God delights to impart wisdom to others. He gave
wisdom to craftsmen of Israel for fashioning the tabernacle and the priests’
garments (Exod. 28:1-6; 31;1-6). He gave to Solomon "a wise and an
understanding heart" (1 Ki. 3:12). The Lord promised to give His disciples
"a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to …
resist" (Luke 21:12-15); this was later borne out in Stephen when those
who disputed with him "were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit
by which he spoke" (Acts 6:9,10).

God does not automatically impart wisdom to all
believers. He wants us to ask for it just as Solomon of old asked for it (1 Ki.
3:5-13). Solomon, in turn, urged his children to "get wisdom," for
"wisdom is the principal thing" (Prov. 4:5-7). The apostle Paul
exhorted the Ephesians to be "as wise, redeeming the time" (Eph.
5:15,16). And the apostle James exhorted, "If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God" (Jas. 1:5). God imparts this wisdom through "the holy
Scriptures, that are able to make you wise" (2 Tim. 3:15; see also Col.
3:16).

                
Characteristics of the Early

             
Church:The Church as One Body and

                    
a Unity of Assemblies

The night before He was crucified,
the Lord Jesus prayed a high priestly, intercessory prayer to His Father
concerning His disciples. He prayed, "Holy Father, keep through Thine own
name those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John
17:11). Jesus knew there would always be a tendency—aided and abetted by
Satan—for His disciples to go their separate ways and start their own
ministries and congregations. So He expresses, not only for His Father’s
"ears" but for those of His disciples as well, His desire that His
disciples remain united in spirit after His departure.

The Lord does not stop there:
"Neither pray I for these alone [that is, the twelve disciples minus
Judas], but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word; that
they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also
may be one in Us:that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me"
(17:20,21). This unity desired first for His disciples was to extend to all
believers in Christ. One very practical effect of such a unity would be its
testimony to the watching world that Jesus Christ had truly been sent by God
("Thou hast sent Me").

In answer to this prayer, the Holy
Spirit came down and baptized the believers in Christ "into one
body" (1 Cor. 12:13). At the risk of being repetitive, let us quote
several verses that refer to the one body of believers in Christ.

"For as we have many members
in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many
are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Rom.
12:4,5).

"The cup of blessing that we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread that we break,
is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread,
and one body:for we are all partakers of that one bread" (1 Cor.
10:16,17).

"For as the [human] body is
one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being
many, are one body:so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond
or free…. For the body is not one member, but many" (1 Cor. 12:12-14).

"That He might reconcile both
[Jew and Gentile] unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the
enmity thereby…. There is one body" (Eph. 2:16; 4:4).

"Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body" (Col.
3:15).

 

I have heard or read it expressed
a number of times:"God has arranged the Church into many different denominations
so that each believer may select the one with the kind of pastor, manner of
worship, scheme of church government, or variety of activities that best suit
his/her needs or personality." NOT SO! By no means is God
responsible for the many denominations and divisions of the Church! Sinful man
is responsible for them! I shall elaborate on this point in a later issue.

In the early years of the Church,
there was indeed one body in every sense of the word. There were no
divisions, no denominations. It is true that there were assemblies of believers
in many different countries, states, cities, and villages. But the New
Testament clearly shows that a strong unity existed among these assemblies.
There existed what is sometimes termed "a circle of fellowship." The
Church, the whole body of believers, did not consist of many independent
local assemblies but of interdependent assemblies, geographically
separated but united together as a complete and entire organism. We shall now
present various scriptural evidences of this unity.

The use of letters of
commendation. When brothers or sisters from one assembly visited another
assembly, they carried with them letters of introduction and commendation from
their home assembly, or from a well-known believer (such as the apostle Paul),
to the assembly being visited. These are referred to in 2 Cor. 3:1:"Do we
begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of
commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?" After Apollos
had been taught by Aquila and Priscilla "the way of God more
perfectly," he prepared to travel on to Achaia. So "the brethren
wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive [Apollos], who, when he was come,
helped them much who had believed through grace" (Acts 19:24-28).

