Gospel Reading for Feb 2nd - St. Luke 2:22:40

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

Today we have crossed 1 month into the New Year and today we are celebrating the dedication of baby Jesus to the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Today's Gospel reading is from the book of Luke 2:22-40. I would like to bring forth a few points that has been going around in my head on understanding this portion of the Gospel.

In the Old Testamental laws that were provided by God Almighty, in the book of Leviticus (Chapter 12) whenever a woman bears child, she would be unclean to enter the house of God and on the eighth day, the male child would undergo circumcision. And after forty days the mother and the child are declared to clean to come and enter the temple of God. In the Orthodox tradition, the mother and the child are specially blessed on the fortieth day. As per the old laws, the family had to offer an unblemished lamb to be offered to God. If the mother is not able to bring an unblemished lamb, then she brings a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. 

In the current scenario, the baby is brought and dedicated to God Almighty during the baptism of the infant. The baptism holds two meanings:

1. The baby is dedicated to God, who is the giver of all life. We all are in that sense dedicated to God on our baptism and we are to meant to be His instruments in this world. 

2. Through baptism, we are bought into the Christian fellowship, so that our faith in Jesus Christ might develop such that we are dead to the pleasures of this world and are made new creation in the image of God. 

Through baptism, we are brought into the fold of believers who will help us to realize our shortfalls and help us to develop our faith in Jesus such that we lose our sinful selves and we are called "to be saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2). First of all, who is a saint? We normally describe a person as a saint because of his unusually Godly character. We have given the title of saints to people who had a Godly character in them and who were close to God. But I found it very astounding that St. Paul addresses the Corinthian church as people who are set apart to be saints. Now I will tell you the reason why.

The Corinthian church, if you look at them from today's point of view, they had many many faults in them. They were really messed up, both theologically and morally. They were proud and fractious; they tolerated gross immorality, sued each other in court, flaunted their freedom in Christ, abused the observance of the Lord's Supper, misunderstood the purpose of spiritual gifts, and were confused about the future resurrection of believers. Yet when writing to them, Paul addresses them as "saints" (2 Corinthian 1:1) or as those "called to be saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2). I clearly did not understand why Paul of all people would address the people of Corinth as saints in such a situation. But as I read his letters to the other churches, I found that this form of address was a favorite of Paul's address and reference to the believers (for example, Romans 1:7; 16:15; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; 4:21-22 and Colossians 1:2). 

The answer to this lies in the meaning of the word as it is used in the Bible. The Greek word for saint is hagios, and it refers not to one's character but to a state of being. Its literal meaning is "one who is separated unto God." In this sense, every believer - even the most ordinary, and the most immature - is a saint. The actual wording of St. Paul's address in 1 Corinthians is to "those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1:2). Hence a saint is simply someone who is separated for God. Every true believer, through his/her baptism has been separated or set apart by God for God. Christ Himself through His death on the cross and gave Himself for us, redeemed us from all lawlessness to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works (comparing Titus 2:14 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Thus through our dedication to God through baptism, every new believer has been set apart by God, separated unto God to be transformed into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ. In this sense, every believer is a saint - a person separated from his old sinful way of life and set apart by God to increasingly glorify God as his life is transformed.

In the biblical sense of the term, sainthood is not a status of achievement and character, but a sense of being - an entirely new condition of life brought about by the Spirit of God. We don't become saints by our actions. We are made saints by the immediate supernatural action of the Holy Spirit alone who works this change deep within our inner being so that we do, in fact, become new creations in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). This change of state is described prophetically in Ezekiel 36:26: "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

It would have been nice to end the story here, because above paragraphs might suggest a saint is someone who no longer sins. But that is not true. If we are rather honest to ourselves, we know that nearly every waking hour we sin in thought, word and deed. Even our best deeds are stained with impure motives and imperfect performance. Why is there a disconnect between what god has seemingly promised and what we experience in our daily lives? The answer to this can be found in Galatians 5:17, which says, "The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep from doing the things you want to do." This guerrilla warfare between the flesh and the Spirit described in Galatians 5:17 is fought daily in the hearts of every Christian. So Paul begins his first letter to the Corinthian church by addressing them as "those sanctified (set apart by God) in Christ Jesus, called to be saints (set-apart-ones)". Then he spends the remainder of his letter vigorously exhorting them to act  like saints. That is, be in your behavior what you are in your state of being. So although the word saint basically describes our new state of being as people separated unto God, it carries with it the idea of responsibility to live as saints in our daily lives.

So in the future, remind yourself when we gossip or become impatient, or get angry, that we are to conduct ourselves as saints because we are a people who are set apart by God for God, to His wish in this land that He has provided us to till and toil.

May the grace of our Almighty Father, and love of His Son Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all during this week and in all the days to come. 

My humble request is to keep this sinful servant in your prayers.

