Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

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Six of these aspects seem clear enough, but what is meant by „one faith‟? One commentator says it means „justifying faith‟, but it seems to me that the term „one faith‟ cannot be limited to one aspect of faith. Rather, I believe that it embraces all that it means to be committed to God in Christ: the phrase is a description of the tie that binds all Christians together, that distinctive „smell‟ of Christianity that C S Lewis refers to and which we mentioned in the Preface. It is that vision of a redeeming God which all his children have, however limited the vision of it is (1 Corinthians 13.12). Paul says this unity is only achieved by hard effort, to manifest what God has already given us in Christ. It is a unity made and inspired by the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4.3), but Christians must make every effort to guard it in the binding power of the Spirit of God. In other words, we must not let the bonds of peace be loosened. How is this to be done in practical terms? Not by never disagreeing with our fellow Christians, but by having peace, goodwill, benevolence in all our dealings with one another. It will probably involve our saying sorry (and meaning it), and letting our feelings or inclinations be ignored or even hurt, though it will not mean setting aside our consciences. The really difficult thing in working out principles of unity between believers is to know when to say „no‟ to self and one‟s own hopes and ideas in the interest of the common good, and when one‟s own views ought to prevail. I think most of the squabbles in churches and fellowships have to do with having personal feelings hurt rather than matters of principle being the real issue. Paul sees unity among believers as a sign of maturity, and his vision is that this maturity should be entered into by all Christians as they come to know Christ better and better. We cannot say we know Christ and are „attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ‟ (Ephesians 4.13) if we are not at one with our fellow Christians. d) Acts 15. The Council of Jerusalem There was conflict in the early days of the Church over the place in the church for the Jewish Torah. Did Gentiles have to submit to these laws and rituals as well as their fellow Jewish Christians? It was a crucial issue. Lois Malcolm, in a footnote to her essay in The Ecumenical Future 205 points out that this passage in the Acts telling the story of the debate of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15.1-35) lies at the very heart of Luke‟s account of the Christian faith. It is exactly half way through his book. It marks the turning point in the early history of the Church. At first most Christians were Jews brought up to observe the law of Moses, but soon many Gentiles, particularly in Antioch in Syria, were brought into the Church. They had no background of Jewish lawkeeping. Were these believers now under obligation to keep of all Torah requirements and, more importantly, were they really a part of Israel or still outsiders as Gentiles had always been considered? 205 Ed Braaten, Carl E and Jenson, Robert W, The Ecumenical Future, William B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2004, p 222. Page 169
The „apostles and elders‟ of the Church in Jerusalem met to consider this matter (v 6). Peter, Paul and Barnabas related how they had come to see that Gentiles who believe in Jesus were accepted by God (v 8), and had received the Holy Spirit and had had their hearts purified by faith, implying it was not by law-keeping (v 9). They were therefore „saved‟ without lawkeeping. James, the Lord‟s brother, accepted this position and accepted, moreover, that such Gentiles who had come to Christ were now part of God‟s people (v 14), since by believing in Jesus they now bore the Lord‟s (Yahweh‟s) name (v 17). James made a personal recommendation to the Council that Gentile converts to Christ should not have things made difficult for them (v 19). He said they should not be forced to be circumcised as some church teachers had been demanding (v 1) and thus be bound to keep the whole law of Moses, but that they should be asked to abstain from food picked up in the market place which had been polluted by being offered to idols. They should also be asked to keep from sexual immorality and from eating meat which had not had the blood drained from it and, generally, „from blood‟ (v 20). A letter to be sent to Gentile Christians to declare this resolution was then drafted, and this was endorsed by the whole of the „Council‟ as the evident working of the Holy Spirit (v 28). The letter was well received by the Church in Antioch. What is the significance of all this for Christian Unity today? • We learn from Acts 15 that the Christian faith is rooted firmly in God’s grace. Faith in Christ, not keeping of the law (that is, not law-keeping that would destroy grace), is how anyone becomes accepted by God. To have to rely on circumcision would have destroyed grace. So Gentile Christians were asked to „avoid‟ (v 29) the four things listed in the letter. This in no way compromised their acceptance by God by grace. They had to stand aloof from pagan practices just as aliens living in Israel had been required to do under the Levitical code. So God‟s grace is the ground of Christian Unity today, not doctrinal distinctives which do not undermine grace. • Though one man made the judgment at first (v 19), his ruling was endorsed by the whole Council. The Holy Spirit brings unanimity in decision-making in the Church, and we ought to aim at this in our ecumenical contacts today. • The ruling was open to being adapted to local circumstances. Later, Paul, who agreed with the decision of the Council, adapted the ruling so that it would not become a hard and fast rule. He accepted that providing one‟s fellow-Christians were not offended, food offered to idols could be eaten, as idols did not exist anyway (1 Corinthians 8). We can learn from this that rulings made by Christian bodies can be adapted to changing circumstances, but not, of course, if they were to undermine a basis of faith rooted in grace. Page 170
Page 1 and 2:
Digging Out the Embedded Church Dis
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The Maranatha Community comprises t
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Introduction CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chr
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ead, nicely browned on top. He plac
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HOW DO WE DIG OUT THE EMBEDDED CHUR
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That the Church should express this
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For Alfeyev, „Faith is a gift, th
