back to kingdomready.org

I am doing a lot of thinking of the Pauline phrase “in Christ” (ἐν Χριστῷ). The people of the New Covenant are said to be again and again “in Christ” or one of the many variations. The picture given in Greek is a circle where the people of God are entering into. The circle is characterized by the messianic title Christ, which we all know denotes the anointed king of God’s kingdom. It seems that Paul wants to portray a reality that those who are in Christ are somewhat represented by the one man Jesus, in particular with his kingly role. A good bit of evidence can be found in the Old Testament of David the king (called the anointed one at times) who is depicted as actually representing the people of God in a way unparalleled to other Old Testament individuals. Consider the following:
(1) Isaiah 55:1, 3
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost…Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David.

Here is the link: http://www.timberlandbiblechurch.org/audio/dustin’s%20personal%20mp3s/romansaudio5.mp3

Again, please don’t comment unless you listened to the teaching. Enjoy! 

Summary

4:1-8 - Abraham’s faith - believing the promise.

4:9-15 - Not by circumcision and not by Torah.

4:16-17 - The whole family, according to the promise.

4:18-25 - God gives life to the dead and the meaning of Christian faith.

Chapter 4

Should be read in the same argument with 3:21-31. It should be taken as a single argument. Notice how chapter 4 will ultimately answer what 3:21 begins to ask:

“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets”

Sorry that the file is in .wma. Feel free to convert it if you wish (long story).

http://www.timberlandbiblechurch.org/audio/dustin’s%20personal%20mp3s/romansaudio4.wma

Here are the notes:

Summary

3:1-8 - Questions which are raised based on what Paul has just said about being Jewish and having circumcision. 

3:9-20 - Citations from the OT concerning the witness within Torah that Jews are just a guilty as everyone else (due to their faithlessness).

3:21-31 - Christ reveals God’s faithfulness

(PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NIV HORRIBLY TRANSLATES THE GREEK IN THIS CHAPTER, I RECOMMEND THE NASB)

5 Questions are raised by Paul

3:1 What is the point of being a Jew? (9:1-5)

3:3 Has Israel’s failure nullified God’s covenant purposes? (9:6-13)

Here is the link: http://www.timberlandbiblechurch.org/audio/dustin’s%20personal%20mp3s/romansaudio3.mp3

Here are the notes:

2:1-16
-Judgment scene
-God’s impartial judgment leaves no room for moral superiority
Remember the role of the judge:
-God will judge evil (2:1-4)

-He will do it impartially (2:6-11)

 2:6
Judgment according to deeds/works
-Quoting Psalm 62:12 and Prov. 24:12.
-This principle was embraced no less by the early Christians (Matt. 16:27, 2 Cor. 5:10, Col. 3:25, 2 Tim. 4:14, 1 Peter 1:17, Rev. 2:23).
-Good works were intended to be understood as THE way of maintaining the covenant status which was instituted by nothing other than grace (Old Covenant was through election of race, New Covenant is through faith in gospel).

Here is the link, hope you enjoy:  http://www.timberlandbiblechurch.org/audio/dustin’s%20personal%20mp3s/romansaudio2.mp3

Romans 1:18-32 summary:

-Idolatry and dehumanizing behavior resulting in God’s wrath.

-Remember that the covenant was there to ultimately deal with the sin of Adam (and the world).

1:17 and 18 - 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.“

 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

(The result from God for man’s unfaithfulness)

vs. 19-21 –

-God is evident

-This has been so ever since creation

-No excuse (cf. 2:1)

I came across an article recently which broke down the 100 most read Bible verses at the online Bible site BibleGateway.com.  I thought it was interesting to note what was being searched for - and on the flip side, what people were not looking for.

This list isn’t actually based on a straight popularity count; simply tallying the most-read verses results in a top 100 list that consists almost entirely of John 3:16and verses from 1 Corinthians 13, Genesis 1, Romans 8, and Psalm 23. Our list instead considers instances in which BibleGateway.com users looked at three or fewer verses at one time.

If you’re curious to know what the least popular Bible passage is, it’s 1 Chronicles 23-27, which details the organization of the priests and officials under King David. 

Last night from 7-9pm we had our first session of the Exploring Scripture class. This class is designed to give a guided tour through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation in eight weeks. The intention is to help people to not only discover the core truths of Christianity but also learn how to read the Scriptures on their own. Themes that will be covered include creation, the call of Abraham, the Davidic covenant, the kingdom of God, what happens after death, how to follow Jesus, and much more. Here is an outline of all the sessions:

In our dialog on the subject of salvation it is important to recognize that there are three tenses used of salvation in the New Testament. The classic text for salvation in the past tense is Eph. 2.8

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The context of Eph. 2 begins with a description of humankind as dead in trespasses, who walked according to the prince of the power of the air, who lived in the lusts of the flesh, and who were by nature children of wrath. Salvation in this context surely means being delivered from this predicament. This includes forgiveness as well as a cleansing.

When we approach the Scriptures we have a lot to consider. Obviously this topic intersects directly with worldview and epistemology, how we view the world, and how we know things. Often it is given an entire book, and is still not finished. Let us not be surprised then at just how large it is. Lets set some boundary markers.

Plainly, humans are responsible for carrying out God’s wishes. They are responsible for writing down and communicating what God wants communicated. God is not acting alone inside his creation. Rather, it is clearly evident that he prefers to act with us. The ‘Scriptures’ is the New Testament reference for the Hebrew Bible. In the first century, there is no Hebrew Canon. Texts like Tobit, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Enoch are known by many. The attestation of ‘truth’ to the Hebrew Scriptures lays on the truthfulness of God’s prophets, Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, and so on. These men heard God speak, “Thus YHWH says”, therefore the Scriptures contain, but are not the ‘word of God’.

For the past two lectures I’ve had in astronomy, my professor has been talking about evolution. It’s tiring to me and it sort of caught me off guard because, well, one would think that in astronomy class, we wouldn’t have lectures that have no relevance to the course. I just can’t get away from it.

I had a mixture of annoyance and fatigue at his “major proofs” he gave for evolution.

1. Similar bone structure

2. Fossils

3. DNA

So he did his thing, talked about the same things I’ve heard over and over again. Nothing he said “proves” evolution. I could use the same premises to make a case for intelligent design, or even for aliens being our creators (which I guess is technically still intelligent design).