THE BIBLE, OUR TRAVEL GUIDE

Ben F. Vick, Jr.

       Many years ago, in an advertisement put out by the Religious Employees Association, Inc., there was an article entitled “Why Great Churches Help Their Ministers Travel.” There were ten reasons listed for why ministers should travel. It states, “Some of the larger churches throughout the nation are now requiring their ministers to travel once a year because a large percentage of the membership of some congregations travel.” (I wonder where they found that requirement?) I suggest that all churches require the Lord’s servant to travel, not necessarily to another land, but through the Bible. The best travel anywhere is done by a study of the Bible. All ten reasons listed for why one should travel could also be listed for a study of the Bible.

1. Sermon Illustrations. Though it is true “one of the best means of illustration is from the field of travel,” it is also true that the best illustrations are those found in the Bible. As one travels through his Bible, he will find no better illustrations in all the world. Who can think of a better example of God’s meaning what he says and saying what he means than the death of Nadab and Abihu? (Lev. 10:1-2.) What better illustration of reaping what one has sown (Gal. 6:7-8) than the life of David after his sin with Bathsheba? Or the life of Ahab after his wife took Naboth’s vineyard?

2.  Knowledge of the Scripture. In traveling to the Bible lands one may gain insight into the pages of the Holy Writ, yet the best way is through “mental perspiration” in studying the Bible. The Lord did not say, “Travel to show thyself approved unto God,” but, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (II Tim. 2:15.) Many faithful preachers never did set foot on Caanan’s land, but are in heavenly Caanan now because of a knowledge of and obedience to God’s word. The best way to gain a knowledge of God’s word is to study it. (Acts 17:11; I Tim. 4:16.)

3.  Interrelation of Current Events. Under this reason, it is explained that “the minister today is required to give his congregation an interpretation of the events that are transpiring in the world.” But, a quick glance at or hearing of the news daily will confirm the fact that “the whole world lieth in wickedness.” (I Jn. 5:19.) Any Bible student who casually observes the world, national, and local affairs will conclude “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov. 14:12.) Men and nations, since the beginning of time, are basically the same. That which man needed in the first century is that which man needs today, and that is the gospel. (Rom. 1:16.)

4.  Minister as Educator.  An educator is one who imparts knowledge or training to another. That which must be imparted is God’s word. (II Tim. 4:2.) In II Tim. 2:2, Paul wrote Timothy these words, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” Are you educating yourself as you travel through the Bible? Have you started the journey?

5.  Minister as Spiritual Director. The best way to lead others spiritually is by continuing to study and obey God’s word. (II Tim. 2:15; Heb. 5:8-9.) To follow the steps of Jesus does not mean travel to a distant shore and literally attempt to put our feet where the Lord put his, but to strive to live as he lived. (I Pet. 2:21.) Only the New Testament will give us a full and perfect account of his life. Study it.

6.  Relations to Community.  It is suggested that by the preacher’s travels his relations in the community will improve, because he will have the opportunity to speak at various organizational and club meetings and show his visual aids. This may be so. But what better way in developing community relations than being a good Samaritan or developing a Dorcas? (Lk. 10:25-37; Acts 9:36-43.) It is not necessary for one to get on a jet in order to improve in this area. Just travel through the Bible and put it into practice.

7.  Personal Renewal.  It is stated that travel provides an avenue for the minister to be challenged anew through fresh experiences. It is important that all be renewed. Paul writes, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed, day by day.” (II Cor. 4:16.) In another letter, Paul states that the new man “is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” (Col. 3:10.) The best way to be refreshed or renewed is to feed upon God’s word and practice it. (Mt. 5:6; Heb. 5:12-14.)

8.  Counselor.  The best counsel that anyone can receive is God’s word. Though times are changing, God’s counsel is still sure and steadfast.  “The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.” (Psa. 33:11.) The best advice in all the world can be found in God’s word. (II Tim. 3:16-17.)

