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Tag: history

Members in Christ’s body the Church
And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1 Corinthians 12:11 KJV – Paul quoting the Lord Jesus

Paul now draws a picture of the human body in order that members of the body of believers might see our own part in the larger Church in Corinth and all places where the saints gather in Christ’s Name.

Spiritualities – ‘I would not have you ignorant’

Previously, when we departed from here in the Apostle’s instructions to the Corinthians, Paul instructs:

And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:5 KJV

One Body, many Members, different spiritual Gifts

Now to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit, for the common profiting.

1 Corinthians 12:7 BLB

The first implication of this: EACH member of the body of your church and mine will show (manifest) some fruit of the Spirit.

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

1 Corinthians 12:11 LSB

Who belongs as members?
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IF someone in your church does not yet manifest any fruit of the Spirit, is it possible that the Lord has not given them the Spirit OR made these a part of His Body - a member of His Church? 

Are even the best spiritualities of faithful jews and religious adherents of Islam connected to the body of our Lord Christ Jesus? 

Do the best of Hindus Buddhists and other pagan worshipers not oppose Christ? 

Yet some are drawn by the Spirit. 
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The Body of Christ

For just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body being many are one body, so also is Christ.

1 Corinthia n s 12:12 Berean Standard Bible

Jews and Gentiles
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What is the overriding context of this epistle Paul writes to a church on the Achaian peninsula of Greece ? 

The Apostle to the Gentiles (Hellenists or Greek or Roman) -- seeks to heal long-standing differences in this large Roman city of Corinth situated in the philosophic and cultural center of ancient Europe. 
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- To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom – v.8 (quite Hellenist)
- to another faith.. to another gifts of healing v.9 (the One God of the Jews and ignored signs of the Messiah)
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 NKJV

Invisible fruit pictured in the body

For the body does not consist of one part, but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:14 BSB

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body?

And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
- If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
  - (Now think of the body of Christ, the church.)
- If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
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Laughable! Hyperbole, yet logical.
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But now hath God set the members

(And the Spirit of God has distributed your spiritual gifts.)

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

How strange a body would be if it had only one part!

1 Corinthians 12:18 KJV and 12:19 NLT
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Do you get both the seriousness and Paul's practical ridicule of members di-vi-ded by spiritualities God granted to others? 
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The Apostle to the gentiles continues his illustration: 
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- The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.”
- Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”
Here is Paul’s appeal to draw near to your members divided by opinions concerning spiritual gifts and an order of regulating the body (so to speak).

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty, whereas our presentable parts have no such need.

But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12:22-26 BSB

Has the Great Physician not set the parts of the body into their proper place?

Appointment of the Greater Gifts
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The Apostle sent out to the Corinthians, Achaeans, Greeks, Romans and displaced Jews suggests an order of importance in the A.D. first century church. Yet Paul has just instructed the saints that it is the Spirit which places us in our place in the Church -- and that spiritual GIFTS are not ours to choose. 
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27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it. And in the church God has appointed
1. first of all apostles,
2. second prophets,
3. third teachers,
4. then workers of miracles,
5. and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.
A local (Corinthian) understanding of roles and spiritual gifts

Acts of the Apostles 1-28
1. ἀπόστολος – apostolos
2. προφήτης – prophētēs
3. διδάσκαλος – didaskalos
4. δύναμις – dynamis
5. χάρισμα – charisma
Apostles, Prophets and Teachers

ἀπόστολοι (apostoloi)
Noun – Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong’s 652: From apostello; a delegate; specially, an ambassador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ.

Am I not an apostle?^G652 am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle^G652 unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:1-2

1 Corinthians 12:28 – And God has set…

You’ve just studied the list.

So what does the Apostle Paul (#1 on the authoritative list) ask as he further questions the Corinthian saints of differing opinions about their own roles in the local church?

1 Corinthians 12:29-30
- Are all apostles? (#1)
- Are all prophets? (#2)
- Are all teachers? (#3)
- Do all work miracles? (#4)
- Do all have gifts of healing?
- Do all speak in tongues?
- Do all interpret?
  - (these 3 grouped in #5)
SO WHERE DO I FIT IN?

and Who is in charge of who, here in our local gathering of saints in Corinth?

Perhaps in the hearing of Paul’s first letter being read to the Corinthian Church these saints might have wondered what the APOSTLE would prescribe next as a solution to OUR divisions.
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READ the literal Greek text below.
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12:31 ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ χαρίσματα τὰ κρείττονα Καὶ ἔτι καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῖν δείκνυμι

But covet earnestly the best gifts: – 31a KJV

Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. – 31a NIV

But earnestly desire the higher gifts.- 31a RSV

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

1 Corinthians 12:31 b – NLT

NEXT – Paul’s connection of GIFTS

Beloved fellow saint, you may know where the Apostle proceeds in his much-quoted list from 1 Corinthians 14.

