The gift of teaching is a divine enablement to clearly and effectively explain the truth of the Word of God so that others may make practical use and application of the truth in their lives.
I stress the words "divine enablement" here especially, even though all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given only by divine enablement. The difference here is that many people are born with a "natural" talent to teach, but that does not mean that the Holy Spirit has determined that He will give them the "supernatural" talent to teach the truth of the Word of God. A teacher with "natural" abilities can teach on any subject effectively; a teacher with supernatural ability from God is given that ability specifically to effectively teach the truth of the Word and that ability changes lives, it doesn't just effectively relay information.
On the other hand, there is nothing that says the Holy Spirit might not, should he choose to do so, supernaturally enable a natural born teacher to also teach spiritual truths. Unfortunately, there are many teachers in Sunday schools and churches attempting to teach the Word of God without that divine enablement and who should not be in that position of teaching others because even though they are perhaps teachers in the natural realm, God has not ordained them to teach in the supernatural realm.
When one is supernaturally gifted to teach, what will be seen is the fruit of that teaching: those who hear it will not only understand it, but will know exactly what needs to be done to apply it practically and immediately in their lives. The distinguishing difference between being supernaturally gifted and being naturally gifted is the same common denominator found in all the gifts of the Spirit: lives are transformed. The gifted teacher will relay the truth of God's Word in such a way that the ones hearing it (with the exception of those who are resistant to receiving from the Lord) will not only understand the truth, perhaps for the first time, but will also takes steps necessary to incorporate that knowledge of the truth into their lives. The end result will be obedience to God in areas where obedience was lacking, usually because of ignorance. And once they have experienced the change in their lives, they are then able to "teach" others something in that area as well.
Spirit-enabled teachers often function in the prophetic gift as well, as they are both speaking gifts having to do with the Word of God and therefore closely related. But if the primary gifting is teaching, there will be an extraordinary desire to delve into the Word of God. When a gifted teacher reads the Word, a simple reading of it will generate much deeper study, as one word in a scripture perhaps will generate a curiosity to dig deeper into the Bible for related passages to strengthen or clarify the understanding. Teachers spend hours in the Word, and are joyful to be able to do so. But the motivation for these hours of studying is to teach others so that lives can be "transformed by the renewing" of minds by the knowledge of the truth of God's Word.
Teachers are master Bereans, even though we are all called to be Bereans (Acts 17:10-12).
But, as I have said before, we are to all function to some degree in all of the gifts, even though one will be our primary gifting. The writer of Hebrews rebuked the Jews that he was writing to telling them that while they should have been teachers by now, instead they were still in need of being taught themselves (Hebrews 5:12). The Great Commission that Jesus has given to the church involves teaching (communicating the Good News). Matthew 28:20: "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…"
We have seen that the elders are to be "apt" to teach (1 Timothy 3:2); this indicates being "gifted" to teach. Older women are to teach the younger women and children and should be always teachers "of good things" (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14-15; Titus 2:3-5). Teaching is essential to the proper communicating of the truth of God as it is passed on from one to another: "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). We should all be communicating the Good News whenever and wherever we have opportunity to do so.
But there is a also strong warnings given in James 3:1 and in 1 Timothy 4:1-3. The key to determining whether one is a true teacher of truth or a false teacher is to observe whether they practice what they teach, or whether, as the false teachers do, teach something that they themselves do not do. This is warning to us all. If we go about "teaching" what we ourselves have not learned and applied to our own lives, then we are "teaching" to be seen of men, not teaching the truth of the Word of God, and have shown ourselves to be false teachers. We teach others what we ourselves have learned, experienced and are witnesses of, and ALL according to the truth of the Word of God. To teach something based only on our experience is NOT to teach the truth, as all has to be founded upon the truth of God. Dr. John Stott, biblical scholar and teacher, said: "Experience without truth is the menace of a mindless Christianity."
If you have been primarily gifted by the Holy Spirit in the gift of teaching, you will have strongly identified with the descriptions given herein. If none of the postings so far have resonated with you, have no fear; there are more gifts to study.
Acts 4:36 "And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation ), a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and laid it at the apostles' feet."
The Greek word for "consolation" (translated "encouragement" in the NIV) is "paraklesis" and the definitions or synonyms of it are:
Calling near, supplication, importation, entreaty, exhortation, admonition, encouragement, consolation, comfort, solace, that which affords comfort or refreshment.
It is that which is produced by THE COMFORTER, the Holy Spirit, and Barnabas, a member of the priestly tribe of the Levites, was gifted in exhortation or encouragement through the Holy Spirit; and so impressively so, that the apostles changed his name to Barnabas.
