A summary of the Bible Hour presentation at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 20th June 2010.
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
We’re just going to look at one type of gambling: “To play a game of chance for money”.
There are possibly only two mentions of gambling in the whole Bible:
the soldiers at the foot of the cross casting lots for Jesus’ garment (Luke 23:34)
Ephesians 4:14, a reference to the “sleight of men” as one of the deceitful influences of the world – the Greek word “sleight” means to gamble or cheat.
Gambling was probably as widespread in Bible times as it is today. Why does the Bible say so little about it? …
The Bible doesn’t give hard and fast rules on the subject. It’s a matter of getting to grips with some principles of Christian living, and allowing them to guide the conscience. Here are some of the principles:
The love of money
1 Timothy 6:610 is a summary of what the Christian’s attitude should be to money generally. Don’t be in love with money!
Ecclesiastes 5:18 and 9:10, and Proverbs 13:11, give guidelines for the Christian life – to work diligently and enjoy the fruits of our labour is much better than to try to ‘get wealth by vanity’.
How does this principle affect daily life? the work we do, our leisure activities (for example should we watch TV shows that encourage gambling and glorify greed?)
Trust in God
Proverbs 16:33 – probably not talking about gambling, but the principle is that God is in control of our lives. Trust in God, not luck.
No man can serve two masters
These were words of Jesus, Matthew 6:24. The Christian’s master is Christ. There’s a danger that the pursuit of money can take over as our master. Paul calls this idolatry (Colossians 3:5).
The pursuit of money can take you over. Much more potent, the excitement of gambling can take you over. Gambling addiction is the cause of many ruined lives.
Love thy neighbour
The Christian looks out for the welfare of others, as well as himself (Matthew 22:39). Gambling addiction can be the cause of suffering beyond the individual concerned – whole families suffer poverty when one member has an addiction.
God loves a cheerful giver
These are words from 2 Corinthians 9:7. The Christian should be willing to give to a good cause, freely and wholeheartedly. Games such as lotteries and raffles which encourage giving by the bribe of a possible reward go against this principle.
What’s the best thing to do if someone is collecting for a good cause by selling raffle tickets? …
Holier than thou
When a Christian tries to live according to the high principles of the Bible, there’s a very real danger of becoming sanctimonious and self-righteous in his attitude to others who don’t live by those principles. Christians must not be ‘holier than thou’!
Colossians 3:17 describes the true Christian attitude – thankfulness, and a genuine desire that others might see the wisdom of God’s ways.
Monday, 21 June 2010
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
The purpose of the Holy Spirit
A summary of the Bible Hour presentation at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 13th February 2010.
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
We believe the Holy Spirit referred to in the Bible is God’s power.
Definition: ‘Holy’ means set apart, sanctified, special, and ‘Spirit’ signifies power. Hence, the Holy Spirit is God’s special power.
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.” Acts 10v38.
The Bible calls the holy spirit ‘He’ so the churches think it has to be a person, when in actual fact it was the translators who called the Holy Spirit ‘He’. Wisdom in the book of Proverbs (particularly chapter 9) is often called ‘she’, but we don’t think of wisdom as a person or separate entity so it doesn’t make sense to think of the Holy Spirit as a separate entity either.
Shortly before Christ was crucified he said to his disciples that ‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth’ (John14v16-17) Here Jesus promises to give the disciples another comforter in his place after he dies, a helper for them. When we read down to verse 26 of John chapter14 we see the helper and comforter Christ was referring to is the Holy Spirit. ‘...the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you’. So, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to teach all things and for the disciples to remember everything that Christ had said to them. This alone is a miracle. Can you remember word for word what a friend said to you last week, last month, last year?
2Peter1v21
‘...No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
We believe the Holy Spirit referred to in the Bible is God’s power.
Definition: ‘Holy’ means set apart, sanctified, special, and ‘Spirit’ signifies power. Hence, the Holy Spirit is God’s special power.
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.” Acts 10v38.
The Bible calls the holy spirit ‘He’ so the churches think it has to be a person, when in actual fact it was the translators who called the Holy Spirit ‘He’. Wisdom in the book of Proverbs (particularly chapter 9) is often called ‘she’, but we don’t think of wisdom as a person or separate entity so it doesn’t make sense to think of the Holy Spirit as a separate entity either.
Shortly before Christ was crucified he said to his disciples that ‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth’ (John14v16-17) Here Jesus promises to give the disciples another comforter in his place after he dies, a helper for them. When we read down to verse 26 of John chapter14 we see the helper and comforter Christ was referring to is the Holy Spirit. ‘...the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you’. So, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to teach all things and for the disciples to remember everything that Christ had said to them. This alone is a miracle. Can you remember word for word what a friend said to you last week, last month, last year?
2Peter1v21
‘...No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’
Monday, 7 June 2010
What makes you special?
A summary of the family afternoon at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 6th June 2010.
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
There are 6,540,283,000 people on the planet.
There are 60,000,000 people in the UK.
There are 64,449 people (or thereabouts) in Burton.
There’s one of you.
How are you special?
The children were each given a satsuma from a bag. They were given a few moments to study their satsuma, then they returned them. Then they were invited to pick out their own satsuma – and they did! We might think satsumas are all the same, but they each have subtle identifying characteristics.
God knows all his children and can tell them apart, just like we can identify a satsuma in a bag!
God made all the stars and calls them all by name (Isaiah 40:26). Latest estimates are that there are 70 sextillion stars. (What does that mean? If you could count every grain of sand on every beach and desert on the planet, and multiply the number by 10 – that would give you 70 sextillion!)
“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my
unformed body” (Psalm 139:15). God knows everything about each one of us.
We each have between 90,000 and 140,000 hairs (blondes have the most). And we lose between 50 to 100 hairs every day. Jesus said, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Luke 12:7).
God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers (Matthew 6:26-30) – how much more does he care for us!
Never forget how special you are!
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
There are 6,540,283,000 people on the planet.
There are 60,000,000 people in the UK.
There are 64,449 people (or thereabouts) in Burton.
There’s one of you.
How are you special?
The children were each given a satsuma from a bag. They were given a few moments to study their satsuma, then they returned them. Then they were invited to pick out their own satsuma – and they did! We might think satsumas are all the same, but they each have subtle identifying characteristics.
God knows all his children and can tell them apart, just like we can identify a satsuma in a bag!
God made all the stars and calls them all by name (Isaiah 40:26). Latest estimates are that there are 70 sextillion stars. (What does that mean? If you could count every grain of sand on every beach and desert on the planet, and multiply the number by 10 – that would give you 70 sextillion!)
“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my
unformed body” (Psalm 139:15). God knows everything about each one of us.
We each have between 90,000 and 140,000 hairs (blondes have the most). And we lose between 50 to 100 hairs every day. Jesus said, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Luke 12:7).
God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers (Matthew 6:26-30) – how much more does he care for us!
Never forget how special you are!
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Resurrection: The Fingerprint Facts
A summary of the Bible Hour presentation at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 30th May 2010.
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
We can use evidence to prove that Jesus existed, died and rose again.
Existence
There is a surprising amount of evidence that a man known as Jesus of Nazareth existed. In fact, there is said to be more contemporary documentation for the existence of Christ than for Julius Caesar.
We can take the evidence of three non-Christian historians from the 1st century AD:
• Tacitus (active c. AD 64-116) refers to Christians as followers of “Christus” who had “undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate.”
