Questions for the Christian Faith, part 1.

Who are we as Christians?

When we refer to ourselves as Christians, we mean that we are believers in Jesus Christ. Does that mean we’re better than everyone else? No. The Bible tells us that we were weak, but Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6). We were sinners when Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). We were God’s enemies when He reconciled us through the death of His Son (Rom. 5:10). Let’s look at what each of these statements mean. First, we were weak. We could not save ourselves. Second, we were ungodly. This is a tough word in Greek. It referred to those who dishonored a god, in our case, we dishonored the one true God. We did this by refusing to acknowledge God or to do anything God asked of us. In the New Testament, it refers to those who replace God with other gods or even with themselves. Third, we were sinners. Sin is an action that refuses to recognize that God has or can place any restrictions or requirements on us. Sin can be expressed as telling God, “You’re not the boss of me!” So, sinners are rebels against God. Finally, “we were enemies” describes us as hostile toward God. All this means that Christ did not die for us because we were worthy or He saw something redeemable in us. He died for us as helpless, God-rejecting, hostile rebels. Yeah, we weren’t better than anyone else, and this is true of the whole human race. 

How did we become Christians?

So how does God save such people? On our part, He saves those who believe in Him. What does it mean to be a “believer” in Jesus Christ? Just a few verses earlier, we find that it means we don’t work to be right with God (Rom. 4:5). It means we believe in a God who declares righteous “ungodly” people-that’s us (Rom. 4:5). It means we believe God will declare us righteous if we believe in Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:5; Acts 13:38-39). Notice that He declares righteous those who believe. Those who believe are or were ungodly. We have to recognize our lack of worth and that we were these God-rejecting people. This frames our attitude when we believe.

What do we believe about Jesus Christ We believe He is Lord of All (Acts 10:36). We believe He was sent by God (Acts 10:36). We believe that He died on the cross for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3). We believe that He was buried. We believe He rose again on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4). The Bible calls this the gospel or good news. If you recognize yourself as a sinner and hear that someone died for those sins and rose back to life so you can be forgiven and righteous before God, that is good news. This is what we believe.

Are Christians the first to think we are righteous and forgiven by faith apart from works? NO. Many before us believed and were righteous with God. Abraham lived nearly four thousand years ago and was righteous by believing God’s promise to him (Gen. 15:6). David was a king over Israel about three thousand years ago and he believed that God would forgive him not count his perverse activity against him (Ps. 32:1-2). Isaiah was a prophet who lived about twenty-seven hundred years ago, and he prophesied that by “knowledge of Him (Christ), My Servant (Christ) will justify many” (Isa. 53:11). So, God has always counted people righteous by faith. He has always forgiven them based on their faith in Him and because of what Jesus did, even before Jesus died. God planned that Jesus would die for sins, so He could look ahead to Jesus death just as we look back at what He did.

What truths do all Christians believe?

As Christians, we hold teachings that are revealed in the Bible. These teachings define us as well as all true Christians. We believe in one God (Dt. 6:4; 1 Thess. 1:9). We believe that the one God is three persons (Mt. 28:19-20). We believe Jesus Christ (the Son) is God (Jh. 1:1). We believe Jesus Christ (the Son) became man (Jh. 1:14). We believe the Bible is God’s Word and it alone tells us what God has done, is doing, and how He wants us to live (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We believe Jesus Christ is returning for us one day (Jh. 14:2-3). We believe Jesus Christ will judge the world one day (Acts 17:31). There are many other things we may hold that are also true, but these truths have been held by believers through the two thousand years that the Church has existed.

There is a difference between those who believe and those who do not believe in God/Jesus. Jesus judges those who do not believe (Jh. 5:27-29). Jesus does not judge those who have believed in Him (Jh. 5:24). Jesus bore our judgment. Because He bore judgment, we are free of judgment. He will judge our works to see what works are worthy of praise (1 Cor. 3:12-15). Note, the translation “suffer loss” in verse fifteen, simply means he loses something, specifically works he did that were worthless, the text has no word “suffer” in it. God will then praise each believer but He will not judge us (1 Cor. 4:5).

Do Christians agree on everything?

We may also hold some Biblical teachings that all true believers may not agree upon. Every church or church group holds to more than the above truths. This is true of the church where I gather. Here are some truths our church holds, though some Christians may disagree on these. We believe that once we have believed the good news and God has declared us righteous, He guarantees we are always secure in His love and cannot lose this salvation (Rom. 8:38-39). We believe that the Bible and not the Church, a church, or tradition determines God’s truth. We believe that God has planned for us to live by His grace (Rom. 6:14). We believe that the Church is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ, even believers who do not regularly attend a local church (Eph. 1:22-23). We believe that we can live the Christian life by the work of the Spirit (He is also God) (Eph. 5:18ff). We believe Christ will return for his Church and gather us to Himself and take us to be where He is (Jh. 14:3). These are some of the truths we hold, though not all true believers do. We think these truths are important and affect the way we think about God, His plan, and ourselves.

The effects of Christ’s suffering and death for the believer

Christ’s sufferings and death are a past event. When He rose from the dead, they ended. We know that the effects of His death carry forward to today just as they carried back to the sins God had “passed over” prior to Christ’s death (Rom. 3:25). His suffering and death also affect Him now.