In a sense the Epistle to the
Romans is a letter of commendation that the apostle Paul expanded into a
lengthy treatise of doctrinal and practical ministry. Near the end of the
letter Paul writes:"I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant
of the church that is at Cenchrea, that you receive her in the Lord, as becomes
saints, and that you assist her in whatever business she has need of you, for
she has been a [helper] of many, and of myself also" (Rom. 16:1,2). These
two verses provide a good model for a letter of commendation.

An alternative to a letter
of commendation is found in Acts 9:26,27 where Barnabas personally
commended Saul of Tarsus to the believers in Jerusalem:"When Saul was
come to Jerusalem, he [tried] to join himself to the disciples; but they were
all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took
him and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the
Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly
at Damascus in the name of Jesus."

 

Letters of commendation have in
large measure fallen out of use today. But they still serve an important
purpose, both of introducing a visiting brother or sister who is in fellowship
in another assembly, and of expressing the unity that exists among the
assemblies. This writer would encourage each Christian assembly to reinstitute
the provision of letters of commendation to believers visiting assemblies where
they are not well known.

The ministry of Paul. The
apostle Paul did not confine his ministry to one assembly. In addition to
helping to establish assemblies of believers in many places, he revisited most
of these plus many others in order to build up the saints through ministry of
the Word of God. He also wrote letters (called "epistles" in our
Bibles) to a number of them, addressing problems specific to each one. In his
epistles to the assemblies, Paul often sought to remind the saints of their
unity with all of the other assemblies in the Church as a whole:"The churches
of Christ salute you" (Rom. 16:16). "Paul … unto the church of God that is at Corinth … with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1). "I have sent unto you
Timothy … who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways that be in Christ,
as I teach everywhere in every church" (1 Cor. 4:17). "As the Lord
has called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches" (1
Cor. 7:17). "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given
order to the churches of Galatia, even so do you" (1 Cor. 16:1).

The help of assemblies one for
another. A particular manifestation of the interdependence of assemblies in
the early Church was the way the different local assemblies helped each other:
"Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store,
as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I
come, whomever you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring
your liberality unto Jerusalem" (1 Cor. 16:2,3; also 2 Cor. 8:1-15;
9:1-15).

Even though Philippi was not the
apostle Paul’s home assembly (he was sent out from Antioch, Acts 13:1-3), the
assembly at Philippi ministered often to the apostle’s temporal needs:
"Know also that … when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated
with me as concerning giving and receiving, but you only. For even in
Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my necessity" (Phil. 4:14-18).

 

The uniting of believers of
various ethnic backgrounds. The earliest members of the Church were Jewish
converts to Christ. The first were 120 or so disciples of the Lord (Acts 1:15)
upon whom the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. These were soon
followed by 3,000 more Jewish men and women who responded to the preaching of
the apostle Peter (Acts 2:41). Later, Philip "preached Christ unto [the
Samaritans]." Many believed, following which they received the Holy Spirit
(Acts 8:5-17). Then the apostle Peter was sent by the Spirit to the house of
Cornelius, the Roman soldier. After Peter presented the gospel, Cornelius and
others in his household believed, and the same Holy Spirit came upon them as
well. The Jewish believers with Peter "were astonished … because that on
the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit, for they heard
them speak with tongues and magnify God" (Acts 10:45,46).

There had existed a longstanding
animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans, the latter being largely made up
of stragglers from the ten tribes that broke away from the tribes of Judah and
Benjamin during the reign of Rehoboam (1 Ki. 11:31; John 4:9). A similar enmity
existed between the Jews and the Gentiles (Luke 4:24-29). But God arranged
things to show clearly that the same Holy Spirit that brought the Jewish
believers into the Church, the body of Christ, brought the Samaritan and
Gentile believers into that same body.

