...all that has been said about the manner of interpreting
Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises
the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and
interpreting the Word of God.
Verbal Plenary Inspiration of Scripture: every word in the
entire Bible is inspired.
Do we really
believe what the Bible says? Catholicism qualifies their answer saying, “the
Bible is true as interpreted by the Church.” Fundamentalists and some
Evangelicals believe in, Verbal Plenary Inspiration of Scripture. Some more
liberal Churches believe the Bible is a good book. So, as I see it, Catholics
and Liberals do not believe the Bible as written. (I realize that is a broad
generalization). There are those who believe, Verbal Plenary Inspiration of
Scripture; that every word is the exact word God intended to be used. There are
also Churches who claim to be Bible centered Churches. Great, I will address
the latter two groups with the question, “Do we really believe what the Bible
says?”
Catholics
could answer yes to the question, but qualified with the bogus notion they were
given the right to decide what must be believed, based on their traditions and
practices. What I mean in the question is, do you unconditionally accept what
the Bible says? It goes without saying, that the original text and language
must be accurately translated, not manipulated to favour Church doctrine or
tradition. Our answer to the question must also recognize the integrity of
scripture. We cannot pick and choose which portions to believe, and which to discard.
Occasionally I come across a scripture which in my memory has never been
mentioned in a study, or publicly by a preacher. It’s very simply, it’s either all or nothing.
For instance; one might say, “I believe Jesus, but I don’t believe the Genesis
account of creation.” Too bad for that person; you cannot believe Jesus, and
reject that God created all things in six days. We don’t have the luxury to
tell God that we accept him only on our terms. It doesn’t work that way. You
either accept the whole thing, or none at all. Talking to Jews, John wrote that
Jesus came to his own, but they rejected him:
He came to
what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who
received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of
God,
I guess
Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah that Jewish leaders of his day wanted.
I mentioned
creation already, but I want to use John’s writing to look more closely at the
connection between Jesus and the creation of all things:
The Word is Jesus. “All things
came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” If you lean toward the pseudo
science of Evolution or “The Big Bang Theory”, yet profess belief in Jesus, you
may want to reconsider your what you believe. I do not see any way to believe
in Evolution or The Big Bang theory, and believe in Jesus the Son of God.
Anyone who denounces the Genesis account of creation, cannot claim to believe
in Jesus. If one doesn’t believe what the Bible says on creation, he or she
rejects the Creator – Jesus. Jesus responding to a question on
divorce said, “…at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female…” Jesus
referred to Adam and Eve.
The prophet Jeremiah foretold the coming of a new covenant:
The days are
surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I
made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the
LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will
write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah told the Jews that God was going to establish a new
covenant with them, A covenant which would not be like the one He made with
them on Mount Sinai. It would not be written on stone, but on the hearts of
people. In Paul’s writing he confirmed what Jeremiah prophesied:
...and you show that you are a letter
of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the
living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Do you not
know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy
that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Paul in his discourse on Mar’s Hill said, “The
God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands...” Human institutions do not have
custody of God’s children. There are no intermediaries between God and his
children, except for Jesus. Church is not a biblical word, or concept. Church
is a centuries old tradition, an institutional organization arising out of the
First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. God did not plan to have his children cared
for, or worshiped through surrogates. There is nothing in scripture remotely
like institutional Church. God’s plan when speaking through the prophet was to
emphasize the vast difference between the first covenant given to Israel, and
the second covenant to given to future generations. The first covenant’s laws
were written on stone; the temple housed the presence of God. The new covenant’s
laws are written on human hearts; individual people are the temple of God. The
old covenant provided for righteousness through works of the law, the second
through the gift of righteousness through faith. Paul wrote:
I regard
everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as
rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through
faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
Church activities, works and programs are not replacements
for living in Christ, they are if anything distractions. Each believer is a
light reflecting God’s love and grace in his or her life. It is not important
to belong to a Church, it is important to belong to Christ. Jesus telling a parable, said a light
shouldn’t be hidden, but out where everyone can benefit from it. This is not to
say that fellowship isn’t necessary, but that life in Christ is more than
attending Church services. It is important that we don’t fall into the trap of
thinking that going to Church is a religious duty for which we get points. “For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may
boast.” The second covenant God made with
people took them back to before the law and covenant of Sinai, to Abraham the
father of the faithful. That was a time before ritual and law, and was to be
the life of those who inherit the promise:
For in the gospel the
righteousness of God is revealed--a righteousness that is by faith from first
to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
It was not through the law
that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of
the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Therefore, the promise comes
by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's
offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the
faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
For we live by faith, not by
sight.
I want to look at the most
misunderstood, and most manipulated event in the Bible: other than God’s
creation of all things – the second coming of Christ.
Christ was sacrificed once to
take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin,
but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
There are numerous theories
linked to the second coming of Jesus, most of which use unrelated prophesies to
establish when the event will take place. Jesus told his disciples the
approximate time of his return, but somehow what he said has been ignored by
most Bible teachers and scholars. I believe that the answer to when Jesus came can
be established in the words of Jesus. To recognize the truth about the return
of Jesus, we will have to give up preconceived opinions, and theories. The
answer is obvious, and obscured only by the failure to accept the Bible as
God’s word.
…the Son of Man is going to
come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person
according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here
will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
Similar statements are
repeated in Mark and Luke’s gospels. “…some who are standing here will not
taste death before…” – the return of Jesus – the second coming. Jesus returned
as he said he would within the timeframe he laid out. Bertrand Russell mocked
Christians for not believing the words of Jesus; in his essay, Why I Am Not a
Christian. Russell suggested that Jesus wasn’t wise, because he made a commitment
which Christians don’t believe he meant, or kept.
