Ed Stover

Our success in matters of this life will always depend on whether or not we will completely submit our will to the will of God, and this is especially true when we consider God’s plan for the family. God has given all members of the family specific instructions on what their part is to play. What we must all realize is that for the plan to work we must all do our individual parts. It is when any one member of a family consistently rebels against doing their part, that we see many of the unfortunate situations that arise causing problems in the home. God’s plan works, but the important question we must always ask is whether or not we are all willing do our part to make it work?
The Holy Spirit did not take up pages of the New Testament going into specific detail about every little problem that will come up in a family. God gave us a set of definitive principles that will always guide us in the right direction if each member of the family dedicates himself to submitting to God’s plan for our family instead of how Oprah, Dr. Phil, or the latest self-help book says we should do it. It’s very simple. If each member of the family obeys God’s will, we put out trust in Him, and pray for His blessings our family will grow and become stronger in the Lord. Again, the key to our success depends on each member doing their part.
1. Husbands. The word husband comes from the words “house band”, which means they are supposed to be the band that holds the family together. God has made the husband the spiritual leader of the family and he has great responsibility. God makes it clear that this responsibility is not to be abused in a ruling capacity but out of love and compassion. Husbands are to be “head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church” (Eph. 5:23), and they are to “love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church” (Eph. 5:25). That is a great deal of love. They are not to be “bitter” against their wives (Col. 19), and are to “give honor to the wife as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Pet. 3:7). Husbands are also to be godly fathers that are charged to “provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
2. Wives. If the husband is the band that holds the family together, I think it is safe to say that most of the time it is the wife that holds the husband together. A godly wife and mother can be one of the most influential parts of a family. Wives are told to “submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:22). This submission is out of respect for God, and it should mean for a happy and joyful life to the woman who is married to a sincere godly man who cares for his wife like Christ cares for the church. The wife and mother is to raise the children in a way that teaches them how to carry on this tradition of caring for their family and serving God (Titus 2:3-5).
3. Children. God’s plan for children is very simple. Always obey your parents! When the parents are fulfilling their part of God’s will, then the children will always be exactly where God wants them by simply obeying mom and dad. Paul said, “children, obey you parents in the Lord: for this is right” (Eph. 6:1).
God’s plan for the family is not long, complicated, and overly demanding. It is simple and to the point. The key to it’s success depends on the submission of all the family members to following it. When followed, it may not always run like a well oiled machine, but you can rest assured it has the blessings of God upon it. -Ed

Many have claimed that God cannot be a loving and just God while commanding such harsh and violent things to be done in the Old Testament. Some have used the book of Joshua to state their point. God had given the children of Israel commands on numerous occasions to destroy whole nations of people. He would instruct them to kill all the men, women, and the children without showing any mercy. How does the Christian answer such claims?
A study of this sort must begin with a proper understanding of the nature of God. We must realize that God is holy, just, and righteous. He “desires all men to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:4), but He cannot tolerate rebellious sin while maintaining His righteous attributes. God has set forth laws for man to live by since creation. Those who choose to live by His laws will be blessed, while those who rebel must be punished according to His justice. Those people whom God had ordered destroyed in the book of Joshua had gone the way of those living just prior to the world wide flood. They had absolutely rejected God. Paul spoke of how this happens in Romans 1:18-32.
God had promised Abraham the land of Canaan, but He told him that it would be after his people grew in a distant land for four hundred years. God said, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen. 15:13-16). The term “Amorites” was commonly used in the Old Testament to refer to all the tribes in the land of Canaan. God, in his perfect foreknowledge and wisdom, knew that all the people of the land of Canaan would at one point turn completely against Him. They had not yet done that at the time God spoke these words to Abraham, but God foreknew that after the four hundred years their iniquity would be complete. This means by that time the Amorites would be in such a wicked state that God knew none of them would ever repent or stop rebelling. Even though God knew they would become totally wicked, He patiently waited while giving them every opportunity to repent until they came to the point where he knew none of them ever would.
