Of the many words exemplified in the Bible, one word that is constantly being interpreted is “Wisdom.” The origins of Wisdom in the Bible stem from the old testament. As the books of the Bible progress, the word Wisdom takes on many different shapes. Like many words and concepts in the Old Testament (OT), the New testament uses context to provide a clearer explanation of what those terms mean. This paper will incorporate biblical references as well as scholarly commentary to define, identify…
Differences of Nouthetic and Integrative Counseling The field of psychology has been divided many times into many different schools of thought and even in Christian counseling these differences in opinion still come forth. The two sides to Christian counseling are Nouthetic/traditional counseling and Integrative counseling. Nouthetic just focuses on using the New Testament and the Old Testament together to teach people and to try and help them with any issues. Integrative counseling not only…
Matthew 24:45-51 describes the story with a servant whose master is away. The parable has two outcome; if the servant is faithful and do what he was assigned for then it is good; however, if the servant choose to disobey and “beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards” then he will be punished severely (NIV Bible, Matthew 24:49). Jesus was giving a warning for Christian underneath the actions of the servant. In the story, the master is Jesus himself, the Son of Man, but in this…
Santiago’s Sacred Struggle Many know the story of Jesus of Nazareth and are able to confirm the historical figure whether they believe in him or not. The holy story can be divided and interpreted to explain Christ 's struggle, death and resurrection for the sake of mankind. Many see the modern-day allusion to Christ’s story in Ernest Hemingway 's The Old Man and the Sea. When compared side-by-side, these plot situations may help the reader see beyond the text on the page and visualize and…
Summary Over ten chapters, Scot McKnight, in The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, articulated the Gospel of King Jesus. In the first chapter, McKnight provided three scenarios that supported his argument, namely, that there is a need to answer the question of what is the Gospel. The next chapter distinguished a salvation culture from a Gospel culture. Unfortunately, most of evangelical churches today lean towards a salvation culture. To have a Gospel culture instead of a…
There are a significant amount of differences between John’s Gospel and the Synoptics. The Synoptics consist of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke. All three Gospels have a large narrative approach. They include geographical settings, extensive numbers of characters, and a considerable amount of dialogue. They also capture Jesus as teaching generally through parables and short sequences of proclamation. John’s Gospel, however, is much more drawn out and inner-directed. John’s Gospel clarifies…
When it comes to Jesus Christ many Christian thinkers and authors use story, metaphor, or parables to express their Christology. Gregory of Nyssa and Julian of Norwich are two examples. Their writings contain an illustration to illustrate the work of Jesus. For Gregory it is fishing and for Julian it is a story of the Lord and Servant. This essay unpacks these exemplifications thus uncovering the authors’ individual beliefs about the saving action of God for humanity through the work of…
Ephesians; Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians Ephesians is the tenth book of the new testament. It is also the fifth letter Paul wrote to various groups of people. It is an intense, in depth letter about how important the church is for the christian faith. Paul was targeting the Gentiles and Jews to bring their beliefs and differences together. It is highly debated as well if Paul actually wrote this letter or was it an imitator. The importance that Paul chose to write this letter to Ephesus, was…
Donald B. Kraybill’s book “The Upside-Down Kingdom” reveals the kingdom of God that Jesus talks about in first century Palestine. The main point that Kraybill develops in his book is that the kingdom of God that Jesus teaches during His time on earth appears to be upside down in the sense that He focused on winning by serving and triumphed by losing. His principles were seemingly unorthodox as they disregarded the commonality of that time where the wealthy became wealthier and the poor became…
In the last few years, I have been struggling with finding the balance between showing compassion but being truthful about the behaviors that lead people into difficult situations. As a minister and a leader, you confront this on a daily basis. You want to show mercy and compassion because after all, the gospel is all about love! But you also want people to change for the better. And you can’t do better unless someone points out what you are doing wrong that’s causing drama and problems in…