The Truth in Print Vol.
30, Issue 3, April 2024
A Publication of the
Valley church of Christ,
2375 W. 8th Street,
Yuma, AZ 85364 (928-782-5058)
Website
Address ~ http://yumavalleychurchofchrist.com
Who
Belongs With “Evil Surmisings” in 1 Tim 6:3-5?
1Ti
6:3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with
godliness,
1Ti
6:4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments
over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions,
1Ti
6:5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who
suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
•
“evil”
G4190 Strong’s: “hurtful, that is, evil (properly in effect or influence …)
•
“surmisings”
or “suspicions” [G5283] CWSD: “suspicion: - surmising” > comes from G5282 to
think under (privately), that is, to surmise or conjecture: - think, suppose,
deem.
This
is the product of hating you -- they want you to be doing wrong to your own
hurt.
There’s
no acceptance of sound doctrine, or of teaching on godliness. There’s a plan
here in their mind – to satisfy their love for strife and slander, to destroy
the righteous, and to benefit their self materially.
•
“gain”
(I Ti 6:5) [G4200] CWSD: Acquisition,
gain, used metaphorically to mean a source or means of gain (1Ti_6:5-6). So,
this is acquisition for oneself – to acquire their worldly interests.
These
arrogant fools (“proud”, 6:4; Cf. Pr 1:7) are the ones who got the rebukes, and
didn’t accept them because they are evil and have evil motives – they don’t
care about giving warnings, speaking the truth to one another in love of
obedience to Christ’s commands to save souls, or investigating matters to get
the right answer or give the right answer.
If
you hate truth being taught, and love strife, and you hate a brother or sister,
then you’re always hoping to hear the worst, and you play the hypocrite when
giving them commendation because your plans are otherwise.
They
have your ruin in their mind!
Pro
26:18 Like a madman who throws firebrands (burning arrows), arrows (sharp), and
death,
Pro
26:19 Is the man who deceives his neighbor, And says, "I was only
joking!"
Pro
26:20 Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no
talebearer, strife ceases.
Pro
26:21 As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious
man to kindle strife.
Do
we trust the wicked? Or do we know they aren’t seeking the truth to obey the
truth?
In
the Three Charges to Preach the Word, Praise Belongs With Exhort
2Ti
4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti
4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti
4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears;
2Ti
4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned
unto fables.
What
Direction does Praise go in Discriminating Other’s Character?
1Co 11:2 Now I praise you,
brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I
delivered them to you.
We don’t praise
unrighteous acts or unauthorized worship (I
Cor 11:17, 22).
Pro 28:4 They that
forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
NKJV
Pro 27:21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, And a man according
to the measure of his praise;
*
Praise shows one’s spiritual character, good or bad.
Reprove,
Rebuke, Exhort
•
“reprove”
[G1651] CWSD In the NT, to convict, to prove one in the wrong and thus to shame
him …
•
“rebuke”
[G2008] Strong’s: to tax upon, that is, censure or admonish; by implication
forbid: - (straitly) charge, rebuke.
2Ti
3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
•
“correction”
[G1882] CWSD: “to set right again.”
* These protect all we do, and
do collectively in our worship, teaching, and work.
Reprove,
Rebuke, Exhort
• Are
free from evil thoughts and speech.
• Are
necessary edification (Eph 4:29; I Cor 14:26).
* If I follow this then I know
I’m treating others fairly. If all
the
church follows this all know they won’t be mistreated!
• Can
ask yourself “What if…” all day long, but when thoughts and speech don’t fit
into R, R, E then what are they?
Wrong,
Useless, Evil?
Note:
It doesn’t take much for wicked brethren to seek to harm the one rebuking them.
It can be something as beneficial as you refusing to accept their foolish
instruction (statements made against sound doctrine are foolish instruction) to
you that Wednesday night services aren’t mandatory.
An
Exhortation for All Brethren.
1Th
5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the
fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
•
“warn”
[G356] Thayer: 1) to admonish, warn, exhort.
•
Here
specific to the “unruly” [G813] Thayer: 3) deviating from the prescribed order
or rule; CWSD: “neglectful of duties.”
Reproof
is actually positive (!!) and saves souls. Many who
complain about negative teaching refuse to do the warning they’re obligated to
do as an individual --- they complain because they have wrongful motives in
their dealings with brethren, and especially family and close friends who are
brethren.
It
is not God’s Wisdom When we Trust Evil People
Mat
7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you.
There’s
a lack of discrimination of character.
•
“dogs”
[G2965]: A general description would be that this is not a description of
little tame dogs. These are savage (“dogs”) that hate the truth, pervert the
truth and righteousness, and turn the grace of God into lewdness, and deny God
and Christ (Jude 4).
