All right, so tonight we are going to start tackling some of the questions, the non-medical questions from our Q&A that we started last week. And I admit that the first one is one that I want to lay some foundation for. We may not get past this one tonight. I do want to be a little more sensitive with school going and everybody starting school and needing to get back, I do want to be a little bit more observant on when we start and stop, so I'm not going to stretch us time-wise. But I do think that this is a very important topic for us, and this first question, basically what it is, I took all the questions I received and lumped them into categories, and within the categories there's individual questions. So the first, kind of the first one, is the category of submission to government. what the Bible teaches in regards to submission to government. And the question goes something like this, in light of the war on truth sermons, how are Christians to understand and apply Romans chapter 13 and other verses in the Bible commanding Christians to submit to their government? So this is a complex question that Christians have answered different ways. Christians can easily err on this question by either ignoring what scripture says or by studying the key passages on submission to government in isolation from other passages of scripture that deal with other types of authority and responsibility. So in one case, the error is you just don't even pay attention to what the Bible says and do your own thing, and you get in trouble that way. The other mistake can come in when you just kind of isolate the text itself from all the other scripture that we're given in scripture. And as an example to that, I just point you back to the lesson on wives submitting to their husbands. So there's a passage of scripture that says, wives submit to your husbands and everything. you know, Ephesians. And so if you just isolated that text and only looked at that text, you might think that there's no boundaries to that command. When in fact, I argue that there are very much boundaries to that command. And I would argue, and will argue tonight, that there are boundaries to the command that were given in Romans 13, much the same way there are boundaries given to wives in command to submit, even though it says in everything, there's still boundaries because of the levels of submission and the levels of authority that are spoken. And I also want to say from the outset that we need to recognize that there are in this sinful world legitimate gray areas in which believers will arrive at different interpretations and applications of scripture. I mean, there are some. There aren't as many as people want to make them out to be. but there are legitimate gray areas where, even without our own body, we may reach different conclusions about the same situation, same circumstance, just because it's not specifically addressed in scripture. We're trying to make decisions about these areas not specifically addressed in scripture. We're trying to address these by way of principle and application, and we need much wisdom. But at the same time, recognizing that there are legitimate gray areas, I want to just come out very, I guess very clearly to say that the Bible is not silent on this particular issue. There is much about submission to government that is clear. And when approaching a topic like this, Well, where we want to start is with the clear text of scripture. So when you're dealing with something like this, or let's say a problem passage, a passage that's not so clear, what you want to do is work your way from the clear and kind of put a framework or a boundary around that so that in interpreting what's not clear, that the clear then provides the framework or the foundation for understanding what may be not so clear or might be a legitimate gray area. So what would be some things that are clear to us when we're approaching a topic like submission to government? And the first, here are some boundaries. First, God's people must not be characterized by rebellion. God's people must not be characterized by rebellion. When God confronts Saul for his rebellion, he does so through Samuel in 1 Samuel 15.23, God says, for rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king. So there you see the heart of God is saying that rebellion is as the sin of divination, divination being like witchcraft, right? We tend not to think about insubordination or rebellion in these fashions. Especially here in the United States, we kind of pride ourselves on being rebels in a political and cultural sense. But from a spiritual standpoint, God says rebellion is just like witchcraft. In other words, do you think God is going to approve of witchcraft? He's not going to approve of rebellion. Again, we're talking about the pattern and characterization of a person's life. He calls insubordination iniquity, which is another word for sin, and idolatry, which is a word you're well familiar with. He likens it to idolatry. And if you think about it, what is that idolatry? Who is the idol? It's you. You're worshiping you. You put yourself on the throne, and you do what you want to do. So we can't be characterized by that. You can point to passages also like Isaiah 53, 6 that says, All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each one of us has turned to his own way. The good news is that the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to follow him, but that going our own way is not a good thing. That's a sin. The other thing to argue from this standpoint, that God's people must not be characterized by rebellion, is that disobedience is a characteristic of unbelief. So there's lots of scriptures about this. Romans 1.30 calls those that rebel against God, calls them disobedient to parents. So it's specifically calling out the disobedient to parents, but that's just one of the layers of authority that they are disobedient to. And 2 Timothy 3.2 says, men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, and