Person of Christ
The Person of Christ
The “right of asylum might also be ... connected with... a person”[1] and for the Church that person is Christ. The ministers of Christ ordained by His authority must belong to Christ only.
There is one Church appointed by Christ to his little flock. Those twelve gathered with 120 in the upper room and clearly appointed others as the Church grew. They did not appoint rulers over the people from the top down but appointed the best servants. They appointed or recognized those who were chosen by the people.[2]
Who is this ecclesia, the Church?
What does it look like and what does it do? How can we recognize it as true or false? Can it be of the world or should it just be in the world?[3] How does it stay separate?
Church is translated from the Greek word ekklesia meaning called out. The word “church” appears over 100 times in the New Testament but never in Mark, Luke or John, and only three times in Matthew. There are more than a dozen Greek words which all[4] can mean an “assembly” with a slight or drastic conceptual difference or inference. The Aramaic words edah,[5] ’esah, qahal,[6] za‘aq[7] or yahad[8] could be translated into the Greek word ekklesia which we translate into Church but are often translated congregation or just assembly.
The Greek word ekklesia meaning the “called out” specifically includes the idea of separation as we see with the Levites, who were called out by Moses and the Essenes at the time of Christ.
“They shall be separated from the midst of the gatherings of the men of wrongs to go to the wilderness to prepare there the way of the Lord, as it is written: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord ...”[9]
The emphasis on separation is clear in Jesus’ statements about being in the world but not of it.[10] The Levites were also to be separate.[11]
The Church was designed to maintain an entrance[12] to the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth where every man might be returned to his possession and restored to his family.[13] The kingdom of God meant the right to be ruled by God rather than men and is sought by seeking righteousness.
The Levites were also “called out” by Moses, just as Jesus called out His disciples to be His Church. They were the ministers of the common welfare of the people seeking the Kingdom of God. They taught the ways of God’s kingdom and kept the people free, together and strong by a well organized system of charity and hope.
The Apostles were ministers, calling themselves servants, appointing men chosen by the people to tend to daily ministration, provide common welfare through charity so as to not bind the people, rightly divide the bread and work daily in the temple.[14]
The transition of society from bond to free requires ministers who are separate from the system of the world in which the people are in bondage. Those ministers must belong to a sovereign power whose kingdom or government is not a part of the world. Christ had a purpose and a plan and His instructions are showing us His way.
Community Rules
The apostles learned the intricate details of the kingdom and how it worked as a functioning body in one accord tending to the needs of people who sought to be free from the princes of the gentiles who exercised authority one over the other. Their rules were designed to be guidelines reminding others what to expect along the path.
At least 30% of the Dead Sea Scrolls were concerned with the beliefs and rules of the community, including The Community Rule, War Scroll,[15] Pesher, a commentary on Habakkuk, and the Rule of the Blessing. Like the Didache they were common in early Christian communities. Geza Vermes, an Emeritus Professor of Jewish Studies states that there are no precedents in ancient Jewish literature for the lists of social rules. Early Christianity clearly emerged out of the precepts and forms of Essene Judaism.
The word “yahad”, which is a key element of the Scrolls according to their authors, is commonly translated “community” but emphasizes a deeper “unity”. Because the members remained individuals, but acted in one accord, “yahad” might be better rendered as the “United Ones”. The liberty and independence found amongst their practices made them revolutionary. Their austere life of service to each other and others made them almost impossible to infiltrate and their dedication to love and forgiveness barred every attempt to create disunity.
The Roman authorities, Herod the Great and eventually the powerful bureaucracy of the Pharisees and scribes were in a constant state of paranoia which compelled them to send out their spies and provocateurs to root out any threat, whether real or imagined.
The Essenes were not naturally immune to division. Without diligent quest for humility pride could take root in any community. Some steeped more in self righteous tradition than in the substance of the spirit of the laws and rules of society believed that Paul the apostle had every characteristic of a provocateur.
But a closer examination, through the love of Christ who came to save all men, will reveal that the rules of communion and community were a reflection of the the revolutionary teachings of Christ.
