Blog Archives
CRITIQUE OF SOME SELECTED TEACHING OF NAIROBI CHRISTIAN CHURCH (N.C.C) AND BY EXTENSION THE BOSTON CHURCH OF CHRIST (B.C.C) (PART 4)
(This posting is an adaptation of the author’s thesis submitted to the faculty of the Nairobi International School of Theology towards the fulfillment of a degree in Master’s in Divinity)
Presentation and Biblical Critique of the N.C.C. Teaching on the Kingdom of God
Presentation of the Teaching
The following are the pertinent citations coupled with observations:
1. Dan 2:24-45. The Kingdom would be set up during the Roman empire.
2. Isaiah 2:1-6. This will take place in the last days. All nations would flow to it. It will begin from Jerusalem. There will be conversion.
3. Joel 2:28-32. This will come to pass in the last days: the Holy Spirit will be poured on all flesh in Jerusalem and there will be deliverance.
4. Mt. 3:1;4:17. Jesus said the kingdom is near.
5. Mk:9:1. The kingdom would come during the disciple’s life time. At least one of them would be dead. The kingdom would come with power and it will come on earth.
6. Lk. 17:20-21. The kingdom is spiritual not physical.
7. Lk 23:46-25. At this point Jesus is dead and the kingdom hasn’t yet come as is evidenced by the fact that Joseph of Arimathea was still waiting.
8. Mt. 16:13-19. Peter will have the keys of the kingdom. Jesus talks of the church and the kingdom interchangeably.
9. Jn. 3:1-6. You enter the kingdom of God by being born again of water baptism and Spirit.
10. Lk 24:45-49. Repentance and forgiveness of sin is to be preached in Jesus’ name to all nations. The Holy Spirit is to be sent with power. This will take place in Jerusalem.
11. Act 1:1-9. Jesus talks of the promised things: the Holy Spirit and the kingdom.
12. Points one, five, six and eight were fulfilled in Acts 2 during the Day of Pentecost.
13. The kingdom of God is the Church. The true church is one that adheres to Christ’s teaching. All other churches do not adhere to the teaching of the Bible save the N.C.C. So the Nairobi Christian Church is the only true church. If you are attending any other “church”, then you need to start coming to the true “church”.
Biblical Critique of this Teaching
An analysis of the above points reveal that the coming of the kingdom of God is fulfilled wholly with the birth of the church. In other words, in the church, the kingdom of God finds its culmination. But is this true? A critical passage to analyze for the express purpose of ascertaining the point at which the kingdom of God will be established is Dan. 2:44 “And in the days of those kings the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people: it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever (Dan. 2:44; N.A.S.V.) According to this verse the kingdom of God will be established in its most powerful and dominant form during the “days of the kings”. A close study of this phrase will furnish us with some of the data we need. As Wood in his commentary on Daniel rightly observes the text does not supply a clear antecedent for “these kings”, that is, no kings as such are mentioned in the prior context (Wood, Commentary on Daniel, p. 71). However, if indeed the version in Dan. 7 be a repetition of the Dan. 2 dream in a different form, then it should not be difficult to equate the ten toes of Dan. 2 to the ten horns of the beast in Dan 7 which according to Dan. 8:24 were interpreted as some ten kings. And if this were to be the case, then it is most probably that the phrase “these kings” refers back to the ten toes. In accordance with Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzer’s dream coupled with some extra-biblical historical data, we know that the toes are to represent a kingdom other than the Rome of Jesus’ days – maybe a revived Roman Empire. The Rome of Jesus was represented by the iron legs of the statue in Dan. 2, the connotation of which was strength and power (cf. Dan. 2:40). In fact, at Pentecost, Rome was at its highest peak in terms of power and dominance. But, it had been prophesied that Rome’s dominance and strength would not. It would be weakened and divided (Dan. 2:42-43). Moreover, the mentioning of the ten kings who will arise and rule at the same time for one hour in Rev. 17:12, if taken as an allusion to the ten toes in Dan. 2, would suggest that the last kingdom in Nebuchadnezzer’s statue dream