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Are you ready to test your Bible knowledge? Good. Look carefully at the list of words
and phrases below. The question is, what do they all have in common?
trinity
rapture
unknown tongue
resurrection of the body
personal Savior
immortal soul
eternal hell
Did you get the answer yet? Here are a few more:
the wages of sin is spiritual death
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord
hell was created for the devil and his angels
died and went to heaven
died and went to hell
the second death is the lake of fire
saved from hell
salvation from hell
Still didn't get it? How about these:
Bible study
youth group
cheeseburger
helicopter
Wait a minute! There are no cheeseburgers or helicopters in the Bible! Exactly right. I
was giving you a hint. This is what they all have in common: None of the above words
or phrases are found in the Bible (unknown tongue appears erroneously in the KJV,
other versions do not contain the error).
Before you jump all over me, understand that I am not implying that all of the above
words support false or doubtful doctrines just because they do not appear in the
scriptures. Nor am I saying that we can prove of disprove doctrines through word studies
alone. But I believe it's important for Christians to understand that many of the terms
they throw around are not found in Bible. And some of these extrabiblical words and
phrases do indeed support extrabiblical doctrines.
Some of these warrant further explanation:
trinity
I'm not going after the trinity doctrine here, but I do find it interesting that one verse that
clearly outlines the trinity is not found in any manuscript prior to the 15th century. In
other words, it does not belong in the Bible. For there are three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. (1 John 5:7)
rapture
Why do Christians get all worked up about the rapture, rather than the resurrection. The
resurrection is something to get excited about. Just read the words of Paul, especially in
1 Corinthians 15. Using the extra biblical word rapture gives rise to all kinds of bizarre
theories and controversies about when and how it will all happen. It's much easier to just
believe Paul: Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,
the dead will raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Cor. 15:5152)
unknown tongue
This phrase appears four times in 1 Corinthians, chapter 14 in the King James Version
only. If you have a KJV, open it up to any page. You will notice that several words are in
italics. The italics mean that the word does not appear in the original text, it was added
by the translators. This is an acceptable practice used to clarify the meaning of certain
phrases. There is nothing wrong with this, so long as the added words do not change the
meaning. Now, can we all agree that adding the word unknown before tongue changes its
meaning? I have no idea why the translators felt the need to change tongue into unknown
tongue, but it's just not right. Besides, is there even such a thing as an unknown tongue?
As one of my college professors once told me, there's no such thing as a foreign
language, there are just languages you don't know.
resurrection of the body
The phrase resurrection of the body appears in some creeds, but never in scripture. The
Bible speaks of the resurrection of the dead. That's right, the dead, not just dead bodies.
Only dead people can be raised from the dead.
personal Savior
Jesus is not called a personal Savior in the scriptures. In fact he is called something quite
the opposite the Savior of the world: And we have seen and testify that the Father has
sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. (1 Jn. 4:14) That being said, there's nothing
wrong with calling Him your personal Savior. It's not a doctrinal issue, but for me it
does sound a little strange.
immortal soul
The Hebrew and Greek words translated soul appear hundreds of times in the Bible.
Immortal appears only three times, all in the New Testament, and each time is applied to
God alone. Immortality appears five times. Paul tells us we must be "clothed with
immortality". We do not possess immortality now, it is something we can only gain at
the resurrection: When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the
mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been
swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:54)
the wages of sin is spiritual death
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Rom. 6:23) Paul states that the wages of sin is death, not spiritual death, not eternal
death, not eternal life in hell, and not eternal damnation.
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord
I heard a preacher say this twice in one sermon as if it is a Bible verse. He was quoting,
or rather misquoting 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be
absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. There is no is to be in the verse. In
the context, the body Paul speaks of is his mortal body, and to be present with the Lord
is something we will all experience when we are clothed with immortality at the
resurrection. There is no intermediate state. When you read Paul's letters, you can feel
his excitement about this great future event when the dead are raised. In fact Paul says
that if there is no resurrection, your faith is in vain. If believers just died and went to
heaven immediately, the resurrection would meaningless.
died and went to heaven
died and went to hell
No one in Bible died and went to heaven or hell. They just died. Jesus said, No one has
ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven the Son of Man. (Jn. 3:13)
the second death is the lake of fire
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second
death. (Rev. 20:14) In Revelation we are told that The seven stars are the angels of the
seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. (Rev. 1:20) Would it
make any sense to reverse the metaphor and say that the churches are lampstands and the
stars are angels? Of course not. Neither then can we reverse the metaphor of the second
death.
saved from hell
salvation from hell
If salvation means being saved from hell, why is that no New Testament writer points
this out? Being saved from burning eternally would be a very big deal. You would think
that Jesus, Paul, James, and everyone else would have shouted this from the
mountaintops. I'm certain Paul would have said something like, "I thank the Lord Jesus
Christ for saving me from eternal torment in hell."
If you listen to enough sermons or talk with Christians, then I'm sure you could add
many things to this list. The next time you hear someone say something which they
presume is a Biblical word or doctrine, don't be afraid to ask, "Where exactly does the
Bible say that?"