GOOD INTENTIONS

Hugo McCord

A Cascade College student asks for an explanation of Mark 9:38-40:

John said, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbad him, because he has not been following us.” Jesus replied, “Do not forbid him, for no one doing a miracle in my name can quickly speak evil of me. He who is not against us is for us.”

Well-intentioned people, people who think it is ugly to be opinionated and judgmental, have deceived themselves into a misuse of Mark 9:38-40. They think the passage means that no matter what doctrine a preacher sets forth, he is not to be criticized so long as he claims to be “for” Jesus. They think that right thinking people will not be narrow-minded, but will be praise diversity and pluralism in religion. They do not think that it is possible to be “against” Christ if they claim to be “for” him.

Truly, none of those sincere people means to be “against” Christ, but many people will be surprised to find in the day of judgment that being “for” Christ requires more than confessing that Jesus is “Lord,” for Jesus has already given us a preview of the judgment:

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into heaven’s kingdom, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father. Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name have we not cast out demons, and in your name have we not done many miracles?” Then I will say to them, “I have never known you” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Thus Jesus asserted that the only right way to know if one is “for” Christ is not by saying, “Lord, Lord,” but by doing “the will of my heavenly Father” (Matthew 7:21).

All that we uninspired humans can know about “the will” of the heavenly Father is in the New Testament to which we are not to add and from which we are not to subtract (1 Corinthians 4:6; 2 John 9-11; Revelation 22:18-19).

The only and full “will” of the heavenly Father is “the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42). Christ passed on his authority to bind and to release to the apostles (Matthew 16:19; 18:18). Today one knows “the will” of the Father only by hearing the apostles: “He who knows God hears us,” wrote the apostle John, and “he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6).

Consequently, everyone is either “for” Christ or “against” Christ: “He who is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30), and “He who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:40). The result is that many today who aspire to be “for” Christ are “against” him, for they refuse to be guided by “the apostles’ doctrine:”

1. He who says that he is saved without baptism is “against” Christ, for baptism “now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21).

2. He who says that babies are to be baptized is “against” Christ, for baptism is only for those old enough to believe (Mark 16:16; Acts 8:37, NKJV).

3. He who says that baptism may be administered by sprinkling water on a person is “against” Christ, for baptism is a burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12).

4. He who says that one faith is as good as another is “against” Christ, for there is only “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5).

5. He who says that one church is as good as another is “against” Christ, for Jesus only built one church (Matthew 16:18).

6. He who says that one name is as good as another is “against” Christ, for the name “Christian” is the only one given in “the apostles’ doctrine” (1 Peter 4:16).

7 He who advocates women being preachers is “against” Christ, for “it is a disgrace for a woman to speak in the church” (1 Corinthians 14:35).

8. He who teaches that fornication is not the only reason for divorce and remarriage is “against” Christ, for he who divorces and marries again for any other reason “commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9).

9. He who condones homosexuality is “against” Christ, for homosexuality is “against nature” (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9).

10. He who denies that a God of love could send some people into “everlasting punishment” is “against” Christ, who said that there is “the hell of fire” (Matthew 5:22; 25:46).

Thus we see that the same Lord who spoke in Mark 9:38-40 also spoke in Matthew 7:21-22. If we are for Jesus, we must adjust ourselves to all that he said. After that lesson is learned, we are ready to turn to Mark 9:38-40 and examine it.

John the apostle saw a man casting out demons (devils) in the name of Jesus, a man John did not know, but apparently John saw that the man was not a fake. He really was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, but he was not in the company of the twelve apostles. So John on his own told the man to quit, and relayed what he did to Jesus.

Jesus showed John that one did not have to be in the company of the apostles to be a true exorcist. Apparently, unknown to John, Jesus had endowed the man with miraculous power. Perhaps he was one of the seventy-two that Jesus had dispatched with miraculous power “into each city and place where he was going” (Luke 10:1). Then we read that the “seventy-two returned joyfully, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name’” (Luke 10:10).

Apparently then, the exorcist of Mark 9:38-40 was a true disciple of Jesus, though unknown to John, and John was wrong in thinking that all exorcists had to be in the company of the apostles.

