Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....March 26, 2018
Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist. . . but all Christian? Why are there so many denominations?
Drive through most American towns and you’re likely to see a host of different church buildings. From Gothic stone and wooden steeples to modern forms and schoolhouse-like buildings, the architecture isn’t the only difference in these churches—what takes place inside varies as well.
Back up about two thousand years. It’s the night before Jesus is crucified. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus gathers together his closest followers. Knowing the adversity that lies ahead, he prays with them and for them. Then he prays for future generations of Christians:
"I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father. . . . I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
Jesus prays for “complete unity” so that his future followers “may be one.” Well, what happened to that?
Christians are often known for their squabbles and divisions, not the unity, harmony, and cooperation among them. Even when they appear to get along, they divide up into hundreds of different groups, churches, and denominations—sometimes even side by side on the same street.
This is confusing for everyone. If you’re not a Christian and you want to visit a church or explore spiritual issues, where do you even start? And if you are a Christian, aren’t all these divisions unhealthy? Don’t they betray the very spirit of Jesus’ prayer?
Denominational Divisions
Within Christianity, there are three primary divisions: Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism. In the United States, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches are the most common.
While virtually all Roman Catholic churches hold the same beliefs, forms, and structure, the theology of Protestant churches varies according to smaller groupings. These include Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches, as well as numerous other groups.
In addition, there are a growing number of churches that are mainly Protestant in their doctrine but do not affiliate with any specific denomination. They are considered nondenominational.
Denominational Disagreements
So why are there so many Christian denominations?
For starters, let’s not forget that denominations are made up of churches, which are made up of people, who often just do not get along. Like everyone else, Christians struggle with pride, selfishness, stubbornness, the desire to wield power, and hypocrisy, so they sometimes respond to their disagreements poorly.
This has often led to debates and divisions within churches and denominations, which in turn lead to the creation of new churches and denominations. It’s an unfortunate situation but a reality, given human nature. Christianity, of course, is not alone in this; almost every religion is divided and subdivided into major groups for the same reasons.
Beyond all that, Christians sometimes have legitimate disagreements about beliefs or practices that are more secondary in nature:
What does baptism mean and who should be baptized? How should believers structure their local churches? Who should fill leadership roles? How often should the faithful practice Holy Communion? How should Christians interpret certain passages of Scripture?
These are all good questions, and the answers are not always clear or explicit in the Bible. The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to exercise wisdom and humility when it comes to “disputable matters.”
Denominational Differences
One reason for the existence of so many denominations is disparity in personality, passions, and talents. Consider individuals for a moment. Some people connect with God best through the exercise of their minds or while in nature. Others experience spirituality through creative or artistic expression. Still others feel a sacred or divine connection when they serve others or help those who are hurting.
While all of these are admirable and valid means to connect with God, it’s no surprise that different churches and even whole denominations embodying these distinctive personalities have emerged.
Another reason relates to the role of tradition. Some people appreciate the structure and heritage of worshiping God according to traditions passed down over many centuries. Thus they might be more comfortable in Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, or Lutheran churches. Others, however, prefer to explore new and different ways of worshiping God or practicing their faith; they might feel boxed in by rituals or traditions. Therefore a nondenominational church might suit them best.
Culture plays a critical role as well; people from different cultures practice their faith in distinctive ways. It should not surprise us if churches in a middle-class English town are extremely different from those in a war-torn, poverty-stricken village in Africa. Consequently, churches and whole denominations will vary greatly depending upon the geographical location and cultural values of the people themselves.
Of course, these are not the only reasons that different denominations exist, but practical matters such as these often play significant roles in church divisions.
Denominational Unity
Finally, it should be noted that a lack of uniformity among Christian denominations does not necessarily imply a lack of unity. Regardless of church, denomination, culture, or geographical location, there are a few central tenets that unite virtually all Christians.
Christians believe in a three-in-one God—made up of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They believe that all humans are sinful and in need of grace. Moreover, Christians hold that only Jesus—through his life, death, and resurrection—makes it possible for us to experience God’s forgiveness and grace. Christians also believe that the Bible most clearly reveals these spiritual truths.
As one Christian once wrote: “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
In our daily lives on Earth, we many times let our emotions blind us from what God has in store for us. All we need to do is look in the Book!!
