Pastoral
Letter 29 Sep 2019
My dear readers,
Questions Posed at CPBPC’s Annual Church Camp
(10-15 June 2019) – Part 14
Question:
Can you explain the apparent contradiction between the doctrine of election
and our free will when it comes to salvation?
Reply:
The doctrine of election is a blessed doctrine given by God to His children
who are already born again in Christ. They will understand this doctrine
only after salvation. The proof text supporting this amazing doctrine is
Ephesians 1:3-6: “
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved.”
[Emphasis added.] The word “chosen” is from our English word
“election.”
This doctrine assures the child of God that his salvation is not an
accident but carefully chosen by God Himself. This took place before the
foundation of the world! This means that the believer’s very existence and
salvation was already known to God even before there was time and the
universe! Every child of God will face persecution as he lives in holiness
witnessing for Christ. Some, having a sad and hurtful past because of
derelict parents in this sin-filled world, might feel angry or upset
because their past was a pain-filled one. But by knowing that they have
been chosen by God who makes no mistakes, they now know, and will begin to
accept their past with all its pain and hurts, that God is always in total
control. These hurts and pain were used by God to shape and mould their
character to make them to become who they are today in Christ. They will
learn to forgive and forget the painful past.
The doctrine of election is a blessed doctrine as it comforts the
believer’s heart of his painful past as well as his future when he suffers
for Christ. He is comforted and strengthened in the inner man to know that
his heavenly Father has always been in total control of his existence from
beginning to end. Hatred and anger against all human beings who hurt him
will evaporate because in Christ he can forgive. His salvation from
predestination to his calling, resulting in repentance and acceptance of
Christ, to his glorification in Christ is because God has chosen him. He
cannot lose his salvation because God’s choice is perfect!
Yet when the sinner is actually saved at that point in his life when the
gospel is shared with him, he is convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent and
be saved in Christ. The gospel will be used by the Holy Spirit to bring
conviction and conversion. When that happens, the Lord knows it and will
then baptize him with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will dwell in him
forever. Ephesians 2:8-9:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
The free will of man does not mean he is absolutely free, that he is
neutral or is without sin. Man is born in sin, and if he dies in his sin he
will be punished by God, his Creator.
Man is conceived and born in sin because of humanity’s representative Adam
who sinned (cf. Rom 5:12). Because of Adam’s sin, death came upon all
mankind, thus all have sinned. Even though sinful man does not have
absolute free will, he is born in sin, and so he will be held accountable
to God for all his actions. If he dies in his sins he will be cast into
hell and receive the just punishment for his grievous sins against the
thrice holy God. Only through Christ can he be saved and he must be given
the gospel according to Holy Scriptures to be saved. He must not reject but
accept the gospel that is according to Scriptures to be saved. If he is
given a false gospel, he cannot be saved.
Do not use and abuse the blessed doctrine of election to not evangelize as
some people are prone to do. Their false reasoning is that God will save
those whom He has elected anyway whether they evangelize or not. Such
sinful reasoning is an abomination. Those who think this way are not
obeying God and the great commission given by Christ in Matthew 28:18-20.
The Lord commanded all believers to go and preach the gospel to the world.
Then the Lord will use the gospel preached to bring sinners (those whom God
has chosen) to Christ. Salvation is always the work of God. But God has
entrusted to His children the blessed privilege to be the bearer of the
gospel of Christ to sinners in order for them to be saved. The knowledge of
the doctrine of election means that there are many out there who are
waiting to hear the gospel to be saved. Since we do not know who is and is
not God’s elect, God alone knows, we must give the gospel in its entirety
to all, without distinction. We are to tell all about the love of God in
Christ and to believe in Christ to be saved!
Question:
If women can’t preach because they are tempted by Satan, shouldn’t men not
be allowed to preach too because a man committed the first sin?
Reply:
The reason women are not to be ordained to preach the Word of God is not
“because they are tempted by Satan.” That women are not to preach the Word
of God or to be made elders is given by God, not man and not the church.
The Bible passage that teaches this truth is 1 Timothy 2:12-14: “ But I suffer
not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in
silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not
deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”
The context is the church as Paul wrote this epistle to Timothy teaching
him how to be a pastor. This context is with reference to the appointment
of elders to look after the church by way of leadership and preaching. The
word “teach” is a reference to the office of teaching in the
church like that of elders and pastors. It is not that women cannot teach
their children at home or in the Sunday school. The reference is the
leadership position of the church. The world may have women presidents or
prime ministers running countries or multinational companies but that is
the way of the world where the god of this world rules, with God’s
permission. The church must not employ the ways of the world to do God’s
work.
The two reasons given by God that no man can deny are: 1) Adam was first
formed and then Eve. This was decided by God at creation. The woman was
made for man to be a helper suitable for man. Genesis 2:18, 21-23:
“And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I
will make him an help meet for him .... And the LORD God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and
closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God
had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And
Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
2) Adam was not deceived
by the serpent but the woman was and was in transgression first. For these
two reasons God stipulated clearly that the woman will not be permitted to
hold office as an elder or pastor in Christ’s church.