The apostle Paul emphasizes the
oneness of Jewish and Gentile believers:"He is our peace, who has made
both [that is, Jew and Gentile] one, and has broken down the middle wall of
partition between us … to make in Himself of two one new man, so making
peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body … and came and
preached peace to you [Gentiles] who were afar off, and to those [Jews] who
were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father" (Eph.

2:14-18).

The apostle further emphasizes the
importance of maintaining unity between Jews and Gentiles in the body of Christ
by beseeching the Ephesian believers that they might "with all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavor to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:1-3).

There is not one body or Church
for Jews and another for Gentiles; not one Spirit for Jews and another for
Samaritans; not one Lord for whites and another for blacks; not one faith for
males and another for females; not one baptism for Americans and another for
Asians. Rather, "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you
are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (Eph. 4:4-6).

The resolving of differences
between assemblies. The unity of assemblies in the early Church was further
demonstrated when "certain men who came down from Judea [to Antioch] taught the brethren and said, "Except you be circumcised after the manner of
Moses, you cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1). A delegation of brothers from the
Antioch assembly, including Paul and Barnabas, went to Jerusalem to discuss
this matter with the believers there. "And when there had been much
disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how
that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth
should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the hearts,
bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us; and put
no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts
15:7-9).

 

After the brethren of both
assemblies resolved that the Gentile believers should not be required to be
circumcised, the assembly at Jerusalem sent a delegation to the assembly at Antioch confirming the satisfactory agreement reached on the controversial question.

In this account we find a wonderful
example of the care, concern, and unity that should exist among the local
assemblies in the Church, the one body of Christ. Satan hates this unity of
God’s people, and does all he can to disrupt and destroy it. What a credit to
both the Antioch and Jerusalem assemblies that the brothers took great pains to
resolve the conflict rather than deciding to split and divide over their
disagreement.

Summary. We have pursued
various lines of evidence from the New Testament Scriptures to demonstrate the
strong unity that existed among the many local assemblies of believers in the
early period of the Church.

1. Letters of commendation were
used to introduce visitors from other assemblies.

2. The apostle Paul, when writing
to specific assemblies, often referred to other assemblies.

3. The assemblies helped one
another in times of need.

4. Jewish, Samaritan, and Gentile
believers were all made members of the same Church.

5. Care was taken to resolve
differences in doctrine and practice that arose among different assemblies.

Even though the unity of
assemblies has been tragically smashed to smithereens over the past 2,000
years, let us endeavor, as far as we can within the limits of Scripture,
"to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

In a later installment of this
series, after giving other characteristics of the early Church, we shall
explore from the scriptures ways we can best achieve at least a tiny degree of
God’s intended unity among assemblies.

 

We have just completed a nine-part
series on "Lessons of Faith" drawn from the men and women cited in
the "Hall of Fame of Faith" in Hebrews 11. When we study further
these men and women of faith, we find pockmarks of failure scattered about
their lives. In fact, their lives are not that much different from ours, except
that ours probably are more dominated by failure than by faith.

In this new series of articles, we
shall take examples from both Old and New Testament men and women of faith, and
explore the antecedents and causes of their failures. From these lessons of
failure, perhaps we can learn how to avoid some of the failures in our own
Christian lives. The series will conclude on a positive note by looking at
God’s restoration and blessing of those who failed.

                Failure Resulting from Problems

                   and Difficulties of Life

1. Taking our eyes off the Lord
during problems. "Peter … said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come
unto Thee on the water. And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of
the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind
boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save
me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him, and said
unto him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matt. 14:28-31).

It is surely thrilling to read of
the faith of dear Peter. One of the most widely-recognized marks of the Lord
Jesus being fully God along with being fully man was His ability to walk on
water. Yet, Peter, a mere human being, also enjoyed a brief stint of walking on
water. How did Peter do it? He simply obeyed the Lord! When he went out in the
boat he had not the slightest idea he would become "a walking
miracle." But the Lord Jesus said "Come," and Peter—totally
forgetful of self—came.

