Tertullus the Eloquent Liar vs. Paul the Plainspoken Preacher

In Acts 24 the Lord gives us a graphic contrast of speech in the orations of Tertullus and Paul before Felix, the former being recruited by the Jewish elders as a prosecutor.  

One can't help but notice Tertullus' florid speech.  He uses big words (seven are unique in scripture) to flatter Felix and misrepresent Paul, showing himself a liar on both accounts--albeit an eloquent one! 

Paul uses plain speech to defend himself, in keeping with his statements in 1 Cor. 2:1 ("...I..came not with excellency of speech...") and 2 Cor. 3:12 ("...we use great plainness of speech"), and it truly is a "demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Cor. 2:4). 

Nothing wrong with eloquence, as long as it's used for the glory of God.  Apollos provides a fine example of that for us in Acts 18:24-28.  He's eloquent, but also a sincere truthseeker who humbly receives correction from Aquila and Priscilla. 

Moral: big words are not what win the day, but a big God working through men with big hearts!

What Exactly Is Worldliness?

A weighty quote to share on this, from J.G. Mantle's Beyond Humiliation: 

"What, then, is the world, and what is it to be, worldly or unworldly?  Worldliness is a spirit, a temper.  It is not so much an act as an attitude.  It is a pose, a posture.  It is a certain disposition toward God.  It is a certain inclination, a certain aspect of the soul.  Worldliness is human activity with God left out.  Worldliness is life without heavenly callings, life without ideals. life without heights.  Worldliness recognizes nothing of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus: Worldliness has no hill country.  Worldliness is horizontal life.  Worldliness has nothing of the vertical in it.  It has ambition; it has no aspirations.  Its motto is success, not holiness.  It is always saying, "Onward," never "Upward."  A worldly man or woman is a man or woman who never says, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills."  --Dr. J.H. Jowett

Are you worldly? 

Whatever passes as a cloud between
The mental eye of faith and things unseen,
Causing that brighter world to disappear,
Or seem less lovely, or its hope less dear,
This is our world, our idol, though it bear
Affection's impress, or devotion's air. 

Are You Getting the "Message"?

The Bible study lesson in church this morning touched on 1 John 1:5, and one word in that verse captured my attention:  "message."

Through a quick referral to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, I found that this word is only used seven times in the Authorized Version, as summarized below:

1.  Judg. 3:20:  Ehud's "message from God" for King Eglon of Moab (a dagger!)
2.  1 Kings 20:12:  Ahab's defiant message for Benhadad, as he laid siege to Samaria
3.  Prov. 26:6:  Sending a message by a hand of a fool is harmful
4.  Hag. 1:13:  the LORD's message unto the Judean remnant through Haggai
5.  Luke 19:14:  the rebellious citizens' message to the nobleman in the parable of the pounds
6.  1 John 1:5:  a doctrinal aspect of the kingdom gospel preached by the Lord Jesus (Mt. 4:17, 9:35, 15:24; John 1:11; Rom. 15:8) concerning God's character
7.  1 John 3:11: a practical aspect of the kingdom gospel--loving the brethren 

So in the AV, "message" is used in a prophetic, kingdom context every time it appears.  It's not used by the apostle Paul in his epistles a single time.  True, our gospel of grace is indeed a message, but it's interesting that Paul doesn't use the word. 

I believe that the AV's use of a word fixes its connotation within the Bible and in life itself.  So if you come across a "Bible" called The Message, you might proceed with caution, if you're trying to follow Paul.  The Message is a free paraphrase of the scripture, not a word-for-word translation of the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek texts like the AV, so it's technically not a Bible at all.  In my opinion, if one heeds The Message, it will lead him away from Paul, who commanded us to "Consider what I say;" (e.g. words he used or didn't use), and to "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 1:13). 

The point of this post is this: take note of how the AV uses or doesn't use certain words, and let that guide you as to whether something is good or bad.  For homework, look up the words philosophy (Col. 2:8) and policy (Dan. 8:25).  Both of these words are used one time in the AV.  Good or bad contexts?  What has your real life experience been with these words?  Paul's wasn't very good (Acts 17:18) :)... 

The Real Problem with Bible Study

This post won't be anything original, but rather a quote from someone else.  The quote is so weighty, though, I couldn't resist putting it here for your edification.  It comes from a wonderful little book entitled, 444 Surprising Quotes about the Bible by Isabella D. Bunn, Bethany House Publishers, Bloomington, MN, 2005. 

"We fail in our duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work.  Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion.  Our problem is that we are lazy."  R.C. Sproul

1.  Difficult to understand?   

• Prov. 8:9, "They [the words of God's mouth, v. 8] are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge."  
• John 7:17, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." 
• John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:..."
• 1 Cor. 2:12, "Now we have received...the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
•  2 Tim. 2:7, "Consider what I [Paul] say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things."

2.  Dull and boring? 

• Much, if not the majority of the Bible, is action-oriented, e.g. the ACTS of the Apostles.  Consider that a major section of the old testament is the historical books, Joshua - Esther (385 of 1158 pages in an Oxford wide margin), which is running narrative with only occasional genealogical or geographic interludes (e.g. Josh. 15-21; 1 Chr. 1-9).  That's 1/3 of the OT, not counting Genesis (50 ch.), over half of Exodus, and the other narrative sections of the law, wisdom books, and prophets. 
• When we come to the new testament, we see a similar proportion:  207 of 348 pages. are the gospel and Acts narratives, well over half of it, not counting the Revelation (22 more pages). 
• Beloved, God could have made it all like Ex. 25 - Lev. 8 (very slow stretch of the scriptures) or one long philosophical discourse, but he didn't, and I think that part of his design may have had our infirmities in mind.  Thank you, Lord.

