In This Issue

• DEMONISM vs. SINFULNESS
• RE-DEFINING ADULTERY
• GOD'S MIRROR
• MORE INFORMATION...

DEMONISM vs. SINFULNESS

Jesus cane to the disciples and "saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, 'What are you discussing with them?' Then one of the crowd answered and said, 'Teacher, I brought You my son who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws hi down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.' He answered him and said, 'O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.' Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.' Jesus said to him, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord, I believe; help my unbelief ' When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: 'Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!' Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead.' But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, 'Why could we not cast it out?' So He said to them, 'This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.' (Mark 9:14-29).

Note that demons or unclean spirits did not cause the same ailments in all individuals who came under their power. This boy was deaf, mute, and subject to seizures. In other individuals, demons sometimes produced blindness, insanity, and perhaps other problems. See Mark 5:5; Matt. 12:22.

Also note that there was little or no connection between demon possession and sinfulness. When Jesus asked the boy's father how long he had been troubled by the unclean spirit, he answered, "from childhood." Since both Matthew and Luke describe the man's son as still being a "child," or "boy," (Matt. 17:18; Luke 9:42), the father obviously meant from early childhood, perhaps from infancy. We must conclude that the boy was extremely ill because of the unclean spirit, but not extremely sinful. A similar case would be that of the "young daughter" who was demon possessed in Mark 7:25. Jesus treated demon possession as sickness, not sinfulness, and demoniacs were healed, not rebuked or scolded, Luke 8:2.

--Clarence R. Johnson

RE-DEFINING ADULTERY

Troubles with divorce and remarriage abound. Despite plain teaching by Jesus some try to evade what He says. For example, did you know some teach that adultery is a non-sexual act? See if you can find such in Jesus' words: 

"I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Matthew 5:32 (NASB)

"I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." Matthew 19:9 (NASB)

This teaching is very clear, so the person who is seeking to justify a marriage after a divorce for some cause other than physical fornication says, "Jesus does not mean sexual adultery." When I ask for a definition of "adultery" he answers, "It means the act of divorcing and remarrying." This is what a South African preacher told me and what a number of others are teaching. What does changing the definition of "adultery" do? It makes it possible for a divorced and remarried person to "repent" of the act of divorcing and remarrying and to stay married to his or her second partner without sin because all they say is "I repent of divorcing and remarrying" -- they don't have to admit they are living in adultery, an ongoing and continuous sin.

Defining "adultery" to mean "the act of divorcing for some cause other than for fornication and marrying again" violates two simple, common-sense rules of grammar. 

1. The first rule, stated in my words, is that a word should be understood in its ordinary sense unless the way it is used shows that it is to be understood in another way. Often Jesus used words to mean something other than their ordinary meaning, but when He did it is easy to see from the context what He meant. For instance, in John 6:54 He said, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." A careful reading of the chapter causes us to understand that when Jesus said "My flesh" and "My blood" He was referring to His words, and therefore the word "eats" means "listens to" or "heeds". (See verse 47, for instance). 

However, unless the context shows that the word is used in a metaphorical sense, we should understand it in its literal sense. In John 3:5 Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." He later explains that the word "born" refers to a birth of one's spirit, but there is nothing in the context to show that the words "water" and "the Spirit" are not literal. "Water" means "water," not something else. Those who "spiritualize" the word "water" to mean "the Holy Spirit" or something else ignore the plain meaning of the word and violate an important grammatical principle.

Let's apply this rule to Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9. There is nothing in the context to show that Jesus used the word "adultery" in anything other than its ordinary sense. The ordinary meaning of the word fits perfectly with what Jesus says. Not only does the put-away woman commit adultery when she marries again, but the man who marries her commits adultery. When a person who is bound by the marriage bond has sex with a person he or she is not bound to, both that person and the person he or she has sex with commit adultery. That is the ordinary meaning of the word, and that fits perfectly with what Jesus says. There is nothing in the context to suggest that the word should be used in anything but its ordinary meaning. If we can change its meaning to fit our desires, we can change anything in the Bible! It reminds me of the story I heard a long time ago. A man who was in the Old Apostle Church told a preacher that the Ethiopian eunuch was not baptized in literal water. He said "the chariot" represented his "responsibility" and "the water" represented "the light." What a mess! But the only way to avoid such a mess is to understand words in their ordinary sense unless the context shows that they are used in a different way.

2. A second simple grammatical rule is: When a word is defined properly, the definition can be substituted for the word and the sentence will make sense and mean the same. 

If we go back to the example in John 6:54, if we substitute the word "heeds" for "eats" and the word "words" or "teachings" for the words "flesh" and "blood," the sentence reads, "He who heeds My words has eternal life." We have substituted the definitions for the actual words used, and the sentence makes perfect sense. It fits the context, and the definition fits in the sentence.

However this will not work with the non-sexual definition of adultery. If we substitute the definition for the word "adultery" we get: 

"I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her [divorce and remarry]; and whoever marries a divorced woman [divorces and remarries]." (Matthew 5:32)

"I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman [divorces and remarries]." - Matthew 19:9 

That simply does not make good sense. The definition does not fit the sentence. The definition must be wrong! The only way to understand Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9 is to understand the word "adultery" to mean what it usually means. 

Long articles with complicated reasoning will not change this plain truth. There is no room for "non-sexual" adultery in Matthew 5:32 or 19:9. May God help us to deal honestly with the Scriptures!

--Paul K. Williams, Abundant Life, Nov-Dec, 2003

GOD'S MIRROR

There are three passages of scripture which compare the New Testament revelation to a mirror: I Con 13:8-13 James 1:22-27, and 2 Cor. 3:6-18. Just as a person uses a mirror to take note of corrections which need to be made in his physical appearance, he should use the New Testament to take note of spiritual and moral corrections that need to be made, and behave accordingly.

In 1 Cor. 13:8-13, Paul looks forward to the time when the New Testament will have been completely revealed in such a way that an individual can look into its pages and see his spiritual self as he really is, clearly, face to face. By the end of the first century A.D., Paul's desire became a reality. The New Testament is today the complete and final standard of moral and spiritual behavior (Rev. 22:18-19).

James, in 1:22-27, suggests that wisdom demands that those who look into the New Testament Scriptures and see their spiritual flaws, make the necessary adjustments. To look, and not make corrections of our spiritual problems, is just as foolish as to look into a mirror and see our physical appearance in disarray without making corrections, and far more serious in its consequences.

Finally, in 2 Cor. 3:6-18, Paul makes several contrasts between the Law of Moses and the new covenant. He concludes by insisting that as we see Christ revealed to us in the New Testament, and see how far short we come of measuring up to His spiritual and moral stature, that we make a conscious effort to imitate His example.

In conclusion, as we compare these three passages of scripture, we see: (1) that the New Testament is the mirror in which we may see ourselves "face to face" as we really are, (2) that taking note of the things that are in disarray in our lives, we should be doers of what the word of God teaches and not hearers only, who forget what they have seen in God's mirror of the soul, and (3) that as we make needed corrections in our spiritual lives, we will by that same token conform ourselves to the image and likeness of Christ as the scriptures reveal Him to us.

--Clarence R. Johnson

MORE INFORMATION...