Truth Magazine

By Clinton D. Hamilton

Questions submitted for response in this column come from diverse people scattered throughout this and other countries. No doubt, there is a context in which the question arose and a context clearly understood by the questioners when they posed the questions. However, the one receiving the questions may read in some other context. Hopefully, in this column, the point of issue in the questioner’s mind will be addressed.

Question: Are the English words church and kingdom the same thing? If yes, are there any exceptions? Is the word church ever used in any other way than people? Assembled or not.

Response: The simplest answer to give is that the word church and the word kingdom are not the same thing. But more needs to be said. Church in the English translations of the Bible is from the Greek term ekklesia. The meaning of ekklesia is assembly, congregation, a called out group, or some such sense. Kingdom is translated from basileia, which means, as an abstract noun, sovereignty, royal power, or dominion. By metonymy, it is often used to mean the people over whom a king rules. Sometimes, it is used to denote the territory over which a king rules. It can be quickly observed that the two words church and kingdom do not mean the same thing.

However, it should be stated that the two words can refer to exactly the same group of people but viewed from different standpoints. Those who are called by the gospel (2 Thess. 2:13-14) and baptized into the one body (1 Cor. 13:13) and together constituting the saved in a given location as in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2) or the entire group of the saved in Christ (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 5:25) are referred to as the church. On the other hand, this same group might be viewed from another figure as being the people ruled by the king Jesus.

One enters the kingdom of God by the new birth of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:5); one enters the church in the same way (Acts 18:8; 1 Cor. 12:13). The group known as the kingdom, therefore, is the same as the group known as the church. In these uses, the two groups are identical but are viewed from entirely different points. Rule, sovereignty, or dominion is the emphasis in the term kingdom but in church the emphasis is on one’s being called out of the world and being in special relation to the Savior.

In all contexts in which the term church or ekklesia is used in the New Testament, and it is used approximately 115 times, it refers to a congregation or group of people.

However, the same congregation by nature of the people is not always meant. In Acts 7:38, the church is the group of Jews brought out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Other instances of the occurrence of ekk1esia have reference to a different group by nature: a mob called together off the street is the meaning in Acts 19:32,41; in Acts 19:39, the assembly is a regularly constituted body under the laws prevailing in the political realm. People are involved in each of these and they were viewed as assembled together.

In some contexts, the church is viewed as scattered and persecuted as individual men and women belonging to the assembly. These were delivered to prison (Acts 8:1,3). Those that were scattered passed through where they were, preaching the word (Acts 8:4). They did this preaching as individuals but they were nevertheless members of the assembly of Christ. They were of the company of believers baptized into Christ over which he reigned.

Paul gave enlightening instructions to the Corinthians. He instructed about behavior that should govern if the whole church be come together (1 Cor. 14:23). It is obvious that those who were a part of the called out of Christ were no less a part of that group when they were at individual homes than when they assembled together. Therefore, the church can be viewed as assembled or unassembled. Each member of the church was to control himself so as to obey the instructions given as to how he was to behave in the assembly (1 Cor. 14:26-35). The case is that the church could be assembled or disassembled. People, of course, are always involved. Certain things could be done by individuals when unassembled that could not be done with God’s approval when they were assembled (1 Cor. 14:33-35).

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 18, p. 549
September 20, 1990

By Jimmy Tuten

Introduction:

A. Review the introduction in lesson 1. Stress the influence of Romans 12 for determining what is acceptable Christian conduct.

1. The basic motivation of obedience – God’s love for mankind (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 12:1, “the mercies of God”).

2. The plea for mortal compliance – “I beseech you” (Lit. I beg you, please, a tone of gentle, affectionate persuasion).

3. By calling his readers “brethren,” he employs the appeal of love to enforce the precepts of duty.

4. Too, his language implies that compliance with his admonitions is not a matter optional and indifferent.

B. Before entering upon specific duties of the God-pleasing life, and depicting in detail the character of the Christian, the apostle exhibits in this verse the general and comprehensive principle of practical Christianity.

