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The Attributes of God—A New ApproachThe Doctrine of God is usually approached using a systematic theology model, i.e. what we know about God from the Bible is classified into a logical system. What follows is an alternative approach.
The Structure of John 12 - Conclusion of Jesus' public teaching.
For a fuller notes, and a video of me teaching this in much more detail see:
This passage forms a conclusion to what is commonly called the “Book of Signs” (John 1–12), matching the prolog in chapter 1. In John 1, Philip introduced Nathaniel, an “Israelite in whom there is no guile” to Jesus, and here he introduces Gentiles. But the most pointed parallel is with the ideas of:
Structural elementsThe passage is highly structured, with both formal and informal chiasms. It can be broken down into seven segments, although the central ones are someone fluid:
The Structure of John 9 - The man born blindThe account of the man born blind has a very elegant structure, which greatly aids in seeing the purpose of the passage. The basic structure is easily discerned by noting that Jesus is only present in the opening and closing verses: Dialogs with Jesus 1–7
Dialogs with Jesus 35–41 Opening and closingThe dialogs with Jesus can be seen to break down into three parts, with an inverse parallel structure:
Debate concerning the event v.8–34
At this point we might expect the inner debate to neatly fit into the same kind of structure, but it does not seem to. [read more...]
How did Psalm 23 get to be written?Did the young shepherd-boy David sit down under a tree one day, his sheep all around, and start to compose “The Lord is my Shepherd”? Or was it written at the end of his life as he contemplated God’s faithful care? I like to think that it was both—the first draft composed as a teenager, and then as the years went by, more life experiences were woven in until the final word, “forever”. In this talk I speculate about what events might have been the inspiration for each line. Check it out:
Part 4. God’s KnowledgePart four in the series on The Theology of God. God begins to reveal this attribute very early:
Part 3. God's JusticePart three in the series on The Theology of God.
Part 2. God’s Faithful LovePart two in the series on The Theology of God. If Genesis 1:1 begins to reveal God’s power, then the second attribute that is revealed is that he is relational.
Part 1. God’s PowerThe first part of the series on The Theology of God introduces the concept of this way of approaching God’s character and attributes, and begins the series by looking at God’s self-revelation of his power. In addition to Genesis 1 & 2, the main texts are:
The Attributes of God—A New Approach: IntroductionTraditional ApproachThe Doctrine of God is usually approached using a systematic theology model, i.e. what we know about God from the Bible is classified into a logical system.
Alternative Approach
Holy Spirit BaptismThe subject of Holy Spirit Baptism has been very divisive. Typically people are polarized into two camps:
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