| The Sin of Gluttony | |
Gluttony is the sin we are all afraid to touch. Gluttony is a sin that historically has been closely associated with wealth. Sodom is accused of pride, the fullness of bread, an abundance of idleness and not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. in Ez. 16:49 Sodom is remembered for laziness and gluttony rather than the gross immorality which we often think of when we think of Sodom. Sodom was wealthy, proud, and gluttonous, and did not use her extra resources to help the poor. So God let her be destroyed. What is gluttony? Gluttony is uncontrolled eating. And yes, skinny people can be gluttons. Some people simply will have a harder battle with this sin than others. We need to overcome our fear of speaking against being overweight, and face reality. And that reality is that most overweight people are overweight because they are gluttons. If a person’s body is storing fat, then the person is eating more calories than what he/she needs to live. And it really is that simple! The answer to stop the fat-storing process is quite simple: eat less calories, or exercise more. We have convinced ourselves too many times that our sin is indeed an eating disorder or a medical problem, and not a sin. There may well be some cases of people who have a medical condition that causes weight gain, even if a person totally fasted. But such cases are indeed rare. And, in some cases, weight gain may be from fluid retention, not fat buildup. If you truly have a medical condition that causes weight gain even though you eat nothing or practically nothing, you need feel no conviction. But for the rest of us, it is time we simply face the facts: fat buildup is from gluttony. The Epidemic Two out of every three people in the USA are now overweight. One out of three is not overweight by a couple of pounds, but obese, which means seriously over ideal weight. Another recent statistic stated that about 33% of all school-age children in the United States are now considered overweight or obese. In the US, the cost of dealing with obesity is estimated at $100 billion annually. There are several reasons for this epidemic, but it can basically be narrowed down to two words: gluttony and laziness. Up until a century or so ago, the church was not quiet about gluttony, and through the ages men of God have spoken and written about it in plain terms. Lets take a look at some of them. The early church The Shepherd of Hermas is an early church document from the 1st or 2nd century that was held in high esteem among the early church. It is written in an allegorical style, and could be called – The Pilgrim’s Progress of the Early Church. The author had this to say about gluttony:
I find it interesting that the author sees two evils in gluttony. First he mentions health reasons. The knowledge that overeating is harmful to a person’s physical health has been around a long time. It doesn’t take 21st-century medical technology to figure that out. But the other evil of gluttony is that of not sharing when we have more than we need. Woe to the man who has more than he needs, but does not share it. Gluttony is also harmful to a person’s spiritual health! Paul tells us quite plainly in Romans 8:13, For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. In modern Street English we could say, If you keep feeding your face just because it feels good, God will have to depart from you. Clement of Alexandria Clement of Alexandria lived during the late 2nd century into the early 3rd century. A prolific writer, he touched many themes. The following are extracts from the first part of Book 2 of The Instructor, concerning gluttony. I forewarn you, he minces not his words.
There is no limit to Epicurism[5] among men. For it has driven them to sweetmeats, and honey-cakes, and sugarplums; inventing a multitude of desserts, hunting after all manner of dishes. A man like this seems to me to be all jaw, and nothing else. Desire not, says the Scripture, rich mens dainties, (Pr. 23:3) for they belong to a false and base life. They partake of luxurious dishes, which a little after go to the dunghill.[6] But we who seek the heavenly bread must rule the belly, which is beneath heaven, and much more the things which the belly craves, which God shall destroy, (1 Co. 6:13) says the apostle, justly condemning gluttonous desires
For it were not seemly that we, after the fashion of the rich mans son in the Gospel, should, as prodigals, abuse the Fathers gifts; but we should use them, without undue attachment to them, as having command over ourselves. For we are enjoined to reign and rule over foods, not to be slaves to them But how totally irrational, futile, and inhuman is it for those that are of the earth, fattening themselves like cattle, to feed themselves up for death; looking downwards on the earth, and bending ever over tables; leading a life of gluttony; burying all the good of existence here in a life that by and by will end; courting voracity alone, in respect to which cooks are held in higher esteem than husbandmen. For we do not abolish social events, but look with suspicion on the snares of custom, and regard them as a calamity. Wherefore daintiness is to be shunned, and we are to partake of few and necessary things We are not, then, to abstain wholly from various kinds of food, but only are not to be taken up about them. We are to partake of what is set before us, as becomes a Christian, out of respect to him who has invited us, by a harmless and moderate participation in the social meeting; regarding the sumptuousness of what is put on the table as a matter of indifference, despising the dainties
The seven deadly sins Sometime during the first millennium of Christian history, a list of seven chief sins was compiled. These seven deadly sins were lust (or luxury), greed, wrath, envy, pride, laziness and gluttony. My inclusion of this list in this article is not an approval or disapproval of the list or its use. But it is interesting to see that gluttonyand its close relative, lazinesswere put right up there with what we usually consider to be among the bad sins of lust and anger. Essentially, these seven deadly sins were a list of the fruits of a self-centered life, the me-first syndrome. They are the opposites of seven virtues: humility, charity, kindness, patience, chastity, diligence and temperance. Temperance Temperance is self-control. When applied to gluttony, several aspects come into play. We think of overeating, which indeed is a form of intemperance. However, lets consider the five ways that Gregory The Great spelled out eating intemperance in the late 6th century:
1. Eating before the time of meals in order to satisfy the taste buds. In other words, unnecessary snacking. Children easily fall into the habit of wanting a premeal snack, then they are not hungry when the beans are passed at meal time.
Gregory’s five ways of being a glutton can perhaps be summarized in the war between eating potatoes and eating potato chips. Say you have the bag of chips lying around. Dinner is still an hour away, and the belly growls a little … Give me some food! So you pop open the bag of barbequed chips. Ummm, these are really good! exclaim your small children. They entered the kitchen just as you opened the bag, and of course you didnt feel good about eating some yourself and telling them to wait for dinner. A Czech reproof Moving on in time, we come to the late Middle Ages, in what is now the Czech Republic. Here we find Peter Chelcicky and the beginnings of the Bohemian revival that produced the Unitas Fratrum. Peter is rebuking the civil leaders and the authorities of the State Church for their gluttony. I warn you again that, like Clement, he minces not his words:
[They are] honorable men, who sit in great houses, these purple men, with their beautiful mantles, their high caps, their fat stomachs. As for love of pleasure, immorality, laziness, greediness, uncharitableness, and crueltyas for these things, the priests do not hold them as sins when committed by [the upper class]. They do not tell them plainly, You will go to hell if you live on the fat of the poor, and live a bestial life, although they know the rich are condemned to eternal death by such behavior. The Anabaptists Many of us are familiar with the Schleitheim Confession. However, there is another early Anabaptist document called the Congregational Order that circulated widelysometimes right alongside the Schleitheim Confessionamong early Anabaptists. Our concern in this article is the sixth point of the Order: 6. All gluttony shall be avoided among the brothers who are gathered in the congregation; serve a soup or a minimum of vegetable and meat, for eating and drinking are not the kingdom of heaven.[9] Compare that with some of our fellowship meals, or times when we have a get-together in our homes with long tables filled with exquisite foods. Imagine a church standard against big, fancy meals! While it is arguable whether the Order constituted a church standard as such, one thing is clear: the early Anabaptists considered lavish meals to be gluttony.
Heinrich BullingerZwinglis successor in the Swiss Protestant Reformationhad said some nasty things about the Anabaptists. But he had this to say about their conduct: They denounced gluttony. Do we? Finney on gluttony If you are inclined to eat too much, you must deny yourselves those kinds of diet that betray you into gluttony. Whatever those kinds of diet are, of which you are so fond, and that overcome you when placed before you, and lead you to transgress the laws of your being, put them entirely away. Do not suffer them to find a place upon your table. Asceticism When calling men to holiness, there will always arise the cry of Asceticism! among certain folks who love this world. And, there is indeed an imbalanced view of eating within asceticism. Lets look at it
My personal Battle of the Bulge
I grew up on a farm and spent most of my life working in construction, farming, and logging. As well, as a youth I was active in hunting and other outdoor activities and sports. In other words, I had lots of physical exercise. We were middle-class Americanswhich is actually upper-class if you consider the whole worldand I cannot recall a single day in my life when I didnt have enough to eat. I can recall very few days when the opportunity to be a glutton didnt present itself. There was desert available after most meals, and plenty of bacon and ham and cheese. And
the ice cream and cake for visitors in the evenings, after supper.
I knew it was time to cut back on eating. But was it ever difficult! For over 30 years I had developed eating habits and tastes. To stop the gain, I had to cut back on my eating by about one third. And to lose that which I had gained? That was Hard, with a capital H. I have had toand still have toleave the table many times feeling not quite full. It is a simple fact; for every time a person overeats and gains weight, he/she will need to undereat to lose that weight. It is, boiled down, the law of reaping what we sow.
