Ain't nothing you can do about it

I've understood for a long time that works cannot save you, or as put today, that works cannot put you into the covenant, but the concept that works cannot keep you in the covenant is a concept that I've only recently grasped and even still wrestle with today. I want to do things that will please God and signal that I am a Christian, but I tend to forget that there is nothing I can do to lose my place in the covenant or to make God love me any more or less. Concerning this matter, man I respect greatly once said "God loves you, even when you bring Him nothing."

Is Paul Ant-semitic? Didn't he helpJews?

I read the wrong stuff last night. I read the Jerusalem Collection stuff and wrote these thoughts to blog. Our lecture today actually talked a little about some of this.

Paul's harsh words towards his opponents in his letter to the Galatians is sometimes considered anti-semitic. Paul definitely is harsh to his opponents who teach that Jewish traditions such as circumcision and works of the law are required to receive the full blessing of God, but is he anti-semitic? In Galatians chapter two, Paul says he is very eager to remember the poor. Our reading teaches that there was a famine in the Roman world that must have greatly affected Judea because all the disciples were attempting to aide the Jewish Christians. The “poor” Paul mentions in Gal 2:10 is possibly the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem affected by the famine. Paul actively participated in the relief efforts by encouraging the Gentile Christians to support the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. If Paul was anti-semitic, would he be so actively involved in helping the Jewish Christians? Doesn't Paul see himself as a Jew? Does the term Jewish refer to Judaism ethnically or religiously? It is quite clear that Paul does refer to Jews ethnically because how could someone be two religions at once, Jewish and Christian. If Paul does indeed see himself as Jewish and views Judaism only ethnically than he could not be anti-semitic. If Paul sees Jews in a religious sense, then the remarks could almost be qualified as anti-semitic. However, in these harsh remarks, Paul is just demonstrating to his opponents the truth revealed to him by the risen savior about how Jesus himself, a Jew, came to fulfill the promises to, as Paul would say it, “the Jews first, then to the Greek.” Jesus' blessing is not through works, but through faith. Would someone anti-semitic help Jews by giving money? Is Paul ant-semitic? I don't think so.

Law=Bad; Jesus=Good (or not?)

Greetings. In my years of growing up in the church, especially in the years of youth, I remember having it drilled into my head that those Law keepers were some pretty bad people. Along with this was the teaching, or interpretation, that Paul was absolutely apposed to the Law and it should all be ignored and replace with Jesus. (I am exaggerating slightly) My home church, which is now without a pastor, has had some new attendees here lately that have been questioning the place of the Law in Christian living.

I mention all of these things because I feel it is of utmost importance for us as ministers to deal with this challenging question: what part does the Law or works play in the Christian life? Today's lecture on E.P. Sander's view of the Law within first century Jewish thought and his thoughts on Paul's understanding of the Law was quite thought provoking. I do not agree with all that he has to say, but he does make us realize that in Paul's teaching the Law is not bad nor should be discarded. As Dr. Foster taught, good works serve as a sign of a true convert.

Faith in Jesus Christ

Paul emphasizes in several different passages that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Many stressors were placed on whether righteousness was obtained through the old law. Paul writes saying that we should not throw out the old law... instead use it to glorify the fulfillment in Christ. In his letters he encourages the readers to do the same. He calls them to test their ways and see where it leads them and search for the truth and wisdom.

Praying for Colossians

While reading Colossians for class I was struck with a wonderful example of believers praying for other believers. Paul knows of the faith that the believers in Colosse have and he is compelled to pray for them. Paul and Timothy even say that they have not stopped praying for them in verse nine. It seems that they faithfully prayed every day for the other believers because they wanted them to grow even further in their relationships with the Lord. They specifically pray that the people will grow in knowledge of the Lord’s will so that they may be fruitful in every thing that they do. In today’s church we have to be praying the same thing for each other. We need to have a desire to see others around us grow and be fruitful so that we may come together as mature believers and work together for the Kingdom of God. Our prayers for each other need to be consistent as Paul and Timothy’s prayers were for the Colossians. Imagine how strong our faiths could be if we prayed for and supported each other as we see in the Bible.
Stephen Foust

Did Paul start the Church in Colosse?

