Truth Magazine

By Edward O. Bragwell, Jr.

As we look out into the world that we live in, we see many things that are not right. We are distraught over the wicked behavior that we observe around us day to day (cf. 2 Pet. 2:8). Because of this, it is easy for us to desperately seek some way to change the conditions that we observe to make this world a better place to live in and a better place in which to bring up our children. Therefore, the question that we so many times find ourselves pondering is just how can we go about accomplishing this task? I think in answering this question, however, we need to be careful about the kind of solutions we propose.

Just how does one go about making the world a better place and solving the problems that exist among its people? What kind of steps must we take? How do we change the world?

Not Through Political Reform

Many have the idea that the world’s problems can all be solved through political reform and the proper kind of government. We are told that if we just have the right kind of government, then we won’t have anything to worry about. I see many of my brethren caught up in this kind of thinking. They get all wrapped up in all kinds of political crusades that are designed to change our society into a more “God-fearing,” “moral” society. They seem to think that if you reform the government that it will solve all of the problems of evil and immorality that we see about us.

Indeed it is sad to see the condition that our government is in. But is it really the mission and responsibility of Christians to see that our government acts in a certain way? I hear people talk of the Constitution of the United States as a “God-given document.” It is believed therefore that the reason we are in so much trouble is because the country has gotten away from the principles of that document and therefore from the God fearing nation desired by the founding fathers. Is this really true? I always thought that the constitution was written by men. When I read about these men, I find that many of them did not believe in the God I believe in and that some were as immoral and corrupt as any of the politicians today. While the constitution of the United States is a wonderful document, it is not a divine decree and certainly not inspired of God. It is funny how many Christians will get all up in arms when people do not remain true to the constitution or make attacks on it, but will sit by and say little when an attack is made on the Bible, a document that is truly “God given” (2 Tim. 3:16). Now don’t get me wrong. I am proud to be an American. I know of no other country that I would rather sojourn in than these United States. I respect the constitution. I don’t know another earthly document that I would rather be governed by. However, I will not elevate it to a position that it does not deserve.

Is it the mission of Christians to make sure the government that they live under is “moral” and to do all that they can to change it if it is corrupt? Now I may be missing something somewhere, but when I read the New Testament, I read of Christians living under one of the most corrupt governments that has ever existed on this earth. However, I don’t remember ever reading where Christians were ever instructed by the apostles or any other inspired teacher what they were to do to change that situation. I don’t ever remember reading where they were instructed to band together and petition the government for this reform or that reform. I don’t remember much said about the government that they lived under except that they were to submit to it (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). If ever there was a corrupt government that needed reform, it was the Roman government. Yet I see very little said about how the early Christians were to go about reforming it.

Now I am not saying that it is wrong to do what we can to change things through whatever means are available to us, but when we get so caught up in our political crusades that we forget what our real mission is, then something is wrong. Remember, whatever political reform we might be able to instigate is only of value in this present age. It might make this world a better place to live in now, but will not matter beyond the grave. Let’s remember where our real citizenship is (Phil. 3:20). It always bothers me to see Christians spending more time and energy trying to convince those about them of the need for supporting some amendment or candidate than trying to convince them of the need for obedience to the gospel of Christ.

Not Through Social Reform

Many also think that the way to really change things in this world is through high power social programs. Therefore, many commit themselves to various social crusades. We hear much today about African relief and world hunger programs. Many devote much time to various social agencies, inner city missions, soup kitchen programs, etc. This is not only true in the secular portion of our society, but much more so in the religious portion. The social gospel has taken root in almost every denomination in this country. Churches are believed by many to be nothing more than social relief agencies. To many that should be the primary mission of all churches. It is believed that a church is not doing what it is supposed to do if it does not minister to the “whole man.”

Now, I certainly believe that we as Christians need to be doing all that we can to help relieve the hunger and sufferings of our fellow man (Gal. 6:10; Jas. 2:14-16). But if we make that our primary goal, we have missed the boat. We must be more concerned with getting something to the people of the world that they have greater need of – the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even if we were able to relieve all men of their hunger and suffering and failed to teach them the gospel we would have done them no lasting good. We would have just made things better for them in this present world while they wait for destruction.

