EXISTENCE-Part 2

 

OUR EXISTENCE -Part 1

 

SYMBOLISM OF THE CROSS

 

MYSTERY OF CHRIST

 

JUDAIZERS

 Circumcision: 

  After the conversion of Gentiles at Antioch and other places, immediately dissension arose. Because of dissension, the apostles and other disciples met of one accord in a conference at Jerusalem. They were civil and kind in their disagreement, indicating that the Holy Spirit guided their discourse. The issue: Some of the Jewish Christians in the churches of Galatia (Antioch for one) were offended because the Gentile Christians had not been circumcised. Now to review circumcision.

  Circumcision sealed the Abrahamic Covenant. It was the cutting off the foreskin on the genitals of men only. The genitalia are representative of mankind’s main problem, and that is fornication. The Hebrews in Egypt had fornicated against God and continued that in the wilderness. The Hebrews wanted to go back to sin in Egypt and fornicate with other gods again.

  Circumcision is a display of seriousness never to turn back to other gods, but even with that, Hebrews continually turn back. Thus, circumcision of the foreskin was more of a consecration than preservation, and it was not even part of the Law.  Of course, circumcision could be sustaining in that it is a constant reminder that the believer is consecrated unto God — a promise sealed in blood to never turn back.

  Rather than the blood of animals as a sacrfice, circumcision is a sacrifice of a believer’s own blood. The problem with circumcision was that it was done to male children eight days old and not to women. It was not done by the hand of God, but oftentimes carelessly by the hands of another. The Holy Spirit watched on but did not participate, especially in the four-hundred years of silence preceding John the Baptist and the re-annunciation of the Holy Spirit. Neither was circumcision for everyone. It was not for Gentiles nor women and certainly not for the “whosoever believeth” from John 3:16. It was for those who just happened to be born to Hebrews.

  As such, circumcision was an ordinance — something that a higher authority expects to be done. It is a regulation as such as Jews were still Jewish even though they remained uncircumcised.

  Moses, along with his wife and child (Gershom), returned to Egypt. That country represented sin and the Pharaoh, Satan. To Moses, for Gershom to be Hebrew it was necessary to make him Hebrew by circumcision. Gershom, whose name means “a stranger there” represents the country of Israel in scripture as he was a stranger in Egypt. By circumcising Gershom, it was symbolic of circumcising all Israelites, to wit:

²² And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: ²³ And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. ²⁴ And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. ²⁵ Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. ²⁶ So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. (Exod 4:22-26)

  Moses was about to protect Gershom and the Israelites by circumcision of one person. What was the problem with that? It seemed to be the right thing to do. Circumcision was not the Law of Abraham, God, nor Moses. It was only a “seal” to the Abrahamic Covenant. It was not preserving but only dedication of children to God by the act of consecrating through circumcision.

  Moses thought that that work would protect Gershom and Israel from Pharaoh and from the false gods and lascivious lifestyle of the Egyptians. Circumcision only works for a time. After the incision is healed, coitus is pleasant again. Like Adam who covered his genitals with hand-made fig-leaf aprons, and that did not work, Moses’s wife knew that the work of his hand was futile against Satan and Pharaoh.

  In that situation, Zipporah seemed to understand that cutting off foreskin would not preserve the Israelites. She viewed that act as nothing more than shedding of innocent blood that would have no effect on the Israelite people. Zipporah had had a little talk with the Word (Jesus) herself. Somehow, the Holy Spirit had revealed to her the futility of works; that God does not need the hands of men to do His work!

  What would happen? God took care of them, but not by Gershom’s blood, who was not a legtitmate priest because he was not a child od Aaron, but by God’s “blood.” What saved the firstborn of the Israelites when the death angel took the firstborn of the Egyptians, even Pharaoh? God supplied works of His own hands — innocent lambs — whose blood the Jews needed only to paint on the “cross” of the wooden door frames; obviously representing Jesus and the cross. God made the death angel pass over the first born of the Jews and it was not Gershom’s blood but the blood of lambs.

  Not by coincidence, the Lamb of God, Jesus, shed the blood during the Passover but none of the Jews did. It was Jesus who saved mankind… not Gershom (the Jews)! Circumcised people crucified Yahweh. Hence, not only was circumcision of the foreskin not the Law, but it was vanity even thinking that circumcision would preserve the Jews!

