Questions and Answers

In your new booklet, “And Lawlessness Will Abound…”, you are referring, on page 11, to the “law of jealousy,” as quoted in Numbers 5:29-30, as a “ritualistic procedure” to determine whether a wife had committed adultery or not. What is that “spirit of jealousy”? Is this law still to be applied and practiced today? If not, how are we in the Church to determine whether a wife is guilty of adultery or not?

In Numbers 5:11-31, God gave Old Testament Israel a supernatural means of determining whether a wife had committed adultery or not, although she had not been caught, and no witness was present (Numbers 5:13). When “the spirit of jealousy” came upon the husband, so that he suspected a transgression of his wife, the husband could bring his wife to the priest, and he had to bring at the same time the “grain offering of jealousy.” (Numbers 5:15).

It is possible that the “spirit of jealousy” describes the fact that the husband became jealous in his spirit or mind. It is also possible, that the “spirit of jealousy” was at times actually a spirit being causing the husband to become jealous. We need to note that the “spirit of…

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Matthew 24:34 is not dealing with the same set of events as in chapter 16:28. Note the context of Matthew 24 and 25. In verse 3 of the 24th chapter, the disciples of Christ asked him the following: ” ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age.’ ” Christ then goes on to answer them by pointing out events that literally span the entire church age, but He deals primarily with those events that signal His imminent return to the earth.

In verse 34, Christ says, ” ‘Assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.’ ” From the broader context, we understand that in this verse Christ is speaking about that generation that is alive when the dramatic intervention of God in human affairs actually occurs.

In Matthew 16:28, Christ is here quoted as follows: “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Does this verse imply that some of the disciples would live over two thousand years?…

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Paul is talking here about rulers in general, who uphold certain laws to guarantee a civil and peaceful harmonious lifestyle amongst their citizens. Paul is referring to the submission to and the enforcement of civil and criminal laws, such as theft or murder.

Paul is not talking here about the Hitlers or Neros, etc., who are encouraging their citizens to betray Christians or the Jews, so that they can be killed. We need to remember Christ’s statement to OBEY the Pharisees in all that they tell the people, but later, Peter did not obey them when they told him not to preach in the name of Christ. Christ would not obey them, either, to follow their rules of ceremonial washing, or to have no contact with “sinners.” So, Christ was talking about matters which were not in conflict with God’s word. (Notice, too, that John the Baptist openly rebuked Herod for committing adultery with his brother’s wife (Luke 3:19-20). Also, Daniel refused the obey the order of king Darius, not to pray to God, and his three friends disobeyed the order of king Nebuchadnezzar to worship the golden image).

In John 19:11, Christ told Pilate, “‘You could have no power at all…

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1 Corinthians 7:14 reads, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband;
otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”

The Ryrie Study Bible gives the following correct explanations of this passage:

“The
presence of a believer in the home sets the home apart and gives it a
Christian influence it would not otherwise have. A believing partner,
therefore, should stay with the unbeliever. However, this does not mean
that children born into such a home are automatically Christians. They
are holy in the sense of being set apart by the presence of one
believing parent.”

Christ makes it very clear that one must be
called by God to have access to God. Generally, when Adam and Eve
sinned against God and were driven out of the garden of Eden, God cut
Himself off from mankind. Christ says in John 6:44, “No one can come to
me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” In this day and age, God
the Father calls or draws only very few. Most people today simply
cannot understand the truth of God, because God has not chosen to
reveal it to them yet…

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Isn’t the Sabbath for the Jews only, and didn’t God introduce the Sabbath to the Jews for the first time in Exodus 16?

It is not correct that the Sabbath is mentioned for the first time in Exodus 16, or that God introduced the Sabbath to the people at that time. The Sabbath is mentioned in the very second chapter of the Bible, where God set it aside as HOLY, to be USED by man for a HOLY purpose.

God created the Sabbath at the time when He created man. We read in Genesis 2:2, “He RESTED on the seventh day from all His work…Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work.” The word for “rested,” in the Hebrew, is “shabath,” and it means, according to Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, “to cease, rest, keep Sabbath.” God created the Sabbath at the time of the creation of man, by RESTING or ceasing from His work, and He “sanctified” that day, that is, He “set it aside for a holy purpose.”

