Our outline above used for this SERIES taken from the Old Roman Creed (vide ante) from which the Apostles’ Creed was adapted and possibly in use before the mid-2nd century.
The Apostles’ Creed and other affirmations of faith were adopted corporately by the Church to refute permeating heresies plaguing believers since the time of the Apostles.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
I believe:
Jesus Christ suffered and died…
Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
from The Apostles’ Creed
Do some not believe, though the historical evidence of the facts overwhelmingly support the Gospel accounts?
YES, because the Spirit of God has not revealed to them the significance of the Messiah Jesus, the Son of God SUFFERING or His role of sacrifice and redemption as the “Son of Man.”
The apostate, heretic and pagan alike create a god, goddess or false prophet of their own liking — an idol to follow into the abyss of sin’s punishment — in deference to the One God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
New Testimony of John (witness of Yeshua):
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:
Gospel of John 1:10-12 Hebrew Names Version
From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moshe.
Grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.
No one has seen God at any time.
The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Yeshua, and said to him,
“Are you the King of the Yehudim?”
Yeshua answered him, “Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?”
Pilate answered, “I’m not a Yehudi, am I? Your own nation and the chief Kohanim delivered you to me. What have you done?”
Yeshua answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Yehudim. But now my kingdom is not from here.”
Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?”
Yeshua answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“I AM the way, the truth, and the life…”
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
Gospel of John 18:33-38a HNV
Is this not the first question asked by those who question the truth of Scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ?
Therefore, WE will pick and choose what we will believe from the Bible.
Pilate said to them,
“Shall I crucify your King?”
“Hail, King of the Yehudim!”
Don’t you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?”
Yeshua answered,
“You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”
Gospel of John 19: excerpts Hebrew Names Version
The Christ of God, of course, refers to the one of the Twelve who had betrayed JESUS, because He was not the King who would follow the whims of religious nationalism. (Judea would not have JESUS to lead them to expel Rome.)
was crucified
..Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Yeshua, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat.
But there were standing by the cross of Yeshua his mother, and his mother’s sister, Miryam the wife of Klofah, and Miryam from Magdala…
“It is finished.”
He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30b HNV
died, and was buried.
but when they came to Yeshua, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
So they took Yeshua’s body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Yehudim is to bury…
Then because of the Yehudim’ Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Yeshua there.
The Son of Man — born of the virgin Mary some thirty years before — the Son of God who the angel told would overshadow her and she would bear Him — DEAD! gruesomely crucified and nailed to and hung from a Roman cross!
Our outline for this SERIES is taken from the Old Roman Creed (vide ante) from which the Apostles' Creed was adapted and possibly in use before the mid-2nd century.
Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham – Matthew 1:1b
When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying,
“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
Gospel of the Apostle Matthew 16:13 NKJV
This question and self-designation of Jesus Christ — iēsous, meaning “Jehovah is salvation” from the Hebrew root, yᵊhôšûaʿ or Joshua with the same meaning — reveals a great mystery that in His incarnation JESUS IS also the Son of Man.
Who is the Son of Man?
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Numbers 23:19 NJKV
Yet the Messiah of Israel IS the Word of God and cannot lie.
‘Ya`akov became the father of Yosef, the husband of Miryam, from whom was born Yeshua, who is called Messiah.
Matthew 1:16 Hebrew Names Version
(Yes, Matthew Levi, Simon Peter, and Miryam the mother of Jesus Christ are all Jews.)
King David, a thousand years before, asks,
What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
Psalm 8:4
His Jewish disciples whom Jesus asks know this self-designation of Yeshua from the Prophet Ezekiel about 600 years before.
“Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.
Ezekiel 2:3 NKJV
“Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.
“Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears.
And He said to me: “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city.. “Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man!”
..he asked his talmidim, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
They said, “Some say Yochanan the immerser, some, Eliyah, and others, Yirmeyahu, or one of the prophets.”