  Moses would soon realize that! The Word spoke to Moses as well. “Jesus” (John 1) said, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exod 20:7). Ephraim could not save the Israelites, and neither could circumcision of the wrong man. Jesus had made the Covenant with Abraham, not Gershom!

  Now examine the “command” above. The Name is what Yahweh is called and Yahweh is God’s Existence. The “Name” in scripture is Jesus. Likewise, it is not “saying” the Name, but “taking” the Name, Jesus, in vain. What is the Purpose of Jesus? His Name says it all. Yeshua (Jesus) means “Yahweh protects.” The commandment is to not take the sacrifice of Jesus to be without significance.

  Moses was about to depend on Gershom’s blood. Why was Zipporah so wrathful? Because circumcising her first-born son was taking Jesus’s Purpose vainly. As usual, even Christians misunderstand that commandment. Note the consequence: Anyone who does that is guilty. Zipporah was angry because Moses was guilty of taking God’s preservation of the Israelites vainly.

  It is imperative to understand that things people do that God will do is making them the “god.” Moses would have also broken the First and Second Commandments because He, if he circumcised for the wrong reasons, would have played “God.” Then by cutting the flesh of the foreskin He would have made Gershom out to be a graven image on whom the Israelites would depend. Circumcision would not even have made him a legitimate priest.

  Anything done by the hands of men is not preserving. With that thought, tomorrow we will look at the Galatian issue. 

(picture credit: "A Tale of Two Editors;" Bible Junkies)

HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN? BAPTISM

Baptism:

  People are confused as to the merits of water baptism. That shall presently be examined.

  Still in Antioch where they were first called Christians, the Gentiles were called and then persuaded; called by God and persuaded that Jesus is the way to salvation. For that to be, they believed that Jesus is God. The Gentiles at Antioch believed, but were they safe? I started to write “saved” but that will be addressed momentarily. What had Jesus told the apostles:

¹⁵ And He said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶ He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16)

  The apostles went to many places and had come back to Antioch. They had commenced the Great Commission; to wit: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” To the Jews, Gentiles were “creatures” in the sense that they were not living souls as they thought of themselves. “Living souls” (Gen 2:7) were “very good” creatures (Gen 1:31) with God in them. Adam and Eve, or mankind, were created in Glory and glorified.

  Apparently, Jesus came to change every “creature,” even “beasts” like the Gentiles into glorious creatures who glorify God. Adam, at the start, was a beast like the rest until God breathed life into him. “Life” is not animation but glorification. “Life” is when beastly creatures have the Spirit of God imbued unto them. “Living” then is God within. Adam lost his “life” when he ate of the forbidden fruit. What would revive, or regenerate, Adam? To have God’s Spirit breathed unto him again.

  God kept Adam “safe” with a coat of skins, and Eve as well (Gen 3:21). Safe for what event? When the dead in Christ shall arise to forever be with the Lord in Heaven (1 Thes 4:15-17). At that time, Adam and all those “dead in Christ” shall be with Jesus forever. Adam will finally have a re-genesis and be with God again. In other words, Adam will be regenerated as he was generated in the beginning.

  All those years, Adam’s soul has been preserved and safe from the evil one, and at the “rapture” God will breath again unto Adam’s soul, and Adam will be re-created a living soul. He will again have his “very good” glorious body imbued with God’s Holy Spirit. (More on imbuement shortly).

  Adam was protected by God for a future event. By grace God made them coats from the flesh of a living lamb. For the first time a creature died for mankind; a docile lamb creature. That was for safety until the Perfect Lamb of God would die for mankind as promised Adam (Gen 3:15).

  Now back to the Great Commission of Jesus to his disciples: They were all to preach the gospel; that is the truth about God — that Jesus is God in the Flesh, the Lamb of God promised since the beginning of the world. What would happen as they preached the truth? God would knock and all those who heard could either reject or believe. A decision was required and free will exercised.

  Not all that followed Jesus would continue the Way. After Paul and Barnabas extended their journey, it was necessary to backtrack. Why would they do that?

²¹ And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, ²² Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:21-22)

  To encourage them who previously believed to confirm the souls of converts and that they continue in the faith. The Gentiles at Antioch had been converted — they were called, persuaded, and with that “believed.” Remember the Words of Jesus? “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

  The new Christians at Antioch had believed, but they seemed to have not been baptized. Why would the apostles stop short of the Great Commission? They did not! They did not perform the Baptism of John in water, but Jesus Himself did the baptizing. The “Ghost” of Jesus came down and breathed life unto them. Acts chapter thirteen ends with, “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Act 13:52).

