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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
2 Corinthians 13:1
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
How many times has a person waged an accusation against someone else and that accusation was a lie?
Don’t even ask me to count how many times it has happened in my lifetime. And we can add the times people falsely alleged things against me behind my back that I was never aware of.
This matter of a person lobbing mistruths has been going on for the ages. We just went through another election and an onslaught of ads on television where one candidate tried to outdo the other in what ends up being nothing less than competing smear campaigns.
As we read the scriptures, we are reminded that this isn’t just a 21st century phenomenon. For if we go all the way back to the Mosaic Law, the Law given by God to dictate proper behavior of His people, we find guidance on how matters of accusation were handled. Consider these words from the nineteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, the 15th verse:
One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Deut 19:15
Here, God’s word is clear. If a charge is levied against an individual for a crime or offense, it isn’t legitimate if it would come from just one person. Rather, the crime or offense had to be validated “by the testimony of two or three witnesses”, witnesses not only testifying before those hearing the charges but before God as well, the Supreme Judge, the One who sees through any attempts to sin.
In other words, the accusers would be held accountable by God for their accounts of whatever matter they were talking about.
Fast forward to the ministry of Jesus and you will find Him giving the following directions in regard to handling faults identified in Christian believers:
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’” Matthew 18:15-16
Note here that Jesus encouraged things to get worked out at the lowest level possible. In this case, person-to-person first.
There was no need to drag anyone else into the issue at hand as long as the person transgressing listens and commits to repent and change behavior back toward righteousness. But if they refused to accept the truth of their sinfulness, then two or three other witnesses to the sin were to be brought in with the hope that this might cause the erring believer to right their ways.
In invoking the two or three witnesses, Jesus was simply adhering to the Law and the principles His Father God had established.
Later, Paul would write this to Timothy, his protégé:
Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.1 Timothy 5:19
In chapter 1, we learn that Timothy was working with the Christian church in Ephesus when Paul provided instruction on what was to be done. It was obvious that there was some strife within the church with the elders involved. Here again, we find Paul, like Jesus, upholding the commandment in Deuteronomy by requiring an accusation to only be considered valid when it is brought by two or three witnesses.
Speaking of accusations and the fledgling Christian church in first century AD, Paul had his own issues to deal with in Corinth. We know that false teachers had infiltrated the church and were trying to influence the believers against Paul and the Gospel he had brought to the people. The false apostles sought to discredit Paul in order to try and make themselves look credible and such was Paul’s concern that he was ready to visit Corinth for a third time to defend himself and expose the sinful false teachers.
Before that happened, note how Paul leads into this final chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians:
This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
Paul wanted to make it clear right away that if anyone was going to levy an accusation against another person, it would need to be done lawfully by way of the “testimony of two or three witnesses”. These ground rules would apply to everyone involved because we know that Paul had his own charges to bring to bear.
Today, many charges will be waged against other people. When this happens, we should refrain from being too quick to judge until we gather all the facts, including the testimony of more than one person, and ultimately pray to God to reveal the truth to us for we know when we do that, He will always bring it to us.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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