The diaconate as discussed in Acts 6 can be a rather excited and theological debate. Even though it is noted and observed many times the word “deacon” is not actually written, how a relation between the two can exist can be brought into question. Luke wrote this periscope to explain some administrative changes that the growth of the church made necessary. He also wanted to introduce the Hellenistic Jews, who took the lead in evangelizing the Gentiles. We see one of Satan's favorite methods of assailing the church that he has employed throughout history: internal dissension (vv. 1-7). The question to be answered is whether the Seven were deacons, were the forerunners of the office of deacon, or just a committee organized to deal with a pressing …show more content…
The Hellenistic structure is not compatible with the early church structure for one main reason, their appointments are to individuals not necessarily positions. The Hellenistic, or Greek, structure allows for more of a dictator style structure seen more within the Catholic Church, centuries later, rather than the early church. The uniqueness of the early church elders against its Hellenistic or Jewish models are consistent with the church’s uniqueness representing the body of Christ. The early church has a simple two-level organizational structure of a plurality of elders and a plurality of deacons (Phil 1: 1). This gave a balanced responsibility to all church elders regardless of religious …show more content…
Diakonia defined as "serving" or "distribution" appears in verses 1 and 4, and diakonein ("serve" or "wait on") occurs in verse 2. It is more likely these seven men represented a stage in the development of what would later became the diaconate. These seven probably served as a model for this office; office typically follows function. Although the term originates from Greek roots, the historical origin of deacons lies in Jewish social life.
H. M. Gwatkin writes “The traditional view, that the choice of the Seven in Acts 6 is the formal institution of a permanent order of deacons, does not seem unassailable… the vague word is more than balanced by the avoidance of the word deacon in Acts.”
Christ called the twelve apostles for a specific calling and left no doubt to what their responsibility entailed. This responsibility encompassed the Great Commission and allowed the apostles not only to preach the gospel but to perform miracles in Christ name. More than anything else they are there for preaching the Word of God and the multiplication of the church. Their continuing to take care of the distribution would now occupy much of their time, burdened now with the task of sorting out all its problems. Caring for the needy was part of being an Israelite, one who belongs to such a Lord who “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing”
Chanter. Why was there a deaconate order? In Acts 6:1, St Luke writes that the Hellenists were
In the Bible’s New Testaments the book of Acts is of Narrative genre and is also called the Acts of the Apostles. It is written by Luke who happens to be the author of Gospel of Luke. This book tells a story of first Christians. After the death of Jesus (as mention in “Matthew”) as he went to heaven the Christians waited in Jerusalem. After Holy Spirits were sent by God, the first Christians were given the power by them. And they end up telling the people about Jesus. It was the Christians who explained t...
The book of Acts is known as 'the birth of the church'. Acts recounts the story of
The Book of Acts, or sometimes known as The Acts of the Apostles was written between 62 and 70 A.D. To better understand the meaning behind Acts, one should look at the history and what lead to the writing of this book. It was written as a second half of a two part series, with Luke being the first half. Without mentioning himself in either of his writing, it is believed that Luke, a traveling companion of Paul, as mentioned in Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11, and Philemon verse 24 was the author of both Luke and Acts. We are told that Luke wrote or dedicated both works to Theophilus (meaning a friend of God). Back in the Gospel of Luke chapter 1, Theophilus is also referred to as “most excellent”, which in Greek is Kratistos, to show an expression of honor. The Roman Empire social ladder was divided into four groups; 1) Phelps (common people), 2) Knights (people of affluence, dignity, high social standing) and 3) Senators (highest accolades of government). “Kratistos is the epithet used for Felix, The Roman governor of Judea, found later to describe Theophilus.” It is believed that Theophilus was a Christian convert, a master to a slave/Greek servant named Luke, who also happened to be a doctor. Luke was then made free or given manumission, so with gratitude of Theophilus, he wrote his gospel.
Chapter four addresses the divisions within the Corinthian church, such as jealousy, quarrelling and their defective view of the church. The apostle Paul links their view of the church to church leadership stating “If they had a true view of the church, they would have a true view of the leaders of the church” (p79). The situation was that their view was lower for the church and higher for the leaders thus they were boasting about the leaders. Paul’s view was that the Corinthian church was spoon feed Christians not maturing as they should. Paul’s reference to addressing the church as worldly did not mean they were unregenerate because they did possess the Spirit but they were not being spiritual, not being controlled by the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say “They have experienced new birth by the Spirit but have remained babies in Christ; they have not yet become mature in Christ” (p80) The Apostle most likely would express the same opinion about many Church congregations today. Many churches are elated with their church growth, but it is often superficial. If the church does not offer a real growth opportunity the journey is short lived. The church fills up with Christians not participating in the sanctification process. As with many churches today the Corinthians had a self-serving attitude about themselves and their church. The Corinthians would have never behaved the way they did if they had a higher view of the church and what it stood for and a lesser view of the leaders. Paul outlines three visions of the church “each of which has important implications” (p82). The first metaphor is agricultural: God’s field (v9) 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God...