  Before Paul left the first time, the disciples at Antioch believed and were baptized with the Holy Ghost. Had Paul forgotten to baptize them with water as John had? Before the Holy Ghost descended, Luke had said, “John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5). A distinction was made there between water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Ghost — that would be the Baptism of John and the Baptism of Jesus. Jesus had not been concerned with John’s water baptism but His own. Belief and baptism for conversion is belief and reception of the Holy Ghost.

  Paul told the Galatians in his letter, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27). He was speaking to the Church at Antioch in Pisidia in that letter as well.

  The disciples at Antioch had been baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with that, they had “put on Christ” or as He was called, the Lamb of God. There we have it again, God provided the flesh of a lamb to preserve Adam from the world, and He provided the Flesh of His Lamb again to preserve (keep safe) his creatures until the rapture. Death is gain because the soul is saved. The Rapture is perfection because the flesh is saved and reunited with the soul, making again “living souls” from those dead in Christ.

  Remember a few moments ago when you read that the apostles returned to Antioch, “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith?” That was confirmation that the Holy Ghost had truly been put on and encouraging them to continue in the faith wherein they once believed. Paul feared that even those who he confirmed were Christians may have a change of heart. But had they not been “saved?”

  First off, “shall be saved” is a future event. It could be the next instant or many years thereafter. Most reformed churches take it to mean right now. The Greek word in that expression is sosos. It can be interpreted as “safe” or “saved.” The interpretation is based on context. Reformed doctrine would have it as “saved” and Arminian Doctrine implies “safe” in that security is conditional for the latter and unconditional for the former. What would be the “condition” for salvation? That Christians continue in the faith. That would imply that Christians can abandon the faith, and many Christians do; even those that ministers of the gospel have confirmed!

  Paul convinced some using signs. He brought the dead back to life. When he did that, the Gentiles thought that he was one of their gods — Zeus for Barnabas and Hermes for Paul. Signs did not work so well.

  The sign of the Holy Ghost had been as fire in Jerusalem. That was to convince the Jews who required a sign. On the other hand, Gentiles, influenced by the Greeks, would require wisdom (1 Cor 1:22). Hence, the Jews got their sign, but the Gentiles did not. Their Holy Ghost was put on like a coat, just as with Adam and Eve. Some Christians still want a sign but others take God’s Word for it — if the creature changes, the new creature has on the Holy Ghost.

  Water baptism is symbolic of that conversion from the old creature to the new. Putting on the Ghost of Jesus is the way God changed Adam from a sinful creature into a respectful, domesticated creature, and the same way he changes all those that are confirmed Christians. How would Paul confirm the new countenance of those at Antioch? By their countenance. He would judge them according to the joy they had when he had left them before.

  Those who had been baptized with the Holy Ghost at Antioch and other places had not been baptized by water the way that John did it. Others had been baptized with water and then received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Peter asked the other apostles, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” Remember that Paul had already confirmed that the converts at Antioch were Christians because they believed and had been baptized with the Holy Ghost. Water baptism was not confirmation that they were Christians. Joy was!

  Christians were Christians because God had baptized them by putting on them the Holy Ghost, and without the fanfare of fire, I might add. Water baptism came subsequently to their conversion from the old person to the new. Water baptism was a testimony to what had already occurred. Without the evidence of fire, the evidence would be by water. How so? Those joyous with their new persona would want others to know about their conversion. Water baptism is the sign that doubters need to believe. Those who insist that Christians need that sign surely doubt that the Holy Ghost has been imbued into them.

  With this commentary, I have refrained from using the expression, “filled with the Holy Ghost.” As seen from Adam’s “Comforter,” the Holy Spirit was more a “coat” which covered him. That is not so suspect when one considers John’s Baptism. The Holy Spirit did not fill or cover anyone except one: “And I knew him not: but He (the Father) that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, ‘Upon Whom (Jesus) thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost’” (John 1:33).

