Apostolic Teaching- David Bernard- "Questions and Answers"

let's take a little time for questions so if some of you if you have questions in writing if you just bring them up right now I'll start answering them if you want to ask questions over last night the oneness of God the identity of Jesus Christ the Almighty God revealed in Jesus or over tonight faith obedience repentance baptism the Holy Ghost if you might have a question over specific scripture how to explain a certain verse you might have a question not so much for yourself but how to explain it to other people so you know what whatever your question might be if there are no questions I'm going to keep teaching but if their questions bring them on up and I'll start answering them or if you want to designate a person to help collect them however you want to do that but we've got little time so let's let's take some questions thank you all right the first question is and you can keep bringing the questions up the first question is how do you explain John chapter 20 verse 22 so I suppose we need to look there first when it talks about Jesus breathing on them and said receive ye the Holy Ghost so let's read it John chapter 20 verse 22 and when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them receive ye the Holy Ghost now this is a command and a prophesy they did not receive the Holy Ghost at that moment and I can prove that by the Gospel of John I already quoted to John 739 the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified also in the Gospel of John in he explains in chapter let's see 16 verse 7 nevertheless I tell you the truth is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you so some people say that when he breathed on them right that moment they received the Holy Spirit but that can't be true because John himself has recorded that the Holy Spirit would not come until Jesus was glorified was talking about his resurrection and ascension into heaven and in chapter 16 verse 17 Jesus himself says I the comforter will not come until I go away but if I go away I will send him unto you so in other words I will be leaving you physically I will send back my spirit after I'm gone I will send back my spirit in your hearts so when Jesus breathed on him that then that was a command of prophecy and in Greek also in Hebrew the word for breath and wind and spirit is all the same in greek it's numa you know from that word in English we get pneumatic pneumonia you know all these words dealing with air and so it determines the context determines which one is meant so when he breathed on them and said receive the Holy Ghost that was a command in other words I want you to receive the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 2 is when they actually received the Holy Ghost and they heard that sound of a win not only did they remember what Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3 which I quoted you about the wind blowing but they remembered this command right here where he breathed on them and then they realized when Jesus breathed on us he was giving us a sign and now we hear that wind the breath of God it's our time to receive so my answer is John chapter 20 and verse 22 is commanding the disciples they didn't actually receive it until the day of Pentecost next question is different doctrinal views vote oneness versus Trinity very crucial to our faith in Jesus Christ does it matter or make a difference and I will say yes if you were here last night I spent the first 30 minutes explaining that that is our foundation what we believe about the oneness of God is the very foundation and so yes it makes a difference Rick Warren's book Purpose Driven Life says that God is interest only two important questions for us what do you do with my son Jesus and what did you with the talents I gave you what is your view about Rick Warren's comment well I suppose in a general sense that's true but the first question what did you do with my son Jesus I mean what do you do what Jesus is certainly above who he is you've got to confess who he is of course I wouldn't view these questions as namely as Authority I would probably phrase them differently I would probably start with you know did you obey the gospel of Jesus Christ because that's the scriptural terminology did you believe in obey the gospel and and that's what I would say that we've got to star with who Jesus is because that determines everything else and then the question who raised Jesus from the dead the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead and of course the Bible speaks of says God raised him from it says the spirit raised him dead and Jesus said destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up speaking of the temple of his body that's in John chapter 2 so Jesus raised himself from the dead in John chapter 2 in verse 19 through 21 Jesus raised himself from the dead so when you're when you're looking at this question when you're thinking of Jesus as a true human being remember I said last night that Jesus was a true human being in every way except for sin so everything we can say about ourselves as a human Jesus had to be able to say about himself as a human so well I'm gonna die one day and I will await the resurrection who's gonna raise me from the dead God right so Jesus if I can say that about myself Jesus as a human had to be able to say that about himself or we can say that about him who raised Jesus from the dead God did but remember that Spirit of God dwelt in him it wasn't external to him but the Spirit of God that dwelt in him during his life raised him from the dead the Spirit of God came back to that lifeless body so therefore Jesus could honestly say I'll raise myself up because the Spirit of God in him would raise him up okay whose instructions should one obey or follow to be correctly baptized okay I see Matthew 28:19 Jesus says go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name the father and the son the Holy Spirit acts 2:38 Peter said to them repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so the question is