True faith through love of Christ in a predisposition to humility or cognitive dissonance?
You are not going to truly see scripture unless you begin to see these things.
First, you must take God at His word when He said, “ This is my body.”
Second, you must see faith, grace, and works, as the first century church lived these things.
Third , you are not going to come close to understanding the Book of Hebrews unless you have the faith to believe that the mystical body of Christ is not a metaphor but a heavenly reality.
4th once you understand Yom Kippur, then you will begin to understand why in the New Covenant there is an ordained priesthood in the chosen people, the Holy Nation, the Royal Priesthood of the baptized into the promise of Abraham fulfilled.
Faith, Grace, Works
See grace faith and works as a first century Jewish convert would.
The laws written on our hearts that came when the Holy Spirit entered the world through Christ, ( Hb 10:19) that as Christians, we raise to the beatitudes, is grace given freely as opposed to the flawed consciousness of hardened hearts of the world in general before Christ.
All of sacraments including the first of baptism which destroys original sin, giving sealing and entrance into the New Covenant of the chosen people, the holy nation, the Royal Priesthood, is grace given freely.
The apostles were Jews who never separated belief from a covenant relationship with God. God establishes covenants with covenant oath and covenant curse for breaking the oath.
Therefore Paul can say that it is his job ( in the church) to bring about obedience to the faith. Obedience to the covenant oath, and scripture shows how sin breaks the covenant oath. (There is sin unto death) But in God's mercy there is the grace given freely of confession; ( Jn 20:23) the covenant is the “ way”. This is a covenant prophesied in the Old World as a universal covenant of God and the remnant of the Jews and Gentile nation. (Hos 2:23, Ps 22:31, Mal 1:11, Rm 98,Rm 9:25)
The only works Paul expressed that we are not responsible for are the second legislation of Mosaic Law which is the curse of the law given for worshiping the golden calf, this was the boast of the Judaizers. Jewish ritual, ceremonial and circumcision which is fulfilled in baptism.
We are saved through transforming grace not works.
If you begin to see scripture through these understandings then you will begin to “see” scripture.
Hebrews Yom Kippur
Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism
I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. The mystical body of Christ is not a metaphor. Yom Kippur is the image, a type, for the true Passover for the general redemption of the world in the Holy Mass.
Everything comes together through faith in Gods words.
This IS my body.
Everything needs to be seen through the context that his body with he as the head of the body is not a metaphor but a heavenly reality.
A lot of Hebrews shows us the spiritual fulfillment of Yom Kippur where the high priest has entered the Holies. But what you must visualize is how Jesus takes his body spiritually with him into the holy of Holies.
Paul starts to explain this by giving us images of the fulfillment of the meeting tent.
In Titus 3:5
He says we are not saved by our own justices but by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Spirit or bath of rebirth.
We do not enter the veil through our own justices but through baptism into Christ Jesus.
The Levitical priests needed to wash in the bronze laver before entering the veil less perhaps they died.
Unless you are born again of water and spirit you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Do you see the parallel?
The kingdom of heaven is spiritually the flesh of Christ.
5Not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost.
Titus 3:5
19Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ: 20A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh: 21And a high priest over the house of God: 22Let us draw near with a true heart, in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with clean water.
Hb 10
The flesh of Christ is also the bride the church.
5Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and delivered himself up for it: 26That he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life:
Ephesians 5:25
There is that word laver again ( Baptism into the flesh of Christ)
0Because we are members of him, body, of his flesh and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother: and shall cleave to his wife. And they shall be two in one flesh. 32This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ and in the church.
Eph 5:30
So with this in your mind is where you should begin to read the book of Hebrews through.
It is a deep spiritual journey that culminates with the image of how Christ takes his body to heaven and as our high priest Melchizedek through his body as the hosts of heaven forever presents a sacrifice of glorified bread and wine as propitiation for the world; the worlds general redemption.
Not as a Levitical priesthood constantly sacrificing bulls and goats which never took away sins, but through the covenant memorial of the cross as the true Passover for the world.
This gives deep meaning to Jesus saying, I strongly desire to celebrate this Passover with you.
A Passover he called His body.
. As it was answered to Moses, when he was to finish the tabernacle: See (saith he) that thou make all things according to the pattern which was shewn thee on the mount. 6But now he hath obtained a better ministry, by how much also he is a mediator of a better testament which is established on better promises.
Hb 8:5
But you are come to mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, 23And to the church of the firstborn who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel.
25See that you refuse him not that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke upon earth, much more shall not we that turn away from him that speaketh to us from heaven.
Hb 12:22
This is the spiritual reality of the body of Christ in the Holy Mass the true Passover, the general redemption of the world.
Christ our true pasch ( Passover Lamb) has been sacrificed, let us keep the feast.
For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink this cup you will show the death of the Lord UNTIL HE COMES AGAIN
The apostles were given the most sacred mysteries of the universe and even veiled these mysteries as God told them to do.
Do not give what is holy to the dogs.
The earliest reference we have to this phrase is the first Catechism of the Catholic Church called the Didache written in 70 AD. It explains that no one is to receive the Eucharist until they are first baptized into the Church because Jesus said, " do not give what is holy to the dogs ." So the church due to sacredness and persecution guarded these mysteries In allegory.