9.  Therapy.  It is true that all of us need to get away for a few days and relax in order to do a better work in the Lord’s vineyard. The Lord saw the necessity of it. (Mk. 6:31-32.) But this does not mean neglect the Bible, for it is the greatest healing power. “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” (Psa. 107:20.) Let us go to the Great Physician for therapy. (Mt. 9:12.)

10.  Foreign Missions.  In traveling one can certainly see the need for the gospel in a lost and dying world. But by traveling through the New Testament the same can be seen. (Mt. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15-16.) Travel through the Book of Acts and see how that need is met. The same must be done today.

Do you have a Bible? Then, pick it up and travel through its rich pages. Read of the people, places, and events as the beautiful scheme of redemption unfolds before your eyes. As you sit down on this side of the world with “The Book of Books” within your hands, it will take you across oceans to different shores and cities. You can learn from it what others did in order to stand justified before God. (Rom. 5:1-2; I Cor. 6:11), and it can be as your travel guide, safely directing you to shores eternal.

HEAR YE HIM

Ben F. Vick, Jr.

“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matt.17:1-5).

Following the conversation of our Lord in the previous chapter, six days had passed. Luke’s account (Luke 9:28-36) says, “about eight days after these sayings,” which probably counts a day before the six days and one after it. Jesus took with him “the inner circle” – Peter, James and John and went into a high mountain. We are not told which mountain, but I agree with McGarvey’s comment:

The scene of the transfiguration was formerly supposed to be Mt. Tabor, a very beautiful conical mountain west of the lake of Galilee; but as Jesus was on his tour to Caesarea Philippi, which town was situated at the base of Mt. Hermon, it is now generally believed that the latter is the mountain mentioned in the text. Moreover, Mt. Hermon better corresponds to the designation “a high mountain;” for it is the highest mountain in Palestine, being about 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. Its top is covered with almost perpetual snow, and it is visible from high points in all parts of Galilee and Judea. Some lofty terrace on its side would have been in every way a suitable spot for the transfiguration

(Commentary on Matthew and Mark, pp. 149-150).

Why Jesus selected these three, we are not told. They were also selected earlier to go into the home of Jairus’ daughter and later into the inner garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest. We do know that the event would increase their faith. Perhaps the greater chances of keeping the transfiguration a secret until the time was right entered into the decision. The more individuals who know of an event the greater the chances of it’s being revealed.

Luke’s account also tells us that Jesus “went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering” (Luke 9:28-29). Matthew records that Jesus “was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” (Matt. 17:2). Mark writes, “And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them” (Mark 9:3). “Transfigured” means “changed in form.” Exactly what that entailed, who knows? His appearance was changed. His face did “shine as the sun.” His raiment was white and flashed or gleamed like lightening. What an awesome scene it was!

As Jesus was praying, Moses and Elijah appeared talking with him. Moses represented the law. Interesting that because of his sin, God would not allow him to enter the promised land but 1500 years later he stands with Christ in that promised land. Cecil Frances Alexander wrote:

In that strange grave without a name,

Whence his uncoffined clay

Should break again – O wondrous thought!-

Before the judgment-day,

And stand, with glory wrapped around,

On hills he never trod,

And speak of the strife that won our life

With the incarnate Son of God.

Interesting that no one knows where Moses was buried except God, yet the tomb where Jesus was buried was known by friend and foe alike.

And then there was Elijah, representing all the great prophets of God. I wonder what the conversation was. No need to guess. Luke’s account tells us. These two “appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” Elijah could not speak from experience as to death because he never died but was caught in a whirlwind.

Peter, James, and John “were heavy with sleep” but when they awoke, they saw Jesus’ glory, Moses, and Elijah. Luke tells us, “Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said” (Luke 9:33). Mark says, “For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid” (Mark 9:6). The testimony then reads:

“While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only” (Matt. 17:5-8).

The lesson is clear: Christ is the one we are to hear. He is the authority. The law ended at the cross. No need to look to Moses as one’s authority today. Neither does one need to look to the prophets of old as authority. We can learn from them, but our Leader and Savior is Christ. We must hear him. “Hear ye him” means to heed him. We are to obey him.

