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Showing posts with label Pentecostalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pentecostalism. Show all posts

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Headed nowhere, but making record time?

Now, consider this—
“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”— Lewis Carroll

***


The last few days my thoughts have riveted on Paul’s comment to young Timothy, when he wrote—
 ‘[If] I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth’.” (1 Tim. 3:15)

I guess that one of the reasons that the verse has captured my attention is that it is a pretty inclusive statement. The church, not scripture, not theological discourse or philosophical opinions; but rather, the Church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth.

Now, the sobering fact is, if that be the case then you and I have the heavy responsibility to embrace that church—which, however, we find out is us. Yes, us. We are that mystical body—or the ekklésia, that is, “the people called out from the world and to God” as the Greek indicates. Of course, the first question that comes to mind is ‘Where is that Church?’ Once you ask that question, however, you will be surprised how many people will step up and claimed to have found it. One of those knocked on my door yesterday and handed us a tract which had a lot of amazing things to say about their church—which, just happened to be the Jehovah Witnesses. The Mormons came by days earlier, and of course we just recently received a nice little invitation in a pretty envelope to check out the new Episcopal Church just down the road from us. That I did, and quickly exited when I discovered that not only were they will but they were also eager to sanction same-sex marriages.

So back to square one. What or where is that church—that pillar and bulwark of the truth?

Well, one thing for sure, it is Biblical, but then that all depends on who is interpreting the Bible, doesn’t it? When I was a boy, we used to sing that old song, ‘A Glorious Church’ that was without spot or wrinkle. Remember that one? Here the first stanza and the chorus, just to refresh your memory—

Do you hear them coming, brother
Thronging up the steeps of light,
Clad in glorious shining garments —
Bloodwashed garments pure and white?

Refrain
'Tis a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle,
Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
'Tis a glorious Church, without spot of wrinkle,
Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
 (Written by: Ralph E. Hudson)

Now, after singing that chorus over a few times, most often some sister or brother who had been washed would begin to get happy, and they were not ashamed to let everyone around them know it either. Some of the times these happy souls were content with just shouting out a few hearty ‘Amens’ or ‘preach it brother.’ Other times, however, some would breakdown and start crying or laughing, and, of course, being Pentecostals a smattering of  ‘tongues’ going off throughout the congregation was a common thing. Don’t see much of this happening these days, though.

Excesses? Of course, there were excesses. That was nothing new, however. The church in Corinth had that, too. So, it was excused. Pastors were not apt to clamp down too hard on the excess, though, because ‘tongues’ seemed to be the authenticating mark. This was the church without spot or wrinkle. But, was it? No, not really. It was the church, but a soiled one at that. Oh, they had been washed. They were forgiven and on their way to Heaven, but spotless? Hardly.

So, what’s the point? What are you driving at, Jim?

Simply this—truth cannot be soiled with excesses; otherwise, it would not be truth, would it? Now, while you put that in your thinking cap let me say this. You will never find a perfect church, but you will find perfect truth in an imperfect church. Spiritual imperfection is not heresy, it is simply immaturity.  We’re not talking morals here, we’re talking practice. So, least we get sidetracked, let’s keep in mind that we ‘blood washed’ saints don’t have all the answers, but we do have the truth. We have Christ, and Christ in His fulness. And, really, in the long run, that’s enough.

So, since I know where I am going, any road is not good enough for me.

Now, to be honest with you, this is precisely why I have stuck with my denomination which I believe has been guided into all truth by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) as it was revealed to His Apostles and Prophets which are the foundation of the Church with Jesus Christ himself as the Chief Corner Stone (Ephesians 2:20).

Thus, in a real sense, I am a restorationsist and fully aware of the challenges inherent in that position.
Remember, we’re in this journey together,


Jim/--

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Truth and where to find it!

Early in my career, I discovered that theology is never static— that is God’s purposes and plans are progressively understood incrementally over time, and from the very beginning this has be so. This fact, however, does not mean that truth—or as Francis Schaeffer used to say, “true Truth” changes; it simply means that we understand the essence of truth better.

As for example, it is safe to say that no conscientious Old Testament Jew, prophet or otherwise, in their wildest imagination while reciting The Shema: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4) would ever assume a Trinity. That refinement must wait until the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) and beyond for a clearer understanding and richer insights into this deep mystery.

