Rebirth to Physical Life (2)

This is the conclusion to “Rebirth to Physical Life (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first, before continuing with this Part 2.  Also, I suggest you read “Universal Christian Salvation”, before proceeding here.

In “Rebirth to Physical Life (1)”, we read about God’s future for the men of ancient Sodom, and for men in both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah in the light of Ezk.37:1-14.  A physical rebirth.  The apostle Paul wrote in Ro.11:26, “All Israel shall be saved”.  Not just a remnant!

We considered the book of Job, when he was suffering.  Jb.1:21 Tanakh KJV Septúagint “Naked came I forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.”  Job indicated he could later be reborn from a mother’s womb, his spirit indwelling a human newborn!  Job symbolically compared himself to the ancient phoenix bird (Jb.29:18 Tanakh), which would live again after a cycle of 500 or 1,000 years.  (see Part 1.)  cf. Re.20:5 “The rest of the dead lived not again until the 1,000 years were completed.”  Re.20:8 the dead, resurrected and returned to physical life, would inhabit “nations” of the earth.

Where in the Bible do we read of an individual, a human spirit, indwelling a second physical body…a personality who later did return to a mother’s womb (as Job indicated) to live another physical life?

The prophet Elijah lived in the early 800s BC.  He was a famous character in Israel’s history.  There’s no scriptural record of Elijah’s death.  2Ki.2:1-14 he was translated into heaven by a whirlwind.

{Sidelight: Elijah’s immediate successor Elisha then received a double portion of God’s Holy Spirit, unlike other “sons of the prophets”.  Elisha performed miracles (ref 2Ki.2:9, 15, 1Co.12:28-29).  Poole Commentary 2Ki.2:9 “Elisha seems to have had a greater portion of the prophetical and miraculous gifts of God’s Spirit.”  Elisha still had his own human spirit of course; it wasn’t replaced by Elijah’s spirit!}

In the 400s BC the Lord said in Mal.3:1, “Behold, I will send My messenger; he will prepare the way before Me”.  Mal.4:5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”  Consequently, the Jews expected a bodily return of Elijah.  Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.100 “The coming of Elijah…he was to appear personally.”  Traditionally, each spring they’d set a place for Elijah at the Passover Seder table and leave the door open for him.  Rabbi David Kimchi “When God shall bring him [Elijah] to life in the body, He shall send him to Israel.”  He’d be sent from God, bodily.

John the Baptist was a man “sent from God” (Jn.1:6).  Lk.1:13, 24-27 John was born 6 months before Jesus.  John’s mother was Mary’s aunt Elizabeth.  Mk.1:1-4 John “prepared the way” for Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus identified John the Baptizer as the Elijah who was to come!  Jesus said of John in Mt.11:13-14, “This is Elijah”.  John the Baptist was the Elijah who had lived approximately 900 years before!  Jesus said later in Mt.17:12-13, “Elijah has already come, and they didn’t recognize him. Then His disciples understood He was talking to them about John the Baptist.”  Cambridge Bible Mt.17:12 “[Many Jews] didn’t recognize him as the Elijah prophesied by Malachi.”  Mk.9:13 re John, “Elijah has indeed come”.

The angel Gabriel foretold Zacharias re John his son to be. Lk.1:14-17 “He will go before Him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah”.  The same human spirit in Elijah was in John the Baptizer.  Both were empowered to call the people to repentance.  Jews believe Elijah will return bodily.  He did.

Let’s now notice several similarities between the lives of Elijah and John the Baptizer:

Both dwelt in the wilderness east of the Jordan River (1Ki.17:2-6 & Mt.3:1-3, Lk.1:80).

Both characteristically wore a shaggy cloak and a leather belt (2Ki.1:8 & Mt.3:4).

Both were witnesses for the true God (1Ki.18:37 & Jn.1:14-15).

Both mocked their opponents who displayed a form of religion (1Ki.18:27 & Mt.3:7-9).

Both reproved their wicked king who disobeyed God (1Ki.18:17-18 Aháb & Lk.3:18-19 Herod Ántipas).

Both were wanted dead by the king’s evil wife (1Ki.19:2 Ahab/Jezébel & Mk.6:17-24 Herod/Herodiás).

Both endorsed their replacement, Elisha and Jesus (1Ki.19:16, 19 & Mk.1:9, Jn.3:28-30).

John the Baptizer even ministered at the same site on the east bank of the Jordan River from where Elijah had been taken up into heaven 900 years before (2Ki.2:1-14)!  Scripture reflects too many similar characteristics for it to be just coincidence.  They were the same personality, the same human spirit.

Ja.5:17 Elijah was a man with faulty human nature, as we.  He made mistakes, one serious.  1Ki.18:4, 13 Israel’s evil queen Jezebel had killed prophets of the Lord.  Elijah took vengeance by killing Jezebel’s false prophets.  1Ki.18:40 “Elijah said to them [Israel], ‘Seize the prophets of Báal [450 men, v.22]; don’t let one of them escape.’ They seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishón and slew them there.”  Ellicott Commentary 1Ki.18:40 “The ruthless slaughter of Baal’s prophets.  Pulpit Commentary 1Ki.18:40 “It is true that the spirit of Elijah was not the spirit of Christianity (Lk.9:56); because our religion instructs us to leave it to Him who has said, ‘Vengeance is Mine.”

Elijah wasn’t a civil authority.  Yet he made the decision to kill the false prophets without having the authorization to kill/stone false prophets (cf. De.18:20, 13:6-11).  The Lord didn’t tell him to kill them.  Elijah chose to kill them…with the sword.  1Ki.19:1 “He had killed all the prophets with the sword.”

1Ki.19:2-3 after slaying the prophets, Elijah fled for his life in fear.  He escaped from evil queen Jezebel.

However, 900 years later John the Baptizer died by the sword, at the behest of evil queen Herodias!  ref Mk.6:17-29.  v.27 the king’s executioner had John “beheaded in the prison”.

Elijah, as John, eventually reaped what he’d sowed!  Ga.6:7 Paul wrote, “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap”.  Cause and effect.  Elijah killed with the sword…John the Baptizer died by the sword.  Mt.26:52 Jesus said, “All who take up the sword will perish by the sword”.  What goes around, comes around.  Oba.1:15 “As you have done, it will be done to you.”  Ps.7:16 “His violence shall come down upon the crown of his own head.”  Barnes Notes Ps.7:16 “He’d be treated as he had designed to treat others.”  God is just.  Karma?  John reaped the payback for Elijah’s unauthorized ruthless treatment of the false prophets.  Although Jezebel failed to kill Elijah, Herodias succeeded in having him/John slain.

Jesus said John the Baptizer was Elijah.  Jn.1:21 but John didn’t think he was Elijah.  It seems that God mercifully causes amnesia to set in before or by the time children mature.  So a person (like John) isn’t tormented with guilt from any memory of his previous life when he’d committed major crimes or sins.

Elijah was considered a great prophet.  In the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), Moses typified the Law and Elijah typified the Prophets…the “Law and the Prophets”.  And in Lk.7:28, Jesus said there’s no greater prophet than John/(Elijah)!  Mt.17:3-4, 10-13 in the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus.  The representatives of the Law and the Prophets were two witnesses to Messiah Jesus’ upcoming death (Lk.9:30-31).  Note that the Transfiguration occurred after John the Baptizer was beheaded (back in Mt.14:10).  Elijah couldn’t have been present in the Transfiguration if John was still alive in Judea.

The commission given to John the Baptizer as “My messenger” (Mal.3:1, Is.40:3 & Mk.1:2-4) came to pass in the 1^st century AD, although unconverted Jews still don’t think John was the prophesied Elijah.

Rebirth to physical life was a common belief in Bible times.  Elijah was expected to personally appear on the scene.  Philo Judaeus (ca 20 BC – 50 AD) wrote of the Lógos (Greek), the Word of God.  Works of Philo: The Special Laws 1, p.541 “Now the image of God is the Logos [Word], by which all the world was made.”  The apostle John affirmed in Jn.1:1-4, 14, all things came into being through the primordial Logos/Word who became Jesus in the flesh.  Philo preceded the apostle John.

Philo also wrote in On Dreams 1:138-139, “Now of souls some descend upon the earth with a view to be bound in mortal bodies. Of these, those which are influenced by a desire for mortal life, and familiarized to it, again return to it.”  According to Philo, some Jews returned to a physical life and others didn’t.  (This wasn’t the false New Age belief of transmigration of souls into lower animal bodies!)

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 18:1:3-5 “Pharisees believe souls have an immortal rigor, and under the earth [cf. Paul’s Php.2:10] there will be rewards or punishments. Virtuous souls have the power to revive and live again, the vicious to be detained….The doctrine of the Sadducees is that souls die with the body…The Essenes teach immortality of souls and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for.”  Pharisees & Essenes thought there was life after death.  Paul had been a Pharisee.

Roman author Pliny (23–79 AD) wrote admirably of the Essenes.  Biblical Archaeology Review Spring 2020, p.49 quotes Pliny. “So fruitful for them [Essenes] is the repentance which others feel for their past lives. Natural History 5:17:4.”

Jews who encountered Jesus thought He too had lived previously.  Some mistakenly thought Jesus was the expected Elijah to come, or that Jesus was John the Baptizer reincarnated.  Mk.6:14-16 “People were saying, ‘John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him [Jesus].’ But others were saying, ‘He is Elijah.’ When Herod heard of it, he kept saying, ‘John, who I beheaded, has risen!”  Evidently Herod didn’t hold to the Sadducean doctrine of no resurrection.

Others thought Jesus was an Old Testament prophet (other than Elijah) returned to life.  Jesus asked His disciples in Mt.16:13-14, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They answered Him, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the Prophets.”  Some of Jesus’ countrymen thought He was Jeremiah (lived ca 650–570 BC) physically alive again.  Why Jeremiah?  Jeremiah had prophesied of the future Messiah (Je.23:5-6) and New Covenant (Je.31:31-ff).  Both Jeremiah and Jesus were persecuted by Jewish leaders who opposed them (cf. Je.20:7-10).  JFB Commentary Mt.16:14 “Jeremiah…suggested by a supposed resemblance between the ‘man of sorrows’ [Is.53:3 Messiah] and the ‘weeping prophet’ [Je.9:1, 13:17]?”  Jeremiah’s book of “Lamentations” means “weeping”.  So it is perhaps understandable why some would (wrongly) think Jesus & Jeremiah were the same human spirit.

Jn.9:1-3 Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus about the man born blind from birth.  “His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he should be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents, but in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.”  Jesus then displayed the works of God by miraculously giving sight to this man.

We understand, a human embryo or fetus in the womb doesn’t commit sin.  Jesus’ disciples assumed the man sinned in a past life and his blindness in this life was the payback; he was reaping what he’d sowed.  Or else the man’s blindness was caused by some sin committed by his parents.  Jn.9:34 Pharisees who opposed Jesus accused this man of being “born entirely in sin”.  Although sin wasn’t the cause with this man, Jesus didn’t tell His disciples that a person couldn’t have sinned in a prior physical body.

Gill Exposition Jn.9:2 “The disciples asked whether this man had sinned in a pre-existent state when in another body. This notion, Josephus says, was embraced by the Pharisees.”  Barnes Notes “Many of the Jews believed…that the soul of a man, in consequence of sin, might be compelled into other bodies, and be punished there.”  The nature of the past life sins may not be capital crimes or wholly evil.  Ellicott Commentary ties Jn.9:2 to the apocrypha book Wisdom of Solomon 8:20. “Being rather good, I came into a body undefiled” (KJV 1611 edition).  He’d been more good than evil; his rebirth body had no congenital defects.  (In Mt.12:42, Jesus referred to the “wisdom of Solomon” 6:1.)  Jesus didn’t tell His disciples that belief in a rebirth from a mother’s womb (as Job believed, Jb.1:21) was erroneous.

Jn.5:28-29 Jesus said that from the graves there is resurrection to eternal Life (Strongs g2222, Greek) for those who did good, and resurrection to judgment for those who didn’t.  Judgment involves evaluation.  Ac.24:15 Paul said there shall be “a resurrection of both the just and the unjust”.  Cambridge Bible Jn.5:29 “This passage and Ac.24:15 are the only direct assertions in the New Testament of a bodily resurrection of the wicked.”  (also cf. Da.12:2 with Je.23:40.)

