Malankara Malpan
Rev.
Dr. Curian Kaniyamparambil, Chor Episcopus
Translator
of the Syriac Peshitta Bible into Malayalam
To
All
wishing to learn about the 1st century faith,
And wanting
to
Be a part of it
Several months ago, I went to have lunch with
my Christian friend. Since it was the
lent season, I choose to have vegetarian food.
In seeing this, my Christian friend remarked, "What kind of
Christian are you? I have never heard of
Lent. Thank Jesus, that I am not a
Christian of your type!" I explained
to him that I belong to one of the oldest church, established by our Lord and
thereafter shepherded by St. Peter according to the apostolic faith.
The church had neither added anything to it nor taken away anything from
it. It has always held the faith
defined by the Three Universal Synods of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus in
the 4th and 5th Century. In hearing
this, my friend was awestruck.
This event made me think about the millions of
Christians all over the globe who have never heard of our true apostolic faith.
If you look around, preachers are everywhere, from television and radio
to the Internet. They propagate
'sectarian theology' based on their beliefs and on occasions for their own
personal gains.
When one examines these events, they see a
minister teaching one interpretation and thereafter, another minister teaching
another, but in the end, they all claim that these facts have been revealed to
them by the Holy Spirit. If so, this
would either mean that the Holy Spirit interprets the Gospel differently for
each minister, or they are simply not speaking the truth nor guided by the Holy
Spirit. If this is so, they are then
deceiving the true followers of Christ. Isn't
this what Jesus Christ Himself warned about? But
common man is not to blame. He is
bombarded with all kinds of teachings and therefore does not know what to
believe. He finally comes to the
conclusion that all Christians are "more or less the same."
Most people ask me to explain the differences between the various
churches? In their eyes, they see the
common link in all the Christian churches, for they all preach from the Bible
and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. But
I must remind you that differences do exist between the Christian churches.
Let me start off with an example. For
instance, there are churches that accept homosexuality.
Most of us will agree that this is against the teachings of the Bible,
but these churches also use the same Bible to justify their teachings!
Nevertheless, we know enough about the Bible to disprove this
interpretation, for it is very evident. On
the other hand, there are so many other issues that we are not so sure about and
assume that it does not matter so long as I pray and live a good life.
But none of us can live a perfect life acceptable to God, because the
only person that ever lived without sin is Jesus Christ.
So we all are sinners. And the
result of sin is death. The Almighty God
knew this and therefore sent his only Son, who essentially established One
Church for our salvation. So our choice
is to either follow or not follow His original plan.
So what is this plan? I hope
that this article will answer this question and help you find the truth among the
chaos.
A
Few Thoughts on Salvation
"As for the person who hears
my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to
judge the world, but to save it.” There is a judge for the one who rejects me
and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at
the last day".
Jesus Himself warned us that most
people will not reach Paradise, and exhorted us in Matthew 7:13-14:
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road
that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only
a few find it." Have you
ever thought why Jesus says so?
There is a tendency among the western Christian scholars to propagate
that Christianity originated in the west and it became mettle of it.
It is far from the truth. Christianity reached the west after it reached
all of the Middle East, Africa and even India. Christians
there were persecuted more than anywhere else, but persecution made them
stronger and faithful which preserved the word of God as it is.
Rev. Curian is probably the
greatest scholar of the apostolic faith and the Aramaic Syrian language (the
language spoken by our Lord, and His mother, and apostles).
He rightly point out the errors that crept into the Bible translations,
and shows what the true apostolic faith was, and how the modern faith has
deviated from the apostolic faith.
In addition to his translation of the Holy Bible from Syraic and his
commentary on the New Testament, he has authored 42 books in English, Syriac and
Malayalam. He had been a member of
the Board of studies in Syriac in Kerala and at Gandhi University for 39 years.
He is the recipient of numerous awards and titles from the Patriarchs of
Antioch. Even at present in his 97th
year, by the abundant Grace of God, he is writing books for the Glory of God.
I
hope this book through the Holy Spirit guides the reader to the true teachings
of the Apostles.
Praise the Lord
1.
What must I do to be saved?
The prison keeper asked this question to St. Paul. (Acts 16:30). The
answer was “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and
your household.”
A similar question was asked to St. Peter (Acts 2:38), by the people who were 'cut to the heart'. The answer was “repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
We
can conclude that, a Non-Christian who accepts Jesus Christ should:
a)
Repent
b)
Believe in Jesus Christ,
c)
Be
baptized for the remission of sins.
d) Receive the Holy Spirit.
This is the crux of the advice from the apostles for the above question. But they were advising the adult non-Christians.
There is no doubt. Jesus Christ is the answer because of the following reasons:
a) "And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name
Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Mat 1: 21).
b) “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a
savior, who is Christ the Lord. “ (Luke 1: 21)
c)
Jesus Christ came to save the sinners. (1 Tim)
d) “Nor there is salvation in any other, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. “
(Acts 4:12)
3.
Non-Christians who were saved (The Book of Acts)
Let us look at some of the people who were described as saved in the
book of Acts. This gives us a good starting point for our discussion on
salvation.
a)
3000 people on the day of Pentecost -
(Acts 2:41)
b)
Later 5000 people - (Acts 4:4)
c) Saul
- (Acts 9:18)
d)
Prison Keeper
- (Acts
16:33)
e)
Lydia
- (Acts
16:15)
f)
Cornelius
- (Acts
10:48)
g)
Crispus
- (Acts
18: 8)
h) People
of Ephesus - (Acts
19:5)
i)
Zaccaus and his family,
because of Our Lord’s visit to his home -
(Luke
19:9)
j) The Ethiopian eunuch - (Acts 8:38)
For salvation:
1) One has to listen to the true words of salvation
2) One has to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling
(Phili.2:12)
3) For salvation one has to believe with his heart for righteousness,
and confess with the mouth (Rom 10:10). God did not appoint us to wrath but to
obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[Please
refer to Acts 13:16, II Thess. 2:13, Eph 1:14, 1 Peter 1:10]
4.
Why should one believe in Jesus Christ?
5.
What is the uniqueness of Jesus Christ?
a) He is the Son of God. References:
Matthew
2:15, 3:17, 4:3-7, 7:3
Luke
1:32, 35, 3:22, 4:3, 4:9, 4:34, 4:41
John 1:1, 3, 7, 34, 49, 3:16, 18, 35, 36, 3:23, 4:9, 10, 5:9, 5:22, -23, 37,
6:40, 6:69, 12:26, 13:3, 14:13, 15:23, 5:23, 16:27, 30, 17:1, 19:7,
Roma
1:19, 5:10, 8:3, 29, 32,
1 Cori 1:9
Gala
1:16, 4:4, 6
Colo 1:13
1 Thess 1:10
Hebrew 1:2, 5, 8, 3-6, 4:14, 5:5, 8, 6:6
b) His resurrection is the strength of Christianity (1 Cori 15:17). “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile: your are still in your sins."
c)
He came to save the sinners.
He is the only one who declared “I did not come to call the righteous, but the
sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). (This is important because there are other
people believed to be incarnate of God, who came to punish
the sinners in other religions)
d) He is the only one who was sacrificed for the sins of the world,
and for that he gave his life as a ransom for the salvation of many.
