Truth Magazine

By Ron Halbrook

And Abram said unto Lot, “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren” (Gen. 13:8). “Behold, how good and how pleas-ant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1).

Fervent, sincere appeals for unity based upon truth are always in order, but false teachers seeking tolerance for their errors always raise the specter and phantom of endless divisions over every possible difference. Brethren promoting a false unity-in doctrinal-diversity scare up the same ghost, offering their theories as the only alternative. Some brethren who know the truth on divorce and remarriage will not take an unmistakably clear stand for the truth and will not openly oppose and assail false doctrine. They are intimidated by the fear that to do so will result in division every time a difference of any kind occurs. This article will show that such fears are unfounded.

Are we doomed to divide over every difference of opinion, every conscientious difference, every difference of expression in teaching the truth, every difference in judgment as to the exact significance of a word or phrase in a passage, every difference in application of a common principle, every difference in unravelling a complicated case, every difference over whether or when to withdraw fellow-ship from certain parties, in short, over every difference of every nuance and of every magnitude? No, we are not so doomed! The answer is not that we must embrace and tolerate every possible difference in teaching and practice in order to escape the opposite extreme. Not only does sound, balanced Bible teaching avoid these opposite extremes, but also the general experience of brethren demonstrates the practical avoidance of both extremes.

Unity Mandated

The unity of God’s people is man-dated from heaven. Paul wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “I there-fore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3).

This unity is not based on the arts of human diplomacy, crafty negotiation, and political compromise. Rather, it is a unity based upon a plat-form given by divine revelation: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all (vv. 4-6). This plat-form embodying the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ was revealed by and is perpetuated by New Testament apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (v. 11). The work of revealing truth was completed in the first century; the work of propagating and perpetuating that truth continues. God ordained this plan “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (v. 12). As faithful men continue “speaking the truth in love,” they are able to maintain “the unity of the faith” along with the spiritual health and proper function of “the whole body” (vv. 13-16).

To save the lost and to strengthen the saved, gospel preachers are still proclaiming to all mankind the words of Jesus Christ on marriage, divorce, and remarriage:

But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery (Matt. 5:32).

And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, comritteth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery (Matt. 19:9).

Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery (Mark 10:11-12).

Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery (Luke 16:18).

In short, Jesus gave one divine rule for all mankind. God’s law requires one man to be married to one woman for a lifetime. One and only one exception is given. When one mate commits an act of immorality, the innocent partner is permitted (though not required) to put away his or her mate, and to marry another.

No inspired apostle or prophet of the first century ever revealed anything which added to, subtracted from, or otherwise altered this law announced by the Lord of lords and King of kings during his earthly ministry. No New Testament evangelist ever preached any other doctrine. Our task today is to preserve, to preach, and to defend what Jesus and his apostles taught on this matter and on all other matters.

The Bible ground is the unity ground. During the 1800s in America, many people came out of sin, denominationalism, and error of various kinds with a determination to “speak as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). They were dedicated to a restoration of the ancient order of things by demanding positive divine authority for all that they preached and practiced. Speaking where the Bible speaks and being silent where the Bible is silent led them back to the Bible ground on marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

History records that these Christians generally believed that “no release” could be given to a mate “unless the other party has been guilty of fornication.” The claim of “desertion” as “a just cause for divorce and re-marriage” was rejected. Brethren were “cautious and circumspect in inspecting the marital status of their members and rigorously disciplined offenders. … In general, the churches were probably more diligent in enforcing their code of morality in this area than in any other” (David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Quest for a Christian America [Nashville, TN: Disciples of Christ Historical Society, 1966], pp. 196-97). What brethren did does not prove what we are to do, but it demonstrates that God’s plan for truth, purity, and unity will work if only we have the faith to work God’s plan.

Doubtless, further historical re-search will show that brethren patiently and vigorously discussed differences at times through the years. Perhaps some overreacted and others compromised with error. One thing is certain: Recent history shows the far-reaching implications and wide-ranging applications of error on the divorce issue. The issue has be-come more urgent because divorces and remarriages have become epidemic. History helps us to see the end results of certain courses of action, confirming the exhortations and warnings of Scripture, but our only authority in religion is the Bible and not the record of history (1 Cor. 4:6; 2 Thess. 2:15).