“The Master shall teach the saints: To seek God with a whole heart and soul, and do what is good and right before him as he commanded through Moses and through all his servants, the prophets. To love all that he has chosen and hate all that he has rejected. To put away all evil and hold fast to all good. To practice truth, righteousness and justice upon earth. To walk no longer in the stubbornness of a wicked heart and eyes of fornication, doing all evil. To bring all those that have offered themselves to do God’s precepts into a covenant of loving kindness. To be joined to God’s scheme of things. To walk before him perfectly according to all the things that have been revealed of the appointed times of their testimonies. To love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in God’s scheme of things. And to hate all the sons of Darkness, each according to his guilt in the vengeance of God.” 1QS 1:1
Men self governed in virtue and living together by loving kindness, rejected the hypocrisy of the compelled Corban of the government formed by the Pharisees and formed a government blessed by the blood of Jesus Christ, who was the light of their world. Rome had proclaimed Christ the King and the Pharisees had proclaimed everyone who got His baptism, rather than Herod’s, was free to follow Christ’s government and cast out of theirs.
That government operated by faith, hope and charity but the rules were often written down, the leaders were called teachers, not rulers, they acted as servants, not masters. They only had the power to turn away from those who turned away from the common rules.
No one had to act or work in accord, but if one would not do according to common practices and precepts of liberty and love they were counted a fool.[16]
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Footnotes
- ↑ Book I, Title XII, Head Notes. Justinian Code, Annotated, By Fred H. Blume, Edited by Timothy Kearley, 2nd Ed..
- ↑ 2 Chr 8:14, Ezr 8:20, Acts 6:3; Mt 20:23...; Mk 10:40 ...; Lk 22:25...
- ↑ John 15:18-19; John 17:12-16
- ↑ Agora [58] any assembly of the people; Paneguris [3831] a public festal; trugao, [5166] gather in ripe fruits; sustrepho [4962] twist together, to collect, to assemble; sullego [4816 ] gather up or collect; sunathroizo [4867] to gather together with others. assemble; ochlopoieo [3792] collect a crowd; sumbibazo [4822]cause to coalesce, join together in affection; sunagoge [4864]bringing together, assembling; episunagoge [1997] a gathering together in one place; sunago [4863] to gather together; episunago [1996] to bring together others already assembled; heorte; koinon, and thiasos.
- ↑ 05712 AyinDelethHey הדע ‘edah congregation 124, company 13, assembly 9 times, multitude, people, swarm. 1) congregation, gathering from the Hebrew word דע ‘ed that means witness and דוע ‘uwd meaning testify.
- ↑ 06951 [v. 6950 ] להק qahal n, v; congregation 86, assembly 17, company 17, multitude 3; [as a verb gather, assembled] 1) assembly, company, congregation, convocation.
- ↑ 2199 קעז za‘aq -cry 50, cry out 11, assemble 3, called 3, gathered together 2, gathered 2, company 1, proclaimed 1; to cry, cry out, call, call for help... to be assembled, be called together, be joined together.
- ↑ 3259 דעי ya`ad a primitive root; AV-meet 7, together 5, assemble 4, appointed 3, set 3, time 2, betrothed 2, agreed 1, appointment 1, gather 1; 1) to fix, appoint, assemble, meet, set, betroth
- 3054 דהי yahad [from דוהי and הדוהי Judah ] Judah-the territory, to conform to הדוהי Yᵉhuwdah (YodHeyVavDelethHey) ... הדי yadah (YodDelethHey) ... to live a life or the way of praise. The word די yad means hand which is the instrument of doing. And the Greek 2448 Ιουδα and 2455 Ιουδας
- ↑ The Community Rule, Dead Sea Scrolls.
- ↑ Jn 17:6-16, 15:18-20;Lk 12:30, 6:22; Ro 1:1; 2 Cor 6:17; He 7:26.
- ↑ Numbers 3:12, 45, 8:14; Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 10:28; Acts 4:36...
- ↑ 2 Peter 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
- ↑ Lv 25:10 “...return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” L.ev. 25:41 “... return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.
- ↑ Acts 2:46; Acts 5:42; Acts 3:2...; Acts 6; 2 Timothy 2:15
- ↑ A manual for military organization and strategy including a prophecy of a war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness
- ↑ Matthew 7:24 “... whosoever heareth these sayings [logos] of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock... And every one that ... doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:”