10/01/2023
The Apostles Doctrine Part 2 of 2. Malcolm Edwards
10. THE HOLY SPIRIT
Grammatical problem "he" or "it"
Peter still thought he was dreaming. Herod had executed his beloved fellow fisherman James, and now he also had been arrested and was in a prison cell awaiting the same fate. With only hours to go an angel awakened him; his shackles fell off, and, as bolts and bars astoundingly slid back, the angel led him, unchallenged, to outside freedom.
The AV record in Acts 12 uses the masculine gender when describing the opening of the final gate.
When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed/ram him. (Acts 12:10)
In Greek, all pronouns are either masculine of feminine and translators must decide when neuter is more appropriate. Modern translators of this passage all say that the gate opened of its own accord.
However, the use of the masculine gender by Authorised Version translators in regard to the giving of the Holy Spirit reflects a strong trinitarian bias. The following passage from Acts is an example.
Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) (Acts 8:15-16).
Most modern versions of the Bible reject the masculine gender in this passage, making much more sense.
The concept of a third person in the Godhead was not taught in the Christian church until the fourth century AD. Even trinitarians admit that it is entirely foreign to the Old Testament. The term Holy Ghost (Spirit) means the power of God, not a person.
The passage in Luke quoted earlier, certainly conveys this impression.... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
It has been rightly pointed out, that if the Holy Spirit was the third person of the Godhead, then the creeds stating that Jesus was Born of the Holy Spirit are actually making the Holy Spirit Christ's father, which of course is not so. Such is the confusion created by the doctrine of the Trinity.
The Newton Crusade
It is not generally known that Sir Isaac Newton wrote more on religion than ever he did on science. In fact much of his life was spent in exposing Roman Catholic prejudice on the matter of the Godhead. Newton, who had an extensive knowledge of both Scripture and church history, claimed that Roman Catholic scholars had resorted to text-tampering and even downright fraud in their endeavours to slant Scripture towards the trinitarian concept of the Godhead.
Because his position at Oxford University was controlled by the church of those days, Newton was unable to speak openly on the subject of the Godhead and his views on the subject were not published until long after his death. He disclosed his deep concern about the matter in letters to close friends however, and largely as a result of his investigations, the passage in 1 John 5:7 is rejected as spurious by modern translators.
The interpolation is highlighted below:
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. (l John 5:6-8)
Newton wrote that this passage was not so read in the Syrian Bible, nor by early Christian writers such as, Ignatius, Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Athanas, Chrysostom, Hilarius, Augustine, Beda, and others.
As was said earlier, there are many passages which show the closeness of God and Jesus, and also others which show a oneness between God and his Spirit. However, Father,Son,and Holy Spirit, as three persons and yet one, was never taught by Christ or the apostles.
The trinity is usually described as a mystery, but if Scripture does not teach it, and not even Newton's mathematical mind could comprehend it, it has no alidity as an apostolic doctrine.
11. SPIRIT GIFTS
Tongues shall cease...
Paul must have been at the point of despair; the disciples at Corinth certainly had their share of problems, but this new report was exasperating. They were now abusing the very gifts God had given to help the young church towards maturity. He had written earlier about the dangers of splitting into factious groups and there was also a serious moral problem to sort out. He had been forced to reprove them for taking their differences to the public law courts instead of settling them amongst themselves, but this was the absolute limit.
The first gifts of the spirit came upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost in the form of cloven tongues of fire. They were given as helps in the ministerial work ahead. On that particular day, the gifts were manifested in the preaching of the gospel to foreign-speaking Jews visiting Jerusalem for the feast. The preaching resulted in five thousand people being converted to Christ. Besides the gift of foreign tongues there were also gifts of knowledge, prophecy (teaching) and healing, to mention only a few. After Pentecost these gifts were mostly conveyed to others by the laying on of hands of the apostles, and in this way the work of spreading the gospel was greatly enhanced.
