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man nor man of woman; for as
woman was made from man, so
man is now born of woman ...' '
(1 Cor.
11:11 -12).
Peter wrote of husbands and
wives being " heirs
together ot
the
grace of lite" (eternal lite in the
Kingdom of God). God is no re–
specter of persons, or of a per–
son ' s sex , although men and
women have been assigned differ–
ent reproductive roles. "For in
Christ Jesus you [t he entire
Church, whether male or female
members] are a// sons of God,
through faith. For as many of you
as were baptized into Christ have
put on Christ There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither slave
nor free,
there is neither maJe nor
tema/e;
for you are al l one in Christ
Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then
you are Abraham's offspring, heirs
[of salvation] according to prom–
ise" (Gal.
3:26-29).
And Acts
8: 12
shows us that
''when they believed Philip as he
preached good news about the
kingdom of God and the name of
Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women. "
Paul wrote that converted people
are " the temple of the living God;
as God said, '1will live in them and
move among them, and 1 will be
their God, and they shall be my
people ... . and 1 wil l be a father
to you , and you shall be my sons
and daughters,
says the Lord Al–
mighty' " (11Cor.
6:16, 18).
So both men and women were
created in the image of God and
both were intended to conform to
the spiritual image of Christ There
is no difference as far as ultimate
salvation is concerned.
m
"lf all mankind are guilty of
lit
Christ's death (as the Second
Vatican Council declared), does this
include the apost les along w ith
Jesus' mother?"
Russell
E.,
Grand Rapids, Michigan
R
According to the Bible, "a//
1111
have sinned," and Christ
died in order to save sinners (Ro–
mans
3:9-18, 23;
Psalm
14:1-3;
The
PLAIN TRUTH
March 1978
53:1-4).
We read that "sin carne
into the world through one man
[Adam] and death through sin, and
so death spread to all men
be–
cause al/ men sinned "
(Rom.
5:12).
So since all have sinned, we
must conclude that the apostles
and Mary the mother of Jesus
were sinners, too. (There is not
one shred of biblical evidence that
Mary was " immaculately con–
ceived " so as to avoid partaking of
the nature of Adam and Eve, or
that she was perfect ly free from sin
during her lifetime.) When we un–
derstand that it is our human na–
ture (as it is influenced by unseen
spiritual powers) which causes all
of us to sin , and that sin, far from
being merely disobedience to a
specific command of God, is a
matter of the very thoughts of the
mind, we can begin to understand
why it is that no one with human
intell igence and volition has ever
remained sinless. (For more infor–
mation on human nature, request
our free article entitled ''Human
Nature-Did God Create lt?")
W
··rsaiah 58:13-14 says that the
~
Sabbath is supposed to be a
delight, but then turns around and
says not to seek your own pleasure.
This seems like a contradiction to
me."
J.
C. ,
Billings, Montana
R
lsaiah
58:13-14
reads: " lf
tMI
you turn back your foot from
the sabbath, from doing your plea–
sure on my holy day, and call the
sabbath a delight and the holy day
of the Lord honorable; if you honor
it, not going your own ways, or
seeking your own pleasure, or talk–
ing idly; then you shall take delight
in the Lord . .. ." In short, the Sab–
bath is God's day. lt is a day to be
honored. lt is a time to "delight in
the Lord" as opposed to one's
own mundane business affairs.
lt should be carefully noted that
the term "seeking your own plea–
sure" does not necessarily, in the
Hebrew, have reference to per–
sonal enjoyment. The word "plea-
sure"
(khephets
in Hebrew) means
various things according to con–
text. In the Jewish Publication So–
ciety translation it is rendered
" thine own
business. " The New
English Bible
makes the meaning
clearer than either the King James
or Revised Standard Version: ' 'lf
you cease to tread the sabbath un–
derfoot, and keep my holy day free
trom your own affairs, if you call
the sabbath
a day of joy .. .
if you
honour it by
not plying your trade.
not seeking
your own interest
or
attending to your own affairs ...."
This translation shows the true
intent of the words "thine own
pleasure" ! The Hebrew term ren–
dered " pleasure" is often trans–
lated "desire" or " purpose" in
other passages (see Ecclesiastes
3:1, 17;
1 Kings
5:8-1
0). The Jew–
ish translation speaks of " pursuing
thy business" and "thy wonted
ways." The Hebrew
khephets
is
not
addressing the quest ion of
pleasurable
activities that are illegal
on the seventh day! lf pleasure
were not present, how could the
day possibly be a delight?
This passage of Scripture has
been erroneously applied to such
achvities as television viewing,
swimming, listening to music, mari–
tal relations, and even reading the
com ics in the newspaper! Of
course, any of these act ivities
could
violate the spirit of the Sab–
bath day if they are
abused
or
overdone. They are not, of and by
themselves, wrong. Any activity
which interferes with or detracts
from the joy, rest, and spiritual in–
tention of the day could be wrong .
lf an activity works against the
spirit of the Sabbath, it is wrong,
no matter what it is.
The main concern of most scrip–
tures pertaining to the Sabbath is
that one should not pursue his or
her usual business or work activi–
ties on that day. One should have
more of God and less of himself in
his thoughts on the Sabbath. lt is a
day to honor God, to remember
His creation, and to rest. (For more
on this subject, please write for our
free article entitled "The Sabbath
Was Made forMan.")
o
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