Now, however, who would argue that historical fact? Certainly, I wouldn’t.Thus we can say in a real sense understanding God’s purposes and plans, and as a matter of fact, His very nature has and is in a flux of refinement—the testimony of which is found in the abundance of Christian opinions. The end goal of all good theology, however, is change to us, not visa-versa. For as any believer knows, He has declared
“I am the Lord, I change not.” (Malachi 3:6)
So with the poet we can say,
Change and decay in all around I see—
O thou who changest not, abide with me!
— Henry F. Lyte

Thus we believe that God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds from both the Father and the Son is the same God as the God of The Shema and affirmed once again when we read in Scripture that,
“Jesus Christ is always the same, yesterday, today and forever.” (Heb. 13:8 Phillips)
Which, to me indicates both a fulfillment of a Godly purpose as well as a further refinement in understanding His nature and purposes.

The big question is, however, ‘How do we know or understand the nature and purposes of God?’

Shall I cut to the chase since I assume that you are a Christian or otherwise you would not be reading this? The answer is that we depend entirely on God’s grace to reveal His nature and eternal intentions to us. This, we believe, He has done through nature and His Word as revealed to us in Holy Scripture. Herein, however, lies the crux of the controversy—that is ‘How can we know what we perceive and/or have been told is really true Truth?’ or just a product of a wishful imagination?

In a word, we accept what we believe is true Truth intuitively by faith—His Spirit bears witness with  our spirits that we are children of God. (Romans 8:16) Human reason alone, however, is insufficient; Godly grace is required. This I like to think of as God affirming the intuition which I believe the Greek makes clear in the verse just cited. I say this because the Greek verb (συμμαρτυρεῖ /symmartyrei) conveys the meaning of "bears witness along with"— meaning, in my estimation, that affirms the intuition.

Consider the Apostle Peter’s confession in this regard. Matthew says that—
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. (Matt. 16: 13-17 NIV)
Surely there must have been other mitigating factors involved, a gradual dawning, or a peculiar awareness that this man Jesus must be different, someone special; but the Messiah, the Son of the living God? Hardly. No, that intuitive insight came in a flash accompanied by an affirming revelation that Jesus was God incarnate, the Son of the living God, the long awaited Messiah.

Now, if we look carefully and are open we also find that God has continued this unfolding process down through history, up to the present time. Otherwise, theology would be stagnant, wooden, and underdeveloped.

This is not to suggest that God changes; but it is to suggest that our understanding does as of knowledge of Him expands in an ever increasing revelation of who He is.

God has not left us without a witness, however. The Church is the creation of Jesus, from whom it receives its authority; He gave authority to the Apostles to determine and institute doctrine, to declare the correct and false, to establish faith and morals. Paul highlights that in his instructions to young Timothy whom he had asked to stay in Ephesus to shepherd the fledgling fellowship in that city with these words:
 ‘[If] I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth’.” (1 Tim. 3:15)
Yes, the Church is that witness—not the opinion of some solo artist that decides that God has infused them with special knowledge that will enlighten the presumed theological idiots that by chance may disagree with them. Godly appointed authority? Never, these self-appointed magisterium of one have the answer—“Sola scriptura,” they shout in defense against any and all authority. And, for the information of any that would like to hear it, I would say that we should put them all in the same basket as all the other heretics out there. Surely there is a hierarchy of brethren to guide the church in all its fulness.

For me, I have submitted to the wisdom and leadership of my denomination which have prayerfully develop a statement of doctrine orthodoxy—albeit, a simple one; but none-the-less a sound one. I have a hunch that we are not through, but time is on our side and no doubt certain points will be fine-tuned in the years to come. As Dwight Longenecker says;
“Ironically, in rejecting an external infallible authority we are encouraged to embrace the most fickle and fallible of all authorities – our own judgment. We then cling to our opinions like a shipwrecked man clings to a splinter of wood, and before long, our opinions are unassailable. In the end we don’t have one objective, infallible authority but millions of subjective “infallible” authorities, and in this absurdity, we rejoice.” 

Remember, I am with you for the journey,



Tuesday, April 29, 2014

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession . . .

Peter to whom Christ handed the keys to the Kingdom at first failed miserably, even denied Christ and following the Crucifixion seemed to prefer fishing to preaching. He was impulsive—not a good trait for any leader—cowardly at times, and had a tendency towards violence (think of poor Marcus’ ear which he lobed off) and was therefore, in my opinion, a most unlikely candidate for any form of leadership, certainly not that of handling the responsibility for the keys to the Kingdom.

