Open letter to Calvary Pandan Bible-Presbyterian Church in Singapore

This is an open letter to the redeemed of the Lamb of God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ

              From the outset, I must state that I do not wish to delve with the VPP controversy which is not profitable to the members of the pews other than a passing remark of the afflictions which VPP has inflicted on the church and her testimony. My main intent herein is on "faith and practice", "truth and duty" and " word and conduct" of every Session member (present and past) be he a pastor, an elder or a deacon. 

A.       THE VPP CONTROVERSY IN CALVARY PANDAN (IN SUMMARY)

1.      The VPP as taught by FEBC and brought into Pandan By Rev Quek in 2002 had generated strives, disputes, confusions and divisions in the church. He had made a non-issue into an issue which had caused untold damage to the testimony of the church.  Prior to the entry of VPP into Calvary Pandan in 2002/2003, we had peace and unity, happiness and contentment, serving the Lord with great joy and thanksgivings for the salvation of our soul. But look at what had happened to the church since the VPP controversy came into Pandan? Beside unrest, The VPP issue had ushered in  more harm than good, more heat than light, more deceits than truth.  Had the leaders (in particular, Rev Quek) obediently abided with the "Calvary Pandan B-P Church's Final Statement on the KJB" of 9 May 2004 the Church would have remained in peace, harmony and unity, to this day, without going through all the set backs, heartaches, tears and sorrows which had inflicted on many families.

2.    In the BOE's Final Statement on KJB of 9 May 2004, MT & RT were unanimously affirmed as "the most trustworthy, accurate, and providential preserved copies of the inspired Holy Scriptures, accepted by Bible scholars of the Reformation and conservative scholars of the Protestant Church"  The faithful obedience to this Statement would have preserved the peace and unity of Calvary Pandan to this day. But sad to recall that the pastors, having approved of it, had failed to strictly comply with it.

3.     The only way to peace and unity in Calvary Pandan and with the Chinese Session is the return to this Statement of 9 May 2004. In this Statement the leadership of the Chinese Session and the reliability of the CUV Bible used for preaching and teaching was never questioned. Why then is the BOE and Rev Quek attacking the Chinese leadership for upholding the Statement of 9 May 2004? On what authority is he calling Rev Tang names?

4.      I am no theologian and I do not wish to delve with the VPP issue. What I will say is that VPP is not a "life and death" issue for the salvation of  all the faithful believers in Pandan. "For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8). I reiterate my believe in the aged old doctrine in Article 4.1, 4.2, 4.2.1  of the Church Constitution. I believe the Word of God is perfect, inerrant and infallible. It has no mistakes.I love the KJV bible for it is the best and faithful translation for doctrine and conduct. My believe on them are sufficient and complete for the inheritance of my eternal life. Equipped with this unfeigned faith in God and His everlasting Word, the truly born again believers will meet the Lord God, one day. For these redeemed, they do not need more than this simple faith and trust in God. The Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will carry them through in all circumstances, come shine or rain,  joy or afflictions, till they see Christ, face to face.

B.   ON WORD AND CONDUCT, EVEN TRUTH AND TRANSPARENCY

3.     Beside faith in God, our words and deeds are equally important for our salvation. Having purity of doctrine without purity of conduct our faith in God will be in vain.  Without purity of words and conduct, even honesty, no one can be called the child of God, even though he has all the VPP in him. Faith and practice (word and conduct), truth and duty (honesty and transparency)  must go hand in hand.  Article 5.4 of the Church Constitution says and I quote:

"Truth leads to goodness; the great touchstone of truth is its tendency to promote holiness;  according to our Saviour's rule, "by their fruits ye shall have them.; No opinion can be either more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level and represents it as of no consequence what a man's opinions are. On the contrary, we are persuaded that there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty; otherwise it would be of no consequence either to discover truth to embrace it."

4.      Can any pastor, elder, deacon or member in Pandan claim he or she is "perfect and upright and one that fear God and eschewed evil?" (Job 1:1) Can anyone say he or she has never lied or distorted the truth or uttered untruth?  Events which unfolded in recent years in Pandan are evidence of much distortions, lies and untruths before our eyes. God knows who are the peace-breakers and liars. Know ye that "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." (Prov 15:3). ".. the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings" (Prov 5:21)  Hear what the Lord has to say to us: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jer 17:9-10). Therefore, take heed of the wrath of God and His soon coming judgment. None can escape it unless he mends his wayward ways and repent of his self-righteousness while the Lord tarries in His coming to us.

