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Usefulness At The Expense Of Faithfulness “FAITH” Leads Christian “SERVICE” Biblically1 Charles H. Welch2 |
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Does God Accept Usefulness In Christian Service At The Expense Of Faithfulness? We reproduce the substance of a private letter, reinforced and expanded in places to make it intelligible to every reader, and only published now at the pressing request of a number who feel the matter to be one of extreme urgency. We are encouraged to hope that what we have said will not make us appear dogmatic or unyielding. We extract from a letter made by a valued reader upon seeing the original correspondence: “It teaches us all a lesson. With great kindness, yet frank and without compromise, it points out from Scripture the clear responsibility of those who believe the marvellous truth of the Mystery;3 and what happens when they fail to meet it by failure to follow through. Your clarification of the two dispensations now in operation4 should be very enlightening to many who do not see the distinction, and ignorantly assume that all today are in the same calling”.5 Dear Brother in Christ,6 How shall I attempt to write where the subject is so intimately connected with the private conscience of a believer? I so strongly believe in individual responsibility, the Berean spirit in life as well as in doctrine, that I have never usurped the prerogative of the Lord, nor dared to anticipate the verdict of the Judgment Seat of Christ. I am exercised deeply, however, whenever I know that a ministering brother, who believes the Mystery, is being tempted to compromise in a denomina.7 Perhaps if I turn to a portion of Scripture it may point the moral, and we ca tion and yet hope to be counted a faithful teacher in line with the committal of 2 Timothy 2:2n hope that He Who inspired the record will once again use it in His own good way. So I turn to the book of Exodus, and there learn the message given to Moses: “…, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey …” (Exodus 5:3) This is repeated in Exodus 7:16 without diminution. Pharaoh for the time relented (Exodus 8:8), but later went back on his word (8:15). At length Pharaoh offered a series of compromises: Go ye … IN THE LAND (Exodus 8:25) Go ye … NOT FAR AWAY (Exodus 8:28) Go … but WHO? (Exodus 10:8) To all this Moses had but one reply: “…, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; …” (Exodus 10:9) Pharaoh lengthens the rope: “Go ye that are men … not the little ones” (Exodus 10:10-11)8 I.e. be influenced by the needs of “wife and children” left behind. “Go ye … only let your flocks and your herds be stayed” (Exodus 10:24). i.e. let possession, property, the argument “we must live” weigh with you. Look at the attitude of Moses – “not an hoof” (Exodus 10:26), and think of the attitude of Paul – “not for an hour” (Galatians 2:5). ALL was necessary “to serve God” – the flocks and herds, the little ones, the three days journey – and if Moses had faltered over one temptation, words fail to record the possible consequences. It is impossible I believe for any believer to miss the solemn lesson here. PHARAOH has his successors today; would God Moses had as many too. The dispensation of the Mystery cannot co-exist with a New Covenant which was made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah with their earthly hope and destiny. This necessarily means that to stand in a pulpit and preach the MYSTERY, and then partake of the Memorial feast of the Ned us what our attitude should be to the temptation to “soft-pedal” this or that doctrine or practice. “We are not as many, which corrupt the word10 …” (2 Corinthians 2:17) The word here translated “corrupt” means11 to “hucksterise”, to adulterate wine as a taverner did, and is “mix with water” in Isaiah 1:22. James tells us that he who hears the Word, but is not a doer “reasons himself on one side” paralogizomai (James 1:6, 8, 22 literally). Two arguments have been put forward as a justification for remaining in a denomination. (1) ALL believers today, willy-nilly, are members of the Body of Christ so the minister may as well12 stay where he is. (2) The other arises out of the failure to see the dispensational place of the Gospel of John. The words written in Galatians 2:7-9 show that two very distinct ministries could and did run together, and the following items suggest most clearly that John’s Gospel has a place now. In the parable of Matthew 22:1-10 we have the following sequences: (a) The original preaching of the earthly Kingdom (1-3). John’s Gospel, written according to tradition in John’s extreme old age, appears to have been penned in the shadow of Paul’s later ministry.13 John could not have primarily had a Jewish reader in mind, for no Jew needed the words “Rabbi”, “Rabboni”, or “Messiah” interpreted (John 1:38, 41 and 20:16). Neither was it necessary to tell a Jew that the Passover was a “feast of the Jews” (John 6:4). John’s parish was THE WORLD, and his great message was “life”. No distinct calling is indicated. The vast majority of Christians today are “John 3:16 believers”. This is blessed indeed, but such belief does not make one a member of the Body of Christ by itself.14 It has been suggested that as every believer today must be a member of the church which is the Body of Christ whether he knows it or