Exploring the First Century Church: Mission (Part 1)
Jesus began his ministry with his baptism by John and calling disciples. Jesus ended his ministry telling those disciples to make more disciples by teaching and baptizing others. Jesus’ ministry didn’t just start and stop his ministry with mission. Jesus was constantly on mission and he wanted his disciples to do the same things they […]
Exploring the First Century Church: Gathering Places
It is universally agreed on that the early church primarily met in homes. The first church building that we know of, which was a house converted solely for the use of the assembled church, didn’t come along for 200 years (see Dura-Europos below). Here are some of the verses we have as evidence of their […]
Exploring the First Century Church: Instruction & Teaching
The last post talked about the Bible proper. This post is going to be exploring how the early church went about making instructions and teaching from what they had. As was already mentioned, completed New Testaments took some time to be compiled, copied and circulated as a whole for the churches in the ancient world. […]
Dealing with Innovation – 10 Accepted Innovations and A Call for Consistency
In Churches of Christ we have a tendency to try to make most things an issue of scripture whether the Bible speaks on it or not. I have a great appreciation for the sentiment and goal – that we want to be biblical and pleasing to God but what sometimes ends up happening is people […]
Reading the Bible Contextually: Pay Attention to the Whole Point
When we read Paul’s letters they are meticulously crafted and full of rhetoric (the art of making a persuasive argument). There have been entire commentaries devoted to unpacking the rhetoric of the New Testament documents and rightfully so…it is how they made their case in those days. The obstacle we face today is that the […]
Thanksgiving and What Ancient Letters Teach Us About Being Thankful
It is no secret that ancient letters had a particular format much like we think of the format of personal letters today. I am not going to get into all of it right now but you can read more about that here if you are interested – Ephesians: Purpose, Background and Structure. One of the […]
4 Words that Connect Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 1 and Ephesians
Dueteronomy 6:4-9 is one of the most popular passages in the entire Old Testament. Those verses serve as instruction about intentionally passing on faith to the next generation before the Hebrews enter the promised land. There are four words in Deuteronomy 6 that are later echoed in Psalm 1 and Paul’s letter to the Ephesians…I […]
Our Desperate Need to Lean Into This Gospel Truth – The World Is Overcome In You
For those of you who are struggling…who are tired…who feel like the world is out to get you…be encouraged by these words starting in John 16:33, “ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” […]
Parallels Between Jonah and Paul
Both were heading to Spain Jonah 1:3 – heading to Tarshish (in Spain) Rom 15:24, 28 – Paul wants to go to Spain Both sailed on the Mediterranean Jonah 1:3 – boarded a ship on the Mediterranean to get away from the Lord’s calling Acts 27:1 – It is decided Paul would sail for Italy…they […]
In Jesus’ Name – More Than Words
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would […]