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"Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His
Father with His holy angels" (Mark 8: 38).
In His capacity as Head of one body the church, the same One said through His
servant Paul:--
"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of OUR LORD, nor of me His
prisoner" (II Tim. 1: 8).
The apostle leaves us in no doubt as to the importance of the link between the
testimony of the Lord, and of himself the prisoner, for in this very epistle he emphasizes
repeatedly this special and important fact:--
"Have a pattern (a sketch before the finished design) of sound words, which thou hast
heard of me" (II Tim. 1: 13).
Is the personal element here uttered by inspiration, or is it Paul "speaking of himself"?
"The things that thou hast heard of me, among many witnesses, THE SAME commit
thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also" (II Tim. 2: 2).
Here again absolute emphasis is laid upon the special teaching of the apostle himself.
These are only two passages out of many wherein the apostle Paul urges the calm upon
us, believers of the Gentiles, to give heed to Christ'S OWN WORDS, as spoken through
His chosen vessel. Where in all the N.T. do we find the Lord Jesus Christ so magnified
as in the testimony given through Paul His prisoner? Where in the Gospels can we find
such a fulness, such a message of perfect acceptance, such a calling, and such a gospel of
grace as the Lord has spoken to us from heaven during Israel's temporary blindness?
We are indeed involved in very grave danger if we turn our backs upon the words of
Christ Himself. The pity of it is that some will not have the words which He has spoken
to us, but go back to another dispensation to words spoken to others. There is we trust no
need to criticise the error contained in the underscoring of the "us" in the quotation from
Heb. 1: 1. God never spoke to our "fathers" by the prophets; our "fathers" never tempted
Him in the wilderness.
Our "fathers," like ourselves, were aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel. Rom. 9: 4, 5 tells us the only people "whose are the fathers."
"Who then is Paul. . . . but a minister by whom ye believed"?
"I have planted"
"So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but GOD that
giveth the increase."
"Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of CHIRST, and stewards of the
mysteries of GOD."
"For we are not as many who corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we IN CHRIST."
"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake."
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of
GOD and not of us."
"Since you seek a proof of Christ SPEAKING IN ME. . . . examine yourselves
whether ye be in the faith" (I and II Cor.).