It is interesting that his gifting was very observable by the apostles, as it also often happens with us. We might want to believe that our gift lies in one particular area, when in reality, what is observed by our church family (as evidenced by our fruits) is a different gift altogether. It's good to allow this confirmation by others of our gifting. If we get rigidly determined that our gift is "this" and yet the church as a whole easily observes it to be "that", we then have to guard against our rigidness being pride or covetousness for a particular gift on our part, when, in fact, the Holy Spirit is trying to lead us into another gifting altogether different. And we will find, of course, that we will function in a way both optimally beneficial to other and optimally fulfilling to ourselves when we submit to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
By "fulfilling to ourselves", I mean that while there might be hard work and long hours involved in the ministry produced by the gift (as Paul experienced for example), it will never be burdensome; we will rejoice in having opportunity to function as that inner compulsion of the Holy Spirit leads us to do.
To further clarify, I have observed women who function in a ministry right alongside their husbands, but who do not have the same gifting as their husbands. Because these women are not operating in the gifts the Holy Spirit has given to them specifically, they are unhappy or stressed by the ministry they are involved in, when if they would just trust in the gift God has given them, and function in that primarily, they would have much more peace and joy in their lives. We wives enjoy the God-given desires to be a "help-meet" to our husbands, but He has also placed us as a specifically-gifted member of the body of Christ in order to edify that body, and we are not to neglect one over the other. The Lord will show us, if we ask, how we are to fulfill both, and when we begin to function more properly, there will be no burden.
Remember also, that we are trying to determine what our "primary" gift is, and that we all will function somewhat in all the gifts, but we will be easily identified, as Barnabas was, by our primary gift and it is in that gift that we should spend the greater part of our time ministering in.
Someone with the gift of exhortation is extremely gracious to others, always wanting the best for them, always encouraging others to walk uprightly and according to the Word. This is a form of teaching, in a sense, and those whose primary gift is exhortation might have a secondary gifting in teaching, but you will see later on that teaching, as a primary gift, is distinguishable by other things as well. But one gifted primarily as a teacher may not necessarily have the gift of exhortation or encouragement; in other words, they are not identified as being encouragers primarily, they are identified as being teachers primarily.
Exhorters are a wonderful gift to the body of Christ. They will work alongside of people encouraging their spiritual maturity and obedience to the Lord, praying for it, holding them up as they walk towards that goal together. An exhorter will try to help the other person see where they went wrong so that they do not repeat the same mistakes again. They are good counselors. They love others easily and are easy to love in return
Encouragers will also, however, at some point, "shake the dust off their feet" and move on, in a sense, if after some reasonable period of time they do not see a serious commitment to obedience and spiritual maturity in those that they are ministering to. They are compassionate, gracious and longsuffering, but they have their limits, and would rather move on to someone who truly wants to change rather than waste precious time on someone who does not; for there are still so many others who need encouragement to grow and produce fruit. (This is unlike those with the gift of mercy, as we will see later.)
Paul was an exhorter (Acts 14:21-22); Judas and Silas though primarily gifted as prophets also operated in the gift of exhortation (Acts 15:31-32); Peter exercised this gift (1 Peter 5:1-2); and we are all called to exhort one another (Hebrews 10:25.)
But Barnabas was an extraordinary example of one having the primary gifting of exhortation:
He helped the saints in need by selling some property he owned and laying the money at the apostles' feet for distribution to the saints (Acts 4:37); being willing to even deny himself financially for the sake of others;
He stood up for one who was considered a renegade and untrustworthy, sponsoring and endorsing Paul to the Christians in Jerusalem, going so far as arranging the meeting himself, showing the degree of faith he placed in Paul when others had no faith in him at all (Acts 9:27);
He was willing to give Mark, an undisciplined youth, a second chance. While Paul and Barnabas disagreed rather vehemently about traveling any further with Mark after he showed his irresponsibility and neglected to show up, Paul being primarily gifted in prophecy and thinking only of the work, moved on without either Barnabas or Mark. But Barnabas, in his primary gifting of exhortation, thought of Mark and saw something in the young man that he thought just needed some compassionate guidance; so he began working with him and training him so that eventually Paul came to say of Mark: "Take Mark and bring him with thee; for he is profitable to me for the ministry." (2 Timothy 4:11);
He was such an encourager of men, preferring others above himself, that whereas their ministry began as Barnabas and Paul, the two soon became known as Paul and Barnabas, a fact which never even flustered Barnabas;
When Gentiles began to be converted by the preaching going on in Antioch, the elders of the church in Jerusalem elected Barnabas to go check it out: "Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people were added unto the Lord." (Acts 11:23-24) – he wasn't put off by foreigners (Gentiles) receiving from the Lord, he was ecstatic;
And, knowing that the new converts would need a good teacher, he went in search of Paul and brought him back with him to Antioch, remaining with him for a year, as Paul taught them about the Lord. (Acts 11:25-26)
Exhortation does not use words of sharp admonition (as a prophet might tend to do) as much as it uses words of healing and grace; it does not condone sin while it helps show how sin can be avoided in future. Exhortation is most often used one-on-one, versus as a public discourse.