(Mat 20:28)
e) Everyone before and after Him were born coincidently, that is not
pre-planned. Every event related to Christ was prophesied by the prophets David,
Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, Zechariah, Amos, Malachi, Jeremiah etc. Below are a
list of Old Testament prophets who prophesized about the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
|
|
|
|
His
coming |
Isa
2:2, 28:6, 32:1; 35:4,
42:6, 49:1, 55:4, Micah 4:1, Zech
3:8 |
|
About
the time of coming |
Mala
3:1 |
|
The
forerunner, who prepares the way. (John, the Baptist.) |
Isa
40:3, Mala 3:1, 4:5 |
|
Place
of birth |
Isa
40:3 Mala 3:1 |
|
About
the scholar’s arrival |
Isa
60:3, Mala 3:1, 4:5 |
|
The
journey to Egypt |
Hosa
11:1 |
|
Child
Homicide |
Jeremiah
31:15 |
|
The
Miracles |
Isa
35:5, 6, 42:7, 53:4 |
|
The
Church cleaning |
Psalms
69:9 |
|
The
Entry to Jerusalem |
Psalms
8:12, 118:25, Zech 9:9 |
|
The
friend will cheat |
Zech
13:7 |
|
For
30 silver coins |
Zech
11:12 |
|
Jude’s
end |
Psalms
55:15, 23, 109: 13 |
|
The
tiller of soil
(Potter’s
field) |
Zach
13:15 |
|
His
silence |
Psalms
38:13, Esa 53:7 |
|
The
ridicule of the Jews |
Psalms
35:15, 21, Esa 53:7 |
|
The
crucifixion |
Psalms
22;14, 17 |
|
The
sour juice |
Psalms
69:21 |
|
Prayer
of the Jews |
Psalms
109:4 |
|
The
suffering at Cross |
Psalms
22:1, 31:5 |
|
Will
be with convicted |
Isa
53:9, 12 |
|
The
changes in the nature |
Amos
5:20 |
|
His
robes were shared |
Psalms
22;18 |
|
His
bones will not be broken |
Psalms
34;20 |
|
The
piercing |
Psalms
22:16 Zech 12:10 |
|
The
resurrection |
Psalms
16:10, 30:3, 41:10, 118:17,
Hosa 6:2 |
|
The
Heavenly ascend |
Psalms
16:11, 24:7, 68:18, 110:1, 111:19 |
f)
He is the only one who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.“
(John 14:6)
g)
He is the only one who said that he is sinless even in front of
the enemies.
h)
He is the only one who promised His presence till the end of the
world. (Mat 28:20)
i) He is the only one who said that He will die, resurrect, and come back a second time.
6.
Has the church produced people who said that Christ was not God?
Yes, lots of them. They did more harm to the church than the Gentiles! Since we understood that faith is a necessity for salvation, let us see what faith is. Is it just a moral living, or praying seven times a day, or is it charity?
a) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen“ (Hebrews 11:1)
b)
Believing that Jesus Christ is God (John 6:29, 14:1, Acts 20:21,
Is9: 6)
c)
Faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit ( 1 Cori. 12:9)
d)
Faith is from the Holy Scriptures (John 20:31, 2 Tim 3:15)
e)
Faith is through words and ears (John 17:20,
Acts 8:12, Roma 10:14, 15, 17, 1 Cori. 3:5)
f)
One who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:6)
g)
Those who believe in him will have eternal life. (John 3:15, 16,
36, John 6:47, 5:24)
h) “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who, believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.” (John 14:12)
8.
What does it mean by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ?
It is not enough just to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he
came to save the sinners. (In order to prevent hunger it is not sufficient just
to believe that food is good and that eating it will satisfy hunger). Further
more one has to:
a)
Believe that He is the Son of God, accept Him, be with Him, and
pray to Him.
b)
One should accept Him as the savior of the world as well as his
own savior.
c) One should obey all His doctrines and commandments.
d) One should believe everything that he taught before and after his resurrection. (Acts 1:3). (Yes, He taught after His
resurrection too)
e)
One should believe in what He
has established. They are:
1)
“And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I
will build my church.
2) Whatever He has decided for the church administration should be
accepted. (John 21: 15-17).
3) The power to loosen (forgive) any one from their sins has been
given only to the Apostles. (John 20:23)
4) One should believe that only the Apostles were given the right to
teach and baptize (Mat 28:19).
5) One must participate in His blood and flesh and live in fellowship
with him.
6) One should be a member of the church whose head is Jesus Christ.
(Acts 2:47) “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved
“
7) One should be committed deeply to the doctrines
of the Apostles. (The book of Acts)
9.
If so, did the people who believe in the day of Pentecost or the Prison
Administrator, believe in all the above, before joining the church?
During the initial few years of the church, there was no written Bible.
Apostles preached and taught by word of mouth. They asked the prison
administrator to believe in Jesus Christ before teaching him about what Jesus
taught. Initially the Apostles were entrusted by Jesus Christ to baptize, teach,
and make as his disciples (in that order) (Mat
28:20)
Now we have learned that the apostles admitted people into the church by
baptizing and teaching, and that there was no Bible during the initial period.
Since there were no written teachings, let us now examine the formation of the
Bible, and how the believer’s were during this period.
10.
How did these teachings of the church (faith) continue?
If we look at the time in which the New Testament Books were written, we will
get an answer to the above question. Let
us tabulate the time in which the New Testament books were written.
|
The
Books |
Dummalow
Commentary |
Helps
to the study of Bible |
Biblical
Encyclopedia |
Scofield
Bible |
|
Matthew |
70
AD |
AD
50-60 |
AD
66-70 |
37 |
|
Mark |
AD
60 |
AD
63-70 |
Before
AD 65 |
AD
57-63 |
|
Luke |
AD
59-74 |
AD
58-60 |
AD
57-65 |
AD
63-68 |
|
John |
|
AD
85 -90 |
End
of 1st century |
|
The gospels, which referred to in
chronology, there in establish the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as AD
33. This means
that the entire New Testament Books were written 30 to 67 years after His
crucifixion.
St. Matthew had taught and preached in Palestine in Syriac
(Aramaic)
St. Mark taught and preached in Rome in Latin
St. Luke taught and preached in Alexandria (Egypt) in Greek
St. John taught and preached in Ephesus (Turkey) in Greek
From
the above we understand that:
Though applicable to all, the Bible
was written to specific sections of people at specific places
Since the number of literate people were very few, the doctrines were taught mostly by the word of mouth.
Proofs from the Bible:
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and
fellowship in the breaking of bread. And in prayers” (Acts 2:42) - [some
Bibles use the term teaching for doctrine.
But in ‘Authorized Versions‘ the term used is doctrines’ meaning
principles of belief]. “ The departing Lord doubtless wished to give the
Apostles, spiritual instructions to prepare them to receive the Holy Spirit and
also special directions for the future government of His church.” (The One
Volume Bible Commentary – John
R Dummelow)
In Acts 1:2,3 we can see what Jesus Christ had done after the
resurrection: “being with them (apostles) during forty days and speaking of
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (He gave them the spiritual
guidance as to the church and its structure and administration
after the resurrection also)
So the apostles preached to the gentiles about Christ and taught
the doctrines to the Christians, and exhorted them to stay firm to the
doctrines. The apostles filled Jerusalem with this doctrine. (Acts 5:28).
St. Paul talks of the doctrines they taught in Rom. 6:17, Rom. 16:17, Eph
4:14, 1 Tim 1:10, 4:6, 4:13,16, Titus 1:9, 2,
Heb 13:9, 2 John 9.
