Abide in Love
"God
is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God in
them." (1 John 4:16)
If we seek God, we must love
one another. For if we cannot find God in the love we know, then
we will not find God in what we do not know.
God is not merely love, for love is a
human experience. Yet, by affirming God is love we accept that our
capacity to love is a gift, rather than an achievement. We are not
always loving or lovable, yet we have known love.
The Bible is a testimony (in its Old and New
Testaments) to this faith.
Written by human beings, it is not the
literal, infallible or inerrant word of God. The Bible presents in
human language the understandings of ancient Jews and first century
Christians. Its witness is historical, and therefore we must test
its truth by our experience.
In the New Testament Jesus of Nazareth challenges
Jewish leaders and is crucified for treason by Pontius Pilate, the Roman
governor of Palestine. The first church in Jerusalem is founded by Peter
and the disciples, but led by James, the brother of Jesus. Paul
takes the gospel to Gentiles and Greek-speaking Jews in cities
throughout the Roman Empire.
In the first century the Roman Emperor demanded
worship as the Savior of the world. Jews
and Christians who resisted were persecuted. In
the 60s Paul and Peter were executed in Rome for treason, and James
(the brother of Jesus) was killed in Jerusalem for denouncing the temple authorities.
Jews in Palestine revolted in 66, but four years later Roman armies
captured Jerusalem, destroyed its temple, and crucified thousands of
rebels outside the city walls.
These apocalyptic events led Greek-speaking
followers of the Way to proclaim among Jews that Jesus is the promised Messiah, and
to tell Gentiles that Jesus is the reigning Son of God.
The church began without the Christian Bible. The
first Christians, like Jesus and his disciples, read as their scripture the Torah, the
Prophets and the Writings of the Jews. Paul's letters
were written in the 40s and 50s, and the gospels were written in the
last third of the first century. Controversy in the early church about what writings
should be read as scripture was resolved only in the fourth century
after Constantine was converted and demanded that church leaders preach a unifying message throughout the Roman Empire.
Listen
to what some of the visitors have said about this challenging web site.
†
"Without reading this site's
answers to my questions, I would have been lost forever. Thank
you."
Heather
†
"I must say that while I do not
agree with everything you have written, I have read more of my Bible in
the last two weeks than ever before."
Kevin
†
"I am so glad I started reading
your website. I have had to struggle with some of the doctrine
when it just does not make sense. I believe God gave us our minds
so we can use them."
Anna
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"Thanks so much for your
summaries. They have been a great help and a useful resource in my
study of God's word."
Erik
I am guided in my interpretation of the Christian
Bible by the Creeds and the Reformed Confessions of the church.
Moreover, I understand a scripture text in the context of the whole
Bible, as part of the church's witness to its faith. All these
historical materials, of course, must be read critically and should be
read creatively.
In witnessing
to our faith we must not to confuse our words about God
with God. God is love, and love is never adequately expressed in
words.
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Sermon
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Revised 23 May
2008
What is the Christian
Bible? Jesus and his disciples heard the scrolls of Jewish
faith read in Hebrew and Aramaic, as did the Jewish Christians of the
first church in Jerusalem. This was their Bible. Paul and
other Greek-speaking Christians read the Septuagint, the Greek
translation of the Hebrew scriptures, as their Bible.
After the Council of Nicea in 325, which
produced the Nicene Creed, church leaders argued for the rest of the fourth
century about the writings that should be included in scripture. At the
end of the century the Roman Empire authorized a Greek Bible with the
New Testament, as we know it, and a reordered Septuagint, as the Old
Testament.
In the sixteenth century Protestant
reformers translated the Old Testament from Hebrew scriptures authorized
by rabbis around 100 CE, which omits part of the Septuagint. This
is why Catholic Bibles have more books in the Old Testament than
Protestant Bibles.
The materials on this web
site are either written by or selected by Robert Traer. A brief biographical sketch and statement of faith are available on the dialogue
page.
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