II Timothy 2:15

Miss Nora Yount conversing by mail with Mr. Clement, presiding elder and others

Error: Assuming

• Acts 21:27-29

• Stephanas – I Corinthians 1:16 – households don’t necessarily include infants!

• Lydia – Acts 16:13-15

• Philippian jailer – Acts 16:31-34

• Cornelius – Acts 10:48 (10:24; 11:14, 18; 15:7-9)

• Mark 16:15-16

• Matthew 28:18-20 – Jesus said to make disciples of all the nations and baptize them. Infants could not be disciples, so they were excluded from this command.

Error: appealing to non-authoritative truth

• Matthew 15:1-2, 9-14

• Matthew 7:13-14

• I Corinthians 1:20; 2:4-5

Error: Stretching an analogy

• John 10:7, 9

• Colossians 2:11-12 (see 2:8, 13; 3:9-10)

• Hebrews 8:11

Attitude check: Luke 9:51-56 – Don’t be so trigger-happy! Have the attitude of Jesus, not of James and John. Our goal should be to help, inform, and encourage others.

Does the New Covenant authorize worship with instruments? (continued)

• Does the Greek word psallo include instruments?

  • Psallo had previously been used in connection with instruments, but its meaning had changed by the time of the New Testament.

  • Ephesians 5:18-19 – If psallo does include instruments, that is part of the command and we all have to use instruments!

• “They worshipped with instruments in the Old Testament.”

  • Yes, but we’re not under the Old Covenant.

  • Psalms 33:1-3; II Chronicles 29:25; Hebrews 7:18-19; 8:6-7

  • Acts 16:3; Galatians 2:3; 5:1-4 – It is wrong to do something as religious service that God did not authorize.

• “Instruments are mentioned in Revelation 5:8; 14:2; 15:2 and 18:21-22.”

  • Literal? This is all figurative language.

  • Heaven is not the same as earth. Matthew 22:30

Didn’t Alexander Campbell start the church of Christ back in the 1800s?

• Who was Alexander Campbell?

  • Alexander Campbell was a man born in the 1780s in Ireland who came to America in 1809. His father, Thomas Campbell, was a Presbyterian minister, but through independent Bible study Thomas began to see the error of human creeds and denominational confessions of faith. He began having clashes with his denominational peers and broke away.

  • Alexander Campbell followed in his father’s footsteps and encouraged people to use the Bible itself as a religious authority. Many people claim that Alexander Campbell founded the churches of Christ (see his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Campbell_(clergyman)). Members of the church have been called “Campbellites.” Some say that just like Lutherans originated in Martin Luther, Methodists from John Wesley, etc., members of churches of Christ find their origins in the teachings of Alexander Campbell.

• We can learn several things from Alexander Campbell and his contemporaries.

  • Philippians 3:17; I Corinthians 11:1 – It is good when we can look at others as examples in following Christ.

    • Thomas Campbell originally stated the motto, “Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” That is a good way to sum up some Biblical principles. Galatians 1:6-9; II Timothy 3:16-17; I Peter 4:11; II Peter 1:2-3; II John 1:9; Revelation 22:18-19

    • Like his father, Alexander Campbell tried to distance himself from reliance on human creeds and traditions. In his writings, he repeatedly called for people to simply stick to the New Testament.

    • In 1816, he preached a “Sermon on the Law” based on Galatians 4:21-31 that became well-known, and which changed his relationship with Baptist groups in the area who disagreed with his conclusions that the Old Law had passed away and that we’re under the New Covenant today.

    • Campbell declared in a public debate that “baptism was never designed for, nor commanded to be administered to, a member of the church.” In other words, we are “baptized into one body” (I Corinthians 12:13). We are not members of the body/church, then baptized.

  • While Alexander Campbell did some remarkable Bible study and teaching, he was not the founder of Christ’s church! In fact, we could list several beliefs in which he missed the mark.

