Although I will admit that I understand Him the least, I most certainly do believe the Holy Spirit is a co-equal.
Baptism doesn't cause righteousness -- it's not magic. It's a sacrament. You are "brought" into the Church under grace.
I thought that you believed that Baptism was absolutely instrumental to salvation. When is it that righteousness is infused? After death?
FK: "Yes, they accepted Christ as a future Messiah."
You will have to show me some scriptural evidence for that, FK. Judaism does not teach that man needs to be saved, so why would the OT righteous have believed it?
Well, I found a pretty interesting article on the subject on the Jews For Jesus website. (I figure they know better than me. :) Anyway, they say that the OT Jews WERE looking for a Messiah. Here is an excerpt:
"This is not to say that all Jewish people rejected the claims of Jesus. Far from that being the case, all the first followers of Jesus were Jews. In fact, the rabbis of that time period and afterwards were well aware of the many Messianic prophecies which Christians claimed were fulfilled in Jesus. So for instance, although the Talmudic rabbis concurred that Isaiah 53 was a prediction of the Messiah, by medieval times the pressure from those who applied this prophecy to Jesus was so great that Rashi, that greatest medieval Biblical scholar, reinterpreted the chapter and said it referred to the nation of Israel. This interpretation is maintained today by many Jewish scholars, though it only dates back to the Middle Ages."
"What, then, are some of the credentials of the Messiah? Only a few can be listed below; there are many others. All of these passages were recognized by the early rabbis as referring to the Messiah:"
Messiah was to be born at Bethlehem: Micah 5:1
Messiah would be from the tribe of Judah: Genesis 49:10
Messiah would present himself by riding on an ass: Zechariah 9:9
Messiah would be tortured to death: Psalm 22
Messiah would arrive before the destruction of the Second Temple: Daniel 9:24-27
Messiah's life would match a particular description, including suffering, silence at his arrest and trial, death and burial in a rich man's tomb, and resurrection: Isaiah 52:13-53:12"
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You have still not answered my question a few posts ago why would the OT righteous have been in hell if they were righteous.
I'm sorry, I suppose I genuinely don't understand the question. I don't look at the OT righteous as having gone to hell. Their faith allowed them to be covered in the righteousness of Christ.
Good. :)
I thought that you believed that Baptism was absolutely instrumental to salvation. When is it that righteousness is infused? After death?
"The sacrament of Baptism is the door into the Church, the Kingdom of grace. It is with Baptism that Christian life begins. Baptism is the frontier that separates the members of Christ’s Body from those who are outside it. In Baptism the human person is arrayed in Christ, following the words of St Paul which are sung as the newly-baptized is led around the baptismal font: ‘For as many of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ’ (Gal.3:27). In Baptism the human person dies to his sinful life and rises again to new spiritual life." (Orthodox Catechism)
As for when is a man saved, we would say when we are in harmony with the sacraments, when we live and walk with the Spirit, when we have attained the likeness of Christ through faith. Where else can we learn to wali and live with the Spirit but in the Church? Therefore, baptism is the first step in the salvific journey in faith.
Jews for Jesus is a Baptist abomination shunned by all, even liberal Christian organizations. They are not considered Jews by any of the known sects in Judaism. They are even denied by the so-called Messianic Jews.
Study Judaism, study what Judaism says about the messiah, what Judaism has been saying about the messiah all along. read why all three forms of Judaism stand united in rejecting Christ as a Messiah.
They are the ones who practcie Judaism; they ought to know. We don't practice Judaism; we practice Christianity. It's apples and organges.
I don't look at the OT righteous as having gone to hell. Their faith allowed them to be covered in the righteousness of Christ.
Well, that's where they were when Jesus went "down" there -- he broke the gates of Hell (not Hades) and pulled out the righteous. If they were righteous, why were they in hell?