Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 9
NEED_DATE
NUMBER 22, PAGE 11a

Pattern Or Illustration?

Robert H. Bunting, Orangeburg, South Carolina

Several articles have been published on the subject of New Testament examples in the past few months. Generally speaking, the articles have expressed two schools of thought. On the one hand are those who contend an example is binding if it is uniform, if it is relevant, if it is in harmony with other passages in the Word, and if it is a revelation. The other positions that an example is binding only if that example is backed by a command. It is this second position that we will discuss in this article.

The idea that an example is binding only if it has a command backing it is erroneous and dangerous. If it becomes popular, it will not only eliminate the New Testament examples of direct support of preachers (as those advocating the position desire); but it will also eliminate the one example that sets the pattern for the day in which we are to partake of the Lord's Supper. If there must be a command backing the example, Acts 20:7 is not an example to be followed because there is no command concerning the frequency of the communion. First Corinthians chapter eleven and verses twenty-five and twenty-six has been used as the command behind Acts 20:7, but this passage is concerned with the purpose of the Lord's Supper rather than its frequency. It uses the words "as often," but does not say how often one is to partake of the memorial. "Often" is a relative term and yearly is often compared to a decade, monthly is often compared to yearly, and daily is often compared to weekly. There is no command concerning the weekly observance of the Lord's Supper. We know the Lord's Supper is a weekly observance exclusively by the example of Acts 20:7. If a command is necessary before an example is binding, then we have no example for the day to partake of the Lord's Supper.

Making the example binding only when there is a command backing it, reduces the example to nothing more than an illustration of a command. The command would be the only way to ascertain God's desire for man, and the example in and of itself would not be a part of the pattern. However, an example is more than an illustration of a command being obeyed. It is a part of God's pattern for His church. In writing to the brethren at Philippi, Paul reminded them what he had done was as authoritative as what he had said. "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." (Phil. 4:9) The same fact is brought out in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. "For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you in remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church." (1 Cor. 4:17) The Corinthians were to be reminded of Paul's "ways," and these ways were binding for they were taught every where in "every church." We have no right to weaken Bible examples by making them serve only as illustrations of commands.

By example the New Testament gives us the day we are to partake of the Lord's Supper. (Acts 20:7) We have an example of the direct support of preachers. (Phil. 4:15,16( There is also an example of direct support to a needy congregation. (1 Cor. 16:1-3; 2 Cor. 8:14) if the last two examples are to be ignored because there is no command concerning church cooperation; then the first will have to be eliminated as an example, because there is no command concerning the day to partake of the Lord's Supper. Certainly no one would want to take the consequences of the theory that a command is necessary to make an example binding.

A grave problem facing God's people today is whether or not we are obligated to follow the New Testament example of cooperation. As we study this problem, we must keep in mind the fact that we will have completely surrendered the possibility of continuing the restoration of true Christianity, if we surrender examples as a part of the divine pattern.