Also, as Christians there is nothing wrong with our helping all who we can on an individual basis, but we need to recognize that the general relief of all the needy of the world is not the obligation of the church and it must not assume that work. If the church wishes to do so, we must be ready to produce the authority for us to engage in such work. While such authority does not exist, many try to justify such actions by saying that since Jesus fed the hungry and healed the sick, then his church certainly can do the same. It is argued that the church ought to carry out the same mission on earth that Jesus carried out while he was on earth. But think about it. What was Jesus’ mission on earth? Was it to feed the hungry? If it was, then he failed. Many still went hungry in his day. If that was his mission then he certainly would have had the power to accomplish it and hunger would have been completely eradicated while he was ministering here on earth. The same thing goes for disease. But that was not his mission when he came to the earth. His mission was to save, men from sin (Matt. 1:21; Luke 19: 10). He did accomplish this mission by making salvation available to all men (John 3:16).

Through Spiritual Reform

So the only way that we can really change the world is by changing the spiritual status of men. We might change one’s political or moral status for the better and still not save his soul. We might change one’s social or economic status for the better and still not save his soul. What real service have you done anyone, if you do not change his spiritual status? What real service have you done for the world? What real change have you made?

As we have already said, Jesus changed the world. He made real changes by making salvation available to all men. He did not bring about political or social reforms, but he brought about a significant spiritual reform in the lives of all that accepted him. Oh, some came to him at times and tried to use him as a means of political or social reform, but he refused to be so used (John 6:15; 18:36).

The apostles and early Christians changed the world (Acts 17:6). They did so by preaching the gospel and converting sinners (Acts 8:4; Rom. 1:16). They did it by carrying out the great commission (Mark 16:15,16; Matt. 28:18-20).

We, too, can really change the world in the same way. Do we spend most of our time and energy in political programs or in taking the gospel to others? Are we more concerned with getting food and other material things to the people of the world or getting the gospel to them? If all men received and followed the gospel of Jesus Christ, there would be no problem with political oppression, social unrest, world hunger, etc. We must realize that we can’t change people from the outside in, but from the inside out. Preach the gospel to the world and let it bear its fruit. That is how to really change the world.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 18, pp. 554-555
September 17, 1987

By Randy Reynolds

“Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go” (Ex. 5:2). Pharaoh’s question would soon be answered in the chapters to follow. However the question that he presented is a good one. I’m quite confident that if more knew the answer to his question, if they knew the Lord, that they would be more and more concerned with serving him.

Job’s friend Zophar asked: “Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?” (Job 11:7) The apostle Paul said: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways! ” (Rom. 11:33)

Our God whom we serve is not confined to the material limitations of time, matter, and space. Jesus himself spoke of God as a “Spirit” (Jn. 4:24), and then informs us that 46a spirit does not have flesh and bones” (Lk. 24:39). Moses had reminded the children of Israel that they “saw no form” when God appeared to them at Horeb, and there warned them against making “a graven image of any figure” (Deut. 4:12,15-19). The second of the 10 commandments forbade 46graven images” (Deut. 5:8-10) since God is a non-corporeal personal being.

Yet realistically the question remains, “who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?”

Our God whom we serve is:

– Eternal

– Immutable

– Omnipotent

– Omnipresent

– Omniscient

The apostle Paul actually made many of these observations in his lesson while on Mars Hill (cf. Acts 17:22-29).

Eternal: Jesus informed the Jews that He is eternal in the Gospel of John by stating, “before Abraham was born, I AM” Qn. 8:58). When Moses was receiving his instructions to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt he asked, “what is His name?” (Ex. 3:13) “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (Ex. 3:14). And the Psalmist said, “Lord, Thou has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born, Or thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God” (Psa. 90:1,2).

Immutable (unchanging): In this great attribute of God we build our trust and have tremendous confidence. This can be done because we know his promises are true. Our Christian hope is based on Divine Word, and that Divine Word has been given to us by an oath (cf. Heb. 6:9-20).

Man is unpredictable because he changes his mind from time to time. But our God is unchanging, “For I the Lord, do not change” (Mal. 3:6). And James states that with our Father in Heaven, “there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17).

Omnipotent (almighty): The word omni comes from the Latin word omnis which means all. Thus our God is all powerful.

In Jeremiah’s prayer he said, “Ali Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and by Thine outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee” (Jer. 32:17). After he had finished praying the Lord said to him, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer. 32:27)

The Hebrew name for God Almighty was El Shaddai and this name seemed to be the usual name for God in the days of the Patriarchs. To Abraham, Isaac, and Job God was known as the “Almighty” (cf. Gen. 17:1; 28:3; 35:11).

Omnipresent (everywhere): The apostle Paul said, “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).

