“This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3).
What does it mean to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent?
Let J.I. Packer answer.
First, knowing God is a matter of personal dealing, as is all direct acquaintance with personal beings. Knowing God is more than knowing about him; it is a matter of dealing with him as he opens up to you, and being dealt with by him as he takes knowledge of you.…
I have great respect for Ian Paul. So, when he offers a view that I find unpersuasive, I’m glad to give it a hearing anyway.
Here, then, is the gist of his ‘considered summary’, arising from his study of the main biblical texts (Gen 1, 2 and 3, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 18, Romans 16, 1 Cor 11 and 14, Eph 5 and 1 Tim 2). But here are the bare bones.
…1. The creation accounts offer no evidence of hierarchy in male-female relationships as part of the original created order.
Most evangelicals would, I suppose, think that ‘proper’ preaching consists of a prepared speech, delivered without interruption to a group a silent listeners. The use of dialogue would be thought to ‘water down’ the content and authority of the message, by allowing what was being said to be questioned or even doubted.
But these assumptions should themselves be questioned, writes Ian Paul (here,here and here).
Consider the biblical evidence. Ian Paul quotes Jeremy Thomson:
Much of Jesus’ teaching was given ‘on the way’ and involved a high degree of interaction with the audience (Mark 8.27–10.52). …
Writing in the Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, John Oswalt says that, while it is possible to read too much into the detailed instructions for the construction of the tabernacle (in Exodus 25ff), the main points are clear enough.
I summarise:
Several colours are significant. White suggests the purity of God and the needed purity of his people. Blue indicates God’s transcendence; purple, his royalty, and red, the blood that must be shed if sinful humans are to approach a holy God.…
The tabernacle and temple were alike the meeting place between God and people. Indeed, the tabernacle, which was at first a moveable structure, found a permanent home in Solomon’s temple.
But, actually, the story begins not in Exodus but at the beginning of Genesis. As many scholars have observed, the garden of Eden was itself a kind of temple, for it to was the meeting place between God and his people. Not surprising, then, that there are so many allusions to the creation narrative in the instructions for the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus 25ff.…
Christians sometimes regard the accounts of the tabernacle, temple and priestly service as tedious and irrelevant. This is a mistake. They point to a vital reality – the presence of God with his people.
The tabernacle itself is of seminal importance. It is the first in an important series (tabernacle, temple, incarnation, church, new Jerusalem). The account of its construction is much more detailed than that of the temple (see 1 Kings 5-8), and the tabernacle found a permanent home in the latter structure. …
James K. Bruckner writes:
‘The tabernacle provided, for the first time since Eden, a place for the visible presence of God in the midst of the people.’
He adds: ‘the Gospel of John provides a window that helps Christians interpret the significance of the tabernacle in relation to the incarnation.’
Consider John 1:14-15a – ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory.’
As Rabbinic interpreters have long recognised, there are many echoes of the creation narrative (Genesis 1-2) in the description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-40).
Sources: Office for National Statistics; The Marriage Foundation
Why do many people prefer cohabitation to marriage?
Courtesy of Metro News.
You might think: so superficial, so short-sighted, so selfish. I couldn’t possibly comment.…
