Daily Archives: September 23, 2014

Baptising

Bible Study, , , ,

BAPTISING

“After this, Jesus and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them, and baptised. Now John was also baptising at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptised, (This was before John was put in prison).” John 3:22-24.

What was all this baptising about? Who were Jesus and John baptising and why? Were they sprinkling water on people’s heads or were they dunking them under the water?

Baptism, or ritual washing, was an ancient and common practice in Israel. It was carried out in obedience to the Law of Moses for many different reasons. It was also the way of ritual cleansing and initiation into an office e.g., the priesthood, or a movement.

John was a rabbi who had a following of disciples and a “yoke”, an interpretation of the Torah and a lifestyle that he adhered to and placed upon his followers as did Jesus. As he taught about the Messiah, preparing the way for His coming, people wanted to show that they accepted and identified with what John was teaching and the way to do it publicly was through ritual washing.

It would seem that Jesus was initiating His own disciples into Himself and His teaching as well, so that they would become different people while John was baptising people who were willing to change their minds and accept what John was teaching them about the Messiah. The act of washing in running water was symbolic of washing away who they were and giving them a new beginning in a new understanding and way of life according to what their rabbi had taught them.

Were John and Jesus in competition, each drawing a following and initiating their disciples into their teaching and way of life? For a while they were both teaching and baptising, but John in no way acted like a rival. In fact, John, the author of this gospel, records John the Baptist’s purpose, more than once, of pointing people to Jesus. He did not object when some of his disciples left him to follow Jesus.

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God.’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.” John 1:35-37.

When his disciples questioned John about Jesus’ popularity, he responded that he was only the friend of the bridegroom, not the bridegroom. His job was to attend to bridegroom and announce His arrival. He concluded, “He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30.

God had a drastic and unusual way of solving this problem. John did not disappear back into the wilderness. He was forcefully removed by Herod who had him thrown in prison at the instigation of his unscrupulous wife, Herodias. Why did God allow that to happen?

I cannot presume to understand all God’s ways, but it seems to me that John’s work was done. It was his task to prepare the way for Messiah, to announce His arrival and to point out who He was to those who heard him. Did he fulfil his calling? Yes, he did. There was no reason for him to continue because he would actually be in Jesus’ way.

His removal seems cruel but we have to ask, “Would it have been better for him to languish in a dungeon for years, never seeing the light of day and living in a hope that was never fulfilled?” It was through God’s mercy that he was taken out suddenly and drastically, leaving Jesus to fulfil His mission without a rival. The people no longer needed John’s message or John’s baptism because the Messiah was among them. John’s work was preparatory and complete.

We cannot always discern the wisdom and ways of the Lord. We know that He is good and always does what is best for us. His ways, Paul said, are “past finding out”. He asks us to trust Him when we cannot see the way ahead.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Did The Cross Work?

Apologetics, , , ,

DID THE CROSS WORK?

An insidious and disturbing error has crept into some streams of the modern church which I call “the Galatian Church syndrome.”

What is the Galatian Church syndrome?

The apostle Paul had to deal with a group of Christian teachers called the Judaizers. “That Gentile Christians should convert to Judaism and obey the Laws of Moses was the assumption of some in the Early Church, represented by Pharisees who had become believers in Acts 15 (Acts 15:5).” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaizers). (A fuller treatment of this subject can be found on the website referred to in this article).

The underlying issue was, “Is the death of Jesus sufficient for salvation or is it necessary for Gentile believers to “Judaize”. i.e., embrace the Jewish law found in the Torah before they can be accepted as followers of Christ?” There were members of the Galatian church who had fallen for this lie, which alarmed and angered Paul to the extent that he wrote an impassioned letter to the Galatians to expose this idea as a “false gospel” and one which he did not preach. So vehemently did he denounce such an idea that he called down a curse on anyone, even an angelic being sent from God, who preached “another gospel”.

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” Galatians 1:8 (NIV).

Although this issue is still alive today, it is not the debate over the place of the law in the believer’s life that concerns me as much as the same principle which rears its head in other ways from time to time. There are ways in which the efficacy of the cross is challenged by beliefs and practices which appear “spiritual” but are in actual fact additions to the work of Jesus that supposedly enhance the effectiveness of what He accomplished on the cross.

Before I explain, there are two questions which we must answer:

  1. What did Jesus mean when He declared, “It is finished!”?
  2. What did the cross accomplish?

The answers to these two questions are inextricably tied together.

“Literally translated the word tetelestai means, “It is finished.” The word occurs in John 19:28 and 19:30 and these are the only two places in the New Testament where it occurs. In 19:28 it is translated, “After this, when Jesus knew that all things were now completed, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’” Two verses later, he utters the word himself: “Then when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

“The word tetelestai was also written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a bill had been paid in full. The Greek-English lexicon by Moulton and Milligan says this:

“Receipts are often introduced by the phrase [sic] tetelestai, usually written in an abbreviated manner…” (p. 630). The connection between receipts and what Christ accomplished would have been quite clear to John’s Greek-speaking readership; it would be unmistakable that Jesus Christ had died to pay for their sins.”

(https://bible.org/question/what-does-greek-word-tetelestai-mean).

“Tetelestai” doesn’t translate simply; we have to make a phrase out of it – “It is finished.” But still some of its power is lost in the translation. In the Greek it implies that something has come to an end, it has been completed, perfected, accomplished in full and that something has consequences that will endure on and on…

“Tetelestai.” The most powerful single word of all of Jesus’ ministry. It was also his last word. It was the word that turned this apparent tragedy into a scene of victory that shook the earth, split rocks, changed history, raised saints from the dead and tore away the temple curtain that kept people out of the Holy of Holies.

“Tetelestai” the most powerful word in history. Even more powerful than the words of creation in Genesis chapter 1 where God spoke and the universe came into existence. This word could not simply be spoken. The son of God had to die to speak it…

“Seven times our Lord spoke from the Cross, three before the darkness and four after…

“The sixth word is one of triumph, “It is finished!”

“In the Greek, it is the word tetelestai. It’s an artist’s word. It is the word an artist uses when she stands before one of her creations and says, “Tetelestai, it is finished; I cannot add anything more to it. It is complete.” It is a builder’s word. It is the word he uses when he hands over the keys to a new building and says, “Tetelestai, it is finished; I have done everything according to the plan. It is complete.”

http://www.opensourcetheology.net/node/1332

Jesus’ cry, “It is finished,” was an all-encompassing declaration that everything that went wrong when Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden was reversed at the cross; every lie the devil had spoken was exposed, every sin forgiven and the debt paid in full. Every obstacle between man and God was removed and God’s original plan for man and the universe put back on track – confirmed by the resurrection, and to be completed at His return.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossian 2:13-15 (NIV).

The Galatian Church syndrome is that teaching, practice or movement that believes that what Jesus did on the cross and through His resurrection was not sufficient for salvation. There are different ways in which people have added to the efficacy of His death; baptism, the Mass, legalism, good works to mention just a few. It is my purpose to examine the ever-growing international prayer movement which engages is “spiritual” warfare to defeat and pull down strongholds over people and nations, against the backdrop of Scripture to see whether it fits into the category of “Galatian Church Syndrome.”

To be continued…