tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8515552420217733972024-03-18T15:47:53.490-04:00Steele's AnswersA blog drawn from the writings of 19th Century Methodist Bible scholar and Holiness advocate Daniel Steele (1824-1914).Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.comBlogger738125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-65839832864117158902024-03-18T14:36:00.002-04:002024-03-18T15:47:20.947-04:00Leviticus 16 - The Day of Atonement (Part 1)<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span> And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; <span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span> And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat."</i> — Leviticus 16:1, 2 KJV.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjonVP7AEq5X525ejkeO3cm7K6NzRRVY3GUQSWPqR0yCvp-YePjMJHb3p3RAEEYj2s1QIc2s2FKdfbkUtdO0b_04xJ_Y_5_S6SzdfryRlBRfuIiN-thw8bQyhU3NsLoTmwX1HxXhN_ux6Eyr_BnvRWT906ZKgyEWV_2xueMRVCeunMI5P1A5MGurVR8Y/s720/day_of_atonement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="539" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjonVP7AEq5X525ejkeO3cm7K6NzRRVY3GUQSWPqR0yCvp-YePjMJHb3p3RAEEYj2s1QIc2s2FKdfbkUtdO0b_04xJ_Y_5_S6SzdfryRlBRfuIiN-thw8bQyhU3NsLoTmwX1HxXhN_ux6Eyr_BnvRWT906ZKgyEWV_2xueMRVCeunMI5P1A5MGurVR8Y/s320/day_of_atonement.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.<br /><br />This chapter contains the most solemn and significant ordinance found in the entire Levitical code, in the opinion not only of the modern Jews, but of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The great scheme of symbol worship culminated on the day of atonement. It was celebrated in the latter part of the month of September, and it seems to have been a sort of condensation of all the sacrifices of previous months, and to be an atoning or purifying of the tabernacle, the altar, the priests, and the people. Although the main part of the Mosaic ritual was sacrificial, as the guilt of sin was perpetually calling for new acts of purification, yet on this one day the idea of atonement rose to its highest expression in one grand comprehensive series of actions. This solemn service affords the most exact representation of the perfect atonement of Christ which can be found in all the Levitical ritual. See Hebrews 9. It also sets forth sanctification through the blood of sprinkling as the second grand element of salvation. How far the people understood and profited by the <i>spiritual</i> lessons of this day we know not. But <i>ceremonially</i> their sins were all pardoned. After stating the occasion of the institution, (verses 1, 2,) the chapter is divided into three parts: An outline of the whole ceremonial, (3-10,) a detailed description of certain rites, (11-28,) and general rules respecting the day of atonement. Verses 29-34. <span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br />THE OCCASION OF THE INSTITUTION, 1, 2.<br /><b><br />1. <span style="color: #990000;">After the death of the two sons of Aaron —</span></b> This judgment of Jehovah is recorded in chap. 10, on which occasion the important safeguards respecting the high priest’s entrance into the most holy place were given. Why this record does not immediately follow chap. x, its natural place, is unknown.<br /><br /><b>2. <span style="color: #990000;">Come not at all times —</span></b> Many of the ancient pagan shrines were inaccessible, and hence they were called <i>adytum</i> and <i>abaton</i>, “not to be approached.” This seclusion of the idol within the penetralia of the temple was requisite in order to preserve the veneration of the people, through the operation of that law of the human mind by which the mysterious is clothed by the imagination with extraordinary qualities. But no such reason is the ground of this prohibition. Jehovah’s majesty needs no imaginary splendours. The old covenant says, “Obey and live, disobey and die;” the new one says, “Believe and be saved, believe not and be damned.” Both covenants are essentially the same, inasmuch as faith is the root of obedience, and unbelief and disobedience are in the New Testament expressed by the same word — ἀπείθεια. <b><span style="color: #990000;">In the cloud —</span></b> Not the cloud of incense required to soften the insufferable splendours of the shekinah, but the shekinah itself. Hence the Targum of Jonathan, “The glory of my shekinah shall be revealed.” A resplendence beamed forth from between the cherubim; but to make the vision supportable to mortal eyes God hid himself while revealing himself. The cloud is the same as that mentioned in Exodus xl, which appeared over the mercy seat whenever the high priest came before it. The rabbins postulate a cloud continually hanging over the cherubim. Luther, on the contrary, says that “over the propitiatory and cherubim there was nothing located which might be seen, but by faith only was God believed to be seated there.” In the Scriptures the manifested glory of the Son of Man, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, is often associated with a cloud. Daniel 7:13; Revelation 1:7. <b><span style="color: #990000;">The mercy seat —</span></b> We are required by the truth to say that this expression, so poetical and so consolatory to the God-fearing soul, is not a literal translation of the original Hebrew, כַּפֹּֽרֶת (<i>capporeth</i>), the cover of the ark, in which were enshrined the tables of the law. This cover was underneath the luminous cloud, and hence was the footstool or throne of Jehovah, as the sanctuary in which it was placed is called “the place for thee to dwell in.” Exodus 15:17. The כַּפֹּֽרֶת was a massive gold plate equal to the ark in length and breadth, at either end of which was a solid golden cherub. We find no scripture to sustain Ewald’s assertion that the ark had a cover distinct from this plate, yet it is usually mentioned separately. Exodus 25:17. The word כַּפֹּֽרֶת may be derived from the Piel form of the verb כּפר <i>(caphar</i>), to cover, in which form it signifies to make atonement; it is very doubtful whether the noun ever signifies an instrument of propitiation (<i>propitiatorium</i>, Vulgate, ἱλαστηρίου, the Seventy) in the Pentateuch. Yet it is more probable that in later Hebrew, as in 1 Chronicles 28:11, it acquired the additional meaning of an atonement for sin. This relieves the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews of the imputation made by Furst, that he adopted a gloss in Hebrews 9:5. In Hebrews 4:16 the כַּפֹּֽרֶת is very beautifully styled “the throne of grace,” to which we may come, not with trembling and overwhelming awe, as did the high priest, but “boldly.”<p></p><p><br /></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-31283459178270569042024-03-18T11:31:00.001-04:002024-03-18T14:01:22.968-04:00Why I Am Not A Premillennialist<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<hr />
<h3>
<b>Introduction by Dr. Vic Reasoner</b></h3>
<h3>
<b> </b></h3>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjU7R50BxglL3UBp6QLRqru9u-z0gWTbGQxB_EPa2541yxeLaSioK0n7_wi7zO4VsNKfLXYo-9rOlVHgBOf3wPOLM-MN7eyIg2nSOzkSaE0VjO1dqMmKI7yLbdj4e6WTlYFklBZ5e4iUQyr7_WWV6BpXzWpXZKpOegu0cZexsx8Kc3uuZR8v8GoJy8X8/s1110/tPFmfg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1110" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjU7R50BxglL3UBp6QLRqru9u-z0gWTbGQxB_EPa2541yxeLaSioK0n7_wi7zO4VsNKfLXYo-9rOlVHgBOf3wPOLM-MN7eyIg2nSOzkSaE0VjO1dqMmKI7yLbdj4e6WTlYFklBZ5e4iUQyr7_WWV6BpXzWpXZKpOegu0cZexsx8Kc3uuZR8v8GoJy8X8/s320/tPFmfg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The American holiness movement revered Daniel Steele (1824-1914) more than any other
theologian. Most of his works have been reprinted. Yet no one within the holiness movement
opposed premillennialism more than Daniel Steele. It is an irony of history that the holiness
movement canonized Daniel Steele, but embraced the very teaching he opposed. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>In [our<span style="font-size: small;">]</span> climate of doomsday eschatology, it is appropriate that we
reprint a piece by Steele that has not been reprinted by the holiness movement. This was the last
published work of Daniel Steele and appeared in </i>The Methodist Review, <i>Vol. 93 (May, 1911):
405-415.</i></span><br />
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<hr />
<br />
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There are two theories of Christian eschatology. The first is that the present dispensation of the
Holy Spirit will continue till all nations shall be evangelized, "the fullness of the Gentiles be
come in," drowning out the unbelief of the Jews till "all Israel shall be saved." After this period
of gospel triumph Christ will wind up the probationary history of the human race by the
simultaneous resurrection of the good and the bad and the general judgment, assigning them to
their eternal destinies. The second theory is that the purpose of Christ's second coming is to set
up for the first time his kingdom on the earth, reigning in person on the throne of David in
Jerusalem for a thousand years, attended by a bodyguard of angels and by the risen and glorified
saints, the most eminent of whom Christ, the Imperator, will appoint as governors of the various
countries of the globe, ruling over mortals who are eating and drinking, sowing and reaping,
marrying and bearing children; meanwhile thousand are converted in a day, the Jews first, as
suddenly as Saul of Tarsus, and all rushing to the Holy City, and thence into all the world,
preaching the true Messiah. This theory is called premillennialism, which, for the sake of brevity,
we may call chiliasm, a Greek term preferred by the Reformers. We propose to show that this
scheme, having elements at once fascinating the carnal mind and attracting a certain class of truly
spiritual people who "love his appearing" is at variance with the Holy Scriptures, proceeding
upon crude, arbitrary, and false principles of interpretation, and dodging their absurd, yet
legitimate, results; a system lacking coherence, making no provision for some of the most
important future events in the history of our race, and painfully imperiling some of the most
precious Christian doctrine. <span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></div>
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<b>1.</b> The whole system is based on a foundation wholly insufficient — a single text of Scripture; a
fact which justifies very grave suspicion, especially when that solitary text, Rev. 20:1-8, is in the
book the most figurative, the most misunderstood, in the whole range of literature; so that it is an
established maxim that "the Apocalypse either finds its interpreter mad or makes him so." There
is no hint of the second advent of Christ till the general judgment in verse 11. The angel who
imprisons Satan is not Christ, who is never thus called. The saints who reign with him are not
said to reign with him on the earth. Every spiritual victory is through unification with Christ. He
is not said to reign with the saints, but, rather, the saints with him, in heaven, by faith. Thus says
Wesley (who is falsely claimed as a chiliast), copying Bengel, whom he styled "that great light of
the Christian world." Both insist that the martyrs "live and reign, not on the earth, but with
Christ." "Live" does not necessarily imply a bodily resurrection, as we will show further on.</div>
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<b>2.</b> Chiliasm is grounded on the erroneous assumption that the kingdom of Christ will not be
established till the King visibly descends from heaven; that John was mistaken when in the
wilderness he preached, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand"; and that when Jesus said to Pilate,
"My kingdom is not of this world," he was thinking of the throne of David in Jerusalem, on
which, after nineteen hundred years, he would sit in visible regal splendor a thousand years,
literally the Lord of the whole earth; and that the Jews were thus seemingly justified in rejecting
the Messianic kingdom - which the chiliasts tell us was not a real kingdom but only a preparation
for it, "as a means to an end," and that the prophecies relating to that kingdom are yet to be
fulfilled. They forgot Peter's emphatic conclusion, "THEREFORE let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus whom ye crucified, both LORD and CHRIST."
This obviously cuts up chiliasm by the roots. Nay, it places the premillennialist and the
unbelieving Jews in the same class, both holding the same error, which they set themselves to
overthrow; asserting that Christ's victory over death was not the beginning of his spiritual
kingdom, as that grand old formula of worship indicates, the <i>Te Deum Laudamus</i>, called a hymn,
a prayer, and a creed: "When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the
kingdom of heaven to all believers."<sup>(1)</sup> This kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Spirit is administered by Christ, enthroned above, through the Paraclete sent down from the
Father through his intercession. He now has "the key of the house of David" - the key is the
symbol of power. He is now on the throne of David "to order his kingdom in righteousness." The
government is now upon his shoulder. "He is the Prince of life" now. We have not space to quote
the many texts which express or imply the present Kingship of our adorable Saviour.</div>
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<b>3.</b> The general resurrection gives chiliasts much trouble in several particulars. They claim that the
millennium will far exceed the present dispensation in the numbers of converts, who are to be
multiplied in a wholesale kind of way. But what will be done with them? The Scriptures
abundantly prove that the church will be complete at the second coming of its Head. The church
is his bride, which he will present to himself as his own at his coming.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=851555242021773397"><sup>(2)</sup></a> These texts demonstrate
the completeness of the church at Christ's coming. Those who demur quote the highly figurative
portions of the Old Testament prophecy and their cognate, the Apocalypse. But that is a vain
recourse, since it is an old maxim in theology that "doctrines are not to be built upon prophetic or
symbolic scripture." So embarrassed have been some modern chiliasts by this difficulty, arising
from the absolute completeness of the church at the second advent precluding conversions
thereafter, that they have invented two kinds of Christians: an A Number 1 brand, the Bride of
Christ, and an A Number 2 sort, who sustain a less intimate and honorable relation. This is the
absurdity to which our chiliastic friends are driven, rather than admit that there is not the shadow
of a New Testament proof that one sinner will be converted after the second coming of Christ. To
take this horn of the dilemma is to abandon their entire theory.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>4.</b> But the simultaneous resurrection of all the dead at Christ's future coming affords no place for
the subsequent millennium. To relieve this perplexity, two resurrection are invented - that of the
righteous, when the judge descends, and that of the wicked, a thousand years afterward, for
which the chiliasts quote Rev. 20:11-15, their only proof. That this refers to the wicked only, they
cite the first clause of verse 5, "But the rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should
be finished." This is not in the Sinaitic, the oldest Greek MS., nor in the Syriac version. In the
other MSS. And version this short sentence has eight variations. This interpolation is injected
between "this" and the antecedent to which it refers, interrupting the current of the style. To
prove that only the wicked are here raised it is said that the sea gives up only the wicked dead,
and the book of life is a blank book, a very unusual register in a court of justice in need of
positive testimony. That the dead - the good and the bad - arise together is proven by many
scriptures. "And many [an Orientalism for "all"] that sleep in the dust shall awake; some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." This is paralleled in John 5:28,
"The hour cometh when all who are in their graves shall hear his voice and come forth, they that
have done good . . . and they that have done evil," etc. Here is unquestionable simultaneousness.
If we hesitate to say that the expression, "I saw the dead, small and great standing before the
throne," does not imply the entire human race raised from the death together, then what
Augustine says of it is true: "If we deem this obscure, we ought not to seek or find anything clear
in the Holy Scriptures." The contemporaneous resurrection of "both the just and unjust" is
asserted by Paul in Acts 24:15, and in the Areopagus he declared that "God has appointed a day
in which he will judge the world," οἰκουμένην, the inhabited earth. In order to find a place for the
millennium after the second coming of Christ and the Judgment Day it is said that that event will
occupy a thousand years, one day with the Lord, who will judge, or rule, the whole day and at its
close will raise and judge the wicked. This implies two different meanings to this verb, as
"governing" is a social term, while "judging" is individual; the two things cannot be included in
one idea - the control of masses of men at the present time and a judicial inquiry into the past acts
of an individual soul. If you take the former, you have no Judgment Day; if the latter, you have
no blissful millennium. The only text which is quoted in proof of the resurrection of the saints
before the thousand years is this figurative scripture in which "lived" is regarded as a literal
resurrection, "I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, . . . and
they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection." We cannot
interpret this resurrection as other than metaphorical, for the following reasons: (1) Only souls
were seen. "Lived" does not necessarily indicate physical life; it sometimes means blissful life,
well-being, as when Christ says, "Because I live, ye shall live also." These souls were first under
the altar crying, in distress, for vengeance, wholly unlike Jesus on the cross and Stephen when
stoned praying, "Father, forgive them." The figurative view relieves this scene. They are praying
for the downfall of persecuting paganism and the triumph of the cause for which they were slain
during ten merciless imperial persecutions, from Nero to Diocletian. Then when Constantine
declared Christianity the official religion of the empire, A. D. 325, the prayer of these martyred
souls was answered and they were happy, indeed, they <i>lived</i>; they arose from underneath the altar
and sat upon the throne. This is the first resurrection of these souls not yet enswathed in their
glorified bodies. This exegesis alleviated the cry for vengeance which is not against persons, but
against a cruel system of idolatry then banished forever. Moreover, it shows the difficulty of the
chiliasts to account for the resurrection of the many myriads of millions who became saints
during the millennium, since by their theory only the wicked would be raised at its close. When
will these saints be raised? The chiliast has no answer. Yet a still greater perplexity is the
question, How can the millennial saints escape the second death, seeing that they have no part in
the first resurrection? If it is literal, they must be excluded from salvation. This is the only
alternative. The phrase "second resurrection" is not found in God's Word, for the good reason that
there is but one literal resurrection. Moreover, the chiliasts have no end to generation on the
earth. Some say they will continue an eternal succession.</div>
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Difficulties thicken as we apply literalism to the study of the words "and they lived and reigned
with Christ a thousand years." If this means that their happy souls with Christ will rejoice over
the long period of prosperity enjoyed by the church on the earth before a period of spiritual
decline, there is no difficulty. But to say that risen and glorified saints are to live and reign with
Christ for a period of only a thousand years is totally unlike the language of Scripture in every
other place, which assures us that we are to be forever with the Lord. This difficulty is relieved
by that figure of speech which applies resurrection to a revived cause, as did Ezekiel in his
vision, and Paul to the final conversion of the Jews as "life from the dead."</div>
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<b>5.</b> We are told by the chiliasts that the
saving of souls is to go on upon the earth after the
Redeemer's second appearing. If this be true, all the means of grace
will continue. The
scaffolding of a building is kept up till the edifice is completed; but
if it is removed, we rightly
infer that the work is finished. In awakening sinners what is the most
effectual motive? The
coming of Christ, "revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, ... who
shall punish with
everlasting destruction ... them that obey not the gospel." "The day of
the Lord will come as a
thief in the night." "The Son of man cometh when ye think not." "As it
was in the days of Noah, ... even thus shall it be when the Son of man
shall be revealed." The futurity of the coming of
Christ is everywhere urged as a motive to repent. This motive can be of
no avail after this solemn
and decisive event is past. In the training of disciples and the
development of Christian character
the same motive is urged: "Occupy till I come." "Be patient therefore,
brethren, unto the coming
of the Lord." "The Lord ... shall give the crown ... to all them that
love his appearing." Such
incentives to holiness abound. Faith rests upon the first coming of our
Saviour and hope looks
forward to the second, the crisis and consummation of the state of
grace. He says, "My reward is
with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." No such
motives to purity will exist
after Christ's advent. Thus one half of the Bible will be as useless to
sinners as a last year's
almanac, and the other half be as worthless to saints. It is "a light
shining in darkness <i>until</i> the
day dawn," and not beyond.</div>
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<b>6.</b> The ordinance of baptism, which, though not saving, is a channel of grace to the penitent
believer, does not extend beyond the end of the world, or age. "Go ye and disciple all nations,
baptizing them, teaching them, ... and, lo, I am with you always even tot he end of the world."
This will leave no outward public sign of renouncing the devil and all his works and of allegiance
to King Jesus. Baptism breaks the caste of the Hindu and levels the proud Brahmin down to the
sweeper. The Scriptures give no hint of a substitute for this initiatory, sealing ordinance in the
millennium after Christ shall come. Nor is there any substitute for "teaching" after that decisive
event. This includes preaching as well as Bible classes and Sunday schools. The Lord's Supper, a
very precious channel of grace, will share the fate of baptism, and disappear at the descent of its
Founder, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death <i>till he
come</i>." The word "till" does not necessarily exclude this ordinance beyond the coming, but it
certainly indicates that Jesus had not idea of a church on the earth after his advent. He was not a
chiliast. He did not derange the symmetry of his gospel and subvert the whole economy of
evangelical motives and nullify his own ordinances a thousand years before they ceased to be
effective in building up and beautifying human character as the premillennialists do by
dislocating and eviscerating every text relating to the coming of our Lord. Afterward these
ordinances will be out of date as well as the grace with which they are identified. Hence the
millennium cannot be a Christian era, the institutes of the gospel having become obsolete. Says
Mr. Brooks, whom I have heard, "The Holy Scriptures would, for the most part, be rendered
inapplicable to the then existing circumstances of men in the flesh, and there would be need of
some further revelation from God." Just so. This distinguished chiliast admits that the Bible
would be a back number, or, to use his own words, "a dead letter, as much unsuited to the
condition of mankind as they would be were they address to the angels of God"! Yet they will be
valuable "as a memorial, like the pot of manna laid up in the ark." Hence our Bibles will still
have some slight value. It is better to keep them than to sell them to the ragman for a penny a
pound. Yet Dr. McNeile warns us that some parts of the New Testament may "become obsolete,
not to say false," citing the strait gate and narrow way, "Be no conformed to this world," "Come
out from among them and be ye separate," "The devil goeth about," etc., as erroneous in the
millennium. He kindly informs us respecting the issue of this new New Testament, "This
communication we expect at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is to be hoped that
some who are inclined to this millennial scheme may, in view of its legitimate inferences,
discover that it is utterly void of any scriptural basis. This will be seen still more clearly in our
treatment of the next difficulty.</div>
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<b>7.</b> The cessation of Christ's intercessions at his second coming will terminate all the offices of the
Holy Spirit on the hearts of men. As the Paraclete was sent down to do the work of Christ when
he returned to his Father, he will withdraw when Christ returns to the earth in his glorified
humanity. How can sinners repent of their sins, be born again, have assurance of sonship, and be
sanctified, after the divine Reprover of sin, the Author of the new birth, the Witness of adoption,
and the Sanctifier, has withdrawn from the earth? Chiliasts admit this withdrawal. Dr. A. J.