To recap, exhorters come alongside to help, to encourage new believers, to comfort the ill, to counsel those gone off track, to strengthen the wavering.
Thus, just as the Holy Spirit is an instrument of help, so the Spirit uses this gift to make us instruments of encouragement to fellow saints.
"He that speaketh in an unkown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church." 1 Cor. 14:4
There are prophets and there is the gift of prophecy. Doing the work of a prophet is a ministry function of one who has been given the gift of prophecy. And a prophet can do a couple of different things, all of which are dependent upon the prophet's faith.
Paul says in Romans 12:6 "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith."
Many scholars have said that true prophets were given for a time and purpose to the chosen people of God, and even to the new church, but only for that particular time and purpose.
I don't believe that's correct. I believe one who has been given the gift of prophecy will function in all aspects of the work of a prophet no matter what the century, but only, according to the scripture above, as enabled by the proportion of faith that he has been given. Unfortunately, there are few prophets in the fullest sense of the word, because there are few with the faith needed to fully be a prophet.
But perhaps what the scholars mean to say is that there is no new revelation from the mouth of God. I think I would have to agree with that statement, because everything that a prophet says today must be judged by the Word itself. But, rare as they may be, there are true prophets out there; though they are not bringing new revelation, they still do most of what the prophets of old were able to do, even calling upon God to change the weather when necessary for His glory.
I remember reading a biography of Watchman Nee. If you have not read any of his books, and don't know of him, let me introduce him to you. He was a Chinese believer who became a pastor, and who eventually was imprisoned for leading a church in China. He spent the last 20 years of his life in a primitive Chinese prison, eventually dying there. The people imprisoned in cells surrounding him recalled hearing him singing hymns that often encouraged them greatly.
Before he was imprisoned, during one of his church's outreaches which happened to be occurring at the same time as an annual pagan festival, one of his young converts whose faith was very large at that moment, blurted out to a group of non-believers that his God was bigger than their god, and his God would prove it by making it rain all over their pagan parade scheduled for a few days later. Even a man of faith like Watchman Nee was stunned to hear the young man make such a bold proclamation. But they prayed and asked God to honor the young man's enthusiasm. And, of course, God did.
The point being that whether or not the young man even knew what the gift of prophecy was yet, or that he had it, he was certainly operating in that gift, and not much differently than Elijah did a few thousand years before. Thus, prophets are made according to the gift of prophecy and the amount of faith by which their gift is dependent, not according to a time frame.
This young man is just one example of how the gift of prophecy works. I have another.
An older man of God came to speak at our church a few years ago. He was a meek man, and quiet, as though he were listening to God, I thought. He preached a little and then he felt led to call me up to the front ( I was one of about three that he called forward that night) where he began to speak to me about things that only God knew, not another living soul knew, answering prayers that I had prayed in secret to God alone. From the very first words out of his mouth, I lost all sense of the presence of that man, and felt only the presence of God, as though God Himself was standing there and speaking to me; and I could not even remain standing, falling to my knees and sobbing as God spoke to me. He spoke of my past and he spoke of my future. This man was not a fortune-teller, he was not a con-artist. And I knew this not only because he spoke of things no one else knew, not even my husband or children, or my closest friends, but also because I experienced being in the presence of God such as I had never felt before…. or since. There was no doubt in my mind that he was a prophet. I have never met another one like him.
I hope this gives you some idea of what a prophet does, but let me expound a bit further about the gift of prophecy.
Prophecy is proclaiming God's truth in power and clarity, in practical current application, for the purpose of correction, repentance, or edification. One who has the gift of prophecy can communicate the mind of Christ to the church, bringing truth to the church that was previously hidden from them; in other words, speaking the biblical truth and exposing biblical error or sin. That's why Paul said we should desire this gift above all others….it was just more opportunity to get the Good News out there to the masses who desperately needed to hear it; who desperately needed the power of the Word to transform their lives.
Those with the gift of prophecy have characteristics that are rather unique to those gifted with prophecy; the most easily identified being that there are no grey areas with them, everything to them is either black or white, truth or untruth, biblical or unbiblical, righteousness through Jesus Christ or unbelief and sin. And they can be opinionated because of that characteristic. It's of the utmost importance to them to know what went wrong, what caused the problem, whatever that problem might be, either in the church or in individuals within the church. Their purpose, the reason they have been given this gift, is to change lives. To expose evil, bring to repentance, and cause the church or individual to then glorify God. That's their desire. They desire to see people walking in uprightness.
Another characteristic is that they prefer large groups to individuals. They are not as good one on one. And they are persuasive speakers. Their black and white spiritual nature can, however, cause them to be insensitive to the feelings of other people, and so the prophet must be careful to temper the Word with love, not to the point of backing down from truth, but making sure that in all things edification is the end result. I believe this is why Paul spent so much time following up with a whole chapter on exercising the gifts with love (or charity) in I Cor. 13. It is vital to our glorifying God and edifying others in these giftings.
