Thursday, February 12, 2009

AD: New Testament: Paul to the Phillippians to Paul to Titus

Bible. New Testament. Paul to the Phillippians. Letter of thanks and encouragement. Encourages those facing persecution. Joy; sense of triumph; the strength of Paul’s faith.

Bible. New Testament. Paul to the Colossians. Written while in prison. Difficult to reconstruct the doctrine he was fighting. People felt the need to propitiate spirits, controlling fates, powers. Affirms the importance of mystic visions. Circumcision is a prerequisite for salvation.

Bible. New Testament. Paul to the Thessalonians. Founding of the church in Thessalonica. Jesus’ second coming. Description of the Antichrist.

Bible. New Testament. Paul to Timothy. Theme: care of the Church. Written by someone else? Outlines course of Church action, guidelines for Christians. Administrative functions; selection of bishops and ministers. Theme: Gnosticism. Matter evil, spirit good. Gnosticism said that Christ allowed men to escape the prison of the flesh, leading to asceticism and licentiousness. Problems with Gnosticism: How could a good God create an evil world? If matter is evil, and Christ was both flesh and God, then Christ could not be truly human.

Bible. New Testament. Paul to Titus. The same as Timothy.

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