A hard question to answer is did Paul have a hand in the starting of the church in Colosse? Doing a brief study about Colosse, I read about different ideas about how the church had started. I am writing this blog in the hopes that maybe a discussion will be started about this issue. One suggestion that struck my interest was Epaphras mentioned in Col 1:7. Could he have been a helper of Paul that started the church and he had been the reason why Paul and the Colossians had a relationship? Maybe some think that Paul did go to Colosse. I am still undecided and probably will be for a long time to come, but maybe somebody knows something that I do not.

Brother in Christ,
Billy Hardesty

Justification

In justification man stands before God accused. We are justified by faith by believing in God's word that we no longer stand as one accused, but rather one who as been made right with God through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. There is nothing in anyone that would make them choose God. Justification is entirely the work of God. God is the one who does the calling. We are the ones who need to be found, not God. If it is that we cannot find God, who moved? I have to say emphatically that God was not the one who moved.

In his article in the Holman Bible Dictionary titled "Justification" Paul Jackson writes, "...in the New Testament, God dealt with the sin of humankind by the highest and most intimate form of revelation, His Son Jesus Christ. The earliest Christians believed that they were “made right” with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-26; Romans 4:18-25; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 3:18). In his letter to the Romans, Paul conveyed the message that God did not consider sin lightly. Sin created a massive gulf between God and people. This gulf required a bridge to bring all of humanity into a right relationship with God. Theologians call God's bridge building “reconciliation.” Reconciliation functions to bring humans “justification.” The main character who effected this divine plan was Jesus Christ. Uniquely, His death on the cross made it possible for God and people to be reconciled (Romans 5:10) and thus for humans to be justified.

If I were not a sinner, why would I ever need to be justified and if my reconcilation with God rests on my performing good works and obeying the Law then I am doomed. I can only say with a sincere heart, Thank You Jesus for the sacrifice you made for me so that I do not recieve what it justly due to me.

Michael Carpenter

Where Adam Failed, Christ Persevered

I am continually amazed that years and years have gone by in my Christian life reading Romans and until last summer, I have never understood the contrast between Adam and Christ as Paul mentions in Romans 5: 12-21. The concept of this passage is so simple, but still so forgotten. Polhill uses the term "humanity" (p. 290) in reference to our standing in sin; we were part of the humanity of Adam, but in our lives in the humanity of "the Second Adam" (Christ), we are made righteous through Christ’s obedience. To me the passage is saying, "Adam screwed up by being disobedient to one rule, so Jesus came to clean up the mess." It is almost a bad son/good son contrast yet in the context of God’s providence. The grace of God is made evident from the very beginning of creation to the very end of time, and the Apostle Paul makes this idea very clear.

Zach Pyron

"Human Wrath"

I found G.L. Borchett's section on Human Wrath interesting and challenging. He connects some of the wrath scriptures spoken of in Romans with Christian living. We, as believers in Him, should leave anger to God. Although Borchett explains anger to be okay at times "it must not be indulged." I find it difficult when I become angry to exercise restraint. I think Ephesians says that when angry do not let Satan have a foothold. As mentioned in the article, the best attitude for us to have involves allowing God to have his wrath when he chooses. We should simply rely on Him to be humble and pray for eyes of grace. Through our lives we should reflect and tell others about Christ. The world watches us and we must be self-controled even if persecuted. I really have no idea what dealing with persecution is like, but the scripture teaches we should allow those times to demonstrate Jesus to the world and allow the Lord to have vengence or show mercy.

kevin

Faith and Works

The "argument" of faith vs. works has not really bothered me too much as of yet. I have a simple philosophy in relation to the subject. As Christians, we have been redeemed from our punishment of death, and been reconciled to God the Father; not by any "work/act" we've done, but through the grace found in Christ's atonement. And because of this monumental and accompishment of Christ, which we don't deserve, we Love and Serve God and others out of the gratitude of our hearts for of our salvation. not for the salvation.

Covenantal Nomism

This theory created by E. P. Sanders, as discussed in class, has been expounded on by the works of James D. G. Dunn. Dunn explains this idea alittle different from that of Dr. Foster. In reading through his book, A Contextual Approach, Paul & the Law, I understood this idea as relevant. That is Paul addressed the Church of Galatians to suppress this idea; the idea of national identity. Dunn explained this concept being the Jews thought of the law as given to them; thereby, they were the only ones to attain righteousness through it. Paul on the other hand, refering to Abraham, showed how faith was before the Law and faith remains after the Law. Therefore, the Gentiles, like their father Abraham, are saved through faith. Meaning, if the Law still applied Gentiles would be called to it, but since it is fulfilled we are saved through grace. This idea supports Jews as Paul's main opponent or rather a systemized religion in general. Based on Dunn's exposition of the scripture it seems sound.