In 11:4, the Psalmist stated, “Heaven is the throne of God” and in 1 Kings 8:30 we are told that Heaven is “His dwelling place.” If this be correct, then how can God be everywhere? Consider with me these Old Testament examples for a clue to our answer. . .

(1) Exodus 3:2,4

(2) Exodus 14:30; Isaiah 63:9

(3) Exodus 13:21; 14:19

Now answer these questions:

(1) Was God in the bush?

(2) Did the Lord save Israel from the hand of the Egyptians?

(3) Did the Lord go before the children of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night?

I believe you would have to answer “Yes” to all 3 questions, simply because that’s what the Bible says. But you would also have to conclude that God used an angel to do all three while He yet remained in Heaven, “His dwelling place.”

Thus in Jeremiah we find, “Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far off?” Can a man hide himself in hiding places, So I do not see Him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the Heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord (Jer. 23:23-24).

Omniscient (all knowing): Our God is a “God of all knowledge” (1 Sam. 2:3). “He knoweth all things” (1 Jn. 3:20). His knowledge is as infinite as his great power; he knows our hearts (Acts 1:24) and our needs (Matt. 6:8). According to Mark 13:32, He even knows what Jesus and the angels do not know.

There is a God, He is alive In Him we live, and we survive; From dust our God, created man, He is our God, the great I AM.

The apostle Paul said, “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rom. 13:1). These my friend are the Divine Attributes of our God, the One we worship and adore.

Based upon so many Bible truths it doesn’t seem possible for one “once enlightened” to go back to the ways of Satan. After all, the God of Heaven even controls his (Satan’s) powers. Sadly enough however, it happens everyday.

But you don’t have to allow that to happen to you. Pay close attention to his word and learn to love him with all of our heart, all of your soul, with all of your strength and with all of your mind (cf. Lk. 10:27). When this was stated to the children of Israel, the Lord told them, “These words shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:4-7).

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 17, pp. 532-533
September 3, 1987

By Irven Lee

There are those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Our Savior said such people are blessed (Matt. 5:6). There have always been those whose ears are dull of hearing, and whose eyes are closed (Matt. 13:12-16; Acts 28:26-27; Isa. 6:9,10). We have ears to hear, and we certainly need to hear the gospel. Each of the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia as recorded in chapters two and three of Revelation included this statement: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”A zealous and faithful Christian is very encouraged when he finds one as willing and eager to hear as was the Ethiopian treasurer (Acts 8:26-39). It is very discouraging to find one who is not at all interested in the gospel. For one to be taught of God he must be willing to learn. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and faith comes by hearing this heavenly message (Rom. 1:16; 10:17). A living, active faith must be in the heart or one cannot please God (Heb. 11:6; James 2:14-26). When men of God first carried the word to the Roman world, the people divided themselves into two groups. “The multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles” (Acts 14:4; John 7:43). In which group would you have found your place?

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 17, p. 533
September 3, 1987

By Tom M. Roberts

Some issues are so taken for granted that common acceptance belies their intrinsic value and native importance. Such an issue is the subject of free will. Among brethren, until fairly recent dates, free will has been an accepted doctrine, figuring unobtrusively in conclusions drawn from biblical principles. Events a corrupted nature have led to the recognition that we may have taken too much for granted, in fact. Theologians have debated God’s sovereignty and man’s free will for centuries, churning out volumes of commentaries from Augustine onward. Since most of us do not pretend to be theologians, we have allowed simple Bible exegesis to determine our approach to the subject more than philosophical reasoning. I have personally done little preaching on free will as a separate topic, choosing rather to include it by reference in related matters. With this discussion, I hope to stimulate others to further writing and preaching on what I believe to be a vital subject. Free will has far reaching implications relating to human nature, ethics, moral responsibility, social issues, and theology, including the question as to whether or not man is able to respond to his Creator’s will so as to exercise choice among moral contingencies. The particular view one espouses will determine attitudes and actions in “every issue of life” (Prov. 4:23).

Does man have genuine moral freedom, true choice among alternatives, the ability to make decisions without coercion of a genetically inherited disposition beyond individual control? Are there contingencies facing man which he will confront without determinism (the antithesis of moral freedom) or antecedent causes? Is man ultimately responsible for his actions? Can he “do” anything by free choice in response to God’s grace? Is punishment and reward fixed by God independent of any action on the part of man and by divine fiat before the worlds were formed? The very scope of these questions suggests their importance. The question that David pondered, “What is man. (Psa. 8:4), is still very much with us today.

