scholarly journals The ethical implications of 2 John 10�11

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Van der Watt

The imperative in 2 John 10�11 not to receive a visitor with a false doctrine into one�s house is one of the most controversial prohibitions in the New Testament, especially in light of the commandment of love, ancient hospitality conventions, and modern-day expectations of open discussion. This raises the question what this prohibition is specifically about and whether hospitality is really asked for. This question is considered in some detail in this article. A widely held view is that the prohibition in 2 John 10 is not in line with generally accepted Christian ethics, since it militates against the attitude of love, care, and hospitality. This view is dominant in commentaries. This article aims at countering this view by proposing that the issue is not hospitality but endangering the identity and tradition of the group. This should be regarded as a positive Christian value.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: I challenge theological readings of 2 John 10�11 that regard the text as unchristian in its exhortation. The results of the research show that hospitality is not the communicative centre of the text, but protection of the group, which was a common feature, not only in Christianity, but also in the ancient world in general. The future discourse should now move from focusing on moral issues related to hospitality to issues related to preserving tradition within a religion.

1962 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. P. Owen

The aim of this article is to examine the relation that the New Testament posits between ethics and eschatology. The first part will deal with the ethical implications of eschatology as a whole; the second part will be devoted to an examination of one topic only—the Second Coming (Parousia) of Christ; the third part will take the form of a few remarks on the applicability of Christian ethics to the life of the world.The basis of apostolic eschatology is stated in the earliest Christian ‘sermon’ for which we have evidence—Peter's speech on the day of Pentecost. The speech ends with the assertion that the promised Spirit has been given and that the ‘new age’ has dawned. This ‘realised’ eschatology of the Petrine kerygma has parallels in both the gospels and epistles.


1969 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willy Rordorf

Christian ethics is not a matter of fixed and unchangeable laws. If we are to study its history we must follow a story of development and trace the evidence of an evolution. This is not something that should shock us as though its development were something that puts in question its changeless value. On the contrary, its value is confirmed by its evolution, because Christian ethics is essentially dynamic. From this intrinsic dynamism we are constantly pushed forward. As Christians we live under one commandment, the commandment of love given by Jesus himself which is the centre of the dynamism. If Christian ethics becomes static, it contradicts its very nature. Far from being a tradition that is to be upheld from age to age, Christian ethics is the means of criticising the traditions of every age and a means of searching lines of development for the future.


2014 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-226
Author(s):  
Benjamin L. Merkle ◽  
W. Tyler Krug

The traditional premillennial view of Revelation has implications that are contradictory to the most straightforward interpretation of clearer passages in the New Testament. These implications include: (1) the present earth will endure far beyond the return of Christ; (2) the unrighteous will not be judged when Christ returns; (3) natural bodies will be present during the millennium; and (4) people will have the opportunity to receive salvation during the millennium. The most straightforward interpretation of texts surveyed to disprove these premillennial implications must be rejected by Premillennialists in favour of the more obscure and enigmatic text of Revelation 20. But in rejecting the straightforward reading of these texts, Premillennialists are also rejecting two key principles of hermeneutics: (1) the more obscure passages should be interpreted in light of clearer passages and (2) the interpretation that is consistent with the greater amount of biblical support should be favoured.


1967 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-337
Author(s):  
J. K. Howard

The events of the Exodus, in which the Passover occupied a central and dominant place, were one of the most deeply rooted of all Israel's traditions. The Passover itself lay at the very heart of the covenant concept and forms the basis of the Heilsgeschichte which records the redemptive acts of God for His people Israel. In later Judaism it became overlaid with eschatological ideas, especially those associated with a Messianic deliverance for the people of God, as God's saving act in the past became the prefigurement of an even greater saving act in the future. The Passover night was thus a night of joy for all Israel, the night on which Israel's future redemption, effected through the Messiah, would be revealed. The early Christians, however, believed that this Messianic deliverance had already appeared in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and consequently, in Preiss' expression,‘the totality of the events of the Exodus centering on the Passover’ together with its associated ideas occupied a dominant position in Christian soteriological thought in the New Testament period, especially as Jesus Himself had instituted the eucharist in a distinctly Paschal setting. We may trace, as has been done in recent years, the idea of the Exodus complex of events running as a constant theme through the New Testament writings, and Jesus is pictured both as a second Moses leading His people forth from a bondage far greater than the slavery of a human despot, from the thraldom of sin and death, and as the Antitype of the very Passover sacrifice itself, through which the redemption of the New Israel was effected.


2004 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 357-364
Author(s):  
Erik Sidenvall

The greatness of John Henry Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine has been acknowledged many times since it was first published in 1845. Its international repute was secured by the beginning of the twentieth century; for example, the future Archbishop of Uppsala, Nathan Söderblom, writing on the modernist movement, described it and its author in 1910 as ‘the most significant theological work, written by England’s foremost theologian, and together with Leo XIII, the most important man in the Roman Catholic Church during the last century’. This estimation is confirmed by the impact Newman’s book has had on twentieth-century theology. One recent observer has judged that it is ‘significant, less for its positive arguments … [than] for its method of approach to the whole problem of Christian doctrine in its relation to the New Testament’. In other words, Newman’s book touches on a central topic of modern theology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
A.J. Van den Herik

The prophets describe the future of Israel in a concrete manner and with vivid colours. Against the doom that Israel experiences, they proclaim a bright future, in which all that Israel received from the Lord, shall be restored. There is much discussion about how the interpretation of these eschatological pictures: more literally or more spiritually? Or is there a way in between? This article proposes an interpretative framework. Starting with the basis and content of the prophetic hope (God’s covenant) it explores the language and peculiarities of prophetic preaching, it shows how the context of the New Testament requires a recontextualization of the past promises, and it reaffirms the special position of Israel. The function of symbolism needs rearticulation.


Author(s):  
John Granger Cook ◽  
David W. Chapman

Crucifixion and related bodily suspension penalties were widely employed in Antiquity for the punishment of criminals and in times of war. Jesus of Nazareth is the most famous victim of the cross, and many scholars of crucifixion approach the topic with interest in Jesus’ death; however, scholarship on crucifixion also provides insights into (among other fields) ancient warfare, criminal law, political history, and cultural imagery. Invariably, such a subject requires multidisciplinary study. Current areas of discussion include the definition of crucifixion itself, especially in light of the range of use of ancient terminology. Further debates concern the origins of the punishment, the cessation of its practice (at least in the West), the precise means of death, and whether certain cultures (e.g., Second Temple Judaism) endorsed the penalty. A large portion of this article examines the many issues related to crucifixion as a form of execution in Antiquity. The topic of crucifixion in the ancient world includes a variety of issues: Near Eastern suspensions, Greek and Roman extreme penalties and crucifixion, the practice of penal suspension and crucifixion in Second Temple Judaism, the terminology for crucifixion and suspension, crucifixion in the New Testament, the practice of crucifixion in Late Antiquity, crucifixion and law in the ancient world, the question of crucifixion and martyrdom, Greco-Roman imagery of crucifixion and related punishments, Christian iconography of the crucifixion of Jesus, and the later history of the punishment. The last sections of this article then turn to understandings of Jesus’ crucifixion in the New Testament and other early Christian literature.


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