 3.  Work!

•  Eccl. 12:13, "...much study is a weariness of the flesh."
• 1 Tim. 5:17, "...[the elders] who labour in the word and doctrine."
• 2 Tim. 2:15, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."   

4.  Lack of intelligence?   

• In "the time of the end," (Dan. 12:4), "knowledge shall be increased."
•  Also, men in the last days will be "Ever learning," (armed with Google and Wikipedia) "and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

5.  Lack of passion? 

• "...the spirit indeed is willing,..." (Mt. 26:41)

 6.  Laziness!

•  "...but the flesh is weak."  (Mt. 26:41) 
• "...and prayer [and Bible study--DJ] is, after all, work--the most strenuous work in all the world."  Amy Carmichael, Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur, Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, PA, 1996.  
• "If thou wert sick for want of God, how swiftly wouldst thou move." F. Faber

Conclusion

• "herefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, alway abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."  1 Cor. 15:58
• "Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine...Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them...Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them..."  1 Tim. 4:13-16 

Sword Drill: Adjectives for the word of God

Here is a long list of adjectives for the word of God (from A to W).  You supply the references :).

1. Able
2. Engrafted
3. Everlasting
4. Exceeding broad
5. Faithful
6. Good
7. Gracious
8. Great
9. Holy
10. Incorruptible
11. Lively
12. Perfect
13. Powerful
14. Precious
15. Pure
16. Quick
17. Right
18. Righteous
19. Righteous altogether
20. Settled
21. Sharp
22. Sore (hint: Isaiah)
23. Stedfast
24. Strong
25. Sure
26. Sweet
27. Tried
28. True
29. Unsearchable
30. Upright
31. Very pure
32. Wholesome
33. Wonderful (Ps. 119:129)!!!

Hmm...33.  That's how old the incarnate Word was when crucified..

For an excellent comparison of the written word with the incarnate Word (watch your spelling!), please see Danny Doege's In the Beginning Was the Word (Bible Baptist Bookstore). 

Paul the Snake Handler?

I would like to propose that Paul's encounter with a very rude viper on Melita (Acts 28:1-6) was not what Mark was referring to in Mark 16:18, "They shall take up serpents;".  Here are a few reasons why:

1.  Different gospel.  The gospel referred to in Mark 16:15-20 is not the gospel of the grace of God, which Paul is proclaiming in Acts 13-28.  Paul was not saved until Acts 9, so how could Mark 16 be referring to his gospel?  The gospel in Mark 16 is the gospel of the kingdom, which was preached by John (Mt. 3), Christ (Mt. 4-9), the twelve (Mt. 10), and the seventy  (Luke 10) when Christ was on earth, but also after his ascension. Peter knows nothing of the gospel of grace nor of the body of Christ, and his preaching about the cross in Acts 2 is in the context of a nation crucifying its king and needing to repent of that deed to receive their promised kingdom.  When the leaders of Israel reject the re-offer of the kingdom (Acts 3-7), God sets the nation of Israel aside until the rapture (Rom. 9-11) and calls out Paul to begin building the body of Christ through the gospel (1 Cor. 3:10, Eph. 3:6, etc.).  For further study, consult the Berean Bible Society, Dave Reese (website) or Peter Ruckman (Acts commentary).  So you have a different gospel context in Acts 28 than you do in Mark 16, where taking up serpents is mentioned.

2. Different circumstances.  In Mark 16:18, the text says "take up serpents," like picking them up.  Remember Moses taking up a serpent in Ex. 4:1-5?  It didn't take him by surprise and bite him.  He reached forth and grabbed it by the tail ("Resist the devil, and he will flee from you"--Jas. 4:7b).  In Acts 28, Paul is surprised, bitten, and shakes the viper off into the fire.  Not the same circumstances as in Mark 16:18, which seems intentional.  So snake handling is a kingdom sign, since snakes will be handled in the Messianic kingdom (Isaiah 11:8--"put his hand on"...).  What a book we have in our hands, beloved!

3.  Different audience.  Paul's miraculous survival in the Melita incident is not a kingdom sign, but a sign to convert the barbarous, heathen people of Melita, since God also used signs to convert Gentiles during the Acts period (Rom. 15:18-19).  Paul took his gospel "to the Jew first" during the Acts period (Rom. 1:16), but once the Jews had rejected his message in Asia (Acts 13:46), Europe (Acts 18:6), and Rome, the capital of the world (Acts 28:28), their special gospel privileges, including signs, concluded, and the gospel now went to all men, including the Jews, without distinction.  Jewish missions do not have precedence over Gentile missions after Acts 28, since Rom. 1:16 apply to the Acts period, not today.

Things that are different are not the same, and even snakes need to be "rightly divided" :) (2 Tim. 2:15).

The Goodness of God (Reprise)

There is no escape from the goodness of God. God is always doing his children good, no matter how bad things look (Rom. 8:28). The reason why is because is God is absolute goodness; he cannot do anything but what is good (Psalm 119:68). To paraphrase John Piper in The Pleasures of God, even when things look "bad" God is changing things around to do us even more good. Praise his name! Why should anything move us, then, if such a wonderful Being is, in every circumstance of life, doing us good? No matter what anyone does to us or what befalls us, "God meant it unto good" (Gen. 50:20).

(Note: This post preceded my actual "launch" of the blog, but I thought I would retain it.)