The Church as the Body of Christ – The Implications

 Relationships Within The Body

The church of the New Testament is referred to in the scriptures under several different designations or appellations, one of which is the body of Christ. “And he put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:22-23 NKJV) “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” (Col. 1:24 NKJV) Paul says, in speaking to the church (see 1 Cor. 1:2) at Corinth, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Cor. 12:27 NKJV) To those in Rome, he says, “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Rom. 12:5 NKJV)

The body of Christ, the church, is, of course, a spiritual body. Peter describes the church as a building but what he says is applicable here for he says, “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house.” (1 Peter 2:5 NKJV) The church is spiritual; it consists of men and women and boys and girls of accountable age who, each in their individual spirit, have submitted to Christ in both faith and obedience. “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Rom. 8:9 NKJV) “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14 NKJV) “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body (the fleshly physical body we each possess--DS), you will live.” (Rom. 8:13 NKJV) It is thus spiritual beings who have the Spirit of Christ within them who comprise the church, the body of Christ.

In the description the Holy Spirit gives of the church as a spiritual body, the body of Christ, it is compared to a physical body to provide us with lessons about its nature and what it is to be. He (the Holy Spirit) says, speaking through Paul, “for in fact the body is not one member but many” (1 Cor. 12:14 NKJV) and then begins discussing the foot, the hand, the ear, the eye, the smelling (the nose) with the idea being that each member of the body has its function to fulfill for the profit of the entire body and that each part of the body, each member, contributes to the well being of the body and is needed. (1 Cor. 12:15-22) With the physical body we readily see this need. Remove any part of the body and, to that extent, we become handicapped.

This is a lesson the church needs to learn -- the value of every single member and the fact that they each contribute in one way or another, whether we see it or not. Too often the member that has standing is the one with speaking talent, or the one who is a church leader in one capacity or another, or one who is well thought of in the community while the poor widow with but two mites to cast into the collection plate (Luke 21:1-4) is left out of the social interaction of the membership.

The church that is what God would have it to be is egalitarian. Too often, the church is divided into cliques based on social, economic, or educational status or perceived superiority. This should not be. If men can see such behavior surely God sees it. To show favoritism of one over another is sin. “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism” (James 2:1 NAS77) or, as the NET Bible puts it, “do not show prejudice.”

But the reader should not make more of what I have said than what I stated, for I do not mean to imply this is a common practice, but if it is found even once it is once too often. Every congregation is different and the whole body of believers should never be judged based on what one might find in a particular location. Do we think it would be fair to judge all of the congregations that belong to Christ based on the church at Sardis as described by Jesus himself in Rev. 3? I think not.

Here is the body of Christ, the church, as God would have it be--“that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Cor. 12:25-27 NKJV) “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35 NKJV)

The church being what it ought to be starts with each individual member being what he ought to be in his relationship both with Christ and with his fellow brethren. We cannot sit back as observers and see how it is going and say the church is not what it ought to be in its love for each of its members when we are, as stated, just sitting back and watching and not becoming actively involved ourselves.

John says, for example, “Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17 NKJV) We say that it is the church’s duty, the church’s responsibility, to care for the needy. Now, be honest, is that what the passage says, that it is the church’s obligation? It says it is my obligation if I can help to step in and help; the church being what it ought to be as a body begins with me in friendship, in fellowship, in caring, in sharing, in sacrifice, in the depths of love as measured by God’s word. Besides, if we do not care about one another, who will care about us?

Salvation is in The Body

How many bodies does Christ have? That is a foolish question on its face. How many bodies do you have? It makes as much sense to ask one as to ask the other. Besides, even if we were that dull, Paul tells us, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph. 4:4 NKJV) There is an idea held by many that each of the individual denominations is a member of the body of Christ and that, taken collectively, they make up the church. Talk about an absolute perversion of scripture and utter nonsense!

