sc posts #129

The Jewish Aaronic priesthood of the Old Covenant is a type of the priesthood of the New and Eternal Covenant.


Aaron was the grandson of Levi and elder brother of Moses. I think of him as the supreme pontiff of the Jews, that is their first High Priest, as St.Peter was of the Christians, both Divinely selected.

Aaron was selected by God to offer sacrifices at the altar to be mediator between the Jews and God and was chief representative of the 12 tribes of Israel before God. St.Peter, who was first pontiff, was selected by Christ to be the chief representative of the 12 Apostles.

According to Lev. 28, Aaron and his sons formed the Divine priesthood of the Old Law. St.Paul in Hebrews 7:17, said it was a priesthood "according to carnal commandment" and destined to give way to the priesthood according to Melchisdech (Ps. 109), a priesthood without genealogy, restored in Christ.

Moses consecrated Aaron as High Priest, his sons as priests and the other men from the tribe of Levi as ministers of the Sanctuary and the service of the Tabernacle. The priestly office was hereditary in Aaron's family.

The High Priest is the spiritual head of the people, the visible representative of God. He had the privilege of entering the Holy of Holies once a year, and later on of anointing kings.

The priests had the right and duty to offer sacrifices, to enter the Sanctuary, to keep the lights burning of the 7 branched candlestick and the sacred fire for the burnt offerings, to bless the people and pray for them, and to instruct them in the law.

the Levites were the assistants to the priests. They might not enter the Sanctuary, but had to guard the Tabernacle and later on the Temple. They assisted with the sacrifices, sacred canticles, and the instruction of the people, and purified the sacred vessels.

The priests were to be holy, the High Priest the most holy. "Let them, therefore, be holy becasue I am holy, said the Lord. Lev. 21:8. Whenever they had service to perform in the Sanctuary, they had under pain of death to keep away from their wives and guard against all defilement. This purity of life was signified by their white tunic, and purity of intention by their white turban or tiara. The bells on his tunic which sounded when he walked reminded him he had to be a witness to the true faith.

As their was a graduation in the former Aaronic priesthood, there is the same in the New Covenant priesthood. In the order according to Melchisedeck, Christ is the Eternal High Priest, the Pope bishops are the High Priests, under the order of jurisdiction, and power of ruling, then priests, deacons or ministers.

The Jewish priesthood was propagated by natural descent, the Christian by a spiritual descent, by means of Holy Orders. The Jewish priests could offer only typical sacrifices, Christian priests offer up the true Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. See Malachais 1:11: "For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for My name is great among the Gentiles said the Lord of Hosts."

The Jewish priesthood partook of earthly meat-offerings, the Christian receive the priceless Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Divine Savior. The jewish priests prayed for the people, Christian priests remember them daily at Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and give their blessings to the faithful.

Lula posts

AD,

You certainly have an interesting way of putting things.   

Well, St.Paul certainly isn't a liar becasue everything in Sacred Scripture is inspired of God. Please remember on St.Paul keeping the Torah, my initial reply was Yes and No...and I explained what I meant by that.

Saul of Tarsus became St.Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles. The religious teaching of St.Paul must be looked at first in the OT as interpreted by the Pharisaic rabbis of his time. The doctrines of prividence and athe divine ordering of the world, reward and punishment beyond the grave, the resurrection of the dead, the Decalogue, charity toward God and men, belief in angels and demons, were all part of the spiritual patrimony St. Paul inherited as Jew and as a Pharisee.

What is typically Christian in his teachings owes to the teachings of Christ. St.Paul developed his religious attitude first from the treasure of Old Covenant Judaism, and then perfected by Christ, St.Paul acquired a deeper sense of God and the sense of sin.

In proclaiming Christ, dead and alive, as the only power of salvation, St.Paul encountered 2 chief doctrinal obstacles--The "wisdom" of the Gentile, and the "law" of the Jew.

The Gentiles proposed reason as a saving power. St.Paul praises wisdom of God in Christ crucified. He tells us that salvation doesn't rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God in Christ. Therefore, the Gospel is essentially a divine force, not a form of human reasoning.

The Judaizers posed the Law, both moral and ceremonial as a cause of salvation. St.Paul saw that the Christian, by God's magnanimity, fully and personally recieves Christ, who alone becomes the principal of saving life. The Law leaves man without hope. It has no power in itself to save, rather it condemns.

Being itself holy, Rom. 7:12, and spiritual 7:14, it reveals man in his sinful state. Thus it works wrath, 4:15, makes sin abound, 5:20, is the power of sin 1Cor 15:56, brings knowledge of sin Rom 3:20; 7:7, and is a curse Gal. 3:13.