• Thallus (c. AD 52): in his writings a reference to Christ’s death is presented as fact.
• Josephus (c. AD 80-93) the famous Jewish historian refers to Jesus, his miracles, his crucifixion and his disciples. He also mentions “James the brother of Jesus who was called Christ”.
We can’t ignore this kind of evidence.
There are 2 tests historians use to test the reliability of ancient documents. Firstly the number of years that elapsed between the event happening and the date of the earliest written copy available to us today. Obviously, the longer period of time, the less likely it is to be reliable. We can apply these tests to the New Testament.
New Testament events happened between 30-100 AD. The earliest surviving record we have available to us today is about 130AD. By comparison, for Homer’s Iliad there’s a 500y gap. Pliny (who tells us about Vesuvius erupting in Pompeii) we have 750 years between the event happening and our oldest surviving document today. So if someone is sceptical of the New Testament text, they need to be even more sceptical about all the other classical history that we take for granted.
The second test is the number of ancient copies of the document (agreeing copies!) that survive. The more agreeing copies there are, the more likely it is to be accurate. There are seven of Pliny’s report of Vesuvius. Homer has 643. But there are more than 24,000 copies of the New Testament, in individual fragments, whole copies, and quotations in early church writings. This leads us to an important statement – historians in their professional capacity would say the New Testament is an accurate, reliable record of events.
Death
All of the writers we’ve already referred to give us evidence that Jesus died. The fact that he had a lot of followers too means they’re not likely to get this fact wrong in their writings and not have it corrected or disputed at some point.
Mark 15v42-45 also gives some valuable evidence. The Roman soldier featured here would have been certain that Jesus was dead before handing him over to Joseph of Arimathea. It would have been more than his life was worth to get this wrong. The record also tells us that he was surprised he was already dead – he wasn’t expecting Jesus to die so quickly. So he would have been doubly sure that he really had died before releasing the body of the controversial man to Joseph here. Pilate too would have needed to be certain before he authorised its release. They knew their job!
In addition to these facts, the disciples of the Lord had completely given up hope that he was alive. You can imagine them desperate to cling to the idea that he had survived for as long as possible. Yet here, Joseph – one of his followers – goes and buries him. He knew there was no hope he was alive.
The so-called “swoon theory” – the idea that Christ didn’t actually die but revived later in the cool of the tomb and then escaped – only appeared in the C19th and makes no sense:
A Jesus who had survived would still be physically exhausted and covered in wounds – unable to escape from a tomb that was blocked up by a massive stone. And he would hardly have been strong enough to convince others that he was the prince of life in a state like that. If he hadn’t died, where could he go? The whole of Jerusalem was looking out for him, we can be sure, and he wouldn’t have been able to get far.
Resurrection
Seven facts provide evidence that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
1. We know for certain that no-one ever produced the body.
There were many people who hated Jesus, and wanted to extinguish the movement he started once and for all. For this, all they had to do to ensure this was to produce the body. That would have silenced the “resurrection” movement for all time.
Instead, the Jewish elders have to claim that the disciples stole it (Matthew 28v11-15). This could never have been written in a widely circulated document if it wasn’t true – especially because it makes the Jews look incompetent. They were the ones who had guarded the tomb (27v63-66). In their desperation they allege that the disciples, most of whom had already fled, manage to get past guards who could not have fallen asleep on duty and lived to tell the tale, silently move a huge stone twice, escape again, and find somewhere to hide where no-one ever found the body.
2. The tomb was never venerated.
When a leader dies, experience tells us that the tomb becomes the focal point of followers afterwards. Tomb veneration was common in the 1st century. They could have easily identified the tomb – we know it was Joseph of Arimathea’s own (Matthew 27v59-60). But there is no record of the first Christians even so much as gathering for worship at the tomb, and we are not certain today which tomb it was. The obvious reason for this would be that the tomb was empty on that resurrection morning, and therefore insignificant.
3. The movement known as Christianity almost died, and yet suddenly turned around and flourished.
Something very dramatic would have been needed for this to happen. Only hours before his death, most of the disciples were in hiding, Jesus himself was (in the eyes of the authorities) weak and humble, willingly laying down his life without a fight. Judas had betrayed his lord, Peter had denied knowing him, many other followers had fled in fear, and only a very small crowd helplessly watched the Crucifixion take place. The atmosphere was sad and dejected (Luke 24v13-17, 21). This was a movement in rapid decline. But the turnabout happened in Jerusalem: the very place where it could have so easily been proved wrong. It would have been more likely to flourish elsewhere after these events – perhaps around Jesus’ birthplace. Only the resurrection of Jesus can make sense of this sudden shift in power. If we accept the Bible as a true and accurate record, then the resurrection was prophesied throughout the Old Testament, many hundreds of years earlier (see Psalm 16v10 and others).
4. Eyewitnesses were available at the time.
In 1 Corinthians 15v3-7, the Apostle Paul names people who you could go to and check the facts with. They could corroborate his claim that Jesus had indeed risen. If this was a lie, Paul wouldn’t have named them because many were still alive to argue. Notice that Paul claims that such a huge number had seen him, and not just a few. He would not have done this unless he was absolutely certain of its truth. Paul was staking his entire reputation, if not his life, on what he was writing.
5. Hallucinations need certain conditions to exist.
Some people claim that the personal appearances of Jesus after his death were hallucinations by the exhausted disciples. But hallucinations are as individual as we are. Even if several people hallucinate at the same time, perhaps under the influence of drugs, the hallucinations themselves will all be different because they arise from the subconscious mind. We know from the Gospels that people of a wide range of personality types claimed to see Jesus. On different occasions, 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, and 500 people all claimed to see Jesus – they were unlikely to all experience the same hallucination. Also the outward circumstances differed: walking along a road in the evening, shut away in a room, gathered at a meal table, and so on. In John 20v26-27, they touch him and eat with him. Hallucinations differ when situations change. And finally, all the appearances happened within 40 days then stopped abruptly, never to recur. That’s not how an illness or narcotic of this type usually behaves. So we can rule this out from being a credible alternative explanation – it is very unlikely that they would all see then same thing.
6. Peter spoke unopposed in Jerusalem only weeks later.
Peter can only give his speech in Acts 2v22-24 because no-one has proved these things wrong by then. If just one person in the massive crowd had seen the body or had a good explanation, they would have said so. But what actually happens is that countless people convert to Christianity within yards of the place where all this happened. People don’t even doubt the women who were the first to see the empty tomb in Luke 24v1-3. If there was any doubt of what they had seen or done with the body, Peter – or his crowd – would have called them to testify. But no-one ever calls on them in the Gospels or in Acts because no-one doubts what they found: an empty tomb.
7. People don’t die for a lie.
We have no record of any confessions under torture, or any deathbed repentances under persecution. Instead they all died, many through persecution, absolutely convinced of the resurrection and not once denying it. People will suffer and die for their convictions, but not for their inventions. The great moral establishment of the 1st Century church would not have been on stable or lasting foundations if any one of the disciples who were there knew it to be a sham. The resurrection being true is the only way to explain all of these pieces of evidence.
Why does it matter?
If Christ rose from the dead, so can we. It proves that death need not be the end for us. It would take a massive change for a mass murderer to espouse the cause for which he killed people. Yet this is what happened to Paul, who wrote about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15v20-22.
