GRACE ANSWERS 45

These are questions sent to GraceLife Ministries by Internet E-Mail. We appreciate each person who sent the questions and hope our answers will be a help to many. If you would like to have a question answered for Grace Answers, please e-mail Mark McGee.

Interracial Relationships

QUESTION: I would like information on what the Bible has to say about interacial relationships. I believe that God made us all different for a reason. Am I wrong?

ANSWER: The Bible teaches that the human race began with two people: Adam and Eve. It does not say whether they were white, black, red, yellow or any specific color. Adam and Eve had many children who had many children who had many children who had many children. Brothers and sisters married and had children during those early centuries as did cousins. Everyone was related in some way because they came from Adam and Eve. The Bible does not speak to racial issues in those early years, probably because everyone was of the same color, language and heritage.

Genesis introduces us to many "changes" in human relationships.

The first was the entrance of sin into the human race. That changed the way Adam and Eve related to each other.
The second was the introduction of murder and punishment. The first male child born on earth murdered the second male child. The first male child was banished from his home and parents ("you will be a restless wanderer on the earth" Genesis 4:12).
The third was when God chose one man (Noah) and his family to live when He destroyed the rest of the human race with a global flood.
The fourth was when God made a covenant with Noah establishing the death penalty for murder and promising not to destroy the earth again by a flood.
The fifth was when God decreased the maximum number of years people could live on earth from almost 1,000 to only 120.
The sixth was when God confused the common language of humanity at Babel ("Now the whole world had one language and a common speech" Genesis 11:1) so they would not understand each other and scattered them over all the earth.

It appears that Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives traveled eastward from Mt. Ararat. Noah's sons and daughters had children. They apparently moved with them. Everyone spoke a common language, so it was easy to live and stay close to each other. Everyone understood their heritage. After some time had passed, humanity moved to a plain in Shinar and settled there. They decided to build a city on the plain of Shinar. "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:4) This was not pleasing to the Lord. "The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.' So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city." (Genesis 11:6-8)

I believe this is also when the racial colors and physical features changed. The Bible doesn't say that, but it is the only place I can find in Scripture where God did something of the magnitude of changing people's relationships where skin color and physical features may have also changed. The change of color, physical features and language could certainly have been part of God's scattering of the human race across the earth. People would have naturally migrated toward others who spoke the same language. Communication is a primary force in interpersonal relationships.

The term "race" for a racial issue is used only twice in the Bible. It is always used about the Jewish Race. The Bible is about God's people and spiritual issues through the centuries, not about skin color. God carefully selected the lineage of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Each movement on God's part had the goal of delivering the Messiah to Israel and the Savior to Gentiles.

God confused the common human language (and possibly skin color and physical features) and scattered people over the earth to keep a pure deliniation of the line of the Savior. God established standards of behavior for His chosen people Israel for the holiness of the "race."

"The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring people with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness."
Ezra 9:1-2

Racial purity was important for Israel. However, the Bible doesn't mention racial purity outside of Israel. The Bible speaks of people as either Jews or Gentiles; circumcised or uncircumcised. The Bible doesn't deal with interracial issues in the Gentile world.

The second place where "race" is used is in Romans. Again, it's about Israel.

"I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen."
Romans 9:2-5

Notice that "race" is all about Jesus Christ and His human ancestry. It's not about skin color. It's not about language. It's not about who is better than anyone else. It's all about Jesus. When people get over their hangups about racial differences and realize that every important thing is about Jesus, we will live in a better place.

So, does that mean the Bible doesn't address interracial relationships? Not by name, but the Bible does tell us how to relate to other people. The Bible tells us to love each other. The Bible tells us to care about each other. The Bible tells us to be patient with each other. The Bible tells us to look out for each other and help each other. The Bible tells us to encourage and build up each other. The Bible tells us to be kind and compassionate toward each other. The Bible tells us to forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave us. The Bible tells us to be holy and pure in our actions toward each other. The Bible tells us to be merciful toward each other. The Bible tells us to be one with each other. The Bible tells us not to sin against each other. The Bible tells us not to judge each other. The Bible tells us not to fight with each other. The Bible tells us not to slander each other. The Bible tells us to do what's right for each other and prefer others over ourselves.