These aspects of the Law died in Christ Rom. 7:4, Gal. 2:19. and in St. Paul through Baptism. WIth Christ, the Law was nailed to the Cross and died, Col. 4:14. The Law is for the unjust not the just 1Tim 1:9. It serves as a negative, protective pedagogue Gal. 3:24, to those not fully in the faith. 3:25. or as an expression of the true faith informed by charity for those wholly committed to Christ. 5:6.

Such independence from the Law Rom. 3:21-28, is demanded by the gratuity of Redemption. Man, in Original Sin, is radically unable to save himself. History and Sacred Scripture attest universal sin Rom 3:1-18. At best, his egocentric autonomy inclines him to turn his law-keeping into a self-redemptive effort, Rom. 10:3, Phil 3:4-9. Only through that faith that is total committment to Christ can man accept salvation aka Justification.

The life and death struggle for the early Church between the Law and Christian freedom in difficult to over estimate. Had the early Christian community succumbed to the Judaizer's insistence upon the law as a means of salvation, there would be no Christianity today. Providentially, St. Paul arose as the man preeminently qualified to transplant Christianity, without destroying any of its roots, from the ancient earth of Israel to fertile, Gentile soil.

to answer the question about what we Jews do to pay for our sins we do Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, we fast completely from sunset to sunset, the have a feast to celebrate our rebirth.

 

Ok Kids I am leaving to Florida now, see you all Tuesday!! till then be kind to each other no matter what religion you are!!!!

MM, I'm not sure you can expel upon this more but in my research regarding the New Moons this was also a time to ask for forgiveness and repent. This is a hard area to find much information as a lot of it was lost after the second Babylonial Exile. I thought I would pick your brain about this subject.

Have a safe journey my friend and be abundantly blessed!

Yes, traveling mercies...and I'm sure LW will join with me in saying double check your luggage....don't bring any of those huge palmetto bugs back home.

So you are saying that Paul said the Law (Torah) was nailed to the cross. Then Paul is a liar.

My response:

The reference is Col 2:14 not 4:14 for those following this thread.

The greek has the word dogma - a law (civil, ceremonial or ecclesiastical) -- decree, ordinance. (biblebrowser.com).

If Paul meant Torah the greek word 'nomos' would have been used.

Here is my interpretation for this is Paul is again talking about salvation. It is written without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Heb. 9:22). Jesus became our sin sacrifice. It is HIS ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sins once and for all! The sin sacrifice still exists but now through him the perpetual sacrifice (Heb. 10:12). So the Torah is still in existence here just the ceremonial aspect of sacrificing a lamb is no longer necessary.

This is so totally Seventh Day Adventist Teaching.

I agree with alot you say as well AD, but our difference would be the keeping of the Torah. I'm with Lula on this one.

I was an Adventist so I'm familiar with their teachings and I disagree also with their take on the OT law. I also know they spend alot of time in the OT in comparison to the New.



Yes, this is true. The word for 2:14 is dogma. Did you know that Josephus uses dogma for the Mosaic law? I'm not familiar with "nomos" and can't find it in my Greek dictionary of the NT. Can you tell me where it's used?

Further the word "handwriting" is "cheirographon" and literally means "handwritten." What does this mean to you? I got this from my Gk dictionary:

"specifically a note of hand or writing in which one acknowledges that money has either been deposited with him or lent to him by another to be returned at an appointed time....metaphorically applied in Col 2:14 to the Mosaic law which shows men to be chargeable with offences for which they must pay the penalty."

This has a sense of promissory note. The note which testifies against us is cancelled. The phrase is obviously based on a thought which is common to Judaism namely that God keeps an account of man's debt and that He imposes the penalty. God has forgiven sins. He has cancelled the note of indebtedness by taking it and fixing it to the cross of Christ.

Did you know that the idea of canceling a promissory note has been abundantly illustrated by the ancient Egyptian papryi discovered in modern times? I find it ineresting that it was generally customary to cancel a bond or other document by crossing it out with the Greek cross letter (X).

toothpastefordinner.com

Lula posts:

AD POSTS:

AD,

Thanks for the correction. It is Col 2:14, not 4:14.

Yes, St.Paul tells us in Col 2:13-14 that the law was nailed to the Cross. V. 14 indicates how Christ acheived by dying on the Cross is the only mediator between God and men. All who were under the yoke of sin and the Law have been set free through His death. V. 15 makes it clear that at the Cross Christ triumpthed over the "principalities and powers" (fallen angels) are totally subordinate to the triumpth of Christ.

Here it is:
"And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiving us all our tresspasses, 14 having cancelled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this He set aside, nailing it to the Cross."

The reason St.Paul is writing is becasue the Colossians are being told the erroneous idea that the rite of circumcision is a necessity for Gentiles to embrace Christianity. Against this, St. Paul that only Baptism, the "circumcsion of Christ" has the power to give us eternal life and to forgive sins and the reason for this is that we have been liberated from the slavery of sin and the Law, and therefore it is no longer necessary to observe the countless precepts which OC Judaism added to the Decalogue over the years, making the law something impossible to adhere to --a kind of sentence of condemnation.

