The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 3)

as presented by the early church

The gospel of peace through Jesus Christ.

Acts 10.36 reads, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.” (N.I.V.)

Without delving deeply into the similarities between the Greek word ‘eirene’ and the Hebrew ‘shalom’, I will comment briefly.

According to the book “Christian Words” by Nigel Turner, “In the LXX…eirene was ‘health’ and ‘well being’, in the sense of abatement of Gods wrath, with spiritual security. Almost always it rendered shalom, peace, welfare, prosperity – especially peace with God.” He goes on the say, “Christian Greek takes a step forward when eirene becomes personalized as no less than our Savior Himself, who is our peace, reconciling Jew with Gentile, and both with God.” (Eph. 2.14)

This is the aspect of peace we will pursue now; how this relates to the gospel. To put the passage we opened with in context, Peter was praying and received a vision of unclean animals (animals the Jews by tradition were not allowed to eat), mingled with clean animals, being lowered from heaven in something like a sheet. When told to take and eat he responded, “Surely not, Lord…I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice speaking to him replied, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times, and as Peter was reflecting on this, three men form a gentile centurion, Cornelius, came to the house seeking Peter. The Holy Spirit instructed Peter to go with them for he had sent them, himself.

The remainder of the story, as well as the message preached, are contained in Acts 10.9-48 and repeated in 11.1-18. The importance of the story for our study les in the fact that this was the beginning of God’s direct revelation to the Jewish believers that God’s purpose in Christ was:

“…through him to reconcile to God all things on earth or in heaven, making this peace through his blood shed on the cross.” (Colosians 1.19,20 – Goodspeed)

How this relates to the gentiles is stated in Col. 1.21-23.

“Once you were alienated from God…But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight…” (N.I.V.)

In the book of Ephesians Paul gives us the clearest presentation of this truth. Chapter 2, beginning at verse 22, reads:

“…therefore, remember that formerly you who are gentiles…were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away (gentiles) and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…” (N.I.V.)

This had been one of those verses in scripture that troubled me as a pre-millennialist; that I just wasn’t able to justify with my pre-tribulation theology concerning the plan of God for the nation of Israel. How is it possible that this means anything other than exactly what it says? All those areas that we as gentiles, non Jews, were missing out on concerning God, we are included in because of the loving grace extended through Christ. All the blessings, all the promises, all the freedom of access to God of the chosen people, these are amplifies and extended to all people, regardless of national, social or sexual barriers. (Gal. 3.28)

Please, let me clarify this point. I am not calling anyone ignorant for believing in the current Millennialism. It’s not a matter of intelligence, but rather of perception. It’s a known fact that there are primitive tribes of people who were unable to ‘read’ a photograph simply because they had never been exposed to one. In much the same way, we have our perceptions structured by the input we receive from the people we put our trust in to teach us the truth. The greater the trust, the less likely we are to verify the facts for ourselves and the more vehemently we will safeguard THEIR truth.

Paul, here, is stating clearly, emphatically, that the Jews and the gentiles are part of a new work of God, and yet a work whose beginning actually predated the Mosaic Law. As Eusebius, the early Church historian, has stated; “Should anyone, beginning from Abraham, and going back to the first man, pronounce those who have had the testimony of righteousness Christians in fact, though not in name, he would not be far from the truth. For as the name Christians is intended to indicate this very idea, that a man, by the knowledge and doctrine of Christ, is distinguished by modesty and justice, by patience and a virtuous fortitude, and by a profession of piety towards the one and only true and supreme God; all this was not less studiously cultivated by them than by us. They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe in types and symbols, because these things do not belong to Christians.”

Through Christ, God no longer limits His election to the Jews but had taken the steps necessary to include the gentiles in His election.

But it goes farther than that. He actually destroys everything that stood as a barrier between the two; alienation from citizenship, exclusion from the promises and denial of relationship with God. Each of these areas are dealt with in Christ, opening up salvation to the gentiles on exactly the same level as the Jews. But instead of the gentiles being required to convert to Judaism as they had in the past, God placed salvation on a new level; faith in the good news of Jesus Christ. The gentiles needed faith, the Jews needed faith. The same faith was required for the salvation of all nations, peoples and tribes.

But was this new? Did God do something unheard of and totally unexpected? The early church evidently didn’t believe so. Again Eusebius states, “…we should plainly suppose, that the first and most ancient religion known, that of those pious men that were connected with Abraham, is the very religion lately announced to all in the doctrines of Christ.”

