Bible Discussion Replies PAGE 1860

You say the tongues that are being taught today are different than the tongues taught in the Bible. God is the same yesterday today and forever and so is his word. Paul Said he rather speak a language that would Edify the church than speak in tongues but he also said he spoke in tongues more than anyone.

Tell me what denomination ever speaks in tongues.

Thank you for having all this available for people to learn God's Word! God bless all who work on this.

Who were these "officers" recorded in John 18:3?

These particular band and officers were not Roman soldiers. These were Jewish temple officers and their band of subordinates employed by temple officials to enforce the proper entrance and behavior of the Jews' activities when on the temple's campus, or in the temple's structures, and certainly within the temple proper.

Compare the expression "the captain of the temple" (Ac. 4:1; 5:24, 26) identifying the Jewish officer appointed to preserve the temple's sanctity.

Rome did not involve its legionary officers and captains in such Jewish matters, nor would the Jews care to have such Roman Gentile involvement. Rome seldom involved herself in mitigating Jewish disagreements concerning their laws and traditions. Pilate so much as said so when Caiaphas delivered JESUS to Pilate for judgment ( Jn. 18:31): "Take ye HIM, and judge HIM according to your law."

The following explanatory exegesis substantiate that this band and officers were Jews:

1st, they were "from the chief priests and Pharisees" (v.3) and "of the Jews" (v.12). Roman officials would not humiliate themselves into Jewish servitude in such fashion. Doing so would be tantamount to the conquerors serving the conquered.

2nd, John 7:28 and 32 reveals the employment of Jewish officers to accomplish temple tasks and missions. There, CHRIST taught in the temple (v. 28) when "the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take HIM" (v.32). The Pharisees and the chief priests would never send heathen Gentile Roman military officers into the temple for any reason.

The identity of the "officers" recorded in John 18:3 (continued) =

3rd, the officer that "struck JESUS" (v.22) was just "one of the officers" in this plurality. He was in the close and immediate presence, company, and service of the High Priest (v.19). This officer was a Jew because the high priest would not have allowed a Gentile Roman military soldier (officer) in such close quarters for fear of ceremonial defilement (v.28).

Ironically, this officer and his fellow officers may have previously voiced another opinion concerning CHRIST: "Never man spoke like This Man" ( Jn. 7:46).

4th, the officer that struck JESUS (v.22) was a Jew because he thought JESUS disrespected the high priest. A Gentile Roman military officer would consider this confrontation a trivial insult between Jews and would not bother inserting himself in such matters.

5th, the Jews greatly feared potential ceremonial defilement during the Passover (v.28). Therefore, they exercised great care to avoid Gentile contact. These officers were Jews because contact was not a defilement issue (see vv. 3, 12, 18, and 22).

6th, John 19:6 clearly prove the nationality of these officers as Jews. There, the verse implies the officers stand with the chief priests and join their murderous rage demanding Pilate to crucify CHRIST.

7th, Roman military personnel simply would not serve the Jews by accomplishing or enforcing their religious mandates. Rather the reverse would occur. When CHRIST said, "Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain" ( Mt. 5:41), HE referred to Gentile Roman officials who abused their authority by oppressing the Jews into menial governmental service, usually by delivering posts and dispatches, or by forcing Jews to carry their military and personal packs and equipment. Forcing Simon of Cyrene to bear CHRIST's cross is a Scriptural example of such compelling ( Mt. 27:32; Mk. 15:21; Lu. 23:26).

Hi S Spencer ,i believe you are in error , David fasted and prayed to God for his son because he wanted his son to live long enough to enter into a covenant relationship with God by being circumcised on the 8th day . The baby boy died before he was old enough to be circumcised and David says : i shall go to him (in the grave) but he shall not return to me (be ressurected ) . If you are able ,please explain to me why you believe this baby went to heaven ,thankyou in anticipation .

Robert M Nkambule - in Reply on Exodus 3:15

By that reasoning, Jesus's name is also wrong. So if Jesus's name is wrong, then what have you been calling the Son of God?

Jehovah is the English translation of the Tetragrammaton. It is also translated to other languages as- Yehowa, Ehoba, Jehov, Jeova, etc.

