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Did Jesus say in Matthew 23:23 that Christians should pay tithe?

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One of the verses the advocates of tithing in Christianity use is Matthew 23:23. It reads, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” (Matthew 23:23 NKJV).

Taken out of context, many pastors have erroneously taught their followers that Jesus Christ was teaching tithing to New Testament believers in the verse. But a proper examination of the immediate context, Matthew 23, has shown that our Lord Jesus Christ did not teach the payment of Tithe in this verse.

In Matthew 23, which the KJV captioned as the Great Denunciation, Jesus denounced the teachers of the Mosaic law (scribes) and the Pharisees in very strong terms. In the chapter, he pronounced “woe” on them seven times because of their hypocrisy and lawlessness. He told his disciples and the crowd who were around and listening to him not to be like them because they don’t practice what they teach (verse 3). In verses 13 to 35, he pronounced seven “woes,” one of which is in verse 23, on them. Six of the woes were pronounced on them for their hypocrisy and lawlessness.  The seventh was pronounced on them for how they truly were in God’s sight:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  [28] Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside, you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matt. 23:27-28 NKJV).

In verse 23, Jesus was telling the scribes and the Pharisees the wrong thing they were doing. He told them them of how they were cherry-picking the law of God. They obeyed the Mosaic laws that were convenient or desirable to them, like tithing, but refused to obey the more important aspects of the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness. He was not teaching Christians on tithing.

Were the scribes and the Pharisees Christians? No. Their religion was Judaism. They were Israelites, the people to whom God gave the law on tithing. But these religious hypocrites did not practice their religion with the truthfulness, obedience, and sincerity desired by God. See Matthew 15:3-9 (Mark 7:6-13).

The following points should be noted by the reader:

1 The word “tithe” is an old English word which means a tenth. In the Bible, the word is translated from the Hebrew word maaser or maasar or maasrah, and it is used 32 times in the Hebrew Bible, known as Old Testament by Christians. In the New Testament, the word is translated from the Greek dekatoo or dekate, which is used 8 times. Both the Hebrew and the Greek words also mean a tenth. Once a pastor begins to ask you to pay more than one-tenth (10%) as tithe, know that he has departed from the law of tithing.  Know that he is being driven by the love of money, which is the root of all evils. That makes him a modern-day Pharisee. Luke tells us that the Pharisees were lovers of money (Luke 16:14). Biblically, any giving that is more or less than 10% is not tithe.

2. Tithes were specifically meant to take care of the Levites. The reason God made the law was because He commanded that they should do no other work than to serve in the temple. And since they must eat, God commanded the other eleven tribes of Israel to give one-tenth of their produce to them as their wages for their service in the temple. The priests got 1%, while the Levites, who are more in number, got 9%. See Num. 18:20-21; Deut. 18:1-2; Neh. 10:37-38; 12:44.

3. In the New Testament church, giving was practised. But no one was mandated to give 10% (a.k.a tithe). People exercised their free will in deciding what to give. Paul defined the type of giving in these words:

“Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor. 9:7 NET).

What is given could be anything above zero per cent to any percentage, say 100%. Barnabas and some other people, for example, sold their lands and brought the proceeds to the church.  The funds were used to buy things that were shared among the brotherhood (Acts 2:45; 4:34-37). Nowhere is the giving of tithe practised in the New Testament church.

4. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross put an end to the Levitical (Aaronic) priesthood (Heb. 10:1-14). There is no longer the office of a Levitical priest or Levites in the New Testament church. What the New Testament church has are pastors whose work are to shepherd (or feed) the flock of God with the word of truth See John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 5:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:2, 15. The fact that there were no priests and Levites in the New Testament church is one of the reasons why tithes were not paid to anyone in the first century churches.

5. The New Testament did not start with the opening verses of either Mark or Matthew. The New Testament church started on the day of the first Pentecost, after Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven (Acts 2). It should, therefore, be understood that the Jewish festivals that were celebrated in the gospels were all under the law. The priests or high priests mentioned in the gospels were not Christians. Jesus Christ himself was not a Christian. He was born under the law and obeyed the law perfectly (Gal. 4:4-5; Matt. 5:17-18). The church he promised to build in Matt. 16:18 was born in Acts 2. That church was not a physical building, but a body of believers who placed their faith in him as the Messiah and became his followers.

6. In the New Testament, no one was forbidden from engaging in productive activities. Now, everyone must “work with your own hands” (1 Thes. 4:11). Now, anyone who is unwilling to engage in economic activities shall not eat (2 Thes. 3:10). Apostle Paul also said, “Now, we work wearily with our own hands” (1 Cor. 4:12). “But if someone does not provide for his own [by engaging in any economic activity], especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Tim. 5:8 NET).

Conclusion

No Christian is commanded by God not to engage in any productive activity to earn a living. This is because the perfect sacrifice has been made by Jesus Christ once and for all time. This brought to an end the Levitical order of worship in physical temples. That is why the work of priests who offer daily sacrifices as well as those of Levites did not find a place in the New Testament church. That also put an end to the payment of tithes to the tribe of Levi, who were commanded not to work in theocratic Israel.

Let the pastors who are still pushing the tithe debate stop displaying either their ignorance of the word of God or their belly-serving agenda. They should teach the truth on giving as it was done during the time of the apostles. Should they insist on collecting tithes from their followers, they should as well teach them to practise the three types of tithe commanded by God through Moses.

Finally, any pastor who teaches that tithes should be more than 10% has gone beyond what is commanded in the law. Those who use threats of hellfire or other forms of threat to extort money under the guise of collecting tithes are barefaced thieves and robbers. They are not serving our Lord Jesus Christ.

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SHOULD CHRISTIANS PAY TITHES?

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The word tithe is an old English word which means a tenth. In the Bible the word is translated from the Hebrew word maaser or maasar or maasrah, and it is used 32 times in the Hebrew Bible, known as Old Testament by Christians. In the New Testament, the word is translated from the Greek dekatoo or dekate which is used 8 times. Both the Hebrew and the Greek words also mean a tenth.

In the Hebrew Bible the Israelites were required to give yearly a tenth of their agricultural produce and the tenth of every goat, sheep and cattle that passes under the Israelite’s narrow gate for livestock, also known as shepherd’s rod, as tithe to God (Lev.27:30-32).

Purpose of the Tithes

God gave the reason why the Israelites were mandated to pay tithes. The tithes were meant primarily for the maintenance of the priests and the Levites who were forbidden by God to own allotments of land so that they’ll devote their lives to the service of God in the Temple (Num. 18:20-21; Deut. 18:1-2).

Types of Tithe

There are about two or three types of tithes seen in the Bible. They are:

  1. The Levitical or Sacred Tithes. These are a tenth of the agricultural produce as well as goats, sheep, and cattle of all Israelites which they must give to the Levites in their towns. The Levites will in turn give a tenth of the tithes they receive to the priests. This means that the priests will get 10 percent of 10 percent, or 1 percent of the total Israelite produce and livestock as their payment for the work they do serving God at the Tent of Meeting while the Levites, who are more in number, get 9 percent after paying their own tithes to the priests. See Num. 18:20-32.
  2. Tithes for the Feasts. Tithing in Judaism is tied to a seven-year farming cycle. In the seventh year known as shmita, also called the shavi’it or the sabbatical year, the land is left fallow so that it is given a break or rest once in every seven years. In the first and second years after the shmita, every Israelite is to set aside a tenth of his agricultural produce and livestock. This is what he and his family will eat when they travel to Jerusalem for the yearly feasts. (Shiloh and Bethel were once the place.) These tithes must not be eaten in their towns; they are to be eaten in the presence of God in His place of worship in Jerusalem. See Deut. 14:22-27; 12:17-19.
  3. The Poor Tithes or the Poor Man’s Tithes. These are the tithes used to take care of the poor and needy people in the land: “At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” (Deut. 14:28-29 NIV).

It is unclear if these tithes are part of the Levitical tithes or are entirely different type. What is made known is that the tithes are given in the third and sixth years of the shmita cycle.

With regard to the sixth year, God said, “You may ask, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?’ I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.” (Lev. 25:20-22 NIV).

The Almighty God made the produce of the sixth year to be so bountiful that it was able to feed His people for three years. The 10 percent of them given to the priests and Levites were enough to feed them in the 7th, 8th, and 9th years. No one in Israel lacked the basic life sustenance package as long as the people faithfully followed God’s ordinance of tithing.