Lesson eight:

• John in scripture

  • Named among the twelve

    • In initial naming

    • In Jerusalem awaiting the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:13

    • Included whenever apostles grouped

      • The twelve

      • The apostles

      • In the gospel accounts and in Acts

  • Brother of James, son of Zebedee, fisherman – Matthew 4:21

  • Was he the “other” disciple in John 1:35-44?

    • No self-referral by name in his gospel account

    • Only “the disciple”

      • John 19:26-27

      • John 21:20-24

    • With Peter and James

      • Raising Jairus’ daughter – Mark 5:37

      • Transfiguration – Matthew 17:1-13

      • Gethsemane on night of betrayal – Matthew 26:36-46

  • Ready to destroy Samaritan village – Luke 9:51 ff

  • Tried to dissuade one from casting out demons in Jesus’ name – Mark 9:38-41

  • Sat closest to Jesus at Lord’s Supper – John 13:21-30

  • Mary given into His care – John 19:26-27

  • Among the first to see the empty tomb – John 20:1-10

  • With Peter at temple gate when lame man healed – Acts 3:1-10

  • Persecuted with Peter for teaching of the resurrection of Jesus – Acts 4:1-22

  • Went to Samaria with Peter to give new Christians there the Holy Spirit – Acts 8:14-25

• Scripture attributed to John

  • John’s gospel account

    • Written between 80 and 90 AD

    • Quoted by multiple early second-century writers

      • Irenaeus (130-202 AD)

      • Ignatius (35-108 AD)

        • Taught by John

        • Elder at Antioch

      • Polycarp

        • Taught by John

        • Elder of the church at Smyrna

        • Declared authenticity of all four gospels

      • Basilides

        • Taught from 117-138 AD

        • Quoted from John

      • Aristides

        • Used terminology and concepts from John

    • Muratorian Fragment

      • Contains list of books considered canonical in 170 AD

  • 1 John (65 AD)

  • 2 John (65 AD)

  • 3 John (65 AD)

  • Revelation (68-69 AD)

    • Controversy on date for Revelation

    • Ancient references versus context

• John in history and tradition

  • Spent several years in Jerusalem

    • Worked with the other apostles

    • Cared for Mary

  • Traveled to Ephesus

    • After Paul’s initial work there

    • Took Mary with him (or not)

    • Taught throughout Anatolia

    • Exiled to Patmos

      • Exiled by Domitian

      • Wrote epistles and Revelation at Patmos

      • Domitian dies in 96 AD

  • Returned to Ephesus

  • Died in 100 AD

• John’s relics

  • John buried in Ephesus

    • Chapel build over his tomb

    • Emperor Justinian replaced it

      • Cathedral

      • Sixth century

    • Cathedral damaged over the years

      • Repaired in late ‘60s

      • Bones of John gone

      • Turkey blames British Museum

      • Current location of remains unknown

Authority is specified to a certain degree

• Example #1: Transporting the ark

  • Exodus 25:14; Numbers 4:15; 7:6-9

  • I Chronicles 13:7-14; 15:2, 12-15

• Example #2: Strange fire

  • Leviticus 10:1-2

• Example #3: Priesthood

  • Hebrews 7:11-16; 8:4

• III John 1:9

“Please go buy me a dog.”

• If you buy a cat, you did not follow the instructions.

Genesis 6:14 – “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood.”

Singing – Colossians 3:17

• Matthew 26:30

• Mark 14:26

• Acts 16:25

• Romans 15:9

• I Corinthians 14:15

• Ephesians 5:19

• Colossians 3:16

• Hebrews 2:12

• Hebrews 13:15

• James 5:13

Work of local churches – II Corinthians 8:1-4; I Corinthians 14:26; Philippians 4:15

• Provide for needy saints

• Provide for worship and edification

• Provide for preaching

Where is the authority for song books?

• We must pick some method by which we sing.

Where is the authority for the church building?

• I Corinthians 14:23, 26