This says that Christ was the “firstfruits” – the first offering of the harvest – with more to come in time. It means that all those who are in Christ – who are his followers by baptism and belief – will be raised too, and therefore death need not be the end for us either. That’s why this resurrection message is so important, and so full of hope for us today.
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
We can use evidence to prove that Jesus existed, died and rose again.
Existence
There is a surprising amount of evidence that a man known as Jesus of Nazareth existed. In fact, there is said to be more contemporary documentation for the existence of Christ than for Julius Caesar.
We can take the evidence of three non-Christian historians from the 1st century AD:
• Tacitus (active c. AD 64-116) refers to Christians as followers of “Christus” who had “undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate.”
• Thallus (c. AD 52): in his writings a reference to Christ’s death is presented as fact.
• Josephus (c. AD 80-93) the famous Jewish historian refers to Jesus, his miracles, his crucifixion and his disciples. He also mentions “James the brother of Jesus who was called Christ”.
We can’t ignore this kind of evidence.
There are 2 tests historians use to test the reliability of ancient documents. Firstly the number of years that elapsed between the event happening and the date of the earliest written copy available to us today. Obviously, the longer period of time, the less likely it is to be reliable. We can apply these tests to the New Testament.
New Testament events happened between 30-100 AD. The earliest surviving record we have available to us today is about 130AD. By comparison, for Homer’s Iliad there’s a 500y gap. Pliny (who tells us about Vesuvius erupting in Pompeii) we have 750 years between the event happening and our oldest surviving document today. So if someone is sceptical of the New Testament text, they need to be even more sceptical about all the other classical history that we take for granted.
The second test is the number of ancient copies of the document (agreeing copies!) that survive. The more agreeing copies there are, the more likely it is to be accurate. There are seven of Pliny’s report of Vesuvius. Homer has 643. But there are more than 24,000 copies of the New Testament, in individual fragments, whole copies, and quotations in early church writings. This leads us to an important statement – historians in their professional capacity would say the New Testament is an accurate, reliable record of events.
Death
All of the writers we’ve already referred to give us evidence that Jesus died. The fact that he had a lot of followers too means they’re not likely to get this fact wrong in their writings and not have it corrected or disputed at some point.
Mark 15v42-45 also gives some valuable evidence. The Roman soldier featured here would have been certain that Jesus was dead before handing him over to Joseph of Arimathea. It would have been more than his life was worth to get this wrong. The record also tells us that he was surprised he was already dead – he wasn’t expecting Jesus to die so quickly. So he would have been doubly sure that he really had died before releasing the body of the controversial man to Joseph here. Pilate too would have needed to be certain before he authorised its release. They knew their job!
In addition to these facts, the disciples of the Lord had completely given up hope that he was alive. You can imagine them desperate to cling to the idea that he had survived for as long as possible. Yet here, Joseph – one of his followers – goes and buries him. He knew there was no hope he was alive.
The so-called “swoon theory” – the idea that Christ didn’t actually die but revived later in the cool of the tomb and then escaped – only appeared in the C19th and makes no sense:
A Jesus who had survived would still be physically exhausted and covered in wounds – unable to escape from a tomb that was blocked up by a massive stone. And he would hardly have been strong enough to convince others that he was the prince of life in a state like that. If he hadn’t died, where could he go? The whole of Jerusalem was looking out for him, we can be sure, and he wouldn’t have been able to get far.
Resurrection
Seven facts provide evidence that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
1. We know for certain that no-one ever produced the body.
There were many people who hated Jesus, and wanted to extinguish the movement he started once and for all. For this, all they had to do to ensure this was to produce the body. That would have silenced the “resurrection” movement for all time.
Instead, the Jewish elders have to claim that the disciples stole it (Matthew 28v11-15). This could never have been written in a widely circulated document if it wasn’t true – especially because it makes the Jews look incompetent. They were the ones who had guarded the tomb (27v63-66). In their desperation they allege that the disciples, most of whom had already fled, manage to get past guards who could not have fallen asleep on duty and lived to tell the tale, silently move a huge stone twice, escape again, and find somewhere to hide where no-one ever found the body.
2. The tomb was never venerated.
When a leader dies, experience tells us that the tomb becomes the focal point of followers afterwards. Tomb veneration was common in the 1st century. They could have easily identified the tomb – we know it was Joseph of Arimathea’s own (Matthew 27v59-60). But there is no record of the first Christians even so much as gathering for worship at the tomb, and we are not certain today which tomb it was. The obvious reason for this would be that the tomb was empty on that resurrection morning, and therefore insignificant.
3. The movement known as Christianity almost died, and yet suddenly turned around and flourished.
Something very dramatic would have been needed for this to happen. Only hours before his death, most of the disciples were in hiding, Jesus himself was (in the eyes of the authorities) weak and humble, willingly laying down his life without a fight. Judas had betrayed his lord, Peter had denied knowing him, many other followers had fled in fear, and only a very small crowd helplessly watched the Crucifixion take place. The atmosphere was sad and dejected (Luke 24v13-17, 21). This was a movement in rapid decline. But the turnabout happened in Jerusalem: the very place where it could have so easily been proved wrong. It would have been more likely to flourish elsewhere after these events – perhaps around Jesus’ birthplace. Only the resurrection of Jesus can make sense of this sudden shift in power. If we accept the Bible as a true and accurate record, then the resurrection was prophesied throughout the Old Testament, many hundreds of years earlier (see Psalm 16v10 and others).
4. Eyewitnesses were available at the time.
In 1 Corinthians 15v3-7, the Apostle Paul names people who you could go to and check the facts with. They could corroborate his claim that Jesus had indeed risen. If this was a lie, Paul wouldn’t have named them because many were still alive to argue. Notice that Paul claims that such a huge number had seen him, and not just a few. He would not have done this unless he was absolutely certain of its truth. Paul was staking his entire reputation, if not his life, on what he was writing.
5. Hallucinations need certain conditions to exist.
Some people claim that the personal appearances of Jesus after his death were hallucinations by the exhausted disciples. But hallucinations are as individual as we are. Even if several people hallucinate at the same time, perhaps under the influence of drugs, the hallucinations themselves will all be different because they arise from the subconscious mind. We know from the Gospels that people of a wide range of personality types claimed to see Jesus. On different occasions, 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, and 500 people all claimed to see Jesus – they were unlikely to all experience the same hallucination. Also the outward circumstances differed: walking along a road in the evening, shut away in a room, gathered at a meal table, and so on. In John 20v26-27, they touch him and eat with him. Hallucinations differ when situations change. And finally, all the appearances happened within 40 days then stopped abruptly, never to recur. That’s not how an illness or narcotic of this type usually behaves. So we can rule this out from being a credible alternative explanation – it is very unlikely that they would all see then same thing.
6. Peter spoke unopposed in Jerusalem only weeks later.
Peter can only give his speech in Acts 2v22-24 because no-one has proved these things wrong by then. If just one person in the massive crowd had seen the body or had a good explanation, they would have said so. But what actually happens is that countless people convert to Christianity within yards of the place where all this happened. People don’t even doubt the women who were the first to see the empty tomb in Luke 24v1-3. If there was any doubt of what they had seen or done with the body, Peter – or his crowd – would have called them to testify. But no-one ever calls on them in the Gospels or in Acts because no-one doubts what they found: an empty tomb.
