Church Observation Paper

Yet only in Matthew does Peter have a role in the story. Upon seeing Jesus on the water, he calls out, "'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water'"(Mt. 14.28). He almost succeeds, yet he suddenly gives in to fear and begins sinking. Jesus scolds him by saying, " 'You of little faith, why do you doubt?'"(14.31). This draws a strange picture of Peter. He no longer simply listens to Jesus, but tries to become actively involved in his teacher's lessons. This idea is again shown in Matthew 15.15. After the parable of the blind leading the blind, Peter asks, " "Explain this parable to us." Jesus replies with a rather impatient remark, but dives a little further into the meaning. He often comes to Jesus with questions throughout Matthew and these questions always ask for clear definitions of stories or truths about some spiritual detail. Many times Jesus snaps a little at him, but Peter obviously is not swayed by any impatience his teacher bestows. This seems to paint a closer relationship between the two men, where Peter is not afraid of Jesus and Jesus is not simply polite to Peter, as teachers tend to be. Jesus' obvious favoritism of Peter, shown in the transfiguration and throughout the gospel, leads one to believe that the two are indeed close friends with trust and mutual respect, which allows them to be freer with their words to one another. Friends tend to be less polite and more open with

When the Gospel of Mark was written, early Christians were facing persecution from the Romans, who saw them as no different from their Jewish enemy. These early Christians began to lose their faith in Jesus. The Gospel of Mark teaches them that suffering is guaranteed, and that if our Messiah suffered on the cross, then we will suffer as well.“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and follow in my steps” (Mark 8:34). Mark uses Jesus’ life and death to teach an example: one cannot know Christ without

The literary genre of 2 Peter is an epistle written to the main personalities, an implied group of believers in Asia Minor and other places around that region. The author is the Apostle Peter a dedicated servant and disciple of Jesus. The date that the letter was written has some controversy, however, in his correspondence Peter mentions that his life is coming to an end, and Peter was martyred for his faith in Rome about A.D. 64-67. Therefore, establishing the date of Peter 's second letter within that time frame. Peter wrote out of love to defend and protect the immutable word of God. The letters main purpose was to warn fellow devotees about false teachers that would try to enter their churches and mislead them in their faith. Peter goes on to explain the false teachers can be recognized by their prideful behavior, their love of money, and disrespect to God. (Life Application Study Bible 1507,1918) Peter uses instances from the past, such as Sodom and Gomorrah and the great flood to stress the judgment and punishment that will come to unbelievers who reject God. The apostle also warns that there will be those that will mock God and dismiss the second coming of Christ. He advises the believers to have confidence in the promises, prophecies, and principles given through God’s inspired word. (Hindson, Towns) Peter cautions God will return without warning and find individuals unwary. However, Peter reasons that God is patient and delays His return for unbelievers, “not

In the first close reading of the text, I discovered Paul articulated his desire for all believers to be of the same attitude or frame of mind as Christ. Creating a sense of relationship with God through the example of the servanthood of Jesus. This study revealed the traits of Christ’s life and character found in verses: “he was formed of God” (2:6), “emptied himself’ (2:7), “in human form” (2:8), “name above every name” (2:9), “every knee should bend” (2:10), and “every tongue confess … glory to God” (2:11). Looking at each verse, challenged me to read between the lines and wonder what might be happening within the church of Philippi. Textual Criticism

In verse two we can find the second half of the conditional statement of Paul which was given. The means of fulfilling this command is then given in four clauses which emphasize unity by synonymous expressions.7 The way in which the Philippians can “fulfil” Paul’s joy is by having “the same mind”, “the same love”, being “one

Thesis: It is the intent of this paper to dig into the life of Peter and see just who this man that passionately followed Christ was. As we dig into the life of Peter we will examine his character strengths, his weaknesses, and overall how Peter was transformed by Christ. We will see how God took a man who more often than not acted without thinking and transformed him into a passionate follower who’s words we read today in God’s very words to us.

