New Testament to gospels confusing, repetitious appears conflicting DISCUSS PLEASE DO NOT COPY AND PASTE FROM THE INTERNET
hy Four Gospels?

There is much controversy regarding the fact that Christianity promotes the idea that it is perfectly natural for Christians to respect four gospels. Many people have trouble understanding the attitudes that they need to employ regarding the four gospels because they come across stories that are similar to one-another and because some points-of-view expressed by a particular gospel appear to contradict points present in other gospels. One needs to comprehend that the gospels were actually designed to express stories as seen from the perspective of the person writing them. As a consequence, some aspects in one gospel might differ from ideas in other gospels precisely because the writer interpreted ideas that he encountered and wrote them as seen from his point-of-view.

Most individuals are accustomed to thinking that the four gospels were…...

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Works cited:

Pink, Arthur W., "Why Four Gospels?," (Prisbrary Publishing)

Platt, Elizabeth, "Four Portraits of Jesus: Studies in the Gospels and Their Old Testament Background," (Paulist Press, 01.05.2004)

New Testament Vocabulary
Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees were three major sects or practices of Judaism at the time of Christ. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two more powerful and influential sects, the Essenes were much smaller in number and less influential. The Sadducees derived their name from Zadok, the High Priest of David and Solomon: their version of Judaism was centered strictly on the text of the Torah and the temple rites. Sadducees tended to come from the highest ranks of Jewish society. The Pharisees by contrast had an oral tradition beyond the written text of the Torah, and were the more popular and democratic sect -- Pharisaic Judaism would become the basis for contemporary (Rabbinic) Judaism. There was political and social disagreement between Pharisees and Sadducees: they were essentially rival sects. The Essenes were, by contrast, apolitical ascetic separatists: the Dead Sea Scrolls are widely thought to have been…...

Instead, Paul positions the way of faith over against "works of the law" (Rom 3:27-28), pitting God's sovereign grace over against human effort. In the interests of his Gentile mission, Paul aims to deflate an inflated sense of Jewish identity, particularly "boasting," which religious leaders routinely displayed while observing ritual religious practices. Paul stressed the time had come to recognize, in accordance with the promises to Abraham, the reality of God's gracious designs for the Gentile world.

God's Justification: Beginning to End

From the beginning of Romans to its end, a theodicy, a justification of God, increasingly recognized, proves central, rather than the more accustomed perception regarding the "justification" noted in Romans as figuratively moving the opposite direction; relating God's gracious justification of human beings through faith. Although the justification of believers does serve as a primary theme of the letter, as Ernst Kasemann argued, the multiple references to "the righteousness of…...

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Works Cited

Brendan Byrne, S.J. "Interpreting Romans: The New Perspective and Beyond." Interpretation. 2004. Available from HighBeam Research. (February 15, 2009).   Internet. Accessed 15 February 2009.http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-676022051.html .

Bryan, Christopher. A Preface to Romans: Notes on the Epistle in Its Literary and Cultural Setting.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Book online. Available from Questia,   Accessed 15 February 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5025729405http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96373470.Internet .

Donfried, Karl P. "Solving the Romans Debate." Theological Studies 69, no. 1 (2008): 189+. Database online. Available from Questia,   Accessed 15 February 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=114165446http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5025729405.Internet .

Haacker, Klaus. The Theology of Paul's Letter to the Romans. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Book online. Available from Questia,   Accessed 15 February 2009. www.questiaschool.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5018378645http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=114165499.Internet .

Christ is also mediator as well as High Priest. For example, Christ serves as a mediator between humanity and the divine; between man and God. The High Priest serves a similar function, but it is crucial that Christ replaces the Jewish priesthood. Likewise, Christ is King to replace and supplant all earthly kings, and is the intercessor by which human beings achieve salvation from sin.
4. Using specific examples, discuss John's view of Jesus.

John's vision, interpretation, and experience of Jesus are different from the other apostles. John's vision of Jesus is more all encompassing and powerful than any other Biblical author. John equates Jesus with God unequivocally, by drawing parallels with Genesis in John 1:1. John's view of Jesus is that Jesus is God, a truly and wholly divine being. This helps to clarify the confusion between whether Jesus was a historical figure and a prophet; he was truly neither…...

