Jon Zens has written an excellent post that focuses on reading the New Testament from a plural perspective. Zens writes:
"As folks listen to local and media Bible teachers, most miss the fact that Christ’s body is missing from their use of the New Testament. More often than not the approach taken is individualistic – 'how can Christ help me live the Christian life?' However, the NT was not written to individuals but to groups of believing people in various cities and regions. This does not come across in English translations for the most part because the word 'you' in the Greek can be singular or plural. For example, the 'you' in 'Christ in you, the hope of glory,' is plural, and has in view the Body of Christ."
Read the entire post here.
"As folks listen to local and media Bible teachers, most miss the fact that Christ’s body is missing from their use of the New Testament. More often than not the approach taken is individualistic – 'how can Christ help me live the Christian life?' However, the NT was not written to individuals but to groups of believing people in various cities and regions. This does not come across in English translations for the most part because the word 'you' in the Greek can be singular or plural. For example, the 'you' in 'Christ in you, the hope of glory,' is plural, and has in view the Body of Christ."
Read the entire post here.
2 comments:
Wow! I was thinking exactly about this same thing last night.
I was thinking that this is part of our nature from the fall that needs to be overcome (the tendency to focus on self) and focus on the body at large. One thing worth noting, is that Christ is coming back for A [singular] bride, not a hareem.
Seeing that our brothers and sisters are standing shoulder to shoulder should have a personal interest to each and every one of us. As Paul said, we can't be dismissive of others thinking we don't need them. (My paraphrase...)
God bless, Richie
http://rcsthe.blogspot.com
Richie,
It is such a struggle for us Westerners to think more collectively. We tend to be ultra-individualistic.
When we lived in India we met people who thought much more as a group - and they weren't even Christians. We all need to learn to think of the whole.
Post a Comment