What Is Faith? (Part Three)

By Bob Myhan

The word “faith” also has the mean­ing of “a ground for ‘faith,’ an as­sur­ance” (Vine, p. 222). Paul used the word in this way when he wrote to the Romans,

Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to dis­putes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats de­spise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him (Rom. 14:1-3).

Paul is here dealing with the lack of confi­dent assurance that eating meat is not a sin. Those who lacked this assurance were “weak in the faith” that it was all right to eat meat. This is strengthened by the state­ment, “Let each be fully convinced in his own mind” (Rom. 14:5), and by Paul’s con­cluding exhortation, to wit.

Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin. We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves (Rom. 14:22-23; 15:1).

Thus, in the context, “one who is weak in the faith” is one who cannot bring himself to eat meat; when he contemplates the eat­ing of meat, he has the feeling he is about to sin. In other words, his conscience kicks in and says, “Don’t do it!”

Another passage where the word nor­mally translated “faith” has the sense of “a ground for faith” is in Paul’s sermon to the Athenians on Mars Hill.

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now com­mands all men to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31).

God has given “as­surance” that “He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has or­dained … by raising Him from the dead” (see also Rom. 1:4).

Finally, the word, “faith,” can also mean “trustworthiness“ (Vine, p. 222). As a mat­ter of fact, Vine later says, “the R.V. corrects the A.V. ‘faith’ to ‘faithfulness’ in Rom. 3:3; Gal. 5:22” (p. 223). See also Titus 2:10, where it is translated “fidelity” (NKJV).

Thus, when the Bible says that we are “justified by faith,” it means we are justified because we trusted God to the point that we were faithful to all He commands of alien sinners in the pages of the faith. &

Almost Perfect

By Clif Dennis

Many times we hear someone de­scribe something as "almost per­fect." We hear the term, "less than perfect" or "more than perfect." I believe that such terms can be classified as oxymo­rons. Webster's  dictionary gives the defini­tion of an oxymoron as "a rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined." Perfect is an all inclusive word meaning there are no degrees of per­fection. If something is "perfect," it cannot be "near perfect" or "less than perfect."

Could we describe the "perfect law of lib­erty" (James 1:25), as less, or more, than it was described by James? When Paul said "when that which is perfect" has come (1 Corinthians 13:10), was he speaking about near perfection? When something is perfect, it is complete, nothing lacking.

But even something perfect can be di­luted or marred into imperfection. Paul mar­veled that the brethren in the congregations of churches of Christ in Galatia had done just that. (Galatians 1:6-9).  They had taken a pure, perfect, gospel and made it into something not "near perfect" but useless as far as it was able to save men's souls. The watered down, diluted, perverted social gospel being preached in most pulpits to­day, cannot save one soul from eternal de­struction.

Another term which mutilates a Biblical concept is "spending eternity" somewhere. When we say we will "spend eternity," some­where, we imply that eternity will end at some point and we will have spent eternity. The word "eternity" is another all inclusive word to mean that it won't end. It didn't start, it will never end. We will LIVE in eter­nity somewhere, not SPEND it anywhere. This means we will always live. Where is up to the individual . Time and eternity are of­ten confused in the minds of people. The two are totally separate and not even akin. Genesis 1:1 says. "In the beginning," the be­ginning of what? Time.

Just as time had a beginning, it will have an end. That fact is prominently pointed out in the Scriptures, but never a hint of an end to eternity. I like to picture time as a straight line with a starting point and an end, but eternity as a circle, with no beginning and no end.

I hope this gives a clearer contrast of these two dimensions of time and eter­nity,and of the word "perfect" and that we may properly use them in our speaking of things spiritual. When you have reached that state of perfection, where will you live eter­nally? &

What the Church of Christ is Not

By Anthony Genton

1) Not A Denomination: The New Testament church is not associated nor affiliated with denominationalism. Denominations such as is the world today are not men­tioned in the Bible. "The churches of Christ" are (Rom. 16: 16). It does not say “the roman catholic churches sa­lutes you”! NO, sir! It says “churches of Christ!”

2) Neither Catholic Nor Protestant: The New Testament church is the roman catholic church. The New Testament church hon­ors and reveres no man or human au­thority such as the pope (Matthew 28: 18). The New Testament church is not a "protestant" church in the popular sense. Members of the New Testament church "protest" against sin, false doc­trine, ungodliness and immorality. The New Testament church is not allied nor identified with Protestant denomination­alism. Catholics and protestants are not referred to in the Scriptures. But, Chris­tians are (Acts 11:26).

3) Not A Social Club: The church was pur­chased with the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28). The Son of God did not die for a social organization, but for a "spiritual house" (I Peter 2:5). We are not a glori­fied social center in competition with country clubs and the YMCA. We are the church of Christ that you can read about in the New Testament. We worship God "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), not in fun, food, and frolic. &