I know Jesus, His body and blood dwell within me, Part 1.

Have you been asked at a shopping centre or out on the street, or even at work or in a chat room on the net,  the following question, "Do you know Jesus Christ"? Many Apostolic Christians may answer, well sure I do, and then the follow up question is asked "But do you have a relationship with Him?". Many Apostolic Christians who do not enter into the Holy Church and learn about their faith may become confused when approached with this line of questioning, I hope that through the grace of Jesus the Christ, we can learn together what the real meaning of 'knowing' Jesus is.

Firstly, we should elaborate on what it actually means to know our Lord and Saviour, is this facet of evangelical theology found in scripture? Unsurprisingly there exists no definitive text that claims it is us that need to know Christ in order to be saved, rather, it is Christ who is to know us. This however does not imply that we do not have a free will, we are freely able to accept or reject the invitation made by God.

We read in Matthew 7:21-23

   ²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

This verse stipulates that people who believed they were part of Christ's family, who believed that they were adopted sons, who would perform works in His name, who concluded that they actually knew Him were, in reality, very far from the Lord, as He states "I never knew you".

The Gospel recorded by the Apostle John depicts Christ speaking to the pharisees and His disciples regarding them knowing the Father by only knowing the Son, however this is not a scriptural proof for evangelical theology. In these passages of scripture, i.e. John 14:7 and John 8:19, Christ is specifically stating His obvious unity and oneness with the Father (some protestants deny that Jesus is God) and that we can only know who the Father is by knowing who Jesus is and that there is no other way possible to gain the kingdom of heaven and dwell in the midst of God but through Christ alone.

So how do we get to know Christ, or rather, how does Christ get to know us? Firstly it is of great importance that we are baptised, many of us within the Apostolic faith were baptised as children, this sacrament is the first step toward salvation and actually grafts us into the Kingdom of God.


We read in John 3 -

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Unless we are born of water and spirit, says Jesus, we cannot see the kingdom of God! The sacrament of baptism is where we are buried and raised with Christ, furthermore, it is the new circumcision as St Paul states in Colossians 2:11. In the times of the old covenant God commanded that infants be circumcised at 8 days old or they were to be "cut off from the people" Genesis 17:14.

It is quite clear that Baptism is the rite of entry into the Christian faith, Christ states that we cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless we are born of water and spirit. Many demonic doctrines espoused by man since the reformation have argued that baptism is unnecessary and cannot save you from your sin, I leave them with the word's of Simon Keepah.

³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2;38.

I hope to post part 2 of this topic in the next few days, until then, God bless.