Odysseus is an epic hero because he is like a “superhuman”, he is far superior to a regular man. He is very intelligent, strong, and clever. He is so much like a god that the gods have taken notice of Odysseus. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, all the gods favor Odysseus, but Poseidon. Poseidon dislikes Odysseus because he harmed his son cyclops. During Odysseus’ fight with the cyclops, Athena helped Odysseus by giving him, “The pike of olive, green though it had been reddened, and glowed as if about to catch… So with our brand we bored that great eye socket” (Homer The Odyssey 279-289). Athena’s is the goddess of wisdom, her symbol is an olive branch. Since she is smart, she knew Odysseus would need something to blind the Cyclops, but not kill him, since they needed him to move a big boulder out of the way to escape that only he can move. When Athena places the olive branch near Odysseus, he knew exactly what to do right away because he is very intelligent. He stabs the branch into the cyclops eye, and baits him to move the boulder out of the way. This displays Odysseus’
Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus portrays many different heroic traits, such as being a great warrior, and facing supernatural foes and receiving supernatural help. However, Odysseus also displays human characteristics, for instance when he weeps. Although Odysseus shows human qualities, his heroic traits outweigh his human ones.
John was born around the year 5A.D, and before his selection to be among the Disciples of Christ, he was a fisherman together with his brother James, who was advanced in age that John. The father to John and before being selected as Christ’s disciples, they had already been given the name “Sons of Thunder”. This according to Greek interpretations was from the name Βοανηργες , which represented commotion and great temperament.
In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul set out to address the issues of exclusivity and the divide among the converts of Corinth that has been caused because of spiritual gifts. Paul set a guideline to his converts in Corinth to create order and conduct during times of worship in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33. Doing so, Paul hoped that the divide that has been caused from those with special or “exclusive” spiritual gifts do not cause other believers to become jealous or envious. Paul’s guideline to the Corinthians showed the leadership that Paul had that allowed him to guide the Church to become Hellenistic in just one generation.
Phi Theta Kappa is an international honor society that provides grants to students aiming to receive Associate’s degree at either two-year colleges or four-year universities. Collaborating with Phi Theta Kappa honor society, Marymount California University offered me to consider joining this program in early December 2015 because I had a volunteering experience and met the cumulative grade point average of 3.3 in a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 60 college-level units. However, unfortunately, I was not eligible to apply for this program that far due to my inappropriate English language class standing. Nevertheless, since I still maintain the necessary requirements for joining Phi Theta Kappa honor society, Marymount California University informed me in November 2015 that I am eligible to apply for the program again next year.
The Book of Acts was written to provide a history of the early church. Acts emphasis the importance of the day of Pentecost and being empowered to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. Acts sheds light on the ministry gift of the Holy Spirit, which empowers, guides, teaches, and serves as our Counselor. When reading the Book of Acts many of the readers will be enlightened and encouraged by the many miracles that were being performed during this time by the disciples Peter, John, and Paul. The Book of Acts emphasizes the importance of obedience to God’s Word and the transformation that occurs as a result of knowing Christ. There are also many references to those that rejected the truth that the disciples preached about in Jesus Christ. Power, greed, and many other vices of the devil or evidenced in the book of Acts. Acts 1:8 serves as a good summary of the Book of Acts. Acts records the apostles being Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the rest of the surrounding world.
First major theme of the book of Acts is the work of the Holy Spirit in the apostles and the early church. Jesus appeared to his disciples and commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift, the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:3b-5) As they gathered together and prayed in one place, the Holy Spirit came to rest on each of them (2:1-3). The disciples who were filled with the Holy Spirit boldly proclaimed God’s word and performed miracles (2:14-42, 3:1-10). Throughout the book, the author focuses on how the Holy Spirt ministers the apostles and the believers in their lives and the community.
Part One Today, I had debate with Plato and Aristotle about what is real and true. This question has crossed my mind before but I have never reached a definitive conclusion. This topic can be explained using metaphysics and epistemology. Metaphysics studies what is real, while epistemology studies what is true.
However, it is to my understanding that this is a lesson regarding the leadership of the House of worship of Jesus Christ, mutually ancient and modern. In Acts, nevertheless, the command was to preach to scattered Israel in addition to reveal the gospel all over the Roman Empire and as far as they could. This commandment was not deprived of its troubles. Long, treacherous travels, oppressions, concerns of Church guidelines, assimilation of foreigners,
In the Acts 2 New Testament Church, leadership was defined in terms community without hierarchy and authority, in fact, leadership rested solely with the saints instead of a singular man (Bilezikian, 2007). Leadership was hesed to the New Testament saints and apostles by Christ who fulfilled the New Covenant on the cross, and shared in community through mutual accountability (CCBS, n.d.); hence, the function of leadership was to release the potential of the community in sharing the good news of the gospel with a broken world (Bilezikian, 2007). Following the advent of congregational churches, came authoritarian leaders who often disguised servant leadership with a lust for power and control over a community in stringent rules and dogma (Bilezikian, 2007). Thus, the end results of authoritarian leadership were the destruction of community leadership potential, and violation of the New Testament Church structure with hierarchy (Bilezikian,