In This Issue

• JESUS WALKED ON THE SEA

• "EVERY FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK"

• UNDERSTANDING THE OPPOSITE SEX

• MORE INFORMATION...

JESUS WALKED ON THE SEA

“When Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. But He said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going” John 6:15-21).

The body of water on which Jesus walked was known by four different names in the inspired Scriptures: the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:18), the Sea of Tiberias (John 6:1), the Lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1) and the Sea of Chinnereth (Num. 34:11). It was a large fresh water lake fed by the Jordan River. The lake was about 13 miles long and eight miles wide. This was the area fished by Peter, Andrew, James and John before Jesus called them to leave their nets and boats and become “fishers of men” (Mark 1:16-18).

In recent years, some religious teachers have tried to offer natural “explanations” for the miracle recorded in John 6:16-21 and its parallel accounts in Matthew 14 and Mark 6.

A few years ago a lady I knew overheard a conversation in the beauty shop between another lady and her hairdresser. The lady telling the story remarked how her pastor had recently enlightened those in his class by explaining that the Greek word translated “on” should have been translated “near” – that Jesus did not walk “on the sea,” but “near the sea.” That would certainly be news to the dozens of reputable scholars who translated our standard translations of the Scriptures. All reputable translations plainly teach that Jesus walked ON the sea.

More recently, an email has made the rounds where another self-styled “scholar” has suggested that the lake was frozen, so Jesus was actually walking on ice instead of water. The theorist failed to explain how the disciples rowed their boat for three or four miles on a frozen lake. Such explanations are silly, infidelic, and totally uncalled for. John tells us that the miracles recorded in his account of the gospel were “written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).

There is enough unbelief in the world without religious “teachers” adding to the problem by “explaining away” the miracles of Jesus and His apostles recorded in the inspired Scriptures. “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar” (Rom. 3:3-4).

– Clarence R. Johnson

"EVERY FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK"

While most folks understand why the Lord’s Supper is to be eaten (“in remembrance of me,” Matt. 26:26-29; 1 Cor. 11:23-29), there is confusion over just exactly when the supper is to be eaten. There is no direct command concerning when the Lord’s Supper should be eaten, but there is an approved apostolic example: “And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread” (Acts 20:7). 
The first day of the week (our Sunday) was the day on which Jesus was raised from the dead (John 20:1). Just as the Sabbath (seventh day of the week, our Saturday) was the day Jews were to remember their deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Deut. 5:15), so is the first day of the week the day Christians are to remember their deliverance from the bondage of sin. Jews remembered every Sabbath day, so are Christians to remember Christ’s sacrifice every first day of the week by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. This is the Lord’s day; a day of remembrance; the day Christ was raised from the dead. I think this argument is valid. But let’s consider for a moment an argument from the text itself.

Paul told the Corinthians, “Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come” (1 Cor. 16:2). This passage not only authorizes a common treasury, but the collection of which is to be made “upon the first day of the week.” In the original Greek, the phrase rendered “upon the first day” is “kata main.” In Acts 15:21 we see the phrase “kata polin” translated “every city,” and in Rev. 22:2 we see “kata mena” rendered “every month.” Hence, “kata main” means literally “every first day” (Nestle Interlinear Greek-English N. T., p. 704). Paul tells these brethren, “when therefore ye assemble yourselves together” (1 Cor. 11:20) they were partaking of the Lord’s Supper in an “unworthy manner” (v. 27). Just when did they assemble themselves together to eat the Lord’s Supper? We see this identified in 1 Cor. 16:2 as they met every first day of the week (kata main). Since they met every first day of the week to break bread, Paul tells them to “lay by in store” on this day as well.

And so, while it is true that Jesus did not tell us when to partake of the Supper at the time He instituted it, that is, what day and how often, the approved example of Acts 20:7 not only binds upon us the first day of the week as the only day authorized by Scripture to partake of it, but it binds upon us every first day of the week. Also we must remember why apostolic or approved examples are binding in the first place. They are binding because behind every approved example in the New Testament lies a commandment of God.

Why do you think the brethren at Troas and at Corinth met on every first day of the week to partake of the Lord’s Supper? Do you think it was an arbitrary thing? Absolutely not! They met on this day every week to partake of the Lord’s Supper because God commanded them to do so. So why didn’t God record the commandment? I don’t know, you’ll have to take that up with God. But could it be that He considered remembering the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord on the day He arose from the dead to be such a fundamental thing that recording the commandment to do so was not necessary.

– Clark Duggar, The Proclaimer, Tyler, Texas

UNDERSTANDING THE OPPOSITE SEX

During the early 1990's, I was going through some difficulties, and found myself watching the comedy channel on Friday nights. Sometimes I would be fortunate enough to find a good stand-up comic worth watching (most don't fall into that category). I really wish I could remember the name of the comic who told this joke, but my stint with Comedy Central was short-lived, so I have no idea. He started off talking about how he normally loved that he had lots of friends who happened to be women, and that a group of women would often ask him to join them, and they had a great time. Except that, eventually, the conversation would turn to men, and how men were such jerks, at which point they would ask him why men were such jerks. Like he would know. His explanation was that it's just a matter of perspectives. Men negotiate: women cooperate. It goes something like this...

You have six men sitting around watching TV, eating a bowl of chips. They're having a good time; they're watching the game. At some point, one of them notices that they're out of chips, and he says, "Hey, we're out of chips!" So the second guy says, "I bought the chips." The third guy says, "I put them in the bowl." The fourth guy says, "It's my bowl." The fifth guy says, "Hey, it's my house!" The sixth guy says, "I-I-I was watching the game?" That man has to get the chips. No one is angry. No one is upset. And no one has to explain to that man why he has to get the chips. He knows. He lost the negotiation.

You have six women sitting around watching TV, eating a bowl of chips. They're watching a movie; they're having a good time. Then one of the women says, "Oh! We're almost out of chips." All six women simultaneously get up, go to the kitchen, and fill the bowl with chips. They're baking cookies, they're singing songs. Birds overhead are lifting up the ribbons in their hair. The air is filled with the spirit of cooperation.

The problem occurs when you have mixed company.

Three men and three women are sitting around watching TV, eating a bowl of chips. The bowl is empty, so the first man says, "Hey, we're out of chips!" The second man says, "I bought the chips!" All three women turn to each other and say, "What a jerk!" That man is stunned. He's thinking, "Why isn't anyone negotiating with me?"

Aside from being hysterical, I really like that joke because I think there is some truth to it. Often men and women misunderstand each other because we're different. We may be able to develop some of the same skills and do some of the same work, but we think differently. Even though it gets us into trouble sometimes, I have to believe that since God created us that way, it's ultimately a good thing. It means that I can learn to respect my husband enough to give him the benefit of the doubt when he says or does something that seems adversarial to me at first glance, and to see his cooperation (which may not come naturally to him) as the gift of love that it is.

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” (Eph. 5:22-33)

- Amy Smith

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