Interpretation | A People for His Name

“Lack of Mention is Not Proof of Absence!”

October 12, 2023

For many years, I have tried to teach people from Scripture the key truth that in interpreting evangelistic accounts in Scripture, “lack of mention is not proof of absence!” (I am quoting myself here—this is my own statement that I originated).

By carefully considering the biblical records of Paul’s initial discipleship experience, his initial evangelistic activity, and his later evangelistic testimony about his initial evangelistic activity, we plainly understand the importance of this truth.

Paul’s Initial Discipleship Experience

Right after Paul had been saved, he was discipled by Ananias to understand what had happened to him and what he had been commissioned to do for Christ:

Acts 22:12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, 13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

Ananias revealed to Paul that he was commissioned to be Christ’s witness to all men to testify to them that he had seen and heard the risen Christ. For Paul, faithfulness in evangelism thus meant witnessing to everybody that he had seen and heard the risen Christ.

Given any opportunity, Paul would have always told people about Christ’s resurrection appearance to him.

Paul’s Initial Evangelistic Activity

After having further contact with disciples in Damascus, Paul engaged in Damascus in his initial evangelistic activity:

Acts 9:19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

According to some, the lack of mention in this account of Paul’s testifying to his seeing and hearing the risen Christ in His resurrection appearance to Paul proves that Paul did not testify to his being an eyewitness of the risen Christ when he preached Christ in these synagogues. If that approach were correct, we would have to believe that Paul began his evangelistic ministry by disobeying and disregarding what he had been plainly and very recently informed he was commissioned to do as Christ’s witness “unto all men” (see the treatment of Acts 22:14-15 above).

This is a seriously faulty claim that no one should accept as true. The very brief record of his initial evangelistic activity provides zero biblical basis to hold that Paul did not witness for Christ in these synagogues in obedience to what he had just been instructed was his commission to do as Christ’s witness “unto all men.”

Rather, we have full biblical warrant from Acts 22:14-15 to hold that Paul certainly testified in his preaching in these synagogues that he himself had seen and heard the risen Christ. We also have full biblical warrant for holding this position by what Scripture reveals to us in a later account of Pauline evangelism.

Paul’s Later Evangelistic Testimony to His Initial Evangelistic Activity

Many years after he had been saved, Paul defended himself before king Agrippa by testifying to him about his evangelistic activities throughout his life as a Christian because of the experience that he had in seeing and hearing the risen Christ:

Acts 26:15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: 20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

In this evangelistic testimony about his lifetime of his evangelistic activities, Paul testified that he showed first to those at Damascus that they had to repent, turn to God, and do works fitting for repentance (Acts 26:20). Acts 9:20, however, does not say anything about Paul’s telling the people in those synagogues to repent, turn to God, and do works fitting for repentance.

When, therefore, we compare this direct testimony from Paul himself about his initial evangelistic activity in Damascus with the earlier record of that initial Pauline evangelistic activity, we learn that Paul preached in those synagogues much more than what is briefly recorded in Acts 9:20 (that Christ was the Son of God). Comparing Acts 26:19-20 with Acts 9:19-20 proves that we are not to take the lack of mention of testimony to a particular truth in the biblical record of an evangelistic encounter as proof of absence to any testimony to that truth in that encounter.

Conclusion

We must not hold that the lack of mention of testimony to a given truth in the biblical record of an apostolic evangelistic encounter proves that there was no testimony given to that truth in that encounter. “Lack of mention is not proof of absence!”

Note: In much of this post, I have adapted and used my own material that I have posted elsewhere in an online discussion concerning the teaching of Scripture about apostolic evangelism.

In Discipleship, Evangelism, Interpretation, Theology

Commissioned to Be Witnesses of His Resurrection*

October 10, 2023

Acts is the premier book for us to learn what the apostles were commissioned to do in evangelism. Luke begins Acts by telling us that they were commissioned to be witnesses unto Christ:

Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

As witnesses unto Christ, they were commissioned to tell people what they themselves had seen and had heard concerning Christ. Luke plainly tells us that Christ Himself showed Himself alive to them repeatedly over a 40-day period in many appearances to them. Acts 1:1-8, therefore, indisputably teaches us that Christ commissioned the apostles to witness to people that they had seen Him alive in those appearances and heard Him speak to them.

