Jesus Christ desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Only two events would cause the non-Christian's response to be too late:
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Some believe that only expressed commands in the Bible are bound upon men today. But what about declarative sentences in the Bible? Are any of them binding?
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No. This verse has been removed from its context to teach something that it does not teach. This false doctrine of the direct operation of the Holy Spirit is also not taught anywhere in the Scriptures [NOTE: Please consult our Q & A: Why Is The Direct Operation of The Holy Spirit Upon The Heart Of An Alien Sinner/Saint A False Doctrine?”]. What is 1 Thessalonians 1:5 teaching?
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In the remote context of Mark 9, Jesus is speaking on the theme of true discipleship among His followers. His followers had many wrong ideas about the Messianic kingdom and one of them was that they wanted to know who would gain the highest status in the kingdom. We see an example of this prideful behavior when the mother of James and John made a request for her sons to sit on Jesus' left and right hand when He started to reign on the throne (Matthew 20:20-23; Mark 10:32-40).
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In Genesis 4:16, the Bible states: "Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son-Enoch."
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Does Romans 15:11 teach that the New Testament church is authorized to clap as a form of acceptable worship to God? Does the word "laud" in this verse mean "to applaud or clap"? Merriam-Webster's English dictionary defines "laud" as "praise or acclaim", but gives a possible synonym as "applaud." Just as is the case for defining the action of "baptism", so also is the case for defining the action of "laud": we must first consult the context of the Scriptures (not uninspired, English dictionaries) for God's meaning of a word and secondly the original languages of the Bible, especially the Koine ("common") Greek - realizing we will be judged only by the New Testament in the last day (Matthew 28:18; John 12:48; Colossians 3:17; 1 Peter 4:11).
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The answer is no. They apply to both Christians and non-Christians. For example, one of the reasons Paul gives for a female not to teach or have authority over the man is because "Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression" (1 Timothy 2:12-14). The roles of male and female have been a universal law applying to believers as well as non-believers ever since the Garden of Eden (as have murder, deceiving, disobeying God, etc.). This is true also under the New Testament as is indicated by these passages: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; 14:34,35; 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 1 Peter 3:1-7.
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Yes.
Since it is the case that no New Testament writers specifically addressed individual members of today by name, how then do we know which, if any, imperative statements are binding upon us today? Are all, some, or no imperative statements binding upon us today?
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Problem: Skeptics believe they have found a contradiction. The Bible teaches that the kingdom of Jesus would not come to an end (Daniel 7:14; Luke 1:33), whereas in other passages it is stated that the kingdom will come to an end (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
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When a Christian finds himself persisting in a sin and refuses to repent of that sin, then his congregation is required to show genuine love and concern for their erring brother by withdrawing fellowship from him. The withdrawal of fellowship does not cause that wayward member to be lost. They are already lost because of their persistent rebellion against their heavenly Father. It does not make him more lost. The member is lost because they have chosen to separate themselves from God (Isaiah 59:1, 2). The church must do everything it can to bring their brother to true repentance. The church is not to pretend that everything is alright with that member.
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No.
One of the main reasons people object to baptism is because of the example of the thief on the cross. The argument usually goes something like this: The thief was not baptized. The thief was saved. Therefore, a person does not have to be baptized to be saved. However, the thief on the cross is not a valid example for the following reasons:
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This miraculous gift was used by an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12; Acts 5:1-11 - Peter was able to discern by the Holy Spirit that Ananias and Sapphira were lying; Acts 8:20-23 - Peter could look into the motives of Simon the Sorcerer). It was imparted to other 1st century Christians by the laying on of the apostles' hands (Acts 8:14-18; 2 Timothy 1:6) to help the infant church mature in the faith (Ephesians 4:7-16) since the 1st century church did not have the fully revealed New Testament in its written form disseminated among all the congregations (as we have it today).
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2 Timothy 2:10 states that salvation is found "in Christ." The question needs to be answered: "How does an alien sinner get in Christ where salvation is found?"
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Some argue that Adam and Eve's sins (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 5:12) are what caused God to establish men in leadership roles and women in submission roles until Jesus Christ came in the flesh (John 1:14). They further argue that Jesus reversed the consequence and granted equal roles in the home and the spiritual realm, twisting Galatians 3:26-29 and Genesis 3:16 as their proof-texts. [NOTE: Please consult our question in our Q & A section: “Is Galatians 3:26-28 Proof That Women May Serve In Spiritual Positions Of Authority Over Men?”].
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Galatians 5:22,23 states: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." [NOTE: The translators capitalized the letter "S" in the word "Spirit" because they thought it was referring to the Holy Spirit.]
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The answer is no. A common argument used against the essentiality of water immersion in its connection to salvation is the case of Cornelius and his household from Acts 10 and 11. This argument is not sound in the least, yet the argument may be constructed as follows:
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In 1 Timothy 5:17, 18, the Bible states: "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer is worthy of his wages."
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Yes, there are several passages of Scripture that bear this out.
1 Corinthians 9:8-14 states: "Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes?
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There are several reasons from the Scriptures as to why we can know that those persons who were baptized under the baptism of John prior to the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 did not need to be rebaptized:
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