From the above we can come to a conclusion that there were doctrines during the apostolic times, and that the believers were taught these doctrines by word of mouth.
11.
How did the Apostles teach the true faith?
They taught by word of mouth (not through writings). Jesus told them
to teach (Mat 28:19) and they followed this command daily (Acts 5:42). Again
in 1 Cori 4:17, Colo 1:28, The Bible specifies the requirements to become a
priest or a bishop. “The servant of the Lord must be exemplary and able
to teach” (2 Tim 2:24) and again “should be blameless, sober-minded,
hospitable and able to teach”(1 Tim
3:2). St. Paul again says “You should
teach and order” (1 Tim 4:11). They
taught face to face (1 Cori. 11:34).
Paul says, “The one who teaches is
compensated “ (Gala 6:6). From
the above we can conclude that the Apostles taught by word of mouth.
The doctrines of faith, which the Apostles received from the Lord had been
conveyed to us, either through the
Gospels or by word of mouth through the Apostles.
Some of the disciples of the
Apostles had written down what they had heard from the apostles, but not
everyone had written nor had all the doctrines been written down.
Thus our divine tradition is what we have received from the Gospels, and
through the word of mouth.
12.
What do the Apostles say
about people who teach heresy, or about one that gives up the doctrines
or teaches them partially (perverts the Gospel)?
1) The whole of Chapter two
written by St. Peter, deals about this. This is very significant, as he
was the administrative head of the church. In short, chapter two tells
us that that they and their followers will be punished in the most
heinous manner.
2)
“If any one comes to you and
does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor
greet him” (2 John 10)
3)
One Should keep away from
(avoid) such people. (Rom 16: 17, 18 )
4)
They (such heretics) are
accursed, even if they are from heaven.
(Gal 1:6, 8)
5)
“There will be false
teachers, prophets…. who will bring in destructive heresies even
denying the Lord who bought them and bring themselves to
self-destruction? And many will follow their destructive ways…..
because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long
time their judgment has not been idle and their destruction does not
slumber” (2 Peter 2: 1-3).
Be very careful and guard yourself
to see that you are in a proper church and be not deceived by false
teachers and prophets. You might ask how one will know. Keep reading!
13.
When one believes in Jesus Christ, what should be the basis of his/her belief?
The
Orthodox Churches and the Bible
How does our church (Syrian
Orthodox Church) treat the Holy Bible? It
considers the Bible as the most authoritative source of doctrines. Our church
has the utmost respect for the Bible.
While the Syrian Orthodox Church and other ancient churches treat the
Holy Bible with great reverence, using it in all their prayers, ministry and
sacraments, they also hold the apostolic traditions equally important (more
details later). The
Church has no doctrine that could not be proven by the Bible. The Bible is
not to be degraded by independent interpretation by anyone according to their
will and pleasure.
[In the Syrian Orthodox and Coptic Churches every ministry is, as taught and
done by the apostles. The church was not created out of a vacuum. Each
generation learned from the previous generation, from the time of the apostles
to the present. The Syrian Orthodox Church still uses Aramaic as it's official
language, the language used by Jesus Christ and the apostles]
14.
Why should one accept the Bible as the basis?
1)
Its authors were guided by the Holy Spirit.
2)
The Church from its origin taught that the Holy Spirit has written
the Bible.
Early historians (pre-Nicean leaders) have stated about the genuineness of the
it’s authors. The most notable of them are St. Papiyas, (AD 130), St. Irenaeus
(AD 140-202), St. Clement of Alexandria (AD 202), Tertullian (AD 140-260).
For more details refer to “The faith of the Early fathers” Vol. 1,
Vol. 2, Vol. 3. All of the early fathers and the councils also taught in
the same manner. Some of them are Arles (AD 314), Constantinople (381), Elvira
(300), Laodicea (300) Neocaesarea (314), Nicea (325), Sardica (342)
3) The councils also taught that the Gospels are by Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John. They also taught that Luke authors Acts of the Epistles / Romans, 1 Cori,
2 Cori, Gala, Eph., Philippians, Cola, Thess 1 and 2, Timothy 1 and 2, Titus,
Philemon are all written by Paul / James, John 1,2,3, Jude, Revelations (John).
4)
Even modern Scholars proclaim that it was the early church that
codified the Bible, by virtue of its authority. “At length a decree was issued
respecting the contents of the sacred books at the Council of Carthage (AD 397)
and the books of the New Testament as we have them were settled by the authority
of the church” (Helps to the study the Bible-Oxford). Some later scholars were
successful in creating doubts regarding their authenticity, authors, and
contents.
A
few examples, from the very popular ‘Interpreters one volume commentary’
will shock the believers!
a) The article by Jude is written not by Jude but by someone who used
his name. (meaning Jude didn’t write the article) Page 942
b) 1 Peter is written by someone in AD 112, or may be written in by
someone before AD 64. (i.e. Peter did not write his article). Page
924
c)
Scholars of even the Orthodox churches don’t believe that the
epistle II Peter is written by St. Peter.” (Page 931)
d)
Though the arguments against James are not complete, it is widely
accepted and could be concluded that it is written by someone who used
his name.
e) Epistle to Timothy -
was not written by St. Paul (Page
883)
f)
The Epistle to Colossians - was not written by Paul, but later by
someone who knew his ideas (page 857)
g)
A disciple of Paul wrote Ephesians. i.e. This too is not written
by St. Paul (P835)
h) St. Paul may not have written 2 Corinthians
(page 746)
i) Similarly a bizarre interpretation is given about Acts 2:4 (about
the disciple talking in tongues). “Although
Luke interprets this phenomenon as a miracle of linguistics, the original was
probably an outburst of emotional babbling …and the description of the
disciples as filled with new wine fits the emotional speech and not proficiency
in foreign languages. Actually no miracle was necessary as everybody in the
audience spoke of either Aramaic or Greek” (page 731)
In the same manner, many new teachings or interpretations are aimed to
evoke disbelief among the Church members. How should we understand the authors
who wrote such views? Was it written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
This is precisely what St. Paul warned us about. (II Cori 11:3) “But I am
afraid that, as the serpent deceived eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be
corrupted from a sincere [and pure] commitment to Christ. For if someone comes
and preaches another Jesus than one we preached, i.e. if you receive a different
gospel from the one you received, you put up with it well enough” It is
astonishing that all these scholars can believe in all these modern
interpretations, but refuse to believe what was passed on from the apostles from
one generation to the next till the present. The church showed us what inspired
writing is, The Bible, the word of God!
It is dreadful that 'scholars of this kind’ are the foundations of ‘modern churches’.
16. In the various translations of the Bible are there significant deviations from the original. If so, why? What is its significance for a true believer?
