1 Peter 3:15

1. Bible Answers to Bible Questions 1 Peter 3:15

2. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, what does it mean “old things are passed away, all things are become new”? • Living “in Christ” includes being “a new creature.” When one is “baptized into Christ” (Rom. 6:3), he is raised to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). • With a new purpose – to glorify God. • With a new way of living – holy in conduct. • With a new home/citizenship – heaven • The “old things” refer to pre-conversion life – the “old man” that was “put off” (Eph. 4:22) & “crucified” (Rom. 6:6) to give place to the “new things” of the “new creature.”

3. 1 Timothy 2:15 seems to imply that women must marry and have children to be saved. However, that would contradict 1 Corinthians 7:7-8. Please explain 1 Timothy 2:15. • The context of the passage is concerning the role of men and women in the church; specifically in verses 9-14 the role of women in the church is addressed and explanation of it is taken back to the beginning. • Generally speaking, verse 15 paints a picture of hope for woman who was foremost responsible for the introduction of sin into the world. • While there were punishments (ex: “In pain you shall bring forth children”), she can still be saved. • While the exact meaning of the passage is difficult, it must not contradict the clear teachings of the Bible in other passages.

4. 1 Timothy 2:15 seems to imply that women must marry and have children to be saved. However, that would contradict 1 Corinthians 7:7-8. Please explain 1 Timothy 2:15. • What this passage is not teaching: • That any woman is saved from sins by merely becoming a mother. There are God-given, universal conditions for salvation (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38), and this is not one of them. • That a woman must bear children to be saved. Such would remove salvation from a personal choice to a test and requirement of marriage-ability and fertility. • That a woman will be saved from tragedy and death during the act of bearing children.

5. 1 Timothy 2:15 seems to imply that women must marry and have children to be saved. However, that would contradict 1 Corinthians 7:7-8. Please explain 1 Timothy 2:15. • Possible meanings of this passage: • While woman introduced sin into the world, God chose woman to be the means by which the Savior entered the world to save mankind (Gen. 3:15; Gal. 4:4). All women can be saved because of the role Mary played if they will obey & “continue in the faith.”

6. 1 Timothy 2:15 seems to imply that women must marry and have children to be saved. However, that would contradict 1 Corinthians 7:7-8. Please explain 1 Timothy 2:15. • Possible meanings of this passage: • In the context, time is spent on the role of women—not exercising authority over the man (v. 12), as Eve did when she took the lead in eating the forbidden fruit (v. 14). Nevertheless, if she will fulfill the role that God has designed for her, as a woman, to have in the divine plan for the home and the church, she can be saved. (“Childbearing” here is used as a synecdoche—a part for the whole.) If she will fulfill her role AND “continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control,” she can be saved (even though she introduced sin into the world).

7. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • The Bible sometimes uses figurative language to describe God as DOING something (like hardening a heart) or CAUSING something (like someone to believe a lie), when, in reality, He is merely PERMITTING or ALLOWING such things to happen. • Ezekiel 20:25 – “I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.” Cause or permit? (Verse 24 says, they “had despised My statues.”) • Psalm 81:12 – “So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels.”

8. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • PERMITTING or ALLOWING such things to happen: • Jeremiah 4:10 – “Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have greatly deceived this people…” Then God said, “Your ways and your doings have procured these things for you” (4:18). • Matthew 6:13 – “And do not lead us into temptation…” Cf. James 1:13 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

9. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • PERMITTING or ALLOWING such things to happen: • Romans 1:18-32 – The ungodly & unrighteous: • “suppress the truth” (v. 18) • “did not glorify Him as God” (v. 21) • changed the glory of God into an image (v. 23) • “exchanged the truth of God for the lie” (v. 25) • “worshiped and served the creature” (v. 25) • “exchanged the natural use for what is against nature” • “God gave them up to uncleanness…to vile passions…gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting” (v. 24, 26, 28) • Why? Free will! God turns us over to what we want.

10. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • PERMITTING or ALLOWING such things to happen: • Exodus 9:12 – “But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.” • Exodus 8:32 – “But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.” • Who hardened the heart? Ample evidence was provided to Pharaoh of God’s will & God’s power which ought to have softened his heart. • Pharaoh hardened his own heart against the will after seeing the manifestations of God’s power & displeasure. God made demands that he resisted.

11. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • A Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12: • “…and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” • GOD will: • send a strong delusion (they’re already deluded/ deceived) • that they should believe the lie (they already believe it because it is the only other option available if one rejects truth)

12. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • A Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12: • “…and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” • NOTICE who this will happen to: • They had been deceived • They did not receive the love of the truth to be saved • They did not believe the truth • They had pleasure in unrighteousness • They already rejected the will of God – What was next?

13. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • The nature of God: • 1 Tim. 2:4 – He “desires all men to be saved…” • 2 Pet. 3:9 – “not willing that any should perish…” • Exodus 34:6 – “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth…” • But He gives man the choice • Joshua 24:15 • Matthew 6:24 • Hebrews 3:7-19

14. Explain how God hardens hearts and how God causes us to believe a lie. • The choices of man: • Eph. 4:18-19 – “…having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” • 1 Tim. 4:1 – “…some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…”

15. Living peaceable and trying to be a peacemaker. Are the two different? • The N.T. calls upon Christians “to keep/be at peace” • Romans 12:18 – “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” • 1 Thess. 5:13 – “Be at peace among yourselves.” • The N.T. calls upon Christians “to make peace” • Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.” • Col. 1:20 – Jesus reconciled “all things to Himself …having made peace through” His blood. • As a Christian, I am called to be a peaceful person to be around and to strive to make peace where I can.

16. How do you answer, “Who created God? Where did He come from? Why did He make evil?” • Man’s “problem” is that everything he knows and sees (whether matter or energy) had a beginning and had (or will have) an end. Man tries to take what he “knows” and apply it to God (an eternal being having no beginning & no end). It won’t work.

17. How do you answer, “Who created God? Where did He come from? Why did He make evil?” • What common sense teaches: • If someone came up with an answer to “Who created God?” then you’d need an answer to “Who created the one who created God?” • Was there ever a time when NOTHING existed (including anything material or non-material)? • If so, then nothing would be here today, because nothing will be nothing forever. • Since SOMETHING does exist now, it had to come from somewhere. • It could not have come from nothing, so it must have come from SOMETHING. • What is the SOMETHING that has always existed?

18. How do you answer, “Who created God? Where did He come from? Why did He make evil?” • What the Bible teaches: • God is “eternal” (Deut. 33:27; 1 Tim. 1:17), “everlasting” (Isa. 40:28; Rom. 16:26), and His existence is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psa. 90:2). • God told Moses who He was—“I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14). He always has been & always will be. • A unique approach to teaching the existence of God: • First, prove the supernatural origin of the Bible. There is NO way that it is the product of man. • Then, use the Bible to prove the existence of God & teach His eternal nature.

19. How do you answer, “Who created God? Where did He come from? Why did He make evil?” • “Why did God make evil?” • He didn’t! • At the end of the creation week when God had made all things (cf. Ex. 20:11), “He saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). • If the question is, “Why did He make Satan evil?”: • He created Satan (Col. 1:16); thus, he must have been good originally (having freedom of choice). • God did not create Satan as evil; he became evil.

20. How do you answer, “Who created God? Where did He come from? Why did He make evil?” • “Why did God make evil?” • If the question is, “Why did He make sin?”: • Again, God did not create sin. Sin is a choice that man makes to violate the will of God (James 1:14-16). “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 John 3:8). • God did not CREATE sin! • God does not TEMPT any man with sin (James 1:13). • God cannot BEHOLD sin (Isa. 59:2).

