We know there were true prophets at Bethel and Jericho, they
all knew what day it was, the day for Elijah to be taken up to heaven and for
Elisha to take his place as prophet-in-chief.
Elisha knew it too, he may not have known the details of what was going
to happen but he also wasn’t going to leave his master alone. As they come to
the Jordan, Elijah takes his cloak, rolls it up, and strikes the water causing
it to part, enabling them to pass over on dry ground. Sounds an awful lot like
Moses and Joshua doesn’t it? The “double
portion” Elisha requests is that portion due to the eldest child in a family
upon the death of the patriarch. As we
see, there are other prophets but Elisha’s request is to be primary, sort of
like the disciples trying to decide who would be greatest after Jesus’
death. Proof of the anointing was in
Elisha taking Elijah’s cloak, striking the water and seeing it part. A new prophet has arisen.
Jesus defines righteousness as related to the law. He affirms that His mission is not to abolish
the law and prophets but to fulfill them.
There is continuity between Jesus and what we know as the Old
Testament. The question we have to ask
is plain, what part of the law is Jesus talking about? He clearly does away with parts of the “law”
or the interpretation of the law. When He
does the miracle of water into wine at the wedding in Cana there is a statement
about handwashing as there is when they ask why the disciples don’t properly
wash their hands before meals. The ceremonial
and ritual laws are done away with but the moral law is something Jesus
regularly expounds upon, right from the start here in the Sermon on the
Mount. When we teach others to ignore
the moral law, we teach something other than what Jesus taught. Just as Elisha took up the cloak of Elijah
and struck the water to part the Jordan as proof he was in line with the
prophet, so we must teach what Jesus taught, value what He valued, and pursue
righteousness in excess of the righteousness of the Pharisees.
What does it mean for Paul to be found faithful? He would clearly be talking about his teaching
lining up with what he received. Paul taught
the moral law, in a couple of chapters he will confront the lax morals of the
church in Corinth. He, however, got into
trouble with some because he did not teach the ritual and ceremonial parts of the
law and there were those who believed that these must be observed by the
Christians as well. Apostolic faithfulness
is teaching what the apostles taught and we know these things from the book of
the Acts, the Didache, and other sources such as the Creeds of the early church
which were the codification of the teaching of the church. Our faithfulness is measured by the Great
Commission, making disciples and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commanded. It isn’t just teaching, it is
obedience, doing what He did and taught.
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