  Therein is John’s Baptism of water and Jesus’s Baptism with the Holy Ghost. In that passage, God’s Spirit came upon Jesus, not filled Him, and He was the only one! Then John made a distinction between baptisms. His was baptism in water to temporarily cover the flesh, and Jesus’s the baptism of the Holy Ghost which continually covers the flesh as the Comforter, just as Adam’s coat did.

  When will Adam be filled with the Spirit of God? When he is raptured by Jesus. How is Adam preserved until then? He is covered with God’s Holy Spirit as with a coat.

  The definition of pimplemi (Greek interpreted “filled’) is translated as: “filled” as with a sponge (Mat 27:48), “accomplished” (Luke 1:23), and emotion (Luke 4:28; Luke 5:26; Act 3:10). The sponge is more imbuement according to Strong’s Dictionary because sponges can be dampened or saturated. Perhaps the Christian is covered with the Holy Ghost until the rapture, then filled completely as Adam was in the beginning.

  Pentecostals look for the signs of the Holy Spirit. Paul only looked for joy. Joy can be emotional or attitudinal. Christian can be joyous without the emotion, and emotional people may be melancholic.

  For myself, I am not emotional, but I am joyous; I call my brother often to share my joy in what God has done in me. I don’t cheer for my ball team but am elated when they win, all the while remaining unemotional.

  People confuse emotions and countenance. My cousin came to me when in deep spiritual straits, because, he said, “I saw a twinkle in your eye.” He saw a countenance in me that was not always there. He did not see a jumping, shouting, David-like twirler; he merely saw a twinkle. If anyone needs the emotion, I can fake it for them anytime they choose. You may not feel as if you have the Holy Ghost, but if you are a confirmed faithful person, you do!

  Only you and God know how you are. Confirm your own faith. That is done not by your emotions but your faith. If you have continued in your faith, you indeed have the Holy Ghost who keeps you safe until Jesus saves you personally in the end!

(picture credit: Tonya Aevenshine "Rapture" Pinterest)

HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN? PERSUASION

 PERSUASION: 

  “Election” is not some type of divine lottery where, before the beginning of the world, living souls were destined for either Heaven of Hell; election was making everyone available for eternal life — that none should perish.

  John 3:16 is interpreted differently in the different versions. In the King James it is “should” and in many others it is “shall” in the sense that eternal life is that the elected certainly will not perish! Perhaps “should” is the best translation because it is the past tense of future tense “shall.” Standing in the future, if any perish, they should not have! How so? There is a choice.

  Free-will is given two choices, people can of their own volition select one. Everyone should be saved. Because grace is free, there is no reason not to be. No one should perish. Nobody is required to pay or lose anything to be saved. Agrippa said to Paul, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Act 26:28)

  Paul almost persuaded Herod Agrippa to be a Christian. That is to successfully argue that Jesus could be Agrippa’s Savior and should be! Agrippa remained unconvinced. His mind fought God all the way to Hell. Agrippa should have been spared from perishing.

  What would he have to do? Nothing; his mind would require virtual movement. Agrippa was given a choice; Is Jesus his personal Savior. There are two answers: Yes or no! Agrippa rejected Jesus because there was no cognitive movement. Grace would have been available to him as well if he had sacrificed himself to Jesus in return for Jesus’s sacrfice of Himself for Herod.

  The Jews accused Paul of persuasive arguments; “This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the Law” (Act 18:13). Paul was not arguing in contrariness to the Law. He was arguing that Jesus fulfilled the Law as Jesus Himself said.

  Their perception was the Paul was trying to outwit them to persuade them to change allegiance from Yahweh to Jesus. The Law was to have no other gods in My face, to literally translate the First Commandment. And there he was — Paul was arguing that Jesus is the Face of God, but they failed to see God’s Face because Moses said they would die of they did.

  The First Commandment meant death if the Hebrews saw anyone else’s face on Yahweh. Finally, at the transfiguration, Moses saw that Jesus is the Face of God, and his spirit lived on. Death is not the flesh perishing but the soul. The Jews failed to understand that just as Adam and Eve had not!

  With that said, there is not a new covenant and an old one. There is not a New Testament and an Old Testament; there is one testament, and that is Jesus fulfilling the Law (Luke 24:44).  That there is One Covenant is the Mystery of God. Just what is the mystery?