At Corinth however, they had rather gone overboard on tongues and Paul was now writing to put the use of this gift into proper perspective.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. ( I Corinthians 12:28-31)
The more excellent way is shown to them in the next chapter, and foretold a time when these gifts would have achieved their aim. The objective was to mature and edify the young church. It is called, that which is perfect (complete or mature), and is expressed by Paul in similar words in Ephesians 4:11-15.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
The time would come when these gifts would cease altogether, but by then the established church had matured spiritually and possessed the completed and more durable apostolic writings.
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (l Corinthians 13:8-12)
The powers of the world to come
The gifts themselves, were only a taste of powers reserved for the future Kingdom of God and are called by Paul the powers of the world to come (Hebrews 6:5). The gifts at Pentecost were promised, to you and your children (Acts 2:39), only two generations of miraculous activity. This assures us that they were not meant for today, and those claiming this may be manifesting something much more akin to hypnotism than to the miraculous bestowals of those days We should be always mindful of the warning from Jesus himself in this regard.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:22-23)
12. ADAM'S FALL
By man came death...
Adam rose to his feet and looked around him; it must have taken several seconds for him to comprehend the wonders he saw. Unlike a young baby slowly learning about life from the beginning of consciousness, Adam began as an adult human being with fully developed faculties and well able to comprehend God's instructions about the garden in which he was placed.
Yet Adam was not immortal, otherwise he could not have died. With the rest of God's creation he was pronounced very good, but was not then, the dying creature he became later through disobedience. Scripture says he was a living soul and we must be content with that description.
Nevertheless, the warning God had given to Adam shows that death was always a possibility:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)
In the epistle to the Romans, Paul makes it clear that the death which befell Adam through his disobedience is the dying state we have all inherited:
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Romans 5:12)
It was this unsatisfactory state which has cursed all mankind since Adam, and that caused the same apostle to lament a little later in the epistle,
"O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death (Romans 7:24).
More happily, he proceeds in the next chapter to unfold the wonderful provision of salvation through Christ Jesus, concluding on the theme of Christ's current work as mediator at God's right hand:
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Romans 8:33-34)
In a comprehensive chapter on resurrection, written to the Corinthian believers, Paul shows how, through Christ Jesus, death can be defeated.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22)
So, it might be said, that though paradise was lost because of Adam's fall, the atoning work of Christ, still taking place, makes the resurrection to a new paradise on earth, a glorious prospect for those who will diligently seek it. But let us continue a little further and look at what the apostles taught about death itself.
13. THE DEATH STATE
If a man die shall he live again?
Ugh! Can this emaciated plague-ridden character really be our old colleague Job? This must have been the thought that struck Job's three friends when they finally arrived to comfort him. He had endured a succession of calamities to his family, and was now afflicted by a most horrifying disease, constantly racked by physical pain and suffering. He must have looked a most pitiable figure sitting there alone in sackcloth and ashes.
Job's wife, quickly losing patience had said "curse God and die," but the record affirms that in all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly (Job 1:22).
The story has a happy ending and highlights several important principles which are not our present consideration. However, since the book of Job is considered to be one of the oldest in the Bible and was well known to the apostles (See James 5:11), it is of interest to discover what was Job's understanding about life-after death.
He himself poses the very question and also provides the answer:
If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. (Job 14:14-15)
The passage teaches that Job would be required to wait in the grave for the change to immortality, rather than receive it immediately at death. This is confirmed by his later and more familiar words, rendered so beautifully in Handel's Messiah:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19:25-26)
From these ancient passages we learn that, Job expected to see God,
(a) in his.flesh.
(b) on earth.
(c) in the latter day.
(d) after his redeemer came.
This indicates most clearly a resurrection of the body, which is entirely consistent with apostolic teaching, dealt with earlier in The Things Concerning The Kingdom Of God.
The Soul
But does not the soul itself go on living after death until reunited with the body? We cannot establish this from Scripture, even though it might be a most delightful concept. Moreover, the concept is contrary to apostolic teaching we looked at earlier about death being a sleep.
Usually soul in Scripture means a living person; as, for example, in the arrival of Abraham and his family into the promised land:
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. (Genesis 12:5)
It is not surprising therefore to read elsewhere that souls can actually die: Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)
Very occasionally in Scripture soul means life, which most certainly departs when a person dies, but to a place neither of bliss nor terror. When we turn off a light, we never think it goes anywhere else but out.
