Summary of Articles
Wow - it's been a LONG time since I have posted. Things have been incredibly busy! Right now, Kathy and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newest member of the Twitchell family. The doctor on Tuesday (11/22) said it could be any time. So - if it's a long time again before I post, please forgive me!Rather then starting a new topic, I'm going to give a quick summary of the seven articles I have posted to date. I thought it would be interesting to put a summary together all in one place, to see the sequence of the articles I have written.
1. In Beginning Point of View, I discussed my belief that the Bible is the inerrant and inspired Word of God in the original languages. Our translations that are available on the whole are very good, but that there are times we may need to go look at a Greek or Hebrew word, and see if there are alternate meanings. I do not believe there are any contradictions in scripture, and if we find what appears to be contradictions, it means either our theology is incorrect, or our translation is incorrect.
2. In Determining the Meaning of Words, I talked about the difficulty in understanding what a particular word means, without a context behind it. For example, the Greek word "sozo", which is often translated "saved", is used in a variety of contexts - not just that referring to salvation in a spiritual sense. It is used by Peter when he fell while walking on the water, and it is used by Christ when talking to the woman who was healed by touching his cloak. To see a word in scripture, and always assumes it means the same thing, is not a valid assumption to make.
3. In The Gospel of Grace, I stated my strong belief that works have nothing to do with our salvation. In particular, the two words "necessary" and "sufficient" are key to this issue. What Christ did was necessary (we couldn't be saved without it), and it was sufficient (nothing else is required). To attach works to salvation violates the doctrine of the Gospel of Grace.
4. In The Judgment Seat of Christ, I discussed 2 Corinthians 5:10, where Paul tells us we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I addressed one particular teaching that says that this judgment is not negative, but just a distribution of rewards. Contrary to that position, I believe that there will be rewards, but there will also be some type of "negative rewards", or loss of status, at the judgment seat of Christ. The passage says that we will receive what is due us for things we have done, whether good or bad. Additionally, I countered the teaching that the judgment seat in Greece was a location from where rewards were given at the conclusion of the games, and no punishment was administered from this seat, by pointing out that our Lord himself stood before the "Bema" seat when he was put on trial. Certainly, no one could claim that only reward was given at this judgment!
5. In The Kingdom of God I quoted various Old Testament prophecies about the Lord reigning on earth from Jerusalem, and then also talked about the prophetic statement in Revelation about the Millennial Kingdom. I drew the conclusion that there doesn't seem to be any rational reason to consider these as separate items - that when the Old Testament talked about a future kingdom, it is a reference to the Millennial kingdom that is still to come. As such, the passages where Jesus talks about "The Kingdom of Heaven is like", is not referring to eternity, but rather to his reign here on the earth.
6. In The Judgment Seat of Christ part 2, I addressed the question of when the Judgment Seat of Christ will occur. In particular, I tied together the parables of the Kingdom of Heaven with judgment - several of the parables describe some type of judgment or decision, based on what people do. Of particular note is the parable of the talents - the servants who were faithful were rewarded at the coming of the master, and the servant who was unfaithful was punishment. If this parable deals with the Kingdom, as opposed to eternity, it seems to indicate that the Judgment of Believers will occur at the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom.
7. Finally, in What is meant by the word 'eternal'?, I spent time discussing the translation of the Greek word 'aion', which means 'age', and the adjective form, 'aionios', which is always translated 'eternal'. My main premise was that when a word can have different meanings, we must consider the context to determine an appropriate definition. Since The Gospel of Grace is a fundamental belief upon which I build my understanding of scripture, contradictions arise when the word 'aionios' is always translated 'eternal'. There are several passages, under this translation, that would then indicate our eternal salvation is dependent on what we do. Since I am convinced that our eternal salvation rests completely on the work that Christ did, and the only way to acquire that salvation is to believe, then I have to find an alternate interpretation of these passages that contradict that. Since the word 'aionios' is based on the root word 'aion', which generally means age, as opposed to eternity, it is reasonable to me to say that when the context of 'aionios' deals with works, and 'aionios' life, it demands that we understand the meaning of the word to be 'age' life - ie - the Millennial Kingdom. In all of the passages I have come across that seem to tie works to 'aionios', this interpretation of the passage resolves those conflicts.
As always, I welcome your comments! I think that in future posts, I'm going to begin looking at some of the parables of Christ in light of the 'Doctrine of the Kingdom', to see how their interpretation might be different from what we are used to.
Posted On Nov 23, 2005 at 7:02 AM
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Brian's BlogMost articles on this blog describe what is known as "Kingdom Theology" - they deal with the doctrine of the Millennial Kingdom.If you are just finding this Blog, I would suggest that you start with the first article, rather than picking up in the middle. Enjoy your reading! ABOUT ME Current PostsA scriptural scavenger huntWhat do we want to be remembered for? How do we measure our churches? The Parable of the Sower What is Worship 
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