The Lord's Commandment

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #124m Written 14JUN08 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

Chapter 14: Part Thirteen—The Lord’s Commandment

by dave c

First Corinthians 14:36 Was it from you that the word of God first went forth? Or has it come to you only? 37 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment. 38 But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized (NASV).

Paul’s willingness to display frustration and ire toward professing believers who were straying from the narrow path is one of things that I enjoy about his writings. He was not some disinterested authority sitting in his ivory tower dispensing studied wisdom and passing judgment. We are repeatedly reminded that the Apostle to the Gentiles was an avid lover of Jesus Christ, His Word, and His Church; but just like us, he was a human being saved by grace who was subject to pointedly ironic responses to those whom he judged as willfully ‘missing the mark’ in their Christian walk and talk. We see this manifest in the First, Third, and Fifth Chapters of Galatians as Paul deals with the false teaching embraced by the “foolish Galatians” of the First Century; in the defense of his apostleship in First Corinthians, Chapter Nine; and here in Chapter 14.

Denominational doctrines and practices that promote exclusivity come readily to mind when I read verse 14:36. In John 14:6 we are told that Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me" (NIV). It should be noted that He did not say, “No one comes to the Father except you are baptized by, and into, our church.” Nor did He say, “...Except you wear your hair and clothes in just such a way;” nor, “...Except you take communion when and as we prescribe”; nor, “...Except you do as we say and do”; nor, “...Except you read this specific version of the Bible”; and not even, “...Except you speak in tongues and prophesy.” Whenever I encounter 21st Century circumcisers I want to ask them, “Was it from you that the word of God first went forth? Or has it come to you only?”

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Ep 4:1-6; NASV). Somehow, people managed to come to God the Father through God the Son and in the power of God the Holy Spirit for hundreds and hundreds of years before the birth of John Calvin, John Knox, John Wesley, Jacobus Arminius, Jacob Amman, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, Richard Spurling, Charles Parham, and a score (and more) of others.

If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment (1Co 14:37; NASV). Occasionally I hear, or read, commentary stating that the writers of the New Testament were not aware that they were writing Holy Scripture. While I doubt that the writers of either the OT, or the NT were fully aware of the far ranging effect of their inspired efforts in the time and space of billions of lives, I have no doubt that they knew deep in their spirits that what they wrote (and spoke and acted out) as prophets of God Most High was foundational to the advancement of the Divine, Providential, and Eternal Kingdom. Please consider Second Peter 14-16: So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this [a new heaven and a new earth], make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction (NIV).

But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized (1Co 14:38; NASV). As we read in verses 14:37&38, and in the above verses from Second Peter, it is apparent that Paul and his contemporaries acknowledged the Voice of God within His Epistles. It should also be noted that both Paul and Peter prophesized the dire outcome of those who choose to deny, ignore, or distort what came to be the Canonized Books of the Bible. While Peter bluntly states that those who do so will be destroyed, Paul says that he, or she, “will not be recognized”. This can be interpreted in three ways: 1) Paul is telling the Church to ignore such people; 2) God does not acknowledge them; and/or 3) Anyone who does not recognize God’s commandments in this life will not be recognized on Judgment Day [Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Revised Edition, 1 Corinthians; Leon Morris, General Editor; William B Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, MI; 1993; p 199]. However we interpret this verse, Above all, [we] must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2Pe 1:20&21; NIV). The source of Holy Scripture does not have its source in any person, or group of people; nor does anyone hold exclusive rights to, nor grasp of, God’s written Word. And finally, anyone who claims to be spiritual and to have spiritual gifts, and yet contests the teachings of the NT, does so at his, or her, own peril.