whose instructions we should we follow and the answer is both of them because you can't choose one or the other because both of these statements are in the Bible the Word of God the inspired Word of God if you say one is right and one is wrong you're saying the Bible contradicts itself and you're not choosing Jesus over Peter because Jesus did not write the Gospel of Matthew Matthew did so you're choosing Matthew over the author of Acts who is Luke so who are you going to choose if the apostles were contradicting each other we can't trust anybody now think about it the instructions of Matthew Matthew in Matthew 28:19 Jesus was speaking to the apostles Matthew and Peter were both there they heard the same thing then on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two when Peter preached remember Matthew was standing up there with Peter saying amen amen you know in verse 37 the question was men and brethren what shall we do so the question was not just to Peter the question was to Matthew as well and if Peter got it wrong Matthew should have pulled on his robe and said wait Peter you got it wrong you forgot what Jesus said so the point is both Matthew and Peter thought that they were fulfilling Christ's command now let me take a little a little more time because here's another question on the same the same passage Matthew 28 so let me take a look at this let's go to Matthew 28 and see how we should understand this Matthew 28:18 through 20 and Jesus came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with You alway even unto the end of the world now when you're going to to try to understand a passage of Scripture there's several thing you look at and one thing is you look at the context the surrounding passages now let me give you two versions and you tell me which one fits the context Jesus is saying I have all power go ye therefore remember what it's there for he's saying because I have all power therefore I'm sending you out I want you to make disciples unto me I want you to teach them all of my Commandments and I will be with you always to help you fulfill this so since I have all power you're making disciples unto me you're teaching in my Commandments I'm going to be the one working with you then therefore I want you to baptize in the name of three different persons okay that's one way to look at it let me give you the other way I have all power therefore I'm sending you to make disciples unto me to teach them my Commandments I'll be with you so baptized in my name do you see the context lead you to suppose he's talking about himself and his name now if you look at the grammar that's another thing that you would that would you would examine in verse 19 it says in the name singular so it's not names plural as if there were three different persons with three different names but one name that reveals all of God's work as Father Son and spirit and we discussed that at great length last night so I'm not going to repeat that also you look at the background these disciples that receive the words of Jesus they were Jews trained from childhood to believe there's only one Lord one God they never heard the word Trinity they never heard the word three persons these terms were invented around AD 200 or later so when we read Father Son and Holy Ghost we have those terms in our brains but they didn't what did they have in their brains just a few days earlier Jesus said in John 14 if you've seen me you've seen the father he said I will send the Spirit the comforter I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you so they had in their mind who is father who is the son who is the Holy Spirit so when he made that statement they understood what he meant now if you look at how is fulfilled the book of Acts they fulfilled it by calling on the name of Jesus now if that's how the Apostles understood it and obeyed it then we should understand it and obey it the same way the Apostles are greater authorities than us they were actually there they could ask Jesus questions they understood what he meant if they were confused they could say Jesus what did you mean and he would explain that so how can we understand it better than the Apostles did if that's how they understood it that's how we should understand if that's how they fulfilled it that's how we should fulfill it and in fact if you look at the parallel passages out I'll be quick here the Great Commission we find it here in Matthew 28:18 through 20 but this is not the only version there's also mark 16:15 through 20 and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and these signs shall follow them that believe in my name shall they cast out Devils and so on and so on so in mark's account he mentions baptism but he mentions in my name that's the name of jesus okay another account of the Great Commission is in Luke 24:47 through 49 which says and repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name so Matthew says name of Father Son and Holy Spirit mark says my name Luke says his name what name fits all three of those accounts it's the name of Jesus so I will say to answer the question we need to obey the words of Jesus but how do we obey them the way the Apostles obeyed them in acts 2:38 it's like if I would send my son to the store and say I want you to buy something for me and the owner of the store is my friend so just tell him your father will pay for it later so he goes my son goes the store and he says my father will pay for and the store owner says well who is your father he says you know father father no who is your father David Bernard he can't just repeat the words father he's got to give the name that that represents and so when we come to baptize we can't just repeat the words father son in spirit we have to understand what is that name talking about that's the name of Jesus praise God all right I've got to hurry up here I won't get all these questions done okay all right let me take care of the ones that all right this one I think I really answered yesterday but I will briefly go through it again how do you explain John 14:23 John 