“He is a merciful and faithful high priest in things facing God, to propitiation regarding the sins of the people. For in which He suffered, He is able to respond to the cry of help for those being tempted” (Heb. 2:17-18). He experienced the things we experience. God cannot be tempted with evil (Jas. 1:13). So the Son became man to experience our struggle. In this way, He has mercy towards us in our struggles, our pain, and our temptations. Mercy is His pity on suffering as a result of sin, whether our immediate sin, the sin of Adam that affects us all, or another’s sin against us. The verb “propitiate” is in the Greek present tense indicating that He continues to be the satisfaction for our sins (cp 1 Jh. 2:1-2). The words “He has suffered” are in the Greek perfect tense indicating a past act with continuing results or a result. The participle “being tempted” describes the specific area of suffering. When believers are tempted, and Jesus was also tempted, the past suffering is real to Him and He does not stand aloof from our struggle. We see a version of this in people relating to and helping others who are going through something that they at one time experienced. We all can help others even when we haven’t gone through their experience, but there is a unique perspective among those with a shared experience. So, Jesus’ past experiences have an effect on Him in His human nature, glorified human nature, but still human. 

Jesus’ prayers for us

Before Jesus left the upper room, He spoke to the Father about His disciples. “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;” (Jh. 17:9). He did not ask for the Father to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one (17:15). He sent them into the world recognizing how hard it would be and warning them of what was to come for them. He did not ask the Father to keep them from hardships or pain. He had faced both, and in human nature, He learned obedience and matured through suffering (Heb. 5:7-9). As our high priest, does He then ask for us to escape suffering and hardship? He didn’t Himself. His intercession for us is not escape but strength (spiritual/mental) to go through that suffering.

As an aside, these facts need to be taught in our churches. Too many churches present Christ and salvation as believe in Him, come join, and have the best life ever. We try to sell people on Christianity being fun, fun, fun. Christianity is fulfilling with the right mindset. Peter and John could leave the Jewish council after being beaten and go away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. I can’t imagine the early church ever misrepresented the gospel or taught new believers about the best life ever in terms of fun and material prosperity.

Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane by Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto, c. 1543

Jesus’ prayers in Gethsemane

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed to the Father about His coming sufferings. His hour was that stretch of time during which He the Creator submitted to Himself to the creation, even allowing them to mistreat Him, mock Him, and put Him on a cross. He also prayed to the Father about the CUP. “My Father, IF it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You desire.” (Mt. 26:39). The “if” with the verb “is” in this statement form a FIRST CLASS CONDITION, a statement that assumes the first part of the condition to be true. Rephrased, Jesus’ request reads, “Since it is possible…” The Old Testament anticipated redemption through suffering. John the Baptist and Jesus spoke of Jesus providing a redemption and bearing sin. So, was Jesus saying that God’s purpose could be accomplished without Jesus dying? Hebrews 5:7 corrects the common misconception that Jesus was asking to avoid death, “Who, in the days of His flesh having offered, with strong cries and tears both supplications and pleadings to the one being able to save Him out of death and being heard, because of His God-honoring actions.” Note, that the writer says Jesus asked to be saved “out of death” not “from death.” Jesus knew He was going to die. He had prophesied His death. But in His human nature, He did not know how long that death would be. “WAIT,” you say, “He said He would rise in three days.” Indeed. We think only of His physical death, but from noon until three, Jesus experienced spiritual death, separation from the Father and the Spirit. This is the death about which He asked. He did not know how long that death would last. Hebrews 5:7 states that He was heard, meaning the Father did end that spiritual death before His physical death. Yet not knowing the extent of that death, Jesus willingly faced that death. In this same way, He intercedes for us. He sympathizes with our weakness and we can receive mercy and find grace for our cry for help that is well-timed (Heb. 4:14-16). 

Jesus’ example for suffering

On the cross, Jesus responded to others in silence. He left us an example of how we can suffer (1 Pet. 2:21-23). Human nature responds to others in kind. If they treat us well, we treat them well. If they insult us, we tend to insult in return. Jesus spoke no threats. We are reminded of His words, as the soldiers nailed Him to the cross, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” (Lk. 23:34). Many modern Christians need to learn this lesson as we have become quite vitriolic in our reaction to the world, a very non-Christian, non-Biblical response. Christ entrusted Himself to God, who judges righteously. The centurion, the Roman soldier who was likely in charge of the others at the crucifixion, when he observed all these things and how Jesus breathed His last, he glorified God and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son.” (Mt. 27:54; Mk. 15:39; Lk. 23:47). An unbelieving Romans soldier saw a difference in Jesus Christ and it impacted Him. We’d like to believe that he became a believer.

Jesus’ suffering for our freedom

Christ’s suffering is also a call for us to experience freedom from sin’s dominion. Christ suffered in flesh, and we should equip ourselves with the same intent, to cease from sin (1 Pet. 4:1). Christ was sinless, the unblemished and spotless lamb of God (1:19). He did not have to cease sinning because He never sinned. Yet His death dealt not only with our guilt under sin but of sin’s dominion. We are no longer enslaved to sin. Peter is referring specifically to our sin nature, also designated as the flesh. This can be seen in some of the areas of sin Peter refers to in 4:3, acts which are also mentioned among the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21). Suffering can sometimes result in our excusing sin because we think we already have it so bad. Referencing Christ’s suffering, Peter points out the fallacy of such thinking. As Paul said, we were put into Christ’s death and should count ourselves to be dead ones to that sin nature, but living ones to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:3-4, 11). Christ’s suffering and death mean our freedom today.

Many believers have experienced this comfort through the centuries, not by Christ granting us escape from our pain, temptation, and hardships, but by asking the Father for our growth through hardship (Heb. 7:25). 

Did Jesus descend into Hell?

