“A maritime nation which was a source of gold from at least the reign of Solomon (1Ki 9:28; 22:49; 2Ch 8:18). It also provided fine wood and precious stones (1Ki 10:11; 2Ch 9:10; Job 28:16). All of these were delivered to Israel by ship through the port of Ezion-geber on the Red Sea. The gold seems to have been of a particularly high quality since in some of the passages it is used in conjunction with more specific Hebrew terms for fine, choice gold (Job 22:24; Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12). Ophir became so associated with this rare metal that the name Ophir itself, without any further qualifier, is to be understood as “gold” in Job 22:24. Gold from this source is also known from an extrabiblical inscription from Israel.

“In poetic and prophetic references to the wealth of Ophir, it is not the source or origin but rather the quality of the metal which is stressed. It is said to be precious indeed, but less so than wisdom (Job 28:16), a relationship with God (Job 22:24), or even humanity itself (Isa 13:12).

“The geographical location of Ophir is unclear, and the question has raised a multitude of suggestions ranging from southern Africa to India. The popular attraction to the romantic idea of some distant, exotic location of fantastic wealth has undoubtedly fueled the speculation” (ABD).

“The claim of Southeastern Arabia as the land of Ophir has on the whole more to support it than that of India or of Africa. The Ophir of Gen 10:29 beyond doubt belonged to this region, and the search for Ophir in more distant lands can be made only on the precarious assumption that the Ophir of the Kings is not the same as the Ophir of Gen. Of the various products mentioned, the only one which from the OT notices can be regarded as clearly native to Ophir is the gold, and according to Pliny and Strabo the region of Southeastern Arabia bordering on the Persian Gulf was a famous gold-producing country. The other wares were not necessarily produced in Ophir, but were probably brought there from more distant lands, and thence conveyed by Solomon’s merchantmen to Ezion-geber. If the duration of the voyage (3 years) be used as evidence, it favors this location of Ophir as much as that on the east coast of Africa. It seems therefore the least assailable view that Ophir was a district on the Persian Gulf in Southeastern Arabia and served in old time as an emporium of trade between the East and West” (ISBE).

Modern discoveries suggest that the Biblical Ophir might be identified with Ubar, the legendary lost city of gold in southern Arabia.

From ancient accounts, the basis for Ubar’s existence was frankincense, a sweet smelling incense then as valuable as gold. It was used as a fragrance, for medicinal purposes, and for embalming. The frankincense was prepared from the gum or sap of trees grown in the nearby Qara mountains. From there it was transported by camel caravan to the world centers of Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Damascus, and beyond to the western Mediterranean. Ubar became enormously rich from this trade in frankincense. What started as a small town around an oasis became a walled city of great renown.

But the city ceased to be inhabited, for reasons unknown. Legends suggest it came to a sudden, cataclysmic end. Ubar was lost for thousands of years, perhaps buried under the shifting sands of the desert of the Arabian peninsula. TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) called it the “Atlantis of the sands,” but he died before he could lead his own expedition to find it. Many archaeologists believed that the existence of a prosperous trading center was much more than a fable told by nomadic tribesmen, but all searches for Ubar came up empty.

The question with Ubar was where exactly to look. It was thought to be in or near the Rub’ al Khali (Empty Quarter), a great sand sea in the southern Arabian Peninsula. This very arid area is roughly the size of Texas with sand dunes over 600 feet high. Searching such a vast area was a considerable challenge.

Then an investigator decided to enlist NASA’s help because of its expertise in applying remote sensing. Data from an experiment on the NASA space shuttle using imaging radar was of particular interest. This experiment bounced radar off the Earth’s surface to determine the type of terrain. Since the radar penetrated through dry sand, it was hoped that the remains of a buried fortress might be revealed.

The initial radar images yielded no direct indication of the location of the site, but images from the Landsat and SPOT remote sensing satellites showed distinct tracks through the desert. The researchers identified these tracks as old caravan routes. The caravan routes converged at a place called Ash Shisr, near the eastern edge of the Empty Quarter in southern Arabia.

Two expeditions to Oman were mounted; one in 1990 and one in 1991. The expedition team investigated the area around Ash Shisr, and soon an archaeological excavation began.

The excavations uncovered a large octagonal fortress with thick walls ten feet high and eight tall towers at the corners. The archaeologists also found Greek, Roman, and Syrian pottery, the oldest of which was dated at more than 4,000 years old. The discovery of these types of artifacts from far away places indicated that this was indeed a major center for trade and likely the fabled Ubar.

One startling result of the excavation was that it appears that Ubar did meet with a catastrophic end, as many of the legends describe. The excavation revealed a giant limestone cavern beneath the fortress. Scientists believe that Ubar may have been destroyed when a large portion of it collapsed into the cavern.

An Elusive Warlord’s Deadly ‘Sleepers’: Osama Bin Laden

Monday, September 17, 2001 By Peter Bergen

I met Osama Bin Laden on a frigid night in March 1997, deep in the barren mountains of eastern Afghanistan, a year after he first declared war on America. The mysterious Saudi multi-millionaire, a tall figure with an aristocratic demeanor, walked with the help of a cane. His calls for attacks on U.S. targets were delivered in a mild manner, belying the rage of his words.

A key to his holy war against America may be found in his childhood. His father, Mohamed Bin Laden, emigrated in 1930 from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, where he founded a construction company and became one of the richest men in Arabia. Mohamed combined business acumen with a deep religious faith, traits that he passed on to some of his 50 or so children. The family had the singular honour of renovating and maintaining Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina — contracts that are, coincidentally, some of the most lucrative in the Middle East. Bin Laden was 10 when his father died in a plane crash. He has said that his life today is a continuation of the religious devotion of his father.

For many Muslims around the world, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a life-transforming event — the godless communists had invaded a sovereign Muslim nation. Within weeks of the invasion, 22-year-old Bin Laden was travelling to Afghanistan’s neighbour, Pakistan, to support the holy war against the Russians.

Bin Laden was already an expert in demolition from the family construction business. When he made his first trips into Afghanistan, he took hundreds of tons of construction machinery, bulldozers, loaders, dump trucks and equipment for building trenches that he put at the disposal of the Afghan guerrillas. The machinery was used to build roads, dig tunnels into the mountains for shelter and construct rudimentary hospitals.

In 1984 Bin Laden set up a guesthouse in Peshawar, Pakistan, for Muslims drawn to the jihad. It was called Bait ul Ansar, or “House of the Helpers”, and was a way-station for volunteers heading for training with one of the Afghan factions. Later Bin Laden formed his own military unit and set about recruiting Muslims worldwide.

The recruits came to be known as the “Afghan Arabs”, though they came from all over the Muslim world. Some were high school students whose visits were not much more than the equivalent of a summer camp. Others spent years fighting the communists. Nobody knows their exact number, but most estimates suggest the low tens of thousands. They received some sort of military training and were indoctrinated in the most extreme interpretation of jihad.

In 1986 Bin Laden founded his first camp inside Afghanistan. It was near the village of Jaji, a few miles from the border. With a force of about 50 Arabs, Bin Laden fought off a lengthy siege by Soviet forces, his baptism of fire. Arab journalists based in Peshawar wrote daily dispatches extolling his exploits, which were published in the Middle East and brought him a flood of new recruits.

“What we benefited from most was that the glory and myth of the superpower was destroyed not only in my mind, but also in all Muslims,” he told me in 1997.

With the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in 1989, Bin Laden turned his attention to other jihads, founding Al-Qaeda, or “the Base”. Al-Qaeda’s main target is the United States.

Since the mid-1980s Bin Laden had advised friends to boycott American goods because of US support for Israel and Middle Eastern regimes, such as Egypt, which he regards as “un-Islamic”. His distaste for America mutated into hatred by 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and American troops were dispatched to Saudi Arabia. Armed “infidels” of both sexes were trespassing on sacred Arabian soil. For Bin Laden, this defied the dying words of Mohammed: “Let there be no two religions in Arabia.”

