QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (2)

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.   The definition of the term “question” is interesting.

1.     A sentence in an interrogative form

2.    A sentence addressed to another in order to get information in reply

3.     A problem for discussion

4.    A matter of some uncertainty or difficulty

5.    A subject of dispute or controversy

 

B.   The questions that you ask and put in our Q & A Box in the foyer may fall into anyone of these categories.

 

C.   It is our hope to answer your questions sufficiently.  If not, follow up questions can always be asked.

 

D.   Tonight, we will answer three questions that have been submitted.

 

I.          QUESTION #1

 

A.   STATED:  Why did Jesus use plural pronouns in Luke 11:2-4 and singular pronouns in John 17 when He prayed?

1.     Luke 11:2-4

 

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, as in heaven; so in earth.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.  And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

 

2.    John 17

a.    Verse 1 reveals that this is a prayer.

b.    In verse 5, we read of one request Jesus made unto the Father.

 

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

 

 

 

 

B.   Answer:

1.     Notice in the first prayer Jesus uses words like “our,” “us,” and “we.”  In the second prayer He uses pronouns like “me” and “I.”  The one asking the question wants to know why there is a difference.

2.    The answer to the question like in “who” the prayer involved.

a.    In the first prayer, Jesus is teaching a group of people to pray.  When the entire group is involved, Jesus included the group in the prayer.

b.    In the second prayer, Jesus is praying a personal prayer.  It was a prayer between Him and God alone.  “I” and “me” were the proper words to use in this prayer.

3.     This distinction needs to be learned by some men who lead public prayers.

a.    When they pray before the congregation, they are leading everyone in the audience in prayer.  Everyone, therefore, should be included:  we, our and us.

b.    Some who lead public prayer turn them into personal prayers by using the words “I,” “me,”, and “my.”

1)     Some are not even aware that they do this.

2)    Two or three do it in this congregation.

c.    Just remember that when leading the congregation in prayer, it is not “I” who pray, but “we” who are praying.

 

II.        QUESTION #2

 

A.   STATED:  Please explain the difference in the Old Testament Law and their relationship with God as opposed to Hebrews 8:10.  Was His law not in their hearts and mind?  Were they not His people?  Was He not their God?  And explain verse 11 – Are we not to teach?

 

B.   Answer:

1.     The entire book of Hebrews involves a contrast between the Old Law and the New Law.

2.    Some Christians at that time were facing persecution.

a.    Hebrews 12:4 reveals that they had not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

b.    It was severe enough, however, that some of the Hebrew Christians were leaving the faith and returning to Judaism.

c.    The book of Hebrews is an exhortation to the Hebrew Christians not to do this.  The author gives numerous reasons they should not turn back.  The principle reason is because the New Covenant is “better.”

3.     In Hebrews 8:6-13, the inspired penman makes a contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  He reveals two things that distinguish the Old Law from the New Law.

4.    In Hebrews 8:10-11, one distinction is presented.

 

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in the hearts:  and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:  and they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:  for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

 

a.    In this text, the writer is contrasting how one becomes a member of each covenant.

b.    Under the OT, a child was circumcised the eighth day and was brought in to a covenant relationship with God (Gen. 17:11-12a).

 

And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you…

 

1)     When this child entered into a covenant relationship with God, he knew absolutely nothing about God and the law of God.

2)    The Israelites had to teach every man his neighbor and every man is brother, saying, Know the Lord.

c.    Under the New Covenant, entering into a covenant relationship with God was much different.

1)     The law of Christ was put into the individual’s mind and heart first (John 6:45).

 

It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.  Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

 

2)    Because one was taught first, it was not necessary to teach a member of the New Covenant to know the Lord.

d.    This difference makes the New Testament better than the Old Testament.  Individuals become member of the New Covenant because of their own volition instead of just being born into the covenant.

 

III.      QUESTION #3

 

A.   STATED:  The word “shiggaion” is found in the introduction to Psalm 7 (KJV).  In Habakkuk 3:1, “shigionoth” is found.  What do they mean?

B.   Answer:

1.     One hundred sixteen psalms in the Hebrew Bible have titles on them.

2.    NOTE:

a.    These titles are not part of the original text.  They were supplied by man after the psalms were written.

b.    The titles, however, are very old.

c.    The Jews thought the titles were of such integrity that they included them in the first verse of the psalm.

3.     Our question concerns a title and also a verse from the Bible.

a.    Psalm 7 (title)

 

Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.

 

b.    Habakkuk 3:1

 

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.

 

c.    Comments

1)     In English the words were spelled differently.  However, in the Hebrew language, the words are identical.

2)    Because these words were not translated, it makes it difficult for us to understand them.

3)     The actual meaning of the word is not agreed upon by the scholars.

a)    Some believe it refers to a type of instrument that was played in accompaniment of the psalm.

b)    Others believe it describes the type of psalm itself.  This is based upon a detailed study of the etymology of the word

-       Word Press translates it as “A crying aloud.”  They say it “refers to the loud cries of David and Habakkuk in these psalms.

-       Wikipedia says that it could mean “mistake.”  “David committed some sin and is singing in the form of a prayer to redeem himself from it.”

-       Wikipedia also says that some say the word means “longing.”  Thus, the words that follow describe the longings of the psalmist and the prophet.

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.   Aren’t questions and answers fun?

1.     They provide variety to our study.

2.    They point us to things that we may not have considered before.

3.     They may cause us to look more closely at the Biblical text as we study from day to day.

 

B.   We will continue our study of your questions on October 6^th.  We have a couple of questions that may take an entire lesson to answer them completely.

 

C.   Keep putting your questions in the box in the foyer.

 

D.   Let’s go back to Hebrews 8 and look at the second contrast the inspired author makes between the OT and the NT (Heb. 8:12).

 

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remem-ber no more.

 

1.     The blood of bulls and goats could not remove sin (Heb. 10:4).

2.    But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year (Heb. 10:3).

3.     This is not so under the New Covenant.  The blood of Jesus completely forgives sins.  Once it is removed, it is no longer held to our account.  It is completely gone, remembered no more!