I think Tertullian's comments are related more towards gambling, which is a sin as it violates the commandments against coveting.
The issue of gambling being sin is what Tertullian seemed to be focused upon. Of course, things can get to be a bit sticky when seeing the ways that gambling is used to benefit others...as it concerns the lottery and colleges being funded by that (such as it is with things like the HOPE Scholarship in places like Georgia and similar scholarships in southern states).
I am sure that Augustine is right in that every form of casting lots is not a sin but I would that the proverb he is commenting on is probably about God's sovereignty and not about casting lots per se.
Would disagree, as the proverb he was commenting was in line with dozens of other references when it comes to the subject of casting lots and how it was ALWAYS with the sovereignty of God in view when the lot was cast. As Solomon himself was a Hebrew and would have been well familar with the practice occurring since the Law itself advocated it, it would be a bit intellectually dishonest (IMHO) to try assuming the proverb had to have meant something else.
I am not much of a fan of Augustine when it comes to his understanding of much of proverbs and the Psalms, but some of his other work is pretty good.
That I can understand..
So, what are we to say? I believe this is clear- we have no example in the Bible of believers casting lots after Pentecost.
If trying to make an argument of how something is done because it was mentioned one time, I think one would end up in some very difficult situations that would not make sense logically. For trying to focus on explicit examples either given or not given and then making inferences is akin to begging the question. One can say there are no more examples of the believers living a communal lifestyle after Acts 4:32-36---but it'd be incomplete to claim more than what the text indicates, such as saying "Well, from this, we can infer that the communal lifestyle was only for that era and should not be practiced today." To do so, it'd be pertinent to show within history if Christians were known for doing a communal lifestyle...and, for that matter, show how Christians practiced generosity multiple times prior to that. The same dynamic goes for other things not mentioned explicitly within the Gospels (such AS beastiality per
Exodus 22:19 , or a host of other things)--as many have said that the lack of discussion on such things within the NT means that it wasn't a valid concern of the Lord. That'd be erroneous since the Lord would not have to spell it out all the time (nor would the Biblical writers) since the people they were writing for would have been aware of the practices already occurring amongst believers and thus some things didn't need to be said. It's the same way with casting lots, IMHO, as there are enough examples within the OT where it was used in regards to the priesthood itself/determining positions in leadership and where the scriptures note the Lord guided it just as he guided others through things like dreams/visions, prophecies and a host of other things.
And apart from that, what is often left out is that trying to make an argument about believers after Pentecost is limited if trying to say that it ceased because believers didn't have the Holy SPirit. What was done in Acts 1 was done by the apostles..and they were already given an infilling of the Holy Spirit by Jesus himself in John 20:22 when sending them ...for he breathed on them and said,
Receive the Holy Spirit.
Thus, they were already with the Spirit even before Acts 2...and it can easily be said that what they did in casting lots was Spirit-Led. The only other option, IMHO, is to say that they were not led by the Spirit in choosing Mattias via lots and that his selection was a mistake that was not guided by the Spirit.
The Apostles were trying to discern Gods will over who should replace Judas as the twelfth Apostle. As they sought God, they prayed and cast lots. Casting lots was a fairly common method of discerning Gods will in biblical times. Lots were usually made out of small stones, and
the method of using them was similar to drawing straws, or flipping a coin yet with a component of faith in Gods providence to decide a matter.
We are led by the Spirit of God when we are His children
I agree. Nonetheless, being led by the SPirit of God doesn't mean that the means one has available and that the Spirit gave clearly in the OT are no longer apart of how he leads anymore than it'd be logical to say that those led by the SPirit of God cannot truly trust in the means he has used such as wisdom, the advice of others, dreams, prophecy, circumstances and a host of other things. Being led by the Spirit of God is not just a matter of the Spirit saying in a loud voice (or an inner voice) saying "Do This..."--as he has spoken in a myraid of ways.
And for others who've actually cast lots (or flipped the coins) after being prayerful/asking the Lord for confirmation (just as Gideon did in
Judges 6:38-40 /with the fleece on the ground ), it never ceases to amaze when it comes to the ways that the Lord did indeed speak. One can argue against that, but it cannot explained away in the sense of saying "Well, that was just coincidence that you prayed and this outcome happened!!!!"
With casting lots, there should always be wisdom since it is not necessarily the main thing people should do. Say, for instance, that you have a job offer and you can't seem to make up your mind whether to take it or not. Should you prayerfully come before the Lord Jesus to ask Him what to do? Should you grab a couple dice and say, "If You want me to take this job, then show me a number below six." And so you roll your dice and up comes three on one dice and two on the other. So do you now know it is His will for you to take the job? Has He made your decision? One must be very wary of demanding such things from the LORD without a clear command to do so...or doing the things which the Lord placed MORE emphasis on when it came to believers discerning His Will. In example, in
1 Cor 12-14 when Paul discusses the "gifts of the Spirit" (see also
Romans 12) there are a number of gifts that are given precisely for the purpose of helping the church discern the will of God...prophesy, the interpretation of tongues, the word of knowledge and others.