Some people need more food than others. My parents had a friend who used to visit our house occasionally when I was a boy. He was a thin man, with an extremely high metabolism or something. I have watched him eat up to a quart of ice cream
after having a big, full meal. I also watched him jump into a 55-gallon drum, flat-footed, and jump right back out
when he was 55 years of age. Each of us has to find what temperance means for our specific situation. The cross is heavier for us in some areas of our life than for others. If taking up your cross means denying yourself foods that others can eat, then take up that cross and recognize it is heavier than your brothers in that area of life. God chose your metabolic rate; learn to live by it, control your eating, and accept it. God does all things very well! If you are like me, in your youth you can basically eat until you are full, and then later eat a bowl of ice cream without any weight gain. But remember what was said above; gluttony is more than being overweight. Those bad eating habitsaka gluttonywill haunt you in days to come. Learn temperance as a 20-year-old, and when you hit 40 years of age the middle age spread will not be nearly as hard to control. Learn to say No to the ice cream and chips when you have already had a good meal. In fact, make it a habit not to replace nourishing foods with junk foods. Learn to drink water instead of soft drinks. Learn to not get excited and start exclaiming about how good the ice cream is while you are still young, and when the time comes that you have to pass it by entirely, it will be easier to say no. Take care of your beast! Proverbs 12:10 tells us that a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. This verse tells us that a good man will take care of his animals. He will feed, water, and provide shelter for them. Now lets think about it: is not our body, were it separated from our spirit, basically an animal? The wisdom in Proverbs 12:10 tells usbeyond the normal applicationthat we live in a body that God expects us to take care of. It is for this reason that we do not smoke, do not use psychotic drugs and avoid gluttony. Wikipedia states that obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide.[13] If obesity is preventable, by temperance, are we not called as Christians to prevent obesity? In summary The Bible is clear on the matter of gluttony, so clear that we have not spent much time in this article with the verses that speak on the subject. Gluttony is harmful to our physical health. Therefore it is a sin to overeat, whether our intemperance shows itself in accumulated body fat or whether it doesnt. But more importantly than gluttony being unhealthy, it is also unholy. God has called us to holiness; God cannot dwell in an unholy temple. It is necessary, then, for us to overcome gluttony and control our eating habits.
Eat, not for pleasure, but for His glory! ~ by: Mike Atnip
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Month: July 2018
HOW THE APOSTLES DIED.
1. Matthew
Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, Killed by a sword wound.
2. Mark
Died in Alexandria, Egypt , after being dragged by Horses through the streets until he was dead.
3. Luke
Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous Preaching to the lost.
4. John
Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge Basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution In Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered From death.
John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve As Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully
5. Peter
He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross.
According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die In the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
6. James
The leader of the church in Jerusalem , was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his
enemies beat James to death with a fuller’s club.
* This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
7. James the Son of Zebedee,
was a fisherman by trade when Jesus Called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer Walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and Knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
8. Bartholomew
Also known as Nathaniel Was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
9. Andrew
Was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: ‘I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.’ He continued to preach to his tormentors For two days until he expired.
10. Thomas
Was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the Sub-continent.
11. Jude
Was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
12. Matthias
The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
13. Paul
Was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many
epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational Doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.
Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor compared to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles and disciples during their times For the sake of the Faith. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Pass on to encourage other Christians
Why Do we feel sleepy in Prayer,
But stay awake through a 3 hour movie?
Why are we so bored when we look at the HOLY BOOK,
But find it easy to read other books?
Why is it so easy to ignore a msg about God,
Yet we forward the nasty ones?
Why are Prayers getting smaller,
But bars and clubs are expanding
Why is it so easy to worship a celebrity,
But very difficult to engage with God?
Think about it, are you going to forward this?
Are you going to ignore it, cause you think you will get laughed at?
When one door closes, God opens two: If God has opened doors for you, send this message to everyone on your contact list.
Make this message your contribution to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
On Sloth
The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way
A sermon (No. 1948) delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington,
by C. H. Spurgeon.
“The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.”—Proverbs 15:19.
You must have noticed how frequently godly people almost wear out their Bibles in certain places. The Psalms, the Gospel of John, and parts of the Epistles are favourite portions, and are thumbed in many an old believer’s Bible till the fact is very noticeable. There are certain sheep-tracks up the slopes of Scripture which are much more trodden than the rest of the holy fields. I suppose it has always been so, and I will not quarrel with the instincts of the saints.
I do however regret that any portion of Holy Writ should be neglected. There are Bible-readers who keep clear of the historical parts of Scripture, and also greatly avoid the Book of Proverbs: indeed, they almost wonder how Proverbs and Ecclesiastes come to be a part of the Word of God. Very singular it must seem to them that this Book of Proverbs should be placed so very near to Solomon’s Song —that sacred canticle which is the center and climax of inspired Scripture: a book which I do not hesitate to call “the holy of holies”—the innermost sanctuary of divine love. Concerning that deeply mystical, mysterious, and rapturous canticle, it would be impossible to speak too highly: it is indeed the Song of songs —a song however which none can sing but such as are made songsters by God himself by partaking of the inspiration, not of the fount which gushed from Mount Parnassus, but of that fount of every blessing which flows from the mount of everlasting love. It is certainly remarkable that hard by such a deeply-spiritual Book there should be placed the Book of Proverbs, which mainly consists of instructions for this life. Doubtless there is a meaning in that arrangement. The Lord would not have the highest spirituality divorced from common-sense. God has made us body and soul, and he would have us serve him with both. There is a part of us that is material and there is a part that is spiritual; and both need guidance such as the Holy Spirit affords us in the inspired Book. The Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us, not as to our soul alone, nor our spirit alone, but as to our body also; and he would have us recognize this fact.
While we are in the world we are not to regard ourselves as if we were pure spirits, having nothing to do with earth; but we are to look to our lower nature and our earthly surroundings, and order all these in accordance with the will of the Lord. It is not enough that our hearts are cleansed; our bodies are to be washed with pure water. We are in the world, and we must eat and drink and work and trade even as other men do; and all this must be as much brought under the rule of wisdom as our higher nature and its actions. The Christian’s faith does not come to him merely to create holy raptures and heavenly emotions, but it comes to help him in the business of every day.
Grace is intended to sanctify all the relations of life. There is no necessity that a man who is wise unto salvation should in other respects be a fool; but the reverse should be constantly seen: sanctity should beget sagacity, and purity should be the mother of prudence. We are to make the common things of this world sacred to God, so that the bells of the horses may be as truly “Holiness unto the Lord” as was the mitre of the consecrated priest who served at the altar.
I pray my friends not to be so spiritual that they cannot do a good day’s work, or give full measure, or sell honest wares. To my disgust I have known persons professing to have reached perfect purity who have done very dirty things. I have been suspicious of superfine spirituality since I knew one who took no interest in the affairs of this world, and yet speculated till he lost thousands of other people’s money. Do not get to be so heavenly-minded that you cannot put up with the little vexations of the family; for we have heard of people of whom it was said that the sooner they went to heaven the better, for they were too disagreeable to live with below.
As the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is meant for this world as well as for worlds to come, so the volume of Holy Scripture is fitly made to contain Proverbs as well as Psalms. I have been told, but I do not know how true it is, that Scotland owes very much of its practical shrewdness to the fact that the Book of Proverbs used to be printed in a small form, and was one of the first books read by all the children at the public schools. I can only say that if it was so, it showed much wisdom on the part of those who made the arrangement; and I have no doubt that if it were so still, it would be a clear gain to the rising generation. It is a right thing to have practical teaching in connection with sound doctrine, and common-sense in conjunction with deep spirituality. Let the Gospels, and Psalms, and Prophets, and Epistles be your bread, and let the Book of Proverbs be your salt. Neglect neither the one nor the other.
I preach at this time from the word of Solomon which is now before us, and I shall not withhold from you its everyday meaning; but I shall also exhibit its higher lights, for I believe that there is not a moral truth in the Book of Proverbs which does not also wear a spiritual aspect. I shall try to show you that our text, while it has its temporal bearings, which we will not conceal, has beyond these its higher and spiritual teachings, with which we will conclude.
I. First then, take the text in its temporal bearings. It runs thus—“The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.”
Note then first of all that a slothful man is the opposite of a righteous man. In the text they are set in opposition. “The way of the slothful man” is placed in contrast, not with the way of the diligent man, but with “the way of the righteous,” as if to show that the slothful man is the very opposite of being a righteous man. A sluggard is not a righteous man, and he cannot be, he misses a main part of rightness. It is very seldom that a sluggard is honest: he owes at least more labor to the world than he pays. He is guilty of sins of omission, for he fails in obedience to one of the laws laid upon manhood since the fall: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” He aspires to eat his bread without earning it: he would if he could eat bread for nought, or eat the bread for which others toil, and this verges upon coveting and stealing and generally leads up to one or both of these sins. The sluggard evades the common law of society; and equally does he offend against the rule which our apostle promulgated in the church: “If any would not work, neither should he eat.” The sluggard is not righteous for he does not render to God according to the strength lent to him, nor to man according to the work assigned him. A slothful man is a soldier who would let others fight the battle of life while he lies under the baggage-wagon asleep, until rations are served out. He is a husbandman who only husbands his own strength, and would eat the grapes while others trim the vines. He would, if possible, be carried on his bed into the kingdom of heaven; he is much too great a lover of ease to go on pilgrimage over rough and weary ways. If the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence from others it will never suffer violence from him. He is too idle to be importunate, too slothful to be earnest.
