. The Scriptures contain both “first principles” and “solid food” (Heb. 5:12): it is the first principles that need to be understood to lay a foundation for repentance from dead works (Heb. 6:1). Those who do this, are said to “believe and know the Truth” (1 Tim. 4:3), for they have “come unto the knowledge of the Truth” (1 Tim 2:4).
Again, is sometimes asserted that a person doesn’t need to have a particularly detailed knowledge in order to express belief and repentance in submitting to Baptism. But such forget that Israel were “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). It is possible to not have enough knowledge to be saved – but it is not possible to have too much knowledge! And this assertion overlooks that it is necessary to “believe” the first principles: “he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mrk 16:16, see also 2 Thes. 2:12). But what is it that has to be believed? As we defined above, the “things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ” – and it is a summary of those things that comprise our Statement of our Faith.
UNDERSTANDING AND WORKS
There is a need then, to have an understanding of, and belief in, the principles that collectively form the Gospel message. This is “the full assurance of understanding” (Col. 2:2), without which there can be no faith, or belief – for how can a man have faith in something he knows nothing about?
Sometimes the idea is expressed that we need to live out the principles of the Truth in our lives, rather than to study the Bible. But this is a false dichotomy: the situation is not either/or, but both! We must “love in deed and in Truth” (1 Jno. 3:18), and be found “walking in Truth” (2 Jno. 4). And it logically follows that we cannot walk in the Truth, if we do not know what that Truth is! We must believe and understand the righteous principles of the Gospel message, in order to “walk according to the Truth of the Gospel” (Gal. 2:14), and thereby “obey the Truth” (Gal. 3:1, 1 Pet 1:22). Yes, it is vital to live out the practical outworking of the Gospel believed, but it is also necessary for us to “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth” (2 Tim 2:15). Both aspects are necessary in order to please our Father and Maker.
A DELIGHT!
Another objection heard from time to time, is that we need to enjoy ourselves as well as doing Bible study. But such sentiments do not come out of the mouths of those who are lovers of the Truth (2 Thes. 2:10). The Apostle Paul wrote: “I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Rom. 7:22). And again, the Psalmist:
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of Yahweh; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psa. 1:1-2, Psa. 119:97).
To study the Scriptures is not a chore to lovers of the Truth. It is a “delight”! Often we hear folk say concerning a novel or some other book that “it was so absorbing I couldn’t put it down!” That is what the Bible is to the brethren of Christ. It absorbs us into itself, and engages the mind in spiritual things. Those of a spiritual mind will delight in it, and will be reluctant to put it down!
The Lord Jesus Christ taught that “the Truth shall make you free.” And as we have demonstrated, the Truth needs to be understood and believed (1 Tim. 4:3). As the Apostle wrote, we need to receive it “not as the word of men, but as it is in Truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thes. 2:13).
It is written by Paul to the believers at Colosse: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom …” (Col. 3:16). But logically, the word of Christ cannot dwell in us, unless we put it there! To study the Bible brings great enjoyment and pleasure to men of the Spirit, and it also provides wisdom, and a power by which we can be saved (Rom. 1:16). To study the Word is not an optional extra for the more studious amongst us: everyone that is of the Truth will hear the Master’s word (Jno. 18:37). We disregard it therefore, at our peril!
Christopher Maddocks
