March-April 2012 BAIBLE DVOCATE B A ® Way of the Cross Inside 2012: Year of the Spirit ARTICLES 4 United at the Cross | Kim Papaioannou, PhD t 6 Clinging to the Crucified | James Tilton, Calvin Burrell, Wilma Ling, Howard Mesick 10 Getting to a Glorious Church | Israel Steinmetz 12 Do We Need God? | John Klassek 14 Living With Less | Jan Johnson 16 Encounter With a Beggar | Dirk Anderson 18 The Magnificent Ten | Ken Lawson 20 The Truth About Tebow | Sherri Langton 22 Finding Treasure | Matthew Minica 23 Remembering Richard | Joseph M. M. Howard DEPARTMENTS 3 First Word — The Crux of It All Don’t forget to look us up on Facebook. Share a thought or respond to something you’ve read in 9 Questions & Answers the BA. Become an active part of our online com- 30-31 International Congress and Last Word — No munity! Ordinary People If you want to ask questions about this issue’s content and discuss it with others online, visit the CoG7 Community at http://cog7.org. The forum is COG7 IN ACTION open; anyone can join and post. 25 Publications, LifeSpring, and more .o rg www.baonline.org Scripture quotations Unless otherwise noted, scripture is taken from the New King James Version. Scripture quotations noted New International Version or NIV are taken from Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture verses noted The Message taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. 2 • Bible Advocate® - www.BAonline.org First Word BABiBle AdvocAte® The Crux of It All A publication of the ow do we reduce Scripture’s complexity to its essence and keep Church of God (Seventh Day) This magazine is published to advocate the main thing the main thing? I ask because I’m thinking BA the Bible, represent the Church, and should print large what the Bible prints large and make small glorify the God of grace and truth. H what it makes small. Love is the best news we have. Here’s why. • Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Volume 146 • Number 2 • Love identifies Jesus’ true disciples (John 13:35). © Copyright 2012 by the Church of God • God is the greatest and God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). (Seventh Day) • Love, the only valid debt, fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10). All material in this issue is subject to U.S. • Love, the duty above all others, covers many sins (1 Peter 4:8). and international copyright laws and may not be reproduced without prior written approval. • Faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love Permission may be obtained by writing the editor. (1 Corinthians 13:13). The BIBLE ADVOCATE (ISSN 0746-0104) is • Loving God and others sums up the law: Do this and live published bimonthly by Bible Advocate Press, (Matthew 22:36-40; Luke 10:25-28). 330 W. 152nd Ave., Broomfield, CO 80023. Periodicals postage is paid at Broomfield, CO, • Christ’s love is the one thing that trusting Christians can never be and at additional offices. Subscription is free to any who ask. POSTMASTER: Send address separated from (Romans 8:35-39). changes to Bible Advocate Press, Box 33677, • Christ’s singular, definitive command to His followers is that they Denver, CO 80233-0677. love one another (John 13:34; 15:12, 17). • Love was basic to the old covenant as it is to the new (Leviticus Bible Advocate Press 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; 7:7, 8; 10:15). Calvin Burrell: Editor Love is the great, two-way connector between heaven and earth. Sherri Langton: Associate Editor Though our love for God is a true response, His love is long prior and Keith Michalak: Director of Publications, far superior to ours (1 John 4:19). His is constant and robust, while graphics ours is inconsistent and frail by comparison. His kind care does its Sylvia Corral, Raul González: Translation, proofing greatest work in us as we learn and practice the same unselfish con- LeRoy and Hope Dais, Linda Michalak: cern for others — believers or not. Correspondence, proofing, clerical The crux of God’s love is the cross of Christ — love printed large. Human depravity and heaven’s devotion intersect there. The Bible’s Subscriptions and Orders greatest text (John 3:16) names love as salvation’s source. Jesus died Bible Advocate Press P.O. Box 33677 for our sins: This is the main thing of our faith, written by love! Denver, CO 80233-0677 The climax of God’s love is the empty tomb, where His light and life phone: 303/452-7973 fax: 303/452-0657 erase death and darkness. As the stone rolled e-mail: [email protected] back that evening, hatred died and Love arose! orders: [email protected] Because Jesus lives, we embrace life abundant Notice: Send all