Perhaps with love in mind you may have a COMMENT here on what the Apostle Paul has instructed us so far.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
February 26, 2025
Now is the Time Christmas Advent 3
Does anybody really know what time it is?

Chorus overlap: “I don’t care…”

Does anybody really care?

from ‘Chicago Transit Authority’ (1969)

Time in Perpetuity

I asked you in the first ADVENT post of this calendar year: ‘Have you considered that in the time of Noah and Before Christ GOD cleansed the earth of all but eight?’

Then we looked at the concept of ADVENT as a time of preparation for celebrating the coming of GOD as a man, even as a child born before the witnesses of the A.D. first century.

Advent 2 of Christmas Evangelicalism

Before Christ, Prophesy

We considered prophesy as a type of advent with certain prediction of that which was to come.

When at certain times God speaks to men such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah and others, the LORD warns of times ahead, as well as the consequences of rejection of His Law, commandments and His grace.

A visible advent of our disobedience to God is documented in Scripture and warns of God’s wrath against sin in more times ahead.

What must we do?

Take for instance the LORD’s negotiation with Abraham about Sodom. AND considering the destroyed city ponder this 21st century dilemma:
- HOW are we so different than those who perished in Sodom for their sin?
- Should the Lord spare US for only breaking our marriage covenants with impugnity?
- Are we less sinless than those who created gods of stone from hearts of stone, proclaiming our own self as the god we worship?
Does this Common Era world not appropriate signs of the LORD’s covenant with mankind for sins offensive to God and creation?

And YES, do some so-called churches culturally encourage an all-inclusive sin of Sodom?

Have some churches missed an advent of the judgement to come by fire?
- Are our sins of selfishness any less offensive to the LORD than those of ALL HE destroyed from the earth by the flood?
A righteous man such as Noah or Job would appeal to the LORD for mercy.

Do YOU and do I?

‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay; And would You turn me into dust again?

Job 10:9 LSB

The righteous example of Job

Even Before Christ, Job foresaw the advent of the savior of mankind, the Very Person of God Who IS before all and after all time.

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will rise up over the dust H6083 of this world.
Job 19:25

A Savior in a manger,

Jesus a child –

a son of man: son of Mary and Son of God – a redeemer for the sins of mankind.

Perpetuity after Time

perpetuity, n.
The quality or state of being perpetual; an instance of this, an endless or indefinite duration or existence; permanence, endlessness.

Oxford English Dictionary

A line, even a timeline representing lifetimes of days and centuries of history extends beyond our sight before its beginning and from its END into measureless eternity.

“Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall behold God, Whom I myself shall behold..

“If you say,

‘How shall we persecute him?’ ‘And the root of the matter is found in him?’ “Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves,

For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

So that you may know there is judgment.”

Job 19 excerpt

Calculating Calendars within the bounds of the observable

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
תְהִלִּים (Psalm) 19:1b ESV

But HOW does mortal man MEASURE the expanse of the Eternal?

by Calendars (and with timepieces we call ‘clocks’)
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a brief look at ancient & current calendars
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All calendars began with people recording time by using natural cycles: days, lunar cycles (months), and solar cycles (years).

Source linked above.

Let’s try to take this chronologically from the beginning:

Have you ever considered that Adam had no need for a calendar or timeclock?

Calendars Before Christ
- Noah – 360 day calendar
- Moses * 365 day Egyptian calendar
- The astronomical day had begun at noon ever since Ptolemy chose to begin the days in his astronomical periods at noon.
- The Julian calendar began in 45 BC (709 AUC) as a reform of the 10 month Roman calendar by Julius Caesar.
  - Source: linked above
Hebrew Calendar

The history of the Jewish calendar may be divided into three periods—the Biblical, the Talmudic, and the post-Talmudic. Jewish Encyclopedia.com

https://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-maps-timeline-chronology-kings-prophets-assyrians-babylonians-egyptians-synchronisms-tisri-nisan-inclusive-accession-divided-kingdom-dates-931-587bc-new-year-calendar-julian.jpg

Take a look at the link above for a more complete understanding of changes in the Jewish Calendar during the centuries Before the Messiah of Israel.

Bible TimeLine

Timelines, like calendars and cultural customs must have a point of reference. The intersection of measured history and timeless truth becomes central to conflicting narratives of a fallen created peoples of the world.

At the ever-present center of time history records the birth of Jesus Christ.

