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NASB | John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 20:22 And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. [Acts 1:8; 2:1-3] |
Subject: Retain or forgive sins? |
Bible Note: Continuation to Flinky; In James where you have what you like to call the presbyters, which we like to call the elders, there is that the elders pray and Jesus effects the healing and forgiveness of sins, not the elders, they don't effect anything, they don't have the power. I have read church history on this thing and what I found out is that this idea of the presbyters being priests was a leap taken by a certain church or churches that has no basis in scripture. In I Timothy we have the word Bishop or overseer, and then we have the word Deacon or minister. The qualifications are crystal clear each is to the husband of one wife, not given to wine, etc. Where Paul says elsewhere that he wishes other men would live even as he does, that it celibate, he also says let each man be called to that which God has disposed his calling to be and that not every man has been called as he has. He never said that you had to be celibate to be a presbyter, a Bishop, or a Deacon. Peter and the some of other apostles had wives, Paul said, is it that only Peter and the others may take along with them wives, and not we? There is no evidence that you have to be celibate to be a presbyter. But the history of certain churches shows that celibacy has been imposed. The title of presbyter, or elder being changed to priest is the invention of a church or churches and may be the Latin for presbyter, but it is not the Greek for presbyter. The apostles, the deacons, the overseers and elders, the ministers, the pastor teachers; these are all words that can be found in the Greek to be referring to those who were said by Paul to be over the flock, but the word priest is never used to refer to those over the flock. It is used of the Sanhedrin and the of those from Solomon's temple, but not the church. When Paul addresses those at Ephesus in farewell, he mentions the elders and the bishops as being overseeing the flock as shepherds, but no priests. The church at that time had no such heirarchy as is seen to day in the churches. Paul never says the elders were under the bishops because that is not how the church functioned. There was a mulitipicity of leadership in the churches with a bunch of elders and a buch of bishops who as a group oversaw the whole flock they were all together in charge of. There were no arch-bishops, there was no reason for there to be on as a group of men ran the churches together. There were no priests because Jesus is the only high priest of our confession as Hebrews teaches. There was no pope, that is an invention of certain churches. Peter was never a pope; he was an apostle a founding father of the church. The power of the apostles is not transferable by the laying on of hands. You are either called to be an apostle by Jesus while you walked with Him while He was alive, or you saw Him on the Damascus road as the risen Lord and you were called by Him to be an apsotle, or you are not on the same level with the same office as the apostles. It is not transferable. There was a laying on of hands by the apostles to pray over the servants of tables men of faith, it was not a transference of power to do the works of an apostle. Jesus said He would build the church on the rock, Peter, but the Bible teaches and Jesus elsewhere teaches the only Jesus is the chief corner stone on which the church is built, everybody else is a smaller rock in that building. He meant that He would build the church on the confession of Peter, which Peter had just done, the church. And like Peter the church is built on all of our confessions of Christ. The church history is rife with additions to the original model of church governance as the traditions of men. No man has more authority than scripture to do anything, or to decide anything, the scripture is the final authority on earth given to men by which to practice Christianity. Following the traditions of addition of some of the churches does not confer any state of grace, or forgiveness of sins, or the body and blood of Christ, or the Holy Spirit. All of these things are conferred soley by the triune sovereign God head. Yeah I have read lots of church history and the church is not the primary element of Christianity either, the Bible is, and Jesus is, but the church was never given the power by Jesus to be the basis for faith, and being in a church does not have the power to forgive your sins or tell you that you have been saved. Believing in Jesus is the only way to be saved and asking Him and Him alone to forgive sins is the only way to be forgiven of sins, men do not have the power to do either of these things. They can only assent that Jesus has done them. God Bless, Tamara |