Gordon, of blessed memory, as a chapter entitled, "The Ascent of the Holy Spirit," of which the
Scriptures say nothing, but they teach that his dispensation is the last on the earth. The
connection between Christ's continued work of the Spirit and for saving purposes, the continual
intercession of Christ is shown in John 7:38-39; 14:16, 26, 36, and 16:7, 14; Acts 2:33; Titus
3:5-6. As the church will be complete when Christ comes, as we have shown, so the means of
grace and the agencies of salvation will then terminate.</div>
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<b>8.</b> We cannot adopt chiliasm because of the confusion and inconsistency respecting the kingdom
of Christ manifest in the sayings of its advocates. Some of them teach it is not a growth, but a
sudden miraculous creation; that the Christian Church has nothing to do with it; that Jesus will
bring it from a far country; that, unlike the church, it will not be "a mixture of the good and the
bad." But the parables of Christ teach that the kingdom is a growth like the mustard plant, as
assimilating principle like leaven, a moral mixture, good and bad fish in the net, drawn to the
shore, and tares growing with the wheat till the harvest at the end of the world, which is
synonymous with the second advent. The pessimistic doctrine is also taught that the church will
wax worse and worse till Christ comes, and the chiliasts prove it, as they think, by the assertion
that leaven is a corruption principle, forbidden by the ceremonial law. But Christ distinctly
declares that the kingdom of God is like leaven, like a field sown with both wheat and tares, like
a dragnet with good and bad fish, and that this mixture ends when the world ends at the coming
of Christ to separate the wicked from the just and to wind up the history of mankind on the earth.
This same doctrine is implied in the great commission and in all the great creeds of the church:
the Apostolic, so called; Athanasian, Nicene, and the creeds which grew out of the Reformation,
a doctrine utterly inconsistent with this error which has plagued every era of the church. But it
has always been rejected by the sober exegetes and theologians in the various Christian councils.</div>
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<b>9.</b> In order to wedge in the millennium between the coming of Christ and the end of probation,
the Day of Judgment as well as the general resurrection must be broken into fragments and be
strung along a thousand years. The Plymouth Brethren - of whom Dr. Carroll reports four sorts -
deny that the <i>persons</i> of the saints will ever be judged, Christ having been judged and punished
for them on the cross; but their <i>works</i> will be judged at the coming of Christ, to determine their
rewards, in the form of offices which Christ will then distribute according to merit. Saint Paul
may be king of England and emperor of India, and, to humble the Pope, Saint Peter may be king
of Italy, the sham vanishing in confusion when faced by the genuine. The Greek word for
"judgment" has two meanings: its proper signification of judgment and the condemnatory side of
judgment, as in John 5:24 and 3:19, where the Revision is not so discriminating as the King
James Version. But neither the denial of the judgment of a part of mankind nor the postponement
of another part a thousand years can be harmonized with the Scriptures. See Matt 10:32-33,
supplemented by Mark 8:38; thus proving that Christ's confessing of his confessors, denying of
his deniers, will be "when he comes in the glory of the Father with the holy angels." In Rev
21:7-8, the overcomer and the coward are simultaneously judged. In Matt 16:24-27 the loser of
his life for Christ's sake and the savior of it are thus judged when the Son of man shall come, and
<i>then </i>he shall reward every man according to his works. In Matt 7:21-23 we have the admission
and the exclusion both at once, "in that day." In 25:10 the virgins are judged in the same night,
the foolish and the wise; verses 31-46, the most awful and solemn words in the whole range of
literature, are too plain to be disfigured by any explanation. In 13:30, 38-43, the tares and the
wheat; in Acts 17:31, an appointed day to judge the world; in Rom 2:5-16, "the day of wrath" to
some, and of "glory" to others; 2 Cor 5:9-11, "all appear" and receive according to their deeds,
"whether ... good or bad"; see also 1 Cor 4:5 and 3:12-15; Col 1:28; Heb 13:17; 1 Thess
2:19-20. In Rom 14:10, 12 all stand before the judgment seat; see also 2 Pet 3:7, 10, 12.</div>
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<b>10.</b> Finally, we raise the question, What would be the effect of preaching to sinners that the
coming of Christ as a visible person, clothed with overwhelming majesty, not to judge and
condemn the impenitent, but to set up a glorious earthly kingdom and to invite all men into it
after having sentenced Satan to State prison for a term a thousand years long? Would it not
furnish a motive to defer repentance because it would be easier when the world should be held in
awe by the power and glory of the divine King who has suddenly set up his throne in Jerusalem,
claiming universal dominion, and the devil's business of tempting men to sin is suspended, so
that two of the three great enemies to the Christian life are out of the way, leaving only the flesh
to be vanquished? We think it would have this effect. Probation would not be ended, but
extended under circumstances apparently more favorable to commencing the spiritual life. No
doctrine, Joseph Cook used to say, which weakens the motives to immediate repentance can be
inspired by the Spirit of truth. This doctrine would be especially obstructive of the conversion of
the Jews, some of whom from their contact with American Christians are beginning to lay aside
their hostility to the Nazarene and to claim him as a noble son of Abraham. Our city missionaries
find one, now and then, who from a study of the New Testament is convinced that Jesus is the
true Messiah, but from "fear of the Jews," from dread of expulsion from the synagogue and of
having his name erased by his father from his family register, shrinks from the public confession
of Christ. Would not premillennialism be obstructive of this confession? Would he not think it
best to wait till Christ shall be enthroned in Jerusalem and the Jews are hastening as fast as the
crowded steamers will carry them to do him homage and hail him as their Messiah? We think he
would take his chances of living till that event, when he can avoid persecution by going with the
crowd into the kingdom. Such a conversion to Christi would not be a change of heart, but, rather,
a change of politics. No man can exercise saving faith in a visible, glorified, triumphant, and
world-ruling Messiah while retaining the spirit of hostility to the crucified Saviour. It would be
the same as to say to him, "We believe in you because you have now come to our terms - making
your advent as an all-conquering Deliverer, as you should have come at first." Says Mr. Brooks,
"There will be the open vision of Christ; the saints will continually have access to him." Can faith
and sight coexist? Are they not everywhere in the Scriptures contrasted?</div>
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Having spoken in negative terms throughout this article, let me use positive terms. I believe the
millennium is the present state of grace developed more widely and fully than in the early stages
of the gospel, that its beginning and end will follow the law of all other great periods of church
history, being uncertain and gradual, so excluding slothfulness and security and keeping the
church full of missionary activity, but yet in the fitting attitude of expectancy, while nation after
nation, like Ethiopia, "shall stretch out their hands unto God."</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. See Acts 2:29-36</span>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">2. See I Cor. 15:23; Eph. 5:25; I Thess. 1:10; 3:13.</span></div>
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Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-61480752168575884842024-03-16T09:51:00.000-04:002024-03-16T15:31:03.089-04:00Some Things That Methodism Stands For<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDCnbxmgckfMclA1x7xzVJUd3YVXjB0dD4dPkEOKeZ-7OYjth1-dJDc6WBHC8AVLtHjhLSEaWs3dONN82f8jwKVh9zrIg4z_h1Q5lxxLmoB4WvrQezFWpsG6NO0ixk_TpYQys_fahCFg/s1600/MALLALIEU.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDCnbxmgckfMclA1x7xzVJUd3YVXjB0dD4dPkEOKeZ-7OYjth1-dJDc6WBHC8AVLtHjhLSEaWs3dONN82f8jwKVh9zrIg4z_h1Q5lxxLmoB4WvrQezFWpsG6NO0ixk_TpYQys_fahCFg/s320/MALLALIEU.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<b>Guest Blog by</b>: Bishop Willard F. Mallalieu (1828-1911)<br />
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Doubtless Methodism is the greatest religious movement of the last two hundred years. At present it encircles the world and reaches from pole to pole. Strictly speaking, it is not theological in its origin or development. It never has claimed that it has discovered, much less originated, any new doctrine. It has held fast to the theory that, so far as doctrines are concerned, the old are true, and the new are false, and the newer the doctrines, the more likely they are to be false. It has always had substantial faith in the supernatural element in the Bible. It has had a firm belief in the reality of inspiration, that holy men wrote and spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Never, in the slightest degree, has Methodism confounded the inspiration of the Scriptures with the so-called inspiration of the writings of Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, and Homer. Hence Methodism has always had implicit faith in the Biblical prophets and their prophecies; has believed that the prophets were illuminated; that they clearly saw the things that were to be unfolded in the far-distant ages; that their horizon was not bounded by the things about them, but, rather, when lifted on wheels of fire and wings of flame, their vision was vast as the thoughts of God, and only limited by the horizons of eternity. Methodism has never doubted concerning the recorded miracles of the Bible. It has believed in them all, and has had no trouble in so doing, for it has always recognized an Almighty God as an ever-present factor in the performance of all these miracles. <span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
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Methodism has never assumed to classify the recorded miracles of the Bible, counting some as altogether unworthy of being ascribed to Divine action, some others of a doubtful character, and a few others that God might properly perform. It certainly has never sneered at the floating ax, nor the fleece of Gideon, nor the story of Jonah, nor any others. Nor has it set itself up as a judge of what might be ethically proper or improper for the Ruler of this earth to do in dealing with the vile and utterly-depraved inhabitants of Canaan, with Sodom and other scenes of catastrophes in which thousands of the innocent have suffered and perished; it still holds fast to the theory that what is done by the Judge of all the earth is right.<br />
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Again, Methodism has always had a theory of the atonement. At least it has steadfastly believed that in the fall of Adam all his posterity has been disastrously affected; that moral depravity has touched every soul; that this depravity has been universal rather than total. Then it has held that the atonement is coextensive with the needs of man, and that the claims of Divine justice have been so fully satisfied that God can be just, the moral government of the universe vindicated, and at the same time all can be saved who comply with the easy terms of redemption's plan. All prison doors are open, all chains and shackles unloosed, so that any soul may be delivered from the bondage of Satan, and come to enjoy the freedom of the sons of God.<br />
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Experimentally, Methodism, from the very first, has had a plain, practical, Scriptural faith. Starting on the assumption that salvation was possible for every redeemed soul, and that all souls are redeemed, it has held fast to the fundamental doctrine that repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ are the divinely-ordained conditions upon which all complying therewith may be saved, who are intelligent enough to be morally responsible, and have heard the glad tidings of salvation. At the same time Methodism has insisted that all children who are not willing transgressors, and all irresponsible persons, are saved by the grace of God manifest in the atoning work of Christ; and, further, that all in every nation, who fear God and work righteousness, are accepted of him, through the Christ that died for them, though they have not heard of him. This view of the atonement has been held and defended by Methodist theologians from the very first. And it may be said with ever-increasing emphasis that it commends itself to all sensible and unprejudiced thinkers, for this, that it is rational and Scriptural, and at the same time honorable to God and gracious and merciful to man.<br />
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Methodism has always held that, when the sinner complies with the conditions of salvation, when his penitence is sincere and thorough, when his faith takes hold on the promises of God, when he implicitly and fully trusts in Christ as his all-sufficient Savior, God then pardons the penitent and believing sinner; he freely pardons, forgives him, for the sake of Christ, so that no sin remains charged against the one who is pardoned. At the same time God justifies, and this justification is so complete and all-inclusive that the relations of God and the sinner are changed; the prodigal is not only forgiven, but he is received into the paternal home, and he is clothed and feasted as a son. He is no longer an alien and an outcast, but he becomes a son and an heir. Regeneration is involved in pardon and justification. Old things have passed away, and, behold, all things become new. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are brought to life. It is a new birth. The soul is born from above. It was Jesus who said:<br />
<i><br />"Except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God .... Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit."</i> — John iii, 3, 5, 6.<br />
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The great Teacher did not attempt to explain the process of regeneration. He declares its reality, and insists upon its necessity, and makes known the fact that it is wrought by the Divine energy of the Holy Spirit, and does not invoke metaphysics or psychology to explain the methods of the Spirit. There are mysteries in connection with all life, and so there are mysteries connected with the new birth of the soul. John tells us that<i> "He [Jesus] came unto his own, and his own received him not."</i> (John i, 11.) The Jewish people rejected him, and put him to death, and to this day he is rejected by them.<br />
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<i>"But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."</i> — John i, 12, 13.<br />
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Methodism has always insisted upon the reality of the witness of the Holy Spirit to the adoption of the regenerated soul into the household of God. Indeed, it has claimed that the Spirit witnesses to the reality of every state of grace in the Divine life in the soul. God reveals himself to men in the realm of nature:<br />
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<i>"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead."</i> — Rom. i, 20.<br />
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Much more definitely and clearly does he reveal himself in the spiritual realm than in the material realm. Methodism accepts both revelations as equally real and within the range of human knowledge.<br />
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It is still further to be observed that Methodism has always held to the Scriptural doctrine of perfect love, of entire sanctification, of holiness in heart and life -- of the experience of the fullness of the blessing of the gospel by whatever name it may be called. The Lord Jesus Christ, in Methodist theology, has ever been held to be a Redeemer and Savior resourceful enough to meet all the requirements of an uttermost salvation. The history of Methodism shows that millions upon millions have been thus gloriously saved.<br />
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These fundamentals and essentials, not one of which is in any sense new, Methodism has always held, and still holds them, and it is to be devoutly hoped will ever hold them, despite the varying whims and fads and foolish vagaries that ever and anon make their appearance. And we propose to maintain these essentials of faith, <i>"till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."</i> (Eph. iv, 13.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">— From <i><a href="http://www.craigladams.com/Books/page335/" target="_blank">The Blessing of the Fullness of the Gospel of Christ</a>.</i></span></div>
<br />Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-56877229999556685622024-03-16T09:00:00.002-04:002024-03-16T15:20:41.790-04:00 Leviticus 15:19-33 - Concerning Bodily Discharges (Part 2)<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">19</span> And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">20</span> And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">21</span> And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">22</span> And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">23</span> And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">24</span> And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">25</span> And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">26</span> Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. <span style="font-size: x-small;">27</span> And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">28</span> But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">29</span> And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. <span style="font-size: x-small;">30</span> And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness. <span style="font-size: x-small;">31</span> Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. <span style="font-size: x-small;">32</span> This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; <span style="font-size: x-small;">33</span> And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean."</i> — Leviticus 15:19-33 KJV.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNGNAqi4RGZFv_BtAnDWOzCEkeSxsC70JNspZcP8mQjjbQfQ7pkK_794ey834iO5sgv-hX08Zz7EGDZS84XP0fNFiJ5NUGjlrpPxaJG2q4RHKxTH2OtKzIZD_R7MziDZFRcUKQLjgcKG9e5_vLyZaMhIAcVseJmloT5zgJL2b7h8vRHsjC5jTWWFxMWc/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGNGNAqi4RGZFv_BtAnDWOzCEkeSxsC70JNspZcP8mQjjbQfQ7pkK_794ey834iO5sgv-hX08Zz7EGDZS84XP0fNFiJ5NUGjlrpPxaJG2q4RHKxTH2OtKzIZD_R7MziDZFRcUKQLjgcKG9e5_vLyZaMhIAcVseJmloT5zgJL2b7h8vRHsjC5jTWWFxMWc/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>THE UNCLEANNESS OF WOMEN IN THEIR ISSUES, 19-33.<br /><br />The separation of the woman during the menstrual period is so obviously a sanitary requirement that the custom was not confined to the Hebrews.<br /><br /><b>19. <span style="color: #990000;">Seven days —</span></b> This is sufficient to cover the ordinary period of physical impurity. It is worthy of note that no ceremonial cleansing or atonement is required at the expiration of this normal uncleanness, as there is after the healing of an abnormal issue. See verses 25 and 30. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Toucheth —</span></b> This word is used in its common signification, and not in the Pauline sense, (1 Corinthians 7:1,) which is treated of in verse 24, and especially in Leviticus 20:18, where the penalty of excision is attached.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br /><b>24. <span style="color: #990000;">Flowers —</span></b> Menstrual impurity ignorantly contracted. See verse 19, note.<br /><br /><b>25. <span style="color: #990000;">Issue of blood many days —</span></b> For the miraculous healing of the bloody flux see Mark 5:25-34. Scarcely second to the physical discomfort of this ailment was the burdensomeness of the ceremonial defilement, secluding the person from society, and putting her nurses and physicians in peril of the same defilement. <p></p><p><b>30. <span style="color: #990000;">Atonement for the issue —</span></b> See verse 15, note. The least of the bloody sacrifices is demanded because the uncleanness does not indicate such a deep-seated energy of evil as does the leprosy, which required two lambs.<br /><br /><b>31. <span style="color: #990000;">That they die not, when they defile my tabernacle —</span></b> These words explain the minute requirements of this chapter. Continuance in uncleanness without the prescribed purification was followed by death, not merely in the case of the unclean man venturing into the sanctuary, but also in the case of all who persisted in defiling Israel, called to be a holy nation. The holy Jehovah had condescended to abide in the midst of Israel. Nothing offensive or uncomely should be suffered within the sacred precincts of his presence. The trifling spot upon the person must be carefully inspected by the official custodians of the holy place. It was because of his holiness that Jehovah exercised the most jealous care over all the habits of his people, at home and abroad, by day and by night. Their food, their clothing, their most hidden privacy, were under his constant inspection. This elaborate code of ceremonialism was perpetually uttering in the ear of the spiritually-minded Hebrew the sublime cry of the seraphim, <i>“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”</i> Isaiah 6:3. To lovers of holiness these restraints would not be irksome, but delightful; while they would be the most intolerable burden to the carnally minded. Thus the Levitical law tested and sifted the Israelites as the requirements of faith in the atoning blood of Christ is the touchstone of character to-day. To the sceptic who declares that this chapter is derogatory to the Divine Being, we reply that it is the office of the Spirit of inspiration to reveal truth by “interpreting spiritual things to spiritual.</p><p> </p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-60622834953473205962024-03-15T15:55:00.001-04:002024-03-15T15:55:31.908-04:00Leviticus 15:1-18 - Concerning Bodily Discharges (Part 1)<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span> And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying, <span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span> Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span> And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness. <span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span> Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">5</span> And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">6</span> And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">7</span> And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">8</span> And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">9</span> And what saddle soever he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">10</span> And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">11</span> And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">12</span> And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water. <span style="font-size: x-small;">13</span> And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span> And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest: <span style="font-size: x-small;">15</span> And the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue. <span style="font-size: x-small;">16</span> And if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">17</span> And every garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">18</span> The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even."</i> — Leviticus 15:1-18 KJV.</p><p> PHYSICAL SANCTIFICATION — TREATMENT OF ISSUES.<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLy4id9m0dPnqkWixO9ZlNuHUcHx0rG4g0GfgUHdB9I6cfWX1qDhbHl9wWjnx1aX8bB6dKkFjUUTBbrHxl1lgZyk2SvtOdxjErGfqNzpj9qc6miPJSaP9zHQboAF5YzNnhAHLmcrPnjQnKO697h3rp8sdaeoSCsKiRwls_Fx5Ig-FWVUo0WPsCeZTnvyA/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLy4id9m0dPnqkWixO9ZlNuHUcHx0rG4g0GfgUHdB9I6cfWX1qDhbHl9wWjnx1aX8bB6dKkFjUUTBbrHxl1lgZyk2SvtOdxjErGfqNzpj9qc6miPJSaP9zHQboAF5YzNnhAHLmcrPnjQnKO697h3rp8sdaeoSCsKiRwls_Fx5Ig-FWVUo0WPsCeZTnvyA/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There is an intense reality in the fact of the divine law taking hold of a man by the ordinary infirmities of the flesh, and setting its stamp in the very clay of which he is moulded. The sacredness attached to the human body is parallel to that which invested the ark of the covenant itself. Thus there is foreshadowed the unspeakable dignity with which the body of the Christian is to be crowned under the dispensation of the Holy Ghost when it shall become an habitation of God through the Spirit. The successive dwellings of Jehovah among men are, first, the tabernacle in the midst of Israel; secondly, the body of Jesus Christ, in which the Word (ἐσκήνωσεν) tented is used, (John 1:14;) and lastly, the body of every believer in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19. The minute and burdensome regulations of the ceremonial law relating to the purity of the body suggest some such honour as the privilege of believers when the dispensation of realities should supersede that of shadows. The principal source of both moral and physical defilement is found in the sexual nature. That the issues spoken of in this chapter are not ordinary running sores, but impurities resulting from the weakness or disease of the genitals, is evident from the division of the chapter into two parts — the uncleanness of men in their issues, (1-18,) and the uncleanness of women in their issues, (19-33.) <p></p><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><b>1. <span style="color: #990000;">Unto Moses and to Aaron —</span></b> There must have been in the mind of Jehovah a reason for sometimes addressing Moses alone and sometimes addressing both Moses and Aaron. That reason is not revealed.