Doctrines

Matt 19:4; Mark 10:6

In Matt 19:4, Jesus said,

‘Have you not read that he (God) who created them from the beginning made them male and female.’

Man was created by God.

Rom 3:23; Rom 5:12; 1 John 1:8

Rom 3:23 makes it clear that all of us are sinners and therefore fall short of the glory of God and it came through one man (Rom 5:12), the man Adam.

Some religions believe that we are tainted by the environment; that is, we were born without sin. The Bible makes it clear – Like a hereditary medical condition, we inherited the element of sin from our forefather, Adam.

Rom 5:12-15; 1 Cor 15:56

Rom 5:12 says,

‘Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.’

Again, like a terminal medical condition, sin gives us a terminal existence; we will eventually die. We assume death as a given but if sin was not brought into the world, we could have lived forever.

Like the bit from a deadly and venomous snake, 1 Cor 15:56 describes sin as the ‘sting of death.’

See also D204, All men will be judged on the Day of Judgment.

Acts 10:25-26; Col 2:18

In Acts 10:25-26, Cornelius fell down and worshiped Peter when the latter arrived. Yet, Peter made it clear,

‘Stand up; I too am a man.’

It was not as if Peter did not deserve that acknowledgement; he was after all an apostle who moved in the supernatural, but Peter knew that only God was to be worshiped.

Even Mary, the mother of Jesus, is not to be worshiped; Mary was but a conduit to allow God’s son into the world although she was obviously a very godly and special person. See D27, Jesus came from the bloodline of David.

Christians do not worship angels, the mother of Jesus (Mary), the apostles, as well as other great men (women) even if they are the most humble people on earth. Of course, we can respect and honor them.

Matt 11:28; Mark 8:34; John 7:17; Rom 10:9-10; Gal 5:13; Heb 3:15; Heb 11:25

All men have the free will to choose. God has not created us as robots. Our decision decides our eternal future.

• We have a freedom to accept or reject Jesus Christ.

In Matt 11:28, Jesus said,

‘Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’

It is an invitation to all of us.

The popular John 3:16 has this to say,

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only (begotten) Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’

It is our action under the ‘whoever believes in him.’

• Even when we become Christians, we still have choices. That was why the Apostle Paul reminded believers not to ‘use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.’

All of us are given the option to accept or reject the voice of God and in Heb 3:15, the verse encourages us not to harden our hearts if we do hear God’s voice.

Matt 10:30-31; Luke 12:6-7; Luke 15:1-10; Luke 15:24

Jesus made it explicit when he told us not to fear as we are ‘more valuable than many sparrows’ (Matt 10:31).

In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus described the love of the Father when he said that he was prepared to leave the ninety-nine sheep in the open pasture just to search for one that was lost (Luke 15:1-10).

We may not know or even feel it but the Lord’s love for all mankind is best exemplified by his willingness to sacrifice his only begotten Son (and the willingness of the Son to lay down his life for mankind) on the cross so that in doing so, Jesus could reconcile us back to God the Father (John 3:16).

Rom 2:15; Rom 13:5

Many people give excuses about God not being ‘obvious’ enough to be known. But Scripture makes it clear that we already have the requirements of the law written on our hearts. Rom 2:15 says that

our ‘conscience also bears witness’ so that we are without excuse (Rom 2:1).

The Greek word for ‘conscience’ is suneidesis or a persisting notion/ conscience.

Rom 1:20 said that God’s invisible attributes could be seen so that we are ‘without excuse.’ The Greek word for ‘invisible’ is aoratos and it means that which is invisible to the naked eye.

Our conscience (our inside voice) is a reminder that God exists and we are held accountable.

2 Thes 3:10, 1 Thes 2:9, Ex 20:9

We are ordained to work. It is a natural part of who we are in God.

2 Thes 3:10 tells us,

‘For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat either.’

In fact, as a missionary, the Apostle Paul never slacked and continued to put in his hours of work. He did not lord it over them even as he was ministering the word. 1 Thes 2:9 says,

‘For your recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.’

There are many verses in the Old Testament that explains the requirements as well as the joy of working.

Ex 20:9 says, ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work.’

Ps 104:23 reads, ‘Man goes forth to his work, and to his labor until evening.’

Or consider Ps 128:2 –

‘When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you.’

And the sayings of Proverbs in Prov 6:6 –

‘Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise.’

We are ordained for work. In fact, laziness is a sin. Please see S146 – Choose not to work/ Not to use our talents – slothful and lazy.

At the same time, we are also created for rest. Please B301 – Learn to take rest.

Overwork and unwillingness to rest are also sins. In Mark 2:27, Jesus declared –

‘And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”‘

The ability to work while being at peace in God’s rest is the secret to walking as a Christian. Heb 4:13 tells us to,

‘Strive to enter that rest (of God).’

Matthew 19:4-5, Mark 10:6-7, Romans 1:26-27

When even the newly crowned US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson refused to define the word, ‘woman’, when questioned at her Senate’s hearing, we have therefore to clarify what the views of the Bible is.

The issue of transgenderism is likely to become more prominent and accepted in our society as it gets entrenched into our education, entertainment, and legal systems.

When challenged by the Pharisees on the issue of divorce, Jesus said,

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4-5, Mark 10:6-7).

Jesus did not go into the number of sexes as we do. He simply reinforced the original verses in Genesis 1:27,

‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’

Romans 1:26-27 talks about the depravity of human of exchanging a normal sexual relationship with an abnormal one –

‘For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.’

There are no multiple genders. It is just two – male and female – and it does not matter whether we are talking about humans or animals. It might sound politically correct in our worldly conversations but the Bible has made it clear.