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Who is the New Jerusalem?

...ng in the New Covenant!   This is God showing that things work differently now. No longer is he only found in a temple, or a specific holy place (a lá John 4:21) – now he lives with us and in us!   This is why everything is New! Heaven will never be the same again, and neither will the Earth! God has set up a New temple where he dwells permanently now: in us, the Church!   Everything is New! If we go back to Paul’s letters for a moment and read 2 Corinthians, we can see that this is what Paul was getting at too. He had grasped this and was desperately trying to get it across to the Corinthian church. Oh, how slow are we on the uptake too? 2 Cor...

New Covenant Israel is no longer physical (nor literal)!

...If you've read my previous two articles on Israel, then this will probably seem familiar. This is a combination of the previous two combined into one study, focussing more on who Israel is under the New Covenant rather than the geopolitical/war situation of the Middle East. So Who is Israel? No doubt what I'm about to say will cause some knee-jerk reactions, but to properly understand the New Covenant, we need to address the issue of who is Israel, Biblically speaking? Yes, there is a modern nation known as "Israel" now since 1948, but is that the same Israel of the Bible? The same Israel to whom God made his promises? If so, does that mean...

How Polycarp (And Others) Show The Early Use Of The New Testament

...Polycarp is one of the most important people in early church history. He was a disciple of John the Evangelist, and later became the bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp was born around 69 A.D. in Smyrna, which is now modern-day Turkey. He grew up during a time when Christians were being persecuted for their beliefs, and he himself became a Christian at a young age. Polycarp is regarded as one of the earliest church fathers because he had a significant impact on Christianity as it spread throughout Asia Minor and Europe, and he also played an important role in shaping biblical canon for centuries to come. We don’t know a great deal about his life, apart from t...

It's no longer about land!

...As I've been thinking more about the Israel situation, and reading and hearing the responses and debates on my last article, and the issue in general, it seems to me that people can't help but get stuck in the mindset of a geo-political debate. Yes, there's a place called "Israel" in the middle-east, and yes there's a war going on which is terrible for all involved — but from a New Testament Christian perspective, that shouldn't be our focus when it comes to thinking about the true Israel! This is what it's about!   If you want to "support Israel" because you believe they are in the right or have 'just cause', then fine – just don't cal...

The Eighth Day

...rt of the New Covenant, which makes us a New creation through baptism and through our outworking of the faith, we reconcile the world back to God as co-workers with Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:9)! 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.   Resting with God This is God showing that things work differently now. No longer is he only found in a physical brick and mortar temple, or a specific holy place (as Jesus...

Biblical Inspiration and the Canon: How We Got the Bible

...The Bible is often described as “God-breathed,” a phrase taken from 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” But what does it mean for Scripture to be “inspired,” and how did the books of the Bible come to be recognised as part of the canon — the authoritative collection of writings that make up the Bible? Were they really “decided” at the Council of Nicaea, as some popular myths claim? Table of Contents Understanding Biblical Inspiration What is the Canon? The Septuagint and the Deuterocanonical Books How Were the Books of the Bi...