address changes and other and eternal. This is the vital essence of our correspondence to the address above. hope, written in love! Publications Agreement No. 40042428 God’s love at the cross and the empty tomb The Bible Advocate Online appears at www. is the main thing — the greatest news of all. BAonline.org. — Calvin Burrell Cover photo: @ Luliia Kryzhevska—Dreamstime. com March-April 2012 • 3 [Atonement] United at the Cross @ Juan Moyano—Dreamstime.com Christ connects unlike Greek name, Simon was popular pel writers. Second, Mark who folks. Read this real-time among Jews because of its simi- wrote his Gospel for the church larity to Simeon, a pure Hebrew in Rome, mentions that Simon account and rejoice! name. Furthermore, Jews of the was the father of Alexander and by Kim Papaioannou, PhD Diaspora often traveled to Jerusa- Rufus (Mark 15:21). In Romans lem for the three pilgrim feasts of 16:13 Paul sends greetings to he death and resurrection of the Hebrew calendar: Passover, “Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and Jesus mark the foundation Pentecost, and Tabernacles. That his mother and mine.” If the two Tstone of Christianity, the would explain why Simon was in men named Rufus are the same triumph of good over evil, of love Jerusalem. person, then not only Simon but over selfishness. The universal The above notwithstanding, also his wife and children be- impact of the cross was fore- it is probable that Simon was came Christians and associates shadowed in the experience of actually a Libyan. The strongest of Paul. The encounter of Simon three individuals who witnessed pointer is the fact that among with Jesus on that fateful morn- it firsthand: Simon of Cyrene, the crowd that followed Jesus to ing changed his life forever. who carried the cross for Jesus; Golgotha, Simon was singled out the thief, who was crucified with to carry the cross. For a Jew, car- Jesus; and the Roman centurion, rying an instrument of execution The thief who led out in the crucifixion. was ceremonially defiling and When Jesus was crucified, two All three became believers. By would disqualify him from the men were crucified with Him. exploring these three Christ- Passover meal just hours away. Luke calls them kakourgoi (Luke encounters, this article will draw Romans, aware of such religious 23:32) — “criminals”; Matthew some conclusions on the impact scrupulosity, probably picked Si- and Mark, lastai (Matthew 27:38; of the cross. mon because he looked foreign. Mark 15:27) — “thieves,” “ban- When forced to carry the dits,” or possibly “revolutionar- ies.” It is often assumed that Simon of Cyrene cross, Simon was coming “out of the country” (Mark 15:21), sug- they were rebels against Rome, Several details can be known gesting he was not a resident of because Barabbas, released in about Simon, a passerby con- Jerusalem. Later we will see that place of Jesus, was a rebel (Mark scripted by the soldiers to carry Simon also had connections to 15:7), and Jesus was accused Jesus’ cross (Matthew 27:32). Rome. His ability to finance and of being one (Luke 23:2, 14). He was from Cyrene, a city in undertake travel between distant Conversely, neither of the above modern day Libya. The city was provinces implies that he was of Greek words naturally defines founded by Greeks, though the considerable means, possibly a a rebel. So it is more likely that fertile countryside around it was trader. the two men crucified with Je- inhabited by the ancient Libyans. Finally, two facts make it al- sus were common criminals or The wealth of the area meant most certain that Simon became thieves. that Romans, Jews, and people a Christian. First, three of the Initially both men mocked from other nations also settled four Gospels record not only his Jesus, but something happened there in considerable numbers. carrying the cross but also his that changed the outlook of Most commentators assume name. This makes most sense if one. Like Simon before him, he that Simon was a Jew. Though a Simon was known to the Gos- witnessed the calm demeanor 4 • Bible Advocate® - www.BAonline.org United at the Cross of Jesus under intense suffering, the occupied. In the crucifixion different nationalities: Simon, the saw Him forgive those who were of Jesus, the soldiers exhausted Libyan; the thief, a Jew; the cen- crucifying Him, saw His tender their brutality in violence. turion, a Roman. One could even care for His mother. Convinced Against this backdrop stands take it a step further and suggest of Jesus’ innocence, he rebuked the behavior of this centurion in that the three represent the tribes the other criminal, acknowledged stark contrast.