The Church Meeting in Jesus’ Name
602 Oak Knoll Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78228
Epistle
January 2016
Event Calendar
January 17, 2016 David Spurgeon, Sunday 11:00 AM
February 12 – 21 Revival Meeting with Mike Veach
April 16 Women’s Meeting
June 17 – 29 Youth Trip to Poland
June 20 – 24 Vacation Bible School
July 17 – 24 World Evangelism Conference
October 21,22 Men’s meeting
November 27 Thanksgiving meeting
Dinner on the grounds
Freedom of Faith
24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand. 2 Corinthians 1
Paul is exhorting the Corinthians firmly about divisions, about sins, about giving to God’s work, and a number of other serious issues. But along with exhortations and warnings, he makes the amazing statement that he does not have “dominion over” their faith. This is a singularly fresh and wholesome attitude that is almost unheard of among religious leaders. Compare it to the Pharisees’ zeal against natural Jewish citizens when they confessed to believe in Christ:
John 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
It doesn’t sound like the Pharisees believed in individual freedom of thought, or in their own responsibility to persuade their followers. The Pharisees’ zeal to persecute their own people didn’t end with excommunication either. Their lust for blood was well known, and Paul himself was at one time complicitly guilty:
Acts 26:10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
Compare it to the Roman authorities, who burned Christians alive, or tortured them to death because they were “obstinate,” as in the words of Pliny the Younger, that such Christians “merited some punishment by their stubbornness and unbending obstinacy,” simply because they admitted to being Christians even after being threatened. Or compare the attitude of Mohammed, who killed a large family of Jews in Medina (except for a pretty wife who he kept for himself) because they didn’t believe he was a prophet of God. Or modern radical Muslims who to this day follow the prescriptions in the Qu’ran to kill both infidels and apostates (converts away from Islam). What a testimony to the falseness of their beliefs that they must resort to such measures to maintain their religion. Compare Paul’s wholesome attitude to the zeal to persecute among Roman Catholic authorities before and during the Protestant reformation and the Spanish Inquisition. Or during the English reformation, when English Catholics broke from Roman Catholics, and both sides persecuted each other using the power of the throne, and yet somehow consistently agreed with each other to kill Bible thumpers like Tyndale, no matter which persuasion occupied the throne at the moment.
The attitude that all these had in common is certainty among the leaders that they had dominion over other people’s faith. They felt they had authority and power to impose their beliefs and decisions upon others. But Paul was an apostle, and the Corinthians were his followers. Surely he had the right to have dominion over their faith if ever anyone could. Yet he declares that he did not. He calls himself simply a helper of their joy. This refreshing attitude began with the emphasis in Jesus Christ’s ministry on personal faith – the persuasion of each individual. Without a personal decision of faith no one was even considered a Christian. Everyone had to be persuaded in his own mind. Consider the implications of such a doctrine. Insistence on personal faith was the declaration that every individual is free, and responsible, to choose for himself. No one, not even a parent, can decide for someone else. Jesus warned that he came not to bring peace, but a sword, and parents would soon be the enemies of their own children. Not because there is anything desirable about broken families, but because there is no other way to accomplish the wonderful freedom of faith.
Then, throughout the New Testament, comes the emphasis on freedom. Of course, much of this emphasis is on freedom from condemnation (Luke 4:18, Rom. 8:1, Rom. 8:15, Heb. 2:15, etc.) and freedom from sin (John 8:34-36, Rom. 6:18, 1 Peter 4:3, etc.), which must include freedom from inward corruption (Rom. 8:21, 2 Peter 1:4). This liberty is granted by salvation, and results in a great uplifting of the humble in society. Personal dignity is powerfully confirmed when by faith in Christ a sinner is delivered from the frailty of his flesh.
And of course a recurring theme stressed in the New Testament is freedom from the law of Moses (Acts 15:10, Gal. 4:7-9, etc.) The law of Moses was superimposed over Israel to prepare the way for Christ, but it was never intended to be permanent. The Old Testament is replete with references to a future change of the law. It should be reiterated, because of common misunderstanding or abuse of this freedom, that freedom from the law is not the right to do something we know to be wrong. There is no liberty toward drunkenness, fornication or idolatry. As Paul says “use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh” (Gal. 5:13). It should also be pointed out that our liberty is not to do something there is doubt about. In Paul’s words, “he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith” (Rom. 14:13). So that if we suspect something may be wrong, we are not free to do it. But freedom from the law means we are free to do what our conscience knows is right by the principles found in the New Testament, even if there is some prescription in the old law against it. And this is no small liberty. It is the liberty of understanding, of common sense, of truth which makes us free.
But the point of our text is the New Testament freedom from the dominion of men.
Matthew 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
1 Cor. 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
Gal. 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
1 Peter 5:3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
This is the universal attitude of apostles in the New Testament. Every believer is expected to have a direct relationship to Jesus Christ by God’s word. Every believer is responsible to hear the word and choose the right way according to his own understanding. No believer is exempt from making determinations based on the words of scripture. The idea that some group of men are in charge of our faith, telling us what the scriptures really mean, or where the common Bible is wrong and how it should read instead, is not the example left us by the apostles. This includes priests, pastors, preachers, scholars and even parents. No one has the right to reject God’s word to follow his parents’ tradition. Every individual is personally accountable to God for his or her own beliefs. And every preacher is responsible to persuade, never to coerce or control.
This personal freedom of faith, granted by our direct relationship to God through understanding the scriptures is a fundamental Christian principle that has resulted in personal dignity, universal education, political rights, freedom of speech and religion, and many more mainstays of so-called “western civilization.” (It is also what allows unbelievers to descend into moral chaos when Christian influence weakens.) The appeal of such liberty to benighted, impoverished and enslaved peoples is what worries religious and political despots worldwide, and throughout history. It is what terrifies the radical Muslims in our generation. Islam offers no personal freedom to choose, to believe, or to disagree. And Muslim clerics know they are losing their younger generation to the inevitable appeal of this liberty. This is why they are reacting so violently against the west.
But something similar happens among devout Roman Catholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses and others, who receive their doctrine from a group of “holy men” at the top of their organization. Top down organizations thrive on followers who are so convinced their church and its leaders are of God, or guided by God, that they don’t seriously question their teachings or commands, and fear to reject them. And the central leadership keeps strict control over every congregation to ensure conformity or “unity.” It is no mystery that top-down religions have very poor retention rates in free societies (children staying in their parents’ religion). Freedom of faith once seen is hard to ignore.
But the objection of such imperious leaders is that this freedom is a recipe for chaos, everyone going their own way. Nevertheless, unity by coercion, fear or deception is not unity. Hundreds of millions of ignorant followers in top-down religions are not as impressive as a hundred free believers who have no coercion beyond their love of truth, and yet find common cause in the scriptures they read and follow. Small disagreements are inevitable of course, while such free unity is being perfected. But when free men and women study the scriptures perfectly willing to disagree with their leaders, and they reach a large measure of agreement, this is real unity, and a powerful confirmation of the truth of their beliefs.
This is the Bible way, to follow our conscience, well informed by an obsession with scripture, and taking responsibility for our own spiritual walk. This is not a justification for those who refuse correction, but we are free men and women, made free by Christ and the truth. We believe God directly, and are alone responsible for our decisions. We should be willing to disagree with teachers and leaders according to our own conscience, and our own understanding of the scriptures. Such liberty transforms the believer, and has literally transformed the world.