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Christian
Theology Of The New Testament Church
Systematic
and Biblical
“A
New Testament Church Ministry’s Perspective of
the Apostle Doctrines”
Bishop
J. L. Payne, DD ThD
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Introduction
……
Over
the last three or more decades, there has been a
revolutionary breakthrough in New Testament
understanding of the Apostle’s Doctrines
throughout the Christian Church. The 21st
Century holds an even greater breakthrough.
There has also been new understanding regarding
the teaching and preaching of the Kingdom of
God. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Academic minds in the Christian world has
re-examined the teaching of the Apostle. One
clear truth has emerged, that is the
understanding and teaching of the Doctrine of
the Kingdom of God. Theological debate has been
very few in relationship to this study and it
unveiling. The facts are evident through the New
Testament teaching of the letters of the
first-century Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul of
Tarsus. We now recognized that the Apostle Paul
was not merely engaging first-century challenge
to Judaism on its own terms, certainly not in
the context as Protestant-Catholic debates of
the sixteenth century. A new
historical perspective on the meaning of Paul's
position for and against the Jews, which
occupies so much of his recorded correspondence
in several of his earlier written epistles, is
based on the perspective that the recognition
that he gives to Judaism is not a religion of
self-righteousness whereby humankind seeks to
merit salvation before God. So many Christian
minds interpret it in this manner. Paul's
argument with the Judaizers was not about
Christian grace versus Jewish legalism. Rather,
his argument was more about the status of
Gentiles in the church. Paul's doctrine of
justification, therefore, had far more to do
with Jewish-Gentile issues than with questions
of the individual's status of Judaizers before
God and their interpretation of the law as it
applied to Christ. With this new perspective on
the challenge Paul brings to the first century
church (the beginning of the New Testament
Church), we are now able to:
·
Better understand the Apostle’s
Doctrines, teaching of Paul, the Apostle and the
early church leadership;
·
Be able to reconcile contemporary
biblical thought with a working and practical
Christian theology for today;
·
Above all we can build a common ground
between all faiths of Christ, Catholics, Jews
and Protestants;
·
Improve dialogue between Christians and
Jews; and find a flesh theological foundation
for our faith and the social existence and
justice between us as universal followers of
Christ of all faith throughout the world. We
must recognize the Christian banner we carry and
the universal faith we embrace for all men and
women to be saved.
Christian
Theology
The bases
for Christian Theology is Biblical. There is no
science, philosophy, and art, social or
political thought that could answer man’s
explanation of himself. Man’s explanation of
himself lies not in man but in God. At the very
end or bottom line of all our solutions as
mankind in this present world and eternity is
theological and spiritual. Thus the solutions
and answers of mankind are spiritual and found
in scripture. God’s offers in His church
doctrines as pillars of life for us. We were
made for eternity and there is nothing temporal
that can satisfy our eternal need. The doctrines
of the Apostles in the true New Testament Church
now stands as man final solutions in his
Theological search. True Christian theology is
the Word of God and is remotely a teaching not
bound by time or space, and incomparable to any
other teaching of truth. Theology can be
considered an embodiment of the Doctrines of
God. Yet, theology in its truest sense is a
study of God; nonetheless, Divine sovereignty
and human existence is explained. A system of
theology maintains the balance of doctrines as
revealed in scriptures. The Bible unequivocally
sets forth divine truths. God is the Eternal,
Infinite, Ruler and Creator of the universe with
absolute power over man and His creation. With
this truth as our underlining fact, we seek
without restraints to fully understand and
relate the administrations of God and His
divine’s methods of administration as given to
us in doctrines. In our several quotations from
scriptures, we have chosen to use the King James
and the Authorized Version, excluding a few
rendering of the Revised Version where scripture
is more familiar and more preferred. It will be
emphasis in this book that the truths of
theology and doctrines are vital, important and
eternal to men and women lives as a fact,
science, or any other science. The fact remains
that theology applied to mankind is spiritual
and far excels any material and temporal matters
on the earth. This truth of theology is
revelation of life in the now as well life that
is to come. It is for time and eternity.
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The
Apostle’s Doctrines and Theology
I have introduced in this text, the Christian
Theology of the New Testament Church or in some
references ‘the Apostle’s Theology and
Doctrines.’ This can be described, as a
division of Theology in New Testament Doctrines.
I introduce this term as a proper division of
theology. My one supreme reason for this
introduction is to present a positive,
constructive and clear message of the Christian
theology of the Christian Church in its
foundation. We cannot read hardly any text
in the early church teaching, either from Christ
or His apostles without realization of truth
unveiled for us to understand the will of God
through doctrinal truth. Christian doctrine
means literally “teaching” or “instruction”
and may be defined as the fundamental truths of
the Bible arranged in systematic from. Again,
may we define a study of doctrine is also called
“theology.” Theology is also a
“treatise or reasoned discourse about God.”
Theology or doctrine may be described as the
science which deals with our knowledge of God
and His relations to man. It is a science
because it is a systematic and a logical study,
arrangement of certified facts. Sometimes
doctrine is set forth as a dogma in the church.
As a dogma, doctrinal teaching is the church’s
statement of the truth placed in a church’s
creed. There must be doctrine for the body
of ministry in Christ to know its foundations,
teachings, faith, order, etc. We shall study in
this brief course of doctrines, the Bible
teaching of doctrines as seen in the message of
the New Testament Church. We have no conscious
effort or purpose of a complete study of
doctrines or theology presented in this text but
rather a furthering of Biblical truths into our
Christian’s Faith. Our brief aim in this
volume and subsequent works we have rendered is
to present a doctrinal and systematic truth
about the New Testament church foundation and
teaching. With regard to the many differences
among critical acclaim scholars and Theologians,
we are guided by the foundation truths found in
the New Testament teaching. First, as given in
the Old Testament, the New Testament by Christ,
His apostles and the general practices left oral
and written. We present this text not in a
controversial or apologetic manner; we are here
to declare and expound the gospel truth. Again,
with regard to current teachings and ideals, we
must make clear; Christianity is not a victim to
this age, but rather an answer. It
historical message is not out dated or out
molded. The truth is, at the very heart of
mankind, Christianity and its views transcends
all about modern man and gives clear evidence as
man only way to truth and to life. The world and
its coming apocalypse, the conflict and victory
of Christ over all things gives us even more
evidence that the faith of Christianity is not
only the faith of the present but the faith of
the future of all mankind.
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