'And I will pray the Father,
and He shall give you another Comforter,
that He may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not,
neither knoweth Him:
but ye know Him;
for He dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you.'
(John 14:16.17)
Hello
@Wwinnie,
I am so glad you have responded to an entry of mine, Winnie, for when I was leaving the computer earlier today, I saw your name, and felt I would like to say, 'Hello'. My middle name is Winnie, you see.
You must wonder why I have quoted John 14:16,17, (above): well, I just had to, for I love it, don't you? I had been looking up a verse in the online concordance, and this one came with it, and I couldn't leave it behind.
The verses I was looking for were John 4:23,24,
'But the hour cometh,
and now is,
when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
God is a Spirit:
and they that worship Him
must worship Him in spirit and in truth.'
The reason I wanted this verse, to use in my response to you, is because it is the essence of all that I have to say.
------------------
The Corinthian believers were largely Jews. They kept the Passover feast.
This ordinance was instituted in Matthew 26:26-30.
'And as they were eating,' ( ie., the passover, see verses 17 and 19),
'Jesus took bread,
and blessed it,
and brake it,
and gave it to the disciples,
and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."
And He took the cup,
and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, "Drink ye all of it;
For this is My Blood of the New Testament,' (or covenant)
which is shed for many
for the remission of sins.
But I say unto you,
I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine,
until that day when I drink it new with you
in my Father's kingdom."
And when they had sung an hymn,
they went out into the mount of Olives.'
This ordinance was instituted with His disciples, Jews, to whom the keeping of the Passover was a requirement. It was continued during the Acts period, in which the epistle to the Corinthians was written, but when Israel was laid aside (temporarily) in blindness and unbelief, at Acts 28, the New Covenant, with it's blessings, and it's ordinances went with them. For the New Covenant, like the Old Covenant will be established with redeemed Israel.
This event heralded the introduction of a new dispensation, a new administration, and Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles was given the task of administrating it. This was given to Him by revelation while in prison in Rome. The epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, contain the content of that new administration, built on the basis of the foundational epistle to the Romans, with it's revelation concerning the identification of believers with their Lord and Saviour, in His death, burial, quickening, and resurrection (Romans 5:12-8:39).
In Ephesians we see that identification taken further, to identification with Christ in His ascension to God's right hand, where we, who have been, '
accepted in the Beloved', and made, '
complete', in Him, are raised and seated with Him, awaiting His appearing in glory, when we shall '
appear' with Him there (Col.3:4).
Praise God!
In this new administration all is of the Spirit, and in spirit, hence my quoting from John at the beginning. The flesh counts for nothing, we worship God in spirit and in truth.
With love to you, Winnie,
In Christ Jesus
Chris