Approximately thirty years after this awesome event, Peter refers to it, though he and the other two could speak of it after his resurrection. He wrote:

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount (2 Pet. 1:16-18).

WHAT IS RIGHT WITH THE CHURCH?

Ben F. Vick, Jr.

       Solomon said that there is nothing new under the sun. This was true then; it is true today. There have always been malcontents who opposed God’s way. It was true in the church in the first century; it is still true today. They have an air that leaves the impression that they are wiser, more intelligent, and more knowledgeable than some who have been on the firing line, fighting the devil and his minions for decades. John wrote of some in his day: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 John 2:19). Some things never change. While others are “running down the church,” let us give thought to what is right with the church of Christ.

The Price Is Right. Christ having left the bosom of the Father to walk this low ground of sin and sorrow. Paul wrote, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5-8). Jesus shed his precious blood for the church (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Eph. 5:25).

The People Are Right. No Christian claims sinless perfection. We all sin (1 John 1:8-10). The charge is sometimes made: There are hypocrites in the church. No doubt there are; however, if they are ever going to repent and change, the best place to be is in the church. The church is like a hospital, caring for all who need help. We do not need to develop the Elijah-under-the-juniper-tree syndrome; I am the only one faithful to the Lord. Some of the finest people in the world are in the church. They are right because they strive to walk in our Savior's steps.

The Plea is Right. It is a plea to return to the Bible. In the long-ago, Jeremiah said, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein” (Jer. 6:16). We strive to speak where the Bible speaks and to be silent where the Bible is silent. We are trying to give a “thus saith the Lord” for everything we say and do. We desire to be right in name, origin, worship, doctrine, organization, and work. We want to call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways.

The Purpose is Right. The church is to glorify God. Paul wrote, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Eph. 3:21.) See also Revelation 4:10-11; 7:12. We glorify God through worship that is acceptable to him (John 4 23-24; 1 Peter 2:5,9; Rev. 4:9-11). We praise God in bearing fruit (John 15:8). We can bring glory to God in all we do in life (1 Cor. 6:19-20;10:31).

We bring glory to God when we carry out the work of the church. Years ago, a brother baptized sixty people in about 2.5 to 3 years. I asked him how he did that. How did he get his contacts for studies? He said the members were busy setting up studies for him. He would baptize a couple. They would say we have friends who need to hear this message. They would go to see them. Study with them. They would obey the gospel. The church will grow when the members get busy.

The work of the church is not entertainment. Too many churches are looking inward, not outward. There are three areas in which we are to seek and save the lost:  evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20), edification (Acts 20:32), and benevolence (Gal. 2:9-10; 6:10; James 1:27).

The Right Promises. Peter wrote, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3–4). Also, we read: “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11). All spiritual blessings are in Christ (Eph. 1:3): the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:4); sweet fellowship with God the Father, Christ, and fellow saints (1 John 1:3,7); forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38); our mediator and advocate, Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5; 1 John 2-1-2). These touch the hem of the garment. Time and space fail me now to discuss justification, sanctification, redemption, adoption, and reconciliation.

The Plan of Salvation is Right. The church being the pillar and ground of the truth means she will teach the truth concerning what I must do to be saved. One must hear the gospel (Rom. 10:17). One must believe the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4; John 8:24). One must repent of his sins (Acts 17:30; 2 Peter 3:9). An individual must confess Christ before men (Rom. 10:9-10). One must be baptized (Acts 2:38; 10:47-48). Then one must remain faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10; 1 John 1:7).

So, what is right with the church?

The Price is Right.

The People are Right.

The Plea is Right.

The Purpose is Right.

The Right Promises.

The Plan of Salvation is Right.