The Apostles’ Creed includes the lines about Jesus “was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell.” This old form of the creed dates to about AD 340. The Old Roman form on these lines reads, “Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried, on the third day rose again from the dead.” Whatever the original form, why did people make such a claim, a claim which is repeated weekly in numerous churches? 

Hell, Hades, and Gehenna

In the 1995 edition of the New American Standard Bible, the translation “hell” occurs thirteen times. All but one translate the word gehenna.¹ Gehenna gets its name from the valley of Hinnon (Hinnom) to the south of Jerusalem.² It was a garbage dump that always burned and smoldered and was used for disposing of bodies. In Old Testament times it was a location at which people worshipped the Ammonite deity Molech by burning people even sometimes (often times) children (Lev. 20:2; 2 Ki. 23:10; Jer. 7:31; 32:35). The Jews had taken to using this name for the place of eternal punishment for the damned. Daniel prophesied of a time in which some would be raised to eternal life and others would be raised at another time to eternal ruination (Dan. 12:2). Very early in Israel’s history, it is clear they understood that a fire burned beneath the mountains in a place they called the lowest Sheol (Dt. 32:22). So David recognized God’s lovingkindness in delivering him from the depths or lowest Sheol (Ps. 86:13). As Isaiah announced God’s judgment on Israel, he prophesies, “The strong man will become tinder, His work also a spark. Thus they shall both burn together And there will be none to quench them.” (Isa. 1:31). In connection with the new heavens and new earth, we also find, “Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have rebelled against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.” (Isa. 66:24). The concept of a place of punishment was not a newly developed idea in the centuries just prior to Jesus’ arrival. The burning valley of Hinnon (Hinnom) with its awful history became a picture of the place of future punishment for the Jews. 

Duccio di Buoninsegna, “The Harrowing of Hell” c. 1308

Jesus taught that gehenna was the place of punishment for the wicked. In the sermon on the mount, He warned of actions that would result in one being cast into this place (Mt. 5:22, 29-30; cp 18:9)). Gehenna is where God would destroy soul and body (Mt. 10:28). In this text, “destroy” has the sense of ruining something from its God-designed purpose. He warned that religious leaders would receive the judgment of gehenna namely burning for their actions (Mt. 23:33). Jesus said that He would tell the goats who did not do His will to depart into eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt. 25:41). It wasn’t made for man but for God’s spirits who rebelled against Him As Jesus revealed to John many things that will come, He made John see the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15). The burning valley of Hinnon is an appropriate picture of a lake of fire. The lake of fire is the place for those who have rebelled against God, whose names are not written in the book of life.

Hades and Death and the Lake of Fire

Did Jesus descend to Hell, to gehenna, to the lake of fire? NO. Death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). In the Greek text, “death” has a definite article. “The death” often refers to spiritual death (cp Rom. 5:12). Spiritual death is separation from God. We come into this world separated from God. It is only through salvation that God undoes our separation, giving us eternal life (Jh. 5:24; 1 Jh 3:14). So, the lake of fire will be the place of separation from God. Hades is also thrown into the lake of fire. Hades is a Greek term that corresponds to the Hebrew term Sheol. It is the place of the dead both believing and unbelieving, of righteous and unrighteous. This is why David knew God had rescued him from the lowest Sheol or the place of punishment. Jesus tells the account of Lazarus and the rich man (Lk. 16:19-31). The rich man is in torments (note the plural) and Lazarus is resting in Abraham’s bosom (16:23). Hades/Sheol is a place for both with a great chasm fixed between the two so that those in each cannot pass back and forth (16:26). Hades is the temporary place of the dead, not the permanent.

When Peter proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus in Acts 2, He quotes David speaking not of himself but of Christ, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol.” (Acts 2:27; Ps. 16:10). Peter substitutes the Greek Hades for the Hebrew Sheol. How could Christ’s soul be abandoned to Sheol if He did not go to Sheol? A common error of Bible interpreters is to assume everyone went to heaven at death. However, prior to Christ’s resurrection, no one went to heaven. Even believers went to Sheol, specifically to the place of rest not torment, while they awaited Christ’s resurrection at which time He would move them from Sheol/Hades to the edge of the third heaven. Properly, Jesus descended into Hades at death and awaited the day of resurrection. In the same moments that His physical death took place, He was made spiritually alive (1 Pet. 3:18). In the state of physical death, He went and made a proclamation to spirits in prison, who were once disobedient in the days of Noah (1 Pet. 3:19-20). What He proclaimed, Peter does not tell us. He did not evangelize them or offer them a second chance, that is not the word used here. He may have made a proclamation of triumph over them. Peter is clear, in death, Christ went to the location where these disobedient spirits were. 

Christ’s Descent into Limbo, Albrecht Dürer 1512

Jesus’ Resurrection and Change

When Jesus met Mary, He told her not to touch Him for, “I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (Jh. 20:17). In mere moments He ascended to the Father, and upon returning, appeared to the other women who grasped His feet (Mt. 28:9). When Jesus ascended, “He lead captive a host of captives.” (Eph. 4:8). Who were these? He led those who had been in Hades to the edge of the third heaven, a new location for paradise (2 Cor. 12:2-4). For this reason, Jesus could say of His Church, “the gates of Hades will not prevail over it.” When we die, we go directly into the presence of our Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Paul anticipated Christ saving him into His heavenly kingdom at death (2 Tim. 4:18). We do not go to Hades. There is no one righteous in Hades anymore. He has led them all to heaven. No one ascended to heaven prior to Christ’s resurrection (Jh. 3:13).