7. People don’t die for a lie.
We have no record of any confessions under torture, or any deathbed repentances under persecution. Instead they all died, many through persecution, absolutely convinced of the resurrection and not once denying it. People will suffer and die for their convictions, but not for their inventions. The great moral establishment of the 1st Century church would not have been on stable or lasting foundations if any one of the disciples who were there knew it to be a sham. The resurrection being true is the only way to explain all of these pieces of evidence.
Why does it matter?
If Christ rose from the dead, so can we. It proves that death need not be the end for us. It would take a massive change for a mass murderer to espouse the cause for which he killed people. Yet this is what happened to Paul, who wrote about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15v20-22.
This says that Christ was the “firstfruits” – the first offering of the harvest – with more to come in time. It means that all those who are in Christ – who are his followers by baptism and belief – will be raised too, and therefore death need not be the end for us either. That’s why this resurrection message is so important, and so full of hope for us today.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Peace of mind
A summary of the Bible Hour presentation at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 23rd May 2010.
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
As we get to know what God requires of us, it’s inevitable that we’re going to be saddened by how far short we fall! This might get us down, but it shouldn’t. Paul sums up the right attitude in Romans chapter 7: he laments his sinfulness and constant failings, but finally he concludes that it’s not his own merits that count but his faith in Christ. He is an abject sinner, but he has peace of mind knowing that God loves him.
How do we gain peace of mind?
All the letters in the New Testament (except Hebrews) start by wishing their readers grace and peace. This was a fundamental desire of the apostles.
Philippians 2:5 – “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus …” The discussion that follows emphasises two particular qualities that we must cultivate: humility and obedience.
In John 14:20-27 Jesus is reassuring his disciples shortly before the trauma of his death. He promises the gift of the ‘Comforter’, and in particular:
they will be of one mind with Jesus and his father (v. 20)
they will be loved of God (v. 21)
Jesus and his father will dwell with them (v. 23)
they will be helped in difficult circumstances (v. 26)
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (v. 27).
Again in John 16:
God loves those who love and believe in his son (v. 27)
“These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
Philippians 4:4-7 is an exhortation to rejoice and to live Christlike and prayerful lives: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
When things go wrong, people with faith in God know that God is in control: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.”
The example of Jesus
Did Jesus have peace of mind? He was a ‘man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3); he ‘offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears’ (Hebrews 5:7); his life was short and stressful and it came to a horrible end. But yes, he had perfect peace of mind in that he was completely submissive to God’s will and had complete confidence in God.
“These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
As we get to know what God requires of us, it’s inevitable that we’re going to be saddened by how far short we fall! This might get us down, but it shouldn’t. Paul sums up the right attitude in Romans chapter 7: he laments his sinfulness and constant failings, but finally he concludes that it’s not his own merits that count but his faith in Christ. He is an abject sinner, but he has peace of mind knowing that God loves him.
How do we gain peace of mind?
All the letters in the New Testament (except Hebrews) start by wishing their readers grace and peace. This was a fundamental desire of the apostles.
Philippians 2:5 – “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus …” The discussion that follows emphasises two particular qualities that we must cultivate: humility and obedience.
In John 14:20-27 Jesus is reassuring his disciples shortly before the trauma of his death. He promises the gift of the ‘Comforter’, and in particular:
they will be of one mind with Jesus and his father (v. 20)
they will be loved of God (v. 21)
Jesus and his father will dwell with them (v. 23)
they will be helped in difficult circumstances (v. 26)
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (v. 27).
Again in John 16:
God loves those who love and believe in his son (v. 27)
“These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (v. 33).
Philippians 4:4-7 is an exhortation to rejoice and to live Christlike and prayerful lives: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
When things go wrong, people with faith in God know that God is in control: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.”
The example of Jesus
Did Jesus have peace of mind? He was a ‘man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3); he ‘offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears’ (Hebrews 5:7); his life was short and stressful and it came to a horrible end. But yes, he had perfect peace of mind in that he was completely submissive to God’s will and had complete confidence in God.
“These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
The Trinity - true or false?
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
Webster's 1961 new Collegiate Dictionary defines the Trinity as:
"trinity ...1. [cap.] Theol. The union of three persons or hypostases (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) in one Godhead, so that all the three are one God as to substance, but three persons or hypostases as to individuality. 2. Any synbol of the Trinity in art. 3. Any union of three in one; a triad; as the Hindu trinity, or Trimurti."
Harold Lindshell and Charles Woodbridge in the "Handbook of Christian Faith" make the following claim: "The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who has tried to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind; but he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul."
However, it is a remarkable fact that the ideas contained in the Doctrine of the Trinity are not found in the Bible. This is not a new discovery. It has been known for a long time, right back in the 4th century of our era. More recent theologians have said so clearly. For example, the Anglican theologian J. H. Newman, who joined the Church of Rome in 1845, wrote:
". . . the doctrines (that is, concerning Father, Son and Holy Spirit) have never been learned merely from Scripture" (The Arians of the 4th Century, p.50).
Dr. W. R. Matthews, for many years Dean of St. Paul's, London, was more emphatic:
". . . the doctrine of the Trinity . . . formed no part of the original message. St. Paul knew it not, and would have been unable to understand the meaning of the terms used in the theological formula on which the Church ultimately agreed" (God in Christian Thought and Experience, p.180)
Many sincere admirers of Christ may well feel disturbed at this plain assertion that his great Apostle Paul knew nothing of the Doctrine of the Trinity!
How then did it arise?
To answer this question we need to know when it arose. The answer is: not till 300-400 years after the days of Jesus and his apostles. It is a striking fact that the "early Church Fathers" -- the theologians who wrote in the period 100-300 A.D. -- knew nothing of it, and frequently uttered opinions which contradict it. For the majority of them there was no question of Jesus' being "co-equal and co-eternal with the Father". He was subordinate to God his Father, and was regarded as a "created Being". The teachings which now make up the Doctrine of the Trinity were the decisions of a number of general Church Councils. These are the most significant:
325 A.D. First General Council at Nicea, declared that the Son was from the beginning of the same nature as the Father.
381 A.D. Second General Council at Constantinople, declared that the Holy Spirit was to be worshipped with the Father and the Son.
431 A.D. Third General Council at Ephesus, decreed that Jesus had two natures, a human and a divine; also that Mary was the "mother of God", in opposition to those who maintained that she was the "mother of Christ".
451 A.D. Fifth General Council at Chalcedon, decreed that the two natures in Christ constituted only one Person and one will.
The progressive formulation of the Doctrine of the Trinity over a considerable period of time, is clearly shown when the major creeds of the Church are compared:
The Apostles' Creed, certainly an early Creed though its exact date is unknown, expresses the relationship between Christ and God thus:
". . . God the Father Almighty . . . Jesus Christ His only Son . . . conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary . . ." After his resurrection Christ "ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead . . ."
This is in complete agreement with what the Bible says. But later creeds show many additions and a different view.
The Nicene Creed, 325 A.D., declares that Jesus Christ is
"the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds . . . God of God, Very God of Very God, being of one substance with the Father . . . The Holy Ghost with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified . . ."
The Athanasian Creed, of unknown date but certainly in existence soon after 500 A.D., is even more emphatic:
"We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity . . . there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate . . ." All are declared to be eternal, "yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal". The Creed concludes with the ominous statement: "He that will be saved must think thus of the Trinity."
