HC 31 — Munus Triplex

Question 31: Why is He called Christ, that is, anointed?

Answer: Because He is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Ghost,1 to be our chief Prophet and Teacher,2 who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; and to be our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His body, has redeemed us,3 and makes continual intercession with the Father for us;4 and also to be our eternal King,5 who governs us by His word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us6 in the enjoyment of that salvation He has purchased for us.

As the HC continues breaks down the meaning of the Apostle’s Creed (AC) so as to teach us what it means to be delivered from our Sin & Misery we first looked at the name, “Jesus.” Now we, take up His title, “Christ.” The most obvious thing to say here first it that “Christ” is a title and not a name. Jesus is the name. Christ is the title. Christos is the Greek word  used as a synonym for Old Testament word “Messiah.” Both of these words carry the meaning of “the anointed one.” The Greek word “Christos” is from a root word that means to smear or rub with oil and is usually associated with a sacred setting aside of the one anointed. John’s Gospel demonstrates that Messiah and Christ are used synonymously.

John 1:41 (NASB) He [Andrew] found first his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).

It should be added here that though we associate Christ and Messiah with deity there were many anointed ones prior to the coming of the Christ. However, with the coming of Christ and His fulfillment of all the OT Messianic types certainly deity is properly tied in our thinking of the word “Christ” in our present context.

The above thus takes us to the idea of anointing itself. The HC, following Scripture, teaches that Jesus was ordained of God the Father be the Christ (the anointed one).

1Heb. 1:9, Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Jesus Himself at the beginning of His public ministry quotes from Isaiah;

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed..

This ordaining of the Father of the Son to be the Christ was an eternal ordination. From the foundations of the world the Son is set apart to be the anointed one. As the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8) the eternal Son was eternally ordained by the eternal Father to be the Christ.

In the Old Testament those entrusted with certain offices were set apart to their office of Prophet, Priest, or King, by means of being anointed with oil. Oil would be poured over them as an assignation to the office that they were being invested unto.

1 Samuel 16:13 (NASB) Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

 When David was anointed with oil the Bible says that the Holy Spirit came upon him. Therefore, we find the anointing with oil symbolizing the work of the Holy Spirit setting apart a person to a particular office.

Now the question arises where do we find this anointing of Jesus to His work of prophet, priest, and King? The answer to that is found in Jesus Baptism account. However, instead of being anointing with the type (oil) Jesus is anointed with the one whom the type pointed — the Spirit of God.

Matt 3:16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and [b]He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

So, Jesus is set apart by His anointing — an anointing ordained by the Father and occurring just prior to entering into His public ministry. The HC then teaches us that the offices that Jesus is anointed unto are Prophet, Priest, and King. In theological jargon this is called the “Munus Triplex.” Jesus the God/Man is anointed to these three offices. No other person in OT history ever filled these three offices at the same time. However, Jesus being the fulfillment of all the shadows of the OT fulfills all three. Jesus fills all three offices because fallen man needs the anointed one to represent him as a Prophet, Priest, and King.

The HC teaches that Jesus is our chief Prophet. This necessity and coming of a chief prophet was prophesied early in Israel’s existence;

2Deut. 18:18, I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

And in Acts 3 Peter explicitly says of Jesus Christ that He was that Prophet long ago promised by God;

Acts 3:22, For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you.

We learn then that Jesus the Christ is set apart;

to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption

A Prophet’s role is speak for God the mind of God to the people. 

John 1:18, No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.

John 15:15, Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.

Matt. 11:27, All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.

This idea of Jesus being anointed to be our chief prophet teaches us that there is no knowing of the Father or the mind of the Father apart from the work of the Prophet. Put bluntly, God cannot be known apart from the revelation of Jesus as Prophet. This means that all other God’s who claim to be God who have not Jesus as the anointed prophet are not God. By extension it means those who will not submit to the Christian Bible can not have God as their God since Jesus’ work as our Great High Prophet is found only in Scripture.

That which our Great High Prophet speaks to us is concerning our Redemption. Redemption bespeaks the idea that we, as ruined and lost rebels are reclaimed by God by means of the Cross work of Jesus Christ. Our Redemption speaks of everything from our renewal to our glorification.

