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To: Lord_Calvinus
The sacramental tokens of grace began IN Eden.

Uh Huh...

And little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating a cherry pie...
Stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plumb and said,
What's a plumb doing in a cherry pie...

But your's was funnier than mine...

355 posted on 11/08/2007 8:40:52 AM PST by Iscool
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To: Iscool

Note in the below article these themes:

The CHURCH began in Eden.
The SACRAMENTS were present in Eden.
The GRACE, for which the covenant thereof between the Father and the Son before time, was seen by man for the first time.
The GOSPEL of that grace was first preached to man.

You need to read again the account of Genesis and drop your preconceived notions of artifical dispensations and dispensations that, while they might exist, having nothing to do with the theology of Dispensationalism and don’t help your case anyway.


The Synagogue of Christ by Steve Schlissel
Messianic Jewish pastor
Messiah’s Congregation, Brooklyn, New York.

The church wasn’t born at Pentecost. It was Bar Mitzvah’d. No small matter, this. The church had a long, albeit dotted, history by the time the Spirit in Christ’s fullness fell, and a glorious, albeit difficult, future. By Pentecost, the church, because of its history, its providentially-ordained organization and the Holy Spirit’s promised guidance, was well-prepared to fulfill its function in the world.

The Belgic Confession, in Article XXVII, states, “We believe and profess one catholic or universal Church...This Church has been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end thereof...” It has not, however, always had the same form. In the Garden of Eden God identified and separated the church (then consisting of two) using the essential elements, Word and Sacrament, Promise and Token, which would be present throughout the church’s history, in some form or another. Our first parents were created to understand themselves and all things else in terms of a word. They had received the defining Word of God; they had heard the anti-word of the serpent. Choosing the devil’s definitions, they had broken covenant with their Creator and entered into league with the destroyer, becoming co-pretenders with him to the throne.

God was not about to forsake His purposes, or to quickly formulate a “Plan B.” He graciously and forcefully took back Adam and Eve-He redeemed them-by placing hostility between them and their new master (the Antithesis), by promising in their hearing the incarnation of the conquering, suffering Messiah (the Protevangelium, first proclamation of the Gospel), and by clothing them with God-provided coverings (the “Sacrament”), indicating in the clearest terms that their fig leaves (their instinctive effort at self-atonement/covering) were wholly inadequate and unacceptable. It is God who saves. Calvinism did not originate in Geneva; it is found in Eden. God’s people, the covenant line, would henceforth be the people redeemed by Him to live, once again, in terms of His Word.


393 posted on 11/08/2007 11:37:28 AM PST by Lord_Calvinus
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