Follow along with us each week as we study God's Word.
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Bible Questions and Answers
Question:
In the parable of the sower, what or who do the birds represent? Can the birds take the word of God away from those saved?
Answer:
“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; (4) as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.
Mark 4:3-4
And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? (14) “The sower sows the word. (15) “These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
Mark 4:13-15
The parallel in Mathew tells us more about these people. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
Matthew 13:19
There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
John 1:9
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, (13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” (11) Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.
Matthew 13:10-11
Things to remember:
in the parable of the sower, only the one who produces fruit is saved. Yet John tells us that all who are born are being enlightened. Enlightened is not salvation. resurrection (spiritual) is salvation. Enlightenment is Gods faithfulness to present the truth to every man being born into the world, But the parable of the sower tells us that it is the condition of the persons heart that determines whether salvation takes place. All are presented the word in the heart, but only those who’s “soil” is in the right condition can become born again. The other’s are , for the reasons given, missing the key ingredient of God’s action to save them. Thus no matter what they have heard or not heard, done or not done, believed or not believed, they are still lost. The one from whom the evil one (bird) takes the seed is the one who does not understand what they have heard. Why do they not understand? because understanding must be granted by God and cannot be purposed by man’s desire to know.
Question:
I have a question for you “Greek guys.” In 1 John 1, John speaks of sin and our advocate for our sin, but in chapter 3, he goes on to say “whoever sins has not seen Him, neither known Him,” and, “he that committeth sin is of the devil.”
One explanation I've heard is that the words for sin in the Greek were different, one meaning “to err,” the other meaning “an ongoing practice of sin.” But looking at the Greek words, the two used in the text are the same, so now I'm totally confused.
Answer:
The Greek word for sin is not the issue in 1 John 2:1 and 1 John 3:4-8. The issue is the verb tenses.
In 1 John 3:4 it reads: "Everyone who is practicing the sin, also is practicing the lawlessness." Notice in the literal translation, "practicing" is the translation of the present participle which denotes a lifestyle or continuous, ongoing condition. In the second clause, the present indicative verb is translated "is practicing" which also represents a present, ongoing condition. Both the word for sin and for lawlessness have the definite article "the" representing the principle of sin which happens to be explained in verse 8 where it says, "The devil is sinning from the beginning." The devil is the sinner who energizes people to sin (see Ephesians 2:1-3).
In verse 6 it reads, "Everyone abiding in Him is not sinning; everyone sinning has not seen Him, nor has known Him." Again the present participle is represented by the word "abiding" and expresses a present continual condition. This person is described as "not sinning" which again is a present indicative verb expressing fact. The person who is dwelling in Christ does not habitually sin.
Then in verse 8 we have, "The one practicing the sin, is from out of the devil (as a source); because the devil is sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, in order that He might loosen the works of the devil." Here John states that the person who is in a continuous condition of practicing sin is spiritually functioning from out of the devil as a source, but the Son of Man came to loosen the works of the devil.
When the Lord Jesus comes into a person's spirit, He literally loosens the power and influence that the devil has on a person and fills that person with the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit now resides inside the believer, the believer cannot practice sin any longer. The spiritual force that once forced the person to live a life of continuous sin has been removed and the Holy Spirit now convicts that person of their sin.
Verse 9 tells us, "Everyone who has been born from out of God (as a source), is not practicing sin, because His seed is abiding in him, and he is not able to sin, because he has been born from out of God." Verse 9 states again that a person born from out of God is not practicing sin, that is expressed by another present active verb denoting present, continual practice. Then John states the reason he cannot practice sin is because God's seed is in him. With God's seed continually abiding in him, he does not have the ability to continually and habitually sin, "because he has been born from out of God."
In 1 John 2:1 the literal translation reads: "My children, these things I write to you, in order that you should not sin; and if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;" John states that he is writing so that they "should not sin." The verb tense here is an aorist subjunctive. This means that John is referring to an act of sin, not a lifestyle of sin.
Then he says that "if anyone should sin," again he’s using an aorist subjunctive which is expressing a single act of sin. If anyone should commit an act of sin, we have an advocate (defense lawyer) in Jesus Christ who will intercede for us.
In summary, the person who does not know Christ habitually lives a life of sin because he is being energized by the spirit of the devil to fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind (again, see Ephesians 2:1-2). When the Spirit of Christ comes into a person's spirit, the spirit of the devil can no longer cause that person to continuously sin against God. The Seed, or the Life of God, living inside of the believer prevents the believer from continually and habitually sinning against God. Another good verse for this is Galatians 5:17 where Paul says that "The flesh fights against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh so that you cannot do the things that you wish." That is a powerful verse and it tells us that the Holy Spirit dwelling within prevents us from doing the things that we desire to do - habitually.
Q: Can we, as a Christian, command the enemy to stop putting sickness in our bodies in the name of Jesus?
A: No. Nowhere in the Bible is that taught.
Q: Also can we command sickness to leave our temples (our bodies), and command healing to come in, in Jesus’ name? I feel uncomfortable commanding the Holy Ghost to heal my body.
A: This is exactly the point. You feel uncomfortable commanding the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost is convicting you that it is not right. In fact He, the Holy Ghost, is teaching you something here.
In the past few years, many Eastern religious teachings have infiltrated the Church. People who adopt these Eastern religion practices don’t want their flesh to have to suffer for Christ. They don't want any harm to come to their flesh, but rather want their flesh to be perfectly healthy, wealthy, and happy.
From cover-to-cover, the Bible teaches that the human being is sinful and God's spirit is Holy. Paul said in Romans 8:7 that the "mind of the flesh is hostile against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be." And in Romans 7:18, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing..."
The Bible teaches that the flesh is an enemy of the Cross of Christ and that it does not have the capacity to submit to the law of God. The Bible says we are to take up our cross daily and deny ourselves (our flesh) and follow Christ.
My advice is don't get caught in the trap of trying to play God in His Name. I hope that you learn what the entire Bible says so that you will know the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27) and won't get caught in Satan's traps.
