Ques. What does "strive lawfully" mean? 2 Tim. 2:5? R. I.
Ans. Timothy is exhorted in this Epistle where so much failure and unfaithfulness had come in to "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." In order to carry out this exhortation, he was to endure hardness, or take his share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ; also not to entangle himself with the affairs of this life, that he might please the One Who had chosen him to be a soldier.
Next, he is to be like a man striving in the games; to strive according to the rules of the game, or he will lose the prize. That is obedience.
Next, he is to be like a husbandman going through all the toil and endurance before he gets any crops. That is toiling perseveringly in hope of the reward.
So we get in the soldier singleness of eye and purpose of heart to please the Lord. In the athlete, we have strict obedience to the Word of God; and in the husbandman, toiling and waiting for the promised reward.
Ques. Please explain 1 Cor. 15:50. Does this mean that flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God? Does verse 37 mean that we shall have a different body? W. C.
Ans. 1 Cor. 15th chapter is about the resurrection of the saints. It is true that they will all be raised; the same bodies will be glorified bodies. The dead will put on incorruptibility. Those who will be living when the Lord comes for His saints will put on immortality, and will be perfectly suited to the new conditions, glorified like Christ's body of glory (Phil. 3:1). Jesus said, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:39, 40).
1 Cor. 15:35 to 38 would tell us the foolishness of speculation. Wait and see.
Ques. What does James 2:14-20 mean? J. H. K.
Ans. The apostle tells us "faith without works is dead." If it were a living faith, that is, if one is truly born of God, that life produces works, as in Abraham and Rahab (compare Eph. 2:8, 10). A sinner only produces "dead works" (Heb. 9:14). A believer produces good works. Paul stops the sinner from working (Rom. 4:5 and 3:26, 28). James starts the believer to bring forth good works, proving the reality of his faith.
Ques. Is the woman in Luke 15:8 a type of the church? P. T.
Ans. Luke 15 is the parable of the love of God to the repentant sinner. God in His three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Shepherd pictures the work of Christ, leaving His home to search and find His lost sheep, and we think of His atoning work on the cross as God's righteous foundation on which He can receive the guilty sinner, so the Shepherd is first in this parable.
Then the woman seeks the piece of silver, the valuable but dead sinner, pictured as dead, as the sheep was pictured as living, in sins. So here the woman, out of sight, in the house with the lamp and broom, seeks her lost piece of silver, the dead sinner. This is the Holy Spirit's picture, shining the light and brushing away the dust that has hid the valued one out of sight.
Then the Father receives the returning sinner, and this is the fruit of the Spirit shining on him, and making him feel his wretched and filthy condition, and then reminds him of the plenty of the Father's house, while he is starving. The Father covered him with kisses, this is full forgiveness of all his sins, that answers to full cleansing, so that on the ground of the work of Christ he, the sinner, is seen, cleansed, forgiven, clothed and seated at the table, feasting on God's delight in His Son. These three go together.
Our salvation springs from the heart of God. It is the Father's will that sent the Son. It is the Son's work that glorified God, so that in the righteousness of God the sinner is saved. And the Holy Spirit is the power and witness in our souls. These three are ever seen together, both in creation and in redemption.
Ques. By F. A. B.
Ans. (a). 1 John 5:16 is in connection with God's discipline on His children. (For fuller explanation see "Young Christian," September number, 1927, page 248; also November number, 1927, pages 305, 306).
(b). In Mark 3:30; Matt. 9:34, we have the sin of blasphemers against the Holy Ghost. These were wicked men. This is not at all the same as in 1 John 5:16,
(c). Matt. 10:22 and 24:13, apply primarily to believers in the tribulation period, but it is true of believers now, for having eternal life, they have eternal security, though for this life they may make shipwreck. (See 1 Tim. 1:15). For fuller explanation see November number, pages 306, 307.
(d). Every true believer is eternally saved (John 3:15, 16; 5:24; 10:28-30; Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:8, 9; Phil. 1:6; Heb. 10:14; 1 Peter 5:10, etc., etc.)
(e). 1 Tim. 4:12-16 is instruction to Timothy as to how to obey the Word; and in so doing, save himself and those that hear him from being led astray by false doctrine.
(f). Heb. 3:6, 14, and the whole Epistle, addresses all profession, and shows that the true believer continues to hold fast their confidence and full assurance of hope firm unto the end. Heb. 6:4-11 shows those who apostatize, and those who continue.
(g). James 1:12; 5:19, 20, exhort us to seek those who have gone astray. He writes to both saved and unsaved (1:1; 2:1; 5:1-6).
(h). Rev. 2:20 encourages the martyrs to be faithful unto death, to receive the crown of life.
(i). One truly born of God is always a child of God (John 1:12, 13; 1 John 3:1, 2, 3).
(j). One sealed with the Holy Spirit never loses that gift (John 14; 16; 17).
(k). Christ is our object to live or die for (Phil. 1:21); He is our pattern (2:5); our goal (3:13, 14); our resource at all times (4:13).
(l). Christ the Lord calls all believers His brethren. His God is their God. His Father is their Father (John 20:17).
(m). What He calls us is true forever. What He says abides forever. God has magnified His Word above all His name (Psa. 138:2. Read Psa. 119). Jesus defeated Satan with it (Matt. 3:2, 2 Tim. 3:16, 17). The Word of God is the only true guidance. The Holy Spirit wrote by different penmen, yet it is all God breathed, out of His mouth.
(n). "Let your women keep silence in the assemblies" is the Word of God. (1 Cor. 14:34, 37). They could not therefore pray or prophesy in the assembly. What they received from God they must have communicated privately, like Mary in John 20:18 when she told the brethren what the Lord had spoken to her.
(o). Musical instruments are not mentioned in Christianity. Christian worship is by the Spirit of God (Phi]. 3:3; see revised and New Trans. John 4:24).
(p). There is no name in Scripture but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for saints to gather to, and if it is only two or three, He says, "There am I in the midst of them." What a blessing that is, and we can go on with it till we see His blessed face in glory.
(q). All ministry, if it is real, comes from Christ in glory. We can thank the Lord for every one whom He sends to minister to us. No man has any authority to appoint ministers (Eph. 4:11-13).
“Let God be true, but every man a liar" who would dare to take from, or add to, the Word of God.