You say: It's impossible
God says: All things are possible (Lk.18:27)
You say: I'm too tired
God says: I will give you rest (Mt. 11:28-30)
You say: Nobody loves me
God says: I love you (Jn 3:16)
You say: I can't go on
God says: My grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9)
You say: I can't figure things out
God says: I will direct your steps (Prov.3:5-6)
You say: I can't do it
God says: You can do all things (Phil.4:13)
You say: I'm not able
God says: I am able (2 Cor. 9:8)
You say: It's not worth it
God says: It will be worth it (Rom. 8:28)
You say: I can't forgive myself
God says: I forgive you (1 John 1:9)
You say: I can't manage
God says: I will supply all your needs (Phil. 4:19)
You say: I'm afraid
God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (2 Tim 1:7)
You say: I'm always worried and frustrated
God says: Cast all your care on me (1 Pet. 5:7)
You say: I'm not smart enough
God says: I give you wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30)
You say: I feel all alone
God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5)
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Isaiah deals with Faith waiting
The logic of his work as a prophet thus drove Isaiah to foresee a future for the Lord’s people beyond Babylon. But, as we have seen above—and as chapters 56ff. elaborate—the return would be far from a fulfilment of the people’s longings. They would come back still a subject people but now without even a semblance of a king (45:9–13). In fact neither they nor their circumstances would be vastly changed by the experience of exile, and chapters 56–66 include many evidences of malfunction—political (e.g. 56:9–12), religious (e.g. 57:3–8) and spiritual (e.g. 59:2–15). What then of the promises? Do the promises of the king in chapters 1–37 and of the Servant in chapters 38–55 still hold good? Yes, says the prophet, and you must exercise the patience of faith because my salvation is close at hand, and practise the obedience of faith as you ‘maintain justice and do what is right’ (56:1).
Isaiah was the prophet of faith, the faith that trusts the promises, perseveres through the darkness and obediently awaits the Lord’s time.
i. Hope. The forward view, so prominent in the Isaianic literature, has two main foci: the city and the Messiah.
The city. Isaiah’s vision (1:1) concerned Judah and Jerusalem, but to a major extent his preoccupation is the city, with the fate of the whole kingdom bound up with and settled by what happens in Jerusalem. Likewise the future is dominated by the prophet’s expectations of restoration and renewal of the city. It is typical of the importance of this theme that references to the city, its transformation, international centrality and magnetism for pilgrims should provide the brackets around the whole literature: 1:21–26; 2:2–4; 4:2–6 with 65:17–25; 66:7–13; 66:18–24. Like all visionaries Isaiah largely furnished the future from the present. But his development of the ‘city’ theme shows that he was consciously thinking beyond the geographical Zion/Jerusalem to the ideal it embodied. Thus, for example, in 11:6–9 the Lord’s ‘holy mountain’ has become the whole redeemed creation; also in 65:17–18 the easy way the prophet moves from the ‘new earth’ to the newly created Jerusalem speaks to the same point. In the Bible the ‘city’ began (Gen. 11:4) as humankind’s attempt to achieve its own salvation without reference to God, and when Isaiah looks forward to the End, he sees the fall of the ‘city’ humankind has built (24:1–10), Babel on a worldwide scale. As we noted above, the fall of the human city was matched by the stability of the city of salvation (26:1–2). In a word, Isaiah’s vision is of the Mount Zion to which the redeemed have already come (Heb. 12:22) and which is also yet to be revealed from heaven (Rev. 21:2).
The Messiah. The three sections of the Isaianic literature are each dominated by a messianic figure: in the context of inadequate Davidic kings—apostate Ahaz and gullible Hezekiah—Isaiah depicted the glorious King yet to come (chs. 1–37); in the aftermath of Hezekiah’s great sin of unbelief and the judgment of exile on a sinful people, Isaiah foresaw the Servant of the Lord, the sinbearer, effectually the Saviour of the world (chs. 38–55); and finally, envisaging the post-exile people still in subjection, Isaiah promised the coming Conqueror, exacting vengeance, bringing salvation (chs. 56–66). An initial appreciation of these three messianic figures can be gained by reviewing the four passages in which Isaiah portrays each figure: 9:1–7; 11:1–16; 32:1–8; 33:17–24; 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–9; 52:13–53:12; 59:20–21; 61:1–3; 61:10–62:7; 63:1–6. The whole literature is thus a messianic panorama on a grand scale, as the diagram opposite illustrates.
The point at the base of the diagram is ‘Isaiah’s eye’. All he sees, at first, is darkness with a surrounding brightness—for all three ‘black patches’ merge into one, as do all three patches of light. He is not looking down on the diagram as we are, but looking along the dotted middle line into the diagram. He identifies the brightness with the Perfect King, who will be the solution where Ahaz failed.
But then Isaiah lived on into the days of Hezekiah, in which the ‘dark’ problem was posed in a new way: the failure of king and people to trust the Lord’s promises and walk the way of faith, preferring rather the way of ‘works’, a rebellious alliance with Merodach-Baladan. The darkness of Babylonian captivity lay ahead—but now the brightness is that of a Perfect Servant, who will succeed where they failed, and in succeeding will make atonement for their sins.
