THEME FOR BIBLE LESSONS FOR FOURTH QUARTER, 2017

BIBLICAL CONCEPTS OF BROTHERHOOD AND UNITY

 

The burden for this series of lessons centers on the Bible doctrines both of the brotherhood of man and the oneness and unity of believers. I have been specifically impressed that there is urgent need for instruction in this area of doctrine, especially in this time of great turmoil in our country.

As we study, let us ask ourselves, “What does God say about this subject?” Not, “How do I feel about this?” or, “What has my family/ school/culture always thought about this?” Let us be honest; God’s Word may reveal some inconsistencies in what we say we believe and how we actually live. We may have unknowingly picked up a worldly perspective and allowed some very carnal, unsanctified thinking to motivate our words and actions.

My prayer is that God will bring us “back to the blessed old Bible; back to the light of His Word.” I pray also that the seeds sown in these lessons will bring forth fruit unto life eternal.

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

 

OCTOBER 1, 2017

THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN

In the Beginning

Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

After the Flood

Genesis 9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

Genesis 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Words of Job, Solomon and Malachi

Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

Proverbs 22:2 The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

Malachi 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

New Testament Teachings

Acts 10:28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (See also Acts 10:15.)

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

 

MEMORY VERSE: And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation. —Acts 17:26

 

CENTRAL THOUGHT: The scriptures teach how all of mankind came from one father; they emphasize that because we have one Maker/Creator/Father, we are all brethren, of one blood, before Him, Who regards us all equally and without partiality.

 

WORD DEFINITIONS

 

Genesis 2:7 “Man” (literally, adam): man; mankind; human being.

Genesis 2:22 “Made he a woman”: literally, built he a woman. The woman was made entirely from Adam’s body and he declared, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh…she was taken out of Man.”

Acts 10:28 “An unlawful thing”: In Moses’ law, God commanded the Jews not to intermarry or enter into covenants with the Gentiles (Deuteronomy 7:2-6), but the Pharisees perverted this command and carried it much farther. The strict Jew would not enter a Gentile’s house, nor sit on the same couch, nor eat or drink out of the same vessel, nor conduct friendly or commercial transactions.

Acts 10:34 “Respecter”: take; receive; accept. To receive a person, give him access to oneself; also, to regard anyone’s power, rank, external circumstances, and on that account to do some injustice or neglect something; to show partiality. “Persons”: the face. “The appearance one presents by his wealth or poverty, his rank or low condition; outward circumstances, external condition; so used in expressions which denote to regard the person in one’s judgment and treatment of men.” See Luke 20:21 and Galatians 2:6. —From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon.

Acts 17:26 “Of one blood”: blood is omitted from some manuscripts, and the reading is “Of one,” meaning Adam. Paul was addressing the Athenians, who fancied themselves to be “self- produced.” They felt the barbarians were by nature meant to be slaves of the Greeks. “The declaration of the unity of mankind was a wholly strange message to proud Athenians, who believed themselves to be a race apart, not only from the ‘barbarians,’ whom all Greeks regarded as made of other clay than they, but from the rest of the Greek world” (MacLaren Expositions of Holy Scripture).

 

LESSON BACKGROUND

 

God created Adam, and then, from Adam’s own flesh and blood—He did not create a creature separately from dust—He made a woman, man’s helper, suitable and fit for him, his counterpart. From this union—one blood (Eve was flesh of Adam’s flesh and bone of his bone)—came all families, or nations, of the earth. After the flood destroyed the earth, the eight survivors then re-populated the earth, the people still being descendants of one, that is Adam.

Our verses from Job, Proverbs and Malachi all reinforce the truth of all nations of mankind being children of one father, and not only one natural father, Adam, but one spiritual Father and Creator, God.

Science backs up this creation truth. “A genus can have many species. Organisms of different species of the same genus cannot produce a fertile offspring if interbred together. Mule is a classic example of this. It is a product of a donkey and a horse which are two different species belonging to the same genus (Equus)” (www.differencebetween.net/ science/nature/difference- between-genus-and-species).