The next question commonly presented is usually regarding God’s command to kill the children of all those people as well. How could God command innocent children to be slaughtered? We must remember that God knew the state of those people’s wickedness as well as how the children would grow up in that environment to be just as wicked, if not more, than their parents. Actually, we see God’s justice and love displayed in his command to kill the children. The children were not yet accountable (Eze. 18:20), and would be spiritually saved for eternity (Matt. 18:3). God knew with His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge how those children would grow up to be, and did what was best for them spiritually. Israel had to be separated from the wickedness of the Amorites to preserve the seed line of the coming Christ. We do not always understand God’s ways, but we must have faith that He always does what is best for all of mankind in regards to their eternal well being. -Ed

One of the scariest memories I have of childhood was when my mother or father would say, “go to your room and get ready because you are getting a spanking”. When those words were spoken, it was as if time stood still and the earth stopped spinning. I would go into my room and think about what terribly violent thing was about to happen to me. I would ask myself, “why, why, why do I have to endure such punishment?” It seemed like the anticipation of the spanking was worse than the actual spanking itself. Sometimes I would hear mom or dad say how bad it hurt them to have to do this. I remember thinking “yeah right”, as they swung away with the belt. After it was over, I would realize that I had lived through it to play another day. I would wipe away the tears, and go back outside to see what other mischief I could get into. But you can rest assured that I was weary of repeating whatever it was that required the need for the “cruel and unusual punishment” I had just endured.
Many parents and psychologists today consider spanking to be cruel and brutal. I must admit that when I was a young boy I didn’t like it, but somehow I understood it was for my own good, and I still loved my Mom and Dad even after they had done it. I look back now and I am thankful that I was raised in such a disciplined environment. Why is that? If being spanked is such a cruel thing by today’s psychological standards, why is it that I still loved and respected my parents so much? Why is it that children who have parents who administer such discipline develop such love and respect for their parents? If spanking children is such a terrible thing, then how do we explain this? The answer to the question can be discovered in God’s word.
God made it clear in His Word that children need to be brought up in an environment where they will learn to respect authority. When parents train children to respect their authority, they then begin their children’s understanding of fearing God and keeping His commandments (Eccl. 12:13). I am in no way saying that all parents have to spank their children. Some parents can discipline children without ever spanking them at all, but I think those situations are rare and unusual. Unfortunately the results aren’t known for years down the road. Lets consider what the Bible says.
“He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly” (Prov. 13:24). “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying” (Prov. 19:18). “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). “Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell” (Prov. 23:13,14).
The Bible is crystal clear when it relates to the importance of properly disciplining our children. The writer of Hebrews said, “For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten” (Heb. 12:6,7)? He then says, “no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11). The Bible teaches that discipline is one of the greatest forms of love, even though sometimes it’s hard to dish out and even harder to take. -Ed

Over the course of time, many assumptions and myths arise from the Bible due to certain people who have just not really studied the matter out. One of these many popular “myths” is that another name for Satan is “Lucifer”. Now you might be saying, “but Lucifer is Satan, I’ve heard that all my life”. Yes, you’re right, anyone you likely talk to today will tell you that it is so, especially Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean it’s the truth. Remember what I said before about how the myths develop over time, and then before you know it they are accepted as fact. Lets look at what the Bible says about the issue.
Those who have decided to assign the name Lucifer to the devil refer to Isaiah 14:12, which is the only verse in the Bible where the name is found. The verse reads, “How you are fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” Brother Wayne Jackson described in one of his articles where the word came from. He said, “the term ‘Lucifer’ was taken by the King James Version translators from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate (383-405 A.D.) edition of the Bible. The Hebrew word is Heylel which suggest the idea of shining or bearing light. Jerome assumed the word was the name of the morning star, hence, he rendered it the Latin title Lucifer” (Jackson, ChristianCourier.com 2000). The basic translation of the word “Lucifer” is considered to be “day-star” as seen in the margins of many of today’s Bibles.