Denominations did not exist when the New Testament was being written, thus when Paul wrote to the church at Corinth talking about these matters regarding the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12) he most certainly was not talking about that which did not exist. He clearly was talking to “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” (1 Cor. 1:2 NKJV) How do I know he was talking to them--because I just quoted the passage, because he says so. They, each one individually, each Christian, was a member of the body of Christ to whom he was speaking. “You are the body of Christ (the church at Corinth--DS), and members individually.” (1 Cor. 12:27 NKJV)

Christ is the head of the body, the church (Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:18), to whom each member of the body is to hold fast (Col. 2:19). The head always directs the body using the analogy of the physical body. The rest of the body follows the decisions made by the head. In other words, the head rules the body. God never gave man legislative powers in the realm of religion; Christ has all authority. “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18 NKJV) were some of the last words Jesus spoke while on earth. He is the king of a kingdom and not the head of some kind of a democratic government. This being the case, and as Christ the head has spoken and given his will in the pages of the New Testament, why have men not been content to be guided by his will and it alone?

Men have arrogated power to themselves and set up conferences, councils, and governing bodies, and tried to make laws for God and in many cases even overrode his will, for their own, setting aside scripture and people say it is okay, all is well, God is pleased, he is satisfied, and we are saved. In religious bodies that have done these things it is safe to say Christ may be spoken of as the head but it is not taken seriously by those of us who have a New Testament and have read it and studied it and believe it.

Man may vote and elect a governing body in a club, or a benevolent organization, or a union, or whatever, but such has no place in the New Testament church, the body of Christ, which already has its head and governing body in place--Christ himself.

Christ is the Savior of the body (Eph. 5:23), but scripture says his body is the church (Col. 1:24). There are an awful lot of people who believe the church does not matter. To their thinking it does not matter whether one is a member of the church or not for their thinking is a man can be saved without church membership. If you can be saved without church membership then it does not matter whether or not you are in the body of Christ for the church is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). If you are in the church, you are in the body of Christ; if you are not in the church, you are not in the body of Christ.

Now, what is it that Christ is the Savior of? It is his body, the body of Christ (Eph. 5:23). Name one place in the Bible where Christ ever promised or gave hope of saving anyone not in the body of Christ. I am willing to wait for the answer but it will be a long wait as you will not find it.

Here is what causes the confusion: people do not know the truth about how one becomes a Christian. They think becoming a Christian is one process and becoming a church member is another. The truth is that the same process that makes one a Christian also adds him to the body of Christ, the church. If you obeyed the gospel of Christ, in truth and sincerity, you are a member of the church, whether any in the church accept you or not. God adds you to the church (see Acts 2:47 NKJV), not men. He does it when we obey the gospel. You cannot obey the gospel and not be in the church.

God adds you to the church, the body of Christ, but on conditions. One condition all agree upon is faith in Christ. That, however, is only one condition. While everything else flows from it and while it must of necessity be the first thing in order (Heb. 11:6) God requires more of man than that even though many do not believe he does.

A second condition is repentance. God is not in the business of saving unrepentant sinners, even if they are believers. If so, where does the Bible teach it? If man can be saved without repentance what did Jesus shed his blood for? If a man can be saved without repentance, meaning he can go on and still live a life of sin and be saved, then why did Jesus shed his blood for the remission of man’s sins if sin does not matter? Repentance is thus required of man for salvation (Acts 2:38).

A third condition is a confession of Jesus with the mouth. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.” (Rom. 10:9-10 NKJV) Confession is made before baptism for only believers can be scripturally baptized. It is disciples who are to be baptized, says Jesus (Matt. 28:19), but you cannot know a person has been made a disciple unless that person lets it be known.

The final condition one must meet before it can be said he has entered the body of Christ, of which Christ said he is the Savior (Eph. 5:23), is baptism. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.” (1 Cor. 12:13-14 NKJV) We enter the body of Christ by baptism. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:27 NKJV) To be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into his body.

I have quoted the passage from Eph. 5:23 a few times in this article where it is said Jesus is the “Savior of the body.” If you will read but 2 verses on down you will begin reading as follows, “Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:25-27 NKJV)

Let me ask you one thing. What did Christ cleanse the church of “with the washing of water (baptism--DS) by the word”? To ask is to answer--sin. If you think spiritual cleansing of sin does not come by “the washing of water by the word,” then you must explain why the Holy Spirit said it did while not meaning what he said. Would you question his integrity?

Those who think they can enter the body of Christ some other way than by being baptized, as Peter said, for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), will search in vain for the passage that teaches it. No one is a Christian who has not been baptized, despite years of man-made tradition that teaches otherwise. One can either choose to believe the Bible or believe men.

