...born in Capernaum. Capernaum was a town found near the shore of the Galilean sea. St Matthew was a patron of Tax collectors, meaning he was originally a tax collector by profession in the service of the Roman Empire. In his service, he learned different languages such as Hebrew and Greek that came of great use to him. According to (Greenman and Larsen, 2007) the Roman tax collection system was engulfed in corruption and fraud therefore people perceived the tax collectors to be extremely corrupt and unclean. The tax collectors fraudulently charged extortionist amounts and were hostile to the Romans in the way they collected the taxes. In Matthew (9:9), Jesus finds Matthew sitting in his office and calls him to become one of his disciples. He became a disciple and spread Christianity even after the crucifixion and death of Jesus. He became a Christian martyr put to death with an axe. According to (Greenman and Larsen, 2007) He was executed at Naddabar in Ethiopia where he had fled in the time of persecution of Herod Agrippa 1 in 42 AD. According to (Bransfield, 2011) the beatitudes are the first of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon may have come much later in the...
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...substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (BibleGateway, Hebrews 11:1). In other words, faith believes that something will take place or manifest before it actually does. Faith is not based on whether God believes it or not but if the believer does. Faith is a process. Each believer’s faith level is different. “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith” (BibleGateway, Romans 1:17). A mature believer recognizes that one should have childlike faith but not be childish. Some people have incomprehensible faith while some others are afraid to operate in faith at all. In order to understand how to live a Christian life style of faith one must understand the biblical perspective and foundation of faith in Hebrews 11 verse 6, Matthew 17 verse 20 and Matthew 21 verses 21 and 22. Hebrews Chapter 11 is commonly known as “The Faith Chapter” and sets the foundation of faith. The scripture states, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (BibleGateway, Hebrews 11:6). This scripture clearly states that in order to please God, one must have faith. The scripture also goes on to say that one must believe that God exist and that secondly, He rewards those individuals that earnestly look or search for Him. Faith is an action. One must have faith to receive Salvation. Salvation activates faith...
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...speaker was important; the logos (logic) behind any conclusions drawn by the speaker during the course of the speech needed to be valid and clear; and the pathos (emotional appeals) were important in making human connections between the speaker and the listener. In the Bible there are many examples of this process. “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them saying, Blessed are the poor is spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” (Thompson King James Version Bible, Psalm 139:1-10)This familiar passages is taken from Matthew 5:1-5. It is also known at the Beatitudes. The speaker in this scripture is Jesus. This is one of the first speeches Jesus made. Speeches have been around for a very long time. A speech is used for many reasons. In this speech Jesus is letting the people know that it is a blessing available to those who believe. This speech is a way to get people to...
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...Rayna 3/6/15 Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus. These teachings stress the importance of His moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew. It is the first of the Five Discourses of Matthew and takes place relatively early in the Ministry of Jesus. It also happened after he preached in Galilee and John the Baptist had baptized him. In Matthew 4:12-17, Matthew noted that Jesus began to preach a message of repentance because the kingdom of heaven was near. Jesus moved to the city of Capernaum from Nazareth to reach a larger audience. Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” The phrase ‘from that time’ refers to the arrest of John the Baptist. From this event, Jesus chose to launch His public ministry. Matthew goes on to talk about the calling of the first disciples, Simon Peter, and his brother Andrew, who were fishing. (Matthew 4:18-20). Jesus promised them that He would make them fishers of men. Jesus was beginning to build His kingdom. Jesus then called James and John fishermen, who were tending to their nets in their boat. (Matthew 4:21-22). In Matthew 4:23-25, Jesus went around the region proclaiming the message of the kingdom. He healed people and the people responded from far away. Matthew 5:1. “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach...