He cannot be a righteous man for slothfulness leads to the neglect of duty in many ways, and very soon it leads to lying about those neglects of duty, and no liar can have a portion in heaven. Idleness is selfishness, and this is not consistent with the love of our neighbor, nor with any high degree of virtue. Every good thing withers in the drought of idleness. In fact, all kinds of vices are comprehended in the one vice of sloth, and if you tell me that a man is a sluggard I have his whole character before me in the blackest of letters. His fallow fields are well adapted for evil seed, and no doubt Satan will raise a fine crop of weeds in every corner of his life. What this world would have been if we had all been gentlemen with nothing to do, I cannot tell. The millions that have to work are largely kept out of mischief by their toil, and although crimes are abundant enough in our great city as it is, what would they have been if there had not been daily tasks to keep men from excessive indulgence in drink and other forms of evil? Without labor, the ale-houses would have been crammed every one of the twenty-four hours; folly would have held unbroken carnival, and licentiousness would have burst all bounds. Amongst the sanitary and salutary regulations of the moral universe there is none much better than this—that men must work. He who does not work is not a righteous man for he is out of accord with that which makes for righteousness. In some form or other, with either brain or hand, either by working or enduring, we share the common labors of the race appointed them of heaven; and if we are not doing so, we are not righteous. I call to your remembrance the remarkable words of the Savior, “Thou wicked and slothful servant.” Those two adjectives are nearly related—“wicked and slothful.” Might not our Lord have said “slothful” alone? He might, but he knew how much of wickedness goes with sloth and is inherent in it, and therefore he branded it with the condemning word.
Our second observation is this: if we avoid sloth we have not done enough, we must also be righteous. If it had been sufficient to shake off idleness and become industrious the text would have run thus: “The way of the slothful is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the diligent is made plain.” Ah, dear friends! a man may be very industrious, and energetic, and earnest, but if it is in a wrong cause he might have been less mischievous had he been slothful. To be exhibiting industry by doing a great deal of mischief is not commendable. To be actively disseminating your opinions if those opinions are false is to be doing grievous harm. To rise up early, and to sit up late, and to eat the bread of carefulness merely for selfish ends is not to secure a blessing. There is a diligence which is produced by greed or ambition; and this is no better than the selfishness which is the cause of it. Many wear themselves to skin and bone to gather that which is not bread, to hoard up that which can never satisfy them. We are to become the servants of righteousness when we escape from the servitude of sloth. “Not slothful in business” is very well; but to complete the change we must be gracious in our diligence, being “fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” We must do that which is right, and kind, and holy; and so we must live to the honor and glory of him to whom we owe all things.
Young men who are beginning life, it is well that you should be urged to be diligent, but it is better that you should be led to be righteous! Worldlings would have you industrious, but saints would have you righteous. You can be made righteous in state through faith in Jesus Christ, and righteous in character through the renewal of your heart by the Holy Ghost. Mind this.
The text leads us to make a third observation which repeats its very words: namely, that a slothful man’s way is like a hedge of thorns. Here we enlarge. The idler’s way is not a desirable way. Unthinking persons suppose that the sluggard lives a happy life and travels an easy road. It is not so. Many believe in “the sweet doing of nothing,” but it is a sheer fiction. Surface appearances are not the truth: though it may seem that idleness is rest, it is not so: though sloth promises ease, it cheats its votaries. Of all unrest there is none more wearisome than that of having nothing whatever to do. The severest toil is far more endurable than utter sloth. I have heard of retired business men going back to the counter from absolute weariness of idleness. It is far more desirable to be righteous than it is to be at ease. Labour of a holy sort has ten thousand times more joy in it than purposeless leisure.
The way of the sluggard is also difficult. The idle man walks a hard road in his own apprehension: he has to break through thorns. Every mole-hill is a mountain to him; every straw is a stumbling-block. There is a lion in the way, he will be slain in the streets. You look out and can only see the smallest possible dog, but he is sure that it is a roaring lion and he must stay at home and go to bed. He cannot plough by reason of the cold. The clods are frozen he is sure; they are hard as iron and will break the plough-share. If you look out of doors you will see the neighbours’ teams going, but he has another excuse if you beat him out of the one he has given you. The difficulties that he sees are created in his own mind by his natural sluggishness; but he has such a creative faculty that he has always twenty arguments against exerting himself once. The first thing such persons do in the morning when they open their window is to look out and see a difficulty. Whenever they are sent about a task or on an errand they straightway begin to consider the great labor that will be involved in it, the imminent risk that will surely come of it, and the great advantages of leaving it undone. To the slothful man, his way, when he gets so far as having a way at all, always appears to be as hard to pursue as a hedge of thorns; and mark you! if he continues slothful it will actually become a hedge of thorns. Difficulties imagined are apt to arrive. Duty neglected to-day will have to be done some time or other; and the arrears of neglected service are grim debts. The slothful is like the spendthrift who does not reckon what he spends, but contents himself with crying, “Put it down.” The score increases and again he cries, “Put it down.” He resolves to do better and then gives a bill, or renews a former bill and dreams that the debt is paid. But the debt remains, accumulates, and follows the man’s track. Old debts pursue a man. Like wolves which hunt the flying traveler across the snowy plains of Russia, neglects and obligations follow a man with swift and sure pursuit, and there is no way of escape. It is the past which makes the present and the future so difficult. The sluggard’s way appears to lie not only over a thorny brake, but over a compacted mass of thorns of set purpose planted for a hedge. Dear friends, do not put off till to-morrow that which can be done to-day. Keep the road clear of arrears. Do the day’s work in the day. I am persuaded that in your ordinary business work some of you Christian people need to be warned against shiftless delay. Believe me, there is a piety in keeping your work well in hand, in having the house right, the business in order, the daily task well done. True religion seeks to honor God in all the transactions of life and this cannot be done by idling, by postponement, and by allowing work to run behind. No slut can be a saint; no sluggard can glorify God. Life grows hard and unenviable to men who try to make it easy. A man who neglects his duty, whether he be a carpenter, a bricklayer, a clerk, a minister, or an archbishop, will find his way increase in difficulty until it becomes almost impassable.
Before long the sluggard’s course becomes a very painful way, for a way of thorns tears a man’s garments and wounds his flesh; and you cannot be neglectful of the ordinary duties of life without by-and-by suffering for it. Loss of character, loss of position, and actual want all come from idleness.
Continue in that course and you will find your way become a hedge of thorns in a further sense, for it will be blocked up altogether. You will be unable to go on at all. You took it easy once, but what will you do now? You neglected duty, you forbore to do the service of the day, and at last your sins have found you out; nobody will have you and you are a burden to yourself. Now have you found a hedge of thorns in your way. This is clear enough, and it has been seen by most of us in actual life in several cases.
The other truth of the text is equally clear—a righteous man’s way becomes plain: “The way of the righteous is made plain.” When a man by the Holy Spirit’s gracious influence upon him is made thoroughly truthful, thoroughly honest so that he walks in his integrity, it is most pleasant to note how soon by some means or other his way opens up before him. We have seen good men in great straits and adversities: their own conscientiousness may appear to narrow their course, and of course the depressions of business fall upon righteous men as much as upon the unrighteous; but in the long run you will see that if a man keeps straight, and walks in strict integrity and faith, the Lord will make darkness light before him and crooked things straight. Ask the aged man of God whose life has been full of grace and truth, and he will tell you that though he was brought low the Lord has helped him. He will interest you with his account of the struggles of his younger days, and how when he had his large family of little children about him he was tempted to do a questionable act, but was enabled to hold fast his integrity and found in his steadfastness the way to success. Those stories which some of us heard as boys at our father’s fireside, or which our grandsires told us before they were taken up to heaven, are to some of us heirlooms treasured as tokens for good, and proofs of the faithfulness of God. We know that integrity and uprightness are the best preservatives. If we will not put forth our hand unto iniquity even during the worst pinch, we shall come forth as the light. But if in trouble you try to get out of it by indirect means, you will involve yourself in tenfold difficulty. It is far better to be poor than dishonest; ay, it is better to die than to dishonor our profession. It is God’s business to provide for us, and he will do it. We are not to be too fast in providing for ourselves. We must not command the stones to be made bread by forestalling the Lord in that which is his own peculiar province. Remember our Lord’s answer to the tempter, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” We shall dwell in the land, and verily we shall be fed; but how this is to be accomplished is the Lord’s business rather than ours. “The way of the righteous is made plain.” Only wait and watch and you shall see the salvation of God.
Thus I have set before you the moral or temporal meaning of the text, commending it earnestly to the consideration of all, especially of men of business, begging them to see to it that there be no neglect about any part of their calling, for a Christian’s business ought to be the best done of any man’s in the world.
Look to it also that there be no swerving from righteousness in aught that you do, for the safest and surest road is the way of truth, the path of righteousness. If you keep close to God and make him your guide even unto death, you will have no need to trouble yourself about your way—the Lord will make it plain.
II. Now I come to the spiritual teaching of the text; and may the Lord anoint our eyes by his Holy Spirit that we may see!
Take the first side of the text, the spiritual sluggard, what is said of him? His way is “as an hedge of thorns.” I gather from the opposition of the text that the spiritual sluggard’s way is the way of unbelief, because the opposite of his way is the way of the righteous. Now, the way of the righteous is the way of faith—“We walk by faith.” Therefore the spiritual sluggard’s way is the way of unbelief.
