Author Archives: Pastor Ricky Kurth

There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise – 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

“Eye for eye” (Ex.21:24) is criticized by the world as too harsh and merciless, and that God was unrighteous to implement that kind of law, but God says that tribulation for tribulation is “a righteous thing” (1:6).

“Recompense” means repay (Romans 12:19 cf. Heb.10: 30). Men complain about this brand of justice, but what could be more fair than recompensing tribulation to those that trouble God’s people (Rev.13:10)?

Paul wasn’t talking about just any tribulation, but the Great Tribulation. We know this because the Second Coming will follow the Tribulation, and that’s what Paul talks about next in this passage (1:7,8).

God knows that in the Tribulation, more than ever before, men will say God’s judgments aren’t fair, that they don’t deserve them, so the Book of Revelation, that describes the Tribulation, insists that they are (16:3-6; 19:2).

What does this say about the doctrine of eternal punishment? If God’s judgments have always been fair through-out history, do you think He’ll abandon that principle when it is time to punish the unsaved?

There is a dispensational aspect to Verse 6. It sounds a lot like Isaiah 49:25, which is spoken to the Jews, the seed of Abraham, fulfilling Genesis 12:3. So why is Paul saying things like that to us, i.e., that God will recompense tribulation to those that trouble the Body of Christ?

Paul says a lot of things like that. He applies Hosea 13:14, which is about Israel’s resurrection (13:9-14), to us (ICor. 15:51-55). That’s one of the ways he uses the Old Testament, he applies the principles. There is no sting in death for the believer no matter what dispensation you are in, and if you mess with God’s people you mess with Him, no matter what dispensation you are in. Although now that the dispensation of grace has fully set in He will delay recompensing tribulation to persecutors till after the Rapture.

Verse 7 is an exhortation as well as a prediction. We will be resting when the Lord comes in flaming fire (v.8), but we can rest in that prediction now. Paul was already resting in the midst of his tribulations (IICor.11:23-33 cf. 4:8), and he is telling the Thessalonians to rest with him (1:7).

How troubled will the persecutors be? The Lord will come “with His mighty angels” (1:7), one of which wiped out 185,000 men in one night (IIKi.19:35). The “angel of the Lord” is sometimes a theophany, but not here (IIChron. 32:21). Notice it doesn’t say He’ll come with “some” of His mighty angels, indicating He’ll come with all of them, “an innumerable company” (Heb.12:22).

And we don’t have to guess what their mission will be, they will gather out of God’s kingdom all that “offend” (Mt.13:41). Hey, that’s what the persecutors were doing to the Thessalonians, that’s what “offend” means (cf.Mt.18:6).

In addition to His mighty angels, the Lord will come “in flaming fire” (1:8), fire that is His, not the angels’ (Ps. 21:8,9; Mt.3:11). The flaming fire will come from the Lord’s mouth (Isa.30:33). If you can breathe warm air on your hands to warm them, imagine what He can do! If you can’t imagine, see Revelation 11:3-5. He’ll slay the wicked “with the breath of His lips” (Isa.11:4).

Of course, Revelation 19:11-15 says He’ll smite the nations with a sword that will come out of His mouth, not fire. A two-edged sword (Rev.1:16), the Word of God (Heb.4:12). But remember, God’s Word is “like a fire” (Jer.23:29).

Men won’t be able to say God didn’t warn them, for He made His Word a fire in the mouths of the prophets (Jer.5:14). If they didn’t receive Jeremiah’s words, they got burned up, and if men don’t receive the Word today they may have to face His fire (Mal.4:1).

When He comes He’ll be taking “vengeance” (1:8 cf. Deut.32:35,41) for the blood of His servants (Deut.32:43), as here in IIThessalonians 1:6. I’m sure He is in a hurry to avenge them, but so are they! (Rev.6:9,10).

