(Article for publication week of 11-13-2014 AD)
"For I also
am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one,' Go',
and he goeth; and to another,' Come', and he cometh; and to my servant , 'Do
this,' and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and
turned him about, and said unto the people that followed Him, 'I say unto you,
I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel' " (Luke 7:9-10).
We return this
week to our lesson we have been considering for several weeks concerning the
Roman centurion, who the Lord declared was of "great faith." We have
opened several doctrinal and practical lessons in this account which is given
in Luke 7:1-10 and Matthew 8:5-13. We have shown that this man's faith was
marked by profound humility and absolute trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We had
also shown that this faith was found in a surprising character, first in that
the man was a soldier and secondly in that he was a gentile. We have also shown
from these passages that we can serve the Lord in any lawful calling, and then
we used the occasion to show from the scriptures something of what a lawful
calling is. Now we come to make another practical point which is evident from
these passages, and the point is this- the
scriptures nowhere teach the man made philosophy of equality.
Our Lord was not
an egalitarian. Note well, in the lesson at hand the Lord Jesus Christ
recognised that the centurion was a man under authority, and he was a man with
authority over others. This man of great faith was an officer in the Roman
army, and the Lord recognises this as being righteous by His holy approbation.
The man also had servants ("doulos"in the Greek, of which we hope to
write later). If our Lord had been an egalitarian, or a guru who had come to
teach equality, this would have been the place for Him to command the Roman
Centurion to resign his commission, get out of the Roman Army, and free his
domestic servants. On the other hand, our Lord commended this dear brother to
us as an example of "great faith."
Now, dear
readers, note well, the Bible nowhere teaches the vain philosophy of
egalitarianism. In fact Lucifer was the first advocate of equality when he said
"I will be like the Most High' (Isaiah 14:14).After Lucifer lost his first
estate by this rebellion, he then tempted Eve with a promise of equality , when
he said to her, "ye shall be as gods"(Genesis 3:5). Every egalitarian
movement, including abolitionism, feminism, civil rights-ism, and now the
sodomite rights movement is based on this Satanic lie of equality. Current
policy in government, the media and the education system is generally based on
this lie of equality.
Conversely,
inequality is a self evident fact and a reality which the scriptures embrace
and regulate and with which they teach us to be content . For example, the
fifth commandment , "honour thy father and thy mother", teaches us
not only to obey our parents, but also to respect all lawful authority, to be
diligent and humble in our own authority, and to be content to stay in our
place. Our Baptist forefathers taught us in our catechism (like the one
endorsed by the old Charleston Association), in question and answer 69,
"What is required by the fifth commandment?" Answer prescribed,
"The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honour, and performing
the duties belonging to every one in their several places and relations, as
superiors, inferiors, and equals." The Westminster Larger Catechism goes
into further details as to the duties of superiors to inferiors, inferiors to
superiors, and equals to equals.
Dear readers, be
not deceived by the devilsh and anti-Biblical and anti- God lie of equality.
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