Should Christians Dispute?

Tom: This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment. Now, Dave, we are getting into the scriptures. We started out that way, so, I don’t want to be upset or paranoid about the idea that we’re always tearing down and not trying to build up, but the name of the program is Search the Scriptures Daily. We keep pointing to the scriptures, and pointing to the scriptures, and pointing to the scriptures, and hopefully, point to the scriptures! And this is our opportunity—this is the one segment of our program where we get right into the scriptures!

So, we’re in Acts 19, and we’ll pick up with verse 8: “And He went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months disputing and persuading the things of the kingdom of God.” And, of course, this is referring to the Apostle Paul. 

Dave: Can we stop there?

Tom: Dave, we’re not on a schedule. We’re waiting for the Lord. We’re waiting for the Rapture. So we just keep rolling along, til the last shout!

Dave: Well, let’s remind our listeners (if we have any left out there by now)…

Tom: We also have viewers.

Dave: …that he’s in Corinth. Actually, he’s going to be there quite a while. It doesn’t sound like it at the moment, because the next verse is going to tell us… But, notice. You know, when you read the Bible, we’re going to do what we talked about earlier. We’re not going to just zip through….

Tom: Nobody has ever accused us of that, Dave! 

Dave:  But what does it say? Well—Tom, we could talk about this verse till next week, but anyway, we won’t do that. But he went into the synagogue! That is something. Try going into a synagogue today, and stand up and speak, and even if you are a “Jews for Jesus,” let’s say. Paul was a “Jews for Jesus”—he was the first one! Well, no, not the first one, but one of the first antagonists that came to Christ. A lot of Jews for Jesus go into the synagogue. They won’t be happy. They’ll throw you out! Furthermore, you’ve got to come by invitation. Somehow, in these days, it was possible for them to do that. 

In fact, since Paul had traveled from a far-distant place, then they gave deference to him. Okay, now what did Jesus say in John 16, related to in the synagogue today? “The day is coming when they will cast you out of the synagogue, and he that killeth you will think that he is doing God’s service.” So, that hadn’t quite come, although in some places, as you know, they left him for dead—stoned him, and so forth. So, he’s in the synagogue. That’s amazing! Why is that? Tom, there’s a well-known preacher on the radio today, on TV, on TBN, and he claims that there is a dual covenant. It’s in writing that he says, “You’re wasting your time presenting the gospel to a Jew, because the Jews have another covenant. They’re okay!” 

But the gospel isn’t even to the Jew! 

You know—I would hope every Christian out there knows Romans:1:16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
See All...: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…” (that’s why Paul is preaching here) “it’s the power of God unto salvation unto everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul was a Jew. He believed the gospel. So was Peter. They were all Jews! So the gospel is to the Jew and to the Greek. And the first thing Paul did, in every town he went to—and by the way, Tom, I’m pontificating here, let me just… because there are a lot of people out there who think…because in Acts 28—you know, he’s in his own hired house. He’s a prisoner in Rome. And he calls the Jewish elders in, and he gives them the gospel. He tells them who Christ is. He points to their own scriptures, reasons with them. 

“Look, you can’t deny, everything that your prophets said, Christ fulfilled them. And He’s alive. I’ve seen Him, and so have a number of others.” When they are not willing to believe, he says, “Well, we’ll turn to the Gentiles.”

See, always he offered it first, but there are people who don’t recognize that, Tom. They’re kind of “ultra-dispensationalists.” And because Paul says it in Acts 28, the last chapter of the Book of Acts, they say, “Look there! See, now, that’s the end! There’s no more miracles! The Gospel is no more to the Jews, it’s to the Gentiles now!”

Look, he did it in every…go back to Acts 13, the very first missionary journey of Paul. He says it right there! In every town he went to, he went to the Jew first, and when they wouldn’t accept it, then he turned to the Gentiles, and only then, because “the Gospel is to the Jew first and then to the Greek. “

What is he doing? Well, he’s trying to be very “positive” and “agreeable,” like Joel Osteen, or whatever. “Well, we’re not going to correct people. That would be negative,” the Christian psychologist would say. What is Paul doing? He’s disputing! 

