Truth Magazine

By Harry R. Osborne

My thanks go to brother Wilson for his willingness to engage in this discussion and to brother Willis for asking me to have this part. May God help brethren who differ over the teaching of Scripture to open their hearts to him and each another with the Bible as the sole guide to unity. My effort in this discussion will be to investigate the things said in the light of divine truth and urge unity thereon.

Since brother Wilson did not apply the principles declared, we are left to wonder how far reaching his application may be and hope he will tell us in his response. He argues that “released” (NASV) of 1 Corinthians 7:27b means “divorced.” With this assumption, he then uses v. 28 to uphold the right of a divorced person to marry another. His conclusion seems to be that anyone divorced for any cause may marry another. Is our brother ready for this application? Jesus certainly is not! He forbids the remarriage of the divorced woman of Matthew 5:32b saying, “Whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Jesus said she was “divorced,” but had no right to marry another. Thus, the wide door opened in the previous article is too wide for Jesus. Such teaching will lead to a tragedy of multiplied divorce and the heartache which accompanies it.

Our brother’s conclusions are based on the false assumption that the word translated “released” (1 Cor. 7:27b) in the NASV means “divorced.” In fact, the NASV is joined by only two versions (NEB and Confraternity) out of sixteen major translations in a rendering which might imply divorce. The other thirteen do not. The word used in the Greek is lelusai, a perfect tense verb. It denotes a state of being free or loose which has continued from the past to the present time. It could have reference to a state of freedom one has always enjoyed or one gained at some point in the past. The Greek writer Hermas (140 A.D.) used a form of this word to describe a woman “with unbound hair” (Similitude, 9:9:5). The fact that a woman’s hair is loose or unbound does not imply that it was previously bound. In order to determine if her hair was formerly bound, other information would be necessary. After pointing to this and other pertinent evidence, Arndt and Gingrich say the phrase in 1 Corinthians 7:27b should be rendered, “Are you free from a wife, i.e. not bound to a wife?” They then add the comment, “a previous state of being ‘bound’ need not be assumed” (Arndt & Gingrich 483).

The vast majority of scholars state the same conclusion even though their practice conflicts with their conclusion. In commenting on 1 Corinthians 7:27b, Alford’s Greek New Testament says the word “does not imply previous marriage” (11:529). Albert Barnes defended the same conclusion (First Corinthians 126). Fisher said the perfect tense form of the word used here implied a “permanent state of freedom from marriage ties,” not one previously married and now divorced (F. Fisher, 1-2 Corinthians 117). Of the 22 commentaries consulted, only two say that divorced people may be included. Absolutely none say that it speaks only of divorced people as brother Wilson’s view demands. Many of the commentators state that Paul was referring to a “bachelor.”

The context supports the conclusion that 1 Corinthians 7:27b refers to one free from marriage ties as a “bachelor.” In context, Paul is affirming the right of those never married to become married. The paragraph starts with the words, “Now concerning virgins. . . ” (v.25). Paul’s comment, “I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give my judgment,” also helps us clarify the subject being considered. Jesus had given commandment regarding who may marry another following a divorce (Matt. 19:9; 5:32). However, the question of whether or not a virgin should marry in a time of distress was a matter of “judgment” rather than “commandment.” Throughout the paragraph, Paul tells those never married to remain free or loose from marriage ties. Lest anyone misunderstand this advice to mean that a married person should end his marriage, Paul begins v. 27 with this statement: “Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed” (1 Cor. 7:27a). The apostle then returns to the case of those never married saying, “Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife” (1 Cor. 7:27b). In v. 28, he parallels this man with the “virgin.” What is the parallel? They were both persons never previously married – one male and the other female.

This context does not establish the right of anyone divorced to marry another spouse. The only party described as “unmarried” following a divorce in 1 Corinthians 7 is told what to do in v. 11: “. . . let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband.” Why is brother Wilson’s solution in direct opposition to that of the inspired apostle? Will he deny a divorce had occurred in this case?

