A Look at Romans 12:1 (Bible Light, Frank Starling, ed., Paducah, KY:Sunny Slope church of Christ, Vol. 19, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 2000, p. 3.) This title raises an interesting and heavily discussed question, and to answer it one must define what is meant by “worship.” The most common word in the New Testament translated “worship” is PROSKUNEO. It is always translated “worship.” Thayer defines this word, “To kiss the hand (toward) one, in token of reverence….In the New Testament by kneeling or prostrating to do homage to one or to make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication.” Out of the 72 times the word worship is found in the King James Translation, 59 of those come from the original word, PROSKUNEO. A clear illustration of the word is found in Matthew 4:9-10: “…and saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship (PROSKUNEO) me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, thou shalt worship (PROSKUNEO) the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” While PROSKUNEO is the Greek word most commonly found translated “worship,” it is not the only word translated “worship.” SEBOMAI, occurring ten times, means, “To reverence, hold in awe.” While PROSKUNEO emphasizes the outward show of reverence, this word emphasizes the inward feeling of reverence or awe. LATREUO is sometimes translated “worship.” It occurs 21 times, and means “To render religious services or homage, to worship.” …

Severe persecution of the church began in the mid 60’s A.D. The apostle Paul was killed in 68 A.D. under the cruel reign of Emperor Nero. The apostle John was killed about 100 A.D. The severe persecution of the church was continued until 313 A.D. It was not constant, but it often raged for years continuously. The eminent church historian and Bible scholar, Dr. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, wrote the following very good summary of the situation with the Roman Empire and the church in the early 4th century A.D. In the year 305 A.D. when Diocletian abdicated the imperial throne, the Christian religion was sternly prohibited, its profession was punished with torture and death, and against it all the power of the state was called into exercise. Less than twenty years afterward, in 324 A.D., Christianity was recognized as the official religion of the Roman Empire, and a Christian Emperor held supreme authority, with a court of professed Christians around him. It seemed but a single step from facing lions in the amphitheatre to a place beside the throne of the world! Soon after abdication of Diocletian, in 305 A.D. four aspirants after the imperial crown were at war. The two most powerful rivals were Maxentius and Constantine, whose armies, met in battle at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber, ten miles from Rome, 312 A.D. Maxentius represented the old heathen persecuting element; Constantine was friendly to the Christians, although at that time not a professed believer. He claimed to …

In Jerusalem in May of 1971, I walked through a dark tunnel in gently moving loin-deep water coming from “the waters of Gihon” (2 Chronicles 32:30), a spring at the foot of Mt. Ophel’s eastern side. My exit was at the foot of Mt. Ophel’s western side, where the waters form the Pool of Siloam. I jogged back wet to my hotel room, but I was thrilled! I. Hezekiah and the Pool of Siloam Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, reigned as king over Judah 29 years, 727-698 B.C. (2 Kings 18:1-2). The spring called “Gihon” was outside Jerusalem, and Hezekiah wanted the waters of the spring inside the city so that in the event of an army attacking Jerusalem, Hezekiah asked, “Why should the kings of the Assyrians come, and find much water?” (2 Chronicles 32:4). So Hezekiah “fortified his city, and brought water into the midst thereof” by digging “rock with iron, and made a well for water” (Ecclesiasticus 48:19). His workmen, with iron tools, hewed out from the limestone a tunnel clear through Mt. Ophel. Then they “stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon” (2 Chronicles 32:30), “and brought water into the city” (2 Kings 20:20). There the waters were dammed to form the Pool of Siloam. The above record of the formation of the Pool of Siloam, though very clear in the Old Testament and in the apocryphal book ECCLESIASTICUS, was not mentioned by secular historians for some 2500 years. But, in 1880, an Arabian lad, playing …

Bible scholars refer to the “canon” of the Scriptures. What is meant by that expression? The term “canon” is anglicized form of the Greek kanon. Originally, the word had to do with a straight rod or rule, to which a builder would compare his work for trueness. Gradually, the term came to be employed figuratively of a “norm or standard.” In his letter to the Galatians, Paul referred to the “rule” (kanon) by which Christians are expected to live (6:16). Eventually, the expression came to signify that which has “passed the test.” When, therefore, the word is applied to the books of the Bible, it denotes those documents which, over a period of time, have passed the test of critical examination, hence, warrant the designation “sacred Scripture.” In his Commentary on Matthew, Origen (c. A.D. 185-254), one of the Greek “church fathers,” alluded to the “canonized Scriptures” (Sec. 28). Today, the “Canon” refers to those 66 books which constitute the common Bible. But this introduces several questions. Who determined which books were to go into the Bible? Exactly when did that occur? And what are the Apocryphal books? The Standard of Determination The question of: “Which books belong in the Bible?” was determined gradually and on the basis of evidence. By “gradually” we mean that there was not a definite historical date when a synod or council made a determination — “these are the true biblical books!” Rather, over a period of years, by the application of reasonable tests, the documents truly inspired were separated …

The story is told of a soldier who was caught attempting to sneak back into his camp one night. When taken before the commanding officer by the sentry that arrested him, the soldier explained that he went into the nearby woods to be alone in prayer. The officer immediately commanded the soldier to pray audibly in his presence. The soldier hesitated but was again ordered to pray. Whereupon he kneeled in the officer’s presence and prayed. At the conclusion of the prayer, the officer ordered the sentry to release the soldier, saying, “Any man who can pray like that must be spending a lot of his time in private, personal prayer.” Read the story in Luke 18:9-14. “The man who prays” possesses great faith in God. Only out of strong belief in God and his power to answer does one pray. Hannah, a famous Old Testament woman, prayed fervently for a son. In the midst of her prayer effort, she made a covenant with God. “O Jehovah of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thy handmaid, but wilt give unto thy handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto Jehovah all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head” (I Samuel 1:11) The man who prays is one whose sole allegiance belongs to God (I Samuel 7:2-3). No wonder Israel lost the tables of the law and other precious articles contained in …

