to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):—appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self),
Exodus 21:5-7
“Also let the priests who come near to Yahweh set H6942 themselves apart H6942 as H6942 holy H6942, lest Yahweh break out against them.”
And Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You [testified to] warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain, and set H6942 it apart H6942as H6942 holy H6942.’”
Exodus 19:22-23 LSB – noting H6942 meaning Sanctify or Hallow
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Sanctification of children learning to walk in Christ
To the saints in Galatia:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 4:8-9 ESV
To the saint sitting with you in church:
In conclusion, the best way to examine some of the jargon of Scripture like anointed, consecrated, sanctified, justified and holiness is in prayerful time in the Bible itself.
How better to explain sanctification (or any ‘Christian’ jargon) to a new child of the faith with whom you worship than with Biblical text?
READ any of the links provided in the Scriptures above.
OR For more on the topic of Sanctification you may search it here on TalkofJESUS.com OR simply read the earlier post below with my closing thought.
Sanctification – a refining of our holiness in Christ
For this is the will of God, your sanctification.. For God did not call us to impurity,
but in sanctification.
Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man
So far, we have been reminded that GOD is One – that is: Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Eternal (before all time and and after all time ceases to exist) – separated from His creation (including creatures), that is: Holy.
Church and Biblical teaching are both clear and mysterious in describing GOD’s ROLES of relationship within HIMSELF, that is:
FATHER to the SON
SON to the SPIRIT
Holy Spirit
to the Father
and to the Son
Some Christians know and experience a personal relationship to THE ONE GOD. The HOLY SPIRIT speaks to the heart [spirit ] of a uniquely created man or woman, a mortal made of flesh and blood.
Church Doctrine (teaching)
Christian Teachings of the Church from Scripture
In Part 3 of this doctrinal post about the one LORDJESUS CHRIST we will look at scriptural teaching concerning CHRIST from historic catechisms of the Church AND most foundationally, from God’s word in the BIBLE.
Catechisms provide studied ANSWERS to student QUESTIONS
Every Christian has QUESTIONS about the Lord God and about JESUS (who IS God).
Like ANY learning, the Questions and Answers of a catechism we study and memorize as students seeking a deeper understanding of God.
Doctrine-based QUESTIONS of Christology
21. Who is the redeemer of God’s elect?
The only redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever.
23. What offices doth Christ execute as our redeemer?
Christ, as our redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in His estate of humiliation and exaltation.
*24. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
*
*25. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
*
*26. How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
*READ the Westminster Catechism [A.D. 1647] for ANSWERS to these and more Questions about God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you also wonder about the Holy Spirit, time does not allow further studytoday.
What does the Church teach? (Church Doctrine)
Today we’ll study the roles of JESUS’ personal relationship with YOU, with me and with all followers of the Lord.
Let's begin with a review from the NICENE CREED with its EARLY UNIVERSAL (Catholic) agreement as to the Person and Roles of Christ and God.
THE CREED OF NICAEA – AGREED AT THE COUNCIL IN 325
Until the early 20th century, it was universally assumed that the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (the more accurate term) was an enlarged version of the Creed of Nicaea, which was promulgated at the Council of Nicaea (325). It was further assumed that this enlargement had been carried out at the Council of Constantinople (381) with the object of bringing the Creed of Nicaea up to date in regard to heresies about the Incarnation and the Holy Spirit that had arisen since the Council of Nicaea. - source: Britannica
JESUS
Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down,
and became incarnate
and became man,
and suffered,
and rose again on the third day,
and ascended to the heavens,
and will come to judge the living and dead,
And in the Holy Spirit.
Nicene Creed, a Christian statement of faith that is the only ecumenical creed because it is accepted as authoritative by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and major Protestant churches. -Britannica
Then the LORD came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. Then He said,
“Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.
Now the main point in what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.
Strong's Number G935 matches the Greek βασιλεύς (basileus), which occurs 118 times in 107 verses in the TR Greek.
And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING G935 OF THE JEWS.
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
Outline of Biblical Usage
leader of the people, prince, commander, lord of the land, king
probably from G939 (through the notion of a foundation of power); a sovereign (abstractly, relatively, or figuratively):—king.
JESUS showed POWER on earth, signs and miracles no created man could do except the expected Messiah of GOD !
The King, as Judeans had hoped, would be more powerful than Herod the Great (who rebuilt the Temple, a civil project still under construction under one of his sons (King Herod). Jerusalem and all the lands and their kings were subject to ROME and its Caesars.
Rome’s Governor Pilate would decide a pre-ordained mortal fate of this earthly KING Jesus, a man seemingly powerless as Jerusalem’s King Herod and his appointed priests of the Judean Temple.
The Apostles Peter and John also preached Christ crucified and risen with signs from God. ACTS 3-4
JESUS, according to God’s Word
HOW should we address JESUS?
Wouldn't HOLY SCRIPTURE; written, God-breathed words of the BIBLE (faithfully translated); provide the best, true guidance of how Christian should proclaim JESUS?
Consider how the New Testament speaks about Jesus - source
“Jesus” occurs 980 times in 940 verses in the LSB.
942 times in the KING JAMES VERSION
1000+ times in translations substituting ‘Jesus‘ for prepositions such as ‘He.’
“Jesus” AND “prophet” occurs in 5 verses in ‘The Gospels” in the LSB.
and JESUS never uses it Himself as a title, only confirming this office.
“Jesus” AND “priest” occurs 30 times in 14 verses in the LSB.
He is never addressed as a ‘Priest,’ but the letter of HEBREWS and other Scripture makes clear that JESUS is both Priest and Sacrifice.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.
JESUS Christ was the SON worthy of Christians who once worshiped like this:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart..