I love your Bible ,study, guide answers for the miracle

Just one ,the human race .

the Temple is located in Jerusalem probably close to the Ofal As all the stones were removed there is nothing left of the Location but perhaps in their excavations they will find more relics of a forgotten location. they could build Temple now without anyones permission. Perhaps by the pool of Silom

Robert,

I also do not agree that everyone who received the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues. As Spencer mentioned, Paul asks the question "Do all speak in tongues?" And in the Greek text, it expects the negative answer no. Paul is referring to believers, those who have received the Holy Spirit. Not all spoke in tongues.

Your question is "How do modern pastors omit Acts 2:4?" No pastor should have the right to omit that verse. But when I look at the verses that follow and see what actually was taking place, it's easy to conclude that the tongues that are being taught in the church today are not the tongues that the bible teaches. In Acts 2:4, the "all" is referring to the apostles that were told to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, not every believer.

Jesse.

Well insignificant may be a poor choice of wording used by me. Kenna may want to know for secular reasons.

What I'm getting at is some things have no spiritual virtue.

Jesse

I Googled human races and it gave me the 100 yard dash, the 200 yard dash and ect.

Sometimes you can get insight on what is left out of scripture by rendering it insignificant.

I love to read the scriptures daily.

S Spencer,

I just Googled "How many races are there?" and it gave me the Kentucky Derby, Daytona 500, Tour De France, Indy 500, and a few others. Go figure!

As far as human races, I would agree with your answer in that the bible does not give a number. I like to look at it as being one, the human race, even though I don't think that is what Kenna was looking for. It was a great question though. I'm not too sure there is an answer to that one!

Thanks again Jesse for sharing that and I trust you had a very enjoyable & profitable camping trip.

What you shared truly shook me. I was well aware of the moral & spiritual condition of the city of Corinth, with its temple to Aphrodite/Astarte & its many prostitutes (serving as priestesses) that served there but had no inkling that such deplorable things had made inroads into the Church. Indeed, the Church was in a bad shape which would have grieved the apostle immensely but to have to root out wickedness at that level, would have been formidable & agonizing to him.

So I can see that those reasons you gave would have been sufficient for Paul to express chastity as a preference to marriage. For if it was persecution that was being hurled against the Church, I would think that such a Church in such a condition would have little to fear from the world, when the world was well & truly in the Church. Blessings brother.

Leovince.

Genesis 3:20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the ""MOTHER OF ALL LIVING.""

It's apparent Cain wife was either his sister or niece.

God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and MULTIPLY.

Which seems to imply the world wasn't multiplied.

Adam and Eve probably had a thousand kids Men and Women..

Genesis 4:16-17. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

The scripture doesn't say Cain took a wife "from" Nod. It says he went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, Adam and Eve could have been 100's of years old and their children children had kids, Perhaps he may have been married before he slew Abel and he brought over a wife to Nod.

I can go on and on!

You see we can speculate and go on and on about what we don't know but that don't change what we do know.

And that's Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the ""MOTHER OF ALL LIVING.""

God bless.

James,

As I'm sure you know, the account is given to us in Acts Chapter 28. Paul was taken prisoner in Rome and was put on house arrest. He had his own living quarters, and we find out at the end of Chapter 28 that he will be there for two years before they release him because he hasn't done anything wrong. But Paul would be recaptured a second time, and as tradition tells us, he will be taken outside of the city and beheaded by the Roman government.

So Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired, or rented house. Rome had to pay the expenses, not only of his trip but of his rented house. And he received all that came in to him, and he did two things: he preached the kingdom of God, and he taught those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ.

This was from morning until evening. And people were free to come and go, as Paul was allowed to have visitors. But Paul was chained to a guard the whole time. And people would be coming to him day and night listening to him speak. Can you just imagine this poor guard? He was going to hear Paul preach and teach whether he wanted to hear it or not!

Thank you Richard for those insights. I do agree with you, that Matthias wasn't appointed with the eleven till much later on (as you indicated, about 40+ days later). However, as it was the Apostle Paul writing this: "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve", I should have explained my reason further: Paul wasn't necessarily seeing Matthias as part of the twelve at that point, but that Matthias (not being in the 'inner circle' of disciples) was also a witness to Jesus' resurrection at some point, who happened to be (later on) one of the twelve. But of course, that is just a guess as we're not told this & just my attempt to place Matthias with the others. But your suggestion of Paul giving the number 12 for simplicity's sake, is noted & quite possible. However, I don't believe that the twelve included any women, as was suggested by Maggie, the original enquirer.