That's how we are to relate to other people. It doesn't matter to God what colors we are. It doesn't matter to God what language we speak. It doesn't matter to God who our parents are. It doesn't matter to God what country we call home. What matters to God is that we treat each other with love and grace. It matters to God that we imitate Him and behave toward each other in ways that please Him. That's what the Bible teaches about interracial relations.

Social and Psychological Tensions for Christians

QUESTION: Would you kindly give me your views on the social and psychological tensions that might have prevailed on the first Christians in so far as their apparent need to seek forgiveness of sin through traditional Jewish sacrifice rather than the acceptance of atonement through Christ's own blood.

ANSWER: The term "Christians" is mentioned first in Acts 11:26. "The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch." Antioch was a Syrian city located about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. The Christians in Antioch were a mix of Jews and Gentiles. They came from a variety of backgrounds, including Judaism and idol worship. That certainly would have been a social and psychological tension.

Paul and Barnabas took the message of Jesus Christ to many cities in the following years. They preached the Gospel of God's Grace to Jews and Gentiles. The mixture of the two racial backgrounds coming together added to the social and psychological tension in the Christian community.

The tension came to a head after Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey.

"Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.' This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question ... Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.' The apostles and elders met to consider this question."
Acts 15:1-2, 5

Many Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah (Christ) wanted the Gentiles to come into the Kingdom Church through baptism, circumcision and obedience to Mosaic Law. Paul fought that with all his being. Christ had given him a different message for Gentiles and he wasn't going to let anyone change it.

"We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you."
Galatians 2:5

Paul spent his life helping Jews and Gentiles understand what Christ had done for them. He faced a variety of social and psychological tensions during his ministry. We read about it Acts and in most of his letters. The early Christians had many problems. Sometimes the tension was about forgiveness of sin. Sometimes it was about eating food sacrificed to idols. Whatever tension Paul faced, he always took Christians back to the fundamentals of God's Grace and Saving Faith in Jesus Christ.

"I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done--by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ."
Romans 15:18-19

Jews came from a very detailed religion. They were raised to believe that circumcision, animal sacrifices and obedience to Mosaic Law were vital to their eternal relationship to God. Gentiles had their own religions of worshipping gods, demons, beasts and idols. They believed animal and sometimes human sacrifice along with temple prostitution and other vices were vital to their peace and prosperity. Paul had to deal with all of that in his ministry. He constantly brought them back to the purity of the Gospel message.

One of the wonderful things about the Gospel of Grace is that it works anywhere at anytime. Time changes, yet everything remains the same. We deal with the same social and psychological tensions today that Paul dealt with two millennia ago. The problems are the same; the answers are the same: Jesus Christ sacrificed and risen.

Knowledge of the Truth

QUESTION: What is the relation between the believer's and unbeliever's knowledge of the truth? Can you show with issues like common grace, the point of contact, etc. Please tell me with a view to persuading a non-Christian of the truth of Christianity.

ANSWER: The Apostle Paul taught that unbelievers are spiritually dead. They don't know the Truth. They can't understand spiritual things because of their unbelief. Knowledge of the Truth comes to a person after they are "made alive with Christ." After an unbeliever becomes a believer, they are able to learn, comprehend and understand Spiritual Truth.

Unbelievers can "know" about Christ. They can have an academic or "head" knowledge about Christianity. Many even think they are Christians because they are religious, attend a church, are moral, grew up in a Christian home, etc. An unbeliever becomes a believer when they receive Christ as their personal Savior "by grace ... through faith." It has nothing to do with someone's worth or deservedness. It has nothing to do with their religious education: what they know or don't know about spiritual things. Every human being is born into sin and is dead in their transgressions and sins. Salvation is a free gift given freely by God to those He wills to give it. "It is by grace you have been saved."

