After Jesus said this to the apostles, what they did with it was to go tell people that the way to have sins forgiven was by trusting that forgiveness was recieved when they:
Rom.10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Please, I am asking a sincere question. If a priest was required to mediate for us, don't you think that this would have been included in this passage from 1 John? He was speaking of being clceansed from all unrighteousness, if the priest was needed, that would be a very important fact. Also remember the verse in the article (see I did read it:) that says we are all part of a priesthood. Our acknowledgeing our sins TO GOD, seems to be all that is necessary to be forgiven. No mediator other then Jesus.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the utter most that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make interession for them
Becky
Only if you misunderstand the role of the Bible, and believe that, contrary to scripture, it is the sole rule of faith, to be used not only in the manner of a comprehensive catechism, but also as an encyclopedic compendium of all Christian practices, dogmas, and doctrines.
Of course, the Bible was never intended to be such.
Yet when the "reformers" violently ripped the heart, scripture, from the chest of its mother, the Church, it left both the protestant churches disconnected from its lifeblood as well as the scriptures unable to function properly, as they were intended to be neither a comprehensive catechism, nor an encyclopedic compendium of all Christian practices, dogmas, and doctrines.
Based on your criteria, we would not believe in the Trinity either, for "Trinity" as a word never occurs in scripture either.
In fact, I recently saw a "Christian" on another thread make just such an argument, which is one of the (un)natural yet obviously foreseen conclusions of Sola Scriptura.
I might ask you where you might find the phrase "Trinity" in the Bible, but if memory serves me, you don't believe in the Trinity!
The word "Trinity" is not in the Bible, of course, so I do not use it as a description of God, because it is an invention of men. But, when you say, "you don't believe in the Trinity," that would depend entirely on what you mean by that word, which must have a human definition, since there is no Biblical one.
I believe God the Father is the creator of all things, that God the Son is fully God, that He has always been from eternity God the Son, that He was born of the Virigin Mary, was crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended into heaven where He sitteth on the right hand of the Father. I believe the Holy Spirit is God, and convicts sinners of their sin, indwells believers, and is our comforter and internal witness of Salvation.
I refuse to use the word "Trinity," because it is not a Scriptural term. I also refuse to us The word "Trinity" is not in the Bible, of course, so I do not use it as a description of God, because it is an invention of men. But, when you say, "you don't believe in the Trinity," that would depend entirely on what you mean by that word, which must have a human definition, since there is no Biblical one.
I believe God the Father is the creator of all things, that God the Son is fully God, that He has always been from eternity God the Son, that He was born of the Virigin Mary, was crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended into heaven where He sitteth on the right hand of the Father. I believe the Holy Spirit is God, and convicts sinners of their sin, indwells believers, and is our comforter and internal witness of Salvation.
I refuse to use the word "Trinity," because it is not a Scriptural term. I also refuse to use the word person, when describing God, because a person is an individual human being, and to ascribe that to the God head is blasphemy. Only God the Son, Jesus Christ, may rightly be called an individual human being (i.e.person). "God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth," not according to some human formula invented by a bunch of Catholics in some council.
Show my anything taught about God in the Bible, and use only Bible terms, and you will be showing me what I already believe. When men attempt to make God "easier to understand" than God has already made it in His Word, they always make God something less than He is. Have your inferior "trinitarian Catholic God," if you like, I accept only the God of the Bible.
Hank
31 posted on 7/7/02 10:16 PM Eastern by Hank Kerchief
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Of course, while such discourse, silly as it seems, is common among non-Catholic Christians, such will not be the case within the official teachings of the RCC. We have that authority to lose and bind that is not only missing but rejected among the heirs of the protestant revolt, where no one can know for sure whether Hank above or his Calvinist detractors are correct in the end.