The new teaching about the Godhead aroused much opposition from those who claimed to be holding the original beliefs. The result was bitter controversy for over a century between the church leaders. The decisions of the Church Councils in the 4th and 5th centuries were the actions of the Church authorities determined to suppress all "rebels". So the official Doctrine of the Trinity was elaborated and proclaimed, and its acceptance declared to be obligatory.
What does the Bible say?
Before Jesus Christ appeared, the writings of the Old Testament had for centuries been revered by the nation of Israel (the Jews) as the revelation of their God who had delivered them from Egypt at the Exodus. What impression had they gained about the nature of God? The answer is clear from the following quotation:
"Having affirmed the existence of God, Judaism really lays down only one basic idea about Him which is a recognised dogma -- the Unity of God. 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.' This is immediately a negation of the polytheism of the ancient world with its numerous deities. It is a repudiation of the idea that there are two gods or two creative sources of existence, one of good and the other of evil. It is also a clear denial of the idea of a trinity -- three gods in One which is the established doctrine of Christianity. For Judaism there can be absolutely no compromise at all in this fundamental concept of the Only One God who is the ultimate creative source of all life and death, the elements of nature and history and the power behind all forces, physical and spiritual" (C. Pearl and R. Brookes, A Guide to Jewish Knowledge, pp.96-97).
To this day the orthodox Doctrine of the Trinity remains a great obstacle for any Jew inquiring into the Christian religion.
In these days of hazy ideas we need to remind ourselves that the Old Testament we possess is the same collection of writings revered in Jesus' day as the word of God. Jesus himself described them as "the law, the psalms and the prophets" and said that in them were prophecies of himself. In Psalm 2 we read:
"Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (vv. 7-8).
Certain clear conclusions arise: God has anointed one who is to rule for Him ("my King") over all the nations of the earth. But he is God's Son, because he has been "begotten". The ruler is not God; he is the Son of God; and he began to exist on the day he was "begotten". Like all sons, he is preceded by his Father. The whole of this general teaching is summed up in the first verse of the New Testament:
"The book of the generation (or birth) of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1).
Now when this "Son" first appeared among men, how does he regard himself? There can be no doubt about the answer: Jesus always speaks of himself as subordinate to the Father, as dependent upon Him for all his teaching and all his works. These are some of his own sayings:
"The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do . . ." (John 5:19).
"My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me" (7:16).
"The Father is greater than I . . ." (14:28).
When he is accused by the Jews of "making himself God", he denies the charge and says, "I am the Son of God" (John 10:34-36). He even declines to allow himself to be called "good". When he is addressed as "good master", he replies:
"Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God" (Mark 10:18).
In his great prophecy uttered shortly before he was crucified, Jesus speaks of his own coming back to the earth to reign:
"Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory . . . But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:26,32).
When he has risen from the tomb, this is his message for the disciples:
"Go unto my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John 20:19).
There can be no doubt about the view held by Jesus himself: in everything the Father was superior; the Son was dependent upon Him.
The Origin of the Son
How Jesus came to exist is explained in simple terms in the Gospel of Luke. To Mary, a God-fearing virgin in Israel, herself a descendant of David the King, there appeared an angel with a very remarkable message:
"Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee . . . Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus (Saviour). He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David . . . and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:28-33).
Let us pause for a moment to appreciate the shock of surprise and then exhilaration that these words would provoke in her. She knew quite well the promise made to David over 900 years before. A descendant (son) of David would be the means of restoring the glory of the Kingdom of Israel, and of reconciling Israel to God. This was the long expected Messiah, and she was actually to be his mother. Her child was to reign on David's throne!
But then -- perplexity. Although Mary was betrothed to a God-fearing Israelite named Joseph, they were not yet married, and there could be no question of a child being born until they were. How then, Mary asks the angel, can this promise come to pass? The angel is quite explicit in his reply:
"The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (v.35).
To complete the picture, Matthew's Gospel gives us the matter as it appeared to Joseph, her future husband. Before they were married, Mary "was found with child of the Holy Spirit". Joseph would have been fully justified in repudiating his undertaking to marry her. But an angel had a message for him from God:
"Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for it is he that shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21, R.V.).
From this Joseph would understand that this child was to be the Messiah. The whole episode is concluded by Matthew's statement:
"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying (he quotes Isaiah's prophecy uttered 700 years before): 'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son; and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us' " (vv. 22-23).
These divine statements to Mary and Joseph contained the most momentous news. A child with a great destiny was to be born, for he would not only reign on David's throne for ever, but he would also "save his people from their sins". But the child's origin is clearly stressed. Mary is to be the mother, but Joseph is not to be the father. The child will be conceived because "the power of the Highest", "the Holy Spirit", will operate upon Mary to bring the marvel to pass. And so "a virgin shall conceive" and her son shall be called "the Son of God". This is the clear Bible teaching of the Virgin Birth of Christ.
Jesus, Son of Man
There is reluctance sometimes to accept the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, was fully a member of the human race. Some feel that to think of him as sharing our nature with all its weakness is to degrade him, and to throw doubt on his sinlessness.
Here again we must turn to the evidence of the Bible. We have seen already the clear record of his origin and his birth: Son of God, but also son of Mary. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians, puts it thus:
"When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (4:4, R.V.).
"Born under the Law" means that he was a male Israelite, living under the Law of Moses. Paul tells us why: "that he might redeem them which were under the law" (v.5). The Jews lived under a law that condemned them because they could not keep it without sinning. Jesus was born one of them, so that he could fully represent them in his work of redemption.
The Epistle to the Hebrews describes how Jesus had to be made "perfect through sufferings", so that he might be "the author of salvation" for those who are to be sons (and daughters) of God. For this reason "he that sanctifieth (Jesus) and they that are sanctified (the faithful) are all of one"; that is, are of the same nature. This is what he next declares, referring to the sons and daughters this time as "the children":
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise partook of the same" (Hebrews 2:10-14).
This is an explicit declaration that the nature of Jesus was exactly like that of his fellows, "flesh and blood". The writer goes on to tell us why this had to be:
"Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (vv. 17-18).
In short, Jesus, in order to carry out his great work of sacrifice for sin, had to be of the same nature as those he came to save; and in order to be a merciful high priest, he had to have experience of all their temptations. The point is put equally clearly in chapter 4, verse 15:
"For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but one that has been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
There is, however, a great reluctance to accept the idea that Jesus literally suffered all the temptations that we do. Some feel that to think of him as literally feeling temptation -- that is, the urge to commit sin -- is to defile him and to make him less than sinless. This, however, is a great mistake. There is a tremendous truth embodied in the living experience and the death of Jesus, and to this we must now turn.
Why was the Son of God born thus?
What was God's purpose in bringing His Son into the world in this way? The following statements will make it clear:
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus (Saviour): for it is he that shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
"God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us . . . For if, when we were enemies (that is, of God), we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Romans 5:8-10).
The clear message emerging from these sayings is that the work of Jesus, under the good hand of God his Father, was to be a sacrifice so that sin could be put away, men and women could be saved and reconciled to God. This is the great work of redemption in Christ. We need redemption; we need "saving", as the Bible puts it. For otherwise our situation is just as the Apostle Paul told those Ephesians theirs had been, when they did not yet know the Gospel:
"At that time you were without Christ . . . having no hope, and without God in the world" (2:12).