He.11:35 a resurrection to eternal Life with a spiritual body is better than resuscitation, and better than resurrection to another physical life.  1Co.15:44 that which is planted a natural physical body is raised a spiritual body.  Paul is referring to the just who believed, repented, and lived by the Holy Spirit.  (see “Life and Death – for Saints”.)  The just were “firstfruits” (Ja.1:18, Re.14:4), rising to eternal Life.  The just who sowed good works reap a spiritual body to be with the Lord.

He.9:27 all die at least once physically.  cf. deaths: He.11:35, Jn.11:44, 1Ki.17:22, 2Ki.4:35.  Re.20:14 a second death which terminates consciousness is indicated for the very few.  (see “Gehenna (2) – Lake of Unquenched Fire”.)  Yet based upon God’s principle of justice seen in De.19:21, “life for life”…there wouldn’t be a second death without a second life preceding it!  To hear the name Jesus, believe, repent.

Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.1064 “It is at least conceivable that there may be a purification or transformation of all who are capable of such…and that in the end of what we call time, only that which is morally incapable of transformation, be it men or devils, shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.”  (Also, some few view the lake of fire as a refiner’s fire of purification.)

So what do the scriptures reflect will be the final result when every human, BC and AD, has had ample opportunity to hear of salvation via Jesus’ sacrifice, and time to show belief and repentance from sin?

Re.5:11-14 “And every [g3956] created thing – which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all [g3956] that are in them – I heard saying ‘To the One who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [Jesus], be blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the ages of the ages. Amen.”  Ellicott Commentary Re.5:13 “The whole universe joins in this grand acclaim.”  Barnes Notes “Ascribing praise. All worlds seem to join in it.”  JFB Commentary “The universal chorus of creation.”  Every creature.

So this is total.  At this time all will worship, giving honor and praise to the Lord.  This is done of their own free will.  2Ti.1:10 Jesus has “abolished death”!  There are none left in a hell agony, resisting God!

John envisioned in Re.21:1, 4 “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist. He [God] shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will not exist any more; or mourning or crying or pain; for the former things have ceased to exist.”  There’s no cries of pain & torment from a hell-fire!  Gill Exposition Re.21:4 “There will be nothing to afflict the mind.”

What great news this is in regards to our ancestors, family members, friends & loved ones who died unconverted/unsaved!  Their ultimate fate isn’t eternal conscious torment in hell!  The same goes for “all Israel” (not just a remnant).  And for the unnamed multitudes who lived in BC times.  God is so good!

Needless to say, Christians should hope that Universal Salvation for all through Jesus will eventually be a reality in the ages to come.  God’s loving, impartial plan for mankind, created in His image, is greater than we’ve thought!  Praise the Lord!

Rebirth to Physical Life (1)

This topic is follow-up to the two-part topic “Universal Christian Salvation”.  As background, I suggest you read/review the Bible verses referenced in “Universal Christian Salvation” before proceeding here.

In “Universal Christian Salvation”, we examined pertinent passages in the New Testament (NT) and the Old Testament Septúagint/LXX which contain the Greek term for “all”…“pas” (Strongs g3956).  This term “pas” occurs 1,240 times in the NT.  In several of those verses, all/pas pertained to all of mankind.

Universalism or Universal Christian Salvation/Reconciliation is the belief that all or most humans will ultimately be reconciled to God, saved through Jesus.  (It isn’t pluralism; since not all mans’ religions are from God.)  Two disparate beliefs of Christians are…Eternal Conscious Torment in hell-fire, held by Calvinists & Arminianists…and Annihilationism extinction.  see “Universal Christian Salvation (1)”.

A person may cite isolated Bible verses which seem to support any or all of the above three beliefs!

Yet God is love (1Jn.4:16).  Universal Christian Salvation/Reconciliation does comprehensively reflect God’s love.  God is also fair, impartial.  Ro.2:11 “There is no partiality with God.”  He’s no respecter of persons (Ac.10:34).  And God is just.  Ro.9:14 “There is no injustice with God.”  Is.61:8 the Lord loves justice.  1Jn.1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”

But if all humans end up ‘saved’, how does such Universal Salvation also reflect God’s character as just & consistent, with the requirements for His forgiveness and mans’ salvation the same for every person?

Over the millennia, most of humanity died without believing in the name of Jesus, the only name by which we’re saved (Ac.4:12).  Many or most never even heard His name!  e.g. the multitudes of gentiles who lived in BC times, before Jesus’ incarnation.  All men are sinners (Ro.3:23).  Some die cursing God.

Yet Paul wrote in Php.2:10-11, “At the name of Jesus everyone [pas g3956] in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will bow the knee. And every [g3956] tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  That’s universality…even including those “under the earth” (KJV)!  also cf. 1Pe.3:19.  Geneva Bible Php.2:10 “All creatures will at length be subject to Christ.”  Meyer NT Commentary Php.2:10 “The bowing of the knee represents adoration.”  Cambridge Bible Php.2:10 “Created existence, in its heights and depths…being said to worship.”  Ellicott Commentary Php.2:11 “The acknowledgement of universal Lordship and majesty.”

However, many didn’t believe and repent, two requirements for salvation (Mk.16:16; Jn.3:18, 36; Lk.13:3; Ac.2:38, 16:31).  If they’re saved without belief and repenting from sin, it would seem that God has a double standard!  Yet God is just and impartial.  Mankind reaps what he sows (Ga.6:7).  How may this be reconciled?  Jesus and Paul said there were other “ages to come” (e.g. Mt.12:32, Ep.2:7).

Ge.18:20 the sin in the ancient cities of Sodom & Gomorrah was “exceedingly grave”.  Consequently, the Lord destroyed their inhabitants with fire from heaven (Ge.19:24-25, Jude 1:7)!  Therefore, we may think it would be intolerable for them in the judgment.  Condemnation.  But that’s not what Jesus said (speaking to the unrepentant who opposed Him).  Mt.11:24 “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”  What?!  also Mt.10:15.  Having destroyed those wicked cities with fire, for their judgment to be “more tolerable”…implied is a measure of future forgiveness.

The Lord asserted in Ezk.16:53-55, “I will restore the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria [Israel’s 10 tribes] and her daughters….Sodom with her daughters will return to their former state.”  The Jordan River plain.  Keil and Delitzsch Ezk.16:53 “What the apostle teaches [1Pe.3:19, 4:6]…is equally applicable to the Sodomites…and indeed generally to all the heathen nations who either lived before Christ or departed from this earthly life without having heard the gospel preached.”  So it’s not hopeless for those ancient Sodomites!  They would eventually be restored.  Such tolerance could also include the children of those utterly corrupt heathen nations/Canaanites who Christ commanded Israel to exterminate in De.20:16 & Jsh.6:20-21?  Those ancients may still obtain salvation!

But those individuals all died.  How can they return to their former lands and hear the saving gospel?  Furthermore, reanimation doesn’t apply only to those gentiles; it applies to the entire house of Israel too!     

The dry bones passage of Ezk.37:1-14 reflects the whole house of Israel rebirthed to physical life!  (It’s too long to quote here in full.)  Their corpses (slain, v.9) had decomposed.  v.4-5 NET “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord, I Am about to infuse breath into you and you will live.”  Barnes Notes Ezk.37:6 “In Ezk.37:5, not ‘I will cause’, but I cause or am causing.”  It was about to start happening.  v.6 “I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you…and you will know that I Am the Lord.”  (cf. Job said in Jb.10:11, “Did you not…cloth me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews?”)  These are literal breathing physical bodies with human spirits!  Cambridge Bible Ezk.37:6 “Their becoming actual men of flesh & blood.”  At death their human spirit had returned to God who gave it (Ec.12:7).  God sends those same spirits into new flesh bodies.

Ezk.37:11-13 “These bones are the whole house of Israel. I will open your graves and bring you back to the land of Israel.”  This pertains to all Israel.  They’ll all return to the land of Israel.  Similarly, the Lord said ancient Sodom’s inhabitants would return to their land area.  Ezk.37 is a fleshly rebirth of all Israelites.  v.14 “I will put My Spirit in you.”  God’s Holy Spirit (HS) too is given to them.  God will call them to Himself, they’ll be taught the gospel (Jn.6:44-45) and receive the HS to walk in His ways.

Paul said in Ro.11:26, “All Israel shall be saved”.  (also cf. Is.45:17, Zec.8:13.)  Not just a remnant!  Not just the 100^th generation, but excluding most of the previous 99 generations (with those who went into Assyrian & Babylonian captivities) who burn forever in hell-fire!  No.  God puts His Spirit in the historical house of Israel!  All will have the opportunity to repent & believe, and be saved through King Jesus (Ezk.37:24).  God loves all who live, both BC and AD.  His will is none perish forever; that all come to repentance, 2Pe.3:9.

Hosea prophesied to the northern 10 tribes of Israel around 750 BC.  Ho.13:12-14 “The iniquity of Ephráim [the northern kingdom] is on record…I will deliver them out of the power of Hades, and will redeem them from death. O Hades, where is thy sting?”  (Paul quotes this LXX verse in 1Co.15:55.)  But when?  First…Ho.13:15-16 in 722 BC Shalmanéser V will attack from the East, since the guilty northern Israel (capital at Samaria) has rebelled against God.  Israel will be deported by Assyria into captivity.  Those Israelites will die in the attack and in captivity.  Then later…Ho.14:4-5 “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, for My anger is turned away from them. I will be like the dew to Israel.”  v.8 “O Ephraim…it is I who answer and look after you.”  The Lord will care for them.

But those had all died!  Yet the Lord will bring back those apostate Israelites from Hades (the realm of the dead); the sting of death is past.  MacLaren Expositions Ho.14:5 “That promise in its depth and fullness is applicable only to Christian Israel.”  That deported generation of northern Israel will have opportunity for salvation.  Again, “All Israel shall be saved”.  Sanh 10:1 “All Israelites will have a share in the world to come.”  Including the hardened, Ro.11:15, 25.  But those individuals will have to live a right life…believe, and repent (of apostasy).  God’s standards are consistent; He is impartial (Ep.6:9).

Later the Jews of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah were killed or sent by God into captivity to Babylon (between 606-586 BC).  Lam.2:21-22 they were slaughtered!  La.1:5 God’s wrath was due to the multitude of their transgressions.  La.3:42-43 the Lord didn’t pardon them then.  La.4:6 “The iniquity of Thy people is greater than the sin of Sodom.”  Adult survivors died in captivity.

Yet Je.32:36-40, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning this city [Jerusalem], ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and pestilence. Behold I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My wrath, and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in peace and safety…And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” (cf. Ezk.37:13-14, 24).

But they’d died (elsewhere)!  JFB Commentary Je.32:37 “The ‘all’ countries implies a future restoration more universal than that from Babylon.”  Not just after the 70 years of Je.29:10.  That generation was killed in the siege, and over the decades the adult survivors from 597 BC had died in captivity.  Barnes Notes Je.32:39 “Under the new covenant they will walk with one consent in the one narrow path of right-doing.”  Ellicott Commentary Je.32:40 “The ‘new covenant”…which shall abide forever.”  Gill Exposition Je.32:40 “An everlasting covenant…which is known and made manifest at conversion.”  Cambridge Bible Je.32:40 “It is the ‘new covenant’ of Jer.31:31, etc., which is meant.”  Jesus said in Lk.22:20, “This is the new covenant in My blood”.  Yet those Jews had perished 600 years before the inauguration of the New Covenant in the 1^st century AD at Jesus’ Last Supper!

The southern kingdom of Judah, long since dead, would be restored to their land too.  Paul wrote in Ro.11:15, “What will their [the Jews] acceptance be but life from the dead”.  v.23 God is able to graft them in again.  Ro.14:9 Christ is Lord of both the dead and the living. (cf. Ezk.37:12.)  It’s not all over for those Jews who perished in the first half of the 6^th century BC!  They’re part of “all Israel”.

Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.116 “In view of Isa.53 and other passages…the Messiah is represented as willingly taking upon Himself all these sufferings, on condition that all Israel – the living, the dead, and those yet unborn – should be saved.”

