Basic HTML Version
m
"1 recently read in an official
~!ti
publication of the Church of
England that character formation is
the purpose of human lite on this
earth, and 1know that also lo be your
teaching. 1 want to believe it, as it
seems to make sense, but nowhere
in the Bible have 1 ever found th is
stated. 1have read the Bible for many
years."
John R.,
London, England
I
n
Probably the reason you have
111
not found character men–
tioned in the Bible is that the word
itself is never used in the Autho–
rized King James Version. The
Greek word charakter, from which
our word comes, does occur in the
New Testament once, and is trans–
lated "express image" in Hebrews
1:3. Here the word has undergone
considerable development from its
original etymological meaning of
"something cut [or) incised." How–
ever it does not yet have the exact
meaning of our English word in this
context.
But the quality or attribute of
character is often dealt with in the
Bible.
lt
is, indeed, one of the main
themes of the Bible. In Romans 5:3-4,
the Revised Standard Version trans–
lates as "character" the Greek
word dokime, which is referring lo
the state of having been proven by
testing. ''More than that (rejoicing
in hope of sharing the glory of
God), we rejoice in our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces
endurance, and endurance pro–
duces character, and character
produces hope [confidence
J. ''
Ephesians 4:11 -14. without spe–
cifically using the word, speaks of
character and character devel–
opment as the purpose for which
Christ
gave
ministerial gifts and of-
36
tices to the Church: " ... until we all
attain to the uni ty of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God,
to mature manhood, lo the measure
of the stature of the fulness of
Christ; so that we may no longer
be ... carried about with every
wind of doctrine.... ''
Peter also shows that character
building is essential for us to be–
come partakers of the divine nature.
"For this very reason make every
effort to supplement your faith with
virtue. and virtue with knowledge,
and knowledge with self-control ,
and self-control with steadfastness.
and steadfastness with godliness,
and godliness with brotherly atfec–
tion. and brotherly affection with
love" (11 Pet. 1:S-8).
The same sort of growth was de–
manded
even
of Christ Himse lf
when He was a human being . He–
brews 5:8-9 reads: "Aithough he
was a Son . he leamed obedience
through what he suffered; and
being made perfect he became the
source of eternal salvation to all
who obey him."
m
" Today's English Version of
~!ti
the Bible says in Acts 20:7, 'on
Saturday evening we gathered to–
gether,' which is directly contrary to
what the Authorized Version says. So
may 1 ask, did those disciples meet
on the first day or the last day of the
week? Will you please explain?"
Robert M.,
Louisville, Kentucky
I
R ¡
The literal Greek wording of
111
this passage is "on the first
day of the week." However, be–
cause in today's English language
the phrase " first day of the week" is
commonly regarded as referring to
Sunday, the Today's English Ver-
A
n sw e r s
sion translators evidently felt it nec–
essary to specify that the disciples'
meeting was on Saturday evening
rather than on Sunday morning.
In both Old and New Testament
times, days were begun at evening
(roughly at sunset) and ended at
the following evening. However,
Roman practice was to count days
from midnight to midnight, and this
became the system of the modern
world . When names for the days
were adopted, Sunday of course
meant a midnight-to-midnight
period. 11 is obvious the Acts 20:7
meeting did not take place on Sun–
day morning, since in that very un–
usual circumstance Paul preached
till midnight. (Write for our free
booklet Which Day /s the Christian
Sabbath?)
m
" lf Jesus Christ of Nazareth
~!ti
was seen alive after His resur–
rection, what was He doing? Where
did He go? What happened to Him
thereafter? He seems to have just
van ished! "
Bil l S.,
Ripton. Vermont
n
The accounts of Christ 's re-
111
peated appearances after His
resurrection are related at the end
of each of the four Gospels (Matt .
28 , Mark 16, Luke 24 , John 20-21)
and in Acts 1:1-12 and
1
Cori nthi–
ans 15:4-8. A good harmony of the
Gospels will help clarify the chro–
nological order of these events.
Briefly summarizing , Christ ap–
peared to Mary Magdalene; to an–
other group of women; to two men
going to Emmaus; to Simon Peter;
to ten of the apostles, then to all
eleven of them; to the apostles
again beside the Sea of Galilee; to
500 people on a mountain in Ga–
lilee; and to the disciples once
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1978