Now, the following points should be noted about tithes as revealed in the Old Testament:

  • They are different from the various offerings given to God for the national worship – firstfruits, burnt offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings, drink offerings, etc. – some of which were offered as wave offerings or heave offerings. The tithes were meant to cater for the needs of priests and Levites who were forbidden by God to engage in any economic activity, as well as needy foreigners, orphans and widows in the Israelite towns.
  • There is no single instance found where money was given as tithe. It is not because there was no money in use at that time. As far back as the time of Abraham, money was already in use. See Gen. 17:12, 13; 23:9, 13, 16.

Abraham’s Tithe to Malki-Tzedek

The first mention of tithe is found in Gen. 14:20 where Abram (Abraham) on his return from the war where he defeated five kings and rescued Lot and his family, gave a tithe (a tenth) of the spoils of war to Malki-Tzedek, the king of Shalem who was also a priest of God. He gave bread and wine to Abraham and his men. He also blessed Abraham. In return, Abraham gave him a tenth of all the spoils of war (Gen. 14:18-20).

Churches who advocate that Christians should pay tithe argue that since the Abrahamic tithe was before the Law Covenant, it should continue after the Law. But they ignorantly it willfully forget that God did not command Abraham to give anything to the king cum priest. What Abraham gave was therefore a voluntary gift to Malki-Tzedek. There is no record that Abraham continued to give a tenth of his possession to the king/priest after this event. Abraham’s giving in this place is therefore nothing more than a voluntary act of charity. Remember that the same Abraham entertained the LORD and His two angels unknowingly (Gen. 18:2-15; Heb. 13:2).

When Paul made reference to the tenth given by Abraham in Heb. 7:1-28, the tithing was used by him to prove that the priesthood of Jesus Christ was superior to that of Aaron because Christ is a type of Malki-Tzedek who blessed Abraham. While Levi (Aaron’s great-grandfather) was, so to speak, still in the loins (body) of Abraham his ancestor, he (Levi) was blessed through Abraham by Malki-Tzedek. “There is no doubt that the one who blesses is greater than the one who is blessed.” (Heb. 7:7 GNT). The use of the word “tithe” by Paul in Hebrews is not really about tithing. It is used to prove that the priesthood of Jesus Christ which is of the same order as that of Malki-Tzedek (Psa. 110:4) is greater than, and superior to, that of Aaron which the Jews, at Paul’s time thought was the only valid priesthood.

Jacob’s Promise of Tithe to God

Jacob’s conditional promise to give God a tenth of his possession “if” God fulfils what He had promised him (Gen 28:12-22) is another point advanced by those who teach tithing for Christians. But this vow is not in any way normative about tithing. It should be noted that God later compelled Jacob to go back to Bethel to fulfill the vow so that he will not be found guilty of not fulfilling the vow he made earlier to Him. See Gen. 35:1; Deut. 23:21-23; Eccl. 5:4-5.

Biblical Reasons Christians Should Not Tithe

There are hard and convincing reasons Christians should no longer be mandated to give tithes. A few of them are given below.

(1) The word “tithe,” as said earlier, is an old English word for one-tenth. Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians told to give one-tenth of their earnings. Giving in the New Testament is not limited to any particular percentage. Jesus Christ said our giving should be “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.” The Lord said the measure we use in giving to others is the same measure that will be used to give back to us” (Luke 6:38). So the Lord in that verse encourages his followers to give generously, not to limit their giving to 10 percent. This is affirmed by Paul when he wrote, “Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor. 9:7 NET, bold emphasis are mine).

In the New Testament, it is no longer 10 percent, but what each person has in mind and is able to give. It could be well above 10 percent, given by some people, including Barnabas, who sold their lands and houses and brought the proceeds to the church to be used in caring for the needy members in the church (Acts 4:34-37), or the poor widow who offered two small copper coins which was 100 percent of the money she had (Mark 12:42-44; Luke 21:2-4). That does not mean that poor people, like the Macedonians in 2 Cor. 8:1-5, could not have given something more or less than 10 percent of their possessions to help the suffering believers in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1-4; Acts 11:27-30; Rom. 15:25-28).

(2) For Christians, who are no longer under the Levitical order of worship, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ puts an end to the animal sacrifices specified in the Mosaic law. The sacrifices were shadows of the real thing to come, and Christ is the reality of what they pointed to (Col. 2:17). Having died and resurrected, the jobs of the Levites and the priests have been permanently done away with. God no longer requires burnt offerings and animal sacrifices (Heb. 10:5-12). Now, everyone must “work with your own hands” (1 Thes. 4:11). Now, anyone who is unwilling to engage in economic activities shall not eat (2 Thes. 3:10). Apostle Paul also said, “Now, we work wearily with our own hands” (1 Cor. 4:12). “But if someone does not provide for his own [by engaging in any economic activity], especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Tim. 5:8 NET, words in square brackets added by me). In the New Testament church, no one gave or received mandatory tithes. But the believers were often encouraged to, and in actuality did, give materially, financially, and voluntarily to meet the needs of the poor members of the church and to support the ministers of the gospel (Acts 2:44-47; 4:34-37; 1 Cor. 9:11-15; Gal. 6:6; Heb. 6:10; 2 Cor. 11:9; etc.). Jesus Christ is now the high priest of the church (Heb. 2:17) and his priesthood is not of the Levitical (or Aaronic) order. He is now seated at the right-hand side of God in heaven. He needs no physical food or money from us, other than to love him by obeying his commandments (John 14:15,23).

(3) Apostle James said, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10 NIV). This means that all the churches who are still preaching this Mosaic law of tithing should be willing to observe all the regulations in the Mosaic law, including animal sacrifices. They should also be willing to obey all the laws about tithing by doing the following:

(a) No pastor, general overseer, bishop, or founder of any church should ever allow himself to use more than 10 percent of all the tithes collected in their churches. The priests got 10 percent of the tithes that the people gave while the Levites gor 90 percent.

(b) They must not have any business enterprise of their own, or operate them through third parties – such businesses like farming, real estates, hotels, travel agencies, schools, universities, printing press, bookshops, hospitals,  etc. They should not sell anything for money such as anointing oils, aprons, books, magazines, etc. They should depend solely on the 10 percent of the tithes as it was done in the Old Testament.

(c) The tithes should go directly to the church workers who will, in turn, pay 10 percent of their tithes to the pastors, thus making the pastors get only 10 percent of the tithes that come to the church. The tithes that were given in the Old Testament enabled the priests to meet their basic needs, not to live reckless, extravagant lives.

(d) The members must go to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the yearly feasts and to eat the “festival tithes” there. These are no longer required in Christianity. Consequently, the payment of tithes is no longer required in Christianity.

(e) No money should be given as tithe. Those who work in offices or do businesses should use 10 percent of their salaries or profits to buy food items and give them as tithes. Compare this with what God said in Deut. 14:24-26.

(4) No single command is found in the New Testament that Christians should pay tithes. The reason is not far-fetched; there are no Levites and Levitical priests in the Christian church, who are forbidden from engaging in legitimate productive activities that will enable them to earn a living. For Christians, Christ’s crucifixion put an end to the work of Levitical priests and, consequently, the payment of tithes. Full-time ministers and workers in the Christian church are to be sustained from the voluntary giving of the members of the church. No percentage is specified for the giving in the Christian church.

Christ’s Comment on Tithing

Many tithe teachers have often pointed to the statement made by the Lord Jesus Christ on tithing. It is found in Matt. 23:23 (Luke 11:42). Matthew’s account reads:

“Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others. (Matt. 23:23 NET, bold emphasis added by me)

They say that our Lord approved of tithing in this verse. But it should be noted that the law He was referring to was the Mosaic law and the people He was addressing were operating under that law. It should be noted also that His statement was made prior to the shedding of His blood of the new covenant at Golgotha. Until His death and resurrection, the Christian church had not truly started. Therefore, the statement Jesus Christ made on tithing cannot correctly be applied to the Christian church. It may interest us to note that up to the night He was arrested by the Jews and the Romans, Jesus Christ ate the annual Passover meals. But we know the Passover feast was replaced by the Lord’s supper that night He ate the last Passover meal. So Christians cannot justify the eating of Passover meals just because Jesus was seen eating it with His apostles. In the same vein, the Lord’s statement in the New Testament on tithing does not make tithing a doctrine for the Christian church. The statement was made prior to the commencement of the church.