Below are a list of some of the variations. The list is from some popular versions. This encouraged many new interpretations and caused heresy. See below how two translations differ. Of all the Protestant English translations, King James Version (of all I have seen) has the least errors.
|
|
CHAPTER
AND VERSE |
GOOD
NEWS BIBLE
(1927) |
KING
JAMES VERSION
|
|
1 |
Acts
1:14 |
Brothers |
brethren |
|
2 |
Acts
1:20 |
place
of service |
bishopric |
|
3 |
Acts
1:22 |
must
join us |
must
be ordained |
|
4 |
Acts
2:42 |
learning
from Apostles |
Apostle’s
Doctrine |
|
5 |
Acts
2:47 |
to
their group |
to
the church |
|
6 |
Acts
2:47 |
fellowship
meals |
breaking
of bread |
|
7 |
Acts
2:27 |
Servant |
Holy
one |
|
8 |
Acts
2:38 |
God’s
Gift |
Gift
of Holy Spirit |
|
9 |
Acts
2:48 |
who
were being saved |
such
as should be saved |
|
10 |
Acts
3:13 |
Servant |
Son |
|
11 |
Acts
4:30 |
Servant |
Holy
Child |
|
12 |
Acts
6:6 |
Helpers |
Deacons |
|
13 |
Acts
14:23 |
appointed |
Ordained |
|
14 |
Acts
19:18 |
publicly
admitted |
confessed |
|
15 |
Acts
20:7 |
Saturday
evening |
1
St. day of the week
(
Sunday) |
|
16 |
Acts
20:7 |
Fellowship
meal |
breaking
bread |
|
17 |
Acts
20:28 |
flock
which the Holy Spirit
has
placed in your care. Be shepherds of church of God
which
he made his own through the death of his son |
Flock
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of
God which he hath purchased with his own blood |
|
18 |
Acts
22:14 |
Servant |
The
just one |
|
19 |
Acts
22:16 |
Get
up and be baptized and have your sins washed away by praying to him |
Arise
and be baptized and
wash
away thy sins calling on
the name of the Lord |
|
20 |
Rom
15:16 |
Like
a priest- |
Minister
Of Jesus Christ |
|
21 |
Rom
16:21 |
My
fellow Jews |
My
Kinsmen - relatives |
|
22 |
1
Cori 1:18 |
Who
are being saved |
Who
are saved |
|
23 |
1
Cori 4:1 |
Servant |
Ministers |
|
24 |
1
Cori 5:13 |
As
the scripture says |
these
words are not found |
|
25 |
1
Cori 7:5 |
For
Prayer |
For
fasting and prayer |
|
26 |
Acts
7:17 |
I
teach |
I
command |
|
27 |
Acts
10:16 |
The
cup we use in the Lord’s and which we give thanks to God when we drink
from it we are sharing in the blood of Christ |
The
cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of
the Christ? |
|
28 |
Acts
11:2 |
Teachings |
ordinances
I delivered |
|
29 |
Acts
11:3 |
God
is superior over Christ
note:
In Living N.T. - they use “ Christ is responsible to God” |
The
Head of Christ is God |
|
30 |
2
Cori 2:17 |
We
are not like many others who handle God’s message as if it were cheap
merchandise but because God has sent us, we speak as servants of Christ |
We
are not…… which corrupt the word of God….. we speak in Christ |
|
31 |
2
Cori 5:20 |
We
are speaking for Christ… we pleaded on Christ’s behalf let God
change you from enemies to his friends |
We
are the ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we
pray in Christ’s stead you be reconciled to God |
|
|
|
|
|
|
32 |
Gala
4:19 |
Until
Christ’s nature is formed in you. I wish that people who are upsetting
you ..let them go and castrate themselves |
Until
Christ is formed in you .. I wish they were even cut off which trouble
you
(St.
Paul did not say to castrate) |
|
33 |
Eph
1:7 |
by
the death of Christ we are set free that is our sins are forgiven |
In
whom we have redemption through his blood
for the forgiveness of sins |
|
34 |
Phili
1:1 |
Church
leaders and helpers |
Bishops
and Deacons |
|
35 |
Phili
3:3 |
We
do not put any trust in external ceremonies |
We
have no confidence in the flesh |
|
36 |
Colo
1:2 |
By
his son’s death on the cross |
the
blood of his cross |
|
37 |
Colo
1:25 |
Servant
of the Church |
Ministers
of the Church |
|
38 |
2
Tess 2:15 |
those
truths |
The
traditions which have been taught |
|
39 |
1
Tim 3:1 |
A
Church leader |
Bishop |
|
40 |
1
Tim 4; 6 |
Good
teaching |
Good
Doctrine |
|
41 |
1
Tim 4:11 |
Give
them these instructions |
Command
them |
|
42 |
Tim
1:5 |
to
appoint |
to
ordain |
|
43 |
Heb
2:12 |
meeting |
Church |
|
44 |
Hew
13:7 |
former
leaders |
The
rule over you |
|
45 |
James
5:16 |
Confess
your sins |
Confess
your faults |
|
46 |
1
John 1:9 |
If
we confess our sins to God |
If
we confess our sins |
|
47 |
I
John 2:20 |
But
you had the Holy Spirit poured out on you by Christ |
You
have an unction from Holy One
Note:
Unction - an anointing ointment that which is used for anointing. more
details later |
|
48 |
1
John 5:7 |
Three
witness the Spirit, the water and blood |
There
are there that bear record in Heaven - the Father , the Word, and the
Holy Spirit |
For the time being this is enough, as there are hundreds like this, enough that books may be written on it. This proves the point that translators have made their own changes from the original version! [I recently went to a Christian Book store and was amazed by the title of Bibles I found there. Bible for Man, Bible for Woman, Bible for Afro-Americans, Bible for kids, KJV, All American, Bible for Modern Man and so on. There is only one Bible that is inspired, and the others are man made.]
17. Why this difference in
translations?
To answer this question, we have to analyze two points. 1) Who codified the
Bible and when was it codified? 2)
Who made the changes, when, and why?
Ever since the Bible was codified, the church owned it; because the church
codified it in the Council of Carthage in AD 397.
And thus the Church was its
custodian. This is why St. Augustine said, “Since the Church owns the Bible, I
believe it. Its
interpretation also belonged to the church.” During
those days the Church stood as a mighty pillar of the true faith, the body of
Christ and as one against which the gates of Hell could not prevail. Later
reformist groups began to make changes to the Holy Bible. Thus people like
Luther, Calvin, Single, Matthew etc. brought different versions and different
interpretations of the Bible into the English and other languages.
Even Luther who started the reformation, became uneasy about this trend
[painfully heartbroken to see God’s words modified, twisted and changed] and
wrote “Now there are so many sections as there are heads. Some do not need
Baptism, some reject Sacraments, some others teach that there is a third world
life for a person between this world and the end of the world. Some says Christ
is not God. One person says it in one way and another person another way. It has
come to this situation that if one sees a dream or one feels so, he decides that
it was a revelation to him by the Holy Spirit and declares himself as a
prophet.” (Rebuilding the Lost
Faith - Pg. 386 Griser, Luther IV).
The Bibles by Wycliffe (AD1382), Tyndale (1535) came out and many copies of the
early editions were burned by order of Cuthbert Tunstall, the Bishop of London
who was offended by Tyndale’s translations of various ecclesiastical terms,
such as Congregations for Church and Senior for priest or Elder.
Then came the Coverdale Bible, (1535) and Matthew’s Bible (1537). This was the
first Bible that was printed with the Royal permission.
Some
of the other translations are:
Travaners
Bible (1539)
The
Great Bible (1539)
Wittim
Graham (1557) - This bible was the first one, which formatted the Bible into
separate sentences.
Ganeva
Bible (1569) - became popular among
the Puritan Party.
Bishops
Bible (1568)
Raim’s
New Testament (1582)
Authorized
Version (1611)
Revised
Version (1881, 1885). This had the most significant changes, compared to the
prior ones. “Mistranslation again have been corrected where ever necessary
”[Helps to study of the Bible]
It is obvious that from the 16th century, many translations came and
each translator made considerable changes during the process.