I Don’t Mean to Brag – 2 Thessalonians 1:4-6

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

The Thessalonians were enduring persecution so patiently Paul boasted of them to others. You wouldn’t think it would be okay to boast about yourself though (Pr.27:2). Of course, when David boasted (Isa.17:34) he was boasting about what the Lord could do through him (v.45,46). And when Paul boasted (IICor.11:5) he too was boasting about the Lord too (10:8).

It must be okay to brag about others, though, since Paul did it (1:4). If it wasn’t, Solomon would have said “don’t let another man praise thee” (Pr.27:2). Of course, when we praise men in spiritual areas, we are praising the Lord for what He is doing through them. That’s why Paul praised the Thessalonians. Beloved, it is not a natural thing for faith to grow amidst tribulations (1:4). It’s natural for faith to be shaken instead of growing, or Paul wouldn’t have warned us not to let it happen (ITh.3:3). So when their faith grew, Paul knew it was the Lord’s doing!

How’d Paul know they were enduring tribulation with “patience”? Because most of them weren’t impatiently quitting their jobs! Some were thinking, “Instead of going to work and making myself vulnerable to persecution, why not hide and be safe?” We know this because Paul directed their hearts “into…the patient waiting for Christ” and then went on to talk about working for a living (IIThes.3:5-10).

“Manifest” (1:5) means not secret (Lu.8:17). A “token” is a sign (Ex.12:13; Mark 14:44). So Paul is saying the persecutions the Thessalonians were receiving was a sign of the righteous judgment of God, a manifest token or an obvious sign, that when God judges the persecutors He will do so in righteousness.

God is always eager men know that when He judges, He does so righteously, so He let men know He conducted a thorough, personal investigation of Sodom before snuffing out so many lives (Gen.18:20). And throughout the Old Testament said things like what we find in Psalm 19:9, to make sure men knew His judgments are righteous.

God planned to judge their persecutors with the Tribulation (1:6). You see, a token is often a sign of a covenant (Gen.9:12,13; 17:11), and their persecutors were Jews (Acts 17:1-8). The Jews had a covenant with God called the Law, a covenant that said God would punish them if they were bad. Their persecution was a sign of their rebel-lion against God, so it was a sign that when God judges them with the Tribulation He will do so in righteousness. This is similar to how Daniel mentions God’s righteousness three times in speaking of how God judged Israel with the captivity (Dn.9:7-14). God would have been unrighteous if He didn’t judge them when His covenant with them said He would if they rebelled against Him.

The “kingdom” here was the kingdom of God in heaven, the one your body can’t go to without being “changed” (ICor.15:50,51). But the subject of II Thessalonians isn’t just the Rapture, it is the pre-trib rapture. So Paul is talking about going to the kingdom of God in heaven in the pre-trib rapture. What made them worthy of this? Well, what made their persecutors worthy of the Tribulation? They had a covenant with God and they broke it. What made the Thessalonians worthy of the pre-trib kingdom instead? They never broke the law that they were never under (Rom. 6:15), so they were worthy of the rapture. God would be unrighteous to make them go through the Tribulation.

That’s what made them worthy of the pre-trib kingdom, but Paul is talking about being counted worthy of it. If the Rapture had come in Paul’s day, and they were taken, that would count them worthy of it, and when the persecutors were left, that would count them worthy of the Tribulation.

If that confuses you, compare how Paul told slaves that had believing masters to count their masters worthy of all honor (ITim.6:1). Since slaves in those days were mostly men who racked up too much debt and had to work it off, their masters were worthy of their honor, but slaves had to count them worthy of it by serving them faithfully. In the same way, the Thessalonians were worthy of the pre-trib kingdom, and when the Rapture took them and left their persecutors, they would be counted worthy of it.

The Signature of Paul – 2 Thessalonians 1:1-3

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

Since this epistle is from Paul (1:1) that makes it different from all other New Testament epistles, which were to the Jews (e.g. James 1:1). But now that Israel has lost her favored nation status with God, she is now just another one of the nations, so Jews today must look to the apostle of the nations for their instructions (Rom.11:13).

