Is Jesus' Teaching in the Gospels and the Old Testament irrelevant To Us?-Defense of Scriptures series Part 2

Will start this off by posting a post by a mentor-Rev. Gideon Odoma(an experienced Christian Apologist). This means I would not need to write on the old testament being valid. Here goes


JESUS EVERYWHERE... THE GOSPEL IN EVERY BLOC
It is okay to say you cannot see or preach the Gospel from the 4 gospels and/or from the Old Testament But,Never say the Gospel is not there in the old Testament and in the 4 gospels.

Long before the New Testament was written, the followers of Jesus Christ preached the gospel and saw people come to the faith in their thousands, by the power of the Spirit — using the scriptures they had — which we now call the old Testament. Beginning from the day of Pentecost, the Apostles witnessed for Jesus using the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament).

To come up 2 millennia later and tell us the gospel is to be seen only in the epistles is inordinately audacious and enormously mistaken.

See:
Acts 17:2 And Paul, AS HIS MANNER WAS, went in unto them, and three sabbath days REASONED WITH THEM OUT OF THE SCRIPTURES (Old Testament),
3 Opening and alleging, that CHRIST MUST NEEDS HAVE SUFFERED, AND RISEN AGAIN FROM THE DEAD; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
It was the manner or custom of Paul to do what we are told he did in the passage above.

Acts 18: 28 For he (Apollos) mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, SHEWING BY THE SCRIPTURES THAT JESUS WAS CHRIST... (Scriptures here also means the Old Testament)

Acts 26:22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I (Paul) continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, SAYING NONE OTHER THINGS THAN THOSE WHICH THE PROPHETS AND MOSES DID SAY SHOULD COME: 23 THAT CHRIST SHOULD SUFFER, AND THAT HE SHOULD BE THE FIRST THAT SHOULD RISE FROM THE DEAD, AND SHOULD SHEW LIGHT UNTO THE PEOPLE, AND TO THE GENTILES.

These people had only the Old Testament scriptures and the Holy Spirit at the time, and they shone brilliantly with/in the gospel.True, it is not surprising that the earliest followers of Jesus preached the gospel using the Old Testament.

Consider Jesus' use of the Old Testament:

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES THE THINGS CONCERNING HIMSELF. (Scriptures here obviously refers to the old Testament)

Jesus believed in the veracity of the Old Testament and it's relevance in the ministry of the gospel so much that He had to open the understanding of His disciples so they could understand the Old Testament. If the Old Testament are not crucial for understanding the gospel, Jesus would not do this, as we are clearly told here:

Luke24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that ALL THINGS MUST BE FULFILLED, WHICH WERE WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF MOSES, AND IN THE PROPHETS, AND IN THE PSALMS, CONCERNING ME.
45 Then OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES,

Prior to this time, Jesus had charged the Jews:

John 5:39: SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES (Old Testament); for in them ye think ye have eternal life: AND THEY (the old Testament scriptures) ARE THEY WHICH TESTIFY OF ME.
The burden of all of scripture is to bear witness, to testify of Jesus.

If you can't see Jesus and His gospel in any bloc of Scriptures, it is due to your personal deficiency and/or incompetence. It is not because Jesus is not objectively there in every bloc of scripture. He is there!The scriptures, all of it, testify of Jesus.

If you see Jesus only in the epistles, fair. Better than to not see Him at all. But please, don't ever belittle or deny the power of the rest blocs of scripture as competent and proper locations for encountering Jesus and His gospel.

Is Jesus' Teaching in the Gospels and the Old Testament irrelevant To Us?- Part 1

Some have taken it upon themselves, in my opinion at least,  to put Jesus teachings on trial.

They have come to the conclusion that Jesus words and teachings were not directed to the new testament believer. Hailing the teachings of Paul in the Epistle and also giving approval to the teachings of Peter and John. Their judgement on this issue, is that the teachings of Jesus in the gospels should be viewed or validated from the lens of the revelations that Paul, Peter and John shared.

In fact I read a part of an article by a man I respect(ed) in which he wrote on this issue(I have no way of verifying but I think he is the source of this position)

Read His words:

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 regard 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. 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 Covenant people, the New Creation folks.

