READERS' EXCHANGE

 

Went to church at Westchester (Los Angeles) and Harold Thomas was back preaching after his operation. Looks great! —Ruth and Ralph Bales, Long Beach, California

I have been studying 1 Cor. 13 and can't come up with the traditional meaning of the 10th verse, “that which is perfect” refers to the completion of the New Testament scriptures. I've always thought that to be the right interpretation until lately. I guess I've listened to too many Church of Christ preachers. Now I understand the passage to refer to maturity. Adam Clarke says it means, “The state of eternal blessedness, then that which is in part, that which is imperfect, shall be done away; the imperfect as well as the probationary state shall cease forever.” If this means the New Testament scriptures, please help me prove it. Perhaps you could write about this verse in your paper. —Harold V. Clark, Rt. 2, Springville, California 93265

(Adam Clarke says what nearly all scholars say, including our own J. W. McGarvey and B. W. Johnson. That the phrase “that which is perfect” refers to the scriptures is a parochial interpretation, not general or catholic, being limited almost exclusively to Church of Christ preachers. I do not and cannot take such an indefensible position. —Ed.)

I thought of you especially during the first week of June when I was at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, for the third conference on the Concept of the Believers’ Church. Coordinator was Dr. Richard T. Hughes of Pepperdine. The central theme was restitutionism or radical dissent from the 15th century to the present. My paper was entitled “Restitution and Dissent among the Early English Baptists.” You would have been especially interested in the paper by David Edwin Harrell, Jr., of the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Dr. Everett Ferguson of Abilene Christian College gave the final message on Sunday morning. — James Leo Garrett, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76703

I could have told you this while Dr. Glaser was yet alive, but I might have felt a little guilty in revealing his emotions. You were an updraft to him. There was something of a radiance that enveloped him when we recalled your visit at his bedside. When I read to him from Restoration Review, he most often asked, “Did Leroy Garrett write that?” It seemed to make a difference. Thank you for bringing a special feeling of joy into his last months. —Evelyn Glaser, Box 162, Caruthersville, Missouri 63830.

You are right in pointing out that the Bible is a difficult book. The popular notion that it is very simple is doing great harm to the cause of God. Too many ignorant, unlearned, untalented people are going about today claiming to be teachers and preachers of the Word, and we have our share of them. I often wince when I witness the pressure put on young men to become preachers and teachers for the coming generation, but I think with the exhortation to become such, there should be a strong admixture of information about the kind of personality, the training and the study required. —Vernon Parrott, 426 Live Oak Lane, Weatherford, Texas 76086