“Silvanus” is a the full name of Silas, the man beaten and jailed with Paul in Philippi who then helped Paul found the Thessalonian church. As cowriter of the first epistle (1:1) Silvanus is part of the “we” (2:2), and there was no Silvanus in Philippi, only a Silas. So Paul mentions Silas in this opening salutation since the Thessalonians knew and loved the man who suffered with Paul and then helped found their church, along with “Timotheus” (v.1).

“In God the Father and the Lord” (1:1) is a reference to their position in Christ.” We are born into Adam but are baptized into Christ when we get saved (ICor.12:13; 15:22)

“Grace” means “gift” (Eph.2:8). We saved by grace, but Paul extends these saints more grace because grace is God’s panacea, His answer for every problem in life. It is the answer to the carnality of the Corinthians (ICor.1:3), the legalism of the Galatians (Gal.1:3), and everything in between, and that runs the gamut of all of our needs.

Paul offers “peace” to these saints who already had peace with God (Rom.5:1) because it is easy to think that you have lost your peace when you sin. So Paul opens this epistle by extending them peace to remind them that they didn’t make their peace with God by being good and so they couldn’t lose their peace by being bad, and the same is true for us.

The word “bound” (1:3) means “under legal or moral obligation.” The Greek word is translated “debt” or “owe” elsewhere. Paul felt he owed a moral debt to God to thank Him that the faith and love of the Thessalonians had grown because He had prayed that their faith and love would grow (IThes.3:10-12). No wonder he said he was bound to thank God for them “as it is meet,” for it is not meet or fitting to not thank God when He answers prayer.

How does faith grow? By the Word (Rom.10:17)! So they grew their faith by studying the Word. So why would Paul thank God that they had studied? Well, you thank God for food because without the rain He sends (Mt.5:45) food won’t grow, and you thank Him when faith grows because it wouldn’t grow without Him. Many men study the Word and don’t believe in the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, or that they’d be happier in life if they followed His rules.

Their charity or love also grew, and this too was of God, for many men study the Word and get puffed up (ICor.8:1), which makes them look down their noses at others that don’t know as much as they do, not love them, so Paul was bound to thank God their love had grown as well.

They already loved others with a love that stretched beyond their borders, but Paul prayed their love would increase more(ITh.4:9,10). He was never satisfied with anyone’s spiritual state, and we shouldn’t be with ours either!

In Paul’s first epistle he thanked God for their faith and love and hope (ITh.1:2,3), but doesn’t mention their hope here. Their hope was not just the Rapture (Tit.2:13), it was the pre-Trib rapture, that God will call us home before the Tribulation. Because of the tribulations the Thessalonians were enduring (1:4), they had begun to believe that they were in the Great Tribulation. But Paul had said “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22), and had told these very Thessalonians the same when he was with them (ITh.3:3,4).

The troubles of the Tribulation are all sent from God. Even those that come from Satan are just God using him as a chastening tool. Your troubles do not come from God, they are not “acts of God” as the insurance companies claim. But you serve a God that can bring good things out of your troubles (Romans 8:28), good things like patience, experience and hope (Rom.5:3,4).

Will We Judge Angels?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“Will we judge fallen or unfallen angels (1 Cor. 6:3), and how will we judge them? I understand that Christ is the judge.”

The reason Paul reminded the Corinthians that we will judge angels was to suggest that they should be able to settle disputes among believers (vv. 1-8). This implies that the angels we will judge are likewise unfallen. It is doubtful we’d be involved in judging fallen angels, or any beings, to eternal damnation.

The word judge has different meanings. Courtroom judges decide guilt or innocence and determine levels of punishment, while Olympic judges judge the performance of athletes and award them different degrees of reward. The Bible uses the word judge these ways, but in another way as well. The entire Book of Judges is all about the men who ruled over Israel. This is what the Lord meant when He told the twelve they would “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28). We know that judge here also means to rule over since the Jews they will rule over will in turn rule “over” the cities of the world in the kingdom (Luke 19:17,19).

