No symbol is more associated with Christianity than the cross. And for good reason. As we will see, the cross is indeed where God’s salvation is accomplished. But too often the cross has been interpreted mainly in terms of Jesus’s physical suffering – as though the means of salvation is the physical torture of the Messiah....
Tag: how to read the bible
Understanding the Bible 27: Who Truly Belongs to the Community of Salvation?
One of the most troubling images in Jesus’s teaching is the sorting of the sheep and the goats (the “sheep” being the “righteous” who are rewarded with eternal life, the goats the “unrighteous” condemned to punishment). At first glance the stakes appear to be “heaven” and “hell,” with our human actions the determining factor in...
Understanding the Bible 26: Jesus’s Parables and the Story of a Sower
While Jesus certainly gave some famous speeches, most of Jesus’s public teaching was done by means of parables. These short, fictional stories were intended as both calls to action and as a means of offering a vision of an alternative reality- the kingdom of God. Yet they are more than illustrations, stories to be distilled down to their...