Jesus' Brothers and Sisters

QUESTION: Did Mary, the mother of Christ, have other children after Jesus, or are James, Joses, Judas, Simon and their sisters, of whom Jesus is called "brother" in Mark 6:3, cousins of Jesus, as some say?

ANSWER: The Papists, in their attempt to prove the perpetual virginity of Mary, insist that "brother" means cousin, and that "firstborn" in Matt. 1:25 is a spurious reading. Dean Alford well says: "No one would ever have thought of interpreting this verse any otherwise than its prima facie meaning, except to force it into accordance with a preconceived notion of the perpetual virginity of Mary." Other Romanists, finding it very difficult to prove that the brothers and sisters are cousins, try to prove that they are Joseph's children by a former marriage!

— Steele's Answers pp. 249, 250.

When Did Christ Fulfill the Law?

QUESTION: When did Christ fulfill the law (Matt. 5:17); was it at at his resurrection?

ANSWER: The Law was threefold, ceremonial, political, and moral. The first two parts were fully accomplished and ceased to be obligatory, when Christ died. But the moral law was conformed by Christ's obedience and atonement, and by the inspiration of love to the Law-giver he potentially perfected the obedience of those who believe in Him; i e., He made it possible for his saints perfectly to keep the law by perfectly loving Him, the revelation of God. Moreover, he deepened the requirement of  the law, going back of the act to the motive, to the impure look and to hatred, the essence of murder.

— Steele's Answers p. 249.

The Writing of the Gospels

QUESTION: (1) Which Gospel was first written? (2) Why were the Gospels not written earlier?

ANSWER; (1) Matthew first made a record of the sayings of Christ without any reference to their historical setting. This so-called Logia was probably written from memory not many years after the Ascension. It is now generally believed that Mark several years afterwards gave these sayings their historical setting under the guidance of Peter, between A. D. 60 and 65. This makes Mark's Gospel the oldest. (2) All the Oriental teachers taught extemporaneously, expecting their disciples to remember without the aid of notes. After the Ascension, it was not thought necessary to write the Gospel immediately because they supposed that Christ would return during the lifetime of his Apostles. But his delay convinced them of the necessity of writing the precious words of the Saviour, lest,  if left to tradition, they should be lost.

— Steele's Answers pp. 239, 240.

How Many Days Was Jesus in the Tomb?

QUESTION: Matt. 17:1 says, "After six days." Luke 9:28 says "about an eight days later." Harmonize this discrepancy.

ANSWER: Luke, by using the word "about," intimates that he is not speaking accurately in counting the fractions of two days, the first and the eighth, while both Matthew and Mark count only the whole days between the two events making only six. The Jews generally counted the fractions  as  whole days, so that Jesus was three days in the tomb, though only one whole day.

— Steele's Answers pp. 237, 238.

"Rest" in Matthew 11:28, 29

QUESTION: Says Jesus in Matt. 11:28, 29, "I will give you rest... and ye shall find rest." Is the "rest'" in both verses the same?

ANSWER: Some so teach. They are supported by the authority of Olshausen, a noted German exegete, who makes the rest given by Jesus the release from the burden of guilt by conscious forgiveness, and rest found under the yoke of guidance and discipline imposed by Christ, "the cessation of discord in man which is not immediately removed after his entering into the element of the good" — the state of the regenerate. It is a curious fact that the clause denoting the second rest is quoted from Jeremiah 6:16, "Ask for the old paths, where is the way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." This is the way the Hebrew reads, but if the quotation had been made from the LXX the Greek version quoted very often in the N.T. (ninety-nine times being in Matthew's Gospel), it would have been, "and ye shall find purification to your souls." This is the way the Hebrew reads, but it is the quotation from the Septuagist, because the word ἁγνισμός (hagnismos),  "purification," is used in the N. T. only once (Acts 21:26), and that is in a ceremonial sense descriptive of Paul's unwise attempt to conciliate the angry Jews by purifying himself in the Temple. Words in the course of centuries take on different shades of meaning. Christ kept as far as possible from teaching that mere ritualism can give soul rest. This comes only by crucifying "the flesh which lusteth against the Spirit," or by spiritual purification.

— Steele's Answers pp. 168, 169.