Jesus not only speak to us as Prophet the mind of God but as our Great High Priest He speaks for us to God. He is our representative. He is our mediator. He is our surety — the one who is responsible for His people. 

3Ps. 110:4, The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Heb. 7:21, (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.)

Heb. 10:14, For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Jesus is our Great High Priest spoke of in the passages above. The function of a Priest in the OT was to offer up the sacrifices for the sins of the people that their sin might be removed and to intercede for the people. Jesus fulfills this office by offering up Himself as our sacrifice. Jesus then is both the Priest who offers up the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself. Jesus also continue to fulfill the office of Priest by continually praying for His people. The Scripture teaches that Christ ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). So, as He prayed for us on earth as our Great High Priest (John 17) so He continues to pray for us at the right hand of the Father just by His presence.

4Rom. 8:34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

All of this bespeaks again of the centrality of Jesus Christ should one desire to have peace with God the Father. There is no safety from God apart from coming under the priestly work of the revealed Jesus of the Bible and not any other Jesus. If one desires to be rescued/saved they must have a Priest who will save them. Jesus is our great High Priest ordained by the Father and anointed by the Spirit to that end.

Just as the work of Jesus the Christ as Prophet centered on teaching us all things concerning our redemption so the work of Jesus the Christ as Priest centers us His redeeming us as well as interceding for us. Understanding the Christian faith is impossible apart from understanding the tie between Jesus and redemption. Flee from any teacher who would teach you Christianity and put redemption on the back burner.

The third office that Jesus has been anointed to is the office of King.

5Ps. 2:6, Yet have I set My king upon My holy hill of Zion.

Luke 1:33, And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

The prophet speaks the mind of God to the people. The Priest represents the people before God. As we know a King leads His people. This is what the HC teaches;

Jesus governs us by His word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us6 in the enjoyment of that salvation He has purchased for us.

As God’s people we have the King’s word. Once redeemed by Christ, Christ comes to us via Word and Spirit to answer the question; “How shall we now live?” We as His redeemed people live the redeemed life as governed by His Word and Spirit.

Don’t miss again the centrality of the Word. We, as the Kings people, are to be governed by His Word under the afflatus of the Holy Spirit. Christians are a Word centered people.

This question hints at the idea of the perseverance of the saints. The Lord Christ, having purchased salvation for His people, will not allow, as our King, for His people to be stripped of the salvation He purchased for them. He defends and preserves us from all enemies.

John 10:28, And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.

Like Pilgrim in “Pilgrim’s Progress” we will all arrive to the Celestial City because of His defending and preserving work as our Liege-Lord. We only persevere because the King preserves us. The anointed Jesus can do this because;

Matt. 28:18, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.

As a King not only does our majestic Lord Christ govern us but as King He takes it upon Himself to defend and preserve us in the enjoyment of that salvation He purchased for us.

Upon learning such truths how can the Christian not be lost in wonder, love and praise. To think that God us provided us a Christ who has done it all and who continues to shepherd until we arrive at the gates of the Celestial city where we will hear the “Well Done,” of the one who gave us grace to be “good and faithful servants.”

No Charge Advice to the CREC on the Issue of Proposed Memorials

The Kinists continue to make a splash in the Ecclesiastical world. The splash is usually in the form of those reputed to be pillars in the church spitting out our name like someone spitting out a mouthful of petrol after a siphoning event gone bad.

It’s funny how Kinists are constantly referred to pejoratively as “Elijah One-tooth,” while at the same time it will be said that we are a bookish group who spend too much time in our libraries. It will be said that we are irrelevant since our numbers are so miniscule and yet whole denominations will erect confessional walls to make sure we are kept out.

The most recent seeking to raise confessional like walls against Kinism is the CREC — home of Pope Doug I. Now, the new word for a confession is a memorial and it looks to be the case that the CREC is going to try and raise a memorial to squelch all the white boy summer young guys in their denomination. I mean, you don’t speak to an issue unless it is threatening your bailiwick. Believe me, the CREC finds Kinism to be a real threat.

