THE ONLY
AUTHORIZED PREACHERS
OF GOD’S WORDS
(First of Two Parts)
“Do You Understand What You Are Reading?”
By BENILDO C. SANTIAGO
ONE WHO HAS finished medical course can elucidate on the
complexities of medicine. One who has
mastered law can articulate on the intricacies of law. One who has specialized in techniques in
painting can teach this art form.
Therefore, anyone who has zealously studied the Bible can preach the
words of God, right? WRONG.
While
researching at a library on an ancient city in the East, an archaeology student
catches a glimpse of a Bible in a huge pile of old archaeological and
historical records. At once he regards
it as a researchable reference material on equal footing with the rest of the
other documents there. WRONG AGAIN.
He has earned
a doctorate in communications, pored over hundreds of books about journalism
and published excellent dissertation and papers on the subject and so, he
assumes he has no problem understanding the Bible. WRONG ONCE AGAIN.
Very much
unlike secular and other religious writings, the Bible is, contrary to
widespread belief, NOT AN “OPEN BOOK” IN THE SENSE THAT IT IS NOT KNOWABLE BY
MEANS OF HUMAN WISDOM (I Cor. 1:21, Today’s English Version). High educational attainment, combined with
assiduity to learn, is no guarantee that a person will be able to understand
it. INTELLIGENCE and DILIGENCE are NOT
EVEN NECESSARY CONDITIONS or PREREQUISITES for comprehending it.
‘MYSTERY KEPT SECRET’
Unperceived by many Bible readers, though plainly
written, the gospel is a “mystery kept secret.”
Writes the
Apostle Paul, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel
and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the MYSTERY
KEPT SECRET since the world began” (Rom. 16:25, New King James Version).
At least three
basic truths in the phrase, “mystery kept secret,” are worth stressing. First, the gospel is a “mystery.” Second, it is “kept secret.” And third, it is the Lord God Almighty who
kept this mystery secret.
Unquestionably, HUMAN WISDOM, when faced with these truths, would be of
NO USE. Patience, and perseverance (to
learn) would be of no help either, for how could man—his great abilities and
will to discover things notwithstanding—depend on these traits to try to
decipher that which his Maker has designed to be inaccessible through them? His one and only chance to know the gospel
is—when its Keeper Himself reveals it to him.
Fortunately,
the Lord God did reveal it. Apostle Paul
says, “according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world
began.”
However, the
Lord God revealed the mystery not to all, but only to a select few. Thankful to God for this, the Lord Jesus Christ prayed, “… Father, Lord
of heaven and earth! I thank you because YOU HAVE SHOWN TO THE UNLEARNED what
you have hidden from the wise and learned” (Matt. 11:25, TEV).
The Lord God
“purposely chose” the unlearned, the weak, and those whom “the world looks down
on, and despises, and thinks [are] nothing,”
so that “no one can boast in God’s presence” (I Cor. 1:27-29, Ibid.).
DIVINELY COMMISSIONED MESSENGERS
Who are the select few to whom the Lord God has given the
exclusive right to know the gospel mystery, which He kept secret?
They are the
messengers of God and of His Son, Jesus Christ, examples of whom were the
apostles:
“… TO YOU IT
HAS BEEN GIVEN TO KNOW THE MYSTERY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD …” (Mark 4:11, NKJV)
“AND HE
APPOINTED TWELVE, TO BE WITH HIM, AND TO BE SENT OUT TO PREACH.” (Mark 3:14, Revised Standard Version)
Being able to
know the gospel mystery is, therefore, a gift, which has been bestowed only
upon the messengers of God and of Christ, like the apostles. As the only recipients of this gift, they
possess the exclusive right and privilege to preach God’s word. Hence, the message of God can never be
proclaimed without them:
“AND HOW CAN
THE MESSAGE BE PROCLAIMED IF THE MESSENGERS ARE NOT SENT OUT?” (Rom. 10:15, TEV)
Not only does
the Lord Jesus Christ declare that the knowledge of the gospel mystery has been
given to His and God’s messengers, but He also at once makes clear that the
same has been withheld from those whom He and God did not commissions, so that
even if these unsent ones try hard to understand it, they will never be able
to. Christ says:
“… TO YOU it
has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; BUT TO THOSE WHO ARE
OUTSIDE, all things come in parables, so that “SEEING THEY MAY SEE AND NOT
PERCEIVE, AND HEARING THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND …”” (Mark 4:11-12, NKJV)
The inability
of “THOSE WHO ARE OUTSIDE” the divine commissioning to come to the knowledge of
the truth—however painstakingly they may try—was similarly pointed out by the
Apostle Paul:
“Ever
learning, and NEVER ABLE to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (II Tim. 3:7,
King James Version)
As plain as
day, TO “THOSE WHO ARE OUTSIDE,” the Word of God forever REMAINS A “MYSTERY
KEPT SECRET,” a helpless situation that automatically denies to them the divine
authority to preach it:
“AND HOW COULD
ANYONE SPREAD THE NEWS WITHOUT A COMMISSION TO DO SO? …” (Rom. 10:15,New
English Bible)
That the
unschooled fishermen of Galilee were given to “know the mystery,” whereas “THE
WISE AND LEARNED,” “WHO ARE OUTSIDE” the divine commissioning “see and perceive
… hear and not understand,” explicitly proves that the Bible is indeed NOT AN
“OPEN BOOK” but a “MYSTERY KEPT SECRET” by God and revealed EXCLUSIVELY to His
messengers, who, in turn, made it known “TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD.” Says Paul:
“FOR I AM A
MINISTER OF THE CHURCH by divine commission, a commission granted to me for
your benefit, and for a special purpose:
that I might fully declare God’s Word—that sacred mystery which up till
now has been hidden in every age and every generation, but which is NOW AS
CLEAR AS DAYLIGHT to those who love God.