5.    Shouting and turf fighting on the new doctrine of  "VPP-KJVism" are of no value or benefit to our souls without purity in words and conduct. What the church leaders need to day is soul searching before God in true repentance of their self-righteousness. Make peace with one another while there is time! For the Lord cometh soon to judge our works (words and conduct). Let no leader in Calvary Pandan be heard of the Lord saying to him, "I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt 7:23)

In His grace and mercy

Elder Joshua Lim

L.LB (Hons) - founding elder and trustee of Calvary Bible-Presbyterian Church since 1973.

3 Ways to Graciously Engage KJV-Only Believers July 26, 2018 | Mark Ward

Don Carson pled with them for realism 40 years ago, and James White urged them to trust modern translations 20 years ago. But I sense that conservative evangelicalism has now given up on critiquing King James Version-onlyism.

But there are tens or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of KJV-only Christians around the world, and a new generation is taking leadership in the movement.

It’s time to make another gentle appeal.

But what else can be said? I urge a threefold strategy focused on English translation, not Greek textual criticism. This is the best way to love—and persuade—our KJV-only brothers and sisters.

1. Listen and Understand

KJV-only views tend to fall between two poles. One extreme makes strident claims for the absolute perfection of the KJV, viewing it as the perfect product of divine (re)inspiration. The other pole prefers the KJV out of an aesthetic sense or the belief that valuable, unifying traditions shouldn’t be given up lightly.

More than likely, the KJV-only brothers and sisters you’ll run into are between these poles: they’re part of the mainstream King-James-only movement—which means, if you’ll listen to them, you’ll find they’re not technically KJV-only.

The mainstream KJV-only movement insists that its ultimate concern is not actually the KJV. It’s the full “preservation” of the Greek and Hebrew texts from which the KJV was translated, namely the Masoretic Hebrew Text and the Greek Textus Receptus, or “TR.” KJV-onlyism is actually, officially, TR-onlyism.

Evangelical biblical scholarship looks at all the differences among Greek New Testament manuscripts and, in textual criticism, takes up the complicated challenge of culling out copyist errors. KJV-onlyism looks at those same differences and feels them to be a threat to the stability of Christian faith. So it adopts the TR and rejects modern textual criticism.

2. Don’t Talk about Textual Criticism

I suggest you take a step back: you must refuse to talk about textual criticism with KJV-only Christians.

I’m not saying it’s worthless to teach the truth on the topic; many writers have done so admirably. But now’s probably not the time.

God calls few Christians, KJV-only or not, to learn Koine Greek. This means comparatively few people on any side of the KJV debate have ever examined the evidence. Instead, most people in the church have formed their textual critical views secondhand from authorities they trust. This is natural and not necessarily bad: we all outsource complex judgments to people whose expertise we would have trouble proving exactly.

This means your disagreement with the average KJV defender is not actually about textual criticism, but about which authorities are worth trusting: Carson vs. Ruckman, White vs. Waite. You won’t get him to trust responsible authors by having him read their attacks on his viewpoint; you’ll do this by giving him other edifying books by those who’ve produced our modern evangelical Bible translations, hoping he’ll sense intuitively that they are not his enemies. This is your long game.

But your short game needs to give up on textual criticism. As Dan Wallace has labored to show, only a tiny percentage of textual differences are both meaningful and viable. The difference between “the star came to rest” over baby Jesus and “the star came and stood” over him is not worth a fight.

Graciously agree to disagree with a KJV devotee’s preference for the TR and move on.

3. Talk about English Only

Most laypersons do not need to understand the canons of Greek New Testament textual criticism. But here’s something every KJV reader ought to know: Elizabethan English is no longer fully intelligible, and 1 Corinthians 14 tells us explicitly and repeatedly that intelligibility is necessary for edification.

If with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air (1 Cor. 14:9).

Even KJV extremists know it contains “dead words” and obsolete phrases no longer present in the real-life lexical stock of English speakers. We just don’t say or write “amerce,” “bolled,” or “crisping pin.” They are unintelligible, and contemporary dictionaries are hit or miss on these dead words. These are words we know we don’t know.

But there is another category of unintelligible words hiding in plain sight, and the KJV-only movement needs some help seeing them: words we don’t know we don’t know.

These “false friends” are the focus of the strategy that I lay out in Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible. Such words—and syntactical structures and punctuation conventions—trip up today’s readers through no fault of the KJV translators or of today’s readers, but solely because of language change.

