Introduction to Old Testament "Feast Days"

I think it is tragic how unaware we are of the basic details of the Old Testament holidays. I think it would greatly improve our education as Catholics to learn a bit about them, especially so we can see that living liturgically has deep roots in the Old Testament, and how these OT holidays were foreshadowing of Jesus. For this post, I have decided to do some research and share what I've found, since I have never really looked into this myself and was never taught much on this subject. I might have a few details that need correction, so I welcome your feedback! 

The most important chapters on the Jewish holidays is found in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28. First we'll look at what Moses says in Leviticus 23 as God Himself lays out the Seven Major Feasts:

Abraham and the Sacraments - another beautiful example of typology in the OT

As I was reflecting upon the fascinating chapter 17 of Genesis, where God first introduces the covenant of circumcision, I realized that the very next chapter introduces even more:

Genesis 17:26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, were circumcised with him. 18:1 And the Lord appeared to him as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on - since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”

With the chapter breaks, we generally don't read Genesis 17 in context with Genesis 18, but clearly there is a connection. In the very first words of ch 18, we see Abraham was most likely recovering from circumcision the day(s) prior, mentioned in the closing of ch 17. What we see is that immediately after getting circumcised, Abraham has a mysterious visit from three men, which he welcomes into his home and has a washing of feet and banquet. As with my other OT foreshadowing posts (e.g. here), we should be looking for deeper spiritual lessons when we see 'strange' things happen in the OT. In this case, I believe the Catholic tradition would happily see the New Testament Sacraments hidden here. Following our baptism, we immediately welcome the Holy Trinity into our life, and this sets us up for receiving the Eucharist and washing of the disciples feet. It is well known that Genesis 18 is a foreshadowing of the Trinity, and I'm sure there are other images here that I'm missing, but I've never seen anyone mention the circumcision/baptism connection before, though I'm sure others have.

After Abraham welcomes the "three men",
he is told Sarah will miraculously conceive

 

Does the Bible limit the Sacraments to only Baptism and Eucharist? (Sola Scriptura)

Protestants generally hold to only two Sacraments, claiming that Baptism and Eucharist are the only two "ordinances" that Jesus commanded. Reformed pastor R.C. Sproul's ministry has a reflection on this, which says (here):

Now that we have explored the sacraments in a general sense, we are prepared to look at each sacrament in more detail. Yet before we do that, we must determine the number of sacraments revealed in Scripture. Christ instituted two sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s Supper (The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 68).

It is easy to see why the Heidelberg Catechism singles out these ordinances as sacraments. After all, the Gospels reveal explicitly our Savior’s command to baptize disciples and to partake of bread and wine in His memory (Matt. 28:18–20; Luke 22:14–20). Some churches, in addition, have viewed foot washing as a third sacrament. Other churches do not invest foot washing with sacramental significance, although they may have special foot-washing services during the year. Both groups cite John 13:1–20 in defense of the practice.

What shall we say about this? Clearly, whatever freedom churches might have to engage in foot washing, no church body may impose it as a sacrament upon its people. First, the early church did not see in John 13 a command for the church in every age to wash feet. Acts, for example, records the disciples administering the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (2:37–42), but this New Testament book never records Apostolic foot washing. Second, Dr. R.C. Sproul notes in his commentary John that the majority of the church has not regarded foot washing as a sacrament.

Finally, the Roman Catholic Church adds five sacraments to baptism and the Lord’s Supper: penance, confirmation, marriage, holy orders (priestly ordination), and extreme unction (last rites). Of course, Roman Catholicism is right to see some of these acts as helpful to Christian growth. A godly husband, for example, rightly regards his wife as one of the most sanctifying influences in his life. An ordinance such as penance, however, denies the gospel because it calls for sinners to make satisfaction for their sin.

While the above claims are standard Protestant claims, there are some obvious problems with the above claims that we should take a look at. First of all, the use of the terms "sacrament" and "ordinance" are not used in Scripture with regards to Baptism or the Eucharist. So it is somewhat of an "oral tradition" that Protestants are appealing to when they dogmatically apply "sacrament" to these two things. Second, the only time the Bible uses the term "sacrament" in regards to these is when Paul speaks of Marriage as a "great sacrament" in Ephesians 5:32, where the Greek term mysterion ("mystery") which is precisely what the Latin term "sacrament" means (see here). So this is another blatant inconsistency.

Third, the teaching of Jesus to wash the feet of others in John 13:1-20 does sound like something of a sacrament, especially in 13-14, where Jesus says: "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." This is an outward ordinance or ritual, that Jesus expressly commands, and is clearly tied to being washed of sins and being part of the community (v8): "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." This line of Jesus is especially noteworthy, because while Peter was already a believer in Jesus, here we see Jesus tell Peter that if Peter refuses to have his feet washed, then Jesus will disown Peter. This passage not only poses a problem for 'once saved always saved' but it also exposes the Protestant bias and inconsistency in their theology. And even if it is not a sacrament, the Church has historically seen it as an official part of the Liturgy, particularly on Holy Thursday, also called "Mandate Thursday" in Latin because Jesus "mandates" (commands) the washing of feet. So this is not "optional" for the Protestant side, yet most Protestants do not even practice the foot washing rite in any formal/concrete manner.

