http://bible.org/article/non-pauline-epistles
Writing about the book of James:
1:22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.
This is a painfully convicting verse. It’s very easy to listen and forget five minutes later, or even listen and critique the message or the presentation. It’s most difficult to listen and then live out the message.
http://bible.org/article/non-pauline-epistles
Writing about the book of Hebrews:
Many suggestions have been made for the author of this anonymous book—Paul, Barnabas, Apollos, Silas, Aquila and Priscilla, and Clement of Rome. There are both resemblances and dissimilarities to the theology and style of Paul, but Paul frequently appeals to his own apostolic authority in his letters, while this writer appeals to others who were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry (2:3). It is safest to say, as did the theologian Origen in the third century, that only God knows who wrote Hebrews.75
I think it’s fascinating to have this book which is accepted as canon, The Word of God, and we don’t know who wrote it. That may be true of OT books as well, for that matter. The theology and text of the book are sufficient to have it be accepted into the circle of inspired works.
http://bible.org/seriespage/1-thessalonians-213-and-emerging-canon-consciousness
“And so we too constantly thank God that when you received God’s message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message, but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe” (NET).
There’s an interesting discussion here about whether Paul knew that he was writing “scripture” – as in, what would become scripture, and carry the same weight as the OT canon. The author makes the point that if he does, then this is the first indication that the apostles are writing in a self-referential style. However, the phrase “God’s message” or “God’s word” also refers to the teaching that the apostles were doing, which was not the written word of the OT but instead their testimony about the life of Jesus and the Kingdom of God.
http://bible.org/seriespage/canonicity
“Canon” is a word that comes from Greek and Hebrew words that literally means a measuring rod. So canonicity describes the standard that books had to meet to be recognized as scripture.
The tests for canonization included whether the book was self-referential (i.e, whether it claimed to be authoritative), and whether the book was accepted in the community.
http://bible.org/article/authority-bible
Jesus even specifically affirmed as historical several disputed stories of the Old Testament. He affirms as true the accounts of Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:4-5), Noah and the flood (Matthew 24:39), Jonah and the whale (Matthew 12:40), Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10:15), and more.
Is it possible for the Bible to be divinely inspired and yet not be literally true? Or at least parts of it? For example, is it possible to say that Jesus really spoke about Adam and Eve, but that he was referring to them in the same sense that we would refer to Hercules or John Henry or Sarah Connor – which is to say, a shared cultural figure based in myth and not in literal reality. Is that interpretation possible?
http://bible.org/seriespage/shall-we-know-each-other-heaven
From time immemorial men have held to the doctrine of recognition in the future life. Like an unbroken thread in human history, there has been a deep conviction in man’s spirit that the purpose of being created could not be fulfilled in his short-lived visit in this life.
The ancient Athenian philosopher Socrates could say that since “death conveys us to those regions which are inhabited by the spirits of departed men, will it not be unspeakably happy to escape from the hands of mere nominal judges? Is it possible for you to look upon this as an unimportant journey? Is it nothing to converse with Orpheus, and Homer, and Hesiod? Believe me, I could cheerfully suffer many a death on condition of realizing such a privilege. With what pleasure could I leave the world, to hold communion with Palamedes, Ajax, and others!”
It’s kind of interesting that the author points to historical commonalities to pursue the idea of a shared after-death experience across cultures, but he doesn’t then make the point that all of these cultures, except for the Jewish one, are doomed to hell and will not in fact have this pleasant privilege of communing with their friends, relatives, ancestors, and luminaries in the afterlife.
Belaboring the point for a minute: I think that is one of the biggest objections to Christianity, as presented.
http://bible.org/seriespage/heaven-home-redeemed
The fellowship in Heaven will surpass anything that we have known on earth. Up there “God is with men; He will dwell with them, and God Himself shall be with them.” We shall enter into a fellowship with the triune God that is utterly unknown on earth. Men dwelling with “God Himself!” Could anything be higher and more glorious? Then we will know the blessed reality of the words of Christ, where He said: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). In addition to having fellowship with “God Himself,” Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we will commune with the “innumerable company of angels, the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22-24). What a fellowship! What a joy divine!
There is definitely something compelling about the idea of seeing God. I’ve heard the question, “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?” I wonder if I would be able to ask a question at all, standing in the presence of God. Or even lying face-down. To dwell with God would be awesome and awe-full at the same time. I can’t even imagine what that would be like.
http://bible.org/seriespage/death
Adam knew that he was alive, but he was a stranger to the subject of death until he heard this word from the Lord. Now he is on his own. He has a knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. He knows that to obey God will mean continuous and unending life and to disobey will bring the sentence of death. The power of choice and the right to decide is now left with man. However, Satan would not allow the situation to go unchallenged. Though he taunted and tempted Eve he could not force her to eat the fruit. Both she and her husband partook of it by their own choice, and in so doing they incurred the displeasure of the Lord. The warning He gave was plain: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Being holy and righteous in all of His judgments, God could do nothing other than pass the sentence of death.
If Adam was a stranger to the subject of death, did he know and understand what the consequence was? God says, “if you eat you will surely die.” If there was no death in the garden of Eden, then what significance did that word have for Adam? Did he even know what that meant?
It’s kind of a pointless argument, isn’t it? Surely the subject here is the choice between obedience and disobedience, not between life and death.
http://bible.org/seriespage/man-trinity-spirit-soul-body
There is an idea also that prevails largely today that man consists of only two component parts: namely, body and spirit. In the thinking of the writer this view appears to be one that might create confusion in the minds of any Christians. While soul and spirit are so closely related that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish accurately between them, there seems to be only one logical conclusion: namely, that “soul” and “spirit” are not the same. The Bible does make a distinction.
In this writer’s analysis, the soul and the spirit are different.
The soul is the emotional center of a person. It is capable of love and hate. We talk about having a “soul mate”, that person to whom we are emotionally attracted to.
The spirit is the mental, analytical part. It is that part of us which learns, discovers, thinks. We apprehend the world through our senses. The spirit is the focus of all external stimuli, where we interpret the world.
The spirit is particularly used to understand the work and teaching of the Holy Spirit.
http://bible.org/seriespage/can-we-believe-immortality
Man must acknowledge the immortal Christ as his only hope for life after death. Without the Cross of Christ there could have been no redemption for the fallen race, and without that redemption there can be no hope for the life that is immortal. The Christian possesses a living hope that finds its root in the Person and Work of the now living Christ.
The author makes a point in passing that there’s a difference between “eternal life” and “immortality”. Every soul is immortal – which is to say, it will exist forever. But eternal life or life after death is different, with the emphasis on “life”. The only way to have “life” after death is to accept the redeeming grace of Jesus. What happens after death for those who do not accept Jesus’ salvation? They continue to exist, but are separated from God.