Bin Laden’s war against the United States started with small operations. Bombs went off outside two hotels in Yemen housing US servicemen in 1992, killing an Australian tourist. He is implicated in the deaths of 18 US servicemen in Somalia in 1993 and the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York that same year. In 1995 men influenced by Bin Laden’s writings bombed a military facility in Saudi Arabia, killing five American soldiers.

On August 7, 1998, exactly eight years after American troops landed in Saudi Arabia, the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were blown up and more than 200 people died. Two years later, the bombing in Yemen of the USS Cole killed 17 American sailors.

Bin Laden’s foot soldiers are put through rigorous training for this war. L’Hossaine Kherchtou, a Moroccan who had been a student of catering in France in the late 1980s, traveled to Afghanistan to attend an Al-Qaeda training camp in 1991. On his first night he was awakened at 1 am by gunfire and was told: “Don’t think you are going to sleep in this camp.”

He was trained on the American M-16 rifle, the Russian AK-47 rifle and PK sub-machinegun, the Israeli Uzi sub-machinegun and anti-aircraft guns. He also took classes on grenades and was taught about the use of explosives such as C3, C4 and dynamite, anti-personnel mines, anti-truck mines and butterfly mines, which children sometimes mistake as a kind of toy. After graduating from his camp, Kherchtou moved to Peshawar, where he was inducted into Al-Qaeda.

Bin Laden is not involved in day-to-day dealings with his followers. He sets the general policies of Al-Qaeda, which are then relayed down a loose chain of command to lower members of the group, many of whom have had little or no contact with Bin Laden himself.

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Osama Bin Laden’s Motives By Dean Brown

Compared to the professional analysts, we Christadelphians are completely unqualified as journalistic fact-gatherers on the world news scene. We don’t directly interview world leaders or investigate material facts.

But when it comes to analyzing the facts that these people gather, Christadelphians have the distinct advantage of approaching matters from a point of view that is radically different from everyone else in several important ways. This advantage allows us to analyze a situation in ways that others cannot possibly do, and if this advantage is used properly (and that can be a very big “if” !!) then it can help us to better understand the reasons why we are to act the way that God calls us to act.

The following is my own analysis of the situation, particularly relating to the motives of Osama Bin Laden and other militant fundamentalist Muslims.

I start by asking you to think about five dates in history: 586 BC, and 70, 1948, 1967, and 1973 AD.

You already know what I am referring to with regard to each date. The destructions of the Temple in 586 BC and again in 70 AD. The emotional response that we have to these dates is one of sadness and lamentation. Then comes 1948. The establishment of the modern state of Israel, and the miraculous victory of little infant Israel against the combined Arab armies. The hand of God working in the nations. The fig tree budding. What a wonderful prophetic sign. Then comes 1967. The miraculous Six Day War. Again the hand of God working, with Israel regaining control of full Jerusalem including the Temple Mount. And finally 1973. Israel’s miraculous recovery after nearly being annihilated in the surprise Yom Kippur War. Again we see the hand of God working.

But how do Muslims feel about these last three dates?

In the early years, and by that I mean roughly from the 1920s to the 1970s, most Muslims were adamantly opposed to the idea of the existence of a modern nation of Israel. They wanted to drive Israel into the sea, and to deny it any recognition of statehood.

But over time the attitude of many average Muslims softened, and they began to accept the notion of a modern nation of Israel in its present location. Militant Muslims therefore had a battle on two fronts. First was the Israelis, and they were certainly willing to attack them and anyone who supported the Israeli “right to exist”. Second were these “soft” Muslims. That is, Muslims who were willing to recognize Israel, in deed if not in word. Many of these “soft” Muslims also have had and continue to have a gradual adoption of and toleration for many Western societal mores.

Most Westerners have no appreciation for the amount of “domestic” terrorism that goes on within many Middle Eastern countries, where militant Muslims are adamantly opposed to the current “moderate Muslim” regimes. Egypt and Saudi Arabia in particular are beset with this problem, and it has been an important feature on the political scene of many other countries. For example Iran, which was “moderate” under the Shah, “fundamentalist” under the Ayatollah Khomeini, and is wrestling its way back to being “moderate” despite enormous internal pressure from the fundamentalists.

My point is that all of the politicians and journalists are talking about Bin Laden trying to scare or terrify the Western public, and how that’s not going to work because we are a better people than that, and that Bin Laden and his kind of people underestimate our courage, love, and resolve.

In doing so these Western leaders either don’t understand or are misrepresenting Bin Laden’s motives.

Bin Laden and other militant Muslims have one ultimate goal with two parts, and use the violence of terrorism as a two-sided tool.

The two sides of the tool are (1) to encourage and embolden their fellow Muslims, and (2) to get the United States and others to make a semi-rational determination that the cost of supporting Israel outweighs the benefits. The ultimate goal is to achieve a worldwide Islamic society, but as this is so far off it is far more important to concentrate on the two immediate steps or parts of this goal. They are (1) to replace the “moderate” Muslim leadership currently in place in many Middle Eastern countries, and (2) to eradicate Israel. This second part can be further broken down into two steps. First, get nations such as the United States to stop supporting Israel, because with American backing the eradication of Israel is considerably more difficult, and then the second step of the actual eradication of Israel.

I would like to deal with this issue of Bin Laden’s motives by asking: whose thinking is he trying to change and how?

His primary audience is NOT the people that he is attacking, but rather his fellow Muslims, most of whom are spectators. His hope is that these people will be emboldened and encouraged by his actions, and that every Muslim will become more fundamentalist. He knows that he can’t start with a big victory against Israel and the United States and others. What he wants right now is a small victory so that others will join his cause, thus making his organization and its allies strong enough to achieve a big victory in the future.

His SECONDARY audience is the “western” nations, and even here he knows that he is not going to scare us to the point that we are afraid to come out of our homes. He knows that we will never become this afraid. BUT he knows that we will demand more security, which costs much in the way of time, money, and sacrifice of the individual liberties that we cherish and have become so accustomed to. He is implicitly using a carrot-and-stick approach against Western society. “Support Israel, and I will attack your civilian population as much as possible. Abandon Israel, and I will leave you alone, which means that you can open up your society again and live a better life for yourselves.” I am setting aside the fact here that if we did as a society stop supporting Israel he would in fact not let up on his terrorism. He would simply continue to use terrorism to achieve the next step along towards his ultimate goal. I can set aside this fact because I am dealing here with his implicit approach at this time, and not with what he would actually do if his approach were to become “successful” (that is, help him to achieve his goals).

President Bush and Vice President Cheney and others have been all over television the last few days talking about Bin Laden’s hatred for the American way of life. Yes he does find the American way of life objectionable because in many ways it acts contrary to the Muslim ethic, but that has almost no relevance to the question of what fuels Bin Laden’s internal fire. He is far more upset about Muslims adopting Western ways than he is about Westerners having Western ways.

This also brings up an important point about what this war against terrorism might hope to accomplish. Bear in mind that just as he will not make “us” afraid but will impede our movements, any war against Bin Laden and other militant Muslims will at best accomplish the same thing. No amount of force will scare these people into rethinking their basic position. But it is possible to constrain their movements, to make it far more difficult for them to operate.

My own speculation that stems from this realization is that this will only delay the inevitable, as the relentless march of technology makes massively deadly weapons easier and easier to obtain. How long until a small group, operating underneath the “radar screens” of the nations, acquires nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons? Such a group need not even be Muslim. Certainly the Japanese sect that released nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system a few years ago was not Muslim. So at best we can eradicate and prevent the formation of large terrorist organizations who have at least some level of state support. But we can never stop the “lone madman” or the very small group.

There are terrorist groups out there that are not Muslim. But the Muslim ones are the ones that perpetrated this attack and that are the greatest near-term threat. And so while in theory we should be thinking about all of the terrorists that are out there, in practice we should concentrate upon understanding the thinking of these militant Muslims.

My note at the beginning regarding our unique perspective needs explaining here. Our world view is neither Ameri-centric or freedom-centric. Therefore, we can consider this situation not as the world does, but from the perspective that considers Bin Laden’s motives to be very much like the motives of Cain and his “seed” (that is, those who have persecuted and murdered the prophets of God, and God’s Son).

