“How does a person encounter, enter, and engage the Kingdom in the book of Acts?” The biblical book of Acts is a dense book and one can become overwhelmed when asked this question. Nonetheless, the answer to this question is a commonplace throughout the chapters in the book. With that being said, I notice Luke mentioning four different ways or steps that involved encountering, entering, and engaging in the Kingdom of God. These four points include: repentance, faith, baptism, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit, “Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Repentance in essence means “regret” or “sorrow.” References to this understanding can be found in 2 Corinthians 7:10 and Matthew 27:3-5. Further, the Greek word for repentance is “Metanoia,” meaning to think differently; to change one’s conduct (Johnson). Thus, there is a deep change of heart when it comes to repentance. Throughout the book of Acts, repentance is mentioned approximately four times: Acts 3:19 (“repent, then, and turn to God), 5:31 (“God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance”), 11:18 (“‘So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to
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Yet, not just faith, but faith in Jesus Christ. In the Gospels and in Acts, faith is depicted as being a gift from God (John 6:44, Acts 16:14). Mentioned also in Romans, faith comes by hearing, “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?...faith comes from hearing the message” (Romans 10:14,17). Faith is also mentioned in Acts 3:16, Acts 6:5, Acts 6:7, acts 11:24, Acts 13:8, Acts 14:9, Acts 20:21, to name a few. With those references being mentioned, it is importance to notice that individuals encounter, enter, and engage the Kingdom through
... reflects the original logos while also maintaining a separate identity, so too must faith be both reflective and inventive. It should strive toward perfection like Reverend Maclean devouring Norman?s papers with a red pen, with the intention of reflecting God?s already established likeness. Yet it must also be careful not to close off unexpected, new avenues, for as Paul demonstrates through his fishing, the most arbitrary human actions can accrue religious resonance. Essentially, human faith faces the ultimate balancing act: it must strive to understand and believe and love all of God and His creation, while at the same time realizing that such complete knowledge is impossible, and that humanity is called to ?love completely without complete understanding? (103).
In Paul Tillich’s 1957 work Dynamics of Faith, he mentions that there are six major components of faith. These six components of faith describe the Franciscan perspective of “faith”. According to Tillich, the first component of faith is “the state of being ultimately concerned”. The second component of faith is that it is supposed to be at the center of all of our personal lives and everything that we do throughout our own individual lives. The third component of faith is that we should have an awareness for “infinite” things such as God himself. The fourth component of faith is that we need to understand that faith can act as fear, fascination, or both of these qualities at the same time. The fifth component of faith is that doubt is a major product that will always exist with faith. The last component of faith is that we need a community in order to have a “language of faith”.
This article “Faith according To the Apostle James” was quite interesting because of the arguments that were displayed in explaining the context of faith by James. The author John MacArthur is intensely elaborating the good of intentions of how important it was to James to share his concern with the believers of Christ to have strong faith in the gospel of Christ. It almost seem there was an argument with the author himself and others who he measured his work which were Apostle James and his colleagues. However, you also understand the importance of having faith because of the belief for Christians to have faith so they can be doers of the Word. If one has ever read the Book of James your initial thought most likely is about leadership role of ministers and mature saints. In this article it is the opposite. It expounds on the power of faith and faith in action. Showing faith is the key ingredient to believe and live according to the Word of God. There were key points immediately made by the author to help any reader see a different light on the Book of James.
For centuries it has been debated whether Paul and James contradict each other’s theology. At times, they do seem to make opposing statements. The Book of Galatians affirms over and over that we are justified by faith in Christ alone, not by works of our own. Most evangelical Christians agree to that concept of sola fide. We are faced with an interesting dilemma when James famously says, “faith without works is dead.” Martin Luther, himself, felt that the Book of James should be removed from the canon of scripture because of such statements. When one looks at the context of these verses, we realize that the theology of both books complement rather than contradict each other. Although they both deal with the relationship between faith and
... faith and hope were the same; they both trusted in the same Savior for salvation (Edmonds 89)."
