What does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 14 when he says women should remain silent? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi there, this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE.
That's 1-833-843-2673. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so, so jump on the phone right now. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.
First up today, let's go to Annette in Springfield, Missouri. Annette, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Okay, thank you for taking my question. I have struggled with my assurance of salvation for many years, and what I want to know is if you sincerely ask Jesus to save you from your sins and believe he is God and he is the only way to heaven and God raised him from the dead, is that all that is required to be saved? Annette, you're not alone in that struggle with assurance. Many genuine believers, sincere Christians wrestle with that same thing. I would say yes, and it sounds very simple, but I would just go to a place like Acts chapter 16 where you have the discussion between the Philippian jailer and the disciples, and he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.
The gospel is very simple. It's what Christ has done for you, Annette. The fact that he has laid down his life for you rose again for your justification, is seated at the right hand of the Father, so that you trusting in him is all that's required in order to be justified, in order to be saved. And God is going to continue to work in your life, sanctifying you day by day, keeping you.
That's a promise that we have. The Lord is the one who keeps us. But really, one thing that I like to point to, Annette, for Christians who struggle with this question of assurances is saying, look, we have to focus first and foremost on the promise of God.
The promise of God that's been given to us in the gospel. In a passage that I frequently go to, and a lot of people are shocked when I say I go to this chapter in the Bible to talk about assurance, because it's one of the chapters that oftentimes causes people to question their salvation, it's actually Hebrews chapter six. It's an exhortation that the author of the Hebrews gave to a group of Christians who were struggling, really, with the faith.
Some of them were considering turning away from Christ altogether. And he encourages them by pointing them to the promise of God. He says in Hebrews chapter six, beginning in verse 13, For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. Now, right there, he says, look, what is the anchor of our soul? Annette, what's the anchor of your soul?
It isn't your perfect obedience. It isn't even the strength of your faith. The anchor of your soul is Jesus Christ, risen at the right hand of God the Father, whoever lives to make intercession for you, to pray for you. And so I want you to be comforted by those words. If you've confessed your sins to God sincerely, if you've gone to him in faith, he receives you.
He welcomes you into his family, and he seals you with his Holy Spirit, and you have Jesus, the great high priest at the right hand of the Father, praying for you and advocating for you. God bless you, Annette. Annette, thanks so much for your call. And again, a question a lot of people ask us regularly on this program about the assurance of salvation, and, Adriel, thanks for that comforting word.
This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our callers named Mitchell. I'd like to know about what it means that the woman keeps solvents of the priest, who is Corinthians 14, chapter 34.
Yeah, Mitchell. So what does the Apostle Paul mean when he talks about women keeping silent in the church, specifically in the book of 1 Corinthians and 1 Corinthians chapter 14? It's really important that we understand the context here.
And I think that when we understand the context, it clears up some of the confusion for us. 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, Paul is addressing this church, the Church of Corinth, and he's really honing in on abuses with regard to spiritual gifts within the worshiping community. And so he's talking in 1 Corinthians 14 about things like the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues. And he says, beginning in verse 26, and I want to start here because it's important in terms of answering your question. He says, What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn. And let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. Now mark that phrase right there, let the others weigh what is said.
It's going to be important in just a second. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent, for you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not a God of confusion but of peace. And it's in this context that the apostle Paul says then, As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak but should be in submission, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Now what's interesting is if you go back a few chapters to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul seems to indicate there that in the context of corporate worship you had women who were praying and prophesying in the church.
And so a lot of people think, well, is there a contradiction here? It seemed like in chapter 11 in the context of corporate worship he was talking about women praying and prophesying, and here it seems like he's saying women aren't allowed to speak. Well, I think what helps to clear this up is it seems as if you had a group of people who would at that time in the church prophesy or speak, receive a word from the Lord, and the others were told again, 1 Corinthians 14 verse 29, would weigh what was said. They would test what was said I think to make sure it was in line with the word of God.
And who are the others there? Well, I think that was the leaders in the church, in particular the elders of the church, the officers who were helping to discern, to test what it was that was being articulated. And in that particular context, in this particular context, I think what the apostle Paul is getting at is that that's not the function that the women in the church would have, that they weren't serving as elders. And I think that that sort of fits with what he says elsewhere in places like 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus chapter 1. And so I think once we understand that context of what it is that's going on, it clears up this question related to what is Paul getting at there in terms of saying that the women need to keep silent, especially because we know in 1 Corinthians 11 that it seems like women were speaking and prophesying. But he's saying they weren't to have that role, that authoritative role of judging that which was said. That was for the officers in the church, the elders, if you will, the minister, the pastor.
So thank you for your question. 1 Corinthians 14 is really a picture of the church there in the early stages. And it's really a wonderful, actually, picture in terms of focusing on the edification of the body of Christ and everyone being built up. But there are some things there that I think are difficult for us to understand because our experience is so different oftentimes in the church today. So thank you for that question, and I pray that you are blessed, brother. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez, and if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can jump on the phone right now and give us a call. Our phone lines will be open for the next 15 minutes or so, and no question is off limits. Here's the phone number to call. It's 833-843-2673.