Those responsible for the Authorized Version Translation submitted a
request to King James which was “We shall be maligned by self conceited
Brethren, who run their own ways and give liking unto nothing, but what is
framed by themselves and hammered on their anvil.” This proves that so many
translators did their works as they pleased.
Even the early Protestant scholars were
of the opinion that the early translations were full of mistakes.
Dixon says, unless one is a fanatic Protestant, one will agree to the
fact that early translations were full of serious errors. Ward in his book “Errata” proves that these errors were not accidental, but
purposely introduced. Bishop Eikot in his
book says that the translated versions have many additions which were not found
in the original Bible. Blunt, another Biblical scholar, in his book says that
“The personality of the translators were such that, it was easy for them to
get the respect of the public.” (Keys to the knowledge and use of the Bible)
Robert Gell, who was a member of the revising committee and who was a chaplain
to Arch Bishop Abbot tells - as many times the truth has taken a back seat to
the interest of many sections and voted out (truth), as required by different
sections of people.
We have seen lots of differences between translations and most of the translations did not do justice to the original. Now let us see how some of these changes affected the true faith. Please refer to the above table (question 16) and see how each of these changes were used to twist the original church teachings.
|
Refer
to Numbers
From
the above Table (Question 16) |
CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL BIBLE AND HOW THEY ARE USED TO CHANGE THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE
(How
changes mentioned in question 16 are used to change
the teachings of the
original Church) |
|
1 |
They
had to prove that Mary had other children too, and so to prove that she
is not a virgin. Hence they use “brothers” |
|
2 |
To
prove that there is no position of Bishop or episcopacy |
|
3,
42 |
To
prove that Ordination (of Priests) is not
necessary |
|
4 |
To
prove that there were only teachings from Apostles and no Doctrines |
|
5 |
To
prove there is nothing like church, only groups |
|
6,
16 |
To
prove that there was no breaking of bread, but just fellowship meals |
|
9,
22 |
To
prove that for salvation, no Church is necessary or that one need not be
a member of the church. |
|
10 |
To
satisfy the section of people who believes that Jesus is not Son of God
and there for not equal to God |
|
12 |
To
prove that there was no Deacon positions in the early church |
|
13 |
To
prove that there was no ordination, but just appointment |
|
14 |
To
prove no one confessed to the apostles and they have no right to absolve
your sins |
|
15 |
To
prove that there is no importance to Sunday |
|
16 |
To
prove that those elders who were given position were not guided by the
Holy Spirit |
|
19 |
To
give the impression that baptism does not absolve one's sins. |
|
20,
21 |
To
prove that Christ has no ministers or priests |
|
25 |
To
prove that fasting (and lent) is not required - they left the word
fasting |
|
26,28 |
Apostles
has no right to command, but only to teach |
|
27 |
The
cup of blessing is not the communion of the blood of Christ |
|
29 |
To
satisfy the section who believes that Christ is not God
|
|
30,
32,33 |
Faulty
translations |
|
31,
41 |
To
prove that the Apostles or their successors are not the representatives
of Christ |
|
34,39
|
To
give impression that there were no deacons or Bishops in the early
church |
|
35 |
Proves
that there is no need of external ceremonies |
|
38
– 40 |
In
early church there were no Doctrines or traditions |
|
43
|
Church
means just a fellowship
|
|
45 |
Added
a word to prove that anyone can confess to anyone |
|
46 |
Added
a word to support another view |
|
47 |
To
prove that to receive Holy Spirit, no unction is necessary |
Yes, it is shocking for any independent scholar to see all these changes in the
different translations. All these changes were made for ones own selfish gains.
The "Soul Winners New
Testament Bible" has substituted the word ‘baptize’ with
‘immerse’. This book also uses the word ‘immerse in Holy
Spirit’. In the Good News Bible, they
use ‘Holy Spirit poured on you’.
Again in Mark 11:3, it is written ‘The Lord has need of it [Colt]…," In
Good News Bible it is written ‘He will return it soon’ ie. Christ will
return the colt!
Ruthor Ford established the Jehovah Witness, in 1870. He was 29 years old at
that time. They have their own New
Testament. In 1954 F.W. France, this
group’s president, revealed how they received their interpretation of the
Bible. “They are passed by Holy Spirit who invincibly communicates with
Jehovah’s witness”. This section does
not consider the Son and the Holy Spirit as God.
Again, The Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the fastest growing religion
in the U.S., is based on a revelation to Joseph Smith in 1820. They
have their own Bible and their own interpretations. Orson Prat a famous scholar
in that church asks, whether if there is a single sentence in the Bible now,
that is original? (The cults page 88).
These 'churches' have their own New Testaments and their own interpretations
18.
Since most translations are distorted, which version is the original?
As you have seen from the table in Question 10, the different books of the New
Testament were written during the period AD 60-100. It is widely accepted that
some of the books were written in Aramaic and some in Greek (but used lots of
Aramaic words), which was also the prominent language in Palestine at that time.
[Some scholars are of the opinion that nothing was written in Greek, as no one
knew Greek there. Jesus Christ taught in
Aramaic, as common man understood no other language. So it is unlikely that
anything would have been written in Greek. What is the use of writing in a
language not understood by the people?]
Josephus wrote (AD 42): “I have taken a great deal of pain to obtain the
learning of the Greeks and understand the elements of the Greek language;
although I have accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot
pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. ……there have been many who have
done their endeavors, with great patience, to obtain this Greek learning, there
have yet been hardly two or three that have succeeded herein. (Antiquities XX,
X1 2)” (George Lamsa’s Translation)
Many scholars believe that it is very unlikely that the Epistles targeted for
common man, were written in a language understood only by a few.
“Aramaic was the language of the of the common people during the time of Jesus
Christ. It is certainly the language of
the Semetic culture, the language of the Hebrew Patriarchs and in the older
days, the lingua franca of the Fertile Cresecent. The term Hebrew was derived
from the Aramaic word Abor or Habor, which means ‘to cross over’. This
name was given to Hebrew’s because Abraham and the people who were with him
crossed the river Euphrates and went to Palestine. Therefore they were known by
those who lived east of the river Euphrates as Hebrews, that is
‘the people across the river’ (Lamsa’s Peshitta Translation).
Another view is “Aramaic was the mother-tongue of the region comprising of
present Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq. This region was called ‘Aram’,
after Aram, Sem’s fifth son. Aramaic is the oldest of the semantic languages.
Aram, the father of Armenians, was the grandson of Noe, while Heber the father
of the Hebrews was the great great grandson of Noe.”
The earliest manuscripts of the Bible are in Aramaic, and different versions are
available which dates back to 2nd, 5th and 7th
centuries. “Astonishingly enough,
all of the Peshitta Texts in Aramaic agree.
There is one thing the eastern churches can boast about. They copied
their holy books diligently, faithfully and meticulously. Sir Frederic Kenon,
the curator of the British Museum, in his book Textual Criticism of the New
Testament speaks highly of the accuracy of the copying and of the antiquity of
Peshitta MSS. The versions
translated from sematic languages into Greek and Latin were subject to constant
revisions. Learned men who copied
them introduced changes trying to simplify the obscurities and ambiguities,
which were due to the work of first translators. The present translators and
Bible revisers does the same, when translating the Bible.”