Conclusion

The New Testament teaches giving – generous and sacrificial giving. Nowhere does the New Testament teach us to give a tenth of our earnings to the church. Tithing is one of the Mosaic laws for the Israelites. It is not meant for the Christian church. Christians must avoid putting new wine in old wineskin. We must learn to properly separate old testament laws from the new.

The Bible says, “One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.” (Prov. 22:16 NIV).

Many pastors these days are exploiting their members so as to increase their wealth. They now compete over the ownership of private jets. They have become very rich through their merchandising of “tithes and offerings” and many other extortions they commit in the name of God. We know that they are not serving our Lord Jesus Christ. But all their followers who say they are giving their money to God are simply lying to themselves. Their money is not given to God. They are giving their money to the rich merchants who call themselves “pastors,” “bishops,” “apostles,” “General Overseers,” “man of God,” et alia. As long as they continue to give their money to these rich men, they will not come out of their poverty because they are not obeying God’s instruction in Prov. 22:16.

We must give to others, including the ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But we have it as our personal duty to ensure that our giving is in accordance with the scriptures and that what we give is honestly used as required by God. Stop fooling yourself by saying you are giving to God when you know in your mind that your “father in the Lord” is getting richer while you are getting poorer. Such a situation is antithetical to what we see in 2 Cor. 8:9. Apostle Paul said we should stop thinking as infants but as mature adults (1 Cor. 14:20; Eph. 4:14).

Don’t let any peddler of God’s word dupe you anymore by reading to you Malachi 3:8-12 without showing you the other passages on tithing. Don’t let them show you, so to speak, only one side of a coin. You have now known the types and purposes of tithes. But you must give generously according to God’s word in the New Testament.

It is your duty to be sure that what you give is actually used for God’s work. Ask questions about how your giving has been used by your church. We have been aiding the growing avarice in our churches by failing to ask questions.

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How Often Should Christians Partake of The Lord’s Supper?

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It is a common knowledge that different church groups take the Lord’s Supper at different intervals in a year. While some take it once every year, some take it twice in a year in the morning. Others take it four times in a year at night. There are yet others who take it monthly, weekly, or every time they meet for worship. While some churches take it at night, there are many churches, like the Roman Catholic Church, who take it in the morning or any time of the day. The questions that come to mind are these. Is there no biblical direction with regard to the Lord’s supper? If there is, why are there so much differences between the churches in the way they observe the supper?  These questions will be answered in this article.

The Jewish Feast of Passover

When God instituted the  Passover for the Israelites in Egypt, around 1450 BCE, He commanded them that the Passover lamb should be a year old male and should be without blemish. It is therefore a type of Jesus Christ who was sinless and blameless. God also directed that the animal should be separated from the fold on the 10th day of the first Jewish ecclesiastical month, the month of Abib, and kept for four days. On the 14th day, they were to slaughter it at twilight (bold emphases added throughout), roast it with fire and eat the flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It must not be eaten outside and no single bone of the lamb should be broken (Exod. 12:46; Num. 9:12). This was meant to represent the bones of Jesus Christ which God had ordained that it must not be broken (Psa. 34:20). This was perfectly fulfilled (John 19:32-33, 36). God emphasized that the time appointed for the Passover is the 14th day of the month of Abib at twilight. The Israelites were required to celebrate the Passover throughout their generations, as a permanent ordinance. See Exod. 12:1-14; 13:3-10; Lev. 23:4-5.

To calculate the 14th day of Abib, later known as Nisan after the Babylonian captivity, the Jews waited for the spring equinox, also known as March or vernal equinox. This is the day when the Sun is exactly above the Equator as the Sun crosses from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere. This causes the Earth to have almost equal length of 12 hours of daylight and darkness on that day. This usually occur between late March and early April. The first observable new moon nearest to the spring equinox becomes the first day of Abib (Exod. 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deut. 16:1), later known as Nisan ( Neh. 2:1; Esth. 3:7) after the Babylonian captivity. Passover feast is observed 13 days later.

In the New Testament Jesus Christ, being an Israelite by human descent, joined his tribesmen in celebrating the Passover in strict compliance with the ordinance (Luke 2:41-43; Matt. 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-17; Luke 22:1-15).

It was at the last Passover which our Lord Jesus Christ ate with his apostles that he instituted the Lord’s Supper, on the 14th day of Abib or Nisan. The time set by God for the Passover was twilight and there is no record seen in the Bible that it was changed by Jesus Christ.

For Christians, the Lord’s Supper permanently replaces the Jewish Passover, Jesus Christ our Passover Lamb having been sacrificed once and for all time for us (1 Cor. 5:7; Heb.9:11-10:14). We no longer have to slaughter annually a one-year-old lamb, a sample of the real Lamb of God which is Christ Jesus whose death and resurrection was for our deliverance from Satan, sin and eternal death. The unleavened bread (not wafers) and wine made from the fruit of the vine (not grapefruit) replaced the roasted lamb and the bitter herbs. The unleavened bread is the emblem that is common to both ordinances.

A Memorial of Christ’s Death

The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ’s death. At the last Passover when Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper, he said the Supper should be kept as a memorial of his death. Luke captured this injunction he gave to his apostles about the Supper: “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20 NIV). He commanded that the Supper be kept in remembrance of him. In other words, it is observed as a memorial of his death. How many times in a year do men observe the memorial of their dead family members? Is it not once in a year, on the anniversary of their death? Where then lies  the sense in marking Christ’s death more than once in a year? When Apostle Paul later recounted the event of the first Lord’s Supper and the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul put it this way: “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23-26 NIV).

The Lord’s Supper is a proclamation or a memorial of the Lord’s death. The reminder Paul gave the Corinthian believers is what many people have misunderstood. The word “whenever” (KJV’s “as often as”) is what people have wrongly interpreted to mean that they can take it as often as they please. They say it is now at the discretion of each church to decide how often they want to observe the Lord’s Supper. How wrong they are! Paul never at any time modified or altered any of the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, he didn’t mean Christians now have the discretion to decide how often they want to eat the sacred meal each year. He didn’t give any instruction to the Corinthians contrary to Christ’s words. The words “do this in remembrance of me” means the Lord’s Supper should be observed as a memorial of his death – on every 14th day of Abib (or Nisan). Paul’s “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,” means that the memorial of Christ’s death should be observed by partaking of the Lord’s Supper every year until Christ returns from heaven. Being a memorial of Christ’s death, it cannot be observed at any other frequency than once in each year – on the date he was killed, the 14th day of Abib/Nisan, which falls between the months of March and April of the Gregorian calendar. People do not remember their departed loved ones more than once each year, usually on the anniversaries of their death. That is what Christ commanded in Luke 22:19; and that is what Paul meant in 1 Cor. 11:25-26. Paul never meant we are now at liberty to take the Lord’s Supper anytime we choose to observe it. This kind of erroneous conclusion which many teachers have drawn from 1 Cor. 11:25-26 is often the result of men picking a verse or so out of the Bible and making a doctrine out of it without examining what other scriptures say on the subject. If these teachers have compared scripture with scripture, they would have done proper analysis of the scriptures and avoided this erroneous interpretation.

Now, here is a logical proof that many churches have been wrong in saying we can eat the Lord’s Supper more than once in a year. Our Lord Jesus Christ rose from death after three days. His death and resurrection marked the START and END points of the work of our redemption, which was done once and for all time. They celebrate his resurrection once every year during Abib, also known as Nisan. How come they mark his death more than once every year? Why mark the START of an event many times but mark its END once? Does that make any sense? It does not, at all! 