Matthew 16:13b-14 HNV
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered and said,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:15-16 NKJV
The Son of God
And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. – Gospel of Luke 2:7 RSV
Hard to imagine — this Son of Man, the Son of God!
male issue (one begotten by a father and born of a mother)
son of man
Christ seems to have preferred this to the other Messianic titles, because by its lowliness it was least suited to foster the expectation of an earthly Messiah in royal splendour.
son of God
those who revere God as their father,
.. governed by the Spirit of God,
Examine closely every aspect of the life of JESUS from manger to the cross and you will witness both humanity and deity — Christ the Son of Man—Christ the Son of God.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com
NEXT: we will see why JESUS is
His Only Son
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Peter’s second epistle to the church mirrors what the Lord had prayed prior to His crucifixion:
“But I have prayed earnestly for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, once you have returned, strengthenG4741 your brothers.”
Gospel of Luke 22:32
The Apostle had recently written to these same believers:
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets
A single greek word for ‘that you may be mindful’ is the same word of remembering used frequently in the gospels.
And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.
Matthew 16:75 NKJV
Peter emphasizes the subject matter spoken before by the ‘holy prophets,’ referring to the major and minor prophets of Old Testament Scripture from Isaiah to Malachi—pointing to them as Holy [ἅγιος – hagios – (an awful thing)] and certainly in contrast to the misleading false prophets and teachers against whom the Apostle has already warned.
Secondly, Peter equates Apostolic authority in this reminder mentioning the Holy Prophets speaking God’s word even before Jesus instructed them in Person.
and of the commandment of us,the apostles of the Lord and Savior..
commandment of the apostles of your Lord and Savior
or commandment of your apostles of the Lord and Savior.
The end was neither — the incarnation of JESUS the Son of God nor — resurrection of JESUS the Son of David hoped for by some of the Jews.
And don't Common Era scoffers also want a conquering King — bringing victory without cost and proclaimation without persecution, also saying:
… all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
2 Peter 3:4c NKJV
And so they do, Peter suggests, but these [scoffers and doubters of Christ] are without excuse.
For this they willfully forget: that
by the word of God the heavens were of old,
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
A clear reference to Noah, who Peter has just mentioned.
2 Peter 3:5-6 NKJV
But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word,
are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition [apōleia– the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell]
of ungodly [ἀσεβής – asebēs – destitute of reverential awe towards God]
men [anthrōpos – men or women].
2 Peter 3:7 NKJV
Has your Common Era Pastor preached this Apostolic caution?
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: …
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Genesis 7:21, 9;11 KJV
The Apostle’s Timeless Response
agapētos HEAR THIS:
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us [or you]
not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
In the year of the Lord 2025 — dismissed by scoffers as: 2025 of the Common Era [2025 CE] — Do you fear the wrath to come when Christ returns?
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise,
and the elements will melt with fervent heat;
both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
[literally, utterly burned up and consumed by fire!]
2 Peter 3: 10 NJKV
Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.
On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
2 Peter 3:11-13 New Living Translation
The Apostle’s command to look ahead may not appeal to you anymore than considering your inevitable death of the flesh.
Ah, but what of your spirit, the resurrection of our familiar flesh and the judgment to come?
Peter assures Christ’s true followers — the saints of the Chruch which may include you:
And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen,
make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.
2 Peter 3:14-15a NLT
Might the Apostle actually be calling YOU, beloved member of Christ — in need of repentance for your impure fruit, to reject those easy false teachings which oppose the Lord Jesus Christ?
The APOSTLES, including Paul
NEXT, we will briefly study just one Epistle or Letter of the Apostle to the Gentiles [or Hellenists or Greeks], Paul.
Here Peter now mentions the Apostle Paul, due to an already developing false teaching in the early church broadly known as gnosticism [a Greek word meaning “knowledge.”]
Gnosticism
Such ‘knowledge‘ often accelerates into a down-hill slope into the pit of error. Therefore a brief summary here from BibleHub.com
Dualism: Gnosticism is marked by a strong dualistic worldview,
The material world is often seen as the creation of a lesser deity,
sometimes identified with the God of the Old Testament,
who is distinct from the true, transcendent God.
This, of course, is NOT SCRIPTURAL from either Jewish Scripture OR the Gospel of the New Testament.
Gnostics believe that.. salvation involves awakening this divine spark through gnosis.
Some Gnostic texts depict Christ as a purely spiritual being .who did not truly suffer or die.
Gnosticism generally views the physical world as corrupt or illusory.
This belief often leads to ascetic practices or,
conversely, to libertine behavior, as the material is deemed irrelevant to spiritual salvation.
Peter confirming Paul
So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters.
There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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