The ancient Egyptians and other pagan nations preferred to think that life continued in some form after death and their writings show this. Scripture however, consistently teaches that death is complete unconsciousness.
The dead know not anything
Although the human soul is fundamentally the mind, David makes it clear that in death, it is not capable of thinking or planning.
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (Psalm 146:3-4)
Job, in his sufferings, wished he had been a stillborn child and identified such a death as the same state of non-existence as before birth.
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. (Job 10:18-19)
A passage in Ecclesiastes takes the matter even further, showing that all emotions are extinguished in the death state:
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their enry, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun (Ecclesiastes 9:4-6).
This is the Old Testament teaching about death and the hereafter believed by Jesus and the apostles. The above passages leave us in no doubt that they also believed the death-state to be complete unconsciousness. However, because in death there is no consciousness of time, at the resurrection, death will seem to have been only a matter of seconds.
14. DIVINE SELECTION
Sheep and goats
Dividing sheep from goats was a common sight in the pastoral regions of Palestine. The shepherd always carried a staff, and with a deft movement, could make the division quite easily, diverting the sheep into one enclosure and the goats into another.
Jesus taught that God is to make a similar division between the accepted and rejected on the day of judgement. But on what basis of responsibility are both groups summoned? Peter tells us it is based on their knowledge of his word; he writes,
"For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. (2 Peter 2:21)
This being the case, what happens to those who have never heard the Gospel? It seems unthinkable that God would punish people who had no knowledge of him or the Gospel.
Paul wrote in Romans 4:15 that where there is no law there is no transgression, which again puts knowledge of salvation as that which makes a person responsible to God.
It would certainly seem unfair to punish people in total ignorance of divine principles, yet, on the other hand it would not be just to reward them.
The Bible has the only fair solution to the dilemma and it is expressed in a psalm the apostles would know well.
"For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.... ...He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. (Psalm 49:10-14 and 19-21)
Them that perish...
The New Testament likewise speaks of those people beyond the scope of salvation as perishing, the word meaning to die without hope. Hence the familiar passage from the discussion of Jesus with Nicodemus has a note of urgency about it.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
Writing to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul speculates what would be the situation had Jesus not risen from the dead, and concludes that all dead saints would, in that case, have perished. That is, these would have died with no hope of future life.
"For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. (I Corinthians 15:16-18)
Them that sleep...
The word asleep in the last passage quoted, shows also the condition of the Saints in death. They are asleep, awaiting resurrection, and their deliverance comes with the return of Christ to earth. Listen to Paul again:
For if we believe that Jesus· died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (1 Thessalonians 4:14)
The apostles would know that Daniel used the term sleep in relation to the death state generally, showing that many of these, (but not all), would eventually experience resurrection.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
This passage distinguishes between three classes of dead. Those who are never raised, and two other classes who are to be raised, but are either sheep or goats, depending on their past living.
15. THE MEANING OF HELL
Jonah's Dungeon
The Cruise Of The Cachalot by Frank Bollard is a book about whaling. It mentions an accident around the tum of the twentieth century in which a seaman disappeared after a harpooned whale had capsized a small boat. The next day, the whale was killed and the man found alive inside its stomach. It brings to mind the story of Jonah, and demolishes the once-held opinion of Bible critics that all whales have too small a gullet to swallow a man.
Jonah was inside his big fish much longer of course, but it is interesting that he describes his strange dungeon as hell...I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried Land thou heardest my voice. (Jonah 2:2)
This is a handy passage to explain the Old Testament use of the word 'hell', translated from a Hebrew word Sheol meaning simply pit or grave. Usually it has no connotation of fire, and presents no difficulty in understanding how Christ went there for three days and nights.
"For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10)
The only Old Testament passage linking hell with fire, reads like a good description of a volcano.
"For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. (Deuteronomy 32:22)
Very likely, God's fiery judgement upon S***m and Gomorrah was caused by a volcano; but whether it was so or not, travellers would bring home stories to Israel about the smoking terror of volcanos, and these stories would pass from generation to generation. It is not surprising therefore, that the concept of a subterranean fiery lake for the wicked, found its way into Greek, and later, Jewish folklore.
