In this feature we include brief articles designed to promote the understanding of the Bible and the history of the Church thereby enabling viewers to engage in active, critical analysis of specific issues. We will be adding additional material so visit again.
God
The Bible states that God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4, I Corinthians 8:6). The question is�one what?
The first Christians recognized the deity of Jesus following his resurrection. This undoubtedly challenged their understanding of the nature of God and exactly how Jesus of Nazareth could be so. What was the understanding of the apostles in this matter?
Jesus of Nazareth
Throughout the Apostolic Age the early Church of God, the qehal'el, celebrated the Passover, the Lord's Supper, on the fourteenth day of Nisan, determined by the priestly calendar, as did the Jewish community. Nevertheless, the early Church kept a New Passover, or a Christian Passover, that is, the annual memorial instituted by Jesus of Nazareth the evening before his execution, at the end of the thirteenth day and into the evening portion of the fourteenth not at the end of the fourteenth day as did the Jews.
The execution of Jesus of Nazareth, by nailing him to a cross, occurred on Nisan 14. The exact date of Jesus� crucifixion has been of great interest because his death and teachings profoundly affected the foundations of western culture. Can we know with certainty the year and day of the week of his crucifixion and resurrection? What can we know and how can we know it?
Christians
The Greek word �kkles�a, translated �church� in English language editions of the New Testament, means �assembly,� �congregation,� �group of people,� or the �community� but not a building or assembly hall. Its derivation is from the association of two Greek words �k denoting �out of" and kale�n meaning �to call.� In a literal sense �kkles�a referred to a class of individuals �assembled� or �called together.�
The apostles taught that entering the New Covenant, and thereby becoming part of the Church, was not a matter of absolute free choice, but that each individual had to encounter God in his or her own order. To be converted one had to receive an invitation in the form of an irrevocable personal calling (Romans 11:29) directly from God the Father (John 6:44, 6:65).
Ritual immersion, that is baptism from baptiso meaning to immerse, was a practice in first-century Judaism. The Pharisees used it in converting Gentiles to Judaism. A proselyte had to undergo ritual baptism, consisting of full immersion in water, to be admitted to the Mosaic Covenant as a proselyte of the gate.
This issue inflames many Christians who deeply believe that once one accepts Jesus Christ he or she is forever saved. Is this the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and the apostles?
The Church and Its History
The Church of God, or more accurately the Congregation of God, is the formal proper noun rendering of ekklesia tou Theou. It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew qehal'el, or qehal �eloh�m, usually translated church of God in the English editions of the New Testament, referring to a class or assemblage of the people of God who have been "assembled" or "called together."
The church entered the Apostolic Age as a Jewish institution under the leadership of the apostles. It first developed into an extended Judeo-Christian community oriented toward Jerusalem and then into a monotheistic religion in its own right. By the end of the Apostolic Age it was on its way to becoming a Greco-Roman Gentile institution. While some authors end the Apostolic Age with the CE 70 destruction of Jerusalem its conclusion came with the second Jewish revolt (CE 132�135).
The normal pattern of corporate worship illustrated in the New Testament included meeting on the seventh day Sabbath, beginning sunset Friday through sunset Saturday, and related to the Christian Passover and the seven annual Sabbaths (Acts 13:14; 13:42; 13:44; 16:13; Hebrews 14:9). The occasion of other meetings in the New Testament are incidental exceptions not the rule. The seven annual Sabbaths, in the apostolic hermeneutic, provided the early Church of God a symbolic outline of God's plan of salvation (Colossians 2:16-17).
There are two annual Sabbaths, or holy days, during the days of unleavened bread. The first holyday, or chief Sabbath, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The second holyday, or second chief Sabbath, is the seventh day of unleavened bread. If Luke 6:1-2 refers to this second of the seven annual Sabbaths when placed in context it would demonstrate that the feast of John 5:1 was a Passover festival. John's gospel would then identify four consecutive Passovers in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. His ministry would then have lasted not less than 3 1/2 years.
Page last edited: 04/13/06 07:52 PM
|
starting web/internet resource by the
