The Ohio Independent Baptist, May 1968

Glimpses of Truth from the Greek New Testament By Dr . Geo. Lawlor TRIED - APPROVED 1 n l Pct c r I : 7 . \, c read th~ rc- 111 ar1'. n l'·il e \\ rds: "That the tri al L , ttr faith. bei ng n1L1ch more preciot1 \ thctn of g Id t hat per i heth, tl101,g/1 1t l>c rried ii·itl1 fire . . ... It is the , rbal c-xpre ion Hthough it be tried " \\ hich i partict1larly ignificant and \v hich de er e pecial attention. The ,, ord ' 'tr ied' i a pre ent participle ( doki111ad~o1r1e11oit ) derived from do– "- i111ad-;.o . which mean : ' 'to put t o the te t and examine and thu prove omething to be true or untrue. ' I t "-' i a term akin to a dia~no is. We bring the variou thing which con– f ront u in our life and experie nce under clo e crutiny and make a n adequ ate di agno i of them as to their worth and value~ we put them to the test and ee if they are good and proper for us . If o then we may endor e them. Such is the meaning of the verb in Phil . 1 : 10 "Th tlt ye may approve (doki,nadzein ) thing that are excellent." Peter peaks in the text of our faith "being tried ," i.e. being put to the test, proved , to bring out it~ genuinene~ . The faith indicated here is not the Christian faith but the personal f aith of individual believer . That genuineness of our faith which i the re ult of the te ting i extreme– ly valuable, and the te ting is done in order th at the proper value may be placed upon it. The wo rld d oe not e timate our faith at it true worth and value, nor do manv of our Christian friend . This i the word used in I The s. 5 : 21 where believers are instructed to "keep putting all things to the te t' ' ( dokimadzete ) j .e . to determine their prope r value a nd char acter. Having done that. then we mu t hold f a t that which is QOOd . Thi s is vital to our spiritual well-bein g in su ch t in1e as the e. Informative and Instructive T he u e of thi s word in both verb and noun form in the p apy ri i mo t i nfor,mat ive and in tructive. In a papy– ru dated 3 A.D .. containing a lar ge number of chemical fo rmulae , we re,•u o f the ter;;tin~ ( ) lt f o f gold . c·l1r1Jso11 <l,J /..i111£t,\i£1 . A11<Jlhcr i)ttpyru<.. d,tl ed 56 13 .( ·.. give~ LI"> i11ior111a lil, n , tl1l)Ul a 18 MAY, 1968 II l U ll 11 , l Il l L' t I ( ) I "C Il l l j'> 11 1~. \.\ h l l '\\ d ', i:l 1, ,,1,/ 111 .._, , , (·,1, , , . • 1ntl l)l) l C lhc <J lf1c 1a l ltlll' ~ll <lc," 111,,1\ l(' I\ ~ c tl (J lc al \ ~l l11 l ' 1 cc l) 1 ti ( l ~ (1 • l) . ) t) l l-1 a clr I an h<,, 1ng c<.1 n1n1~nclccl to tl1c , cnate 1n l , 11hc"t1, <l ,ca-c,t1Jt,t1n na111cd l t1 c 1u , ( .. r(1"t ti , . "' hc1 wi. heel to l1ccon1c a cn:1l or . 1: 111pcr r H adrian ) ta tcs tha t i i l 11c 1t1 i<; c1ppr(>''e(/ (dol<i111asia ) h c h i 111 elf w i l I pay the f cc. In an ffi cial lett er dealing with a iudicial "itL1ation. the writer ay : HHi ex– ce lle ncy the pi tr ategu s/1all sif t ( cl (>ki111c1\'ei ) the matter with the ut- 111 0 ·t equit y. ,, And in another docu- 111cnt, an o ffi cial write to a fell ow– n1agi ·tr a te. saying: ' ' After c·c1ref it l i 11 - <-/t t i r .v ( (!o l<i111asc1s) you n1ay w rite lo n1c whet he r i t i · o.'· 1 'Proving and Approving'' The tep from "pro 1 ving" to " ap– proving' ' in the meaning of the word wa taken long before any of the exi ting document were written, so that any eeming ambiguity in the reco rd we h ave today, including th 1 e use of the term in the Scriptures, i ba ed upon the normal co-existing u age . So in the earliest known mar– r iage contract dated 310 B.C., dif– ference between a hu band and wife are to be ettled by a panel o,f three men Hwhom b oth (husband and wife) shall approve ( doki,nadzosin) " . In a papyrus dated 140 A.D., a olea for exemption from certain public serv– ice i put forward in behalf of physi– cians who have ' 'passed the examin– ati on ' like the petitioner ( dokimas- 1nenoi) . Another document has a r eferen ce to the examination nece - ~ary to qualify for the medical pro– fess ion and the certificate of character Piven to tho e who so qualified . 