The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is spiritual infants choke on the meat of the Word.
Printable/viewable PDF format to display Greek or Hebrew characters
Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of May 22, 2010
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
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I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph 4:1–16)
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Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 when he writes, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, / and he gave gifts to men,” and in writing, —he gave gifts, Paul seems to misquote the passage that reads in the Septuagint as, —he received gifts, or You have received gifts, with a reasonable rendering of the Hebrew agreeing that the Lord has received gifts from men.
In using the citation from Psalms 68 to support what he wants to say about God giving spiritual gifts to disciples, Paul uses what he apparently believes is a correct rendering of the Psalmist’s words, but a use that doesn’t withstand endtime critical scrutiny. For the Lord to give gifts to men is quite different from the Lord receiving gifts from men, especially so when these gifts are employed in the work of ministry, in the work of equipping the laity for ministry, for building up the Body of Christ. The gift received by the Lord is the work done by the ministry in preparing the laity to be ministers so that the Body of Christ can come to the fullness of Christ. Gifts given by God, as Paul quotes the Psalmist, are apostles and prophets.
The Psalmist [David] was inspired to write (in translation),
O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?
The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there (68:15–18 emphasis added),
The apparent referent for the pronoun “you” in the Psalm is “many-peaked mountain” that is not the mountain of God where the Lord will dwell forever … the mountain of God where the Lord will dwell forever is New Jerusalem, not a geographical location in this world, but the completed temple of God that comes with the new heavens and new earth. Thus, the identity of the many-peaked mountain of Bashan, concealed in metonymy, is natural Israel, with Christ Jesus being the natural Israelite that ascended on high and who will lead a host of captives into heaven while receiving gifts from men. In Christ, all of Israel is represented; for at Calvary, as the reality of the goat sacrificed on the altar on Yom Kipporim Christ Jesus paid the death penalty for every sin of Israel committed in this world. And as the resurrected high priest of circumcised-of-heart Israel, Christ Jesus, the reality of the Azazel goat [Jesus, in his beaten earthly body, also represents the bullock sacrificed as the sin offering for Aaron and his house], bears the sins of Israel in that portion of the heavenly realm in the Abyss. Hence, in His body and spirit, Jesus’ death at Calvary represents the sin offering the high priest makes for Aaron and his house (Lev 16:11) and for the people of Israel (v. 15), and in His resurrection from death and Ascension to heaven, the living Jesus represents the covering of Israel’s sins foreshadowed by the Azazel.
Jesus’ death at Calvary is the greatest gift Israel could give to the Father, and Jesus’ resurrection from death is the greatest gift God could give to men.
If Paul’s epistles are inspired text, does a problem exist? Or did Paul expand and build upon what David wrote? Is the point Paul attempts to make about God giving to the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers valid even though Paul transposes [please see printable file to determine the Greek used here] § ? How much importance should be placed on Paul getting a citation wrong, especially considering that Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch, a spurious document?
Christians who insist upon a literal reading of Scripture should be deeply troubled by Paul transposing [please see printable file to determine the Greek used here] § … in making the apparent error, Paul adds to Scripture, which for Christians the inclusion of his epistle in the canon obviously does. And if Paul’s treatise to the Romans is accepted as canonical Scripture, then the canon is not today a completed document but a work in progress, with additional writers expounding upon points that Paul makes in his epistles, as James does when he writes about Abraham’s faith that Paul uses as the model for Christian righteousness. In referring to Abraham, Paul neglects saying anything about Abraham being commanded to sacrifice Isaac, the promised son; for what Paul wrote was spiritual milk (1 Cor 3:1–3), the only “food” infants in Christ are able to digest.
Paul wrote, “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’ [from Gen 15:6]” (Rom 4:1–3). Elsewhere, he wrote, “Does He who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’? / Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’ [from Gen 12:3]. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Gal 3:5–9).
But Peter, addressing saints “who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 1:1) — unlike Paul’s epistles and Peter’s first epistle, Peter’s second epistle is not to spiritual infants, lambs [arnion — from John 21:15], but to saints on solid food, sheep [probaton — v. 17] — in his second epistle, Peter wrote,
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Pet 1:3–11 emphasis added)
Faith cleanses the heart of a spiritual Israelite so that this person can be circumcised with a circumcision not of hands (Col 2:11; Rom 2:28–29; Deut 30:6), but as physical circumcision joins a Hebrew infant eight days old to the nation of Israel, circumcision of the heart joins an infant son of God to the Body of Christ. Faith has cleansed the heart and opened the door to salvation, but faith of itself is insufficient: if a “Christian” doesn’t supplement faith with virtue (i.e., doing what is right), the Christian is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins (2 Pet 1:9). So the point that James makes—
Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit [breath] is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (Jas 2:18–26 emphasis added)—
is the same point that Peter makes: both address the sheep of Jesus, and not spiritual newborns, the lambs of God, the favorite food of Satan’s ministers.
