New Jerusalem

N.T Wight, in his book Simply Jesus argues that modern people are guilty of oversimplifying Jesus, because they do not understand who Jesus really was, what he did, and why that matters. To truly understand who Jesus was, we must look at him from a first century perspective. People believed in many different ideas than what is believed today, so it is necessary to think in a way similar to how people in the first century thought in order to have a better understanding of who he was as a…

background of this time will be analyzed to determine the derivation of anti-Semitism within this gospel based on the Gospel of John’s negative representation of the Jews and their traditions. The Gospel of John is unlike any other gospel in the New Testament, considering the symbolic ways it presents the story of Jesus, even changing aspects of major events such as the resurrection of Christ (White, 1998). What makes the Gospel of John so distinctive, however, is the way it approaches the…

The New Testament records the timeline of the early first century about a man by the name of Jesus who claimed to be the Messiah "Son of God". Jesus ' coming was through the calling of offering eternal salvation through the faith and grace of God 's mercy. The establishment of the early church covenant was offered to all who believed and desired to understand God and his will. The writers of the books of the New Testament intended to for the Scriptures to be serviceable to all followers of…

settle, live, and develop. Yet, what Israel experienced there was far less than God’s ideal. Likewise, what Christians experience in the world is not ideal either. The promise of entering God’s rest is still open (Heb. 4:1). We still wait for a new heaven and a new earth. But many of the laws of the covenant that God gave through Moses have to do with ethical treatment of one another. It is vital, then, that God’s blessing be worked out in the way we live and work with one another. Seen from the…

is mostly Christologically centered. A classic example is The sacrifice of The Passover Lamb. The New Testament verifies typology as a legitimate form of biblical interpretation. (see 1 Cor. 5:7; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:19) But what of typology in the Old Testament not officially sanctioned by the New Testament writers? Many types of Christ found in the Old Testament are not specifically cited in the New Testament. Joseph, son of Jacob, is a classic example. Any internet search of Joseph/typology…

There are 27 books in the New Testament, if only choose two of them, I would select Galatians and Philemon. Not because these two are more spiritual and more depth than others, but they are easier to understand towards me. Galatians and Philemon both have straightforward themes and contents, which are easier for me to catch the key points. Though, as explaining one plus one equals two, the simpler ideas show the deeper truths. These two books teach me a lot of words of Jesus. Galatians is an…

History is unclear whether it is the same Luke that has written both the Acts and the Gospels or even if it was a Luke. As with the Bible, there are some things that we may or may not know for certain but this does not alter the message of the Good News as credited by Luke. The Gospel of Luke is the only gospel recorded in chronological order and he is credited with…

Flavius Josephus was born in Jerusalem in 37A.D. Two of his most important works are The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews. His works have become a major source of information to the western world regarding 1st Century Judaism and the rise of fledgling Christianity. In the first…

Philip is going down the road from Jerusalem to Gaza he encounters an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading the scrolls of the prophet Isaiah. Philip went over to him and hearing what he was reading Philip asked, “do you understand what you are reading” (v.30)? The eunuch replied saying “how can I unless someone guides me” (v.31)? Philip joined him on his chariot and starting from the scripture that the Eunuch was reading (Isaiah 53) and told the eunuch the good news of Jesus. As they got farther…

The letter to the Romans was written by Paul in order to address and clarify his theology. Paul wanted the Romans to have a clear understanding of his Gospel which was from God. The Letter was written around fifty five and fifty eight AD (Gorman 340). Around this time it was believed that Claudius expelled the Jews because of their fighting regarding “Chrestus” a debate about the Messiah (Gorman 340). With the Jews gone the Gentiles took over the Roman church and advanced their leadership skills…