It Is Marked At Twilight

When God instituted the Passover, He specifically directed that it should be observed at twilight, that early part of the night between sunset and the time the stars appear in the night sky. See Exod. 12:6; Lev. 23:4-5. This set time was strictly complied with by Christ as seen in Matt. 26:20; Mark 14:17. Luke said, “When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table”(Luke 22:14 NLT). The time here means the time already set by God, at twilight. On his part, Apostle Paul said “on the night.” (1 Cor. 11:23), the night when the Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper. Nowhere is it found that the Passover/Lord’s Supper was observed at any other time than at twilight, after sunset. Even the word “supper” means an evening meal which is distinguished from breakfast or lunch. There is no single biblical example that the first century believers ate the Lord’s Supper at any other time than after sunset. From where then did they get the practice of marking it at any time of the day? Christ has left for us an example of strict obedience to the ordinances of God that we may follow his footsteps (1 Pet. 2:21). Our service to, and worship of, God is vain when we do things our own way other than how they have been ordained by God. All the churches who take the supper at any time of the day other than after sunset are simply following their manmade traditions. Such acts of irreverence to God’s ordinances were denounced by Jesus Christ: “Jesus replied, You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition. Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition” (Mark 7:6-9 NLT). See also Matt  15:1-11. It is sickening to note that many of our churches have a penchant for setting aside the commands of God in order to observe their own traditions.

Breaking of Bread in the Early Church

Some people teach that the expression “break bread” in Acts 20:7 refers to the Lord’s Supper and that the verse means that the first century believers observed the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. Some others conclude that the first century believers ate the Lord’s Supper everyday because it is written in Acts 2:42,46 that they were “breaking bread” from house to house everyday. To these people the expression “break bread” is synonymous with the Lord’s Supper. But their conclusion is very wrong. A brief explanation is here given.

What Does Break Bread Mean?

As seen right from the Book of Genesis and all through the Bible, bread has been part of the staple food of the Jews. Hence the word “bread” (Hebrew: lechem; Greek: artos) is used 296 times in the Hebrew Bible and 97 times in the Christian New Testament. The bread was usually brittle and therefore divided by being broken with the hands instead of being sliced with knife. In every meal where bread was eaten, the head of the home, after giving thanks to God, shared it to the family by breaking it. This custom of breaking bread continued to the time of Christ and the first century church which we now read about from the Christian New Testament. The bread broken at the first Lord’s Supper was one of the many instances in which bread was broken in the Bible. It is a gross error to think or say that whenever bread was broken, it was the Lord’s Supper. The following are a few examples in which bread was broken but it was not the Lord’s Supper:

  1. When Jesus fed 5000 people with five loaves and two fishes, He blessed and broke the bread and the fishes and gave to his disciples who in turn gave them to the people (Matt. 14:19). He did the same thing again when he fed 4000 people. (Matt. 15:36). He broke bread but it was not a Passover meal.
  2. After his resurrection, he appeared to two of his disciples on their way to Emmaus. They initially did not recognize him. At Emmaus, still not knowing he was their risen Master, they invited him to pass the night with them. Their eyes got opened and recognized him after he had given thanks, broke the bread and gave it to them (Luke 24: 29-30). Yet, it was not the Lord’s Supper. He had said he will not eat the Lord’s Supper again with his disciples until he returns from heaven (Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18). And he couldn’t have eaten the Lord’s Supper with only two of the disciples.
  3. Again after his resurrection, he went to Peter and his companions at the Sea of Tiberias. There he took bread and fish which he had supernaturally provided and gave it to them. The breaking of the bread, although not mentioned, is implied. But it was not the Lord’s Supper because this event took place in the morning. The Passover meal is taken only after sunset (Exod. 12: 6; Lev. 23:4-5; Matt. 26:20; Mark 14:17, 22-26). Moreover, Passover meal should not be eaten outside of a house (Exod. 12:46). But here, they ate the bread at the open shore of the Tiberian Sea.
  4. In Acts 27, Luke recorded how  the ship in which Paul, himself, and 274 others were traveling ran into a storm. In verse 20 Luke wrote, “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved” (Acts 27:20 NIV). Then in verses 33-36, he wrote,  “Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves” (Acts 27:33-36 NIV). Paul broke bread and ate but it was not the Lord’s Supper. He and his co-travellers broke bread and ate to strengthen their bodies after many days without food due to the anxiety caused by the terrible, life-threatening storm. The bread they broke and ate was normal food. This is evident from verses 33 to 36.
  5. Concerning the first Christians Luke wrote, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (Acts 2:46 NIV). They ate their normal meals at one another’s homes. They gladly shared their  food with one another. The bread which they were breaking from house to house (Acts 2:42, 46) was normal food; it was not the Lord’s Supper. They had their fellowships in the Temple area where they were taught the Word, but they shared their food with fellow believers in their private homes. If, for example, Aghogho and Efe were in Tega’s house at lunch time, Tega would not wait for them to leave before eating his lunch with his family. They would all eat the food together. This unity was what Luke recorded for our learning. They were not eating the Lord’s Supper everyday in their private homes as erroneously taught and believed by some people. Consider what Paul said in 1 Cor. 11:22. He asked the Corinthian Christians if they didn’t have their own homes in which they could eat their normal meals before going for the Lord’s Supper. This clearly shows that the bread the people were breaking from house to house everyday was bread eaten as their normal meals. It was not the one eaten at the yearly Passover/Lord’s Supper. The fact that the homes where they were sharing their food with one another were not their assembly point is another proof that they were not eating the Lord’s Supper in those homes.

In the course of time, some lazy believers began to abuse this bond of brotherhood. They refused to work and abandoned themselves on other believers for their daily bread (food). This was what prompted Apostle Paul to send out the warning we read in 2 Thes. 3:10-12 where he said, “Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.” Yet we hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. (2 Thes. 3:10-12 NLT).

The Acts 20:7 Explained

As said earlier, some people teach that Acts 20:7 specified the frequency of the Lord’s Supper to be every Sunday because the verse says, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread Paul spoke to the people [in Troas where he and his team spent seven days] and, because he intended to leave the next day, [he] kept on talking until midnight” (Acts 20:7 NIV, words in square brackets added by me). 

Some modern versions like the New Living Translation (NLT) have rendered it, “On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight” (Acts 20:7 NLT). This rendition by the NLT is not correct.

Paul and his companions intended to depart from Troas after that night. Paul and his team were therefore having a farewell dinner with the believers in Troas on a Saturday evening which was the beginning of the first day of the week. The dinner arranged that night, most probably by the brethren in Troas, was meant to bid the apostles farewell. The supper cannot be said to be the Lord’s Supper for obvious reasons, which include the following:

  1. Paul and his team came to Troas from Philippi after  the days of unleavened bread (Acts 20:6). The seven days of unleavened bread starts on the 15th of Abib while Passover/Lord’s Supper is celebrated on the 14th of Abib. This means that the Passover or Lord’s Supper had been observed before they left Philippi for Troas. So, they couldn’t be celebrating the Lord’s Supper in Troas.
  2. It was already past midnight before the young man Eutychus fell from the third-floor window to the ground and died instantly. It was after waking him from the dead that Paul went upstairs and broke bread and ate (Acts 20:9-11). The Lord’s Supper could not have been eaten at that time of the night. It is taken during twilight (Exod. 12:6; Lev. 23:5).
  3. The fact that Paul preached to them till daybreak (Acts 20:11) is proof that the meeting was not for the sake of eating the Lord’s supper. He must have called the meeting because he felt the need of giving them all he had in mind before departing Troas on Sunday.

Conclusion

When our Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper, he did not specify the frequency of its observance. This was not because he wanted Christians to choose the frequency they consider appropriate, but because the time of its observance had been set by God. It is binding forever and we must abide by God’s ordinances. It remains an annual memorial of Christ’s death at Golgotha for our redemption. It must be observed on the 14th day of Abib or Nisan at twilight.

The Apostle Paul did not say in 1 Cor. 11:25-26 that each church group is at liberty to decide how often  they want to observe the Lord’s Supper every year. The phrase “for as often as” simply means “whenever” believers eat the Lord’s Supper, they are commemorating the Lord Jesus Christ’s death until He returns from heaven. This statement does not alter the annual memorial of the Lord’s death which took place on the 14th day of Abib or Nisan. It was not a mere coincidence that our Lord was killed on the 14th of Abib/Nisan, the same date chosen by God for the slaughtering of the Passover lamb. That date is a special date to God. It remains the date in which Christians should commemorate the death of our Saviour and Lord.

God has not ordained any feast and left it for humans to determine the mode and time of its observance. The Lord’s Supper which replaced the Jewish Passover cannot be an exception.