So prophecy is about speaking the Word of God, or the mind of Christ, whether a prophet does so because God "spoke" it to him audibly as He appears to have done with the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah, Moses, Jeremiah and Isaiah, to name a few; or whether it is that still small voice of the Holy Spirit that says, "Right now, go and speak this to that person" or "Right now, stand up in the midst of this unruly crowd and speak this Word."
The most difficult thing about having the gift of prophecy is learning how to be obedient when compelled to stand up (and it is a "compelling" by the Holy Spirit – just as Peter and John were compelled in Acts 4:19-20), and learning how to be careful to speak only what the Holy Spirit has told us to speak and nothing more; anything else comes from the flesh and must be curbed immediately.
However, we must keep in mind that we have to grow in the grace of that gift as well. We might stumble a time or two, but the Lord will let us know when we do, and there will be correction from Him, but no condemnation. If condemnation is felt, it is most likely coming from ourselves, with the help of the "accuser of the brethren."
Just remember that the proof that this "compulsion" to speak is truly from the Holy Spirit, is that truth will be effectively and efficiently communicated for the purpose of edifying or building up rather than tearing down. But also remember that when the secrets of a person's heart are revealed, things they have cherished or held onto a long time, the Holy Spirit has done this to bring that one to repentance, and not all individuals (or churches) will come to repentance.
"But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." 1 Cor. 14:24-25
Not all will fall down and worship God. Some will reject the truth, and some might even reject the prophet himself. Thankfully, however, they aren't killing prophets as much these days, so while your life is safe from harm ,still you won't be the most popular person around for those who want to continue in sin or biblical error.
Before you determine that this is your primary gift, finish the postings on all the gifts. You just might have prophecy as a secondary gift, finding that one of the other gifts is more descriptive of how you have already been functioning within the church. By the end of the study, I believe you will have no doubts.
So, here we are, finally, on the second half of our current study, by the end of which we hope to better understand the spiritual gifts, and especially how they appear in practical application for the edifying of the body of Christ. I believe that God has gifted each of us with spiritual giftings at the moment of our salvation, or at the point of our conversion, whichever terminology you prefer to use. At that time the Holy Spirit began to tell us about Jesus, teaching us, leading us into righteousness, and empowering us with what you might call “divine enablement” with which to do the work of the Lord. ( Do not confuse natural giftedness or physically inherited talents with the"supernatural" giftings of the Holy Spirit.)
One Christian author and teacher says there are 19 gifts of the Spirit. Another says there are only 7. Another says there are 7 primary, with a bunch more secondary. I like the last version the best, because I think it makes more sense scripturally, so here goes.
This introductory posting will just be an overview of the 7 primary gifts, and succeeding postings will elaborate on each one, leading up to the intended goal of each of us being able to recognize what our primary gift is.
Turn with me to Romans 12, verses 6-8, which I am showing both in KJV and in NIV:
KJV: “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.”
NIV: “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”
Paul has supplied us with a list of 7 gifts (in case you haven’t noticed, Paul was a master list-maker, he uses lists all throughout his letters...I happen to like that as it seems I cannot function without a list).
Choosing the better wording from the two versions given, the seven gifts that we will see are PRIMARY gifts, are:
If you recall from our study of the elders and deacons, you can see that the main qualifications for both come from this list: elders – leadership or governing (as well as able to teach); deacons – serving.
You will notice that you don’t see apostles or pastors in this list. That’s because they are part of another list that Paul gives us in Ephesians 4:11:
“And he gave some, apostles, and some prophets, and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.”
But these are not the gifts themselves. These are ministries that come out of or follow the gifts, as we will see as we continue. (These read identically, by the way, whether in KJV or NIV.) And then, following the ministries, are the manifestations of the Spirit as seen in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gift of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues).
So you see, rather than call all of Paul’s lists “gifts”, they are more properly called “gifts” (Romans 12:6-8), then “ministries of the gifts” (Ephesian 4:11), then “manifestations of the Spirit through the ministries of the gifts” (1 Cor. 12).
So, we first must focus on what the primary gifts are and thereby go on to determine which ones we have been gifted with; that is, after all, the purpose of this part of the study. At the end of the study, with the knowledge of the Word in hand, and by seeking the Lord to show us what those gifts are in us, we hope to know what our primary gift is.
Is that important to know?
I think so. And the reason is this: if we know what our giftings are then we won’t waste a lot of our time and God’s by doing things that we are not designed or empowered to do. And equally important, I believe, we will find fulfillment in all that we do because we have been properly “fitted” for the work by the Lord, rather than being at odds with the work (and more importantly at odds with the people we minister to) because we have not been properly fitted to it in the first place.
We must remember that we each have a gift and those gifts “differ” from one another. Our biggest problems can come from comparing ourselves to others and trying to “fit” into their gift, instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to minister through us in the gift He has chosen for us.
