...The Canonization of the New Testament When we think about the New Testament in our Bibles today most of us pay little attention to, or have little regard for the history that surrounds how it came to be. This is partly because of the high position we as Evangelicals have for our Bibles. We are taught that the Bible is infallible and never contradicts itself. I agree whole heartedly that the Bible is God's Holy Word and infallible non contradictory. But two weeks ago if you were to ask me how the Bible was put together or "canonized", I would have told you that there was some sort of council that decided which books should be in there, but ultimately it was God's sovereign will. Now the last part would be correct, but the rest is at best debatable. So how was the Bible put together? Since the argument is extremely complex and much of the details are lost or were never recorded, we will be exploring the different events that drove the movement, along with several different opinions of when the Bible was Complete or Canonized. There were two particular movements during the second century that made the Church realize a need to have a compilation of books that were universally accepted. The first movement, although not as well know, was Marcionism. This heretical sect was started by Marcion who was born into Christianity but had a deep dislike for Judaism and the material world. He believed that the God and Father of Jesus are not the same as the creator Yahweh, and it was...
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...“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ...” 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, then you are a Christian. According to the New Testament, you are also a new creation. You are beginning a whole new life! And just as a newborn baby needs certain things in order to be healthy and to grow up, so do you, as a new Christian, need certain things to grow spiritually. First, you need to be in fellowship with other Christians. It is through fellowship that you will learn more about God and about how to live as a Christian. You should plan to attend church regularly and join a kinship group so that you can develop close friendships with other believers. Vineyard has many kinship groups that meet on different days and in different locations throughout central Ohio. Choose one that is convenient for you so that you can be encouraged in your new relationship with God! Second, you need to pray, which is simply talking to God. Prayer is how you will grow in your relationship with God and how you can begin to allow Him to work in areas of your life. And third, you need to read the Bible on a regular basis. It is through the Bible that God will speak to you about Himself and your life needs. Beginning the Christian Life Series was developed by Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Columbus for new Christians. It is a series of Bible...
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...Bible is a verbal revelation from God that makes it unique from every other book. But how can such a claim be verified? First, we would expect certain things to be true about a book from God. Such characteristics might also be true about humanly-authored books, but we would expect that, at the very least, they would be true about God’s book. Such characteristics would include the following: • It would claim to be God’s Word. • It would be historically accurate when it speaks on historical matters. • Its authors would be trustworthy. • It would be thematically unified and without contradictions. • We would have received accurate copies of the original manuscripts. Second, because God is unique, His book would bear characteristics that could be true of it alone. Such characteristics would distinguish God’s book from all other books in such a way that it could not be counterfeited. These characteristics would include the following: • It would make statements that would reveal knowledge about the way things work beyond the knowledge of its day. • It would make predictions about the future that could not be known through natural means. • The message would be unique. • The messengers would be confirmed by miracles. • The words would have a transforming power. Now let’s look at the characteristics listed to see if they are true about the Bible. Characteristics That Must Be True of God’s Word, But Could Also Be True of a Human Book 1. The Bible Claims to Be God’s Word A. The Authors...
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...one, the goals of the professional should remain in the best interests of the client. Still, it remains important where the views of that counselor originated from and where the source of their motivation and ethical standards are derived. This paper attempts to compare and contrast the viewpoints of secular and biblical worldviews, as it relates to the counseling profession. Biblical & Secular Views on Counseling No matter what philosophical background counselors come from, the theme of their work should remain the same: It is all about the client. Whether a counselor uses the Code of Ethics adopted by the American Counseling Association, (2005) or the code adopted by the American Association of Christian Counselors, (2004) the goal of the professional still need to keep the client’s best interests at heart. Still, with this thought in mind, Christian and secular groups differ in the ways in which they go about not only helping clients, but how they define their perspective roles in the exchanges between the therapist and the client. In order to accurately evaluate the ways in which Christians view the role of the counselor, it is first important to go to the source of their opinions of the matter; the Bible. Different terms from the world of counseling can be defined and broken down throughout the Old and New Testament. I will provide a word study through which these terms can be understood from the Lord’s perspective and...