To say I disagree with this position will be an understatement. I find this position most revolting and had to send it to some other friends of mine in sincere hope, that I might have misunderstood his comments.

I was left shocked by it, and couldn't believe that this position was held by this man(whom I will choose not to name). I will, however, use his words above as the material for my post in defense of what Jesus taught and preached but I have only one question to ask, How do we as believers, come to put the words of a follower above the master himself? Has the disciple become greater than the master? Can the very word made flesh not speak to all of humanity? In Some of his statements, Jesus even "re-wrote" the law, He said it has been said but I say on to you. Statements that point to his Divinity but more on this later

Some others have advised that we throw away the old testament and the four gospels. Basically saying, that a new testament believer has nothing to learn from the old testament.

Today, I am at loss as to which issue I should address first or if I can handle the two topics in one post. Still undecided.

I can not give a short response to the two positions but will attempt a more robust response on these issues later. I know, I run the risk of making this post a long one so I will just drop this first and continue in another post. However, if you are unable to read my continuing post,

here is something to consider.

For those who say that Jesus preached the law:
 For the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. -John 1:17
The law and the prophets were UNTIL John(The baptist):...Luke 16:16 Jesus was after John the Baptist.

As for their take on the Old testament being invalid, I can only borrow the very words of Paul in 1 Timothy 3:16:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  

When Paul wrote this the scriptures he spoke about was the Torah,which is what we call the OLD TESTAMENT.

A detailed post will come later but I hope this gets us thinking a bit. 

Accessing the Light of Scriptures

I really don't know if bible study materials is the best way to go. I could keep the usual style of writing articles but I just thought I should try this.

Text: 1 Cor. 2 &3

Introduction

There is light that can be gained from the study of Scriptures. Ps. 119:105 and In continuation of our last week study on the Necessity of light, we this week focused on who we ought to be to  access the light of Scriptures.

Many times when we are taught how to study the BIble; greater emphasis is laid on the techniques/principles or materials needed for study of the Bible than on the person studying it.

 While having  the correct principles for Biblical interpretation is very important, it is of greater importance to first establish what kind of person we ought to be to accurately interprete or understand the Bible. 

*Points of Study*

1. There are 4 different sources of wisdom listed from 1 Corinthians 2. They are: Human Wisdom, Wisdom of this world, The wisdom of the Princes of this world and the Wisdom of God.

 2. To state clearly, who we are as we study the word, is more important than the principles we employ in its study. Luke 8:10.

Knowing Greek, Hebrew, the contextual meaning of a phrase and the historical setting of a scriptural truth is good but beyond all this, the individual who is studying the Bible is of greater importance.

4. The wrong man using the right principles to study will still not receive the right result. The Pharisees searched the scriptures, as well as the Berean Christians, but did not derive profit for the did not come to Jesus. John 5:39; Acts 17:11

5. There are 3 different kinds of people that we will consider in the study of Scriptures.

a. The Natural Man or unbeliever: 1 Cor. 2:14.

Characteristics of the natural man are: he is unregenerated, does not have the spirit of God and cannot understand the things of God.

b. Carnal Man: 1 Cor. 3:1; Heb. 5:11-14 characteristics: he has God's life or is born again. He is regenerated but does not walk according to God's Spirit. He is a Babe in Christ and can only take milk. Do not exercise themselves in the study of God's word.

Nb. Just as milk is first digested by the mother before being made available to the baby, so these receive revelation through others and are not able to gain more than the basic revelation from God's word.  

c. The Spiritual Man: Characteristics: he is regenerated. Walks by the spirit. He can access the full benefits of the word of God.

Prayer Point.

1. May God give us the right kind of heart to accept the word and profit maximally from God's word.

Next week we will seek to explore in detail the various kinds of men

IN DEFENCE OF THE VALIDITY OF SCRIPTURES

We were in a group on Facebook and some one made a post below:

"In summary, fixation on the bible can make that bible a distraction for any child of God who is mature. The word of God in the bible has led us to the WORD of God who dwells within us. If the bible will drown out the WORD within, then a mature Christian should discard the bible and follow the WORD within. Discard the Bible as a mature Christian and follow the Spirit as the bible is irrelevant and a distraction"

When this was posted "all hell was let loose".