Your views and comments are always welcome and you may please mail them to jobin.george 2012@gmail.com

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

Christ and the Bible - Conclusion

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

Before reading this conclusion, I would request you all to first please spend some time to read the prior sessions (Part I, Part II, Part III & Part IV). Now to sum up, we believe the Scriptures because of Christ. He endorsed the Old Testament, and he made provision for the writing of the New Testament by giving to the apostles His authority. We therefore receive the Bible from the hand of Jesus Christ. It is He who has invested it with His own authority.And since we are determined to submit to Him, we are determined to submit to it. Our doctrine of Scripture is bound up with our loyalty to Jesus Christ. If he is our Teacher and our Lord, we have no liberty to disagree with Him. Our view of Scripture must be Him.

At this point some people raise an understandable objection. "The Scriptures bear witness to Christ and Christ bears witness to the Scriptures," they say, accurately summarizing what we have been studying. "But surely," they continue, "this reciprocal testimony, each bearing witness to the other, is a circular argument? Does it not assume the very truth you are wanting to prove? That is, in order to demonstrate the inspiration of the Scripture you appeal to the teaching of Jesus, but you believe the teaching of Jesus only because of the inspired Scriptures. Isn't that a circular argument, and therefore invalid?" This is an important objection to face. But actually our argument has been misstated, for it is linear and not circular reasoning.

Let me put it in this way: When we first listen to the biblical witness to Christ, we read our New Testament with no preconceived doctrine of inspiration. We simply accept it as a collection of first-century historical documents, which indeed it is. Through this historical testimony, however, quite apart from any theory of biblical inspiration, the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Jesus. Then this Jesus, in whom we have come to believe, sends us back to the Bible and gives us in His teaching a doctrine of Scripture which we did not have when we started our reading. For now He tells us that His historical testimony is also divine testimony, and that through the human agency of prophets and apostles His Father is bearing witness to Him.

Whenever you read the Bible, please do remember its major purpose. Scripture is the Father's testimony to the Son. It points to Him. It says to us, "Go to Him in order to find life - abundant life - in Him." Therefore any preoccupation with the biblical text which does not lead to a stronger commitment to Jesus Christ, in faith, love, worship and obedience, is seriously perverted. It brings us under the rebuke of Jesus. "You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me [to whom they bear witness] that you may have life."

Scripture, as Luther used to say, is the manger or cradle in which the infant Jesus lies. Don't let us inspect the cradle and forget to worship the Baby. Scripture, we might say, is the star which still leads wise people to Jesus. Don't let us allow our astronomical curiosity to so preoccupy us that we miss the house to which it is leading, and within it the Christ-child Himself. Or, we might say, Scripture is the box in which the jewel of Jesus Christ is displayed. Don't let us admire the box and overlook the jewel.

Dr. Christopher Chavasse, formerly Bishop of Rochester, once put the matter admirably. He said:

The Bible is the portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospels are the Figure itself in the portrait. The Old Testament is the background leading up to the divine Figure pointing towards it and absolutely necessary to the composition as a whole. The Epistles serve as the dress and accoutrements of the Figure, explaining and describing it. Then while by our Bible reading we study the portrait as a great whole, the miracle happens, the Figure comes to life, and stepping down from the canvas of the written word the everlasting Christ of the Emmaus story becomes Himself our Bible teacher, to interpret to us in all the Scriptures the thing concerning Himself.

It is not enough to possess a Bible, to read the Bible, love the Bible, study the Bible, know the Bible. We need to ask ourselves, Is the Christ of the Bible the center of our lives? If not, all our Bible reading has been futile, for this is the end to which the Bible is intended to be the means.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, some of you believe that with all my previous writings I am leaning towards the Sola Scriptura theory, but I would say otherwise. The Bible as a book came to be formed in the 3rd century and it was widely made available to the lay people after the typewriter was invented. My meaning for the writings are that the prophets and the apostles wrote the Word of God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the church believes that the Word initially was passed on through the word of mouth and writings. But now since we do have a written Bible in our hands, it should not be kept n the closet, but it should be taken out daily and the Word of God should speak to you and you should make it a point to understand it.

Hope you enjoy reading this post and I await more responses from all my readers.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

P.S. The Bible - John R. W. Stott

Christ and the Bible - Part IV

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

First and foremost, wishing you a blessed and a happy new year to all of you. I really would like to apologize to be out of the blogs for such a long time. I was facing a issue called writer's block. I really would like to continue with the blogs where I had left off. But most importantly, I would like to thanks each and everyone of you for keeping me in your prayers. Your prayers are most needed for me to continue writing.

