The Ohio Independent Baptist, February 1969

The Answer To An Important Question We present this as an open letter. Actual!)', it lvas first sent to a "hrother" a friend of Pastor Walter Ribbe of the Hinckley Baptist Church. Brother Ribbe has granted us the per111ission to share it with our read– ers. The letter touches on this matter of our studying the Scriptures. Here is a lesson every believer must learn ;J l1e v. ,ould be what God would have l1i111 to be! Dear- Somehow your questions are al– ways the kind that make me think deeply about things I mostly take for granted. The latest one was e pecially good: ' 'Why mu t we kn?w all of the Bible?'' I gave you a brief an wer when you asked me, but I have thought a lot about it since then. ~hi morning in my devotional reading in John chapter 15 the mat– ter came to mind again. I began to wonder what was behind a que tion like that. Perhaps one of things is what I conceive to be a fatal ailment among many evangelical churches: the idea that if we know Joho 3 : 16 from memory and a few of the doc– tr.inal bases for our fundamental beliefs that is enough. "I believe that Jesus died for me, so I'm saved eternally and that' all I need to know." This may not be expressed, but it is the attitude of many of our fine people, I fear. If you ask them why they believe that, they look at )'OU amazed. I find few who re pond with a read,, answer that "The Bible a)'S o:' And there are even fewer, at lea t among us, who could turn you to the places that teach even he e in1ple ba ic truth . let alone quote then1 from memory. And yet \Ve claim t t,eJieve al o that the Bible i the Word f od. In J hn 15 the precious ~r:uth of otrr union \\'ith hri t i 1aught under tl e fig11re of the vine and it bra nchc . e , ,ine Jlrocluce the l">r., nch and i1are it 1ife \\' it h acl1 branch o t11 1 the br 11cl1 1, ar frL1it. ..fn _gard n r i tli "ather n<l tlhe 1., nr- ir1 o fruit (\vt1ich i t l1 p11rp f tl1 , ,ine) gl rifi Hin1. So th Sub cribe to: 2 .00 per year Th Ohio lndep ndent Bapti t FOR A FRIEND Bo 60 X i , 0 io 4 38 f O 10 I D P r D r BAPJI 1 Christian: he has no life in himself. Life is in him only as the result of a new birth, and this life is sustained by continued union with its Source, Je us Christ. But our Lord introduces into this pattern a new factor: abiding in Him. omehow this command seems to condition the life and fruitfulne s of the branch. In nature the branch has no choice but to remain in con– tact with the main tern of the vine. Any separation of course, mean withering and fruitlessness, but the connection is in no way dependent upon the branch. It can on]y be severed from the vine by out ide in– fluences: careless use of match or knife, or other mi treatment by men or animals, may break the con– tact: or disease or insects may de– stroy the connection. But the Lord says: ' 'You must abide in Me," and the corollary is "I ·abide in you.' ' So at lea t ome of the responsibility rests with us. I know that right away the matter of eternal security comes up in your mind. (It does in the mind of any– one who believes in eternal security every time he reads John 15. It is unavoidable.) But remember that Je us was not talking about eternal security here. The proper question here is not ' 'How much re ponsibit– itv?' Nor. "How doe this quare with eternal ecurity?'' But rather, ince it is our Lord' own words, we must ask "How can I fulfill thi obligation to abide in Him?' ' J esu does not leave us in the dark to gue s a to the way and means: He tell us. In ver es seven and eight He say . "If you abide in Me and My words abide in yot1. vou <;hall a k what yo11 will and it shalJ be done for yo11. This i what s;!lorifie Mv Father, that yot1 be_ar plenty of frt1it and so be M,, dt<;– ciples" The life- ustaining force. the \tla1 Juice of the C'hristia11' life in t1nion '"'ith C'hri,t. that \.\ hich pro– dt1ce the f rL1it tiesirecl by the great Garden r is the \Vord, recei\ eel , digestecl and lttilizcd. This is the answer to your question why \\ e must know all of the Bible. The opposite is the an wer to another of your questions, v.1hy we as a church are o weak and fruitless. Our life i of value to God only to the de– gree that \\ e knov: and put into prac– tice the Word of God, the words of Chri t. Do you remember what were the very fir t ""ord of our Lord Je u after His bapti m and God' acknov.1- edgement of Him as Ht beloved on? Here they are: " fan hall not live by bread alone, but b,· every word of God.' ' He did not use thi ver e a a magic tali man to exer– ci e the devil. a ome would have u believe. He aid. and He meant it, "The word of God i more im– portant to the life of the on of God ( any son of God) than food is to the physical life of man.'' The Word is not omethjng like a tone to throw at the devil when he appear : it i omething that is taken into our live and lived by day by day\ to make u trong to overcome the devil. ote that Je u did not ha\'e to go to a concordance to f.ind a ver e with which to meet the de,,il' sugge tion - He knew it befo:ehand. He wa aturated \l.rith the cr1pture . He had been living off that food for 30 )'ear already. O\.\ He ,va u - ino what He kne\\ . 0 We are born again b) the \Vord f God (1 Peter 1 :23). We are anctified and clean ed b)' th Word (Ephe ian 5:26). Eith r \\'e live by the \Vord, or v.-e hri, 1 el up and die. We n1t1 t k.n v. and pra ti e \\rhat the Word teache r ur religion 1-. in , 1 ain ( J amc l . 2 _-:!5) Di~ ati f1ed hrt\tian ( J~r. 15:16). tin a11 - factor) E?r:o,, th ( 1 P~t~r ::! : -) ; t1n– f rL1 itft1I li,e, - nll n1a} be tra~l:<l co n )t ktlO\\ 111g the \\ 7 or i. or not JJttc– t ing 1t int) ~,ra "ti e. That 1, \\ h ' I in,i,t. \\ c 111t1 t r ~a I. ,tlt i)' teacJ, , p· e,tch a,1 I 11, c th\! B1bl~ Si fi\..~ I c I\' , , tl " ,,,~llter . Ribb~ Pa tor Presen t Chris1 ro the Jew Through The Hebrew & Christian Society Wor ing for the church "ith the church and through the :hurch B pttsf Mid Missions Test1n1on to Israel In Cle ,el nd O 10 MISSIONA I S Re . Leeland Crotts Dare tor Mrs Leeland Crotts Aft.rs . Mildred leech M C rol Aft I e Cle el nd Ohio 103 ,.-----~4~2:0:5~C: h:e: t:e~r ~A~ e-nu_e_____________________...--..________..__ RUAR , 1969 1