The Right Attitude for Unity

Not only must one believe the right thing to have unity but one must also have the right attitude and disposition of heart to have unity. Having the truth is no justification for having a haughty disposition. We must have lowliness and meekness with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.

Of Diotrephes, the beloved John wrote:

I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth hem out of the church (III John 9-10).

The sin that John charges against Diotrephes is that he loves to have the preeminence. The word here employed by John is a very rare one and means “fond of being first.”

Years ago A. T. Robertson wrote an article on Diotrephes. He set him forth as “a church regulator,” “a short-horn deacon.” He of course, never knew all the results of the article. But one thing he did learn twenty-five subscribers to the paper in which the article appeared, asked that their subscription be cancelled immediately. They did this as a protest against the personal attack that they thought had been made upon them. These twentyfive men recognized themselves in the picture of Diotrephes which the writer had painted. The shoe fit; the hit dog howled; the guilty conscience saw its owner in such a setting.

The church does not need men like Diotrephes. We do not need men who seek to rally parties about them. We need people who will follow Jesus and preachers who point people to Jesus and not themselves. Men heard John the Baptist preach and they followed Jesus. This was great preaching. John was a great preacher. He was no Diotrephes. He said Jesus must increase but that he himself must decrease. He could gracefully grant the preeminence to Christ, where it belongs, in all things.

Paul did not want the brethren at Corinth divided into parties with each following their favorite preacher. That is the wrong attitude. The glory in the church is not to go to the preacher who plants or the preacher who waters but to God who gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:1-9). We should step out of selfishness and into the service of God. With the proper attitude among brethren all of the small things vanish away. 

J. Noel Meredith

Islam’s View of the Bible

The regard and view of the Bible from the standpoint of Islam needs to be understood on several fronts. First, it does not matter how men view the Scriptures, they are the inspired Word of God (II Timothy 3:16-17; I Peter 1:20-21). The Qur’an was written by a man who claimed to be a prophet, just as other religious organizations were born of men who claimed to have received some additional insight from God (Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, et al.). The generic view/claim of the men who attempt to perpetrate these frauds is that something in the Bible needs to be corrected or altered for their newly emergent system to come into prominence. Of course, God has instructed them of this necessity (as this validates their mission). Their obedience to Scripture is only insofar as it serves their purpose and agrees with what they are proposing. 

Islam is no different in this respect, only so from the assertion that the Bible has many corrupted passages (which coincidentally are those that contradict the teaching or contrived “prophecy” of Muhammad), which in many instances is more evidence that the Qur’an is filled with self-contradictions. This is no clearer than in the efforts of Muslims to deny Biblical credibility while at the same time the Qur’an says that the books of Moses, Psalms, and the Gospels were all revelations from God. 

If Muhammad (a.d. 570-632), while alive, claimed to have received the revelation (the Qur’an) from Allah (which he did claim), it would logically force us to conclude that the Holy Scriptures (already in existence) could not have been subject to corruption at that time. Ask a Muslim when the Bible (which the Qur’an claim is from Allah) became corrupt if, since the Qur’an (which they also claim is from Allah) states that Allah’s words cannot be changed? 

The Word of the Lord is to last forever, as Jesus stated: “the scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). The Greek word, luo, for broken here means “to loose, dissolve, sever, break (or) demolish.” This same Greek word is translated broken in Acts 27:41 and used of the breaking up of the ship in which Paul was a passenger. A ship may be broken up (destroyed, dissolved, dissipated) but not the Word of God. 

The works of the devil can be destroyed but not the Scriptures: “To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (I John 3:8b—luo is translated “destroy” in this passage).

Johnny Oxendine   

An Abomination to God

On one occasion when Jesus was warning His disciples about the peril of riches and materialism, the money-loving Pharisees heard His teaching and ridiculed Him: “And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). 

It is obvious that the Lord referred to their love of money when he spoke of that which was “highly esteemed among men.” Perhaps more souls (both worldlings and God’s people) will be sentenced to Hell because of the love of money than any other sin. No wonder the Bible warns of dishonesty, materialism, and greed, and exalts benevolence, generosity, and honesty on almost every page. No wonder Paul wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10). We are not to understand that materialism is an abomination to God merely on the ground that men highly esteem it (some things highly esteemed of men are pleasing to God—Galatians 5:22-23). It is abomination because it damns the soul. We must ever guard against the abomination of “covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). 

Notice now the broader application of the Lord’s statement: Just because a thing is highly esteemed by men does not mean God favors it. In fact, throughout history, it is almost axiomatic that if most men esteem something highly, God does not. (At present, we should not be surprised at this, since the vast majority of men are atheists and/or agnostics, and even among professed believers, most give only lip service to His law.) Let us make some applications. 

1. The Muslim religion is highly esteemed by teeming millions, but it is an abomination unto Jehovah because it represents error, sin, and blasphemy. The Christ alone (not Christ and Mohammed) is the only way to God and salvation (John 14:6).
2. The doctrine of salvation by faith alone is “highly esteemed” by the millions in the Protestant denominations, but it is an abomination to God. Men are saved by faith and cannot be saved without it (Romans 10:9-10), but not by faith only. One’s sins are not forgiven and one is not saved before baptism (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; I Peter 3:21; et al.). 

A list of highly esteemed items would include fornication, drinking, abortion, using instruments of music in worship, elevating a man to be a “pope,” and such like. Will men never learn that the only way to please God is to do what He authorizes in His Word, rather than doing something because they like it? The only things God “highly esteems” are those things which He authorizes in His Word. 

Dub McClish