Works serve as a sign

Today in class when Dr Foster elaborate on the role of works in the believers life, it helped me verbalize what I had always thought to be true. Works serving as evidence of a person’s salvation rather than the means of that salvation brings about a better understanding of Christian practice as a whole. I sadly admit that before today I never really thought about Eph 3:8-10 and its complete thought. Today’s class has truly lifted some anxieties as far as verbalizes my understanding and how best to explain works and their function in the Christian faith. It has brought about questions on how much in common James and Paul’s theology have. I guess that they do not oppose each other as much as I originally thought.

Travis Adams

Colossians....

The evidence that was discussed in class today about the authorship of Colossians is very interesting to me. The Historical, Stylistic and Theological points that were presented made sense and now have me questioning the validity of Paul's authorship of the book. Until today I always assumed that Paul wrote Colossians and never gave it a second thought. The non-Pauline vocabulary and the Gnostic ideas that are prevelant in Colossians present the biggest evidence to me for a non-Pauline authorship.

This discussion has really challenged me to research basic facts about the Bible that I was always taught were true. If Paul in fact did not write Colossians how many other aspects of Paul and Pauline theology that I always held to be true are in fact mere speculation?

-Steven Price

The prupose of the old covenant

Romans 5:14, "Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come."

Death and sin reigned in the aforementioned time period because of the sin of Adam. God gave his creation free choice and they chose to sin, as we discussed in class. However, when the law was introduced, as an act of God's grace, a door was opened for the redemption of God's people. The people of God eventually became corrupted in the law as well, and finally Christ was introduced as the final resolution to the sin between God and man. Why did God first give the law instead of just Jesus. Did he not know that it would be inadequate? Did he, as some say, only provide the law to prepare for the way for Christ who was always the original plan?
If God did not know that the law would fail does that mean that he is not all knowing and sovereing? Does it imply that God was in the process of trial and error? If God only inteded the law to be a precursor to Christ, does that infer that he simply used the people of the Old Testament as pawns to orchestrate his ultimate goal? These questions are very difficult and I believe that they do not find resolution in any simple answer. Of course God to have known the fallacies that would arise from the law, but I believe that the law served as a truly genuine way for people to know God while, at the same time, illustrating the complete depravity of mankind and the total dependence of man on God's complete grace and power. I am confident that I will never understand the full depths of possible answers to these questions. Ultimately, I can only rely on the God that I find in the Biblical text and on the character that I believe he reveals therein. He is loving, just, and sovereign, and he treats his people according to his character.

Authorship in Colossians: The Tip of a Colossal Problem?

I must admit that I typically ignore arguments against the accepted view of authorship. They often seem to end exactly where they started. When I studied authorship of the pastoral epistles, I spent a large amount of time considering the possibility of non-Pauline authorship. The arguments belonged to the typical regimen of criticisms that scholars use when examining a passage. The study of such criticisms has not changed my views on Pauline authorship, but it has given me a greater understanding of the possible purposes of a work such as Colossians. In the case of Colossians, the unique characteristics of the book lend themselves to arguments against Pauline authorship. Though some would argue that Pauline authorship is essential, I do not believe that Pauline authorship is a necessary element on which the value of the work must be based. The contents of the book have stood the tests of canonicity and time. I believe that all other Pauline works should be examined with these standards in mind.
In Christ,
the other Paul

The prupose of the old covenant

I write a paper on a subject and I don't know that I even solved anything or came to a good conclusion on the subject. The most influential scripture in the passage that I had of Romans 9 was verses 1-5. I think Paul's heart is really portrayed in these five verses... what I don't understand is why he would be so aggressive about the thought of giving his salvation to save these Jews, if he didn't believe God was the chooser and men were not the chosen. Maybe more light can be shed on these verses? Commentaries never really elaborated well on WHY he said these things.. yes I see that he loves these people and he was establishing his connection with them because Paul might have been considered a trader among the Romans because of his realtionships with Gentiles..BUT what I want to know is why he used the vocabulary he did in these five verses.

