Ques. 128. Please explain 2 John 10, 11. B. S. Ans. In all of John's epistles the truth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, that is: that He is a real man as well as the eternal God (John 1:14), is jealously guarded. The Scriptures everywhere declare it and assure it. "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever," is said to the Son of God (Heb. 1:8), yet he was also the Son of man. (Heb. 2:6, quoted from Psa. 8.)
He was always God and with God (John 1:1), and when He took manhood, He could not cease to be a man. So we find Him in resurrection, "the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5.) He is the sustainer of the universe. (Eph. 1:20-22; Col. 1:16, 17; Heb. 1:2, 3.)
2 John 10, 11 tell us how to treat those who deny the truth that Christ is truly God and man. The elect lady was not to receive such a one into her house, nor bid him God speed (salute him). For he that biddeth such God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds. Such a teacher is an antichrist. (1 John 2:22.) His teachings are blasphemy.
Ques. 129. Do you think Simon, the sorcerer was truly converted? Acts 8.
M. A. H.
Ans. Simon the sorcerer was the first one we read of being baptized with Christian baptism; so was nominally a Christian, but in reality was unconverted. He was the first tare in the wheat field. (Matt. 13.) The first one at the feast not having on a wedding garment. (Matt. 22.) The first of the foolish virgins who had lamps, but had no oil in their vessels with their lamps. He would illustrate the one described in Heb. 6:4, 5, as once enlightened, but without life; as having tasted of the heavenly gift, but did not feed on it; as a partaker of the Holy Ghost, being in the house of God (by baptism), where the Holy Ghost dwells, but he is not sealed; and as having tasted the good word of God, yet did not make it His own; he also saw the powers of the world (age) to come, the miracles wrought by Philip."
In verse 13 we read; "Simon himself believed," showing that his faith was only of himself, the natural mind, like those in John 2:23-25, who believed when they saw the miracles, but the Lord did not commit Himself unto them. (See John 6:66.) We see in Eph. 2:8 where true faith comes from, "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."
We have just to read Acts 8:20-23, to see that Simon was still a slave of sin and Satan, a lost man.
Ques. 130. Is fasting useful now, or was it only under the law? C. M.
Ans. The Lord said: "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." Matt. 17:21. Prayer expresses our dependence on God. Fasting, where it is real, expresses a lowly, contrite condition of soul that refuses self-gratification for the purpose of being more in the presence of God. This is not imposing a rule on oneself or on any one, but it is feeling the necessity of being more abstracted from things around, that we might be more alone with God. The passage before us warns us not to appear fasting before men, but in secret with the Father, in the realization of having to do with God. There is no satisfaction in it to the flesh. To boast about, or to be proud of it, is to show that it was a sham. We find it used both in the Old and New Testament times.