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Commentary on "Worship in the Early Church"
Day 2: Sunday, September 11, 2011 - Many "Proofs"
Watch this video in remembrance of this day, ten years ago: linked here.
Overview
This lesson starts off by noting how the early church didn't really grow until "after the resurrection of Jesus". The lesson sums this growth up by noting that "Things looked pretty bad until His resurrection and then Pentecost, when suddenly, His followers found a new boldness to proclaim their crucified Master as the Messiah of Israel."
The lesson continues to discuss the "proofs" presented to the disciples in Acts 1:3 and points to these proofs as the driving force that could get the disciples past the "daunting task that He had called them to". The lesson concludes with asking the question, "what good reasons do you have for having faith, a belief in something that you do not fully understand?"
Observations
The lesson essentially ignores the role and outpouring of the Holy Spirit in favor of emphasizing that the disciples were given "proofs" by Jesus. The lesson is replacing the Spiritual with the intellectual, which is a common fallacy in Seventh-day Adventism. The power and boldness that the disciples had after Pentecost was the direct result of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1: 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (ESV)
John 14: 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you….25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (ESV)
John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. (ESV)
John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (ESV)
The next issue from this lesson is the implication that the proofs are the reason for faith. "Think about the powerful evidence that we have for our beliefs, on all the good reasons for the logic of our faith." This is applying Acts 1:3 completely backwards. The disciples already had faith when presented with the "proofs". The logic was not the reason for, or the cause of, their faith. It was an understanding of Scripture given to them after they already believed. Luke presents an overlap in time at the end of his Gospel and the start of Acts. Looking at Luke 24:44-47 we see another description of the events in Acts 1:3.
Luke 24:44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (ESV)
The "proof", the logical understanding, was given after faith. If faith doesn't grow out of our logical understanding, where does it come from? Faith is a gift from God. He gives us not just the ability to believe in Him, but the belief itself.
Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (ESV)
Matt 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven (ESV)
Rom 10: 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (ESV)
We can obtain a very good understanding of how faith differs from logic when we look to Abraham's faith. Logic would tell Abraham that he and Sarah were too old and that Sarah was barren. Faith told him that God will do what He has promised. Faith believes God when all of the logical evidence says otherwise.
Rom 4:16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (ESV)
Summary
Although this lesson has serious gaps in the understanding of faith and in presenting the role of the Holy Spirit among believers, it also concludes with a great point that is worth repeating:
"We need to learn to worship, praise, and obey the Lord, despite all that we do not understand."
We don't always understand all of the how's or why's of Scripture's teachings. We believe them because God is trustworthy and He has said these things in His Word. We accept and obey those elements of Scripture we don't understand because of Who said them and in the confident hope that the day will come when we understand in full.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised September 11, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 12
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 12
Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 12
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