Even if 1 Corinthians 7:27-28 implied the right of some divorced person to remarry, we must include all other related passages to ascertain God’s truth on the matter. The Bible pattern on any subject must consider all related passages and interpret them in a way which does not conflict with any other passage. Remember, “the sum of thy word is truth” (Psa. 119:160). The Baptist finds a passage which says faith is essential, but does not mention baptism. He reasons that baptism is not essential because the verse does not mention it. Is that sound reasoning? No, it fails to consider all related passages. This is the fallacy of brother Wilson’s argument as well. He disregards part of the pattern (i.e. Matt. 5:31-32; 19:3-10) saying it is not found in 1 Corinthians 7:27-28 and, thus, does not apply there. 1 Corinthians 7 may add more restrictive conditions to Jesus’ teaching about the right of a divorced person to lawfully marry another, but it cannot loosen those conditions. Paul did not give every divorced person the right to marry another, thus contradicting Jesus.

Jesus clearly stated a condition which must be met if one is to marry another spouse following a divorce: “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery” (Matt. 19:9). Teaching to the contrary notwithstanding, “except” means just exactly what it says! The word “except” is found three times in John 3:2-5. In v. 2, Nicodemus rightly says, “for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him.” Jesus could work miracles if and only if God was with him. In v. 3, Jesus says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” One can see the kingdom of God if and only if he is born again. In v. 5, our Lord declares, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Is it hard to see that one can enter the kingdom of God if and only if he is born of water and the Spirit? All of us understand that more conditions need to be met for salvation than stated here, but these conditions are absolutely essential in every case! The exception clause makes that abundantly plain. By the same token, Matthew 19:9 shows that one may put away a spouse and lawfully marry another if and only if that spouse was put away for fornication. Thus, the condition is essential!

Lastly, when brother Wilson said that it was “only by implication” that we understand the right of the innocent party to remarry, what was the point? Is he saying such is not implied by Christ in Matthew 19:9? If so, let him tell us why it is not. Is he denying a principle of truth can be established by divine implication? If so, we need to discuss how to establish Bible authority. Is he saying that we accept one idea without authority, therefore we can accept another. If so, we have returned to the liberal plea of “no patternism”! Which is it?

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 15, pp. 465-466
August 1, 1991

By Donald Townsley

Brother J.W. McGarvey, in his Chapel Talks (which were delivered to the students of the College of the Bible in the school year 1910-11), shows that the title which I have chosen for this article was true in his day. Under the subject, “Poor Preachers, ” he said: “Some twenty-five or thirty years ago when we had about two hundred preachers in the state of Kentucky, I took pains to find out in regard to those whom I did not know personally how many of them were the sons of wealthy men, not millionaires, but such men as pass in rural sections as rich men. Out of all the number there were only two that were rich men’s sons – one in a hundred. That tells the story in regards to Kentucky. On another occasion when chapel was more largely attended than it is today I called upon all students whose expenses at college were being paid by their parents to stand, and out of nearly a hundred only nine stood up. That shows that not only was the preaching done by the poor, but it was the sons of the poor that were preparing to be the next generation of preachers. This has been the case all the way back to the beginning. So we can say of this as the Episcopalians so often say in their prayer book of another subject, “as it was from the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.”

I think brother McGarvey’s statement is as true today as it was then. Poor boys are still making preachers and carrying the gospel to the lost of the world. But, someone may say, “Don’t you think that one of the reasons we have a preacher shortage today is the way preachers are being paid?” With that attitude before us, let me remind all of us, preachers included, that preachers are not made by wages! I say to the extent that this (wages) keeps men from preaching is a blessing to the Lord’s church! Brother McGarvey said it this way: “Any young man who declines preparing himself for the ministry for this reason (money) is not fit to enter upon it.” And to the extent that the anticipation of poverty keeps men out of the ministry it keeps out those who would be an encumbrance, a dead weight, and a disadvantage. They are not fit to go into the pulpit who are controlled by this consideration.”