Now coming back to where I had left off in the last portion, i.e. Part III (Please click on the word to go to the relevant post to read in entirety) I was saying about how Jesus bears witness to the Old Testament.We saw how Jesus endorsed the Old Testament scriptures. he reverently submitted to the Old Testament writings, for He was submitting to His Father's Word. He also made the Old Testament His ground for appeal in all his arguments with the religious teachers of His day. Through this we, who look towards Jesus as his Teacher and Lord should have a lower view of the Old Testament, and should also follow the Old Testament teachings. His view of the Scripture must become ours. Since He believed Scripture, so must we. Since He obeyed Scripture, so must we.

2. Jesus made provision for the writing of the New Testament. Just as God called the prophets in the Old Testament to record and interpret what He was doing and then sent them to teach the children of Israel, so Jesus called the apostles to record and interpret what He was doing and saying, and then He sent them to teach the church and, indeed, the world. This is the meaning of the word apostolos, a person "sent" on a mission with a message.

This parallel between the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles was deliberate. Jesus chose twelve in order that they might be with him - to hear His words, see His works, and then bear witness out of what they had seen and heard (compare Mk. 3:14; Jn. 15:27). Next He promised them the Holy Spirit in order to remind them his teaching and to supplement it, leading them to all the truth (Jn. 14:25-26; 16:12-13). This explains why Jesus could then say to the apostles, "He who listens to you listens to me; he who receives you receives me; he who rejects you rejects me" (Mt. 10:40; Lk. 10:16; Jn. 13:20). In other words, He invested them with His authority so that people's attitude to their teaching would mirror their attitude to His. Later Jesus added Paul and maybe couple others to the apostolic band, investing them with the same apostolic authority.

The apostles themselves recognized the unique authority they had been given as the teachers of the church. They did not hesitate on occasion to put themselves o a par with the Old Testament prophets, since they too were bearers of the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). They spoke and wrote in the name and with the authority of Jesus Christ. They issues commandments and expected obedience (e.g. 2 Thess. 3). They even gave instructions that their letters should be read in the public assembly when Christians were gathered together for worship, thus placing them alongside the Old Testament Scriptures (see Col. 4:16; 1 Thess. 5:27). This is the origin of the practice, which continues to this day, of having an Old Testament and a New Testament lesson read in the church.

A striking example of Paul's self-conscious apostolic authority occurs in his letter to the Galatians. He had climbed over the Taurus mountains on to the Galatian plateau to visit them, and he had arrived a sick man. He mentions some disfigurement, which had perhaps affected his eyesight (Gal. 4:13-15), and goes on to say; "You did no scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus" (v. 14). Not only had they welcomed him as God's "angel", or messenger, but they had actually listened to him as if he were Jesus Christ himself. Notice that he does not rebuke them for this. He does not say, "What on earth were you thinking about, that you should have given me the deference that you would give to Christ?" No, he applauds them for thee way they had treated him. It was not merely Christian courtesy which had motivated them to welcome a stranger. It was more than that. They had recognized him as a divine messenger, an apostle, who had come to them in the name and with the authority of Christ. So they had received him as if he were Christ.

Not only did the apostles understand the teaching authority they had been given, but the early church understood it also. As soon as all the apostles had died, church leaders knew they had moved into a new post-apostolic era. There was now no longer anybody in the church with the authority of a Paul or a Peter or a John. Bishop Ignatius of Antioch is perhaps the earliest clear example of this he dies about A.D. 110, which was very soon after John, the last surviving apostle had died. On his way to Rome to be executed, Ignatius wrote a number of letters to the Ephesians, the Romans, the Trallians and others. Several times in these he wrote: "I do not, like Peter or Paul, issue with commands. For I am not an apostle, but a condemned man." Now Ignatius was a bishop in the church. He is, in fact, one of the earliest witnesses to the rise of the episcopate. But, although he was a bishop, he knew he was not an apostle, and he therefore did not have an apostle's authority.

The early church clearly understood this difference. When the time came to fix the New Testament canon in the third century A.D., the test of canonicity was apostolicity. The essential questions to be asked of a disputed book were these:

Had it been written by an apostle?

If not, did it come from the circle of the apostles?

Did it contain the teaching of the apostles?

Did it have the imprimatur of the apostles? If in one of these ways it could be shown to be apostolic, then it was admitted into the canon of the New Testament Scripture.

It is extremely important to recover today this understanding of the unique authority of Christ's apostles. For there are no apostles in the contemporary church. To be sure, there are missionaries and church leaders of different kinds who may be described as having an apostolic ministry. But there are no apostles like the Twelve and Paul who were eyewitnesses of the risen Lord (Acts 1:21-26; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8-10) and who had received a special commission and inspiration from Him. We have no right, therefore, to dismiss their teaching as if it were merely their own opinion. They were not speaking or writing in their own names, but in Christ's.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, I thank you deeply for reading my posts. I would really love to know your thoughts and views on the same. Please be free to reach me on the below email address. May the love of God, the Father, the grace of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever more. In the next session, I intend to conclude the series on Christ and the Bible.