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...You glance over it and are drawn to this sentence: "Jesus was a man and as such could not also be God." Seeing the puzzled look on your face, one of the men asks you what you think of this claim. For two gentlemen to come and show me such a paper with their thoughts on it is in a way sad. The men do not have the proper knowledge of the Lord that they need. I believe that it is my goal to express my relationship and knowledge in which they can absorb into their knowledge. The biblical basis for Jesus’ humanity is indicated in his suffering on the cross. Jesus went through the pain and horrible suffering to die for our sins. He is a man because he walked among other men and grew everyday as a man. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. (Romans 5:8). The biblical basis for Jesus’ deity, meaning a God, refers to his direct connection to the Father who sent him so save humanity. He is what man should be and is the ideal example of how man should live. He is our Lord and Savior because of what he was sent to do and because he opened our eyes to sin and how we should live life through the Father. Jesus can both God and Man at the same time because he has the characteristics of both. Jesus is both a God and a Man, but is presented as one individual known as the Hypostatic Union. As a man he feels pain and suffering and grows and matures like the rest of us, but as a God he is sin free and can heal the sick. When he was being...
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...For centuries, people from diverse religions and cultures have searched for substantial data in order to better understand the true nature and identity of Jesus. Some contend that he was a prophet; others worship him as a god, while many others assert that he was merely a wise teacher with no link to the divine. In the second part of Graham Stanton’s book, The Gospels and Jesus, Jesus’ intentions, teachings, and downfall are examined and assessed with notable order and clarity, all in an attempt to resolve the fundamental question of Part II: who was Jesus of Nazareth? Stanton launches Part II with a chapter entitled “What do we know about Jesus of Nazareth?” Here, the debate as to whether or not Jesus existed is considered by exploring archaeological evidence from outside the gospels in an effort to establish what is known about Jesus. He cites various non-Christian, Jewish, and Christian sources after opening the chapter with a theory by G.A. Wells which argues that it was not until 100 CE that Jesus was worshipped as a “Savior” figure. Wells maintains that before 150 CE, there is no independent non-Christian support for the existence of Jesus and that the authors of the four New Testament gospels invented their traditions about the life of Jesus. As Stanton argues, this does not entirely make sense, since it is difficult to find signs of the convictions, emphases, and conflicts of the Christians of that period in the canonical gospels. Stanton continues to refer to...
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.......................................................................... 1 Definition of Emerging.................................................................................................................... 2 Emerging from Modernism.................................................................................................... 2 Emerging from Culture.......................................................................................................... 3 Emerging Theology................................................................................................................ 4 Comparing Revisionists Theology with Orthodox Theology....................................................... 5 Identify with the Life of Jesus.............................................................................................. 6 Transform the Secular Realm................................................................................................. 8 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 9 Bibliography..................................................................................................................................... 12 Introduction The Emerging Church (EC) is a very recent development in the Christian Church’s history. While the term describes the movement that started nearly...
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...Texts Related to Mission 2 The Nature of God Relates to Mission 5 Mission Theology Relates to Other Aspects of Theology 6 Key Themes and Motifs of Mission Theology 8 Mission Theology Related to the Missionary, Church Leaders and Lay People 10 Conclusion 11 Bibliography) 12 Introduction “Mission is what we do.” It describes the specific task of making disciples of all the nations. It also includes your neighbor, church, employment, relatives, friends, across town, or in different states. Mission is not just one of a list of things that the Bible happens to talk about, it is somewhat more urgent than some. Mission is, “what it’s all about. With that said, this paper will visit the Old and New Testament in relations to missions, how the nature of God is reflected in missions, how mission theology relates to other aspects of theology, key motifs found in missions theology, as well as how missions relates to missionaries, church leaders and lay people. Old Testament and New Testament Texts Related to Mission In the beginning God created heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1KJV) He was on a mission to form the world and when he created mankind, they are to worship and serve Him as a sovereign in His kingdom. The Bible alone proves that missions weren’t an afterthought to God, but rather an intentional providential. The term “Missio Dei” (the sending of God), tells us that mission began with God upon fall of man. God seek out to rescue his prized possession...
