Jerusalem – As we follow the development and spread of this new religion, if indeed it is a new religion, one thing becomes very clear. Jesus, whom they also call Christ, is the focal point of their devotion. One of the group’s current leaders, a man named Paul, has even said, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Phil 3:8-10 NIV)."
They are devoted to Christ, but they don’t see this as a new religion. They claim to still worship the God of our fathers and to honor Moses and the prophets. In fact this Christ once said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matt 5:17 NIV)." Paul may have had this in mind when he recently said, "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Gal 4:4-5 NIV)."
Yet these people, whom some are beginning to call Christians, are different. They seem to be a peculiar people, set apart from the rest. And if they seem willing to wear the name of Christ, it should come as no surprise. Another of the leaders named Peter has said, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12 NIV)."
They don’t see this faith of theirs as a new faith, but as the unfolding of the promise that God made to our father Abraham (Genesis 22:16-18 and Acts 7). They no longer wait for the blessing that God promised Abraham, for they believe that blessing has come. A new religion? No. It’s the religion of our fathers. The difference is that the promise now has a name. That name is Christ Jesus.
Christianity is Christ from Look at the Man by Tim Woodroof and Glen Gray
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Copyright © 1997 by Gerry Sturgeon
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.