New Testament

he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;” and from the finished work of Jesus Christ at Calvary, we have been pardoned for our past sins, present sins, and future sins. The Old Testament sacrificial system was just a shadow of our New Testament in the person of Jesus Christ who came not to do away with Law, God forbid, but to fulfill it. Jesus Christ is our mercy seat and His propitiatory death totally satisfied God the Father’s requirement for redeeming…

At first glance, an individual may question what similarities exist between an Old Testament prophet and a New Testament church leader. The obvious answer would be their faith in God. However, what else should one consider? The span of time, the culture, and the language are all different. Further, what is relevant for today’s critical reader? With careful exegesis of passages in James and Hosea, an individual’s understanding of them will affect how they apply it in their own life. Brief…

Introduction In perhaps one of the Apostle Paul’s most heartfelt prayers, Ephesians 3:14-19 paints the picture of how to be filled with the fullness of God. Paul appeals to the Lord for the church of Ephesus, not for freedom from sin or wrongdoings, but rather that they may use their foundation set upon the love of Christ to know how immeasurable His love truly is. He prays that the Ephesians may have faith, love, power, and knowledge, all so that they may know Christ. This prayer did not end…

A violent man breaks into a Christian's home, murders one family member and reaches for the next child. The father, a Christian, does what any person would do, he fights back to save his loved ones. And for this reason, the rest of his family lives. Some pacifists may argue that Christians should not retaliate and let the family die, this is absurd. Yes, violence is a terrible action, but the Christians who fight do not love violence. There is a time, though, when fighting back is just. Just…

Grooming Leaders Discussion According to Smith (1992), “The church has a higher potential for growth if the pastor is a leader more than he is an administrator. A leader, as the next pair of labels indicates, is a visionary; while an administrator is an implementer of someone else’s vision. A church growth pastor is a goal-setter; less growth potential is predicted for a pastor with the self-image of an “enabler”, who encourages the lay people to set the goals. To use an industrial model, the…

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…

Gospels in the person of Jesus Christ The gospel of John recounts a pool in Siloam where Jesus heals a blind man, "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means "Sent"). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing,”” (John 9:7, New International Version). According to Dickinson, the gospels tell of the events in the life of Jesus took place during an oppressed time in history where he believes today, there is a connection between history and faith. The story of Jesus is…

to the new covenant and the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. As well as this the verses depicted in this passage strongly connect with the suffering in which Jesus endured. The ideas throughout these verses such as pierced, crushed and wounded all match and describe the suffering Jesus endured. When reading from this perspective the suffering servant is bringing healing to our wounds of sin. Throughout his sufferings he did not protest, and he was silent like a lamb to his death. This new…

But that is not because Christ becomes something new. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever...God has always intended Christ to be the image of God, the standard of humanity, and the perfect lamb whose blood redeems believers. Kilner draws the conclusion of Christ as the image by using both the Old Testament and New Testament. Many theologians, according to Kilner, make the mistake of starting the study for the image in Genesis 1…

Much can be gained by a study of the personal letters of a first-century missionary to one of his most trusted disciples. Paul wrote almost half of the New Testament, but only four of his letters are written to individuals. Of these four, I’ve chosen 1Timothy to further explore. Thirty years of labor for the gospel took its toll on Paul. His body bore the suffering of a servant of Jesus Christ. The intensity of his sufferings never changed the intensity of his love and concern for the churches…