Systematic Discipleship (Part 6) & The One Page New Testament

Unpacking ongoing analysis work to draw out the main teachings from the New Testament from a personal discipleship perspective

Systematic Discipleship (Part 5) & The One Page New Testament

Unpacking ongoing analysis work to draw out the main teachings from the New Testament from a personal discipleship perspective

Systematic Discipleship (Part 4) & The One Page New Testament

Unpacking ongoing analysis work to draw out the main teachings from the New Testament from a personal discipleship perspective

Systematic Discipleship (Part 3) & The One Page New Testament

Unpacking ongoing analysis work to draw out the main teachings from the New Testament from a personal discipleship perspective

Understanding the main teaching in the New Testament is not straightforward for new, or even established, followers of Jesus. As we learned in a previous Faith Article the main message of the New Testament to Jesus’ followers can be considered as “Become more like Jesus”. But what does this mean in practice, and how can we go about finding out what the New Testament really teaches us about that? In this first article, we shall look briefly at an ongoing work that is considering the New Testament from a unique perspective - developing a top-down and bottom up approach - that draws upon semantic (related words) analysis that has referenced the original Greek (readers don’t need to worry about that bit!). Would you like to come on a journey of a New Testament discipleship discovery in the months ahead?

This Faith Article highlights teaching from Jesus and the apostles, about the need for believers to become more like Christ.

In this article we will look at other verses where the Greek word “pneuma” (meaning wind, breath, spirit / Spirit (Holy Spirit)) is used and is translated to mean something other than the Holy Spirit.

In this article we will look at the New Testament references to the Spirit / Holy Spirit / Advocate grouped into six distinct themes. Some of these themes may surprise you, others will seem intuitively right.

What does the New Testament really tell us about the Holy Spirit’s roles in New Testament times through to today and beyond? Read on to find out!

One of the most complex mysteries from within the New Testament is to try and provide an illustration that can show one God in three persons - all being of the same nature or substance. The development of the theology of God as three in one (Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit), which christians call the Trinity, was established very early on in the early church [Note 2] and was already understood by the New Testament writers so is not a major focus within the New Testament. Here two three-dimensional models are presented to help us understand the Trinity better.

In the UK (at least) there is a conceptual disconnection between the amount we personally contribute to the government in taxes, and through that down to the Health Service, and our expectations about what the NHS should provide. As more conditions become treatable our expectations rise. However, the disproportionate costs of treatment and care services related to our contributions is where we need to take a hard look at what we are really prepared to pay for universal healthcare that is free at the point of use.

In a world where nothing is constant, where legal travel between countries is perhaps easier than it ever has been in modern times (certainly for short-term travel for business and tourism) and for all our every increasing multi-ethnicity, we see a worrying global increase of tribalism and nationalism.