Wonderful Words of Life (No.8) 1

President’s Word 2

The Apostles’ Question (No.1) 4

The Steward of the Mystery (No.22) 8

Who We Are, What we Do 12

Michael & Sylvia Penny in Australia 7

Inside this issue:

The official journal of the Berean Bible Fellowship of Australia Inc. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with

every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Eph. 1:3

Vol. 30 No. 3.

July-Aug 2016

Wonderful Words of Life - Part 8 - “Instead”

by Athol Walter

I think it is true to say that the little words such as ‘but’, ‘not’, and ‘if’, and also the seemingly unimportant words in the Bible, are the ones that often carry the truth God wishes to convey to us. And the ‘wonderful word’ to be con-sidered now is one such word. The phrase ‘instead of’ obviously is a slight contraction of ‘in the stead of’, and without giving thought to the original meaning behind the word ‘stead’, we use ‘instead’ freely in everyday conversation without any misunderstanding. ‘Stead’ comes into English from the old Germanic and Norse languages, and the fundamental meaning is that of ‘place’. Think of the word ‘homestead’, for instance.

I want to focus on three occurrenc-es of this word in Genesis because they sum up for us the truth in the word.

First occurrence

Our first reference is in Genesis 4:25: ‘And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has ap-pointed another seed for me in-stead of Abel, whom Cain killed”.’

Eve apparently knew that Abel was the one through whom the line to the promised Seed was to go, not Cain. The first verse of Genesis 4 shows, however, that when Cain was born, Eve indeed thought he was the fulfilment of God’s promise of 3:15. But, as 1 John 3:12 says, Cain was of the wicked one, that is, Satan. How Cain became ‘of the wicked one’ is outside our present subject. It is sufficient for our pur-poses to note that Abel was the chosen one, and after he was mur-dered by his brother, Seth was ap-pointed as the chosen channel in the stead of his brother. The name Seth means ‘appointed’.

The murder of Abel was another attack by Satan on the Messiah’s line. I say another because Satan’s takeover of Cain, however it was done, was also such an attack. But Satan was taken in his own crafti-ness, because it turned out that God’s principle is that it is the sec-ond one who is God’s choice, not the first. Not Cain, but Abel. Not

Ishmael, but Isaac. Not Esau but Jacob. And when Satan realised his mistake, he brought about the murder of Abel.

Because of our position looking back on these events, we know what happened, but imagine the problem that Abel’s death raised at the time. Quite apart from the grief his parents would have suf-fered, they must have at least wondered how the purposes of God would now be fulfilled. God had another principle that His creatures had to learn, that is, that of substitution. In other words, God would accept one per-son instead of another – Seth in-stead of Abel. Another example of this principle is found in Genesis 22 when it is the ram instead of Isaac.

Before leaving Genesis 4, I want to point out some things from God’s interaction with Cain in the early verses. We are told that the two brothers each brought an of-fering to the Lord. It seems that

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President’s Word by Rom Harper

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Welcome to our readers to this July - August 2016 edi-tion of Spiritual Blessings. We trust that you are contin-uing to enjoy receiving the magazine, and are obtaining spiritual insights and growth from the study articles. Annual Conference This is our last issue before our An-nual Conference being held from Saturday 24th September to Mon-day 26th September 2016, at Beth-shan Conference Centre, Wyee, NSW. Mike and Sylvia Penny, dispensa-tional authors and speakers from the United Kingdom, will be our guests this year. They have au-thored many books and booklets on a huge range of Bible and faith re-lated topics. Topics at Bethshan this year will include studies on Prophecy, Revelation, Miracles and more. I hope many of our friends and readers have decided to attend this year. Those who attend on a regu-lar basis can attest to the rich time of teaching and fellowship that is enjoyed by all who make the effort to come to Bethshan. If you are coming this year, you might have a friend or a family member you are thinking of inviting. If so, you might also be wondering what we can say to encourage them or other folk who have not been to a BBFA meeting before? Firstly, explain that the focus of our time together is the study of the Scriptures and therefore most of the programme time is allocated to Bible study sessions. However, terrific fellowship, enthusiastic singing, daily prayer time and ac-tivities for the young and old are all