Psalm 82:1 said of God that “He judgeth among the gods,” i.e., the angels. While God will eventually condemn fallen angels to hell (Matt. 25:41), 1 Kings 22 shows how He judged among the angels in time past (vv. 19-22), and suggests how we will judge them in the ages to come.

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You Can’t Judge a Woman by Her Cover

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head…” (I Cor. 11:5).

If you haven’t seen this in person, you’ve seen it in books or magazines or on television. Based on our text, women of certain religious persuasions wear a distinctive head covering whenever they are out in public, and not just when praying in church. Since the words of our text were penned by our apostle Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; 15:16), we are often asked if our grace churches should insist that women cover their heads in like manner. Since we believe the answer is no, we need to give a careful look at what the Word of God has to say about this sensitive subject, especially since Paul begins this passage by saying, “Be ye followers of me” (v. 1).

To begin with, when Paul says that a woman with an uncovered head “dishonoureth her head,” this is a reference to her husband. You see, Paul had just finished reminding the women in the Corinthian church that “the head of the woman is the man” (v. 3). When a woman in Corinth went to church without a head covering, she dishonored her head, i.e., her husband. But why would that be?

Well, the word cover in Scripture often has the idea of protection. Moses once said of Benjamin:

“The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long” (Deut. 33:12). (The word cover also has the idea of protection in Psalm 91:4 and Psalm 105:39.)

The word cover is still used to indicate protection in our own day. When a soldier says, “Cover me,” to his fellow, he is asking him to protect him while he attempts to advance on the enemy. In the case of a woman in Paul’s day, a woman’s head covering was a symbol of the protection provided for her by a husband. In essence, her head covering was a sign that she was married. (Today this significance has been lost, and single women wear such coverings as well.) For a married woman to go to church without this symbol dishonored her husband, for it meant that she refused to acknowledge the headship of her husband. It would be like a woman today refusing to wear a wedding ring.

So why do our grace churches not insist that our grace women cover their heads? We believe this is a cultural issue, and cultural things like this often change over time. In our day, women use different symbols to indicate that they are married. They still take their husband’s name, a tradition that dates back to when God blessed Adam and Eve, “and called their name Adam” (Gen. 5:2). But now, instead of covering their heads, women wear wedding rings to signify that they are married, a symbol that is recognized and understood in most, if not all, cultures around the world.

But what right do we have to ignore the plain words of our text and adopt this cultural change? Shouldn’t God’s people resist worldly trends and insist upon the plain teachings of His Word? Generally speaking, yes. But let’s consider yet another area where time has introduced yet another cultural change that is almost universally accepted by God’s people. Five times in the Bible we are told to “greet one another with an holy kiss” (Rom. 16:16; I Cor. 16:20; II Cor. 13:12; I Thes. 5:26; I Pet. 5:14), yet this is seldom if ever practiced in our grace churches. While believers in France or Italy or some of those other kissin’ countries might still observe this custom, this cultural symbol of love for one another has long since been replaced here in the United States by the warm handshake, and in more recent years, by the hug.

But what right did God’s people have to make this change, especially since it was our apostle Paul who issued four of the five commands to greet one another with a kiss? Well, we believe we can point to yet another area where God allows for cultural differences and changes among His people. It lies in the area of church government.

If you have ever studied the Scriptures looking for instructions as to how to set up the government of a local church, you know that God is very nonspecific in this area, and we believe that this was a purposeful omission on His part. You see, when God’s people were found only in the nation of Israel, He was very specific about how they were to be governed (Deut. 1:13-17). This was because they were one people, with one culture, located in one geographic area of the world. On the other hand, God knew that the Body of Christ would eventually be located throughout the world, encompassing many peoples and cultures. (The word Gentile is a translation of the Greek word ethnos, from which we get our word ethnic. God knew that the Body of Christ would eventually encompass ethnic groups all around the world.) For this reason, He left the description of local church government purposely open-ended, to allow for cultural differences within the Body of Christ.

