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“...what IS Jude referring to with the gainsaying of Korah?”

I told kosta50 I was going to stay out of the remainder of this thread, but we braying asses sometimes get the urge to help those finding interpretation of scripture difficult...

The error of Balaam, whom he also cites, was to teach what folks wanted to hear, rather than what they needed to hear, for sake of money.

Democrats, so to speak!

Korah’s problem was pride, and trying to place himself higher than God had allotted. It was St Augustine who said we should use scripture to interpret scripture, back in the age when Catholics were encourage to interpret scripture themselves...

In Numbers, we read the charge made by Moses against Korah:

“And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? Therefore it is against the LORD that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”

What did Moses mean by “seek the priesthood also”? Well, earlier, by divine revelation, Aaron and his sons were set apart for the Priesthood - see Exodus 28-29 for establishing Aaron as Priest. It seems worth noting that the divine revelation of Aaron’s priesthood greatly eclipses the specificity of Peter’s supposed ordainment above all in Matthew 16:16.

Also earlier, in Numbers 3, we find divine revelation setting the role for the Levites - also in greater detail and with explicit definition:

“And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the LORD.”

So we see that explicit and detailed divine revelation had set roles for the Priesthood and for Levitical service.

But Korah wasn’t content to be a Levite - he wanted the priesthood of Aaron as well.

THAT was the error of Korah - his pride, his desire to climb above the role God had given him and the Levites by divine revelation.

Please note again that there was nothing ambiguous about these roles. I suspect if Jesus had made Peter uber alles with such specificity, then much of this discussion would be meaningless.

As it is, it seems the sin of Koran could be best laid at the feet of the Bishop of Rome. Instead of being content with honorable office, he has tried to snatch a greater one, one not given him but given to Another - to replace the Holy Spirit as “Vicar of Christ”, and as the sole authoritative teaching authority.

One wonders how history would have been different, if the Bishop of Rome had encouraged other Bishops, and allowed Bishops in German, France and England to tend THEIR sheep, instead of assuming they were his own and needing fleecing!

Just an input from a little braying ass of the Reformation!