not,15 that this justifies a minister who sees the truth of the Mystery continuing his denominational connexion. We have no access to the Book of God’s election, we can only deal with evidence. So Paul “knew” the election of the Thessalonians by their “faith” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5), and the epistles to Ephesians and Colossians were not only addressed to “Saints” but to “Faithful”. Such were sealed, but only “upon believing” – not otherwise. I cannot help thinking that many ministerial brethren stop short at Acts 13 because it permits the early church position of 1 Corinthians with the “ordinances” to be retained. All this sounds very comfortable, but it savours a little of the spirit that prompted the words: “…, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty,” (Luke 16:6), but it is required in stewards, not that they should be successful, popular, happy, contented etc. etc., but just16 FAITHFUL (1 Corinthians 4:2). I most sincerely sympathise with all the problems that the perception of the Mystery imposes upon the believer, especially if such is already in a denominational ministry. I know by personal experience the strong pull of the argument “don’t hide your light under a bushel”, “teach these folk as far as you can”, “just soft pedal a bit, and you could fill so and so chapel”. I have had all this and more. But never have I been more thankful for anything than the resolve by grace to make no compromise. Can we imagine The Berean Expositor would be. alive today or any of its literature published, if I had succumbed and taken over the ministry of a denominational assembly? I pray that you may be guided by the Lord, and that His will for you may be abundantly clear. Yours, very understandingly, yet very uncompromisingly by grace, Signed, Charles H. Welch. |
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Notes Related To BPT: Berean Publishing Trust, The Chapel of the Opened Book, 52a Wilson Street, LONDON, EC2A 2ER Printed copies of this and many other leaflets, pamphlets, booklets and books are available for purchase from The Berean Publishing Trust. NB: BPT use italicised text within KJV quotations for the BPT author’s own emphasis. Elsewhere, BPT use all-capitals and italics for emphasis. However, ASL seeks to restore the correct KJV italicised text, where feasible, and instead provides underlining only for the BPT author’s emphasis. ASL seeks to implement its emphasis using two levels: “bold” and “bold+underline”. |
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1 Item Themes & Categories: “Useful(Christian-works)/Faithful(biblical …)”. “The memorial feasts …”!? The Mystery’s calling(s)/”Sabbaths-feasts”(/administrations). Bible(-texts) “corrupted?” 2 Bible References: E.g. KJV/NKJV/NIV, at https://BibleGateway.com.: 2 Timothy 2:2; Exodus 5:3; 7:16; 8:8, 25, 28; 10:8, 9, 10-11, 24, 26; Galatians 2:5; 2 Corinthians 2:17; Isaiah 1:22; James 1:6, 8, 22; Galatians 2:7-9; Matthew 22:1-10; John 1:38, 41; 20:16; 6:4; 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5; (Ephesians); (Colossians); 1 Corinthians 4:2; Luke 21:24; Matthew 13:31-32. 3 Bible-Structures, Charts, & Biblical Languages: Bible Structures And Charts: N/A Hebrew Words: N/A Aramaic Words: N/A Greek Words: N/A 4 Primary Views: N/A 5 Related BPT Items: Baptism (S Allen) Fundamentals And The Mystery (CH Welch). (1959). Berean Publishing Trust Salvation, Its Need, Its Provision, Its Goal (CH Welch). (1962). Berean Publishing Trust That Blessed Hope, A Key To Holy Scripture (CH Welch). NB: Calling Volume Of The Book, The (CH Welch). (2006). Berean Publishing Trust. NB: Corrupt RV’s Greek Text! United Yet Divided (CH Welch) Unity Of The Spirit And Of The Faith, The (CH Welch). (1987). Berean Publishing Trust |
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ASL Endnotes: 1 ASL’s sub-title. NB: “Biblically” as in the Bible. 2 CH Welch’s general personal beliefs, (at that time!), … 3 Ephesians 3:1-11 4 I.e., 1. For Gentiles, as per The Mystery’s “calling, grace-alone” AND 2. “Israel, via John’s gospel” – OR, just “1”, THEN “2” later? (A paradox?). 5 I.e., Israel (nationally, but not individuals?) is now Cut Off, until “the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24) – THEN the Second Coming “restores Israel, for the Millennium”. 6 Response by CH Welch. 7 2 Timothy 2:2 8 Exodus 10:10-11 reads “…, Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. 11 Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.” 9 E.g., The “new (spiritual exodus-)freedom”, for we Gentile believers. 10 “~6 000 changes of two only old New Testament Greek text copies, corruption by heretics” as now exposed by Majority (or Received) Greek text latest research. 11 &/or, to corrupt the Greek Bible text? 12 “… may as well…” or “… should …” 13 Although the following works provide earlier dates: AD: 40-65+: Redating the New Testament (John A.T. Robinson). (1976). Wipf And Stock Publishers AD: 60-70: Rethinking The Dates Of The New Testament, The Evidence For Early Composition (Jonathan Bernier). (2022). Baker Academic 14 BOTH aspects should be covered/considered. CHW’s case is suggestive, rather than robust! 15 “Saving Faith”, for many, starts(/remains?) at the simple “mustard-seed” level! Matthew 13:31-32: “In-depth Bible-knowledge” is one spiritual Gift – not given to most true Believers, …! 16 “… just …” or “… truly …” |