So how did “Lucifer” come to be another name for the devil? The reason for this is because some have failed to properly study the verses, they have taken them out of their context, and many others have just taken people’s word for it for years that it was the truth. When we study the complete context of Isaiah 14 we can see that it is specifically speaking of the King of Babylon and referring to him with the name “Lucifer”. Isaiah had been prophesying about the many calamities which would befall Israel, and one of them would be the fall of Judah to Babylon. In Isaiah chapter fourteen, he is speaking of the prideful arrogance of the king of Babylon and his eventual downfall. He uses figurative language describing how the king thinks he has elevated himself into the heavens higher than God Himself through his many conquests, and then the dramatic fall into hell where he will be mocked for how great he thought he was. It could easily be made to seem like Isaiah is speaking of the fall of Satan from heaven, but it just isn’t the case.
A close examination of the context shows that it is specifically speaking a “proverb against the king of Babylon” (Isaiah 14:4), and it also refers to the subject as a “man” (v. 16) which Satan clearly is not. Brother Jackson also stated in his article how it is common in the Old Testament to refer to fallen corrupt rulers as stars falling from the heavens or losing their light (i.e. Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7).
A few good thoughts can come from a short study like this that we all should be reminded of. The first is that we should always study any question from the Bible in it’s complete context as well as check all similar references elsewhere in the Scripture. Secondly, we must never accept something as fact just because it has become tradition or commonly accepted as fact among people. We need to have the attitude of the Bereans (Acts 17:11), and search the Scriptures for ourselves. -Ed

It’s amazing how some sins become so commonplace in society over time. Those who have given in to the curse of alcohol were once called “drunks” or “drunkards”. They gradually became alcoholics, and then over time they adopted the title of having a “social disease”. Homosexuality was once called by its Bible name of Sodomy. It too has changed overtime to being called “gay”, and eventually into how it is now referred to as an “alternative lifestyle”. The sin of profanity and using the Lord’s name in vain has also become all too commonplace and accepted in our society.
God has always been interested in how people speak, and the words they choose to say to one another. The third commandment given to Israel reads, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Ex. 20:7). God’s name was considered so holy that the Hebrew people where afraid to speak it. The Israelites had scribes who would hand copy the Torah, which were the first five books of the Bible. Each time they would write the name of God on the scrolls, they would stop and ritually purify themselves with water. Can you imagine how one of those scribes would feel today if he were to hear how God’s holy name is used in such trivial ways? More importantly than that, we should consider how God feels about it. The Psalmist once wrote, “holy and reverend is His name” (Psalm 111:9). Has that changed? Is God’s name no longer holy and reverend? Has something changed that leads people to believe they can use God’s holy name as a slang word to be thrown around in any conversation? No, God’s name is still the holiest and greatest name in the universe. It always will be. The problem, as always, is with man’s lack of fear and respect for the Creator.
This is another perfect example of how people become desensitized to sin over time. Just twenty or thirty years ago you would very seldom, if ever, hear the Lord’s name used in vain on network television. I was watching a television show on the “Disney Channel” with my daughter not long ago where I heard God’s name used in vain at least six times within ten minutes. This was a television show for kids, on a kid’s channel, and it was rated for all children of all ages!
God has commanded us to abstain from all forms of filthy language. Paul told the Ephesians to “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Eph. 4:29). He also told them “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (Eph. 5:3,4). Paul told the Colossians to “put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth” (Col. 3:8).
Profanity and using God’s name in vain are sins which can easily become habit forming over time. Profanity infects the brain like a disease when heard on a steady basis. When one begins to use it in their speech, it becomes more and more commonplace and is a difficult habit to break. The way a person speaks is often a good indication of what dwells in their heart and mind. Christians have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in them (1 Cor. 6:19), so there is no reason why profanity or crude jokes should be coming out of them. -Ed

Bible classes are one of the greatest assets we have for studying and learning the Bible. We often take them for granted as they become commonplace over time, but when we do so, we neglect for ourselves a wealth of knowledge. A big problem among Christians these days is not that they do not study their Bible, but that they do not know how to study it properly. A well-taught Bible class can be a huge asset to one who desires to learn the Word of God.
