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Without a context you are just creating a pretext to eisegesis.
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. Matthew 27
Excellent quote. Too bad your philosophical constructs rearrange theological categories and by doing so, "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." Mark 7
Good quote. Can you prove the traditions Paul was taking about in 2 Thessalonians are the same traditions held by Orthodox Christians today? Nope. You are assuming they are.
Let's put these passages in a biblical context by viewing others that contain more information about the subject. By doing this we can gleam how Christ our Lord would have understood it. The Holy Scripture declares,
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:" Isa. 29
We must always be moving toward Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture and away from the precepts of man.
Please see Deuteronomy 12. It's a long passage and I do not want to quote it here but it does deal with worship under the old Mosaic covenant of works.
v. 1.-2 destroy Temples belonging to false religion
v. 4-19 worship is prescribed where God reveals His name the Tabernacle
v. 4. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
v.8 You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,
v. 20-21 the revealed will of God regulates worship
v. 29-21 we are not to be influenced by culture
v.31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
v. 32 Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Under the old covenant God directed every aspect of Israel's worship in His revealed word. God alone determines how we come to God in worship and this excluded any practices that were not revealed in His word. Why? According to the Old Testament extra biblical practices nullified true biblical worship and call into question God's holy revelation (the Bible) by adding to it. All worship not commanded by God in His word is condemned as false worship. I ask that you have a look at a few passages on your own for further clarification. Listing them would make my reply even longer.
Lev. 10.1-3; Deut. 4.2, 12.29-32, 17.3; Josh. 1.7, 23.6-8; Matt. 15.13; Col. 2.20-23
Many Christians will claim that images aid a believer in devotion, help make worship more beautiful and move along the worship serve. Icons were chosen by some, fought over for a few hundreds years, and now enforced upon all as "Orthodox." This runs contrary to the old covenant revelation concerning images and worship, what changed between the covenants? You can read the link I posted above...but for now lets continue with the old covenant.
The angels mentioned are decorative angels, directly revealed by God in scripture, to be added to the top of the Ark of the Covenant. Keep in mind it was a direct command by God recorded in His written word. It must be noted that only the High Priest, Jesus Christ is our High Priest (Hebrews 4), and no one else was allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies to even see these angels. You will also find missing from scripture any example of the High Priest bowing down before the angels, kissing them, or praying to them or what they represented. The High Priest did not offer candles or incense to the Angels on the Ark of the Covenant.
So what was the purpose of the angels?
Were worshipers to gaze upon them in adoration, asking them for assistance or looking through them into heaven? Absolutely not.
Paul tells us in Hebrews, "And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat" (Hebrews 9)
They simply pointed to the middle of the top of the table which was the mercyseat which did not contain any image. The Psalmist tells us that our God "dwellest between the cherubims" (Ps. 80) in the empty space and not in or through images. When Christ came He replaced the old covenant so that we may, "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4) This throne of grace does not contain images.
“And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” (Exodus 25:18-22)
Yours in the Lord,
jm
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. Matthew 27
Excellent quote. Too bad your philosophical constructs rearrange theological categories and by doing so, "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." Mark 7
Good quote. Can you prove the traditions Paul was taking about in 2 Thessalonians are the same traditions held by Orthodox Christians today? Nope. You are assuming they are.
Let's put these passages in a biblical context by viewing others that contain more information about the subject. By doing this we can gleam how Christ our Lord would have understood it. The Holy Scripture declares,
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:" Isa. 29
We must always be moving toward Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture and away from the precepts of man.
Please see Deuteronomy 12. It's a long passage and I do not want to quote it here but it does deal with worship under the old Mosaic covenant of works.
v. 1.-2 destroy Temples belonging to false religion
v. 4-19 worship is prescribed where God reveals His name the Tabernacle
v. 4. You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
v.8 You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,
v. 20-21 the revealed will of God regulates worship
v. 29-21 we are not to be influenced by culture
v.31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
v. 32 Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Under the old covenant God directed every aspect of Israel's worship in His revealed word. God alone determines how we come to God in worship and this excluded any practices that were not revealed in His word. Why? According to the Old Testament extra biblical practices nullified true biblical worship and call into question God's holy revelation (the Bible) by adding to it. All worship not commanded by God in His word is condemned as false worship. I ask that you have a look at a few passages on your own for further clarification. Listing them would make my reply even longer.
Lev. 10.1-3; Deut. 4.2, 12.29-32, 17.3; Josh. 1.7, 23.6-8; Matt. 15.13; Col. 2.20-23
Many Christians will claim that images aid a believer in devotion, help make worship more beautiful and move along the worship serve. Icons were chosen by some, fought over for a few hundreds years, and now enforced upon all as "Orthodox." This runs contrary to the old covenant revelation concerning images and worship, what changed between the covenants? You can read the link I posted above...but for now lets continue with the old covenant.
The angels mentioned are decorative angels, directly revealed by God in scripture, to be added to the top of the Ark of the Covenant. Keep in mind it was a direct command by God recorded in His written word. It must be noted that only the High Priest, Jesus Christ is our High Priest (Hebrews 4), and no one else was allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies to even see these angels. You will also find missing from scripture any example of the High Priest bowing down before the angels, kissing them, or praying to them or what they represented. The High Priest did not offer candles or incense to the Angels on the Ark of the Covenant.
So what was the purpose of the angels?
Were worshipers to gaze upon them in adoration, asking them for assistance or looking through them into heaven? Absolutely not.
Paul tells us in Hebrews, "And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat" (Hebrews 9)
They simply pointed to the middle of the top of the table which was the mercyseat which did not contain any image. The Psalmist tells us that our God "dwellest between the cherubims" (Ps. 80) in the empty space and not in or through images. When Christ came He replaced the old covenant so that we may, "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4) This throne of grace does not contain images.
“And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” (Exodus 25:18-22)
Yours in the Lord,
jm
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