Translators could not have predicted the future of words like “halt” and “remove” and “commend,” and English speakers today shouldn’t be held responsible to notice how these words have evolved over the past four centuries. William Tyndale died to give God’s Word to the “plough boy,” not to the specialist in historical Englishes.

Beautiful Translation

Of course, the KJV is not entirely unintelligible. And it surely is beautiful. I have always enjoyed the challenge of reading it. When I encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ to cease insisting on the use of the KJV, I do so, as my favorite linguist John McWhorter said of Shakespeare, “not because we are uncultured or incapable of effort, but because language is always moving.”

If the point of Bible reading were Anglophilic enculturation or Early Modern English decoding practice, then giving people KJVs would be ideal. But if the point is understanding what God said, then people should be given the Bible in their English, not someone else’s.

KJV-onlyism is not a Christian liberty issue, like eating meat offered to idols. It makes void the Word of God by human tradition—one archaizing lexeme at a time (Mark 7:13). I pray that my brethren’s consciences will one day be liberated to read more than just the KJV.

But consciences should not be treated lightly, even when misinformed. The safest way to push people past the unsound objections of their consciences is to appeal directly to God’s Word and let his Spirit illuminate it for them.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 that edification requires intelligibility. This needs to be the united Christian answer to the many people adversely affected by KJV-onlyism.

Mark Ward (PhD, Bob Jones University) is the editor of Bible Study Magazine and author of its back-page column, Word Nerd: Language and the Bible. He is the author of Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible (Lexham Press, 2018), which became a Faithlife infotainment documentary. He is also the host of the Bible Study Magazine Podcast and is an active YouTuber.

Modern translations

Is the abundance of translations and paraphrases an indication that we cannot rely on our current English Bible to proclaim God's real message? Perhaps the following quote from Sir Frederic Kenyon, director of the British Museum, will best answer your question: “It is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God.” (Sir Frederick Kenyon, The Story of the Bible, 1968.)

Essentially, Sir Frederic Kenyon's statement underlines that extensive research and discoveries have only reinforced the authenticity and reliability of the Scriptures. This perspective extends to modern Bible translations, which are meticulously crafted to maintain the integrity and essence of the original texts. Scholars and theologians work diligently to ensure that these translations accurately convey the meaning and message of the original manuscripts. Thus, modern translations are widely accepted as the Word of God, as they are seen to faithfully represent the Scriptures in their substantial integrity.

The King James Version (KJV) has been a cornerstone for many believers, cherished for its majestic language and historical significance. However, the essence of Scripture isn't confined to the 1611 translation alone.

Modern translations aim to communicate the Word of God effectively to contemporary audiences. Scholars meticulously translate from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts to preserve the intended message. The fidelity of these translations to the original manuscripts strengthens the case for their acceptance as the Word of God.

While the KJV remains a profound literary and spiritual touchstone, modern translations reflect ongoing discoveries in biblical scholarship. They provide clarity and understanding, ensuring the Scriptures remain accessible and meaningful for all believers. The ultimate goal is to convey the veritable Word of God, in which modern translations undeniably play a pivotal role.

Pursuing a perfect Bible translation is like chasing the horizon—noble, but inherently elusive. Language is fluid and ever-evolving, and each translation strives to balance literal accuracy with readability and cultural context. Instead of seeking perfection, the goal should be faithfulness to the original texts and conveying the intended message as clearly as possible.

The beauty of different translations lies in offering diverse perspectives and insights, enriching our understanding of the Scriptures. So, while perfection may be unattainable, striving for a profound and faithful representation remains vital. What’s your take on this? Do you have a preferred version?

I'd advise Jeffrey Khoo, Quek Suan Yew, Prabudas Koshy to appreciate the beauty and complexity of language and translation. Verbal Plenary Preservation advocates the belief that every word of the Scriptures is divinely inspired and preserved. It’s an admirable commitment, but striving for a “perfect” translation might overlook the reality that languages evolve, and interpretations can vary.

Encourage Jeffrey Khoo, Quek Suan Yew, Prabudas Koshy to consider that modern translations are crafted with immense care, aiming to remain faithful to the original texts. Rather than fixating on a single perfect version, embracing the richness of multiple translations can offer deeper understanding and insights into the divine message.