The one unmistakable feature of fire is its capability to destroy completely without trace and this is its chief meaning in Scripture. In fact such was the total destruction of S***m and Gomorrah that Jude actually calls the fire which destroyed these cities eternal
Even as S***m and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7)
The book of Revelation speaks several times about a lake of fire and brimstone, but since death and hell are both cast therein, it is obviously highly figurative of complete and utter destruction.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15)
Gehenna
All cities have a rubbish dump, and Jerusalem was no exception. Its location had been in the same place for centuries; the Hinnom valley overlooked by the south wall of the city. The refuse was conveniently tipped over the wall and kept smouldering to reduce its volume and stench. There were numerous sepulchres in the valley and it contained also the infamous area of Tophet which had once been the scene of child sacrifice to the heathen god Molech.
Jeremiah's prophecy speaks against it:
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet ,nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. (Jeremiah 7:31-32)
Ge Hinnom, as it was called in Hebrew, became a dumping place for the bodies of those wicked individuals not deserving of a decent burial and as a warning, people were encouraged to go and look down upon their scorched and rotting remains. Isaiah associates this scene with the final destruction and lasting disgrace of God's enemies:
"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." (Isaiah 66:23-24)
If the passage seems vaguely familiar, it is because Jesus used it in his own teaching concerning the destiny of those who trusted in self to the neglect of serving God.
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:43-44)
The word hell in the passage is translated from the original Greek word Gehenna, meaning Valley of Hinnom, and is a vivid description of the ignoble end awaiting all who reject God. Had Jesus taught literal eternal fire for the damned, it would conflict with Scripture quoted earlier about the unconscious state of the dead. This vivid language, however, presents a penetrating message about disobedience and destruction that most of his hearers would readily understand.
The rich man in hell
In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, found in Luke 16, the rich man is said to be in hell. The word in the original Greek is hades, and the whole concept is quite foreign to Jewish Scripture. The story reflects Jewish legend of Hellenistic origin, and Jewish myths speak of it in much greater detail. In the parable, Lazarus is in Abraham 's bosom and able to see the rich man being tormented beside the lake of fire. Few people today would accept this as literal, and for a fuller explanation of it, we refer the reader to the later section entitled, Separating idiom from reality (page 39).
16. JUDGEMENT DAY
Two kinds of judgement
We should not confuse the judgement of the resurrected dead, with divine judgements upon living nations. The Bible sometimes uses the same term for each of these happenings, which is more than a little confusing. For example, a passage in Thessalonians is quite clearly more about Christ's future judgement of living nations at his return, than the judging of the responsible dead.
"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day." (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)
There are many such passages in Scripture, but the above will suffice to show the difference between the two kinds of judgement.
The following, are samples of apostolic teaching which concur with Daniel 12 regarding the judgement of individuals at the resurrection, and it is important to note them.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
(2 Corinthians 5: I 0)
"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
(Romans 14:10-12)
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day ofjudgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
(I John 4:17)
After the glorious reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years, there follows a last judgement before the great white throne. The rejected at this assize are consigned to a punishment called the second death and symbolised by a lake of fire implying complete and utter destruction. This is the finality presented to us in Revelation chapter 20.
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12-15)
17. TEMPTATION
The serpent beguiled me
It is easy for us to say in retrospect that Eve should have known better. Some might excuse her by pointing out that she received the rules of the Garden of Eden second hand from Adam. Whatever may have been the case, the instructions were clear and not at all difficult.
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)
Like most of us, Eve was not without curiosity, and every time she passed the forbidden tree she must have asked herself, why not? When they had so much freedom in the garden, why this strange restriction? It required the serpent, however, to inflame her curiosity to the point of disobedience.
In the account of the temptation and fall, Scripture tells us nothing about the serpent other than that he was a beast and we should be careful not to read more into the record than was meant:
"Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:1-6)
Jesus and the apostles wrote about Adam and Eve, and Paul himself saw no reason to change the identity of Eve's prompter since, in writing to the Corinthians, he still calls him a serpent.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
It is obvious also from the writings of John, that Eve's threefold temptation is still very much with us today and is of the world.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)
Notice the origin of these three desires is not from a supernatural evil being, but of the world.