In light of all this we have two new proposed memorials that those reputed to be pillars in the CREC are pushing. The first one is titled, “On Ethnic Balance” and reads;

“We believe the human tendency to congregate around shared affections is natural and can be good — it creates the blessings of cultures and subcultures, for example. But as with all natural goods in a fallen world, there is a temptation to exalt it to a position of unbiblical importance, thus making it an idol. While an ethnic heritage is something to be grateful for, and which many be preserved in any way consistent with the law of God, it is important to reject every form of identity politics, including Kinism — whether malicious, vainglorious, or ideologically separatist/segregationist.”

Just a few observations;

1.) As Calvin said, “the heart is an idol factory.” So, yes, shared affections can become an idol. Anything and everything can become an idol. So, since anything and everything can become an idol then why pick natural affections as the one potential idol that needs to be warned against? Could it be as suggested above that more and more people are becoming epistemologically self-conscious about the normalcy of properly ordered affections and so the CREC, being led by those who remain locked in Communist Civil Rights era thinking are knee-jerking against the idea, fearful that if people start loving their own again that will inevitably be followed by legislation demanding “white only public water fountains?”

2.) Here is a definition of identity politics. Remember, the CREC is committing themselves as being opposed to those who operate per the definition that follows;

politics in which groups of people having a particular racial, religious, ethnic, social, or cultural identity tend to promote their own specific interests or concerns without regard to the interests or concerns of any larger political group.

I hope the CREC realizes that with the forbidding of “identity politics” they have just committed themselves to opposing legislation that supports quotas, diversity hiring, and set asides. I hope the CREC realizes that with this memorial they have put themselves in the position of opposing the Black Congressional caucus, the Hispanic Congressional caucus, the NAACP, not to mention black churches and black Universities everywhere. With this memorial the CREC is going to have to do something about CREC member Chocolate Knox saying things like, “Give me the black church or I die.”

But, perhaps, as I suspect, what the CREC is really going after white people daring to do identity politics. Maybe it is the case in the “thinking” of the CREC, as I suspect, that only white Kinists are guilty of embracing identity politics that never fail being malicious, vainglorious, or ideologically separatist/segregationist?

If that is the case then clearly the CREC is being racist against white people and that sure sounds like identity politics.

2.) Note how the above violates the law of non-contradiction;

On one hand ethnic heritage is something to be grateful for and which many be preserved in any way consistent with the law of God, but on the other hand that ethnic heritage — which is something to be grateful for — must reject the normative means by which we preserve the ethnic heritage for which we are grateful. Which is it old chaps?

3.) Sorry, but I have to ask if the CREC really means this. Can you imagine a Chinese church seeking to become a member church of the CREC with the stipulation that they intend to remain a Church that serves the Chinese people. Can you believe that such a application for CREC membership would be rejected? Neither can I.

The CREC with this proposed memorial is really going after white Christians who dare to love their own kith and kin. The CREC seems to believe that white Christians who would echo Chocolate Knox by saying, “Give me the white Church or I die,” are unlike Chocolate Knox idolaters.

The second proposed memorial of the CREC is on Anti-Semitism. Now, keep in mind that Pope Doug I has been making quite the big deal about how Jewish his family is recently. The cynic in me thinks that Pope Doug I is doing this because he is seeking to inure himself from charges of Anti-Semitism. If Pope Doug can get out in front of this issue by;

1.) Broadcasting that his grandchildren are descendants of Rabbi Cohn
2.) Damning by way of implication those who he deems as the true Anti-Semites
3.) Embracing a memorial on the subject

then Pope Doug I makes it harder for him to have the Anti-Semite card played against him. So, in order to clear himself he will throw others under the bus.

Hey … who ever said church politics were pretty?

Here is the proposed CREC memorial on Anti-Semitism

“We believe that conversion of the Jews is key to the success of Christ’s Great Commission, and it is incumbent upon us to pray and labor toward that end. While, apart from Christ, the Jews are as all others — alienated from God — they have remained an object of God’s care because the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. God’s plan for converting them is for them to see Gentile nations under the blessings of Christ’s lordship, thus leading them to long for the same. Hence, the cancerous sin of Anti-Semitism has not place in God’s plan.”

A couple observations;

1.) If the Jews are the key to the success of Christ’s Great Commission it is hard not to see how all the focus of missions should not be placed upon the conversion of the Jews. This brings us back to the 19th century heresy called “Dispensationalism.”