Paul demonstrates his own faith and humility, further establishing himself as a Christian leader. For example, in Philippians 3:12 Paul admits that he has not attained the level of spiritual development that he hopes for and is far from perfect.
The New Testament book of James was supposedly penned by James the brother of Jesus, who had been established as an important Church leader. The book of James is concerned primarily with setting forth practical rules and guidelines of living a Christian life. Many Christian moral precepts are established through the writings of James. For example, James denounces greed among the wealthy classes: "The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty," (James 5:4). James therefore contains a theme of Christian communal lifestyle. Patience is clearly established as a…...

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Works Cited

All quotes taken from the New International Version of the New Testament, reproduced online at BibleGateway.com:  http://www.biblegateway.com/ )

What was the Council of Jerusalem about and how did it turn out?

This is also known as the Apostolic Conference refers to the early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem. The purpose of the meeting according to Acts was to try and resolve the grudges and differences that were since the time in Antioch.

During this meeting, the council agreed that the Gentiles who had converted to Christianity had no strict obligation to keep most of the Mosaic Laws, the circumcision of males included. They however upheld some laws that were still to be followed by all Christians like forbidding fornication, eating blood, eating meat with blood in it and idolatry.

4. James 2:14-26 and Galatians 5:1-15 what do these text teach and what are the important similarities and differences between the theological emphases of Paul and James in these two texts?

The texts talk about faith and manifestation of faith in…...

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In terms of content, then, and also in terms of the overall consistency of both content and structure within and between most chapters, all twenty-seven books of the New Testament, for example, are discussed first from the viewpoint of 'theological story', that is, how its actual narrative content unfolds and advances itself; and second, from the perspective of various, frequently although not always or immediately compared 'theological themes', i.e., key themes that emerge, holistically, from each book on its own and later, implicitly and explicitly, in combination. The cumulative effect is one of carefully, steadily pointing out to the reader "stories" and themes that appear and reappear in common throughout the books of the New Testament.

However, that said, a nagging question underlying the whole book lingers for this reader - that of rather or not a unified Christian theology had already been fully formed and solidified, i.e., that is, prior…...

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References

Blomberg, C. An online review of current biblical and theological studies. Denver Journal. Accessed February 16, 2007. Available at   February 2005.http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles2005/0200/0204.html .

Certeau, Michel de. The Mystic Fable. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

The Writing of History. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.

Evangelicalism. January 28, 2007. Reference.com. Available at   February 17, 2007.http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Evangelicalism.htm .

Matthew in the New Testament
The Gospel of St. Matthew of the New Testament Bible contains some of Jesus' most famous phrases. These religious phrases have been incorporated not only into contemporary theology but also the common speech and frames of reference, even for nonbelievers, because of their power to represent compelling philosophical ideas. Even though 'nonviolence' or civil disobedience would not have been comprehensible concepts to Jesus' contemporaries, advocates as diverse as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. later extrapolated these principles from Matthew's text.

In the sermon, however, Jesus counsels humble behavior but stresses the need to have a strong internal belief structure of resistance to go with passive resistance. He inveighs his listeners in 7:6, not to give pearls to swine, that is, not to fruitlessly preach against those who will not listen. In the same book he talks of the narrowness of the gate of heaven, and…...

Christianity was truly a multicentric faith in its first centuries, owing to its relative modesty of influence and its own emergence from another faith, this perspective shows. The primary control mechanism at play is the human instinct to adopt varying interpretations of existing theological movements.

This is interesting, because in a manner, our reading here suggests that where we might contend that the scriptures arose out of Christianity. At least, insofar as categorization is concerned, the followers who would adopt Christ's ideas in the century to follow his death were simply another sect of Judaism. As Cross et al. cite in the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, the gospels would be composed in roughly 100 AD, several generations from the death of Christ. (Cross et al., 134) it should be considered a valuable understanding of the ideological origins of Christianity to recognize the reciprocity between the ability of the people…...

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Works Cited

Barrett, D.B. et.al., eds. (2001). World Christian Encyclopedia. Oxford University Press.

Cross, E.L. & Livingstone, E.A. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press.