²⁶ Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: ²⁷ To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: ²⁸ Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. (Col 1:26-28)

  The mystery is old. It was hidden but is now revealed. That prosperity is not only for the Jews but the Gentiles as well. That the mystery all along was Christ in you (whosoever). That anyone who has Christ in him has the hope of glory. It is for every man, and the teaching is through appealing to reason in search of wisdom. That it is for everyone — for the human race — Jew or Gentile, and that Christ makes anyone perfect in Himself. In simpler terms that none should perish, not even pagans, and that all along it was through Jesus the Messiah. Furthermore, it was never by works but of grace.

  The Abrahamic Covenant promised “prosperity” to the Jews if they followed God. How to follow were given in the Ten Words of Jesus (The Ten Commandments) and are really the Ten Prescriptions for Eternal Health. It only depends if those who are sick understand them as commanded prescriptions where God forces the doses down the pallet or whether the sick person takes the “medicine” of his or her own accord.

  When does Jesus come? When people are of “one accord” (Acts 2:1) and 22 other places in apostolic scripture. In accord with whom? God and each other. The first four of the “Ten Prescriptions” are for accordance with God, and the latter six, accordance with one another. The Beatitudes reveal the cure of those in accord.

  For Abraham, the “land” from the sea to the Euphrates was the promise, but the Hebrews misunderstood! It was not the “Promised Land” but the “Promised Paradise.” Land is in the physical realm, but Paradise in the spiritual. For the Jews, prosperity is still about land. For Christians, it is about Paradise. Jesus made that point with one specific beatitude, “The meek shall inherit the earth.”

  Just like the Abrahamic Covenant, it appears that the meek (those in accord with Jesus and others) would inherit land. John set that straight when he saw New Jerusalem return to its physical place in Jerusalem. It was not just the land at all for prosperity; it was heaven and earth! For Jews and Gentiles, the mystery of God was the same Covenant, that by the grace of Jesus, glory is the hope of those who are persuaded.

  Where is Glory? In the Presence of God. The Garden Paradise was glorious(perfect) and so will be the City of God when it comes back to Paradise. The Jews understand that the Garden of Eden was on their land but fail to believe it will return to Paradise lost. To have the hope of glory, everyone must understand that there is a place to be saved, and a place to exist since they are lost.

  Sinners are saved from perishing; that place from which they are saved is Hell. Those redeemed by Jesus are bound for the heavenly Paradise. To be saved requires that there exists Hell and Heaven. The hope of Christians is salvation. Paul called it the “hope of salvation” (1 Thes 5:8).

  Agrippa believed that there was a Jesus. That was a good start. He may have followed parts of the Law, but he, like the other Jews, failed on one point — the Law of Love. With that, he failed on all Ten Prescriptions for Eternal Health. It was not worth him doing what was prescribed by Jesus (in the Ten Words of Jesus). On the other hand, the Pharisees took not their own “medicine” but forced everyone else to take theirs! Medicine cannot be forced on people or it will only be vomited up, only to require taking again — i.e., “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly” (Prov 26:11).

  The points made herein are four-fold: (1) There is but one Covenant and that is the Adamic Covenant (Gen 3:15), and that is the hope of salvation for those who endure to the end (Mat 24:13). Endure what? The world and its hatred. (2) Since it is the Adamic Covenant it is not race specific. It is for whosoever should not perish. (3) It is by grace for nobody, but Jesus, paid the price. Abraham knew that and it was accounted to him as faith. And (4) Signs are ineffectual: “(Jesus) said unto him, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Because of free-will, everyone must be persuaded and choose Jesus.

  Unlike the animals, Adam-kind was made in the image of God. God has a faculty that was created in His creatures. God’s Will for mankind is that they should be saved. That is a choice, and a decision to be made. People must want to be saved to be saved. The faculty of the will of people determines who shall be saved. Between should and shall is persuasion.

  Christians were first called that at Antioch. What transformed them from pagan people into chosen ones? After the others left, “Many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God” (Act 13:43).

  Continue? Yes! As recounted in part one (yesterday) they went part way. Jesus knocked and they answered. Paul was well on the way persuading them to be Christians! They would be persuaded because they were called to hear, listen, evaluate, and believe. That took no work on their part. They merely stood outside and listened, and Jesus began a good work in them. The Jewish congregation left as unbelievers and hearkened not unto Paul. The Gentiles hearkened unto Paul and through him they heard the Word speaking.

