In the previous Q&A, we discussed the fact that children of at least one converted parent are “sanctified” or “holy” in God’s eyes, which means that they can have a special and intimate relationship with God; that they CAN speak to God, expecting to be heard, and they can experience and obtain an answer from God. They are not cut off from God the Father, but they must make the decision of wanting to have continuing contact with God, by not neglecting or forsaking the Way of God.

We also discussed the blessing of little children and the fact that God assigns guardian angels to them for their protection, so that they can reach their potential of becoming baptized and ultimately born-again members in the God Family.

It is true, of course, that the teaching and conduct of parents can have an influence on the decision of the children to either become and stay loyal to God or to reject Him, but, as we will show, it is ultimately the decision of the child or teenager or young adult as to how to conduct his or her Way of Life and whether or not to maintain a relationship with God.

Continue reading "How do you understand Paul’s statement that our children are holy? And what are the practical consequences? (Part 2)"

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.”

Even though they are not automatically Christians (as rightly understood, we are only Christians when the Spirit of Christ dwells in us (Romans 8:9)—the Holy Spirit which is given to us upon proper baptism (Acts 2:38)—that does not mean that our children are cut off from access to God. Even during the time of the Old Testament, Christ DID deal and work with humans, including the nations of Israel and Judah. Christ did not deal with them by offering them access to the Holy Spirit and an opportunity for salvation (this will occur later, in the Great White Throne judgment period), but He DID speak to them and showed Himself to them. It was Christ who spoke the Ten Commandments to the ancient Israelites—not the Father. He was the Rock who led Israel out of Egypt and dealt with them in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4, 9). 

Continue reading "How do you understand Paul’s statement that our children are holy? And what are the practical consequences? (Part 1)"

In this final installment of this series, we look at four more descriptions of Jesus and conclude with some more general information which includes seven interesting descriptions in Revelation 2 and 3.

• A Ransom For Many

Perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible gives testimony to the fact that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

This is reinforced in 1 Peter 1:18-19: “…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Continue reading "How many different descriptions of Jesus are there in the Bible? (Part 5)"

We continue our journey to review more descriptions in the Bible about Jesus.

• Savior

There are a number of Scriptures that reveal that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind. In Luke 2:11, we read: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Right from the very beginning of His human life, it was revealed to a few people, His parents, the shepherds and later the wise men, that Jesus Christ was the Savior–the Lord. Remember that we explained in part 2 of this series that “Jesus” means “the Lord is salvation” or “the Lord saves,” while Christ means the “anointed one” or the “chosen one.”

The wording, “a Savior” instead of “the Savior” in Luke 2:11 is interesting. We know that there is no salvation in any other than Jesus Christ, and we read in Isaiah 45:21 that Jesus Christ, the God of the Old Testament, is the only Savior for mankind. Still, we need to understand that God the Father is also called our Savior (1 Timothy 1:1), in that it was He who gave His only begotten Son and the Savior for mankind, and God’s born-again children are also referred to as saviors (Obadiah 1:21), in that they will help Christ to bring about the salvation of all mankind.

Continue reading "How many different descriptions of Jesus are there in the Bible? (Part 4)"

After reviewing seven descriptions of Jesus in the previous two installments, we continue on our journey of looking at more of these.

• The Son of Man

We saw in the previous section above, that Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew 16:13). This is a Name that He used to refer to Himself.

In our Q&A entitled: “Why did Jesus call Himself ‘The Son of Man?’” we quote Wikipedia as follows:

“The expression ‘the Son of man’ occurs 81 times in the Greek text of the four Canonical gospels, and is used only in the sayings of Jesus.  The singular Hebrew expression ‘son of man’ (ben-‘adam) also appears in the Hebrew Bible over a hundred times.”

We go on to say that one commentator on the internet made these observations: “In the gospels, there are more than 80 places where Jesus refers to himself in the third person as the ‘Son of Man’. In most of those places, he is associating it with one of two prophecies concerning himself; either that the Son of Man will suffer and be killed (Matthew 17:12, Mark 8:31, 9:12, Luke 9:22) or that the Son of Man will come again in glory and for final judgement (Matthew 16:27, 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26, 21:27).  Often the two images are linked, and in only a very few places he doesn’t use ‘son of man’ that way.”

Continue reading "How many different descriptions of Jesus are in the Bible? (Part 3)"

In the first installment, we learned that it has been said that there are some 200 names and titles of Christ found in the Bible, and we started reviewing some of these. We now continue with some more descriptions of Jesus.

• The “I AM”

We understand that Jesus was the God of the Old Testament. In Exodus 3:13, we read: “Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they say to me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?’”   In verse 14 is a telling piece of information: “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I AM has sent me to you.”’”

Continue reading "How many different descriptions of Jesus are there in the Bible? (Part 2)"

The answer is, probably more than most of us would have thought.   As we will see, when reviewed thoroughly, there are very many names, descriptions, attributes, functions and references that apply to Jesus Christ.

With this question, the first thing that may come to mind is the debate about what and how to call Jesus.   There are those who insist that it must be Yeshua.  Many others disagree:

On the website: https://biblescienceforum.com/ we read about the transliteration of Yeshua into the name Jesus.

Hebrew/Aramaic                   Yeshua                      

Greek                                    Ie-s-ous                     

Continue reading "How many different descriptions of Jesus are there in the bible? (Part 1)"

In our recent series on God’s love, we discussed God’s relationship with men and the question of whether God has unconditional love for all people. In this Q&A, we will address the question of whether God requires unconditional love between human beings, and if not, what does He require of His people?

We read that we must love our neighbor as ourselves (compare Matthew 19:19; 22:39; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8).

As we are to love our fellow man AS ourselves, do we have unconditional love for ourselves?

We read that we love and cherish our own flesh and that it would be highly unnatural to hate ourselves. Ephesians 5:29 states: “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.”

Continue reading "Are we to Love our neighbor unconditionally?"

We recently had an e-mail from someone who had received our advertised booklet “The Fall and Rise of the Jewish People.” This person wrote:

“Thank you for your literature.  However, I am shocked and surprised that in Chapter 11 you refer to ‘God’s anger… In my experience God would not know anger – He is loving, kind and non-judgemental. You may be referring to the old testament of course in which God is portrayed as a human emotional being capable of such feelings. Thank God this beautiful power is far beyond that.”

The person then requested to be “unsubscribed” as a consequence. 

It is sad that due to ignorance, the clear teachings of the Bible are here being questioned.

In this Q&A, we will answer the two references that the writer makes about the God of the Old Testament and the assertion that God would not know anger.  

Continue reading "Does God know anger?"

There are many different ways that God addresses the members of His Church. Beginning with the twelve that Jesus called, in the New Testament all of those that were a part of God’s Church were termed disciples. The meaning of disciple is a “follower or pupil of a teacher, leader or philosopher.”

Another term Jesus used was brethren, both as a part of a physical family, and as a member of His Church. Using this term, the Church is referred to as a family relationship. We read this in Hebrews 2:10-12: “For it was fitting for Him,” (Jesus), “for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: ‘I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.’”

Continue reading "Why was David called a man after God’s own heart?"