the list goes on. In Titus 1.16, talking about those that... would claim to know God, it says, for they profess to know God, but by the deeds they deny him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. So there, the disobedient is really the disobedient to God's word, but the principle is a broader principle, that unbelievers are characterized by disobedience. So much so that Paul tells Titus in Titus 3.3, he says, for we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient deceived enslaved to various lusts and pleasures spending our life in malice and anger hateful hating one another so that's that's speaking about the characteristics of unbelievers and he's saying that that describes us before christ so god's people must not be clearly god's people must not be characterized by an attitude and spirit of rebellion Secondly, God's people are called to submit to the authorities that God places over them. This kind of gets to the heart of it, but I want to lay out that there are layers of authority, or some would refer to them as spheres of authority. Spheres is probably a better term than layers. But first and foremost, you have God, and God's disciples. he has established every sphere so there is no supreme ruler but God which is why so many governments kind of revile against God and they they hate God they're threatened by God because they want to have that place of being supreme ruler so dictators and communists are infamous for trying to stamp out Christianity and stamp out God but God is the ruler of all and we understand that that we are called to obey God first and foremost. First John 2.5 says, but whoever keeps his word, that is God's word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. Then as another layer to that, I would argue, I'll fill out more details on this in a moment, There's a certain amount of autonomy that God has given each individual believer to manage their own life according to God's glory. You are a steward of the body and the life that God has given you. So there's a certain sense of which you have authority that none of the other spheres have. And again, I'll defend that a bit better later with scripture. Then another layer or sphere of authority would be that of the family. So you have fathers being the leaders of their families. So wives are called to subject yourselves to your husbands as is fitting the Lord, that's Colossians 3.18. And children, in Ephesians 6.1, are called to obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. So there's that kind of sphere of a family between husband and wife and then when the Lord grants children, than children as well. Then there's another sphere that I'll call employers. For example, in Titus 2.9, we're called, there Paul says, urge slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative. You see the kind of idea of that in everything? So wives are called to submit to their husbands in everything. Children, obey your parents to the Lord, for this is right, no limits. Employers, Titus 2.9, urge slaves to be subject to their masters in everything. And yet, that in everything is bounded by the sphere of authority that God has given that particular entity. In Titus 3.1, again, just same with Titus, there's the sphere of government, local authorities, the state, whatever name you want to use there. Paul tells Titus to remind believers to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed. Again, no really limitations there. Implication is within the sphere of their authority, you are to obey them. Now due to the fact that we live in a fallen world, We will most certainly face circumstances in which these spheres, instead of working in conjunction and in alignment like a finely tuned machine, God designed these things to function together, they will clash. And one will overshadow and try to take the authority of another. And then, in the following world, we need to understand that we are most certainly going to face circumstances in which we cannot keep every command of God. Now that may come maybe as a bit of a surprise that I'm saying that. And this gets into the area of ethics, something I'd like to do some more teaching on in the future. But there are circumstances in this fallen world where we cannot obey everything that God has commanded us. And when we face situations like that, then we have to prayerfully consider what is the best course of action. Who has the sphere of authority in that particular area? Who do we listen to? Who do we obey? Who is the higher authority? All those are the kind of questions we have to ask. So some clear examples. Again, we're dealing with the clear, trying to work from the clear to the unclear. So some clear examples. A husband tells his wife that she may not attend church. What is she to do? Even though she's under her husband's authority. She, if she's a Christian, she is to obey God. And she is to participate in the life and the body of the church. That may cause, it will cause marital discord, but she has to obey God rather than man. Another example, parents tell their child that she may not attend church. The child wants to follow Christ, and the parents come down and say, no, we think you're crazy. Happens all over the world. What does a child do? even though they're under their parent's authority. That child needs to do everything they can do to follow Christ and obey Christ. What about employers? So let's say an employer tells their employees secretly that they must participate in something fraudulent, something that's deceitful, something that'll earn some good money for the company and no one will really be hurt by it. You can't go along with that as a Christian. You can't submit to that. Because there's a higher calling from God not to lie. So again, you see that you have a command to submit to your employer, you have a command not to lie. Who do you obey? You sort through that, you obey God, and if you lose your job, well, then you lose your job, God