Fallible Prophets and Apostles?

What distinguishes the witness of the prophets and the apostles, so that it can have this significance for the existence of the congregation and its proclamation to the world? After all, they were men fallible as we are, children of their time as we are of ours, and their spiritual horizon was as limited as ours—in significant ways, even more limited than ours. Whoever enjoys that sort of thing can again and again demonstrate that their natural science, conception of the world, and also to a great extent their morality cannot be binding for us. They told all sorts of sagas and legends and at least made free use of all kinds of mythological material. In many things they said—and in some important propositions—they contradicted each other. With few exceptions they were not remarkable theologians. They have only their election and calling to commend them. But this counts! Their many-sided testimony has, in its own way and in its own place, one and the same center, subject and content: Jesus of Nazareth,… (Barth, Karl, p.59, ‘God Here and Now’,2006)

The power of the Resurrection

I think we need to understand evil and sin as a state of imbalance. The word ‘sin’, in New Testament Greek, is Hamartano, which carries the meaning ‘to miss the mark’ (New Strong’s, 1996). Sin is the by-product of selfish desire, which springs into being when the self and its desires are not aligned with the Self and Desire of God. Imbalance left unchecked must result in destruction. The primeval imbalance, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, was the eating of the forbidden fruit in the eternal garden of God.

Sacred space in the Bible

The most striking use of sacred space in the Old Testament appears to be employed to reflect the relationship that exists between God and Israel, His chosen people. The same understanding of sacred space is also apparent in the New Testament where the relationship is between God and ‘spiritual Israel’, through the person of Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:29).