Choosing Truth

I was working for the tech support department in a school district. My assistant was quite competent and I had a few years of experience under my belt. Our boss, a curriculum specialist, had to make an important tech decision but He simply did not know what to do. He asked for input from the entire tech department, but we were divided: Software guys (my assistant and me) and the hardware guys. Technically, it was a split decision, but because there were four hardware guys and only two software guys, my boss saw it as 4 to 2. Which was best/true?

Just think of his difficult dilemma. He really did not know and had to rely solely on his tech team which was not unified in their advice.

My boss’s decision was an operational tech decision, not an important financial decision that a might cost the district. Jobs were not at stake. It was not like a king making a critical decision with lives at stake. But just think, there have been kings who have come to pivotal crossroads wondering what to decide; listening to advice and wondering, “How do I decide? How do I know the truth?”

King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, brought his advisors together. His decision would determine the fate of his kingdom. The wisdom of the older advisors was rejected and the kingdom of Israel divided into two kingdoms. Why listen to his younger, contemporary advisors? It was not a ‘strength-in-numbers’ kind of thinking in which the majority rules. He followed the younger advisors simply because he wanted to. They told him what he wanted to hear. (Read about it in 1 Kings 12.)

In the book of Daniel we read of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar who desired to know the meaning of a troubling dream. He required that his advisors tell him the content of his dream AND interpret it. The text hints that the advisors had previously interpreted dreams according to their perception of what the king desired, and that the king knew this. On this occasion, he wanted to be sure that he was given truth. If they could tell him his dream, then he would be sure that the interpretation was not something made up (Daniel 2). He really desired the truth.

King Ahab of Israel preferred the word of the majority when consulting the prophets. Yet, he knew that Micaiah was a prophet who always told the truth. Even so, he listened to the majority because he liked what he heard...and his defeat and death followed. (1 Kings 22)

King Jehoiakim of Judah literally took the scroll that contained the words of the prophet Jeremiah, cut it into pieces with a knife and threw it into a fire (Jeremiah 36). That was not what he wanted to hear.

Leaders who stood at a crossroad, needing advice, needing truth: one content with the majority; some despising truth, one who insisted on the truth.

How do you make important life decisions? Do you love truth? How do you find truth?

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching; but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings.
—2 Timothy 4:3 (RSV)

That time has come!

Is the way YOU see things satisfying? Do you prefer to trust the majority? Does the research of man override God’s revealed word?

Be bold...Choose to be a truth seeker.

Choose truth revealed—God’s word.

Mark Stinnett

Christian Baptism in the First Century A.D.

John the Baptist did not explain baptism. Jesus did not explain baptism. The gospel writers did not explain baptism. Yet, the Jews at the time of Jesus clearly understood something about baptism, but what?

All four gospel writers write about John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah through his preaching. (That was a fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah.) Those who were baptized by John became his disciples. So, baptism was the beginning point of one’s discipleship.

Some scholars think that John’s baptism developed from the purification washings in the Law of Moses. However, John received his instruction from God.

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”
John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’”
--John 1:29–33 (NASB95)

While John's baptism was not copied from Jewish purification washings, there was a parallel: John was “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). So, baptism also had a connection to purification.

Putting these things together, it appears that the Jews at the time of Jesus already associated baptism with purification and discipleship. For that reason we do not read explanations for baptism. Nor do we read of objections to baptism. In other words, those who wanted to be disciples of John did not argue about baptism or refuse to be baptized. Baptism was naturally understood to be associated with discipleship and purification.

Later, just before the resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent his apostles out to preach the gospel with instructions to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” There was no further explanation of baptism by Jesus, and the apostles did not question Him or protest baptism. (See Matthew 28.)

On the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached the first gospel sermon and instructed believers to “repent and be baptized for forgiveness of sins” there was no further explanation; no questions; no arguments. (See Acts 2.)

It is not until we begin reading the letters to the early church that we find additional information regarding the meaning and relevance of the baptism that Jesus had instructed, i.e. Christian baptism. Paul gave a detailed explanation of baptism in Romans 6. One might wonder if he was clearing up some confusion, or simply explaining things more clearly to those without a Jewish background. Whatever the case, it is illuminating and applicable to all Christians.