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...INTRODUCTION: We find that the kingdom is a very important theme that we find in the Bible and John Bright describes it like this. “The Bible is one book. Had we to give that book a title, we might with justice call it “The Book of the Coming Kingdom of God”. Many names are used in the scripture to describe this millennial kingdom.[1] In Matthew 19:28 Jesus describes it “in regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory”. In the third chapter of Acts it is spoken of as “times of refreshing” (v. 19) and “times of restitution of all things”. (v. 21) Hindson states that “there can be no true kingdom without a king”, and the kingdom has to be associated with the king. [2] TIMING, DURATION AND NATURE: The word “millennium” is derived from two Latin words, mille and annus, which is translated as “thousand” and “year”. Thus it is a period of one thousand years. The Greek word that is used for millennium is chilias and this term is found six times in the book of Revelation.[3] It is the time after the church age and the Tribulation and prior to all eternity. All the promises and covenants that God made to Israel will be fulfilled at this royal reign of Christ on the earth.[4] Christ will return to the earth, Satan will be 2 bound, and because Satan’s world system has been destroyed the way is made for Christ’s kingdom on this earth. Because much prophecy of this time has been written in the Old Testament, the book of Revelation does not expand...
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...Jesus makes some important claims about Himself and some of the most important claims that Jesus made can be found in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is the only gospel that records the “I Am” statements of Jesus.[1] These are important statements by Jesus and provide some of the most significant insight into what Jesus’ ministry was all about and why He was sent here on earth. These statements gave special insight as to who Christ claimed to be.[2] These statements were of such importance and could be understood by the Jews that many times it led the Jewish leaders to be outraged and want to either arrest Him for blasphemy or even stone Him for blasphemy. These were significant statements in which Jesus is claiming Deity. However, there are seven “I Am” statements of Jesus that have a metaphor attached with it. Each metaphor once again gives insight to who Christ was claiming to be. Each of these statements were important for revealing Jesus and they are: I Am the bread of life (John 6:35), I Am the light of the world (8:12; 9:5), I Am the door (10:9), I Am the good shepherd (10:11), I Am the resurrection and the life (11:25). I Am the way, and the truth, and the life (14:6), and I Am the vine (15:5). Each of these statements can give believers assurance and hope in Jesus. These are truly amazing claims by Jesus which He fulfilled in every way. Before we can completely understand the importance of Jesus referring to Himself as “I Am,” we must first look at Exodus 3:14...
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...study in today’s era is that we often become immune to new thoughts or beliefs, and instead fully accept the ideas that have been introduced before us. That is exactly what Victor Paul Furnish is trying to do in his work, “The Theology of the First Letter to the Corinthians,” which challenges a number of common views regarding New Testament literature. The piece of this book that I will analyze deals with 1 Corinthians specifically. In this section, Furnish challenges the common belief that Paul’s theology is most evident in Galatians and Romans, while his apostolic self-understanding and views on ethical and moral issues are found primarily in 1 and 2 Corinthians. He believes this is inaccurate, and that 1 Corinthians is also, a profoundly theological letter. The approach used in arguing this claim is a very historical one. There are many references to historical texts in addition to the biblical discussion found throughout. As a guide, the four traditional doctrinal topics will be summarized and analyzed in order to better understand the relationship between Paul and the Corinthians, specifically regarding their respective views. These topics will include Christology, soteriology, eschatology, and ecclesiology. The first topic discussed is Christology. This is the field of study included in Christian theology primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the epistles of the New Testament. First off, when reading 1 Corinthians there are various...
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...the New Testament, the Historical Jesus, and How Manuscripts Can Reveal What Texts Conceal Tom Dykstra I grew up with a picture of Paul traveling through Asia and Europe, founding congregations, counseling and teaching the men and women who had given their life to Jesus. If he could not visit them, he sent letters. When Paul died, his letters were kept as treasures. Each church that had received one of his letters saved it, had it read during worship services, and exchanged copies of the letter with other congregations close by. Later the congregations tried to complete their collection. But this view does not match the uniformity of manuscript evidence. --David Trobisch 1 It is even more remarkable that attempts to reconstruct the supposed document 'Q' (the lost collection used by both Matthew and Luke postulated by those who argue that Matthew and Luke are independent) use text-critical terminology to describe their activities. However, since all they are doing is making selections from a twentieth-century printed text, which does not even presume to provide confidently the text of the four-Gospel collection, never mind that of the independent first-century texts, this use of language must be dismissed as illusory. --David Parker 2 Modern scholarship has produced detailed biographies of Paul, massive multi-volume inquiries into “the historical Jesus,” and mountains of exegetical literature that claims to extract the author’s meaning from each word of each New Testament book...
