The Gospel Day Part 13

Just. In his admonitions, corrections and reprovings, he is always just and impartial.

Holy. His heart and life and affections must be pure and holy, free from sin.

Temperate. There are many things from which we are commanded by the Scriptures to abstain. In the use of all things G.o.d has given for use he must not be excessive. He must not be excessive in eating, drinking, sleeping, working, talking, s.e.xual relation, etc.

What A Bishop Or Elder Must Not Be.

A bishop must not be given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, not a brawler, not covetous, not a novice, not self-willed, not soon angry. See 1 Tim. 3:3-6; t.i.tus 1:7.

Must not be given to wine. Not a wine drinker. He is to be an example and abstain from all appearance of evil.

No striker. A good translation from the Greek would render this _reviler_.

He must not strike back with the tongue; in other words, not contentious.

Not greedy of filthy lucre. When man becomes greedy of filthy lucre-loves money-he can be influenced by it and thus be led to favor the rich.

Not a brawler. This is synonymous with wrangler or contender.

Not Covetous. Covetousness includes more than the love of money. Fame, honor, worldly pleasures, gratification of unholy appet.i.tes and pa.s.sions, may be properly termed covetousness. To entertain for anything an affection that is not a pure and G.o.dly affection is idolatry, and idolatry is covetousness.

Not a novice. One newly converted.

Not self-willed. Not obstinate in contending for his views or desires in opposition to others.

Not soon angry. Soon is not found in the original. A more proper rendering would be, Not pa.s.sionate.

Deacon.

Deacon is translated from "_diakonos_," meaning minister. By reading the writings of those contemporary with the apostle and those immediately following we learn that a bishop or elder is the overseer or pastor of the flock, or the one upon whom the greatest responsibilities lie, while the deacons are helpers. This doubtless is what is meant by "helps" in 1 Cor.

12:28. There was always at least one bishop in one congregation, but often more than one deacon. The qualifications for a deacon are very similar to those of a bishop. See 1 Tim. 3; t.i.tus 1.

Elders Or Presbyters.

Webster in defining presbyter, says, "An elder in the early Christian church." Young in his a.n.a.lytical concordance says of presbytery, "An a.s.sembly of elders." These two terms have the same Greek origin, "_presbuteros_." An elder is one grounded in the faith with a sound matured judgment; one capable of giving good advice or counsel. An elder is not necessarily a preacher, but one calculated to advise and give counsel in his pastoral duties. They also are especially called of G.o.d to anoint and pray for the sick.

These church officers are all called of G.o.d. See Gal. 1:15, 16. They are commissioned by Christ. Mat. 28:19. Sent by the Holy Spirit. Acts 13: 3, 4. They are qualified by G.o.d. 2 Cor. 3:5, 6. They are amba.s.sadors from the kingdom of heaven with a heavenly message to this lost world. G.o.d help them every one to faithfully declare it in the fear of him who has called them.

Chapter VIII. The Ordinances Of The New Testament.

In the preceding chapter we considered the church of the New Testament.

The Lord Jesus built his church and inst.i.tuted some ordinances, which he commands the church to faithfully keep. The keeping of the commandments of G.o.d is proof that we love him: "For this is the love of G.o.d that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me."

John 14:21. "If a man love me he will keep my words." Ver. 23. "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings." Ver. 24.

We may profess great attainments in the divine life and wonderful devotion to G.o.d, but the proof is obedience to his commands. We have learned of people who have become so holy that they were raised above or pa.s.sed beyond a great portion of the Bible and are not required to keep it. We have heard of but few things so ridiculously foolish. The better and more holy we become, certainly the more of the Word of G.o.d we will practise in our life; and who on earth can live a more perfect Christian life than he who lives in obedience to every word of the Bible? When one gets in possession of something that exempts him from obedience to the Scriptures he gets in possession of some very mysterious thing. The only way to heaven is by the commandments of the Bible. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life and enter in through the gates into the city."

We will consider some ordinances and ceremonies which belong to the church of G.o.d as recorded in the New Testament so plainly that a wayfaring man though a fool need not err therein.

Baptism.

"There was a man sent from G.o.d, whose name was John." John 1:6. In the thirty-third verse this same John declares that G.o.d sent him to baptize with water. Of the books written on this subject there is scarcely an end.

The controversy is very great, and so often very ridiculous.

Lexicographers have defined and a.n.a.lyzed the word baptize in its different forms. Liddell and Scott, Robertson, Parkhurst, Scapula, Stokins, Calvin, Luther, Campbell, Gill, Stuart, Vitringa, Brenner, Paulus, and many others of great erudition have defined the word, and to sum them all up we find the primary meaning is "to dip, to immerse, to plunge in water." Many of the English translators of the New Testament always render _baptizo_, immerse or dip, as "John the immerser," or "John the dipper."

This brief reference to the expositions of the learned must suffice for this work. It is with pleasure we resort to the plain and simple teachings of the Scriptures.

Baptism A New Testament Ordinance.