Ultimately, the goal should be to convey the core truths and teachings of the Scriptures, allowing them to resonate meaningfully with diverse audiences. It’s about capturing the essence, not just the exact wording.

I hope we can quit pursuing a perfect Bible.

By Reverend So and So

Evidences of biblical text - over 99 percent pure

Evidences of biblical text

The sincere Bible critic uses the manuscripts, the versions, and the writings of the early church fathers to determine the true wording that is closest to the original manuscripts.

1. The writings of the church fathers: The church fathers were the prominent leaders, theologians, teachers, and scholars during the first few centuries after Christ. They were dedicated Christians who wrote sermons, commentaries, and homilies. They contended for the faith amid the onslaught of false religions. The following are some of the better known names from a group said to number about 200 individuals during the first seven centuries:

  a) A. D. 96–150: Clement of Rome, Hermas, Ignatius and Polycarp

  b) A. D. 150–325: Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Cyprian and Tatian

  c) A. D. 325 and later: Eusebius, Athanasius, Jerome and Augustine

These men quoted freely from the Bible, citing not only all 27 books of the New Testament but also virtually every verse in those books. Geisler and Nix asserted, “Five Fathers alone, from Irenaeus to Eusebius, possess almost 36,000 quotations from the New Testament.”

Some years ago, Sir David Dalrymple was at a dinner with a group of scholars when the question was asked, “If the whole New Testament were destroyed in the fourth century, would it be possible for it to be put together from the writings of the church fathers of the second and third centuries?” Two months later he said to one of the company, “The question aroused my curiosity, and having all existing works of the Fathers from the second and third centuries, I commenced to search. Up to this time I have found all the New Testament except eleven verses.” The testimony of the writings of the church fathers to the authenticity of the text is of significant importance. First, because of their devotion to God and His Word, they were careful in their copying of the Scriptures. Second, because they lived so close to the apostolic days, it is probable that they had access to manuscripts not in existence today. Some may have had access to the originals.

2. The Dead Sea Scrolls: In 1947 a Bedouin boy was herding goats near the northern end of the Dead Sea when he discovered these scrolls in a cave. Approximately 350 scrolls in all, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered one of the greatest archaeological finds of the last century. Written by the Essenes between the first century before and the first century after Christ, the scriptural portions of the scrolls are hundreds of years older than any other previously known manuscripts. Portions of every book of the Old Testament, with the exception of Esther, are contained in the scrolls. Of special interest is the scroll that contains the entire book of Isaiah. This Hebrew Isaiah manuscript is 1,000 years older than any previously discovered text. Even more remarkably, the scrolls confirm the accuracy of the Masoretic text of the Old Testament.

3. The Papyri: Of great interest to Bible scholars are the papyri found in Egyptian graves during the 1900s. Many assert these are the most important gains for New Testament textual criticism since Tischendorf announced the discovery of the Sinaitic Codes. Sir Arthur Chester Beatty (died 1968) acquired the papyri, now housed in the Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland. Others are in the possession of the University of Michigan and private individuals. They contain parts of the Old Testament in Greek, with considerable portions of Genesis, Numbers and Deuteronomy, as well as parts of Esther, Ezekiel and Daniel. Three manuscripts in the group are of New Testament books. These include portions of 30 leaves of the Gospels and Acts, 86 leaves of the Pauline Epistles and 10 leaves out of the middle section of the book of Revelation. This material is of great importance for it dates from the third century or earlier. The text is of such high quality that it ranks with the Vatican and Sinaitic Codices.

The John Rylands Fragment is a papyrus fragment that measures only 3½ by 2½ inches. Though small, it is the oldest recognized manuscript of any part of the New Testament. It was obtained in 1920, has writing on both sides, and contains portions of the Gospel of John (John 18:31–33; John 18:37; John 18:38). In 1956, Victor Martin, a professor of classical philology at the University of Geneva, published a papyrus codex of the Gospel of John called Papyrus Bodmer II. The manuscript contains John 1:1–14:26. Dated A. D. 200, it is probably the oldest book of the New Testament in substantial condition.

4. Textual criticism conclusions: Although textual critics have discovered variant readings, none of these have altered Christian doctrine. In fact, “Wescott and Hort, Ezra Abbot, Philip Schaff, and A. T. Robertson have carefully evaluated the evidence and have concluded that the New Testament text is over 99 percent pure.” （Geisler and Nix, From God to Us, 180.）

Adapted from Duffield, Guy P., and Nathaniel M. Van Cleave. 2016. Foundations of Pentecostal Theology. Revised & Updated. Vol. 1. Los Angeles, CA: Foursquare Media.