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...Jessica Owens Life & Teachings January 27, 2013 Evidence for Jesus Unexplainable things and/or occurrences are usually dismissed because it is easier to deny them than to believe in the idea of a miraculous event. Most deny them out of fear and others deny them because they don’t understand, but whatever their reasons have been none have ever proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ did not exist. Our history books are filled with facts that most people in this life time cannot confirm as fact or deny, but we believe in them and teach our children about them without hesitation. Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laënnec invented the stethoscope in 1816, Edwin Beard Budding invented the lawn mower in 1830, Jacob Perkins invented the refrigerator in 1834, and a host of other inventions have occurred since the beginning of time. Who can actually prove that the data provided in relation to these inventions was accurately recorded? So why is it so hard to believe that Jesus Christ, the son of God existed? One explanation could be that people fear what they don’t understand? The acts performed by Jesus Christ were “divine” this concept is something that non-believers do not understand. Although Christianity is the only religion that is historically based, there are several forms of evidence that prove Jesus was indeed a real historical person (Hewer). Based on the Eyewitness Evidence, the documentary Evidence, the Corroborating Evidence, and the Circumstantial Evidence...
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...Religion and Peace 1) 2) 3) The understanding of peace in religious traditions Peace expressed through the sacred texts- principle teachings on peace Contributions to peace (Individual and World) Islam and Christianity The understanding of peace Christianity Concept of peace The New Testament understanding of the word ‘peace’ is living in an idyllic condition and communicating regularly with God, as epitomized by the Garden of Eden. Perfect peace was lost when Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3) but the coming of Christ restored the potential for peace. Therefore belief in Jesus enables humans inner peace in their lives and the looking forward to the day when Jesus will reign supreme on Earth. As Jesus states in John 16:33 peace is found in him. This is multifaceted. 1) His death was for human sin and allows humans and God to become one again. 2) His ministry is full of Jesus providing peace to those he came into contact with. Matthew 11:28-30, he offers peace to those that are troubled, in Mark 1:21-2:12 he casts out demons and forgives sins and in Hebrews 12:14 followers are encouraged to copy Jesus by making ‘every effort t live in peace with all men. 3) When Jesus returns will bring everlasting physical and spiritual peace on Earth for those who believe. The central theme of Jesus’ teachings is the Kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of God is characterized by peace- there will be no hardships or grief or pain (Revelation). The righteous and faithful will be redeemed and will...
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...00-BBR_18.2.book Page 209 Friday, September 12, 2008 12:00 PM Bulletin for Biblical Research 18.2 (2008) 209–231 “The Disciple Jesus Loved”: Witness, Author, Apostle— A Response to Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses andreas j. köstenberger and stephen o. stout southeastern baptist theological seminary Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006) makes a persuasive argument that the Gospels display eyewitness testimony and thus renews the quest for the identity of the Beloved Disciple as the author of the Fourth Gospel. While Bauckham attributes this Gospel to “the presbyter John” mentioned by Papias, the authors of this study show that the patristic evidence more likely seems to support the authorship of John the apostle and that the literary device of inclusio in the Fourth Gospel, astutely observed by Bauckham, also favors the authorship of John the son of Zebedee. Key Words: Fourth Gospel, Beloved Disciple, John, authorship, apostle, Zebedee, John the Elder, Papias, Eusebius, Muratorian Fragment, Polycrates, Irenaeus, Bauckham Introduction Recent years have witnessed a significant number of publications on the identity of “the disciple Jesus loved” in John’s Gospel. The ever more daring proposals have included identifications of this figure as diverse as the apostle Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, James the son of Zebedee, and even the Samaritan woman, among others. 1...