“The
Scriptures in the Church of the East, from the inception of
Christianity to the present day, are in Aramaic and have never been
tampered with or revised as attested by the present Patriarch of the
Church of the East. The
Biblical manuscripts were carefully and zealously handed down from one
generation to another and were kept in the massive stonewalls of the
ancient churches and caves. They
were written on parchments and many of them survive to the present day. When
expert scribes copied these texts, they (the copies) were carefully
examined for accuracy before they were dedicated and permitted to be
read in churches. Even one missing letter would render the text void.
Easterners still adhere to God’s commandment not to add or
omit to a word from the Scripture. The
Holy Script condemns any addition, subtraction or modification to the
Word of God."
“You
shall not add to the commandments which I command you, neither shall you take
form it, but you must keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command
you” (Deut. 4:2)
"Everything
that I command to you, that you must be careful to do; you shall not add nor
take from it.” (Deut. 4:2)
"Do
not add to his words; lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.” (Prov.
30:6)
“And
if any man shall take away form the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his portion from the tree of life and from the holy city and
from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev 22:19)
“The term Peshitta means straight, simple, sincere and true, that which is the
original. The name was given to this
ancient and authoritative text to distinguish it from the other Bible revisions
and translations which were introduced into some of the Churches of the East
after the division at Ephesus and Chalcedon in 431 and 451 AD respectively. This
Peshitta is still the only authoritative text of the Old and New Testament of
all the Eastern Christians in the Near East and India, the Roman Catholic Church
in the East, the Monophysites and Indian Christians. This
was because this text was in use for 400 years before the Christian Church was
divided to several sects.” (George Lama’s translation)
“The
originality of the Peshitta Text is strongly supported by the early evidence. Aphraates
quoted it. St. Ephraim wrote a
commentary on it and the doctrine of Addi placed it at apostolic times”
“The
names Aram, Aramaeans and Aramaic were changed, during the course of time into
Syria, Syrians and Syraic. The
Greeks were responsible for this change. And Aramaic Christians gradually became
reconciled with this change of name” (Syro-Chaldaic
grammar by Fr.Gabriel)
Peshitta
version of the Bibles existed in the 2nd Century. “The
Peshitta version of the Bible was made about the first or second century.”
(Helps to the study of the Bible – Oxford page 7)
19. How different are the views of various Protestant groups who argue that the ‘Bible is the only basis of Faith?’
|
Child
Baptism allowed |
No,
only baptism by faith (belief) |
|
Offering
only by priest |
No |
|
Baptism,
marriage, anointing with oil etc by priest |
No
priest is necessary |
|
Can
offer incense |
No |
|
Bishop
to be unmarried |
Can
marry |
|
Jesus
Christ is God |
No |
|
Sunday
has special importance |
Saturday
is important or no special importance to any day |
|
Should
use consecrated oil, chrism |
No |
|
Laying
hands is necessary for ordination |
No.
No such thing as ordination |
|
Can
burn candles |
No |
|
Offer
of Holy Communion |
No |
|
Both
Baptism and Communion are Sacraments |
No
- they are just symbolic representations |
|
Should
respect cross |
No |
|
Accepts
episcopacy |
No |
|
The
episcopacy have uniform or specialized garments |
No |
|
Can
use gold |
Can
use gold colored, but no gold |
|
Believes
in Baptism for remission of the sins |
No
it is just symbolic |
|
Can
pray for the dead |
Can't
pray for the dead |
|
Can
pray to the saints |
No
you cant |
|
Priests
can absolve sins |
No
priests at all, and no one has the right for it |
|
Church
may contain good and bad people |
Church
contains only people who are saved |
|
Anointing
oil should be applied on sick people |
No
anointing oil |
|
Can
use written prayer |
No |
|
Can
use Palms 51 |
No,
not needed |
From
the above the following facts can be inferred:
Those who say that ‘the Bible only and nothing else is the basis
of Christianity', forget the fact that the Bible is a book written by the Holy
Spirit's inspiration. As in the
Interpreters Bible, some claim that some one other than the apostles wrote it.
Others, in order to prove their teachings, made changes to the
Bible in a way that suited them.
From the same Bible, they quote
sentences to prove different conflicting ideas. If their interpretation
is Holy Spirit inspired, why then these differences?
| CHURCH | ESTABLISHED BY |
YEAR |
| Protestant | Martin Luther |
1524 |
| Presbyterian | John Knox |
1560 |
| Baptist | John Smith |
1600 |
| Congregational | Robert Brown |
1600 |
| Quackers | George Fox |
1647 |
| Methodist | John Wesley |
1739 |
| Brethren | 1800 | |
| Disciples of Christ |
1827 |
|
| Salvation Army | William Booth |
1865 |
| Sabbath | William Miller |
1844 |
| Pentecostal | G. Spirling |
1884 |
| Christian Science | Mary Eddy |
1879 |
| Jehovah’s witness | C.T Russell |
1870 |
| God's Church | Daniel Vernan |
1884 |
(From
the Pears dictionary)
What St. Peter, the head of the disciples said is very relevant then and now. “And consider that long-suffering of our Lord is salvation - as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you. As also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things hard to understand which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also rest of the Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:15,16). St. Paul has issued similar warnings in 2 Cori 11.
20. During the Apostolic times were there people who interpreted the Bible in their own ways?
Yes. St. Paul says (in Gal 1: 7) “Which is not another, but there are some,
who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ”. If
one goes through his epistles, he instructed against these kinds of teachings.
Here are some extracts from the Good News Bible, in the introduction to
the epistles by St. Paul
1 Cori - “was written to deal with the problems of Christian
life and faith that arose in the church at Corinth"
2 Cori - “Paul defends his apostleship against a few people at Corinth
who has set themselves up as true apostles while accusing Paul of being a false
one.”
Gala
– “Paul’s letter to Galatians was written in order to bring back to the
true faith and practice those people, who were being misled by false
teaching”.
Philippians – “Was written at a time when he was troubled by
the opposition of other Christian workers towards himself and was distressed by
false teaching in the Church at Philippi.”
Colossians - Paul had learned that there were false teachers in the church at Colossia.
2 Thess - Paul emphasize the readers to remain steady in their
faith in spite of trouble and suffering.
1 Timothy - This letter is the first of all the warning against
false teaching in the church.
2 Peter - Its main concern is to combat the work of false teachers
and the immorality which results from such teaching.
1 John, 2 John - To warn them against false teaching that would
destroy the fellowship.
Jude-It was written to warn against false teachers who claimed to
be believers.
From this we can infer that false teachers were church members, who chose to go
out of the church. Some of them like
Sirinthos (contemporary St. John) preached that Jesus was not God. Essenenes, a
sect of Jews, (that existed before Christ) propagated that, it is not possible
to have a man who is God and complete man. They also insisted, to observe
Sabbath, not to marry, not to eat the forbidden foods or meat, wine etc.
Another sect of people (who believed in a form of gnosticism) adopted similar
teachings (Helps to study of the bible). Simon (Simon referred in Acts 8:9,18)
was a Gnostic and was the author of a book titled The ‘Great Revelation.’
(Justin Martyr). Their false teaching rejected the fact that Jesus was the Son
of God (refer to 1 John 2:22, 5: 1,
5 to see what St. John says about it). They also rejected the Father Almighty
and the Son of God. They did not believe that the Word took the body (1 John
2:22, 4:2,3). They also propagated that Christ was not crucified. They
also believed that the Son is not needed for access to God, (John 2:23) and that
they have no sins (2 John 1:7, 5:6 2:23, 1 John 1:9).
