Demonstrating the Power of God’s Word

Introduction: 

TYPES OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

I. What does that mean? 

“For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.” (1 Corinthians 11:19, NASB)

II. Scan for a note in your Bible: I use the Ryrie Study Bible, NASB.

“11:19 factions. When this happens, it can serve the good purpose of Distinguishing those who are faithful.” (Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. “1 Corinthians 11:19.” Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Bible, Moody Publishers, 2012, p. 1425.)

III. Check how the verse appears in an equivalent translation: KJV.

“For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” (1 Corinthians 11:19, KJV)

IV. Confirm translation: Interlinear Greek-English New Testament.

“For there must also sects1 among you be, that the approved2 manifest may become among you. / Dei gar kai haireseis1 en hymin einai hina kai hoi dokimoi2 phaneroi genōntai en hymin.” (1 Corinthians 11:19, Interlinear Greek-English New Testament)

V. Verify important words from the text: Greek-English Lexicon.

VI. Define words given in the Lexicon: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

VII. Clarify further – brief note #1: the Scofield Study Bible, KJV.

“Heresies – center column note says, ‘Or, sects.”

VIII. Clarify further – brief note #2: the Macarthur Study Bible, NIV.

• NIV Translation: “No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.” (1 Corinthians 11:19, NIV)

• Note: “11:19 show… God’s approval. Factions revealed who passed the test of spiritual genuineness and purity (cf. 1Th. 2:4)

• 1 Thessalonians 2:4: “On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.”

• Note: “2:4 approved by God. It could be that some false teachers came into the church to discredit Paul’s ministry. This would account for his emphasis in vv. 1-12 on his divine appointment, approval, integrity, and devotion to them. Cf. Ac. 9:15; 16:9, 10.”

IX. Clarify further – brief commentary #1: the Moody Bible Commentary.

“Factions (v. 19) means ‘the dividing of people into opposing groups.’ These problems with unity arose in God’s providence so that the church could recognize the believers who promoted concord and who were thus worth following.”

X. Clarify further – brief commentary #2: the Liberty Bible Commentary.

“For there must be also heresies (Gr. hairesis, factions, the term is used in a nonecclesiastical sense. Note Acts 5:17 and 15:5, translated, ‘the sect’). Paul was certain that some divisions would occur in the assembly, if only to bring to light those who defend the truth. It is significant that God in His sovereign purpose might even use dissension and disorders in the assembly to put His people to the test.”

XI. Clarify further – expanded commentary #1: Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

“For, adds he, there must be heresies also; not only quarrels, but factions, and perhaps such corrupt opinions as strike at the foundation of Christianity, and all sound religion. Note, No marvel there should be breaches of Christian love in the churches, when such offences will come as shall make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. Such offences must come. Note that men are necessitated to be guilty of them; but the event is certain, and God permits them, that those who are approved (such honest hearts as will bear the trial) may be set to view, and appear faithful by their constant adherence to the truths and ways of God, notwithstanding the temptations of seducers. Note, The wisdom of God can make the wickedness and errors of others a foil to the piety and integrity of the saints.”

• A note that I wrote in the margin of this commentary after meditating on the above: “Written by Simon Browne, and not Matthew Henry. This note on 1 Corinthians 11:19 does not clarify but rather promotes a [popularly held] view of contemporaries. It also focuses [more] on the King James translation, instead of the original greek [which Browne appears to have limited understanding of].”

• Matthew Henry (1662–1714) “is highly–valued by contemporary preachers and Bible users. … Matthew Henry was the son of a Puritan pastor who had been silenced by the government of the time. Nevertheless Philip Henry, a godly man reared his family on Christian principles and Matthew followed the Lord from an early age. Although it was difficult to find suitable ministerial training, Matthew Henry eventually studied for the ministry. With government opposition relaxing, he became a Presbyterian pastor in Chester in 1687 and later in London from 1712. It is astonishing to note the amount of preaching and writing that he accomplished despite suffering from ill–health and knowing intense sorrow in his family life.” According to Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Henry’s Commentaries are “first among the mighty (commentaries) for general usefulness.”

• Preface to the Sixth Volume of Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Acts to Revelation: “The following are the ministers by whom the Exposition on the Epistolary writings, and the Revelation, was completed, as given by J. B. Williams, Esq., LL.D.FS.A., in his Memoirs of the Life, Character, and Writings, of the Rev. Matthew Henry, 8vo. p. 308. … 1 Corinthians Mr. Simon Browne.”