Question:
Does the KJV Bible have any mistakes whatsoever?
Reply:
The KJV Bible has no mistakes unless one is referring to printing errors.
If there are no printing errors, the KJV is the best and most accurate and
faithful translation of the perfect Word of God for the English-speaking
Christians. The translators of the Bible in the 17th Century
A.D. used the best Texts (the perfectly inspired and preserved
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts), Translators, and Technique
of Translation, resulting in the best Theology
where all the doctrines of the Bible are kept intact.
The Translators were not only godly men but they were spiritual men who
were eminently qualified in training and in the languages of Hebrew,
Aramaic and Greek.
Their understanding of the Word of God in these original languages was not
contaminated by Westcott and Hort who lived in the 19th Century
A.D. Westcott’s and Hort’s philosophy of the biblical languages which
promotes textual criticism has contaminated all who learned these original
languages after them. Seminaries and Bible Colleges of the 20th
Century promote the biblical studies and assumptions of these godless men
who were enemies of Christ and not even believers. Textual criticism
originated from German rationalism where the mind is
worshipped as god. Whatever the mind cannot understand and grasp is
rejected. For example, these godless men could not believe the miracles of
the Bible as their minds could not understand how a virgin could conceive
and give birth to Christ or how Jesus could walk on water! These miracles
of the Bible were rejected. Why would Westcott and Hort, and for that
matter any present-day pastors or preacher, want to use a godless system to
critique the Bible? The KJV translators were raised of God before such a
contamination was permitted by Him to surface and prevent all
English-speaking believers from understanding the Word of God in its
entirety. The modern English translations from the 20th Century
can never come close to the KJV Bible translated by the godly KJV
translators whom God raised.
These KJV translators also used the best technique to translate. They
employed the strict “formal equivalence” as opposed to “dynamic
equivalence” adopted to translate the NIV (New International Version). As
we all know, no two languages are exactly the same. The KJV translators
tried their best to translate word for word and retain the emphasis, syntax
and grammar of the original languages, and at the same time produced the
best and most readable English translation. That is why the King James is
better and more accurately described as Bible English rather than
Shakespeare English. An example of a passage in KJV and NIV:
Genesis 22:3 (KJV):
“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his
ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his
son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.” [Emphasis
added.]
Genesis 22:3 (NIV):
“Early the next
The difference seems minor but it is significant because the omission of
the NIV has reduced the actions of Abraham into a normal event. Sacrificing
one’s only begotten son as a burnt offering is not a normal event in
anyone’s life. The conjunction “and” (seven of them) appears in the Hebrew
language for emphasis. This syntactical and grammatical tool is known as
polysyndeton (many occurrences of the conjunction). The repeated use of the
conjunction is found in both the Old and New Testaments to teach us to slow
down and meditate on the words, clauses or phrases in this verse or
passage. The actions of Abraham were done with a heavy heart and much
contemplation because his faith and trust in the Lord was tested to the
core. God promised him that Isaac was the chosen one to continue the
messianic line and here God commanded him to offer Isaac up as a burnt
offering. How could there be a contradiction in command? To offer a burnt
offering was to put someone to death. The only way God could honour the
first promise was that Isaac had to be raised from the dead! This was
exactly the faith of Abraham (cf. Heb 11:17-19). This emphasis is lost by
NIV’s method of dynamic equivalence which was to translate the Bible
according to the understanding of the translator who then used his own
words at times to explain what he believed to be the meaning of the text.
This is a translation of the thoughts of the Word of God
rather than the meaning of the Word of God! The NIV is a deadly erroneous
translation because of this technique.
The result is that the theology of the KJV is excellent because all the
doctrines are kept intact by the faithful and accurate translation.
Having said the above, it is a known fact that even though the KJV
translators did their best, the reality is that no two languages are
exactly the same. For example, the biblical languages are able to shift the
subject, verb, direct object and the indirect object of a sentence around
for emphasis which the English language is not able to do. The direct
object can be placed in front of a sentence for emphasis; whereas the
English translation has to place it in its proper position in the sentence,
otherwise the meaning of the sentence can be changed. Similar little
nuances like these found in the original languages are not possible to
capture when translating to another language. The reason is that every
language has its own syntax and grammar that must be adhered to. The
balance is always between accuracy in translation by retaining the words of
the original languages as much as possible and fluidity in reading and
understanding a translation. The KJV translators had done that faithfully
and accurately by the grace and mercies of God. That is why the KJV is the
best translation because of the TEXTS, TRANSLATORS, TECHNIQUE and THEOLOGY.
Therefore, all English-speaking believers can be blessed and read and obey
the KJV Bible with confidence. Of course, it will never be the same as
reading the original languages in which the Bible was inspired and
preserved by God Himself.
Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service, Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew Advisory Pastor |