For instance, here in corporate America, all of our corporations are governed by a board of directors, in accord with our government’s requirements for incorporation. Because most of our churches are incorporated with the state as non-profit organizations, most of our grace churches are governed by a board of directors. This arrangement has been criticized by some, but we see it as yet another example of how God allows culture to factor into how we live our lives as His children.

To return to the matter at hand, when cultural symbols change, we must change along with them, or else fail to convey the message we wish to convey. In the 1940’s, to extend two fingers in the air was a symbol that was commonly recognized as a “V” for victory sign. Ever since the 1960’s, however, this symbol has come to stand for peace. If we refuse to recognize this cultural change, we will not be conveying the message we think we are conveying when we extend our two fingers hoping to convey the idea of victory. In the same way, if a woman today were to cover her head but refuse to wear a wedding ring, she would not be effectively conveying the message that God wants her to convey, i.e., that she is married and under the headship of her husband.

Having said all this, if you live in an area where the women wear head coverings in church, you might want to cover your head when visiting their churches, out of respect for their custom. While Paul made it clear that in such matters “we have no such custom” as believers, “neither the churches of God” (I Cor. 11:16), he advised the women in Corinth to show respect for the local culture in which they found themselves (I Cor. 11:6-13), and we should be quick to do the same. Don’t forget, our text here in I Corinthians 11 comes close on the heels of Paul’s exhortation to be deferential to the personal convictions of others (I Cor. 8:13; 9:20-23; 10:33).

It has often been said that “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” but people often do, and so we regularly update the covers of our books here at Berean Bible Society in an ongoing effort to “adorn the doctrine of God” found within the pages of our literature (cf. Titus 2:10). In this article, we have attempted to show that you can’t judge a woman by her cover either, or lack thereof, and that’s why we gave that title to this article. But if you live in an area where people do judge you as a woman by your cover, you might want to adopt the attitude that the Apostle Paul expressed when he said:

“…I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (I Cor. 9:22).

Your respect for the convictions of others just might be the thing that helps you lead a soul to Christ, or welcome a believer into “the fellowship of the Mystery” (Eph. 3:9).

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Did the Lord Declare All Foods Clean in Mark 7:19?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“Did the Lord declare all foods to be clean in Mark 7:19, as it says in the NIV? I thought He came to obey and fulfill the Law, not change or negate it?”

“…whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats” (Mark 7:18,19).

At the end of Verse 19, the NIV adds in parenthesis, “(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’)” These words, which in NIV format appear to be part of the Bible text and not an editorial note, are not in any Greek text. The Lord was not setting aside the Law; He was speaking of the body’s natural ability to purge food of impurities.

As we compare Scripture with Scripture, we know that if the Lord had spoken these added words, then Peter would not have spoken these words years later:

“I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14).

If the Lord had pronounced unclean foods clean in Mark 7, Peter would have started eating them at that time, but his words here clearly indicate that such was not the case. The dietary laws of Leviticus 11 were not set aside until the ministry of the Apostle Paul (Rom. 6:14; I Tim. 4:4,5). God used Peter’s sheet vision to introduce this change, and teach Peter and his fellow Hebrews that Gentiles were no longer to be considered unclean (Acts 10:28) by teaching them that unclean foods were no longer unclean.

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Are There Apostles Today?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“I realize there are no apostles today, but could you give me Scriptural back-up for this?”

“The church which is His Body” (Eph. 1:22,23) is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20), referring to grace apostles and prophets (I Cor. 12:28,29). This means that the work of an apostle was foundational in nature. If 2000 years later we are still laying the foundation of the Church, there is something seriously wrong!

Apostles and prophets could speak for God by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaking verbally with the same inspired authority that Paul experienced when he wrote his epistles. Paul could not be everywhere at once, and so God needed prophets who could speak with the same authority he enjoyed as he wrote his epistles. Once the Bible was complete, however, “that which is perfect” was come, and the gift of prophecy ceased (I Cor. 13:8-10). Once the gift of prophecy ceased, of course, there were no more apostles and prophets. Within the pages of His Word, God has said all that He needed to say. This is why He closed the Book by pronouncing a curse on any who would add to what was written therein (Rev. 22:18).

