Answers | To Your Questions About the Bible, Theology and Christian Living

Why are the Bereans so often held up as the best example of students of the Word?

The answer can be found in Acts 17:11, “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

They did what we all need to do. They checked anything they were taught to make sure it was consistent with God’s Word. See “Look in the Bible” for more on this.

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »

Pastors and deacons are the primary offices in the New Testament Church.

We also find words for elder (presbuteros), and for bishop or overseer (episkopos). Pastor is the Greek poimen, which is also translated shepherd. Despite the fact various groups have created different offices for these terms, in the New Testament they are synonymous: Pastor = elder = bishop or overseer. (See Acts 20:17,28.) All of these terms refer to an individual who shepherds people, cares for a flock, and is a spiritual leader.

There can be multiple elders in a church. Pastors/elders lead, some paid and some unpaid, and some also preach and teach. First Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” “Double honor” refers to wages, or income from the ministry (v. 18).

Read Full Post »

The concept of the Trinity enlarges the concept of God found in the Old Testament and makes certain Old Testament passages more understandable. For example, some 2,500 times the word for God is Elohim, plural, instead of El, singular. There are plural pronouns used to describe the one God: “Let us make man” (Genesis 1:26); “Man is become as one of us” (Genesis 3:22); “Remember Thy Creators” (Ecclesiastes 12:1, literal); “Rejoice in His Makers” (Psalm 149:2, literal).

And, in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (NKJV), the word for “name” is singular, representing three persons.

The plural pronouns are an indicator of the trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — the Three in One.

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »

Jesus had four half-brothers as well as half-sisters:

Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” Matthew 13:54-56 (see Mark 6:3)

His brother James is the likely author of the book of James and the leader of the new church in the book of Acts (see chapter 15).

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »

I am confused about the meaning of “dead in Christ” in 1 Thessalonians 4:16: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” I have always been taught that when we die, we instantly go to heaven. If we are already in heaven and alive with Christ, how are we dead in Christ and caught up at His reappearance?

The apostle Paul makes it clear that believers go immediately into the Lord’s presence when they die. He calls this being “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8, NIV). Those who are “dead in Christ” are called “those who have fallen asleep in him [Jesus]” (v. 14), “those who have fallen asleep” (v. 15), and “those who fall asleep” (v. 13). Sleep is stressed, not to indicate lack of consciousness but because, for believers, death is simply the appearance of sleep.

The body is dead and the spirit is with Christ. When Jesus returns he brings these believers with him (1 Thessalonians 4:13), their bodies will be glorified (made incorruptible) and reunited with their spirits “in the air” (v. 17).

“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:52-53; read the whole chapter).

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »

I have learned not to put too much emphasis on current news. The day after Mussolini died I went into the Bible college bookstore and saw a big stack of books entitled Is Mussolini the Antichrist? They were marked “Five cents each.” In Israel in 1962 a converted Jew tried to persuade me that President Nixon was the antichrist because his name in Hebrew letters as Nigson added up to 666.

Jesus did not ask us to focus on current news. He said not to be alarmed by wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6). Most important is to live ready Jesus’ return (24:44). Jesus emphasized that the gospel of the Kingdom (the same gospel He and the apostles preached) must be proclaimed “in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (24:14, NIV). The question we should be asking is: “How much more can we do to get the gospel out to the many who still have never heard?”

Stanley M. Horton

Read Full Post »

First John 5:7 in the King James Version is such a great proof-text for the Trinity. Why is it not found in newer versions?

When you read 1 John 5:7 in the KJV it does seem like a great proof-text for the Trinity. It reads, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

Newer versions omit that wording.

So why would Christians omit wording that helps prove the Trinity? (1) Those words are not authentic, and (2) There is plenty of proof for the Trinity without them. We don’t need to use spurious words to authenticate the doctrine.

Scholar F.F. Bruce explained it well in his excellent book History of the Bible in English:

They [the words of 1 John 5:7 as found in the KJV] first appear in the writing of a Spanish Christian leader named Priscillian, who was executed for heresy in A.D. 385. Later they made their way into copies of the Latin text of the Bible. When Erasmus prepared his printed edition of the Greek Testament, he rightly left those words out, but was attacked for this by people who felt that the passage was a valuable proof-text for the doctrine of the Trinity. He replied (rather incautiously) that if he could be shown any Greek manuscript which contained the words, he would include them in his next edition. Unfortunately, a Greek manuscript not more than some twenty years old was produced in which the words appeared: they had been translated into Greek from Latin. Of course, the fact that the only Greek manuscript exhibiting the words belonged to the sixteenth century was in itself an argument against their authenticity, but Erasmus had given his promise, and so in his 1522 edition he included the passage. (Today one or two other very late Greek manuscripts are known to contain the passage; all others omit it.)

