Jan 2, 2010

Essential Christian Doctrines pt 1

So recently I put a post up about Christians being united in Christ in this new year and to stop bickering back and forth about minor doctrines. There is no Biblical grounds for any servant of God to shun another for not believing in a non-essential doctrine that they do.

I did not say either that we should never shun someone though. I did mention that there are I believe 8 essential Christian doctrines that should be held by all believers and that for anyone who does not hold these doctrines to be true, they are probably outside the faith and therefore do not share in the unity of Christ at all, or they are young immature believers and need yet to be taught from the word of God.

I want to now expound on these 8 essentials and explain why I believe, and probably greater men than I (I presume) would agree (I hope), that these are essential tenants of the Christian faith. Just now as I write this,I figured that I want to do this justice and I don't want to skimp on my details and reasoning so I will make this my first series of messages.

The 8 essentials of the Christian faith are these;
1. There is one God.
2. God exists eternally in three equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
3. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
4. Jesus was crucified for our sins against a holy God, taking the punishment we deserved upon Himself, thus redeeming and reconciling us to God.
5. Three days after His crucifixion, He rose from the dead in a physical body.
6. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
7.
True faith must always be preceded and followed by repentance.
8. Sola Scriptura, the Scriptures alone are fully authoritative, infallible and inerrant.

Stay tuned as I will comment on these soon.

7 comments:

  1. Greetings Thessalonian

    Point 1 is indeed essential.

    However, concerning points 2 & 3,
    I recommend this video:
    The Human Jesus

    Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you in your quest for truth.

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor

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  2. Hello Adam, thanks for taking time to read my post and leaving a comment. Allow me to reply in response to The Human Jesus video you recommended to me. I must admit that as I have 2 little kids, so far I was only able to watch 10 minutes of the video. I will respond to more later.

    The Jews did not believe that God existed eternally as three persons, for the single reason that God had not yet revealed this truth to them fully. I would say that there are small hints, but not full revelation. Not until Jesus came.

    In the video they talk about the use of the Hebrew word 'echad' as it is used in the Jewish confession of the 'Shema',"Hear O Israel, the LORD is God, the LORD is one". (Duet 6:4)

    I'm not an expert in Hebrew but I have learned a couple of things.

    The word Echad (one) according to the Strong's Hebrew dictionary means - A numeral from (achad) ; properly united, that is, one; or (as an ordinal) first: a, alone, altogether, each (one), every, few, first,a man, once, one, only, other, some, together.

    The root of echad is achad, itself meaning- Perhaps a primitive root; to unify, that is, (figuratively) collect (one’s thoughts): go one way or other.)

    Of all the Hebrew words that mean 'one' echad is used the most. The rabbi in the beginning of the video refutes the idea that echad means 'one in unity or as a whole'. Interestingly though, there are so many examples of the word echad used to describe a unified object.

    For example;
    Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one (echad) flesh...
    Numbers 13:23 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one (echad) cluster of grapes...
    Ezekial 37:17 And join them one (echad) to another (echad) into one (echad) stick; and they shall become one (echad) in thine hand...

    Just three examples of echad meaning a unity of two or more objects.

    There is a word though that does convey a greater sense of singularity or being the 'only one', and that would be the word 'yachid', meaning - properly united, that is, sole; by implication beloved; also lonely; (feminine) the life (as not to be replace): - darling, desolate, only (child, son), solitary.

    Here are a couple of examples of it's use;
    Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only (yachid) son Isaac...
    Judges 11:34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only (yachid) child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter...

    So if God wanted to make it clear that for all eternity past He was alone then He could have used a word that conveyed that more clearly instead of using a word meaning one in unity.

    One of my favourite verses that seem to imply that God is more than one in nature is an O.T. verse from Isaiah 48:12-16;
    "Listen to Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called; I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.
    "Surely My hand founded the earth, And My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together.
    "Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon, And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
    "I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him, I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.
    "Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit."

    So it would seem at the start of this passage it is the Creator of the universe speaking right? Right! Then at the end, the Creator is saying that He is being sent along with His Spirit, by Yahweh.

    There is no way our puny finite minds can comprehend this nature of God, but we can come to know of what He has revealed to us, and so we should.

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  3. With all due respect Ryan,
    like you said, you're not an expert in Hebrew;
    whilst in contrast, Jewish people know their own language!
    Hence, the reason why the rabbi refutes
    "the idea that echad means 'one in unity or as a whole' ".

    Because such an idea is simply an invented notion that does not exist in the Hebrew language.

    ECHAD simply means ONE, NUMERAL, CARDINAL ONE!!
    When a Jew counts from 1 to 10 they begin with ECHAD! It means ONE!

    To quote one writer:
    "Some unsuspecting readers have been bamboozled into the fraudulent argument that because 'one' in English or Hebrew can 'modify a compound noun,' then the word 'one' itself must be 'compound'! One can think of humorous ways of exposing this trick. ... Does 'one' mean 'one single' in the phrase 'one loaf of bread' and yet 'more than one' in the phrase 'one loaf of 'sliced' bread'? We trust that the point is clear. One tripod is still one tripod, despite the three legs on the tripod. It is the noun, in these examples, which contains the idea of plurality (three legs), while the word 'one' maintains, thankfully, the stable meaning of 'one single.' One tripod is a single tripod. 'One Lord' in the Bible does not mean two or three Lords. The meaning of 'one' is precisely the same in 'one rock' and 'one family.' The numeral adjective 'one' is not affected in any way by the collective noun 'family.'...

