The Indescribable Gift Trivia Quiz

Answer: Paul, 2 Corinthians 9:15

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15)
Paul wrote these words after making a request for a donation from the church at Corinth to help the poor at the church in Jerusalem. He wanted to remind them of the great gift of grace they had received in Jesus Christ.

James 1:17 reads, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,..."

John 4:10 says, "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water ...'"

Luke 8:20 reads, "Peter answered: 'May your money perish with you, because you
thought you could buy the gift of God with money!' ..."

Answer: At his baptism

"When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'" (Luke 3:21-22)

While angels and prophets attested to the fact that Jesus was God's son, this was the first time God personally spoke to confirm that Jesus was his son.

Answer: grace and truth

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:16-17)

In the New Testament, Pharisees and teachers of the law focused their teaching on the judgement and punishment that came from transgressing the law. Jesus taught the heart of the law rather than the letter of the law. Jesus taught truth but focused on the grace and mercy of God. For example, the law taught that you should not murder someone. Jesus taught that you shouldn't even hate someone and that you should pray for your enemies and do good things to them.

Answer: all of these

"... Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know." (Acts 2:22)

The many miracles Jesus performed showed he was not only a teacher sent from God, but made many believe that he was God's son. They put their faith in him as the Messiah.

Answer: Humility

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:5-8)

If Christ, as Christians believe, was indeed God in the flesh it wouldn't be so amazing that he was a great teacher and preacher or that he performed extraordinary miracles, signs and wonders --but his total humility was really quite amazing.

Answer: True

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."'" (Luke 7:34)

It was scandalous to the Pharisees that Jesus associated with such people but,
"On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.'" (Matthew 9:12, NIV)

Answer: Their deeds were evil

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." (John 3:17-19)

John goes on to explain, "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:20-21)

Answer: Passover

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." (Isaiah 53:6-7)

The Jewish sacrifice of the Passover Lamb represented God's delivering them from slavery in Egypt. Isaiah, as well as many other Old Testament prophets, can be read as foretelling that the Messiah would be the lamb provided by God to deliver us from sin. The New Testament says that John the Baptist was sent to bear witness to Jesus Christ as that lamb and as Israel's long-awaited Messiah.

Answer: They would no longer follow him

"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." (John 6:66)

This was a very difficult teaching even for the most faithful followers of Jesus. It would be later, as they ate the passover meal before his death, that he would establish the most sacred observance that Christians practice, the Lord's Supper.

"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.'" (Matthew 26:26, NIV)

In addition to identifying the bread of the Passover meal as his body, he also told them the wine was his blood.

"Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'" (Matthew 26:27-28, NIV)

Answer: Raised her brother Lazarus from the dead

"Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone,' he said.
'But, Lord,' said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.'
Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?'
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.'
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'"
(John 11:38-44, NIV)

This was the third time Christ had raised someone from the dead and he used this resurrection to teach that he not only had power to raise the dead but was himself the power that raised the dead to eternal life.

Answer: Good shepherd

"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:11)

Jesus' personal, attentive care for those who would follow him was in sharp contrast to the strict laws and regulations imposed on the people by the scribes, priests and Pharisees, as recounted in the New Testament. As the good shepherd he would provide pasture and shelter for them. He would bind up and restore them when they were ill, wounded or injured. He would diligently search for the lost and straying. Finally, he would also become the pure and spotless lamb who would lay his life down for them.

Answer: Paul

"But now in Christ Jesus you [Gentiles or non-Jewish people] who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." (Ephesians 2:13-18, NIV)

Paul's greatest task was to show that the salvation offered in Christ was not only for the Jews but for all who would put their faith in Christ. He taught that Christ's death on the cross made it possible for all people to have peace with God.

Answer: John

The apostle John began his gospel with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." (John 1:1)

In a letter to one of his churches he wrote, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life." (1 John 1:1)

In Revelation, believed to be written by the same John, he wrote, "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God." (Revelation 19:11-13)

Answer: the invisible God

"He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Colossians 1:15-20)

Paul was teaching that the life of Christ gave a visible illustration of who God is and the relationship he desires to have with mankind.

Answer: Isaiah

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6, NIV)

Most Christians believe Jesus Christ completely fulfilled this prophecy.