To call on the Lord out of a pure heart is to “name the name of the Lord” in our prayer and praise to Him. The Lord’s seekers must be those who call on His name. Today those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart are found in His recovery. Thank the Lord that we are with those who call on Him out of a pure heart. With such believers we may pursue the virtues of righteousness, faith, love, and peace.
In verse 23 Paul says, “But foolish and ignorant questionings refuse, knowing that they produce contentions.” The Greek word rendered foolish may also be rendered stupid. The word ignorant denotes that which is uninstructed, undisciplined, untrained, that is, not subject to God, but following one’s own mind and will (Darby). The word produce means to engender, to beget. We must refuse such foolish questionings, for they have their source in Satan, the serpent. Many years ago I read that someone suggested that the serpent may have stood up in the form of a question mark when he talked with Eve. He questioned her with the words, “Hath God said?” (Gen. 3:1). All foolish questionings originate with the serpent. Thus, we should refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, questionings which beget contentions. These questionings always arise from an evil, serpentine source.
In verse 24 Paul goes on, “And a slave of the Lord must not contend, but be gentle toward all; apt to teach, bearing with wrong.” When people wrong you, you should not be troubled. Instead, as a slave of the Lord, you should be gentle and bear with the wrong.
In verse 25 Paul continues, “In meekness correcting those who oppose, if perhaps God may give them repentance unto the full knowledge of the truth.” Paul’s use of the word repentance indicates that with the opposers of the truth it is the heart and conscience which are in question. The truth is the revelation of the living God and His economy-His heart’s desire. To receive the divine revelation, the heart and conscience need to be rightly exercised toward God. The heart should be turned to Him, directed solely to Him, and the conscience must be pure and void of offense before Him. Otherwise, one might be carried away as a captive by the Devil and fall into his snare (v. 26).
In verse 25 Paul again refers to the full knowledge of the truth. Paul does not speak here of the full knowledge of the Bible or the full knowledge of doctrine and teaching. He emphasizes repentance unto the full knowledge of the truth. The inoculator must bear the burden to correct with meekness those who oppose in the hope that they may be enlightened, repent, and return to the full knowledge of the truth.
It is possible that those who repent “may return to soberness out of the snare of the Devil, having been caught by him, unto His will” (v. 26). According to Vincent, to return to soberness means to become sober again, to awake out of a drunken stupor. Paul’s use of the expression “the snare of the Devil” indicates that the opposers of the truth, being short of the adequate knowledge of the divine revelation, have been captured and kept in a snare by the Devil. The enemy of God occupies their reprobate mind with error and shuts God out, just as he did with the Pharisees (John 8:42-45). They need to return to God in their heart and have a thorough dealing in their conscience.
The pronoun “him” in the phrase “having been caught by him” refers to the Devil. However, “unto His will,” literally translated “unto the will of that One,” refers to God, mentioned in verse 25. Hence, it means toward God’s will, for God’s will, to do God’s will.
Suppose some approach you with the intention of arguing about a certain doctrine or practice. Instead of entering into an argument with them, present God’s dispensation to them. In order to do this, you need to be familiar with the contents of God’s New Testament economy. All the saints should be trained, perhaps by the leading ones in their locality, to present the full knowledge of the truth, to share with others the reality of the contents of God’s New Testament economy.
Often we are asked why we say that we are the church. The first time I heard this question in the United States was in 1963. During a time of fellowship, a brother asked me, “Why does your group call itself the church in Los Angeles?” In answer to this very good question I pointed out that in the Bible the saints in a particular locality, such as Jerusalem or Antioch, were regarded simply as the church in that locality. Acts 8:1 speaks of the church in Jerusalem, and 13:1, of the church in Antioch. I went on to point out that in Jerusalem there was just one church. Peter, James, and John were all for the building up of the one church in Jerusalem. However, today’s Christians have gone astray and meet in many different denominations. For this reason, in the city of Los Angeles there are different kinds of so-called churches. There are even groups which say they are a Chinese church or a Korean church. Then I asked which of these different kinds of churches we should join. The one who raised the question about the church in Los Angeles admitted that we should not join any of those so-called churches. Then I proceeded to say that if we in Los Angeles do not call ourselves the church in Los Angeles, we shall be another sect. If we are not the church in Los Angeles, then what are we? We have no choice but to call ourselves the church in Los Angeles.
Realizing that some may say that the church in Los Angeles should include all the saints in that city, I went on to say, “It is true that the church in Los Angeles includes all the believers in Los Angeles. However, most of them are not willing to meet simply as the church. This is their responsibility, not ours. For example, the Jones family may have many members. Suppose the majority of the members move away from home and only three remain. Are these three not the Jones family? Are they wrong to put a sign on their house saying ‘The Jones Family’? Certainly not. If they are not called Jones, then what should they be called? It certainly would be wrong for them to take the name of Smith or any other name. It is right for them to say that they are the Jones family, even though many of the members of the family have gone away and live elsewhere. Likewise, many of those who are truly members of the church in Los Angeles do not meet as the church. Nevertheless, those who do stand as the church have the right to describe themselves as the church in Los Angeles.”
On this occasion I asked, “Why don’t those in the denominations call themselves the church? They are bothered by the fact that we claim to be the church in Los Angeles. They need to ask themselves why they take such names as Presbyterian and Lutheran. I hope that they would be willing to drop these names and simply be the local church in their city. To those who are willing to do this in this city I would say, ‘Since we are all the same church, the church in Los Angeles, why don’t we simply come together and be the church? Let us all meet together for the church life.’ ” This is one illustration of how we need to learn the full knowledge of the truth and then learn how to present the truth to others, especially to opposers. It is our hope that others may be enlightened and also come to the full knowledge of the truth.
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