Tag: Christ

  • Propriety in Worship of the Church – 1 Corinthians 14

    Propriety in Worship of the Church – 1 Corinthians 14

    Paul wanted his churches to exhibit a modesty and propriety recognized by the surrounding culture, especially in worship.

    (1 Corinthians 14)

    THE BAKER ILLUSTRATED BIBLE COMMENTARY P.1303

    An Overview of Paul’s Epistle

    Most outlines of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians include what we are about to read next under a smaller heading of ‘spiritual gifts’ or ‘the gifts of tongues and prophesy’ as part of a larger section of the epistle — as a conclusion of the previous chapters.

    Remember that like our letters to anyone it had no chapters.

    Without returning to my original introduction to 1 Corinthians, I would like to point to these larger points of Paul’s letter here:

    1 Corinthians
    • Response to their questions [chaps. 7-16]
    • Recommendation of others & closing

    One of the central cultural issues of propriety and order the Apostle has addressed in response to several Corinthian questions is that of the role of women.

    Within the Apostle’s response to the Corinthian elders some of these issues include:

    * Immorality in the Church (5:1–6:20)

    These issues applied to men certainly affect all women. 
    • But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.
      • 1 Cor 5:2
    • Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
      • 1 Cor 6:18

    Marriage in the Church (7:1–40)

    • 3 A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband.
    • 10 To the married I give this command — not I, but the Lord — a wife is not to leave her husband.

    Liberty in the Church (8:1–11:1)

    This section ends with Paul's personal example: 

    Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

    AND — (as introduction to our current larger section of his epistle) — the Apostle continues by encouraging those who have done so.

    Worship in the Church (11:2–14:40)

    Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.

    3 But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.

    – 1 Corinthians 11:2-3 CSB

    Intro to Apostolic instructions about Head Coverings

    • Roles of Men and Women in the Church (11:2–16)
    • The Lord’s Supper (11:17–34)
    • Spiritual Gifts (12:1–14:40)


    The Context of Worship – A.D. 55 or 2025 CE

    As you can see, the Apostle has introduced this smaller section of his letter about spiritual gifts in the context of worship

    AND that he has already addressed some of the roles of men and of women who worship the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle has ‘delivered‘the traditions’ to them.


    What is propriety?

    • for a first century Corinthian
    • or (for example) a 21st c. Cincinnatian
    Lady with blue and gilt garment, fan and sun hat, from Tanagra - 4c. BC

    This photo next to the BAKER commentary for 1 Corinthians 14 got my attention to focus back on

    the propriety and modesty of a classic Corinthian woman. 

    Propriety – conformity in socially acceptable conduct and speech, appropriateness, fear of offending against conventional rules of behavior especially between the sexes.

    source

    In light of this, consider propriety from the earlier BAKER quote.

    At Corinth he [Paul] was particularly concerned about women’s reputation. For women modest draped clothing with a head covering was common. (see 1 Corinthians 11:2-16),

    as seen here in a sculpture from 300 BC (Tanagra, Greece)

    ibid.


    Here is more background on the culture of Corinth named for a goddess descended from the Greek Titans [also pictured on our cover to this post].

    In Greek mythology, Tethys was Consort of Oceanus, father of the river gods and goddesses including a Greek goddess who founded Corinth named Ephyra.

    The Greeks and Romans honored many gods and goddesses of culture and worshipped these with some order and propriety, while worship of others included temple prostitutes, so much debauchery and excess witnessed in festive celebrations.

    (Sound familiar, 21st c. christian?)

    Yet the modesty of a proper woman is important to the Corinthians, both men and women, thus the Apostle’s insistence on the propriety of head-coverings in worship of the church.


    What’s allowed in proprietary worship of God?

    1 Corinthians 14:

    Concerning Prophesy and Tongues

    Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

    .. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

    .. — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

    13Therefore the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret.


    Who’s in charge?

    Using several references from Paul's letters to the Corinthians in "DIVINE PROVIDENCE," STEPHEN CHARNOCK [pub. AD 1680, updated 2022] provides us with a helpful overview of the Apostle's thinking: 

    The edification of the church is the great end that we are commanded to work toward:

    Stephen Charnock – DIVINE PROVIDENCE, p.146

    Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.”