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„heresies„ of the Early Church
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Traditionally, the Church has made
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CHAPTER 1 CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE EA
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A certain Docetic teacher, often id
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Novatianism When the persecutions o
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The fortunes of the Arian party in
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An attempt was made in 482 AD (29 y
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was development in the interpretati
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CYPRIAN AND AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO The
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position would see baptism as not t
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The Eastern Church‟s relationship
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insisted from the second Lateran Co
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There is so much that Orthodoxy sha
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we do not talk to each other. Our t
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The question of heresy does not com
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They were missionary-minded and the
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Lollard ideas lingered in English r
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CHAPTER 4 THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: W
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unity‟s sake in subsequent centur
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Erasmus wrote he asserts, through o
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attle-cry, is perhaps the most famo
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Regulations for the good ordering o
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Eucharist was not just a commemorat
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CHAPTER 5 QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME O
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How rare then it is to meet a man w
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are often much bigger divisions bet
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St Germanus of Constantinople - 8 t
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manner. He declared that men could
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S L Greenslade - 20 th Century: „
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CHAPTER 6 HOPES FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
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imminent return of Christ (Komensky
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a concern that merchant adventurers
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also anti-Socinian. Calixtus himsel
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The Eastern Churches were not rent
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everyone - from outward forms to in
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Women were not usually members of t
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work in America, shows him, though
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The aim of the conference was to br
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From 1768 Harris‟s home at Talgar
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twice more to congregations of Whit
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denominations was not their distinc
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It was from the overseas Protestant
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THE OXFORD TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT Anot
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the Church of England‟s doctrinal
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„We pray that… all who desire t
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thereof, in prayer, in the remembra
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honours the Lord and his Word; the
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apostolic church enjoyed, and that
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episcopate were too radical for mos
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Denominations began to form their o
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In this Shanghai Conference‟s Rep
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With so much talk of unity and coop
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„The liturgical movement in weste
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• Sharing a corporate life of wit
Page 123 and 124: • Our acknowledgement of the Apos
Page 125 and 126: (h) The Evangelical Church in Germa
Page 127 and 128: It changed nothing in respect of do
Page 129 and 130: Some Evangelical Protestants want t
Page 131 and 132: • It is in continuity with the
Page 133 and 134: But things have changed. Richard Ma
Page 135 and 136: evangelism - (and) state what the r
Page 137 and 138: Repentance and faith are at the hea
Page 139 and 140: outcome of being justified. Agreeme
Page 141 and 142: Virgin‟s salutary influence on me
Page 143 and 144: h) Confession The sacrament of pena
Page 145 and 146: demanding way would be sin. The que
Page 147 and 148: If the opportunity for the Church t
Page 149 and 150: Ministers, priests and laypeople in
Page 151 and 152: West Kirby, near to my home, the Si
Page 153 and 154: n) Shared Study Courses There is a
Page 155 and 156: Even some Protestant churches today
Page 157 and 158: Vincent de Lérins spoke of a „pr
Page 159 and 160: It is not likely, in the foreseeabl
Page 161 and 162: Christ and are trying their best to
Page 163 and 164: upon the name of our Lord Jesus Chr
Page 165 and 166: Perhaps this dying process is now b
Page 167 and 168: economic factors giving rise to suc
Page 169 and 170: deeper ecumenism, one that does not
Page 171 and 172: APPENDIX 1 THE NICENO-CONSTANTINOPO
Page 173: APPENDIX 2 FOUR BIBLICAL TEXTS ON T
Page 177 and 178: „The purpose of the Reformation C
Page 179 and 180: What all three traditions have in c
Page 181 and 182: Cromwellian period, in a treatise o
Page 183 and 184: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS
Page 185 and 186: Cullman, Oscar, The Earliest Christ
Page 187 and 188: McCarthy, Tim, The Catholic Traditi
Page 189 and 190: Letter concerning the civil princip
Page 191 and 192: Coptic Orthodox Church, 10 Council
Page 193 and 194: Parousia, 24, 68, 93 Paul VI, 10, 1
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