Brethren started turning PLOWSHARES into SWORDS and PRUNINGHOOKS into SPEARS . Some brought out machine guns, some den guns "Chaka Bula" other pulled out catapult. Any weapon possible was drawn out. Some could not handle it they took to a retreat to go and pray and fast and study in the day of battle. Some who had no weapons and ammunition went to go and borrow from Fathers of Old :Martin Luther them, Charles Spurgeon, Tyndale, Wycliffe etc Some sat back to watch this drama unfold before their eyes with popcorn and drinks by the side, while some simply clicked the exit button and left the group.

The debate continued for close to a week.

THEN all of a sudden out of nowhere Someone for the very first time of our being held ransom dropped a TOMAHAWK MISSILE that settled it.

Read his comment below and Praise God for this gift given to us on this day. 

"This is a logical fallacy, and you know it. It is called a false dichotomy. You make it look like the (mature) Christian has to choose between 2 options when in fact there are more than 2 options. You make it look like it is either 

1. the bible 

or 

2. the spirit.  

Well, there are more than those 2 options:

3. THE BIBLE & THE SPIRIT.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. He used the scripture in His engagement with the tempter. Are we to assume it was not the Spirit that animated those words of the scriptures in His spirit at that moment? Why didn't he use His direct access to the Father to get a response for the tempter. Why take the pains of saying "IT IS WRITTEN "? Why didn't He just use the scripture without the "it is written" bit?  

The Apostles in acts 6 said "we will give ourselves CONTINUALLY to PRAYER and to the STUDY OF THE WORD." You have found a new truth they never knew. Yea!!

Turn it on its head. 
Colour it.
Embellish it.
Reword it.
Spice it. 
And temper it all you want.

So long as the grain of your position is that at some point (of maturity) a Christian can discard the Bible for the Spirit, you will be taking a position alien to that of Jesus, the first Apostle's, the patristic fathers and the Christian community through the centuries. 
 
You are all on your OWN (OYO) all by your self.

And what will be next to be discarded (by the mature) after the bible? 

It is a brave new world!
                                       - Gideon Odoma​

THE NECESSITY OF LIGHT-BIBLE STUDY

Text: Gen. 1:4; 2 Sam. 22:29; Ps. 28:9; Job 29:1-4

Introduction

Why was it important for God to have light before He could begin creation? We know that it is an established  fact that He knows what is in darkness (Dan. 2:22). Darkness and Light are the same to Him(Ps. 139:11-12). Yet in creation; He first commanded light to emerge out of darkness. 

Outline 

1.  There are various sources of light by which men may walk. - Rev. 22:5

2. In the tabernacle there was Sunlight ( natural or Human wisdom) that provided illumination for those in the outer court. In the Holy place there was the lampstand( written word) that provided illumination while in the most Holy place, the presence of God provided light.

3. The light by which a man walks determines his discernment and judgement of issues.

4. Every man must come under the light  of life- John 1:4-5. 

5. Things come under judgement as there true nature is  revealed under the brilliance of the light of God. When men's life come under this light we will discover our true state like Isaiah did in Isa. 6:1-2

6. Light is that which reveals the true nature of a thing. Without the true light, our judgements of matters will not be accurate.

7. When God sort a help meet for Adam, He presented Adam first with all the animals to see what he would call them. It took the light within Adam for him to discern the true nature of each animal before him and he also named his wife after awaken from a deep sleep, this meant his mind was unfruitful in naming Eve also.

8. Our great need for light by which we  can navigate through darkness is great at a time when various wisdom are coming forth.

Prayer Point

1. Grant us the wisdom we need for every area of our life.

THE GOSPEL UNVIELED.........Part 1

Note from the Writer:

Dear Silent Reader (or at least I hope there is a reader out there not just individuals who click the links and move on.) I started a write up that I would like to share with you. Its different from my other writings in the past but I would like to bounce it off you to get a feel of what you think. I began to write on my understanding of the gospel and the work of grace in the life of a believer. I have written 5 pages only but I really would like to know what people think and also if it would be something you would like me to publish on this blog. The extract is below...Please get back to me on what you think. Thanks

Many have taken up different aspects of the gospel as an emphasis that God intends for man. While I agree that God intends for man to be prosperous, healthy and enjoy other benefits in life, the emphasis of the gospel does NOT end only in the well-being of man.  Many preach a gospel that lays great emphasis on meeting the needs of men but I would like us to examine the scriptures again to determine what God sort to emphasize.