    1 Cor, 14:13 – ibid.


    Then, under the heading 'The Gifts and Common Grace of Bad Men and Women' Charnock addresses Paul's order of propriety mentioned in this and other epistles. 

    God is the giver of gifts, Christ is the governor of those gifts, and all is for your sake.

    ibid.

    I find this particularly helpful.

    Think of it:

    God the Father (or because of their Oneness in substance, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) — who created ALL things —

    charges CHRIST (Jesus, the Person of the Son of Man and Son of God) — THE CORNERSTONE of the Church — as its governor

    with perfect distribution of the gifts to the church — gifts that GOD has given to the church for the LORD’s divine purpose for the sake of those chosen before creation to worship him .


    Now think of Jesus' parable of the wheat and the tares for this next one: 

    There are some husks that come up among men and women, and God uses them to shelter the church in common works, and he [GOD] restrains these men and women through the knowledge of Christ.

    God gives gifts to them out of love for his church, not out of love for them.

    DIVINE PROVIDENCE, P.147

    Get a grip on this: it’s not about YOU — God’s love is about HIS CHURCH.

    REMEMBER, what the Apostle has just written?

    • IF I [do any of so many things]
    • BUT have NOT [agape {love}]
    • I am nothing
    • and I gain nothing.

    Dearly beloved,

    Do you take this bond of your church to have and to hold..?


    OR is our desire to try out relationships of LOVE 

    to try out church es

    — NOT having or holding  any commitment to Christ Jesus  and His body the Church?


    What then, brothers?

    We realize that this is not a politically correct question in this common era (and some English translations soften it), but Paul uses the Greek word ἀδελφός - adelphos - a masculine noun for brethren. 

    What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.

    Let all things be done for building up.

    1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV

    The Apostle, under Christ, under God addresses the men of the church — not the women saints of Corinth — as was proper in Corinthian culture.

    The Apostle has addressed:

    • quarreling among you, my brothers. (1:11)
    • But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (3:1)
    • But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of.. [a long list of sins] (5:11)

    Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

    1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV

    Order and Propriety

    Each of you (brothers).. (not the sisters.. and not ONLY the pastor in charge under Christ).

    What then is it, brothers? When you may come together, each has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.

    Let all things be done for edification.

    1 Corinthians 14:26 Berean Literal Bible – [more study]

    • Tongues?
      • two or three at most
      • in turn &
      • must have interpretation
    • Prophets?
      • two or three
      • others weigh in on what is said
      • IF a personal revelation is made to one present, the man receiving it must remain silent.
      • all may profit by learn and be encouraged by (this kind of) prophesy
      • prophets are subordinate [hypotassōto] to each other

    Now do not be offended by Paul's next orderly instruction for worship — for it uses the same Greek word [hypotassō] — for the Corinthian women of propriety and modesty expected in worship. 

    For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

    As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches.

    For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission , as the Law also says.

    1 Corinthians 14:33-34 ESV

    Note that the Apostle — who has been addressing order and propriety in worship throughout his epistle to the saints of Corinth — also speaks to ALL the CHURCHES [ekklēsia] of the SAINTS [hagios].


    ARE YOU, beloved 21st century worshipers of the Lord Jesus Christ, not also His saints?

    and we have believed,
    and have come to know, that you are the Holy One [hagios] of God.”

    Gospel of John 6:69 ESV – Simon Peter to the Lord Jesus

    Yes, the women of Corinth and of your 21st century church could be of the Holy Ones - saints - of God; so don't be offended by what the Apostle Paul next instructs the saints by the Spirit - even if God formed you as a woman. 

    If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

    1 Corinthians 14:35 ESV

    Paul then proceeds to instruct ‘the brothers’ in those issues the apostle has already addressed, prophesies and spiritual gifts (essentially reiterating ‘listen to me about these things).

    And the Apostle Paul’s conclusion to this large section of his letter to the Corinthian saints

    who are of course free from the Law (as servants of God, Christ and each other) —

    But let all things be done properly and with order.

    1 Corinthians 14:40 BLB


    And since Paul's epistle (like any letter) lacks chapters, what does the Apostle NEXT remind the Corinthians -- the saints of Christ's Church? 

