(we continue our ongoing discussion of why this blog exists)
What happened is that the first century church leaders took it upon themselves to blame someone for the death of the Messiah. Isn’t that the human way - to gain stature and support by inciting blame? Not understanding it was not the “Jews” who killed Him but it was all of mankind that had struggled in "Adam’s" sin since the garden days.
Them, us, you and me. Our collective sins drove Him to the cross. Indeed Jesus had said that before the foundations of the earth were laid it was appointed that He would be the sacrifice Lamb by which salvation would be offered to all mankind. Eph 1:4, Heb 9:26, 1 Pet 1:20…
The simple message of belief and salvation were corrupted in that early church by those who sought power. All of the wonderful teachings and hidden meanings, the traditions and the celebrations of the Hebrew people – Yeshua’s people and the roots from which He sprang were cast aside as “Jewish” stuff. Jesus’ people were made out to be the “dogs of perdition” and the scum of the earth. How God the Father must have cried. Everything Jewish was to be cast away and forgotten. The murder and banishment of the Jewish people began in those days and continued throughout most of history up to modern times. The countless millions who were slain in the “name of the savior” is the blood the church fathers will bear one day in judgment.
We as Protestant or Evangelical Christians today suffer with the reality that when the Reformation came via Martin Luther (although it had begun and was growing strong from the eleventh century or sooner) along with the awareness of the place of grace in the gospel message that struck Luther came a learned hate for all things Jewish. This hate was bled into the church by Luther’s own calls for Jew hate and rejection. The opportunity to “right” things as far as Jesus’ roots and traditions went was lost on a new church movement mired in the same muddy hate as the Catholics had stirred up.
Today we have seen a new awakening in people who claim to want to go deeper and learn about their Savior in a new way. And to celebrate all He was and taught. My hope is that you will embrace this awareness and learn a fascinating possibility about your own roots that will challenge and maybe astonish you. Can you say baaa? It’s very “meaty.” More next time.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Of milk and meat….
1Co 3:2 … I have fed you with “milk” and not with solid food, for you were not yet able to bear it; nor are you able even now.
Heb 5:12-13… For indeed because of the time, you ought to be teachers, but you have need that one teach you again what are the first principles of the oracles of God. And you have become in need of “milk”, and not of solid food……for everyone partaking of “milk” is unskillful in the Word of Righteousness, for he is an infant.
Consider this from Proverbs 25:2 The glory of God is to hide a thing; but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.
There is the basic; the simple; the “milk” of scripture and then there is the “meat.” It’s the deeper truth. It’s the depth of meaning in the Word. It is the hidden realities of which Paul and others taught and sometimes assumed their listeners were aware of.
In his writing to Peter he encouraged him to seek and desire this deeper knowledge saying….
desire the sincere “milk” of the Word, as newborn babes, so that you may grow by it; 1Pe 2:2
Previously I’ve presented the 4 basic tenets or understandings of the Hebrew way of understanding the faith presented by Jesus or Yeshua to his disciples when instituting His church. (check the blog below). I now want to present a commentary about what went wrong in the early church that set His people of on rabbit trails of misunderstanding since the time of the first century. I believe it can be summed up in the words of one of the most misguided of church fathers; Ignacius. This man and many more who followed him and trumpeted his hateful and despicable teachings were the root of a scourge that brought shame to the church, and continues to mire the fellowship in the decay of anti-Semitism. Once we deal with this error by the milk drinking leadership of the early church we’ll be ready to turn the pages of the “Old” Testament and “New” Testament as one book and get to the meat of the whole understanding of what our heavenly Father has done for us.
Ignatius wrote The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians . Say that a few times, it’s a mouthful – but memorize it. In his epistle he engages in a misguided rant against the Jews of his day and instructs his followers in their willingness to blame someone for the death of Jesus.
From Chapter IX.--LET US LIVE WITH CHRIST.