In Ephesians 3, from verse 5 on, Paul states there is a mystery that God has revealed to him. That this mystery had been revealed to men in other generations but not as fully as to Paul and his fellow apostles and prophets, because their knowledge was through revelation by the Spirit of God at the fullness of time. Jesus had said on the cross, “It is finished.” This was the time for the mystery to be revealed, brought to light. What is this mystery?

“This mystery that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus.” (v.6 N.I.V.)

Please note, we are not sharers together of the promise of Christ, in the plural, but rather we are joint participants in the many facetted promise of God, which finds its culmination in Christ Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament we find figures and symbols of Christ and glimpses of the glory of the age he would usher in. But these were merely shadows. The reality is in Christ. God’s promises find their completion in Christ Jesus.

How can we think or say we are preaching the gospel if we don’t mention this incredible truth? This IS the gospel, part and parcel. And what’s more, though this was ‘kept hidden in God,’ (v.9) nevertheless it has always been part of God’s eternal purpose (v.11).

Jesus Christ is our peace, and “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

GENTILES AS HEIRS

Acts 15.9, 14-18; 26.22, 23; 28.28

Romans 2.28, 29; 3.21, 22, 28, 29; 4.3, 11-17, 23, 24; 8.16, 17; 9.24-26, 30-32; 10.12; 11.7, 11, 19, 20; 15.8, 9, 12, 16, 25, 26

1 Corinthians 2.7; 12.12, 13

2 Corinthians 6.16

Galatians 3.7, 8, 13, 14, 26-29; 5.6

Phillipians 3.2, 3

Colossians 1.19-22

JESUS, OUR PEACE

Romans 5.1, 2

Colossians 3.15

John 14.27; 16.33

Phillipians 4.7

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2)

as presented by the early church

The nearness of the Kingdom.

Matthew 4.17 reads, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘repent for the kingdom of heaven is near’.” (N.I.V.)

Schofield in his notes remarking on this verse states, “The biblical term ‘near’ is never a positive affirmation that the person or thing said to be near will immediately appear, but only…has the quality of immanency.” This was meant to show that the kingdom of God was not established on earth with the first advent of Christ, but rather was still a future hope, to be established at his second coming. However, the Emphatic Diaglott (a Greek interlinear New Testament) reads, “Reform; for the Royal Majesty of the Heavens has approached.” And further, J.N. Darby, C.I. Schofield’s mentor and the father of the modern day dispensational thinking, translates the verse, “…the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.”

Schofield continues, using as his justification for his argument, “When Christ appeared to the Jewish people, the next thing, in the order of revelation as they understood it, should have been the setting up of the Davidic kingdom.”

In the Messianic tradition there were several verses that described the relationship between David, the King, and the son of David, the coming heir. In Amos 9.11,12 we find a verse of scripture no scholar will deny as being a Messianic prophecy. Schofield’s heading reads, “The Final Restoration of Israel” with the subheading, “The Lords second advent and the establishment of the Davidic kingdom.”

“In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair it’s broken places, restore it’s ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name…” (N.I.V.)

Schofield has this referenced to Acts 15.16,17, wherein James is quoting from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament used freely by the early church), and reads, “…that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name…” (N.I.V.)

Here James is quoting Amos to show that, “…God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name…” And that, “with this the words of the prophets agree.”

Is it possible the scriptures could declare Christ has ‘set up’ the Davidic kingdom, that the early church saw that kingdom as being a present reality in some way, and Schofield simply ignored it? And the editors of his Study Bible ignored it as well?

Misunderstanding the Bible is easier than one would think. Just ask anyone who has come out of a Christian cult (Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, etc). All Christian cults specialize in twisting the scriptures, and millions follow those teachings primarily because this was what has been drummed into their heads as truth. Unfortunately, it’s no different with the church. If the people we respect and trust to teach us the truth have been taught a lie and accepted it as truth and we accept their word as truth without searching the scriptures ourselves, then we find ourselves being sent into battle with a bent and rusty sword.

It is quite clear that the New Testament interpretation of the Old Testament scripture is the correct one, and according to Acts the verses in Amos were in reference to God’s future plan spoken of by Peter in Acts 15.7-9:

“…God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe, so God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” (N.K.J.V.)