The Lord and his church do not need men who are motivated to make preachers for the purpose of earthly gain or selfish ambition. The Lord needs men who are “faithful men” (2 Tim. 2:2). I shall never forget what brother Roy E. Cogdill told me when I was a young preacher. He said: “When a preacher becomes ambitious for himself, that is the end of his usefulness to the Lord and his cause.” I have tried to live by that advice till this day. Where the cause of the Lord needs men most is not necessarily where the most money is: in fact, most of the time, where a preacher is needed most is where the least money is! A preacher’s success in the Lord’s cause is not measured by the size of his weekly salary, the kind of car he drives, the type of meeting house he preaches in, or the kind of clothing he can afford to wear. If these things are marks of a preacher’s success, then John the Baptist was a complete failure (his raiment was “camel’s hair” which was very similar to “sackcloth” – only the poorest of people wore garments of this kind of material, Matt. 3:4)! This preacher (John) did not eat too “high on the lamb” either: his diet consisted of “locusts and wild honey” – what the poorer class of that day ate.

Preacher, if you count your success in terms of what you can attain in a high salary, a large congregation to want your services, a popular name on the tongue of the masses, and the privilege to travel in the circles of the socially elite, then I say that you have misunderstood what it means to be successful as a preacher. Please don’t misunderstand – I am not against a preacher being paid a good salary or a large congregation wanting his services; I am not against his being popular (if preaching the gospel will make him so), and neither do I object to his traveling in the circles of the socially elite (if he doesn’t get to thinking that this is the crowd he belongs with all the time). What I am saying is that when a man thinks of these things as his attainments of success and anything less than this marks him as a failure or is beneath him, then he has the wrong attitude toward the work of the Lord and what success in his cause is.

Faithful preachers must learn to endure some “hardness of affliction” (2 Tim. 2:3; 4:5) – things won’t always be rosy, but that is no sign that he is a failure in the Lord’s work. Men need to preach who have enough faith to trust the Lord to supply their needs (Matt. 6:24-33) as he supplied the needs of the twelve (Matt. 10:9,10); men who believe what David said in Psalms 37:35: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

I have not written this to justify those who might abuse preachers from the financial standpoint by not paying them adequately, but to show that “men of God” will not go hungry or without the necessities of life if they will faithfully preach the gospel to the lost.

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 15, pp. 482, 503
August 15, 1991

By Michael R. Baggett

That the preacher has the right to a wife is taught clearly in 1 Corinthians 9:5. Cephas (Peter) is said to have had a wife. Little is said about her, but I suppose she had many of the same problems and concerns the preacher’s wife has today.

I have no doubt that Peter’s wife was probably abused at times because of Peter’s preaching. She certainly had to sacrifice quite a bit as she followed her husband in his preaching. Who knows what she might have endured.

When I was preaching at Oak Grove, my wife was the first to learn when I was tapping on a sensitive nerve. Once, a sister in the church called my wife and told her, “Tell him he had better cool it!”

Recently, another preacher’s wife came crying to my wife about the way the sisters were treating her. This poor preacher’s wife has four children; one is just seven-months old. She said the sisters expected her to do all of the entertaining. One sister called her about her visit to an older shut-in. The sister who called informed the preacher’s wife that she did not appreciate her visiting one and not the other! How childish!

Poor preacher’s wife. No one ever offers to keep her children so she can worship more fully. No one offers to keep her children so she and the preacher can go out to dinner. Poor preacher’s wife. Her clothes and her children’s clothes must be wrinkle-free. Her house must be spotless at all times. I wonder why, no one ever visits her.

Perhaps this sounds somewhat silly. As silly as it may sound, it is the truth in some congregations!

The point is the preacher’s wife is often overlooked, misunderstood, and abused. She needs your friendship, not your criticism! She is human. She has feelings. If she is unhappy, the preacher’s work will eventually be affected. His job is already hard enough. Help him out. Help her out!

So, if you have a problem with the preacher, talk to him. Leave his wife alone. Don’t expect too much from the preacher’s wife. Treat her with kindness (Eph. 4:31,32).

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 15, p. 458
August 1, 1991

By David V. Hurst

Imitations exist today on every hand; imitation gold, imitation leather, imitation flavors, the list is endless. The same thing is true of religion. We are aware that imitation religions exist on every street corner. However, is it possible that in the pews of those who call themselves after Christ, that imitations are there as well?