is still of the future. In short, we are saying that, since the days of these kings are still to come and that will be the time during which the kingdom of God is established in its culminated form, it is therefore wrong to assume that the kingdom of God portrayed in Dan. 2 was established earlier like the N.C.C. would propose. Moreover, as Wood comments, The text represents the rise of this new kingdom as being sudden and with a decisive blow, in which the immediately preceding fourth kingdom is obliterated; but nothing like this happened with the beginning of Christ’s spiritual kingdom. To the contrary, not only was Rome not destroyed at the time, but it came to its greatest strength well after Christ died; and, though Christianity did affect the Roman power extensively later on, still the impact was never sudden or crushing in force so as bring total destruction, as pictured by the stone crushing the image. This will be true, however, when Christ comes in power to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:6) to establish the millenial rule (Ibid. p. 72). As such, it is faulty observation to conclude from the Dan. 2:24-45 passage that the time of the establishment of God’s kingdom was at Pentecost. For Daniel, the establishment of the eschatological kingdom of God was to be in the future, probably at the millennium. The violent nature and the intensive force with which this kingdom is established definitely refers to the future eschatological kingdom of God which will come with a “cataclysmic divine intervention”. (Buzzard, “The Kingdom of God in Twentieth Century Discussion and the Life of Scripture”, p. 109). This will issue in a worldwide extension of the kingdom under messiah’s rule as all the prophets including Daniel prophesied (Ibid.). This is not to deny the inauguration of this kingdom at some earlier point. The above argument negates this first point of the N.C.C. teaching on the kingdom of God (which is that the kingdom would be set up during the reign of the Roman empire). Daniel has in mind, not the inauguration of this spiritual kingdoms, but the establishment of the eschatological kingdom of God which is the culmination of the spiritual kingdom.
But when was this spiritual kingdom actually inaugurated? Can we be dogmatic enough to contend that it was at Pentecost like the N.C.C. would like us to believe? It is difficult to determine and analyze the temporal orientation of the kingdom in our Lord’s teaching. There are passages that would imply that the kingdom is still future. But at the same time Scripture does seem to suggest that the kingdom of God is yet of the future. In order to support the assertion that the spiritual kingdom was established precisely at Pentecost, the N.C.C. have majored on passages like Matthew 3:1:4:17 and Mark 9:1 which suggest that the spiritual kingdom would not have been inaugurated during the life-time of Christ. However, in accordance with Willis’ observation of the kingdom theology, in the book of Luke alone, it does seem like the kingdom was somehow present during Christ’s lifetime. Jesus’ expelling of demons in Lk. 11:20 proves that the kingdom of God had come upon his audience (Willis, The Kingdom of God in 20th Century Interpretation, p. 154). Moreover the two growth parables of the mustard seed and of the leaven in Lk. 13:18-21 picture the kingdom of God as present in reality. Therefore, Willis concludes that there is no doubt that Luke and the gospel writers viewed this kingdom of God as in part, a reality (Ibid. p. 155).
It is observable that attempts have been made by the N.C.C. to equate the kingdom of God with the Church. But as Ladd himself dissents: the kingdom is primarily the dynamic reign or kingly rule of God, and derivatively, the sphere in which the rule is experienced. In biblical idiom, the kingdom is not identified with its subjects. They are the people of God’s rule who enter it, live under it, and are governed by it. The church is the community of the kingdom but never the kingdom itself…The kingdom is the rule of God; the Church is a society of men (Ladd, Jesus and His Kingdom, p. 258). Rather than equate the kingdom with the church, Ladd asserts that it is the kingdom that creates the church. The dynamic rule of God present in the mission of Jesus challenged men to response, thus creating the church (Ibid., p. 261).