    About THE RESURRECTION.

    Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel

  • From Palm Sunday to Pentecost

    From Palm Sunday to Pentecost

    No, your not looking at the wrong picture. 

    NEXT – Pentecost 2025 of the Common Era

    Doesn't Holy Week from Palm Sunday to EASTER look about the same every year? 

    I wrote a SERIES for Lent last year too — which of course culminated with Easter Sunday.

    Check it out (from Easter, 2024) if you'd like. 
    SON-MAN RISEN!

    And my LATEST POSTS in 2025 CE reflect an OLD TESTEMENT approach to LENT, also concluding with a look at Resurrection Sunday.

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. JOHN 3:16 green man

    Our focus for EASTER 2025 CE has been from the Gospel of John (just before your familiar memorized verse).

    Gospel of John 3:14 ESV

    But what did JESUS do next?

    IF you have READ my 2025 CE EASTER post (above), then you may realize that the GOSPEL — in John’s case — has been preached for a number of years.

    ~ A.D. 85 – the Gospel of APOSTLE JOHN

    Do the math and you will easily see that since Christ rose from death sometime around AD 30-33 according to most historical estimates, then EASTER had been celebrated by saints of The Way for OVER 50 YEARS by the time the Apostle recorded:

    • his Gospel,
    • three epistles to the Church and
    • the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John!
      • – with specific mention of the witness of saints of seven churches as examples to us.

    To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs,

    appearing to them over a period of forty days

    and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

    Acts of the Apostles 1:3 NASB95

    φανερόω – JESUS Manifested

    After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way:

    .. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

    Gospel of John 21:1 ,14 CSB

    The Apostle Peter writes:

    He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.

    1 Peter 1:20 CSB

    And last of all — as to the untimely birth — he appeared also to me, writes the Apostle Paul.

    1 Corinthians 15:8 YLT

    • JESUS’ historical crucifixion on a Roman cross is an undisputable fact.
    • Christ’s resurrection after three days — in His recognizable resurrection body, with the wounds of the Cross –– and in the very Spirit of the same JESUS of Nazareth the Son of Man known personally to hundreds of disciples and thousands of first century witnesses — is true and verifiable fact REJECTED by those who also deny the One Living God of all creation and all of its created.

    “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

    ..but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

    Gospel of John 17a,18b CSB


    “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

    Gospel of John 3:14-15 CSB

    Lifted up + Earthly things you do not believe


    Father, Son and Pentecost

    John closes his proclamation and witness of Apostolic Good News:

    JESUS also said,

    “..The one who has seen me has seen the Father. 

    AND as you know from our 2025 Easter post, the Lord challenged Nicodemus:

    “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”


    Now through the testimony of both Peter and John recorded by Luke in Acts of the Apostles we will glance at the Trinity and introduction of the Spirit on Pentecost ~AD 33.


    40 days, and then Pentecost

    And while they were gathered together, He commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

    .. they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.

    [Two angels instructed the Eleven]

    ..” This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”

    Excerpt from ACTS of the Apostles 1 BSB

    Are you who do not believe intimidated by that? 

    Perhaps you should believe in the Lord Christ Jesus, who will return finally for the Judgment.

    The Holy Spirit at Pentecost

    The following from Bible Hub Book Summary of ACTS 2: 

    Please consider its Gospel application in your own brief mortal life. - RH

    Acts 2 is a powerful chapter that introduces the Holy Spirit’s dynamic presence in the lives of believers and demonstrates the transformation it brings. The followers of Jesus move from being a fearful, waiting group to a bold, active community witnessing for Christ. The chapter underscores the compelling power of the Gospel message and the magnetic draw of a loving, unified, and Spirit-led community. This chapter serves as a timeless model for the Church, inspiring us to be led by the Spirit, devoted to God’s Word, committed to fellowship, and actively involved in meeting the needs of those around us.

