Thinx 94: Sermon notes #3

Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,  with the following letter:
    The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.  Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,  it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,  men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.  For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:  that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.

— Acts 15:22-29 [ESV] (italics mine)

seemed good – ἔδοξεν (edoxen) – make a subjective decision based on personal perspectives and values.

This is what everyone does. So the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is the personal values. The values/perspectives of the Christian must be informed by Scripture.

Also decisions cannot contradict previous declarations by God. Nor can one claim that the Spirit has told them something that contradicts previous declarations by God, as the Spirit is the 3rd person of the Trinity so what the Spirit says, the Father and the Son also say. What the Father and Son say, so the Spirit also says. E.g. gifts of Spirit are also gifts of Son are also gifts of Father.

So it's just not on to claim that you got a private prophetic utterance from the Spirit that your marriage should be dissolved. The will of God the Father and God the Son concerning marriage has already been stated -- what God has joined together let no man separate (Matthew 19:6). To claim that the Spirit can rescind that is to introduce dissension into the Godhead. Jesus has already stated that a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). Are you saying that God can be divided against himself?

© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018