The Way Of God (V)

by J. Miller, Ayr | Category: The Way Of God (V) | Nov 1966

The way of God was referred to by the Pharisees when they sought to ensnare the Lord in His talk, and sent their disciples with the Herodians to ask Him certain questions. They said to Him, "Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one: for Thou regardest not the person of men" (Matthew 22.15,16). This may have been fulsome flattery on their part, but they could not have stated the truth more clearly relative to the life and teaching of the Lord.

The Jews in Jerusalem said, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from Myself" (John 7.15-17). And again He said, "As the Father taught Me, I speak these things" (John 8.28). His teaching included the statutes of the moral law, with the exception of that which pertained to the keeping of the Sabbath, and He showed that it was lawful to do good on that day as on any other. The statutes of the moral law' are contained in the two great commandments of the law. In replying to the Pharisees about the great commandment of the law, He said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hangeth the whole law, and the prophets" (Matthew 22.36-40). Again, He summed up the meaning of the law and the prophets, as to man's relationship to his fellowman in the words, "All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7.12). He had not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfil. At the same time, the teaching of the Lord penetrates deeper and has a wider scope than what is contained in the Old Testament. The Lord is the Word of God who became the Word incarnate. His teaching became the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2.41,42). Peter exhorts those to whom he wrote, "Ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles."

In His prayer in John 17, the Lord said to His Father, "I have given them Thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth. ... Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also which believe on Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me" (John 17. l~2l). The fulfilment of these words found a beginning in Acts 2. With the corning of the Holy Spirit, who filled the disciples who were gathered together as one, and in consequence of those who spoke with various tongues (languages), the religious populace in Jerusalem was deeply moved. The Holy Spirit used Peter mightily in his address to the assembled people. The result was, that about 3,000 repented, were baptized, and added together to those who had been previously together. These all "continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching and (in the) Fellowship, in the breaking of (the) bread (or loaf) and (in) the prayers" (Acts 2.41,42). Note that the words "in the" should appear before Fellowship, "the" before bread, and "in" before the prayers.) These are four fundamental things which characterized the disciples who were together as one in the church of God in Jerusalem, and must characterize a church of God wherever found. These principles are vital to a unity which is of God. In consequence of the work of the Holy Spirit and of this unity, the work of God went forward in a manner and measure that we all look back to with great joy. Men may speak of the church in Jerusalem and other churches elsewhere as the primitive church. What a blessing it would be to many, and what abundant light it would shed in the world, if men went back to the simple principles of truth which were taught by the Lord to the apostles and were carried out in Jerusalem at the beginning and by other churches as they were planted afterwards. The way of God began here and is later on referred to in the Acts. We cite the following references to the "Way":

(1)"But Saul, yet breathing threatening and 8laughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and asked of him letters to Damascus unto the synagogues, that if he found any that were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem" (Acts 9.1,2).

(2)"Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, a learned man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and bring fervent in spirit, he spake and taught carefully the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John: and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more carefully" (Acts 18.24-26).

(3)"And he [Paul] entered into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19.8-10).

(4)"And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way" (Acts 19.23).

(5)"I persecuted this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women" (Acts 22.4).

(6)"But this I confess unto thee, that after the Way which they call a sect, so serve I the God of our fathers, believing all things which are according to the law, and which are written in the prophets" (Acts 24.14).

(7)"But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning the Way, deferred them" (Acts 24.22).

These seven references to the Way of God for His people show clearly that there is one way and one only in which God's people, who were gathered together at the beginning of the dispensation, were found walking. We live in a day when there are many ways, and indeed so it came to be towards the close of the apostolic period. Some walked in the way of Cain (Jude 11), and some in the way of Balaam (2 Peter 2.15), and the way of truth came to be evil spoken of (2 Peter 2.2). Some who were escaping from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ were being entangled and overcome by false teachers. Of these Peter says, it were better for them never to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn from it (2 Peter 2.20-22).

Quotation (1) shows the bitter antagonism of Saul and others to the Way expressed in those who followed the teaching of the Lord and His apostles, which was seen not only in Jerusalem but also in the disciples in Damascus and other foreign cities.

Quotation (2) shows the advance that the way of God had made since the time of John the Baptist, and the need of those who had followed that way being brought up to date. Such was the case of Apollos, who was humble enough to hearken and give heed to the expounding of Priscilla and Aquila as to the advance which had been made in the way of God. The same consideration of bringing disciples up to date in the truth of God is seen in Acts 19.

Quotation (3) tells us of Paul's great work in Ephesus, of his reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God in the synagogue. These things concerning the kingdom of God occupied the premier place in the Lord's teaching of the apostles and others during the forty days of His meeting with them between His resurrection and ascension to heaven. These things are most important for disciples of the Lord to know now. How few of God's children know anything of the kingdom of God as to its application to the people of God now!

Quotation (4) shows the effect of the teaching of Paul in Ephesus and Asia in the reduced sale of the silver shrines of Diana of the Ephesians, and the rioting of the silversmiths, as though rioting would establish the claims concerning this goddess.

Quotation (5) repeats what Paul was engaged in prior to his conversion, as is referred to under quotation (1).

Quotation (6) tells of how the Way, brought about by the teaching of the Lord and His apostles came to be called a sect, as though it was a self-chosen way by men. The Way, brought about by the word of God in the New Testament, is still, no doubt, regarded as a sect. But let the Scriptures be examined.

Quotation (7) shows how that Felix, the Roman governor, who had a Jewish wife, Drusilla, had exact knowledge of the Way, which was expressed in what many were pleased to call a sect.

"Grant that more perfectly

Thy will may be expressed;

That gathered saints may show

Thy way of truth is best.

So mid this discord men may see

Divinely ordered unity.

J. Miller, Ayr | Nov 1966
The Way Of God (V)