    On the Day of Pentecost, the disciples are together when a sound like a violent wind fills the house, and they see what seems to be tongues of fire that separate and rest on each of them. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they start to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enables them. A diverse crowd gathers, bewildered because each person hears their native language spoken. Some are amazed and wonder what it means, while others mock the disciples, suggesting they are drunk.

    https://biblehub.com/bsb/acts/2.htm


    πεντηκοστή – Pentecost = “the fiftieth day”

    WE love festivals, don’t we? Pentecost was another festival that brought the Jews to Jerusalem a little over a month after the Passover feast.

    more... 
    • ~ AD 33

    When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place.

    ACTS of the Apostles 2:1 CSB

    • ~ AD 55

    Paul writes to the Corinthians,

    “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,

    • ~ AD 57

    For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

    Acts of the Apostles 20:16 CSB

    The CHURCHES and their saints in every place have become dear to the Apostles — including Paul.

    But for those early years after the RESURRECTION of the Lord Jesus Christ +++ Pentecost continued to provide evidence and witness of the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

    Twenty years after Christ’s ascension now — twenty years after the first signs of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem on Pentecost — and during the remaining years of the mortal lives of the Apostles PENTECOST provided the saints of The Way a gospel witness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — who will come again in GLORY at the last Day.


    What’s NEXT in our witness to the world in 2025 CE?

    • Lord-willing, in MAY 2025 TalkofJESUS series from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians will continue.
      • (We will not continue in Paul’s second letter.)
    • 2025 CE Summer TOPICAL SERIES to be announced
    • August 2025 – some personal updates from Roger Harned, our author and moderator of TalkofJESUS.com
    • AND, of course, more DOCTRINE for your discernment
      • & SCRIPTURE as written with secure links to our sources from better theologians than me.

    Talk of JESUS . com

    Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel

    (You who believe)

  • Who IS this KING OF THE JEWS nailed to a Roman Cross?

    Who IS this KING OF THE JEWS nailed to a Roman Cross?

    “Are you the king of the Jews? ” the governor asked him. Jesus answered, You say so.”

    — Matthew 27:11 (CSB)

    Religion — Mingled with Politics – A.D. 30’s style

    You know the old expression about mixing religion and politics -- ('Don't do it' all warn. Yet in every century our religious and political leaders rely on it.) 

    Today, Good Friday 2025 of the Common Era, we will address both!

    The POLITICS of ROME mingling with the RELIGION of JEWISH rulers of first century Jerusalem.

    First, ROME and the rule of Pilate, the Roman Governors, several Caesars and captive/cooperative kings. This of course would include several King Herod’s and various Governor Herod‘s.

    The cooperative nature of the Roman peace made strange bedfellows, so to speak.

    Although it all comes to its pinnacle in the trial of Jesus Christ, the politics of these Roman and faux-Jewish governors and subject-kings will continue to affect the Apostles and saints well beyond Jerusalem’s destruction by Rome just forty years from this pivotal day in history.

    For MORE insight into the politics of first century Jerusalem take a look at the above post from September, A.D. 2020. - RH 

    The Governor’s Examination of the Jewish King Jesus

    From Pilate’s early-morning awakening by Jerusalem’s Jewish officials it began like this (as reported by Matthew, Jesus’ Disciple who had himself had an official tax-collecting post for Rome).

    After tying him [Jesus] up, they [the chief priests and elders of Jerusalem] led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

    — Matthew 27:2 (CSB)

    At this point Matthew reports nothing more of the examination of Jesus by Pilate.


    Let’s look at the testimony of the other Gospels.

    So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews? ”

    He answered him, “You say so.”

    3 And the chief priests accused him of many things.

    Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of! ”

    But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed.

    – Mark 15:2-5 (CSB)

    (The Gospels witness this mix of the Jewish false charges and the examination of the Governor in this brief early-morning balcony scene of sorts.) 

    Let’s move back a bit further in the transition of the actions which brought the accused King Jesus of the Jews before the Roman Governor.

    Luke 23:

    Then the whole company of them [the gathering of the Council] arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying,

    “We found this man [Jesus] misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

    And Pilate asked him,

    “Are you the King of the Jews?”

    And he answered him, “You have said so.”

    Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds,

    “I find no guilt in this man.”

    But they were urgent, saying,

    “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”

    Gospel of Luke 23:1-5 ESV

    Do you see the political manipulation here?