-Jacob

E.P. Sanders

Dr. Foster brought up some great points dealing with E.P. Sanders. As I did the research for my paper, I found the books mentioned to be an interestin source. Although they did not completely fulfill my goal in the paper, some of the ideas Sanders presented where interesting. I agree with Dr. Foster in that Sanders has some weak, an controversial viewpoints when it comes to the relationship of Paul and Jewish law. However, I have found that Sanders is a very good source when dealing with Judaism. One of his larger books, "Judaism: Practices and Beliefs," is a very good help when it comes to studying Jewish law. It helps to better understand the law in a Historical sense. So I guess this blog entry is credited to giving Sanders some sort of credit for his writings. They are very difficult to read, and even to look at the table of contents. But he breaks some of his books up in such a way to make them more helpful for the reader. Sanders is a wonderful resources when it comes to Jewish practices and teachings. If you are interested in studying more about Jewish history and beliefs, then I would recommend Sanders to you. But do be cautious in some areas.

Mr. E

The similarities between Colossians and Ephesians are interesting. Take for example the Colossians 1:24 - 2:5 and Ephesians 3:1-13 passages. They both appear to be dealing with similar opponents and using similar language in dealing with opponents views. The idea of the mystery of God or of Christ is almost limited entirely to these two passages. No where else is this language used so much or so specifically.
In both passages the mystery is revealed as being the design of the inclusion of the Gentiles in God's plan and salvation. What a glorious mystery revelation.

Mr. Bill Lee

The Answers are in the Book

I am really impressed at how the Bible holds so many mysteries and yet there is no mystery. God gave us all the answers. We as humans like to complicate things to find hidden meanings or to question if what it says is really what it says. I was amazed today at how it did not say in Acts that Paul went to the Lycus Valley but that the answer was there. If Paul knew Philemon than we can infer that he was there. He went right through the area to get to other churches, he probley stopped in. The fact that there are so many questions in the bible make it interesting and because most the questions are answered in the same book keeps you reading. It also further convinces me that the Bible, though written by so many different people in so many different times, was ment to be the way it is, complex but deciferable.

Setting my heart on things above. Col 3:1-4

How easy is it to get caught up in the worries and pursuits of this world? In the blink of an eye, my focus sometimes shifts from learning what I can about scripture to just trying to complete an assignment. My focus is on an earthly acomplishment and not a heavenly purpose of equipping myself to better serve the Lord. Sometimes focus like that is so hard to acomplish, because there is so much stuff going on around us. It is difficult to see the stuff going on around us from a heavenly perspective, instead sometimes we see heaven from an earthly perspective. By setting our hearts and minds on things above, we will be able to maintain a more Christlike focus and be more efficient for the cause of Christ, but this is so hard, because we must die to self every day to acomplish this.

It's all Relative?

As I was reading Polhill's article on Colossians I found it particularly interesting the number of cults and views that were threatening the Colossians' faith. The fact of how many their were makes me think of present time and just how applicable this letter is today. It is definitely a letter that could be seen as showing that humanity never changes, but that we have always been depraived and of ourselves we are not going to get better. In the problem this letter faces of false teachers leading people astray this can be seen by just looking around at our culture and the millions of views to follow that just lead away from Jesus. So this problem faced by the Colossians is one that still plagues the church today and needs to be addressed.

Trophimus the Ephesian

While reading Polhill's chapter on Colosse, I saw that Colossians, Philemon and Ephesians was written by Paul between A.D. 57-62 during his imprisionment in Rome. When I did my paper on Ephesians, my research indicated that Paul did not write to a particular church at Ephesus but to a universal body of believers. Trophimus the Ephesian was the representative from the church at Ephesus who accompanied Paul with the collection to the mother church in Jerusalem. Trophimus was also the one that the Asian Jews accused Paul of bringing into the temple area which resulted in his arrest and Rome imprisionment.

Don't you know that Trophimus felt REALLY GOOD knowing that HE was the one that they pointed at which resulted in Paul's arrest, even though the allegations were not true. Since Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians after his arrest and Trophimus the Ephesian was the false reason why he was arrested, it is no wonder that Paul did not address specific people when writing Ephesians but rather wrote to a universal church.

I am sure Trophimus had a long walk home after that incident, even though it was not really his fault that Paul was imprisioned.

Polhill made the observation that Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon have links between them.

Vicky