Our Lord Jesus Christ who died is the same person who was raised from death after three days (Rom. 8:34). If he has not risen from the dead, the Gospel message is useless and our faith is also useless (1 Cor. 15:14). The death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ can be viewed as the START and END points of the same event which demonstrates God’s great love for humanity. Freedom from Satan, sin and judgment is made available for all who believe in Him. Eternal life in God’s kingdom is also ensured. It is illogical to celebrate Christ’s resurrection once a year but celebrate His death many times in the same year. That incongruity alone should make you know that the conclusion they’ve drawn on the frequency of the Lord’s Supper is wrong  The conclusion is ridiculous and untenable. 

Christ’s death and resurrection make up one event. The church groups that observe the Lord’s Supper more than once a year are in error. They lack insight into the Scriptures; and that is why they have, according to Apostle Peter, twisted Paul’s words about the Lord’s Supper (2 Pet. 3:16). Jesus Christ did not modify or reverse God’s ordinance of the Passover. Neither did Paul modify or reverse any of Christ’s instructions about the Lord’s Supper. He is not known to have once contradicted the holy Master. All the churches who take the Lord’s Supper at any time other than at twilight (evening, according to the KJV) do not have any biblical support for their practice. The entire Bible clearly teaches that it should be eaten in the evening, that is, at twilight. They need to repent of their irreverence for God’s ordinance. Their observance of the Lord’s Supper is vain when they, without insight, alter its frequency and timing

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DO CHRISTIANS GO TO HEAVEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH TAKES PLACE?

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Do Christians go to heaven the very moment they breathe their last? This is one of the many subjects of debate in Christendom. There have been too many areas of contention in Christian teaching. But can we stop the debates? Can Christians who know the truth afford to shut their mouths and allow teachers of fallacies and falsehoods to continue to infect the people of God with their delusive doctrines? The answer is a definite “No!” Those of us who have been given insight into the scriptures must continue to contend for the faith (body of truth) which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).

The people who teach immediate entrance into heaven at the time of death base their teachings on a number of scriptures which, I believe, they have misinterpreted. One of them is Luke 23:43 where our Lord Jesus Christ is said to make a promise of immediate entry into Paradise to one of the two criminals who were crucified alongside Himself. Another one is Paul’s statement of being absent in the body and being present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Phil. 1:23). They also use the supposed “rapture” of Enoch and Elijah and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to support their teaching.

A critical review of the scriptures gives enough grounds of not only doubting this teaching but rejecting it altogether. In this article, I give some of the points which go against this teaching.

The Thief on the Cross

The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) tell us that two criminals were crucified along with our Lord Jesus Christ. Although Christ did not commit any sin, God gave Him over to men to be killed for the sake of our sins. Luke’s account is that one of the criminals (or thieves) was penitent and asked Jesus Christ for mercy and the grace of being allowed entry into His kingdom. Christ’s answer to his request is found in Luke 23: 43 which reads, “Jesus said to him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise” (NCV). Observe:

  • Today’s Christian understanding of the word “Paradise” is far from the Jewish understanding of the word. Originally, the Jews understood the word Sheol (translated into Greek as Hades) as the realm or place where the souls of all dead people go to await the resurrection and judgement. The Jews believe that Sheol is divided into two parts, one part for good souls and the other for bad and wicked souls.

The part of Sheol where the souls of righteous people go is called Gan Eden, visualizing it to be a place like the Garden of Eden. Gan Eden was translated into Greek as Paradeisos from which the English word Paradise was derived. This idea of Paradise being the “good” side of Sheol where the righteous souls go at death was still the belief of the Jews in the days of Jesus Christ while He was on the earth.

The “bad” or “tortuous” side of Sheol was called Ge-Hinnom which was translated into Greek as Gehenna. This is where the souls of wicked people were believed to go at death. It is from this Gehenna that words such “hell fire” or “Lake of fire” were derived.

Historically, Ge-Hinnom was “the valley of the sons of Hinnom.” It was originally a valley south of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) used as a garbage dump for the city. Its use as a garbage dump made it to be on fire always to burn the refuse that were thrown into it everyday. Some traditions say it was used as a place where children were burnt as sacrifices to the Ammorite god, Molech. Geenna (or Gehenna) is found 11 places in the Gospels and in James 3:6.

The place was always set on fire to burn the garbage that were thrown into it. In the course of time, the bodies of dead animals and of criminals were thrown into it and it is from this historical perspective that the imagery of “endless burning” was derived.

The torment of the rich man who did not care for his poor neighbour, Lazarus, has its root in this belief of the Jews.

The “good” part of Sheol called Gan Eden or Paradeisos (Greek) is the part Jesus Christ referred to as “Abraham’s bosom.” The phrase was commonly used by the Jews in Christ’s days to express their belief that Abraham, considered to be the father of the Jews (John 8: 33, 39) was chief among the souls in that part of Sheol and the one who welcomes all the righteous people who die with the kind of faith that he had while on earth.

When Jesus told the penitent criminal that he was going to be with Him, that day, in Paradise, the man understood what the Lord said. The criminal knew that his life of crime meant he would find himself that day in Ge-Hinnom the very minute he breathed his last breath. But Jesus Christ’s forgiveness of his sins changed the destination. He would now find himself at the part called Gan Eden or Paradeisos, the part which our Lord already knew He would spend three days before being raised from the dead by God, the Father.

Jesus Christ did not say that the repentant and forgiven criminal would be with Him in heaven that day. Christ knew He was heading for Sheol that day. He knew that he would land on that side of Sheol called Gan Eden or Paradeisos (Paradise). The first Paradise where God placed the first man was a part of the earth. It was not the invisible realm where God dwells which is known as heaven. The Paradise Christ promised the penitent criminal was not heaven either. It was the place where the souls of those who were made righteous were believed to go at death. This fact is made more evident by what the Lord told Mary Magdalene. He told her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17a, NKJV). If Jesus Christ had spent the three days with the Father in heaven, He would not be telling Mary Magdalene that He was yet to ascend to the Father. Evidently, the Paradise in which He had spent the three days after His death was not heaven where the Father resides. Right from the early days of His teaching, Jesus Christ had expressly said that He would spend three days and three nights in the grave which He termed “the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:39, 40). But men ignored the truth from the mouth of the Lord and say that He went to heaven during those three days and three nights. 

  • Some scholars do not believe in the Luke’s account about the penitent criminal who asked for mercy on the cross. Their ground of doubt is based on the fact that the records seen in both Matthew and Mark contradict the Luke’s account. Matthew and Mark make it clear that none of the two criminals repented. Both criminals reviled the Lord, Jesus Christ (Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32). There is no biblical support for the teaching which says that although the two thieves initially reviled Christ, one of them later changed his mind and did what was recorded in Luke 23:39-43 regarding his penitence and forgiveness on the cross. Therefore, that explanation can best be described as eisegesis – reading one’s own ideas into the Bible. Christian teachers must avoid this deliberate falsehood (Prov. 30:5, 6; Rev. 22:18).  

The scholars believe that the account of the penitent criminal on the cross (Luke 23:39–43) is one of the few corruptions introduced into some of the late manuscripts by some overzealous copyists who were exposed to some extraneous writings. In the light of this second point, the account of Luke 23:39–43 remains somewhat doubtful. However, even if it is untrue, the explanation given earlier that Paradise is not the same place called Heaven where God dwells cannot be faulted.

  • Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Cor. 12: 2–4 where he wrote that he was caught up to the “third heaven” which he also called “Paradise” has also been used to support today’s belief by many Christians that Paradise is the same as Heaven, the very abode of God. This conclusion is however not based on the belief of the Jews of the first century CE, including Paul.

The apostles, including Paul, were exposed to many writings produced during the intertestamental period (the period of about 400 years between the time of Malachi (circa 420BC) and the time of John the Baptist which were not accepted into the Christian canon. In those writings which include the Book of Enoch, are found some of the later beliefs of the Jews such as “seven heavens”, the highest of which is considered to be where God, the Father, dwells. It is therefore wrong to conclude that Apostle Paul used the “third heaven” to refer to the abode of God. It is very probable that the “third heaven” was regarded as the realm where the souls of people who died in the faith are kept until the day of the first resurrection. It is very probable that Paul, like the people of his time, believed that Gan Eden or Paradeisos (Paradise) was situated in the third heaven.

Paul’s Departure from the Body and Presence with the Lord

Apostle Paul wrote this to the Corinthians:

“So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5: 6 – 8, NKJV).