What a devastating verdict! Yet that is our case too -- "having no hope", apart from the work of God in Christ. That is why the Gospel of Christ is not a pleasant "optional extra", but vitally necessary if we are to escape the fate of eternal death.
The Vital Work of Christ
So we come to "the problem" (if we may call it that) which needed to be solved. Mankind cannot save itself from the consequences of sin, that is death. Yet God is "not willing that any should perish": in fact He desires "that all men should be saved" (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). Yet He cannot overlook sin, for that would be to abdicate His righteous authority in the world. So sin must be recognized, condemned, and conquered in such a way that men and women of earnest, sincere hearts can see the lesson, and acknowledge its truth for themselves. Men and women need a Redeemer who can achieve in himself, and on their behalf, what they in their weakness are unable to do.
So God manifests His only Son, begotten by the power of His Holy Spirit, yet fully a member of the human race. That Son experiences all the temptations of humanity, but firmly rejects them, and chooses to do, not his own will, but the will of the Father. It is vital for us to understand that Jesus made this decision entirely of his own will. He was not forced into it by God, or inevitably predisposed towards it by some preexistent consciousness in heaven. As the Epistle to the Hebrews puts it:
"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (1:9).
So, representing the human race, Christ conquered sin in that very nature, flesh and blood, where before it had triumphed: he reversed the original failure which led to the Fall, and, being himself sinless, was able to be offered as a sacrifice for sin. His death upon the Cross was the atonement for human sin. So God, having upheld His righteousness in condemning sin, could now in the abundance of His love and grace, extend forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with Himself to all those who will acknowledge His work in Christ.
If Jesus had, as part of the Godhead, already existed in heaven, it is inevitable that he would have been deeply influenced by that knowledge during his life as "Jesus of Nazareth". He would have known that his glorious resurrection and exaltation were certainties. He would not have needed, nor would he have been able, deliberately of his own will to choose to obey God in the face of the greatest natural pressures to please himself. His great conquest of sin, as a representative member of the human race, would not have been possible and the necessary atonement for sin would not have been achieved.
Understanding the truth about the nature and the experience of Jesus "in the days of his flesh" is absolutely essential if we are to understand God's work of redemption in him.
The Holy Spirit
The doctrine of "God the Holy Ghost" came very late into the Trinitarian theology of the 4th and 5th centuries. It was the last, after the Father and the Son, to be declared to be "God". The Apostles' Creed knows nothing of it; and its appearance in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds has, according to some authorities, the appearance of being "an afterthought".
The Bible's presentation of the Holy Spirit is very different. It is the power and influence by which God achieves His ends. In the beginning "the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters" and as a result the various acts of Creation came to pass. All living things, man and animals, says the Psalmist, depend upon God:
"Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth" (Psalm 104:29-30).
By His Spirit He sustains them all in life.
The prophets of old spoke their messages from God, not out of the inventions of their own minds, but because they were "holy men of God, moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). Jesus himself performed his great signs and spoke his words of life, because "God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38).
Nowhere do the descriptions of the activities of the Holy Spirit suggest that it is to be regarded as a person.
"Christ the Wisdom of God . . ."
That Son had to be fully a member of the human race, in order to be, not their substitute, but their total representative. Putting aside his natural desires, he chose to do the will of his Father. Thus sin was conquered in its own domain, human nature, and Jesus died as the vital atonement, "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world". Ever since, believing men and women have found in him forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.
The marvel is that this great work is still going on. We are far away in space and in time from the days of Jesus and the scenes of his witness. Yet in the great mercy of God we can still know and understand what he and his apostles had to say to those who were willing to listen. But only in the pages of the Bible, and nowhere else. These precious pages demand our earnest and sincere attention in reverence and humility, for where else shall we go? Like Jesus of old, they have "the words of eternal life".
Webster's 1961 new Collegiate Dictionary defines the Trinity as:
"trinity ...1. [cap.] Theol. The union of three persons or hypostases (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost) in one Godhead, so that all the three are one God as to substance, but three persons or hypostases as to individuality. 2. Any synbol of the Trinity in art. 3. Any union of three in one; a triad; as the Hindu trinity, or Trimurti."
Harold Lindshell and Charles Woodbridge in the "Handbook of Christian Faith" make the following claim: "The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who has tried to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind; but he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul."
However, it is a remarkable fact that the ideas contained in the Doctrine of the Trinity are not found in the Bible. This is not a new discovery. It has been known for a long time, right back in the 4th century of our era. More recent theologians have said so clearly. For example, the Anglican theologian J. H. Newman, who joined the Church of Rome in 1845, wrote:
". . . the doctrines (that is, concerning Father, Son and Holy Spirit) have never been learned merely from Scripture" (The Arians of the 4th Century, p.50).
Dr. W. R. Matthews, for many years Dean of St. Paul's, London, was more emphatic:
". . . the doctrine of the Trinity . . . formed no part of the original message. St. Paul knew it not, and would have been unable to understand the meaning of the terms used in the theological formula on which the Church ultimately agreed" (God in Christian Thought and Experience, p.180)
Many sincere admirers of Christ may well feel disturbed at this plain assertion that his great Apostle Paul knew nothing of the Doctrine of the Trinity!
How then did it arise?
To answer this question we need to know when it arose. The answer is: not till 300-400 years after the days of Jesus and his apostles. It is a striking fact that the "early Church Fathers" -- the theologians who wrote in the period 100-300 A.D. -- knew nothing of it, and frequently uttered opinions which contradict it. For the majority of them there was no question of Jesus' being "co-equal and co-eternal with the Father". He was subordinate to God his Father, and was regarded as a "created Being". The teachings which now make up the Doctrine of the Trinity were the decisions of a number of general Church Councils. These are the most significant:
325 A.D. First General Council at Nicea, declared that the Son was from the beginning of the same nature as the Father.
381 A.D. Second General Council at Constantinople, declared that the Holy Spirit was to be worshipped with the Father and the Son.
431 A.D. Third General Council at Ephesus, decreed that Jesus had two natures, a human and a divine; also that Mary was the "mother of God", in opposition to those who maintained that she was the "mother of Christ".
451 A.D. Fifth General Council at Chalcedon, decreed that the two natures in Christ constituted only one Person and one will.
The progressive formulation of the Doctrine of the Trinity over a considerable period of time, is clearly shown when the major creeds of the Church are compared:
The Apostles' Creed, certainly an early Creed though its exact date is unknown, expresses the relationship between Christ and God thus:
". . . God the Father Almighty . . . Jesus Christ His only Son . . . conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary . . ." After his resurrection Christ "ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead . . ."
This is in complete agreement with what the Bible says. But later creeds show many additions and a different view.
The Nicene Creed, 325 A.D., declares that Jesus Christ is
"the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds . . . God of God, Very God of Very God, being of one substance with the Father . . . The Holy Ghost with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified . . ."
The Athanasian Creed, of unknown date but certainly in existence soon after 500 A.D., is even more emphatic:
"We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity . . . there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate . . ." All are declared to be eternal, "yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal". The Creed concludes with the ominous statement: "He that will be saved must think thus of the Trinity."
