The following are questions I received in an email from a young person in their 20's. Included above is a video discussion of my answers to those questions.
Some of her friends were putting these questions to her, and based on the questions it is pretty clear it is coming from a charismatic background/new revelations, etc. Miraculous healings, continuing revelations, visions, etc., really are heresies in the Church that we should not tolerate, and destroy the faith of many. You'll see the first question likely means this young lady was being told that if you really have faith in Christ, you will be healed, and if you are not healed, that means you didn't have enough faith. That is wicked, false teaching that destroys the faith of whole households, though I doubt many of the people teaching this have formed their own households. My answers are in blue font.
1. Is it true that all who
came to Jesus Christ were healed?
No, not all who came to Christ
were healed. In his own hometown, we read the following from Mt. 13:
So they were offended at Him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not
without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did
not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
We know that many crowds swarmed
around Jesus, and He healed many, but those who were not believing He did not
heal, and undoubtedly there were many more who wanted to come to Him, but He
did not heal them. Mk. 5:28 has the woman with a flow of blood who desperately reaches
out to grab Jesus’ garment, and is healed when she is able to do so. Surely
there were others who had similar desires but were unable to do so. In other
words, simply wanting to be healed didn’t guarantee that you would be healed by
Jesus.
Also notice that even by the
time Paul wrote I Timothy, supernatural healing gifts were phasing out. I Tim.
5:23 shows Paul saying to Timothy, “No longer drink only water, but use a
little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.” If faith
healers were all over the place, then they should have no problem healing
someone of frequent stomach infirmities. But they weren’t. So Paul prescribed
wine. And certainly the Apostle Paul was anointed by Christ to heal and perform
miracles even as Peter and the other Apostles were.
2.
Is the Bible the only way
that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us?
We know from Romans 1 and
passages like Psalm 19 that Creation itself reveals God. That is because it is
God’s Creation, and thus the handiwork of God reveals the hand of God/God
Himself. But such only reveals His attributes, power, etc., to render mankind
without excuse; such “natural” revelation does not save, in fact men suppress
what they see of God in Creation (Rom. 1:19-23).
Saving faith only comes by
hearing the Gospel, the Word of God, as Rom. 10:14-17 says:
14 How then shall they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of
whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is
written:
“How beautiful are the feet of
those who [b]preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
16 But they have
not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our
report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the word of God.
Saving faith only comes by someone
taking the Gospel and proclaiming it. Preaching of the Gospel is necessary for
faith/salvation. Paul does not say that God will reveal Himself by a vision,
dream, or angel, but by preaching the Word of God, the Gospel.
3.
Is the canon truly closed?
(And if so, where do we see that in Scripture?)
Yes. To ask the opposite
question, where do we see that it is still opened in Scripture?
Also, Heb. 1:1-4 says God has formerly
spoken to us by prophets but now in these last days God has spoken to us by His
Son, and Jesus His Son has sat down at the right hand of the Father on high
having finished the work the Father has given Him to do.
God, who [a]at
various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the
prophets, 2 has in these last days
spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all
things, through whom also He made the [b]worlds; 3 who being the brightness
of His glory and the express image of His person,
and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had [c]by
Himself [d]purged [e]our
sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much
better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they.
So there are no more
prophets/prophecies, for Christ’s work is finished and revealed to us “in these
last days” that have been here already for over 2,000 years since Christ has
come, without any books of the Bible being added to Scripture. The prophets and
apostles were the foundation of the New Testament Church, with Christ Himself
the Chief Cornerstone, and now that the foundation is laid, we are being built
up on that foundation according to Ephesians 2:19-22:
19 Now, therefore, you are no
longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a
holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling
place of God in the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 13 tells us
explicitly that prophecies will fail/cease (and therefore so will prophets),
and that tongues will cease:
8 Love
never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail;
whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there
is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in
part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is [d]perfect has come, then
that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I
was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;
but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now
we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but
then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And
now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians is one of the
earliest written NT books, likely completed around AD 54-55. Hebrews was
completed over a decade later, possibly AD 67-69. So Paul both talks about the
gift of prophecy and tongues in I Corinthians, but also says they will cease
(and that tongues in particular aren’t all that important/helpful, I Cor. 14).
