I seek the Bloom of the Church of the Apostles. We saw it bud under The Reformation, almost bloom during the Charismatic Renewal, but now it is frosted by the doctrines of men (Mark 7:6-14). Men who seek to keep power, neo popes who hold their own infallibi, and who think their ideas measure with Peter, Paul, James, John, and even Jesus himself. Sadly, most attempts to make the bloom happen have lead to Scriptural legalism like Puritanism that starts dictating what a person can even wear and judged people harshly, or liberalism which abandons the truth of God in Scripture for cultural norms. The answer to these pitfalls is in Scripture, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the rest congregation pass judgment,” (1 Corinthians 14:29), “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God,” (1 John 4:1-3), and, “who has also made us competent, as ministers of the new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens,” (2 Corinthians 3:6). The balance is to use the Charisma gifts (2 Corinthians 12:4-11) and test what is said with Scripture and the Holy Spirit. In the same way Scripture must be interpreted in Spirit it was written (1 Peter 1:21-22) and not used to create legalistic utopia with pilgrim outfits and cruel judgement and no mercy for transgressors.
On dogma, on what we believe we treat the Scriptures as legal documents that are absolute and binding, “Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19), and “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:8), but in how we function as a Church we must be of the Spirit not the Letter (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). The balance is Scripture is absolute and true, but our relationship with God the Trinity is imperative to interpret how to not fall into either toxic pools of spiritual legalism and liberalism. The Scriptures contains all we need to know how to have faith in Christ, obtain eternal life, and all Christian life. But we must remember the purpose of Scripture, to know Christ (John 17:3) and have right belief. Its a balance, listen to Spirit of God, but test if you hear rightly with Scripture and are not getting deceived by another voice, for the Lord does not contradict His New Covenant and teachings.
It is like two circles intertwined, Scripture and Spirit of God. Scripture is absolute on testing all teachings and defining Christian beliefs, but Scripture is breathed by God (2 Timothy 3:16). The author of our holy book knows just how to interpret it, for instance Jesus corrected the religious leaders on the purpose of the sabbath, “One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along. So the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”Jesus replied, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? During the high priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests. And he gave some to his companions as well.” Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28). Pharisses like all legalists turned the sabbath into a harsh judge, and forgot why God called for it, “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.” (Exodus 34:21), and “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.” (Exodus 23:12).
A case of confronting liberalism is Paul confronting the Church in Rome that abused the grace of God by thinking they could keep their sinful lives (practicing sin) and not repenting, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:1-4, 11-14), and “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:7-10).
Trying to avoid legalism which is religion that is proud, controlling, and cruel in its judgement of people while avoiding liberalism that veers away from the truth, condones sin, and tries to make godless changes to the church for culture’s sake is hard work and is why we must stick to Scripture and listen to God’s Spirit which does not contradict Scripture, but may break threw a teaching that seized our minds from false teachers outside Scripture to show us the meaning of something like the sabbath spelled out in Scripture.
The Bloom requires a balance, Staunch adherence to Scripture and yet openness to God’s Spirit who wrote Scripture (1 Peter 1:21-22) to reveal to us His intent in a law, command, and statement that is more difficult to interpret and doesn’t have the context as easily read in the verses. On tougher to swallow verses we have to search other verses in Scripture for clarification and ask Christ how to apply it in the 21 Century.
We must be Sola Scriptura without being the Pharissees or Puritans. We must walk in Spirit not by the flesh, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh,” (Galatians 5:16), “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23), and “who has also made us competent, as ministers of the new covenant; not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens,” (2 Corinthians 3:6). At the same time we must not budge to liberalism, the Scriptures are God breathed and are the truth we must live by, test all teachings by, and preach. Amen.
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