Conclusion
At the core of the N.C.C. teaching on the kingdom of God is the assertion that since the kingdom of God is the church and the N.C.C. is the only true church, then the tripartite syllogism goes that they, i.e., the N.C.C.,solely constitute the kingdom of God. The reason for this self exaltation as was mentioned at the beginning of this paper, results from their claim that they are the only ones who teach biblical truth. But do they? We have seen that their teaching on baptism is overemphasized. Salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and the place of baptism in the context of the whole process of salvation is that it is a public testimony of an inward change. Baptism has never been efficacious for the forgiveness of sins. We have also observed that their mode of discipleship falls short of the biblical mode. Biblically, a disciple is a believer who is then led to a point of maturity. But for the N.C.C., a disciple is a non-believer who is then led to a point of conversion. It is not true that Spirit baptism ceased with the Acts 2 and Acts 10 events. This assertion does great injustice to the I Cor. 12:13 passage which teaches that all believers are indeed ushered into the body by Spirit baptism. Lastly, we have pinpointed certain wrong observations that characterize the kingdom study as presented by the N.C.C. In light of these findings, it is unsound for the N.C.C. to maintain that they are the only true church on the basis that they are the only ones who teach biblical truth. They have errors and this paper has thus proved the above self-elevation as null and void–absolutely baseless.
Application
In the beginning of this paper we mentioned that it is our duty to shield other Christians from the devastating effects of false teachings. It is our responsibility to rescue our people from imbibition by manipulating groups. One of the ways to do this would be to expose the errors imbedded in these false teachings. This is one difficult task, the reason being that false teachers have the ability to blend truth with error very well. Of course the most sure way to shield our people from such teaching would be to ground them in God’s word. This we should do through discipleship. But at the same time we should not hesitate to expose and reveal various contemporary false teachings. It is with this in mind that we will seek a forum in which to share the findings of this paper. The most vulnerable groups are the youth groups who, for one, are just getting grounded in the word, but who are also the target group for the N.C.C. We will purpose to share with them the highlights of this paper which will go a long way to help them pinpoint the errors of the N.C.C. They can then be in a position to help other young Christians who would fall victim to the subtilities of the N.C.C.’s teachings.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Behm, ” , etc. “, TDNT, 4:980-979. Blass, Fredrick. Grammar of New Testament Greek. Translated by Henry St. John Thackeray. London: Macmillan and Co., l911. Brooks, James A. Syntax of New Testament Greek. Washington, D.C.: University of Press of America, l979. Bruce, F. F. Answers to Questions. Exeter, England: Paternoster Press, l972. Buzzard, A. “The Kingdom of God in the Twentieth-Century Discussion and the Light of Scripture”, The Evangelical Quarterly. 64:2, (1992), 99-115. Calenberg, Richard D. The New Testament Doctrine of Discipleship. Dissertation. Winona Lak, IN.: Grace Theological Seminary, l981. Cannon, S. F. “Has Mind Control Come to Beantown?”, Personal Freedom Outreach, 9:2(1989):5-8. Criswell, W. A. The Baptism, Filling and Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, l973. Edwards, Thomas Charles. A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. London: Hodder and Stoughton, l885. Fee, Gordon, D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT. Grand Rapids, MI.:Eerdmans, l987. Flynn, Patrick. “Participles”. Class notes for BBL 322: Greek, taught at the Nairobi International School of Theology, Kenya, January to March, 1991. Gloag, Paton J. A. Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. Minneapolis, Minn.: Klock & Klock Christian Pub., l979. Goetchius, Eugune Van Ness. The Language of the New Testament. NY.: Charles Schribner’s Sons, l969. Greene, Oliver B. The Acts of the Apostles. Four volumes, Greenville, S.C.: Gospel Hour, l968-l969. Greenlee, J. Harold. A Concise Exegetical Grammar of New Testament Greek. Fourth edition. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., l979. Grosheide, F. W. Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing House Company, l976. Harlow, R. E. The Imperfect Church: I Corinthians. Canada: Everyday Pub. Inc., l982. Hearbeck, Hermann. ” ” “in old, etc.”, NIDNTT, 2:713- 716. Ironside, H. A. Addresses on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. NY.: Loizeaux Brothers l978. Kearsay, R. “Repentance”, The New Dictionary of Theology, edited by Sinclair B. Ferguson and David F. Wright. Downers Grove, IL.: Intervarsity, l988. Kromminga, G. C. “Repentance”, EDT. Ladd, George Eldon. Jesus and the Kingdom: The Eschatology of Biblical Realism. London: SPCK, l966. Larson, Bob. Larson’s Book of Cults. Wheaton, IL.: Tyndale, l982. Luter, Boyd,A. Jr. “Discipleship and the Church”, Bib Sac, 137:545(1980):267-273. MacArthur, John F. First Corinthians. Chicago: Moody Press, l984. McKean Kip, “Revolution through Restoration”, Upside down, pp 7-14. Moulton, James Hope. A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Prolegomena. Edinburgh T & T Clark, l978. Murray, J. “Repentance”, NBD, 2nd ed. Nunn, H. P. V. A Short Syntax of New Testament Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, l930 Rengstorf, H. K. ” etc.”, TDNT, 4:461. Robertson, A. T. Word Pictures in the New Testament in 6 Volumes. Nashville: Broadman Press, l930-l931. Robertson, A. T. A New Short Grammar of the Greek Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, l979. Robertson, Archibald. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians,ICC. Edinburg: T & T Clark, l950. Scaer, D. P. “The Relation of Matthew 28:16-20 to test of the Gospel”, Concordio Theological Quarterly, 55:4(1991): 245-266. Unger, Merrill F. The Baptism and Cults of the Holy Spirit. Chicago: Moody Press, l974. Vincent, Marvin P. Word Studies in the New Testament. Massachusetts: Hendrickson, l988. Warns, Johannes. Baptism: Studies in the Original Christian Baptism. Translated by E. G. Lang. Minneapolis, MN.: James and Klock, l957. Willis, Wendell The Kingdom of God in 20th Century Interpretation. Peabody, MA.: Hendrickson, l987. Wood, Leon. A Commentary on Daniel. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, l979.
CRITIQUE OF SOME SELECTED TEACHING OF NAIROBI CHRISTIAN CHURCH (N.C.C) AND BY EXTENSION THE BOSTON CHURCH OF CHRIST (B.C.C) (PART 3)
(This posting is an adaptation of the author’s thesis submitted to the faculty of the Nairobi International School of Theology towards the fulfillment of a degree in Master’s in Divinity)
Presentation and Biblical Critique of the N.C.C.’s Teaching on Holy Spirit Baptism.
Presentation of the teaching
For the N.C.C., the purpose of the Holy Spirit baptism was primarily to “usher in the kingdom of God”. And so we have Holy Spirit baptism in Acts 2 to usher the Jews into the Kingdom of God and another Holy Spirit baptism in Acts 10 to usher the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God after which the baptism of the Holy Spirit ceased, the reason being that after Acts 10, both the Jews and Gentiles had now been ushered in. Therefore, these days we do not need the baptism of the Spirit because its function is done away with. Moreover Eph. 4:5 talks of one baptism which is neither John’s baptism nor the Holy Spirit baptism but water baptism.