Now, just think about it for a moment, would you have chosen Peter to be the inaugural speaker on the Day of Pentecost based on what you knew about him prior to that point? I think not. It doesn’t stop there either. If you were going to mention someone’s name more than that of another would you have picked Peter over Paul? Well, the facts are that Peter is mentioned more times in the New Testament than Paul. Think of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15—James presided, but Peter cast the deciding vote. Who would have ever imagined that based on what the Scripture tells us prior to the Resurrection?

We Pentecostals, I believe, love to vaunt the charisma of Paul—he gives us a basis for our theology that is his epistles are our refuge. Peter is kind of put on a side burner, as it were. Yet, it was Peter not Paul that was commissioned to introduce Christ to the Gentiles and it was he and that little band that went with him that gave testimony to the fact that even Gentiles was acceptable to God as evidenced by the fact that they received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.

I will confess, I have always been more fascinated with Peter than Paul. Perhaps, it is because I can really identify with Peter.

Not only can I identify with Peter, but I think that his epistles have a lot to offer us. I recall that during the short time that I pastored here in the States I seemed to gravitate towards first and second Peter, particularly Second Peter because he seemed to be so pastoral and practical—at least that is the way I saw it.

Well, all of that to say this,

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Peter 1: 1-2)

There are a couple of observations here that I would like to make.

Firstly, we must take into consideration that the author was not just an ordinary person who decided to send out a newsletter to a group of friends.

This was a special messenger, an Apostle, as a matter of fact many feel the chief Apostle commissioned by Christ. So, although on the surface it appears that it may have just been yet another newsletter or pastoral letter designed to cheer up the flock, it was not. The whole content of the letter was first and foremost God’s message, His letter to these men and women scattered throughout that part of the ancient world.

Secondly, we must also note these people had been scattered abroad—that is, as the original Greek indicates, they were sown, or scattered like dried leaves abroad without seemly a purpose. In other words, on surface it would appear that they were just more of the same nameless, and faceless people that struggle through life from day to day without an obvious purpose except to survive the best they can.

This is not the case, however. Notice it says in essence that God the Father was aware of their plight long before they were even born. He knew and He cared; therefore, He did what?

He set them aside for His holy purposes. He sanctified (that is set them aside for His holy purposes) by the Spirit. This was a spiritual matter, a spiritual decision. He knew what he was doing, even though at the time they may not have known and even complained of their circumstances.

So, one good thing we can learn about this is that nothing, absolutely nothing ever happens to us at random. God knows, and cares. So, we must be thankful. In that regards Peter writes (1 Peter 1:3-5):

“Let us thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was through His loving-kindness that we were born again to a new life and have a hope that never dies. This hope is ours because Jesus was raised from the dead.  We will receive the great things that we have been promised. They are being kept safe in heaven for us. They are pure and will not pass away. They will never be lost.  You are being kept by the power of God because you put your trust in Him and you will be saved from the punishment of sin at the end of the world. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

  
Then in the very next verse, we find that Peter says,

With this hope you can be happy even if you need to have sorrow and all kinds of tests for a while. (1 Peter 1:6)

Many times these ancient text leave us baffled. Well, we say to ourselves in this instance, I haven’t been scattered abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia—as a matter of fact, I am not even sure where these places are, so how may this apply to me, today?

Well, first of all, you may feel that you are a nobody like these nameless Christians, just another Christian that lives in an insignificant little fishing village or that you are lost in the masses of a great city like New York, Dallas or Delhi.. A nobody. No purpose. Just flung as if by chance by the forces of fate and dropped without purpose in some small remote place, or lost in a forest of anonymous faces. But that is not true.

You have been chosen by God. You are someone important in His eyes. As a matter of fact, just like these people that we have read about today,

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

You may wonder, why you of all people was chosen? What is your mission in life? Is there any purpose? Well one of the salient reasons is found in verse 9 which was just quoted. You were chosen as God’s special possession

“[T]hat you may declare the praises of him that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

That’s your purpose. Your purpose is to share with others what has happened to you, and help them understand that this great truth offers hope. The hope of a wonderful treasure that has been reserved in Heaven for us! (1 Peter 1:4)

That is the good news. The Gospel.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Pascal Meal vis-à-vis Lord’s Supper



The first Passover is described in Exodus chapter 12: one lamb was slain for every household and the blood painted onto the lintels and doorposts. This was done in order that the angel of Death would not slay the first-born son of the Jewish households, but only those of Pharaoh’s people, whom God had warned He would judge. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" the Lord told the children of Israel (Exodus 12:13). They were to eat the lamb, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in haste prior to their departure from Egypt. The eating of unleavened bread was to continue for seven days, as their sustenance to exit Egypt and escape Pharaoh’s slavery.