Did Clement of Rome teach Faith Alone? - Revisiting Abraham's faith reckoned as righteousness - Part 6

I am excited to have yet another unexpected post in my Revisiting Abraham's Faith Reckoned as Righteousness series (see the prior series HERE). This short essay was inspired by a Lutheran channel who had recently posted a YouTube video (here) arguing that Clement of Rome taught the Protestant doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone. This Lutheran was quoting a well-known passage within the early church father epistle 1 Clement, chapters 31-33, especially verse 32:4, where Pope St Clement of Rome says:

31:1 Let us cleave to his blessing, and let us see what are the ways of blessing. Let us consult the records of the things that happened from the beginning. 2 On what account was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not that he wrought righteousness and truth through faith? 3 Isaac, with confidence, knowing the future, willingly became a sacrifice. 4 Jacob, with humility, flying from his brother, went out from his own land and journeyed unto Laban and served as a slave, and there were given unto him the twelve tribes of Israel.

32:1 If any one will consider these things, he will recognize the magnificence of the gifts that were given by him. 2 For from Jacob came the Levites that serve the altar of God. From him came our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh; from him came the kings and rulers of the tribe of Judah; and the remainder of his tribes are of no small glory, since God hath promised, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven. 3 All these, therefore, have been glorified and magnified, not through themselves or through their works, or through the righteousness that they have done, but through his will. 4 And we who through his will have been called in Christ Jesus are justified, not by ourselves, or through our wisdom or understanding or godliness, or the works that we have done in holiness of heart, but by faith, by which all men from the beginning have been justified by Almighty God.

33:1 What, then, shall we do, brethren? Shall we cease from well-doing, and abandon charity? May the Master never allow that this should happen to us! but let us rather with diligence and zeal hasten to fulfill every good work. 2 For the Maker and Lord of all things rejoice in his works. 3 By his supreme power he founded the heavens. The earth he separated from the water that surrounded it, and fixed it of his own will. The animals he commanded to be by his ordinance. 4 Man, the most excellent of all animals, infinite in faculty, he moulded with his holy and faultless hands, in the impress of his likeness. 5 For thus saith God: Let us make man in our own image, and after our own likeness. 6 When he had finished all things, he blessed them, and said, Be fruitful, and multiply. 7 Let us see, therefore, how all the just [righteous] have been adorned with good works. The Lord himself rejoiced when he had adorned himself with his works. 8 Having, therefore, this example, let us come in without shrinking to his will; let us work with all our strength the work of righteousness.

I want to present what I hope are fresh & unique insights to this seemingly slam-dunk Faith Alone passage in 32:4, which I hope will be edifying and convincing to all sides. While I think there is beneficial insights from the typical Catholic reading against 32:4 (e.g. see Bryan Cross great blog here, and Erick Ybarra's great blog here especially touching on the Romans 4:6-8 aspect), I think they mainstream Catholic reading get things mostly right but need to add some key details. Here are my insights:

Were David's future sins forgiven at the moment of his conversion? (Quickie Apologetics)

I'm not sure if I have posted this before, but I want to make a quick post about it. I'd say that 'moderate/intermediate' level of Catholic apologetics knows that when Romans 4:6-8 speaks of the justification of David in Psalm 32, that this prayer in Psalm 32 was not the first time that David came to faith. Instead, David had been converted to God since David was a young man (1 Sam 17:33-37). In this case of Psalm 32, David was praying about repenting of his adultery/murder in 2 Samuel 12:13-14, where as an adult David committed mortal sin and needed to repent. Thus, if Psalm 32 is talking about Justification, as Paul says it is, this can only mean David lost his salvation by mortal sin and regained it when he repented. This refutes/undermines the standard Protestant claim that Justification cannot be lost by our sin (or regained by Repenting). This brilliant insight was first made by Robert Sungenis about 25 years ago in his published book Not By Faith Alone.

That said, certain Protestants like James White insist that David's future sins were (also) forgiven per David's words of Psalm 32, which is a serious presumption since the Bible only ever talks of past sins being forgiven. That's because the Reformed are forced to teach all future sins are forgiven in order to uphold their other erroneous views, namely Faith Alone and Imputation (discussed many times on this blog). But what if we can look even further into David's life, years later as King, and see him falling into sin again? That would obviously cause serious problems to the White/Reformed thesis. And indeed there is such a text, discovered by the Catholic blogger [HERE], where he points out that the final chapter of 2 Samuel, specifically 2 Sam 24:10, speaks of an elderly David disobeying God in another serious manner:

10 But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” . . . 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.”

It is clear that David had sin/iniquity on his conscience before God for his bad behavior, and David was again praying for forgiveness. It is clear that God was even punishing David for his sins and had to do Penance to fix it (2 Sam 24:24-25). This is impossible if David's future sins were forgiven years earlier when David prayed Psalm 32. This is impossible if David was "covered by Christ's imputed righteousness" such that God doesn't see David's behavior but rather only sees David as righteous at all times. I think this is a wonderful find and believe it raises a Catholic to 'advanced/expert' level when he includes 2 Samuel 24:10 along with pointing out that Psalm 32 was about David's sin in 2 Samuel 12. We simply must make use of powerful arguments like these, because they can be very effective against Protestants.