Did Paul say here that we go to be with the Lord the moment we are out of the body? In verse 10, he wrote, “we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that each one may receive [the reward each person deserves] the things done in the body according to what he [or she] has done, whether good or bad” (NKJV, words in square brackets are mine).

The apostle knew and taught very often that there is a set day when God will judge the whole of humanity, of all ages, with utmost justice. See Acts 17:30, 31; 1 Cor. 4:5.

At the time when it became very obvious to him that death was knocking at the door, Paul informed Timothy that his life was already being poured out like a drink offering (2 Tim. 4:6). He also wrote, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day” (v. 8). Which day? He gave the answer in that same verse – the day of the Lord’s appearing. This agrees perfectly with what the Lord, Jesus Christ, said in Luke 14:14. Jesus Christ said the people who remember the poor will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

In Athens, Greece, what did Paul preach to the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers? He preached to them Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:16-18). When the philosophers took him to the Athenian Areopagus [the city’s high council], he preached the resurrection of the dead (Acts 17:31, 32). Before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, he told the leaders, “I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 23:6). In his trial before Felix the Roman Governor, he said his Jewish false accusers had the same hope of the resurrection like himself (Acts 24:15). He wrote to the Thessalonian believers that the resurrection of the righteous dead will take place on the day of Christ’s return when they and the living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the sky to welcome Him. Paul made it clear that the saints will, from that day, ever be with the Lord (1 Thes. 4:13-17). This means that there is no single righteous person who will be with the Lord prior to that day of Christ’s second advent. The hope of the resurrection of the dead is one topic that featured in all of Paul’s epistles. If Paul meant being with Christ immediately at the time of death, that would amount to bypassing his repeated teaching about the resurrection of the dead. Conclusively, Paul did not have the day of death in mind when he talked of being present with the Lord.

We will Be Changed Before We Enter the Kingdom of God

The Bible says, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does a perishable body inherit that which will last forever” (1 Cor. 15:50).

One of the conditions that must be fulfilled before any human being enters into God’s kingdom is that the body must be changed from a perishable one to an imperishable body. Our natural, human bodies must be changed to bodies which will not age, decay or wear out (1 Cor. 15:44). We will all be changed, so says the beloved apostle.

When does the change take place? It is evidently clear that it is not at the point of death. We are told that we will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet … and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality(1 Cor. 15:51–52, NASB). For those who have died, the change will take place at the point of being raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15: 44, 51-53).

The “trumpet” mentioned by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:52 is the same trumpet mentioned by him in 1 Thes. 4:16. It will be blown as Jesus Christ and His “cloud” of angels gets to the earth’s sky on the day of His second coming. Knowledge of came from the words of Jesus Christ when He taught on the events that will take place prior to, and during the day of His second coming. See Matthew 24:31. From these scriptures, we know that the change will take place at the resurrection. Until the resurrection day when the trumpet will be blown, no single saint would have entered into the kingdom of God.

The Rich Man and Lazarus 

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is told by Jesus Christ in Luke 16:19–31. Among those in his audience where He gave a series of parables, including this one, were tax collectors and sinners (Luke 15:1), scribes and Pharisees (Luke 16:14) and His disciples (Luke 16:1).

Some people have said that the account in Luke 16:19-31 is not a parable at all. But we read that Jesus never spoke to the public except in parables (Ps. 78:2-3; Matt. 13:10-15, 34). The use of the name Lazarus in this parable did not make it a real-life story because that name was a common one among the Jews. (In the Talmud, the rabbis often used Lazarus for the Hebrew name Eleazar). Let no one think that the representative name Lazarus used here is the same as Lazarus of Bethany whom Jesus raised from the dead (John 11).

The passage (Luke 16:19-31) has been taught in Christian circles as if it is an account of a literal, historical event. But the truth is that it is one in a series of parables told at a particular time to an audience by our Lord Jesus Christ. Being a parable, it is wrong to understand the passage as if it was an account of a real life event.

One of the rules of Bible interpretation is that one should take the Bible literally where it is at all possible. But if symbolic, figurative, or typical language is used, as in the case of parables, then the literal truth they intend to convey must be mined through the use of proven rules of Bible interpretation.

Many Bible teachers of our day pick a word, phrase or sentence from the Bible and make a doctrine out of it without having reference to other Bible passages to see what they have taught on a particular subject. Many false or fallacious doctrines have emerged from this faulty approach to Bible study.

Some of such people now teach that this parable is a proof that believers go immediately to heaven when they die. But they are terribly wrong.

In the parable, Lazarus is said to be carried to Abraham’s bosom. As explained earlier, Abraham’s bosom, in Jewish mythology, is Gan Eden (Greek: Paradeisos, anglicized as Paradise) which is the “good” side of Sheol where the souls of righteous people are believed to go at death to await the promised resurrection. It is the belief of the Jews that Abraham, which they regard as the father of the Jews (Matt. 3:9; Luke 1:73; 3:8; 13:16; John 8:33, 37), is chief among the souls who are in that good and peaceful side. He is believed to be the one playing the role of a father there – taking care of all the people who get there. Hence they are said to be in Abraham’s bosom or chest or breast – a place of warm intimacy usually between mothers and their babies. 

Where is Abraham? Already in heaven? Of course, Abraham is not yet in heaven. He is still in the grave, called Sheol in Hebrew (Hades in Greek), awaiting the resurrection of the righteous at the second coming of Jesus Christ (John 5: 28-29; Dan. 12:2).

All the righteous dead people will be resurrected at Christ’s second coming (1 Cor. 15:23). Old Testament saints like Abraham, will not receive the promise of eternal life in God’s kingdom without us (Heb. 11:8, 13, 39, 40). That is why both the Old Testament and New Testament saints will partake of the first resurrection at the same time (1 Thes. 4:15-17). This will take place 1000 years before the second resurrection or the resurrection of the wicked (Rev. 20:5).

The parable of the rich man (Latin: Dives) and Lazarus was meant by Jesus Christ to teach those in His audience, especially the Pharisees who were lovers of money and who were very shrewd in turning religion to money-making ventures, that a change will take place when the rich religious leaders who had no regard for the truth, will suffer eternal punishment. But the poor in spirit who accepted the truth and live in obedience to the truth, no matter their status in the present age, will inherit the promised eternal life in God’s kingdom. But Jesus Christ did not infer, by that parable, that God will no longer follow His plan which He had made known right from the Old Testament times. He did not insinuate that saints go to heaven immediately after their death. No, they will still need to wait for the day of resurrection, followed by the 1000 year reign of Christ and then the judgement of the world (Acts 17: 30-31; Rev. 20: 12-15).

To say that saints go to heaven immediately after their death is to bypass or contradict the teaching on resurrection and judgement which is profoundly taught in the Bible. See, for example, Isa. 26:19; 66: 24; Ezek. 37: 12; Acts 24:15; Matt. 25: 41, 46; John 11:24; Dan. 12:2; Heb. 9: 27-28.

In this parable, our Lord Jesus Christ said that when the beggar died, he was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:23). But Christ, in another place taught His disciples, not in parables, that at His second coming, “He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt. 24: 29-31). This evidently shows that the gathering of the chosen ones, including Abraham, by angels, will take place at Christ’s second coming, not before then. Abraham’s bosom, as already explained, is a symbolic name for that part of the realm of the dead, Sheol, where the righteous dead are believed to go. So it is not Heaven where the invisible and excellent God dwells.

The use of the words “in hell” (Luke 16:23) in some English versions like the KJV has also misled many people into making the wrong interpretation of the parable. Three Greek words have been indiscriminately translated as “hell” in the KJV. They are:

  • Tartaroó or tartaros – used only in 2 Peter 2: 4 for a condition of incarceration of fallen angels.
  • Gehenna – explained earlier.
  • Hades – translated from the Hebrew Sheol, which means the grave or the unseen world of the dead

Modern-day teaching that Lazarus went to heaven immediately after death while the rich man went to the lake of fire (Rev. 20: 15) is a far cry from Jewish thought which the parable portrays. To this day, the Jews believe in resurrection before the judgement of the world. They believe that Gan Eden (Paradise) and Ge-Hinnom (also called Hades) are the two sides of Sheol (or Hades) where the souls of dead people are temporarily kept to await the resurrection. After the final judgement that realm will be empty causing it to be burnt up in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14).

