During Sunday Evening Story-Time with the ‘teaching elder’ ....
he spoke of Christ being the firstborn .... from the dead:
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church:
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things he might have the preeminence.
OK.
He also spoke of Christ being the firstborn .... among many brethren:
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
OK.
Then he said of these .... ‘They were a whole line of people that were going to come in resurrection .... That’s who the ‘body of Christ’ is .... God doesn’t need the ‘body of Christ’ to be in the earthly government .... He has the agency of Israel to do that.’
Not OK.
We must not allow the Cunning Royal Jester to define Christ’s brethren as who-he-calls the ‘body of Christ’ .... which-he-defines as ONLY those saints that have been saved through what-he-calls ‘Paul’s gospel’.
Jesus Himself identified His brethren:
Matt 12:46-50 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
For those who have Jesus as their Master, they are all brethren:
Matt 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi:
for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Jesus taught that ‘whatever is done to the brethren, is done to Him’:
Matt 25:31-40 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Paul taught the same principle "to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord," (1 Cor 1:2) that Jesus taught .... ‘whatever is done to the brethren, is done to Him’.
1 Cor 8:12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
God said Jesus and His brethren are all ONE. That’s how Jesus and Paul both taught ‘whatever is done to the brethren, is done to Christ’. Everyone who is sanctified is 'brethren' with Christ:
Heb 2:11-12 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one:
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Here is that same verse in the old testament. Here the church is called the congregation:
Psa 22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
The apostles, elders, and the entire church at Jerusalem chose Judas and Silas from the brethren .... to accompany Paul and Barnabas to the church at Antioch .... and say hello to the Gentile brethren. Although ‘mid-Acts-ers’ teach they are 2 SEPARATE sets of brethren .... in the scriptures, there is NO indication that ‘these brethren’ are DIFFERENT than ‘those brethren’:
Acts 15:22-23 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church (at Jerusalem), to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner;
The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
When Judas and Silas met with the Antioch church, they exhorted and confirmed the brethren there:
Acts 15:30-32 So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
31 Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
32 And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
When Paul wrote to the brethren at Corinth, he made NO distinction between them and the brethren who saw Jesus after His resurrection. No matter who the brethren were .... they were ALL classified as ‘brethren’:
1 Cor 15:1-8,11 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me (Paul) also, as of one born out of due time. .
11 Therefore whether it were I or they,
so we preach, and so ye believed.
Paul said that the brethren in the church in Thessalonica (who suffered of the Gentiles) followed the example of the brethren in the church in Judaea (who suffered of the Jews):
1 Thess 2:14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
Paul repeatedly called the Thessalonians ‘brethren’ when giving them information about the coming of the Lord (1 Thess 4:15) in the day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:2). There is NO hint, expression, nor signal .... that these events are DIVIDED by years of time, as the ‘mid-Acts-ers’ teach:
1 Thess 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1 Thess 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
1 Thess 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
The church of the firstborn are ‘written in heaven’. Who do you suppose ‘mid-Acts-ers’ think that is?
Heb 12:22-24 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (which is the mother of us all - Gal 4:26), and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all (also see John 12:48; Acts 17:31, 10:42; Rom 2:16; 2 Tim 4:1,8; 1 Pet 4:5), and to the spirits of just men made perfect (also see 1 Cor 2:6, Eph 4:13, 2 Tim 3:17, Heb 7:19),
24 And to Jesus the mediator (also see 1 Tim 2:5) of the new covenant (of which WE are able ministers - 2 Cor 3:6), and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Would ‘mid-Acts-ers’ say the ‘church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven’ is the ‘body of Christ’? Oh, no! They would not say that .... because this verse is in Hebrews. They deny that, yet they claim this:
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church:
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Don't forget that these (Col 1:18, Rom 8:29) are the 2 verses we began with .... and look how they matched up with so many other scriptures:
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
The teaching elder is a Cunning Royal Jester, in that, he has convinced a group of people who identify themselves as ‘mid-Acts-ers’ .... that they have NO relation with any brethren "outside of PAUL" .... even though they are ONE in CHRIST. ‘Mid-Acts-ers’ have lost their brethren. They need to wake up and find them!
Come back for the next 2 thoughts of the day, when we consider 2 other issues the teaching elder brought up during Sunday Evening Story-Time.
This is David Dowell, saying, "Think about it!"
