The Foundation Of Spiritual Gifts Within The Church Pt. 1

 

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What Cleanses Us From Sin? Lessons On Atonement

"What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!"

In a recent conversation with a friend and fellow pastor, I was compelled to share some insights on the atonement and under what basis and process that our sins are forgiven. In this dialogue, we look at Leviticus 16 as the backdrop for understanding what the bible calls the Day Of Atonement, or the day by Jewish tradition, the annual day when the sins of the nation would be forgiven. 

The Day Of Atonement or Yom Kippur was an annual day established in Lev. 23:26. The commands regarding the day and what sacrifices were supposed to take place were actually given in Lev. 16. This day,

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"In The Name Of"...The TRUTH & The Granville Sharp Rule

Matthew 28:19-20 ~ "19-Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20-Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Acts 2:38 ~ "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

In my post dealing with Bishop Noel Jones and his recent attempts to make the heretical belief in oneness doctrine and its resultant baptismal formula requirement "In Jesus Name" more palatable and acceptable for mainstream and trinitarian believers, the Bishop challenges those that disagree with him with the following statement:

"Well if they were baptized in the name of the Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost, it can't be a contradiction"...."It' can't be a contradiction or Jesus would have started the biggest revolution in the whole Christian matrix"...In Matthew 28:19: the name of Jesus was implicit, it was implied. In Acts 2:38 the name is not implied, it's explicated. Now, my word to anybody who would call me a heretic, is, if something is implicit and something is explicit, it can't be contradictory"..."Matthew 28:19 does not contradict Acts 2:38, neither does Acts 2:38 contradict Matthew 28:19."

I have dealt with the bishop's assertion previously in print HERE, and by audio HERE and HERE, but I thought to revisit the issue adding a little more detail to my previous argument in effort to equip believers with additional information. 

Preface

I would like to say that, this topic wasn't confused by the early church as some may think. The early church certainly struggled with the concept that God revealed himself as three distinct persons in his dealings with the church and the world, but this distinction wasn't blurred until the 4th Century  heretical beliefs of Sabellianism appeared. The misteaching is that The Council Of Nicea established the Trinity. This is a patently false understanding! Nicea defended how Jesus was deity rising to establish a standard against the heresy of Arius, who taught that Jesus was god but not the eternal God. Arianism taught that Jesus was the greatest of all God's created beings, was created out of nothing and was divine in as much as he was like the Father but that he was yet a created being. I will deal with this issue and what happened at Nicea in a separate post.

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