Join the eggheads this week as they explore the concepts of identity in Christ with Chris Zoccali and what it means for our own backgrounds as we come into the life of being a follower of Jesus.
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Notwithstanding this new reality made possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and concomitant work of the Holy Spirit, Paul still had to contend with the reality on the ground, as it were. Practically speaking, how could Paul bring together into a single community such disparate groups of people? . . .
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Accordingly, Paul’s assertion in Philippians 4:13 that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him is far from a triumphal slogan whereby Jesus functions as a proverbial can of spinach that can get us over the edge to achieve our personal goals. . . .
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Nevertheless, while it may not be an especially good explanation for the reality of evil, soul building does have an appropriate place in the Christian tradition. Indeed, as many of us—Christian or otherwise—readily recognize, struggle, hardship, and suffering can have a profound impact on who we are. . . .
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Many of us take measures to prepare—to the extent we are able—for challenges or dangers that the future may hold. However, I have encountered people who interpret a life of faith to mean there is no need to take any such precaution and even that to do so is a violation of one’s trust in God. . . .
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Further on in Jeremiah, following the proclamations of judgment, God does promise to eventually restore his people after they experience the consequences of their sinful ways. But in order for this restoration to happen in a full and lasting fashion, it necessarily requires God’s direct intervention to transform people’s hearts so that they may then understand and obey the truth . . . .
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Thus, if the person of Jesus represents God’s desire to forgive the world of its sins, then, especially in celebrating his birth, God’s people must not harbor unforgiveness in their hearts. . . .
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Unfortunately, as I’ve commonly remarked before, Christian groups are apparently not immune to what might be called a “counterfeit morality”—or perhaps better a “distorted gospel,” which is being propagated in certain segments of the church and is taking hold among many young people. . . .
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“Last week, we looked at the first half of that paradoxical Christian expression: Jesus was ‘fully human and yet fully divine.’ We learned that the people who walked and talked with him found him to be a fully human, Jewish Messiah who would redeem Israel. But the Apostle Paul and the author(s) of the Gospel of John paint a very different portrait. John refers to Jesus as ‘the Logos’ (a universal, impersonal, cosmic force of reason) and as a universal Savior of all mankind (the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world). Likewise, Paul also refers to him as something much more than human. We asked a New Testament scholar — Dr. Christopher Zoccali — to help us reconcile these two different perspectives. . . .”
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But I thought Jesus was the prince of peace? So many of you reading this article might be saying to yourself right now. What would it mean, then, that Jesus can describe his own mission as bringing about not peace on earth but division? . . . .
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Yet, sometimes, what we have constructed in our minds—a catastrophe of some proportion—is only that—a construct of our minds. And all the rumination, all the stress, all the blaming of God for letting this thing happen was unnecessary. . . .
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The gospels provide vivid accounts of an agenda-driven intelligentsia who attempted to offer “authoritative” interpretations of Jesus’ person and work. Not unlike what often happens today, the pretense for such interpretations was the inability of “regular folk” to properly comprehend the meaning of what they were hearing and seeing without their guidance. . . .
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The Bible has something to say about work as a central characteristic of what it means to be human. Indeed, God designed us for the express purpose of fulfilling a task in the world and thereby bringing blessing to the rest of creation . . . .
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Usually, those who misinterpret this passage in these sorts of ways are aided by misguided English translations (compare my translation above with most any English translation) and therefore think that Jesus is directly equating sexual attraction with adultery. . . .
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In the classic 1986 comedy “Back to School,” Rodney Dangerfield plays an ultra-successful and self-made businessman named Thornton Mellon. When his only son Jason tells him that he plans to drop out of college, he makes a bargain with him. If Jason stays in school, Thornton will attend alongside him. . . .
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But the biblical vision of justice is found neither in the demise of Israel nor that of the other nations. Rather, it is found in both Israel and the other nations once and for coming to obey God’s instructions for all humankind, and thus peace finally prevailing throughout the world. . . .
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What marks out toxic divisiveness from either expressing unpopular convictions or having good-natured disagreements, is the desire to ridicule and vilify the other side, painting them as morally or intellectually deficient. . . .
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What will the final judgment be like? Perhaps we will encounter God as a manifestation of love so brilliantly intense it will incinerate all self-centeredness, malice, and evil still plaguing us. . . .
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Rather, as Paul himself explains, in order to “gain Christ” and be “found in him” (Philippians 3:8–9), he strained forward toward the goal of achieving his calling. Said differently, he had to work hard and endure much to become like Christ. . . .
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What could reasonably be understood as history’s biggest conspiracy theory was launched some 2,000 years ago, around the year 30 CE in the land of Israel. The official explanation of the event in question concerned a Jewish rabblerouser who, like others before him, claimed to be Israel’s promised Messiah. . . .
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