Sunday, 20 August 2017

Is Jesus' Teaching in the Gospels and the Old Testament irrelevant To Us?- PART 2



As I promised, I will use the quote below as a basis for this piece.

I was shocked to read what a well known Christian Author wrote; here is the quote again:
The word alone, as unveiled in the Pauline Revelation is the only safe guide. Don’t misunderstand me. You cannot be guided by the teachings of John the Baptist and of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels in regards to any experience, unless that teaching of the four gospels is confirmed, explained, elucidated in the Pauline revelation or with Peter’s and John’s unveiling in their epistles.

He goes on to say:
In the four gospels, Jesus is dealing almost exclusively with the Jews, the first covenant people, who were natural men, spiritually dead. In the Pauline revelation, he is dealing almost exclusively with the new creation folks.

First of all the position held by the above writer that what Jesus said, He spoke to almost exclusively to the Jews, is not correct. His life and ministry extended to the entire mankind.  In fact what he taught would have been extremely difficult for any natural man to keep.

For example, under the law, Moses spoke about committing fornication as a sin but when Jesus came on the scene He elevated this sin to include looking at a woman lustfully.

The writer of Hebrews also disagrees with this writer’s position too, hear him:

Heb 1:1- 2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Notice the emphasis I added to the US?

Unlike the writer quoted, the author of Hebrews does not express any concerns that some of what Jesus will not apply to him now that he is a new creature.

That “us” means that the writer included himself as one of those that God was speaking to through his son, Jesus.  We can safely deduce that the writer of Hebrews was not a natural man or spiritually dead, yet in his comment he did not deny any part of what God said through Jesus as not being almost exclusively referred to him. He says clearly that God has spoken to us, the writer inclusive, without any almost exclusive statement as used by the writer above.

Also with this claim that some things Jesus said as not almost exclusively to us, we are then left with the difficult choice of discovering which statement of Jesus should we discard as not referring to us and which should we accept? The writer of Hebrews clearly tells us that such a choice is not for us to make, because God hath spoken to us through his son.

I will show the error in this position quoted above by admitting to evidence the testimony of several very credible witnesses.

First witness: The witness of God the Father.
My first witness against the position above is the testimony of God Himself on the mount of transfiguration

To subject Jesus teachings to be validated by the Pauline and other epistles is, in my opinion, equivalent to making the same grave mistake that God intervened in order to stop Peter from making, on the mountain of transfiguration.

Peter sought to create 3 tabernacles, One for Jesus, One for Moses and one for Elijah. This would have made it needful for those who sought to hear the perspective of the law to have the Law giver available to consult and those who sought after the prophetic to find Elijah available.

Luk 9:35-36 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son:
hear him.  And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.

And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had.

God had to interrupt this heavenly vision and withdraw his delegates in order to present Jesus as the only one they should pay attention to. God made it clear that Jesus was his approved voice to be heard. God says …. Hear Him!

Moses represented the law and Elijah represented the Prophets but God points us to His Son and declares His approval of him, instructing us to hear Him. Hallelujah! 

to be continued...

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