That's 833-THE-CORE. By the way, we have an awesome new Bible study we'd like to offer you today. Adrian actually wrote this one, and it's on Paul's letter to the Galatians.
Yeah, it's a 10-week Bible study. The book of Galatians is such an important book in the New Testament. It really gets at the heart of the gospel and the relationship between the law and the gospel. And what do you do when the gospel has been corrupted, when false teachers have come into the church and begun to teach other doctrines? Paul gets at all of that in this particular epistle. So we want you to get a hold of this resource, the letter of Paul to the Galatians. Again, it's a 10-week Bible study, and it can be yours for a donation of $20 or more. Pastor Adrian.
Good afternoon. How are you doing, Pastor Sanchez? I really appreciate your ministry.
My question is kind of twofold. Doesn't every child of God have the anointing of the Holy Spirit as confirmed in John 14, 15-17, and 1 John 2-27? And then the other part is, when Jesus told the disciples in John 20-22, receive the Holy Spirit, yet in Acts 1-18, he said, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Great.
Viola, thank you for giving us a call. So two questions there. One, does every believer have the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit? And two, what's the relationship between John 20 and Acts 1, where Jesus breathed on the disciples, has received the Holy Spirit? They're filled with the Spirit there. But then later on in the book of Acts, they're filled with the Spirit again. What's going on there on the day of Pentecost?
Really good questions. You pointed to a couple of verses that do very clearly teach that every Christian, every believer, does have the Holy Spirit. Paul said to the Corinthians, you can't even say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 1 John 2-20 says that we have an anointing from the Holy One.
This is something that John makes clear. Also, Ephesians 1-13, in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. So yes, everyone who's a Christian, everyone who's born again, has the Holy Spirit.
It's really important that we understand that. Secondly, what's the deal with at the end of John's gospel, after the resurrection of Jesus, he appears to the disciples and he breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Ghost. But then later in the book of Acts, it seems like that happens again. Well, I think, and this is something many Bible scholars will say, is what you have in John 20 is this sort of foreshadowing of what was to come, the picture of the reality of the spirit comes directly from Jesus, and he gave it to his disciples. But also, it's this confirmation of what was promised earlier in John's gospel, that he would baptize his disciples in the Holy Spirit, and that's fully realized on the day of Pentecost. So there's no contradiction. It's almost as if what you have there at the end of John's gospel is preparing us for the day of Pentecost, the fact that the spirit of God would be poured out on the entire church, as prophesied in Joel chapter 2.
And Jesus was giving the disciples a foretaste of that, if you will, during his resurrection, at the time of his resurrection. And so, Viola, thank you for your questions, and may the Lord bless you. Thanks so much, Viola. We appreciate you being a regular listener here to Core Christianity. By the way, we want to let you know that some of the radio stations that air our program air it on a tape-delayed basis. So the time to actually call in live into the studio is 1130 a.m. Pacific Time, translates into 1230 Mountain, 130 Central, or 230 Eastern Time. Call during that half-hour period, you can get into the studio.
Now, if you call at some time other than that, you can actually leave a voicemail 24 hours a day at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Stephen in Indianapolis, Indiana. What's your question for Pastor Adriel, Stephen?
Hello, thank you for taking my question. My question involves the unforgivable sin. What exactly is it, and how do I know if I've committed it?
Because I actually... Hey, Stephen. Okay, so the unforgivable sin, or the unpardonable sin, you read about it in the Gospel of Mark. In Mark chapter 3, you also read about it in the Gospel of Matthew. And really, Jesus brings it up in response to something that the religious leaders were saying about him. Jesus was performing all of these miracles, and they begin to say, he casts out demons by Beelzebul. In other words, Jesus's power is not by the Holy Spirit, he's working by the spirit of the evil one. They're saying Jesus is demon-possessed, essentially. And so it was there, this association of the works of Jesus, wrought by the Holy Spirit, with Satan, and with his work. Now, I don't know that it's best to view the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as a sort of just thing that... I don't know that in that context, that statement was, in particular, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What it is, is this mindset, this approach that says Christ and his Gospel is demonic. It's a rejection of the Gospel, and a repudiation of Jesus and his work.
And if somebody does that, and they die in that state, well, there's no way that they can be saved. There's no way that they can be forgiven. Now, we know that there were Pharisees and religious leaders who were born again, born again, who were saved, who repented. But I think the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in Mark's Gospel, in Matthew's Gospel, is this persistent, obstinate unbelief.
And these people get to a point where their heart is so hardened that they're given up to these wicked and sinful ideologies, and they're lost forever. I don't think the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is something that a true Christian can commit because they believe in Jesus. They don't believe that Jesus is demon-possessed.