The Apostle Paul wrote that “as to zeal, [I was] a persecutor of the church” (Phi 3:6) and that he was also “a persecutor and violent aggressor” (1Ti 1:13). He was thinking that he was rendering service to God. He didn’t hate Christians because he envied their freedom and wealth. He thought that he was doing God a favor by eradicating these blasphemous followers of the blasphemous Nazarene. The motives of militant Muslims are similar.

My point is that when we hear President Bush or ANY commentator talk about this attack on the American way of life, they are avoiding the real issue. The real issue is nothing less than the veracity of Islam, and the question must therefore be asked of us: when we take a stand and say that Islam is false, what do we suggest is true? The American ideals of freedom and democracy? Christianity, as in Christendom? Or True Christianity? This is why we must realize that when we speak against what has recently happened we must be careful to point out that in doing so we are also standing against the false teaching of the world in all its forms. We speak against Islam because it is patently false, and while militant Muslims are certainly worse, this does not change the fact that all Islam is false. And so are the eastern religions, many of which by their fundamental nature do not breed militarism. And so is Christendom, which in the past has bred much militarism and today does so only occasionally. All of these are false regardless of whether they compound their error by adopting violence to promote their viewpoint.

We stand against all systems of thought that are false, including those who are militant as well.

At the same time we must be careful to note that we are not militant. We appeal to people’s intelligent reasoning and deliberation, and we never threaten force against anyone as a means of coercing them into adopting our way of thinking. We don’t even threaten people with eternal hell-fire torment. This of course is a byproduct of our theology, but nonetheless the fact remains that we do not threaten people at all in any way.

And so IF people start to become suspicious of us as a group because we are relatively small and quite fundamentalist, point this out to them. Being fundamentalist and being militant are two entirely different matters. All or virtually all militants are fundamentalist, but not all fundamentalists are militant.

        Gen: beginnings

        Exo: redemption         Lev: sacrifice         Num: wilderness walk         Deut: conduct for Canaan         Josh: warfare in Canaan         Jdg: failure in Canaan         Rth: typical prophecy         1Sa: royal government in the hands of Saul         2Sa: royal government in the hands of David         1Ki: royal government in the hands of Solomon and successors         2Ki: royal government in its decline         1Ch: God’s earthly elect connected with the throne and the ark         2Ch: God’s earthly government in the house of David         Ezr: ecclesiastical history upon the return from Babylon         Neh: civil condition upon the return from Babylon         Est: God’s secret government towards Israel         Job: individual discipline for the learning of self

        Psa: experimental holy song         Pro: wisdom for the world         Ecc: one who found the world too small for his heart         Song: one who found the object too great for his heart

        Isa: comprehensive and magnificent prophecy         Jer: judgment upon Judah, nations, and latter-day blessing         Lam: godly feelings in view of Israel’s sorrows         Eze: judgment upon Israel and connected nations, with future blessing of Israel         Dan: Gentile political history

        Hos: Israel’s moral condition — past, present, and future         Joe: universal judgment and latter-day blessing for Judah         Amos: certain judgment upon the Gentiles and all Israel, with future restoration of the latter         Obad: judgment upon Edom         Jon: judgment upon Nineveh, and its repentance         Mic: Judgment and future blessings of Jerusalem and Samaria         Nah: utter judgment upon proud Assyria         Hab: Jewish spiritual exercise         Zep: unsparing judgment, and blessing upon the remnant of Israel         Hag: encouragement in rebuilding the temple         Zec: last day connected with Israel         Mal: Yahweh’s last pleadings with Israel

If God has called you to be really like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put on you such demands of obedience, that He will not allow you to follow other believers, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

Other believers may push themselves forward, pull strings, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it; and attempting it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely repentant.

Others may brag on themselves, on their work, on their successes, on their writings, but the power of God’s Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing; and if you try it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or having an inheritance left to them, or in having luxuries, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold: a helpless dependence on Him, so that He may supply your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

The LORD will let others be honored, and put forward, but He will keep you hidden away in obscurity, because He wants to produce fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.

He will let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him, and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work more precious still, He will let others get the credit for the work you have done. He will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, which other believers never seem distressed about.

So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He will not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle you in His dealings with you. He will take you at your word; and if you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and let other people say and do many things that you cannot say or do. Settle it forever, that you are to deal directly with Him, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not use with others.

And then, when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted with this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management by God’s Spirit in your life… then, and only then, will you have found the key to the Kingdom of God.

QUESTION: Abraham, in spite of purchasing some property, never took ownership of “even a foot’s length” (Acts 7:5). How do Christadelphians, who also consider themselves strangers and exiles on the earth, stand on the issue of owning or buying property to live in? What is Scripturally the correct thing to do?

ANSWER: You have already provided a key part of the answer in your question: Like Abraham, we are to identify ourselves so much with the divine kingdom to come (when the faithful shall share the promised land inheritance with Abraham: cf Gal 3:29; Rom 4:13; 8:17; Mat 5:5), that we manifest no aspirations to establish a permanent residency in — or to have binding connections with — this world.

Although Abraham was quite wealthy (Gen 13:2), he appears to have deliberately chosen the life of a nomad, which would reflect his desire to avoid the entanglement of urban life. Coming from Ur, Abraham knew that city life could indicate man’s attempt at permanency, suggest his independence from God, and lead to idolatry and gross immorality (cf Gen 11:31,4; 10:9-11; Jos 24:2; Gen 13:13; 19:4-9), as Lot discovered in the city of Sodom. It is most revealing that Abram absolutely refused to have any dealings with the king of Sodom (Gen 14:21-24), choosing rather to be associated with the godly high priest Melchizedek, who typified Jesus Christ (Gen 14:18-20; Heb 7:1-7). With this background, we come to the verse you alluded to in your question:

“These all [Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob — mentioned in vv 8-11] died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb 11:13).

This attitude of being a temporary resident in this world — sometimes called being a pilgrim (cf 1Pe 2:11; Gen 47:9) — has a direct bearing upon the issue of owning or buying property to live in. The Bible believer understands that all the earth belongs to God (Psa 24:1; 89:11) and that, no matter how much property we may accumulate in human terms, we are only temporary owners living by God’s mercy, and on His property. Two helpful texts illustrate this principle:

“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me” (Lev 25:23).

“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from thee, and of thy own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding” (1Ch 29:14,15).

The first reference is the LORD’s instruction to Moses regarding Israel’s buying and selling property. This alone indicates that land ownership was acceptable to God. The “year of jubilee” ensured that property could not be amassed by a few landlords, but that every 50 years, each Israelite was to return to his family property (Lev 25:8-13). This radical concept made sense only because God was the real owner and they were but “strangers” in His land. The second reference reveals king David’s insight at the temple site dedication. While people might think that David was donating his land and the money for the temple, David knew he was really only giving back to God what He already owned. Notice how David recognizes that even he, the king and vast property owner, was still a “sojourner” in the land.

So it is acceptable to God for believers to buy property in order to build homes, as long as they remember who allowed them such a privilege (eg, Deu 8:12,17,18; Jer 29:4-7). They should realize that they are “stewards”, or managers, of God’s property, which they should use for the sake of His people (eg, Acts 4:36,37; Mat 25:14, 15). The example of the early church is a good illustration of this principle in practice:

“Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common… There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need” (Acts 4:32-35).

Scripture does not discourage land/home ownership. It does encourage willingness to share the benefits of ownership with others, such as by inviting the church to meet in your house (cf Rom 16:5). In today’s world, it is often a legal requirement to buy the land in order to build on it. Men and women of faith should not be anxious over the temporal ownership of property for their homes, as long as they are willing to give them up for the sake of the Gospel (if need be), and if in their hearts they are looking forward to living in the city of God (Mark 10:29; Heb 11:14-16).

(NF)

The prophecy of Obadiah is the shortest book in the OT. Briefly, it recounts how Edom is to be brought low (Obad 1:3-9,16), on account of its treachery against Israel in the day of Israel’s calamity (Obad 1:10-14). And it promises that “the day of the LORD” (Obad 1:15) will reveal God’s judgments upon all nations — at the same time that there will be salvation in Zion and Jerusalem for the faithful remnant (Obad 1:17-21).