Just consider how well we would all know the Scriptures if we spent as much time preparing for Bible classes as we do for a class at school or a project at work. Its ironic that we often spend more time on our secular education or employment when eternally speaking they are only temporal in nature. However, the things we learn in Bible classes are of the utmost spiritual importance for all eternity. Not only that, but those who dedicate themselves to intense Bible study soon discover that it makes dealing with school, employment, and all secular activities much easier. You see, when our faith in God becomes stronger, then everything else in life tends to become easier to deal with too. Paul told the Romans “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). He told Timothy that the Holy Scriptures had made him “wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15). We must always remember that all-important statement that Paul told Timothy next. He said, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16,17).
So how do we get the most out of Bible classes? There are some things that we can all do before and after each class which will help us benefit tremendously. Give them a try and see how much your Bible knowledge increases. Remember, when Bible knowledge increases, then your faith becomes stronger as well.
1. If you have children, don’t let them miss class. It has been statistically proven that children who do not attend Bible classes regularly are more likely to fall away from the church later in life. We should also push our children to study and complete any assignments their Bible class teacher assigns them. What kind of message are we sending to our children if we push them to complete school work, but let Bible class work slide. Our children need to see what is most important in life.
2. Make sure you read the Bible text you will be studying in class at least one time before you go to the class. Keep a pen and paper nearby to write down any important items you would like to remember. Also write down any texts you do not understand or may have questions about so you can ask about them in class.
3. Take notes during class. It has been proven that we remember more of what we hear when we write it down. You can also use the notes to review later.
4. When you get home that night, read the material that was covered in class again. Read it, review what was discussed about it in class, and then meditate on it some. Review any notes you took on it as well. This will help you dedicate what you have learned to memory. You can actually do all this in only twenty or thirty minutes of time. When the material is in your mind then you can remember it when you need to apply it to a situation in your life. -Ed

We in the churches of Christ have been referred to as being part of the “restoration movement”. Many people are not even aware that there ever was such a movement, even though it is still on-going all over the world. The movement’s goal is to restore Christianity back to exactly what it was in the first century when the church was first established on Pentecost.
Many things have happened to Christianity over the past two thousand years. History saw the original New Testament church fall away (apostatize) into the Catholic church just as Paul predicted would happen in second Thessalonians chapter two. The Catholic church grew more and more corrupt over the next one thousand years until its corruption finally led to the Protestant reformation. The reformers broke away from the traditions of Catholicism in an effort to reform or fix it. It was out of the reformation that we see the birth of the many denominations we have today. All of the present denominations were formed in an effort to reform Catholicism or break away from another denomination that had tried to do the same thing. This eventually led to the religious chaos and confusion we now have in the world. The problem with the reformation movement is that they were trying to reform something that was terribly corrupt (the Catholic church), when they should have been trying to restore the church back to its original state before it had apostatized into Catholicism. To reform means to attempt to fix or improve on something, where to restore means to take something back to its original state.
God gave us the inspired New Testament as our standard, rule, pattern, and blueprint for all things concerning the church. We can go back in time before denominationalism and Catholicism to exactly where the church began on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. We can then establish our congregations based on the same blueprint and pattern for the church that they used, the Word of God. When people do this you cannot go wrong. You can know that you are part of Christ’s church (the real church of Christ), when you do everything exactly like they did then. When we follow the pattern and examples recorded in the New Testament instead of the man made creeds of denominations, then we know we are doing it God’s way and not man’s. When we do that, then we are restoring the New Testament church.
