Marbaniang, Domenic

The doctrine of atonement is a stumbling block for some who feel that it not only exemplifies cruelty but also does away with human responsibility. The issue abounds with various questions and attempts to solution. Questions: 1. If God knew that man would sin and fall, why did He create man? 2. Why doesn't God, if He exists, intervene and stop evil; why just be Judge but not be Governor with proper police security system that minimises the possibility of transgression? 3. How can the death of one particular man atone for the sins of many particular men? 4. Isn't it not cruel to punish an innocent man for the sins of others so that they go free? Answers that challenge the Christian doctrine: 1. God does not require sacrifice in order to forgive, He can forgive by sovereign authority. 2. Every man must bear his own guilt so that he has a sense of responsibility and possess a genuine reason to pursue good and turn from evil. Biblical Responses: 1. God's knowledge of human Fall...

Published in Revive Magazine , Dec 23, 2016 THE titles “ Christos ” (Christ) in the Greek New Testament and “ Mashiyach ” (Messiah) in the Hebrew Old Testament mean “The Anointed One”. While there were many men who were anointed as prophets, priests, and kings in the Old Testament period, it is only Jesus who is particularly referred to as the Anointed One of God. Therefore, the title “Christ” or “Messiah” exclusively applies to Him alone. In this article, we will focus on an attempt to understand Christ as the Anointed One of God. The Unity of Christ’s Anointing A careful study of the Bible shows us the singularity and unity of Christ’s anointing as the Anointed Priest-Prophet-King of God—not three separate anointings, separate of each other, but one. He IS the Anointed One and His anointing includes all the offices of God’s work (of Mediatorship, of Manifestation, and of Mastership) through Him in the world. We can understand Him as the Priest-Prophet-King, the Divine Lord of the uni...

ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας (Rom 8:3 BYZ) in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3 NAS) Albert Barnes: "That is, he so far resembled sinful flesh that he partook of flesh, or the nature of man, but without any of its sinful propensities or desires. It was not human nature; not, as the Docetae taught, human nature in appearance only; but it was human nature without any of its corruptions." Zodhiates, Word Study: homoíōma ; gen. homoiṓmatos , neut. noun from homoióō (G3666), to make like. Likeness, shape, similitude, resemblance. It is important to realize that the resemblance signified by homoíōma in no way implies that one of the objects in question has been derived from the other. In the same way two men may resemble one another even though they are in no way related to one another.... .... In Rom 8:3, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness [ homoiṓmati ] of sinful flesh, and for sin, ...

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"After he said this, he showed them his hands and side....  Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."   A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (John 20:19-27) Obviously, Jesus' body had the marks; for, if they were not there, then ...

Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Rom 1:3-4 NKJ) The declaration of the Christ as the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead was foreshadowed in the baptism of Jesus, which was in itself a foreshadowing of His death, burial, and resurrection; for that in essence is what baptism signifies. It is not a coincidence then that we hear the first heavenly announcement that Jesus is the beloved Son of God after Jesus comes out of the waters of baptism. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Mat 3:1...

Christ is the brightness of God's glory (Heb. 1:3). God's glory is incomparable with anything in creation. "...the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.  There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory." (1Cor. 15:39) Christ's glory far exceeds anything in creation. That Infinitely glorious one emptied Himself of holding on to that glorious form alone and took the form of man 2000 years ago. "Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being." (Phil. 2:6-7, NLT) "So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." (John 1:14) ---------------------------...

Jesus didn’t just make claims like “I am the Bread of Life” (Jn.6:48), “I am the Light of the world”(Jn.8:12), “I am the Gate” (Jn.10:9), “I am the Good Shepherd” (Jn.10:11), “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (Jn.11:25), and “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn.14:6); Jesus also invited examination of His claims. He called upon men to examine the logic of His teaching and to evaluate what He said by what He did (Jn.10:38). There are a few characteristics of the testimony of Christ that we need to note: 1. The Testimony of Christ is Not Dependent upon the Testimony of Man. When Jesus was at Jerusalem and many people believed in Him because of the miraculous signs that He did, we are told that He would not entrust Himself to them for He knew all men and He did not need the testimony of man about man as well, for He knew what was in a man (Jn.2:25). Regarding the testimony of John the Baptist, Jesus said, “I do not receive testimony from man” (Jn.5:34). The reason, of course, wa...

Did Jesus ever claim to be God? Did He ever use the words "I am God"? Though Jesus didn't use the exact words "I am God", that doesn't mean that He never said that He is God. One doesn't need to use the same framing of words to convey a message; the same message can be communicated in different compositions of sentences. For instance, note the following sentences which all convey the message, "I am employed." 1. I work for a Company. 2. My boss pays me well for my work. 3. I am very busy at office during the day. 4. The staff had a picnic last Saturday. 5. I would like to change my job. So, the right kind of question to ask with reference to the doctrine of Christ's divinity would not be "Did Jesus ever use the words "I am God"?" Instead, one should ask something like, "Did Jesus ever convey the message that He was divine?" To that question, the answer is a definite "Yes." In fact, the "Yes"...