I will describe him. He has a way, for he is not altogether dead to religious matters. He hears sermons, and attends the house of God. He sometimes reads his Bible, and he often has a correct notion of what the gospel is. But he fails in faith: he has not faith enough in the truth of the things which he professes to believe ever to be affected by them in his daily life, or in his truest feelings. If he did really believe these things to be true, his life would not be slothful. When a man believes that there is a hell, he labors to escape from it. When a man verily believes that there is a heaven, unless he is demented he has an ambition to partake in its glories. When a man really and truly accepts the fact of his having sinned against a righteous God, and believes in the evil of sin, he pines to be cleansed from sin. When he heartily believes in the power of the precious blood of Christ to make him clean, he seeks to be washed therein that he may be pure before the sight of God. The spiritual sluggard does not believe after that practical fashion. He says “It is true,” but he acts as if it were false. He is too much a sluggard to become an infidel; he is too lethargic to argue against the truth which condemns him; he nods assent, it is the nod of sleep. We might have more hope of him if he would begin to contradict. If he would think enough of the truth to endeavor to justify his unbelief of it, we might hope that he had opened one of his eyes; but while he continues to cry “Yes; oh, yes;” and to do all that is proper, but nothing that is decided and earnest, we have small hope of him. He prays at times, but it is a dreamy devotion. He has not faith enough in prayer to continue in it till he is heard in heaven. He listens to the preaching of the gospel, but as a sluggard he lets what is said go in at one ear and out at the other: he grasps nothing, feels nothing, retains nothing. He is often on the verge of some good and great thing, but it ends in smoke. He has resolved in real earnest to look to his eternal state and seek the Lord with all his might, but his resolves are frail as bubbles. If you were to tell him that in seven years’ time he would be just as dull, stupid, and sinful as he now is, he would angrily deny it; but such will be the case. He intends only to delay a very little longer, and then he is going to entertain the great question in the most serious manner. If I recollect rightly he was in the same mind twenty years ago, and I fear he will continue in the same mind when death comes upon the scene and ends all his dreaming. I fear that of him it will be true, “in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.” He will not open his eyes till then.
I must not forget that this sluggard did once make an effort. He gave up one of his vices: that is to say he almost did so, but he soon returned to it. He was a drunkard, and he went the length of not drinking quite so much. Perhaps he even went so far as not drinking at all, which was a good thing for him, but then he made up for his self-denial in that direction by indulgence in another way. If you cannot sink a ship by a hole in one place you can do so by boring a hole in another: while some go down to perdition by one sin, others destroy themselves by another. The sluggard spent all his strength in tinkering one breakage, and he had no energy left to mend a second flaw. He was so much asleep that he murmured in his dream, “Well done! I am a splendid fellow.” Even when a friend shook him, he yawned, and turned over, and went to sleep again. He was almost awakened but he preferred to doze till a more convenient season. He heard a sermon the other day upon “One thing thou lackest,” and he cried, “That’s me!” and slumbered again. He heard a discourse upon judgment to come and he at once admitted the absolute need of being prepared for death and judgment; but he did not prepare, and in all probability he will die in his sins. The man has no resolution, no soul for action, no spirit for anything good. He is given up to slumber; he pleads always for a little more folding of the arms to sleep. He will, he will; he assures you that he will wake up; but he never does. Oh that by the grace of God this dreamer could be aroused! His way is the way of unbelief, and he keeps to it with a deadly persistence which must end in destruction.
Now, that way is full of thorns. It is a very hard way. I will show you in a minute that it is so. People who are in this state cannot quite give up religion, and yet they have never really taken to it. Do you notice how hard everything is to them? To begin with, ministers always preach such dreadfully long sermons. The sermon is not long to you who feed upon the word; but to those who sleep at the table it is intolerably tedious. The whole service is dreary to them, though to believers it is bright and happy. And Sundays! To me the Sabbath is the pearl of the week, but to these sluggards in religion it is a day of gloom. We hear them speak of “dreary English Sundays.” They piteously describe the closed shops and theatres and museums; and enquire what a man is to do in so sad a case. To go to church? To hear of the best things? This is much too hard a task for sluggish minds. Poor dear souls! As for a prayer-meeting, they never condescend to consider such a gathering; it is too dreary. Or if perchance they go nobody ever prays to please them; their ideal of devotion is not reached. Ask them whether they read the Bible at home. They might do so if they were flogged to it, but the Bible does not interest them, and it requires so much thought: they cannot muster mind enough for it. To us it is a Book which sparkles with the divinest truth: it is the Book of God: the Lord of books: there is no volume like it. But to these people Bible-reading is hard labor, and worse. Prayer also is slavery; repentance is impossible. The revival plan of “Believe, and live,” without any repentance—they rather take to for a time till they begin to understand more of what the evangelist means.
They go into the enquiry-room and get “converted” in five minutes, and have done with godliness for the rest of their lives. Possibly some time after they hear of a sanctification to be had in the same manner: they believe themselves to be perfect and feel that there is no more need for watchfulness or striving; for sin is dead and they are perfect. When they are told what repentance and faith really are, and that these are for daily, life-long use, and that we must every day watch and strive against temptation without and within, they disappear from among our hearers for they do not wish to trouble themselves with so great an enterprise. If they could be carried to heaven in a sedan chair or trip there in their slippers they would be glad of it; but to go on pilgrimage up hill and down dale is another matter. Their way is as full of difficulties as a thorn-hedge is full of prickles.
Moreover, it is full of perplexities. Do you ever meet with these sluggards? I do. They sometimes come to see me, and when they come this is their style of talk. They say, “Well sir, I have heard about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you tell me what it means?” I explain that it is a simple acceptance of God’s testimony and trust in the Lord Jesus. Do you understand that? They say “Yes.” Then they raise a difficulty, which I explain. Do you quite comprehend that? “Yes sir, I see that, but”—and then follows a further doubt. This also is cleared up in time to make room for another. Again and again it is —“Yes, but then—.” Thus I continue grinding wind by the hour together. Their minds are bottomless buckets and their memories are bags full of holes: it is very unprofitable work to endeavor to fill them. I seem to be trying to catch a fox. I stop up its hole but it is out at another opening. This also I stop and fifty more, and to my surprise I hear the shout, “Hark, away!” My fox has gone across country. He is further off than ever: it was great folly on my part to imagine that I could bring him to earth, or dig him out of his burrow. These people are great at questions, the whole difficulty really lying in their unbelief—they are unwilling to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When a man does not wish to believe, reasons for doubting gather about him in swarms like flies. Besides, it is such a fashionable thing, you know, to doubt. You are aware that all the cultured folk display great facility in fashioning doubts, while those who believe God to be true and do not mistrust his word are common-place persons of a very low order of mind. You smile; but this is a very convincing argument to our sleepy friend. No great logic is needed to lull a sluggard to repose. It is the fashion to doubt, and you may as well be dead and buried as out of the fashion! These sluggish people will not take the trouble to sift evidence; they have no wish to be driven to turn from their sins and seek a Savior, and be reconciled to God: this would be too much exertion and involve too many self-denials and heart-searchings. They prefer a way full of perplexities to the new and living way: they choose a thorn-hedge rather than the King’s highway of righteousness.
Nor is this all. In addition to perplexities their way becomes full of miseries. The sermon which pleases the believer and cheers his heart, saddens the sluggard. The prayer which is to us a delight is to them a cause of anxiety, if they enter into it at all. The sight of bread is a great joy to a hungry man; but suppose he does not eat it, and there it stands—well then it becomes an instrument of torture fit for Tantalus to use. I should suppose that nothing could aggravate thirst much more than the mirage of the desert when the traveler sees a stream of bright sparkling water rippling at his feet, and yet not a drop is there. His fancy torments his thirst. So for some of you to hear of the feast of love and to see the joy of the children of God must be horrible if you yourselves have neither part nor lot therein. That promise quoted by the preacher, how it must have grated on your ear if you knew its value and yet did not embrace it by faith! Painful is this predicament. You are sadly placed, for you enjoy neither good nor evil. If you were to go straight out into the world and plunge into the pleasures of it you would at least know one side of life; but you dare not do that, you have too much conscience, too much training in religious ways to run with the worldling in his wantonness; so that you neither know the pleasures of the world nor the pleasures of grace. You feel restraints from both sides but you know not the liberties of either side. Betwixt two stools you come to the ground. Neither heaven nor hell is on your side; both saints and sinners are shy of you, and so your way is as a thorn-hedge. It is dreadful for a man to have enough conscience to know that he is lost, but not enough grace to find salvation; to have enough religion to make him uncomfortable in sin but not enough to make him happy in Christ. I know some who continue in sin and yet at night have terrible dreams, and wake up in a cold sweat of fear. They dare not think of the course of conduct which they nevertheless persevere in: they go onward to destruction, and by-and-by they will take a leap in the dark because they are too idle to wake up. O mighty grace, wake these sluggards or else they will sleep themselves into eternal misery!
“The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns.” One of these days he will come to the end of his way, and he will see that hedge of thorns blocking him out of heaven—blocking him out from God. His sins like a thick hedge will stand in front of him as he is about to die, and will shut him out from hope while his despairing soul will cry, “Oh, that I could find mercy! Oh, that I could find deliverance!” Recollection of wasted opportunities and of a rejected gospel and of despised Sabbaths will come up before him, and through that thornhedge his naked soul will be unable to force its way into hope and peace. God grant that we may not be among the sluggards at the end of the way!