So, we can say that Christ descended into Hades. Since our English Bibles use Hell for the lake of fire, we cannot say He descended into Hell. He died on a cross for our sins, His body was buried in a tomb, but He descended to Hades, and upon rising from the dead, He led the captives free. Only the spiritually dead descend to the lowest sheol/hades. Christ’s spiritual death ended at the end of His time on the cross. In His physical death, He descended to the place where the Old Testament saints waited. But now He lives. He has removed the fear of death and opened the way for all who believe (Heb. 2:9, 14-15).

1. The AV was less careful and used “hell” for three other words: hades, sheol, tartaroō ↩︎
2. William Mounce, Mounce’s Greek Dictionary, G1147 ↩︎

For whom did Christ die?

“and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 Jh. 2:2).

John’s plain statement is that Christ did not die only for our sins. He died for those of the whole world. Plain statement. Plainly understood. Leave the theology, logic, and philosophy behind and take God’s Word at face value. Did the First Century Christians have advanced training in logic and philosophy so they could reason their way through such an obscure statement, or is it a simple statement? I think it is the latter. Some have tried to limit the extent of those for whom Christ died. I’m writing this to encourage, not to enter into a debate with those who hold opposing views, though I will have a brief closing comment that addresses that view.

“and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” (2 Cor. 5:15). 

Christ’s death was for all. However, not all live. Those who do live are encouraged to live for the One who died and rose again in their place. Why do they live? We’ll come to that in a bit.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Tim. 2:5-6).

Christ’s death was not a ransom for some, but all. He mediated between God and men because He is both. God does not die for God does not change in His nature and death is the ultimate change. Man can and does die. Christ became man so He could die and be that ransom for all. 

“For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.” (1 Tim. 4:10).

Jesus is the Savior of all men. Remember, He is the satisfaction for everyone’s sins. He is especially Savior for those who believe. Why? Because to those who have believed, the Father has given the forgiveness of sins. 

“Of Him, all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 10:43).

While Christ died for the sins of all people, the forgiveness of sins is offered through faith in Him. Apart from faith in Christ, the provision of Christ’s death is not applied. We have forgiveness of sin “in Christ” (Col. 1:14). But we are only placed into Christ and there receive forgiveness if we believe in Him. 

His death was for all. No one will stand before God and be able to claim that God did nothing to save them. Rather, they rejected what God provided through Christ’s death. 

The death of Christ does not automatically save. We can say that Christ’s death does not save. This is one of the arguments used by those who do not think that Christ died for everyone. They ask, “Does the death of Christ save?” Most people respond, “Yes, of course.”  It doesn’t state this in Scripture. Rather we can say that God saves. For New Testament Christians, we can say that God saves us by applying in time what Christ provided through His death two thousand years ago. His death was the means of redeeming us, but God applies that redemption by placing us into Christ (Col. 1:14). Christ made a cleansing for sins, but the Spirit saves us by applying that cleansing in the act of regeneration (putting the Godhead into us)(Tit. 3:5). He reconciled us through His death, but He applies reconciliation to us by placing us into Christ (Col. 1:22; Eph. 2:15-16). His death provided a satisfaction (propitiation) for our sins and a demonstration of God’s love, but that satisfaction is applied by giving us life through Christ, which we receive by having the Son (1 Jh. 4:9-10; 5:11-12). His death and resurrection are the bases of our salvation, but God saves us when we believe by applying what Christ accomplished either by putting us into Christ or putting Christ into us.

Have you believed in Christ? Do you know that your sins are forgiven, or are you still in your sins? If you haven’t believed in Him, why not today? He died for your sins, He was buried, and He rose again so that we might be forgiven and have life.

How do the writers of Scripture speak of the death of Christ?

John

Christ came to save the world (Jh. 3:17).

Christ came to be a satisfaction for our sins (1 Jh. 2:1; 4:10).

Peter

Christ redeemed (paid the penalty) us by means of His blood (violent death) (1 Pet. 1:18-19).

Christ carried [ACTIVE] our sins on His body on the tree (cross)(1 Pet. 2:24).

Christ suffered in place of the unrighteous (we were not good people) (1 Pet. 3:18).

Paul

Christ gave [ACTIVE] Himself as a ransom (for our penalty) (1 Tim. 2:6).

Christ died [ACTIVE] in place of our sins (1 Cor. 15:3). We often think He died for ME, as though I were a worthy candidate, but He died for the ugliest part of us, our own sins.

The Father (He) made Christ (Him) to be sin in our place (2 Cor. 5:21).

Christ is God’s means of redemption and satisfaction for our sins (Rom. 3:24-25).

Christ died in place of ungodly people (Rom. 5:6). Ungodly means to dishonor God.

Christ died in our place when we were sinners (not good people) (Rom. 5:8). 

Christ gave Himself that He might redeem us from all lawlessness (Tit. 2:14). Lawlessness is a refusal to acknowledge that God can require anything of us. “You’re not the boss of me!!”

Writer of Hebrews (Paul)

Christ (the Son) made a cleansing for sins (Heb. 1:3).

Christ experienced death for every man (Heb. 2:9).

He satisfied the Father for our sins (Heb. 2:17).

He pleaded with God to save Him out of death (spiritual) (Heb. 5:7). He didn’t ask to be saved from dying (Jh. 12:27).

He did not offer Himself for His own sins (He had none) (Heb. 7:27).

He offered Himself once for all (Heb. 7:27). We need no repeated sacrifice or offering for sin.

He offered a sacrifice once to carry away sins (Heb. 9:28).

He offered His body once for all to sanctify us (Heb. 10:10).

