Magyar Egyház, 1963 (42. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1963-01-01 / 1. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

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The delegates emphasized the special responsibility of the Church for “preserving and extending the realm of freedom.” The Church “should protest when civil and religious liberty is threatened . . . whatever the cost.”

The delegates at the Area Council voted to transmit this statement on Civil and Religious Liberty to member churches for distribution to ministers, officers and congregations.

The annual meeting of the North American Council of the World Alliance of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches was held in conjunction with a convocation at Lancaster Theological Seminary which was part of a world-wide celebration of the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the publication of the Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most historic documents of the Reformation and still a basic doctrinal formulation for a large segment of Protestant Christianity. Lectures, discussion groups and exhibits at Lancaster Seminary marked the anniversary observance.

The Rev. Dr. Richard H. N. Davidson of the United Church of Canada was named to serve as Chairman of the North American Area during the coming year.

The Hungarian Reformed Church in America is a member communion of the Council.

THE FINAL JUDGMENT

When at the second coming of Jesus Christ the dead will have been risen and the living changed into the same imperishable body in which the dead will be risen,we all will be gathered together before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, as the Bible says: “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” (2, Cor. 5:10).

One of the purposes of the Final Judgment is to reveal who are the true believers of Jesus Christ and who are his enemies. His believers and his enemies live together here on earth in the nations, in the church, in the families and in society. Many times the enemies of Christ pretend to be his true followers for certain selfish reasons, while many true believers of Jesus live unnoticed and forgotten or despised by the world. It is necessary, therefore, to reveal who is who. “Before Christ will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matt. 25:32)

At this separation the Lord Jesus will remember all the good works of His believers as well as the wickedness of his enemies. By doing this, Jesus wants to manifest that great truth that those who truly believed in Him here on earth and daily repented of their sins and hoped to obtain their forgiveness and eternal life solely because of the sacrifice of Jesus, certainly they strove to express their gratefulness to God with their daily good works. But his enemies never did anything good from gratefulness to God. perhaps occasionally they produced some good deeds to serve their own interest or to be praised by others. Also, at the Final Judgment the true believers of Christ will happily realize that Jesus regards all their good works as done to Him and the wicked have to know that with their fruitless and hypocritical lives hurt not only their fellowmen but Jesus Christ as well. “When you fed a hungry man . . . you did it to me,” says Jesus to his beloved ones. “When you did not feed a hungry man

. . . you did it not to me,” says he to his enemies at the Final Judgment.

At the end of the Final Judgment Jesus will pronounce his sentence which is this: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Then He will say to His enemies: “Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. They will go away into eternal torments, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25)

So after this earthly life either eternal life in heaven or eternal damnation in hell is waiting for us. The time is now, while we live on earth to turn to God, to repent of our sins and to express our gratefulness to God with our daily good works. After death, it is late. Stephen Kovács

Introduction to the New Testament

The present study of the New Testament is to set forth the unity of the New Testament as the very Word of God to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Name: The name, New Testament, which is given to the second part of our Bible, comes from the Latin Novum Testamentum which is a literal translation from the Greek. The term occurs first around 200 A.D. and soon came into general use. The Greek term may mean “testament” or “covenant.” The word occurs 33 times in the New Testament. In none of these passages does the phrase refer to the “New Testament” in our sense. It designates an establishment of a new covenant of God with men through Jesus Christ.

The Purpose: The purpose of the New Testament is to bring forth the revelation of this new covenant, the recorded words of Jesus and of His followers, the beginning of Christianity, and the history of the early Christian Churches.

The Period: The books of the New Testament were written probably from 45 A.D. to 100 A.D. It must be remembered that the books were not written in the order in which they appear in the Bible. Probably James’ is the oldest book, and Revelation is the latest one.

The Canon: The word “canon” comes from the Greek word “kanon.” The word means measure, rule, or standard. We now have, in the New Testament, twenty-seven books. Not all the twenty-seven books were recognized as canonical books from the beginning. The full recognition of some of these books came later. Not until the Third Council of Carthage in 397 A.D. was a decision made on this matter. This Council gave a list of the books that were considered as canonical; it included exactly our twenty-seven books. These canonical books were written in the Greek language.

The Inspiration: By “inspiration” we mean that the Holy Spirit kept the authors of the New Testament from all error and guided them in the writing of the Word of God. There are many passages in the Bible to prove this inspiration. For example Paul says: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” 2 Tim. 3:16. And Peter claims: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” 2 Pet. 1:21.

May the Lord bless those who seek to study the books of the New Testament.

(To be continued) Barna K. Röczey