The doctrine of the Impeccability of Christ states that Christ could not sin, i.e. He was incapable of sinning. For one thing, it is certain that Christ’s temptations were real (Heb. 4:15), that Christ experienced struggle (Mt. 26:36-46), and that Christ did not sin (2Co. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; Jas. 5:6; 1Pe. 2:22; 1Pe. 3:18). Those who hold on to the "Peccability view" believe that Christ could have sinned but He chose not to sin. But, such a view tries to segregate the divine and the human in Christ, as if Christ was devoid of His divine nature when "in the days of His flesh"; however, the fact is that Christ in the days of His flesh was the Word Incarnate: fully God and fully Man, and His humanity could not annul His eternal moral perfection by any means. Conclusion – Impeccability : Temptation implies possibility of sin in general (humans) but not in specific (Christ). For instance, the testing of gold implies the possibility of things not being gold in general, but...

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, God was known as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. He was the God of the Fathers. The possessive phrase "of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" reminded of at least three aspects of the YHWH-Israel relationship: 1. The Covenant-Basis of the Relationship. God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and with their descendants; so, Israel stood in a covenant relationship with God. (2Kgs.13:23) 2. The Continuity of the Relationship. Jesus declared that the phrase "of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob" implied that God was the God of the living and not of the dead. The phrase didn't become obsolete when the three patriarchs physically died. The phrase was valid because they were alive in the spirit, and God was the God of living; which also meant that the relationship was a living and continuing one (Matt.22:32; Mark 12:25,26; Matt.8:11). God's relationship with Israel as a nation didn't die when the patriarchs died physical...

Answer 1: A contradiction can be defined in the terms "A=not-A"; a non-contradiction, in the terms "A≠not-A". The statements "Jesus is fully God" and "Jesus is fully man" don't involve such a contradiction, i.e, they don't say "Jesus is fully God," and "Jesus is not fully God" at the same time. Christian theology doesn't claim to say that Jesus is not God when it says Jesus is Man; likewise, it doesn't clam to say that Jesus is not man when it says that Jesus is God. Answer 2: The divinity of Christ is eternal and immutable; therefore, in the Incarnation He was fully God. He was not created; He pre-existed. He was not born out of a man-woman relationship; but, was born of a Virgin; because He incarnated, He didn't come into being - there was not when He didn't exist. In the Incarnation, God partook of human nature; He could do that because He created the world and so the world belonged to Him and He ...

FREE FOR JAVA MOBILES This booklet of around 6200 words gives a quick glance at the major doctrines of the Bible and a general outline of theology. The main subjects are Bibliology, Theology Proper, Christology, Pneumatology, Trinity, Creation, Anthropology, Angelology and Demonology, Atonement, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, and Eschatology. DOWNLOAD FREE JAR/JAD E-SWORD TOPIC BOOK (FREE) THEWORD BOOK (FREE)

Published in revive, Kumbanad, May 2011. revivemegod.org IN BEGINNING to write this article, I dare to add another string to a theme in the exposition of which, wrote Muggeridge, “literally billions  of   words, oceans of paint, acres of canvas, mountains of stone and marble, have been expended, not to mention, in recent times, miles of film” [ Jesus Rediscovered ]. But, it is a theme well deserved. Saints and sinners, critics and divines, princes and subjects, all have marveled at the magnificence of this event called the Incarnation of the Son of God, in which divinity united with humanity. It baffles human imagination to think that God would condescend to the state of a human. The Bible calls it the mystery of godliness (1Tim.3:16). Sacred in its very essence, it is the story of the love of the King of the Universe, a story so sacred that the colonnades of Romance tremble in disbelief. That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable, And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty, Where...

Genealogy of Jesus according to Luke God Adam Seth Enosh Cainain Mahalalel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah Shem Arphaxad Cainan Shelah Eber Peleg Reu Serug Nahor Terah Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah Pharez Hezron Ram Amminadab Nahshon Salmon Boaz Obed Jesse David Nathan Mattatha Menna Melea Eliakim Jonam Joseph Judah Simeon Levi Matthat Jorim Eliezer Joshua Er Elmadam Cosam Addi Melchi Neri Shealtiel Zerubbabel Rhesa Joanan Joda Josech Semein Mattathias Mahath Naggai Hesli Nahum Amos Mattathias Joseph Jannai Melchi Levi Matthat Heli Mary & Joseph Jesus Genealogy of Jesus according to Matthew Abraham Isaac Jacob Judah & Tamar Pharez Hezron Ram Amminadab Nahshon Salmon & Rahab Boaz & Ruth Obed Jesse David & Wife of Uriah Solomon Rehoboam Abijam Asa Jebahdiah Jehoram Uzziah Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jeconiah Shealtiel Zerubbabel Abiud Eliakim Azor Zadok Achim Eliud Eleazar Matthan Jacob Joseph & Mary Jesus The discrepancies between the genealogy of Je...

INTRODUCTION The Meaning of Theology Theology is a study of Christian doctrine and faith. The Queen of sciences, Theology is an attempt towards a systematic exposition of and presentation of Christian doctrine. The Need of Theology For a clear understanding of faith As a rational and articulate defense of faith (1Pe. 3:15) For a systematic presentation of God's revealed truths (2Ti. 2:15) As a guard against heresy and false teachings (Mt. 22:29; Gal. 1:6-9; 2Ti. 4:2-4) For spiritual growth and maturity as Christians (Eph. 4:14). Divisions of Theology Biblical (Exegetical) Theology: Often studied as Old Testament Theology and New Testament Theology based on an exegesis of the Bible. Historical Theology: Study of the origin and development of theological perspectives in the context of their historical background. Systematic Theology: Systems of theology or systematic arrangement of a presentation of doctrines. Practical Theology: Application of Theology. Disciplines: Homiletics, Past...