Outstanding among the possible typologies or correlates—“shadows,” if you prefer—is that of the Passover or Seder meal which commemorates[i] the deliverance and exodus of the children of Israel from the dominion of Pharaoh as slaves in Egypt, around 1450 BC.

The First Passover

The setting of the Lord's Supper is in my opinion a correlate of the Passover meal; but Jesus was not hosting a proper Seder in the sense that there was no lamb since He was and is the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world. Jesus Christ is Himself the Passover lamb, offered up for the redemption and deliverance of His people (I Corinthians 5:7), the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The bread and wine speak of His death, and of the new covenant it ratifies, reconciling God and man. Jesus says "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:24-25), telling His disciples that the Passover is fulfilled in Him. Until He comes again (Luke 22:18; I Corinthians 11:26), we are to remember the significance of what He has done for us.

This position is further collaborated by an ancient Christian church manual called the Didache which also suggests that the Last Supper may have been an ordinary Jewish meal. In Chapters 9 and 10 of the Didache, the Eucharistic prayers are remarkably close to the Jewish Grace After Meals (Birkat ha-Mazon).[ii] While these prayers are recited after the Passover meal, they would in fact be recited at any meal at which bread was eaten, holiday or not. Thus, this too underscores the likelihood that the Last Supper was an everyday Jewish meal.

Moreover, while the narrative in the Synoptics situates the Last Supper during Passover week, the fact remains that the only foods we are told the disciples ate are bread and wine—the basic elements of any formal Jewish meal. If this was a Passover meal, where is the Passover lamb? Where are the bitter herbs? Where are the four cups of wine?

However, there are striking parallels between the Last Supper and the Passover (Seder) Meal as can be easily seen in the following comparison: (1) The Last Supper took place in Jerusalem, (2) in a room made available to pilgrims for that purpose, and (3) it was held during the night. (4) Jesus celebrated that meal with his “family” of disciples; and (5) while they ate, they reclined. (6) This meal was eaten in a state of ritual purity. (7) Bread was broken during the meal and not just at the beginning. (8) Wine was consumed and (9) this wine was red. (10) There were last-minute preparations for the meal, after which (11) alms were given, and (12) a hymn was sung. (13) Jesus and his disciples then remained in Jerusalem. Finally, (14) Jesus discussed the symbolic significance of the meal, just as Jews do during the Passover Seder.

Why do the Synoptic Gospels Portray the Last Supper as a Passover Meal?
Having determined that the Last Supper was not a Seder and that it probably did not take place on Passover, I must try to account for why the synoptic Gospels portray the Last Supper as a Passover meal. Of course, the temporal proximity of Jesus’ crucifixion (and with it, the Last Supper) to the Jewish Passover provides one motive: Surely this historical coincidence could not be dismissed as just that.

Other examples of Passoverization can be identified. The Gospel of John, as previously noted, and Paul (1 Corinthians 5:7–8) equate Jesus’ crucifixion with the Passover sacrifice: “Our Paschal lamb, Christ has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” This too is a Passoverization of the Jesus tradition, but it is one that contradicts the identification of the Last Supper with the Seder or Passover meal.

Still others assert that there is no contradiction at all between the events of the Last Supper as shared by John and his less reliable disciple-friends. According to this theory, put forth in the 1960s by French biblical scholar Annie Jaubert and cited in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus and his disciples were adhering to the calendar of the rebellious Pharisee sect, which celebrated the start of Passover a day earlier than the rest of the Jews.

Passover Meal Challenge[iii][iv]
Now, to continue this line of argument, let’s consider Mark 14:12-26, since Matthew and Luke are in general agreement with him on the events surrounding the Last Supper:

Jesus Celebrates the Passover with His Disciples
12 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”
13 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.”
16 So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.
17 In the evening He came with the twelve. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me.”
19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, “Is it I?” And another said, “Is it I?”
20 He answered and said to them, “It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish. 21 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”

Jesus Institutes the New Covenant
22 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. 25 Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14:12-26 (NKJV)

And now with these verse in John’s Gospel that seems to conflict with the Synoptics:
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. (John 17:1); and,
2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.

With the verse that seems to conflict with the Synoptics:
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away…” (John 19:31)

Problem Observed:
Do you see the problem here? The problem is best presented in the form of a question: “How could Jesus eat the Passover meal with his disciples, then be crucified and the Jews ask that he be taken down off the cross before the Passover meal they were to eat later that day?” (John 19:31)

The answer is, obviously if one accepts that the Last Supper was the Passover meal, followed by yet another Passover meal after he was crucified, then there is definitely a contradiction.

