WHY GOD DEMANDS WATER BAPTISM (Part Three)

By Bob Myhan and Steve Tidwell

here are few who doubt that God commands water baptism (Acts 2:38; 10:47-48; 22:16). That this is a positive, rather than a moral command is easily grasped. That God has the right to test the faith of those who come to Him for forgiveness is surely not doubted by anyone. Why, then, is it considered strange by so many that God should test the faith of alien sinners by issuing to them the positive command to be baptized in water? If God has the inherent right to test an alien sinner’s faith, He also has the right to determine how best to test it. If this is not so, why is it not?

In the long ago, a brave soldier by the name of Naaman was commanded by a prophet of God to dip [baptize himself] seven times in the Jordan River, in order to be cleansed of leprosy. Naaman could see no logical reason for so dipping and, at first, refused. But, when he came to realize just how little was being asked of him [as a condition of being healed], he submitted and was cleansed (2 Kings 5:1-14).

There are many, today, like Naaman, who refuse to obey the command to be baptized as a condition of salvation. That is, they are willing to submit if, and only if, they do not have to do it to be saved. The mind-set seems to be resentment toward what is perceived to be an implication that they are not morally good enough for God prior to baptism. But this is based, in turn, on the supposition that the command to be baptized is a moral one, which it is not. God withholds forgiveness from alien sinners until they are baptized, not because they are not morally good enough for God until then, but because they have not yet passed God’s “faith test.” Many seem to think that, if baptism were necessary for salvation, salvation would be earned and not a gift of God. But this is not the case; we simply show God that we believe His inspired word enough to obey Him.

[To be continued]

ORDERLY WORSHIP

By O. C. Birdwell

n occasions through the years, I have been in attendance at reli­gious services where no one seem­ed to know what was to be done or when. Usually such a situation created a confused condition that could, and often did, distract from spiritual worship. These brethren had disorder but did not necessarily plan it that way.

Some time back I heard of a few brethren who feel that wor­ship, to be in spirit, must be spontaneous and with no planned order. Being opposed to planned order, they practice planned dis­order.

These people probably would reject conclusions I reach from their position; nevertheless, the conclusions are logical and cor­rect whether they accept them or not.

If, as they say, there should be no plan for the number of songs, prayers, etc., there also should be no planned and announced time for such worship. If the singing and praying is to be pure­ly spontaneous, surely the time of such would have to be likewise spontaneous. Hence, there could be no assembly because no one would know what others were going to do, nor when.

If their spirits ever did happen to motivate them at the same time and get them together they would still have problems. With no songs planned and with no song director, everyone would have the same right to start a song. Imag­ine 200 different songs at one time: Even if the spirit of one man moved him to jump the gun on the others and start a song, sup­pose no one else knew it? Without the words and music it would be difficult to spontaneously join in singing a song one did not know. Also, suppose that the spirit of one moved him to sing, another to pray, and still another to speak a word of exhor­tation, and this all at one time? Would this be confusion? Surely, it would be. In the early church a similar condition in the use of miraculous gifts prompted Paul to say, “But let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). And this is what I say to these misguided brethren.

The truth of the matter is, these brethren, whether they know it or not, are bordering on the neo-Pentecostalism prevalent with some in our day. The idea that one can turn the lights low, hold hands, and sit quietly while the Spirit, or the spirit of man, works apart from and beyond the will of man is not found in the scriptures. The subjective re­sponse of man must always depend upon the objective revelation of God received by the intellect of man and put into action by the determined will.

It seems to me that planned order is much more reasonable than planned disorder. [Bible Facts, May, 1974] &

A MISUSED PARABLE

By Johnny Stringer

he Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30) is one of the most perverted and misapplied passages of God's word. Brethren err in applying this passage to our treatment of erring brethren. Some brethren tell us that since the householder commands his ser­vants to let the tares (the wicked) and the wheat (the righteous) grow together, it is wrong for a congregation to withdraw from a brother who refuses to repent of his sins. Brother Dillard Thur­man also makes the error of applying the passage to our treatment of erring brethren, as he uses it to castigate those who endeavor to expose the errors of brethren. [See his article, "Leave the Mat­ter of Tares to the Lord," which appeared in Gospel Minutes, Feb. 9, 1973].

One who is only casually ac­quainted with the New Testament can readily see that the Parable of the Tares cannot mean that con­gregations are forbidden to dis­cipline disorderly members, for if it did it would contradict such plain passages as I Corinthians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15. It is equally obvious that the parable does not mean that it is wrong for us to expose error and rebuke brethren who teach and practice it, for if it did it would contradict such clear pas­sages as 2 Timothy 4:2; Jude 3, Ephesians 5:11 and Titus 1:10-13.

Jesus explains the parable in verses 37-43. Let it be noted that the field in which the Lord sows wheat and the devil sows tares is not the church - the field is the world (verse 38). The children of the devil and the children of the kingdom exist in the world (the field) together until the end of the world. At the end of the world the angels will gather the tares out from the midst of God's people and cast them into the furnace of fire.

It is obvious that neither church discipline nor exposing the errors of brethren is dealt with in this parable, for Jesus is not discussing the evil and the right­eous in the church - the field is the world, not the church. Some believe that since verse 41 says that the angels will gather the tares out of the kingdom, the tares must be citizens of the kingdom. However, the context proves otherwise. The tares are children of the devil as distin­guished from children of the king­dom. The tares were not sown by Christ, but by the devil. They are not citizens of the kingdom, but they do exist among citizens of the kingdom in the same field (the world). Thus, gathering them out of the kingdom must mean gath­ering them out from among the peo­ple of the kingdom. According to Thayer, the preposition trans­lated "0ut of" (ek) can mean “from the midst...of many." The tares will be gathered from the midst of God's people.

Note also that the servants of verse 27, whom the householder told not to gather the tares, are not Christians. The Christians are represented by the wheat, not by the servants. The command to let the tares grow along with the wheat, therefore, is not meant for Christians. Our treatment of the wicked is not under dis­cussion in the passage.

The uprooting of the tares represents a final separation of the tares from the wheat. The point of the parable is that the Lord permits the evil and the righteous to exist on earth side by side, not separating the two groups until the end of the world. We could not change that if we wanted to. When we rebuke sinners or when a congregation disciplines a member, the rebuking or the dis­cipline does not bring about the separation forbidden in verses 28-30, for the sinners are still growing in the field (the world) with us - and will continue to do so until God brings about the separation at the end of the world. [Bible Facts, May, 1974] &