Posted on 06/16/2019 4:55:18 AM PDT by CharlesOConnell
Placemarker
|
Read Luke 1 |
Ooops!
Sorry ‘bout that ‘son’ thing.
I must be channeling Foghorn Leghorn this morning.
No doubt, we all will still be stirring...
Whether Hebrews was possibly originally a address to Christians (not to evangelize but to exhort) meeting in synagogues or houses (believers wherever they could: Justin Martyr says he met above the baths) is not that important. However, while Christians were persecuted by a class of Jews (and locally excommunicated from the synagogue in Jn. 9:22), yet the synagogues were not controlled like as Watchtower houses, or even Catholic churches ("Scholars have noted the lack of evidence for a central organization or leadership structure that oversaw the different synagogues" - https://bible.org/article/origins-church-rome), thus before his conversion, it was in synagogues that Saul found Christians:
And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: (Acts 22:19)
And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. (Acts 26:11)
The Jewish encyclopedia informs:
The attachment of the Christian to Jewish customs may be particularly inferred from six sermons, delivered against the Jews in Antioch (about 366-387) by John Chrysostom, later patriarch of Constantinople. On Sabbaths and holidays, Christians, especially women, visited the synagogue in preference to the church. They also preferred to bring their disputes to Jewish judges and took their oaths in the synagogue. - http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1586-antioch
Likewise early on many synagogues offered to Paul and others a means of meeting actual evangelization.
And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." (Acts 18:4)
And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. (Acts 18:19-21)
And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. (Acts 19:8)
Historian Philip Alexander described a thriving Messianic Jewish community in the Galilee during the second century AD when rabbinic Judaism was emerging. Messianic Jews attended synagogues, lived among other Jews, and practiced Torah. - https://jewsforjesus.org/jewish-resources/community/messianic-jews-a-brief-history/
That would change due to the rejection of Christ and His followers and persecution of them by many Jews, resulting in such antagonism as was expressed by Chrysostom:
How, Chrysostom asked, can Christians “have the slightest converse” with Jews, “the most miserable of all men”? He went on to describe Jews 36 A CONVENIENT HATRED: THE HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM as “inveterate murderers, destroyers, men possessed by the devil.” To him, the sy nagogue was “a place of shame and ridicule,” “the domicile of the devil.” Indeed, he told his congregation that Jews worshipped the devil with rites that are “criminal and impure” and that the synagogue was “an assembly of criminals,” “a den of thieves,” and “a cavern of devils.”
Why did Chrysostom believe Jews were degenerate? Because of their “odious assassination of Christ.” And for this crime, Chrysostom declared, there was “no expiation possible, no indulgence, no pardon.” In his view, the rejection and dispersal of the Jews was the work of God, not of emperors. He insisted that God had always hated the Jews, and therefore, on Judgment Day, God would say to Judaizers, “Depart from Me, for you have had dealings with murderers.” [John Chrysostom, “Chrysostom’s Homilies Against the Jews.”]
Chrysostom’s attacks had little to do with Jewish practice or belief. He was not interested in real Jews; it was the “Judaizing” Christians he was attacking . In opposing them, however, he demonized “the Jews.” And he was not alone. Other Christian leaders in Chrysostom’s day wrote in similar ways about Jews - Phyllis Goldstein: A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism; https://www.facinghistory.org/sites/default/files/Ch.2.pdf
It could have been the Apostle Paul.
Then why are we arguing?
The Pontifical Biblical Communion... Paul can be regarded as the indirect author of Hebrews. Researchers are free to explore this matter.
Sounds like what I postulate. But for RCs, the Pontifical Biblical Communion (accused of being liberal by some RCs) versus Trent?
maybe this.....
28Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
29Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
John 6:28-29 NASB
It is interesting to not how many times in that Bread of Life discourse (John 6) that Jesus stated believe as opposed to how many times He say eat me and drink my blood. Yet Catholiciism insists that the more numerous assertions of BELIEVE are negated by the few ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood’. And the context reveals why ... so RCs refuse the context.
‘interesting to note’ ... old fingers miss keys occasionally.
Our RC friends miss the point of the Lord’s Supper.....do this in remembrance of Me.
It is a result of salvation; not a means of salvation.
it is also a beautiful gift to feed our spiritual life. it is grace that we can see, smell and touch. We are physical beings and He knows we need physical gifts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.