"The Lord said, 'You will celebrate the memorial of My death, that is, the Passover Sacrifice . . . at the cock's crow, at dawn, you will perform My feast of love and My memorial' . . . . The Apostles said, 'Lord, haven't You drunk to the full of the Passover Sacrifice? Is it then necessary that we do it again?' Jesus responded, 'Yes, it is necessary, until I come again from the Father'" (Epistola Apostolorum 13; A.D. 140).
The Ordained.
HISTORICALLY
When did the Catholic Priesthood begin?
The early church said it began with the apostles.
You have to deny history.
He who knows what is right and refuses to do so for him this is sin.
Teachings of the Apostles Syriac
The city of Rome, and all Italy, and Spain, and Britain, and Gaul, together with all the rest of the countries round about them, received the apostles' ordination to the priesthood from Simon Cephas, who went up from Antioch
Teachings of the Apostles Syriac
And by ordination to the priesthood, which the apostles themselves had received from our Lord, did their Gospel wing its way rapidly into the four quarters of the world.
Irenaeus of Lyons Book 4 ch 8.3 (120-180 ad)
And all the apostles of the Lord are priests, who do inherit here neither lands nor houses, but serve God and the altar continually.
SCRIPTURE SHOWING PRIESTLY FUNCTION.
This is why I left you in Crete, to ordain—— in every city as I have ordained you. Titus 1:5
Let the—— who rules well be worthy of double honor especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. 1 Tim 5:17
Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the —— of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. Jm 5:13
That I should be the —— of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles; sanctifying the gospel of God, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Ghost. Rm 15:16
Receive the Holy Spirit whose sins you shall forgive are forgiven. Jn 20:19
The chalice of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? And the bread, which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord ?
1 Cor 2:16
WORD STUDY ON PRIEST.
Elder and presbyter are in the etymology of priest. Hiereus means someone dedicated to the temple, a priest, but the word priest is not derived phonetically nor etymologically from Hiereus, it is derived from presbyteros in which the shortened form of the word is priest. The apostles wrote while the temple was still standing and needed to distinguish the difference between the priests of the Old Covenant that offered bulls and goats and the priesthood of the new that ministered in the sacraments. It looks like they did so by modeling the priesthood according to the 70 elders who had the hands of Moses laid on them to convey the grace of God as Bishops have done to priests since the beginning of Christianity. Paul told Timothy, “ Do not lay your hands on anyone in haste.” In other words, try and make sure they are going to be worthy of the priesthood.
Up until the Golden Calf the elders were first born family priests. After the Golden Calf the Levitical Priesthood ( Hiereus belonging to the temple) was formed. Through Christ the consecrated first born the true priesthood was restored in the New Covenant
Moses called the elders together to communicate the Passover commands ( Exodus 12:22) Moses was a type for Christ.
And he said to them: With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer. Lk 22:15
Christ established His priesthood to give the true Passover commands.
The Holy Mass is the true Passover for the general redemption of the world. It is how Christ redeemed the world.
“Word Study
Elders ( Jas 5:14)
Presbyteros (Gk.): an "elder", "elderly man", or "presbyter". The word is used 66 times in the NT. It has its primary background in the OT and Jewish tradition, where "elders" (Heb., zeqenim) referred to the tribal leaders of Israel appointed by Moses (Ex 24:1; Num 11:16) and to the members of a city's judicial council (Josh 20:4).
By the first century, it was a collective name for Pharisaic teachers (Mt 15:2), for a group within the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:3), and for the senior officials of a Jewish synagogue. This notion of ruling and religious elders carried over into Christian tradition and was applied to its own appointed leaders (Acts 14:23; 15:2; 20:17; 21:18). An "elder" or "presbyter" thus came to refer to an ordained shepherd of the Church who preached the gospel and administered the sacraments (1 Tim 5:17; Tit 1:5; Jas 5:14). The English word "priest" is derived from this Greek term.”
Etymology of priest
priest (n.)
Middle English prēst, "cleric ranking below a bishop and above a deacon, a parish priest," from Old English preost, which probably was shortened from the older Germanic form represented by Old Saxon and Old High German prestar, Old Frisian prestere, all from Vulgar Latin *prester "priest," from Late Latin presbyter "presbyter, elder," from Greek presbyteros "elder (of two), old, venerable," comparative of presbys "old
This is way more than enough for any person of common sense to see that God established the Catholic priesthood but we can go even further.
PAUL SANCTIFIED AN OBLATION AS A PRIESTLY FUNCTION.
That I should be the minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles; sanctifying the gospel of God, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Ghost.
Rm 15:16
In the Greek Paul uses a variant of Herius.
A minister in the priestly service who through the Holy Spirit sanctifies an oblation for the Gentiles in the church.
Berean Study Bible
to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God
World English Bible
that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest the Good News of God
Young's Literal Translation
for my being a servant of Jesus Christ to the nations, acting as priest in the good news of God
You accept Gods truth or you lie to yourself, there is no other answer.
In addition, the diabolical deception of faith alone removes the fear of God.
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is prudence.
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