He offered one sacrifice in place of sins forever (Heb. 10:12).

He suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people (Heb. 13:12).

Thinking about His death

Is this how you understand Christ’s death? You may not know all these things, but you must believe that He died to deal with our sin, rebellion, God-dishonoring ways, and unrighteousness. Open your Bible and read through these texts. Think about and thank God for the sacrifice of His Son.

Death or deaths?

Death as a penalty

When God placed Adam in the garden, He provided him every good tree for food, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17). He warned him that on the day he eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would surely die. The words “surely die” translate a Hebrew construction that combines two forms of the same verb: a Qal infinitive and a Qal imperfect. We might render it word-for-word “to die you will precede to die.” The Hebrew uses this form to emphasize intensity. We may say “I am really running.” In Hebrew is would be word-for-word, “To run I am running.” Therefore, “you will surely die” represents the emphasis. However, Adam’s death involves more than just physically dying and returning to the dust. Adam died spiritually. Adam was cut off from God.

Christ on the Cross Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1631

Ephesians 4:17-18 describes spiritual death. It is a mind that cannot draw the right conclusions about God. It is thinking that is darkened. It is alienation from God’s life. It is ignorance. It is a hard or stubborn heart. This state of spiritual death entered as a result of the sin nature (Rom. 5:12). Both the words sin and death have a definite article in Greek and refer to what we might call the sin nature and the spiritual death. “By the trespass of the one the many died,” (Rom. 5:15). Adam’s choice to eat the fruit bent his nature and that fallen dead nature has been passed to all humanity.

Christ’s Dual Death

What Christ did on the cross had to deal with both aspects of death. While Jesus was still physically alive upon the cross, He died spiritually in the realm of His human experience. Paul states that Christ died to sin once for all, but lives to God (Rom. 6:10). When did Christ die to sin? He had no sin but was blameless (1 Pet. 1:19). While He was on the cross, He was bearing our sins in His body (1 Pet. 2:23). That’s His spiritual death. Just as our spiritual death means we are alienated from God, so on the cross, in His human experience He was alienated and cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” (Mt. 27:46). In the brief moments before He released His spirit, He uttered, “It is finished” referring to His spiritual death and then, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Lk. 23:46). His spiritual death was finished.

When Jesus released His spirit, He died physically. Peter describes the conjunction of these two deaths simply, “having been put to death in flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” (1 Pet. 3:18). Jesus had to die physically because physical death was part of the “You will surely die” curse. God said, “Till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19). Scripture emphasizes Christ’s spiritual death with the word “blood.” His blood or physical death is the instrument of God satisfying Himself regarding our sins (Rom. 3:25). His blood or physical death is the channel for our redemption (Eph. 1:7). His blood is the means by which we are justified (Rom. 5:9). His blood is the means by which we are brought near (Eph. 2:13). His blood is the channel through which which we are reconciled and made at peace with God (Col. 1:20). His physical death addressed many aspects of our separation from God. 

The penalty for sin is death. Our death is both separation from the body and more importantly separation from God. Jesus died both spiritually and physically. Both were necessary to address our fallen state. We can have forgiveness of our sins as well as life because our Savior died in place of our sins.

Who is the chosen lady? A study in 2 John

John wrote His second letter to “the chosen lady and her children.” (2 Jh. 1). Who is the lady? Who are her children? Why did John write to a lady and not to a church? Many Bible students have attempted to discern whether John was writing to a real woman or using “lady” figuratively of a local church. Good Bible students have taken distinct positions on this question. Some think her name is Kyria or Eklekta which are the Greek words behind “lady” and “chosen” respectively. If the lady is a church, then what do we make of her children? Are they the youth in the church, converts, or other churches that she has helped to start? If this is a real woman, are these her biological children, some she has won to the Lord, or even some for whom she is providing spiritual care and direction?

I’ve come to the conclusion that John is writing to a literal woman. I think her children may include her biological children but also some that have believed through her word and for whom she is caring. I’m not going to look at the other interpretations, for those I would consult commentaries on John’s epistles.

Grammatical reasons

The first and significant (in my opinion) reason that I think this is a literal woman involves the use of singular and plural pronouns and verbal endings in this letter. Just as we have she and her compared to they and them, so Greek distinguishes between a singular “you” and a plural “you.” Grammatically, we refer to these as second person (you) singular and second person (you) plural. [fn first person is I/me or we/us] and third person is he/him, she/her, it and them] The singular “you” in Greek occurs in four case forms: nominative (subject) συ, genitive/ablative (relation/separation) σου, locative/instrumental/dative (location, means, indirect object) σοι, accusative (object) σε. John uses three of these forms for this lady. He speaks of “your (σου) children” in 4 and “your (σου) sister” in 13. John writes, “I ask you (σε)” in 5 and “greet you (σε)” in 13. Finally, John speaks of “writing to you (σοι)” in 5. Again, note that all five references are singular “you”.

 John also addresses the group, the lady and her children, with the plural form of “you” (υμεις). In 10, John warns that if anyone comes “to you” (υμας) and says in 12 that he has many things “to write to you” (υμιν) and hopes to come “to you” (υμας). He uses the plural reciprocal pronoun εαυτους “yourselves” in verse 8. John is concerned for the whole group of believers.

One time, John uses the feminine singular pronoun “her” (αυτης) for “her children” in verse one. Every verb speaking of John’s readers has a plural ending (-ετε, ητε). “You should walk” (v. 6), “Watch yourselves” (v. 8), “you do not lose” (v. 8), “you received” (v. 8), “you do not receive” (v. 10), “you do not say” (v. 10). The second person plural verbal endings remind us that John writes to the whole group. So these pronouns and verbal endings argue for a real woman and her children though the identity of the children is not clear.

