was here for a very special purpose. At 12 years of age, He asked, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Fa ther’s business?” A much better question would be not, “When did Christ become God?” but rather, “When did God the Son become Je sus?” This was indeed at the incar nation. The Lord Jesus Christ is eternal which John 1:1 settles for us. The Saviour didn’t “come into being” ; He was! He laid aside His glory, but not His deity. Q. Santa Barbara, Calif. — “Will you please explain where the Gentile na tions came from? We have a friend who claims we all came from the Jewish race. Also, was Abraham the first Jew? I f not, of what nationality was he? I heard some confusing dis cussions about this over the air.” A. Many people are confused on this subject. They in turn have sought to confuse others. First of all, do not use those two words together, “Gen tile nations,” for you are saying thereby “nation, nations.” All of the nations came from Noah who, of course, came from Adam. Adam was neither Jew nor Gentile. Abraham was really a Gentile before he was ever a Hebrew. It is absolutely false to say that we have all come from the Jewish race, any more than that all the world comes from the French or Japanese nations. We all descend from Adam and Noah. Abraham was the first Jew only in a manner of speaking. Actually, the word “Jew” comes from Judah, the great grand son of Abraham. He is called a He brew. He was a Gentile before com ing from Mesopotamia. By God’s call he became an immigrant, an Hebrew; This means one who worships the true God instead of any of the false gods of this earth. It is true that God marvelously poured out His grace upon the Jewish nation, giving them more privileges than many others, but that didn’t mean that they were saved thereby. As an example, there
is a lot of light of the Gospel here in America but that doesn’t mean that all of the people of our country are saved. One further point is not to equate Jewish with Judaism . There are many Jews who are not in Judaism. There are many who are only linguistically connected with Judaism. When we say “ Jew ish Christian” by Jewish we mean na tionality and by Christian we mean faith. The term is most appropriate. Biola, through the years, has main tained an intensive p rog ram of reaching the Jewish people with the Gospel message of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Daniel Rose, a member of our Biola Board of Directors, has carried on this most effective ministry with his helpers through the years. Q . Wariek, R.l. — “When witnessing to the unsaved about salvation, how can one interpret the word believe as given in John 8:16-18? I t seems that there are -many, even in other religions, who believe Christ to be the Son of God. Does this mean they are automatically saved? I have always thought that salvation was a personal acceptance in the heart.” A. You are right. Salvation is a personal acceptance of the Lord Je sus in the heart. The word believe is used in several senses in Scrip ture. Notices James 2:19, “Thou be- lievest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils [demons] also believe and tremble.” These Satanic spirits have a head knowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This is far from sufficient. The contrast is then given concerning Abraham. His faith was supported by his works. Dr. R. A. Torrey declared, “We’re saved by faith without works, but we’re not saved by a faith that does not work!” An intellectual com prehension of certain facts is not synonymous with salvation. The devil is not an atheist. Notice John 1:12, in which “believing faith” is defined. 23
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