Although there are those in the Body of Christ who do not accept the office of the apostle, Christ indeed gave apostles, and other offices, to the Body "for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Eph. 4:11-13
Since the Body of Christ has not yet achieved this fullness and perfection, the office and purpose of the apostle has not passed away.
The apostles and prophets are the foundation of a great, living, holy, spiritual temple with Christ as the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). This living temple is commonly called "the Church", but a more accurate term is the New Testament Greek word ekklesia meaning "the called out assembly of God's people". The Ekklesia is not defined by a physical building, or denomination. It is a temple created out of living souls: "Ye are God's building...Ye are the temple of God." (1 Cor. 3:9-16). The people that are this temple are not restricted to a certain race, heritage, or culture. This Ekklesia, this living temple, is made from "all nations, kindreds, people, and tongues" (Rev. 5:9, 7:9). If any group of people, who have been called by the election of God, are excluded from this living temple, then, by definition, this temple is not the temple of God. It is not the Ekklesia because the foundation upon which the spiritual building is being constructed is not the correct foundation.
We face just this sort of situation. The early fathers of the Church (see the Councils of Laodicea, and Nicaea), decided to exclude all observance of Jewish Sabbaths and Feast Days although Jesus, Himself, adhered to and embodied these very things, not in a religious manner, but in the spiritual truths that these appointed days represented. To deny these appointed days would be to deny Himself. Accordingly, He was circumcised on the eighth day (Lk. 2:21). At the age of twelve, He listened to and questioned the doctors of the temple, fulfilling what was required of Him at that age (Lk. 2:46, 49). Every year from His childhood onward, He attended the appointed feasts (Lk. 2:4). He participated in the Mikveh, the baptism of repentance of John saying, "...it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." (Mt. 3:13-15.
The incorrect foundation established upon the exclusion of Torah truth from the Church, was further built upon by the leader of the Reformation, Martin Luther. The same Luther who brought forth the scriptural truth of salvation through grace, by faith, also in later years, wrote shameful lies* about the Jewish people, and the Torah doctrines to which they adhered. These comments were so vile, it is not seemly to give them the light of day here. He even went so far as to advocate violence against synagogues, and the Jewish people themselves. He documented these things in his work, "Volume 47: The Christian in Society", in 1543. Though Luther started in truth with his revelation on salvation, the false teaching of enmity with the Jewish people, and with the Jewish faith, built a crooked house that had terrible repercussions in later history. It is time to restore the apostolic foundation of truth to the Ekklesia.
The following is the true apostolic foundation of the Ekklesia concerning the Jewish people from the Apostle Paul, who insisted that there is no complete Body of Christ without the Jewish believer, without Israel:
- Gentiles, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, have now through Christ, been brought near. (Eph. 2:12-13
- Christ abolished in His flesh the enmity that existed between the two groups, and made both one, breaking down the wall of partition between the two. (Eph. 2:15).
- Now Gentiles are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. (Eph. 2:19).
- This (the joining together mentioned above) is the building fitly framed together, built together, that grows into a holy temple of God. (Eph. 2:21-22).
- Paul asks, "Hath God cast away His people (meaning the Jews)?" He answers, "God forbid. God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew." He states that "even at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. (Rom. 11:1-2, 5).
- The stumbling of the Jews was so salvation could also come to the Gentiles (v.11). The world was reconciled to God, because the Jew was cast away, and the receiving again of the Jews shall be life from the dead. (v. 15).
- "How much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree? And so all Israel shall be saved." (v. 26).
In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus taught about a house, properly built, dug deep, with its foundation set upon the rock (Jesus, the Truth, the Word). This house will stand against the flood. However, the house without a foundation, built instead upon the earth (worldly understanding and ways), will fall before the flood, and great will be the ruin of that house.
The Gospel is to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, or Gentile (see Rom. 1:16). It is necessary to restore this apostolic foundation, with Jesus Christ as its cornerstone, or the house will not stand.
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