P.S. The above post has been taken from the book "The Bible" - John R. W. Stott

Your brother in Jesus 

Jobin George

jobin.george2012@gmail.com

Christ and the Bible - Part III

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the previous two sessions, Part I and Part II (please click on the links to read in depth on the said parts) of the Christ and the Bible series, we understood how the Scriptures bear witness to Jesus Christ. Jesus did not rely on his own testimonies about himself to prove who He is, rather He showed what the Scriptures talked about him. Neither did he rely on the testimony of any mere human being, not even of John the Baptist, who is a fore-bearer of Jesus. Jesus always taught that Old Testament Scripture was God's Word bearing witness to him. We also learnt that the Bible is God's picture of Jesus. It bears witness to him. We also see that the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadow the perfect sacrifice for sin that was made once and for all upon the cross, by Jesus for the redemption off our sins.

Christ Bears Witness to the Scriptures

In declaring that the Scriptures bear witness to him, Jesus is himself bearing witness to them in turn. When he spoke of the testimony of John the Baptist, he referred to it as a human testimony (John 5:33-35) and added that the testimony which attested him was "not... from man". The testimony he had was greater. It was his Father's testimony through his works (v. 36) and his word (v.38). Here then is Jesus' plain statement that the Old Testament Scriptures are his Father's "word", and that this biblical testimony was not human but divine.

This too was Jesus' consistent teaching. In fact, the major reason why we should desire to submit to the authority of the Bible is that Jesus Christ authenticated it as possessing the authority of God.  (Apart from also submitting to the Holy Traditions of the Orthodox Church. Both play an equal role in the life and teachings of an Orthodox believer). If we are to understand this point, then we need to distinguish between the Old and the New Testaments. The Bible, of course, comprises them both; but Jesus was born, and lived, and died in the middle, between them. As a consequence, the way in which he authenticated one portion is different from the way in which he authenticated the other.

He looked back to the the old Testament, he looked on to the New Testament, but he authenticated them both.

1. Jesus endorsed the Old Testament. He not only described the Scriptures as his Father's "word" and "witness," as we have seen earlier; he also said that "scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount he declared, "Think not that I have come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished" (Matthew 5:17-18).

Jesus' personal attitude toward the Old Testament Scriptures was one of reverent submission, for he believed that in submitting to the written Word, he was submitting to his Father's Word. Since he believed in its divine origin, he interpreted his own messianic mission in the light of its prophetic testimony and added that certain things must come to pass because the Scripture must be fulfilled. Further, Jesus obeyed the moral injunctions of the Old Testament, so that in the temptations in the Judean wilderness he commanded the devil to leave him alone of what stood written in the Scripture. However subtle Satan's insinuations might be, Jesus was prepared neither to listen nor to negotiate. He was determined to obey God, not the devil, and what stood written in Scripture settled the issue for him.

Jesus also made the Scripture his ground of appeal in all his arguments with the religious leaders of his day. He was often engaged in controversy, and on every occasion it was to the Scriptures that he appealed. He criticized the Pharisees for adding their traditions to the Scriptures; he criticized the Sadducees for subtracting the supernatural (the resurrection) from the Scriptures. Thus Jesus exalted the Scriptures as his Father's Word which was to be both believed and obeyed. He permitted no deviation from it, either by addition or by subtraction.

Jesus declared, of course, that with him the time of fulfillment had come (see Mark 1:14-15) and that therefore the era of anticipation was over. This meant, as his followers soon recognized, that Gentiles were to be admitted to God's kingdom on equal terms with the Jews, and that the Jewish ceremonial system had been rendered obsolete, including its dietary laws (Mark 7:19) and above all its blood sacrifices. But there is no example in the Gospels of Jesus' disagreeing with the doctrinal or ethical teaching of the Old Testament. On the contrary, he endorsed it. What he contradicted was the scribal misinterpretations and distortions of the Old Testament. This was his point in the Sermon on the Mount, in which six times he said in effect, "you have heard this, but I tell you something different." What they had heard were the so-called traditions of the elders. It was these which he was criticizing; it was not the teaching of Moses in the law. For what stood written in the Scripture he received as his Father's Word.

If this is so, and the evidence is overwhelming, we have to add that the disciple is not above his teacher. It is inconceivable that a Christian who looks to Jesus as his Teacher and Lord should have a lower view of the Old Testament than he did. What is the sense in calling Jesus "Teacher" and "Lord," and then disagreeing with him? We have no liberty to disagree with him. His view of Scripture must become ours. Since he believed Scriptures, so must we.He emphatically endorsed its authority.

Dear brethren, with this we have now seen why we must still place importance to the Old Testament Scriptures. In the next session, we will see how Jesus made provision for the writing of the New Testament.

