Bible and Mission

  Four ways to love an enemy are expressed in the New Testament.  First, however, let us note what Aristotle says about love.  Aristotle defines love as follows: Let loving, then, be defined as wishing for anyone the things which we believe to be good, for his sake but not for our own, and procuring them for him as far as lies in our power ( Rhetoric 2.4.2). [1] Such a definition rings true with statements in the New Testament.   The Golden Rule of Jesus is, ‘So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets’ (Matthew 7.12).   Here, ‘love’ is not mentioned, but what else does Jesus say fulfils the Law and the Prophets?   In Matthew 22.36-40, Jesus answers the lawyer’s question, ‘Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’   Jesus offers two related commandments on love, love of God (Deuteronomy 6.5) and love of neighbour (Leviticus 19.18).   He then says, ‘On these two commandments depe...

  Introduction This paper was written for the Ridley Institute.   See Ridley Papers, No. 3 (December, 2024);   RWP No. 3. Grams, Church and State Relations To answer the question, ‘What is the purpose of government?’ provides some answers to the question, ‘What is the purpose of the Church?’   Indeed, in the Old Testament, the people of God were the state, the palace and the temple were interrelated, and the government was a theocracy.   The prophetic notion of a kingdom of God emerged in criticism of the failures of both the palace and the temple, and its fulfillment in Jesus’ ministry produced the distinction of Church and state. In this paper, I propose to explore three proposals for the purpose of government.   They produce different lines of thought about the state and therefore the Church’s relationship to it, but they are not irreconcilable proposals.   The paper is offered to inform readers of various suggestions within the three proposal...