God’s Attributes
The greatest weakness in the church today is that believers do not have the knowledge of God. They are like the Samaritans of whom Jesus said, “Ye worship ye know not what” (John 4:22).
John 17:3 shows the importance of knowing God: “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” What could be more important than that?
Yet the word of prophecy is true today: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). It was the knowledge of God that God’s people lacked in the days of that prophecy. Hosea 4:1 makes that clear: “… there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.” How true today!
In the days of Hosea, the church had rejected knowledge. Especially her spiritual leaders, the priests, had rejected it. So God threatens that He would forget their children and turn their glory into shame (4:6-7). O that the church today would hear that word of God and see that God has brought these judgments upon her! Would that she return to the Lord and be healed!
Thinking of these things, we write here of the attributes of God. Through them we know Him, whom to know is life eternal.
Attributes, you understand, are personal characteristics—such things as eye colour, type of personality, etc. God’s attributes are His oneness, His spirituality, His sovereignty, His grace, His goodness and all the other things we believe about Him. When we speak of God’s attributes, therefore, we are describing Him and His glory and the things He reveals of Himself in His word. Through these attributes we know who He is and what He is.
We must never think, then, that God’s attributes are just a matter of theological debate and discussion. They are vitally important for us. Scripture shows this by the different words it uses to describe God’s attributes. In fact, the abstract, theological word attributes isn’t even used in Scripture.
In Psalm 89:5 the Scripture speaks of God’s attributes as His “wonders.” This reminds us that the attributes reveal to us how great and wonderful God is and make us stand before Him in awe and amazement.
Psalm 78:4 calls the attributes of God His “praises.” From this we learn the reason for the revelation of His attributes: they are given that we might worship and adore Him forever. If the church today does not honour God as she should, it is only because she does not know Him as she should.
But Psalm 78 also says that it is through this knowledge of God’s attributes that the generations to come will set their hope in God and not forget His works, but keep His commandments (4-8). May God grant such generations to the church by restoring in the churches the knowledge of God. Rev. Hanko
Love for Our Enemies (1)
“But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you …” (Luke 6:27).
Although this is only a partial quotation from what the Lord says, this is sufficient for our present purposes, because one of the readers of our newsletter sent in a question which has to do with only this part of the text; more specifically, with the word “love” which the Lord uses.
By the way, before we begin our discussion of this passage, those of us who work to produce the News appreciate very much the questions that are sent in; and we want to encourage our readers to continue to do this. It gives us a greater awareness of what is of interest to those who read the News and it gives us something concrete and specific to discuss. So, if you have any questions or particular texts which you would like to see discussed, please drop us a line.
The questioner is well aware of the fact that there are two words in the Greek for “love.” And it is to the use of these two words that the question refers. The one word (from which we get our English word “philanthropy,” which means “love for man” is a weaker word which can perhaps be translated by our English word “like”—”I like him.” The other word, “agape,” is the stronger word in Greek. It is the word which is always used when Scripture speaks of God’s love for His people. It is also the word which Scripture employs when it speaks of our love for God or our calling to love one another in the household of faith.
The clearest passage in Scripture which casts light on this distinction is found in John 21:15-17. The AV does not make the distinction here, and so it would not be amiss if we would quote the passage by translating the two different words which Scripture uses by different English words. The passage would then read as follows. You will appreciate the difference if you follow in your King James translation:
[15] So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I like thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
[16] He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I like thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
[17] He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, Do you [even] like me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Likest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I like thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
You will notice that Peter did not dare to use the strong word “love,” for he was deeply conscious of how he denied the Lord when the Lord was being tried by the Sanhedrin. This is also why Peter was deeply grieved that in the third question the Lord used the word “like”—the same word Peter used: “Do you [even] like me, Peter?”
The difference in meaning is, I think, clear.
It is because of the meaning of the stronger word that the question we face is important.
The word agape is a word which has in it the implications of a bond of fellowship which exists between perfect people. Paul speaks of love in this sense in Colossians 3:14: “And above all these things put on charity [love, agape—HH], which is the bond of perfectness.”
In this manner God loves His people—not as they are in themselves, wicked and defiled, but as they are in Christ, holy saints. In His love He establishes a bond of fellowship with them. So also we are to love each other within the church. We love each other because in Christ we are saints whose sins are forgiven in the blood of Christ. This is the communion of the saints.
Husband and wife, united in the bond of marriage, are to love each other.
This is an important question.
This, then, is the question: Why does the text use the strong word (agape) when Christians are commanded to love their enemies? How can we love those who are our enemies, and enemies of God? How can love—understood as a bond of fellowship in moral and ethical perfection—be required of us toward the wicked?
We would almost prefer that the Lord used the weaker word here, for that would seem to make our calling easier. Then we would be called only to like our enemies.
We will answer this question in the next issue of the News. Prof. Hanko
Will There Be a Rapture?
One of our readers has asked several questions about the coming of Christ and the rapture: “Do you believe that Christ can come at any moment (the rapture)?” and “Do you believe we are living in the last days just prior to the rapture?”
We recognize that questions about the last times have caused much division among believers. We have no desire to add to that division, especially among those who agree with us concerning the doctrines of grace and the sovereignty of God.
Yet we also believe these questions are important, especially because we live so near the end of all things. Therefore, we intend to address them in the next few issues of the News.
We will stick to what we believe the Scriptures teach and avoid idle speculation. We ask, in turn, that those who do not agree with us hear us patiently, consider what we say prayerfully, and, if necessary, write to us concerning their disagreements.
Because we want to proceed carefully, we will address this over several issues of the News. In this issue and the next, we will consider the whole matter of the “rapture.”
The word rapture is not found in Scripture. Whether one believes in such an event depends, therefore, on what is meant by the term.
The word itself means ‘to seize’ or ‘to snatch.’ In theology it refers to Christ’s coming to ‘snatch up’ His saints from the earth—both those who are living at that time and those who are resurrected.
Up to this point there is no disagreement. Scripture clearly teaches that Christ will come to take away His people (John 14:1–3). If this is all that is meant by “the rapture,” we have no objection to the use of the word. The disagreements arise over when and how this will happen.
Our disagreement is primarily with premillennialists of all sorts. Most of them believe (1) that the rapture will be entirely unexpected and probably secret; (2) that it will take place prior (pre-) to the establishment of an earthly kingdom that will last a thousand years (millennial) and thus long before the end of all things (there is much controversy about the exact timetable, but all agree it will be long before the end); and (3) that it is, therefore, only the first of several future comings of Christ—that is, it will be followed by other comings for other purposes (e.g., the rapture is Christ’s coming ‘for’ His saints, and the revelation is His coming ‘with’ His saints).
We believe (1) that there will be only one future coming of Christ, and (2) that this coming will be at the end of all things. Therefore, if we are going to speak of a “rapture,” it must refer to the final coming of Christ and to the eternal glorification of His people with Him. Also, though not all premillennialists teach this, we believe there is no support in Scripture for the idea that the rapture will be “secret.”
We hope to show, then, that the teaching of a secret premillennial rapture has no support in Scripture. To do this, we will look at some of the passages commonly cited in discussions of the rapture: Matthew 24:40–41, I Corinthians 15:51 and I Thessalonians 4:16–17. We ask our readers to examine these passages in preparation for our studies. Rev. Hanko