I grow weary of hearing men talk of faith who have no faith, who will not believe plain statements of scripture. I can find several passages that say we are baptized into Christ, it is for the remission of sins, that it saves, etc.–teachings along those lines. Those who oppose this teaching oppose every passage I produce and yet can find no passage in support of their own proposition that it does not save or have anything to do with man’s salvation.

If one enters the body of Christ by baptism (1 Cor. 12:13), that is where salvation is found for his body, the church, is what Christ is saving, then what do you think you ought to do with regards to baptism? If you think one can enter that body without baptism why not teach us all how? Teach us how that while Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16 NKJV) the truth is “He who believes and is ‘not’ baptized will be saved.”  Whether Mark 16:16 is authentic or not is debated but, nevertheless, be that as it may, the teaching of many is “he who believes and is not baptized will be saved.” That is an exceedingly dangerous doctrine in light of Bible teaching on the subject. Who is so reckless to do it?

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Calling On The Name Of The Lord

The Apostle Peter, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, preached the first gospel sermon ever preached on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 after Jesus' ascension back to heaven. By believing and obeying the message preached that Pentecost day, the men and women present would be saved from their sins, and so they were. In that sermon, Peter quoted the prophet Joel, saying, "It shall be, that every one who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21 NAS 77)

All rational men and women ought to want to be saved. We all know, if we are at all honest, that we have sinned and have sins that need to be forgiven. God's promise through Joel the prophet was that "every one" will be saved who will call on the name of the Lord, so how do we do that?

One's first inclination when hearing the word "call" is to think of verbal communication, thus prayer to God. Yet, when one reads the entirety of Peter's sermon in Acts 2, we find not a word about prayer to God or Christ.

As Peter proceeded in his speech to those who had assembled that day, after convincing them he and the other apostles who were speaking in tongues were not drunk, his first objective was to convince them that the Jesus they had condemned to death was indeed the Christ. This was not difficult to do. Peter reminded them of the miracles, wonders, and signs Jesus had done in their presence. No ordinary man could do such things if God was not with him, and God is not with liars. Jesus was who he said he was — the Son of God.

No doubt they were also aware of the events surrounding the Lord's death: the earthquake, the darkness, the veil of the temple being rent; and, add to that, many of them were likely already convicted in their hearts that they had condemned an innocent man.

Being convicted in heart of their sin and of the fact that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, they appeal to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37 NAS 77)

Peter's well-known response was, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38 NAS 77)

Now to the heart of our subject: what does it mean to call on the name of the Lord? It means to obey the gospel. If you are not a Christian and want to become one, it means for the alien sinner to repent and be baptized upon your faith in Christ.

Were these people on the Day of Pentecost saved after obeying Peter's instructions? The Bible says, "There were added that day about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41 NAS 77) Inspiration says that, not me. We ought to believe what the text clearly states.

I ask you this question: Did those three thousand that day call on the name of the Lord? It is those who call on the name of the Lord that Joel says will be saved. Did they do it? What did they do? When you answer that question, you will know what it means to call on the name of the Lord. It means to obey the gospel — to have faith, repent, and be baptized.

If calling on the name of the Lord meant to simply pray to God for forgiveness, Peter would surely have emphasized that, but we hear not a word from him along that line. Why not? Because that is not what it means to call on the name of the Lord.

Saul called on the name of the Lord in Acts 22:16. Perhaps you recall his experience on the road to Damascus when he encountered the Lord and was told to go into the city and it would be told to him what he must do. Ananias was sent to him and told him, "Why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name." (Acts 22:16 NAS 77)

Paul had developed faith and repentance on the road to Damascus when the Lord appeared to him; thus all that was left in calling on the name of the Lord was to be baptized. Calling on his name was not something in addition to baptism that Saul needed to do, but it was a summarizing statement of what was transpiring or being accomplished by being baptized.

Surely, Paul had been praying to God, no doubt for forgiveness, ever since Jesus had appeared to him on the Damascus road. The Lord, in directing Ananias to go to Saul, said specifically to Ananias, "He is praying." (Acts 9:11 NAS 77) We are told just two verses before this, "he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank." (Acts 9:9 NAS 77) If calling on the name of the Lord meant praying to God for the forgiveness of one's sins, certainly Saul had done that before Ananias ever arrived at his abode. Why then did Ananias not instruct him to do what he had already been doing, if praying to the Lord is the same as calling on the name of the Lord?