So, what is the point?

When you read the New Testament you are sure to see that baptism was taught and instructed by Jesus and His apostles. Yet, you never read about people questioning baptism or arguing about the relevance of baptism.

The questions and arguments about baptism appeared in church history after the first century, after the apostles' writings. New innovations came after the New Testament writings; innovations such as infant baptism; pouring and sprinkling instead of immersion; and specific rules on who, how and when baptism could be performed.

All of this leads to a simple question: “Why can’t we return to the simple instruction of Jesus and the Apostles?”

Folks today might not understand the meaning and relevance of Christian baptism. Yet, the instruction of Jesus, the example of the apostles, and the teaching of the New Testament writers provide clarity. In addition, there is overwhelming testimony for the importance of baptism in the many examples of baptism in the Book of Acts. Baptism was the beginning point of true discipleship and purification and it still is.

Let’s get back to the Bible.

Mark Stinnett

Another Look at the 'Virgin Birth' Prophecy of Isaiah

The fulfillment of biblical prophecy makes the strongest case for the authenticity of the Bible. It is no wonder that many folks who challenge the Bible discount biblical prophecy. In general, they are individuals who do not accept the possibility of miracles. So, they search for rational explanations of the fulfillment of prophetic writings that speak about the future.

One strategy used to discount the fulfillment of biblical prophecy is to claim that the prophetic writings came after the events they predicted. Or, some ‘nay-sayers’ claim that believers intentionally orchestrated events to give the appearance of prophetic fulfillment. Yet another way to discount prophetic fulfillment is to challenge whether the prophecy was, in fact, a prophecy in the first place. So it is with the prophecy of the virgin birth of the Messiah in Isaiah 7:14.

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Doubters claim that the Jews would not have considered this to have been a prophecy involving a future virgin birth. The thinking is based on the use of a Hebrew term in Isaiah 7:14 that means ‘young girl’ (or, virgin). Though the word generally suggests a ‘young virgin girl’ it cannot be restricted to that meaning exclusively. (I wrote about this one year ago in an article entitled: “What Do You Think About the Virgin Birth?”)

Last winter I learned something that has brought this Old Testament text to my mind once again. I learned that the assumption that the Jews did not expect a virgin birth is simply not true.

The approximate time that Isaiah prophesied was between 739-681 B.C. Isaiah recorded his prophesies in the Hebrew language, later translated into Greek, in a writing known as the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX, the Roman numeral for 70, and representing the 72 Jewish scholars who translated the work). The LXX was completed in the 2nd Century B.C., over 100 years before the birth of Jesus.

The translators of the LXX used a Greek term meaning ‘virgin’ when translating Isaiah 7:14. There is no mistake; they believed that the future Immanuel (“God with us”) would be born of a virgin. So, they had no difficulty in understanding the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14.

Matthew, by inspiration, used the same Greek word as the LXX for ‘virgin’ when describing the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:23, 25).

The idea that the Hebrew term used by Isaiah did not necessarily mean ‘virgin’ was pressed forward by unbelieving Jews after the 1st Century A.D. In other words, some non-believing Jews were trying to find a way to discredit Christianity. So, they challenged the virgin birth prophecy concerning Immanuel found in Isaiah 7:14.

An early Christian writer of the 3rd Century A.D. named Origen spoke out against this challenge by making a simple observation (which I have abbreviated considerably):

Isaiah prophesied that “the Lord Himself will give you a sign.” A pregnant married woman would not be much of a sign; but a pregnant virgin would be an amazing sign!

So, the Jews at the time of Jesus actually did believe that Immanuel would be born of a virgin. Then, after Christianity began to spread, some who rejected Jesus began reinterpreting Isaiah in order to attack Christianity.

Some today have resurrected the same old stale argument in order to attack the inspiration of God’s word. The surprising thing is that some of them presume to wear the name of Christ!

Stand firm! Do not be deceived!!!

Mark Stinnett