Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Host: The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Just as we must be intolerant in all matters concerning the person and honor of our Lord, so must we be tolerant of the liberties and rights of others. Yes, and of the weaknesses and frailties of others who are within the body of Christ, members of Christ.

So far as I am concerned, although I will eat anything and I will eat it on any day of the year, roast beef on Good Friday, and such food as bacon, oysters, and lobster, which some Christians consider unclean. I will respect those who wish to diet, those who wish to fast, those who wish to abstain.

Have it your way, the true Christian says. You are not answerable to me. You are answerable to God and to Him alone. You eat whatever your conscience will let you, and I will eat whatever I like. And above all, I shall never enter into an argument with any Christian who wants his food one way or another. That is between you, the cook, and the Lord. But be sure to acknowledge it as the gift and grace of God and thank Him for it through Jesus Christ.

Host: Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God's Word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the radio ministry, which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.

The application of God's Word as taught by Dr. Barnhouse is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago. The message we'll be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled Not Robots, but Sons.

A room filled with dolls and puppets will be peaceful and quiet with no disagreements or differences of opinion. But it will be lifeless and impersonal as well. The Church is not composed of puppets on strings and lifeless robots. The Church is made up of redeemed human beings, made in the image of God, with different personalities, opinions, preferences, dislikes, practices, and life experiences.

How can we learn to exercise tolerance and love towards the broad diversity of individuals that make up the body of Christ? The Scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible, Romans chapter 14, we're looking at verses 2 and 3. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled Not Robots, but Sons.

Prayer (Male): Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto Thee, our Father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. Thou art the God of all grace. Thou art patient with us when we stumble and dost lift us up when we fall. Thou art slow to anger and of great compassion. New every morning are Thy mercies. Great is Thy faithfulness.

In this hour, we pray Thee to speak Thy Word to each listening heart. Where there is emptiness, fill it with Thyself. Where there is sin, cleanse it by the work of Thy Son, our Savior. Where there is struggle, give the strength that comes from the presence of Thy Holy Spirit. Where there is pain, give Thy comforting touch. Wherever there is need, fill it with Thyself.

Give us listening hearts in this hour. We ask it in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: We continue our study now in the 14th chapter of Romans, where we read in the second and third verses: "For one believes that he may eat all things. Another, who is weak, eats vegetables. Let not him that eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him."

The subject before us in this chapter of Romans is tolerance inside the Christian fold. Believers are to be allowed the widest latitude in religious observances and in such matters as diet.

This passage cannot be fully understood without due regard for what is taught in the first verse of the chapter. The members of the early Christian assemblies were commanded to receive those who believed and not to argue with them about unimportant matters.

If a vegetarian came into the church, the meat eaters were not to despise him, even though God states that this practice stems from spiritual weakness.

The principal teaching is that God wants us to understand that the Church is made up of people with different opinions, and that one party is not to despise the opinions of the other. The basis of Christian fellowship is life in the Lord Jesus Christ, not the amount of light that a man has.

The first essential in relationships between true believers is tolerance of each other's practices. The second essential is to learn to love one another. There are some in our day who wish to change all this. They say, "We are strong Christians. What we do is right. You who are weak must look at us and imitate us."

But this is not the teaching of the Word of God. For fellowship, Christians must exclude debate, argument, and dispute. The Church is not a debating society where affirmatives and negatives battle for a decision, and the loser adopts the position of the winner.

God is not making robots. He is making sons. Most certainly, Christians are not all alike, and there is every reason to believe that God does not want them to be all alike. If someone should aver that we should all be like Christ, I agree at once.

Nevertheless, Christ is so far beyond and above our human thinking that multitudes of individuals can be drawn to His likeness, and yet each be totally different from all others. We turn to the picture of the Church as a body and point out that eye and ear are different, yet each is necessary.

If the finger persuades the tongue to become a finger, then the function of the tongue is lost. We must look a little more closely at this phrase, "weak in the faith," in contrast with those who are "strong in the faith." It seems to me that the heart of this section is the astounding fact that those who are strong in the faith are not considered by God to be any better than those who are weak in the faith, and that this passage is intended to impress the strong with this fact.

What a vast difference this would make in ecclesiastical practices if this truth were understood. For this reason, I shall take the first example given here, explain my own position in this matter, and then point out that those who hold a contrary opinion have a definite right to their opinion.

The matter first discussed here is the question of diet. Because of conscientious scruples or religious convictions, a group in the early Church in Rome avoided certain foods, notably meat.

Bishop Anders Nigren of Sweden believes that Paul assumed that the issue was so well known to the congregation that he did not take space to describe it. The bishop then goes on to say that clearly, these were not Jewish Christians attempting to force Jewish ways upon the church.

