Posted on 07/13/2018 5:17:22 PM PDT by metmom
"For those who disbelieve, 'the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone,' and, 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense'; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed" (1 Pet. 2:7-8).
Rejecting Christ leads to spiritual damnation.
Israel was a unique nation, chosen by God to be the guardian of His Word and proclaimer of His kingdom. The Old Testament records His miraculous and providential care for her throughout the centuries, and the prophets told of One who would come as her great Deliverer. Israel eagerly awaited the promised Messiah.
But the story has a surprise ending. In the Person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah finally came and presented Himself to Israel. The religious leaders examined Him carefully, measuring Him in every way they could. But He didn't fit their blueprint. They expected a reigning political Messiah who would instantly deliver them from Roman oppression. They felt no need for a spiritual deliverer, so they rejected Him and tossed Him aside like a worthless rock.
That rejected cornerstone is precious to believers but remains a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to unbelievers. A "stone of stumbling" was a stone on which someone tripped while walking along the road. A "rock of offense" was a rock large enough to crush a person. The point: rejecting Christ brings spiritual devastation of enormous proportions.
All who reject Christ do so because they are disobedient to the Word. Rebellion against the written Word inevitably leads to rejection of the living Word. Of such people Peter said, "To this doom they were also appointed" (v. 8). They weren't appointed to reject Christ, but to receive the judgment that their rejection demands. That's a frightening reality that should motivate you to take every opportunity to evangelize the lost.
Suggestions for Prayer
If you have family or friends who are rejecting Christ, pray for them often, asking God to grant them saving faith.
For Further Study
Read Romans 9:30-10:17, noting Israel's false standard of righteousness and Paul's prayer for her salvation.
The Ephesians weren’t Jews; why on earth would Paul warn them against Jewish taboos if they weren’t Jews? And why wouldn’t he say ‘works of the Law’ instead of just ‘works’?
And why would Paul call it salvation by GRACE, when grace is defined as undeserved kindness?
And for THAT matter, if you DID have to do works to earn salvation why wouldn’t he have just SAID so? The fact that he didn’t tells me everything I need to know.
I prefer the interpretation that doesn’t make Paul look like a liar by both commission and omission, thanks.
Speaking of, in Galatians, Paul specifically says, “21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if A law (emphasis mine) had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.”
IE: there is NO law that can give righteousness, which runs counter to what Rome claims.
Finally this: If you didn’t read the Lutheran Confessions, why A: are you assuming so much about what we believe, and B: insist that I go and read your Catechism? That’s kinda hypocritical, isn’t it?
God the Spirit indwells every believer in the Church Age.
I disagree with your comment: “The ‘church’ is NOT the “Body of Christ.”
The Church is the body of Christ. it is specifically stated in the Bible.
He is the head of the body, the church.* COLOSSIANS
Chapter 1:18
If one rejects Christ’s Church, they reject Christ.
“Anyone who rejects you rejects me.” And how can one wish to love Christ without loving the Church, if the finest witness to Christ is that of St. Paul: “Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her”?
The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also implies the distinction of the two within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed by the image of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The Lord referred to himself as the “bridegroom.” The Apostle speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride “betrothed” to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless bride of the spotless Lamb. “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her.” He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and never stops caring for her as for his own body:
This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many . . . whether the head or members speak, it is Christ who speaks. He speaks in his role as the head (ex persona capitis) and in his role as body (ex persona corporis). What does this mean? “The two will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the Church.” And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: “So they are no longer two, but one flesh.” They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union, . . . as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself “bride” (CCC 796).
Christ in Us.* 24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking* in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, 25of which I am a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God, 26the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,m 27to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.n 28It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.o 29For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.p COLOSSIANS 1
That is nice.
Do you still sin?
Do you still make errors or mistakes?
What makes your interpretation correct?
Does God stop you from your use of free will?
Well I never accepted Jesus through Baptism nor because of his teachings. I accepted Him entirely through His message of Salvation through His ‘finished’ work........ “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”.....as the Bible clearly states....it’s His ‘gift’ of salvation.
We know that the New Testament covenant is one of grace and it’s unconditional... we receive Gods mercy and blessings not because of anything we do but because of what Christ did..... As believers in the New T. Covenant ‘we operate under grace’ by which good works ‘are a result’ of salvation. Grace finds it source in the giver who is God.
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Sorry, but no, there is no church mentioned in the Bible.
The church is a human creation inspired by the adversary.
