- May 3, 2022
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After Yeshua goes through His trial in the wilderness, He returns to John, which is when John makes his well-known and often quoted,
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.
I used to think, as most do, that the meaning of what John said was that the Lamb of God "forgives" the sin of the world. This is not true. Because what we have seen is that two things need to happen for the forgiveness of sins to be complete and eternal.
1. Forgiveness is when Jehovah forgives the "person" for the action of committing a sin. Sin itself cannot be "forgiven." Let's say a believer used fire to destroy a neighbor's house. The believer, who feels great sorrow and regret for his action, repents and, with a contrite heart, acknowledges his sin and asks Jehovah to forgive him. He will be forgiven for starting the fire. But Jehovah doesn't forgive the fire itself or what the fire did.
2. After forgiveness, the stain of sin has to be removed. This is where the "remittance" of sins is needed. Since all sheep must be pure in God's eyes after the resurrection and qualified to live an eternal life, there must be no taint of sin attached to a sheep. Without the removal of sins, even in a new, resurrected body, the taint of sin would still be associated with each sheep.
All of the Greek words translated into the English words, Forgive, forgiven, forgives, and forgave, are:
aphesis - pardon, freedom.
apoluo - release, pardon.
aphiemi - pardon, forgive.
charizomai - grant favor, pardon.
The words "take away" in the verse is one Greek word, airo. This word means: Lift up, take away, raise, remove, carry away. I haven't seen one version of the Bible that translates John 1:29 as "...the Lamb of God who "forgives" the sin of the world.
'
We discover two water immersions in the N.T. "Being immersed in the name of John" and "being immersed in the name of Yeshua." Are they one and the same? No. What is the difference? In the Jewish culture, when one was immersed under someone's name, it meant that the one immersing themself was acknowledging that the Teacher, the one supervising the immersion, represented the truth of Torah and that he/she acknowledged, believed, and followed whatever the Teacher taught.
Besides John offering water immersion for "repentance and the remission of sins," his role also consisted of preparing the people for the coming Messiah.
John 3:28 "...I am not the Christ, but I am he sent before the Messiah comes."
John 1:8 He (John) was not the Light but was sent (by Jehovah) to bear witness of the Light.
Lk 1:17 "...to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
So, while John's immersion was necessary for the Jewish sheep (No Gentiles went to John's immersion) at the beginning of the New Covenant, it, in itself, was not the final step. All Jewish believers who immersed themselves in John's name would have had to immerse themselves a second time under the name of Yeshua, signifying that it was now Yeshua who they believed, obeyed what He taught, and followed. Since Yeshua was God means that even though He physically left planet Earth, to be immersed in His name did not require him to be physically present at the immersion.
Acts 19:1-5 And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul arrived at Ephesus and came across a number of Jewish disciples. Paul asked them, "Have you been given the Holy Spirit since you trusted in what you were taught (by John)? They told Paul, "No, we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit." Paul asked them, "Under what name were you immersed?" They replied, "We were immersed under John's name."
Paul, now understanding the situation, explained to the disciples, "John's immersion was an immersion of repentance, but he also taught those who followed him that they should also believe on the one coming after him, Yeshua, the Anointed One. The disciples immediately understood what Paul meant and self-immersed under the name of Yeshua. If Yeshua hadn't been the subject of what Paul explained to these disciples, but say Paul taught them something new and they self-immersed after hearing what Paul taught, from that point forward, they would have said that they had been immersed in the name of Paul.
It is important to point out that self-immersion in water, in the name of Yeshua, is NOT the same as being immersed in the Holy Spirit! In Acts 8:13, we see that Simon the sorcerer physically self-immersed in water but was never immersed with the Holy Spirit, which is an act that Yeshua performs. We see in Acts 8:12-16 that the Samaritan believers had already self-immersed but hadn't been immersed with the Spirit. Peter and John had come to Samaria and prayed for the Samaritan disciples to be given the Holy Spirit despite the fact that the Samaritans had physically immersed themselves in the name of Yeshua. In Acts 10:44-48, we see Gentiles immersed in the Holy Spirit without any physical immersion required or which had to happen first.