The Mosaic Law, to which the scribes and Pharisees added so many precepts as to make it unbearable, had become (to use St.Paul's comparison) like a charge sheet against man, becasue it imposed heavy burdens but did not provide the grace needed for bearing them. The Apostle very graphically says, that this charge sheet or "bond" was set aside and nailed to the Cross---making it perfectly clear to all that Christ made more than ample satisfaction for our sins.


Colossians v. 16-18 might be of interest re certain feasts. the text point to the abuses which were in evidence at COlossae due to the inroads of pre-Gnostic heresies. These abuses had basically to do with abstention from certain kinds of foods, celebration of certain feasts, and exaggerated veneration of angelic spirits.

The days of the new moon Lev. 23:24 were Jewish festivals which went back to the nomadic period. In Saul's time they had become traditional feasts celebrated with a sacred meal and the offering of sacrifice. 1 Sam 20:24. Later, Ezekiel 46: 3 specified certain liturgical and sacrificial rites to be celebrated in the Temple at the start of each month.

The "sabbath" was the weekly Jewish holy day, a day kept for Yahweh, which He Himself had sanctified Ex. 20:11, It was a day devoted to rest, and prayer, and was marked by religious rites and ceremonies.

Abstinence from certain food and drink was carefully regulated in the OT. Lev. 10:9; 11:1-47; Num. 6:3. as were the festivals to be celebrated in Yahweh's honor Num 28:1-6, These prescriptions were not meant to be permanent, they were designed to prepare the chosen people for the coming of the Messiah. In the new stage of salvation history inaugurated by Christ it is no longer necessary to continue to burden men's consciences with out of date regulations. Gal 4:9-10.

St.Paul explains this by using a simile: the Old Law is as it were the shadow of the New Law promulgated by Christ. A shadow indicates that a body is present. The Mosaic law, the shadow, had the function of marking the way until the coming of Christ. But now that He has come and promulgated the New Law, it would not make sense to give greater impirtance to the shadow than to the body which casts it.

The Apostle corrects the abuses which have developed in conncetion with fasting and abstinence, but he is not saying that these penitential practices are wrong. for Jesus Himself practiced them. St.Matt. 4:2. and taught His followers to do so. St.Matt. 16:16-18.

Response to Lula:







Are you suggesting that Torah is out of date and is no longer necessary to observe?

No, never out of date. The Torah in and of itself is timeless because it's the Pentateuch, the first Five Books of the OT which forms the constitution of the Jews, our ancestors in faith. The Torah is part of the historical core of the priceless Judeo-Christian religious heritage. We can derive much profit if we see it as setting the pattern our ancestors followed in their worship of God, the first part of God's plan of salvation history.

The Torah is full of lessons for us to learn today. It tells us that God wants to be close to us, for us to observe the Commandments for they keep us in His presence..obeying them keeps us from the bondage of sin which is what it means to be truly free.

Yes, many of its laws, ceremonies, rites and liturgical practices are no longer necessary for us to observe for they had to do with the Temple and Temple worship. The theology is limited as it was for special people in a very special time. They didn't have the fullness of Revelation granted through Jesus Christ. THe Old Law was brought to its fullness once and for all by the teaching and life, Death and Resurrection of Christ.

Lula,

Here is what I gather from your statements regarding Paul. Which are direct violation against Torah. I am still concluding that you say Paul is a liar.

-Not to add or SUBTRACT from Torah (Deut 4:2)
-To circumcise the male offspring (Gen. 17:12; Lev. 12:3)

Matt 5:17
Romans 3:31
Matt 7:12
Gal. 5:14

These are just a few.

My, you're a stickler for details.   

Technically speaking, couldn't we say there was no adding or substracting going on in St. Paul's day...the Old Law was a phase that was fulfilled, completed by Christ.

Through Moses came the Law, the ceremonial and judicial precepts of God, as well as the prohibitory mandates. Through Christ came grace, the unmerited love and favor of God. Moses was the teacher of Isreal, Christ, the Teacher of all nations. The COmmandments are Moses in the teaching sense, whereas the Sermon on the MOunt is Christ; one forbids, the other enjoins, one is the negative, the other is the positive phase of God's law of life.

The Commandments, being basic Divine principles, are eternal being applicable to all peoples during all times. But they were not new to man when Moses brought them down from Mt. Sinai on tablets of stone, as God had implemented them in the hearts of all human beings..(called the Natural, Moral Law). What was new came after 15 centuries after Moses, when Christ gave the Commandments new spiritual import, calling the application of them at a higher moral level than is natural to man.