A Day of Judgement

People die everyday. Those who die are either righteous or unrighteous. If therefore, the dead go to heaven or hell on the day of their death, that would mean that judgement is passed on people as soon as they die, all through lifetime, beginning with Abel. That cannot be because the Bible has made it clear that God has appointed (or set) a day in which He will judge the world with justice through that man whom He has appointed and has proved this to everyone by raising that man [our Lord Jesus Christ] from the dead (Acts 17:31; Rev. 20:12-15).

That day will be after the second resurrection also known as the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29) which will take place 1000 years after the first resurrection also known as the resurrection of the just (Rev. 20:5). The first resurrection will take place at the beginning of the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth.

Jesus Christ and His apostles have made it abundantly clear that there will be a day when all the nations will gather before the Son of Man and the sheep will be separated from the goats, when the righteous ones will be gathered into God’s barn and the tares thrown into the lake of fire (Matt.13: 30, 38-43; 25:31-46; Rev. 20: 11- 15). That will be at the end of the present age. According to the scriptures, no one will enter into God’s kingdom also known as the kingdom of heaven or be thrown into the lake of fire until the judgement of the entire human race takes place.

The theory that people go straight to heaven or hell immediately at death is the product of failure to always apply the rules of Bible interpretation. That teaching is clearly inconsistent with biblical truth. It should therefore be rejected by serious-minded and sincere Christians. The important thing we should all pursue is faithfulness in following the Lord Jesus Christ all through our lifetimes just as the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and all the worthies of the Old and New Testaments did.

Jesus Christ Preached the Kingdom of God

Whenever the words “going to heaven” is mentioned, what readily comes to mind is the highest heaven where God and Jesus Christ now dwell with the holy angels.

A closer look at the Bible has revealed that we have not been promised entry into heaven. What Jesus Christ has promised the faithful believers in God is entry into the kingdom of God. This is the kingdom owned and ruled by God and His Christ (Eph. 5:5; Rev. 11: 15). Matthew called it the kingdom of heaven. The phrase “kingdom of heaven” is what many Christians have mistakenly taken as heaven. But the truth is that there is a clear difference between “heaven” and the “kingdom of heaven”. Whereas Heaven is the abode of God, the kingdom of heaven simply means a kingdom owned and ruled by heaven, the word “heaven” being a metonymy for God. Life in the kingdom will be lived out throughout eternity in the new heavens and the new earth, the new Jerusalem – the holy, three-dimensional city built in heaven but to be brought down to the new earth. Therein, God’s faithful, true and holy people will live forever with Jesus Christ living among them (John 15: 2- 3; Rev. 21 and 22).

Some Christian groups say that 144,000 will go to heaven to rule with God and Christ over the heavenly kingdom. But this teaching is neither explicitly nor implicitly spelt out in Revelation 7 and 14 or anywhere else in the Bible. Jesus Christ told His disciples and those who were not His disciples that none of them can come to the place, that is heaven, where He was going (John 8:21-23; 13:33). The excellent and the supremely glorious realm where God dwell was never meant to be cohabited by Him and humankind. He created the earth to be the eternal habitation of humankind. If God meant that we will eventually go to dwell with Him in that realm which no man can approach (1 Tim. 6:16), would He bother Himself creating new heavens and a new earth? The teaching that some men will go to heaven to be co-rulers of God’s kingdom is a sheer conjecture of some eschatological speculators. The only co-ruler with God in His kingdom is Christ (Eph. 5:5; Heb. 12:22-24; Rev. 3:12; 11:15). The men who will rule with Christ in His millennial reign will do so here on earth (Rev. 5:10).

One point we must not forget is that the phrase “kingdom of heaven” used 33 times only by Matthew is the same thing as “kingdom of God” which is used 65 times by other New Testament writers. Matthew also used it five times. Just as the “kingdom of God” does not mean the kingdom is inside God, so too the kingdom of heaven does not mean the kingdom is in heaven. It is going to be ruled directly by God Himself (1 Cor. 15:28) right from His throne in Heaven.

CONCLUSION

No greater ignorance and unbelief is displayed than when we begin to look for answers on things which Jesus Christ has spoken openly and expressly. Whenever we do that, we show our ignorance about His preeminent position in the scheme of God and our pitiable unbelief about the fact that He is the embodiment of God’s truth, God’s final word to all of His creation.

Jesus Christ said, “No one has ever gone into heave except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man” (John 3:13). These words, having come out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, overrules every other opinion, theory, teaching or theological concept that runs contrary to it. It rules out every argument that is contrary to it.

In affirmation, Peter said, “I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day” (Acts 2:29). Paul said, now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – the day of His appearing (2 Tim. 4: 8). He also said, “All these great people died in faith. They did not get the things God promised His people” (Heb.11:13). Why did they not get the promises, including eternal life in the kingdom of God? It is because God had planned that the Old and New Testament saints will receive the promises, including eternal life in His kingdom at the same time (Heb. 11: 39-40). Hebrews 11:13 has emphatically stated that all the Old Testament faithfuls including Enoch and Elijah died in faith. Even the Old Testament has made it known that Elijah was not taken to the heaven where God dwells; he was merely transported through the sky (also called heaven, the first heaven) to another place on earth.

If Paul, whose words many of our teachers of errors often quote had the belief that he would go straight to the presence of God at the point of death, he would not say that he had the hope of the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6; 24:15; 26:8). This faithful servant of Jesus Christ never insinuated that he would go straight to heaven as soon as he breathed his last.

Having seen these scriptures among many others, we do not need anyone to teach us that no single person who has died, beginning from Abel, has gone to heaven. All the faithful dead are still in their graves awaiting the resurrection on the day that Jesus Christ will return to the earth (1 Cor. 15: 50 – 52; 1 Thes. 4:13 – 18).

Christians must avoid the blunder of interpreting what Jesus Christ had taught on the basis of Paul’s words. Paul was an apostle or messenger of Jesus Christ. He was a faithful servant and messenger of Jesus Christ. Therefore, whatever he has taught should be interpreted on the basis of what Jesus Christ had taught; it should never be done the other way round. Paul himself has warned that if anyone’s teaching goes contrary to what Jesus Christ had taught, such a one is proud and ignorant (1 Tim. 6:3). Jesus Christ is the final word of God (Heb. 1:2). He is the finality of truth (Rev. 3:14; John 14:6). His words end all arguments.

In our days, we have seen a plethora of false and fictitious teachings flowing freely in our churches. And we seem dead to the warnings of the Lord and His apostles. One of such teachings is this one which says a believer goes straight to the very presence of God on the day of his death. They often latch on to Paul’s writings. But Apostle Peter said that men who lack scriptural insight have twisted many of Paul’s words to teach things quite different from what Paul had in mind. Peter went on to say that it is not only Paul’s words that have been distorted; many other scriptures have equally been twisted by false and ignorant men. Peter said they do it to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3: 16).

If by “heaven” we mean the invisible realm or place where God dwells, Christians must be told now that neither God nor Christ has ever promised that realm as the future abode of the faithful and true people of God. The promise seen in the Bible is that all the faithful and true children of God, whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, will enter into the Kingdom of God when our Lord, Jesus Christ returns to establish the heavenly kingdom here on earth. From the sky they will accompany Him to touch down at a place called Mount of Olives (Zach. 14:4) which will likely be a part of the beloved city where they will be with the Lord (Rev. 20:9).

The “kingdom of heaven” a phrase used only by Matthew, is not exactly the same thing as heaven. It simply means a kingdom owned and ruled by heaven, the word “heaven” being a metonymy for God. You may observe that all other New Testament writers like Mark, Luke, John and Paul refer to the kingdom as the Kingdom of God.

From the writings of the first apostles of Christ, it is evident that they believed that the kingdom of God would come down to the earth. They understood what the Lord Jesus Christ had taught about the kingdom of God. With the passage of time, the true teachings of the Christ began to be corrupted with the ideas of men, one of which is this 19th century teaching of immediate entry into heaven or hell at death, a teaching which completely negates the biblical teachings on the resurrection of the dead and the day of judgement of humanity by our Lord Jesus Christ.

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SHOULD CHRISTIANS PRAY TO JESUS?