They believe that he's the Savior. And I think sometimes what the devil will do is he'll try to convince genuine Christians that, you know, oh, man, I did this thing. I did this sin, even a grievous sin. Maybe I've blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
Maybe God won't forgive me because the devil wants people, wants us to feel hopeless. But if we're convicted and we have this sense of the fact that we've failed and fallen, we go to the Lord, there is hope. And that's precisely what the Pharisees and the religious leaders wouldn't do. They were so hard-hearted that they associated the work of Jesus with the work of Satan. And someone who's in that state, they're not embracing the gospel. They don't believe the gospel. And because of that, they can't be forgiven.
Adriel, I'm so glad you cleared that up. We get a lot of calls about the unpardonable sin, and that is such a great explanation that every Christian needs to understand that that's what Jesus is talking about there. And they don't have to fear. If they have trusted Christ as their Savior, there's nothing that they can do that will cause God to, you know, Satan to snatch them out of his hand. God is going to hold on to them for eternity.
So what a great, what a great promise. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can call us at 833-THE-CORE.
Let's go to Tyler in Newcastle, Indiana. Tyler, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, thank you for taking my question. This is actually in regards to a question you talked about just a few moments ago in regards to salvation. If you could please explain to me the verse from Acts chapter 2 and verse 38 in regards to salvation.
Hey, thanks so much. Acts chapter 2, verse 38, the day of Pentecost, which we've already brought up today on today's broadcast. Peter preaches the gospel. A great number of Jews that were there for the festival hear the gospel and they're wondering what do we do and they're cut to the heart. We read in verse 38 of Acts chapter 2, Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself. So I guess it sounds to me, Tyler, are you wondering does this mean that salvation is not just something that I say, okay, I ask for forgiveness but I also have to be baptized, I also have to repent. Is that what you're getting at? Yes, yes.
Great. Yeah, no, thank you. And repentance, right, is a saving grace. I mean in one sense it's the opposite side of faith. It's turning away from ourselves and looking to Jesus, laying hold of the grace that He's offered to us and so I don't want to minimize that and the entire Christian life is a life of repentance. Every single day we need to turn to the Lord if you will, turn away from our sins but our salvation is not dependent on the perfection of our repentance and so that sort of repentance is a saving grace, repentance into life. It's that initial turning away from ourselves and trusting in Jesus Christ and baptism is a sign and seal of what Christ has done, what God has done for us in the Gospel, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it's this visible Gospel, this visible word to God and to His people through which God extends those promises of the Gospel to His people and that's why it's associated here with salvation. I think we ought to associate it with salvation insofar as it's a picture of the Gospel but does that mean that baptism in and of itself, by itself, say apart from faith, saves us? Well no, the promises and the hope that's held out to us in baptism is something we have to apprehend, lay hold of by faith. It's as if baptism is this visible Gospel given to the people of God. It expresses God's good will, His love towards us and we are called to embrace that reality, to lay hold of it by faith and so I don't think that what Peter is doing here is saying look if you want to be saved here's a big long list of things to do. He's just talking about the Christian life and he's saying look you guys turn away from the beliefs you were holding before, repent, embrace Jesus as Messiah and the gifts that he gives to you in the Gospel and that's what was exhibited, those gifts are what are exhibited in holy baptism and I think that's why he says what he says there in Acts chapter 2 verse 38 and so hey thanks for following up with us with regard to that previous question.
Hope you have a blessed day. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder we have that great new Bible study that Adriel has written on the book of Galatians.
You can learn more about that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash studies that's corechristianity.com forward slash studies. Let's go to Sly in Edmond, Oklahoma. Sly, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, I guess this is a follow-up to the follow-up. Hey Sly.
Great. So I have a feeling I listen to radio pastors and pastors in my church and I don't disagree that a person who is saved is saved but I think pastors are often trying to be kinder than Paul and even the Lord Jesus. Jesus said if you love me you will obey me and the words obedience and repentance I don't hear. I don't hear in radio messages. I don't hear at church the unpopular that there is evidence that you are saved and I think they are often trying to enlarge the gate and as I said be kinder than the Lord Jesus himself.
Hey Sly, I definitely sympathize with you. I think that you know there is a problem not preaching repentance. One of the things that characterize the false prophets in the Old Testament is they would say peace peace where there was no peace and so they weren't calling people out of sin to live lives of holiness and right like that that's in line also with the preaching of the law. We're calling people to obey God's word and there are ways in which I think we can we can look at our lives and see the the work of God's spirit in our lives. You know sometimes people say look at the places in the in the New Testament talks about 1st John for example where it talks about you know if we've been born again we will love each other.
We'll begin to obey God's commandments and that's absolutely true. My concern is that we're not first and foremost finding our assurance by looking within. Too many believers struggle because they look within and they think I am growing in grace. I think I'm growing in grace but I know I still struggle every single day and so what we point people to is the objective promise of the gospel that Christ says if you believe in me your sins are forgiven. Now there are people who are deceived who think they're believers even though they aren't believers and they live however they want and that has to be addressed as well and so we have to use wisdom as we proclaim the gospel and as we're speaking to people wherever it is that they are and so I appreciate your question brother.
I sympathize with you. Thank you for listening to CORE Christianity and may the Lord richly bless you. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-18 02:14:23 / 2023-09-18 02:24:18 / 10