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more-repeatedly materializing and
dematerializing befare their eyes.
Then finally He did "vanish" in a
different way (Acts 1:9-11 ). The dis–
ciples literally saw Him go up into
the clouds and disappear from their
sight on His way to heaven. So far
as the Bible enlightens us. He has
not since reappeared to anyone
with the exception of the apostle
Paul
(1
Cor. 15:8-9).
The Bible does not give us com–
plete detai ls of all the events that
occurred while He was on the earth
for 40 days after the resurrection
(Acts 1:3). The biblical writers were
concerned with producing a theo–
logical account of His lite, rather
than a biographical portrait. There–
fore, they give us only glimpses and
highlights, omitting a fuller account
which they felt was unnecessary for
their purpose.
W
" lf
you have any information
on John 4:22, affirming that
'salvation is of [or f rom] the Jews,'
1
wou ld appreciate it greatly."
David N.,
Dalias, Texas
ft
When Jesus uttered those
IAI
words, He was speaking not
in terms of the Jews being the ex–
clusive universal carriers of the true
religion. but simply of the fact that
the Jews possessed it while the Sa–
maritans (one of whom Jesus was
addressing here) did not. The Sa–
maritans had their own community
and religious center near Mt. Geri–
zim, a rival to Jerusalem. Their
schism from the Jews may date
from as early as the time of Ezra, in
the fifth century B.C., when the
principie had been enunciated that
only Jews at Jerusalem would offi–
cially carry out the work of God in
that age (see Ezra 4:1-3). Knowl–
edge of God would thus come from
the Jews, and the Samaritans
would not really know God. Hence
Jesus' words: " You worship what
you do not know; we worship what
we know, for salvation is from the
Jews." With this Paul concurred
(Rom. 9:4-5): "They are lsraelites,
and to them belong the sonship, the
glory, the covenants. the giving of
the law, the worship, and the prom-
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1978
ises; to them belong the patriarchs,
and of their race, according to the
flesh, is the Christ. "
Since, as in the example of Corn–
elius, the Roman , " God shows no
partiality, but in every nation any
one who fears him and does what is
right is acceptable to him" (Acts
10:34-35), individual non-Jews
could worship God. God was seek–
ing that kind of worshiper, as Jesus
went on to say. Jesus the Mes–
siah-the Christ-would save them.
But to fulfill God's promises to
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David , etc .,
the Messiah and His salvation had
to come from the Jews of the offi–
cial messianic line: "For
1
tell you
that Christ became a servan! to the
circumcised to show God's truthful –
ness, in arder to conf irm the prom–
ises given to the patriarchs, and in
order that the Genti les might glorify
God for his merey" (Rom. 15:8-9).
Now-in our age-where or by
what race of people God is wor–
shiped is immaterial. Christ stated
in the same context that " the hour
is coming, and now is, when the
true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth" (John
4:23).
1
" The apostle Paul wrote in Ro-
mans 5:12 that 'sin carne into
the world through one man [Adam]
and death through sin , and so death
spread to all men because all men
sinned .' ls it true then that we are all
born sinners? lf so, and since Jesus
died to save us from our sins, does
this mean our chi ldren borfl after our
conversion are free from the impact
of sin?"
Naushad S.,
Berbice, Guyana
R
Notice that in Romans 5:12
!al
there are two distinct points
made:
1)
To Adam belonged the
first sin and the first death; and 2)
death spread to all because al/
others have sinned too-not jusi
because Adam sinned. This prin–
cipie is expounded in considerable
detail in the 18th chapter
of
Ezekiel ;
everyone is guilty in God's sight for
only his or her own sin.
lf Adam had sinned but his chil–
dren had not, they would not have
come under the penalty of eternal
death. lf we today had not sinned,
we would not be guilty. But the
Bible states unequivocally that "al/
have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). " Origi–
nal sin" is not inherited-sin cannot
be passed from parent to child.
Likewise the children of converted
parents cannot inherit theic parents'
"stat~
of grace." When they sin, it
is due to their own human tendency
to go astray (influenced by their en–
vironment), not because they were
"born sinners." Whether they were
born before or after thei r parents'
conversion has nothing to do with
their decisions to sin or obey, or
wi th their own need for personal
salvat ion.
fmi
" You seem to keep hinting in
lKt
your pub l ica tions t hat th e
'born-again' people haven't really
been born again-yet. Just what do
you mean?"
L.
R.,
Edmonton, Alberta, Ganada
11
The actual biblical meaning of
being "born again " (Greek,
" born from above") or "born of
God" (see John 3:3-8) is quite
unique. So far, that kind of birth has
occurred only to one individual,
Jesus Christ, who is described
since His resurrection as "the first–
born from the dead" (Col. 1:18;
Rev.
1:5).
Paul wrote that Christ
was " designated Son of God in
power [He had again become fu lly
God] ... by his resurrection from
the dead" (Rom. 1:4).
Perhaps one of the best pas–
sages for explaining the meaning of
being born again is Luke 20:35-36:
' 'Those who are accounted worthy
to attain to that age [the time of the
Kingdom of God] and to the resur–
rection from the dead . .. cannot die
any more, because they are equal to
angels and are sons of God, being
sons of the resurrection."When they
too have been resurrected to eterna!
lile in the family of God, they will then
have been born again. Write for the
free booklet Just What Do You
Mean-Born Again? for a further
exp lanation of th is importan!
question.
o
37