Inevitable, Unavoidable Division

While the system or scheme of redemption gives men time to learn and grow in the truth, the New Testament also warns against the danger of de-parting from the faith by teaching the doctrines and commandments of men (Heb. 5:12-14; 1 Tim. 1:3; 4:1; 2 John 9-11). When this begins to happen, brethren bear with one another as far as possible to permit time and opportunity for issues to be fully examined in the light of God’s word. When that process has been exhausted, brethren embracing error harden themselves in the error, and division becomes inevitable. “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (1 Cor. 11:19).

How can we recognize an inevitable and unavoidable division coming? We live in a time when false theories on divorce and remarriage are being preached, pressed, and practiced. Four key earmarks of approaching, inevitable division can already be seen.

1. The theories being advocated and advanced directly contradict the fundamental rule, base lines, or perimeters given by Jesus (one man for one woman for life, the only exception being that a moral mate can put away a fornicator and marry another person). Some other rule is substituted for the one given by Jesus. It is not that brethren share the common playing field of truth given in such passages as Matthew 19:9 and differ only as to whether a given situation constitutes an infraction of the rules shared by all. No, the playing field itself is changed!

Totally new playing fields are created by these theories: The fornicator can marry a new mate; desertion in the absence of fornication permits subsequent marriages; alien sinners are not amenable to Christ’s law on marriage no matter what it means; baptism sanctifies adulterous marriages; and, adultery is non-sexual covenant breaking. All these theories openly advocate that people can stay in marriages contrary to the rule of one man for one woman for life, the only exception being that the innocent party can divorce the fornicator and marry another person. That is why division is inevitable.

2. Brethren defending these false theories almost invariably appeal to the premise that divine silence permits people to remain in marriages contrary to what Jesus stated. The absence of a specific prohibition is cited as authority, contrary to 1 Peter 4:11 (“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God”). This reflects and reinforces a departure from the fundamental precepts of Bible authority. Rather than appealing to positive di-vine authority for their position, falseteachers make such arguments as, “Where does the Bible say certain people cannot remain in their marriages?” As we have learned from past apostasies, when one practice is justified by appealing to a perversion of divine silence, other practices are soon justified on the same basis. This makes division inevitable.

3. Because these theories involve an open departure from the rule of morality given by Jesus, and appeal to silence, they breed looseness on other moral issues as well. Error is a progressive and degenerative disease (2 Tim. 2:16; 3:13). As time goes on, more and more people under the influence of these theories participate in such worldly practices as immodest dress (in mixed swimming and daily dress too), gambling (lottery tickets and Las Vegas too), dancing, and drinking intoxicants (beer, wine, mixed drinks, etc.). This carnality will increase. Worldly-minded people and spiritually minded people inevitably separate themselves from each other (2 Cor. 6:17; Eph. 5:11).

4. Ninety percent of the fellowship question takes care of itself when the truth is consistently taught. False teachers will not tolerate the preaching of the truth, though they plead for toleration toward their teaching of error. This is generally true both of those who teach error on divorce and remarriage and those who claim the truth but want unity-in-doctrinal-diversity on the matter. People who cannot abide sound doctrine simply cannot abide the open examination of controversial issues and cannot stand the searchlight of truth (John 3:19-21; 2 Tim. 4:3-4). Such people eventually and inevitably go out from us (1 John 2:19).

(For further study on passages and principles directly setting forth fundamental truth on marriage, divorce, and remarriage, see my following articles: “Matthew 5:31-32 On Marriage and Divorce,” “Matthew 19:3-12 . . .,” “Luke 16:18…,” and “What Shall We Do With Christ’s Law on Marriage,” Guardian of Truth, 7 July, 18 Aug. 1983, pp. 397-99, 426-27, 431, 459, & 489-90 respectively; “David Lipscomb on Marriage and Divorce,” GOT, 1 Dec. 1983, pp. 707-709, 726-27; with Harry R. Osborne, Lee Stewart, and Tim P. Stevens, “Re-cent Studies With Homer Hailey on Divorce and Remarriage,” GOT, 17 Nov. 1988, pp. 689-91; “Matthew 19 and Deuteronomy 24: Moses and Christ,” GOT, 4 Jan. 1990, pp. 3-6; “Married for Life, With One Exception,” Searching the Scriptures, Sept. 1991, pp. 491-92; “Divorce and Re-marriage: No Waiting Game,” GOT, 18 Mar. 1993, pp. 168-69; Ward Hogland, “Comments on 1 Corinthians 7 by Ron Halbrook West Columbia, Texas” and my “Commendation of Gospel Truths’ Open Door Policy,” Gospel Truths, Aug. & Oct. 1993, pp. 175-77 & 223-24; “Temporal Consequences of Sin,” GOT, 16 Sept. 1993, pp. 558-59; “Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage: Study Material by J.W. McGarvey,” GOT, 2 Dec. 1993, pp. 716-19, 730; “`Marriage Is Honorable:’ A Study of Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage,” GOT, 20 June 1996, pp. 368-371. See also the Halbrook-Freeman Debate recently published by the G.O.T. Foundation.)