Acts1:4-5 Obviously, the Apostles would have self-immersed in the name John, and of Yeshua. But those physical acts did not result in the immersion of the Holy Spirit.
"...wait for the promise of the Father...John immersed with water, but you shall be immersed with the Holy Spirit not many days from now...Acts 2:1-4.
People can believe different things in the Bible but still be a goat. You can believe that Jehovah created the universe and still be a reprobate. Many believe that Yeshua was a true, historical figure and that he was a great teacher, a very wise man, but not believe that he was the Messiah. Someone can follow the moral code in Scripture but still end up on the left hand of Yeshua on Judgment Day. Evangelicals can participate in "Christian Baptism" and still live on the broad path their entire life.
The key to understanding Scripture is twofold. There is the reading of words and there is an understanding of the spiritual meaning and spiritual truth of the words. Without any spiritual understanding, Scripture becomes just another set of religious words, that have no meaning beyond what is read,
John 3:12 If I have told you of earthly things and you don't believe those things, how will you believe the heavenly things I speak of?
John 14;26 But the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all (spiritual) things...
Rom 8:5-9
1 Cor 2:12-14 ...which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. But the natural man does not receive the teaching of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to the natural man. It is impossible for the natural man to understand, for spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.
While I could list dozens of examples of this, I'll use just one. After being taught directly by Yeshua, after seeing countless miracles, after hearing many teachings describing the kingdom and Yeshua instructing that the kingdom is spiritual, the apostles ask Yeshua, Acts 1:6 When the Apostles came together, they asked Yeshua, "Lord, will you now, at this time, restore the kingdom to Israel? They didn't have a clue!
So, if there is only ONE immersion, Eph 4:5, is there no doubt that the immersion of the Holy Spirit is that immersion? You can immerse yourself in water a thousand times, and you will not gain one iota of spiritual discernment. It is obvious that the need for any self-immersion in water was done away with, and was never required by Jehovah to begin with.
This is the end of part 12. I only have one more part of this study to post.
"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.
I used to think, as most do, that the meaning of what John said was that the Lamb of God "forgives" the sin of the world. This is not true. Because what we have seen is that two things need to happen for the forgiveness of sins to be complete and eternal.
1. Forgiveness is when Jehovah forgives the "person" for the action of committing a sin. Sin itself cannot be "forgiven." Let's say a believer used fire to destroy a neighbor's house. The believer, who feels great sorrow and regret for his action, repents and, with a contrite heart, acknowledges his sin and asks Jehovah to forgive him. He will be forgiven for starting the fire. But Jehovah doesn't forgive the fire itself or what the fire did.
2. After forgiveness, the stain of sin has to be removed. This is where the "remittance" of sins is needed. Since all sheep must be pure in God's eyes after the resurrection and qualified to live an eternal life, there must be no taint of sin attached to a sheep. Without the removal of sins, even in a new, resurrected body, the taint of sin would still be associated with each sheep.
All of the Greek words translated into the English words, Forgive, forgiven, forgives, and forgave, are:
aphesis - pardon, freedom.
apoluo - release, pardon.
aphiemi - pardon, forgive.
charizomai - grant favor, pardon.
The words "take away" in the verse is one Greek word, airo. This word means: Lift up, take away, raise, remove, carry away. I haven't seen one version of the Bible that translates John 1:29 as "...the Lamb of God who "forgives" the sin of the world.
'
We discover two water immersions in the N.T. "Being immersed in the name of John" and "being immersed in the name of Yeshua." Are they one and the same? No. What is the difference? In the Jewish culture, when one was immersed under someone's name, it meant that the one immersing themself was acknowledging that the Teacher, the one supervising the immersion, represented the truth of Torah and that he/she acknowledged, believed, and followed whatever the Teacher taught.
Besides John offering water immersion for "repentance and the remission of sins," his role also consisted of preparing the people for the coming Messiah.
John 3:28 "...I am not the Christ, but I am he sent before the Messiah comes."