The Spirit and the word of God

 

         The external word is of no avail by itself unless animated by the power of the Spirit… All power of action, then, resides in the Spirit himself, and thus all praise ought to be entirely referred to God alone.

         JOHN CALVIN

The word of God

 “The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two–edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (4:12 NKJV).

God’s Words in Written Form (the Bible)

 God’s Words in Written Form (the Bible)

In addition to God’s words of decree, God’s words of personal address, and God’s words spoken through the lips of human beings, we also find in Scripture several instances where God’s words were put in written form. The first of these is found in the narrative of the giving of the two tablets of stone on which were written the Ten Commandments: “He gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God” (Ex. 31:18). “The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Ex. 32:16; 34:1, 28).

Further writing was done by Moses:

Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years … you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing … that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God.” (Deut. 31:9–13)

This book, which Moses wrote, was then deposited by the side of the ark of the covenant: “When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ‘Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you’ ” (Deut. 31:24–26).

Further additions were made to this book of God’s words. “Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God” (Josh. 24:26). God commanded Isaiah, “Now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever” (Isa. 30:8). Once again, God said to Jeremiah, “Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you” (Jer. 30:2; cf. Jer. 36:2–4, 27–31; 51:60). In the New Testament, Jesus promises his disciples that the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance the words which he, Jesus, had spoken (John 14:26; cf. 16:12–13). Paul can say that the very words he writes to the Corinthians are “a command of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37; cf. 2 Peter 3:2).

Once again it must be noted that these words are still considered to be God’s own words, even though they are written down mostly by human beings and always in human language. Still, they are absolutely authoritative and absolutely true: to disobey them or disbelieve them is a serious sin and brings judgment from God (1 Cor. 14:37; Jer. 36:29–31).

Several benefits come from the writing down of God’s words. First, there is a much more accurate preservation of God’s words for subsequent generations. To depend on memory and the repeating of oral tradition is a less reliable method of preserving these words throughout history than is their recording ...

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (1994)

Acts 17:22-34

 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Dr. John Sung often prayed in tongues

John Sung – Spirituality and

Spiritual Power

Posted by OMF International

In many of Sung’s ministries, signs and wonders were often accompanied by repentance of sins and reconciliation between long-standing enemies. Public apologies were made for wrongdoing. A new spirit of love and unity came into being in place of hostility and division in many of the churches where he preached. It is very obvious that John Sung, in all his ministries, held the Word and Spirit together. He always emphasized the experience of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in his teaching. In his personal devotional life, Sung not only regularly prayed, but he also often prayed in tongues, a gift he first received on the 25th March 1934 (Anderson and Tang 2005, 47).

Copied from OMF Australia 

https://omf.org/au/mrt-john-sung-spirituality-and-spiritual-power/

Many Bible-Presbyterian church leaders oppose Christians who pray in tongues because they believe it is demonic and they also do not believe in signs and wonders. These leaders possess the spirits of Balaam and donkeys. They possess the spirits of pride and lust. These leaders are not the genuine offspring and disciples of Dr. John Sung.

Regretfully, some leaders like to claim to be John Sung's disciples, remnants and surviving members of his group. In reality, they are the Lord's disloyal and unfaithful servants; they are combative, like to fight, quarrelsome, militant, petty, incapable of learning, proud, narrow minded, puff up with knowledge. 

The Book of First Clement to the Bible-Presbyterian Church in Singapore

1 Clement 3:1-4

The Degradation of Corinth

All glory and growth was given to you, and that which was written was fulfilled: “My beloved ate and drank and became large and grew fat and kicked.” From this came jealousy and envy and strife and rebellion, persecution and insurrection, war and captivity. So the dishonorable were stirred up against the honorable, the disreputable against the reputable, the foolish against the wise, the young against the old. Because of this, righteousness and peace are far removed from you, each of you has left behind the fear of God and become dim-sighted in faith in him, and neither walk in the lawful ways of his commandments or live life according to what is fitting in Christ. Instead each of you walks according to the desires of his wicked heart, having taken up unjust and ungodly jealousy, through which also death has entered into the world. (1 Clement 3:1-4) 

“Let us, therefore, approach him in holiness of soul, lifting up to him pure and undefiled hands, loving our gentle and compassionate Father who made us his own chosen portion. For thus it is written: ‘When the Most High divided the nations, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, he fixed the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. His people, Jacob, became the Lord’s portion, and Israel his inherited allotment‘ [Deut 32:8-9 LXX]. And in another place it says: ‘Behold, the Lord takes for himself a nation out of the midst of the nations, as a man takes the first fruits of his threshing floor; and the Holy of Holies will come forth from that nation.’ Seeing then that we are the portion of the Holy One, let us do all the things that pertain to holiness…” (1 Clement 29:3-30:1. emphasis added).   