Guardian of Truth XL: No. 16, p. 16-18
August 15, 1996

By Nell Kercheville

Have you ever learned a foreign language just for the express purpose of preaching the gospel to those in another country? Have you ever left your home and the surroundings you are so accustomed to and comfortable with to go to another land and preach to a humble and sincere people? Have you ever been blessed to stay in the home of one of these people and sleep on the floor with the rest of the family, all in their one-room house? In the middle of the night you awaken so sick that you have to get up and tread your way through the sleeping bodies to get outside since there is no indoor plumbing.

Have you ever repeatedly chosen without hesitation to travel into a country where you know that at some point you have a good chance of being sick? Have you ever been in a hotel room alone in that country and been so sick you think you might not live until morning? Because of your sickness you purposely do not lock the door for fear some-one will not be able to get to you to help. The next day the local preacher finally becomes worried and comes to see about you. You pray, “0 Lord, thank you for this good man.” He goes home and has his wife make “atole” (a rice drink) for you. How soothing it is! By the time evening services come you are so weak you can’t imagine being able to preach. But you must and you do. Too weak to stand, you have to sit while you preach. The thought occurs time and again in your mind, “Can I make it?” But then you look at all those eager faces. They have come to hear the gospel, but not as an American would hear, they have come to hear that which they have never heard before. As you preach you hear them exclaiming, “Que precioso!” (“How precious!”). Suddenly all your weariness is forgotten and you could preach all night to these who so desire to hear the Good News.

Have you ever traveled to another country to preach and found that the brethren have secured a huge tent for a meeting place? “Wonderful!” you think. But then you find out that the tent has to be moved, not once, but three more times. The tent has to be taken down and moved to another town and put up again, ready just in time for the next services. Your job? You are to crawl under this dusty dirty tent and put the poles in place while the men on the outside have several “business meetings” on how it should be done. (Ever attended a business meeting?) By the end of the day you are tired, dirty, and hungry. You have just enough time to get cleaned up and start preaching. The thought runs through your mind repeatedly, “Is this worth it?” But all those thoughts are soon erased when you see over 500 souls from the community who have gathered hungry to hear the pure gospel of our Lord. “Que precioso!” they say. “Que precioso!”

Have you ever had your ribs broken just before leaving on one of these trips? You travel over rugged bumpy dirt roads to reach a community where you arrive with your ribs in worse condition than when you left. The bed you sleep on is hard and when you roll over on one of those ribs  wow, the pain! But on this trip you have a real treat. They have built a room for the visiting preacher. How nice, but then it strikes again, the “revenge.” This time you don’t have to climb over bodies because the men of the community have built the “little house” on the hill. You think, “What a relief, better than last time when there was nothing and the outhouse was just “out.” But then comes the negative side. Walking up that hill hour after hour in a weakened condition is no picnic. And then there is the little house. The men dug the hole too big for the house. Dig another hole? Naw, throw a couple of logs across the hole and set the little house on the logs. Have you ever tried to sit in a privy with a canvas for a door and the west wind blowing? You have to hold the canvas with one hand and steady yourself with the other so that you do not get thrown over by the rocking of the little house on the logs. But still you must preach as you hear the voices of hungry souls, “Que precioso!”

Have you ever been invited to the humble home of one of these Christians to eat? You tremble as you realize you may be taking food from their children. But you cannot refuse because they would be so hurt. How glad you are that you have come! The graciousness with which they serve you is so heartwarming that it often brings tears to your eyes. No matter what the obstacle, no matter the hardship, they serve you and give to you what they have. These people are so grateful for the precious words of life you have brought them. How precious the word of God! And now it is you who say, “Que precioso!” You go away knowing you have received much more than you have given.