Having said that, remember also that while giftings do not place one Christian higher than another(there is no unequal “respecting of persons” in the true church of Jesus Christ), Paul does say that of all the gifts, we should want most of all to prophesy.
“Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” I Cor. 14:1
Why would that be?
Because the gift of prophecy edifies the church (I Cor. 14:4), and the spoken Word of God has the power to transform lives….beginning with the church.
So, now we’ve touched on our first gift which we will look at it in more detail tomorrow: PROPHECY.
I believe we have had all that we can handle for the time being concerning dogma.
And I do hope that you handled this knowledge well, for I know that for some of you it may have been surprising at the least or even shocking. The Word of God is indeed a two-edged sword, both hurtful and helpful, and yet by it the chaff is cut away, and we are left with only the wholesome grain of truth, that which feeds us what is nutritionally correct for our born-again spirit.
For myself, I first learned a good deal of this information nearly 35 years ago, when I was only 24. Maybe it was because I was young and naïve, but to me it was shocking.I felt rather betrayed.I had trusted my church to do and to teach what was beneficial to me.When I found, after I was saved and began studying the Bible for myself, that there was so much taught that was incorrect biblically, then came the turning point when I determined to spend more time in the Word, and more time investigating what I was being taught.
Without enduring the shock, I might never have known the truth, and I would not have come to know Jesus.I might still be in that same church, thinking I was saved and ready to be in with the Lord in heaven when I died, when in fact, I was still just lost.Even though Jesus hung on a cross at the front of our church,and even though he was seen in all the icons lining both side walls called the "stations of the cross”, there wasn’t all that much said about Jesus.Even my Sunday school classes as a child were about saints.As a child I could tell you lots about various saints.It was important that we study them well, so that we could choose the right saint’s name for our confirmation as a teen.And I did try to model myself after the saints, and I longed for the peace of God's presence so much that I yearned to become a nun, to have more of it (circumstances prevented that from happening).
But I never gave Jesus much thought.I didn’t know Him well.However, I never gave Him a thought one way or the other, because what was important for me to know was that church was where God lived and every Sunday I got to go to God’s house and sit in His presence (and the older and more beautiful the church, the more sacred His presence felt to me.) As far as I knew, God was happy with me.I didn’t know then that He gave His own Son for me and that His own Son willingly died for me on that cross that He still hung on up front.I just didn’t know, even though I was faithful in attending church. Once I knew, however, shortly after the sword came to cut away the chaff of tradition, my life changed forever.
That same church might be much different today, I have no way of knowing.I pray though, for the sake of all of its members, that it is in fact very different and that the people who gather in that church on Sundays do know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and that they do now abide in the Word.I pray often for people in all churches everywhere who think they are saved, yet do not know Christ.
As far as the local church I am a part of now, our gathering together on Sunday is about glorifying the Lord first and foremost, but edifying (uplifting and encouraging) His body as well, all according to His instructions to us.But we are not yet what the Lord wants us to be.
When all the members of the body that I am a part of, are abiding in the knowledge and understanding of the Word and being obedient to it, and when they are ministering to one another in the spiritual gifts they have been endowed with, including forth-telling the truth (prophecy), then this body of Christ will see life-changing miracles taking place not only in their midst, but in whatever place their feet touch.
I look forward to that day.
But, if, along the way, I have to endure the cutting away of more “chaff” of man’s traditions that encumber me, even if those traditions are of my own making, I will gladly endure, for I now know what I have gained by giving up those more comfortable things:I have gained LIBERTY.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”Galatians 5:1
When we first began looking at dogma, I mentioned that some dogmatic beliefs could be spiritually dangerous.Well, today we’re going to look at spiritually dangerous dogma.
We’ve seen that as early as the end of the first century, and continuing on from there, even into the 3rd and 4th centuries when they had a completely compiled Bible, the biblical model of church structure changed from that of a plurality of elders and deacons, to a monarchical bishop (including the supreme bishop or Pope), a return to the Levitical priesthood (offering sacrifices for the people once more and having the authority to forgive sin), and a clergy/laity divide (setting some believers higher than others), thus changing the body of Christ from a “family” structure with Christ as the Head, to a feudal system based institution.
We must also remember that in 70 A.D., the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.As Jesus predicted (in Luke 21) there was not one stone left upon another.This was in keeping with prophecy and, after all, God had done away with the Old Covenant and given us a “new and better Covenant” by then.But perhaps the loss of the temple and the sacrifices, somehow entered into the reasoning here that led to a return to the Levitical practice of installing a priesthood that was still seen as mediators between God and man. Unfortunately, as the writer of Hebrews says: “For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.” (Hebrews 7:28) This priesthood was an infirm one indeed, and not the biblical model at all that says the believers are the priests.
