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- A theological seminar presented on behalf of the Training and Recording
Committee of Wilmington Yearly Meeting
- By David Goff
- July 30, 2006
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- walked in the garden with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8-9);
- met with Abram at the great tree of Moreh (Gen. 12:6),
- led Abram outside to look at the stars (Gen. 15:5),
- appeared to Abram at his tent near the great trees of Mamre (Gen. 18:1);
- spoke to Jacob in a dream at Bethel (Gen. 28:12-15),
- wrestled with Jacob at the Jabbok ford (Gen. 32:22-32).
- Each of these had a dramatic and very personal relationship with
God!
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- Though there seem to be some ritualistic responses from these
individuals, there is no distinct or clearly defined religious system in
place. It is simply God and man in a personal encounter.
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- Moses appears as a transition figure between the patriarchs and the
temple worship which dominated Israelite religion for approximately 1000
years.
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- Like the patriarchs, Moses has a personal encounter with God at the
burning bush (Exodus 3-4).
- Like the prophets who came later, Moses guides the people in their walk
with God.
- Moses leads the people, after their delivery from bondage in Egypt, to
build a Tabernacle, also known as the Tent of Meeting, which is to be a
physical symbol of God’s presence among his people (Ex. 25:8).
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- Moses leads the people, after their delivery from bondage in Egypt, to
build a Tabernacle, also known as the Tent of Meeting, which is to be a
physical symbol of God’s presence among his people (Ex. 25:8).
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- The tabernacle becomes the symbolic representation of God’s presence
for a people who are not yet able to receive the reality of a personal
revelation.
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- David wanted to build a house for God (physical temple);
- God said NO…that HE would build DAVID’s house (establish his dynasty)
- God ALSO said that one of David’s heirs would build God’s house.
- David & Solomon believed that Solomon was that heir and Solomon
built a temple based on that belief.
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- But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:21-23
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- Isaiah 1: 11 "The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to
me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than
enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure in the
blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
- 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
- 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable
to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and
convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
- 14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul
hates.
They have become a burden to
me; I am weary of bearing them.
- 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes
from you;
even if you offer many
prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;
- 16 wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my
sight! Stop doing wrong,
- 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. [a]
Defend the cause of the
fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
- 18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.
"Though your sins are
like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as
crimson, they shall be like wool.
- 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the
land;
- 20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the
sword."
For the mouth of the LORD
has spoken.
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- Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the
LORD”…
- (Jer. 7:4)
- He has showed you, O man, what is
good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and
to walk humbly with your God
(Micah 6:8)
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- The Temple, like the Tabernacle SHOULD have been used as a
“meetinghouse” where one could pray (truly encounter God in the Spirit),
not a place to carryout meaningless rituals, nor a superstitious symbol
of magical power. Meeting with God should then result in a lifestyle of
loving obedience to him and love,
justice, humility, and mercy for one another.
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- Jesus submitted to both forms of the Old Covenant (Priestly/Ritualistic
and Prophetic) while preparing to establish a New Covenant which was
much more like the ancient patriarchal tradition.
- He was circumcised and followed rituals.
- He celebrated the festivals.
- He was baptized by John, the last of the Old Testament style prophets,
as a tangible link to their approach to faith.
- He lived a loving, obedient, just, and merciful life and taught others
to do likewise.
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- Jesus taught in the temple (Matt. 21:23; 26:55; Mark 12:35; Luke 20:1;
Luke 21:37)
- Jesus cleansed the temple
(Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:12; Luke 19:45; John 2:12-20)
- Jesus prophesied the end of the temple (Matt.
24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6)
- Jesus equated the temple with his body
(John 2:12-20)
- Jesus taught a better way (John 4:19-26)
- “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in
truth." (John 4:24)
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- Jesus’ enemies saw him as a THREAT to the temple!
- Matt. 26:59-61; Matthew 27:39-41;
Mark 14:57-58; Mark 15:28-30.
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- God does not dwell in temples made by men. (Acts 7:45-49; 17:24-28;
Hebrews 9:6-28)
- God DOES dwell in the lives of believers, his Holy people! (John 17:23; 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 5:1; 2 Thess. 1:10; Eph. 3:17,
5:3; Col. 1:27, 3:12; Heb. 13:12; 1 Peter 2:5,9)
- God ALSO is present in the corporate body of the church, which is the
body of Christ, and we already saw that HE equated HIS BODY with the
temple. (John 2:21; Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 3:17, 12: all; Eph. 2:22,
4:11-16; Hebrews 3:6)
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- Biblically speaking, the church IS the people!!!!
- Acts 11: 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look
for Saul, 26 and when he found
him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met
with the church and taught great numbers of people.
- Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in
prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
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- The Early Church did NOT need buildings: They met in…
- Homes (Acts 1:13; 2:2; 10:23-48; 12:12; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19;
Colossians 4:15 Philemon 1:2 )
- The temple (Acts 2:26; 3:1; 5:12, 21; )
- In synagogues (Acts 9:20; 13:14-15; 14:1)
- The street or outdoors (Acts 2:6-14: 13:44; 16:13; 40)
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- The Early Church was accused of threatening the temple…just as Jesus had
been… (Acts 6:12-14)
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- The adoption of Christianity as an instrument of the state under
Constantine marked the end of charismatic leadership in the church.
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- The following notable changes began taking place in the Patristic
Period, setting the stage for the corruption of the Medieval Church.
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- The rise of the episcopacy (rule by “professional” priestly bishops)
- Permission to own property (creation of buildings for worship) and
exemption of church property from taxes
- Designation of a holy day
- Development of a formal creed
- The rise of Monasticism
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- It was during the Patristic Period that the idea of a Professional
Clergy took firm root within the church. Also, the concept of ordination
conveying a higher level of grace or a superior spiritual condition
became common.
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- The Medieval Period, while a time of great temporal power for the
church, was a time of great corruption and spiritual poverty. The
Medieval Church was characterized by the following problems:
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- Power struggles with secular rulers
- Excessive temporal wealth & property
- Rule by a Hierarchical Priesthood
- Adherence to formal creed and rituals replace commitment to a personal
relationship with Christ
- Infusion of false doctrines, including the equating church buildings
with temples.
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- During the Renaissance, people began to demand their liberation from
both secular oppression (the Monarchy) and religious oppression (the
institutions of the Church). This led to a twin reform movement called
the Protestant Reformation.
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- The Reformation was characterized by:
- Loosening of ties between Sacred and Secular Power
- Rejection/limitation of a hierarchical priesthood; development of
alternative leadership patterns
- Emphasis on personal salvation
- Emphasis on authority of Scriptures
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- Some “Radical Reformers” felt that the Reformation needed to go farther
in it’s scope, including the following:
- Reform practices as well as doctrine
- Reform the ministry
- Reject creeds and rituals
- Emphasize personal salvation and DO evangelism and missions
- Reject a temple mentality
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- “…God, who made the world,
- did not dwell in temples
- made with hands...
- His people were His temple
- And He dwelt in them.”
- (Journal 76)
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- At another time it was opened in me that God, who made the world, did
not dwell in temples made with hands. This at first seemed a strange
word, because both priests and people used to call their temples, or
churches, dreadful places, holy ground, and the temples of God. But the
Lord showed me clearly that He did not dwell in these temples which men
had commanded and set up, but in people's hearts; for both Stephen and
the apostle Paul bore testimony that He did not dwell in temples made
with hands, not even in that which He had once commanded to be built,
since He put an end to it; but that His people were His temple, and He
dwelt in them. (Journal 11)
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- Then I heard of a great meeting to be at Leicester, for a dispute,
wherein Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists and Common-prayer-men[were
said to be all concerned. The meeting was in a steeple-house; and
thither I was moved by the Lord God to go, and be amongst them. I heard
their discourse and reasonings, some being in pews, and the priest in
the pulpit; abundance of people being gathered together.
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- At last one woman asked a question out of Peter, What that birth was,
viz., a being born again of incorruptible seed, by the Word of God, that
liveth and abideth for ever? And the priest said to her, "I permit
not a woman to speak in the church"; though he had before given
liberty for any to speak. Whereupon I was wrapped up, as in a rapture,
in the Lord's power; and I stepped up and asked the priest, "Dost
thou call this (the steeple-house) a church? Or dost thou call this
mixed multitude a church?" For the woman asking a question, he
ought to have answered it, having given liberty for any to speak.
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- But, instead of answering me, he asked me what a church was? I told him
the church was the pillar and ground of truth, made up of living stones,
living members, a spiritual household, which Christ was the head of; but
he was not the head of a mixed multitude, or of an old house made up of
lime, stones and wood (Journal
25)
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- Now, as I went towards Nottingham, on a Firstday, in the morning, going
with Friends to a meeting there, when I came on the top of a hill in
sight of the town, I espied the great steeple-house. And the Lord said
unto me, "Thou must go cry against yonder great idol, and against
the worshippers therein." (Journal 39)
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- John Woolman was a careful writer. He scrupulously revised his works. If
we find the same expressions used to describe inward, transformative
experiences and the motivation for his actions to reform society, this
is no accident. He hoped that a careful reader would notice the
connections he is drawing by means of this common language. He intended
us to notice that he was dissolving the walls of the meetinghouse and
portraying activism (he would call it ministry, which Quaker activism at
its best has always been) and worship as inseparable. (Michael Birkel)
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- There is no TEMPLE: No building of human construction can be “God’s
house.”
- Every believer is a temple of God.
- The gathered believers (the church) are corporately the temple of God.
- Meetinghouses for the church are tools for the church to do its work:
NOT HOLY PLACES!
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Notes