    According to numerous popular websites and even a number of textbooks, the combination 'one bunch,' we are invited to think, shows that 'one' means more than one, so-called 'compound one' or 'composite one.' THE MISTAKE IS QUITE OBVIOUS. One bunch is still in Hebrew and English ONE bunch and not two or more bunches! It is nonsense to suppose that the word 'one' has altered its meaning when it modifies a compound noun. IT IS THE NOUN WHICH IS COMPOUND and gives us the sense of plurality. THE WORD 'ONE' IS FIXED AND UNCHANGED IN MEANING in both 'one pencil' and 'one bunch.' The numerical adjective, 'one,' retains its meaning always as 'one single.' When Adam and Eve are 'one flesh,' they are not two or more 'fleshes'! One still means one. The combining of Adam and Eve as 'one flesh' has not altered the meaning of 'one' (echad)."



    So, Ryan!
    In all the examples that you have shown, ONE still means ONE!
    That is why, 'yachid' is NOT used. Because it is not a number.
    The number ONE in Hebrew is ECHAD!

    GOD isn't so much showing that He is alone! (Who knows how long the Angels & heavenly host have been with Him in time past!)

    Rather, GOD is showing that He ALONE IS Almighty GOD, THE ONE GOD!!
    There is no OTHER GOD besides Him.
    There is no OTHER being that can qualify as Almighty GOD beside or with Him!

    [Isa 43.10, 44.8, 45.5-6,21]
    He ALONE is GOD hence, Mark 12.28-34 as verified by our Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

    Please Ryan persevere with the rest of the video.

    Yours In Messiah
    Adam Pastor
    The Human Jesus

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Adam, thanks again for your response.

    No I'm not an expert in Hebrew, nor do I have to be, as I have a Strong's Hebrew dictionary which allows me to look up a word and see the definition.

    As far as that goes, the word one in english also conveys a definition of unity in the context in which it is given.

    As with the person you quoted, he said that one means a numerical one, but even in the examples he gave they have the meaning of one 'thing' in unity. "the two became one flesh", this is clearly in the context of the 'two people' becoming 'united'. They don't merge literally into one body.

    I found another example of more than one person becoming one (echad) in unity. "Then all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, UNITED AS ONE MAN." (Judges 20:11)

    It can't be refuted that echad can be as in unity, it's clear, and I would wager that the reason why someone might not agree is because as Jesus said the Father and I are "one", meaning they are one, there may be some who don't want to believe that Jesus is God.

    I know it comes into the realm of confusion and great complexity when I say 'they' when God is one God, but this is all my finite puny mind can come up with when talking about our infinitly complex triune God.

    Now apart from the semantics, what do you do with so many of the verses that clearly imply that God is by nature triune?

    Such as Genesis 1, "Let US make man in OUR image... We are made in the image of God, not the image of angels and God, nor are the angels made in His only we are, therefore He was not speaking to the angels at that moment.

    What say you about that verse in Isaiah that I quoted to you where the Creator is talking about being sent by Yahweh?

    What do you believe about Jesus Christ? Who is He to you? I see that you do believe He is the Messiah, but what do you believe of His nature?

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  5. Greetings Thessalonian, good posts. Hello Adam, I would like to give a brief reply to something you said.

    quote: "With all due respect Ryan, like you said, you're not an expert in Hebrew, while in contrast Jewish people know their own language! Hence, the reason why rabbis refutes "the idea that echad means 'one in a unity or as a whole'".

    As Ryan has clearly pointed out Biblically that the word one in Hebrew as 'echad' can be used in context in a unified way, not just in number. If fact as Ryan pointed out there is a word for one in solely which is 'yachid', which is not used in the SHEMA, and if it that was the intent of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to Moses that would of been used.

    Don't miss what the Word of God demonstrates in the Old Testament in regards to the revelation of how God has been identified. Gen. 1:26, Gen. 11:7, Gen. 19:24 with Amos 4:10-11, Isaiah 48:12-16, are inspired Scriptures that reveal that God is not one in person but has been revealed in a unity of personages. Now, if you accept the New Testament, which it seems like you do, then this becomes even more clear in the revelation of the Word of God to mankind in that there are three personages who are by nature the one God. God in Scripture has been revealed as the Father, Jesus (the Son), and the Holy Spirit, and this is not blind faith nor some unknown mystery. God has made this known to mankind: John 1:1-18, John 4:14-26, John 5:18-23, John 8:12-29, John 10:1-36, John 13:1-19, John 14:1-17, John 16:7-15, John 18:5-6, John 20:25-31. (that is just from the gospel of John on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being distinct personages and are identified in nature and indentification as God.

    Adam, may you continue to examine the Scriptures and I wish to share a link with you for further information www.rootedinchrist.org/1/Trinity.html


    'the doctrinator'

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  6. BTW as to these 8 essentials that Ryan has shared in this post, I would agree with them. If a person is born again and becomes a new creation in Jesus Christ, and is growing in the faith as a believer lead by the Holy Spirit these truths will be foundational in their life from what the Scriptures teach.

    'the doctrinator'

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  7. Thanks 'Doctrinator' for your comments. Your website is extremely helpful in learning more about the nature of God and understanding the complexity of the triune nature of our God and Saviour. I look forward to hearing more from you.

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