1. As a matter of course, the Christian must offer a sacrifice and a service.

2. The presentation of self to God is the one great act in which all specific acts of obedience are summed

up and involved.

3. Let God’s people come before him, bringing with them a living sacrifice and offering to heaven a spiritual, reasonable worship.

4. With such the Father will be well pleased.

Body:

I. What the inspired writer commands that we present:

A. “Present your bodies.” Nothing is more characteristic of N.T. Christianity than this demand, for it reveals the value and glory of the human body.

1. The Greek world in Paul’s day believed that the body was only evil, something to be despised. The position of the humanist, the evolutionist, etc. today degrades the body.

2. God reveals that the body, as well as the soul, belongs to him and that man can serve him with it as he can with his mind and spirit.

3. God reveals the value of the flesh of the Christian (1 Cor. 6:19; 3:17; 6:20). The greatest demonstration of its value, perhaps, is that Christ took upon himself this form (Phil. 2:5-11).

4. The fact that it is the body, and not the whole man that is under consideration is seen in that:

a. Body is from the Gr. word soma, meaning the physical body.

b. It is contrasted with the “mind” of verse 2. c. The word “present” is the technical term for presenting the Levitical offerings and victims (Wuest, Romans In the Greek New Testament, p. 205). “Present” means “to offer, to put at one’s disposal (cf. 6:3, “yield”).

B. “A Living Sacrifice. ” In contrast to the slain (dead) sacrifice of the O.T. which was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:1,11-12,28). However, the Lord having been slain arose from the sacrificial death. The slaughter of a lamb under the old economy could not prefigure this fact.

1. In view of this fact, God decreed that the Christian himself be presented as a living sacrifice, “dying to sin, buried with Christ in baptism, and rising to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:1-4, jt), and thus providing a continual witness of the primary facts of the gospel. . .”(Coffman, Romans, p. 410).

2. This new sacrifice referred far more emphatically to Christ than did the ancient type (the sacrifice of the Christian looks back to the cross, while the sacrificial lamb of the O.T. looked forward to his coming).

3. Christ is truly the keynote of all Scripture and the focus of all true religion. When we present ourselves a living sacrifice we witness to the great facts of the gospel (1 Pet. 3:21). This sacrifice requires the volition and assent of the whole person who formally and faithfully continues to present himself in worship and service.

4. Our bodies are presented alive, indicative of action. Yet, some try to present a sick, weak body (1 Cor. 11:30; Eph. 5:14; 1 Thess. 5:6).

C. A “Holy” Sacrifice. Indicates the sacredness of the action in being set apart for the Lord’s use (1 Pet. 1:15). There must be purity of life, without pollution, brokenness or divided interest (Eph. 1:4; Rom. 2:2; Jas. 4:7-10). Cf. the demands of “without spot or blemish” of the sacrifices of the Law of Moses.

D. An “acceptable” sacrifice. One that is well-pleasing to God (2 Cor. 5:9).

1 . To be “acceptable” it must be authorized (Lev. 10:1; 1 Sam. 15:22; Col. 3:17). God will not accept everything we put a religious face on (Col. 2:20-23).

2. It matters little what men think of us, if God approves what we do. Our highest aim should be to please him; the fact that we do please him is our highest reward!

E. This Sacrifice Is A “Reasonable Service. “Reasonable” is that which pertains to the mind. Thayer says this is “worship which is rendered by the reason, or the soul.”

1. This “service” is in keeping with the conclusions of the highest intelligence which acknowledges that it is harmonious with all that really blesses man. “The most ardent application of discerning intelligence will always reveal the reasonableness of serving God” (Coffman, p. 412).

2. This does not mean that we do what is just or equitable, as in the purchase of land because the price is reasonable. It pertains to the Bible heart of man, i.e., obey from the heart (Rom. 6:17). This is a death blow to formalism in religion.