May the Lord Almighty bless you all and keep you in all your ways.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

P.S. The above writing has been taken from the book "The Bible" by John R. W. Stott

Christ and the Bible - Part II

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

Glory & Praise to the Triune God in the Highest. In the previous session, Part 1, we learned that the Old Testament Scriptures bear witness to Jesus Christ. Also from the beginning to the end of His ministry Jesus declared that the whole prophetic testimony of the Old Testament, with all its rich diversity, converged upon him.

But Jesus' Jewish contemporaries missed this testimony. They were very diligent students of the Old Testament. They spent hours and hours in the most meticulous examination of the minutiae of the Old Testament Scripture. They used to count the number of words, even the number of letters, in every book of the Bible. They knew they had been entrusted with the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2). They somehow thought that an accumulation of detailed biblical knowledge would bring them into the right relationship with God. What an anomalous thing that was, to think that the Scriptures themselves could give eternal life! The Scriptures point to Christ as the Lifegiver and urge their readers to go to HIM for life. But instead of going to Christ to find life, they imagined that they could find life in the Scripture itself. It is somewhat like getting a prescription from the doctor and then swallowing the prescription instead of getting and taking the medicine.

Some of us make the same mistake. We have an almost superstitious attitude to Bible reading, as if it had some magical efficacy. But there is no magic in the Bible or in the mechanical reading of the Bible. The written Word points us to the Living Word and says to us, "Go to Jesus." If we do not go to Jesus to whom it points, we miss the whole purpose of Bible reading.

As Christians, we are not meant to 'worshipers of the Bible.' We should not worship the Bible; but worship the Christ of the Bible. We should not love the Bible for the book it is. But we love it only because we love Him of whom it speaks.

This is the main key to the understanding of Scriptures. The Bible is God's picture of Jesus. It bears witness to him. So whenever we are reading the Bible, we must look for Christ. For example, the Old Testament Law is our "schoolmaster" to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24). Because it condemns us for our disobedience, it makes Christ indispensable to us. It drives us to Him through whom alone we may find forgiveness.

Next, the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadow that perfect sacrifice for sin made once and for all upon the cross, the sacrifice of Christ for our redemption. Another example is the teaching of the Old Testament prophets who foretell then coming of the Messiah.

When we move into the New Testament, Jesus Christ comes yet more clearly into focus. The Gospels are full of Him. They speak of His birth and His public ministry, of His words and works, of His death and resurrection, and of His ascension and gift of the Holy Spirit. The books of Acts tells us what Jesus continued to do and teach through the apostles whom He has chosen and commissioned. The letters of the apostles set forth the glory of Jesus in his divine-human person and his saving work. When we come to the last book of the Bible, the Revelation, it too is full of Christ. For there we see him patrolling the churches on earth, sharing God's throne in Heaven, riding forth on a white horse conquering and coming in power and glory.

The old writers used to say that, just as in England every footpath and every country lane, linking on to others, will ultimately lead you to London, so every verse and every paragraph in the Bible, linking on to others, will ultimately lead you to Christ. The Scriptures bear witness to Him. That is the first truth which is very plainly taught in our text.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, we now come to a close on how the Bible bears witness to Jesus. In the next session, let us try to understand on how does Jesus bears witness to the Scriptures.

Your Brother in Jesus

Jobin

Christ & the Bible - Part 1

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the previous series "The Bible", we considered the origin of the Scripture, where it came from- the great subject of revelation. Now we shall be thinking not of is origin but of its purpose; we will be asking not where it came from, but for what has it been given?

Our text is John 5: 39-40. Jesus, speaking to his Jewish contemporaries, says, "You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life."

From these words of Jesus we learn two profound and complementary truths about Christ and the Bible...

The Scriptures Bear Witness to Christ

Jesus Himself says very plainly, "It is they that bear witness to me" (v. 39). The major function of the Scripture is to bear witness to Christ.

Now the context in which this text is embedded is concerned with testimony to Christ. What testimony can validate the claims of Jesus of Nazareth? He Himself tells us. To begin with, He does not rely on His own testimony to Himself, as is clear from verse 31: "If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true." Jesus is not suggesting that He is telling lies about Himself. Indeed he later rebuts a criticism of the Pharisees by insisting that His testimony to Himself is true (John 8:14). His point here is that self testimony is inadequate; there would be something suspicious about it is the only testimony he had came from him alone. no, "there is another who bears witness to me," He says (v. 32).

So the testimony He relies upon is not his own testimony. Nor is it human testimony, even the testimony of that outstanding witness John the Baptist. "You sent  to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony which i receive is from man" (v. 33-34). So then, says Jesus, it isn't from me and it isn't from human beings. of course, John was "a burning and shining lamp" (v.35), and people had been willing "to rejoice for a while in His light." But the testimony that Jesus claimed was greater. It was greater than His own testimony to Himself, and greater than th testimony of any human being, even of John. It was the testimony of His Father. "The Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me" (v. 37). Moreover, the Father's testimony to the Son took two forms. First, it was given through the mighty works, the miracles, which the Father enabled Him to do (v. 36). But secondly, and more directly still, it was given through the Scriptures, which are the Father's testimony to the Son. Verses 36-39 makes this plain:

The testimony which i have is greater than that of john; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice you have never heard, His form you have never seen; and you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He has sent. You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me.

