Queen's Road Cell

I felt that the lack of good questions in Book 5.2 for these 3 chapters meant that we should focus on the important material inside and do more in-depth studies of 2 passages instead: The important ideas brought up would be: The shift of the centre of global Christianity away from the West, with explosive growth in Latin America, Africa and China. This means a shift in the demographics of missionaries away from white Westerners. It means that, while the intellectual centres of Christianity remain (for good or evil) in the USA and UK, the momentum of worldwide church growth is now creating a disconnect between solid theology and lived out faith in some areas. It will also see a trend of third world countries doing missions in Western countries where the fire of the gospel has burned out. The idea of the 10-40 window as a strategic target for church missions. The concept of a 'world Christian' as a default for all disciples of Christ. I felt that the Joshua project webs...

So today Selwyn asked how we are meant to interpret Genesis 1... We said that it was important to determine the genre (historical narrative, poetry, wisdom literature, apocalyptic literature, etc.) of that chapter. When the creation story is repeated in Genesis 2, it is reasonable to deduce that the 2 chapters have different emphases. I think Genesis 1 is a song! Some have noted that the creative acts of the 1st and 4th, 2nd and 5th and 3rd and 6th days parallel each other. This may suggest that the 'days' of creation are not in chronological order. Some have tried to reconcile Genesis 1 with modern science by evoking the 'gap' view (i.e. there is an indefinite chronological period between 1:1 and 1:2), or by noting that the 'days' may not be literal 24-hour days (no sun and moon till day 4!). I think it is more profitable for us to consider what Genesis 1 tells us about spiritual realities, for instance: 1. God is Creator. We owe our existence to Him and a...

We ran through Paul's sequence of thought in Romans 10. In Romans 9 he has began to answer the question of why the Jews, God's chosen people, have remained unsaved. And there his answer is, "They were not elect". In Romans 10 his answer is that they were "disobedient and contrary people" (v.21). So here we see the 2 truths that must always be held together: God is absolutely sovereign, and man is is absolutely morally responsible. Paul begins the chapter by declaring that the Jews (like he was) had a zeal...but not according to (true) knowledge of God. They did not know His righteousness provided for them and did not submit to its revelation in Christ, who is the 'end' (= the terminus, the fulfillment) of the law (v .4). Then he goes on to a more complicated argument based on a passages in Leviticus 18:5 and Deut 3):12-14. Here he takes the accessibility of the law spoken of in these passages and applies it to Christ. Christ has come from heaven ...