List of the eleven reasons:
- Jesus taught a totally redemptive hermeneutic and orthodoxy adopted a grammatical historical hermeneutic which was similar to the hermeneutic of the first century rabbis.
- Jesus and his followers redefined the word of God to mean either Jesus or the gospel with an emphasis on the gospel. Orthodoxy adopted the rabbis’ definition Torah/scripture.
- The New Covenant has been in complete force since the resurrection. God allowed a transition period between the Old Covenant and New Covenant for forty-years from the cross event to the destruction of the temple. Orthodxy is awaiting the New Covenant
- Evangelical orthodoxy fails to recognize that the bulk of the gospels were written to Jews still under the Old Covenant before the cross event. (especially the sermon on the mount)
- Evangelical orthodoxy fails to realize that there is an obvious transition from John the Baptist (last Jewish prophet) to Jesus (the Jewish Messiah) to Pentecost (the Jewish Church) to Cornelius (inclusion of the Gentiles) to Paul’s messages to the New Creation. Evangelical orthodoxy sees essentially two divisions old and new testament.
- Evangelical orthodoxy ignores the vast amount of passages of the New Testament writings that show an expectation of imminent fulfillment of prophecy tied to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple
- Evangelical orthodoxy does not see the book of Hebrews as the “rosetta stone” for the New Covenant opening an understanding of how the New Covenant will be the only covenant in force when the temple is destroyed. God allowed the old covenant to limp during the forty-year transition period in hopes of coverting the maximum amount of Jews.
- Evangelical orthodoxy misses the fact that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was the fulfillment of the prophesied day of the Lord in Joel and other prophets
- Evangelical orthodoxy does not provide the proper understanding and explanation of the catalyst of the spiritual transformation process in believers; how God transforms by love via the gospel and grace.
- Evangelical orthodoxy fails to see that the falling away and the strong delusion of 2Thess 2 happened in the first century.
- Evangelical orthodoxy misses the fact that Jesus reference to Gehenna was prophetic of the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and the judgment of the Jews and, not a warning of eternal punishment.
Interesting. How do you view this list in the context of the early / Eastern church?
ReplyDeleteHi Alden,
ReplyDeleteThat is a very interesting question. If I didn't believe that #10 was correct I would probably go out to find the closest Eastern Orthodox Church and join it. If any institution has a legitimate claim to apostolic succession EO would be it.
Having said that, I don't think that they have fully accepted the New Covenant and more importantly the New Jerusalem.
THE NEW COVENANT
ReplyDeleteOnce we become members of Christ’s family, he does not let us go hungry, but feeds us with his own body and blood through the Eucharist.
In the Old Testament, as they prepared for their journey in the wilderness, God commanded his people to sacrifice a lamb and sprinkle its blood on their doorposts, so the Angel of Death would pass by their homes. Then they ate the lamb to seal their covenant with God.
This lamb prefigured Jesus. He is the real "Lamb of God," who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
Through Jesus we enter into a New Covenant with God (Luke 22:20), who protects us from eternal death. God’s Old Testament people ate the Passover lamb.
Now we must eat the Lamb that is the Eucharist. Jesus said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life within you" (John 6:53).
At the Last Supper he took bread and wine and said, "Take and eat. This is my body . . . This is my blood which will be shed for you" (Mark 14:22–24).
In this way Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, the sacrificial meal Catholics consume at each Mass.
The Catholic Church teaches that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross occurred "once for all"; it cannot be repeated (Hebrews 9:28).
Christ does not "die again" during Mass, but the very same sacrifice that occurred on Calvary is made present on the altar.
That’s why the Mass is not "another" sacrifice, but a participation in the same, once-for-all sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Paul reminds us that the bread and the wine really become, by a miracle of God’s grace, the actual body and blood of Jesus: "Anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself" (1 Corinthians 11:27–29).
After the consecration of the bread and wine, no bread or wine remains on the altar. Only Jesus himself, under the appearance of bread and wine, remains.
It appears that we have our work cut out for us. We need to dig a little deeper into the word so that we can regurgitate it to the people of God correctly. We as disciples have to spread the "Good News" of Jesus and how He died for us to save us from our sins. We must let people know that God is changing us, transforming us via His love using the gospel. We have to let them know about the wonder twins, "grace and mercy", and how He came to save us and not condemn us.
ReplyDelete