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...1CORINTHIANS 1:1-2 (A) When was the church at Corinth founded? converts (CP Jn 4:1-2). It is the gospel that saves not baptism (CP Ro 1:16; 10:17; 1Cor 1:21; 4:15; 15:1-2; Jas 1:18, 21; 1Pe 1:23-25). Baptism signifies that one is saved (CP 1Pe 3:18-21). Paul merely said what he did about baptism because the Corinthian church was being split by factions arguing over their preference of spiritual leaders, and Paul did not intend to baptise a faction around himself (CP 1Cor 1:10-17). This is also a lesson for the contemporary church: Christians must always centre their loyalty, love and devotion upon God and His word, not on individual leaders. No individual leader is to be the focus of Christian fellowship, otherwise the cross of Christ is made void – it cannot accomplish its purpose. (See also comments on 1Cor 3:8-11, 3:16-17 (A), 3:16-17 (B), 3:18-20). 1:18 Are we already saved as the KJV implies here, or are we being saved, as other versions teach? The church at Corinth was founded by Paul during his second Apostolic mission journey recorded in Ac 15:40 – 18:22 (CP Ac 18:1-21). See also comments on Ac 18:22. (B) Where was Paul when he wrote this Epistle? Paul was in Ephesus. He wrote this Epistle at the close of his three years stay in Ephesus during his third Apostolic mission journey recorded in Acts 18:23 – 21:17 (CP Ac 20:31-38 with 1Cor 16:8-9, 19) See also comments on Ac 18:23. 1:8 What does the phrase “In the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” refer to here? (CP also...
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...We are now living in the 21st century. Everything around us is changing. Our society is broader and our global network is smaller than ever. Technology has permitted us the opportunity to become global citizens. Our world has evolved from the days of Abraham and Sarah, of being a patriarchial, agrarian society. We are now a society of consumers and capitalism drives our economy. Everything about our society has changed. Even for some, the definition of marriage, a covenant before God between one man and one woman, is also being challenged by gay rights activists. As man has evolved in his practice of Christianity, no longer being bound by the Mosaic law, has God changed his purpose for marriage? We know him to be, according to Psalm 102:27, a spiritual being who will never change or end. As God never changes neither does his definition of marriage. I will prove that the sanctity of marriage should be upheld as the standard of Christianity between one man and one woman. Marriage is a covenant before God. It is consummated by sexual intercourse between the man and the woman. Andreas Köstenberger, author of God, Marriage, and Family, advises on five marital concepts to which all Godly relationships must commit. First, marriage is permanent. Divorce is not an option except in certain circumstances advised by Jesus in Matthew 19:9 Those seeking to marry should seek out wise counsel. Second, marriage is sacred before God and he honors it because he created...
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...mistaken ideas about Christianity? Chapter 1 1. What year was Jesus born? 2. When was Christianity made Rome’s national religion? 3. What is the Incarnation? 4. Does the Bible states that Jesus was the creator of the world? 5. Did Jesus claim to have supernatural origins? 6. Who baptized Jesus? 7. Did Jesus allow people to worship him? Etzel & Gutierrez: Introduction & Chs. 1–5 1. Why does the author say that everyone is a theologian? 2. What areas of our lives are influenced by the way we see God? 3. How did Jesus show that he is worthy of our faith? 4. Do Christians need to ignore intellect and reason in order to have faith in Jesus? 5. What does Jesus teach about truth? Online Excerpts: “Understanding the Faith” 1. What is more important than the sincerity of your belief? 2. What are the six types of faith that describe the believer's relationship to God? “Prolegomena to Theology”—Pg. 18–24 1. What are the four tools for accurately arranging a systematic theology? 2. What four questions must we ask about faith? 3. What 5 factors can limit our theology? “The Names of Christ” – Pg. 160–173 1. What chapter of the New Testament does the author suggest contains the most names of Jesus? 2. Which of God’s names do some scholars think that Jesus is claiming with his “I am” statements? 3. What is the term “only begotten” used to describe about Jesus? ...
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...of Scripture to correctly record His message to mankind, while still using their own styles and personalities. God sets forth in the infallible Scriptures combines Jesus’ own declaration of the present reality of the Kingdom of God with the apostles’ account of the person, place, and work of Christ, and how sinful humans benefit from it. The Word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is inspired, profitable, and sufficient (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God determined to have the truth regarding Him recorded in written form because He knew the inaccuracy and unreliability of oral tradition. He also understood that the dreams and visions of man can be misinterpreted. God decided to reveal everything that humanity needs to know about Him, what He expects, and what He has done for us in the Bible! I believe that our holy, loving Creator, confronted with...
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