With this in mind, it is not just wrong to call a man an apostle today, it is dangerous. Today no man can demonstrate “the signs of an apostle” (II Cor. 12:12), and no man can speak with the same authority as the written Word of God.

Repentance and Salvation

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“What do sorrow and repentance have to do with salvation, and why would anyone repent of being saved? (II Cor. 7:10).”

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of…” (II Cor. 7:10).

There are different kinds of salvation in Scripture. Paul spoke about the salvation of our souls (Eph. 2:8,9), but he also spoke about his physical salvation from prison (Phil. 1:19 cf. Ex. 14:13). Additionally, he advised Timothy that if he would continue in Pauline doctrine he would “save” himself from the misery that always comes from not continuing in Pauline doctrine! (I Tim. 4:16). There is also the salvation from despair that the hope of the Rapture gives (Rom. 8:23,24), and the Rapture itself is called a salvation (Rom. 13:11).

The salvation in our text is yet another kind. In the context, Paul says he made the Corinthians sorry “with a letter” (II Cor. 7:8), i.e., his first epistle to them, in which he rebuked them for not disciplining the man living in fornication (I Cor. 5). They then “sorrowed to repentance” about this (II Cor. 8:9). The word repentance means to have a change of mind, and they changed their mind about allowing the fornicator to continue in their midst. This “saved” them from the dangerous leavening effect that his presence would otherwise have among them, and so their godly sorrow worked repentance to salvation, a salvation Paul assured them they would not regret or repent of later.

It also worked another kind of salvation among them, one similar to the salvation Paul references in I Corinthians 5:5, where he speaks about the fornicator and tells them,

“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

In context, we know that delivering the man to Satan meant putting him out of the assembly (v. 2,13). Letting him wallow in sin might destroy his flesh, but it would bring him back to the Lord, and “save” him from a loss of rewards at the Judgment Seat (I Cor. 3:15). The Corinthians would likewise be saved from such loss by their obedience to Paul’s instructions. Their sorrow worked this kind of repentance to salvation as well, another salvation they would not regret, of course, for no one at the Judgment Seat will ever repent of having done the right thing.

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You’re Welcome!

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Like many Americans, I used to spend Sunday evenings watching 60 Minutes. My favorite part came near the end of each week’s show, when Andy Rooney would voice his complaints and opinions about things. Since his complaints were often aimed at new things, I figured he was just a crotchety old man who didn’t like change. Now that I’m about the age that he was then, I’m finding that I’m not so crazy about change myself, and there is one societal change that I find particularly vexing.

When I was a boy, I was taught that if someone says “thank you,” the polite way to respond is to say, “You’re welcome.” In recent years I have noticed that “you’re welcome” has been replaced by “no problem,” or “not a problem.” I’m not sure why this vexes me, but in true Andy Rooney-like fashion, it does!

Maybe it is because, if we think it through, this response isn’t nearly as good. Saying “you’re welcome” after a kindness means that the person who did you the kindness feels that you are a good person who is welcome to such kind treatment. “No problem” just says, “Being kind to you didn’t inconvenience me;” it says nothing of your worthiness to be treated so well.

If God were speaking aloud these days, one wonders how He would respond when we thank Him for all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ (Eph. 1:3). I doubt He would say, “No problem, being kind to you didn’t inconvenience Me,” for the price He paid at Calvary to procure these blessings was too high. We feel He would rather respond to our thanks with, “You are welcome to such blessings.” Of course, we are not worthy of these blessings because we are good people in ourselves, but rather because of who He has made us in Christ. As difficult as it is for humble Christians to accept, now that we are children of God, we are welcome to the same treatment from God that He gives His own Son. As Paul put it, we are “joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17), and so “how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (v. 32).

Remember every day to thank God for all that He has done for you in Christ. Anyone can thank Him for “life, and breath, and all things” of that nature, for these “He giveth to all” (Acts 17:25). Only the child of God can thank Him for “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” If we don’t thank Him for these things, who will?