2.) In the same vein when it is said that the Jews have remained an object of God’s care how else can we take this except to observe that God watches over Jews more than he does Intuits, Peruvians, or Ndebele. This wards of Anti-Semitism by embracing Philo-Semitism.

3.) This requires a unique reading of Romans 11 that isn’t accepted by everyone in the Reformed world.

See;

http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/eschatology/paulisra.html

All in all, this proposed memorial is just a return to the Judaizing so warned against in Scripture, as it makes the Kingdom of God Jew central and Jew dependent.

Here is my proposal for a memorial for the CREC. I hope someone will pass this on to Pope Doug and the Cardinals in the denomination in hopes that those men will come to his senses;

“We believe the human tendency to have disordered affection is natural in fallen man and is a result of the fall and an evil that men often fall into. Disordered affections create a conflict of interest in families, cultures, nations, and churches. As with all fallen men living in a fallen world, there is a temptation to call good, “evil” and evil, “good.” Alienism is guilty of this. We resolve to teach God’s people the biblical importance of loving their Fathers and Mothers and families without turning them into idols. Contrary to the zeitgeist we promise to esteem ethnic heritage reminding God’s people to be thankful for the families/tribes/nations He has ordained to set us in. In this context we resolve to warn all of God’s people against an Alienism, Xenophilia, and Oikophobia that would displace rightly ordered affections for disordered affections.”

The Sure and Certain Coming Victory

John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

II Cor. 2:14 — “But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.”

The Victory of Christ and His people is inevitable. We will win because He has won. Get over it. There is no barrier that can forestall us. There is no Maginot line that can impede us. We will overcome all resistance. You will be assimilated to the Kingdom of God or you will die outside of it.

Rev. 22:15 But outside (The New Jerusalem) are dogs (sodomites) and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

The Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord.

He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.  Dan. 7:14

Every battle we may lose serves the purpose of the sure certainty of victory in the War. Every one of us you may kill, either by way of reputation or by way of literal death, guarantees the rise of 10 more of us to come after you with the Praise of God on our lips and a double edged sword in our hands.

You cannot stop us. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. You cannot forestall your final defeat, you cannot reverse this certain triumph. Even your very thoughts will be made captive to Christ.

Your children too will rise and bless the name of Jesus. They will curse your name for cutting off their breasts, for pumping them full of toxins, for attempting to create a hell on earth in which they then have to live. Your children will be the finest disciples of the Christ you hate because they lived long enough to see the world that your vile affections created and they will resolve never to go back to that way of living.

Your Commander in Chief has already been defeated and all we are engaged in now is the mopping up exercise of childish resistance as found in pockets of insanity.

Plead for mercy now. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way. Sue for peace and receive generous terms of surrender. Why will you refuse such a sweet clemency?

Why will you die in your sin when you cannot win?

Why will you die in your sin when eternal life is on the other side of Christ’s command for all men everywhere to repent?

I Had A Dream The Same Night Chris Gordon Had A Dream

 As I sailed on the waters of the Great Lakes, I came to a certain place that seemed like an island, and I laid down in that place to sleep; and as I slept I dreamed a dream…

I was driving through Tekonsha on Mi 60, and I came to a fruit stand that filled me with the urge to listen to some androgynous music. Finally I stumbled across Ziggy Stardust singing,

“Here comes Dick, he’s wearing a skirt
Here comes Jane, y’know she’s sporting a chain
Same hair, revolution
Same build, evolution
Tomorrow who’s gonna fuss?

[Chorus]
And they love each other so
Androgynous
Closer than you know, love each other so
Androgynous

The next song I heard in my dream was some kind of rift off of the Eagle’s “Hotel California;

Last thing I remember, I was
Countering their lore
I had to turn their worldview back
To the Calvin it was before
‘Relax,’ said the ordained man,
‘We are programmed to deceive.
You can argue anything you like
But we will never believe!’

And my dream turned even more surreal with men in skirts in pulpits lisping as they read something about being pilgrims and strangers in this land, yet feeling quite at home with their six figure income and book sales. As they deposited their checks they chanted “in this world we have no continuing city.” Koreans pressed for their autographs while they boasted about how they had people in their congregations on both sides of the “gay” marriage issue. In my dream the babies that had been aborted, as the men in skirts had remained silent in their pulpits on the issue of abortion, were now speaking at the men in skirts ordination services mentioning something about how as little ones they had been offended by the silence of Escondido. Chris Gordon was there giving the Benediction while obviously dreaming himself.