Later in Acts 1, Luke informs us that the apostolic company fully understood that what was central in their evangelism was that they were to be witnesses of His resurrection:

Acts 1:21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

No human being was an eyewitness of the actual Resurrection of Christ (the exact moment when Christ rose from the dead).

For the apostles, therefore, to be witnesses (people who tell others what they themselves have seen and heard), they had to tell people not just that Christ rose (something that none of them actually saw or heard in person), but also and especially, that they themselves in person saw and heard Him alive in the Resurrection appearances in which He repeatedly showed Himself to them in the 40-day period between the Resurrection and the Ascension.

The actual Resurrection was not what changed the apostles from their meeting in private to bold, continual witnesses of Christ. What transformed them was that they themselves saw and heard the risen Christ in His appearances to them. Acts 1:1-8 and 1:21-22 thus plainly teach us that testifying to the Resurrection appearances of Christ was central and essential for the apostles to be faithful witnesses to what Christ had commissioned them to do in their evangelism.

Furthermore, Luke provides further confirmation to us about what the apostles held that they had to do in fulfilling the commission that they had been given:

Acts 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

This passage shows that the apostles had as their premier goal to speak what they themselves had seen and heard. We can be certain that their testifying to their eyewitness encounters with the risen Christ was the very center of their apostolic evangelism.

Whenever they possibly could, the apostolic company never just stated that Christ rose–they unendingly testified in addition that they had seen and heard Him in His resurrection appearances to them. Doing so was the essence of how they were commissioned to be witnesses of His Resurrection.

*This post uses extensively and is based on a series of comments that I myself posted elsewhere online concerning this subject.

In Discipleship, Evangelism, Exposition, Interpretation, Theology

The Bible and Percussion: Two Discussion Threads on SharperIron.org

August 8, 2023

For many months now, the focus of my study of what the Bible reveals about music has been on what it says about percussion instruments. To that end, I have been involved in two ongoing discussions on Sharper Iron:

Did the Israelites Use Drum-Like Instruments in the Worship in the Solomonic Temple?

Shamanism, Percussion, and First Corinthians 6:12

As God directs, I invite you to consider what has been discussed in these threads.

A Biblical Response to Robert Bakks on Percussion Instruments in Psalm 150

Image credit: Image was cropped from Image from page 330 of “The pictorial Bible and commentato… | Flickr

In CCM, Exposition, Interpretation, Music, Theology

On Christlikeness in Corporate Worship

July 17, 2023

Psalm 22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

Psalm 22:25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

Hebrews 2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee

The NT teaches us in Heb. 2:11-12 that Psalm 22:22 (and 22:25, based on the flow of thought in Ps. 22) are foremost the words of the Messiah!

We should also notice carefully that the NT quotation of Ps. 22:22 has “will I sing praise unto thee,” whereas Ps. 22:22 has “will I praise thee.”

Based on how the NT uses the OT in this passage, we learn a glorious truth—Christlikeness in corporate worship is to sing praise to God in the great congregation!

In Discipleship, Interpretation, Music

“Humans Can Hear Some Supernatural Musical Sounds”

June 13, 2023

Scripture reveals that humans can hear some supernatural musical sounds and correctly know that they are musical sounds, as the following two points show that I wrote elsewhere some time ago:

1. At Sinai, no humans were allowed to come near the mount, but trumpet sounds proceeded out from Sinai that were humanly heard and recognized to be trumpet sounds:

There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. (Exod. 19:13)

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. (Exod. 19:16)

And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. (Exod. 19:19)

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. (Exod. 20:18)

2. John heard the sound of harpers harping with their harps in heaven:

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: (Rev. 14:2)

In Interpretation, Music

Why Single Musical Tones Are Intrinsically Moral

June 3, 2023

A little over four years ago, in an online discussion, I wrote the following in a comment entitled, “Single Musical Tones Were Not Humanly Created.” These points teach us why single musical tones are intrinsically moral:

First Cor. 14:7-8 teaches us that for a musical instrument to be used properly in corporate worship, it must produce a distinction in tones such that what is played is humanly knowable. Based on that teaching, we are justified in holding that single musical tones do not have any intrinsic musical meanings that are humanly knowable.