Since this is the only New Testament reference to Amos 9.11,12 we should draw all interpretive conclusions from Acts 15. The apostle James is clearly claiming this prophecy has been fulfilled at the first advent of Christ and therefore, to look for a future fulfillment is to go beyond proper biblical exegesis.

Schofield, in his notes, attempts to relegate this prophecy to ‘the time after the world-wide witness when Christ will return’. However, scripture is very clear that Peter viewed this prophecy as being fulfilled at the first advent, not some future day when Christ comes in judgment.

Isaiah 16.5, as cross-referenced from Amos 9.11, reads:

“A throne will even be established in loving kindness, and a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David…” (N.A.S.) Also, Isaiah 9.7 states, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom…” (N.A.S.) (see Luke 1.32,33 for the fulfillment of these verses)

Now, as to the time when God would ‘restore David’s fallen tent’ and establish the throne of David, can we ascertain from scripture when this will take place? If the prophecy is still future we are left with no clue, aside from other verses that predict the same event. As these verses are drawn together we begin to gain some insight as to a possible timetable. However, if the prophecy has already come to pass, the New Testament writers were always very careful to make that fact known.

In Acts 2, verses 29-36, Peter is preaching to the multitude on the day of Pentecost. After quoting from David in Psalm 16.8 concerning the resurrection of Christ, Peter states:

“Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn to him with an oath, of the fruit of his loins to set upon his throne; he seeing {it} before, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither has he been left in Hades nor his flesh seen corruption…Having therefore been exalted to the right hand of God…Let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (30, 31, 33, 36 from J.N. Darby)

This clearly states that Jesus HAS ascended the throne of David, having been exalted to the right hand of the Father. God HAS MADE him Lord, indeed Lord of lords and the Messiah of Israel.

Furthermore, in Acts 13.32-34, we find this truth to be intrinsically embedded in the gospel message.

“We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus…The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words: I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.” (N.I.V.)

What I have set out to prove, in brief, is that scripture teaches Christ did indeed establish the Davidic kingdom, at his resurrection, and therefore Schofield’s prerequisite to Christ’s return has already been met. But even more importantly, that the gospel message intrinsically contains the fulfillment of prophecies concerning the kingdom of heaven as having drawn near, as being a present reality. It’s up to us to search the scriptures, with the aid of the Spirit of truth, and find how God expects us to live until Christ returns to bring all things to completion.

Mark 1.15 “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn nigh; repent and believe in the glad tidings.” (J.N. Darby)

The Actual Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1)

as presented by the early church

The gospel is for all people.

Luke 2.9.10 says, “Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.”” (N.K.J.V.)

John the baptizer had gone before Jesus with a mission to the children of Israel as stated by the angel Gabriel to Zecheriah, Johns father, in Luke 2.16.17, “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” John the baptizer was not sent to the gentiles, only to the house of Israel, to prepare their hearts for the Messiah. However, through the Jews rejection of their Savior, Jesus, the gospel of salvation was passed on to the gentile nations.

It is quite clear from scripture, both Old and New Testaments, that this was not only foreseen by God but actually designed by Him, purposed before time itself.

First, lets look at what Luke, the gentile physician, had found in his research and placed in his gospel account. According to the angel in 2.10, the gospel he brought the shepherds concerning Christ the Lord was for “all people.” That this salvation was not intended strictly for the Jews is confirmed by the story of Simeon in Luke 2.21-35. Simeon was ‘an upright, devout man who was living in expectation of the comforting of Israel…the Lord’s Messiah’.

After his circumcision the parents of Jesus brought him into the temple in Jerusalem to fulfill the law in presenting him to the Lord. Simeon had been led of the Spirit to be there and, taking Jesus in his arms said:

“Now, master, you will let your slave go free in peace, as you promised, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have set before all the nations, a light of revelation for the heathen, and a glory to your people Israel.” (Verses 29-32 from E.J. Goodspeed)

Cross-referenced with Isaiah 9.2, 42.6 and 49.6 we find a few of the many prophecies concerning Gods promise of ‘a light of revelation for the heathen’. Furthermore, we find, according to Isaiah 60. 1-2 that God expected Israel to be a light to the gentiles (also Isaiah 2.3, 45.22-25 and 49.22,23).

We find no time in history where the Jews actively participated in God’s plan for the gentiles. Rather, we find the Jewish nation becoming increasingly exclusive until finally they wouldn’t even eat with the gentiles.