F. It is a sacrifice of our feelings (many allow themselves to be dominated by feelings which are inconsistent with the precepts and spirit of Christ) and affections (Matt. 22:36-40). Note the example of Christ who “pleased not himself” (Phil. 2).

II. In sacrificing ourselves we sacrifice to God a potential for greatness.

A. The sacrifice of the eyes (Lust of the eye is, replaced with a diligent study of his Word, 2 Tim. 2:15 – a vision for his work, Jn. 9:4).

B. The sacrifice of the ears (“swift to hear” the voice of instruction and not temptation, Jas. 1:19).

C. The sacrifice of the hands (“working with his hands the thing that is good,” Eph. 4:28).

D. The sacrifice of the feet (not fleeing from responsibility, Jonah 1:3; Rom. 10:15).

E. The sacrifice of the tongue (“Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth,” Eph. 4:29).

F. The sacrifice of the emotions (as the works of the flesh, Gal. 5:19-21, replaced by the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22-23).

G. The sacrifice of the affections (love for all others and all else is secondary to love for Jehovah, Matt. 10:37).

Conclusion:

1. The best summary of Romans 12:1 is found in the story of the scribe who asked Jesus, “What commandment is the first of all?” (Mk. 12:28)

2. It is expressed in Mark 12:30.

3. Because we have been so richly blessed, and so generously granted the mercies of God, well should we sing with the famed Isaac Watts:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 18, pp. 555-556
September 20, 1990

By J. Wiley Adams

I sit here alone with a broken heart. It is hard for me to write because Wilma, my beloved and beautiful wife, is no longer at my side. For more than 45 years she was always at my side. She died on July 28, 1990 of a pontine hemorrhage, a stroke at the base of the skull in an area which controls various body functions such as hearing, sight, blood pressure, and swallowing. Rarely is there ever any recovery from this type of stroke and, if so, the quality of life is to have no real use of oneself. How merciful that my dignified Virginian lady was spared from that which would have been worse than death for her and her family.

We were in a gospel meeting with the Thorn church of the Lord at the time she was stricken. This is near Houston, Mississippi. We were staying in the home of the Leroy Clarks. What a wonderful week it had been. Crowds were good. Singing was good. A lot of visitors from the area had come each night and some from a long distance. We had one more night to go.

The Clarks had a group of brethren into their home after services Thursday night for refreshments and association. It was so pleasant. Shortly after the guests departed Wilma had a dizzy spell, as she had been having from time to time lately. Thinking it to be an inner ear problem she took one of her pills for that problem. Her condition progressively grew worse until about 4 A.M. Friday. She told me she thought she had had a stroke. We summoned an ambulance from nearby Houston Hospital. On the way to the hospital she lost awareness and she never was conscious again. At Houston Hospital she was treated at the emergency room to no avail. On the advice of the doctor there she was sent immediately by helicopter to North Mississippi Regional Hospital at Tupelo 35 miles away.

Brother Clark took me to Tupelo while his wife and Allen Malone loaded my car and called various members of the family for me. They later came to Tupelo with my car and things. All the children were on the way soon. Allen finished the meeting in my place.

Wilma lingered until Saturday at 2:45 P.M. Three of the grandchildren (Stan and Carla’s boys) had come from Texas and were allowed in to say goodbye to “Mamaw” shortly before she expired. Then, with all our children gathered around her as I held her hand and as blood pressure dropped very low, her pulse went into a straight line on the monitor. Wilma had departed peacefully and without a struggle from this life to be with the Lord and all those saints who had gone on before. We all kissed her brow and said farewell. It was so comforting to have also at her bedside with us Tom O’Neal, Martin Adams, and Allen Malone. The Clarks kept the children in the waiting room. We all wept.

