By applying a linguistic stylistic analysis, this study argues that Luke's construal of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 and its related passages attempt to subvert a tradition within Second Temple Jewish literature that threatened the unity of multi-ethnic churches.
Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James
A study of Paul's theology in the Bible, focusing on his view of the old covenant God made with Israel and the new covenant Jesus announced at the Last Supper.
Now you can have the best Sperry Symposium articles about the New Testament gathered in one outstanding volume! Containing many of the most instructive and inspirational commentaries ever written on the subject, this book features such authors as President James E. Faust, Elders Jay E. Jensen, L. Aldin Porter, Gerald N. Lund, and many others. The fourth and final volume in the Sperry Symposium Classics series, this collection is sure to serve as a precious resource as we focus on the New Testament in the coming year. Topics include Christs ministry, atonement, and resurrection as well as chapters on the apostles writings and on vital doctrines taught in this standard work.Additional contributors include Elder John K. Carmack, Dennis Largey, Andrew Skinner, Robert Matthews, Richard Anderson, Wilfred Griggs, Richard Holzapfel, Monte Nyman, Catherine Thomas, Robert Millet, Matthew Richardson, Richard Draper, Gaye Strathearn, Kent Brown, and others.
The Council of Jerusalem, which committed Christianity to offering to gospel to all of humanity, was the most important moment in the history of the Church. Michael Knowles argues that the Church needs to rediscover the Council and its message for the sake of its own credibility today.
The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.
Calvin stresses the great themes of Galatians - human sin and depravity; law and grace; the love that took Christ Jesus to the cross; forgiveness of sin; justification by faith alone; and the resultant life of holiness.
The experiences of the early church have much to say about issues that concern Christians today. What can Acts tell us about tongues and other manifestations of the Spirit? How should the church reach out into the world with the message of salvation? This revised BST volume from John Stott opens to us the early days of the church as recorded by Luke in the book of Acts.