[New York: Oxford University Press, 1978 (third edition), pp. 141-2]

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »

When was the first publication of red letters for the words of Jesus Christ? Why are the words of the Lord God, the Holy Spirit, or the Angel of the Lord in the O.T. not also given a special color?

In 1899, Louis Klopsch, editor of The Christian Herald read Luke 22:20 and was struck by the words “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” Because of the symbolism of the blood, Dr. Klopsch wondered if the words of the Lord might effectively be printed in red: “Why not a red-letter Bible with the red words to be those of our Lord?” He sought counsel from his pastor, T. DeWitt Talmage, of Brooklyn Temple. Talmage encouraged him and the first red-letter New Testaments were printed in 1901.

Red was applied to all the words of Jesus, including those quoted by others in the Bible, but not in the Old Testament theophanies (or appearances of Christ before He came to earth in flesh).

The first printing quickly sold out and red-letter Bibles have been immensely popular ever since.

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »

I have heard that the name Salome, who was responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist, is in the Bible but I can’t find it.

Yes, the name Salome is in the Bible … but not that Salome.

The infamous Salome was the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee. She plotted with her mother, Herodias, to dance for her stepfather, Herod Antipas, gain his favor, and ask for John’s head. Herodias was the divorced wife of Philip, half brother of Antipas. Herod had imprisoned John for speaking out against this, but feared going further, since John had such a large following.

Herodias shared her husband’s hatred of John, but not his fear, so she put her daughter up to the scheme to get her weak husband to promise John’s death to his seductive stepdaughter. John was beheaded and his head put on display.

But Salome is not named in the Matthew 14 or Mark 6 accounts. Instead she is named by the extrabiblical Jewish historian Josephus.

But there is a Salome mentioned in the Bible. She was with Jesus in Galilee (Mark 15:40-41) and was present at the crucifixion (Mark 15:40), and was at the tomb of Jesus on the resurrection morning (Mark 16:1-2). Matthew 27:56 identifies her as the wife of Zebedee and, thus, the mother of James and John, the “Sons of Thunder.”

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »

Where does the Pentecostal church stand on women preachers/teachers?

One of the great privileges I have had since I have been with Today’s Pentecostal Evangel is the international travel that is a part of our coverage for the World Missions Edition of the magazine. In viewing the works of God among His people on five continents, one of the things that stand out to me is this: Wherever there is a powerful move of God, I have seen women actively and significantly involved. In some places it has been clear that without the ministry of women the church would not be experiencing the spiritual prosperity it is. This is clearly the case in the world’s largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church, in Seoul, South Korea.

The story of women in missions is more than that of female nationals. A glance at both the history of missions and current missions outreach proves that the ministry of female missionaries, single and married, is of inestimable value. The history of Pentecost also reveals the crucial role women have played, and continue to play, in the movement.

But more than experience speaks for the importance of women. So does God’s Word. Though the role of women in the church has been a hotly debated topic for many years, it is clear that Christianity has always valued women more highly than other worldviews have. In the gospels, Jesus clearly elevated the status of women above that day’s cultural norm. The apostle Paul continued to promote that reality in the epistles he wrote. His statement in Galatians 3:28 is the biblical magnum opus of male/female spiritual equality: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (NIV). And though it was Paul who said, “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22), his statement (often ignored) about husband/wife relationship in the verse just prior to that was trailblazing: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

The Assemblies of God, based on the teaching of God’s Word and not simply on experience, has come to the following conclusion:

We are aware that the ministry and leadership of women are not accepted by some individuals, both within and outside the Christian community. We condemn all prejudice and self-promotion, by men or women. The existence in the secular world of bigotry against women cannot be denied. But there is no place for such an attitude in the body of Christ. We acknowledge that attitudes of secular society, based on long-standing practice and tradition, have influenced the application of biblical principles to local circumstances. We desire wisely to respect yet help redeem cultures which are at variance with Kingdom principles. Like Paul, we affirm the Great Commission takes priority over every other consideration. We must reach men and women for Christ, no matter what their cultural or ethnic customs may be. The message of redemption has been carried to remote parts of the world through the ministry of dedicated, Spirit-filled men and women. A believer’s gifts and anointing should still today make a way for his or her ministry. The Pentecostal ministry is not a profession to which men or women merely aspire; it must always be a divine calling, confirmed by the Spirit with a special gifting.

The Assemblies of God has been blessed and must continue to be blessed by the ministry of God’s gifted and commissioned daughters. To the degree that we are convinced of our Pentecostal distinctives–that it is God who divinely calls and supernaturally anoints for ministry–we must continue to be open to the full use of women’s gifts in ministry and spiritual leadership.

Read the full position paper here.

Ken Horn

Read Full Post »