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Questions From ReadersThe Watchtower—1959 | January 1
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Questions From Readers
● In connection with water baptism, why is it appropriate to say that one dies to one’s “past course of life” instead of to one’s “own will”? How could that apply to Jesus’ water baptism?
The word “will” denotes a faculty with which God has gifted intelligent creatures, by which they consciously and deliberately decide upon a desired course of action. It is the God-given power of choosing one’s own actions; it is the conscious process of willing.
When a Bible-instructed believer makes an intelligent, prayerful dedication of himself to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ, he does not die to this faculty of will. In the very act of dedicating himself he had to exercise his will power with great strength and resoluteness in order to make this decision for all eternity. In order to take the step of baptism in water he had to exercise his faculty of will in obedience to the command of God through Christ. After his baptism, which symbolizes his dedication to God, he has continued need of the faculty of will. He does not become a machine without will, an automaton or robot or puppet moved or operated solely by the will of someone else. He has to use his will more consciously than ever before, to make his future decisions in harmony with the written Word of God and oftentimes in agreement with the instructions that come through God’s visible organization. He has to determine what God has willed and then to will in harmony with what God desires. He has to decide in favor of what is to the best interests of God’s kingdom and of God’s organized people and of himself as a Christian.
For example, he may have to decide whether he should get married or not. Hence he has to exercise his will as to what his decision should be. In support of this fact, the apostle Paul wrote: “If anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virginity, if that is past the bloom of youth, and this is the way it should take place, let him do what he wants; he does not sin. Let them marry. But if anyone stands settled in his heart, having no necessity, but has authority over his own will and has made this decision in his own heart, to keep his own virginity, he will do well.” (1 Cor. 7:36, 37) As regards widows, the apostle says: “If her husband should fall asleep in death, she is free to be married to whom she wants, only in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 7:39) She has freedom of will, but not without limitation. She has a freedom to will to remarry only to the extent of marrying a man who is in union with the Lord.
Hence it is that, when a grateful Bible student lovingly makes a dedication of himself to God and symbolizes that dedication by water baptism, he dies to his past course of action, not to his faculty of will. In the past his course of action was designed to please himself or creatures whom he liked, respected or feared. After his dedication, as symbolized by water baptism, he pursues a new course of action, that of pleasing Jehovah God by doing that which God has willed. Wisely, then, he trains his conscious will power to make decisions conformable to what God wills.
Of course, the word “will” has also the meaning of that which is willed; a desire or wish. It is in harmony with this meaning of will that we pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:9, 10) From this standpoint, when we take the step of dedication, we come to do God’s will and no longer our own. But to do God’s will henceforth we must always keep in mind what it is or we must determine and learn what God’s will is. Then we must will consciously, intelligently, deliberately to do it without fear of creatures.
Jesus always did God’s will, even as a carpenter at Nazareth, even as long as he “continued subject” to his earthly parents. He said: “I have come down from heaven to do, not my will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38-40) When Jesus, about the age of thirty years, came to do Jehovah’s will in fulfillment of Psalm 40:7, 8, he died to his past course of life on earth. He quit leading the life of an obscure citizen of Nazareth out of the public eye; he laid down his carpenter tools; he stepped out from any subjection to an earthly parent, whether Joseph or Mary; he left home where he had certain responsibilities as the oldest and firstborn son of the family. He undertook to carry out certain vital fulfillments of God’s law through Moses as pertaining to the priesthood, as to the prophethood like that of Moses, etc., and especially as to the kingship to which he was an heir through King David of Jerusalem. He devoted himself to the interests of the kingdom that John the Baptist was announcing.
After taking this step and being baptized in water to testify to his step, Jesus still had his conscious will power. He had not died to it. His will had always been to do God’s will, whatever God’s will was at the time. He kept on doing God’s will, just as he had in the past. However, in doing God’s will after his water baptism, he had to exercise his will more firmly than ever before. Why? Because it was Jehovah’s will to make this Chief Agent of human salvation “perfect through sufferings.” This required the exercise of Jesus’ will to decide to face sufferings and go through them. “He himself has suffered when being put to the test.” And under test he had to will to hold true, loyal and obedient to God. (Heb. 2:10, 18) “Although he was a Son [of God], he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” To keep on willing right he had to offer up “supplications and also petitions to the one who was able to save him out of death, with strong outcries and tears, and he was favorably heard for his godly fear.” (Heb. 5:7, 8) When he was in an agony and his sweat became as drops of blood falling to the ground, he prayed to God: “Let, not my will, but yours take place.” (Luke 22:41-44) That required the strenuous exercise of will power.
After Jesus was baptized into death and was raised from the dead, he still had his will power. When Peter asked him concerning the future of the apostle John, Jesus replied: “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” (John 21:22, 23, AS) Consequently, the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven is now exercising his will power in harmony with his dedication and in full accord with his model prayer to God: “Let your will come to pass, as in heaven also upon earth.”
It therefore remains appropriate to say concerning the water baptism of the dedicated candidate: “It means his past course of life is buried (as by the immersion in water) and he comes up from the water to do only God’s will and walk in newness of life thereafter.”—The Watchtower, July 1, 1955, page 403, paragraph 8.
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AnnouncementsThe Watchtower—1959 | January 1
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Announcements
FIELD MINISTRY
During January Jehovah’s witnesses worldwide will be offering to persons of good will a year’s subscription for The Watchtower, with three Scriptural booklets, for $1. Watchtower readers are invited to share in this activity. For further information, write us or go to the nearest Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses.
A QUARTER OF A MILLION COPIES
This year a quarter of a million copies of the 1959 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses are being printed. No reprints are scheduled. Have you received your copy? You will want to begin reading at once this thrilling report of the world-wide preaching work done during 1958 as well as the Scriptural information included to provide inspirational reading for every day of the year. Send 50c today. Add 25c to your order and receive also the beautifully illustrated calendar for 1959.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS
February 1: “Stay by These Things.” Page 5.
February 8: Who Really Can Be Saved? and “Let All Your Affairs Take Place with Love.” Page 13.
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