Questions and Answers
Let us read the passage in context, beginning in Romans 13:8: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does not harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment [better: fulfilling] of the law.” The Amplified Bible gives the following rendering, with the brackets in the original: “Keep out of debt and owe no man anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor–who practices loving others–has fulfilled the Law [relating to one’s fellowmen], meeting all its requirements…” (1) Concentrating first on Paul’s statement that we are indebted to loving our neighbor, let’s notice the following comments: Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible states: “Love is a debt. The law of God and the interest of mankind make it so… [Paul] specifies the last five [actually, last six] of the ten commandments, which he observes to be all summed up in… Just the opposite is true! Christians still have to make a continuing choice to obey God and to reject the wrong way, and the Bible fully explains this most remarkable and foundational truth! As a beginning point, we need to understand that God’s intentions have always been that mankind would ultimately be given the sustainable option to choose a path leading to life and reject the one leading to death. Chapters two and three of Genesis recount the epic account of how Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. From this record we see very clearly that God gave man an opportunity to choose for himself (compare verses 16-17). In another time, after having selected the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as His chosen people, God, nonetheless, required that the people choose to follow His way and to reject the wrong way (compare Deuteronomy 30:11-20): “‘(Verse 15) See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil… (Verse 19) I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.'” In subsequent times, the Old Testament reveals the… Jesus Christ warned His end-time disciples of the Great Tribulation, which will be so terrible that nothing like it ever happened before and will ever happen again (Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1). At the same time, Christ challenged us to watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape or be protected from the Great Tribulation. Even though God is certainly capable of protecting us wherever we might be, HE HAS DECREED that He will protect His very elect at a particular place here on earth. We would like to quote the following excerpts from chapter 8 of our free booklet, “Is That in the Bible?–The Mysteries of the Book of Revelation,” pages 54-55: “Christ promises His people—who are worthy—a way to ‘escape all these things that will come to pass’ (Luke 21:34–36; compare Revelation 3:10; Zephaniah 2:3; Psalm 31:19–20). That ‘place of refuge’ (Proverbs 14:26) will be on this earth—not in heaven (Revelation 12:14; Isaiah 33:16; Isaiah 26:20–21). “Even though God CAN protect us anywhere He wants, He has decreed that His people will be protected at a certain place here on earth—the place of safety and ‘shelter’ (Joel 3:14–16). Christ compares the time preceding His coming with the… We will be trying to answer this question as best as we can. In the past, the Worldwide Church of God attempted to strike a proper balance as to what is appropriate and inappropriate clothing, but in the process, some might have gone overboard at certain times by leaning too much to the “right” or to the “left.” Occasionally, the Church was even accused of promoting a yard-stick religion, while at other times, it was perceived to allow for appearances which were clearly not in line with biblical standards. The following write-up is a conglomeration of discussion and communication, between the ministry and their wives, of the Church of the Eternal God and their corporate affiliates, the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada, and the Global Church of God in the UK. We believe that it will be sufficient for the wise, but if particular additional questions should arise on an individual basis, please address those to the ministry and their wives (or widows of late ministerial husbands). We also need to keep in mind that we must NEVER condemn or judge self-righteously our spiritual brother and sister for what is being worn (compare James 4:11-12; 2:1-4, 13). If… In John 7:38, Christ spoke of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the apostle John added in verse 39: “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom [better: which] those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” We need to understand the context. The New Testament Church would begin on the Day of Pentecost in 31 A.D., when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early apostles and other true believers. Jesus had promised His disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit after His departure (John 16:7; 20:22). He again confirmed this promise after His resurrection, but before His ascension to heaven (Acts 1:8). When the Holy Spirit was given to His disciples on the Day of Pentecost, it was Jesus who poured out that gift from the Father, after He had been exalted to the right hand of God (Acts 2:33). Christ’s glorification and His ascension to heaven were necessary BEFORE the Holy Spirit could be given to His disciples. While He was alive as a human being, He told His disciples that He was WITH them, but He also said that there would come the time… James 2:2 contains a statement which, at first sight, may be difficult to understand, as it seems to contradict other biblical passages. A careful analysis of the Scripture shows, however, that there is no inconsistency, and that James addresses an important principle related to our Christian way of life. James 2:1-6 reads, in context: “(1) My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. (2) For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, (3) and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ (4) have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?