staple parts of the BBFA confer-ence. Perhaps this summary of what to expect is a good start when speaking to others not fa-miliar with our meetings. In the end, we can assure you that if you are, or want to be a student of God's word, keen to dig deeper into the wonderful truths of Scrip-ture and meet like-minded people, then it is well worth the effort to come along to Bethshan or any of our meetings. For our Australian readers, we will post an information pamphlet on the conference. An e-mail re-minder has already been sent out to those on our electronic mailing list. If you are coming, please reg-ister your attendance with Sue Hall our Conference Convener. You can also email me or Sue at admin@spiritualblessings.org. We would love to see you there. Further information about the conference or any of our meetings is on the back page of this maga-zine and can also be found on our website: www.spiritualblessings.org Other Meetings For anyone that can't get to Beth-shan, there will be other meetings held around the country that may

be more convenient for you to attend while Mike and Sylvia are in Aus-tralia. There will be studies conduct-ed in NSW at Newcastle, Thornton, Edgeworth and Concord. In Queens-land, meetings are planned at Rose-wood, Springfield and New Beith. For Tasmanians, meetings will be in the Burnie and Penguin area and finally at Hillside in the Melbourne region for Victorians. All meetings are free of charge and everyone is welcome to attend. Details can be found on the Meetings page on the Spiritual Blessings website. This issue This issue includes articles, “Wonderful Words of Life - Instead", by Athol Walter; the final install-ment by Peter Ward, "Paul's Chris-tian-ness", in his series dealing with 'The Steward of the Mystery'; and 'The Apostles' Question" by Karl Ed-wards. Once again, please enjoy the articles. I hope to catch up with many of our readers at Bethshan and am looking forward to a weekend of great fellow-ship. Until next time, in all we do, may we give glory and honour to our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus.

Rom Harper admin@spiritualblessings.org

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Wonderful Words of Life — Instead Continued from page 1

they were in the very presence of the Lord, for He spoke with Cain face to face, not from Heaven.

Now we know that Abel brought a blood offering, but Cain did not. It is often taught that the reason why Abel’s offering was accepted was because of the blood offering, and that may well be true. How-ever, I think there could be a slightly different interpretation of it. In Hebrews 11:4 we read: ‘By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained wit-ness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts…’ Note first that Abel brought his sacrifice by faith. What does that mean? Ro-mans 10:17 tells us that ‘…faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.’

In other words, when we read that Abel acted by faith, it means he was obeying something God had previously said. That is pre-cisely what faith is! Cain, on the other hand, who had also heard the Word of God, would not obey God’s instructions. Notice, too, that the reference from Hebrews 11 tells us that Abel obtained wit-ness that he was righteous. Abel was righteous before he made this sacrifice, which is why he brought the sacrifice, and the Lord testi-fied to his righteousness by ac-cepting his offering. In plain words, I believe that Abel had previously responded in faith to God and was saved, to use our evangelical term, whereas Cain had never responded positively to the Lord’s instructions about be-coming righteous.

Now consider what the Lord said to Cain in Genesis 4:6 and 7. We are first told that Cain became angry when the Lord rejected his offering. This is a paraphrase: ‘So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you so angry, and why that terri-ble look on your face? If you will obey what I have told you to do,

won’t you be accepted? (Implied answer: Of course, you will.) And if you choose not to obey, well, the sin-offering is lying outside the door. It won’t run away from you and you can do whatever you like with it”.’

I use the word ‘sin-offering’ in-stead of ‘sin’, because the Hebrew word translated ‘sin’ is also trans-lated many times as ‘sin-offering’. The reason for that seeming para-dox is that sin and the sin-offering are so mixed together that the word can mean either and the context must decide the meaning. Obviously, I think that the meaning of the Lord’s words is that if Cain repented sincerely, the sin-offering was there ready at hand to gain Cain access and acceptance. There is an important point embedded in those last words of verse 7. Just as the ani-mal would not run away or strug-gle against Cain, when the true Sin-offering came, like a lamb led to the slaughter, He did not struggle against his executioners or raise His voice in protest. Blessed truth!

We well know what Cain’s re-sponse to the Lord’s gracious offer was. He took his brother out to the field and murdered him in his anger.

Second occurrence

The second occurrence of “instead” is in Genesis 22:13. The chapter tells of Abraham’s obedi-ence to God’s supreme test of his faith. Obviously, there is much typical teaching here: Abraham and Isaac picture for us God the Father and God the Son going together to the sacrifice on Calva-ry. Abraham’s willingness to kill his only son, Isaac, mirrors the Father’s willingness to give His only Son as the sacrifice. Equally, Isaac’s incredible submission to Abraham mirrors the complete obedience and submission of the

Son in drinking the bitter dregs of the cup that was offered to Him. But then, as the drama on that mountain in Moriah moves to its climax, the types change. When God can say to Abraham, ‘Now I know that you love Me…’ then Abraham and Isaac no longer pre-figure the Father and the Son, but are simply themselves bring-ing a sacrifice to atone for their sins. God shows Abraham the ram caught by its thorns in a thicket, and the ram, killed in-stead of Isaac, is a wonderful pic-ture of the Lord Jesus dying in the stead of each one of us.

