In one of His ministry’s final acts, Jesus established a ceremony which memorializes His death. It consists of unleavened bread and fruit of the vine. The bread represents the body of Jesus, the fruit of the vine His blood. Jesus instructed the disciples to remember Him as they consumed this simple meal (Luke 22:19). Though not bodily present at the memorial’s institution, the apostle Paul later relates that a disciple proclaims the Lord’s death when they partake of this simple meal (1 Corinthians 11:26).
The Gospel Saves Posts
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” (James 2:24)
You may have heard people say that the Bible blames Eve for bringing evil into the world. That is patently untrue. Paul wrote in R0mans 5:12 that it was by the actions of one man (Adam) that sin and death entered the world. Did Eve play a part? Certainly, but the onus is place squarely on Adam’s shoulders.
How old is the Earth? This question and related subjects have been at the heart of the Bible vs. Science controversy of the last several centuries. Taken literally, the Genesis creation account and genealogical records provided throughout the Bible indicate a relatively young world, not older than 6,000 years or so. Modern Science, of course, mocks this idea of an adolescent Earth, offering a dramatically different perspective in the billions of years and beyond.
Beginning in the 19th Century, and increasing in popularity right after World War II, men began to interpret a few passages of scriptures to mean that God would materially bless those who trusted in Him. This idea asserts that the man who prospers in this world is the man who puts their trust in God. In defending such a position, the following verses are pointed to (not exclusively)
Americans love convenience. From microwaves to pizza delivery, from cell phones to high-speed Internet, from drive-through funeral viewings to drive-in churches, Americans make no bones about their love of convenience. And convenience is certainly nice (in its place). After all, who isn’t glad to be free from the time-consuming, back-breaking drudgery of doing things the old-fashioned way? (The good old days weren’t necessarily the good old days. Just ask those who lived during them!) Who doesn’t enjoy having more free time in each day? Who doesn’t like to be able to get information when and where he wants it? Convenience is nice. But some things just aren’t convenient. And to make them so is to make them into something they’re not.
With faith comes a degree of moral certainty. This is as it should be. However, a cause for deception arises when we confuse our moral certainties with political order. The temptation is to use the gospel as a vehicle for making laws to suit ourselves. We need to be clear; moral certainty must contain the good news of salvation for all of humanity. Political order has its own set of morals because it is for the governance of a broad mix of convictions and absences of convictions. The contrast between the two moral standards is found when we compare baptism with lethal injection.
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” On the surface, Acts 2:38 seems to be a straightforward, simple verse. Peter commands repentance and baptism in Jesus’s name. Those who obeyed in faith would receive the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit. However, this simple interpretation contradicts what many have come to believe. Most of the evangelical world interprets Acts 2:38 thusly: “Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins so that you can repent and be baptized.”
The knowledge of the glory of God is today revealed in the face of Jesus, as it once was in the face of Moses, but in a vastly superior way. As Moses came down from the mount with the law and a countenance reflecting God’s glory, so did Jesus—He just happened to be coming down from a much loftier, heavenly peak with a perfected law and, since He is the express image of God’s person, His glory and God’s are one.
In Matthew 12, Jesus incites the anger of his adversaries by healing a demon-possessed man in the presence of a Jewish multitude. These impressionable Jews began to wonder if he might be the King and Savior for which they’d been waiting. The Pharisees, a leading political sect of the Jews, were not so enchanted. They couldn’t deny what they’d just seen with their own eyes, but nor could they concede that this man might actually be the Messiah. Since they couldn’t believe that this wonder was accomplished by the power of God, they quickly concluded he must have done it by the power of Beelzebub – Satan himself. In his rebuttal, Jesus made this instructive statement: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”