The Nature of Creation

God made robots of many orders: animate (fish, fowl, beasts of the field) and inanimate (planets, trees, grass). An animal is no less a robot than a star, being programmed by instinct to act only according to its species, even as a star wanders according to the laws of the universe. A spawning salmon returns unerringly to the place of its birth, not because it chooses to do so, but because it is driven by instinct,: it cannot not return. A blade of grass or a flower springs forth, withers and dies, having no choice as to its existence, to bloom or not to bloom. Such creatures never weigh alternatives and choose a direction based on free, moral action. “Free” in this context is “absence of external compulsion,” action that spontaneously erupts from its subject. “Moral” denotes the “ability to know right from wrong.” Man is a free, moral creature and unique in that he is the only such creature on earth! It is this awesome uniqueness that sets man apart from all other beings and faces him with responsibilities that have eternal consequences. If man is moral, he can know right from wrong and will be held accountable for his actions. If man is but another robot, a living machine without morality, he has no more responsibility or accountability than the animate and inanimate robots of creation. An evil man would be no more guilty than a shooting star or raging torrent; a good man would be no more worthy of praise than a blooming flower. But, in the light of the Scriptures, who can accept such a position? Let us trace the biblical answers and learn the purpose of man’s creation.

Jehovah Created Us For His Own Glory

Basic to our study is the fact that Jehovah has the inherent right of the Creator to create as it pleases him. “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?” (Rom. 9:20) Consequently, when God created, he did so to his own praise and glory. “Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created” (Rev. 4:11). But should we not consider that the highest order of praise and glory to God is that which is freely given? While it is true that the “heavens declare the glory of God” (Psa. 19:1), they do so by constraint (as robots) and not by choice. How, or in what fashion could the Lord bring into existence a creature that offered its Creator praise and glory not of constraint but by free choice? Is it not in the creation of a freewill being, something that could recognize the righteous nature of the Creator and, while able to act of his own will, willingly submit to God’s will? Is not man, therefore, the expression of God’s grand design to have a free-will creature, a higher order than anything on earth, to be able to choose to serve and glorify God with a free heart?

“Why did God make free-will creatures? The Bible does not give an explicit answer to this question. We infer from other teaching in the Scripture that God’s chief purpose and desire were to have creatures who would love, serve, and glorify him of their free choice and not by coercion or manipulation. We infer this, for example, from the fact that the first and greatest commandment is that we should love God with all our hearts and minds (Matt. 22:37). The fact that this is the most important thing that we can do suggests that it is what God desires from his creation more than anything else. Giving his creatures free will was a necessary means to this end.”(1)

We may also infer the truthfulness of this proposition from the projected destiny of those who choose to serve God: heaven. John sees the “holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Rev. 21:2-3). Though sin interrupted the grand plan of creation, it is yet achieved through Christ. Paul wrote “to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:25-27). We conclude, therefore, that God made man “a little lower than the angels, crowned him with glory and honor” (Heb. 2:7), instilled within him free will and the ability to choose righteousness, all to his own praise and glory. Man reaches no higher goal than when he serves God. “The whole (duty) of man” is to “fear God, and keep his commandments” (Eccl. 12:13). “Unto thee, O Jehovah, do I lift up my soul” (Psa. 25:1). “1 will give thanks unto Jehovah with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvelous works” (Psa. 9:1). With these beautiful verses, I can add my own choice of praise, freely given, that “in me, Lord, thy purpose of creation is vindicated. I freely choose to serve thee.”

The Risk of Free Will

“A command makes sense only if the recipient is capable of doing either what is required or forbidden, in other words, only if he is a responsible being. So the divine prohibition implies that man is morally free. Adam and Eve were free to render or refuse obedience to God. Since, as we noted earlier, freedom involves the presence of genuine alternatives, God could not give man the freedom to obey and at the same time withhold the power to disobey. ‘Freedom to obey’ is nothing if it is not also the freedom to disobey. Consequently, had man been incapable of disobedience, his fulfillment of God’s requirements would not have been voluntary. And the word moral could not apply.

