THEOLOGY 300
LECTURE | ROBERTO ARCE CAGAS | PRELIMS
BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH
FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH
• For Christians the foundation of the Church can be
traced as early as the Old Testament time, and
vindicated by the person of Jesus Christ in the New
Testament.
COVENANT
• Between Yahweh and Abraham
• Etymologically, is derived from the Hebrew word
berit, which refers to agreement, or legal contract
between kins.
• When applied between God and Abraham
o Basic Relationship
o Sacred
o Irrevocable
• Understood as more than a legal contract or
agreement.
COVENANT CONDITIONS
• Yahweh shall give Abraham the Land of Canaan
• Promise of Countless Descendants
• Assurance of Yahweh’s Protection
• They shall worship and keep Yahweh as their only
God
COVENANT RENEWED & LAWS GIVEN
• But the Promises were Put to Test
• In the book of Exodus, the new Pharaoh turned the
Israelites into slaves and treated them with cruelty
and oppression.
• Yet Yahweh heard the cry of his people, and
remained true to his word. He raised up a liberator in
the person of Moses. To free his people and lead
them to a land he promised Abraham and his
descendants.
• Yahweh’s unanimous victory over Pharaoh and his
pantheon of God’s led pharaoh to concede his
defeat and helplessness before the mighty powerful
God of Moses.
• The defeated Pharaoh eventually issued a decree for
the freedom of the Hebrews and their return to
Canaan.
• Chapter 20 of Exodus narrates the renewal of the
Covenant. Such covenant was unique because the
God of Abraham directly enters into an agreement
with Israel as his chosen people.
• In return, Israel pledged its worship and loyalty to
Yahweh alone. Yahweh then gave them the 10
commandments that would govern and guide their
way of life.
• Israel has grown more defined int its identity and
more organized and systematic in living out its
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A.Y. 2021 - 2022
duties towards God as indicated by its laws and
precepts.
• Israel as God’s chosen people evolved into an
organized worshipping assembly of Yahweh guided
by its fundamental laws, beliefs, and rituals. – Qahal
Yahweh
DID JESUS INTEND TO ESTABLISH A CHURCH
ADELBERT DENAUX
• Jesus making an explicit intention of founding a
Church is hardly supported by any direct and explicit
scriptural evidences.
• But to understand the post-resurrection Church in
relation to the Pre-Easter Jesus and his message is
an essential way of fostering fidelity to the Church’s
theological, social and historical foundation.
Albert Denaux On the Institution of the Church
FROM PRE-EASTER JESUS TO POST-EASTER
INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH
• The Pre—Easter Jesus was very clear in his intention
of gathering the whole people of Israel where
religious dissension and political chaos was an
inseparable context.
• He preached God’s universal, imminent Lordship and
urgently called everyone to prepare, to repent as the
new chosen people of God, Jews and Gentiles.
• Jesus chose the Twelve as his immediate circle.
When his disciples group together as an assembly,
an ekklesia, it can be said to be the prefiguration of
the institutional Church.
• BUT there were oppositions against Jesus.
o The authorities of his time threatened him, even
conspired for his death on the cross. Aware of the
threat, the opposition against him, Jesus
integrates his approaching death into his
conception of Gods Lordship.
• TENSION around the early Christian Movement
o The early Christian movement with their
traditions, beliefs and celebrations centered on
Jesus Christ gradually came into being side by
side with the existing religious groups and
institutions of the First Century Palestine.
• The Element of CONTINUITY
o Therefore, the foundation of the Church should
not essentially be viewed, and even judged in
knowing Jesus’ explicit intention but in finding the
essential element of continuity from the pre-
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THEOLOGY 300
LECTURE | ROBERTO ARCE CAGAS | PRELIMS
BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH
Easter Jesus to the Post Easter institutional
Church, and the ongoing life of the Church as
pilgrims awaiting for his Second Coming.
JOSEPH RATZINGER
• No less than the pope emeritus of the Catholic Church
Pope Benedict XVI made the following points in
supporting Jesus’ intention of building a community of
faith, a church.
o For Ratzinger, “the entire mission of the
Sonmade-flesh has a communitarian finality. He
truly came to unite a dispersed humanity. He truly
came to unite the People of God.
o Jesus called and gathered a community of men
to be his disciples. He deliberately chose and
appointed the 12 Apostles. An action which
reveals the propheticsymbolic action of the new
initiative to re-establish the holy people.
As the system of the 12 tribes had long since
faded out, it became a sign of the hope of Israel’s
restoration.
o The Apostles, before Jesus ascended into
heaven, was entrusted with great mission of
bringing the world into a community of faith and
worship. Jesus clearly indicated that he will be
with the apostles, who became our historical link
as a Church to the risen Christ, until the end of
time.
o PRIMACY AND ROLE OF PETER among the
Apostles as the Head of the Church.
▪ And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound on heaven; and whatever you loose on
earth shall be loosed in heaven. - Matthew
16:18-20
o The use of the word CHURCH
▪ It is only in Matthew 16:18-20 that Jesus
explicitly mentioned the word CHURCH
which is referred to in Greek as Ekklesia and
links this Ekklesia headed by Peter with the
Kingdom preached by Jesus.
o Pope Benedict XVI wrote :
▪ We cannot have Jesus without the reality he
created and in which he communicates
himself. Between the Son of God-made-flesh
and his Church, there is a profound,
unbreakable and mysterious continuity by
which Christ is present today in his people.
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He is always contemporary with us, he is
always contemporary with the Church.
CONCLUSION
• No, if we mean the church as building
• Yes, if we mean people who were gathered because
of their belief in Jesus Christ
QUIZZES
• Between the Son of God-made-flesh and his Church,
there is a profound, unbreakable and mysterious
continuity by which Christ is present today in his
people. He is always contemporary with us, he is
always contemporary with the Church.
o True
• In what particular Biblical text that Jesus explicitly
mentioned the word Church?
o Matthew 16:18-20
• What is the most correct understanding of the term
EKKLESIA?
o Church
• The Apostles, before Jesus ascended into heaven,
was entrusted with great mission of
o Bringing the world into a community of faith
and world
• For ADELBERT DENAUX, “the entire mission of the
Son-made-flesh has a communitarian finality.
o False
• Pope Benedict XVI supports the idea of Jesus’
intention of building a community of faith, a church.
o True
• According to Cardinal Ratzinger, the foundation of the
Church should not essentially be viewed, and even
judged in knowing Jesus’ explicit intention but in
finding the essential element of continuity from the
pre-Easter Jesus to the Post Easter institutional
Church, and the ongoing life of the Church as pilgrims
awaiting for his Second Coming.
o False
• Which of the following is the proper understanding
of Qahal Yahweh?
o Israel as God’s chosen people evolved into an
organized worshipping assembly of Yahweh
guided by its fundamental laws, beliefs, and
rituals
• COVENANT When Applied between God and
Abraham is understood as more than a legal contract
or agreement.
o True
• The Hebrew word Berit is properly understood as,?
o Legal contract between kins
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THEOLOGY 300 FIRST SEMESTER
LECTURE | ROBERTO ARCE CAGAS | PRELIMS A.Y. 2021 - 2022
BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH

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