Does It Apply?

Part 5 of 11

Some will go to great lengths to persuade their listeners of the extinction of spiritual gifts and ministries: so great, in fact, as to deny the very application of Scripture to modern day Christians. Similar to the date controversy, some Cessationists affirm that because epistles such as First Corinthians were not written directly to us, then we cannot accurately appropriate the truth therein, and we must conclude their giftings to be applicable to the Corinthians alone. What an extravagant suggestion! We cannot ignore entire chapters of Scripture, especially when the lead verse is one that reads, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant” (1 Cor 12:1). Who are the “brethren”, might I ask? Are we not expected to interpret this label as to apply to Christians in general, and not the Corinthians alone? I would hope so: “Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matt 12:47-50).

If the preceding suggested thought be true, then the entirety of the Old Testament is not applicable to us either. We, of course, know this to be false: Paul writes, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for OUR learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom 15:4). Secondly, he says, “ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim 3:16). Either all means all, or it does not. Lastly, Paul writes: “Now ALL these things [Old Testament occurrences] happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for OUR admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor 10:11). Paul defines who the “our” is when he says, “upon whom the ends of the world are come”. He could not have been speaking exclusively to the Corinthians. In all actuality, the Corinthian epistle was written to the body of Christ, not to Corinth alone: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Cor 1:1-2).

If the “Application Controversy” be true, then all of Scripture has lost its power! Believers who were unborn in the first century are currently lost: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom 5:10). Paul was writing to Rome here. Are modern day believers from ancient Rome? Did we live in Rome at the time of this epistle? No. But we wouldn’t dare say such glorious truths are inapplicable to modern Christians, would we? A double standard, as such, is a hermeneutical atrocity!

Reasonably speaking, how can we limit an eternal living organism to earthly time and space? “For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful [active], and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb 4:12). We say the Word of God is living and active, yet its life is supposed to be limited to a past tense span and application? I don’t believe so: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” (Jn 1:1-2). It simply cannot apply to only one time period if indeed it is eternal: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Pet 1:23). This word for “abideth” is the Greek word “menō”. It means, “to stay (in a given place, state, relation or expectancy), to abide, continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry for thine own”. Thayer says this is in “reference to state or condition”. Interestingly enough, it is translated as “remain” 17 times, “continue” 11 times, and “endure” 3 times in the New Testament. The Word of God, its state and condition (application) is to “remain” throughout all ages. Indeed, “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever” (1 Pet 1:25). Its power is multi-faceted in relevance and manifold in scope.

To be continued...