This essay seeks to draw out a comparison between the Kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus Christ in his Earthly ministry, and the church. As we go on, we will try to piece together an understanding of these terms in order to bring to light some clarity as to any relationship existing.
The life of Jesus seems to be focused on this kingdom (Mt 4:17), yet Matthew does not define what he means by this. It is possible that Matthew does not feel he needs to define the kingdom as it was evident to the emerging Jewish-Christian community as they could relate to the signs of power (healing, exorcisms, etc.) in the context of their community life. One
20th Century textbook on systematic theology conflates the church and the kingdom like this: Christ
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2 See Heidelburg Catechism question 31, Westminister Catechism Question 23-26, Catechism of the Catholic
Church 436. A common, inter-denominational means to explain the life and work of Jesus Christ. royal mission' (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1268). Similarly, Moltmann talks of 'the sovereignty of all believers' (Moltmann 1993, 106). This distinction has implications on the role the church ought to be playing. As a kingdom, it must defend itself within. As king, it has a duty to others who make up its kingdom. Hence, the church's purpose is to serve and defend those outside of itself; it is to evangelisation or mission.
The idea of the church's identity being mission could likewise be extrapolated from the fact that Luke's Gospel doesn't use the word 'church', yet Luke in the Acts of the Apostles
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The Church, then, is built on the faith of the resurrection, the commission of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit. To account for Jesus' giving of the keys to Peter in Matthew 16, it has been pointed out that Peter will be/was the first witness to the resurrection, and thus the church is built on that profession of faith (Boff 1986, 53). To be built on a profession of faith implies telling others of the resurrection - which is what the church undertakes as mission. Bonhoeffer suggests the degree of manifestation of the kingdom is proportioned to how exclusively the faith is professed. He says, 'the more exclusively we acknowledge and confess Christ as our Lord, the more fully the wide range of his dominion will be disclosed to us' (Moltmann 1993, 133). The coming of the Holy Spirit transformed the disciples into missionaries (Gooder 2009, 9). Working under the power of the Holy Spirit serves to connect the apostolic teaching to the Christ-figure, and (as it did with Jesus) functions as the same eschatological sign of a future fulfilment of the kingdom to come. This raises some crucial questions, which are beyond the scope of this essay: does the church work under the power of the Holy Spirit and does it proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ
In Matthew, Jesus performs miracles, shares parables, and teaches the way of God. The theme of Matthew 's Gospel gives evidence to Jesus as the Messiah, the son of Abraham, the one chosen by God to deliver the people from their sins (Matthew 1:1). Which places special emphasis on Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecies – the prophecy of “the Son of David’ (Matthew 12:23).
Date and place of the Gospel is uncertain. However, there are strong reasons to assume that Matthew wrote, before year of 70 when in Palestine or Antiokia in Syria. Some Bible...
From the Catholic observation point, the Church presents two parts: One representing its divine nature as the untarnished body of Christ, and one direc...
The Gospel of Matthew is an eyewitness story written for an audience of believers, under great stress, and persecution. Matthew develops a theological plot incorporating genealogy, speeches, parables, inter and intra textual references, common vocabulary, and fulfillment quotations, with a tension that builds as we are invited into the story. The crucifixion and resurrection bring us to a Christological climax that symbolically points beyond its conclusion to God’s Kingdom, bringing atonement, salvation and the ushering in the Eschaton. The extraordinary events surrounding the crucifixion act as commentary, adding important details concerning the death of Jesus.1
"EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 & 2." EXPLORING THEOLOGY 1 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
...pected to see Christ in all of His unveiled glory at His first advent. The Holy Spirit is given and the Twelve are commissioned to oversee the message of Christ and His gospel forward from the seat of Old Testament promise (Jerusalem) to the hub of Church Age influence (Rome). In the process, the theology of the Church is solidified, the Gentiles are invited to participate in the mercies of God and the doctrine of Christ goes forth to “turn the world upside down.” Today, the Church looks back at this Commission and sees the legacy of the apostles’ success and the importance of holding firmly to fundamental doctrines of Scripture. Perhaps now more than ever, the need of the Church is to cling to the absolute authority and power of the Holy Spirit, the priority of being witnesses for Christ, and the promise of kingdom fulfillment at the pleasure of the Father.