Biblical Critique of this Teaching
If the N.C.C. is going to insist on “locking” Spirit Baptism behind the room occupied by the 120 disciples in Acts 2 and Cornelius’ house in Acts 10, then the most arduous task that they have is to explain away the one and only New Testament passage that is purely doctrinal in nature and has direct reference to Spirit baptism. This is I Corinthians 12:13 which reads, “for we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free and we were all given the one spirit to drink”. The immediate context of this verse is the subject of the various spiritual gifts–diverse, yes–but issuing from the same source. Already Paul had hinted this subject in his introductory remarks at the beginning of the book (cf I Cor. 1:7). But now he elaborates more on this subject with the hope of patching up the division that had characterized the Corinthian church. Beginning in verse 4 of chapter 12, he affirms that there are different kinds of gifts, but the unity is in the source. To drive this point home, Paul then offers a simple illustration in v. 12: “the body is a unit though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body….” One of the possible interpretations of the last phrase in v. 12, “so it is with Christ”, would be that as the person is one while the members of his body are many, so also Christ is one but the members of the mystical body, the church, are many (Edwards, A Commentary on the First Epistles to the Corinthians, p. 321). This is not without the support of another commentator: ” The definite article (the) is found in the original…when the apostle uses the term ‘the Christ’, it is just the same as if he said, ‘The Church’, for as the context shows, he is thinking of the entire church as linked with the Lord Jesus Christ, its head in heaven. As the human body is one, so also is the Christ” (Ironside, Addresses on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 388)
In verse 13a, we come across some very crucial observation (a) The word “body” here should be understood to refer to the universal church. An approximate phraseology is used in v. 27 which says “now you are a body of Christ”, where it has a localized meaning (Grosheide, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT, p. 297). But as used in verse 13a, the word “body” definitely has a reference to the universal Church. (b) There is a universalistic overtone observable from the grammatical structuring of this verse. From the original language, this verse should be translated “for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body…” The overlaid emphasis here has significance. There is an “all-inclusiveness stressed here so emphatically” (Unger, F. Merrille, The Baptism and Gift of the Holy Spirit p. 100). (c) Moreover the mentioning of the Greeks and Jews, the slaves and the free support the universality of this verse according to the International Critical Commentary, … the racial difference between Jew and Greek was a fundamental distinction made by nature; social difference between slave and freeman was a fundamental distinction made by custom and law; and yet both differences were to be done away when those who were thus separated become members of Christ. (Robertson & Plummer, I Corinthians ICC, p. 272) (d) The first aorist passive indicative of the Greek word for baptism here refer to a definite past event. The agent of this baptism is the Holy Spirit. That is why it is referred to as Spirit baptism. According to Criswell, one of the possible translation of the proposition ” ” in the phrase ” ” would be “by” thus connoting agency. Quoting him, he argues that: The Greek preposition translated…”by” is the Greek word “en”. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon of the New Testament lists 44 different uses of this preposition “en”…. The word “en” can be translated “by” as it is in Mt. 17:27, 28:21:23, 24; 23:16-22; Acts 4:17; Romans 5:9, 10;12:21; Rev. 13:10…(Thus) the baptism is done by the Holy Spirit. (Criswell, The Baptism of Filling and Gifts of the Holy Spirit pp 21-22) (e) This Holy Spirit baptism is (into one body) and this may mean either “so as to be united to one body” or “so as to form one body”. (Edwards, A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 325).
In conclusion then baptism by the Holy Spirit ushers one into the body of Christ and is not to be limited to the Acts 2 and Acts 10 passages but rather is a continuing experience even today. The universalistic tone of the I Cor. 12:13 passage suggests that Spirit baptism was experienced by believers even after the Acts 2 and Acts 10 events. Paul was not present in these two events, yet he includes himself among those who were baptized by the Spirit. As MacArthur confirms, it is not possible to be a Christian and not be baptized by the Holy Spirit (MacArthur, First Corinthians, p. 312). Similarly, the same idea is echoed by Harlow: In a man, it is his human spirit which makes all the different parts to be one person. Without a spirit the man would die, James 2:26. In the church the Holy Spirit dwells in each member and makes us all into one body. On the Day of Pentecost, this Spirit came down on 120 believers and formed them into one body with one Spirit, Himself. Since then He has added many more to the body (Harlow, The Imperfect Church, p. 83).
Conclusion
It is true that Pentecost and the Cornelius story in Acts 2 and 10, respectively were two incidences that saw the Jews and the Gentiles ushered into the kingdom of God. However, it is not true that Spirit baptism terminated with these two events. As evidenced by I Cor. 12:13, every believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit at the point of conversion which is really the instant the believer is engrafted into the body.