“The affirmation of moral freedom requires an open view of reality. When God gave man moral freedom, He was leaving undecided whether or not man would obey. In other words, He left open man’s response to God’s expectations of him. God might, presumably, have constructed man to respond to Him in only one way. But in that case moral experience would have been impossible, because man would not have been responsible for his behavior. Man is a morally free being, and the content of his decision to obey and disobey must have been indefinite until man himself made the decision.”(2)

“The fact that human beings (and angels before them) were created with free will, though, means that there was the possibility of or potential for evil. For if man is to have the ability freely to choose to love God, he must also be given the capacity to choose to hate and reject God. Thus in a sense the creation of free-will beings entailed a risk. But God was willing to risk the free choice of evil in order to have freely-chosen love and worship.”(3)

With these quotations, we introduce the thorniest of the problems of free will: sin. Why did God make man with the ability to sin? Why did God not make man with only the ability to do good? Did the Lord, as the creeds affirm, in contradictory fashion, “by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; (and here is the contradictory part, tr) yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 111:1)? Such statements beg the question before us and raise others. Is God responsible for man’s sin as the First Cause, thereby responsible for man’s eternal damnation since all creation was done unchangeable and by foreordination of “whatsoever comes to pass”? Or is man accountable for his actions precisely because God made him a free-will creature?

Since God is sovereign, he has the absolute right to do as he pleases. Yet we must conclude that he will not act in discord with is nature, even in creation. As James says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man” (Jas. 1: 12). John adds, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). We can safely conclude, therefore, that God could not, because of his righteous nature, create immutably and unchangeably a man who must sin and cannot help himself except to do as created, then hold that man accountable for that sin. The alternative, presented in the Bible, is that God, as a sovereign, created man as a free, moral being so that man might choose to serve God, yet, by the nature of free will, provide the potential (risk) that man would choose evil. In the moral sense, therefore, man himself is sovereign, in time (not eternity). Does not Ecclesiastes address the fact that man may act as he wills “under the sun” but that he should remember that “for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment” (11:10)? Will we do that for which we have been created, or will we go astray? As the Psalmist said, “Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek after God” (14:2). Only man, of all the creatures of God, can say “no” to God. This rebelliousness is the risk of free will.

I believe that the story of Job is an illustration of this very principle: “Will man willingly serve his Creator as God intended?” If you recall, Satan accused Job of serving God only because it was convenient (God made Job wealthy). God..had stated that Job was a “perfect and upright man, one that feareth God” (1:8). The Devil’s accusation was: “Does Job fear God for nought?” (1:9) What Satan was charging against Job (and, consequently, against all men) is that man does not choose to serve God because it is right and good, but that he serves God only for what he can get. God then permits Satan to test Job’s free will (and he is testing ours today) to see if he will serve God out of a moral sense that it is right to do so even when suffering in the world that God created. In Job’s case, God’s purpose in creation was vindicated: the creature chose to serve the Creator, glorifying the work of his hands. Our case is still pending today. Will I serve God because I am able to do so with a free will that recognizes right and wrong and chooses the right?

The Origin of Sin

What is the origin of sin; where did it come from? If God is infinite in righteousness, how could sin originate in His universe? One of the arguments of the atheist against the existence of God is the reality of evil. The creeds have not adequately dealt with this issue of sin’s origin, as we have seen, falsely accusing God of unchangeably ordaining whatsoever comes to pass, yet ignoring the consequential result that such charges God with creating sin. I believe the answer to the questions about sin lie in a proper understanding of the free will nature of man as a moral creature of God. Putting what we have found in numerical sequence for clarification, we find:

1. God is a sovereign Creator.

2. He has made many creatures that me not free or moral. These creatures glorify God by their existence (Psa. 19:1).

3. God chose to create yet another creature that would be both free and moral, man. But to be truly free, man must be able to obey or disobey, possessing the capability of, and the potential for, sin.

4. Man did disobey and, as an accountable being, is responsible for sin. He did not have to sin, but chose to do so (Rom. 5:12), with the attendant consequences.

After affirming that God cannot be tempted with evil and that he tempts no man, James supports the above conclusions when he concludes, “but each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death” (Jas. 1:13-15). Herein lies the origin of sin: within the human heart that has the highest potential of praise to God or the blackest depth of sin’s degradation. Which shall it be? That is the work of choice, will, determination. All too often, we have chosen to do wrong and are in the bondage of sin (Rom. 7:24). But let there be no mistake as to the origin of sin or of man’s accountability for it. Recognizing the potential damnation of my soul through the choice to do evil, let me rather rejoice that I have the parallel potential to achieve a “greater weight of eternal glory” (2 Cor. 4:17), working God’s will in my life. Heaven will surely be worth it all.

Endnotes

1. What The Bible Says About God The Ruler, by John Cottrell (College Press), p. 398.

2. God’s Foreknowledge and Man’s Free Will, by Richard Rich (Bethany Press), Chap. 3, p. 38.

3. Op. Cit.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 17, pp. 525-527
September 3, 1987