The Gospel of the Forty Days: Witness, Part 2       We continuing our series of articles on what commands (Ac 1:2) and teachings (Ac 1:3) the resurrected Lord Jesus gave, or might have given, during the forty days before His Ascension, and continue from last week’s discussion of Jesus’ last earthly words: “You shall be my witnesses” (Ac 1:8). We showed how Scripture teaches that the Apostles were to be personal, evidentiary eye-witnesses to the facts of Jesus’ life, suffering and death, resurrection, exaltation at God the Father’s right hand, and God’s appointed judge of the living and the dead.       As the Apostolic and Church Fathers preserved the Apostolic Tradition, the significance of their eyewitness testimony was recognized. For example, St. John Chrysostom (344/354-407 AD) wrote: “How then account for the fact that these men, who in Christ’s lifetime did not stand up to the attacks by the Jews, set forth to do battle with the whole world ...

The Gospel of the Forty Days: Witness, Part 1          We continue our series of articles seeing what commands (Ac 1:2) and teachings (Ac 1:3) the resurrected Lord Jesus gave during the forty days before His Ascension.          One of Jesus’ clearest commands and His last recorded words before He ascended was, “You shall be my witnesses ... to the ends of the earth” (Ac 1:8; cf., Mk 16:15, 20, Lk 24:47-48; cf. Mk 13:10). The Apostles in particular were to be personal witness, even evidentiary eye-witnesses, to the facts of Jesus’ life (Jn 15:27, Ac 10:39), suffering and death (Lk 24:46; Ac 10:39), resurrection (Ac 1:22; 2:32; 10:40-41; 13:31; Lk 24:46-48), exaltation at God the Father’s right hand (Ac 5:32), and God’s appointed judge of the living and the dead (Ac 10:42; cf., Mt 28:18).          Even the authorities were amazed at “uneducated, common men” such as Peter and John but they “reco...

The Gospel of the Forty Days: Baptism, Part 6       Following our recent articles on Christ’s command to baptize, we thought it appropriate to address the following statement published each week on this “Church” page [of the Mojave Desert News ]:  “Some will vainly trust baptism as sacramental. 1 Corinthians 1:17 deals with that false teaching very clearly and succinctly, ‘For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel ....”       Now there are several problems with this statement. But first, note that Christianity since the Apostles and through the present (Catholic, Orthodox) has always understood baptism to be a sacrament (something God does), as have the main denominations created by the 16th Century Protestant Reformation (Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Anglican, and later, Methodist). Those who reject the concept of sacrament are the multiple Baptist groups (begun in the 17th Century) and some newer 20th and 21st Century...

The Gospel of the Forty Days: Baptism, Part 5       We have been considering Christ’s command to the Apostles to baptize, and last week began to look at the effect baptism as making one a child of God. This is so important that we might look a little more at what it means.       St. Paul says, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal 3:25-26). Baptism incorporates us into Christ and makes us children of God. This is God’s intention: God the Father predestined believers “for adoption to Himself  as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:5).       It is the Holy Spirit, given in baptism, which makes one a son or daughter of God (Ro 8:14) for the Holy Spirit is a “Spirit of sonship” or “Spirit of adoption as sons” (Ro 8:15), and thus also heir of God and fellow-heir with Christ (Ro 8:17; Eph 1:11). As children of God and heirs, if we...