<br /><br /><b>2. <span style="color: #990000;">Issue out of his flesh —</span></b> The word flesh is here a euphemism for the part on which circumcision was performed. “My covenant shall be in your flesh.” Genesis 17:13. The Targum of Palestine adds, “When the man hath seen the defluxion three times, he is unclean.” The Seventy have translated the “issue” by <i>gonorrhea</i>. Keil questions the existence of this disease in its syphilitic character at so early a period, and inclines to the theory of an involuntary flow, drop by drop, through weakness, and he suggests that its more appropriate name is <i>blenorrhea urethrae</i>, a catarrhal affection of the mucus membrane of the urethra.<br /><br /><b>3. <span style="color: #990000;">Be stopped —</span></b> Literally, <i>whether he stop his flesh from his issue.</i> The uncleanness continues, though the issue be temporarily obstructed, until its perfect cure.<br /><br /><b>4. <span style="color: #990000;">Every bed —</span></b> The inconveniences of ceremonial impurity are strikingly set forth in this and the following verses. The only posture in which the man did not communicate ceremonial impurity was standing without touching any vessel or utensil. The obstruction to social intercourse, business, and trade must have exceeded one’s conception. The man, while under this disability, could neither sit nor lie down without spreading impurity; nor could he eat or drink without defiling the vessel which he touched; while the grasp of friendship polluted the person of his friend and incapacitated him for the public offices of religion and for communion with his kindred until he had washed his clothes and bathed himself, and waited for the friendly shades of evening to emancipate him from ceremonial bondage. Till his purification he was to be excluded from the camp. Numbers 5:2. In contrast with this burdensome ritual Christianity is appropriately called “the law of liberty.”<br /><br /><b>5. <span style="color: #990000;">Bathe himself in water —</span></b> The Targum of Palestine specifies that the quantity of water shall be forty seahs — about seventy gallons.<br /><br /><b>6. <span style="color: #990000;">He that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat —</span></b> The very stool occupied for a moment by a man afflicted with the issue was ceremonially defiled. The precautions are as great as they would have been if the issue had been a deadly contagion, except that there was no quarantine required. We should assert that the <i>gonorrhea virulenta</i>, or syphilitic suppuration, was under consideration, were not history against such a supposition.<br /><br /><b>9. <span style="color: #990000;">Saddle —</span></b> The original word signifies any thing on which to ride. In 1 Kings 4:26, it is translated <i>chariots</i>; in Canticles 3:10, <i>covering</i>. It occurs only in these places.<br /><br /><b>11. <span style="color: #990000;">Rinsed his hands —</span> </b>It is generally understood that this act refers to the diseased man. The Greek and Latin versions convey this meaning. The Hebrew is doubtful. The Syriac refers the hand rinsing to the person touched, though it is strange that he should be cleansed by washing his hands when some other part was touched.<br /><br /><b>12. <span style="color: #990000;">The vessel of earth… shall be broken —</span></b> The reason for this command will be found in the fact that the earthen vessels in use among the Hebrews were unglazed, and from their porous nature, capable of defilement beyond the possibility of cleansing by washing. See Leviticus 11:33, note.<br /><br /><b>13-15. <span style="color: #990000;">When he… is cleansed —</span></b> When by any means his issue was healed and his physical purity was restored he was to pass through a ceremonial cleansing after <span style="color: #990000;"><b>seven days</b> </span>by washing his <span style="color: #990000;"><b>clothes</b></span> and bathing his <span style="color: #990000;"><b>flesh</b></span> in <span style="color: #990000;"><b>running</b></span>, that is, living, <span style="color: #990000;"><b>water</b></span>, and by presenting to the priest <b><span style="color: #990000;">two turtle doves</span></b>, or <b><span style="color: #990000;">two young pigeons</span></b>, one for <b><span style="color: #990000;">a sin offering</span></b> and the other for <b><span style="color: #990000;">a burnt offering</span></b>. For the order see <a href="https://steelesanswers.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-order-of-levitical-sacrifices.html" target="_blank">The Order of the Levitical Sacrifices</a>. The sin offering was required because all natural evil springs more or less directly from moral evil or sin. <b><span style="color: #990000;">An atonement… for his issue —</span></b> The physical defilement needed to be <i>covered</i> from the eye of Infinite Purity, and its moral cause needed expiation, in addition to the satisfaction which should be rendered for duties omitted during the period of uncleanness. Jesus Christ “bare our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:17, note. If we “are complete in him,” (Colossians 2:10,) both body and soul, diseased by sin, are to be ultimately restored by the great Physician.<br /><br /><b>16. <span style="color: #990000;">Seed of copulation —</span></b> In the restatement of this law in Deuteronomy 23:10, the impurity is described as involuntary. It is not an infusion, but an effusion. In Luther’s version the words <i>im schlaf, in the slee</i>p, are added. In the light of this precept of the law it would not seem that “the sexual impulses, and their dream images in sleep, are morally wholly indifferent.” The spirit feels disgraced, as though it had lost its kingly sceptre and had been involuntarily dragged about by the wheel of nature, as Hector was dishonoured when his feet were bound to the axle of Achilles’s chariot. Antiquity, from India to Egypt, loathes the dreamer who defiles the flesh. The form of expression, <b><span style="color: #990000;">go out from him</span></b>, does not seem to refer to the solitary vice, masturbation, improperly called Onanism, (Genesis 38:9,) one of the most destructive crimes ever committed by fallen man; and yet it must include this vice. “In many respects,” says Dr. A. Clarke, “it is several degrees worse than common whoredom, and has in its train more awful consequences, though practised by numbers who would shudder at the thought of criminal connexion with a prostitute. It excites the powers of nature to undue action, and produces violent secretions, which necessarily and speedily exhaust the vital energy. Appetite ceases; nutrition fails, tremors are generated; and the wretched victim, superannuated even before he had time to arrive at man’s estate, debilitated in mind to idiotism, tumbles into the grave, and his guilty soul (guilty of self-murder) is hurried into the awful presence of its Judge.”<br /><br /><b>17. <span style="color: #990000;">Every skin —</span></b> Those inhabitants of the East who affect ancient simplicity of manners make use of goatskins for seats and beds. In some cases they take the place of carpets.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">18. They shall both bathe —</span></b> There are two opinions respecting this verse. The first is, that it relates to the same pollution as verse 16; the second, that it ascribes ceremonial impurity to the most intimate association of matrimony. Keil dissents from the latter opinion on grounds which seem to us insufficient. The design of this statute is doubtless not only to deter from polygamy and unlawful sexual intercourse, but also to set up a safeguard against conjugal excess, which is a sin against the law of the Creator written on the human body and mind. This verse intimates that David, in Psalm 51:5, did not use an Oriental exaggeration. Pravity attaches to man from his conception to his death, unless he be sanctified throughout his “whole spirit and soul and body,” 1 Thessalonians 5:23,) through faith in Christ. Every outflow of nature, even under the holiest sanctions, is not only defiled but defiling. From an impure fountain all the streams are polluting. Circumcision seems to imply that the moral impurity with which the fall of Adam had stained humanity, had concentrated itself in the sexual organs. <br /><p></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-53799690321989141922024-03-02T14:44:00.000-05:002024-03-02T17:09:56.724-05:00When Was Paul Entirely Sanctified?<i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLP5-k-MvHiy4r99s8rvxKeSrDB5Ys02p-nBueFNTF5PvqQuFqHhjjGqnUQRWtuLDkKguwQ952iW3iPptX76MMRQOpwnAFloyW4IA53I4QPeu-e1iswOX-XTF_rTzCd5Y-Kvc7Ie_-OrdqH4_gGgGhkMilt2BvUyYbhZZNXnyg7hXqMfQ23hKbkEYfcU4/s851/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="851" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLP5-k-MvHiy4r99s8rvxKeSrDB5Ys02p-nBueFNTF5PvqQuFqHhjjGqnUQRWtuLDkKguwQ952iW3iPptX76MMRQOpwnAFloyW4IA53I4QPeu-e1iswOX-XTF_rTzCd5Y-Kvc7Ie_-OrdqH4_gGgGhkMilt2BvUyYbhZZNXnyg7hXqMfQ23hKbkEYfcU4/s320/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" width="320" /></a></div>QUESTION: When was Saul entirely sanctified?</b></i><br />
<br />
ANSWER: The fact is more important than the date. This fact is implied in all his exhortations and prayers, for he would not have urged others to obtain what he himself had not received. Nor would he have appealed to the Searcher of hearts as he did in 1 Thess. 2:10, to witness "how holily" he was living. In Gal. 1:15 there is noted a crisis in his experience after his conversion, which may have been his entire sanctification: "But when [it] was the good pleasure of God, who separated me (unto the Gospel Rom. 1:1) from my birth, and called (regenerated) me through his grace, to reveal His Son in me," etc. This is not the revelation of Christ in his natural vision, but rather the inward manifestation of Christ to his spiritual perception quickened into life when he was born from above. No unregenerate man can have an inward revelation of Christ. This may be Paul's phrase for his entire sanctification. It corresponds with modern experiences of this grace as the writer can testify.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— From <i>Steele's Answers</i> pp. 17,18.</span></div>
Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-3065258887947063632024-03-01T10:00:00.001-05:002024-03-01T10:00:00.140-05:00Leviticus 14:33-57 Leprosy in a House<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">33</span> And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, <span style="font-size: x-small;">34</span> When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; <span style="font-size: x-small;">35</span> And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: <span style="font-size: x-small;">36</span> Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: <span style="font-size: x-small;">37</span> And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; <span style="font-size: x-small;">38</span> Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: <span style="font-size: x-small;">39</span> And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; <span style="font-size: x-small;">40</span> Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: <span style="font-size: x-small;">41</span> And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: <span style="font-size: x-small;">42</span> And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house. <span style="font-size: x-small;">43</span> And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; <span style="font-size: x-small;">44</span> Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">45</span> And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. <span style="font-size: x-small;">46</span> Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. <span style="font-size: x-small;">47</span> And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. <span style="font-size: x-small;">48</span> And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. <span style="font-size: x-small;">49</span> And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: <span style="font-size: x-small;">50</span> And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: <span style="font-size: x-small;">51</span> And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: <span style="font-size: x-small;">52</span> And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: <span style="font-size: x-small;">53</span> But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">54</span> This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, <span style="font-size: x-small;">55</span> And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, <span style="font-size: x-small;">56</span> And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot: <span style="font-size: x-small;">57</span> To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy."</i> — Leviticus 14:33-57 KJV.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiel28gC7B87L_CHkGc93ZQFhq8PfHhq_X-YC5MEo57wxZyjpP6yKYBo3H_TEgfWyRbMYeErs8jfamZS_quVwHJk_Zw2tLNGDcJy7lLCbIcQIwJsMxsO04_1LgrYq-NZ3SP5JRJ4iorsUzhLus1YcabHCeuGrTkNOflMzCcWeXUUqEynon3u6xkszo8KI/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiel28gC7B87L_CHkGc93ZQFhq8PfHhq_X-YC5MEo57wxZyjpP6yKYBo3H_TEgfWyRbMYeErs8jfamZS_quVwHJk_Zw2tLNGDcJy7lLCbIcQIwJsMxsO04_1LgrYq-NZ3SP5JRJ4iorsUzhLus1YcabHCeuGrTkNOflMzCcWeXUUqEynon3u6xkszo8KI/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>SIGNS OF LEPROSY IN A HOUSE, 33-45.<br /><br />The nature of house leprosy is a great mystery. If it proceeded from a natural cause we should expect to find the same cause productive of a like effect in modern Palestine. But travellers report no instances. The most prevalent theory, having a slight scriptural basis (see verse 34, note) is, that it was a supernatural plague. This is the opinion of Patrick, Aberbanel, and many rabbins. The author of <i>Sepher Cosri</i> says, “God inflicted the plague of leprosy upon houses and garments as a punishment for lesser sins, and when the parties continued to multiply transgressions, it invaded their bodies.” Maimonides specifies the sin of which this is the punishment to be an evil tongue. The Targum of Palestine says that the plague was because the house was “built by rapine.” Michaelis has suggested, as a natural cause, a nitrous efflorescence produced by saltpetre, or rather an acid containing it, and issuing in red spots. He cites the case of a house in Lubeck. But this does not counterbalance the absence of such phenomena in the Holy Land in modern times. Says Dr. W.M. Thomson, “I have suspected that this disease is caused by living and self-propagating animalculae; and thus I can conceive it possible that these might fasten on a wall, especially if the cement were mixed with sizing, as is now done, or other gelatinous or animal glues. Still, the most cursory reference to the best of medical works shows how little is known about the whole subject of contagion, and its propagation by <i>fomites</i>. One finds in them abundant and incontestable instances of the propagation of many terrible constitutional maladies, in the most inexplicable manner, by garments, leather, wood, and other things, the <i>materies morbi</i> meantime eluding the most persevering and vigilant search, aided by every appliance of modern science, chemical or optical.”<span></span><p></p><a name='more'></a><p><br /><br /><b>34. <span style="color: #990000;">Land of Canaan —</span></b> Since tents were not exposed to this form of uncleanness this legislation looks forward to Palestine, where the people would abide in the cities built by the Amorites. Joshua 24:13. It has been suggested, but with no show of proof, that treasures had been hidden in certain houses by the Canaanites, and that the leprosy was sent to these in order that the gold and silver hidden in them might be revealed when they were demolished. “The people were far enough from Canaan at this moment, yet a law of regulation was laid down for their conduct when they came into possession of the land. This is another revelation of the method of divine government. Laws are made in advance.” <i>— Joseph Parker.</i> <b><span style="color: #990000;">I put the plague of leprosy —</span></b> This expression is the ground of the opinion that the house leprosy was a supernatural infliction. But in the Hebrew idiom God is often said to do acts which he permits others to do, (Exodus 7:13,) or which occur through physical laws. 35. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Tell the priest —</span></b> This obligation, laid upon every householder, would tend to a scrupulous care of the house and be promotive of health. It also tended to magnify the office of the priest.<br /><br /><b>36. <span style="color: #990000;">Empty the house —</span></b> Literally, <i>prepare the house</i> for inspection, by the removal of its contents, as a safeguard against ceremonial defilement.<br /><br /><b>37. <span style="color: #990000;">Hollow streaks —</span></b> The Hebrew for both these words is depression, or sunken place. This is the first test of the leprosy; the second was the <b><span style="color: #990000;">greenish or reddish</span></b> colour. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Lower than the wall —</span></b> This is the depression just mentioned. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Shut up —</span></b> This was a safeguard against the ceremonial defilement of the family. It also removed all human agency from contributing to the further spreading of the spots.<br /><b><br />39. <span style="color: #990000;">Be spread —</span></b> This was the third and decisive test.<br /><br /><b>40. <span style="color: #990000;">Take away the stones —</span></b> Here is a prediction that the people will live in houses of stone, and not of wood or brick. The stones were to be digged out of the wall and cast without the city. Here is a prophecy that the houses will not be scattered through the country, but will be compact, and surrounded by some definite limits. This was true of ancient Jewish houses. For protection the inhabitants of modern Palestine live chiefly in cities.<br /><br /><b>41.<span style="color: #990000;"> Scraped —</span></b> As a preventive the entire interior of the house was scraped, and the dust (R.V., “mortar”) carefully removed.<br /><br /><b>42. <span style="color: #990000;">Other mortar —</span></b> This implies that the scraping removed the entire inner plastering.<br /><br /><b>44. <span style="color: #990000;">Fretting leprosy —</span></b> See Leviticus 13:51. The whole mode of the diagnosis is strikingly like that of the leprosy in man, while there is probably no connexion between the two plagues.<br /><br /><b>45. <span style="color: #990000;">He shall break down… carry… out —</span></b> The priest, according to the literalism of Colenso, would have a vast work to do single-handed. But common sense assures us that he may be said to perform labour which he directs. The damage done by such a house to the ceremonial purity and health of its occupants was of far more consequence in the estimation of the lawgiver than the building itself. “Those to whom this appears strange, and who lament the fate of a house pulled down by legal authority, probably think of large and magnificent houses like ours, of many stories high, which cost a great deal of money,” whereas the houses of those days were usually rude, low, and cheap.<br /><br />THE CLEANSING OF A HOUSE SUSPECTED OF LEPROSY, 46-57.<br /><br />The same ceremony is to be performed for the house suspected of leprosy as takes place without the camp in the case of a man cured of this disease. The reason for this is not stated, but it is evident that after public attention had been directed toward the house by the priestly examination, and it had been pronounced clean, some formal and impressive notification of the priest’s verdict should be given in order to protect the house from depreciation in its value, and to assure its inhabitants against needless apprehensions. Hence Jehovah may, for this purpose, have selected the ritual which initiates the ceremonial cleansing of the leper.<br /><br /><b>46. <span style="color: #990000;">He that goeth into the house… unclean —</span></b> The house defiles the occupant, and not the occupant the house. This is a sufficient answer to Knobel, who assumes that the house leprosy is a contagion taken from the leprous inhabitant.<br /><br /><b>53. <span style="color: #990000;">Atonement for the house —</span></b> The Hebrew verb כִפֶּ֥ר should here be translated <i>purge</i>, as it is in Ezekiel 43:20, 26. It should be so rendered whenever it has a thing for its object, as in Leviticus 16:33, and Deuteronomy 32:43, where the tabernacle, altar, and land are atoned. The generic notion of freeing from impurity inheres in its use everywhere — moral impurity, or guilt, in persons, and ceremonial impurity in things. The impurity of the healed leper is not atoned till he has performed the requirements of the altar ritual at the door of the tabernacle. This ritual was impossible in the case of the house.<br /><br />CONCLUDING NOTE.<br /><br />We would not very confidently announce the symbolism of the leprous house, but we would suggest that it prefigures our duty when associated in church relations. In St. Paul’s epistles, the house is the favourite simile of the Christian community, each member being a spiritual stone. 1 Corinthians 3:9-16; Ephesians 2:20-22. In the Corinthian Church the sleepless eye of the apostle discovered a leprous stone. 1 Corinthians 5:1. The whole temple was in imminent peril till that defilement was removed by the uprising of the whole membership in their “vehement desire” to approve themselves “to be clear in this matter.” It is not enough that we be individually blameless; we are, in an important sense, responsible for the aggregate of the Christian Church, and for each member thereof. Hence Jesus, the Head of the Church, assumes a judicial attitude toward his house at Pergamos, and threatens to fight against them “with the sword of his mouth,” because of a few who held doctrines subversive of Christian morality. Revelation 2:12-16. If reproof and warning should prove unavailing, judgment must come at last, and that leprous house, once the abode of some who “hold fast [Christ’s] name,” must be razed to the ground, and its very foundations destroyed. Church membership involves momentous responsibilities, and an isolated Christian life tremendous perils. God has no use for a Church which consciously fosters impurity. Let it repent or be destroyed.</p><p> </p><p></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-32233285981926987842024-02-29T14:09:00.006-05:002024-02-29T14:11:56.696-05:00Leviticus 14:21-32<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">21</span> And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil; <span style="font-size: x-small;">22</span> And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering. <span style="font-size: x-small;">23</span> And he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD. <span style="font-size: x-small;">24</span> And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: <span style="font-size: x-small;">25</span> And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot: <span style="font-size: x-small;">26</span> And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand: <span style="font-size: x-small;">27</span> And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD: <span style="font-size: x-small;">28</span> And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering: <span style="font-size: x-small;">29</span> And the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make an atonement for him before the LORD. <span style="font-size: x-small;">30</span> And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get; <span style="font-size: x-small;">31</span> Even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meat offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the LORD. <span style="font-size: x-small;">32</span> This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing."</i> Leviticus 14:21-32 KJV.</p><p><b><span style="color: #990000;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEgpdm5D6BE_4z3Xwtpk45NH9jxMSCffijnLki3CM9SSsbuQZvpXHnGrXitjg8RZ5qaek_QKQfYcrYQAKD_doBAOPPLgNt9xyHxK8SnZN7KByd_jWDCi2wXzmt06vKuJS1rofTBiRh1RMqy1jiQLywf-Ozvl7voVfO7v2I4DE97AflQ_gQqZE5kqHVw6I/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEgpdm5D6BE_4z3Xwtpk45NH9jxMSCffijnLki3CM9SSsbuQZvpXHnGrXitjg8RZ5qaek_QKQfYcrYQAKD_doBAOPPLgNt9xyHxK8SnZN7KByd_jWDCi2wXzmt06vKuJS1rofTBiRh1RMqy1jiQLywf-Ozvl7voVfO7v2I4DE97AflQ_gQqZE5kqHVw6I/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p><b>21. <span style="color: #990000;">Cannot get so much —</span></b> Literally, if his hand reach not. Thus the divine requirement mercifully adjusts itself to human ability. “God never omitted the sacrifice; however poor was the worshipper, some degree or form of sacrifice he was bound to supply. This shows that the true sacrifice is in the spirit rather than in the offering which is made by the hand.” — <i>Joseph Parker</i>. See Leviticus 12:8, note. The reduced requirement diminishes the meat offering two thirds, and substitutes two doves for the two sheep which are used for the sin offering and the burnt offering. But the offerings which are more especially consecratory, typifying positive blessings, are not diminished, namely, the trespass offering and the anointing oil. This may teach, that while penitents may be pardoned when faith in Christ is very imperfect, by simply looking toward him, believers receive cleansing and the fulness of the Holy Spirit only when they exercise a perfect faith in the great atonement.</p><p> </p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-12956481147907473052024-02-29T13:00:00.000-05:002024-02-29T13:56:08.525-05:00Do Not Be Anxious - Matthew 6:25-34<i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG_-nD_5-Nhvegcs5b7w-hGh5QTnO2Pi-GsxpInen71sUk05KMpTLqwdOj_r8ZBfZL_Q7tPf5Xjuc4YqMIHwb834zjtG6ElZxCTDW0OIGh6Z4FNngj_0ResJp0HGXg_95sR62sC-xh2xO-B_pWpngkUwvZJRA3hDRQY_GXtmjlRdoriT-BLplRsUa9F24/s851/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="851" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG_-nD_5-Nhvegcs5b7w-hGh5QTnO2Pi-GsxpInen71sUk05KMpTLqwdOj_r8ZBfZL_Q7tPf5Xjuc4YqMIHwb834zjtG6ElZxCTDW0OIGh6Z4FNngj_0ResJp0HGXg_95sR62sC-xh2xO-B_pWpngkUwvZJRA3hDRQY_GXtmjlRdoriT-BLplRsUa9F24/s320/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" width="320" /></a></div><br />QUESTION: Explain "Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on, take no thought for the morrow." (Matt. 6: 25-34).</b></i><br /><br />ANSWER: The Revision is more exact: "Be not anxious." Perfect trust in God cannot dwell in the same heart with worry about the future. Where the great purpose of life is to promote the kingdom of God and to obtain the righteousness which he requires and bestows — if this is our chief good, the inferior good of material things will be added. For the Christian virtues are economic, promoting health, industry, frugality, a sufficiency, and often an overplus for Christian charities and Gospel missions.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— <i>Steele's Answers</i> p. 150.</span></div>
Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-3086567383486534252024-02-28T09:20:00.001-05:002024-02-29T14:45:58.910-05:00Leviticus 14:10-20 - The Cleansing of the Leper (Part 2)<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">10</span> And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. <span style="font-size: x-small;">11</span> And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: <span style="font-size: x-small;">12</span> And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: <span style="font-size: x-small;">13</span> And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy: <span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span> And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot: <span style="font-size: x-small;">15</span> And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand: <span style="font-size: x-small;">16</span> And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD: <span style="font-size: x-small;">17</span> And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering: <span style="font-size: x-small;">18</span> And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD. <span style="font-size: x-small;">19</span> And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering: <span style="font-size: x-small;">20</span> And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean."</i> — Leviticus 14:10-20 KJV.</p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3m0RZYEWy9SbUtUd1kvxI1jQ4Q2ZPa8RITatD38j_CglEq-EQsqgkANUlMzXQoDxxa03qW7dfDrQZ4NPoGm3cR0krFeMuMKnN3V1Y6vmrNyBGWXME0Lla0a_ezCFz4PwMEw047zdXKqAx3ED6w0mn8NgGuJzdzUgFpUBIHWQTj1-sBidTvnNqX5YApKM/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3m0RZYEWy9SbUtUd1kvxI1jQ4Q2ZPa8RITatD38j_CglEq-EQsqgkANUlMzXQoDxxa03qW7dfDrQZ4NPoGm3cR0krFeMuMKnN3V1Y6vmrNyBGWXME0Lla0a_ezCFz4PwMEw047zdXKqAx3ED6w0mn8NgGuJzdzUgFpUBIHWQTj1-sBidTvnNqX5YApKM/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b>10.<span style="color: #990000;"> Eighth day —</span></b> See Leviticus 9:1, note. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Two lambs —</span></b> The Hebrew term applies to young sheep till three years old. If it be of the first year the fact is expressly stated. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Without blemish —</span></b> See Leviticus 1:3, note. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Three tenth deals —</span></b> Three omers, about nine quarts: R.V., “three tenth parts of an ephah.” See Leviticus 23:13, note. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Meat offering —</span></b> See chap. ii, notes. <b><span style="color: #990000;">One log of oil —</span></b> The term “log” is transferred from the Hebrew. It contained the twelfth part of a hin, or six egg-shells=.833 of a pint. This olive oil was to be applied to the person of the cleansed leper. Whilst other requisites for the final cleansing varied, according to his ability, this was invariable, because of its typical significance — the unction of the Holy Ghost.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><b><br />11. <span style="color: #990000;">Maketh clean… made clean —</span></b> The superiority of the Hebrew to the English is seen in this verse in its employment of the reflexive voice, in the Hiphel form of the verb, declaring the activity of the leper in the cleansing process. “The priest that maketh him clean shall present the man who is making himself clean.” The divine efficiency blends with the human. This is the synergism of our Arminian theology. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Door of the tabernacle —</span></b> See Leviticus 1:3, note. It was a great privilege to stand there. The purification without the camp was necessary to the attainment of this right. There are promises which are made only to the regenerate. The Comforter and Sanctifier are sent only to those who already love Christ. John 14:15, 16.<br /><br /><b>12. <span style="color: #990000;">Trespass offering —</span></b> R.V., “guilt offering.” See chap. v, Introductory, also verse 6, note. This offering was required, not as a payment of debts to Jehovah accumulated during the sickness, (<i>Riem</i>, <i>Oehler</i>, and <i>Murphy</i>,) but rather as a consecration offering, because this served as a restoration to all the rights of the priestly covenant nation, which had been suspended by the mortal ban of leprosy. This is shown by the fact that the אָשֵׁם, or trespass offering, was to be waved for a wave offering, an unusual ceremony in connexion with the אָשֵׁם, but used when persons are to be dedicated to the Lord, as were the Levites in Numbers 8:11-15, after their sin offering. For the manner and meaning of waving see Leviticus 7:30, note. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Most holy —</span></b> Leviticus 2:3, note.<br /><br /><b>14. <span style="color: #990000;">Right ear —</span></b> The organ which may have been a willing channel for folly, impurity, or slander must be cleansed by the blood of sprinkling. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Hand —</span></b> This instrument of the wicked will need the purifying blood, while the foot, which has often run in the way of sin, must be purged as an offending member. This mode of purification in detail is almost exactly like the order for the consecration of the priests. Leviticus 8:24, note.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UprHmxzuzno48P572RVmKWQqkq-fqwgER2o_zo5cM7kT_2dsDSeQSERPNUpoq5vIkESl2PDiKDe61BwgI8OS2W1yXdwl-_ahkqtVkb-cJHnVpPg4lfjLJtEdH2b6rgbx2WDpXEg6J6YgClGqiPDc-uDuJHnw1-G5GheIhlejCloSvXozbm1Dx9r5zLk/s1200/7168-gettyimages-dulezidar-1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1200" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UprHmxzuzno48P572RVmKWQqkq-fqwgER2o_zo5cM7kT_2dsDSeQSERPNUpoq5vIkESl2PDiKDe61BwgI8OS2W1yXdwl-_ahkqtVkb-cJHnVpPg4lfjLJtEdH2b6rgbx2WDpXEg6J6YgClGqiPDc-uDuJHnw1-G5GheIhlejCloSvXozbm1Dx9r5zLk/s320/7168-gettyimages-dulezidar-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>15. The priest shall take… oil —</span></b> The administration of the oil to various parts of the person, ending with pouring it upon the head, is the last act in the process of cleansing. Its spiritual significance is no enigma. Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Jesus, as the Messiah, or the Christ, was anointed of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah 4:2-12; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9. Believers endowed with the fulness of the Spirit are said to be anointed. 1 John 2:20, 27. All genuine Christians are etymologically the oiled ones. The restoration of the leper involved two parts — the negative, the removal of the impurity by the blood sprinkled; and the positive, the reinvestment with all lost privileges, especially communion with God’s people, and favour with him and the right of access to him. The positive work is typified by the anointing. Entire sanctification consists not only of a death unto sin, but of life unto God. There must be a destructive and a constructive process. The old man must be slain and the new man must be created in righteousness and true holiness.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">16. Sprinkle of the oil —</span></b> Since it is ordinary oil, and not “the holy anointing” oil, (Exodus 30:23-25,) the sevenfold sprinkling is its perfect consecration unto Jehovah.<br /><br /><b>17. <span style="color: #990000;">Upon the blood —</span></b> As the oil was put upon the blood of the אָשֵׁם, or trespass offering, so is the blood of Christ our אָשֵׁם, (Isaiah 53:10,) the divine basis of the operations of the Holy Ghost. Hence he was not given till after Christ had been glorified by the crucifixion, (John 7:39; 12:23; 17:1,) nor in Christian experience is his peculiar office of the sanctifier fulfilled until after justification through the blood of Christ. The divine order of these blessings, prefigured by the oil upon the blood, should be carefully observed, inasmuch as all legalists are forever falling into the mistake of making sanctification the ground of justification. Whereas we are cleansed by the blood of sprinkling, and then the chief work of consecration, symbolized by the oil applied, takes place. Hence we do not consecrate to God our evil things, but our good things; we abandon our evil habits and consecrate our cleansed selves unto the Lord. Says Dean Alford, “The gift of the Spirit at and since the day of Pentecost was and is something totally distinct from any thing before that time. The first reception of him must not be illogically put in place of all his indwelling and working, which are intended,” in John 7:39. Thus we find here strong confirmation of the Wesleyan view of entire sanctification as a distinct work, an instantaneous “change immensely greater than that wrought when the believer was justified, and infinitely greater than any before, and than any one can conceive till he experiences it.” — <i>J. Wesley</i>.<br /><br /><b>18. <span style="color: #990000;">Pour upon the head —</span></b> This symbolized the endowment of the whole man with the gift of the Holy Ghost. The believer is not only to be cleansed from the leprosy of hereditary and inbred depravity, but to be “filled with all the fulness of God.” Ephesians 3:19.<br /><br /><b>19. <span style="color: #990000;">Atonement —</span></b> See Leviticus 1:4; 4:20, notes. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Burnt offering —</span></b> See Leviticus 1:3; 6:9, notes.<p></p><p><br /></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-79220772283395921872024-02-27T15:30:00.000-05:002024-02-27T15:31:09.527-05:00A Common Christian Language<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_b1iI4nj5YkqVpv2HKdyniox4CmEeY0qUliSEMPFKbu4zEas2t1_EnGXyVC3O1sNBP6uuHsma45nZsn80qJNKC1l8Phw-4vL0N0RApVCKxYMQU8mhfC_XiGrF98S-XQOXW1RleQ5-2uWtFaHLp1P7CV083g4UMTyrvLSmmLpL36g1CfhtWD5SiorNHWc/s1500/il_fullxfull.302172532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1247" data-original-width="1500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_b1iI4nj5YkqVpv2HKdyniox4CmEeY0qUliSEMPFKbu4zEas2t1_EnGXyVC3O1sNBP6uuHsma45nZsn80qJNKC1l8Phw-4vL0N0RApVCKxYMQU8mhfC_XiGrF98S-XQOXW1RleQ5-2uWtFaHLp1P7CV083g4UMTyrvLSmmLpL36g1CfhtWD5SiorNHWc/s320/il_fullxfull.302172532.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Jesus prays for his disciples: <i>“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”</i> (John 17:20-21 NRSV)<br />
<br />
The language of Christian feeling can never be successfully counterfeited. The language of the dry intellect, the language of the head, may be misunderstood. Hence wherever religion has consisted in theological dogmas alone, fierce strifes have arisen. But when the gospel has been addressed to men's hearts, and has been received by faith in its transforming power, the weapons of denominational warfare are cast away, and believers vie with one another in magnifying our common Saviour. Such, thank God, are the happy times upon which we have fallen. We live in a day when the Holy Spirit has come down upon the evangelical churches, and we now understand one another, because our hearts speak. In the eras of the warmest theological controversy this heart unison was not noticed amid the din and discord of clashing swords. Professor Shedd says that ‘Tried by the test of exact dogmatic statement there is a plain difference between the Arminian creed and that of the Calvinist; but tried by the test of practical piety and devout feeling, there is little difference between the character of John Wesley and John Calvin. The practical religious life is much more a product of the Holy Spirit than is the speculative construction of truth.' The advance of spirituality will be the advance of that unity for which Jesus prayed in his wonderful high-priestly prayer in the seventeenth of St. John.<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— Daniel Steele, <a href="http://www.craigladams.com/Books/page217/" target="_blank"><i>Jesus Exultant</i> </a>(1899) Chapter 3.</span></div>
Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-19666882106811431892024-02-27T15:15:00.003-05:002024-02-29T14:47:09.069-05:00Levitius 14:1-9 The Cleansing of the Leper (Part 1)<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span> And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, <span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span> This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: <span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span> And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; <span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span> Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: <span style="font-size: x-small;">5</span> And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: <span style="font-size: x-small;">6</span> As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: <span style="font-size: x-small;">7</span> And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. <span style="font-size: x-small;">8</span> And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days. <span style="font-size: x-small;">9</span> But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean."</i> Leviticus 14:1-9 KJV. </p><p>The first section of this chapter is addressed to Moses alone, and relates to the ritual for cleansing the leper and restoring to full communion with Israel. Verses 1-32. The second section, addressed to Moses and Aaron, describes the leprosy in a house, and prescribes the mode of its treatment. Verses 33-57.<br /><br />THE CEREMONIAL CLEANSING OF THE LEPER, 1-32.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodENbKvJK4td5wa7MsX_HnN_ZwL0zyIlSDWh8pqH5JFEULxf5q4RCoe7gyrjGQZTnrO1u2ueOu5Aog6gzhMVlRPZ0JrvG_ZCHzBsNLFuF1Otbm71IZJxBgxcwFwUoFu3QeMd_Xg-m6iG77ukPjVkvzAEgEOvfBSdKXVM73pfEFq3BtiSMb4hMhTLB6U0/s1280/maxresdefault.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodENbKvJK4td5wa7MsX_HnN_ZwL0zyIlSDWh8pqH5JFEULxf5q4RCoe7gyrjGQZTnrO1u2ueOu5Aog6gzhMVlRPZ0JrvG_ZCHzBsNLFuF1Otbm71IZJxBgxcwFwUoFu3QeMd_Xg-m6iG77ukPjVkvzAEgEOvfBSdKXVM73pfEFq3BtiSMb4hMhTLB6U0/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Our position that the treatment of the leprosy was founded on ceremonial, rather than sanitary, grounds, is confirmed by the minute ritual required for the cleansing of the leper after he has been healed, together with the total absence of any medicinal prescriptions for his cure. By what natural means this was ever effected we are not informed in the Scriptures. The only cures which are detailed are miraculous, as Miriam, in answer to the prayer of Moses, Numbers 12:13-15; Naaman, at the command of Elisha, 2 Kings 5:14; and the instances of healing by Jesus Christ, Matthew 8:3; Luke 17:14. In his sermon to his indignant towns-men on the universality of the divine regards, Jesus gives two very valuable historical items: 1. That in the long and eventful life of Elisha not an Israelite leper was healed; and 2. That “many lepers were in Israel” at that time. Luke 4:27. We infer, therefore, that the perfect healing of the leprosy was a rare exertion of supernatural power, and that the cases provided for in this chapter are either instances of miraculous healing, or, more probably, cases in which the disease had reached the stage of complete whiteness, when the patient has become clean, (Leviticus 13:13, note,) and may be constructively called healed.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><b>2. <span style="color: #990000;">H</span><span style="color: #990000;">e shall be brought unto the priest —</span></b> Here is intimated the intervention of a third party, a mediator, to bring the case unto the knowledge of the priest. The Holy Spirit draws penitent sinners to Jesus, the cleansing Priest. When he healed lepers in his earthly ministry he sent them to the priests, that their office might be honoured, their sacrificial perquisites secured to them, and the cure be authenticated by their endorsement. <b><span style="color: #990000;">The priest shall go forth —</span></b> The leper was forbidden to come into the camp until he had been officially pronounced cleansed. Jesus descended from a holy heaven to cleanse and lead once leprous souls from earth to glory.<br /><br /><b>3. <span style="color: #990000;">Healed</span></b> — See introductory remarks.<br /><br /><b>4. <span style="color: #990000;">Command to take for him —</span></b> Literally, the priest shall command, and he (the leper) shall take for him, cleansing himself. The leper was not to be perfectly passive in his being cleansed, but he was enjoined to co-operate with the priest. Thus the sinner is to present by faith the blood of Christ with which he is to be purified. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Two birds —</span></b> Of any kind, provided they be clean, that is, fit for food. Leviticus 11:13-28. The Vulgate says <i>passeres</i>, sparrows. If limited to these the word “clean” would be out of place, since individuals would be clean if their species were so. The Seventy use a diminutive form, “little birds.” Tradition adds that they must not be reared in a cage, but wild birds. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Cedar wood —</span></b> The piece, according to Jewish law, was to be long enough to constitute a handle. The <i>oxyderus</i>, or Phenician <i>juniper</i>, which abounds in the Sinaitic Peninsula, is doubtless intended. Vitruvius speaks of the antiseptic properties of the oil of juniper. It may well typify the keeping power of divine grace. 1 Peter 1:5. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Scarlet —</span></b> Here is an attribute without a substance, which must be supplied — wool, the Seventy, “spun wool.” The colour is properly crimson obtained from the coccus insect found on the boughs of the ilex. Furst suggests that the proper translation in this place is, <i>a crimson piece of cloth,</i> in which to enfold the hyssop and cedar wood. This colour sometimes symbolizes mortal sins. Isaiah 1:18. It may here typify the blood of the Lamb, faith in which makes sinners whiter than snow. Revelation 7:14. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Hyssop —</span></b> Hebrew אֵזֹֽב. See Exodus 12:22, note. Later researches identify it with the <i>origanum maru</i>, a plant of a highly aromatic odour, many stalks growing from one root so that the hand could easily gather in a single grasp a bunch all ready for use. It grows on the walls of all the terraces in Syria and Palestine. But Stanley and Tristram argue for the caper, or <i>asaf</i>, as the same as the אֵזֹֽב.<br /><br /><b></b><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6gQA4IAjteY5GJ2IK6XY5YCJIbfEuL62TvjOnlr8ptCSZPmAirPFoLscbmgbJr17hGnHTQBT6OKIxhmHu9f1DLSlbvtFZG1Fut9Fi4gBRXz4s5H3qi4ZdW-r46NxRFoDoxb6mETPWEsbTIetdfR0QZDcxTn73Z1LKc_9tC1ysn-r9Sc8zeM_Rm7LRq8/s536/3b1526e64a8bab60fb86d6ffef00f587.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="335" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6gQA4IAjteY5GJ2IK6XY5YCJIbfEuL62TvjOnlr8ptCSZPmAirPFoLscbmgbJr17hGnHTQBT6OKIxhmHu9f1DLSlbvtFZG1Fut9Fi4gBRXz4s5H3qi4ZdW-r46NxRFoDoxb6mETPWEsbTIetdfR0QZDcxTn73Z1LKc_9tC1ysn-r9Sc8zeM_Rm7LRq8/s320/3b1526e64a8bab60fb86d6ffef00f587.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></div><b>5. <span style="color: #990000;">The priest shall command —</span></b> The person commanded is the leper. The offerer killed his own sacrifice, (Leviticus 1:5, note,) for it is a true sacrifice though the altar is absent and the burning does not take place, for the priest, the sprinkling, and the atonement (verse 53) are the essential elements. An earthen vessel — This takes the place of the altar. It symbolizes the human body, weak, frail, and decaying. 2 Corinthians 4:7. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Over running water —</span></b> The English translators have made a needless difficulty here, making a running brook necessary to the rite of cleansing. The Hebrew reads <i>living water</i>, in the vessel with which the blood of the bird is to mingle. Blood and water, the emblems of expiation and sanctification, are here blended together as they flowed from the pierced side of Jesus, and as they influence the experience of the believer. John 19:34; 1 John 5:6; Hebrews 10:22, and Leviticus 8:30, note.<br /><br /><b>6, 7. <span style="color: #990000;">The living bird —</span></b> This was tied to the end of the cedar wood or juniper in such a way that the tips of its wings and of its tail, bound with the crimson fillet cord or cloth, might be dipped with the hyssop into the vessel of blood and water. Then the whole was used as a brush with which to sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, thereby indicating the perfectness of the first cleansing. Leviticus 4:6, note. The cedar, crimson, and hyssop are symbols of the instrumental cause of spiritual cleansing, faith, by which the Spirit applies the blood and the water for our justification and entire sanctification. Both are necessary. Hebrews 12:14. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Pronounce him clean —</span></b> Next in value to the purification is the divine authentication to the consciousness of the sanctified soul cleansed from the root of all depravity, the leprosy of inbred sin. 1 Corinthians 2:12. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Let the living bird loose —</span></b> With blood-stained wings he mounts the skies warbling in gladness at his release from the cedar wood to which he was painfully bound, and from the blood and water into which he had been plunged. It was not released until after the death of its companion; “for the two birds typify one Christ in two stages of his atoning work — death and resurrection.” Since, under the reign of natural law the dead bird could not be restored to life, the living bird, reddened with the blood, the life of its sacrificed fellow, personates him, winging its upward way a living witness of the leper’s cleansing through blood. But our Sacrifice, having power to lay down his life and to take it again, needs no one to personate his continued life, for “He ever liveth to make intercession for us.” <p></p><p style="text-align: center;">“Thy offering still continues new; <br />Thy vesture keeps its crimson hue; <br />Thou art the ever-slaughtered Lamb, <br />Thy priesthood still remains the same.”</p><p> The Targum of Palestine adds, “And it will be that if that man is again to be stricken with leprosy, the living bird will come back to his house on that day, and may be held fit to be eaten.” The same is said of the bird let loose for the cleansing of a house. See verse 53.<br /><br /><b>8. <span style="color: #990000;">Wash his clothes —</span></b> Before his cleansing all the efforts of the leper to purify himself by improving his externals were vain, because these would only be put out of harmony with his inward self. But since his purification such efforts are demanded in order that the “outside of the cup and platter” may correspond with the purity within. Good works as means of regeneration are futile, but as fruits of that divine change they are well pleasing unto God. Galatians 2:16; 3:2; Titus 2:14; 3:8, 14. Washed clothes represent changed habits. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Shave off all his hair —</span></b> As much as possible of his former self he was to leave behind, in order that he might enter into communion with holy people among whom Jehovah abode. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Tarry abroad out of his tent —</span></b> This is an euphemism for abstinence from marital rights, viewed as an uncleanness by the ceremonial law. Exodus 19:15; chap. 15:18. His cleansing has been initiated but not completed, and hence he is not yet invested with all his personal rights, especially those which prefigure the most intimate communion with God and his people.<br /><b><br />9. <span style="color: #990000;">He shall wash… and be clean —</span></b> Although he has been pronounced clean there remains the completion of the process begun seven days before. God’s works are as perfect as the human conditions and limitations will allow. The soul is as perfectly cleansed when born again as the faith of that soul will admit. Subsequent discovery of inward impurity, and stronger apprehension of the power of the blood of Christ, constitute the perfect conditions of the completed work of sanctification. Yet nothing is more common than the superficial remark that perfect cleansing takes place in regeneration. All the good works of the cleansed leper, after God in the person of the priest took him in hand, are steps of progress toward the final and complete purification. </p><p></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-28735909196931370612024-02-24T15:00:00.001-05:002024-02-24T15:03:39.459-05:00Baptism and Forgiveness<i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEdbn8IVTAaE2qVtJNSnfEjwVavHfEaTRXGRzylXz86yBHU6aVpkydYh70fj5GRm9PB5bUnLCT3CHu0aJws848kAxTmV14NIJ5EMcoSsvYu7FSYXV6qHBg7B_TK7jbxz8Tn_nu8scLL92HBjIl3mn-AGxAmyCqw5tv7udRSI4u85aI0WrSEWMCpOgCTw/s851/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="851" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEdbn8IVTAaE2qVtJNSnfEjwVavHfEaTRXGRzylXz86yBHU6aVpkydYh70fj5GRm9PB5bUnLCT3CHu0aJws848kAxTmV14NIJ5EMcoSsvYu7FSYXV6qHBg7B_TK7jbxz8Tn_nu8scLL92HBjIl3mn-AGxAmyCqw5tv7udRSI4u85aI0WrSEWMCpOgCTw/s320/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" width="320" /></a></div>QUESTION: Was Saul of Tarsus already forgiven when Ananais said, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins."?</b></i><br />