•
“dogs”
[G2965]: These are teachers that destroy like the Judiazers in Php. 3:2). They
were dealt with and gotten rid of in Acts 15! (Isa 56:11 fits this “kind”).
•
“dogs”
[G2965]: These have turned back to the pollutions of the world in 2 Pet
2:20-22. You withdraw from them as commanded! (2 Th 3:6).
•
“dogs”
[G2965]: These belong with the sodomites, and those who love to make a lie (Cf.
Rev 22:15; Deu 23:18). The church doesn’t accept sodomites and homosexuals as
members, nor fellowship them.
•
“swine”
– both sexes have tusks.
You
will find swine in Isa 3:21. The church in Thyatira had Jezebel, who was a whore and a false prophet (Rev 2:20). Members knowing how to
use charm, speech, and beauty deceitfully get unwarranted acceptance and
praise.
Pro
11:22 As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is
without discretion.
Pro
31:30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. (Cf. I Pet 3:3-4).
Swine
growl, “We’re not apostles!” Swine use this to deny plain truths of the gospel.
We’re not apostles, but we have the same Word they had that was revealed by the
Holy Spirit. And we have “by their fruits” we will know false teachers in
Jesus’ lesson! (Mat 7:15-20).
Jesus
Gave Instruction for Being in the Midst of Wolves
Mat
10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves:
be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
•
“midst
of wolves” -- ready to make prey of you.
Act
20:27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
Act
20:28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the
Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He
purchased with His own blood.
Act
20:29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among
you, not sparing the flock.
Act
20:30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
Act
20:31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to
warn everyone night and day with tears.
Act
20:32 “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,
which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
•
“savage
wolves” – “savage” or “grievous” [G926] CWSD: In the sense of being afflictive,
violent (Act 20:29, "fierce wolves").
•
“wise”
or “shrewd” (Matt 10:16) [G5429] CWSD: Prudent, sensible, practically wise in
relationships with others; Thayer: 2)
prudent, i.e. mindful of one’s interests; Strong’s: “a
cautious character.”
*
So, it implies a cautious character in one’s surroundings.
•
“harmless”
(Matt 10:16) [G185] CWSD: Without any mixture of deceit, without any defiling
material (Mat 10:16; Rom 16:19; Php 2:15).
*
It means “innocent” or “unmixed.”
You
are not “harmless” [unmixed] having become like the wicked and perverted
generation you are among
Php
2:14 Do all things without complaining and disputing,
Php
2:15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among
whom you shine as lights in the world,
Php
2:16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ
that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
•
The
complaining (murmuring) is against one another; the disputes or doubts are
intellectual rebellion against God’s Word and Works – you don’t prove yourself
blameless by being like the Woke and accepting all the perversions that go with
it!
We
don’t trust the wicked any more than we trust in the material, lustful and
perverted things they put their trust in.
Jesus
Told the Disciples to Beware of Men
Mat
10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they
will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat
10:18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a
testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Felix,
the governor of Judea is an example.
Act
24:24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was
a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
Act
24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,
Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a
convenient season, I will call for thee.
Felix
means “happy,” but he trembled in fear of God’s judgment.
Drusilla
was an adulterer – notice what Paul spoke on!
RWP:
With Drusilla his wife. Felix had induced her to leave her former husband Aziz,
King of Emesa. She was one of three daughters of Herod Agrippa I (Drusilla,
Mariamne, Bernice). Her father murdered James, her great-uncle Herod Antipas
slew John the Baptist, her great-grandfather (Herod the Great) killed the babes
of Bethlehem.
Act
24:26 He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he
might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the
oftener, and communed with him. ß Greedy dogs do that!
Examples
and Applications to Families
Examples
where family “love” and emotions override reasoning based on God’s Word.
Adam
and Eve
Gen
3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and
he did eat.
Adam
simply failed to apply what he’d been taught by God (Gen 3:6), and there
doesn’t appear to be any suspicion at all (??). He failed in headship, and took
of the forbidden fruit from Eve and ate of it.
Isaac
and Rebekah
What happened with Isaac and
Rebekah, when Isaac lied about Rebekah being his wife and Abimelech
took her (Gen 26:6-11)?
Gen 26:6 So Isaac
dwelt in Gerar.
Gen 26:7 And the
men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, "She is my
sister"; for he was afraid to say, "She is my wife," because he
thought, "lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is
beautiful to behold."
Gen 26:8 Now it
came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines
looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to
Rebekah his wife.
Gen 26:9 Then
Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Quite obviously she is your wife; so how
could you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I
said, 'Lest I die on account of her.' "
Gen 26:10 And
Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might
soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on
us."
Gen 26:11 So
Abimelech charged all his people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
It took Abimelech
“seeing” Isaac caress his wife on a visit before he put all the pieces
together! He looked through the window and saw them; he’s investigating! (Note
“quite obviously she is your wife…,” 26:9) I’m sure he was an intelligent man
by the rebuke he gave, and concern he had for the well-being of others. How
angry does someone get when they’ve been made a fool of in front of all their
acquaintances?
