Likeness 3
Let us continue our study in likenesses. Carlos Aguilar

THE FAMILY OF GOD

Noah had but little influence upon the evil world of his day. Imagine preaching one hundred and twenty years and converting only one's own family. Eight souls in the ark: Noah, his wife, his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives. All that were on the ark were Noah's. Just the family, likewise, there is but one family in the church. That's all! God's Family! We read in Eph 3:14-15, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” Just as one has only one way to get into his earthly family that is by the process of birth; so there is only one way to get into the family of God, that is, by a spiritual birth. As in the earthly family, seed is sown, so in the spiritual family, seed is sown. Peter writes, “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever (Pet 1:23; see also 1 Cor 4:15; Jas 1:18), one family in the ark; one family in the church.

THE FAMILY NAME

As each family on earth has a name that distinguishes that family from all others, just Noah had a name separate from all others, so we have a name we wear, as members of His family, His Church, His bride. That name is church of Christ, often called just "the church" in the text, sometimes referred to as the church of God. As individuals we are known as Christians, and in wearing that name we honor and reverence our union with Christ. This name was divinely given us. Acts 11:26-- “The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

SEPARATED FROM WORLD

When Noah led his family and all the animals into the ark, there was a separation made between them and the world. This came about because they entered the ark; the others did not. They were saved from the flood; the others suffered drowning. You and I, as members of the blood-bought institution, are sanctified, set apart for a holy purpose. Though in the world, we are not of the world, God makes this separation. It is not that we cannot associate with sinners. In order to teach, to live here, we must have contact. But the admonition is to live differently, not to enter into the sins with which we find ourselves surrounded. Peter writes, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). Throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, we have numerous passages that tell us that God was continually separating His people from sin, or sinful people, for holiness, for cleanliness, for some special work, many such separations were made. It is necessary for a Christian to separate himself from the sins of the world. Paul borrows a truth from Isa 52:4 to drive home this point with the Corinthians to whom he was writing. He said in 2 Cor 6:17, “Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’”

WORSHIP

When Noah came out of the ark, his first act was to build an altar to God, take of every clean beast, and offer burnt offering to God. The Lord was well pleased, and made a promise in His heart not to destroy the earth by water again. You and I have an obligation, a privilege, to offer up sacrifices to God continually. In Heb 13:15 we read, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” The next verse mentions doing good and communicating (vs. 16). God is pleased with worship in song, in prayer, in the study of His word, in our acts of public and private worship, in our acts of service toward others, seeing to their needs, and to our unselfish, liberal giving of our means. These acts are our spiritual sacrifices.

God saved Noah, 2 Pet 2:5 tells us He“...spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eight person, a preacher of Righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly”.

In Heb 11:7 “By faith, Noah… prepared an ark to the saving of his house”, the writer says, preparing the ark through faith saved him.

In 1 Pet 3:20 we read, “who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”

In addition to these, we have a statement that Noah saved himself; in Gen 6:22; and in Gen 7:5 “So Noah did according to all that the Lord comanded him to do”.

The Bible teaches that God saved Noah by faith, by the ark, by water, and by himself. In our period of time, can we expect salvation for less than obedience to the Lord? We fit these statements together to arrive at a logical answer. God made it possible for Noah to be saved. Noah believed God, and did what He said. By means of the ark he was saved from the flood. All elements of his obedience were present. So must they be in ours.

The Lord is still saving: He gave us instructions as to our obedience. By our obedience, we demonstrate our faith. This leads to His cleansing of our sins, and separating us from a life of sin to complete submission to His will. 1 Pet 3:21 says, “There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 

CHURCH HISTORY: A BIBLICAL VIEW
Part V - No. 32 Compiled and written by Gary Eubanks

Protestantism in England got off to a slow and shaky start. This was primarily because the Reformation in England was born, not of popular religious conviction, but of political and social expediency. Nor did the Reformation in England produce the renowned spiritual leaders, such as Luther, Zwingli, or Calvin, who arose to ignite and rally reformatory movements in other countries. This is not to say that England had none of sincere religious sentiment or heroic spirit, for hundreds of martyrs testify otherwise. However, the central characters in the English Reformation drama, those who dominated and directed it, were politicians and their subservient ecclesiastical officials, who were moved mostly by political self-interests. Consequently, England's Reformation, subject to the whims of the country's changing political winds, came on, not as a flood, but as a tide with its ebb and flow.

