by Andy Roland | Dec 16, 2018 | Bible, Christmas, Jesus
Introduction We all have lots of ideas about Christmas. What evidence is there of any of the story? In the film “Love Actually” (2003) Karen’s young niece Daisy was delighted to have a key part in the local Nativity Play – she was First Lobster! Were...
by Andy Roland | Nov 6, 2018 | Apostles and their Letters, Bible
PAUL AND THE SPIRIT Introduction At first sight Paul’s teaching about the Spirit presents no problems. What he writes was not contentious then and is relatively uncontentious now. But the Spirit was so central to Paul’s understanding of his faith that it is worth...
by Andy Roland | Sep 27, 2018 | Apostles and their Letters, Bible
PAUL AND GRACE What is it? Grace was one of St Paul’s favourite words. “Grace and peace be with you” was his normal greeting. And his whole theology can be summed up in the sentence, “By grace you have...
by Andy Roland | Sep 14, 2018 | Apostles and their Letters, Bible
PAUL ON FAITH A Tricky Word Faith is a tricky word. It has at least two meanings, faith that … and faith in … ‘Faith that’ can often replace ‘believe that’, e.g. that God exists, that Donald Trump is a great American president etc. ‘Faith...
by Andy Roland | Aug 17, 2018 | Apostles and their Letters, Bible
PAUL ON JUSTIFICATION (or something) The problem of translation When I first started thinking about Paul’s message of justification in Romans, I thought the task would be fairly straightforward. I soon realised...
by Andy Roland | Jul 28, 2018 | Apostles and their Letters, Bible
PAUL ON THE LAW (or Torah) Introduction A major theme that Paul seemed to talk about a lot was the Law. In fact he only talked about it when he needed to, specifically in his letters to the Christians in Rome and Galatia. It is barely mentioned in 1...