He possesses authority over all the people on earth, the Creator of all things and Ruler of all. Men will be judged according to His teachings, even those who reject Him. The Law of God is the Law of Jesus, who teaches it as revealed to Him by the Father. His specific teaching on divorce and remarriage is addressed to all the people of this world, not only His disciples. He spoke to the great multitudes about it in Matthew 19:3-9. When the Pharisees tested Him on the issue of divorce, Jesus' answer was and is addressed to them and to all, not just a few followers. Jesus emphasized to them and still emphasizes now that a man should leave father and mother and cleave to his wife and the emphasis is universal. He stressed and still stresses that anyone, not only a Christian, who puts away his wife…...

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Bibliography

1. Clarifying Christianity. What the Bible Says About Divorce and Remarriage., 1999.   (accessed 19 July 2006).http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/divorce.html 

2. GospelWay. Divorce and Remarriage. Bible Study Lessons, 2006. http://www.biblestudylessons.com/cgi-bin/gospel_way/divorce_remarriage.php

3. Hughes, John J. What the Bible Teaches About Divorce and Remarriage, 2006.  http://www.rbvincent.com/BibleStudies/divorcejhughes.htm 

Gospel Way. Divorce and Remarriage. Bible Study Lessons, 2006. (accessed 19 July 2006)http://www.biblestudylessons.com/cgi-bin/gospel_way/divorce_remarriage.php

Salvation in the Old and New Testaments
The Old and New Testaments do have a very similar view of the theme of salvation in that is ensured by God through one's faith and righteousness. The connotation is originally defined in the Old Testament, but the theme is extended in the New Testament to illustrate the necessity of Jesus Christ and his ultimate sacrifice to bring salvation to mankind. Still, there are some clear differences within the two works that show the complexity of the evolution of the term as it spread through centuries of Biblical scripture.

Salvation

Similar methods of salvation are shared between the two texts

Salvation through Grace

Jesus Christ as an Extension of the concepts first drawn out in the Old Testament

Differences

Many believe that there are major differences in the connotations of salvation seen in each work

B. Dispensationalism shows how there may be more than one single method of salvation other than…...

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References

Drake, Francis. "The Meaning of Salvation in the Old Testament." Forum. Theologica. Web. http://theologica.ning.com/forum/topics/the-meaning-of-salvation-in

Feinberg, John S. "Salvation in the Old testament." Tradition and Testament: Essays in Honor of Charles Lee Feinberg. Moody Press. 1981. Pp 39-77.

Mead, James K. Biblical Theology: Issues, Methods, and Themes. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. 2007.

New American Standard Bible. Foundation Publications. 1997.

Orthodoxy and the Canon:
There are several areas in the early church on essential issues such as the deity of Christ, nature, and humanity. This period of dispute was also characterized with the emergence of groups like Gnostics, which brought a completely new set of presumed beliefs to the faith that came alongside the faith and in total compromised tenets of the faith. These new beliefs were supposedly based on the truth of Christ's teachings as presented to his followers. Consequently, there was a great need to explain the true writings that presented the truth of Christ. The need for clarifications of these truths was necessary because of the fact that heretical parties involved would constantly present texts and teach them as being the writings of the Apostles. This process should include clarification of key events and movements that impacted the acknowledgment of the canonical books.

Orthodoxy and Canon:

Canon is a…...

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Bibliography:

Hill, Jonathan. Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. Michigan: Lion Publishing,

2006.

Schnabel, Eckhard J. "History, Theology and the Biblical Canon: An Introduction to Basic

Issues." Themelios. 20, vol.2 (1995): 16-24, accessed April 2, 2014,  http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/canon_schnabel.pdf

features topic significance understanding New Testament. This a short research paper include introduction, thesis, body, conclusion.
Jesus and Paul -- compare/contrast

Both Paul and Jesus are largely considered to be two of the most influential individuals in Christian history. Even though Paul was an apostle, many consider him to be equal to or even more important than Jesus, taking into account his contribution to early Christianity. Paul is widely regarded as being the founder of Christianity, but there is much controversy regarding his understanding of Jesus' teaching, as he provides a relatively different account concerning the Messiah's life. Many Christians actually denounce Paul on account of him having modified Jesus' word with the purpose of shaping the Christian world and having Christians appreciate him more than they did at the time when he became a Christian.

