Being a son of God is not simply a nice term for Christians to claim because we call God “our Heavenly Father”. The privilege of becoming a son of God doesn’t just come by a confession of a sinner’s prayer, attending church regularly, or even by avidly studying the Word of God. Yes, these are […]
Grace was the Father revealing the mysteries to the apostles and that is what they instructed the perfect with. The mysteries in the old testament were hid until the time of the apostles for them to unveil it. This revealed knowledge wasn’t for everyone, only for the sincere in heart. There was also knowledge that was passed down from the apostles that they didn’t write down as the Hebrews did the same thing. This is called apostolic tradition as referenced in 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
XI. The revelation was only taught to those who were worthy to hear them and those who couldn’t understand the mysteries were the unbelievers. The revelation is the tradition of the Apostles and grace is the things that the Word revealed to them.
XII. Knowledge without true doctrine is referenced to “Knowledge puffed up, but love edified”, so to the Early Church love is true doctrine. They make a clear distinction between knowledge and revelation.
Clement gives an account of how the Apostle Peter would witness to a crowd of mixture. Concerned for throwing his pearls before swine, which are people of unworthy ears to hear these teachings, he uses a form of speech that only those who were worthy to hear it could understand the teaching. The church guarded the revelation dearly.
“Ye are initiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred, inasmuch as he was “a chosen vessel”
The word Torah (Law) is defined as ‘instruction’. By understanding the true Torah, we gain a desire for knowledge of the Lord. Walking out (being obedient to) the Torah produces the love of knowledge in us. Love is keeping the commandments and doing so will lead us to immortality.
He who is full of love will incur every loss, so that peace may be restored to the church.
During intense persecution by the Jews at the time, the true Christians loved their enemies and prayed that God would have mercy on them. They would rather face death than deny Jesus Christ. This is the love that Christ taught His followers to have.
If we have a love for the truth, we will refrain from speaking any falsehood. Hermas, being a man of God, was releasing lies that were going without challenge by his hearers; they accepted his teaching as truth. Hermas lamented for the falsehoods he spoke and questioned if he could even be saved. The angel of repentance was teaching him to correct his errors by speaking the truth.
Love is manifest in our suffering of martyrdom, our works, and teachings (written and oral). We are to love God through our obedience; we cannot simply profess our love, as Jesus said there are those who only worship with their lips. The fulfillment of the Torah (Law) is love. There are those who are obedient out of fear of punishment, but on the other hand there are those who will fulfill the Torah out of love.