Saul, despite his prayers, had not yet called on the name of the Lord, for he had not yet completed his gospel obedience. He had developed faith; he had repented at the time of his heavenly vision when Jesus spoke to him, but he had yet to be baptized; thus we find Ananias directing him to do so. In Ananias' own words, "Why do you delay?" (Acts 22:16 NAS 77)

When one obeys God, that person is without speech but, by action, asking God to fulfill his promise. The person obeying the command is expressing in action his or her faith in what God has said and promised. The alien sinner, in obeying the gospel, is asking or calling on God, by his acts, to grant him or her the promised forgiveness of sins.

There are a few other passages in the New Testament that shed light on this subject. Acts 9:14 speaks of those who "call upon Thy name." (NAS 77) It is clearly a reference to Christians, for those who call upon the name become Christians.

Romans 10:12-14: "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for 'Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?" (NAS 77) Again, to call upon the name of the Lord is to become a Christian, to obey the gospel. However, there is an additional point that needs to be made from this passage and what it teaches.

This passage makes plain that belief alone is not calling upon the name of the Lord. You cannot, according to this passage, call upon the name of the Lord until you first believe. When you believe, then you can call on the name of the Lord. This accords with Peter's sermon in Acts 2 and Saul's conversion account in Acts 9 and Acts 22. The Bible has never taught salvation by faith alone, as so many today teach.

In closing, it needs to be said that one must always read the context in determining the meaning of words and/or phrases. The one exception that I am aware of to what I have set forth in this article is the passage in Acts 7 where Stephen is being stoned to death, looks up into heaven, and sees the Lord. The text says, "he called upon the Lord." (Acts 7:59 NAS 77) He was speaking person to person, face to face, man to God directly. He was making a request: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" (Acts 7:59 NAS 77) Context always matters in scriptural exegesis.

To summarize: calling upon the name of the Lord is, in the New Testament, a request by man to God for God to fulfill his promise. It is a request not made verbally, but a request made by obedience — an action out of faith in God's word, faith in God's promise.

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The Hardening Of The Human Heart

There are passages in the Bible that are frightening.  Heb. 3:12-13 is one such passage. "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'TODAY,' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." (NKJV)  This is a passage addressed to Christians but the idea that the heart can be hardened by sin is applicable to all men.

The fact that a man can be hardened by sin is scary in that the implication is that a person might well get to the point where he/she is so hardened that they can no longer repent and thus lose all possibility of being forgiven and of salvation.  Sufficient hardening leads to damnation.  When your heart becomes so hard that you cannot repent, for your heart will not allow it, you are done.

The spiritual heart of man can be likened to cement in that when cement is wet, before it has settled and dried, you can fashion it in whatever manner you choose but once it has hardened it becomes a different matter altogether.

Once a person hears the truth, whether about the gospel as a whole or the truth as regards a particular sin, and that person refuses to respond to the truth obediently he hardens his heart in that very act. 

Sin is a hardening agent.  Every day away from God living for self, when one has heard the truth and knows better, is another day of sin, another day of the further hardening of the heart.  You say you can change but the desire to do so becomes less and less as time goes by and one grows ever more comfortable in a non-Christian or unfaithful lifestyle.  Sin becomes ever more comfortable as each day passes by.  This is a part of the deceitfulness of sin.  Things seem to go fine without God or without faithfulness.  That is until the day it is too late. 

In Heb. 6, the Bible speaks of Christians who have gotten themselves into a situation where it is impossible to renew them to repentance:

"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame." (Heb. 6:4-6 NAS)

One does not fall away from God in a single hour, day, or week, but it is a process.  Let the leaven of sin do its work, let the heart become gradually hardened by it, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, and the end result may well be a heart too hardened to repent and who can say how long or short a time that may take.

The Bible speaks about God giving up on people.  No doubt they had become hardened.  In Rom. 1 we read words like "God also gave them up" (v. 24), "God gave them up" (v. 26), and "God gave them over" (v. 28) all talking about God giving those people up to sins of various kinds which means he ceased to exercise any restraining influence on them.  The New Living Translation says "God abandoned them" in verses 24 and 26, and in verse 28, "he abandoned them."  How would you like God to abandon you, to give up on you, to allow you to go on in sin with no more efforts to restrain you or bring you to repentance?  Would that scare you?  It should.