CRITIQUE OF SOME SELECTED TEACHING OF NAIROBI CHRISTIAN CHURCH (N.C.C) AND BY EXTENSION THE BOSTON CHURCH OF CHRIST (B.C.C) (PART 2)
(This posting is an adaptation of the author’s thesis submitted to the faculty of the Nairobi International School of Theology towards the fulfillment of a degree in Master’s in Divinity)
Presentation and Biblical Critique of the Teaching on Discipleship
Presentation of the Teaching
The following are the passages cited and the points emphasized in the lesson on discipleship: (1) Mk. 1:16-18 A disciple follows Jesus and is a fisher of men. (2) Lk. 11:1 A disciple has a learner’s attitude and prays to God daily. (3) Lk. 9:23-26 A disciple denies himself, i.e. he puts aside his feelings, emotions, interests and desires and does what Jesus would do. A disciple is committed to Jesus to the point of death, never to be ashamed of Him. (4) Lk. 14:25-33 A disciple loves Jesus a whole lot more than even his family and self. A disciple denies himself, carries the cross and follows Jesus. A disciple must count the cost. A disciple gives up everything to follow Jesus.
Biblical Critique of the Teaching
The above citations and emphasis hardly constitute the teachings of many evangelicals. And so it is commendable that the N.C.C. does bring out the cost and meaning of discipleship on the fore-front of their teachings. However, one soon hurries to withdraw this commendation the moment he realizes the basic presupposition of the N.C.C. in regard to who a disciple is and what disciple making entails. At the very heart of the N.C.C. teaching on discipleship is this dangerous and false presupposition: A disciple is not a Christian! One can only become a Christian if he or she has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that he is an able disciple. As such, the art of disciple making for the N.C.C. constitutes recruiting non-believers and literally compelling them to conform to the Christian norms of reading the word, praying consistently, attending church every Sunday, participating in the weekly Bible studies, confession of one’s sin to another, and living a life characterized by self-denial and abandonment. To put it more accurately, non-believers are compelled to live the supernatural Christian life apart from divine empowerment. These Christian ideals then become the basis for determining who among the non-believing disciples has attained the mark of a disciple. It is those who live out these expectations who then become eligible for water baptism upon which they become saved and thus born again Christians.
In this section we want to determine whether the biblical mode of disciple making assumes that the object of it is a non-believer like the N.C.C.’s model would suggest. For us to come to an accurate biblical understanding of disciple making, we will have to do a brief word study of the Greek word translated “to make disciples” and the context upon which it appears. This word which carries both the intransitive and transitive usages, occurs only in the New Testament where it is mentioned four times (Mt. 27:57; 13:52; 28:19 and Acts 14:21) (Rengstorf, TDNT, 4:461). Let us now analyze this mode of its usage in the context of these above mentioned scriptures.
(a) Usage in Mt. 13:52. As defined by Calenberg, the use of the verb here by Christ is instructive in light of the role of the apostles in Acts (Calenberg, The New Testament Doctrine of Discipleship, p. 98). Having taught the parables of the new form of the kingdom of Heaven and having personally interpreted them for His disciples, He asked them if they had understood their meaning. Upon their affirmative response, He said, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple ( ) of the kingdom of Heaven is like a head of a household, who brings forth one of his treasure things new and old” (Mt. 13:52; N.A.S.V.). Haarbeck commenting on this verse says: unlike the scribes of the Old Testament, the scribe here is trained in the kingdom and thus is able to bring out old and new from his treasure. In this respect he stands in contrast with those scribes who were trained in “the tradition of the elders” who for the sake of human tradition make void the word on God. Like Jesus himself, the scribe trained in this kingdom of heaven is able to bring out the true treasure from the law and the prophets (Hearbeck, NIDNTT, 2:715). It seems like Christ was here referring to the twelve new “scribes” who had been trained by Him as His disciples whose future task it would be to teach this truth (Calenberg, The New Testament Doctrine of Discipleship, p. 198). Notice that the flavor of the verb as it is used in this verse is intransitive. Our interest in this section is not in the intransitive usage (to become a disciple) but in the transitive usage (to make a disciple).
(b) Usage in Mt. 27:57. Here a fact is stated, i.e., Joseph is ( a disciple of Jesus).