Someone has said that originality is forgetting where one has learned something. I do not know where I got these points. Two possibilities are either brother Frank Faircloth or brother Neale Pryor. Both have gone on to their reward. I heard the story of brother G. K. Wallace, who was delivering a lesson, and someone rose and said, “That’s brother So-and So’s lesson!” Brother Wallace responded, saying: No, I bought the book and made it mine. Or something to that effect. Someone asked brother Hardeman if he would mind if he used one of his sermons. Brother Hardeman said: If the fellow I got it from does not mind, neither do I. Anyone is welcome to use anything I write without getting permission from me. If what I preach or teach is the truth, use it if you please. If not, discard it. I heard brother Joe Pryor once say in chapel at Harding College:  Do not accept everything you hear because some things are false, but do not reject everything you hear because some things are true. Does that remind you of Acts 17:11?

THOUGHTS ON TIME

BEN F. VICK, JR.

       The everlasting God who inhabits eternity established time approximately six thousand years ago. Moses wrote, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day" (Gen. 1:14-19).

The Creator established lights in the expanse of heaven to divide the day from the night; He made them for signs, seasons, days, and years. The sun, moon, and stars were signs, tokens of changes in the weather and times. He did not make them to be worshiped or for the astrologer to predict the future by their positions in the sky. When the Pharisees and Sadducees tempted Jesus to show them a sign from heaven, "He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matt. 16:2-3.) Jesus was not being critical of their ability to predict the weather by the sky; but because they would not discern "the signs of the times." They refused to see the Messiah's time then and the signs that proved he was who he claimed to be (John 20:30-31; Acts 2:22).

The luminaries placed in the sky are for "seasons." We think of the four seasons of the year. After the flood, God said, "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Gen. 8:22). Seedtime and harvest would be spring and fall. Mentioned is also made of summer and winter; so the four seasons of the year are found in this verse. Brown-Driver and Briggs state that "seasons" probably refer "to sacred seasons as fixed by the moon's appearance." The same lexicon refers to Psalm 104:19: "He appointed the moon for seasons: The sun knoweth his going down." Paul and Barnabas cried out to the idolaters at Lystra, "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17).

The lights in the firmament are for days. "God made two great lights; the great light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also" (Gen. 1:16). The word "day" has different meanings depending on the context. In Genesis 1:5, "the evening and the morning were the first day" refers to a twenty-four-hour period. That use refers to a complete rotation of the earth upon its axis. When Moses said, "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day…." the word "day" refers to the daylight hours. "Day" can also refer to a more extended period as when Jesus said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). There it means the time of Christ on earth, in particular, his ministry.

The lights in the sky were also for "years." A year contains 365 (or 366) days, the period of time it takes the earth to complete a rotation around the sun. The antediluvians lived for many centuries, but after the flood, the years of man's life were shortened. When Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was, he answered, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage" (Gen. 47:9).

Moses, in his farewell speeches to Israel, said, "For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year" (Deut. 11:10-12). When Canaan was that sacred land given to Israel, God looked down upon it "from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." But that promised land was conditional – Israel had to remain faithful to God, which she did not, and she lost it.

The Psalmist wrote, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, Yet is their strength labour and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away….So teach us to number our days, That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (Psa. 90:10-12).  As we sing, "Time is filled with swift transition," we are reminded of the brevity of life and the changes in society, the church, families, and individuals. Life is a vapor. John referred to a time when time would be no longer (Rev. 10:6). Benjamin Franklin said, "Dost thou love life? Do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." We are to redeem the time.

God, who gave us time, inhabits eternity. He is from everlasting to everlasting. He is eternal. As far as his promises and their fulfillment, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Man makes promises but may forget to keep them for different reasons. However, God does not forget. The scoffers say: Where is the promise of the Lord's second coming? God is faithful to his promise. A two-thousand-year promise is nothing in God's mind. He will keep his word (2 Peter 3:3-14).

Let us be thankful for the time God has given us and use it wisely.

THE LAW WRITTEN IN THE HEART

BEN F. VICK, JR.

       The apostle Paul said, “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;” (Rom. 2:14, 15). The expression “the law” in this passage is a reference to the law of Moses. It was not given to the Gentiles, as it was to the Israelites (Deut. 5:1-3). Yet, the Gentiles were influenced secondhandedly, if you please, by the Jewish nation. The Jews were scattered all over the world in the days of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires (Dan. 4:19-22; 6:1; Esther 1:1; 3:8). Moses had warned Israel that if she did not heed God’s word she would be scattered among the nations (Deut. 28:25, 64). Her views of the one true and living God and standard of right and wrong influenced many who were not Jews.