What caused Peter to begin to
sink? "He saw the wind." Because of the roughness of the sea,
he took his eyes off of Jesus and instead looked at the water. Peter started
out remarkably well with a level of faith and obedience that we should all
emulate. But he did not persist in that faith, and thus failed.

The lesson for us is clear and
straightforward. Let us find out through reading God’s Word and prayer what the
Lord Jesus wants us to do, then let us go and do it. All the while, we must
keep our eyes of faith focused on the Lord, depending on Him to give us all the
strength and ability to do what He has asked of us. The Lord may test our faith
by allowing some trials or problems to come into our lives while we are
carrying out His will. We must learn to recognized these situations and focus
our faith all the more on our Lord and Master.

2. Seeking the help of others
instead of the Lord to get through our problems. When the Ethiopian
army—one million strong!—came against the army of Judah led by King Asa,
"Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with Thee
to help, whether with many or with those who have no power:help us, O LORD our
God, for we rest on Thee…. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians … and the
Ethiopians fled" (2 Chron. 14:9-12). What excellent faith! and what a
wonderful response of God to that faith!

Let us now fast-forward about 30
years to another incident in the life of King Asa. "In the 36th year of
the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah…. Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the
LORD and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria" (2
Chron. 16:1,2). This time, instead of trusting in the LORD for help against the
enemy, Asa sought the help of the nation of Syria, a long-time antagonist of
the nation of Judah. What was the outcome? "Hanani the seer came to Asa
king of Judah and said unto him, Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD your God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of your hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with
very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because you relied on the LORD, He
delivered them into your hand" (verses 7,8).

Three years later Asa became
"diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great:yet in his
disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians" (verse 12). Two
years later he died.

How like King Asa are we! When
confronted with a problem, an enemy, or an illness, don’t we often take matters
into our own hands and seek the help of others before—if ever—seeking the
Lord’s help?

3. Trying to escape from our
problems. "There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt" (Gen. 12:10). Abram (also known as Abraham) is renowned for his great faith. In
faith and obedience to the LORD, he left his homeland and traveled a long
distance to the land of Canaan. But when a problem [famine] arose, Abram forgot
about the LORD and left the land into which the LORD had led him in order to
escape the problem. In so doing, Abram got into a peck of trouble and greatly
embarrassed himself in the presence of the Egyptian Pharaoh.

Abraham’s son Isaac failed in the
same way in time of famine (Gen. 26). Likewise, David, so brave and dependent
upon the LORD when he went against the giant Goliath, seemed totally forgetful
of the LORD when trying to escape from King Saul. He did many foolish and
sinful things and was the cause of the death of many innocent persons while
trying to escape his problems (1 Sam. 21,22,27).

Contrast the early Christians in Jerusalem when faced with persecution by the Jews:"They lifted up their voice to God
with one accord, and said,… Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto
Thy servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy Word" (Acts
4:23-29). And what was the outcome of such faithful dependence upon the Lord?
"When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled
together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the
Word of God with boldness" (verse 31). The very thing they prayed
for—boldness—is what they received through the power of the Holy Spirit. May we
remember at all times to call upon the Lord with such faith!

4. Trying to forget our
problems. While King Saul doesn’t fall into the category of a man of faith,
we shall consider him as a powerful example of what happens when we try to
forget our problems rather than righteously dealing with them.

King Saul jealously gave David a
lot of problems, and even tried to destroy David’s life. At the same time Saul
had many problems of his own. The prophet Samuel sharply rebuked him twice for
acts of disobedience to the LORD, telling him, "The LORD has rejected you
from being king over Israel" (1 Sam. 13:13,14; 15:23,26). Between those
two events, he was shouted down by the people for wanting to put his son
Jonathan to death (14:43-45).