Reasons from John’s writings

John wrote five books. Revelation involves dictation directly from our Lord to John and then John’s record of a series of events he was made to see. The seven letters are addressed first to the messenger (angel) of each church, the church through the messenger, and then anyone who has ears to hear with understanding. Among those letters is one to the church at Thyatira. In it, Jesus addresses the messenger about permitting a woman by the name of Jezebel to lead His servants astray. Whether or not her name was genuine or figurative of her actions, it seems she was a real person in that church. John’s gospel gives no hint as to his intended readers other than that they were likely believers expected to read about Jesus demonstrating grace and truth in His words and works. John wrote 1 John to a church or churches. He specifically addresses the people as born ones (children), beloved, and various other words that describe their spiritual maturity. 1 John seems generic but it is also clear that John knows these readers and wants fellowship with them. John wrote 3 John to a man by the name of Gaius. He addresses specific issues in the church of which Gaius was a part in hopes that Gaius can help the believers. 2 John is addressed to a lady and her children. Nothing in the rest of John’s writings makes us think that John is speaking figuratively of a church.

Reasons from Context

In his closing, John passes on a greeting from the children of her sister. If an interpreter understands the lady as a church, they often refer to “your sister” as another church. But the greeting is from her sister’s children. If sister refers to another church, why not stay that her sister sends greetings? The greeting is from the children of her sister, but John does not include the sister. This suggests two real women. Her sister was not with John for reasons we do not know, but her children were.

John does not name the woman. She is just the chosen lady. But she is someone John knows well. Several times John mentions “we” including himself with the woman and her children. When he tells them to watch so they do not lose what we worked for, it appears John and they worked together. It may be that John and this lady had worked together in Christian service, or that he worked with the whole group. He also states that he hopes to speak with them face to face, indicating the possibility of John traveling to where she lived and serving with these other believers.

Her children

Assuming John addresses a woman, it is helpful to know who John refers to as her children. It may be natural to refer to her biological children. I think they are included among her children. I am of the opinion that her children include a group of believers under her care. Paul referred to Timothy, Titus, the Corinthians, and Onesimus as his children, and John refers to his readers in 1 John 2:1 as “my little children.” These are not biological children but spiritual children. They are believers that Paul and John spoke the gospel to, they believed, and then Paul and John taught them and helped them along in their Christian lives. Can this be true for the chosen lady? Certainly. God uses women to both evangelize and teach believers. So, God has used her in the life of these spiritual children.

John’s purpose in writing her

The problem of antichrists that John addresses in 1 John is coming to the group in 2 John. These errant teachers do not agree that Jesus Christ is coming in flesh (2 Jh. 7). This one is a deceiver or one who leads astray from God’s truth. This one is an antichrist because they oppose the Bible’s teaching about Christ’s identity. Christ means anointed one. In the Old Testament and gospels it referred to God’s anointed King for Israel. The Spirit had Peter change the emphasis of Christ in Acts 2:36 to emphasize His resurrected and exalted status after to His death. John also wrote that the antichrists deny the Father and the Son (1 Jh. 2:22). They do this by denying that the Son is truly God. This agrees with John’s words in 2 John 9. 

John wrote to this woman because as she guides these believers, she needs to watch for these deceivers. Because the deceivers disagree regarding Jesus Christ’s identity, neither the woman nor her children will change what they believe about Christ. However, the antichrists’ teaching does not stand apart from other ideas and lifestyles. Their influence, if they are allowed in the church, will negatively affect the conduct of believers. They may lose what they have worked for. They may not receive a full reward because they compromise with the false teachers. They don’t endorse what they teach but they also do not oppose them. John warns them not to welcome such people into their home and not to even give them a greeting of joy (2 Jh. 10). If they do, they will share in those deceivers’ evil works. That seems strong language but such compromise has plagued our churches since the first century. As a leader of these people, as their spiritual mother, she bears some responsibility for helping these children see not only the errors but the consequences.

The chosen lady and her children are real people. They were personally known to John. She had a role of evangelizing and teaching these believers. Now they face the challenge of coming deceivers. They needed warning of what was to come and John would hopefully come and speak personally to further help them. This woman has responsibility. She appears to have more responsibility than we traditionally give women, but that is also a problem with which churches struggle and for which we pay the price. 

The Word Became Flesh Day 7

The Grace and The Truth Came to be 

For most who call ourselves Christians, we know that we do not have to worry about eating unclean meats, calling a priest to examine mildew in our home, becoming religiously unclean if we touch a dead body, becoming religiously unclean if as a husband and wife, we have sex, or a woman being unclean after giving birth. These were all parts of the Law of Moses, along with many more commands. Most Christians do not worry about a sabbath day, or sabbath year, or a religious feast. Why are these not a concern to most Christians? Because most Christians know that at least to some degree we are not under the Law. We know that Christ ended the Law. (fn I grant that some insist that we are under the Law with changes due to Christ’s death, and some hold that the Law has been modified for our New Testament context, but that it is still God’s rule for us.)

When the Word became flesh, He demonstrated God’s reputation by making visible grace and truth in the way that He interacted with others. That is not the end of the issue. He also brought a new way of life for believers, a way of life John identifies as the grace and the truth (Jh. 1:17). Jesus did not institute that way of life during His earthly ministry. He established it after dying, rising, ascending to heaven, and sitting at the Father’s right hand. His seated position in heaven and His work of dying and rising all form the basis of our way of life by grace. We cannot live by grace apart from knowing something about who we are in Christ.