The Choice is Yours:
At this point, the choice is yours. Either the Bible is the inerrant, infallible word of God or it is simply a good book full of advice, some good perhaps, and some bad; but, nonetheless, errant in its narratives and with an archaic prescientific worldview. It cannot be both.

As for me, I would find it very hard to place my confidence in a book riddled with such apparent errors and prescientific mythologies. Yet, some continue to hang onto this straw and proudly proclaim that they are Christians.

I say, foolishness.

Possibilities Considered:
With this clearly in mind, let us allow our thoughts to run down an imaginative trail of possibilities. What if those New Testament authors living in time and space only had one option? Now, what if that option was that they could only declare in space and time what originated in the mind of the Eternal One? Is this not precisely what Peter said, when he wrote:
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21)

Does not the scripture also say?
From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do. (Isaiah 46:11)

We cannot have both. God is eternal, He changes not. He cannot, and does not lie. (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29)

The Inauguration of a New Covenant:
Firstly, the Lord’s Supper mentioned was not a Seder or Passover meal at all but the inauguration of a new covenant. This conviction is based on the fact that there is no mention of eating the sacrificial lamb—since He was, indeed, the sacrificial lamb. And, he clearly states that:
"This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes." (1 Corinthians 11:25, 26)

So, instead of celebrating the Passover, since he knew that he would be the Passover lamb the next day, he clearly is saying the old Seder meal is therefore null and void and is no longer necessary. I am the bread, I am the lamb, I am the wine in ways that these old symbolisms never were. For, as the scripture says,

Hebrews 8: 7-13
(7) For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, (8) “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; (9) not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. (10) “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their god, and they shall be my people. (11) “and they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, ‘know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them.  (12) “for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

(13) When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

And, disappear it did!

Therefore, if this position is taken—and I believe it is the correct one—one of our major problems is solved; that is, that Christ was crucified and died precisely during the time the Passover lamb was sacrificed that the High Priest would eat later that night at the traditional Seder meal.

Regardless of one’s view of history, we must agree with Wilhelm Herrmann a liberal theologian, who readily admits the flaws in depending on history for a final judgment call on Biblical doctrine,
“[It] is a fatal drawback that no historical judgment, however certain it may appear, ever attains anything more than probability. But what sort of religion would that be which accepted a basis for its convictions with the consciousness that it was only probably safe?

It is a fatal error to attempt to establish the basis of faith by means of historical investigation. The basis of faith must be something fixed; the results of historical inquiry are continually changing.”[v]

Conclusion:

The Last Supper in Summary

The Story

The last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples is described in all four canonical Gospels, namely in Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-39 and John 13:1-17:26.
This meal later became known as the Last Supper or the Lord’s Supper.

Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (11:23-26), which was likely written before the Gospels, includes a reference to the Last Supper but emphasizes the theological basis rather than giving a detailed description of the event or its background.

The Critics

"Date and time of the crucifixion”

All the sources agree that Jesus was crucified on 14 Nisan. Some dispute as to whether the Passover was on Thursday or Friday. Some feel that The Synoptics seem to suggest that Jesus’ Last Supper with the disciples on Thursday night was a Passover meal. I disagree. This was not the traditional Seder meal, but rather the introduction of the New Covenant. John agrees that Jesus did share a Last Supper with his disciples on Thursday night in the upper room prior to his betrayal and arrest.

John also says that the Jewish leaders wanted to remove Jesus from the cross before the Passover meal began Friday night. So was Passover on Thursday or Friday?

The Issue

In essence the Synoptics are very much the same. Mark 14:12-16 seems to encapsulate the story well; Matthew and Luke give less detail, but otherwise read the same:
And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover.

Scripture of controversy
John 13:1-2 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.

Thus it is argued that Jesus was betrayed and thus crucified prior to the Passover.

Let us consider whether or not this is true by closely looking at the scriptures.

1st statement:
“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”
2nd statement:
“And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.” (John 13:1-2)

So from these two statements alone, what do we discover? Firstly, we discover that the 1st statement says “before the feast of the Passover” which to me indicates that the Last Supper may have been prior to the Passover feast, say the day before. Granted, John does immediately introduce the Last Supper meal by saying “And supper being ended,” Judas betrayed him later that very evening.

My question is, What meal? A Seder meal. No, because a proper Seder meal must be eaten at the beginning of Nisan 15, which was at earliest the next day. The sacrificial lamb was prepared for sacrifice and killed during the day on Nisan 14; whereas, the Last Supper had to be prior to that and not the Seder meal since bluntly speaking dead men do not eat!

