In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, God created both male and female in His own image (Genesis 1:27). With both man and woman being made in the image of God, both are in equal standing before God; yet, within their equal standing, men and women have different…
time to cry, a time to live and a time to die. (Ecclesiastes 3;2) I will never forget an interview I saw with Christopher Hitchens who — although I fundamentally disagreed with — I respected. He was sick with cancer that would soon take his life. The first question out of the interviewer’s mouth was, “How are you doing? Hitchens, without missing a beat, said in his dry, articulate style, “I’m dying.” He paused one second and continued, “And so are…
Although 2 Corinthians and John are both in the New Testament in the Bible, the two differ in styles of writing, purpose, audience, and of course author. Each hold great importance in portraying the word of God but they contain their own unique attributes as well. 2 Corinthians is a letter from Paul, written to the people of Corinth which is made known in 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the…
every son whom He receives… For what son is there whom his Father does not discipline?” Though Christians aspire to be perfect and they are commanded to pursue excellence and Christlikeness, they are not without blemish. In 1 Corinthians 5:6, Paul questions the Corinthians rhetorically, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” Because Christians, the members of the Church, are not perfect, measures must be taken to ensure the purity of the church is protected.…
“Saint Paul of Tarsus, a man who was breathing at the same time as Jesus. The first theologian to walk the earth and the main interpreter of Jesus’s teachings whose development of Christianity has been all-embracing. In the 21st century people learn that Saint Paul of Tarsus is one of the most important figures in the history of Christianity. However he was not always known like that previously he was known as Saul of Tarsus the persecutor of Christians. Reference will be made to Saint Paul’s…
Introduction to the Book of Philippians Introduction Paul’s short epistle to the Philippians was in essence a thank you letter to a church in Philippi that he himself had established sometime during his second missionary journey (Acts 16:12). The tone of the epistle is apparent, Paul regards the Philippi church dear to his heart and it is also apparent that the church’s sentiments towards Paul are similar (Phil 1:7). The epistle is Paul’s response to the Philippi church where he takes the time…
Richard B. Hays, 1 Corinthians. Interpretation Commentary. (Louisville: John Knox, 1997) Hays help clarify that in theses verses, “Paul is not actually referring to the liturgical ritual celebration which we observe today in a church building” (p.193). In discerning the Lord’s body, which Paul places concern, misinterpretations of “perceiving the real presence of Christ in the bread cannot be true, but for Paul, according to Hays, this simple means “recognizing the community of believers as the…
Interpret the Gospels and Epistles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the four Gospels which contain the rich history of Jesus ' life, death and Resurrection, which is the Good News that we as His follower 's need to share with other people (New International Version, Matthew 5:14-16). These books were written as eyewitness narratives of Jesus ' miracles and teachings so they are accurate historical records of Jesus ' life and sayings as a man here on earth. The epistles contain parts of theology…
Paul epistles In studying the 13 letters written by Paul, we can lay them in two categories, the church, and to people. To the churches are Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians, Colossians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. To people, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. After Paul conversion, his goal was to reach the Jews and Gentile and teach them the way a Christian should live. He warns them that there is no excuse for anyone to say that there is no God. He further…
IV Atonement in Paul’s Epistles and the Book of Hebrews (three pages) A. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians emphasizes that Israel’s sin was so severe that “The sacrifice of his life was the huge gift necessary to offer God on the Day of Atonement. That is what Paul meant when he said, "God was in Christ, reconciling…