<br />
ANSWER: Adult baptism is a symbol of a divine work already wrought. I would not knowingly baptize an unforgiven sinner, though our missionaries publicly baptize sincere inquirers intellectually convinced, so as to make his break with his former paganism complete. Saul was converted, in the proper sense of that word, when his will became submissive to Christ when he appeared to him, for he says, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." But, he did not receive the witness of the Spirit till Ananias laid his hands on him and he was filled with the Holy Ghost.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— From <i>Steele's Answers</i> pp. 16, 17.</span></div>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-64703686922453667562024-02-24T14:54:00.004-05:002024-02-29T14:47:43.199-05:00Leviticus 13:47-59 & Concluding Notes (Part 4)<p><i>"47 The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment; 48 Whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin; 49 And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest: 50 And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days: 51 And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean. 52 He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. 53 And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; 54 Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more: 55 And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without. 56 And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof: 57 And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire. 58 And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean. 59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean."</i> — Leviticus 13:47-59 KJV.</p><p>LEPROSY IN A GARMENT, 47-59.<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijntx4SePJKmQKqNlNwPHCbKvJWXN2-Pxh_JOE2ri3WZ8vJwseYtc_MFmFkFSg96QEjJzKSSsOl7u_MWi8b8K7qso0Ox0w0Ici56lMgRpUVMlvrPCHSbz7yXGitZh9DxELXD5fz0YkG19PPzj_SMbM9-4ZkKDDvsOBRr5Ki8rYIl4iblcz8BUTmA03v8k/s750/21486272-2109638732.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="750" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijntx4SePJKmQKqNlNwPHCbKvJWXN2-Pxh_JOE2ri3WZ8vJwseYtc_MFmFkFSg96QEjJzKSSsOl7u_MWi8b8K7qso0Ox0w0Ici56lMgRpUVMlvrPCHSbz7yXGitZh9DxELXD5fz0YkG19PPzj_SMbM9-4ZkKDDvsOBRr5Ki8rYIl4iblcz8BUTmA03v8k/s320/21486272-2109638732.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Moses proceeds to describe a leprous garment in the very words used to describe the leprosy in a man — <i>plague</i> or <i>stroke</i> of leprosy. This has moved the mirth of some and the wonder of others. For it is evident that the garments of the leper are not intended. 1.) The method of purifying these is described in Leviticus 14:8. 2.) The infection is described as visibly spreading in the garment. This is totally unlike “the garment spotted with the flesh.” 3.) It is subject to priestly inspection and condemnation before it is to be destroyed. 4.) No connexion of the leprous garment with a leprous wearer is hinted at. There must therefore be possible in garments something analogous to the loathsome leprosy in mankind. Here modern science comes to our aid in vindication of the accuracy of the Mosaic account. It is well known that there are some skin-diseases which originate in a genus of small spiders called <i>acarus</i>, embracing the mites and ticks, and other cutaneous disorders proceeding from a fungus. The analogy between the insect which frets the human skin and that which frets the garment is close enough for the proposes of the ceremonial law.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><b>47. <span style="color: #990000;">Woollen… or linen —</span></b> Garments composed of the wool of sheep or of flax were, according to Jewish canons, exposed to this ceremonial impurity. Silk, hemp, camel’s hair, and other substances are not liable to the plague. But mixed fabrics in which wool or flax predominates are capable of contracting this impurity.<br /><br /><b></b><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQhcYnrtVfv63jg87912WkW5pzJVccwb2idRbN4YEyite0Ay_Oo6QspvYQt0uN2hPdJSN3ysKso_D7a1ePwtVy85jAQoCjNAVFtWpe6hX7zIPY9kp49zuweq5NqqdMXTaE-Qo4LI_Q9ROc2Nitqdq9OQs3ctEQhWbzt9Y6jJW7HooBgyJF7Zfoex4Hsw/s450/177515.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="450" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQhcYnrtVfv63jg87912WkW5pzJVccwb2idRbN4YEyite0Ay_Oo6QspvYQt0uN2hPdJSN3ysKso_D7a1ePwtVy85jAQoCjNAVFtWpe6hX7zIPY9kp49zuweq5NqqdMXTaE-Qo4LI_Q9ROc2Nitqdq9OQs3ctEQhWbzt9Y6jJW7HooBgyJF7Zfoex4Hsw/s320/177515.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b>48. <span style="color: #990000;">Anything made of skin —</span></b> Dyed skins and garments are not rendered unclean by leprosy. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Warp or woof —</span></b> The vermin or animalculae may eat the threads of either, leaving the other untouched. Michaelis in his researches upon this subject found an intelligent woollen manufacturer in Germany who testified that when <i>dead wool</i>, or the wool of sheep which have died of disease, is used for either the warp or the woof, vermin are apt to establish themselves in it, particularly when it is worn close to the body and warmed thereby. The cloth woven of such wool not only becomes very soon bare, but first full of little depressions and then holes. The Jews, from want of linen and from poverty, always wore woollen next the skin; hence their flesh was specially exposed to pollution from these infinitesimal insects of the moth genus. It has been suggested that the leprosy in linen is mildew, which spreads in partially coloured spots, till it gradually eats up the garment. In leather a delicate fungus or cryptogam eats holes under certain circumstances.<br /><br /><b>49. <span style="color: #990000;">Greenish or reddish —</span></b> Moths by eating away the nap produce a slight discoloration, but mildew and rust cause spots of these colours.<br /><br /><b>51. <span style="color: #990000;">A fretting leprosy —</span></b> Properly an inveterate or exasperated leprosy or corrosion.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">55. It is unclean —</span></b> Here we observe that the spreading of the spot is not a required indication of uncleanness, but simply the continuance of the stain after washing and drying. Indelible rust or mildew would therefore render a garment unclean. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Fret inward —</span></b> Literally, <i>it is a hollow in its back-baldness or in its front-baldness</i> — a depression of the front or back side of the cloth, caused by eating off the nap. This scrupulous care of garments was a part of that process by which the idea of spiritual purity was to be developed through physical purity. First, the natural, afterward the spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15:46.<br /><br />CONCLUDING NOTES.<br /><br />(1.) There is much disagreement among biblical scholars respecting the nature of the leprosy and the grounds of its treatment in the law of Moses. Some strongly insist that the term leprosy is a misnomer introduced by the Greek translators, and that the real disease is the elephantiasis, because the skin resembles the elephant’s in colour, roughness, and insensibility, or because the foot, after the loss of the toes and enlargement of the ankle, resembles the foot of that animal. But it is essentially different from the leprosy, as will be seen by a study of recent medical reports from fifty places on the shores of the Mediterranean, in India, China, Africa, and the West Indies, in answer to a series of questions relating to this subject. The answers returned give a good description of the ulcers which afflicted Job, but they are not by any means so accurate a description of the Mosaic leprosy as we could desire. Hence we have not adopted the theory which identifies the elephantiasis with the leprosy described in this chapter.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicRT3XipCbvGKaqD-sl6_xsa8cZ3fEGNmjtC_c_EbCz6dxy9fLjas6SG-jApJl-pVuyKSpalTkRJn1CS855GtyOUpu7Fp9s-RRdsxVMT0ffhEk3yTr9hOXE2OMhcOuYT1pi3MMS9Sgn6hcSLXTWmqYBbxj9crSvNuz27wWn_0cuN6q87WXqIEVZZIhFfE/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicRT3XipCbvGKaqD-sl6_xsa8cZ3fEGNmjtC_c_EbCz6dxy9fLjas6SG-jApJl-pVuyKSpalTkRJn1CS855GtyOUpu7Fp9s-RRdsxVMT0ffhEk3yTr9hOXE2OMhcOuYT1pi3MMS9Sgn6hcSLXTWmqYBbxj9crSvNuz27wWn_0cuN6q87WXqIEVZZIhFfE/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>(2.) Was the Levitical leprosy contagious, and was this the ground of the cautious treatment enjoined by Moses? Modern biblical scholars are inclined to answer in the negative, though not unanimously. “There are in England, now, hospitals built for lepers, so ancient that their origin is unknown, such as the St. Bartholomew Hospital at Gloucester, and others. It is known that there were at least nine thousand hospitals in Europe for leprosy alone. Louis VII. of France left legacies to over two thousand hospitals for lepers in his country. Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, held a synod at Westminster, in the year 1200, to carry out the decree of the Council of Lateran, (1172,) to build a number of churches solely for leprous people, for they had long been expelled from all parish churches. They were to have priests, officers, and graveyards exclusively for themselves. They were released at the same time from all claims for tithes for their land or cattle. So careful and determined were our ancestors to remove from sight and smell every leper, that a law was early in existence to enforce their removal out of towns and villages ‘to a solitary place.’ At the city of Bath, a bath, with physicians and attendants, was endowed — exclusively for lepers — and the endowments are still paid.” — <i>Joseph Parker.</i><br /><br />The following facts would justify the conclusion of biblical scholars: 1.) No precautions are prescribed to the priests who are brought into constant and close contact with this disease. 2.) The priests did not become leprous more than the laity. 3.) The wholly leprous person was pronounced clean. 4.) The leprous garment is not treated as contagious, since washing would develop the infection. 5.) According to Jewish law a minor, a heathen, a proselyte, a leprous garment, and a leprous house of a non-Israelite, do not render unclean, nor does a bridegroom seized with leprosy defile any one during the first seven days of his marriage. 6.) Naaman, a leper, commanded the armies of Syria; Gehazi conversed with the king of Israel; and the leper in later times was not shut out from the synagogue nor from the Christian churches. We conclude, therefore, that the treatment of the leprosy prescribed by Moses was not sanitary, but ceremonial, like the separation and uncleanness of menstruous women, and other defilements under the Mosaic law as touching the dead, and having an issue, (Numbers 5:2,) the treatment of which had a far deeper reason than sanitary caution.<br /><br />(3.) This view suggests the important question, Of what is the leprosy the type? It is not surprising that the Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament, affords no direct answer, for there are some types, like some parables, whose spiritual import is so obvious that they need no further explanation. All minds instantly appreciate the intended moral lesson. It is enough for us to know that the principle is laid down in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the whole of the Jewish dispensation was typical — a shadow of good things to come in the Gospel. Hence we are not to expect that every type in the Levitical ritual will be explained in detail, and that its antitype be indicated in express terms by the spirit of inspiration. The leprosy, the only disease which rendered a person unclean, is an impressive type of the great moral malady, sin. This plague corrupts and destroys the soul, excludes from the society of the holy, and banishes the incurable to the eternal pest-house of hell. For this the only cleansing is the blood of Jesus Christ, as typically set forth in the cleansing of the leper in the next chapter. Says Hengstenberg, “Every leper was a living sermon, a loud admonition to keep unspotted from the world. The exclusion of lepers from the camp, from the holy city, conveyed figuratively the same lesson as is done in the New Testament passages. See notes on Matthew 6:24; Colossians 3:5; Revelation 21:27; Ephesians 5:5. It is only when we take this view of the leprosy that we account for the fact that just this disease so frequently occurs as the theocratic punishment of sin. The image of sin is best suited for reflecting it; he who is a sinner before God is represented as a sinner in the eyes of man also by the circumstance that he must exhibit before men the image of sin. God took care that the image and the thing itself were perfectly coincident, although, no doubt, there were exceptions.”<br /><br />Leprosy is a living death, poisoning all the springs and corrupting all the humours of life, dissolving little by little the whole body, so that limb actually falls away from limb through decay. Hence the leper is the type of one dead in sin; the emblems of his misery are the same as those of mourning for the dead; and the means of cleansing him are the same as those prescribed for one who has touched a corpse, and which were never used except on these two occasions. The penitent cry of David, after his deadly sins, “Purge me with hyssop,” (Psalm 51:7,) indicates a sense of utter spiritual defilement, faintly symbolized by the loathsome leprosy which was ceremonially cleansed with hyssop.<br /><br />As the new-born children of leprous parents are often as pretty and as healthy in appearance as any others before the workings of the disease become visible in some of the signs described in this chapter, so the leprosy is a striking type of original or inborn depravity. If the sin principle in the sweetest babe is left unchecked by power divine he may unfold into a Nero, a Cesar Borgia, or a Robespierre.<p></p><p> </p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-21903139853653094962024-02-23T09:30:00.001-05:002024-02-23T10:01:28.604-05:00When Did Paul Experience the Witness of the Spirit?<i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzZ9M9Foaxf6g1aFRxq_LmcLP1Ouzzo0NGAYFqSUa9IXpZk2sdsDLxQl_MvdIbkXurz9izRyqEWlJQ1i2JGsZAveRinoOxA_UbQ6UDXjsvwHdmhtLz-SIn-k9GdkS3rovo7yAaihlNLxKBYD242DRn_rFPq5c59BC8UWQ8sQpiK7boebPGhehkC4qItk/s851/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="851" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzZ9M9Foaxf6g1aFRxq_LmcLP1Ouzzo0NGAYFqSUa9IXpZk2sdsDLxQl_MvdIbkXurz9izRyqEWlJQ1i2JGsZAveRinoOxA_UbQ6UDXjsvwHdmhtLz-SIn-k9GdkS3rovo7yAaihlNLxKBYD242DRn_rFPq5c59BC8UWQ8sQpiK7boebPGhehkC4qItk/s320/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" width="320" /></a></div>QUESTION: When did Paul receive the witness of the Spirit of adoption?</b></i><br /><br />ANSWER: The first mention of the Holy Spirit in relation to him is in Acts 9:17, where Ananias declares the purpose of his mission to Saul, "that thou might be filled, with the Holy Spirit." The first offices of the Spirit to a penitent sinner trusting in Christ is to impart spiritual life and to witness his adoption into the family of God and to begin his sanctification by infusing the love of Christ. These are the blessings Saul received in Damascus. Some think he then and there received a full-fledged Christian character including entire sanctification ensphered in perfect love. But it is far more probable that this was a subsequent experience. Doubtless he advanced gradually from childhood to youth and, then to manhood in Christ. Entire sanctification requires a stronger faith than a penitent sinner can exercise, and, moreover, it is a gift for which he feels no special need, while overwhelmed with guilty fear in view of his past sins. In Gal. 1:15, 16, he speaks of two experiences, (1) called through his (God's) grace, and (2) the inward revelation of the Son, not to be confounded with the outward revelation of Christ in the sky, which blinded his eyes. This inward revelation could be made only to the inner eye purged from the film of sin as in the sixth beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." In John 14:21 to those who already love Christ, and to them only, does he promise to manifest himself. Only these can receive this wonderful manifestation. Probably Saul, while studying his three years' course in theology in Arabia, under the tuition of the Paraclete, became capable of receiving this inward revelation.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— <i>Steele's Answers </i>pp. 177, 178.</span></div>
Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-58740100470486715472024-02-21T17:00:00.000-05:002024-02-21T17:06:40.096-05:00A Translation Question<i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dxEiAORiXz-YfiZjNwk7IgIIpCpiUU0cbLwTeaM72rBgME90Siz9YYZL0FgI00ZhyphenhyphenXOQ7KbWyW1GehY6UxFwknmEXzmMFc8N2GdwLMLIZKy2uaaUOvmBQ4qRj-dk-ey-F1Y97cbz0LSJ48l8wReXNJ6KrpfBDFQr5oujvGrdnP3LeapZFYK28jfvuPs/s851/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="851" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dxEiAORiXz-YfiZjNwk7IgIIpCpiUU0cbLwTeaM72rBgME90Siz9YYZL0FgI00ZhyphenhyphenXOQ7KbWyW1GehY6UxFwknmEXzmMFc8N2GdwLMLIZKy2uaaUOvmBQ4qRj-dk-ey-F1Y97cbz0LSJ48l8wReXNJ6KrpfBDFQr5oujvGrdnP3LeapZFYK28jfvuPs/s320/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" width="320" /></a></div>"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."</i> — Hebrews 13:20, 21 King James Version.<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<b>QUESTION: Is it perfectly permissible in Heb. 13:20, 21, to so translate the Greek and punctuate it that the meaning will be that the clause "by the blood of the everlasting covenant" modifies "make you perfect," instead of "brought again from the dead"?</b><br />
<br />
ANSWER: The erroneous order of clauses in the Authorized [King James] Version has suggested this question. The order in the Revision is that of the Greek, "Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of the everlasting covenant, even our Lord Jesus Christ, make you perfect," etc. Hence the suggested change would shock any Greek scholar.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— From <i>Steele's Answers</i> p. 16.</span></div>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-34405784740584606532024-02-21T16:51:00.007-05:002024-02-29T14:48:03.484-05:00 Leviticus 13:38-46 Leprosy (Part 3)<p><i>'<span style="font-size: x-small;">38</span> If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots; <span style="font-size: x-small;">39</span> Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">40</span> And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">41</span> And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">42</span> And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead. <span style="font-size: x-small;">43</span> Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh; <span style="font-size: x-small;">44</span> He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. <span style="font-size: x-small;">45</span> And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">46</span> All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be."</i> — Leviticus 13:38-46 KJV.</p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjL1B11DNfd5p_rOOC0TmXeRo6q31LCkCo3Q9wGHz_AVyAEo4O0EDZR1X-O8mziJlkAF6XQviN99mq8Zmte8EsdIPaT0CY6vM9I8qirYAjBFFc28EK7RYtwlR7kSEJzr3m3ViIa6xBVrJ446WBnnVsO0bhIYeDLy-cPZjmweJGGSYrObVqmZfVgDDSvE/s1280/maxresdefault.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfjL1B11DNfd5p_rOOC0TmXeRo6q31LCkCo3Q9wGHz_AVyAEo4O0EDZR1X-O8mziJlkAF6XQviN99mq8Zmte8EsdIPaT0CY6vM9I8qirYAjBFFc28EK7RYtwlR7kSEJzr3m3ViIa6xBVrJ446WBnnVsO0bhIYeDLy-cPZjmweJGGSYrObVqmZfVgDDSvE/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b>39. <span style="color: #990000;">A freckled spot —</span></b> Hebrew, בֹּ֥הַק. In the R.V., “tetter.” This constitutes a new case, since these peculiar spots do not appear on the parts where the hair grows thick, but only on the neck and face. It is remarkable that the modern Arabs have a kind of leprosy in which some little spots show themselves here and there, called <i>bohak</i>, a word containing the same consonants as the Hebrew term which we are now considering. These spots gradually spread, continuing sometimes only about two months, and then gradually disappearing. They are not contagious nor hereditary, nor specially painful. The treatment of the <i>bohak</i> in verses 38 and 39 seems to be unnaturally sandwiched between the leprosy of the hairy head and that of the bald head. The sacred writers do not always observe that order of statement required by our canons of rhetoric.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br /><b>40. <span style="color: #990000;">Bald… yet… clean —</span></b> Literally, <i>hind bald</i>. Natural baldness was so uncommon among the Israelites that it subjected men to an unpleasant suspicion and public derision. It is perpetually alluded to as a mark of squalor and misery. 2 Kings 2:23; Isaiah 3:24. Herodotus says that “one would see the fewest bald Egyptians of all men.” He attributes this immunity to their construct shaving. It is here carefully distinguished from the נֶ֣תֶק, or <i>scall</i>, of verses 29-39. 41. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Forehead bald —</span></b> This is in distinction from the <i>hind bald</i>. Verse 40, note.<br /><br /><b>42. <span style="color: #990000;">A white, reddish sore —</span></b> This alone was a sure token of the dreadful disease. Hence no seven days’ quarantine was enjoined; he is utterly unclean. Nevertheless the ancient rabbins inferred from the clause, “It is like leprosy in the skin of the flesh,” that all the criteria specified in the former case are to be applied to this, and that the quarantine of two weeks is to be enforced on the patient.<br /><br />RULES TO BE OBSERVED BY PRONOUNCED LEPERS, 45, 46.<br /><br />Moses having minutely discussed the various phases of the leprosy, and the methods of diagnosis, now prescribes a course of conduct for the lepers while in exile from society. Simple separation from the healthy was not a sufficient security against the loathed contamination. Additional prophylactics are required for the protection of persons without the camp or walls of the city.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">44. Utterly unclean —</span></b> “The Bible is everywhere careful not to allow the idea of partial goodness or partial uncleanness. There is a great moral suggestion in all this. Once let a man consider that he is not so bad as some other man, and instantly false standards of purity are set up. The Pharisee adopted this method of self-measurement, and separated himself from the publican by certain degrees of supposed righteousness.” <i>— Joseph Parker</i>. <p></p><p><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2gYVL_rJEfUIdg2UrULCBMESmOgkSlbSUS5hOiUbUHke131ARURqymogMNR2JwGLA4vaxu1kQSLkADOgOlEQTkm9DVj2f9Lxe8S1ljQYrapp3pK6miebW_AX_ILiZEzHaG4PQxjXLhCZv1HCMhdR-bLL-XNFUx0yxazmrlse4YFmU88trK_5-507SLA/s612/807582144-612x612.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="521" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2gYVL_rJEfUIdg2UrULCBMESmOgkSlbSUS5hOiUbUHke131ARURqymogMNR2JwGLA4vaxu1kQSLkADOgOlEQTkm9DVj2f9Lxe8S1ljQYrapp3pK6miebW_AX_ILiZEzHaG4PQxjXLhCZv1HCMhdR-bLL-XNFUx0yxazmrlse4YFmU88trK_5-507SLA/s320/807582144-612x612.jpg" width="272" /></a></b></div><b>45.<span style="color: #990000;"> His clothes shall be rent —</span></b> This is the first visible sign which the leper was required to hang out as a warning to all not to approach too near to him. The outer garment was usually rent from the neck to the girdle. While it was a warning to others, it was to the leper the symbol of deep self-abhorrence. <b><span style="color: #990000;">His head bare —</span></b> The uncovered head and unkempt hair were an ancient and expressive token of sorrow. See chap. 10:6, note. Rabbinical law exempts women from this and the preceding requirement. <b><span style="color: #990000;">A covering upon his upper lip —</span></b> “He shall cover the beard.” By this act he expressed his unwillingness to speak, on account of shame and vexation. As the beard was a symbol of dignity, to cover it with the hands indicated self-abasement. Yet he was required to herald his own defilement. Unclean! Unclean! The paraphrase of the Palestine Targum is very expressive, “Keep off, keep off from the unclean!” This humiliating and doleful cry, uttered as a warning to any one seen approaching, was requisite to an unmistakable announcement of his leprosy, since the three visible signs were also ordinary badges of mourning. The ground of this requirement is the fact that the touch of the leper ceremonially defiled every thing. According to the Jewish canons his very entrance into a house renders every thing in it unclean. If he stand under a tree and a clean man passes by he renders him unclean. In the synagogue there must be a separate compartment for him, ten handbreadths high and four cubits square. He must be the first to enter and the last to leave the synagogue. If the pronounced leper overstepped the prescribed boundaries he received forty stripes. We no longer wonder that the Jews abhorred this disease as worse than death, the scourge of Jehovah, (2 Kings 5:7; 2 Chronicles 26:20,) and the most awful imprecation upon their foes. 2 Samuel 3:29; 2 Kings 5:27.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">46. Dwell alone —</span></b> “The camp was afraid of contagion. Save the untouched by expelling the defiled.” The picture of a leper is a forlorn man with bare head, sitting in his booth without the camp, with his pitcher of water and loaf of bread by his side — supplies kindly left daily where he can find them, by his kindred within the camp or city. Where there is a number they were not forbidden to associate, as is seen 2 Kings 7:3; Luke 17:12. Such separated unclean persons may be still seen in the east. Dr. Thomson saw one on a rocky hill living in a booth of green branches. There she passed wearisome days and lonely nights till death released her. “We remonstrated against such barbarity, and the men consented to have her brought into a hired room, where we could provide suitable food and prescribe for her disease. But the women rose in furious clamour and rebellion against the proposal, and it had to be abandoned. I was amazed at the barbarity of the women. They passed her by until she died; then, however, they assembled in troops, and screamed, and tossed their arms, and tore their hair, with boisterous lamentations.”<br /><br /><p></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-39551180904580431792024-02-18T14:30:00.000-05:002024-02-18T14:32:15.596-05:00Should Conscience Be Our Guide?<b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSeXFpsLBijopBDcFF7e7e8rYDcWnYsBg4vAzIF4iksJiJqLLLa3YV7QPLO5Feom_E_wqk-SN_2nw0huokfIgigG_ab8WrjkPMC2SYOBtAkT9Nf2hhgKsASAXSlSGTAA8DmupstrCa5ufnmlivJfJ49BvkigmQO5ejIpgHEP7InnDv6QDoJlDxMvUD9I/s851/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="851" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSeXFpsLBijopBDcFF7e7e8rYDcWnYsBg4vAzIF4iksJiJqLLLa3YV7QPLO5Feom_E_wqk-SN_2nw0huokfIgigG_ab8WrjkPMC2SYOBtAkT9Nf2hhgKsASAXSlSGTAA8DmupstrCa5ufnmlivJfJ49BvkigmQO5ejIpgHEP7InnDv6QDoJlDxMvUD9I/s320/bible_question_mark-1821804403(1).png" width="320" /></a></div>QUESTION: Define conscience and answer the question, Is it always to be our guide?</b><br />