1 n an Oxyrynchu papyrus o f 2 A.D. the re 1<; a le tter from a man to a · governn1ent official concerned with th~ ca ·e of a girl again t whom a plot h a been di ·covered, which reads : ' 'f a.n1 therefore informin 1 g you in o rder that if you think it fit ( ean doki- 1,iase·is) you may act before he is e ntrapped." And a man writes to a frie nd in A.D. 266, and ay : ''Hav– i nR f ottnd ( do kimaJ·asa) that my own brothe r will honorabl y protect the child .'~ Thi the n i · the wo rd u ed in the New T estan1ent to de cribe a putting lo .the proo f and re ultant aoproval cJ r di approval . Paul say t o the Cor– inthian a recorded in ll Cor. 8:22. concerning the brother who accom– panied Titu ( and who e name i not known ) . "And we have ent with the·m our hrothc r whom ,re have cJjtl 11- /111 ,es /J r ,,re(/ ( 11<>11 cc!(,ki111c1.\tl– , , ,e11) Lltli ge nt i n rn ,tny thing". . .~· 1-l crc i~ a hl'l)ll1cr t1n - nan1ctl a11tl un– k nown. who ncvcrthelcs~ was 11rovcd Llil1gcnt . carne\ t. a11 t l tru~tworthy on ,nany c)CC,l ions. hen ce cot1ld he flP· provccl lJ y Patil ,tnd others. ,.fh1 ~ is a goocl recommendation for any be– Iiever in any d ,ty - " he has bee n proved tru tworth y and true , and thtt ca n be tt ed .'' In l{om. 14 :22 , the word i<; u sed ag,tin by Paul in a statement of great c; ignificance. The Apo tle says in the second clau e of v . 22: "Happy i he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth ()it . " put<; to the test,' dokimadzei) Ble ed indeed i the man who doe~ not condemn himself in doing some– thing he has tested out and found to be wrong. We dare not throw down a stumb1ingblock in the path of so,me– one else (vs. 20-21) by engaging in some act proved to be wrong, even though it may not do any particular injury to ourselve . And it is alway · good never to trust our own judgment alo·n,e in these matters but alway<; ., to go to the Word of God and get God 's judgment in such cases. God's judgments are there, either in specific instruction or in definite princiiple. In I Thess. 2: 4, we note that we have been "allowed o.f God ( dedokirnas- 1netha hupo toi, theou) to be put in tru t with the gospel. . ." Believers have been approved by God to be entrusted with the great sacred Gos– pel mes age and with the mission of using it to point out to men the way of salvation, and the life which true Chri tians must live. Proven Through Fire! Peter tells u this proving n1ay come to u ' 'through fire." i.e. evere and rugged te ting. It will come to all of us although we do not kJJOW exactly what form or forms it will take . lt i for the purpose of determ– in,ing the value to be placed upon our faith , and to refine that g,enuine– nes in our faith which is so es ential . And in such days as these, when all around us there is theological con– fusion, moral collapse and spiritual decadence, we must never cease to con tantly put to the te t our whole life and experience, and the count– le things ,that are a part of our daily living, examining them closely, crutinizing them, proving them, and making the right diagnosis of them. If they are good and proper we may endorse them and approve them. If they are not good and proper, or if they are such as may harn1fully af– fect others then we are bound to lli">H J)prove tl1cn1 ' a11u lt> let thc111 Hf one. l HE OH10 INDEPENDENT BAPTIST