The question of what, exactly, the "good news" - the "gospel" - is has frequently been a point of contention among those claiming to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah [the Christ], the Savior, the King - the very Lord of creation.
A key point to understand is that this Jesus of Nazareth has been raised from the dead, - really and truly and BODILY raised from the dead. And it is by this fact, this truth, that "God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus ..." and, "was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord ... ".
So is he Lord [King, Messiah [Christ], Savior] BECAUSE he has been raised? Well, the Greek word translated as "declared" has a wonderful range of meaning. Certainly it means "to determine, appoint, constitute" but according to one lexicon it means those terms in the sense of "marking out definitely." In other words, the resurrection is the means by which WE can be sure that Jesus of Nazareth is and has always been the Messiah [the Christ], the Savior, the King - the very Lord of creation!
So is the good news now to include both the doing of God's will on earth and the acknowledgment and acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah [the Christ], the Savior, the King because he has been raised from the dead?
Or is there more to this maybe?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Kingdom and Good News? -- 2
John, the baptizer, preaches for repentance [a complete mind change and turning from a previous path of madness, cf. "Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible", in re: Mat. 3:2] because the kingdom of heaven has come near -- a perfect tense construction in Greek indicating completed action, thus the translations say "is at hand" -- you can touch it so to speak.
Jesus takes up the exact same preaching in Matthew 4:17 and speaks of the kingdom at length in the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5, 6, & 7]. In Matthew 6, He gives us His prayer. In it He says that we should pray for the establishment of the kingdom of heaven by the doing of God's will here on earth as it is already done in heaven. When God's will is what is done on earth, only then will the kingdom of heaven be fully established so that God can live with His people and [essentially] merge heaven and earth as in Revelation 21 and 22.
Is the doing of God's will -- by all -- the good news Jesus preached or is there something more? Is that the good news that the apostles preached in their travels?
More thoughts soon ...
Jesus takes up the exact same preaching in Matthew 4:17 and speaks of the kingdom at length in the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5, 6, & 7]. In Matthew 6, He gives us His prayer. In it He says that we should pray for the establishment of the kingdom of heaven by the doing of God's will here on earth as it is already done in heaven. When God's will is what is done on earth, only then will the kingdom of heaven be fully established so that God can live with His people and [essentially] merge heaven and earth as in Revelation 21 and 22.
Is the doing of God's will -- by all -- the good news Jesus preached or is there something more? Is that the good news that the apostles preached in their travels?
More thoughts soon ...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Kingdom and Good News?
In Matthew 11, Jesus answers John's disciples this way, "the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them." [The Greek is actually a passive voice verb, so maybe, "and the poor are told (given) the good news"?]
So what good news was being preached/told/given to the poor? And why did Jesus specifically point out the poor as being the recipients of this preaching?
Let's stay in Matthew's writing and check a few things out.
Why do I pick up on "kingdom" to begin an answer to my questions? Well, Mathew 4, verse 17 says, "From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' " And I suspect that is supposed to be good news for someone. [And maybe not-so-good-news for others.]
The word 'kingdom(s)' occurs 54 times in Matthew. Thirty-six (36) of those are as part of either "kingdom of heaven" (31 times) or "kingdom of God" (4 times) or "kingdom of their Father" (once). In verses 23 and 24 of chapter 19 those two terms are used interchangeably, allowing us to see that when the Mark and Luke us "kingdom of God," it means essentially the same as "kingdom of heaven" in Matthew.
The 'Sermon on the Mount' uses "kingdom of heaven" five times. The parables of chapter 13 use "kingdom of heaven" seven times and Jesus uses it one more time - as well as the phrase "kingdom of their Father." In addition, there are four more parables that teach about the "kingdom of heaven" in Matthew.
Enough 'statistics' and facts. What does kingdom have to do with 'good news' or 'gospel'?
I'm gonna let the question hang in the air for a little while as I [and anyone else who cares to] ponder and pray and study the question. I plan to get back to it in a day or so.
So what good news was being preached/told/given to the poor? And why did Jesus specifically point out the poor as being the recipients of this preaching?
Let's stay in Matthew's writing and check a few things out.
Why do I pick up on "kingdom" to begin an answer to my questions? Well, Mathew 4, verse 17 says, "From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' " And I suspect that is supposed to be good news for someone. [And maybe not-so-good-news for others.]
The word 'kingdom(s)' occurs 54 times in Matthew. Thirty-six (36) of those are as part of either "kingdom of heaven" (31 times) or "kingdom of God" (4 times) or "kingdom of their Father" (once). In verses 23 and 24 of chapter 19 those two terms are used interchangeably, allowing us to see that when the Mark and Luke us "kingdom of God," it means essentially the same as "kingdom of heaven" in Matthew.
The 'Sermon on the Mount' uses "kingdom of heaven" five times. The parables of chapter 13 use "kingdom of heaven" seven times and Jesus uses it one more time - as well as the phrase "kingdom of their Father." In addition, there are four more parables that teach about the "kingdom of heaven" in Matthew.
Enough 'statistics' and facts. What does kingdom have to do with 'good news' or 'gospel'?
I'm gonna let the question hang in the air for a little while as I [and anyone else who cares to] ponder and pray and study the question. I plan to get back to it in a day or so.
so, to begin ...
Starting this blog is an effort to put some of the many thoughts, reflections, observations, ideas, questions and possible answers in the open. Anyone who stumbles upon this blog is welcome to engage in civil, reasonable, on topic discourse related to any post or series [should there be one or more series posted during the life of this blog].
Generally, posts will relate to what it means to be a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah-Savior-King-Lord. Posts will probably touch on but not cover thoroughly a broad range of areas, e. g. biblical, doctrinal, practical, theological, devotional, and denominational issues.
Since you've found this site feel free to read and comment [civilly, reasonably and on topic] as you wish. Comments that do not meet those standards - solely as I understand them - will either be edited or deleted.
Generally, posts will relate to what it means to be a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah-Savior-King-Lord. Posts will probably touch on but not cover thoroughly a broad range of areas, e. g. biblical, doctrinal, practical, theological, devotional, and denominational issues.
Since you've found this site feel free to read and comment [civilly, reasonably and on topic] as you wish. Comments that do not meet those standards - solely as I understand them - will either be edited or deleted.
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