Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Jan 1950

"Thou hast gained thy brother" (Matthew 18. 15) are words which the Lord used when He spoke of how a matter of one brother sinning against another should be dealt with. The word "gained" is the verb kerdaino, which is from the noun i:'r~, which means, gain or profit. If saints would just stop and think for a little while, in the general scramble for material gain in this world, of the gain or profit they have in one an6ther, they would be more given to seeking the well being of each other. To lose a brother is truly a loss, though there are circumstances, because of the general attitude and behaviour of a brother, when it is a relief to all when he goes from the Fellowship. But the object, generally speaking, of all dealing with, and discipline of, a brother is to gain the brother. The Lord's words are quite clear in Matthew 18.15: "If thy brother sin against thee, go, shew him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." It is a matter of gain or loss. If the brother does not hear his brother, even the brother who has been sinned against has sustained a loss, if the sinning brother goes on in his sinful course of adding rebellion to his initial sin. This sinning brother will of course have the greater loss, but the other brother too will be a loser, as will be also all who are in the church, if it is necessary to regard the brother as a Gentile and a publican, that is, one who is outside the church, against the word of which he also eventually rebels.

Peter evidently was deeply impressed by the Lord's words about the matter of gaining or losing a brother, so he asked, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven." This, of course, simply means that there is no limit to forgiveness. We know 'in our present imperfect state that there will always be something to forgive. Our need of our Father's forgiveness for daily and continuous failures should teach us that we seek divine forgiveness we should ever have the grace of forgiveness in our hearts. Micah 6.8 puts the matter clearly: "He hath shewed thee, 0 man, hat is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5.7). This beatitude is well illustrated the parable which the Lord spake following Peter's question. "Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would make a reckoning with his servants." One of his servants was found to be owing his royal master ten thousand talents, which, as the A.V. margin shows, reckoning silver at five shillings the ounce, is �1,875,000. His lord commanded that he, his wife and children, and all that he had, should be sold, so that payment of the debt might be made. He fell d9wn before him and said, "Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." His lord was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him all. This servant who had been so graciously dealt with went out d found one of his fellow-servants who owed him a hundred pence, which at the same value of silver as the other debt was �8 2s. 6d. He, too, said, "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." But there was no patience shown by this servant, and no forgiveness either. He straightway cast his fellow-servant into prlson till he should pay the debt. When this was told to their lord, for they were both servants to the same master, he withdrew his forgiveness and cast him to the tormentors, that is to the jailors which had charge of the prison, tin he should pay his due. This, the Lord said, would be done by His heaveuly Father to all who did not forgive their brethren from their hearts.

It is clearly seen from this parable that unless children of God maintain that necessary forgiving attitude to their brethren they need not expect God to forgive them. What can this result in, in the case of those who do not forgive their brethren from their hearts, but that their unforgiving spirit leads to a prayerless and powerless life? Sin unforgiven by God, even though it may be confessed by them, becomes a barrier to all communion with God. Such a condition of soul may become a very root of bitterness by which the many may be defiled(Hebrews 12.15).

The words of Matthew 18:34 "And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due," have been used by the Roman Catholic priests to infer that these who die in that apostate church, and who go to Purgatory, that fabulous place which never existed, shall never come out thence until all that was due by them is paid by their living relatives on earth to Romish priests. What wealth has poured into the greedy hands of those priests, and into the coffers of Rome by the deception of the confessional and Purgatory! What is God's free gift - the forgiveness of sins to all believers is being sold for money (Acts 1O. 48). Peter himself, whom Rome claims is the rock on which their church is built, says," To Him (Christ) bear all the prophets witness, that through His name every one that believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins." Again this same apostle says, "Who His Own Self (Christ) bare our sins in His body upon the tree" (1 Peter 2.24). And yet again, "Christ also suffered for sins once, the Righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3.18). The sacrifice of the Mass is said by the Romish priests to be the true, real and actual renovation of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. "Mass produces salvation, opens heaven, closes the gates of hell, as it has the same infinite merits and effects as the Sacrifice of Christ."

Who condemned Christ first of all and sent Him to the Cross? Annas and Calaphas his son-in-law, the joint high priests of the Jews in the time of the Lord (John 18. 12-32). Other priests also were engaged in putting the Lord to death (Matthew 27.1, 41). Now the priests of Rome are professedly sacrificing Christ on thousands of altars the world over every day. Indeed the Masses that are paid for both the living and the dead are so numerous that there are neither priests nor altars sufficient to perform such Masses, but Rome takes the money for the Masses all the same. But where in the New Testament is such a thing contemplated as sacrificing Christ again? Surely nowhere, except in the case of apostates who fall away from the faith and return to Jewry. Of such as fall away, it is said that "they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame " (Hebrews 6.6). Rome is a spurious religion commercialised. It is an attempt to buy the gift of God with money, which is pure simony, as the work of Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8.14-24). But is the bread of the Lord's remembrance (or on a Romish altar) the Lord's actual body? It is not I When the Lord said, "This is My body" (Matthew 26.26), did the Lord change the loaf of bread into His real body that hung on the Cross? He did not! If He had done so He would have had two bodies at one and the same time, the one in which He lived, which was to be hanged on the Cross the next morning, and the other one the disciples ate, for the Lord said, " Take, eat; this is My body." We might say that a blind man could see the error of Rome, but the Romish priests, because of the wealth they derive from the Mass, perpetuate their lying doctrine, which simply means that the Lord had two bodies on the night on which He was betrayed, the one by which He the Eternal Word became flesh, when He was born of a woman, the Virgin Mary; and the other a loaf which was baken with flour and water. This is impossible! Christ was hanged in the body of His flesh on the Cross, but the loaf was eaten by the disciples. Such are the simple facts which are perverted by Rome to the destruction of numberless souls, in order to fill the treasure chests of Rome with countless riches. Where is Purgatory? It does not exist! Sin is neither purged by the fires of purgatory nor by the Masses of Roman priests, but only by the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ on Calvary's Cross. Faith in Christ brings salvation to the guilty, lost sinner.

But what do the words of Matthew 18:34 mean? They simply mean this, that a child of God will not be forgiven by his heavenly Father, unless he is willing to forgive his brother from his heart. This parable has nothing whatever to do with the forgiveness of a sinner, nothing to do with Purgatory (which does not exist), nothing to do with getting out of Purgatory and getting into heaven, but it has to do with a child of God who is sure of heaven, who as a sinner has been, through faith in Christ, both forgiven and justified by faith (Acts 13. 38,39), he now being forgiven as a child and servant of God, so that he may live in fellowship with God (1 John 1), and also serve Him according to His will. Note that the parable has to do with brethren and their heavenly Father

(Matthew 18:35).

J. Miller | Jan 1950
Jottings