After over fifty years of this work, you come to the evening of your life. Your steps are slower and your health fails. But you press on. The love of Christ constrains you. You work as long as there is breath and one more soul to save. As you reflect on your life you know that materially you have little and the hardships have been many. But oh what riches you do have. Would you change your life if you could do it over? No! “Que precioso!”

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 9
April 4, 1996

By Irvin Himmel

All who obey the gospel are blessed by the grace of God. It is the grace of God that brings salvation (Tit. 2:11). We are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9). To re-pent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins is to respond to the grace of God.

Paul and the other apostles were ambassadors or good-will messengers to show people how to be reconciled to God. Their entreaty was, “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).

“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1). Paul and his fellow-workers were cooperating with God by declaring the word of his grace, the word of reconciliation. Paul pleaded with others “that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”

There are several ways in which reception of the grace of God may be in vain or to no useful purpose.

By Turning to a Different Gospel

After being called into the grace of Christ, the Galatians were quickly removing to “another gospel,” a perversion of the gospel of Christ (Gal.1:6, 7). Paul’s assessment of their situation was this: “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain” (Gal. 4:11).

By Failure to Bear Fruit

A fruit tree is expected to produce fruit. “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). The Christian who fails to be fruitful is barren. Jesus said,

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). Read Galatians 5:22, 23 to learn more about the fruit of the Spirit.

By Permitting God’s Word to be Choked

In the parable of the sower and the soils, the seed falling among thorns illustrates one who hears God’s word, but “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” (Mark 4:18, 19).

By Turning Back to Worldly Pollutions

Some who have escaped the pollutions of the world are again entangled therein and overcome. Peter compares such persons to a sow that was washed and returns to wallowing in the mire (2 Pet. 2:20-22). One’s receiving God’s grace is indeed in vain if he goes back to his old vile way of life.

By Losing Faith

The Israelites were delivered from Egypt by the grace of God. Most of them perished in the wilderness. Why could they not enter the promised land? Because of unbelief (Heb. 3:19). In this there is a lesson for Christians. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” (Heb. 3:12).

By Beginning in the Spirit and Ending in the Flesh

Paul asked the Galatians, “Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3). The apostle was determined to keep his body in subjection, not allowing the flesh to become the master, lest he be rejected (1 Cor. 9:27).

Many people who have received the grace of God have nullified the effect of that grace in such ways as these listed above. Now is the day of salvation! Now is the time to give earnest heed to our calling and our election (2 Pet. 1:5-10).

Guardian of Truth XL: No. 16, p. 11
August 15, 1996

By Larry Ray Hafley

The Bible warns against the danger of “evil surmisings,” or “evil suspicions” (1 Tim. 6:4). In 1 Chronicles 19, Nahash, the king of Ammon, died. “And David said I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his Father.” However, certain political leaders among the Ammonites were suspicious and said to Hanun, “Do you think that David is honoring your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Have not his servants come to you to search and to over-throw and to spy out the land?”

Hanun, acting on their suspicions, mistreated and “greatly humiliated” David’s servants. As a result, a destructive war of death and destruction soon followed. It was all caused by “evil surmisings,” by “evil suspicions.”

A suspicious attitude is hard to fight. One who has such a defiled disposition can always “justify” his reasons for feeling as he does. He sees every extended, helping hand as a clenched fist. He views your smile as proof that you are laughing at him. If you give him an egg for breakfast, he thinks you are calling him “a chicken.” If you give him a peach for lunch, he thinks you are the pits. There is just no way to satisfy a negative, suspicious state of mind. Such people spread their dark thoughts to others and cause them to become wary and unsettled. They assign evil motives to even the most harmless of words and deeds. See 1 Chronicles 19 related above.

Brethren, beware of this gloomy outlook. True love is not suspicious. It “thinketh no evil” (1 Cor. 13:5). It does not assume the worst. It expects that which is good and puts the best construction on the motives and deeds of others. Love builds. Suspicion tears down. Love unites. Suspicion divides. Love trusts. Suspicion doubts. Love smiles. Suspicion glares. Love attracts. Suspicion repels. Love forgives and forgets. Suspicion remembers what never happened. Love appreciates this article and its admonition. Suspicion says, “It was aimed at me.” (For once, suspicion’s fears are confirmed. It was.)

Guardian of Truth XL: No. 16, p. 14
August 15, 1996