Samuel Robert Cassius (1853-1931) was born into slavery in Virginia and lived in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. As an adult, he moved to Indiana, where he heard the “Restoration plea” and obeyed the gospel. He spent most of his life living, working, and preaching in Oklahoma.
In the book To Save My Race from Abuse, Cassius’ biographer described his preparation for a debate with a Primitive Baptist in which Cassius was to affirm “that the Church of Christ, of which I am member, is apostolic in faith, doctrine and practice” (To Save My Race from Abuse, p. 41). Unfortunately, his opponent backed out, and the debate never happened. In the following quote, Cassius adapted the imagery of the armor of God (cf. Ephesians 6:10-17) to describe his readiness to defend the truth in debate.
“I carried two large solid rocks—one in each hand. In my right hand I had the four Gospels, in my left the Acts of the Apostles, and belted about my waist I had all of the pistols of Paul, James and Peter, and between my teeth I carried the sword of the Spirit.” (ibid. p. 41)
Cassius recognized the essentiality of the Bible in his efforts to teach the truth and oppose religious error. After all, as the psalmist wrote, “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting” (Psalm 119:160). Therefore, he needed to avoid every “different doctrine [that] does not agree with sound words” (1 Timothy 6:3) and endeavor to “speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11, NKJV).
So in defending the truth, Cassius did not depend on his opinions or the teachings of other men. Instead, he used the “large solid rocks” of the Gospels and Acts and the “pistols of Paul, James and Peter” (the New Testament epistles). In doing this, he followed the example of Paul as he taught in Thessalonica, where he “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead” (Acts 17:2-3). Even today, if we want to defend a particular doctrine as true – whether it is about Christ, His church, or any other spiritual matter – we need to be able to cite “book, chapter, and verse” and explain what the word of God teaches.
However, this is not just for defending the truth. If we want to learn what is good for us to do, we need to use the Bible. Paul told Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If the Scriptures equip or furnish us for every good work, then we should be able to find Bible authority for all we do in our service to God. This also means that if we cannot use the Scriptures to show that the Lord approves of a particular practice, then it is “lawlessness” despite any claim we make to be doing it “in [His] name” (Matthew 7:22-23).
In the same way, if we want to learn the way of salvation or show the way to others, we need to use the Bible. The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16) and Jesus has the “words of eternal life” (John 6:68). So in order to be saved, one needs to do what is described in the New Testament, namely believing in Christ (John 8:24), repenting of sins (Luke 13:3, 5), confessing his faith (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized into Christ (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:37-38).
Whether we are learning the truth, teaching the truth, or defending the truth against error, we need to look to the word of God. If we fail to do this, we will lack understanding, will never be able to show others what is right, and will be incapable of refuting false teachers. Like Cassius, let us arm ourselves with the Scriptures and, as Paul admonished, “put on the full armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11) so that we can stand firm on the truth in the face of all who oppose it.
