THE FUTURE
J. F. JOHNSON
HISS EMMA P. JOHNSON.
L. A. WISE
MISS DIANE CLARK
OUTLOOK
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The Plight
Of Rev. Williams
Bv BEATRICE HERBIN
"The foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but
The Son of Man hath no where to lay his head." Scrip
tures. In this day of scientific and humanitarian advance
ment in all phases of religion and education, one wonders
after all why God set man above the kingdoms of the
earth. It seems that all nature, to a great extent, bespeaks
peace and tranquility, but man, whom God has made just
a little lower than The Angels have not responded like
wise. There have been numerous occasions similar to that
in which The Reverend Frank Williams finds himself to
day, and yet, a situation wherein a man of peace can not
live without being molested is barbarian in this civilized
age. Man, whom God has created in His own image, and
whose men are all brethren, has not learned to live together
in peace and harmony. How then can he expect to live in
God's Heaven, if he is unable to dwell together on earth ?
The 23rd Chapter of St. Matthew speaks of the admonition
to follow good doctrine, not evil examples. The 28th verse
reads : "Even so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men,
but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." Christ
could be speaking these words to any community, for
among the people are many "Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hyd)es."
In business or at a distance, the. bulk of the American
whites have shown friendly at^MjMjes towards Negroes,
but just dare to move into an alfSnEte neighborhood and
the other side of man comes oufeTOis is what confronts
Rev. Williams today. His home l&i?-I>een defaced by van
dalism, by ignorant and prejudiced whites. Then there
are those who stand on the sidelines and say: "It would
be better if he moves out." When will those who call
themselves Christians stand up for right and defend the
righteous? Or do they do this only when the other party
is white also?
1
The Gospel is just as fitting today as it was 2,000
years ago. And it is obvious that these words of Mat
thew's 33rd. verse might be addressed to such promoters
of vandalism and hatred :
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye
escape the damnation of hell?"
Throughout the history of the world, men have been
persecuted and crucified along with Christ. However, Rev.
Williams is not being persecuted in this instance for
righteousness sake ; he is being tried for racial sakes. Laws
to some people mean nothing. It is indeed a pity that Ne
groes and whites are forced to live together in Viet Nam
and remote parts of the earth when, here at home, they
can not live side by side in peace.
As one military man wrote recently, "The men don't
mind fighting for peace and what we believe in, but the
thing that makes us feel bad is that we have to come back
to America to fight another war ? among our own people
? white and Negro."
As Stephen, as Paul and other prophets, Rev. Wil
liams stands to be stoned to death, yet, he has said that he
will not move! This is to be admired. And the blood of his
sneaking attackers will be on the souls of irresponsible
witnesses.
Christ's great second Commandment says: "Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself." This means coming to his
rescue in time of need as one would deflire others come to
him. Oh, men of earth, where is thy shame? You speak of
Christian love with your lips, but your hearts are far
from God !
A community should be honored to have a man of
God in its midst ; his coming should bring light, but in this
case, the moving of a Negro minister into a white commun
ity has brought a night of treacherousness and fear, and
a demand of guards to watch lest the enemy comes while
they sleep.
I'd like to say to all America, to Greensboro and Guil
ford County, how can we win wars of peace with foreign
countries, people we never come in contact with, if we
can't win the wars of peace at home, among our own
f ellowmen ?
T his Weed's Sunday School Lesson
God Makes
No Distinctions
Purpose Of Our Study
To help adults become increas
ingly aware of the inclusive na
ture of Christianity in that all
men are saved only through the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture
Read the lesson from your
Bible: Acts 15. We print select
ed verses below.
Acts 15:1-11
1 But some men came down
from Judea and were teaching
the brethren, "Unless you are
circumcised according to the cus
tom of Moses, you cannot be
saved." 2 And when Paul and
Barnabas had no small dissen
sion and debate with them, Paul
and Barnabas and some of the
others were appointed to go up
to Jerusalem to the apostles and
the elders about this question.
3 So, being sent on their way by
the church, they passed through
both Phoeni'cia and Samar'ia,
reporting the conversion of the
Gentiles, and they gave great joy
to all the brethren. 4 When they
came to Jerusalem, they were
welcomed by the church and the
apostles and the elders, and they
declared all that God had done
with them. 5 But some believers
who belonged to the party of
the Pharisees rose up, and said,
"It is necessary to circumcise
them, and to charge them to keep
the law of Moses."
6 The apostles and the elders
were gathered together to con
sider this matter. 7 And after
there had been much debate,
Peter rose and said to them,
"Brethren, you know that in the
early days God made choice
among you, that by my mouth
the Gentiles should hear the
word of the gospe! and believe.
8 And God who knows the heart
bore witness to them, giving
them the Holy Spirit just as he
did to us: 9 and he made no dis
tinction between us and them,
but cleansed their hearts by
faith 10 Now therefore why do
you make trial of God by putting
a yoke upon the neck of the dis
ciples which neither our fathers
nor we have been able to bear?
11 But we believe that we shall
be saved through the grace of
the Lord Jesus, just as they
will."
Memory Selection: I am not
ashamed of the gospel: it is the
power of God for salvation to
every one who has faith, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek.
? Romans 1:1(5
Introducing The Scripture
Acts 15 tells of a great council
of the church that convened at
Jerusalem to deal with the ques
tion of the real nature of Chris
tianity. Was Christianity to be a
sect of Judaism, with all the ex
clusiveness and legalism implied
thereby? Or was Christianity to
be a free religion of the spirit
of Christ? This council at Jeru
salem should not be considered
a general council of the entire
church since only Jerusalem and
Antioch were represented.