We will now consider the other side of the text very briefly and notice that the righteous man’s way shall be made plain. This is a cheering promise, especially to any of you who are walking in the dark at this time. “The way of the righteous is made plain.” The Lord will see to this. The way of the righteous is the way of faith. They see him who is invisible, and they trust in God. They look for their pardon to the precious blood of Jesus Christ; in fact they look to God in Christ Jesus for everything. Their way has impediments in it: crooked things are in it, mountains are in it, and deep gulfs; but see the beauty of the promise, “The way of the righteous is made plain.” Difficulties shall be removed, the valleys shall be exalted, and the mountains and hills shall be laid low, the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Child-like confidence in God shall march on as upon a raised causeway and always find for itself a road. Faith travels by an unseen track to honor and glory, neither shall anything turn her aside. Her way may not be plain at this moment, but it shall be made so. God is with those who trust in him, and what or whom shall we fear when God is with us? In due time the hand of the Lord shall be seen. To the moment the divine power will time its interposition. The Red Sea was not divided a single second before Israel passed through it. The Jordan only flowed apart when the feet of the Lord’s priests actually came to the water’s brim. To-morrow’s difficulties are real, and to-morrow’s grace will be real. When to-morrow comes, sufficient unto the day shall be the divine help thereof. When you come to the sepulcher you shall find that the stone is rolled away from its mouth. In due time the way of the righteous shall be made plain, and that is all the righteous should desire or expect.
Sometimes the way of the righteous is mysterious and perplexing. I have known the best of men say, “I long to do the right and by God’s grace I will not stoop to anything which is evil; but which out of the two ways now before me is the right way? Each of them seems to be both hopeful and doubtful; which way shall I turn?” This is a condition which causes great anxiety to one who is deeply earnest to be right. Oh for an oracle which could plainly indicate the path! Superstition and fanaticism shall not be gratified by either voice or dream, but yet the way of the righteous shall be made plain. Brother, when you do not know your way ask your guide. Stand still and pray. If you cannot find the way upon the chart, commit yourself to the divine guidance by prayer. Down on your knees and cry to the Lord! Few go wrong when they pray over their movements and use the judgment which God has given them. The last is not to be omitted, for I have known persons pray about a matter which was perfectly clear to any one with half a grain of sense. In order to escape from an evident but unpleasant duty they have talked about praying over it. Where a plain command is given an unmistakable finger points the way, and hesitation is rebellion. Sluggards make prayer an excuse for doing nothing: on the other hand wilful people make up their mind and then pray, and this is sheer hypocrisy.
God is insulted by prayers which only mean that the petitioner would be glad of divine allowance to do wrong—glad of an event which might be twisted into guidance in a doubtful direction. Such prayers God will never hear, but the way of the righteous shall be made plain. The path of faith shall end in peace, the way of holiness shall conduct to happiness. Your way may be so dark that you cannot see your hand before you, but God will before long make it bright as noonday. At this moment all the wise men in the world might not be able to predict your path; but the Lord will direct you. Only trust in the Lord and do good, and he will light your candle, yea, he will cause his sun to shine upon you. There is a blessing in the very act of waiting upon God, and out of it comes this joy, that your way shall be made plain.
I find one excellent translation runs thus—“The way of the righteous is a highway.” The righteous do not follow the blind alleys and back streets of craft and policy: “The way of the righteous is a highway;” it is the open road where none may challenge the traveler. It is the King’s highway where the passenger has a right to be. It is a grand thing to feel that in your position in life you are where you have a right to be, and that you came there by no trespass or breaking of hedges; that you are doing what you have a right to do before the living God and none may gainsay you. He that is in the King’s highway is under the King’s protection, and he that stops him by daylight shall come under the strong hand of the law. Our King has said, “No lion shall be there, neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon.”
He that is on the King’s highway will come to a good end, for the King has completed that way so that it does not fall short, but leads to a city of habitations whose Builder and Maker is God. Oh, to be right with God; yea, to be right with him in our daily life and private walk! Let that be the case, and our way shall be judged of by the Lord as his own royal highway, and upon it the light of his love shall shine so that it shall become brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
O God of great mercy, keep us in thy fear, and through thy grace lead us in imitation of thy dear Son to abide in holiness! And to thy name be praise for ever and ever! Amen.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board’s “Spurgeon Collection” by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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Acts 11
Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible
Acts 11
Verse 1
There is a close relationship in Acts 9,10,11. In Acts 9, the “name bearer,” Saul of Tarsus, was chosen of God to bear the new name before Gentiles, kings and children of Israel; in Acts 10, the acceptance of Gentiles into the church of Christ was adopted as mandatory by the apostle Peter; and in this chapter, such acceptance of Gentiles was recognized as the official policy of the whole church, and the development of the first great Gentile congregation was recorded, this having taken place at Antioch. The prior conditions for the giving of the new name having been fulfilled by these developments, the new name was given at Antioch (Acts 11:26).
There is a close relationship in Acts 9,10,11. In Acts 9, the “name bearer,” Saul of Tarsus, was chosen of God to bear the new name before Gentiles, kings and children of Israel; in Acts 10, the acceptance of Gentiles into the church of Christ was adopted as mandatory by the apostle Peter; and in this chapter, such acceptance of Gentiles was recognized as the official policy of the whole church, and the development of the first great Gentile congregation was recorded, this having taken place at Antioch. The prior conditions for the giving of the new name having been fulfilled by these developments, the new name was given at Antioch (Acts 11:26).
First, there is the record of Peter’s defense of his conduct in the matter of association with Gentiles, resulting in full approval by the entire church (Acts 11:1-18).
The third great section of Acts begins with Acts 11:19. Here begins the record of the movement of the church toward “the uttermost parts of the earth.” Luke began this section with a retrogression to the situation as he had explained it in Acts 8:1, that is, to the conditions prevailing immediately after the martyrdom of Stephen. Even from that early time, there had existed progressive efforts on the part of some to enlist Gentiles, especially at Antioch.
Then came the mission of Barnabas from Jerusalem (Acts 11:22), his bringing of Saul to Tarsus (Acts 11:25), and the giving of the new name by “the mouth of the Lord” (Acts 11:26).
Now the apostles and the brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. (Acts 11:1)
PETER ON THE DEFENSIVE
The implication at the close of the preceding chapter that perhaps Peter remained a while at Caesarea leads to the supposition that the startling news of what had occurred in the house of Cornelius had outrun Peter, arriving in Jerusalem before he did. Boles thought that “The news came to Jerusalem before Peter left Caesarea.”[1] In any case, an event of such vast implications was certainly one of supreme interest.
ENDNOTE:
[1] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on the Acts (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company, 1953), p. 176.
Verse 2
And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him.
And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him.
They that were of the circumcision … included practically all of the entire discipleship in Jerusalem, and not merely “the circumcision party” which later developed. Peter’s views before the conversion of Cornelius were those of practically the whole church at that time. Furthermore, as Benson noted, “Even afterward, on one occasion, Peter withdrew himself from the believing Gentiles, for fear of the Jews (Galatians 2:12).[2]
Contended with him … Alexander Campbell translated this place, “Disputed with him,” declaring that this “is more appropriate in questions of debate, and especially in such a category.”[3] Goodspeed’s translation is, “The advocates of circumcision took him to task with having visited and eaten with men who were not Jews.”[4] As so many have not failed to point out, “Peter was not regarded as any kind of `pope’ or overlord.”[5] “It is evident that the Jewish Christians had no idea of the supremacy of Peter, much less his infallibility.”[6]
The complaint against Peter does not seem to have been that he had baptized a Gentile, but that he had baptized a Gentile without first requiring him to submit to circumcision and come under the law of Moses.
[2] Joseph Benson, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco.
[3] Alexander Campbell, Acts of Apostles (Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing House), p. 76. .
[4] Edgar J. Goodspeed, The New Testament, An American Translation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), p. 250.
[5] H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 176.
[6] Joseph Benson, op. cit., in loco.
Verse 3
Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
Wentest in … is better translated “associated with.”[7]
To men uncircumcised … The literal Greek here is, “men with a foreskin”; and “is more expressive of scorn than the merely negative form of the English.”[8]
[7] Alexander Campbell, op. cit., p. 76.
[8] John Wesley, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco.
Verse 4
But Peter began, and expounded the matter unto them in order, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even unto me.
But Peter began, and expounded the matter unto them in order, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even unto me.
The comment of Bruce is appreciated, who after noting the irresponsible speculations of Dibelius, declared the entire narrative here to be “perfectly coherent.”[9] There are, of course, some slight variations in Peter’s rehearsal of the episode here, when contrasted with the narrative of Acts 10. But, “the variations are few and of little importance.”[10] For example, there is a touch of vividness in the personal remembrance of the great sheet coming “even unto me,” as Peter said here, instead of its being “let down to the earth” (Acts 10:11).
Peter quite properly concluded that his best defense would be a straightforward narrative of the events and circumstances which had proved so convincing to himself.
[9] F. F. Bruce, The Book of Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1954), p. 234.
[10] E. H. Plumptre, Ellicott’s Commentary on the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 72.