Another sector of people (a form of Docetism) propagated that it is impossible
for God to become man. So Jesus was in fact not a man but created a feeling that
He was man (1 John 3: 3). He was like a ghost and when He walked His legs did
not touch the earth. He did not eat
or drink. Cirenthis members of this sect said that Christ was a man and not
Christ. He was born an ordinary child from Joseph and Mary and during his
baptism, the Holy Ghost came to him and hence he was able to do miracles and
during the time of crucifixion Christ left him.
So docetism denied His human embodiment and Cirenthis denied His Crucifixion
(and hence the salvation). John called them anti-christs (1 John2:22) and these
people were church members. But they interpreted in their own manner and fell
into false teachings.
21.
But some people argue that St. John has permitted one to interpret by themselves
and that ‘no one needs to teach anything’ (1 John 2:27)
What St. John says is this - “And you also, if the anointing which you have
received from him abides among you, no one need to teach you; that same
anointing which is of God will teach you all things; it is the truth, and there
is no lie in it; and even as I have taught you, abide in it.”
Let us analyze this:
1)
“You do not need any one to teach you”- it means nobody needs to teach you
anything
against what we (the apostles) taught you.
2) We have seen the very purpose of John’s epistles. The heresy
that these articles counter, is of the type, which was difficult for even the
present day scholars to counter. All
throughout these epistles, it is an exhortation to defeat those heretics
and their teachings. If one was
anointed and if St. John had not written the epistles, what would have been the
situation? Even the anointed would have been lost. This
is because even the people who brought the heresy were also anointed. St.
John specifically says that the purpose of his epistles were to counter the
heresies, by the people who learned the teachings and interpreted themselves. So
it is obvious that the purpose of these epistles is to teach the anointed people
again. ie. written to the people who were
anointed to teach them again.
3)
Again in the articles
to Hebrews "Therefore, we must
give the more earnest heed to the things we heard, lest we drift away” (Hebrew
2:1) and again in Hebrew 2:3 “ How shall we escape if we neglect so great a
salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed
to us by those who heard Him. (We
have to understand that Hebrews were anointed, yet they have to learn). Again
in Hebrew 5:12, “For through by
this time you ought to be teachers, you
need someone to teach you again, the first principles of the oracles of God
and you have come to need milk and not solid food”. The anointed people should
be taught again and again. He thanks God, because the Corinthians (who were
anointed) obeyed the doctrines given by Paul in the form of teaching. “For
this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in
the Lord, who will remind you my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every
church” (1 Cori 4:17). Remember that the Corinthians were anointed people and
Paul says, they will be taught again.
So if one says that he is anointed and hence need not be taught, it is wrong.
Some Christian fellowships argue this way!
4)
In a letter written to the ‘people who were sanctified and could
be called saints’ (1 Cori 1:2) St. Paul suggests that wicked persons be
removed from them. Here
Paul teaches the anointed ones. Note that if the anointing-unction were to
teach them all, Paul need not teach. But we see that Paul is teaching again!
5)
Again in Gala 3:1-3, Paul calls the
Galatians foolish and says they were bewitched (the Galatians, who were
the anointed ones). What should we understand from this? The anointed need
to be taught again. If ‘anointing-unction' would have taught them, why
should Paul write to them? Therefore it is obvious that they were not allowed to
interpret by themselves.
6)
Even the
anointed ones could be wrong and
could teach incorrectly. See below what St. Paul writes.
a) In 2 Tess 2:1-2 Paul says, “Now brethren concerning the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him we ask you not
to be soon shaken in mind or troubled
either by Spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, as though the day of
Christ had come.”
b)
In Thess 3:6 Paul exhorts, “But we command you brethren in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw from every brother who walks
disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.”
c)
In 1 Timothy 19-20 Paul says that some people have rejected good
faith and conscience and are not faithful anymore. Both Hymenaeus and Alexander
were people of this type and were delivered “to Satan that they may learn not
blaspheme.” And again in 2
Timothy 1:15, “This you know that all
those in Asia have turned away from me among whom are Phygeleus and Hermogenes”.
Again in 2:18 “And their
message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort."
We have to remember that all these people were, not only
anointed ones but were also working with St. Paul. Still
they became heretics.
d) In Titus 3:10 - "After first or second warning, break off
contact with a heretic”
e) Not only the anointed ones, but even the people in the position of
Elders (or Presbyters) may be misguided or influenced by false teaching. That
is why Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 5:19-20 “Do
not receive an accusation against an elder, except from two or three witness.
Those who are sinning, rebuke in the presence of all that the rest may fear.”
From this we understand that Elders can sin and if so, he should be
corrected.
From
all these quotations what we can infer is that:
The argument that ‘if
one is anointed he should not be taught or advised’ is incorrect.
This is because all of the above quotes show that the Apostles wrote the
epistles to people who were anointed but also were wrong in their
interpretations.
The apostles taught the interpretations of the doctrines of the
Church to the anointed ones.
There were heretics even among the
anointed ones.
One should reject them outright from the church and house.
To hold the ordinary people in the church, the church leaders
should always teach them and make them conscious of the true interpretations of
the churches doctrines.
“Therefore let that abide
in you which you heard form the beginning. If what you heard from the
beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” (1
John 2:24)
They should believe in Jesus Christ.
“Those who abide in God should be careful to maintain good
works” (Titus 3:8)
The argument that 'if one is anointed, nobody needs to teach him anything', was
put forth by Decenters. This
argument is against the teachings of God, and could not be justified based on
what Decenters themselves practiced. Let's look at what they practiced:
1) They started the Bible society whose primary objective was to
teach the 'anointed people’
2) This
group had Gospel sermons, Sunday schools, and Bible colleges. They all
basically taught the ‘anointed people.’
3) If one of their community member comes with an interpretation
against that fellowship’s interpretations, and claims he too ‘is anointed
and has the power to interpret’, he was excommunicated.
If ‘anointing-unction taught’ a member, why not accept his argument?
4) We have seen that there are so many Christian communities with different interpretations and teachings. To say that the Holy Spirit will teach one community one way and another community another way is a sin against the Holy Spirit itself. What is most horrifying is the fact that sins against the Holy Spirit will not be pardoned.
22.
What are the dangers of self-interpretations?
Here
is an interesting study from a book authored by DE Stanton in 1972.
In 1969 a survey was conducted among 10,000 Protestant
pastors and 7,441 people responded to the questions asked. These questions
asked if they believed in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. Here are
the responses:
·
Those who didn’t believe
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Episcopians
30%, Baptist 30%, United Presbyterians 35%, and Methodist 51%.
·
Those who didn’t believe
our Lord's Virgin birth.
Episcopians 44
%, Baptist 44%, United Presbyterians 49%, and Methodist 60%.
·
Those who didn’t believe
that the Bible is inspired?
Episcopalians 80%, United Presbyterians 81%, Methodist 82 %, Lutherans 57 %
What should we infer from all this? Self-interpretations has caused many to turn
away from Jesus Christ.
But some people quote Paul saying -“And no man shall teach his neighbor,
neither his brother, saying Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from youngest
to the oldest” (Hebrew 8:11). They
argue that since Paul wrote this, why teach others?
In Eph 3:5 Paul writes, “Which (mystery of Jesus) in other ages was not made
known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed by the Spirit
to His holy apostles and prophets.” Since Paul says that it was revealed
only to the apostles and prophets, we have to study from them
alone, and not from anyone else.
