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The Four Women in the Genealogy of Jesus
“When Matthew cites these four women, he is probably reminding his readers that three ancestors of King David and the mother of King Solomon were Gentiles. The Bible that accepted David’s mixed race also implied it for the messianic King; Matthew thus declares that the Gentiles were never an afterthought in God’s plan, but had been part of his work in history from the beginning. One who traces Matthew’s treatment of Gentiles through the Gospel, from the Magi who sought Jesus in chapter 2 through the concluding commission to disciple the nations in 28:19, will understand Matthew’s point in emphasizing this. Matthew exhorts his readers that as much as Jesus…
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Should a man and woman live together before marriage?
For some, this may seem to be an odd question based on morals from a bygone era. Many couples have live together before marriage and some seem to have turned out okay. Is it really necessary to get married before living together? While there may be convincing arguments for living together before marriage, perhaps it would be good to consider what God says about the subject. Thankfully, He makes His answer clear. Do you see God’s answer to the question? God has a definite plan about “living together.” With our best interest in mind, He has reserved living together for a man and a woman in a committed marriage relationship.…
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Feeling and Speaking Thankfulness
“Whatever others may think or say, the redeemed have overwhelming reasons for declaring the goodness of the Lord. … The Redeemer is so glorious, the ransom price so immense, and the redemption so complete, that they are under sevenfold obligations to give thanks unto the Lord, and to exhort other to do so. Let them not only feel so but say so.” Charles Spurgeon re: Psalm 107:2 in The Treasury of David, Vol II, Psalm 58-110, McLean: MacDonald Publishing Company, n. d.
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Biblical Secondary Separation
In the New Testament, the Lord commands believers to separate from religious unbelief (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1), false teachers (Rom. 16:17-18; 2 John 9-11), worldly believers (1 Cor. 5:1-13; 1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4), and disobedient believers (2 Thess. 3:6-15). Depending on the situation, this may involve not working together with, separation from, making note of, avoiding, not receiving or greeting, withdrawal from, and admonishment of these people. If these commands are not obeyed, continued fellowship with such people sends a mixed message about true faith (2 Cor. 6:14) and Christian fellowship (1 Cor. 5:11-13). Because of that, biblical separation must be practiced. But what happens when another Christian refuses to…
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Lenski on the Application of Romans 16:17
“Paul’s admonition is weakened in its application to us today by use of the historical principle of interpretation. Who were ‘those causing the divisions,’ etc.? In the first place, the well-known Judaizers who mixed law with gospel; then as First Corinthians shows, a number of others, some by means of philosophical, some through false moral teaching. And it is stated that Paul’s words can be applied only to these errors, and that we cannot today apply Paul’s admonition unless we are able to point to exact duplicates of these errors. The case is generally narrowed down to the Judaizers of Paul’s day who demanded circumcision and observance of Jewish ceremonialism.…
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Why did the OBF fail?
When pastors and churches from Ohio recognized a disturbing change of direction in the IFCA in the 1960’s, they spoke out against it. When leadership was unwilling to change direction, the Ohio members left the organization to form a new fellowship of churches called the Ohio Bible Fellowship. During its 60+ years, the organization stood for truth and spoke out against error and compromise. For many years, they communicated their viewpoint on issues through the OBF Visitor. They also established the Bible Institute of Ohio to teach their biblical viewpoint and to cultivate their views on biblical separation. They also developed a Christian camping program to enrich the lives of…
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Christian Hedonism?
During a recent Sunday School class, we discussed the idea of Christian Hedonism. It is a concept popularized by John Piper. As you know, hedonism is the love of pleasure. So, why would he combine a love of pleasure with Christianity? According to Piper’s website, the idea is that “God’s ultimate goal in the world (his glory) and our deepest desire (to be happy) are one and the same, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Not only is God the supreme source of satisfaction for the human soul, but God himself is glorified by our being satisfied in him. Therefore, our pursuit…
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What is the current issue?
Biblical separation has been a necessity on many occasions in the past. During the Old Testament, Noah, Moses, and Daniel chose to separate themselves from the wicked world. During the New Testament, Paul separated himself from false teachers and disobedient brothers. During the early church, the Donatists separated from those who had not been faithful under persecution. During the Reformation, Luther separated from the false doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. During the rise of Modernism, fundamentalists separated from unbelieving apostates. During the rise of New Evangelicalism, fundamentalists separated from disobedient brothers. In each of these instances, godly believers chose to separate themselves from others with a desire to be…
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What is the purpose of a fellowship of churches?
Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus gave the disciples the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). This consisted of making disciples, baptizing them, and teaching His commands. The Book of Acts shows the results of their efforts. They preached the gospel in Jerusalem and thousands believed (Acts 2:41). These new believers responded by learning doctrine, fellowshipping, breaking bread, and praying (Acts 2:42). As opposition arose, the new believers were scattered across the world giving opportunity for the gospel to be preached in other places (Acts 8:1,4). As the gospel reached new areas, new churches were started in different parts of Israel (Acts 9:31). The gospel slowly spread from Jerusalem to places like…
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Secondary Separation
“If only we would listen to the directions of God, in his protective, preserving kindness, to stand apart from worldly and harmful things. Secondary separation means standing apart even from Bible believers when they do things that maim and harm the Gospel and the churches. As we have mentioned already, we stand apart with discretion. If a minister or church is employing contemporary material only to a small extent, we would far rather appeal and persuade, than break fellowship. If, however, the drums are in with the full manifestation of worldliness, we cannot work together. James 4.4 hangs over the situation – ‘Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is…