In this text, the difference between Moses and Christ involves what each provided. The Law was given through Moses. Notice, that Moses did not originate the Law, he was the means through which God gave the Law to Israel. John changed from the verb “gave” [didōmi] to the word “came to be” [ginomia], which is the same verb John used in 1:3 for Christ causing all things to come into existence. Second, Grace and truth each have a definite article in the Greek. Our English Bibles translate this article with Law but not with grace and truth. I don’t know the minds of the many translators, but I might guess that they omit the article with each of these because they do not understand what God meant. They do not see the grace and the truth as rules of life just as the Law had been a rule of life for 1,500 years for God’s people Israel. Yet, that is the point. Christ has caused the grace and the truth to come to be as a way of life. 

Grace as a way of life

Grace is now our way of life; it is our house rule. Other English Bibles translated the word that I am translating “house rule” as “dispensation” in the AV, NKJV, “stewardship” in the ESV, NASB, Mounce, “administration” in the HCSB, NIV, and “special responsibility” in the NLT. This word referred to a standard for managing a household. It involved rules for how the members of a household could receive the benefits that the owner of the household promised to them. Under the Law, God promised Israel both blessings and curses for their obedience or disobedience to the commands. So law was the standard for receiving those benefits. Today, grace is our standard of living. That means all God’s promised blessings are by grace and we do and cannot earn them. 

How do we live by grace? God has blessed us in Christ and in Christ He has done so by His grace (Eph. 1:3, 6). We are not under law as a standard for living but under grace (Rom. 6:14). Grace provides us liberty from sin’s dominion and law did not! Grace excludes works (Rom. 11:6). This does not mean that works do not result from the benefits of grace, but works cannot provide or give us access to those benefits. God’s grace trains us to live as God desires (Tit. 2:11-13). Some things do not agree with God’s grace and so grace trains us to say, NO, to them. Other things are consistent with God’s grace and so His grace teaches us to live in that way. This is not lawless living. Some claim if we do not live by the standard of the Law’s commands, we are antinomian. Yet, we do not need the law’s standards if we live by grace. Grace leads us to live in light of God’s many blessings without fear of losing any of these blessings.

God has also planned for us to live by the Truth. Jesus promised that we can experience freedom from the sin nature by the Truth (Jh. 8:32). When we are experiencing this freedom, then God is the One working out His works through us (Jh. 3:21). If we are not experiencing that freedom, then we are the one doing the works. We do them from our own flesh and those are not God’s works but ours. As Paul wrote, that would be our righteousness by law rather than righteousness from God from faith (Php. 3:9). 

Truth as a way of life

Truth as an attribute of God is more than knowing or telling the truth. It is also answering or responding to truth appropriately. We may know we are incapable of doing anything good from our flesh, but precede to do so anyway. Most of us do this often. The Truth confronts us with our absolute inability to do what only God can do. Because the Truth is more than just a true fact but also a proper response, the Truth points us to God’s ability to do what we cannot. He can free us from the dominion of our sinful nature. He can produce praiseworthy works through us. The Truth points us to God’s gracious blessings to us and how we can live in light of those blessings. The Truth holds us back from putting our heads down and rushing foolishly headlong into religious activity that God has not planned for us and for which He will not enable us. It encourages us to always rest in who He says we are in Christ and live consistent with those blessings.

John introduces us to the Word becoming man and gives us glimpses of Jesus Christ demonstrating grace and truth as He interacts with others. Though Jesus did not verbally explain grace and truth as a way of life during His ministry, He shared foundational truths with His eleven apostles in John 13-17. Let us learn both from His example as well as His upper room teachings that God has planned for us a life by the grace and the truth.

The Word Became Flesh Day 6

We saw His glory

In history, mankind has seen God’s glory in creation, in judgment, in His personal appearances such as in the burning bush, the pillar of cloud and fire, and the captain of God’s army outside Jericho. All these revealed something about God’s nature. Yet in none of these did God make known His character in human terms. He accomplished this in the incarnation: God becoming man.

Byzantine image

John 1:14 states that the Word (God the Son) became man (flesh) and lived temporarily among us, and we saw well His glory. The time during which mankind could see this was the short earthly life of Jesus, a span of about thirty-three years. John said that He “dwelt” among us. The word “dwelt” is a word meaning to dwell in a tent. It brings to mind God’s glory in the tent or Tabernacle where Israel approached God under the Law. It also bears a sense of temporariness; it was a short time. 

Second, the Word becoming man allowed people to see Him and His glory. In our New Testament, the writers used six different words to communicate varying ideas of “seeing.” This word has the sense of observing as in a theater, or viewing with the purpose of contemplating the significance of what one sees. Abbott-Smith says of it, “careful and deliberate vision which interprets . . . its object.”¹ John wants us to know that they looked at Jesus and were thinking about what they were seeing. They were trying to make sense of what they saw.

What they saw was the Word’s glory or reputation. That glory was of one who is a special kind from alongside (para) the Father. The word translated “only begotten,” “one and only,” or “only,” can have some sense of only as in Luke 9:38 or 8:42. However, Isaac was not Abraham’s only son (Heb. 11:17), but his special son, the son of promise as contrasted to Ishmael. So Jesus is not God’s one and only Son or His only begotten Son but His unique, one-of-a-kind Son, for He is the only Son who is fully and completely God. The Old Testament called spirit beings (angels) sons of God, but they were created and not gods. God called Israel His son, but they also were not gods but a nation. We are sons of God in Christ, but we are not god but those, who like Israel, are given a special privilege in our relationship to God. Jesus alone is God’s unique Son. As the unique Son, He made visible some of God’s character in human terms.