That being established—at least in my thinking—we must deal with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

For the record, from all indications He was crucified at 12 PM noon on Nisan 14, and died at 3 PM on the same day. Thus, he was placed in the borrowed tomb at around 6 PM that evening which was the beginning of Nisan 15 and the start of the paschal Seder meal that very evening.

Therefore, it seems to me that all we must account for are the three days and three nights that scripture says he was to be in the bowels of the earth as Jonah was in the belly of the whale (or great fish, if you prefer).

Now, in essence, the major conflict between the Synoptic Gospels and The Gospel of John concerning the Last Supper, his betrayal and trial and crucifixion, including his burial and resurrection has been settle, all we must do now is to account for statements concerning otherwise insignificant activities—such as, when and which Mary visited the tomb, and how many angels were present and so-forth.






[i] The Feast of Passover (Exodus 12:1-28)

The Passover meal was (and still is) held as an annual event in each Jewish household. The meal commemorates the deliverance and Exodus of the children of Israel from the dominion of Pharoah as slaves in Egypt, around 1450 BC.

The First Passover
The first Passover is described in Exodus chapter 12: one lamb was slain for every household and the blood painted onto the lintels and doorposts. This was done in order that the angel of Death would not slay the first-born son of the Jewish households, but only those of Pharoah's people, whom God had warned He would judge. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" the Lord told the children of Israel (Exodus 12:13). They were to eat the lamb, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in haste prior to their departure from Egypt. The eating of unleavened bread was to continue for seven days, as their sustenance to exit Egypt and escape Pharoah's slavery. God ordained that the children of Israel would commemorate the Passover every year to remember their deliverance, almost 3,450 years ago.

Early Commemorations of The Passover
Commemoration of the Feast of Passover was the first major event after the Tabernacle was first built. The building was finished on schedule, two weeks prior to the first anniversary of the Exodus. The Tabernacle was consecrated and anointed with oil (Exodus 40:9, a definite foreshadow of the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ). Aaron and his sons (the Levites) were also consecrated and anointed to serve in the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:13).

During the first four decades of the Tabernacle, all of the children of Israel were together in one place in the wilderness to commemorate the Passover. Once they had entered into the good land of Canaan, Jerusalem eventually became the focus of worship, at the time of King David, around 1000 BC. From then onwards, the Feast of Passover was to be held every year in Jerusalem, in accordance with God's word to Moses in Deuteronomy 16:1-8.

The ordinances of the Passover, specified in Exodus chapter 12, state that the lamb was to be examined for four days, to ensure it was without blemish. Then at evening (Jewish days begin at sunset) the lamb was to be slain, its blood applied to the lintels and doorposts and then roasted for sustenance for the Exodus journey.

How is the Passover commemorated today?
Today, the Passover (Seder) meal follows a fairly standard pattern in every Jewish household. There is a 'Haggadah' (which means 'telling', 'portraying', see Galatians 3:1) to guide the proceedings, which is based on four 'Cups'.

At the start, candles are lit and a prayer is offered to bless the First Cup of wine: "Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, the Creator who brings forth the vine from the earth with its fruit" (Genesis 1:11). This First Cup is called the Cup of Sanctification, signifying "I the Lord will bring you out from under the yoke of slavery" (Exodus 6:6); this was God setting the children of Israel apart for Himself.

Next all the participants wash their hands: "Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3-4). This was probably the point where Jesus washed His disciples' feet (John 13:4-12).

Then each person takes some herbs (usually Parsley) and dips them in salt water and eats them (Matthew 26:23; also, it was probably at this point that Jesus gave the sop to Judas, John 13:26). The salt water and herbs remind all present that the Passover was originally eaten with 'bitter herbs' (Exodus 12:8). The herbs are dipped in salt water to remember the tears as "the Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God" (Exodus 2:23). In connection with the herbs, the Lord is remembered and blessed as the Creator of the fruits of the earth.

Next, the head of the family takes the middle one of the three flat cakes of unleavened Matzah bread; he breaks it and puts one half aside, wrapped in a white linen cloth. The hidden bread is called the 'Afikomen' (meaning dessert). There are three pieces of bread to remember that the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is One who keeps His covenant; He it is that delivered the children of Israel from bondage (Exodus 6:2-9). But why is it the middle piece that is broken? This is because the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is an indication of the tri-unity of God. Just as Abraham was willing to offer up His "only son" (Genesis 22:2,12), so God the Father willingly offered up His Son, Jesus (John 3:16). Jesus was broken on the cross for our redemption (I Corinthians 11:24) and wrapped in linen for burial (Luke 23:53).