Rather than be discouraged by the detour the church took, that in many ways we are still a part of, we must recognize that the problem is a combination of two things:man and sin.There’s a cycle that began in the garden:God creates a good thing, man enters into it with his own ideas and thinking, and God returns to “deliver” us from the work of our hands.This, among so many other things, ought to bring us back to that place of falling on our knees before Him and thanking Him for His mercy and grace towards us all.How longsuffering He truly is towards us!
I’m reminding us of His grace towards us, in preparation for the final dogmatic beliefs we want to look at which concerns the terms “Mediator” and “Co-Redeemer”.These are what I call the spiritually dangerous dogma.While there are many forms of this dogma in both Catholic and some Protestant churches, I still believe that within all of these churches, there are some who actually do read their Bible and have seen these more dangerous dogmas to be utter fallacy.I believe that God has a remnant in all the churches who are truly sold out to Jesus Christ, solely and completely.When we pray for Christians all over the world who are suffering persecution, these also need our prayers, for they are speaking truth against the fully established and dug-in dogmas of the “hirelings”.And rightly so, for the salvation of many is at stake.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”1 Timothy 2:5-6
If, as Paul says, there is only one mediator, and that is Jesus Christ alone, then why would the church begin at some point to instruct believers to regard the Saints (the apostles and Paul, and Mary, and other disciples of Jesus, both men and women) as being endowed with mediatorial powers on our behalf?This dogma has had the disastrous effect of elevating Jesus way beyond our reach, and replacing Him with those more “human” that supposedly we can more easily identify with, to whom we then are supposed to cry out to for help.
Rather than strengthen mankind’s faith in the goodness of God through Christ Jesus towards us, they have taken the gift of God, Jesus Christ, placed Him on a “higher” pedestal that only bishops and priests have access to, and mis-directed the people to turn away from the One whom they are “not holy enough” to touch, to beg assistance from deceased humans who have no mediatorial powers at all.Where did this dogma come from?
It came from the seeker-sensitive church in Rome.
You probably thought the “seeker-sensitive” methodology was a new thing of post-modern churches, but it is actually quite old.But in those days, it was known by its former name:Compromise.
In order to more easily convert Romans and Greeks and others who had for centuries worshipped “many” gods, in order to help them come to the One True God, the Church compromised, and allowed the people to have numerous “mediators” to whom to pray, in the form of: Saints with a capital S. There are so many problems with that, but the biggest one being as I have stated earlier, that people naturally feel more at home with “human” saints than with a Savior God who was also human.So, who do they first turn to when in need of help or deliverance:the saints, including Mary, the mother of Jesus.
I thank God that it is because of Jesus Christ that I have access to the Father, directly through Jesus Christ, not through any other man, whether the church today calls him a bishop or a priest or a pastor!While we are to intercede for one another in prayer (one of our responsibilities as biblical priest-believers), that intercession is only possible because we each have been given that access to the Father, individually, through Jesus Christ alone! Jesus instruct us to pray to the Father in His Name. He never instructs us to pray to a saint, even those who were as Godly as the Apostles, asking them to speak to the Father for us. Yet that is what was taught back then in the times of Ignatius and beyond, and what is still being taught today.The point of all this being that If we can access the Father directly through Jesus Christ, then why would the church want to diminish that by teaching us to access the Father through the saints, thereby “detouring” us away from Jesus?
Perhaps that compromise helped better establish the authority once more of the priests and bishops.For this dogma also teaches that directly below the “saints” (with a capital S), are the bishops and the priests who are themselves dogmatic mediators, not according to the Word of God, but according to these “fallible” traditions of men.Priests that as Hebrews points out “have infirmity” – in other words, they are NOT infallible.
The book of Hebrew speaks so much of the “imperfection” of the Levitical priesthood and points us instead toward Jesus, the perfect High Priest, the mediator of a NEW Covenant by which we now live.
“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10:14-18)
If there is no more offering for sin to be made, then there are no more spiritual sacrifices to be made by the bishop or priest (or even pastors or ministers) on behalf of the people.The people themselves, as we have already seen, ARE the priesthood of the new Covenant offering their own bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord, with Jesus Christ being their High Priest.
So now let’s look at the term Co-Redeemer.What does that term mean and to whom does it refer?
Co-Redeemer is a term used by several of the Roman Catholic Popes of modern times to indicate that in some way, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is to be considered a co-redeemer along with her son, Jesus Christ, even if in some not “quite” equal sense. While no official dogma has been instated as of yet, the term has been bantered about enough that the concept has taken hold with many who faithfully give more credence to the words of the Pope(s) than the Word of God (which, of course, happens because they are still not reading their Bibles and testing their words in light of it.)
Again, I will refer you to Wikipedia where a lot of historical research has already been compiled together on this point. Just go to the Wikipedia website and type in:Co-Redemptrix.There you will see all the quotes of the past and current Popes, showing their dogmatic thinking that brought this concept about.
