My dear readers,

Answering Remaining Questions from Calvary Pandan Church Camp 2022 (15-Final)

Question 1: Could you explain how Jude 12 applies to believers again, especially the part about being “twice dead”? Or does this reference only apply to unbelievers?

Answer 1: Jude 11-13: “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” Who are the “them” in Jude 11?

They are identified for us in Jude 10: “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.” These are the spiritually blind because they are dead in their sins. That is why God charged them with speaking evil of those things which they know not. “Those things which they know not” refers to the Word of God. This is the only Book on earth that cannot be understood by the reader unless he is born again with the Holy Spirit who dwells in him and illuminates his heart and mind. “Woe” will be to these people who call themselves believers or are even theologians and pastors and preachers but are not believers. They think they are but God says they are not because they do not have the ability to understand His holy Word. They interpret the Bible like an unbeliever. This inability must not be confused with the errors sometimes made by preachers and teachers when preaching and teaching. After being corrected, they are glad and thankful to be taught. But not these “woe begotten” individuals. They have gone the way of Cain which was the way of condemnation when he murdered his brother and did not repent.

Balaam sold his faith for filthy lucre. He was an abject hypocrite who had a carnal heart as demonstrated by his carnal desire but wanted to be seen to possess a holy reputation. All of them with the Cain-like disposition and a Balaam heart will perish in the arrogance and rebellion of Korah who dared to challenge the LORD’s appointment of Aaron as the high priest. Believers in Jude’s time fellowshipped with them, i.e. agreed that their teachings and lives were pleasing to God! This association has blemished their acts of love shown unto God. God says that these are “clouds without water”, i.e. they give a show of religiosity by their lives and teachings. But in reality, they are like clouds without rain. Their lives and teaching have the appearance of refreshing rain, but are dead and promise only death. Their lives seem to produce good works, but they are like trees whose fruits will wither and die. All who eat these fruits will die with them. These men are twice dead, i.e. they will die physically one day and they are dead spiritually today. They will be plucked up from their roots like weeds such as thorns and thistles. All who follow them will end up like them. How can God's children truly have even the slightest fellowship with them?

We live in the last days where apostasy in Christianity is at its worst! There are more false teachers and pastors in the 21^st century than in any of the past 2,000 years.

This warning from God to all God’s children today means that we need to be careful whom we fellowship with and regard as our friends or brethren. Longevity of friendship or blood ties or sentimentalism must never be the yardstick in our decision-making on what is right or wrong. If we fail to decide based upon God’s holy Word, we fail ourselves, we fail the one with whom we sided and most important of all we fail God. This is Christ’s irrevocable condition for following Him that He states very clearly in Luke 14:26: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Question 2: A mother in church makes comments often about how other mothers care for their children. How should I respond to her when the comments sometimes seem quite judgmental about an inconsequential issue?

Answer 2: This question is rather vague because the definition of “inconsequential” is subjective. The person who made the comments may not have thought the issue is inconsequential; otherwise, she would not have made them. The real issue for all concerned is one of helpfulness. Instead of making comments (whether inconsequential or not) to another person, ask ourselves: How will making comments about how other mothers care for their children help them? If you feel this is not the way to help, then perhaps you can tactfully tell the mother to share her observations with the other mothers concerned. Being our brother’s and sister’s keeper is part of showing care and love toward one another.

However, it could be that by sharing with you, she might have thought that you are the better person to tell the other mothers who might really need help to improve in caring for their children.

The use of the term “judgmental” is a double-edged sword. It cuts both ways. For one to say that the comments seem judgmental, one has to be judgmental to think so. Therefore, it is best to think well of others as Jesus taught us to do. Philippians 2:3: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Do not doubt the motive of the mother who makes the comments, for she could very well want the best for the other mothers and wants to help but is at a loss. Evaluate the comments to see if they are valid. If they are, ask her what she thinks is the best way to help the other mothers. If in your evaluation you find the issue is really trivial, let her know. Just focus on the issue and do not question the motive which is impossible for us to do.

Question 3: In the Lexicon, when there are multiple definitions for a word, how do we know which definition is correct?

Answer 3: Like in all dictionaries, the Hebrew and Greek lexicons are compiled the same way. A word has no meaning outside of the context in which it is used. This means that the same word can have very different meanings depending on the context. Examples: “The boy wore a green shirt to meet his friends”; “The new employee was green with envy when his colleague was praised!” The lexicon will provide all the meanings based upon the usage of the word. It is now up to the reader to choose which one in the list best fits his context, for the context is the ultimate decider of the meaning of a word.

This contextual key to understanding the Bible is crucial. It should be a caution to us whenever we cross reference other passages of the Bible because of similarity of words and we forget the differences in the respective contexts. When we make such a grave error, it will inevitably result in wrong interpretation. Wrong interpretation does not always mean wrong teaching because what is taught might be biblical in another context but not in the one cited. The problem with such a wrong interpretation is that we put words into God’s mouth as the doctrine is not taught in this particular context but in another. The authority of the Word of God is compromised, for we are teaching others that it is acceptable to put words into God’s mouth as long as the teaching is biblical! The Bible becomes silly putty in the creative mind of the interpreter whereby he can interpret the Word of God and teach what is not there. When students imitate such an irresponsible interpreter, the damage to these students can be life-long unless they realize their errors and return to the right interpretation where yea means yea and nay means nay and anything more than this is evil!