Join us in this engaging episode where Dr. J. Vernon McGee tackles challenging scriptures and listener questions with depth and clarity. Explore the nuances of water baptism versus spiritual baptism and gain a fresh perspective on witnessing to those who doubt faith. Dr. McGee also offers pastoral advice on contemporary issues like the roles of women in church governance and the dynamics of grown children living with their elderly parents, providing a historical and biblical context to guide modern day decisions.
1 Peter 3 verse 19 says that Christ went and preached to the spirits in prison. So who are these spirits? Where are they in prison? And when did Christ go to them? Well, these are just a few of the questions that we’ll deal with on today’s program, so stay with us for the answers.
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How firm a foundation, ye saints, of the Lord is laid for your faith.
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This is Steve Schwetz, and I welcome you to another edition of the Question and Answer program with our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. I hope that you’ll be able to pull up a chair as we listen to his answers to the questions of his many listeners. This program is a ministry of the Through the Bible Radio Network. We begin our questions with this one from a listener in Garden Grove, California. He writes, In your sermon on Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, you indicated that she had come from about as far away as one could come. But it seems to me that there were people living all over the world, so how could you make such a statement?
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Well, one of the reasons that I make that statement is that the Lord Jesus Christ And he’s my authority. He said that the Queen of Sheba, when she heard of the wisdom of Solomon, she came from the ends of the earth. So evidently it was the ends of the earth. Now there’s several things that you’ve said in your letter that I think you need to correct. And you say that people were probably all over the earth. You probably are listening to the modern popular viewpoint that’s taught in schools today, and there’s absolutely no authority for that whatsoever. Man’s entrance on this earth, as far as probably the age of the earth is concerned, is quite short. He hasn’t been here too long. Men were not over all the earth. Civilization, as we understand civilization, was confined in that day to a very limited area. At the time that the Queen of Sheba came, I don’t know about you, but my ancestors, I’m told, were one family. My mother’s family were in those dark forests of Germany in Central Europe, and they were about as pagan as they come. And also the other family was over in Scotland, my dad’s family. And they were rank pagans, so much so Hadrian put up a wall to keep them out of the Roman Empire later on. So when you begin to talk about the ends of the earth, we’re talking about where mankind was, where civilization was. And so to come from Ethiopia in that day was a long ways to come. Today, you could make the trip by plane, I suppose, in a couple of hours. But I made a trip from Egypt, Cairo, Egypt, to Jordan, and I think it took us about 35 or 40 minutes, not any longer than that. It took Moses 40 years to make the trip. It’s owing to what you’re talking about and the period you’re talking about, my brother. So let’s be fair with the Word of God. I find that there is a tendency today to try to pick at the Bible and find errors in it. And we do not allow even common sense to enter into it. And I would say this last question. that you ask, if you just do a little thinking, I’m sure you’d understand why the Scripture uses that language.
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Our next question comes to us from a listener in Big Cabin, Oklahoma, who writes, Could you please explain 1 Peter 3, verses 19-21? Now, I’ll turn and read that.
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1 Peter 3, 19. And I think probably to get the connection, we’ll move back and read verse 18 also. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached the under the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Now, there are two questions that arise from this passage of Scripture. And these two questions come to us on the average of about twice a year. And that’s been true now for 20 some odd years. There are about 12 questions that continually arise. And this is one of them. I generally put them together here, but we’ll consider each one separate. Now, the first question is, when did Christ speak? to the spirits that were in prison, and they were the ones that were drowned in the flood at the time of Noah. And it’s always been assumed that when Christ died on the cross that he went down, and at that time he spoke to them in prison. Because it mentions in the verse that I went back and picked up that he was being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit, that it would be assumed that that would be the time. But the passage makes it very clear that that is not accurate at all. It says, “…by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” And they, at the time that Peter wrote this, these spirits of those that had died were in prison. That is, they were in the place of torment that the Lord Jesus mentions. Now the question is, When did the Lord Jesus speak to them? Was it at the time of his death or was it in their day? And now Peter will answer that. So let’s find where the time word is. So let me read again now verse 19, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. When? All right, let’s see. Which sometime were disobedient. Well, when were these spirits disobedient? Why were they lost? And when were they preached to? Here’s the answer. When once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water. Now Noah did two things. He built an ark and that was a visible testimony that he believed God. and he preached that a flood was coming and anyone could have responded and believed God and entered the ark and have been saved. Instead of that, they were a godless crew, we are told that. They were lawless. They were days of violence. I think they correspond very much to the days we’re living in today. They were days of great sin and rebellion against God. And at that time, Christ preached through Noah. Because, you see, salvation has always been through Christ. And that ark was a picture of Christ. If they would have believed God and entered that ark, they would have been saved. But they didn’t. And that’s when they were preached to. It doesn’t say Christ went down and preached to them when he was crucified. It’s too late then, and it doesn’t say that. That’s merely been an assumption down through the years. Now, there’s another question here, and that question is, the like figure wherein even baptism doth also now save us.” Now, does he mean water baptism? No. He says, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, not going through a ceremony, but the answer of a good conscience toward God How? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, when he died, Paul says, we were buried with him by baptism. What does he mean? By water? No, by identification, for that’s what baptism is. And that’s the reason I think I’ll be coming to a question this time or next time on baptism. I believe in water baptism. I believe in immersion. And by the way, I probably am the only person that’s around today that’s been both sprinkled and immersed. I’ve had both friends. I’m not going to miss. So I started out in a little Baptist church as a young fella, and I was immersed. Now, I believe in water baptism, and I believe in that kind of baptism, but that’s not what he’s talking about here. He makes it clear. He says, I’m not talking about putting away the filth of the flesh. I’m talking now about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because when you’re buried with him by baptism, you are joined with him now in his resurrection. When Christ died, I died. When he was raised from the dead, I was raised from the dead. I’m not joined to Adam anymore. I’m joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the wonder and glory of it all. And don’t miss that here and bog down and start arguing about water, baptism, and throwing water in each other’s faces. That’s no good. See the wonderful truth of being joined to the living Christ. Now you symbolize that by water. baptism today. All right, I’ve answered that question the best I can, and I know it will cause some discussion.
