Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

The Cup of Christ and the Cup of Babylon

What cup does Jesus offer in the Lord’s supper? BR-ASI9 178.5

“This cup is the new covenant in My blood.” Luke 22:20, R.V. BR-ASI9 178.6

What is the essential teaching of the new covenant? BR-ASI9 178.7

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.” Hebrews 8:10. BR-ASI9 178.8

When Christ thus ministers the law in the heart, what does it become? BR-ASI9 178.9

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:2-4. BR-ASI9 178.10

In what other statement is this same truth expressed? BR-ASI9 179.1

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63. BR-ASI9 179.2

What kind of teaching have men substituted for the words which are spirit and life? BR-ASI9 179.3

“Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. . . . And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” Mark 7:7-9. BR-ASI9 179.4

Note.—There are two cups, the cup of the Lord and the cup of Babylon. The Lord’s cup contains the living truth “as the truth is in Jesus”; the cup of Babylon, her false doctrines—her human tradition substituted for the living word and law of God, and her unlawful union with the secular power, upon which she depends to enforce her teachings rather than upon the power of God. Thus, while maintaining a form of godliness, she denies the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3:1-5.) BR-ASI9 179.5

The Roman Church says of the Bible and tradition, “Though these two divine streams are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, TRADITION is to us more clear and safe.”—Joseph Faa di Bruno, Catholic Belief (1884 ed.), p. 45. BR-ASI9 179.6

“2. Scripture and Tradition of Equal Value.—Since the truths contained in Scripture and those handed down by Tradition both come from God, Scripture and Tradition are of equal value as sources of faith. Both deserve the same reverence and respect. Each alone is sufficient to establish a truth of our holy faith.”—John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies (1936 ed.), vol. 1, p. 50. Imprimatur, Bishop Francis W. Howard, March 25, 1932. Quoted with permission of Benziger Brothers, Inc., proprietors of the copyright. BR-ASI9 179.7

The substitution of the law of the church for the law of God, thus fulfilling Daniel 7:25, testifies to the complete subordination of the word of God to the authority of the church. The world-wide teaching of these doctrines in place of the pure gospel has led the world astray, and has made all nations drink of the impure wine from her cup. The Reformation of the sixteenth century, denying the supremacy of the church’s authority and tradition over the Bible, was an effort to return to the pure truth of God’s word. BR-ASI9 179.8

How do Babylon’s daughters show their mother’s characteristics? BR-ASI9 180.1

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Revelation 17:5. BR-ASI9 180.2

Note.—The authoritative Creed of Pope Pius IV says in Article 10: “I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church for the mother and mistress of all churches.” When professed Protestant churches repudiate the fundamental principle of Protestantism by accepting human speculation, tradition, or political power, in place of the authority and power of God’s word, they may be regarded as daughters of Babylon. Their fall is then included in hers, and calls for a proclamation of the fall of modern Babylon. BR-ASI9 180.3

Many representatives of modernist Protestantism have, in one way or another, rejected fundamental Bible doctrines such as the fall of man, the Bible doctrine of sin, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His resurrection, His vicarious expiatory and propitiatory atonement, His second coming to establish the kingdom of God, salvation by grace through faith in Christ, regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit, the efficacy of prayer in the name of Jesus, the ministration of angels, miracles as the direct interposition of God’s power. There are many leaders of modern Protestantism who have not adopted the creed of the Roman Church, and have not joined that body, yet who belong to the same class in rejecting God’s word for human authority. There is apostasy in both cases, and both classes must be included in Babylon and be involved, in the final analysis, in her fall—for in the largest sense Babylon embraces all false religion, all apostasy. BR-ASI9 180.4

To what extent is the apostasy, or fall, of modern Babylon, the mother, and of her daughters, to be carried? BR-ASI9 180.5

“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” Revelation 18:1-3. BR-ASI9 180.6