Verse 6
Upon which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw the fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and birds of the heaven. And I heard also a voice saying unto me, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath ever entered my mouth. But a voice answered the second time out of heaven, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. And this was done thrice: and all were drawn up again into heaven.
Upon which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw the fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and birds of the heaven. And I heard also a voice saying unto me, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath ever entered my mouth. But a voice answered the second time out of heaven, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. And this was done thrice: and all were drawn up again into heaven.
For comments on this passage see the preceding chapter.
Verse 11
And behold, forthwith three men stood before the house in which we were, having been sent from Caesarea unto me. And the Spirit bade me go with them, making no distinction. And these six brethren also accompanied me; and we entered into the man’s house.
And behold, forthwith three men stood before the house in which we were, having been sent from Caesarea unto me. And the Spirit bade me go with them, making no distinction. And these six brethren also accompanied me; and we entered into the man’s house.
No distinction … This was the great word regarding Jews and Gentiles THEN; and so it still is. God has one plan of redemption for all men; and the Scriptures do not reveal any special plan for any race or condition of men. See Romans 3:22.
Six brethren … Only here is it revealed that six men were Peter’s companions on the mission to Caesarea.
Verse 13
And he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, Send to Joppa, and fetch Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house.
And he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, Send to Joppa, and fetch Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house.
Words whereby thou shalt be saved … Implicit in this is the fact that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was not in order to save Cornelius, nor were all of the alms-giving and prayers sufficient to save him. As Bruce expressed it, “Salvation did not enter Cornelius’ house until Peter came there with the gospel.”[11] A necessary deduction from this is that Cornelius’ baptism was a prior condition of his being saved, the command that he should be baptized being, in fact, the only commandment Peter addressed to him.
Johnson declared that “This is the first instance of a household baptism named in Acts.”[12] Who are meant by this “household” are “his kinsmen and near friends” (Acts 10:24), there being no mention of infants. It is declared that these who were baptized in the Holy Spirit and commanded to be baptized in water “heard” the gospel (Acts 10:45).
[11] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 235.
[12] B. W. Johnson, The New Testament with Explanatory Notes (Delight, Arkansas: Gospel Light Publishing Company), p. 464.
Verse 15
And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning.
And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning.
A number of the most important facts are revealed in this short sentence.
(1) As I began to speak … The baptism of the Holy Spirit which occurred so early, before Peter could deliver his soul-saving message, shows that the purpose of this Spirit baptism was unrelated to the salvation of Cornelius, being intended rather as a sign to Peter and his companions that God had called the Gentiles through the gospel.
(2) As on us at the beginning … These words clearly designate Pentecost as “the beginning,” this being the prime authority for accepting that date as the beginning of the church of Christ. There were in fact many beginnings on that day in Jerusalem. See in my Commentary on Luke under Luke 24:46,47.
(3) Peter’s linking the event in Cornelius’ house with that of Pentecost also justifies the conclusion pointed out by Campbell:
It is a logical inference from these words, that from the day of Pentecost to the calling of the Gentiles, no similar display of the Spirit had been given, else they would not have gone so far back. The interval between Pentecost and this event was (at least) seven or eight years.[13]
Thus, the clearly miraculous event of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is restricted to these two occasions, when upon the Jews at Pentecost and upon the Gentiles here, the whole of mankind was symbolically included. Therefore, it is undoubtedly true that, in the public manifestations of supernatural gifts, the Holy Spirit “descended only twice.”[14] These outpourings were visible and were followed by miraculous demonstrations; and these two instances of such a thing are the “only scenes called in the Holy Scriptures, the baptism, or immersion in the Holy Spirit.”[15] No phenomenon like that has been observed since.
[13] Alexander Campbell, op. cit., p. 78.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
Verse 16
And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
The fact that this remark about baptism was also made by John the Baptist (Mark 1:8 and parallels) is no reason at all for denying that Jesus also made it as proved by this verse and Acts 1:5. Both John the Baptist who baptized in water and the Lord Jesus who baptized in the Holy Spirit found occasion to mention the contrast; and MacGregor’s denial of this in his unsupported assertion that “The words are put on Jesus’ lips”[16] (by Luke) is pedantry. Like many other so-called “liberal” comments on the New Testament, this one is extremely pedestrian. If Luke had recorded John the Baptist as saying this, the critic would have accused him of copying Mark; but, as Luke quoted Peter’s remembrance of Jesus saying it, he insinuated that Luke invented this. This is exactly the type of criticism that has about succeeded in destroying the credibility of liberalism, as applied to Biblical exegesis. Bible students quickly learn to anticipate exactly the knee-jerk reactions which have come to take the place of thought in the study of the word of God.
ENDNOTE:
[16] G. H. C. MacGreggor, The Interpreter’s Bible (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), Vol. IX, p. 144.
Verse 17
If then God gave unto them the like gift as he did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?
If then God gave unto them the like gift as he did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?
As McGarvey said:
This remark, taken in its historical connection, means that Peter would have been withstanding God, if he had refused to baptize the persons, or had made a difference in other respects between them and Jews.[17]
ENDNOTE:
[17] J. W. McGarvey, Commentary on Acts (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company), p. 220.
Verse 18
And when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles hath God granted repentance unto life.
And when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles hath God granted repentance unto life.
This should have been the end of the circumcision problem which disturbed the church at that time and for years afterward. The umbilical cord that bound the infant church to Judaism should have been accepted as cleanly cut by this decision approving Peter’s actions; but Peter wavered, and the powerful Judaizing party in the Jerusalem church put up a prolonged struggle to drag circumcision and various other Jewish ceremonials into the church of Jesus Christ. “The Judaizers in opposing Paul were acting against the church from which they pretended to derive their authority.”[18]
Those who maintained the necessity for observing the older Covenant did so through misguided zeal œor the Law; but some did so from national pride and bigotry (Galatians 6:13).[19]
The problem was no doubt compounded by the large number of Pharisees who had accepted Christianity (Acts 6:7); and it would not finally be laid to rest until the apostle Paul would deliver the book of Galatians as the coup de grace for Judaism in the church. Indeed the problem, although diminished, has survived to modern times in such things as sabbatarianism, instruments of music in worship, the burning of holy incense, etc.
God hath granted repentance unto life … In one sense repentance is something that men must do; in another it is something that God gives. There is no merit pertaining to men in such a thing as repentance, or any other obedience; and therefore, when God consents to permit repentance on man’s part as one of the prior conditions of forgiving him, it is in essence a gift of God
Unto life … Whereas the New Testament speaks of faith being “unto” righteousness (Romans 10:10), repentance being “unto” life (as here), and confession being “unto” salvation (Romans 10:10), it is of baptism alone that the word of God declares it to be “into Christ” (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27), and “into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
[18] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 73.
[19] Cambridge Bible, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco.
Verse 19
They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only Jews.
They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only Jews.
III. THE CHURCH MOVES TOWARD THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH
The third and final great section of Acts begins here with Acts 11:19, where appears the first movement of the church to the ends of creation. Antioch, being the first way station, the scene of the first great Gentile congregation gathered out of paganism, where God gave the sacred name “Christian” to his people, where the erstwhile persecutor, known later as Paul, would begin those labors which would determine to a large extent the future character of Christianity. As Peter’s name and personality had dominated that previous section of Acts, Paul’s would dominate this.
This is a retrogression in Luke’s narrative, going back to Jerusalem and memorable events there: the death of the first martyr, the first historical emergence of Saul of Tarsus, the dispersion of the disciples who went everywhere preaching the word, and the tribulation that accompanied those events.
Save only Jews … Despite the fact of the great commission having been intended for “all nations,” the first Christians, almost exclusively Jewish in a racial sense, understood this as “all Jewish nations”! It was this fundamental misunderstanding which lasted several years, and which precipitated the supernatural events leading to the inclusion of Gentiles. The whole purpose of Christianity would have been nullified and thwarted if the world-saving gospel should have been reduced to the status of another Jewish sect; and there was no way that Almighty God would have permitted such a thing. Acts 9,10, and 11 detail the dramatic, God-ordered events which stripped Christianity of its Jewish character and made a world-wide religion out of it.
The formula now becomes a sort of technical term, indicative of the MESSAGE, the last message of God to the world. It is called “the word of the kingdom,” or “the word of life”; but it is never called “the letter,” but the WORD of gospel.[20]
ENDNOTE:
[20] Alexander Campbell, op. cit., p. 78.
Verse 20
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
Unto the Greeks also … Despite the fact of the margin’s giving “Grecian Jews” as an alternate reading here, it is clear that Gentiles are meant, the same being the only proper antithesis of “Jews only” in the preceding verse. As Hervey said:
Speaking the word … It has been noted that:
The statement that the men of Cyprus and Cyrene preached the gospel to them is contrasted with the action of others, who preached to the Jews only. Obviously, therefore, these Hellenes were not Jews.[21]
Thus, as Dummelow said, “To these unnamed Cyprians and Cyrenians belongs the credit of first preaching the gospel systematically to Gentiles.”[22] It is doubtless this fact that Luke intended to bring into focus here. One can hardly resist the thought that perhaps Barnabas might have been among them. Both DeWelt and McGarvey were sure, however, that this preaching to Gentiles did not take place until after news of Peter’s baptism of Cornelius had been circulated. DeWelt said:
What prompted these Jews to do this, preach to the Gentiles? Could it not have been that the word of the works of Peter among the Gentiles reached these places; and, when this report came, they did not hesitate to take the gospel to the great Gentile center of Antioch?[23]
The importance of Antioch as capital, in a sense, of Gentile Christianity, justifies a little further notice of it.