  The Gentiles were “humming” the Jewish song but the Jews left the choir: “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10). God was right then exalted among the “heathen” gentiles because they stood still and listened while the Jews went on their way!

 

P.S.

  This is not part of the commentary, but those at Antioch Pisida was where they were first called “Christians” (Act 11:26). There were two cities named Antioch. This one in the region of Galatia and another one in Syria.

  Yesterday, I had an epiphany! First a little background.

  The Church in Great Britain is as old as the apostolic age. Although its origins are not known for certain, there is evidence that Christianity flowed there in confluence with Rome. It seems that the Romans are the first to bring Christianity to “Britannia” as it was called at that time. A book even attempts to prove that Paul went to Britain and introduced the heathen to Christianity (Saint Paul in Britain by R. W. Morgan). He does present a good case, and a large portion of his argument is that Celtic Druids were ripe for Christianity based on their pagan gods and rituals. Paul showed at Antioch that pagan Celts there were receptive to Christianity.

  “Celts?” you ask. Galatians were Gauls or Gaelics. They spoke Gaelic, one dialect of the Celts. The Gauls prepared the world for proselytization from Hellenistic and Gaelic Druid gods and goddesses that were like the Greeks’ pantheon of gods. The Gauls inhabited the land between Thrace and Britannia two-and-one-half centuries before Christ was born. God allowed the Celts in nearby Thrace to defeat the indignant people of Anatolia and grew a Celtic area in its place as part of the Roman Empire.

  God builds nations for His purposes. He built Babylon to teach the Jews a harsh lesson, and He created the Roman Empire to spread the gospel. Not so obvious is that God had two plans in place. He created Celtic Galatia to spread the Good News as well!

  Joseph of Arimathea, according to ancient British texts, was the first to bring Christianity to the British Isles. Legend, or perhaps history, has it that Joseph was the keeper of the Holy Grail. I have written before that my opinion is that the Holy Grail is not the “cup” that the apostles drank but the “cup” that Jesus would not pass to others, in other words, His actual body, blood, and water suffering on the cross. The “Holy Grail” that Joseph may have taken t Britain was the Doctrine of Christ which was His Purpose for suffering death. The Holy Grail has never been found because it is perhaps the very Soul of Jesus and is the Container for His Holy Ghost. In other words, Joseph seems to have brought the Holy Ghost to Britain.

  Was Paul there? There is no credible evidence that Paul went to Britain. Morgan connected Rome with the founding of British Christianity. Perhaps it was not Rome’s proselytization, but Galatia’s (Gaul’s). Joseph is credited with forming the Church at Glastonbury in Somerset, England. The original name of Glastonbury came from the Celtic word, “Glestinga” which has an unknown etymology. I would like to think it is associated somehow with Galatia but that is mere hyperbole on my part.

  However, perhaps the Galatians are the true candidates for spreading Christianity to Britain. That makes sense as they were first called Christians in Galatia and who better to carry the gospel to the Celts than those speaking the Gaelic language? Linguists write that the common language of Galatia in apostolic times was Celtic (Wikipedia). Perhaps Joseph, accompanied by the Church at Galatia, carried the gospel to Glestinga! Maybe Paul in person did not go the Britain, but perhaps his first Church did. What did Jesus teach? To teach the nations about Christ (Mark 13:10).

  Rather than continue standing still outside the synagogue in Antioch or turning a deaf ear to Paul’s words about Jesus, the Galatians fulfilled the Great Commission. Well, it turns out that surely was the case:

⁴⁷ For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” ⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. (Act 13:47-49)

  My hypothesis: That Celtic Gaelic speaking Gentiles were the first to take Christianity to Britain. What did the Lord command them to do? They should be the ones to take salvation to the ends of the Earth. In apostolic times, where was the ends of the Earth? Britannia. The end of the Earth stopped at Hadrian’s Wall between England and Scotland before it was ever built! I believe that Romans took war to Britannia, but Galatians took the love of God.

  “Thou (the Lord of Hosts) art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms” (Jer 51:20). The Romans could never defeat the Celts with their vast armies and power. However, the Celts overcame England with the Word of God. The Romans put up a wall to keep the pagans away from them. The Lord tore down that wall! He overcame the Druids in Britain and won the war for Christ… The war that the Romans lost, and the Church that the Roman Church forsook. 

(To be continued tomorrow)

(picture credit: Venice Church of Christ; "Paul at Antioch")