Jesus Christ gave us commandments, precepts and categorically said that He came to fulfill the Laws and the Prophets, in Matthew 5:17-20; “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. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus Christ also told us that it is not sufficient to read or hear His words, but we must practise what He said, see Matthew 7 verse 24; “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man [a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man] who built his house on the rock. In addition in Matthew 25 verses 40-46;”The King will answer and say to them, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it for Me.’…”
In fulfilling the Laws and the Prophets, Jesus Christ instructed believers to evangelize and laid down the principles by which believers should relate to one another. In Matthew 23 verses 8-10; But do not be called Rabbi (Teacher); for One is your Teacher, and you are all [equally] brothers. 9 Do not call anyone on earth [who guides you spiritually] your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 Do not let yourselves be called leaders or teachers; for One is your Leader (Teacher), the Christ.
There have been arguments put forward by some “believers” for disobeying Jesus Christ, the following three Bible texts were cited in a couple of debates with members of a certain religious organization:
- 2 Timothy 1:2; To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 12: 27-30 (the thrust of the message here is in verse 28;” And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.”).
- 2 Kings 2:12 (Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.)
The flaws in argument numbers one and two are; firstly, Paul did not call Timothy his father and neither did we have records of Timothy calling Paul his father, and secondly, a possible explanation for addressing Timothy as his son by Paul can be found in Acts 15:36 to Acts 16:5; where we read that due to the fact that Timothy’s mother was Jewish and his biological father was Greek, the early church evangelist brothers who were Jewish were biased towards gentiles with a policy of non-acceptance of gentiles, lead to Paul circumcising Timothy and more or less adopting him, so that Timothy could be fully accepted as an evangelist and preach the Gospel in Jewish synagogues, meeting places, and ‘early Christian churches’. In addition, the reference in the Bible text quoted in argument two, is a listing of the different types of spiritual gifts, not a license for breaking the commandment given by our Lord Jesus Christ.
The flaw in argument number three is that the reference by Elisha to Elijah as his father occurred around nine hundred years or more before our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the commandment not to call anyone Father.
Believers who put forward these arguments are using the epistles of Paul and lending greater weight (in academic terms “referencing”) to these than the words and commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ. Logical deduction infer that such “believers” will pray to God the Father, in the name of Paul, an apostle of Christ. Of course, it was worth mentioning that such believers are simply taking the writings of Paul out of context.
Obviously most believers pray to God the Father, in the name of God the Son, on the basis of the gospel account of Matthew in, Matthew 18 verses 19-20; “Again I say to you, that if two [h]believers on earth agree [that is, are of one mind, in harmony] about anything that they ask [within the will of God], it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.” This indicates the lack of understanding of the Scriptures and the illogical nature of the above mentioned three arguments under discussion. In 2 Timothy 3 verse 16-17; where Paul, a Jew, writes that “all scriptures are given by the inspiration of God”, as far as Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ knows and believes, and our Lord Jesus Christ indicates by saying that He came to fulfill the Laws and the Prophets, the Scriptures comprises of some of the 24 “Books” listed in the Hebrew Bible, which corresponds to books in the Old Testament of the modern day Bible and not the 66 books in the “Christian Bible”. Paul certainly did not regard some of his letters (in some of which he categorically stated that some of his statements were personal opinions and not revelations from the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 7:12), to early church groups located in different geographical areas, being influenced and affected by different factors and cultural forces as “Scriptures” as understood by the early Jewish Christian evangelists or Messianic Jews.