They are those to whom God has planned TO GIVE A VISION of the wonder
and splendor of his secret plan for the nations.” (Col. 1:25-27, Phillips Modern English bible)
The Apostle
Paul, one of the very few exceptions for being a messenger of God who was
learned, testified that he was granted a “DIVINE COMMISSION” for the “SPECIAL
PURPOSE” of “FULLY DECLARING GOD’S WORD.”
He clarified, though, that what he spoke of what not his own wisdom, but
the “mysterious secret wisdom” of the Lord God, who sent him:
“The wisdom we
speak of is that MYSTERIOUS SECRET WISDOM OF GOD which he planned before the
creation for our glory today. None of
the powers of the world have known this wisdom.” (I Cor. 2:7-8, Ibid.)
‘DO YOU UNDERSTAND
WHAT YOU ARE READING?’
What one particular instance in the first-century Church
graphically illustrates the fact that ONLY the messengers of God are GIVEN “TO
KNOW THE MYSTERY” and preach it?
It is the one
in which Philip the evangelist was sent by the Holy Spirit to an Ethiopian
eunuch, an important official in charge of the treasury of the Queen of
Ethiopia, to explain to him a passage in the book of the prophet Isaiah:
“An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get ready and go south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This road is not used nowadays.) So
Philip got ready and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch, who was an
important official in charge of the treasury of the queen of Ethiopia,
was on his way home. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was
going back home in his carriage. As he rode along, he was reading from
the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that carriage and stay close to it.” Philip
ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. He
asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The
official replied,‘HOW CAN I UNDERSTAND, UNLESS SOMEONE EXPLAINS IT
TO ME?’ And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him.
The official asked Philip, “Tell me, of whom is the prophet saying this? Of himself or of someone else?” THEN PHILIP BEGUN TO SPEAK; starting from this passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus.” (Acts 8:26-31, 34-35, TEV)
Despite being
a man of great authority and intelligence, the Ethiopian eunuch was totally,
helplessly ignorant of the passage he was reading from the book of the prophet
Isaiah and thus needed guidance from a divinely commissioned preacher,
Philip. When asked by Philip, “Do you
understand what you are reading?” the eunuch willingly admitted, “How can I
understand unless someone explains it to me?” Philip, inspired by the Holy
Spirit, wasted no time and did the explaining right then and there. Enlightened, the eunuch believed and
volunteered to be baptized (Acts 8:36-38).
‘THROUGH THE SPIRIT’
How did the Lord God let His messenger share His
mysterious secret then? NOT “BY MEANS OF
THEIR OWN WISDOM,” but “THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
This is
attested to by Apostle Paul:
“For God in
his wisdom made it impossible for people to know him BY MEANS OF THEIR OWN
WISDOM. …” (I Cor. 1:21, TEV)
And, he
further says, “Thus God has, THROUGH THE SPIRIT, let us share his secret. For nothing is hidden from the Spirit, not
even the deep wisdom of God.” (I Cor. 2:10, PMEB).
In warning
about false prophets, Apostle Peter also declares, “NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE
CAN BE INTERPRETED BY A SINGLE HUMAN MIND. NO PROPHECY CAME BECAUSE A MAN
WANTED IT TO: MEN OF GOD SPOKE BECAUSE
THEY WERE INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT”
(II Pet. 1:20, Ibid.).