As noted above, Abraham had to go to the land of Moriah to a spec-ified mountain. This was the very area where, later, the Temple was built, and I suspect that the Lord was crucified on the very spot where Abraham built his altar.

Three times is Isaac named as Abraham’s only son – in verses 2, 12 and 16. While there were other sons by other wives, Isaac was, indeed, the only child born to Abraham and Sarah, and was the only one through whom God’s plans were to be realised.

Verse 6 tells us that the wood for the fire was laid upon Isaac. And verse 9 says that Abraham bound Isaac his son and laid him upon the wood. In the accounts of the crucifixion of the Lord, there is only one little reference, but it is there in John 19:17: ‘And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called… Golgotha.’ The ‘wood was placed on’ Christ, and then, of course, when they got to Golgotha, He ‘was placed on the wood’.

The third occurrence

The last reference we will consid-er is found in Genesis 44:33. It

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The Apostles’ Question (Pt.1) by Karl Edwards

Before the Lord ascended in Acts chapter one, the apostles asked Him a simple question, which, when placed into its proper con-text, sets the tone for the book of Acts. This question is often marginalised or ridiculed as being borne of the worldly desires of unlearned and ignorant men. Its importance is then lost, and with that, the key to understanding the nar-rative of the Acts as a whole. What do many commentaries say?

The following quotations from well-known scholars and reference sources illustrate this view. (Note: The quotes have been modified for brevity, but the sense has been retained. Emphasis is the author’s. Full quotes may be read by consulting the commentaries of each author, or the commentary quoted in regard to comments on Acts 1:6. Go to http://biblehub.com/commentaries for most of these.) John Calvin: “He showeth that the apostles were gathered together when as this question was moved, that we may know that it came not of the fool-ishness of one or two that it was moved, but it was moved by the com-mon consent of them all; but marvel-ous is their rudeness, that when as they had been diligently instructed by the space of three whole years, they be-tray no less ignorance than if they had heard never a word. There are as many errors in this question as words. They ask him as concerning a kingdom; but they dream of an earthly kingdom, which should flow with riches, with dainties, with external peace, and with such like good things; and while they assign the present time to the re-storing of the same... They are also greatly deceived herein, in that they restrain Christ's kingdom unto the car-nal Israel, … Now, they hoped for the restoring hereof at the coming of the Messias, and hereupon was it that so

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time

restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

soon as the apostles saw their Master Christ risen from the dead, they straightway began to think thereupon; but, in the meantime, they de-clared thereby how bad scholars they were under so good a Master.” Matthew Henry: “They were earnest in asking about that which their Master never had directed or encouraged them to seek. Our Lord knew that his ascension and the teach-ing of the Holy Spirit would soon end these expecta-tions, and therefore only gave them a rebuke…” Benson Commentary: “Their minds were still full of a temporal kingdom to be erected by Christ, in which the Jews should have domin-ion over all nations… And he — waving a direct answer to this curious question, and

leaving it to the Spirit of truth and wisdom, which was shortly to be given, to rectify the mis-taken notions on which they proceeded in it—said, ‘It is not for you [etc …]”. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: “The question was asked when all the Apostles were gathered together, so that the enquiry was not dictated by the mistaken notion of some single member. It shews, as do many other remarks and ques-tions (cp. Luke 24:21, &c.), how far the Apostles were even yet from comprehending the spirituality and universality of the work to which Christ was sending them.”

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Com-mentary: “Doubtless their carnal views of Messiah’s kingdom had by this time been modified, though how far it is impossible to say. But, as they plainly looked for some res-toration of the kingdom to Isra-el, so they are neither rebuked nor contradicted on this point.” The People’s New Testament: “They still held to their old ideas of a worldly restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Their only question was, "Wilt thou restore it now?" After the Holy Spirit was given, this delu-sion was dismissed, and they un-derstood that Christ's kingdom is not of this world.” Many similar quotes can be found from other well-known Bible schol-ars and commentators, and far out-weigh those who take an alternate view. According to such views, the apostles were foolish, rude, mistak-en, delusional, carnal, deceived, bad scholars asking a curious question

and very far from comprehending the spirituality and universality of the work to which Christ was sending them. The overwhelming consensus is that the Lord’s King-dom from here on in would be a spiritual Kingdom, not a literal earthly Kingdom. Furthermore, according to these commentators, the coming of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord prom-ises in verse eight, would remove these “erroneous” views and recti-fy the mistaken notions, and so, the Lord gently corrected their collective misgivings and re-directed their thoughts to the “new work”.