And then a great dream arose within the first dream and ate the first dream from the inside out, like Jonah eating his way through the great fish, and in that dream I dreamed I saw all men praising God in the public square. I saw D. G. Hart, Mike Horton, and R. Scott Clark urging their students to become men like John Knox, Samuel Davies, and R. L. Dabney. (I told you it was a strange dream.)

In my dream David Van Drunen and Matt Tuininga sat at a table as tweedle-dumb and tweedle-stupid playing ping pong. The ball they were hitting back and forth had stamped on it “surrender.” In the corner of the room stood Jacques Rousseau and John Locke arguing with Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson over who was the most responsible for R2K theology. Periodically they would suddenly become doubles partners playing against Van Drunen and Tuininga in a round robin ping pong tournament.

Van Drunen, Tuininga, Williams, Hutchinson, Rosseau, Locke, D. G. Hart, Gordon, Horton, and Scott then suddenly were violin virtuosos who played with great dissonance while in the background the cultural Marxists were going all arsonist on the building in which they were playing. But it was all alright because people were getting saved while everything burned down around their violin concert. Van Drunen, Tuininga, Williams, Hutchinson, Rosseau, Locke, D. G. Hart, Gordon, Horton, and Scott suddenly began to laugh maniacally as they played faster and faster and the walls burned hotter and hotter because they had always predicted that this is how it would all end anyhow. The hotter it burned, the more they laughed and the more they laughed the hotter it burned.

Suddenly, in my dream Scrooge was there but as converted to the Escondido Jesus. He was lecturing to me about the desire to reduce the surplus population of theonomists in the Church. He said, and I quote;

“Every theonomist idiot who goes about with ‘God’s Law’ on his lips, should be burned alive with his own copy of Bahnsen’s “Theonomy in Christian Ethics,” and buried with a stake of general equity through his heart.”

Then in my dream I saw, as it were, two air tight compartments which in no wise could be pierced by the other except as by hallucination. As I had one hallucination I was regulated by the Escondido magisterium. As I had another hallucination I was regulated by a unnatural natural law.

 Then I awoke from my dream and opened my Bible and the place where I landed was this:

“Be ye not conformed to this world but be yet transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

I realized that the impulse of the Anabaptists to retreat from the world was exactly the spirit that had overcome me.

In my dream of trying to leave this world I found that there was no way to do that. Every action or lack of action on my part was impacting everything. How was I to be effective if I were to re-build the monastery? Cowardice was driving me and I suddenly remembered that no coward was ever saved. I realized that I must die to my desired retreatism and must once again seek to be a warrior for Christ. I realized that it was I myself, by my retreatist theology, who had created divisions and disunity in the church and that I couldn’t blame everyone else. I must die to my desire to be conquered by this present evil age. I realized that I too must die to myself, along with my own vision of how I want to see Christ’s kingdom come by not coming and by not contending for it.

It was Jesus who said that upon the confession that Jesus is Lord, Jesus would build His Church, and I realized that I was not confessing Jesus in the public square. I had forgotten that the early church had always been arrested for sedition and not because they were worshiping secretly in the catacombs. I realized that, truth be told, I care more about not being persecuted for righteousness sake than I cared for aborted babies.

Back to Tekonsha, Mi, confident in my calling to be a witness to wicked potentates so as to be as a shining star in a dark universe, I decided to go.

 

Re-working Jewish Winter Songs

You better watch out
You better not deny
You better not doubt
I’m telling you why, St. Nicholas is coming to town

He’s clenching his fists
He’s mighty precise
Gonna knock out all heretic lights
Saint Nicholas ain’t playing around

[Pre-Chorus]

He sees what you are reading
He knows if you’re a fake
He knows if you are bad or good
So you better be good for goodness sake

He’s the Bishop of Myra
Tortured for His Lord
You better know for sure
Arius was floored
St. Nicholas ain’t foolin’ around

O you better not deny
Christ’s Deity
You better not spread
Trinitarian Heresies
Cuz St. Nicholas is coming to town