Jesus and the Church: The Foundation of the Church in the New Testament and Modern Theology Paul Avis T&T Clark, London, 2020, Theological Foundations of the Christian Church 1, xiv + 235 pp, (paperback £28.99) ISBN: 978-0-5676-9749-3

Inclusivism and exclusivism: A study of two trendsThe identity of the church can be either inclusivist or exclusivist. Van Ruler’s theocratic theology views the church as being an inclusive community in service of God’s kingdom. It is the vehicle God uses to introduce his kingdom into the world. According to Van Ruler, however, the church also shows a unique character based on its relationship with Jesus Christ. Although the church can take many forms, Van Ruler’s opinion is that the Christian Church could be advised by Old Testament Israel in this regard. This study shows that both inclusivist and exclusivist trends are present in the Old as well as the New Testament. The New Testament inherited the debate between these two opposing stances from the time of the Second Temple. Returning from exile, Sadocitic priests propagated an exclusivist identity for the Judaeans. Their viewpoint was based on the programme of Ezekiel 40–48, as is illustrated in the literature of Ezra–Nehemiah, the Priestly Writing, Chronicles and Jubilees. On the other hand, indeed there was an inclusivist approach as well, as is depicted in the books of Jonah, Ruth, Trito-Isaiah and even Numbers and Joshua. The conclusion drawn from the study is that both exclusivist and inclusivist trends are present in the Bible. Although the church does not have any other option in the present postmodern world but to be primarily an inclusive community, it should also show some form of exclusivism.

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The Relevance of the Old Testament for the Doctrine of the Church

Scottish Journal of Theology ◽

10.1017/s0036930600006591 ◽

1952 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 14-23

Author(s):

Robert Smith

Keyword(s):

New Testament ◽

Old Testament ◽

Church Of Christ ◽

Christian Church ◽

Christian Doctrine ◽

The New Testament ◽

History Of ◽

Doctrine Of The Church ◽

The Church ◽

Suffering Servant

In recent discussions the doctrine of the Church has been approached from an unusual angle, by way of certain conceptions found in the Old Testament, such as the Covenant, the Remnant, and the Suffering Servant. In this article I propose to examine the validity and significance of this approach.Is it legitimate to use the Old Testament in this way as a source of Christian doctrine? If so we must be quite clear what we are doing and why we are doing it. The importance of these ideas in the history of Israel is generally agreed. Their influence on the New Testament is obvious. But can we make them into normative and formative principles in the life of the Church for all time? In so doing we are not merely borrowing certain moral and religious ideas from the legacy of Israel and adding them to the store of Christian truth. That is a common practice which needs no special justification, because it does not affect the basis of Christian doctrine. Any theological jackdaw can collect whatever suits him from the prophetic writings and use it in building a Christian nest. But we are going to the Old Testament for the foundation plan of the Christian Church. We are applying the promises and attributes which belong by historic right to the sons of Abraham to the mission and destiny of the Church of Christ. There is a big assumption here which is too often taken for granted.

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Healing In The New Testament: Its Continuing Validity In The Church Today

10.2986/tren.048-0097 ◽

1992 ◽

Author(s):

G. Allan Love

Keyword(s):

New Testament ◽

The New Testament ◽

The Church

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Eating with penitence: An essay on the local church eating responsibly

Review & Expositor ◽

10.1177/0034637320969211 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 117 (4) ◽

pp. 453-463

Author(s):

David W. Priddy

Keyword(s):

New Testament ◽

Holy Spirit ◽

Local Church ◽

Industrial Agriculture ◽

Specific Program ◽

The New Testament ◽

The Holy Spirit ◽

Local Congregations ◽

Ecological Concern ◽

The Church

In this essay, I pose the question, “How might local congregations participate in food reform and agricultural renewal?” Given the problems of industrial agriculture and the wider ecological concern, this question is pressing. Instead of advocating a specific program, I focus on how the Church might address this question while keeping its commitment to being a repentant Church. First, I discuss the significance of attention and particularly the habit of attending to the Word and Sacrament. This posture, I argue, maintains the Church’s integrity, preventing it from merely branding itself or relying on its own resources. Second, I briefly explore the association of eating with the mission of the Church in the New Testament, highlighting the repeated theme of judgment and call to humility in the context of eating. Third, I draw out the importance of continual remorse over sin. This attitude is essential to the Church’s vocation and rightly appears in many historic liturgies. I argue that this posture should extend to the question of eating responsibly. Penitence demonstrates the Church’s relationship to the wider world and testifies to the source of the Church’s own life, the Holy Spirit, who does the work of renewal.