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A listener in San Jose, California would like some help in witnessing to people who don’t believe in God. She says these same people feel a need to make a moral change in their life before they can ever come to God. Could you please help me with how I can share with these people?
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May I say to you, if you’re dealing with an atheist, the only thing that you can do is to present the Lord Jesus Christ to him. That’s our responsibility is to get the gospel to them. It’s not give them a lecture on booze or on drugs or that sort of thing. Christianity is not a negative thing. Christianity is Christ and it’s what he’s done. And it’s who he is. And when we tell that story, that is the story that is the gospel. And that’s what men are to believe. Now, when they believe that, they’re going to give up their booze. They’re going to give up drugs. And also, they’re not going to be a womanizer either. This is something that a person will do after he’s saved. And to say they are doing these things, what do you expect the unsaved man to do?
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We turn now to a question from Lake Orion, Michigan. This listener writes, Could you explain why you believe the unicorn mentioned in the Psalms and in Job could not be the wild ox, as some translations have it?
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I’m sure that you are referring to the statement that I made when we were looking at the 22nd Psalm. It was in the 22nd Psalm that you have a reference to the unicorn. And at that time, I made it clear that I felt like that the cross was not a cross as we think of it. That is an upright with a bar, a cross, a cross piece. That it actually was just an upright and that the Romans, they didn’t take time to make nice little crosses to crucify people on them. They crucified them by the hundreds. Rome was brutal in this connection, and they crucified literally thousands of people, and all they used was an upright. Very seldom would they have a crossbar, and there could be one, but obviously that was not the practice. Now, verse 21 in Psalm 22, I have a little book called The X-Ray of the Cross. This lets you see the crucifixion as Christ saw it from the cross. And he says in verse 21, Save me from the lion’s mouth. Now, the lion was obviously Rome. Save me from the lion’s mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. Now, I take the position that the unicorn had one horn. If it didn’t have one horn, it wouldn’t be a unicorn because the word unicorn, una, means one, and corn means horn, one horn creature. Now, may I say that the unicorn is an extinct species, and you ask me why. I did not consider it the wild ox. I’ll tell you why. The unicorn was still in existence at the time of the Caesars because Julius Caesar mentions hunting unicorns in the forests of Germany. And obviously, then when the unicorn disappeared, became an extinct species, all of them were killed, then they just transferred that name unicorn to the wild ox of that day. And that same thing happened over in Asia because we know that Tiglath-Pilesa and some of the other Assyrian monarchs, they hunted unicorns over there. And apparently it would be an odd creature with one horn, and some have even considered it a mythological creature, that actually it never existed. But whether it existed in fact or fable, it was still a one-horned creature. and that name was transferred later to the wild ox, and that’s where the wild ox comes in. Apparently the unicorn was native to the Hittite country, for that’s where the Assyrian kings hunted it, and it was also native in the forests of Germany, and it became extinct in both places. So that’s the reason that I take the position, and almost dogmatically, that that’s what it is.
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Continuing on, we have a question from a listener in Long Beach, California. She says, could you talk about grown children living with their elderly parents to assist them? Does a child have an obligation to support his or her parents when they’re getting up in years?