John 1:8 He (John) was not the Light but was sent (by Jehovah) to bear witness of the Light.
Lk 1:17 "...to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
So, while John's immersion was necessary for the Jewish sheep (No Gentiles went to John's immersion) at the beginning of the New Covenant, it, in itself, was not the final step. All Jewish believers who immersed themselves in John's name would have had to immerse themselves a second time under the name of Yeshua, signifying that it was now Yeshua who they believed, obeyed what He taught, and followed. Since Yeshua was God means that even though He physically left planet Earth, to be immersed in His name did not require him to be physically present at the immersion.
Acts 19:1-5 And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul arrived at Ephesus and came across a number of Jewish disciples. Paul asked them, "Have you been given the Holy Spirit since you trusted in what you were taught (by John)? They told Paul, "No, we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit." Paul asked them, "Under what name were you immersed?" They replied, "We were immersed under John's name."
Paul, now understanding the situation, explained to the disciples, "John's immersion was an immersion of repentance, but he also taught those who followed him that they should also believe on the one coming after him, Yeshua, the Anointed One. The disciples immediately understood what Paul meant and self-immersed under the name of Yeshua. If Yeshua hadn't been the subject of what Paul explained to these disciples, but say Paul taught them something new and they self-immersed after hearing what Paul taught, from that point forward, they would have said that they had been immersed in the name of Paul.
It is important to point out that self-immersion in water, in the name of Yeshua, is NOT the same as being immersed in the Holy Spirit! In Acts 8:13, we see that Simon the sorcerer physically self-immersed in water but was never immersed with the Holy Spirit, which is an act that Yeshua performs. We see in Acts 8:12-16 that the Samaritan believers had already self-immersed but hadn't been immersed with the Spirit. Peter and John had come to Samaria and prayed for the Samaritan disciples to be given the Holy Spirit despite the fact that the Samaritans had physically immersed themselves in the name of Yeshua. In Acts 10:44-48, we see Gentiles immersed in the Holy Spirit without any physical immersion required or which had to happen first.
Acts1:4-5 Obviously, the Apostles would have self-immersed in the name John, and of Yeshua. But those physical acts did not result in the immersion of the Holy Spirit.
"...wait for the promise of the Father...John immersed with water, but you shall be immersed with the Holy Spirit not many days from now...Acts 2:1-4.
People can believe different things in the Bible but still be a goat. You can believe that Jehovah created the universe and still be a reprobate. Many believe that Yeshua was a true, historical figure and that he was a great teacher, a very wise man, but not believe that he was the Messiah. Someone can follow the moral code in Scripture but still end up on the left hand of Yeshua on Judgment Day. Evangelicals can participate in "Christian Baptism" and still live on the broad path their entire life.
The key to understanding Scripture is twofold. There is the reading of words and there is an understanding of the spiritual meaning and spiritual truth of the words. Without any spiritual understanding, Scripture becomes just another set of religious words, that have no meaning beyond what is read,
John 3:12 If I have told you of earthly things and you don't believe those things, how will you believe the heavenly things I speak of?
John 14;26 But the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all (spiritual) things...
Rom 8:5-9
1 Cor 2:12-14 ...which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. But the natural man does not receive the teaching of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish to the natural man. It is impossible for the natural man to understand, for spiritual things must be spiritually discerned.
While I could list dozens of examples of this, I'll use just one. After being taught directly by Yeshua, after seeing countless miracles, after hearing many teachings describing the kingdom and Yeshua instructing that the kingdom is spiritual, the apostles ask Yeshua, Acts 1:6 When the Apostles came together, they asked Yeshua, "Lord, will you now, at this time, restore the kingdom to Israel? They didn't have a clue!
So, if there is only ONE immersion, Eph 4:5, is there no doubt that the immersion of the Holy Spirit is that immersion? You can immerse yourself in water a thousand times, and you will not gain one iota of spiritual discernment. It is obvious that the need for any self-immersion in water was done away with, and was never required by Jehovah to begin with.
This is the end of part 12. I only have one more part of this study to post.