will provide something different because you've made the right choice, you sought to honor Him, and He will provide for you. Another clear example, some would say not so clear, but I think it's clear, Local state or federal authorities demand that local churches not meet physically. They tell churches they're not essential. Who are you gonna listen to? It's clear, we listen to God and we meet. We don't listen to the society that says churches meeting physically together is not essential. So in such cases, Christians must triage the situation Pray for wisdom and obey the higher authority. Now in cases where you decide to obey the higher authority, we recognize that the lesser authority may take action against us. For example, if we decide if the state were to tell churches they could not meet, and we were to meet anyway, trying to obey God, then the state may try to shut us down. They may fine us. They may seize buildings, as we've seen actually happen in the free world and other places. And we have every legitimate right to take that into court and try to respectfully fight that battle. But at the end of the day, the state injustice might be done, and the church may have to pay a fine, or the church building might be seized in some countries. So charting the right course doesn't always mean a good outcome. We're thankful that it meant that for Grace Community Church in California, because that sets a really strong legal precedence, not only just in California, but really in other states as well. so we can be thankful for that. But I'm just trying to lay down, I guess, a pattern of how we think about these things. So we just, all I'm saying is we have to obey what scripture tells us to do, what our conscience, as we study scripture and pray for wisdom, what our conscience leads us to do in determining what is right, whether it's right to obey your parents or obey God in a certain situation Again, these are clear examples, but recognize that there may be earthly consequences that are unpleasant because of that. So there are politicians in certain places are working to get language outlawed so that we can't call homosexuality a sin. And if that happens, I'm not going to change what I call it. And I obey God rather than man. The ramifications are that there may be earthly consequences to us charting that course. And we have to be willing to bear that as God ordains that, right? And allow God to edit the plans of our lives and direct that where He will. And if that means ministry in prison that we would never choose for ourselves, then so be it. The Lord will provide for that. So we just have to be careful and recognize that just because we honor God and seek and honor God, He could preserve us from harsh treatment from the government, like in the case of Grace Community Church. The Lord rescued them from that, and they're not even paying legal fees. In fact, the state and county are paying the legal fees. It's a tune of $800,000. So that's good news, but it doesn't always work out that way. But nonetheless, we have to do what is right. And I think it's helpful for us as we seek to understand how to respond to government, submission to government, if we think through how other Christians have come to terms with this through the centuries. And I wanna do this by using one of Jesse Johnson's articles that was posted on Cripplegate blog. I often reference the Cripplegate blog and eBridge, you're familiar with that. But back in 2020, Jesse summarized kind of the church's understandings of submission to government by presenting them in a broad view, not getting into details, and he listed three major views, three major views of submission to government. And at the end, I'll add what I'll call a fourth, that's a slight modification. One from Tim Cantrell. Tim is a pastor in South Africa, and I think he has some important refinements to help our thinking on this. So let's just begin by reminding us of what Romans 13 says. So open your Bibles and turn to Romans 13, and let's just read it together. It's not the only text that addresses it, but it's one of the big ones. And again, my goal here tonight is not to try to do an exposition of this passage or passages like this. Romans 13 beginning at verse 1. Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there's no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear to good behavior but for evil. Do Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword for nothing. For it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also of God, devoting themselves to this very thing, render to all what is due them, tax to whom taxes due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." So we're looking at kind of three major views that say that evangelicalism, to use that term, that the church has taken in in response to this, how they've interpreted it. So the first view, which Jesse calls the Lutheran view, traditional Lutheran view, is that we are to obey in all things except sin. Obey in all things except sin. So if something, unless something's called sin, unless government's telling us to do something God commands us not to do, or prohibits something God commands us to do, we're to submit. So there are some who would even say that the government commands them to put pinwheels on the side of their head. When we go outside, we should put pinwheels on the sides of our head, because scripture doesn't tell us one way or the other, so that's kind of that view. Yet Jesse argues here, I'll just quote him, he says, by arguing that the government is owed allegiance at all times, except in rare cases of sin, It ends up demanding an allegiance to government that is really only owed to God. Only God can demand absolute obedience. And the disclaimer of, except in cases of commanded sin, would be true with him as well. And he continues here. He says, in short, this view, that is the view that we're to obey in all things except sin, this view does not do justice to the intricacy of Romans 13, one