Body

It is impossible to provide solid data supporting the fact that either Jesus or Paul were…...

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Works cited:

Still, Todd, "Jesus and Paul reconnected: fresh pathways into an old debate," (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007)

Wenham, David, "Paul and Jesus: the true story," (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2002)

"Jesus and Paul: Parallel Lives," (Liturgical Press, 2007)

Preaching the New Testament, is gracefully written collection of 17 essays by preachers who are also evangelical New Testament scholars. Edited by David Wenham and Ian Paul, the book does not just merely focus on 'persuasive communication, instead it concentrates on offering insights on how interpret, personalize and communicate the New Testament. In theological speak, it focuses on the hermeneutical and exegetical foundations of homiletics rather than the mere mechanics of homiletics.
The first 11 essays in the book are arranged in a canonical New testament order, with a special focus on the Gospels in (chapter one), infancy narratives (chapter two), Jesus miracles and parables (chapter 3 and 4), the sermon on the mount (chapter 5), Acts (chapter six), Paul's letters (chapter seven), the pastoral epistles (chapter eight), the book of Hebrews (chapter nine), General epistles (chapter ten), the book of revelation (chapter eleven). The rest of the seventeen essays…...

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Bibliography

Paul, Ian, and David Wenham. Preaching the New Testament. 2013. .

O'Reilly, Matt. "Orthodoxy for Everyone: Review: Preaching the New Testament (@ivpacademic)." Orthodoxy for Everyone: Review: Preaching the New Testament (@ivpacademic). Accessed July 22, 2015.  http://www.mattoreilly.net/2013/06/review-preaching-new-testament.html .

Introduction The God of the Old Testament has been viewed by scholars as something different from that of the New Testament. This mischaracterization is often produced by placing emphasis in the Old Testament on the God’s insistence that infidels be dealt with in a bloody manner (Deuteronomy 9:4-5), whereas God in the New Testament appears to preach mercy and charity and turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-40). Yet what the scholars fail to appreciate is that God in the New Testament is just as insistent on due respect being shown to God: after all it is Christ who literally whips the money changers out of the Temple because they are disrespecting the sanctity of the place (John 2:15). It is therefore inaccurate to suppose that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is just as merciful and…...

Many people are familiar with the word “canon” as it is used when discussing fictional works.  It refers to those books or other works that are an official part of the created world, as opposed to those created by others, like fan fiction.  It also distinguishes the written word from speculation or theories built on that word, but not directly supported by it.  Canon has a similar meaning in Biblical studies of the New Testament.  It refers specifically to those books believed to have been divinely inspired and incorporated into the New Testament.  This makes Christianity somewhat different from many....

I. Introduction
- Introduce the topic of Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophecies

II. Background on Old Testament prophecies
- Explain some key prophecies in the Old Testament that point to the coming of a Messiah
- Discuss how these prophecies were written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth

III. Jesus fulfilling the prophecies
- Explain how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of being born of a virgin, from the line of David, and in Bethlehem
- Discuss how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of being a suffering servant and a conquering King

IV. New Testament references
- Provide examples from the New....

Apocrypha: Unveiling the Controversial and Enigmatic Texts

The term "apocrypha" originates from the Greek word "apokryphos," meaning "hidden" or "not publicly known." It refers to a collection of biblical texts that are not included in the Hebrew Bible or Christian canon, but are considered non-canonical by some religious traditions. The apocryphal texts have been the subject of theological debate and controversy throughout history, as their authenticity and divine inspiration have been questioned.

Historical Context and Origin

The apocryphal texts emerged during the intertestamental period, between the composition of the Old and New Testaments. During this time, Jewish literature flourished, producing a wide range....

1. The biblical teaching that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus challenges traditional gender roles by promoting equality among all individuals, regardless of their gender (Galatians 328).

2. The story of Deborah in the book of Judges challenges traditional gender roles by showcasing a woman in a position of leadership, as she served as a prophetess and judge in ancient Israel, leading the people to victory against their enemies (Judges 4-5).

3. The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament emphasize the value of every individual,....