    Can you see the contemptable REJECTION of Pilate’s authority by the same religious officials?

    They falsely claimed that JESUS would not allow Jewish followers to pay a Roman tax to Caesar — a tax which of course funds the Roman Governor and legions overseeing this captive city of Jerusalem.

    Therefore the next POLITICAL move of both the Governor and these Jewish religious officials is to send the case to a more mutually agreeable jurisdiction – that of the Roman-appointed King legitimately appointed by the Caesar’s from the ruling family of the Herod’s.

    The King’s Examination of King Jesus

    We refer, of course, to political Judean King receiving Jesus, the Christ of the Jews! 

    (How volatile this judgment challenging who is king?)

    And when he (the Roman Governor Pilate) learned that he [Jesus of Galilee] belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

    When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he [Jesus] made no answer.

    The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers treated him [the Jewish Christ or Messiah, Jesus] with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he [King Herod] sent him [Christ Jesus] back to Pilate [the Roman Prefect/Governor].

    And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.

    Gospel of Luke 23:7-12 ESV

    Yes, 'strange bedfellows' indeed, but not so out of the ordinary for the great Herod's - Kings of the Jews!
    family tree of the Herod's from Herod the Great

    Friends, Romans and Jewish countrymen.. (let us make pax–shalom)..

    Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them,

    “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

    Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us.

    Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.”

    Luke 23:13-16 ESV

    judge gavel

    a political verdict and sentence

    NOT Guilty .. but we will punish Him.


    JEWPAC

    Now don't get all bent out of shape over my fictional illustration of the San Hedren of A.D. first century Jerusalem -- religious leaders beholden to the politics of Rome. 

    WE all know and recognize the function of Political Action Committees -- even 21st century C.E. Christian Evangelical PAC's

    -- they raise and spend MONEY to influence a political outcome desired by leaders holding the purse-strings of THE PEOPLE.

    “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him [Judas Iscariot] thirty pieces of silver.

    Gospel of Matthew 26:15 ESV

    Let’s take a quick look back to how the religious leaders of Jerusalem sought to bring Jesus to trial and the Cross.

    instituted by Judas Maccabaeus [164 BC] in memory of the cleansing of the temple from the pollution of Antiochus Epiphanes 

    source

    Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,

    “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

    Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe

    “I and the Father are one.”

    The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.,,

    Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

    Gospel of John 10:22-39 ESV excerpt

    • Jesus’ Parable of the Wicked Tenants

    One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up..

    “.. But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ ..”

    The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

    Gospel of Luke 20 ESV excerpt

    Buying Betrayal

    Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

    Gospel of Mark 14:10-11 ESV

    Later Bribery against Truth

    • A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.
      • Governor Pilate had already ordered crosses readied for Barabbas and two others,
    • the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas
      • and to have Jesus executed
    • the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house …

    and they cried out—the whole multitude—saying, “Away with this One, and release Barabbas to us,” .. Pilate again then—wishing to release Jesus—called to them, but they were calling out, saying,

    “Crucify! Crucify Him!”

    Gospel of Luke 23:18-21 Literal Standard Version

    Surly, a pre-meditated placement of party members loyal to its leaders pressing against true judgment -- shouting down all opposition in order to create a consensus of social truth opposed to the True Savior of Jew and gentile. 

    These Chief Priests of Jerusalem had party leaders and blind sheep in their political pocket!

    No Jew would dare oppose the mammon of their political power and leadership.

    Buying the lies of status quo

    AFTER Jesus burial and resurrection these same Political Action Committee-men would have to counter true witness of over five hundred men who knew that the Christ – Jesus of Nazareth – was no longer in the grave.

    Easter or Resurrection Sunday is the day the tomb of Jesus is found empty and when the risen Messiah appears risen after His crucifixion on a Corss
    HE IS RISEN!

    .. some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened.

    A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. They told the soldiers,

    “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ If the governor [Pontius Pilate] hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.”

    So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say.

    Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.

    [.. reports the Disciple Matthew Levi, who recorded his Gospel in Hebrew about 30 years later.

    Matthew 28:11-15 NLT


    Who IS this CHRIST JESUS –crucified for our sins and Risen?


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