One group holds that man has three constituent parts: body, soul and spirit (trichotomy). “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Others say no, man has two parts, one material, one immaterial: body and soul/spirit. Soul and spirit are generally used interchangeably (dichotomy) : “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ” Matthew 10:28 A third view denies both, asserting that the Bible’s “Hebrew” perspective sees man as a unified whole without constituent parts. I am going to argue for a view sympathetic to trichotomy, without particular emphasis on man’s elements being three in nature (though I think this also can be supported). My aim in this post is to demonstrate that the Bible presents a definite contrast in the concepts of “soul” and “spirit.” Part I: Th
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The book of Matthew is a Gospel that contains Narrative History, Genealogy, Parables, Sermons, and some Prophetic Oracles. It was written by Matthew (Levi), the Disciple of Christ around 48-50 A.D. The keyword in Matthew is "Kingdom" and is used 28 times. The personalities of this book include the Messiah Jesus Christ, His parents Mary and Joseph, the Twelve Disciples, the prophet John the Baptist, and other kinds of leaders. These leaders include those in government like Pilate and religious leaders such as the Pharisees (who attempt to hinder the work of Jesus). The book of Matthew is the first of the Gospels and it was written to reveal Jesus as the Messiah, the King of the Jews, from the line of David. It also was written to convince the Jews that Jesus Christ was indeed their long-awaited Messiah. Chapters 1-4 in Matthew mainly deal with the miracle birth of Jesus and the events surrounding His early life. This primarily involves the commonly told Christmas story
Douglas Sweeney is an associate professor of church history and the history of Christian thought at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. [1] He has written a good book on American Evangelicalism. This book is not an attempt to tell the history of Evangelicalism by “chart[ing] evangelical history everywhere in the world but by focusing narrowly on what has been its prodigious global center.” [2] Sweeney’s outline of the book is clearly stated. “After providing a summary of recent debates concerning the scope of Evangelicalism, I tell the story of its birth in the transatlantic Great Awakening and its development in the United States through many cultural changes and challenges. Along the way, I try to account for the broad range of individuals, institutions, issues, and doctrines that have made us who we are.” [3] This book aims to identify, define, and examine over 200 years of Evangelicalism in America. This book examines the role American evangelicalism played in the scope of hi
I recently finished the book The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. Overall, I really enjoyed it as a piece of literature. It was engaging, thought-provoking, and convicting. To fully digest everything he said and have it ready for recall, I will need to reread it. Keller does a fantastic job expounding on his point of view. In this book, Keller addresses each doubt and explains each reason. Keller uses literature, philosophy, real-life conversations, and reasoning to explain how faith in a Christian God is a soundly rational belief, held by thoughtful people of intellectual integrity with a fully personified and deep compassion for those who truly want to know the truth.” (Publisher’s Description) Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. Though I have a couple of issues with one particular chapter, I do recommend it. Though it tackles some deep issues, The Reason for God is a fairly light read for a book that deals strongly with theology and philosophy. I would say it is accessible from th
In his new book, “40 Questions About the End Times," Eckhard Schnabel tackles common questions about the final period before Christ’s second coming. This book does a wonderful job at explaining the End Times in a fashion accessible to all students. In this book, Dr. Schnabel attempts to make it easier for the reader to grasp the real meaning of the book. There are lots of commentators on the Bible book of Revelation out there. Some are good, some are not so good, and not everyone agrees about what this book means. Revelation is the last book of the Bible and the only one that has a blessing attached for the reader. John was on the island of Patmos, under arrest, when he was given a series of revelations about the future. He then had to write about these future events using terms that were available to him at the time. Because of this, some of what he wrote is difficult to understand. The chapters are mostly 6-8 pages long. Therefore the author has to dive deep. He does no
Islam entails a deep, piercing throng of hatred. Islam erroneously perceives Roman Catholicism as the head of Christianity today, and they are spoiling for a fight. We can see it building up daily. The pope’s reference to Islam as being birthed by the sword and by their hatred of Christianity, America, Britain, and Australia in particular. The horrid impact of Islam can be seen all around the world. This impact ranges from their own countries to other continents. It had effects on politics in Malaysia, influencing a large part of the political system. Many decisions were based on the religion of the mass population of this country. Forty years ago, the great majority of people knew almost nothing about Islam. Look at history now, Islam has become the most talked about, written about, and researched religion in the world and the religion about which the most programs have been prepared. This deep state of affairs has contributed to society’s learning about Islam. On the one hand, thos
Linguistics is the discipline that studies language and languages. Language is fascinating because each speaker and listener has the potential for creating and understanding an unlimited number of utterances, but within a constrained system of grammar. For the native speaker this system is generally tacit. We pick it up by experience and do not have to think about grammar explicitly to form or comprehend a sentence. It is often when we attempt to learn a second language, however, that we become aware of our own tacit grammar. Most students of the Bible are introduced to the formal study of language when learning biblical Greek and Hebrew. However, few of us have the time to study Linguistics in detail. Rather, we tend to pick up terms and ideas here and there. The result is often an unsophisticated and inconsistent approach which can potentially do more harm than good. Careful linguistic analysis can indeed offers a control for good exegesis, but too often the scientific sounding ter
Looking at James 3:5-6 (Bible Study Notes) Paul emphasised Christianity as the spiritual law of liberty: faith as the most strongest dynamic. John emphasised that the deepest quality in God is love; and the life of God in man is love. But James? James stood for rightness ; his very name marked him out as “the Just:” integrity was his peculiar characteristic. He was honest, earnest, real. And if you read through this letter, you find from first to last, one continued vindication of the first principles of morality against the make-believe -the smoke and mirrors- of religion. He protested against double-standards and all that nit-picking “If any one among you seems to be religious and yet can’t hold his tongue… that person’s religion is vain.” He protested against that wheedling way of groveling to the rich and second-classing the poor. “If you show favouritism you commit sin.” He protested against that que sera sera type of fatalism which suggests we blame God for our passions. “L
Sadly, there are many believers today who are wholly ignorant of Church history. It is important for a Christian to study Church history as it not only enables us to understand the present, but also to understand how we should live today as well. By studying Church history, Christians can cultivate wisdom by learning from the mistakes and good ideas of those who preceded them. As Man does not change over the centuries, neither do his ideas. Therefore, if a believer thinks he has a good idea to advance the kingdom of God, he should study Church history to see whether this has been done before and what its effects were, as well as the particular circumstances in which it was applied. There is nothing new under the sun (Eccles. 1:9); even the best ideas have often already been used in the past. There is usually no need to reinvent the wheel, studying the saints of old provides those who are preparing for the ministry with many guidelines for serving today. Moreover, studying history