… (6) But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts?” Some commentaries understand this passage to refer to Church worship services of early Christians. If this is correct, how can we harmonize the fact that the Bible demands of us… We have explained this passage, in detail, in our booklets, “Is That in the Bible?–Man’s Holidays or God’s Holy Days,” and “God’s Commanded Holy Days.” In these booklets, we show from Scripture that Colossians 2:16-17 does not teach–as many have erroneously concluded–that the weekly Sabbath and the seven annual Holy Days are no longer binding; in fact, correctly understood, that particular passage teaches the exact opposite. First, we want to quote from our booklet, “Is That in the Bible?–Man’s Holidays or God’s Holy Days,” which contains a more general discussion of the passage. This will be followed by a very specific discussion of, among other concepts, the grammatical structure of the passage in the original Greek, as quoted from our booklet, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” revealing in much detail the intended meaning of that Scripture. To begin with, please note the following excerpts from our booklet, “Is That in the Bible?–Man’s Holidays or God’s Holy Days“: “In the New King James Bible, Colossians 2:16–17 reads as follows: ‘So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival [margin: ‘feast day’] or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to… First of all, let us read these verses in the book of John: “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’” Christ spoke with authority! It is obvious from other passages that Jesus, who was recognized as a Rabbi, had authority. In John 3:1-2 we read: “There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.'” Here Nicodemus addressed Jesus as Rabbi which is translated “Teacher” (compare Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible) or “Master”… We have discussed the issue of physical healing in several of our Q&As, http://eternalgod.org/qa/4963, http://eternalgod.org/qa/3221, http://eternalgod.org/qa/3749, http://eternalgod.org/qa/2842 , and also at length in our free booklet, “Sickness and Healing–What the Bible Tells Us.” The following issues will be discussed in this Q&A: –OUR BELIEF ON PHYSICAL HEALING In this Q&A, we are setting forth briefly our belief and practice, as well as administrative procedures. For a more comprehensive discussion, please consult and review our additional literature, as quoted above. OUR BELIEF ON PHYSICAL HEALING God tells us in Exodus 15:26 that He is our LORD who heals us. We are healed by the… We can safely say that it was never God’s intent for man to engage in the kind of slavery which has brought so much misery and pain on others. We can also say that it was never God’s original intent that there should be any form of slavery. And we conclude that it will be very unlikely that there will be any slavery in the Millennium. To give an overview of the ORIGIN of slavery in the Bible, let us quote from The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, by James Hastings: “The causes of slavery are at first sight manifold. It may be the result of capture in war; it may be the punishment for crime or debt; or a man who is starving may sell himself or his children to buy food. But, the more we examine the subject, the more we find that the primary cause is capture in war, particularly when the war is between different races…” As to the primary reason for slavery–capture in war–this concept won’t exist anymore in the Millennium as there will be no more wars in the Millennium (Isaiah 2:1-4). Also, since all will live in prosperity and there will be no more poverty, that…What does Paul mean when he says in Romans 13:8 that we must "owe no one anything except to love one another"?
Philippians 2:5 states, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Does this mean that Christians no longer exercise free moral agency?
What are the biblical proofs for your teaching that members of the Church of God will be protected at a particular "place of safety," here on earth, during the Great Tribulation?
Could you give us some guidelines as to how to properly dress at Church services and social functions during the Feast of Tabernacles, especially at pool or beach parties?
Please explain John 7:39. Why was it necessary that Christ be glorified in order for man to receive the Holy Spirit?
Would you please explain James 2:2?
Would you please explain the meaning of Colossians 2:16-17?
In John 2:13-16 Jesus drove the money changers out of the Temple. Isn’t this an example when violent civil disobedience is acceptable?
Would you please explain your understanding on healing, and what specific procedures do you apply in your Church for anointing and public prayer requests?
–WHAT TO DO WHEN WE ARE SICK
–WHY ANOINT WITH OIL?
–THE USE OF AN ANOINTED CLOTH
–DOES GOD HEAL ONLY BAPTIZED MEMBERS OF HIS CHURCH?
–WHEN DOES GOD BEGIN TO HEAL A PERSON WHO IS ASKING FOR AN ANOINTED CLOTH?
–WHEN SHOULD WE ASK FOR ANOINTING?
–CAN OR SHOULD WE ASK FOR ANOINTING MORE THAN ONCE FOR THE SAME SICKNESS?
–WHEN SHOULD WE ASK THE MINISTRY TO ANNOUNCE A SICKNESS TO THE CHURCH AND ASK FOR PRAYERS?
–SHOULD WE SEEK OUT A PARTICULAR MINISTER FOR ANOINTING BECAUSE HE MAY HAVE THE “GIFT OF HEALING”?Why was there slavery in the Old Testament? Why didn't the early apostles condemn slavery? Will there be slavery in the Millennium?