It was the consistent teaching of Jesus that old Testament Scripture was God's Word bearing witness to him. He said, for example, "Abraham rejoiced... to see my day" (John 8:56). Or in John 5:46 he says, "Moses... wrote of me." Again, 'the scriptures... bear witness to me" (v. 39). At the beginning of His ministry, when He went to worship in the synagogue at Nazareth, He read from Isaiah 61 about the Messiah's mission and message of liberation, and He added: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). In other words, "If you want to know whom the prophet was writing about, he was writing about me." Jesus continued to say this kind of thing throughout His ministry. Even after the resurrection He has not changed His mind, for "he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). thus from beginning to the end of his ministry, Jesus declared that the whole prophetic testimony of the Old Testament, in all its rich diversity, converged upon him: "The Scriptures... bear witness to me."

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, we now understood that the Old Testament speaks about Jesus and his ministry from many years. In the next session, we will try and understand more about Jesus and what the Bible says about him.

May the Lord Almighty bless you and keep you in all your ways.

Your Brother in Christ

Jobin

The Bible - Part V

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

I have been really busy for the past one month and hence was not able to complete the full series. We have been learning about the Bible and why God chose to speak though us through the various books of the Bible. In the last session, Part IV, we understood the qualifications on how God spoke through us. Firstly, we understood that God's Word was closely related to His activity, meaning He spoke to His people by deeds as well as by His Words. Secondly, His Word has come to us through human speech. In the Old Testament, He spoke through His prophets and in the New Testament, He spoke through the apostles. We understood the double authorship of the Bible namely, that it is the Word of God and the word of men, or more strictly the Word of God through the words of men, is the Bible's own account of itself. 

Now let us understand the Purpose of Revelation...

In the previous sessions, we understood on how God spoke to us; now let us consider, WHY did He speak? The answer is not just to teach us, but to save us; not just to instruct us, but specifically to instruct us 'for salvation' (2 Tim. 3:15). The Bible has this severely practical purpose.

Returning to Isaiah 55, we see this emphasis in verses 10 and 11.

As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

The rain and snow come down to us from heaven and do not return. They accomplish a purpose on earth. They water it. They cause it to bring forth and sprout. They make it fruitful. Just so, God's Word, issuing from His mouth and disclosing His mind, does not return to Him empty. It accomplishes a purpose. Moreover, God's purpose in speaking His Word to human beings are similar. In both cases it is fruitfulness.His rain makes the earth fruitful; His Word makes human lives fruitful. It saves them, changing them into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Salvation is certainly the context. In verses 6 and 7 the prophet has spoken of God's mercy and pardon, and in verse 12 he will go on to speak of the joy and peace of God's redeemed people. 

In fact, here lies the chief difference between God's revelation in creation (natural because given in nature, and general because given to all mankind) and His revelation in the Bible (supernatural because given by inspiration, and special because given to and through particular people). Through the created universe, God reveals His glory, power, and faithfulness, but not the way of salvation. If we want to learn His gracious plan to save sinners, it is to the Bible that we must turn. For it is there that He speaks to us of Christ.

Conclusion

From our text in Isaiah 55 we have learned three truths. First, divine revelation is not only reasonable but indispensable. Without it we could never know God. Second, divine revelation is through words. God spoke through human words and in doing so explained His deeds. Third divine revelation is for salvation. It points us to Christ as Savior.

My conclusion is very simple. It is a call to humility. Nothing is more hostile to spiritual growth than arrogance, and nothing is more conducive to spiritual growth than humility. We need to humble ourselves before the infinite God, acknowledging the limitations of our human mind (that we could never find Him ourselves), and acknowledging our own sinfulness (that we could never reach Him by ourselves).

Jesus called this the humility of a little child. God hides Himself from the wise and clever, He said, but reveals Himself to "babes" (Mt. 11:25). He was not denigrating our minds, for God has given them to us. Rather He was indicating how we are to use them. The true function of the mind is not to stand in judgement on God's Word but to sit in humility under it, eager to hear it, grasp it, apply it and obey it in the practicalities of daily living.

The humility of children is seen not only in the way they learn but also in the way they receive. Children are dependents. None of their possessions has been earned. All they have has been given to them freely. Like children, then, we are to "receive the kingdom of God" (Mk. 10:15). Sinners do not deserve and cannot earn eternal life, which is the life of God's kingdom; we have to humble ourselves to receive it as the free gift of God.

The above extract has been taken from the book "The Bible - Book for Today" by John R. W. Stott.