Finally, John tells us that this glory or reputation they saw with interest and evaluation is One full of grace and truth. This is a key background statement for John. John recorded seven signs that Jesus did and several conversations or teaching events in which He fleshed out what God wanted mankind to know. He expects us to recognize grace and truth in each of these events. Grace is God’s attitude that provides to creation what they do not deserve or without regard to any merit. In John five, He healed a man who was lame for many and apparently due to his sin. That’s grace. Truth is an attribute of God by which He always answers to or lives up to what He knows. People, even Jesus’ disciples, assumed that the man born blind was blind due to his sin or his parents’ sin. Jesus knew and responded to the real reason for his blindness, that He might do a work of God. Jesus is the Truth, the One True God, the Creator, and the only One who can accomplish God’s purposes. This is what John and others saw in Jesus’ earthly life. This is what John wants us to see in his account of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Have you seen God’s grace and truth? Have you observed it in reading John’s account of our Lord’s life? Have you seen grace in truth in how God has dealt with you, through the years or day to day? If you have never believed in Jesus Christ, you could believe now and be the object of His grace and truth. His death for your sins and His resurrection have already demonstrated His grace to you and truth about your need and the only One who could meet that need- Christ. If you have believed, you continue to be the object of His grace and truth as God continues to grow each one of us.

1. G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1948). p. 203. ↩︎

The Word Became Flesh Day 5

People the world over will celebrate the birth of Christ in the days to come. They may not agree on the date or the year, but they agree that He came into the world. They may not even agree as to who He is. For some, He is only a man, for others a good man, or a prophet. But John has established His identity as the Word, the eternal God Who is in perfect fellowship with the Father. He has told us that He is the Creator of all things and is Himself uncreated. He has revealed Him as showing eternal life. This is the Word, and the Word became Flesh (Jh. 1:14). 

Adoration of the Christ Child by Gerard van Honthorst c. 1619-1621

This eternal person, this Creator of all comes to earth and becomes one of us. He takes on flesh. He is not merely God in a human costume or a human body. To be flesh is more than a reference to our physical existence. It refers to all that makes us human: a body, a human spirit, and a human soul. These overlap and comprise also our mind, our conscience, and our heart. He isn’t half God and half man. He’s completely God and completely man. He didn’t mix these two natures so that the human nature had somehow become divine or more than just human or that the divine nature became somewhat human.¹ If Christ’s incarnation introduced new elements to the divine nature, that would have also affected the Father and the Spirit who share that very same nature. They all would have become somewhat human, but the Bible never attributes the incarnation only to the Son, the Word.

When men watched Jesus they were sometimes observing the limitations of a human being and at other times His divine character. They saw a man tired and hungry from a long trip and then a man who was not exhausted at all (Jh. 4:6, 8, 31-33). He was One who knew what was in every man and yet did not know the day or hour of His return (Jh. 2:24-25; Mt. 24:36). Though His human nature could only be in one place at a time, as God, He remains present to all His creation. In many Greek manuscripts of John 3:13, the text reads, “And no one has gone up into heaven except the one coming down out of heaven, the Son of man, the One being in heaven.”² Recognizing these differences points out that as a man he experienced our weaknesses and struggles but as God remained all-powerful. If we focus mainly on His humanity, we will not understand Him, because we’ll see glimpses of His deity, and wonder, “What’s that?” If we focus mainly on His deity, we’ll have the same problem but wonder at His weaknesses. Rather, we get to see one who is God and man living among regular people.

The Word become flesh also allowed Him the work for which we know Him best: His death. His perfect life in a human nature demonstrated that He is perfect and innocent. When He goes to the cross, He does not suffer for His own sins for He had none. As the innocent One, He suffers for our sins. We are the guilty party. He could not die as God. Death is the experience of mankind, the penalty for our sin. His death was both spiritual separation from God and physical separation of the spirit and soul from the body. While on the cross, in His human nature, He cried out because He was separated from the Father and Spirit-“My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” and “I thirst.” At the end of His time on the cross, He released His spirit and died physically. Paul said, “…the Church of God which He made His possession through HIS OWN BLOOD.” (Acts 20:28b). But God has no blood. However, in the Son’s human nature, He has blood. The One who died died as a man, experienced death as a man, but never ceased being God. 

The Word became flesh. He became one of us. He lived among mankind. He showed Himself to be perfect. He demonstrated God’s life in human terms. He died as a man and rose as a man. All this is to save us and restore us to fellowship with God. 

1. The divine nature is single. The Father, Son, and Spirit share it competely. In John 10:30, Jesus said that He and the Father are one thing. He was referring to the Father’s hand holding us and His hand holding us. The metaphor of “hand” refers to their divine power, divine truth (faithfulness), and divine goodness. It is a metaphor for the exercise of their divine attributes to guarantee the safety of everyone who is Theirs. ↩︎
2. Four of the oldest Greek manuscripts (P^{66. 77} א B) omit this last phrase. Philip Comfort writes, “But it could be that the statement was written by John and then excised by several early copyists because of its enigmatic meaning-i.e., how could the Son of man who was then and there on earth also be in heaven? usually, scribes did not add text that created exegetical problems; rather, they are notorious for deleting text to alleviate perceived problems.” Early Manuscripts & Modern Translations of the New Testament, (Wheaton, IL.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1990) p. 109. ↩︎