Hello, I have a question about sacrifice.  I have read where the Israelites had to make sacrifices on certain days to atone for their sins.  I am also aware that the sacrifice of Jesus has made this unnecessary.  But I do not understand how taking the best portion of your livelihood and burning it would atone for your sins.  I also do not understand how Jesus' sacrifice atoned for all the sins of the world.

How does destroying the most precious things equal forgiveness from God?  How does Jesus’ perfect sacrifice save us?  What do these acts actually DO?

Sincerely,
Sacrificially Stymied

Dear Sacrificially Stymied,

The Jewish sacrifices of bulls and goats never did atone for sins (Heb 10:4); all they did was teach that forgiveness from sin came with a cost.  God teaches us that when we sin, the wages of that sin are death (Rom 6:23).  The Jews learned that lesson by making sin offerings.  When the sinner laid their hand upon the head of the innocent animal, they symbolically transferred their sin to that beast (Lev 4:27-29).  However, animal blood never was enough to truly pay for sin.  It took the God’s Son’s blood to pay the price for our sin; only Deity’s blood was enough to cover the tremendous cost of sin (Heb 10:10).

Jesus had to sacrifice Himself to pay for our sins because God is both a merciful and a just God.  By personally paying the price for our sins, God showed Himself to be both just and the justifier of the faithful (Rom 3:25-26).  Like a father paying the price for his son’s mistakes, Jesus paid the price for our mistakes.

    According to Hebrews 6:4-6, is there no hope for someone who has fallen out of the church to come back to God?

Sincerely,
Looking For Hope

Dear Looking For Hope,

Heb. 6:4-6 says that it is impossible for others to renew to repentance a brother who has fallen away.  It is always possible to come back to the Lord after falling away (1 Jn 1:9), but when someone has already been enlightened by the truth (Heb 6:4) and heard the Word of God (Heb 6:4), there isn’t any new teaching that can sway him from living a wicked life.  If someone falls away from Christ, it means their heart has been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13), and it is up to that individual to soften their own heart and return to the Lord.

     Would you please elaborate on 1 Corinthians 13:8–10?  How do we know that the word ‘perfect’ is referring to the Bible?

Sincerely,
Definition Please

Dear Definition Please,

The perfect that is described in 1 Cor 13:8-13 is typically thought to be one of two things.  It is either perfect knowledge of God’s Will (also known as the completed Bible) or the Second Coming of Christ.  So, let’s look at the details we are given about ‘the perfect’ and see which one fits better.

1. ‘The perfect’ is something that would replace partial knowledge (1 Cor 13:9).
2. ‘The perfect’ would remove the necessity for prophecy and new knowledge (1 Cor 13:8).
3. When ‘the perfect’ comes, christians will still be expected to have faith, hope, and love (1 Cor 13:13).

The third item on that list is proof that ‘the perfect’ isn’t the Second Coming of Christ.  When Christ returns, we will no longer need hope or faith.  Faith is trusting in something you can’t see (Heb 11:1); when Jesus comes, we won’t need to have faith in Him – everyone will see Him, and every knee will bow (Rom 14:11).  Hope is also something that ceases to exist when Jesus returns.  Hope is always in something you haven’t attained yet (Rom 8:25).  For example, if a child is told by his parents that they will take him to Disneyland, the child has faith in the parents’ promise and hopes to see Disneyland… until the day that he walks into the Magic Kingdom.  Hope and faith only exist because Christ hasn’t returned yet.

‘The perfect’ has to be something that happened after prophecy and miracles ended, but before Jesus’ return.  The most logical explanation is that Paul was discussing the perfect and complete knowledge that can be found in the completed Bible.  Today, with a finished Bible, the church still needs faith, hope, and love, but we no longer have a need for prophecy, and we no longer have only partial knowledge of God’s Will (Jude 1:3).

Are we predestinated to be saved according to Acts 13:48 and Ephesians 1:4-5 amongst others?  Is Calvinism true about predestination?

Sincerely,
Chosen By God

Dear Chosen By God,

We here at AYP firmly believe in election, grace, and predestination because they are all terms clearly mentioned in the Bible.  The important questions to ask are:

1. How are we elected?
2. Who receives grace?
3. What is predestined?

Many false doctrines have been created because people failed to ask these questions.  Calvinism (a very popular false doctrine that has infected many churches) teaches that people are elected by God without any conditions and that it is impossible to choose to serve God; it is all up to God.  It also teaches that grace can never be lost and that it is impossible to fall away even if you become an axe-murderer or live a homosexual lifestyle.  Calvinism also teaches that God predestined specific people throughout history to be saved and that only those specific individuals will go to heaven – everyone else is lost by default.  (For further information on Calvinism, please read “Calvin And Sobs”.)  This is an example of how the words ‘election’, ‘grace’, and ‘predestination’ have been abused when we didn’t clarify their biblical meanings.

God teaches that He has elected certain people to be saved.  John 6:44-45 says that God draws people to Him through the Bible.  When we listen to what the Bible says, we are called by God.  2 Thess 2:14 makes it even clearer when it says that we are called through the Gospel. ‘Called’ is another word for ‘elected’.

Those who turn to Christ will receive grace.  ‘Grace’ means ‘unmerited or undeserved favor’; grace is a gift you haven’t earned… in this case, it is the gift of salvation.  We receive grace when we live by faith (Eph 2:8).  Jesus died and paid a price none of us could ever pay – the price of our sins.  When we walk according to His teachings, His blood cleanses us from sin (1 Jn 1:7).  A faithful life isn’t a perfect life, but it is a life that is guided by God’s Word (Rom 10:17).

The Bible also teaches that God predestined something to be saved.  ‘Predestined’ means ‘to set the limits’.  Before God made anything, He set the limits of who would be saved and who wouldn’t (Eph 1:5).  God said that those in Christ will be saved (2 Tim 1:9).  Everyone who is washed in the blood of Jesus will be saved – He is the only way to God (Jhn 14:6).  God predestined only a certain group of people to be saved – the church (Acts 20:28).  The question we must all ask ourselves is: am I a part of God’s church?

Who are the twenty-four elders?

Sincerely,
Taking Role

Dear Taking Role,

The twenty-four elders seen in Rev 4:4 are before the throne of God.  They are identified as wearing white garments and wearing crowns of gold.  These details lend toward them being representative of the saved because God promises the faithful imperishable crowns (1 Pet 5:4) and robes of white (Rev 3:5).  The book of Revelation is highly symbolic, and it is important to not get too bogged down in looking for specifics when the book is intended to give a bigger picture of the church’s persecution and eventual victory over Rome.  Having said that, to us, the most plausible thing that the twenty-four elders represent is a combination of the redeemed from both the Old and New Covenants… twelve elders symbolic for the twelve tribes of Israel and twelve elders standing for the saved under the teachings of the twelve apostles.  Both the faithful of the Old and the New Testaments are saved together in Christ (Heb 9:15, Heb 11:40), and all the faithful cast their crowns down before God (Rev 4:10).  For an in-depth study of the book of Revelation, please feel free to download our class series on that subject at http://www.mvchurchofchrist.org/sermons.