21. How do you answer, “Who created God? Where did He come from? Why did He make evil?” • “Why did God make evil?” • If the question is, “Why does He let bad things happen?”: • Creating man in His very image (cf. Gen. 1:26-27), God gave man the ability to make his own choices (free will). • Adam & Eve made a choice and all bad things that have followed are a result of their exercise of free will. • Remember who is the “ruler/prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; Eph. 2:2).

22. How do we know the silence of the Scripture is prohibitive? • Because the silence of communication today, when in parallel form to the silence of the Scripture, is prohibitive! • Because the silence of the Scripture is understood as prohibitive in all cases!

23. How do we know the silence of the Scripture is prohibitive? • The Bible authorizes by: • Direct statement • Implication • Including expedients • Approved examples • It would benefit us greatly to learn the difference between generic authority and specific authority.

24. How do we know the silence of the Scripture is prohibitive? • Go to Publix today and buy one loaf of Nature’s Own Honey Wheat bread. • Expedients that are implied by Publix: • Method of travel – foot, bike, car, bus, horse • Which Publix – closest, cleanest, friendliest • Time of day – morning, afternoon, evening • Expedients that are implied by bread: • Method of payment – credit, cash, check • Condition of loaf – soft, firm, rounded or V-top • Choice of bag – paper, plastic, double, none

25. How do we know the silence of the Scripture is prohibitive? • Go to Publix today and buy one loaf of Nature’s Own Honey Wheat bread. • Prohibitions from silence: • Not any other store— Winn-Dixie, Albertson’s • Not any other day—Tomorrow, next day • Not any other method of securing—Steal, rent • Not any other number of loaves—2, 3 or more • Not any other brand—Wonder, Holsom, Publix • Not any other bread—Potato, rye, sourdough

26. How do we know the silence of the Scripture is prohibitive? • Bible examples: • Noah – make an ark of gopher wood • Rahab – hang from window a scarlet rope • Israel – priests come from tribe of Levi • Disciples – tarry in the city of Jerusalem • Christians: “Singing…making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19)

27. Are we punished for our sins once we come before God in repentance, being sorrowful in our hearts, but find ourselves repeating same sin beyond our ability? • Forgiveness of sins is available to Christians: • Who have godly sorrow (2 Cor. 7:8-10) • Who truly repent/turn (Acts 8:22) • Who confess their sins (1 John 1:9) • Who continue to walk in the light (1 John 1:7) • But, “repeating same sin beyond our ability”? • Sin is a choice (Gen. 3:1-6; James 1:14-16) • Sin is never “beyond our ability” to control, even some of the “worst” of sins (1 Cor. 6:9-11). • Jesus showed that we have the ability to say “NO” (Matt. 4:1-11; Heb. 4:15).

28. Are we punished for our sins once we come before God in repentance, being sorrowful in our hearts, but find ourselves repeating same sin beyond our ability? • As sin is a choice, the Bible speaks of the consequences “if we sin willfully after we have received a knowledge of the truth” (Heb. 10:26-31). • Even those “habitual sins” that are so hard to defeat, with God’s help we can. • Look for God’s “way of escape” to quit, stop and prevent a sinful act (cf. 1 Cor 10:13) • “Overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). • You can “overcome…because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4). • Ask for God’s help!

29. Can God speak to us through dreams? • God did at one time (Gen. 20; 28; Matt. 1) • But that time has passed – • Hebrews 1:1-2 – “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…” • Jesus’ words (delivered by the Holy Spirit): • Provide all things & all truth – Jn. 14:26; 16:13 • Will be that which judge us – John 12:48

30. Can God speak to us through dreams? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Jude 3 … contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

31. The Bible’s Answer for Your Salvation • Believe Jesus is God’s Son – Acts 16:31 • Repent of your sins – Acts 2:38 • Confess your faith in Jesus – Acts 8:37 • Be immersed in water – Mark 16:16 • Sins are forgiven – Acts 22:16 • Added to His church – Acts 2:47 • Registered in heaven – Hebrews 12:23 • Be steadfast in serving Him – 1 Corinthians 15:58