Month: February 2023

^“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Ephesians 5:22-25

The Christian marriage is a type of Christ’s relationship with the church with the two essential ingredients being love and obedience.

^“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” Ephesians 6:10-18

Here we have the Bible passage on Christian warfare with the “whole armour of God” being recommended to the believer. This armour consists of five pieces of protective gear for the head, the feet, the loins, the chest and a shield. Then there is one offensive weapon, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. With the word “stand” being used three times in the passage ( verses 11, 13,and 14 ), it appears that God is stressing the point that the Christian must spend most of his life standing his ground and protecting himself from evil influences rather than being a spiritual Rambo who is always taking on the enemy. Yes, we do have the word of God for advancing the cause of Christ, but we must not neglect the call to stand our ground and protect our testimonies, our families, and our churches. To add to this balance, we are admonished to be praying always” in verse eighteen, which explains why the soldier wasn’t given any leg greaves in verses ten through seventeen: he’s on his knees in prayer.

^“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6

God will perform His work in us “until the day of Jesus Christ ” which means this is a great verse on eternal security.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

This is a great memory passage for every believer to use faithfully when witnessing to the lost. Most people believe that works (doing more good than bad) will earn them a place in heaven, but salvation is clearly “not of works.” Salvation is by grace through faith.

^“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” Ephesians 4:26

The anger here is to be focused at sin so that we fight it with a passion rather than being comfortable with it, but we are to be careful in such anger and not permit ourselves to sin. For instance, being angry about abortion laws is good, but allowing such anger to eat away at us and lead us to bomb abortion clinics is not good.

^“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30

The Christian has been sealed with the Holy Spirit until the “day of redemption,” not merely until he sins and “loses” his salvation, as some teach. A good companion verse is Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;” Ephesians 5:19

Notice that it is the “melody” part of music that God likes the most, not the rhythm. Also, bear in mind the fact that the Campbellites use this verse to teach that one should not use musical instruments in a church’s worship service. As the reader can plainly see, the verse isn’t referring to a worship service, and nothing is said about instruments.

“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4)

This is one of the most misused verses in the New Testament. We are constantly told by Charismatics that one can “fall from grace,” yet not one in fifty of them can state where the verse is found or what the true context of the statement is. The notion of falling from grace was never presented as something that a blood-bought child of God could do. The statement was given to the Galatians who were still thinking that the law had something to do with salvation, to those who were trying to be “justified by the law,” as the verse says. A person who seeks to be justified by the law clearly does not understand and appreciate the finished work of Christ on Calvary, so he is fallen from grace. He is not fallen OUT of grace, since he never entered grace to start with; he is fallen FROM grace, meaning that he fell a good distance FROM grace before even arriving.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

This is a good passage with which all believers should be familiar since it deals with the fruit that we should all be producing. After all, it is by our fruit that we are truly known as Christians (Matthew 7:20) “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”. Since the number nine is the number of fruitfulness, there are nine fruits named.

^“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Galatians 6:7-8)

Here we have one of the most profound truths that God ever gave to man: you reap what you sow. In fact according to Hosea 8:7 “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.” you reap more than you sow.

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)

Here’s a good memory verse that reminds us to hang in there because God might not be in as big of a hurry as we are. But if we sow good seed, we will reap in due, season, if we faint not.

^“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” 2 Corinthians 13:14

Notice that one must go through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ before finding the love of God.

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8-9

That pretty much rules out any respectability for Joseph Smith and his Mormon Moroni angel.

“For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:” Galatians 1:13

Just a note for any Campbellite readers: The term “church of God” is found three times in the Bible while the term “church of Christ” isn’t found once.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

A great memory verse for every believer. As one brother put it, the only good Christian is a dead Christian. Only by being crucified with Christ and being dead to self can we truly serve God by allowing Christ to live in and through us.

^“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Galatians 3:8

Notice how the Holy Spirit attributes a personality to the scriptures. Furthermore, notice that ”the scripture” was preached to Abraham before any written scripture existed. God’s voice, or God’s word, to Abraham was scripture, even though it wasn’t written until over four hundred years later.