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Their question, however, should not be dismissed lightly. In this series of articles, we will consider whether these men were mistaken, and whether or not the Lord had a “new work” and a different plan for the kingdom than that which had been revealed in the Old Testament, with which these men would have been familiar.

Context of the Question Let us now, consider the whole sec-tion of Scripture to get the full con-text. Acts 1:1-8 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Je-sus began both to do and teach until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the king-dom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly bap-tized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

It has been well established that Luke is the author of both the gos-pel that bears his name and the book of Acts, and that the “former treatise” referred to in verses 1 and 2, “… all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up,” is con-cerning that well known work. It should also be noted that verses 3 to 14 of Acts 1 overlaps with vers-es 31 to 53 of Luke 24, and that verse 3 gives us a period of forty days, in which the Lord spoke and taught them concerning the king-dom of God -“to whom He also pre-sented Himself alive after His suf-fering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3) Luke 24 gives us a little more in-formation on the forty days in-struction and the type of things the Lord discussed with them. For this reason, it is important to note the “therefore” of Acts 1:6, which sets the context for the apostle’s question. The “therefore,” square-ly places their inquiry in direct correspondence with that instruc-tion about the things concerning the kingdom of God, and so, there are a number of important things to consider in this chapter, start-ing with the road to Emmaus.

The road to Emmaus Even though He had not yet re-vealed His identity, the two disci-ples on the road to Emmaus were given a stern rebuke because they were slow to believe ALL that the prophets had spoken, and subse-quently, they received a scriptural history lesson, where the Lord

revealed to them all things in the scriptures concerning Himself. Here we have the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word, revealing the written Word. No greater ex-positor could be imagined, and so we need to pay attention to the things spoken here. Firstly, take note of the hope which these disciples held in verse 21, and which prompted the Lord’s response. After ex-plaining to this “stranger,” the events of the previous days in Jerusalem, they say, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to re-deem Israel…” (Luke 24:21) Their hope was not that Jesus of Nazareth was about to start a new movement, in which the whole world would believe the gospel and become Christian, but rather that Israel would be redeemed. The Lord does not rebuke their hope concerning the redemption of Isra-el, but rather their understanding of the “law and the prophets,” be-cause they did not comprehend how He had to suffer and die be-fore entering into His glory. For these two disciples, having the Scriptures opened to them resulted in their “hearts burning within them,” (Luke 24:32). If the Lord had told them to forget about the redemption of Israel, and intro-duced a new work with a new hope, alien to the hope contained in the law and the prophets, it is doubtful whether this would have been the response of their hearts, and it is inconceivable to think that this “new work” would not have been a major topic of discus-sion during the next forty days, in which case they would have had a very different question. But the Lord upheld the law and the prophets as the standard for truth and, as we shall see, one of the key themes of the law and the prophets is “the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel.”

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He opened their understanding When the Lord finally reveals Him-self to the rest of the disciples in Luke 24, we find that He draws their attention to the same body of Scripture as He did with the two on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:44-45 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scrip-tures. He establishes that the words that He spoke to them while He was with them in His earthly ministry were for the fulfilling of that which was written in the Law, the Proph-ets and the Psalms. Far from changing the meaning of these Scriptures, He declares that His earthly life and ministry were in accordance with them. We also have here, the very im-portant phrase, “He opened their understanding”. The significance of this cannot be overstated. The Lord had personally handpicked these men; He had worked with them and had trained them for three years; and now, He personally opens their understanding. If the Lord used “the Law and the Proph-ets”, to expound the things concern-ing Himself, and opened their un-derstanding that they might com-prehend those Scriptures, and if their question concerning the resto-ration of the kingdom was based on this understanding, then we must ask, “what sayeth the Scripture concerning the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel?”, of which they inquired about in Acts 1:6, and of which, the Lord taught them about in Luke chapter 24?