to seven. Paul gives three reasons for obedience to the government. God tells you to, that's first, so you don't go to jail, that's the second, and also your conscience, that's the third. And the second and third would be irrelevant if the first was as absolute as this view makes it sound. After all, God tells you to obey, why care about your conscience? So that's the first view. And I'm just giving a broad overview. Second view is you're to obey the government when the government promotes good or checks evil. Obey the government when it promotes good or checks evil. This is what Jesse calls a traditional Presbyterian or Puritan view. So under this view, and I gotta just quote him here, under this view of Romans 13, even non-Christian governments are capable of checking evil and promoting good. And when they do, they should be obeyed. Even when they pass laws that are of little moral value, they still should generally be obeyed for the sake of conscience and your freedom. The strength of this view is that the Church has a role to play in society by encouraging moral conduct and speaking truth to power in the government. A la John the Baptist, government leaders should know if they are failing to check evil or to promote righteousness. He continues and says, the implication is that some government laws go beyond the lawful boundaries set by God. And in those, submitting to them is not submitting to God. Again, I want to stress, this doesn't mean we should disobey. It does mean, however, if we do obey laws that are beyond the role of government, we are obeying out of fear of the sword, or out of protection of the conscience, both of which are very good reasons." And then he adds to those a third view, which kind of builds on that second. And that is that we're to obey when the government The government should not regulate the affairs of the Church. The Baptist tradition is in line with the Puritan view above, namely that submission is owed to lawful commands, but Baptists add an additional element that the government should not regulate the affairs of the Church. autonomy from each other, there is also a stressing that the government cannot order the church's worship. For us, when it comes to church affairs, the question is what do our elders think is the wisest course, and not what does the government say is the wisest course. Simply put, Baptists have never granted the premise that the government has the right to appoint worship times, methods, or frequencies. If the government commands churches to stop singing or to close, Baptists may comply, but it won't, or at least it shouldn't be, because of Romans 13. As to the three that Jesse listed on his blog, I want to add one from Tim Cantrell, who has done some careful thinking about this, and this was brought to my attention through James White and some of the teaching that he's done. Tim Cantrell would argue that we're to obey the government when it promotes good or checks evil, and the government should not regulate the affairs of the church or the family. He builds on this whole idea that I began with, that there are these spheres of government. He argues that, Tim Cantrell argues, that scripture In scripture, we can see that God has established spheres of authority, and he argues for three, the family, the church, and the state. And to illustrate why these spheres of authority are so needed, I just want to read from his writings just a moment, and this is a rather lengthy quote, but I think it's important to help us understand the importance of why Romans 13 is not a call to obey in all things except sin. Hence establishing a kind of a sphere or a limit or a boundary to that authority that God gives government. I'll just quote him here. In July 1933, during Hitler's first summer in power, a young German pastor named Joachim Hasenfelder preached a sermon in the towering Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Berlin's most important church. He used the words of Romans 13 to remind worshippers of the importance of obedience to those in authority. The church was all decked out with Nazi banners, its pews packed with the Nazi faithful and soldiers in uniform. Earlier that year, Friedrich Nebulus, a German bishop and one of the highest Protestant official preached on Romans 13 to justify all the Nazi seizures of power and brutal policies and misquoting Martin Luther himself about the supposed paramount powers of state authority. Three days after this sermon, the German parliament dissolved and Hitler took over. Within a few years, six million Jews had been slaughtered and the world devastated by World War II. Likewise, Romans 13 was a favorite text of Presidents John Royster and P.W. Botha in South Africa. Both those politicians used Romans 13 to defend the evils of apartheid. Recall that before the biblical clarity and bravery of our Protestant Reformers, for centuries the Dark Ages revolved around the great lie of the divine right of kings. Most of Europe at that time believed that if you were from the royal dynasty, God must have put you on that throne and everyone obeys you, always and unconditionally. Because of this one deadly myth, the divine right of kings was used to justify the slug and many of our Christian forefathers. Yes, God was sovereign. Yes, Christ was exalted through these faithful martyrs. But realize that many of these brutal kings and tyrannical monarchs eagerly quoted Romans 13 to justify a pagan and godless ideology. One New Testament scholar that writes that the misuse of Romans 13 has caused more unhappiness and misery than any other seven verses in the New Testament by the license they have given to tyrants used to justify a host of horrendous abuses of individual human rights." So I think it's a pretty powerful argument that Romans 13 is not a call to submit to whatever the government tells you to do. Obviously there are clear cases where the government tells you to do something that God prohibits, or it commands you to stop doing