…….. “Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness;” for he that does not work, let him not eat” quoting 2Th 3:10
These are the words and instructions of Ignacius, it should be apparent that using statement “no longer” Ignacius is acknowledging that until now they have been “keeping the Sabbath after the “Jewish” manner.”
He goes on… But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law,* not in relaxation of the body,* admiring the workmanship of God,* and not eating things prepared the day before* nor using lukewarm drinks,* and walking within a prescribed space,* nor finding delight in dancing* and plaudits which have no sense in them. [* Jewish Sabbath practices] notice though that he says to “rejoice in meditation on the law.”
Again he says…. And after the observance of the Sabbath (1), let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, "To the end, for the eighth day," on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, [referring to the Jews?] the enemies of the Saviour, deny, "whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things," who are "lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." These make merchandise of Christ, corrupting His word, and giving up Jesus to sale:* they are corrupters of women, and covetous of other men's possessions, swallowing up wealth insatiably; from whom may ye be delivered by the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ! *Let’s talk about indulgences sometime!
And lets talk more of the deeper things - the "meat" soon.
Heb 5:12-13… For indeed because of the time, you ought to be teachers, but you have need that one teach you again what are the first principles of the oracles of God. And you have become in need of “milk”, and not of solid food……for everyone partaking of “milk” is unskillful in the Word of Righteousness, for he is an infant.
Consider this from Proverbs 25:2 The glory of God is to hide a thing; but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.
There is the basic; the simple; the “milk” of scripture and then there is the “meat.” It’s the deeper truth. It’s the depth of meaning in the Word. It is the hidden realities of which Paul and others taught and sometimes assumed their listeners were aware of.
In his writing to Peter he encouraged him to seek and desire this deeper knowledge saying….
desire the sincere “milk” of the Word, as newborn babes, so that you may grow by it; 1Pe 2:2
Previously I’ve presented the 4 basic tenets or understandings of the Hebrew way of understanding the faith presented by Jesus or Yeshua to his disciples when instituting His church. (check the blog below). I now want to present a commentary about what went wrong in the early church that set His people of on rabbit trails of misunderstanding since the time of the first century. I believe it can be summed up in the words of one of the most misguided of church fathers; Ignacius. This man and many more who followed him and trumpeted his hateful and despicable teachings were the root of a scourge that brought shame to the church, and continues to mire the fellowship in the decay of anti-Semitism. Once we deal with this error by the milk drinking leadership of the early church we’ll be ready to turn the pages of the “Old” Testament and “New” Testament as one book and get to the meat of the whole understanding of what our heavenly Father has done for us.
Ignatius wrote The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians . Say that a few times, it’s a mouthful – but memorize it. In his epistle he engages in a misguided rant against the Jews of his day and instructs his followers in their willingness to blame someone for the death of Jesus.
From Chapter IX.--LET US LIVE WITH CHRIST.
…….. “Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness;” for he that does not work, let him not eat” quoting 2Th 3:10
These are the words and instructions of Ignacius, it should be apparent that using statement “no longer” Ignacius is acknowledging that until now they have been “keeping the Sabbath after the “Jewish” manner.”
He goes on… But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law,* not in relaxation of the body,* admiring the workmanship of God,* and not eating things prepared the day before* nor using lukewarm drinks,* and walking within a prescribed space,* nor finding delight in dancing* and plaudits which have no sense in them. [* Jewish Sabbath practices] notice though that he says to “rejoice in meditation on the law.”
Again he says…. And after the observance of the Sabbath (1), let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, "To the end, for the eighth day," on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, [referring to the Jews?] the enemies of the Saviour, deny, "whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things," who are "lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." These make merchandise of Christ, corrupting His word, and giving up Jesus to sale:* they are corrupters of women, and covetous of other men's possessions, swallowing up wealth insatiably; from whom may ye be delivered by the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ! *Let’s talk about indulgences sometime!
And lets talk more of the deeper things - the "meat" soon.
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