You may be asking if there is anything in the Bible regarding the principle of restoration? Well, actually the Old Testament is full of it. Every time an evil king of Judah would take the nation into idolatry, the next good king that came along would have to attempt to restore it. But, the best description of restoration in the Bible is the account of the Jews return from Babylonian captivity. King Cyrus of the Media Persian empire released the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and restore their worship to God. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah record their efforts to restore the nation and worship of Israel back to its original state. Men like Ezra, Nehemiah, Joshua the high priest, and Zerubbabel led this restoration movement. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are often referred to as the restoration books of the Bible. The only way to know if a church is the true church of Christ, is to measure and compare it next to the one we read about being established in the New Testament. -Ed

The answer to that question is easy, everything! The Christian religion is based on love. God loved the world (us) so much, that He sent His son to die for us (John 3:16). Jesus loved us enough to live a perfect obedient life and then sacrifice Himself to save us from our sin (Rom. 5:8). The apostle John wrote that God is love (1 John 4:8), and then later told us that when we love one another, and are obedient to God, we are showing our love for Him (1 John 5:2,3). Love is the bond that ties it all together.
The apostle Paul emphasized the importance of love in 1 Corinthians 13. The Corinthians were having “issues” concerning the importance of spiritual gifts. Paul points out that the gifts were important, but there was something greater which would outlive them all. It was love. Paul said, “and now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).
But what kind of love are we talking about here? Is it the kind of love that we commonly see on television and in the movies? Is it the highly emotional spur of the moment love that makes one want to throw caution to the wind because of that warm feeling in their heart? Or is it the love someone speaks of when they say things like, “I just love ice cream”? Our society today does not use the word love in the same sense that it was commonly used in the Bible.
There are many different types of love. Unfortunately, the English language only provides us with the word “love” as a generic word for all the different types and meanings. This is part of the reason why the word has lost much of it’s power in our culture. The word love can be used to refer to both something important, and something extremely insignificant (i.e., a parent’s love for a child versus a person who “loves” a certain flavor ice cream).
We are fortunate that the New Testament was written in a certain type of Greek language. The language was much more specific in it’s definition of words than our English language is, and those definitions have been locked in time because of the death of the language shortly after the New Testament was completed. The Greeks interpreted love in four ways, and used four different words to describe which kind of love was meant.
1. Eros, which is an intimate love arising from passionate desires.
2. Storge, which is the type of love between a parent and a child.
3. Phileo, which is the type of love between close friends.
4. Agape, which is a self sacrificing love of affection and benevolence towards all.
The two most common Greek words for love in the New Testament are phileo and agape, but agape is the more prevalent of the two. When Paul gave his discourse on love in 1 Corinthians 13, he used the word agape. The King James Version translates it with the word charity. Agape love is not a description of love that can be used lightly, like the word love is used today in our society. Agape describes a love for souls, a love for what is righteous, and a self sacrificing love. The apostle John stated that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The word John used in that verse is agape. God is agape love, and it is that same type of love that He expects each of us to have toward Him and one another. -Ed

The year 2007 is now over and permanently sealed in history along with every year past before it. When we look back at the many things which happened this past year in our country, it’s easy to see what the “world” is really interested in and considers to be important. I do not watch much television anymore, but when I do its usually the FOX news channel. It’s really discouraging when I look back over the past year and consider the “major” news stories of 2007. Almost every time I turned on the News channel, all I heard about were the exploits of Britney Spears and the many possible fathers of Anna Nichol Smith’s baby. Its unfortunate that more people these days are interested in what celebrity is getting married for the sixth time, or who’s coming out of the closet and proudly proclaiming their freedom from the world’s oppression of their homosexual desires. Whatever happened to the news reporting facts that were actually important and relevant to what was going on in the world. Unfortunately we live in a consumer driven world, and it seems like most of the consumers these days are more interested in smut than soldiers fighting terrorism in Iraq or the millions suffering around the world.
I know this article does not have a very upbeat or positive ring to it, but when we consider the state our nation has lowered itself to, is it any surprise things are getting the way they are? When a nation seeks to take God out of it’s mainstream culture, you can expect it to decline ethically and morally as the days go by. The United States of America has been a light to the world for freedom and Christian beliefs for the last two hundred years, but that is quickly changing. Why? The nation is removing God from the center of it’s ideology. History can be a scary thing to consider. When you investigate all the major empires or nations of the past, you can see that there were always common denominators which contributed to their downfall. They were the lack of fear and respect for God, and progressively weakening moral values (i.e., divorce, sexual immorality, abortion, homosexuality). History has always proven that a nation without God ,or the principles set forth in the Bible, will exist as a weak nation or eventually cease to exist altogether!