Later, we read, in Exodus 20:11 that God had “rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the SABBATH day…

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Can you please explain how the term “Apostle” should be used today in light of its usage in the New Testament?

Jesus Christ is the only individual who is referred to in Scripture as “the” Apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Paul and Peter refer to themselves as “an” apostle,” or, as “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 12:12; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1; 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:1; 1:11; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1).

The Authorized Version translates Romans 11:13 this way, “I [Paul] am the apostle of the Gentiles.” However, in the Greek, there is no definite article (“the”) in front of the word, “apostle.” By contrast, in Hebrews 3:1, in reference to Jesus Christ, there is a definite article (“the”) in the Greek in front of the word, “Apostle.” Many translations, including the New King James Bible, or the Revised Standard Version, translate Romans 11:13, in this way, “I am an apostle to the Gentiles.”

When referred to apostles as a collective group, we find many times the expression, “the apostles.” (Matthew 10:2; Mark 6:30; Luke 9:10; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10; Acts 1:2, 26; 2:37, 42, 43; 4:33, etc.). The designation as…

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Editors’ Note:

We received last week an interesting question regarding our use of the word “Lucifer.” We are sharing our response with you:

In the Hebrew, the word translated as “Lucifer” in the King James Bible and many other translations, is “helel,” or “heylel,” and means, according to Strong’s, Young’s, and other commentaries, “lightbringer,” “shining one,” “morning star”,” or “shining star of the dawn.”

The word “Lucifer” is the Latin translation of the Hebrew word, “helel,” or “heylel,” conveying exactly the same meaning. So it is appropriate to use this word, describing the cherub who later became “Satan.” God uses many times names to describe the character of an individual. “Satan,” by the way, is the English translation of the Hebrew word, “sawtwan.”

Most words in the English language, designating names, are TRANSLATIONS from the Hebrew and the Greek — they are NOT the original words. Even “Christ” is a translation of the Greek word, “khristos.” It means, “the Anointed One.”

Also, the expressions are still different, when looking at other languages. In German, for instance, the word for “khristos,” is “Christus.” The Germans pray to the “Vater,” English-speaking people pray to the “Father,” but in the Greek language, the word is, “pater”…

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Editor’s Note: We are receiving interesting questions from new people in response to our advertisement campaigns. We recently answered one question regarding the biblical teaching that Lucifer and his angels occupied the earth prior to man. We are sharing our response with you:

When Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden of Eden, the serpent was already there, in order to deceive Eve. The serpent is later identified as Satan the devil (Rev. 12:9). But Satan was not always Satan.

We understand from the bible that Satan was originally the archangel and cherub Lucifer (which name means light-bringer), but that he became Satan when he sinned against God (Is. 14:12-15; Ez. 28:11-17). Lucifer wanted to “ascend to heaven” to dethrone God (Is. 14:13) – he wanted to “ascend above the heights of the clouds” (Is. 14:14). This shows, then, that he was here on this earth, as he wanted to ascend above the clouds to go to heaven. When he sinned, and was thrown back to this earth (Is. 14:12), he became Satan, which means enemy or adversary. Lucifer or Satan was already here on earth, when Adam and Eve were created. Since he appeared to them as the…

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Editor’s Note: We are receiving interesting questions from new people in response to our advertisement campaigns. We recently answered one of the many questions, regarding the biblical teaching on a secret rapture. We are sharing parts of our response with you:

The bible nowhere teaches two comings of Christ – or a secret rapture to heaven. The passage alluded to by some, that He will come as a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:1-4), describes the timing of His coming – the world will not expect His return at that time. It does not talk about the manner of His coming (visibly or secretly). Compare also Matthew 24:36-44.

The bible is very consistent in describing Christ’s Second Coming as one and the same event. When He visibly returns, He will gather His elect – not before then (Matthew 24:27-31).

Please note, too, 1 Thess. 4:16, and 2 Thess. 1:3-10. The events described will happen at the time of the last trumpet, when Christ visibly returns. At that time, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, and those alive will be changed – this does not happen before His visible return (1 Cor. 15:51-52). There can only be ONE last trumpet, and it…

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