Reconciliation

Our reconciliation to God as a part of the restoration of His image.

Repentance, Confession and the Textual Variant in James 5:16

James 5:16 occurs in a context dealing with sick Christians and healing. In that context, it teaches that we are to agree with each other about the character flaws in our lives that lead to discrete sins, and pray for each other that these flaws–and the whole person–will be healed. This sensible reading is supported by the Byzantine New Testament text tradition, which is to be preferred for this verse.

Adam and Eve–Idolatry in the Fall

When the first humans, who already knew all good, chose to disobey God and experience evil, they initiated every kind of idolatry known to later generations. This included worship of created things, of themselves, their own wisdom and their own desires, of their bodies, and, most importantly, of a false picture of the true God as miserly and hostile toward us.

Repentance and Salvation: What is Repentance?

Salvation cannot happen without repentance. But this repentance isn’t remorse, it is changing my mind, turning from my own works and my other idols and turning to the true God. It is never really present without a change in the way I live. But my new way of life does not come from me, but from God who has prepared it for me and lives it through me.

About Jesus in the Earliest Christianity

This post is a detailed index of what the earliest Christian churches appear to have understood, this time about the Person of Jesus. Most of these ideas were later distorted, leading to divisions in the Church and historical consequences in the world. Further links to this outline will be added as new articles are written.

Truths of the Earliest Christianity that Mutated Leading to Formation of Later Divisions

This is an outline of the first part of my attempt to link early errors of organized Christianity to the state of the modern world–specifically, in this part, by explaining some of the foundations of the earliest Christianity from which later errors diverged. Links will be added as future posts are written.

NO MERIT

This is the index to a group of posts on the subject of whether salvation, and all that follows it, is judged by personal merit at all–either our own merit or that of Christ (or others). Links will be added as future posts are written.

Mutual Submission is the Key

Unity in the church arises, not from submission to a power structure, but from mutual submission to each other, seeking each other’s good above our own, in submission to Christ.

The Nature of Angels–Messengers and Ministering Spirits

The place and function of angels is not often mentioned in Scripture, because they exist as messengers and ministering spirits, serving us on God’s behalf, not themselves, bringing God’s message not their own. They are never the dominant subject of any scripture.

From Early Christianity to Islam and Back — 1. The Earliest Christianity

This post is the first in a series of six outlining a broad view of how things in the Church and the world got to be as they are now, including contributions early Christianity and Islam made to each other. This post attempts to outline the basic positions of early Christianity. Comments are invited!

The Trinity in Which We Share

The three persons who eternally and inseparably comprise the One God are God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit.  The Father is God.  In John 6:31, Jesus called him “God the Father.”  In John 4:21-23, Jesus identified “the Father” as the God the Jews and Samaritans both worshipped.  Jesus also prays to his “Father” in numerous places1–2,…
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