• Simon Browne (1680-1732) “was a dissenting minister and theologian. He was born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England, in 1680.

• “Early life: Browne was preaching by the age of 20, and first became a minister at an independent church in Portsmouth before moving, in 1716, to preach at the Old Jewry meeting-house in London. He published a volume of sermons was produced in 1722, and also a collection entitled Hymns and Spiritual Songs which included Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove and And Now, My Soul, Another Year.

• “Self-blame: Browne was attacked by a highway robber, and killed him in self-defence. Although he faced no legal consequences for this act, Browne was convinced that he had used excessive force, and had thus become a murderer. He developed the belief, that due to his act of murder, he had become eternally damned, and that his soul had been removed from his body. This belief has some similarities to the Cotard delusion (although at the distance of some centuries, a definitive diagnosis is impossible).

• “Writings: Browne abandoned the ministry in late 1723 due to the sudden depression brought on by the highway robbery, and returned to Shepton Mallet. There he continued to write, including books for children, translations of Latin and Greek poetry, and an abstract of the Bible. He also published three theological works: A Fit Rebuke to a Ludicrous Infidel, A Defence of the Religion of Nature and the Christian Revelation, and A Sober and Charitable Disquisition Concerning The Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity. He also penned ‘1 Corinthians’ in Matthews Henry’s commentary as listed in the preface to volume 6.

• “Death: He died in Shepton Mallet in 1732 and was buried in the meeting-house there.”

XII. Clarify further – expanded commentary #2: Adam Clarke’s Commentary.

“Verse 19. There must be also heresies] αιρεσεις. Not a common consent of the members of the Church, either in the doctrines of the Gospel, or in the ceremonies of the Christian religion. Their religious practices, and thus the Church of God, that should have been one body, was split into sects and parties. The divisions and the heriesies sprung out of each other. I have spoken largely on the word heresy in Ac 5:17, to which place I beg leave to refer the reader.”

• The Acts, Chap. V: “Verse 17. The high priest-and-the sect of the Sadducees] αιρεσις τωνσαδδουκαιων, The heresy of the Sadducees. In this place, as well as in several others, the word αιρεσις, heresy, has no evil meaning in itself; it is a word of distinction, and may receive either a good or bad colouring from the persons or opinions designated by it. It signifies a sect or party, whether good or bad, distinguished from any other sect. αιρεσις, heresy, comes from αιρεω, I choose, and was anciently applied to the different sects of the heathen philosophers, the members of each sect having chosen their own in preference to all the others. It has been applied among ecclesiastical writers in the same way-when a man chooses one party of Christians, in preference to others, to be his companions in the way of salvation; and he chooses them and their creed and Christian discipline, because he believes the whole to be more consistent with the oracles of God than any of the rest. The Church of Rome has thought proper to attach a very bad meaning to this innocent word, and then apply it to all those who can neither credit her transubstantiation, depend on her purgatory, nor worship her relics. A heretic, in her acceptation, is one who is not a papist, and, because not a papist, utterly out of the way and out of the possibility of being saved. These persons should recollect that, by a then persecuting brother, St. Paul, all the apostles, and the whole Church of Christ, were termed ναζωραιωναιρεσις, the heresy of the Nazarenes, Ac 24:5; and it was after the way which the persecuting Jews called heresy that St. Paul and the rest of the apostles worshipped the God of their fathers, Ac 24:14; and it was according to the strictest HERESY in the Jewish Church, ακιριβεστατηναιρεσιν, that St. Paul lived before his conversion, Ac 26:5; and we find, from Ac 28:22, that the whole Church of Christ was termed this heresy, ταυτηςαιρεσεως, and this by persons who intended no reproach, but wished simply to distinguish the Christians from scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, &c. Heresy therefore, in its first acceptation, signifies simply a choice: afterwards it was applied to designate all those persons who made the same choice; and hence the word sect and it became synonymous: in process of time it was applied to those professing Christianity who made, in some cases, a different choice as to some article of faith, or form of worship, from those which had obtained in that part of the Church with which they had been before connected. The majority, from whom they became thus separated, spoke evil of them, and treated them ill, because they presumed to choose for themselves on the foundation of the Holy Scriptures; and because they would take nothing for the truth of God that was not accredited from heaven. Thus, when the people now called Protestants, began to examine their creed according to the Holy Scriptures, and, in consequence of this examination, left out auricular confession, indulgences, the priests’ power to forgive sins, adoration of saints, angels, and relics, purgatory, and the doctrine of transubstantiation, because they could not find them in the word of God, the papists called them heretics, by which they meant, in opposition to the meaning of the word, persons holding damnable errors; and, as such, they persecuted, burnt, and destroyed them wherever they had power. Now be it known to these persecutors, that the Protestants still choose to reject opinions and practices which they know to be unscriptural, absurd, and superstitious; and which they have a thousand times demonstrated to be such: and, on this ground, may they still be HERETICS!”