14:23 Jesus is saying if a man love me he will keep my words my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him why did Jesus say we will come father and son it's not talking about two spirits there's only one spirit Ephesians 4:4 there's only one spirit first Corinthians 12:13 by one spirit we're all baptized into one body so Jesus is not saying you're going to have two different persons living inside of you but how is that fulfill how does Jesus come inside of us when we receive the Holy Spirit but when we receive the Spirit we receive the spirit of the Father and the son I mentioned yesterday when we think of God the Father we think of the source of our life our Creator our sustainer we're thinking of the God who said let there be light and there was a light we think of the power of God so if I say you have the Spirit of your father in you we think of the awesome power of God but that same spirit dwelt in Christ as he walked on earth and that spirit led him to be a bee and humble and faithful and endure suffering and even death and we don't think of that in association usually with with God but yet when God came in flesh the flesh was submitted to the spirit so when we received the Holy Spirit we not only receive the power of the Father working in our lives but we received the humility and the obedient spirit of the son in our lives we received both father and son but not as two spirits as one spirit the Holy Spirit the Spirit of God in other words we received the total work of God including what he did in the Incarnation and that's the way that we can understand this all right question do the Jews use the concept of compound unit for Akkad in the Shema okay let me explain that the Shema is Deuteronomy 6:4 the confession of faith of the Jews here o Israel the Lord our God is one Lord now what some people say when it says one Lord the word one is from the Hebrew at Cod and they say well that means a compound unity well I would say that's true in English as well you have to look at the context to determine the exact meaning like the English word one it can mean numerically one numerical oneness we count one two three if I say there's one person sitting there that's a numerical oneness but if I say my friend and I are one or my wife and I are one that's in a sense of unity so the meaning of the word one can change depending on the context well that's true in Hebrew as well so what you have to ask is in Deuteronomy 6:4 in these other passages that speak of one God what is the context is it trying to say there's only one God in contrast to what the pagans believe or is it saying the Council of gods are united well in Deuteronomy 6:4 hear o Israel the Lord our God Jehovah our God is one in the context he's trying to establish worship of the true God in opposition to all the false gods so he's speaking of numerical oneness if he's not speaking of numerical oneness then it destroys the whole point if he's saying the true God is a compound unity because at all well we can worship bail two then two sticking in the compound unity oh we can worship all these other gods as long as we put him in the Union Union so that wouldn't it wouldn't it wouldn't establish a worship of Jehovah against all the other gods so when you look at the context of Isaiah remember I spent all that time God says I'm alone by myself none like me none beside me what is that saying more than unity it's saying oneness so when you look at the context it's very clear that in this context it's God's absolute oneness John 14:21 paracin as the father Jesus has believers in him okay let's read John 14 20 and at that day you shall know that I'm in my father and ye and me and I in you well it's talking about union with believers and I think this is since Jesus is making the comparison with us this is not speaking of the Incarnation this is speaking of our us as humans being in union with God now when Jesus says the father is in me in earlier in the chapter he is speaking of his identity as God manifests the flesh because he says if you've seen me you've seen the father so that indicates identity but later on the chapter he is broaden it to talk about us and our relationship with God and obviously he's not trying to say that we are God or that we are the incarnation of God nobody would believe that that's a Christian whether it's Trinitarian or not Trenchard so when he says I will be in you he is speaking of our receiving Christ to dwell in our hearts and so he says you shall know that I am in my father ye and me and I knew and here he's speaking more in terms he as a human has the closest possible relationship with God and he is saying we also can have that same relationship through him as humans can be related to God so what we have to understand remember I told you everything that Jesus can say about himself as a human we have to be able to say about ourselves a human or everything that we can say about ourselves as human Jesus had to be able to say that so if we can envision ourselves as being United with God and God's Spirit dwelling in us then Jesus had to be able to speak of that same thing himself so here's an example of he's saying just as I as a human can have the closest possible fellowship with God and obey God and be surrendered to God in God work in my life so you can have that same relationship through me is he saw about a human relationship okay another question why is the title Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit commonly used in the Old Testament doesn't ghost refer to the spirit of a departed person and as more appropriate use the term Holy Ghost after the death of Christ well in in the Bible where you see in the King James Version Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit the term ghost in spirit or English words they translate the same Greek word pneuma it's no difference and so actually your modern translations would use spirit because it's not talking about the spirit of a departed person it's just talking about spirit in general there are a few places in the King James Version that say Holy