Scientifically, the nations of men are not different species of one genus, but variations of one species. There is “agreement in the physiological and pathological phenomena in them all, by the similarity in the anatomical structure, in the fundamental powers and traits of the mind, in the limits to the duration of life, in the normal temperature of the body and the average rate of pulsation, in the duration of pregnancy, and in the unrestricted fruitfulness of marriages between the various [groups]” (Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament).

Ken Ham, author of Answers in Genesis writes: “As a result of Darwinian evolution, many people started thinking in terms of the different people groups around the world representing different ‘races,’ but within the context of evolutionary philosophy. This has resulted in many people today, consciously or unconsciously, having ingrained prejudices against certain other groups of people…However, all human beings in the world today are classified as Homo sapiens. Scientists today admit that, biologically, there really is only one race of humans. For instance, a scientist at the Advancement of Science Convention in Atlanta stated, ‘Race is a social construct derived mainly from perceptions conditioned by events of recorded history, and it has no basic biological reality.’”

In Acts, Peter is speaking to Cornelius about the vision God gave him concerning his ingrained prejudices toward people who were not Jews. God let him know that all nations were equal before Him, and he was not to call any man “common” or “unclean.” Later in the book of Acts, Paul spoke to the Athenians on Mars’ Hill, and his words cut right across the proud prejudices of the Greeks, re-establishing the truth and purpose of God’s creation of man.

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

 

DISCUSSION:

 

1. One Human Father: Cite the Scriptures which give proof to this.

2. One Heavenly Father: Which Scriptures show the equality of all mankind before Him?

3. Root and Answer: What popular atheistic theory perpetuates ignorance and racial prejudice? What is the answer to the problem?

 

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

 

“Those consistently living out their Christian faith realize that the forced enslavement of another human being goes against the biblical teaching that all humans were created in the image of God and are of equal standing before Him (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11). Indeed, the most ardent abolitionists during the past centuries were Bible-believing Christians. John Wesley, Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce, Jonathan Edwards, Jr., and Thomas Clarkson all preached against the evils of slavery and worked to bring about the abolition of the slave trade in England and North America. Harriet Beecher Stowe conveyed this message in her famous novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. And of course, who can forget the change in the most famous of slave traders? John Newton, writer of ‘Amazing Grace,’ eventually became an abolitionist after his conversion to Christianity, when he embraced the truth of Scripture” (Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis).

The great problems of our day—discrimination against and murder of the unborn, the deterioration of marriage, racial unrest— can all be resolved by going back to the teachings of the Bible, especially these basic truths regarding the origin of man, the Divine institution of marriage, and the brotherhood of mankind. Through study of the Scripture and the scientific evidence we can receive great enlightenment and liberation of the mind from the incorrect notion of races. There is just one race.

—Sis. Angela Gellenbeck

 

REFLECTIONS

 

Growing up among seven children, including five boys all born within five years of each other, one of the quickest ways for me to receive discipline from my parents was to get into a physical altercation with one of my other brothers. Fistfights just weren’t tolerated. Yet there were many times when my brothers and I would get into sharp disagreements and verbal spats, and while not coming to physical blows, the sour attitudes and raised voices would invariably require the intervention of our parents.

One such Saturday morning when I was around 8 or 9 years old, one of my younger brothers and I began to argue over something meaningless, the commotion eventually progressing to a major disturbance in the household. My mother bolted from her bedroom and lined all five of us boys up in front of her for family devotion, and beginning one of her legendary singing practices proceeded to teach us some lyrics she had just written that morning while listening to us bicker. To this day, I can’t think of the lyrics she taught us without thinking of how it must have grieved her to see her boys unable to get along peacefully all the time.

In much the same way, how it must grieve the heart of our Heavenly Father to see how mankind has forsaken His peace: nations at odds against nations, ethnicity versus ethnicity, animosity amongst political parties, gender wars, etc.

Yet, unity is so important to Him and abundantly evident in the Scriptures. Both of the divine institutions He has set up on earth require unity: marriage and His church. In fact, Jesus himself prayed that His disciples would be one just as He and His Father are one.

As His Church, do not we all have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all (Ephesians 4:5-6)? Just as my mother desired for her boys, are we as His people presenting the beautiful picture of unity to the world around us? Lord, help it to be so!

—Bro. Fari Matthews