In 1974, on the north side of Oregon’s Yaquina River just downstream from the community of Elk City, a local rancher turned seven sheep into a long, narrow pasture he rented from a timber company—the pasture was part of a former homestead. One of the sheep was blind, but had been getting along fairly well where the ewe was formerly pastured. One sheep was a curly horned ram. And the first night that these seven sheep were in the pasture, coyotes killed the blind ewe. The second night, coyotes killed another one of the other five ewes. In six nights, coyotes killed all six ewes and the curly horned ram couldn’t be found. The rancher wasn’t able to protect his sheep and was obviously intent upon killing coyotes … the ram turned up four miles downriver when it held at bay two Doberman Pinschers until the dogs’ owner could get his dogs kenneled. The rancher retrieved the ram that seemed unharmed by either coyotes or dogs and took the ram to a pasture closer to where the rancher lived up the Big Elk.
Newly drawn disciples are lambs, not mature ewes that are easily killed by coyotes or wolves, disguised as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor 11:14–15). It is apostles and prophets that function as curly horned rams … both Peter and James agree that faith is, of itself, insufficient to do more than cleanse the heart so that a son of disobedience can be joined to the Body of Christ.
To read David’s psalm metonymically requires growing from infancy to spiritual adolescence. To understand that what Paul wrote is milk … Paul addressed the faith necessary to cleanse the heart so that it can be circumcised; Paul addressed the birth of Isaac, the son of promise. But Paul never addressed the reason why Abraham, who had his belief counted as righteousness, was tested by God: “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’” (Gen 22:1–2).
Belief/faith remains “dead” until it is tested in a trial that requires “works.” Then, when belief is tested by the Christian having to put into practice the things of God, faith comes alive … living faith will have the Christian keeping the commandments by faith, a subject that Paul doesn’t neglect:
He [God] will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. … For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. … For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. (Rom 2:6–8, 12–13, 25–27 emphasis added)
Paul’s emphasis is faith because he addresses mostly Gentile converts who are as new born lambs in need of their tails being docked so that these converts don’t drag behind themselves their own excrement. For Christians, instead of tails being docked or foreskins clipped, hearts are circumcised after being cleansed by faith. Without a cleansing by faith, no heart can be circumcised and the self-identified Christian is spiritually as a sheep with a long tail is physically: the Christian is without a shepherd/Shepherd. Inevitably, this Christian will be slain by Satan’s servants, each posing as a minister of righteousness but inwardly a ravenous wolf eager to feast on lamb, roasted in fire.
There is a reason why Paul wrote not to dispute about words (2 Tim 2:14); there are reasons for not studying Scripture literally (John 16:25), the exegesis principles of the 16th-Century Protestant Reformer Huldrych Zwingli has harmed Christendom more than any Protestant will ever understand for Zwingli rejected metaphorical or metonymical reading of passages that Jesus said were given as figures of speech. Zwingli rejected reasoning by analogy, but it was his rejection of Believers’ baptism that prevented any meaningful reform of Christianity to occur during the Reformation and left the New Church and the Old Church looking like two sides of the same bogus coin, a lead slug gilded with gold. Yes, this slug is heavy, but not as heavy as it should be. And yes, this slug has value in this world, but it has none with God for it is a mingling of the sacred and the profane and is typified by Christmas observance when Christ’s birth is commemorated on the day of the invincible sun.
What Paul writes about God giving to the Church apostles and prophets is true, but the apostles and prophets who war for God have never been twice ten thousand, especially when chariots had three or four soldiers manning them. Rather, God gave to the Church one gift, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from death, with this glorified Jesus now being the indwelling vessel in which God can give to men [and women] the same second breath of life that He gave to Jesus when Jesus was raised from the watery grave of baptism (Matt 3:15–17). Thus, all of the Church is of one spirit, the breath of God [pneuma Theon], and is the Body of Christ. Whoever has not been made alive by this one breath does not yet live, but is as the first Adam was prior to Elohim [singular in usage] breathing into the nostrils of the man of mud.
If a “Christian” has not been made alive by receipt of the breath of God [pneuma Theon] in the indwelling breath of Christ [pneuma Christos], the person is not of Christ and is not one with Christ, but must await becoming one with Christ until the wedding supper, meaning that if this “Christian” is not drawn by the Father from this world prior to the Second Passover but remains physically alive until Israel’s liberation, and if this person endures in faith to the end, then this Christian will become one with Christ Jesus through “marriage” as opposed to presently being one with Christ through being His Body.
The above is solid food that cannot be digested by spiritual infants.
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."