Dear brethren in Christ Jesus, I hope you have enjoyed reading these series as much as I have enjoyed sharing them to you. In the next session, I will be taking up with the topic "Chrsit & the Bible". Hoping to read your comments.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin

The Bible - Part IV

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

Glory to God most High, for ever and ever. I understand that this blog is coming a bit too late after the earlier post, but due to some circumstances I was unable to write and post this earlier. 

In the previous parts,  Part 1 and Part 2 (you may click on the link to go the said chapter to read in full) we learned that unless God takes the initiative to disclose what is in His mind, we shall never be able to find out. Unless God makes Himself known to us, we can never know Him. We also understood that God reveals Himself in two manners - first through Natural Revelation, where the Divine Artist has revealed Himself in the beauty, balance, intricacy and order of His creation and secondly through speech. Speech is the main model used in the Bible to illustrate God's self revelation. We understood that Scripture is God's Word, issuing from God's mouth.

In Part 3, we started to understand some of the qualifications to clarify our thoughts on how God spoke His Word and understood that His Word was closely related to His activity, that is He spoke to His people not  only through His words, but also through His deeds.

Now let us understand the second qualification. God's Word has come to us through human words. 

When we read the Bible, we can see that whenever God spoke, He usually did not shout audibly out of a clear blue sky. He spoke through prophets in the Old Testament and through the apostles in the New Testament. Moreover, these human agents of the revelation of God were real people. Did these speakers or writers ever have personal agenda? Did they lose their personality while writing the words of God? Were they reduced to being automatons or dictating machines or tape recorders?

Divine inspiration was not a mechanical process which reduced the human authors of the Bible to machines, whether dictating machines or tape recorders. Divine inspiration was a personal process, in which the human authors of the Bible were usually in full possession of their faculties. We only have to read the Bible in order to see that this is so. The writers of narrative (and there is a great deal of historical narrative in the Bible, Old and New Testament alike) used historical records. Some are quoted in the Old Testament. Luke tells us at the beginning of his Gospel of his own painstaking historical researches. Also, all the biblical authors developed their own distinctive literary styles and theological emphasis. Hence the rich diversity of Scripture. Nevertheless, through their varied approaches God Himself was speaking.

This truth of the double authorship of the Bible, namely, that it is the Word of God and the word of men, or more strictly the Word of God through the words of men, is the Bible's own account of itself. The Old Testament law, for example, is sometimes called "the law of Moses" and sometimes "the law of God" or "the law of the LORD". In Hebrews 1:1 we read that GOD spoke to the fathers through the prophets. In 2 Peter 1:21, however, we read that men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Thus God spoke and men spoke. They spoke from Him and He spoke through them. Both these affirmations are true.

Further, we must hold the two affirmations together. As in the incarnate Word (Jesus Christ), so in the written Word (the Bible), the divine and human elements combine and do not contradict one another. This analogy, which was developed quite early in the history of the church, is often criticized today. And obviously it is not exact, since Jesus was a person whereas the Bible is a book. Nevertheless, the analogy remains helpful, provided that we remember its limitations. For example, we must never affirm the deity of Jesus in such a way as to deny His humanity, nor affirm His humanity in such a way as to deny His deity. 

So with the Bible. On the one hand, the Bible is the Word of God. God spoke, deciding himself what He intended to say, yet not in such a way as to distort the personality of the human authors. On the other hand, the Bible is the word of men. Men spoke, using their faculties freely, yet not in such a way as to distort the truth of the divine message.

The double authorship of the Bible will affect the way in which we read it. Because it is the word of men, we shall study it like every other book - using our minds, investigating its words and syntax, its historical origins and its literary composition. But because it is also the Word of God, we shall study it like no other book - on our knees, humbly, crying to God for illumination and for the ministry of the Holy Spirit, without whom we can never understand His Word.

May the Lord Almighty bless you and keep you in all your ways.

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

The Bible - Part III

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the previous session, Part 1 and Part 2, we learnt that unless God takes the initiative to disclose what is in His mind, we shall never be able to find out. Unless God makes Himself known to us, we can never know Him. We also understood that God reveals Himself in two manners - first through Natural Revelation, where the Divine Artist has revealed Himself in the beauty, balance, intricacy and order of His creation and secondly through speech. Speech is the main model used in the Bible to illustrate God's self revelation. We understood that Scripture is God's Word, issuing from God's mouth.

Having affirmed that God speaks through the Scriptures, now let us learn a few of the qualifications to clarify our understanding of how God spoke His Word...

First, God's Word (now recorded in Scripture) was closely related to His activity. Put differently, He spoke to His people by deeds as well as words. He made Himself known to Israel in their history, and so directed its development as to bring to Isrealites now His salvation, now His judgement. Thus, He rescued the people from their slavery in Egypt; He brought them safely across the desert and settled them in the promised land; He preserved their national identity through the period of judges; He gave them kings to rule over them, despite the fact that their demand for a human king was in part a repudiation of His own kingship; His judgement fell upon them for their persistent disobedience when they were deported into Babylonian exile; and then He restored them to their own land and enabled them to rebuild their nationhood and their temple. Above all, for us sinners and for our salvation, He sent His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, to be born, to live and work, to suffer and die, to rise and to pour out the Holy Spirit. Through these deeds, first in the Old Testament story but supremely in Jesus Christ, God was actively and personally revealing Himself.