What
kind of wife was Rebekah to Isaac in Gen 27? She loved Jacob; Isaac loved Esau.
Read what she did when she heard Isaac was ready to give Esau the blessing.
Gen
27:1 Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he
could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My
son." And he answered him, "Here I am."
Gen
27:2 Then he said, "Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my
death.
Gen
27:3 Now therefore, please take your weapons, your
quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.
Gen
27:4 And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may
eat, that my soul may bless you before I die."
Gen
27:5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went
to the field to hunt game and to bring it.
•
She
commanded Jacob to obey her and let her fix meat, and dress him in Esau’s
clothing, and put skins with hair on his hands and neck for Isaac to feel – so
he could take it to Isaac and get the blessing.
Gen
27:6 So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Indeed I heard your
father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
Gen
27:7 ‘Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless
you in the presence of the LORD before my death.'
Gen
27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command
you.
Gen
27:9 Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats,
and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.
Gen
27:10 Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he
may bless you before his death."
•
Jacob’s
only fear was getting caught.
Gen
27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, Esau my brother is a
hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man.
Gen
27:12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him;
and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing."
Gen
27:13 But his mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only
obey my voice, and go, get them for me."
Gen
27:14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother
made savory food, such as his father loved.
Gen
27:15 Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were
with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.
Gen
27:16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the
smooth part of his neck.
Gen
27:17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into
the hand of her son Jacob.
•
What
is Isaac struggling with in Gen 27:18-27.
Gen
27:18 So he went to his father and said, "My father." And he said,
"Here I am. Who are you, my son?"
Gen
27:19 Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done
just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may
bless me."
Gen
27:20 But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so
quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God brought it
to me."
Gen
27:21 Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come near, that I may feel you, my son,
whether you are really my son Esau or not."
Gen
27:22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said,
"The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of
Esau."
Gen
27:23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his
brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.
Gen
27:24 Then he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He said, "I
am."
Gen
27:25 He said, "Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's game, so
that my soul may bless you." So he brought it
near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
Gen
27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near now and kiss me, my
son."
Gen
27:27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his
clothing, and blessed him and said: "Surely, the smell of my son Is like
the smell of a field Which the LORD has blessed.
Gen
27:28 Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the
earth, And plenty of grain and wine.
Gen
27:29 Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your
brethren, And let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who
curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!"
•
Things
don’t add up – quick hunt son – the smell is ok – the voice isn’t Jacob’s and
that’s “evidence” – his ears are better than eyes here -- but against better
judgment he went ahead.
There
was “suspicion” among family. You put this family in the church today and
they’d be rebuked, and repentance would be required.
It’s
hard to accept that a family member belongs in the category of those who love
to do evil, and hate the good.
•
Are
times when one is being deceived, and lied to by one’s own child, or wife, or
husband.
•
Are
times when we should be suspect, and just look at the phony language!
•
Are
times to consider that we are probably being used, and need to investigate.
•
Are
times to admit parents get angry when they don’t want to apply God’s law to
their child or children!
•
Are
times when years can pass, and nothing is done to correct what needs
correcting!
•
Are
times when too many go on giving in, and giving them their blessings when
things don’t add up!
•
Are
times when some let the threats of separation (you won’t get to see us) break
their heart, rather than loving God and keeping His commandments! --- and feel
like they just must violate withdrawing from them (2 Th 3:6, 14-15).
•
Are
times when family know they are being mistreated by family, and still put
associating with them before God’s laws.
Sinful
things come when we don’t want to accept, or believe, the dangers against which
we are warned are possible, and refuse to act or offer foolish instruction that
isn’t correction.
Fools
avoid the necessary warnings and reproofs – they twist their instruction in
such a way as to avoid obedience and repentance.
Pro
16:22 Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it. But the
correction of fools is folly.
This
is the fool’s correction that is no correction at all!
•
“correction”
[H4148] discipline, chastening, correction.
•
“folly”
[H200] foolish (silliness).
Both
he and the one who accepts his foolish correction die without God’s
instructions:
Pro
5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all
his paths.
Pro
5:22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of
his sin.
Pro
5:23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he
shall go astray.
One
of most neglected things are steps two and three in Matt 18:15-17. These steps
save divorces, marriages, keep families staying faithful, and turn young adults
back from the world.
Valley Church of Christ
2375 W. 8th Street,
Yuma, AZ 85364
(928) 782-5058 ~ http://yumavalleychurchofchrist.com
Sunday Services –
Classes ~10:00; Assembly 10:50 am; Evening: 6:00 pm.
Wednesday evening –
7:00 pm
To learn more call,
visit or visit our website at:
http://yumavalleychurchofchrist.com