The Fundamental Christian Faith

The Fundamental Christian Faith Book Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY The first article of the Creed was originally a confession of Faith in the one personal God of the Old Testament, and all that was implied therein. It was based on the Shema, so-called from its initial Hebrew word. "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. Therefore thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength" (Dt. 6-). This was followed by vv.6"9, and then by Dt. and Num. I537"41. This Shema was the Confession of Faith, the Creed of Israel, said at morning and evening worship with appropriate prayers, of the nature of ascriptions to God, called Benedictions. Josephus1 testifies that this was the custom among the Jews from remote antiquity, therefore undoubtedly in the time of Jesus, and of Jesus Himself. This Shema was also written on parchment with Ex. Iji-io, u-18, )t ii1"21, and put in phylacteries worn on the head and arm at prayers. It was also written on parchment with Dt. n13"21, and placed in the Mezuzah, affixed to the right-hand door-post of the Jewish house. All these were universal customs in the time of Jesus. ' Ant., 4. u; cf. Schurer, Gesch. desjudischen Volkes, II, . 382. Jesus Himself attests the Shema, when, in reply to the scribe who asks Him, " What commandment ij the first of all?" He answered: "The first is, Hear, 0 Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, (and with all thy mind), and with all thy strength" (Mark I228"30). Lord is the Greek Kvpioy, which stands in Greek for Yahweh of the Old Testament. There can be no doubt as to the meaning of this Creed to Jesus and His Apostles, and to the Jews of His time, (i) It asserted clearly and unmistakably that the...

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