Deuteronomy 6:5-6 ESV
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
In the year of our Lord 1959, I joined our local Christian church and the Pastor presented me with a Revised Standard Version of the HOLY BIBLE, which our membership class had studied beginning with the first five books of the Law in addition to discussing key verses from the New Testament.
So the A.D. 1950's apparently were not yet a time when Christians walked away from God's HOLY BIBLE.
As children of Christian parents we were expected to become part of our local church and community. Some did so begrudgingly and others of us out of duty to family. What else could we do? And everyone I knew seemed to ‘go to church’ one place or another.
We referred to God and Jesus as ‘Lord,’ addressed adults as ‘Mister‘ or ‘Missus‘ [so and so] or if we didn’t know them sir or ma’am.
Our pastor and preacher was to be addressed as, Reverend, just like most of our parents addressed him. (Even children understood what reverend meant as to respect due to this man and his piety associated with God’s leadership of our church.)
Before the Common Era
SOMETHING CHANGED during the 1960’s, continued to change into the 70’s and yet more beyond the close of the 20th century.
Many churches still EXPECTED Christians to stand in acknowledgment of GOD’s HOLY Word as WE bowed in silence to hear proclaimed:
“THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO .. [Matthew, Mark, Luke or John],”
and then the Holy Scripturewas read.
christianity-lite churches of 2023 of the Common Era can hardly imagine it!
Some imagined it to have been liturgical routine rather than intended due reverence for the HOLINESS of God's Very Word.
The dichotomy of holiness as separation of GOD ABOVE ALL and JESUS CHRIST as LORD of ALL seemed to blur into a common division from contemporary culture.
Christians loved their Christ of Christmas and Easter, while ALL the world (mostly US) awaited a dismissal of JESUS as just another sweet lord of some days of a future passed.
JFK was elected the first Roman Catholic President of the U.S.
The average family income was $5,600
and a new house cost $16,500.
The starting salary for a teacher was $5,135. It was $4,400 for a police officer and $9,400 for an engineer.
A slice of pizza cost 15 cents, a McDonald’s hamburger was also 15 cents, and candy bars were five cents apiece.
The minimum wage was $1.00, (family members no min. I made .50/hr. in the 60’s)
Farmers made up 8.3% of the U.S. labor force.. about 3,711,000 American farms.. about 303 acres apiece.
Over 90% of American households had at least one TV,
and about 65% of Americans were churchgoers.
The FDA approved the world’s first commercially produced birth control pill.
The Roman Catholic Church opposed its use (even by married couples)
Protestant churches and other religions still expected NO SEX before marriage and discouraged any divorce.
Why did christians erase the LINES of Scripture?
Churches had to re-imagine JESUS for a post-Christian world of members who no longer wanted to GO TO CHURCH.
Christians of OUR future world will embrace a Jesus Christ SUPERSTAR along side our flawed antagonist apostle Judas who seemed to be just as I am. WE are the world, too.
Among our [*] secular friends WE continued to claim that WE are ‘believers,’ BUT we no longer liked to be identified as MEMBERS of the [*] BODY of CHRIST.
a few definitions erased and eroded
*SACRED [now archaic in the Common Era] once meant separated from the common sin and evil of the world in order to remain HOLY[on GOD's side of good and evil] and used in 700+ verses in the HOLY BIBLE.
*SECULAR [also archaic to Common Era culturaly inclusive speech] pointed outward to a world separated from the SACRED by clear BIBLICAL LINES of DOCTRINE.
The Body of Christ and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ point to HOLINESS only attainable through Christ as symbolized in HOLY COMMUNION.
So clearly defined Biblical church lines of religion blurred
AND antiquated doctrine retired and relegated into the annals of church history.
The Church of our Lord OR christians of the Common Era?
HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’ preached from the pulpit of your Common Era church?
Rarely, since in a post-Christian world HE is now a familiar pronoun for a more familiar jesus who embraces believers of every culture into gatherings for the anonomous ME.
IS SCRIPTURE INSCRIBED on the doorposts and gates of YOUR COMMON ERA CHURCH?
god forbid! For holy means separated and WE are together.
Therefore the BIBLE bows down to OUR corporate vision to which WE must preach to include ALL the world for the love of our culturally correct Jesus.
Just call Him KING; NEVER Prophet or Priest, which would separate HIM from the multitudes of the world WE seek to gather. AND remember,
MOST books of the BIBLE are OFFENSIVE to seekers of other beliefs; consequently NO Scripture on the walls (or church building or worship screen up front).
THE BIBLE HOLY? – Prophets, Priests and gods forbid!
christianity-lite
a graceful LIFE
RE-imagining jesus
for a culturally-correct
church of the Common Era
christianity-lite is weightless witness of Christ-less preaching to the Scripture-starved chaff of Common Era culture
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
In the context of Western culture and because of growing biblical illiteracy in our churches, the content has often been highly eroded. It has been made light and insubstantial, replaced by a set of self-focused interests.
SOMETHING CHANGED between the years of our Lord in centuries past and these last days of the Common Era.
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
And it was not Jesus Christ (re-branding HimSELF for a Common Era church).
“Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings..” the letter to the Hebrews continues in 13:9a.
All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.
(although some have intentionally smudged scripture by their own rewording).
COULD IT BE THE COMMON ERA CHURCH (members, not the building so much) THAT HAS CHANGED?
..it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
Lord OR just another king of culture?
Let the church of these last days of a Common Era hear the prophesy of John the Baptist:
“And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals;
Gospel of Matthew 3:10-11b LSB
DO YOU WORSHIP JESUS IN TRUTH AND WITH THE HUMILITY OF JOHN?
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