Tom, if there’s something wrong…that’s what we’ve been talking about with Christian psychology: it is wrong! We’d be happy to have a discussion with any Christian psychologist. Get two of them together and we’ll discuss it on the radio from the Bible! None of them have been willing to do that, at least in the past. 

He’s disputing, because if something is wrong, I’ve got to, first of all… “Oh, you mean you’re going to tear down…?”

Yeah! We’ve got to tear down the lies and the error. We’ve got to expose them. As you said, “chop down that tree.” We’ve got to show what is wrong, otherwise people can’t distinguish. When we’ve done that, we dispute, then we persuade. 

Now, in the place of the lies you’ve been reading and believing and that we have now exposed, and you can’t deny—this is not true. It’s contrary to the Word of God. Now we will persuade. Paul says, “We persuade men, persuading the things pertaining to the Word of God.” That’s what it says, Tom.

Tom: Mm-hmm. Dave, this is a little aside, but I think it’s worth noting here, and I’d like to get your comments on it. These were Jews, so Paul’s bringing them—he’s quoting from the Old Testament…

Dave: Right.

Tom: …from their Scriptures. He’s a Jew quoting from their Scriptures. There were many Gentiles in Corinth. I just listened to a CD…

Dave:  Some of them were in the synagogue…

Tom: Right. I just listened to a CD by John MacArthur on the Emerging Church, and I thought it was quite good. You know, we have disagreements with John, but I thought some of the points he made on the CD were excellent. And one thing that he said was that the Old Testament was a book that the Gentiles learned. In other words, they were given the scriptures. They were taught the Old Testament!

Dave: Of course.

Tom: I hadn’t thought of it, but that is so important, because that’s the gospel! The gospel is in the Old Testament. They were taught that. Romans, for example, deals with the Old Testament. Most of what Paul wrote, he was arguing from the Old Testament, and they had to know those things. 

Dave: That’s right! And the Bereans in Acts 17, they were Greeks, and they were searching the scriptures to see whether what Paul was saying was true or not. You have Jews and Greeks, but many of the Greeks had converted to Judaism, so they were familiar—they had a twisted idea of the Old Testament, as the Pharisees had, and Christ had to keep correcting them. 

Anyway, notice what it says in the next verse. Go ahead, Tom.

Tom: But when divers [that is, when various ones] were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. 

Dave: So, Tom, this was a school—back in Acts 17. He’s on Mars Hill, and they did nothing, it says, except to hear and discuss some “new thing.” And in those days, these people had schools for disputation! So this is where Paul goes. These people are arguing. But hopefully, they’re arguing on the basis of sound reason, on the basis of facts. We’re willing to discuss the facts with anyone. Let’s see your facts. 

Now, that’s not like the Book of Mormon. Who was it—the apostle Pratt, remember, he said of the Book of Mormon, “Let the Gentiles [because Mormons think they’re Jews—Utah’s the only state where Jews are called Gentiles…] bring forth their reasons, and we’ll discuss it, we’ll dispute it with them.” No, they don’t. You’d have a tough time getting into a dispute with any Mormon leader. 

But Paul is willing to dispute, and he lays out the facts. I love that, Tom. It’s what we should be willing to do. 

Tom: Vs. 10: “And this continued for the space of two years, so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”

Dave: Tom…well, I’m not giving you a chance to talk…

Tom: No, no! Go!

Dave: How are they hearing the Word of the Lord? That’s very important! They’re hearing it in the context of all the false ideas that are out there. You know, “well, I just say this is what the Bible says, and I never paid any attention to the false teachings.” I’ve got to present the truth in the relationship to the disease! And that’s exactly what Paul did and I love it. I love this book. It’s God’s Word.

Look, the result was “all in Asia heard the Word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” That’s what we want.

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