Question: What are the sins “not unto death,” and “unto death”? (1 John 5:16, 17). Is it physical or eternal death here? M. C.
Answer: It is chastisement that is spoken of here. It may be to physical death, as in Annanias and Sapphira (Acts 5, or as in 1 Cor. 11:30), or in a course of sin. It does not seem to be any particular sin. The Lord gives space for repentance. If unheeded, He may see fit to remove His child in that way; sad indeed! (1 Tim. 1:19, 20). All unrighteousness is sin, and we are to live in the power of our new life in Christ. In nearness of spirit to the Lord, we will be led to pray for what is for His glory. Chastening is for the children of God (Heb. 12:5.11).
Question: What does 1 Peter 4:6 mean? J. J.
Answer: This epistle is addressed to the converted Jews to teach them their privileges in living and suffering for Christ and for righteousness’ sake, in contrast with what they were under the Messiah. They are elect children now. Sanctified by the Holy Ghost to the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Also born again (1:23). They are to walk after His pattern in His steps (2:21-23). He suffered once for sins, they could not do that, He did good and suffered for it, so could they (3:17, 18).
Chapter 4:1 applies Christ’s death to their lives practically. They are to arm themselves with that truth, so to allow the flesh no longer, so that they no longer should live the rest of their time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. This is a simple test to apply to our actions. Are we living to please ourselves, or is it the will of God we are seeking to do?
Verses 3, 4 tell how the Gentiles lived, and that they wondered why the Christians did not do the same, speaking evil of them, but they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the quick (living) and the dead.
Verse 6 tells us that it was while they were living that they heard the gospel, and that declares their place when dead. When living, it taught believers to judge the flesh, and to live according to God in the Spirit, otherwise they must be judged according to men in the flesh in a lost eternity. It was the same way in chapter 3:19, 20, with those who were living in Noah’s day; they heard the gospel by the Spirit in him, but they refused it, and because of their refusal they are now in prison, awaiting the judgment of the great white throne (2 Peter 2:9).
Question: Does “the same” in Hebrews 2:14 mean that the Lord took part with us in the same flesh and blood as we have? V.
Answer: No. Sin has made us mortal as to our bodies. God said to Adam in the garden of Eden about the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Adam and his wife ate of it, and death entered their veins at once, and all their children were born sinners with mortal bodies (Rom. 5:12). The Lord Jesus, on the contrary, was the seed of the woman. God said to Mary by the angel Gabriel, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. It is written (2 Cor. 5:21), “He knew no sin,” and again (1 John 3:5), “In Him is no sin.” Here therefore we have a perfect holy Man, different from every one else, in whom was no sin, no mortality. One who became a man that He might die as a sacrifice for sin not His own. He said, “No man taketh it (his life) from Me, I lay it down Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:17, 18).
On the cross He said, “It is finished.” John 19:30. That was His sacrificial work, then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. This was not the death of one such as we are, who dies because he cannot keep alive; it was the death of One who tasted death by the grace of God (Heb. 2:9). And it was “to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2:14, 15. In death He annulled the power of Satan. He died for our sins, tasted death for every man. He could not have been a sacrifice for sin, if death had already a claim upon Him. About us, as to our souls, we had to be born again, born from above (John 3); and as to our mortal bodies, they are to be changed, and thus put on immortality. We are already, in our souls, partakers in God’s new creation.
It is worth noticing in Leviticus 2 where the meat offering is typical of the person of the Lord, that in it there was no leaven (the evil of nature); nor honey (the sweetness of nature), and where these are, the offering could not be burned on the altar.
Verses 11, 12. Compare chapter 23:15 to 19, where the church is typified at Pentecost; this is the oblation of first fruits referred to in 2:12.
All this speaks very decidedly of the difference of His human nature and ours. He was real man and is so still, but ever the perfect One. The Lamb without blemish as to His person, and without spot as to His walk. And we may well sing:
Though angels praise the heavenly King,
And Him their Lord adoring own,
We can with exultation sing,
“He wears our nature on the throne.”
Question: What is meant by “My gospel?” (Rom. 2:16; 16:25; and 2 Tim. 2:8). What did Paul teach different from Peter and the other apostles? T. E.
Answer: We might look at what John Baptist, and Jesus and His disciples preached:
John called Israel to repentance, confessing their sins, and waiting for the kingdom of the Messiah (Matt. 3:2).
Jesus and His disciples also preached, “the kingdom is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). In keeping with this, was the prayer He taught His disciples. It was all in view of the kingdom on earth.
When Jesus died and rose again and went to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit down to dwell in His saints on earth. Then salvation was known (Mark 16:15, 16; Acts 2:33). The Holy Ghost was given. Jesus was made Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Israel was called to believe on the Lord—they were called to repent and be baptized in His name for the remission of sins, and to receive the Holy Ghost. This was very blessed, they were baptized into one body by the coming of the Comforter (1 Cor. 12:13), but they did not know till Paul taught them the truth of the one body. In Acts 3, Peter calls them to repent of crucifying their Messiah, and said He would come back if they would repent. Those who were saved then, were waiting for the Messiah. The Jews did not repent, but murdered Stephen, sending him after his Master, thus saying, “We will not have this Man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). We hear nothing yet of the hope of heaven in all this.
When Saul of Tarsus as converted, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, and straightway preached Christ in the synagogues that He is the Son of God (Acts 9:20). The Lord said to Saul (Acts 26:16), “I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of those things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee.” Paul’s teaching and preaching is therefore from Christ in glory. We may look at some of it as seen in his Epistles:
In Romans we are seen standing where no condemnation can attach to us (8:1). Christ is our righteousness (also in 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21). In Romans 6:6 our old man is crucified with Him, we are no longer alive in the flesh. We have eternal life in Him (6:23). The Holy Spirit dwells in us, so we have the Spirit of Christ. Christ in us (8:9, 10). We say “Abba Father” (verse 15). In Colossians, our hope is laid up in heaven (1:5). Christ is in us, the hope of glory (verse 27). We are dead, buried, and risen with Christ (2:11, 12; 3:1).
In Ephesians, we are blest with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (1:3). The Church is His body now (4:4), and in glory forever (1:23; 3:21). In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 18 He is coming for us Himself. It was given to Paul alone to communicate these truths (Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:2-10). In Philippians our citizenship is in heaven (3:20, 21).
Paul’s gospel cuts us loose entirely from the world.
In 1 Peter 1:4 he writes of the inheritance as “incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” Peter had now risen up to see the heavenly blessing. (See also 5:10).