General, page 2

Questions the Bible answers that belong to no one doctrine.

58 questions answered, showing 20 on page 2 of 3. All topics

• Whosoever WillWhat do the soldier, athlete and farmer mean in 2 Timothy 2:3-6?Whosoever Will, Three Men Who Cannot See the End: The soldier fights a war he will not see won today. He takes orders from a commander whose whole strategy he cannot see, in a campaign whose outcome will be decided somewhere he is not standing. He does not get to know. He obeys and endures hardness in the dark. The athlete trains ten months for one afternoon. That is not a figure of speech. Competitors at the ancient games swore an oath before the statue of Zeus that they had trained the full ten months, and the word Paul uses for striving lawfully, nomimōs, covers the training regimen and not merely the conduct of the contest. Ten months of diet and drill and sweat for a garland he does not hold, may never hold, and cannot see from where he is standing. The farmer works the hardest of the three and waits the longest. He breaks ground in one season and eats in another. Between the plowing and the bread there is nothing to look at but dirt. Paul says the husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits, and the word carries the order: the labor comes first, and the eating comes after, and there is no arrangement in which a man gets the harvest before he does the work. There it is. Three men, one condition. Every one of them is laboring in the gap between the work and the reward, and not one of them can see the end from where he stands. Scripture, King James Version: 2 Timothy 2:3-6, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.".
• Whosoever WillWhat does 'tribulation worketh patience' mean in Romans 5:3-4?Whosoever Will, Remaining Under: Read the chain slowly, because the order matters. Tribulation produces endurance. Endurance produces proven character. Character produces hope. Which means the pressure is not an interruption of the process. The pressure is the process. There is no other assembly line for hope. You do not get the tested character and the unshakable hope from a comfortable life; you get them from remaining under a weight long enough that it forges something in you that was not there before. This is the thing nobody wants to hear in the middle of it, and it is also the only thing that makes the middle of it survivable. The suffering is not wasted. It is doing something. The God who runs this economy does not permit weight on His people for no reason; He permits exactly the weight that manufactures the endurance that produces the hope. It is the most expensive gift He gives, and He only gives it one way. Scripture, King James Version: Romans 5:3-4, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:".
• Whosoever WillWhat does "I am nothing" mean in 1 Corinthians 13:2?Whosoever Will, The Most Impressive Resume in the Bible: Tongues of men and of angels. Not just the gift they were proudest of, but that gift raised to a level no one in Corinth had ever hit. The gift of prophecy. Understanding of all mysteries. All knowledge, the complete set, nothing withheld. Faith enough to move mountains, which is the exact measure Jesus Himself used for great faith. Giving away every possession you own to feed the poor. And then the last one, which no one can top: handing over your own body to be burned. Read that as a resume. There has never been a better one. It is not a list of ordinary Christian service, it is the ceiling of everything a person could possibly do or be given. Every item is genuinely supernatural or genuinely sacrificial. Any one of them would make a man famous in Corinth. Paul stacks all seven. Then he says that without love, the man holding that resume is nothing. Not diminished. Not less effective. Not still good but lacking a certain warmth. Nothing. The Greek is ouden. Zero. Paul does not say the gifts become nothing, notice. He says I become nothing. The gifts stay real. The tongues are still tongues, the prophecy still prophecy, the mountain still moves. The man operating them is a cipher. Scripture, King James Version: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.".
• With Chuck SmithWhat does "if thine eye be single" mean?Chuck Smith, Sermon on the Mount Study Guide, Matthew 6: Our Relationship with God: Our eyes are the windowpanes of our bodies. If the glass through which we look is clean, then we see the world as it is. If the glass is distorted or dirty, then our view of the world will be distorted. “Single” here means “generous, liberal” (Psalm 86:11; Colossians 3:22). “Evil” here means “stingy, grudging, greedy.” We should examine ourselves to determine whether we’re generous or stingy, not only with material things but also in our attitudes. If we’re generous, then we’re filled with light, but if we’re stingy, then we’re filled with darkness. Scripture, King James Version: Matthew 6:22-23, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"; Psalms 86:11, "Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name."; Colossians 3:22, "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:". Study notes condensed from his teaching by The Word For Today. From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.
• Whosoever WillWhat does "the LORD was with Joseph" mean (Genesis 39:2)?Whosoever Will, The Pit, the Prison, and the Palace: Here is what the Joseph narrative does that most revenge narratives do not: it shows you God in the pit. And the LORD was with Joseph (Genesis 39:2). Not after the pit. Not after the prison. Not after the elevation to Pharaoh's right hand. In the pit. In Potiphar's house. In the king's prison. In the years after the butler walked free and forgot him. Through all of it, the text keeps repeating the same five words: the LORD was with Joseph. Thread 1 (a God who cannot stop reaching) is not always dramatic. Sometimes it is simply present. Steady. Unbroken. The presence of God with Joseph is not the presence of a God who is managing the circumstances so they do not hurt. The pit hurts. The false accusation hurts. Two years in prison after the butler forgets his name hurts. The presence of God does not remove any of that. It accompanies it. Scripture, King James Version: Genesis 39:2, "And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.".
• Whosoever WillWhat does "through a glass, darkly" mean in 1 Corinthians 13:12?Whosoever Will, The Most Impressive Resume in the Bible: He tells the Corinthians that the very gifts they are fighting over have an expiration date. Prophecies shall fail. Tongues shall cease. Knowledge shall vanish away. The things they have organized their status around are temporary by design. They are scaffolding, and scaffolding comes down when the building is finished. We know in part, and we prophesy in part. Even the best of it, the genuine article, the real prophecy from the real Spirit, is partial. Paul says we see now through a glass darkly. The word behind it is the polished metal mirror of the ancient world, which gave you a real image and a dim one, recognizable but not sharp. That is our best current sight of God. Real, and dim. But then face to face. That is the sentence the whole chapter has been walking toward. Everything partial gets replaced, not corrected. Not upgraded. Replaced, by sight. And love is the one item on the list that does not expire, because love is not scaffolding. It is the building. Scripture, King James Version: 1 Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.".