Spirit but most the time in in the New Testament whether it's Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost it's the same word pneuma so you can't really make a doctrinal difference either term is appropriate but for modern English the term spirit is more understandable I don't think you should make a distinction in that regard okay how do you explain first John five seven through eight to a Trinitarian believer let's look at first John five seven through eight by the way this is not in the modern translations because they say this was added later it's not part of the original text but let's let's look at it as it is written first John 5:7 for there are three that bear record in heaven the father the word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one there are three that bear witness in earth the spirit the water and the blood and these three agree in one well as I mentioned last night you can know me in different ways you can know me in a personal relationship so my children know me as father my students know me as teacher all right you can know me by my word you can hear my word you can read my books you know me by my word you can know me by my spirit if we visit together to have fellowship go out to dinner you can feel my spirit if we pray together you can discern what kind of spirit that I am but is my word a different person from me is my spirit a different person from me no these are different ways of knowing me but the same I'm the same person and my name is David Bernard and when you say the name David Bernard you are covering everything about me the same way with God God has revealed himself as father God has revealed himself by His Word and God has revealed himself by his Spirit but these are just different ways that God works in our world they're not three different personal beings and the one name of Jesus Christ reveals God in all of his fullness and that's why this scripture says these three are one now the next verse talks about the spirit and wired their blood working together these three agree in one so if you if you think father word and spirit would be three different persons you would think that also would say agree in one but it doesn't say agree in when it says are one this is the only verse that uses the word three in relationship to God I gave you many scriptures last night that use the word one in relationship to God over 50 verses use the term Holy One but there is only this one verse and it says threes three are one so the emphasis is on the oneness of God okay let me move move on here if the oneness doctrine is so obvious simple and important in the Bible why doesn't so many theologians Trinitarians who study the Bible in detail for so many years not see it or why do they choose not to believe it or emphasize it well I guess you have to ask them but I think Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 gives one reason beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men now after the rudiments the world not after Christ one problem is people study this subject through the terms of Greek philosophy and it's what I was mentioning last night when you read the word God for example what definition do you bring to the text what we should do is start with the Old Testament definition and bring that definition to the New Testament text but what most people do is they start with the 4th century 5th century definitions of the Creed's and every time they read God or father or son or spirit they already have in their mind what that means and so but they're approaching it from terms derived from Greek philosophy you see Greek philosophy said God is high remote cannot be touched cannot feel does not have emotions cannot get his hands dirty so to speak and so the true God could not really interact with this sinful world and so God had to send something out of himself as a second person and that's who could interact with this world and that's really how this concept of the word being a different person from God how it started from the Greek philosophical concept that God is remote and an unapproachable impassable meaning cannot be touched or cannot feel cannot have emotions if you study Plato and and the Neo playfulness you will see that you study the Gnostics you'll see this concept God cannot be moved cannot be touched but that's not the Hebrew concept of God if you read the Old Testament God is grieved God is angry God is is jealous God you know God gets excited when his people do good and he gets angry when his people do bad God is very much involved in his creation so he doesn't have to send someone else to interact with his creation he interacts with his creation himself so if you start with the philosophical concept that's why people that are very sincere but they've already got their glasses on just like if you read with with sunglasses on you're gonna see it differently no matter how carefully you read it's going to be colored well that's that's philosophy and tradition another reason is tradition it's been handed down and they don't want to buck the tradition some people see it but they won't say anything and I've got in some of my books records prominent Baptist theologians and others who a prominent Presbyterian minister of a hundred years ago 150 years ago and on and on that actually have come to the same kind of conclusion but and some will state it for everyone that states it probably 10 don't because they're afraid of the consequences or they don't even want to investigate further I was earlier this year I had a discussion with a professor of theology in Michigan in the United States and he made this quote it's a famous quote he said well if you try need to understand the Trinity you're in danger of losing your mind but if you tried to deny the Trinity you're in danger of losing your soul well if that's your philosophy what are you gonna do I don't want to talk about it stay away from it if I deny it I might be lost and I can't understand anyway so I'm not going to try I'm gonna leave that alone so a lot of people do that well I better just