Furthermore. we know that heavenly beings play musical instruments in producing moral instrumental music in corporate worship of God. That instrumental music is made up of single tones combined in whatever ways the supernatural musicians combine them in their worship. All of those single tones used in heavenly worship are intrinsically moral because they are sounds that were created by God when He ordered His universe to make sound and its intrinsic properties. None of those intrinsic properties of single musical tones were humanly created.

Beyond that, we have explicit Scripture that relates to us that God assigned the use of certain musical instruments to His people (trumpets) to produce sounds that had assigned musical meanings to them that were divinely assigned (Num. 10:1-10 and other passages). God’s use of the single tones in whatever ways they were combined in this divinely commanded use of musical instruments teaches us that the single tones comprising what was played on those instruments were intrinsically moral.

Because single musical tones are basic sounds that were not humanly created, we are justified in holding that they are intrinsically moral.

In Interpretation, Music

Are All Kinds of Percussion Acceptable to God for Use in Corporate Worship?

April 18, 2023

Are all kinds of percussion acceptable to God for use in corporate worship? I believe that the following diagram treats and applies Scripture properly to provide a clear answer to that question.

In brief, Scripture teaches that even for all things that are lawful, not all of them are expedient and not all of them edify. Because that is true, both all things that are expedient and all things that edify are subsets of the set of all things that are lawful.

Only those things that are lawful and expedient and edifying are acceptable to God for use in corporate worship. If something is lawful but it either is not expedient or it does not edify or both, it is unacceptable to God for use in corporate worship.

Concerning all kinds of percussion, some hold that all kinds of percussion are lawful because they believe that there are no prohibitions in Scripture against any kinds of percussion. Even if that were a correct basis for concluding that all kinds of percussion are lawful, it would not be sufficient for establishing that they are all also expedient and edifying because there simply is no Scripture that teaches that all kinds of percussion are lawful, expedient, and edifying.

In fact, as the diagram sets forth, 1 Corinthians 13:1 implies that there are ways to sound certain percussion instruments that are not expedient and edifying. Because that is true, there is no biblical basis to hold that all kinds of percussion are acceptable to God for use in corporate worship.

If one disagrees and asserts that all kinds of percussion are in fact acceptable to God for use in corporate worship, he has the burden of proving from Scripture that all kinds of percussion are lawful, expedient, and edifying.

In Interpretation, Music, Theology

Learning from Christ’s Confrontation of Pastors and Churches

April 6, 2023

In Revelation 2-3, the glorified Christ confronted 7 pastors of 7 literal first-century churches in Asia Minor. We learn many truths from His dealings with those leaders and their churches.

The following paragraphs treat three such truths.

What Churches are “Biblical” Churches?

Of the 7 churches, Christ did not have any rebuke, condemnation, or other negative remarks for 2 of the churches. His dealings with the other 5 varied in their intensity concerning the problems in those churches.

Even though He strongly condemned some of the things that were taking place in some of these churches, Christ still referred to them as churches in exactly the same manner that He spoke of those churches for which He did not have any negative assessments. The notion, therefore, that only certain churches are “biblical” churches because they do not have any serious sin problems among the people in the church or in the leadership of the church is not a biblically supported notion.

All 7 churches were “biblical” churches even though some of them had leaders in the churches who were either tolerating serious sins or promoting them themselves. Remarkably, this was true even for a church that had in it at least some people and some in leadership who had come to know certain so-called deep things of Satan!

It is not necessarily true, therefore, that a church is a “biblical” church only if it is without any (serious) sin problems in it.

Which Pastors Are “Biblical” Pastors?

When Christ confronted the angel (that is, the pastor) of each of these churches, He addressed all of them in the same manner. Whether He had strong condemnation for what was taking place in the church or not did not change how He addressed the top leader of each church.

