Across the theological spectrum it is agreed that easy texts are to interpret the difficult texts. The challenge for the interpreter is to discern which passages are easy and which are difficult. Since the only other occurrence of “kingdom” in the book of Colossians occurs in the final greetings in chapter 4,1 the meaning of “kingdom” likely occurs in an easier text somewhere else. The Bible develops the idea of a literal kingdom, the “kingdom of God,” established on land from Genesis all the way through the New Testament, so one would anticipate that this is the same kingdom in Col 1:13. There is an alternative theory, however, that Paul here is speaking of a spiritual facet of the kingdom, rather than the Millennial Kingdom. This theory that there is a spiritual facet of the kingdom is not necessarily in conflict with postponement theology. Much of this dissertation has responded to external threats to dispensational theology, but since a Spiritual Facet of the kingdom can coincide with postponement theology, Col 1:13 will be treated with the spirit of unity as an in-house dispute. Some fine dispensational scholars, propose that this Spiritual Kingdom is God’s rule in the heart of the believer and that it is composed of all believers, and only believers, of all time.[Read More]
hermeneutics
Rabbinic insight on Matt 5:17ff
Here is an excerpt from some research on the Sermon on the Mount. Positive feedback may be submitted through email and negative feedback may be submitted by shouting at your nearest wall.
Just kidding. We would love to hear your negative feedback as well 🙂[Read More]
A Word Study on “Kingdom”
Kingdom Now theologians renegotiate Christ’s kingdom from the literal and global kingdom of the Old Testament promises to a new spiritualized kingdom which can exist spiritually in the hearts of believers or is able to spiritually outbreak without any physical territory. Theologians often support this move by subtly redefining “kingdom” to detach the Messianic Kingdom from its territorial promise. For example, George Eldon Ladd writes:[Read More]
Mormonproof your worldview like a Berean
In the not-too-distant past, I have had some theological exchanges with representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and the Church of the Almighty God. You are probably familiar with LDS; that’s the group that adheres to the Book of Mormon, which they believe contains information that’s additional to the Old and New Testament. The Church of the Almighty God, also known as the Eastern Lightning Movement, is a bit more obscure to Westerners. In 1989, a woman named Yang Xiangbin entered the House Church Movement scene in China and claimed to be Christ, the incarnate God. In the following years, she delivered some messages that the Church of the Almighty God accepts as authoritative. These “utterances” have been compiled into a book called The Word Appears in the Flesh.
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Cuneiform and Midrashic stuff related to Micah 5:2
Today we are going to take a look at some extrabiblical resources that you can use to impress your Sunday School the next time Micah 5:2 comes up in a conversation (Micah 5:2 appears as Micah 5:1 in the Hebrew Bible).[Read More]
Some concerns with Michael Heiser’s “The Unseen Realm”
Several months ago, a friend started reading Michael Heiser’s book, The Unseen Realm. It’s on the topic of angelology and she asked me if I had heard of the book or if I knew of any dangerous teachings therein. I had never heard of the book, nor the author, so I did a quick google search. I didn’t want my friend to get into some weird hyper-charismatic teaching on angels and demons, so when I saw that Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary endorsed the book, I assumed that it would be pretty safe.
Boy, was I wrong.
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