|
salvation
Submitted by Andrew on 7 January, 2008 - 12:58. 
Does the new book really say that the NT has no application
to
us today?
Graham Old (Leaving
Münster) asked this
question in response to some remarks that Peter
Wilkinson made about my book Re:
Mission: Biblical Mission for a Post-Biblical Church.
Rather than address the question under the original book announcement I
thought it better to start a new thread. It is the perennial problem of
historical readings of the New Testament that they tend to distance the
narrative from the reader today. We are accustomed to thinking that the
gospel has direct personal relevance to us and to all humanity and we
struggle to see how this can be the case if key categories such as
‘judgment’, ‘salvation’ and ‘forgiveness’ are to be historically
contextualized. The issue under consideration here is not the
whole of the New Testament but the particular question of what it means
to say that ‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
scriptures’ (1 Cor. 15:3). This continues the discussion from ‘The death of Jesus in the Gospels’
and ‘The death of Jesus in Paul’.
|
Submitted by stacy on 13 November, 2007 - 13:37.
can someone give me the terms and definitions used in OT and NT for hell and salvation? and a few of the places those particular words are used? i have read quite a few discussions on this forum and would like to have a little better understanding of the words that are actualy used - contextually of course. |
Submitted by Andrew on 29 October, 2007 - 16:01.
The first and most important question we face in
asking about the meaning of Jesus’ death in Paul is: What sort of thing are we
looking for? This is necessarily a highly abbreviated analysis, but I
think that what we need to find is not the right explanatory theory to
superimpose on top of Paul’s various arguments and
metaphors (substitutionary atonement, Christus Victor,
moral influence, etc.) but the eschatological narrative that lies underneath
them. The mistake that is typically made is to isolate the cross from
the narrative context and transmute it into a singular metaphysical
event that can in principle be formulated in terms of a theory of the
atonement. This is not necessarily an illegitimate procedure, but
problems arise when these theological constructs are turned round and
used as interpretive grids for the reading of scripture.
|
Submitted by Andrew on 10 January, 2007 - 15:33.
Text: 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he placed his right hand upon me, saying, Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one, and I was dead, and behold I am living for the ages of the ages, and I have the keys of death and Hades.
|
Submitted by Andrew on 23 December, 2006 - 00:25.
Text: 29 Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel
Simeon is a righteous and devout man who has been looking for the ‘consolation’ or ‘comforting’ (paraklēsis) of Israel. The phrase is an unmistakable reference to the theme of the ‘comforting’ of Israel and Zion that is found widely in Isaiah 40-66. The most interesting passage is Isaiah 52:7-10. Here we have an announcement of ‘good news’ that YHWH is returning to Zion following Israel’s protracted exile; he will defeat Israel’s enemies and reign as king. This is what Jesus will enact prophetically when he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people of Israel will be comforted, forgiven; her judgment will be brought to an end (cf. Isaiah 40:1-2). Moreover, Isaiah’s statement ‘he has redeemed Jerusalem’ is picked up by Luke in his account of the prophetess Anna, who spoke of Jesus ‘to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem’ (Lk. 2:38).
|
Submitted by Andrew on 19 December, 2006 - 16:18.
Text: 20 But as he thought about these things, behold, a messenger of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife; for what was conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
This is the first of a series of brief exegetical reflections on the birth narratives. I hope they will show that the Christmas stories are not merely the product of pious fancy but have serious thematic relevance for a historical reading of the Gospels. But whatever you make of them, I wish you a merry and meaningful Christmas.
Joseph is told by the angel that the boy will be called Jesus because ‘he will save his people from their sins’. We expect the Christmas story to have universal relevance, good news for all mankind, but the message here is only that Jesus will be Israel’s saviour: he will save his people. The reference to Israel’s ‘sins’ should also be understood in a quite specific eschatological sense. These are the sins that have placed the nation under judgment, the outcome of which will be political destruction if the nation qua nation does not repent.
|
Submitted by Andrew on 24 November, 2006 - 15:13.
Text: 10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The allusion to Hos. 6:6 LXX (‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’) brings into view the wider context of Hosea’s prophecy. The people of Israel will take their sacrificial animals to the temple, but they will not find the Lord there (Hos. 5:6). He has withdrawn from them until they acknowledge their guilt and seek his face, saying: ‘Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him’ (Hos. 6:1-2).
|
Submitted by Andrew on 3 November, 2006 - 16:51.
I want to pick up on a couple of issues that Paul Hartigan raised in his ‘NT Wright is
seriously wrong’ post. They do not appear as yet to have been covered at any
length in the discussion, which has focused on the question of whether the Bible offers us a good God / bad God scenario, though the thread has got rather long and I could
easily have missed something.
|
Submitted by liquidlight on 26 September, 2006 - 17:25.
i did a site search on the teaching often referred to as universal restoration or universal redemption - and found zip.
after 25 years as a christian - on both the inside and the outside of the organised evangelical church - i now find myself looking closely at this teaching and feeling quietly excited and liberated by it. |
Recently, a Christian friend who is working in East Asia, and with whom I correspond, has been asking timely, for him, questions about how to talk about Jesus to people who have no religious background. In our dialogue, and spurred on by much that I have been reading at this site, I spent a day re-reading Acts with particular emphasis on what Luke recorded was actually said during ‘proclamation events.’ I have added below the summary I sent my friend. Some of the formatting is awkward, and someday when i have time i will come back and make it better! Proclamation in Acts The following is an attempt to summarize the core of each of the different proclamation events in Acts. The idea is that perhaps we can understand better what we should be saying to people by looking at the little bit of information we have of what the early church was saying to their contemporaries.
|
|
YHWH describes himself three times in Isaiah as ‘the first and the last’ (44:6; 48:12; cf. 41:4). The point in each case is that he is the one creator God who defeats the nations in order to save his people Israel (cf. 44:2; 48:14). When Jesus, therefore, tells John not to fear because he is the first and the last, he means that he is the one who has overcome the enemies of the people of God and brought restoration. Verse 18 makes it clear that this victory was achieved through his death and resurrection - but it is a victory for the church over the forces that threatened to destroy it (Rome / Satan / death).
The ‘sharp two-edged sword’ of the preceding verse may have the same connotation if Psalm 149:6-9 is in the background (distomos is not common in the LXX):