With all these negative things—all
of his own doing—putting a great strain on his ego, he became brooding and
depressed, helped along by "an evil spirit from the LORD [that] troubled
him" (16:14). Instead of responding to his failures and God’s judgment
upon him with humble repentance (particularly difficult for one in a position
of authority), Saul brought in a skillful harpist (who happened to be young
David) to help him, through music therapy, to forget his problems.

Saul’s ego problems expanded into
intense hatred and jealousy toward David when he heard the women singing,
"Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (18:7).
The music therapy no longer worked because Saul now regarded the musician as
his worst enemy:"It came to pass … that the evil spirit from God came
upon Saul … and David played with his hand, as at other times…. And Saul
cast the javelin … and David avoided out of his presence twice"
(18:10,11). Failing properly to deal with his initial failures, Saul’s sin and
failures continued to escalate.

We must honestly face our
problems, our fears, our being abused or put down by others, our failures, our
humiliating experiences; we must confess and repent of our failures; we must
commit our problems, our negative experiences, and particularly our ego to the
Lord; and then we must get on with our lives through the power of the Holy
Spirit:"This one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press toward the mark for
the prize of the [calling on high] of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil.
3:13,14).

5. Trying to lie our way out of
our problems. Abram did it (Gen. 12:11-20; 20:2-18); Isaac did it (Gen.
26:7-11); Rahab did it (Josh. 2:1-7); David did it (1 Sam. 21:1-9; 27:10);
Peter did it (Matt. 26:69-75). Sometimes the lying resulted in dire
consequences to the liar or to others (Gen. 20:18; 1 Sam. 22:18-22). All times
it brought grief and dishonor to the Lord (Luke 22:61).

An inmate once told me of standing
trial for a minor offense that carried with it a six-month sentence. He lied to
the judge; the judge believed him and set him free. Six months later he landed
in jail again, this time for a more serious crime for which he faced a 20-year
sentence.

When we have problems, whether
from circumstances, from other people, or of our own doing, may we learn from
the Lord to deal with these problems by:

1. Keeping our eyes on the Lord at
all times.

2. Seeking the Lord’s help first
of all, and only seeking the help of others if led by the Lord to do so.

3. Facing the problem squarely and
dealing with it in the presence of the Lord and with His help, rather than (a)
trying to escape from it, (b) trying to drown it out and forget it, and (c)
trying to lie our way out of it.

"He who has an ear, let him
hear" and learn from these examples.

We shall continue in the next
issue, Lord willing, with a study of man’s failure stemming from other causes.

 

 

"Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works
with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This
wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where
envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy" (Jas. 3:13-17).

Let us put all these thoughts
together to form the portraits of two men—the truly wise man and the man with
false wisdom. The man who is truly wise is genuinely humble. He estimates
others to be better than himself. He does not put on airs, but does put others
at ease right away. His behavior is not like that of the world around him; it
is otherworldly. He does not live for the body but for the spirit. In words and
deeds he makes you think of the Lord Jesus. His life is pure. Morally and
spiritually he is clean. Then too he is peaceable. He will endure insult and
false accusation but will not fight back or even seek to justify himself. He is
gentle, mild-mannered, and tenderhearted. And he is easy to reason with,
willing to try to see the other person’s viewpoint. He is not vindictive but
always ready to forgive those who have wronged him. Not only so but he
habitually shows kindness to others, especially to those who don’t deserve it.
And he is the same to all; he doesn’t play favorites. The rich receive the same
treatment as the poor; the great are not preferred above the common people.
Finally, he is not a hypocrite. He doesn’t say one thing and mean another. You
will never hear him flatter. He speaks the truth and never wears a mask.

