APPENDIX
H
There
is a set belief among many Christians that water baptism and the Lord’s
supper
are ordinances for the church today. Is this correct? No
We
must remember that Paul is writing to a disorderly church, a church out
of
order.
The
following outlines just a few of the sins of the Corinthian church:
It
had a man sleeping with his father’s wife; there were quarrels and
divisions;
there was the fleshy misapplication of tongues; there was division and
vain
glory; they were keeping company with professing Christians who were
fornicators,
covetous, idolators, railers, drunkards and extortioners; they were
unfaithful
stewards; they were taking each other into the world’s courts; they
were
defiling the consciences of the weak in faith; they were not keeping
their
bodies under control; they were lusting, fornicating, murmuring,
idolatrous and
tempting Christ.
Today’s
church has wrongly misinterpreted the meaning of an ordinance. The
proper
meaning of the word ‘ordinance’ is to bring back order and to correct
behavior,
and in this case, to correct the wild excesses of the fleshy Corinthian
church.
It
is to be noted that Paul states ““…
keep the ordinances, as I delivered
(the past tense which was earlier in 1Co 11:2) them to you.”
Paul
was in fact referring to instructions previously given. We note that
when Paul
talks to the saved, he entreats them not orders them. This
is what ordinances are – they appeal to reason. Paul certainly
not averse to giving orders as he directly orders them concerning ‘the
collection for the saints’ (1Cor 16:1). But ordinances are not orders.
They are
instructions on how to bring back and set in order, the proper
behaviours in
the church.
Are
we to suppose that the symbolic ceremonies of water baptism and the
Lord’s supper
would do this? Hardly!
What
Paul required was a change of the heart and behaviour, a repentance,
not an
outward ceremony.
Indeed,
some of the Thessalonian church were walking
disorderly by not working and being
busybodies, and Paul wanted a change of their behavior. He certainly
didn’t
recommend more water baptism and Lord’s supper to accomplish this.
So
when people walk disorderly, as in the case of the church at Corinth,
Paul
could certainly order them no problem, but instead, as the Lord does in
Colossians
and Ephesians, he talks gently as it were, to sons in the family.
What
were the earlier
ordinances and instructions that had already been delivered to them in
the
first ten chapters? There were many! The Corinthian church needed them
all as
they were a church full of the flesh. Paul doesn’t use the word
‘ordinances’
for any other church.
‘Ordinances’
are the
procedures and instructions necessary to keep right order in an
institution.
1Co 1:10 no
divisions; 1Co 1:31 glory
in the Lord; 1Co 2:13
compare spiritual with spiritual; 1Co 3:8 reward
for own labour; 1Co 3:13 1 Corinthians 3:14 1 Corinthians 3:15 take
heed how you build; 1Co 3:16-17 be
holy; 1Co 3:20-21
no vain glory; 1Co 4:1-2
Keeping
the symbolic, formal
ceremonies of the Lord’s supper and water baptism had nothing to do
with
correcting out of control behavior at Corinth.
No,
Paul needed ordinances for
this sinful and disorderly church. Paul wanted true repentance and
changes in their
sinful behavior.
In
fact, they were probably
keeping up appearances with many Lord’s suppers and water baptisms as
an
outward show, but what the Lord wanted was a changed heart.
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