christianity
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This post intends to be the second in a series: We previously saw that there are about as many senses of the Greek word “apostle” as there are for the English phrase “sent one.” The type of apostles we are concerned with in this series are those who are sent, authorized, and equipped to lay…
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This post intends to be the first in a series: In Koine Greek an “apostle” is a “sent one,” the same idea as expressed in the Latin word “missionarius.” In particular, the sender sends out an “apostle” to fulfill a specific task, authorizing and equipping them however necessary to do so. Perhaps the point that…
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Any student of the Holy Bible knows that Israel is at the center of God’s relationship with the nations of this world, His-Story of global affairs. Being “firstborn” carries both privilege and responsibility. So let’s start there: In sum: All the countries of this world are stupid and evil. Thank you for your attention to…
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It is not hard to find support for the idea that the Bible intersects politics. What is difficult, however, is to find any consensus on what the political implications of the Bible properly are. A wide spectrum of possibilities offer themselves regarding the potential relationship between religion and government: Count me among those who consider…
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I’m fascinated by what appears to be a renaissance in Biblical hermeneutics that has been semi-quitely underway for the last generation or so. Most of the activity has been limited to academic circles, but facets of it have begun emerging in more lay-level websites such as BibleProject, AlephBeta, and the Theopolis Institute. There are a…
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God placed His image-bearing living-icons in the original Edenic garden-temple and commissioned them to participate as helpmeet in His creative work by extending and globally disseminating the “goodness” He had set in place through six days of providing structure and fullness to overcome the chaotic emptiness and void. Note well(!) that even before the Fall,…
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The church of Acts was characterized by (what theologians call) an eschatological urgency. The end of all things was at hand. The Son of David had come to usher in the Kingdom of God. The Second Adam had fathered a new creation which would finally fill the earth with the glory of God through His…
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It is hard for the rich and powerful to find true love. The question will always be: do they love me for me or just for my stuff? God is the Ultimate rich and powerful Being and so He faces this problem to a degree immeasurably beyond any human tycoon or royalty figure. Ezekiel 16…
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the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. … and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” Revelation 13:3-4 provides two descriptions of the actions of the earth-dwellers with respect to the beast: (1) they worship it, and (2) they say words that show their…
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A straightforward reading of Romans 11 indicates that Israel and the Church in some sense “should be” one people — Jew and Gentile united in Messiah, and indeed ultimately will be one. But due to various forms of disobedience there is lopping and pruning and grafting which occur in the meantime, such that the unified…
hasteningthecomingofthedayofGod 