Upon understanding After opening their understanding, He said to them… "… Thus it is written, and thus it

was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all na-tions, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." (Luke 24:46-49) Verses 47 and 48 overlap with Acts 1:8, but the phrasing is slightly different: Acts 1:8 …and you shall be wit-nesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Luke 24:47 … and that repent-ance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Some consider that herein is the end of the witness to Israel, with no further need to consider a res-toration of a literal kingdom. The belief is that, from now on, any-body, of any nation, by believing the gospel, could become a citizen of the newly revealed spiritual kingdom, and receive spiritual power; and that it was the mis-sion of the apostles to go to all and sundry, teaching the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord and the subsequent “repentance to eternal life,” other-wise known as “The Great Com-mission”. And so, according to this particu-lar view, the only possible conclu-sion concerning the apostles’ question in Acts 1:6 is that they just did not understand the gospel or this “new work”. The Lord’s choice of witnesses If this is true, then we must con-sider that the Lord did not make very good choices when He chose these particular men to be His witnesses. If - after being trained by Him

personally, being eyewitnesses of His power and majesty, his brutal death and resurrection, and afterwards having their understanding opened and be-ing filled with the Holy Spirit - they miss the most basic point, He should have perhaps chosen others. For we find that, even after the Pentecost experience, these men continued to work for “the restoration of the kingdom to Israel”. If, on the other hand, the Lord did choose wisely, we can only conclude that the error lies in our understanding and not theirs, and the apostles’ ques-tion in Acts 1:6 was a logical query based on the teachings of the Law and the Prophets and the Lord’s exposition during the previous forty days.

(To be continued in the next edition.)

Karl Edwards has contributed several articles to our magazine

and website. Karl also may be found regularly posting com-ments and articles of interest

on our Facebook page - Spiritual Blessings BBFA.

Drop by sometime!

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Editorial by David Tavender

Visit of Michael and Sylvia Penny

to Australia - September & October 2016

Michael and Sylvia Penny, dispensational authors and speakers from the United Kingdom, will be visiting a number of venues around Australia in 2016, with Michael being the speaker at most of these meetings. Michael Penny has authored over 50 books and booklets on a huge range of Bible and faith-related topics, including such titles as: "Approaching the Bible", "The Miracles of the Apostles", "The Last Days - When?", "40 Problem Passag-es", "The Clear Will of God", "The Work of the Spirit in an Age of Grace", and many more. A more extensive biography and list of works may be found at the following web page: www.obt.org.uk An excellent speaker, Michael fills his talks with spiritual meat, and yet is interesting and easy to listen to, often using charts and slides to elaborate the content. We invite you to take advantage of a rare opportunity, and join us at our Annual Conference, this year at Bethshan Conference Centre at Wyee (NSW Central Coast). Michael will take each of the Bible study sessions. Sat Sept 24th: “A Timeline for Prophecy and Revelation.” Sessions: 11.00am, 2.30pm, 4.30pm, 7.30pm.

Sun Sept 25th: “Miracles Throughout the Bible.” Sessions: 11.30am, 2.30pm, 4.30pm.

Mon Sept 26th: “Circumcision and the Circumcision Group.” Sessions:10.00am, 11.45am. (9.45 Prayer)

If you can’t make it to our Annual Conference, you can hear Michael Penny speak at the following venues: Wed Sept 21 - 13 Drayton Cres., Thornton, NSW. 10.00am. Thurs Sept 22 - Warabrook, NSW. 7.30pm. Wed Sept 28 - Concord, NSW 7.30pm. Thurs Sept 29 - Warabrook, NSW. 7.30pm. Sat Oct 1 - Colyton, NSW. 2.00pm. Sun Oct 2 - Concord, NSW. 2.00pm. Mon Oct 3 - Warabrook, NSW. 7.30pm. Wed Oct 5 -Thornton, NSW. 10.00am. Sat Oct 8 - Rosewood, QLD. 1.30pm. Sun Oct 9 - Augustine Hts, QLD. 10.30am Tues Oct 11 - New Beith Forest, QLD 6.30pm. Fri Oct 14, Sat Oct 15, Sun Oct 16 - Burnie, TAS. Tues Oct 18, Wed Oct 19, Thurs Oct 20 - Hillside, VIC. 7.30pm. For more details: phone Rom Harper on 0412-239-907 email us at admin@spiritualblessings.org check out the Meetings pages on our website -

www.spiritualblessings.org

Greeting once again. I hope you are enjoying this edition of Spiritual Blessings Magazine.

This issue sees the conclusion of two series—one by Peter Ward, the other by Athol Walter. We have had great feedback on both series, but I wanted to particularly share with you one response to Athol’s series. Michael M writes: “Words alone cannot describe this wonderful meditation on our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. It could be read again and again to know and appreciate Him better each time and receive a spiritual surge.”

Those words sum up why we publish our magazine - the hope that the various articles and items may bring glory to our Lord, and that our fellow believers in the faith may be encour-aged in their walk. This continues to be our goal and our prayer for each edition. - David T.