Part of God's purpose in requiring the children of Israel to remember the Passover was to inspire questions from future young generations, for their instruction (Exodus 12:26-27). Children customarily have to ask four questions:

Q. Why tonight?:
A. "A night to remember" (Exodus 12:42)

Q. Why bitter herbs?: 
A. "To remember the anguish of slavery" (Exodus 2:23)

Q. Why dip the bitter herbs in the salt water twice?
A. "It was really bad in slavery, but our HOPE was in God" (Psalm 42:5)

Q. Why do we eat reclining?
A. "Because now we are free to come to God" (Exodus 3:18-20; Galatians 5:1; Matthew 11:28)


The history of the first Passover is read aloud from Exodus chapter 12 and Psalms 113 and 114.
The second cup, the Cup of Plagues is filled and passed round. The ten plagues on Pharoah's Egypt are verbally recounted (Exodus 7:14-12:36):
Blood!
Frogs!
Lice!
Flies!
Cattle Disease!
Boils!
Hailstones!
Locusts!
Darkness!
Death of the Firstborn!

This Cup of Plagues is the last cup before the Passover Lamb is considered (see Luke 22:17).
The climax of the Seder meal should be the festive meal of roast lamb. However, since the Temple no longer stands in Jerusalem (where the Passover lamb was sacrificed), a shankbone is presented as a reminder of the Passover Lamb.
It was after this point that Jesus instituted 'the Lord's Supper'. He took the Afikomen bread (laid aside earlier) and gave thanks (Matthew 26:26): "Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, the Creator Who brings forth bread from the earth", according to the Jewish Haggadah. Then He broke the Afikomen bread and passed round the third cup of wine, called the Cup of Blessing or the Cup of Redemption. Jesus said "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:20).
(Incidentally, Jesus' words "this is ..." (Matthew 26:26,28) must mean 'this represents...' since He was Himself there, giving the disiples the bread and wine.)
The final cup of wine, the Cup of Praise, is drunk as the Seder meal concludes with the singing of the remaining 'Halel' (or Hallelujah) Psalms (115-118) and the 'Great Halel', Psalm 136 "God's love endures for ever". These psalms are probably the 'hymn' mentioned in Matthew 26:30. Psalm 116 is particularly pertinent to the Lord's prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39,42).
The final sentence expresses the hope of how next year's Passover will be remembered:

"Next year in Jerusalem!"

The setting of the Lord's Supper at the heart of the Passover meal explains its meaning. Jesus Christ is Himself the Passover lamb, offered up for the redemption and deliverance of His people (I Corinthians 5:7), the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The bread and wine speak of His death, and of the new covenant it ratifies, reconciling God and man. Jesus says "Do this in rememberance of Me" (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:24-25), telling His disciples that the Passover is fulfilled in Him. Until He comes again (Luke 22:18; I Corinthians 11:26), we are to remember the significance of what He has done for us. (Page authored by Martyn Barrow.)
[ii] For more on the parallels between the Didache and the Jewish Birkat ha-Mazon, see Enrico Mazza, The Celebration of the Eucharist: The Origin of the Rite and the Development of Its Interpretation (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1999), esp. pp. 19–26 (where he discusses these parallels) and pp. 307–309 (where he provides translations of the texts).
[iii] http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/was-jesus-last-supper-a-seder/
[iv] Eternity and time PowerPoint (available)
[v] Wilhelm Herrmann, The Communion of the Christian with God (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1971), pp. 72, 76.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

True Apostles or just want-to-be's?

One of the most controversial doctrines for ministry is perhaps the so-called “Five-fold ministry” based on Ephesians 4:11 which reads:
“It was he who gave some to be (1) apostles, some to be (2) prophets, some to be (3) evangelists, and some to be (4) pastors and (5) teachers.”


Primarily as a result of this verse, some believe God has restored, or is restoring, the offices of apostle and prophet in the church today. Ephesians 4:12-13 tells us that the purpose of the five-fold ministry is, “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

So, since the body of Christ definitely is not built up to unity in the faith and has not attained to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, the thinking goes, the offices of apostle and prophet must still be in effect.