1Sm.2:6 “The Lord kills, and makes alive; He brings down to Sheól and raises up.”  also see De.32:39.  God, the author of life, has the right to end a life.  He may kill the wicked.  The Lord sent Israel/Judah to die in captivity.  Men reap what they sow (2Co.9:6).  But the order in the above two verses isn’t ‘He makes alive and then kills’, later…it’s vice versa.  After God kills, He then makes them alive again.

God allowed the patriarch Job to suddenly lose his wealth, children, and health in his trials.  Job was suffering, thinking God was angry over his (unknown) sin.  Jb.14:13 Job lamented, “If only you would hide me in Sheol until Your anger passes”.  He wanted to go to the realm of the dead (temporarily).  Though Job didn’t understand why this evil had come upon him, He didn’t blame God.  Instead, Job said in Jb.19:26 KJV, “Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God”.  Job didn’t doubt God existed.  Cambridge Bible Jb.19:26 “Before death he shall not see Him.”  Then when?

Jb.1:21 Tanakh KJV LXX, “Naked came I forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.”  What?!  Job said he would later be reborn from a mother’s womb; his same spirit indwelling a human newborn!  After death, the Lord would make him alive again (1Sm.2:6).  cf. Is.26:19 “Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust. The earth will give birth to the departed spirits.”  Ellicott Commentary Is.26:19 “Like the vision of dry bones in Ezek.37:1-14.”  Physical rebirth.

Job said in Jb.29:18 Tanakh, “I shall die with my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the phoenix.”  Barnes Notes Jb.29:18 “Herder observes that the phoenix is obviously intended here…The rabbis generally understand here the Phoenix; a fabulous bird, much celebrated in ancient times…Jannai adds that ‘This bird lives 1,000 years, and in the end of the thousand years, a fire goes forth from its nest, and burns it up. But there remains an egg, from which again the members grow, and it rises to life.”

Job thought he too would experience another physical life, as the ancient phoenix bird.  Clément was a fellow-worker with Paul (Php.4:3).  1Clem.12:2-6 describes a 500-year life cycle of the very rare phoenix.  v.6 “The Lord…even by a bird shows us the greatness of His power to fulfil His promise.”  (A phoenix was exhibited in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius, 41–54 AD).  Tacitus Annals 6:28 (117 AD) “There is no question that the bird is occasionally seen in Egypt.”  The phoenix symbolized rebirth.  We understand that Job’s physical life did end well (Jb.42:10).  But that’s not the case for every human.

Re.20:5 “The rest of the dead lived not again until the 1,000 years were completed.”  Interestingly, an ancient Greek & Roman belief was…the spirits of the dead dwelt in Hades for 1,000 years, and then were resurrected or reincarnated to earthly life.  [Note – ref for Hades: Lk.16:23; 1Co.15:55; Re.1:18, 20:13-14.  also see the topic “Thousand (Years)’ in the Bible – (2)”.]

Re.20:8 at that time, after the 1,000 years, there are “nations in the four corners of the earth”.  Physical nations!  cf. Ec.6:6 “Though a man live 1,000 years twice told….”  May this include the men of Sodom and ancient Israelites/Jews reborn to another physical life (Ezk.16:55; Mt.11:24, 10:15)?

The Jewish apocryphal book Wisdom of Sírach, called Ecclesiásticus, was written ca 180 BC.  Its writer Yeshúa ben Síra alluded to a rebirth to physical life, for the righteous.  WisSir.46:11-12 “Whoever did not turn away from the Lord – May their memory be blessed, may their bones revive from their place, and may the name of those honored live again in their sons.”  This brings to mind the “dry bones” of Ezk.37.  Also WisSir.49:10 “May He indeed revive the bones of the twelve prophets from their place.”

The Jewish book of 2Maccabees was written ca 125 BC.  Its writer too believed in rebirth to physical life.  2Mac.12:44-46 KJV 1611 edition “If he had not hoped that the slain should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. Whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin.”  Wikipedia: Resurrection “The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in 2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through re-creation of the flesh.”  (also ref 2Mac.7:22-23, 28-29; Ezk.37.)  It was their custom to pray for the deceased.

Paul wrote in 1Co.15:29 Good News trans, “What about those people who are baptized for the dead? What do they hope to accomplish? If it is true, as some claim, that the dead are not raised to life, why are those people being baptized for the dead?”  In the 1^st century, it seems it was a custom to not only pray for the dead but to also be baptized by proxy for the dead.  Several interpretations have been offered for 1Co.15:29.  Expositor’s Greek Testament 1Co.15:29 “How futile Christian devotion must be, such as is ‘in those baptized for the dead’, if death ends all.”  Pulpit Commentary “Why do some of you get baptized on behalf of your dead friends?”  Cambridge Bible “The natural and obvious explanation is that the apostle [Paul] was here referring to a practice, prevalent in his day, of persons permitting themselves to be baptized on behalf of their dead relatives and friends.”  Perhaps prayers and vicarious baptism was efficacious for their comrades and loved ones who would later have a physical rebirth.

Where else in scripture do we read about belief in physical rebirth (besides Jb.1:21)?  As well, a rebirth could be great opportunity for our ancestors, children, family members, friends & loved ones who died unconverted/unsaved!  Their ultimate fate wouldn’t be eternal conscious torment in hell-fire!

{Sidelight: For our non-religious relatives/ancestors who’d lived a peaceful quiet life to suffer hell-fire forever equally with genocidal tyrants…such injustice wouldn’t reflect just retribution!  God is just.  The punishment fits the crime; the lex talionis principle of equality (e.g. Le.24:17-22).}

This topic is concluded in “Rebirth to Physical Life (2)”.  (The future for converted/saved Christians is addressed in the topic “Life and Death – for Saints”.)

Universal Christian Salvation (2)

This topic is the continuation of “Universal Christian Salvation (1)”.  The Bible verses addressed in Part 1 won’t be repeated here in Part 2.  Part 1 should be read first.

Universalism or universal Christian Reconciliation is the belief that all or most humans will ultimately be reconciled to God, saved through Jesus.  (It isn’t pluralism; all mans’ religions aren’t from God.)  Two disparate beliefs of Christians are…Eternal Conscious Torment in hell-fire, held by Calvinists & Arminianists…and Annihilationism extinction.  see brief explanations in Part 1.

A person who knows their Bible may cite isolated verses which seem to support any or all of those three main beliefs!  Yet God is love (1Jn.4:8).  Which belief best reflects God’s character, His love & justice?

In Part 1, we began examining pertinent passages in the New Testament (NT) and the Old Testament (OT) Septúagint/LXX which contain the Greek term for “all”…“pas” (Strongs g3956).  This term “pas” occurs 1,240 times in the NT.  Continuing with other pertinent verses containing the word “all” (pas):

In scripture, “all” (pas g3956) can mean ‘each & every’ man, without limits.  e.g. in Ac.1:24, 17:25, Ro.3:23, He.12:23…“all” means ‘each & every’.  But “all” doesn’t always mean ‘each & every’.  (see Part 1).  However, “all” rarely means only ‘some’ (unless exaggeration to prove a point was in view).  And “all” doesn’t mean the minority of the class referred to.  At the least, “all” indicates the majority.

Ro.11:32 Aramaic Bible “God has shut every [g3956] person into disobedience, so that He shall have mercy upon every [g3956] person.”  Here, all Jews and gentiles in parallel.  As all have disobeyed God, all shall eventually receive mercy.  Meyer NT Commentary Ro.11:32 “The totality, namely, all Jews and gentiles jointly and severally.”  Every person.  Barnes Notes Ro.11:32 “All are represented as in prison [under sin], confined by God, to be liberated only in His own way and time.”  Pulpit Commentary “Certainly the prospect of a universal triumph of the gospel…carries with it to his [Paul’s] mind further glories of universal salvation for all.”  As disobedience is universal…mercy is universal.  In parallel.

In Ro.11:26, Paul writes that in time “All [g3956] Israel shall be saved”. (cf. Is.45:25)  That’s quite an assertion!  Grotius said it was “a maxim among the Jews that every Israelite should have a part in the future age”.  Gill Exposition Ho.1:10 “The Jews will be converted, and all Israel saved, Rom.11:25.”  Meyer NT Commentary Ro.11:26 “All Israelites who up to that time shall still be unconverted, will then be converted to salvation.”  But that time isn’t fulfilled yet; it’s into the future.

Peter preached to the Jews at Jerusalem in Ac.3:26. “God raised up His Son Jesus and sent Him to you first, blessing you, by turning every one [g1538 hékastos] of you from your wicked ways.”  But every Israelite hasn’t yet believed, repented, and become converted to salvation.  “All Israel” isn’t saved yet.

1Co.15:22 NASB “For as in Adam all [g3956] die, so also in Christ shall all [g3956] be made alive [g2227].”  Surely, we all die.  Dr. Spiros Zódiates says of the Greek term translated “made alive” (KJV “quicken”) g2227, “Generally used in reference to salvation”.  Family NT Notes 1Co.15:22 “He shall raise to life the whole human family.”  Pulpit Commentary “It is so impossible to understand the phrase, ‘shall all be made alive’, of a resurrection of endless torments.”  This parallel “all” doesn’t allow for an eternal hell-fire.  1Co.15:23 “But each in his own order.”  Not until each believes and repents.

Mt.18:14 “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”  All humans are children of God, the Father of spirits (He.12:9).  This includes the mentally disabled.  Bengel’s Gnomen Mt.18:14 “We ought to subserve the Divine will in caring for the salvation of all. The universal desire on God’s part to bestow it [salvation].”  Pulpit Commentary “It is inconceivable that anyone can hold the doctrine of the eternal reprobation of certain souls [Calvinism & Arminianism].”

Lk.3:6 “All [g3956] humanity shall see the salvation of God.”  Here Luke quotes Is.40:5 from the old Greek version (which became our Septuagint/LXX).  Cambridge Bible Note Lk.3:6 “The blessedness and universality of the gospel.”  JFB Commentary Lk.3:6 “Every obstruction shall be so removed as to reveal to the whole world the Salvation of God in Him whose name is the ‘Savior’ [Jesus].”  (cf. Lk.2:30-32, Ac.13:47.)  In time, no one will be without opportunity for salvation through belief in Jesus.

But how will the 14-year-old girl who died in an auto accident without knowing God see the “salvation of God”?  Or how will the Eskimo who lived and died in 100 AD without ever even hearing the name of “Jesus” see the “salvation of God”?  The Lord has His ways!  He is just & fair, no respecter of persons.

Jesus stipulated in Jn.6:44-45, “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him. As it is written in the Prophets [Is.54:13], ‘They shall all [g3956] be taught by God.”  All.  The inducement to come to Jesus is God’s doing.  Gill Exposition Jn.6:44 “They [men] have neither power nor will of themselves.”  (Ro.6:16 “It doesn’t depend on human will or effort, but on God who shows mercy.”  That’s not Arminianism.)  Jn.6:65 “No one can come to Me, unless the Father has enabled him.”  We become enlightened and drawn via God’s Holy Spirit.  Expositor’s Greek Testament Jn.6:65 “All that brings men to Christ is the Father’s gift.”  But does God choose to never draw some men, wanting them instead to burn in hell forever?  Would that reflect love/impartiality, not respecting persons (Ac.10:34)?

Rather, Jn.12:32 “If I am lifted up above the earth, I will make everyone [g3956 pas] want to come to Me.”  Eventually, that is.  (May it involve living more than one physical life?)  Pulpit Commentary Jn.12:32 “The attraction of the cross of Christ will prove to be the mightiest and most sovereign motive ever brought to bear on the human will, when wielded by the Holy Spirit as a revelation.”  It was Father God’s will that Jesus die on a cross (Mt.26:39), for all.

Ac.17:30-31 “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all [g3956] everywhere to repent…having raised Him [Jesus] from the dead.”  If God was to condemn to eternal torment in hell-fire the ignorant masses who lived before Jesus walked the earth…such condemnation would contradict “God overlooked”!  Meyer NT Commentary Ac.17:30 “Heathenism is based on ignorance.”  Cambridge Bible Ac.17:30 “God hasn’t imputed to men the errors they committed in ignorance.”  Is everlasting torment in a hell a just & fair punishment for ignorance?  Yet God can enable all to repent, in His time.

