Kingdom Ready Blog

Introduction

Jesus is given many “titles”, or “designations”, in Scripture. Most of those titles are well known to Christians. However, from what I have seen, the exact meanings of those titles are not very well understood by many Christians.

In other words, some Christians do not understand the meanings of some of Jesus’ titles – and that can cause Christians to draw inaccurate conclusions about who Jesus actually is.

Of course, it stands to reason that followers of Jesus should want to have an accurate understanding of his identity. So, let’s examine some of the most common titles that are given to Jesus – and then explore what those titles actually mean.

Introduction

One of the most famous Biblical concepts is that of the “Golden Rule”. A common way of expressing that rule in English is as follows:

“Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”

The Golden Rule is explicitly stated in the New Testament, in the following verses:

Matthew 7:12 (ESV):

¹² “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Luke 6:31 (ESV):

³¹ And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Note: this post is essentially a “follow-up” to my last post – which dealt with the question of “Is any knowledge required for salvation?”. That post can be found here.

Introduction

From my experience, most mainstream Christians have a rather limited understanding about the topic of death. Essentially, most Christians believe that death is a one-time, permanent event. In other words, most Christians hold that when a person dies, his physical body disintegrates – and that his body will never be re-created, ever again.

Introduction

One item that the New Testament brings up, many times, is that knowledge about God and Jesus is necessary for salvation. In other words, in order for people to be granted eternal life, they need to understand about God and His Son. Here are some examples of this:

John 17:1-3 (ESV):

¹When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Introduction

Every so often, I have the opportunity to spend time with my six year old granddaughter, Kailee. During those times, I try to talk to Kailee about God a little bit – to try to give her at least some basic information about our Heavenly Father, His beloved Son, and His kingdom.

One of the primary reasons why I do this is because Scripture encourages us to speak to children about God:

Proverbs 22:6 (ESV):

⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Introduction

One of the  most fundamental questions about nature is: “How did we get here”? In other words, how did we humans – as well as the plants and animals around us – come into existence?

In Western countries, there are two main systems that are used, to explain how, exactly, plants, animals and humans began their existence. Those two systems are called “creationism” and “evolution”.

Creationism states that God explicitly created each and every form of life on the earth. In other words, every plant or animal that exists today was created by God in the past – in exactly the form that it has today.

Introduction

There are a number of specific verses in Scripture, which have enormous theological significance. In other words, those particular verses exert an outsized influence, on our understanding about spiritual matters.

Some examples of these “theologically profound” verses are: Genesis 2:7, Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 26:19, Ezekiel 18:4, Matthew 5:5, Matthew 7:21,  Mark 10:18, Luke 1:35, John 14:6, and – of course – the famous John 1:1.

Another verse which certainly qualifies as being “theologically profound” is Romans 8:28. In fact, not only does that verse have great theological implications, but it also has the potential to affect people’s entire “worldview”.

Introduction

Scripture contains quite a bit of information about the subject of resurrection. In essence, the Bible tells us that when Jesus returns, he will bring believers back to life – so that believers will live with Jesus, forever, on the restored paradise earth.

However, from my experience, most Christians have almost no knowledge about the subject of resurrection. The main reason for this is that almost all mainstream churches teach that human beings have “immortal souls” – and that when a person’s body dies, his immortal soul leaves his body and goes to heaven. In other words, the mainstream belief is that people never really die – because their immortal souls keep on living, forever.

Introduction

One of the more intriguing passages in Genesis is located in the first few verses of chapter 6. Here is that passage:

Genesis 6:1-4 (ESV):

¹When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, ²the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. ³Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”

Introduction

One of the most important topics – if not the most important topic – which is debated in Christian circles is the topic of “soteriology”. That topic discusses the subject of salvation - that is, the exact process by which a person is granted eternal life.

As with most other theological topics, there are many different beliefs about how, exactly, a person can be saved. However, from my experience, there are three primary belief systems about that subject – and those three beliefs will be discussed in this post.

The “Evangelical” Doctrine