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Questions and Comments on Mark 9:38-40 (Luke 9:49,50)

By Troy M. Cummings

1. Many in the denominations, and now some in the church of Christ, argue that this passage means that one church is as good as another; that we are all preaching Christ; that we are all doing good work; and that no religious group should condemn another professed Christian group.

2. In this text, was the man who was not following with Christ or the apostolic group working as a member of either a “Catholic” church or of some “Protestant” denomination? Did the Roman or Greek Catholic churches exist at that time? No.

3. Does it, then, automatically follow that the man who was not with the apostles is exactly parallel with a member of some modern Catholic or Protestant church?

4 Did Jesus specifically or by implication approve of false doctrine being taught by this man? Is there anything said in the text that proves that the man was teaching falsely?

5. Did Jesus deny that the man was actually doing the “mighty work” of “casting out demons” in his name? Did Jesus say that the man was actually working against him?

6. Does the expression in the text, “he followed not us,” necessarily mean that he was a member of some man-made religious group? Or, could the expression mean that the man simply was not working in the physical presence of John and the other apostles? Is there any important difference?

7. Is it necessary today that all Christians follow with one another in the same group (congregation) in order to please God?

8. When Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ and made converts (Acts 8), was he condemned because he followed not with the apostles who were back in Jerusalem?

9. Was it possible for one to be a true disciple of Jesus during his personal ministry, and yet not physically follow him and his group around in their teaching Travels?

10, If the man of our text who followed not with the apostles had been a fraud, an impostor, a false teacher, would Jesus approve him as he did.?

11. How do we know that the man of our text is not to be identified with some who were casting out demons as described by Jesus in Matthew 7:2l-23? Were these in Matt. 7 approved?

12. Could Jesus contradict himself in Matt. 7:21-23 and Mark 9:38-40?

13. The man in Mark 9 who was casting out demons in Christ’s name was approved by Jesus; but in Acts 19:13-17 certain Jews appealed to the name of Jesus and tried to cast out evil spirits, but failed completely and suffered violence at the hands of the evil spirits. Why this difference?

14. Does Paul in Romans 16:17,18 teach that we are to approve and fellowship just any kind of doctrine or practice?

15. Does Paul in Galations 1:6-10 teach that the gospel is still all right, even if perverted, and that we ought to approve of the preaching of this perverted gospel?

16. Does Jesus in John 8:31,32 teach that we shall be made free by false doctrine as well as by the truth?

17. Does Paul in 2 Timothy 4:1-8 teach that it makes no difference whether one holds sound doctrine or turns away to fables?

18. What would make people today (some in the church) try to make Mark 9:38-40 approve of sectarianism, false doctrines, and religious divisions, and say that we should “forbid them not” and fellowship them? -- and cite Mark 9:38-40 to prove it?

19. If Jesus, in Mark 9:38-40, approved of the idea that one church and one faith is as good as another, even though they teach contradictory doctrines, how can that be reconciled with the teaching of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4:4-6 that there is one body (church), one faith, one baptism (immersion), one Lord, one God? (If one faith and one church is as “good as another,” then logically one Lord and one God is as “good as another,” since these are included, too).

20. Did Jesus in Matthew 15:13 say that even though some plants were not planted by his Heavenly Father, they too would be acceptable to him, and would not be rooted up?

21. Does Matthew 15:3,6,8,9 teach us to approve and fellowship religious groups who make void the Word of God by their human traditions, and make some people’s worship “in vain”?

22. Is it not clear that Mark 9:38-40 cannot possibly teach us to approve of all faiths, all churches, all the contradictory doctrines and practices they have, and to wish them Godspeed, and to fellowship them?

23. Is it not clear that we must he very careful not to interpret some passage Into direct conflict with numbers of other truths in God’s Word? Even if some passage appears to be difficult, or obscure, or seemingly means a certain thing, is it sensible to put a meaning on it in contradiction to much plain truth found elsewhere in Scripture?

24. This is another illustration of how careful we must be to get the “whole counsel of God” in view and under consideration when we ponder the meaning of some Scripture.

25. Do you take time to dig deeply into Scripture, using a complete (unabridged) Bible concordance, several of the best English translations, etc.? Then you can answer some problems.