Bulletin Articles
“Why are examples binding?”
Categories: Acts 20:7, Authority, binding, Colossians 3:17, examples, Romans 16:16, Study the WordWhy are examples binding?
Establishing Biblical authority for everything we do is vital for every Christian (Col. 3:17; I Pet. 4:11). However, how people go about establishing that authority has caused much disagreement in the religious realm. Some have argued that examples are not a reliable tool in proving that God expects and demands His people do them today. Let’s consider this matter.
The first thing we need to understand is that we are talking about approved examples. When you find followers of Christ doing things that they were punished for, obviously we are NOT to follow their example (Acts 5:1-4; I Cor. 5:1-3, etc.). We also need to see that approved examples are governed by general and specific authority. By that I mean, when we read about Christians gathering in an “upper room” to worship (Acts 20:8), we are not limited to meeting in an upper room only, because there are examples of people meeting in different places (Rom. 16:3-5, etc.). Therefore, there was the specific command to worship (Jn. 4:24), but where you do it is open, thus, it is general.
I imagine one of the easiest ways to show that approved examples are binding today is due to the fact that we are told they are. Paul, in addressing the saints in Philippi, stated, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Phil. 4:9). Nothing is more powerful than being told to follow the example of Jesus Christ (I Pet. 2:21). There is authority in imitating, which again, is why Paul said to “imitate me” (I Cor. 4:16).
The difficulty in learning about the binding of examples, is knowing what was done lawfully as a custom that isn’t binding today. After all, we know that when Christians took the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7), that it wasn’t a custom. We know there was commands to gather together regularly to remember the death of Christ (Matt. 26:26-28; I Cor. 11:23-26). So, knowing that Paul waited in Troas, 7 days (Acts 20:6), before heading back out. This way he could assemble with the saints on the first day of the week. We know we do not have authority to take the Lord’s Supper on any other day of the week.
When the above point is made, those is disagreement will then say, how come you do not greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom. 16:16)? If we state that it was the greeting custom of that day, they want to know how you know what examples are custom and what examples are binding today? The answer again goes back to understanding general and specific authority. If we had an example of Christians assembling on a different day of the week in a different place and time, then obviously the first day of the week would not be binding. How did people greet one another in New Testament times? We might say, with a holy kiss? Yes. But was the emphasis on the “holy” or the “kiss”? Our greetings must be genuine. Did Judas greet Jesus with a “holy” kiss, when he betrayed the Lord? Of course not.
The word greet means to welcome or salute. This is exactly how you could greet brethren even in a letter, which Paul often did (I Cor. 16:19; Phil. 4:21; Titus 3:15, etc.). Keep in mind that all examples that are binding today have a specific significance attached to it. With Jesus resurrecting on the first day of the week, with the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles and preaching the first time since Christ’s ascension, on the first day of the week, points to the significance of the example of the Christians taking the Lord’s Supper on that day. So, when you focus on the holy “kiss”, there isn’t any such significance attacked to the kiss in itself. It is the holy greeting we need to focus on.
In our next article we will examine the work of the church in the area of binding examples.
Chuck