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ANSWER: It is the faculty which discovers the moral quality of actions, and approves the right and condemns the wrong. On abstract questions its voice is always the same in all countries and in all generations, such as, Is it wrong to hate a benefactor, or punish innocence? These are questions relating to immutable morality. But most of the questions we meet with are not abstract and simple, but concrete and mixed, requiring the exercise of our fallible intellects, so that one may say that an act is right and another say it is wrong. That is the field of mutable morality. Hence the need of a well-trained illuminated by a good knowledge of God's Word, especially of the New Testament. Such a conscience is our guide, not infallible in the field of practical life, except in the case of the Pope, if we believe that he is the divinely appointed organ of the Holy Spirit who cannot err. The best guide is a tender conscience very sensitive to moral distinctions, like a pair of scales so delicately poised as to weigh a hair. The worst is a seared conscience (1 Tim 4:2), which by being habitually disregarded has now lost its sensitiveness, as flesh cauterized till it has ceased to feel. Such a guide leads to the pit of woe. The only remedy is a supernatural change wrought by the Holy Spirit regenerating and sanctifying. A good conscience is a tender, moral sense, which approves our conduct, and a bad conscience is one that condemns.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— From <i>Steele's Answers</i> pp. 15,16.</span> </div>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-45260552337818615252024-02-18T14:23:00.002-05:002024-02-29T14:48:28.712-05:00Leviticus 13:18-37 Leprosy (Part 2)<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">18</span> The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed, <span style="font-size: x-small;">19</span> And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish, and it be shewed to the priest; <span style="font-size: x-small;">20</span> And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil. <span style="font-size: x-small;">21</span> But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hairs therein, and if it be not lower than the skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: <span style="font-size: x-small;">22</span> And if it spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague. <span style="font-size: x-small;">23</span> But if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not, it is a burning boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">24</span> Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white; <span style="font-size: x-small;">25</span> Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the hair in the bright spot be turned white, and it be in sight deeper than the skin; it is a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. <span style="font-size: x-small;">26</span> But if the priest look on it, and, behold, there be no white hair in the bright spot, and it be no lower than the other skin, but be somewhat dark; then the priest shall shut him up seven days: <span style="font-size: x-small;">27</span> And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day: and if it be spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is the plague of leprosy. <span style="font-size: x-small;">28</span> And if the bright spot stay in his place, and spread not in the skin, but it be somewhat dark; it is a rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it is an inflammation of the burning. <span style="font-size: x-small;">29</span> If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard; <span style="font-size: x-small;">30</span> Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard. <span style="font-size: x-small;">31</span> And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days: <span style="font-size: x-small;">32</span> And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin; <span style="font-size: x-small;">33</span> He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more: <span style="font-size: x-small;">34</span> And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">35</span> But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing; <span style="font-size: x-small;">36</span> Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">37</span> But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean."</i> — Leviticus 13:18-37 KJV.</p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOYdx1WZW2ytk9IzivGms0TccLCfM8sT-AzZWq22Bubsgs_6BEU-olM3i_QNDWHdvezAwzPEr9_iHvL9jhb7SZ6HdsEbWEWgniRZr1pyf2R_GYTrVxHxUUOqhbClsrVl6-G-U0m8QM6Py3QqkSCl-O5POkdIjmVtwPZM5iUSJ-bA4Zzwszjs39iZldEo/s1600/800px-Priest-leprosy-4114133005(1).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="1600" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaOYdx1WZW2ytk9IzivGms0TccLCfM8sT-AzZWq22Bubsgs_6BEU-olM3i_QNDWHdvezAwzPEr9_iHvL9jhb7SZ6HdsEbWEWgniRZr1pyf2R_GYTrVxHxUUOqhbClsrVl6-G-U0m8QM6Py3QqkSCl-O5POkdIjmVtwPZM5iUSJ-bA4Zzwszjs39iZldEo/s320/800px-Priest-leprosy-4114133005(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b>18. <span style="color: #990000;">A boil —</span></b> In the Hebrew of Deuteronomy 28:27, 35, the same word is found, and is translated in verse 35, “a <i>sore blotch</i> which cannot be healed.” Both Gesenius and Furst think that the ulcers of elephantiasis, or “the joint evil,” is here intended, which leave tender scars susceptible of the leprous eruption.<br /><br /><b>19. <span style="color: #990000;">Somewhat reddish —</span></b> The redness is that of the inflamed circumference of the blotch. The two symptoms of white hairs and manifest depth below the skin indicate leprosy.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br /><b>22. <span style="color: #990000;">A plague —</span></b> The plague of the leprosy.<br /><br /><b>23. <span style="color: #990000;">Bright spot… spread not —</span></b> Diffusiveness is the decisive symptom of this disease. For this reason, probably more than any other, Christian writers have employed leprosy as a type of sin, though without any expressed authority in the Holy Scriptures.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: #990000;">24. A hot burning —</span></b> The Hebrew is, “a burning of fire.” It is supposed to describe persons scarred by burns whose scars have become eruptive. Rules very similar to the above are laid down for determining these cases, except that only one week was to be spent in quarantine, since the scar furnishes an apparent cause for the symptoms.<br /><br /><b>29, 30. <span style="color: #990000;">Beard —</span></b> Since the woman has no beard, and since the beard could not have the leprosy, it is evident that the beard is by metonymy put for the chin. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Yellow thin hair —</span></b> This is a new symptom. White hairs on the head or chin of an elderly person are natural, and hence they could not betoken leprosy. But yellow short hair on these parts is the peculiar mark of this scourge. Dr. Davidson, after carefully inspecting nearly a hundred lepers in Madagascar, says: “The hairs upon the part become yellow and stunted, and, after a time, fall off, leaving the hair bulbs empty and enlarged, especially on the face, so as to present one of the most diagnostic signs of the malady.” <b><span style="color: #990000;">Dry scall —</span></b> The word “dry” is not in the original. “Scall” occurs thirteen times in this chapter and once in the next, and nowhere else in the Bible. It signifies a scurf, scab, or mange. The Hebrews call it נֶ֣תֶק, and describe it thus: “The plague of head or beard is, when the hair that is on them falleth off by the roots, and the place of the hair remaineth bare.” Since the scall is a different disease from leprosy it would have been better to have transferred the Hebrew נֶ֣תֶק <i>(nethek</i> )into our English version.<br /><br /><b>31. <span style="color: #990000;">No black hair —</span></b> It is evident that the word “black” must here refer to the “yellow,” the colour betokening the leprosy. The words are different in the Hebrew, but the Seventy, Luther, Keil, Knobel, and Canon Cook render them both yellow. Thus they make verse 31 harmonize with 30, 32, and 36. Since the original words for yellow and black differ in only one letter, there is, probably, a clerical error in the latter.<br /><b><br />33. <span style="color: #990000;">He shall be shaven —</span></b> This would afford a better opportunity to determine the question of the spread of the disease. The scall was exempted from being shaven, probably out of mercy to the patient, and as a safeguard against spreading it all over the head and of infecting others by the use of the same razor.<br /><br /><b>36. <span style="color: #990000;">Not seek for yellow hair —</span></b> The rapid spread is a sufficient token of the leprosy, without the other symptom.<p></p><p> </p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-90660715837500086402024-02-17T10:00:00.001-05:002024-02-29T14:48:46.823-05:00The Centrality of the Cross in Paul's Preaching<i><b>"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."</b></i> — 1 Cor. ii. 2<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjTixQhOgOMQ-HMxPqxNzTxxQOgub3j1iWi5CCwtiBo71EHAFJYImdAZsqBacqeNxYJijTIU7vVrExHTQzUo2sB_2sf8Ko-JBdSmq1mOwQ7Km53ejGM1jit5dRXSypCJ0b2sSYKCBcNd7CoxdWrcyo3aInxVPEmnvFC4r2zRhOP41F7-gXV3-iZSTqXM/s736/Blood-Sacrifice.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="736" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjTixQhOgOMQ-HMxPqxNzTxxQOgub3j1iWi5CCwtiBo71EHAFJYImdAZsqBacqeNxYJijTIU7vVrExHTQzUo2sB_2sf8Ko-JBdSmq1mOwQ7Km53ejGM1jit5dRXSypCJ0b2sSYKCBcNd7CoxdWrcyo3aInxVPEmnvFC4r2zRhOP41F7-gXV3-iZSTqXM/s320/Blood-Sacrifice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The character and career of St. Paul are an inspiration to every believer in Christ and a model to every one of his ministers. That character will never cease to be admired by all who are capable of emotions of moral sublimity. It will be a dark day for the Christian church when this heroic apostolic example will have no imitators. He declared that after a course of bloody persecution he obtained mercy that he might stand forth as a conspicuous specimen of the wonderful power and condescending mercy of God, and as a pattern of all long-suffering to them who should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. We are justified in saying that Saul found pardoning grace that his course of labors and sufferings might be presented to every successive generation of Christian heralds as a model of all ministerial fidelity and devotion to his divine Master. His heroism is seen not only in his persistent surmounting of obstacles and dauntless courage to face foes thirsting for his blood, but also in the offensive doctrine to which he always gave prominence. He exalts and magnifies the most unpalatable truth of the gospel. He lifts up the bloody cross, awakening the anger of the Jew and the disgust of the Greek. To the one it was a stumbling-block and to the other foolishness. The Jew's worldly ideal of the Messiah was rudely shocked by the hammer that nailed the Nazarene to the tree. Even to this day he will not bow the knee to Jesus Christ because he says, in the words of a Hebrew college classmate, "I cannot worship a dead God." The cultured Greek, whose exquisite taste has given law to art, has his modern successors who are disgusted with a theology that has the blood of atonement as a cardinal element. Every audience before whom Paul "reasoned" was composed of Jews and Greeks whose prejudices were harshly assaulted, whose tastes were grossly offended by the very mention of the shameful cross as the instrument of blessing to mankind.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For we must strive to recollect what the cross was. We have wrought it in gold and wreathed it with flowers, and worn it as an ornament, and placed it at the top of all human symbolisms, until we have transfigured it. It had none of these associations originally. It was the meanest of all the engines of torture. The guillotine has something respectable in it, as it was used in the decapitation of princes as well as of robbers. The gallows is not so mean as the cross; for, when there was slavery among us, and a master and his slave were convicted of a capital crime, they perished on the same scaffold. But the cross was reserved for the lowest and vilest malefactors. It added deepest ignominy to death — Tacitus called crucifixion the torture of slaves.</blockquote>
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Paul was constantly under a strong temptation to please men by concealing the cross and by exalting other facts in the history of Christ. For he is a very wide topic, affording a vast variety of themes. Paul could have preached many sermons without alluding to Christ's ignominious, judicial death. His inventive and fertile mind could easily have filled up his longest term of service in one place, three years, dwelling without repetition on other topics than the crucifixion and its relation to human salvation. He might have preached on the mediatorial office of the Son of God in the physical realm, by whom the world's were made, and by whom they are upheld, and in whom all things consist. How easy for Paul's judicial mind to discourse of the Son of God as the governor of the world, proving that his shoulder upholds the kingdom, and that he is head over all things unto his church. How large the theme of messianic prophecy! How many sermons on the text, "Unto him give all the prophets witness"! How charming and fertile the theme of the unique and wonderful character, a sinless soul mingling unstained with a world of sinners, wearing the robe of spotless purity amid earth's pollutions; each radiant virtue constituting the theme of a discourse, his humility, his meekness, his philanthropy, his forgiving spirit, his zeal and diligence in his Father's work, the wonderful symmetry of his character, so unlike any creation of man's imagination as to prove him divine. How rarely did Paul in his addresses dwell upon the miracles of Jesus, a large subject almost entirely neglected. He names only the miracle of miracles, the resurrection of Christ. The legal training of St. Paul might have found a large field for its exercise in amplifying each of the wonderful utterances of the sermon on the mount, emphasizing and illustrating every specific moral obligation. What proofs of Christ's Godhood might have been educed from his sole judgment of the whole human race, adjudging changeless and eternal destinies!<br />
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Paul knew how to become all things to all men that he might win some. Why then is he not politic and conciliatory in the selection of the theme of his preaching? There must be some good reason. This is found in the fact that the cross is the center of the Christian system. To have ignored it would have been to pluck the roots from the tree with the expectation that it would grow and withstand the tornado, or to dig out the corner-stone and look to see the temple withstand the earthquake.<br />
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Paul might thus have conciliated a few bitter Hebrew enemies of Christ, or he might have gained the favor of a few proud philosophers, but he would have torn out the heart of Christianity and would have preached another gospel. If he had shunned preaching salvation through the blood of Christ he would have robbed Christianity of its distinctive doctrine, on which rest both justification from the guilt of sin and sanctification from its pollution, and he would have made Jesus a favorite on the platform of the skeptics and agnostics of his day. To Jesus as a mere ethical teacher they would have no more objection than they have to Confucius, Buddha or Zoroaster; and his gospel would have become as impotent to save as are their religions. Jesus the expounder of the moral law on the mount of beatitudes provokes no great opposition in the proud sinner. But Jesus the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world arouses the hostility of the self-righteous, because it lays their pride in the dust to be saved through the sacrifice of another. How contemptuous and blasphemous the words of a former professed teacher of Christianity in Boston, that "orthodox people are depending for salvation on the blood of a crucified Jew, the son of a peasant mother and a peasant sire." Paul magnifies Christ's death, because as an atonement for sin it is the foundation of all the vital doctrines of the gospel. Here are displayed God's love, man's worth, and the nature and cure of sin.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">— <i>Jesus Exultant </i>Chapter 6.</span></div>
Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-15190488189707467692024-02-17T09:51:00.004-05:002024-02-29T14:49:22.307-05:00Leviticus 13:1-17 - Leprosy (Part 1)<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span> And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, <span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span> When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: <span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span> And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span> If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: <span style="font-size: x-small;">5</span> And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more: <span style="font-size: x-small;">6</span> And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">7</span> But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: <span style="font-size: x-small;">8</span> And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy. <span style="font-size: x-small;">9</span> When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; <span style="font-size: x-small;">10</span> And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; <span style="font-size: x-small;">11</span> It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">12</span> And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh; <span style="font-size: x-small;">13</span> Then the priest shall consider: and, behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: it is all turned white: he is clean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">14</span> But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">15</span> And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy. <span style="font-size: x-small;">16</span> Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed unto white, he shall come unto the priest; <span style="font-size: x-small;">17</span> And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the plague be turned into white; then the priest shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague: he is clean."</i> — Leviticus 13:1-17 KJV.</p><p>THE LEPER.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNJYMVKFUWZ95QEpjyhlw7ag1pR-af4IkggnbFUWBb4xEuaGE-qTdSCCH9iXYN7LICmYHweffzBeeZ8qN7biAWKR_WvlQ1snm2r8-jbqLZnVd3LY85D4H-kBica2OD0Xr8VmxD5Gw1uFtYsBsGRSWs93WdQ5jmsar1bS7Q5SaSAQ3jGKP3rDwuR1busU/s1280/maxresdefault.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNJYMVKFUWZ95QEpjyhlw7ag1pR-af4IkggnbFUWBb4xEuaGE-qTdSCCH9iXYN7LICmYHweffzBeeZ8qN7biAWKR_WvlQ1snm2r8-jbqLZnVd3LY85D4H-kBica2OD0Xr8VmxD5Gw1uFtYsBsGRSWs93WdQ5jmsar1bS7Q5SaSAQ3jGKP3rDwuR1busU/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b>2. <span style="color: #990000;">The plague of leprosy —</span></b> The word leprosy is of Greek origin, and literally signifies, <i>the scaly disease</i>. But the disease here treated of is evidently the so-called white leprosy, (<i>Lepra Mosaica</i>,) which is still found among the Arabs under the name of <i>Baras</i>. It is described by Trunsen as follows: “Very frequently, even for years before the actual outbreak of the disease itself, white, yellowish spots are seen lying deep in the skin, particularly on the genitals, face, forehead, or in the joints. They are without feeling, and sometimes cause the hair to assume the same colour as the spots. These spots afterwards pierce through the cellular tissue and reach the muscles and bones. The hair becomes white and woolly, and at length falls off; hard, gelatinous swellings are formed in the cellular tissue; the skin gets hard, rough, and seamy; lymph exudes from it, and forms large scabs, which fall off from time to time; and under these there are often offensive running sores. The nails then swell, curl up, and fall off; <i>entropium</i> (inversion of the eyelashes) is then formed, with bleeding gums; the nose is stopped up, and there is a considerable flow of saliva. The senses become dull, the patient gets weak and thin, wasting diarrhea sets in, and incessant thirst and burning terminate his sufferings.” There are three chief symptoms of this disease. (1.) <b>A rising</b> or swelling. (2.) <b>A scab</b>. (3.) <b>A bright spot</b> — This was of a white colour. These are described under six different circumstances, namely: <span><a name='more'></a></span><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Developed without any apparent cause, 2-8. </li><li>Reappearing after the supposed cure, 9-17. </li><li>Arising from the scar of a boil or a burn, 18-28. </li><li>Appearing on the head or chin. 29-37. </li><li>In the form called בֶּהָרֹ֑ת, not unclean, 38-39.</li><li> In a bald head, 40-44. <b><span style="color: #990000;"> </span></b></li></ol><p><b><span style="color: #990000;">Unto Aaron the priest —</span></b> The treatment was to be ceremonial, not medical. The command that the leper present himself not to the physician but to the priest, shows that the leprosy was in some way intimately associated with sin, for the priest’s office related to guilt. “There was no doctor then; he is a later creation. The Church is the true lazar-house; the Church is the great hospital. We have no instruction to the effect that one leper is to look on another; the distinct direction is that the priest — the holy, pure man — shall look at the leper — handle him, undertake him.”<i>- Joseph Parker.</i><br /><br /><b>3. <span style="color: #990000;">The priest shall look —</span></b> The eye is still the chief instrument in the diagnosis of diseases. The microscope has greatly enhanced the accuracy of its reports, especially in cutaneous diseases, each of which has its peculiar manifestations. In practice the inspection took place on clear days from nine o’clock to twelve, and from one to four, because colours were best discerned then. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Hair… turned white —</span></b> The leprosy is so radical in its nature that it whitens the hairs in the leprous spots. “There must be at least two in the body of the white spot.” — <i>Maimonides</i>. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Deeper than the skin — </span></b>Deeper than the general level of the skin. White spots frequently appear from some defect in the pigments which lie immediately beneath the transparent cuticle. The leprosy must be carefully distinguished from this cutaneous whiteness.<br /><br /><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcFGbdNuA5_jglxAJsehAZL9_QgeBZwADpYpvnNaSt2NYg1IzC_bnenZi5eiEpxgiG3SonP7HJpfRCmOHCszHsQPR6Htk3USm9ONYxdl9A9cQlIArvSj-WQTo3L9VEa5NnkbHMe8pxX9B5g4RRx_TLHh7OF8td2jBg8lgkEXdHUDHs3ZzzPXOx_Xjq_I/s612/807582144-612x612.