Sin that dwelleth in me...
The most consistent information we are given in Scripture about temptation is that it comes from within. There is in fact only one passage in the Bible that fully explains it, and it is found in James chapter l:
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:13-15)
It seems a sound and scriptural basis for approaching the whole subject so we will start from there.
James speaks similarly in a later chapter:
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? (James 4:1)
This is no isolated concept. Writing to the Romans, Paul also has much to say about his own struggle against an inner inclination to disobey, and like James, blames no outside agency for his problems:
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me: For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:18-24)
Throughout the whole chapter, Paul sees the problem of disobedience to be from within himself and writes similarly to the Galatians:
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17)
These apostles were only reiterating what Jesus himself had taught them in regards to the promptings to do evil:
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:21-23)
Jews today still speak of two influences within man; Yetzer ha-tov meaning "the good inclination" and Yetzer ha-ra "meaning the evil desire."
What concord hath Christ with Belial?
When Paul asks the Corinthian believers this question in 2 Corinthians I 6: I 5, it seems reasonable, at first, to conclude that Belia! is some intelligent evil being, especially since he is mentioned sixteen other times in Scripture in the context of opposition to what is good. Bible dictionaries, however, inform us that Belia! is not even a proper name and means simply, worthlessness. Yet, he is said to have both sons and daughters. The following passage is a typical example:
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
(1 Samuel 2:12)
To literalise Belia! in this passage would make him out to be Eli himself and since this cannot possibly be the case, it bears out the findings of the dictionary writers as meaning worthlessness.
Since Paul is quite content to contrast Belia! with Christ, who is very much a person, it is an interesting scriptural example of the linking of the literal with the metaphorical, and there are many others.
The personification of abstract things in Scripture is by no means confined to evil. In Proverbs, wisdom is presented as having female qualities and love is personified in 1 Corinthians 13. We recognise the equivalent in our own language when we speak of Cupid, Father Time, Mother Nature and Jack Frost.
It should not be the least surprising therefore that sin itself is frequently personified in the Bible and the earliest example is in Genesis 4, in regard to Cain. The NIV makes the personification even more apparent.
"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. (Genesis 4:7)
This is not unlike Paul's words quoted previously in Romans 7, where he personifies sin as, taking occasion by the commandment, deceiving and slaying him. lt is really a continuation of his personification of sin in the previous chapter.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:12-14)
This kind of language ought to signal caution in jumping quickly to conclusions about supernatural evil beings, and it is right that we understand this before we proceed to the next section in the matter of temptation.
Evil from the LORD !
One lady swivelled her head in shock; the other widened her eyes wide in surprise. We were reading the Bible together in our flat in one of the Caribbean islands and had just reached the startling conclusion that God creates evil.
Because of preconceptions, both ladies had thought that evil could only be wickedness. Yet here was a passage saying that God creates it.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I
the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)
The penny dropped with the second lady when she remembered reading that it was an evil spirit from the LORD that had troubled king Saul in 1 Samuel 16. However a fuller explanation was clearly required.
Evil in the Bible means basically trouble. That is why, in so many places in Scripture God is said to bring evil on people. It is evil in the form of divine judgement. This is obviously not the same as the evil of human wickedness.
A good example of both kinds of evil is found in Jeremiah 18:11.
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
Once this is understood, many other things to do with temptation and evil fall into place. God, for example, tries his subjects whenever it pleases him, but the AV use of the word tempt in this context is not very helpful. A well known passage from Genesis 22, will serve as an example:
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of (Genesis 22: l-2)
All that sorted out, we can now look more closely at an issue which has caused much controversy, but which ought to concur with what we have discovered so far on this particular subject.
Separating idiom from reality
All careful readers of the Bible will have noted that there is a marked difference between Old and New Testaments in relation to the use of such terms as Satan, demon possession, lake of fire, war in heaven, sons of light and darkness, etc. They are predominantly New Testament concepts and mostly foreign to the Jewish Scriptures. The ideas were slowly adopted into Jewish folklore during 400 years of Gentile domination of Palestine and are mostly of Greek origin.
