“Basic Christianity” by Romans
Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFGDU3XZmms
Youtube Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LStDiZqhW4M
As I was nearing the completion of my most recent Series, I told those in attendance that I had no idea what my next Study or Series would be. Someone in attendance suggested that I do a Study on “Basic Christianity.” I agreed that this would be a good Foundational Study, not only for new Christians, but also as a review for those who have been members for months or even years.
It is vital that we not only know who we are, and what we believe, but also that we to be able to defend our beliefs. Because of our beliefs, we are opposed by many detractors, not only from outside Christianity, but often from various denominations within Christianity. We will discuss that in later Installments.
Let's take a brief look at some outside comments about Christianity:
The Jewish Encyclopedia says of Christianity: A Christian is a follower of Jesus as the Messiah or Christ. It originated, according to Acts xi. 26, in Antioch, the Syrian capital, where, shortly after the failure of the Hellenistic movement in ...Jerusalem. Christianity is the system of religious truth based upon the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the expected Messiah, or Christ, and that in him all the hopes and prophecies of Israel concerning the future ...have been fulfilled... [T]he doctrine of the risen Christ was propagated among the non-Jewish population, and where the first important church of the Christians was established by Barnabas and Paul.”
I do find it interesting that Christianity is described in the above as either a failed movement among Jews, or propagated later by the non-Jewish population. It acknowledges the claim of fulfilled prophecy, but then side-steps whether these claims are true, and worthy of further investigation. It is not true that Christianity teaches that “all the hopes and prophecies of Israel concerning the future ...have been fulfilled.” Jesus instructed us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” Even after Jesus' Resurrection, His disciples still asked Him, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Present-day believers still ask that question because that prophecy has yet to be fulfilled.
Let's look at another outside view of Christianity, this time from a Gentile contemporary of the early Apostles. Tacitus was a Roman historian who lived between 56-120 A.D. In his “Annals,” he described how Christians were blamed by the Emperor Nero after the great 6-day fire in the city of Rome. Then his description focuses in on the Founder of Christianity: He wrote:
“Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.”
Allow me to share with you something that came up in my Facebook Newsfeed just yesterday that directly addresses the issue of Basic Christianity and Salvation among the general American populace and within the Church. Unfortunately, it also speaks of a lack of unified understanding and teaching among believers, and a departure by most believers from the faith once delivered in the pages of Scripture.
“A survey conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University find that American adults today increasingly adopt a “salvation-can-be-earned” perspective. A plurality of adults (48 percent) believe that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things during their life, they will “earn” a place in heaven. Only one-third of adults (35 percent) disagree.
A majority of Americans who describe themselves as Christian (52 percent) also accept a “works-oriented” means to God’s acceptance—even those associated with churches whose official doctrine says eternal salvation comes only from embracing Jesus Christ as savior. Almost half of all adults associated with Pentecostal (46 percent), mainline Protestant (44 percent), and evangelical (41 percent) churches, as well as nearly two-thirds of Catholics (70 percent), hold that view.
While about 65 percent of American adults describe themselves as Christians, only about half (54 percent) believe they will experience heaven after they die. Only one-third of adults (33 percent) believe they will go to heaven solely because of confessing their sins and embracing Jesus as their savior. Another one-in-five expecting to experience heaven are counting on earning their way in or because they embrace universalism (i.e., that God will let all people into heaven).
Among those with other views, 15 percent said they don’t know what will happen after they die; 13 percent said there is no life after death; 8 percent expect to be reincarnated; and another 8 percent believe they will go to a place of purification prior to entering heaven. A mere 2 percent believe they will go to hell.”
These are sad and disheartening statistics to be sure! And that is why a Basic Christianity is needed for both new Christians, as well as “seasoned” believers. There are what I hope are well-meaning but distorted teachings floating around cyberspace and both radio and TV airwaves. It is not necessarily an evil thing to teach inaccurately, and I say that because we read of Apollos in the Book of Acts. When he is first introduced, he is described as “an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures.” It goes on to say that he “was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:24-25).
So how should we view Apollos? As a deceiver? A false prophet? Let's read the next verse: “And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” It was just a matter of Apollos needing to be brought up to speed. He was taken aside, apparently privately, and was given a fuller, clearer and sharper presentation of the Gospel. After that, he was fine.