It fell to a king, Henry VIII (1509-1547), to give Protestantism its toehold in England. Though Catholic, England had long possessed an independent spirit. The English episcopacy was largely controlled by the king, and bishops, often being the ones selected to serve in political positions, were appointed more for their political prowess than their piety. A strong nationalistic feeling which was antagonistic to foreign intervention and challenged loyalty to the pope had also grown up among Englishmen. Thus, it was papal authority rather than Catholic doctrine which tended to offend English sensitivities. These feelings coincided exactly with Henry's needs, for papal authority, not Catholic doctrine, was the obstacle in his way.

Ironically, Henry preferred to think of himself as an orthodox Catholic to the day of his death. For publishing his Assertion of the Seven Sacraments in 1521 he had won from Leo X the title "Defender of the Faith." Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, but of their six children only Mary survived infancy. Desiring a male heir, he sought to have his marriage to Catherine annulled on alleged religious grounds, though he had received papal dispensation for the marriage in 1503 (cp. Lev. 20:21; Deut. 25:5-10). His request might have been granted except that the Pope was under the sway of Emperor Charles V who happened to be Catherine's nephew.

Failing to obtain an annulment from the pope Henry took advantage of the English aversion to foreign - in this case, papal - interference in national affairs and moved the Parliament to pass a series of acts which increasingly separated the English Church from papal authority. These acts finally culminated in the famous Act of Supremacy in November, 1534 which declared the English king to be "the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England," thus replacing the pope with the king (cp. Eph. 1:22). During these events Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn about January 25, 1533, had his marriage to Catherine adjudged null and void by Archbishop Cranmer on May 23, and had Anne's daughter, Elizabeth, born to him on September 7 (cp. Matt. 19:1-9). However, not long after Catherine died in January, 1536, Henry, tiring of a questionable marriage to Anne, charged her with adultery and had her beheaded, two days after Cranmer pronounced her marriage to Henry null and void. Eleven days after Anne's death, Henry married Jane Seymour who bore him his son, Edward, about a year later, and then died shortly thereafter. Henry married Anne of Cleves in January, 1540 out of political expediency but obtained an annulment about six months later. He then married Catherine Howard but had her beheaded in February, 1542 for questionable conduct. Finally, he married Catherine Parr who survived him at his death in 1547.

Beyond his rejection of supreme papal authority, Henry wanted to be known as an orthodox Catholic. Hence, his ecclesiastical reforms were extremely moderate. Protestantism in his Ten Articles (1536) manifested itself only in the moderation or omission of Catholic practices. Little that was strictly Catholic was condemned. In 1539 Parliament passed the Six Articles Act which restored a number of typically Catholic practices and doctrines - transubstantiation, communion in bread only, priestly celibacy, private masses, and auricular confession.

Though the Reformation spirit was lacking in Henry, his revolt did open a door to growing Protestantism in England. At the time of his death three religious parties vied with one another - the Protestants, the Catholics, and Henry's popular moderates. During the reign of Henry's son, Edward VI, the Protestants dominated. During his six-year reign a Book of Common Prayer and the Forty-Two Articles (later revised as the Thirty-Nine Articles) which were decidedly Protestant in tone were issued. Upon Edward's death, the crown passed to Mary, Anne Boleyn's daughter, who was a Catholic. She reversed the reforms which had been made during the reigns of Henry and Edward. Papal authority in England was restored by Parliament in 1554, and the English Church was returned to a Catholic status, except that confiscated property was not returned to the Church. Mary persecuted Protestants with such cruelty and vigor that she was given the nickname, "Bloody Mary." With Mary's death and Elizabeth's accession Protestantism had a champion once again. Conditions were returned to a Protestant orientation. Though the Church of England is classed as Protestant, it has retained a strong Catholic slant. The confusion of its Protestant origins has left its mark with Catholic and Protestant attitudes in its membership referred to as High Church and Low Church.