God says in Psalms 81:11-12, "But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me.  So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels." (NKJV)  That God was long-suffering with his people in Israel and Judah no one can doubt who has ever read the Old Testament.  Time and again in the prophets one can see God pleading with his people to repent and turn back to him but they refused to do so.  There comes a time when it is too late to repent, too late because you cannot do it, because you become incapable of doing it.  The heart will not allow it.

A person's heart is not something to be played with.  "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." (Prov. 4:23 NKJV)  Adam Clarke says of this verse, "'Above all keeping,’ guard thy heart."  The New Living Translation reads, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."  Think about that, your heart determines the course of your life and so it does.  That is serious business.  If the heart wanders, if it is not steadfast, if it is not centered on God, on Christ, on the gospel, on God's will, what then?  It is then directing the course of your life towards hell.  There is good reason to "Guard your heart above all else."  One's eternal destiny is at stake.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matt. 6:21 NKJV)  If you look closely at the two verses just before Matt. 6:21 Jesus only offers two alternatives as to where a man's treasure will be, either on earth or in heaven.  He says without quoting it all, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." (Matt. 6:19-20 NKJV)  A man's treasure is either going to be found on earth in the things of this world, which means that is where his heart is, or his treasure is going to be in heaven, which means his heart is set on the spiritual life.  The one pathway is inevitably going to lead to sin for it does not lead to God. 

A man who has hardened his heart against God and his word is like a man carrying around a bottle of liquid nitroglycerin in his pocket.  He never knows when his life will end and total disaster befall him.  Solomon wrote, "He who hardens his heart will fall into calamity." (Prov. 28:14 NKJV)  Now I want you to take note of two things from this passage.  (1) There is no doubt about the calamity.  It is coming.  You will not escape it no matter who you are if you harden your heart.  (2) Secondly, who is it that hardens his heart?  It is the individual.  It is not something that has to happen.  You can prevent it.  It is in your hands; you have the ability to prevent your heart from hardening.

Again, "He who is often reproved, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." (Prov. 29:1 NKJV)  While the text is correctly translated "hardens his neck," we understand that is a figure of speech referring to the hardening of the heart.  The New Revised Standard version reads, "One who is often reproved, yet remains stubborn, will suddenly be broken beyond healing." (Prov. 29:1)  It is the heart that is stubborn, but who makes it that way?  Who is responsible for not listening to the word of God that reproves a man of his sins?  To ask is to answer.  What happens to such a man?  He is destroyed without remedy.  That ought to scare us.

Without the word of God we would not even know there was such a thing as sin or that we were going to be judged by God's word.  It is God's word that reproves a man, that tells him he is wrong and needs to change, that he needs to repent?  What do you think, should a man harden his heart against the things he reads in the Bible?  It is just a matter of time for the hardened man who refuses to listen to the word of God, just a matter of time.

"But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." (Rom. 2:5 NKJV)  The impenitent heart is a hard heart.  It will not obey God and its reward is wrath.  That reward begins on the day of death.  He will be as was the rich man who desired of Lazarus some water for his tongue for he said, "I am tormented in this flame." (Luke 16:24 NKJV)  That time of torment for the hard-hearted man or woman could begin in the next few minutes for no one knows the minute of his death.  My niece died in apparently perfect health while asleep on a couch at the age of 33.  The autopsy found no apparent cause of death.  According to the autopsy report she ought to be alive but she is not.  When your heart quits beating you are dead no matter what state of health you may think you are in or your doctor says you are in.

An impenitent heart is a choice.  A hard heart is a choice.  God knows a man's heart.  Peter said at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 in speaking of God's acceptance of the Gentiles, "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them." (Acts 15:8 NKJV)  The Psalmist, David, said, "He knows the secrets of the heart." (Psalms 44:21 NKJV)  Then we are told, "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." (Heb. 4:13 NKJV)  David, in speaking to his son Solomon said, "The Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts." (1 Chron. 28:9 NKJV)  One can fool other men as to his motives and as to what he thinks.  He can mislead, deceive, and even tell outright lies but he cannot fool God for God knows--he has searched out every man's heart.