I was involved last year in a similar situation. The local pastor was on vacation, and he left the Youth Pastor, whom I had never seen before, to give that Sunday morning's sermon. And he spoke of all that Jesus had done for us when He died on the cross and paid for our sins. Now, normally, crucifixion victims, especially after their legs were broken, died of suffocation. And so when this pastor went into more detail about the death of Christ, he said that Christ died of suffocation. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
After Services, I went up to him and introduced myself. After I determined that no one else was within ear shot, I shared with him that Jesus did not die on the cross of suffocation. Between the merciless scourging that Jesus endured, which killed many other criminals sentenced to crucifixion, even before they were nailed to the cross, Jesus also bled from the hand and foot wounds, the crown of thorns, and finally the spear thrust into his side, very likely puncturing His heart. I told him Jesus died by shedding His blood.
And then I opened to him what was written in Hebrews 9:22: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” He stood there silently for the whole time I spoke, and as I did, a light seemed to come on for him as things fell into place Scripturally. He thanked me for bringing this to his attention in much the same way I believe Apollos was grateful to Aquila and Priscilla when they took him aside and corrected him.
The first thing I want to discuss in this opening of the Series, “Basic Christianity,” is the Nature of the God we worship. The Jews of both Jesus day and our day, today, along with Islam, and at least one denomination I can think of, dismiss the idea that Jesus was God in the flesh. And they all do that based on the verse that declares in no uncertain terms, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4). That does seem to be an open and shut case about the Nature of God. At least it is in the English translation.
Here is where we need to deep-dive God's Word, and take full advantage of the study tools at our disposal. “The Lord our God is one Lord.” Does the number one present a contradiction to the Christ teaching that Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus. After all, was on the earth, subject to hunger and thirst and tiredness and temptation and, finally, death. While He was on the earth, He prayed to God in Heaven, calling Him both privately and publicly, His Father. So how can Jesus also be God in light of what I just mentioned, especially when the Word of God says, The Lord our God is one Lord”?
Matthew Henry says of this verse: “What we are here taught to believe concerning God: that Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. (1.) That the God whom we serve is Jehovah, a Being infinitely and eternally perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient. (2.) That he is the one only living and true God; he only is God, and he is but one. The firm belief of this self-evident truth would effectually arm them against all idolatry, which was introduced by that fundamental error, that there are gods many.
It is past dispute that there is one God, and there is no other but he, Mar_12:32. Let us therefore have no other, nor desire to have any other. Some have thought there is here a plain intimation of the trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead; for here is the name of God three times, and yet all declared to be one. Happy they that have this one Lord for their God; for they have but one master to please, but one benefactor to seek to. It is better to have one fountain that a thousand cisterns, one all-sufficient God than a thousand insufficient ones.”
But I think that we still have to get past that number one, and reconcile how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit can each be God, and can all be God when the verse declares, “The Lord our God is one Lord.” We all know what the number one indicates: The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “one” as “a single unit,” “being one in particular,” “being a certain individual specified by name,” and finally, “the number denoting unity.”
Unity speaks of multiple participants thinking and acting as one in spite of their plurality.
That final definition explains and defends Jesus' statement, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).
Albert Barnes writes of this: “I and my Father are one - The word translated “one” is not in the masculine, but in the neuter gender. It expresses union, but not the precise nature of the union. It may express any union, and the particular kind intended is to be inferred from the connection. In the previous verse he had said that he and his Father were united in the same object that is, in redeeming and preserving his people. It was this that gave occasion for this remark.
Many interpreters have understood this as referring to union of design and of plan. The words may bear this construction. In this way they were understood by Erasmus, Calvin, Bucer, and others. Most of the Christian fathers understood them, however, as referring to the oneness or unity of nature between the Father and the Son; and that this was the design of Christ appears probable from the following considerations:
1. The question in debate was (not about his being united with the Father in plan and counsel, but in power. He affirmed that he was able to rescue and keep his people from all enemies, or that he had power superior to men and devils that is, that he had supreme power over all creation. He affirmed the same of his Father. In this, therefore, they were united. But this was an attribute only of God, and they thus understood him as claiming equality to God in regard to omnipotence.
2. The Jews understood him as affirming his equality with God, for they took up stones to punish him for blasphemy (see John 10:31 and 33), and they said to him that they understood him as affirming that he was God.
3. Jesus did not deny that it was his intention to be so understood.
4. He immediately made another declaration implying the same thing, leaving the same impression, and which they attempted to punish in the same manner, (see John 10:37-39). If Jesus had not intended so to be understood, it cannot be easily reconciled with moral honesty that he did not distinctly disavow that such was his intention. The Jews were well acquainted with their own language. They understood him in this manner, and he left this impression on their minds.”
But, in all honesty, Jesus' statement is in the New Testament. Can we resolve the declaration that “The Lord our God is one Lord,” and come away with the same understanding that there are multiple Supreme Beings that can be described as one Lord?