(c) Usage in Mt. 28:19. Suffice it to say that the study of the usage here, which is transitive coupled with the other remaining usage in Acts 14:21, will furnish us with a clear biblical understanding of what disciple making constitutes. The grammatical analysis of the Mt. 28:18-20 passage reveals the following: the main verb is (make disciples) and it is surrounded by three participles, viz., Allow us to elaborate more on the relationship between the main verb and the participle the conclusion of which will also hold true for the participle since both participles have identical parsing and both follow the main verb. The participle is present tense. The normal significance of the present tense is that the action is simultaneous to the action of the main verb. The less frequent usage of the participle is to denote an action subsequent or antecedent to the action of the main verb (Flynn, “Participles” p. 10-8). It is highly improbable that the author meant for the out-working of this participle to be antecedent to the main verb otherwise he would have used the aorist tense. Seemingly we should be able to argue that this action of the participle would scarcely be subsequent since the future tense is not used At this point, Blass’ quote is critical: On account of the infrequent use of the future participle, the present participle stands here (referring to Mt. 28:18-20) after the principle verb to indicate an action which in order to describe an action following, as by virtue of the purpose and preparation steps, already beginning to come to pass (Blass, Grammar of the New Testament, p. 198). Going by the above observation, there is then an allowance of the fact that the outworking of this participle could either be future (or subsequent) or contemporaneous. But perhaps a more pertinent study would be the connection between the pronoun object of these participles and the antecedent object of the principle verb. According to the practices of the N.C.C., it is actually “these non-believers” who are taught and then baptized. However, from Mt. 28:18-20 we notice that it is not the heathen nations who are to be baptized and taught to obey the commands of Christ as will be shown later; rather, it is the believers. If the heathen non-believers were to be the object of teaching and baptism, then the antecedent of the pronoun “them” in the phrase , which is the same as the one in the phrase , would have to be the noun “nations” in the phrase “make disciples of all nations”. However, the parsing for the pronoun is accusative, masculine, plural whereas that of the noun “nations” is accusative, neuter, plural. The incompatibility in gender renders the N.C.C.’s practice of subjecting non-believers under rigorous teaching and finally baptism as non-biblical. This is the very reason why we concur with Warns when he affirms that the employment of the masculine pronoun after the preceding neuter noun discloses that not all the peoples of heathen as such are to be taught and then made disciples, but that the heathen are first to be evangelized, made disciples, then baptized and taught (Warns, Johannes, Baptism, p. 41) Preceding any disciple making is the concept of evangelism. This is the idea implicit in the remaining participle. The participle comes from the deponent verb and is parsed: first aorist, masculine, nominative, plural, passive and thus should be translated “having gone”. It is until we study the remaining passage (Acts 14:21) that we realize the full implication of this term.
(d) Usage in Acts 14:21. This usage illustrates the practice of discipleship that characterized the ministry of the Apostles during the earlier period of the establishment of the church. Paul was in central Asia minor on his first missionary journey. Having been stoned and left for dead outside Lystra, he was miraculously raised by God and then with Barnabbas, travelled to Derbe the next day (Acts 14:19-20). Acts 14:21 records the activities which characterized their ministry in Derbe. “And after they preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples ( )…” It seems that prior to the whole practice of discipleship making is the preaching of the gospel. The purpose of this preaching is to elicit repentance and faith (cf. Lk. 24:47; Rom. 10:9, 10). In conclusion then, making disciples is a process that begins with believers taking the initiative in presenting the gospel to the unsaved in order to bring them to salvation. This is followed by water baptism and by a continued process of teaching the word of God (Luter, “Discipleship and the Church”, Bib Sac, 271). The teaching does not refer to that necessary preaching which is meant to elicit belief, but rather it refers to the continued exposition of the whole counsel of God to those who have believed. (Scaer, “The Relation of Matthew 28:16-20 to the rest of the Gospel”, p. 256).
Conclusion
The N.C.C. mode of disciple making falls short of the biblical one in the following ways: (a) It is void of the initial presentation of the gospel. (b) It subjects the non-believers to the impossible task of obeying Christ without the divine empowerment of the Holy Spirit that endows every believer.
Nicholas oyugi's Weblog 