We brought her back to Warner Robins, Georgia where we have lived and labored with the Westside church for 19 years. A beautiful service was held at McCullough Funeral Home July 31st at 2 P.M. The service was conducted by Tom O’Neal, Sewell Hall, and Andy De Klerk. Beautiful congregational singing was ably led by Duane Combs and Allen Neely. It was a service of praise to God, tribute to a wonderful woman, wife, mother, and grandmother, and an appeal to the lost to get right with God.

Her body was then taken to Hopewell, Virginia, her home town and mine, for another service at Gould Funeral Home on Thursday, August 2nd at 2 P.M. This service was conducted by John Nosker, Paul Casebolt, and Weldon Warnock with Connie W. Adams conducting the grave side service. Again the singing was congregational with Allen Malone leading. The service was comforting and uplifting. We laid Wilma’s body to rest about 4 P.M. in nearby Chesterfield County at Sunset Memorial Park in the family plot. Connie’s closing remark before the final prayer was: “Sweet, sweet Wilma, we will all miss you.”

Unique to the occasion was the use of our three sons, our son-in-law, and the three older grandsons as pallbearers. Also in final tribute, a memory rose was placed on the casket by each of the grandchildren. Wilma is survived by her husband Wiley, a daughter, Paige Deason, three sons, Arthur W., Stanley W., and Keith W. Adams, and preceded in death by a baby daughter Karen Ruth. There are nine grandchildren.

Wilma will be missed by all who knew her and loved her. No gospel preacher had ever had a better, more supportive wife. Her loss is like cutting off my right arm. There are so many things I could say but I must be selective. They are in my heart forever whether or not they are written down. Many beautiful memories will sustain us in the days ahead.

It was Wilma who encouraged me to devote full-time to the preaching of the gospel. It was she who helped me more than anyone else to achieve this goal. Patiently she tended to our family and urged me on in this noble work. She was my most attentive listener as well as my most concerned critic. She always followed me in the Scriptures as I preached or taught and took notes on my sermons as though she had never heard them before. She was a wonderful example to her family and to the whole church wherever we were. She had no patience with women who complained about being the wife of a preacher. She counted it an honor to serve the Lord by helping me to preach the gospel and become an elder in the church.

Her efforts to help me in the preaching of the gospel must not be wasted. With God’s help they shall not be. I must continue on in the work of the kingdom of God. I know I will never be quite the same again. I will never get over missing her. But she would say if she could, “Wiley, preach the word. You are my preacher man.”

And so I will do this for whatever time I have left and finish my course as she did hers and keep the faith until that day, whether soon or late, when I shall be laid at her side to await the resurrection and to enter into Heaven’s gates together – together still, forever.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her prize is far above rubies?” (Prov. 31:10) Well, Wiley Adams did find such a woman and her name was Wilma. Goodbye, my love – for now!

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 18, pp. 554-555
September 20, 1990

By Michael Garrison

The word “Christian” occurs but three times in the New Testament. Its significance is “a follower of Christ,” according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary. By studying each occurrence of the term, we can learn much about being a Christian.

Acts 11:26

“And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” Not just anyone was called by this name, but the disciples of Jesus the Christ were called Christians. A disciple is “a learner, i.e. pupil” (Ibid.). Jesus told those Jews who believed on him, “If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. . . ” (Jn. 8:31). So, one is a disciple, or Christian, who continues in Christ’s word.

It is thought by some that the name Christian was given to followers of Christ by their enemies as a derogatory name. Such is not the case at all. Strong’s Dictionary says the Greek word translated “called” here means “to utter an oracle, i.e. divinely intimate.” The word is also used in Romans 7:3, “. . . if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. . . ” Who called her an adulteress? God did! Who called the disciples “Christians”? According to the definition, God did, not the enemies of the Truth.

The above facts correspond with the prophecy in Isaiah 62:2: “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” The new name is Christian!