The country of Edom (called Idumea in the NT) extended from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea, and was bounded on the east by the Arabian Desert and on the west by the land of Judah. It was a mountainous district with average elevation of about 2,000 feet. Its wild and rugged character is described in Obad 1:3,4.

This was the land occupied by Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites, after the death of his father Isaac (Gen 36:6-8). There his descendants, cousins to the Israelites, built cities literally in solid rock, in almost impregnable positions. They became rich by controlling and traveling the trade routes between Egypt and the East. Even in modern times, the ruins they left behind — as at Petra — stand as stark and magnificent testimonies to their power and achievements.

There is a long history of enmity between Edom and Israel, beginning with the bitter rivalry between the twins Esau and Jacob (Gen 25:19-34; 27:1-40; etc), and continuing all the way through the OT, until the time when Herod the Great, the hated Idumean (or Edomite), used his Roman connections to gain ascendancy over the Israel of Jesus’ day.

And the same enmity continues to our day, in the struggles between the Arabs — of Palestine and Jordan and Saudi Arabia — and the Israelis, over the ancestral lands which they both claim.

Outline

1.	Judgment on Edom: Obad 1:1-14
	a)	Edom’s destruction announced: Obad 1:2-7
	b)	Edom’s destruction reaffirmed: Obad 1:8-14
2.	The Day of the Lord: Obad 1:15-21
	a)	Judgment on the nations but deliverance for Zion: Obad 1:15-18
	b)	The Lord’s kingdom established: Obad 1:19-21

Initial Fulfillment(s)

Who is Obadiah? When, and in what circumstances, was the prophecy first given? There are no details about the prophet himself; “Obadiah” is a common name signifying “the servant of Yahweh”. And no time period is definitely specified in the prophecy itself.

Given the lack of a definitive date, several different times are possible as the initial context of Obadiah’s “burden” upon Edom:

• Judgments upon Edom for participating in a cowardly attack upon Israel in the days of David, when the king and his forces were occupied in Syria. This “stab in the back” — from a people who were near of kin to Israel (cp Deu 2:4,5; 23:7) — was swiftly answered by a punitive raid by David’s armies, led by Abishai (1Ch 8:12), Joab (1Ki 11:15,16; Psa 60 title) and David himself (2Sa 8:12-14).

• About 200 years later (c 860 BC) another “Arab” invasion of Judah was repelled by faithful king Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20). This confederacy included Edom along with Moab and Ammon.

• During the reign of Hezekiah (c 720 BC), the Edomites gave enthusiastic support to the irresistible Assyrian invasion, and were utterly callous in their treatment of the desperate refugees from Israel and Judah (cp Isa 21:11,12; 34:5-10; 63:1-6; Joel 3:19).

• And finally, the prophecy could be dated as late as 588 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon devastated Jerusalem and its Temple, and once again men of Edom — like loathsome jackals or vultures — joined in to pick the bones of their cousins (cp Jer 49:7-22; Lam 4:21; Psa 137:7; Eze 25:12-14; 35:1-15). In favor especially of this possibility is Obad 1:16, which pictures Edom “drinking [from the holy vessels?] upon my [God’s] holy mountain” (cp Jer 25:15-26, esp v 21): So far as is known, none of the earlier attacks upon Israel in which Edom took part resulted in the actual capture of God’s temple mountain.

The Last Days Fulfillment

But even if we cannot be certain which of Edom’s many atrocities upon Israel provoked the tongue, and pen, of Obadiah — it seems certain that we are intended to read Obadiah’s prophecy as a Last Days prophecy as well: Obad 1:15,17,21.

Such language can only be absolutely fulfilled with the return of Christ and the establishment of God’s Kingdom. Seen as a Last Days preview, Obadiah’s words corroborate certain details of the general picture:

(a) This Edomite enemy will be a member of an alliance: Obad 1:11. Edom is a member of the 10-nation Arab alliance described in Psa 83.

(b) The controversy of the Last Days will concern God’s holy mountain, mount Zion. There the enemies of Israel, including Edom, will rejoice over her: “Just as you drank on my holy hill….” (Obad 1:16).

And there also will God bring retribution upon these blasphemous enemies: Obad 1:15-17. This observation lends credibility to the idea that the last great conflict in and around Jerusalem — a conflict which will bring on the literal Return of Christ — will be a religious conflict, between two peoples desperately struggling to lay claim to the same “holy places”.

(c) At this point the prophecy dramatically changes tone. The people of Israel are saved from their adversity and are spiritually regenerated. They receive back the Land promised to their fathers, to its fullest extent, and the rescued and redeemed state of Israel becomes the nucleus of the Kingdom of God: “But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy… The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau… Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD’s” (Obad 1:17,18,21).

Territorial Expansion

Obad 1:19,20 go into detail as to which lands the redeemed people of Israel will recover and occupy:

• People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau.
• People from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines.

• They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria.

• Benjamin will possess Gilead.
• This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath.

• The exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev.

Certain of these territories (ie, Samaria and Ephraim and part of Philistia) were conquered by modern Israel in 1967. [Will some of this territory be returned as a result of the current “Peace Process”?] Zarephath, in southern Lebanon, is increasingly coming under Israel’s influence since the incursions of 1982. But other territories (ie, Gilead and the mountains of Esau) remain today in Arab hands.

Will Israel, as presently constituted, conquer all these lands prior to the return of Christ? Or will Israel need to suffer a serious defeat, losing the very lands which it now possesses (together with its own sovereignty?) before a chastened remnant will repent and turn to God?

In short, is Obad 1:19,20 being fulfilled right now, or do they await a future fulfillment?

The order of Obad 1:17-21 suggests an answer: First, there must come a deliverance to mount Zion (v 17), and not just a military victory such as in 1948 or 1967: “But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy [or ‘there shall be holiness’: AV], and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.”

And so this “deliverance” will of necessity involve “holiness” — and for this there must be true repentance and forgiveness of sins. Only then will Israel — ie, a renewed and glorified remnant of Israel — go forth to possess all the lands promised to the fathers (cp Gen 15:18-21; Exo 23:23; Deu 1:7; 11:24; Jos 1:4; Psa 72:8), as detailed in Obad 1:19,20.

This last territorial expansion will never be set back or thwarted in any way. Why? Because “Deliverers [‘saviours’: AV] will go up on Mount Zion… and the kingdom will be the LORD’s” (Obad 1:21).

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect” (Heb 11:32-40).

In these few short verses we are introduced to that “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1), those who in ages past witnessed to the eternal truths which they believed, and were martyrs of the God they served.

As this chapter is written in a basically chronological sequence (beginning with Abel — v 4), we should expect most of the particulars in these last few verses to belong to the later history of the faithful. And indeed they do; most of the characters here belong to the time of Israel’s judges and kings.

Paul’s remembrances of these men and women remind us of that grand introduction to his letter as a whole. (This article presupposes that Paul wrote the letter to the Hebrews — which is by no means proven. There are in fact good reasons to see another author: see Lesson, Heb, authorship.):

“God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spoke in times past… hath in these last days spoken to us by a Son…”

God had revealed Himself and His will in Old Testament times through such men of faith. Their deliverances and victories were certainly real and authentic, but behind that reality was in each case the typical lesson. God was speaking of His salvation in every age; and the minor, temporary victories of the past were only the tokens of His great victory in Christ, the One who literally overcame the world.

These typical themes are evident in the lives of every man and woman of this chapter. These men were men of action because they were men of faith. Faith is not, as some teach, a lazy, credulous “belief” (which would by Biblical standards be no “belief” at all). Faith is a powerful, living conviction based on fact… truth… knowledge. It dominates the life of the possessor, a quality of character controlling all facets of existence. Paul himself said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me!” (Phi 4:13).

This is the power of God — “the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe” — available to each of us through prayer and study. This is the power (The Greek word is the root of our English “dynamite”!) that carried Christ through the last dreadful, pain-racked hours as he faced death — the same power of faith that he still possessed even after the Holy Spirit was withdrawn.