A smfliar council seems to be
described in Galatians 2: 1-10.
Whether Acts 15 and Galatians
2: 1-10 describe the same council
is a debatable question. There
are discrepancies between the
two accounts. However, the two
accounts breathe the same spirit
? the spirit of a religion offer
ing to men salvation not on the
basis of man-made distinction
but on the basis of the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ freely of- ;
fered to all.
Interpreting The Lesson
The gospel of Jesus Christ can
never be the possession of a
clique or an organization or an
institution. God through Christ
calls all men into saving fellow
ship with himself. The call comes
not on the basis of human merit
or man-made distinction but on
the basis of God's gracious love
for all his children, regardless
of their race, rank, position, or
human worth.
The gospel is indeed "the pow
er of God for salvation to every
one who has faith, to the Jew
first and also to the Greek." (Ro
mans 1:16) The Jews of the firsl
century confused the fact that
they had first claim to the gospe]
with the false assumption that
they had an exclusive claim to
the gospel.
A Jewish Religion?
The burning issue of the early
church was whether or not
Christianity would remain a
sect of Judaism or become a new
and independent religion. As the
church spread out to the gentile
world and inevitable conflict
arose between the Jewish na
tional party of the church and
the advanced missionary wing of
the church.
The "Judaizing" party con
tended that the church was fun
damentally a Jewish concern
and that converts to the Chris
tian church had to become good
Jews before they could become
Sood Christians. Paul and his
colleagues, who preached the
gospel of salvation by faith
alone, proclaimed that gentile
converts need not fulfill the Mo
saic requirements and could en
ter the Christian fellowship on
the basis of their faith alone.
The so-called Jerusalem Coun
cil, referred to in Acts 15 and
perhaps also in Galatians 2, at
tempted to determine what type
of religion Christianity would be.
Paul and Barnabas, infuriated
with the attempts of the Judai
zers to enforce Jewish regula
tions on the Christians of An
tioch, went up to Jerusalem to
discuss the question with the
j apostles and the elders of the
J church. The whole course of the
Christian church was influenced
by the answers given to the
basic question of the relation
ship of the Jewish religion and
the growing Christian move
ment.
A Legalistic Religion0
The Pharisaic party within
the early Christian church con
tended that Christianity was un
der obligation to be as narrow
and strict as the Jewish religion
of which it was a part. These
Jirdaizers contended that Jesus
himself was a Jew and that he
had kept the law and even de
nied any intention of destroying
the law. (See Matthew 5:17-20.)
Furthermore, the Old Testa
ment affirmed that the promises
of God were for the children of
Abraham. Therefore, If these
gentiles were to share in the
promises of God, they had to
become sons of Abraham by ac
cepting the covenant of circum
cision.
Certainly Paul was not against
the law as such. He realized
that God's demands, as encoun
tered In the law of the Old
Testament, were for the purpose
of leading men to life. The law
could serve as a school-master
to bring men to Christ; but the
law could not save men. No
amount of good works done in
response to the command of the
law could save men. The law, as
a matter of fact, ministered to
the abortive efforts of man to
achieve his own salvation, for
getting his own creaturely and
dependent existence.
Paul was not so much against
the law as he was against the
legalistic mind. These Judaizers
came down to Antioch preaching
to the gentiles: "Unless you are
circumcised according to the
custom of Moses, you cannot be
saved." Their devotion to tradi
tion limited their approach to
the whole problem. They were
sure that if all the converts did
not follow the path of the Jewish
converts, they were on the
wrong road.
Because man is not what he
ought to be and through the law
he sees what he ought to be, he
tries to achieve this ideal pos
sibility through his own strength.
But the power that can save man
and reunite him with his true
meaning in God is a divine gift
and cannof be earned through
the fulfillment of any laws.
Paul reacted to the narrow
ness and restriction represented
in the Judaizers' position. He
was convinced that Christianity
could not bo cramped or ham
pered by such a legalistic ap
proach.
A Free Religion?
For Paul, the Christian church
was the congregation of the free,
and Judaism was under the
bondage of the law. Those who
were once slaves under the law
had been set free and now had
i
? the rights of sons of God. Paul
Isaid to the Galatians, "Stand
fast therefore, and do not submit
again to a yoke of slavery."
(Galatians 5:1)
Paul accented the free re
sponse of man to the grace of
God, which had been freely
j given Paul had won this free
I dom after the frustrating slavery
! of meticulously attempting to
obey every detail of the Jewish
law in the effort to find salva
tion. Paul saw the work of the
Judaizers as an entering wedge
to rob the church of this precious
freedom.
This freedom from the law did
not mean license for Paul. Some
of the early Christians misun
derstood Paul's teaching at this
point and enjoyed without re
straint or without fear of guilt
many worldly pleasures. But
Paul did not mean that Chris
tians were to live below the law;
he meant that they were to live
above it in a new freedom in
Christ Jesus.
A Working Religion?
When Paul and Barnabas went
up to the Jerusalem Council, they
did not argue the question by at
tempting to prove abstract propo
sitions. They simply told the story
of their successful mission to the
gentiles and of God's apparent
favor upon their efforts. Peter
also reminded the leaders of the
church how God had granted
his Holy Spirit to the gentiles.
Had God not shown Peter that
nothing made by God could be
considered unclean or inferior?
One of the greatest tests of
Christianity has been the prag
matic test. Christianity works.
Christianity saves and redeems
and brings new life.
(Continued on Page 3)