All of which, I present to you as a very real and present danger of dogma.Just as so many have turned from Jesus towards the saints, feeling not worthy to call upon His Name, but more worthy to call upon humans for help (my own father believed this at one time); how many will then further turn away from Jesus, the only name by which we can be saved, and turn instead to Mary for that hope, feeling that in her “humanity” she will better understand us, since she is not God; and yet, contradictorily, giving her status that is equal to Jesus who Himself IS in fact God?The awesomeness of what Jesus did for us is the very fact that He WAS and IS GOD, and as GOD, offered Himself up on our behalf! Why would anyone want to replace or equate a human with our Savour God? How blessed are we because of Him! Our own Father and Creator, taking care of all that we have need of...even redemption from sin! What is behind the thinking of anyone who would want to diminish that?
Revelation 12:1-6 speaks of “a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars…and she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”
We once had a statue in our house that a close relative had given us as a gift.It was one of the most beautiful statues I had ever seen; I remember, as a child, admiring it every time I walked past it in our hallway.The colors were beautiful on this version of Mary who had a crown on her head with twelve stars, while her delicate uncovered feet stood on a half circular moon, and in her arms was the baby Jesus.It is obvious from that statue who the Catholics believe the woman is in this verse.
But while there is much discussion about who the woman is, one thing is clear:it is not the physical Mary, mother of Jesus. She is no longer here to flee “into the wilderness, protected by God, for 1260 days” or approximately 3-1/2 years, thought to be half of the 7 year period known as “TheTribulation”. She has died as we all must die.She is with Jesus, as will we all be with Jesus when we die, if we have believed and trusted in Him.She was not carried physically into heaven.And she never became the sin offering, the unblemished Lamb of God, that Jesus became for us, making Him the ONLY Redeemer of the lost, in ANY sense of the word, that we have.
This chapter of Revelation continues on and speaks of the battle the devil does with the angels in heaven (spiritual warfare in heavenly places) trying to destroy the “child” of the woman which are, by the way, the “redeemed of the Lord”.
Dogma that puts Mary on an equal plane as Co-Redeemer with Jesus Christ is one of the strongest evidences since the Inquisition, that the devil has had his way, even within our churches, in destroying many who Jesus came to save.
But we thank the Father for Jesus and for the power of the Comforter that He sent to us when He left this earth, knowing that waiting for His return are a remnant that trust in Him alone: the redeemed who “overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Rev. 12:11
It may seem as though I am “picking” on the Catholic Church.That is not my intent at all.I loved my Catholic church that I was raised up in, the last thing I wanted to hear was that there was something unbiblical going on in it. Even though I wasn't all that into the Bible at the time (mostly looking at the beautiful photos in the large Family bible on the coffee table), I still knew enough to know that the teachings coming from my church were proclaimed as being of God and therefore Biblical since the Bible IS the Word of God. But it just wasn't so.
The problem is that from the time of Ignatius of Antioch in the late first century and early second century (I do believe though that he held persuasive power overthe church at the time) , the Christian church that was founded by the Apostles and Paul began to evolve into what was beginning, by the time of Ignatius and Polycarp, to be commonly known as the “catholic” Church (the C was not capitalized until the time of Constantine most likely, as that is also the time during which the great cathedrals began to be erected right on top of all the places pertaining to Jesus in Israel).So during the time period that this study is dealing with, the "catholic" church was all the Christian church there was. In reviewing biblical error then, those errors have to be laid at the feet of the only church there was:the “catholic” Church.However, that is not to say that error exists today only in the Catholic Church.Not true at all.As you read this posting, you’ll see quite easily, I believe, the things that have entered in to today’s non-Catholic churches as well, including my own.
Wikipedia has a vast amount of historical (not biblical) information that lends itself to this study.I don’t think I need to expound on the error for you; I think you’ll be able to spot it yourself.
Regarding Bishops:
“The office of bishop was already quite distinct from that of priest in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch,and by the middle of the second century all the chief centers of Christianity were headed by bishops, a form of organization that remained universal until the Protestant Reformation.”
“Various Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of the local church.Eventually this evolved into a monarchical episcopacy in certain cities.The monarchical episcopacy probably developed in other churches in Christianity before it took shape in Rome. For example, it has been conjectured that Antioch may have been one of the first Christian communities to have adopted such a structure [JAS Note:Told you Ignatius of Antioch had persuasive powers].The emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not arise until the middle of the second century. Linus, Cletus and Clement were probably prominent presbyter-bishops but not necessarily monarchical bishops.Eventually, Rome followed the example of other Christian communities and structured itself after the model of the [Roman] empire with one presbyter bishop in charge. The organizational structure subsequently evolved into the present form of one bishop supported by a college of presbyters.”
“The bishops in the 2nd century are defined also as the only clergy to whom the ordination to priesthood (presbyterate) and diaconate is entrusted: "a priest (presbyter) lays on hands, but does not ordain."