The new teaching about the Godhead aroused much opposition from those who claimed to be holding the original beliefs. The result was bitter controversy for over a century between the church leaders. The decisions of the Church Councils in the 4th and 5th centuries were the actions of the Church authorities determined to suppress all "rebels". So the official Doctrine of the Trinity was elaborated and proclaimed, and its acceptance declared to be obligatory.
What does the Bible say?
Before Jesus Christ appeared, the writings of the Old Testament had for centuries been revered by the nation of Israel (the Jews) as the revelation of their God who had delivered them from Egypt at the Exodus. What impression had they gained about the nature of God? The answer is clear from the following quotation:
"Having affirmed the existence of God, Judaism really lays down only one basic idea about Him which is a recognised dogma -- the Unity of God. 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.' This is immediately a negation of the polytheism of the ancient world with its numerous deities. It is a repudiation of the idea that there are two gods or two creative sources of existence, one of good and the other of evil. It is also a clear denial of the idea of a trinity -- three gods in One which is the established doctrine of Christianity. For Judaism there can be absolutely no compromise at all in this fundamental concept of the Only One God who is the ultimate creative source of all life and death, the elements of nature and history and the power behind all forces, physical and spiritual" (C. Pearl and R. Brookes, A Guide to Jewish Knowledge, pp.96-97).
To this day the orthodox Doctrine of the Trinity remains a great obstacle for any Jew inquiring into the Christian religion.
In these days of hazy ideas we need to remind ourselves that the Old Testament we possess is the same collection of writings revered in Jesus' day as the word of God. Jesus himself described them as "the law, the psalms and the prophets" and said that in them were prophecies of himself. In Psalm 2 we read:
"Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (vv. 7-8).
Certain clear conclusions arise: God has anointed one who is to rule for Him ("my King") over all the nations of the earth. But he is God's Son, because he has been "begotten". The ruler is not God; he is the Son of God; and he began to exist on the day he was "begotten". Like all sons, he is preceded by his Father. The whole of this general teaching is summed up in the first verse of the New Testament:
"The book of the generation (or birth) of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1).
Now when this "Son" first appeared among men, how does he regard himself? There can be no doubt about the answer: Jesus always speaks of himself as subordinate to the Father, as dependent upon Him for all his teaching and all his works. These are some of his own sayings:
"The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do . . ." (John 5:19).
"My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me" (7:16).
"The Father is greater than I . . ." (14:28).
When he is accused by the Jews of "making himself God", he denies the charge and says, "I am the Son of God" (John 10:34-36). He even declines to allow himself to be called "good". When he is addressed as "good master", he replies:
"Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God" (Mark 10:18).
In his great prophecy uttered shortly before he was crucified, Jesus speaks of his own coming back to the earth to reign:
"Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory . . . But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:26,32).
When he has risen from the tomb, this is his message for the disciples:
"Go unto my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John 20:19).
There can be no doubt about the view held by Jesus himself: in everything the Father was superior; the Son was dependent upon Him.
The Origin of the Son
How Jesus came to exist is explained in simple terms in the Gospel of Luke. To Mary, a God-fearing virgin in Israel, herself a descendant of David the King, there appeared an angel with a very remarkable message:
"Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee . . . Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus (Saviour). He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David . . . and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:28-33).
Let us pause for a moment to appreciate the shock of surprise and then exhilaration that these words would provoke in her. She knew quite well the promise made to David over 900 years before. A descendant (son) of David would be the means of restoring the glory of the Kingdom of Israel, and of reconciling Israel to God. This was the long expected Messiah, and she was actually to be his mother. Her child was to reign on David's throne!
But then -- perplexity. Although Mary was betrothed to a God-fearing Israelite named Joseph, they were not yet married, and there could be no question of a child being born until they were. How then, Mary asks the angel, can this promise come to pass? The angel is quite explicit in his reply:
"The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (v.35).
To complete the picture, Matthew's Gospel gives us the matter as it appeared to Joseph, her future husband. Before they were married, Mary "was found with child of the Holy Spirit". Joseph would have been fully justified in repudiating his undertaking to marry her. But an angel had a message for him from God:
"Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for it is he that shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21, R.V.).
From this Joseph would understand that this child was to be the Messiah. The whole episode is concluded by Matthew's statement:
"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying (he quotes Isaiah's prophecy uttered 700 years before): 'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son; and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us' " (vv. 22-23).
These divine statements to Mary and Joseph contained the most momentous news. A child with a great destiny was to be born, for he would not only reign on David's throne for ever, but he would also "save his people from their sins". But the child's origin is clearly stressed. Mary is to be the mother, but Joseph is not to be the father. The child will be conceived because "the power of the Highest", "the Holy Spirit", will operate upon Mary to bring the marvel to pass. And so "a virgin shall conceive" and her son shall be called "the Son of God". This is the clear Bible teaching of the Virgin Birth of Christ.
Jesus, Son of Man
There is reluctance sometimes to accept the fact that Jesus, the Son of God, was fully a member of the human race. Some feel that to think of him as sharing our nature with all its weakness is to degrade him, and to throw doubt on his sinlessness.
Here again we must turn to the evidence of the Bible. We have seen already the clear record of his origin and his birth: Son of God, but also son of Mary. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians, puts it thus:
"When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (4:4, R.V.).
"Born under the Law" means that he was a male Israelite, living under the Law of Moses. Paul tells us why: "that he might redeem them which were under the law" (v.5). The Jews lived under a law that condemned them because they could not keep it without sinning. Jesus was born one of them, so that he could fully represent them in his work of redemption.
The Epistle to the Hebrews describes how Jesus had to be made "perfect through sufferings", so that he might be "the author of salvation" for those who are to be sons (and daughters) of God. For this reason "he that sanctifieth (Jesus) and they that are sanctified (the faithful) are all of one"; that is, are of the same nature. This is what he next declares, referring to the sons and daughters this time as "the children":
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise partook of the same" (Hebrews 2:10-14).
This is an explicit declaration that the nature of Jesus was exactly like that of his fellows, "flesh and blood". The writer goes on to tell us why this had to be:
"Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (vv. 17-18).
In short, Jesus, in order to carry out his great work of sacrifice for sin, had to be of the same nature as those he came to save; and in order to be a merciful high priest, he had to have experience of all their temptations. The point is put equally clearly in chapter 4, verse 15:
"For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but one that has been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
There is, however, a great reluctance to accept the idea that Jesus literally suffered all the temptations that we do. Some feel that to think of him as literally feeling temptation -- that is, the urge to commit sin -- is to defile him and to make him less than sinless. This, however, is a great mistake. There is a tremendous truth embodied in the living experience and the death of Jesus, and to this we must now turn.
Why was the Son of God born thus?
What was God's purpose in bringing His Son into the world in this way? The following statements will make it clear:
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus (Saviour): for it is he that shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
"God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us . . . For if, when we were enemies (that is, of God), we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (Romans 5:8-10).
The clear message emerging from these sayings is that the work of Jesus, under the good hand of God his Father, was to be a sacrifice so that sin could be put away, men and women could be saved and reconciled to God. This is the great work of redemption in Christ. We need redemption; we need "saving", as the Bible puts it. For otherwise our situation is just as the Apostle Paul told those Ephesians theirs had been, when they did not yet know the Gospel:
"At that time you were without Christ . . . having no hope, and without God in the world" (2:12).
