Christian Traditions: Pt. 1
The Christian tradition is actualized in these simply expressions: Belief, Communion, Baptism and Confession, on loop!
The PASSOVER is the first Bread and Blood ritual.
Exodus 12 tells of the first Passover ritual. Bread and Blood. Jesus picks it up in his message too.
John 6:25 “When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”32Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”53So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.56Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the breadc the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59Jesusd said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe.”
Passover crosses over into the communion table. The Eucharist is linked to the Passover sacrifice and meal that proceeded the exodus of Israel from slavery. The blood of the lamb protected and shielded them from the destroyer, the retributive justice of God on Egypt. It was a mercy to those who believe. The Cup represents blood. Blood of the perfect lamb, the mediator, the stand in. Jesus’s blood, shed during time of Passover. Blood is symbolic of life and was used in many ways in the tabernacle and sacrificial system. On the table of communion it’s represented by wine. The bread is Christ’s body but also linked to the passover meal, the tabernacle and the sermon Christ gave on the mountain. Eat me. Drink my blood. If not, you have no part in me. Jesus also tells us of new covenant to be ushered in by his blood given at Passover.
Luke 22:19 “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.c”
BAPTISM is a death and resurrection ritual that links us to PASSOVER.
Following the Passover Israel departs Egypt and passes through the waters, a proto-baptism.
1 Corinthians 10:1-3 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,a that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
Baptism is linked to the passage of Israel, the rescued, through the waters that separated them from paradise. It’s linked to the purifying submergence of priest before their service in the temple, the washing clean and sprinkling of holy things. Its an act of death, a return to the deep where chaos and darkness dwell, just as Jonah was thrust into the sea. It’s also a reemergence onto dry ground, in a new place as a new person, reflecting Joshuas leading of isreal across the Jordan and into Promise.
Paul tells us more of this baptism but not into Moses, into Jesus, the Christ.
Romans 6: 3-10 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old selfa was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For one who has died has been set freeb from sin. 8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Again, the movement of God’s people out of slavery and into something else, happens through baptism. Paul tells us baptism took us out from slavery to law and put us in Christ or put Christ on us.
Galation3:23-27 “23Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
The BELIEF / FAITH links us to eternal life and Christ.
Following the idea of putting on Christ or being in Christ, Paul tells us that belief in the Son equates to having the testimony of God inside you. Testimony of God is Water, Blood, and Spirit; they tell us God gave us eternal life, in Christ.
1 John 5:6-12 “6This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
The Testimony of God is a declaration or evidence, a witness. It’s corroborated by three and stands in court. This leads to our own relationship to abiding and confessing. We are meant to abide in Christ and thus abide in God and God in us. Little emmanuels. We abide through right belief. Believing what is right requires us to vet out other confessions and other testimonies.
1John 4: “1Beloved, 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. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already…15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
BELIEF and CONFESSION are what link us to SALVATION and JUSTIFICATION.
When we believe rightly, our own confession proceeds in truth.
Romans 10:9-11 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
John 12:44“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
Belief is linked to faith, trust, hope, reliance. It’s an inward posture of the heart and mind toward God and away from self, slavery to sin and deception. Everything begins in the mind and heart for humans. We exist as body and spirit.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart…mind…soul….strength. Belief is linked to Love. Belief is linked to justification. Belief is linked to Christ’s defeat over death, acceptance by the Father, glorification and remaking into Adam 2.0.
Notes on Communion and Judgment… this ritual really matters
1 Cor.11: “20When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is forf you. Do this in remembrance of me.”g 25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.h31But if we judgedi ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplinedj so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
33So then, my brothers,k when you come together to eat, wait forl one another— 34if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.”
These traditions are real world connection points to the spirit realm and the kingdom of God. The manner in which we understand them and proceed in them matter greatly.