Boy oh boy...
Look here, in The Old Testament or Jewish Tanach is written the prophecies which predict that
Jesus Christ, or Yeshua Ben Yosef, Ha Messiah, Isa the carpenter from Nazareth and heir to the throne of David would come.
He was/is the fulfillment of said prophecies, a direct descendant of the line of David
through both Maryam (Mary) and his (step) father Yosef.
In other words, He had a pedigree with which to claim the throne of David
and His doing so was the fulfillment of the Jewish prophecy of several prophets.
While perusing this thread, only because I saw that my friend Arthur quoted Romans,
I've read all kinds of well meaning but ignorant statements.
For one, while the Tanach might be a "Jewish book", the guy who many here claim as their saviour
was an observant Jew, and what we know as "Christianity" derives it's authority from both the Tanach and the New Testament.
Moreover, Constantine blah blah...A little history is called for.
Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity, he was not a pagan when he established
Christianity as the state religion. Constantine's mother was converted before him
and prior to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28th October 312, Constantine and his troops
saw the sign of the cross in the heavens. They had a vision of the Christian God promising victory
if they daubed the sign of the
Chi-Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, on their shields.
They beat his brother Maxentius, and in gratitude he became a follower of our Lord.
Furthermore, the books in the Bible were written in the first century and finished in the year 150, not invented by Constantine's church. Early Christians referred to the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Tanach, a Jewish book...
In 331 Constantine commissioned Eusibius to deliver 50 Christian Bibles for the Church of Constantinople.
It's speculated that the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, both written in the 4th Century
are those Bibles.
Pope Damasus I commissioned the Latin Vulgate circa 383, and approved the books listed as considered legitimate
by the Council of Rome in 382. It wasn't until (St) Augustine called three synods on canonicity: the Synod of Hippo in 393, the Synod of Carthage in 397, and another in Carthage in 419 AD. that Church law that: "nothing shall be read in church under the name of the divine scriptures" except the Old Testament and the canonical books of the New Testament was established.
While true that the Roman Catholic Church left several books considered non canonical,
the Apocrypha out of the present Scriptures, the editing was done because the learned consensus
was that the authority and/or legitimacy of said books was in doubt.
However, many of the Apocryphal books as well as the Dead Sea scrolls and other
writings confirm that which is considered canon.
Christianity is based on Scripture. I didn't say dogma, that's a matter of interpretation
by a bunch of old coots in robes. Yeshua didn't like those dudes.
But He was a stickler for Authority and the law as per the Tanach.
Matter of fact, that's how He kept the adulterous woman from being stoned.
Everybody remembers when He said,"May he without sin cast the first stone"
but few people realize that the law said one needed a witness in order to condemn and stone somebody,
but nobody came forward since they'd have to ante up to their own sin.
I noticed also how one moderator likes it when my post correcting my brother get readily dismissed
or challenged..
LOL. Rather you should like my correction of my brother Arthur
for in doing so I edify and elevate him...for the Glory of our Lord.
God Bless you,
@Arthur,
@MrScaryZ, and all those others here who thirst
and hunger in your hearts for the Spirit.
Regards.
Opus Dei
Hazy
PS. Vape on