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The Book of Acts: “A Man Accredited by God” (Endnotes)

1. Scripturally, the “Body of Christ” is figurative language that refers to the Church, that is, all Christians. Jesus Christ is called the “head” of his body, the Church. Thus, in the Church Epistles, Christians are referred to as being “in Christ.” Since every human being is born dead in sin, he must be “born again” in order to have life in Christ. That new birth happens the moment one confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that God raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). It is via the New Birth that one receives spiritual life and a guarantee of living forever in Paradise. At the moment of one’s New Birth, he is endowed with holy spirit, “power from on high,” “the divine nature,” which equips him to be like Jesus Christ and do the works that Jesus did. What did Jesus do in his body during his earthly ministry? He expects those who believe in him to do the same things, and, in fact, he told them that they could (John 14:12). Jesus Christ is called “the firstborn from among the dead.” As such, he was the Head, but he did not have a body until the Day of Pentecost when the Church, the “one new man” (Eph. 2:15), was born. That spiritual organism has been growing ever since as more and more people are added to it by way of their belief in Christ and resulting New Births. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who pours out the gift of holy spirit into the heart of each new person who believes in him as Lord (Acts 2:33). In that moment it is as if Jesus pulls you from the dead group into which you were born and places you in his Body so that you are now part of him. For further study read “A New Holy Spirit: The Power to be Like Christ” at TruthOrTradition.com/power and “An Overview of the Sacred Secret” at TruthOrTradition.com/overview. Close

2. Ephesians 4:11 mentions five specific ministries in the Church that are especially given by the Lord Jesus to prepare and equip Christians for service to God. Scripture does not refer to these ministries collectively by any particular name, so different Christian groups have referred to them in different ways. Some call these five ministries (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) “gift ministries,” but that is misleading because each Christian has a gift ministry, that is, a ministry he or she is to carry out in the Body of Christ. “Ministry” simply means “service,” and every Christian has been specifically enabled and empowered to serve. These five ministries have also been called “ascension gift ministries,” but again, after his ascension Jesus gave each Christian a ministry (Eph. 4:8). The Word of God says that the purpose for these five ministries is “for the equipping” of the believers (Eph. 4:12-NASB), and many other versions recognize that “equip” or “equipping” is an excellent translation in this verse. Whenever possible, we of Spirit & Truth Fellowship do our best to use the vocabulary of the Word of God to describe the spiritual realities in the Bible, and so we refer to the five ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11 as “equipping ministries.” For further study on each of the “equipping ministries” please visit TruthOrTradition.com/equipping Close

3. Traditionally, Christians believe that the original outpouring of the gift of ?holy spirit occurred in the “upper room.” Bible students are beginning to recognize that this is not tenable, because, for one reason, the multitudes involved could not possibly have fit into the upper room. Also, in Scripture, “the house” often refers to the Temple. Consider this note in the NIV Study Bible: “Evidently not the upstairs room where they [the Apostles] were staying, but perhaps someplace in the Temple precincts, for the apostles were ‘continually in the Temple’ (Luke 24:53 - KJV) when it was open.” Close

4. The phrase, “the gates of hell” has been popularized and thrown around in Christianity with little or no understanding of its real meaning. The phrase is usually used in emotional sermons designed to inspire Christians to storm the Devil’s stronghold. The Greek word translated “hell” in the KJV is hades, and it is transliterated into “hades” in the NIV. Hades was the Greek word used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word sheol. E. W. Bullinger has an extensive study of sheol in his lexicon, and concludes: “Sheol therefore means the state of death; or the state of the dead, of which the grave is a tangible evidence.” Thus hades describes a state of being of dead people, equivalent to “gravedom.” Biblically, it is not a literal place with literal “gates.” For further study see TruthOrTradition.com/sheol. When Jesus Christ said that “the gates of hades” would not be able to prevail against his Church, he was using the phrase in the same way it is used in the Old Testament, where it occurs twice, using the word sheol. Job asks, “Where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? Will it go down to the gates of death [sheol]? Will we descend together into the dust?” (Job 17:15 and 16). In the book of Job, the “gates of sheol” are the gates of the grave. When someone dies, it is as if gates were permanently shut behind him. There is no way out, no way back to the land of the living.

King Hezekiah of Judah later used the phrase, “the gates of sheol” in exactly the same way Job had many years earlier. Hezekiah almost died from a sickness and was miraculously healed. After the experience, he wrote: “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death [sheol] and be robbed of the rest of my years?” (Isa. 38:10). A related phrase, “the gates of death,” occurs in Job 38:17; Psalm 9:13 and 107:18.

Thus, a study of the way the phrase is used in Scripture reveals its meaning and how Jesus used it. Because Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life, he could say that he would build his Church and the gates of Hades would not prevail against it. Although the gates of the grave will close over us if we die, we will break through them unto everlasting life when the Lord calls us at his appearing. Close

5. If David is not in heaven, great believer that he was, then where is he? He is dead and in “gravedom” awaiting resurrection at the hand of the Messiah. The Bible teaches that all who have died will stay dead until they are resurrected by Christ. Close

6. For more information on the name Yahweh, see Appendix L. Close

7. For specifics on this verse see Appendix A (Ps. 110:1). Close

8. See Appendix B for a detailed examination of Kurios. Close

9. See Appendix A (Rom. 10:9). Close

10. See Appendix B, Uses and Usages of Kurios. Close

11. For our explanation of these verses see Appendix A. Close

12. For an explanation of why the Greek word “musterion” should be translated “Sacred Secret” see our book: op. cit., The Gift of Holy Spirit, Appendix A, pp. 194-199 and TruthOrTradition.com/SacredSecret. Close

13. See Appendix A (Gen. 18:1 and 2). Close

14. In Acts 10:14, Peter recognizes that the source of the vision was the “Lord” (see Appendix B). But in verse 15, the voice from heaven says, “...Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” When Peter is recounting his vision to the circumcision “police” in Acts 11:4-18, he says the same thing. Had God been speaking directly to Peter, He would have said, “Do not call anything impure that I have made clean.” The use of the third person here argues for the source of the vision being Jesus Christ and not God Himself. Close