For several reasons, I must disagree, especially because of studies made by German scholars on New Testament words. Hittle points out that the Septuagint and Theodotion often use the Greek word translated "weak" in our text for the Hebrew word "kosher." This fact cannot be overlooked and leads us to some very important teaching.

The Lord Jesus Christ knew that the Church was born out of the womb of Judaism. And He was well aware how the traditions of the elders had complicated the simplicity of the Word of God. In a flashing passage in the Gospel of Mark, the Lord strikes out against those who made the Word of God of none effect through their tradition.

Christ knew that the Mosaic law must not be permitted to throttle the Church. So, in His very first prophecy concerning the Church, our Lord said, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom. And whatsoever you shall bind on the earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The keys were first used by Peter on the Day of Pentecost when the door was opened to the Jews. And in the house of Cornelius in the 10th of Acts, where the door was opened to the Gentiles. Since then, the door has been wide open and there is no further need for keys, neither now nor in the world to come.

The Lord Jesus stated simply, "I am the door. By Me, if any man will enter in, he shall be saved and he shall go in and out and find pasture." Having announced the opening of the door to newness of life for all who entered, Christ announced that they would be free from the demands of the legalistic system which had been imposed upon Israel in Old Testament days.

"Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." Bishop J. B. Lightfoot has well pointed out that the word is "whatsoever," and that only by distortion could it be made to apply to "people." God never said that power would be given to any man or to any group of men to decide who should go to heaven and who should not go to heaven. That decision is in the hands of God alone.

Binding and loosing refers to the precepts of the law. And in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we have the story of the meeting of the early church leaders in Jerusalem to discuss the relationship of the Gentiles to the law.

Peter was the last speaker. And it must be clearly noted that Peter was not the presiding officer. The first chairman of the Church was James, the Lord's younger half-brother. Peter reminded these Jewish Christians that the law was a yoke which neither they nor their fathers had been able to bear.

And after all had spoken, James summed up the discussion and fulfilled the prophecy made by Christ, binding the Church to a few essential things and loosing the Church from all other stipulations of the Law of Moses. They were to abstain from things strangled, from blood, and from fornication. They were loosed from all other stipulations of the law.

So far as foods are concerned, we are taught again and again that the dietary laws of the Old Testament have been abolished. In the 14th verse of this same chapter, we read, "I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself."

Peter had to learn this lesson. We remember his dream. The sheet let down from heaven, containing all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. The voice of God commanded Peter to rise, kill, and eat.

Peter protested that he had never eaten anything that was common or unclean. Three times this scene was enacted, and three times God replied, "What God has cleansed, that call not thou common." When Peter told the other brethren about this vision, he took care to note that God, three times, had told him that all foods were now cleansed, and that Peter was not to call any food unclean.

In Paul's Epistle to Timothy, he describes the special revelation given to him by the Holy Spirit on this subject. In Philip's paraphrase, it reads, "God's Spirit specifically tells us that in latter days, there will be men who abandon the true faith and allow themselves to be spiritually seduced by teachings of the devil. Teachings given by men who are lying hypocrites, whose consciences are as dead as seared flesh."

These men forbid marriage and command abstinence from food. Good things, which in fact, God intends to be thankfully enjoyed by those who believe in Him and know the truth. Everything God made is good and is meant to be gratefully used, not despised.

The holiness or otherwise of a certain food, for instance, depends not on its nature, but on whether it is eaten thankfully or not. Now the Revised Standard Version is even stronger in the last verse, for it remains with the Greek, "Nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with Thanksgiving, for then it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer."

One other matter in connection with the position of those who are called "the strong." They are at liberty to eat whatever they wish and to partake with thanksgiving, because the law was changed. Beyond question, the Old Testament law forbade the use of certain foods. Equally beyond question, the New Testament changed all that.

The change is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where we read in Hebrews 7:12, "For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well." Chapters 7 through 10 of the Epistle to the Hebrews reveal that God did away with all the forms and ceremonies of the Law of Moses.

Instead of Moses, Christ. Instead of Aaron, Christ. Instead of the lamb, Christ. Instead of the temple, Christ. Instead of the priesthood, Christ. Instead of the altar and the daily atonement, Christ. And we are reminded, Christ did not come from the tribe of Levi, but from the tribe of Judah.

The climax of the passage is pure logic that such a change in the priesthood rests upon a fundamental change in the law. Perhaps a simple illustration will help clarify the passage.

Suppose a great hydrogen bomb should explode over Washington, D.C. at a moment when every member of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our government was present. Not one high official would escape. It would be necessary for some authority to take control.

Let us suppose that a strong man arose to lead the nation in such a dark hour. He would govern by a benevolent dictatorship, issuing decrees that would establish the country in some sort of working order. But his decrees would become the working law of the land. He would not act at all according to the provisions of the federal Constitution.