In these verses we have two types of faith, related to one another, but showing different aspects:

In vv 32-35a we see the victories of faith in action — against the world; men of God triumph over outside forces, and the armies of the alien.

But in vv 35b-38 we see the victories of faith in action — against sufferings, against oneself, against temptation from within.

***

Verse 32: “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah: of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets.”

The first four men named were judges who saved Israel from foreign enemies, in circumstances requiring faith in God’s promises to them. All four saved Israel in extraordinary ways: Remember Gideon’s “army” of only 300, and Samson’s “jawbone of an ass”, as well as the tent-peg of Jael in the days of Barak. Such incidents illustrate that God can save by few or many, and by very insignificant means if He so chooses. This He does so that man may not glory in himself but rather in the Father.

And the lesson to us is that we may similarly find the weapons of faith, and fight the battles of the Lord, in some minor way which the proud mind of the flesh would never suggest. Let us “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.”

Verse 33: “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness…”

The first phrase refers primarily to David, whose early military exploits are typical of the campaigns of Christ and the saints which will usher in the millennial reign of the greater-than-David. And the second phrase, which seems to be a rather feeble and general sort of statement, takes on fresh new meaning when we see other translations: “…who performed acts of righteousness”. Paul is referring to the faithful judges and kings (Samuel being the best representative — 1Sa 12:3,4) who without regard for present advantage or crowd-pleasing consistently made the right decisions in the cases brought to their attention. Let us remember that our elected or appointed ecclesial servants stand in much the same position as did the judges of Israel; their decisions affect all the brethren in their spiritual lives, and they must bear a special responsibility to perform acts of righteousness.

***

“Obtained promises…”

These men of faith all obtained the fulfillment of certain promises during their lifetimes. But these small promises, which they could enjoy as realities then, only pointed forward to the promise which has not even yet been fulfilled. In the same manner, Paul refers in Heb 4 to Caleb and Joshua who entered the land of promise — while yet there still remains the great “eternal rest” of the Kingdom. (More on this in v 39.)

***

“Stopped the mouths of lions…”

Three well-known instances come quickly to mind: Samson and David (who slew lions) and Daniel (whom the lions could not harm). A fourth man of faith was the mighty man Benaiah, “who went down and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow” (2Sa 23:20).

The Scriptures tell only of these four instances of lions being slain or subdued. Why four? If we remember that lions symbolize the Gentile nations, bestial in their lusts, then we have here a picture of the four world empires together, to be tamed and subjected by Christ and the saints, so that in symbolic language they “shall eat straw like the ox” (Isa 11:6,7).

***

Verse 34: “Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword…”

These first two phrases also refer to Daniel’s time (Dan 2:13; Dan 3), as well as to countless men of other times (some written in Scripture, and others written only in the Lamb’s Book of Life).

***

“Out of weakness were made strong.”

This brings two incidents to mind: (1) Samson’s strength was miraculously restored to him while he languished in Philistine chains. Pulling down the great temple of Dagon, he “destroyed more by his death than by his life” (Jdg 16:28-30), a remarkable picture of Christ’s sacrifice by which man’s greatest enemy was destroyed. (2) The righteous king Hezekiah was “sick unto death”, yet was revived through prayer and faith, and went up to the Lord’s house on the third day (2Ki 20:8), another brilliant foreshadowing of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Let us remember that in times of human weakness we may nevertheless be strong in faith to perform God’s will; God has said to one of our brethren:

“My strength is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

***

Verse 35: “Women received their dead raised to life again.”

Literally: “Women received their dead by a resurrection.” This translation is preferable, for it helps to underline the intended contrast to “the better resurrection” also mentioned in this verse. Paul is referring to the miracles performed by Elijah (1Ki 17:22) and Elisha (2Ki 4:36).

***

“And others were tortured.”

Rather, “But others were tortured”, as we have here a contrast. Here begins the victories of faith in suffering. (“Tortured” is “tympanizo”, from “tympanum”, a drum. The sufferer was stretched out upon an instrument like a drumhead, and beaten to death with sticks and rods.) The remainder of Paul’s references here are to incidents in which the natural mind would be hard-pressed to find a victory of any sort: “For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36).

The outworkings of faith may bring present good, but faith will also bring trials and tribulations, as God acts to chasten His children. This preparation has its necessary part in God’s overall scheme; Paul elaborates on this theme in the next chapter:

“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, ‘My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.’ If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?… Now no chastening seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (vv 4-11).

The Jewish Christians faced trials at the hands of their natural brethren because they chose to remain separate from the institutions and traditions of the Mosaic Law, seeing it as a system ready to vanish away (8:13). This is the same situation which we must now face — alienation and disfavor from the world. A mad society is entering its death throes, and those who will not fall in with its excesses are hated.

“That they might obtain a better resurrection.”

Women of faith received their children raised to life, but this was only a resurrection to a continuation of mortal life. That for which these “others” hoped was an awakening to life eternal — truly a “better resurrection”.

Possibly there is also this thought: those who were cruelly tortured had only to forsake their faith in order to escape death. This would have been a “resurrection” of sorts, for they would have received back their lives which had been almost forfeited. But such a renunciation would have meant loss of that “better resurrection” to immortality.

***

Verse 36: “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment.”

Joseph in Egypt (Gen 39:20), and Jeremiah — the hated prophet — put in stocks and lowered into the miry pit (Jer 38:6). In such trials these men rejoiced, even as Paul sang hymns of praise from his dungeon cell.

***

Verse 37: “They were stoned…”

In Old Testament times we have Naboth, ordered to be stoned by the wicked Jezebel so that his rightful property might be stolen (1Ki 21:7-10). And (by tradition) we have Jeremiah, stoned to death in Egypt where he was carried against his will. Not to mention Paul himself — who was stoned and left for dead.

***

“They were sawn asunder.”

All ancient sources attribute this to Isaiah — in such a manner slain during the reign of Manasseh, “who slew much innocent blood”.

***

“They were tempted.”

How does this fit in with the sufferings listed here, since temptation is the common lot of all — and therefore not necessarily a special affliction? Paul must be speaking here of the temptations of the faithful to give up their beliefs in the face of great trials. Again, to put this letter to the Hebrews in its proper perspective, we must realize that Paul was writing to Jews who were being persecuted by their nation (in some cases, even by their families) because of their strange new ideas. How easy it would have been in such circumstances to just give in, and to forsake the assembly of the saints (Heb 10:25)!

***

“They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.”

The rough, coarse garments of the prophets — especially Elijah (1Ki 19:10,13; 2Ki 1:8) and his first-century counterpart, John the Baptist (Mat 3:4).

Can we not imagine such men as these? Hardened by long years of wandering and privation, roughly clothed in the skins of the poor, standing steadfast against the wind and the rain (just as they stand before their enemies’ taunts). Men made perfect by their experiences, by the trials of their faith;

“What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet” (Mat 11:7-9).

Were such men as these too stern? Too narrow-minded? Too devoted to an ideal? Were these men not quite “liberal” enough, or easy-going enough, to suit our fancy? Let us look at such men, look deeply into their eyes — let us try to get a glimpse of that animating, invigorating, driving force… that tremendous, word-begotten faith that lifted them out of their present situations and into that glorious future of promise.

***

Verse 38: “Of whom the world was not worthy.”

The proud and vain and foolish world scorned these men as of no consequence — “despised and rejected, men of sorrow, and acquainted with grief”. But the world’s opinion was the exact opposite of God’s. Those whom they considered unworthy of their notice except as the object of ridicule and cursing were, in reality, too good for them.

Let us notice this: the separations forced upon the faithful, even their trials, were from God. God separated them. This separation (that we, in our shortsightedness, sometimes resent) is a privilege. It is a supreme privilege that we are not counted in the company of the world that is destined to pass away.

***

“They wandered in deserts, and in mountains.”

How Jesus must have loved the mountains! Often did he spend the entire night in prayer upon the hills of the Promised Land. We remember how Abraham chose the hills and waste places of Palestine, rather than the fruitful plain of Sodom.

“I will go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not” (Song 3:2).