In effect, this solidifies the church's hold over the audience. The listeners are now willing and eager to part with their 'Worldly Goods', their money and their time, for the sake of avoiding "hell for time without end." (Scene 2, Line 4) The audience has no way to counter this attack, because even if they have no money, God had "offered [them] great riches of mercy." (Scene 1, Line 34)

He lets them know that there is no one that is without sin and stands guilty before God. Apart from being in a personal relationship with the Lord, the average person has always felt that they were a good person, or a morally good person that performs good deeds. Paul points out throughout the book that it is the saving faith in Christ Jesus’ virgin birth, death, burial and resurrection that saves our soul and not anything that we can or could do. With that faith, we are to live in the assurance that we are accepted by God and endowed with the power of the Holy Ghost to do, not just good but, godly works of righteousness, all by the motivation of love for Him. All the while, we are to understand that it is not the works that make us righteous but rather, our faith in Jesus. He points out that thinking we are saved by works is living under the Law, which is contrary to why God gave them the Law.

This letter not only incriminates God but it also incriminates the church. In their duty to come to the aid of the unloved and depressed they have failed and instead begun to play God themselves, judging society's mistakes in the name of righteous superiority. This is evident in Pauline's successfully achieved martyrdom at the cost of her marriage and the lives of her children.

▣ "His" This pronoun refers either to God the Father or God the Son. All of the pronouns in these opening verses are similarly ambiguous. This is a characteristic of Peter. It is possible that this is a purposeful ambiguity (i.e., double entendre, as in John's writings). Jesus is identified as "God" in 2 Pet. 1:1; both the Father and the Son are linked grammatically in 2 Pet. 1:2; and the adjective "divine" in 2 Pet. 1:3 refers to both.

The New Testament is characterized by the existence of imperative Biblical figures, with the likes of Jesus Christ, the Apostles, among many others. Peter was among Jesus’ first disciples. From his turning point, as manifested in the book of John 21, to his progress as a dedicated leader as manifested in Acts, to his final emergence as a co-elder as manifested in the Epistles of 1st and 2nd Peter, Peter exhibited traits of a transformational and charismatic biblical figure (Neil & William 409).

This passage carries a strong message for today's Christians. As Witness Lee argues, we can look at this passage in connection with Ephesians 4:17-5:14.14 In both cases, we find a call to putting off old manners in favour of a holy life under God's teachings. In the light of the New Testament and the culture we presently inhabit, we can get a grasp on what it means to live a holy life according to the Bible. The call to holiness cannot be a message of interest just for the people of yesterday. Although the content of this passage might seem remote in respect to our lives, we can extract from it useful teachings for nowadays life. For example, let us consider verses 9 and 10. Contrary to a culture of excess and appropriation, the Bible calls

Brendan Tersolo Mr. Wolter Scripture 2 (G) 7 June, 2018 1 Peter 2:1-10 The First Letter of Peter is part of the Epistles, and is one of the Catholic letters. The author of this letter is not known. It is not thought to be Peter because the author of this letter quoted the Greek Septuagint. If Peter, the former Galilean fisherman, was the author, he likely would have quoted the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible.

As in the interpretation of any passage of Scripture, the correct interpretation of Philippians 2:1-11 rests upon a careful examination of its context. Paul is writing the letter to the Philippians in order to thank them for their gift which they sent by Epaphroditus to him in prison. Although some scholars have argued that the current Epistle to the Philippians was originally several separate letters, based upon the sharp change of tone in 3:1, the “therefore, then, accordingly” in 2:1 clearly connects chapter two with chapter one. The immediate context of 2:1-11 is the exhortation to unity in 1:27-30. In this section, Paul urges the Philippians “to live as

In line 109 it states "we must learn from suffering" which basically means that all the actions we decide to do have a lesson to be taught for example Agamemnon learned what suffering truly meant after killing his daughter. He suffered mentally and physically when Clytemnestra killed him.