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The Steward of the Mystery (No. 22 - Final)

By Peter Ward

Paul's "Christian-ness" During this series on the char-acter of the steward of the mys-tery, we have discussed Paul’s sincerity, integrity, weakness and human frailty, indomitable strength of will, Christ-centred pride, humility, courage, re-markable passion for Christ, gracious courtesy, indignance, tenderness and sympathy, thankfulness and joyfulness, trustfulness and hopefulness, loveableness, and lovingness, tenacity, sanity, and greatness. In this article, we draw to a close this series with a fairly short – but highly poignant reflection on the absolute centre of Paul’s charac-ter… his Christian-ness.

Christian-ness

I use this word ‘Christian-ness’ be-cause it is the only word I can think of to describe what I’m talk-ing about. Some would call it reli-giousness – but that word brings with it some ‘baggage’ that I don’t wish to assign to Paul.

To my mind, there is a huge differ-ence between being Christian and being religious. The true nature of ‘religion’ becomes apparent in its definition.

The definition of religion is a spe-cific fundamental set of beliefs and practices, generally agreed upon by a number of people. It can also be defined as something one believes in and follows devotedly – especial-ly a matter of ethics or conscience.

There is a great deal of religious-ness present in the world. Think about those definitions - something that someone ‘believes’ in and ‘follows devotedly’. This, of course, can be Christianity, but there are also many people out there in the world that make a religion out of

human rights, or fighting prejudice. There are people who are religious about establishing and then enforc-ing homosexual rights, including gay marriage. There are people in the world who make a religion out of be-ing atheistic - Richard Dawkins springs to mind.

In each of these fields of human in-terest, there are people who have made a religion of it – something that they believe in and follow devotedly.

So it is appropriate, at a certain level, to call Paul a religious man. He clear-ly believed in Christ and followed Him devotedly, but it goes far deeper than just a fanatical belief about which he became very animated, like so many other religious fascinations.

That is why I am using the word Christian-ness to describe this partic-ular aspect of his character. Paul’s Christian-ness was the deepest char-acteristic in him. It was his Chris-tian-ness that was all-controlling. It differentiated him from many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and differ-entiates him from many religious zealots today.

For many, Christianity is little more than a religion. It is something they do at Easter, or at Christmas. Others are only interested in it when life threatening emergencies arise, or they are in physical danger.

We’ve all seen it in the movies. Some of you may have seen it in real life, but Paul lived in an atmosphere of Christian-ness every minute of every day. He wasn’t concerned with philoso-phy, literature, art, business or politics. His ultimate concern was his Christian-ness and honouring his work for Christ.

It makes sense then that no portrait of him would be com-plete without looking at his life in God. Paul had a conscious attitude toward God and was intensely conscious of his rela-tionship with Him. He saw that relationship with an in-tensity and clarity that I am going to suggest is unparal-leled in Scripture. In God he lived, and moved, and had his being. He was sure of God, sure of His existence, sure of his personality and his goodness, sure of his activity in human affairs, and sure of God’s par-ticipation and guidance in his own affairs.

He was … sure.

And his sureness comes out in his language time and time again. Paul is mighty in argu-ment – but he not infrequently pauses in the middle, or the end, of an argument to speak a doxology. 1 Timothy 1:15-18…

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" - and I am the worst of them! But here is why I was treated with mer-cy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an ex-ample for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the eternal king, im-mortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory forever

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and ever! Amen. I put this charge be-fore you, Timothy my child ...

Do you see it there? Right in the middle of his explanation to Timothy about his own sinfulness: “now to the eternal king, immortal…..”

Again in Romans 11:28-36...

In regard to the gospel they are ene-mies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all people to disobedi-ence so that he may show mercy to them all. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

Paul’s Christian-ness was the most precious and thrilling part of his life and we often see him taking delight in describing it. Acts chapter 26 is one of the best examples of this. Be-fore reading chapter 26, however, it will be useful to summarise chapters 24 and 25 for context.

In chapters 24 and 25 we find Paul detained in Caesarea as a result of protestations of the Jewish leader-ship. In chapter 25 he is brought be-fore Festus, the Roman governor of Judea, to answer the accusations of blasphemy brought against him. Fes-tus can’t find anything of conse-quence to warrant having him put death, and Paul appeals to Caesar.