However, we do find the fulfillment of these prophecies in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the subsequent rejection of the Messiah by the Jews.

Paul, in Acts 13.14-41, was preaching the gospel to the Jews and gentiles in Antioch. Verse 26 states:

“Brothers! Descendants of the house of Abraham, and those others among you who reverence God! It is to us this message of salvation has been sent.” (E.J. Goodspeed) The gentiles present where converts to Judaism (v. 43) as Paul felt strongly that the gospel should be addressed to the Jews first as Gods ‘chosen people’.

But we read in verses 44-47:

“The next Sabbath almost all the town gathered to hear God’s message. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were very jealous, and they contradicted what Paul said and abused him. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out plainly, and said, “Gods message had to be told to you first, but since you thrust it off and judge ourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the heathen. For these are the orders the Lord has given us: “I have made you a light for the heathen, to be the means of salvation to the end of the earth’.” (Goodspeed)

So we find the basic principle of biblical interpretation; the New interprets the Old, the clear interprets the obscure, Paul clearly stating that his proclamation of the promises in the gospel to the gentiles was under direct order of God as stated in the prophetic writings.

As this subject is such a vital part of the gospel and takes up so much thought in the writings of the early church, I will be expounding on this idea in later portions of this work, so rather than repeating the same things over and over, I will leave off here.

(This is a part of a book I was working on in the late 80’s shortly before I became convinced of the intellectual absurdity of the Christian religion in its entirety. This series of articles do accurately portray my final conviction of what the New Testament writings actually portray as the message, purpose and mission of the groups of followers of ‘the way’ that were accepted as the Orthodox Church. They are presented here purely as a catalyst for shaking some fundamentalist minds awake as I believe this to represent the clearest biblically based and verified interpretation of the New Testament. )

Ten principles of Creation Spirituality:

1. The universe is basically a blessing, that is, something we experience as good.
2. We can and do relate to the universe as a whole since we are a microcosm of that macrocosm and that this relationship "intoxicates" us. (Aquinas)
3. Everyone is a mystic (i.e., born full of wonder and capable of recovering it at any age; of not taking the awe and wonder of existence for granted.)
4. Everyone is a prophet, i.e., a "mystic in action" (Hocking) who is called to "interfere" (Heschel) with what interrupts authentic life.
5. That humans have to dig and work at finding their deep self, their true self, their spirit self; thus the role of spiritual praxis and meditation and community confrontation which can itself be a yoga. If we do not undergo such praxis we live superficially out of fear or greed or addiction or someone else's expectations of us. That salvation is best understood as "preserving the good." (Aquinas).
6. That the journey that marks that digging can be named as a four-fold journey:
   Via Positiva: delight, awe, wonder, revelry
   Via Negativa: darkness, silence, suffering, letting go
   Via Creativa: birthing, creativity
   Via Transformativa: compassion, justice healing, celebration
7. Everyone is an artist in some way and art as meditation is a primary form of prayer for releasing our images and empowering the community and each of us. Art finds its fulfillment in ritual, the community's art.
8. We are all sons and daughters of God; therefore, we have divine blood in our vein, the divine breath in our lungs; and the basic work of God is: Compassion.
9. Divinity is as much Mother as Father, as much Child as Parent, as much Godhead (mystery) as God (history) as much beyond all beings as in all beings.
10. That we experience that the Divine is in all things and all things are in the Divine (Panentheism) and that this mystical intuition supplants theism (and its child, atheism) as an appropriate way to name our relation to the Divine and experience the Sacred.

Declaration of Evolution

--- When in the course of organic evolution it becomes obvious that a mutational process is inevitably dissolving the physical and neurological bonds which connect the members of one generation to the past and inevitably directing them to assume among the species of Earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them, a decent concern for the harmony of species requires that the causes of the mutation should be declared.

We hold these truths to be self evident:

• That all species are created different but equal;
• That they are endowed, each one, with certain inalienable rights;
• That among them are Freedom to Live, Freedom to Grow, and Freedom to pursue Happiness in their own style;
• That to protect these God-given rights, social structures naturally emerge, basing their authority on the principles of love of God and respect for all forms of life;
• That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of life, liberty, and harmony, it is the organic duty of the young members of that species to mutate, to drop out, to initiate a new social structure, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its power in such form as seems likely to produce the safety, happiness, and harmony of all sentient beings.