The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 is a good example of this. In a fiery subterranean region of the dead, known as Hades, Abraham and the rich man, are able to freely converse. Abraham was not therefore in heaven, nor were either of them disembodied spirits since Lazarus had a finger, and the rich man a
tongue (v 24).
Perhaps some Jews believed this to be the true destiny of the wicked, but it is unlikely that the informed ones did, since it patently contradicts their own Scriptures about the dead knowing nothing. The use of this parable by Jesus in Luke 16, was for maximum impact against the Pharisees. They would quickly see that Jesus was identifying them with the rich man, and the despised publicans and sinners with Lazarus the penniless beggar. The whole incident arose because of their criticism of Jesus for receiving such people.
Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying. This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. (Luke 15:1-2)
Jesus then told three parables about saving sinners, the last of these being the story of The rich man and Lazarus.
Another example is the use of Beelzebub by the enemies of Jesus in disclaiming his miracles. Beelzebub was a heathen deity, and since it is well known that the Jews had rejected all idolatry since the Babylonian exile, we can be sure that Beelezebub was not a reality to most pious Jews.
18. DEVIL AND SATAN
The adversary
One would have to award Balaam points for sheer persistence, but it was really his stubbornness which made him more of an ass than the one on which he was riding. This wily soothsayer was hired by Balak king of Moab to curse the people of Israel from various high vantage points as they journeyed to the Promised Land from the wilderness of Sinai. With God opposing him, Balaam had no hope of succeeding, but he persisted nevertheless.
In one rocky defile the ass suddenly stopped when an angel barred the way. Not seeing the angel himself, Balaam beat the ass for its apparent obduracy and God permitted the animal to speak its mind. The story will be well known to some readers from their Sunday School days.
It may not be quite as well known, that the angel which stood in the way is called a satan in the original Hebrew text. The record reads:
And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him...... (Numbers 22:22)
One can understand why the AV translators preferred adversary to a satan, but it is a pity they were not more consistent in regard to the story of Job. The word 'the satan', in Job is likewise not a proper noun and should also have been translated the adversary.
Whoever the adversary was in Job's case, he was totally under God's control and at the end of the story we are told that it was no wicked agency but God himself, who had brought the evil on Job.
Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. (Job 42:11)
Hebrew scholar, Prof A.B. Davidson, considers the adversary to be an angel doing similar work for God as the one who obstructed Balaam. Others think he was a human adv rsary who was jealous of Job's integrity. Whoever he was, it is incorrect to think of him as the evil intelligence of popular thinking.
Problems with Satan as a wicked angel
There are huge problems in identifying Satan in Scripture as a supernatural wicked being, responsible for all the world's troubles and our own temptations. Some of these are listed below:
1) There is no plain record in Scripture of the origin of such a being.
2) There is no plain record in the Old Testament of any angelic rebellion.
3) During 4000 years of Old Testament history Satan only figures on three widely separated occasions, and devil not even once.
4) 4000 years is a very long time in which there was no written warnings to God's people about the operations of such a dangerous being. Why this long silence?
5) The few occasions where Satan is mentioned in the Old Testament, he is always under God's control. For example:
Set thou (God) a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. (Psalm 109:6)
6) How would such a being today tempt billions of people at once? If the answer be, he has millions of wicked helpers, then how were such a huge number of wicked helpers employed on the occasions when the world's population was a mere handful e.g. after Adam's fall, and directly after the Flood? Were they simply unemployed for several hundred years?
The New Testament concept of Satan
The New Testament satan is no different to this. For example, in 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul's thorn in the flesh, given to him (note) lest he should be exalted above measure, was a messenger of Satan. The Apostle besought the Lord three times for its removal. Exactly as with Job, God was in complete control of the trial, which was imposed for Paul's own spiritual improvement. This could hardly be the work of a wicked angel.
Similarly, consider the apostle's chastening of two errant disciples, expressed as being delivered to Satan (note again), for their spiritual good.
Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan,that they may learn not to blaspheme. (I Timothy 1:20)
It the context of Roman domination of the time, it is understandable that any written reference to Roman opposition would be in cryptic form. Hence we find the terms devil and satan employed in this coded way in two passages in the book of Revelation:
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2: l 0)
"I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth." (Revelation 2:13)
Paul spoke about his own struggles against wicked men at Ephesus as, fighting with beasts, and Peter likewise warned his readers of similar opposition, appropriately using the term devil.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
The Temptation of Jesus
However one views the temptation of Jesus, two things must be kept firmly in mind. Firstly, the apostles taught that he was tempted exactly as we are (Hebrews 4:15), and secondly, the temptation was arranged by God Himself. The latter point is quite clear from the record in Matthew.
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (Matthew 4: l)
It is surely unthinkable that God would cooperate with his arch enemy in the matter of the trial of his own Son. In any case, for the temptation itself to be effective, it ultimately had to take place within the mind of Jesus. Exactly who the accuser was, therefore, is not very important. It may well have been of angelic origin but could equally have been promptings from within Christ's own human thinking.
Throughout his ministry Jesus strove against the forces within, and just prior to his arrest we are allowed to enter into one of these struggles, as one part of him seeks to avoid the agony of the cross, whilst the other part resists and overcomes. this immediately invokes divine approval:
Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. (John 12:27-28)
We are shown that Christ suffered similar internal struggles as we do, in order to be an understanding and sympathetic high priest after his ascension.
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation/or the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted (Hebrews 2: l 7-18)
Everything we have looked at so far leads to the conclusion that God is completely in control on the matter of evil, and may employ both angels or men, to bring trials on his children, either for their spiritual benefit or punishment.
When therefore we come across the words devil or satan in the New Testament we must be cautious about what they might mean. For example Jesus applied both these words to two of his own disciples. Jesus once had to call Peter Satan, because quite appropriate to the term, it was adverse to God's purpose in seeking to deflect the Master from his road to the Cross.
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:22-23)
Judas was the other disciple; whom Jesus called a devil (meaning accuser) because of his treachery in betraying him:
Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. (John 6:70-71)
Perhaps sufficient has now been said on the subject of satan and devil to demonstrate that, although these New Testament terms were part of Jewish idiom due to Hellenistic influence, they did not refer to supernatural evil beings but to either the impulses of the flesh within mankind, or to individuals and human powers in opposition to the work of Christ.
War in Heaven?
Who then were the rebellious sons of God in Genesis 6 and Lucifer who fell from heaven in Isaiah 14? The answer is given in the records themselves. Let us look first at the sons of God passage.
And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years, (Genesis 6:1-4)
The passage tells clearly that the rebellion was amongst mankind not angels. Sons of God refers to the godly Sethites, and daughters of men to the women of ungodly trlbes, The trouble was caused by the imagination of the human heart being only evil continually (v5). Jewish scholars also concur with this interpretation.
Lucifer in Isaiah 14, who is believed by some to be a wicked angel, turns out, on examination, to be none other than the king of Babylon who lost his throne at the height of his power. Lucifer means day star, and it refers to the capricious planet Venus which, being inside earth's orbit, appears brightly as a morning and evening star before disappearing for several months behind the sun. Nebuchadnezzar's sudden fall from power is likened to this phenomenon in the prophecy:
... thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say.....Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:4, 11-12)
The only clear passage about a war in heaven appears in a book of prophecy and symbol, and at quite the wrong end of the Bible, to teach a rebellion said to have occurred in Genesis or before creation. In Revelation 12:7-10, there is reference to a fell from heaven of a red dragon with seven heads and ten horns called the devil and satan (v3). The passage however is obviously highly figurative, and futuristic. It reads:
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
This is a symbolic description of what we have already seen concerning sin as the great deceiver. It was first introduced in Eden, but is to be defeated eventually and finally by the advent of Christ and his Kingdom. The above passage is, in fact, the figurative fulfilment of one of the earliest prophesies in the Bible about the eventual defeat of sin-power through the seed of the woman, which is Christ. (Genesis 3:15)
Both Peter and Jude speak of angels who fell, but since they are reserved in chains of darkness until the day of judgement, therefore it seems likely that they refer to fallen human dignitaries rather than immortal angels of God, whom, we are told, do his will. (Psalm 103:20-21)
Demons and evil spirits
If all we have considered so far fits together, how does one explain the casting out of demons in the Gospels and Acts?