And all of those things should precede decisions. That's apart of what occurred with the casting of lots in Acts 1. Peter, acting as leader of the group, said that someone should be chosen to replace Judas Iscariot, who was dead. Peter acted as an authoritative interpreter of Scripture, observing that Psalm 69:25 had predicted Judas' death, and Psalm 109:8 predicted that someone else would be chosen for his position of leadership. As it concerns who they felt would qualify to be another of the 12, they used wisdom in saying that he had to have been a disciple of Jesus throughout his ministry from the beginning to the end (verses 21-22). Two men matched that description, so the group prayed and cast lots to see which man should be numbered with the apostles and become an appointed witness of Jesus' resurrection. (Although many people had seen the resurrected Jesus and could be witnesses to his resurrection, it seems that the group of 12 apostles formed a group of official witnesses.)
And as they were filled with the Spirit, they were setting an amazing example of how the Spirit of the Lord could work. As said best by another:
"Choosing a twelfth member of this core group of witnesses implies acceptance of Jesus' commission to be his witnesses in the new situation following his death and resurrection. This is an act of faith in Jesus and a first step in obedience to his new call" (Robert Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts, part 2: Acts, page 21).
The story of Acts 1 also forms an interesting contrast in how to select leaders. For in Acts 6, leaders are chosen who are "full of the Spirit and wisdom" and "full of faith" (6:3, 5)....and there is no mention of casting lots. This does not mean that casting lots could not have been done (As if it was FORBIDDEN)--but with the Holy SPirit being given to everybody, there were other opportunities available and ways for people to discern the Lord's Will as opposed to SOLELY using the former method of lot casting as with before. If others had chosen to do so, that would not have meant the Spirit of God could not work
There are some other references to casting lots in the Old Testament, some used and commanded by God, some used by rebellious leaders of Israel (case of Saul above) and some even used by pagans. I would have to say that the practice of lot casting has a checkered past!
There is only one example of casting lots among Gods people in the books of the New Testament. (The casting of lots by the soldiers who crucified Jesus was not done by Gods people.) That is the case of the choosing of Matthias in Acts 1:26. Some have questioned whether this choice or the method used to arrive at it, were approved by God, but I find no reason to believe that God didnt approve of Matthias as His choice for Judas replacement. Any suggestion otherwise seems to be based wholly upon conjecture.
There is no mention of the practice after this time. In fact it seems that though there were many critical decisions that needed to be made among the leaders of the church in the first century, there is not a single case of casting lots beyond that case with the replacement of Judas.
One of the most critical decisions made by the early church was to decide how the Jewish Christians were to accept the Gentiles who also became Christians. One full chapter in Acts is devoted to describing the occasion and the decision that was made. Yet there is no mention of the practice of casting lots.
Other decisions that could also have lent themselves to the practice have no mention of the casting of lots. In the choice of the seven deacons in Acts 7, the congregation decided without the help of lots. In Pauls instruction of the choice and appointment of elders in Timothy and Titus, again, no reference is made to the practice of casting lots, though it might have been nice to have more specific guidance than scriptural qualifications and human judgment. Other examples of decisions made without the casting of lots can probably be cited.
Even in that one situation with regard to the choice of Matthias to replace Judas, it seems like they used a majority of revealed wisdom and human judgment.
Acts 1:21-26: "It is therefore necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us-- 22 beginning with the baptism of John, until the day that He was taken up from us-- one of these should become a witness with us of His resurrection." 23 And they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias. 24 And they prayed, and said, "Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two Thou hast chosen 25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. " 26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
It looks to me that by the time they decided to cast lots, they already had two qualified men, either of which would probably have done the job well, especially when inspired by the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. This was not a choice between good and bad but between two goods. It is likely that the choice would have worked out with either candidate. (A friend of min remarked in our discussion group that it may have worked quite well for them. "See how short their church business meeting was?")
.....It is my conclusion from considering these things that the practice of casting lots was used in Bible times (before the New Testament revelation) when much less was known of the will of God than we know today. The practice was also misused in those days as well (case of Saul wanting to kill Jonathan) so one should not consider the act valid in and of itself. It could be misused. The sudden way in which the practice ceased after the day of Pentecost, even though many tough decisions remained to be made for the church, leads me to believe that God would have us use spiritual wisdom (see 1 Corinthians 6:5) and the guidance of the Scriptures (See Acts 15:15-19) to make decisions today.
One can say that there's nowhere believers are called to cast lots--but that has nothing to do with addressing whether or not they DID in the NT and whether or not there was already Biblical precedence for it....just as it is with other things. If the APOSTLES, led by the Spirit of God, did so and they were the leaders of the church leading by example, I'll go with them anyday
....but even if not doing so, it is a blessing to know that there are many
ways a person can know fully what the Lord's Will is.