Does the Bible have anything to say about what is happening to our country? Most of the Bible is history, and we can see the same thing that is happening in America repeated over and over again in the pages of It. We see how all the major world empires fell because of their rebellion against God. We also see many examples in the Bible of nations which crumbled from within because of immorality and their desire to live by the “way that seemeth right unto a man” (Prov. 16:25). I would ask you to read Romans 1:20-32, and consider the frightening similarities between what Paul described there and what we see going on around us today. Then review the Prophecy Paul made in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, and compare it to the society our media daily portrays this country as embracing. As negative as all this sounds, not all is lost. We as Christians are the ones that have the ability to turn things around. We do it by teaching our children to obey God. We teach the Bible to others, live right, and pray earnestly that our nation will realize that “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). The answer to any person or nations problems always has been, and always will be, humbly submitting to God. -Ed

There are those who read these two scriptures and make some pretty wild accusations. Some say that Jesus was condoning sin. Others have said that Jesus believed the Law of Moses did not apply to him. There are many who use this text to support what is called “situational ethics”. All of these points are obviously incorrect, as a proper study of the text will show. Jesus never approved of sin, because that would mean that he sinned. The New Testament clearly teaches that He never did (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus also obviously believed the law of Moses applied to him, because He was the only one who ever lived by it perfectly, and by doing so fulfilled it (Gal. 4:1-9, Heb. 9:15-17). But what about the question of “situational ethics”? Is Jesus teaching us in these two texts that it is sometimes acceptable to sin?
Those who support the idea of “situational ethics” use these texts to say it is ok to sin if something good comes out of it (i.e. – the idea that it is justifiable for a poor person to steal food or lie in order to feed his family). In both accounts we see Jesus and His disciples walking through a grain field on the Sabbath. His disciples pluck heads of grain, rub them between their hands, and eat them. Some Pharisees in the area see this and accuse Jesus of letting His disciples violate the Sabbath. Jesus reminds them of how David entered the temple and ate of the showbread, “which was not lawful for him to eat” (Matt. 12:4). Many read this text and claim that Jesus was saying that it was ok for David to eat of the showbread so it must be ok for His disciples to sin by plucking the grain on the Sabbath. But that was not what Jesus was saying at all, and He was definitely not supporting the idea of situational ethics.
We must first consider what Jesus meant by His statement about David. David had truly sinned by what he did. We all know that David was not perfect. Jesus pointed out how they would justify David committing sin for his well being, but not His disciples who also hungered. In 1 Samuel 21:1-7, David had eaten the Bread which was only lawful for priest to eat. The Pharisees would readily justify David (King and prophet) for doing such, but would not allow the disciples to pluck heads of grain on the Sabbath. One thing most students take for granted in this text is that the Pharisees were right in accusing them of violating the Sabbath. The disciples had not violated any of the laws of Moses. Jesus knew that Deuteronomy 23:25 and Exodus 12:16 gave them the lawful right to pluck the heads of grain. They may have been guilty of violating the Pharisee’s Sabbath tradition, but not the law. Jesus was rebuking them for their hypocrisy and binding of unlawful traditions.
Supporters of situational ethics will claim that Jesus was giving His approval to David when he sinned by eating the shewbread. That is completely opposite of what Jesus was doing. Sin is a transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). David sinned by doing what he did. The Pharisees were hypocritical. Jesus pointed out that priest could work in the temple (profane it) on the Sabbath, but according to their vain traditions a Jew walking in a field on the Sabbath could not pluck a head of grain to feed himself. Jesus used the Pharisee’s own hypocrisy to point out their guilt in not following the law of Moses. These can be tricky texts to understand, and many have differing opinions about them. Spend some time reading all the related scriptures and study for yourself. Let me know what you think. -Ed