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Let me say that customs have certainly changed. In the old days, that is when I came along, there was no such thing as retirement homes for old people. and they generally lived with their children or their children lived with them. Sometimes the parents were the ones that had the possessions, they owned the home, they had the material wherewithal, and they helped the young people along. And sometimes it was the young people that were able to help the parents. And that was the custom up to a few years ago. And I think it’s a custom that went way back in the Bible days because you find that sons and parents living together are close by. I know in the Southland where I come from you find many homes where the family home is and then their son’s home is there and the daughter’s home, especially if they were farmers and worked and tilled the land. They were in the same business. So that is something that has been a custom down through the years, and I believe that the Scripture would sustain that. Honor your father and mother, that’s repeated in Ephesians for believers today that we should do that. Now we’ve come to a very strange day and we’re living in a crazy world. Gross immorality exists today and it’s called morality. Marriage has gone out of style and many other things today have taken place that have changed the whole complexion and color of our culture today so that Things that were practiced before are not, and it has led to a rather brazen and even cold calculated relationship today where parents are trundled off to a rest home or they’re trundled off to some condominium in some retirement place, and sometimes they’re forgotten. and sometimes the parents are well-to-do, and they want to get off in a place like this. So there are all different shades of viewpoint that you could bring to bear on this. I would say that it’s not a question of whether parents and their children should live together after the children are married. I really don’t think that’s wise. I think that if they going to live near each other, fine, but they ought to actually be separate houses. But very frankly, the fact of the matter is, some can’t afford it. And when they can’t afford it, then they are put together, and that I don’t believe would be ideal. But nevertheless, the matter of, and I’m trying to get to the place where I can say to you that it’s not a rule of whether children and parents should live together after the children are married or whether they should not. It has to do with a custom. It has to do with economics. It has to do with their own personal viewpoint. But in all cases, there should be a Christian relationship. The parents and the children should enjoy good Christian relationships. and should get together. My feeling is that we’re living in a day when parents have been pushed aside, and I do feel that that part is wrong. I trust that somehow or another I’ve shed a little light on this for you.
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Our final question today comes to us from a listener in Alexandria, Virginia. She writes, Could you please provide me with your understanding of what scriptures say concerning women voting on church affairs? My church doesn’t allow women to vote, and this is causing a heated discussion. What’s your opinion?
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May I say to you that in the old days, and very frankly, women didn’t even have the vote in politics anymore. And that stemmed largely from the church. And I feel that two things that need to be said. I feel that the early church gave women their proper place, but gradually men assumed all the authority in the church. and women were gradually pushed aside and were not permitted to vote. Now we have had a swing of the pendulum, naturally, because that was unfair, and it has swung to the other direction, and I think today women’s lib movement has gone too far in that direction. And today the climate of the thinking is that women ought to be given about everything, you know. Always we go from one extreme to another. The human mind doesn’t seem to strike a balance. It seems to always go to one side or another. And that has been true. Now, I think that today that many are realizing that women have been treated unfairly in the church. And my feeling is that women should be permitted to vote. in the church. They’ve got as much sense, if not more sense, than men, and many of them have a spiritual insight that men do not have. And my feeling is that women should be granted, and I see nothing in Scripture that would forbid that. I think that was mere assumption on the part of men, and also it was an attempt at interpreting Scripture that led to that which was favorable to that viewpoint, and I do not think that the Scripture teaches that. I feel like that women should have a separate board in the church, deaconesses, and I think that they should have an authority in the church. My feeling is that that is something that has been neglected and ought to be remedied. Now, I don’t like to intrude, and the church matters, but I hope that you’re not going to take my answer into the church and read it there or play the tape there and make me the whipping boy. I don’t like questions like this at all because it does put me in an unfavorable position. But since questions are asked like this, I’ll answer them. But my feeling is that your own local situation, if I knew it, might even cause me to change my opinion in this. And that’s all that I’m giving is my opinion of the interpretation of Scripture and the climate in which we live today.
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Well, we sure hope that you’ve enjoyed the program today. If you have a question about a specific verse in the Bible or a particular issue related to doctrine, then we’d like to remind you that we have a number of really excellent resources that can help you in your own search for answers, including Dr. McGee’s five volume set of edited messages or his 60 volume set of commentaries, not to mention hundreds of sermons on CD. You know, many of these resources can be found in our current resource catalog, or in our online bookstore. One item that you may wanna consider is Dr. McGee’s paperback book, Questions and Answers, which has been recently revised as well as expanded. In it, he provides biblical answers to questions about faith and life. And for a deeper understanding of the word of God and an increase in the growth of your faith, we’d encourage you to join us this week and every week on the Monday through Friday Through the Bible radio program. We’ll continue Dr. McGee’s five-year journey through the whole Word of God, book by book and chapter by chapter. If you’re serious about your study of the Scriptures, then we’d like to also invite you to be placed on our mailing list for our notes and outlines. To order the Questions and Answers book, ask for the resource catalog, or to be added to our mailing list, we can be reached at 1-800-65-BIBLE.org. Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time. You can also visit us online at ttb.org or write to Questions and Answers. For those in the U.S., Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Now we pray that our God will answer all your questions and solve all your problems.
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