And not only the masses of gentiles historically who didn’t know God.  Again, “All Israel shall be saved” (Ro.11:26)!  Descendants from all 12 tribes (Ja.1:1) of Israel too, including the Jewish people.  Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p.116 “In view of Isa.53 and other passages…the Messiah is represented as willingly taking upon Himself all these sufferings, on condition that all Israel – the living, the dead, and those yet unborn – should be saved.”

Ro.14:11 “It is written [Is.45:23], ‘As surely as I live’, says the Lord, ‘Every [g3956] knee will bow to Me and every [g3956] tongue shall confess to God.”  Yes, surely God does live…therefore every human will come to acknowledge Him and bow in worship!  Gill Exposition Ro.14:11 “Everyone that has a tongue.”  Meyer NT Commentary “The correct explanation is: every tongue shall praise God (as the Judge), and therewith submit to His judicial authority.”  No tongues are left in hell-fire cursing God.

The Lord doesn’t force people to honor and worship Him, against their will.  They’ll do so of their own free will.

He.2:8-9 “You [Father God] have put all [g3956] things in subjection under His [the Son of Man’s, v.6] feet. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to Him. But we see Jesus…that He might taste death for every [g3956] man.”  JFB Commentary He.2:9 “His death [is] applicable for every individual man.”  Meyer NT Commentary He.2:9 “Distinctly to bring out the thought that Christ died on behalf of each single individual among men, not merely for mankind as a totality.”  Barnes Notes He.2:9 “How could words affirm more clearly that the atonement made by the Lord Jesus was unlimited in its nature and design? The advocates of the doctrine of limited atonement [e.g. Calvinists] cannot thus use scripture language to express their belief.”  Christ’s atoning death isn’t limited to God’s elect in this age alone.

1Co.15:28 “When all [g3956] things shall have been subjected to Him [the Son], then the Son Himself will be subjected to the One [Father God] who subjected all [g3956] things to Him [the Son], that God may be all in all [g3956].”  Totality.  In the final consummation, all will be reconciled and bow to God…“all in all”.  (And Jesus the Son too will still be in subjection to His Father’s greater authority, cf. 1Co.11:3.)  Benson Commentary 1Co.15:28 “The Godhead…may be over all beings, in all places, and the immediate object of their worship and service.”  Pulpit Commentary 1Co.15:28 “It is quite an easy matter for commentators to say that the scope of the words ‘must be confined to believers’, if they chose to make ‘all’ mean ‘some’. I confine myself to…‘All things’, and therefore all men, without any interruption.”  No rebels.  It seems that “all” here, at the very least, indicates the vast majority!

Col.1:19-20 “Through Him [Jesus the Son] to reconcile all [g3956] things to Himself [God]…whether things on earth or in heaven.”  Cambridge Bible Col.1:20 “The human and angelic ‘worlds’ are the objects of the ‘reconciliation’ in view here.”  Vincent Word Studies Col.1:20 “Must be taken in the same sense as in Col.1:16-18, the whole universe, material and spiritual.”  Meyer NT Commentary Col.1:20 “The only sense therefore is, that the entire universe has been reconciled with God through Christ.”

Ti.2:11 “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all [g3956] men.”  God most graciously sacrificed His Son Jesus.  Barnes Notes Ti.2:11 “None were excluded from the offer; that provision had been made for all.”  Benson Commentary “It concerns all persons, in whatever situation or condition.”  Expositor’s Greek Testament “The all-embracing scope of the saving grace of God.”  In time, will all persons who ever lived hear this good news and have opportunity for God’s salvation?

He.8:11 “They shall not teach each one his countryman, and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all [g3956] will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”  This is to result from the New Covenant and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Barnes Notes He.8:11 “It does not mean that all persons, in all lands, would know the Lord – though the time will come when that will be true.”  That time is still yet to come.  To date, only some have known the Lord (via the Holy Spirit).

Php.2:10-11 “At the name of Jesus everyone [g3956] in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will bow the knee. And every [g3956] tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  This indicates universality!  cf. 1Pe.3:19.  Geneva Bible Php.2:10 “All creatures will at length be subject to Christ.”  Meyer NT Commentary Php.2:10 “The bowing of the knee represents adoration.”  Cambridge Bible Php.2:10 “Created existence, in its heights and depths…being said to worship.”  Pulpit Commentary Php.2:10 “All Creation…uniting in the universal adoration.”  Ellicott Commentary Php.2:11 “The acknowledgement of universal Lordship and majesty.”  Yet some have died cursing God.

The apostle John envisioned in Re.5:11-14, “And every [g3956] created thing – which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all [g3956] that are in them – I heard saying ‘To the One who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [Jesus], be blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the ages of the ages. Amen.”  Bengel’s Gnomen Re.5:13 “The harmonious song of all the inhabitants whom the four quarters of the universe contain.”  Pulpit Commentary Re.5:13 “All animated creation now joins in the ascription of praise.”  Robertson’s NT Word Pictures Re.5:13 “No created thing is left out.”

So this is total.  All will give honor and praise to the Lord.  Again, this is done of their own free will.  There are none left in a “hell” agony, resisting God!

John also envisioned in Re.21:1, 4, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist. He [God] shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will not exist any more; or mourning or crying or pain; for the former things have ceased to exist.”  There’s no cries of pain & torment from a hell-fire!  (also ref the two-part topic, “Gehenna”.)  Gill Exposition Re.21:4 “There will be nothing to afflict the mind.”  The gates of Hades will not be able to stand (Mt.16:18)!

Can we believe…no more crying or pain will exist?!  According to Bible scholar F.F. Bruce, “Eternal conscious torment is incompatible with the revealed character of God.”

John did write of a “second death” (Re.2:11, 20:6, 14, 21:8).  Jewish Targums refer to a second death as annihilation for the very few who remain incorrigibly wicked, after all is said & done.  see “Gehenna”.

According to the old religious periodical Manford’s Monthly Magazine, Abraham Lincoln said in regards to eternal punishment: “If God be a just God, all will be saved or none.”  Lincoln appointed a universalist minister as a U.S. Army Chaplain during the Civil War.  Protestant ministers objected because the man believed in the salvation of all souls, that even the Confederate rebels would be saved!  Lincoln’s response was…if that be so, then he deserved to be a Chaplain in the U.S. Army.” (ref Nelson Simonson Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography.)

William J. Wolf The Almost Chosen People, p.105-106 “Describing a theological discussion in 1858 in Lincoln’s office. He…cornered his interrogators and left no room to doubt or question his soundness on the atonement of Christ, and salvation finally of all men. He didn’t pretend to know when that event would be consummated, but that it would be the ultimate result, that Christ must reign…over all.”

How can God bring to pass the salvation of most all individuals who ever lived, via the sacrifice of Jesus?  Historically, many or most people lived & died without believing in Jesus, or never hearing His name!  Such as the multitudes of gentiles who lived in BC times, before Jesus’ incarnation.  They didn’t believe and repent, two requirements for salvation (Mk.16:16; Jn.3:18, 36; Lk.13:3; Ac.2:38, 16:31).

Yet God is able to bring to pass all things, according to His will, His word!  Universal Salvation is great news concerning our ancestors, family members, friends & loved ones who died unconverted/unsaved!  Their ultimate fate wouldn’t be eternal torment in hell-fire!  So, it goes without saying, we Christians should hope that Universal Reconciliation for all through Jesus will eventually become a reality.

To explore how God might bring to pass the salvation of most everyone who ever lived, see the topic “Rebirth to Physical Life”.

Repentance from Sin

In Sunday sermons, churchgoers in general don’t hear much about repentance.  It’s not a popular topic.  Yet the Bible (and Jesus) has much to say about it.  This is about repenting and repentance.

What does it mean to repent?  The Greek verb translated “repent” in the LXX Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT) is met-an-o-éh-o, Strongs g3340.  It occurs 33 times in the NT.  Repent means to change one’s mind (for the better), or to turn.  Webster’s Dictionary: Repent “To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life; to feel regret or contrition, to change one’s mind.”

What is repentance?  The Greek noun translated “repentance” is met-án-oy-ah, g3341.  It occurs 24 times in the NT.  Repentance means a change of mind by one who repents; the action of sincere regret or remorse.  Webster’s Dictionary: Repentance “The process of repenting, especially for misdeeds or moral shortcomings.”  Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary “To turn from evil and turn to the good.”

To begin, here’s two passages about repent from the OT book of Jeremiah.  The Lord said of treacherous Judah in Je.8:6 LXX. “There is no man that repents [g3340] of his wickedness.”  Wickedness is to be repented of, but the Judah of Jeremiah’s day didn’t have a change of heart for it.  The Lord declared in Je.18:7-10 LXX, “If that nation turns from their evils, then I will repent [g3340] of the evil I thought to do to them….But if they do evil things before Me, and don’t hearken to My voice, then I will repent [g3340] of the good things which I spoke to do for them.”  If they turned from their wickedness, God would change His mind (repent) and relent from doing them bad…but also vice versa.

Man is to repent of…sin.  Some verses from the NT which show we’re to repent (g3340) of sin: Lk.15:10, 17:3-4; Ac.2:38, 3:19, 8:22; 2Co.12:21; Re.2:21, 9:20-21.

Some NT verses which show that repentance (g3341) is from sin: Mt.9:13; Mk.1:4, 2:17; Lk.3:3, 5:32, 15:7.  Also, 2Ti.2:25 shows that God gives us repentance (g3341) as the ability to change our mind in regards to acknowledging His truth.  He.6:1 & Re.2:22 indicate repentance (g3341) from dead works.

Quoting several of the above verses: Jesus said in Lk.17:3-4, “If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him”.  (Repentance is a prerequisite for forgiveness.)  Peter admonished Simon the Samaritan in Ac.8:22, “Repent of this your wickedness”.  In 2Co.12:21, Paul said he would “Mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented”.  Jesus spoke about the Thyatíran church in Re.2:21. “She does not want to repent of her immorality.”  Immorality is sin.  Re.9:21 “They did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their immorality, or their thefts.”  Those acts are all sins.  Mankind is to repent (g3340) of sins!

In Mk.1:4, John the Baptizer “Came into the wilderness proclaiming a baptism of repentance [g3341] for the forgiveness of sins”.  In Lk.3:3, Jesus “Came into the district around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance [g3341] for the forgiveness of sin”.  Jesus and John both preached repentance from sin.  Jesus said in Mt.9:13 KJV, “I Am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”.  There’s no admonition for a repentance from righteousness.  Repentance (g3341) is from sin!

Again, repentance involves a change of mind or change of heart.  But 1Ki.11:1-9 shows King Solomon changed/turned for the worse.  Because he was so wise, maybe he thought he didn’t need to heed God?

2Ki.21:1-11 King Manasséh did worse than ungodly gentile nations!  But eventually he changed for the better.  And God responded favorably to even evil Manasseh’s sincere change of heart (2Ch.33:10-19)!

Jnh.3:3-10 the gentile Ninevites in Assyria repented at the preaching of Jonah (cf. Lk.11:32).  But their change for the better wasn’t lasting.  Approximately 100 years later they returned to wickedness.  (The book of Nahúm then foretells Nineveh’s coming ruin.  Nineveh fell to Babylon in 612 BC.)

How is “sin” defined?  In the Bible are found at least 5 definitions or descriptions of sin:

1) 1Jn.3:4 sin = lawlessness, or the transgression of the law (KJV).  The OT is said to contain 600 laws, and the NT 1,000 commands.  Which ones are still applicable in today’s world?  A basic rule of thumb is…all God’s written (moral) principles and precepts apply, unless He has rendered them obsolete over time.  In the words of Jesus, Mt.4:4, “It is written”.  Jesus was referring to the written OT.

2) Ja.4:17 sin = Knowing we should do a good act we’re capable of doing, but not following through and performing it.  “He that knows to do good, but does it not is sin.”  Sins of omission, that is.

3) 1Jn.5:17 sin = “All unrighteousness is sin.”  Not meeting God’s justness/justice (within the confines of one’s national laws) or moral standards.  Ps.119:172 “All Thy commandments are righteousness.”  Unrighteousness is disobedience to God’s right principles.

