{"id":90737,"date":"2021-03-11T21:07:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T02:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/stigmata\/"},"modified":"2023-10-07T23:09:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T03:09:29","slug":"stigmata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/stigmata\/","title":{"rendered":"Stigmata"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Galatians 6:17: \u201c<em>With reference to the time that remains let no man trouble me, because\nI bear in my body the scars of Jesus.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The concept of \u201cStigmata\u201d or bodily marks,\nsores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the&nbsp;crucifixion\nwounds of&nbsp;Jesus is once again emerging in popular culture.&nbsp; Recently\nan individual purportedly bearing stigmata, referred to as a stigmatic,\nappeared on a popular satellite program promoting her wounds as evidence of a\nspecial relationship with God.&nbsp; The causes of stigmata are the subject of\nconsiderable debate. Some contend that they are&nbsp;miraculous while others\nargue they are&nbsp;hoaxes or can be explained medically or psychologically. &nbsp;To understand the intent of Paul as juxtaposed\nto modern application, we examine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Historical\nContext: This verse is part of a final warning and benediction to the Church at\nGalatia.&nbsp; The Galatian believers had been devoted to\nPaul and accepted his teaching when he was with them [Galatians 4:14-15].&nbsp; Key issues at the time were Gentile\nconversion, traditional Jewish temple rites and ceremonial rituals.&nbsp; Soon after Paul departed, other teachers\narrived and began teaching contrary to Paul\u2019s instruction [Galatians 1:6],\nincluding that the law of Moses was binding on believers and was required for\njustification [Galatians 4:5], especially the laws about circumcision.&nbsp; V. 17 clearly demonstrates that Paul was\ntired of the controversy and, having addressed the false teaching, had nothing\nfurther to say.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Grammatical\nUsage: The key phrase with reference to implications upon Stigmata is the\npredicate, \u201c\u2026because I bear in my body the scars of Jesus.\u201d&nbsp; The Greek reference is to physical scars\n(both physical and psychological \u2013 hence the use of \u201cin\u201d \u2013 2 Corinthians 4:10)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Literal\nApplication: Paul leaves no question as to his meaning: scars received due to\nthe on-going, real-time service to Christ from those who opposed him and his\npreaching of Jesus.&nbsp; There is no\ngrammatical basis that lends itself to unexplainable wound appearances of\nmystical origin for any purpose \u2013 including&nbsp;\nsupernatural origin resembling Christ\u2019s crucifixion wounds as visual\nevidence of what He had endured.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Contextual Interpretation: It is\nimportant to recognize that the concept of stigmata&nbsp;is primarily\nassociated with the&nbsp;Roman Catholic faith. Many reported stigmatics are\nmembers of Roman Catholic religious orders. The majority of reported stigmatics\nare female.&nbsp; There are three problematic points for us in that:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">1) While we are all &#8220;catholic&#8221; in the sense of\none in Christ, <em>Roman Catholicism<\/em> is a particular denomination which\nharbors many beliefs which have been rejected by Protestants through the\ncenturies &#8211; this is one of them.&nbsp; Protestants as well as some Roman\nCatholics harbor a level of skepticism when it comes to many historical\/current\nassertions of Catholicism which, to be kind, prove extra-Biblical;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">2) Iit is interesting to note that there are relatively\nfew claims of Stigmata among Protestants and those who have claimed it were\nfound to be illegitimate;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">3) In fact, no case of stigmata is known to have\noccurred before the thirteenth century, when the crucified Jesus became a\nstandard icon of&nbsp;Christianity in the west.&nbsp; This is problematic in\nthat Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to convict and convince the world &#8211; these type\nof displays are unnecessary as a witness to either the saved or unsaved &#8211; look\nat the controversy even today, controversy that hasn&#8217;t advanced the cause of\nChrist and&nbsp;controversy&nbsp;that wasn&#8217;t necessary previous to the 13th\ncentury.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Skeptics also point out that stigmata have appeared on\nhands in some cases, and wrists in others. It is unknown\nwhether&nbsp;crucifixion involved nails being driven through the hands or\nwrists. It has been proven in several studies that the hands would be unable to\nsupport the necessary weight, so many advocate the wrist theory; traditional\nart, however, often presents the opposite view. A new study and documentary\ncalled &#8220;Quest for Truth: The Crucifixion&#8221; on the National Geographic\nChannel has shown that a person can be suspended by the wrists, as the ankles\nare nailed to the side of the cross. However, the study also indicates the\npalms are a likely place for the nails to be driven as it would cause the\nmaximum amount of pain and trauma.&nbsp; A lot of art does depict the\npalms.&nbsp; The fact that there is no consistency of wounds among stigmatics\ndoesn&#8217;t bode well for a consistent depiction of the actual crucifixion &#8211; after\nall, God knows how it was carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\n<li>Scriptural\nComparison: The fact that there is no relevant Scriptural comparison for\ncontext much less definition fails to lend credence to the phenomena itself,\nmuch less a sign of God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Conclusions: The\nWord tells us to try the spirits to determine if they are of God or otherwise\n(1 John 4:1).&nbsp; Bottom line &#8211; this is an unnecessary manifestation which can\nnot be attributed to God.&nbsp; Satan does his best to copy everything of God\nfor the purpose of deception (2 Corinthians 11: 14) &#8211; I put stigmata in this\ncategory.&nbsp; This controversy deludes people into believing what can&#8217;t be\ndemonstrated consistently nor referenced in the Word, thereby frustrating some\nand confusing others.&nbsp; God says He is not the author of confusion (1\nCorinthians 14:33) &#8211; hence, this is a basis upon which to reject the legitimacy\nof stigmata.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Galatians 6:17: \u201cWith reference to the time that remains let no man trouble me, because I bear in my body the scars of Jesus.\u201d The concept of \u201cStigmata\u201d or bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the&nbsp;crucifixion wounds of&nbsp;Jesus is once again emerging in popular culture.&nbsp; Recently an individual purportedly bearing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,534],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stigmata - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stigmata - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Galatians 6:17: \u201cWith reference to the time that remains let no man trouble me, because I bear in my body the scars of Jesus.\u201d The concept of \u201cStigmata\u201d or bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the&nbsp;crucifixion wounds of&nbsp;Jesus is once again emerging in popular culture.&nbsp; 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