• John 3:13 says no one has ascended to heaven but Jesus. What about Elijah?

  This verse is found in a context dealing with the question of Nicodemus which he gave in answer to Jesus’ statement about the need to be born again.

  3:9-10. Nicodemus was asking just how such spiritual transformation takes place. Jesus answered that Nicodemus, as the teacher of Israel ought to know. The Old Testament prophets spoke of the new Age with its working of the Spirit (Isa. 32:15; Ezek. 36:25-27; Joel 2:28-29). So the nation’s outstanding teacher ought to understand how God by His sovereign grace can give someone a new heart (1 Sam. 10:6; Jer.

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  172

  Topic ID: 

  82

  73

  Biblical Topics: 

  Heaven

  Ascension

• What would have been Christ’s eternal destiny if He had yielded to temptation?

  The answer to this question revolves around the fact of the two natures of Christ. If he had been just a sinless man, then his destiny would have been that of Adam and all the rest of humanity, but due to the fact He was also God who cannot sin as absolute holiness and infinite righteousness, etc., the possibility is simply not there.

  I have included below, a short overview of the doctrine of Christ’s impeccability.

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  171

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  6

  80

  Biblical Topics: 

  Christology

  Temptation

• What is the nature of Christ’s sonship?

  Concerning the eternal Sonship of Christ, Ryrie has this to say:

  I agree with Buswell (A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, pp. 105-12) that generation is not an exegetically based doctrine. The concept it tries to convey, however, is not unscriptural, and certainly the doctrine of sonship is scriptural. The phrase “eternal generation” is simply an attempt to describe the Father-Son relationship in the Trinity and, by using the word “eternal,” protect it from any idea of inequality or temporality.

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  170

  Topic ID: 

  6

  57

  Biblical Topics: 

  Christology

  Trinity

• What does the Bible mean when it says Christ descended into hell?

  It may be that the Lord did descend into the place of confined demonic spirits (tartarus) to make a glorious proclamation of the fact of the victory accomplished through the cross (1 Pet. 3:18-20). But Christ did not go there to redeem anyone nor to release Old Testament saints. As I understand it, God’s redeemed were in Paradise or Abraham’s bosom, probably some place in the heavenlies and when the curtain in the temple was rent, signifying the way into the Holy of Holies had been opened, they were allowed immediate access into God’s presence.

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  169

  Topic ID: 

  6

  96

  70

  Biblical Topics: 

  Christology

  Hell

  Terms & Definitions

• Were the three days and three nights that Jesus was in the grave a full 72 hours?

  There has been a long standing debate over the meaning of Matthew 12:40, “for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” In my opinion, the evidence supports the traditional view that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon and was in the grave part of Friday (the day of preparation cf. Luke 23:54-55), all of Saturday (Luke 23:56), and part of Sunday, the first day of the week (Luke 24:1).

  QA ID: 

  168

  Topic ID: 

  56

  Biblical Topics: 

  Resurrection

• Why does Matthew trace Abraham’s geneology to Joseph, when he is not Jesus true father?

  Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, through David, the King of Judah to whom God made the Davidic covenant. This shows Jesus in the line of Abraham and David, but Matthew does not say that Jesus is the actual son of Joseph—only that he is in the Messianic line through Joseph. By implication, he is the legal son of Joseph by adoption.

  QA ID: 

  167

  Topic ID: 

  55

  42

  Biblical Topics: 

  Christmas

  Incarnation

• How old was Jesus when he was crucified?

  This is a subject that has been debated by scholars for many years. There are no passages that give the exact time historically speaking other than general historical references that have to be determined from what we know of the history of the time, like when Herod ruled and the historical references in Luke 2:1f. See also Luke 3:23 and John 8:57. The general consensus is that He was in His mid thirties.

  Below I have inserted the conclusions of Dr. Harold Hoehner of Dallas Seminary on both the time of Christ’s birth and crucifixion. Dr.

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  166

  Topic ID: 

  83

  Biblical Topics: 

  Crucifixion

• Will you comment on the ‘kenosis’ heresy?

  There is a true and biblical doctrine of kenosis, but the Greek used by Paul in Philippians 2:7 has been wrenched out of its New Testament context to make it mean what it does not. It does not mean that Christ divested Himself of His divine attributes, but only that He veiled them and laid aside the voluntary use of those attributes when He took the form of true humanity. They were still His and He still possessed them, for as God the Son who is immutable (unchangeable) and eternal, He could never cease to be God.

  QA ID: 

  165

  Topic ID: 

  6

  Biblical Topics: 

  Christology

• In Mark 10:18 is Jesus implying that he is not God?

  Mark 10:18 has been used by some Christians and commentators to show just the opposite, namely, that Jesus was alluding to himself as God, i.e., his deity. In other words, the rich young ruler calls him “Good teacher.” When Jesus says that only God is good, he is thus trying to hint at his own deity (since the man called him “good”) which the young man failed to see.

  QA ID: 

  164

  Topic ID: 

  6

  Biblical Topics: 

  Christology

• If Christ was tempted “in every way” as we are, does this include sexually?

  Actually, it is quite reasonable to conclude that Jesus was tempted sexually as are other people. Those temptations, however, unlike every other person, did not originate from within. They were not temptations arising from fallen sinful flesh, but the temptations placed in front of him by Satan and his demons, and also other people. The phrase in Hebrews actually says “kata panta kath homoioteta” meaning “according to every respect, according to the likeness” in which we are tempted.

  QA ID: 

  163

  Topic ID: 

  6

  80

  Biblical Topics: 

  Christology

  Temptation

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