Genetic wisdom, indeed, suggests that social structures long established should not be discarded for frivolous reasons and transient causes. The ecstasy of mutation is equally balanced by the pain. Accordingly all experience shows that members of a species are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, rather than to discard the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, all pursuing invariably the same destructive goals, threaten the very fabric of organic life and the serene harmony of the planet, it is the right, it is the organic duty to drop out of such morbid covenants and to evolve new loving social structures. Such has been the patient sufferance of the freedom-loving peoples of this earth, and such is now the necessity which constrains us to form new systems of government.

The history of the white, menopausal, mendacious men now ruling the planet earth is a history of repeated violation of the harmonious laws of nature, all having the direct object of establishing a tyranny of the materialistic aging over the gentle, the peace-loving, the young, the colored.

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to the judgment of generations to come.

· These old, white rulers have maintained a continuous war against other species of life, enslaving and destroying at whim fowl, fish, animals and spreading a lethal carpet of concrete and metal over the soft body of earth.

· They have maintained as well a continual state of war among themselves and against the colored races, the freedom-loving, the gentle, and the young. Genocide is their habit.

· They have instituted artificial scarcities, denying peaceful folk the natural inheritance of earth's abundance and God's endowment.

· They have glorified material values and degraded the spiritual.

· They have claimed private, personal ownership of God's land, driving by force of arms the gentle from passage on the earth.

· In their greed they have erected artificial immigration and customs barriers, preventing the free movement of people.

· In their lust for control they have set up systems of compulsory education to coerce the minds of the children and to destroy the wisdom and innocence of the playful young.

· In their lust for power they have controlled all means of communication to prevent the free flow of ideas and to block loving exchanges among the gentle.

· In their fear they have instituted great armies of secret police to spy upon the privacy of the pacific.

· In their anger they have coerced the peaceful young against their will to join their armies and to wage murderous wars against the young and gentle of other countries.

· In their greed they have made the manufacture and selling of weapons the basis of their economies.

· For profit they have polluted the air, the rivers and the seas.

· In their impotence they have glorified murder, violence, and unnatural sex in their mass media.

· In their aging greed they have set up an economic system which favors age over youth.

· They have in every way attempted to impose a robot uniformity and to crush variety, individuality, and independence of thought.

· In their greed, they have instituted political systems which perpetuate rule by the aging and force youth to choose between plastic conformity or despairing alienation.

· They have invaded privacy by illegal search, unwarranted arrest, and contemptuous harassment.

· They have enlisted an army of informers.

· In their greed they sponsor the consumption of deadly tars and sugars and employ cruel and unusual punishment of the possession of life-giving alkaloids and acids.

· They never admit a mistake.

· They unceasingly trumpet the virtue of greed and war.

· In their advertising and in their manipulation of information they make a fetish out of blatant falsity and pious self-enhancement.

· Their obvious errors only stimulate them to greater error and noisier self-approval.

· They are bores.

· They hate beauty.

· They hate sex.

· They hate life.

We have warned them from time to time to their inequities and blindness. We have addressed every available appeal to their withered sense of righteousness. We have tried to make them laugh. We have prophesied in detail the terror they are perpetuating. But they have been deaf to the weeping of the poor, the anguish of the colored, the rocking mockery of the young, the warnings of their poets. Worshipping only force and money, they listen only to force and money. But we shall no longer talk in these grim tongues. We must therefore acquiesce to genetic necessity, detach ourselves from their uncaring madness and hold them henceforth as we hold the rest of God's creatures - in harmony, life brothers, in their excess, menaces to life.

We, therefore, God-loving, peace-loving, life-loving, fun-loving men and women, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the Universe for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the Authority of all sentient beings who seek gently to evolve on this planet, solemnly publish and declare that we are free and independent, and that we are absolved from all Allegiance to the United States Government and all governments controlled by the menopausal, and that grouping ourselves into tribes of like-minded fellows, we claim full power to live and move on the land, obtain sustenance with our own hands and minds in the style which seems sacred and holy to us, and to do all Acts and Things which independent Freemen and Freewomen may of right do without infringing on the same rights of other species and groups to do their own thing.

And for the support of this Declaration of Evolution with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, and serenely confident of the approval of generations to come, in whose name we speak, do we now mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor." --- Author: Dr. Timothy Leary, Ph.D. Courtesy: Hyperdimension