There is no doubt that Jesus and the apostles are said to have cast out devils or demons as the word appears in the Greek. It is true also, that people today are similarly afflicted and are sometimes even cured by so-called exorcists.
It should be noted however that demons in New Testament times were thought to inhabit deaf and dumb people and also epileptics. The unfortunate man in Mark 9 appears to have suffered from both afflictions.
And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.........When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. (Mark 9: 20-21 and 25)
Alleged demonic possession today is medically classified as Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome, and is a state of hysteria not unlike epilepsy. It is a condition of the human unconscious mind and can have frightening manifestations. Significantly, it is said to afflict only people who believe in demons.
The cure is not always easy and consists of convincing the sufferer that a greater power has banished the spirits for ever. Such exorcisms are by no means confined to the Christian religion and usually require many unsuccessful sessions involving much mental conflict between the demoniac and the exorcist.
These demoniacs were both a hindrance and a help to the teaching of Jesus. By curing them instantly, he was able to show that his authority was superior both to the so-called demons themselves and to the money-making exorcists.
The question remaining is, whether Jesus and the apostles themselves believed in demons, or whether they took on board much of 'the superstitions of the day, explaining the real truth of the matter to their converts later. The latter is most likely the case.
It might be asked, how did the demons know Jesus, having never previously met him? Modem researchers have discovered, that in the seizure of Gilles de la Tourett's Syndrome, some subjects become remarkably telepathic. This would seem to adequately explain the phenomenon.
Few reliable and unbiased medical experts today believe such phenomena to be caused by demonic possession.
SUMMARY
The apostles doctrine was the same basic message John and Jesus had taught; it was The Good News of The Kingdom of God; the same Kingdom on Earth promised in the Old Testament that will replace the kingdoms of men, with Jerusalem as its capital. It necessitates the return of Messiah (Christ) to rule all nations, as the Psalms and Prophets proclaimed.
The Kingdom itself will be the fulfilment of the promises God made to Abraham and his seed. Jesus was the singular seed of the Abrahamic promise, and to become spiritual children of Abraham, his followers must repent and be baptised into his name for the remission of sins. Those accepted seed who are living when Christ returns, will be changed to immortality and united with the resurrected ones.
The apostles consistently taught the resurrection of the body and promised that the glorified saints would rule with Christ in his kingdom in accord with the teaching of the prophet Daniel.
The death state was found to be complete unconsciousness, but for those to be resurrected to glory it is described as a sleep.
The hell of the Old Testament simply means the grave, and although Gehenna and Greek superstition about the lake of fire had crept into Jewish idiom regarding the place of the Wicked, it was no more than hyperbolical language to emphasise the total and everlasting destruction of those not accounted worthy to reign with Christ forever.
On the matter of temptation, it was shown that Scripture teaches emphatically that it comes from within, and references to satan and devil are mostly the personification of sin. Devils (demons), were very much a part of Jewish superstition and of Hellenistic origin. They can be explained as mental seizures similar to epilepsy, and do not come from any external evil source.
We shall now tum our attention to fellowship, the other part of our general subject - The Apostles doctrine and fellowship.
See appendix
19. FELLOWSHIP
A Summary of apostolic teaching
Listed below is a summary of the main apostolic beliefs as presented in this booklet. Some of them branch off into other important and interesting teachings, but sadly, lack of space forbids pursuing them.
1 The future Kingdom of God on earth.
2 The visible and literal Return of Christ.
3 The significance of the Abrahamic promises.
4 The unconsciousness of the dead.
5 The resurrection of the dead.
6 The Judgement Seat of Christ.
7 The judgement of living nations by Christ.
8 The reign of the immortal saints on earth.
9 The unity of the Godhead.
10 The sacrifice and high priesthood of Christ.
11 The belief in inner temptation.
12 The necessity of adult Baptism for salvation.
13 The importance ofunity ofbeliefin fellowship.