All Jerusalem, and Judea, and the region about Jordan, were baptized of John in Jordan. Mat. 3:5, 6. Jesus baptized by proxy. John 4:1, 2. He commissioned his ministry to preach baptism unto all the world. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Mat. 28:19. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Mark 16:15, 16. Those who have undertaken the dangerous and Christ uncommissioned task of freeing Christians from the obligations of this ordinance, hold high aloft the following texts: Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14, 15; Col. 2:20. Since the Savior's commission to his disciples was forty days after his resurrection, such teachers are driven from this position, and to substantiate their doctrine they flee to a more fatally exposed one when saying that the baptism of this commission was the baptism of the Spirit. It is a pity that precious time must be taken for the correction of such erroneous teaching. How can men baptize with the Holy Spirit? G.o.d alone can do that.

It is evident that the apostles understood this baptism to be with water, since they taught it and practised it throughout their ministry. We shall take time and s.p.a.ce to refer to but two or three instances of the administration of this ordinance recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. The first is that of a Christ commissioned preacher by the name of Philip, who was sent by an angel to preach the gospel to a Scripturally ignorant man of Ethiopia. Unlearned as he was, he readily understood from the preaching of Philip the importance of water baptism; therefore when they came to a certain water he said, "See here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Acts 8:36. By reading the following verses you will learn that this man was baptized in water and G.o.d witnessed to his approval by sending him rejoicing on his way. Obedience to the commands of G.o.d brings a joy to the Christian heart.

The second instance of baptism to which we wish to invite your attention is that of the devout Cornelius. He sent for Peter to learn more concerning the ways of the Lord. Peter came and told them of Jesus, of his resurrection and his power to save. As he spoke the Holy Ghost fell upon all them which heard his words. Then said Peter, Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.

How can an instance of water baptism be more plainly recorded? This occurred some eight years after the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. To teach the abolition of this ordinance at the cross, in the face of these plainly stated instances of baptism, only proves to us the blinding and deceptive power of the spirit of error.

Mode Of Baptism.

Many of the professed teachers of the gospel have become very liberal. "We all have a right to our opinion," so many say; and "a thing becomes right unto us if we believe it to be right." Because of this teaching and the varied opinions, there have originated in the minds of the people several different modes of baptism. But this great liberality finds no warrant in the Word of G.o.d. The Scriptures teach that "there is one body." Eph. 4:4.

If I should hold in opinion, as many do hold, that there are many bodies, would my opinion prove the Word of G.o.d to be in error? Let me say here, with emphasis, that there can be but one true, rightful body. If the Catholic body should be the right body, it is the only body upon the earth that is right. If the Presbyterian body is the right and true body, it is the only body. And so with any other denominational body. If we were a member of the Methodist body we would have to believe that that was the one true body and that all the others were wrong. If there be but one body, how can two bodies be that one body when those two bodies are different?

There is but one Holy Spirit, one true Lord, one gospel faith, and one true mode of baptism. G.o.d has not left us to follow our own peculiar fancies, but all must go the same way. Whatever is required of one individual, that same thing is required of every other individual. If sprinkling is a right mode of baptism it is the only right mode, and all others are wrong. If pouring is right it is the only mode that is right.

If three dips, face forward is right it is the only mode that is right. If one single immersion is right it is the only mode that is right. The Lord did not set the example in all these different ways. He was baptized. He also baptized by proxy, and we believe that he thus baptized in the same manner he was baptized. This one mode was all they understood by baptism.

The apostles perhaps had seen the Lord baptized, they administered baptism under his direction, and when he commissioned them with the authority to administer baptism after he had ascended to the Father, they did not question him as to which mode. The word baptism meant but one thing and the same thing unto them all. In the after years of their ministry they practised just what they had seen their Lord practise.

Now let us learn from the plain, easy language of the Scripture the mode as administered by John, the Lord and the apostles. In the third chapter of Matthew the inspired writer has given an account of John's baptism, which we kindly invite you to read. Now the way to correctly understand the Scripture is to take it in its easiest, plainest, most sensible way.

Do not attempt to give it some complicated, mysterious meaning, but receive it as you would any easily understood historical fact of this present time. If you should read in your county paper of a man down by one of the rivers of your adjoining county who was administering baptism to the people, and the whole neighborhood round about went out to him and were baptized of him in the river, and when he had baptized a certain individual he went up straightway out of the water, what idea would you form as to the mode of the baptism? Would you think it was a little water sprinkled on the head somewhere in a meeting-house? There is nothing in the account to convey such an idea. How unreasonable it would be for you to study to change the meaning of the plain account and mystify it because it was not congenial to your desires.

Suppose you should read in your paper of two men traveling along the way.

One of them had never heard of Jesus nor of the ordinance of baptism; the other talked to him of the Savior, of his death and his resurrection, and how he had authorized him to go into all the world and preach this gospel to every creature, and he that believed and was baptized, the same should be saved. And as they traveled on their way they came to a certain water, and the one said to the other, "See here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?" The other replied, "If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest." He answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of G.o.d." Then they stopped their carriage and they went down both into the water and there the one was baptized of the other, and when they came up out of the water the one went one way and the other another way, and they saw each other no more. What idea would you form as to the mode of baptism? This is all very plain to the candid heart.