Comparison Scripture:

“Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” (Numbers 14:22-24)

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” (1 Kings 18:21)

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17)

Concluding Remarks: How to Obtain Fullness of Power by R. A. Torrrey

Quoted from the last two pages (17-18) of “Chapter 1: The Power of the Word of God”:

“Finally, the Word of God has power to protect from error and sin. In Acts 20:29-32 the apostle Paul warned the elders at Ephesus of the errors that would creep in among them, and he commended them, in closing, ‘to God, and to the Word of His grace.’ In a similar way, Paul, writing to Timothy, the bishop of the same church, said: 

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child, thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:13-15)’ 

“The one who feeds constantly on the Word of God is proof against the multiplying errors of the day. It is simple neglect of the Word that has left so many a prey to the many false doctrines that the devil, in his subtilty, is endeavoring to insinuate into the church of Christ today. And the Word of God has not only power to protect from error, but from sin as well. In Ps. 119:11 we read: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” The man who feeds daily on the Word of God will be proof against the temptations of the devil. Any day we neglect to feed on the Word of God we leave an open door through which Satan is sure to enter into our hearts and lives. Even the Son of God himself met and overcame the temptations of the adversary by the Scriptures. 

“To each of Satan’s temptations He replied: “It is written” (Matt. 4:4,7,10). Satan left the field completely vanquished. It is evident from what has been said that the first step toward obtaining fulness of power in Christian life and service is the study of the Word. There can be no fulness of power in life and service if the Bible is neglected. In much that is now written on power, also in much that is said in conventions, this fact is overlooked. The work of the Holy Spirit is magnified, but the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works is largely forgotten. The result is transient enthusiasm and activity, but no steady continuance and increase in power and usefulness. 

“We cannot obtain power, and we cannot maintain power, in our own lives, and in our work for others, unless there is deep and frequent meditation upon the Word of God. If our leaf is not to wither and whatsoever we do is to prosper, our delight must be in the law of the Lord and we must meditate therein day and night. (Ps. 1:2, 3) Of course, it is much easier, and therefore much more agreeable to our spiritual laziness, to go to a convention or revival meeting, and claim a “filling with the Holy Spirit,” than it is to peg along day after day, month after month, year after year digging into the Word of God. But a “filling with the Spirit” that is not maintained by persistent study of the Word will soon vanish. It is well to bear in mind that precisely the results which Paul in one place ascribes to being “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18-22) he in another place ascribes to letting “the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” (Col. 3:16-18) Evidently Paul knew of no filling with the Holy Spirit divorced from deep and constant meditation upon the Word. To sum all up, anyone who wishes to obtain and maintain Fulness of Power in Christian Life and Service must feed constantly upon the Word of God.”

Concluding Scripture:

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” (Mark 13:31)

“Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” (Luke 21:33)

OUTLINE:

Demonstrating the Power of God’s Word

1. What does that mean? 
2. Scan for a note in your Bible: I use Ryrie Study Bible, NASB.

III. Check how the verse appears in an equivalent translation: KJV.

1. Confirm translation: Interlinear Greek-English New Testament.
2. Verify important words from the text: Greek-English Lexicon.
3. Define the words given in the Lexicon: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

VII. Clarify further – brief note #1: the Scofield Study Bible, KJV.

VIII. Clarify further – brief note #2: the Macarthur Study Bible, NIV.

1. Clarify further – brief commentary #1: the Moody Bible Commentary.
2. Clarify further – brief commentary #2: the Liberty Bible Commentary.
3. Clarify further – expanded commentary #1: Matthew Henry’s Commentary.

XII. Clarify further – expanded commentary #2: Adam Clarke’s Commentary.

Concluding Remarks: How to Obtain Fullness of Power by R. A. Torrrey (quote from the last two pages (17-18) of “Chapter 1: The Power of the Word of God”)

WORSHIP:

Behold Our God (0)

Opening:

Nearer to Thee (426)

It Is Well with My Soul (363)

Middle:

Standing on the Promises of God (430)

Message:

Down to the River to Pray (0)