Christ cannot be found in the cities of sin, nor in the “broad ways” of the earth. He is found instead on the lonely paths, in the wilderness, in the mountains, the paths frequented by such men as Abraham and Moses and David. Christ is found in such places, where the noise of man is quieted, and the still small voice of God may be heard.

Whenever our Saviour had something special to reveal to his disciples, he carried them out into the mountains. Let us follow Christ into these same localities — the “mountains of separation”. Let us leave the “city” behind us. Let us “go forth unto him without the camp”. Let us give ourselves a fair chance to listen, and Christ will speak to us also.

***

“In dens and caves of the earth.”

Palestine, from its hilly character, abounds in caves — to which the persecuted saints were to flee when the “abomination of desolation” stood before the city (Mat 24:15,16). “O my dove,” says the Saviour, “Thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places” (Song 2:14). But here, even in immediate danger, the men of faith may feel secure — their lives are “hid with Christ”.

What shall we add, then, to Paul’s words? “What shall we say more?” It is an evident fact: faith demands unyielding dedication to the Truth — as well as a careful study of these very Scriptures. Are we the models of steadfast faith that these men were? If not, the reason is surely this: we never fully intended to be. If the task were pleasurable, we should find the time. Our trouble is that the world is too much with us. We allow our minds to be saturated by the flood of entertaining matters that daily surge around us, and this blunts the appeal of spiritual things; they become hazy, distant, and difficult to make real in our minds.

***

Verse 39: “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.”

Abraham, to whom the promise was made, did not receive in this life the fulfillment of that promise (Acts 7:5). Abraham was one of the men of faith who wandered upon the mountains, who “looked for a city” (Heb 11:10). He believed in the resurrection, as he showed in offering his son Isaac (Heb 11:19; Gen 22:8-14). And he told his son, “God will provide the sacrifice.” Abraham saw the day of Christ (John 8:56), the “Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). But he knew that he would not benefit from this until after his death. He received not the promise in this life, but he fully expected to do so in the future (just as we do).

***

Verse 40: “God having provided some better thing for us.”

This phrase may be translated, “God having foreseen…” These two phrases, “God provides” and “God sees”, are again companion thoughts in Gen 22. This account of the offering of Isaac should be carefully studied in its context and its typical lessons. It is a beautiful portrayal in shadow of God’s offering of His only-begotten Son. Abraham tells his son, “Yahweh will provide Himself a lamb”, as he contemplates the sacrifice of Isaac’s antitype, the true seed Christ. As a memorial the place of the altar is named “Yahweh-Jireh” (“It — Christ — shall be seen”). The Septuagint of Gen 22:16 is quoted by Paul in Rom 8:32: “He that spared not His Own Son, but delivered him up for us all…”

The perfect sacrifice of the Father’s only Son is the “better thing” which God has provided for our salvation. It is better than the sacrifices of the Law (Heb 10:4,14). The justification which Christ brought by his death and resurrection leads to the “better resurrection” and the inheritance of the promise in its glorified millennial state, better than its imperfect past condition — when at any rate it could be inherited only for a brief span of mortal life.

***

“That they without (or apart from) us should not be made perfect.”

All are justified by the blood of the Lamb. Christ’s sacrifice atoned for “past sins”, as well as those which followed after (Rom 3:25-26; Heb 9:15; Acts 13:39). All the faithful will be made perfect together, by the same means.

But notwithstanding the promise to the saints of being perfected, we have while in the flesh continual experience of imperfection. We must strive to be perfect in conscience before God, even though we are imperfect in nature. That which is perfect is not yet come, but we wait for it. When Christ returns and this transformation is completed, then his prayer will have been answered:

“I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:23).

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed; that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom 6:6).

“If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the Truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph 4:21-24).

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience; in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which” is renewed in the knowledge after the image of Him that created him” (Col 3:5-10).

What are the meanings of these terms, “old man” and “new man”? They are most certainly related, so if we are able to define one, we may understand the other also. In the scriptures quoted, the “old man” is either “put off” or “crucified”. The “new man” is always “put on.”

We know that the acts of taking off and putting on are things we do ourselves. They are not things which are done to us. Nor do we change from old to new in a sudden wave of emotion. Repentance signifies a change in actions as well as a change in thoughts. Neither is it a feeling sorry for past deeds merely. In Phi 2:12, we are told to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” We ourselves must take an active part in this matter of changing “men.”

We must first remove the “old man” before we are able to put on the “new man”. It must be a conscious effort. The “new man”, as we read, is “created” by the influence of God’s Word, by the constant “renewing” of the mind.

The formation of our new man is a process in which perverse, or wicked, thoughts are forcefully put away and replaced by thoughts and actions in harmony with divine law.

The change here is not a “one-time thing”. It is not something which we do at baptism only. Instead, it is a constant, continuous effort. Baptism is essential to salvation, but it is not the change itself — it is only the first step of an entire life which must be dedicated to constant change, constant improvement. In 2Th 1:3, Paul tells the brethren that he “thanks God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly.”

Our faith must always be growing. We must continually study God’s word and seek to change from the old to the new man. No matter how much we know or what we have done in God’s service, if we pause or stop, we are losing ground. We must “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pe 3:18).

Our lives grow and deepen by little additions, laying one layer upon another, accumulating habit after habit. One good habit leads to another. But, sadly, one bad habit will do the opposite. We may be growing, but in the wrong direction. This is the theme of one of Jesus’ parables. In speaking of the two classes in the field, he said: “Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat to my barn.”

Here we have a graphic picture of the resurrection and judgment. It points out what may be a startling thing to us — our wicked thoughts and deeds may be completely hidden from everyone, and still arise at the last to condemn us.

Also, in the sense of the parable, we become wheat or tares gradually. One bad act does not in itself put us with the goats on the left hand. One good deed alone does not put us with the accepted class. One good and worthwhile achievement must be followed by another, and another. The race for the Kingdom is not a short sprint, but an endurance race. We must repent of, and then forget, the discouragement of our setbacks, and always go on to better things.

Here is our challenge; here is the ambition we must develop from reading the Bible — from reading of the love and goodness of God, and of the glorious things He has in store for those who seek His way of holiness.

***

In the beginning Adam was made in the image of God; he was ”very good” and his thoughts at first were only to obey the commands he received from God. Through the serpent’s lie, he began to doubt the wisdom of obedience. Finally, he was led to open rebellion to God’s command.

So sin was born, and the original childlike purity was lost. The wrong step having been taken, future thought and action could never again be what it had been in the time of man’s innocence. The divine sentence of death took effect in a process which at last brought Adam back to the dust from which he had come.

His descendants inherit two things from their father Adam. First, they inherit his dying nature. Secondly, they inherit an impulse to transgression so powerful that successful opposition to Sin has been impossible to the most sincere of men. It is a fact of history that all have sinned. And so we are all victims of a vicious circle: Sin brought death, and the sentence of death acting in mortal man impels him to sin.

Man, then, is the victim of his own evil deeds. But God, in His mercy, has devised a system to deliver us from the “wages of sin”, and in this we may find the significance of the “old man” and the “new man”.

***

It is a scriptural principle that, if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). If we try to serve Him and avoid the ways of the flesh, Jesus will, at the judgment, “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Phi 3:21).

The change we must make is a re-creation. If we create in ourselves a new love for God, He will at last re-create us into glorious, immortal beings.

In our imperfect state, the development of a divine way of thinking is not then a fresh writing on a clean slate. It is not a “putting on” of a new way of life on a pure or innocent person.

The “new man” is put on by a conscious and tireless effort which is in opposition to all our natural feelings, which are contrary to God’s thoughts.

Gradually, the “new man” takes shape. The “divine image” is revealed in a new way of life. Since the “new man” is begotten by first hearing and then obeying God’s law, the person in which the new relation is formed becomes to God as a son: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor” (Eph 5:1,2).

In the letter to the Colossians, the putting on of the new man is illustrated in Col 3:12-14: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”

What is the “old man”? As the New man is a description of the thinking, feeling, and acting of a man instructed in the Word of God, so the Old man is a description of the habits of a person unrestrained by God’s law. His characteristics are wrath, covetousness, fornication, uncleanness, anger, blasphemy. They must be put off before the characteristics of godliness can be put on. As we read, “Ye have put off the old man with his deeds.”