Next, King Agrippa arrives in Caesa-rea and wants to hear Paul himself. So Paul, in Chapter 26, explains in detail how he was one of the chief persecutors of the Christians, how he was stopped on the road to Damascus and how he became a disciple of

Christ. It is this chapter in which we see a fine example of Paul tak-ing the opportunity to describe the establishment of his Christian-ness.

And he delivers the description with such zeal that Agrippa is al-most taken aback. Let’s look at it from verses 24 to 29:

As Paul was saying these things in his defence, Festus exclaimed loud-ly, "You have lost your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!" But Paul replied, "I have not lost my mind, most excellent Festus, but am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely to him, because I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe." Agrippa said to Paul, "In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?" Paul re-plied, "I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time not only you but also all those who are lis-tening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains."

It doesn’t matter whether he is talking with peasants in Lystra, philosophers in Athens, the king in Caesarea, or a bunch of sailors on a wrecked ship in the middle of a storm. Paul’s favourite subject was Christ.

He was constantly, with religious fervour, exhorting people to be-come acquainted with God in Christ. The word he uses is ‘beseech’. And we find him be-seeching in Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephe-sians, Philippians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians and Philemon, but nowhere is it more heartfelt than in his second letter to the Corin-thians (5:20,21):

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were mak-ing His plea through us. We be-seech you on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God!" God made the

one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

Paul had a burning desire to be-come a man that was fully stat-ured in God’s sight – and he im-plored others to do the same. That too shows up in his words in Co-lossians 1:28,29:

We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. To-ward this goal I also labour, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me.

His Christian-ness was unswerv-ing and unwavering.

On his journey to Damascus, where he met Christ face to face in such a life changing way, Paul came to know God in a new way through Christ. His theology, his way of thinking and relating to God, changed forever in that in-stant - and remained Christ cen-tred for the rest of his life.

He lived in Christ. He could do all things through Christ. It is Christ who lived in him. It is Christ with whom he longed to dwell forever.

All of this came about as a result of his experience on the road to Damascus that day.

It was there that he first saw Christ. It was there that he first discovered, and could clearly see, that Christ loved him. It was this experience that awakened a pas-sionate love for Christ that would drive his very way of being – his Christian-ness – for the remain-der of his life.

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Series Conclusion

That brings us to the conclusion of our series on Paul and his charac-ter.

He was a theologian, a philosopher, a metaphysician, a logician, a Ro-man citizen, a traveller, an orator, a member of the established clergy, a statesman, a missionary, an Apostle, a pastor, a teacher, an un-paralleled advocate for Christ, a defender of the faith and … a man.

I encourage you to go back and spend the next week or so reading Paul - beginning with Philemon. Philemon is a note written to a close friend on a delicate matter and is particularly revealing. It is one chapter with just twenty five verses, so it’s a great place to start because it prepares a very nice foundation to expand upon. If you are interested in Paul’s doctrine, read Romans. If you would know Paul, read Philemon.

After that, I’d recommend that you read Philippians, which was a let-ter written to a group of Paul’s friends whom were his first Euro-pean converts. It is four short chap-ters but it overflows with affection and feeling in the context of such innocence and simplicity that one is drawn into the mind of a man who is clearly a gentleman at heart.

Next, take a look at Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians as you build on the picture of this man. 2 Corinthians is the most autobiographic of all of his letters. It reveals a great deal of his life – and it is in this letter that he bares his heart in a way that is un-paralleled anywhere else in Scripture.

It is in this letter that he de-fends himself against the un-just and sometimes cruel ac-cusations of his enemies. It is in this letter that we see clearly the extraordinary lev-el of anguish that he is en-during through things that he writes – things that only an innocent man who is being tortured would dare to say.

In Philippians he reveals himself to his friends. In 2 Corinthians, he reveals him-self to his enemies.

You might then like to move to what is considered by most to be the last of his letters, his 2nd letter to Timothy. He wrote it while in prison, so you can imagine that here, with death staring him in the face, he felt the need to write to the man that was perhaps dearest of all to him – so much so that he considered him to be like a son.

These four letters - Philemon, Philippians, 2 Corinthians and 2 Timothy - provide a unique tapestry of the man that is Paul.

Once you’ve read them you will be ready to read the ac-count of his journey and his ‘doings’ that are presented by his great friend Luke in Acts. It’s a compressed version of course, and there are many gaps, but oh how Luke lights Paul up for us. Luke’s exter-nal view brings a completely different perspective that al-most sparkles at times with the manner of this man Paul.

If you are then ready, go on to the remaining letters - finishing with Romans.

This, then, has been Paul.