The very station in life that your friend finds demeaning is rather a great honor and a gift from God.

From the beginning, man was created to work for God ( Genesis 2:15). The woman was then specially created as the help most suitable to accomplish that purpose ( Genesis 2:20-25).

The Lord's value system is quite opposite what the world judges worthwhile. If your friend knows the forgiveness and redemption gained by Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, then she has an eternal purpose and reward in the perfect will of God. ( 1 Corinthians 15:58, 1 Peter 3)

Being an excellent mother carries a far greater weight of glory and influence than any of the vain achievements or self promotion touted in this world's marketplace. ( Proverbs 31:10-31)

The Bible has many accounts of women who by faith achieved great things for the Lord, including:

Sara: Hebrews 11:11-12

Rebekah: Genesis 24-27

Leah and Rachel: Genesis 29-

Shiphrah and Puah: Exodus 1:15-21

Moses' mother and sister Miriam: Exodus 2

Rahab: Joshua 2, Joshua 6

Deborah: Judges 4

Jael: Judges 4

Naomi and Ruth: Ruth 1-4

Hannah: 1 Samuel 1-2

Esther: Esther 1-10

Elisabeth: Luke 1

Mary: Matthew 1-

Martha and Mary: Luke 10, John 11

The faithful women at the crucifixion of Jesus after the disciples fled: Matthew 27:55-56

Mary Magdalene: Mark 16, John 20 - (The very first person to meet the risen Lord Jesus Christ),

along with many other notable followers in the early church.

Hi Chris,

From what I gather, the believers in Corinth were facing a challenging time. The church in Corinth was very corrupt and Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to address the corruption that was in the church. It was pagan worship, and prostitution was part of the worship service and people brought their families. And this was a constant seven-day-a-week influence on that city.

So now these people have received Christ, and they're gathering together as followers of Jesus after He has saved them, but they still have to live in this environment. They are in a community where this is all the people do, is participate in perversion and corruption as part of their worship.

So they had a great struggle in the church there because a lot of the problems that they struggled with were in the church in Corinth. That may have been the "present distress" Paul spoke about?

I wanted to touch on what Paul's reason may have been for saying that he wished all men were like him (Single) and that if they were to marry, that such would have trouble in the flesh.

Paul says "Such will have trouble in the flesh." It's a fact of life! Whether a married couple loves each other or not, there's going to be trouble in the flesh. It seems from Verse 35 that the motive for Paul's teaching this way was so that our devotion to the Lord will be without distraction.

Verses 32-33 seem to show the contrast between a married and single person's devotion to the Lord, where a single person, whether a man or woman, can be totally devoted to the Lord. But a married person no longer has the same amount of devotion because their concern is on pleasing their spouse. Paul doesn't say this is wrong. I believe it's a normal human response for someone who is married.

I believe Paul was once married, although scripture does not specifically tell us. If he was, he would have experienced it both ways as far as devotion goes, possibly prompting him to say he wished all men were single such as himself.

Dear Gary, God "hears" everything. He is omnipresent (every place) and omniscient (knows everything). Perhaps you really mean does God respond to prayer of the unsaved. The answer depends on Gods purpose. Since we know that it is Gods will for all men to be saved, God will respond to the prayer of a sinner when it is aligned with His will and in confession that Jesus Christ is Lord of his life by saving him. Sinners (unsaved) do not know God and cannot pray for anything else to God since they do not know who they are praying for. Gods word says they pray to idols. Judgement will always be the response of God to anything the unsaved pray for other than for their salvation. Saved man can only talk to God through His Holy Spirit and God always responds to His Holy Spirit. Since we do not know how to pray as we ought, Gods answers may seem like a no to us. His response will always Glorify Christ and be for our good for those in him.. Read Romans 8. There is a time God will give up on unsaved and gives them over to a reprobate mind. Read Romans 1. He will give the unbelieving what they want (without Him) since they refuse to believe the truth. 2 Thes 2:11-12 I hope this rings true. Gods Blessing.

It appears to me that there were two creation scenarios: In Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. Could this explain that Cain took a wife from the first creation in Chapter 1 in the land of Nod?