Hebrews 1 tells us that we are now in these last days and that formerly God
spoke to us through the prophets. But now He speaks through Christ. So in I
Cor. 13:9-10, when it says that at that time in AD 54-55 or so that they “know
in part” and “prophesy in part” that really was true. Much of the NT Scriptures
had not yet been written, especially concerning Christ in the Gospels, as it is
likely all four Gospels were written after I Corinthians. But I Cor. 13:10 says
“when that which is perfect/complete has come, then that which is in part will
be done away”. What would be that perfect, completed thing except the NT
Scriptures, including the Four Gospels? This is one reason why The Author of
the Book of Hebrews can say over a decade later that the people are now in the
last days where God now speaks through His Son and not the prophets. And the
only place we know about His Son Jesus Christ, for the last 2,000 years or so
since He came to earth, is in the NT Scriptures. Christ Himself is the final
prophet, the “Word made flesh” that dwelt among God’s people (John 1). If there is a “word” after Christ, then Christ
is not that perfect, final word. Which means Christ cannot really be a perfect Savior
and Lord and Son of God. That of course is unthinkable and blasphemous really.
4.
What does John 14:12 mean
when it speaks of "greater works than these he shall do"?
Here is the verse in its
entirety: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that
I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My
Father.”
As a blessing/reward of Christ’s
finished work (having lived that sinless life for His people, paid for His
people’s sin on the cross and died, only to rise and ascend to the right hand
of the Father) the Father gave the Holy Spirit once He returned to the Father’s
right hand, to pour out on His people who are now bought with the blood of
Christ. The rest of John 14 (and other texts) indicate this:
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may
abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with
you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
Then on down to verse 25ff.:
25 “These things I have spoken to
you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace
I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am
going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I
said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
Then John 15:26-27 and 16:5-15
clarify the work of the Spirit, that it is the Spirit of Truth that convicts of
sin, righteousness, and judgment, and with that conviction, God’s people stand
faithful and do great works for the Lord.
Of course, only the Apostles and
some with them did miracles that were even more “extra-ordinary”/greater than
what Jesus did. We see that with the Apostle Paul in Acts 19:11-12:
11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of
Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs
or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their
diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
5.
What does 1 Cor. 3:15
mean?
Rather than type out all of I
Cor. 3, I’d say reading it over, in summary, that Paul is speaking about the
work of Apostles/ministers, (3:5), and that some Christians were only babes in
Christ and arguing over who they had learned the faith from, and therefore who
was superior. Paul is reminding them that there shouldn’t be divisions like
this, as Paul planted, Apollos watered, but it is God alone who gives the
increase and therefore He alone gets the credit/glory (3:6-7). Paul then says
the Apostles are the workers and the congregation/people are the field, God’s
building, and Paul as part of the Apostles has indeed been used by God to lay
that foundation which is Christ Himself, and that no other foundation can be
laid and how other pastors, teachers, etc. build on that can be either faithful
to Christ the foundation, or unfaithful. So 3:13 is speaking about one’s “work”
which pertains especially to the apostles and today the minsters/elders, as
Paul had Titus appoint elders in every city/Church because that is what was “lacking”
after Paul had laid that foundation of Christ in those cities and the Churches formed
(Ti. 1:5). So for 3:15, if the minister’s work is “burned”, meaning if he is an
unfaithful shepherd and doesn’t proclaim Christ faithfully and the people of
God turn away and are “burned” (weak Christians or even not Christians at all),
the minister will suffer “loss”, loss of rewards in heaven that God graciously
would have given for being a faithful pastor/elder. But the pastor will not
himself go to hell but will be saved assuming he is a true believer.
