Basic HTML Version
other modern translations). and
general kinship was expressed by
the wo.rd
suggenes
(Bauer, Arndt ,
Gingrich.
A Greek-Eng!ish Lexicon
ot the New Testament.
pp. 65, 78).
Other expressions l ike " sister's
son " (Acts 23:16) were also used
to express relationships.
Although the word
adelphos
could be used to refer to a spiritual
brother. there is no evidence that
it meant "cousi n"
(ibid..
pp.
15-16).
Sorne contend that these were
Christ 's spiritual brothers and sis–
ters, instead of His relatives. But
John 2:12 makes a sharp dis–
tinction between His literal family
and His disciples or followers. And
John 7:5 shows that " his brothers
did not believe in him." This obvi–
ously could not be referring to His
disciples.
His flesh-and-blood brothers
scoffed at His work at that time, but
sorne, if not all , of His family were
later converted . The apostle James
was one of these. In Galatians 1:18-
19, Paul mentions having seen not
only Peter, but also
" James the
Lord's brother"
in Jerusalem. lf
Pau·l were referring to James as a
" spiritual brother, " he would cer–
tainly have included Peter in this
category, but he did not.
The
Church History
of Eusebius
supports the New Testament evi–
dence when it states that James,
the leader of the New Testament
Church. was Jesus' brother. Ac–
cording to Eusebius. James was
succeeded in this office by a sec–
ond brother, Simon.
Christ was referred to as the
"firstborn "
(prototokon)
son of
Mary (Luke 2:7). lf Christ were an
only chi ld, the Greek word
mono–
genes
would have been used.
Sorne claim Matthew 12:46-50 is
proof that when the Bible speaks of
Christ's brethren . it is referring to
spiritual brethren. These verses
state: "Whi le he was still speaking
to the people, behold, his mother
and his brothers stood outside, ask–
ing to speak to him. But he replied
to the man who told him, 'Who is
my mother. and who are my broth–
ers?' And stretching out his hahd
toward his disciples. he said, 'Here
are my mother and my brothers!
For whoever does the .will of my
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1977
Father in heaven is my brother. and
sister, and mother. · "
However, if this scripture proves
that Christ had no brothers or sis–
ters, it would also prove that He had
no mother. Actually, this very scrip–
ture is another case of obvious de–
lineation between Christ's disciples
(who were inside with Him) and His
physical brothers (who were stand–
ing outside waiting to speak to
Him).
Psalm 69:8 is a final piece of evi–
dence showing Christ had physical
brothers and sisters. This passage,
which many recognize as a proph–
ecy concerning Christ. reads:
"1
have become a stranger to my
brethren. an alíen to my mother 's
sons. " Here Christ is certainly refer–
ring to His physical mother and
brothers rather than His spiritual fol–
lowers (Matt. 12:49-50; Rom. 8:16-
17. 29) . For more on the lite of
Christ, send for your free copy of
the booklet,
The Real Jesus.
Q
"When does the Sabbath day
begin and end?"
E. H.,
East Geelong, Victoria, Australia
A
lt should be emphasized that
" the sabbath was made for
man, not man for the sabbath' .
(Mark 2:27). God created the Sab–
bath day to serve man-not vice
versa. Sabbath observance should
not be allowed to become an end in
itself. Rather. the day is to
serve
and help
those who observe it. The
Sabbath was created, as Christ
pointed out. for the service of man–
kind.
In the beginning, the Sabbath
was rendered "holy time" by God
at creation . "Thus the heavens and
the earth were finished, and all the
host of them. And on the seventh
day God finished his work which he
had done. and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which
he had done. So God blessed the
seventh day and hallowed it, be–
cause on it God rested from all his
work ·which he had done In cre–
ation " (Gen . 2:1-3). That period
of time defined broadly as "evening
and morning " was blessed and hal–
lowed. To hallow or sanct ify is to
make holy or set apart for holy use.
When originally defined, the days of
creation week were set only in the
broad terms of "evening and morn–
ing," not specifically from the mo–
ment of sunset to sunset, although
there is a rough relationship be–
tween evening and sunset (see
Deuteronomy 16:6 and Mark 1:32).
lt is the individual's . responsibility.
whatever the local geographic con–
figuration or latitude, to determine
as best he is able the meaning of
" evening" which begins a day.
Scandinavians certainly have more
need of a broad meaning of "eve–
ning" than do people who live in
the tropics.
The Sabbath was a day upon
twhich God " rested " -that is,.
ceased from His labors of cre–
ation-and " was refreshed" (Ex.
31 :17). The example is clear. God
rested . Man should rest from his
weekly labors also. When man ob–
serves the Sabbath day, he is imi–
tating his Creator and commemo–
rating the creation itself.
For more information on this sub–
ject, write for the free booklets
Which Day
ls
the Christian Sab–
bath?
and
The Ten Command–
ments.
o
(Continued trom page 23)
old sirex when other
visible
prey
would be much more accessible?
Once she deposits her egg, she has
no further " knowledge" of w[lat its
chances of future survival will be.
So clearly trial and error w9uld
seem to be almost out of the ques–
tion . Somehow the female wasp
also knows that boring holes in tree
trunks is the thing to do, but she
obviously has no knowledge of
why
she does it. And looking at her ovi–
positor one would be hard pressed
to deny that such a fearsome-look–
ing tool was intentionally
designed
for drilling purposes. Yet by whom
or by what? Presumably one could
answer that blind, undirected torces
of natural selection were respon- ·
sible. But a much more reasonable
conclusion would seem· to include
the work of a highly intelligent and
creative God.
o
35