Benchmark Assignment: Gospel Essentials There are several aspects to consider when exploring the Christian worldview. There are many facets and denominations and they each have their own distinct beliefs and practices, but they all share the same fundamental beliefs. In this paper we will explore the character of God, His creation, humanity and its nature, Jesus’ significance to the world, and the restoration of humanity, as well as my beliefs and the way that I interact with Christianity and my personal worldview. God In the Christian worldview, God is the one and only God. He is the sovereign creator of everything.
When the Christian church was first founded many question arose from its formation. What was this new organization and what was to become of it? There are many interpretation of what the church should be. They range from small community church lead by a reverend to a worldwide church lead by a pope. I will argue the latter. That the original meaning from the bible was to a have a single unified church under the primacy of the bishop of rome. This can be supported in three areas the historical, biblical, and theological reasoning.
Biblical witness centers on the Spirits activity of “binding believers to Christ, incorporation them into the church as the body of Christ and equipping the church for mission.” Despite the best effort of the Church to be the hands and feet of Christ it is reassuring to know that the Spirit is still present and working in the hearts of people outside of the church’s work. Without the work of the Spirit in the hearts of believers and throughout the word, humanity would not know the love of God. The Holy Spirit gives liberates and brings new life it unites, encourages and brings hope to a world pledged by darkness.
To start the book, the author, Hall, discusses the main church subjects he is going to talk about. He mainly talks about the key focuses of the Church Fathers. This includes the question of the incarnation, the Trinity, and the question of humanity and the church. He relates and outlines these by relating them to the issues that arose with in the early church and how they came to solve them.
God’s goodness and mercy far transcends the comprehension of the most brilliant human mind! He “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”(Psalm 113:6).Yet in His infinite love for us He stoops down to reveal Himself to us by a multitude of illustration, types, and shadows, so that we may learn to know him. This paper will describe what is meant by the Kingdom of God; examine the religious philosophy of the various sects of Judaism during the Second Temple period: Pharisee, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, describe the religious philosophy and political philosophy of each sects, it will also describe how the Messianic expectation differ from the Messianic role that Jesus presented, and include an exegesis of the temptation of Jesus and how other sects defined the Messiah.
Those who were followers of Christ began to raise the question about the person and work of Christ. Understanding this epoch of time opens the door for believers to comprehend the religious system and our roles as modern Christians in today’s society. When we as Christians can see how our historical roots connect to our personal beliefs. We strengthen our theological foundation and we develop into a persuasive witness in own
PREFACE I) We unequivocally acknowledge the Christian Bible as the very inspired-written Word of the living God, given to mankind and comprehending the Godly priority and importance of knowing and obeying it's truths; We are, therefore, passionately committed to teaching Scripture in truth with clarity, and do diligence under the anointing and the illumination of the Holy Spirit with the divine authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. II) Henceforth, we know and are fully convinced that our Divine-calling mission and central goal in relation to the body of Christ and to all who have ears to hear is the continuous in-parting of biblical truth. When the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, is preached in expository fashion and systematically inparted, in season and out of season with constancy and doctrinal soundness, the children of God become equipped with the truth, becoming mature saints, who not deceived and tossed to and fro by
Words are authenticated by incarnational living of the gospel in the everyday lives of followers of Christ. The problem is that, for many, one aspect of witnessing is more important than the other, producing a pale image of the gospel lived out. Situation and context frames the witness response but gospel-valued living, compassionate ministry, and proclamation dialogue form an integral whole. For decades, this theme has been the motivating force for the missionary movement and what many mean by “doing mission”. In Mark 1:14-15 Jesus proclaimed the good news of God, saying the kingdom of God has come near, even though it was not fully manifested.
In the second chapter of his work titled An Introduction to Ecclesiology, theologian Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen discusses the idea of “The Church as the People of God”, a Roman Catholic ecclesiology. Kärkkäinen writes about the contention between a Christ-centered and a Spirit-centered ecclesiology that was present in early and later ecclesiologies of the Roman Catholic Church. He goes on to mention a problematic reason for a Spirit-centered ecclesiology when he identifies that, “In the New Testament, the church is never called the ‘body of the Spirit,’ but rather the body of Christ.” If we understand “the body of Christ” to be the group of people who believe in the salvation through Christ, then this would support my understanding of what the church is. The potential trouble with this goes to context and content. How one interp...