The word “nature” is from the Greek word phusis which means growth by germination or expansion, i.e., (by implication) natural production (lineal descent); by extension, a genus or sort; figuratively, native disposition, constitution or usage. Though we are slow to veer from the applications given by the scholar Joseph Henry Thayer, this is one veering that must be made. On this expression as used in Romans 2:14, we are told by Mr. Thayer that the meaning is “guided by their natural sense of what is right and proper.” I am more inclined to apply another definition that he gives to this verse. He stated that the term meant “a mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature.” The idea, of course, that the law of Moses was so learned by some Gentiles that to them it became second nature.

The argument is made that man innately has a law of “moral oughtness.” Some refer to this as conscience or the law written on the heart. We do not disagree that all men have some standard of right and wrong in their hearts. The point of contention is: From what source did man receive this standard (regardless of how warped it is)? Was man born with it and then became aware of it as he matured? Or does man acquire some understanding of right and wrong from the Bible and its influence? I argue for the latter. The proof follows.

The first proof is that righteousness is learned. “Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isa. 1:17).  “With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn and will not behold the majesty of the Lord” (Isa. 26:9-10). These verses show us that righteousness or doing well is learned. It does not come “naturally,” i.e., by birth and then one discovers it. Righteousness is right doing. Right doing is based on right thinking (Matt. 12:34-35). Right thinking is based on right learning. And right learning is based on right teaching. If one is not taught right, he will not learn right; if one does not learn right, he will not think right; and if one does not think right, he will not do right.

Not only must righteousness be learned, but wickedness is also learned. Jeremiah said, “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them” (Jer. 10:2).  If the knowledge of right from wrong is inherent in each of us, why did the Lord tell his people, “Learn not the way of the heathen…”? Again, the Lord said through Jeremiah, “And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, the Lord liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people” (Jer. 12:16).

Right and wrong is learned from God’s revelation, the Bible. Jeremiah said, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). If the way of man be in himself, then Jeremiah missed it. To say that man knows how to direct his steps, but is unable to do so, is a position too close to Calvinism for my comfort. The writer of Hebrews says that his audience was dull of hearing and that they needed the milk and not the meat of God’s word, because the meat was for those of “full age who had their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

The apostle Paul wrote, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except for the law and said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7:7). Berry’s Interlinear is interesting on this verse.  It states, “What then shall we say? Is the law sin? May it not be! But sin I knew not unless by law: for also lust I had not been conscious of unless the law said, Not thou shalt lust.” But in spite of this, it is argued that one can be conscious of sin by general revelation (i.e., by nature). However, it has been strongly and rightfully argued that in Matthew 19:9 the “except” means “if and only if.” Thus, the one and only ground for divorce and remarriage for the innocent party is if equated with John 3:5 which, in essence, says that the one and only way to enter the kingdom of God, the church, is by the new birth. The equation is correct. But, mark it down: The same word in the Greek that is translated “except” in Matthew 19:9 is likewise used in Romans 7:7 twice, translated “but” and “except.” So, since there is one and only cause for divorce, which is fornication, then, there is one and only one way that Paul became conscious of sin, which was by the law. He did not learn it innately! Therefore, the only way we learn of sin today is though the law of God to which all men are amenable.

The example of Saul of Tarsus is a death knell to the idea of an inherent knowledge of right and wrong. Paul had lived in all good conscience before God, even when he was putting to death the early Christians. He said he had a conscience void of offense (Acts 23:1; 24:16; 26:9-11). If a knowledge of right and wrong be “an inherent part of man’s nature,” would not Saul’s conscience be aware that murdering these Christians was wrong? If so, then Paul contradicts his own statements of his being void of offense.  If not, then, down goes the argument made by those who argue for some moral law written innately on the heart of man.