4) Ro.14:23b sin = “Whatever is not of faith is sin.”  The righteous or just live by faith (Ro.1:17).  Our conscience becomes educated as to what thoughts, words, actions constitute sin.  We shouldn’t defile our conscience!  (Avoiding the appearance of evil helps keep a pure conscience, 1Th.5:22.)

5) Pr.24:9 sin = The thought of foolishness/folly.  Our thoughts can be sin, before they become words or actions.  Jesus said in Mt.15:19, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts…”  Thoughts should be pure.

Those are 5 scriptural definitions, if you will, of “sin”.  To be repented of.

{Sidelight: I won’t delineate or discuss various categories of wrong: sin, trespass, transgression, crime, iniquity, wickedness, evil, etc.  John H. Walton The Lost World of Adam and Eve, p.154 “It is important to recognize that there are categories of evil, and not all of them are connected to sin (e.g. what is called ‘natural evil’). We should, for example, differentiate between experiential evil (discomfort resulting from non-order and/or disorder on all levels), personal evil (anti-social behavior that causes suffering in others), punitive consequence (discomfort resulting from actions by God or rulers designed to punish or discourage personal evil and/or the perpetuation of disorder), and sin (ritual/moral impropriety that damages relationship with deity). Most people use ‘sin’ or ‘evil’ interchangeably to refer to any or all of these….The problem of evil is a larger discussion than the problem of sin that people face.”  This topic won’t philosophically discuss the broad concept of evil, but simply refers to various wrongs as…sin.}

Sin can be any thoughts we dwell on, any words we speak, or anything we do that is contrary to God’s word/principles and His revealed will for our individual lives!  Any wrongs and anything outside of God’s will for us as individuals.

Our interpretation of laws can influence which thoughts/actions of ourselves or others we view as sin.  The Lord gave Levitical rituals and observances to ancient Israel for their culture.  Gentile peoples such as Abraham, Eskimos, Pygmies, Amazon River tribesmen, don’t know Levitical tállit fringe (Nu.15:38), or téfillin box customs (De.11:18, Mt.23:5), e.g.  Such unawareness isn’t sin.  The Levitical priesthood is obsolete.  Dress customs among peoples differ.  Most customs of dress don’t need repentance.

Churches or sects shouldn’t erect an oral law or man-made traditional fence around God’s written laws/precepts, and then pharisaically masquerade that God Himself said it.  That’s adding to His word.

{{Sidelight: In matters where your government isn’t adhering to God’s principles & justice, we aren’t to take His law/precepts into our own individual hands…no personal vengeance (Ps.94:1, Ro.12:19).  We don’t personally avenge govt neglect or ignorance.  see “Governmental Loyalty for Christians”.}}

Supposedly, the rabbis placed Jews into three moral categories: the righteous (his merits exceed his sins), the intermediates (half and half), the sinners (his sins exceed his merits).  ref Carl Schwartz The Scattered Nation and Jewish Christian Magazine, p.226.  Most Jews were considered intermediates?

Who has sinned?  Ro.3:9b, 23 “All have sinned.”  Both Jews and gentiles.  Sin separates one from God.  What is the result of sin?  Ro.6:23 “The payment of sin is death.”  Spiritual death.  (see “Life and Death – For Saints”.)  Animal lifeblood was a temporary covering for sin (ref Le.16, e.g.).

But the ultimate remedy for sin is forgiveness through Jesus’ shed blood (He only never sinned).  Ac.5:30-31 “He [Jesus] is the one God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”  Forgiveness is given by God to those whom He grants the ability to repent.  We can’t come to repentance of and by ourselves.  The Lord is so gracious!

Ro.2:4 “The goodness of God leads you to repentance.”  Even the desire to repent is initially from God, not of ourselves.  Mankind is unable to repent solely through our own initiative or human nature.

Also, confessing our sins is of prime importance.  1Jn.1:9-10 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins.”  Again, sin separates us from God.  Is.59:2 “Your iniquities have separated you from your God.”  We can’t hide our sins from the Lord.  God is greater than our hearts, and He knows our conscience (1Jn.3:20).  Unconfessed sin won’t remove this separation and obtain God’s blessings.  However, upon confession and repentance, Father God will wash away those sins forever on account of Jesus’ lifeblood.  As we’ve seen, God offers forgiveness after repentance.

One must change his/her mind and conduct in regards to sin, and think differently.  Actions begin with thoughts, and words.  We are to confess our misuse of the tongue (ref Ja.3:1-ff.)

In a word…repentance means ‘change’.  Change from a life of sin and unbelief.  It may involve a gradual process of a 180° turnaround!  Spiritually it’s the turning from darkness to light.  However, we may not immediately overcome old wrong habits that are deeply ingrained.

As we began to recognize God’s hand in our lives, He caused us to see the need to repent and be baptized.  Peter proclaimed in Ac.2:38, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.  Repentance precedes baptism.

Lasting change from some sins may be difficult, but can be accomplished through the gift of God’s Holy Spirit (HS) indwelling us.  Peter proclaimed at Solomon’s porch of the temple in Ac.3:19, “Repent, and turn back [to God], that your sins may be wiped away; in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord”.  Repent, and come into God’s Presence!

Again, it involves a change of mind or heart.  The Lord God promised to provide believers with a new or exchanged heart.  Ezk.36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”  The HS enables us to cease continuing to live disobediently with sinful habits as a way of life.  (see “Two Covenants – Heart of the Matter”.)

John the Baptizer admonished the Jewish leaders in Mt.3:5-8. “Bring forth fruit befitting of repentance.”  In other words, start living a changed life as evidence of repentance…talk can be cheap.  Jesus proclaimed to Galileans in His first (red-letter) words of the book of Mark, Mk.1:15. “The Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.”  Repentance and belief are prerequisites for salvation.

Jesus warned in Lk.13:2-5, “Repent [g3340] or you will all likewise perish”.  Jesus is serious about repentance!  Time and chance, to an extent, and God’s judgments happens to humans.  Yet the Lord gives protection and deliverance to His repentant saints (e.g. 2Th.3:3, Ps.91:7, 34:19, 1Co.10:13).

Repentance is offered to gentiles too!  Paul said in Ac.17:30, “All everywhere should repent”.  (cf. Ac.20:21.)  Ac.26:20 Paul declared to those in Damascus, Jerusalem, Judea, and to gentiles that “They should repent and turn to God, performing works appropriate for repentance”.  Prove it by good works.

Re.2:5, 16, 21, 3:3, 19 Jesus reprimanded five of the seven churches in Asia Minor to further repent (g3340)!  Repentance should be ongoing for a Christian, as we become aware of any sin in our life.

2Co.7:9-10 two kinds of sorrow are evident here.  First, sorrow we feel regarding our sin against God.  Second, sorrow we got caught.  Feeling regret over past wrong thoughts, words and conduct is part of it.  Yet we’re not always able to fully change habits immediately.  (cf. Ec.11:9 we change from wrong acts of youth.)

Ezk.18:1-20 shows that a son doesn’t bear responsibility for his father’s sin, and vice versa.  Everyone is responsible for their own actions.  v.21-32 God doesn’t take pleasure in the death of the wicked.  Yet…v.26-27 “A righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies because of it. When a wicked man turns away from his wickedness, and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life.”  Their lasting decision for habitual living determined their fate.

He.6:4-6 is a fearsome concept about those who were made partakers of the HS, but later fell away to become disqualified or castaways (cf. Ezk.18:24, 1Co.9:27).  One who returns to living a life of sin with an ‘I don’t care’ attitude!  The writer to the Hebrews indicates that such a person cannot repent.

Saul/Paul had been responsible for the death of others in his past…a past murderer, in a sense!  In our struggles, weaknesses, and failures, we can take heart from his experiences.  Paul struggled against sin, Ro.7:14-25.  The sin to which he refers wasn’t habitual crime.  It was occasional sins, coveting, wrong thoughts.  Perhaps most men wrongly covet or idolize something in this material world?  We shouldn’t dwell on wrong thoughts that occur.  2Co.10:5 “Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”  We’re to strive to govern our thoughts and be obedient.  (see “Coveting – Wrong and Right Desire”.)

We’re to root-out sin, coveting, and bad habits when the HS shows us our wrongs, in the light of God’s word.  Jesus said in Re.3:19, “Those whom I love I reprove and discipline”.  The Lord lovingly chastises us for our good so we’ll repent, though His affliction is unpleasant at the time (He.12:6, Ps.119:75).

However, sincere differences of opinion, or dogmatic or ‘oral law’ disagreements between believers may not actually constitute sin.  We’re all growing in understanding and in the knowledge of Christ.  Peter wrote, 2Pe.3:18 “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”.

Victorious faith can be ours! (cf. 2Ti.4:7-8).  Let’s continue to fight the good fight of faith to overcome an evil world of sin (e.g. Ro.12:21), obeying God’s righteous principles.  (see “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?” and “Genesis Principles Predate Moses ”.)  Also discerning and doing His will for us as individuals.  To not grow weary in well-doing (Ga.6:9).  Our diligence is necessary.

Concluding…Lk.15:11-24 is Jesus’ heartwarming parable about the prodigal son, whom his earthly father honored.  It reflects how our heavenly Father takes joy in His repentant children who change for the good!

God mercifully grants us awareness of our sins, so we can change…repent.  We examine our lives (2Co.13:5) and make any needed godly corrections.  And we are renewed (Col.3:9-10).  Jesus proclaimed in Lk.15:10, “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”.  Heaven rejoices in the repentant individual who changes for the good!

 

 

 

Healing Our Bodies

This topic is about healing.  Healing in the physical body is restoration to a healthy condition from disease or damage.

Almighty God is the ultimate Healer.  Eventually He will give us imperishable spiritual bodies, without the weakness or pain of our present natural bodies.  1Co.15:42-49 applies to us. “There is a natural body; there is also a spiritual body.”  1Co.15:50 our perishable flesh & blood bodies won’t inherit the Kingdom of God.

God provides good for our bodies of flesh.  Php.4:19 “My God shall provide all your need.”  Je.29:11-13 “I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘Plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. You will pray to Me, and I will hear you.”  John wrote in 3Jn.2, “I desire you to prosper and be in good health”.  But our earthly bodies will encounter sickness, and need healing.

The Lord is the real Physician.  It’s been said…all others are just ‘practicing’!  Yet they can often help.

{Sidelight: Jn.6:46, 5:37 Jesus said no human had ever seen or heard Father God (Jesus revealed Him, Jn.1:18).  Jn.1:1, 14 the Word/Jesus is also YHVH.  (cf. Ge.19:24 two YHVHs!)  Is.6:1, 5 & Jn.12:41-44 John said Isaiah saw the pre-incarnate Word/Jesus (not the Father).  It was Jesus Christ who was the visible Spokesman God of the Old Testament!  see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.}

Ex.20:1-ff the Lord Jesus spoke His Decalogue to Moses!  Ex.15:26 “If you will obey the Lord your God, and hearken to His commandments and keep His statutes; I AM the Lord your Healer.”  God said in Ex.23:25-26, “I will fulfill the number of your days”.  Gill Exposition “The number of days which was fixed for each of them.”  Christ will remove sickness, and promises a person will live the number of days/years God intends for that one!  De.7:15 the Lord would put sickness on the heathen hateful.  De.28:58-61 those who disobey God’s laws will be diseased & destroyed!  Ps.55:23 “Bloody deceitful men shall not live half their days.”  The years of evil men may end early, in the prime of life.

God is Sovereign!  Jb.14:5 “Since a person’s days are determined, the number of his months are under Your [God’s] control, You have set his limit that he cannot pass.”  A man’s days are known and initially fixed by God.  1Sm.2:6 “The Lord brings death and gives life.”  The power of life and death is in God’s hands.  Since God is the Author of life, He has the right to take life.  It’s God’s prerogative.