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...The Kingdom of God is Like… In this essay I have chosen two different metaphors, the first one from Tame’s article in the reading, and one from my personal experience, for the Messiah and the Kingdom of God. I will try to elaborate on the characteristics of the Messianic kingdom of God as Jesus taught and modeled it. Great focus has been put on the specific teachings about the kingdom in the assigned readings for this period. My essay will show my understanding of Jesus teaching of the Kingdom of God and His role as the Messiah. As Jesus taught he often spoke in parables. “A parable is an extended metaphor, a simple story based on everyday kinds of events. These comparisons could be easily understood by those who heard them because they fit into the experience of the common folk of Judea and Galilee (Niswonger, p. 147).” The people of this era understood the parables because it was fitting for that time period. The Messiah was using metaphors and parables to give them a greater understanding of what the Kingdom of God was and what the Kingdom of God stood for. The parables and metaphors made God message clearer and direct so that the disciples would have clarity as to what he spoke. The parables were used to hide God mystery from the unbelievers and skeptics who doubted Him. The Messiah only gave the “secret of the Kingdom of God” to his disciples, and everyone else he spoke in parables to them because he wanted them to always be hunger and thirsty for the word of God...
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...Morgan Valone Theology May 6, 2012 B1 The Kingdom of God The Kingdom of God was the focus of Jesus’ mission and ministry, and what he lived and died for on Earth. The Kingdom of God can be defined as the vision of a world radically transformed in the image of God. The ideal Kingdom on Earth would be people all living free of government and politics and living in a communal style. In the Apostolic Ages, this type of communal living was attempted with the householders and itinerant preachers. The householders were people who would open their homes to the itinerants, who were travelling preachers. These travelling preachers taught “The Way” of Jesus and a new way of living to many communities. While this went well for a while, it was not perfect to the way that Jesus would have wanted it to be. During the Common Meal in the communal societies, the wealthy people would eat more than they needed to. This alone demonstrates the fact that not only were the wealthy taking more than they needed and not living by only what they needed and sharing the rest, but it also shows that there were in fact wealthy people in the communes. Jesus was in direct opposition to the idea of wealth, and the intentions of having a commune were that when a person joined, all of their money and possessions were to be shared equally throughout the entire community. Even in the times directly following Jesus’s life, the Kingdom of God was not being lived ideally. Throughout the Middle Ages, Christianity...
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...found in Mark. But both Matthew and Luke also use Luke as a source for their material, which is common to all three synoptic gospels. If one accepts this two-source hypothesis it would mean that the early Christians began to preserve the sayings and miracles of Jesus first in an oral form and then in written form. The authors of the synoptic gospels wrote decades after the crucifixion of Jesus and they pulled much of their material from the Q document and from other written or oral traditions. So when only Matthew and Luke include the miracle story of the Healing of the Centurion’s Servant (Matt 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10) or the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27) it demonstrates a common source, which is most likely unknown to Mark. What Does This Say About The Inspiration Of The Scriptures? If the two source hypotheses is correct it would destroy the belief of some in the plenary verbal inspiration of scripture, but not my belief in scriptural inspiration. Many ancient forms of literature had oral and or written sources from which they pulled their information. So, why should the gospels be any different? Prior to taking this class, I believed that the authors of the gospel were inspired by God to write their gospels, but I had not...
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...folder. * 4.A.1 As Jesus heals many in chapters 4 and 5, what effect does that have on the crowds and disciples? When reading these chapters, would one expect to see Jesus go to the cross in the end? * 4.A.2 Discuss the Sermon on the Plain, 6:20-49. What value does Jesus place upon poverty, hunger, and sorrow? What danger is there to prosperity, fullness, and joy? How does God work beyond a person's social or economic status? * 4.A.3 How do the verses 6:35-38 show a generosity to God's nature and a chance for us to share in that nature? * 4.A.4 Does 6:37 prohibit all judgment? William Barclay quotes an old saying: "There is so much bad in the best of us and so much good in the worst of us that it ill becomes any of us to find fault with the rest of us" (Barclay, Luke, 81). Is Barclay saying what v. 37 means? See also 6:39-42. * 4.A.5 What is the essential meaning of the good/bad tree comparison of 6:43-45? * You can't hide who you are; your true nature is going to come out. * You can't change who you are; just accept what you are. * You reveal more about yourself than you really should. * Another meaning? * Video 4B - http://www.cuw.edu/videoserver/fullplayer.cfm?movieid=973 * Notebook Questions: Please submit your answers (4 to 6 sentences per question) in the 4.B drop box provided in the Unit 4 folder. * 4.B.1 What power and authority did the centurion understand Jesus to have, 7:1-10? Why...