We now know that the argument that “the anointed need not be taught again” is unjustified. We have to learn the true teachings from the apostles and prophets. So obey what they ordered, and learn from what they taught. (ie. learn their interpretations)
23.
The traditional churches discourages its member from going to Protestant
Churches. Is this because they want their people to remain in their faith?
Yes, this is correct. Like the traditional churches, the Protestant churches also does the same (for they discourage people from going to Orthodox churches). The Church is justified in its position towards this issue. The Apostles always urged not to attend false teachings and heretics (Gala 1:6-9). Jesus himself ordered not to listen to the Pharisees and Sadducees though they were Jews (Matt 16:6-8). St. Paul said that those who object his teachings were to be cursed. (Also refer to Question 12)
24.
Isn’t it good to hear the Lord's words from anyone? Why ban people?
It is good to learn the Lords words from anyone, as long as the person teaching
refrains from giving his or her self-interpretation. Unfortunately this is not
the case most of the time. They add, alter, and interpret the Lord’s words for
their own gain. Apostles
barred these kinds of teachers and barred people from going to listen to these
people’s teachings. This is
because of the fact that believers can easily be misguided. For
example, the serpent that entered Eden never told Eve that there was no God or
that one should not obey nor worship Him. All
he did was to give a small lecture that if one eats the fruit, he or she will be
like God. Eve listened thinking
that God asked them not to eat the fruit because God feared of them becoming
like Him (Her own interpretation). Subsequently she ‘made a decision’ to eat
the fruit without thinking about the consequences.
She even enticed Adam to eat the same fruit. Today’s
heretics and ‘modern day teachers’ do the same thing - i.e. create
doubts and confusion in the minds of people. This will create doubts
regarding the truth. If people who stayed with the Holy Trinity were swayed by a
small lecture, what would be the fate of ordinary people, if one were exposed to
false teachings?
“I
urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create dissension’s and
obstacles, in opposition to the teaching that you learned; avoid them. For
such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by fair
and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent.”
(Roman 16:17)
Please read 2 Cor. 11: 4-15. “But I am afraid that just as the serpent through his deceitfulness misled Eve, so your minds should be corrupted from the sincerity that is in Christ. For if he who has come to you preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you have received another spirit, which you had not received or another gospel, which you had not accepted, you might have listened to him” (2 Cor. 11:3-4). “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who masquerade as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So it is not strange that his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Cor. 13-15). Paul gives us such strong messages. If Paul felt that, listening to anyone preaching would not be a problem, he would not have issued such strong messages. From the above advice from Paul, we should understand that many of the preachers or ministers could be false apostles and deceitful workers. John also has issued similar warnings. Now the question is ‘who is telling the truth?’ Is it the new advisers and interpreters that have mushroomed recently or that which was taught (and) practiced from the time of the apostles?
25.
What is wrong in saying that faith and belief is based only on the Bible?
For a book to be the sole reference it should be: 1) complete and 2) true.
We
have seen from the earlier questions that only the Bibles of the First and
Second centuries were genuine and that it was altered extensively from the 15th
century onwards for the translator’s own personal gains. Therefore
it is dangerous and misleading to accept such books (the altered ones) as the
sole reference.
By saying that the book should be complete, I mean:
1)
It should contain all the faith-related reference; this doesn’t
mean that it should be an Encyclopedia.
2) It should contain all that Jesus Christ and the Apostles taught. (and none of their teaching should be interpreted contrary to each other!)
If
we apply these criteria's we see that:
John 21:25, “And there
are also many other things that Jesus said, which if they were written one by
one, I suppose that even the world could not contain the books that would be
written.” They obviously did not write everything Jesus taught (But we should
obey everything Jesus taught written or oral).
2 John 12, “ Having many
things to write to you, I do not
wish to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and
speak face to face… ” And again 3 John 13, 14 “I have many things to
write but I do not wish to write….
But I will hope to see you shortly and we
shall speak face to face” So it is obvious that he went and taught many
things that he did not write. Besides, to say that John, who died in AD 99, did
not teach or preach anything except these Epistles which he wrote in AD 90, is
foolishness. Additionally, his disciples such as Ignatius and Polycarp have
recorded some of his teachings and many of those books are available even today. They
have written about John’s teachings that were taught orally. (Refer to Faith
of Early fathers Vol. 1). The teachings, which were passed from the
apostles (which they did not write), are called apostolic
tradition. The Chamber's
dictionary defines the word tradition as “Oral
transmission from generation to generation - a tale, belief or practice thus
handed down.”
2 Thess. 2:15, “ Therefore, brethren stand fast and hold the
traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle.”
This shows that the apostles taught in both written and oral forms and
that the people have to obey both!
1 Cor. 11:34 “…And
the rest I will set in order when I come.” So Paul sets in order certain
matters, which he did not write.
2 Timothy 2:2 “And
the things that you have heard from
me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to
teach others also”
And most importantly in Acts 1:2; 3, “Until the day in which He was taken up, after He through Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen. To whom He also presented Himself alive after His sufferings by many in fallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” From this we can infer:
1)
Christ taught the apostles before
and after his resurrection.
2)
Some (not all) of what was taught before the crucifixion is in the
Bible
3)
Since Christ taught before and after, both are equally important
and one cannot reject what is taught after the resurrection.
4)
The only means for us to learn them is through the apostles and
their disciples writings or oral teachings. This is called apostolic tradition.
As I had discussed at the start, there are many things, which
Jesus taught that are not written. By
arguing that one will do or obey only what is written, one is saying that he
will not listen to other matters, which
were commanded by Jesus. Isn’t this disobedience to our Lord?
Christ never gave anyone a reference book. He could have done that! What was given was the permission to teach (Matthew 28: 18-20). St. Paul accepted this same methodology (1 Tim 4:11, 2 Tim 11:13). But some people quote John 5:39 “You search Scriptures…..and these are which they testify of Me,” and teach that the Bible is comprehensive. But this scripture suggests referring to the Old Testament, where it talks about Jesus Christ. The first council in Jerusalem demonstrates that the authority to teach, interpret, and decide is for the church alone (Acts 15), and not for anyone else.
26.
How does the Syrian Orthodox Church and modern Christian communities treat the
Bible?
'The traditional Churches' (like the Syrian Orthodox Church) has only one Bible,
and is the version from the first and second century. They treat it as Holy and
calls it the Holy Bible.
We don’t have any prayers or celebration of sacraments, without
readings from the Bible
All of our religious doctrines are based on the teachings in the
Bible.
Each sentence of the creed is based on the Bible
The Church owns the Bible, and it was the church that decided
which books were canonical books (To be included in the Bible).
So the right to interpret the Bible belongs to the Church, and
therefore should not be subjected to individual interpretation.
There is no doubt about its authors, it’s contents, or if they
are genuine or not.
But
the modern Christian Communities differ in beliefs among themselves:
Their faith is based on the Bible
(New Testament) alone. (But there are so many different versions of the
Bible and they them self cannot say which version of the Bible is the
true one).
Anyone can edit a version in any manner that he thinks is
appropriate.
Since one is anointed, anyone can interpret as he or she pleases.
Some argue that the gospels and epistles were not written by those
mentioned; but they don’t know by whom!
Some don’t accept the miracles Jesus did, as miracles.
They are split into many sects based on interpretations.
Some of them believe in ceremonial celebration, but others reject it.
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