Jesus’ basic dietary, cleanliness and sanitation laws are found in: Le.11 clean versus unclean, De.14:2-21 (similar to Le.11), Le.15, Le.17:10-16.  (also see “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

Good health is more than luck.  Paul said in Ga.6:7, “Be not deceived, whatever one sows he will also reap”.  We reap what we sow.  It’s a basic principle of God.  Jesus is the God of cause and effect.  Action and reaction.  Obedience results in blessings, but disobedience can result in misery.  This principle is foundational to our health and healing!  De.30:10-20 “The Lord is your life and the length of your days.”  Here Christ makes the point that choosing to obey results in life and length of days (v.20)!

But what should we do when we encounter illness?

Healing is more than a removal of physical symptoms.  Mt.9:2-6 God’s healing includes forgiveness!  Jn.5:11-14 Jesus told the sick man He’d healed, “Don’t sin, so that nothing worse may befall you”.  Sin can result in sickness.  Yet 1Jn.1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is just to forgive our sins.”

We confess and repent!  Mk.6:12-13 we’re to repent of sin…many were anointed & healed via His disciples.  Ja.5:14-16 “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will restore the sick. If he has committed sins, they will be forgiven. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much.”  Amen.

Olive oil was a common base oil in Old Testament (OT) Israel (and a point of contact).  Numerous essential oils of herbs/trees in God’s creation have properties which contribute to healing.  Moreover, Re.22:2 “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”  Ex.30:22-38 God’s holy anointing oil mixture and holy incense mixture at His ancient tabernacle contained powerful antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal agents.  Those blends were made from spices and essential oils.  The Lord even stayed the plague when Aaron held up the holy incense mixture (Nu.16:46-48)!

Heartfelt believing prayers are effective!  Ps.34:15 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their cry.”  Ps.119:172 the righteous obey God’s commandments (ref Lk.1:6).  Lk.11:9-10, 18:1-7 we too can give God no rest in prayer!

It may be that God will wait to see how much we desire something, before He answers.  If we want healing, intervention or some blessing enough, we can supplicate on our knees/face until breakthrough.  God will hear!  When we get our breakthrough, we’ll know that we know in our knower…we’ll be healed!  Strong believing faith comes.

2Ki.20:1-11 God healed king Hezekiah from a terminal condition, using a poultice of figs.  The king had prayed earnestly and wept bitterly.  v.5 the Lord said, “I will heal you”.  In so doing, God used plant therapy to add 15 years to Hezekiah’s days.  And he didn’t have a personal breakthrough (v.8).

Je.8:22 “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?”  Ancient Gilead was known for its balm (from the balsam tree), used for healing wounds.

1Ti.5:23 Paul prescribed wine therapy for Timothy’s frequent ailments.  Most often we have our part to do, in some form or another.

King Asa, however, became disobedient to God.  He trusted in allies and sought physicians, rather than seeking God first…and he died from a severe foot disease (2Ch.16:7-9, 12-13)!

Mk.5:25-29 this woman had endured much from physicians.  But then Jesus healed her miraculously!

Yet it’s not always lack of faith to seek medical aid too.  Mt.9:12 Jesus said it’s those who are sick who need a physician (He too is a Physician).  Col.4:14 “Luke, the beloved physician.”  Wisdom of Sírach 38:1-4 “Honor the physician with the honor due him, and according to your need of him. Healing comes from the Most High. The Lord created medicines from the earth, and the sensible man will not loathe them.”  It is thought that all 1^st century Judean towns had a doctor to treat symptoms, set fractures, dress wounds, ease pain.  Today’s practitioner of alternative medicine, naturopath, herbalist may compare.

God is omniscient…He knows the end from the beginning (Is.46:10).  Also God is love (1Jn.4:8), and wants to do us good during our days He’s given us in the flesh.  We reap what we sow, and God lovingly chastises us for disobedience along the way (He.12:5-7, Re.3:19).  But since Jesus took the rap to acquit us, God may heal before we’ve fully reaped what we’ve sown!  The Lord is our ultimate healing Physician…in this physical life, and/or in the future via an incorruptible spiritual body.

1Co.10:13 God doesn’t allow us to experience trials greater than we can bear!  David wrote in Ps.39:4, “Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days”.  Some may desire to remain in the flesh past the “extent of our days”.  To accomplish more or desiring to be with loved ones here; to delay our going to be with Christ and other loved ones who’ve passed on.  (see “Life and Death – for Saints”.)  God loves us.  Perhaps He may honor our choice?  The Lord did add 15 years to Hezekiah’s life!

We can seek advanced medical treatment or have surgery(s) which possibly may add to our time in this natural body.  It may be that God won’t override one’s desire to do so.  God knows.  One way or the other…Ps.116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

It’s risky to ignore a persistent strange pain or sickness in the body.  Mk.9:43-47 may also broadly apply to skin cancer from sun, or gangrene.  Remove tumors if need be.  A mixture of eggplant and oils or vinegar can be effective against basal cell and squamous skin cancers.

God basically heals through three means: miraculously, naturally, normal body rejuvenation over time.

There’s no individuals named in the gospel accounts to whom Jesus refused healing!  The Messiah even healed male Israelite lepers, Mt.8:1-4!  However, lack of faith in Nazareth limited even Jesus, Mk.6:5.

Lk.7:1-10 Jesus healed gentiles too.  Mk.7:24-30 He delivered the Syro-Phoenician’s daughter.  (Maybe those individuals there kept the dietary laws Christ had instructed Moses?)  At least 1/3 of Jesus’ healings were deliverance from spirits.  Trespassing spirits can cause disease.  Ac.28:3-10 God healed ignorant heathens on Malta…they’d believed God’s miracle with Paul and respected his shipwrecked group.  The Most High is kind to all (Lk.6:35b).

God is great at putting out fires…He’s the ultimate Fireman!  But God’s kindness and mercy may not repudiate His principle of sowing and reaping.

In 1Ti.5:22a, Paul said to be circumspect in laying-on hands.  I may not have expectant faith to lay-on hands for the healing of one who’s knowingly unrepentant.  But with faith and confidence in God’s promises, we can readily lay hands on the person whose heart is sincerely trying to obey the Lord!

1Co.12:8-10 some Christians are gifted as special agents of God’s healing & miracles.  Ac.5:14-16 God even healed through Peter’s shadow!  Ac.19:11-12 at Ephesus, Paul used anointed cloths in healing.

Often God heals through created bodily processes and rejuvenation over time.  Living in disobedience for years can weaken our system.  But if an unknown pain or illness is still present after giving the body reasonable time to be renewed…it’s our decision whether or when to seek medical aid and expose a weakened immune system to sicknesses prevalent in today’s hospitals & waiting rooms.

Prescription drugs?  Drugs have side effects.  But if one’s immune system has become too weak or we don’t know what will remedy our condition naturally or the belief isn’t there…antibiotics may be necessary.  Garlic (raw) is a potent natural antibiotic…its use even prevented soldiers in the 20th century world wars from getting gangrene!

2Ti.4:20 Tróphimus was sick.  But, tradition says he died later from beheading by Nero.  2Co.12:7-10 Paul’s thorn in the flesh…affliction from an adversarial spirit to keep Paul humble, or perhaps cataracts with age.  Or possibly Paul was reaping (2Co.11:24-25) what he’d sown as Saul, the trauma he’d caused Jewish Christian saints (e.g. Ac.9:1-4)?  God loved & forgave Saul/Paul…yet God is just.  (Paul himself even wrote to the saints in 2Th.1:6, “It is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you”.)

Ps.119:84 “How many are the days of Thy servant?”  Most of us (non-terminally ill) don’t know the number of our days.  Is.57:1-2 sometimes, “The righteous is taken away from evil to come. They rest on their beds.”  2Ti.4:6-7 Paul knew his spirit was soon to depart his body.  2Pe.1:13-15 Peter knew his time to go was imminent. (Ja.2:26 the body without the spirit is dead.  cf. Ac.7:59 with Lk.8:55.)  And the day will come when God will no longer heal our physical shell surrounding our spirit…you and me.

God has blessed my son’s family so far in this life.  Yet he’s told me that he also looks forward to being with the Lord.  Php.1:23 “To depart and be with Christ is far better.”

Ps.103:1-5 “Praise the Lord and forget not all His benefits. He pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases.”  (Again, Mt.9:5 pardon & healing.)  Healing the obedient from illness is one of the many benefits Jesus promised.  It’s not magic…it’s mercy and grace.  God knows our hearts, knows whether or not we’re sincere in trying to overcome an issue.  Full repentance may take some time.

Besides obeying God’s laws & principles, our environment and diet affects our health.  We’re advised to: wash our hands, keep a clean house, get enough exercise; and avoid blood, smoking, nicotine, sugary soft drinks.  To neglect doing our part, or taking for granted our God-given bodies, can result in illness.

We may inadvertently catch a bug at school or at work in this ‘fallen’ world.  We’re affected and infected by the actions and sins of others.  Not all that we suffer is due to our personal sin (ref Lk.13:1-5).  Yet we may have a trial where we suffer some physically.

Pets can get parasites and make us sick.  Caring for pets is a good teaching tool for children, or keeping a yap-yap dog for protection.  But it’s our personal decision whether the pros outweigh the cons of keeping an unclean animal inside the home. (There’s no Bible record of unclean pets in OT Israel!)

What about healing through televangelists?  For example, I’ve heard that Benny Hinn eats clean and verbally gives God the glory for the healings.  A Christian I know described to me his own healing at a Benny Hinn crusade (a female co-worker of mine likewise).  Many pray and fast going into such crusades.  There’s usually a high faith level and expectancy at such events.

But a person may later lose their healing through disobedience.  The Lord mercifully puts out the fire and heals, but then with continued disobedience that person may again start reaping what they sow.  Railing on satan with the tongue while disobeying God’s commandments may not bring physical relief!  A level of faith is also necessary to believe and obey God’s written word.

My wife tries to obey Jesus’ dietary & sanitary laws.  She’s not used my health insurance or antibiotics in 35 years.  It’s cause and effect, in part.  Mt.9:28-30 Jesus said, “According to your faith be it done to you”.  I wear glasses.  Other than my eyes and having skin lesions removed (probably too many hours outside without sunscreen), I rarely go to a doctor.  I take herbal supplements & essential oils, but no meds.  I have dental checkups & cleanings twice-a-year.  When I catch a bug or get injured, usually the first thing I do is ask for anointing and for the Lord to heal me.  To God be the glory!

For sure, most of us don’t want to die an untimely death.  1Pe.2:24 “By His [Jesus’] wounds you were healed.”  Until we’ve reached the number of our days God is giving us…He provides our physical healing needs.  The Lord says in He.13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.

As we’ve seen, the concept of healing is multifaceted.  Healing accompanies forgiveness…and consummates in the Christian’s new life in eternity.

God is Sovereign.  He’s in charge.  God is for us, and will cause all things to work together for our good (Ro.8:28-32)!  Php.3:20-21 “Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly await the Lord Jesus; who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body.”  That’s our hope, our spiritual body!

For now…let’s continue to have faith in God and in His word, keeping our hearts focused on obeying and trusting Him.  It is possible to live in near divine health, as God promised.  Until we too fulfill the number of our natural days, according to God’s will…and go to be forever with the Lord!

Evangelism in the Apostolic Church

Very few scriptures in the Old Testament (OT) directly refer to God as a Father, except metaphorically as one of many titles.  The God Being instructed Moses to tell the Israelites His Name in Ex.3:13-15. “I AM who I AM…this is My Name forever.”  Who is this God, this I AM?

In Jn.8:56-58 & Jn.18:2-8, Jesus identified Himself as I AM (and His hearers fell to the ground)!  Furthermore, in the song of Moses, De.32:3-4 “Ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock! His work is perfect!”  In 1Co.10:1-4, the apostle Paul identified the Rock. “That Rock was Christ.”  (see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)

Without citing more passages here to that effect, the executive spokesman God of the OT, the great I AM and ‘Rock Of Ages’…was God the primordial Word (Jn.1:1).  Later, ancient Israel’s God became Jesus Christ in the flesh (Jn.1:14).  We don’t directly know Jesus’ Father God from reading the OT.  Rather, when the Word came to earth as Jesus, He revealed the Father (Jn.1:18).

But the disbelieving Jewish religious leaders indicted their God come in the flesh, and Roman soldiers crucified Him.  Yet Father God resurrected Jesus/the Word from the dead.  Now Jesus rules eternally beside His Father (Ep.1:20-22) in the Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God (KOG).