Let's go to the original Hebrew: The word “one” in Deuteronomy 6:4 was translated from the Hebrew word, “'echad.” That word appears earlier in the Old Testament 377 times before we get to the verse in question, but I want to zero in on just two times that it appears in Genesis that turns all the lights on the meaning of this number “one,” so that we can fully appreciate what it means when we think of “One” Lord.
First, let's look at Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they {plural} shall be one ('echad) flesh.” Here we have two individuals being called “one” using the exact same Hebrew word that declares “The Lord our God is one Lord.” Here, the word “one” denotes unity and one-ness, and not singularity.
In the Septuagint / Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which Gospel writers always quoted from, the Hebrew for “one,” ('echad) is translated into the Greek word, “heis.” In the Greek translation of Deuteronomy 6:4, the Greek says, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one (“heis”) Lord.” Now... watch this: When Jesus said, “ I and my Father are One,” (see John 10:30), the same Greek word “heis” is used in the Greek New Testament for “one”! Can you imagine the impact that it had on Jesus' detractors when they heard Him use the description of The Lord as “One,” and His declaration that He and His Father are “one”! We don't have to imagine: when they heard this, we can read of their reaction: “Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him” (John 10:31).
So now, with God being “one,” and Adam and Eve being one, and now Jesus and the Father also being “one,” the same Greek word is used in each case for their “oneness.” Two can be one in thought, in purpose, in deed, in direction and in action. “One” does not always limit what is being spoken of to single or solitary totality.
But can we achieve a higher number than two being one using the Hebrew 'echad? Yes! We can. After the Flood, when the people were working on building the Tower of Babel, the Bible does not give a number as to how large the population of the earth had grown. Any number I or anyone else would come up with would be pure speculation. Is a population of a million people too many? Is it too conservative to limit the population to ten thousand more reasonable? How about if we make it population of fifty thousand as a nice round figure...
With fifty thousand in mind, here's what we have: Even though when Noah and his family left the Ark, God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,” (Genesis 9:1), the people did not disperse. Instead, “they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there” (Genesis 11:2). Then we read, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one (Hebrew: 'echad).”
How many thousands or tens of thousands of people might there have been that God said were “one,” were “'echad”? I don't know. I can't say. But I do know, and I can say with all that we have now seen, that when we read, “The Lord our God is one ('echad) Lord,” that Scripture is not limiting God to a sole, isolated Supreme Being. When we factor in the many other Scriptures that speak on this subject, it is saying, rather, that the Lord our God is a unified Godhead composed of multiple Supreme Beings, of one Mind, Purpose, Will, and Action. We will review and examine those other Scriptures in coming Installments.
When we read in John 1:1, that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” that does not contradict in any way Deuteronomy 6:4's “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” Rather, it is clarifies and identifies exactly Who Jesus Christ was: He was God in the flesh!
Alexander MacClaren writes of John 1:1: “The other Gospels begin with Bethlehem; John begins with ‘the bosom of the Father.’ Luke dates his narrative by Roman emperors and Jewish high-priests; John dates his ‘in the beginning.’ To attempt adequate exposition of these verses in our narrow limits is absurd; we can only note the salient points of this, the profoundest page in the New Testament.
The threefold utterance in John 1:1 carries us into the depths of eternity, before time or creatures were. Genesis and John both start from ‘the beginning,’ but, while Genesis works downwards from that point and tells what followed, John works upwards and tells what preceded-if we may use that term in speaking of what lies beyond time. Time and creatures came into being, and, when they began, the Word ‘was.’ Surely no form of speech could more emphatically declare absolute, uncreated being, outside the limits of time. Clearly, too, no interpretation of these words fathoms their depth, or makes worthy sense, which does not recognise that the Word is a person.
The second clause of John 1:1 asserts the eternal communion of the Word with God. The preposition employed means accurately ‘towards,’ and expresses the thought that in the Word there was motion or tendency towards, and not merely association with, God. It points to reciprocal, conscious communion, and the active going out of love in the direction of God.
The last clause asserts the community of essence, which is not inconsistent with distinction of persons, and makes the communion of active Love possible; for none could, in the depths of eternity, dwell with and perfectly love and be loved by God, except one who Himself was God.”
That Jesus Christ was the Son of God, God in the flesh, is a foundational Truth that we, as New Testament Christians, must come to accept and believe and teach: The Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in John 1:14 we read, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...” The Apostle Paul confirms this in 1 Timothy 3:16 when he writes, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” This is my introduction to all of you of Basic Christianity.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Basic Christianity.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on August 12th, 2020.
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