Dear Adam, You seem sincere so I will honor your reply. To rightly understand this, we must first use the instructions given to us by God and rightly divide the scriptures. Saved must be understood in context. For the saints under the law at the time of Christ and for those who will have to endure the time of Jacobs trouble (enduring to the "end" of the tribulation and entering into the promised Kingdom of Heaven on earth given to Israel), will be essential. Many if not most will have to die and be martyred to keep the faith. Their works will be evidence of their faith and will be essential as a testimony to that. That is why you read so many verses about that in Matt, Mk, Lk, Jn, Hebrews, James, Peter, 1-3 John Jude and Rev. You are correct in understanding that those during that time would be able to abandon their faith and would be judged for it. When the Kingdom of Christ is again set up through the believing remnant and reigning, the law of God will flow from Zion for the whole world. Violation of Gods law will be dealt with through righteous judgment and the penalty for transgressions will be quick. (please read about Ananias and Saphira in Acts.5:1-11)

That is why 1 John says to the saints of that time not to pray for some sins. See 1 John 5:16. Remember that Christ gave and will give the Apostles in the Kingdom of Heven on earth the divine authority to forgive sins or not. John 20:23. Matt 19:28. When Israel rejected the witness of the the Holy Spirit Act 7:54-60, God set aside Israel and Chose to reveal through the Apostle Paul a new dispensation. See Ephesians 3. Until the body of Christ is removed and the fullness of the gentiles if come in, works are not part of salvation. Believers can do nothing to be made righteous but believe in the faith of Christ. God seals us with His Holy Spirit and we are immersed into the Body of Christ and adopted into his heavenly family. Rom 8.Our works will be judged but we will be saved See 1 For 3:15. Eph 2:8-9 God Bless

This answer gives me some understanding of Ps. 133:2, whereas before I had difficulty with it. I like your making an analogy of Jesus, referred to in the Bible as the head, and Christians as his body. If we died to ourselves when he died on the cross, we are part of his resurrection also. We are thus fully allied with him. Moses anointed Aaron for the priesthood in the wilderness, and thus Aaron was holy in God's sight for this task. Likewise, we are part of Christ's body, and so the oil with its fragrant combination of spices is symbolic of the fact that we are anointed with our head. Interesting comment you made about Aaron probably glad that the fragrance from the spices would probably be something he would like to stay on the garment. As the Holy Spirit resides in each believer, the spirit of Christ dwells with each member of the body, symbolized by the oil running down the entire garment in the anointing ceremony of the high priest Aaron. As you say, we need Christ and we need other believers. The anointing of Aaron was a symbolic picture of this.

Thank you for that thoughtful answer.

Natalie J.

An afternoon meditation.

Justification- We must believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we confess by Faith that he is the only hope in our (fallen man's) redemption and restoration in the Will of God. God has shown by His love and His mercy His Christ and provided in advance of our fallen condition, grace to believe. By this grace He can turn lost souls towards His Son. We can with our minds and our voice make a choice to believe in the Son and that we are sinners that must be saved by Grace. We must also carry this Faith from the mind by grace (again) to the condition for the foundation in our Justification. This is our free choice.

Justification by Faith- is that lasting foundation. To remain Justified we must die to sin (God's Grace) by the obedience of the Cross in our repentance. Repentance is foundation where our emptied self (dead) life can be restored (made alive) in the Fullness of the Spirit of Christ. There is another condition to remain justified by Faith and that is obedience to the Spirit. We can turn to this Spirit (by choice) often for our assurance that we remain in the Lord's Will, or possibly our realization that we have strayed and need to return to this Will and fullness of Spirit in obedience.

Brother Richard, May CHRIST IN US grace us with HIS wisdom and HIS understanding.

Just other scriptures that tell us who we are IN CHRIST.

2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are GIVEN (his works) to us exceeding great and precious PROMISES: that by these ye might be partakers of the DIVINE NATURE.

Hebrews 3:1 Wherefore, HOLY BRETHREN (you are HOLY because I AM HOLY), partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest OF OUR PROFESSION, Jesus Christ.

Majesty-impressive stateliness, dignity, or beauty,also royalty

I felt that it was refering to homosexuality and beastality because it was talking about sodom and gomora and the actions of people there.

That's wonderful Sharon!

I hope it was a blessing to you all.

May God bless you and the family.

Hi Robert,

Not everyone in the New testament.

Read 1st Corinthians ch12 and ch 13.

Thanks. God bless you