Coupled with the other Gospels, I think we can see that the Apostles thought He was the Christ - but ONLY because God had revealed it through Peter (Mt 16:16-18), not their OWN thoughts and ideas of what the Messiah would be - remember right after this what Peter said, in both Mat 16 and Mark 8. "You are thinking as man thinks, not as God". Thus, I think THEY were not very clear on God's plan. We, after the resurrection and the witness of many generations before us, can make the determination from Scriptures much easier. But we have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight! It appears to me when reading the Gospels that even the Apostles had very little clue - the Suffering Servant made no sense to them - just as I say that to a resistant Jew in Thessalonika, it wouldn't make sense either.
The point - Scripture alone didn't "teach" the Word of God. It was ONLY the re-interpretation of the OT writings, "properly understood in light of Christ's Death and Resurrection" that anyone would realize that the Christians possessed the truth. But for every prophesy of the OT, for every passage that "points" to Christ, a "non-believer" could issue another point of view or interpretation of the same passage and deny that it had any relevance to Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, brother, it is faith, activated by hearing the Good News (not reading the Scriptures) that begins to change one's paradigm, to become Christian, in the face of persecution and opposition from his former Jewish friends and family.
Perhaps no further arbitration is needed at this point. Perhaps … it shall endure as … a mystery.
Well, then the Bereans would have never been considered noble if they never made a decision, correct?
Brother in Christ
The point - Scripture alone didn't "teach" the Word of God. It was ONLY the re-interpretation of the OT writings, "properly understood in light of Christ's Death and Resurrection" that anyone would realize that the Christians possessed the truth. But for every prophesy of the OT, for every passage that "points" to Christ, a "non-believer" could issue another point of view or interpretation of the same passage and deny that it had any relevance to Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, brother, it is faith, activated by hearing the Good News (not reading the Scriptures) that begins to change one's paradigm, to become Christian, in the face of persecution and opposition from his former Jewish friends and family.
I would argue that the Good News can be found ... in the scriptures.John 3:16 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.Is it your belief that one cannot hear the gospel from the scripture ?
Do you suggest that there is some difference between hearing the gospel through one's ears ... and reading the gospel through one's eyes ?
BTW ... I would agree that the Bereans' scriptural search acted to confirm the gospel as preached to them by Paul.
Is it your belief ... that the Bereans' scriptural searching ... made no difference in their spiritual outcome ?
Perhaps no further arbitration is needed at this point. Perhaps … it shall endure as … a mystery.
Well, then the Bereans would have never been considered noble if they never made a decision, correct?
I would presume that the Bereans ... made a decision for Christ.
Is it your belief ... that the Bereans made some sort of decision concerning the Eucharist or needed to ?
Brother in Christ