Of course, Paul is also calling
the congregation carnal and baby Christians in their behavior, and says to not
defile the temple of God, for if you do so you will be destroyed by God, and
that the temple of God is holy, and God’s people/the congregation IS the temple
of God (I Cor. 3:16-17). So if any Christian lives in sin and so “defiles”
himself as one of God’s covenant people, they will be proven to be unregenerate
and indeed “God will destroy him” (3:17).
6.
What does 1 Cor. 15:56
mean?
“The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law.”
We know from Romans 6:23 that
the wages of sin is death, so if there were no sin, there’d be no death. Death’s
sting, its very existence, is due to our sin. If we are saved from our sin in
Christ, death has no hold over us, it has no sting. This is why the preceding
verses say, after the whole chapter speaks about Christ and the resurrection
from death/the grave, that those in Christ are resurrected in Him and have
great hope, so that we can say indeed, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades,
where is your victory?” (I Cor. 15:55).
“The strength of sin is the law”
means that when one is already a sinner, which is to be a lawbreaker, the law
itself cannot save. The law doesn’t save the lawbreaker, the sinner. The law upholds
the righteousness of God and shows us what we should do/not do, it shows us what
we must do in order to obey God, but it does not give us the strength to
obey God. The strength of our sin enslaves us, so that we are
lawbreakers, and the law/command of God itself doesn’t empower us sinful
lawbreakers to do the thing that is commanded. Only Christ by the strength/power
of His Spirit working in our hearts give us the strength to resist sin and
the devil and serve God. Therefore, the “strength of sin is the law”. If we are
enslaved to sin and then hear God’s law, hearing God’s law only enflames our
sinful heart, not because the law is bad, but because our sinful hearts are
bad. My children never want to disobey and eat a cookie more than when I first
give them the law/command that they must eat their chicken and broccoli first.
It’s that kind of idea.
Paul speaks to this in Romans 8:
There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who[a] do
not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law
of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, God did by
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He
condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the
flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according
to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be [b]carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. 7 Because the [c]carnal
mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law
of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh
cannot please God.
Notice that the law is weak, not
because the law is imperfect, but because the sinful flesh is weak. So the law
cannot regenerate or take away sin/law-breaking, but God can and did through
Christ shedding His blood, coming in the likeness of sinful flesh to atone for
sin, and notice the purpose is so that we who now have the Holy Spirit will
fulfill that “righteous requirement of the law” by walking according to the
Spirit working in us, and not the sinful flesh. We are not saved to get away
from God’s law, but in order to keep it from the heart, by the Spirit, as one
already forgiven and having received God’s saving grace through Christ.
More can be said but I’ve
already gone quite long on this one.
7.
Is there a gap between
belief in Christ and the receiving of the Holy Spirit?
The short answer is no, if you mean
the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit/being born again. As John 3 says,
unless a man is born again, He cannot even see the Kingdom of God, let alone
enter into it. So the moment God regenerates a sinner, uniting Him to Christ
and seating Him in the heavenly places, that sinner has at that moment been
saved by the gift of faith (Eph. 2:1-10). Notice especially Eph. 2:4-5, where God
in His rich mercy and love, while we were dead in trespasses/sins, “made us
alive together with Christ” and that therefore means “by grace you have been
saved”, and v. 8 further clarifies that means “For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”. So the
moment we are quickened/made alive, what’s sometimes called regenerated by the
Spirit, at that very moment we believe/have faith in Christ and receive the
Holy Spirit. I like to think about Lazarus, four days dead in the tomb, and
Jesus says “Come forth!” Well, Jesus obviously had to make Lazarus physically alive
first, but at the very moment Lazarus was given new life, he came forward to
Jesus. The “new life” of Lazarus is like regeneration, and the “coming forth”
is like faith/trust in Christ. They happen at the same moment, but God is the
one that sovereignly regenerates/gives new life first. One who is physically
dead, or dead in their sins, cannot make themselves alive. But the moment God
makes us alive, we come forward to Him.
8.
Are we to reach unbelievers
in another way than bringing them to Scripture?
