PerryDox – BeJustAChristian

5 Fingers is Handy

Who can, without singing the song, name all the apostles? How about naming all the books of the NT without that same musical method? My only hope for remembering the Minor Prophets would be singing. Sadly, I can’t remember the song to remember the books!

Singing is a common mnemonic device that begins with the very young. It is just one of several memory devices that include any learning technique aiding in information retrieval. Examples are:

• Songs – Jesus called them one by one….
• Acrostics – Every Good Boy Does Fine (the treble clef).
• Rhymes – In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

In teaching how one is saved, one method is by using our 5 fingers as mnemonic device. Using our 5 fingers is…handy.

1. 1^st FIVE FINGERS – RESTORATION MOVEMENT

When I say “first”, I do not imply that what I am about to say presents new material for the first time. Everything is old in the sense it is the gospel. What is new and first is the mnemonic technique using 5 fingers.

In the Restoration Movement during the 1800’s, many of the leaders struggled to simply convey their newly enlightened understanding of baptism in God’s plan. Alexander Campbell had a debate on it but this truth on baptism didn’t get traction. When making a list while preaching and teaching, he would often only name three: Believe, Repent, Be baptized. Obviously, we know it is impossible to believe and repent without first hearing. It is implied. Confession is the least mentioned in the Bible, but again it is impossible to deny. Although Alexander was the biggest voice in the Restoration Movement, he was not having much success evangelistically. That would be up to Walter Scott.

The story goes he was baptizing so many (1000 a year), Restoration leaders were suspicious. Upon visiting they discovered a simple explanation that was easy for people to grasp. At first Walter Scott described the gospel under six points. In the context of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection:

Hearers should:

1. Have Faith (Believe),
2. Repent,
3. Be baptized.

In response God would:

1. Forgive sins,
2. Give the gift of the Holy Spirit, and
3. Grant eternal life.

Because most people only have five fingers, later, Scott would combine the last two points to summarize the gospel as five points – one for each finger as a memory device.

1. Faith (Believe)
2. Repent
3. Be Baptized
4. Forgiveness of Sins
5. Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit

After Scott developed this simple five finger mnemonic illustration to explain God’s “plan” for our salvation, it was so simple a child could grasp it. In fact, Scott used children as his “mini-evangelists” and human commercials. When he would first come into a community and find a group of children, he would ask them to hold up a hand, and then point to each finger and say “faith, repentance, baptism, remission of sins, gift of the Holy Spirit.” Once the children had learned this through the mnemonic device of 5 fingers, he would ask them to make a fist, put their hand in their pocket, and don’t take it out until they get home. Then they were to tell their parents that he would be preaching that same gospel that evening. Word of mouth, specifically the mouth of children, was one way Walter Scott was so successful. The other way was using a simple mnemonic device using 5 fingers.

This was Walter Scott’s contribution to the spreading of the gospel – an easy way to remember how to be saved.

1. 2^nd FIVE FINGERS – MODERN DAY (CHRISTIAN) CHURCHES (OF CHRIST)

According to one undocumented source, the five finger plan we are familiar with became the popular way starting around the 1930’s and continues today.

• HEAR – Romans 10:17.
• BELIEVE – John 1:11-12; 3:16; Acts 8:36-37; Romans 10:9.
• REPENT – Acts 2:38; 17:30; 2 Peter 3:9.
• CONFESS – Romans 10:9-10; Acts 8:37.
• BE BAPTIZED – 1 Peter 3:21; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-5.

Like Walter Scott originally had 6 points, some like to include a 6^th step, “be faithful unto death.” That’s a good thing to emphasize. Here’s another way of saying the same thing without needing a 6^th finger:

• Hear and keep on hearing.
• Believe and keep on believing.
• Repent and keep on repenting.
• Confess and keep on confessing.
• Be baptized and keep the old man dead and buried and keep living a resurrected life.