The fall of Man

According to Economics the basic need of man is Food, clothing and shelter. This clearly were not the basic needs of man until man fell in the Garden of Eden. In the book of Genesis, all the basic needs of man were provided for before Adam was created.

 His food was available before he was even created according to Gen. 1:29-30, man was clothed in the glory of God and never knew shame from being naked (Gen. 2:25), and his shelter was in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8).

The story became different after the fall. Man now had to sweat in order to produce food to eat (Gen. 3:19), the glory of God that covered him was withdrawn and man realized his nakedness (Rom. 3:23, Gen. 3:10-11) and finally man was thrown out of the Garden, which was his shelter (Gen. 3:23-24). So Food, clothing and shelter became the basic needs of man, after the fall of man and not before.

What then did God create man for, If not to work for his food, clothing and shelter? The answer lies in fellowship with God and the exercise of dominion upon the earth. At this point let me explain briefly that the dominion that God actually intended that Adam express on the earth, is to be able to access the mind and will of God in the heavens and implement it in the earth. God’s intention was not for man to God around like the chieftain of the world without referring or gaining direction from God. Adam was God’s enforcer upon the earth to establish God’s Kingdom upon the earth. Adam was to mirror the government of God in the heavens and execute same upon the earth. In fact the greatest Adam could do was to seek to accurately mirror what he saw in heaven. It is not about commanding your world to align to your every whip and desire, if we are to exercise dominion, our cry should be, THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. He was called like Moses to function according to what he saw in Gods Kingdom. Man was called to keep the garden and tend it. To keep implies to protect or safe guard, while tending means to maintain or make continuous improvements. I will stop here on this.

The implication of that which man was commissioned to do in the exercise of dominion means that man must maintain vital communication with God, in order to replicate His will and Kingdom upon the earth. Hence, his strongest asset was his connection to God and ability to communicate with heaven. This was what Satan targeted in his temptation of man, knowing that if man loses his vital communication with God, he can develop according to the will and design of another. Hence, when Adam sinned man was cut off from his life source which is God. That separation from God is what God spoke about in Gen. 2:17, when he said that man will surely die

To be continued....... 

Lets Think: WHO DID CAIN MARRY AFTER HE KILLED ABEL?

Who did Cain marry after he was cursed? Were there other humans on the earth?

Have you ever been asked this question? Or maybe you have wondered about this secretly.

Wondering how Cain could have found a wife after killing his brother and leaving the only other two individuals who were on the earth. You may have accepted this by faith before now and boldly declared your trust even though your understanding was unfruitful. I commend you on this because I too have tried to explain this, in an all too unsatisfactory way, in the past.

Let me try to help your faith by helping provide what I believe is a clear answer from scriptures. This will equip you to answer this question in a world that increasingly distances herself from what they consider mere 'faith'.

So here goes.

The scriptures rightly says that Cain left His parents and established a civilization and got married but please note that it did not state the time it took for all these events to take place. It also does not provide us with any detail on Cain's age so we can try to predict how long it took for this to happen. This is a very telling fact in providing a response to the question posed above.

You see, most times because we read biblical events that occur immediately after the other in their narrative, we fail to appreciate how much time may have passed between one sentence or verse in the bible to the next sentence or verse.Between the time it took Cain to leave and when he married, several years must have passed.In fact enough time for Adam and Eve to have given birth to Seth and other sons and DAUGHTERS (Gen. 5:4). I also believe that even the DAUGHTERS born to Adam had enough time to give birth to other DAUGHTERS and so on, enough for Cain to be spoiled for choices, when he decided to get married.

In case you are wondering why I can boldly make the above statement, consider that these people lived very much longer lives than we live today! From scripture their average lifespan, haven't calculated but I think you can accommodate a guess here, was more than 700years! With that kind of time on your hands you would be a mere 'teenager' at 100 years of age! After-all, Noah had enough strength in him to build an ark at close to 600.

So if we agree up to this point, can you then agree that if Cain killed Abel at 20 years for example. Adam's descendants had more than enough time to multiply, even by our standard, for him to get a bride or several choices of brides.

Think about this.