something God commands, then we obey God. Those are the clear areas. But I think there's a strong argument in scripture for saying that each sphere of government that God has created, he has bounded that authority within that particular sphere. Obviously it requires much wisdom in order to discern whether a government is within its bounds in making certain laws. All of these spheres of authority cannot justly exercise authority in the sphere of another. So all spheres ultimately report to God. For example, the government has no business interfering with your family. It has no authority to do it. They do it all the time, but they have no authority by God. So if the government steps in and tells you you can only have one child, to disobey that law is not sin against God. They have no authority to tell you how many children you can have. and the government will carry on its consequences like it seemed to do in China and elsewhere to those that do have more than one child. But understand that obeying, not obeying the government in circumstances like that is not sin against God. The government has no authority to tell you what you're to do with your own personal family. If the government of the United States told you that you could only watch one news channel and that for only three hours a day, it had no business telling you telling you that information. There's a certain, it's not in the sphere of authority, that is for you, between you and the Lord and wisdom to watch that, or what you watch. And maybe that's kind of a silly example, but understand there's spheres of authority. And it seems that this view is the most biblical view, and I would add, that, I would add to these, that there's a certain sphere of authority of the individual, as I mentioned in the beginning. So God is the supreme authority, and under him there are these lesser authorities, who have been given distinct realms of authority. So as far as thinking through, like what I mentioned, an individual authority over your body, just think about the command given to Adam in Genesis chapter two, Genesis chapter 2 verses 8 to 15, God places Adam in the garden and tells him that he can eat from whatever he wants except for these certain plants. He wasn't supposed to eat from these certain plants. The rest he could eat. So it's his responsibility to make sure that he that's prior to sin so I don't know if there's anything bad for him that he could have eaten I simply don't know us in the white places of Scripture but but God is giving out of the the both the privilege as well as the responsibility to feed his own body take care of his own body from a standpoint certainly we're talking about sin we have a responsibility to not let sin reign in our mortal body so we obey its laws We have individual responsibility for that. So the church helps us in that regard. If we fall into sin, brothers and sisters come alongside us and help us. But ultimately, you're responsible to not let sin reign in your mortal bodies that you obey its lust. To that, that's in Romans 6.12. And then to that, I would just add 1 Corinthians 6, verses 17 to 20. Again, in context, talking about sin and controlling our bodies, But Paul says this in verse 17, But the one who joins himself to the Lord as one spirit with Him, flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God, in your body. So theory is arguing that our bodies are not our own and that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our bodies. And I think you see a bit of this even in 1 Timothy 5.23 where Paul is urging Timothy to no longer drink water exclusively but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. So he's urging Timothy to take responsibility and to do what is right instead of just abstaining totally from wine, to drink some wine, again, for the process of purifying the water he was drinking. So I think there's good scriptural grounds to say that the individual has authority and responsibility to care for his or her own body, and that no one except God has authority to tell you what you're going to do or not do with your body, and that has direct relevance as we consider how to answer some of these vaccine mandates, which we won't get to that particular question tonight, but kind of that helps establish the foundation for how I would answer that and how I would recommend that you think through that. So you've got under God, you've got the authority given to the individual, you've got the authority of the family being husbands, specifically husbands having authority over their wives, and husbands as the leader of the family, parents having authority over their children, employers having authority over their employees, and then governments having authority over their subjects. Again, all of these are bounded by a God-given sphere, and I think each Christian must wrestle with the scriptures and come to a conviction on particular gray areas, things that are not so clear. But what I want to help you do is to help think through these spheres of authority. And when you're given a command, think through, not in a rebellious sense, but in a sense of wanting to honor God and make wise decisions and be able to think through, is that command within the sphere that God has given that particular authority that is given that particular command. And just for record, if you want to take notes on some of this, obviously the authority of husbands is given in Ephesians 5, 22-33, and Colossians 3, 18-19, and 1 Peter 3, 1-7. That's not an exhaustive list, but it's a good list to study by. Obviously, we get submission to parents from Ephesians 1, sorry, Ephesians 6, 1-4, and parallel passage in Colossians 3, 20-21. The issue of submission to employers is handled in Ephesians 6, verses 5-9, the parallel passage in Colossians 3, 22, through chapter 4, verse 1. And in Titus 2, chapter 2, verse 9, and in 1 Peter 2.18, so four places the scriptures talk about the submission to your employer. And then submission to governments is