“At the beginning of the 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome describes another feature of the ministry of a bishop, which is that of the "Spiritum primatus sacerdotii habere potestatem dimittere peccata": the primate of sacrificial priesthood and the power to forgive sins.”
“The efficient organization of the Roman Empire became the template for the organisation of the church in the fourth century, particularly after Constantine's Edict of Milan. As the church moved from the shadows of privacy into the public forum it acquired land for churches, burials and clergy.”
Regarding Apostolic Succession:
“Apostolic succession is the doctrine in some Christian theology asserting that the chosen successors of the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day, have the same authority, power, and responsibility as was conferred upon the apostles by Jesus.”(JAS Note: “chosen successors” is another factor in the division of the clergy from the laity.)
“Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches are the predominant proponents of this doctrine.To them, present-day bishops, as the successor of previous bishops, going back to the apostles, have power by this unbroken chain; this link with the apostles guarantees for them their authority in matters of faith, morals, and the valid administration of sacraments.”
“Essential to maintaining the apostolic succession is the proper consecration of bishops.Apostolic succession is to be distinguished from the Petrine supremacy (see papacy).”
“While many of the more ancient Churches within the historical episcopate state that Holy Orders are valid only through apostolic succession, most of the various Protestant denominations would deny the need of maintaining episcopal continuity with the early Church. Such Protestants generally hold that one important qualification of the Apostles was that they were chosen directly by Jesus and that they witnessed the resurrected Christ. According to this understanding, the work of the twelve (and the Apostle Paul), together with the prophets of the twelve tribes of Israel, provide the doctrinal foundation for the whole church of subsequent history through the Scriptures of the Bible. To share with the apostles the same faith, to believe their word as found in the Scriptures, to receive the same Holy Spirit, is to them the only meaningful "continuity" with what such Protestants hold the early Christians to have believed, because it is in this sense only that men have fellowship with God in the truth (an extension of the new Reformation-era doctrines of sola fide and sola scriptura). The most meaningful apostolic succession for most Protestants, then, is a "faithful succession" of apostolic teaching.”
The Pope:
The pope (from Latin: papa; from Greek: πάππας(pappas), an affectionate word for father) is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church (that is, both the Latin Rite and the Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Roman Pontiff). The currentoffice-holder is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected in papal conclave on 19 April 2005.
Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, whom, according to the bible, Jesus named as the “shepherd” and “rock” of the church.Peter never bore the title of “pope”, which came into use much later, but Catholics recognize him as the first Pope. The study of the New Testament offers no uncontested proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome.The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus personally appointed Peter as leader of the Church and in its dogmatic constitution “Lumen Gentium” makes a clear distinction between apostles and bishops, presenting the latter as successors of the former, with the Pope as successor of Peter in that he is head of the bishops as Peter was head of the apostles.
For centuries, the forged “Donation of Constantine” also provided the basis for the papacy's claim of political supremacy over the entire former Western Roman Empire.
Gradually forced to give up secular power, popes now focus almost exclusively on spiritual matters. Over the centuries, popes' claims of spiritual authority have been ever more clearly expressed, culminating in the proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility for rare occasions when the pope speaks “ex cathedra” (literally "from the chair (of Peter)") to issue a solemn definition of faith or morals.The first (after the proclamation) and so far the last such occasion was in 1950, with the definition of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. [JAS Note:There are four official dogmas of Mary at this time.]
I’ll end this posting with the thinking of two additional men: Tertullian, a Christian apologist (160-220 A.D.), and Ray Simpson, a modern day Anglican priest:
1)Tertullian basically figured out that since Paul changed the law of Moses, they (the early church fathers) then had the right by ongoing revelation of the Holy Spirit to change the teachings of Paul, so that now anything that they said should be considered inspired of God.
2)In 1988, Anglican church priest Ray Simpson, when asked how he could remain in the Anglican church with the issues of homosexuals being ordained in the church, said this: “I can justify staying in the church of England [Anglican Church] because it is committed to the teachings of the Bible AND the Early Church Fathers.”
Dogma = compromise.
Compromise = unbiblical.
How important is it for us to be aware of and able to recognize “dogma” that sets itself up as “biblical”, as painful or difficult as it is to us seeing it even in our own churches?But we must be aware, and we must speak against it, being light even in our own churches. Jesus, I have discovered through all of this study and research, told his disciples to follow the "dogma" of the scribes, as He Himself did also, while He exposed the unbibicalness of it by teaching the truth. The key, I think, is to not cause divide by rebellious actions, but by speaking the truth the evil that has entered into our churches is exposed. But we must be prepared to be persecuted, even within our own churches sometimes, as Jesus was by his own religious leaders. Many Priests and Pastors do not care as much for the truth as they do for their positions of power, same as with the Pharisees of Jesus' time.
What are your thoughts on how to proceed concerning dogma in our churches? I'd like to hear them.
