http://marscreativeprojects.com/brotherosric/2010/06/signpost-the-gospel-according-to-matthew/ A webcolumn by Michael Spence, wherein science fiction and fantasy meet "the queen of the sciences" Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:50:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://marscreativeprojects.com/brotherosric/2010/06/signpost-the-gospel-according-to-matthew/comment-page-1/#comment-1822 Michael Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:03:01 +0000 http://marscreativeprojects.com/brotherosric/?p=1010#comment-1822 Indeed it has. The distinction I'm making is between what many hearers and their forebears had anticipated — the heavenly army marching in, Messiah wielding his divine Excalibur and cleaving the power of Rome into fragments, Israel lording it over everyone — and what was really happening. I'm convinced there is a future for a national Israel (Abraham's physical descendants), but what the first-century Israelis were expecting didn't have anything to do with "poor in spirit," mourning, or persecution. The Hebrew Scriptures' kingdom of God, yes; that of the audience and its recent generations, no. Indeed it has. The distinction I’m making is between what many hearers and their forebears had anticipated — the heavenly army marching in, Messiah wielding his divine Excalibur and cleaving the power of Rome into fragments, Israel lording it over everyone — and what was really happening. I’m convinced there is a future for a national Israel (Abraham’s physical descendants), but what the first-century Israelis were expecting didn’t have anything to do with “poor in spirit,” mourning, or persecution. The Hebrew Scriptures’ kingdom of God, yes; that of the audience and its recent generations, no.

]]> http://marscreativeprojects.com/brotherosric/2010/06/signpost-the-gospel-according-to-matthew/comment-page-1/#comment-1820 Elisabeth Waters Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:30:13 +0000 http://marscreativeprojects.com/brotherosric/?p=1010#comment-1820 Isn't the Gospel According to Matthew the one that spends a lot of time trying to demonstrate that this _is_ your fathers' Kingdom of God? It's the gospel that has all the references to the Old Testament showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies. Isn’t the Gospel According to Matthew the one that spends a lot of time trying to demonstrate that this _is_ your fathers’ Kingdom of God? It’s the gospel that has all the references to the Old Testament showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies.

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