Doctrine

"Tetelestai!"

What is it?

Tetelestai (pronounced teh TELL ess tie) is what Jesus Christ cried out from the cross moments before He bowed His head in death according to John 19:30.  Tetelestai is the New Testament Greek word which, in English, means "Finished!" or "It is Finished!"

What was finished?

The first of two Divine Missions, for the word Tetelestai also may be translated: “Mission Accomplished!”  This mission involved the Creator of the material universe coming into this world as one of us; to live a sinless life, to fulfill many Old Testament prophesies, to announce His kingdom, and to secure the eternal redemption and forgiveness of sins for all of fallen mankind.  When, He said “finished” it meant that all the work was complete for sinful humans to be reconciled to God.  All that is left for people to “do” is simply believe He is who He says He is – the Divine and Human Son of God.   The following things were accomplished in the first Divine Mission:

1.  The securing of eternal redemption and forgiveness of sins for all of fallen mankind who, upon believing in His true identity (Jesus as the Divine and Human Son of God) receive the forgiveness of sins.  “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and arose on the third day, according to the Scriptures” (John 20:31; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 John 5:1a).

2.  The reconciliation of mankind to God ( 1 Corinthians 5:18-21),  made the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:13-15); and the ultimate reconciliation of the material universe with all things in the heavenly dimension, for this is to be accomplished “by the blood of Christ’s cross” (Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:20).

3.  The satisfaction of God’s justice where all human sins are concerned.  “For     God  sent His Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9), and  “He sent His Son to be a propitiation [just payment] for our sins” (1 John 4:10).  And we believe that much, much more was accomplished by the First Divine Mission.

What is Tetelestai Church?

Tetelestai Church is an assembly of believers in Jesus Christ, a small part of the universal Body of Christ.

What do we believe?

1. We believe in the Triune God, that God is One and that the God-who-is-       One is Three-who-are-One (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14).

2. We believe there are Three Divine Persons in the One God who are equally divine.They are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3, 13, 4:30).

3. We believe in two Divine Processions:

·That the Son was eternally begotten of the Father as The Only Begotten Son and He is equally divine in every way with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John 1:1, 14, 18; 3:16; 10:30).

·That the Holy Spirit proceeded eternally from the Father and the Son and is equally divine with the Father and the Son (John 16:13-15; John 7:37-39; 20:22; Revelation 22:1).

4. We believe that the Father, through the Word (the Son), created all that is not divine (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16).

5. We believe that the Word who forever and always is God and who forever was always with God, became flesh (John 1:1, 14; Romans 8:2-3; Philippians 2:6-8).

6. We believe that the Incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, is One Person with two natures ­- a human nature and a divine nature (Hebrews 5:7-8).

7. We believe in two Divine Missions:

· The Mission of the Son which has been accomplished (as indicated by His cry, “Tetelestai!”) and includes the following:

o  The securing of eternal redemption and forgiveness of sins for all of fallen mankind who, upon believing in His true identity (Jesus as the Divine and Human Son of God) receive the forgiveness of sins, for “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and arose on the third day, according to the Scriptures” (John 20:31; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 John 5:1a).

o  The reconciliation of mankind to God ( Corinthians 5:18-21), made effective in each case when a person believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:13-15); and the ultimate reconciliation of the material universe with all things in the heavenly dimension, for this is to be accomplished “by the blood of Christ’s cross” (Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:20).

o  The satisfaction of God’s justice where all human sins are concerned. “For God sent His Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9), and “He sent His Son to be a propitiation [just payment] for our sins” (1 John 4:10). And we believe that much, much more was accomplished by the First Divine Mission.

· The Mission of the Spirit is presently ongoing, for He persuades the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:7-11), regenerates all who believe in the Son (John 3:5; Titus 3:5-6), seals all who believe in Jesus as the Christ (Ephesians 1:12-13), places them in union with Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), and indwells all believers (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), as do all three Persons of the Triune God (John 14:20; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:27; 3:3).

8. We believe that the people of God are one and that their unity is based on the unity of the Triune God (John 17:22). For, Just as the human body is one and has many parts but all the parts of the body, being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we all were baptized into one body whether Jew or Greek, slave or free and all have been caused to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) (see also John 10:16;  Galatians 3:26-29; Colossians 3:11).

9. We believe that the Son of God will come again (John 14:3; 2 Timothy 4:2) and that all believers in Him will be bodily resurrected from the dead or bodily changed (if they are alive at that moment) and that they will thus be like Him when He appears (1 Corinthians 15:50-56; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10; 4:13-18; 1 John 3:2). For when Christ appears, all believers will appear with Him in a glorious transformed condition (Philippians 3:20-21;Colossians 3:4). We believe that at His coming, He will raise both unbelieving and believing dead ones (Daniel 12:2-3; John 5:22-28) and that all mankind will be judged by the Risen Christ (2 Timothy 4:2). And we believe that when “the sons of God” (believers in Christ) are glorified through resurrection or the bodily change at His appearing, that this will signal the restoration of the entire universe (Romans 8:19-23).

10. We believe that the Bible’s sixty-six canonical books are “God-breathed“ (2Timothy 3:16),” that the Scripture is inerrant and infallible in its original autographs (John 10:35), that the Scriptures present a unified master-narrative, and that they should rightly be called “the written Word of God.”

(The above is a brief summary of our creed en nuce.  Much expansion on what we believe will appear in the future as we release examples of the teaching of the Word that emerges in our meetings, which all are welcome to attend without obligation.)

What is the Mission of Tetelestai Church?

Our mission, in light of the accomplished Mission of the Son of God, is to consent to the Holy Spirit as He fulfills His Mission to form and build-up the Body of Christ by means of love and thus to become co-laborers with God (1 Corinthians 3:9; 15:57-58) for the building of the spiritual house which is Messiah’s Church (Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 8:2; Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:1-32; 1 Peter 2:5, 9 et al).