Self-examination is critical for the faithful child of God. He must continually scrutinize his life to avoid having a counterfeit faith. The genuine believer is not content with “occupying space” in a building during Sunday mornings but pursues his desire to be a “real” Christian. Peter offers tangible suggestions whereby we can confirm our claim as a believer in God (1 Pet. 1). Let us study these together as we remember the admonition of Paul, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5, NIV). How may we distinguish the “genuine” from the “imitation”? What are characteristics and attitudes of the genuine believer?

The genuine believer in God is sanctified by the Spirit of God. “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied” (KJV 1 Pet. 1:2). The idea of being sanctified is that one is set apart for the special purpose of glorifying God. How is this accomplished?

The apostles were told to preach “repentance and forgiveness” when the power of the Spirit came (Luke 24:46-49). That power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) came in Acts 2 after which men were baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Therefore, they were then set apart from the world; that is, they received the sanctification of the Spirit (Acts 2:47).

The genuine believer in God is a redeemed person through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:2,18,19). He had been a slave to sin (Rom. 6:16-18) but now is made free (Jn. 8:32) by the blood of Christ. As a former slave, he appreciates the ransom paid to set him free!

The genuine believer calls upon God with the knowledge that his father will judge him in the last day (1 Pet. 1:17). His prayers are serious. One does not fool God. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things (are) naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13, KJV).

The genuine believer in God is a child of obedience (1 Pet. 1:2,14). When one thinks of a child, it will have certain characteristics depending upon its parents. For example, the “child” of a dog will most likely bark, have a tail and four legs. “Children” of obedience are those whose “habit” and “characteristics” coincide with being “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (Jas. 1:22).

The genuine believer has his loins gird about with truth (1 Pet. 1:13; cf. Eph. 6:14). This is the figure of one who takes the long flowing garment he is wearing and tucks up its fullness into his waste belt so it will not hinder him in his task. He is preparing himself for the toil ahead. He is diligent in preparation (2 Tim. 2:15, ASV).

The genuine believer is one who endeavors to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:15,16). This is the intent of the religion of Christ. Our aspirations are to think, talk, and act like God. With each passing day we progress closer to being perfect as God is perfect and to being pure as God is pure. We yearn to allow God to live through us (Gal. 2:20).

The genuine believer possesses a living hope which anchors his life (1 Pet. 1:3). Without this, one will not fight as hard as he should (Rev. 2:10). This is the major thrust of the entire epistle of 1 Peter.

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 15, p. 462-463
August 1, 1991

The genuine believer does not fashion his life through the lusts of this world in ignorance (I Pet. 1: 14). The way one talks, dresses and even his entertainment is fashioned after the society he lives in. The believer in God refuses to be like the world but transforms himself into being like God (Rom. 12:1,2).

The genuine believer is sober (I Pet. 1: 13). He is sensible and level headed. His right thinking will not allow him to be side tracked from the reward he desires and expects to receive. He is self-controlled in his life rather than his life controlling him.

The genuine believer purifies his soul (I Pet. 1:22). He has made his life sinless not because he is perfect, but because he has repented and confessed his wrong. When he fails, he continues to confess and repent asking for forgiveness that the blood of Christ will cleanse (purify) his soul (I Jn. 1:8).

The genuine believer loves his brethren with a love that is unfeigned (1 Pet. 1:22). His love for others in Christ will not be with pretense or hypocrisy, but in sincerity. It is a love that is manifested in his actions.

The genuine believer sojourns in this life (I Pet. 1: 1, 17).

He realizes he is an alien in this world. If he allows this world to infatuate him, it will be reflected in his life. It is futile to concentrate on making this world so comfortable when one’s real home is in another world.

The genuine believer is willing to go through trials of hardship (I Pet. 1:7) because he has kept his faith strong. He will put his trust in God and remember his hope (Rev. 2: 10). He esteems his blessings in God far more than the perishables in this world.

A “real” believer is one that fears God (I Pet. 1: 17). He recognizes that God is his judge. He reverences and respects God’s Word. He understands that God is a consuming fire (Heb. 10:29) and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10: 3 1). He therefore lives in the favor of God so that God in turn will protect him (I Pet 1: 5).