Chapter 23

In doing this New Testament course I have come to a new appreciation in what it really means to be a Christian and read the Bible. It is not some flimsy book that makes you feel good. Instead it is both DENSE and DYNAMIC filled with controversy, deep deep history, heated discussions, cultural tension, and supernatural events. And, on a different note is fundamentally based on a different religion: Judaism- wild eh? That being said it is interesting to ponder: what is Christianity?
I think Christianity on a theological level is simply: lifestyle and mindset based on Jesus Christ, the one whom fulfilled the JEWISH prophesy for Gods salvation. How cool is that eh. We are a springboard of Judaism. Maybe it’s just me, but I never fully comprehended what that meant before. I appreciate that Drane notes that at the beginning of this chapter.
I find it quite intriguing looking at how Judaism always sought to apply God or his Law into every aspect of their lives. I have observed that within modern Christian culture, we tend to separate secular from sacred. The book of James clearly a call away from this by using several examples: taking care of less fortunate, controlling speech, fair business dealings. It is super interesting that these examples and teachings are so action-based that some are sceptical as to if they are even Christian. And there is further skeptism on authorship and time and place and purpose etc....before I took for granted that my little study bible just says that James, Jesus brother wrote this book. If indeed a Christian wrote this I think his motives were good based on emphasizing the application of faith.
Again, Drane touches on the sensitive time period during the establishment of the Christian church. What tension! I can totally understand why Jewish Christians would want to continue to worship in the temple. They were still Jews- but they were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah. Of course they would want to go and worship God as well as tell others about Jesus. But what a pickle the church was in when Gentiles kept being added to the mix- they just wanted Jesus, they didn’t need this entire Jewish hullabaloo. And how about those sacrifices and unneeded rituals? The Jewish Christians would have probably gotten tired of this as Jesus was the final and complete bridge. A NEW covenant had been made and this was a time of tension between the Jews who understood that, the Jews who didn’t understand that, and the non-Jewish who accepted the covenant. The book of Hebrews was probably a direct letter toward these issues. The author calls all Christians to make Christ’ new covenant the center of their faith- with the realization that it may get uncomfortable!
1 Peter takes a clear stance on the Christian community including all people choosing Christ- Jew or Gentile (Christian status) and that they should work and grow in a community like mindset (Christian development). He addresses Christian behaviour and how they are to be distinct and set apart from all worldly actions, finishing with addressing the need for a Servants heart in all work and ministry.
I would agree with Drane when he says that Revelation is the least studied and understood book of the NT- I definitely am a culprit to that claim and therefore appreciated Drane’s Revelation summaries, “It presents a distinctive and positive Christian explanation of the presence of evil in the affairs of human life... The main point of the book is not to be found in God’s judgement upon evil, but in the conviction that God is now in the process of making a new world from which evil will be completely banished”. I think it would be good to do a solid manuscript study on Revelation to gain more understanding and insight into this book. Caution should be given when interpreting though! This book was written as a vision from God with direct purpose for the 7 churches of Asia. If we put God in his rightful place, he is far more creative, exciting, and immeasurable than we can comprehend. So grasping how he is going to bring ultimate peace and justice on Earth may be a sticky one (but we should still try anyways and seek to be informed!).

Chapter 22

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the beginning of the church. But this church was not the formal organization, structure or hierarchy that we see today. Instead it was a body of believers working together as one organism- Christ’ body directed by the Holy Spirit.
Drane points out that the idea of a priests or minister would have been unknown to the apostles. However, I don’t think it is too far of a stretch to think that the apostles may have appointed specific people, whom were sensitive and open to the Holy Spirit to serve the community in certain ways. I think this makes quite logical sense. In the most charismatic Christian groups today I imagine there would still be individuals in the group that are gifted in vision and organization. And it would be most beneficial for the community to have these individuals use their gifts in some sort of leadership way.
However, we have seen that humans being humans have taken these leadership positions and ran with them (sometimes in ways that don’t coincide with God’s ways). This results in people not only feeling privileged but also above the rest of the community. A cascade of organization and institutions supposedly follow thereafter. Drane notes one individual who would have supported such movements: Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch as we have letters written by him advising for church structure and bishop respect. By the middle of the second century church there was less emphasis on the Spirit’s power and more emphasis on doctrines and dogmas.
As the group of Jesus followers grew and as time went on I imagine that there was a realization that worshiping in the Jewish temple wouldn’t work forever and that they should develop their own way to worship and meet together. This may have resulted in more structure and form.
I found Drane’s analysis on the new church’s “Frustrated hope” very interesting. It would seem logical knowing what Jesus told his disciples, that people could be led to thinking that he will ‘return’ quite soon. This is particularly interesting because I know people today whom are convinced that we are approaching the end times and we will see Jesus return in the next 50 years or so. I think this is poppy-cock. Who are we to say or know or understand when God will send Jesus back down to Earth- even Jesus doesn’t know that! I know that there are signs that we can get from Revelation to estimate when this will happen but even then we are still relying on our interpretations...And people have been thinking for 2000 years that he will return! I say we should seek to live everyday like a day that Christ could return: livin’ a life to please God and to share his love with others.