We need this man in Scripture. The world will always need him. We need his ideas, but we need still more his guidance. We need the re-freshment of a heart which laughs, and the love of a mind that endures. We need by our side this man who has in him the invigorating joy of victory - the joy of victory of the Son of God who was able to say "Be of good cheer" to a company of dis-heartened men.

The world had done its utmost to crush him, and had failed. Evil in every form had assaulted him, and had failed.

"Be of good cheer" he said, "for I have shown you that even in a world like this, victory can be won. I have overcome the world.” (cp John 16:33)

That was the life that Paul led. He was a man of good cheer for His Saviour and Lord – a man that en-dured remarkable suffering and was still able to uplift others for the sake of His Lord, and lead them to his Saviour – Christ Jesus.

Pause for a moment… and give thanks to God that He chose to pro-vide us with such a remarkable rec-ord – one which continues to delight and direct us so effectively centuries later.

Peter Ward is the current Vice-President of the Berean Bible Fellowship of Australia.

The editor would like to thank Peter for his fine contributions to Spiritu-al Blessings Magazine via this se-ries, providing us with many oppor-tunities to reflect upon the character of the man through whom God chose to reveal a large portion of the New Testament Scriptures.

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comes in the climax of the long story concerning Joseph being sold into slavery, and then his testing of his brothers to see if they had experienced a change of heart, or would, for a second time, abandon one of their broth-ers. It is wonderful how God uses Joseph’s manipulations of his brothers to bring out important truths. The verse we are con-cerned with says this: ‘Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.’

When Judah spoke these words, he had no idea that he was speaking to his brother Joseph. To understand the full import of his words, we have to go back to the scenes at home before the brothers came to Egypt the sec-ond time. They were caught in a difficult dilemma. The famine was biting and they faced the real prospect of seeing their chil-dren starve. But they could not go back to Egypt without Benja-min, yet Jacob would not let Benjamin go.

As the situation grew worse, two suggestions were made: in chap-ter 42:37, Reuben offered his two sons to Jacob as hostages for Benjamin. Their lives, he said, would be forfeited if Benjamin did not return. Their father re-jected this out of hand. How could two dead grandsons re-place Benjamin? Then, later, Judah made his offer to Jacob. Please read Judah’s words in chapter 43, and note particularly verses 8 and 9. I quote: ‘Then Judah said to Israel, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go… I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.” ’

Why did Jacob accept this? I have two answers to offer. Firstly, Judah offered himself as the guarantee for Benjamin. He was not offering any third party. Secondly, in the area of typical teaching, it had to be Judah who went guarantor, because the Deliverer of Israel was to come from the tribe of Judah. I am not suggesting that Jacob accepted Judah’s offer because he understood that, but I am saying that we see God in the background, over-ruling the events to bring out the truth He wanted known by later generations.

Another point to notice is what Judah said at the end of verse 9: ‘…let me bear the blame for-ever’. This could just as correct-ly be translated ‘let me bear the sin forever’, for that is the word used. How all these things speak to us of Christ, our Surety, our Substitute, our Sin-bearer!

One final point. Going ahead to chapter 44 to Judah’s words to Joseph, we must note verse 34. Here is how Judah finished his plea to Joseph: ‘For how shall I go up to my father if the lad be not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?’ While I cannot quote chapter and verse where the Lord actually used these words, surely the thought and the motive was in His mind and heart, with such words as, ‘How can I go up to my Father except these brethren, for whom I have gone guarantor, be with Me.’

It has been difficult, once again, not to stray into the are-as of the other wonderful words we have studied previously. That can’t be avoided entirely for the subjects are intimately connected. But what a glorious

truth, what a precious thought, is con-tained in this word ‘instead’. Thank God that one can stand in the place of another, and that not only was the Fa-ther’s love sufficient to send His Son as our substitute, but that also the Son was completely willing to carry out the Father’s will and bear the blame, the sin, instead of us.

Some words of a Gospel song from years ago come to mind. They go like this: ‘He took my place, upon the cruel tree, He took the guilty sinner’s place, AND I AM FREE.’ Wonderful words of life indeed!

Athol Walter is a former President of the Berean Bible Fellowship of Austral-ia, a former editor of Spiritual Bless-ings Magazine, and a regular speaker at many of our gatherings.

We would like to thank Athol for this excellent collection of articles. You can find the entire series reproduced on our website.

Go to: www.spiritualblessings.org and search for “Wonderful Words of Life”. Try entering the author’s name in the search box there to find plenty of other great articles by Athol.

Wonderful Words of Life—”Instead”

(cont. from page 3)

Spiritual Blessings BBFA