• Whosoever WillWhat does a "perfect heart" mean in the Bible?Whosoever Will, Why Would He Look?: The Hebrew is shalem. It is related to shalom, peace, wholeness. It does not mean sinless. It does not mean flawless moral performance. It means whole, complete, undivided, wholly His. A shalem heart is not a heart that never fails. It is a heart that is not split, a heart pointed in one direction, undivided in its loyalty. Even careful Reformed commentators grant this: the perfect heart here is the sincere and upright heart, not complete, nor free from sin, but whole in its bent toward God. That is a mercy, because it means the verse is not looking for spiritual superheroes. It is looking for the undivided. And it also tells you exactly what went wrong with Asa. His heart did not become wicked. It became divided. Half on God, half on the king of Syria. Half praying, half scheming. The wholeness cracked, and a divided heart is precisely the thing those roving eyes are no longer able to throw their full strength behind, not because God grew cold, but because Asa had split the very thing the promise rested on. Scripture, King James Version: 2 Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.".
• With Chuck SmithWhat does it mean to be the salt of the earth?Chuck Smith, Sermon on the Mount Study Guide, Matthew 5: Salt has several uses: (1) At the time of Christ, salt was used as a preservative to kill bacteria and retard spoilage. The Christian should have a preserving type of influence. (2) Salt is used to add flavor. Christians are to add life and flavor to people’s lives. We’re to make every experience “taste” better because of our presence. (3) Salt creates thirst. Christians should create a thirst within others to know Jesus Christ. (4) Salt prevents infections from setting in. Christians are to have an antiseptic effect on the open sores of the world. Scripture, King James Version: Matthew 5:13, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.". Study notes condensed from his teaching by The Word For Today. From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.
• With Chuck SmithWhat does it mean to leave your first love?Chuck Smith, What the World Is Coming To, chapter 4: Many people say, "Oh, you've lost your first love." You don't lose it, you leave it. If you lose something, you never know where to pick it up again. You don't know where to find it. If you leave something, you know where to pick it up again. Jesus tells us how to pick it up again. The three R's: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen." Remember that love that you once had? "Repent." Then Repeat. "Do the first works." Come back to that first work of love. It is first above everything else. Do your first works over again, those works motivated and prompted by love. From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about anger?Anger itself is not always sin, "be ye angry, and sin not" (Eph 4:26), but it must not be nursed or allowed to control us. God is patient and "slow to anger" (Ps 103:8), and Scripture warns that "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (Jas 1:20).
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about anxiety and worry?"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer... let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil 4:6). The cure is not to suppress anxiety but to hand it to God, "casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (1 Pet 5:7).
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about being a mother?Scripture treats children as a gift and motherhood as real kingdom work: "children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward" (Psalm 127:3). The mother's
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage?God hates divorce (Mal 2:16) and designed marriage to be permanent, "what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matt 19:6). Scripture permits it in limited cases (sexual immorality, Matt 19:9; an unbelieving spouse who departs, 1 Cor 7:15), and holds out grace to those already divorced.
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about forgiveness? How do I forgive?God commands believers to forgive as they have been forgiven, "forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph 4:32). Forgiveness is releasing a debt, not pretending it didn't happen, and it frees the forgiver as much as the forgiven.
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about grief and loss?The Bible never tells a grieving woman to pretend. It draws near to her: "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psalm
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about homosexuality? Is it a sin?The Bible consistently identifies homosexual practice as sin (Rom 1:26-27, 1 Cor 6:9-11), as it does all sex outside the marriage of one man and one woman. It also holds out the same hope to everyone: "such were some of you: but ye are washed" (1 Cor 6:11). The sin is real; so is the grace.
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say about money and wealth?Money is not evil; "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim 6:10). Scripture calls believers to work, give, avoid greed and debt's bondage, and treasure God above wealth: "ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt 6:24).
• Whosoever WillWhat does the Bible say to a woman walking through suffering?Scripture does not promise a life without the fire. It promises God in it. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overfl
• With Chuck SmithWhat hinders my prayers from being answered?Chuck Smith, Effective Prayer Life, chapter 2: So many times when my prayers aren’t answered I want to blame God. In reality, the fault is mine. There’s sin at my door. David said that if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord does not hear me when I pray (Psalm 66:18). Sin, as Isaiah said, breaks your connection with God. It’s like cutting the telephone cord. You may dial the number all you want. You may speak in eloquent and very persuasive terms. Yet, you’ve cut the cord. The message is simply going into the ground and not getting anywhere. At that point prayer becomes deceptive. Many people say, “I know I’m not living as I should be, but I still pray.” But their prayers are of no value. Their relationship with God has been severed because of the sin within their lives. Their sins have separated them from their God. Scripture, King James Version: Psalms 66:18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:". From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.
• With Chuck SmithWhat if my child walks away from the faith?Chuck Smith, Christian Family Relationships, chapter 15: You must bring up children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. But when you do, you may go through some years of trial when, in that intermediate stage, they move from their parents' faith to the discovery of their own faith. You may go through some shaky years as they're getting out and trying their wings, but you always have the confidence that they'll return to the God of their early years and early training. So, don't panic. Know that the Lord is going to bring them back to Himself if you've been faithful in your training, and you'll be rewarded in seeing their salvation. From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.