One of the big questions that a man faces is am I honest with myself?  Am I honest with God's word as it applies to me?  If I am not I am simply going to die in my sin or sins.  There is no way around it.  In God's eyes it is the wicked man who "hardens his face." (Prov. 21:29 NKJV)  We can please men or we can please God.  We can please self or we can please God.  Whatever we do we must remember the question Job asked, one which we must answer, "Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?" (Job 9:4 NKJV)

I want to close this article with a short discussion of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, a man who hardened his heart against God.  I quote the following text:

"Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.  He also did evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.  And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel." (2 Chron. 36:11-13 NKJV) 

The kingdom was at that time a tributary to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.  Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar paying no heed to Jeremiah, God's spokesman.  Jerusalem was laid siege to around 18 months before being taken.  When the city was taken, Zedekiah was captured while trying to flee.  All of Zedekiah's sons were executed before his very eyes and then his own eyes were put out and he was carried captive to Babylon.  I remind you of what Job said, "Who has hardened himself against Him and Prospered?" (Job 9:4 NKJV)  Not Zedekiah. 

Zedekiah "hardened his heart against turning to the Lord."  Was there a reason he could not have turned to the Lord?  Was there something preventing such a turning?  Not a thing in the world.  Jeremiah was there urging just such a turn all the time.  Until a man gives in to the word of God and is willing to come into compliance with it there is no hope for him.

In this same chapter, where we read about Zedekiah in 2 Chron. 36, just 2 verses below where we left off in our reading above, we find the following as a follow-up.

"And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.  But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy." (2 Chron. 36:15-16 NKJV)

Zedekiah was not the only Jew with a hardened heart.  But I have quoted this passage to make some points from it.  (1) God is compassionate.  He sent warnings via the prophets but they were more than warnings.  Often, as one reads the prophets, it is as though God is begging, pleading, as though his heart is broken over his people who have left him.  He yearns for them and desires their return much like a parent over a child, a child who has turned his back on the parent and broken the parent's heart.

(2) The second point is that God had done all he could.  There comes a time when everything has been done that can possibly be done for an ill patient.  So it is with the spiritually ill.

(3) The third point was that God's word was despised.  When you get yourself in that position, where you despise what God says, how can you expect help from God for you have basically said I will not accept such help?  His help is found in his word that tells us what we need to do but we are unwilling to accept his prescription.

(4) The final point, there comes a time when there is no remedy.  Why not, because of the hardness of heart.

I close now with the best advice you will ever get.  It is not mine.  It is God's.  "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." (Heb. 4:7 NKJV)  How is your heart today?  How is mine?  It is the pure in heart that will see God (Matt. 5:8).  They do not harden their hearts against his word.  We will either see God or Satan in time to come.  It is our choice.  It is our heart that will make the difference. 

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Hypocrites In The Church

Are there hypocrites in the church? Surely, there are some. Paul dealt with such in his day for he said in 2 Cor. 11:13, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ." (NASU) In Gal. 2:4 he speaks of "false brethren secretly brought in." (NASU) Hypocrisy is an age-old problem. There are hypocrites about everywhere you look so why be surprised or shocked to find some in the church?

The question to be dealt with in this article is what shall we do about hypocrites in the church? Some people lay all the blame for their own failure to obey the gospel on hypocrites in the church. They talk as though they want nothing to do with such a bunch of hypocrites and it is beneath them to associate with such. They are better than that.

Certainly, the Bible condemns hypocrisy. What may surprise the reader is that the actual word "hypocrisy" is found only in 9 verses of the New American Standard Bible Update edition and "hypocrite" is found in only 2 verses of the same translation. Does that mean there is not a lot written on the subject? Not at all!

One has to remember that in defining a word one learns much by studying words that are the antonyms of the word being defined. We all know that one who is guilty of hypocrisy is one who pretends that which is not true; he pretends to be what he is not; he is a pretender and deceitful. Well, what is the opposite of that? The antonyms for hypocrisy given by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary are genuineness and sincerity. Thus, every time your Bible commands honesty and sincerity of heart it condemns hypocrisy.

One needs to read no further than Matthew to get Jesus' take on hypocrisy. He calls the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites and then says to them, "You, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matt. 23:28 NASU) When Jesus calls a man a hypocrite, as he did the Pharisees and scribes in verse 27, he did not mean it as a compliment. It is a condemnation.

In Luke 12:1, he says, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." (NASU) He goes on then to say they will not get by with it for "there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known." (Luke 12:2 NASU) What was true for them will also be true for you and me if we do not guard our hearts closely and act out of sincerity. It is easy, for example, to worship out of duty rather than sincerely from the heart, out of obligation versus desire.