The Lord destined for humanity to receive salvation, to learn of and become part of that KOG.  That is God’s grand purpose for which we were born.  How does humanity learn of His purpose?

One primary means is through Christian evangelism.  The gospel (euangélion Strongs g2098, Greek noun) about His Kingdom will grow to eventually encompass the earth.  Is.9:7 “There will be no end to the increase of His government and peace…over His Kingdom to establish it and uphold it.”

The New Testament (NT) begins with Jesus’ ancestry and His human birth.  Later is the account of His adult water baptism by John the Baptizer (Lk.3:16, 21-22).  After that we read where Jesus went about teaching, healing, delivering from demons, and preaching the KOG in Galilee…Mk.1:14-15, 32-34, Lk.4:31-37.  The gospel or good news began in Galilee.  And on into Judea, Lk.4:43-44.

Lk.6:12-19 contains the names of the first 12 disciples (apostles) who Jesus chose, as He spent all night in prayer.  Perhaps He spent one hour praying for each (cf. Jn.11:9)?  A significant parallel…there had originally been 12 tribes of Israel.  In Re.21:10-14, the names of the 12 tribes of Israel and the names of the 12 apostles are written on the gates and foundation stones of the holy city New Jerusalem.

The 12 disciples/apostles were all Galileans except for Judas Iscariot, likely from Cariot in Judea.  Although all 12 were Jewish, they had their differences.  Several were fishermen.  Matthew the Levite was a government tax collector (Mt.9:9).  Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus.  (see “Jesus’ Twelve Apostles”.)

Then in Lk.9:1-2, Christ sent forth the 12 to heal, deliver and proclaim the KOG.  Jesus Himself continued to do the same.  Lk.9:6 they went among the villages preaching the gospel.  This resulted in more disciples for Jesus.  The Kingdom was beginning to slowly increase, as a mustard seed, Mt.13:31-32.  (A mustard seed is smaller and hotter than other seeds.)  also see “Kingdom of God”.

Lk.10:1-11 Jesus then sent out 70 others as missionaries to heal, deliver, and advance the Kingdom.  In Nu.11:16, Moses had selected 70 elders from among the Israelites to assist him.  (Jesus was a Prophet like unto Moses, De.18:15 & Ac.7:37-38.)  Jn.4:1-2 Jesus’ disciples water baptized more than John did.

Luke wrote in a beautiful Greek to Theóphilus, a Greek-speaker (Lk.1:3).  Luke quotes the Jewish old Greek version of the OT (as did the other NT writers).  The old Greek became the Septúagint.  It made God’s word readable and understandable in the Grecian and Roman Empires.  Not coincidentally, the Septuagint is also known as the LXX.  In Roman numerals, LXX = 70.

Lk.10:17 the 70 missionaries were given power over demons in Jesus’ Name.  They were to travel along (v.4), living at the same standard as those who housed them, and weren’t to keep seeking better accommodations (v.7-8).  These 70 prepared the way in towns Jesus would Himself visit.

Mt.4:23-25 as the 70 prepared the way for His visits, multitudes from all over the Holy Land came to hear Jesus.  The good news about Jesus and His healings & miracles spread beyond the Jordan River, to the Decápolis and into Syria!  Also into Samaria (Jn.4:39-42).

Again, this Jesus, the great I AM/the Rock of OT Israel come in the flesh, was indicted by the rulers of His own people.  Around 30 AD or so, the Jewish religious leaders set Him up for crucifixion in Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans.  Jesus died.

But Father God raised Him from the dead (Ac.2:24)!  After Jesus rose, His disciples saw Him alive.  They knew He was risen!  In Jn.20:20-22, Jesus gave them a foretaste of the Holy Spirit (HS) to come.

After Christ’s resurrection, in Mk.16:15-19 He commissioned His apostles to go preach the good news to all the known inhabited earth.  Attesting miracles would accompany true believers.  Also Mt.28:18-20 records where Jesus commissioned them to go teach and make other disciples in all nations.  Jesus said in Mt.16:18, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it”.  (also see “Church Structure and Member Functions”.)  This is to be done without Jesus physically on earth.

Initially they were comparatively powerless without Jesus on earth.  But during the 40 days while Jesus was appearing to them after His resurrection…Jesus promised they would soon be baptized with the HS, Ac.1:1-5.  Ac.1:8-9 the HS would empower them to be Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and far distant areas (in that order).  Jesus Himself appeared to over 500 people post-resurrection, mostly during the 40-day period (1Co.15:6).  Ac.1:15 Peter is with 120 believers in Jerusalem before Péntecost.

Ac.2:1-12 then they were filled with the HS (as tongues of fire)!  They suddenly received spiritual power & gifts, and boldness.  (see “Spiritual Gifts and Tongues”.)  This wonder was a great sign to the many Jews from near and far who’d come to Jerusalem for Pentecost!  v.14 Peter stood up boldly with the 11 disciples/apostles.  v.38 then Peter proclaimed, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.  3,000 persons were baptized that day, v.41!  (see “Baptisms and Washings”.)

So the gospel/good news was proclaimed in Jerusalem.  Ac.6:7 “A great many [Levitical] priests became obedient to the faith.”  Also those pilgrim Jews who’d come to Jerusalem for Pentecost returned to their respective lands and told of what they’d seen & heard!

In Ac.8:1-5, the gospel spread to Judea and Samaria (initially not by the first apostles, v.1.)  The Samaritan people practiced physical circumcision, ate clean, and kept the 7^th day sabbath (as did Jews).  Phillip too had been empowered by the HS, and many Samaritans believed and received the Spirit when Peter & John came to them (v.12-17).  Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian Jew or proselyte who’d been appointed a court eunuch, and water baptized him (v.34-40).  Philip continued to preach the gospel from Ázotus (the OT Ashdód) to Caesárea, 60 miles north of Jerusalem.

Then in Acts 10, God revealed to Peter in a vision that the gospel of Christ is also for uncircumcised gentiles.  They too can be saved, in their respective countries!

The inclusion of gentiles opened the door for tremendous growth for the KOG (e.g. Ac.28:28-31).  Many converted gentiles had been God-fearers (e.g. Ac.10:2) who’d frequented the periphery of synagogues on the sabbath…believing the God of the Jews truly is God.

Ac.11:19-21 in Antioch of Syria, a large number of Jews and gentiles believed and turned to the Lord in that ‘3^rd city of the Empire’.  Ac.15:35 Paul, Barnábas and many others taught & preached the word of the Lord in Antioch.

The gospel spread to other cities throughout the Roman Empire, as the KOG kept increasing (Is.9:7).

Php.1:14 in the Roman garrison of Phílippi, many brethren boldly spoke the word of God without fear.  In 2Ti.2:2, Paul exhorted Timothy who was at Ephesus. “The things which you heard from me, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  Teaching the Lord’s salvation, His way of life, and how to love God and one’s neighbor.  The gospel of the Kingdom as a mustard seed was taken to the nations by believing individuals whom the HS gifted.

Personal evangelism (as done by those who have that gift) is a key to a living and growing church.

Col.1:18-23 Paul wrote, that by the mid-60s AD “The hope of the gospel was proclaimed in all creation under heaven”.  It had been preached throughout the Roman Empire and much of the known world.  To both Jews and gentiles.  God was reconciling to Himself people from all nations and cultures, as they became believers in salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus the Son of God.

Over the centuries AD, the gospel has continued to be preached to the nations, on all continents.  In the nearly 2,000 years since the Apostolic Age of the church and the Bible canon ended (latter 1^st century), Christianity has grown astonishingly!  Of the estimated 7.0 billion people on earth today, 2.2 billion believe Jesus is the Lord and Savior of their life.  It is estimated that there are approximately 160 million Christians in China; most are in the tens of thousands of house churches not registered with the Chinese government TSPM.  God’s Kingdom government is increasing greatly!

As part of His ‘body’ and church at large, Christians become willing to prioritize Kingdom values above all nationalism of men.  And above cultural traditions and even religious traditions (not in God’s word) which may retard Kingdom growth and peace (Is.9:7).  (also see “Governmental Loyalty for Christians” and “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism”.)

The first disciples/apostles saw the risen Lord with their own eyes.  They believed…and became personal witnesses of His resurrection!  However, Jesus said to Thomas and those disciples in Jn.20:29-31, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who didn’t see, and yet believed.”

Those things about Jesus, what He said and what He did, were recorded in the NT by the apostles John & Matthew, and others.  So that we who didn’t see the resurrected Jesus, and the whole world since then…may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God…and receive eternal life in His Name!  Jesus is Lord (Ac.2:36)!  Do you too believe?

Baptisms and Washings

Many Christians view water baptism as a requirement for all who believe that Jesus died for their sins.  Others don’t.  Some churches consider it a sacrament.

Water baptism is apparent throughout the New Testament (NT).  But when did this practice originate?  Actually, Biblical cleansing and immersion originated before John the Baptizer and NT baptisms.  In He.6:1-2 the writer to the Jewish Christians reminded them of the foundational “instructions about washings” they should have known.  The Greek term here for “washings” is baptismós (Strongs g909).  Greek Bible scholar Spiros Zódiates describes baptismos. “Washings, as constituents of rites of Old Testament law.”  Let’s look at some Old Testament (OT) background for the practice of baptism.

The OT priests of Israel were required to wash (racháts h7364, Hebrew) before serving God.  Le.8:5-6 Moses washed Aaron & his sons for their initial priestly consecration.  Nu.8:5-7 Levite non-priests were also cleansed.  Those acts were a type of baptism.  At God’s ancient tabernacle, a copper/bronze laver was filled with water for washing, and placed near the altar of burnt offering.  Ex.30:17-20 priests must first wash their hands and feet in the copper laver before ministering in the tent (copper kills bacteria).

In the OT, washings and purifications were applied to various unclean conditions (He.9:10), and were for sanitation.  Some examples: Le.14:7-9 the procedure for cleansing the leper.  Le.15:1-7 the man who had an infectious discharge and whoever came into contact with him.  Le.15:16-18 after sexual relations.  Le.15:19-22 after a woman’s monthly menstruation and whoever came into contact with her blood.  (Menstruation is a state of being, not a sin.)  Le.15:25-27 the woman who had an infectious discharge and whoever came into contact with her.  Le.15:31-33 uncleanness could be a dangerous condition!  And it defiled God’s tabernacle.  YHVH didn’t ‘tabernacle’ with those unclean, or in sin!

Also, the person who ate an unslaughtered animal which had died of itself (“strangled”, Ac.15:29) was unclean until his evening shower, so to speak (Le.17:15-16).  Nu.9:10-11 relates to the person who was unclean in the first month of the sacred year due to contact with a corpse, and therefore couldn’t take the Passover then (Nu.19:18-19).  A corpse was the most virulent kind of pollutant.  In Jn.11:55, many were going up to Jerusalem to purify themselves before Passover.  Whitewash was customarily applied to grave stones in the Holy Land so pilgrims going to the feast could easily spot them and avoid contact.  (Jesus alluded to this in Mt.23:27, calling the scribes & Pharisees “whitewashed tombs”.)

There were many washings in OT scripture.  And spiritual realities were portrayed in the OT by outward physical signs & actions.  Also we read in scripture of unclean diet (Le.11, De.14:2-20) and unclean demons (Lk.4:33).  The apostle Paul tied ‘unclean’ symbolism to unbelieving idol-worshipers (2Co.6:14-18), in whom the Holy Spirit (HS) doesn’t reside.

God doesn’t fellowship with sin, and uncleanness can be a type of sin.  Christians desire to stay filled with the HS, but the HS won’t actively dwell with the person who remains in a spiritually unclean state.  Cleansing has a spiritual application in Is.1:16. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.”  After committing adultery & murder, David pleaded with God in Ps.51:1-23, 7 to cleanse and purify him from his sins.

To be cleansed/healed from leprosy, Elisha instructed the Syrian general Naamán to wash (rachats) seven times in the Jordan River, 2Ki.5:10-14.  Naaman immersed (tabál h2881).  That healing relates to Le.14:6-7, the priest “shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from leprosy”.