Marshall Keeble used to preach a sermon from a chart with five steps to the church and seven steps to heaven. The seven steps were the seven “virtues” found in 2 Peter 1:5-11. He would call the five steps “ladder No. 1,” and the seven steps “ladder No. 2.” Here is his preaching pitch to the masses that allowed him to baptize thousands:

“Here is the trouble with my modern sanctified friends. Poor things are trying to climb ladder No. 2 and have never climbed ladder No. 1.”

One complaint about this modern five finger plan is that, unlike Walter Scott’s, it only focuses on what mankind does. That possibly has contributed somewhat to the accusation we teach salvation by works. I will say sadly that too often we emphasize what we do to the almost total neglect of contributions or works of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If we only and always focus on the response to the gospel without first focusing on the gospel, and on God’s actions in and to our “obeying the gospel”; then we are missing essential information.

III.      3^rd FIVE FINGERS

So far we have focused on: 1) Different ways of the saying the same thing; 2) How mnemonic devices have been used. A third thing we could add is adapting our method to fit our culture without changing the message. There is a common meme or teaching technique that breaks everything down into three things: Think, Feel, Do.

1. Think (INTELLECT) – When preaching what do we want the audience to learn?
2. Feel (EMOTIONS) – When preaching what emotional response do we want the audience to experience based upon what information they have learned?
3. Do (WILL) – When preaching what specific actions do we want the audience to take based upon thinking and feeling?

All three of these are found in the very first gospel sermon preached after the ascension of Jesus (Acts 2:14-37). In keeping the 5 finger method going, let’s discover a new way of saying the same old thing in answering the ageless question, “What must I do to be saved?”

1. HEAR (v.37) – “when they HEARD”: Truth comes from God, not us. It is objective, not subjective. I strongly suggest the biblical pattern for sinners to hear, is to hear the gospel before they hear about “marks of the true church” (Matthew 26:20). Continual teaching is part of the discipling method.
2. THINK (INTELLECT) (v.37) – “heard THIS” – Read the 1st sermon preached post resurrection (Acts 2:14-36). It has three main points: 1) God proved Jesus was the Christ/Messiah; 2) Sinners (Romans/Gentiles and Jews) falsely executed Jesus; 3) God resurrected the buried Jesus. The emphasis is on God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit working to save us by fulfilling prophecy and the plan. The emphasis is on the gospel which is the death, burial, and resurrection. Listening or hearing is thinking on evidence. God doesn’t want anyone to not be intellectually involved in their faith. Thinking is believing. Their question, “What must we do?” is also a confession: they think and believe Jesus is Christ.
3. FEEL (EMOTIONS) (v.37): “they were PIERCED to the heart”: Hearing and thinking leads to feeling remorse. Jesus died for our sins. In this way we are responsible for His death (1 Corinthians 15:3). God’s message showed their guilt. Truth hurts! If someone is baptized without feeling remorse (and then joy – Acts 8:39), then something is missing!
4. DO (WILL) (vv.37-38): “What must we DO?”; “REPENT and be BAPTIZED” – If anyone says we can’t do something because that’s works, they contradict the very first sermon! Repentance means “to change the mind.” This means repentance is more than feeling. As both John the Baptist and Paul preached, it requires, “fruit worthy of repentance.” Change comes from thinking on and believing evidence. They were also told to be baptized “in the name of Jesus” because Jesus is the Savior. This is another way to confess Him. Historically, this confession was accompanied by a renunciation of Satan.
5. RECEIVE (vv.37-38): “for [lit. into] the FORGIVENESS of sins”; “RECEIVE the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT.” Peter’s sermon emphasizes Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection which baptism is. Being dead because of sin, we bury the sinner, and are resurrected forgiven by blood. God is the one who is working in baptism (Colossians 2:12). The gift of the Holy Spirit is new life (Isaiah 44:1-5; John 3:16) as we become new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Good aspects of this new but different way of the saying the same thing are: 1) We stay in one place without jumping around the Bible. 2) We get to say all the old 5 steps. 3) We use a modern way for teaching. 4) We combine the 5 steps we are used to with Walter Scott’s. 5) We don’t focus only on what we do.