I would need clarification on
this question. To reach them for Christ/salvation, we have to ultimately take
them to Scripture/the gospel message, as we saw above in Romans 10, faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But certainly we must adorn the
Gospel message with godly living, kindness, prayers, etc., toward unbelievers.
9. How do we answer those who ask us why we believe the
Bible is true and tell us we can't use the Bible to answer?
Well, the Bible puts forward
arguments, the Bible itself claims to be the Word of God and therefore
infallible/true. Christ performs miracles in part to validate that He really is
the Messiah/prophesied and promised One of the Old Testament Scriptures. If the
Bible itself didn’t claim and put forward arguments that it was true and God’s
Word, and by study of the Scriptures evidence itself to be in what it teaches
and the results it produces in obeying those teaches to be true, then why would
anyone believe the Bible is God’s Word? In short, Scripture’s own claims are
the means by which we come to recognize that it is true, is the Word of God. So
for someone to say “prove the Bible is true without using the Bible” is kind of
like a teacher taking attendance and demanding you make your presence known
without speaking or raising your hand. The very thing that would help us determine
whether the Bible is true or not is, you guessed it, the Bible itself and what
it says. We can’t know if the Bible is true or not if we don’t talk about what the
Bible actually says.
The 1st Chapter of
the Westminster Confession of Faith is really helpful here, and on some of your
other questions as well. I’ll paste in some of the relevant sections along with
the Scripture texts for them:
I. Although the light of
nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the
goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable;a yet they
are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is
necessary unto salvation:b therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry
times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will
unto his Church;c and afterwards, for the better preserving and
propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of
the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan
and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing;d which maketh
the holy scripture to be most necessary;e those former ways of God’s
revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.f
a Rom. 2:14 ,15;
Rom. 1:19 ,20; Ps. 19:1-3; Rom. 1:32 with Rom. 2:1.
b 1 Cor. 1:21; 1 Cor.
2:13,14.
c Heb. 1:1.
d Prov. 22:19-21; Luke
1:3,4; Rom. 15:4; Matt. 4:4,7,10; Isa. 8:19,20.
e 2 Tim. 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:19.
f Heb. 1:1,2.
IV. The authority of the holy
scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the
testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, (who is truth itself,) the
author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the word of
God.i
i 2 Pet. 1:19,21; 2 Tim. 3:16; 1
John 5:9; 1 Thess. 2:13.
V. We may be moved and induced
by the testimony of the Church to a high and reverend esteem of the holy
scripture,k and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine,
the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole,
(which is to give all glory to God,) the full discovery it makes of the only
way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the
entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence
itself to be the word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and
assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the
inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our
hearts.l
k 1 Tim. 3:15.
l 1 John 2:20,27; John 16:13,14;
1 Cor. 2:10-12; Isa. 59:21.
VI. The whole counsel of God,
concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and
life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary
consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to
be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.m
Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be
necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the
word;n and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and
government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to
be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the
general rules of the word, which are always to be observed.o
m 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Gal. 1:8,9; 2
Thess. 2:2.
n John 6:45 , 1 Cor. 2:9-12.
o 1 Cor. 11:13,14; 1 Cor.
14:26,40.
VII. All things in scripture are
not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all;p yet those things
which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so
clearly propounded and opened in some place of scripture or other, that not
only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may
attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.q
p 2 Pet. 3:16.
q Psalm 119:105,130.
IX. The infallible rule of
interpretation of scripture is the scripture itself; and therefore, when there
is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture, (which is not
manifold, but one,) it must be searched and known by other places that speak
more clearly.y
y 2 Pet. 1:20,21; Acts 15:15,16.
X. The supreme Judge, by which
all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of
councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits,
are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but
the Holy Spirit speaking in the scripture.z
z Matt. 22:29,31; Eph. 2:20 with
Acts 28:25.
Please don't feel rushed to supply answers, I am in no hurry
so I expect you will take as much time as needed. :)
Hope this helps. If you have any
other questions or follow-ups, please ask.
In Christ, Thomas F. Booher
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