The process of gaining a "knowledge of the truth" begins the instant a person is saved. Things that were clouded become clear. Things that were concealed are revealed. Things that were secret are known. Salvation turns on a "spiritual light" in a new believer's heart and mind. It's an amazing thing to watch a formerly religious person become a Christian. Head knowledge turns into soul knowledge. They get it! They finally understand. The light comes on and they "know" what it is to have a personal relationship with their Creator.

You asked about persuading a non-Christian of the truth of Christianity. Paul explained the process clearly.

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
2 Corinthians 5:18-21

"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."
1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Christians have a wonderful opportunity and responsibility to tell others about salvation in Jesus Christ. God gave everyone of us a "ministry of reconciliation." Each of us has different tasks to perform within that ministry. Some of us plant. Some of us water. God's task is always the same: He "makes things grow!" This is a wonderful partnership. You may speak to someone about Christ and they show no interest in what you say or they may even be irritated by your service to them. What's important is that you planted a spiritual seed in their minds. Another Christian may come along and pour water on the seed you planted. The unbeliever may or may not receive Christ at that time, but the seed has been planted and watered. God does the next thing. He makes that seed grow. God harvests that spiritual seed and gives birth to a new believer in Christ. Who gets the credit? You, because you planted a seed? Another Christian because they watered the seed? No. God gets the credit because He makes it grow. "

God has made our ministry of reconcilitation (planting and watering) important in His process of building the Body of Christ. Does He need us? No. God could do the reconciling by Himself. He does it because of His Love and Grace. He gives us the opportunity to rejoice in the salvation of people by making us a part of His spiritual process of saving people. God does spiritual persuasion through His Holy Spirit who uses us to talk to people, pray for people and be an example of Christ to people.

It's a great system. We can thank God everyday for the privilege of being a part of what He's doing around the world. We don't have to worry or fret about what's going on in somebody's head as we talk with them about Christ. We don't have to wonder whether we should or should not talk to someone about Christ. Our task is to plant and water, plant and water, plant and water. God will make Truth grow inside of people. He will bring them to spiritual life. We do our part. He does His. What a partnership in the Gospel!

Why is Life Worth Living?

QUESTION: Why, in Paul's teachings, is the life worth living? What does he want us to believe?

ANSWER: God made life worth living by giving us a Way to know life. People are born into spiritual death and a physical life that is on a fast track toward death. Life without God is not worth living. Life with God is worth everything!

Here are some things Paul wanted us to believe about life.

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
Ephesians 2:1-3

The life we had before salvation was certainly not worth living. We were spiritually dead in our sins. We lived in those sins as we followed the ways of this world and of Satan. We all lived like that before God saved us. Our lives were eaten up with a non-sto gratification of the cravings of our sinful nature. We followed that nature's desires and thoughts. We were by our very nature objects of God's Holy Wrath. That's no life. There is no joy and peace in that life. We had no life. We were dead, but didn't know it. Dead people don't know anything about life.

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:4-9

What makes life worth living is knowing that God loves us. He loves us! He cares about us. He saw our pitiful condition, had mercy on us and "made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions." God didn't wait to see if we would get better. He didn't wait to see if we'd behave ourselves and act like Christians. He knew we couldn't and wouldn't get better because we were spiritually dead. God knew we were hopeless without Him. "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ." That's what makes life worthy living. We now have life. We are spiritually alive with Christ. We can stand up and breathe and walk and talk and go places because God made us alive with Christ. Dead people don't stand. Dead people don't breathe. Dead people don't walk and talk and go places. Dead people are dead. Dead is all they do. Life as a dead person is not worth living. Life as a living person, permanently connected to the Giver of Life, is worth living.

Connection is a key. God did not make us spiritually alive, then leave us for some other challenge. He saved us for eternity! He saved us forever. God saved us so He could have a meaningful, long-term relationship with us. "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus." Salvation doesn't last a few years or even one lifetime. Salvation is forever and ever and ever and ever. Amen!

