REflection Assignment-2nd Week of Nov.
THE TIDINGS OF THE NEW PEOPLE OF THE THIRD RACE; THE HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF CHRISTIANDOM CHAPTER 7& 8- 2ND WEEK OF NOVEMBER The gospel was preached simultaneously as the consummation of Judaism, as a new religion, and as the restatement and final expression of man’s original religion. It was a conception which emerged more or less distinctly in all missionary preaching of any scope. Christians knew them as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession”. (1 Peter2:9). They did not see themselves as simple Jews or as of yesterday or if they are told that they don’t deserve to live their reply was “we are a new creation and a new people, we are the original people of god, we will die to live, for we are citizens of the world to come, and sure that we shall rise again”. By a survey of history made from the Jewish standpoint, the early Christians had the conviction that they are older than the world that the world was created for their sakes that the world is carried on for their sakes, that they retard the judgement of the world, that everything in the world is subject to them, that everything in the world is revealed to them and lies transparent in their eyes and that they shall take part in the judgement of the world and enjoy eternal bliss. In John 10:16, Christ says “And other sheep have I which are not of this fold; them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock, one shepherd”. Christians are warned not to fashion their worship on the model of the Greeks or of the Jews. This writer deliberately describes Christianity as the new or the third genus of worship. It is to be remarked that Christians do not yet call themselves “third race”’ it is their worship which is put third in the scale. Humanity was classified into three groups of worshippers not into three peoples. CHRISTIANS AS A THIRD RACE, IN THE JUDGEMENT OF THEIR OPPONENTS The Jews were distinguished throughout the Roman Empire, since it was generally known that the Christians had emanated from the Jews. Their imageless worship, their stubborn refusal to participate in other cults, together with their exclusiveness, marked them as a unique and special people in contrast to others. It is argued that the Christians have now broken off from the Jews, retaining all the worst features of Judaism and adding loathsome and repulsive elements of their own. Plainly, The Greek, and Jews and Christians were distinguished throughout upon the ground of religion, although the explicit formula of “the third race” occurs only in the West. THE RELIGION OF A BOOK AND A HISTORICAL REALIZATION Christianity, unlike Islam, never was and never became the religion of a book in the strict sense of the term. Still the book of Christianity, the Old Testament did not exert an influence which brought it to the verge of becoming the religion of a book. But it was certainly an enormous help to the Christian propaganda, and it was vain that the Jews protested. To Gentiles Christians the Decalogue invariably meant the sum of morals, which only the sayings of the Sermon on the Mount could render more profound. The argument here is that proofs from the Old Testament were increasingly employed to justify principles and institutions adopted by the Christian Church. That the book was used for the purpose of exhortation, following the formula of “a minori and maius”. That is, if God had praised or punished this or that in the past, how much more, it was argued, are we to look for similar treatment from Him, we are now living in the last days and who have received “the calling of promise.” These and others indicate the importance of the Old Testament for primitive Christianity and it’s Mission. But it should be remembered however, that a large portion of its contents was allegorized i.e. criticized and interpreted, without which a great deal of the Old Testament would have been unaccepted to Christians. After the rise of the New Testament, certain aspects of the Old Testament fell to the background. No doubt any statement of Christian Morality always went back to the words of Jesus. The New Testament as a whole did not generally play the same role as the Old Testament in the mission and practice of the Church. The Gospel certainly ranked on a level with the Old Testament, and actually eclipsed it; through them the words of Jesus gleamed and sparkled, and in them His death and resurrection were depicted.
THE TIDINGS OF THE NEW PEOPLE OF THE THIRD RACE; THE HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF CHRISTIANDOM CHAPTER 7& 8- 2ND WEEK OF NOVEMBER The gospel was preached simultaneously as the consummation of Judaism, as a new religion, and as the restatement and final expression of man’s original religion. It was a conception which emerged more or less distinctly in all missionary preaching of any scope. Christians knew them as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession”. (1 Peter2:9). They did not see themselves as simple Jews or as of yesterday or if they are told that they don’t deserve to live their reply was “we are a new creation and a new people, we are the original people of god, we will die to live, for we are citizens of the world to come, and sure that we shall rise again”. By a survey of history made from the Jewish standpoint, the early Christians had the conviction that they are older than the world that the world was created for their sakes that the world is carried on for their sakes, that they retard the judgement of the world, that everything in the world is subject to them, that everything in the world is revealed to them and lies transparent in their eyes and that they shall take part in the judgement of the world and enjoy eternal bliss. In John 10:16, Christ says “And other sheep have I which are not of this fold; them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock, one shepherd”. Christians are warned not to fashion their worship on the model of the Greeks or of the Jews. This writer deliberately describes Christianity as the new or the third genus of worship. It is to be remarked that Christians do not yet call themselves “third race”’ it is their worship which is put third in the scale. Humanity was classified into three groups of worshippers not into three peoples. CHRISTIANS AS A THIRD RACE, IN THE JUDGEMENT OF THEIR OPPONENTS The Jews were distinguished throughout the Roman Empire, since it was generally known that the Christians had emanated from the Jews. Their imageless worship, their stubborn refusal to participate in other cults, together with their exclusiveness, marked them as a unique and special people in contrast to others. It is argued that the Christians have now broken off from the Jews, retaining all the worst features of Judaism and adding loathsome and repulsive elements of their own. Plainly, The Greek, and Jews and Christians were distinguished throughout upon the ground of religion, although the explicit formula of “the third race” occurs only in the West. THE RELIGION OF A BOOK AND A HISTORICAL REALIZATION Christianity, unlike Islam, never was and never became the religion of a book in the strict sense of the term. Still the book of Christianity, the Old Testament did not exert an influence which brought it to the verge of becoming the religion of a book. But it was certainly an enormous help to the Christian propaganda, and it was vain that the Jews protested. To Gentiles Christians the Decalogue invariably meant the sum of morals, which only the sayings of the Sermon on the Mount could render more profound. The argument here is that proofs from the Old Testament were increasingly employed to justify principles and institutions adopted by the Christian Church. That the book was used for the purpose of exhortation, following the formula of “a minori and maius”. That is, if God had praised or punished this or that in the past, how much more, it was argued, are we to look for similar treatment from Him, we are now living in the last days and who have received “the calling of promise.” These and others indicate the importance of the Old Testament for primitive Christianity and it’s Mission. But it should be remembered however, that a large portion of its contents was allegorized i.e. criticized and interpreted, without which a great deal of the Old Testament would have been unaccepted to Christians. After the rise of the New Testament, certain aspects of the Old Testament fell to the background. No doubt any statement of Christian Morality always went back to the words of Jesus. The New Testament as a whole did not generally play the same role as the Old Testament in the mission and practice of the Church. The Gospel certainly ranked on a level with the Old Testament, and actually eclipsed it; through them the words of Jesus gleamed and sparkled, and in them His death and resurrection were depicted.