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Apart from the danger of reverting to Judaism or bringing it into Christianity there is the danger in not recognising the difference between our position and the position of the disciples in the time of Christ. As a child Christ was circumcised (Luke 2:21). Later he taught in the temple (Luke 19:47) or a synagogue (Mark 1:21), as well as by the sea (Luke 5:1-3), or on the mountain (Matthew 5:1-2) etc. He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel's house (Matthew 15:24). He lived in a Jewish milieu. There is no idea in Scripture that we should reconstruct that sort of milieu. When Christ was here on earth the Holy Spirit had not come, the Christian assembly had not been formed. That was all in the future when Christ was here (Matthew 16:18). When Christ was here on earth there was no accomplished redemption. For that Christ had to go to Calvary. He had to be raised from the dead, taken up into heaven and glorified before the Spirit would come and the assembly be formed (John 7:39;16:7). We must bear this in mind when considering the Gospel narratives. John's baptism is not Christian baptism (Acts 19:1-7). We should not be practising the former today. The apostles did not. We should not literally keep the Passover as Christ did (Luke 22:15). We should keep it spiritually, not with literal unleavened bread, but with that of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7/8). All that Christ taught as to how we should behave of course still stands as also all his prophetic utterances. However, Christians do not go to the bosom of Abraham when they die (Luke 16:22); they go to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23). All that Christ told us as to God and of himself is of course valid for ever as also much else. Nevertheless we need to see that when Christ was here the Jews had not been rejected. For that we need really to go to the end of Acts (Acts 28:24-31). Until then Christians were what the Jews called: "The sect of the Nazaraeans" (Acts 24:5; 28:22). Things were in a transitional state. Bringing such things as the Lord's prayer into the assembly is out of place, though in its essential features it has a place as a morning prayer in a household or personal setting. The disciples were enjoined to pray that their sins might be forgiven as they forgave others (Luke 11:4). However, now remission of sins has been preached (Acts 13:38) with the result that we are to forgive others as we have been forgiven (Ephesians 4:32). Christ told his disciples that he had other things to tell them which they could not bear when he was here on earth (John 16:12/13). We need to ascertain what these things are. What all this amounts to is that while many evangelical Churches would roundly disapprove of the Jewish doctrine of works for their salvation they may largely limit their teaching to what Christ taught when here on earth. For instance, we should not take up the Lord's supper from its institution in the Gospels and make a household or individual matter of it. We should take it up from Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 11 where it is put in an assembly setting. We need to take care not only that we do not bring Judaising or Greek philosophical things into the assembly, but also that we do not bring in things which were transitional and have been superseded now that we have the full light of the assembly (Colossians 1:24-29). Apollos had to be taught the way of God more exactly. His knowledge of the baptism of John was not enough (Acts 18:24-28). |
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One of the main things we learn from the Gospels is the results of having an outward religion without an inward change. One of these results was that the true meaning of the law became perverted. Things got out of proportion in the minds of the students of the law. Another was that there became an accretion of rules to cover every eventuality which could not be specifically found in the law of Moses (the traditional teaching). The letter of the law was insisted on, while the spirit of it was ignored. Because of this Christ insisted on the necessity of being right inwardly. |