I’m sure you have heard the humorous story of the little boy that wanted to sing the song of the “dumb” brother. His mother questioned him about what song had anything in it about that. And he replied: “Are you sowing the seed of the king ‘dumb’ brother.” That is not what brought this article to my attention. I just thought maybe some feel that sowing the seed of the kingdom is not very important. But, sowing the seed is the greatest of all works. Read Matthew 13: 24-30. In this brief parable, Jesus called the world a field in which good seed was sown. But, while men slept, the enemy came, sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. That’s the way the devil works. All the good we do is given opposition by the devil to defeat it. Notice in this parable that even though good seed was sown that the devil did his dirty work. The question that comes to my mind is this: Have we stopped sowing the seed of the kingdom? Have we forgotten our mission in the church? I was reminded recently, listening to a gospel sermon, that we often underestimate the teachings of Christ. His teachings are pure, holy and good. His words bring life, good character, nobility and a likeness to the Teacher. The power of the seed is seen in the fact that men’s lives are changed for the better. Men can become humble, truthful, loving, helpful, forgiving and kind. …

One of the great mysteries of the Bible is the relationship that exists between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Almost all Christians have struggled to understand the nature of the Godhood, or the Trinity as it is sometimes called. We have often done this with very little success because our small minds simply cannot grasp the having of One True God in three persons. However, the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament, refers to the nature of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit from time to time, and does so with a matter-of-factness that will often cause us to overlook the deep truth that is found in a given text. In Colossians 1:19-20, after pointing out that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body, the church and that he is the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might stand in first place, the apostle Paul wrote these words: “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” This passage of Scripture almost incidentally tells us something of the nature of God and of Christ, and of the relationship sustained between them so far as the reconciliation of the world is concerned. Let us direct our attention to the fact that in Jesus, while he lived upon …

A disturbing trend in our society is “blame shifting.” People have found some very imaginative ways to absolve themselves of personal responsibility for their actions. It is more than an ancient practice. It is also a phenomenon with a new face. Do you remember the Flip Wilson TV show of the early 1970’s and his character “Geraldine”? She always had a way out of any predicament. Her famous line was, “The devil made me do it.” Flip Wilson hardly invented original material. Adam and Eve both played the blame game (Genesis 3:12-13). Saul was an adept blame shifter (1 Samuel 15:3, 13-15). The new repository of guilt has been found in the Freudian concept of “I’m not guilty, I’m sick.” Some thinkers among us have concluded that something has gone seriously awry in the human moral code. Along with that, a certain word has become conspicuously absent from our modern vocabulary — that word is sin. In his 1973 book entitled, Whatever Became of Sin? Dr. Carl Menninger lamented the disappearance of the word sin as involving a shift in the allocation of responsibility for evil. One of the most interesting books to come along in recent years is A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character by Charles J. Sykes. Winford Claiborne reviewed this book at the 1995 Freed-Hardeman University lectures and said, “If I had the money, I would like to give all of America’s leaders a copy…” Mr. Sykes mentions that most misbehavior can be re-defined as disease. There is …

No sooner had the smoke cleared from the school massacre in Littleton, Colorado than some were saying that they have already forgiven the murderers. Often we hear of a victim who says he has forgiven an assailant before and without them even asking to be forgiven. This brings up the question, is it our duty to forgive those who sin against us when they neither ask for nor want our forgiveness? The answer is no. Those who claim to do this are suggesting that forgiveness is the elimination of bitter and uncharitable feelings toward those who sin against us, substituting a disposition of good will for the offending party, and they insist that such is to always characterize Christians. But, God never entertains bitter, revengeful and uncharitable feelings toward even the vilest sinners among us, yet he forgives only those who repent (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38). Forgive means “to send forth, send away,” and thus denotes the restoration of a peaceful relationship that the offender had interrupted. Jesus said, “If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him” (Luke 17:3). Paul wrote of a censured and sorrowful brother asking the Corinthians to forgive and restore love to him (2 Corinthians 2:4-7). If one sins against us, we must not nurse either malice or revenge against him. Forgiveness requires repentance on the part of the offending party and the extending of it on the part of the one offended.

So we tell little boys when they fall. Then they read in their Bibles that Jesus wept. Does this mean he was a “sissy?” No. One has to consider the reason for the tears. Are they tears of weakness or strength? Of fear or compassion? Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3) and he wept on three occasions. Each time he left us the right example. JESUS WEPT AT LAZARUS’ TOMB (John 11:35). The shortest verse of the Bible says a lot! It says the Great Physician has good “bedside manners.” Jesus could overturn moneychanger tables when necessary, but also knew how to show he cared. Mary said the same thing to Jesus her sister had earlier said (11:1, 32), but Jesus reacted differently. With practical Martha, he discussed reasonable facts and helped her heart through her head. With emotional Mary (she was crying), he groaned in spirit,1 was troubled and wept. He helped her through commiseration. As we help people grieve, we should deal with different personalities in different ways. Jesus knew Mary needed somebody to care about her pain. She had lost a brother and her heart was breaking, so, even though he was about to resurrect Lazarus, he “wept2 with those that wept” (Romans 12:15; Job 30:25). He illustrated the Jewish proverb: Among those who stand, do not sit;Among those who sit, do not stand;Among those who laugh, do not weep;Among those who weep, do not laugh. Experience brings sympathy. Wandering disguised one night in London, …