ANTIOCH
The modern city of Antioch with a mere 30,000 inhabitants is not to be taken as anything like the Queen City of the East with its half a million souls at the time of events in this chapter. Situated astride the Orontes river, some twenty miles from the sea, where the river emerges from between the Lebanon and Taurus mountain ranges, it was a city “of great extent and remarkable beauty.”[24] It was distinguished by two great colonnaded streets intersecting at the center and dividing Antioch into quadrants. “Octavian, Tiberius, Trajan … and Hadrian adorned and equipped it with temple, theater, colonnade, circus, bath aqueduct, and all the architectural features and embellishments of a Roman metropolis.”[25]
The Seleucidae founded Antioch prior to 300 B.C., no less than four kings having a part in it, the royal residence of their dynasty having been constructed on an island in an artificial channel, the city itself occupying a larger island in the Orontes, but extending far beyond both banks, embracing also the slopes of precipitous Mount Silpius. It was the “third metropolis”[26] of the Roman Empire, “one of the eyes of Asia,”[27] and “one of the leading cities of the world.”[28]
Of particular interest to Christians is the quality of life which marked this mother city of Gentile Christianity. Just west of Antioch, Seleucus I had constructed the Groves of Daphne, wherein was the mighty temple of the Pythian Apollo. It was a center of vice, featuring the harlot-priestesses of Daphne and Apollo who on occasions engaged in public ceremonies “stripped of clothing.”[29] Heathenism in its most vulgar and debasing forms dominated the life of the people.
It is a credit to the strength and glory of Christianity that in such a city there came to be at one time more than “a hundred thousand members”[30] of the body of Christ. Chrysostom lived there; and a number of Gentile heresies began there, notably that of Arius.
Such was the city where the Gentiles turned to the Lord and where the disciples were first called Christians. Mighty are the ways of the Lord.
Preaching the Lord Jesus … See under Acts 8:12,35. Preaching the Lord Jesus was the same as preaching Christ, or preaching the things concerning the kingdom.
[21] A. C. Hervey, The Pulpit Commentary, Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1950), p. 358.
[22] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 833.
[23] Don DeWelt, Acts Made Actual (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1958), p. 151.
[24] F. N. Peloubet, Bible Dictionary (Chicago: The John C. Winston Company, 1925), p. 36.
[25] Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 2, p. 70.
[26] Farrar, as quoted by W. J. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 226.
[27] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 73.
[28] Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 149.
[29] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 73.
[30] Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 2, p. 149.
Verse 21
And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number that believed turned to the Lord.
And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number that believed turned to the Lord.
The fact is as obvious to us, after nineteen hundred years, as it was to Luke, that “the hand of the Lord was with them.” Indeed, upon what other premise may the triumph of Christianity in a city like Antioch be explained?
A great number that believed turned to the Lord … The KJV in this place has “A great number believed, and turned to the Lord”; but the English Revised Version (1885) is a superior translation because it brings into focus the fact that believing and turning to the Lord are two different things. It is a gross error to read this as if it said, “A great number believed (turned to the Lord).” In the Greek text, “believing” is a participle, and “turned” is a verb in the past tense.[31] Those who were already believers “turned to the Lord.” As McGarvey so well said it:
Turning to the Lord is a different act from believing, and is subsequent to it. As in Acts 3:19, where turning to the Lord follows repentance, the specific reference is to baptism, which is the turning act. Equivalent to the expression here is: “The Corinthians believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8).[32]
[31] The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), p. 516.
[32] J. W. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 224.
Verse 22
And the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch: who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad; and he exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord: for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.
And the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch: who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad; and he exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord: for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.
Barnabas … For comment on this remarkable man, see under Acts 4:36.
He exhorted them all … This should have been expected of that man whose very name meant “Son of Exhortation.” His power in the exercise of such a talent must truly have been remarkable.
And they sent forth Barnabas … This had the character of a formal mission from the church in Jerusalem. That the church should have sent a man with the character and disposition of Barnabas indicates that there was already in Jerusalem a strong attitude favoring the inclusion of Gentiles in the church.
Regarding the chronology of these events, Hervey noted that:
There is no clue to the length of time elapsed between the flight from persecution and the arrival in Antioch, except that Saul had had time to sojourn three years in Arabia, to come to Jerusalem, and from thence to go and settle in Tarsus, where Barnabas found him; thus leaving abundant time for Peter’s operations in Judaea and Caesarea.[33]
ENDNOTE:
[33] A. S. Hervey, op. cit., p. 358.
Verse 25
And he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people; and that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
And he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people; and that the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
When he had found him … This seems to say that Barnabas might have had some difficulty in locating Saul; and, if the fact of Saul having been disinherited by his family (as supposed) had cut off his association with them, this could have complicated the problem of locating him. In any case, Barnabas succeeded in finding him and bringing him to Antioch.
Some have speculated on the reasons which might have prompted Barnabas to search out Saul and introduce him at Antioch. Probably it was because the word of the Lord had revealed to Ananias that Saul would bear the Lord’s name before the “Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). The immediate mention of the “name” in the same context supports this view.
The disciples were called Christians … The importance of this makes it imperative to study more fully both the name “disciples” and the name “Christian,” which replaced it.
CONCERNING DISCIPLES
“Disciples” occurs 72 times in Matthew 44 times in Mark 38 times in Luke 77 times in John, and 30 times in Acts – 261 times in the first five books of the New Testament; but it is not used even once in the last 22 books of the New Testament. The significance of this is further emphasized by the fact that the apostle John, after using it 77 times in the gospel, never used it even once in the short epistles and Revelation. Following the book of Acts, no follower of the Lord was ever called a disciple. The conclusion is mandatory that “disciple” as a name for members of the body of Christ was countermanded and negated by the Holy Spirit. (It should be noted that this in no manner denies that all New Testament teaching regarding “disciples” and discipleship applies likewise to Christians. It was the name, not the doctrine, that was changed.)
Among the reasons behind the dramatic change of names evident in this passage is the primary fact that the word “disciple” means “learner”; and although true in a sense that Christians must always be “learners,” there is a vital and necessary sense in which Christians are “taught persons,” in all vital elements of the holy faith. See John 6:44,45; Jeremiah 31:31-35; 2 John 1:1:2; and Isaiah 54:13. The hurtful notion that Christians are merely “trying to learn the truth” is antithetical to the passages cited. An apostle said that Christians “know the truth” (1 John 2:21). Paul declared that Christians “believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:3); and this concept of the Christian’s being in possession of “all truth” through the revelation of God to the apostles is denied by such a name as “disciples” or “learners.” This alone was sufficient reason for God’s repudiation of the name “disciples.”
As Kenneth Hoover, distinguished preacher of Benton, Kentucky, said:
From ancient times to the present, the finite mind of man has wrestled with the infinite concept of God, the concept of truth. The halls of learning reverberate with a monotonous combination of postulates and abstractions about truth which sound good but mean nothing.[34]
Hoover stressed that the truth has been revealed from God, in Christ, by the Spirit, through the apostles, and that “The truth is the gospel of Christ, the word of God.”[35]
Christians are commanded to love the truth, hear the truth, walk in the truth, obey the truth, and to “teach the truth in love.” If they should be named merely “learners” or disciples, it would be incongruous.
CONCERNING THE NAME “CHRISTIAN”
The near-unanimous chorus of scholars and wise men shouting that this name was given in derision of the new faith is as shameful as it is amazing. We shall not use the space to record the names and comments of those affirming that “Christians” was a name given in derision, belittling the members of Christ as “goody-goodies,” etc., the tragedy being that even some brethren have fallen in with such an “accepted” explanation! Even the Encyclopedia Britannica chimes in with “It was at Antioch that the term `Christian’ was first given to converts to the new faith, as some maintain, in derision.”[36] But where, in God’s holy name, is there any intimation of such a thing, either in the word of God or any dependable history? Hervey emphatically declared, and it is true, that “There is no evidence of its having been given in derision.”[37]Furthermore, if the name “Christian” was given in derision of the faith by the enemies of the gospel, whatever became of that everlasting “new name” which the mouth of God named upon his children?
I. God promised that he himself would give his people a new name. He promised that it would be given at a time when “the Gentiles and kings” had seen his “righteousness” (Isaiah 62:2). It was not to be a name which enemies would give, for God said, “I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 56:5). It was not to be a name which would arise beyond the fellowship of God’s people; but, as the Lord said, “Even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters” (Isaiah 56:5). If God made good on that promise, the name was given in his house and within his walls; and that cannot mean in the ranks of the despisers of his truth. Moreover, it was to be “a new name” (Isaiah 62:2), and a name “which the mouth of the Lord” would name.
II. Significance of the name’s being “new.” If “disciples” had continued to be the name of God’s followers, there would have been nothing new in such a designation, because the Pharisees and John the Baptist also had “disciples.” Implicit in the new name was the teaching that Christianity was never to be confused with Judaism, or any of the sects of the Jews, all of which had their “disciples,” the very name being indicative of the Jewish connection.