For some theologians, it has been fashionable to distinguish between personal revelation (through God's deeds) and propositional revelation (through His words). There is no need for us to choose between these two media of revelation, as God used them both. Moreover, they are closely related to one another. For God's words interpreted His deeds. He raised up prophets to explain what He was doing to Israel, and He raised up apostles to explain what He was doing through Christ. It is true that the process of divine self-revelation culminated in the person of Jesus. He was God's Word made flesh. He showed forth the glory of God. To have seen Him was to have seen the Father (Jn. 1:14, 18; 14:9). Nevertheless, this historical and personal revelation would not have benefited us unless, along with it, God had unfolded for us the significance of the person and work of His Son.

We must, then, avoid the trap of setting personal and propositional revelation over against each other as alternatives. It is more accurate to say that God has revealed himself in Christ and in the biblical witness to Christ. Neither is complete without the other.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, we have now understood God has revealed Himself in all the activities that He has done in the Bible and Bible is a testimony for His activities. Both are together. In the next session, we will understand how God's Word has come to us through human words.

May the Lord Almighty bless you and keep you in all your ways. Have a blessed day ahead.

Source: The Bible Book for Today - John Stott

Your Brother n Christ Jesus

Jobin George

You may please get in touch with me with your thoughts and views on jobin.george2012@gmail.com

The Bible - Part II

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

I understand it has been a bit long after the previous post, but some work has been making me unable to spend more time blogging. In the previous part, Part 1, we learnt that unless God takes the initiative to disclose what is in His mind, we shall never be able to find out. Unless God makes Himself known to us, we can never know Him.

Now let us learn and understand how He reveals Himself to us.

My thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

For so as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,

and return not thither but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

-Isaiah 55:8-11

The Way of Revelation

Even though it is reasonable for God to reveal Himself, how has He done so? He has revealed Himself, in principle, in the same way that we reveal or disclose ourselves to one another, that is, by both works and words, by things we do and say.

Just as creative arts has always been the chief means of human expression, God is said to have "formed" or "fashioned" the earth, and mankind to dwell upon it (Gen 2:7; Ps. 8:3; Jer. 32:17). Moreover, He Himself is seen in His works. "The heavens are telling the glory of God," and "the whole earth is full of His glory" (Ps. 19:1; Is. 6:3). Or, as Paul writes near the beginning of Romans, "What can be known about God is plain to them (the Gentile world), because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (Rom. 1:19-20).

In other words, just as human artists reveal themselves in their painting, sculpture, or music, so the Divine Artist has revealed Himself in the beauty, balance, intricacy and order of His creation. From it we learn, therefore, something of His wisdom, power and faithfulness. This is usually referred to as natural revelation because it has bee given in and through nature.

Though this is not what prophet Isaiah text refers to in Isaiah 55:8-11, he refers to the second and more direct way in which we make ourselves known to one another and God has made Himself known to us, namely, through words. Speech is the fullest and most flexible means of communication between two human beings. Speech is the best means of communication and speech is the main model used in the Bible to illustrate Go's self-revelation. Notice in thee text, verses 10-11: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and ... water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be." Notice the second reference to heaven and earth? It is because the heavens are higher than the earth that the rain comes down from heaven to water the earth.Notice also that the writer goes straight from the thoughts in the mind of God to the words in the mouth of God: "So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall... accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it." The parallel is plain. As the heavens are higher than the earth, but the rain comes down from heaven to water the earth, so God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, but they come down to us because His word goes forth from His mouth and thus conveys His thoughts to us. As the prophet had said earlier, "The mouth of the LORD has spoken" (Is. 40:5). He was referring to one of his own oracles, but described it as a message coming out of the mouth of God. Or, as Paul wrote to Timothy, "All scripture is God-breathed (the literal translation of theopneustos)" (2 Tim. 3:16). That is, Scripture is God's Word, issuing from God's mouth.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

In the previous session, we understood that God's thoughts are so higher than ours that we cannot comprehend them without His help and allowance. Now we understood two ways in which God reveals His thoughts - one though the natural works of His hands which shows the grandeur and magnificence of hiss thoughts and secondly, through the Holy Scriptures, which is the Bible. In the next session, we will understand some of the qualifications of hos God spoke His Word.

May the Lord Almighty bless you and guide you to walk along His paths, and please do keep this sinful brother in your prayers.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

P.S. You may contact me with your suggestions, recommendations and views on jobin.george2012@gmail.com

Source: The Bible - Book for Today - John Stott