 

The worldly-wise man is not so.
His heart is filled with envy and strife. In his determination to enrich
himself, he becomes intolerant of every rival or competitor. There is nothing
noble about his behavior; it rises no higher than this earth. He lives to
gratify his natural appetites—just as the animals do. And his methods are
cruel, treacherous, and devilish. Beneath his well-pressed suit is a life of
impurity. His thought life is polluted, his morals debased, his speech unclean.
He is quarrelsome with all who disagree with him or who cross him in any way.
At home, at work, in social life, he is constantly contentious. And he is harsh
and overbearing, rude and crude. People cannot approach him easily; he keeps
them at arm’s length. To reason with him quietly is all but impossible. His
mind is already made up, and his opinions are not subject to change. He is
unforgiving and vindictive. When he catches someone in a fault or error, he
shows no mercy. Rather he unleashes a torrent of abuse, discourtesy, and
meanness. He values people according to the benefit they might be to him. When
he can no longer "use" them, that is, when there is no further hope
of profit from knowing them, he loses interest in them. Finally, he is
two-faced and insincere. You can never be sure of him—either of his words or
actions.

(From Believer’s Bible
Commentary, ©1990 by William MacDonald, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers,
Inc., Nashville, TN, used by permission.)

 

"He who reproves a scorner
gets to himself shame; and he who rebukes a wicked man gets himself a blot.
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love
you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just
man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is
understanding. For by me your days shall be multiplied, and the years of your
life shall be increased. If you be wise, you shall be wise for yourself; but if
you scorn, you alone shall bear it" (Prov. 9:7-12).

Here we are warned against
meddling with the scorner. To correct such is vain; they willingly put shame
upon you. Let them alone, said the Lord to the disciples (Matt. 15:14). You may
only gain a blot in reproving a wicked person. They have a deeper need—to be
born again. Where no life is, hatred is the result. There is no wisdom in
reproving a scorner, any more than in giving that which is holy to the dogs or
in casting your pearls before the swine. The upshot may be that they will
trample the misdirected word under their feet, and turn and rend you.

Correction and reproof are for
those who have an ear to hear, that they walk not inconsistently with their
profession. Hence we are told here to "reprove a wise man, and he will
love you." A wise man may not always pursue the path of wisdom; he may
need reproof. A fool is one who never hears though always ready to find fault.
A wise man listens and weighs; when he recognizes what is of God, he will love
you.

Another thing that distinguishes
wisdom is the appreciation of what is good and helpful. Egotism is necessarily
unwise and evil, because man is sinful and God is unknown and untrusted. It is
self-satisfied and refuses to learn, having no distrust of its own dark,
selfish, and sinful state. On the other hand, "Impart to a wise man, and
he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase learning."
It is not the great that are wise, nor does age of itself understand judgment.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning" (Jas. 1:17). Dependence on God is our only right attitude
habitually, and this includes our hearing from one another that which approves
itself to our conscience as His truth. It is well to remember that we are
members of one another, and He despises not any, let him be ever so
lowly. But He hates the proud and will punish the scorner.

 

The secret of it all is plain.
"The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding."
Creature intelligence is of no value for the soul, for eternity, for
relationship with God. It begins, and must begin, with fearing Him, the True
and the Good, the Righteous and the Holy. There is repentance no less than
faith, and therefore trembling at His Word; this is the direct opposite of
judging God’s Word and trusting in self, justifying ourselves instead of God.
Growth belongs to life in our present condition, and growth is by the right
knowledge of God who has communicated it in His Word for this purpose.
"The knowledge of the Holy" should read "the knowledge of the
Holy Ones."

"For by me your days shall be
multiplied, and the years of your life shall be increased." The pious Jew
addressed here looked for long life here below through divine favor. When
divine principles have their just and unimpeded result, every word will be
fulfilled, as when Christ reigns over all the earth. We Christians have a far
different calling now and look for a higher glory. Nevertheless we can say and
do believe that piety is profitable for everything, having promise of life, of
the present one, and of that to come.

