Jesus said that, “A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house” (Matt 13:57). We are familiar with the episodes of his rejection at Nazareth (Luke 4) and by his own family (Mark 3). There must be something about familiarity that is the basis for this aphorism. It may be true in our own experience. We may have a family that is not in the truth, or we may suffer some kind of rejection by people at college or work because of what we believe. Such rejection may be born of a lack of understanding, or of pride; mistrust, or an unwillingness to be associated with you and what you stand for and are doing. It can happen in the ecclesia as well. Peter was unwilling to be associated with Paul’s work in the truth at one time and he was withstood by him (Gal 2:10-11). This example shows that you might be rejected by those outside as well as those inside the ecclesia. No doubt Peter had his reasons in separating from Paul, but human nature is very adaptable in its thinking and capable of all sorts of self-justification. Peter was wrong, and we have Paul’s admonition on record. The lesson for us is that we should expect rejection, but that we ought to support each other in the work we do for the ecclesia.
The ‘news’ to highlight from this issue is the new EJournal Book fund which has a small pot of money from the royalties from Reasons – this hardship fund is for book grants and it is fully explained at the back of this issue. Rather than give the money to existing charities in the Christadelphian community, it was judged reasonable to address the study needs of young unwaged people unable to buy a Bible Studies book due to hardship.
The other ‘news’ is that a new multi-author book, One God, the Father, is being written by fourteen authors, and it is hoped that it will be published in the autumn in the same way that Reasons was published last autumn; see the back of this issue.
What is a Bible Student?