A good question to end this 5 finger exercise in Acts 2, when studying with someone, is to ask, “Do you accept God’s inspired message?” (Acts 2:41). As verses 42-47 show, then we live faithfully to God and one another – the 6^th step.

There is an inherent problem with any list. Just like a creed, they contain truth, but they are not complete. The above 5 points are not everything necessary according to scripture for us to be saved. Focusing on both God’s actions, our reactions, and our continual actions, here is a list of 27 things needed to be saved (housetohouse.com/we-are-saved-by/):

• Christ’s words (John 6:63).
• The Holy Spirit (John 16:8; Titus 3:5).
• Faith (Romans 10:10).
• Repentance (Luke 13:3; 2 Peter 3:9).
• Baptism (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21; Titus 3:5).
• God (John 3:16; Titus 2:11).
• Christ’s works (John 20:30–31).
• Calling on His name (Acts 2:21).
• Christ’s name (Acts 4:12).
• Christ’s resurrection (Romans 4:25).
• Christ’s death (Romans 5:6).
• Hope (Romans 8:24).
• Confession of faith (Romans 10:10).
• Hearing (Romans 10:15–17).
• Preaching (1 Corinthians 1:18).
• Fire (1 Corinthians 3:15).
• The gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1–2).
• Love (Galatians 5:6).
• Grace (Ephesians 2:8).
• Ourselves (Philippians 2:12).
• The love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
• Christ (1 Timothy 1:15).
• Heeding and continuing in the doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16).
• God’s mercy (Titus 3:5).
• Obedience (Hebrews 5:9).
• Christ’s blood (Hebrews 9:14).
• Works of faith (James 2:24).

No one has enough fingers and toes for that!

1 TAKE AWAY POINT

Using our 5 fingers is an easy mnemonic device in teaching our response and God’s response to the gospel.

APPLICATION AND ASSIGNMENT

Pray and Practice – Pray God will send you someone to teach. Practice how you will teach them. This will require memorizing what Bible passages you want to use. There isn’t just one way to teach; although there is one way to salvation – Jesus is the Way.

WHERE’S THE GOSPEL?

We can even use our 5 fingers to sum up the gospel: 1) Jesus came (incarnation); 2) Jesus died on the cross because of our sins; 3) Jesus was buried in a tomb; 4) Jesus was resurrected by the Holy Spirit; 5) Jesus ascended to His throne sitting on the right hand of God.

Using our 5 fingers again: 1) We hear these 5 points of the gospel; 2) Thinking through these as evidence we believe the gospel to be true; and believe we are sinners responsible for Jesus’ death; 3) Because we are thinking, we start to feel remorse for our sins and for what Jesus had to do to save us – “there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood” (Hebrews 9:22); 4) God commands actions, or responses to the gospel so we repent and are baptized. Confession is part of as seen in the crowd’s question and the Ethiopian eunuch’s response. 5) Because we hear, think, feel, and do, we receive from God both forgiveness and the new life through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Questions – 5 Fingers is Handy

1. What is a mnemonic device?
2. List the 6 things Walter Scott preached on how to be saved
3. How did Walter Scott narrow the 6 into 5?
4. List each point of the 1^st 5 finger mnemonic device:
5. How did Walter Scott use children as his mini-evangelists?
6. List the 2^nd 5 finger plan on how to be saved:
7. How does this differ (and to some making it inferior) to the 1^st 5 finger plan?
8. What is the 6^th thing required to be saved?
9. What is another way of saying all 6 things on just 5 fingers?
10. What two charts did Marshall Keeble use?
11. Describe the modern technique is used to teach people today:
12. List the 3^rd 5 finger mnemonic device and how each is seen in Acts 2:
13. 1 Take Away Point:
14. Application and Assignment:
15. Where’s the Gospel?

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This entry was posted by PHall on Saturday, September 29th, 2018 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Bible. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.