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="521" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcFGbdNuA5_jglxAJsehAZL9_QgeBZwADpYpvnNaSt2NYg1IzC_bnenZi5eiEpxgiG3SonP7HJpfRCmOHCszHsQPR6Htk3USm9ONYxdl9A9cQlIArvSj-WQTo3L9VEa5NnkbHMe8pxX9B5g4RRx_TLHh7OF8td2jBg8lgkEXdHUDHs3ZzzPXOx_Xjq_I/s320/807582144-612x612.jpg" width="272" /></a></b></div><b>4. <span style="color: #990000;">Shut up seven days —</span></b> The community, and not the suspected leper, was to have the benefit of the doubt. Every safeguard against the ceremonial impurity was to be taken. Precisely the same measures were adopted in the island of Barbadoes when the leprosy broke out there. The patients were at first shut up seven days in order to determine between the leprosy and the crowcrow, an African itch. At Guadaloupe the citizens petitioned the authorities for a universal inspection of suspected persons, and their confinement in quarantine, and, in the case of the lepers, their removal to permanent pest-houses. It was found that the board of health had in this chapter a code of laws framed to their hand and ready for use with only the change of the word “priest” to physician.<br /><br /><b>5. <span style="color: #990000;">Seven days more —</span></b> It would seem that the suspected leper must necessarily be imprisoned two weeks. But if the symptoms had disappeared entirely at the end of the first week, the man was doubtless entitled to a discharge, otherwise there would be no use of any examination till the end of the second week. The priest who made the first examination must make the second also, as another could not tell whether the disease had spread.<br /><br /><b>6. <span style="color: #990000;">Pronounce him clean —</span></b> Ceremonially pure, though he may have other loathsome diseases, and be morally vile. The action of the priest, literally translated, is, <i>to make him clean</i>, as in the third verse he is <i>to make the leper unclean</i>. In both cases the action is declarative and not causative or judicial. This suggests the proper meaning of the apostolic binding and loosing in Matthew 16:19, and the remitting and retaining of sins in John 20:23. <b><span style="color: #990000;">He shall wash his clothes —</span></b> “As the very cause that had led to his being suspected showed that there was some impurity in his blood, a slight purification was prescribed, the moral effect of which would naturally be to teach that the very appearance of evil is an adequate ground of humiliation to any one that fears God.” — <i>Bush</i>.<br /><br /><b>7. <span style="color: #990000;">If the scab spread —</span></b> The white spot has now taken the form of a rapidly spreading scab. When the patient observes this he is under obligation to go to the priest to be examined again. According to Maimonides his neglect subjected him to the penalty of leprosy cleaving to him for life, as the leprosy of sin will cleave to the sinner who neglects to come to the great High Priest, Jesus Christ.<br /><br /><b>10-12. <span style="color: #990000;">The rising —</span></b> This was a decisive indication when it was white and accompanied by white hair and raw flesh in the swelling. There was in that case no doubt that the virus of leprosy had been long in the blood, making it an old leprosy. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Shall not shut him up —</span></b> For the case is no longer doubtful. The man must now be excluded from the camp or city with bare head, covered face, and rent garment, the badges of his dreadful malady. See verse 45, note.<br /><br /><b>13. <span style="color: #990000;">All turned white: he is clean —</span></b> Here is a paradox; the partial leper is unclean, the total leper is clean. The explanation of Patrick is, that this uniform white covering is indicative of some other disease, and not the real leprosy, yet it has so strong a resemblance as to prompt the writer to give it the same name. But the more common theory is, that the crisis of the leprosy is reached when the patient becomes white from head to foot “broken out blooming on the skin,” with an enamelled, hard, dry scurf, incapable of communicating the contagion by contact. Canon Cook argues that the disease treated of in this chapter is the elephantiasis, and not the leprosy, and that when the entire surface turns white it indicates that it is not the elephantiasis, but some other disease, which did not render the man unclean. This solution of the difficulty agrees very nearly with Patrick’s. It is a prevalent opinion that the leprosy is here treated, not on sanitary but wholly on ceremonial grounds, and that the leprosy is arbitrarily pronounced unclean, just as a corpse is unclean a moment after life is extinct, and that the ceremonial pollution, by arbitrary appointment, continues only so long as the disease is spreading.<br /><br /><b>14. <span style="color: #990000;">Raw flesh —</span></b> This is the proud flesh, the appearance of which, after the universal spread of the white scurf, indicates that the disease has not yet entirely left the blood. Maimonides says that the size of the “raw flesh” must be that of a lintel, in order to justify the verdict of uncleanness. The person is still unclean.<br /><br /><b>17. <span style="color: #990000;">The plague —</span></b> The <i>stroke</i> of the leprosy is viewed as a direct infliction by God. Sometimes it is abbreviated to <i>the plague</i>, just as we say of the paralytic, that he is suffering from a <i>stroke</i>.<br /><br /><p></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-9387258174964446902024-02-11T16:30:00.001-05:002024-02-29T14:49:40.291-05:00Hope for Methodism (1896)<blockquote>
<i>"Knowing exactly what I say, and taking the full responsibility of it, I repeat, we are the only Church in history, from the apostles' time till now, that has put forth as its very elemental thought the great pervading idea of the whole Book of God from the beginning to the end — the holiness of the human soul, heart, mind, and will. . . . It may be called fanaticism; but, dear friends, this is our mission. If we keep to that, the next century is ours; if we keep to that, the triumphs of the next century shall throw those of the past into the shade. . . . There is our mission; there is our glory; there is our power; and there shall be the ground of our triumph! God keep us true!"</i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">— John McClintock, President of Drew Theological Seminary in a sermon preached in 1866.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRW9tg1zCxm_J2Xqwua3S0Vw0wJOqGm8SYqiv7MRlA6yaSqZ3DV5tRdsXHkQi77pKvYb-eAYSsZ2c7j1J_pYojB8MRcrOvVszUrLfvOpjgWhWkvQDxESBDP9tU2ZUgvNQdPjshX44uwLaWvLZ4s3osFQnssjGfdwDJeGCD3bC0enMoulrt1FEwu3yI/s1200/5d278a4363c9b.image.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1200" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRW9tg1zCxm_J2Xqwua3S0Vw0wJOqGm8SYqiv7MRlA6yaSqZ3DV5tRdsXHkQi77pKvYb-eAYSsZ2c7j1J_pYojB8MRcrOvVszUrLfvOpjgWhWkvQDxESBDP9tU2ZUgvNQdPjshX44uwLaWvLZ4s3osFQnssjGfdwDJeGCD3bC0enMoulrt1FEwu3yI/s320/5d278a4363c9b.image.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I am not a pessimist nor a friend of pessimism; I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet; yet something like the burden of a prophet is laid upon me, constraining me to cry aloud to the Church of my father and mother — the Church in which I had my first and my second birth — the Church which nurtured me in her schools, and commissioned me to preach in her pulpits and to teach in her universities — a Church to which I owe a debt too large for me to pay. It is exceedingly painful to note in this Church the first and the second indication of spiritual decay. The first has long grieved me; it is the neglect of those vital truths which nourish a stalwart spiritual life. The silence of the pulpit these many years respecting the full heritage of the believer, which is nothing less than is expressed in the words of Dr. McClintock, "The holiness of the human soul, heart, mind, and will," has been broken at last by the voice of a son of the Church in the open and loud repudiation of that doctrine which is "the inmost essence" and "elemental thought" of Methodism. This is the second token of spiritual decay, the second milestone on the downward road to spiritual death. The fact that this voice sounds out through the very trumpet which was made for the heralding of the glorious evangel of Christian perfection greatly aggravates my sorrow. <span style="font-size: x-small;">[This is a reference to a book written by James Mudge.]</span> Yet I am not surprised. The Church that incorporates in itself so large a segment of worldliness will sooner or later reject every doctrine hostile to a love of the world. "Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
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But, there is an alternative outlook — a hopeful outlook — before American Methodism. The prayer of Dr. McClintock for the continuance of our spiritual triumph another century, through our faithfulness to the "very elemental thought" of Methodism, may be answered. The Head of the Church militant has a great work for Methodism in the generations to come in his conquest of the world. The extent of this work will be measured not alone by our millions of members, their social standing, wealth, and intellectual culture, but by their loyalty to Christ awakening and increasing a spiritual life strong enough to withstand the rising tides of worldliness threatening to submerge the Church.<br />
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Since everything depends on the vigor of the spiritual life, how may this be promoted? We answer:<br />
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<b>1. FAITHFUL PREACHING.</b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxvtma1aZ5u2ioCoMny9_eCbH4WxXg4rpjpxcTSWrpOdyf5HNazL9j6Z1M_vGwGOO7XdAtSsaBn38FRmlaGbsOcBlTBaRVOyMvdGlI5-FC69C3XKBbq_aOs_DNKGWbnnsry_LZN8B1UskT9nOayqFuyAbhEY0v6jjzDbeNR8ZeQitAEtBT2_0B0-d4/s1322/53110-John_Wesley_preaching_outside_a_church._Engraving._Wellcome_V0006868.630w.tn(1).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1322" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxvtma1aZ5u2ioCoMny9_eCbH4WxXg4rpjpxcTSWrpOdyf5HNazL9j6Z1M_vGwGOO7XdAtSsaBn38FRmlaGbsOcBlTBaRVOyMvdGlI5-FC69C3XKBbq_aOs_DNKGWbnnsry_LZN8B1UskT9nOayqFuyAbhEY0v6jjzDbeNR8ZeQitAEtBT2_0B0-d4/s320/53110-John_Wesley_preaching_outside_a_church._Engraving._Wellcome_V0006868.630w.tn(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />By the use of the same weapon by which our first conquests were made, by the earnest preaching of truths which awaken spiritual life in dead souls. There must be a proclamation of the alarming truths of the Gospel, the nature and punishment of sin. Retribution must be preached as Christ the model preacher proclaimed it. We cannot err if we employ, in a tender and sympathetic spirit, the same emblems without exaggeration that he employed. He knows what mighty motives men in all ages need to induce them to repent and believe on him. The human race will never outgrow the necessity of using the Gospel imagery of retribution.<br />
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The most intellectual generations of men will need the same truths presented in the same figurative language as was preached by Jesus Christ to a less enlightened age. There is nothing temporary in the Gospel to be laid aside when men have attained a higher degree of enlightenment. The heavenly maiden, Truth, will neither be outgrown, nor will the metaphors and the parables, the robes in which she is arrayed, ever be out of fashion. In these days when we have voluminous and almost encyclopedic treatises on Homiletics, our younger preachers may overlook the brief disciplinary statement of the best method of preaching: "1. To convince; 2. To offer to Christ; 3. To invite; 4. To build up. And to do this in some measure in every sermon." Those who keep these rules in mind will find them helpful in resisting the temptation to subordinate the pulpit to such selfish ends as the display of literary culture, classical erudition, or oratorical abilities. In the last analysis self and Christ are the only themes of preaching. Self is so subtle that it may unconsciously become the real, while Christ is the ostensible theme. Worldly men dislike the alarming truths of the Gospel. Preachers who court the favor of such hearers are tempted to smooth the tongue, and to preach a soft and easy way of salvation. It requires Pauline courage to declare the whole counsel of God, keeping back nothing that is profitable, however unpalatable to lovers of worldly pleasure and enemies to God.<br />
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Under such preaching sinners will be awakened, and will ask the all-important question,"What must I do to be saved?" The answer is as important as the question, for destiny hinges on receiving a right or wrong answer and acting in accordance with it. Before directing him to believe on Christ as both Saviour and Lord be quite sure that he is truly penitent and is disposed to take sides with God against his sins, from which he must now turn away forever. Genuine faith is possible only where sincere repentance exists. But real repentance is a cup so bitter that many partially awakened sinners are strongly inclined to find some substitute. Just at this critical point there is a danger which Wesley and the first generation of Methodist preachers avoided — the danger, in revivals of religion, of exalting unduly acts of the awakened which fall short of the scriptural conditions of salvation. They had no altar service, nor anxious seat, nor card-signing. It is customary now in many cases to place slight emphasis on repentance, and restitution where it is possible, and to urge to acts which may be easily done, without repenting of sins as dear as the right hand or the right eye. It is easier to go forward to an altar as a seeker than to cut off that right hand sin. Says Professor Austin Phelps: "The fact is a very significant one that impenitent men are never exhorted in the Scriptures to anything preliminary to repentance. But one thing is the center of all biblical appeal to the ungodly — that is, repentance and faith, a complex yet a single act."<br />
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What, therefore, is it advisable to do? Shall we abandon the modern practice of applying to congregations the customary tests of a desire to begin a Christian life? By no means. But they should be kept in the background as secondary, and not be thrust into prominence, tempting the half-awakened impenitent to substitute for the abandonment of his sins some act not essential to salvation. Let the alarming, searching, convicting truths of the Gospel be copiously poured out, day after day, before any such test is applied.<br />
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Let this matter be handled cautiously, so as to guard men as much as possible against deceptive substitutions followed by spurious professions of faith in Christ. Coming to an altar or "anxious seat" should be permitted to the truly penitent as a privilege, a mode of confessing repentance toward God, rather than held up to the impenitent as the chief duty to be done. Canvassing the assembly by persons exhorting individuals to immediate submission to God's command to repent, if done in a prayerful, tender, and gentle spirit, can never result in any harm. This is far different from urging unwilling and impenitent men to a step in no way decisive of salvation, and succeeding by dint of importunity at the button-hole, if not at the coat collar. The earlier Methodist style of preaching was to storm the castle of impenitence till the inmates of their own accord ran up the white flag of unconditional surrender. I should like to see a return to this style of spiritual warfare all through our churches and religious encampments, and to note the results.<br />
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<b>2. SAVING FAITH.</b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMJHfDoXXIxmUfyWAXmXxhRabokdD8CGJUX7SX54FPX0FW-b2m9PbDRXCNZFM-SvfHK7gKUWmuZfotT7bsgGkVceUSM4_KzbeVvUg0HBYJK1AvSGZ37v0v1ej3Ev58S8MZiR24GWYVWKuS7rIuAIDadpT9BcvOdYr7hOb-7Anxn_WEsrempEqOjMA/s1806/0084-salvation_1280x1024(1).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1806" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMJHfDoXXIxmUfyWAXmXxhRabokdD8CGJUX7SX54FPX0FW-b2m9PbDRXCNZFM-SvfHK7gKUWmuZfotT7bsgGkVceUSM4_KzbeVvUg0HBYJK1AvSGZ37v0v1ej3Ev58S8MZiR24GWYVWKuS7rIuAIDadpT9BcvOdYr7hOb-7Anxn_WEsrempEqOjMA/s320/0084-salvation_1280x1024(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Let there be a universal return to the Wesleyan definition of saving faith on the part of a soul truly penitent and submissive to God. It is the laying hold of his Son as able and willing to save now without the seeker's doing or suffering anything more. The Holy Scriptures are the ground of this faith, the Old Testament being the prophetic record and the New Testament the historic record of this wonderful Saviour. In this attitude of assent to Christian truth and consent to Christ's enthronement over the heart, and of reliance on him alone to save, let the penitent seeker continue to seek till he has notification direct from God of his adoption into his family. Let this be the advice given at all our altars: Through faith in our Lord Jesus seek to be saved till you know that you are saved.<br />
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Largely through the influence of a school of evangelists whose theology is Calvinistic, whose view of the atonement is that it is an unconditional substitute in punishment for the sins of the elect, instead of a conditional substitute for the punishment of the sins of all mankind, misleading and pernicious advice is given at some of our altars. I do not know by what better name to call it than the syllogistic inference, thus: "The Bible says that he who believes on Christ is saved. Do you thus believe? If you do, you are saved on the testimony of the word. No other testimony is required." The great errors involved in this are: (1) That the seeker, and not God, is the sole judge of the saving efficacy of his faith; (2) that faith is its own evidence; and (3) not the results of faith, assurance of forgiveness by the Holy Spirit and consciousness of the new birth.<br />
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Now it may be that saving faith is exercised while going through this syllogism. But the outcome will probably be a state of great doubt and perplexity, a hope without experience, its proper basis, and a profession of salvation without its possession. This style of reasoning will do for that Calvinist who imagines that he by some means has gotten a glimpse of "the secret register of the elect, hidden in the bosom of God," and has seen his name written therein. But for the rest of mankind there is no repose of soul, no present comfort, no hope for the future in this groundless inference. It is groundless, because the word, written many centuries ago, cannot contain the assurance of my personal pardon, nor can it be inferred from the fact of the atonement, which is only the provision for my conditional pardon. The two theories may be thus illustrated: I. A prisoner in his cell desiring pardon is given a copy of the Revised Statutes, which describes how pardon may be obtained. After months of wearisome research he finds not his personal pardon, and is in deep despair. 2. By the other system, he petitions the governor till there comes from the executive chamber a special messenger bearing his personal pardon, signed and sealed. Now he mounts up to the highest joy.<br />
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This brings us to our next doctrinal peculiarity, and the secret of our evangelistic power:<br />
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<b>3. DIRECT WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.</b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfLp7wrY6BDGyj6VZuSUcq2SoxdhXMWAM4_LdSwoYDg-Sd4RR9PXJJFE1mC3Dwoo7JWsPVfwXUxfRhmMpVC171Ccz1KNrWFAFwO7to0W5kwIs9oNWzBOMegf1IaCBL1Y9oQ_fznr4JL4O6q9nVHW0QBSX7WZwl7XsWThms9IQdgLVZ9Ot6_6LlrVm/s1080/holy-spirit-dove.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="837" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfLp7wrY6BDGyj6VZuSUcq2SoxdhXMWAM4_LdSwoYDg-Sd4RR9PXJJFE1mC3Dwoo7JWsPVfwXUxfRhmMpVC171Ccz1KNrWFAFwO7to0W5kwIs9oNWzBOMegf1IaCBL1Y9oQ_fznr4JL4O6q9nVHW0QBSX7WZwl7XsWThms9IQdgLVZ9Ot6_6LlrVm/s320/holy-spirit-dove.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br />Dr. Abel Stevens deems this to be the distinctive doctrine of Methodism, the immediate contact of the human spirit with the Holy Spirit, by the touch of faith, awakening to spiritual life, giving assurance of pardon, and impressing a sense of the reality of God and of spiritual things. By the Spirit it pleased God to reveal his Son in Saul of Tarsus to qualify him to preach the faith he once destroyed. By the Spirit dwelling in the consciousness of Peter he was made bold to charge upon the Jewish officials the murder of their Messiah King.<br />
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On the day of Pentecost there came a Person capable of entering into the inner sanctuary of every believing soul and pouring out the unspeakable riches of his grace, making them all kings and priests: kings because they may henceforth supremely rule self, the most difficult kingdom; and priests, because they now have direct and continual access unto God, the prerogative of the high priest only on only one day of the year. The dispensation of the Spirit transcends in glory all preceding eras, not excepting that of the incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus implies this when he asserts that it is expedient for him to go away in order that the Paraclete may come. He has come to stay till the end of the world. One of his chief offices is to cry in every believer's heart, "Abba, Father." This was the characteristic of conversions in the day of primitive Christianity and in the day of primitive Wesleyanism. It is the characteristic of modern Methodism wherever the doctrine of the witness of the Spirit is clearly preached and generally believed. Conversions take their type from the faith of the people, and this in turn takes its stamp from the utterances of the pulpit. The instrument used by the Spirit is the truth relating to Jesus Christ as the atoning Saviour. Where this is lacking the Spirit cannot impart life to dead souls. Where the truth is diluted with human philosophy weaklings may be born into the kingdom. Uncertainty in the pulpit will produce hazy conversions, if it produce any at all. Positive, clear, constant, and sharply defined presentations of revealed truth by a man in deep sympathy with him who is the impersonation of truth, will, by an invariable spiritual law, be followed by clear-cut conversions, because the Spirit now has the use of a perfect instrument. "The sword of the Spirit is the word of God:"<br />
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Wesley testifies that ninety-nine out of every hundred converted under his preaching and that of his "assistants" could tell the time and place of their entrance upon the new life. The prominence given to the person and offices of the Spirit, especially his testimony to adoption, had laid down in the hearts of Wesley's hearers a basis of faith in God for an instantaneous and assured translation out of darkness into light of every penitent believer in Jesus Christ. The decline of this doctrine is invariably attended by dubious conversions and spiritual weakness and waning joy. Let the theme of the Holy Spirit be fully restored to all our pulpits, and let him be enthroned in all our churches, and cry in all our hearts, "Abba Father," and the complaint of spiritual poverty, "0 my leanness, my leanness!" will be no longer heard. The doctrine of the direct witness of the Spirit to adoption, indisputably scriptural, was revived by Wesley and made fundamental to the spiritual life in his preaching. So far as our observation extends the advocacy and dissemination of this doctrine is still the mission of Methodism. It is rarely heard in other pulpits. In non-Methodist writers of books on the Holy Spirit it is not advocated as the privilege of all believers. This assertion is verified by an examination of all the literature of this theme written during the last hundred years. Hence our belief that Methodism has been set for the defense of this vital doctrine. The spirituality of the whole of Protestant Christianity depends on our faithfulness to our trust. A revival of this doctrine in all our pulpits would awaken no doctrinal controversy, for universal Methodism has never had any theoretical differences in respect to this subject. It would tend to tone up the spiritual members, to reclaim the back-slidden, and to awaken the nominal, who never were regenerated. It would be the best possible preparation for the restoration of another vital doctrine which can be successfully preached only to the truly spiritual members who are aspiring to the higher altitudes of Christian experience.<br />
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Vital to the future success of Methodism is the answer to the question: What shall be the qualification for membership in our Church? Will it be safe to receive those who have sustained a good moral character during the term of probation, but have no testimony to Christ's saving power, and no evidence of a change of heart? Will it not crowd the Church with baptized lovers of worldly pleasure rather than lovers of God? Will not they be brought into an unfortunate relation to saving truth when they have Church membership as a shield against appeals to repent and be converted?<br />
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These are very serious questions. I would not make a cast-iron rule which would exclude all who cannot testify to the witness of the Spirit. But this should be the aim of the pastor, to bring all up to this point, a knowledge of sins forgiven by direct or inferential evidence. Let the instruction of probationers emphasize this doctrine of the direct and the indirect witness of the Spirit. In cases of doubt let the term of probation be extended till there is good evidence of the new birth.<br />