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...scripture is basically fellowship of God's creatures with the creator. Keeping in mind that sin is a reality in the created order, a better way to put it would be this: Salvation is restoration of fellowship of God's creatures with the creator. Before unpacking that statement, I will state my own theological suppositions. My first introduction to God was in the stories of his dealings with his people in scripture, especially the Hebrew scriptures. Rather than straight propositional truths about God, my view of God resulted from the stories of how God dealt with his people. Having gone through theological training with a Barton-Stone movement background, I did not develop a rigid, propositional faith in God or in his dealings with humankind. I find God's character in his actions more than in propositional statements. As a result, my view of God's sovereignty and the nature of his rule over creation is not a tidy mechanistic system, but has a certain level of give and take. God is free to make exceptions when he desires, usually in the interest of grace. My reading of Job demonstrates the tendencies even for sages to attempt to place God in a box. As a result, I do not class myself as Reformed nor as Arminian, though my views probably have more in common with Arminianism. As to salvation experience, I believe that repentance, confession, and baptism are all part of the expression of faith in Christ and are all an integral part of the salvation experience. Having stated my suppositions...
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...Summary of the New Testament Books John John is a gospel genre. Written by John, “whom Jesus loved,” in Greek primarily to reach the new believers and seekers of Jesus. The theme of John demonstrates the miracles of Jesus’ incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection to the early believers. The characters are Jesus, His disciples, John the Baptist, Lazarus, Jewish leaders, the five thousand, Pilate, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. John the Baptist testifies Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jesus calls for His disciples. Jesus changes water to wine. John tells of the healings of the blind and the lame, the official’s son. Jesus feeds the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes. John writes of Jesus’ walk on water. John tells of the unbelief of the Jewish leaders, and Jesus makes claims about Himself. Lazarus dies and Jesus brings him back. Jesus prayed. Judas betrays Jesus and Peter denies Jesus. Pilate crucifies Jesus. John is responsible for Mary, Jesus’s mother. Jesus, after three days is seen by Mary Magdalene. He eats with the twelve in upstairs room. Acts Acts is a narrative genre. The theme; God is in control. The purpose; illuminate the works of the Holy Spirit during the persecution of the apostles. The characters are Jesus, Holy Spirit, Peter, Steven, Saul (Paul), Philip, believers, the apostles, King Agrippa. On Pentecost, the apostles receive the Holy Spirit. Peter begins his ministry with John. Their arrested for preaching the resurrection of Christ. They will...
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...Introduction The Gospel of John is portrayed as a very theological book. It is written from a historical and narrative perspective. The Christology in the Gospel of John is high even though I question some of the things Jesus does. One thing I question is Jesus turning water into wine. The Scripture I will be discussing will be John 2:1-11. Is there Christology in giving wine that can make one that drunk especially when drunkenness can cause one to do dangerous things? However, the Christology is not in the drunkenness. My objective is to prove that there is humanistic side to making the water into wine and a Christological side of turning the water into wine. My rationale in accomplishing this objective is if Jesus does something, does it make it right for us to do the same thing. My plan on addressing this is to research wine physically and spiritually. Social Location I am a married African American southeastern United States of American, Pentecostal female. I also consider myself reasonably educated. I look at things also based on a small town and small city background. My social location causes me to question things and not accept everything at face value. Methodology The Methodology to argue my thesis statement is Reader Response Method and the method of Reader Response Criticism I will use is individualistic criticism. Background/History/Theological Foundation The Gospel of John has 21 chapters in the state it is in now. According to An Introduction to The New...
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