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What the "Bible Teaches About THREE PERPLEXING QUESTIONS B y W ILLIAM L. PETTINGILL Wilmington, Delaware
thians 11:31, 32: “ If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judg ed, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” This chas tening may take the form of weakness, or sickness, or even death, as shown by the context, but it is chastening, and not con demnation. “ Whom the Lord loveth he chasten- eth,” but condemnation is impossible for the be liever (John 5:24 ; Rom. 8:1, R. V .; Heb. 12:6). There are those who teach that the “ taketh away” o f John 15:2 is a matter o f chastening, as in 1 Corinthians 11 :30, “ many sleep” ; that is, many in the Corinthian
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The Parable o f the VINE and the BRANCHES I am asked to give an expo sition o f our Lord’s Parable o f the Vine and the Branches, recorded in John 15. My in quirer is particularly concern ed about the second and sixth
W . L. PETTINGILL.
verses, reading, “ Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away,” and, “ if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” My cor respondent believes, as I believe, in the eternal security o f the believer, and asks whether that doctrine is affected by this Scripture. The passage has always been a battle ground for Armin ian and Calvinistic writers, the former insisting that here we have it clearly shown that a truly saved man may aposta tize and be lost. But if this thesis is true, then Scripture surely contra dicts itself in many instances, a conflict which of course is impossible and unthinkable. No prophecy o f Scripture is o f any isolated or by-itself interpretation (2 Pet. 1:20). W e must not interpret any single passage so as to make it flatly contradict all that Scripture elsewhere says upon the subject. For instance, there is our Lord’s definite statement in John 10:27-30 that His sheep have eternal life, and that “ they shall never perish.” S uspended F ellowship The whole fabric of the gospel rests upon the doctrine o f grace, and grace is unmerited favor; by it the whole thought o f salvation by works is excluded. I f a believer sins— and what believer does not sin?-—his fellowship is suspended; that is, his communion with God is interrupted, but his salvation is not jeopardized. Nor is his fellowship restored by being “ saved again,” but rather through con fession. “ I f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous ness” (1 John 1 :9). But if the sinning believer refuses to confess his sins, what then? The answer, is in 1 Corin- [Out o f more than forty years o f experience in answering questions pertaining to the Scriptures; the puthor, who is the founder o f “Just a Word Incoiipb'rqted."rbfihgs to K ing ’ s B usi ness readers this month his answers to three problems which have puzzled many individuals. Similar studies by Dr. Pettingill are planned for future issues of this.magazine .— E ditor .]
Drawing byR. Marvin
church had died on account o f unconfessed sin. “ They are taken away as branches,” says Malachi Taylor, “ though not lost.” This might be an acceptable explana tion, were it not for the terrible words of verse 6 o f our chapter: “ Men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” I nterpretations T h at H ave B een O ffered Many commentators tell us that these severed branches were never really in the vine at all, except by outward ap pearance— that they are merely professing Christians. Dean A lford, for example, says that they “ are made mem bers of Christ by baptism,” the vine being “ the visible church here, o f which Christ is the inclusive Head ; the vine contains the branches; hence the unfruitful, as the fruitful, are ‘in me,’ ” that is, in Christ. This interpreta tion is hardly satisfactory when one remembers that the words we are studying are words from the mouth o f the Lord Himself, who spake as other men never spake, and all of whose words are pure words. Yet other writers Hold that the unfruitful branches are the people o f Israël, who indeed are described in Romans 11 as natural branches cut off from the good olive tree. But this interpretation also fkils, for the dispensational cut ting off is really national, rather than individual. Israel as a nation is cut off ; “ blindness in part is happened to Israel” for the time being, “ until the fulness o f the Gentiles be
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