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Indicators of the church in John’s metaphor of the vine

In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi ◽

10.4102/ids.v47i1.540 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 47 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Johann Fourie

Keyword(s):

New Testament ◽

Gospel Of John ◽

The New Testament ◽

Unity In Diversity ◽

The Church

This article aims to answer the question of what belongs to the essence of the church, as God intended it to be, by identifying certain indicators of the essence of the church through a study of one of the central metaphors of the New Testament: the vine in the Gospel of John. Through structural analyses, commentary and metaphorical analyses, several indicators of unity as part of the essence of the church emerge in this metaphor. These indicators are the primacy (or authority) of Christ, trinitarian balance, equality, interdependence, inclusivity, growth and unity (in diversity).Hierdie artikel poog om die volgende vraag te beantwoord: Wat behoort tot die essensie van kerkwees soos God dit bedoel het? Dit word gedoen deur sekere aanwysers van die essensie van kerkwees te identifiseer vanuit ’n studie van een van die essensiële metafore vir kerkwees in die Nuwe Testament, naamlik die Wynstok in die Evangelie van Johannes. Deur middel van struktuuranalise, kommentaar en metaforiese analise kom verskeie eenheidsaanwysers as deel van die essensie van kerkwees in hierdie metafoor na vore. Hierdie aanwysers is die hoër gesag (of outoriteit) van Christus, die balans van die Drie-eenheid, gelykheid, interafhanklikheid, inklusiwiteit, groei en eenheid (in diversiteit).

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Charismata: Gifts, Enablements, or Ministries?

Journal of Pentecostal Theology ◽

10.1177/096673690201100104 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 53-69

Author(s):

Benny Aker

Keyword(s):

New Testament ◽

Spiritual Gifts ◽

Biblical Theology ◽

Church Culture ◽

The New Testament ◽

The One ◽

The Church

AbstractIn the midst of a growing awareness of spiritual gifts in contemporary church culture and in the academy, much confusion exists. The use of the term 'charismata' promotes this confusion and is not an appropriate label for the biblical evidence of such activity. The problem lies in a deficient linguistic and exegetical handling of this term—a problem identified by James Barr long ago and brought to the fore by Kenneth Berding. Proper exegesis overcomes this prevalent exegetical and linguistic fallacy and suggests another term, diakonia. However, a more foundational conception of both the church and ministry is lacking. By analyzing Pauline anthropol ogy in Romans, an enduring and foundational model for gifts and ministries emerges. This model is the Pauline conception of the church as God's tem ple. People who are delivered from sin's power through identifying with Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection and who have the Spirit are free to give themselves both as sacrifice and temple servants in spiritual ministries. One other caution is raised and discussed. One must avoid the charge in practice and theology of Spirit-monism. Basic structures of the New Testament always place Jesus as the One through whom the Spirit comes. Conse quently, all Spirit activity must in some way be christological and sote riological in nature. Some contemporary applications are derived from this biblical theology of Church and ministry.

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Ecclesia as Gathering Only? Evaluating the use of Scripture in Proposals of the “Knox-Robinson Ecclesiology”

Anglican Theological Review ◽

10.1177/000332862010200104 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 102 (1) ◽

pp. 49-69

Author(s):

C. Ryan Fields

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

New Testament ◽

The New Testament ◽

The Church

Broughton Knox and Donald Robinson, Sydney Anglicans serving and writing in the second half of the twentieth century, offered various theological proposals regarding the nature of the church that stressed the priority of the local over the translocal. The interdependence and resonance of their proposals led to an association of their work under the summary banner of the “Knox-Robinson Ecclesiology.” Their dovetailed contribution offers in many ways a compelling understanding of the nature of the ecclesia spoken of in Scripture. In this paper I introduce, summarize, and evaluate the Knox-Robinson ecclesiology with a particular eye to Knox's and Robinson's use of Scripture in authorizing their theological proposals. I argue that while they provide an important corrective to the inflation of the earthly translocal dimension of the church, they are not ultimately persuasive in their claim that the New Testament knows only the church as an earthly/heavenly gathering.

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Jewish fish (ΙΧΘΥΣ) in post-supersessionist water: Messianic Judaism within a post-supersessionistic paradigm

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v72i4.3331 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 72 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Joel Willitts

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Identity ◽

New Testament ◽

The Body ◽

The Other ◽

Messianic Judaism ◽

The New Testament ◽

The One ◽

The Church

This article defines, explains and argues for the necessity of a post-supersessionistic hermeneutical posture towards the New Testament. The post-supersessionistic reading of the New Testament takes the Jewish nature of the apostolic documents seriously, and has as its goal the correction of the sin of supersessionism. While supersessionism theologically is repudiated in most corners of the contemporary church through official church documents, the practise of reading the New Testament continues to exhibit supersessionistic tendencies and outcomes. The consequence of this predominant reading of the New Testament is the continued exclusion of Jewish ethnic identity in the church. In light of the growing recognition of multiculturalism and contextualisation on the one hand, and the recent presence of a movement within the body of Messiah of Jewish believers in Jesus on the other, the church’s established approach to reading Scripture that leads to the elimination of ethnic identity must be repudiated alongside its post-supersessionist doctrinal statements. This article defines terms, explains consequences and argues for a renewed perspective on the New Testament as an ethnic document; such a perspective will promote the church’s cultivation of real embodied ethnic particularity rather than either a pseudo-interculturalism or the eraser full ethnicity.

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