From this aspect of Christ’s dealings with the pastors of all 7 churches, we learn conclusively that a pastor is not a “biblical” pastor only if everything in His life and in His church is exactly what God wants it to be. Christ still addressed the pastors of some very compromised churches as “the angel of the church” even though very serious sin was being tolerated in his church.

It is not necessarily true, therefore, that a man is a “biblical” pastor only if both he and his church are free from any (serious) sin problems.

Is Confronting Compromised Pastors by Name Always a Necessity?

Christ addressed each of the 7 letters to the 7 churches to “the angel” of that church. Remarkably, Christ did not name any of the pastors of the 5 churches that He confronted concerning problems in their churches.

This was true even when the sin problems in the church were very serious. Christ, did not, therefore, deem it necessary or appropriate to call out such pastors of such churches by their names.

It is not necessarily true, therefore, that we must always warn people about sin problems in churches by naming the names of the pastors of the churches when we speak about the sin problems in the churches.

Conclusion

Revelation 2-3 reveals to us Christ’s perfect dealings in His confronting 7 pastors of 7 literal churches late in the first century AD. From His dealings with those pastors and those churches, we learn that both churches and pastors are not “biblical” churches and pastors only if they and their churches are free from all sin.

Furthermore, it is not always a necessity that we must make known the names of pastors of churches with serious sin problems in them in order to properly warn others about those matters. In fact, based on Christ’s not naming the pastors of the churches that He confronted about their sin problems, we should learn that we should be very careful about doing what Christ Himself did not do in such matters.

In Discipleship, Exposition, Interpretation, Theology

Scripture Does Not Say, “A rock in bad hands killed Abel.”

March 29, 2023

“A rock in bad hands killed Abel. A rock in good hands killed Goliath. It’s not about the rock.”

This meme asserts something as true about how Abel was killed that the Bible never says was what happened.

Scripture only says the following about how Abel was killed:

Genesis 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

There is no evidence in Scripture that Cain killed Abel with a rock.

This is a meme that Christians should stop using and sharing!

Additional thoughts added on March 30, 2023:

There are so many other ways that Cain could have killed Abel:

Beating him repeatedly with his fists and kicking him in the head repeatedly.

Tripping him and then choking him to death.

Finding a heavy piece of a branch that had broken off from a tree and killing him by hitting him over and over again on the head with that piece of wood.

Finding a sharp piece of a broken branch and stabbing him with it.

Etc.

Saying that “a rock in bad hands killed Abel” puts us in the position of possibly bearing false witness because we simply do not know that is what happened.

It could have happened that way, but we should not make statements that it did happen that way when we do not have any way of knowing what actually happened.

In Exhortation, Interpretation

Did God’s People Engage in the Golden Calf Incident?

March 28, 2023

One of the many interpretational challenges with the accounts of the Golden Calf Incident (Exod. 32) concerns who engaged in the idolatry that took place. A close examination of Exodus 32:7-14 in the GCI account in Exodus 32 proves that God regarded the people who engaged in the GCI as His people.

First, and interestingly, God speaks of the people who participated in the GCI as Moses’ people whom he (Moses) brought out of Egypt:

Exodus 32:7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

God said that He was going to consume the people that Moses brought out of Egypt and make of Moses a great nation.

Moses then responded to God by saying to God that the people against whom God’s wrath had waxed hot because of the GCI were God’s people that He [God] had brought of Egypt:

Exodus 32:11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

Under inspiration of the Spirit, Moses then as the writer of the book of Exodus said that God repented of the evil that He had thought to do to His people because they had participated in the GCI:

Exodus 32:14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

This inspired divine revelation teaches us that the people whom God was ready to destroy but then relented from destroying them were His (God’s) people. It, therefore, proves that the ones who engaged in the GCI were regarded by God as His people, just as Moses had spoken of them as being God’s people in Exodus 32:11 and 32:12.

In Interpretation, Theology

Archives For Interpretation

Paul’s Initial Discipleship Experience

Paul’s Initial Evangelistic Activity

Paul’s Later Evangelistic Testimony to His Initial Evangelistic Activity

Conclusion

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What Churches are “Biblical” Churches?

Which Pastors Are “Biblical” Pastors?

Is Confronting Compromised Pastors by Name Always a Necessity?

Conclusion

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