Posted on 05/28/2020 8:01:26 AM PDT by ebb tide
Dear Friends,
Ping
I made it clear in the survey that I worship the Creator and NOT the creation!
Any studies out there linking “catastrophic climate change” to the Vatican covering for priests who get on their knees between the “hims”?
1 Corinthians 11:2 - I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have deliveredthem to you.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 - So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 - Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is living in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.
Paul uses three phrases which specify "What tradition?"
• ...even as I delivered...
• ...taught by us...
• ...received from us...
Paul is saying that there are traditions from him and/or from him and the other apostles ("us")
And he specifically says these traditions (Apostolic Traditions) have the same authority, whether they are "by word of mouth" or "by letter."
So he's not talking about "any old tradition." He's talking about specific things said or written from himself and the other Apostles. That's why they're called "Apostolic," and why, to distinguish them from other traditions, these particular ones are often spelled with a capital-T in languages which use upper-case and lower-case letters.
(Note that neither the Hebrew nor the Greek in the Apostolic Age had both upper-case and lower-case letters, but we do in English and some other languages.)
Since we're commanded to "receive, stand firm and hold to, and maintain" these traditions, how do you do that with respect to the traditions which were (at that time) oral?
The oral teaching of all the Apostles was spreading rapidly through the Levant, the eastern Mediterranean, Egypt/Ethiopia, the province of Asia (Anatolia) and western Asia generally, --- spreading more rapidly than the written Tradition (NT Scripture).
It's this oral tradition and example (plus the OT) which was the very basis for the establishment of local congregations. They were ALWAYS founded on the basis of Oral Apostolic Tradition; only later (a few years, a generation later) was that supplemented with the whole written canon of the NT. Obviously. Local churches were being planted through those regions even before the last book of the NT was written ---
What you'd have to do is look and see what doctrines, practices, prayers/hymns, observances, ways of life, all those communities had in common.
That some doctrines and practices were common to all believers, on three continents, shows that these far-flung congregations had not devised themselves as a DIY religion, but had gotten ways of worship and ways of life from their Apostolic teachers.
The new local churches heeded their preaching, passed on their teaching, imitated them and followed their example.
Read Church history and you will see the continuity from the Apostles through the first 3 centuries until the Christianity was allowed to practice freely.
As I have been censored, I will only ask you to provide a single case where Paul talks of his mission in the first person singular. He does not. He is the Apostle to the Gentiles but he always discusses his creation in the plural “we” or “us”. He is on a mission as set out for him by God. He does not create a Church hierarchy of Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, Archbishops, etc. That is man made. His is the Church of pastors and deacons.
Peter was.
Matt 16:17-19, Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.
The prerogatives here promised are manifestly personal to Peter. His profession of faith was not made, as has been sometimes asserted, in the name of the other Apostles. This is evident from the words of Christ.
He pronounces on the Apostle, distinguishing him by his name Simon son of John a peculiar and personal blessing, declaring that his knowledge regarding the Divine Sonship sprang from a special revelation granted to him by the Father
(cf. Matthew 11:27). "And I say to thee: That thou art Peter. . ." He further proceeds to recompense this confession of His Divinity by bestowing upon him a reward proper to himself: Thou art Peter [Cepha , transliterated also Kipha] and upon this rock [Cepha] I will build my Church.
The word for Peter and for rock in the original Aramaic is one and the same; this renders it evident that the various attempts to explain the term "rock" as having reference not to Peter himself but to something else are misinterpretations.
It is Peter who is the rock of the Church. The term ecclesia here employed is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew qahal, the name which denoted the Hebrew nation viewed as God's Church. "And upon this rock I will build my Church. . ."
Here then Christ teaches plainly that in the future the Church will be the society of those who acknowledge Him, and that this Church will be built on Peter.
The meaning of this passage does not seem to have been challenged by any writer until the rise of the sixteenth-century heresies. Since then a great variety of interpretations have been put forward by Protestant controversialists.
If that's not enough read Acts.
Peter was an Apostle of the Living Christ. Paul was the Apostle of the Risen Christ. Peter was Apostle to the Jews and generally failed in that effort. Paul was Apostle to the Gentiles and succeeded. Both are to be loved, but Paul is by far the greatest man who has ever lived, and it was on his rocks the Church was built.
Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built together spiritually[b] into a dwelling place for God.
Ephesians 3:5 In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Galatians 1:18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days;
2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Acts 15:7-19, After much debate had taken place, Peter got up and said to them, “My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts. Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they.”
The whole assembly fell silent, and they listened while Paul and Barnabas described the signs and wonders God had worked among the Gentiles through them.
After they had fallen silent, James responded, “My Brothers, listen to me. Symeon has described how God first concerned himself with acquiring from among the Gentiles a people for his name. The words of the prophets agree with this, as is written:
‘After this I shall return and rebuild the fallen hut of David;
from its ruins I shall rebuild it and raise it up again,
so that the rest of humanity may seek out the Lord.
Even all the Gentiles on whom my name is invoked.
Thus says the Lord who accomplishes these things, known from the old.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.