The validity
of these apostolic attestations is manifest in the words of no less than the
greatest messenger of God of all time, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. On His own divine commissioning, he says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, BECAUSE
HE HAS CHOSEN ME to bring good news to the poor. HE HAS SENT ME to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.” (Luke 4:18-19, TEV)
According to
the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, Paul and Peter, the Lord God has let
His messengers share His secret through the Holy Spirit, a divine process that
saw actual demonstration in Phillip’s evangelizing of the Ethiopian eunuch,
most of all in the instance of preaching during the life ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ and of His apostles.
Without the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, nobody and nobody will ever be able to know,
much less preach, the mystery of God’s Word, for “the depths of God can only be
known by the spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:11, Jerusalem Bible).
License to
practice medicine or law is obtainable from the government after the candidates
meet all the prerequisites and pass the examinations. But the authority to preach the Word of God
is obtainable only “THROUGH THE SPIRIT” (I Cor. 2:10, PMEB). It is God, through the Holy Spirit, who gives
a person the authority to preach the pure gospel.
As promised by
the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostles undoubtedly received the Holy Spirit (Acts
1:8). The people who heard and believed
in the gospel as preached by them similarly received the Holy Spirit (Acts
10:1-44). It doesn’t follow, however,
that all who receive the Holy Spirit inside the true Church are authorized to
preach. For, as Apostle Paul points out,
all true believers, who are baptized into Christ’s body (I Cor. 12:12-31),
which is the Church of Christ (Col. 1:18; Rom. 16:16), receive the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:38; 10:1-48), but not all Church of Christ members receive the
authority to preach:
“Is everyone
apostle? Of course not. IS EVERYONE A PREACHER? NO. …”
(I Cor. 12:29, Living Bible)
‘ANOTHER GOSPEL’
Bereft as they are of the Holy Spirit, what then do
NON-DIVINELY commissioned preachers do—wittingly or unwittingly—when they
preach the Bible?
They “PERVERT
the Gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7).
“PERVERT” is the word used in the KJV, RSV, NKJV, New International
Version, Douay Version, and Young’s Literal Translation. It is rendered “DISTORT” in the New American
Standard Bible, Moffatt Translation, REB, and NEB. “TWIST and CHANGE” is the translation by the
LB, and “CHANGE” by the JB and TEV.
They actually
preach “ANOTHER GOSPEL.” This is what
Apostle Paul said in his admonition to the Galatian Christians as he forewarned
them about anyone who would preach a gospel that was different from the one he
and the other messengers of God had already preached to them:
“I MARVEL that
ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
ANOTHER GOSPEL: Which is not another;
but there be some that trouble you, and would PERVERT the gospel of
Christ. 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.” (Gal. 1:6-8, KJV)
Preachers who
preach “another gospel” by perverting, distorting, twisting, and changing the
true gospel of Christ are, without a doubt, devoid of the Spirit of God. They are FALSE PREACHERS, about whom Apostle
Paul says, “May [they] be condemned to hell!” (Gal. 1:8, TEV)
Issuing a
similar warning on the danger of giving heed to non-divinely commissioned
preachers, Apostle Peter says that these preachers, whom he describes as
“ignorant and unstable,” “distort” the Scriptures, and he foretells “their own
destruction.” Says Peter:
“… Paul also
wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these
matters. His letters contain some things
that are HARD TO UNDERSTAND, which IGNORANT and UNSTABLE PEOPLE DISTORT, as
they do the other scriptures, TO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION.” (II Pet. 3:15-16, NIV)
These
preachers’ being “ignorant” of Paul’s letters and the other Scriptures that
Apostle Peter speaks of is lucid proof that the knowledge of the gospel mystery
is NOT GIVEN to them, that they are “THOSE WHO ARE OUTSIDE” the divine
commissioning, and that they are NOT INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. In view of this, Apostle Peter exhorts the
Christians, in the succeeding verse, to “BE ON YOUR GUARD SO THAT YOU MAY NOT
BE CARRIED AWAY BY THE ERROR OF LAWLESS MEN AND FALL FROM YOUR SECURE POSITION”
(II Pet. 3:17, Ibid.).
Copied from:
PASUGO GOD’S MESSAGE | NOVEMBER 2005 | VOLUME 57 | NUMBER
11 | PAGES 27-30
Emphasis:
ADMIN.
WE CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO JOIN US IN OUR WORSHIP SERVICES TO OUR ALMIGHTY GOD.
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