It remains true also that "if
you be wise, you shall be wise for yourself; but if you scorn, you alone shall
bear it." God remains in changeless majesty; but in His righteous
judgment, each shall bear his own burden, and reap as he sows, from the flesh
corruption, and from the Spirit life everlasting.

(From "The Proverbs" in The
Bible Treasury, Vol. N3.)

 

"Who can find a virtuous
woman? For her price is far above rubies" (Prov. 31:10). The virtuous
woman here means a woman of strength or valor. It is virtue in the same sense
as the virtue that is to be added to faith in 2 Pet. 1:5. The fact that her
husband can "safely trust in her," knowing that "she will do him
good and not evil all the days of her life" (verses 11,12) assumes her
sexual chastity as well as her economic prudence and general loyalty.

Her husband has "no need of
spoil" (verse 11)—either the spoils of warfare or extra income in general.
She uses her time and financial resources to such advantage that she adds to
the family income (verses 16,24) rather than to the family debt.

"She rises also while it is
yet night" (very early in the morning), "her candle goes not out by
night," and she "eats not the bread of idleness" (verses
15,18,27). She has no time for aimless "just looking" in shopping
malls; initiating long, pointless telephone calls; hours of television viewing;
or romance and mystery novels (even Christian versions thereof). On the other
hand, she always has time to help the poor, the needy (financially,
emotionally, or spiritually), her husband, her children, her extended family,
and the neighbors (verses 20,26,27). She is a woman of wisdom and kindness as
well as strength (verse 26), which means that her advice and counsel are sought
by others. Such women as Phoebe, "a succorer of many," Mary,
"who bestowed much labor on us," and Persis, "who labored much
in the Lord," are particular, named women (Rom. 16:1,6,12) who are New
Testament examples of this ideal woman in Proverbs 11.

This strong, wise, industrious,
efficient woman does not follow the fashion trends of the day that are often
expensive, ridiculous, and immodest; rather, she provides clothes for her
family that are practical, sturdy, attractive, and modest (verses 21,22).

"Favor is deceitful, and
beauty is vain:but a woman who fears the LORD,
she shall be praised" (verse 30). She flies in the face of advice usually
given to women and develops inner beauty (which, like wisdom, begins
with the fear of the LORD), rather than
outer beauty. She does not neglect her appearance, but neither does she lavish
hours of time and great expenditure on it as she is urged to do by the popular
media.

In addition to being a description
for women to emulate, this passage is a message of advice to young men
contemplating marriage. "Who can find a virtuous woman?"
(verse 10). Evidently they were as scarce 3,000 years ago as they are now. Yet
the results are worth the search. Young men, you will be happier over the years
in every aspect of marriage if you choose a wise, industrious, strong, godly,
woman rather than one with a pretty face but immature, underdeveloped mind and
spirit.

FRAGMENT  Advice to Christian Women. True
spirituality and genuine Christian living is its own recommendation, and
depends upon nothing extraneous for its real value. Still, since there are
those who have mistaken views of the nature of Christianity, as if it were at
war with the gifts of the intellect, it would be well to disabuse their minds,
and by your attainments and accomplishments, to convince them that piety is
not, as they may suppose, another name for ignorance. For their sakes, then, as
well as for your own profit, cultivate your minds by study. Acquire an eager
thirst for knowledge. Be fond of reading, and of the best kind of reading.
Disprove the slander that girls are only fond of tales and novels, of stories
of love, female adventures, or heroism. Make it clear that those who are the
children of God are most eager to become acquainted with all the works of their
Heavenly Father—both His holy Word and the wonders and glories of His creation.
With a broad base of knowledge (particularly of world history and customs, and
of the Greek and Hebrew languages) you will relish all the more this bread of
life that came down from heaven—the Word of God. Inspiration has garnished the
pages of Scripture with beauties that are hidden from eyes whose vision has not
been strengthened by such knowledge.

(From Female Piety by the
Puritan author, John Angell James, 1860, reprinted by
Soli Deo Gloria Publications.)