believe it and what happens you find in church history even today people say yes I believe in the Trinity but if you ask what do you mean by the word Trinity what do you mean by father/son in the Holy Spirit a lot of them would say something very similar to what I'm saying but as long as they just say oh I believe in the Trinity then everybody leaves them alone doesn't ask any questions so a lot of people do believe what we believe but either they never heard explain or they don't want to discuss it with anybody for fear of stirring controversy and so a lot of times it's just not talked about but there are more and more people coming to a full understanding in our day so another reason is you know 1st Corinthians 2 it says the carnal mind cannot understand the things about they're spiritually discerned if you don't have the Holy Spirit it's hard to understand some things but the Spirit opens your understanding well that's at least a partial explanation let me see how would you explain revelation 1 5 through 6 it's talking about Jesus Christ the faithful witness the first begotten of the Dead and the Prince the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and have made us kings and priests unto God and his father this is a good example Jesus was a true human being so everything we can say about ourselves in relationship to God Jesus had to be able to say about himself in relationship to God so is it surprising Jesus says unto speaks unto God and his father no because we would say that of ourselves right and so in this passage Jesus is making us kings and priests he had to do it first for us in other words Jesus lived a sinless life and he won the right to be king and priests by his own sinless life everything he won for himself we can receive by believing on him say Jesus was the heir of Abraham he inherited all the promises God gave to Abraham he was the heir of David he inherited all the promises God gave to David and when we believe on him we share in those promises so Jesus as a human he earned the right to be king and priest because he lived a sinless life he obeyed God everything that Adam didn't do Jesus did so everything he won for himself as a true human who did not sin who conquered the devil then we inherit because of him so we become kings and priests not because of our own merit but by what Jesus did so he is putting himself first of all in that human place of saying I have obeyed God I have served God I have fulfilled everything God commanded and therefore I become a king and priests unto God now you can become kings and priests with me by stepping into the position of faith and so in that passage it's describing everything Jesus won as a true human so it speaks of God and his father just as we would speak of our God and Father now this is a good example of Jesus as a true human being all right acts 2:38 Peter said you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and the questions are how to explain is this more than the gift of tongues Paul spoke of in first Corinthians is there any one thing to justify this besides reference and acts when there was not an interpreter well we have to understand the gift of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit that's a different Greek word by the way in first Corinthians doron whereas in in 1st Corinthians and some on cara's Motta there is the gift of the Holy Spirit God's Spirit come to dwell in you and then once God's Word is working in you there are many gifts that come out of that there is healing miracles tongues interpretation of tongues and so forth so there is a difference even in the Greek language the gift of the Holy Spirit is God's Spirit dwelling in you the various gifts are first Corinthians 12 through 14 are gifts of the Spirit working in your life now you can see the difference Paul in 1st Corinthians 14 talks about the use of tongues in the life of the church and he says if someone speaks in public worship in tongues you pray for an interpreter if there's no interpreter you should keep silent and there should be at most two or three messages in tongues and interpretation the reason for that is is to keep order in the service the public worship so that everything is for the benefit of all but if there is no interpreter you can keep silent he speaks to himself and to the Lord so in your personal prayer your personal worship you can speak in tongues because it's a benefit to you so when we're all praising God together if everybody wants to speak in tongues individually to themselves into God that's an order because you're not out you're not speaking to the whole congregation you're just speaking to yourself into God but when you have the attention of the whole congregation it needs to be a prophecy in the known language or it needs to be a tongues and an interpretation he's explaining this but in acts 120 received the Holy Ghost in the day of Pentecost they did not wait for an interpreter because they were talking about receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and that shows you that tongues is an initial sign of people when they receive the Holy Ghost and then later they continue to speak in tongues in their personal prayer life and they can sometimes speak in tongues for the public service but in that case they must follow the rules of 1st Corinthians you don't see those rules in Acts because it's not talking about the gift of tongues in the life of the church in public worship services it's talking about the initial reception of the Holy Spirit okay Acts chapter 7 verse 55 and 56 let's take a look at this this is a good one this is when Stephen was stoned in Acts 755 but he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said behold I see the heavens open and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God what did Stephen see he did not see two persons he saw one person he saw Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God now let me explain the term right hand is symbolic of power it is not literal he did not see two bodies I'll tell you why John 4:20 one for God is a spirit