However, Ephesians 2:20 informs us that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.” If the apostles and prophets were the foundation of the church, are we still building the foundation? Hebrews 6:1-3 encourages us to move on from the foundation. Although Jesus Christ is most definitely active in the church today, His role as the cornerstone of the church was completed with His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. If the work of the cornerstone is, in that sense, complete, so must the office of the work of the apostles and prophets, who were the foundation, be complete.

What was the role of the apostles and prophets? It was to proclaim God’s revelation, to teach the new truth the church would need to grow and thrive. The apostles and prophets completed this mission. How? By giving us the Word of God. The Word of God is the completed revelation of God. The Bible contains everything the church needs to know to grow, thrive, and fulfill God’s mission (2 Timothy 3:15-16). The cornerstone work of the apostles and prophets is complete. The ongoing work of the apostles and prophets is manifested in the Holy Spirit speaking through and teaching us God’s Word. In that sense, the five-fold ministry is still active.

Also, modern apostles lack the mark of one of the Apostles of Christ, that is having seen him. We must not let the word "apostle" in the sense of the Twelve, be confused with the word "apostle" as used in the sense of those "messengers" sent out from the churches. Thus we believe-at least I do-that the is a vast difference between the Apostles of Christ and the apostles sent out from the churches.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Musings on the Trinity

Ontologically, God is and in essence the single and only primal consciousness of imaginative and willfull potentialities. In His imaginative and realized potentialities by inference He communicates Himself as self sustaining love. Since only Godly intentionality is capable of sustaining and communicating such primal love it is rightfully assumed that His expressed purposes are of such nature. Now, let us consider these assertions. 

Firstly, as the primal essence God is what He is and He is understood only when declared as such. Fortunately, as an act of sustaining love God graciously discloses Himself to us through His Word which He announces and was proclaimed in the kerygma and from which we derive doctrine.

Accordingly, the kerygma is distinct from didache, which refers to teaching, instruction, or doctrine. Thus the kerygma refers to the initial introduction to the claims of the Gospel with an implied or otherwise stated appeal for conversion, whereas; on the other hand, the didache (catechesis) concerns the fuller and more extensive doctrinal and moral teaching and instruction in the Faith that a person receives once he has accepted the kerygma and has been baptized* and which more fully assist our understanding of the content of this persuasive grace. God as such--that is in His divine essence--has lovingly and thereby graciously initiated both the disclosure and the creaturely capacity for understanding the act and nature of this message. 

This we believe necessarily, that then:
". . . faith [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." [Romans 10:17]
In other words, conceptionally faith is activated in content as a word from God--the word, however, is not faith but only the self-disclosing content on which faith acts.

Thus by faith and a priori intuition we understand that God is and He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. [Hebrews 11:6 NIV] Ethereal concepts are however just that: concepts, unless actualized in the praxis of life. Two plus two may in ethereal reality equal four; however, the concept is understood first in concrete reality--thus, Godwardly we understand the necessity of the incarnation for a fuller understanding of who He is.

Thus the axiom that if one wishes to understand a jelly fish then one must have access to a jelly fish is true in this case even more so because for God to remain ethereally aloof in His aseity may not discount His existence but it would most certainly influence our understanding of Him and at best He could only be understood apophatically.

This, Tillich understood but failed to articulate how he came to this conclusion other than through ignorance. Apophatic ignorance is hallow without reference or substance so therefore is incapable of understanding.

It is said that Buddha was once asked what God is and he pointed to a variety of things and said, "God is not this; God is not that!" Naturally, he could have gone on infinitely since the primal essence of God is beyond our grasp unless we are granted through and by His self-disclosure to glimpse His inwardness through the analogy of His outwardness in the praxis of our understanding. 

This God has done, we believe, in and through the incarnation of His primal essence in the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth, His Son and the son of Mary, a virgin girl married to Joseph the carpenter as recorded in Holy Writ the Christian canon of scriptures.   

That having been said, however, gives humanity at best only a glimpse of His Godly glory which may spark a certain curiosity but can only be adequately understood when appropriated in faith.

Faith without action is dead, so we thereby understand that a casual or intellectual curiosity is not sufficient. Commitment is required and by His grace we come to sense cognitively that we are indeed His child as our spirit bears witness with His Spirit that we are His offspring. [Acts 17:28] 

And, again we read in Romans 8:15-19 that,
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to son-ship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. [NIV]

Further, the Scriptures informs us that,
6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” [Galatians 4:6 NIV]

This certain dawning, as it were, is the eureka moment--that, aha! moment at which our human experience suddenly realizes that God is there and we then realize that ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ [Acts 17:28 NIV]
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* http://www.catholic.com/blog/hector-molina/the-kerygma-enigma