(3) Practices in the Teaching of the Apostles: choosing by lot
Other Practices
Taught
or
Endorsed
in
The
New
Testament
Apart from those already mentioned above in the direct teaching of
Jesus, a considerable number of
practices are enjoined on believers elsewhere in the New Testament. Others were
done in the early ecclesias and apparently endorsed. We show an interest in
some of these today; others we completely ignore. Amongst these practices are:
choosing by lot, laying on of hands, circumcision, eating kosher meat, length
of hair, excluding immoral people, marriage and celibacy, relationships between
parents, children and slaves, headcoverings, greeting one another with a holy
kiss, holding up hands in prayer, the avoidance of expensive clothes, anointing
the sick with oil, payment to leaders of the ecclesia, sharing goods with teachers,
and the enrolment of widows. It is again important to examine why we do not
practice many of these today. Can we reasonably pick and choose, and if so, on
what basis?
Underlying any assessment of practices like the laying on of
hands, anointing with oil, or headcovering in prayer, is the question: Is this
simply part of the practice of the ancient world (through which principles are
expressed) or are these practices fundamental in themselves? We shall examine
each in an effort to arrive at overall conclusions and their implication for
today.
Choosing by
Lot
Choosing by lot is an ancient practice. Pagan Romans used it to
decide who should get Jesus’ clothes (Matthew 27:35). In the Old Testament the
will of God was revealed by lot when Saul was chosen as king (1 Samuel
10:20-24). When the disciples in Jerusalem
sought a replacement for Judas, God answered by lot:
And they prayed
and said, “Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which of these two
thou hast chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which
Judas turned aside, to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and
the lot fell on Matthias; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles. (Acts
1:24-26)
No
further mention of this occurs in the New Testament. It was, however, a way of
trusting in God entirely for the outcome. Why do we not do it today? Is it a
lack of faith in God? Is it a belief
that using lots would be relying on chance?
Or is it because we feel that God acted directly in Bible times but does
not do so now? Offices in the ecclesia
are usually chosen by ballot or by accepting volunteers. There is no general
recommendation in the Bible that decisions should be made by lot. No method is
described when Stephen and others were chosen in Acts 6:5, but spiritual
suitability seemed a prime concern.
... and they chose
Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, ....
In
Acts 1 the matter was decided in the context of prayer, and this certainly
should accompany our methods of decision-making.
![next chapter next chapter](/theme/7/btn_next.jpg)