The body is the kehillah, poorly translated into the Greek, and even more poorly translated from Greek to english.
The kehillah has existed for 6000 years, and is an invisible body, discernable only by their keeping of the ancient covenant delivered at the first Shavuot at Sinai.
If you are of the church, you cannot be of yeshua.
The ‘church’ rejects Yehova’s commandments, and lives by their own man made creeds and other “inherited lies wherein there is no profit.”
This ‘church’ is dedicated to the defeat of Yehova’s covenant.
You mix apples and oranges when you try to link the bride of Yeshua with a man made church. Nothing the apostles spoke has anything to do with any ‘church.’
The Kehillah keeps Torah,and the church keeps the commandments of men, much as the Pharisees kept their own man made laws that they egregiously called “the Law of Moses.”
Nothing that this ‘church’ does is in any way related to the commandments of Yehova.
“Church” is simply a mistranslation of the eternal “Kehillah.”
What this ‘church’ does is nothing like what the Kehillah, the Bride of Yeshua does.
The truth is there in what has been handed down to us, but to see it requires clear prayerful reading, due to the italicised lies that are sprinkled through the KJV, and later incorporated into the so-called “modern ‘translations.’”
The fact that they propagate the italicised lies proves that they are not translations at all, but just paraphrased remakes of the KJV. Colossians ch 2 is a perfect example that makes them all naked.
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The ‘church’ rejects the plain word of Yehova.
you can follow the church, or you can follow the word of Yehova, but you cannot do both.
By remaining in fellowship with God through faith in Christ. Let Him perform His work in you, through faith in Him.
1Tim 2:5-6
Again, our mediator is not anybody other than Jesus Christ. Those who attempt to mediate for Him become antiChrist or a counterfeit substitute for Christ.
We are each part of the royal priesthood during the Church Age. The High Priest is our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, through whom we all have access to God the Father when in fellowship with Him.
Christ founded His Church as a supernatural society, the Kingdom of God. In this society there must be the power of ruling; and also the principles by which the members are to attain their supernatural end, viz., supernatural truth, which is held by faith, and super-natural grace by which man is formally elevated to the supernatural order. Thus, besides the power of jurisdiction, the Church has the power of teaching (magisterium) and the power of conferring grace (power of order).
This power of order was committed by our Lord to His Apostles, who were to continue His work and to be His earthly representatives. The Apostles received their power from Christ: “as the Father hath sent me, I also send you” (John, xx, 21).
Christ possessed fullness of power in virtue of His priesthood—of His office as Redeemer and Mediator. He merited the grace which freed man from the bondage of sin, which grace is applied to man immediately by the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and immediately by the sacraments.
He gave His Apostles the power to offer the Sacrifice (Luke, xxii, 19), and dispense the sacraments (Matt., xxviii, 18; John, xx, 22, 23); thus making them priests.
It is true that every Christian receives sanctifying grace which confers on him a priesthood. Even as Israel under the Old dispensation was to God “a priestly kingdom” (Exod., xix, 4-6), thus under the New, all Christians are “a kingly priesthood” (I Pet., ii, 9); but now as then the special and sacramental priesthood strengthens and perfects the universal priesthood (cf. II Cor., iii, 3, 6; Rom., xv, 16).
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You believe in something that the word of Yehova does not call for.
It is not a church!
It has no human hierarchy!
It is his eternal Kehillah, that has existed as long as man has existed.
It is the remnant that have held his covenant through the ages. It is open to all that sojourn with true Israel.
Your definition of Kehillah is not Yehova’s definition.
All churches are man made diversions from the way preached by Moses and Yeshua. Yes he died to pour his blood on the mercy seat of the Ark hidden in the grotto below the cross. That is what John was talking about in chapter 5 of his first epistle.
If you reject the covenant, and turn to christian doctrine, you have rejected Yeshua and his blood that renewed the covenant in an effective sacrifice for all time.
The covenant was not “hung up on the cross!”
It was the false law of the Pharisees that Yeshua defeated. The catholic church is a 4th century attempt to revive the laws of men that Yeshua defeated.
The “protestant” churches share in that false law. The creeds of christianity are the “inherited lies wherein there is no profit” spoken of by Jeremiah.
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Sounds like your personal opinion.
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No, sounds like exactly what is written in the word of Yehova.
Try reading it without bias some day. It took me a long time too, but now that I can see where the corruptions are and how they got there, I am ashamed that it took so long.
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