Acts 26:28

After hearing Paul’s defense of the faith, King Agrippa said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Paul answered, “I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” Paul did not think the term “Christian” to be a derogatory one, but one of honor.

When the truth is presented and people believe and obey that truth, they become just Christians. The Bible only, makes Christians only. It takes the creeds, traditions, catechisms, etc., of men to become a member of some denomination and to be called something other than a Christian. We should be content to wear the God-approved, God-given name, Christian, with no additions, subtractions, or substitutions!

1 Peter 4:16

“Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” Peter tells us that followers of Christ should not “suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.” Such things are not according to the righteousness of Christ. In verse 14, Peter mentions being “reproached for the name of Christ. . .” which is equivalent to verse 16, “if any man suffer as a Christian.”

From the above, the student of truth can see that the term “Christian” is a term that was given by God to his faithful ones and was not a derogatory name applied by those fighting against God. Nor was the name made up by the disciples of Christ themselves.

Who Is A Christian?

In answering this question, let us ask: “Who is an American?” We realize that an alien must do certain things to become an American. It is not enough for one to just call himself an American. Neither is it enough for other people to call him an American. Rather, an alien must do certain things required by the law to become an American.

So, in answering, “Who is a Christian?” we must turn to the New Testament (the law of God, the “constitution of the kingdom” if you will) and learn what an alien must do to become a Christian. It is not enough for one to call himself one, or for others to call him a Christian. Rather, he must do what is required by the law (New Testament) to become a Christian.

The plain teaching of the Scriptures says that sinners are saved by:

Faith. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But, what is faith? According to J.H. Thayer’s lexicon, it is “used especially of the faith by which a man embraces Jesus, i.e. a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah – the divinely appointed author of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God, conjoined with obedience to Christ” (emphasis mine, m1g). So, without obedience, there is no genuine saving faith!

Repentance. Luke 13:5 says, “. . except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish.” Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words says, “repent” “signifies to change one’s mind or purpose, always, in the N.T., involving a change for the better, . . . and always, except in Luke 17:3,4, of repentance from sin.”

Confession. Matthew 10:32 records, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven.” The word “confess” means “to declare openly by way of speaking out freely, such confession being the effect of deep conviction of facts” (Vine’s).

Baptism. Mark 16:16 teaches us, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” I emphasized the word and because many don’t seem to see that word! Jesus gave the terms of salvation: I can only teach what he said. Mr. Vine tells us, “baptism, consist(s) of the processes of immersion, submersion and emergence.” There is no truth that baptism can be sprinkling or a pouring of water on someone. Let us believe and follow the Head of the church!

Then, once one has become a Christian, he is added by the Lord to his church. One does not go out to seek some “church” to join (see Acts 2:47, KJV)- Also, a Christian must continue to walk in the right way to remain faithful unto God. We learn from 1 John 1:6-7, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Mr. Vine goes into some detail with the word “walk,” but I think what he says bears learning. He says the term is used “. . . figuratively, signifying the whole round of the activities of the individual life. . . It is applied to the observance of religious ordinances, Acts 21:21; Heb. 13:9 . . . as well as moral conduct. The Christian is to walk in newness of life, Rom. 6:4, after the spirit of life, Rom. 6:4, after the spirit, 8:4; in honesty, 13:13; by faith, 2 Cor. 5:7; in good works, Eph. 2:10; in love, 5:2; in wisdom, Col. 4:5; in truth, 2 Jn. 4; after the commandments of the Lord, v. 6. And, negatively, not after the flesh, Rom. 8:4; not after the manner of men, 1 Cor. 3:3; not in craftiness, 2 Cor. 4:2; not by sight, 5:7; not in the vanity of mind, Eph. 4:17; not disorderly, 2 Thess. 3:6.”

If you are not a Christian, what hinders your obedience to the Lord? “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5: 10). Why not do the good thing and obey the Lord before it is too late?

Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 17, pp. 525-526
September 6, 1990