Peter turned and saw that the
disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned
back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to
betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about
him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return,
what is that to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumour
spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not
say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive
until I return, what is that to you?" This is the disciple who testifies
to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.
Leading up to the question Peter asked Jesus, was the subject
of Peter’s death. Peter was mildly rebuked by Jesus saying that if he wanted
John to be alive when he returned it was none of Peter’s business. John quelled
a rumour that he wasn’t going to die, reiterating Jesus words, “If
I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” Then John confirmed that he recorded Jesus’
words accurately. The timeframe given for the return of Jesus in this record
matches that stated by Jesus in the other gospels.
Immediately after the distress
of those days (the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple) the sun will
be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the
sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son
of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.
They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and
great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they
will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the
other.
I tell you the truth, this
generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
We don’t know what all took
place at that time, we don’t have any record of Jesus returning to earth, we
have no physical evidence of those events. Very true, but we do know that Jesus
did not lie. He did not tell people that he would return within the lifetime of
some who were listening, when he knew that would not be so. Quoting the prophet
Joel, Peter said:
I will show wonders in the
heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of
the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Shortly after the day of
Pentecost, Peter addressed Jews:
Repent, then, and turn to God,
so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the
Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even
Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore
everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
Indeed, all the prophets from
Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have foretold these days. And you are heirs
of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to
Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'
The three synoptic gospels
record Jesus talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. The account is not a
mix of different events, it is a single event of great consequence. The return
of Jesus, the end of the age, and the destruction of the temple were concurrent. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and more
importantly the temple was destroyed. The temple was the place of God’s
presence. When the temple was destroyed, there could be no more sacrifices. Some
doctrines specify that Judaism stopped with Jesus on the cross, that his death
signified a new era. At Pentecost the apostles guided by the Spirit spoke to
people about Jesus, Peter for the first time offered salvation in the name of
Jesus. Some believe that was the time that Judaism ended. That is not what the
scriptures indicate. Peter in a trance saw food coming from heaven, and when
God told him to get up and eat he replied, that as a Jew he’d never eaten
unclean foods.
He saw heaven opened and
something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It
contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth
and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and
eat." "Surely not, Lord!"
Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
Paul followed Jewish
practices: Jewish Christians in the diaspora were expected to comply with
Jewish law.
The next day Paul and the rest
of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. Paul greeted them and
reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see,
brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous
for the law. They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among
the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their
children or live according to our customs. What shall we do? They will
certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you. There are four men
with us who have made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rites
and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then
everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you
yourself are living in obedience to the law.
As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that
they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of
strangled animals and from sexual immorality."
Retelling the account of his
conversion Paul spoke of Ananias:
A man named Ananias came to
see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the
Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your
sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him. Then he said: ‘The God
of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and
to hear words from his mouth.’
Paul’s vow:
Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the
brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he
sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken.
I was taught that the Bible times were divided into; the
Patriarchal age, the Mosaic age, the Major Prophets, the Minor Prophets, and
the Christian age. The periods given in that summary may have a good ring to
it, but it is wrong. Jews in the time around the first century referred to main
source of instruction as “the Law and the Prophets”. The five periods ignore
the greater population of the world which ran parallel to the “Mosaic period”.
There was an antediluvian period, in which life was somewhat different to life
following the flood. In Isaiah God called Cyrus his anointed, which in the
Greek means Messiah and Christ. It is a fallacy to suggest that most of the
countries of the world were non-existent to God, while his chosen people lived
in the promised land. Paul in the letter to the Romans pointed out that
non-Jews were able to do the things of the law by nature. Israel was the means by which God fulfilled
his promise to Abraham. The promise given to Abraham was that all nations would
be blessed through his descendant – Jesus.
The Lord’s Supper, or communion is a very sacred sacrament in
most Churches.
For I received from the Lord
what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed,
took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is
my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way,
after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my
blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever
you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he
comes.
Paul’s instructions specify that the Lord’s Supper was to be
shared until he returned. He returned circa 70CE.
…since we have a great priest
over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty
conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let
us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us
not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us
encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The Day; Paul refers to a Day which the people of Israel
expected, the prophets spoke of the Day of the Lord, Peter addressing the crowd
on the Day of Pentecost quoted the prophet Joel;
I will show wonders in the
heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of
the great and glorious day of the Lord.
"Immediately after the
distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its
light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be
shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all
the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the
clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with
a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from
one end of the heavens to the other. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree:
As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer
is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near,
right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not
pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day, was to be a day like no other, it included the
destruction of the temple, Jerusalem, and signs in the sky. (I know that some Churches
use Heb 10;25 as a command to make people attend Church on Sunday. That is pure
nonsense!) If we claim to believe the Bible is God’s word, we must avoid using
it to prove doctrines we already believe.
Karl Popper developed, The Falsification Principle, as a way
of demarcating science from non-science. It suggests that for a theory to be
considered scientific it must be able to be tested and conceivably proven
false. The principle should be applied to the study of scripture. Many people
accept whatever their Church says is right. From the scripture one thing is
very clear; the relationship with God is absolutely personal. We are children
of God. We reach God through Christ. The modern Church is nothing like Christian
gatherings in the first century. In stead of grabbing scriptures from all over
the Bible, put your theories to the test, if there is one scripture that
falsifies the doctrine, don’t dismiss it, review the doctrine, because it is
more than likely not accurate.
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