The baptized man or woman who obeyed the “standard of teaching” of God’s Word (Rom 6:17), rose from baptism to walk “in newness of life”. There must have been an “oldness of life” which had to be LEFT BEHIND — to be left in the past.

The old life was the expression of man’s “self”, the sum total of his thoughts, his habits, and his actions. The old self was recognized to be deserving of death.

In Rom 6:6 Paul uses three figures closely related to one another: “Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might by destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

The RV has “done away” in place of “destroyed”: the idea is that of making ineffective, helpless. Sin is personified as the master to whom service was rendered. The “old man” is the old self.

In the full, sincere, and hearty joining with Christ in baptism, the old self is crucified; and Sin’s body, whose movements served Sin, was paralyzed, so that service to Sin might be broken.

The apostle Paul states a perfect ideal — one that we could never live up to completely. But nevertheless it is an ideal accepted, and an ideal pursued.

In actual fact we must “reckon ourselves to be dead to sin.” That is the standard, however short of it we may come. It is painfully apparent that we do fall short of molding this “new man” to a perfect likeness of God’s will. But, as far as we can, we must dedicate our life to God’s hand, taking Christ as our only sure example. Listen to Paul: “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:19-20).

The “I” that now lives is the new Paul so influenced by Christ’s love for Paul and Paul’s faith in Christ that he calls the new Paul “Christ living in me.” This is what we must do: subdue our personal desires, and submit to God’s wishes.

At our baptism, we were buried with Christ and we rose with him. What came to that grave died and was buried there. It had been the slave of Sin. Its body had served Sin. That was our old self, our “old man”. We left him there as a way of life we cut off and forgot completely. But a New man was born, as we rose to a new life. As Christ was crucified, was buried, and rose again, so we died with him and so we must now serve God and deny ourselves.

We rose a new creature, a “new man” with a new way of life. That life is not ours, but Christ’s. It must correspond to a new standard — which is God’s law. The intention in our baptism must be followed in daily life. We must “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” by continuous effort:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Rom 12:1,2).

Olympia, in western Greece, was an ancient religious shrine and the scene of the original Olympic Games. Not far away is Mount Olympus, the highest peak in Greece and traditionally the home of the Greek gods.

The religious festival, of which the sporting competitions were a part, was held every four years from the 8th century BC (approximately the time of Isaiah) to the 4th century AD (when they were abolished by the Roman rulers).

The Olympic stadium was excavated and restored in the 1960s.

The sacred precinct, called “the grove of Zeus” (who was the greatest of all Greek “gods”), was a great sanctuary over 200 yards on a side, encircled by a stone wall. In it were the temples of Zeus and the goddess Hera, altars and offering sites, treasuries, and administration buildings. Outside the sanctuary were athletic installations, accommodations for visitors and competitors, and public baths.

The Temple of Zeus was the largest and most important building at Olympia, and one of the largest temples in all of Greece.

In the temple was the great gold and ivory statue of Zeus, the most famous of all ancient statues, considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The god was seated on an elaborate throne, and held in his right hand a figure of the goddess of victory (Nike — a name familiar to athletes even today!) and in his left hand a royal scepter.

In front of the statue of Zeus, the competitors dedicated their skills and abilities to the great god, and took a solemn oath not to cheat or indulge in foul play during the contests.

In addition to the stadium, there was a great gymnasium with a covered running track, and a “hippodrome” (horse racing track).

The ancient Olympic competitions (for men only) included running, the discus and javelin throw, the long jump, boxing, wrestling, the pentathlon (composed of five separate events), and chariot racing (remember “Ben Hur”?).

Winners received the stephanos (a wreath of laurel or olive leaves). Returning home, they be- came national heroes: musicians composed songs about them; sculptors preserved their strength and beauty in marble; and their feats of skill and courage were recorded by the poets and writers of the times.

For many years winning athletes received only the simple “crown” of greenery, and the respect of their fellows. But later on, if an athlete dominated his event over a long period of time, he earned the right to be “immortalized” in the eyes of Zeus — by having a victory coin struck honoring his achievement before the gods.

The modern Olympic games were begun exactly 100 years ago, with the intent of bringing together athletes from all nations in competitions that would stress peace, goodwill, and inter- national brotherhood. From a modest beginning in the late 19th century, they have now grown to be one of the greatest spectacles in the world.

New Testament references

The ancient Olympics were well-known to New Testament writers:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1,2).

The “great cloud of witnesses” describes the audience at Olympic contests. (In the “Christian Olympics” the phrase may refer to the exemplary lives of the faithful mentioned in Heb 11, or possibly to the angels, who watch over the struggles of the saints.)

The original contestants competed naked (the Greek word is “gymnos”, from which is derived the modern “gymnasium” and “gymnastics”); this explains the exhortation to “throw off everything that hinders” — that is, get rid of all unnecessary encumbrances in your “race” for eternal life! (This command to prepare for faster movement is also very similar to the Passover command: “Gird up your loins.”)

Every runner was to run with perseverance the race as it was marked out; in other words, he was required to stay within the lines of his running lane, which had been marked out on the track.

As he began the race, the runner looked to the “author”, or “starter”. (For those running the Christian “race”, this is Jesus, at whose signal the race is to begin.) As he struggled to reach the finish line, the runner kept his gaze on the “perfecter”, or “finisher”, the one who stands at the finish line to judge the race — for the Christian, Jesus again!

Jesus himself was the first winner of the “race” for eternal life. There was a “joy” set before him at the finish line — the “crown” he received was the favor of his Father, and eternal life. Knowing what a wonderful prize was to be his, he never gave up in his “race”. And now, having won, he has “sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. Greek winners were supposedly exalted or lifted up to the “pantheon” (the host of Greek gods), but Jesus was truly lifted up, to heaven, to sit at the right hand of the one true God.

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“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1Co 9:24-27).

It is not strictly true that only one gets the prize in the “race” for life; however, if anyone is to receive a prize, it can be only because of and through the one true “winner”, Jesus Christ. But this phrase also stresses the exclusive nature of our “calling”: not everyone will “win”! Many are called, but few are chosen (Mat 20:16; 22:14).

Run in such a way, Paul exhorts, so as to get the prize. That is, obey all the rules:

“If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules” (2Ti 2:5).

Also prepare yourselves to go into strict training. Paul says elsewhere:

“Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1Ti 4:7,8).

Then, if you train properly, and if you compete according to the rules, you will receive — not just the stephanos, which will dry up and turn to dust in no time at all — but rather an eternal crown!

In a similar way, Jesus received a “crown of thorns” (perhaps modeled after the crown of olive branches) (Mat 27:29; John 19:2,5). This was in a sense a crown of “victory” over the power of sin and the flesh, but a temporary crown soon to be replaced by the truly lovely “golden crown” of glory and immortality.

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“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

“And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1Pe 5:4).

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2Ti 4:8).

“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown” (Rev 3:11).

I do not run about aimlessly, Paul says (1Co 9:26). (The Olympic athlete followed a well-planned and rigid training regime, to prepare himself to perform to the best of his ability.) Paul continues: Nor do I fight like a man beating the air, or “shadow boxing”! No! I fight real “opponents”, and I strive to win. But, most of all, says Paul, I keep my body under control: The most important discipline, for an Olympic athlete as well as a “Christian athlete”, is self-discipline. Jesus did it best: “Not my will, but thine be done!”

The modern Olympic spirit

Today, the “Olympic spirit”, as it is called, is memorialized in many ways:

1. The motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (signifying “Fastest, Highest, Strongest”).

2. Medals (of gold, silver, and bronze) are presented, in elaborate ceremonies, to the winners.

3. The “sacred flame”, lit on ancient Mount Olympus, and carried by relays of runners to the site of each modern Olympics.

4. The adulation of a worldwide audience, which now watches the games by television. The Olympics are described by the media in such ways as “a place where heroes can still be born”… “going up to the mountain”… “where a new world gathers”… “an international fellowship”.

5. Commercial endorsements and contracts worth many millions of dollars await the winners (especially if they are photogenic).