dealt with in Romans 13.1-7 as we read through, but also in 1 Peter 2, verses 13-17, and in Titus 3.1, which you'll get to at some point in our study of Titus, so we will get there. But I think it's important to wrestle with these texts within the sphere that God has given them, within those particular authorities. So, what I'd like to do is just, I'm going to stop with that one question for tonight, but I want to give time for a response or a question. Perhaps it's something that I need to clarify. Yes? I have a question for Eric. I know it's a fax, but remember when Paul was they were tentatively to Jerusalem and they wanted to circumcise him at birth so that he could sleep. Yeah, I think Hakun mentioned this to me once before. So let me just say, I guess the situation would be that Paul soundly defended the gospel of grace and that no one needs to be circumcised in order to be saved. And then later on in ministry, Paul had Timothy circumcised in order to do ministry in Jerusalem and the Jews, right? So I think that is a case of accommodating in order to not be a stumbling block or an offense to the Jews they're going to minister to, rather than Paul going back under the law. So, like, in cases where something comes up, if you feel like, you know, this is going to hinder my message of adopting somebody, would you say that would be a good place to look at an example and say, okay, let me forego my liberty so that this person might be wanted more? Yes. Yeah, I mean, there are places where the government might step in and say, I don't know, I'm trying to think of a good example, maybe a a clear one would be, does the government have the authority to regulate whether church buildings have fire extinguishers or fire escapes? And we could argue maybe they don't have that authority, but it's, number one, I would argue it's wise. Secondly, I would say it's a way to accommodate to our culture so that people can feel safe coming into our buildings. And so that might not be the best example, but I do think that there are times where we can lay aside what, maybe not lay aside authority in the best way, but where we can accommodate and obey something that truly, it doesn't matter. And I'm sure that Paul did not circumcise Timothy over Timothy's objections. So this is something that Timothy said, yeah, I'll do that. I know I don't have to, but I'll do that. Yes, Sherry. and narrative right so um so we can't draw the conclusion that this is the way to do it right but this was something that was done and seemingly that that would be okay and pleasing correct but not necessarily this is the pattern for the way to do things And let me just repeat it so we get it on the recording. And that is, when we look at Acts, and we see an account of something that happens like Paul circumcising Timothy, we recognize that that's a narrative text. And it's not, it's descriptive, it's not prescriptive. So it's not prescribing that every Christian behave the same way. It's just saying, it's describing an event and providing an example. sometimes as examples are not people sometimes as those things are are just uh... one one-and-done that is they are very unique events other times there's patterns so you could make a case in your own life that you know i think uh... in some cases you could follow paul's pattern but you could not use paul's pattern to say every christian you know must always uh... let's say, give up or acquiesce to what is not offensive to an unbeliever, if that makes sense. David? You can add to what you're saying, 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10, and describe, Dr. Erwin, the way that Paul established that instruction was because of liberty, and Paul did things in the safest possible way, even though that Yeah, the specific passage you're referring to, just so everybody can look at that, you said 1 Corinthians? 8, 9, and 10. Okay, yeah, chapters you're referring to. Okay, so 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10, and recognizing that there are times where it's best just to, where the best course might be to choose the path that brings the lesser offense to an end. So we certainly see that pattern. And First Corinthians is full of prescription, so it's more teaching and instructive in that way, rather than Acts is more descriptive. So when we look at Acts, there's much we can learn from Acts, much that they teach us. We just have to be careful when we read narrative not to interpret it as that's the way that every Christian has to respond. Because if it is, then it'll be found somewhere else in the New Testament. So, a classic example of that would be speaking in tongues, or miracles of healing. So, those would be some, I guess, some classic examples of how text or a narrative is interpreted as a, a description is interpreted as a prescription. Any other questions? All right, I want to monitor our time. If there are any other questions, I say monitor. Be careful of the time. I'm gonna cut it off now, but if you have questions, please feel free to ask me afterwards. And then next week, we'll tackle the next question, kind of building on this. So the next question kind of flows from what we've been talking about, and that is, are Christians ever permitted by scripture to practice civil disobedience? We'll look at that and some other questions next week. So let's pray. Our Lord and our God, we thank you that you have given us your word to instruct us, and we just ask that you help us to be diligent and faithful students of the word of God, that we would study your word diligently, carefully, that we would be approved workmen who are diligently and faithfully handling the word of God. Please help us to understand your word and apply it to our lives, and Lord, to walk in the spirit for your glory and for our good. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. Thanks for listening to the pulpit ministry of Medina Bible Church in Medina, Ohio. 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