Biblical Separation Defended - Far Eastern Bible College

order to see the true nature of his analogies. In this case, he is equatingthe errors of the synagogue with the errors of today’s liberals, and he isequating the Lord’s teaching in the synagogues with Billy Graham’scooperating with known modernists in bringing to the public aconservative message without warnings against liberal and neo-orthodoxheresies and heretics.Dr. Ferm’s remark, “Present-day separatists would most certainlyhave pointed an accusing finger at him [the Lord] for what they mightconsider compromise [i.e., the Lord’s teaching in the synagogues],”shows that he feels that separatists are legalistically condemning Dr.Graham for merely entering certain doors, rather than primarilycondemning his conduct of friendliness and approval to modernistsinside of those doors. 3The Writer’s CritiqueHere, just as in the case of the Lord’s visits to the Temple, it will beprofitable to note some of the details of Christ’s synagogue attendance,and its general tenor with respect to His conduct in the synagogues andHis dealings with the synagogue leaders and worshipers.The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ made it aregular practice to teach in the synagogues of the region in which he wasministering. Matthew 4:23 declares, “And Jesus went about all Galilee,teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, .. .” Other verses which indicate His general practice of teaching in thesynagogues would be, Matthew 9:35; Mark 1:39; Luke 4:15,44; andJohn 18:20.A. T. Robertson’s harmony of the gospel accounts indicates assynagogue visits those shown on the following table, Table 2. 4 Again, asin the case of the Temple, it must be noted that other sayings andoccurrences related in the gospels might have taken place in thesynagogues but cannot be so identified because the Scriptures do notidentify the location of their genesis. The occasion of the visit, thescriptural reference, and the tenor of the encounter will be noted in eachcase on the table located on the following page.38