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What other lessons emerge from the example of the Olympic Games?

The Olympic motto

Consider the applicability of the Olympic motto to a believer:

1. Citius: “Fastest”: To the Olympic marathon runner, but also to the disciple who runs his “race” with perseverance.

2. Altius: “Highest”: To the Olympic pole-vaulter, and also to the one who seeks to live in the “high places” with Christ.

3. Fortius: “Strongest”: To the Olympic weight-lifter, as well as to the believer who finds real strength in the Lord.

The prophet Isaiah provides a wonderful summary of this motto:

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength (fortius!). They will soar on wings like eagles (altius!); they will run and not grow weary (citius!), they will walk and not be faint” (Isa 40:30,31).

The gold medal

Like the Olympian, the believer in Christ seeks for a prize of gold. But his or her “gold medal” is earned through faith:

“These [trials] have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1Pe 1:7).

And this prize, when “won”, is infinitely more precious than any gold medal ever struck!

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (vv 18,19).

The “sacred flame”

To which “sacred flame” should we look, the one on Mount Olympus, or the one revealed on Sinai?

“Now Moses… led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb [Mount Sinai], the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush…. ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob… I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain’ ” (Exo 3:1-12).

“Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently” (Exo 19:17,18).

Again, to which “sacred flame” should we look, the one recently lit, and then extinguished, in Atlanta, or the continuously burning “sacred fire” of the altar of God, typified in the temple at Jerusalem?

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings… At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke” (Isa 6:1-4; cf Rev 8:1-4).

Adulation, and endorsement

What should we seek for, the adulation and worship of the world, and the material rewards that come with it… or the praise of God?

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD (Jer 9:23,24).

“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord’ ” (1Co 1:26-31).

Conclusion

Many of us will have watched the Olympics this past month. We will have enjoyed the breathtaking spectacles, though we might have felt qualms at some of the blatant paganism. We will have admired the courageous performances. We will have considered seriously the sacrifices that went into such marvelous achievements.

But, especially, we will have remembered the courage and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who ran “the race” and won, because he placed all his trust in God:

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phi 2:9-11).

And we will have remembered that, following him, we have a “race” to run also — and a “crown” to win that will last forever.

“The body is one” (1Co 12:12). It is the Father’s wisdom generally to place believers together in “families”. The ecclesia is more often the object of concern than is the individual standing alone. We are all, whether we like it or not, members of a body. No man should live to himself; that would be selfishness, stagnation, sterility, and a direct contradiction of Paul’s elaborate allegory. The most important lesson of our spiritual education is to learn to think and to act unselfishly as part of the One Body, and not selfishly as a separate individual, even as regards our own salvation.

The body is one, yet it has many members (1Co 12:14). Some are less beautiful or more feeble than others (1Co 12:22,23), but these too are necessary. “God hath tempered the body together” (1Co 12:24); these individuals have been welded together with the ecclesia. In faith and obedience they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Those for whom Christ died must not be treated haughtily or indifferently.

“The beauty and usefulness and purpose of the human body is in its diversity. A severed foot or hand is a repulsive monstrosity. It is obviously dead and useless — detached, broken off, lost, cast aside, rejected; yea, worse: decaying, corrupting, putrefying. But a complete, living, healthy body, with all its parts functioning smoothly together, all perfectly coordinated in grace and symmetry and harmony of movement and purpose, all instantly subject to the one Head — is of great attractiveness, and obvious power and usefulness. No single member can be a body in itself: however accomplished, however skilled, however wise. No one of us can stand alone. We may, by unavoidable force of circumstances, be confined to lonely isolation, like Paul shut up in prison, but we are still part of the Body; and we must, like Paul, think and live and move and breathe as part of the Body. Those who live for themselves alone, however holily they may strive to live, are monstrosities and abortions” (GVG, Ber 57:308,309).

“And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you” (1Co 12:21). So Paul presses home the point: There should be no schism (division) in the Body (1Co 12:25). “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it” (1Co 12:26). Life itself teaches everyone that pain in one member affects the whole body; and the loss of one member, even a small toe, can seriously affect the balance of the whole. It is by no accident or meaningless rhetoric that we find Moses interposing himself as a would-be sacrifice on behalf of his blind and erring countrymen (Exo 32:30-33). Neither is it to be thought unusual that Nehemiah and David and Daniel and the other prophets showed no sign of dissociating themselves from Israel, no matter how wayward their countrymen became. (And even when Jeremiah ceased praying for his brethren, it was God’s decision and not his! — Jer 14:11.) These men had learned the Bible doctrine of the One Body long before Paul. They lived fully Paul’s exhortation in 1Co 13:

“LOVE suffers long” (1Co 13:4). “LOVE thinks no evil” (1Co 13:5). “LOVE bears all things, hopes all things” (1Co 13:7). “LOVE keeps no score of wrong, does not gloat over other men’s sins, but delights in truth” (1Co 13:6, NEB).

If we might by any means see how often our spiritual perceptions are out of line! In our small and often self-centered “fellowships”, are not our prayers frequent and fervent for the fortunes of Israel “after the flesh”? (And well they should be!) And we feel almost at one in spirit with these long-suffering sons of our father Abraham. But how often do we make mention of other Christadelphians, from whom we may be divided by only a single point, except to find fault? These, who — even by the strictest standards — are much more nearly our true brethren than any of the unbelieving Jews! Dare we ask again? Is this the attitude of Paul? of Moses? of Jeremiah or Ezekiel or David? “It may perhaps be argued that when gangrene sets in, amputation becomes an urgent necessity if life is to be saved. Precisely! Gangrene (like cancer) is a condition in which the damaged or faulty member is not willing to receive and use the healing influences which all the rest of the body, via the blood stream, tries to bring to bear. Instead it is an aggressive evil which, left to itself, will certainly bring death. Here is the false teacher who refuses the help which the ecclesia can make available to him, but who instead employs every effort to spread the corruption which has affected him. For such, excision or amputation is the only course. On the other hand, to take off a toe because the nail is ingrowing, or to gouge out an eye because a squint has developed, is plain folly. In such cases, the body puts up with the defects and takes what action is advisable to restore normality to the defective member” (HAW, “Block Disfellowship”, Tes 43:342).

There is a simple, common-sense lesson we must all learn. It is a lesson in humility and patience and faith among other things. The ecclesia does not exist in order to keep the Truth pure as a theory (ie, ‘The purer our ecclesia, the better!’). The Truth (as an abstract principle, or set of principles communicated from God) cannot be anything but pure! The ecclesia does exist to help impure men and women (with imperfect beliefs and impure ways) to move toward purity, even if their progress is slow.

There is no point in an ecclesia existing if it does not understand and confidently accept this duty. If perfect “purity” (ie non-contamination) is all the members of the “Body” desire, then the best course would be to disband the ecclesia and allow each individual to break bread at home. Chop the “Body” into a hundred separate pieces, and isolate each piece in an air-tight container! And then you can spent your time wondering what happened to the love, the joy, the fellowship, and the family feeling which you once enjoyed.

Consider again Paul’s beautiful inspired allegory: The One Body! “Fearfully and wondrously made… how marvelous are thy works, O Lord!” (Psa 139:14). The spiritual body, like the physical body, is not a sterile laboratory “experiment”, existing in a fragile regulated environment, behind locked doors! The spiritual Body of Christ, like the “fearful and wondrous” physical body, is much more akin to a hospital. Like a hospital, with its Great Physician at its head, it is constantly working even in its imperfection to heal its diseased members and to strengthen its weak members. And so it must continue, until its work is finished and the One Body — perfected at last — is glorified with its Head for a joyful eternity.

Other metaphors of unity: Shepherd and flock (Joh 10:1-30); One vine (Joh 15:1-17); One temple, with one foundation and one cornerstone, serving one God (Eph 2:11-22); Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female (Gal 3:25-29); husband and wife, “one flesh” (Eph 2:22-33); one “creation” of Christ the “creator” (Col 1:15-29); one house, one priesthood, one nation (1Pe 1:2-10); one “bread” (1Co 10:16,17).

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See Lesson, One body, implications of the.