Paul's letters to Christians are filled with everything God wants us to know and do during our life on earth. He wants us to believe God loves us. He wants us to believe God adopted us as spiritual sons and daughters and that we belong to Him. Paul wants us to believe God will take care of us on earth and bring us safely into His Heavenly Presence. He wants us to believe God will give us joy and peace as we live for Him. Paul wants us to believe God will do what's best for us. He wants us to believe God has a purpose for our lives on earth. Paul wants us to believe that giving our lives in service to God and others is a life worth living. That's just some of what Paul wants us to believe.

The Parables of Matthew 13

QUESTION: Presently, I am reading an enormous book called "Things To Come" by J. Dwight Pentecost. He is a dispensationalist and I'm sure you are aware of him and his book. I'm confused about the relevance of Matthew 13 to dispensational truth. Are the parables listed in that chapter just spiritual stories intended to teach a principle or do they inform us of a future dispensation? Pentecost believes that they outline prophetically the time between Israel's first rejection of the Kingdom {Matthew 12} and His second coming. He also believes that this rejection was the only time while Christ was on earth that the Kingdom offer was extended. In other words, a bona fide offer by Peter in Acts 2 is non-existant. I understand that some believe that the parables refer to the millenium age only. Can you clear up my confusion?

ANSWER: In Matthew 13 we find the Lord Jesus speaking to a large crowd. He "told them many things in parables." Parables are stories with a hidden meaning. The disciples wondered why Jesus spoke to people in parables. Christ replied:

"The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: 'Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.'"
Matthew 13:11-13

Jesus then explained the meaning of the parable of the sower to His disciples. The parables Christ taught were not for the crowds. They were for those who became His followers. The closer a person came to Christ, the more they would know and understand about spiritual things.

Christ had to suffer many things to fulfill prophecies about Israel's Messiah. He suffered all things spoken about Him, even suffering death on the Cross. Was Christ's death Israel's final rejection of the Messiah? No. It was their salvation! It was after Christ's Death and Resurrection and the empowering of the disciples by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that God made His formal offer of the Kingdom to Israel. Everything was in place. Everything was ready. Jesus stood victorious over death and hell at the Right Hand of God ready to give Israel its long-awaited Kingdom on Earth. He was ready to return to Earth to establish His Kingdom, if Israel would accept His offer.

"God raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, 'The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.' Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Acts 2:32-36

"Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your teachers. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ [Messiah] would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. he must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets."
Acts 3:17-21

"But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look,' he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'"
Acts 7:55-56

Peter offered Israel the Kingdom. "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you--even Jesus." Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking by God's anointing, promised the Messiah for repentance. Israel did not repent and Messiah did not come to earth.

God used Stephen to hammer the nail in Israel's coffin. Stephen's speech to Israel's leaders showed them they were just like their ancestors who had also rejected God's previous offers.

"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him--you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
Acts 7:51-53

The people and leaders of Israel killed Stephen moments after he uttered those words. That delayed the Messianic Kingdom by at least two thousand years. The next thing that happened was a young man named Saul persecuted Christ's followers. He arrested them, prosecuted them and gave approval to their deaths. It was some time later that God made a new offer through His chief enemy, Saul.

The parables of Matthew 13 are about the Kingdom of Heaven. The truths contained in the parables are "for" members of the Body of Christ (we learn from them), but not "to" them (they aren't addressed to us). Those parables are about the Messianic Kingdom to come. For example, Christ explained to His disciples the parable of the weeds in the field. "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." We see this happen in Revelation 19 and 20. That is the "end of the age" and the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom that Christ taught in the parables of Matthew 13.

Peter's offer of the Messianic Kingdom was legitimate. If Israel had repented, Christ would have returned to establish His Earthly Kingdom. They did not and He did not. Instead, Christ offered salvation to the Gentiles. He is now building His Spiritual Body in this Age of Grace. When Christ is finished building His Body, He will purify Israel and punish the world, then establish His Kingdom on Earth.

Taking God's Grace to the World!