What a devastating verdict! Yet that is our case too -- "having no hope", apart from the work of God in Christ. That is why the Gospel of Christ is not a pleasant "optional extra", but vitally necessary if we are to escape the fate of eternal death.
The Vital Work of Christ
So we come to "the problem" (if we may call it that) which needed to be solved. Mankind cannot save itself from the consequences of sin, that is death. Yet God is "not willing that any should perish": in fact He desires "that all men should be saved" (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). Yet He cannot overlook sin, for that would be to abdicate His righteous authority in the world. So sin must be recognized, condemned, and conquered in such a way that men and women of earnest, sincere hearts can see the lesson, and acknowledge its truth for themselves. Men and women need a Redeemer who can achieve in himself, and on their behalf, what they in their weakness are unable to do.
So God manifests His only Son, begotten by the power of His Holy Spirit, yet fully a member of the human race. That Son experiences all the temptations of humanity, but firmly rejects them, and chooses to do, not his own will, but the will of the Father. It is vital for us to understand that Jesus made this decision entirely of his own will. He was not forced into it by God, or inevitably predisposed towards it by some preexistent consciousness in heaven. As the Epistle to the Hebrews puts it:
"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (1:9).
So, representing the human race, Christ conquered sin in that very nature, flesh and blood, where before it had triumphed: he reversed the original failure which led to the Fall, and, being himself sinless, was able to be offered as a sacrifice for sin. His death upon the Cross was the atonement for human sin. So God, having upheld His righteousness in condemning sin, could now in the abundance of His love and grace, extend forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with Himself to all those who will acknowledge His work in Christ.
If Jesus had, as part of the Godhead, already existed in heaven, it is inevitable that he would have been deeply influenced by that knowledge during his life as "Jesus of Nazareth". He would have known that his glorious resurrection and exaltation were certainties. He would not have needed, nor would he have been able, deliberately of his own will to choose to obey God in the face of the greatest natural pressures to please himself. His great conquest of sin, as a representative member of the human race, would not have been possible and the necessary atonement for sin would not have been achieved.
Understanding the truth about the nature and the experience of Jesus "in the days of his flesh" is absolutely essential if we are to understand God's work of redemption in him.
The Holy Spirit
The doctrine of "God the Holy Ghost" came very late into the Trinitarian theology of the 4th and 5th centuries. It was the last, after the Father and the Son, to be declared to be "God". The Apostles' Creed knows nothing of it; and its appearance in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds has, according to some authorities, the appearance of being "an afterthought".
The Bible's presentation of the Holy Spirit is very different. It is the power and influence by which God achieves His ends. In the beginning "the spirit of God moved over the face of the waters" and as a result the various acts of Creation came to pass. All living things, man and animals, says the Psalmist, depend upon God:
"Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth" (Psalm 104:29-30).
By His Spirit He sustains them all in life.
The prophets of old spoke their messages from God, not out of the inventions of their own minds, but because they were "holy men of God, moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21). Jesus himself performed his great signs and spoke his words of life, because "God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38).
Nowhere do the descriptions of the activities of the Holy Spirit suggest that it is to be regarded as a person.
"Christ the Wisdom of God . . ."
That Son had to be fully a member of the human race, in order to be, not their substitute, but their total representative. Putting aside his natural desires, he chose to do the will of his Father. Thus sin was conquered in its own domain, human nature, and Jesus died as the vital atonement, "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world". Ever since, believing men and women have found in him forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.
The marvel is that this great work is still going on. We are far away in space and in time from the days of Jesus and the scenes of his witness. Yet in the great mercy of God we can still know and understand what he and his apostles had to say to those who were willing to listen. But only in the pages of the Bible, and nowhere else. These precious pages demand our earnest and sincere attention in reverence and humility, for where else shall we go? Like Jesus of old, they have "the words of eternal life".
Monday, 10 May 2010
The second coming of Jesus
A summary of the Bible Hour presentation at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 9th May 2010.
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
1. The fact of the second coming
There are many mentions throughout the Bible of Jesus’ second coming. For example:
Jesus taught it in plain speech, e.g. Matthew 16:27.
Jesus taught it in parables, e.g. Luke 19:11 onwards.
The apostles taught it, e.g. Peter (Acts 3:20,21); John (1 John 2:28); Paul (he mentions it in every chapter of both letters to the Thessalonians).
2. The nature of the second coming
Acts 1:11: The angels’ words to the disciples as they watched Jesus ascend into heaven: “This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
1 John 3:2: “We shall see him as he is.”
Revelation 1:7: “Every eye shall see him.”
Jesus’ second coming will be literal, personal and visible.
3. The reason for the second coming
To raise the dead – 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
To judge the living and the dead, to give eternal life to some and condemn others – John 5:28, 29; 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Corinthians 5:10 (those who are ignorant of the Gospel will not be judged, only those who have had the opportunity to respond to the Gospel).
To establish God’s kingdom – Luke 1:32,33; Jeremiah 3:17. We’re given lots of information about the kingdom of God, e.g. Isaiah 2:2-4, no more war; Amos 9:13, agricultural prosperity; Isaiah 65:21,22, housing for all.
4. The time of the second coming
No one knows the day or the hour, but there are clues:
Revelation 16:13-14, a time of unprecedented trouble in the world.
Revelation 16:15, he will come like a thief (behind the scenes, unbeknown to the world).
Zechariah 14:1-2, at a time of world conflict focused on Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 38:8-9 is a description of the modern state of Israel!
Zechariah 14:3-9, Jesus will reveal himself to the world and deliver Israel from its enemies.
5. The second coming and you
Revelation 16:15: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” Are you ready to meet Jesus when he returns?
This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.
1. The fact of the second coming
There are many mentions throughout the Bible of Jesus’ second coming. For example:
Jesus taught it in plain speech, e.g. Matthew 16:27.
Jesus taught it in parables, e.g. Luke 19:11 onwards.
The apostles taught it, e.g. Peter (Acts 3:20,21); John (1 John 2:28); Paul (he mentions it in every chapter of both letters to the Thessalonians).
2. The nature of the second coming
Acts 1:11: The angels’ words to the disciples as they watched Jesus ascend into heaven: “This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
1 John 3:2: “We shall see him as he is.”
Revelation 1:7: “Every eye shall see him.”
Jesus’ second coming will be literal, personal and visible.
3. The reason for the second coming
To raise the dead – 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
To judge the living and the dead, to give eternal life to some and condemn others – John 5:28, 29; 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Corinthians 5:10 (those who are ignorant of the Gospel will not be judged, only those who have had the opportunity to respond to the Gospel).
To establish God’s kingdom – Luke 1:32,33; Jeremiah 3:17. We’re given lots of information about the kingdom of God, e.g. Isaiah 2:2-4, no more war; Amos 9:13, agricultural prosperity; Isaiah 65:21,22, housing for all.
4. The time of the second coming
No one knows the day or the hour, but there are clues:
Revelation 16:13-14, a time of unprecedented trouble in the world.
Revelation 16:15, he will come like a thief (behind the scenes, unbeknown to the world).
Zechariah 14:1-2, at a time of world conflict focused on Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 38:8-9 is a description of the modern state of Israel!
Zechariah 14:3-9, Jesus will reveal himself to the world and deliver Israel from its enemies.
5. The second coming and you
Revelation 16:15: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” Are you ready to meet Jesus when he returns?
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