Peter says to all Christians that we are to put "aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander." (1 Peter 2:1 NASU) The words Joshua spoke to the children of Israel in Joshua 24:14 are just as applicable to us today as they were to them. He said, "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth." (Joshua 24:14 NASU)

Paul's desire for the Philippians (and for us) was that they might be "sincere and blameless until the day of Christ." (Phil. 1:10 NASU) The writer of the book of Hebrews instructs us to draw near to God "with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb. 10:22 NASU) God demands of us honesty, sincerity, and not hypocrisy.

No one can defend a hypocrite, nor would it be right to try and do so, but to those who complain about hypocrites in the church and use them as an excuse to not obey the gospel we ask this question, can you live the Christian life better than those you criticize or will you even try? You do know, do you not, that living the Christian life is easier said than done? Do you know that the apostle Peter himself was guilty of hypocrisy for a time? Are you making a claim to be better than Peter?

Paul said of Peter, called Cephas in this passage, that "when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy." (Gal 2:11-13 NASU)

Did David not for a time, after committing adultery with Bathsheba and after having her husband killed, act as though (pretending) he had done nothing wrong? Was he not being a hypocrite? It took Nathan the prophet with a direct message from God to get him to face up to his own hypocrisy.

I wonder, will either of these hypocrites be in heaven? Since one does not want to be with hypocrites in the church one supposes that one feels the same about being with Peter and David in heaven. Yes, we are sure that these men repented of any and all wrongdoing doing but the point is that for a time they were hypocrites. Just because a man is a hypocrite today does not mean he will be one tomorrow or that he will never repent. Maybe if you were to become a Christian and play the role of a Nathan you could save him. Do you care enough to try?

Another point that needs pursuing is this--the fact that a man is in sin does not necessarily imply that he is a conscious hypocrite. It would be easy to look at a church like that at Corinth in the New Testament and read about all of the sins in that congregation and just say that church is full of hypocrites and sinners. I want nothing to do with them. Does that attitude save them?

What if Paul had felt that way about them--just a bunch of hypocrites that I want nothing to do with? Would they not all have been lost who were caught up in sin there? Instead, what did Paul do? He says he wrote to them in tears (2 Cor. 2:4), speaking of his first Corinthian letter, teaching, begging, pleading, exhorting them to repent. Did any of them do so?

Paul says in his second letter, speaking of the results wrought by his first letter, that "though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it--for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while--I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation." (2 Co 7:8-10 NASU)

When we say we will have nothing to do with hypocrites, we are really saying we have no concern for them; we do not love them as people; let them go to hell; I don't care. Love does not run away from people but rather toward them.

There are probably not too many Christians who have lived so faithfully for a full lifetime that they can honestly say there was never ever any hypocrisy in their lives. It may be that the public did not see it but in our inner self we have known we were not right with God. We were tempted for a time and fell. Can you do better than we have done? Great! It is time to get started.

Finally, where is the compassion? A lot that passes for hypocrisy is merely ignorance of Bible teaching. True, given time, we ought to study and gain knowledge on our own but it takes time. Many simply do not know better. I only argue for a bit of patience and compassion on all of these hypocrites that it is said the church is full of.

Yes, we all despise the idea of hypocrisy and do not have any desire whatsoever to defend true hypocrites. Much of my arguing in this piece has been for the purpose of showing that there is room for love and compassion and that even good and great men are capable of falling into hypocrisy for a time.

But are we not hypocrites ourselves when we say we are too good for all of them, when we say we are too good for the gospel, when we say we are too good for the church? Are we not pretending to be better than we really are?

In closing, I want to mention the conversation Jesus had with Peter after his resurrection when he found Peter and a few of the disciples on the sea having fished all night and caught nothing. You will find the account in John chapter 21 beginning in verse about 15. When Jesus told Peter about what kind of death Peter would die, Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved and said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" (John 21:21 NASU) Please hear Jesus' response. "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" (John 21:22 NASU)

My final words in this piece--if there are hypocrites in the church what is that to you as regards your own salvation? You follow Jesus. I think that is exactly what Jesus would tell you. Don't worry about the other guy unless it is for the purpose of helping him. You follow Jesus. 

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