{"id":5102,"date":"2017-10-22T23:50:13","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T04:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5102"},"modified":"2017-10-22T23:50:13","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T04:50:13","slug":"one-question-three-different-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2017\/10\/22\/one-question-three-different-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"One Question, Three Different Answers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Eric Lyons<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThree times in the book of Acts, Luke the physician recorded non-Christians asking what they needed to do to be saved, and three times a different answer was given. The jailor from Philippi asked Paul and Silas, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved?\u201d and was told: <strong>\u201cBelieve on the<\/strong> <strong>Lord Jesus Christ<\/strong>, and you will be saved\u201d (16:31). The Jews on Pentecost asked the apostles, \u201cMen and brethren, what shall we do?\u201d and were instructed to <strong>\u201crepent and<\/strong> <strong>be baptized\u201d<\/strong> (2:37-38). A few years later, Saul asked Jesus, who appeared to Saul on his way to Damascus, \u201cLord, what do you want me to do?\u201d (9:6; 22:10). After being told to go into Damascus to find out what he \u201cmust do\u201d to be saved, Ananias, the Lord\u2019s servant, commanded Saul to \u201c[a]rise and <strong>be baptized<\/strong>, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord\u201d (22:16). The question that many ask is: \u201cWhy are three different answers given to the same question?\u201d Are these answers contradictory, or is there a logical explanation for their differences?<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe reason that three different answers were given to the question of salvation is because on each occasion the questioners were at different \u201clocations\u201d on the road to salvation. The rationality of such answers can be illustrated by considering what a person is told in reference to his physical distance from a certain city. If a friend calls me to ask how far it is from his house in Jackson, Tennessee to my parents\u2019 house in Neosho, Missouri, I would inform him that he is <strong>475 miles<\/strong> from Neosho. If he calls me back the next day, notifying me that he is now in Little Rock, Arkansas, and asks about the distance to Neosho, I would give him a different answer. He now would be <strong>260<\/strong> <strong>miles<\/strong> from Neosho. If, later that evening, he called me one last time and asked how far Fort Smith is from Neosho, again I would give him a different answer\u2014 <strong>130<\/strong> <strong>miles<\/strong>. Three different answers were given, but all three were correct. Likewise, the New Testament records three different answers given to the question, \u201cWhat must I do to be saved,\u201d because the sinners who asked these questions were at different places of understanding on the road to salvation. The Philippian jailor was commanded to believe in Christ, because he had not yet heard and believed the saving message of Jesus (Acts 16:31-32; Romans 10:17). It would have been pointless for Paul and Silas to command the jailor to repent and\/or be baptized when he had not yet even heard the Gospel. If today, a Muslim or Hindu asked a Christian the same question the Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas, the same answer would be an appropriate response. Before ever teaching a Muslim about the essentiality of repentance and baptism, he first must express belief in Jesus as the Son of God. If this step (i.e., believing) is never taken on the road to salvation, the other steps are meaningless.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe Jews on Pentecost had already heard Peter\u2019s sermon when they asked their question about salvation (Acts 2:37). Peter knew that they already believed, and that such belief came from hearing the message he preached (cf. Romans 10:17). The Jews had passed the point of belief (being \u201cpricked in their heart\u201d) and were told to \u201crepent and be baptized\u201d in order to receive salvation (cf.Mark 16:16). Still someone might wonder why Ananias told Saul neither to believe nor repent when he informed him about how to have his sins washed away. The reason: Saul already was a penitent believer in Christ by the time he came in contact with Ananias. He knew the Lord existed, having spoken directly with Him on the road to Damascus, and he expressed a penitent attitude by praying to God and fasting for three days (Acts 9:9,11). At this point, Saul only lacked one thing: he needed to be baptized (Acts 22:16).<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe reason these sinners were told three different things regarding salvation was because they were at different starting points when given the various answers. It is as if the jailor were in Jackson, Tennessee, the Jews on Pentecost in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Saul in Fort Smith. \u00a0All wanted to go to the same place, but were at different \u201clocations\u201d when they asked the question, \u00a0<strong>\u201cWhat must I do to be saved?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Eric Lyons &nbsp; Three times in the book of Acts, Luke the physician recorded non-Christians asking what they needed to do to be saved, and three times a different answer was given. The jailor from Philippi asked Paul and Silas, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved?\u201d and was told: \u201cBelieve on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1062,44,934,1037,1063,48],"class_list":["post-5102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-think-excerpts","tag-alleged-bible-contradictions","tag-baptism","tag-eric-lyons","tag-march-2006","tag-road-to-salvation","tag-salvation","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>One Question, Three Different Answers - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2017\/10\/22\/one-question-three-different-answers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Question, Three Different Answers - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Eric Lyons &nbsp; Three times in the book of Acts, Luke the physician recorded non-Christians asking what they needed to do to be saved, and three times a different answer was given. 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