The Whole Duty of Christians
The council of brethren at Jerusalem decided to send a letter to the Gentile converts exhorting them to "abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood." And some teachers of to-day are assuming that this is all that those converts from the world are required to do; that therefore the law of God was not otherwise binding upon them. But that special instruction was given because those sins were such as the Gentiles were addicted to, and were inclined to indulge in even after conversion. To illustrate: The Third Presbyterian Church in Shanghai has a book containing pledges against liquor, tobacco, and foot-binding. It is deemed essential to make a special crusade against these evils, because of their prevalence—relics of heathenism not yet fully eradicated from the hearts of the native converts. In preparing that book of pledges, it was not designed to teach that abstinence from those particular evils constituted the whole duty of Christians. "Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl. 12:13); and to offend in one point makes one guilty of all (James 2:10).