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There is clear evidence that the Christian faith has been seriously muddled up in our days. The confusion is so much that one who has some basic knowledge of the Scriptures cannot but ask if today’s Christians still read the Bible. I have heard Christians who profess to be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit praying to Jesus in the name of Jesus. It has therefore become necessary to examine the Scriptures and find out whom we, Christians, are expected to direct our prayers.  

What Jesus Christ Taught 

Our Lord Jesus Christ clearly taught the early believers as to whom they should address their prayers. 

In His sermon on the mount He taught His disciples to “pray to your Father” (Matt. 6:6, emphases added throughout). In verse 8, He said, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (NIV).  Then in verses 9 to 13, He gave them a model which has become christened as “the Lord’s prayer.” In verse 9, He taught them to direct their prayers to “our Father in heaven.” See also Luke 11 1-4. The Father is God, the one whom He called “My father and your Father, My God and your God” (John 20:17).  

Jesus Christ gave His followers the key to having their prayers answered. He taught that whatever those who believe in Him ask God, the Father, in His name, God will give it to them (John 15:16; 16:23-27). This is very important. Believers pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Christ’s Example   

Not only did Jesus teach that we should pray to God, He Himself prayed to God, the Father of all beings (Eph. 4:6). A few of the instances in which He prayed are:  

  1. At Gethsemane, He prayed to God, saying, “My Father” (Matt. 26:39). He went to pray a second time that night and said, “My Father, if this [cup of death] cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (v. 42).   
  2. In His last moment on the cross, Jesus prayed with a loud voice saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).  
  3. In the course of His ministry, He raised Lazarus from death. At the tomb where Lazarus was laid, He prayed to God and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me…” (John 11:41,42).   

In the Gospels, there are 25 records of Jesus Christ praying to the Father, Lord of the heavens and the earth. Our Lord has therefore not only taught whom we should pray, He has left for us practical examples in prayer, that we may follow in His steps (John 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:21). 

To Whom Did Early Christmas Pray?    

Having seen the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ on prayer, it is necessary to examine some examples as to whom the early believers directed their prayers.  

  1. Not long after Jesus Christ ascended to heaven the Jewish religious leaders started persecuting His disciples. God healed a lame man through the hands of Peter and John and this good act got them into trouble. The Jewish rulers threatened them and warned them never to preach again in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). After they were released, they told the other disciples what had happened. They gathered together and prayed. To whom did they pray?  “They lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord…”  (Acts 4:24, ESV). Twice in their prayer, they told God that the persecutors were in fact persecuting, not themselves but, “your holy servant Jesus” (vv. 27,30). There is no doubt that they directed their prayers to God.  
  2. Paul the Apostle wrote to the Colossian believers that he and his companions always prayed and gave thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ on their behalf (Col. 1:3). He also wrote to them in Colossians 3:17 that “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him” (NIV).  We know that thanksgiving is a vital part of prayer.  
  3. To the Philippians, Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6, NIV).   
  4. He also wrote to the Ephesians that they should “give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20, NLT) In the same epistle to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “I kneel in prayer to the Father. All beings in heaven and on earth receive their life from him” (Eph. 3:14-15, CEV).  

Also, in the same epistle, he wrote, “that is why since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I always remember you in my prayers, asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you will know him better” (Eph. 1:15-17, NCV).  

These Bible passages leave us with no doubt that Christians should pray to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

The Son of God, Jesus Christ was sent by God into the world to reconcile the sinful world to God. He is the way to God, and He is the mediator between men and God. The salvation of God is given and obtainable through Him. It is therefore not surprising that we pray to God in his name. The term “in His name” simply means we direct our prayers to God through Him. He said, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you (John 15:16; 16:23). This is a fundamental spiritual key to having our prayers answered by God. We cannot afford to neglect or alter this divine formula. 

To all my fellow Christians who pray to Jesus, we have seen that such a practice is inconsistent with biblical truth. We do not honour the Lord Jesus Christ by praying to Him. We are rather disobedient to His teachings when we do so. We demonstrate our love for Him when we do what He has taught and commanded (John 14:15).  

As Christians who have come to know the truth, we recognize the fact that the false doctrines of Trinity and Modalism have contributed so much to the distortion of biblical truth in Christendom. And until any Christian is helped to see the falseness of these two doctrines, such a person will not be liberated from the confusion they created in the minds and lives of those they have held hostage. These two doctrines are satanic seeds of confusion. But God is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Cor. 14:33).  

Jesus Christ has said that whatever He taught were according to what God Himself had instructed Him to teach (John 7:16; 12:48-50). To teach anything different from what Christ has taught amounts to a rejection of the truth. Apostles Paul and Peter said that anyone who teaches anything different from what Christ had taught is proud but knows nothing (1 Tim. 6:3; 2 Peter 3:16). 

Added to this is the fact that many professing Christians have become apathetic to the correct biblical teaching which is due mainly to the evil works of their false teachers. Over a long period of time, false teachers feed their unsuspecting followers with powerful doses of their false doctrines through clever manipulations. Some of the teachers of falsehood had ignorantly believed in the false doctrines they teach. They teach them with sincerity of heart believing the doctrines to be biblical and true. But it is not enough for Christian teachers to be sincere; they must be diligent diggers for the whole truth. This is the only way of avoiding belief in falsehood and teaching them to others.   

Today, there are millions of Christians in the denominations who are fast falling away from the true faith without their knowing it. May God set free the multitude of people who have been held hostage by false teachers through their deadly and damnable doctrines. Amen.  

For us who know the truth, there is only one God and the one God is the Father (1 Cor. 8:6). He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 20:17; Eph. 1:17; Rev. 3:12). All prayers are made to this one God. By His side is His only begotten Son, Jesus, whom He made Lord [or Ruler] and Christ [anointed Deliverer]. God is the only Being who is greater than His Son (John 14:28; 1 Cor. 15:27,28). The Father is the only one who is above all beings and is called the Almighty, the Most High [God] and God of gods. He is Supreme over everyone, including our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 11:3). This one God is not the surmised Trinitarian “one God” who is a conglomerate of three gods – the Father plus the Son plus the Holy Spirit.  The one God is not a Trinity. He is a singular Being called “the Father” because He is the one who gives life to all beings in heaven and on earth, including our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:6; 3:14, 15).

For Christians who have not been fooled, the teaching seen in the New Testament is that all who believe in the Son of God should pray to God in the name, or on the authority, of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. If anyone argues against this truth, he or she is contending against God Himself.  

The biblical evidence as to whom we should pray is clear and convincing. If anyone does otherwise, it means that either the person has not read the New Testament or is deliberately failing or refusing to obey the truth.  Such a person may not have his or her prayers answered.

I cannot but end this article by expressing my utter bewilderment at so-called Christians who never get convinced by the weight of biblical evidence and go on to say that the name of the one God is Jesus Christ. Have they not read John 20:17 where our Lord said God is His God and Father?  Have they not read Rev. 3:12 where, from heaven after His glorification, our Lord laid a superlative emphasis on the fact that the Father is His God? How do they interpret Eph. 1:17 where Apostle Paul called the Father the God of our Lord Jesus Christ? Have they not read Apostle Peter’s witness that the Father is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:3)? Have they not read John’s own witness that the Father is His [Christ’s] God and Father (John 20:17, Rev. 1:6)? How logical is it to say that Jesus Christ is the name of the God who is “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ”?  (Please see a similar line of argument between Jesus Christ and the Pharisees in Matthew 22: 41-46). Let the Modalists answer the questions I have asked in this paragraph.  

All the apostles testified to the fact that God is the God and Father of all beings, including our Lord Jesus Christ. They gave their testimonies to this truth because they heard it from the mouth of Jesus Christ Himself.  

But after the death of all the first apostles of Christ, and true to the prophetic parable of the Lord Himself, Satan entered the field of God and sowed “tares” of false doctrines in the field where Jesus Christ and His apostles had sown the true doctrine of God.   Today, we see men professing to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, yet they cannot discern between falsehood and truth, however glaring the differences may be. We see “Christians” openly contradict the sound word of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see highly respected “men of God” teach contradictory doctrines like Trinity and Modalism and no one dares ask them a question. Today, we see many who profess to be “men of God” but their worldliness and profanity stinks to the heavens.   Of a truth, the mystery of iniquity which has been at work since the time of the apostles is amazing. But I thank God that His mighty power is also at work in the lives of those who are faithful and diligent seekers after the truth. 

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