...scholars
I found myself being motivated after all that scholarship stuff I wrote about yesterday. So...for one day only...Philip decided to be a scholar. Those numbers Mumford mentioned about Jesus referring to the church 3 times while talking about the Kingdom 104 times did get me thinking a bit. So I did my own study this morning. Not that this was such a great effort since all I had to do was pull up my Bible Study Program on the computer and type in 2 words....... gospel of..... the results were equally stunning to me because of my background of receiving so many years of training in the evangelical religious system.
Although I am mathematically challenged and it is tough for me when I have to count above 10....(with that disclaimer to the accuracy of this report)... it seems that first: In the gospel of Matthew, he says gospel of the kingdom 3 times..... Mark uses gospel of Jesus the Son of God and Gospel of God..... Luke's reference is simply gospel of God.
When we get to the book of Acts and the Epistles....things change ....when the writers say gospel of..... most of the references here use the name of Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, the Glory of Christ, the Son of God and His Son...that's like about 15 times. They use gospel of God about 10 times..... now that is total of more than 30 times in the New Testament where we should get some understanding that the Gospel is all about God's Kingdom and His Son who is the King of that Kingdom.
Oh yes.... by the way there are 3 other references... all by-products of belonging to that Kingdom.... instead of belonging to the kingdoms of this world..... one is the gospel of the grace of God....another is the gospel of peace and the final one is the gospel of your salvation.
As an evangelical that is pretty stunning to me. I have said much in past postings about how we (evangelicals) have made this a gospel all about heaven/hell....lost/saved.....damnation/salvation.....health or lack of it.... good things happening vrs bad things happening.... success/failure.... prosperity vrs destitution....fill in your own blank. It has been changed to a gospel that I am the center of and my well being is dependent upon my intellectual response to the doctrines of what I am being taught about whichever particular aberration is being presented to me. Fear becomes the motivator instead of love. Control, power, money and all the baloney come out of that. Fear is not from God.
Think on these things. There is much more to say......always!
:)
Although I am mathematically challenged and it is tough for me when I have to count above 10....(with that disclaimer to the accuracy of this report)... it seems that first: In the gospel of Matthew, he says gospel of the kingdom 3 times..... Mark uses gospel of Jesus the Son of God and Gospel of God..... Luke's reference is simply gospel of God.
When we get to the book of Acts and the Epistles....things change ....when the writers say gospel of..... most of the references here use the name of Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, the Glory of Christ, the Son of God and His Son...that's like about 15 times. They use gospel of God about 10 times..... now that is total of more than 30 times in the New Testament where we should get some understanding that the Gospel is all about God's Kingdom and His Son who is the King of that Kingdom.
Oh yes.... by the way there are 3 other references... all by-products of belonging to that Kingdom.... instead of belonging to the kingdoms of this world..... one is the gospel of the grace of God....another is the gospel of peace and the final one is the gospel of your salvation.
As an evangelical that is pretty stunning to me. I have said much in past postings about how we (evangelicals) have made this a gospel all about heaven/hell....lost/saved.....damnation/salvation.....health or lack of it.... good things happening vrs bad things happening.... success/failure.... prosperity vrs destitution....fill in your own blank. It has been changed to a gospel that I am the center of and my well being is dependent upon my intellectual response to the doctrines of what I am being taught about whichever particular aberration is being presented to me. Fear becomes the motivator instead of love. Control, power, money and all the baloney come out of that. Fear is not from God.
Think on these things. There is much more to say......always!
:)
