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ceived anyone’s worship while she was here on earth nor would she if on earth today. SEALING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Q. You state that every believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit. Does that mean that every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit? A. No, every believer is not filled with the Spirit. It is possible for us to “ grieve the Holy Spirit of God,” even though we have been baptized with the Spirit. To our own shame we must admit this; we should not grieve the Holy Spirit by permitting unconfessed sin in our lives. (Read Ephesians 4:30-32.) In Ephesians 5:18 we are commanded to “be filled with the Spirit.” Never are we com manded to be “baptized with the Spirit” for this is an act which God alone can work in our hearts by grace, and He does it the moment we put our faith in the atoning work of Christ for salvation. FA ITH AND WORKS Q. You say we do not have to do any thing to be saved. Later you quote Matthew 26:27, 28 which says that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, saying to His disciples, “Drink ye all of it.” How do you harmonize your first statement with this com mand to do this with Christ’s com mand that we be baptized? A. My friend, this and your next question show how confused the legalists are in regard to the plan of salvation; that is, how a sinner is really brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He said to His disciples, “Do this in remembrance of me,” He was not talking of those who needed salva tion, but to those who already pos sessed it. He had already told them to rejoice because their names were written in Heaven, in the Lamb’s Book o f Life. How were they saved? How did they get their names writ ten in Heaven? By partaking of the Lard’s Supper? No! A thousand
times, no! They got their names there when they believed the exhor tation of John the Baptist, “Behold the Lamb o f God, which taketh away the sin o f the world” (John 1:29) and accepted Christ. My friend, one does good works, not in order to be saved, but because he is saved. If you are resting in your “ doing” as you evidently are, you are going to be very disappoint ed one of these days when you meet Him who said over and over again that salvation is all of grace, with out works of any kind. Rely only upon Christ. THE BELIEVER'S REWARDS Q. How can there be degrees of re ward for saints in Heaven? Would that not be a source of envy and strife? A. The Bible teaches that there are degrees of reward in Heaven (First Corinthians 3:11-15). The Bible also teaches that there will be no envy in Heaven. Nothing shall enter there that would defile. We do not have to harmonize these things. However, even with our finite minds, we can readily see that just as some have a greater spiritual un derstanding — shall I say capacity for the things of God? — just as some let Christ take their whole lives now on earth, even so will their ca pacity for the enjoyment of Heaven be greater. The little child who loves the Lord is as happy as he can be, but surely the older we grow and the more we have fellowship with Christ, the greater grows our capac ity of love for Him. I like to think of our rewards in Heaven as something that shall be “ to the praise of his glory,” some thing that will mean even greater service for Christ throughout all eternity, rather than to think of re wards as something for our own pleasure. I like to think o f the crowns awaiting the Christian in this light, all to show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
BLESSED AMONG WOMEN Q. Does not the angel’s statement to Mary in Luke 1:28, “ Blessed art thou among women” justify us in exalting the mother of our Lord? A . In saying, “ Blessed art thou among women,” the angel said no more than had been said of many other women in the Bible. It is writ ten in Judges 5:24 concerning “ Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite” that she should be “ blessed above wom en,” whereas it is said of Mary “blessed art thou among women.” There is, therefore, more reason for exalting Jael than Mary, according to this term. The same word blessed is used 41 times in the New Testament, and often in the Old Testament. For ex ample, we read: “ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psa. 32:1). “ Blessed is he that considereth the poor” (Psa. 41:1). Dozens of similar verses might be quoted: The word blessed simply means happy. Mary w a s “ happy” in being chosen as the moth er of her Saviour, and she naturally rejoiced in the thought that all gen erations would call her happy. Mary herself denied the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin when she said in Luke 1 :47, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” The name “ Saviour” im plies sin, as seen in the angel’s words to Joseph: “ Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Again, Mary exults in the mercy of God: “His mercy is on them that fear him from generation to genera tion” (Luke 1:50). From the context it is evident that she includes her self among the recipients of this mercy. Mercy implies sin. Where there is no sin there is no need of mercy. Mary was a good woman, but she did not claim to be sinless. She was not immaculately conceived nor did she return to heaven without dy ing. These are fables to exalt her to the status of divinity. Mary never re
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