Calendars of the Common Era

Lines in the shifting sands of time:
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B.C. OR BCE?
A.D. OR CE?
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Let's start from the present and find our center of history and timelines by looking back. 
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Anno Domini

noun a Latin phrase meaning

“in the year of the Lord”, the full form of the abbreviation AD, which is used when referring to a year after Jesus Christ was born

Cambridge Dictionary
- B.C. is short for “Before Christ”
  - B.C. and A.D. references in the Bible.
  - The B.C./A.D. calendar system was not established until around 500 A.D., well after the books of the Bible were written.
- BCE and CE.
- CE stands for “Common Era” BCE is “Before Common Era”
- CE and BCE dates are identical with A.D. and B.C. dates
- (for example, 2000 CE is the same as 2000 A.D.). This is a thinly veiled attempt by atheists and religious people other than Christians to remove Christian religious references from our culture.
MORE READING about the years of our Lord and our Common Era

NEXT: ADVENT 4

We will look at that moment in history and the Messiah in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea..
December 18, 2024
a Brief Apologetic for Doctrine
Doctrine (of the Common Era) Defined

A doctrine is a set of principles or beliefs, especially religious ones.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

Synonyms: teaching, principle, belief, opinion

Quite simply EVERYONE has doctrines WE believe, beliefs and opinions WE teach unyieldingly or perhaps underpinning our speech subtly.

Due to its everyday influence on our lives I have reviewed and retaught DOCTRINE here with some regularity.

doctrine in American English
1. something taught; teachings
2. something taught as the principles or creed of a religion, political party, etc.; tenet or tenets; belief; dogma
3. a rule, theory, or principle of law
4. US
  an official statement of a nation’s policy, esp. toward other nations
  the Monroe Doctrine
doctrine in British English
1. a creed or body of teachings of a religious, political, or philosophical group presented for acceptance or belief; dogma
2. a principle or body of principles that is taught or advocated
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Read the fine print below for a more succinct examination of doctrine. - RH
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doctrine refers to a theory based on carefully worked out principles and taught or advocated by its adherents [scientific or social doctrines]; dogma refers to a belief or doctrine that is handed down by authority as true and indisputable, and often connotes arbitrariness, arrogance, etc. [religious dogma]; tenet emphasizes the maintenance or defense, rather than the teaching, of a theory or principle [the tenets of a political party]; precept refers to an injunction or dogma intended as a rule of action or conduct [to teach by example rather than by precept]
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

DOCTRINE – What do you believe? Can you affirm it to others?

Doctrine + TalkofJESUS.com
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HERE are several links where you should find teachings to Comment on Scripture OR respond to a doctrine with YOUR opinion.
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First, a summary PAGE which includes links to several earlier pages & posts on Doctrine.

What is Doctrine? – Let’s Talk about DOCTRINE

I asked, “Is the Church still ‘christian’‘ & other thought-provoking categorical questions about ‘the church‘ in a 2022 SERIES [linked here].

Evangelical Reconstruction

SEARCH TalkofJESUS.com by topic for ‘Doctrine‘

topical ‘christianity’

We have explored contemporary issues of doctrine as well.
Summer 2023 SERIES on doctrine

https://talkofjesus.com/hot-topics-summer-a-d-2023/
apologia – not actually an ‘apology’

It seems in the Common Era of NO ABSOLUTES and arguments of ANTI-this’ and ANTI-that’s I had best DEFINE what I mean to apologize to BOTH

+ disagreeing ‘christians‘
- and semi-committed A-theists – [mortals AGAINST god AND unequivocally opposed to JESUS Christ].
WHY this SERIES?

I could share many reasons in this Common Era of 2024 WHY I am revisiting ‘doctrine’ but #1:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 Legacy Standard Bible

Apologetic for a Common Era approach to Biblical Doctrine
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From Before Christ to Before the Common Era
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In common Greek, apologia refers to the speech that an accused person delivered in court, rejecting the charges filed against him or her. The apologists of the second century chose this term because they wanted to show that the charges filed against Christians were unjustified and that the truths of their faith could be described and defended. An apologia was dedicated to the Roman emperor, who certainly never read it. [Max L. Stackhouse, “Apologia,” 1988]
https://www.etymonline.com/word/apologia

Anti-Christ THINKING From A.D. to C.E.

The A.D. Second Century CHRISTIAN apologist to whom the article refers is Justin Martyr.

In addition to arguing against the persecution of individuals solely for being Christian, Justin also provides the Emperor with a defense of the philosophy of Christianity and a detailed explanation of contemporary Christian practices and rituals.

The First Apology is dated to between AD 155–157

The theologian Robert Grant has claimed that this Apology was made in response to the Martyrdom of Polycarp ~ in the year of our Lord 155.
source & Christian History Polycarp

2024 of the COMMON ERA DOCTRINE

YOUR ‘What?‘ Questions of the Common Era
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From an earlier post.
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WHEN did the Common Era Begin?

Was there an unexpected BIG BANG that exploded TRUTH into truths?

Have centuries of history defined by the word of Almighty GOD fallen into a bottomless black hole of godless futility?

Does a blurred timeline of History not continue to point toward Christ Jesus born into this common world of sin?
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
updated 2024 of the Common Era

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

Talk of JESUS .com
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NEXT: DOCTRINES of the Common Era: 

God
Scripture
JESUS CHRIST 
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FOLLOWED BY more 2024 C.E. examinations of KEY Doctrines
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April 3, 2024