Ezekiel prophesied a purification ceremony of spiritual renewal in Ezk.36:25-27. “Then I [YHVH] will sprinkle clean water on you, I will cleanse you from all your filthiness. I will put My Spirit within you.”  (Water and the HS in the future!)

A complete bath was required to rectify some impurities & uncleanness.  Modern Orthodox Jewish synagogues have a mikváh (Strongs h4724) tank for ritual cleansing, while prayers are spoken for them.  It’s customary in much of today’s world for a person to take a routine evening bath or shower.

With that background, let’s trace the baptismal thread in the NT.  The concept of purification washings wasn’t unfamiliar to those Jews.  The forerunner John the Baptizer’s mission was vital…water baptism for repentance, Mt.3:1, 6, 11!  The Greek term here is baptízo (g907); it occurs 80 times in the NT.  It meant ‘to immerse, submerge’ (Dr. Zodiates).  In a pickle recipe, Greek poet Nicánder (200 BC) said a vegetable should be dipped (bápto g911) in boiling water, then baptized (baptizo) in a vinegar solution.

Mt.3:13-16 John baptized Jesus.  The sinless Jesus had no uncleanness, and no sin to repent of.  He didn’t need purifying.  Jesus’ baptism showed that He was in harmony with John’s teaching & mission, and it symbolized the transfer of priesthood from the OT Levitical order (John) to the order of Melchisedek (Jesus)!  Also Jesus’ baptism is our example.

At His water baptism, the dove/Spirit descended.  John came to water baptize, Jesus to Spirit baptize.  Jesus declared in Jn.3:5, “Unless a person is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”.  Strong words from Jesus…an able-bodied person who willfully refuses water cannot enter His Kingdom!  Vincent Word Studies Jn.3:5 “The water points definitely to the rite of baptism.”  Cambridge Bible Note “The outward sign and inward grace of Christian baptism are here clearly given, and an unbiased mind can scarcely avoid seeing this plain fact.”  ref Ezk.36:25-27 for the water–Spirit association.  They both go together as necessary components…there’s water baptism and HS baptism.

In Mt.16:17-19, Peter was given the keys to the (Kingdom) city.  Peter will keep reappearing as we continue this thread.  Jn.20:21-22 Jesus gave His disciples a pledge or foretaste of their receiving the HS.  Then Jesus told them in Ac.1:5, 8, “John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit….you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”  Their soon-coming HS baptism would saturate and empower them, including Peter (who’d even denied Jesus, Mk.14:66-72)!

As Jesus promised, they were soon baptized in (and filled with) the HS, Ac.2:1-4.  Peter, who was given the keys to the Kingdom, was the one who instructed the hearers at that Pentecost in Ac.2:38. “Repent and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  v.41 that day 3,000 believing Jews were baptized, ‘mikvahed’, perhaps in the 40–50 mikvah pools reportedly located outside the south wall of the Temple mount there in Jerusalem.  Repentance precedes baptism.  A goal of life for baptized believers is to be/remain filled with the HS!  (see the topic “Holy Spirit-Filled”.)

Later in Ac.8:12-17, Samaritans too were baptized in Jesus’ Name.  Peter was there.  Then when Peter and John laid hands on them, they received the HS.

In Ac.8:32-39, Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian Jew/proselyte (a court eunuch) returning from the Temple area.  He was literate, able to read Isaiah.  Upon hearing of Jesus, the eunuch immediately asked to be water baptized.  Philip must have included baptism in his teaching about Jesus to this foreigner.  Philip then baptized him by immersion.  That eunuch’s name won’t be “cut off” (ref Is.56:3-5)!

In Ac.10:1-ff it was Peter to whom the vision of unclean creatures was given.  v.28 “God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man common or unclean.”  Gentiles aren’t to be considered unclean.  v.44-48 “Surely none can refuse water for these who received the HS.”  Peter ordered that gentiles be water baptized in Jesus’ Name…even after they’d received the HS!  This outward act was necessary!  God may give the HS before or after water baptism.  Peter was there, when the first gentiles were saved.

According to Ac.18:24-28, Apollós knew the OT well and believed Jesus is the Messiah.  But apparently in Ephesus he’d only taught them about John’s baptism of repentance (Mt.3:11), and not about HS baptism.  Consequently, those Ephesians hadn’t received the HS.  Then in Ac.19:1-6, Paul told them more about belief in Jesus, and even re-baptized them…in Jesus’ Name.  Water baptism was that important to Paul!  He then laid hands on them, they received the HS, and the church at Ephesus had its beginning.

In Ac.22:7-8, 16, Saul/Paul recounted how he too was water baptized and had his sins ‘washed away’, calling on the Name of Jesus (Yeshúa, in Aramaic).  Paul’s water baptism happened after the Lord Jesus had identified Himself to him, and after Paul received the HS (Ac.9:16-18).  Paul was still obedient to the rite of water baptism!

Water baptism is done in the Name of Jesus, since Jesus died for us (Ro.5:6-8).  Paul didn’t die for our sins.  (Paul personally baptized only a few in Corinth, so Christians there wouldn’t be tempted to exalt Paul, 1Co.1:12-17.)  Peter preached in Ac.4:10-12, “By the Name of Jesus Christ…there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name by which we must be saved.”  Not Buddha, not Kríshna, not the Talmud, not Mohammed.  Jesus!!

Jn.4:1-2 Jesus had His disciples water baptize even more than John the Baptizer’s did!  Cambridge Bible Note Jn.3:22 “It was a continuation of John’s baptism.”  Benson Commentary “It wasn’t proper to baptize in His [Jesus’] own name.”  (It wasn’t in the name of a denomination, of course.)

The risen Jesus said in Mt.28:19-20, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them….”  Jesus commanded baptism…in water!  Pulpit Commentary Mt.28:19 “They had seen it employed by John the Baptist (Mt.3:6), and had used it themselves (Jn.4:1-2).”  Gill Exposition Mt.28:19 “In water, for with no other baptism could the apostles baptize, not with the Holy Ghost.”  Jesus, not the 12 apostles or other men, baptizes with the HS, Lk.3:16.  As Jesus’ name is invoked at water baptism, one comes up into new life with the triune God.  The NT doesn’t say water baptism is optional for Christians!

There’s more to the significance of baptism.  Ro.6:3 Paul wrote, “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death”.  We’re symbolically buried with Jesus.  And death precedes burial.  Paul in Col.2:12-13, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, when you were dead in your trespasses. He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.”  Total forgiveness!  The old man/person is dead, and we no longer follow our old sinful ways.  Water baptism is as a glorious funeral service!  Paul didn’t say it’s optional.  Paul even wrote in Ti.3:5, “He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit”.  Water baptism and the HS.

Water baptism is part of the salvation process, as the outward public witness of inner cleansing.  Peter even wrote in 1Pe.3:21, “Baptism now saves you; not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience”.  It’s so much more than a bath to wash off dirt/sweat.  Again, in Jn.3:5 Jesus indicated that being born of water and the Spirit is necessary to inherit the Kingdom of God.

So this sacred ceremony is very significant and commanded by Jesus as an act of obedience (for able-bodied believers)!  Watchman Nee “Baptism is faith in action.”  It is understood that circumstances beyond one’s control: failing health, imprisonment, a “thief on the cross” (Lk.23:42-43) after Jesus rose, e.g….may make one’s water baptism impossible.  (Of course, neither the thief on the cross nor anyone else was water baptized in the name of Jesus before Jesus rose!)  God knows the intents of the hearts.

Baptism symbolizes a state of spiritual cleanliness to God, and our watery grave is a type of Jesus’ burial.  Then we surface to eternal life!  The baptism of the HS is the kernel of resurrection life.  The HS cannot die.  Ro.6:4 “We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead…we too might walk in newness of life.”  Real Life!  Regardless of our race, skin color or status, the HS imbues us with eternal Life!

But people whose sins aren’t washed away are still in an unrighteous and unclean state to God.  Paul in 1Co.6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”  Praise God!  As Jesus said, Jn.3:5, water & the Spirit are essential to Kingdom entrance.

Now there’s no need to continually perform other OT ritualistic washings based on their typology.  (Yet some washings are still beneficial health practices.)

And we don’t have to ‘feel worthy’ to be baptized!  None of us are worthy, of ourselves!  Ro.5:8 “God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.”  We were all sinners, Ro.3:23.  No need to delay water baptism until we somehow feel more ‘righteous’ or think we’re a ‘better’ person.  Just confess your sins to God and desire to have all your sins forgiven and ‘washed away’, and for Jesus to become Lord of your life!  Then continually try to do as scripture says and as we feel led to do by the HS…and what we think Jesus would do if He were in our shoes today.

What about infant water baptism?  Some churches practice it, but most don’t.  In Lk.18:15-16, Jesus laid His hands on infants saying, “Permit the children to come to Me”.  The (gentile) Philippian jailer in Ac.16:30-33 asked what he must do to be saved.  He believed, and was immediately baptized with all his household.  In a sense, infants could ‘come’ to Jesus by being carried to Him, and the jailer’s household possibly included infants who were baptized.  Yet the churches who don’t perform infant baptism point to other verses to support their position.  Jesus said in Mk.16:16, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved”.  As Ac.16:33, baptism is necessary.  And belief is a prerequisite for baptism .  Ac.2:38 repentance is a prerequisite for baptism.  But an infant doesn’t know to believe or repent.  Neither does an innocent baby have any sins to repent of or be ‘washed away’ via baptism (Ac.22:16).  It appears the weight of scriptural evidence doesn’t support baptizing a person in water until that one is old enough to make the decision to be baptized…a decision of Christian obedience and a public witness.

It’s been said…‘God has no grandchildren’.  Not even pastors’ kids are God’s grandkids.  Although people should pray for each other, no one can represent someone else in the Kingdom of God by proxy.  Everyone must come to know God and have faith first-hand.

Should a person ever be re-baptized?  In Ep.4:5 we read there’s “One Lord, one faith, one baptism”.  In this verse, “one baptism” indicates that a valid baptism can only relate to Jesus the one true Lord (not to some heathen so-called god/lord).  If a person had insufficient understanding of salvation, but yet was water baptized and didn’t receive the HS…then a re-baptism may well be in order.  Or perhaps one was baptized into a denomination…rather than baptized in the Name of Jesus or into the Father, Son and HS.  Re-baptism may be necessary.  I view re-baptism as one’s personal decision…how the individual feels in his/her own heart about the validity of their water baptism.

What about when we sin after being baptized in water and into the HS?  One reason the elderly apostle John (not John the Baptizer) was writing his first epistle was, “That you may not sin” (1Jn.2:1).  Yet we all still have weakness in the flesh.  John went on to write, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin….” (1Jn.5:16).  Yes, Christian brothers/sisters may still commit sin.  How is that remedied?  1Jn.1:7-9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us for our sins.”  As we confess and repent, the life/blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from sins we commit (v.7)…after baptism too!

The Bible never says one doesn’t have to be water baptized.  There’s no scriptural example of a believer refusing water baptism.  (There may be circumstances where a person desires water baptism, yet is unable to be baptized before their physical death.)  Scripture indicates baptism should be performed.  Verses such as Mt.28:19, Jn.3:5 & 4:1-2, Ac.2:38 & 10:47-48, Mk.16:16, Ac.16:30-33, 1Pe.3:21, and the personal examples of Jesus & Paul’s own baptisms make that clear.

The NT is quite clear…under normal circumstances, all Christians are expected to be water baptized!  It’s not just for Jews!  Samaritans too were water baptized (Ac.8:12).  The water baptism of Cornelius’ household (Ac.10:47-48) and the Philippian jailer’s household (Ac.16:33) shows that it’s for gentiles too.  Water baptism is for all believers.

True believers aren’t ashamed of this public declaration in the presence of likeminded witnesses.  It’s been said, ‘Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers’.

The Biblical sequence: Believe and repent…then water baptism followed by HS baptism (or vice versa).

Water baptism in the Name of Jesus is a wonderful and meaningful ceremony for repentant believers.  And having believed, we’re sealed with the HS…given to us as a pledge or guarantee of our eternal inheritance with God, Ep.1:13-14!  (see the topic “Saved, Sealed, Preserved”.)  Thank You, Lord!!