04.45. LESSON 45

LESSON 45

"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning," and they are "profitable... that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work." The fact that these scriptures refer to the Old Testament welds the entire Bible into a perfect compend of God’s complete will for all mankind. Paul’s reminding Timothy that from a babe he had known the Jewish writings which were able to make him "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ" clinches this invaluable truth. Only two of the many ways these writings make us wise unto salvation can now be considered.

First—The most difficult, yet absolutely necessary, thing for men of Adam’s fallen, broken race to learn is that they are so woefully wrecked and shattered that only the God who made them has the wisdom and power to repair, and make them whole again—that only the creator can re-create. Now, God’s history of humanity in the Old Testament is such that readers who are not convinced of the universal corruption and depravity of man’s heart, and of their own imperative, personal need of wisdom and strength beyond their own, are blind. To deepen this conviction if possible, however, many divine estimates of man, such as, "And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5), and "The heart is deceitful above all things, and is exceeding corrupt: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9), are added to the history. In Romans 3:1-31, Paul quotes several passages from the Old Testament to prove that "There is none righteous, no, not one... for all have sinned." In this manner does God lock every, individual man fast in the death house of sin, to which Christ is the only key.

All secular history, including the state of the world today, and conscience echo the truth that something catastrophic has befallen man. Only the fall of man can account for the moral contradiction within him, as described in Romans 7:1-25. Why should Christians be so slow to believe this cardinal Biblical doctrine?

Second—Painting a vivid picture of God as a real, living, active person (The truth at the heart of Christianity) is another way the Old Testament makes us wise unto salvation. For example, the doctrine of prevailing prayer comes more thrillingly alive when we see God, as in the case of King Hezekiah, in his workshop so to speak, actually answering prayer (2 Kings 20:1-11). In this bit of inspired history, after he had, through Isaiah, told the king, who "was sick unto death" that he would die, God, because the king "wept sore" and prayed to live, answered: "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee... And I will add unto thy days fifteen years." And do we not still need to know that God punishes men "That say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil" (Zephaniah 1:12) "These things happened unto them by way of example: and they were written for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:11). As "God is one," even so is his Bible also one.

We must never forget that the Bible as a whole furnishes, in principle, the way "completely unto every good work." The time, money, energy, and influence that Christians spend futilely trying to "save" the world by doing things in ways that God never asked them to use is something to think on. Good things, to be sure—things inevitably by-products of Christianity, would Christians but seek in faith first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, according to the word and example of Christ and of Paul. To discover by experience that our small buckets grow in receiving capacity, and that our short ropes lengthen progressively, as we perpetually draw from the deep, living wells of infinite knowledge and wisdom in the Bible should ever lead us up to its author "beyond the sacred page."

Paul’s Province
(Romans 15:22-28; 2 Corinthians 10:13-18) From Romans 15:14-33, Romans 16:1-27 to its close, Romans is largely personal—Paul and his friends. This does not mean, however, that the ending of the book is weak, or that it does not invite and reward serious study. This record of the fruits of the gospel in the life of Paul (and in the lives of scores of his friends) gives point to his frequent exhortations that Christians imitate him, and also makes an appropriate, practical, powerful close for the mighty doctrinal Treatise.

Apart from what is found in the book of Romans, little can be known about the founding and early history of the church in Rome. Possibly, some "sojourners from Rome" (Acts 2:10) became Christians at Pentecost; and upon returning home, of course took the church with them. In any event, by the time Romans was written some 25 years after Pentecost, a good, strong church, which Paul had in vain longed to visit for many years, existed there. Among the 24 men and women, whom Paul salutes by name in Romans 16:1-27 as dear friends known elsewhere, are some of his "kinsmen... who are of note among the apostles." Others are saluted as tireless, proficient Christian workers, whom we know from other Scriptures to be just such Christians. We are not surprised, therefore, at Paul’s writing: "And I myself also am persuaded, my brethren, that ye yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another."

Since such commendation might seem to make his writing Rome at all, needless and presumptuous, Paul explains that God chose him as "A minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles" at large, and that he feels obligated to stir up their sincere minds by putting them in remembrance as long as he lives. The Corinthian Letters make it plain that Paul’s envious, malicious foes in Corinth, thinking to get rid of him, tauntingly said that he had no right to be in Corinth at all—that his wide evangelistic travels were too ambitious for a man of his caliber. Seemingly the slander was known at Rome also. 2 Corinthians 10:13-18 and Romans 15:22-28, in which he boldly asserts that the world is his "province," and that he does not "stretch... overmuch" his commission and right in the broadest reaches of his labors and successes, is his nobly Christian answer.

"Oh how the angels would rejoice if 10,000 men who preach for established and settled churches would gather up their belongings and go to some place where the gospel is unknown!’ (Reuel Lemmons in the Firm Foundation, July 3, 1956).

Questions