He might indeed present another constitution to the country which would be acceptable in the hour of crisis. A change from our present form of government to government by decree of a dictator would obviously do away with the Constitution. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ worked a far greater change than that from a constitutional republic to a one-man dictatorship.

The coming of Christ established Him as the Lord God Almighty, stepping into His own visible universe to do what He pleased. His coming did away with the law and established the rule of the Holy Spirit. Henceforth, the Holy Spirit is the only. It is important to repeat it, the only representative of Christ on earth. The Holy Spirit is that representative.

He will always lead us to exalt Christ. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. But love is the fulfilling of the law, and believers are to receive each other in love. Thus, matters of food and drink are so unimportant that to give them a prominent place distorts the face of Christianity.

Before we discuss the principle of liberty and love, let us consider the possibility that the Christians called weak were sticklers because of the conflict that existed in Corinth. The distribution of meat and drink in ancient times was not organized as it is today. There was no refrigeration, and food supplies were provided on a day-to-day basis.

Animals killed in the morning were consumed before the next morning. I have seen animals killed in the gutters of oriental cities, the gutters running with blood, and the flesh hacked off and sold to people who brought receptacles to take away their purchases until there was nothing left of the animal, not even its bones and entrails.

The rich took the good cuts, and the poor took the leavings. Now this condition prevailed in the days of Paul with this addition. Many, many of the animals were given to the temples by the rich and the poor, who made presents to the priests or who felt the need of some sacrificial offering.

As Christianity spread, there were those who believed that if a Christian entered the temple area and purchased the meat of an animal offered in sacrifice, that Christian was condoning the worship of the demon god in whose honor the sacrifice was made. Even Paul was accused of condoning sacrifices to the Corinthian gods by purchasing such meat.

He cries out against the absurdity of the accusation. And after presenting the strongest possible arguments to his critics, he gives the practical answer of love. If indeed weak brethren are offended by his purchases, he will no longer buy meat sacrificed to idols.

"We know," he says, "that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through being hitherto accustomed to idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled."

"Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak."

"For if anyone see you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge, this weak man is ruined, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ."

"Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will never eat meat lest I cause my brother to fall." Quite consistently, the Apostle Paul, who has been so won by the love of Christ that he is willing to give up all meat for the sake of a weaker brother, who is ignorant of central truth, is the same Apostle Paul who tells us not to make mountains of the molehills of petty practice that seem so important to some people.

God tells us that He has left our economic world in such a state that there will always be the poor, and that they are His representatives, so that what is done to them is really done to Him. Likewise, the Lord tells us that He allows people to possess varying degrees of mental attainment, varying abilities of judgment and discernment, so that we may learn tolerance and love.

Just as we must be intolerant in all matters concerning the person and honor of our Lord, so must we be tolerant of the liberties and rights of others. Yes, and of the weaknesses and frailties of others, who are within the body of Christ, members of Christ.

So far as I am concerned, although I will eat anything, and I will eat it on any day of the year. Roast beef on Good Friday, and such food as bacon, oysters, and lobster, which some Christians consider unclean. I will respect those who wish to diet, those who wish to fast, those who wish to abstain.

Have it your way, the true Christian says. You are not answerable to me. You are answerable to God and to Him alone. You eat whatever your conscience will let you, and I will eat whatever I like. And sometimes some things I do not like if they are set before me when I'm a guest.

And above all, I shall never enter into an argument with any Christian who wants his food one way or another. That is between you, the cook, and the Lord. Have it your way if you can get it that way. But be sure to acknowledge it as the gift and grace of God and thank Him for it through Jesus Christ.

Prayer (Male): And our God and Father, we pray Thee that Thou shalt bless the truth to each heart. We thank Thee that Thou hast saved us and given us a salvation that is not one of petty laws, but of the great possession of our souls by Jesus Christ, to build in us His love and His tolerance toward all the weaknesses of men. We pray Thee in this hour that Thou shalt bless us and make us strong in Christ and so loving others that they may understand indeed that we possess Christ in our hearts. Speak to each believer, we pray Thee, in Jesus name. Amen.

Host: In relationships between true believers, the first essential rule is tolerance of each other's opinions and practices. And the second essential rule is to learn to love one another from the heart. We hope you have benefited from Dr. Barnhouse's message entitled Not Robots, but Sons.

To listen to additional teachings by Dr. Barnhouse, visit us online at alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today's teaching is available by calling us toll-free, 1-800-488-1888. That's 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled Not Robots, but Sons. Or simply request message number R14-2.

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You will learn the tremendous benefit of putting first things first in your spiritual life. Ask for your free copy of First Things First when you call or write. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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