you cannot see a spirit where's the right hand of us of the Spirit of God God's Spirit is everywhere John 1:18 this was written long after the events of Acts John 1:18 says no man has seen God at any time so it would be a mistake to interpret this as Stephen saw a separate person of God he saw Jesus you can you can it's obvious in verse 59 they stone Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit if he saw two persons he ignored one of them and he only spoke to Jesus and then the next question is if there's a Trinity why didn't he see three persons why do you see only two so it's not it's not talking about a Trinity it's not talking about seeing God as a separate person from Jesus it's talking about Jesus seeing Jesus in the position of power now in Hebrew and Greek and also in English when you say the right hand it's symbolic of power because for most people they're right-handed and if you're if you are right-handed and you try to work with your left hand you see how awkward it is your right hand signifies your power your strength your ability well we find this in the Bible Exodus chapter 15 verse 6 the right hand Oh God is glorious in power it's talking about when he delivered Israel from Egypt is it saying that a big hand came out of heaven and pulled him out he had his left hand tied behind his back and he used his right hand no it's time out the power of God here's another good example at the trial of Jesus in Matthew chapter 26 64 jesus said to the high priest hereafter you shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds at the right hand of power now when Jesus comes back are we going to see two persons in the clouds no we're going to see one person but we're going to see him the position of power when Jesus walked on earth he looked like an ordinary man to the eyes of faith they could know who he was but to the average person he just looked like another man in fact the Last Supper John who was his close friend he leaned up against his breast at supper talked him very personally closely but that same John in Revelation chapter 1 when he saw the glorified Christ in his power what happened he fell down at his feet as dead it's the same John the same Jesus what's the difference he saw him in the position of power not just as an ordinary man but as God manifests in the flesh the glory of god so what Stephen is saying I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God he's saying I see Jesus in the position of power I see him with glory and power and majesty and that's why he says Lord Jesus receive my spirit he prays to this one who has all power and so he saw I believe he saw Jesus is the only visible being but he saw him surrounded by the glory of God in the position of all power and that matches what we see in Revelation chapter 4 verse 2 where there's one throne in heaven not two Thrones and one sat on the throne and that matches what we saw in Revelation 22 3 through 4 the throne of God and of the Lamb and his servant shall serve Him one throne not two Thrones so the right hand is not a physical position but it is a metaphor or a symbol of God's power and then I have one more question here Ezekiel 36 and 25 with which is talking about sprinkling if I ya 3625 I will sprinkle clean water upon you you shall be clean from all your filthiness from your idols will I cleanse you and he says I believe in baptism by immersion but what does it mean here when we talk about sprinkling well this verse is not really talking about baptism as such what Ezekiel is talking about he's using the Old Testament rituals where they would sprinkle water sprinkle blood on a sacrifice or something like that and he's saying I'm going to do that to you in the New Covenant it's not a specific to water baptism is talking about the work of God in cleansing the heart and he's using this example as a type a typology but we know baptism in the New Testaments by immersion for many reasons number one Jesus was immersed in mark on Matthew 3:16 he came up out of the water we know that the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8 what about verse 36 both he and Philip went down into the water Romans chapter 6 verse 4 we're buried with Christ in water baptism and also obviously it's baptism by immersion fulfills the symbol of baptism being a burial with Christ and so that's the specific teaching of the New Testament that would set the pattern for us when it comes to how we baptized in fact the very word baptized is from the Greek baptized Oh which literally means to dip to plunge to immerse it's one of those words and actually was not translated it was just copied over into English if you're going to do a true translation it would say be dipped or be immersed in the name of Jesus but that's one of the words that they chose not to actually translate but to transliterate just to carry the word over from Greek into English because of its unique character as a ceremony for Christians well that gives you a brief summary and there are many more questions that I'm sure that you have but let me try to summarize it and if we have some time I might later I might give you some pointers of how you can interpret Scripture properly but if you'll notice many of these answers the key is to look at the context the surrounding verses to get a full understanding and another key is to look at parallel or similar passages because all of the Bible is the Word of God so you interpret scripture by scripture scripture interpret scripture one passage will shed light on another passage a clear passage will help you understand a difficult passage and so as you put it all together you can get a clearer understanding that will be consistent with the whole Word of God we cannot assume that one verse is going to contradict another verse because then there would be error in the Bible but we must assume that there is an answer that will fit all the Scriptures together and so that's what we have to do well let's stand tonight I hope that I've given you some

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Published: Sat Sep 07 2013