Then, envisaging the people returning from Babylon, Isaiah sees the darkness of their inability to live for God in a threatening world and a hostile society. They need a deliverer, and the light ahead now reveals a coming Conqueror-Deliverer. As is always the case in the Bible, the truth is cumulative.
ii. God, holiness, sin and salvation. Isaiah is strictly traditional and orthodox in his theology, moving in a non-innovative way among the basic principles of Old Testament thought. His innovation resides in his application and outworking of established and familiar truth.
The Holy One of Israel. In Isaiah, as throughout the Old Testament, the basic idea of ‘holiness’ is ‘otherness’—not ‘otherness’ defined by contrast (other than what?), but ‘otherness’ as distinctiveness (other because what?). In this sense all the gods were holy because they possessed their own distinctive nature, sphere and activity, and those who devoted their lives to the gods were ‘holy’ as belonging to that distinctive sphere—like the ‘shrine-girl’, literally ‘holy woman’ (qĕdēšâ) of Genesis 38:20. Isaiah inherited and furthered the Old Testament understanding that the distinctive of the Lord was his ethical, moral character: to this he gave definitive statement in the ‘thrice-Holy’ of 6:3 (see Commentary, p. 81), a super-superlative, all-embracing holiness that made the Lord the uttermost threat to all sinfulness. Indeed, Isaiah is the pre-eminent prophet of divine holiness. He uses, for example, the adjective ‘holy’ (qādôš) of the Lord more often than all the rest of the Old Testament taken together, and focuses it in a title which he could well have coined, characteristic of the Isaianic literature: The Holy One of Israel. The title is used throughout Isaiah twenty-five times as compared with seven in the rest of the Old Testament. Isaiah 6 stands as a microcosm of the whole book: the Holy One as King (6:1, 5) becomes the theme specially of chapters 56–66; the Holy One as the ground of condemnation of moral condemnation (6:3, 5) is the theme of chapters 1–37; and the revelation of the Holy One as the Savior (6:6–7) finds its fulfillment in the Servant in chapters 38–55.
The Servant of the Lord. Isaiah likewise breaks no new ground in his use of the vocabulary of sin and redemption but, once again, it is in vision and application that he becomes distinctive, referring to the Servant of the Lord in chapters 38–55. The search for an understanding of the Servant has produced a century and more of controversy. There is ground within Isaiah for thinking of the Servant as the nation, Israel: for example, the nation is called ‘my servant’ in 41:8 and the Servant is named ‘Israel’ in 49:3. But as soon as details of any such corporate identification (whether with the nation as a whole or with some ‘remnant’ within the nation) are probed, the theory collapses. In what sense could either nation or group claim the obedience evidenced by the Servant in 50:4–9? Did the nation ever possess the sinlessness required in one who bears another’s sin (53:9; cf. Exod. 12:5)? In what sense could the nation bring the nation back to God (49:5–6)? Likewise, the autobiographical presentation of 49:1–6 and 50:4–9 gives substance to the question in Acts 8:34. But again the scope and demands of the Servant’s role run beyond the character and abilities of any known individual of the past, whether Isaiah or another—not to mention that such an identification would mean that the Servant came, lived and died in the past without leaving any record or ripple in history. As the Commentary shows, if we refuse the fragmentarist approach which began with Duhm and insist in understanding the Songs within an integrated development, the Servant is distinguished in turn from the errant and spiritually numb nation (42:18–25) and from the spiritually committed and expectant remnant (51:1–52:12), leaving a majestic Individual to occupy our gaze (52:13) as he dies bearing the sins of others (53:4–9) and lives to administer the salvation he has won for them (53:10–12).
In portraying the Servant’s death, Isaiah lays under tribute the established vocabulary of Levitical/Mosaic theology and practice: substitution and peace with God through punishment laid, by the will of God, on another (53:5–6, 8), a sinless sufferer (53:9) who provides righteousness for others (53:11) by bearing their sin (53:12). The towering genius of Isaiah was displayed in that he saw so clearly that in its truest sense substitution needs a person to take the place of people. Animal sacrifice can illustrate the principle, but only one who voluntarily accepts the role (53:7) and voluntarily pours out himself (53:12)—that is to say, provides a will to take the place of the sinful will (cf. Heb. 10:5–9)—can achieve by a true substitution the full, indeed final, salvation of those for whom he dies.
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, pp. 30–31). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 30). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, pp. 28–30). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, pp. 27–28). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 27). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, pp. 26–27). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou