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Raised in the Heavenlies!

...st into a new creation, despite keeping our “old” bodies in the meantime. This, I believe, is why there was such an emphasis on the importance of baptism in the early Church, and why it’s something sacred we should also highly esteem and not take lightly. As another blogger puts it, “baptism conveyed the gift of the Spirit and his illuminating and sanctifying roles … in being baptized, the new Christian experienced death (to self) and rebirth. Finally, baptism proclaimed the eschatological hope for restoration in the new creation.” With that in mind, let's take a look at how baptism and resurrection relate to one another: Colossians 2:12When you...

The Coming of Jesus: The Olivet Discourse – Part 2

...ng to the new creation; and therefore there seems to be at least as much reason, that we should commemorate the work of this creation, as that the members of the ancient Jewish church should commemorate the work of the old creation.” Jonathan Edwards (1739), The Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol 2)   The Desolation One of our earliest extra-Biblical sources for showing how the destruction of Jerusalem was seen as the fulfilment of Matt 24 etc. amongst the early Christians comes from the Epistle of Barnabas (not the be confused with the much later 14th century forgery called “the gospel of Barnabas”). This, a...

The Coming of Jesus: Our Future Hope - What Now?

...ms of the new creation in contrast to the old, the early Christians had a belief and view of the resurrection of Jesus as being the beginning of the new creation – the eighth day they called it. The epistle of Barnabas conveys it well: The sabbaths, that now are, are not acceptable unto me, but that which I have made is, even that in which, after that I have brought all things to an end, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, which thing is the beginning of another world. Wherefore we keep the eighth day as a day of gladness, on which also Jesus rose from the dead, and after he had appeared ascended unto heaven. Barnabas 15:8,9   An unexpected t...

Support Israel? OK, which Israel?

..."We interrupt your regularly scheduled programme to bring you this..." Sorry if you were waiting for part 3 of the Coming of Jesus series, but what with all that's going on in the news lately, I felt that this needed to be written first. "Support Israel's right to defend itself from terror." Images like this really don't help anything. If you've been on Facebook, or any other social media no doubt, I'm sure you will have seen (or even said) words to this effect in status' or memes. I keep seeing memes and images posted by people, often from Christians, about "supporting Israel" and each time it makes me stop and question that statement and/or sentiment....

Scientist Uncovers Hidden 1,750-Year-Old new Testament Translation with Ultraviolet Imaging

...A scientist has reportedly uncovered an ancient translation containing sections of the Gospel of Matthew, believed to be the sole surviving evidence of the fourth manuscript supporting the Old Syriac version of the Gospels. The research team, which includes medieval expert Grigory Kessel from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), employed ultraviolet imaging to reveal the ancient translation concealed beneath three layers of text. The research, published last month in the journal new Testament Studies, presents an interpretation of Matthew 11:30 to Matthew 12:26, initially translated as part of the Old Syriac translations around 1,500 years ago. According...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...eation-to-new creation plot” (104). Helpfully, he demonstrates that Christians of most persuasions are already ‘universalists’ about creation (God created all things), about sin (all have sinned), Christ’s humanity (all humans are represented by him) and Christ’s crucifixion (dying for all people); he reasons that God’s indefeasible will is to save or redeem all, entailing the famous ‘now/not yet’ tension: “Everyone is already redeemed…On the other hand, only those who have been united to Christ by the Holy Spirit now participate in that salvation…Actual existential participation of all people in salvation is not a present reality, it li...