III. This is the only name specifically commanded by an apostle as the one in which the Lord’s people should “glorify God” (1 Peter 4:16). And how, it may be asked, does the name “Christian” worn by God’s people glorify the Father in heaven? This is done by its emphasis upon the name of Christ, the name literally meaning “of Christ.” Herein also appears the utter impossibility of such a name having been given by the instigation of Satan. It is contrary to the nature of Satan to suppose for even a moment that the evil one would have concocted a name with so much of Christ in it. People who can really believe that Satan invented and instigated this name might also very well believe that the devil invented the Lord’s Supper.
IV. The contrast between the New Testament handling of the name “Christian,” as distinguished from many designations applied to the followers of the Lamb in the New Testament, stresses the uniqueness of the term “Christian.” For example, the Holy Spirit referred to the Lord’s followers as (1) the called of God (Romans 1:6; 8:28), (2) sons of God (Romans 8:14), (3) children of God (Romans 8:16), (4) the sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:2), (5) the faithful in Christ (Ephesians 1:1), (6) servants of Christ (Philippians 1:1), (7) the elect of God (1 Peter 1:1), (8) God’s elect (Colossians 3:12; Titus 1:1), (9) saints in Christ, the term “saints” being used 50 times in the epistles (10) brethren, this designation being used 132 times in the epistles, and (11) simply “the church,” as used 85 times.
Nevertheless, it was the name “Christian” which above all others came to be the historical designation of the brethren. This was the only name an apostle commanded the saints to wear (1 Peter 4:16), the only name advocated before kings (Acts 26:28), and the only name consciously designated by an inspired author of a New Testament book as a replacement for “disciples,” as in Acts 11:26.
V. Finally, the events leading to the giving of this new name were ordered, not on earth, but from heaven. First, a “name bearer” was chosen of God and converted in Acts 9; next the Gentiles were made participants in the blessings of the faith, upon the same terms as Jews, this being accomplished by a whole series of supernatural occurrences leading to the conversion of Cornelius and his house in Acts 10; and then in Acts 11, as soon as the first great Gentile church had been assembled at Antioch, a man full of the Holy Spirit went and called the “name-bearer” from Tarsus, the same line recording the fact that the disciples were called “Christians” first at Antioch. From this, the conclusion may not be denied that Paul himself announced this name within the church at Antioch, the inspired apostle being God’s spokesman.
[34] Kenneth Hoover, Minister, Church of Christ, Benton, Kentucky, a private manuscript, 1975.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 2, p. 149.
[37] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 359.
Verse 27
Now in these days there came down prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great famine over all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius.
Now in these days there came down prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great famine over all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius.
Prophets … There were an undetermined number of prophets in the first age of the church, the same ranking next in authority to the apostles themselves (1 Corinthians 12:28), presumably having come in possession of their gift through the laying on of apostolic hands. They are mentioned again by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:28, also in Ephesians 2:20,4:11.
Agabus … is again mentioned in Acts 21:10. The event of his prophesying the famine in the reign of Claudius is helpful in fixing the chronology of the events here narrated. “Claudius reigned from A.D. 41-54.”[38] He is the only emperor to have been named twice in the New Testament, here and in Acts 18:2; the latter instance referring to his expulsion of the Jews from Rome. Lewis is of the opinion that he is also alluded to in Acts 17:7.[39]
A man of great promise at first, Claudius degenerated in office, outraging his subjects by a marriage to his own niece,[40] the shameless Agrippina, whose son Nero succeeded Claudius when the latter was poisoned, according to Tacitus, by Agrippina. The famine mentioned here which was prophesied by Agabus is also mentioned by Josephus as occurring in 44-48 A.D., during which period he relates how “Queen Helena purchased and imported grain and figs to the distressed in Jerusalem.[41]
Luke’s respectful and even friendly mention of the emperor makes it certain that at the time Luke and Acts were written, there had not been any outbreak of persecution of the Christians by Rome, meaning that they were written in the early 60’s, at the very latest; for the quinquennium of Nero lasted until A.D. 59.
[38] Jack P. Lewis, Historical Backgrounds of Bible History (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1971), p. 144.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 5, p. 781.
[41] Jack P. Lewis, op. cit., p. 144.
Verse 29
And the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren that dwelt in Judaea: which also they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
And the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren that dwelt in Judaea: which also they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
To send relief … What a commendable thing it was that the Gentile converts to Christianity, so long hated and despised by Jews, should have responded so nobly to the distress of their fellow Christians in Jerusalem and environs. Every Christian participated “according to his ability” in making up the bounty for their relief. All over the world today, Christians still respond in the same manner to such disasters as that ancient famine. This writer remembers being at Skillman Avenue Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas, once after Hurricane “Carla” had wrought such extensive destruction; and the mountain of supplies that had been gathered at that church overflowed the great edifice and was temporarily stored on the parking lot until a whole fleet of trucks was employed for its distribution.
The pseudocon “discovered” in these verses is this:
Galatians 2:1 speaks of Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem as taking place fourteen years after his first, whereas this visit could not be above four or five years after.[42]
The visit in Galatians 2:1, however, was by “revelation,” as was also his first visit; and, when it is understood that Paul was there speaking of a certain class of visits, all difficulties disappear. Moreover, this visit was very brief, not a visit at all in the sense the others were; and besides, there is no mention of their seeing any of the apostles on this visit, that being the big thing in view on both other trips. For whatever reason, and we are certain there was a reason, Paul simply did not count this visit here as his “second” journey to Jerusalem.
The elders … This is the first mention of elders of the church in the New Testament. That these men were recognized as the duly appointed governors of the Lord’s church is implicit in the fact that Barnabas and Saul gave the alms they brought, not to the apostles, but to the elders. The qualifications of elders are given by Paul in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, along with the commandment to “ordain elders in every city.”
ENDNOTE:
[42] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 360.
Evangelism
4 Ways to Involve Everyone in Evangelism
Many people have slipped into the mindset that evangelism is a gift that some believers have and others do not. The reality is that when someone becomes reconciled to God, He sends them out to reconcile others. That’s not a gift—we all have the responsibility to take Christ to others.
Pastoral leadership can go a long way in shifting those mindsets. Pastors can and should equip the church body to understand their role in evangelization. Among other things, a church can do four things to encourage the spirit and practice of evangelism.
1. Build Relationships
Only a very few hear the gospel or show up at church without first being in relationship. Most people who come to Christ are invited by a person they know.
God calls us to evangelize, including our family, friends, and neighbors. He invites us to invite others. Personal relationships are the best way to reach out.
Your friends trust you when you talk about restaurants, plumbers, and baby sitters. That same trust gives each believer an open door to introduce their friends to Jesus.
2. Encourage Engagement
Sometimes the world gets the wrong idea that being a Christian means our lives are perfect. They feel disconnected and unworthy. So whenever we can remind our people and those looking in that we are all in need of a Savior, it breaks down walls that keep people from Christ and the Church.
The church and its people must understand that no one gets through a broken world unbroken. So as they go back out throughout the week, they should connect with broken people as broken people who have met the One who restores. They should offer restoration through Christ. That is evangelism.
3. Inclusive Events
Some parts of church are more exclusive. The Lord’s Supper, baptism, even some small groups are just for believers. But a church has the freedom, and really a responsibility, to have gatherings where seekers feel welcome—places where they are ready for company.
One of those low-threshold events is an annual Easter egg hunt. You ramp up by involving the whole church. They bring their friends, neighbors, and families.
Do these events where everyone can be involved. Why? Events can show love for our community and increase visibility to invite people to our church. Multiple relationships can form in these open and inclusive events. These relationships can ultimately lead back to Christ.
4. Teach Well
The Easter egg event mentioned above is an inroad. But the greater thing happens when we actually preach on the resurrection—we want to bridge relationships from something as simple as a children’s event, to something as important as the gospel.
And, we don’t just preach about the resurrection on one Sunday.
Our people understand that after they bring their friends to the church community event, there will be an intense Gospel thrust in the following weeks. We call each other, and the Life Group leaders make calls. Everyone knows that everyone should invite their friends to hear about Jesus.
We teach the gospel well and over and over.
Holistic Approach
It’s a full-court press. We do all of these things in waves at the same time, but we don’t do them all the time. Spring and fall, summer and winter, on mission to share Jesus.
Everyone is on board. Everyone understands that our church leadership will provide opportunities for their friends to hear the Gospel, but their friends are their responsibility.
I don’t know their friends. They do. I can’t invite their friends. They can. And they must. Evangelism is everyone’s responsibility.
We can complain about the lack of evangelistic activity in our churches, but this goes back to leadership. We as leaders create the culture of evangelism. When the church sees we are intentional and serious about creating a pathway, they will be more likely to engage their friends and invite them on the pathway.
What has your church done to make sure everyone participates in evangelism? Why do you think people often drop the ball in the area of evangelism?
My Mission Group tool for getting everyone in your church involved in evangelism is Maximizing the Big Day. It’s an 8 video session tool you can use with your leadership and build rhythms of outreach. Check out this and other tools for revitalization, breaking growth barriers, and strategic leadership at Mission Group.
Erick Chepkwony, TH.D 