Chapter 21

1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, thought it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks or free- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Please note that it is labeled in a Hawaiian dialect... making it ultra cool.
When we think about the context of ‘church’ and of Christianity during ~100 A.D. we see a much different picture than what we have now. Following Jesus with freedom was a new faith at that time because that was when Christianity was ‘invented’. But I find it interesting that the same lifestyle to follow Jesus is not as attractive or unique to our society as it is described in 100 A.D. Perhaps it is due to our North American culture- that a large majority of the population would associate themselves with a church or with Christianity. The line between alternative lifestyle and normal lifestyle has become blurry. I think this is because faith in Jesus is often presented in a washed up way- where people can pick apart the Bible and incorporate only what they ‘feel’ they want to do. This is not living in freedom with Jesus. It may be ‘individual freedom’ as you feel free to do what you want when you want it. But I think the freedom that Jesus longs for us to have in him is the freedom from bondage of sin and thereby giving us the freedom to have communion with God.
On the topic of freedom in the New Testament s it is important to also discuss freedom in the context of Paul’s letter. Perhaps when Paul discusses freedom he is more emphasizing social freedom and an abolishment of racial prejudice rather than specifically looking at bondage of sin. Drane discusses this point using examples from Galatians and Corinthians.
The definition that the Apostles intended for the word ‘church’ to have was probably something like ‘body of Jesus followers’ (maybe someone could help me with the Greek) but our modern noun for church is radically as we usually think of a building. Drane contrasts the different aspects of the ‘body of believers’ from early AD to current 2010. Sitting in pews and listening to one person talk at the front is starkly contrasted with Paul’s call in Corinthians to recognize that ‘All members are indispensible’. If a group of people meets specifically on Sunday to worship God then that is cool but my hope and prayer for that church would be that the COMMUNITY of those people would be established and rooted throughout the week with things like: small group bible studies, prayer meetings, sharing hardships, sharing praise items, eating together, sharing food/clothes/kitchen stuff/money etc... This is what I experienced in my home church in Alberta but upon coming to Wolfville my ‘church’ or rather ‘the body of believers which I belong to’ has been found in the ministry of Inter-Varsity on the Acadia campus. It has been really cool to see the community respond collectively to God. We all still have an individual relationship with God and he is still continually teaching each one different things. But there is also a ‘shared teaching’. When God seeks to stimulate our entire community toward a new idea, most of us start feeling it and we respond to the Spirit accordingly. Cool!
Another interesting point made by Drane, is that Paul clearly outlined God’s authority in the church. He gave salvation, he gave the Spirit, and he established his people ‘church’ and therefore it is obvious that it belongs to him. This ownership then has application: God should guide and determine each move and step of the church through his Holy Spirit. The rigid hierarchy seen in most churches today is quite different than the original model. I don’t want to bash the church organization or those involved. But we can evaluate scripture for what it is, look at the human history of the ‘church’ and it is easy to conclude that we have probably made a few mistakes. This is another example of why we as human beings desperately need Jesus to not only help us but to guide us and be the lamp unto our feet.

Chapter 20

Thinking about the actual books that comprise the Bible tends to boggle my mind. As sometimes I tend to think that these books were written specifically for my faith and my everyday life. This has probably arisen as I have USED the Bible to solidify my faith and for God to challenge, encourage and convict me. However, those words that I take personally and apply to my life they essentially are the words of the Jewish Torah, the Gospel accounts, and Paul’s letters. A great deal of these words was written to a specific group of people at a specific time regarding a specific event. These words can so easily be taken at face value and inserted into different parts of our lives. I am not arguing against applying the Bible to our lives, but instead my point argues against ignorance of the context of the word. Drane makes it very clear that Paul’s letters were in no way intended to outline Christian theology. We however, should look at the way God was working through Paul and the people around him to draw insight and wisdom.
It is really quite amazing to think of Paul’s thought process when he fully understood that Jesus was the Messiah to his Jewish faith. The amount of thought restructuring that would have needed to occur before he began his ministry must have been extensive (probably why he took that 3 year gap time). The Old Testament needed to be investigated from a different perspective. The validity of the Torah was still very important to him as it was still God’s word. Perhaps the Law was now different because of what Jesus did. Paul knew and understood that following the Law and being of Jewish descent didn’t bring full satisfaction of spirit or provide intimate communication with God. A relationship with Jesus however, did do all these things so Paul probably just acted out of faith that he didn’t need to follow the Law in the same way as when he was a Pharisee. And so began his understanding of what it meant to be a Christian...

Some thoughts and observations on Paul’s point made in his letters regarding the Christian faith:
Don’t need to have mystery and irrationality to have a faith. Faith comes from a personal and proclaimed commitment to accept God’s generous and undeserved gift of love. This can be based on the factual knowledge that Jesus lived as a human, died and rose again to cover humanity’s sin.
Upon meeting the Christians in Damascus, Paul’s mind was ‘boggled’ even further by Christ’ love when he saw it displayed in Christian community. This powerful tool of community can break through hard hearts and resonate within the minds of sceptics. I have seen people pursue Jesus and the love they received from Christian community was what tipped the scale for them to eventually accept him as their Saviour.
Drane points out that the Jewish people would have found it hard to accept that Jesus was their Messiah as scriptures point out that a death done on the cross is one of shame and disrespect. Following the theology of Christianity, it would be valid that as Jesus was hanging on the cross, he was cursed. This is because he was cursed with all the sin of humanity upon him. Understanding this, it is clear that Jesus the scripture is valid.
Paul based his theology on making Christ the center of life and faith- this is clear from his letters when people begin to go ‘off track’ his main instructions are to become more firm in Jesus. He consistently points toward Christ’s power and significance in human life.
Paul realized the spiritual implications of becoming a Christian- meaning that it will be a life full of Christ’ love but with that comes a battle for Christ fighting within a fallen world.
It is interesting when we think about our morals and ideals and as Christians sometimes presume that everyone else is completely immoral and has no concept of God’s will. All Christians at some point essentially weren’t Christians. We all had to make a decision at some point. Therefore it is logical to recognize that before that choice was made we weren’t completely oblivious to human moral or God’s will. Drane points out that this is because we were all born in ‘God’s image’ and therefore have the ability to comprehend his vision.