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Are All Believers Ambassadors?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“Someone suggested that only Paul and the other apostles were ambassadors, not all believers (II Cor. 5:20). True?”

In Verse 18, Paul says, “God… hath reconciled us to Himself… and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” Here we see that the people who have been given the ministry of reconciliation are the same people who have been reconciled to God. This cannot be limited to Paul and other leaders; it must include all believers, for we have all been reconciled.

Paul then defines the ministry of reconciliation as that which takes place when “ambassadors” say to the lost, “be ye reconciled to God” (v. 20). This means that the ambassadors proclaiming reconciliation in Verse 20 must consist of all the reconciled people who were given the ministry of reconciliation in Verse 18.

This also points out that, while “the world” has been reconciled to God (v. 19), the unsaved have not been reconciled in the same sense as believers, or else they would also be Christ’s ambassadors. The reconciling of the world is that which God gave Jews and Gentiles corporately, once the Jews had been cast away (Rom. 11:15), just as the Gentiles had been at the Tower of Babel.

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Purgatory

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“I’m witnessing to my mom, who has questions by the boxcar about Purgatory. Can you help?”

This place where men must go after death to purge their sins is an invention of religion. The word purgatory comes from the word purge, and the Bible says that Christ “by Himself purged our sins” without any help from us (Heb. 1:3).

The Lord told the dying thief, “To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is significant, since the inspired Word of God calls this man a thief, and it was his own testimony to the other thief that “we receive the due reward of our deeds” (v. 41). That is, he was admitting he had not been framed or misjudged, but had indeed committed crimes worthy of the death penalty. If there was a Purgatory, this man would have gone there, yet we have the Lord’s word on it that he did not.

If anyone needed to go to Purgatory, it was the carnal Corinthians! Yet Paul told even these sinful believers that they could be “confident” that “to be absent from the body” is “to be present with the Lord” (II Cor. 5:8).

What About Foot Washing?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“What about foot-washing (John 13:1-17)?”

The text you cite has prompted several Christian denominations to practice foot-washing as a religious ceremonial rite. We feel the Lord was merely teaching the apostles a lesson about humility, a lesson they sorely needed (Lk. 9:46; 22:24).

In Bible days, feet that walked in sandals on dusty ground needed washing when they arrived at their destination (Gen. 19:2; 24:32). This humble task was often rendered by a servant (Gen. 18:4) or those willing to serve as a servant (Lk. 7:38; I Tim. 5:10). Proud men would of course refuse to wash a man’s feet (Lk. 7:44), and since this was sadly true of the apostles, the Lord washed their feet as “an example” (John 13:15) of humility.

This word example is important. The Mona Lisa is an example of Renaissance art, but this does not mean all Renaissance art is characterized by portraits of women. It rather means that the Mona Lisa has the same spirit of other works of that era. Thus the Lord washed the apostles’ feet to exemplify how they should treat others in the same spirit of humility. While washing a man’s feet exemplified this spirit well in Bible days, paved walks and leather shoes have rendered this particular example of humility obsolete. Today, guests are shown the same humble spirit with a beverage, a meal, and other gestures. We feel those who insist on practicing the exact example of humility the Lord gave are emphasizing symbolism over substance. They sometimes ask why we observe the Lord’s Supper but not foot washing, but the former is never said to be an example of what to do. Paul rather says, “This do” (I Cor. 11:24,25).

Finally, there is a doctrinal significance to this ceremony that renders it exclusive to Israel. God promised Israel they’d be a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:6), and priests had to be washed in an initial baptism ceremony to initiate them into the priesthood (Ex. 29:4). Later they had to wash their hands and feet as part of their daily service (Ex. 30:19-21). When John preached that the kingdom was “at hand” (Mt. 3:2), he meant the kingdom in which Israel would be a kingdom of priests, so he baptized them to initiate them into the priesthood. In John 13, the time for the twelve to minister to the world as priests was drawing nigh, so the Lord washed their feet so they could function as priests (cf. John 13:6-10).

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