Introduction of First Clement

What is known as “First Clement” is actually a letter (epistle) written from the Roman church to the church in Corinth. Tradition views Clement, who was either the second or third bishop of Rome, as the author. It was likely written during the reign of the emperor Domitian, between 81–96 AD (Jefford, Reading, 98). The letter was written due to the Corinthians’ seemingly unwarranted expulsion of their leaders. The letter from Rome advocates reinstitution of the leaders and restoration of peace within the body. To make the case, the letter uses extensive quotations from the Septuagint (Job, Genesis and Isaiah are popular sources) and possible quotations and allusions from the New Testament (Gospel tradition and Hebrews).

Brief Exposition of 1 Clement

Some younger people caused an uproar and had some of their church leaders removed from their positions. Clement identifies the underlying sin as envy. He urged the rash youth to humble themselves and repent, which would imitate the humility, faithfulness, and hospitality of a host of biblical characters. His emphasis was on the equality of all members of the Corinthian Church, regardless of age or gender. Added to the reasons for loving one another was the expectation that Jesus would return soon, and those who had died would be resurrected by the Almighty God. Clement identifies arrogance as a trait of those cursed by God but moderation and humility as being traits of those blessed by God. Clement enjoined the Corinthian Christians to prioritize love and to repent as the occasions might warrant, for in the end, “. . . it is better for you that [you] should occupy a humble but honorable place in the flock of Christ, than that, being highly exalted, [you] should be cast out from the hope of His people.” The best transitions of leadership, in the church or elsewhere, are those that happen peaceably with love and humility.

Conclusion:

Based on the passage, Clement's primary conclusion is that the Corinthian Church, plagued by division and discord caused by envy and arrogance, must prioritize love, humility, and repentance. He emphasizes that these virtues are essential for maintaining unity and fostering a healthy Christian community.

Clement's argument is further strengthened by his appeal to biblical examples and his warning of the consequences of pride and disobedience. He suggests that true leadership is characterized by humility and service, not by arrogance and self-promotion. Ultimately, Clement's goal is to encourage the Corinthians to reconcile their differences and strive for a more harmonious and Christ-centered community.

Introducing a friendly church - Grace Bible Presbysterian Church, Singapore

 https://www.gracebpc.org.sg/

THE DIDACHE (THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES)

Signs of the Lord’s Return

16.1 Be on the alert for your life, do not let your lamps be extinguished and ⌊do not be unprepared⌋ 1 but be ready, for you do not know the hour in which our Lord comes. 2 2 And be assembled together frequently, seeking what is fitting for your souls. For the full time of your faith will be of no benefit to you unless you are found perfect at the final moment. 3 For in the final days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep will be turned into wolves and love will be turned into hate. 4 For as lawlessness increases, they will hate and they will persecute and they will betray one another. 3 And then the deceiver of the world shall appear as a son of God and he will perform signs and wonders, and the earth will be handed over into his hands and he will do incessantly vile things which have never happened before ⌊since time began⌋. 4 5 Then the creation of mankind shall come to the burning ordeal of testing. And many will be led astray and will be destroyed, but the ones enduring in their faith will be saved 5 by the accursed one 6 himself. 6 And then the signs of the truth shall appear: first, a sign of an opening in heaven; then a sign of the sound of a trumpet; and the third sign, the resurrection of the dead. 7 Now, not all of the dead but as was said, the Lord shall come and all the holy ones with him. 7 8 Then the world will see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven. 8

1 Literally “do not let your loins be ungirded”

2 Lu 12:35

3 Mt 24:10–12

4 Literally “from eternity”

5 Mt 24:10, 13

6 Here “the accursed one” is actually Christ, the one cursed by those led astray.

7 Zech 14:5

8 Some (e.g. Neiderwimmer 226) hold the original ending of the Didache is lost, positing reconstruction of the ending from related sources (the Apostolic Constitutions and the Georgian version)