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<b>4. THE REINSTATEMENT OF CHRISTIAN PERFECTION IN THE PULPIT.</b></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-_dHarQza7N8VRODR0lzfprlCAx1abGOadYbBA9-8TUuG8AQX5zTcFBav9dZke77qBBnKHsDR505ZHTkQOyt3OvRGHBJmazGyIcpzqeJEqQGUbC_4nSj6BVTIJiGmh2BX-yug1al55MHkrVtwUHVrPk8Dnpv6m1Gu1rYgJRiIX83iF1RFt7DAj2x/s114/jwesley.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="114" data-original-width="110" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-_dHarQza7N8VRODR0lzfprlCAx1abGOadYbBA9-8TUuG8AQX5zTcFBav9dZke77qBBnKHsDR505ZHTkQOyt3OvRGHBJmazGyIcpzqeJEqQGUbC_4nSj6BVTIJiGmh2BX-yug1al55MHkrVtwUHVrPk8Dnpv6m1Gu1rYgJRiIX83iF1RFt7DAj2x/s1600/jwesley.gif" width="110" /></a></div><br />This implies that this theme of discourse has become nearly obsolete. For this there are several causes. Some preachers think they are not called to preach beyond their own experience. Many of the laity think it an impeachment of their present spiritual attainments to be urged to ascend to loftier heights. Some have fallen into self-indulgences which heart purity would require them to put away. Others who are at ease in Zion dislike to be aroused to activity. Some are swayed by prejudice; for we live in an age in which "holiness" is a term of reproach because of an occasional faulty professor, and for other reasons, especially a repugnance to its requirements.<br />
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In addition to this is the necessity of addressing an unsorted assembly in such a manner as to edify as many as possible, young and old, saint and sinner. This seems to require the omission of a theme interesting to only a very few Christians who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and the presentation very often of evidential, elemental, and ethical truths, milk instead of strong meat. Says Joseph Parker: "Perhaps there is some excuse for the preacher, seeing that he is conventionally compelled to address all classes in a common speech, instead of being permitted to address each class in its own language, and according to its own degree of spiritual enlightenment." This difficulty may be obviated by occasional addresses on advanced spiritual themes; by a few words of this kind in many sermons; also by introducing this subject in the social meetings and pastoral visitations in the homes of the members. Thus the way may be opened for proclaiming "the whole counsel of God."<br />
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This suggests that every church should be like a university, with instruction suited to every grade of believers. Where the pastor cannot instruct all these classes, he can provide competent instruction for the highest grade. A group of churches in a city could easily maintain a believers' meeting led by some pastor or person appointed by the pastors concerned, and meeting in one of the churches. Thus hungry souls would be fed within the fold without being compelled to incipient schism by hiring a hall in which to learn the highest possibilities of grace, while all the churches near by are unused. There is neither good sense nor good statesmanship in a management which thrusts from beneath the watch-care of the pastor souls earnestly inquiring for their full heritage in Christ.<br />
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If our young converts, the fruit of our revivals, were by proper instruction, oral and by tracts and books, urged to seek a still greater experience, even that perfect love which casteth out all fear, a much larger part of them would be saved to the Church, and be developed into efficient workers and strong burden bearers. There is just as much propriety in arranging for the instruction of advanced believers as there is in providing competent professors for senior classes in college. Away, then, with the unreasonable prejudice against the Pentecostal assembly, or the meeting for Christian Perfection.<br />
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The pastor who withholds sympathy from the little company who seek the full heritage in Christ is as unwise as a general at the front who looks with distrust upon a certain loyal regiment and withdraws from it his guidance because the soldiers speak a slightly different language from the rest of the army.<br />
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Again, pastors should either feed all their flock or should appoint those who will give them wholesome supplies of food. Sheep left to browse about the highways may eat poison and die. Sheep of the fold of Christ should not be left to care for themselves, to be led astray by ignorant or designing guides. If a preacher is experimentally incompetent to preach truths relating to advanced Christian experience, he can secure some one in whom he has confidence to supply his lack of service, and not by his neglect tempt the hungry souls to listen to instructors of doubtful competency, who may lead them far astray from Christ and his Church.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">EDITOR'S NOTE: <span class="style_2" style="line-height: 16px;">This essay has been edited and adapted from chapters 32 and 33 of the book </span><i><a href="http://www.craigladams.com/Steele/page179/" target="_blank">A Defense of Christian Perfection</a> </i>(1896)<span class="style_2" style="line-height: 16px;"> by Daniel Steele. While I have made a few changes in the opening part of this essay and have given it a new title,</span><span class="style_5" style="line-height: 16px;"> <b>I have not changed, altered or toned down any of Dr. Steele's views.</b></span></span>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-10365246700311788952024-02-11T15:00:00.001-05:002024-02-29T14:50:02.385-05:00Leviticus 12 - Purification After Childbirth<p><i>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span> And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, <span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span> Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. <span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span> And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. <span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span> And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. <span style="font-size: x-small;">5</span> But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. <span style="font-size: x-small;">6</span> And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: <span style="font-size: x-small;">7</span> Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female. <span style="font-size: x-small;">8</span> And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean." </i> — Leviticus 12:1-8 KJV.</p><p>PURITY AND IMPURITY IN PERSONS. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8xM1qw9bUWlmqx31IPrtLD4nmrJ_xVUEPSTbi-FlSk0EDwXtSFC5mS5V-n4IP7VhiUGS3g8Kv3ClTpWGXpGGPkw7TZ1YO0YD4hSngYZSF9Sow8zu7TDAc6YkJmUILP6t5l5Z24Ni2q-StrcF70eFULJcqklcPRdv2LuS8atu3TbDUw97rqFPVgF8msRI/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8xM1qw9bUWlmqx31IPrtLD4nmrJ_xVUEPSTbi-FlSk0EDwXtSFC5mS5V-n4IP7VhiUGS3g8Kv3ClTpWGXpGGPkw7TZ1YO0YD4hSngYZSF9Sow8zu7TDAc6YkJmUILP6t5l5Z24Ni2q-StrcF70eFULJcqklcPRdv2LuS8atu3TbDUw97rqFPVgF8msRI/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The code of ceremonial purity now advances from animals to persons, and sets forth the causes of their ceremonial defilement. These causes are suggestive of moral pollutions staining and disfiguring the soul. They arise from childbirth, leprosy, and certain secretions, to which is added, in Numbers 19:11-16, the pollution of touching a human corpse. There are other sources of sanitary impurity and moral defilement, the omission of which argues that those here prohibited are forbidden not for the promotion of cleanliness merely, or even for good morals, but to inculcate a higher symbolical meaning, and to lead the people up to the conception of spiritual purity. This chapter relates to women after childbirth.<p></p><p><b>2. <span style="color: #990000;">She shall be unclean —</span></b> It is a mystery that marriage, a sacrament of love, prefiguring the oneness of Christ and the Church, should attain its divinely appointed end only by entailing ceremonial impurity. But nothing more impressively teaches the depravity of the human race than the early announcement that both conception (Leviticus 15:16-18) and birth are inevitably attended by pollutions which imperatively demand purgation before the person of the parent can be acceptable to the holy Jehovah. This suggests the strong assertion of David respecting the moral corruption of his nature while in embryo, Psalm 51:5. When Richard Watson was asked for the strongest proof text of inherited depravity, or original sin, he quoted John 3:6. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Seven days —</span></b> This number of days makes the period of uncleanness the same length with the menstrual <b><span style="color: #990000;">days of the separation</span></b>. See Leviticus 15:19.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><b>3. <span style="color: #990000;">Foreskin… circumcised —</span></b> The sign of the covenant (Genesis 17:11) in the excision of a portion of the genitals, expresses with painful emphasis the fact that impurity presides over the very fountain of humanity and taints all its issues. Circumcision implies depravity and symbolizes spiritual regeneration, (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4,) as does water-baptism, which takes its place in the new covenant. Colossians 2:11, 12. While all are born sinful, none are born guilty, because our race is propagated under the dispensation of mercy extending from the first gospel promise (Genesis 3:15) to the day of judgment. As every Hebrew male child inherited a right to the sign of the first covenant, so, now that the middle wall is broken down (Ephesians 2:14) and the disabilities of sex are abolished, (Galatians 3:28) every infant has a right to the seal of the new covenant, through which he is saved until he wilfully rejects it. Under both covenants God designed that grace should flow down the ages in the family relation.</p><p><b>4. <span style="color: #990000;">Thirty-three days —</span></b> At the end of seven days she ceased to be unclean, in the sense of ceremonially defiling by her contact, but she is for more than a month longer forbidden to touch any hallowed thing and to come into the sanctuary — court of tabernacle or temple. She was competent to perform secular but not religious duties. Obstetrical science suggests that the seclusion of seven days relates to the <i>lochia rubra</i>, the red discharge, and that of thirty-three days to the <i>lochia alba</i>, the white issue. Mosaism makes no discrimination against the sex in respect to public worship. The Hindoos, Parsees, and Arabs require the mother to be secluded forty days, and then to be purified by bathing. The ancient Greeks had a similar usage. They suffered neither childbirth nor death to pollute consecrated places. </p><p><b>5.<span style="color: #990000;"> Maid child… threescore and six days —</span></b> It has not pleased God to disclose the ground of this different legislation for the sexes by doubling the period of purification after the birth of a female child. The sexes are equally honoured in the decalogue. Though woman was first in transgression, sin is not thereby more deeply ingrained in her nature, for St. Paul implies that Eve’s sin was less heinous than Adam’s, inasmuch as she was deceived, while he transgressed with his eyes wide open to the character and consequences of his act. 1 Timothy 2:14. We are not satisfied with Keil’s theory, that the ancients supposed that the impure discharges continued longer after the birth of a girl. Since this is an attested physiological fact, the all-wise God did not inflict a needless disability of forty additional days. It may also have been that both mother and daughter required double time for purification as all equivalent to the circumcision of the male child.</p><p><b>6. <span style="color: #990000;">Burnt offering —</span></b> Although the self-dedicatory offering is mentioned first, the real order is after the sin offering, see <a href="https://steelesanswers.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-order-of-levitical-sacrifices.html" target="_blank">The Order of the Levitical Sacrifice</a>s. We are not to suppose that a sense of guilt was in the mind of the offerer, but only the fact of ceremonial impurity, which required purgation before the woman could be an accepted worshipper. Hence the smallest of the sin offerings was required. Yet this requirement of both mother and child teaches the doctrine of original, or birth sin. On the fortieth day after his birth Jesus, in his sinless humanity, was presented at the earthly temple; on the fortieth day after his resurrection he was presented in his glorified body in the heavenly sanctuary.</p><p><b>7. <span style="color: #990000;">Atonement… cleansed —</span></b> Expiation for the soul and cleansing for the body are accomplished by the same act. Hebrews 10:22. Jehovah requires physical as well as spiritual sanctification. 2 Corinthians 7:1.<br /><br /><b>8. <span style="color: #990000;">If she be not able —</span></b> The law of God adjusts itself to our natural and gracious ability. Nevertheless, where grace has been slighted and withdrawn, the demand of the law continues after ability had ceased. The mother of our Lord in her poverty availed herself of this concession to the poor. Luke 2:22-24. <b><span style="color: #990000;">Turtles or pigeons —</span></b> For the supply of these in the wilderness and in Palestine, see <a href="https://steelesanswers.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-sacrificial-animals-in-leviticus.html" target="_blank">The Sacrificial Animals in Leviticus</a>.</p><p>CONCLUDING NOTES.<br /><br />(1.) An arithmetical difficulty is suggested in view of the great number of births among so large a population, and the small number of priests available for the performance of so many ceremonial purifications. The most reasonable solution of the difficulty is the theory that, in the abnormal life in the wilderness, where a majority were scattered in distant portions of the Sinaitic peninsula, the sacrifices were infrequent and irregularly celebrated. Amos 5:25, 26, intimates an omission of offerings.<br /><br />(2.) Childbirth, the mysterious beginning of an endless stream of blissful or woeful being, is here properly invested with a deep religious solemnity. No event in the physical world, not even its creation, is comparable to this, for creation is the handiwork of God, while the babe is his image, godlike in spirituality, immortality, personality, freedom, and moral nature. The significance of this event is painfully intensified by the consideration, plainly hinted in this chapter, that the human soul from its very beginning tends to flow downward to its lowest possible level, by an ineradicable proclivity, which only a supernatural grace, through the blood of sprinkling, largely available to the child through the faithfulness of the parents, can effectually reverse. Parentage involves a tremendous responsibility, inasmuch as it peoples heaven or hell. It is a remark of Oehler that “Mosaism, although it derives the propagation of man’s race from God’s blessing, still regards all events and conditions which refer to birth and generation as requiring a purifying expiation, because of the disturbance of sin.” Circumcision, called by Ewald “the offering of the body,” supposes that the natural life is corrupted by impurity, which must be purged before man can be brought into covenant with Jehovah. This is done in such a way as declares that the propagation of the race is sacred to him. Says Abarbanel, “As no one bears pains and troubles in this world without guilt, and as there is no chastisement without sin, and lastly, as every woman bears children with pain and danger, hence every one is commanded, after childbirth, to offer an expiatory sacrifice.” Leyrer remarks, that this and all other rites of purification were intended “to foster the constant humiliation of fallen man; to remind him in all the leading processes of life — generation, birth, eating, disease, death — how every thing, even in his own bodily nature, lies under the curse of sin. so that the law might become a schoolmaster to bring unto Christ.”<br /><br />(3.) It is remarkable that we find in Leviticus no vestige of dualism. In treating of ceremonial impurities in matter in certain forms there is not the least hint of the Gnostic doctrine of the essential evil of matter, and hence of its eternal independence of the creative act. This error is Greek and not Semitic. </p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-57137952299091684612024-02-05T10:00:00.004-05:002024-02-29T14:50:33.119-05:00Concluding Notes on Leviticus 11<p> CONCLUDING NOTES.<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-MzKOSgBq66wPGrpFgGJSb5OeepKdjfMREXI98bKcIHBL9vZQ8uxkHebUHukutt7kGCv8uQPpIY8VLoRierStFCWHC-FfKDUIWXw45maQDUGHP1pnECgkPy3Q_zEplbTZPpfZZFK5ErapFj5uZZfpI6yj88pcWzygFcLpICdRrQg579IEczg8gfByWs/s1620/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-MzKOSgBq66wPGrpFgGJSb5OeepKdjfMREXI98bKcIHBL9vZQ8uxkHebUHukutt7kGCv8uQPpIY8VLoRierStFCWHC-FfKDUIWXw45maQDUGHP1pnECgkPy3Q_zEplbTZPpfZZFK5ErapFj5uZZfpI6yj88pcWzygFcLpICdRrQg579IEczg8gfByWs/s320/108751042-56a146265f9b58b7d0bdb68d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>(1.) <i>Health and Longevity of the Jews. —</i> The more we study the law of Moses in its relation to health, and in its various provisions which long ago anticipated the sanitary science of our day, in its system of dietetics, in its convocations and feasts, in its purifications and its varied restrictions which touch the social life at every point — we shall be amazed at the wisdom manifested in that ancient law, as exhibited in its safeguards against vice, disorder, and disease.<br /><br />From its initiatory rite, the seal of the covenant, which was in itself a protection against self-abuse and disease, down to the close of life, the Jewish law sedulously guarded the physical health of the people; and even the laws concerning the dead exhibit the same divine wisdom. Dr. Gibbon, a health officer of London, reports that the life of the Jew in London is, on an average, twice as long as the life of the Gentile. The medical officer of one of their large schools has remarked that Jewish children do not die in any thing like the same ratio as the children of the Gentiles. In the district of Whitechapel, the medical officer in his report states that on the north side of High Street, which is occupied by Jews, the average death-rate is twenty-seven per thousand; while on the south side, occupied by English and Irish, the average death-rate is forty-three per thousand.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br />The church registers of Prussia, between the years 1823 and 1841, show that there died on an average, annually, one in thirty-four Gentiles, and only one in forty-six Jews. Of the children born among the Gentiles, forty-four and a half per cent. reached the age of fourteen, but among the Jews fifty per cent. reached that age. Among the Gentiles only twelve per cent. reached the age of seventy, while among the Jews twenty per cent. reached that age. These conclusions are carefully drawn from reliable statistics, and accord with the statements of Dr. Pressel, and show that the learned French physician, Dr. M. Levy, is abundantly justified in concluding that while the average term of life among the Gentiles is twenty-six years, among the Jews it is thirty-seven.<br /><br /><blockquote>“Hence, while the beer-drinking, whiskey-loving, pork-eating Gentile dies, on an average, at the age of twenty-six, the Jew, giving heed to the teachings of Moses, adds nearly one-half to the length of his days, having an average of eleven years longer to enjoy life, attend to business, and acquire property. Is it any wonder that, as a rule, Jews excel the Gentiles in whatever they undertake?” — <i>H.L. Hastings</i>.</blockquote>Further, not only is the death rate less among the scattered nation, but the birth rate is greater — fifty-five per one thousand, to thirty-eight of Gentile births; while the still-born Jews out of one hundred thousand were only eighty-nine to one hundred and forty-three still-born Gentiles. Carefully prepared statistics show that infant mortality is nearly twice as great among Gentiles as among the Jews, being in Frankfort, Germany, two hundred and forty-one to one hundred and twenty-nine per one thousand. Under the hygienic laws of Moses there are no Jewish paupers nor drunkards, and very few insane.<br /><br />In Great Britain, where scepticism widely prevails, and “the mistakes of Moses” are discussed in club-rooms, beer-shops, and gin-palaces, one person in every eleven is said to be a lunatic, a criminal, a pauper, or a drunkard. Would not the teachings of Moses, in spite of all his alleged “mistakes,” go far to remedy the wreck and ruin which have been wrought there by intemperance, vice, and crime?<br /><br />(2.) “The animals that are permitted and that are forbidden had hardly any existence in the wilderness in which the immediate life of Israel was then being spent. The people might have said, Why permit us to eat animals which are not at hand? Why forbid us to eat food which is not within our reach? Why, in a great desert, lay down rules and regulations about the fish in the sea? Here is the solemn lesson that we are to provide for all life, for all the possibilities of life, for all the yet unknown contingencies of life, as far as they can be forecast and ruled by inspired prudence.” <i>— Joseph Parker.</i><p></p>Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-851555242021773397.post-90333728121688882592024-02-05T10:00:00.003-05:002024-02-29T14:50:16.739-05:00Becoming Established in Holiness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPNvdMjhkDPycSzrVkehfsmmjYKsNGHLjQHQgDhuAVZg8uDCr8_GgYS6tKpC08iL7yLWrFsclZKVFfbCSvNf7L11Is5IG4mB829q3WggKZO0HEmeJU8v9Nq7b9SOlR62nOwLlvM8KGaU2hH9XzjujbM8DGP64zYwxy55rg1s6NjCOL5mzdrVmwsoomeM/s1280/Holiness.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1280" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnPNvdMjhkDPycSzrVkehfsmmjYKsNGHLjQHQgDhuAVZg8uDCr8_GgYS6tKpC08iL7yLWrFsclZKVFfbCSvNf7L11Is5IG4mB829q3WggKZO0HEmeJU8v9Nq7b9SOlR62nOwLlvM8KGaU2hH9XzjujbM8DGP64zYwxy55rg1s6NjCOL5mzdrVmwsoomeM/s320/Holiness.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In regard to the process of becoming established in holiness, I find this to be God's open secret — "to walk by the same rule and to mind the same thing." Phil. 3:16. The rule is, faith in Christ ever increasing in strength; the heart being fertilized with the elements of faith, a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, the conscience being trained to avoid not merely sinful and doubtful acts, but also those whose moral quality is beyond the reach of all ethical rules, and known to be evil only by their effect in dimming the manifestation of Christ within. The rule of life, I find, must be sufficiently delicate to exclude those acts which bring the least blur over the spiritual eye. Heb. 5:14. If any act brings a veil of the thinnest gauze between me and the face of Christ I henceforth and forever give it a tremendous letting alone. As another indispensable to establishment in that perfect love which casts out all fear I have found the disposition to confess Christ in His uttermost salvation. As no man could long keep in his house sensitive guests of whom he was ashamed before his neighbors, so no man can long have the company of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the temple of his heart while ashamed of their presence or their purifying work. In this respect I follow no man's formula. The words which the Spirit of inspiration teaches in the Holy scriptures, though beclouded with misunderstandings and beslimed with fanaticism, are, after all, the most appropriate vehicle for the expression of the wonderful work of God in perfecting holiness in the human spirit, soul and body.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br />
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I testify that it is possible for believers to be so filled with the Holy Ghost that they can live many years on the earth conscious every day of a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light, and of no shrinking back, because of a felt need of further inward cleansing, from an instant translation into the society of the holy angels and into the presence of the holy God. This was my daily experience since 1870. I have the Johannean evidence that my love is pure and unmixed -that is, perfected in the fact that I have boldness in view of the day of judgment. (1 John 4:17, 18, Dean Alford's Notes.) This joyful boldness is grounded on the assurance of a conformity to the image of the Son of God, and that I am, through the transfiguring power of the Spirit, like Him in purity, and that the Judge will not condemn facsimiles of Himself, "because, even as he is, so are we in this world."<br />
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Yet I am conscious of errors, ignorances, infirmities and defects, which, though consistent with perfect loyalty and love to God, need, and by faith receive, every moment, the merit of Christ's death. In other words, the ground of my standing before God is neither perfect rectitude in the past nor a faultless present service, but the divine mercy as administered through Jesus Christ. Hence I daily pray, "Forgive us our debts." <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">— from "A Brief Autobiography."</span></div>
Craig L. Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08351091412370400350noreply@blogger.com0