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Introduction:
Do you know who cut off Malchus’ ear? I imagine you
already do. However, during this lesson we will examine this
question and discover its answer. We are not answering this
question just to answer this question. Actually, we are using it
as a demonstration of how to answer Bible questions. When we are
done, we will take what we have learned and use it to answer
another more important Bible question. Discussion: I.
Who cut off Malchus’ ear? 1.
The attacker was one who was with Jesus. 2.
The victim was the slave of the high priest. 3.
The weapon was a sword. 4.
The wound was a missing ear. 5.
Jesus' response for the one to put the sword away. If He
wanted to, He could call angels to fight His way through this, but
the scriptures must be fulfilled. 1.
The attacker was one who stood by. 2.
The victim was the slave of the high priest. 3.
The weapon was a sword. 4.
The wound was a missing ear. 5.
No response from Jesus. 1.
The attacker was a certain one of them who was around
Jesus. 2.
The victim was the slave of the high priest. 3.
The weapon was implied to be a sword. 4.
The wound was a missing right ear. 5.
Jesus' response was stopping the one who cut off the ear
and healing the victim. 1.
The attacker was Simon Peter. 2.
The victim was Malchus, the slave of the high priest. 3.
The weapon was a sword. 4.
The wound was a missing right ear. 5.
Jesus' response was to tell Peter to put up the sword.
Jesus had to drink the cup which His Father gave Him to drink. E.
Clearly we can see that Simon Peter cut off Malchus’ ear. II.
What did we learn about answering Bible questions? A.
Use
the Bible.
This may seem so obvious that it should not even be mentioned.
However, the first rule for answering Bible questions is to use
the Bible. You may have already known the answer to this simple
question. But if you did, it was only because you had read it in
the Bible. Other Bible questions may not be so simple. The more
complex they are the easier it is for our memories to become
confused. Thus, it is always good to answer Bible questions by
going back to the Bible and seeing what it actually says—not
just what we thought we remember it saying. B.
Consider
all the Bible says to answer the question.
When answering Bible questions we need to look at everything the
Bible says about the question. We could not even know the full
story about this simple circumstance without reading all four of
the gospel accounts of it. Each one provides different
information. So it is with just about every Bible question. We
need to read all the Bible says about our question before coming
up with an answer. C.
Allow
the Bible to interpret itself.
When we look at various passages to answer our question, we should
not argue them against each other. Rather, we should see how they
go together to make a solid, unified whole. In I
Corinthians 14:33, Paul said that God is not the author of
confusion. Thus, when we are confused it is not because God has
confused us, but because we have not allowed God’s word to
interpret itself. Can you imagine two people arguing over our
question—One claiming that we could not know who cut off Malchus’
ear (in fact, how do we know it was Malchus’ ear) because Matthew
26 did not tell us. While the other contends that it was Peter
because of John 18. Or
could you see two people arguing over how Jesus responded because
each account pictures it differently? Of course not. With this
simple question, we know that we can easily place all the accounts
together into a solid unified whole. We would not argue them
against each other, but would allow the Bible to interpret itself.
III.
Using what we have learned—How can I be forgiven of my
sins? A.
I recognize that to read every verse that deals with every
aspect of this question we would probably need to begin at Genesis 1:1 and read all the way through Revelation 22:21. However, boiling this question down to its
simplest meaning of how to initially enter Christ and be forgiven
we can look at a handful of scriptures that sum up the Bible’s
answer to our question. B.
Romans
3:23-24
says we are justified freely by God’s grace. That is, we cannot
earn forgiveness, it is God’s gift. Romans
9:15 says, God will have mercy on whomever He chooses.
Therefore, we want to know, upon whom has God said He will bestow
mercy and grace. C.
Ephesians
2:8-9
says that while we are saved by grace, it is through faith. Thus,
forgiveness is God’s gift to us. We cannot earn it. However, if
we want it, we must believe. D.
James
2:14-20
demonstrates that faith, which is faith alone, that is only a
mental assent to the facts of Jesus’ sacrifice, does no good.
Rather, saving faith produces works without which no one will be
saved. E.
Hebrews
6:1
explains that repentance of our sins goes along with faith. Luke
24:47 demonstrates that repentance leads to the remission of
our sins. F.
Romans
10:9-10
demonstrates that confession of our faith is one of the works that
faith produces leading to salvation. Consider the example of the
Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts
8:37. G.
Mark
16:16
teaches us that we must not only believe but be baptized in order
to be saved. At the close of the first Christian sermon Peter said
that repentance and baptism went together to gain the remission of
sins (Acts 2:38). H.
But how does all this fit together if forgiveness comes by
grace? Colossians 2:12
demonstrates that the saving work in baptism is not done by us,
but by God. There is nothing in baptism that earns salvation. God
still has to work and bestow His grace for us to be saved. I.
Finally, Luke
17:7-11 wraps this biblical answer up nicely by pointing out
that even when we have obeyed God, we have only done what we
should have done from the beginning. We have not earned anything.
We have not gone above and beyond the call of duty meriting some
special recognition from God. Thus, even then, if we are to be
forgiven it is by God’s grace. Conclusion: Answering this question is not really anymore difficult than answering who cut off Malchus’ ear. It simply takes knowing how to go about answering honestly. We must not use these verses to argue against each other. Rather, we must consider how they all go together. There is no sense in arguing the “grace” verses to deny the “faith” verses. We know that they go together. In like manner, there is no sense in arguing either the “grace” or “faith” verse against the “repentance” or “baptism” verses. They also go together. After all, which of these verses is right? All of them. Which ones should we then obey? All of them. Have you obeyed them? If not, why not now?
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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