There has been much debate regarding who wrote the book of Acts. Professor Riggs of Auburn Theological Seminary said, “In recent years the tide of opinion has been turning, and is now strongly setting toward a first-century authorship” (Riggs, 38). The early view of the church states Luke is the author of Acts. External evidence agrees with tradition that Luke wrote the book of Acts. The early church fathers, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebius, provide evidence that Luke is the author (Lea & Black, 282). The Muratorian Canon (A.D. 190) contains a list of books from the New Testament and lists the author of Acts and the Third Gospel as Luke. There is also internal evidence that points to Luke as the author. In both Luke and Acts, the author uses medical phraseology. In Acts 28:8, the father of Publius was sick with a fever and had a bloody flux. Other instances can be found in Acts 10:10 and 16:16 (Riggs, 41-42). Luke was a physician and that would explain why he used medical terms when writing the book of Acts. Considering the external and internal evidence, Carson and Moo...
Romans. Faith in Action Study Bible: Living God's Word in a Changing World: New International Version. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2005. Print.
The Book of Romans Romans is a very important addition to the Bible. This is written by Paul to the Roman church. Much of Romans is showing the righteousness of God in different ways. “Romans road” passages are a great description of how to lead someone to christ (His saving righteousness).
In order for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the hearts of Christians to be a reality, however, Christians must not be outside of Christ. This means that they must have faith before they can receive the Holy Spirit. One could consider this appropriate because Christ and the Holy Spirit, aside from the fact that they are of the same substance, share many of the same roles. Both are mediators, teachers, and intercessors. The Holy Spirit alone has many other names, including: fire, water, spirit of adoption, and others. In addition to this, the main work of the Spirit is faith, in that the Spirit serves as the Christian’s teacher and reminder of God’s
The role of faith has been debated among many theologians, scientists, and philosophers. It has been greatly discussed and depicted throughout history as whether faith is logical when it comes to religion or whether faith is completely absurd. In this essay, I will focus on the role of faith through the lenses of Christian philosophers Sorean Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich. Faith plays an important role in Kierkegaard and Tillich theology; I will critically examine their depiction of faith and compare and contrast their passages. Kiergarrd view of faith is that it is completely absurd where as Ti
Migliore, Daniel L. Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology. 2 ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2004.
Repentance, according to Alma, is baptism. Baptism is, through the symbolic purification of water, a metaphorical act of being born into the covenant of God. It is both a birth of water and spirit, thus fitting Jesus’s earlier definition. According to Alma, just as Jesus said to Nicodemus, a Christian who is not baptized cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. When Adam receives the Holy Spirit and the ability to baptize, the Lord said to Adam, “Inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water...ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit” (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 6:59). In the context of these later verses, baptism is the practice that begins the process of being born
Our faith as Christians should be in the ability to hold firmly and trust in the revelation of God’s word. Revelation must not be ignored. The Faith “surrounds” our reason with three key elements in mind, which are focused on human life, and God’s mysterious existence and power. Faith is justified in our reason and not just a state of mind to fill the void of reasoned knowledge. I believe there is a special knowledge that is centered and leads us to truth---and reason toward our obligations, commitments and how dedicated we are in Christ. He will certainly open the path of life for those who faithfully believe the inner testimony and followed his word.
The foundation of the New Testament was created upon the preaching and teaching of the kingdom of God. Further, it was erected on the promise by Christ to build a church that could endure. Jesus states, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). Although Peter and the disciples were regenerated by faith, their early Judaism perspective did not hinder the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.
In the letter from Luke to the Apostles, he addresses the apostles on how they are to live and govern themselves as individuals and in community. These specifications are echoes of the passage in John 20:21 where Jesus says to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” The meaning of the phrase can be understood as, the apostles are to act as Jesus acted, for his actions were those set out by God the Father. In the Acts of the Apostles there are several examples where the apostles are directly in accordance with the prior actions/experiences of Jesus Christ; baptism by the Holy Spirit, curing the crippled man, and facing persecution.